Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Fifty Seven: When We Stand Alone...

We go through the grimy images of our past flicking through them like tiny crystal slivers embedded  in the meat of our brains. They are so alive. So fresh in our minds eye we can't truly call them memories. They feel too real...to much like a home we've run away from & now are being forced to return to. But not of our own will but that of an entire galaxy bleeding the crimson consequences of believed benign ideals & choices of those above them. Anakin walked in quietly from the freezing sea breeze. The silence hanging in the air like the small ash white feathers floating all around the echoing chamber filled with the words no one was saying. Anakin could see the the two statues hewn of the heavy stone hearts they were carrying  inside them. These fearful truths clutched so tightly in their souls they should have been smooth like pearls. But he could also hear the sound of smaller voices crying in the distance, the lost childhood's & broken promises on bare feet ghostly dancing ring around the rosey in the silvery light. Anakin stood there pondering the rising tides on the horizon far into the future. Wondering if it would be like a cleansing rain washing all their sins & scars clean, or if it would be the tidal wave which finally drown them all erasing their existence from the cosmos. Softly & slow the air passed over his lips, before he realized the sound was bare, like the rough sun baked skin & deep brown eyes looking up at him. Lowering himself onto the stone floor in front of Rey he reached out scooping her into his arms & held her letting the blazing waterfalls of salt seep into his skin through his shirt.
Ahsoka peered out at him confusedly as she watched Anakin rocking with Rey in his fatherly embrace gently rubbing her hair & shushing her sobs. When he finally met Ahsoka's gaze something inside her fell to the bottom of her stomach. She looked out & watched as Anakin changed right before her eyes, he had become the voice of calm, comforting arms of peace & safety. Ahsoka couldn't stop herself from catching her breath as she lowered herself to sit on the stone tiles. Her hands rested the sabers beside her, she couldn't take her eyes away from them, as she slowly brought her finger tips in a mark of prayer around her lips she whispered to herself.

"Master..."

Ahsoka had lived to see the day she thought would never break the barrier between hope & true existence. But as she watched Anakin sit holding Rey like a small child, letting her fall to pieces in the safe secure way a father would have, Ahsoka could do little else but weep herself. It was the most beautiful thing she'd seen in her long life. The broken warrior made whole again, the Learner becoming the Master, it was in this moment Ahsoka felt her own fire begin to reignite. The steady measured shell she'd encased herself in was falling away like a shield of time she'd used to encapsulate all the soft vulnerable parts of the person she'd been. She had known Anakin this way, the trustworthy friend, mentor...hero and playful villian...but also as a man chosen & burdened with a destiny not of his choosing. As Ahsoka looked again at Rey she saw so many generations come to life in her just as she had when she saw Ben for the first time. She could feel the tiny fingers of his hand wrap ever so gently on her index finger. The way his soul felt so brand new & unmarred by the pains of the past so many of them still carried. She had seen the light of generations inside the small raven haired grandson of Anakin Skywalker, her Master. Her friend. Her brother. Now Ahsoka understood the weight Rey had borne so perfectly up until the second it all became too clear to her how fast a part of you can be stolen. Ahsoka had felt less anger when she'd discovered Anakin's fall & the creature which had taken his place. It was the betrayal which had stung her the most. The pain of years of her life believing somewhere in the countless retellings of the Emperor's Executioner there had to be one...just one...where the man within still existed.

Anakin: "Shush...it's alright. You're alright...you're safe here Rey...you're safe now. We'll protect you...I promise."

There was no denying it. That feeling was returning. The feeling of being pulled forwards when you're fighting to stand still & hold your center still. The feeling of millions of lives calling your name...& you knew, you must answer.  There was so much Anakin wanted to say aloud as he looked across the stone room at Ahsoka's face. He could feel her spirit shaking inside, the same way it had when she'd left the temple, & then when she had faced him for the last time...while he was still the man. There were eons of time & endless lists of things they both wanted to say, but in the end the one thing which passed between them in that small moment were the words...

Ahsoka/Anakin: "I'm sorry..."

Ahsoka slowly stood collecting herself & draping her long white robe over her arm, but before she exited the room she turned catching Anakin's gaze. And squaring herself up she bowed, the sign of respect from one Jedi to another, then with the quivering smile which had always been familiar between them she left the temple chamber, changed. Anakin looked across the room & saw one of the sabers still resting where she'd laid it on the ground. He didn't lke the choices before him. No more than the weeping weary young woman he comforted did. The Darkside had a way of testing you, testing the resolve you carried, & pushing you to the breaking point. Jedi were forged in that fire, they grew from the flames, they became tempered & their will strong. But Anakin also knew there were those who had not managed to survive the fire...those which it had consumed & burned to fly like ash on the wind.

Anakin: "I know why you're afraid to let go. Probably better than anyone...I don't have all the answers...especially for one as young as you facing the things you are. But I can tell you this...You will not be alone when you stand to face it...your strength comes from your gift to bridge boundaries & it allows you to amplify the connection you have to the Force. I know next to nothing about the connection you & Ben have to each other, or the power it grants you. But what I do know, Rey, is the Force would not give you this task if it knew you would fail. You have to trust that. You must listen to your own voice. The greatest failings I had as a student was the feelings of insecurity & envy, I wanted to be more...be stronger, be faster, be wiser...& I let this desire to surpass create a wall between myself & those around me. But you can choose a different path, Rey...We were made to believe that as a JEDI we could only be one thing...but we were wrong.."

Reaching down & turning Rey to face him, Anakin takes her hand & places it on his palm up, then he begins to trace the lines of her hand.

Anakin: "There is so much more to you than just your gifts, Rey. There is an entire story written in these lines, a story that you were a part of long before you ever learned anything about the JEDI. This. Rey. THIS is what, who you are....this is what the Force made you...& it is all you need to hold onto. You are already the person you're meant to be. Be her, Rey. Not Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Luke...Leia...be who YOU are. Trust that when you find yourself lost or unsure, & she will always lead you back to where you're meant to be. The Force may have chosen to place you & Ben on the same paths, but it was your choice to follow it. Your choice. Don't be afraid to walk your path because its different than ours. Trust the Force. Trust Ben. But trust yourself as well."

Anakin quietly placed the saber hilt in Rey's open hand.

Anakin: "You already have everything you need inside of you, Rey."

There was a quiet realization which passed between Anakin & Rey, & it was felt through the Force by all those waiting below.

Obi-Wan: "Can you feel that?"

Ahsoka: "Yes...Hope."