"Remember your promise, okay?" I asked Rey as I pulled her into a tight hug. She laughed slightly but I hugged her even tighter. "You know, the one about you not dying? I'm serious though, Rey, the galaxy is a dangerous place, please be careful,"

"I will, Luci, but I'm only going to find Luke Skywalker, how dangerous can that be?" she asked with a small frown as she pulled out of our hug.

"Trust me, you don't know that drama queen like I do," I rolled my eyes slightly. "I'm guessing you want him to train you? Well he'll probably refuse, but give him hell for a while and he'll train you eventually,"

She laughed again, but I knew it was only because she didn't know I was being serious. I knew my Uncle, he would refuse to train her, tell her that he will be the last Jedi since he never finished training myself, Izzy and Erika. He'll be all mysterious and tell her about the vanity of the Jedi instead of helping her, but I knew eventually he would pull through, he always did.

I hugged Rey one more time, savouring the embrace with my new best friend. We'd not known each other long, but the situations we'd gone through had bonded us together tightly to the extent I couldn't imagine being without her. I was going to miss her dearly, and I knew that she knew that too.

"I'll miss you, Luci," she sighed eventually, pulling away from me again and walking off to the Falcon where I could see Chewie was waiting in the cockpit. "I'll see you soon,"

"May the force be with you, Rey," I saluted her, a sarcastic grin on my face.

***

In the few hours the Resistance would remain on D'Qar, I decided I would take myself off to meditate to see if I could reach my Uncle Luke. The Resistance base, however, was chaos and left no where peaceful enough to focus. Normally if I wanted some space I'd go to the Falcon, but in the years it wasn't at the Resistance I learnt to find new hideouts, like storage rooms and supply cabinets. The medic wing also made a great spot to not be bothered, and so I headed there, to Finn's room.

There had been no change in Finn's state, so there were no medics around him. Anyway, they were all off packing up supplies and transferring other patients to the transports. Here would be peaceful enough for me to meditate. However, when I saw Finn lying unconscious I felt guilty once more.

It had been my brother that injured him, as much as I tried to convince myself that Ben was dead and was replaced by Kylo Ren, deep down I couldn't help but feel guilty that a boy I taught how to fight with a lightsaber had turned not only against me but against my friends and family. I knew that if I thought about Ben anymore my thoughts would turn to my father and his death so I shut my mind off, taking in a few deep breaths as I sat down cross legged on the floor, closing my eyes, trying to forget everything.

It took me a few moments to find my focus, but as soon as I found the blank, dark slate in my mind, the island of Ach-to began to sketch out in front of me. I  took in a few more deep breaths and then my uncle appeared. It seemed so easy to find him in my mind I almost thought that maybe he was trying to find me too, the connection between us so easy to follow for the both of us.  He was sat down like myself, except not inside but out on the cliffs edge where he had been before, wearing earthy Jedi robes, his hood up in an attempt to conceal his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked me suddenly and harshly, as if he didn't want to see me.

"What do you think I'm doing here?" I spoke back in the same tone. "You've isolated yourself for too long, Uncle, it's time to get reacquainted,"

"How are we doing this?" he asked me, except as well as harshness he also had a little disbelief in his tone.

"You're the master Jedi, you tell me," I shrugged but then smirked; it was rare I knew something that my uncle didn't. "I believe that the force has bridged a connection between the two of us, similar to that you had with my mother. It's letting us communicate without me having to be on your island,"

"Can't we break this connection? You don't want to speak to me," he muttered gruffly, taking me back a little. He'd never been this reproachful to me before.

"No, you don't want to speak to me, but you're going to anyway, so get a grip," I snapped slightly. "What happened at the Academy, what happened to Ben affected us both, so don't try and act like you're being mean to me to protect me or to stop yourself from remembering what happened. The only way we can all move on is if you stop being so dramatic! I get it, Luke, I do really get what you've gone through because the people my brother killed were my friends, and they were my family practically! He hurt us both and no amount of arguing with me or shutting yourself off with protect either of us from what happened! So, what we're going to do is sit and talk, and you're going to listen to me because I need you, and my mother needs you too,"

"Your mother..." he muttered slightly. "Leia doesn't need me, she doesn't want to see me,"

"That's what Dad said," I muttered bitterly, the memory of Maz's castle in my mind, back when everything was alright, back when he was alive. "I wish people would stop saying what me and Mum don't want instead of just listening to us!"

"Your father, where's he now?" he asked with a small frown, and I felt a sharp pain in my chest as the grief came back. "I knew he left your mother after what happened with Ben but where did he go? Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, I saw him," was all I could manage to say, my throat tightening slightly as I fought against the urge to cry. Uncle Luke sensed this, and looking up, I saw his face softening slightly with disbelief, like he knew what I was about to say but was willing it not to be true.

"Luci... Luci where is your father?" he repeated his question but I knew he didn't want the answer.

"He's dead, Ben killed him," I managed to spit out. I felt the force around me grow tight and cold and I knew that my meditation was being affected by my Uncle's overwhelming grief.

I could hear him speaking but yet I wasn't listening. Instead I was looking out at the landscape behind him, trying to keep myself calm, whilst also trying to stop myself from remembering my father's last few moments. I tried to stop myself from remembering the last smile he'd given me, his last laugh, his last hug. It was no use, because the grief which had reawakened within me was hugging me tightly, my chest constricting as I felt my body begin to shiver.

"Luci!" I heard Uncle Luke snap at me, making me dare eye contact again, only to see his eyes were bloodshot too. "Breathe, calm down,"

This was Uncle Luke again. His tone was back to being caring and gentle, the way I always knew it. We'd both mourned the Academy in separate ways. We both mourned through exiling ourselves off from our other loved ones, but whilst that made me care more, he'd shut himself off for too long, and now he didn't want to come back.

I felt myself take in a few deep breaths, shutting my eyes again to re-find my focus, and when I opened my eyes again, I saw him clearer than before. He was sat closer to me too, as if he actually wanted to be with me this time.

"Now tell me," he said gently, and I knew exactly what he meant.

"I was captured by the First Order - captured this time, not arrested," I began, offering him a small smirk through it soon faded. "Snoke tortured me with the force to try and make me turn like Kylo Ren, and just when I thought I couldn't carry on, when I felt like I was dying, you appeared to me like a force ghost,"

"It was Snoke's torture which bridged this connection between us," Luke sighed. "He can probably hear what we're saying,"

"Fuck him," I snarled quite bluntly. "I don't care if he can, I just want to talk to you,"

Uncle Luke shook his head, a look of sympathy crossing his face as I saw a slight realisation in his eyes that I wouldn't give up from talking to him, that he would be stuck with me repeatedly.

He sighed again, closing his eyes, his head falling into his mechanic hand. When he looked up, I knew he was seeing me as little Luci again, Luci his padawan, Luci the top student, Luci the activist. When I was fourteen I was all of those rolled into one for Luke and my parents, and that terrified them. My name attracted enough attention as a Solo and an Organa, but as a Jedi padawan and an open rebel I was a bounty hunters dream. As my Jedi master and uncle, Luke saw it as his responsibility to protect me, not that he did a great job considering he dumped me at the Resistance after Ben turned, left me when I needed him the most. The way he was looking at me now, I could tell that all the regret was running through him.

"I'm sorry for the mess I got you in," He grumbled eventually. "I wish I listened to your father and never took you to the academy,"

It was no secret that Han Solo didn't want his only daughter running off to some far corner of the galaxy to train within an ancient religion and gain mythical powers he struggled to believe in. He didn't want Ben to go either, but he struggled more with me leaving; Mum always told me that when I first went to the academy he had to take himself off in the Falcon to make sure no one saw him cry over how much he missed me.

"If Dad had his way I would have ended up a smuggler like him," I shrugged. "He was just afraid that I'd go dark. He should have been worrying about Ben,"

"He was a good man, your father," Luke offered me a small smile and I returned it, though it felt alien on my face. "The best friend I could ever have,"

I nodded, knowing it wasn't necessarily true. My father was more of an anti-hero, a good man with a bad career path. He didn't always do the right thing, and he had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the rebellion, but despite his flaws, he was my hero.

"I know," I said simply, attempting a smile to him, though even quoting my father hurt.

"You always did remind me of him," Uncle Lukesmirked again slightly with a small shake of his head. "You will be okay, Lucinda, you and your mother will both be alright,"

"We will be soon once you join us," I said suddenly, remembering Rey and Chewie.

That was also when I felt my focus slipping, the scenery around us starting to blur and go fuzzy. Even Uncle Luke was slipping out of focus. I could even hear voices, voices which belonged to where I really was and not Ach-To. I tried to regain myself, but even when I managed to find my concentration again, I knew I only had a limited amount of time left.

"Listen, I know you're too stubborn to find your own way back to us, and you probably have no way of coming back as well," I began talking quickly. "So someone is coming to find you. Trust her and go with them. She's a good friend the person I've sent, so please, be nice to her and let her take you back to the Resistance. Please. We need you,"

"Luci, I can't come back!" He exclaimed, almost angry again, but it was too late for me to argue back at him, the world slipping away once more and there was no way I could grasp onto it again.

"I don't care," I managed to say before he faded away. "Please, Uncle Luke..."

"Luci! Luce! Oh, god!"

I heard someone crying out my name and it took a few moments to realise I was back to reality, no longer living inside my head with my uncle. My whole body ached, like I was getting used to using it once more and my head was pounding. My eyes were fuzzy, so it took a moment for me to adjust only to see Poe about an inch away from my face, his face the icture of fear and concern.

"Oh, Luci, thank god you're okay! I thought you were having some kind of fit or something!" he exclaimed, and before he could stop himself he leant over and pushed a kiss onto my forehead.

"We tried to tell him you were robably just meditating but he refused to listen," another voice called and I squinted to see it was Izzy sat atop a few packed boxes, shrugging slightly.

"I was," I muttered, rubbing my palms against my temples, still hearing my Uncle's voice in the back of my head. "I was talking to Luke,"

"You were?" Yet another voice exclaimed, almost excitedly; Erika.

"He abandonned us, Eri, I don't know why you're so happy about it," Izzy said, rolling her eyes. "I mean, I know he's your uncle, Luce, but honestly, he left us for dead and I know we can survive without him, so do we really need him back?"

I sighed, shutting my eyes as I tried to get my vision used to being in the real world again. My head was still pounding, so I rested it gently on my knees. Poe noticed, and I imediately felt his hands begin to stroke my back gently and comfortingly. I took in a few deep breaths until the sensation passed and lifted my head again. Now my vision had cleared up, I looked around only to realise Finn was no longer laid unconcious on the table next to me.

"Where's Finn?" I asked, frowning. I wondered if he had woken up but then a feeling of dread filled my stomach ever so slightly as my mind went to the worst. "Poe, where's Finn?"

"He's been taken to the transport ship," he explained gently. "They're gonna fix him up and he'll be alright soon, don't worry,"

"In fact, that's why we came to find you, we're evacuating this base," Izzy spoke, hopping off the boxes in such an elegant manner that reminded me of all her Jedi training, despite her clearly wanting to forget it all. "Connix wanted your help with it all, considering your mother has already gone up to the main ship, and Poe'll be leading the X-Wing assault,"

I nodded, getting to my feet. Poe offered me his arm to help myself up but I declined. If I was a general I was meant to be seen as strong, and even if these were my closest friends who had previously seen me at my worst, I needed to keep up the facade, even for them.

I began to make my way to the door to leave the medic wing and find Connix, but Erika caught hold of my arm, holding me back. That was when I noticed what she was holding; a dark brown, worn leather jacket. It was my fathers. Except she'd clearely altered it, not in size but in the fact that on the left sleeve it now displayed the number '7' patch previously on my Academy jacket, and on the chest there was now my rank plaque attatched. She held the jacket out to me and I carefully took it, examining the leather as if it was gold.

"I'm sorry, I know you probably didn't want me to put those bits onto it but I thought... you left it in the medic wing after you came back from Starkiller base and everyone of a certain rank has a jacket, so I thought it'd be only right for this to be yours," she began to ramble slightly, clearly nervous. "Is... Is it okay?"

I nodded slightly, a smile creeping up onto my face, not like the forced ones I did for Uncle Luke. I pulled Erika into a tight hug, so tight I felt her begin to pull away slightly to breath, but when I let her go, she was grinning too, although I saw the faint traces of tears gracing her cheeks. Hitting her shoulder gently, I pulled the jacket on, the action reminding me of a hug from my father. Taking a deep breath, I turned to my friends again and gestured my head in the direction of the door.

"Come on then, we've got work to do,"

***

Word count: 2929

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