Potential spoilers for Force Awakens, you have been warned.
After The Republic was back in place Luke traveled back to Tatooine to see his old friends, only to find out that all of his old stomping grounds were wiped out by the Empire, say for Mos Eisley Spaceport. While looking around in the hopes of seeing someone he knew he heads into an old familiar watering hole. He stands by the bar and looks around and can't help but crack a smile at the memories of meeting his best friend, and soon to be brother-in-law in this bar. As he's scanning the room a lady with dark brown hair is gathering up empty cups onto a tray, a barmaid most likely.
The barmaid turns and sees Luke, she almost lost the tray when her eyes fell on him. The barmaid quickly composed herself and went back to her work as Luke asked the barkeep if he knew any of the people Luke named off to him.
"Sorry kid, we get a lot of faces and races in this place. Now are you going to buy a drink or just take up space?"
Never wanting to cloud his mind Luke ordered up a glass of old fashion blue milk, again he smiles at the memories he's kept with him.
Luke ended up staying the bar for several hours' people watching, he's been fighting for so long that he's almost forgotten what it was like to just spend a day doing nothing. He's moved to one of the standing tables off to the side to get a better view of the bar.
"Are you finished with that?" The same barmaid from early asked him pointing at his empty glass.
"Yes thank you." Luke replied handing the woman his glass.
She took the glass, set it on her tray and tuned to walk away but was stopped by Luke. "Pardon me, but maybe you could help me with something."
The barmaid turned back around. "Yes?"
"I'm trying to find some old friends of mine and I was wondering if you might know of them."
The barmaid scowled. "So now, ten years later you want to help?"
Luke was confused, why would this woman be angry with him. "I'm sorry?"
The barmaid set her tray of empty glasses down on the table, not wanting to drop them if she fully lost her temper. "You moister farmers were always as dumb as womp rats."
"If I have angered you if some way I do apologize." Luke knew he could persuade this woman to relax with a simple wave of his hand. But the Force is not a tool to be used whenever he wished.
"I lost everything because of you."
This only increased Luke's confusion. "Whatever I have done please tell me and I will do what I can to make amnes."
"Nothing you can do can undo what the Empire did to Toshi Station." The woman's eyes were like daggers.
It finally clicked, this woman must have been at Toshi Station when the Empire came looking for him.
"I understand now. The Empire took a lot from a lot of people."
"You have no idea. If you had just been there like we thought you were going to be, everything would still be how it was supposed to be."
"Would you have preferred that I had stayed on the planet, and let the Empire take me?"
The barmaid didn't hesitate. "Yes. It would have been better for everyone if they had found you."
Luke gave a short nod. "I understand your anger, I do, but don't let it control you." Luke moved around the table to leave. "I'm sorry for what happened, truly I am. I hope you can someday forgive me and move on."
The barmaid didn't say a word, she is happy that Luke is leaving.
"I hope to one day see you again Camie." and with that Luke was gone.
Camie, the barmaid, was a little shocked that Luke remembered her, she never game him the time of day before the Empire destroyed Toshi Station so she honestly didn't think he would.
Life went back to normal for Camie after Luke wondered into the bar, and after several weeks she had almost forgotten that she even saw him.
She was cleaning up a table when a pair of scavengers walked into the bar.
"I don't know who's doing it, but I'm telling you someone is trying to fix up that old pit." One of the men said as they walked to the bar.
"Who in their right mind would want to fix up the old Toshi Station? That place was picked clean years ago and is nothing but rubble and sand." the second one says signaling to the bartender for a drink.
"I don't know. But it's like on guy and a droid, maybe it's another hermit looking to set up."
"Let's hope it's not like the last one, that creepy old Ben guy was bad enough."
Toshi Station was all that Camie could think about after overhearing the conversation of the two men as she finished up her day at the bar. And once she was finished she borrowed a speeder and took off towards Toshi Station.
The place had become a taboo place to venture after the Empire attacked, as is every place that was attacked by them.
Toshi Station to Camie was also a grave to her lost friends and life, so if someone was looking to make it their home, she was going to do everything she can to stop them.
The light of the fire against the evening sky was the first thing she saw as she approached. As she got closer she could see an Astromech droid and a figure moving rubble around. Glaring she increased her speed and made a beeline for the figure.
When she got within earshot she stopped her speeder and jumped out. "What the heck do you think you're doing?"
The figure stopped moving the large chunk of rubble, which would have been almost impossible for a normal person to do, and turned to Camie. "I guess I'm destined to always make you mad at me." Luke says wiping the dust from his hands.
"What do you think you are doing Skywalker?" Camie's anger for Luke came rushing back.
"Trying to clean up the mess made over me."
Camie couldn't help but laugh. "You think cleaning up this place will fix what was done? You ran off to do who knows what while your Uncle and Aunt were killed, Toshi Station destroyed, and all of your friends killed or kidnapped!"
"I know it will not fix what happened, what the Empire and the Emperor did can never be fixed. But we are going to do what we can."
"We?" Camie asks.
"The Rebellion, well I guess we're called The Republic now."
"You ran off with Biggs? That what you did?"
"Not exactly, but we did fight together."
"So what, the great space fighter Luke Skywalker, Champion of the Rebellion, comes back to his home planet to clean up his own mess after a decade of being gone."
"I was unaware that I had earned a reputation here."
"You don't, no one is left here that knows you."
Luke couldn't help but crack a smile. "Except for you."
Again, Camie laughs. "Only because I have to live with the memory of our dead friends."
Luke's smile fades. "I remember them too. Everyone I lost over the years I remember."
"You chose to run off to wa-"
Camie is cut off by the sound of speeders approaching.
She turns around and sees scavengers from the bar. "Crap, I was afraid they would come."
"Friends of yours?" Luke asks watching the speeders draw closer.
"Exact opposite."
Camie reaches to her side to the blaster she had with her, it's never safe to venture out into the dunes without one.
"Let me handle them." Luke says placing his hand on top of Camie's. Luke walks past Camie to meet the men a few feet away from her.
"Well what do we have here? An offworlder looking to clean up the world?" One of the scavengers says stopping his speeder.
"Is there something I can help you gentlemen with?" Luke asks lacing his fingers together in front of his chest.
The second scavenger grins. "Well take your food, water, money, and that droid over there."
Luke quickly looks behind himself at the White and silver droid by his camp. "I'm sorry gentlemen, but I'm going to have to decline your request."
"Well then we'll just kill you then." The first scavenger says pulling a blaster out of his belt.
Luke waves his hand and says; "You don't want to rob me."
"We don't want to rob you." The scavengers say together.
Luke waves his hand a second time. "You want to go home and rethink your lives."
"We want to go home and rethink our lives."
The Scavengers then turn their speeders back on and turn around. Luke smiles as the men return from where they came.
"How did you get them just leave like that?" Camie asks running up to Luke.
"I just have a way with people."
Camie grabs Luke by the shoulders and turns him to face her. "Bull, you did something to them."
Luke smiles, he had to keep his connection to the Force quiet for years, harder for the Empire to find him, But now he believes it is safe enough to let people know. "The Force allows us to do many great things."
"The Force? What is that some kind of magic?"
Luke chuckles. "Well I guess that is a simple way to put it."
Without realizing it Luke spends well over an hour explaining the Force to Camie, and she found the whole concept of the Force baffling.
"How could the old republic get tricked if there was all these Jedi around?" Camie asks. She too hasn't noticed the amount of time that has passed.
"Well, just as there is night and day, there is also light and darkness of the Force, and the Emperor was very strong with the Dark Side of the Force."
Camie was watching Luke as he said that, she could see a faint hint of a shadow cross his face. Almost as if Luke had a dark shadow looming over him.
"But with true balance the Force will never swing too far again."
Camie looks away from Luke, she started this tip with anger but now she feels sympathy for Luke. She may have lost her old life and friends, but Luke lost that along with his family and gained a heavy burden that is weighing him down. "I should be going Luke, it's late and I have to be at the bar tomorrow, and it's not safe to travel in the dark.
Luke stands up from his spot by the fire and offers a hand to Camie. "Be safe on your trip back to Mos Eisley. I once heard that there is a good amount of scum and villainy in that area."
Camie takes his hand and pulls herself up. "That is why you keep a good blaster at your side."
Luke couldn't help but laugh at the unintended reference Camie made to Han. "It was nice talking to you Camie, say for R2 I've only have military people to talk to for so long."
"It was nice talking to you too Luke. Life on this ball of sand is always dead and boring."
Camie didn't plan on going back and seeing Luke again, but a few days after her first trip to the runes of Toshi Station she found herself wanting to return. So her next day off from the bar she packed a pack with some rations and water and took the borrowed speeder out to where she hoped Luke would still be. And to her enjoyment she found Luke sitting next to R2 with his eyes closed.
"Luke?" She says walking over from her parked speeder.
As she gets closer she hears a whisper come from Luke. "I understand Ben, but I just need some time."
"Who are you talking to?" Camie asks breaking Luke out of his day dream.
"Hello Camie, this is a surprise." Luke says lying. He felt her approaching for minutes now.
Camie rubs her arm. "Yeah, I had some free time and was wondering if you were still alive."
'Your thoughts betray you Camie.' Luke thinks as the Force reveals her true concern for him.
Camie coming to visit Luke as he worked to clean up Toshi Station because a regular event. Sometimes she would bring food to share with him, and sometimes they would sit by Luke's fire pit as he told her tales from the war.
Camie admits to herself that she has grown affection for Luke, but she would never tell him. He is a Jedi Knight who fought the Empire and won a duel against Darth Vader, and she is just a barmaid at a bar on a backwater planet.
So she took to just enjoying watching Luke work, talking with him, and sharing food with him.
One day over a month after her first visit to Toshi Station Camie left earlier than she normally would, Luke has been telling her about his Jedi training and she is looking forward to hearing more about it.
When she arrives at his camp she sees him packing up the few things around the camp. She knew this day would come, the cleanup of Toshi Station was mostly done for days now and Luke seemed to just be putting off the final bits.
"Hello Camie." Luke says standing up from the metal box he was packing his things into.
"Hi. I guess you're done here?" Camie asks looking at the now cleaned up Toshi Station.
Luke looks over at his finished work. "I am."
"So… what are you going to do now?" Camie had a faint hope that he would want to stay on Tatooine, with her.
Luke turned away from the station. "To be honest, I didn't know at first. I used this little project as a way to think, and I know what I must do now."
"And that is?"
"I am going to rebuild the Jedi Order. But not as it was before, balance is needed, something more gray."
Camie felt her sadness of Luke leaving rising. "So you're going to leave."
"I am."
Camie is holding back her tears of sadness, she didn't want Luke to leave.
She had her eyes closed, so she didn't see Luke move next to her. "But." She hears him say as a hand wipes a tear off of her cheek. "I hope a desert flower would come with me."
Camie looks up at Luke just as a beaten and battered a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter comes in for a landing.
"Do you mean, are you asking me to leave Tatooine with you?" Camie asks as the ship lands and the loading bay door opens.
Luke smiles at Camie. "I am Camie."
Camie felt her heart sore with affection for Luke. "How long did you spend on that line?"
"All morning."
Camie laughs. "Yes Luke, I'll go with you. Just promise me one thing."
"And that is?"
"That life is going to be as exciting as a ship coming out of nowhere and you not caring about it."
"I promise."
"After that Camie came with me as I searched for others to train and for a place to start my new order. It wasn't easy and we spent several years flying from planet to planet. But in the end I had a large group of young minds eager to learn, a wife that I loved, and a little girl that looked so much like her mother." Luke says, finishing the recount of how he met the mother of his daughter.
"And it was Han's son that killed them all?" Rey, Luke's newest student, asks looking away from the training remote she was practicing with.
Luke lets out a sigh, he thinks about Camie every day, but talking about her makes it harder control his emotions. "Yes he did."
Rey grips her lightsaber tighter. "I will avenge her, and Han."
"No Rey. Revenge is a path to the Dark Side. We must mourn, we must grieve, and we must remember. But never seek revenge for your mother. Now again, concentrate. Let the Force guide your actions, show you where to move to block the beam."
This is a fic centered around a fan theory a friend of mine had (shout out to him (redbearillustration on Deviant Art) his stuff is awesome) and I ran with it and made this short story. There is a very strong chance that this is all going to be proven false with Episode Eight, but it is still fun to imagine what will be. Now just so you know, Camie (Full name is Camie Marstrap) is a character that is in a deleted scene from Episode Four where Luke was at Toshi Station. I hope you liked this little fan theory story.
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