LOST KINGDOM ─ star wars

XXXI. Hard Choices

Chapter Thirty-One
Luke

One minute I was trying, and failing, to lift my ship from the water, and the next I was kneeling down on the ground, clutching onto the sides of my head, screaming as images of Darth Vader murdering Aiden fill my mind. The entire picture I'm seeing is in chaotic flashes: I see Naboo, I see a woman I've only seen in holograms, Leia's sister Iris, I see Darth Vader, I see Aiden strapped to a chair being interrogated by him, then I see a room completely destroyed with Aiden along with it. I feel cold, just like I always do when Darth Vader and the dark side are involved, but I also feel the pain, sorrow, rage Darth Vader was feeling, as if it were my own. I didn't know that monster could feel. I don't know what to make of this sliver of proof that there might be a human being under all that machinery. It changes nothing though.

"Luke, what's wrong?" Jay asks in alarm.

"Aiden...Aiden is dead." I tell him in a broken murmur.

Holly is by my side in a nanosecond, resting her hand on my shoulder, her voice just as quiet as she asks: "Y-You're sure?"

"Yes, I just saw a vision in the force. Darth Vader killed him," Now I hear my voice growing angry, especially as I set eyes on Master Yoda, who is standing a few feet away from us. "First my father, then Obi Wan, now Aiden. Call it vengeance, call it justice, call it whatever you want, but Darth Vader is a mad man and he has to be stopped."

"What do you plan to do?" A familiar voice asks. I turn around to find Obi Wan standing near me, his hands locked behind his back, his expression filled with concern. "Rush to Naboo and kill Vader?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, that's exactly my plan, Ben." I reply through gritted teeth, waiting for the lecture I know is coming.

"T-this is your father, Jayce? But I-I thought he was dead." Holly says with a shaking voice, staring at Obi Wan in confusion and alarm.

"Jedi can keep their form after they die," Jayce explains. "My father visits Luke and I often to give us advice or send us on missions like this one."

"How come I can see him too?" She now asks.

"The force is very strong on Dagobah," Ben explains with a smile her way. "That is part of why I had sent you here in the first place. Only on Dagobah could you have seen the truth about yourselves, about your futures. Luke, if you go to Naboo and kill Vader, then your fate will be sealed."

"Are you going to stop me?" I ask.

Ben says nothing, just turns his attention towards our still sunken ships, extending a hand out like Jay and I did, and successfully lifting them from the water. He places them on the other side of Yoda, and for a second all I can do is stare at them, at the vines and leaves stuck to the sides, the droplets of water falling to the mossy ground.

"Go. Save your friends," Ben says with a gesture towards the ships. "But remember the vision you had in the cave, Luke. Remember that you, and you alone, are in charge of your destiny, and it is yours to do with what you will."

I nod to him and then glance over my shoulder at Jay and Holly. "You two coming?"

"Like you even have to ask. Where you go, I go." Holly replies, making my cheeks begin to heat up.