𝕃𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕔𝕪 - 𝔸 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕎𝔸ℝ𝕊 𝕊𝕋𝕆ℝ𝕐

23 - LONG LIVE LUKE SKYWALKER

(Song: Leia's News/Light of the Force - John Williams)

"You are the Force."

"The Light."

"Awaken and rise."

The bright white light fades and Mae opens her eyes. She takes a look around at the cave around her. Where is she? She looks down at her hands and they glow blue, like the force ghosts. She is not with her body yet, something is going on. She takes a big look around and notices a path leading up to an open sky. She walks towards it. When she reaches the top, she looks before a beautiful sunset on a large ocean. She sees an old man sitting on top of a rock at the edge of the cliff. Mae walks forward and sits down beside him. She can feel that he is waiting for something. She turns to her father. She notices the grey in his hair is more noticeable now. His eyes sadder, older. He's exhausted, and his life force is fading. He was waiting for her.

"Hi, dad."

"Hi, flower." He turns to look at Mae. "I've been waiting for you."

"I'm ready now."

"Good. They need you." He takes a deep breath. "You have grown into such a beautiful young woman now, like your mother."

"I missed you."

"I missed you too. I'm sorry I didn't visit you like I promised I would."

"You knew I was safe. I was taken care of." Mae looks out to the ocean. "Where are we?"

"Ahch-To."

"It's beautiful." They sit on the rock and look out at the sunset together.

"It was a blessing the day you were born. I was on Tatooine, I went home to see if the moisture farm still stood, but I felt your first breaths and I knew you were beautiful. Forgetting all that I had learned, my fear of Ben and you grew as you grew. It changed me. I lost my way and I gave up hope when you and Ben needed me the most. I'm sorry everything happened this way."

She looked back at him. "Someone told me once that you can't stop change, just as you can't stop the setting sun. You are not responsible for the galaxy."

They smile at each other and look towards the setting sun. Luke's breaths are very short now.

"Why 'flower'?"

"There are no flowers on Tatooine."

"Ah, so it's not because I'm delicate."

"No." He chuckles a little. "She reminds me of you, strong and brave." He looks at Mae again, "Help her finish this."

"I will." Mae takes her father's hand. Her eyes hold both a sense of sadness and proudness to them. "Thank you."

"I'm not scared to die." He says, his breath weak.

"No. Not many things scare my father." She reaches over and lightly kisses him on the cheek. Then she lets go of his hand and steps off the rock. "They're waiting for you."

"I'll see you soon, Mae. I promise." He says his final words with a smile and a wink.

Her father looks out at the sun setting on the ocean.

Luke disappears in the sunset on Ahch-To. Luke Skywalker. The hero. A legend. The Protector of peace. The most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, finally becomes one with the Force, like the Jedi that came before him.

Mae's eyes flicker open and slowly wakes up in a bed. She kicks her feet over the bed and slowly stands. She was a little unbalanced, probably from lying down for these past few days. She leans against the wooden bedpost. She looks down and notices she is not wearing her Jedi robes, she wears a blue dress. Its embroidered with little blue flowers, the back dips low. The sleeves are long and flow in the gentle wind coming through her small room. It's beautiful. She takes a deep breath in and smells sea salt. She's near an ocean that was for sure. And the amount of force energy here is overwhelming. She looks for her lightsaber, but it's not in her room. She last thing she remembers from before her Jedi training is falling. She fell to her death. Caleb. She needed to find him. She looks around the little hut until she notices a little communication device. She hobbled towards it, falling halfway, on her side. "Fuck me." Mae looked around for something to help her up. She pushed herself to her knees. She noticed a brown broom in the corner. Using the Force she called it over to herself and snapped to broom part off. She pushed herself off the floor with the stick. 

Once she grabs the communication device she tinkers with it until finds the right frequency. She needed something secret. She was not ready to fight in an emergency with barely moving legs. She picked Fulcrum. Caleb would figure it out. She writes a message intended for Caleb to come to find her. She could only hope he'd get it. She didn't have time to wait around. She puts on some slippers that are at the little door and takes the stick to help her walk. Trying to remember how to move her muscles. Each step gets better. Outside, the sun has set on this island. She looks around at the little huts. She feels the energy in this island and follows it up to a familiar cave. Once she steps inside she realizes where the force ghosts had put her body. This was where her father was. Ahch-To. Luke was protecting her.

She walked up to the top of the hill, to the rock where they just said goodbye. She sees her flower pendant on the rock. She takes it in her hand and sits down the way he did. Closing her eyes, she meditates. She felt what was going around in the galaxy. She could feel hope.

You are not the last Jedi.