Chapter 179
Laetitia was on her way to Dagobah. She felt some disturbances in the Force as she left Hoth, but she could feel that whatever was on Dagobah needed her more.
But that didn't mean she wasn't worried. She contacted the Rebellion, but no one answered. Not Mon Mothma, not Luke, or Ahsoka and Han. They were nowhere to be found. She was so worried. Did the Empire find them already when she was away? Was everyone alright? Where was Darth Vader? Did he have something to do with the shift in the Force?
Leah parked the Comet on the the sewage and came out. The smell was horrible. Even BB-8 was disgusted!
When she found somewhere that she could sit on it, she took the opportunity and went there. She needed her rest. She was, after all, pregnant. And she just went through a 10-hour ride. Every part of her body was sore and swollen.
"There's something about this place." Leah muttered uncomfortably.
BB-8 rolled to his master, beeping in concern. Leah could feel the dark side and the Force within the planet. It was so strong. It almost took away her ability to breathe. It was ... dangerous.
"I feel like ..." She trailed off, but a voice suddenly interrupted her.
"Feel like what?"
Leah jumped up quickly and turned around with her lightsabers in her hands. She was ready to kill whoever that was there. Her silver lightsabers were shining in the darkness.
She was so deep in her thought that she didn't even recognize the voice.
"Like I'm being watched!" She finished her sentence with a glare.
"Away, put your weapon! I mean you no harm!" The creature begged as he hid behind his cane.
Leah exhaled as she deactivated her lightsabers and clicked them on her belt. She hadn't seen her old Master in 17 years. He had changed so much. He was older, more wrinkled, more ... broken.
Grand Master Yoda chuckled as he looked down. The last time he'd seen her was when she was a messed-up 5-year-old kid. Now, she was a mature woman, expecting her own baby.
"Looking for someone, you are, hmm?" He asked.
"Well, I guess I found him." She simply said and paused.
"Forgive me, Master. I ... failed to sense your presence." She apologized for almost attacking him. The hormones weren't helping.
"Not your fault, it was. Hidden, are those who wish not to be found, hmm?" Yoda stated.
Leah just nodded, not understanding what he really meant. He was the one who brought her here. Why did he need to hide from her? What was hidden? What would she discover on the planet?
"Come. Hungry, you must be. Rest, you shall." He said.
He didn't even wait for Leah to answer as he went straight to his 'home'.
Laetitia was sitting on the ground of the old Grand Master's hut. It was too small for a human her size to be comfortable, especially since she was pregnant. She just struggled to sit on the ground, her legs crossed.
"Eat, young Naberrie. Good for you, it is." Yoda told her as he handed a bowl of something.
"With all due respect, Master Yoda, it's 'Skywalker' now. I haven't gone by that name since ... Well, since I didn't need to lie." Leah bitterly corrected him. She hated how the Jedi still kept calling her that.
"And I'm not hungry. Can we just ..."
"Patience! A virtue of all aspects in life, it is." He scolded her.
Leah sighed. This wasn't going anywhere. She needed to get back to the Base as soon as possible. She could feel like everyone was in danger ... Especially Han and Luke.
"Why did you bring me here, Master Yoda?" Leah demanded.
"Bring you here, I did not. Brought yourself here, you did." He mused, which caused her to almost lose it.
"You know what I mean! I wouldn't have brought myself here if you hadn't told Luke."
"Oh, yes ... Luke Skywalker." He slowly said.
Leah uncomfortably looked away. As far as Yoda knew, Luke died 2 hours after he was born. She faked his death to protect her brother from the Jedi. That was one of the biggest achievements in her life, to be able to fool the 800-year-old Grand Master Jedi.
She knew he figured it out later, but it was still uncomfortable.
"Much like his father, he is. You both are."
"I know ..." She quietly trailed off.
A tense silent fell. Neither of them said anything. They just kept quiet, thinking about everything, remembering everything. They both had gone through too much in their short and long lives.
"Why am I here, Master?" She asked in irritation as she broke the silence.
"No time to visit an old teacher, have you?" Yoda asked.
"We are at war! I have a responsibility to fight. Of course I have no time to 'visit an old teacher'. I'm too busy trying to live and make sure the others live." She snapped at him.
Yoda turned around and simply looked at her. When Leah saw the look on his face, she sighed and looked down. She didn't say anything wrong, but she still felt somewhat bad for raising her voice on an elder.
"A responsibility to uphold the Code, a Jedi has. Resist oppression, defend the weak, protect the peace, we must. All of those things, a Jedi must do. Soldiers, we are not. Seek conflict, we do not." He stated.
Now, Leah was almost close to losing it. He was repeating the same things he was 17 years ago. How could one not change one bit in 2 decades?
"We did not seek conflict. Palpatine forced it on us." She defended.
"Allowed him to do so, we did." Yoda quietly agreed.
"Master, I don't see why we're talking about this. It was over 2 decades ago." Leah said, having enough with talking about the past.
It was done. What could they do to change it? They could only feel bad for it, and she was already feeling bad about lots of things. She didn't want to have any pointless regrets. What was the point if it was just it? Regrets.
"Because if learn from our mistakes, we do not, bound to repeat them, we are." He said as he took a step closer to Leah.
She just stayed there as the old Jedi eyed her. She would move back to avoid him, but there was no space for her to do so. It was like he wanted to trap her with no way to escape.
"What?"
"A Gray Jedi, you are now, hmm?" Yoda suddenly asked, which caused Leah to blink.
"How did you ...?"
"Told me, Qui-gon did. Different, your presence is. Much darker ... More balanced." He stated.
Leah didn't know what to say to that. It was true that she was more balanced than she was when she was a 5-year-old Jedi. But she didn't know how he felt about it. Jedi and Gray Jedi weren't known to be friends. They may have hated each other more than they hated Sith ... because they were 'hypocrites'.
"Know about your actions, I do."
"So?" Leah demanded. She wasn't gonna apologize for being who she was. Not to Yoda or anyone.
"A crucial time, it is." He murmured, ignoring her.
"Master?"
"Waited 17 years, we have. Time to tell you the truth, it is."
Leah frowned in confusion and alarm. What was he talking about? What was the truth she needed to know? How would that affect her?!
"Finish that, you will. Walk with me, will you, hmm?"
Laetitia followed the Grand Master as he walked ahead. He was too deep in his thoughts to hear the questions Leah was asking. Although he disagreed, she had to know the truth.
About herself and her father. The curse cast upon the Skywalkers.
"Uh ... why are we here?" Leah asked.
He took her to a bunch of books. Why? Why were they important? They were Jedi texts and books. Did he want to remind her of what the Jedi stood for? The Code?
"Master Yoda." She repeated herself.
"Young Naberrie ..."
"Master, how hard is it to call me by my own name? My name is Laetitia Skywalker. I am a Gray Jedi. How many times should I repeat myself?" She asked in frustration.
"The best decision I have ever made in my life was when I left the Order and stopped being a Jedi." She bitterly stated.
She always wanted more than what a Jedi was allowed to have. Just like her father, she wanted to be powerful. But unlike him, she also wanted to be merciful. Whatever she was, she wanted to make her own choices. Not be bound by some code, that wasn't not even right.
"I'm ending all of this. The Holochrons, the text, the Jedi. You should burn all of them. It's time for the Jedi to end. Their conflict at the end is what destroyed everything. The Galaxy is better off without them." She advised the old Master.
"Hmm." Yoda only said.
He slowly turned away from Leah and walked to the books. Leah had no idea what was happening ... Until she did. Suddenly, a lightning from the sky was cast upon the books and burned them all.
Leah just stood there, shocked. Her mouth and eyes were wide-open. What was happening?
"Ah, Skywalker. Missed you, have I." He stated as he laughed. This was the first time he had called her by her own name. It felt right, for some reason.
"So it is time for the Jedi Order to end." Leah half-surely said.
"Time, it is. For you to look at a pile of old books, hmm?"
"The sacred Jedi texts!" She shrieked. Even for her, that was ... aggressive.
"Oh! Read them, have you?" He asked.
"Well, I ..." She tried to answer, using her high-pitch voice.
"Page-turners, they were not. Yes, yes, yes. Wisdom they held, but that library contained nothing that you do not already possess." He stated.
Leah just looked. down. It was the first time she had ever been praised by a Jedi Master. It was ... weird.
"Skywalker, still looking to the horizon. Never here, now, hmm?" He pointed out as he poked Leah with his cane to get her attention.
"Ow." She whined quietly.
"The need in front of your nose, hmm?"
"Master, go easy. I'm pregnant, you know." She muttered quietly.
"Know, I do." He simply said.
Leah prepared herself to have this conversation. 'You're a disgrace to all the Jedi!', 'you slept with a Sith Lord!', 'you are carrying an abomination!', 'that child has Sith blood in her or him!' and so on.
Or worse ... 'She must be trained'.
Leah was most afraid of the last one. She would never let that happen. Her child would decide what she or he wanted to do. A Jedi, Gray Jedi or even a Sith Lord. They would make their own choices. Whatever they made, she would support it, even if she didn't agree with it.
"Are you ... gonna say anything?" She slowly asked to break the silence.
"Lost young Skywalker, you did. Lost a lot of things, you did. Lose yourself, you must not." Yoda told her.
Leah sighed. So he didn't comment on her pregnancy, but on what she was going to have to do later. She would have to kill her own father to protect literally everyone else in the Galaxy.
Of course that's why they need me.
"I can't be what you need me to be. I'm weak, and not experienced enough. There are a lot of people who can do that for you. I'm not the right person for the job. I've failed too many things to do this important one." She quietly said as she looked down.
"Heeded my words not, did you? Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery ... But weakness, folly, failure, also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is." He replied calmly.
She just looked down and thought about it. He had a point. Nothing could or would teach someone better than a failure would. It was capable of teaching a lot of things at the same time.
"Skywalker, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all Masters." He stated sadly. He was truly broken compared to how he was 17 years ago.
"But I wasn't a Master then. And I'm hardly a Master now." Leah argued quietly. She may have been a Master, but she really didn't feel like it.
"A Master, you have always been." He corrected her.
"Right, you were." He suddenly said, which caused her to blink in confusion.
"Too old, I was. Too rigid. Too arrogant to see that the old way is not the only way. These Jedi, I trained to become the Jedi who had trained me, long centuries ago ... But those ancient Jedi, of a different time, they were. Changed, the Galaxy has. Changed, the Order did not ... Because let it change, I did not." Yoda quietly said in shame.
Leah didn't know what to say. She had waited 17 years to hear those words. Now that she actually did ... she felt somewhat bad. She never liked being apologized to. She didn't think she was in any position to judge anyone or forgive them.
Who was she to say that?
"No matter how much we want to, we can't change the past. So the best thing we can do is to stay focused on the present, and make sure the past does not repeat itself in the future." She stated. It was as close to forgiveness she could get to.
Yoda lifted his head, but Leah was too preoccupied to hear what he was saying. She felt something in the Force. A ... cold emptiness on the planet.
She turned around, trying to find the source of it. Whatever it was, it was bad and filled with the dark side of the Force. Finally, a cave grabbed her attention. She wasn't in it, but she could feel the coldness from the outside. It was ... scary.
"What is that place?" She asked.
"Go in, you must." Yoda told her.
Leah blinked in surprise and confusion. That place was basically the darkest place in the Galaxy. Why would he want her to go in there?
"What's in there?"
"Only what you take with you." He simply said.
You'd think I'd get used to his riddles by now.
"You weapon ... Need it, you will not."
Leah hesitated. So whatever was in that cave, whatever she was facing ... there was no need for a lightsaber? She wasn't about to fight someone? It was just gonna be a peaceful talk with someone or a civil moment with the Force?
She shook her head in disagreement. If the last 17 years had taught her something, it was that she would need a weapon wherever she would go. So she just went ahead, ignoring the advise he gave her.
The cave was surprisingly large. It was also very deep and cold. Laetitia felt like there was a light years difference between the steps.
She, slowly and very cautiously, moved ahead. Her hands were on her lightsabers, but she hadn't activated them. She just wanted to follow the trail in the Force it was screaming.
"Nice of you to show up." A voice suddenly said.
Leah immediately turned around and ignited her silver lightsabers. She was ready to attack.
"Who are you?!" She demanded.
A dark-hooded figure walked slowly from the shadow to show herself. She was wearing a mask. Her eyes were red, and her hair was colorless white. And she looked ... familiar. Leah didn't know why, but she could swear she had seen her before.
"I suppose ... I am you." The figure slowly mused as she took off the hood and showed her face.
Done :)
Honestly, I can say this is one of my favorite chapters. I mean, I have LOTS of favorite chapters, but this is with them. To point out what the Jedi did right and wrong.
As you can see, I was inspired by the Luke/Yoda moment in the movies. It felt like the right thing to do. I also used the Revenge Of The Sith novelization for Yoda. The quote seemed perfect :)
And finally! The time is here for us to know the whole truth ... about Laetitia and ... her prophecy. 80 chapters ago, I said we would learn it. Now, here it is!
;P
