He passed his house and made his way to the slowly forming figure. While he wasn't surprised to see the person taking form, he was in absolute shock when he saw more wisps joining the first. Soon, Luke found himself staring at the faces of the last several hundred years of fallen Jedi.

'Much to discuss, have we,'

'I'd say that's an understatement.'

Luke stared out at the sea of faces; some were so solid he could almost reach out and touch them, but many others were more shadowy, faces obscured in light. Those that were solid around him, sat in a semi-circle, glancing at each other.

"I am not sure how to process this yet. I feel like I was just washed and laid out to dry, having been beaten with a stick first."

'Son, tell us what you saw. All we have seen was great distress.'

Luke sighed, staring at his father, and began to retell the vision. The sea of Jedi murmured; he didn't get far into the story before he was interrupted.

'This child is strong with the force already. He has a dark and twisted soul.'

"No! That's not him! He was born with a channel open; I sensed an evil presence in his mind."

'If it's only a channel, you should be able to close it now. You never got to that part of the training, did you? We will need to instruct you.'

'How does he simply close a channel without eliminating the Force?'

'Easy, it will not be. Closure of the Force itself will be needed.'

"I don't understand, I have to close him off from the Force? I can't just close the channel to Snoke?" Luke had no idea how that would work. For a Force-sensitive child, that seemed like torture.

'If Snoke is insistent on staying connected to Ben, then closing him off to the Force may actually be the only way.'

'It will be painful, yes. Something will feel off to the child. Fortunate, are we, that he is so young and may not understand the full capacity of the issue at hand.'

"I don't want to cause him pain!"

'It will not be painful at first. When you release him and open him back up, he will be flooded with the Force. Think about how it would feel to lose your sight. If you got full sight back at one time, it could feel overwhelming – painful even, because your eyes are not used to the light. This is so with the Force as well.'

Several murmured their agreement. Luke felt moderately encouraged by that.

"I simply cannot let this future come to pass. I have to do something to stop this or I will lose everyone! My sister and Han will suffer as a result."

'Luke, continue. Tell us the rest of the vision.'

Luke attempted to continue but was stopped again. This time by a voice he didn't recognize.

'What of this girl, Rey? She has a strong connection with Ben in the vision; perhaps if we find her, she would be able to stop his descent to the dark side.'

"She won't be born for at least another twelve years. If we wait that long, we will have already lost him. And who knows what the Emperor would have been able to accomplish in that amount of time."

'Emperor!?'

The hum of noise got louder as Luke realized he hadn't gotten to that part yet.

"Let me finish explaining the vision."

He completed the vision, sitting back. The hum of noise was much louder by the time he had finished.

'Emperor…is alive? How is that possible?'

'In my youth, I saw a death blow act as though a tiny scratch. The Sith can use the Force in an attempt to increase their endurance and reduce damage.'

There was a shocked silence as everyone absorbed the statement.

'Stop it, you must.'

'How does he do that? He's one man against my old master. You all don't realize the power the Emperor has! He should have died after what I did, yet he lives on.'

"That's something I cannot see. How did he survive what you did to him on the Death Star? The past should be much clearer than the future."

'Shrouded in evil. Whatever he did must be masked so others cannot discern.'

'An old trick, to ensure no one can duplicate your brilliant ideas.'

Luke stared out and made eye contact with many there. He was met with mostly concerned faces, until he reached his father. The anger was evident on his face.

'It's true what they say; pure evil never dies.'

"Regardless, we have to stop this. What do I do?"

'This is a vision of the future, Luke. One possibility among many. There is no guarantee that this will take place as you foresaw.'

'Always in motion is the future. Difficult to see.'

'There are several things that must have already happened to even set this in motion. Luke, you must focus on the Emperor. He is the key in all of this and must be eliminated now, before he can put his hooks into anyone else.'

"I don't even know where he is," Luke was starting to feel panicked. Back when Obi-Wan fought the Sith, he had others to help him. The magnitude of what he knew was coming hit him all of a sudden. "I barely got out with my life the last time, Father had to help me because the Emperor is more powerful than I am. How do I win against him on my own?"

'Patience, Luke. We have time. We will teach you all that you need to face a Sith master in battle.'

"We don't have time, though," Luke sighed and put his head between his hands. "Ben is already open to the Emperor by way of Snoke. We must stop that first before I seek out the Emperor."

'Right, let's discuss how to close his connection with the Force. This will be temporary, as you can lift it once the Emperor is taken care of. If Snoke is as powerful as the Emperor, then we must be cautious going forward. He may well continue to come after Ben. Based on the vision, we should also focus on finding Rey as soon as she is old enough to help. Her connection with Ben will aid us in keeping him in the light.'

'What's that age then, hmm? She isn't due to be born for twelve years. What do you propose? We keep Ben on ice until she is what, five? Six?'

'Always with the negative. Brothers and sisters, hear me.'

Everyone stopped and quieted. Luke almost smiled; only one person can demand that kind of silence with this crowd.

'The plan is simple. Close him from the Force first, must you. That is the only way to ensure Ben will not have Snoke in his head as a youngling. Seek the Emperor out, for this is vital. Defeat him alone, you cannot, but help you, we can, to aid in his demise. Then we discuss what's next, for the future can be what we make it.'

Luke nodded, among a sea of many others.

'Yes. Listen to Yoda, you must accomplish these tasks.'

"Does anyone know where Palpatine is?" Luke looked out to the Jedi, as they all looked at each other. "Then we have to add searching time to our plan. The vision was clear on where he will end up, that doesn't mean he's there now."

There was murmuring in the crowd again, this time louder than before.

"Let's talk about how I cut Ben off from the Force."

Sometime later, Luke's head was throbbing from all the new information he learned, but he was solid in the plan to help his nephew.

'Now, the Emperor. Much harder, is that, to go over.'

'Once you find him, you can use the Force to aid you in discovering if he has any weaknesses, and what they are. In this, I can advise. I have successfully used this in my youth.'

The ghosts were nodding in agreement to this comment, so Luke felt encouraged. He listened intently as the Jedi described how to achieve this, and how he is able to use it whenever he wished. It was not simple and took several hours of study to achieve. By nightfall, Luke was drained.

'Luke, you must rest. We cannot continue any longer tonight. We must allow him to rest after training. Let us go and return tomorrow.'

Luke smiled gratefully at his father. The Jedi all began to vanish, save one.

'Take heart, Luke. We will help you avoid the future you saw. The Emperor is powerful, yes, but you have every Jedi with you for this battle. You are not alone.'

Luke woke the next day feeling drained, as if he had been exercising heavily the day before. The Jedi assured him this was normal; anyone going through strenuous training as he was would feel the same.

'We would always have a rest session early afternoon, after the midday meal for the younglings. Initiate training can be very grueling. By the time you are a padawan you should be used to this kind of training. You missed a few years of training.'

Luke grumbled as he ate his morning meal. "Can't I at least get some privacy while I'm eating?"

Unfortunately for Luke, the Jedi didn't let him rest. They started him immediately after his meal on heavy training with the Force. The first of the training sessions focused on him gaining more control and helping him develop discipline. Luke knew that he had some control already, but they were working to help him develop it even more.

'When your mind is at peace you will feel the Force flow through you. Know when it is working, you will.'

His grumbling began when they tried to go back to teaching him the basics, that he had learned years ago.

'Start running before you can walk, you did. Basic interpretation of the Force is key to control. Learn it you must if you wish to remain in control during a battle.' Yoda pushed him to a point of exhaustion, but some of the others were easier on him.

'You know this, Luke. Focus and clear your mind. Push out with your feelings. Do you feel the circle of power that surrounds you? Use this to locate a place where you feel calm. At peace. Let it work through you, surround you, and push it out from you.'

Luke's training continued on like this for days. So long that he had almost lost track of time. They taught him battle techniques, pieces of Jedi history that he had never learned before. He felt calm and powerful, like he could accomplish anything.

'Mind the power, Luke. Don't let it control you as I did. Soon you will be ready to visit your nephew again. We must maintain focus on your training so you can help him. Just keep that in your mind as you work.'

And so he did; focusing on his family proved to be a good motivator. He knew he would be able to help Ben, and Han and Leia, when the time was right.

A/N: First, thank you all for your comments and PM/DMs! I'm happy that you are enjoying, so I wanted to provide a faster update. Note that normal release days will be Tuesday and Friday. So, Chapter 2 will be posted Friday per normal cadence.

Also, I am sorry to have not added this in the last update, but I have two people to really THANK SO MUCH for helping me. First is my husband, as this entire fic was his idea. His ideas, pre-reading and comments are so helpful and without him this wouldn't be possible at all. Additionally, I want to say a HUGE thank you to my Beta Zombified419. Thank you for the grammar checks, the thoughts on content and just helping me through this entire process!

I hope you enjoyed a little early release, and will enjoy the rest of the story going forward. Thanks for reading!

Sources:

Movies:

Star Wars The Phantom Menace

Star Wars The Clone Wars