Ren's eyes absorbed every detail, noting that the man hadn't changed at all in the years since he'd last seen him. As far as Ren could tell, the only difference between Luke then and Luke now was how weak the older man's Force presence was. Well, that and the fact that he had Rey's lightsaber clipped to his belt.
Blessed anger rose to drown out some of the nearly overwhelming fear and pain that he tried vainly to deny he was feeling. She'd obviously went to his uncle after she'd abandoned him - iNo,/i he corrected himself, ishe ran straight to Luke and gave him her weapon./i
Refusing to give in to the pain of this latest betrayal, he focused it until it fueled his fury before he mockingly asked his uncle, "Did you come back to say you forgive me? To save my soul?"
Luke's eyebrows shot up as he answered, shaking his head as he spoke to his nephew for the first time since he'd tried to murder Ren in his sleep, "No."
Ren shrugged off his cape then took a few steps forward and drew his weapon. Igniting it he settled into his fighting stance - firmly planting his feet against the thin layer of shifting salt that had already begun to cover the red dirt his walkers had left bare only minutes ago.
Luke slowly raised then ignited the smooth, blue-white blade of Rey's weapon, slipped easily into an upright defensive stance and waited. He raised his own lightsaber to glare down the length of it's unstable crimson blade at his uncle as he gathered the strength and courage to attack the Jedi Master. The same man who's betrayal had ultimately lead to Young Ben Solo's being beaten, tortured and manipulated - by Snoke - until nothing was left behind but Kylo Ren.
Power zinged through him, spurring him into action and he dashed toward Luke, switching to a reverse grip at the last moment as he felt his uncle's intent to dodge. Though he let the momentum of his initial attack carry through into a backhanded swing as he passed by, Luke managed to dodge that attack as well.
Spinning quickly to face the Jedi again Kylo forced his frustration down as best he could and reset his grip as he brought the weapon around in preparation for another attempt at Luke.
This time he eschewed any fancy grip work and went straight for a power slice aimed at Skywalker's middle. With surprising speed and agility, for a man his age, Luke bent backward so that Ren's blade passed harmlessly over him.
Again using the momentum of his first swing, Kylo followed through with an immediate downward chop aimed at Luke's head. The Jedi spun and skittered away from his nephew's deadly blade in a fashion that not even the most nimble of normal people could have accomplished.
Biting back a growl of frustration Kylo spun to face his opponent - too enraged to form a coherent thought, he glared at his uncle.
"I failed you, Ben." Luke said in a voice made rough with emotion. "I'm sorry."
Kylo found his tongue at last as, barely managing to not fly completely apart, he spat out, "I'm isure/i are!" Before listing only a few of the things, as he saw it, that Luke had reason to be sorry about. "The Resistance is dead! The war is over! And when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi!"
The moment of triumph caused by that thought was cut short when Luke said, in an almost passé manner, "Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong." Kylo felt a spike of fear shoot through him and shoved it away forcefully as Luke continued, "The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi."
His insides twisted and his traitorous heart skipped a beat at Luke's almost reverential mention of Rey. "I'll destroy her," he promised, more to himself than to Luke. "And you, and all of it!"
Surprising his nephew, Luke extinguished the blue blade and straightened from of his defensive posture. "No." Luke said confidently. "Strike me down in anger and I'll always be with you. Just like your father."
At the mention of Han, Ren's heart twinged painfully. How could Luke know that he was haunted by his father's murder? How could he know that the deed plagued Ren night and day? How… unless ishe/i had told him.
Fury overwhelmed the younger man, robbing him of all other thoughts and feelings. Gripping his lightsaber so hard the leather of his glove protested, Ren burst forward, running at his uncle as fast as his legs could carry him. Wild and more than half crazed in his rage, Kylo swung his weapon in a wide arc that sliced cleanly through Luke at chest level.
He skidded to a stop a full three meters past the spot where his blade had passed through Luke - with surprising little resistance. Kylo took a few shuddering breaths as he waited for his uncle's weak Force presence to wink out of existence.
Seconds, like eons, ticked by slowly and Luke's presence didn't disappear. Nor did he experience the instantaneous spiritual unburdening that had come with Snoke's bisection.
Almost too afraid to look, Ren hesitantly turned his head. Seeing Luke still in one piece, turning toward him, sent shockwaves of terror skittering throughout his entire body. Slowly, unsure of how to proceed, he turned around to face his uncle who gazed placidly at him as if he hadn't a care in the world.
A sneaking suspicion threaded through Kylo's mind and, raising his weapon, he took a few long strides forward until the hissing red blade penetrated Luke's chest as Skywalker gazed at him with an expression that was clearly disappointed.
His disbelieving eyes flicked from the spot where his blade impaled Luke to his uncle's eyes. "No." He gasped as the truth of the situation slammed into his brain - Luke was not, nor had he ever been, here. He was projecting himself as Kylo had once, fleetingly, thought Rey might have been doing during that first Force-enabled visit between them.
"See you around, kid." Luke promised - then, lowering his head, slowly vanished into thin air.
Kylo knew enough about Force projection to know that the amount of power it took to project one's self such a distance, with such palpability - for any length of time - could prove fatal to even the strongest Force user. Surely, Luke knew that, too. So, why would he sacrifice his life to put on this little charade?
His eyes nearly bulged out of his head as one final truth slapped him across the face. Reaching into the mine with the Force his senses told him what his mind already knew. The mine was empty - the rebels had used the distraction that Luke provided in order to escape.
Whipping around to look at the empty mine he screamed his frustration into the uncaring wind. "bNO!/b" he shouted over and over until finally, a tremor in the Force washed over him, alerting him to his uncle's actual, physical death.
Relief surged through him and with it an eerie calmness settled into his mind. iLuke is dead,/i he thought. iHe's gone - he'll never stand in my way again./i
Straightening up, Kylo calmly returned his sword to his belt and turned to glare at Hux through the tinted front window of the command shuttle where the General stared at him with unconcealed disgust. With a stiff nod of his head, Kylo signaled Hux to send in his ground forces.
He knew it was too late to catch any rebels, but that didn't mean they hadn't left anything behind that might prove useful - for finding them - to the First Order's intel division.
It took only minutes for Hux and about half a battalion of Stormtroopers to reach Kylo Ren, but the sun was already setting by the time the Supreme Leader strode through the entrance to the mine with a dozen or so troops, and Hux at his back.
Gesturing with one hand for his men stay out, he entered the rebel's command center alone. As soon as he walked through the door his eyes were immediately drawn to a golden sparkle in the middle of dusty floor. Almost reluctantly he stepped over and squatted down to retrieve the golden chance cubes that had been his favorite childhood toy.
The dice, at one time large enough to fill his palm, felt tiny, almost fragile in his hand as memories from many years ago washed through his mind. He remembered the story his mother had often told about the first time he'd ever touched them.
Ben Solo been barely more than a baby while Han - who was holding Ben, in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon - began arguing with Leia over who knows what. Taking advantage of his parents distraction Ben had snagged one of the dice from where they hung on a hook above the ship's control panel. The thin chain that connected the two die had proven stronger than he'd expected. He'd pulled with all his might and the other die had suddenly popped loose from the hook it was snagged on. The trinket had then slammed into Han's mouth, nearly sliding down his throat. Leia had then begun to laugh as Han had choked on his words and spat the dice out to look at his son who was grinning happily at having won the tug of war with the hook. Taking her son into her arms Leia also took the dice from Han and gave them to Ben, telling him to be sure to stuff them in Han's mouth anytime he caught his dad being such a dimwitted stick-brain.
He'd carried those dice around with him every day, for years, after that. Though he hadn't ever understood or even remembered the incident that had gained him the toy, he had treasured it because it belonged to his father.
As a small child he had, like most little boys with charismatic dads, loved - indeed even hero-worshipped - his father above all things.
The dice in his hand wavered as tears gathered in his eyes. Though his father had disappointed him a countless number of times, he never stopped loving him or thinking of him as a hero - he'd just convinced himself that love was worthless and heroes were useless.
He remembered the day he'd thrown those dice at his father in disgust. It was the day he'd left to go to Luke. He'd begged his father to make Leia let him stay. He'd insisted that he didn't want to be a Jedi, that he wanted to be a pilot - like him. But Han had just given him a defeated sigh and said that there was nothing he could do. That he didn't understand Jedi, or kids, or women and that he thought Leia knew a lot more about what Ben needed than he ever could. Han had then tried to hug him but Ben had shrugged him off then pulled the dice from his pocket and thrown them in Han's face, shouting that he hated him, before storming off to board the ship that would take him away from his parents and set him on the path that would lead him here - to this dusty old mine.
Swallowing hard he stared at those dice while his mind switched gears to the last time he had seen his father.
He'd been so close to just giving in. So close. But then he'd remembered - remembered all the hell he had been through since he had last seen Han - the day he'd thrown those dice in his father's face. Years of anger, resentment and abuse had passed between those two days. Years that had destroyed Ben Solo and given rise to Kylo Ren - years that could have been so different if only Han had spoken up for his son. If only Han had stood by his son like a father should.
Thinking back to the moment he had killed Han Solo, he could almost feel his father's callused hand against his face, almost hear Chewie's tormented bellow, almost hear Rey's scream.
As if the very thought of her had conjured her to his side, Rey's presence filled the space around him.
His eyes jerked away from the dice in his hand and landed on hers. Shock exploded through his system. He never thought he'd see her like this again... not with Snoke dead… unless - had Snoke lied about being responsible for their connection? Kylo wouldn't put it past Snoke - the former Supreme Leader lied about pretty much everything, as far as Kylo could tell.
Too overcome to do more than stare at her in utter shock, Kylo felt her crushing disappointment in him slowly turning toward something akin to resolve. He could literally feel her heart hardening against him. She was angry, but not unreasonably so under the circumstances, and he could feel that she bore him no hatred at all - but he could also tell that, in that moment, she held no compassion for him, either.
A tiny flicker of hope ignited deep in his soul and he moved to call to her but stopped when he felt a fresh wave of anger course through her. With a quick movement of her hand she quickly disappeared from her toes up. A loud, familiar clang reverberated through the room and he realized she had shut the Millennium Falcon's loading ramp in his face.
In the back of his mind he recognized that the Falcon was still somewhere nearby and on the ground. He knew it, but suddenly he didn't care about destroying the decrepit old hunk of junk.
A part of him even hoped it would make it past his fleet.
His eyes and mind turned back to the dice in his hand. He flicked the chain and watched it swing freely as the trinket faded into nothingness, leaving him staring at his own empty hand.
He knotted his fist against the anguish that tore through his heart as the reality of his own emptiness crushed down upon him.
iEmpty,/i he thought, iwhat a perfectly apt description./i
Hot tears poured silently down his face as he let his head droop until his chin rested upon his chest.
With no family, no friends, no Rey - that's exactly what his life was - empty.
And so was he.
THE END.