Stargaze [Star Wars Sequel Trilogy] ✔︎

XXVI. Our Last Hope

I looked into Luke's... no my father's eyes. "Dad?" I asked. "I always thought it was you." He said. "But how? Mother said my father was gone." I said. "Your mother told a lot of mistruths." I looked at him confused.

"What you saw was real. Your mother was a Jedi. You were going to be trained as well. In my order, we decided to begin training padawans at age 10." My father said. "That was when your cousin, Ben came to us. You two were inseparable. That's why it scared me so much when I sensed the darkness in him." "So you thought the only good option was to get rid of me." I suggested. "No. I planned on helping Ben back to the light while you were away. I had never expected to fail him." Be he said that Ben failed him. Ben had said Luke tried to kill him. "But Ben told you his side already." He realized. "You and Rey." Thunder cracked as rain began to pour.

"It would make sense you can see him but her." He began to run down the mountain. I followed him. I made it to the hut faster. I got there as Rey reached out her hand. It was clear she didn't see me. Ben reached out his hand as well. Their fingertips brushed one another. They both gasped seeing visions of one another's past and future. Luke then ran up behind me, pushing me aside. "Dad." I warned. "Stop!" Luke shouted as they broke apart. The hut shattered around them. 

Rey looked to where Ben was and then back to us.

"It is true?" She demanded. "Did you try to murder him?" Luke didn't answer. "If you're lying about this, what else are you lying about?" I asked. "Why you sent me away." "What's going on?" Rey asked. Luke ignored us both. "Leave this island now!" "Stop!" Rey shouted as we ran after him. "Stop!" Rey shouted louder. She summoned her staff to her and smacked Luke over the back of the head. Luke fell to the ground. He looked up at us to see my worried face and Rey's angry one.

"Did you do it? Did you create Kylo Ren?" Luke then stood back up and summoned a metal pole that broke from a hut. It collided with her staff. I grabbed a stick. Rey swung her staff at my father as he dodged every blow. I wanted them to stop. I swung my stick as it caught Rey's arm, she yelped as she turned and charged at him again. The two battled one another. Suddenly Luke grabbed her staff and threw it somewhere else. Rey defenseless stretched out her hand as my family's lightsaber flew right to it. Rey turned on the saber as Luke fell over, catching himself with the force. Rey lowered the saber. I ran in-between them. "Rey." I began. "You need to know the truth." I wanted to tell her about how I was Luke's daughter, maybe it may get the truth out of him. "Lillian move." She demanded. "I want him to tell me the truth." Luke sighed.

"I lied to you both. Lillian, what I told you was true, but not entirely. I saw darkness. I'd sensed it building in him. I'd see it at moments during his training. But I didn't just see him turning. If he turned, you might as well." Rey glanced at me confused. Luke continued. "But then I looked inside and it was beyond what I ever imagined. Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction, and pain, and death and the end of everything I love because of what he will become. He knew who Mera was before the New Republic, he had just found out who his grandfather was. He wanted to be that. And for the briefest moment of pure instinct I thought I could stop it." I saw a vision of him activating a green saber. "It passed like a fleeting shadow. And I was left with shame and with consequence. And the last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose master had failed him." He then looked to me. "Lillian, I never should have abandoned you. Maybe if I let you stay, your mother would have helped him. Who knows what a former emperor's apprentice would have done." 

My mother was once on the dark side. But my father must have turned her. Rey could see this as well.

"So we do that with Ben, bring him back to the light. You failed him by thinking his choice was made It wasn't. There is still conflict in him." Rey said. I could see it too. "If he turned from the dark side, that could shift the tide. This could be how we win." "This is not going to go the way you think." He said. "It is. 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 said. I didn't want her to go. Maybe it wouldn't work. If Luke or Han couldn't turn him, how could Rey. "Don't do this." Luke said. Rey said nothing. She held out the lightsaber to him again. Luke simply looked away. "Then he is our last hope." Rey said as she turned and began to grab her things.

Our clothing was soaked. I just now realized her hair was down, brushing the top of her shoulders. My red hair hung limp, my usual red curls flat. We went back to the hut. Rey folded up the blanket that was around her shoulders. "Did Ben put it there?" I asked. She nodded. "Why won't you talk to me?" I asked. "Because, you refuse to help your family. You can sense the conflict in Ben but you don't want to come with me and save him." She challenged. "I want to help the resistance." I said. "That's the only reason I came here in the first place. Luke was supposed to be the person to help us. Even if you do bring him back to the light, the resistance won't accept this or we'll be in worse danger than before." I said. Rey seemed to consider my words. She instead walked out of the huts remains and onto the falcon. I watched as she flew away. Not even saying goodbye.