Categories > Movies > Star Wars > A Christmas Carol
Saber Two: The First Spirit
0 reviewsAlas, Luke's status in life has gone from hero to zero. What might happen if a few familiar spirits attempt to help him get back on the right track? This is 'A Christmas Carol,' Star Wars style.
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Saber Two: The First Spirit
When Luke woke up he remained frozen in his bed and stared straight up at the ceiling, trying to focus on the faint traces of what he thought was his dream.
He glanced over at his chrono and was shocked to find that it read 2400...But it had been past 2000 when he went to bed! The clock had to be wrong. He couldn't have slept through a whole day!
When he went to sleep he must have imagined the /time/....Or so he told himself.
He shook his head in puzzlement, and after a quick peek out the window to make sure that it was indeed dark and that most of the other residents of Ier'tthh were not awake, he went back to bed, closed his eyes, and tried to go back to sleep. But he was unable to do so, so he reluctantly opened his eyes and watched as the minutes clicked slowly by. 2459 inevitably turned to 0100, and as soon as it did so the bells on the wreath started chiming loudly and persistently, strange multi-colored lights flashing angrily in the room.
Suddenly, a ghostly figure emerged from nowhere....
A figure that was very familiar....
The spirit held a branch of dark green holly in his hands, and he sparkled in various colors, the majority of which were white, red, and green. It was a very interesting effect, and it might have been humorous or jolly-appearing on other ghosts, but not on him.
"So you're the one Vader said was coming," Luke stated, a hint of a smile on his face.
"I am," Obi-Wan Kenobi said quietly and gently. He held his head high. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."
"I thought you were a deceased Jedi Master," Luke smirked, cruelty starting to glimmer in his eyes.
Ben merely gave him a calm stare. "I am the Ghost of your past."
"Why are you here? I thought you said you would /never /be able to return."
"I'm here for your welfare," the spirit replied.
Luke raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.
"Rise. Come and walk with me."
Reluctantly, Luke got out of his bed, then looked down at himself, then up. "I'm not properly dressed."
"It will not matter."
Kenobi went over to Luke's window. Luke followed, with some misgivings, and looked out. They were several stories up from the ground. "That's okay. /Really/. I'm not up for levitation right now."
"Grab my hand," Obi-Wan ordered patiently. "You shall see."
Sighing with reluctance, Luke did as he was told, and without warning the two passed through the wall as if it were fog, and Luke found himself with his deceased mentor in the middle of a desert.
A desert that Luke knew very well.
Kenobi smiled, "You remember this place?"
"How could I forget it?" Luke snorted.
They were standing in front of the homestead that Luke used to call his home, at least before the Imperials had....Luke felt his eyes begin to tear up, and he quickly blinked the moisture away. He was past the point of tears. Tears made one weak, and the Force had no pity for the weak.
Ben led Luke through the walls and into the kitchen, where a much younger Luke and his Aunt Beru were sitting at the table, across from Luke's Uncle Owen. "That's me!" Luke exclaimed, then looked a little abashed at his outburst.
"Hello!" he tried waving his hand in front of his younger self, with no reaction from the younger Luke.
But Ben stilled his hand. "They are but shadows of the things that have been. They have no consciousness of us."
Luke nodded and began listening to the conversation.
Uncle Owen was furious with eight-year old Luke. "-and you never do your chores! How is a lazy boy like you ever going to make his place in the world?"
"But Uncle Owen, I was-"
"Work comes before play," Owen flared.
Beru touched her husband's arm and gave him a pleading gaze. Mumbling obscenities angrily, Owen Lars stormed outside.
"Don't mind him, Luke." Beru stood up. "Stay right here, I'll be right back."
She left, coming back shortly with a package in her hand. "Here's an early Christmas present for you."
Eyes wide with excitement, Luke snatched it from her hands and tore into it. When the paper and ribbons had been discarded carelessly on the floor, Luke stared wide-eyed at the object in his hands. "It's the Skyhopper model that I wanted!" Luke's face glowed, then dimmed abruptly as a realization struck him. "But Uncle Owen said it was stupid to spend so much money on a pointless toy...."
"It's your present. Not his," Beru smiled gently at him.
Luke watched his younger self grin thankfully and hug his aunt, then run around the kitchen making engine noises as he 'flew' his Skyhopper.
Ben turned to him, "Amazing that one simple gift could bring so much joy into one life. Sometimes a small token of appreciation can mean the world to someone."
Luke nodded. It could. Surprisingly, he remembered that day well.
"Perhaps you remember.../this/ day?" The surroundings blurred as they went forward a few years in time. But this time Luke was not merely a spectator, he could feel what his ten-year old self was feeling in the past.
Young Luke was frightened. He had been out exploring Beggar's Canyon when a sandstorm had started to brew. He was supposed to be doing his chores, but he had decided to take a little break and was now regretting his decision greatly. When the sand had started swirling around him as a forewarning of what was to come, he ducked into a small cave and tucked his body into a ball to protect his face from the biting sand.
The wind made terrible howling noises, and Luke wanted nothing more than to be home doing the very chores that he had decided to neglect.
He closed his eyes and tried to plug his ears to drown out the loud screaming of the wind. When he felt something solid touch him he nearly shouted in alarm, but when he glanced up he saw merely a robed figure. Come with me, a kind voice said inside his head. I shall not hurt you.
More than willing to oblige, Luke allowed himself to be covered in the man's coat and somehow be lead through the angry sandstorm to the safety of his home. Luke had never been able to figure out how the man had ushered him through the violent storm unscathed, but somehow he had managed to do so.
When Luke was finally home, the man burst inside with him, shutting the door quickly to keep out the sand. Aunt Beru jumped up from her seat immediately to hug Luke and thank the man profusely. Luke turned and saw that the man's hood had slid back to reveal....
The /wizard/!
He gasped, and stuttered, "T-thanks." He was really thankful!...And boy what a story this would make!
But Uncle Owen hadn't seemed to share his feelings. After a moment of steaming silence, he started yelling words that Luke didn't understand, glaring at the wizard and ordering him to leave the house. Ben Kenobi left without giving Owen further trouble, but Luke stared sadly after him. He'd been saved by the man, and all his uncle cared about was that the man he hated more than anything-why, Luke didn't know-was in his home?
The image slowly faded away, and Ben spoke. "See how one person can make or break the state of a person's emotions?"
Luke focused his gaze on the ground, "Owen was...so cruel."
"You're turning out like him in that aspect," Obi-Wan told him seriously. Luke hung his head, for he knew he was indeed following in his uncle's footsteps. Ben continued, "But he just wanted to protect you and his wife from the kind of life that your father and I led....What are you protecting?"
Luke didn't answer. But Kenobi knew. "My time is growing short. There is one more thing I wish to show you."
A sad woman stared Luke in the eyes.
"I no longer /mean /anything to you. Something else has taken my place, and if it can comfort you better than I can, then we have no reason to continue like this, farmboy."
"What has taken your place?" Luke inquired, wanting to deny it all.
"An energy field that consumes your life."
"But the Force can give us answers to everything! It can provide us with solutions to our problems!"
"You fear the world too much, Skywalker," Mara said quietly. "All of your hopes have merged into one: the hope for more knowledge about the Force. The Force shouldn't take over your entire life."
"So what if I want to learn more about the Force? I still love you," Luke almost pleaded.
Mara shook her head. "No."
"You think I don't?" He was hurt.
"We have grown apart. When we fell in love, you were another man."
"I was a/ boy/," he pointed out impatiently.
"Both of us know that you are no longer the wonderful human that you once were," the ex-Emperor's Hand said softly. "Once we would have been perfect together, but now we are merely two halves of a different whole. The love is gone now. I wish it weren't, but it is. And I have no choice now but to go." And she did.
"Ben!" Luke begged, tearing his eyes away from the sight that had just gashed open what he thought was a healed wound. "Show me no more. Take me home/! Do you take some crude pleasure in /torturing me?!"
Obi-Wan gazed at him with a blank expression and waved his hand in front of him slowly. With a bright flash of light, Skywalker was back in his bed, shaking with emotions that he wasn't ready to deal with. He was suddenly overcome by an extreme feeling of drowsiness, and he quickly sank into a deep sleep.
When Luke woke up he remained frozen in his bed and stared straight up at the ceiling, trying to focus on the faint traces of what he thought was his dream.
He glanced over at his chrono and was shocked to find that it read 2400...But it had been past 2000 when he went to bed! The clock had to be wrong. He couldn't have slept through a whole day!
When he went to sleep he must have imagined the /time/....Or so he told himself.
He shook his head in puzzlement, and after a quick peek out the window to make sure that it was indeed dark and that most of the other residents of Ier'tthh were not awake, he went back to bed, closed his eyes, and tried to go back to sleep. But he was unable to do so, so he reluctantly opened his eyes and watched as the minutes clicked slowly by. 2459 inevitably turned to 0100, and as soon as it did so the bells on the wreath started chiming loudly and persistently, strange multi-colored lights flashing angrily in the room.
Suddenly, a ghostly figure emerged from nowhere....
A figure that was very familiar....
The spirit held a branch of dark green holly in his hands, and he sparkled in various colors, the majority of which were white, red, and green. It was a very interesting effect, and it might have been humorous or jolly-appearing on other ghosts, but not on him.
"So you're the one Vader said was coming," Luke stated, a hint of a smile on his face.
"I am," Obi-Wan Kenobi said quietly and gently. He held his head high. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."
"I thought you were a deceased Jedi Master," Luke smirked, cruelty starting to glimmer in his eyes.
Ben merely gave him a calm stare. "I am the Ghost of your past."
"Why are you here? I thought you said you would /never /be able to return."
"I'm here for your welfare," the spirit replied.
Luke raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.
"Rise. Come and walk with me."
Reluctantly, Luke got out of his bed, then looked down at himself, then up. "I'm not properly dressed."
"It will not matter."
Kenobi went over to Luke's window. Luke followed, with some misgivings, and looked out. They were several stories up from the ground. "That's okay. /Really/. I'm not up for levitation right now."
"Grab my hand," Obi-Wan ordered patiently. "You shall see."
Sighing with reluctance, Luke did as he was told, and without warning the two passed through the wall as if it were fog, and Luke found himself with his deceased mentor in the middle of a desert.
A desert that Luke knew very well.
Kenobi smiled, "You remember this place?"
"How could I forget it?" Luke snorted.
They were standing in front of the homestead that Luke used to call his home, at least before the Imperials had....Luke felt his eyes begin to tear up, and he quickly blinked the moisture away. He was past the point of tears. Tears made one weak, and the Force had no pity for the weak.
Ben led Luke through the walls and into the kitchen, where a much younger Luke and his Aunt Beru were sitting at the table, across from Luke's Uncle Owen. "That's me!" Luke exclaimed, then looked a little abashed at his outburst.
"Hello!" he tried waving his hand in front of his younger self, with no reaction from the younger Luke.
But Ben stilled his hand. "They are but shadows of the things that have been. They have no consciousness of us."
Luke nodded and began listening to the conversation.
Uncle Owen was furious with eight-year old Luke. "-and you never do your chores! How is a lazy boy like you ever going to make his place in the world?"
"But Uncle Owen, I was-"
"Work comes before play," Owen flared.
Beru touched her husband's arm and gave him a pleading gaze. Mumbling obscenities angrily, Owen Lars stormed outside.
"Don't mind him, Luke." Beru stood up. "Stay right here, I'll be right back."
She left, coming back shortly with a package in her hand. "Here's an early Christmas present for you."
Eyes wide with excitement, Luke snatched it from her hands and tore into it. When the paper and ribbons had been discarded carelessly on the floor, Luke stared wide-eyed at the object in his hands. "It's the Skyhopper model that I wanted!" Luke's face glowed, then dimmed abruptly as a realization struck him. "But Uncle Owen said it was stupid to spend so much money on a pointless toy...."
"It's your present. Not his," Beru smiled gently at him.
Luke watched his younger self grin thankfully and hug his aunt, then run around the kitchen making engine noises as he 'flew' his Skyhopper.
Ben turned to him, "Amazing that one simple gift could bring so much joy into one life. Sometimes a small token of appreciation can mean the world to someone."
Luke nodded. It could. Surprisingly, he remembered that day well.
"Perhaps you remember.../this/ day?" The surroundings blurred as they went forward a few years in time. But this time Luke was not merely a spectator, he could feel what his ten-year old self was feeling in the past.
Young Luke was frightened. He had been out exploring Beggar's Canyon when a sandstorm had started to brew. He was supposed to be doing his chores, but he had decided to take a little break and was now regretting his decision greatly. When the sand had started swirling around him as a forewarning of what was to come, he ducked into a small cave and tucked his body into a ball to protect his face from the biting sand.
The wind made terrible howling noises, and Luke wanted nothing more than to be home doing the very chores that he had decided to neglect.
He closed his eyes and tried to plug his ears to drown out the loud screaming of the wind. When he felt something solid touch him he nearly shouted in alarm, but when he glanced up he saw merely a robed figure. Come with me, a kind voice said inside his head. I shall not hurt you.
More than willing to oblige, Luke allowed himself to be covered in the man's coat and somehow be lead through the angry sandstorm to the safety of his home. Luke had never been able to figure out how the man had ushered him through the violent storm unscathed, but somehow he had managed to do so.
When Luke was finally home, the man burst inside with him, shutting the door quickly to keep out the sand. Aunt Beru jumped up from her seat immediately to hug Luke and thank the man profusely. Luke turned and saw that the man's hood had slid back to reveal....
The /wizard/!
He gasped, and stuttered, "T-thanks." He was really thankful!...And boy what a story this would make!
But Uncle Owen hadn't seemed to share his feelings. After a moment of steaming silence, he started yelling words that Luke didn't understand, glaring at the wizard and ordering him to leave the house. Ben Kenobi left without giving Owen further trouble, but Luke stared sadly after him. He'd been saved by the man, and all his uncle cared about was that the man he hated more than anything-why, Luke didn't know-was in his home?
The image slowly faded away, and Ben spoke. "See how one person can make or break the state of a person's emotions?"
Luke focused his gaze on the ground, "Owen was...so cruel."
"You're turning out like him in that aspect," Obi-Wan told him seriously. Luke hung his head, for he knew he was indeed following in his uncle's footsteps. Ben continued, "But he just wanted to protect you and his wife from the kind of life that your father and I led....What are you protecting?"
Luke didn't answer. But Kenobi knew. "My time is growing short. There is one more thing I wish to show you."
A sad woman stared Luke in the eyes.
"I no longer /mean /anything to you. Something else has taken my place, and if it can comfort you better than I can, then we have no reason to continue like this, farmboy."
"What has taken your place?" Luke inquired, wanting to deny it all.
"An energy field that consumes your life."
"But the Force can give us answers to everything! It can provide us with solutions to our problems!"
"You fear the world too much, Skywalker," Mara said quietly. "All of your hopes have merged into one: the hope for more knowledge about the Force. The Force shouldn't take over your entire life."
"So what if I want to learn more about the Force? I still love you," Luke almost pleaded.
Mara shook her head. "No."
"You think I don't?" He was hurt.
"We have grown apart. When we fell in love, you were another man."
"I was a/ boy/," he pointed out impatiently.
"Both of us know that you are no longer the wonderful human that you once were," the ex-Emperor's Hand said softly. "Once we would have been perfect together, but now we are merely two halves of a different whole. The love is gone now. I wish it weren't, but it is. And I have no choice now but to go." And she did.
"Ben!" Luke begged, tearing his eyes away from the sight that had just gashed open what he thought was a healed wound. "Show me no more. Take me home/! Do you take some crude pleasure in /torturing me?!"
Obi-Wan gazed at him with a blank expression and waved his hand in front of him slowly. With a bright flash of light, Skywalker was back in his bed, shaking with emotions that he wasn't ready to deal with. He was suddenly overcome by an extreme feeling of drowsiness, and he quickly sank into a deep sleep.
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