Saga - OT The End of Eternity - 50 Titles Challenge - Rey, Luke, Leia, Han * Updated 6/30*

Title: The End of Eternity
Author: mavjade
Timeframe: Starts ~15 years before TFA, will span a long-ish timeframe
Genre: A bit of everything, probably.
Characters: Rey, Luke, Han, Leia, other various canon and Legends characters. You will not need to have read any of the Legends EU to understand any of this. Any use of Legends characters will only be as a nod to the old EU and not as a point of understanding.
Notes: This is for the 50 Titles Challenge, so it will be posted over the course of this year. I have most of it mapped out in my head so hopefully it won't die before we get to the end.

Since this is part of the 50 Titles Challenge, I'm open to concrit via PM, and willing to have my parts of my story used as examples in the workshop for the challenge.

Nyota's Heart has been kind enough to beta for me, but I have made changes after she looked at it, so any mistakes are mine.

~*~*~

Prologue


Fire.

It seemed to be everywhere, but on closer inspection it was obvious that it was burning at strategic points designed to scare. Designed to be symbolic. It was not designed to create the most damage.

To Luke, the smoke was the sting of betrayal and the fire was the burn of failure. If he was being honest with himself, it was the burn of fear. He had failed his sister, failed his brother-in-law, failed the legacy Yoda had tasked him with. But most of all, he had failed his nephew.

Ben.

No, Kylo Ren was his name now, Ben no longer existed.

Luke knew given time, it was possible to bring Ben back. That it was possible to fix the mess he felt he had caused, but he knew now was not the time to try.

The fire burned too bright in Kylo Ren, the fire of the Dark Side. Right now Luke could only save those who were willing, those who needed him the most, his students.

It was clear to Luke they had waited until he was away to come, they had been waiting. Watching. Patient. Luke had been gone only a short time when he felt it, the fear, the pain, all crying out in the Force. Some more trained than others, but all crying out for help.

By the time he managed to get back to the school, most of those voices had stopped calling.

"Daddy?" a small voice cried softly from a doorway.

"Kir?" Luke asked as he walked toward the voice that had called to him. He could not feel his daughter in the Force, she was a presence that was always there, but now he only had his eyes to tell him his only child was alive. Relief washed over him as he jogged to her side. "Oh, Kir."

He bent down to her level and small arms immediately wrapped around him, her head buried in the side of his neck. He held her only for a moment when a feeling of danger swept over him.

He swept his daughter into his arms, covered her with his cloak and began to move quickly in the opposite direction of the strongest fires. He knew he would be able to best his nephew if things came to a fight, but he did not know if he could also protect his daughter and worry about doing as little harm to Ben… Kylo as possible.

He had no choice but to run. Once his daughter was safe, he would do what he could. The echoes of fear and pain were battering his mind, he hoped that his daughter was not feeling them too, but the whimpering that was coming from her told him that most likely his very Force strong daughter could feel it too.

"It's okay, Kira, everything is going to be okay," he whispered as he continued to duck in and out of buildings, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.

He made his way to a building on the edge of the academy grounds. It was an old building that had been built long before Luke had decided to use this location as the place to train future Jedi. They had used it as a foodstuffs storage, but there was a hidden underground room that would be the most likely place for any surviving adults would take the younglings.

As he made it to the building, he felt a familiar presence.

"Luke!" the voice croaked out. "Thank the Force."

"Kam?" Luke questioned. The man did not sound like his normal self. "Are you alright?"

Kam Solusar had been one of Luke's first students of the Force, long before Luke had decided to start an academy to train many more students. Kam and Luke were of a similar age and in the years they had known each other had become more than teacher and student, but friends.

"It was an ambush," Kam replied without answering the question. "I don't know how they managed to sneak up on all of us. They are dead, Luke. The kids, they are all dead."

It was just what Luke had feared. The younglings had not escaped while the older students held them off. They were not all hiding in far off location. He knew Kylo Ren was still here, waiting. He wondered how Kira had escaped the same fate as the others. Had Kylo spared her for a specific reason? Was she able to hide from him in the Force just as Luke had not felt her? Was he waiting to try and torture Luke with threats to his daughter?

It really did not matter, whatever the reason, Luke knew he had to protect his only child at any cost and the best way would be to get her far away from here. As far away as possible, without Luke.

"Kam," Luke said looking his friend in the eyes. "I need you to take Kira and run. Get her off the planet."
"What?" Kam's voice cracked.

"He's waiting for me," Luke explained. He did not know exactly how he was sure of this, but he could feel it was the truth. "If I try and take her away, he'll try to kill her. The only way to protect her is for you to take her. Please."

Kam did not know what he could say to the request, so he remained silent and nodded. He hoped it conveyed how serious he took his charge. He would protect Kira as though she were his own.
Luke set his daughter to her feet and kneeled down in front of her to look directly into her eyes. "Kira, you know daddy loves you very much. "

Kira nodded slowly, unsure why her father was telling her this.

"Just like mommy will always love you even though you don't see her anymore. Right?"

She ducked her head as though she did not want to hear, but quickly looked back up as a thought crossed her mind, "But I'll still see you?"

Luke smiled, he didn't know what was going to come next, but he did not want his daughter to be any more scared than it was clear she already was. "Yes. As soon as I can, I'll come for you. Okay?"

As though she could sense her father's turbulent emotions, she began to cry. "No daddy. Please, I want to stay with you!"

"I'm sorry, Kir. You have to go with Kam. You'll be fine and I'll come for you soon."

"No. Please, daddy," she continued to cry. "Please."

A tear slid down Luke's face as he put his hands to the side of her face. "I'm sorry, Kira. I love you." He closed his eyes and reached into her mind and set blocks around her memories. She would not be able to remember any of this, remember him. If Luke did not escape this situation, her knowledge would be a danger to her and that was something he could not allow.

He blocked himself from her mind to save her.

As he set the final block, he opened his eyes. "I love you," he repeated as she fell limp into his arms.

He stood with her in his arms and handed his unconscious daughter to his friend. "Please, go. Take her as far as you can. I'll contact you when it's safe."

"I'll take care of her," Kam tried to reassure the other man. "She'll be safe."

"Thank you," Luke said with his voice full of sorrow as he started to walk away.

"Luke," Kam called. Luke turned around to look back at the man who had his life in his arms. "May the Force be with you."

"May the Force be with us all," Luke replied and turned to walk back toward the burning to find the man who was once his nephew.



tbc...

 

Ohhh! This is so intense! I love that you've kept Kam a part of the training of the new Jedi, even though it ended so tragically. Poor little Kira.

(And such a clever little angle there, Kira becoming Rey..)

Excellent imagery, exciting story!

 

Oh! Daddy Luke makes me so happy yet so sad at the same time. I love how you still have Kam, and it totally makes sense for Luke to have someone else hide his daughter. I look forward to more.

 

WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME!?!??!?!??!

No but seriously....this is really great. I am super excited to see where this goes. I love the idea of the mind blocks and giving her to Kam. He's such a champion! Will you tag me when you update please?

 

Excellent symbolism and poignancy. Plausible outcome too of an attack that the most vulnerable/under-trained are the ones who are lost. And of course the mental blocks would be necessary to keep Kira safe and Luke has no idea how long the separation will have to last.

 

You have Kam Solusar in the story. And that brings a bit of relief to me. That not all hope is lost to the destructive force that is Kylo Ren/ Ben Solo.

 

love to see the EU characters

 

Great beginning, and love that it was Kam Luke trusted to hide Kira - and blocking out her memories! So sad.

 

Oh what a great but sad beginning! I don't want to repeat what others said, so I'll go straight to the two points I found most intriguing. First of all, how come Luke (and, presumably, Ben/Kylo) can't feel Kira/Rey in the Force? Does she have a natural talent to conceal her presence, or did she have help from someone to hide? From her mother? Incidentally, I don't know if you ever ran across a fanon Force skill called finta sempli (created by Findswoman), I'm mentioning it just in case it would come in useful later in this story.

My second question, or rather comment, has to do with the nature of Ben/Kylo's attack on the Jedi Academy. I find it very interesting that you say, straight off, that the fire was designed to scare, not to destroy -- yet it seems that everyone, or nearly everyone who was on the site, was killed. It's as if you imply that Kylo Ren did his best to prove that he was evil, both by killing everyone in sight and by setting a scene that is meant for Luke to experience pain and fear, to hope that he hasn't lost everything and find out he has, and to have no choice but to confront his nephew. Will there be any scenes from Kylo's POV, or will you focus on what Luke can guess of his nephew's intentions?

 

I wanted to keep a few things from the EU and I always loved early Kam. When I needed someone that Luke trusted, he was the first person I thought of to use.

Thank you!

Daddy Luke is the best, I feel bad for what I'm going to do to him. Kam was the first person I thought of, I always felt like Luke really trusted him.
Thanks!

Sorry!! I just love to torture my characters, I'm such a terrible person.
Thank you for reading! I won't tag you this time since I was a slacker and didn't do replies until now and this will let you know, but I'm happy to in the future!

Thank you! Watching TFA, mind blocks were the first thing I thought of that they would be pretty useful for hiding a Force strong child. But I imagine as a parent, that would be so hard to do to your child.

I wanted to keep some of the Legends continuity in my nucanon story and I thought Kam would be a good addition. I always liked him, and I figured he'd be a good character to bring in that you didn't have to know his story Legends story to understand.
Thank you for reading and commenting!

I feel like I can't leave them out! I've spent so much of my life reading about them, I don't want them to get forgotten!
Thanks for reading!

Thanks! Yeah... I imagine that would be so hard as a parent, to know only wipe your child's mind but to give her to someone else. It made me sad to do it.

Those are all very good questions!
I hadn't seen Finds' skill, but thank you for pointing it out! I actually took it from Legends EU, there was a force skill that you could hide in the force, Force Stealth is what I think it was called. I know Jacen knew how and taught Ben.

I hadn't planned on having anything from Kylo's POV, but after your comment, I might change my mind because it gave me an idea I hadn't considered. I'm not entirely sure it will work with what I've had in mind, but it might. Since I don't prewrite all that much, it's easier to work things in that I hadn't planned.
I love your observations, the really make me consider things I might not have otherwise. Thank you!

 

AN: I had a second part of this chapter written, but as I was typing it (I hand write first) I began to doubt if it was really the way I wanted things to play out. Since I was on the deadline for the challenge, I decided to go ahead and post this part of the chapter and I'll post the second part after I've pondered a bit more.
This part isn't beta-ed because I'm a slacker and didn't get it typed up in time. Sorry!

Word count this chapter: 719
Total word count: 2033

~*~*~*~

Chapter 1A: The Dream

"Hey!" a gravelly voice called out across the den of scraping and clanging of many people cleaning metal. "You. Get to work if you want to eat."

Rey knew he was not yelling at her, but she could feel the fear none the less. She could see the boy he was yelling at, a young human who was slightly older than her, but new to The Keep. He was trying to slack off and not pull his weight, leaving more for the others. An act Rey knew was a mistake. Slacking off was never a good idea, no matter the reason.

A while before, she was not sure exactly how long ago, but long enough ago that she barely remembered the event, she had slacked off. It had been necessary, but it had taught her the lesson anyway.

They had gone out, as they did every day, to scavenge for useful parts. After she had been working for a short while, she began to feel tired and dizzy, like she might pass out. A nice woman, quite a bit older than Rey but not old by any means had come to her side to help.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked. She had a kind smile, and her hands felt cool where she touched Rey's arm. "You feel warm, maybe you need water," she continued before Rey could answer.

The woman took her canteen from her belt and gave it to Rey, "You have to drink while you are out here or the sun will get you. Never forget that."

Rey took a drink; the water wasn't cold, but it was cooler than the air outside, so it was a welcome feeling. She took a few more long gulps, but soon she began to feel worse.

A strange feeling came over her, the taste in her mouth was like the time she had accidentally eaten a Koja fruit that had been sitting out too long. Her vision became blurry, and she tried to speak to the woman, but the words wouldn't come. Suddenly she fell to her knees, and the water came back up.

"Shhh…" the woman whispered as she rubbed Rey's back. "You poor thing."

Rey couldn't help the tears that started to run down her face. She felt terrible, and she just wanted to lay down and close her eyes. But she knew that she had to keep working. She was the only one on their crew small enough to crawl into places to get the most valuable parts.

As though she could read Rey's mind, the woman reassured her that it was okay. "Don't worry, even Unkar Plutt knows that people get sick. He can't hold it against you."

He had. Rey remembered vividly. She had barely made it back with the assistance of the woman, but when Unkar realized that Rey had come back empty handed, he refused her rations. She had been somewhat okay with that, she didn't feel like eating anyway, but he also took her sleeping hammock away and made her sleep on a pallet on the floor.

She didn't remember much else about that time other than the cool hands that brushed the hair off her forehead and gave her cool water to drink. The soothing melodic voice that comforted her and how the same voice changed to a harsh whispered yelling when she spoke to someone else.

She also remembered a dream. She dreamt about someone holding her, telling her a story that made her feel better, loved. It was a man's voice, but he spoke of a woman. He told her how much she had loved Rey and that she wanted nothing more than to stay. He told her of adventures and people who loved the woman and loved Rey. She never saw his face, but she could almost feel him. Not just his arms around her, but feel his presence. He felt warm and comfortable, like family. He told her that they'd be together soon.

After Rey was better, she never saw the woman who had helped her again. She asked a few of the others in The Keep, but no one knew what had happened to her. Rey sometimes wondered if she was even real at all or if she was just another part of her dream.

 

Aw! I'm glad Rey was shown kindness growing up on Jakku, and it makes sense that she would have been: she isn't a hardened person in TFA.

Also, I love the idea of Luke speaking to her in her dreams.

 

<These are my feelings after reading that. And then I got to that bolded part and it became a waterworks. DRL is kicking me in the butt and oh man...that whole paragraph just kills me. So beautiful, and filled with longing that is just so beautiful. I'm a bit of an orphan myself, so I can totally relate to that feeling of wanting something that seems like it's just out of reach, and you don't even know what it is exactly but you know it's close and you want it...but can't quite get it. Just beautiful!!!!

Now...I am curious how you're going to route this all around and get Luke and Kira back together. Which is what I'm hoping you're going to do?

Can I have in my head that Mara's her mother and she had recessive brunette genes and that she's the mommy who always loves her even though she can see her? (that bit made me get wobbly inside too--what a beautiful way to explain it!)

 

Very realistic and super details about acts of kindness and almost-recollections of family.

 

Vivid descriptions of what Rey is going through

 

Poor kid. I know how miserable little ones feel when they are sick; to think of being sick when you're essentially a slave worker in the sun is awful.
I am not surprised that someone would take this little bird of a girl in. I'd think if I were living in such a situation I would love to have a child like her around to brighten up the day. And you can't take away the parenting instinct that most people have. Very odd how the woman disappeared like that, and how she would speak harshly to others but be so nurturing to Rey.

 

Oh, poor Rey! I do wonder how she ended up at The Keep when Kam promised she'd be safe, and if the woman was real or a dream - very intriguing!

 

I am glad that Rey experienced not only hardship but also kindness and sweetness while she grows up. Since a couple of weeks I am taking care of a refugee child in my kindergarten group and I daily come to see how important friendliness & stability are. On a hurt soul as much as on the other children that are my wards/ my class.

Thanks for writing this fic and sharing with us how Rey comes to be the strong personality that she is in TFA.

 

The scene with Rey is so great! I like that there is someone there to care for her. Not that she just learned all this great kindness on her own, that she had examples. Wonderful writing Mav!

 

I haven't really read fanfic of the new characters much, but this is good. I do find Rey's childhood something worth exploring, and these two chapters are a nice first few steps into that world. Hope you can update again soon!