Chapter Text
The celebration felt like it would never end. Only a few hours had passed since the second Death Star had been destroyed, and Endor seemed to have forgotten what silence was. Music drifted between the trees, Ewoks danced around blazing fires, beating drums made of stormtrooper helmets. Some members of the Rebel alliance had joined them, some still wearing their flight suits and uniforms, making the best of the celebration. Laughter, triumphant cheers, and happy chants rose through the forest, mingling with the distant crackle of flames. Everything was happiness, glee, and pure bliss, because, finally, the Empire had fallen. Or, at least, its core members had.
Luke Skywalker, however, was sitting apart from the celebration, away from the large campfire, watching the celebration without quite knowing what to do. As he kept looking towards the village, he found it very difficult to believe that, only mere hours ago, he had been standing aboard the second Death Star, face to face with the two most feared men in the galaxy. One of them had been Emperor Palpatine, and the other had been Darth Vader. Luke's own father. Against all odds, Luke had turned him back to the light side of the Force. Anakin Skywalker had returned, even if it only had been for a few moments.
He could still hear the echo of Vader's breathing, accompanied by the mechanical voice that had once terrified him. That had morphed into what remained of Luke's father, a man who had made the decision that saved the entire galaxy. He had thrown the Emperor down a reactor shaft, at the cost of his own life, and Luke had had to carry his limp body away as the Death Star was about to blow up, desperately hoping that his father might still survive. He died in his son's arms only moments later.
So, Luke had done what he believed his father would have wanted— he had given him a proper goodbye. After debating how to do that for a few moments, he had decided to cremate his body. The task had been difficult— more difficult than Luke could have imagined. He had spent his entire life believing his father was dead. When he had finally found him again, he had only spent mere minutes with him before he was gone again. Luke had stood beside the funeral pyre and watch the flames consume the black armor, and had watched until there was nothing left of his father's body but ashes and embers. Luke had felt grief, an immense wave of it, but beneath it, there was something else— peace. He knew that, now, Anakin was no longer trapped inside Darth Vader, that he was no longer suffering. The thought that his father was now one with the Force had been enough to keep him standing.
Eventually, he had returned to the village. His friends had all embraced him, caught up in the celebration. Their happiness— and the Ewok's— had been so contagious that he had allowed himself to celebrate with them after a few moments.
Then something extraordinary had happened as Luke had looked towards the forest in the distance. At first, he had thought it was a trick of the light. Then he recognized Obi-Wan Kenobi, standing peacefully, smiling at him. Beside him appeared Yoda, small and wrinkled, his familiar eyes watching Luke wistfully. Luke smiled. He had imagined that he would eventually see the spirits of Yoda and Obi-Wan, as both of them had become constant guidance figures in his life. Then, he noticed someone else standing beside them, appearing slowly as they had.
This figure was unfamiliar— it was a young man, probably around Luke's age. He had shoulder-length blond hair and striking blue eyes, and a scar ran along the right side of his face. He wore the robes of a Jedi, similar to Obi-Wan's, and although Luke had never seen his face before, something about him seemed oddly familiar. Then it struck him. This man was his father. Not Darth Vader, but Anakin Skywalker, as he had been before turning to the Dark Side. The more Luke looked at him, the more he realized it was almost like looking at a reflection of himself.
Luke felt warmth spread through him. For most of his life, he had known almost nothing about his family. The little information his aunt and uncle had given him about his father was that he supposedly had been a navigator on a space freighter. They had never even spoken about his mother at all. Then, he had found out that Leia was his long lost sister, and that the man he had been fighting was his father.
And now, looking at his ghost, he could feel something in the Force that he had never felt before— contentment. Despite not having known his father his whole life, he now felt like he had finally found him. And that… felt like enough.
The celebration continued hours after Luke saw the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and his father. The rebels and Ewoks were celebrating as loudly and enthusiastically as they were almost three hours ago. Luke found himself smiling too, and it felt strange, to smile in a situation that seemed peaceful, but was truly more complicated than it seemed. He knew better than to believe that the Empire would simply disappear overnight, but he knew that things had now changed in their favor. The Death Star was gone, the Emperor and his enforcer were dead, and the Rebel Alliance had won.
Celebrations were breaking out everywhere, Imperial banners were being torn down, prisoners were being freed, and people who were living in fear for years were now finally daring to celebrate. Luke had even heard that the Emperor's statue on Coruscant, the capital of the galaxy, had been pulled down by the people. Luke had never been to Coruscant, but he had heard enough about it to imagine it: endless towers, crowed skies, vast avenues, and millions upon millions of people living in a city dominated by the Empire. Now, its shadow was gone, or, at least, its founder was.
Luke looked up through the trees. The stars were shining bright above Endor. The sounds of the village surrounded him, music, laughter, the crackling of the multiple campfires. He stared up at the sky. Above them, billions of people were celebrating a new reason to live, a freedom from the constant fear they used to live in under Palpatine's rule.
For the first time, Luke wondered what life would be like now. He had been so busy thinking about how to defeat the Empire that he had never really considered what would happen after its demise. There would have to be a new government. Decisions would have to be made. Rebuilding would have to be done. The fight was obviously not over. But, those were problems for another day. Tonight belonged to celebration, to all the people who had worked hard to free the galaxy from oppression, and to all the people who suffered from that oppression.
Tonight, Luke Skywalker allowed himself to be happy. The galaxy was free, his father had found redemption, his friends were alive, and his sister was beside him. For the first time in his life, the family he had never known was complete. And so was his life.
He only wished he knew how much it was about to change.
The celebrations didn't all die out at once, but they began to grow quieter. At first, the Ewoks continued to dance, and the music still drifted, though it had lost some of its earlier energy. The Rebel soldiers who had spent the last several hours shouting, laughing, and embracing one another were beginning to sit rather than stand. Every so often, another small group, whether it was a group of Ewoks, rebels, or both, would disappear between the trees. Some went to find places to sleep, and others simply wandered away, exhausted beyond the point of caring where they ended up.
The fires burned lower. The voices grew quieter. Luke remained sitting where he was, watching everything happen around him. He should have been tired. It had been an impossibly long day. He had fought on the ground, then faced Vader, confronted the Emperor, escaped the Death Star, and watched his father die. He had carried Anakin's body through the forest and burned it beneath the stars.
But, against all odds, sleep seemed distant. Perhaps it was because he knew what waited for him when he closed his eyes— memories. His father's face, the Emperor's voice, the menacing sound of Vader's breathing. And, somehow, the sight of Anakin as he had appeared in the forest, a striking contrast between the version of him Luke had briefly known.
Luke looked towards the place where the three Force ghosts had stood. They were gone now, and the spot beneath the trees looked completely ordinary. Luke stared at it for a moment longer than he intended. If he hadn't spoken to Obi-Wan's ghost before, he would've almost thought he had imagined it all.
He looked away, and his gaze went back to the village. Nearby, C-3PO had finally stopped talking. That, more than anything, made Luke realize just how late it had become. The golden protocol droid was now simply sitting against a tree, his head tilted slightly to one side. R2-D2 stood beside him. The astromech gave a final series of soft whistles. Threepio's head shifted. "Yes, Artoo. I believe you're quite right." R2 beeped. "It is quite late." Another beep. "Good night, Artoo." The little droid extended one of his tools and gave Threepio a gentle tap on the leg. Threepio's eyes dimmed. "Good night." R2-D2's lights flickered. Then he too fell silent. Luke watched them both enter their respective sleep modes. It seemed strangely peaceful. The heroes of the Rebellion, exhausted after saving the galaxy, were going to sleep.
Luke wondered if he could go to sleep too. He looked around the village. There were only a few people left now. A handful of Rebel soldiers sat around the remaining fires, speaking quietly with each other. Several Ewoks had curled up near the warmth of the flames, their fur barely visible beneath blankets. Others had already disappeared into their homes. Eventually, Han and Leia came to sit beside him, but nobody spoke. The three of them just sat together, shoulder to shoulder, watching the fire. Luke wondered if they were thinking of everything the trio had gone through together, and that, somehow, the Empire was now gone.
Leia leaned against Han, her head coming to rest against his shoulder. Luke smiled faintly. For all the arguing between them, for all the sarcasm and disagreements, there was something reassuring about seeing Han and Leia together. They had survived, and they were alright. Luke looked into the flames. Then, without meaning to, his eyes drifted back towards the trees, and the place where Anakin had stood. There was still nothing there. Luke looked away. A few minutes passed. He looked again. Still nothing.
He'd lost track of how many times his head tilted towards the empty space in the trees before Han spoke. "Alright," he said.
Luke glanced at him. Han was looking at him with one eyebrow raised. "What?"
"You keep staring over there."
Luke looked towards the trees again. "Do I?"
"Yeah." Han gestured lazily with one hand. "Over there. Every few seconds."
Luke shrugged. "It doesn't matter."
Han gave him a skeptical look.
Leia lifted her head slightly from Han's shoulder. She studied him. "Luke."
He turned towards her. "I'm fine."
She frowned. Luke knew that expression. Leia could be gentle when she wanted to be. She could also be very difficult to lie to. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked.
Luke hesitated. "Yeah." Leia lowered her head again. Luke could tell she didn't believe him. They sat in silence for a little longer, until Han stood up with a sigh.
"I'm going to call it a night."
Leia looked up at him. "Already?"
"Already?" Han stared at her incredulously. "Leia, I've been awake for what feels like three days. I flew through the middle of an exploding space station, got shot at by half the Imperial fleet, and then spent several hours celebrating." Luke smiled. Han shook his head. "You'll have to find someone else to annoy." Leia smiled up at him. Han leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead. Then he gave Luke a pat on the shoulder. "Get some sleep, kid."
Luke nodded. "I will."
Han walked away. After a few steps, he turned. "And don't wander off."
Luke raised an eyebrow, wondering where all this protectiveness has suddenly come from. "I won't."
"Good." Han disappeared between the trees.
Leia watched him go. Then she looked back at Luke. For a while, she said nothing. Finally, she slipped her arm around him and hugged him sideways. Luke stiffened slightly at first, then relaxed. "I'll be here," she said quietly. Luke looked at her. "If you want to talk."
He swallowed. There were so many things he could have said, so many things he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her about Anakin, about seeing him, about what it had felt like to finally stand before his father without the mask, without the armor, without the darkness that had consumed him.
But how could he say it? How could he tell Leia that the man who had destroyed Alderaan had been their father? To Luke, Anakin Skywalker was his father. He had been raised with this image of a strong man and daring pilot. But to Leia? Her father had been Bail Organa. He was the one who had raised her, who had loved her, who had taught her. He had been there when Anakin was not.
Darth Vader had murdered countless people. He had helped destroy Alderaan. He had destroyed Leia's home. Luke could not simply ask her to look beyond all of that because Anakin had returned to the light at the end. Maybe he would talk to her about this someday, but not tonight. He didn't want to bother her with this when she was celebrating the defeat of the Empire like so many others.
"Thanks," Luke said.
Leia smiled. "Just promise me you'll come talk to me if you need anything."
Luke nodded. "I will." He tried to give her a convincing enough smile.
She studied his face. Then, apparently satisfied enough with the answer, she gave his shoulder another brief squeeze. "Good." Slowly, she stood. Luke looked up at her. "Good night, Luke."
"Good night." Leia hesitated for a moment. Then she turned and followed Han into the darkness. Luke watched her until she was gone. One by one, the remaining people by the fireside started to leave. One Rebel carried an Ewok onto his shoulder and walked away. The village became completely still. Not a sound could be heard. Luke lost track of time.
He remained sitting on the log, the fire burning in front of him. Luke stared into the flames, which were also becoming smaller and smaller, as if they were also tired from the events of the day and were fighting sleep. Luke wanted to go to sleep. He wanted to follow Han and Leia into the darkness of the village and lay down to forget everything, if only for a few hours. But something kept him here. He didn't know what— perhaps he simply needed to be alone with his thoughts. He closed his eyes, and remembered what Yoda had taught him back on Dagobah.
The Force wasn't a weapon to be commanded. It was something that had to be felt, that had to be listened to. He breathed slowly. At first, meditation was difficult. Images and memories came and went. Luke didn't push any of them away. He simply tried to let them pass. Whatever the Force wanted to show him, he would allow it to pass through him. He just needed to be calm. Slowly, the noise inside his mind began to fade. The forest and the fireside sounded distant. Even his own breathing became distant. He reached out through the Force. He could sense the life around him. He allowed himself to sink deeper. He had spent so long searching for answers. Now, he wanted nothing. Simply silence, and the calm of the world around him.
For a while, he found this calm. The Force surrounded him, and he felt like he had finally found his peace. Luke could no longer figure out how much time had passed. It could have been minutes, just as much as hours. He completely lost track. He wasn't worried anymore. There was no Empire. No Rebellion. There was simply the Force, and the silence of a sleeping world around him.
At least, until a voice spoke.
"You're still here?"
Luke froze. He knew this voice. He had never heard it spoken in this way, but it sparked something inside him that almost felt like a memory, one that… had never existed.
He opened his eyes. He expected to see nothing. Perhaps he had imagined this voice, or perhaps the exhaustion of the day had finally caught up with him and he was hearing voices telling him to go to sleep. Then he looked a little further, and saw him.
Anakin Skywalker— though glowing blue— was standing a few feet away from him. He looked exactly as he had earlier, when Luke had first seen him beside Obi-Wan and Yoda. Jedi robes, shoulder-length blond hair, blue eyes, and a scar running along the right side of his face. Luke was looking straight into his father's eyes.
Well, not his father's eyes— a Force ghost's eyes, a memory made visible by the Force. But Luke could not bring himself to care about the distinction. It was his father. And his father was looking at him. Luke's throat tightened. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I couldn't sleep."
Anakin chuckled softly. "I know."
Luke blinked. He had no idea what to say after that. Anakin apparently didn't either. The two of them simply stood there, looking at one another. The silence was strange. Luke had spent his entire life wondering about his father. He had imagined what he might have been like. And now he was standing in front of him.
Eventually, Anakin walked towards the fire. Luke watched him carefully. His body seemed almost transparent, though not entirely. The light from the flames passed through him in places, giving his robes an ethereal glow. Anakin looked at the log. Then at Luke. He sat beside him. Luke shifted slightly to give him room. For several moments, neither spoke.
Luke looked down at his hands. A question slowly crept into his mind. It had been there ever since he had watched his father's body disappear into the flames. He had been afraid to ask it. Now, somehow, he could not stop himself. "Where do you go?" Anakin frowned. Luke swallowed, trying to make the question a little clearer. "When you..." he hesitated. The word caught in his throat. "Die."
Anakin's expression softened. "When someone dies, they become one with the Force," he said. "That's what I was taught as a child. It's what every Jedi is taught." Luke listened. "But somehow," Anakin continued, "I was able to return as a manifestation through the Cosmic Force."
Luke looked at him. "Because of what happened on the Death Star?"
Anakin nodded. "In the end, my greatest regret was that I couldn't spend more time with my children." Luke's heart tightened. Anakin looked towards the trees. "I didn't know whether I would ever see either of you again. When I died, I thought..." he paused. "I suppose I thought that was it." Luke said nothing. "I was surprised when I felt Obi-Wan and Yoda's presences there," Anakin continued. Luke considered this. He thought of the three of them reuniting. His family, in some strange way.
"So..." Luke began. Anakin looked at him. "You can will yourself to reappear after death, when you want, and where you want?"
Anakin hesitated. "I suppose so, yes."
Luke frowned slightly. "Then where did you go?" Anakin's eyebrows rose. "After the celebration started. You were there, and then you weren't."
A faint smile appeared on Anakin's face. "I didn't disappear." Luke looked at him skeptically. "I simply hid away."
"Why?"
Anakin's smile widened. "Because I thought Captain Solo would think you were crazy if he saw you staring at a random patch of forest for a long time." Luke stared at him. Anakin shrugged. "As it turns out, I was right." Luke couldn't help himself. He smiled. A small laugh escaped him. Anakin laughed quietly too.
For just a moment, everything seemed strangely normal. Luke looked at the man sitting beside him. This man was his father. The man he had been dreaming of meeting since he had been able to formulate a thought. Sure, he was a ghost, but he was still Anakin Skywalker. And… he had been Darth Vader. Luke could not, for the life of him, associate the two men with each other. And yet they were the same person.
Luke looked at Anakin's face. There was no trace of the helmet. No mechanical breathing. No black armor. Only the face of a young man who had died before Luke had ever known him. Silence settled between them again. This time, Anakin broke it. "Does she know?"
Luke looked at him. He understood immediately. "Leia knows that I am her brother," Luke said. "She also knows that you are my father. I assume she's made the connection." Anakin remained silent. "We just..." Luke paused. "We haven't had the time to talk about it, I suppose."
Anakin hummed softly. His gaze fell towards the fire. "She will not forgive me." Luke frowned. Anakin's voice had changed. There was a sadness in it now. "I have done unforgivable things," he said. "To her. To Captain Solo." He lowered his head. "I killed her entire family. The family I never was." Luke heard his voice break.
He looked at his father. "Leia is kinder than she appears She hides it beneath the sarcasm, but she cares. More than she lets people see." Anakin remained quiet. Luke continued. "If you could speak to her like you're speaking to me right now…" he hesitated. "Maybe she would at least listen."
Anakin slowly shook his head. "She shouldn't have to. I know what I did."Anakin stared into the fire. "It would truly be amazing if she did forgive me." His voice was barely above a whisper. "I will talk to her," Anakin said. "When the time is right." Luke nodded. It sounded strangely familiar, almost exactly like what he had told Leia.
When the time is right.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Anakin looked at him. "Don't hide your emotions from her, my son." Luke's eyes widened slightly. Anakin's expression was serious. "Growing up, I was told strong emotions were a path to the Dark Side." He paused. "And now, I see that this was only partly true." Luke listened carefully. "My emotions led to my fall," Anakin continued, "but it wasn't only due to them that I was lost." He looked at Luke again. "Neglect was. By keeping my feelings hidden from the ones I loved, I allowed Darth Sidious to manipulate me and twist those feelings to turn me to the Dark Side." The name made Luke's expression harden. Just thinking about the Emperor sent chills through his body. Anakin continued. "Tell Leia about what you are feeling. Ask her how she feels."
"Leia is strong in the Force," Luke finally said. "Even though I never noticed it. Maybe that's what will help us understand each other."
Anakin shook his head. "No. You are both strong, that is true. But there is something stronger between the two of you." Anakin looked directly into Luke's eyes. They were unmistakably blue, the mirror of his own. "You are twins. You understand each other in ways other people cannot understand." Anakin's expression softened. "And that is why you must share your burdens with each other. There might not be a Palpatine to manipulate you," Anakin said. "But the path to the Dark Side is always easier to choose."
Luke stayed silent. His father's words resonated within him. He thought about his own anger. The hatred he had felt when facing Vader. The temptation he had felt aboard the Death Star. The Emperor had tried to make him give in, and Luke had come closer than he wanted to admit. He had been saved by the love he felt for his father.
Perhaps Anakin was right. Perhaps the greatest danger was not simply having emotions, but allowing them to fester in silence until someone else could use them against you. Luke looked at his father. Anakin was watching him. The silence stretched between them.
"I'm proud of you, my son."
Luke stared at him. For a moment, he could not breathe. He had wanted to hear those words for as long as he could remember. He had never even known he wanted to hear them until now. "Father…" Anakin smiled. And then Luke noticed. His form was beginning to fade. "No." Luke's heart lurched. Anakin's outline was becoming transparent. The edges of his body were already disappearing into the darkness. Luke stood. "Wait." Anakin looked at him. Luke felt panic rising inside him. He had only just found him, only just reunited with him. He couldn't leave again. "When will I see you again?"
Anakin smiled. He stepped closer. Then he lifted one hand and placed it on Luke's shoulder. Luke could feel almost nothing. But somehow, this touch felt more real than any other he had ever felt. "I will always be here," Anakin said, "whenever you need me." Luke stared at him. "Call out to me through the Force, and I'll be there."
Luke nodded quickly. He did not trust himself to speak. Anakin's smile remained. For one final moment, Luke looked at his father. Then Anakin slowly faded. Then he was gone.
Luke remained standing alone in the remains of the celebrations. The forest was silent. Only the faint glow of the hanging lanterns illuminated the village, casting pale pools of light between the trees. The campfire had almost burned out. Luke slowly sat back down on the log. He stared into the embers.
Luke closed his eyes. And somewhere beyond what Luke could see, beyond what his eyes could ever hope to perceive, the Force surrounded him. He knew his father was there with him. Waiting. Listening. And Luke knew that, someday, when he needed him again, he would call. He only hoped that when that day came, he would know what to say.
A few weeks passed before Luke began to understand what victory actually meant. It was not a single moment. Sure, the Emperor was dead, the second Death Star was gone, and Darth Vader was gone. But the Empire remained. It was wounded, confused, and fractured, but it remained. The Rebel Alliance, meanwhile, had become something much larger than it had ever intended to be.
Within days of the Battle of Endor, messages had begun arriving from worlds that had once been too frightened to openly support the Rebellion. Systems declared their allegiance to the Alliance. Imperial governors fled or surrendered, and local resistance movements emerged from hiding. The news traveled faster than anyone could have expected. The Empire had lost its head.
The Senate had survived— that fact surprised Luke. For years, the Imperial Senate had existed only as a shadow of what it had once been. Palpatine had allowed it to continue for appearances, even as he steadily stripped it of its authority. Now, with the Emperor dead, senators from across the galaxy had begun demanding that the Senate reclaim the power it had once possessed. For the moment, it would serve as the galaxy's governing body— temporarily.
That was the word Luke heard most often. Temporary government. Temporary authority. Temporary arrangements.
Everyone seemed to agree that something new would have to be created. A Republic. The word appeared in speeches, reports, military briefings, and conversations in the corridors of the Senate.
A New Republic.
Luke found himself wondering what that actually meant. The former Republic had existed for generations. And it had fallen. The Jedi had existed alongside it, and they had fallen too. Luke could not forget that.
When the Alliance was invited to Coruscant, Luke traveled there with Leia, Han, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, Artoo, Threepio, and many of the surviving leaders and soldiers who had fought the Empire.
Coruscant was unlike anything Luke had ever seen. He had heard descriptions of the capital from Leia, but no description had prepared him for it. The entire planet seemed to stretch endlessly beneath his ship. Towering buildings rose into the clouds, their upper levels disappearing into the haze. Traffic filled the skies in every direction, thousands of vessels moving through the endless streams of air traffic, some following carefully regulated lanes, others moving with the confidence of pilots who had spent their entire lives navigating the capital.
The city seemed alive. But it was not the same Coruscant that had existed before the Empire. The people were celebrating, yes. But there was some kind of dread beneath the celebration. The Empire had ruled Coruscant for more than two decades. Some Imperial symbols had already been torn down, but its shadow and the fear of repression remained.
The Senate was divided. Some senators wanted to restore the old Republic almost exactly as it had been, and others believed that the old system had been too weak, too slow, and too easily corrupted. Some wanted a strong central government, others wanted greater independence for individual worlds.
There were arguments over the military, over trade, over the fate of Imperial prisoners, over what should happen to the Imperial bureaucracy. And, most of all, over who would govern the galaxy while all of these questions were being answered.
The political turmoil was especially intense in the capital. Luke sometimes found himself standing in the corridors of the Senate complex, listening to voices echoing through the halls. Everyone seemed to be talking, but very few seemed to actually be listening. Mon Mothma was one of the few people who seemed capable of doing both. Luke had known her through Leia. She had been one of Bail Organa's closest allies during the final years of the Republic, and, later, one of the main figures of the Rebellion. Leia had spoken of her almost as family.
In the weeks after the Battle of Endor, Mon Mothma rarely seemed to sleep. She moved between meetings, delegations, committees, and emergency sessions of the Senate, trying to keep the galaxy from tearing itself apart before it had even finished celebrating its liberation. Luke respected her. He could see why Leia trusted her.
Luke had spent the past few years of his life fighting the Empire. Now he was beginning to realize that defeating it had been the easier part. The galaxy had to learn how to live without it.
Luke had his own ideas about what the future could become. They were not political— he barely understood anything about politics to be able to listen to the meetings Leia dragged him and Han to.
His thoughts were elsewhere— they were on the Jedi. The more he learned about the old Order, the more Luke became convinced that the galaxy needed them. Not the Jedi as they had been at the end— not an Order that allowed itself to become entangled in politics and war, that trained children to suppress their emotions, become child soldiers, and treated attachment as something to be feared.
Luke wanted something different. A Jedi Order built upon virtue, trust, compassion. And, most of all, love. He believed the Force could be used to protect life without denying the feelings that made life worth protecting. His father had taught him that lesson.
Anakin had fallen because of fear and attachment, but Luke had also seen the other side of it. It had been his love for his father that had saved Anakin. That had to mean something. The Jedi had been destroyed, but perhaps they did not have to remain gone. Luke had begun to imagine what rebuilding them might look like. He had no idea where to begin. He barely considered himself a Jedi Knight. Yet whenever he thought about the future, the idea returned.
A new Order. A better Order. One that would not make the same mistakes. He needed answers. And there was one place where he thought he might find them. The Jedi Temple. Or, as the Empire had renamed it, the Imperial Palace.
Luke had known that the building existed, as Palpatine had often used it to demonstrate his power over the dead Jedi Order. But until recently, he had not realized what it had once been. The Jedi Temple had stood there for thousands of years, the heart of the Jedi Order, and the place where generations of Jedi had trained, studied, lived, and served the Republic. After the fall of the Order, Palpatine had taken it for himself, a symbol of his "victory" over them.
Luke could not help wondering what remained inside. Records, archives, artifacts… anything that might tell him how the Jedi had fallen. However, he didn't ignore the possibility that Palpatine could've destroyed everything to prevent anyone from gaining the knowledge that the Temple probably held.
About a month after the Battle, he went to Mon Mothma with the request. She listened carefully. "You want access to the Imperial Palace."
Luke nodded. "Yes."
"Do you know what you're looking for?"
"No."
That made her smile slightly. "At least you're honest."
Luke looked down. "I think the Jedi could help rebuild the galaxy."
Mothma studied him. "Do you intend to restore the Order?"
Luke hesitated. "I don't know." It was the truth. "I think I want to understand what happened to them first."
Mothma was silent for a moment. Then she nodded. "Then you have my permission."
Luke looked up. "Thank you."
When Luke told Han and Leia where he was going, neither of them even considered letting him go alone. "We're coming with you," Leia said immediately.
Luke looked at her. "I didn't even ask."
"You didn't need to."
Han leaned back in his chair. "She's right."
So, a few days later, the three of them stood before the former Jedi Temple. Luke looked up. The building was enormous. Its towers rose far above the surrounding structures, disappearing into the clouds. Yet there was something different about it now. It felt wrong.
The building was magnificent, but the Force around it was troubled. Luke could feel echoes— echoes of pain, fear, death. They were faint, sure, but they were there. Luke stared at the entrance. He wondered how many Jedi had walked through those doors. If his father had. And Obi-Wan. Yoda. And thousands of others whose names had been lost. Leia stood beside him. "You alright?"
Luke nodded. "Yes."
Han looked up at the towers. He gave a low whistle. "Emperor certainly knew how to pick a headquarters."
Leia frowned. "Han."
"What?"
"This place was sacred."
"I know." He looked towards Luke. "Just saying."
Luke barely heard them. He was looking beyond the entrance. He could feel the Force calling to him. He stepped forward, and the three of them entered. For a moment, Luke simply stood there.
It looked nothing like a Temple. The architecture remained, but Imperial banners hung where Jedi symbols had once been. The place had been transformed into a palace for the very man who had destroyed the Order that had called it home. Luke felt anger rising inside him. He pushed it down.
They continued deeper into the building. Luke felt the Force growing stronger around him. He passed rooms that had once been part of the Jedi Order. He saw remnants of the past beneath layers of Imperial occupation. Old carvings, damaged statues. Pieces of history that the Empire had tried to erase.
Luke stopped before one ancient doorway. He closed his eyes. He had hoped that coming here would answer his questions. Instead, it had given him more.
What had happened here? How had the Jedi failed? Could he actually build something better from the ruins? He looked down the darkened corridor.
The corridors of the former Temple seemed to grow darker the farther they went. Luke had expected the Imperial Palace to feel different from the place it had once been. He had not expected it to feel wrong.
They walked for hours. At first, Luke had tried to focus on the physical changes. From the books he had been given by Mon, he had been given the impression that the Jedi Temple had been built with a sense of openness, with enormous windows and broad halls that allowed natural light to spill through the building. Much of that had been altered.
Palpatine had covered the walls with dark stone and polished metal. Imperial banners hung from ceilings where Jedi symbols had once been displayed.
The architecture had not been completely destroyed. It had been twisted. That was what Luke found most disturbing. The Temple was still there beneath everything, like a memory buried beneath a nightmare. Luke walked between Han and Leia, his eyes moving constantly
The hours passed slowly. They explored chambers that had once belonged to the Jedi and were now offices for Imperial officials. They found abandoned equipment, damaged records, and rooms that had been stripped almost completely bare. Luke expected to feel the presence of the Force more strongly in a place that had once been the center of the Jedi Order. Instead, he felt fragments, echoes of a past that was now completely gone.
As they walked, Luke abruptly stopped. He felt something through the Force, a faint disturbance— so faint that he could have imagined it. He turned towards a blank section of wall. Leia noticed. "What is it?"
Luke stepped closer. "I don't know."
Luke placed his hand against it. The stone was cold, but he could feel as though there was something underneath it. He closed his eyes and reached out. "There's something behind this."
The wall seemed to shift beneath his awareness. There was a mechanism hidden inside it. Luke reached out. Nothing happened. He tried again. The wall trembled. A section of it slowly slid aside. Beyond it was darkness.
Leia stepped forward. "That wasn't here on the original plans."
"You have the original plans?"
"Some of them."
Luke stepped inside. The others followed. At first, Luke could see almost nothing. Then Leia activated a small light. The beam swept across the chamber. Luke stopped. His breath caught.
The room was full with shelves. Hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, who stretched from the floor to the ceiling and disappeared into the darkness. On every shelf were holobooks, filled with knowledge and history— the final remains of the Jedi civilization.
He had finally found what he was looking for, hidden completely by the Empire. He stepped further inside. Han stared upward. "What is this place?"
Leia looked around. "It looks like some kind of library."
Luke nodded slowly. "Yes."
After walking around for a bit, Luke stopped. He felt a pull. The Force was drawing him towards something. Luke turned. He began walking. The pull grew stronger. He moved between two rows of shelves, then another, and another, until he finally reached the farthest point of the chamber.In front of him stood a large hallway, and, at the end of that hallway, an alcove was built, like a secret room that had been revealed to him. In the middle of that room, in front of many other shelves seemingly full of knowledge, a cube-shaped artifact was glowing, seemingly the object that had called out to him from all the way at the entrance of the room. It hovered just above the floor.
Luke stared at it. He had never seen anything like it. The glow was not bright, it was almost colorless, with faint blue edges that seemed to shift whenever Luke moved. He could feel the Force around it.
Luke carefully stepped through the hallway and into the opening. As he marched forward, the object moved slightly, as though it had noticed him. Luke stopped breathing. Leia caught up with him. She stared at the object, then she knelt beside him.
"I feel it too." Luke looked at her. She was staring at the artifact. "What is it?" she whispered.
"I don't know." Luke reached out through the Force. He didn't know what he was feeling. He could hear faint voices around him, and he knew that this could be the Force trying to tell him something. There was one thing that he knew though, and that was that there was knowledge inside this artifact, though it felt different from the rest of the secrets in this room. It felt almost… alive.
Han finally reached them. He leaned against the wall beside them. It shifted slightly beneath his weight. He looked from the holocron to the twins. "Alright." Luke glanced at him. "This seems pretty sketchy." He pointed at the glowing object. "We shouldn't be touching things we don't know the origin of."
"It has knowledge."
Han shrugged. "Whatever it is, it seems dangerous."
Leia looked at him. "Don't be silly."
"I'm not being silly." Han gestured around them. "We're standing inside a secret room full of mysterious Jedi boxes that the Empire deliberately hid away. And that one is floating."
Leia looked at the object. "It is a little unusual, but I don't think it's dangerous."
Luke's attention was still on the artifact. The feeling was becoming stronger. It was calling to him, inviting him forward. Luke didn't know why he was doing it, but he slowly reached out his hand. At the same moment, Leia did the same. Their hands moved towards it together. Luke could feel the Force connecting them.
Han saw what they were doing. "Oh, no." He pushed away from the wall. "Don't touch it."
Leia ignored him. Luke's fingers were inches away. The object pulsed. Han reached towards it too, apparently trying to pull them away. "Both of you, don't—" his hand touched the holocron. So did Luke's and Leia's. All at the same time.
Everything stopped. Luke felt the air leave his lungs. It felt as though the entire room had suddenly become a vacuum.
His chest tightened. He could not breathe, he could not move. The object flashed. A burst of light erupted through the chamber. Luke felt Leia's hand against his, and Han's fingers brushed the other side. Then the Force exploded.
Luke had no idea what was happening. He tried to pull away— he couldn't.
He tried to reach for Leia— he couldn't.
The room seemed to stretch. The shelves became impossibly tall, the walls disappeared into darkness, the light emanating from the artifact grew brighter and brighter until it was all Luke could see.
Then he felt himself being pulled forward, like a ship entering hyperspace. He was being sucked into something. His stomach lurched. His body seemed to stretch. The Force screamed around him. Luke could no longer tell where he was. He could not tell where Leia was. He could not feel Han either. He tried to call out. "Leia!" His voice vanished in the blinding… noise that was now surrounding him. The light became blinding.
The Force surged again. He suddenly could feel Leia's presence beside him, and Han somewhere beyond her. Then all three of them were falling through darkness. Luke reached for his sister, for his best friend, for anything that could get him out of this. His fingers found nothing.
He heard a distant sound. Then that same sensation, the one of a ship being sucked into hyperspace, swallowed him completely. Luke's thoughts scattered.
The last thing he felt was the Force.
And then— nothing.
All was black.