He stood as a bystander to the strange sequence of scenes that flashed by. Yoda frowned as he saw a younger (albeit slightly) version of himself with a baby-faced Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo.

'Confer on you the level of Knight, the Council does. But agree with taking this boy as your padawan learner, I do not.'

Obi-Wan, aged twenty five was kneeling in front of the Grandmaster who seemed oddly agitated and stressed, no doubt due to several factors, chief among them Qui-Gon's death. It had affected them all profoundly.

'Qui-Gon believed in him.'

Yoda sighed heavily in a rare moment of uncertainty and doubt.

'The Chosen One, the boy may be. Nevertheless, grave danger I sense in his training.'

'Master Yoda, I gave Qui-Gon my word. I will train Anakin. Without the approval of the Council if I must.'

Pacing around on his gimmer stick, Yoda gave a frustrated huff.

'Qui-Gon's defiance, I sense in you. Need that, you do not.'

He turned to face Obi-Wan, still kneeling respectfully despite the threat of going rogue.

'Agree with you the Council does. Your apprentice, Skywalker will be.'

Yoda said nothing as the scene faded, soon to be replaced by another. The Force worked in mysterious ways and this was its way of showing him Luke's truth. But he didn't quite understand just yet. Luke was not privy to that conversation.

The image of the Jedi Temple came into view as several padawan learners around the age of twelve or thirteen sparred against each other.

'Ha! I win again!' a boy with darkening blond hair yelled out triumphantly after kicking his opponent to the ground. 'Anyone else wanna go?'

A series of groans and moans indicated the answer.

'Skywalker' the Grandmaster called as he observed the scene. 'Forget something you did.'

Anakin looked confused.

'What Master? I'm clearly the best in the entire class. Shouldn't that be rewarded?'

'Gifted you are, young one but much to learn you still have. Including humility.'

He gestured to the twi'lek girl, still reeling from the hit she took in the last battle. Recognizing the error, Anakin quickly made it right.

'I'm sorry, Bon'Ti. I didn't mean to go overboard.'

'That's okay, Ani.'

The padawan forgave him and he helped her up.

'Remember, Skywalker. More there is to being a Jedi than strength. A talented duelist you are, but discipline, compassion, and the Force...yes our connection to all living things...equally as imperative.'

'Yes, Master.'

Yoda's reaction to this memory was mixed. Deep down, he'd always liked Skywalker despite having initial reservations about training him. As an adolescent, he'd been arrogant, brash, and far too quick to show off personal achievement, traits that never quite dissipated later on. But he'd always shown a decency and moral fiber unmatched by most among the Jedi. Whenever he'd done something wrong, there was no hesitation in fixing it.

Anakin Skywalker was a man of many talents and contradictions and that only intensified during adulthood.

The next vision, however, did not deal with Anakin. The room remained the same but the padawans were replaced by younglings and this time, a bearded Obi-Wan Kenobi stood in the middle of the learning circle.

The center of the room had been darkened in order to properly view the holomap. Little ones gathered around Master Yoda who amused himself that a child of only six managed to discern those considered wise could not.

'The Padawan is right. Go to the center of the gravity's pull and find your planet, you will.'

With the lesson dismissed and the lights coming back on, the conversation became more serious between the two masters.

'The data must have been erased,' Yoda surmised.

'But Master, who could empty information from the archives, that's impossible isn't it?' Obi-Wan asked.

'Dangerous and disturbing, this puzzle is. Only a Jedi could have erased those files. But who and why, harder to answer. Meditate on this I will.'

Yoda made a noise of regret. No amount of meditating had been able to reveal things as Luke had. Only later did he realize Dooku had been the one to erase Kamino from the Jedi Archives before rediscovering the planet that currently produced and engineered their clone soldiers.

As if on cue, the scene switched to Geonosis and the duel between Master and Apprentice was quite a spectacle to witness as an outside observer.

"AHHHH!"

Yoda's body twisted and turned in the air, his strikes so quick only someone of Dooku's caliber was capable of blocking them.

The Sith tried to aim a timed Form II strike but it missed as the Grandmaster leapt off multiple objects, ensuring there was no way to properly hit him. He was just too quick.

Dooku tried to delay by heistating once and then crashing his crimson blade into Yoda's but it failed, being pushed aside as more Ataru blows rained down from above.

The duel halted temporarily when the fallen Jedi attempted to push his old master back, their lightsabers hissing and spitting into each other as a result of continued contact.

'Fought well you have, my old Padawan.'

'This is just the beginning.'

Dooku used the Force to send a giant electrical pillar crashing down on the fallen, twitching forms of Obi-Wan and Anakin who were unable to get out of the way in time. Sacrificing the only realistic chance at capturing him, Yoda allowed the Sith to escape while preventing the heavy column of metal from crushing the two other Jedi.

Closing his eyes for a moment, the old Master thought back to that duel, one he clearly had an advantage in and probably would have succeeded in were it not for Dooku's newfound willingness to put others in harm's way. But he did not regret it for a second. Only those selfish and devoted to their own ideals committed such acts. Then again, who did that reflect poorer on? Himself or Dooku? What had gone wrong for so many Jedi to either turn or behave so ruthlessly?

The answer came next in a rather unfortunate way. He sat with Anakin Skywalker in one of the meditation rooms, who had longer hair and seemed...confused, tired, even twisted somehow. The room was darkened in order to provide the best method for enlightenment. Only tiny seams of light peaked through the window but in this instance, it was an alarming backdrop not unlike the current one he found himself in. A sense of danger and evil surrounded them.

'Premonitions, premonitions. These visions you have…' Yoda inquired.

'They are of pain...suffering...death.'

Anakin's face was relatively neutral but he'd always been lousy at hiding his true feelings and the Jedi Master sensed them.

'Yourself you speak of? Or Someone you know?'

'Someone…'

'Close to you?'

'Yes.'

Yoda made a grumbling noise of disapproval, not directed at Anakin, but worried for his future.

'Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin. The fear of loss is a path to the dark side,' he warned.

'I won't let these visions come true, Master Yoda.'

'Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice in those around who transform into the Force. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is.'

Anakin appeared skeptical but also somewhat willing to try whatever advice Yoda could give.

'What must I do, Master Yoda?'

'Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.'

The meditation room vanished and the old Master left to ponder further. That was not a conversation he could recall having with young Skywalker. Troubled as the young Knight was, he'd never asked him for that kind of advice or indicated having those dreams. It also led to more questions. Much fear existed within the young man but what exactly did he fear to lose?

What was Luke trying to show him? A warning perhaps?

The scene reshaped itself and now the entirety of the Jedi Council sat before them. Except there were several notable differences. For starters, Adi Gallia was not there, her place taken by her cousin, Stass over the holonet. Anakin Skywalker also had a spot which was even more startling. But nothing compared to the anger and outrage the young man exuded in the memory.

'It's outrageous! It's unfair! How can you be on the Council and not be a Master?'

'Take a seat, young Skywalker,' Mace Windu admonished with a gesture.

'Forgive me, Master,' Anakin said with a bow and he obeyed but reluctantly.

The meeting continued as though nothing out of the ordinary happened despite the tension in the room.

'We have surveyed all systems in the Republic but have found no sign of General Grievous,' Ki-Adi Mundi reported over the holonet.

'Hiding in the Outer Rim, Grievous is. The outlying systems you must sweep,' Yoda rightly guessed.

'We do not have many ships to spare,' Obi-Wan noted.

'What about the droid attack on the Wookies?'

'It is critical we send an attack force there immediately,' Windu opined.

'He's right. It's a system we cannot afford to lose,' Obi-Wan concurred.

In the end, Yoda offered his services.

'Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookies, I have.'

'It's settled then. Yoda will take a battalion of clones to reinforce the Wookies on Kashyyyk. May the Force be with us all,' Windu said authoritatively.

Yoda became ever more puzzled at seeing a meeting that not only seemed inconsequential but did not exist in real time. Skywalker had been denied a seat on the Council altogether.

"The future, this is?" he wondered aloud.

No, that wasn't it. Kashyyyk was not currently being attacked by the Separatists, and Grievous had already been killed by Luke. So why were they discussing his location as though he still existed? What kind of visions were these? And what relevance did they have for him?

He soon found out as the scenes steadily grew more grisly. Kashyyyk came into view.

An intense battle raged on and on. Separatist Gunships battled against the comparatively primitive technology of the natives combined with Republic Forces. Tanks rolled on through the waves. Droids cracked and crumpled against the rapid firing of clone heavy guns and turrets. Wave after wave of Confederate machinery crashed upon the beaches only to underestimate the veracity and ferociousness of the Wookie defenders, bellowing and howling in the defense of their forest home.

Despite their overwhelming numbers, the Separatists could not break through. With Master Yoda observing and dictating strategy, the Republic would soon break through and rid Kashyyyk of its unnatural invaders once and for all.

Then it happened.

A cry of a thousand voices seemed to echo all at once throughout the galaxy, the sheer pain, shock, and hurt creating a wave so powerful, it caused the nine hundred year old Master to drop his staff in shock.

Yoda clutched his head, tears welling up in his eyes, the voices now effectively silenced...forever.

The two Wookies, Tarfful and Chewbacca, looked at him with intense worry, giving concerned barks, but there was little time for questions. Suddenly, Commander Greer and a scout trooper pointed their weapons directly at the little green being.

It proved to be a fatal mistake. Yoda decapitated them both in a green blur so quick, both clones stood headless for a solid three seconds before dropping to the floor like felled trees.

He observed his surroundings, sensing if there were any more clones nearby, trying to make sense of the sudden betrayal.

The Wookies bellowed in surprise, flabbergasted Republic soldiers would attempt to turn on their Jedi General. But they also knew that whatever the situation, the status quo had now changed. Yoda needed to leave Kashyyyk immediately.

He grabbed onto Chewbacca's hairy arm and the trio began making their escape.

The present day Yoda did not shed tears but his heart weighed just as heavy as the counterpart he saw in the vision. It didn't take a certain level of wisdom to figure out the correct interpretation of the event in question. For reasons yet unknown, the entire Grand Army of the Republic had been turned against the Jedi and attempted to wipe them out. Judging by the reaction of the other Yoda, it had largely succeeded.

"The work of the Sith, this is," he managed to choke out finally.

His questions were answered promptly. The next part of the vision showed himself and Obi-Wan Kenobi, apparently a survivor of the purge, inside the Jedi Temple. Except instead of a Temple it was now a tomb.

Yoda and Obi-Wan sliced through the 501st troopers on guard with ease. Without the element of surprise, the clones were no match for two of the most powerful Jedi, now the only two left who were of any consequence. After dispatching the soldiers they once fought side by side with as brothers, both scoured the Temple for survivors.

There were none to be found. All throughout the Temple, the mezzanine, and vast halls thousands of bodies lay sprawled out, victims of a genocidal directive designed specifically for them. The fact finding mission only grew worse in its perpetual horror as the demographic of those slain grew younger and younger.

'Not even the younglings survived,' Obi-Wan said, voice breaking.

'Killed not by clones this...padawan,' Yoda observed, his own eyes full of immense sorrow, barely able to speak himself. 'By lightsaber, he was.'

Obi-Wan knelt down and indeed saw the cauterized wound streaked across the young boy's chest. It only confirmed one thing: a traitor in their midst.

'Who? Who could have done this?'

The two proceeded to make their way to the archives with Obi-Wan recalibrating a message ordering any surviving Jedi to return back to the Temple.

But the truth of what happened here was about to be revealed in all of its twisted malevolence.

'Wait, Master. There is something I must know.'

Yoda said nothing but the visible trepidation of his body language spoke louder than words. He wanted to spare Obi-Wan any further suffering. But he couldn't.

'If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find.'

'I must know the truth, Master.'

Obi-Wan flicked on the hologram and the sight of Anakin Skywalker slaughtering Jedi after Jedi, one by one, came into view. No one was spared, not even children as young as four years old. The scene almost caused him to retch.

'It can't be...it can't be…'

It only grew worse. Soon the image switched to one of Anakin kneeling before a black hooded figure.

'You have done well my apprentice. Now Lord Vader, go and bring peace to the Empire.'

Obi-Wan flipped off the recording, unable to watch anymore, shaken to the very depths of his soul.

'Destroy the Sith, we must,' Yoda declared grimly.

'Send me to kill the Emperor,' Obi-Wan begged. 'I will not kill Anakin.'

'To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough you are not,' the old master told him bluntly.

'He is like my brother. I cannot do it.'

'Twisted by the dark side, Young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is. Consumed by Darth Vader.'

Yoda began walking away on his gimmer stick but Obi-Wan still protested.

'I do not know where the Emperor has sent him. I don't know where to look.'

Yoda took one more glance at the one of thousands he'd trained...the last one remaining of that impressive number.

'Search your feelings, Obi-Wan and find him you will.'

As the scene vanished Yoda felt as though the visions were testing him in some way. The idea of so many of his comrades, all of them he personally trained at some point or another, killed by the Sith…by Anakin Skywalker, was an evil too terrible to put into words.

So could he defeat Palpatine?

The new Emperor had a visitor within his newly minted office inside the Imperial Senate.

Yoda wasted no time in force slamming the Red Guards against the wall.

'I hear a new apprentice you have, Emperor...or should I call you, Darth Sidious.'

Sidious turned slowly in his chair to face his long-time adversary now fully aware of his intentions and status as a Sith.

'Master Yoda,' he said slowly. 'You survived.'

'Surprised?'

Palpatine did not take kindly to the barb.

'Your arrogance blinds you, Master Yoda,' he snarled, yellow eyes gleaming underneath the black hood. 'Now you will experience the full power of the dark side!'

The lightning came so fast, not even the Grandmaster could react in time. A direct hit sent him into the back wall, knocking him out cold, robes smoking.

Sidious cackled madly as Mas Amedda exited with surprising grace for someone so large and regal.

'I have waited a long time for this moment...my little green friend,' he laughed triumphantly walking slowly over to where Yoda finally picked himself off the ground, delighting in tormenting the old master. 'At last the Jedi are no more.'

'Not if anything to say about it, I have!'

Yoda's Force push also caught Sidious off guard, flying backwards into his leather, black office chair, showcasing his own power as someone equal to the dark side.

'At an end your rule is,' Yoda proclaimed. 'And not short enough it was.'

The cowardly Sith, realizing the one Jedi he failed to kill intended on doing the same to him, attempted to flee the room but Yoda stood defiantly in his way.

'If so powerful you are...why leave?' he asked, igniting the emerald blade.

'You will not stop me,' Sidious taunted. 'Soon Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us!'

A crimson blade also ignited in response, so quick that the average person might have missed it. The Dark Lord would fight.

'Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced may be. As is your faith in the dark side of the Force.'

The duel commenced, unlike anything the galaxy had seen in a thousand years. Green and red blurs clashed with such speed, the human eye could barely keep up. The old Grandmaster, a nine hundred year veteran of the Jedi Order, one of the most powerful beings to ever exist, flipped through the air, trying with all his might to find an opening and end the tyranny of the dark side. But Darth Sidious was no ordinary Sith Lord- cunning, ruthless, and a practitioner of dark arts known only to his master, a being equal in power and strength to even the most prolific of Jedi. Mace Windu may have used Vapaad to disarm him in close quarters, but the open terrain of the Senate building ensured an even match. On the rising platform of the Chancellor's podium, the two fought to the death.

Yoda pushed Palpatine to the edge as they traded furious blows, even managing to disarm him. But the Sith, despite his cowardice, also carried a sense of survival. He did not have to kill the old Jedi, just hold off the assault long enough to prevail and so retreated to higher ground.

Soon, Sidious began using the Force to fling Senate pods towards Yoda, who just managed to avoid each crashing blow. He hopped off one and dodged another, coming closer and closer to the chortling Emperor, who's relentless attacks continued.

But Yoda wasn't beaten by a long shot. He caught one of the pods and sent the flying saucer straight back at Sidious, who jumped to a lower location in order to avoid it. Gazing around for his opponent, the old Jedi suddenly leapt up out of nowhere, emerald blade ready to strike him down permanently.

Sidious's lightning strike knocked the lightsaber away with only his clawed hands being able to properly deflect it.

The duel reached its apex with all of Sith Lord's power, hatred, and bloodlust pouring into the blast. Yoda struggled to contain the lightning, the overwhelming force causing him to falter backwards. Pressing his advantage, Sidious grinned evilly believing the Jedi to be all but spent. The lightning crackled and snapped, threatening to incinerate all unfortunate enough to experience its lethality.

But the assumption of victory turned out to be premature. Summoning the last of his strength, discipline, and knowledge, Yoda stood his ground, eyes burning with the same immense fire being thrown at him. He would not let the Jedi Order die with a whimper. The Sith would be defeated.

Sidious's grin turned to fear as his own blast suddenly deflected right back at him creating an enormous shockwave that blasted both Force sensitives in opposite directions.

Luck, unfortunately, was not on the side of the Jedi that day. Palpatine clung to the railing, while Yoda, being lighter and smaller in stature, failed to grip the side of the Chancellor's pod. He crashed painfully to the ground several stories below, alive but battered.

The echoes of Sidious's laughter could be heard once more as he hoisted himself back to safety. Yoda's eyes filled with shame knowing there was nothing more he could do to salvage the Republic or the Jedi Order.

He had failed.

"Strong enough, I am not?" Yoda asked the heavens. "Inevitable is the rise of the Sith?"

There was no answer and no voice or whisper guided him this time. He didn't need it. The Dark Side had adapted while the Jedi trained for a war they were manipulated into fighting. From the beginning, they'd lost. Even with all the power in the world, Darth Sidious pulled every string.

If not for the circumstances, he'd be tempted to consider such images as a manifestation of the dark side. But it wasn't. Everything being shown was coming directly from Luke. So where did he fit into all of this? What did these visions symbolize? The folly of the Jedi and their downfall? Or something more?

The posh chamber of the Senate turned into a brightly light room on a space medical station of some kind. Present day Yoda watched carefully, sensing he was about to get an answer.

Two babies cooed and babbled in their respective cribs blissfully unaware their mother had died without being able to so much as hold them in her arms. Next to them, Senator Bail Organa, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda discussed their next move, the latter two now wanted men in an Empire that sought their heads.

'Luke, Leia,' Obi-Wan almost whispered. 'That is what Padme named them before she lost her life. I have no idea if Anakin thought of any alternatives but I suppose...it hardly matters now.'

Yoda placed a comforting hand on the redhead's lower leg. They had lost almost everything near and dear to them. An empire hellbent on fascistic order formed right under their very noses. But just as the Sith had adapted, so would the Jedi. The time had come for a new chapter.

'Hidden safe, the children must be kept.'

'We must take them somewhere where the Sith will not sense their presence,' Obi-Wan added. 'The Emperor will view any offspring of Anakin as a threat to him.'

'Split up they should be,' Yoda advised.

'My wife and I will take the girl,' Organa offered. 'My wife and I have always talked of adopting a daughter. She will be loved with us.'

'And what of the boy?'

'To Tatooine, to his family send him,' the old master suggested.

'I will take the child and watch over him,' Obi-Wan vowed.

'Until the time is right. Disappear, we will.'

Each man nodded at each other as the meeting came to an end, but Yoda had final parting words as Organa exited.

'Master Kenobi, wait a moment. In your solitude on Tatooine, training I have for you.'

Obi-Wan frowned in confusion.

'Training?'

'An old friend has learned the path to immortality. One who has returned from the netherworld of the Force. Your old master.'

Yoda's eyes were twinkling with delight at Obi-Wan's reaction.

'Qui-Gon?'

'How to commune with him, I will teach you.'

Very few things in life could shock a nine hundred year old Master of the Jedi Order but this certainly qualified. Yoda finally understood. Luke was the son of Anakin Skywalker. What was being shown was from another future, an original timeline.

How ironic it should be their salvation. That the impossible should come back to save them from making the same mistakes twice.

"Qui-Gon...always with us he has been. A guide in the darkness."

It explained everything. How his former friend communicated with him beyond the grave. How Luke came back to warn them all. But it did not cease Yoda's questions. For he felt there was more of the story yet to come.

A planet covered in dense fog, thick, soupy swamps and gnarled trees provided the perfect anonymous home for a Jedi Master in exile. But the impatient blond couldn't know that or at least made no attempt to try and discern that what he desired lay right in front of them. Outside of the hut, a blue and white little astro droid whined about being left in the rain. Inside, a young man ranted and raved about seeking 'Yoda'.

'Look, I'm sure it's delicious, I just don't understand why I can't see Yoda now.'

'Patience. For a Jedi, it is time to eat as well. Eat! Eat!' the little green being giggled.

Luke Skywalker continued to be teased and pushed. He was forced to sit on his knees due to the height constraints of the hut, and every little inconvenience only served to annoy him further.

'Why wish you to become a Jedi, hm?'

'Mostly because of my father I guess,' Luke said with a half shrug, picking at his food casually.

'Ah, Father. Powerful Jedi was he. Hehe...hmm powerful Jedi.'

The statement was met with blunt skepticism.

'Come on, how could you know my father? You don't even know who I am. I don't even know what I'm doing here! We're wasting our time!'

Yoda's goofy little trolling act disappeared in an instant as he gave a tired sigh.

'I cannot teach him...the boy has no patience.'

'He will learn patience,' came the familiar voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Yoda turned and looked at Luke directly, anxiety evident in his green-gold eyes.

'Much anger in him. Like his father.'

'Was I any different when you taught me?' Obi-Wan called out again out of nowhere.

Luke began realizing that the tiny, green being he'd dismissed so arrogantly earlier was exactly the master he was looking for, his mouth opening slightly in shock.

'He is not ready.'

'Yoda,' he breathed out. 'I am ready. Ben-I can be a Jedi! Ben tell him I'm re-'

Proving Yoda's point, Luke smacked his head on the ceiling out of excitement, forgetting his height far exceeded the dimensions of the hut.

'Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel I will keep on who is to be trained.'

Yoda's expression had taken on an entirely different dimension. Gone was his initial eccentric, harmless demeanor. In its place was a seasoned warrior. Someone who'd lived many lifetimes in training and self mastery.

'A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, hmmm? The most serious mind. This one, a long time I have watched. All his life has he looked away...to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was...hmm?' he punctuated by poking Luke twice with his trademark walking stick. 'What he was doing.'

Luke felt an odd combination of awe and shame at being in the presence of such a wise master. As usual, he'd put his foot inside his mouth.

'Adventure, heh! Excitement, heh! A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!'

Obi-Wan's voice chimed in yet again.

'So was I if you remember.'

'He is too old,' Yoda dismissed. 'Yes, too old to begin the training.'

'But I've learned so much,' Luke pleaded.

Yoda's ears drooped from a combination of age, stress, and the possibility of training yet another mistake. But there was also little choice.

'Will he finish what he begins?'

'I won't fail you,' Luke insisted. 'I'm not afraid.'

'Oh?'

Yoda leaned in, looking perhaps more intimidating than he ever had.

'You will be...you will be.'

Yoda barely had time to react before the scene switched over yet again but he did manage to stifle a small chuckle.

He'd been Luke's second master. It was no wonder they shared a bond through the Force. But there was great trepidation and bitterness in his counterpart and for good reason. Anakin Skywalker had betrayed them. His son, equally as powerful in the Force and far older, would be a greater challenge as well as a reminder of that betrayal.

However, the affection he felt for the boy steadily increased as time went on, seeing glimpses of the training which stoked his interest. He witnessed running and jumping through the thick trees, strict exercise and diet, meditation, and facing one's inner darkness, all essential in attaining proper discipline...discipline and poise Luke Ahch-To demonstrated time and time again.

'Concentrate, feel the Force flow...yes.'

Luke stood upside down but he clearly had learned much since the contentious first meeting with the old master. All around him, objects began to lift, his breathing steady and his connection to the Force grew stronger and stronger. Yoda supervised the training and no detail was left out.

'Good...calm...yes. Through the Force, things you will see. Other places, the future, the past, old friends, hmmm.'

That seemed to trigger something within the young man as his blue eyes widened in horror.

'Han...Leia.'

He fell onto his backside, the connection broken for the time being and every levitated object crashed to the ground.

'Control, control. You must control,' Yoda admonished.

'I saw...I saw a city in the clouds,' Luke told him, wiping dirt off his face.

'Friends you have there,' Yoda said. It wasn't a question.

'They were in pain.'

'It is the future you see.'

'The future?'

Yoda's eyes were as intense as ever as he nodded.

Luke put himself back on two feet as anxiety coursed through his veins.

'Will they die?'

Yoda did his best to find out, but the dark side even now, still clouded his once powerful, near omnipotent vision.

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

'I've gotta go to them.'

Yoda did not agree with that decision. The shadows of Anakin Skywalker ran deep like a scar in the mind of the old Master.

'Decide you must how to serve them best. If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered.'

Luke nodded, sweat still pouring down his body from the intense work he'd put in the past few weeks. He didn't want to abandon his master or the training. But leaving friends to die was not an option either.

'I can't leave Leia and Han to get killed'

'Luke…' Yoda warned. He had to try and get Luke to see the folly of the quick and easy path...the one taken by Vader so many years ago. 'This is the same direction your father took. Consumed by fear he was. Led to much suffering...yes. Corrupted by the Emperor. Avoid this fate, you must.'

'I am not my father,' Luke countered. 'And as I said in the beginning, I will not fail you.'

The present day Yoda noted that several reports of Luke in combat using Ataru Form IV, Form V and Form III, which resulted in the odd, unorthodox style so unique among the Order.

He noted, with some nostalgia, that his counterpart, older and much weaker twenty years on, suffered from a great deal of guilt over the failure to protect the Jedi Order from destruction. That guilt resulted in a much harsher training course in the swamps of Dagobah. And a projection that Luke was too much like his father.

"Exile. Not kind to me, it was."

He wondered briefly if Luke managed to come back to finish the training. Defeating Darth Vader would have been an impossible task for one so young and so raw. It was shown to him straight away.

Master Yoda was tired.

The once great and powerful Jedi moved slower than he ever had, strength depleted, knowing his time among the living would soon come to an end.

A wiser, more experienced Luke Skywalker sat in the center of the hut watching this unfold. Much as he might not want to admit it openly, he could sense the same thing.

'That face you make. Look I so old to young eyes?'

'No,' the blond quickly denied. 'Of course not.'

But his fib didn't fool the old master.

'Yes I do,' he said softly. 'Sicker I have become. Old and weak.'

Luke wanted to say something to lift Yoda's spirits, to espouse full confidence in his master but found no words to deny the harsh reality: Yoda was on the verge of death.

'When nine hundred years, you reach, look as good you will not, hmm?' he added humorously.

His laugh turned to weak coughing, hobbling over to a little bed.

'Soon will I rest. Forever sleep.'

'Master Yoda, you can't die,' Luke said with the same innocence of a child, unable or rather unwilling to witness the death of a beloved relative.

'Strong am I with the Force. But not that strong. Twilight is upon me and soon, night must fall. That is the way of things. The way of the Force.'

He began pulling the old, brown blanket over himself and Luke kindly assisted, given the old master's physically failing health.

'But I need your help. I've come back to complete the training.'

Yoda slowly closed his eyes.

'No more training, do you require. Already have do you, that which you need.'

That statement hit Luke like a runaway bacta tank.

'Then I am a Jedi.'

Yoda's eyes snapped back open in a final burst of energy.

'Ohh?' he said, unable to hold back another round of coughing. 'Not yet. One thing remains. Vader. You must confront Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi will you be.'

Luke hardly looked thrilled at the prospect, glancing down at his black gloved left hand. A testament to what happened when one confronted a powerful Sith Lord blindly.

'Master Yoda...is Darth Vader my father?'

Even in twilight, the old master turned away from that question.

'Rest I need. Yes...rest.'

But Luke persisted, desiring to know what had been so long denied to him.

'Yoda, I must know.'

Finally, he gave in.

'Your father, he is.'

The implication sealed the final nail in the coffin for Luke Skywalker, now the confirmed son of the most terrifying, ruined man in the galaxy responsible for so much death, destruction and pain. When he didn't answer, Yoda guessed as much.

'Told you, did he?'

'Yes,' was all Luke could say.

'Unexpected this is...and unfortunate,' Yoda muttered.

The young blond gave a sniff of indignance.

'Unfortunate that I know the truth?'

'No.'

Yoda turned back around and pointed a gnarled claw at his last pupil.

'Unfortunate that you rushed to face him. That incomplete was your training. Not ready for the burden, were you.'

'I'm sorry,' Luke whispered in apology, realizing the folly of his actions. He had only wanted to protect those he cared about most. Not fall into a trap.

The last of Yoda's strength began leaving him as he imparted final wisdom onto his pupil.

'Remember, a Jedi's strength flows through the Force. But beware: anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.'

Yoda gave a haggard breath, struggling to stay alive for one more warning against the shadow of evil that sought to consume him as it did his father.

'Luke...Luke,' he said barely above a whisper and the blond had to lean in to hear correctly. 'Do not…'

He took another breath.

'Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor. Or suffer your father's fate, you will.'

Yoda's head bowed, barely able to keep it steady. Luke could sense his master's life force slowly draining away. The time had now come.

'Luke, when gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be. Luke...the Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned.'

By this time he could barely utter words without straining himself against the inevitable coils of death.

'Luke...there is...another...Sky..Sky...walker.'

With those parting words, the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order, its most powerful champion and wisest being, passed from the world and into death. Luke looked on, realizing that the legacy and spirit of every Jedi who ever lived now resided in him, a twenty three year old young man now utterly alone in the face of the overwhelming dark power that currently gripped the galaxy.

Suddenly, Yoda's physical form disappeared into the Force, leaving an empty bed inside an equally empty hut.

By now, it was apparent to the Grandmaster that these were Luke's personal memories and the full weight of his experience laid naked and bare. The Empire under Darth Sidious had succeeded in nearly wiping out every Jedi while the dark side reigned supreme and the Force remained out of balance.

He understood at long last the burden born by the Last Jedi. The last Skywalker, shadowed by the presence of Darth Vader, forced to confront his father...and the Emperor who controlled the strings like a puppet master.

"Our fault it was," Yoda said aloud, relatively unbothered by witnessing his own death, more concerned with its context. "Allow this to happen, we did."

The Skywalker bloodline, in all its power and might, began with Anakin and passed to Luke who sought to redeem the legacy it left behind. But Luke, in present day Yoda's opinion, shared much more in common with the compassionate young Senator from Naboo. Full of light, hope, and an unwavering faith in others, even his father.

He just hoped Luke succeeded in the quest to restore balance and destroy the Sith when clearly Anakin could not.

Yoda sensed the memories being shown to him were not quite over.

On the moon overlooking Endor, Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance emerged victorious. Celebration and jubilation could be seen and heard everywhere. The Emperor was dead, the Empire in full retreat, the Force now back in balance. But while furry creatures danced and delighted their human guests, another conversation took place off to the side.

A beautiful, young woman stood on Luke's right as the ghosts of Yoda, Obi-Wan, and the now redeemed Anakin Skywalker admired them both with great pride and joy.

'Thank you, my son. Because of you, I was able to finally conquer my inner darkness and rediscover my true self.'

'It was there all along, father,' Luke beamed.

Anakin turned towards Leia, head bowed in shame.

'Daughter, can you forgive me for everything I've done to you?'

The brunette, far less clement that Luke, turned away and did not reply, injecting temporary awkwardness in an otherwise celebratory night. Her resentment and sense of betrayal were quite palpable to the living and the dead alike.

Thankfully, Luke's tactfulness saved the day as well as the mood.

'We couldn't have done it without you,' he said towards his masters.

'We are very proud,' Obi-Wan added with a smile. 'Though we could not reveal ourselves to you as children, the both of you have fulfilled your destinies better than anyone could have dreamed.'

'There is much to do,' Leia reminded everyone and this time her normally optimistic brother agreed.

'The Empire is defeated but what replaces it has yet to be determined. So much has been lost from the days of the Old Republic.'

It was Yoda's turn to impart wisdom.

'Luke, Leia...strong political leadership will the galaxy need. Rebuild the Jedi Order, you must in order to ensure the balance is kept.'

The blond puffed himself up ever so slightly in a display of confidence yet also deference to the trio who'd all been such an integral part of his journey in becoming a Jedi.

'As I said on Dagobah, I won't fail you. I promise.'

It was that statement that hit hardest for Yoda, for he realized that Luke must have indeed failed if he traveled through time to salvage the future. Sure enough, as he sensed his time inside Luke's mind was coming to an end, the last memory confirmed that theory.

'I broke my promise to you, Master Yoda. I'm sorry.'

The planet's environment was that of a vast ocean with scattered islands and archipelagos dotting in and around the blue pearl of water. By this time, Luke Skywalker had aged rather ungracefully, into a bearded, lined middle aged man who lost all semblance of his younger, optimistic self.

'Sorry, you need not be,' the ghost of Yoda told him. 'Almost ready you are to travel the road of time. Trained well, you have.'

They sat side by side looking out at the sunset which added a layer of pink, gold, and orange on top of an already wondrous seascape.

'But I still promised, nonetheless,' Luke insisted. 'There was so much potential. I still can't help but wonder sometimes...where I went wrong? My own nephew turned to the dark side under my supervision.'

'Mistakes you made. But mistakes even in death, I have made too,' Yoda sighed. 'But dwell on that no longer. Take everything you have learned about the past, create a better future, yes.'

'In order to do that, we must avoid the same errors, Master. The Jedi Order never changed with the times, including the one I led.'

Yoda nodded in agreement.

'Right you are. Due to our own arrogance, the cause of our fall. We could not sense Sidious or his design. Isolated and alone Anakin Skywalker was.'

Ears drooped slightly, even as a ghost. The normally stoic Grandmaster softened his expression.

'What saved your father was love. Powerful, it is. Wrong we were, to deny it. Help you, in the past, it can.'

'You said to wait until the time is right in order to reveal myself,' Luke pointed out.

'Yes, your true identity, Sidious cannot know. But others you will need in order to succeed. Your father, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, perhaps myself, yes?' he added with a small giggle before continuing. 'Adaptive and cunning, the Sith became. To stop their plan, equally as adaptive the Jedi must be.'

He turned towards his former pupil, those eyes twinkling even in death.

'Pass on what you have learned. Help the Jedi to see...the same bond you share with your father...save him again it will and others.'

'But when will I know the time is right?'

Smiling at his former pupil, Yoda addressed him as an equal, master to master.

'Know the time to reveal yourself, you will. The Last of the Jedi you are Luke, yet never alone are you. Lighten the burden. Trust in the Force, trust your family...trust yourself.'

The memory disappeared and Yoda felt himself being pulled back to the present in a hot, white flash.

Next chapter in November! Leave those reviews! I want to know if you guys enjoyed this approach.

~The Wasp