"You're nothing but a coward, Luke Skywalker," calls Snoke as Luke ducks behind a boulder. "Keep trying to run and hide! You won't be able to forever." The boulder starts to levitate, and Luke rolls away.
"I can't beat him," Luke gasps out, not loud enough for Snoke to hear, but for Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda to hear.
"Strong he is," Yoda agrees.
"Did you ever fight him?" Luke pleads. "Got any tips?" So far these ghosts are proving to be useless.
"You're a coward at heart," Snoke teases, shattering the boulder. One piece comes within millimeters of crushing Luke's shoulder. "Ruled by sentiment. Just like your father." The "Supreme Leader" saunters down the hill he's been standing on, as casual as if he were strolling through his home. "Tell me, has your sister forgiven you for abandoning her? For abandoning her son?"
Luke backs up, hands shaking.
"Don't listen to him," Anakin whispers.
"He's trying to distract you," Obi-Wan adds.
Cloud occlude the sun, and a cold wind blows through against Luke's face.
"All your years of training and you still can't beat me!" Snoke screams, the words ricocheting against the steep cliffs. "All you do is run!"
"Your man doesn't seem to be doing much better!" Luke hollers. The redheaded man disappeared behind a rock at the beginning of the fight. Luke hasn't seen him since and doesn't expect to again.
"Him? He's all talk. A coward, useful only for his brain, not his brawn," scoffs Snoke. A speck appears on the horizon, dropping from space behind him. Luke scrambles again.
They're coming.
Something bright snaps in the sky, orange and scarlet and brilliant white. Snoke gasps.
"Your ship's been blown up," Luke informs him, panting as he puts a hand on a damp rock.
Snoke whirls around to face him, black eyes spitting fury as he starts to laugh. "It won't matter. One last futile attempt by you foolish Resistance—I should have known."
"He's mad. Good," Anakin says.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan sighs in exasperation. "That is not good. You of all people should know."
"I of all people know why it is good," Anakin retorts.
"You cannot stop me!" Snoke yells. "I will rule the galaxy! I haven't been defeated in one thousand years. For years I let the Jedi and the Sith kill each other."
"There is no more Sith!" Luke yells.
"There is still the Dark Side! And I—I will destroy all the Force users, except for that girl and her child. I've been at it for years, haven't you realized?" The ship grows larger still, behind him, and Luke's not sure he's ever felt so grateful, aside from when Leia rescued him after his father cut off his hand.
"Yes!" Luke shouts back. "I have!"
"The Jedi are weak! You all are! All of the Resistance fighters—they're made of the same stuff as you Jedi! Weakness! Sentiment! Compassion!"
"Those are strengths!" Luke shouts. "Even my father realized that!"
"Your father had one weak moment—"
"No," Luke breathes. "No, he loves me. Can't you see him here?"
Snoke stares blankly at the grassy slope where Anakin stands. "What are you talking about?"
"Evil sees what it wants to see," Obi-Wan opines.
Snoke rants. "I will kill everyone you love. I will destroy the Resistance, all of you—and even if you manage to run and save your own skin again, you won't be able to run from the fact that they're dead, they're all dead—your sister, your nephew, your apprentice—" Snoke waves his hand, and the cliff under Luke's feet starts to crumble. He rushes away from it. Snoke's laughter drowns out the Falcon's impending landing.
"You know I've made it a habit to kill everyone around you, in my attempts to track you down," Snoke says. "Before I got Kylo Ren to do my work for me. Including—what was her name? Ah yes, Nishi. Sweet thing, too. Tygo Ren killed her for me, but not before I made sure she knew the exact life I had planned for her son. The poor thing showed no signs of being Force sensitive, so I—"
The Millennium Falcon smashes into the side of the island, sending rocks tumbling everywhere and Snoke tumbling with them.
"Get up before he does!" Anakin shouts.
YOU ARE READING
•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•
Fanfiction*WRITTEN PRE-TROS, POST TLJ* When a ship crashes near the Resistance base, Finn and Poe are shocked to discover Kylo Ren. What does he want? And where is Rey? And as for Kylo, he must decide how much he can trust them with what he knows about Snoke...
