A/N: Reminder to read the first part of this series, Episode VII: The Future Unwritten, before reading this one. Explanations and introductions in this chapter. Necessary :)

Chapter 2

The individual training sessions were something that the students and teachers both enjoyed. Prior to Rey's appearance Luke had many such sessions so he knew the students would come back from the midday meal excited. The teachers stood in a line in the front of the amphitheater where the students began to take their seats. Expectant eyes stared up at them.

"Cas and Cain, you are with me today." Obi-Wan beckoned the twins, gesturing to follow him.

"Odinna and Ma'Rei, work with me today, you will," Yoda said; the girls smiled at him and began to move toward the practice area.

"U'Kurran and Leia; this way." Depa started walking toward her favorite place to practice, which was deep in the woods. She preferred the quiet of nature over the base.

"Min and Leyaana, over here," Anakin said smiling as the girls jumped up with huge grins on their face. He had worked with them before and found that they worked off each other well. All three of them always came away from their sessions laughing. Luke loved seeing his father that way.

"Rey and Ben, you guys are stuck with me today." Luke began making his way into his training section, which was on the side of the base. From there he had a good view of the rest of the teachers and students, as well as the base. Probably just a relic of his time with the Resistance, but he didn't like to turn his sights away from the hanger.

Once he was in his training sector, Luke turned to face the young ones. Two expectant eyes stared up at him. "Rey, this will be your first individual session, and really your first training with the Force. Ben and I have trained together many times, so I want you to watch first while I begin with him. Then, we can see what you can do."

Rey nodded; eyes wide. She turned slightly and sat against a tree trunk off to the side, crossing her legs and staring at the two of them. Ben looked up at Luke expectedly, waiting for instruction.

"Ben let's try meditating first to focus your mind. Let's see if you can do it on your own this time." Ben nodded and sat down, closing his eyes. Luke walked over to Rey to explain what Ben was doing. "One of the most important things you will learn here is how to draw upon the Force. We will start by focusing on your control, then we can move to how to sense the Force. Altering your surroundings can be very useful, so that will be later in your training."

"Okay, Master," Rey said, big eyes still on Ben.

Luke shifted away from Ben and following his meditation in the Force to look at Rey. "What did you just call me?"

Rey turned to face him. "Master? Mum and dad told me that I'm supposed to call you that, since you are my teacher."

"I understand, young one." Luke nodded and smiled at her. "But, in my new version of Jedi we are all equals. There are no masters, just teachers and students."

Rey smiled back. "Okay, teacher."

They turned back to Ben; who's eyes were still closed as he tried to relax. Luke reached out with his feelings to 'watch' what Ben was doing, and how it was going. He could feel the Force swirling around him, but it was unsteady. His control snapped into place all at once, without Luke's help. It was a shock when he felt Rey had reached out as well, watching what he was doing to help Ben.

Ben opened his eyes and stared straight at Rey. "Was that you?" he asked.

Rey opened her eyes and looked back at him. "I was trying to follow along. How did you do that? You were hovering a little bit above the ground."

Ben's eyes were wide as he looked to Luke for confirmation. "Was I hovering off the ground? I have seen you do that, but I've never done it before!"

Smiling back at him, Luke stood up, Rey and Ben following suit. "We haven't really studied this yet, but what Ben was accomplishing was a sort of deep meditation. This is where you are aligning your mind and body with the Force. As you gain more knowledge of the Force around you, and the way it moves, breathes and inhabits everything in the galaxy, you will be able to gain full and complete meditation.

"This is the best way to feel refreshed and calm. As you learn, you will be able to clear your mind even faster and feel the Force flow through you. When this happens, as it just happened with Ben, you may find yourself rising into the air; you may have premonitions, or visions of the future. Ben is still young and learning, so that type of clarity may not come yet."

Luke stared into Ben's bright eyes, reaching out and clasping him on the shoulder. "I am deeply impressed, my young student. You are far too young to have been able to achieve levitation through meditation. Even with someone else helping you."

Ben blushed lightly, averting his eyes. "Thanks, Uncle."

"Good job, Ben!" Rey said, clapping a little. She looked genuinely excited, and very impressed by him. Luke was thrilled to see that they got along well, as his plan was to continue to train them together.

By the time the individual training sessions were done, all the students were tired. As expected, his father and his students came away chuckling a little; everyone else just looked exhausted. Luke released everyone at that time, calling the Jedi teachers to his room inside the base for a consultation. Once they were all seated within the chamber, Luke told them of Ben's achievement today and how Rey was able to instinctively reach out and help Ben meditate.

Anakin, smiling wide, was the first to speak up. "He's an impressive boy, that grandson of mine. When he and I worked together a few weeks ago I was impressed by how deeply connected with the Force he already is. Honing and discipline is what he needs, but he will be powerful one day."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Rey is definitely on the rise as well. What's amazing is that with her is that it is all instinctual. It's like she just innately knows and understands the Force. I have seen no equal in this in my years of teaching at the academy. Master Yoda?"

Yoda sat back on his small chair, nodding with Obi-Wan. "Indeed, Master Obi-Wan, I have not. Many children were strong with the Force when they arrived at the school, but this strong they were not. Impressive, and a good partner for Ben. As their strength grows, they will be able to hone their skills together. Stronger together, they will be."

"You guys are never going to stop using the 'master' title, will you?" Luke laughed, leaning against the wall while sitting on his bed. "Teacher and student, that's what I want. Rey called me master today and I set her straight."

"Your school, it is, Luke. Habits such as this are hard to break," Yoda admonished.

"I would like to see the children actually working together. Perhaps I can have them in the next one on one trainings?" Depa said, bringing them back to the original conversation.

"I don't see why not. Honestly, I want to rotate next anyway." Luke stood up, measuring his next words carefully. "We do not yet know what happened with Mace and Qui-Gon, and I do not know when I will lose any of you. I need to make sure that I am comfortable with all of the students so that I may continue their training when you are gone."

"A wise thought process, son. We would all like to stay forever of course, but we cannot. Nor can we claim to know when our time here will be complete." Anakin looked to Depa. "How is Leia coming along in her training? When I worked with her briefly a few years ago, she showed tremendous progress."

"She and U'Kurran work well together, but not seamlessly. Because of this, I have them work separately more than anything. He has had an easier time, as he was self-training for many years before coming to us. Where she has trouble is with anything that is outside of the galaxy norms that she believes.

"She asks questions about everything, and you know I have no problems with that. But when I explain that she will be able to move things with her mind. Her brain is telling her that is impossible. We are still unlearning with that one."

"Normal, this is. And why adults are harder to teach and not often brought into the school. Easier, children are. Less to unlearn and more open to curious ideas."

Depa nodded in agreement. "I will push on with her training. She needs it, and I will not give up."

Through the next few weeks, Luke and the Jedi continued to train the students. They mixed up the one on one sessions, and Luke finally began to understand why his father was always laughing with Min and Leyaana. They were about 10 years apart in age, Min being in her early 20s and Leyaana being almost 13. But they both liked to joke around together. Neither girl was shy or nervous, and they meshed well. Leyaana would try to do something and fail, and instead of allowing her time to feel bad Min would tell a joke in response. This always cheered up the younger girl, who could then go back to the lesson. Typically, she would be able to accomplish the task after that because her mood had been improved.

Leyaana was the only Twi'lek on the base, which was not that unusual. Many of the student didn't have any of their own race with them. Several were children of New Republic personnel, who were mostly based on Chandrila. The parents that had not remained on Yavin 4 with their children did often come back to visit, but Leyaana was an orphan. Luke had found her in an orphanage on Coruscant during a visit he had made a year or so ago. Her dark purple skin and contrasting black eyes made her stand out, but it was her Force-sensitivity that had made Luke seek her out.

Min on the other hand, had found them. She had shown up just a few weeks after Luke had officially started the school, flying in her own ship and demanding, politely, that she be trained. She said that something had compelled her to visit this system and she sensed them once she had flown near enough. The daughter of a New Republic Engineer and ship captain easily incorporated into the group without much concern. Her parents were thrilled when Luke had contacted them advising that Min would be staying on Yavin, since they understood what the Jedi were about.

As Luke made the rounds of the students, he became to know them all much better. Odinna had been Leia's find, within the New Republic. She was young, no more than eight, with a big heart. Leia was friends with her parents on Chandrila and had sensed the Force within her when dining with them one evening. Her parents had chosen to stay with them on Yavin 4 due to the training they had wanted, though they took frequent trips back to the main headquarters.

Ma'Rei had tagged along with Odinna, as they had attended a primary school together and were the best of friends. Her parents were explorers and didn't stay in one place for too long, so they tended to leave her with friends in populated areas. This allowed her to attend school and make friends while they were off somewhere unknown. They would stop by now and then, but Ma'Rei was comfortable living with Odinna and her parents in the meantime.

She was an interesting child, as she had been born on Mandalore. Her parents, who had also been born there, had rejected the creed and left when she was just a baby, so she didn't really remember it. Since Mandalorians were of all mixed races, she wasn't sure her true race, but she was a humanoid.

Castial, who went by Cas, and Cain Lia, twins from Tholoth, were very entertaining. They were extremely close and had their own way of communicating. They could talk to each other in their minds already when they had arrived. Their parents were freighter captains and had chosen to stay on base to upkeep the equipment and ensure the children were safe. It was a good thing that their parents had remained, as the twins could get into trouble very easily.

The last student was still a bit of a mystery to Luke. He had worked with U'Kurran several times now and was still intrigued by the oldest student. Being from Iridonia, a planet in the Mid-Rim of the galaxy, his mental keenness and strength was already well established when he arrived. He was mysterious as Luke knew very little about his background. U'Kurran had dark brown skin, with bright red hair that hung longer than most Zabrek's Luke had encountered.

He had facial tattoos that were thin lines stretching from the top of his head where his horns were, down to his neck. He had never explained what they were for, but Luke assumed it was a cultural norm as many of his kind had similar markings.

He, too, had just shown up one day humbly asking to be taught in the ways of the Force. He had caused a little bit of discord with the Jedi, since he was significantly older than most new recruits. He was in his mid-40s but had trained himself along the way. He came in with a knowledge of the Force surrounding him and had many abilities that the younger students were only beginning to understand. He had also already constructed his own lightsabre, from the wood and metal of his home planet and a kyber crystal found during his space exploration.

As Luke got to know the students, he was more and more encouraged. He knew that he would have a strong army to fight Snoke and the Emperor when the time came.

A/N: Hello Friends! Welcome to the next episode my sequel triligy, The Rise of Ben Solo. So many ideas that could have been expanded upon, or just people I would have liked to see...well, it all comes down to having to write it out to get it out of my head.

FAQs:

Part 1 and the Jedi returning: I thought this was a really interesting idea. I read a few EU stories that had similar ideas, and just expanded on it. I wanted more redemption for the Jedi that we didn't see enough of...especially Depa Bilaba. Man, I just love her.

Why write the series: The Luke we knew from A New Hope had some underlying vulnerabilities; though he was more confident in Jedi, we still saw him falter (because he's human!), though ultimately stay on the Light side.

Why change the Jedi code: In the original series the Jedi were mysterious, and not much was really known. The prequels brought in more Jedi lore, that I never really cared for. My way of saying this is what I think the Luke I loved from the originals would have said to the old Jedi way.

I hope you all enjoy this story! Thanks again to my husband for the idea, and Zombiefied419 for all the help in editing and prereading for me!

Chapter Sources:

Star Wars: The Jedi Path

wiki/Iridonia

wiki/Zabrak/Legends

wiki/Mirial/Legends

wiki/Tholoth

wiki/Twi'lek

wiki/Mandalore

Movies:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (movie and show)