Chapter 1 - The Child
DISCLAIMER: We (unfortunately) do not own Star Wars. :P
Plot: Instead of seeing Yoda's body disappear, Luke Skywalker is shocked and more than a little dismayed when, instead of an adult, he's face to face with a child. With baby Yoda in tow, Luke realizes that nothing will be nearly as easy as he'd expected, especially when said child is the most mischievous youngling Luke has ever seen…
Author's Note: My sisters wrote this fanfic almost completely alone, though I did help with the editing. And as an important note, most of the humorous lines came from various bad-lip reading videos on YouTube. Lol. Enjoy! :D
~ Amina Gila
Luke is expecting to feel the Force presence of his former master fade away and maybe his body to disappear like Obi-Wan's did when he was killed. Or maybe, it'll just to die like a normal sentient being's body would. Regardless, he certainly was not expecting Yoda to suddenly transform into a much smaller, paler green creature of the same species. He looks no older than a baby, Luke figures, but then again, he knows nothing about the species, not even its name.
The child slowly opens his yellow-green eyes, staring up at Luke with slight confusion at first, which slowly turns into delight. "Daddy?" His voice sounds like a far more childish form of Yoda. What. Just. Happened? Luke just stares at him, speechless with shock and confusion. Is this some kind of Force ghost illusion? Or is he just dreaming?
Pushing the blanket off with his tiny clawed hands, the child sits up, continuing to stare up at him curiously. "Daddy? Say something!"
"What's happening?!" he blurts out finally.
"Ahh… young have I become. See this, can you not?" Wait. Master Yoda transformed into a child? With his memories? Wait, why is he calling Luke 'Daddy' then? Unless, his mind reverted to being the same age as his body.
"I thought… you were dying."
"Dead I am not!" insists the child, standing up on the bed and looking about the dimly lit hut. "My stick! Where is my stick?"
"You still need it?"
"When a little bitty kid, I was, found my might stick I had not! Then I did! Took walks every day, my stick and me did. Lose it I cannot. Live without it I cannot," exclaims the child, leaping off the bed and using the Force to cushion his fall to the floor. Uhh… after all the lectures about attachments… it seems Yoda has an attachment to his stick, of all things. Luke is hardly sure what to do right now other than just watch the child. He's dealt with many situations, but not a little child version of his former master. How is a person even supposed to react to this? What's worse is that it's probably never been done before in Jedi history.
He isn't sure if he wants to laugh or cry at the irony. Here he is with only a scant few months of training, and now, the guardian of the last surviving Jedi. How did it come to this? He'll figure out how he feels later. For now, he just plans to watch this tiny version of Yoda.
Yoda snatches up the stick - which he can hardly hold with his tiny hands, especially considering it's bigger than he is now - but somehow, he still manages to cling onto it.
"We… um… need to be leaving back to the Rebel base," Luke says awkwardly, Or, at least he does. He has no idea if Yoda will want to come, but if it's up to him, there's no way he wants to be leaving the child here all alone. "I can carry that for you -"
"No!" cries the child, staring up at him, his eyes wide with alarm, "Touch my stick, you cannot!" Whatever he says. Better just go along with it until he can figure out how to deal with it.
"Okay, well come on." Luke turns to the door when suddenly, something lands hard on his shoulder. He jumps slightly and glances over before realizing it's just Yoda, who promptly giggles about nothing apparent. Slowly, the two make their way out of the hut to find the waiting fighter.
"Who is that?" beeps Artoo in confusion as Luke approaches, baby Yoda perched on his shoulder.
"Yoda… uh… transformed into… this," he attempts to explain.
"You mean he… malfunctioned?"
"Something like that," he agrees, grateful that the toddler can't understand Artoo. He's certain Yoda would not be happy with this current line of conversation.
"Oh, I was beginning to think Yoda had a child."
"Master Yoda?" Obi-Wan's uncertain voice rings out behind them, telling Luke that he's just as confused about the occurrence.
Luke whirls around at the sound. "Hi!" Yoda practically squeals, nearly falling off Luke's shoulder as he claps in his excitement. "Hoping to see you before leaving, I was!"
"Obi-Wan!" exclaims Luke, effectively cutting off any reply the Force ghost might have made to the toddler Jedi Master. He has something he needs to discuss with the deceased Jedi, which is currently more important than the confusing mess with Yoda. "Why didn't you tell me?" He can't quite keep the accusation out of his tone. "You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father." Maybe it's just that he'd rather sort this out than worry about the newest situation. As soon as he saw Obi-Wan, he couldn't help but remember what he'd been waiting for answers about ever since Bespin.
"You 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," Obi-Wan answers slowly, a hint of regret in his tone, which Luke chooses to ignore.
"A certain point of view!" Luke repeats angrily, turning away from him. He'd believed Obi-Wan all these years, only find out otherwise in the worst way possible. And to think the entire fight on Bespin could have been avoided if not for that.
"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view," continues Obi-Wan gently. Luke doesn't reply, his frustration mounting. "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. You see, what happened to your father was my fault."
"My fault it was, as well. A failure, I was." Luke could swear he sees tears in the child's eyes.
Obi-Wan is silent for a long moment before continuing. "Anakin was a good friend." Well that certainly gets Luke attention. He takes a seat on a stump to listen, and Artoo rolls over to join them. He's always wanted to hear more about his father. And maybe it will help Luke in what he hopes to do, though how he intends to do so, he doesn't know. But he can't just leave Vader like that. He won't.
He'd thought about it for so long. He'd always wanted a father. He can't be angry at Vader if he doesn't even know why his father acted as he did. Aunt Beru never spoke about Anakin much, and the one of the rare occasions she did, it was to comment on how similar Luke and his father were – are. He – he just doesn't understand. His father was a good man. Goodness doesn't just disappear like that. What everyone once saw must still be there. Even Obi-Wan, on some level, seems to agree.
"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 just as well as Yoda. I was wrong. My pride has had terrible consequences for the galaxy."
"Trained him better than you did, no one could have," insists Yoda firmly, hopping down from Luke's shoulder and moving closer towards the Force ghost. "My fault, this was." Luke finds himself having the overwhelming urge to try to convince the Jedi Master otherwise, but really, he doesn't even know what happened or what to say.
"There's still good in him." Luke finally breaks the depressing silence that settled on them.
"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," Obi-Wan's voice is so quiet Luke hardly hears him.
"I can't do it, Ben," he states. And he can't. There's no way he could ever kill Vader, despite everything he's done. He just can't. Not when he sees the light in his father, however little it may be. It's clear he cares, though the time he spent on the Dark Side is overpowering whatever love he may feel towards his son.
Yoda settles himself on the ground between the two, an expression of extreme sadness on his features as the conversation continues. He remains almost completely silent the entire time. Though this may not be the best time to state the observation, it seems he's lost most of his emotional control with his age regression.
"You cannot escape your destiny," argues Obi-Wan.
"I tried to stop him once. I couldn't do it," Luke insists. If he lost before, he couldn't win now. He lost not only the fight, but his hand, and his father's lightsaber, then nearly died. He's plainly not strong enough. Nor is he skilled enough.
"Vader humbled you when first you met him, Luke, but that experience was part of your training. It taught you, among other things, the value of patience," explains the Force ghost. "Had you not been so impatient to defeat Vader then, you could have finished your training here. You would have been prepared."
"But I had to help my friends!" Luke exclaims. What was he supposed to do? Just stay here on Dagobah and let them die?
"And did you help them? It was they who had to save you. You achieved little by rushing back prematurely, I fear." True. They didn't need his help in the end.
"I found out Darth Vader was my father," Luke replies with a tinge of sadness.
"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."
Luke knows what he's saying. Obi-Wan is asking him to kill Vader. And he can't. Not anymore. Not now that he knows who he is. "I can't kill my own father," he argues.
"Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope." But Yoda told him there was someone else. Those were his last words before transforming – something that is still severely confusing him, but this conversation seems more important right now.
"Your twin sister was the other I spoke of," Yoda tells him. Wait. What? Luke has a sister?
"I have no sister," protests Luke.
"Know about her, you do not," replies the child before Obi-Wan begins to explain.
"To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born. The Emperor knew, as I did, if Anakin were to have any offspring, they would be a threat to him. That is the reason why your sister remains safely anonymous."
Oh. Oh. So that would explain so much, like why his bond with Leia was the strongest. "Leia! Leia's my sister."
"Your insight serves you well," Obi-Wan tells him, "Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor."
Luke looks away from the others, struggling to comprehend all the information he just learned. Suddenly, he wishes he'd grown up with Leia. If not for the Empire, they would have grown up together as normal siblings. Like they should have.
There is a moment of silence before Obi-Wan returns to the tale of what happened when the twins were born, going on to summarize Leia's life. Luke finds himself slightly relieved that at least she had a better life than he did, being raised with the Organas. "But you can't get her involved now, Ben. Vader will destroy her," Luke says finally. If Luke couldn't, even having trained for so long, relatively speaking, there's no way Leia could do it.
"She hasn't been trained in the ways of the Jedi the way you have, Luke, but the Force is strong with her, as it is with all of your family. There is no avoiding the battle," insists Obi-Wan, "You must face and destroy Vader!"
"Destroyed Vader must be," declares the child, suddenly jumping up, "But more than one way to go about things there are, perhaps." With that, he bounces over to Luke and leaps onto his shoulder again. Wait… does this mean that child Yoda agrees with him? That he may not have to kill Vader? Hope springs up as powerfully as the sun rising in the morning.
"Bye Obi-Wan! Leave we must. Come Daddy!" Luke can barely wrap his mind around the child's change of mood, before shaking it off. What good will it do him to wonder?
"Wait – Master Yoda, how did you – what happened to you?" asks Obi-Wan, suddenly remembering what he came here for to begin with as Luke stands up.
"The will of the Force this is," Yoda answers unhelpfully, waving goodbye over his shoulder with his stick and nearly clobbering Luke on the head in the process. Hopefully, this won't become their typical day. Seriously, though, how is he going to go on missions for the Rebels if Yoda won't let go of him? It's something he'll just have to worry about later. As the Force ghost fades, Luke gets into the ship, positioning himself in the pilot's seat with Yoda in his lap, determinedly not thinking about the weirdness of the situation.
As Luke flies the ship up into the air, Yoda leans forwards, looking inquisitively at the controls, buttons, and screens on the control panel of the ship. Somehow, he manages to look just as mischievous as he does curious. Then, he reaches out a hand towards one of them.
"Touch everything?"
"Don't touch anything!" scolds Luke, pushing his hand back. He's still far from used to this sudden turn of events.
Soon they fly up through the atmosphere of the planet, and Luke enters the coordinates, preparing to jump to hyperspace.
"Oooh!" Yoda exclaims gleefully, whacking at one of the lighted up controls with his stick. The action promptly sends the ship spinning crazily.
"Yoda!" groans Luke, grabbing the steering and trying to take control of the ship again. While he's occupied, the child starts reaching towards another random button with the stick. This is getting ridiculous. How are they supposed to go anywhere?
"Really, I think you need to put your stick down," he sighs, pulling it away from him and forgetting for a moment how possessive the child is of it. Big mistake.
"Nooooooo!" screams Yoda, frantically reaching for the end of the stick and yanking it away from Luke. "My stick, I kiss! Better than everything, my stick is. Touch my stick, no one can," he pouts, clutching it to his chest.
"Uhh… sorry?" Yoda's acting just like a five-year-old. It's almost adorable, but Luke hardly knows how to react half the time. He's never really had to deal with little children before. Well, he had better figure something out, and fast, because the child is staying with him.