#luke: i hate this whole planet.

[woodlandwrites]

i. mind over matter

aphrodite!reader x luke castellan

pre-tlt, characters 18+, mdni, def going to be a pt.2

warnings: cursing, whole lotta impertinence!

2.7k read - unedited

You have been plagued by flocks of doves and Luke Castellan. So Aphrodite decides to meddle a little a lot in your love life. Who needs memories anyway? Unfortunately, the only person you find comfort in - is the very person you hate.

A/N: first fic in a loooong time - stick with me here. there will be more parts and maybeee some spice? anyways hope you enjoy!

You’d like to think that Aphrodite loved the game of making you miserable. In retrospect, you hated your mother. She was a hard act to follow. 

Don’t jump to conclusions - you loved your cabin. Your brothers and sisters were wonderful - not vain like most campers would say. No, that was not an issue. The problem started with one slender, curly haired, crooked smile boy - Luke Castellan. He was the golden boy of Camp Half-Blood and the bane of your existence. 

Luke was an astonishingly aggravating self-centered egotistical bigot. 

“Why do you hate him so much,” Silena asked one day out of the blue. You both sat in the stands watching Luke teach his swordsmanship class. You pondered her question for a while.

“Because. He confuses me - and aggravates me constantly. I have never met anyone so full of themselves in my entire life. He is Narcissus reborn again. It also does not help that he is a complete jerk,” you nodded as you ate another fresh strawberry. Silena pondered on your words.

“Are you sure this has nothing to do with mom and the whole..argument,” she said in a cautionary tone.

Silena was the only one who knew about you and Aphrodite’s - complicated past. To be fair - she didn’t know the entire truth. The prophecy, the impertinence, all the bullshit. However, she did know that your shoulders seemed to tense every time Aphrodite’s name was mentioned. 

“I mean every time I have talked to him at camp counselor meetings he seems like an alright guy.

Silena - forever the optimist. Sometimes when you looked at her through the corner of your eye she resembled your mother. She had this soft tone and locks of hair that seemed to always catch the wind just right. Yeah, no wonder Luke was nice to her. Selina was extremely beautiful - Beckendorf struck gold. 

“Yeah, I can see right through the façade-” you were cut off by a dove landing next to you. He started pecking at your strawberries mindlessly. Silena stifled a small giggle. 

“It is funny when it isn’t happening to you. The bastards have been following me around for days,” you said annoyed.

You tried scaring the bird away - only for more to return. After a couple minutes an estimated 20 doves flocked around you mimicking every move. 

“Go away!” you screamed - only for the feathered friends to cock their heads in curiosity. By now, the entire arena seemed to convert their attention to you. 

“Hey! I heard if they shit on your head it’ll bring good luck,” Luke echoed watching amused.

He leaned against his sword in a cocky manner. What an asshole - you hated when he did that. The other campers seemed to laugh along. 

“Up yours, Castellan,” you yelled with a face the color of cherries. 

The doves had now increased their army to a solid 50 - all looking to you for a further instruction. Doves had followed you around your entire life - a gift your mother had bestowed to you. The unfortunate part was that they were pretty much the most non obedient monsters on the entire planet. You never had truly understood why they would appear - most of the time it was a random occurrence. Of course - Luke was always there to revel in your misfortune. You still had not forgotten when the doves caused a complete riot last month at dinner - leaving quite a mess for you to clean up. The younger campers were still traumatized. 

That was the thing about doves - they were just like your mother. At first they are nice to look at, almost sweet. That is until they turn into vicious assailants from Tartarus (Silena says you overreact). They also annoy you - another common attribute with your mother. 

“For Gods sake just leave!,” you yelled again, stomping off, bidding Silena goodbye.

You did not want to continue being entertainment for the rest of the campers. The doves seemed to take the hint - maintaining their place in the stands. You were sure there were some week old snacks stuffed between the seats the rotted things could ravish on. Luke chuckled before turning his attention back to his students. 

The sun was setting and soon it would be dinner - but you still sat in bed thinking about what Silena had mentioned early about your mom. Maybe it was your nerves - but you knew a visit soon would be unavoidable. The doves only confirmed your suspicion. It was rare for gods to visit Camp Half-Blood, at least publically. The closest thing the camp had to godliness was Mr. D - what a joke. However, you knew your mother and her constant desire to meddle with your life. 

Dinner went without a hunch - except for the Stoll twins starting a food fight at the Hermes table. You loved quiet nights like these where the summer breeze feels like a warm hug. Silena nudged you - reading her expression you knew she was inquiring about the events from earlier. A shrug sufficed. You were so caught up in laughing with your siblings you failed to notice the yelling from the other side of the pavilion. 

“One of the Ares girls was flirting with Luke after you left today - Charlie and I could not help but laugh. It was so awkward,” Silena mentioned.

 There were a couple of murmured sounds and gawking from your siblings - which was the usual. If there was one thing they loved it was - well - love. However this subject rubbed you the wrong way - maybe it was just Luke’s name being mentioned.

It felt like a suffocating gut punch and it was most likely your mothers doing. If there was anything she loved more it was demigod love - the trials and tribulations - and of course the unfortunate ends. It quite literally made you sick. But why did Luke have to be roped in it and moreover - why did you care? You smiled and nodded - trying to pay attention and not let the thoughts take over. 

“Get these goddamn things off of me!,” a familiar voice yelled in annoyance.

So wrapped up in thought - you failed to care - assuming it was a practical Hephaestus joke with an Ares kid. Selina quickly nudged you pointing towards the Hermes table - for quite an interesting scene. Luke being attacked by a merciless army of doves. 

“Hey Castellan, let them shit on your head - heard it was good luck!,” the words reflected from just a few hours prior.

You couldn’t help but giggle - it was nice not being the receiver of dove aggravated assault (as Beckendorf had termed it). It was also nice not to be the joke for once - everyone laughing at someone else for a change was different. 

“Call the damn things off,” he struggled - yelling your name in the process.

“Why do you automatically assume I am the one who set them off? They just do what they want!” you retorted.

 Silena looked at you - questioning your motives. He struggled even more as the doves thrashed him around - seemling gaining confidence in their blows. They seemed - deadly - more than before. Silena muttered your name.

“You have to try,” Silena persuaded. Reluctantly you obeyed - knowing she was being more serious than she was putting on. 

“Stop!” you yelled sternly to the winged creatures.

Like usual - they did not obey. Unfortunately, they keep going - tearing Luke’s shirt in the process. He held himself quite well against dove assassins  - a fact you did not want to admit to yourself. 

“παύω!” You spoke - pleading that it would end.

It was all your mothers fault. She wanted you to be miserable. She wanted to ruin your night, humiliate you - and to hurt Luke. You weren’t sure why that last part bothered you so much.

 “Φεύγω!” you screamed once more in an earthshaking tone.

The doves dissipated automatically. Like literally - poof - into dust. Again - the entire camp had its eyes on you - what else was new?

“What is wrong with you,” Luke questioned - still astonished at the sheer power of your voice - that very voice that made doves disintegrate. You slowly looked up at his disheveled appearance - he looked worse.

Beautiful. 

You wish that voice in your head would go suck a dick!

“Shows over, enjoy your dessert,” you said bitterly to the crowd taking a bow.

Silena yelled your name but you had already darted towards the woods. You could hear the muttering of the crowd questioning the evening entertainment. You could not seem to care. 

You took a seat in the sand on the beach overlooking the shore. The moonlight seemed to make the water sparkle like diamonds. You felt almost calm here - no one to distract you from your thoughts. Why did his words strike you like a knife? He might as well plant backbiter into your back, it would hurt less. It all led to the proper question - why? Why would the doves attack him anyway? They had never done anything quite so ruthless before - nevertheless to another sole person. 

Then again - it was always about Luke - ever since you got to the infernal camp. He was probably celebrated for his brave victory in the battle of the doves - hoisted up by other campers. You suppose a feast in his honor was in order. 

“You think such unhappy thoughts,” an angelic voice sang from the sea. 

Your attention turned towards a bundle of sea foam. The foam began to sparkle and mangle to take the shape of a woman the closer it got to shore. Soon after your mother - Aphrodite stood before you - in all her glory.

“I thought seafoam was just whale jizz,” you spoke casually. You chucked at yourself that was a good one!

Of - fucking - course. Your mother was behind the entire dove fiasco - you called it. You should start placing bets at this point. 

“Most would be labeled impertinent with that attitude - especially with a God.” 

“I am impertinent.” You shrugged, pulling your knees to your chest. Maybe if you really ignored her she would disappear. 

“I will not disappear yet - we have much to discuss.” 

“Get out of my head.” 

“I heard what occurred tonight at dinner. Shame, doves are very gentle creatures.”

A dove magically appeared in her hands, letting out a soft coo. You cringed. If you saw another dove tonight - you might just roast it and eat it. 

“So that was you?” You asked venomously.

“Well thanks mom! Now the entire camp thinks I tried to kill the golden boy with a league of killer doves. They all think I am absolutely crazy.”

“I did nothing, my child.” You gawked at her - she paused to collect her thoughts.

“However, you might want to look within yourself before you spit accusations that are not true. I merely gave you a gift - how you use it is at your own expense.” She finished. 

“But I don’t control those horrid things - they just show up and do whatever. Why would I even attack Luke with a bunch of wimpy doves?”

That was your mother, having the audacity to say you caused the incident. That it was all your fault. 

“Love, perhaps?” Her eyes seemed to glitter at the thought. 

“No.” Ugh, not this again, you thought.

“Doves are a mere - personification of one’s inner love. That is why I gave you the gift - so your innermost feelings can never be bottled. That does horrid things to one’s complexion.” 

“Well thanks for the shitty gift, mother. Next time maybe a pair of socks will do the trick.” 

“Why do you insist on denying who you are? Denying what you are destined to become? Denying yourself the love of the century?”

“Why love someone if they eventually will die.” It was true. Your father had died when you were young - leaving you an orphan. Your demigod friends you made throughout the years died horrible unspeakable deaths.

“Isn’t that all the more fun?” 

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you? You just love to see me suffer?”

“You’re being rash.” She fired back.

“Rash? Where have you been?” You scoffed at your godly mother.

“Child, I do not write destiny - I only enforce it. I know you more than you would like to admit, sweet dove. And you - are in love with the child of Hermes.”

 Apollo could’ve shot you through the chest - it would have felt better. 

“Mother, you have it mixed up - I do not have any feelings for Luke. You’re just making things up because you are bored and need some excitement. Please go back to Olympus and meddle with someone else’s life,” you stated. You staggered to your feet dusting the sand off. 

Before you could walk away a bolt of pure energy hit you in your spine. You flew to your feet hitting the ground with a hard thud. In a blur your mother was standing proud above your feet - surrounded in a pink aura. 

“Luke Castellan, he will keep you safe - and you will keep him steady.” 

You might have thought to curse at her - but you couldn’t speak - let alone move. She had disappeared from vision leaving only a dove in her wake. The pain - was excruciating - like being electrocuted a million times. Your ears rang terrible tunes as you tried to level yourself - only to fall back down. The world was spinning at an unmeasurable pace. You could hear shrill screaming - or was it yours? You weren’t even sure who you were? Only images of dark curls, broad shoulders, and crooked smiles flashed through your vision. 

A quake of footsteps running towards the shore were felt as you thrashed in the sand. Voices - yelling a name - whose name? You couldn’t recall. All you knew was darkness. 

“Y/N?!” a feminine voice called. You could feel her hands shake your shoulder violently - it felt like knives.

You heard screams - this time knowing it was your shrill cry. You pushed her away with force. You backed away, crawling backwards in desperation. 

Once your vision returned you focused to see a swarm of kids all in orange shirts - staring at you in shock. The girl who touched you - you could only assume was kneeling in the sand in front of you. She seemed to be pleading.

“Stay away, please,” you pleaded with tears streaming from your eyes. You weren’t sure what had happened but you knew you had never felt pain so deeply. 

“Y/N, please you were screaming. We only want to make sure you are okay. We can go to the infirmary and figure it out,” the girl reached out only for you to retreat more. You hyperventilate on your own words. 

“What’s going on?” another voice asked with urgency from beyond the crowd.

Every child seemed to turn their attention to focus on the male figure. Pushing his way through the crowd - he became shocked at the scene before him.

However, you felt as if all the oxygen had left your body - leaving you limp. You felt as if a hand had grabbed your heart and ripped it in two. He was the one - the one you had seen in your visions. 

“Y/N?” he questioned - half concerned, half annoyed. His chocolate eyes seemed to lock ever so easily with yours. He was indeed the most beautiful man you had ever seen - like a carving of marble. Your soul ached. Without a thought - on instinct alone - you ran. He was engulfed in a desperate hug - his shoulder muffled your pitiful cries. 

“Please, you’re the only one who can help.” You could feel the eyes on the two of you - the gasps were hard to ignore. He went stiff in his posture - not sure how to react. Silence fell over the entire shore, only the crashing of waves in the background. 

“Y/N what is going on? Is this some sort of prank?” he asked in disbelief. 

He had never seen you like this - so scared. Some small part of him wanted to scoop you up, hold you tight, and tell you everything would be okay. He wanted to tell you how he would fix all your problems - just so he would never see you cry again. Although these feelings were so suppressed he restrained.

Gods you were beautiful. 

“I- I don’t know who Y/N is. I don’t know anyone. I don’t know me.” 

[saphronethaleph]

Rushing the boomer

“How long?” Palpatine asked.

“Do not strain yourself, lord,” one of the cultists said. “Your attempt to possess the Snoke body will have weakened you-”

“I am well aware of my limitations,” Palpatine snapped, then turned to the Final Order engineer. “How long, commander?”

“That depends, my lord,” the engineer replied, his voice firm. “For the whole fleet… fourteen years. A single ship could be completed in eight. One ship coming online at a time in sequence, the first ship will be finished in nine years and the whole fleet in sixteen.”

Palpatine frowned.

“The whole fleet, then,” he said. “The might of the Final Order will blaze a path across the galaxy, and all will obey the Sith or perish.”

“It is as you command, my lord,” the engineer said, saluting.

Palpatine waved him away, then gestured, and a hologram of the Star Destroyers currently under construction formed in the air above him.

They were vast ships, for line vessels, and the Sith Eternal were building one thousand and eighty of them.

One thousand and eighty!

Never again would rebels exploit a single point of failure and destroy his most powerful and only superweapon… a fate he had experienced twice, now, and each one burned like a canker in his heart, the fury suffusing him and lending him strength.

At his insistence, Palpatine’s spies in the wider galaxy, outside Exegol, had found for him the names of every single person who had been directly involved in the attack on both Death Stars.

Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia Organa Solo, Evaan Verlaine… all of those names were of people he hated. And Palpatine would see them destroyed, one way or another.

But there were four names for which the Dark Lord of the Sith reserved his greatest hatred. The true, simmering passion that Palpatine held for those who had truly thwarted his plans.

Landonis Balthazar Calrissian. Nien Nunb. Wedge Antilles… and, more than anyone else, Luke Skywalker.

If there was anyone who Palpatine wanted to destroy, it was Luke Skywalker… not merely to see him dead, but to humiliate him. To tear him down. To reduce all his triumphs to smouldering ruins.

Break the New Republic. Destroy the New Jedi Order. Turn his own family against him. Shatter his will.

That was what Palpatine would do, to Luke Skywalker.

And then – and only then – would the galaxy burn, worlds submitting to the rule of the Sith or being destroyed.

Thinking such pleasant thoughts, it took a moment for Palpatine to notice the flashing red alert on the side of the holodisplay.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. “Explain it!”

“We’ve picked up ships, incoming,” an officer said, looking up from his displays on the other side of the room. “Lots of them – Rebel ship classes!”

Palpatine’s hand waved, and the holodisplay reconfigured to show the Red Honeycomb Zone and the tactical displays.

Sure enough, ships were coming through. Two Mon Cal star cruisers, first, then frigates and cruiser class vessels, disgorging a cloud of snubfighters from their hangar bays.

Sith Eternal TIE Fighters were already taking off, but Palpatine could see the difference between the two forces – the Sith Eternal was a secret military and had never actually fought in battle, and it had been aiming for a projected readiness date over a decade in the future.

The New Republic fighter corps was no such easy target. Even without their shields, their skill and training were clearly superior, and the first pass saw a dozen Sith fighters go down in blazing, burning wrecks. A dogfight was already beginning, but it was a dogfight that could only go one way.

But how had this happened? Exegol was secret! With the hyperspace anomalies protecting it, the only way to visit the planet would be to not only know where it was but be shown…

...unless, that was, someone had a Sith wayfinder.

Suddenly gripped by a cold rush of fear that prompted a surge of utter hatred, Palpatine reached out with his mind towards the New Republic strike force as it became haloed in laserfire and explosions.

He could sense a Sith Wayfinder. HIS Sith Wayfinder! The one that had been in his throne room during the Battle of Endor.

Pushing harder, Palpatine located the dancing spark of the wayfinder, alongside a sickeningly familiar presence – a presence ducking and dodging and rolling, as it locked onto and destroyed one TIE Fighter after another.

“Skywalker!” Palpatine shouted, then coughed. “SKYWALKER!”

“Watch out, there’s another fighter flight taking off from the hangar system to port,” Nien Nunb said, pointing.

“Got it, keying them in,” Lando agreed, his gaze flicking between the displays of the Raddus flag bridge. “Hey, Wedge, you want to take those fighters and the battleline will kill the hangar for you?”

“Copy that, General,” Wedge agreed. “Red leader to Red Alpha flight, follow me in!”

Six X-wings rolled to follow Wedge in, and Lando checked over the displays again.

“Well, I’m no expert but I think we caught them with their pants down, Admiral,” he said, glancing back at Leia. “No more than one in fifty of the capital ship turbolasers are working, and most of them seem to still be under construction.”

He whistled. “It’s a damn good thing we caught them when we did, though, I’m reading over six hundred ships in states of construction and there’s hundreds more building slips.”

The Raddus jolted as a volley of turbolasers hit, then the radio crackled.

“Gold leader here,” Verlaine called in. “Princess, I’ve got eyes on where that fire’s coming from, looks like a turbolaser testing facility with some working cannon. My boys and girls will fix that little problem.”

Nien made the adjustment before Lando got to it, and a double volley of proton torpedoes blasted the facility to pieces.

“It’s certainly a damn good thing we found them before they finished,” Leia agreed. “How did you do it?”

“Well, our lead ran out on Kijimi,” Lando said. “Then I realized nobody had actually checked the wreckage of the Second Death Star, and unlike the first the second’s armour wasn’t in place to contain the explosion. I thought it was likely some of it had come down intact, so Luke and I went over to find it and that’s how we got here.”

“I’m picking something up-” Nien reported, then they all looked out the window at once as a flare of lightning crackled up from a hole in the ground. It gripped a New Republic corvette, lightning crawling over the surface and ripping chunks out of it, and when the bolts stopped the engines had been disabled and most of the CR90 crashed seconds later.

“Skywalker here, I’m on it,” Luke said, his X-Wing shooting past and shooting down one of the last enemy TIEs. The Jedi Master’s snubfighter kept going, rolling into a complex manoeuvre and spitting laserbolts down the chasm, then the lightning came back up again – and Luke’s ship absorbed it, glowing bright white as the energy was corralled and neutralized.

“I don’t know about you, but that looks like the main event as far as I’m concerned,” Lando noted.

[that-one-kiddo-in-the-back]

Star Wars doesn't need to let the dark side be more interesting.

Oh boy. Like I said in my last post about star wars. I live, breathe, and shit star wars its my favorite sci-fi.

Without watching the video and only focusing on the title is that the dark side is already interesting because of how mysterious it is. All the people who are naturally connected to the dark side of the force are all gone, and the now and day sith keep everything close to their chest. The dark side is called that because of how rarely people shine a light on it.

Now to the actual video... why does Lily have to be so mean about it? She brings up how people would like to see more Star Wars without the force involved to be able to see the galaxy in a bigger light, to which she says those people lack vision and that what we really need is more sith characters. 😮‍💨 just go watch tales of the empire then.

Something that Lily needs to know is that anger and hate aren't one in the same. She brings up Yoda's monolog but still doesn't understand it or the Jedi's thoughts about emotions and how they view them. For those who don't know Yoda's monolog goes like this

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

When he says that, it's supposed to make you think more clearly about your emotions to be mindful of them. The Jedi's main advice when dealing with negative emotions is to meditate, which is genuine good advice, and she would know that if she actually went to therapy. They aren't telling you not to be angry just to not let that anger consume you because that will make you do things you will soon come to regret, making you fall deeper.

Think back to when Anakin found out his mother was taken by the Tusken Raiders, and when he found her, he was too late, and she died in his arms. Now, he had a right to be angry about what they did to her. The Tusken Raiders was just another reminder of how much Tatooine had stolen from him how much he hated the planet. But notice how him taking revenge wasn't labeled as a good thing when he got back home with his mother wrapped up, in his arms and after she was buried he confided in padme that he was so anger that he didn't just kill the men responsible but the women and the children too that he was so consumed in his grief that he wasn’t even thinking and by the time he realized what he had done it was far too late and the whole tribe was dead. Or how about when Anakin thought Padme had betrayed him and he started to choke her out the dark side had twisted his mind into thinking and doing things he wouldn't do he might not have killed Padme but he was pretty close to it all because he was consumed with hate.

Part of me thinks Lily hasn't read the high republic or the old legends before the republic, and the Jedi order was corrupt the Jedi prided themselves as peace keeper and negotiators when a war was about to break out on a planet you sent or asked for a Jedi to help stop it before it happened for fuck sakes the first thing you hear in the phantom menace is people calling Obi Wan and Qui gon negotiators.

Can we also not use the death of George Floyd to make a shity star wars take??? Why did you have to bring up the real death of a police brutally that hadn't even hit the two year mark of the video? If you have to make a comparison to a real-world death, at least make it from ten or twenty years ago. We'll add that to Lily being an insensitive jerk tally board.

I was going to end the post with that, but as I continued to watch the video, Lily said something that made me stop in my tracks, and that was... Leia is technically a sith because she follows the sith code to a tea...

Bitch what?!?!

Leia, while being strong in the force and training with Luke, fought in the rebellion for the sake of peace she doesn't want people to die or another planet to blow up both her and Luke are what the Jedi once was. Peace keepers that want peace for them and everyone around them. Leia is, first and foremost, a politician and more over a freedom fighter she fights for freedom the sith have only ever fought for themselves.

Oh my God. I'm close to unlocking alcoholism. For the love of God, Lily, your sith, do not steal OC is not a good person either, but that's a post for another day.

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

*enables you* what happened with TLJ 👃

After all these years I still can't properly find words to explain how deeply betrayed I felt after the credits rolled and I shuffled out of the movie theater with everybody else. There was a TON of hype surrounding this movie, an absolute fuckton. I only saw positive reviews about it, the cast, the director, the plot. I got excited to see where Rian Johnson & Co. would take the ST.

The only remotely negative comment I saw before watching the movie was a fandom blog saying they didn't like what happened to Poe. Since this blog was about racism in fandom, I knew something was off. That was my only warning.

And y'know, it was like, five minutes in? Ten minutes? And Poe makes a "Yo mama" joke at Hux? I used to go into movies with an open mind and spent days gathering my thoughts about them because I was always slow to react, slow to gather my thoughts into coherent strings of words. It's how I enjoyed Michael Bay productions and JJ Abrams' love affair with lens flare. I never got actively angry with a movie I was watching, and I was fucking angry by the time the movie ended. I still remember texting a friend while standing out in front of the theater because I was so confused. The response to TLJ was so positive so why did I come out of the movie so frustrated and confused and dissatisfied with the whole thing?

It's been years and we all know how this movie divided the Star Wars fandom and just... broke Fandom Spaces in a way I never expected. We all know what TLJ did and didn't do, and how TROS provided the final nail in the coffin that was the ST experiment. But back then, all I saw was positive commentary about the themes and messages of TLJ, how it portrayed failure and the dangers of putting someone like Luke Skywalker on a pedestal, how the Force was female, how... important it was to see Poe get characterized as a hotheaded hotshot who needed to be demoted, slapped around, and stunned in order to learn some kind of lesson, how important it was to see Finn lose everything he gained in TFA so that he could relearn how not to be selfish or something while starring in a fucking incredibly tone-deaf B plot, how Rey... I'm not sure exactly what because she didn't need training anyway and then spent most of her time trying to bring Ben Swolo back to the light????? Rose was so promising as someone who grew up under the FO's thumb but she and Kelly were fucking abandoned by Disney so I don't know if Rose existing was actually a good idea if it meant giving Kelly unending trauma. Mark slipped up by calling Luke "Jake" and expressing his displeasure in front of cameras, and I was so fucking baffled and alienated by his character after knowing how his story ended in ROTJ that I couldn't connect with whatever lessons I and he are supposed to be learning. JJ set up Snoke like a mystery box and Rian just yeeted him off without so much as a fucking explanation so what was the point of that? Hux was a fucking joke. Phasma was barely there. The only character that Rian cared about was fucking Kylo Ren and Adam says years later that he was never supposed to get a redemption arc anyway.

Like, this was the movie everyone hyped up? This was the movie that didn't answer any questions left unasked by TFA and didn't bother to move forward with character development for any of the known characters? I spent money watching a slow space chase that ended on a planet made of salt and killed off Luke for Reasons? Am I stupid? Am I dumb? Am I a peasant incapable of understanding the masterpiece Rian directed, this so-called Best Star Wars Movie Since ESB?

But I couldn't say anything. I couldn't be dogpiled for hating such a empowering movie for women, a diverse and inclusive movie that had the likes of John and Kelly and Oscar. I couldn't be lumped in with the Star Wars dudebros with their raging misogynistic and racist takes on the movie, the cast, Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm, Disney, etc. I couldn't be seen as one of them just because I didn't like a movie that I should like, I'm supposed to like. So I sat in silence, read meta, witnessed the fucking catastrophic explosion around some wild ass AO3 fandom essays written by a racist OG member of OTW about Finn/Poe, saw hate piled on black and bipoc fans, saw r*ylo fans come for John and John clap back at them, just saw an absolute fuckton of hate, and so by the time TROS came around I just... checked out. There was no way JJ could salvage what Rian had done and I was right. TROS was a corporate-run soulless garbage end to the Sequel Trilogy, but it ended just as The Mandalorian finished its first season and regained a lot of good will with this small story about a lonely Mandalorian bounty hunter who encountered a Force-sensitive Baby Yoda.

And then TBOBF/Season 3 of the Mando Show happened, just like how TLJ happened. All the promise, all the unanswered questions of the previous movie/season, all fucking dropped or provided with the worst, most unsatisfying answer. I'm sure others have found better answers and can live with what Star Wars gave us, but I haven't been able to. TLJ came out years and years ago, and I am still so bitter today. I'm still so bitter because TFA had such an incredibly compelling setup with such promising characters, and then TLJ Did That.

I got so heated while writing this. I'm still so mad. I'm still so bitter. I bury my head so deep in the sandbox I built for myself so that I don't have to think how Disney is twisting and contorting all these Mando'verse shows so that they all eventually lead to the ST, their precious hot potato child that just... didn't have to end the way they did if they actually had a fucking plan and fucking stuck the landing. I'll give the MCU this - their Phase 1? They fucking stuck the landing. I fell off the train tracks and haven't really watched the MCU since Captain Marvel, but at least they had a fucking plan and didn't fucking derail themselves like Disney did with the Sequel Trilogy.

I could be nice to people who like this movie but I'm not going to be. They can be nice on their own blogs.

Man, I can't even watch Knives Out or Glass Onion because my blood starts boiling. Just. TLJ did a lot to ruin what I hoped would be a positive and creative connection with Star Wars, and it took the Mando Show and the 2 minutes where Din and Luke locked eyes on the Imperial light cruiser to bring me back.

I'm gonna stop before I get way too heated for sleep.

[the-fiction-witch]

Protecting

Media Star Wars Original Trilogy

Character Luke Skywalker (Original Trilogy Luke)

Couple Luke X Reader

Rating Flirty

“Everything is so quiet, I don't like it” Luke senses danger and takes his lightsaber to protect her as they walk across the planet in search of the map piece, 

"ohh will you put that thing away? Seriously you’re like a child with a stick with that thing" y/n rolls her eyes,

"what do you mean? I'm just protecting you," looks confused and a little annoyed,

"you've known me since we were six, you think I need protecting?"

He lets a slight smile crack across his lips, "I know you don't need it but I can't help doing it because I care about you,"

She rolled her eyes again and continued on through the trees in her grey jumpsuit but she kissed his cheek as she passed him, "Very cute Luke,"

He turns bright red, surprised but pleased and chuckles a bit, "Now who is acting like the child,"

"Says the one who just turned as red as a eaterlin," She laughed,

"shut up," turns his head away but is still smiling and his face is still a little red,

"come on I wanna find this map piece before it gets dark. As much as I enjoy your company Luke I am not in the mood for an impromptu camping sleepover,"

"all right, all right,” He chuckled, "wait wait. I think I heard something," he looked to his left and sensed a disturbance, 

"Probably your own ego following behind you," she chuckled,

"don't joke around. I sense something and it's big," he said, 

"ohh do you now," she smirked resting a hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow at him,

"I'm being serious. Something bad is about to happen and we aren't prepared.” He moves closer putting his arm around her protectively, "it's probably the Empire," he whispered,

"mhm" she glared a little, "oohh noo it's so scary and dangerous, won't you hold me close and protect me luke!" She playfully whined pressing her body to his chest and sliding her hands down him as she pouted her lips

his face turns bright red again and laughs "oh shut up it's not that. It's just that this whole planet sucks and the Empire is all over, They probably heard about us and are going to arrest us!" he keeps protecting you and looks around,

"for what?" She laughed as she keeps walking,

"you don't know? We are fugitives, remember" he says following behind her,

"I've been a fugitive since I was born. I'm still here aren't I?"

"yeah, that's true. but that doesn't change the fact that we are fugitives and the Empire hates us. If we get caught who knows what the hell they will do to us,"

"we'll be fine you have your Lazer sword" she joked

“My what?” He glared,

“You're big. Green. Lazer sword.” she joked, 

“I am not even going to dignify that with a response,”

“Aren’t you? Cause it kinda sounds like you were responding there,”

"Well! What do you have?" 

"pistol. Wit. And if all else fails these have got me out of a fair few Jams" she says zipping her jumpsuit a little to reveal more cleavage she holds her chest a moment jiggling them before she continues to walk,

He rolls his eyes and mutters, "If you are not careful you are going to cause some poor lad a heart attack."

"is the poor lad you?"

"maybe" he blushes and smiles while keeping his eyes on the surroundings but peeks and looks at her every now and again while blushing,

She chuckled and gave his cheek another kiss before continuing through the woods,

"Could you please stop doing that?" his face is red and he's still blushing, 

"why? You do not want my kisses?"

"I don't mean that, they are just making me flustered," looks directly at you and his face is still bright red and he's blushing, 

“Alright, come on skywalker lets find this thing before I end up opening you up and sleeping in you like a tauntaun,” she warns, 

[pinyeti]

Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (BROKE MY FUCKIN HEART CHAT WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENENED????)

Ugh they’re going to rescue the chancellor

HOW ARE THEY THIS IN TUNE WITH THE FORCE BUT CANT SEE THAT THE CHANCELLOR IS EVIL

WOW THIS INSECT LOOKING GUY IS COOL

NOWAYYY OBIWAN CANONICALLY MAKING PATHETIC DAD JOKES THIS IS SO FUNNY

Dookie’s back

MAN THE PARALLELS TO THE OGS ARE CRAAAAZZZZYYYYY

anakin probably put Luke through the same stuff he went through to test if hes a little bitch like him

Okay anakin your problem is you only listen to yourself

NO WAY HOW DID THEY GO FROM THIS BROMSNCE TO KILLING EACH OTHER NEXT MOVIE

Did anakin just call him short… does he have a death wish

Chancellors such as bitch

I just know padmes gonna die and hes going to turn cuz of her

The chancellor really said you’re not like other girls anakin

Okay so anakin has to pick sides between

“HE’S NEVER LET ME DOWN”- NOOOO OBIWANNN NOOOOOO HES GONNA BE SOOO HURT

This whole movie is everyone manipulating anakin to try and get him on their side

Kung fu panda - dragon warrior drama

Count dookie

BRO IS HE INSERTING DREAMS INTO ANAKINS MIND

Theyre boxing him in THE COUNCIL IS SO ANNOYING THIS IS NOT HOW YOU DEAL IWTH A REBEL KID

Someone give nick fury and yoda parenting lessons

NO NO NO NOOO NOOO NOT FOR THIS NO NO PADMES GONNA BE FINE NOOO NOOO NOOO NOOO THIS STUPID CHILD NOOO HES GOOD I KNOW HES GOOD

How did the jedis not see this???????

NO??? ANAKIN??? TELL ME ANAKIN DIDNT KILL A BUNCH OF CHILDREN WHAT THE FUCK?? No absolutely not im not siding for this bullshit fukc off

In the immortal words of Deadpool you punch a couple hundred orphans and suddenly you’re the bad guy

My god anakin IM SO FUCKIN PISSED AT YOU YOU CANT KILL CHILDREN YOU FUCKIN PRICK I HATE YOU SO MUCH WHAT THE FUCK NONE OF THIS IS JUSTIFIED WHAT YOU HAD A BAD DREAM SO YOU GO KILL KIDS FUCKIN BITCH

I want to kill anakin Fight me right now

Are you really going around killing children like youre not even going to rise to crimes in a linear manner?? You directly kill kids??

Youre so full ofF SHIT ANAKIN- SHE DIDNT ASK YOU FOR ANY OF THIS YOURE SO STUPID YORE NOT DOING THIS FOR LOVE YOU’RE DOING THIS FOR POWER YOURE PATHETIC

Yes anakin blame obi wan BLAME ANYONE BUT YOURSELF

standing in the middle of a burning planet I HAVE BROUGHT PEACE

No this is breaking my heart no no no no No no no no

YODA PLS PLS PLS KILL EMPEROR PLS (ik he wont but pls) Yoda is so powerless why didnt he stop anything WHY WERE THEY SO BLINDED WHY

Yeah yoda GO HIDE YOU BIG FAILURE MY POOR OBIWAN HE DOESNT DESERVE ANY OF THIS

I did not sign up for this heartbreak FUCK YOU ANAKIN FOR MAKING ME LIKE YOU FOR A TINY BIT

FUCK YOU FOR MAKING OBIWAN LOVE YOU AND THROWING IT ALL AWAY

YOU BECAME WHAT YOU FEARED YOU FUCKIN IDIOT I HATE YOU SO MUCH ANAKIN AND FOR WHAT

They lied to him, idc he deserves to hate himself for the rest of eternity

Ohh theyre making the Death Star now

…. this family needs therapy

(6/9)

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Do you think they should have went with the Chosen One plot for Anakin when they made the prequels? I've been rewatching the original trilogy and there is no mention of any prophecy. It seemed more like Anakin was a very powerful Jedi, but nothing grander then that.

Then, all of sudden the prequels are saying that he is the literal messiah of the Galaxy, destined to bring balance to the Force.

I mean, this isn't the blog for that, anon.

It's really not the blog for it not just in the sense that we talk about how things are here not how we want them to be but also because I think the Original Trilogy are also incredibly bad movies. They're not winning awards for being any better than the rest of the gang or any more righteous, they just have nostalgia, a few great actors carrying the weight (but only a few and not even some of the most important ones), a fantastic soundtrack (that admittedly is strikingly similar in parts to Holst's The Planets), and some great special effects and editing as of the time that George has tried to strip away with every passing year. It's no skin off my nose if the Prequels took some liberties to make things better (and... the thing about The Prequels is that they're not better, of course, but the plot is a lot more compelling than 'the Death Star blew up once' followed by a short break then 'the Death Star blew up twice')

But as for your question, it didn't strike me as too odd we didn't hear of it, because that's the whole thing: Jedi culture is wiped out to two known survivors (that we see anyway). And per those Jedi survivors, Anakin was very clearly not the chosen one as he did anything but bring balance to the Force.

So, you have Obi-Wan who doesn't want to talk about fucking any of it and lies through his teeth multiple times to Luke because he just doesn't want to talk about any of it. Then you have Yoda who wants to talk about it even less.

Neither is bringing up "did you know there was this prophecy where your father was supposed to bring balance to the Force? Boy, did he sure not do that".

Vader certainly isn't bringing it up either as, well, look at his miserable life and how much he hates himself and the Jedi. He's not bringing up their stupid prophecy that clearly wasn't true.

Remember very little is known about the Jedi for the common people, especially after Palpatine's taken over and spread propaganda and such. Han doesn't even think the Jedi are real and if he does it's "that weird space religion cult thing that died out???"

That is to say the prophecy is not common knowledge and especially not for people like Luke, Han, or even Leia for that matter for all she's a little more Jedi adjacent.

Even within the Jedi we see that people don't take the prophecy seriously. That was a Qui-Gon thing. He was super into that prophecy, yo, and the other Jedi (Yoda, Mace, Obi-Wan even) all sort of stared at him looking very upset for insisting on this.

And in the war, while Anakin was an exceptionally talented Jedi, he wasn't really used as a propaganda piece/seen as the only Jedi who would save them all.

The prophecy was just the reason Qui-Gon insists on training him despite his age and is one of those things that seems to have actually been correct for all that no one will ever admit it.

(@therealvinelle can correct me if I'm wrong but I'm going to lay down something that will make people very upset: Anakin being "The Hero with No Fear", seen as one of two great Jedi in the war who are doing so much for the cause more than anyone else, and the extra focus on this prophecy was an invention of Disney's 2008 The Clone Wars, not the films.)

[superficial-ly]

C R I M I N A L M I N D S ‘ S F A V A L B U M S

JJ first coz that’s my girl - Stick Season (We’ll all be here forever) by Noah Kahan

• the getting out of a small town i hav so many regrets vibes

• THE SONG CALL UR MOM its jj

• it hurts to listen to but she won’t stop she needs a piece of home to cling to even if it’s not hers

Emily coz that’s my girls girl - Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers

• she had never known peace since

• moon song as jemily double ouch

• special mention to funeral in relation to matthew she genuinely cant listen to it. she made the mistake of trying once on the jet and she will never again.

hotch i love him - Wasteland, Baby by Hozier

• hotch loves like it hurts bc it does. all of his love hurts him. but he still loves bc that’s js who he is and hozier is perfect for that i think

• wasteland, baby especially i think in reference to haley. its a hard listen but one he loves he thinks it honours her in a way.

• its perfect

spenecer my habib - Carrie and Lowell by Sufjan Stevens

• i think it’s just peaceful enough but not mind numbing that he can focus on it as well as fall asleep if he needs to

• fourth of july especially for everyone he’s ever lost is a double ouch all these acts of service to try and bring someone back bc he struggles to grasp the fact that when a person is gone, there’s nothing left to do.

morgan - not exactly an album but Tupac’s Greatest Hits is on contant rotation in his little headset thingy (so cute omg)

• all of tupac is like especially upbeat with values and ideals and deep real world reflections and he DIGS it

• especially likes Keep your Head up it reminds him of his mom and ehy he joined the fbi - he wants to help the underdog

• (morgan was DEVASTATED with the tupac beef with biggy)

penelope my girl - the rise and fall of a midwest princess by chappell roan

• she assigns them all their individual songs from the album but she is the avatar.

• she cannot do sad music so this shit is her JAMM

• femininomenon or however u spell it is a personal favourite. HOT TO GO is second

• also shes sapphic even if she only dates men in the show so she EXTRA GETS IT

tara my baby who deserved better is 100% Planet Her by Doja

• Ain’t Shit? her jam she knows all the jams

• woman is one of her favourites.

• her and rebecca sing kiss me more in the shower

luke - definitely tyler but i’m struggling between Flower Boy and IGOR

• he has that kind of i am happy to be loving u kind of vibe even if he knows the world is messed up. he so severely fucks with tyler and the whole rap genre be loved finding references he previously missed he thinks he’s a genius (he’s right)

alex blake - songs by adrienne lenker

• she stumbled across it one day and while it wasn’t the usual stuff she listened to she gave it a chance

• she never turned back

• she likes the retro feel and half return makes her FEEL like nothing else can

• shes complicated okay? not a lot just forever for her son? ouch

kate - SOS by sza

• this one’s hard bc she’s a hard core “feel things? no thank u. let’s rock!”

• i think good days is so special to her in a really quiet way

• j think kill bill makes her laugh really hard

jordan todd i never hated u - good girl gone bad: reloaded by rihanna

• she was so special to me. a wow on the team pre-2010. this was history. either way

• breakin dishes bc she is so happy at counter terrorism but watching emily fight men will always do it for her (they were sapphics ur honour)

• shes a club girly. dont stop the music, umbrella she was living for that shit

elle cutie patootie - Norman Fucking Rockwell by Lana Del Ray

• its hers i can’t

• shes so lana guys “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me” ????? it’s HERS

• “how to disappear” pls be so serious

jason gideon papa extraordinaire - Tapestry by Carole King

• he misses the 70s gang (so do i (i wasn’t born))

• Home Again makes him cry. he can’t explain it. hee never has to.

• so far away after he left the bau - his heart was basically empty but he couldn’t fill it with any more darkness he had to go. it hurt him so bad guys he literally died from it

matt simmons - anything from my little pony

• i’m sorry guys he recognises they’re killer tracks

• also his 8 million kids he watches it like three times a day

• unironically listens to battle of the bands

• kristy hates him for it.

[cuckoo-on-a-string]

The Moon's Lies

Summary: Kylo Ren x named!Reader. It was never going to be black or white, Light or Dark, friend or foe. Who wouldn't let the galaxy burn to keep their loved ones safe?

Warnings: 18+, Murder/"execution," graphic violence, unspoken threat of bodily harm, twisted morals, Kylo Ren being himself

Masterlist

Canon Divergence Notes: There is no Rey. Finn is the destined Jedi, and he leaves the scar on Ren’s face during the climactic fight on Starkiller Base. The only original canon kept after TFA is the destined Jedi (Finn) leaving to find Luke and Snoke pushing Kylo Ren to the breaking point, continuing the student-kills-the-master cycle. Summary: No Rey. Finn is training to be a Jedi. Kylo Ren takes the throne from Snoke.

This chapter is the only pre-TFA part of the story. Everything after that is in the AU as described.

A/N: Holy shit, I'm having so much fun with this. You all have no idea (but you will soon). Out here crafting whole-ass mythologies and cultures for this shit. Literally forgot to post this first chapter because I'm neck-deep in the next. Please, please, please do comment! I post for interactions with friends new and old. Otherwise I'd hoard all my embarrassing stories like the grouchy old dragon I really am.

1.

He needed to maul something.

His lightsaber practically vibrated on his belt, answering the pull of itching hands as Kylo Ren stormed into the planet-side depot. Civilians scattered from their orderly lines in front of the First Order’s regional bureaucratic office, startled like so many kaadus. The system had so little to offer, the Order couldn’t even justify a separate complex for the port authority and notary.

A shabby little base on a barren little world. If he could, he’d sink his saber to the planet’s core and kill it all in one, fell stroke.

What a waste of his time.

The rebel insurgent had nothing. They hunted him to the edge of the First Order’s territory only to discover a dead end whose handful of contacts met the heat of Kylo’s blade long ago. They’d missed something. He’d missed something. Instead of fresh leads into the Resistance’s plans, he would leave empty handed. This detour took weeks, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that their enemies were planning something. But in the end, the only thing the dead Rodian had been good at was hiding. Any trooper could’ve shot the scum and been done with it. No need for the Knights of Ren.

He looked like a fool.

Rage tipped over the edge of reason, flooding logic, and plans, and anything but the dark urge to destroy.

He marched through the door, well ahead of his knights. The stormtroopers were nearly as eager to avoid his wrath as the civilians, and he burst into an empty hall. The faintest conversation reached him, a hum of living Force further inside. He followed it. Down the hall. Around the corner. Gathering fuel to further spark his hate for this place and all the people in it as he approached.

A crisp, core world accent he had no doubt belonged to an officer carried farthest.

“I’m afraid it just won’t do. If you want clearance to leave for Gan Moradir, I’ll need those credits in my hand. Today.”

“You already have them.”

The second voice almost surprised Ren. He could barely feel the speaker’s signature, and he rested his hand on his saber, ready for a battle. No one unskilled in the Force could veil themselves like that.

From the sound of things, he had two valid targets to suffer for his humiliation. With new focus, he prepared to take the last corner, the heat in his blood ready to burn through the traitors and fools ahead.

Just out of sight, the officer tsked. “Not enough, I’m afraid.”

“Do you plan on demanding more every time we visit your system?”

“I could.”

“I’m afraid that will be very bad for trade.”

Ren saw the pair before they saw him. A First Order corporal with his hands clasped behind his back and a sneer on his face stood opposite a civilian girl, both oblivious to their approaching doom.

“Corporal.”

The man practically jumped out of his uniform, eyes bugging wide. The girl barely even flinched, following the officer’s panicked gaze with guarded curiosity. Ren would deal with her after he thinned the ranks. It was important to cut out rot before it spread, after all.

“Lord Ren!” The officer’s voice wavered, nearly breaking like a teenager’s as he took two steps away from the civilian and bowed to his superior. “My apologies. We’d heard your knights may be in the system, but we had no idea you’d actually –”

“What is the First Order’s standing on bribery?” He asked like he didn’t know simply so the criminal would recite his own conviction. Let him know how he’d failed. Let the fear string out his last moment.

The corporal’s mind couldn’t keep pace with his spiking adrenaline. He shifted, eyes darting for an escape, an excuse, as he tried to drag an explanation through his dry mouth.

“Well, I…”

Ren had no mercy. And no patience. His hand clenched over his blade’s hilt, and he imagined he could already feel the subtle vibration as it came to life to end another’s.

“Well?”

The corporal swallowed, and Ren watched the confidence roll away down the man’s throat.

“Soliciting or accepting bribes in any form, be it credits or goods, is a class three offense, sir.” He spoke clearly. Responding to a clear order with clear rules he would’ve learned by rote in training. He knew the consequences for disguising this theft behind the First Order’s banner, and now Ren would reveal a new part of the corporal. Blood. Bone. The messy things he wrapped out of sight beneath his skin.

Ren hummed. A mockery of consideration as he swayed nearer, forcing the smaller man to stare up at a painful angle. Decapitation was too neat for such a selfish little traitor. Maybe he’d sheer away half the man’s chest. Or leave him in a dozen pieces for his command to discover.

“I see.” He stalked forward another step, savoring the building dread like a cool wind beneath his mask. “And what is the punishment for class three offenses?”

The officer’s lingering hopes to put off his superior with a lie – Blame the girl, his mind screamed – finally crumbled. The dread Force-wielder had caught him. He knew enough to damn him. He’d been judged. He’d been sentenced. Only one step remained. Kylo Ren loomed, a Loth cat playing with vermin caught raiding the larder, and his uniform was an invitation to deal justice, not the shield the corporal once believed. He backpedaled, nearly foaming at the mouth as he spluttered a final plea for mercy.

“Lord Ren, please! I merely –!”

Red light and a crackling hum cut him off.

Ren speared the traitor through the belly, letting the fool totter backwards, wheezing for a breath that would never come. The corrupt officer groped over his exposed diaphragm as he tumbled to the floor, and his head met the polished floor with a crack as he continued pointlessly gasping.

It wouldn’t be a quick death.

Satisfied, Ren looked at the second actor in this little scene. She’d barely flinched when he struck down the corporal, but her attention remained fixed on the dying criminal. Ren waited for the inevitable wave of panic, ready to toy with a fresh target, but the life ending at her feet held her gaze. Something about her blunted his senses, and he struggled to pry into her mind beyond what she projected: caution and studied calm.

Maybe it was shock. Or maybe she needed reminding of her own mortality.

Ren cut off the corporal’s death rattle with a stroke of his saber, and as the head rolled across the hall, the girl finally looked up to meet his gaze. He glowered back through his visor, itching for her reaction.

She bowed. Maintaining the poise of a diplomat who hadn’t just witnessed a brutal execution, she dipped at the knees, dropping her eyes in polite deference before rising to meet him all over again. Still as a lake.

His lightsaber hissed, twisting in his grip. He pointed it under her chin, demanding she answer every question he hadn’t asked.

“You.” He didn’t bother with the show he’d put on for the corporal. Her careful placidity irritated him, and it felt like her very presence muted his senses when he hunted for her fear.

He looked again, noting the grey stone pendant and loops of beads she wore. A memory teased the edge of his lingering rage, dragging his focus away from his quest for bloodshed. He’d seen that material before. He recognized the numbing sensation in the Force from a failed project to build better restraints for Force sensitive prisoners. “What is that?”

Her fingers rose to the pendant, brushing over an unfamiliar pattern of engraved stars.

“It’s Selenubis, sir.” She paused, flicking her gaze over his mask like she might find a clue to his expression. When he didn’t answer, she pushed ahead. “A traditional protection charm from Lethe. If it’s offensive to the First Order I can come again with out it…?”

Behind his mask, he ground his teeth, clawing against the foggy wall so few of her thoughts penetrated. Selenubis proved useless to the First Order when it became clear the stone did as much to shield a prisoner from other Force users as it did to shackle the target.

She wanted to return without her shield? She wouldn’t leave with it. He’d hack it off her neck, and if he didn’t like what he found in her head, she wouldn’t leave with that, either.

His flickering saber reflected in her eyes as he angled it up, forcing her to expose her throat as red lightning reflected in bottomless reservoirs of control. He didn’t believe for a second she was ignorant of the power in her little trinkets and beads.

Just as he prepared to cleave through her jewelry – and likely leave a deep burn to remember him by – one of his knights burst into the hall.

“Commander. The Supreme Leader requests your presence. Immediately, sir.”

His foiled rage rebounded, arcing like a current through his bones and burning him with his own intent as he growled in frustration. The sound hissed through his modulator.

This would have to wait.

Deactivating his saber, he stepped back, pivoted on his heel, and marched back the way he came. He would have to relive his humiliation at his master’s feet, and there was no time to vent his frustrations.

He left no orders in his rush to answer his master’s summons. No one held the girl or even took special note of her name and business as he knelt before Snoke’s projected image, and by the time he returned to the hall, she was gone.

The documentation the dead corporal had been withholding, a pile on the floor by his headless corpse, had gone with her.

[starplusfourletters]

I read vision of the future (hand of thrawn book 2 aka Who Scams the Scammers)

(spoilers) and once again it turned into a liveblog, apologies

Hold up are we doing Warrior Cats? Is this Warrior Cats Planet??

What base is “arm around your waist to serve as a psychic translator conduit”

Omigod I WISH my Warrior Cat name were “Jaded of Mara”

Everything I know about Soontir Fel I learned from x wing but I would not have guessed his primary motivation to be "dirt"

@ luke and mara: the girls are talkingggggg

North Barris Spaceport has me twitching

Ghent not remembering who the president is and just assuming it’s probably Leia. I mean fair

What base is "holding hands to brace yourselves over a swarm of flesh eating insects"

So we’re finally asking why Mara ISN’T actually dark side and the answer is… shrug emoji?

Man Zahn really is stuck on “character bonding hike” as a device huh. But consider I eat that shit up

Oh No Lando is racist

LMAO at “so oblivious you need a child pterodactyl to tell you to just kiss already” to “besides I don’t want my life to be like spiderman three I hated that movie” to “kissing with dubious consent” ALL ON THE SAME PAGE like Zahn finally realized he really needed to get this show on the road

LMAO at Ghent getting a free pass from Pellaeon to hack the empire. Like you’re just going to get the thing you need and not steal all of our military and political secrets right? Riiiight? Even more LMAO at the fact that that would probably not even occur to Ghent

When everyone assumes they're the protagonist so finding this one macguffin is their job personally. Like guys I like the energy but maybe we've got enough different plans to do the same thing (the exception, hilariously, being Luke) (and Oh No it turns out Luke is the one to find the macguffin because You Have to Follow Your Heart and Let the MacGuffin Come to You. I eat that shit up also)

Mara’s just... So great.

Not to make everything about my blorbo but absolutely to make everything about my blorbo I do wonder to what extent Ahsoka’s characterization post-Rebels doesn’t click for me is because a lot of the more obvious directions for Oldsoka overlap with Mara, and the powers that be didn’t want to reinvent the Mara Jade wheel. Not to say they have similar characterization – Mara has terminal sam coded dean girl syndrome – but idk, in dynamic range maybe? Calling out bullshit, weaponizing her own abrasiveness, covering insecurity with humor, being Kind of a Lot with a side of trust issues at any given moment – there are modes Mara and Youngsoka share that didn’t pass to Oldsoka apparently. Idk possibly all this is just me wanting them to TALK

Establishing that you can do evil things for selfless reasons without necessarily being in any danger of falling to the dark side is... Philosophically interesting

We interrupt this tale of political espionage to bring you Jedi Relationship Counseling (spoiler alert: communication is key)

"That part of her life [Mara’s time with Palpatine] had died unmourned" I mean mourned a little bit. Mourned for at least a book and a half

I've been willing to suspend my disbelief on everything in this book until "both Luke and Mara forget that ysalamiri exist"

I will never not be a sucker for The Movements and Transferred Ownership of Emotionally Significant Weapons

Oh No thrawn made a second foundation

The Aing-Tii seem OP but whatever

Oh No the second foundation forgot to close the garage doors

(Re: The Jade’s Fire) I know Mara’s having a Moment, and I promise I’m taking it seriously, but when the warrior cat asked “What is it you want, Mara Jade” my WHOLE BRAIN responded with "I want Hermione Granger! And a rocket ship!"

Moranda has real Kevin from home alone energy and I'm living for it

Is it bad that I’m actually kinda happy the Imperials’ Bothawui shield plan worked? Like, they had a really interesting plan and I’m happy for them. They earned it

WAIT IS MORANDA DEAD FR?

What base is “full mind meld while you’re fighting for your lives”

Who would win: ~1.5 Jedi, 2 sentinel droids droidekas, or Artoo with a sauntering gun

If I had a nickel for every time this duology explicitly established Jedi can’t go completely without oxygen, even when in a trance, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but which makes me feel like the Ahsoka show had a weirdly specific axe to grind with the source material

Luke’s proposal to Mara is Just. The. Funniest. Thing. That’s some Anakin-level cringe and the prequels aren’t even out yet. He truly is his father’s son.

I mean POV there’s this guy and for a couple years you want to kill him, and then you realize that’s more of a You Problem, so then you’re friendquaitances for a decade mostly because you don’t approve of the shit he’s getting into, and then you have one (1) honest conversation and get caught in a death trap and he’s like “so I think the next step for us is marriage”

LEIAAAAAA! Full Jedi Knight Leia is both terrifying and hot. I would run.

“So it is treason” – Some random guy

Lando needs to be on the New Republic payroll simply for being willing to speak to any of the other characters and also he needs a raise. This poor guy getting called on to command the entire New Republic fleet mid-battle and he’s like “I’ve been a civilian for 15 years and also I knew you would pull some horse piss like this steve”

Mara Jade, Imperial protege. Skills include: Identifying load-bearing walls. (Now all I want is Property Brothers: Sith Edition)

Mara please. Luke please. These absolute idiots. This is some pear scene shit. I hope nothing bad happens to them ever

The whole back half of this book has been an emotional rollercoaster for me specifically because I wanted Flim to be Thrawn FR soooooo baddddd. And now I’m sad. His name literally means scam don’t do this to me Zahn

I’ve been amused by all the Star Wars universe idioms but I gotta take a moment to specifically showcase “burned your sky-arches.” Karrde is a delight to have in class

Having an independent intelligence agency that’s supposed to work for both the New Republic and the Empire seems absolutely unhinged but go off I guess

When the New Republic and Empire sign peace accords and Luke can’t even be bothered to show up

Mara is great and her arc is fuckin hilarious to me. The narrative has identified her as The Damaged One and I’m like???? She came to terms with her troubled past, drew her own boundaries regarding the Dark Side, recognized that there are people who care about her instead of pre-emptively pushing them away, and resolved to form deeper emotional connections. Smash cut to ROTS Anakin whose physical and psychic damage has literally turned his brain into oatmeal

Again I know this was before the prequels Mad points for explicitly saying Mara needed to form attachments to become a Jedi. Zahn being pretty gangsta there

OH NO THEMB

[therealmlpguy]

propoganda:

The Enigma of Amigara Fault: They are soulmate, they are destined to be one, but the hole will change Owaki till he is not even more human

Star Wars:

Leia and Tarkin are an insanely dysfunctional match… He is a 64 year old highly ranking military leader and politician for an authoritarian/fascist regime (the Galactic Empire) which usurped the galaxy’s government in the same year of Leia’s birth. She is the 19 year old crown princess and Imperial Senator for the peaceful planet of Alderaan, and secretly uses her status in order to spy and deliver supplies and information for the Rebel Alliance— a small, plucky band of freedom fighters seeking to overthrow the Empire and return democracy/peace/freedom etc. Could I make it anymore obvious 😐 It’s very heavily suggested in the film, and shown in supplementary material (books, comics, etc) that Leia and Tarkin have always hated each other’s guts. Tarkin has long suspected both Leia and her family, the royal house of Alderaan, of being rebel agents/sympathizers. In the book Leia: Princess of Alderaan we see him stalking them about it and trying to exploit Leia’s vulnerabilities to get her to crack.

He invites her to to his office for tea and basically implies that he will have her parents assassinated and install her as a puppet ruler of her planet in their stead. She’s also sixteen at that point. Then, at the beginning of the main film, Leia— now nineteen— gets captured by Darth Vader while on a mission— Vader is also kind of sort of under Tarkin’s command at the time. Leia is taken to the Death Star— a giant battle station which can blow up planets, which Tarkin has been given charge of— and held as a prisoner. There she is tortured using spooky sci-fi devices for information about the rebels, including the location of their base, which Tarkin and Vader want to destroy. Vader’s the main torturer but it is clear that Tarkin is involved in supervising the whole thing and may have participated directly off screen. (The torture includes stuff like: injecting her with hallucinogenic drugs that make her believe herself to be in super duper pain (like she’s on fire), shocking her, pinching and poking her with stuff, etc etc). Leia does not tell them anything.

When Vader reports back to Tarkin that he hasn’t broken Leia, our crusty villain is not pleased. Until he comes up with a worser more evil plan…. And so he has Leia brought to the bridge of the station to show this evil plan off. He orders her execution and taunts her about it while creepily touching her face, then blows up her entire home planet of Alderaan in front of her as an elaborate means of psychological torture. Keep in mind Alderaan is full of a ton of civilians who have nothing to do with the war. This is a war crime. Beforehand a horrified Leia feigns breaking and giving him the rebel base’s location in order to try and buy time to save her people; Tarkin thinks she told the truth but still destroys Alderaan anyway because the planet she named was “too remote to provide an effective demonstration” of the Death Star’s capability. In short he has no respect for life and wants to see her suffer.

The entire time this scene happens he’s being very cold and clearly taking sadistic amusement in Leia’s pain and in getting to kill all these innocent people. He also invades Leia’s personal space a lot in a very creepy way. We can see that Leia— who is genuinely a very brave girl— is pretty scared by him at this point. But also very angry. The moment he finds out Leia’s information was a lie he becomes enraged (he can excuse planetary genocide but he DRAWS THE LINE at getting tricked by a teen girl he’s holding captive) and demands that she be terminated (executed) immediately. Fortunately da boiz (Luke Skywalker Han Solo Chewbacca Obi wobi etc) arrive on the Death Star just in time to save the beautiful princess from dying of Terminal Old Man.

She leads said boiz back to the real rebel base and delivers the plans to the Death Star so that they can blow the thing up. They blow it up, killing Tarkin. TL;DR -This ship is between a very young girl and a very old man and that’s the least of their problems -They hate each other and are political enemies. Moreover he kind of borderline stalked her as a teen. -She was captured and became his prisoner. He had her tortured for information. -when she didn’t break, he blew up her entire planet, killing 2 billion innocents solely to traumatize and spite her. -He sentenced her to be executed, and she played a vital role in the battle that led to his actual death. Both have strong intentions to kill the other. There is not a UNIVERSE in which the relationship between these two wouldn’t be something messed up and VILE. That is a big draw for them. They have a weird sort of chemistry. I love them sosososososoo much. Hopefully this educated you on how messed up they are. Like sure your enemies to lovers ship is good I bet but is your bad guy an irredeemable fascist who killed 2 billion people because your heroine made him mad??? Probably not. 

[jeanie-g]

Oh yes, teacher AU please 😏

I mean how can I not 🤷🏼‍♀️

HAHA we were just talking about this so ofc! i started writing it months ago, but lately i've revisited it to flesh out the story a lil bit.

let me set the scene: jack is a 7th grade english teacher working on his first Big Project (either a novel or a play - i'm between the two rn, but i'm leaning towards play) that he's....kinda stuck on. he doesn't love being a teacher either, just sees it as a temporary job til he gets published (can u see the incoming character arc? lol)

so, he's a bit lost. he's got his best friend trevor (who teaches 8th grade science), and he's got his brother/roommate luke (who pays the majority of the rent w his swanky ahl contract), but that's it.

until he meets nico at the bar one night, who's new in town (and also hot and mysterious). and wow! jack finally has a life outside of school....a way to separate his work/home life and a chance at love!

until he shows up on monday and sees that nico is the newest gym teacher lol. cue hilarity and nico trying to seduce jack in the broom closet. jack has to reassess the way he separates his personal and work life and how they intersect - and fall in love in the process ofc.

it's very much a rom-com but i wanna explore jack's identity as a writer and teacher, and give him some room to figure himself out :) i just finished Writers & Lovers by Lily King (highly recommend!!!), which is major inspo for this new direction.

here's a (slightly ~spicy~) snippet:

***

Jack clicks his tongue. “I don’t wanna talk about work. It’s…exhausting sometimes.”

“Hence the bar?”

“Pretty much.” He regards Nico, just sitting there—the hottest man in this whole place—and plays with the straw in his glass. “But I’m feeling better now.” It’s cheesy, he knows, but Nico flushes anyway. Jack is really liking how easy this man is to read.

“And why is that?”

And Jack can’t help himself. He lowers his voice. “Well, I’m hoping the handsome European in front of me is going to ask me to go home with him.”

Jack expects Nico to be surprised at his forwardness, but he just grins like the cat who got the cream. “A little presumptuous, hm?” he asks, goading—devilish.

Jack smiles, darting his tongue out to lick the lime juice off his lips. “Am I out of line? I’d hate to assume…”

Nico takes a calculated sip. He leans in close. “Jack, I’ve wanted to ask you that as soon as I laid eyes on you.”

Jack shivers just the tiniest bit. It's the air conditioning, surely. “Yeah?”

Nico eyes him. His lips shine. “Yeah.”

They finish their drinks quickly after that.

“I should probably warn you,” Nico says in their Uber to his apartment just a few blocks up. They would’ve walked if they had any kind of patience. “My place isn’t very furnished.”

Jack’s hand is tracing patterns on Nico’s quad—this man has to work out. He wonders what he does for work. Construction, maybe? He never did mention, but then again, neither did Jack.

“Do you have a bed?” he asks. His hand crawls towards Nico’s inner thigh and he hears a sharp intake of breath.

“Yes.”

“Sounds suitably furnished to me.”

They’re on each other as soon as Nico’s front door closes, greedy hands finding purchase on any pull of fabric or strip of skin they can find. Nico’s mouth finds Jack’s in the dark, meeting him in a blazing kiss that makes Jack’s hairs stand on end and fireworks light behind his eyelids. Nico’s like a magnet—or a planet, pulling Jack in to orbit around him. Jack surrenders to it easily, and he doesn’t give himself time to even worry he’s being too needy about it.

It takes them a while to get through the small apartment, pushing each other up against walls or furniture to make out some more, Nico getting distracted by Jack’s wandering hands and Jack getting distracted by Nico mouthing marks that will definitely bruise along his jaw. Thank God it isn’t a school night; his students would have a field day with that one.

Blissful, adrenaline-fueled minutes elapse over Jack, and he doesn’t even register they’ve gotten to Nico’s bedroom until the backs of his knees bump against his bed and he goes tumbling backwards with a surprised yelp. Nico tumbles with him, shifting his weight so he doesn't crush him. He’s chuckling into Jack’s neck, and the sound vibrates through his head, swimming alongside the subtle buzz from the gimlets and Jack’s own desire, burning like an uncovered flame with an endless supply of oxygen.

Nico leans back, his hair thoroughly mussed from Jack’s fingers raking through it. A sliver of moonlight from the window illuminates his beautiful face.

“What do you want, Jack?” he asks, voice barely above a whisper. He sounds like he’d do absolutely anything Jack would ask him to.

The moment feels tight with anticipation, a Schrödinger’s cat of possibility. Jack leans up and kisses Nico sweetly, and drops his head back on the pillow.

***

and that's where i have to stop before it gets actually nsfw lmaooo

i'm so pumped to keep writing this. thanks for the ask <3333

[charliedawn]

DEFECTIVE GOOD PART 19

(Hi. Author here. I spent a lot of time writing this and I am pretty proud of it. If you could just leave a comment or kudos if you like the story. That would mean the world to me. Or maybe share it ? Anyway, thanks for reading. 💜)

The search for JR-6025 began in earnest, and Phasma's troopers scoured every inch of the galaxy in pursuit of their target. Hux remained on his ship, anxiously awaiting updates, his mind consumed with the thought of reclaiming her. As the days turned into weeks, however, his frustration only grew. The hunt had yet to turn up any concrete results, and he grew angrier by the hour. His temper grew shorter, and his outbursts became more frequent, terrifying the crew and troops alike.

"What do you mean you found zero tracks ?" He screeched, causing the troops to flinch. "What do you mean there are no results ? Did you search all the planets ? Did you check the records on Exegol ?"

The soldiers, his troops, his loyal servants, quivered at his tone of voice.

"FIND HER. NOW ! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME ?!" He shouted, making the soldiers flinch.

The stormtroopers scoured the galaxy, scouring every corner, every nook and cranny for the traitor. But despite their best efforts, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months with still no sign of her.

Hux grew more and more frustrated with each passing day, his anger boiling over at the failures of his troops. All of them were incompetent fools ! They were weak, and he hated weakness.

"HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU FOUND NOTHING ?!" He screeched when an update was presented to him. He was livid and exhausted.

"What do you mean you have no results ?" He screamed, his voice cracking with anger. "Are you telling me that she simply disappeared into the void ?"

He was furious. More and more furious as time passed.

"FIND HER !" He bellowed, not caring who it was that was standing in front of him.

His rage was only growing.

"I WANT EVERYONE IN THE GALAXY TO BE SCANNED !" He shouted, not caring about the amount of resources he would waste, he didn't care anymore.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER EXCUSE !" He screeched, his voice echoing across the whole fleet.

"FIND HER !" He growled, his heart beating so fast he felt like it would explode any second now. However, he was surprised when a message appeared on his holopad...

It was a message from JR-6025...

He answered the call.

Hux’s anger boiled over at the sight of JR's face, his hands shaking with rage.

"What the hell do you think you're doing ?!" he shouted at her through the transmission. "You have no idea the trouble you're in ! Do you have any idea what you've done ?!"

What was she supposed to say ? What could she possibly say ? She hadn’t sent a single message in more than a month. She couldn’t tell him that she was with Luke Skywalker and Rey or that she had disobeyed him by not killing Rey…

"...Sir...I..."

Hux froze as he heard her voice. He felt both anger and shock, and for a split second, he couldn't believe it was actually her. He listened silently, taking in what she had to say. For a long moment there wasn't a sound apart from his breathing.

"Where are you ?" He finally asked, his voice barely holding back his anger.

She wanted to say something...But she didn't know what...She didn't know what she could possibly say to make him feel like she hadn't betrayed him...

Even if…Even if she had…

General Hux could sense her fear through the holographic transmission, and a dark smile spread across his face. "So...you've finally decided to contact me," he said in a cold, menacing voice. "I must say, I'm surprised that you even dare to face me after your little...disobedience."

He leaned forward, his eyes burning into hers through the transmission. "You have some explaining to do, don't you think ?"

Hux felt her fear and knew it was real. As much as he was furious, this moment right there...This had him worried at the same time. She was afraid of him...She was terrified. It hurt his feelings more than any insult he had ever heard.

"You have a lot of expla—" He growled but was suddenly cut off by his anger. He had enough of this. "You'll do well to have a VERY good excuse." He growled, letting out the anger contained within him.

"I am sorry, General. But, I will not be coming back."

Anger and disbelief flashed across Hux's face as he listened to her words. "You're not coming back ?" he repeated, his voice rising with each word. "Do you have any idea what you're saying ? You're a stormtrooper, JR-6025 ! And I am your superior ! You don't get to decide whether to come back or not !"

"Sir. I…I couldn’t kill Rey. She is with Skywalker. He is currently training her and I believe that she might actually bring back peace to the galaxy."

Hux's face contorted with rage as he listened to her words, his hands shaking with suppressed anger. "Are you telling me that you disobeyed a direct order and betrayed the First Order all because of one girl ?!" he snarled, his voice laced with venom. "You're nothing but a traitor ! Do you hear me ?! Do you understand the consequences of your actions ?!"

She shivered. "…Sir. Please. Understand. I am doing this for us. For us to be free. Free from fear. Wouldn’t it be something incredible ? To be able to do something for ourselves ? Be who we want to be ?"

She could almost hear him chuckle...Though there was still wrath in his tone...

"Don't preach the Force, soldier. Don't preach about freedom...Or happiness...Or...Or about anything else...."

His anger was evident...Even if he was trying to...To conceal it...

"You have gone rogue, soldier."

His voice was harsh.

"And if you do not come back this instant, I will come and destroy what remains of your life, myself."

At her refusal to obey his orders, Hux's face contorted in rage, his teeth bared in a snarl. "You traitorous worm," he spat out, his voice shaking with anger. "You dare to defy me ? You will pay for your disobedience."

He clenched his fists at his sides, his chest rising and falling with each labored breath. "You think you can hide from me ? You think you can outrun me ?" he continued, his voice rising in volume. "You are a fool ! I will find you, JR-6025, and you will regret the day you decided to cross me. Come back now. And I might forgive your obvious mistake."

"…Sir. I…" She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "I wish I could. I said I believed in you and that I would always be loyal to you. But, I want…I want to be happy, sir. I want to…I want to give us the choices we were deprived all our lives."

At her words, Hux's anger seethed even hotter. "You think you can give me choices ? You think you can be happy ?" he spat out with loathing. "You are nothing but a soldier, JR-6025. You do not get to make decisions. You obey orders. That is your purpose. And I order you to come back now. You are a stormtrooper. A machine. A tool...Nothing else."

He was gritting his teeth and his eyes were almost burning her.

"You do not understand love. You do not understand the Force. And you definitely do not understand happiness."

He laughed as he said it...

"The only thing a stormtrooper should know is obedience."

Hux felt a deep sense of betrayal growing inside him. She had disobeyed him, had gone against everything they had ever stood for, had turned her back on him and the First Order, all for what ? Her own freedom ?

He was furious...And his anger only grew as he heard the words coming out of her mouth.

"You are nothing but a tool." And now he wasn't even trying to hide his rage. "You have no free will. No desires. You exist to serve the First Order."

Those words hurt her deeply and she sighed as she knew the next words would cost her even more.

"…Then how come I think I fell in love with you ?"

There was suddenly a deafening silence.

"What...did you just say ?" he asked in a quiet voice, his jaw hanging open in disbelief.

She remained silent. They both stood in silence, the transmission filled with a palpable tension. Hux was speechless...He felt his heart freeze for a split second...

Did she just...Did she actually say what he thought she said ? His eyes darted around as he struggled to hear the sound of his own thoughts.

"What..." He said finally, quietly. "...Did you just say...you...."

He was stuttering, trying to process this information. She smiled weakly at his stuttering. She was shaking herself. She just wanted him to see her as something else than just a stormtrooper.

"…I think I fell in love with you."

If she was expecting a reaction from him...She got it. Silence...Followed by a deep breath as his hands started quivering. She had just said the words...The words that he had feared the most. That the feeling he was holding on to...That was growing with each passing day...Was real. She had admitted that...She...She did fell in love...With him. And he felt his heart skip a beat.

But, he quickly composed himself and his eyes let no emotion show.

Finally, Hux spoke again. "Did you...really think that I would abandon my plans for you ?" he asked, his voice low and ominous.

He took a step closer to the transmission device, his face mere inches from hers. "You're a valuable asset," he continued. "Something to use and manipulate for my own gain. You're nothing more than that."

His words cut like a blade. She had been prepared for a negative reaction, but this...It hit her in a way she had never expected.

She was nothing.

Just a tool to him.

Just something to be used and discarded.

Just something...Something he had never really seen as...as a person.

JR-6025's heart sank. She had held onto the hopes that he felt the same way for her. Maybe it was her naivety or just pure foolishness. But still...She had held onto hope...

But all of that shattered at his cold words...

"…Yes, sir," Her voice was void of any emotions as she said it...He could sense the emotions in her voice. Even if she had tried to hide it, he could figure out how hurt she was. How she felt like she had been betrayed. And how her heart was broken.

"You thought I loved you..." He said softly, almost whispering. "You thought we were in love."

"You kissed me, general." She reminded him.

His eyes snapped up as soon as she reminded him of that. The kiss they had shared...It felt like an eternity ago.

"That was..." He said slowly, seemingly searching for the right words. "A lapse in judgment." His tone was dismissive...But that was far from the truth.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Right…Of course."

She sounded sarcastic.

And maybe she was.

General Hux had hoped that...That by dismissing that kiss, he would break her in such a way that he could make her come back. She would run back to him...Back to the safety of his arms and the First Order.

But something told him that that would not be the case.

Hux glowered at her, his anger and frustration at an all-time high.

How dare she bring up that moment of weakness ? How dare she make him feel like a fool ?

He clenched his fists tightly at his sides, his knuckles turning white with the strain. His voice was low and seething with fury. "That was a mistake," he said, spitting out the words as if they were poison. "One I won't make again."

The bitterness in his voice was impossible to miss. Her eyes watered and she smiled weakly.

"A mistake…I see. Right. Just a mistake."

She sighed.

"Perhaps you are right. Perhaps it was a mistake. Perhaps that kiss meant nothing to you. And perhaps I am just a traitor. But…I will still see this through. I will see that future that I want. With or without your help."

She stood up and stared right at general Hux.

"I will not be returning, sir."

He seethed and shouted.

"You DARE to disobey me ?! To leave your unit, your duty to the First Order ?!"

His anger was overflowing...He was almost shaking with rage.

"Do you know what will happen to you if you do not come back ? Do you have any idea ?" He asked and shook his head in disbelief.

What an idiot…

"I don't care." She said simply, her eyes watering from the rage and pain she felt. "Whatever you do to me...You can't hurt me more than you've already hurt me."

Hux looked at her, his anger and disbelief growing in him with each one of her words. His hands were shaking and he could feel his pulse rise, making it clear of how furious he was.

"I won't ask again..." He said through gritted teeth, taking a step towards his communication device. "Where are you, JR-6025 ?"

She didn’t answer.

A cold rage began to simmer within him, building slowly until it seemed like it might burst out of him. "If you won't come back," he said, his voice low and dangerous, "then I promise you I will find you. And when I do, you will wish you had never been born."

The threat hung in the air like a dark cloud. "Do you think you can run from me ?" he continued, his voice starting to shake with anger. "Do you think you'll be able to hide ? I have resources at my disposal that you can't even begin to imagine. You will never be safe."

There were no emotions inside his voice now...Only pure cold anger.

She was defying him.

She was leaving him...

And she was choosing to live her life according to her own terms.

And in that moment...He hated her.

"You will regret every passing minute that you stayed away from me." He growled. "You will look back at your decision to disobey me as the worst mistake of your pathetic life. And when that time comes...I will not let you out of my sight ever again."

She felt the tears beginning to fall from her eyes. It hurt to hear the words coming out of his mouth. She had heard him threaten and intimidate others in the past...But this hit different...This time it was her that he was doing it to...All the anger, all the hate he hid behind his words. She was feeling it now...

"I won't return." She said, her tone breaking.

Armitage's heart was in pain now.

His fists shaking...

"It's treason, then."

He raised his right hand, pointing his finger directly at the holographic image of JR-6025. He then yelled with a hateful voice, with all his might.

"JR-6025, you are to be executed for your crimes ! And I, General Armitage Hux, will personally see to it ! Do you hear me ?" He sentenced and she closed her eyes. She knew it was coming, but she had still hoped that somehow she could be spared the heartbreak. General Hux’s chest was rising up and down...His breath short...His face red...

"Yes, sir." She said with a broken voice. The fear was in her eyes now...The desperation. She knew she didn't have much time left. She knew that once he ended the transmission, that the hunt for her would begin.

Yet still...She couldn't bring herself to say anything else right now. Her words of love weren't enough to deter his rage...Her declaration to find her own path meant nothing to him now...

He lowered his hand slowly, his breathing still quick and ragged. His face was twisted into a snarl. She could see the veins in his neck bulging under his skin. It was as if all the rage and frustration he had been bottling up had exploded out of him in one vicious burst of anger.

He stared at her through the holocomm link. "You will pay," he said in a guttural snarl. "You will pay for betraying the First Order. Mark my words."

She didn't dare to say a word as he yelled at her.

She didn't dare to look away either...

She knew that doing so would mean a lot worse than his threats.

So she just kept her eyes locked on his face.

Listening to the rage, to the words...And just letting it happen.

She didn't even try to stop the tears that were coming out of her eyes...

His face was cold and calculating. No trace of sympathy, pity, or pity. Only malice.

"You made your choice. Now suffer the consequences. I will see to it that your death is slow and painful," he said, his voice low and menacing. "You will regret the day you chose to turn your back on the First Order."

There was a glint in his eyes.

A dangerous glint.

That glint...That was not something anyone would want to experience. It meant death and torture...

"I don't want to die..." She said quietly.

The words were barely audible, almost a whisper. But he heard her. His face showed no emotions as he answered, his voice still angry and vengeful.

"You should have thought about that before you disobeyed me."

gritted her teeth.

"So be it."

"So be it," he repeated, his voice filled with venom. "I hope you're ready for what's coming, JR-6025. Because the end is near."

He was about to turn off the transmission, his face a mask of anger and hatred. He stood there in the darkness, his fists clenched at his sides, seething with rage.

"You are right. The end is near. For this STUPID war !" She stood up and went face-to-face with the hologram of General Hux. "I will put an end to this war. I WILL save you. Even if I have to drag you to reason with my own hands !"

Hux's fists were clenched, his face contorted with hatred. He was breathing heavily. His whole body was shaking with rage.

"You will do NOTHING," he spat out. "You are NOTHING but a TRAITOR. A DISOBEDIENT TOOL ! And you will pay for your crimes. I'll make sure of that."

He took a step closer towards the hologram, his face mere inches away from hers.

"I WILL save you, General Hux." She stated with complete conviction. Her eyes didn't flinch and she refused to break his gaze.

"I will not let you die in this pointless war."

Her voice was a mix of anger and desperation, but it also carried the sound of certainty.

"I said you will do NOTHING !" He screamed, his voice filled with pure hatred and rage. There was no more control in his tone, just a rage filled torrent of words, all dripping with spite and malice.

He felt like he was losing himself...

"Says who ?! You ?!" She laughed. "I am FREE ! I am free, general Hux. And I have thrown away EVERYTHING that ever made me a stormtrooper ! I am no longer under your control…I will NEVER be again."

"You are NOT free. And you NEVER will be...." He screamed, the hatred in his tone palpable. "I will never allow you to be free...Do you understand me ?"

There was nothing but pure contempt in his voice...Just pure, undiluted rage.

"I am myself ! I am FINALLY myself ! I shall NEVER go back to the First Order ! Not for you ! Not for Kylo Ren ! Not for ANYONE !" She raised her voice again and dared face him.

The look on his face was nothing short of pure rage. "You are nothing but a traitor," he snarled. "You will never be free. You belong to the First Order. You BELONG to ME."

His breathing was heavier now. His eyes were burning into hers with a cold, menacing stare.

"I belong to NO-ONE..." She shouted back. Her voice was a mix of outrage and sorrow. She was standing firm, standing her ground against the General of the First Order, against the man she thought she loved, her arms were tight against her sides and her eyes were locked to his like a vice. "I will not be controlled...Not by the First Order...! Not by you...! I will not—"

Armitage's eyes were narrowed into slits, his face contorted with hatred. The veins in his neck bulged with the force of his rage. "You're a traitor," he spat at her. "A traitor to the First Order. A traitor to all of us. You will be hunted down like the animal you are."

She chuckled at the irony.

"Me ? An animal ? No, general. I am human. But, you wouldn’t know much about that, would you ?"

Hux's lips curled into a smile, but only for a moment. Then he sneered. "You're wrong. I would know. I know you like the back of my hand, JR-6025. You're nothing but a pawn. A puppet. A slave. And you always will be."

"…Not yours." She smiled. "Not anymore."

Hux stood there, his fists clenched, his face contorted with rage. His chest rose and fell as he tried his best to control himself. He hated her at that moment. He hated her with a pure, deep hatred. And it was a feeling he'd never felt before: pure, white-hot fury. He could feel it coursing through him like liquid fire.

This was no ordinary anger. This was a primal, animalistic feeling, rooted in a deep, bitter resentment. He wanted to hurt her. He wanted to make her suffer.

"I will find you..." He growled out, his tone devoid of the emotion that he tried to hide in other interactions.

"And, when I do...I will inflict pain that you will not be able to imagine." His expression was cold as ice. His voice was sharp, his words were precise. It was like a promise...And it was one he meant to keep. "Don't you dare think that you can get away from me."

Her smiled faltered at his threats and she sighed. She used to want nothing more than his approval and now…she felt as if there was nothing left to say.

"I wanted to believe in you. The Force knows I tried !" She shook her head. "I wanted to believe that you were the greatest leader the First Order had and would even see…but you disappointed me, general Hux."

She sighed.

"…You made me think that I could be more than I was. And I resent you for that."

He gripped his own transmitter and shouted.

"I don't give a DAMN about what you think of me," he spat out. The fire in his eyes was like nothing she'd ever seen before. It was a primal, animal-like rage, fueled by a hatred so intense it seemed to radiate off of him. "I don't care about you. All I care about is power and the First Order."

He took a step closer, his fists clenched so tightly it seemed like they might burst from the strain.

"You're nothing to me."

Her heart ached and she restrained tears.

"…Well then…I guess there is nothing left to say now, is there ?"

"No." He said quietly. "There isn't."

The bitterness in his voice was palpable. The hatred and disdain he felt for her was nearly overwhelming...And she could tell. She could sense how much he despised her in this moment...He was about to end the transmission...He just wanted to say one last thing.

"If you're smart...You'll go into hiding and pray that I don't find you." Hux was silent for a moment, his breathing heavy and ragged. He was angry, extremely angry, but he couldn't seem to find the words to express it. He could feel his hands shaking with rage, his heart pounding in his chest, and his vision was blurry with hot, angry tears. But he just couldn't bring himself to say anything. Instead, all he could do was stand there, seething, as his body tensed with anger and frustration. He wanted to hit something, to kick something, to break something. But he just couldn't. He just stood there, shaking.

"Goodbye. Sir." She said and took a shaky breath.

There was a moment of silence, and then General Hux said in a cold, calculating voice, "Goodbye. Traitor."

He snapped the connection off.

She was left staring at the now blank hologram, her face set in a hard expression as her heart ached from the things he had said. The General's cruel words had left her feeling more than just hurt...They had stung her in a way she didn't think was possible. Her breathing was heavy...Her hands were shaking...And she could feel the hot tears running down her cheeks.

"Goodbye. Traitor."

Those were the last words he had said to her...And they echoed in her mind. JR decided to get out of her hut and walk towards the ocean. After a while, she smiled. JR continued to stare at the ocean as she smiled, the feeling of freedom washing over her.

She felt it, and she embraced it.

She let the rain come down on her, feeling every drop against her skin as if it was a part of her.

The feeling of the water running down her hair was like a rebirth...

She was not just free of the First Order...

She was free...

Free to be who she chose...

Free to find her own path...

Free to live at last.

But then, a voice behind them startled her.

"Having fun ?" She turned around and saw Luke standing there, his blue eyes staring fixedly at her. She looked next to her for Chewbacca, but found that he had already left. She sighed. Of course.

"What is it to you ?" She replied defensively—her brows furrowed and her arms crossed over her chest. "Last time I checked, the island didn’t belong to you."

He startled her once more by chuckling and shaking his head.

"You’re right. But, I remember clearly telling you that stormtroopers aren’t welcome." His features softened as he looked behind her at the sea. "But, you really aren’t a stormtrooper anymore, are you ?"

He waited for an answer and she asked herself the question. Was she ? After a moment, she smiled and shaked her head.

"No. I am not." She admitted truthfully and Luke humphed thoughtfully in response.

"Alright then. Follow me." He told her before walking away—not giving her the time to follow him easily. After a moment, she almost ran after him.

"Hey ! Wait up !" She called out for him—but he pretended not to hear her. She was certain the old man smiled a couple of times when she almost slipped in her eagerness to catch up.

"One more student will be joining us today." He simply declared to Rey who looked back and was taken aback by seeing JR-6025. But, she eventually smiled and JR-6025 smiled back before wordlessly sitting down next to her.

JR listened intently with a curious look on her face. Rey looked at JR and the happiness of her smile was contagious. Rey then gave her a quick nod, and JR smiled back in return. JR then turned to Luke, her face full of curiosity.

"One more student ?"

Luke nodded.

"I believe you have a gift. Kylo Ren communicated with you through your mind. He couldn’t have created such a link with you if you weren’t at least a little Force sensitive…"

"A gift...?" JR repeated, her brows furrowing. "You mean that I could learn to use the Force...?"

Luke sighed.

"That…remains to be seen. Your connection to the Force is weaker than Rey. But, it is there."

"But...even a little bit of the Force is still the Force, right...?" JR's question may have sounded childish, but she was just so excited that the Force might have been within her grasp. She wanted to have a special connection to the Force, to learn to manipulate it...

To learn to use it...

She would have to work hard if she wanted to be able to use the Force. The idea was intimidating, but she was eager to learn and explore her potential.

"Will...will you teach me...?"

Luke looked at her for a moment before asking:

"Would you let me ? Even though you know now that I am not the hero you thought I was ?"

JR took a moment to think...She could not deny her disappointment in Luke...But, she could also understand his reasons...In the end, she nodded.

"Yes...I would still let you teach me."

JR thought for a few moments before looking back at Luke. She paused a moment, before she continued.

"You may not be the hero I once thought you were. But, the Force called me here for a reason, and if I am truly sensitive to it, then I need to know how to use it."

She smiled at Luke.

"So, please teach me."

"Alright. Then, I will train you. But, beware. Your training will be as hard or even harder than Rey’s. Are you ready for it ?" Luke asked.

JR nodded firmly, her eyes shining brightly.

"Yes. I am ready."

Luke nodded and Rey smiled.

And hence, JR-6025’s training started. The former stormtrooper was now learning to harness the very power that she had never fully understood. She was ready and willing to learn as she had never been before. This was the start of a whole new world for her. One with peace, wisdom, truth, and enlightenment instead of war and pain.

JR was a very dedicated student. She had been raised for harsh conditions and so, Luke's training felt challenging but not impossible. The only thing that she seemed to have trouble with was meditation. She had never enjoyed sitting passively and allowing things to simply happen around her. She was used to acting and being active.

Rey tried to help her when it came to wielding a lightsaber and both women were trying to help each other during meditation and encouraging each other.

Over time, as JR's training progressed, she began to develop a strong bond of friendship with Rey. They would often encourage and support each other during training and even in their daily lives on the island.

The both of them had never felt like they belonged anywhere before, but now they found comfort in their friendship, knowing that they were in the same boat.

JR and Rey worked hard during training and both grew closer and more confident as the days went on. They would talk to each other during breaks and would often try to teach each other things they were good at.

They also made a habit of sharing small jokes and stories of their pasts when they weren't training or meditating. JR and Rey had become fast friends and both seemed to find comfort in the company of the other.

JR slowly began to learn to find peace within herself...To find that sense of calm that allowed her to access the Force. The training was hard and the meditation was exhausting, but the patience and support that Rey provided made it all that much easier to bear.

JR's bond with Rey was growing stronger with each passing day, and she was grateful to have someone who understood her and who she could trust to help her on her journey.

They were both growing in their skills and their understanding of the Force, and their friendship was a source of strength and support for each of them.

Early one morning, Rey and JR woke up and prepare themselves for their first lesson with Luke Skywalker. They both found him sitting on a rock—waiting.

"Sit."

They obeyed. Luke finally opened his eyes to look at them.

"Tell me. What is your goal ? What would you do if you were to learn to wield the Force ?"

"...The goal...?" JR repeated, her voice almost a whisper...She had taken a long time to understand that word again...She had never been taught to have goals...The First Order had only ever taught her to do whatever they told her...What was HER goal...? Was that even a question for her...

She looked around. At the sea...At the birds and the sky. She felt the wind in her hair...She felt so...free.

"…To catch the sun." She murmured. "And let it lead me to a better life."

She was silent for a couple of seconds...She would never have thought that in her darkest days...She would ever have that thought...She had not had a life worth living...

One of her own.

One that was free from fear.

One where she could do and be what she wanted.

The thought was not foreign to her, but never had she disclosed it so openly before. It was strange, but also satisfying. It was as if someone had finally opened a door—a door that she didn't even know existed until now.

The door of possibilities...

Skywalker smiled and nodded shortly before looking at Rey.

"And you ?"

Rey also looked at him. Her expression was similar to JR's as she thought about it. She was silent for a long time...

"...To...To find my place..." She said after a while. Her voice was almost a whisper. "To find where I belong..."

He nodded before giving them both stones.

"Keep that thought and concentrate on what you want. Those stones will turn your thoughts into energy…"

JR held the stone and she focused on that dream she had.

I want to be free. Live freely. Be myself.

...And the stone glowed...

It glowed a bright purple while Rey’s stone shone a light blue. Skywalker smiled.

"Alright. Those stones will serve you in building your lightsabers when you are ready. Take them as representations of your souls."

JR looked down at the stone. She looked at it in wonder...It was purple. Why was it purple ? Was that really the colour of her soul ?

...Her identity...?

"This is...mine ?" She mumbled as the stone glowed brighter.

"Yes. And they will help you whenever you feel the pull of the Dark Side. To stay and remember yourselves and who you want to be." Luke Skywalker confirmed and JR smiled as she caressed the stone with the tip of her thumb.

JR looked at the stone in awe and wondered about the meaning behind its color.

Purple ?

She had never heard of a purple lightsaber before, but then again, she had been raised to believe that Jedi only used green and blue lightsabers. The idea of her own color was exciting to her.

She turned to look at Rey and her stone, noticing it was blue.

Blue like Master Skywalker's lightsaber...

She smiled, feeling a sense of unity with Rey.

"Now, you will be tested. The stone will lead your path. Just remember that whatever you see and whatever happens, you have to get back."

JR frowned and was about to ask back from what when Luke threw black sand in the air and suddenly, the two women fell asleep.

"Close your eyes and fight against the Dark Side that is trying to control your mind…" She heard Luke Skywalker tell them before she blacked out completely.

JR closed her eyes and let herself go into a deep trance. She was aware of the dark side, and it called to her. Her thoughts began to wander and the images in her mind became more and more intense until they became vivid and disturbing...She saw herself on the bridge of a First Order starship, and her voice rang out.

"Fire."

As the Star Destroyer fired its cannons into the side of a New Republic ship, destroying it, her voice continued...

"Fire again."

"No ! No !" She screamed at herself to stop—but the other her didn’t as she mercilessly kept ordering the troops to fire.

"No ! Stop !" She tried to scream, but the voice was louder now and getting more overpowering with every word she said...The star destroyer kept firing, destroying the New Republic ship. The bridge crew of the First Order vessel just followed her command.

"Keep firing." And she couldn't control her hand...The troopers were going into panic and shouting "No" and begging her to stop, but there she was, as their commander, ordering them to continue firing...

Her mind was suddenly filled by darkness and a dark place took over…the place where nightmares and lies took shape. JR and Rey needed answers, and JR knew she didn't have the time to get them by any other means…She took a big gulp of air before entering the dark place that she feared.

She firstly saw Finn and Poe. She smiled and ran to hug them.

"Finn. Poe. Oh…I’m so glad to see you both."

But, she immediately felt as if something was wrong. She took a few steps back and saw that both men were glaring at her.

"…Traitor." They both said in unison and her eyes widened.

"W-What ?"

Poe and Finn walked towards her and their eyes only translated loathing at her. She shivered and she felt cold sweat run down her back. She kept backing away as their voices grew louder as they kept saying the same word again and again.

"Traitor. Traitor. TRAITOR !"

She fell backwards and her very soul felt sucked in by the darkness—her throat constricted by the darkness which sipped through every inch of her body. She tried to scream—but no sound came out.

Finn and Poe kept approaching her. They were growing bigger and larger with every step they took, their faces contorting with rage and anger as they kept shouting at her:

"TRAITOR ! TRAITOR !"

She fell backwards and everything went dark. Her throat was constricted, her legs felt like lead. She couldn't breathe or scream. Her soul felt like it was being sucked into the void of darkness that was taking over her...

She closed her eyes and once she opened them again, she saw a version of herself with a bog grin on her face and who quickly went to hug Lord Kylo Ren.

"We did it ! Ben ! We saved them ! All of them !"

JR saw herself scream excitedly, throwing herself in his arms while he laughed. She smiled. But then, JR’s smile dropped when she saw the Ben Solo of her vision turn pale and die in her arms. Suddenly, Ben slowly slid to the floor, but her doppelgänger got a hold of him and shook her head.

"No..NO !"

He smiled at her with half-closed eyes and touched her cheek tenderly. The real JR started crying and tried to get to Ben, but couldn’t.

"No ! I can fix this ! We can fix this ! Rey ! Rey !" Her doppelgänger cried out and Ben took her hand and shook his head with a weak smile.

"I gave my life for her…"

Her dream version looked back at him and sobbed.

"No…Why ?"

He smiled again and stroked her cheek tenderly before replying.

​​​​​​"Because, that's who I am. An idiot. An idiot to have followed such a dark path, an idiot for being blinded by my rage…And an idiot for letting you in. For letting you change me…but thank you. Thank you for letting me be Ben again."

JR waited for him to say something else, anything…But when she opened her eyes again, she was met with lifeless eyes…Ben Solo was dead. The image of his dead eyes following JR out of the vision itself.

She looked at the vision in horror as she watched her doppelgänger sob over Ben Solo's lifeless body. She heard the darkness whisper to her...It spoke of her deepest fear...Of the possibility that she had caused the death of someone she cared for...Of the fact that she might have been the one to hurt Ben...

"No...No..." She uttered in realization. She tried to walk to the vision, to help, to do something...But, the vision did not respond. It just continued to play regardless of what she tried to do.

"No ! No ! There must be another way !"

JR was horrified by the vision, she felt like she was witnessing a nightmare come true. However, JR quickly noticed that the vision seemed to be affecting her, and she knew she needed to resist the darkness that was trying to take hold of her mind.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focusing all her energy on the purple stone that she had been given. She could feel the stone's energy spreading through her body, giving her strength and helping her resist the darkness. She remembered the lessons that she had been taught about the Force, about maintaining a connection to the light.

"Resist...Resist...Resist."

Why is this vision so painful...?

JR felt more than she ever had. A pain that went deeper than the wounds that had been inflicted upon her during her time serving the First Order…A pain that was deeper than anything she had ever felt before…It was a despair and grief that was so profound, so intense that it felt as if it was tearing apart her soul…It was so powerful, so overwhelming, that she couldn’t even bring herself to move…To run away…And she couldn’t stop crying either.

JR couldn't breathe, couldn't move. She was completely paralyzed by her worst fears. She couldn't resist the images the vision showed to her.

All sorts of possibilities were playing in her head. Was it possible that she would cause Ben's death ?

The darkness had seeped deep into her and spread like poison throughout her, corrupting her mind and making her thoughts distorted and irrational.

She tried to focus on the stone, but it felt as if the darkness was getting stronger and the stone weaker...

"…Hello, JR-6025." A voice called behind her and her breath hitched.

No…Not him. Please.

She closed her eyes and slowly turned around to find general Hux standing there.

"So…this is the end ?" He asked, not seeming particularly shocked or scared while JR was wondering what was going on. He even smiled when she faced him.

"General…I…What ?" She asked—confused. But then, her eyes looked down to see that she had a blaster in her hand—pointed at him.

"Well…I suppose that it was inevitable. If it's of any consolation, I'm happy that it's you. It makes it all the more…personal, don’t you think ?"

JR couldn't believe what she was seeing. General Hux, the one who had commanded her and the other stormtroopers for so long, was standing there smiling at her despite the gun in her hand. The thought of shooting him made her feel sick to her stomach. But he seemed unfazed, almost as if he welcomed death.

"I...I don't understand. Why are you so calm about this?" JR asked, her voice shaking.

General Hux shrugged slightly. "I've always known that this day might come. It makes it easier to accept when you're ready for it."

He looked around, the smile not leaving his face.

"I've had a good run. It was good while it lasted. But, I never was made to be in charge forever...was I ?" JR felt tears run down her cheeks, her hand shaking.​​​​​​ He chuckled and raised his arms. "Come on, JR. You know that if you don't pull that trigger, it's me who will kill you. I am ready. Are you ?"

JR's eyes were wide with shock, her arm shaking, her finger just centimeters from the trigger. She didn't know what to do...A part of her wanted to fire the weapon, to finally end this man's life, the man who had been so cruel to her and had done so many unspeakable things against the innocent people of the galaxy...But another part of her couldn't bring herself to do it.

All she felt was pain. Suffocating sadness...And despair...

​​​​​​"It's not fair ! I never wanted this ! Any of this !" She cried out.

General Hux's smile was still there, cold and calculated, but with a hint of sadness behind his eyes.

"It rarely is," he replied, "But this is the nature of things. Life is not fair. War is not fair. And we are merely pawns in a game far larger than ourselves."

He looked at the blaster in JR's hand and sighed. "So are you going to just stand there, or are you going to finish this ?"

Hux's face showed a rare moment of compassion, unlike the cruelty she had always seen in him. It was clear that he understood the pain and turmoil she was going through...

He stepped forward, his arms out as if to embrace her...

"It's okay..."

His voice was gentle, comforting....

"No. No, it’s not. It’s not." She shook her head and tried to lower the blaster—but she couldn’t.

There was a moment of complete silence, broken only by her sobbing and the sounds of the wind and the rain.

General Hux looked at her, his eyes full of acceptance.

"It's alright."

JR's hand trembled as she raised the blaster's aim, pointing directly at General Hux's chest. She couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger...

"I want to hate you. I want to hate you, but I can’t." She cried harder. "It would be so much easier…"

He chuckled. "I understand. Believe me, I know what it feels like to want to hate someone and yet be unable to do so."

He took another step closer to her, his chest just centimeters away from the blaster.

"Go ahead. Pull the trigger," he said softly, "and end this."

"No."

They stood there in silence for a moment, the only sound being the sound of JR crying. General Hux placed his hand on top of hers, steadying her shaking arm.

"JR...do what you must."

Those words broke something inside of her. All her hatred, all her pain, all her sadness came crashing down like a tidal wave, overwhelming her, and in that moment, she knew what she had to do.

"I can’t. I can’t kill you. I can’t. I…" She stopped herself and looked at him. "Please. There must be another way. I can’t…do this. Please. Please."

General Hux's expression softened slightly. He understood what she was saying, and he wished more than anything else that there had been another way...

But there wasn't...

He moved closer, placing his hand over hers on top of the blaster.

"Sometimes in life, there are no choices."

He took a step towards her and suddenly, JR pulled the trigger unintentionally. He was thrown backwards because of the force of the blast and, in his final moment, forced himself to smile at JR—blood dripping from his mouth.

​​​​​​"Goodbye, JR-6025."

He collapsed and JR’s gun fell to the floor. She took a step back. This was a nightmare. She wanted to wake up…

"Nooo !" She screamed and quickly threw the blaster away and dropped to her knees—pulling his body close to hers. "Please. No. Stay. Stay with me. Don’t go."

JR held onto his body, tears rolling down her cheeks as she begged for him to stay with her, but it was too late. General Hux was gone. She was left alone, holding onto his lifeless body, with nothing but her pain and grief to keep her company. She had hated him for so long, but now...all she felt was sadness. All she felt was the pain of losing someone she had never expected to care about.

Her pleas were ignored as he lay there, unmoving.

JR held onto his body, tears rolling down her face as she realized that he was gone. "No...please...come back..."

She continued to hold onto him tightly and shake him, hoping beyond hope that somehow, someway, he would open his eyes and look back at her once more…

But he didn't. He remained still in the darkness at her feet…cold and quiet.

She pulled his body close to hers, cradling his head on her shoulder and cried for what felt like hours until she couldn't anymore. The darkness that had been surrounding her was slowly starting to become less oppressive...and more welcoming...In the darkness, JR could feel the Dark Side growing and feeding off every negative emotion she had been feeling over the course of her life. It was like a bottomless pit that was willing to take all the suffering inside of her. Her thoughts grew distorted and she felt the cold, soothing embrace of the darkness as it enveloped her, comforting her pain and her tears.

She couldn't see anything and her thoughts grew even more warped as she felt like she was falling deeper into this pit...

"Resistance scum !" JR suddenly heard and looked around to find herself surrounded by the shadows. She narrowed her eyes as she saw red light coming through the dense dark fog. She barely managed to get out of the way as a red lightsaber almost cut off her head. She backed away and saw a dark-hooded figure stand forward. JR was panting as her heart squeezed in fear as the hooded figure stood before her and revealed its face.

Rey.

Her red eyes were looking down at her and she sneered.

"Surprised ? Of course you are...I finally took my rightful place as the Empress ! As Ren wanted. As YOU wanted. Aren’t you proud of me, JR ?The Resistance is crushed…And all that is left of it is you."

JR shook her head in disbelief as she thought about Poe, Finn and Leia…

"No. It…It can't be."

Rey laughed evilly before looking back at her disdainfully.

"How ironic, the traitor becomes the last one standing…Tell me, how does it feel to lose everything ? To have failed to save anyone, you couldn't even save your precious general Hux, of course you couldn't save me, or Ben or anyone.."

JR's heart nearly stopped at the image of Rey standing before her, a sinister and evil grin on her face, her lightsaber glowing an ominous red.

She couldn't believe it...it wasn't possible...

But the cruel, cold, and calculating look in her eyes told her everything she needed to know...

The darkness had claimed Rey, and now her only friend in the galaxy had become her worst enemy. The girl she thought she could trust and rely on had turned into a monster...and she was here to kill her.

"You are nothing but a nightmare ! An hallucination ! An apparition here to make me fall into despair and fear !" JR shouted and gritted her teeth before slowly standing up. She felt the darkness starting to wrap its tendrils around her mind, its cold touch making her shudder. However, she pushed it back with all her will, holding onto the light deep inside her. She stood tall...facing her nightmare head on...

"You think you're going to break me...but you're not. I won't let you ! I'm stronger than you give me credit for...I'm not done fighting !"

The apparition of Rey looked at her with hateful eyes. "You're right. I'm nothing but smoke and a dream. But that does not mean that what I say has no truth to it. I am just telling you what you already know. That your efforts were in vain. That you have failed everyone."

JR covered her ears while yelling.

​​​​​​"No ! Stop it !"

Rey’s voice entered her mind and JR felt her fingers dig into her shoulders.

"You thought you were a hero ? You are just a traitor…A failure. How could a traitor ever become a hero ?"

Rey’s voice distorted to resemble a mix of all the voices of the people she ever cared about…They were all repeating the same word—over and over.

Traitor.

"Please…No more." JR sobbed and sank to the floor. She had only ever wished to protect those she cared about. But by doing so, she had become a traitor to both sides. A spy from the First Order and a rebellious stormtrooper. She belong to both sides, and neither…She felt their voices in her head—accusatory and terrifying.

She felt lost.

She had already felt the pull on each side, but she was incapable of choosing. She had always complained about not having a choice, but once face with one—she found herself doubting. She didn’t know who or what to choose.

"Please…Someone…Help me. Tell me what to do." She uttered in a weak whisper and her tears doubled as she realised that no matter what—she had been conditioned to never be able to make a choice. She wasn’t capable of it. She wanted free will, but what was the point when picking a side would end up hurting the people she cared about ?

She felt such pain in her chest that she screamed—for anyone to hear her. She wanted someone to stop her inner bleeding and the conflict raging within her.

All of her fears were amplified by the illusion's voices and the darkness around her. The voices of the people she cared about repeated a single word over and over in her head: traitor.

Her failure to save anyone, to make a choice, to have a place on either side...it crushed the last bit of light she was trying to hold on to.

She felt like she was being pulled in different directions by these voices and it was too much for her to handle. She was losing touch with reality and felt like she was losing control...

Unbeknownst to her, in different parts of the galaxy, people heard her call.

Kylo Ren heard it so loud and clear that he fell backwards in shock as her scream reverberated through his head like a siren call. It was so loud and strident that he was momentarily stunned as he looked around for the source of the sound—only to find no one.

"…JR-6025." General Hux uttered in a whisper—her scream having reached even him. For the first time, he felt genuinely worried. It had been days without any transmission from JR-6025 and that scream made him ball his knuckles into fists. Where are you, JR-6025 ?

At the Resistance camp, Leia, Poe and Finn all heard her call and felt her pain. It made them immediately react. Finn stood up and his heart was beating a thousand times a minute as he felt her helplessness.

"Poe ! That was…" Finn started and Poe nodded.

"Yeah. I heard it too." He was breathless too. So much fear.

"We need to go get them." Finn said. They both turned towards Leia who remained impassive as she spoke up.

"Rey and JR are in good hands. Trust in Luke. Trust in the Force."

Back in the cave

The voices in JR’s head grew so loud with everyone hearing and feeling her pain, she was drowning in it, and the voices were starting to sound like a loud ringing in her ears that was making her head spin. The dark entity's whispers were now deafening and she couldn't hold on to any other thoughts. She felt her arms reaching out, reaching up, searching blindly for someone to come save her...

The darkness seemed to be closing in around her, its tendrils reaching for her mind...But she fought back...She closed her eyes and began to recite a Jedi mantra that she had learned from Luke Skywalker.

"There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony." JR could feel the darkness slowly starting to recede...And in that moment, she felt a sudden rush of relief. Luke and Rey had also heard her call. Rey was about to wake her up—but Luke stopped her.

"No. Let her face her fears." He then turned towards JR and whispered. "Use the Force, child. Use the stone. Remember your goal. Remember…"

JR heard his voice and gritted her teeth before retrieving the stone and tightening her grasp on it. Suddenly, she felt the Force surge through her and when her eyes opened, she no longer held a stone—but a lightsaber. It lit up and she held it up in the air—chasing the shadows away.

A beam of light shone through the dark fog; a hope in the dark. JR’s eyes widened as she felt a surge of energy. She held her lightsaber up in the air, feeling its powers coursing through her body and through the air itself. The dark clouds scattered away beneath her presence like paper. As the dark haze lifted, the figures surrounding her all stepped back in fear at the sudden light. They watched as it cleared away, and all of them could see that she was now holding a lightsaber of her own—a bright beam of light piercing through the darkness.

The dark tendrils and shadows were now pushed back and she was feeling their fear and surprise. She gripped the lightsaber tightly and was now standing tall, the light from her blade illuminating her face.

She wasn’t a traitor who failed and couldn't choose anymore. She was someone who was strong and not afraid to face their fears.

The dark forces had backed away, seeing the light that had always been inside her.

She was in control...

The apparitions looked at her in surprise, their forms flickering in the light of her saber.

"Impossible," the Rey apparition whispered, "How are you doing this ?"

JR didn't answer, but instead focused on the strength of the Force that was flowing through her body. She could feel the power of the light within her...and she could feel it pushing back the darkness...

JR held her lightsaber up high, its brilliant glow illuminating the darkness that surrounded her. As the light grew stronger, so did her confidence and resolve. She could feel the Force flowing through her veins, empowering her with strength, courage, and determination to press on. The darkness seemed to retreat further as she took another step forward. Then another. And another. Until finally its tendrils had vanished completely.

JR stood there for a moment, surveying her surroundings with a newfound sense of power and clarity. She had faced down her inner demons and come out victorious...

She finally opened her eyes and saw Luke staring at her. He was stunned at the power he felt within her. It wasn’t like Kylo’s or Rey’s. It was…different. A power that came from a place unknown to him. Luke looked at her with confusion and wonderment. He sensed that there was something...different about her Force sensitivity. It seemed to be a mixture of light and dark, yet somehow...in balance.

As the light grew stronger and the darkness faded to nothingness, she felt the rush of the Force more than she had ever felt it in her entire life, and it filled her with a feeling of absolute certainty and conviction.

JR's power didn't resemble Kylo's or Rey's—it was something else entirely. It came from a place of balance and harmony, a mixture of both light and dark. Something that was somehow in equilibrium...

As the apparitions faded away, and even the darkness dissipated around her, she looked at Luke in disbelief. She then looked down at the stone in her hand as it slowly stopped glowing and she smiled—tears of joy filling her eyes.

"No more fear…" She uttered in a whisper.

The stone slowly stopped glowing as all the fears and horrors that had been haunting her disappeared in silence, leaving her free to finally breathe and smile as the peace she so greatly desired settled over her.

"No more fear," she repeated with a small smile, looking down as she clutched the stone firmly in her fist, feeling its power, while she felt the light of the Force around her and through her—a new sense of clarity, certainty, and comfort that she hadn't felt in a long time...

JR smiled and looked up at Rey who smiled back. Both of their stones lighting up.

…No more fear.

[marvelstars]

Leia Organa & Darth Vader

I have always thought there´s so much potential there honestly.

Just looking at the few scenes of them together in a New Hope, the first thing Leia said to Vader was "Lord Vader only you would be so bold" or "Tarkin´s loyal dog Vader" while Vader was like "This isn´t one of your mercy missions Princess" and the way he says "You are part of the rebel alliance and a traitor" is full of emotion, he´s pissed she´s part of the rebel alliance but he isn´t treating her as an enemy yet, to his enemies he´s extremely cold, only says the bare minimum of words and doesn´t hold back when fighting them, with Leia he´s acting as if she´s someone he knew and feels dissapointed they joined the alliance.

It´s obvious they have seen each other before, most probably on the Senate, for Leia Vader´s isn´t that "mysterious right hand of the Emperor whose presence means death" he´s someone she can be sassy or insult to his face without inmediate consequences given her diplomatic inmunity. In fact I think the reason Alderaan´s destruction took her competely by surprise was because she didn´t expect the Empire to actually declare her and her world as enemies of the state, because that didn´t happen in her previous missons.

Now contrast this with Vader and Leia on Empire Strikes Back and they are definitely enemies and no, they are no talking about it any longer. Leia doesn´t have to say anything, she hates Vader with a passion and Vader doesn´t try to justify himself to her about Alderaan because while he was agaisn´t the order of destroying it(In fact Tarkin made the decision on his own, without consulting anyone) despite the fact Vader hated the whole idea of the Death Star, he still didn´t stop the destruction of the planet and Leia is now part of a guerrilla group looking to end the Empire, they don´t have anything to talk about anymore but curiously, she was the only one left alone on cloud city.

But once Leia learns from Luke they are twins and Vader is their father, after the shock left her, she says "Somehow I have always know" wow, why isn´t disney doing anything with this?, Leia has all the right to be furious at Vader for not noticing she was his daughter but Vader at this point had decades mourning Padme and their kid, who he thought was going to be a girl, Padme was buried with her baby bump, by doing this, Yoda, Obi-Wan and Bail effectively made Vader believe he killed his wife and his baby, I know they did this to hide them from the Emperor but Vader would see it in a different way, I don´t think Anakin thinks he ever abandoned his kids, given the chance, dark side or not, jedi or not, Anakin valued family over both Jedi and Sith, he gave up the darkside and his literal kingdom to protect them, he would have never abandoned his kids if he knew they were alive.

I think this is also the reason why Vader insisted on calling Leia "Princess" "Alderaan´s Princess" even after Alderaan´s destruction, this is his way of putting distance between them, "She´s Organa´s daughter" no matter what similarities he saw between her and Padme or between her and himself, he can´t allow himself the delusion of his daughter possibly being alive, it hurts too much more than his other hurts, what if it´s just his own mind playing tricks to him? but if this is true, this would mean people used Padme´s funeral to make him believe his child was dead and that his Master lied to him about Padme´s death and he probably can´t deal with that emotionally without going completely insane, he only manages to do that with Luke once after two decades of distance.

Going back to Leia, once she learned about Vader and her blood links, she can´t deal with that either, she manages to deny it and go on with her life but unlike Vader and Luke, she never got closure about any of this, she never got the oportunity to at least scream at him all her hurts like she did in legends, this is why on this instance I prefer Lengeds, Anakin´s Force Ghost went to Leia to ask her forgiveness for fear of her falling to the darkside and didn´t leave until she screamed at him to leave her alone and never come back, as strange as that may sound, that moment allowed legends Leia start to heal and let go of her hate without justifiying her father, she even learned about his childhood on Tatooine.

The mere fact he appeared for her, to tell her he was worried for her, wanted her to be happy let go of her hate, even if he was never forgiven, meant he recognized her as his daughter and that his loving Luke didn´t mean he loved her any less or that he would have not die for her like he did for Luke.

But in the current canon, their relationship stayed completely buried/ignored like an open wound until she was forced to deal with that because the Senate found out about it and because her Son fell to the darkside and still she didn´t manage to make anything about it, except trust what Luke said to her about him because that can help her deal with her lose of her own Son and imo it´s completely OOC for Force Ghost Anakin to stay out of one of his kids life if it would help her confront him at least once, I honestly don´t see how they justify it because it doesn´t make sense. Anakin Skywalker isn´t one to stay out of his loved ones life if he can do something to help them, this is one of the reasons why the current canon about them is so dissapointing to me, but well there´s still fanfic. :) I just have too many feelings about them.

[swsequelsalt]

The risk/reward of just ignoring one sequel's mistakes in the next one

Ghostbusters Afterlife —

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire —

I've previously written on this blog about the unfortunate legacy of The Force Awakens and how its massive success paved the way for a veritable buttload of legacy sequels that made similar mistakes.

One example I cited was Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Among the things I hated there was the declaration that no ghosts had shown up anywhere for approximately 30 years, effectively negating any EU lore or personal imaginings of interim adventures. Instead, we're made to believe that ghosts ONLY appear when an apocalyptic threat is making them emerge.

This year's direct sequel, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, just completely ignores all that. Ghosts can appear anywhere and any time regardless of whether a major threat is coming to somehow spawn them. In fact, we even see the library ghost from the opening of the original 1984 Ghostbusters has apparently just been floating around freely EVER SINCE THEN. She's just stayed in the New York Public Library the whole friggin' time! (Which is kind of ridiculous all by itself, but whatever.)

So that's certainly ONE way to deal with dumb/bad ideas introduced in legacy sequels; just kind of pretend the idea was wrong or that you never said it, and don't bother explaining yourself when you show the opposite to be true. :P I... kind of love that??? But I feel like I probably shouldn't, because they should probably have to justify why they claimed that stuff in the first place.

But can you imagine if the Star Wars sequels pulled this kind of thing?

The Rise of Skywalker certainly does take pains to undo some of The Last Jedi, but it also feels the need to acknowledge what that movie said and did. Like "Oh Rey — it IS true that your parents were nobodies, but your grandpa is still somebody." Imagine instead if The Rise of Skywalker had just treated it like "OF COURSE Luke never thought the Jedi were a mistake, and of course he didn't run away to die! He was on that planet to build a new Jedi Academy, silly! Didn't you notice?" And then they just never explained the discrepancy.

I think I might've loved that, LOL. But like I said... I probably shouldn't. :P

[pomplalamoose]

hey omg I have this idea, could you maybe do headcanons (IF YOU WANT TO) abt enemies to lovers with Luke? Well, you can have it kinda be like a Mara Jade scenario where she needs to kill him but Luke doesn’t necessarily hate her. Honestly all up to you!

Hiii anon, thanks for your ask🩵 I really like the idea, so let's jump right into it!

• I find this to be a very interesting concept because there are so many possibilities how this could play out 

• across the galaxy there is a wide array of people that could have good reasons to hate Luke, even the ones that have never actually met him before 

• the reasons for said dislike can range from petty to understandable, depending wholly on whose side you are on

• imagine: you could be a fellow kid from Tatooine, having one sided beef with Luke because he was always the better pilot and shooting womp rats came to him easily, whereas you wanted nothing more than to beat him once but always failed 

• maybe Luke stole the love of your life right from underneath your nose without even realizing 

• maybe you hate him just because he made it off that hell hole of a planet and casually overthrew the Empire in the process 

• like, THAT COULD HAVE BEEN YOU and the jealousy is gnawing at you

• maybe you are a politician's assistant or the politician yourself and, because you can't stand Leia, hate Luke too, simply because they are related 

• possibly Luke's actions, unbeknownst to him, had a serious impact on your life; you are left reeling, trying your hardest to pick up the pieces left

• maybe you worked for Jabba and lost your job due to his death 

• alternatively you lost friends in the same battle that cost your boss his life 

• or maybe Jabba died before he could pay you your well deserved money

• and worse: you are responsible for caring for friends or family and now can't do that anymore because your employer is fucking dead

• maybe you had family or friends on the Death Star

• maybe you are part of what remains of the Empire 

• alternatively you could have been raised to hate and fight the Jedi, and now, that there is only one left, you want to end them one and for all

• either way: the only thing still keeping you from crumbling down, what keeps you going,  is the thought of revenge 

• no matter your motive, Luke will not hate you in return no matter what you do

• we have to be realistic here, that man didn't even hate his father and refused to kill the Emperor with his own hands

• so the whole enemy part is pretty much one sided, to him you are a slight annoyance at best 

• (additional reason to absolutely hate his guts)

• (personally I think it's hilarious but obviously you don't)

• there is nothing more infuriating than your sworn nemesis acknowledging your presence but not being really bothered by it 

• and why would he? 

• (going forward I'll assume your goal is to hurt him or possibly end his life)

• unless you have some serious outstanding skills, you wont be able to even get close enough to do any harm

• plus, it would be in your best interest to catch him alone, which in its own right is hardly implementable

• if you somehow get this far though, he will already know 

• it's basically impossible to sneak up on him, especially with murder on your mind 

• and taking on Luke wholly on your own? You wouldn't stand a chance 

• even though you could potentially be a trained fighter you are blinded by rage and thus not equipped to meet him at the same level he's on

• all of this, of course, doesn't mean that Luke would simply accept the way you keep trying to mess up him or his family 

• he might have developed lots of patience during his training and over the years but when the people he loves are in danger, he isn't playing around 

• (it doesn't matter that every single one of them is dangerous in their own right and can very well defend themselves)

• if you're lucky he only gets angry 

• but if you somehow manage to catch his interest and become subjected to his curiosity, you might as well turn yourself in straight away

• he will either make an effort to get you arrested, or alternatively, seek you out himself 

• abruptly the roles are going to be reversed; no longer will you be the hunter but instead the hunted 

• Luke will naturally want to know who you are and where you are from, what your occupation is or was and whether you are working alone 

• most importantly he'll want to hold you accountable for your actions 

• since he doesn't consider you a real threat he is able to take his time to methodically tire you out 

• he doesn't mind if you constantly manage to evade his grasp, he knows you will return again to try and hurt him

• eventually, if you like it or not, he'll get his chance to confront you 

• depending on your reaction, the results are different ones 

• if you insist on following your path, he'll see you punished according to your crimes

• if you're willing to engage in conversation/are reasonable enough, he will reach out, offer his help 

• you absolutely don't want to go to prison but his pity would make you feel similarly awful 

• it's easy to stoke hatred and to keep your anger burning when your target is, as far as you are concerned, a monster 

• however, coming face to face with Luke for the first time, you are thrown and your world, once again, is turned upside down 

• he is nothing like you imagined 

• he is kind, charming even, and not arrogant and blinded by pride, like you thought 

• above all he's so beautiful it hurts

• despite everything you did in order to bring him harm, he is ready to forgive you 

• and not only that: he offers his support, might even apologize and explain his point of view should you entrust him with the reason for your actions 

• while Luke does not expect you to do so, in fact doesn't demand anything, he still wants to come to an agreement 

• he's busy enough as it is and permanently keeping an eye out for you is, frankly, irritating 

• so what is it that you want? A stable job? A place to live? Money? Some other kind of compensation for what happened to you?

• it's hard to face the fact that maybe, just maybe, you were in the wrong all along 

• that he is, just like you, a survivor of the war and it's circumstances and did only what had to be done 

• (alternatively you are a Sith and want to admit to your faults even less)

• whatever the case, Luke will remain understanding and, should you refuse his help, won't judge you for it 

• if you promise to leave him and his family alone, he'll let you go

• it's all up to you and he won't pressure you into something your pride doesn't allow 

• he'll be happy to part ways peacefully, of course, but if that's not the case you'll still get your chance to stand by your word to not cross his path again 

• regretfully he does not disappear from your thoughts, no matter how much you try to forget about this embarassing encounter

• maybe you try to unfairly twist your interactions to make them fit your narrative

• it's not working though and with growing frustration you realize you want to, need to, see him again 

• only to accuse him of messing with your mind of course, no other reason (like taking a last look into his crystal blue eyes)

• if you can settle this once and for all, maybe he'll stop appearing in your dreams and leave you alone 

• surely this is all the doing of a Jedi and has nothing to do with a guilty conscience and a burning longing to be held in his arms