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REY'S QUESTIONS

It took Rey the better part of a month to get the old Lars homestead cleaned up and made livable. Her closest neighbor was an old woman to whome she had introduced herself as Rey Skywalker. The decision to do so did not come from any sort of desire to connect herself with any legendary deeds of Luke Skywalker, but rather out of a simple need to be able to claim the homestead. It was originally built by Clieg Lars, who had married Shmi Skywalker after freeing her from slavery. That was the extent of the legal papertrail. The only mention of Anakin Skywalker had been a record of his release from the service of Watto into the custody of one Qui Gon Jinn, and that he had entered into Jedi training and had eventually become a high ranking military leader durring the clone wars. Official records of his death stated that he was betrayed and murdered by the trator Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi.

Rey knew that this was false information put in place by Emperor Palpatine to cover up Anakin's fall to the Dark Side and assumption of his Sith name, Darth Vader. That left Anakin's public record presenting him as a great hero who fell in battle defending the Empire he helped create, though in truth he had become one of the galaxy's greatest villains.

Owen Lars had no children, though he had done his best to raise Luke Skywalker as if he were his own son. But there was no official record made of this to make sure no official attention was drawn to the Skywalker name. Tatooine remained outside the scope of the Empire until the day two droids crash-landed there, one of whom was carrying plans to the first death star. At that point, under the direction of Darth Vader, the planet fell under Imperial occupation.

The Lars homestead had remained abandoned after Luke had left. With both the Empire and the First Order defeated, and with Anakin Skywalker redeemed and truly deceased, The name of Skywalker was not dangerous. And because Shmi Skywalker had been a slave who had been taken captive from off-world, there were no records of any other family she may have had. That made it easy for Rey to assume the name.

She was sitting in a comfortable chair, thinking about all of this. She found herself with a lot of questions. And now with the galaxy at peace, and in the pleasant isolation, she decided that it was time to seek answers. She closed her eyes and reached out with the force. "Are you with me?" she asked.

"I'm here," came the voice of Luke Skywalker.

Rey opened her eyes and the spectral form of the Jedi Master stood before her, his expression serene.

"There's something I need to understand," she said.

"Name it," Luke responded.

"How was Palpatine resurrected after your father killed him?" she asked.

Luke smiled. "He never died. After he had secured himself in office, he had himself cloned and then retreated into the deepest of shadows in the outer rim. Through the Dark Side, he possessed his own clone."

"He always feared and expected me to turn against him," came another voice, and the spectral form of Anakin Skywalker faded into sight beside his son. "He was right. Unfortunately, because it was only his clone that was destroyed, the real Palpatine lived on, and then he took control of Snoke."

Ben Solo appeared next to his grandfather. "Snoke was a pirate. But the Force was strong in him him, though he never pursued training of his own. He stumbled upon Palpatine's refuge, and was possessed by him. Yet another puppet on Sith strings."

Yoda appeared now. "But a terrible price this Dark Power had. Body and Spirit, connected in nature they are. Rotting alive he was, while in him his spirit was not. Alive his scientists kept him, but no more."

"After I killed Snoke," Ben said, "He decided that it was time to reveal himself." He closed his eyes in shame. "I felt his pull upon me. I felt his power. I was Supreme Leader of the First Order. I wanted no rival. I planned to destroy him, but the snares he already had upon me were merely tightened. I found myself serving him, as I had been all along without knowing it."

Rey nodded slowly. "And if he had possessed me?"

Yoda, Anakin and Ben's etherial forms faded from sight. Clearly, this was Luke's burden to answer.

"You would have become Empress Palpatine. Your will would have been completely dominated. Through you, Darth Sidious would have wielded even more power than he did through his own clone. For one thing, he would not have had to stretch his reach out across the vastness of space to maintain control. For another, you are his biological offspring, rather than a clone. That would make control easier for him. Once in your body, he would have eliminated his true, decaying form, severing his ties to his old life."

Rey was horrified. "I would have become evil."

Luke shook his head. "No. You would have remain the good soul you have always been, but powerless to stop Sidious. And in the beginning, Empress Palpatine would not have been malevolent. To the galaxy at large, Emperor Palpatine would be dead. Snoke would be dead. Kylo Ren would be dead. The Empress would have called for a universal cease-fire, explaining that both sides had been manipulated. And both sides would have acepted it. And she would even officially lay aside the title of empress, disolving the Galactic Empire and naming the First Order and the Imperial Remnant fleets as protectors of the Republic. This would hav caused the masses to unanymously vote for her as the new Supreme Chancellor."

Rey sighed and shook her head. "History would have repeated itself."

Luke smiled. "But this time, instead of sowing chaos to form an Empire, she would have sown order to reform the republic. Everything forward-facing would have appeared to be good. But it would not last. After her fourth term as chancellor, unrest among the Senate began to grow. And some began trying to look behind the curtain. And that is where the true plot and intent was discovered. The Republic Defense Force was flying throughout the galaxy, eliminating disease, starvation and poverty, while seeding entire ecosystems with chemicals that while harmess to most sentient beings, but rendered midichlorians from being able to reproduce. There would be no more Jedi. And no more Sith. Just Palpatine in control of everything until her death in the coming Force Storm."

Rey was shocked. "Force Storm?"

"Rey," he said gravely. "There is a power beyond that of the Force as we have understood it for so long. The Midichlorians were meant as a gift to the universe from that Power as a means to connect with it in a way that would merge the physical and the spiritual. What Empress Palpatine would have tried to do would have been nothing short of pushing against that Power. She either did not believe, or did not care that the Power might push back, which it did."

Ben Solo's spirit reappeared. "And then what you saw when you looked into my mind... What drove you to consider striking me down as I slept... Would have come to pass."

Luke's expression turned sad. "Yes. Stars exploding, planets melting. The very fabric of the universe itself tearing itself apart as the Gift of the Power was removed from this existance. The Force binds the universe together. Without it, nothing can exist."

"The entire universe destroyed," Rey shuddered. "All because of the actions of one person."

Luke closed his eyes. "Yes... Me."

Rey looked at Luke in surprise. "How do you mean."

Yoda reappeared. "Always in motion, is the future."

"I saw the horrors that the First Order would cause under Snoke and Kylo Ren. It was overwhelming. And then I saw the universe tearing itself apart. Obi-wan once said that many of the truths we cling to depend on our point of view. And the truth in that moment was that Ben was going to turn to the Dark Side, and through his and Snoke's action, the entire universe would be destroyed." he bowed his head in shame. "The real truth was they were two separate visions. The first would come to pass if I didn't kill Ben. The second would come to pass if I did."

"I didn't understand your terrible burden, uncle," said ben. "Not until I became one with the Force."

"I almost did it," Luke continued. "The lightsaber was ignited in my hand, and the rage from what I had seen was in my mind, but I still had mercy in my heart."

"But it was too late," said Ben. "I saw you standing over me with a lightsaber with murder on your face, and I reacted."

"And the events of the first vision were set in motion," Luke said, "And the only hope of avoiding the second, as I came to realize later, was to remove myself from the problem. If I had gotten involved, Snoke would have sent Kylo Ren to face me. He would have died. And the second vision would have come to pass. Palpatine would have ultimately found you, Rey. You would not have faced the trials that prepared you for your final confrontation with him. And everything thereafter would have put the universe on a one-way path to distruction."

"Sidious didn't really need me," Ben said. "But you did."

Rey smiled sadly. "You were my anchor. Your redemption and willingness to stand beside me against Sidious shattered his attempt to seduce me. If you weren't there..."

"It would have meant the end of all things," Ben finished.

"I was willing to sacrifice myself if it meant ridding the universe of Sidious," Rey said.

"And I was willing to sacrifice myself so the universe would continue to have you in it," Ben responded. "I could not handle the though of you being dead. I would have died of grief anyway for all the deaths I had caused on top of yours. I transferred my living Force to you."

Han Solo appeared. "And that act of sacrifice is what made it possible for you to become one with the Force."

Rey was shocked yet again, and Han noticed,

"What? Not everyone wears their spirituality on their sleeve." he said. "Between Luke and Leia, I couldn't help but believe in a higher Power. That changed me od a deep enough level that I was willing to do whatever I could to help my son. Even if that meant dying. I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but there it was, and here we are. One big happy family. All because of sacrifice."

Leia appeared. "My sacrifice was similar to Luke's. I needed to try to reach Ben. But the distance was too great. Not for my spirit, but for the connection beterrn my Spirit and Body. I had already damaged that when I used the Force to survive the freezing vaccuum of space. When you defy nature on such a large scale, there are consequences. I knew the risk, but I had to try."

Luke gestured to Leia. "With a weakend connection between Spirit and Body, she stretched her spirit out to Ben, and the fight against the barrier of the hold Sidius had on him, weakened it even further. But she did reach him."

Ben looked at his mother. "When I felt you die, the love you touched me with cracked Sidious' hold. And I felt the closest thing to being free that I had felt in a long time."

"My sacrifice," Luke said, "was to give you the chance you needed to get the reistance to safety. To save the future. "I not only stretched my spirit across the galaxy, but I manifested it so strongly as to appear tangible. In effect, I was in two places at once, and it's hard to defy nature much more than that. The consequence that the link between my spirit and body was reduced to a final thread. And just as we all called to you to rise, I was called to let go. I had done as much as I could. As much as I dared. The rest was for you and Ben, and you both did well."

"What do I do now," she asked.

The Force ghosts faded from sight, but Luke's voice echoed in the air:

"Your destiny is yours to make, so make it a good one."