Shadows of the Force [Captain Rex x F!OC]

An Unfamiliar Path

✧ Stella's POV ✧

I couldn't tear my eyes away from the view outside. Towers stretched so high I could barely see their peaks, and ships flew in streams across the sky, filling every level and layer of this city-planet. Coruscant, Anakin called it. I let the name settle, feeling as if I'd fallen into some surreal sci-fi landscape.

"It's... massive" I managed, my voice barely above a whisper.

"That's Coruscant" Anakin said, and I could feel him watching me with a faint smile. "And in that Temple over there, you'll meet the Council. They'll want to know what happened. It may seem overwhelming, but don't worry. I'll be with you"

I nodded, but as the ship touched down, my pulse quickened. Meeting a group of mysterious "Council" members, people who might understand what had happened... it felt both comforting and terrifying. What if they told me something I couldn't bear to hear? Or worse, what if they told me that there was no reason for any of it at all?

As I stepped down the landing ramp, I saw this massive, foreign world. I strangely felt like I was meant to be here, as if this was part of my path, however twisted. Maybe it was Anakin's calm presence, or the way he assured me I wouldn't have to face this alone.

We walked through wide hallways lined with carvings and statues until we reached the heart of the Temple. Sunlight streamed through high windows, casting strange shapes across the smooth floor. And then, we entered a large, circular room. I was surrounded by a semicircle of people in brown robes, seated in large chairs, each figure radiating a sense of calm and focus.

One of the robed figures, a small, green creature with large eyes and long ears, looked at me with a curious expression. "Welcome, young one" he said, his voice soft yet commanding. "Master Yoda, I am"

The weight of his gaze was almost tangible. I swallowed, unsure of what to say, so I managed a slight nod.

Another Jedi, who introduced himself as Mace Windu, spoke next. "We understand that you've come from a world far from here, a world unknown to the galaxy. And that your world has suffered a great loss"

My throat tightened. "Yes" I replied, the single word thick with all I couldn't say.

Master Yoda looked at me carefully. "The Force, we sense within you. A presence, it is. A gift, perhaps. Strange things... Have you felt?"

The Force. I'd heard Anakin mention it on the ship, but I still didn't know what it was.

"I don't... I don't know" I admitted, confusion creeping in. "I mean, sometimes, things just... happen around me. I always thought it was just coincidence"

Master Yoda's eyes softened as if he could see more than I was saying. "The Force, an energy that surrounds all things, it is. Binds the galaxy together, it does. And you... sensitive to it, you may be"

The idea felt so strange. I looked over at Anakin, who gave me an encouraging nod.

"You mean... this Force... it's why you came to Earth?" I asked him. "Why you found me?"

Mace Windu leaned forward. "We aren't certain why, but the Force guides us in mysterious ways. And perhaps, in bringing you here, it has set you on a path meant only for you to walk"

Yoda nodded. "A path of strength, but also of loss. And pain." He tilted his head. "But first, understanding"

Anakin gave me a reassuring smile, a silent promise that I wasn't alone.

Yoda closed his eyes, as if feeling something through the air, then looked up again. "Much to learn, still you have. Rest now, you must. Guide us further when the time is right, the Force will"

The session ended, and I felt an odd mixture of relief and anxiety. I left with Anakin, who was quiet, thoughtful. 

That evening, after I found a quiet room in the Temple, I lay awake as the full weight of my new reality settled in—vast, overwhelming, and inescapable. Grief pressed down on me, a relentless ache beneath my skin that I couldn't shake. Earth was gone. My world, everything I'd known, everyone I'd loved... all of it had vanished into nothing. And here I was, stranded in a place so foreign it felt like a fever dream, a surreal blur of strange faces, impossible technology, and whispers of a power I could barely understand.

This wasn't real, was it? How could it be?

A part of me couldn't quite believe it. The high towers, the endless city stretching across an entire planet, the strange figures with their cryptic words and calm assurances—it all felt like I'd been tossed into the pages of some surreal, cosmic tale. I closed my eyes and tried to bring up the familiar sights of Earth, to cling to memories that felt like they were slipping further away with each second. The smell of rain on concrete, the warmth of sunlight filtering through trees, the laughter of voices I'd never hear again.

But the more I tried to hold on, the more distant those memories became, like a dream fading with the light of morning.

Yoda's words echoed in my mind. A path of strength, but also of loss. And pain. Did he really understand? Could he? This wasn't just pain—this was a wound so deep it felt like part of me had been ripped away. And now I was expected to walk this "path" without any of the things that had made me me.

And the Force... They spoke of it like it was some great, guiding power, as if it had a purpose for me. But if it had truly led me here, then what did it want? Why had it left my world to crumble into ashes and taken me somewhere I didn't belong? I felt like a leaf caught in a storm, spinning through space without any control, with no way to return to the life I once knew.

My eyes stung, and I rubbed them angrily, refusing to let the tears fall. Crying wouldn't bring Earth back; it wouldn't bring me any closer to answers. Still, the emptiness gnawed at me, a hollow ache in my chest. I was grieving for a life that would never be mine again.

Anakin's quiet assurances echoed faintly in my memory. I'll be with you. He couldn't understand, not really. I could see it in his eyes, the faint curiosity he hid behind his calm words. This place, this life—it was his world. For him, it was ordinary. For me, it was a beautiful, terrifying unknown.

A surge of anger rose within me, the frustration of it all. The unfairness. The confusion. I didn't want to walk some destined path or accept some grand purpose. I wanted my world back. But there was no going back, was there?

I took a deep, shuddering breath and stared up at the ceiling, tracing the strange lines and shapes that seemed as foreign as the stars beyond the Temple walls. In the darkness, I felt a flicker of something I couldn't quite name. Resolve, maybe, or perhaps just the barest ember of acceptance. I didn't know what this Force was or what it wanted from me, but if it had taken everything from me, the least it could do was give me the strength to endure.

A hollow acceptance settled within me. There was no Earth, no home to return to. All I had left was here, this strange world, and the fragments of myself that had somehow survived.

So I would stay. I would find out why I was here, why the Force had brought me to this place so far from home. And maybe—just maybe—in understanding that, I could find a new sense of purpose.

I closed my eyes, letting the exhaustion of grief and confusion finally take hold, drifting into sleep with the faintest hint of resolve in the emptiness. The pain wouldn't go away, not for a long time, but I would carry it. I had to. Because whatever lay ahead, it was the only path I had left.