A/N: Alright, so since the last update there has been a whole mess of material released that now contradicts the background of this story. I have decided that this will be a whole Alternate Universe called the Rogue Love Verse. This verse contains the stories: The Long Way Home, Definitions of Home, an upcoming story called Beneath the Mask, continuing stories of The Long Way Home covering the events of Episodes Eight and Nine, and probably a few small shorts in the future.

As such, materials such as Bloodline by Claudia Gray and the newly released material for Rogue One are not canon in the Rogue Love Verse. Therefore, keep in mind the following changes:

Darth Vader being Anakin Skywalker/Luke and Leia's father has public knowledge since shortly after Endor.

Ben has known basically since birth that Anakin was Vader.

Luke had a very public life (though not exactly by choice) until shortly after Rey was born.

Luke lived on Coruscant until a year before Rey was born.

Leia and Han did in fact live together always while married.

Han didn't own a shipping company or become a racing pilot, but to be honest, I'm not sure what he did. Probably things that made the family have a don't ask, don't tell policy.

Leia and Han had constant contact with Luke and Ben while Ben lived on Rornian.

The Resistance was a Republic approved operation founded by Leia to combat the First Order after footage of Shara Bey's execution by them was leaked into the public. (More details can be found in Definitions of Home.)

The backstory of Felicity Rhiaon is (scarily) similar to Jyn Erso's, but not identical. All information can be found in Definitions of Home, and all relevant points will be mentioned in this story.

These are the counterparts of the Rogue One characters: Jyn Erso = Felicity Rhiaon, Cassian Andor = Diego Nalto, Bodhi Rook = Riz Drayson, Chirrut = Ji-Dan Hayato, and Baze = Wen "Gunner" Arroyo.

K-250 does not exist.

Most of this can be found in current and future chapters of Definitions of Home. Now that that's all settled, enjoy this chapter.


The Long Way Home

Chapter Three

I Won't Leave You


Luke Skywalker had never felt so angry in his life. He hadn't even been that angry when he stood in front of the Emperor, having beaten his father into submission. The Knights of Ren had corrupted Luke's nephew, torn apart his family, slain his students, terrorized his daughter, and had just tried to kill his wife.

In that moment, as Luke stood between Felicity and Cade, he wanted nothing more than their blood. Jaek and Baku exchanged a nervous look as they felt Luke's anger through the Force, crashing violently against them like waves against a rock. It was so tremendous, even Felicity could feel it bleeding into the Force.

"Hello, Boys," Luke's eyes flashed darkly in the glow of his lightsaber. "I believe you forgot to invite me to your little party."

Cade Ren was unphased, "Stand aside, Skywalker."

"You don't actually think I'm going to do that?"

"He does have a point," Jaek shrugged. "We are trying to kill his wife."

"Shut up!" Cade snapped.

"Luke," Felicity softly whispered to herself.

She couldn't believe it; Luke had come to save her. Their relationship had never been that of a knight in shining armor and a damsel in distress, but they had grown unafraid of asking each other to help.

Felicity would have resented Luke if he had stolen the glory in a normal First Order battle, but she wasn't foolish enough to believe she could hold her own against Force Sensitives. No, Felicity was more than willing to pass the buck to Luke. After all, battling Dark Side users was his speciality. But she still kept her blaster primed and pointed at the Knights. No matter the enemy they faced, Luke and Felicity always operated much better as a team than they ever did apart.

Hearing Felicity's whisper, Luke spared the briefest glance back at her. She was still in the strong pose she assumed to face death, but Luke was happy to see Felicity had relaxed.

Yet there was fear in her eyes.

Luke knew all too well that the only Force Sensitive Felicity had ever feared was Darth Vader. If brought before Palpatine, Felicity probably would have sassed the Emperor all the way to her execution. Felicity didn't fear the Knights of Ren and would have torn them to shreds in a fair (aka Force powerless) fight.

Then what was it she feared?

Luke reached out into the Force and found his way to the barriers of Felicity's mind. He gave the barrier a gentle nudge and felt her mind open to him automatically. Over the years, Felicity's trust of Luke had grown so strong that he no longer needed to vocalize his request to search her mind. One gentle touch and Felicity opened willingly to him.

The cause of Felicity's fear was forefront in her mind as she relived her memories of that night: Felicity tucking Rey into bed, Felicity waking to Rey's screams, Felicity racing to Rey's room, Felicity seeing the pile of blankets on the floor showcasing that their daughter had literally been dragged out of bed.

Anger flared up again in Luke. They had torn his five-year-old daughter out of bed in the middle of the night? Luke had always sworn to Rey that she would be safe in her bed. He would make the Knights pay for breaking his promise.

Luke shook as he gripped the hilt of his lightsaber tightly. He postured the beam defensively across his body. Luke knew his feelings were wrong: anger and vengeance were not the way of the Jedi. But after all the Knights had done – burning down the Temple, burning down his home, terrorizing his family, and murdering dozens of innocent lives – Luke wanted to tear them apart. It felt like gripping the hilt of his lightsaber was the only thing stopping him from slashing Cade into a million little pieces.

"You have exactly sixty seconds to lower your weapons and step away from my wife," Luke's words were ice.

Cade's face faltered; Luke's anger was so strong it was almost a physical entity. Luke didn't notice when even Felicity took a step back from him. She herself wasn't quite sure if it was out of fear or to simply get out of the splash zone.

"And… And if I don't?" Cade asked.

Luke's eyes flicked to Iago Ren laying dead on the ground, "Fifty-five seconds."

"Luke," Yoda's voice suddenly called to him through the Force. "Dangerous feelings, these are. Set them aside, you must. Anger, fear, aggression; the Dark Side of the Force are they."

"But Master Yoda," Luke tried to reason into the Force, "the Knights are a threat. They have already done so much damage; I have to stop them from taking what's left."

"Stop them, you may," Yoda replied, "but remember: a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack."

"Forty-five," Luke hesitated. How was ending Cade's life not defense?

"Count down all you want," Cade snarled. He had found new resolve in viewing Iago's body. Revenge may not be the Jedi way, but it was a powerful motivator in his group, "I'll be the one laughing when I kill your little wife."

And Luke understood: he couldn't stop the Knights by attacking them for murdering his students, he could only stop them by defending his wife.

"I'm afraid you'll find that you're both right and wrong," Luke lowered his saber slightly. He turned and walked towards Felicity who was watching him hesitantly. "You're wrong in thinking that you'll be able to kill my wife."

Felicity frowned at the confident look on her husband's face. What was he playing at? And why had he given no reaction to the revelation she had lost Rey? Felicity tried not to think of Rey in that moment, trying to keep her mind on the present, but Felicity feared for their daughter while Ben was nowhere to be found.

"And what am I right about?" Cade asked, his eyes following Luke as he settled at Felicity's side.

Felicity yelped when Luke suddenly pulled her against his hip.

"She's my wife."

If it had been anyone but Luke that said it, Felicity would have slapped them. Felicity was no one's property, least of all some man's. But Felicity knew Luke like the back of her hand, and she understood that with that one gesture of pulling her against him and declaring his claim on her, Luke was communicating ten different things.

Firstly, it was true, Luke was claiming her to the Knights as his own, but in that case it wasn't such a bad thing. No matter how hard she tried, the Knights could defeat Felicity. There was no denial of that fact. But they could not defeat Luke, especially if he had someone to back him up. By claiming Felicity to the Knights, he was informing them that if they tried to take her from him, he would destroy them.

Secondly it put them in a better position to fight. Luke held his saber in his dominant left hand, the emerald beam humming as it hovered defensively in front of both of them. At the same time, his free right arm was locked possessively around Felicity's waist. This meant that Felicity's right arm was free.

One of the small details Felicity loved about her relationship with Luke was that he was left handed while she favored her right. During fights they could literally stay by each other's side, each protecting one side for the two of them.

The third thing was that it put them in a position to communicate with each other. True, whispering in that situation could probably be fatal, but Luke and Felicity had long lost their need for whispers.

To an extent, Luke could directly speak to Felicity's mind as long as she was in a reasonable range. Since she was not a Force Sensitive, doing it around other Force users was not a smart idea, and Luke restrained himself, but the duo had another method of communication. After being on one too many adventures gone wrong together, the pair had created their own series of codes communicated entirely by the most discreet of signals. They could convey an entire battle plan without saying a word.

Which led to the fourth thing Luke did with the gesture. Luke lightly traced the letter Resh – the Aurebesh letter for R – against Felicity's spine. It was their code for "Rey is safe."

… and yes, sometimes their code was that specific.

The fifth thing came after Luke heard Felicity's sigh of relief. He could sense that she still worried over the fact that Rey was not physically with Luke, but for the moment knowing Luke had seen her was enough for Felicity. Now that Luke knew Felicity had settled, it was his turn to calm down.

Felicity shot Luke a half glare when he gently tugged the material of her shirt up. He exposed less than an inch of her bare skin to the cold rain, and stroked her soft familiar flesh with his mechanical fingertips.

It may not have been the most appropriate thing in that moment, but Luke couldn't help himself. Luke needed to feel her, to be certain she was safe and unharmed. After Reine's death in his arms and denying himself the chance to comfort his daughter, Luke needed to touch his wife.

As he stroked her skin Luke could feel his rage getting replaced with calm and level headedness... and the slight fear that Felicity was going to smack him for this later.

"Sorry," Luke muttered has he started to move his hand away.

"Did I ask you to stop?" Felicity whispered back.

Luke grinned and replaced his hand on his wife's hip to Felicity's satisfaction.

The sixth and seventh messages played off each other. By holding Felicity to him and stroking her side, Luke reassured Felicity that he was there to protect her. On the other side of the coin, it also reassured Luke that she was there to protect him, something she had done nearly as many times as he had in all their time together.

Eighth was the most important thing to Luke: by claiming her, Luke was conveying to the Knights that as long as Felicity was there, Luke would ensure she could escape them. He was more than willing to die to protect Felicity, but he had to know that his sacrifice meant she would be safe.

It was not hard to imagine how Felicity could escape. While the Knights struggled not to show their fear of Luke, neither Cade nor Baku moved to block the gap left by Iago's fallen body. The Knights knew that the smallest movement could set off Luke and weren't willing to risk it.

The ninth meaning of the gesture was up to Felicity to convey, and she was more than happy to deliver it.

"He's right, boys," Felicity announced to the Knights. "I'm his, but more importantly, he's mine."

With a grin and blaster in her right hand, Felicity boldly locked her own free hand around Luke's muscular torso, staking her claim on the Jedi Grandmaster.

Tenth was the final overall message sent by the duo. How they could look so fierce in the face of death. How they could joke, and smile, and apparently even feel up each other in the middle of a battlefield. But their defenses were not lacking with both sides covered and a near perfect system of communication.

They were a formidable enemy, and above all, they were a team.

"Twenty seconds, Gentlemen," Luke announced. "This is your last chance. Drop your weapons and surrender."

"And if we don't?" Baku challenged.

"Then I'll remind you of what I did to Forr while my husband reminds you of Iago," Felicity nodded to the bodies of the fallen Knights of Ren. "Just a quick question, do you prefer burial or cremation?"

Jaek gulped.

"Fifteen seconds," Luke's hand ran across Felicity's back, making a series of marks to communicate his plan to her.

"They're bluffing," Cade declared.

"Ten," Felicity teased as she traced her thoughts on Luke's plan along his spine.

"I don't think they're bluffing," Jaek's voice had gone very high.

"We're not afraid of you," Baku snarled.

"Five," Luke said, his hand stroking the one last detail of their plan against Felicity's shin.

"Guys, I'm a little afraid."

"Four," Felicity tapped Luke's neck to signal she understood the plan.

"Guys?"

"Defensive positions!" Cade ordered.

"Three," Luke said.

"Two," Felicity smiled.

"ONE!" They shouted in unison.

Jaek threw himself to the ground.

Felicity shot Baku, hitting him in the arm while Luke swiped at Cade. Luke missed while Baku's wound wasn't fatal. But death had not been their goal: merely distraction, and they had hit their target perfectly.

They ran for the opening where Iago's body laid. Felicity took the lead, directing Luke towards the trees while firing shots back at the Knights of Ren.

"Switch to blasters!" Cade commanded, grabbing Jaek by the neck and pulling him to his feet. "And get up you!"

Luke trailed behind Felicity, using his lightsaber to deflect the blasts the Knights shot at them. Deflecting the blast of one gunner was hard enough. Deflecting the shots of three people? Luke should have been charging admission to watch the nearly impossible feat.

A blast hit him in the mechanical hand. Luke cried out, and stumbled forward. Unfortunately, the ground was muddy from the thunderstorm, and as he lost balance from the jolt of the shot, he slipped in the mud and smacked against the ground.

"Luke!" Felicity called, turning about face and racing towards him.

"No, Felicity! Run!" Luke called.

But it was too late, she was already at his side.

"Thanks," Luke said as Felicity pulled him to his feet.

"Anytime," Felicity winked, responding with their infamous phrase. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Luke glanced down at his hand. The synthetic skin had been shredded by the blast, and pieces hung limply from the exposed metal skeleton, "Well… Maybe not all of me."

"Hey, we've had this discussion before," Felicity smirked. "The only parts of you I care about working are your head, your mouth, and your-"

"DOWN!" Luke shoved her shoulder, forcing her to the ground. Lighting his saber, Luke dramatically spun and deflected a blast that if Felicity had stood there a second longer would have nailed her in the head.

The blast bounced off Luke's lightsaber, and redirected to Jaek. It hit Jaek in the chest, and he fell down dead.

"You know, I kind of liked that one," Felicity aimed a few shots at the remaining Knights, missing as she clumsily got to her feet. "If he hadn't murdered all of our friends, I might be sad that he's dead."

"Run for the treeline," Luke grabbed her hand.

They took off like a shot, resuming their previous positions of shooting and deflecting. They were down to two Knights, while Ben was still missing in action. Luke had not sensed Ben endangering Rey, so Luke had that small comfort to hold onto.

"Remember the plan," Luke whispered as he and Felicity crossed into the dark forest.

"Yes, Sir," Felicity replied in an all too familiar tone that never failed to bring Luke to his knees.

"Is now really the time?" Luke struggled to resist the urge to respond in the usual manner.

"Sorry. Habit," Felicity shrugged.

Luke sighed.

"Just turn left," he spoke to her through the Force so Baku and Cade wouldn't overhear the direction.

They ran through the forest, and Luke occasionally used the Force to communicate a change in direction. Eventually the voices of Cade and Baku became more distant, and Luke found the terrain more familiar. They were approaching the spot he had left Rey.

Luke suddenly grabbed Felicity and pulled her behind a small patch of trees.

"Stay quiet," Luke whispered, pressing her close against him. "I think we've lost them."

They waited a few minutes, listening to the soft noises of the forest nightlife and their own heavy breathing. There was no sign of any Knight of Ren.

"I'll check the area," Felicity pulled out of Luke's embrace.

"Be careful," Luke cautioned. He'd rather check himself, but Felicity was a grown woman capable of looking out for the two of them.

"All clear," Felicity finally declared a few minutes later. "We're out of danger for now."

"Good," Luke shared a look with his wife.

They were in each other's arms in an instant: kissing, touching, and reassuring each other they were alright.

"Luke," Felicity groaned, trying to withhold the tears that had been threatening to fall all night. She had gripped the front of his shirt with two hands and pressed him against a tree as she passionately kissed him over and over.

"Are you… all…right?" Luke managed to ask her between breaths. He could not stop kissing her. If their lives weren't still in danger, he probably would have done something else to her against that tree.

"I'm okay, Sweetheart," Felicity reassured him, finally ceasing the kissing and just holding him as tightly as she could. "I'm okay. I'm here. I'm safe. I'm alive."

Felicity buried her head in the crook of his neck as Luke too held onto Felicity as tightly as he could. Luke could feel her tears dripping down his neck, and knew his own tears were returning that favor. Neither of them cared; all Luke cared about with that his beloved wife, Felicity was in his arms again.

"I'm alive, Sweetheart," Felicity whispered. "I'm alive."

"I'm alive too," Luke whispered.

"Luke…" Felicity felt a lump in her throat. She could hardly bear to say the words in her mind, but knew they needed to be spoken. "Luke, I'm afraid."

Luke couldn't help but smile. Felicity had been a very guarded person when they first met. Over the course of her life she had lost nearly everyone she loved. As a result, she had put up many barriers to her heart. Her previous relationships struggled to survive when her partners had either ignored her walls or tried to tear them down.

But Luke understood her need of walls, just as he had a few of his own. Their pain had shaped who they were, and their walls were an integral part of their souls. True, Luke was more open and forgiving than Felicity, but that is what made them such a good match. Luke taught Felicity when to let her guard down, while Felicity had taught him when to bring his up.

In the end, Felicity's relationship with Luke had lasted because instead of tearing down her walls, he had learned where to find the secret passages and side doors to find his way to her heart. No one got to hear when she was sad, broken hearted, or scared. No one but Luke.

So Luke understood how significant Felicity's admission of fear truly was. It meant that she was unafraid to admit to him that she was afraid.

"Felicity," Luke whispered, gently stroking her hair. "It's alright. We're here together. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."

Felicity sniffed, and gave a chuckle, "And I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."

"Promise?" Luke smiled.

"Promise," Felicity kissed him again.

"Better?"

"A bit." Felicity glanced down at Luke's hand, "Oh, that is not a pretty sight."

"It's a good thing you didn't marry me for my looks then."

"Actually your looks were probably at least forty percent of the reason I married you."

Luke raised an eyebrow, "I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not."

"What?" Felicity said. "You can't blame me. For goodness sake, will you look at yourself?"

"I don't know how to answer that question."

"Look, Luke, I know bantering in the face of death is one of our favorite pastimes-"

"We need a new hobby."

"But we need a plan," Felicity finished. "Starting with fixing that hand."

"The synth skin is ruined," Luke assessed his injury. "And the wiring is pretty shot. I had to fight Zhan Ren when I landed, and he stabbed me in the hand. I gave it a temporary fix, but the second blast has fried the skin and some of the wiring. The best thing I can do is strip the skin so it doesn't get in the way, and wear my mechanics bare until I can get a replacement. There's just one small problem."

"What's that?"

"I can't strip this with one hand." Luke looked sheepish, "Do you… Do you think you can strip it for me?"

Felicity withheld revulsion. While she didn't judge Luke for having a mechanical hand, and didn't mind when he used it to touch her, she wasn't exactly a fan. Additionally, since Luke's hand looked so realistic, the thought of Felicity stripping the skin from it made her want to throw up.

"I wouldn't ask you if I had any other options," Luke recognized Felicity's look.

"Luke, what about the sensors? Wouldn't it feel like I was peeling your skin off?" Felicity muttered, "Add that to the list of sentences I never should have to say but do because I was dumb enough to marry a Skywalker."

"That's what you get for marrying for looks. Besides, the sensors aren't working after the blasts. I can't feel anything with this hand. Now, please, Felicity?"

"Fine, but you owe me," Felicity reluctantly pulled a small viroblade off her belt (thank goodness she always had a fully stocked weapons belt in her closet) and began cutting off the fake skin. "I guess you know it's real love when you are willing to strip a guy's skin off to help him. Now, where's Rey?"

"Rey?" Luke repeated, surprised by the change in subject.

"You told me she was safe. Where is she?"

Luke clipped his lightsaber onto his belt, "About a kilometer east."

"Who's with her?"

Luke was silent.

"Luke," Felicity's voice was perfectly measured as her hazel eyes flicked up coldly at him, "tell me that you did not leave our five-year-old daughter alone in the woods during a massacre."

"I didn't have a choice."

"Luke!"

"What was I supposed to do, Felicity?" Luke questioned. "Bring her further into the fighting where she had the greater risk of dying?"

"You could have left her with someone."

Luke's face fell.

"Felicity… There's no one left," Luke voice was soft.

Felicity froze.

"No one?" Felicity whispered.

Luke bowed his head, shame enveloping his face. The silent, stillness of the night overtook the pair as the horror of what had happened finally set in. Their home, their friends, everything they had spent the last decade working toward had been taken from them.

"Oh, Luke," Felicity switched off the blade and pulled Luke into her arms.

As the husband and wife clung to each other, they wept over the loss of their friends.

"At least we have each other," Felicity struggled to put on a brave face for Luke. She was used to losing the people around her and had learned to mourn later.

Luke was about as experienced as Felicity in the field of loss, but he had the unfortunate habit of pushing his grief aside for a proper moment, and then never would revisit it. Eventually it would grow bit by bit until it overtook him and he lashed out at someone. Felicity had never been particularly bothered by the habit as the person he lashed out against usually deserved it. But after seeing what the Dark Side had done to Ben, and knowing their daughter could suffer the same fate should Luke not properly instruct her to control her temper, Felicity had made it her mission to force Luke to face his emotions as quickly as possible. She refused to lose either him or Rey to the Dark Side, and if that meant Felicity had to put on a strong act for them, then so be it.

"It's alright, Luke," Felicity tried to comfort her husband. "Your students died the way they wanted to: defending the Light Side of the Force."

"But after everything they'd been through, this wasn't the way they should have died," Luke replied.

His arms were locked around Felicity so tightly, she worried he might accidentally break something. She refused to complain: he was clutching her like he feared she would dissipate if he let go.

"Not everyone gets a fair death," Felicity reminded Luke. "Remember what happened to your aunt and uncle? To my brother? To Shara Bey? Try to focus on the bright side right now. I'm alive. You're alive. Rey's alive."

"Doctor Kalonia's alive," Luke suddenly remembered.

When building Temple Village, Luke had been required by the Emissary Office to bring a non-Force Sensitive to Rornian, as well as a medical doctor. Luke had decided to kill two birds with one stone by hiring a non-Force Sensitive doctor. After a rather failed start when Luke was dumb enough to date the first doctor, he hired Doctor Kalonia, a friend of Leia's.

"Isn't she at that conference?" Luke tried to keep the desperation from his voice. "That one about the experimental cloning procedure to replace limbs?"

"Yes," Felicity grinned. "She left a few days ago. She's expected back next week."

Luke couldn't help but laugh as he joyfully pulled Felicity into a kiss, "That's wonderful! That means at least one person escaped Be-"

The word died in Luke's throat.

Felicity winced, "I'm so sorry, Luke. This is all my fault. I spent so much time provoking Ben-"

"No, it's my fault. I should have been more attentive," Luke sighed, "Felicity… Ben killed Reine. She died in my arms."

"Tyla Kinall died in mine," Felicity said. "She helped me escape the house when they set it on fire."

"You two actually getting along? It's a miracle."

"It was for five minutes, Luke. Don't lose your head."

Tyla had always had a grudge against Felicity. It was a combination of Tyla's jealousy that Luke loved Felicity and not her, and the fact that Felicity had very vocal doubts about the Force.

"I guess it literally killed her to be nice to me," Felicity barely managed a laugh.

A silence fell over the duo as they stood there holding each other.

Then, Luke made a decision.

"Felicity, you need to go," Luke said.

Felicity frowned, "Go? Go where?"

"Somewhere far from here. Somewhere the First Order wouldn't think to look for you."

"The First Order?"

"The Knights of Ren have always been Snoke's lackeys, and he was the one who corrupted Ben. It's obvious why they came here."

Felicity suddenly understood what Luke was telling her.

"No… I- I won't leave you," Felicity stepped out of Luke's embrace.

"Felicity," Luke reached for her arm.

"No!" Felicity jerked it out of his grasp.

"You have to take Rey and get out of here."

"We're not leaving you!"

"We don't have a choice," Luke used his extremely calm voice that always annoyed Felicity. It wasn't fair that someone should sound so peaceful when they were panicked.

"Yes, we do," Felicity insisted. She lightly gripped Luke's forearm and hope danced in her eyes, "You can come with us."

"There's no room," Luke shook his head. "The only ship we have access to is my X-Wing. That's a two seater, Felicity."

"So what?" Felicity asked. "We can each take a seat, and Rey will sit in my lap."

"The X-Wing can barely hold two people, it couldn't fit three of us, let alone bare the weight."

"Don't ask me to leave you to die," Felicity begged. "I've left too many people behind to their deaths. I won't do it to you."

"Then we condemn Rey," Luke calmly said. Tear were shining in his eyes, "If we both stay, she does too, and we put her in the line of fire. I have the best chance of the two of us to survive, and I might be able to reason with Ben. Your presence would aggravate him. You've already had too many close calls with death tonight. Please, escape while you still can."

Felicity threw her arms around Luke's neck and sobbed into his chest, "I won't leave you."

"And I'll never leave you," Luke whispered clutching Felicity tightly.

Luke savoured the embrace with a sense of finality. As the time passed, Luke felt increasingly unsure he could bring himself to release her.

"Allowing yourself to let her go is not the same as ceasing to love her," The ghostly voice of Anakin Skywalker whispered in his son's ear. "It took me too long to learn that. Do not make my mistake of accepting it when it was too late. In letting her go, you are not asking yourself to permit things to end. You are asking her to live… Even if it means doing it without you."

Luke sighed: his father was right. No matter how much he wanted Felicity to stay, he couldn't let that happen.

Luke took a deep breath, and then pulled back from Felicity. He propped two fingers under her chin and tilted her head up. Felicity's tear filled hazel eyes were locked with own glistening blue orbs.

"I promise you, Felicity," Luke's voice was calm, but filled with pain, "I will never leave you. But I cannot always be by your side physically, so you'll just have to accept my emotional presence. My memory. My promises. You'll have to trust me that this will not be the end."

Felicity painfully whispered, "Luke-"

"I love you. I have from the moment I first met you, and I'll love you even beyond my death. But you have to take Rey and go. It's our best choice right now. I can handle the Knights of Ren, and you… We both know that you are more capable of making difficult decisions and even sacrifices for Rey's safety. Decisions… I could never bring myself to commit."

Felicity winced, closing her eyes as she lowered her head and sobbed. Luke's words were too true for her to deny.

Luke sighed, making a face not unlike the one he had made upon seeing his father's unmasked face for the first time: a sympathetic, loving, and pained expression.

He lifted her chin once more, "But that is why I love you. You are strong where I am weak, and we balance each other perfectly. I swear to you, Felicity, this will not be like Brendan. We will see each other again."

"Promise?" Felicity choked.

"Promise," Luke sealed it with a passionate lingering kiss.

They poured everything into that kiss. The magnitude of their love, the happiness of their friendship, the firmness of their partnership, the passion of a lover to the person they selected to create a child with, the depth of their promises, and even the sting of the possible finality of their parting.

Then they broke the kiss, they still did not part. They held onto each other, resting their foreheads together, listening to the other's heavy breathing.

Luke used his flesh hand to stroke a thumb over Felicity's cheek.

"I love you, Felicity Rhiaon," Luke whispered, relishing the warmth of her skin.

Felicity ran a loving hand through his soft blond hair, "I love you too, Luke Skywalker. Thank you... Thank you for loving me."

Luke gently smiled, "Anytime."

They embraced one final time, Felicity tightly locking her arms around his neck. Luke reached up and slowly clasped Felicity right hand with his left. Eventually he eased her arms down but did not release their clasped hands.

"Now go," Luke's voice quaked as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Slowly, Felicity backed out of his embrace, but their hands did not let go.

"Promise me," Felicity ordered. "Promise me this isn't goodbye."

"I promise you, Felicity," Luke grinned the goofy grin his wife so loved, "we'll see each other again."

Felicity gave the smile her husband loved, and let go of his hand.

"Promise me, Luke!" Felicity backed away from him into the treeline towards Rey.

"I promise!" Luke called as she disappeared into the night. "We'll see each other again! I promise, Felicity. I promise!"

In the years to come, Luke would replay that moment in his mind thousands of times.

He refused to let himself forget the last time he saw his wife.


Luke and Cade were duelling fiercely when they heard it: the confusing scream that changed Luke's life forever. The scream that led to the one mystery he would struggle to solve: the mystery of how Felicity Rhiaon and Rey Skywalker escaped Rornian.

The scream was faint, but far too familiar for Luke: it was the scream of his daughter.

In that moment, a set of confusing images flashed through his mind. A thunderclap. Rey falling down. A red light saber. Ben. Bloody footprints in the mud.

Cade tried to use Luke's distraction to attack, but Luke's defenses were too great. Luke could never recall dealing the blow. One moment Luke saw Cade raising his scarlet blade, and the next Luke's emerald beam was through Cade's chest.

"I'm sorry," Luke whispered to Cade in the boy's final moment. "I tried to help you."

Luke turned off his saber, and Cade fell to the ground dead. He watched the boy sadly for a moment.

Luke remembered when the young man first came to him. At the time, Cade had been a boy no older than Ben was now. Cade had always been angry and had a thirst for the Dark Side. Luke did his best to curb it, but it was to no avail. He remembered the day Cade had staged a walkout over the announcement Luke would marry a non-Force Sensitive. Luke remembered how Jake Comarila, Zhane Varrs, and Bakura Torven followed Cade Ren, altered their names, and became the first Knights of Ren.

And that's when Luke remembered: both Baku and Ben were still unaccounted for.

As were Felicity and Rey. Rey, who had just screamed.

Luke tossed Cade's red saber into the fire that littered the training field. He waited a moment to ensure the saber would catch fire and be destroyed. Luke was so distracted by it, he never noticed the first ship leaving the planet. The very same ship Ben had stolen from the Jedi months ago.

Luke ran for the woods, trying to find where he had left Rey, and hoping Felicity had found her. To his relief and horror, he did find the spot, but there was no one around.

It was the scene that horrified him. The trees had saber slashes on them. There were two marks in the mud that indicated bodies had hit the ground. One was adult shaped and blood was seeped into the mud. The other was child sized. Three sets of footprints – two adult and one child – muddled in a confusing fashion. Eventually all sets led away from the scene: a set of adult prints in one direction, while the child and other adult headed in the other direction. It was hard to tell whether the child prints were accompanied by adult footprints that paralleled the saber marks on the trees or the adult prints that came rushing onto the scene from the direction Luke and Felicity had parted.

Before Luke could puzzle over it some more, he heard another cry from the direction of his X-Wing. Without a though, he raced towards the scene, but when he arrived, he again found himself too late.

Footprints muddled the scene. Blast marks and saber slashes had hit the trees and the ship. The back hatch was open, and the ladder was lowered. Luke climbed up into the cockpit and was surprised to find two saber slashes over the dashboard, destroying the equipment.

He looked in the back compartment and found the survival bag containing Reine's lightsaber was gone. Remembering Reine, Luke looked to see where he had left Reine and Zhan's bodies. They were there, but not far off was another figure.

A brunette.

Luke scrambled down the ladder towards the body, and frantically turned it over. To his relief, it was Baku Ren, dead by what appeared to be a blast to the chest. Next to Baku's hand was the remains of a lightsaber and the rock that had bludgeoned it to pieces. Luke sighed and looked around. He then noticed that only one set of footprints led away from the scene: adult footprints.

Where was Rey?

There were child footprints leading to and around the scene, but none away. Yet there was no child to be seen.

"Rey?" Luke called out. "Felicity? Rey?"

But there was no answer.

As he puzzled over the scene, Luke heard a distant roar. He looked up just in time to see a larger ship exiting the planet's atmosphere. Luke would never learn that that was the very same ship the Knights of Ren, save for Ben, had used to come to Rornian.

And then Luke was alone. He could feel it in the Force. There was no Ben. There was no Rey. There was no Felicity. No Reine. No Gavyn. No Zena. No Tyla. No Obik.

Only Luke and the wild dumb creatures that lived on Rornian.

Luke was completely alone.

For a while he couldn't bring himself to move. Everything and everyone was gone. He didn't know what had happened to his wife, child, and nephew, but he prayed that they were all safe.

Eventually he stood. He left the Knights and his broken X-Wing, but he collected the body of Reine Agim and carried her back to the training field.

Luke was resting her on the ground when a familiar beeping sounded. He looked up to see Artoo wheeling towards him.

"I- I'm fine," Luke muttered in answer to Artoo's worried noises. "No, they're not here. We're alone, Artoo. Please, just- Can you contact Leia?"

Instantly a projection of Leia's worried face was before Luke.

"Luke, is everything alright?" Leia asked. "What happened?"

As he stared at the image of his sister, Luke suddenly found himself without words.

"I- I..."

"Luke?" Leia frowned, fear coursing through her body. She prayed that it wasn't what she thought it was.

Luke swallowed hard and readied himself for Leia's heartbreak, "Leia... The Knights of Ren attacked... They- They had a new initiate."

Luke could feel the pain that coursed through his twin sister's body. Luke knew she could sense her son's involvement. Her worst fear had finally come true.

And it was all their fault.

"I'm sending the Republic troops right now," Leia promised.

"No," Luke shook his head. "Don't send them."

"Why not?"

Luke surveyed the field of dead, "Because there's no one left."

Luke didn't take in Leia's worried response. There was a ringing in his ears and a thudding in his throat. The world went out of focus and Luke felt like he was removed from reality, observing the tragic scene from afar.

He didn't register hitting a button on Artoo that cut off the transmission. He didn't register pulling the hood of his cloak over his head. Luke Skywalker was dead to the world. His eyes were unable to move from the bodies of his students and friends. The magnitude of the situation building.

His students who had fought against Empires, escaped slavery, wished for nothing but to bring justice and peace to the world. They were all dead. His home was burn. His nephew was corrupted. His family had disappeared.

And it was all his fault.

He couldn't hold it back anymore.

"NO!" Luke screamed dropping to his knees.

He was a picture of sorrow as his cloaked figure posed next to the burning remnants of the massacre. Artoo was in front of him, and Luke used his stripped metal hand to reach out and touch Artoo.

That was how Wedge Antilles and Diego Nalto found Luke when they arrived an hour later.

"Luke!" Wedge spotted his friend and grabbed Diego's shoulder.

"Luke!" Diego shouted as he and Wedge raced over.

"Are you alright?" Wedge asked, shaking Luke. The droid was the only thing keeping Luke upright. "What happened?"

Luke said nothing. He would remain silent no matter how much Wedge and Diego tried to get him to respond. Luke was too shell shocked. The man they called friend was gone.


"He hasn't said anything?" Han asked the next morning when he and Leia arrived at the horrible scene.

"Not a word," Diego shook his head. "Eventually we had to leave him there."

"We put out the fires and collected the bodies," Wedge added.

"Is everyone accounted for?" Leia questioned as she looked at the bodies lined up on the training field. She couldn't stand the sight of the deceased children or her still unmoving brother.

Diego and Wedge exchanged a look.

"Not everyone," Diego answered. "All the Jedi are here but we're still looking for three people."

"Who's missing?" Han frowned.

Diego and Wedge shared another look.

"One Knight of Ren is missing," Wedge said. "All six we're aware of are accounted for, but Luke told you they had a new one. Whoever that is, they're missing."

Han and Leia avoided each other's gaze. They dare not voice the shared thought in their head. Their son just couldn't- just wouldn't do this.

"And the other two?" Leia asked. "Who else is missing?"

Diego gave a half-smile, "Felicity and Rey are nowhere to be found."

Leia let out a selfish sigh of relief.

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet," Han shook his head. "You said the house burned down. Are we sure they escaped?"

"Positive," Wedge replied. "We used my ship's scanners to confirm there's no human remains inside. Plus we found Baku's saber smashed to pieces, and we all know who hates lightsabers enough to do that."

"Felicity," Han allowed himself a sigh of relief and hugged Leia tightly. They were overjoyed to hear their friend had managed to escape.

Felicity had originally started as Leia's friend, and even was recruited into the Rebellion by her. They had drifted apart after Leia met Han and Luke, but after introducing Felicity to Luke, the girls rekindled their friendship. Leia was ecstatic that Luke fell in love with Felicity and was delighted to call Felicity her sister.

Han thought of Felicity as a sister as well. Their personalities were similar enough that the two got along like a house on fire. They even had a running joke that Han could have been a long lost Rhiaon child. Han and Felicity were such a duo that Luke and Leia didn't like leaving them alone because it usually resulted in them sassing someone to the point of tears, a disastrous adventure that cost thousands in property damage, or the occasional pissing off foreign dignitaries to the point they threatened war against the New Republic.

And of course, both Han and Leia adored Rey. It broke their hearts to think of her in any sort of danger, and were disgusted by the fact that the First Order would do anything to hunt her down like an animal. If it was the last thing they did, Han and Leia would see Rey again. They would tear the galaxy apart to find their niece.

But the only question was where to start?

Even worse, there was the question of Ben.

"Luke," Leia knelt next to her brother.

Luke looked up at the sound of her voice. The physical presence of his twin sister seemed to be just the thing Luke needed to snap out of his stupor. But it did not withhold the shame, the guilt, the sorrow, and the look of being at a complete and utter loss of knowing what to do.

"Luke," Leia softly repeated. She laid a hand on his shoulder and did her best to avoid staring at Luke's skinless hand. "Luke, who did this?"

He didn't need to say the word; Luke's look said everything.

"Ben," Han's voice was thick as he tried to hold back the tears.

His son. His precious, innocent, idiot of a son, who Han had sworn to do everything in his power to protect... had murdered Luke's Jedi Order.

Han turned away, ashamed to let Luke and Leia see him.

Leia said nothing as Han stormed off. She didn't dare question what her husband was going to do. Leia would get her answer when she had to bandage Han's knuckles after he had beaten them bloody punching a tree.

"I'm sorry, Leia," Luke spoke for the first time since messaging her the previous night. His voice trebled as Luke fought against bursting back into tears, "I'm so sorry!"

Leia held her brother, allowing him to wept into her comforting embrace. You've always been strong. Luke's words from years before rang through her mind. But she hadn't been strong; not strong enough to save her son.

No! If Vader could be saved, then so could Ben. There was still hope. She would be strong for all of them, and she would save their family.

"Luke," Leia pulled back from her brother, noticing Wedge and Diego had given the siblings some distance. "Where are they? Where are Rey and Felicity?"

Luke blinked, trying to clear the tears from his eyes. His voice was utterly helpless as he gave his answer.

"I… I don't know."


Today's update is in honour of the tenth anniversary of me joining fanfictiondotnet. This was the place I learned I loved to write, honed my craft, and prepared myself for the career I know I am destined for. I have savored each and every favorite, like, follow, hit, and review. As I stand here ten years on, I thank each and everyone of you who has supported me on my journey.