Okay, so. This is a rewrite of a story I started in 2018, which I didn't really like and couldn't get myself to finish because it was just... sort of juvenile. Anyway, this time, I'm determined to finish it, so you'll probably have more of this.
Enjoy!
The suns sank lower and lower towards the horizon, bringing the facsimile of a chill with them as they went down, past the gleaming sands.
Luke just stood, watching them. All of his energy that day was spent already, even though the most he had done was sit by Ben's sand-covered body, watching as the substance slowly covered the tomb of his once-lively teacher, grain by grain.
He had done all he could have done, as Ben had said, laying on his deathbed. He couldn't have prevented the sickness or helped him any more than he had. It was Tatooine, after all. Maybe doctors in the Core would have had the technology and the know-how to keep Ben alive, but the doctors on Tatooine had all said the same thing: he had about a month to live.
"Don't grieve for me when the time comes, Luke," Ben had said, putting a weakened hand on his shoulder. "And most of all, don't blame yourself. Death comes for everyone, in the end."
Luke had nodded solemnly, staring at the ground. He knew grief, almost like one knew a brother. How many had he grieved for, one way or another? Whether it was grieving lost friendships, lost lives, lost parents…
Death surrounded Tatooine. It permeated the very air, and touched the sand on the ground with its skeletal hand.
Luke shuddered, and curled into himself. The desert's nighttime chill was starting to set in. It was time for him to go inside, Luke knew. But, he didn't want to leave. He wanted to hang onto the memories, the liveliness that Ben had had before everything had happened.
But, most of all, he wanted to avoid thinking about Ben's last words. The words that had turned his world upside down.
"Darth Vader didn't kill your father, Luke," he had said, every word taking effort, unlike the easy way he had used to talk, when he was instructing Luke in meditation or lightsaber forms, or telling him stories of days gone by.
Ben had taken a shuddering breath, as if the next words would pain him to say.
"He is your father."
Luke didn't know what to think. He could just ignore it, believe that Ben's words were the ramblings of a dying man, but something, something in him told him that Ben was telling the truth. And he had been taught better than to disregard the Force.
If it had told him that Ben's words were true, then they were. Even if it meant that he was related to a monster that was more machine than man, a monster who had killed thousands of Jedi and slaughtered whole populations, who killed children in the name of a corrupt regime.
He could only wonder why, at this point. Why had he done it? What was the point? Why had he turned to the Dark Side instead of raising him? What had led to Luke being sent to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru? He probably would never know, never get the answers he sought. And he knew he would have to live with that.
But, he still wanted to know why. However, the only living person who knew was someone he didn't want to associate with, even if, as Ben had revealed, he was his father.
Luke had always idolized his father. Ben's stories of the Clone Wars had been the highlight of his days, rife with action and heroics. His father had been someone Luke wanted to live up to, someone whose memory he wanted to make proud.
He didn't know what to do.
But he did know that now that Ben was gone, there was nothing keeping him Tatooine but the ghosts of memories past. And there had always been something calling him towards the stars.
It was time for him to go.
The spaceport had plenty of beings bustling by, doing errands and minding their own business.
Luke pushed through the crowd, trying to find a place to rest, keeping his head low under the hood of one of Ben's too big cloaks. It was busier in Mos Eisley than the last time he had been there with Ben, the mid-morning rush living up to its name.
He had already done his errands, selling Ben's old speeder and purchasing a ticket to the rare shuttle that was leaving from Mos Eisley that night, but he still had time to kill. No errands meant nothing to do, and a lot of time to think.
Luke kneeled under a shady awning, looking up at the blue, blue sky. The sky that had trapped him for years and years. He had always asked Ben why they couldn't leave, but Ben had always been cryptic, skirting the subject before closing it altogether.
But, now Luke was leaving, and Ben wasn't there anymore.
Ben should have been there, Luke thought. Ben should have been there to show him the rest of the Galaxy, to teach him about the different planets, and the stars, and…
Luke felt tears streaming down his face, all of a sudden. Why now? He wondered absently. He thought that he had cried out every tear left in him yesterday, when he had put Ben's body to rest. It was over and done now. Ben was dead.
Ben was gone.
But Luke missed him, with all of his heart. The man was his mentor, his teacher, his friend. His father, almost, even though he knew that Ben never would have wanted to take the place of Anakin Skywalker in Luke's life.
But Anakin Skywalker had never been there. And now, Ben wasn't there anymore.
He closed his eyes, and let the tears flow out, settling onto the now wet sand below him.
Luke had known that it was Ben's time to go for months, and although it should have lessened the pain of his passing, it didn't. It still felt sharp and raw, like Uncle Owen's and Aunt Beru's death after the Tusken Attack that had claimed their lives.
He didn't know if the pain of Ben's passing was ever going to go away. Even his Aunt and Uncle's deaths still seemed to haunt him, from time to time. Even if it was better than it had been when they had died.
A phantom press of a hand fell onto his shoulder, almost real, but unreal enough that Luke knew he was hallucinating the feel of Ben's familiar, calloused hand on his shoulder.
"You must let me go, Luke," he heard Ben's voice say, loud and clear. " Let go, and you will be at peace."
He looked up and around, trying to locate the source of the voice. Was it Ben, or was it some sort of delusion he made up to deal with his grief? It sounded awfully real. Almost like Ben was right next to him.
But there was no one there, besides the shoppers and idle passerby near him.
Luke sniffled, like he was ten again and holding his stuffed bantha to his chest as Ben comforted him from another nightmare about blood on the desert sands.
And now, Ben would never be able to comfort him again.
He was gone. And Luke would have to accept that. It would be what Ben would want him to do, for him to let go and move on with his life.
Luke took a deep, shuddering breath, and sighed, looking at the tear-stained sand beneath him.
He had to let his emotions go, set them upon the desert wind like Ben had shown him to, during their numerous meditation sessions.
He took a breath in, and envisioned his grief floating away, into the sky.
He let the breath out.
And then, he felt a little more at peace.
The shuttle was not in the worst shape, but it was definitely beat up, not unlike the other ships he had seen around Tatooine. He wondered, would the ships offworld be more like the gleaming ones Ben told him about, or would they all be beaten-up old junkers like this one?
Seeing new ships was definitely a perk of getting off of Tatooine. He had told Ben that before, and it held true now, even though Ben wasn't there.
Luke trudged up the boarding ramp, and settled on the shuttle's main floor, noting the lack of seats or windows. He had been hoping to catch a glimpse of Hyperspace, or see what Tatooine looked like from above.
He sighed, and settled his head against the wall behind him.
A few other passengers came in, but no one of note. There was no sense of danger coming from any of them, the way that it came from slavers or Jabba's men. These were simply refugees, wishing to get off Tatooine for a better life.
Not unlike him, Luke thought.
The ramp closed slowly, sand spilling from it's exterior into the ship.
Luke didn't bother reacting to it. Sand was everywhere on Tatooine, after all, and he had lived there his whole life.
He felt the ship rise beneath him.
Luke felt himself smiling, giddy like a child. How long had he waited to be in this very situation? Even though he had had a duty to Ben when he was alive, he had always wanted to go off world, to see all of the different environments that Ben had told him about.
The ship started to move forward, away from Tatooine.
Luke couldn't help but keep the smile on his face.
Then the ship jerked, and Luke could almost feel Tatooine go by, like the desert did when he sped across it in Ben's landspeeder.
Hyperspace.
He didn't know what planet he was going to next, but he bet that it was going to be exciting.
Luke curled himself up into the wall, leaning his head on its cold exterior. He had been sitting there for what felt like forever now, and he had never been this bored in his life.
Or cold, he thought as he shivered underneath Ben's old cloak. At least he was smart enough to bring it. Ben did say that space travel would be too cold for him the first time he did it, especially since he was from Tatooine.
But on Tatooine, there was always something to do, whether it was training with Ben or getting groceries, or killing womp rats for a bit of extra money. He was never this still, this isolated.
Luke sighed, and wondered when the ship was going to land.
He closed his eyes, and felt the heaviness of his limbs weighing him down. He had had a long couple of days, from burying Ben to leaving Tatooine and getting barely any sleep in between. He guessed could use some more.
He took a couple of deep breaths, in and out.
And then, he fell into oblivion.
The lava bubbled around him in orange streams. Luke could feel the heat coming off of it, searing heat that reached deep into his bones. He almost wanted to touch it, but he knew that if he did, he would be badly burnt.
He imagined that this was what the Tatooine suns looked like, if he got close enough.
He walked a bit further down the walkway he was on, going anywhere and nowhere at the same time.
And then, he spotted the ship.
It was silver and sleek, and completely out of place on this world, whatever planet it was. Luke could tell that it belonged among rivers and green trees, rich architecture and fresh fruit.
A woman lay unconscious at the base of the ship, clutching her swollen belly.
Luke ran over. Why was she unconscious? He looked a little closer, and noted the newly formed bruises ringing around her neck.
What sort of monster would choke a pregnant woman into unconsciousness? He thought, seething. He had half a mind to find whoever had done it and pummel them into oblivion, but he knew that the pregnant woman's safety was more important than whatever half-baked ideas of vengeance he had at the moment.
He put his hand at her neck, but instead of feeling a pulse, he only felt air.
He stood up and clutched his hand, backing away.
What in the Nine Sith Hells -
Oh, he thought dumbly, he must have been in some sort of vision.
He looked around, searching for something, anything that would tell him what this vision was. Anything.
But then, he spotted the two lightsabers, both lit up in bright blue, and clashing against each other with the force of two krayt dragons battling for dominance.
Luke took one last look at the pregnant woman, and, knowing that the combatants were nowhere near her, and hoped she would be safe.
He ran towards the duel, wondering what the heck was going on. Sith Lords generally had red lightsabers. Why would two Jedi be fighting each other?
And whose side would he be on?
He stopped.
One of the combatants was easily recognizable, even if he didn't look nearly as weathered as Luke was used to seeing him. Fighting on the defensive, Ben swung his lightsaber to block his opponent's hard blows, meeting everyone.
Luke stared at him, bewildered.
Who was the other opponent?
The other man turned and glared at a spot behind him, yellow eyes gleaming. He looked eerily, eerily familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.
No, it couldn't be, Luke thought.
Father!
The two men kept battling each other, going all out against one another. Like they had never been friends, or comrades.
"Stop!" Luke cried, running into the fray, "Father! Ben! Stop!"
But their lightsabers just went right through him.
Luke jolted into consciousness, not quite remembering what brought him there.
He rolled his head back, trying to get the crick out of his neck. He hated not remembering his dreams. Ben had told him that some Jedi had prophetic dreams, way back when he had first come to him with a nightmare, but Luke didn't know how he was supposed to deal with a dream he couldn't remember. What if it was prophetic? Would not remembering the dream affect his future?
He tried to pull up what happened in his nightmare. Something to do with lava, he thought, but he couldn't quite recall anything besides that and the chilling image of Yellow Eyes.
So, something about some Dark Side user then.
Luke shuddered. One of the good things about Tatooine was that he didn't have to worry about some errant Sith Lord or Dark Disciple finding him, or battling him. Ben was more than strong enough to take care of one without his help, but with his help, a Dark Side user wouldn't have even been a problem.
Unless it was Darth Vader.
His father.
Ben had said that Vader knew all of his moves and strategies, that he knew everything about him. Luke had assumed that this came from being one of Ben's apprentices, as Ben had told him, but he didn't think it came from being his only apprentice. At least, he didn't think that Ben had a second apprentice, except for when he pretended to to shield Luke from the reality of the truth.
Vader was his father.
The ship's intercom popped online.
"Attention, passengers. We are 10 minutes away from our destination, the planet Lothal. Please stay seated until the boarding ramp opens."
Luke looked around, noting the sleepy passengers and the lack of windows.
Man, how he would kill to see the planet they were landing on.
Oh well, he thought, the least he could do was wait until they descended.