Chapter Text
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
STAR WARS
The Story so far…
The Resistance is down to its last knees. Following the destruction of the majority of their forces and the deaths of many senior commanders, the Resistance remnants flee to Crait to gather their strength at an abandoned Rebel outpost.
Their solace was short lived as The First Order discovered the Resistance hideout, launching an all-out assault at the remaining Resistance forces that held out. With General Leia Organa sending one last plea of help to the Galaxy.
With the blast doors forcibly opened, the time for the Resistance’s end seems inevitable. But a single response that came from their cry of help was the thing that could give the Resistance newfound HOPE…
With the First Order Superlaser Siege cannon having tore through what defences the Resistance had left, with all Leia could do is wait as she desperately hoped that their plea of help would be heard across the Galaxy.
The beeping of their distress signal were the only sounds present as everyone there waited desperately for help, with the threat of the First Orders frontal assault looming closer and closer each passing second.
But… She had faith that help would come. The Rebellion had once been that small spark of Hope in a galaxy fallen into despair, the Resistance too shall become that spark that turns into a wildfire. Yet…
“Our distress signal’s been received at multiple points, but no response.”
“They’ve heard us, but no one’s coming.”
The words spoken by the two women overseeing the distress signal cast a heavy weight over the room, everyone present looking at Leia as if what she could say would save them. To give them newfound Hope.
But what is there anymore? The destruction of Starkiller Base, their daring destruction of the capital ship Supremacy and a chunk of the First Order’s fleet, their last stand at Crait that saw the Millennium Falcon lure the entire TIE squadron away. Yet in the end, the spark has been put out in the galaxy.
“We fought till the end.” The weight of Leia’s words causing the hope of those present to disappear as she continued. “But the galaxy has lost all its hope. The spark…” Tapping her cane onto the ground as to finalise her last message. “Is out.”
The downcast expressions of everyone present painted a picture of their grim scenario, as all they could do is wait. Even the talkative and pragmatic C-3PO realised what was going to happen. It seems that the hope that had carried the Resistance through its dire times is no longer.
The rapid beeping of a response signal cut through the tension in the room, the two overseeing the distress beacon quickly checking on what response they had gained. The entire room turning their heads towards them for a vain chance of hope.
“It… appears that a single ship has responded to our distress signal and is now entering orbit.”
“A single ship!?” The baffled response from Threepio echoing throughout the room. “How in the galaxy is a single ship supposed to save us!?”
The same words left unspoken by many in the room as they all turn the Leia again, as if they were asking the same question.
Closing her eyes, she felt an old familiar presence in the Force. A familiar presence she had not felt for so, so many years. So she smiled.
She opened her eyes, a warm smile of Hope in the sea of hopelessness.
“It seems, Hope still lives on after all.”
As the worn-down X-Wing lands near one of the blocked exits of a abandoned Rebel outpost, a lone hooded figure exits it as it approaches the rubble.
The clothes, once a pristine black cloak, now whitened to a charcoal grey after years of neglect, along with an equally aged grey robe underneath it. The old man underneath all this walked slowly towards the rubble that blocked the exit.
Outstretching one hand, the boulders that once blocked the exit started to float, clearing the way of the exit. His connection to the Force, once severely damaged, now it had healed enough for what he was about to do.
Entering the maze of tunnels that was this old abandoned base, he closed his eyes as he focused on a familiar presence in the force to guide his steps through the maze.
…
A younger man watched from the outskirts of a new Jedi Temple, a blue astromech droid watching the view with him as Jedi younglings practiced their ways with the force.
They were about to embark on a mission soon, which would have left the temple unattended for some time. Yet, the man smiled as he turned towards the droid.
“We really have come far, haven’t we Artoo?”
The sounds of worry beeping came from his trusted companion. Luke’s smile faded as a look of contemplation overtook his features.
“Ben… I have faith that the good in him will win out. I just wish I could have been there more often for him, but I believe that he would do the right thing.”
Another series of beeps came from Artoo.
“I trust him Artoo, after all.” A smile back on his face.
“We’re family.”
Yet, a few days later, all his trust and belief only resulted in the flames of his failures. The new Jedi Temple burned down in flames as all he could do is watch in silence at his failure.
He had always looked at the best in people, he had faith that his nephew would have been able to win out against the dark. And yet, perhaps he had been too blinded in his faith to see that Ben was losing his internal conflict.
All he could do was watch as the flames of his failure rage on as Artoo stood beside him.
…
He continued to walk through the tunnels of the abandoned outpost, feeling the connection between him and his sister grow stronger and stronger as he entered what seems to be the main quarters. With him seeing a familiar figure sitting in the middle of it, a cane in hand as she looked at him with hopefulness and anticipation.
He continued to walk towards her, ignoring the gazes of all those who are present in the room as he slowly pulled back his hood with a gloved hand. Revealing an aged old man whose once dirty blonde hair now grey and white with age and neglect, and a unkempt beard with traces of brown.
Yet, he knew the woman in front of him would still be able to recognise her brother as he sat on the crate across from her.
“Luke.” The words held the warmth that he had missed for so many years, yet he could not help but glance away at it. He did not deserve these words for failing her. For failing her son.
Luke had so many things to say to her, to apologise, to tell her how he failed her, how he failed Ben. How when confronted with his failure, instead of trying to console her and Han, he chose to run away to grieve in solitude.
Yet, as he began to open his mouth, Leia cuts him off before he could say a single word.
“I know what you’re going to say.” Her words setting in as if he knew what regrets he held in his heart before she continued.
“I changed my hair.” A small smile present on her face as she pointed towards her changed hairstyle.
A small ghost of a smile appeared on his face as he closed his eyes in a small moment of contemplation before opening them again.
“It’s nice that way.”
A comforting silence that only lasted a few seconds followed. Yet, he still had to say this to her. She deserved to hear these words after he failed to tell her for so long.
“Leia,” a deep breath before he continued, “I’m sorry.”
“I know.” Her response almost instant as if she knew his initial intentions, “I know you are.”
“I’m just glad that you’re here, at the end.”
The weight on Luke’s chest became lighter, as if the burden of never atoning for his mistakes dwindled ever so slightly by her words.
But he still had to tell Leia his true intentions here, steeling himself for any possible response he could face.
“I came to face him, Leia.” Leia’s face turns into one of sadness, yet in the end there was only acceptance. “And I won’t be the one to save him.”
It was a harsh truth that he learned that day, he was the one that was unable to be able to stop Ben from falling down that path, and he won’t be the one to bring him back to the light.
The face on Leia’s face told him all he needed to know, she had already accepted the fact that Ben was gone, that only Kylo Ren was all that’s left.
“I held out hope for so long,” She shook her head, as if to shake away the last vestiges of Hope she still had for Ben, “but I know my son is gone.”
But Luke still feels something in the Force, that even though he won’t be the one to save Kylo Ren, someone else may be able to bring Ben back into the light.
“No one’s ever really gone.” As the two pairs of sky-blue eyes meet, Luke moves his hand to meet Leia’s as he puts something in there.
A gold pair of dice that was once in the Millennium Falcon that belonged to Han Solo, he was not there for her when he had heard news of his old friend and brother in law’s death. Yet he knew it was too late to comfort those old wounds.
Slowly getting up, he leans towards Leia as he plants one last gentle kiss on her forehead to say goodbye before leaving towards the hanger gate entrance. Walking past C-3PO to head there.
“Master Luke.” The words of one of his closest and long lasting droid companion ringing out in a voice that he had not heard in ages. Yet, looking towards the droid, he gave a wink to say goodbye as he continued his trek towards the gate.
The Resistance forces that were still standing only watched him in awe and hopefulness as he headed towards the hole in the gate that was forcibly opened by the siege canon. The First Order forces visible as he headed towards the salt covered battlefield of Crait.
…
When Luke walked towards Rey’s hut on the island after beginning to heal his connection to the Force, he had hoped that the “training” that he made her undergo would realise that he was a failure as a teacher and give up trying to convince him, hoping he could finally get her to leave this island. He had heard Rey say something before he had entered, yet the last thing he had expected was to see her talking to Kylo Ren.
“Stop!” In a burst of fear, he dismantled the hut with the Force as both Rey and Kylo turned towards him, the flame of the campfire in the middle extinguishing due to the heavy rain as the vision of Kylo disappeared. Leaving only Rey left to stare at him.
His heavy breathing continued amidst the pouring rain as he slowly lowered his hand, realising he had given into his fear that had led to his impulsive decision as he stared into his gloved hand. Rey looking at him with a mix of confusion and remorse as he started to walk away.
“Master Skywalker, wait-“
Yet all he could do was run away again, she had talked to Kylo, the student he had failed so many years ago. And now he doesn’t want to see the fall to the dark side of another. He had already told her about his failure all those years ago, but for her to talk the manifestation of it in person was too much for him to explain.
He could hear Rey’s desperate pleas to get him to stop, to just speak to her, yet all he could do was run up the stairs to the top of the island. Inevitably finding himself at the top, a dead end as Rey managed to follow him all the way across the island.
He turned his head slightly to be able to look at her, Rey panting with exhaustion as she looked at him. Her face painted with conflict as she asked a single question.
“Is that why you were so hesitant to teach me?”
He could not garner a response as he looked away.
Hope was the most powerful thing a Jedi could have, and he too believed in it. He believed in his students, he believed in the Order, he believed in Ben.
Yet, he had failed them, his students, his Order, Ben…
That was what kept him from trying to build a new one. Fear of failing his students, fear for failing the Jedi, fear from the failure of his nephew.
If he had failed even his family, how could he be trusted with anyone else?
Only the sound of pouring rain could be heard as Rey stood there before mouthing something, what she said left unheard due to the sound of the rain as her footsteps echoed throughout the island. Leaving only Luke to drown in his regrets in solitude once more.
…
Staring down the entirety of the First Order was something he had told Rey was a ridiculous concept, yet here he is, him by himself as he had to buy time for the Resistance to escape.
The First Order walkers grinded to a halt as they geared their turrets towards him, no doubt due to Kylo Ren’s impulsive orders in a fit of rage against him. The walkers slowly getting into position as Kylo’s command shuttle stood in the forefront.
Luke closed his eyes, concentrating on the Force as he could feel the imminent danger approaching as the first shots were fired, hitting the ground in front of him as a cloud of red dust engulfed his vision.
Yet through the Force, the dust never reached his eyes despite the growing intensity of both it and the shock-waves that followed. The few blaster shots that did reach its mark halted in front of him, a protective barrier preventing them from reaching him as the volley intensified.
Straining what most of his connection of the Force could handle, the volley of fire eventually stopped, leaving the red dust lingering in the air as it slowly revealed him standing in the middle of it unscathed with a hand outstretched. The blaster shots that had froze in front of him being pushed back towards their senders with the Force, causing a couple of walkers to stagger from the impact.
Putting his hand back down, he continued to stare at Kylo’s command shuttle as it began to land away from him. The landing ramp opening as he saw Kylo Ren, unmasked walking out of it. Only the raging wind prevalent as the former Master and Padawan faced each other on opposite ends of the battlefield.
“Did you come back to say you’re sorry?” Kylo being the first to break the silence. “To bring me back to the light, to save my soul?”
Luke had desperately wanted to do just that, yet he knew that he wouldn’t be the one to bring Ben back to the light. So he told him the truth.
“No.”
Kylo walked a few steps forward, letting his cape fall to the ground as he ignited his cross-guard Lightsaber, the unstable hum of the crimson blade in his hands.
In turn, Luke drew out his own Lightsaber, an emerald blade emitting a soft hum despite years of inaction. Luke utilising Form V’s Djem So as he enters its defensive stance, while Kylo pointed his blade towards him, his form irrelevant as he gives into his hate.
A mad dash towards Luke interrupted the stare-down, Luke using his blade to block upwards against a frenzied swing from Kylo before side stepping a horizontal strike, his back against the army of the First Order. His decades of experience as a Jedi Grand Master not so easily faded despite years of solitude.
Luke continued to remain on the defence as Kylo’s frenzied strikes grew more on more intense. The uncoordinated strikes allowing for Luke to easily block and side step each blow, as if he was taunting Kylo.
Yet, he knew to stick with his original purpose, he could feel Leia’s connection grow more distant as the Resistance forces escape from the Rebel outpost. Along with feeling Rey’s influence in the Force as she guided the remnants.
Expertly dodging two fast strikes before blocking a third, his back now once again faced against the abandoned Rebel outpost. The thing he once fought for, now he fights for the survival of its successor.
Yet, he had many things to say to Ben, before he says goodbye.
“I have failed you Ben. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” His hands still slightly shaking from both his own emotions and the strikes they had exchanged. His growing old age and lack of recent training causing his physical conditions to be subpar for Lightsaber combat.
“I’m sure you are!” Kylo’s rebuttal came quick.
“The Resistance is dead. The war is over.” Each word delivered with hatred and finality. “And when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi.” Yet, his own hands shook a little as he said his last line. Luke could still see the conflict within his nephew, that he didn’t truly want to end the life of his once caring uncle.
But, it won’t be Luke who resolves this. Instead, it will be another who had followed the same path as he did and his father before him.
“Amazing.” Luke’s rebuttal with a hint of mockery inside of it, still hoping to prolong the battle to ensure the Resistance’s survival.
“Every word of what you just said was wrong.”
The Sith eyes of Kylo continued to stare at Luke’s sky-blue ones, as if perplexed about what he truly meant. Which Luke used to continue.
“The Rebellion Is reborn today.”
“The war is just beginning.”
“And I will not be the last Jedi.”
Kylo could only watch with trembling hands, in both anger, and in fear.
“I will destroy her,” Ben’s words trembling, “and you, and all of it.”
Luke can see in Ben’s eyes that he truly did not hate him, as if someone else had convinced Ben to hate Luke as much as Kylo Ren did. With Kylo Ren continuing to push him towards the dark side.
Lowering his blade, Luke continued to stare at Ben before beginning to speak.
“No, I can see that you do not truly wish to strike me down.” Kylo’s hand clenches tighter on his Lightsaber. “But if you do, I will always be there with you.”
“Just like your father.”
A tense silence ensued, Kylo’s hand continuing to grip his Lightsaber and tighter, the hate and anger towards Luke being almost palpable. And with one last yell, he charged as Luke before swinging his Lightsaber.
Luke easily parried the telegraphed swing and with his mastery of Djem So easily took advantage of the opening and disarmed Kylo before using the Force to push him and the Lightsaber away. Kylo Ren falling on his back after being sent meters away from the strong Force push.
He had felt Leia and Rey leave this planet, the Resistance having successfully escaped their once impending destruction. So, with one last look at his nephew, he smiled before closing his eyes and turning off his Lightsaber. Only the sound of a panicked yell and walkers aiming their cannons at him being the last things he hears.
…
It wasn’t that long ago when he had confirmed that the Millennium Falcon had left the island, it seemed that Rey finally accepted that he wouldn’t be there to teach her.
With one last look at the destroyed hut, he made his way across the island like he had done countless times to see the tree that contained the Jedi archives. He so badly wanted to destroy it, it was a constant reminder of his failure, how in the end, all he could save were a useless pile of information from the wreckage of his old temple.
Wearing the ceremonial white robes of the Jedi, he stared at the tree, still unable to bring himself to burn it down after all this time. Yet, he felt a familiar presence in the Force as he turned to see his old master.
“Master Yoda.” His late master still looking the same as he last saw him back on the temple, a physical walking stick in contrast of his Force spirit’s ghostly form.
“Young Skywalker. Tired, you are, hmm?” Yoda’s voice still hasn’t changed from the days gone by since his self-imposed exile.
He so badly wanted to confide his regrets to somebody, so he thought that Yoda would be the one to understand. They had both gone through the destruction of their respective Orders after all.
“I want to end this, I am not fit to lead this new Order, I failed my students… So, tell me Yoda, do the Jedi really deserve to end?”
“Hmm.” Yoda closed his eyes as he said this, as if he were in deep contemplation. Yet, not long afterwards a lightning bolt fell from the sky on top of the tree. Causing it to burn as Luke quickly hurried to try and salvage what’s left of the Jedi archives.
Yet, as if he were being pushed away from the archive itself, he was unable to enter as a burst of flame erupted from the middle. All he could do was watch as what’s left of his Order burned away into ashes.
Yet the sound of Yoda laughing caught his attention as Luke quickly turned towards his old master.
“Ah Skywalker. Missed you, have I.”
He turned back towards the tree, the flames continuing to rage as Yoda’s Force spirit appeared in front of him.
“So it is time,” A hint of sadness in Luke’s voice, “for the Jedi Order to end.”
“Time it is, hmm?” Yoda said as if to quote his words before turning towards Luke. “For you to look past a pile of old books, hmm?”
“They were the sacred Jedi text!” Luke pointed towards the fire, as if he never truly understood what it truly held.
“Oh? Read them, have you?”
“But-“Luke couldn’t even finish his words as Yoda continued.
“Yes, yes, yes. Wisdom they held, but the library contained nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess.” His words, cryptic as always yet, through the Force, he knew Yoda was telling the truth.
“Ah Young Skywalker, always looking to the past. Never here, now, hmm?” Yoda tapping his cane on the ground to emphasize his last points.
“So focused on the past you are, too blind to see the need in front of you.” Tapping his cane on Luke’s forehead as if to emphasize his point again.
“But how could I teach her? I was blinded, unwise. I failed even my own family.”
“Lost Ben Solo, we did.” Yoda closing his eyes, he too was filled with regret from Ben's fall to the dark side. “That is why, lose Rey, we must not.”
“But what can I even teach her? I failed…”
“Heed my words, you did not, hmm?” A look of disappointment on Yoda’s face before morphing into a warm familiar smile. “Pass on what you have learned, strength, wisdom, mastery, but weakness, folly, failure. Yes, failure most of all.”
“The greatest teacher, failure is.”
Luke could only watch in stunned silence as Yoda moved to sit next to him, watching the continuous burning of the tree as if his past regrets also slowly burned away.
Until finally, their eyes meet once more.
“We are what they grow beyond, that is the burden of all masters.”
As Luke watched his failure burn away, he started to get up. As if the thing that had tied him down to this island finally disappeared. Walking towards one of the cliffsides of the island, where he knew something important to him once stood.
“Ah Young Skywalker. Your return, about time it is hmm?” Yoda knew what he was about to do, “Not much time, there is. Hurry, you must.”
He gave a small smirk towards Yoda in response, an expression on his face he had not held since the fall of his Order.
“I don’t think I’m that “young” anymore, Master Yoda.”
A laugh from Yoda was his answer.
“To me, Young Skywalker, you always will be.”
Yoda sat as Luke switched his robes to ones he had not worn since he last taught. Though greyed with age the fabric still fit him perfectly. And his old Lightsaber, somehow, despite its age the metal still shone slightly, the familiar hum of his Kyber crystal providing him comfort.
“Getting sentimental, are you?” to which Luke only chuckled a little.
Yet, the two outstretched hands at the edge of the cliff were the ones who lifted the old X-Wing Red Five out of the depths of the sea once more.
…
When the second onslaught of blaster fire had ended, all that remained of where the former Jedi Grand Master once stood was his cloak and his robes. Somehow undamaged by the volley of blaster fire as no sign of a body was found as Kylo watched with trembling hands.
Luke wasn’t sure what he expected when he did the process for turning into a Force spirit, not like Yoda or Obi-Wan or even his father ever told him what it was like.
But he was sure it wasn’t supposed to turn out like this as he surveyed his surroundings.
His eyes darted around the train, trying to see where in the galaxy he had ended up. But his eyes ended at a woman across of him.
She had hair as blue as his eyes, with a violet inner side, her bangs covering her left eye. And clothing that looks closer to that of a military officer uniform of the old Galactic Empire. And what was most odd of all was that… “Halo” if he remembered what it was called floating on top of her head, a white ring with a bright blue star shining in the centre. Reminiscent of what some of the magazines depicted angels as, though his masters and father told him that those were fake.
But what stood out the most were her wounds, a small puddle of blood underneath where she sat as blood stains covered her clothes. Yet what stood out the most was her missing right hand and the gaping hole in her abdomen, almost as if they were…
But when he tried to speak, nothing came out from it. A Force vision perhaps?
But his thoughts ended as the woman in front of him began to speak.
“…It was all my fault.”
When her eyes finally met his, a look he was familiar with present in her eyes.
“My decisions, and everything they led to.”
“It had to come to this for me to realize that you were right all along…”
Someone else who had experienced the weight of their failure, but he could still see that she had not fully succumbed to it like he once had.
“…I know this is very shameless of me, but I must ask for your help.”
“Master Skywalker.”
Unlike his eyes, the once vibrant sky-blue eyes filled with Hope that turned empty. Her blue eyes, although the strength within them started to fade, carried that same spark of Hope that he had all those years ago.
“You’ll forget these words, but it won’t matter.”
Had he been here before? Or was this something else.
“Even without your memories, you’ll probably make the same decision under the same circumstances…”
“Which is why… what matters are the choices we make, not our past experiences.”
Yet, experiences are what shape our choices, that was a lesson he learned from his father and one that he passed down to his students. But it was also a lesson he is painfully familiar with.
“There are choices only you can make.”
A series of visions simultaneously enter his mind at once, a vision of faces he doesn’t recognise, he and the woman in front of him standing together in front of a building he couldn’t discern. And the flames of a battlefield.
Were these the memories of the place she’s from? But why was he in them?
Yet, as quickly as these memories came, it disappeared as even his consciousness started to grow fuzzy.
“We have spoken to each other about responsibility before.”
“ I didn’t truly understand it back then, but I do now.”
“Adulthood, responsibility, obligation…and the choices you make that extend those ideals.”
“Despite what we’ve told each other, only now I understand the meaning behind them.”
Despite no memory of the woman in front of him, the connection between them through the Force was strong enough that he could feel her strength start to fade.
“…”
“Luke.”
“You’re the one I trust.”
The selflessness she had reminded him so much of himself in the past, the younger version of him who would do anything to chase that lingering ray of Hope.
“You are our only Hope to free us from this twisted, distorted fate…
…and find the choices that will lead us to a new reality.”
Yet, he could feel this Force vision begin to fade as something continued to pound inside his head.
“So, Master please.”
He could not hear her last words as he drifted out of consciousness, yet her voice continued to linger as if she spoke to him through the Force.
“May the Force be with you, Luke-san.”
“…Always.”