Chapter Text
Jakku 1949
Rey could never forget that day.
It was just like any other day in the slums of Jakku, the morning sun shining through the sides of the stone buildings painted in red, tan, white and a light yellow. Each coming day would bring people for trade for their fresh foods, baked bread and other things Rey could buy for herself on a low income.
She was walking down the faded red stone pavement, she remembered how light her steps were compared to today. Her fingers were still running over some potatoes she considered making a stew with-when the sound of the rattling of the wheels of several trucks. The shouts of men who were clad in black uniforms, the air of doom and gloom poisoned the air slowly. Rey and the others among the market could only stare like deer in headlights as the men began to take people and destroy the stands for the markets. Pulling down every drape and throwing fresh food to the ground. Screams and pained grunts fill the chaotic and confused air.
The color of red and black flood her vision as she herds through people being ushered into groups like cattle. Flags with a blood red background with a symbol resembling a piece of gear in black in the middle are splayed out through the streets. Uniformed men beat on people showing any type of resistance. Gun fire then erupts, a shriek caught in Rey’s mouth when she turns from the shoulder of an old man to see the body of a young man drop to the ground. A man in black with a symbol embroidered on his sleeve with a gun clasped in his hand, his finger ghosting over the trigger. Blood pulls on the grout of the ground. More screams fill the air.
The soldier says only one thing to the people crowded in fear around him.
“This town is now under siege by the First Order!!”
From there, the First Order had sunken its claws into the ghettos of Jakku. Ripping out men, women and children from their homes to work as slaves. It didn’t matter what you looked like or what language you spoke. There was no escape from the cruelty of the men who stomped on the spoil of her homeland.
Jakku was a small poor town on the edge of the country about 40 miles east from the city of Tatooine. The land was more green and lush with life and people compared to the dry lands of Jakku.
However, it seemed the reason that the merciless organization had taken over the town as a beginning to the takeover of the country. Craving to pave the way for a new future. Instead of having a country with diversity abundant with trade run by divided governments in every city. The First Order desires to unite the country under one order. Entirely under the reign of an old white man in power who has a dream which was more like a nightmare.
Rey had never heard of the Supreme Leader Palpatine but now she hears his name everywhere no matter where she tries to hide or run.
That was a year ago.
Since then, Rey has found work in anything she could take. She had no parents and was raised in an orphanage run by a fat lazy man named Unkar Plutt who would force the other children in the orphanage to work so he could collect the money. So Rey had an idea of if you don’t work then you don’t eat. She had been working as a maid.
A small manor with a staff of 20, made up for the wellbeing of the men and generals who had taken over the estate as a home base for their organization. Rey cleaned, cooked and served men who would often shoot her looks of lust while cleaning up the blood, spit and alcohol. From their nights of depravity after discussing new ways to take over the country. Spreading like a plague over town after town. Killing and destroying everything in their path in the name of order and unification.
From Jakku the roots spread through the soils of the Tatooine, after a year they had obtained two towns under their siege. Abolishing the governments established in each town to form their own. Ridding laws and establishing laws to keep the people from rising up.
One day, Rey was doing her usual chores in the kitchen. Washing dishes, drying them then putting them in the cabinets meticulously so she didn’t shatter any porcelain for the plates when stacking them when the sound of footsteps coming from behind her made the last plate clang loudly among the top of the row.
“Miss Rey?” an older female voice calls from behind her.
Rey’s maid uniform rustles along her slim body when she lowers her arms from the cabinet handles, turning to the sound of her boss's voice.
“Yes, ma’am?”
Rey had to tilt her head down an inch to meet the soft brown eyes of her boss. The wrinkles along the round face of Ms.Kanata’s face crinkled when a soft smile rose on her cheeks. Rey clasps her hands in front of her apron, noting the clipboard in her small frail hands.
“I have some news from Mr.Skywalker…”
Ms.Kanata's eyes roaming down the paper attached to the clipboard, her mouth still ajar. Rey waited patiently before her but couldn’t help the fear pattering in her chest.
“Is he displeased with my work?” her voice trembling.
Rey had been a hard worker for sure, she never took a day off. She had scrubbed dishes, tile and every crevice of this house. Memorizing every room and every way to keep it clean enough to please the general of the west division of the First Order. His men were the ones who first took over Jakku. This house had belonged to the mayor of Jakku. Who was now in the ground, six feet under along with his family. Rey had always feared his presence when he would host his meetings in the dining room. It had always sickened Rey to serve the General in the dining room where a family used to sit together and eat which was now used as a war room.
Ms.Kanata raised her head, quickly shaking it. Casting a look of reassurance to Rey’s pale face, the color returning slowly. Her brows rising from the center of her brows.
“On the contrary, he is pleased with your work. He has noted that you are a hard worker along with your delicious cooking.”
“Oh.”
“The General is staying here to tend to his work-but apparently he has a nephew, a commander of the army upstate. Apparently he is in need of some reliable workers for his estate in Tatooine.”
By work, Rey knew that her boss and commander had been planning to spread the word of the Supreme Leader’s council of his rule and word which soon became law. General Skywalker has apparently worked under Supreme Leader Snoke as one of his main generals, his status becoming of the man who was no taller than Ms.Kanata. She had never once seen him smile among the staff. Even if she did catch a faint sign of her boss expressing some sort of gratitude, no one could tell from that silver clean shaven beard with a jaw line that could cut glass. A lightly clasped white gloved hand always being leaned on when he is attending guests.
Rey had already had a fear of General Skywalker, so working for his nephew in a different region had completely thrown Rey off guard. She had lived in Jakku her whole life. She has never even stepped foot outside of her town's territory. Even before the First Order had taken over the border between the drylands of Jakku and the green lands of Tatooine. She had dreamed of running away to Tatooine when she was a young girl.
But now, she was being forced from the home she had only known to be pushed into Tatooine to work for the family member who had taken her homeland, killed her people and forced her into rigorous labor. Rey did her best to find the words to express to the head maid of the Jakku manor that there is surely a mistake.
“T-To Tatooine-Ms.Kanata, surely there is someone who is more equipped for this position.”
Which was a politer way of subtly saying she did not want to go.
Ms.Kanata’s smile quickly died, her gaze quickly rose from the clipboard. As if Rey was not the only one being moved or worse, fired. There would always be work either if they say you are fired from the position, someone will always require the labor of anyone. The conquering of a country would always require work and hands which could heal, serve or even kill.
“I know…Rey. It is not my decision either. I do not want this either.”
Ms.Kanata, Maz, had never called her by her first name before. It was always a small rule to not speak or socialize among the staff. The First Order feared a conspiracy and rebellion rising.
Rey couldn’t even begin to argue since Maz had turned away from her, leaving Rey silently in the kitchen. Others on staff continued to clean and cook around her. Dishes and a kettle singing to be taken off the burner. She could feel frustrated tears build inside her but she only ignored it. Wiping a tear which threatened to fall down her freckled cheeks.
After Rey had finished all her duties of serving the soldiers and General Luke, she had returned to her home. A small studio shack which had seen better winters and needed some proper contracting. Either way, it was hidden in an alleyway behind a giant old motel which was planned to be torn down for a school before the Order arrived. They had not only taken their land but the prospects for a better future. A brighter and better place to call home. It was her home after she had aged out of the orphanage. She had a small withered brown bag that looked more like an army bag, considering she found it in a dumpster. Rey kneeled below her makeshift bed she made with some old couch cushions with some shipping crates built as a frame. Grabbing the bag and pulling out the secret drawer which had all her belongings.
A soft creak echoes through the room while a singular candle lit up her home. She didn’t have many personal things to her name, just her papers, some clothes, and some other necessities for a young woman. She also kept a knife tucked into her shoe, to be safe from anyone feeling handsy on her way to and from work. She tucked it under her pillow to hold it when she tried to sleep under the sound of yelling men, gunshots in the distance and often some men laughing along with women giggling.
Rey had to rest tonight and try not to overwhelm her thoughts with what awaits her in the future at her new job. She would have to leave this place and keep a low profile in another country. Rey had tried to look at the glass half full seeing as she wasn’t fired and was given a new beginning. She prayed that when she arrived on Tatooine that it would be like she had dreamed of it as a child. Open land with a wide blue sky. Then, reality hit her when the sounds of men shouting in the alley along with the sound of glass breaking in the streets.
Rey hopped on her feet immediately and walked slowly over to the small window in her home which allowed her to see down the alley way. Men were running and shouting obscenities while gunshots filled the air. She scrunched her brows and kept her head low as possible while watching one man throw a handmade bomb with a bottle of alcohol with a lit end of the cloth being thrown toward the other end of the street. More shouts erupt in the street, echoing through her alleyway.
“Down with the First Order!!” the man shouts with his hand thrust into the air before running away.
Then after the man who threw the bottle ran away, Rey watched as soldiers raised their guns firing toward his direction.
Rey covered her mouth with her hand to keep from screaming when she heard the pained screams of several men on the other side of the street. She couldn’t watch anymore, she lowered her body to her knees again and continued to pack for her journey. Praying that there would be less gunshots in Tatooine.