The Other Solo - Part II A Shadow of Hope

Chapter 14

The storm rages around Rey and Luke. Ren is gone. Jaina wonders why she hasn't faded away but something keeps her there.

"Is it true?" Rey demands. "Did you try to murder him?"

"Leave this island now!" Luke yells back. He turns to walk away.

"Stop." Jaina follows him. "Stop!"

Rey grabs her staff and hits him hard in the back. Luke falls to the ground.

"Did you do it? Did you create Kylo Ren?"

They fight while Jaina helplessly watches.

"Rey, Luke, Stop it!"

Luke gets the upper hand and throws the staff. Rey reaches out and the lightsaber flies into her hand. She ignites it causing the elder man to step back and lose his balance.

Rey towers over him. "Tell me the truth. "

Luke's eyes flick over to Jaina.

"I saw darkness. I'd sensed it building in him. I'd seen it in moments during his training. But then I looked inside, and it was beyond what I ever imagined. Even more than you saw in your vision."

Jaina's heart breaks. "No...tell me it's not true."

"Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction, pain, and death, and the end of everything I love because of what he will become. And for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it."

Jaina steps to the side turning her back. "The dark... the Vader crept in."

"It passed like a fleeting shadow. And I was left with shame, and with consequence."

Luke looks up at Rey. "And the last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose master had failed him."

"You failed by thinking his choice was made. It wasn't. There's still conflict in him. If he were turned from the dark side, that could shift the tide. This could be how we win." Rey's voice is hopeful.

"This is not going to go the way you think." Luke counters.

"It is. " Rey kneels in front of him. "Just now when we touched hands, I saw his future. As solid as I'm seeing you. If I go to him, Ben Solo will turn."

"Rey, " Luke pleads. "Don't do this."

She stands handing him his lightsaber. He turns away and she retracts it.

"Then he's our last hope."

As Rey walks away he turns toward Jaina. "Now you know. I was the cause of him leaving. I pushed him into the dark side. That's why I couldn't train you, why I had to leave you."

"I don't know anything." Jaina stares off in the distance. "I used to think things were cut straight. But now...What I felt, what I saw... it changes everything."

Lightning cuts through the sky reminding her of the vision she shared with Rey and Ben.

"You must stop Rey." He speaks gently. "I know what you saw."

Jaina turns sharply, "If you know what I saw then you know I stand with them."

"The Dark Triad will only happen if you give into the darkness. You have to prevent Rey from the same fate. Keep her in the light. Keep her away from Ben."

"What if Rey's right? I also saw the good. I saw the three of us together celebrating the end of the First Order."

"Jaina..."

"I saw both. The good and the bad. I can't keep them apart. We need each other. We make each other stronger. The power between us..."

"That's vanity." Luke pleads, "You can't give in to it. You don't need power, you need..."