Destiny or Choice

Here is the second chapter. Enjoy!

I do not own Star Wars, I am playing with it only.

There was a good deal of discussion happening, back and forth, questions from the Civilians, vague replies from the Jedi, demands for information from the Leaders. Luke wanted to yell at them all to shut up and have one of them explain to him what was going on. His deeds on Devaron and Mustafar had not be so great to warrant such attention from the Empire, if they indeed even knew of his role on Devaron. Any Padawan could have figured out how to slow a fall from a thousand feet up and done the simple Force use on Mustafar.

He had neither battled a great leader, lead a great battle, or even inspired a great uprising. All he had done was try to save his parents. It made no logical sense to the youth. He had power, but it was strange and often clashed with traditional Jedi teachings. Most of his peers feared him and he had begun to surpass his sister. There was nothing great in this. He was different, strange, and often wished he was normal.

"Enough," Padme Skywalker raised her voice and the crowed Council Chamber on Tattooine's base fell silent. "Master Ti, you had visions the day the twins were born. Are you permitted to share them?"

"Yes," Shaak Ti glanced at her Padawan. "All who were on Coruscant with affinity for the Force felt the same thing I did. It was an unborn babies mind stretching out through the Force. This had never happened before in recorded history. What we known now is that the innocence and curiosity of the child was what created the Shift to the Light Side in the Force that day.

"Most of the Jedi with the gift of premonition had dreams that night, but only mine contained the near future. I saw Obi Wan mourning what turned out to by General Skywalker's decision to leave the Jedi Order. I saw the Jedi dying. I saw the fleeing through the stars. I saw a boy child, a little light in a dark Galaxy, who could touch my mind. I saw him again, a teenager, frightened and alone, facing the darkest evil of our time. Once more I saw him, standing victorious against the evil. Once we knew General Skywalker was a father, I knew he had fathered the child of my visions."

"More others had seen. Few saw times of great trials, only a distant future with a boy at the head of a great change. When General Skywalker made his choice to leave the Jedi Order, he made the choice to walk away from what Destiny had mapped out for him. He neither fell to the Dark Side, nor embraced the Jedi Order's interpretation of the Light Side," Mace Windu added. "The Chosen One he was meant to be, but he chose to be a Father and Husband before all, so the Future was changed."

"That Emperor Palpatine has seen the possible future is no surprise. He was able to manipulate the past so well none of us saw it coming," Grand Master Ti explained. "If he had seen what we have seen, he knew what the child looked like. Until Mustafar, Luke was unknown, though possibly suspected to exist. Undoubtedly security footage existed and Luke would be on these. Palpatine likely had a shock to discover the child he knew could destroy him was not only born, but older than he had anticipated. We know he believed Padme gave birth to a daughter and it appears the idea of twins never occurred to him."

"You mean you have all had dreams of something I might do in the future?" Luke asked calmly. The Jedi all turned to look at him, feeling him vanish out of the Force, retreating behind the Force Currents he was attracting. "You mean that I am not just a strange anomaly in the Jedi, but I am meant to end the Empire?"

He turned towards his sister, who looked grave. "Did you know?"

She closed her eyes. "Luke…"

"You know?" He exclaimed.

"I've had dreams, since we were ten. Dreams that showed you older, showed what could be. You were killed, or corrupted, or victorious," she whispered.

Luke looked around the room, at the eyes on him, gazes from the Jedi that were so familiar but he had never questioned their awe of him before. Now that it was on the faces of the Rebellion Commanders and Alliance Leaders he realized it was cautious hope. It sat even in the face of his parents! All the burden of the rebellion, of the war, came to rest on his young shoulders.

Had the Jedi Masters ever truly wanted to teach Luke, or had it been their mysterious glimpses of the Future that had even led to them accepting his strangeness? Was even Master Ti choosing to mentor him only because of what he might be? Did Leia's love and encouragement come from her fear that he could fail some vague battle? Every single bond he had vanished. He dared not stretch out to any one of them for fear of the answer he might find.

"Luke!" Leia cried, the most affected by his summary repelling of the Force Currents that had flowed between them all.

"Can I leave?" He asked his mother. "Please. I need to think."

"Luke…" her voice trailed off. He took that as agreement to leave. Leia stood up to follow, but Obi Wan caught her shoulder.

Tears burned the blue eyes as he walked, spine straight, eyes forward, away from the command room. Han, apparently spying on the meeting, reached a hand, but Luke gently batted it away and continued walking on. Even the smuggler, who had been friendly to Luke, dared not follow him. As he exited the entire building and headed for the speeder docks, he realized that his restrained Force Powers were shaking the lights, first in the building, then along the path. Commandos, Pilots, aides hurrying among the buildings in their duties stopped to stare at the Jedi Padawan, hair rising on their arms and necks, lekkus, antennae, whiskers all reacting to the turmoil that was leaking through the Force Currents.

No one stopped him from taking a speeder and racing out of the Base, flying long and far over the sand dunes, away from everything, everyone. When he was miles away, and he felt no sentient being within miles he stopped and got off the Speeder. Under the night sky in the middle of a Tatooine desert Luke let go. The Force leapt from him onto the currents around him, spreading out further and further, raising the wind and sand until a small sand storm with him in the eye cut him off from the world. All the fear and hurt ran out into the Force Storm. In the eye, he screamed and wailed.

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"Wise, your son is, Skywalker," Yoda said late in the night as the Skywalkers and the Jedi Masters sat in their small quarters, listening for any sign of their son. "Removed himself so damage he would not cause."

"Is he causing the storm out there?" Leia waved her hand. "It doesn't appear to be moving, just sitting there, going around and round."

"It is, Padawan Leia."

"He is so afraid," Shaak Ti murmured. "Was it wise to tell him?"

"The future has been growing more certain. You told me so," Anakin replied. "I would never have told him if I could have, but it appears that Palpatine knows. Even if Luke tries to avoid that future, the Emperor will seek him down. Sooner or later Luke may face him whether he choose to or not."

"Is he alright out there?" Padme asked anxiously. "There are Tusken Raiders out there somewhere."

"He's got his Light Saber," Leia shrugged. "I don't think a few short guys with badly made blasters will be a problem for him."

They all fell silent, the Jedi stretching their senses again. The Force storm continued to rage, filled with the echoes of the young man's dread, so they could not see into the Storm to find Luke's current mind set. They kept their focus on the storm, watching and waiting for it to dissipate.

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His tears and wails were done. He was empty. The currents around him became empty as well and he stretched out a hand to call the currents whipping his wall of wind and sand up. It died away as he pushed away his fears. What was he?

He was a Jedi Padawan, the son of Anakin and Padme Skywalker, brother to Jedi Padawan Leia, student of Grand Master Shaak Ti. He was the caller of the Force Currents. He was the past and present, the curious, lost child and the powerful, confident Jedi Padawan. He was the hope of the future, not just as a possible defeater of the Empire, but as a symbol of what his parents had spent over a dozen years fighting for.

He was Luke Skywalker and like his father he did not choose destiny. He chose to be a Jedi, he chose to be a Rebel, he chose to be a man of Love, Compassion, Justice, Duty.

He wanted only to be a good man.

There were half a dozen Force Currents holding still in a mindful way outside the circle of Force storm that had been way. He knew them all. He closed his eyes and let one of his own currents stretch out. It touched the most familiar of the Currents, that of his twin, of the sister who had always been present, who had stood up for him against the teasing of their peers, who had argued with the adults to make them understand. The bond snapped back into place and he opened his mind wide, letting her see everything. Love filled him, a promise to be at his side no matter what, a promise to always stand up for him.

Father was next and his thread was filled with regret that Luke had been told, that Luke had ever landed in this position, of fear of what Destiny might call down on his son. Father knew of course. He had had a Destiny in front of him, but had made a different choice, choosing not the Force, but his family. Destiny was powerful, but Luke had free will. He did not have to choose to face an evil old man, only what to do if he was forced to face the man who had chosen evil.

Shaati's thread was filled with regret, with love for the child's mind who had woken affection and attachment in her calm Jedi mind. Her choice of him had not been for what he could be in the future, but for the love he had woken in her when he was just a baby. It was to protect him that she taught him, not to wield a weapon against her enemies.

Obi he met happily, because he already knew that Obi had been willing to die to keep his family safe. Obi had been willing to be the good man who stood up and paid the price. He found Mother's threads, and the threads of his new friends, Han and Chewie, in the base and he pulled them all into himself.

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A teenage boy in simple Jedi Tunic, a brown cloak on his shoulders, stood before the Alliance Council. He had grown much in confidence lately, having faced his greatest trials to date and come out of them a stronger man. He was short still, cursed by his mother's genes to never reach the stature of his father. Calm and confidence sat on him, the air of a Jedi Knight.

"I will not seek the Emperor out," he informed them. "It is not my place to dictate such a meeting. If possible, I would avoid such a meeting. It is my place to learn to be a Jedi, to stand for the Good in the Galaxy. Do not pin all your hopes on me. It may be that this future comes to pass and I fail to find whatever victory can be. I will stand with you as a Jedi, but I will not be your Chosen One."

Such was his strength that the few that remained of the old Jedi Council were reminding of a time past when his father stood before them, peace in his mind to be a simple father and husband. There was indeed much of his father in him now. Peace was on him, and he knew his own mind. All the child wished to be was a good man.

Destiny meant nothing for him. He could only see the present and that was his place.

I hope I presented Luke's struggle with the realization that there were visions of his possible future deeds. Please read and review!

The next chapter will be called Interludes.