#post rotj.

[compassionhero]

@dualsabered

"oh, not again..."

luke extinguishes his saber in frustration and pushes the cuff his his right robe-sleeve back. his knuckles are literally skinned, exposing metal joints. wires snake when he flexes his fingers. the cybernetics are still working fine, but the synthflesh has burned right through.

"i'm telling you, i've just about had it with these!" apparently they weren't made for defending the galaxy. or dueling. "what am i supposed to do? get another replacement?"

[compassionhero]

@heavenlyfighter.

     the ground is cracked and dry, but not sandy or dune-swept in the familiar way of tatooine. and he thinks that’s a shimmer of green in the distance, which must mean plants and water. well, probably. as was often the case, luke hadn’t had time to admire the scenery before a fight found him.

     he heard the distress and weariness. it was all the convincing he needed to join the fray, lightsaber hissing. the woman was fighting what looked like a kind of droid, but no model he’d ever heard of, and he missed artoo instantly --- still back with the x-wing, if he followed orders. ( he probably hasn’t. ) true, artoo has no heavy artillery like these guys, but who wouldn’t want a loyal friend at their side?

     by the time the strange droids are dismantled, an eerie dusk is settling over them. luke extinguishes his lightsaber and offers the woman his flesh hand, palm-up, peace-making.

     “i hope you don’t mind my intrusion. they seemed like a lot of trouble to take on with only your fists.”   he smiles.   “then again, i’ve never seen anyone punch like that.”

[compassionhero]

@soaringstill​ asked:     ‘ i know you think you’re all alone out there, but you’re not. ’ - aerith

     “but there’s so much,”   he says, and his voice pitches with emotion before he can swallow it back.

     luke sweeps his hair back from his forehead. it falls right back as he rests his chin on his thumb. before he had the force to name the way he felt, the galaxy's endlessness seemed bright with stars, full of possibility.

     now it makes him lonely. 

     so much to do. so much he hasn’t learned. so much suffering he didn’t see before. the force is the same as it was, so he must be the one who changed --- something in him gone up in smoke with his father. or maybe before that.

     when there were more jedi, did they shoulder the weight together?

     “i understand what i have to do. i just don’t know where to start.”

[compassionhero]

@ungratefuldead asked:     ❛ Try me tomorrow. Maybe I’ll tell you tomorrow. ❜

     the luke she met a few years before would have tilted his head at her, perplexed. tomorrow? huh? this luke is a little older. whether he’s any wiser is not for him to say, but no longer does he blurt out the first thing that pops into his head. 

     he shoots a sideways glance at artoo, who swivels and whistles back at him. 

     no, of course it isn’t how he expected this to go, artoo.

     that was probably his first mistake, having expectations. the idea of teaching new jedi is a daydream he dusts off, when rebuilding the galaxy seems a task too big for his hands alone and he needs to imagine things settling down. someday there will be more hands. someday he will have learned enough to teach.

     until he looks back levelly into audrey’s eyes, and someday isn’t someday anymore. someday isn’t tomorrow. she’s standing right in front of him. 

     “maybe i don’t need you to tell me.”   he leans forward. there isn’t a shade of mockery in his voice.   “the force is strong in you, audrey. i felt it. i know you must have felt it, too.”

[compassionhero]

@glacierfront  asked:     ‘ you’re in some kind of trouble, aren’t you. ’

     “yeah, uh --- i mean, no, not me. i’m looking for my droid.”

     there’s a kind of embarrassed grace in the way he stands, hand on his waist, sun in his eyes. like his gut instinct is to apologize for the inconvenience of having to involve her.   “astromech. silver and blue, about this high? he’s...”   carrying vital information off on some joy ride, apparently. luke scratches the back of his head.   “... lost. you seen him?”

[compassionhero]

@soaringstill​.

for aerith.

     “part of me always knew i would have to find the right place for myself.”   he remembers being a boy staring at a bright desert horizon. wanting to leave, knowing he had to, but not doing it.   “but if you can’t find it... at least you can dream of it.”

     he tries to be kind to the memory of that boy for the sake of the others out in the galaxy like him. dreams can keep a person alive.

[compassionhero]

@haunthealer.

     here’s the thing: luke isn’t dumb. it’s never great when you have to lead with that, but he isn’t. people hear the way he talks or see his well-worn mannerisms or the earnest look on his face and assume he is – well, they assume it less often now, when they recognize him. but they never used to think that maybe he’s earnest on purpose.

     he knows he takes the wrong things seriously. sometimes he does miss it, the secret cue, the sarcastic tone he was meant to pick up on. but when audrey makes an offhand self-deprecating comment, he registers it as a joke. he just doesn’t feel like laughing.

     “i’ve got a lot of feeling for you. you’re kind.”

[compassionhero]

@covenstrays​.

for dark side nahia.

     the truth is that luke is afraid. of many things, but right now, more than anything, of not being enough. one person can never right all the wrongs of the empire, and he’s heard stories of the children who vanished after the jedi fell, of the young padawans who were broken instead of executed. inquisitors and emperor’s hand. he isn’t a knight because he is purer or kinder or braver than them – only because he was spared until he could understand.

     “sometimes you glimmer with a light i’ve seen before.”   my father had it.

     luke’s voice is quiet, but a little too quick, with hardly a breath between the word. he can’t disguise how much he means it. he’s holding out his hand to her, and he isn’t going to pull back at the last moment and let her fall.   “does that frighten you?”

     ( the truth is that luke is afraid, but he is still holding out his hand. )