•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•

EPISODE XIII - MEMORIES

"Luke."

Finn screams as the shadow of an old man appears on the edge of a cliff. Poe jumps too, grabbing Finn's shoulders. BB-8 ducks behind Chewie, who snorts at the ghost.

"Obi-Wan!" Luke rises, relief evident. "Have you-where is she?"

"In the hands of King Prana. No doubt planning an escape." A smile crosses Kenobi's face.

"That's three days away," Poe breathes.

"Prana? That maniac who wanted the rathtars?" Finn gasps.

"The what who wanted the what?"

"When we met up with Han Solo. I've told you the story."

"Oh. Right."

"One and the same," confirms Obi-Wan. "And if you want to get her, I suggest you head out now. The First Order is about four days from reaching her."

"Anakin?" Luke inquires.

"He checks in with me as rarely as he did when we were alive."

"Oh hell no," Finn says. "Did you hear that, Poe? You've gotta be kidding me? Darth Vader is a ghost?"

"Anakin Skywalker is a ghost," Luke corrects him.

Poe's really not too sure of the difference. As Obi-Wan vanishes before his eyes, he turns to Chewie. "We taking the Falcon?"

Chewie roars and nods.

"One of you needs to radio Leia," Luke calls.

"I nominate Poe!" Finn says.

Poe glares at him.

Finn shrugs. "She likes you the most."

On board the Millennium Falcon, Finn hears Poe griping to Chewie as he readies the radio. Luke paces the ship, hand running along the bunk, the hologame table, the padded bench. His eyes look more haunted than the planet they're leaving below.

"Lots of memories here?" Finn asks. "From the Rebellion?"

Luke smiles and takes a seat, gesturing for Finn to do the same. "You might say that."

"The first time I was on this ship, the motivator went, and Rey had to fix it." He'd been free from his stormtrooper duties less than a day. He thought Poe was dead. And he met Han Solo that day.

"It's an old ship, but a faithful one," Luke remarks.

"You miss Han?" Finn inquires. "I'm sorry-I just-he helped Rey, and me. He believed we could rescue Rey from the Starkiller when everyone else had given up on her."

Luke peers at him. "Do you love her?"

"Rey? Of course. But..." Finn's mind turns. "Not like-not like in the way Han loved your sister."

"Really?" Luke leans forward, resting his chin on his knee.

Something prickles in his stomach. Finn shakes his head.

"Before he found out Leia and I were twins, Han thought Leia might be in love with me," Luke says, voice mysterious as if he's trying to send Finn a message. Whatever it is, Finn's not getting it.

"But she told him."

"After the Battle of Endor." Luke smiles. "She and Han used to go back each year, bringing Ben with them-it was only a few months after Endor when she announced she was pregnant. Right here in this room, she told me. Chewie slapped Han on the back so hard I thought he'd paralyzed him."

Why did Luke have to bring his sordid nephew up? "Pregnant with a monster," Finn spits.

"Ben wasn't like he is now. Not when he was born. Or for most of his childhood, really. He was sweet, sensitive even. Insecure, though, especially as he got older. He loved his father."

"Well, clearly that changed." Finn's voice is hard, unyielding. He can't think of Kylo Ren as Ben.

Your son is dead.

Finn agrees.

"Maybe. But all of us-we're all capable of doing insanely cruel things to people we love."

Finn can't help himself. "Even Darth Vader wasn't capable of killing you. Or letting the Emperor kill you. Kylo Ren... he crossed that line. He killed him. I saw it all. He pounced on Han's mercy."

"Yoda told me once that if I started down the Dark Side, forever would it dominate my destiny." Luke flicks the hologame table on and stares at the hollow figurines. "It didn't dominate my father's, though. It doesn't have to dominate Ben's."

Finn fights the rage flickering within him, burning him. "Don't you think it'd be a little hard to come back from slaughtering his own father?"

Luke pauses. "It might be harder. No, I know it'll be harder. But with each action, he makes a choice. Someday, maybe, he'll see the right one."

"If Rey is with King Prana... what happened to Kylo Ren?" Finn asks. "Couldn't he be dead?"

"The Force would have told me." Luke smiles. Finn cannot relate. "And as long as he's alive, there's hope."