thefinaljedi | 18th Transmission: May the Force Be With You, Always. [Action/Video]

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18th Transmission: May the Force Be With You, Always. [Action/Video]

[Luke knew immediately what had happened, the moment the Force Bond between he and his old friend was severed. Not dulled, but just cut completely, as it had when someone died. Despite that, he hurried home and called out to the man. No answer came save Artoo's concerned whistle, and the Jedi sighed heavily, though he wasn't sure if it was in relief that Obi-Wan Kenobi was gone, or sadness that he was now alone. Obi-Wan, Mordin, Shepard, and Lupin all gone now. He was once again the last Jedi.

Entering the man's bedroom he shook his head at the neat pile of letters and...a doorknob resting on the bed. His old mentor had such a strange sense of humor, enough to at least bring a weak smile to his face. Luke picked up the letter addressed to him and read, his real hand remaining unsteady, the implant the only part of him completely steady. It echoed so much of what he'd heard from Ben the last time they'd parted. You are among the the finest Jedi I've ever met, the last of the old order, and the first of the new. The hope for the future and a reminder of the past. You were my finest pupil, and I wish I could have had the chance to stand with you now. May the Force be with you, my friend. The memory, five years past now, leaped to the forefront of his mind. Only this time there was no Threepio to spoil the moment, only Artoo sitting stoically and waiting, a sad little chirp the only sound.]

That's right Artoo, Obi-Wan's gone home. Back to Tatooine. [Though, Luke's voice is hollow. He knows what's waiting, and what Ben's leaving behind. The Dark Times, when his father, Obi-Wan's apprentice, Darth Vader had methodically hunted down and killed all but four or five Jedi. Isolation and guilt, followed by a chance encounter with two droids and a young farmboy. Nothing he'd wish on anyone, least of all his truest friend.]

I guess we should deliver the messages, right Artoo?

[Bweep doot deet doot. The droid seemed pretty agreeable, even rolling over to Luke and extending his little claw comfortingly.]

I'm alright, yea. Let's...get this over with.

Video

[After he collects his emotions, a very quiet, stoic Luke Skywalker appears on the journals with Artoo beside him for support. In his hand he has a small leaflet of papers, and his other hand rests on the droid's dome. When he speaks, his voice is firm, but there's a quavering feeling to his words. He's obviously forcing himself to do this.]

Luceti, I regret to inform you that Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has returned to his home on Tatooine. He left behind a few letters, to Adele Leblanc, Ami Mizuno, Loki Laufeyson, Saori, Beast, Steve Rogers, and Spock. Also, he left a gift for Clint Barton. I will keep them here at House 46 until you are able to pick them up.

And I'm sorry, but I won't be able to cover my shifts at the clinic for a day or two. Please forgive me.

And May the Force be with you, all of you, always.

[Luke shuts down the feed with that. If anyone needs to find him he'll be at home for the next few days, or at Good Spirits having a drink, likely hot chocolate.]

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[Of course she is here. And she is here, real, and solid, and in his arms without a single ounce of resistance.]

I'm sorry that you've been separated from your friend.

[What she isn't, is entirely sure of what to do.]

Would you like me to come in? [Surely as soon as she shakes off this uncertainty, she'll know how to comfort him and make him feel a little better.]

[Luke just holds her close, not responding to her question at all and just pulling her inside. She's always, always welcome, and he makes a mental note to give her a key later. For now? He just wants to hold her, let her do the talking.]

[She takes the silence for her answer, and for once she interprets it correctly: stay. There isn't much she can do, so she lets Luke hold her, lends the reassurance of her presence, and occasionally strokes his arm or hair or some part of his face within her reach.]

There's a chance he'll also return.

[She says this matter-of-factly, neither as horror of the trap nor rejoicing over the potential reunion.]

[Luke leans into her touches, his arms not really moving as he just stands there, hugging her as tightly as he can.]

Ami. You...you know what comes next for him. I know it's possible he might. I wish we'd just had longer.

[It's hard enough to think it, let alone say it. Ami knows as well as anyone what his world's like. Just...Luceti oddly was safer.]

I...this is the third time...

[She knows that pain, too; Neo-Queen Serenity's arrival has been bittersweet, mingled with the memory of so many times, and so many friends, before.]

I think it's only normal to want our friends to be with us longer. Especially if we can't know what will happen here.

[Luke shakes his head and takes a seat, finally letting her go. Holding his head in his hands, he laughs a wan little laugh.]

Right. I...I've lost people before. Father, Mordin, Shepard, and others too. But I guess it was different with them. Every time I see Obi-Wan it feels like we're only just getting to know each other and we have to say goodbye. Even his spirit's gone now, at home. Five years ago, or I suppose six now.

So meeting him here was your chance to see him again.

[She understands, not precisely from experience, but from imagination. She has the sense to be grateful that some day, if she can return to her world, she'll see her friends again, there waiting for her.]

Yea. Strange as it was at first.

[It wasn't fair to keep him here, dealing with all that. But what was coming was by his estimation much, much less pleasant. And honestly it's a little scary, losing him so suddenly. It makes him think more about the issues surrounding his own relationship with the woman beside him. Though, it's not enough and never enough to make him stop feeling for her.]

Guess I should've seen it coming, though. With our history.

[You sound like her, now, Luke. It's not precisely an optimistic attitude, but Ami can't precisely blame him. She thinks very much the same way, when her friends arrive or leave: of course it's just one more cycle of hope and hurt and loss.

Just like it will be when some day, Luke leaves - or she does.]

I'm not the best at saying this sort of thing, but if it's like that, then your history has other times you've found each other again, too.

[Unlike Ami, at least, Luke's not given up on finding a way for them to be happily together. Even if it takes years, if he's given the chance he'll find a way.

With Ben, he's a bit more resigned. It's just hard, having made his peace with the man's end, then getting him back and then...gone]

In my time, even his spirit is gone. The only way is here, really. Or time-travel, which is impossible.

[They say in some worlds, it isn't impossible...]

It might sound trite to say, but he lives in you, doesn't he? In the way you remember him, and try to live the way he would want you to.

He...does, in a way. And through me, the Order he dedicated himself lives on.

[They rarely agreed on Jedi philosophy, something Ami had no doubt heard them discussing more than once, but she is right.]

I'm sorry, dear. I should be better than this.

[Obi-Wan would've wanted him to avoid attachments...]

I think it would be worse if you weren't upset.

[It chills her, in the times she considers what might happen if she disappeared, if she thinks no one would be strongly affected. That what happened here really didn't matter at all after all.]

[Luke lets out a mirthless little chuckle. That was exactly the opposite of what Yoda and Obi-Wan would've said.]

I...agree. Though now Obi-Wan might not.

[Ami spent a long time repressing the times was upset, until they exploded and overwhelmed her for a long time. So now, she's learned she has to feel and face those small disappointments when they come. And she's learned, from the results of the capricious cruelty of Mio, that true lack of feeling is terrifying.]

If you didn't feel something when they left, wouldn't it be strange?

It would be. But a Jedi is supposed to have no attachments. That's...what Obi-Wan believed. And Master Yoda.

[He shakes his head, wondering if they were right.]

They probably felt it would be easier that way. If you didn't feel for them, if you weren't attached to your friends, it wouldn't hurt to be separated.

But I can't think that way, either.

It's different, for Jedi. We aren't supposed to form bonds or know love. The old order believed more that this life is...transient.

I can't accept that either.

It's because life is transient that we should experience it while we can. [As if she's gone a bit too far in saying so, she adds:] That's what I think.

That's how I feel too. Some of the Jedi agree with me. I know Master Sunrider did. But, Obi-Wan was not one.

It sounds as though we, you and I, both think the same about this. [She's glad for that, really. Another obstacle between them, or guilt in Luke if he felt this was against his Jedi philosophy, would be difficult.]

We do. When I refounded the order, I did away with that part of the code. It's impractical and the Jedi setting themselves apart from the rest of the Galaxy is foolish. That's how Palpatine was able to gain control in the first place.

[No guilt, no worries. And certainly no regrets about her]

[The words strike a chord. Distance creates mystery, which creates suspicion, which creates- all manner of trouble.]

I think your decision was the right one, about that.

I do too. And Obi-Wan...he was starting to agree. And then...

[He sighs]

Luke, would you like to do something to remember Obi-Wan here? [It's a double edged thought, but she enjoys the memory gardens and shrine, and other projects to honor people who've left Luceti.]

18th Transmission: May the Force Be With You, Always. [Action/Video]

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