Work Text:
The Final Lesson
Planet Dagobah, Dagobah System, Sluis Sector, Outer Rim Territories
«What did Rey come to do down here?» Ben asked him, perplexed and worried.
«To look for something she hopes will be useful». Luke’s ghost shrugged his shoulders as he watched Rey land badly with the Falcon in a small clearing in the middle of the swamp. If Ben’s father could have seen that clumsy maneuver, he would have killed her.
He sighed, filled with a keen sense of discouragement. «I believe she will never give up» Ben thought in frown, and his treacherous relative smiled subtly at his side.
«Why am I here too? And why are you here too?» Ben protested, annoyed. Yoda should have welcomed him, since that was his home. With death, he believed he would free himself from the troublesome ghosts of the past. Instead dear uncle Luke continued to haunt him, undaunted. He hated him, more and more.
The blue ghost turned his bright, irritating eyes on him.
«Sorry. It is with me that you still have an unfinished business» Luke satisfied his curiosity, proving to have read his thoughts and helping to increase his irritation.
When he fobbed off Ben, on Crait, with that see you around, kid, he hoped Luke was just messing with him. Instead, to his great regret, his uncle kept his promise.
«Yoda has nothing to do with you. He was my teacher, not yours». Luke increased the dose with his usual sarcastic tone.
Why did he have the bad feeling that he was preparing to give him another umpteenth pompous lecture? He looked around, hoping to find a loophole, any foothold that would allow him to escape, but he was not lucky enough.
He found himself there, in the immense and stinking swamp of Dagobah, to be a silent and invisible spectator at Rey’s umpteenth mission, and he did not know the reason.
Why did he suffer the heat, feel the countless sickening effluvia of that damp and wild place, if his body had vanished and he was made only of spirit? Why did he keep feeling like that: torn, frustrated, hungry for something he couldn’t define? Shouldn’t he have achieved peace of mind? He believed that, by joining the Force, all his torments would subside and that he would spend eternity beside Rey, first as a ghost, and then as half of a single soul. But it was a vain hope. There was something that had not gone in the right way on Exegol, he felt it under his skin, as a strange, persistent vibration.
Perhaps the slimy serpent who gloated at his side knew the answer.
«Is that why only you can see me?»
The ghost nodded.
«Tell me what I’m doing here, if I’m allowed to know» He was at least as sarcastic as Luke was, as well as impatient.
Luke gave him an enigmatic look.
If Ben had tried to give him a punch, who knows if he would have taken it in full, taking away one of the greatest satisfactions that his mortal existence had denied him.
«Your condition is an anomaly» he cryptically explains to him, avoiding to go into detail.
He understood that, too. On Exegol, he had promised Rey that he would always be with her, but he had never been able to appear before her, like a Force Ghost. He had tried several times to communicate with her mind, but the Jedi was furious, desperate and angry. Too upset to listen to him. It was starting to become more and more concrete, in his mind, the idea that there was really a big problem between them.
Meanwhile, Rey had descended from the Falcon, looking around cautiously and prudently, and had headed towards a shapeless mound of mud, at the foot of a large hollow tree, which had once been the modest home of Master Yoda. Then she stopped to study the situation, concerned.
«What do you mean by anomaly?» he investigated, without losing sight of the Jedi.
«I believe that your Dyad nature prevents you from joining the Force completely».
So he became some kind of zombie? An un-dead? Was that why he was still feeling sore, tired and, above all, very pissed off? Was that why he still felt human feelings, even though he no longer had a mortal body? It was probably not a problem for Luke, as he was happily relaxed in the Jedi heaven, but for him it was certainly not a good feeling.
«Strange that you haven’t noticed it yet» Luke continued to poke him, looking away from the Jedi and analyzing him from head to toe. «You still look like the exact moment you died, and that’s not a good sign at all» he said, worried.
Luke’s words hit him like a stick. He lowered his head and gave himself a look. In fact, the asshole was right. He was still wearing his shattered, dusty black shirt, First Order pants and boots. He lifted the frayed edges of his shirt and put a finger through the hole that had provoked his sword when Rey had pierced him. He touched his lip and realized that he was still stained with blood. He looked back at his uncle, pervaded by a growing sense of panic. «What the hell is going on?»
«That’s what I’m trying to find out».
Fantastic. If even the legendary Mr. Wisdom wasn’t understanding anything, let alone him.
«Why did I suddenly become so interesting again?» he inquired bewildered, raising an eyebrow. In his final moments, on Exegol, while holding in his arms the lifeless body of Rey, no Jedi had shown up to help him, much less his dear relatives. They left him alone as a dog to face his fate. Sacrificing himself was the only option possible.
Luke pensively sighed, crossing his arms to his chest. «I don’t have an answer you’d like. But your anomaly is dangerously affecting and undermining the General Balance of the Force. Rey had defeated Palpatine and he had taken her life. The circle was closed. Its path completed. But you intervened, bringing her back to life and created an imbalance again».
Ben trembled. Was Luke insinuating that he had died by accident? That his heartbreaking and honorable departure had been a mistake? That he should have minded his own business and continue his mortal existence deprived of the half of his soul? Dear Uncle Luke had to find another less shocking and absurd explanation if he didn’t want to get punched because giving his life for Rey was the best thing he had ever done in his miserable existence.
A wet thud suddenly caught their attention and made them turn in unison. The Jedi had lifted with the Force a considerable amount of mud, which obstructed the passage to what was left of the shed, and she had made it sink into the marsh not far away. Both followed her movements, curious to find out what she was up to.
The girl knelt down, slipping cautiously into the shapeless remains that were gradually crumbling. Whatever she was looking for, she had to hurry up and retrieve it, or the hut would collapse on her, burying her.
As long as the Jedi remained inside, Ben had the impression of holding his breath. Ridiculous, since he hasn’t breathed in a long time.
Only when Rey’s messy, muddy head peeped out of the hollow tree, he felt relieved.
She had something in her hand and, after crawling out, to make herself safe, she began to analyze it. It was a small book, which seemed very old. The pages, worn and consumpt, were held together by cords made with long woven leaves.
«What’s that book about?» he couldn’t help but ask Luke. That matter was getting more and more intricate, and he seemed to know a lot more about it than he showed.
«It’s about the existence of the World between Worlds. Rey hopes to find, between the lines written by Yoda, the answers she is looking for. But there are no adequate explanations to appease the emptiness she feels».
The World between Worlds? What kind of devilry was that? Was it perhaps for that reason that he continued to feel incomplete, annoyingly suspended between life and death?
«You still haven’t answered my question. Why am I here, now, with you and with her?» The fact that Luke could see him and interact with him, while Rey had not even noticed his presence, was driving him crazy.
«The anomaly must be healed as soon as possible, before it is too late. The bond you have with her prevents you from passing over. Your essence is closely linked to her. For this reason she can not give up and you can not join the Force».
Did Rey’s hope still bind him to life? His upset expression had the power to soften even the inflexible and arrogant soul of his former master.
«I hope you also know a way to remedy it. I hope so for you». His veiled threat, reached the ears of the pedantic ghost, loud and clear.
Another noise, similar to a dive, took him away from the intent to beat his uncle up. Rey had entered the marsh, in front of the entrance of a dark cave. Perhaps she believed that it was one of the many entrances of the World between Worlds. So she had come looking for him? She went indomitably to the center of the swamp but, after a few steps, she began to sink.
He saw her struggling desperately, trying to grab anything that could help her to free herself from that deadly trap.
Rey used the Force to attract some vines, but these were too weak and broke. Any attempt to slip out of the mud that was swallowing her remained fruitless. The more she tried to emerge, the deeper she sank into that damn muddy pool.
«Help her» he ordered, agitated and upset, to the immobile Skywalker he had at his side.
Luke lowered sadly his head. «I cannot do it. I am not allowed to interfere» he dismissed Ben drasticly.
«What? And you have the courage to let her suffocate?» He didn’t care to appear threatening and brazen, Rey’s life was at stake.
«If this is what the Force requires for the Balance to be restored... Yes».
If he still had a heart, it would have sped it up. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Had he been catapulted into that dark, putrid and gloomy place, against his will, just to see her die again? Was it a kind of purgatory?
«Help her» he insisted, «I know you can do it. I beg you». He would never have believed that he would even have found himself begging his uncle.
«I can’t interfere. And don’t get any ideas... neither can you. But don’t worry, when it’s all over, and she’ll be reunited with the Force, restoring the Balance, you’ll be together forever. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?»
He's sure that was the worst nightmare he’d ever had. Of course he would have wanted it: spending eternity with Rey would have repaid all the wrongs suffered, but he didn’t want it to happen that way. He would never allow Rey’s precious existence to be wasted. To hell with the long-suffering and conquered Balance, he would have blown even that if it would have saved her life. «If you don’t help her, I will», he reacted stubbornly and decisively. Although he had no idea how to get her out of that trouble, at least he would have tried.
Luke smiled at him and, with an eloquent gesture, nodded to him to try.
* * *
«Rey, reach out your hand. I’m here, a few steps away from you».
The mud that stuck to her everywhere, even on her eyes, prevented her from seeing, but not from listening.
It could not be the voice, Ben's voice. He had vanished, he had left her alone. She had cried all her tears on his empty clothes.
He promised that he would always be with her and instead only silence remained. And emptiness. An unbridgeable void.
She had entered that treacherous and wild place, only to find him, to rediscover an ancient breach for the World between Worlds and bring him back to her. So what she was feeling couldn’t have been him, it was just the delirium of lack of oxygen.
The mud was sucking her down, pressing hard against her chest, preventing her from expanding her rib cage and filling her lungs. No matter how much she struggled and agitated, it only had the effect of sinking her more.
«Take my hand, Rey. Please».
If she started to have hallucinations, it meant that the end was near. But perhaps it would have been better. Continuing to fight was useless. No matter how hard she tried, the situation did not change at all.
She stopped waving herself wildly and let herserlf be by that slimy embrace. The mud was warm, enveloping. A few more moments and it would all be over.
And she would see him again.
Anyway.
Maybe, that would have been the only way.
By now she was sinking more and more. The level of slime had reached her lips.
She struggled one last time to open her eyelids, though they seemed firmly glued and finally saw him. It was just a shapeless black spot that stood out in the livor of the swamp, but she knew it was Ben.
Was he already waiting for her on the thin line between life and death?
She struggled to free an arm from the sludge’s suck and desperately stretched out her hand towards him.
At that moment she felt brutally seized. But they were not human arms, those that were tearing her to an atrocious end. The Force vibrated powerfully around her, she clearly perceiving it in the air and under her skin.
Her body slipped out of the swamp and found itself floating in the void to the mainland, where it was safely laid.
A more human and powerful grip lifted her torso, a warm and gentle touch wiped her eyelids, nostrils and mouth, from the mud, allowing her to breathe again. It couldn’t have been a dream, it would have been too cruel.
She opened her eyes and his face, worried and sweet, completely filled her field of vision.
She raised her hand to him. Her muscles ached, her joints trembled at the strain she had been subjected to, but she did not care.
She put her hand on his swollen cheek, soiling it with mud. She stuck her fingers in his sweaty hair. She followed the features of his face, his profile. She laid her fingertips on his skin, and the sensation of him became substance, flesh and life.
His quick breath tickled her nose, and it was warm, real.
When Ben tasted gently her lips, in a kiss that tasted of good, of tears and wet earth, she missed a sob of joy.
A bluish glow drew her attention she and turned her head slightly to one side. On the other side of the swamp, Luke was looking at them and nodded satisfied, with his typical cheeky grin. But her first master was not alone. Other Ghosts suddenly appeared behind him.
On Exegol she had only heard their confused voices overlapping and inciting her to react. Now, finally, she could also see them. Master Yoda, Leia, Anakin, the greatest Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi, the famous Mace Windu...
Everybody was there and they were happy and excited.
And Ben was there. He was breathing with her, and it wasn’t a cruel illusion.
She still trembled, hold in his strong, powerful arms. And for the first time, after so long, she felt protected, alive and happy again.