Fair and Square

"Not exactly the hero you were expecting?"

"Over the last year, I've learnt to temper my expectations."

He smiled at her. "Smart kid."

Rey didn't return the smile. She didn't like being called "kid." And even if it was a compliment, she didn't like being called "smart." Not in this context at least. If the barrier to becoming "smart" was realizing that one's idols were always different from the expectations grafted onto them, then being "smart" was a pretty low bar to jump over. So it was in silence that she took the co-pilot's chair of the Millennium Falcon. And in silence, she watched the man run a hand over the controls, stroking it as one might a pet.

"Been a long time," he said.

"Long time since you were last on it? Or long time since you lost it?"

He looked at her, a weariness etched on his face, and a sadness in his eyes. "Both."

Rey didn't say anything. She just let Lando have his moment.

Lando Calrissian. Administrator of Cloud City turned general of the Rebel Alliance, turned administrator of Cloud City again, turned…actually, she wasn't sure. She didn't know how this story ended. The story that had begun the moment she'd encountered a droid on Jakku, or the story that had begun before either of them were born. The story that repeated itself over and over through the history of the galaxy. A year since Crait, a year of reading the texts of the Jedi and trying to fix Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber later, she still wasn't sure how she fit into that story. And as for Lando?

She couldn't say much about Lando Calrissian. In the story that had preceded hers, in the story that had spread throughout the galaxy before the story repeated itself, everyone knew the names of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa. The princess, the scoundrel, and the saviour. She'd never heard Lando's name spoken in the same reverence. Oh, she knew about him – his betrayal of his friends, his redemption on Tatooine, and his attack on the second Death Star, but he'd never made his mark in the same way. Looking at him now, she wasn't sure how she felt about that. He was old. Bit fat as well. When she'd invited him onto the Falcon, currently parked on one of the landing pads of Cloud City, she'd noticed that he'd walked with a swagger that didn't quite carry him. That he was trying to convey an image of the man he'd been, rather than the man he now was. And yet…

And yet he was the last man standing. Han was dead. Luke was dead. As of a month ago, Leia was dead. Just remembering that fact caused her to stiffen up. And Lando must have noticed it, because when he looked at her, he gave her a look.

"You okay kid?"

"Excuse me?"

"Asked if you're okay."

"Oh. Fine," she lied.

"Oh. Well if you're fine, and I'm fine, then everything's fine." He got to his feet and extended hand. "Appreciate the nostalgia trip kid, but the answer's still no."

Rey dumbly let him shake her hand, which had been limp at her side. Part of her mind, the part that was still active, was telling her that she shouldn't be surprised. The other part, the part that was surprised, was so surprised that it had shut down, along with the rest of her body.

"Give my regards to your rebellion," he continued. He headed out of the cockpit.

Don't let him go.

She stood there.

You let him go, this is all for nothing.

Maybe. Maybe not.

You need him!

"Wait," she said.

Lando, already in the corridor that led from the cockpit to the exit hatch, looked back at her.

"Chewie's outside," she said. "You really want to pass by him and tell him that you won't help?"

"Don't want to. But will."

"He's your friend!"

"He is. Which is why the Bespin Wing Guard knows not to use lethal force." He turned around and kept walking.

"Wait!"

Rey followed him. Lando kept walking, least up to the games table.

"Huh. This still work?" He began pressing some buttons. Holograms of various creatures winked in and out.

"This is your ship," Rey said. "That has to mean something."

"Was my ship," Lando said. "Han won it from me. And from what you've said, you pretty much have the rights to it now."

"Chewie might disagree, but…" Rey sighed. "I thought I-"

"I know what you thought," Lando said. He took a seat at the games table, moving even slower than he had in the cockpit. "You come to Cloud City looking to have me commit to your rebellion."

"Resistance."

"I say no, you say you want to show me something. You then give me a tour of the Millennium Falcon hoping it gets me all warm and gooey."

"And?" Rey asked. She forced a smile. "Is it working?"

"Well, it's a bit warmer, I'll give you that. But no. It isn't. The rebellion-"

"Resistance. It's called the Resistance."

Lando sighed. "Rebellion, Resistance, it's all the same to me. Way I see it, the difference isn't with you, it's with the Empire and the First Order."

Rey frowned. "How?"

"First bunch knew what they were doing. Marched in, took my city, made them mine tibanna down the barrel of a gun. Second group doesn't know what it's doing, and from what I've heard, is on its way to self-destruction."

"Maybe," Rey murmured. "But how many people die before that happens?"

Lando didn't say anything.

"The First Order's dying. And like any dying animal, it's lashing out. I…we, need everyone we can to speed up the process."

"Death by a thousand cuts, just sped up?"

"Yes. That's what Leia said before she…" She trailed off. One month on, it still hurt to even say her name.

Looking at the look on Lando's face, it clearly hurt him too. So as loathe as Rey was to use the deceased general's name to her advantage like this, she knew it was what she would have wanted. Leia Organa had never put herself above the greater good.

"Leia believed in you," Rey said.

Lando snorted. "Doubt that she even mentioned me."

"Towards the end of her life, she…" Rey took a breath. "Leia lost her son years ago. And nearly one year before that, she lost her husband and brother in the space of a week. She lost her planet, lost her family…I think you were one of the only people left for her. The only one who was there when…well, when the galaxy changed."

"How much did it change?" Lando whispered.

Rey didn't say anything. She'd come to ask the same question, and so far, hadn't got an answer.

"Kid, I appreciate what you're doing," Lando said. "But you want to know the reason I joined the Rebellion?"

"To help your people?"

"That…and Han. And Leia. Even Luke." He leant forward, resting his chin on his hands. "I'm a dishonest man kid, but least up till Vader showed up I was honest about my dishonesty. Saving Han, making it up to Leia, helping Luke…that's what I was there for. I was glad to see the Empire go, glad to get my city back, but…" He sighed, before meeting her gaze. "Much easier to fight for the ones beside you than people far away."

Rey took a seat at the table. "I've got people beside me," she said.

"And where are they?"

"They're…" She smiled. "Far away. Fighting for me, fighting for each other, fighting for everyone. Because it's all the same fight."

"Same fight…" Lando sighed. "Seems it is. From what I've seen, fight between you and the First Order is the same fight that began thirty years ago. Heck, fifty if you're generous."

Rey didn't say anything. From what she'd read, what from Maz had told her, the fight that Lando referred to was as old as the galaxy itself.

"I have something," she said.

She took it out from her belt. Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. She put it on the table.

"Recognise this?" she asked.

Lando didn't say anything.

"I know you let Maz search the chutes for this years ago. Figured she might have told you."

"She gave me money," Lando murmured. "I looked the other way. She left, I asked no questions."

"It's Luke's lightsaber, and his father's before his," Rey said. She tapped it. "It's broken now. I've welded it back together, but I can't get its crystal to activate. Year on, and I still can't get it to work." She leant back in her chair and folded her arms. "Maybe it's useless. Maybe the lightsaber will never work again. But I'll never stop trying."

Lando remained silent as well. He leant back in his chair. Looking tired. Looking old.

"Just so you know, I'm happy to let you fly the old bird again," Rey said.

"That's not…I mean…"

"I know that's not the thing you want most in the world," Rey said. "What you want, what I want…neither of us can get it. But if we can get the next best thing…"

Lando got to his feet and looked around. He took a breath, as if savouring the air of the flying rustbucket that had once been his. She let him have his moment. And given the look in his eyes when he glanced at her…it was a decision that was worth it.

"I'll give it a thought," he said.

"A thought?"

"Have people to talk to. Favours to call in."

"Scores to settle?"

Lando nodded, a fire in his eyes. "Scores to settle."

The philosophy of the Jedi would warn him against that. But Lando wasn't a Jedi. And right now at least, neither was she. If Lando wanted to avenge Han, Luke, Leia…who was she to stop him?

"See you around kid."

She nodded and watched him head out before turning her eyes back to the lightsaber. Sitting on the table, outwardly looking fine. Silently, she pressed its activation button. Nothing happened.

Same old battle then.

In silence, she began tinkering with it again. A losing battle perhaps.

But one that she'd always fight.

A/N

So, Lando's in The Rise of Skywalker.

I'm kind of curious as to whether this was always planned, because if you look at the sequel trilogy in regards to the original trio, I think it's safe to say that TFA is Han's story, and Last Jedi is Luke's story. My guess is that Episode IX was going to be Leia's story, but Carrie Fisher's death put a spanner in the works.

I'm not complaining mind you, planned or not. But either way, drabbled this up.