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Chapter 33

Luke nodded, his face becoming solemn as he thought of how Master Yoda had died on Dagobah. It happened so many decades ago, and it would likely happen again. That was just unavoidable. At the end of the day, the Grandmaster was holding himself together with the Force.

"Many changes, I sense in you. Different, you are."

"The last you've saw me was when I was a baby on Polis Massa," Luke replied, smirking.

"Told me many things, the Force has. Yet, why do this, I wonder."

Luke nodded with a small smile. "You know that we Skywalkers have never been the type who is a normal bunch? I think even the Force is exasperated with our antics."

"Mmmm…" Yoda hummed again. "Many shadows, I sense around you. Death, you've witnessed. Terrible pain, you've undergone..."

"Indeed," Luke nodded, the sadness weighing inside of him.

"Mourn them, you must not. Miss them, you must not."

"Master Yoda," Luke's face stricken, "while it is destructive for grief to dominate you and remember what you still have, it is unhealthy to not mourn and miss a person. The Force will not twist you for feeling these emotions. You'd watched what happened when that advice shattered apart with my father, and even Obi-Wan needed time to grieve before he could properly accept the situation, and even after all this time, he still cannot."

"Greedy and unable to live in the reality of the moment, your father was." Yoda replied in disappointment.

"There was definitely elements of selfishness there especially on Mustafar when it became about power, but his fall stemmed primarily from grooming and losing my grandmother, his Padawan, and fear of my mother's death which later became me. I must admit if it had been me, I'm unsure I would have been able to remain sane myself. He is a victim at the end of the day. A victim of manipulation, grooming, and abuse."

"Attachments, you have. Let go of them, you must."

"I must respectfully disagree with that too," Luke replied.

"Personal pleasures, you are providing yourself," Yoda responded sharply. "Strengthened your connection, a bond with your father, your adoptive guardians, your sister, and another... girl your age, you have. Feel it, I can."

Luke smiled without a trace of shame and said, "Yes. But I can sense that you have much more than you are refusing to say currently, Master. I believe we should tackle this matter in a mature manner so why don't you say what you believe needs to be say and I provide a response?"

"In danger you are," Yoda's voice strained.

'Here it comes...'

"Young Skywalker, acted in your emotional distress, you have! Formed many attachments you have! Place yourself and your family at great risk, you do! Reckless, your actions are! Dangerous, it is!" he exclaimed. "Act out of fear, you have! The exact reason against forming attachments, this is! Ally with a Sith, you have! Allowed we are to have emotions, but not act on them! Explain yourself, you will!"

Expecting the reprimand, Luke brushed it off without even a hint of anger. Yoda didn't feel it either. The older Grandmaster wasn't speaking with just rage. Also, disappointment.

"Master Yoda, I'm not going to pretend that feelings can't be consuming, but you can't close what off what makes a individual what they are and pretend that you are stronger for it. I can attest to the fact that due to the person I've turned out to be in another life who witnessed much of it but I am not blinded either. The Jedi becoming political is understandable and it doesn't necessarily lead to the Dark Side but that should not be our only aspiration. We need to center ourselves in the Force so we can help the people of the galaxy."

"Always serve the will of the Force we do. The Republic served the side of the light as did we before it was tainted by the Dark Side. Connected to the Force, the light, the Jedi are."

"Yes, you did wish to serve the Force, but you did not completely," Luke replied. "If the Jedi did serve the Force, many of the issues in the galaxy wouldn't have been a problem when they were. But now it's too late..."

"Too late, it is not! Stopped, the Emperor and Darth Vader must be! Afterwards, rebuild, we can!" Yoda insisted.

"We can rebuild, but I learned from my time that you have to consider both the present and future. What's the point of rebuilding without learning from your past mistakes when it's going to cause more suffering in the long run? The Rebellion is still fighting a war against the Empire. I must aid it or leave."

"Wars not make one great," Yoda scolded.

"One should not build their entire identity off war. That much, we agree on. War shouldn't be the answer to every solution, but likewise, it will have to be utilized in some situations. Merely being pacifists will not stop threats from harming others." That was a flaw with Luke's Order as well that was helped later; he wanted to avoid conflict, and it became an addiction before he knew it. Now, he had a different view.

Before, the thought of fighting was abnormal to him. It was because he wanted to subscribe to Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the past Jedi's teachings, even though he'd altered the Jedi Code to be more humane and less with much of the restrictions. However, Luke had made a critical error that he learned when the Vong slapped it in his face.

"The Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack..."

Those two terms should be the solution to some problems, of course. The Jedi attacking first at all times would lead to disasters where many Jedi fell to the Dark Side. But like many things, that view wasn't black and white. The Yuuzhan Vong and Mandalorian Wars showed what happened when the Jedi took pacifism to an extreme, to the point where they thought they were all-knowing and wise.

Luke may have been almost middle-aged mentally, but he knew that no person was old enough never not to learn anything.

Or in other words...

'Unlearn what you have learned...'

"And that mentality is damaging in the long run. Corellia and Kuat was always able to protect themselves, contrary to Naboo and Alderaan, even before the Clone Wars."

"Fuels the Empire, both do now," Yoda mumbled.

"By that logic, Alderaan and Naboo also serves the Empire, though through brutal force. Like it or not, the galaxy isn't as simple as we want it to be, Master. You have to consider the ramifications of demilitarization as a whole as well as the consequences of attacking those who present aggression. There is a middle ground in that aspect."

"Fought, we did, during the Clone Wars. Served as Generals, we had. Stop our fall, that did not."

"No, your fall didn't come from the war." Luke immediately felt guilty wording it that way. "I mean, not just the war. It rooted from stagnation, the Sith adapting, and inability to consider other perspectives."

"Because, too caught up in action, we were. The point I'm trying to make."

Adhering too much to the idea of anti-war can lead to weaknesses and inaction in the face of legitimate threats, oversimplifying complex geopolitical facts, and allowing injustices to persist by discouraging necessary defensive or humanitarian interventions. No, fighting in the Clone Wars was not the Jedi's problem." Luke responded. "Eventually, you would have to fight on either the side of the Republic or Separatists. If you had not, Palpatine would have discredited you even more, and it could have led to even more suffering. Blaming things on the war solely will not help in the long run."

"Listening, you are not. Fight in war. Leads to the Dark Side, it does." Yoda retorted, placing a hand on his head.

"Wars happened long before the Clone Wars. What you called peace was silence more than anything else. Misdeeds and exterminations happened long before the Empire under the Republic's name. If you achieve what you want, they will simply happen again, very likely to our own people, or people to whom we have alliances with. Abandoning wars as a whole will not stop them. Abandoning wars as a whole will not keep Jedi grounded in the Force. Abandoning wars as a whole will not prohibit the commitment of further wars, in the Republic and even the Jedi Order. We can listen. We can defend. We can fight. But we must always be prepared if we're going to grow and not blame things on consequences of stagnation and hypocrisy."

Yoda dropped the posture and locked eyes with Luke. He did not grimace.

"Count Dooku tried to warn you. He may have been a Sith but he wasn't lying when he was saying that Sidious was in control. If someone had heeded his warnings or at least listen to his concerns, things could have been different, but then again, we don't know just how many contingencies Sidious had set up that could have led to Order 66 regardless."

Yoda's eyes widened briefly at the mention of his old Apprentice. "Corrupted by the Dark Side, he was. Listen to him, we could not."

"He was, but it should have warranted concern. The Sith influenced the Senate, controlling you all. They placed you in a unwinnable position where no matter what action you took you would have lost."

"Blind, we was," Yoda admitted, grimacing and closing his eyes before reopening them. "Nevertheless, endangered you are. You and your sister."

"My father..."

"Not your father, he is. Your father, he will never be. Darth Vader, he is. Travels with the both of you, he does. Manipulating you, he can be."

Once, he would have agreed, yet Vergere gave Jacen a very different idea of the Unifying Force. She had sacrificed herself on Ebaq 9 for Jacen, Jaina, and all their comrades from an army of Vong, and she had left behind a legacy of opening the rest of the Jedi Order's collective mindset; she made sure that the likes of Luke himself and the other Jedi Masters acknowledged that the Force had a different spectrum. While Luke was still uncomfortable with coming that close with the Dark Side, he had been shocked when he probed Jacen's presence a week after the war and found the Light and Dark containing in harmony inside of him. He made sure to check deeply. If Jacen was slipping or was going to slip, he would have caught it right away.

Luke didn't overestimate his abilities, but within Jacen existed a dilemma that was rumored but unheard of. It was spoken about before, typically by Padawans who Luke used to believe wanted their cake and ate it too. Ironically, such a mentality could be considered gaslighting: establishing moral superiority, demonizing opposition views, distorting perceptions, isolating targets, creating a sense of urgency, using emotional appeals, and suppressing dissent, thereby controlling individuals and discouraging independent thought.

Moreover, it was spoken about in Legends of the past where Force Users, the ancient Je'daii, and so many other cases to name. During the Jedi Exile's time especially, there was a consistent theme of balance and what happened when either the Dark or Light attempted to bend the Force to their own narrow interpretation.

'The Force is one, Uncle. The Force is everything, and everything is the Force. The Force does not take sides. The Force does not even have sides.' Jacen had said to him.

Luke hadn't wanted to take that risk. But he understood that passion was another emotion that could be used for positive, just like anger and fear, as long as such things were controlled. After all, passion played a part when it came to him getting with Mara, did it not? Or bringing his family together given his second chance? And establishing a New Jedi Order? But that was a good point he made. The Jedi did not own the Force. It wasn't just inclusive to them, nor should it be. The only time they should interfere with matters the other study was when they were destructive to the natural flow of things and far more harmful to those around them, especially the ones they wanted to protect.

"Master, if you focus too hard on the light or you will become so selfless and pious that you fail to take action when required, and if you concentrate too hard on the dark or you become so self absorbed that you fail to consider consequences for anyone other than yourself. Darkness is natural, basic instincts of a person that need to be controlled, and the light is what you strive for without it becoming too sacrificial. One cannot realistically live as a purely selfish, or a purely selfless person, not even you or me. We all have desires either selfless or selfish."

"Setting yourself up for failure, you are," Yoda said, disappointed. "All life is meant to be sacred."

"So does my father then, using that mentality? What about the Emperor or those who have different views of life from ours?"

"...Destroying the spectrum of balance, they are! Tragic, your father's case is! But look pass it, you must!" Yoda breathed. "Put him down, we must. Painless, it can be. But no other choice, there is."

"My father is both Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader," Luke answered resolutely.

"Lost, Anakin forever will be. Gone, that boy is. Consumed by Darth Vader."

"Even if he does remain under the name of Vader, it wouldn't change his heart. I'm prepared for that sacrifice. Perhaps he wouldn't claim the name of Anakin Skywalker entirely. Perhaps he would always be Vader, following Revan's beliefs. I'm prepared for that sacrifice. But I rather have him be Vader than Darth Vader."

"Allow him to follow a past Sith Lord you will? Hardly advisable that is." Yoda's ears fell.

Luke pointed out, "Revan did correct his past wrongs."

"After his memories were wiped..."

"And after he regained them. Such a method is hardly needed with my father. He's not wishing to right his own mistakes. Not yet. But he wouldn't allow me or Leia to be hurt. I know it."

"Setting yourself up for disappointment, you are. Fearful he always was. Fearful, he still is." Yoda's eyes softened.

"Understandably, given his life," Luke grimly mentioned.

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." His voice dropped an octave, and he stared down.

And it was in that moment that Luke recalled yet another flaw in Yoda and Obi-Wan both. The Jedi as a whole to be frank.

It was always his impression that they were attempting to scare him with the worst-case scenario to convince him not to go. One could argue they did not want Luke to repeat their mistakes. Unintentionally, to many who followed the Force to a more extreme version, the Jedi became agents of evil by fighting in the Clone Wars. Luke was spoiling for a fight on Cloud City. That attitude was corrosive to the Jedi philosophy. To Jedi, and many pacifistic groups, by simply engaging in the fight, you become an agent of evil. You enter into acts of destruction. On the outside, Kenobi and, more so, Yoda were trying to guide Luke away from fiery combativeness.

But the truth was, that Luke's attachments were a strength, while Ben and Yoda had decided they couldn't be anything but a weakness. Yoda's teachings about attachments failed countless students, his father among them. The Jedi should have never repressed emotions, for it turned people like his father into an emotional mess with no idea how to handle difficult situations when they came up. It was only Luke's pure attachment to Anakin that brought him back.

"Master Yoda..." The Force rippled following those words.

Eyes to eyes, former Pupil and Master stared at one another. Truth be told, Luke cared about Yoda. He had given him the means to learn and approve. Luke's failure to defeat Vader was no doubt the evidence they'd needed to prove themselves that they were right and Luke should have stayed on Dagobah, that the failure to defeat Vader amounted to some kind of moral failure or mistake on Luke's part.

And now, he disagreed even more.

Certainly, Luke went and attempted to save his friends against the advice of his teachers. Yet, while the outcome wasn't what he wanted and he wasn't able to prevent any of the terrible events from occurring - his friends were tortured, Han was placed in Carbonite, and Leia only barely escaped with Lando's help and ended up needing to rescue Luke - all those events had already occurred without him and he certainly didn't make the situation any worse. Yoda said that if Luke went to Cloud City, everything his friends fought for would be lost; now on reflection, he found this assessment in particular to be inaccurate. Additionally, he discovered critical information that ended up due to his actions and ultimately led to his success and the Rebellion's success by extension.

A question came down to him alas. Something he hadn't thought about for years. How differently would events have turned out had Luke NOT known Vader was his father?

Would Luke have reacted with anger and fear? Giving into negative emotions? Having the power to kill the monster who "slain" his father? Of course, while Luke understood where Yoda was coming from, Luke wouldn't pretend that his leadership was without imperfections. Yoda blissfully remained above politics for nine hundred years and allowed the Jedi Order to degrade into darkness. He was wise and had moments of truth, but he was also hypocritical and flawed sometimes, especially since he'd repeated some of the same mistakes.

Luke couldn't just ignore that.

"Most dictators prey on fear. They do everything they can to cultivate xenophobia. The fear of other nationalities or ethnic groups is essential to them. The demonizing of the other is the root of tyranny. The formula is not difficult. First, demonize your scapegoat of choice. Then present yourself as the savior. The formula has worked countless times throughout history, Palpatine declaring himself Emperor being foremost. Stoke fear into anger, and anger into hate. And capitalize on that hate to gain power and glory. Fear is the center, isn't it? It's that primal reaction to something we view as a threat to our security, our status, or our ego. The fear of losing something we hold dear can lead to anger toward a dissenter we view as unjust. It's all too deceptively simple to slide from anger into the murky waters of hate—that same for those we blame for our misfortunes, regardless of their real cooperation. And hate; hate is corrosive. It doesn't fade away on its own. It bottles up, poisoning everything from personal relationships to societal discussions. You internalize hate and it starts to consume you, leading to a personal path of suffering and, often, lashing out, which extends that suffering to those around you."

Luke's words came out with great intensity, but his tone remained calm.

"But let's peel back another layer. Could your belief oversimplify a serpentine psychosomatic process?"

"What point, there is, to this?"

Luke looked away. "The reason I'm saying this is to make a point. Fear doesn't always lead down this dark path. Sometimes it can be a synergistic for growth, fueling the desire to overcome obstacles or motivating change. People conquer their fears, channeling the energy into something constructive rather than destructive."

He turned back to Yoda. "And anger? It's not evil. It's an emotional response that can provoke action against injustices like slavery. It's when anger is allowed to fester, unobserved and unexamined, that it inches toward becoming hate.

So, are you speaking some profound truth, Master? Absolutely. These emotions can generate a chain reaction that ends in suffering. But unlike the Sith, who deal in absolutes, we should consider the nuances. Fear and anger can be part of healthy, normal emotional experiences as long as they are comprehended, controlled, managed, and targeted toward positive accomplishments.

Context matters. Introversion matters. Your warning stands as a stark reminder of the destructive path unchecked emotions can lead us down, but let's not forget the power of self-acknowledgment and our ability to select a different path—one that leads not to suffering but to something better.

Could it be said that the Younglings you instructed didn't have their fears, a moment of lapse to give into anger, and while some fell victim to those emotions, that many of them ascended? Could it be said that your Master of the Order didn't have moments of irritation and frustration? Could it be said that your philosophy is flawed because it rebukes humanity? What about in the wider galaxy? Where Anakin come from? Believe it or not, Master, Anakin suffered. He'd suffered indignities. The only light in his life for a long time was my grandmother, and your Code demanded that he must have let her go-as if that would solve the problem."

Luke looked down.

"I'm not indifferent to your own suffering. Anakin suffered since he was born. Obi-Wan and you suffered when the Order collapsed. Those wounds would be something that would always remain with all of you. You have each already witnessed grief and loss, but haven't mourned properly, no matter how much you convince yourself that you let it go or became stronger for it."

"..." Yoda's ears wrinkled, but his face remained steady.

"If we are to survive, we must learn to look past any preconceived notion of good or evil. The galaxy doesn't work the way we want it to work where good and evil are because we say it is. I learned that the hard way. I want to help us, Master Yoda, but if we never change, it is fruitless. I walked down the dark path before, Master Yoda, and returned from it."

"Impossible what you say is," Yoda's voice rose. "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

"It can," Luke acknowledged. "However that isn't always the case. Ulic Qel-Droma, Bastila Shan, Revan, Atris, and others that have fallen returned from the Dark Side and became stronger for it even. That's the issue with the Order. It didn't learn and adapt from our past. For so long, the Jedi have been arrogant and presumed that we can negotiate our way out of issues, and I am also guilty of this. We learned that only the Sith deal in absolutes, yet everything is black and white with us, and that is the issue. Every individual has to sometimes make morally wrong decisions for a better outcome."

Yoda's dark green eyes reflected with shock at the mention of those of the past.

Eventually, he replied, "Lose ourselves, we must not, Young Skywalker."

Luke sighed. "We won't lose ourselves for being realistic. Master Windu did what was considered the right thing, and the Jedi were burned for it. It being Jedi business doesn't matter to either the people we try to save or the politicians hungering for more power, even under the Republic. We would have to pay the price for the morally correct thing to do."

"Sounding like Dooku, you are. Need that, you do not!" Yoda's frantic eyes fell on him.

"The Jedi of your era was afraid of the Dark Side, and you weren't allowed to mourn those who were lost. If it was just about accepting loss, you would still be permitted to miss them. To miss is wish things were different, but that's only the natural part of acceptance as it was incompatible with past events."

"Selfish, that mindset is, Skywalker. The emotions you describe, destroy us, they can."

"Dogmatism and clinging onto ancient and outdated beliefs can do likewise. At the moment, even though it seems selfless, you must focus on what matters. Allowing those close to you to die when they're preventable is not going to grant you greater enlightenment. If anything, it'll leave you with a guilt that will eat you up for the rest of your natural life because you would always contemplate about how you could have stopped it and what could have went differently." Luke realized as his emotions built up, tears were filling his eyes. He was thinking about Anakin Solo, about Chewie, all of the others that were preventable.

"Speaking of previous experiences, you are," Yoda caught on. Despite his flaws, Luke would never call Yoda a monster. He wasn't. He was just going off what had been taught to him. "Rely on the Force, we must. Train ourselves to let go of what we fear to lose."

"And that's exactly the problem," Luke answered, feeling a biting sharpness enter his throat. "To your Order, individuals never existed. You had learned everything through the Force; in fact you have formed an attachment to the Force and your Order, contradicting all of your previous lessons. Individuals are a greater distinction from looking at a more expanded front. You've taught a lot of values, but you also set forward unrealistic obligations which played a part in people's conversion. Their choices were their own at the end, but to deny what makes you a person is no less a contradiction."

The Grandmaster paused...

"The Force guides us to make certain decisions, but it doesn't strip away freewill and independent thinking, as well as common sense. The explanation of everything going wrong being due to the Dark Side is just an excuse. There are other factors."

"Forgot, I did, that Skywalkers cause differences," Yoda sighed. "Lead to headaches, your bloodline do."

Luke smirked. "Blame that on my parents, not me."

Yoda actually smiled.

"Also, Master Yoda..."

"Yes? Young Skywalker." Yoda sighed again as if preparing for another bombshell.

"Masters from my time and I argued about this quite a lot and I must know..."

"Hmmm?"

Luke paused, considering how to word this, before just coming out with it, "Is Grogu your son?"

Author's note: "The overriding philosophy in Episode I — and in all the Star Wars movies, for that matter — is the balance between good and evil." - -George Lucas, quoted in L. Bouzereau, Star Wars: The Making of Episode I, 1999. "In each of us we to have balance these emotions, and in the Star Wars saga the most important point is balance, balance between everything." -George Lucas, Time Magazine article, 2002.

For some, this conversation may seem familiar. That is because it's from Hope From The Future. Revived Hope has similar beads but transpires in a different time. I do wonder which fic is y'all favorite between the two. Personally love Hope from the Future because of all the Prequel world-building, but love the more personal aspects of this fic more so it's very difficult for me. But for the people who read both, I do wonder.

May the Force be with you all always.