"Wake up," Ahsoka said, shaking Luke. "Luke, it's time to train, Luke!" Ahsoka called out. Leia had been awake for a while and was sure Anakin was waiting for them.
"I'm awake, Ahsoka," Luke said, staring at the ceiling.
"What's wrong?" Ahsoka asked.
"I don't understand my mission here," Luke explained. "You have plans to stop all this, Mother has them, Leia has them, even Father, without knowing anything about this, has them. But I don't feel like I'm being very useful in this war."
"Luke, don't say that. You're part of everyone's plan," Ahsoka said, lying down beside him and looking at the ceiling. It was an important moment. Luke was feeling insecure. He was his master's son, and he felt he couldn't let him get depressed.
"I haven't done anything on my own. In the future, I'm the last Jedi. Everyone trusted me, but being here, I realize the greatness of the Jedi. I'm not even a shadow of what they are, Ahsoka. I lived many years of my life on Tatooine until I found Obi-Wan. He trained me for a couple of hours, and then Yoda. My training is nothing compared to yours. I'm not a true Jedi."
" "Luke, you said Master Yoda told you your training would be complete when you faced Vader, but then he sent you here. It's obvious he changed his mind. It's obvious he trusted you. Luke, Jedi aren't what everyone thinks; they make mistakes. I don't consider myself one myself."
"But you're a Padawan. You will become a Jedi."
"I only stayed because you asked me to and because I don't intend to abandon my master."
"I'm not really sure if I can be of any help."
"You will be, Luke. We all trust you. We can't do this alone. We're all a team. We're in this together now." Ahsoka smiled, ruffling Luke's hair.
It was true that Luke was about two years older than her, but sometimes he acted like a child.
"Luke, let's go train. Leia is already waiting for us," Anakin said, entering without knocking, but he stopped abruptly when he saw Ahsoka lying on Luke's bed.
" "What's going on here?" Anakin asked, his gaze bordering on annoyance, and Luke realized he must not have been thinking straight.
"Father Anakin," she said, jumping to her feet like a bat out of hell, "I'll be ready in a few minutes. Sorry I'm late." She closed herself in the bathroom.
"I need to talk to you, know-it-all," Anakin said, pulling her out.
"Master," she complained, "whatever you're thinking—because I know you, and I know you tend to think things that aren't always true—it's not what you think."
"What do I think?" Anakin asked shrewdly.
"Whatever you've been thinking about Luke and me isn't like that," Ahsoka said, managing to form a coherent sentence. It was impossible; they're your children, Ahsoka screamed in her mind. Obviously, she couldn't tell him.
"Know-it-all, if you have feelings for Luke, you must remember that he's from the future, not from this time."
"I don't have feelings for Luke!" Ahsoka shouted, blushing.
"Are you sure?" "Would Ahsoka have feelings for Luke?" Anakin asked, worried. "It would be very inconvenient if Ahsoka had feelings for Luke. She would suffer when her time in this timeline came to an end."
"Of course she would. That would be impossible. He is—" Ahsoka exclaimed, then regretted what she was about to say. Even so, Anakin frowned.
"He is?" he asked, intrigued.
"Just forget it," Ahsoka said more calmly. "I couldn't possibly have feelings for him. Jedi aren't allowed to form attachments anyway," she added, teasing Anakin.
"You know we still do," Anakin said, leaving the room. That was the most honest thing he'd ever said to her. If he kept this up, he'd manage to get him to confess his relationship with Padmé. She would never betray him. He needed his master to realize that—that he wasn't alone, that he had people who cared about him.
"That was embarrassing," Luke said, leaving the room when the conversation ended.
"Don't even mention it," Ahsoka retorted.
"Don't even mention it." "Ahsoka, can I ask you something without you wanting to kill me?" Luke asked timidly.
"If you're going to ask if I like your father, no, he's like a brother to me, and you'd be the eighth person to ask. Many masters thought the same," Ahsoka replied.
"I'm sorry I asked."
"I hope you do. I don't know why everyone thinks I could like my master. I mean, he's taught me everything I know. He's like an older brother. He's taken care of me. He's with Padmé. Padmé is important to me. It could never be."
"I'd never be like that." "Is there someone then?" Luke asked curiously.
"Are you feeling particularly curious today?" Ahsoka asked, but she felt comfortable with Luke; he was her master's son, after all.
"A little."
"If there is someone, no one can know, because it's something that will never happen," Ahsoka said. "Besides, I don't want to know what happens to him in the future." Ahsoka preferred to live in the moment, at least as far as her "childish" crush, as she herself described it, on Lux Bonteri was concerned.
"Anyway, the future doesn't have to matter," Luke said. "We'll change it."
"We'll change it," Ahsoka whispered.
"What about you?" "Is anyone here?" Ahsoka asked.
"No one," Luke replied, recalling a funny anecdote. "Although I kissed Leia when I didn't know she was my sister," he confessed, and Ahsoka almost screamed in shock.
"Great idea, Masters," he said, referring to Yoda and Obi-Wan. "That's what happens when you hide two siblings and don't tell them the truth."
"I thought the same thing when I found out she was my sister. Luckily, I didn't fall in love with her, and neither did she. She loves Han."
"Han?" Ahsoka asked.
"My best friend."
"Tell me about this Han guy," Ahsoka said as they walked slowly toward the courtyard to train.
Luke told her everything about Han. Had Leia really fallen in love with a smuggler? Had she been a Hutt slave?
"I thought the same thing when I found out she was my sister. "Anakin must never find out about the Hutts, not now, not when he learns they're his children."
"Why?" Luke asked, confused.
"He hates slavery, and he doesn't like the Hutts."
"I see. I'll try not to mention it."
"That's for the best," Ahsoka said.
"Finally, you decided to arrive," Anakin greeted, training with Leia.
"Luke is almost as conceited as you. It took him hours to get ready," Ahsoka teased, and they both rolled their eyes.
"Keep training with Leia," Anakin said. "I want to see how Luke has progressed."
"As you say, Master," Ahsoka replied, beginning her training with Leia.
"Alright, Luke, attack me," Anakin said, and Luke began to attack.
"Remember to improve your stance," Anakin reminded him. "Keep your eyes on your opponent and your surroundings," Anakin said, leaping to the side, confusing Luke.
After his conversation with Ahsoka that morning, Luke felt motivated. He felt his training wasn't enough, but now his father was personally taking charge of training him. He would make the most of the opportunity; he wouldn't let him down.
"Very good, Luke. You're improving incredibly," Anakin admitted, and Luke felt proud of himself.
"I was wondering, do you think you have time today to tell me about your battle experience?" Luke asked. He needed to spend more time with his father; he needed to know if he was allied with Palpatine or not, though he sincerely doubted it.
"Of course," Anakin said after thinking it over. He had plans to see the Chancellor, but this was more important. Master Yoda himself had said that the twins were very important for the future; this matter was more important than a simple friendly get-together.
When they finished training, Luke, Leia, Anakin, and Ahsoka retired to the Coruscant gardens.
"Alright, what do you want to know?" Anakin asked, crossing his arms, impatient to answer the questions. It was a good opportunity to discover the future. Wasn't anyone else curious?
"How much do you know about Dooku?" Luke asked directly.
"He was Master Yoda's former apprentice. He turned to the dark side after Master Qui-Gon died."
"Qui-Gon was the one who found you, wasn't he?" Leia asked, and Anakin nodded.
"The last time I saw him was on Mortis, as a Force ghost."
"Mortis?" "Have you seen Force ghosts?" Luke asked, impressed.
"I think that's what I saw. No one's sure if you can really talk to the dead, but Master Yoda believes you can. He's been practicing his meditation ever since. I shouldn't say this," Anakin reminded him. Many would think him crazy if he spoke of these supposed Force ghosts.
"They exist," Luke said quickly. "I've seen them many times."
"Master Yoda was a Force ghost when he sent us," Leia said, without mentioning that Obi-Wan had died.
"Yoda didn't survive?" Anakin asked sadly.
"He died of old age," Luke smiled, remembering the death of his former master. "Peacefully."
"I'm glad his death was peaceful," Anakin smiled. In times of war, hoping for a peaceful death was quite difficult.
"What is Mortis?" Luke asked again. He had a feeling, a premonition, that they would find answers in that place.
"Master Yoda explained to us that it was a conduit, a place where all the power of the universe resides."
"Like Dagobah?" Luke asked.
"Dagobah?" Anakin asked.
"A planet where Master Yoda trained me," Luke replied without elaborating.
"Mortis is different from a planet. Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and I were there, but time only moved forward for us. For everyone else, our ship only disappeared for a few seconds," Anakin explained, and Luke's feeling grew stronger. He had to visit Mortis; he knew he would find answers there.
"Where is this place?" Luke asked.
"It's in the Chrelythiumn system," Anakin mentioned. "All its inhabitants have died anyway."
"What was your journey to Mortis like? What happened? How did you get there?" Luke asked, intrigued.
"We were on a mission, tracking a Jedi distress signal that hadn't been used for 200 years. We were supposed to rendezvous with a Jedi cruiser, but they couldn't find us on radar. We saw what appeared to be a space station, then it pulled us in, and we woke up inside. We didn't even know who landed the ship," Anakin explained.
"Then a beautiful woman arrived, calling herself 'The Daughter.' She took Anakin, telling him he was the Chosen One, and separated us," Ahsoka commented.
"Then we found ourselves alone," Obi-Wan said, arriving at the scene. "A man called 'The Son' came. Night fell, and he warned us that the night storms were deadly."
"We ran to hide in a cave and had strange visions," Ahsoka commented.
"What did you see, know-it-all? You've never told me about that," Anakin murmured.
"Myself," Ahsoka said, puzzled. "It was a strange version of myself."
"What did he tell you?"
"I saw myself," Ahsoka said, puzzled. "It was a strange version of myself."
"What did he tell you?" "Things that won't be true."
"Had you heard voices from the future, wise lady?" Anakin asked.
"Yes, whatever, I'll change them. No matter what he said, that future is being erased," Ahsoka interrupted. In that vision, she herself said that her master had planted seeds of the dark side within her, that she would never see her future if she remained his student. But she was right; she would never see that future if she remained his student, because only by his side could she change it. Now that she thought about it, everything made sense.
"Yes, whatever." "I saw Qui-Gon too. He guided me during my time there," Obi-Wan said.
"I didn't just see Qui-Gon," Anakin confessed. "I saw my mother. It was an illusion, not what she would have said. It was a dark illusion of her 'son.'"
"Anakin, you never told me you saw your mother," Obi-Wan said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"There are many things I haven't told you, Master," Anakin said, a little shaken by the memory of his mother. "Do you think I could talk to you for a moment?" he asked, and Obi-Wan felt hope stir in his heart.
"Of course," he said, and they both said goodbye to the group.
"I'll guess, you want to go to Mortis," Ahsoka said, looking at Luke's determination.
"I'll go. They said time doesn't pass there. I won't be long," Luke said.
"And what if you don't come back? What if something happens to you? I'll have to go with you, and if I'm not there, Anakin will get suspicious."
"You must stay. I have to go alone," Luke insisted.
Ahsoka looked at him doubtfully. She would never forgive herself if anything happened to her master's son, but after their conversation that morning, she knew Luke had to go alone. It was his right, and it was his mission. Leia and Ahsoka nodded. It wasn't any easier for Leia, but she trusted Luke. It wasn't his first solo mission; he had already saved her life from facing Darth Vader. He would be fine; she had a feeling he would.