Reflections

AN: One of my favourite chapters. When I first considered the idea of turning my story Reflections into something more than one chapter, this was the first thought that came to my mind. Everything else spun off of this, though it may not seem that crucial or substantial. Guess my muse worked overtime!

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.

There was something familiar about the two of them; something unsettling that was just out of reach and settled in my gut like a rock.

And then there was just something about the promise of 17000 credits that made me forget about those instincts – but just for a moment.

After we'd settled into hyperspace, I remained in the cockpit, contemplating the visitors. For some odd reason, the old man seemed so familiar, as if I knew him…and the kid, well, the name was what was getting at me.

Luke Skywalker. It sounded so damn familiar. But I couldn't figure out why.

Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker. Skywalker…Skywalker…Anakin Skywalker?

I stepped into the cabin to see the kid practicing with a lightsabre, something I hadn't seen in years. Memories I'd long tried to repress sprang to the forefront. I saw laughing kids swinging sticks, the Jedi duo on the roofs, and Anakin Skywalker winking at us.

Anger started to spread through me with the resurfacing of my childhood. I couldn't believe, that after all these years, people still believed in the Jedi. They'd all been wiped out – so much for being protectors!

I said as much to the old man. Boy, was the kid sore. Flew off the handle when I said that the Force was a hokey religion and that the Jedi were idiots.

And we were idiots for believing in them.

A few yours later I found myself in the cabin, with the kid sitting at the table, and no fossil around. I guess he went to sleep.

I grabbed a cup of caf and sat down on the other end. He never looked up.

"You related to Anakin Skywalker?" I asked him, surprising even myself.

He looked up, surprised. "That's my father! Did you know him?"

I looked away. What could I say? That he was my childhood hero, that because of him I played Jedi for hours on end, and that in the end it was all a big joke because he went and got himself killed?

But the kid wouldn't understand. He was looking at me with his eyes wide, waiting for a story.

Well, my story didn't have a happy ending.

I drank the rest of my caf and stood up to leave. "I know that many boys looked up to him. They all wanted to be just like him. And the day he died…their dreams did too."