Chapter 36

Through the force Luke could sense that he was surrounded by darkness, and yet looking around only a wall of white stood in front of him. He was deflecting all blasts fired at him, and managed to force push many back, but twice as many were advancing at an alarming rate. His blade moved so fast that to the naked eye it looked like a circle of green light was just emanating from his hands, but Luke knew he was slowing down. He needed to stall the First Order for as long as he could, only one idea came to mind.

"Where is the cowardice boy who hides behind a body shield while all his men die?!"

To Luke's surprise the troops stopped firing, and the man emerged once more. He did not carry the shield, or the blaster, instead he wielded what appeared to be a quicksilver baton contained in some form of field, it was about the length of his forearm.

"Who are you, you worthless scum?"

Hux was annoyed by the legendary Luke Skywalker not knowing who he was, but he remained stoic.

"I am the Supreme Leader of the First Order, Emperor of the-"

"You are shorter than I was told Snoke, but they were spot on for the ugliness."

Heat rose to Hux's cheeks, deep down he knew that the Jedi was toying with him like the pilot Dameron had, but he couldn't resist yelling at him.

"Snoke is dead you miserable old man, I am the new Supreme Leader, I am Emperor Armitage Hux, I am your d-"

"Wrong!"

"I'm sorry?"

"The First Order may have blown up the Republic, but many councilmen survived on there homeworlds, which you, nor anybody else has any claim to, but themselves. So what you meant was you are a young spoiled brat who inherited your job, and haven't worked a day in your life."

Somewhere in the crowd a trooper snickered, Hux made a mental note to later track him down and torture them until there heart stopped. Hux squeezed his baton and it grew to be a little more than half his height, and the ends sharped to a point that could pierce Zillo Beast scales. He than charged at the Jedi.

Hux was more proficient with a blaster, but ever since he met Kylo Ren he knew that he needed to know how to defend himself from a lightsaber wielding opponent. He jabbed at Luke, he missed, but immediately changed his position to prevent Luke from preforming a counter strike.

Luke knew if he could strike Hux down, although not the Jedi way, might cause the First Order to give up and retreat, or it could cause them to all simultaneously open fire, but Luke had little choice. He striked at Hux's baton causing a large amount of sparks to fly, but no damage. He than tried to downward strike him, but this left him open and Hux nearly impaled him. Hux swept at Luke's feet, but he simply jumped over it.

Luke tried to use his lightsaber to push Hux's weapon away, and this caused Hux to become off balanced. Using this to his advantage, Luke stabbed at Hux, the self-proclaimed Emperor dodged, but Luke managed to graze part of his right arm.

"Ahg!"

Hux dropped his weapon, but before Luke could finish him off, Hux managed to stumble out of stabbing distance. Luke took a step closer and raised his weapon to point at Hux's head.

"You are defeated, surrender. I will take no pleasure from killing you, but I won't hesitate to do so if you don't accept my mercy."

Luke saw before he felt it, a bright red bolt of plasma flew out of his chest, he had been shot through the back. Before he fell, all he could see was Hux straighten his posture and smirk.

"Thank you Flower."

Leia felt Luke's pain, she knew what had happened.

"No!"

She, C-3P0, Finn, and Poe had been waiting at the edge of the mine's exit in hope that Luke would emerge, all the other ships had taken off, leaving only the X-Wings and the Falcon. Despite her physical condition Leia tried to run to her brother, to try and save him, but Poe grabbed tightly onto her arm.

"I'm sorry General, but I can't let you go in there, we waited as long as we could, but we must go now."

"Luke, he-"

"Princess, Master Luke would want you to survive, to continue to lead the Resistance. Please don't go, your chance of not being captured is 60 to 1, and your chance of surviving are 3972 to 1."

Leia stopped fighting, and let Poe lead her out of the mine, but she was still focused on Luke. She didn't hear Poe order the protocol droid to go ahead and tell Chewie to prepare for take off, all she could feel was Luke's pain and the life draining out of him. She didn't even hear the sniper shot, she only felt it's blast rip through her shoulder as she, Poe, and Finn exited the mine.

"Leia, Oh my lord! Finn!"

Finn immediately whipped out his blaster, and with a single shot each he took out the half a dozen troopers that were positioned on top of the ravine above them, then quickly turned to Poe who had caught the wounded princess. Desperately Poe cried out.

"Help me!"

Finn helped Poe lift Leia, who was now in shock, and helped quickly carry her onto the Falcon. Finn yelled into the Falcon in hopes that Lando or Chewie would hear.

"Take off! Take off now! And is anyone here a medic?!"

C-3P0, along with three dozen Resistance members crowded the men as they lay Leia down on the med-bed.

"Princess Leia, oh dear."

As Leia had felt his pain, Luke now felt hers. As he lay on his stomach, he used his arms to push himself high enough to see one last time. His shooter now made herself known, walking towards Supreme Leader Hux. She wore a simple yellowish-brown Resistance mechanic's outfit, her skin was only slightly darker than his own, and she had an interesting hairstyle that made her shiny hair look like a black wave. Her face was what was of interest, although her expression was maniacal, her features suggested a normally kind face, and although she did not appear to regret her deed, her black eyes were filled with regretted decisions. Luke realized that this woman was as much of a victim as he now was.

The woman put her arms around Hux's neck playfully and kissed him lovingly on cheek.

"It's been so long Army, you didn't have to bring the entire First Order and fight a Jedi just for me."

"I see now that I'd do anything for you my Flower, but right now we have to hurry if we are going to kill the Resistance."

Everyone rushed past Luke, they knew his injury was fatal, and therefore left him so that his own body could torture him until he died. Knowing the same thing Luke considered ending his pain right now with his own lightsaber, but a blue glowing light stopped him.

"Father?"

"Let go Luke, it is your time to join us."

He could see his father as he last saw him alive and as a ghost on Endor, still in the Vader suit but his face was free of all the scars and damage. Standing beside him was all the Jedi he'd ever known, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Ahsoka, and all the students and teachers who didn't make it in the fire, including her.

"Hedala-"

She hadn't aged a day since the fire, her dark skin glistened from her ghostly blue hues.

"We are here Luke, it's time for you to let go."

"Let go."

"Let go Luke."

"Let go you must."

Finally his father spoke once more.

"Let go and be at peace."

Luke did as they said, and shed his mortal self, becoming apart of the cosmic light. All that was left behind was his lightsaber and his robes.