The Disgraced Jedi By: The disgraced Angel Written: March 16 and 17, 2004
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: The depressed characters in this story are all Lucas' creations. I have only just mutilated their reputations and their story to entertain my evil self. I have made no money off this, and if your rich daddy happens to be a layer, I tell you now: you'll only receive lint, on that can't pat any of your bills.
A/N: Sorry It has been so long since I have updated...I haven't been having too much luck with internet, and my life has been quite chaotic for the past few weeks. But anyway, I hope to keep updating weekly, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Nine: Return from Ennui
(Used as a synonym for nothingness.)
Luke sat staring out of Leia's dining room window. He was suffering from extreme boredom, and was very restless, having not been outside her and Han's home in a month. Today was the day that Ben and the kids were suppost to come home, but due to the recent rise of Imperial threat, Leia deemed it not safe for them to return. And so they stayed with Winter, so many light- years from Luke's waiting arms.
Luke watched enviously as a fleet of X-wings flew into space, their battle ship in the lead. "What I wouldn't give to be up there fighting the Empire." Luke sighed, turning hi face away from the window. Ever since he formally renounced his alliance with C.O.T.E, his thoughts had been set on rejoining the New Republic Navy, and fighting the rising Empire. But seeing as only Han and Leia knew of his existence, that dream was eliminated. Sad and bored, Luke decided to go and practice his Jedi meditating ability, the only Jedi skill he permitted himself to do. He never wanted to repeat his fall to the dark side. Luke shivered at the thought of himself Turing back.
Deep in a trance, his mind peaceful and focused, Luke felt around for his young son's presence. He could sense Jania and Jacen playing around with toy starships, but Ben was nowhere to be found. Winter, their guardian, was nervously staring into the radar's screen, panic and horror finally filling her thoughts. Luke grew worried and tried to sense the disturbance. It was not long before he found Ben playing with a Wamptha Lizard outside, not too far from a hidden Imperial AT-AT. Luke felt his chest tighten as the robot spotted the young child. Winter rushed outside, blaster in hand. She fired at the Robot and hit it, just as it fired on Ben. Winter screamed. Luke felt his heart stop and everything else freeze around him. Ben! he screamed. His heart felt like lead, his mind like mud. Luke's scream pierced the silence that followed Winter, Jania, and Jacen's deaths, and His only son's demise.
Leia was hysterical, screaming and crying on the board room's floor. The high member's of the New Republic sat stunned at her highly surprising behavior. "Leia!?" Han cried, shaking his wife. Wedge Antilles, just back from his fight against the an Imperial Star Destroyer, came over to her and tried to also make sense of what was going on. "Leia! What is wrong!? Leia?" Han said. He turned her over, and helped her sit up. She looked horror-stricken, her very appearance that of depressed death. "The children! Jania! and...Jacen!" She screamed, "Anakin... Ben...no...no..." She cried, and buried her face in her arms. Han froze. It can't be Han thought. We made sure they were safe. Our kids are safe. Winter wouldn't let anything happen. But Leia's grief stricken face showed no lies. "Han, get a hold of Winter. Wedge, help me take Princess Leia back to her quarters." The in charge voice of Mon Mothma said.
It felt more liberating and intoxicating, this new freedoms he had acquired through rebirth, than any power or ability he had ever gained. Darth Vader, free from his sinister armor, stood on the bridge of his new Star Destroyer, surveying his crew, happy to once again be alive.
How odd indeed this is...I can't recall the last time I stood gazing at the stars...looking at the plants I will soon conquer. It is a new feeling altogether. he mused.
As cruel as life was to him, death was even crueler. He was given a very shocking surprise when the force deemed that he and his master were to return to life. A rebirth like no other, Darth Vader and the Emperor reunited, more powerful, and more vengeful than before. Instantly, the were as their original form, except Vader no longer required life support. And slowly over the course of four years the two gained power, and began building the 3rd and last death star. And now, the galaxy was at their fingertips.
Darth Vader entered his private chambers, and had decided to check up on some of his spies in Imperial City. Their current assignemts were to find out all they could on the Skywalker children. Luke consumed most of his thoughts, and Leia and her children, too. Once he returned to life, a newly hired spy informed him that Luke Skywalker had died, and Leia had three hidden children with none other than scoundrel Han Solo. Luke's only son had been left with Leia, and where they were at, nobody could tell. At first, Vader refused to accept Luke's death. Despite his word to Emperor Palpatine, he carried a fatherly torch for his son, and wanted to seek him out for other purposes than his training and revenge. But slowly over the years, Vader had come to accept Luke's departure, and set his sights to Luke's son, and Leia and her children.
All that remained of the hidden protected house was ashes and sorrow. Shrouded in smoke, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Solo, and Han Solo made their way to the empty base that recently hid their children. Luke could feel their cries and pain, and it stabbed most physically at his heart. Luke had never even gotten to say goodbye to his young one, and felt much like he did when Mara Jade had died. He wanted to collapse on this spot, curl up, and wait to die. Because in his overtaxed heart, there was nothing to keep him alive anymore.
Han was having difficulty keeping himself and Leia from falling to the ashen ground. Tears enough were not good representation for the agony they felt. The air all around them radiated the final struggle the children had gone through. Leia felt her legs collapse beneath her when she saw under a fallen rock, a holo-projector with a recording of Jania's. Leia clutched it to her heart, and buried her face in Han's chest. Han felt immune to her cries, her touch, her agony. He was lost in his own world of misery and nothingness. Like Luke, he was trapped in an infinite ennui of pain.
The funerals were short, simple, and sad. They took place a week after their visit to the secret base. During most of the service, The three parents were very much dead themselves, feeling their children's gone ness, that in essence they become part of, too. When it was over, Luke stumbled back to his room, and once again shut himself away from the world. Han stayed in the falcon, obsessively fixing and re-fixing broken parts, while Leia overworked herself and stopped thinking of anything else. Though the children's spirit's lived on inside of the adults, they were the only things that kept the three alive, for Luke, Leia, and Han, felt very much dead to the galaxy.
4 months Later
"Hey kid," Han said, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. "Ya Han?" Luke asked, sipping his glass of Lando's famous hot chocolate and watching some old Holo's of their "rebel" days. They were both seated in front of a large holo-projector, currently watching Luke, Biggs, Han, Chewbacca, and Wedge laugh and carve their names into a wall at Yavin 4. Luke could have laughed just then, listening to his teenager self tell the wild story that led to His meeting Han and Leia and Obi-Wan. How very green he had been. "What do you think Leia would say if she was watching this?" Luke grinned, a very rare thing for him. They had the volume so loud, that he had trouble hearing Han's laugh and remark. "I still kind of miss those days, ya know? At least then, I knew who I was fighting...now, damn, there has to be at least 3 subdivisions of the original empire. How did it ever get this complicated?" Han sighed. Luke nodded. He remembered his encounter with the Emperor at the end of the war, and he remembered his father's death. What he wouldn't do to bring his father back, so that he could re-instruct Luke on the true ways of the force. Luke had become so lost, he didn't know right from dark, and had stopped using the force. It felt as though a part of him were missing. If only Anikan were here to teach him. If only he thought. "Ya, Han. Those were the easy days. Sometimes I do kind of wish I was a rebel again, too." They continued watching in silence, both lost in bittersweet memories of the old days. Suddenly, the Holo-projector shut off, and Leia stood behind them, her face pale and strained. "I'm so glad you two miss being rebels." She commented. "Because it looks like we are about to play that role again." She bowed her head. Han was speechless. "I- I didn't hear you come in." She faced him, her eyes wide and alive. "No one would at the volume you had this thing." Leia said wryly. "Leia..." Luke said, sensing that something was terribly wrong again. "What's wrong? What do you mean?" Leia stood up, and began pacing the floor. Luke noted that she had a determined stride, and a new glow in her eyes. Luke grabbed the china pitcher of coco, about to poor he and Han some more, when Leia said, in that matter-a-fact voice she had, "The Empire has built a new Death Star, and they have enileated nearly all of our military bases. And just recently, a new Emperor has taken the throne, and deemed The Empire once again the supreme power in the universe. The people in this palace are all the member's of the New Republic left. Almost all other New Republic planets have joined the Empire again." Luke felt the breath escape him, and let the china shatter on the floor.