#luke needs to fix the jedi order

[dearanakin]

trust you - Anakin Skywalker x f! reader

Summary: You work as a tech for the Jedi Temple and end up having to fix Anakin's robotic arm, once again. He starts having trust issues when she and his son, Luke Skywalker, become close to each other.

Warning: Angst, hurt, mentions of injury, cursing | Ps: Luke is his only child in this story. Anakin doesn't become a Sith (for now hehe)

Word count: 1.7k

*

Anakin arrived in the tech room with a frown plastered over his face, as always. His cheekbone was bloody and his metal arm was loose as well as malfunctioning.

She was sitting on her table, writing down on a piece of paper when his name was announced. She turned her head around and watched as he silently sat down on a chair across from her. One of her droids excused itself, leaving them both alone.

Anakin had his blank stare at some random point in the room, not bothering to look at her, who dragged the chair closer to him. (Y/N) gently grabbed his metallic arm, looking at the prosthetic.

"What happened this time?" She asked, trailing his limb. He still didn't look at her, or even mentioned to do so. "Tough assignment today?"

He sighed, rubbing off the dripping blood from his chin as he tried to close his fake fist. The motion failed, and he pulled his fingertips as he's supposed to feel the touch.

"Got a blast shot on it" His husky voice was almost a whisper, she nodded. When (Y/N) looked at again, she noticed how tired he looked. He had bags under his eyes and his forehead seemed to have more wrinkles to it.

She nodded and got up looking for her tools. It wasn't actually strange for her to fix his arm, because this wasn't her first time doing it. Maybe it wasn't even her first time seeing him coming back from a mission all beaten up.

Sometimes, he would look less upset or mad. But it was hard to decipher how he was feeling because Anakin was a pro at hiding his emotions ever since he lost his love interest. Perhaps having Luke around him would make him seem less disturbed, but also, having a kid wasn't easy for him.

(Y/N) took a closer look and noticed the robotic articulations were almost melting. It was going to take a while and she was afraid of telling him the bad news. Most people are always feeling intimidated by him, especially by the way he looks at everyone.

She let out a quiet sigh, catching his attention anyway. Since he became a stronger Jedi, his hearing had improved a lot. "What?"

It was the first time Anakin actually looked at her, wondering just what the fuck happened now. Slowly lifting her gaze at him, she gathered all of her courage to speak up.

"Your robotic articulations are "injured". And we're going to need some time to fix it, I'm sorry". She gave him a sympathetic look, to which he scoffed and shut his eyes.

"How long?" His voice carried some sort of rage and (Y/N) saw him making a fist with his other hand.

"Uh, we don't know. But I'll make sure it won't take too long".

Anakin grunted and ran his fingers between his hair. It was quite hot to see him like that, she thought to herself. At the same time, (Y/N) scolded herself for even thinking of something like that.

He didn't look at her when he released his fingers from his curls. "I'll give you a day".

While detaching his faux limb, she tried not to roll her eyes. He was always giving orders to people, not ever caring who they were. "We'll try our best Master Skywalker", she said bluntly.

(Y/N) placed the robotic arm above another table and reached for a first aid kit. She approached the man cautiously while holding a wet cotton. Anakin, who finally looked at her after snapping out of his reverie, furrowed his eyebrows when he saw what she was doing.

(Y/N) gently placed her hand on the Jedi's cheekbone, who remained still as she wiped the almost dried blood from his face. Anakin didn't flinch, even though he felt his skin burn from the contact with the stinging product.

He closed his eyes tightly to avoid eye contact with her, he didn't want to show any fragility at that moment. He was forced to face (Y/N) in front of him anyway, when she walked away to throw the material in the trash.

"You should get some rest, Master. Take this as an excuse to cool off for a bit". (Y/N) gave him an ice pack for his wound, smiling at him.

Anakin stood up from his chair holding a serious expression on his face while nodding. "Yeah, thank you".

He left the tech room without looking back. She scoffed. It was his thing to be the least polite ever and not even look at anyone.

(Y/N) considered it a win having caught his attention twice that day. He never does that. Not ever since he lost Padmé anyway.

*

Anakin

Luke came running straight to me as soon as I got to the loft. He was doing his homework with C-3PO before I arrived.

"Daddy!" He shouted as his small arms hugged my legs. "Your arm is missing, what happened?".

Little guy never failed to actually notice things. I crouched down to stay on his level and messed up his hair. "Dad was on an assignment, and it got shot with a blast".

He frowned for a second before messing my hair back. "Hey, little one!"

Luke started laughing as he ran back to the Droid, hiding behind him. "Are you alright, Master Skywalker? Do I need to contact the medical bay?"

I shook my head and flopped down on my bed. "Thank you, 3PO. I just need some rest".

The Droid nodded and walked back to the table, so my son could finish his homework. I sighed, it was weird to have a missing limb. It has been so long, I don't even remember how it felt like. I could still feel my ghost fingers moving.

I felt a throbbing pain on my cheekbone as well as my ribs, making it harder for me to breathe properly. My single hand went straight to my hair as I ran through it nervously.

I tried to dial down the stress, but couldn't even keep my eyes shut for what felt like half an hour. Luke had left the loft with C-P30 for whatever reason, which made me feel relieved. I didn't want my kid to see me like that.

"Fuck", I muttered under my breath. I wasn't sure I had painkillers lying around, and I didn't feel like going to the medical bay for an appointment.

I only found a bottle of liquor and decided to pour some into a glass. The strong taste burned my throat, and it hit my stomach briskly. If that doesn't numb the pain, I would have to drag myself out of the house. It was enough already I didn't have my metal arm, I wouldn't want to deal with that excruciating pain.

I didn't realize I had laid my head down on the kitchen countertop. The muffled sounds coming from my door woke me up, and I quickly grabbed my lightsaber, holding it next to me.

It was already dark, and only then I noticed Luke wasn't there. He wasn't watching TV or playing with his toys. Nor was he trying to sneak on me looking for my weapons that he fancied.

My fingertips became cold as I carefully walked towards the living room, still hearing low whispers. The giggling made me drop my shoulders and put down my lightsaber when I realized it was Luke.

"Luke! What the hell were you doing out? It's dark" My voice came out louder than I intended, and it scared him. He was using both hands to hold (Y/N)'s left arm, like he was trying to drag her inside.

"I'm sorry, Master Skywalker. He went to the tech room with 3PO. He wanted to see your arm". Her voice sounds apologetic and a bit apprehensive, even.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, watching as Luke reluctantly let go of her. "Sorry, dad. I just wanted to see how your arm was. I asked Miss (Y/N) to show me around as well, and 3PO said it was ok if she watched me".

"I didn't mean to bother, I'm really sor-" I cut her off before she could even apologize. My gaze met his and he nodded, knowing he should go to his bedroom.

"You should've brought him right away. He's not supposed to be out when I'm not with him". (Y/N) bit her lip and brought her hands together. "Don't do that again, please. Or I won't let him go near you".

She got taken aback, her eyes met the floor as she crossed her arms. "I really am sorry. I didn't know". I could barely hear her voice, it felt like she had a lump in her throat.

All I did was nod and watch as she turned her back to me and walked out of my door. I was about to make my way to Luke's room, when I found him propped up on the door stop, looking at me with fear.

"Buddy, I said you should only stay with C-3PO" The boy looked down at his feet and sniffed.

"But I wanted to look. I wanted to see how your metal arm is. It's pretty cool, by the way! Dad, don't be mad at her. She was nice to me, and she stayed with me the whole time!" He pleaded, he had his small hands holding the hem of my under tunic.

I released a drained sigh and sat close to Luke. "You can't trust everyone, Skywalker. It's a different world out there, we need to watch ourselves".

I didn't want him to trust anyone, I didn't need to see him trust every person who's nice to him. I've been there before, I know what it was like. I lost my girl. I trusted someone and I got stabbed behind my back.

I don't want Luke to be like me. I know who I became after losing Padmé. And I can't trust anyone anymore, either. I have issues trying to trust Obi-Wan again.

And more importantly, I don't want to fall for someone and lose them again. Because at some point, it always happens. 

[jedi-enthusiast]

Yk one thing I barely see talked abt is the fact that Mace Windu's lineage and thus legacy is one of the longest Order 66 surviving ones in Star Wars WHO STAYED TRUE TO THE JEDI ORDER'S PRINCIPLES.

Like damn, Mace rly managed to establish a liniage of highly competent and compasionate Jedi. The Shatterpoint Lineage either outlasted or survived for nearly as long as the Disaster Liniage who pretty obviously stopped truly representing Jedi with Obi-Wan (only rly returninh to the true jedi way with Luke if ya see him as part of that lineage)

Like- who do we have in the Shatterpoint lineage ?

-Master of the Jedi Order , died trying to save the galaxy from the Sith

-Former council member, died saving her padawan from her brainwashed men

-Rebel Jedi training a student despite everything that went down , died saving his padawan & loved ones from a giant explosion

-THE GUY LITTERALY ABLE TO GET THE CHANCE TO FORCE TIME-TRAVEL WHO SEND HIMSELF INTO EXILE TO PROTECT THOSE HE LOVES & THE GALAXY

And who do we have in the Disaster Lineage :

-Guy with questionable methods who did his best

-OBI-WAN who rly doesn't need any explanation (who's also the last true Jedi with expection of Luke (if you counf him) to come out of this lineage)

-a genocial manbaby with an alergy for any sort of moral code or basic logic

-a pick me shitting on her own adoptive family, who isn't even a Jedi if we are being honest (sry Ahsoka, but your character to assasinated to a point where I just can't anymore)

And honestly ? It says a LOT that Mace Windu's lineage stands as pretty much last bastion of a true Jedi Lineage from the old Order.

Agreed 100%

And ngl I find it so funny that people constantly praise the Shatterpoint lineage- (Depa, Kanan, Ezra) -and then shit on Mace like, my dude, WHO DO YOU THINK TAUGHT DEPA AND PASSED ON THOSE VALUES TO HER AND THEREFORE HIS LINEAGE???

But no, Mace's lineage is by far the best imo---I love Obi-Wan and Luke and Yoda, but they get negative points for having not one but TWO genocidal fascists in the lineage- (Dooku and Anakin) -and then someone who thinks the Jedi brought on their own genocide- (Ahsoka) -and then someone who decided that the fate of the galaxy was less important than her feelings and probably kickstarted another war- (Sabine, apparently, since Felony shoe-horned her into the lineage).

Meanwhile the Shatterpoint lineage has the head of the Order who almost won the Clone Wars and stopped the Empire from being created, who only failed because he was betrayed- (Mace) -then an amazing and empathetic general who was literally so selfless that she sacrificed herself to save her padawan- (Depa) -then someone who fought against the Empire, successfully overcame his own issues to both train a padawan and then forgive those who he thought willingly murdered his family, and then sacrificed himself to save his family and give the Rebellion a leg up on the Empire for the Battle of Lothal- (Kanan) -and finally someone who let go of all his grief, rejected the Dark Side SEVERAL TIMES, and then sentenced himself to a life in exile to protect the galaxy from a genocidal fascist- (Ezra).

Like...there's really no competition here.

In the Imperial Era, Mace was probably sitting back as a Force-ghost, watching the Disaster lineage fuck up the galaxy and then have to fix it all over again, smugly staring down Obi-Wan and Yoda like-

Mace, smugly: Hm, did you know that today Kanan taught Ezra how to connect with animals? I'm so proud of them.

Obi-Wan, watching Anakin commit even more mass murder and Ahsoka blame the Jedi for Anakin's actions: Must be nice.

Yoda, staring down Dooku, who literally tried to take over the whole galaxy with a fascist regime: Yes. Nice, it must be.

[auroramoon-draws16]

My friend convinced me to get into Star Wars

Send help

(Warning: SPOILERS and I’m not THAT into it, so correct where you see fit)

Assassin’s Creed x Star Wars

But the Brotherhood is an ancient af group, as old or older than the og Jedi order, they’re so secretive and mysterious that not even the modern order are sure they exist. Kind of like a spooky myth?

The Force be like: “Brotherhood? What Brotherhood? I didn’t help make any Brotherhood!” We love a bad gaslighting bitch 💜

I think they’d be force users who pretty much do as their original universe do: “We work in the Dark to serve the Light.” All the tenants included.

Their sabers are small af and more blade-like, sort of like the darkblade, but crystal clear and emits very little light, they barely make any noise too. (Phantom Sabers? Maybe? That sounds cool, right?) The Assassins got the white hoods and shit too. Omfg they can finally do the Leap of Faith wherever they want! Fuck gravity! We have the fucking force!

As for Eagle Vision, I think you could pass it off as a force ability. Being able to sense feelings and danger is a thing already, so being able to do a large sweep and tag friend/foe would be a step above that. Also treasures. Like the grabby lil dragons our Assassin babies are. They need to be able to fund shenanigans on the fly, and not all of them have time to grab some from their reserves!

As for their role in the main Star Wars story, we got options:

Shoving Desmond into this shit because I can~

Desmond and his Team™️ investigate the Clone Wars shit, because the Brotherhood has always been against oppression and have been systematically wiping out slavery from several parts of the galaxy for a while now, so they would automatically get suspicious. (Clones? Meant for fighting?? For an entire republic??? With no rights of their own???? Idk man, that sounds sus. Oh and the Jedi don’t have a choice because there’s a whole ass war and it would be against their code not to do anything about it? And there’s an order to kill literally all of them at a moment’s notice? Alright, guess we’ll fix this ourselves!)

Des and the crew find the chips and save the Jedi from mass genocide. Maybe killing Palpatine, because fuck that guy.

Would they need to reveal the Brotherhood’s existence to have that happen? Probably not, but it could happen. Boy, wouldn’t that be interesting?

Also, clone shenanigans, because I love them sm

Especially Bad Batch and Domino Squad

And Rex and Cody

My poor babies

But: if the Brotherhood was weakened like in their og universe and they couldn’t investigate (lets say they were compromised by the Sith for a while before the clone wars)

+ Des was born a bit later

Time to aid the rebellion and face destiny!

(If you REALLY want to throw Des into bullshit, like I know you do: Time travel fix it fic with Luke, Leia, Han, and Desmond!)

(You may also include Mandalorian fun, because I also love the Mandos, my other babies <3 Mandalorian culture goes hard and the fics that include them have kidnapped surprise adopted me)

Y’all have fun, I’m tired ^_^💜

[kingdomhate]

You're On Your Period Scenarios!

Anakin Skywalker: It was sudden, not something you were expecting at all. You both were laying on the bed, cuddling while watching a cheesy romantic comedy, Anakin occasionally littering the top of your head with kisses and making snide comments about the predictable plot and select characters. While he said something particularly funny and you laughed, a warm sensation spread across the bundle of blankets and sheets you were sitting on.

"Hold on, pause it. I have to go to the bathroom." You told him, jumping off the mountain of comfy warmth and waddling over to the bathroom, closing the door behind you. Just as you got done, you felt a wave of painful cramps crash over you like waves hitting the shore, except it wasn't comforting or soothing, it hurt, like hell. Standing up, you can see the clear red in the toilet behind you, and the realization hit you. You're on your period. However, this epiphany had also reached Anakin. "Hey, sweetness, what's with the bloodbath on the bed?" He calls, although he knows the answer.

With a grumble, you flush the toilet and grab a pad under the sink and put it on, heading out of the bathroom. "Sorry, Ani. I didn't realize it was time." Anakin laughs, his hand dismissively waving away your apology as if it were a nosy fly. "No need, baby. C'mon, let's cuddle. I'll make you some ramen." He says before taking off the stained blankets and sheets, changing them for another assortment, spraying them with a stain remover and hoarding them into the washer, turning it on. "Get comfy." He instructs with a grin as he goes out to make the ramen he promised.

Obi Wan Kenobi: Obi-Wan and you were talking, it was after one of his numerous meetings with his fellow Jedi masters and Anakin, so he was determined to spend the rest of the time with you. He invited you into his ship and was telling you about his recent missions, recent concernings with the Jedi Order, Senate, etc. while he gently and absentmindedly caressed your hair.

"And that is, stressfully, what today has had in store for me. I hope the Council will understand to make notice of these concerns." He said with a heavy sigh, withdrawing his hand from your hair and rubbing his forehead exhaustedly. "It's okay, Obi. Let's just go home, yeah?" You suggest, knowing from his bustling day, he surely had been tired and his previous action made you aware of that. So, you offered to drive.

"Oh, princess. What would I do without you?" You heard him murmur as his head rested against his hand, gazing at Coruscant. Once you both arrived back at your shared home, you and Obi-Wan silently agreed to fall asleep together. So, Obi-Wan wrapped his arms securely around your lower half and kissed your neck a few times. "Goodnight, my love." Before falling asleep. As did you. But, as you woke up hours later, in the early hours of the AM, you found that your stomach was hurting exponentially. So you carried yourself to the bathroom.

Both in the toilet on the bottom side of your robes, you found the unmistakable sight of red blood and you huffed a sigh of annoyance. Your period had come, and with a vengeance. You scowled as you ripped the pad open and placed it on your underwear and flushed the toilet, pulling up your robes, upset that you had to deal with a week of progressively worse hell. You hurriedly went to the kitchen, fixing yourself a hot snack to help ease the cramps for a bit. Then, you climb into bed beside a peacefully sleeping Obi-Wan. Or so you thought. You feel a hand go to your shoulder and a groggy voice. "What is it, lovely? Has something happened?"

You shake your head. "Nope. Just my period." At this, Obi-Wan let out a soft sigh and his hand trailed down to your stomach, rubbing soothing circles, knowing how bad your cramps and mood swings can get. "Alright, let's go back to sleep. It'll ease them a bit, I'm sure. Tell me if you need anything okay? I love you." He said, stroking your hair until you fell asleep.

Luke Skywalker: It had been the same as always, a scorching day on the rock and desert planet of Tatooine. However, what made it remarkably better was the company of your boyfriend, Luke. His little playful teases and giggles made the day more bearable. Just a few days ago, you had started your period, and Luke, as always, had been sweet to you and attentive, making sure to check in on you before, during and after his farming or little ventures.

He had gotten you a few little souvenirs from his journeys and little trinkets, helping ease your cramps with cuddles and mouth-watering and warm snacks. It was as if he had never complained, no matter what you had asked. It was something you deeply appreciated. "Hey, babe! Guess what? Uncle Owen gave me the rest of the day off!" He announced happily, practically flinging himself into the bed beside you, his arms automatically wrapping around your frame and assaulting your face with sweet, open-mouthed and sloppy kisses.

You giggled and welcomed the affection, telling him how much you loved these moments of happiness with him and he paused for a second. "I love you to death, you know?" He spoke softly, in a voice identical to a whisper like the wind. "Of course I know. I love you too." You told him, cupping his cheek gently. "I'd do anything for you." He whispered again, his lips coming ever so close to yours without touching them. "I would die for you, Y\N." Your heart ached at his words, hoping it would never come to that, ever. "I know, Luke. I'd risk my life to save you, you would never have to die for me." Luke paused, his lips coming in contact with yours, capturing them and your heart in a tender, sweet and devoting kiss.

.

.

Requested by: @m00n-lxght

[david-talks-sw]

Luke Skywalker in 'The Last Jedi' (1/2)

Luke in The Last Jedi... love it or hate it, it's a difficult subject.

I personally stand somewhere in the middle. I don't think Luke was "ruined"... I'd argue that, from a purely in-universe perspective, his subplot actually tracks with what was previously established in the original films.

There are issues, but I think they are mainly found on an out-of-universe/structural level (which I'll get into in post 2/2). For now, let's take a deep dive and unpack why this portrayal isn't all that problematic.

The most commonly-heard argument is that:

"They ruined Luke's character! He would never go into exile or abandon his sister and friends!"

Simply put, Luke used to be:

an optimist

so brave he'd risk his life to save his friends,

aspired to become a Jedi.

Whereas, in The Last Jedi, he's:

jaded and depressed,

hides/abandons his sister and friends, like a coward,

says the Jedi need to die?!

Now the fact is... Luke is 24 years older when he goes into exile, 30 years older in The Last Jedi. People change, with age.

In Luke's case, he matured from an impatient kid who'd rashly run to save his friends, like in Empire Strikes Back, to a grown-up who makes hard choices and restrains himself from doing that, even though he desperately wants to.

Luke tells himself this is a self-sacrifice, this is for the greater good.

"Because he’s the last Jedi and a symbol of that it then becomes this self-sacrifice, he has take himself out of it, when he knows his friends are dying, when the thing he’d most like to do is get back in the fight." - Rian Johnson, The Empire Film Podcast, 2018

And Rian Johnson didn't want Luke to come across as a coward, so he also gave Luke an argument that initially seems to make sense:

The Jedi way is flawed and inevitably leads to arrogance. Proof: the Sith originally came from Jedi. His own new order is no exception to that rule, even if he thought it was (in his arrogance, he believed his own legend).

So if he leaves and stays in exile? No more Jedi, no more Jedi-turned-darksiders that can mess up the galaxy.

The Force will keep trying to balance itself and a new, worthier source will appear (in the form of Rey).

But while his reasoning that "the Jedi are inevitably arrogant" seems sound and reasonable... it's wrong.

Just like Dooku's reasoning that "the Jedi are corrupt" seems sound, but is ultimately wrong.

Just like Anakin's rationalization that "the Jedi are evil" seems sound nope, that one doesn't even seem sound, it's just plain wrong.

Where is it wrong, in Luke's case?

Well, he's rationalizing his actions by blaming the Jedi religion, instead of admitting his own failure.

"The notion of, 'Nope, toss this all away and find something new,' is not really a valid choice, I think. Ultimately, Luke's exile and his justifications for it are all covering over his guilt over Kylo." - Rian Johnson, The Art of The Last Jedi, 2017

"In his own way, [Luke is] trying to disconnect, he’s trying to throw away the past, he’s saying 'Let’s kill [the Jedi] religion. It’s the thing that’s messing us up, thins thing right here, let’s kill it.’ And the truth is, it’s a personal failure. It’s not religion, it’s his own human nature that’s betrayed him." - Rian Johnson, The Empire Film Podcast, 2018

He fucked up, plain and simple.

But it's not because “he’s a Jedi and that made him arrogant and the Jedi mentality is flawed”, as he claims early on in the movie.

He failed because he's flawed. Luke is human and had a moment of weakness where he was scared shitless and acted on instinct.

Yoda's spirit helps him realize this, and he fixes his mistake by allowing Leia and the resistance to save themselves. And as he does it, he acknowledges the importance of the Jedi and their teachings.

And it's also why, in The Rise of Skywalker, he has the maturity to admit that he wasn't staying on the island out of some self-sacrificial gesture, as he kept telling himself. Truth is, he was afraid. Afraid he'd screw up again.

Do the movies go about this in an emotionally-satisfying way? That's debatable. But, on paper, I don't think Luke's behavior in The Last Jedi is too much of a shark-jump considering how

THE ORIGINAL IDEA CAME FROM GEORGE LUCAS!

In the couple of months after the Disney sale, Lucas developed the Sequels with Michael Arndt in late 2012/early 2013, and concept art was made by artists like Christian Alzmann.

Note: the image on the left got a “Fabouloso” stamp of approval from Lucas!

Lucas’ sequels would feature a Luke Skywalker who was a figure like the jaded, reclusive Colonel Kurtz in the movie Apocalypse Now (which, fun fact, Lucas helped write and was originally set to direct).

The reason why Luke was in self-imposed exile wasn’t specified, all we know is that he was:

hiding from the world in a cave,

haunted by the betrayal of one of his students,

and spiritually in a dark place.

Other concept artists, like James Clyne, tried to illustrate the First Jedi Temple and some of the designs were approved by Lucas, such as the one below.

Eventually, Kira the female Jedi-wannabe protagonist (who eventually became Rey) would seek him out so he can train her.

This Luke would be a much more prominent part of Episode VII (instead of only appearing at the end) but still died at the end of Episode VIII.

For sources and more information about George Lucas’ plans for the Sequel Trilogy, read this post.

The only part that wasn't detailed by Lucas were the specifics of why he went into exile. But all in all, this sounds pretty similar to what we got in The Last Jedi.

"Luke would never try to kill Ben!”

I agree. And he didn’t try to kill Ben. He stopped himself.

And this version of the event?

This didn’t happen.

What Kylo tells Rey is his version of the story. And he thinks he’s telling the truth... but his recollection of the event is warped as this was obviously a very traumatic event for him.

"I don't think he's lying actually. In my mind, that was his experience. [...] I think that it's probably twisted a little bit by Kylo's own anger and his own prejudices against Luke, but I feel like he's actually telling her the truth of his experience." - Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi commentary, 2017

The narrative frames the third version of the story as the one that’s objectively how events went down. Because Rey believes him, and Rey is both the protagonist and a stand-in for the audience.

Now, if you think Luke’s word is unreliable and you have an easier time trusting Kylo’s version of the story, go to town.

But I think that if you actually believe would Luke would never try to kill Ben, you’d take Luke's second retelling of the story at face value.

I know I do.

“Okay, but he would never consider killing a child, like Ben. He saw the good in Darth Vader!”

First off, Luke refers to Ben as "a scared boy" because, he's a middle-aged man. But objectively, Ben was 23 years old.

But also, I mean... with Vader, Luke actually had the luxury ignorance.

Do you think would have truly gone on that Second Death Star if he had actually witnessed Vader:

choke his Padmé,

kill Obi-Wan,

actively try to kill Ahsoka,

murder Jedi younglings,

betray and hunt down his other Jedi brothers and sisters,

and cold-bloodedly kill countless innocents, one by one?

There’s a difference between watching him kill Ben Kenobi (who still ‘lived’ as a ghost and talked to him seconds later) and hearing a couple of rebel pilots get blasted in the trench run, and actually seeing all the horrors he’s committed.

Don't get me wrong, Luke knows Vader is evil, absolutely. But if he had seen this side of Vader, the needlessly cruel side...

... I'm not sure he'd have been as compassionate.

Proof: Obi-Wan, someone who deeply loved Anakin (to the point where he could never bring himself to kill him), someone that genuinely wishes that Luke can redeem him... also feels that, realistically, attempting to do so would be pointless.

And hell, even without really seeing all the massacres Vader committed, the second the latter threatened his sister, Luke went berserk and almost killed him!

So the question becomes:

“What could make Luke - trained Jedi Master, long-time optimist and overall compassionate to a fault - consider killing Ben?”

All we’re told is that he looked into Ben’s mind and saw darkness and the destruction, pain, death, and the end of everything he loves.

The specifics are left to our imagination. They could include:

the sight of Kylo slaughtering his parents and Chewie with a smile on his blood-smeared face,

the smell of Han's burning flesh in the air,

the wails of Chewbacca as he's run through by Kylo,

the faint sound of Leia's tears hitting the ground,

the destruction of the New Republic's citizens and planets.

Whatever it may have been, it was intense. Because Force-induced visions are vivid as hell, as has been shown throughout the franchise.

It's not like watching something on a TV, you're there, all your senses are affected in an extremely powerful way.

And the vision Luke experienced scared him so much that even shortly after it, when looking at a sleeping young man, all he sees is that evil monster from the vision. So he tremblingly draws his saber.

But it's evident that Luke wasn't thinking clearly or rationally.

His base emotions had taken the wheel, he was being tempted by the Dark Side.

"He doesn’t give in to the Dark Side, it’s a moment of temptation to the Dark Side. It reminds me very much of when Vader is tempting Luke, when Luke is underneath the stairs in [Return of the] Jedi, lit with that very beautiful half-and-half, the duality of these two sides of him being pulled. And that’s really what that moment is for me, it’s a moment of temptation to the Dark Side for Luke." - Rian Johnson, IGN, 2017

And yet despite seeing all that... Luke catches himself.

It's not the first time that Luke almost does something horrible to a family member and catches himself. Again, 24 years prior, he almost murdered his own father in a fit of rage.

The scene in Ben's hut intentionally parallels that outburst he has in Return of the Jedi.

A terrible future is presented before Luke.

He reacts instinctively, is tempted by the Dark Side.

He snaps out of it.

Even the angle and framing of the shot is designed to match:

"Some of these parallels are just “it’s a close-up of the same character” but this one was very intentional. It’s why I had him look down at his mechanical hand holding the saber." - Rian Johnson, Twitter, 2019

The only real difference is that, in Return of the Jedi, Luke only comes to his senses after a frenzied onslaught during which he actively tried to kill his own Dad.

24 years later, despite having witnessed that terrible future even more vividly than he did on the Second Death Star, he catches himself merely seconds later. Instead of going on a whole rampage, he stops the moment the lightsaber turns on.

I'd call that "progress".

"But Luke should've learned his lesson and known better than to give in to the Dark Side!"

Resisting the temptation of the Dark Side is by no means a one-and-done thing. It's not a power-up that you get, it's a constant struggle.

"I think it disrespects the character of Luke by treating him not as a true mythic hero overcoming recurring wounds & flaws, but as a video game character who has achieved a binary, permanent power-up." - Rian Johnson, Twitter, 2019

Dave Filoni says so too.

"In the end, it’s about fundamentally becoming selfless, moreso than selfish. It seems so simple, but it’s so hard to do. And when you’re tempted by the dark side, you don’t overcome it once in life and then you’re good. It’s a constant." - Dave Filoni, Rebels Remembered, 2019

Hell, even George Lucas stated something along those lines:

"The Sith practice the dark side and are way out of balance. The Jedi aren’t as much out of balance because they’re the light side of the Force. They still have the bad side of the Force in them, but they keep it in check. It’s always there, so it can always erupt if you let your guard down." - George Lucas, The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005, 2020

Learning the lesson once doesn't mean you've learned it forever. Especially with the Dark Side, which poses a never-ending battle.

In-universe examples: Anakin learned to let go of his attachments during the “Padawan Lost” arc of TCW.

A year and a half later, he’s butchering kids because he can’t let go of his attachments.

And during wartime, Yoda found himself repressing his darker instincts and ignoring their existence. Thus, when he had to face them, he struggled to acknowledge and control them.

So considering Luke didn't go "rampage mode" with Ben, as he did when he tried to kill Vader, I think he deserves some credit.

Finally, I've heard this insane argument many times, as a response to the above points:

"Yeah but Luke wasn't actually trying to kill Vader! He was holding back, he was trying to keep him alive!"

And, uh... no. He wasn't.

He lost his shit, folks. And almost killed Vader.

Like, right here?

⬆️ If Vader hadn’t moved his saber to intercept Luke’s blade, Luke would’ve stabbed Vader in the face.

⬆️ If Vader hadn’t held his sword up in time, SWISH, there goes the top of his helmet AT LEAST, if not the rest of his head.

⬆️ If Vader hadn’t dodged he’d be chopped in two.

⬆️ If Vader’s arm gave out slightly sooner, if his blade faltered just a little lower, if he loosened his grip on his saber a bit, Vader would be cleaved in two.

My point is that if you swing at someone with a lightsaber? They’ll get chopped. And if you aim for the head or the chest? You’re trying to kill them.

Before Luke got a grip, throughout that whole rampage, the only thing that kept Vader alive was his own skill.

Otherwise, Luke would’ve murdered him in a fit of rage.

If Luke was holding back, then the theme of "resisting the Dark Side" completely falls apart.

There's no indication that he was restraining himself, in he script.

And just look at the imagery.

Luke is surrounded by darkness, symbolizing how he's being seduced by the Dark Side, he's being tempted to give in to his anger towards the man who hurt his friends and took his hand.

Then Vader threatens Leia.

And the next time we see Luke, he's silhouetted, his face is all black.

Luke was originally trying to hold back and talk Vader down, but fails to control his instincts and gives in to fear, to anger, to the Dark Side... and goes all out.

He swings at his father furiously and keeps swinging, until he cuts off Vader's hand... and he is about to deliver the final blow…

… when he sees Vader’s mechanical hand and realizes that by giving in to his anger, that path will inevitably lead him to become exactly like this half-machine half-man laying at his feet. That’s where the path to power leads.

And so he makes a decision:

He’s a Jedi. Like his father before him. His compassion for Anakin is stronger than his hate for Vader.

That's the narrative intent.

It has to be.

Because if he had been "holding back" throughout that entire bit, then the stakes are lowered immeasurably, John Williams' saddening score is misplaced, the lightsaber choreography is misleading, etc.

For the above-listed reasons, I think Luke's portrayal in The Last Jedi doesn't really contradict anything in the previously-established lore. It works, it's the typical "old cowboy needs to get back in the saddle" trope. Frankly, I can defend this subject all day long... so where's the problem?

The problem comes in at an out-of-universe level. While it's not inconsistent... it's also not satisfying.

The thing is, if you...

... take one of the most brave and optimistic characters in the franchise, then open the film saying "well, now he's jaded and in hiding", without giving us context on how he became that way...

... take a character whose arc was specifically about controlling his emotions, then show him be ruled by those emotions without providing context for what made him do that...

... then that kills the suspension of disbelief, for a lot of fans.

And, as such, they'll have a much harder time going along with what you're saying.

Because "show, don't tell" is one of the most basic principles in visual storytelling. And we weren't shown:

"Ben being increasingly violent during training",

"Luke sitting Ben down and having a talk with him, only to be ignored" or

"the horrors Luke saw in Ben's head".

I have no doubt that those things happened, in-universe.

But if we're talking about a movie-going experience, many were left emotionally-unsatisfied.

Because all that stuff was in there... but only subtextually. It was up to the fans to imagine on the details. Normally, I'd argue that's what Star Wars is all about: allowing fans to dream and think outside the box. But in this specific case, I think many fans would've rather had a more complete and explicit story. Because it's Luke Skywalker.

And yet... even these structural and writing issues had a logic behind them, and if you ask me... there was no other direction that this story could be taken in.

We'll explore this in more detail in part 2/2.

[antianakin]

I HATE when people point out Anakin's youth as an excuse for his awful behaviors. Yeah, sure, he's 19-22, which irl is pretty young and people do dumb shit at that age. But you know what? If a 19-22 year old decided to commit a massacre they would still be counted as an adult and treated as an adult who made a very purposeful decision.

And Anakin is a KNIGHT by TCW, he's been granted that responsibility and trust, he's literally leading a battalion of hundreds of thousands of men, he's granted responsibility of a child's welfare and training, he's an ambassador for the Jedi Order and the Republic. He doesn't get the excuse of "he's just young, he's trying" anymore. He is now OBLIGATED to do better than try. As Yoda would say, he needs to commit. He has to start DOING, not just trying. I don't give a shit if he's "trying" to be mature when he's making the whole ass choice to fuck up elsewhere. When he's making the CHOICE to be an asshole elsewhere. When he's making the CHOICE to break vows elsewhere. It does not MATTER if he tries a little by parroting some Jedi phrases at Ahsoka once when he doesn't follow those teachings himself at any point that it matters. That's not trying, that's just being a hypocrite.

If Anakin were a 22 year old PADAWAN still, under the guidance of a Master still himself, I might be more lenient. Sure, he's still allowed to be in a "trying" stage. I'd honestly argue he's a little OLD to still be in a "trying" stage, but he's at least acknowledged to still not be ready enough for the kinds of responsibility a Knight has. Anakin does not have the luxury of being able to just "try" to be better anymore, though. No one's going to be able to step in and finish the job he can't, no one can fix his dumb mistakes when he inevitably fails. He has to DO better, and he doesn't. Consistently, he doesn't.

So it doesn't matter that he's young, it just doesn't. Fuck that. Leia is literally fighting an Empire and joining a Rebellion at 10 years old. Luke is fighting an Empire at 19. Padme steps up to be a leader when her planet is invaded at 14. Anakin being young is not an excuse when tons of other young characters are clearly already making better choices at his age and younger. They're all past the "trying" stage by 22 because they all recognize they need to be better in truth, not just in words.

Stop pretending like Anakin's actions can be excused by his youth, it isn't actually true.

[stardustkylos]

you’re sitting in the theater. it’s been 15 years since episode IX, the text crawl informs us.

rey nobody palpatine skywalker wears her hair in nine buns and now has her own jedi order that, to show growth and development, now has a bunch of female jedi! but to make sure that the lore is followed, the jedi are still the exact same #fandomrespect. no grey jedi shit allowed here.

rey nobody palpatine skywalker still has the millennium falcon (there’s a sequence where she looks at it in awe still for the audience to clap to. john williams tune plays in the background). bb-8 is also shown here. nostalgia.

baby yoda aka grogu will make an appearance. fan favorite! need to get him in there. force ghost luke is also hanging around because you know, need to fix what TLJ did!!! but rey nobody palpatine skywalker calls the final shots bc you know…….girlboss.

a student asks her about kylo ren and rey nobody palpatine skywalker talks about how good the jedi are and how bad darkness is. finn and poe call in randomly but disney doesn’t commit to them being canon so they can sell the movie in china. they give finn a lightsaber as well to fix what they did before.

the villain is once again a dark side force user. saber battle. john williams score plays. multiple glup shittos join rey in the battle. force ghost kylo ren appears for 5 minutes. they make an anakin reference as well. you have tears streaming down your face.

it ends with rey nobody palpatine skywalker giving a speech about how darkness will always exist but the jedi will always maintain order. she smiles into the camera. the camera pans over to grogu cackling. is it a sign of something? the film ends.

you walk out of the theater, buzzing with excitement. the star war has become you once again.

[dailydragon08]

New Shirt

See my full masterlist and read on AO3 here.

Pairing: Luke Skywalker x F!Jedi!Reader Summary: You and Luke discover he has a thing for off-the-shoulder shirts and v-necks at the same time. Warnings: gets a little steamy, but no smut. A/N:  "Remnants" is a series of one shots in no particular order about the budding relationship between you and Luke as he trains you in the ways of the Force.

***

“Hey, handsome,” you said, softly trailing your fingertips over Luke’s back where he stood at the workshop counter. 

His affection flowed strongly to you through the Force, a sense of peace at your presence blanketing it like a cocoon. “Hey, beautiful.” He turned to meet your eyes, a soft, lovestruck smile already on his face. It was quickly wiped away as he did a double take, watching as you moved to a different counter to start your own project. 

You threw a smile his way before turning to the tools and pieces in front of you. Before you could get too deep in your work, strong hands grasped your waist and quickly spun you around. You made a small sound of surprise as your arms slid to rest on his shoulders. “Well, hello,” you laughed. 

“Hi,” he said quietly, staring at you in awe. “Is this a new shirt?”

“Oh. Yeah.” You looked down to inspect the soft white V-neck. It was a tad big on you, but it was so comfy you couldn’t resist wearing it. However, its large size meant the neck went much lower than your usual style and exposed more of your shoulders than normal. You knew he cared about you, but your relationship was still new, and you felt a little nervous under the intensity of his gaze. You pulled one of the sleeves lower over your hand to play with the hem, muttering an oops as it made the collar slide off your shoulder. 

You moved to fix it, but Luke caught your hand mid-air. “No, no, don’t….” His wide blue eyes stared at you in open admiration, his thumb gently swiping over your exposed skin. “Maker, you’re beautiful.”

You laughed, looking down nervously. “Didn’t know you had a thing for off-the-shoulder V-necks.”

He chuckled breathlessly, his pointer and middle fingertips gently caressing your jawline as he shook his head. “I…didn’t either. Not until you walked in looking like that.”

Any reply quickly left your mind as his fingers traced a feather-light trail down your neck and over your collarbone. He hesitated, a question in his eyes as his fingers paused near the top of your chest. You took a deep breath and nodded. 

His eyes followed his fingers as they gently descended the collar, skimming your chest until they reached the top button of your shirt. He stared in something akin to disbelief as if he’d successfully bottled lightning (which, as powerful as he was in the Force, he probably could). You felt your stomach somersault as the need for him to touch more of you intensified. 

“So,” you said shakily as you recovered enough to speak, “I’m taking it I should wear this shirt more often?”

He nodded so vigorously his hair bounced, making you laugh. “Maker, yes, every day.”

You giggled, letting out a noise of surprise as he grabbed your waist and plopped you on the counter. You wrapped your legs around his waist, snaking your arms around his shoulders as his slid around your middle. You felt him melt against you as you kissed him, letting your fingers slide up his shoulder to wrap around his neck. His hands smoothed up and down your sides as he deepened the kiss, sighing contentedly into your mouth. His mouth moved to trail kisses along your jaw, down your neck, and further to show just how much he appreciated your new V-neck. 

[lavandula-ipsum]

The sweet waters of Plegethon

Asphodels ch. 2/2

Tags: dark!Luke x Fem!Reader, force sensitive reader, reader is injured, porn with plot, angst, smut. Like, this is the smut bomb of the series.

Summary: Waiting to be torn apart once again, two lovers find each other under the stars.

Asphodels is a sequel to Pomegranate, a short smut series that has kinda ended up growing a plot. I do think you can enjoy this part without the previous one, since you can infer enough of their dynamic from context if you're just here for the smutty fun. Feel free to check the previous chapters if you feel like it!

Asphodels pt. 1

It was a hard job convincing the rebel survivors that all they needed to do to avoid the mortal threat of the stormtroopers closing in around them was to take refuge in the caves and just wait for them to just leave. Huddled in the tunnels, the children of the Rebellion look up and fear that the promise won’t save them. There is a twinkle of understanding in (Y/N)’s new ally, old Imoviah, when she assures him they will be safe for now.

As soon as it mlike the danger has passed them by, the rebel captain hurries back to the cell where her prisoner awaits. Shame nails her eyes to the floor at first, handing him the comlink as she swallows thickly. She’s forgotten herself again, and now she has to deal with having to manage problems so abysmally different in nature she’d need to split herself in two for it. But she needs to suck it up and be a big girl today. Politics must come first.

After Luke dials in the code, he puts the device back on her palm, his hand lingering for a bit. At least he doesn’t seem resentful for leaving him like she did, bothered and denied. She mentally hushes herself, she needs to focus

“It will be alright, I swear,” he assures. The rebel tries to paint her expression with all of her resolve and hopes the Sith lord can’t choke her through this distance.

Suddenly, the little communicator emits the ambience buzz that indicates there’s someone listening on the other side. Faintly, the dreaded sound of a mechanic breathing echoes.

“Excuse me if I don’t introduce myself properly, lord Vader. I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

“I am well aware of who you are. And you will tell me, right now, how you obtained that communicator as well as this code.”

Her blood freezes at the idea that he already knows her. They have never met face to face, apart from a couple of occasions when her ship narrowly avoided capture by his TIE fighters while he looked down on the hunt from the Executor. Even then, his cold ghost managed to freeze the Force around her like a nasty omen. There was also the quick encounter at Bespin, though there wasn’t much time for pleasantries back then. No, he either has gathered intel about her, for whatever chilling reason, or Luke has been talking about her. She suddenly feels out of her own body and shudders at the ridiculous concept of Vader giving ear to the fallen Jedi’s story about a girl he almost came to love.

“That’s the interesting part, my lord. You see, right now I have in my power a certain prized someone you might be interested in getting back.”

Luke rolls his eyes at her, which lightens her heart a little bit. It almost makes her enjoy getting threats in exchange.

“You might think you scored some kind of goal with this, but no matter what you do, even if my troops have been ordered to spare your cowardly rats in hiding for now, the Rebellion is doomed.”

“I’ll keep my prisoner for myself then. Maybe I’ll find some better use for him before we’re all dead at your feet, my lord.”

“Your tone is starting to become cumbersome, girl.” He doesn’t need to raise his filtered voice for her to feel a dreadful cold creeping up the back of her neck. “I demand proof that he is unharmed.”

Luke steps forward, his eyes fixed on the girl at all times, reassuring that she’s navigating this delicate situation successfully but a little fearful it could all fall down with just a wrong word. “I’m here, father. Please, listen to her.”

Silence. For a few moments, only a faint metallic breathing comes out of the comlink. (Y/N) realizes now she’s been squeezing Luke’s hand too hard. She barely dares to even breathe until lord Vader speaks again.

“Alright, go on. And do not test my patience any further, rebel. Consider yourself greatly privileged to be having this conversation.”

(Y/N) is not aware of the dark lord having any tolerance whatsoever so, with a slight triumphant smirk on her lips, she continues. “These are my demands, Lord Vader.”

****

After long hours of packing and preparation to evacuate the refuge under the sanctuary, night has fallen once again over the forest. Right now, somewhere, the survivors must be leaving the surface of Jolah on a brand new Imperial transport. Even though they’ve taken all the precautions available to them to prevent being followed, (Y/N) still fears it might not be enough. However, the only thing she can do now is let them go and trust that her plan will work.

The silence is broken by the beeping in her hands right before Imoviah’s voice comes out of her comlink

“The starbird has taken flight. Good work.”

She sighs. “Thank you, friend. Take care. I hope our paths will meet again soon.”

“Likewise. May the Force be with you, girl.”

(Y/N) tries to answer it back, but the woshrds can’t find their way out before the communication is cut. So all she can do is reduced to just sitting there, her glossy eyes blurring the stars above her, as her fingers tear apart one of the wild flowers growing through the crevices of the stone table they’re sitting on.

“You’ve done it, they’re safe”

At her side sits her only source of warmth in this cold night. It’s Luke’s arm against hers that keeps her feet on the ground now that she feels like she’s inhabiting a stranger’s corpse. Perhaps the sensation has been accompanying her for a while. It’s by his side that she’s finally able to see the tension and constant nausea that’s taken hold of her body the last few hours.

His stun cuffs suddenly come undone and fall to the floor. Luke gives her a confused grin, but she looks away. She trusts him enough to free him. No, it’s way more than that, dangerously so. (Y/N) yearns to give him anything he might ask for. However, the question of why she’s waited this long to do it keeps her tongue tied in a knot.

The rebel also hands him back his lightsaber. The corrupted inner sizzling of the agonizing kyber crystal has been making her sick with the memories of how much time and effort he put into building it, how she clapped and laughed the first time she got to see the emerald blade. I'm proud of you, she had said after kissing his cheek.

And as revolting as its aura echoes in the Force, she feels a little colder after it's no longer in her hands. A cloud lifts in her brain too. It will be a while before Vader’s shuttle appears, a few hours at least. Hours she doesn’t feel like using on running away.

If only there was something that could keep him by her side.

“Your sister still believes in you, you know?”

“She does?” Luke seems surprised at first, but then he shakes his head. “That is too far gone.”

She’s too tired to fight about this again, so she just sighs and sinks down a little.

“Have you thought about how you’re going to get away?” he says.

“I was thinking of stealing your fighter, actually.”

He grimaces, but doesn’t complain further. “I guess that’s fair.”

(Y/N) groans and rubs her forehead on his shoulder. It takes him by surprise, but it prompts him to relax a little and open up his cloak so she can take refuge under it. But she can’t allow herself to rest while she still has homework left to do.

“You can have your questions now.”

A furrow appears on his brow, displeased by her transactional attitude. However, curiosity ends up being more powerful. “Is Leia being trained?”

“Yes.”

“By whom?”

“You don’t know her.” (Y/N) glares at him before standing up to pace around with the help of her walking stick, anxious. Even though she feels the blunt pull of the stitches on her leg, the movement helps clear her head. This is a subject she’s not willing to get into, and every word that slips out could be fatal to someone else. Thankfully, Luke seems willing to drop the issue.

“Where is your lightsaber?”

“I gave it to her.” However, he doesn’t seem satisfied with this vague answer. She thinks of a lie, something like she needed it but, again, Luke is not someone she can lie to. And she’s getting tired of trying to do it. “I did it because I was donafraid of ending up having to fight you.”

“So you’ve given up.”

“I thought you’d be happier about it.”

“I’m not. There’s the chance you’ll see yourself in a bad situation without a way to protect yourself.” His impatient tone also reveals he’s still hurt about what she said earlier, when they fought in the cell. “I never intended to make you weaker.”

“Well, then I guess I’ll have to either surrender or die if I find myself in a pickle.”

It would be easier to embrace either of those decisions if she took it beforehand, wouldn’t it?

The night is cold and the dark hides them, which is known to work the magic to conjure the words that seem impossible at any other time. The young man in black leaves the stone table to go after her, but stops a couple of steps away. His hand twitches at his side.

“Do you hate it when I touch you?”

(Y/N) thought these questions were going to be utilitarian in nature, so she’s about to complain about it for a second. However, she can just sigh at her lack of an answer. The reason why she freaked out when he touched her earlier is a mystery to her too. She liked it when he caged her between his bound hands and the wall to kiss her. It was sudden and desperate, with a passionate sense of urgency that could’ve been mistaken for roughness if she didn’t know him as well as she does. No, this fear has bloomed from a seed planted way before, that very first night they shared after learning of his betrayal. She steps closer to squeeze his hand, relieved by him reciprocating the gesture.

“I don’t. It’s just- Kark, I’m not sure I can explain it. ”

“Will you try for me?” he asks, need glimmering in his eyes.

“I think it started… the last time we were together. I was so confused. I lost myself and acted like a brat. I gave in to the idea that the pleasure would erase the pain, but then I felt so guilty. It wasn’t fair to you.”

“You don’t have to feel bad about it. I needed you too.”

“That’s why I tried to regain control. I wanted to give you everything, I really did.” She swallows a sob. “But I couldn’t picture myself surviving, or at least the part of me that matters, if I didn’t run away. So I did. And now I’m not even sure if it’s still alive.”

Luke’s fingertips graze the back of her hand on the walking stick, and a shy flutter reaches her through the Force as he gently takes her hand, slowly enough to watch in her expression and feel in her signature that he’s not overstepping, and presses his lips on her knuckles, “I don’t blame you.”

“I didn’t know I was going to react like that earlier. I was so focused on the little time we had I didn’t realize how scared I was.”

“Of me?”

“No, no. Of myself. I was terrified of losing control.” (Y/N) nuzzles his shoulder, every word a struggle. “I’m sorry, I’m a mess. I don't mean to mislead you. Isn't it messed up that I behave like this when I'm supposed to fight you?”

The finger tracing down her cheek melts her worries away until they’re just a bittersweet aftertaste in her mouth. “I’ll gladly take all you're willing to give.”

Grabbing his shirt collar, she gently brings him closer till their lips meet. The kiss is sweet and light, slow as if they had all the time in the world. Clean.

“Such a lovely mess,” he whispers against her mouth. She groans, sensing yet another worry fluttering around his aura.

“How many more questions do you have?”

“Only one. But it’s a bit selfish.”

“I promised I would answer. Shoot.”

“Do you still love me?”

Luke retreats back a little to look at her better, his gloved hand still under her chin. The frail hope trembling behind his eyes breaks her heart a little.

“I do. I love you. But I still hate you too.”

The wind lightly tousles his hair as a watery chuckle escapes his throat. He’s relieved. “I know. Don’t worry. Don’t let it hurt you any more than it needs to.”

This time it’s him who leans down to kiss her, holding her face between his palms as he gently parts her lips. Their invisible bond ripples with a wave of gratitude. Suddenly, she feels a little embarrassed about earlier, when she went straight to shove her hand down his pants.

“Your eyes are wandering, love.”

“I was feeling a bit guilty about something else, that’s all.” As (Y/N) looks down, finding by the tension on his pants that affairs are more or less where she left them. “I’m sorry I had to leave you like that earlier. I thought you would have, I don’t know, done something about it by now.”

His eyelashes flicker as he grows excited and flustered in equal measure with the understanding of what she’s referring to. “I haven’t.”

“Were you waiting for me?”

He nods, his fingers threading her hair, exploring her features in the search for a signal that she’s not out of his grasp yet. “Are you ready to let go a little? Only as much as you want to.”

The rebel delves in for another kiss, a tiny spark catching fire as her hands travel down his torso with a hungry caress. However, before they can reach his belt buckle, he stops her, a sweet smirk across his face. Without ever letting go of her hand, he takes her back to the carved table, where he sits in a purposely open position. However, doubt briefly returns to him just as she curls up in between his legs.

“I told you to take everything the other time, didn’t I?”

“Do you really think this is the place?” he teases, his hands all over her, carefully exploring every little limit each of the curves of her body represents before lovingly conquering the next one.

“What? Are you missing the cell? Or was it the stun cuffs that did the trick for you?”

Luke shakes his head, muffling a chuckle with a kiss under her ear, “I just wished I could give you something better than this rock.”

The rebel briefly thinks of the time she spent in his quarters, of the gigantic bed with silly silk sheets and at least a dozen fluffy pillows to comfortably plop herself on. Yeah, their first time could have been quite comfortable there, in theory. More than on rock and moss, under the cold stars. On the other hand, she doesn’t miss the constant buzz of the imperial cruiser, the many tiny signatures of officers and stormtroopers running around. No, this place feels far more peaceful. It lacks the luxury, but also all those other reminders that she’s already lost him.

Impatient to give herself fully this time, she guides his hands up her waist. Luke barely dares to brush the curve of her breast until she coaxes him to discover the hardness of her nipples through the fabric of her tunic. Watching over her shoulder, burning breath on her skin, his thumbs swivel over them, twisting them subtly between his thumb and middle finger while the index rubs the tip raw until little whines start escaping her throat.

Under her, his hardness grinds against her ass as she unconsciously swivels, anticipating the release of all the pent up heat cruelly repressed all day. The fire has spread to his hands, that turn her around so she faces him, impatiently undoing the laces closing off her dress. His hungry mouth leaves a tingly path of kisses along her collarbone in its way down to her tits, tender and sensitive under the unabashed wet sounds of his suckling. She cries out with that first frenzied attack, making him look up from where he’s devoted to the task of making her lose her mind. As an apology, his tongue becomes gentler, but the girl grabs the back of his hair and brings him closer again, begging for more. After a moaned hum, Luke sucks more intensely again, leaving her weaker by the second and dependent on the support of his arms around her waist.

Unable to bear the insufficient friction any longer, Luke lays her down, spreading his cloak over the carvings to protect her from the cold stone. (Y/N) briefly ponders what could the intended use of this altar have been, the sacred knowledge she should be diligently gathering to study it later, before having to hand this sanctuary over to the enemy. Instead, she’s getting fucked on it. Ravenous hands undo fastenings, take off shoes and outer clothes as their mouths look for each other again. His lips take a detour down the contours of her throat, then her shoulder, setting each centimeter of skin on fire as soon as it’s revealed to the cold night air.

But before Luke can realize his intentions of journeying down her body, she stops him by the collar of his open shirt. Though her anxious hastiness is momentarily driven to his skin as she falls quickly to the allure posed by the mauvish lines of his scars. (Y/N) grips her healthy leg around his waist in order to bring him close enough to kiss them. His heart beats fast under her tongue as she faithfully tends to that darker nest marking his chest, then following the paths of lightning to his neck while her hands caress tingly trails down his hips. Luke curses under his breath.

“Need you,” she begs, rolling her hips upwards against his erection, loving how it grows and throbs following her touches.

“You got me already,” he promises in between kisses, ”you got everything.”

With a quick movement of her fingers, she slips his cock under her panties, rocking her hips against it. “I want you inside.”

“Impatient, aren’t we?”

“I’m serious,” she whines.

“You’re soaking wet.” A note of morbid pride tints his voice, slowly grinding as the movement bulging through her panties teases her lips open. His voice is slipping out already. Their combined dance rubs her swollen clit, each stroke smearing precum on her underwear until the fabric is soaked. “You sure?”

With an excited hum, she captures his mouth again and devours it as his hands tug down on the elastic around her waist to take her panties off, his heated palms always careful to stroke around the bandages on her thigh. She gasps impatiently when she feels the warm pulse of the tip against her, making a nasty wet sound at first contact. Luke strokes her cheek, the gentle caress of his thumb on her lips, gaze locked with hers as they toy with the edge of this one last limit between them. Until, with a dallying thrust, his cock finally delves inside.

Despite the lubrication and his slow advances, the tension pulls a gasp and then a brittle whimper from within her. She’s already had him in her hand and in her mouth, and still she’s clearly overestimated how quickly she could take him.

“You ok?” he asks in a whisper. (Y/N) nods, fervent to deepen this feeling of being stretched so sweetly by him. Even though she shouldn’t find it pleasurable, he does it so deliciously slow she’s willing to take it all. So she wraps her healthy leg around him and brings him closer, making his cock finally sink all the way down into her. Luke shudders and shoots her an exasperated look, though lust-filled still.

“T-too tight.” However, she grips tighter, taken by the tingly wave of euphoria that just washed over her brain, erasing every other thought or sensation that isn't his body on her, breathing fire on her throat, her hole stuffed. “Don't do that, not yet, f-fuck.”

Oh, so he needs a bit to adjust too. It's probably her fault, for rushing into this without proper preparation. She probably shouldn't have, for both of their sakes, but those little whines he's making are too glorious to think of anything else. So she praises him, you're stretching me so nicely, and then he finally thrusts, his motions flowing at a lazy pace, still shy because of the fear of hitting a tender spot. Don't hold back, she begs. As Luke obliges, she lets out a thankful moan while he’s immersed in the slow plunging inside of her, seemingly spellbound.

“That’s it, love. Just like that,” he mutters, his voice hoarse. Luke pounds into her hard yet slow, deep. And yet, not a single time her wound gets grazed or her thigh handled in a way that makes it hurt more than it already does. She aches to switch places and be on top, but her wounded leg won’t let her, rolling her hips desperately to feel him deeper inside. Her frustrations get interrupted by a kiss.

“Please, let me serve you this time,” he pants against her lips, as if he’s sensed her thoughts dispersing. Fuck, of course he’d say this. He’s tried to hide it, but she knows damn well how he’s been enjoying himself all day, trying to help her covertly. “I’ve been needing you for so long. It’s been s-so long.”

She props herself on her elbows to follow after him, to kiss and nibble under his jawline. His hand at the back of her head keeps her close, the intimate gesture radiating a warm feeling that makes her clench harder involuntarily.

“Been missing you too, Luke. I thought of you every waking moment.”

They didn’t dare reach this step their first time together. There was expectation in the air, a need to wait and see where loyalties and affections lied and what might end up weighing more in the scales. Now (Y/N) knows more about her principles than she would have liked. She has seen the cost of his betrayal, tasted the pain and the bitterness of everything she held dear being twisted and stomped until she couldn’t recognize it anymore. And she hates herself for still loving him through it all.

It would be easier if she could keep her love contained in her chest, but she can’t hide it from him. Neither can he keep his own feelings locked down, even if she finds them so hard to believe. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to give in to the yearning of her flesh.

The tentative taste they had of each other last time now seems like an innocent game. The rebel feels spent and disillusioned enough to recognize the futility in the little hope she kept tucked away that maybe Luke would come to hold her hand and leave the shadow together. Now, pain has ruined her world beyond fixing. 

This just feels plain wrong and yet she enjoys it that way.

“That’s it, use me. Please, use me,” he begs, tightly pressing their bodies together so her clit gets that intoxicating friction she’s been chasing. “Use me.”

(Y/N) can’t help but softly whine his name, gripping his hips and steering him deeper into her pleasure before sinking her teeth in his shoulder. The sudden sharpness steals from him a deep moan and makes Luke embrace her even more firmly against him.

“Is it good?” he asks in between hasty exhales, “Please, please, tell me.”

“L-love you inside of me,” she manages to articulate, interrupted by her own voice cracking while trying to repeat it, the word love melting into incoherent whines. Each of those deep thrusts tests the limits of what she’d thought she’d be willing to take.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

She whimpers, unsuccessful at weaving coherent thoughts. There’s only his hands on her skin, that alluring frontier of his open shirt, an ever moving limit she’s burning to mark with her kisses following the lightning scars. His cock plunging desperately into her, making her head feel light and drunk with lust. Oh, her face must be pitiful right now. “F-feels good. More, please, more."

Limbs entangled, bodies hardly pressed and brushing against each other, Luke huffs loudly in her ear, one hand pressing her hips closer, the other cradling the back of her head. The impatient pounding turns to a deep rocking, smearing their combined juices all over where their skins brush together in the addicting chase of release. 

He praises her. So good for me. So nice and wet for me. And that seals it for her. In a broken chain of desperate whimpers she begs him to go faster, she grinds her hips harder against him, fingers digging into her flesh, until her legs shake. Every wave of evergrowing pleasure tightens her up, pushing his cock deeper as delight overflows all of her senses. Her head falls to rest weakly on the arm holding her, tingles still clouding her vision.

A mischievous smirk lights up Luke’s face.

“Did you just cum?”

She can just let out a faint moan in response. He gently brushes her messy hair away from her face in search of the flushed bliss across her cheeks, and he licks his lips as he softly caresses hers. It’s cute how he seems so damn proud of himself.  

“Stars, you’re beautiful. That just felt so good, it almost-” One of those last waves tenses her up around him and drowns his words.”S-stop, please.”

“But you just made me cum,” she teases, her body coiling around him with the rolling of her hips, “so hard.”

“Please, sweetheart. I wanna fuck you more.”

Luke leans down to taste her mouth once again, so her yes gets melted together with the blazing kiss. Her body, sensitive and vulnerable, screams from the inside when he starts moving again. Ah, it’s almost too much. Luke spreads her legs wide now, a gloved palm on her injured thigh pushing it up with the utmost care, and slowly picks up the pace. This new angle hits a sensitive spot within her, still tender after her orgasm.

“During every damned boring meeting I… I could only think of fucking you on the war room table,” he breathes out, railing into her with every word.

“In front of all those generals?”

“Well, no-” but his answer makes her laugh and clench around him, making his whole body shiver. “Oh, fuck.”

Pent up beyond what he can take, broken pleas loosely woven into his loud whimpers, Luke grabs her hips and ruts into them in a frenzy at a deep angle, the desperate thrusts making all of her thoughts vanish. Take it. Take it, he groans, like in a trance, most of his weight pinning her down while her broken sobs are all she has left to express how amazing it feelsple. For her, everything fades except his name spilling off her tongue like a deranged chant. 

“Where should I-?” He manages to string out, “…please, tell me, I can't take it anymore.”

“No, you tell me.” She has a feeling that she already knows the answer, but asks anyway, “Tell me where you're gonna cum.”

“I…” he moans. In his eyes she sees how he’s struggling to not completely lose his mind after a whole day of torture.

“Tell me.”

‘I-inside. Let me cum inside you, please. Please, please, please.”

She closes a fist around his hair to bring him close. Do it. Cum for me, she whispers. And the command finally pushes him over the edge. Luke moans her name in her ear, his fingers digging hard into her hips as he comes undone. 

With her limbs warmly tangled around him, they find each other for a breathless kiss. However, she finds herself still rolling her hips, enjoying those last lazy thrusts as he becomes softer inside of her, thick cum starting to drip down onto the carved stone. Luke sinks his head into the crook of her neck and, feeling him shiver as the sweat on his back gets cold in the chill night air, she runs her fingers through his hair in a comforting manner while he struggles to catch his breath. There are tears pooling in his eyes when he finally looks at her. It breaks her heart a little how young he suddenly looks to her. 

“I love you, Luke.”

However, playfulness glimmers in his gaze too. “I love you.”

(Y/N) is still trying to figure out this little hunch when his right hand starts stroking down her body, giving a soft squeeze to a tit, then caressing down her waist, finally reaching between her legs. The light stroke of his fingers up the overflowing slit unearths a gasp out of her, caressing the sticky mess until they’re slippery enough to swirl around her swollen clit.

“No, wait, I can’t. I just-”

Luke teases her with a wet kiss under her ear. “But you’re so needy still, love.”

She muffles a moan on the back of her hand, ashamed of how her body is opening up so greedy to the new stimulation. Her legs quiver at the intoxicating rhythm of his fingers; it’s too much, too soon. Gloved fingers go in, filling her lusciously, and her hips grind into them on their own. 

“Do you like my fingers that much?”

The rebel whimpers, defeated. “So much better than mine. Mine haven’t been enough since…”

“Since what?” Pumping deeper into her makes her words come out pitiful through lewd pants. But perhaps that’s his goal.

“Since you.”

Luke is all her wandering mind has been able to conjure during those few times when she’s managed to find enough privacy to hopelessly ram two fingers into her loneliness, longing for him. Indulging those fantasies always leaves her feeling empty, like she’d just betrayed herself, but her inability to find pleasure in anything else had her always coming back to her memories of him.

Suddenly, she feels a slight tingle on her inner thigh. A kiss. 

“Wait, that’s-”

“What?” he taunts, his lips softly brushing up her leg, his fingers still fucking her at a steady pace. Her voice is barely audible over her flustered gasps. 

“Dirty.” She stammers, her back arching with anticipation. "Th- this is so unfair," 

"Is it? Then I'll stop."

She sobs broken complaints, wordlessly begging. And Luke understands perfectly. His hand retreats to make room for his tongue, a flat and slow lick upwards, his icy gaze burning into her mind that delirious image of being eaten out right after he came inside of her. Clumsy in his relative inexperience yet desperate, voracious. His presence grows omnipresent on her skin, his flesh hand now caressing her thighs around him, now cupping a breast, while his gloved fingers pound into her relentlessly, his mouth on her cunt.

"Can I make you cum again? Will you let me?"

She looks down at the way his fingers fuck his seed back into her, obscene sounds escaping through his steamy sighs. And, through this unbearable ascent of her incredulous senses, his eyes always demand her attention. A devilish glint in them tells her that he won't allow her release until she begs for it. He goes back to suck on her clit, overstimulation bringing tears to her eyes. He’s on the verge of ruining her forever.

"I can't. Oh, Luke, please. I can’t."

"I think you can, sweetheart."

She can't muster a sliver of authority by this point, but the adoration in his smile confesses his desire to spoil her. 

“F-fuck. Yes, please, make me cum.”

"Thank you, love. Now, let go. Cum for me."

The licks become pointed, harder, faster; lips, tongue and fingers slipping over their combined fluids. When she squirms, his left hand lays on her stomach to keep her in place, closer to his face as she weakly tries to writhe away from the intense stimulation. Her trembling legs fight to close around him, helpless to resist the overwhelming delirium turning her senses into a devoted mush. 

And then she floats into that white fire. Even through the piercing bliss, she can feel his satisfaction through his pleased moans when she cries out his name, the broken syllables drowned in whimpers. Ah, she’d walk away from everything if he asked now. 

“That’s it,” a loving thumb caresses her lower lip, “love seeing you like this.”

It gently enters past her lips, sliding up and down her tongue suggestively. Leather and musk floods her senses as she blissfully lies there, contemplating this creature with the light of the moon behind him spilling a crown of silver on his head, looking down at her like an angel. She can merely drool on his hand as she pitifully tries to recover her breath. 

That’s when something grazes her knee, awakening her. He's hard again. So she sits up, eager to tend to him. However, he shakes his head. “Look at you, sweetheart. You barely-”

With a glistening finger, she teases the sensitive spot behind the flushed head “What?”

A muffled moan escapes him, all concerns defeated. 

“My beautiful girl,” Luke sighs just as she brings him closer for a kiss, her hand beating him up and down as she satisfies her own ravenous desire to taste them both on his lips.

“Where do you want it?”

“I’d like to be inside you again. But-”

“Then fuck me again,” she smiles. “Please.”

With a passionate kiss, (Y/N) struggles to climb on his lap, but she’s soon taken back by a painful flare on her wound. The captain whines a little, since she’s really eager to ride him until her legs give out. After Luke checks she isn’t in serious pain, he actually finds her pouting adorable. 

His kind hands gently bring her down, her back resting on him as he lies behind her, an arm hugging her waist, the other pushing her injured leg up and out of the way. Inside the warm chest pressed against her back, Luke's heart speeds up as his cock slides into her again. Penetration isn't as deep at this angle, but it rubs just right into that delicious spot.

His lips cover her neck with warm, generous kisses, though she can feel him peeking down to what his hand is doing traveling up from her waist to play with her breasts.

“Enjoy the view?” she teases, receiving  a muffled hum in response. 

Their mouths seek each other, treasuring each dallying thrust. His fingers come to tease her clit, already tender and slick. (Y/N) sobs quietly at the touch, too spent to complain about the maddening pleasure flooding her mind. And in spite of how much it is, far beyond what she can handle, she wants. She still wants hopelessly. What little remains of her, she’s willing to renounce it. 

And she yearns to tell him, she’s about to.

However, Luke silences her with another kiss, leaving her to whimper into his mouth as he gently wipes a tear off her cheek. Why? He could have what he came to this damned system for. Just- why?

It’s hard to think while being relentlessly filled by his thick cock, with his hands around her body pushing her down harder into him as he fucks her slowly.

“That’s it, love. Y-you’re taking me so well.” Though she can tell how much it overwhelms him too, Luke is still making the effort to keep holding her, praising her. Completely enveloped by his embrace, she hasn’t felt this safe in months. “Is this good?”

“Y-yeah, so good. So good for me.”

She shifts a bit to lie on her back so she can reach him better. She craves to look into his gleaming eyes as his fingers pick up the pace. Their hips buck into each other hypnotically, overflowing slick running down their legs. Growing needy as he approaches another climax, Luke moans her name, a tug in the Force sinking down into her chest and pulling desperately towards him, as if she’s going to vanish at any moment. 

“I’m here, Luke,” she reassures him, brushing away some dirty blond locks from his sweaty forehead. “Just like that. S-so close again, angel. Keep fucking me like that. K-keep…”

His heavy breaths turn into whimpers as words melt off his tongue onto hers, and his embrace grips her closer with the hastening of his thrusts. She cries out in sweet agony, overcome with the combined stimulation, unable to break eye contact. You're gonna make me lose my mind. Need and desire burn in the blue of his eyes, his fingers threadinglo her hair as his other hand turns her anguish into her last, glorious flare of pleasure. 

The orgasm tenses her up tightly around him, the aftershocks bringing him down with her along with the cute breaking of his voice, wretchedly loud. Their foreheads come together with those last few attempts to prolong what’s already over, smearing the dripping fluids into a hot, sticky mess over their thighs as his second load starts spilling out, hot and thick. 

Lacing their hands together, Luke’s lashes flutter on her cheek. Love you, he breathes.

Theyb stay there for a few moments, limbs tangled. With tears still streaming down her face, (Y/N) trembles because of the exhaustion as much as the biting cold. It's the perfect circumstance to hide a shuddering heart. A warm hand comes to rest on her face, as tender eyes take in the bliss in her features. Luke drapes his cloak over her, a soft smile on his face, so she can’t help but pull him closer under the cloak and kiss him, greedily holding his blazing cheeks between her palms. 

“You’re cold, I’m sorry.” His arms envelop her weakened frame. As she nuzzles his shoulder, he lets out a faint chuckle. “In the end you were able to do both things, rebel. Have the prisoner and fuck him too.”

“Not sure if I’ve been a good rebel, though,” she says, tracing a finger down a lightning scar before giving it a light kiss. Luke cradles her head closer, his cheek pressed on her forehead. The heart under her palm, the point from where the mauvish spiderweb expands, slowly relaxes its beating.

His eyes turn up, caught by a far away tingling in his senses. Their time together is coming to a close.

Dreading the possibility of being found naked by the incoming shuttle and her masked pilot, (Y/N) finally sits up to put on her tunic, which Luke imitates, though not without a whiny puff. When sitting up, she realizes the extent of the mess between her legs, though she has no other option right now than get dressed and let it dry on her skin. However, the euphoria of that third high still persists in her brain too much to find it gross.

When looking for the rest of  her clothes, a certain item seems to be eluding her. It isn’t long till she spots it in Luke’s hand.

“I kept the other pair. Would you mind…?”

“Starting up quite the collection, Skywalker.” 

“Keep the cloak in exchange. You’re gonna need it.” She laughs and nods, after which he puts the ruined panties in his pocket, not without his ears turning red. “There’s something more. When you go find my starfighter, look for the compartment under the pilot seat. What’s in there is yours.”

“Like the rest of the fighter, you mean.”

Luke snorts as he welcomes her on his lap, covering them both with his cloak again. “I’ll let you steal the ship if the idea thrills you so much, but this other thing is a gift. Way better than a hickey, I think.”

She raises an eyebrow, amused. “Oh, did I get you into an uncomfortable situation last time?”

“You hadn’t striked me as someone who’s into that, that’s all. But I did like it.”

Well, that’s a thing she didn’t know about herself until then. Until she left his side and spent the next two days blushing at any sensitive grazing of that tender, violet spot that her demands to be marked resulted in, finding a sick excitement in it. She did her best to keep it hidden, but she wasn’t all that successful this one time her clothes moved accidentally while trying to help her friend run away from imperial blasters. She didn't realize until later, when she was putting staples into Leia’s arm and saw reflected in the princess’ face her exact thoughts about the hickey. She seemed more disappointed than angry. Even shut off from the Force, (Y/N) could sense how sad it made her, alongside the complete lack of strength to scold her about it.

Luke seems lost in his own thoughts too, his fingertips drawing circles on her shoulder. “Remember when we used to teach each other? We could do that again.”

There’s nothing she’d love most. Exchanging the little knowledge they acquired from each of their masters, trying to puzzle together a whole that made sense. It seems they never were all that successful, or they wouldn’t be in this situation right now.

Her voice comes out tiny, fearful. “Earlier, I almost…”

“I know, love. Don’t worry.” 

In the heat of passion, for a moment she was about to give in. However, it was Luke himself who kept her from falling. It wouldn’t have satisfied him if she didn’t commit to him clear headed, and he certainly isn’t pressuring her for an explanation no. She combs some hair pieces off his brow and brushes their noses together, thinking about that world he’s about to leave her for.

“Will you be alright with him?”

“Of course.” His hand down her hair offers a comfort she can’t bring herself to believe in fully. “It’s not like you think. He’s… kind to me.”

The word comes out crooked, but she knows he’s telling the truth. Or some version of it. She squeezes his artificial hand, now uncovered as the ruined glove lies on the rock. Her fingertips stumbling on all the telltale signs of worn out synthetic skin, she can think of a few dozen reasons why things are indeed like she suspects, because she can imagine Vader committing a thousand atrocities, and none of them close to being kind. The fact that Luke’s fall happened while she was gone instills a painful jab of guilt. There’s something she must have missed, something vital that changed his world forever and can’t just be explained with words.

Sensing her concerns, Luke sighs. “He likes you better than he’s willing to admit, I know it.”

“Great, just what I wanted to know. Allow me to harbor some doubt, though.” The idea of him talking of her to Vader seems taken out of a fever dream, even in the weird reality she lives now, where everything has been flipped upside down. “You love him, don’t you?”

Luke’s gaze turns to the stars, and in the silence (Y/N) hears all she needs. Even if she’s been trying her best to ignore it, the bond between father and son is almost visible to her, like a thick echo, resounding on everything around them and turning it back into a signal pointed in the other direction. She tries not to wonder how much of what’s happened on Jolah was projected onto it. However, the freezing note characteristic of the Sith lord’s signature still pervades, like a stench that can’t be washed off.

The rebel senses how one of her worst nightmares hovers over her head as the buzzing approaches. 

Tears fall on Luke’s knuckles as she kisses them goodbye. Unable to do or say anything of weight, he sweetly takes her flaming cheeks between his hands and seeks her mouth one last time with a mortal hunger written on his lips. She surrenders to his warmth, her tongue deep into the kiss. Their lips dance with a purposely slow passion, an underlying anxiety over the approaching moment of separation looming over them. An open, warm kiss is all they can attempt to sooth each other. It tastes salty. (Y/N) opens her eyes to find that he’s crying too, teardrops caught in his lashes falling to tickle her cheeks.  

Looking up at the landing shuttle burns like putting a hand on a hot stove. She prefers to spend these precious last seconds memorizing his eyes, taking advantage of the lights falling from the starship that illuminate his face. As the kiss dies, she registers every single little fleck and threads of blue, that tiny speck of golden brown, how those irises glimmer with bittersweet adoration for her.

She wouldn’t remember the moment his body was torn from hers, only the dark shape of his shoulders walking away from her.

The rebel’s exhausted mind goes to those treasured details as the shuttle flies away. But it isn’t like last time, when she ran off and closed herself to the Force; fearing the pain too much just resulted in this dull void she’s been living in. No, now she can see the shapes of that unbreakable thread weaving their signatures together. It pulls when he jumps to hyperspace, so brutally she’s scared it might tear her apart. However, after the initial shock, it remains there, irremediably binding her to Luke.

(Y/N) awaits for the aftershocks of that ghost pain to subdue a little before standing from the engraved altar. 

****

Under the compartment Luke indicated (Y/N) finds a book. An actual book, made out of paper. The captain blinks, astonished to find what she’s sure is poetry written in Huttese, even if she can’t read it. He never mentioned an interest for that sort of thing, even though it’s true that they didn’t have time for almost any kind of leisure at all back in the Rebellion, nor was it something he had access to at home. Right now, this is just another reminder of everything she’s missed in his life.

She flips the yellowed pages, filling her nose with their old aroma. However, there’s another note to it, deep and sweet. Another object lies pressed inside the book. A single Malreaux rose, its darkened petals flattened in between the pages. Her fingertips stroke lightly the stains left by dark pigment, remembering the night she gave herself to Luke for the first time among spilled flowers, their scent mixing with his skin. After this little indulgence, she carefully hides the book in her clothes.

As she quickly does the basic flight checks and maneuvers the starfighter to leave the forest planet of Jolah behind, her hand doubts over the communications panel. She should contact the Rebellion. In a matter of minutes, Han’s voice would fill the cockpit, and she’d be shown the way home. However, she enters a different code, one she isn’t supposed to use except in case of a true emergency, unsure of what she’s even going to say during those dreadful seconds it takes to establish the transmission.

“You got some nerve.”

“Hey, princess.”

Leia sighs, “Already heard of your little feat. If it wasn’t for what you’ve done for the survivors of Jolah, I wouldn’t be picking up.”

“Did they get there safely?”

“Yeah, Han called to tell me.” 

Since Leia has been gone from the front to devote herself to the Jedi path, the ex-smuggler has stepped up as a general for the dwindling Alliance. Most of the few that still fight out there answer to him nowadays. Maybe it’s seeing what once was a powerful fleet turned into a guerrilla of a few stubborn rats, but something about the current arrangement doesn’t feel quite right. An inert buzz takes over for a few seconds as both women sit wordless. 

“I think I have an idea of how you pulled it off.”

“It’s ok if you’re pissed at me.”

“I am. But I also can’t find the strength to blame you. I’m too damn exhausted. Some people that could be dead lived, that’s what’s important.” Her tone softens a little. “Good job.”

“My pleasure. How have you been?”

“Exhausted. Artoo keeps me company, but he’s spending a lot of time switched off these days. Not that he’s missing anything, just me belly flopping into the mud.”

“And the training?”

“I didn’t think learning to kill would be so awful.” To kill him, is what she doesn’t say.

“Do you think it’ll come down to that?”

“Master Tano thinks so.”

(Y/N) clicks her tongue. “It should be me over there, the Rebellion needs you.”

“No. That’s not your path. I still got your lightsaber and you know I’m of the opinion it should be with its owner. But I don’t think that’s what you should use it for.”

“Why? You’re so confident I’d lose?” They both know the cockiness is fake, but she needs it. Even if she tried with all she’s got, there’s no way she’d win, no matter how much she got to train with an actual master.

“No. I just don’t feel like losing you too. You keep trying to find another way, ok?”

When they say goodbye and the transmission ends, (Y/N)’s not sure how she could have cleared that one out better. She isn’t trying anything, she’s just selfishly stumbling into her desires every time she encounters Luke. Truth is, she’s abandoned Leia to carry everything on her shoulders, a role she’s too eager to fill, even if it breaks her.

(Y/N) pinches her nose. She’s done running. These are words her friend deserves to hear. So the rebel captain sets course, hoping it’s not too late to speak the truth.

****

This transmission with the commander in charge of the division assigned to Jolah is testing the last remains of Luke’s patience. He doesn’t ever enjoy having to mingle with Imperial officers, but today every single second paying attention to this man feels like an unforgivable waste of his time. He’d much rather be left alone with his thoughts. 

“Make it effective right now,” he orders. The commander immediately straightens his posture and salutes, feeling how much of a nuisance he’s becoming.

“It will be done, sir. The whole squadron will be sent to Thediyo.”

Those men he’s condemning to the cruel cold of the inhospitable Thediyo aren’t but flies, so the fact that they’re able to do so much harm feels wrong. Absurd. They deserve to be destroyed. He made it well karking clear that they were to make prisoners without harming them, didn’t he? And they just hounded (Y/N) like she was a prey animal, which almost killed her. If they just listened to their orders this wouldn’t have happened to them. And still, they should be thankful for his mercy. It would be so easy for him to crush their puny rib cages and skulls until their eyes pop out. 

But something keeps him from giving in to unchained wrath, and it’s the possibility of her finding out. (Y/N) doesn’t deserve to have that in her conscience, and he’s sure she’d blame herself for their deaths. Because she’s actually good. And clean. Way more than she gives herself credit for. No, those men will suffer worse learning to listen to their orders by holding their blasters in the middle of an eternal snow storm until their fingers freeze off.

Luke can sense with distaste his own dark machinations vibrating into the bond next to him, like an insect trapped in a spider web. If his father thinks he’s weak for not just murdering the bastards, he can choke in his disappointment. The same with his thoughts of his whole ordeal. They’re close to winning, right? The Alliance will soon be no more, and he has had an important hand in that. He doesn’t have the right to reproach him about anything. Vader won’t chastise him directly, he rarely does, but the young apprentice knows training sessions are going to become hell from now on, even more of what it’s been. He doesn’t care.

His father’s tutelage has been tough. Back in the day, Yoda’s training had put his mind and body to the test far beyond what he thought possible. But his father’s can’t even begin to compare. Now that he’s endured it long enough, Luke is starting to see the seams that reveal the structure, the reasons behind every exerting challenge. Some things within himself had to be broken in order to build a new kind of power, a lot had to be torn down before his new master deemed the results satisfactory. And he came out of it more powerful than he could have imagined.

It had never been easy. After going to his father, to his family, he looked back and saw all the things he regretted leaving behind. Luke hadn’t held real hope of being followed to this side, except for her. Maybe it was self indulgent, wishful thinking on his part.

(Y/N) knows what he’s done in the frontlines and she’s still managed to look him in the eye. To love him. However, he can’t help but torture himself with the thought that if she knew the ways he’s used to delve deeper into the dark side, she’d immediately go retrieve her lightsaber and end his life with it.

But that selfish little voice wonders why, even after all the sacrifices, all the loses, she can’t see how close the fight is to its end, just as they both wished together in the past. If he could just be made to see…

Shit. That’s an ugly thought. He shouldn't forget he once thought of things in stark white and black terms. Once, falling to the dark side meant the destruction of a person’s soul, left as a hollow husk with no salvation other than slaughter. He'd be lying if he said he doesn't feel empty and beyond help sometimes, often on the battlefield. Killing isn't all that different now than when he did it for the other side, just the same fire and ash, burnt skin. The feeling that he’ll never be able to inhabit his own skin again after staining his hands with so much blood. The only difference lies in the lack of that wretched self righteousness he used to brandish to justify his actions. During the day, at least. At night come the ghosts of screaming, agonizing souls through the Force, right before the void of death. The hole in the fabric of the universe left by the annihilation of the Death Star, hundreds of thousands erased with a movement of his finger. It’s lingered ever since, always in the last nightmare before waking up, always in the corner of his vision and the faint ringing in his ears.

However, he pushed forward. Because it was all supposed to matter, because there was a plan. And then it turned out he’d been lied to. Soon after, (Y/N) was taken. He lost her because he was too soft and undecided. Too weak. He dragged on for a good while that he'd never see her again, that she was gone and it was his fault.

If she had been there that one time he encountered Vader again, after Bespin. It turns out the death mask held more than just the monster. When the lines between life and death, friend and enemy, were blurred, a kind hand capable of kindness was extended to him. It felt like family. There, consumed by shame and impotence, Luke became convinced that he'd never get to feel that again. So when it came down to the decision of killing it along with his father, he found an unexpected comfort in the realization that he'd already made his choice 

However, Luke doesn’t appreciate the impatient silence building up next to him, on the pilot seat. One thing that surprised him at first is that his father was a quiet listener, always pacing around the shapes of his thoughts. He also didn't expect not minding it at all, but also missing it when it was gone.

“Go on. Blame me.”

“I do not care. Some worthless flies just escaped for another day. Now matter how hard they wriggle, their downfall is inevitable now.”

“I thought you'd dislike my weakness.”

A discordant note rings through their bond, a bitter echo. It dissolves quickly, leaving the accusation unanswered.

Yeah, he's definitely saving payback for later. He can try all he wants, torture him even. Of all the things Luke regrets, this will not be one of them.

He shakes his head in distaste. The vertigo he felt when he made that jump of faith for his father still echoes sometimes. Even if it was his choice, he sometimes struggles to see if he really had any say in it. It all happened so fast, it was pure instinct. 

No, he won't fall to suspicion and start resenting him, that path ends up with an inevitable betrayal. That's the Emperor’s way and, with him gone, his ways must die too, for everyone's sake. Luke has found a new power in the dark side, and he's sworn to use it for good. Until now, he's been successful at keeping that intoxicating darkness at hand, that scarlet rush that tingles through his whole body with the temptation to let go all the way into blind, destructive rage. However, he’s found he can control his passions, harness them into a tool, as much as it hurts. 

Luke doesn't care about power, it's just a means to an end. He loathes it. He just wants all this to end

His fingers instinctively go to the inner pocket of his tabard where, kept close to his chest, he put a stem of those little white flowers that grew through the window of his cell. The delicate petals look reasonably intact, though a little sadder than this morning. He better press them soon.

His father subtly turns his head, but he doesn’t say anything. However, the exasperation travels all the way through their bond.

“I don’t blame you. However, this bond… You need to be prepared to be hurt if you keep it.

“You're saying she won't understand.” Luke runs a hand through his hair, feeling the fleeting warmth of her body leave his skin. “You've prepared me for pain, haven't you?”

“I’ve trained you to understand pain. To harness anger into power.”

Only the artificially aided breathing echoes while Lord Vader’s thoughts float far away, somewhere close to those white blooms in his son’s hand. Luke sighs.

“Then it's fine. I'll be hurt for it.”

[nateofgreat]

Rey Movie Hopes and Fears

So the whole Rey movie that's announced. I've got hopes that will probably be unfulfilled by Lucasfilm's current team and fears that will most certainly be realized.

Hope: The "does the Galaxy need/want the Jedi back?" question will be answered "yes" and Rey will discover and demonstrate the positive role the Jedi can play in this new era.

Fear: The Jedi will be blamed for Order 66 and while Rey will keep them around they'll reinvent themselves into something less interesting.

Hope: The WHOLE story of Anakin will be touched on, his crimes and his redemption. Rey was depicted as respecting Luke's decision to save Vader in TLJ and that's good for a Jedi, but I hope they don't act like Anakin's fall was destiny and therefore not his fault.

Fear: Anakin will be respected as a great Jedi without acknowledgement of his time as Darth Vader.

Hope: Rey will have a decent following of Jedi by the start of the movie, say, 20 or so Jedi to get the revival of the Order started.

Fear: It'll just be Rey and a Padawan and even Finn's Force sensitivity won't be touched on.

Hope: The Jedi will be depicted as an interesting collection of people with their own interests, hobbies and personalities instead of a hivemind who only spout Jedi dogma. Especially since they'll presumably be a group of adults who weren't raised as Jedi and are trying to revive the Jedi Order under Rey and some old text's guidance.

Fear: Non-Jedi's dialogue about the Jedi will sound like they're reading an anti-Jedi post wholesale, taking you out of the moment and sounding super meta.

Hope: Rey will maintain her sense of respect and love of Jedi and their culture, expanding upon her personal struggles to find belonging from the ST with her finding it in the Jedi lifestyle.

Fear: They'll try to retroactively fix the things people complained about in regards Rey's character by making her suddenly struggle to do basic things and having meta criticisms leveled her way.

Hope: Luke Skywalker's legacy will be respected and he'll remain a figure of inspiration for Jedi everywhere. Maybe throw in a Force Ghost scene with him and Rey.

Fear: Luke Skywalker won't be mentioned.

Hope: Ahsoka Tano will never mentioned or is said to be dead, permanently sidelining her into irrelevance so Dave can't make her the new Jedi Grandmaster.

Fear: A window through which Dave can shove Ahsoka is left open.

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Idea #84: Star Wars, but make it the Outer Rim

I've been reading a lot of Star Wars fic lately, much of it involving time travel in some shape or form. Most of it is wonderful, but after a while some of it starts to read as let's fix the Republic so we can bring the light and civilization of the core to the outer rim. Which, while possibly disingenuous, feels a little too much like the justifications made by Europeans for their colonial empires.

As I said, I'm probably reading too much into certain tropes, but can't help but wonder: what if one of these fics started in the outer rim as a way of bringing light and goodness back to the core? Or: Save Tatooine, save the galaxy.

Just imagine it:

Several years have passed after The Book of Boba Fett in the original timeline. While the New Republic calls Daimyo Fett's leadership just another crime syndicate masquerading as good government, anyone who's actually been to the planet knows it's the other way around. Most crime syndicates don't care for planetary infrastructure or public vaccination programs.

Boba has encouraged Din to use his palace as a base for his bounty hunting activities - and as a home planet for the small community of Mandelorians building around their Mand'alor. Ideally, this would be the start of a courtship that wouldn't be moving as slowly as it is if Din wasn't an oblivious idiot about 1) his feelings and 2) traditional Mandalorian courting, but it could also simply be vod'e being vod'e. Dealer's choice.

And so Din is on planet when someone tries to bribe Boba for one reason or another with an ancient Sith artifact.

Din calls in a Jedi from Luke's school to investigate - Cal Kestis, who is one of a handful of trained adults in the new Jedi Order and the most knowledgeable about weird force osik...

...which doesn't stop Cal from accidentally triggering the artifact and sending Boba, Din, and himself back in time to the year 53 BBY, shortly before Jaster Mereel is set to die in the Battle of Korda VI.

As if finding themselves on Tatooine approximately 66 years in the past - well before any of them were even born - isn't enough, all three find themselves in their teenage bodies. Boba and Din are somewhere between 15 and 17, when they have most of their adult height but none of their bulk, while Cal is disgusted to find himself a particularly short 12. This in no way reflects their real differences in ages, and they are forced to attribute it to more inexplicable force osik.

Despite their ages, this proves an opportunity to stop the Empire from ever forming. But how? None of them know enough about the precise course of events to begin to stop it, and even if they could manage to get the Jedi Council to listen to them, waltzing into the Jedi Temple and declaring themselves time travelers is bound to put them on Palaptine's radar in a way that is likely to end their painful deaths.

The solution, they decide, is to get the Jedi to come to them. After all, if they repeat Boba's actions from the future, overthrow the Hutts, and free the slaves on Tatooine, someone from the Jedi is bound to come and investigate.

Taking over Tatooine proves easier than their wildest dreams.

Killing Jabba the Hutt in his own throne room and transmitting a signal that jams slave chips across the planet is all that's needed to spark a general uprising against the slavers and Jabba's criminal empire.

It's a little less easy getting the representatives of the colonists, freed slaves, and native peoples to believe that a pair of teenage Mandos and a half-grown Jedi took out a member of the Grand Hutt Council, but once they hear Boba's plans to convert the planet's slave-based economy to a viable democracy funded in part by the wealth of Jabba's vaults, they're more than willing to vote him Daimyo. His actions more than make up for his apparent age.

The Republic is naturally less sanguine. Mandalorians on Tatooine? Is this the start of another war of conquest? (To say nothing that several of the more corrupt members are in the position to lose a lot of money if crime and slave trade is disrupted in the outer rim.) The Senate orders the Jedi to investigate.

The Jedi are also in an uproar. Not only do holos show a young force sensitive helping a pair of Mandos take over Tatooine, but one of those Mandos has a lightsaber the likes of which they've never seen. (Tensions between Jedi and the Mandalorians are such that no one recognizes the Darksaber for what it is or what it means.) Could this mean some dark side sect has sent some of their apprentices to help rebuild the Mandalorian Empire?

The Mandalorians are also unsettled - Death Watch because the Darksaber seems to have disappeared overnight, only to end up with a child in unpainted beskar half a galaxy away; the True Mandalorians because it looks to them that Death Watch might be sending children into battle to build the empire they're always going on about; and the New Mandolorians because this is exactly the kind of violence that gives Mandalore a bad name.

And all of this fails to take into account the Sith, who are naturally upset that the fear and despair they've worked so hard to cultivate on the edges of the Republic has been disrupted with something so light as hope.

All parties converge on Tatooine.

The Mandalorians arrive first. The True Mandalorians are just beginning to investigate when Death Watch decides to attack first and ask questions never.

Boba, Din, and Cal were expecting this and so have a plan in place that allow their forces to take down most of the terrorists while ensuring Jaster Mereel survives, thereby preventing Korda VI, Galidraan, and all that follows. Montross is killed in the fighting without his double cross ever being known.

This also manages to convince the True Mandalorians that they're just a bunch of kids trying to make their way in the galaxy, and while they ask why take over a planet? why not just join a mercenary guild?, Jaster can't deny that they're doing a good thing. He stations some of his people on planet and leaves them be, content Din isn't going to try to push his claim as Mand'alor and/or build another extremist terrorist sect around the Darksaber.

The Mandalorians leave right as a large number of Jedi arrive. In this party are most of their best lightsaber dualists, including a less jaded Yan Dooku and a young Qui-Gon Jinn (who is only a few months out from Xanatos' Fall and in desperate need of a mind healer). Forced proximity has made the later very clear to all the Jedi Masters involved, and this alone prevents many of the tragedies of Obi-Wan's early apprenticeship.

Qui-Gon's mental health aside, the Jedi presume they'll be attacked by dark siders the moment they touch down on Tatooine. Instead they're invited to the Daimyo's palace, given refreshments, and brought before the planet's new ruling council. Which includes two freed slaves, a wizened Tusken grandmother, a pair of moisture farmers, and a representative from one of the cantinas in addition to a pair of teenage Mandos and a young force sensitive.

This meeting goes a long way to convincing the Jedi that what's happening on Tatooine could be a good thing - particularly after Boba turns over everything they could find regarding some of Jabba's dealings with several shady senators and businessmen within the bounds of the Republic. Including one young senator, Sheev Palpatine of Naboo. While several are able to talk their way out of trouble, it removes the worst of Palpatine's future lackeys from power.

The Jedi also invite Cal to come back with them to the temple to "finish" his training. Cal invites them instead to build a satellite temple on Tatooine. After all, there's no reason why a religious order should be tied to the Republic government, and setting up a temple in the outer rim would allow the Jedi to help those on the outer rim more easily, without waiting for the approval of the Senate.

The Jedi obviously don't agree right away - but it does mean that they come back fairly often to discuss the particulars, meaning that someone is on planet when the Sith decide the best way to fix their plans is to try to assassinate the young Daimyo and his allies, revealing the Sith's continued existence decades early.

Which is where my plot bunny starts to fizzle out.

With Jaster Mereel alive, the True Mandalorians have a real chance of stopping both the terrorism of Death Watch and the cultural genocide of the New Mandalorians, leaving Mandalore in a position of strength versus the Republic. So long as this remains the case, plans for a New Sith Empire must be put on hold.

With the shadiest characters removed from the Senate, it's harder for a Sith to take charge of it - especially when a strengthening Tatooine continues to disrupt smuggling and slave trafficking in the outer rim, reducing the darkness and the funds he has access to.

And so though the details are up to the dealer, taking over Tatooine disrupts the Sith's machinations enough that they're forced to show their hands too soon, and thus defeated before they can ever give rise to the empire. It's not easy, but it involves a lot less suffering than the original timeline.

Bonuses include: 1) Merrin and Grogu also traveling through time as a result of the force bonds that they have with Cal and Din respectively. They wake up on the currently uninhabited planet Luke's school will occupy in the future rather than Tatooine and have to go through a quest of their own to get off planet and rejoin the others. This should involve accidentally helping the other's plans to prevent the empire, such as by disrupting a crime syndicate or blowing up the Trade Federation's first droid factory; 2) Teenagers being teenagers. These kids may have been adults in the future with all their adult memories, but they've got teenage bodies now and it shows; and 3) Boba and company never outright admitting they're time travelers, but dropping enough hints to the relevant parties that they eventually come to that conclusion on their own. Only then do they share the details of the horrible future they've prevented.

And that's all I have. As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you do anything with it.

More SW Fic Ideas | More Terrible Fic Ideas

[gffa]

Hi Lumi! I’m the anon who asked about your thoughts on the sequel trilogy. Thanks for your answer! It made me kind of want to rewatch TROS with this new lens because I do get what you said about the bones of the movie being good. Another thing your post got me thinking about was the concept of “The Chosen One” because I know a lot of people were frustrated that the sequel trilogy seemed to throw Anakin’s last act of bringing balance to the Force out the window. And I got to thinking that nowhere in the originals or prequels does it state that once Anakin brings balance, there will always be balance. Unfortunately, evil rises again. Anakin brought balance and it’s not his fault things became unbalanced again. That doesn’t diminish the moment and impact of his sacrifice. And with Anakin dead and Luke not in a place to answer the Force’s call, the Force needed to find a new Chosen One. And years after the sequel trilogy takes place, there will probably be a new threat that needs a new hero to be called. I kind of like the idea of there being a sort of community of Chosen Ones rather than one person carrying all of that. Anyway, I’ve written a mini essay in your inbox so I’ll sign off now. Thank you for all you do!

Hi again! To be fair, I can't make the movie more polished than it is, it's always going to feel like so much wasted potential, but I do genuinely like the bones of what's there and will always defend that. As for the "Chosen One" thing, that's exactly my view of things, too! Rey being a Chosen One doesn't take away from Anakin being a Chosen One, because, like, what is balance of the Force? It's when there's stability and light in the galaxy. It doesn't mean that the actions of one single Jedi fix all the problems, it means they take the Sith Lord out and the galaxy has to help heal things. Anakin killing Palpatine doesn't mean the Empire suddenly implodes, it means that without the Emperor there, the Rebellion can get to work on establishing the New Republic, it means everyday people can start cleaning up the mess of the Empire. Anakin is the Chosen One meant to destroy the Sith and balance can be restored through that. But what happens when the galaxy gets lazy and the New Republic isn't proactive enough? What happens when people decide to rest on Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa's laurels? Evil rises again. And looking around the world today, that's an incredibly salient message, especially when this movie came out. "Oh, we beat the Nazis in the previous generation, we don't have to pay attention to that anymore!" Yeah, we fucking do. And Luke's not there to be called on to defeat the rise of the First Order, he's cut himself off from the Force. So, the Force chooses a new Chosen One, Rey, and puts her in the position this time, she destroys the Sith, but the galaxy still has to rise up and help her on the bigger stuff. One Jedi cannot defeat the entire oppressive regime, but everyone in the galaxy standing up to fight back against the First Order? That is what balance should be. Rey removes the Sith Lord, so that the rest of the galaxy can help each other again. Because I don't think one Sith Lord can be the sum total of what determines balance. The Force lives in everything, every living thing has the Force moving through it, every living thing contributes to the Force. If the quintillions of people in the galaxy are suffering, if they're angry at the state of what's happening, if they're hurting, then how can that not affect the Force? One Jedi can't fix all that, but if Rey gets rid of the Sith Lord and the rest of the galaxy says, yes, we are going to help this time, we're determined, we're going to hold on to hope, we're going to fight to help others, which they can do because the worst part of the catalyzing of those feelings is gone? Then I really love that as a message. Rey being a Chosen One doesn't take anything away from Anakin being the Chosen One of his time, because they're not the sole determiners of the Force. Everyone has to do their part, no matter how big or small, that fits the theme of "balance" so much better imo.

[marvelstars]

Personally I love Star Wars as one movie from EPI to EPVI as the Skywalker family saga.

Anakin is the chosen one of the force to bring balance to the force and end the sith grand plan of ruling for 10,000 years, he gets groomed by his "father" the sith master, to fall to the darkside by twisting everything in which Anakin believed, he becomes a monster whose main objective after losing every loved one is to "keep order in the galaxy" Vader believes he is doing the right thing, he believes the empire is less corrupt than the republic and while it´s means may be harsh those are better than what happened in the past, the chaos of the clone wars and the greed of the different ruling powers. Maybe there is no place for justice or freedom but there is order and that was enough for Vader.

Luke as his Son gets to save him from the darkside by making him remember that there was a time he wasn´t just Vader, there was a time where he wanted to free all the slaves in the galaxy, where he believed in justice and unconditional love, Luke made him remember that in a way he could not deny that his acomplishments as Vader, his end justify the means pov paled in comparision to what he once wanted to do and the person he used to be "I am a Jedi like my father before me" when he could not deny anymore this truth, Vader decided to punish himself as well as his father/master, bringing down their empire built on violence and darkness, to save his Son´s life and give the side Luke fought for an opportunity to tell their own story. So Vader stops the horror and gives way for something else to grow out of it.

I love this story as it´s but I would be lying if I didn´t think there was a place for Vader to tell his own story because his mere survival post ROTJ brings a lot of opportunities but also conflict. We have Vader who knows intimately Jedi and Sith teachings and a different take to what the Rebels and Imperials believe the Old Republic or the Empire was.

Sucedenly a portion of the imperial army loyal to Vader would want to stay at his side and join the New Republic while another portion loyal to Palpatine would try to stop that and the Empire itself would get divided between those who believed enough is enough and those who wanted to keep bussines as usual and grand admirals like Thrawn who would wish to fix the Empire in their own image. The result is that this would give an opportunity for the empire to truly merge with the new republic and not just for appareances sake as it happened in canon.

To tell this story it would be needed another trilogy at least and I can´t blame Lucas for being burnout after the original trilogy, a whole and awesome story on it´s own and I am quite happy for what we got but that story would be nice to know as a what if. The story of how Vader got his humanity back.

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

Oh this could get long, I don't talk about the sequels often lol. But I recently had to rewatch the entire trilogy as research for the podcast, so I have some more solid opinions on this now, so let's go.

Rey is a character who suffered from a fairly basic set-up in TFA that went exactly nowhere when her trajectory changed in TLJ and they couldn't figure out how to fix it in TROS (and the studio execs came in and enforced certain things to happen because they figured it would make certain fans happy). Rey IS her own character, she's not just like... Luke 2.0 or whatever, but the general set-up of "young hero stuck on their own in their life they can't escape and who ends up forced into an adventure when adventure happens to find them" is... not the most original thing in the world. It can be REALLY GOOD when executed well, there's a reason it's popular, but nothing about Rey was like... insanely original aside from the fact that she was a woman as (one of) the main character(s) in Star Wars films for the first time.

And then Rian Johnson took this pretty basic set-up that everyone understood and went "what if I threw this on the ground and spat on it and crushed it for good measure to be Edgy" and that's how we got TLJ with "Rey Nobody" who somehow already knows everything she needs to know which makes her ENTIRE JOURNEY to go find Luke completely meaningless and shifts the story from being about HER to being about LUKE. It's dumb, it's stupid, and it was bad writing.

Not following the very obvious character arc set up for her in TFA means that Rey as a character vacillates back and forth between motivations and characterizations in each new film. So it's hard to know like... who Rey even IS as a character, what's important to her, what she cares about, why she even WANTS to be a Jedi, what kind of Jedi she'd actually be, etc. In the first film, she's on a very basic journey of learning to let go of the idea that someone will come back for her on Jakku in order to recognize that it's better to find ways to connect with new people than push aside those relationships for one that has already gone. This is why she leaves Finn at the end of the film to find Luke in the first place, she can't let her connection to Finn be what holds her back any more than she could let her connection to her parents hold her back. She has a greater destiny out there to follow that she can only answer if she learns how to let go. In the second film, her entire motivation surrounds saving Kylo Ren for some reason and, as mentioned before, she apparently already knows everything she needs know and doesn't need any training or guidance of any kind which leaves her exactly nowhere to go as a character. In the third film, it's all about figuring out how to connect to the Jedi of the past for... reasons and struggling with the sudden revelation that she is Palpatine's granddaughter and therefore has extra capacity for darkness in her or something.

There's nothing consistent about her across the three films which leaves Rey and her story just... in the dust. She could've been a perfectly good and enjoyable hero character had they just let her follow the path she was set up on in TFA, and instead we got... the mess she became. I LIKE Rey, I think she's occasionally fun and I like the relationship she has with Finn and Poe in TROS, but she got absolutely SLAUGHTERED by this trilogy.

But that is NOTHING compared to what happened to Finn.

Finn is unarguably the most interesting and unique character introduced in TFA. A stormtrooper deserter with the potential to be Force sensitive AND the main love interest for the other main female character? A stormtrooper who could become a JEDI, the clear potential for a stormtrooper rebellion, the parallels and connection between Finn and Kylo that so clearly demonstrated that theme of choice (with Finn being someone raised in darkness who chooses selflessness and compassion anyway vs Kylo who was raised in light with all the support and resources he could ask for and still chooses selfishness and darkness), the possibility of having true CO-LEADS for the first time with Finn and Rey as like two halves of one hero with the romance being there to lift them BOTH up rather than relegate one of them to the side. The potential here with Finn was LIMITLESS, it was INSANE.

And ALL OF IT got squandered. Every last ounce. Finn got COMPLETELY sidelined in TLJ, separated from all of Rey's storylines and replaced by Kylo Ren, his Force sensitivity was not further explored, the entire story with the rebellion could've been what jumpstarted his stormtrooper rebellion plotline and instead he got thrown off into some weird casino c-plot bullshit to try to thrust him into a new romance that wasn't with Rey, and he was just constantly being physically hurt by other characters as though it was a joke of some kind. TROS attempted to bring SOME of it back by having him going on more missions with Poe off-screen, allowed Finn, Poe, and Rey to be an actual trio with a relationship together, and hinted at the Force sensitivity more than once. But by the time TROS came around, the damage had been done and it couldn't manage to come back from that, so Finn ended up developing nowhere in that film and does basically nothing but follow around Poe and Rey wherever they go, more sidelined than ever but at least he's not constantly being hit and he IS still involved in the main storylines in a way he wasn't in TLJ.

The options were all SO GOOD for Finn and we got resolution for exactly none of them and because of how badly John Boyega and his character got treated, we'll likely never get any real resolution for his character EVER because he is understandably not going to come back to Star Wars after this. I haven't yet forgiven Rian Johnson for the choices he made in TLJ that ruined Finn.

I actually like Kylo best in TFA because I think, much like everybody else, that's where we see the real potential for what the character could've been. Kylo in TFA is really set up to just be "another Anakin" where he went dark but can still be saved by the love of the father/son bond and then he ISN'T. They set the audience up SO HARD for that eventuality, for Kylo to be secretly not as evil as he seems, for him to be someone who can be saved like Anakin was saved, so you're sitting there expecting that to happen during that scene on Starkiller Base with Han, which is why it comes as such a shock when he kills Han anyway and turns the ENTIRE NARRATIVE on its head by telling you that Kylo IS NOT ANAKIN and isn't going to be saved the same way if he can be saved AT ALL (and it's heavily implying he CAN'T BE SAVED). TLJ basically just redid this entire narrative from TFA all over again except with Rey and the dyad, but because they did it with Rey and the dyad, there ended up being a bunch of people who ended up VERY invested in Reylo as a thing and so the studio then caved to that in TROS and saved Kylo despite that never being in the original plan according to Adam Driver.

And I think it would've been kind-of interesting to have this character who seems like he should be able to be saved like Anakin, but not everyone CAN be saved, not everyone WILL ultimately make better choices when given the option, some people are just going to double down on their darkness and commit to being evil. I like the subversion of expectations from what we were given with Anakin, the way he's like the inverse of Anakin in so many ways and looks up to "Darth Vader" as a role model of sorts without ever understanding the choices Anakin actually made, both good and bad. And if TLJ had actually, you know, expanded upon what TFA had already established instead of just saying the exact same thing all over again, maybe we could've gotten a more interesting story out of his character.

Which leads us to Luke and his role in "creating" Kylo. Here again we get what seems to be a lack of agreement between the people in charge about what this story was supposed to be and say. TFA sets up that Kylo is making his own choices, he's not brainwashed, and his primary problem seems to be with his parents. TLJ then turns around and says it was all LUKE'S fault, that Luke had a moment of weakness and it threw Kylo into a fury he's never come back from, but Luke's mistake is what ultimately led to everything that followed. And like... this isn't Luke. Maybe some people really enjoyed seeing Luke be this broken old man who just makes the same mistakes over and over again, but this wasn't Luke to me. I don't buy that Luke had an instinct that caused him to ignite a weapon in response to feeling the darkness in his nephew's mind, something he's only feeling because he's literally INVADING HIS NEPHEW'S MIND AS HE SLEEPS. There is nothing about his choices here that are in line with anything we knew about Luke from the Original Trilogy. Luke would never do this to someone he cared about, he just wouldn't.

The movie's insistence on making Luke into this broken beaten old man is also, as I mentioned above, a massive mistake because it turns the story in TLJ from REY'S journey into LUKE'S journey. Rey isn't the one who has to learn things and develop in this film, LUKE is. LUKE is the one who fucked up, LUKE is the one who lost hope, LUKE is the one who has to be taught a lesson about what it means to be a Jedi in the end. Rey does shit all in this film.

It also moves the focus away from it being KYLO'S CHOICES that led to what he's become to this weirder story about how Luke screwed up and has to fix it by... trusting that Rey already has it covered I guess? Instead of focusing on how Kylo made selfish choices and what actually PROMPTED those selfish choices despite all of the support he had and the legacy of his parents and the way that that parallels the choices being made by Rey and Finn, it focuses on LUKE, someone whose story has ALREADY BEEN TOLD. Kylo ends up a little bitchass victim in this instead of a character who is making clear and concise choices, something that was established when he killed Han in TFA, so his choice at the end of TLJ when he kills Snoke and takes over as Supreme Leader doesn't have the same impact when we've already see him make that choice in the climax of the last film. It's redundant and walking back the choice from TFA sort-of undoes everything that it's trying to say about the character and makes TLJ's conclusion feel wishy washy. Is he a tragic victim who has to be saved, or is he a villain who just needs to be eliminated? It's unclear by the end of TLJ.

Luke's role in "creating" Kylo was stupid on so many levels, both structurally and in terms of character. It never should've happened and it's an insult to who Luke is and has been to this story and I haven't forgiven Rian Johnson for THIS choice either. TROS does attempt to fix this and walk it back, as well, but much like with Finn, the damage was done.

So as far as I'm concerned, TFA is a solid film with a really interesting concept of taking a premise we all think is predictable and then subverting those expectations pretty intentionally, but the other two films are a complete and utter mess that aren't worth the 10ish hours of my life they have taken from me by watching them each twice now. There's a few fun moments in TLJ and TROS but I can't say that either film is like... a good or enjoyable film overall.

[valeriansunset]

The Training Facility

Luke Skywalker x Ezra Bridger

SUMMARY: Luke Skywalker has never been good at making friends. Until he meets Ezra Bridger.

WORD COUNT: 1.07k

Luke swung his padawan braid behind him, still getting used to the odd feeling of the tail-like braid against his neck. Today was finally the day that his parents let him and his sister take the next step in force training. Not that Anakin needed as much convincing then Padme, forever concerned about the well-being of her reckless children - and husband. In Luke’s defence, Leia was more the type to go ahead and do something rash, but his sister had the impressive ability to manage to drag Luke into trouble.

Speaking of Leia, she was striving ahead, ready to meet up with her new Master and the twin's toygrota Aunt, Ahsoka Tano, for her first taste of training. Ahsoka was the perfect master for Leia, both similar in personality and lightsaber formations. The council was wary, at first, of having people close to the twins become their mentors. The idea that the Jedi were now allowed to have attachments - healthy attachments - was still new, only changing once Luke’s father managed to get the upper hand on the hidden Sith Lord, Palpatine, and revealed his secret relationship with Luke’s mother, Senator Padme Amidala. However, the council eventually caved, not allowing Anakin to train his children but the two Jedi closest to him. Aunt Ahsoka and Uncle Obi-Wan. The latter decided to take things slower with Luke than Ahsoka is with Leia, tasking him with the difficulty of getting to know the other Padawans in the order.

It’s not that Luke didn’t necessarily know the other Jedi his age. He often prefered to spend his time in the library or fixing droids with his father or shadowing his mother as newly-elected Chancellor. It was much easier than making new friends for himself - most people he knew were through his sister, always the opposite. Thus here he was, in the midst of the training room. No library, no father, no mother, no master, no sister to help him break the ice.

Fifteen years old and absolutely no socialising skills. Luke was sure that Jedi needed to know how to talk to the general public during missions.

Luckily for Luke, he didn’t have to make much of an effort. The slow buzz of the safety-first training lightsabers provided a nice amount of background noise that Luke didn't have to zone in on any particular conversation. Luke settled on watching a battle between two Padawans he was sure he vaguely recognized.

The fight didn’t last long, one of the two boys clearly had the upper hand, his blueberry-like hair matching those from the planet Lothal. Luke remembered a trip there he had taken with his mother a few years ago - a diplomatic mission that the council had approved the twins to go on. A learning experience, as Padme so kindly put it. Luke was lucky his mother was so skilled at debate.

The boy had a green lightsaber, the same colour as Luke’s own weapon. He used a skilled strategy to gain the upper hand, tripping the other boy over, lightsaber discarded. Luke couldn’t help but wonder which Jedi Knight was this Padawan’s master. If anyone, Luke assumed they would be friends with Luke’s father - the strategy displayed seemed like something that would appeal to Anakin Skywalker. It was especially similar to Luke and Leia’s secret sessions with him - yet another secret from the council, of course.

‘’Like what you see?’’

Luke looked up, startled at being interrupted from his thoughts. It was the boy with the blueberry hair, who sat facing him. A small smirk was building on his face.

‘’I was only trying to figure out where I’ve seen that fighting style before. I can’t place it’’ Luke replied, trying not to make eye contact. He almost wished he spent more time around his peers. He couldn’t imagine Leia ever slipping up on a face. She had this uncanny ability to remember obscure details about people. However annoying it seemed to Luke over the years, it felt very useful now.

‘’Probably from my master. Caleb Dume.’’ The boy said, spinning his deactivated lightsaber around his fingers and tossing it in the air. Luke was glad for something to focus on other than the boys piercing eyes. ‘’I know you.’’

‘’Everyone seems to, unfortunately’’. Being the son of the famed star-crossed lovers of the republic came with a lot of unprecedented recognition. It’s not that Luke hated it, but it always seemed to be the case that a lot more people knew Luke than Luke knew them. He was always afraid of accidentally forgetting the name of some senator who knew his mother and making a fool of himself. ‘’Caleb Dume? I know him, he is friends with my Aunt- well, my sister's master, Ahsoka Tano. You know, that makes a lot of sense. I think I remember Leia mentioning you, you're-’

‘Ezra Bridger’

‘‘Right.’’ Luke didn’t think he should mention that Leia had once gone on a rant to him about Ezra’s fighting style - ‘unpredictable and absolutely no formation’. Luke also didn’t think he should tell Ezra that he had defended him to his sister - ‘But isn’t that a smart move, enemies can pick up the Jedi moves. Somehow, Luke didn’t think that was a good conversation starter.

‘’Your sister? Leia Skywalker right?’’ Ezra continued. ‘’How come I never see you around? I almost thought Leia was completely making up this twin brother of hers.’’

Luke smiled at the idea of Leia telling stories about her and Luke. Hopefully, it’ll make it easier to bridge the gap between himself and the other kids here.

‘’I guess I don’t get out too much.’’ Luke chuckled. ‘’I am not very good at making friends without Leia around.’’

Ezra raised his eyebrows, standing up with another spin of his lightsaber. ‘’Oh really, what do you think just happened? Come on, lets duel.’’ He held out his hand expectantly.

Luke frowned. That was… surprisingly easy? Ezra seemed to easy going, ready to talk to anyone. It was almost comical, the way he was the exact opposite of Luke. Then, the feeling of relief washed over him. Luke could tell Uncle Obi-Wan all about this encounter. His careful Uncle may let him take further steps in his training now. Well, what was even better than pleasing Obi-Wan was having someone to talk to in the training room. Luke may even end up enjoying going down to the recreational Padawan areas.

Luke took Ezra’s hand.

[dailydragon08]

At Ease

Pairing: Luke Skywalker x F!Jedi!Reader Warnings: none, just fluff and Luke being an awkward lil bean who thought he’d be better at talking to pretty girls after becoming a Jedi Knight, but he’s not. A/N: "Remnants" is a series of Luke Skywalker x F!Jedi!Reader one shots in no particular order about the budding relationship between you and Luke as he trains you in the ways of the Force. Reader has long, naturally curly hair in this one (because I'm just feeling self-indulgent). Summary: Luke has a little trouble functioning after seeing you fully relaxed with your natural, curly hair for the first time. Read here on AO3

Luke sighed as he held C3PO’s detached foot in his hand. The droids had joined Leia and Han on an afternoon walk around Endor that was now possible six months post-battle. The Empire was becoming more scattered and unorganized by the day, but their work was far from finished, especially with Leia and the other diplomats beginning to plan how the New Republic would function. But still, they were starting to get more free time than they had previously.

“I’m so sorry, Master Luke!” 3PO cried in dismay from the table. “R2 pushed me over a log and my foot got stuck.”

R2 whistled in protest next to Luke, who sat at a table in the mess with his tools, attempting to put the droid back together.

“Oh, you did too, you insolent—”

“Calm down, 3PO, we’ll get you fixed up.” Luke turned to his sister and shook his head in amusement as she withheld her laugh from where she stood behind him. “Where’s Han?”

“He went off with Chewie and Lando somewhere,” his sister replied. “Something about maintenance on the Falcon. I tried to listen, but someone was very distraught.”

“Oh, yes,” 3PO said, “as you should be, R2!”

R2 beeped and shook slightly.

“They mean me?!”

“What happened?” a familiar voice asked just as Luke began lining up the droid’s foot and leg to re-bolt it.

“Hi, Y/N,” he heard his sister say behind him. He wished he could turn to give you a smile, but 3PO’s foot was being more stubborn than anticipated. He’d been training you as a Jedi for about four months now and the two of you were becoming fast friends. He enjoyed getting to know you and wasn’t sure how you had time for sleep with Jedi training and still helping at your old job in med bay. “3PO tripped and lost his foot.”

“I was pushed!”

“Oh boy,” you laughed behind him. “Hi, Luke.”

“Hey, Y/N. Sorry, I’m having to concentrate here.”

“Oh, it’s all good. I just wanted to ask—”

“Wait, is that your natural hair?” Leia asked in surprise.

“Oh—um, yeah. I just usually have it up when I’m working, but had a bit of a headache today and had some free time, so…” You trailed off, but Luke smiled at the vivid picture of your usual shrug.

“It’s gorgeous!”

“Oh, thanks,” you laughed nervously.

Curious, Luke paused in his work and turned to you only to do a double take at the natural, bouncy curls that fell down your shoulder and back. He had no idea your hair was curly—come to think of it, he’d never even seen it out of its usual updo. He felt his mouth open in a small “o” of its own accord but couldn’t seem to shut it.

Not that he’d ever thought you unattractive—far from it—but he almost hadn’t realized how attractive you were until now. He’d never had time to think about it before, with the remaining Imperials to deal with, mourning his father, and training you (not that you needed much; you were already proficient in the ways of the Force thanks to secret practice from the last few years). But now that he looked at you—really looked at you—he could see why many of the Resistance pilots practically drooled when you walked by.

Oh, he thought to himself, continuing to screw 3PO’s foot on while not paying a lick of attention. Oh no.

You met his eyes several times as you continued to talk with Leia, your conversation completely lost to him. You began to fidget with your clothes before turning to see what Leia was pointing at. With her other hand, his sister reached over and gently closed his mouth with her forefinger. Luke snapped back to reality and turned back to the droid in front of him, screwing the last bolt in place.

“Um,” he cleared his throat, “t-there you go, 3PO.”

“Oh, um…” the droid paused. “Master Luke, I hate to embarrass you, but my foot appears to be on backward.”

Luke thanked whoever was listening that he had his back to you as he felt the heat crawl up his neck onto his face. As hard as she tried, he could hear Leia fail to stifle her laugh behind him as you quietly asked her if he was okay.

“He’s fine, he just was apparently a bit distracted.”

“Oh, should I go?” you asked, completely oblivious to your effect on him.

“No!” Luke answered a little too quickly, turning to look at you and laughing nervously. Realizing his face was probably still red, he whipped back around, not expecting 3PO to have leaned forward to inspect his foot. He smacked his head against the droid’s with a hollow thunk, biting back a curse as he brought a hand to his throbbing head. “Noooo,” Luke groaned. “You can stay…ugh…”

Leia was now laughing so hard, he could see her double over in his peripheral vision. He turned to throw her a glare, but now you were also trying to hold back a laugh.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry!” 3PO said. “Are you all right?”

R2 let out a series of beeps that sounded suspiciously like a laugh before whistling at his companion.

“Um, yes, I think that would be a good idea. Master Luke, R2 has suggested perhaps he completes the repair?”

Still holding his head, Luke slowly slid down the bench to give the astromech room to work. “Uh-huh, yep. Go ahead.”

A hand on his shoulder made him look up to see you looking down at him, amused but still concerned. “Do you want ice?”

“I’ll go get it,” Leia replied before he could respond and left suspiciously quickly.

His attention returned to you as you gently moved his hand out of the way. “I’m fine, I promise. Just a little…uh…”

“Distracted?” you teased, a smile threatening your lips.

He chuckled. “Uh, yeah, I guess…”

“You don’t feel concussed, do you?”

“I promise, I’m fine. I don’t need doctor mode Y/N, but thank you,” he said with a smile, grabbing your hand to move it away from his head.

“You sure?”

Your E/C eyes bored into his, filled with genuine concern and for a moment, he couldn’t help but stare. He’d never really admired the color before, but they were striking. Especially framed with your curls, it made his stomach do somersaults and he could only give a quiet “yeah” in response.

You nodded, looking over his face just as intensely before clearing your throat. “Um…Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I…have my hand back?”

He blinked, realizing he was not only still holding your hand, but gently rubbing back and forth with his thumb. “Oh! Yeah, sorry, sorry.”

You smiled and Luke felt his heart sink unexpectedly as you were called away. “I’ll see you for training later?”

Not trusting himself to speak, Luke simply nodded, sneaking a glance at you as you walked away. Leia returned just as you left with Han in tow, snickering when she realized what her brother was staring at. She laughed and shook her head as she gently pressed the ice pack to Luke’s forehead.

“Weeellll,” Han began, “from what I heard, you sound like you’re super smooth, kid. I’m impressed. And here I thought I would have to give you some pointers.”

“You’re never gonna let me forget this, are you?” Luke groaned.

Leia and Han smiled at each other before simultaneously answering, “No.”