Episode IX The Legacy of the Sith

What Vader Had Started

 The rain fell in sheets as Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren looked with satisfaction on the bloody glade, the dead scattered throughout. They waited. Kiam impatiently shifted his feet as he said aloud, "How long will this take?"

"Not long," Kylo Ren replied. "I feel him coming."

A moment later, Luke having sensed the massacre, came running down a hill from the east, where he had withdrawn for another of his retreats. His shoulders dropped once he had seen the carnage. He ran to one of the dead Padawans and bent over her.

"I knew you would sense this and come," Kylo Ren said from behind his mask.

Luke stood and looked at him like a father with righteous agony. "What have you done?"

"Only what I needed to get your attention," Kylo Ren said. "Had you been here instead of always running off, they may not have had to die," Kylo Ren said spitefully.

Luke lowered his head. Rain dripped down his face and off his chin. His fist clenched his lightsaber tightly.

"I'm not finished yet," Kylo Ren replied and held up his cross-bladed lightsaber and then advanced toward Luke.

"I know that is you, Ben," Luke said.

"Ben is no longer," Kylo Ren said. "There is now only Kylo Ren."

Luke did not appear surprised. "I understand. So you have finished exactly what Ren had started."

"No, what your father had started, and it isn't finished yet."

With that Kylo Ren charged Luke, holding his lightsaber with both fists, ready to swing with all his might.

Luke lit his green saber and deflected the attack, the red and green blades spitting flares of electric sparks as they clashed. It was a powerful blow but Luke managed it. He sidestepped and then backed away. Kylo Ren pressed the attack further, swinging across.

Luke snapped a  vertical block, then stepped into the attack and rammed his shoulder into Kylo Ren's chin. Kylo Ren staggered back, a little stunned from the hit to his jaw, even with his mask.

The Knights of Ren jumped into action when they saw Kylo Ren pitch back. First Lura fired. Luke whipped his blade, wiping the blast away as if it was an insect, then held out his left hand. Lura's rifle flew from her fingers. Luke caught it midshaft and broke it over the head of the advancing Kiam who was running toward him in an attack. Kiam bent over from the blow, floundered with his steps, and then fell to the side stunned. Lura, having no weapon, looked at her empty hands then turned to run from the battle.

Tanut, the eldest of the ex-Padawans, was right behind the dazed Kiam.  He swung an angled attack from the upper left toward the right. Luke caught it with his lightsaber and stopped the swing high. He then lightly touched Tanut's chest with his left hand. Tanut flew fifteen meters into the air and backward, over the head of the fleeing Lura.

Jax ignited his Z-6 jetpack and flew almost twenty meters over Luke in order to fire down. Gabo barrelled toward Luke from the front, holding his right fist high, ready to pound Luke into the ground with his electro-knuckles.

Luke Force-leapt into the air toward Jax. Jax fired. Luke deflected the two shots as he ascended, and grabbed Jax by the collar. Using the Force and the firing jetpack, he spun in the air whipping him back down toward the ground. Jax plummeted down on top of Gabo.

Luke, as he was falling, held both hands downward and pushed with the Force. Rainwater exploded around both of the Knights, and the ground under them sank as if a giant foot of an invisible walker had stepped down. Luke landed beside the shallow crater he had made. Jax and Gabo moaned over the heavy rain.

Sakiah, with her double-bladed baton, came from behind and tried to take off Luke's head with a high attack. Luke ducked and spun. He hooked her forward leg with his foot and pulled it in. She swung her lightsaber down on him as her body fell backward. He blocked, causing her to further lose her footing and fall back. Her lightsaber still lit would have injured her in the fall. Luke could sense it, and as if time slowed for a moment, he reached with the Force and removed her baton from her hand. She collapsed on the wet ground. Luke threw her baton away and aimed his lightsaber at her.

"Run away, Sakiah," he said. She just looked up at him.  He sensed her fear hidden by the mask.

Kiam, now recovered from the blow to the head, charged from Luke's right. Luke turned quickly and met his first strike with his lightsaber. Then he blocked the second swing of the electro-staff. Luke held out his hand, and the electro-staff fizzled out. Kiam still swung, but Luke sliced the unlit ends from the staff and grabbed the back of Kiam's neck. Kiam slammed face-first into the mud, the Force dropping him. Luke held out his hand and pushed him with the Force back into the darkness, dragging him through the mud.

Luke turned back to Sakiah who was still on the ground. He aimed the lightsaber at her again. "Run away, Sakiah," he said. She got up without a word and ran toward the woods.

Kylo Ren watched the fight, which lasted a minute at most. They were now alone on the field of blood.  "This is all your fault, you know." Kylo Ren said. Lightning flashed, reflecting off the top of his black helmet.

Luke looked at him. The thunder roared.

"They are all dead because of you, and now the only students you have left are your enemies."

Luke's face filled with anger but it was obvious Luke was trying hard to suppress it as he took a deep breath.

"For what?" Kylo Ren taunted. "Were you trying to save us when you killed Ren and Darren? Or were you just afraid of losing control?"

"I was trying to do the right thing," Luke answered.

"But you were unsure," Kylo Ren replied. "And I think you know now whether it was right. Do I sense that in you?"

Luke did not want to admit that, and the pain of it angered him. Luke knew the dangers of anger and the path to the dark side, but still, he clenched his lightsaber and ran at Kylo Ren. "No!"

Kylo Ren charged as well, full of hatred and rage. Their lightsabers crashed into each other and sparked into their faces. Luke was more skilled with a lightsaber and pushed Kylo Ren back again. Luke threw a series of violent and relentless attacks, his blade accurately darting a specific path. Kylo Ren blocked each, but could not put any space between him and Luke as he stepped back.

Luke reached out and with the Force and wrenched the lightsaber from Kylo Ren's hand and kicked Kylo Ren in the mid section. He fell backward over a dead Padawan and splashed into a shallow pool that had formed. Luke crossed the lightsabers around Kylo Ren's neck and stared down at him with an irresolute composure. Kylo Ren did not move a muscle.

"Anger and fear," Kylo Ren said. "You do know it." Luke's face showed the struggle.

"You must kill me, Luke," he said. "I will not stop hunting you. I will never stop. I will finish what your father could not."

Luke furrowed his brow, and his teeth clenched for a moment. Then he closed his eyes and breathed deep. The lightsabers extinguished. Luke threw Kylo Ren's lightsaber into the water.

"You will leave this place," Luke said with a calm and earnest voice.

"What!" Kylo Ren said. "Are you trying a Jedi mind trick on me! I am stronger than that."

"You are deceived, Ben," Luke said. "The dark side has made you strong; but you are also weaker for it, but not completely lost. Still, I am more powerful than you can now understand." Luke raised his hand toward Kylo Ren and waved it before him. "You will leave this place."

"Stop trying. It's a waste of time."

"You will leave this place."

Kylo Ren's shoulders lifted up. He bent forward and picked up his lightsaber. He stood up before Luke. "I will leave this place." With those emotionless words, Kylo Ren as if in a dream, turned and walked toward the woods.