I know where to properly (re-)introduce Rey’s insecurities and have the paragraphs planned. Try replacing the specific stuff about Jakku and the “place in this story” in the cave scene with this…
(It’s a WIP, and some of the wording might not be “novel-y”, but you get the idea.)
For the longest she could remember, deep down, Rey believed, unknowingly, that because her parents have abandoned her, it meant that she was, indeed… worthless. And for the longest time, she blamed herself for that. A hole in her heart, a constant pain that could never go away. But despite that, she knew how harmful these feelings were, to herself, and how much it has stripped her away of any sense of happiness, so she had to resort to such desparate choices, or so she believed.
As Kylo himself pointed out, she saught after her parents everywhere. In Han Solo, then in Skywalker. Even during the roughest years of her’s on Jakku, she saught to prove herself to others, even those in need, to gain their respect, under the hopeful assumption she’d get that sense of happiness back. To become happy, and whole. And fulfilled. But even whenever she could succeed in achieving that, it would never have lasted this long.
It truly was a constant pain of her’s. [Insert something about how Rey’s depression and self-loathing consistently resurfaces.]
But it wasn’t completely hopeless, or so she believed. She had been waiting all those years of her’s on Jakku, waiting for her parents to come back… for her. She had hoped, for the longest time, it would validate her for as long as she could live. Maybe even for an eternity. She had always believed that there had to have been a reason for her own parents’ abandonment of her, because otherwise, as far as she could believe… she was worthless.
And this was exactly was she was looking for, here in this cave. Had her parents been shown in that very mirror, she would’ve seen who they really were. Seen that if they were important in all this, so was she. But no. [Insert a sentence or two saying that Rey didn’t get what she wanted or failed to get that validation from specifically her parents.]
(Side notes: 1. Hoping that you go back and edit sentences and stuff from later to fit with this [ahem the throne room reveal] 2. I took notes from what I initially posted all those months ago)