Chapter Text
Transposition
Prologue
Ahch To Island
***
Through the Force, things you will see, other places.
Master Yoda.
***
His eyes shot open, and he sat up, taking a deep breath. He was immediately aware that he was in the wrong place, but he felt no sense of danger.
… actually, he felt no sense of anything . He frowned, letting his eyes dart around as his mind focused inward, finding his connection to the Force. It was… atrophied, almost like a muscle not exercised in a long time. That didn’t make sense…
But then, Luke Skywalker thought, smiling bemusedly, this is almost certainly a dream.
Admittedly, it didn’t feel like a dream - it was too real, too vivid. He ran his flesh hand along his face, noting absently that he appeared to have a beard. He glanced at his right hand, and was surprised to see exposed, almost rusted metal, instead of the synth-flesh he was used to. It squeaked almost imperceptibly as he moved it, but still seemed as responsive as ever… somehow.
What a mess, he thought bemusedly.
He looked around, trying to get his bearings: he was in a hovel made of stone, with a few rough wooden shelves up around it. They held a few books, a few trinkets, but nothing he found immediately familiar. Absently, Luke walked over to the shelf, and picked up a small metallic compass that had a tinge of familiar energy.
Quite a strange dream, if it is one, he thought.
He put the compass down, and took stock of himself. Apart from the unfamiliar (and quite messy, actually) beard and exposed hand, he also had longer hair, and glancing at it, he saw that it was more grey than he remembered his hair being. He was wearing a dirty under-tunic he didn’t recognise, messy and patched. He looked around the hovel, and found a few different garments lying on tables. The most obvious, and most familiar, was a set of white Jedi robes: they were long, reaching almost down to Luke’s ankles when he picked them up.
He was reminded heavily of the flowing robes Obi-Wan Kenobi had worn when Luke had known him, albeit paler, less like the desert-sand yellow that Ben had worn.
Slipping the attire on with a practiced ease (shirt in a cut that reminded him of his younger days, long cassock, two long tabards, white boots that reached his knees, a long brown glove that covered his squeaking hand, and finally the grey, battered cloak), Luke stood.
He could feel his connection to the Force growing in strength once more - he let it in slowly, not wanting to overtax himself, but even as it grew, he felt the distant sensation of something calling to him.
Luke , it seemed to say. Luke! Where are you?! Answer me!
Patience, he thought, sending a calming sensation in the direction of the calling. I am here. All is well.
There was a feeling of confusion, relief, everything at once tinged in the response he got from that call.
Stepping out of the hut, he frowned at the door. It looked like it was made from parts of the s-foil of an X-Wing. Upon closer inspection, he realised that was because it was part of the s-foil of an X-Wing. Specifically, his X-Wing: he recognised some of the markings as his personal ship’s old markings.
What sort of strange dream is this? he wondered, frowning.
He looked around: there were several more huts just like the one he had woken up in scattered in a loose formation around what he could only assume was ‘his’. Around them, he could see several alien beings of a race he was not familiar with walking around. They wore robes that seemed to echo his own, but less obviously Jedi in origin or design. One or two waved at him, and he waved back, smiling bemusedly.
“Master Skywalker!” one croaked, waddling up to him. It was speaking a strange dialect, but he knew enough of it to make it out. “It is good to see you up so early. Are you well this morning?”
Luke smiled and bowed, before replying in the same tongue as best he could. “I am very well. Thank you.”
The creature bowed deeply and waddled off, leaving Luke alone, his thoughts turning to what exactly was going on. Was this a dream, or some sort of vision?
Jacen sent us messages about his experiences ‘flow-walking’, he thought vaguely, looking up at the blue-grey sky of this planet, wherever it was. But even taking into account the limited ability of any verbal description to capture his intent… this is nothing like what he spoke of.
Resolving to figure out the meaning of this vision as best he could, he began walking, determined to explore this new place, whether it was a dream, a vision, or something else.
***
This entire place, whatever it was, felt steeped in history, steeped in the Force. The stairs, the grass, the rocks… all of it. He walked up a series of stone steps, his boots treading softly on the grass. He smiled at the beauty of the greenery, and knelt down at several moments to observe the small animals that flew about and landed periodically. They yelled bemused squawks at him when he did so, and then flew off, and he smiled.
So much beauty here, he thought.
And yet, the more he walked, the more he felt that this was no mere vision, no mere dream . There was something else at play. Stretching out with his feelings, he felt for the presence of something that would explain it.
Luke! Where are you?! We need you!
That wasn’t just one voice. A half dozen were overlapping, one after the other. More, even. He was being called for, not only through the Force, but by others, their desperation echoing out. He was needed .
If this is a dream, Luke thought, frowning, then it’s a dream with significance. But what significance? What is it trying to tell me?
The Force was returning to him, but still slowly. Ascending to the edge of a cliff, Luke stopped, before kneeling down, closing his eyes. If this was a dream of significance, the Force would reveal it to him.
He recalled the words of Master Yoda, still full of so much joy and wisdom after all this time.
“My ally in the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow.”
And there was life here. The flying creatures. The caretakers. The grass. There were fish in the sea, and creatures on the shorelines… it was alive here, so alive that Luke wondered how anyone could ever lose the Force in this place.
Luminous, he thought, recalling Yoda again. This place is luminous.
He felt the Force swirling around him. A constantly shifting, roiling mass, ever shifting, ever changing, and absolutely beautiful. But through the Force, he felt something… wrong. A presence, strange yet familiar, dark, and gnawing at the edges of his senses.
And then, without warning, a presence snapped through his senses. His eyes snapped open even as the presence - the blue translucent figure of a man in brown and cream Jedi robes - spoke, his arms folded and an eyebrow quirked.
“Hello there,” the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi said. “It’s been a long time, Luke.”
***