Chapter 16 – Old Friends

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The sound of a walking stick tapping the earthen floor of the cottage comes closer as Yoda steps into the room where Luke and I are seated. He looks so much older and weaker now then I've ever seen him before, and that really worries me.

"Hmm. That you face you make. Look I so old to young eyes?" Yoda asks suddenly, amusement in his tone. I try to cover my worried expression and notice Luke doing the same.

"No," I insist pointlessly.

"Of course not," Luke hastily denies.

Yoda chuckles in response. "I do, yes, I do! Sick have I become. Old and weak." He points a finger at us. "When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?" He chuckles again and hobbles over to his bed.

"Soon will I rest. Yes, forever sleep. Earned it, I have." No. No, no, no. I stubbornly shake my head in denial, even though I know it's true. He can't die too!

"Master Yoda, you can't die," Luke insists.

"H-how will I go back to my time?" I can't be stuck here forever, not with everyone I know from my own time dead. As much as I love the twins, it's just not the same.

"Send you back, someone strong with the Force shall," Yoda assures me. Just from the way he says it, I get the feeling he knows who, but isn't going to tell me. "Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong," he adds again after a few moments of silence. Who's stronger than him who could send me back? I don't have any more time to contemplate it before he speaks up again. "Twilight is upon me and soon night must fall. That is the way of things, the way of the Force."

"But I need your help," Luke protests, "I've come back to complete the training."

"No more training do you require," he replies. As I suspected. He has learned so much since when we first met. "Already know you that which you need."

With a sigh, Yoda lies back against the bed. I don't want to see what I know is going to happen any minute now. He's going to die now, the only one left who I used to know other than him...

"Then I am a Jedi?" inquires Luke.

Yoda shakes his head. "Ohhh. Not yet. One thing remains. Vader. You must confront Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will." He never said kill. Which might mean he also believes Anakin's not beyond redemption. Maybe over the years on Dagobah, he's come to believe it is possible to turn back from the Dark Side?

Luke stares at him in silence for many long moments before finally breaking it, asking a question he already knows but apparently wants further confirmation on. "Master Yoda, is Darth Vader my father?"

Yoda looks at him sympathetically before smiling sadly and rolling over, turning away from us. Clearly, it's not a question he wants to answer.

"Mmm... rest I need. Yes... rest."

"Yoda, I must know," Luke insists after many long moments.

"Your father he is," he answers finally, "Told you, did he?"

"Yes."

"And I felt my bond with him, then..." I trail off not wanting to dwell on another painful topic right now when what's about to happen is hard enough.

"Unexpected this is," murmurs Yoda, closing his eyes, "And unfortunate."

"Unfortunate that I know the truth?" exclaims Luke.

"Why?" I inquire, slightly confused.

With difficulty, Yoda rolls over to face us again. "No. Unfortunate that Luke rushed to face him, that incomplete was his training. Not ready for the burden was he."

"Well, I'm sorry," Luke apologizes.

"Master Yoda, what will happen to this time?" I inquire. This is one more thing I must know. I don't want this to ever have happened, not even in another timeline.

"Exist it will not!" he pauses before continuing again, "Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The Dark Side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny." That has me confused momentarily. He didn't say either way whether he thought it was possible for someone to turn back. It's hard to tell, and he's often not clear in what he's saying. Unless it's not meant completely literally like it sounds. Which is very possible. I know the Dark Side isn't easy to get rid of.

Luke and I move a little closer to him when he starts speaking again. "Luke... Luke, do not... do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor, or suffer your father's fate, you will." I know beyond a shadow of a doubt these are his last words. "Luke, when gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be. Luke, the Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned, Luke. Ahsoka, send you home shall a Skywalker."

His form seems to almost ripple before slowly beginning to fade, as does his Force-presence. It's only a matter of seconds before his body completely disappears.

Yoda, the Grand Master of the Jedi for hundreds of years, is dead. One of the only Jedi to survive the Purge. The only person left from my own time, except Vader.

He may not have technically been my master, but he trained me when I was young, and even now when I'm a Grey Jedi, I still respect him and his judgement, which was part of the reason it was so hard when I was framed. They all believed I was guilty. It doesn't make sense, but I feel so lost and alone without him. He was the one person always there. Now he's gone, and it's all so wrong.

One thing I know for sure, is that in my timeline, I will make sure he doesn't see the fall of the Jedi Order. There is no room for failure, not with the lives of my master, my family at stake.

I don't know how long we just sit there, our eyes riveted on the place he just was before it finally crosses my mind that there's an Alliance meeting to attend to. And we promised to be back soon.

"We should go," I mumble, glancing around the room one final time before crawling out of the tiny hut. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I'll never go here again. I'm glad. This place has too many memories. Too many ghosts.

We slowly walk down the path back towards where the ship is waiting, my movements almost robotic. Artoo whistles a greeting, but unlike usual it doesn't cheer me up at all. With a sigh, Luke kneels down next to Artoo to help him get into the ship so we can leave. As always, despite what's happened, we have to keep moving.

"I can't do it, Artoo," Luke mumbles quietly. "I can't go on alone."

"Yoda will always be with you." I gasp softly as the Force-presence I haven't felt for far too long hits me. Slowly, I turn around, to see Obi-Wan's Force ghost standing a distance away.

"Obi-Wan!" exclaims Luke, frustration slipping into his tone, "Why didn't you tell me!?"

"Us?" I correct.

Obi-Wan's ghost walks closer to us.

"You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father," continues Luke, clearly frustrated.

"Your father was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I have told you was true... from a certain point of view." True enough, but a certain point of view isn't going to help me save the galaxy.

"A certain point of view!" exclaims Luke, turning away angrily.

"You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view," Obi-Wan responds. Luke doesn't reply.

"If I'd known earlier, it would have been easier," I say, struggling to keep the frustration from my tone. "I could have tried to talk to him instead of fighting. I could have reasoned with him." But instead, I couldn't even think straight out of shock and pain.

"I don't blame you for being angry. If I was wrong in what I did, it certainly wouldn't have been for the first time," Obi-Wan replies, before he begins speaking to Luke again. "You see, what happened to your father was my fault."

"It was everyone's fault," I mutter. Whatever he says, I know the truth. I failed Anakin more than anyone else did. Well, okay, maybe I didn't, but after Obi-Wan faked his death, Anakin and I had an unspoken understanding that we would never abandon one another. I left him.

"Anakin was a good friend," he begins sadly, immediately getting Luke's attention. We all take seats as Obi-Wan continues. "When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot. But I was amazed how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought that I could instruct him as well as Yoda. I was wrong. My pride has had terrible consequences for the galaxy."

"There's still good in him," Luke says quietly.

"I also thought he could be turned back to the good side. It couldn't be done. He is more machine now than man. Twisted and evil." For the briefest moment, I find myself wondering again what happened to him. What made him end up in that armor? It's not something he'd wear by choice. I can only guess, but I don't want to think about it any longer.

"It can be done," I insist, "I know it. I've felt it... there's still light in him. He's not the same now as he was."

"It's not enough," he replies.

"I can't do it, Ben," Luke declares.

"You cannot escape your destiny."

"I tried to stop him once. I couldn't do it."

"Not even with me there," I add.

"Vader humbled you when you first met him, Luke. But that experience was part of your training. It taught you, among other things, the value of patience. Had you not been so impatient to defeat Vader then, you could have finished your training here with Yoda. You would have been prepared."

"But I had to help my friends," retorts Luke.

"And did you help them?" asks Obi-Wan. "It was they who had to save you. You achieved little by rushing back prematurely, I fear."

"Well, they might have saved us in the end," I interject, "But they may never have made it that far in the first place if we hadn't been there to help them."

"Perhaps."

"I found out Darth Vader was my father," says Luke sadly.

"To be a Jedi, Luke, you must confront and then go beyond the Dark Side – the side your father couldn't get past. Impatience is the easiest door – for you, like your father. Only, your father was seduced by what he found on the other side of the door and you have held firm. You're no longer so reckless now, Luke. You are strong and patient. And now, you must face Darth Vader again."

"I can't kill my own father," replies Luke firmly.

"Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope."

"He doesn't have to die for us to destroy the Empire," I insist stubbornly. I don't believe him. I can't. Anakin can't just die. And I will certainly not be the one to kill him. I'd die first.

"Besides, there's still Leia..." murmurs Luke. And I'm not going to let anyone kill him, either.

"Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They do you credit. But they could make you to serve the Emperor," Obi-Wan warns.

"We can't let her get involved now, Ben. Vader would destroy her," Luke objects.

"She hasn't been trained in the ways of the Jedi the way you have been, Luke. But the Force is strong with her as it is with all of your family. There is no avoiding the battle. You must face and destroy Vader."

"We will destroy Vader, Obi-Wan," I reassure him. Because we will. But we'll do it without killing Anakin.