A/N: Bit of a time jump here...more notes at the bottom, but this is the final chapter for this part.

~6 years later~

Luke looked over his students with awe and respect. Starting the Jedi school was something that had concerned him a great deal in the beginning, but now he wondered why he hadn't just jumped at the opportunity. The students made him feel more alive, and to trust in the Force even more. Things that he couldn't have, they could. Their trust in the Force was so absolute that it sometimes caused him to doubt himself as a Jedi master.

In the years since fighting the Emperor, Luke questioned himself many times. His father was quick to tell him that he worried too much, which seemed to be his mantra at this point. But even with Anakin giving him reassurances, he still felt that he could have done better; this school made him feel that way. He had needed the Jedi to step in back then, and he was convinced that he would need them to again.

As he was building up his school on Yavin 4, recruiting Force-sensitive people (because he refused to only allow children), his sister was preoccupied with tracking down Snoke. She and her team in the New Republic command were close to locating Exegol. Turned out the planet wasn't easy to track down, since it wasn't on any star maps they had. She and Han came back quite often, though, so Ben didn't feel like they were always gone. There were times when they would work from the school rather than go back to Chandrila. Ben flourished when they were around.

Ah, Ben. Luke's most loved student. A child of stardust, as one of the other students called him. A boy whose happiness just seemed to radiate around him causing others to feel it, too. He was not too big to just reach out and hug his uncle and most of the time for no good reason other than he wanted to. His toothless grin lit up the very sky around him when he was in session. Luke did most of his training, but the other Jedi were all eager to help with Ben, so he had to step back now and then.

Ben was only six years old, so he didn't have a lot of knowledge of the Jedi and why they were here. He knew that they weren't here forever. Qui-Gon Jinn was the first of the Jedi to fade, causing Ben to collapse into tears. He had only been three at the time, and Qui-Gon was very close to him. They had worked together shielding Ben's mind so that Snoke couldn't come back, which so far had worked tremendously. Explaining to Ben that Qui-Gon was only supposed to be with them for a short while was not easy.

In the end, they just told Ben that Qui-Gon had loved him very much and he was in a better place. When Mace Windu faded two years later, the conversation had been a little easier, but still tough. In the year since they had lost Mace, Luke and the other Jedi had many conversations regarding this phenomenon they were experiencing – and usually to no conclusion.

"Fleeting, we knew it would be," Yoda would say.

"But we have not sensed any of them back within the Force, Master Yoda. What if when you fade you are gone permanently?" Luke would counter.

"We all knew that was a possibility, Luke. We are enjoying the time we have," Anakin would state proudly, grabbing a squealing Ben as he was running by and placing him on his knee. "Things that we never thought we would be able to do are now possible. This is enough."

"Father…"

"Treasure the time you have with us, child," Depa would say as she would come up to help Anakin tickle Ben.

"You cannot escape destiny any more than we can," Obi-Wan would say, leaning back in his chair laughing at the giggling boy.

More often than anything Luke would just come away from that conversation more frustrated than when had gone in. He knew the Jedi were concerned, though they would not reveal this to him. It was a worrisome thought that when their time here was done, he wouldn't see them again. He had come to rely on them too much. This sparked a heated discussion with Depa once, though, when he felt that he could bring it to her.

"Do you not believe that you can teach these children yourself?"

"I am still learning myself. I have as many sessions as the rest. And they are not all children, Depa, U'Kurran asked me to remind you of this. He is older than you were when you died."

"He could be two centuries older than I and I would still call him a child, which I told him yesterday," she said, flippantly. "He is a child in the Force."

Luke rolled his eyes, used to her snarky comments by this point.

"My point is, child," she said, "you can do this without us. But until we disappear, be grateful you have us."

"Depa, what if I can't, though? What if everyone's confidence in me is misplaced?"

She stared intently at him for a few moments before becoming stern. "If you feel that way, then maybe we have misplaced our confidence. We, the fallen Jedi, believe that you have the capacity, knowledge and strength to best the Dark side and keep your family safe. We believe that your spirit alone could be sufficient, because you will simply not allow your family to be harmed. Are we wrong?"

Her gaze intensified as she spoke, making Luke feel uncomfortable. "You are not wrong."

"Good," she said, releasing him and starting to walk away. "Then we won't hear about this again, I assume?"

"I thought you encouraged questions!" Luke called after her.

"Only ones that make sense, young one." She called back.

He did enjoy having her around, though. Even though she was a ball of fire most of the time. He really liked that she was unconventional; she would say things that the other Jedi wouldn't. But, the most shocking statement that he had heard when starting to plan out Ben's training was actually from his father.

"I have to get this planned out right; we need to make sure that whatever we do, we are not forgetting that Snoke wants him as an apprentice. So, we teach him defensive skills first maybe? Or do we start him as any other Jedi in training with Force overview or something?" Luke was mostly talking out loud to the Jedi in his room. They had arrived at Yavin 4 just a month earlier, so he was still getting used to being a part of the crowd, rather than having his own space like he did on Chandrila.

"Don't teach him the ways of the Jedi, Luke."

Everyone in the room looked to Anakin, who's comment startled them.

"What do you mean, Anakin?" Obi-Won ventured first, leaning forward slightly. "Are we to teach him the way to the Sith?"

Anakin rolled his eyes, a motion he learned from Luke. "You misunderstand me, my friend. Teach him the ways of the Force, not the ways of the Jedi. The Jedi are flawed men and women who have dictated what they believe of the Force over the years. Some of it is solid and makes sense; but some of it is critically out of date or simply detrimental to the realities of life."

"Explain more, you must. I am not understanding how the Jedi are detrimental to life, Anakin." Yoda stood up and walked toward Luke and his father. "The Jedi Code speaks of peace, knowledge and harmony with the Force, it does. Detrimental to life, this is not."

Anakin was shaking his head. "The Jedi Code speaks of more than that, Yoda. And most of it I believe in. What I do not believe in is stifling children into believing that they are not allowed to be flawed individuals. Not a one of us is perfect. Yoda, would you say that any of us are?"

"I would not."

"Good, then the boast of the Jedi Code is flawed given that conclusion."

"What to strive for, it is. Not what we all are. Vanity is thinking oneself perfect, but there is no vanity in the Force."

"I agree, which is why I maintain: Teach him the ways of the Force, not the ways of the Jedi."

"What exactly is the Jedi code? I'm sure that I've heard it before, but I can't remember it offhand." All the Jedi turned their eyes to Luke.

"'There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the force.'" Depa quoted, eyes closed.

"This is not the oath you recited after your injury and retesting, Master Depa." Mace Windu smiled at her as she opened her eyes to look at him.

Depa huffed out a laugh, closing her eyes again. "'Emotion, yet peace; ignorance, yet knowledge; passion, yet serenity; chaos, yet harmony; death, yet the Force.'" Opening her eyes, she looked at Luke with a pointed glance. "I never cared much for the original oath either. However," she said, turning her sights to Anakin. "I am hesitant to agree with you, Anakin, as I would like more information about what you mean by your comments."

"If we were to reconstruct the oath, my sister, let's discuss in detail my meaning…" He stood up, so that he could make eye contact with them all. "First, 'there is no emotion.' This is a dangerous comment, as it is clearly stating that no Jedi should have any emotions. As a person, this is not only impossible but dangerous. One must have emotions in order to survive. It is what they chose to do with it that makes the man – or woman.

"In the second, 'there is no ignorance,' this is also a dangerous assumption, as most people are ignorant to things that they have not been made aware. Through the Force we gain knowledge in our worlds, galaxy, environment, but we must also acknowledge that we do not know everything and be open to this knowledge.

"The next statement 'there is no passion' is of particular concern to me. Do we not encourage our youth to seek out love and understanding from those not in their immediate family or tribe? Do we not want them to have children, get married, find friends? Indicating they cannot have passion in their lives restricts people from actually living.

"And finally, 'there is no chaos' and 'there is no death' are misnomers. This can display, particularly to children, that these do not exist in the galaxy. We all know this to be false. We must prepare our children for chaos and death, and then the answer to both within the Force.

"What I am saying, brothers and sister, is that we must instruct a new way of thinking within the Jedi order, if we are to keep what happened to me from happening again." Anakin sat down and looked over to Luke. "Take my ramblings for what they are, son. A man who lost everything once because he was instructed by the Jedi that he was not allowed to feel."

"Mister Luke, sir?"

Luke broke free of his memory and looked down at the small child standing next to him. "Yes, Odinna?"

"There's a new recruit here. Her parents are waiting for you in the hanger bay near their ship." Odinna smiled at him and ran back to join her classmates.

"Thank you, Odinna!" He called after her, smiling. He walked into the building, away from the training grounds on the far side of the base. Making his way through the hallways to the hanger bay, smiling in hello to those he met, he thought of the speech that he would give parents who brought their children to him. What a wondrous thing to happen, truly, so he always made a point to have a nice conversation with them.

Thinking about what would need to be pushed from his agenda that afternoon so he could spend time with the recruit, Luke turned the corner into the hanger bay and caught sight of her. She was a small human girl of about four or five. Standing next to her were, presumably, her parents. The father was tall, with dark brown hair, and a worried smile on his face. Even stranger than that, though, was the mother. She stood next to the child, her arm around her, with tears streaming down her face.

"Hello. I'm Luke, and this is my school. I understand we have a new recruit?"

"Hello, Luke," the man said, sticking out his hand. "My name Will, this is my wife Jodie."

"Hello, Will. Jodie," Luke smiled at them both. This only made Jodie cry more. "I'm sorry, I know that it can be scary to leave your child with me, but I promise- "

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Luke. But my wife is just worried that you will not help us. I told her that you are a Jedi, and you won't refuse us. I'm sure of it. I have heard of the good of the Jedi my whole life."

"Of course, I'm happy to help. Why don't we go sit down and you can tell me what's going on?" Luke was curious, but he had already reached out and tested the girl while he was walking up to them. He would definitely help them; the girl was very powerful within the Force already.

"You didn't ask us our last name." Jodie stared straight at Luke.

"It doesn't matter to me what your name- "

"Luke, I'm going to save time and just tell you. My full name is William Palpatine. My father is the former senator Palpatine, who was the Sith leader Darth Sidious."

Luke stopped and stared at him. For a moment, time around him faltered. "What is your daughter's name?" Luke asked, breaking himself out of his shock.

"Sir, I don't think you under- "

"What is your daughter's name?" Luke said, raising his voice slightly.

"I'm Rey. Just Rey; right Mum?" Rey looked up at her mother, clearly proud of something.

Rey…she wasn't due to be born for many years. What have I done?

A/N: Uh-oh...how does this play into the story? Find out in Part 2 that will be posted either tonight or tomorrow morning! Follow/subscribe to me to get notifications, or come back tomorrow and search for:

Episode VIII: The Advance of the Padawans

This is bittersweet for me; I loved writing and posting this part, but Part 2 is my absolute favorite! I hope you all come back for that, because I'm super excited to share it with all of you. Part 2 chapters are longer than the ones in this part, due to necessity...

Thank you again to my husband who gave me this idea to run with, and of course my lovely beta Zombiefied419 - can't say how much she has helped me with all of this!

Look for me on and AO3 :) More to come soon!

Chapter Sources:

wiki/Jedi_Code

Star Wars: The Jedi Path

Movies:

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker