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AN: Just had this one-shot in mind for a while, and decided that now was as good a time as any to post it; consider it my way to clear up a couple of details regarding Rey's ties to Palpatine and her plans for the future after the very end of Rise of Skywalker.

AN 2: For the record, details concerning the fate of Luke's lost hand were inspired by a severed hand seen in the Star Wars: Darth Vader comic book in the Emperor's lab on Exegol, so I'm not just making that up completely out of nothing.

AN 3: I did plan to post this on May 4, but I had a very busy day and just didn't have the time; hope you like this anyway.

The New Era

"Rey Skywalker."

It was only when those words had actually passed her lips that Rey stopped to consider the full weight of what she'd just uttered.

She had no intention of ever acknowledging her ties to the Emperor to anyone who didn't already know about that part of her existence, but did she truly have the right to claim to be a Skywalker?

More importantly, as the old woman walked away to leave Rey staring at the setting suns in front of her… did the galaxy truly need another Skywalker?

She respected what Luke and Leia had accomplished in their lives, and would argue to the end that Luke 'abandoning' the rest of the galaxy had been motivated by the kind of pain and loss that would have completely broken lesser men, but as much as she'd defended Anakin Skywalker to Luke during their brief time together, she couldn't ignore that he'd been the reason the Emperor had destroyed the Jedi in the first place. Palpatine might have manipulated most of the galaxy during the Clone Wars, but he'd still needed Darth Vader to be his true enforcer, just as Ben Solo had done so much damage while acting as Kylo Ren…

Now… after all that chaos, the legacy of the Palpatines and the Skywalkers came to a final conclusion here, back where Anakin Skywalker's journey had begun so many years ago, on a sandy planet so far from the centre of the galaxy.

Should I stay here…?

Rey had gotten over the idea that she would automatically 'doom' the galaxy just because of her heritage, but even if Luke had been taking a particularly dark view of the Jedi during his exile, did they really do that much good? Palpatine and the Sith might have grown so powerful operating in complete secrecy, but considering some of the mistakes the Jedi had made over the centuries, starting with missing the Sith's rebirth until they could launch such a powerful attack…

She pushed that thought aside before it could start to grow further. The Jedi had stumbled and fallen, but for the most part their intentions had been fundamentally good; her duty now was to find the best parts of what the Jedi had been and try to recreate the Order without the flaws that had led to its destruction after the Clone Wars. She wasn't going to try and form another Jedi academy like Luke had done after the Battle of Endor, but if she could find a few suitable Force-sensitive individuals, it could be worth working with them to test what they were capable of…

"Wise decision, that is," a new voice said to her. BB-8 let out a surprised squeak as they both turned to look at the source of the voice, revealing a small green figure in a simple brown robe, the whole effect tinted by a blue light that she recognised from her encounter with Luke on Ahch-To.

"Master Yoda?" Rey looked at the figure, quickly lowering herself to her knees; even after everything the Empire had tried to erase about the Jedi Order, this was one figure whose reputation had been swiftly redeemed by Luke's own efforts, tales about him enduring even during the Empire's peak.

"Rise, young Rey," Yoda replied, looking at her with an approving smile. "Grown strong in the Light, you have; proud of you, we are."

"Really?" Rey looked curiously at Yoda even as she remained on her knees. "But… I'm not even sure what to do next-"

"Already know everything you need, you do," Yoda cut her off with a warm smile. "Seek out others, you must; train them, you will. One survivor of young Skywalker's last academy already, there is; find Grogu, you must."

"Grogu?" Rey repeated, memorising the nae.

"Visited by his first foster guardian shortly before the attack, he was, and taken to safety," Yoda explained. "Guardian has kept him safe for many years, but time he returned to his people, it is. Your first pupil, he will be, but others will come."

"It's safe for me to do something like that now?" Rey looked at Yoda, suddenly burning to answer the question nobody had been able to answer so far. "I mean, if… Palpatine… could come back once…"

"Exhausted his chances, he has," Yoda nodded firmly. "Clone bodies, he was using, with more corrupted clones acting as Snoke while he pursued his own agenda."

"So… he didn't just survive being thrown into the Death Star core?" Rey asked, mind flashing back over the tales she'd heard of the Battle of Endor. "He transferred his spirit into a clone of himself? That's why his body seemed deformed?"

"Lost genetic samples creating corrupted clones," Yoda nodded at her. "Equipment broke down over the years, it did; only remaining samples too degraded to be re-used for a new form."

"Which was why he needed me and Ben to be a new body for him," Rey nodded in understanding. "So when I destroyed that body… he's gone for good?"

"No way to return, he has," Yoda returned her smile. "The power of the Dark Side grants great strength, but ultimately strength for one alone; drew on the power of us all when you struck the final blow…"

"As opposed to striking him down like he wanted?" Rey smiled briefly at the memory before she looked more urgently at Yoda. "You… you all know I wasn't going to let him win even before Ben showed up, right? I would have… I mean, I appreciate that it might not have been very 'Jedi' of me, but-"

"Turn the saber on yourself?" Yoda finished for her with a solemn nod. "Aware of this, we were; as you say, not a traditional Jedi act, but not a wrong one in that context, if truly no options you possessed."

"Thank you," Rey nodded at him, before she smiled. "Almost amazing, when you think about it; he was so confident I'd give in to him, but he never thought of that…"

"The true danger of the Dark Side, that is," Yoda observed. "When power defined by the self, lose the ability to recognise the capacity for selflessness, you do."

The small Force-ghost's smile faded as he looked more curiously at Rey. "Still doubt yourself even after drawing on our power, you do?"

"I… I know it's foolish, but I can't shake…" Rey began, before deciding that she might as well take this chance to ask the question that had been bothering her since she learned her true family history. "I mean, if I'm Palpatine's granddaughter…?"

"Tainted by the Dark Side, you fear you are?" Yoda finished for her with a warm smile. "Considered, have you, how the Emperor's grandchild you can be?"

"…I assumed he had a child somewhere…" Rey began, before she recalled Yoda's past words. "…Except it was his clone, wasn't it?"

"Activated prematurely, that body was," Yoda nodded at her. "His own identity, the clone formed… aided by the other DNA used in his creation."

"Other DNA?"

"From a hand retrieved from Bespin," Yoda explained, giving her a tentative smile. "My meaning you understand?"

Rey had only been able to learn so many details about the Skywalkers' family history from Leia after the Battle of Crait, but the tale of the confrontation on Bespin had stuck out in her mind, not least because it explained how Luke had lost his original lightsabre and come to need that artificial hand.

"You mean… I am a Skywalker?" she looked at Yoda with a new grin.

"Already a Skywalker in our hearts, you were; blood merely makes it truer," Yoda observed. "Great Jedi, your chosen family have been, Rey; even those who fall have done the impossible and returned to the Light. Traits of them you possess, but even if you lacked the blood, know that all Jedi consider you a true Skywalker."

"…Thank you, Master Yoda," Rey inclined her head.

"We are what you grow beyond, young Rey," Yoda looked solemnly at her. "Learn from past mistakes, and accept what we have done well, but your own path, you must find."

With that last statement, Yoda faded into nothingness, leaving Rey to look back at the makeshift grave where she had laid Luke and Leia's lightsabers.

It was almost funny, in a way; a matter of days ago, she'd been so lost because she didn't know her true place in the galaxy, and now that she knew exactly where she came from, she had also realised that the most important thing was that she chose it herself. Her direct biological family might be monsters, but she had chosen the Skywalkers as her heritage, and when they had chosen her in turn, she had vowed to never let them down.

She obviously regretted that Ben had died like that, but…

As much as she hated to admit it, and she'd never say it out loud, Kylo Ren had done too much to be forgiven that easily in the end. Even if Palpatine had been manipulating him from a distance, it was harder to draw a line between what Ben had done on his own and what he'd done on Palpatine's encouragement; at least with Anakin it was clear that Palpatine had driven him to become Vader and attack the Temple in the first place. After all of Ben's efforts to gain power, sacrificing himself to save her was probably the best way for him to achieve clear redemption.

If he'd survived, people would have been looking at him with constant suspicion for the rest of his life, practically waiting for him to slip up all over again; at least this way he had done something truly selfless in his final actions.

Putting that grim thought aside, Rey turned back towards the Millennium Falcon as it waited behind her. She didn't know what ship had taken Anakin Skywalker away from Tatooine the first time, but just as the Falcon had taken Luke away from this planet when he began his training as the first of a new generation of Jedi, it seemed appropriate that this was the ship that would begin another new chapter for the Jedi and the Skywalker family.

"I will make you proud," she said, looking back at where she had buried Luke and Leia's lightsabers.

"You already have," a clearer voice said. Turning around, Rey's eyes widened as she saw an unfamiliar tall man with shaggy hair in Jedi robes, a half-smile on his face that she recognised from old footage of the Clone Wars.

"Regardless of my grandson's final fate," Anakin Skywalker's spirit smiled to her, "you are everything I could have wanted in a granddaughter."

The spirit of the former Darth Vader faded away before Rey could reply, only to be replaced by a new chorus of voices.

"The-"

"Force-"

"Is-"

"With-"

"You-"

"Rey-"

"Skywalker."

Hearing some of the Jedi voices that had stood closest to her during her last confrontation with Palpatine, Rey smiled at this reaffirmation of their support.

The work ahead of her would be hard, but it would be the greatest and most important task she would ever undertake, and Rey Skywalker couldn't think of anything she'd rather dedicate her life to.