The Legion Renewed

Chapter Thirty-Four

Briande was in torment. She loved them both, but knew she would have to kill either Brenna or Luke in order to destroy Palpatine. And whatever she did had to be done quickly, while his spirit was still in transition.

"Kill me-" Luke repeated in a harsh voice. Then his eyes hardened, grew cold. Not much time left.

Briande looked at her sister. Brenna was still in a daze, but she was also still armed with her lightsaber. If Briande attacked her now, she would by no means be sure of succeeding, and might also push Brenna back to the Dark Side. And...Briande couldn't kill her sister.

She also couldn't kill Luke.

But if she didn't destroy one of them now, she would condemn everyone to an eternity of darkness, for there would be nothing this time to stop Palpatine.

Luke's eyes began to flare with hate even as Brenna's eyes softened. Only a few seconds left.

Numbly, like an automaton, Briande reached down to the floor for the lightsaber that had fallen there. Luke's lightsaber. She activated it, and looked at the man she loved. "I'm sorry, Luke," she whispered.

Time.

She looked at Brenna. Palpatine's spirit was almost gone from her now, driven out by the force of Brenna's love. She could even see the Dark bluish-black vapor as it moved towards Luke, coalescing around him, starting to disappear into him.

Time!

A cold, chilled laugh escaped Luke's lips. "You weak fool! Did you think you could-"

The question was never finished. With a cry of anguish and utter despair, Briande brought the point of the lightsaber to Luke's throat. Its stroke was true. It just barely touched his body, but it severed and cauterized the carotid artery. Luke's expression was surprised, angry, and dark. His eyes were open and staring. Hatred burned there, hatred that was not Luke's. And then it was over.

There was no blood, but Luke was dead. Dead by her hand, by the hand of the woman who loved him.

Briande threw the lightsaber away, not caring that it was still activated, and fell to her knees beside Luke. She closed her eyes. Tears squeezed through her tightly shut lids and fell to the cut she had made in Luke's throat, cleansing the death-wound with the water of her grief.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that Luke's expression had changed. No longer was his face contorted with the Dark Side's rage; now it was calm, peaceful. This was Luke; and she, by her act, had freed him. The Other that she had killed had been the Dark One.

And yet...Luke was dead.

There was no way she could bring him back.

Briande collapsed across his body in a sobbing exhausted heap. She wanted nothing more than to join the nothingness to which Luke now belonged, where love and life and death no longer mattered.

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Brenna Brellis came out of her trance slowly, as if waking from a deep sleep. But unlike waking from a true sleep, it was more like being brought out of a nightmare, or some horrible day-dream. And the events in the dream had not been in her imagination; they had been only too real.

She was aware of a change in the Force, an ebbing. It was almost as if some part of her were being pulled away, yet she knew this was not true. The change was coming from her sister. Briande was dying.

The wounds Brenna had inflicted on her twin were not mortal of themselves, but Briande had lost her will to live. She was drifting toward the edges of oblivion, and if something were not done now, it would soon be too late.

Brenna knew what Briande had done, and why. The act had somehow put them both on the same level, for now Briande herself understood what Brenna had gone through all those long years ago. "No," she said softly, not to Briande, but to herself. "No, it will not happen again. This time, she will not lose him."

The eyes that had once belonged to an Imperial murderess now looked down at her sister with compassion and understanding. She knew things of the Force that Briande did not, and could not know. Dark things, and things not so dark. This was Palpatine's gift to her, this particular mastery over the Force, in exchange for what she had given him. Brenna could save Luke. It would cost her sister something, but in the end Briande would gain the thing that mattered most.

"Briande..." she said softly.

The young Jedi was lost in her own grief. She did not hear her sister's voice.

"Brie-" her twin said again, touching her shoulder.

With great effort, Briande raised her head and looked at her sister. "Was I...in time?" she asked weakly.

Brenna nodded. Palpatine was gone. His spirit was divided and lost in its own blackness. He was no longer whole, and would not be for a long time yet to come, perhaps never.

Briande smiled. It had been worth it then. She groped painfully for Luke's hand and locked her fingers through his unresponsive ones.

Luke's hand was cold.

Nothing of the Force stirred within him.

Briande felt a sob cathing in her throat and pushed it back down angrily. Soon she would be with him. She could feel the weakening of her own life energy even now. Her eyes closed in an attempt to quicken the release of her spirit.

"Briande!" There was a strange kind of insistence in Brenna's voice. "Brie, look at me!"

Briande felt compelled to obey. Slowly, her eyelids opened, and she looked at her sister.

"Brie, there may still be a way to save Luke."

"How?" Briande whispered.

"An exchange of life energy. Another life for his."

Briande's eyes began to show a faint trace of hope. She looked at the mirror-image face above her pleadingly. "Please," she said. "I'll do anything..."

Brenna nodded and began gently pulling her off Luke's body, laying her beside him on the floor. Briande still held onto Luke's hand.

"Tell me what to do," the Jedi begged. "I don't know how..."

"You don't need to know," her sister replied. "Just relax. Open yourself to the Force."

Briande did as she was instructed. She could feel her sister's gentle presence pervading the Force-warm and comforting now, not cold-as well as the light touch of Brenna's fingers on the side of her head, alleviating the pain. Briande closed her eyes.

She was only dimly aware, after a few moments, that Brenna had separated her and Luke's hands and was now holding them herself, acting as a link between them.

A warmth radiated through Briande's body. The sensation was not unpleasant, but it was very strange. Briande started to open her eyes and look around to her twin.

Brenna sensed her movement. "Relax, Brie," she murmured. "Feel the Force. Let it enter you, let it flow out of you freely. Don't resist."

Briande relaxed. The pain from her wounds disappeared entirely. The emotional turmoil she had felt only moments ago was gone. She felt calm, relaxed, and at peace. The idle thought struck her that death was not the cold nothingness that she had once imagined it to be. It was more like a warm and comfortable shore. She tried to reach out to her sister to thank her for making the trade possible, but though Brenna answered the touch, she kept up a barrier that would not let them share consciousness. Strange..., Briande thought.

Relax, said the voice in her mind.

Briande let herself drift along the sea of thoughts where the Force carried her. She felt pleasantly tired.

Gradually she could feel some part of Luke returning and smiled that, for a last moment at least, they could still share something. She was not certain what she would find on the shore she was heading for, but she knew now that there were no monsters waiting there for her.

Briande allowed the Force to carry her where it would. She was completely passive to its influence. It urged her to release her weary, conscious mind, and she began to let go.

Just as she felt herself almost touching the shallow bottom, she thought she heard a low, quiet moan that could only have been made by Luke's voice. Briande smiled to herself, and then drifted inwardly along the peaceful current of the Force. She felt so tired...

She just wanted to go to sleep...

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Something pulled at her, nagging her. Something urged her to wake up, but she just wanted to be left in the world of silent oblivion.

It persisted.

Briande forced an eye open to glare at it, hoping that it would go away.

"Come on, Brie, wake up-" He shook her harder.

Briande forced the other eye open, too. She found that she had some difficulty in focusing, but eventually brought the face before her into sharp relief. "Luke?" she said wonderingly. "Luke, you're..." she broke off suddenly and frowned, remembering. Then she looked at him in puzzlement. "Luke, you're alive."

"I was beginning to wonder about you," he returned in a gentle tease.

"But-" she looked at her hands, and then her body. "But I was-I was dying. I know I was. How-?"

"I was already dead," Luke said quietly.

Sudden realization hit Briande. She looked around frantically. "Bren..."

"Behind you, Brie."

With Luke helping her, she managed to turn around. Even before she could see, the truth of what had happened became clear to her. It was not Briande's life energy that Brenna had intended to trade, but her own.

"Oh, Bren..." she moaned.

Her sister's motionless form stretched on the floor a few feet away. Even though Briande's senses still had not returned fully, she could see the lightsaber wound on Brenna's neck, the same one Briande had inflicted on Luke, now transferred to her. There was also a scar running across Brenna's cheek, and Briande knew that there was no longer any such mark on her own cheek. Without looking, Briande knew that there would also be lightsaber cuts on Brenna's arms, thighs, and shoulders. Brenna had taken Briande's pain from her and given it to herself. But despite the ugly scars that covered her lifeless body, Brenna's eyes were closed, and there was a slight, gentle smile on her lips.

"She looks peaceful," Luke commented. "Like she was sleeping."

"Oh, damn, Bren..." Briande crawled toward her motionless twin. Luke helped her to reach her destination. The Jedi twin touched her sister's forehead, but the Force was cold in her. "Damn, Bren..." she repeated in a quiet whisper.

"There's nothing you can do, Briande."

"Maybe there is." She looked at Luke. "Brenna brought us back. Maybe I can bring her back." Briande let her fingertips rest gently on her sister's temples, but Luke pulled her away.

"You can't, Briande. Your sister was more than just a Force-sensitive. She was a Master of the Force, too. You can't duplicate what she did."

"But-"

"Listen to me, Brie. She did what she thought was best. Accept her gift for what it was: a selfless act of love. If you try to do the same thing, you'll be killed in the process, and it won't bring her back."

Briande looked at her sister's still foorm. "You can't be sure, Luke. Maybe if I-"

He interrupted. "I can be sure. You can't do it. You don't know how."

Briande looked at him. Comprehension slowly developed in her eyes as she realized that Luke, too, had served as a host for Palpatine. "You know how," she said. "You could show me how."

Luke shook his head. "I didn't share consciousness with him long enough. But even if I could, I wouldn't."

"Please, Luke," she whispered.

"Briande, think a minute. If I could her back, if you could, what would happen? She's a wanted criminal. There's no place to run to. The best she could expect would be life-imprisonment."

"But if I brought her back, we could trade places. With my body as evidence, no one would ever know the difference. She could take my place..."

Luke nodded again. "No doubt. But think again, Briande. You knew her better than anybody. When she brought me back, we touched each other through the Force. For a brief moment, we could sense each other, know what the other was feeling. The strongest emotion I felt from her was regret. She wanted to atone for the lives of all those people who died on Croyus Four, and for your father as well. This was her way of doing it. If she had lived, she would have suffered with guilt for the rest of her life. Let her go, Brie. Don't force her into a punished, tortured existence."

Briande closed her eyes tightly. "I know you're right, Luke, but..."

"I loved her, too, Briande, in a way I can't explain right now. But this is how she wanted it. Don't let her sacrifice be meaningless."

Briande opened her eyes and looked back at her sister's face, at the pleasant, restful expression Brenna wore.

"I guess she's at peace now," she said slowly.

"I can feel it," Luke replied.

"Funny," Briande said. "I think I can, too. But I wish..."

"I know." Luke stood up and pulled Briande up with him. "If you can move, let's get out of here. The fleet should be here any time, but I'd rather not take any chances on someone coming to look for your sister and mistaking you for her a second time."

"What about Brenna?"

"We'll take her with us. After her identity's been confirmed, we'll take her back to Dagobah for a proper Jedi funeral."

"No," Briande said, looking at her sister's body. Compassiatos, she remembered. "We'll take her back...home. To Kalmyr. We'll bury her beside Ayyris. I think... she'd want that."

Briande thought she heard a faint, familiar voice. She knew she was alone now, except for Luke, but she thought she heard it anyway. It was quite possible that what she heard was a childhood memory, or some wishful imagining, but she wanted to think that it was not.

Thank you, the unspoken voice said.

"Luke-" Briande began. "Luke, she was a Jedi, wasn't she? In the end, I mean."

"Yes, she was."

"Do you think it's possible that..."

"What?"

Briande shook her head. "Never mind. I guess I'm more tired than I thought."

Luke held out his hand, and Briande took it. "Come on," he said. "We have work to do. Even without Palpatine to threaten it, the Republic is still weak. It needs someone to defend it. A new order of Jedi."

Briande smiled. "I know."

"Then, after we get enough Knights trained, then maybe we can think about retiring to Tatooine and raising a few crops."

"Maybe," she said. "But I doubt it."

Luke gave a little laugh. "Yeah. I guess I do, too." He looked at Briande. She was a Jedi. She was beautiful and strong and alive. And he loved her.

Briande squeezed his hand. "We are luminous beings, Luke."

He looked at her, perplexed. It was not a question. "Yes," he replied, "we are."

She nodded.

Bren, she said silently, thank you. I love him. And I love you, too.

The tickle again. The faint, almost-real thought in her brain.

The Force will always be with you, Brie.

And then it was gone.

Briande shot a puzzled look at Luke, but he showed no signs of having heard it. It could be my imagination, she thought.

But she hoped it was not.

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Author's Note:

This story is/was the first of my "Croyus Four" Alternate Universe stories, written first, and I don't consider it to be my best, but posted here for those of you who asked for it. The finished ones are all published on (under different pen names), so if you like this one, feel free to check out the others. In chronological order (though not posted order) order, they are:

1. The Legion Renewed (this story - takes place shortly after ROTJ);

2. Skywalker's Legacy (under pen name "Nadahnefu" - fast forward about 20 years, and Luke's/Briande's daughter is now about the same age Luke was in the original SW "New Hope" movie);

3. Prophecy's Child (under pen name "Denisea" - takes place a few months after Skywalker's Legacy);

4. The Face in the Shadows (also under pen name "Denisea" - takes place immediately after Prophecy's Child); and

5. The Justice of Clan Tahl (also under pen name "Denisea" - takes place about 6 months after The Face in the Shadows).

Please pay no mind to the "Infinity's Gate" story mentioned in "Skywalker's Legacy." It was just an attempt to get my AU stories to match up with the cannon at that time, and since nobody really seemed interested in "Legacy" back then, I never finished it. I've forgotten most of what it was supposed to be, anyway, just that my Luke went into the "cannon" Luke's universe and then had to find his way back home again - the secret being that BOTH Lukes had to be in the portal at the same time for it to work. Whatever. I've lost access to the "Nadahnefu" pen name e-mail and have long-since forgotten the password, or I'd remove anything that says "Infinity's Gate" from that story.

I have other ideas to continue my SW AU beyond "Justice," but those stories are not finished, and I won't post them unless they're finished or at least really close to finished. The most motivating thing for me is knowing that someone likes my stories and wants more. So leave a review if you want more, and if I get enough positive response, maybe I'll dust off my notes and get around to finishing the others.

Thanks for reading!

-DeniseaH