Chapter 15

The rain continued to fall on the glade of Kaller. A great funeral pyre blazed, too strong for the rain to overcome. Luke knelt beside R2-D2. They watched as the bodies of Luke's Padawans burned.

"This was all my fault, R2. My anger . . . my fear . . . If I had been here . . . instead of searching for the temple and . . . running away."

R2 whistled and beeped.

"Thanks, my friend. But it is true, and now we can't stay here."

R2 whined.

"No, we are not going to Jakuu. I am a danger to her. Ben will be hunting me now. It is best he never finds her."

R2 beeped again.

"You will go back to Leia."

R2 whined.

"No, I'm not going. I'm sorry. But I have locked a map in your databanks to where I will be. If ever Rey finds you, that map will lead her to me. I will train her. It is a promise I must try to keep, for her mother's sake."

R2 beeped and whistled.

"Yes, R2, I am sure we will see each other again. There is hope for that, I am sure. But not the kind of hope we will expect."

He put his right hand on R2 and bowed his head.

"I'm going to miss you, old friend."

The rain poured down.

….

The mountainous island on Ahch-To where the Jedi temple was, stood dark and still in the night, a small fire burning close to the summit.

Rey, Ben, Maz Kanata, and Yoda looked on as Finn's body burned in the pyre.

"A fitting place this is, to lay a friend of the Jedi to rest," Yoda said.

There was silence. Ben walked up to the fire with mournful reflection, Anakin's lightsaber in his hands. He gripped it tightly and stared at the flames. Raising the lightsaber hilt to his face, he closed his eyes and whispered something no one could hear, and then cast the unlit lightsaber onto Finn's body.

Then Rey spoke up. "But we are not Jedi."

"What a Jedi is, a good question for another time," Yoda replied. "But a Jedi, you are."

"And what does that mean?" Rey asked despondently.

"There is peace in the galaxy," Maz said. "A new senate is being formed, and those that seek the light are safe. You were a part of that."

"But it won't last," Ben said.

"No," Maz answered. "It will not."

"Make a way, we must, for others to stand against the dark side. For return it will," Yoda said.

"And how do we do that?" Ben asked.

"Teach the ways of the Force," Maz said.

"Yes," Yoda ascented. "A new Jedi council, we are."

"I can't," Rey said looking at the funeral pyre. "I can't stay here."

Maz came over to her and touched her hand. "Rey, look around you."

Rey withdrew her hand and turned to look at the three of them. She knew what Ben had been through, the evil and the good. Yoda, both young and old, was strong in the Force, but had suffered much; and Rey could sense that. Maz, forever separated from the Force the same as Ben, looked at her with gentle eyes.

Rey despondently turned away from her gaze to the darkness beyond the fire, Maz's affectionate gaze scaring her and reminding her of the things she had lost. Rey did not speak for a moment but stared into the shadowy void. Then she saw them; two dim blue figures not far beyond the fire. The first she recognized, her eyes widening. It was Luke, standing firm and proud; and the second though she had never seen him, she knew to be his father. They appeared to be the same age, youthful and full of life. Luke's father looked with benevolent affection on Ben, though Ben could not see it. Luke, however, looked directly at Rey. She bit her lip and felt a pang of shame rise in her. But Luke nodded to her and smiled, his face full of pride and love.

"This is where you belong, dear," Maz said.

Rey, wiped a solitary tear from her eye, nodded, and took Maz's hand. "I know," Rey said softly, a very small seed of joy developing in her soul. She held Maz's hand tight, and the corner of Rey's mouth turned up in an almost hidden smile.

I hope you have enjoyed the Dark Jedi series. It has been a joy to write. As many of you know, writing is an emotional endeavor and can bring the author to great lows and highs. It is sad for me to close this chapter and say goodbye to these characters, but as with life, we all must turn a new page. Thank you so much for reading. And for those of you that have stuck with it from the beginning, thank you ten times over. I hope it was fulfilling for you, as I know you invested a lot of time to read it. And thank you so much to SaphireAlena for her beta editing. If you liked mine, you should check out her New Republic series.

As always please Review. If you have questions about why I did what I did, please visit riseofthedarkjedi on facebook, where I have a link to the original google docs. I answer some of the most common questions at the end of each. This novella is not meant to be a prediction for the future movies; I only wanted to come up with really satisfying sequels. I will leave it for you to judge.