faithfulson | Voicemail ~ Mask or Menace

[ They are more similar than Kylo wants to admit, it seems. ]

Do we?

Do we need to go back?

The fact that you're here, that I'm here, is more than proof that we eventually will. Time is frozen for us while we're here; the fact that either of us is present is proof that at some point, we eventually return, and time unfreezes.

[ Luke took a moment to laugh bitterly. ]

'Always in motion is the future.'
Master Yoda told me that, to discourage me from going to save your father and mother when your grandfather captured them.
This place proves how wrong he was.

I don't think we go back.

When we disappear here, nothing we have done in this place affects what happens there. All that we have done and accomplished here vanishes. The person we are here no longer exists.

We become only the person we would have been if nothing here had ever happened.

[ There's a long pause as Luke tries to come up with a way to counter that argument. Because it was crazy to think about; that this place pulled them away from their worlds, creating an alternate reality where they don't exist anymore, while the reality they "know" continue on as if nothing ever happened. It was crazy, and too much for a person to think about. ]

[ But at the same time, it made so much sense. ]

I'm trying, but I can't argue with your logic.

Your mother would be proud.

Ha.
You see? More evidence that we are not the people we were or will be.

[ Yes, that's a joke. Not a particularly good one, and the curl of misery that accompanies it suggests Kylo is far from laughing himself. ]

[ Nephew, c'mon... ]

It's a bit encouraging though.
It gives me a little more hope for the future.

[ Heh... no wonder Kylo's real name was Ben. ]

It gives me less.

[ ...He reads that over.
Hadn't he contacted Luke to ensure he was OK?

Absurd. And he really, really hates that he doesn't want to see Luke crushed.
This one, anyway.

But he doesn't. So he adds: ]

Outside of this place.

I think, then, we need to discover for ourselves what our place is here, and not focus on what our place WAS.

And that is what I am doing.

[ Trying to do. With varying degrees of success. ]

There is nothing to be gained by holding onto the past. Or obsessing about the future. Neither can be touched or changed.

I will exist here.

[ Luke smiled softly at the screen. "All his life as he looked away to the future, to the horizon, never his mind on where he was, what he was doing." Kylo would make Master Yoda proud right now. ]

You're right.

I will do my best to do the same.

I train in the woods outside the accommodations here in De Chima.

You can contact me.
If you need me.

[ There was a pause. ]

How about meeting up now? I think blowing off some steam would do both of us some good.

Come and find me.
It shouldn't be difficult for you.

[ A challenge? Surely not. ]

Is it supposed to be hard?

[ It's probably easy to hear the smile, even in text. ]

See you in a bit.

[ He didn't bother to respond, heading out into the woods instead. It had become something of a routine, since being banned from the gym for the fourth time- and something about training out in the frigid cold of the woods was strangely satisfying.

Perhaps because it was familiar.

He knew full well Luke would have no difficulty finding him, so he made no effort to remain close to the road- stalking through the trees, deeper and deeper into the woods until everything else fell silent.

He breathed, deep, and ignited his saber. There was no harm in going through his forms before Luke arrived. ]

[ The cold wasn't exactly Luke's forte, and he'd prove that when he showed up at Kylo's little spot, wearing a number of layers. He reached out before he got close, though, making sure he wouldn't startle him when he arrived. ]

Hey.

[ He'd warm up soon enough. The light of Kylo's lightsaber cut out and died, and he turned- it was immediately clear that this was what made him reconnect with himself-or what he knew of himself, anyway. Power and strength. There was no fear, or doubt, or despair in him right now.
Even when he looked at Luke's face. He felt none of the usual tug of that old, distant hurt. ]

Cold?

[ Luke couldn’t help but look a little sheepish at the question, trying not to shiver in his layers. It may have been three years, but being from a desert planet with two suns made everything cold. ]

Not as cold as I was on Hoth, but I never feel warm with the clothes available here.

[ This is why he stays in Heropa; he only needs two layers down there. Still, he shed one layer, tested his movement a bit, before another followed. He came to spar, and he wasn’t going to insult his nephew by being unable to move properly. ]

Perhaps I'll let you choose the location next time.

[ He gave Luke a little space to warm up and get moving, watching him- his amusement cooling slightly as he lapsed into thought. It wasn't something he was ever going to get used to, seeing his uncle like this- they were different enough he could almost sever them in his mind. But then he'd catch sight of Luke's face from a certain angle, the Force would bend around him just so- and all he could see was his old teacher. ]

Heropa, in the winter. I'm sure we can find a place on the beach; no one goes there at this time of year.

[ It's been about the only place he's been able to do any sort of meditation, though lately even that's been shot to hell. ]

[ He finally worked off another layer before he felt comfortably ready, turning to Kylo with a smile and a challenging look in his eyes. Since coming here, the thought of sparring with lightsabers just for fun seemed like such a foreign concept. Now, especially without the threat of the Empire hanging over his head constantly, the idea was almost exciting. ]

Ready?

[ Without another word, Ren's saber crackled into life. He swung it idly through the air with a effortlessly fluid twist of his wrist, his eyes utterly steady on Luke's. ]

Come. Disarm me. If you can.

With the way you swing that around, it shouldn't be too hard.

[ He couldn't help himself; Vader's spy had drilled in his head that flourishing one's lightsaber in such a way opened them to attack. Now that he knew him better, he could see his father actually scolding him, having gone through the weaknesses in his own fighting style. ]

[ A confident smirk touched his lips as his own lightsaber came to life in his hand, the white casting a soft glow onto Luke's face as he raised the blade in challenge. ]

[ Luke had always preferred to defend rather than attack- but Kylo wasn't going to give him the satisfaction today.
No. He wanted to see him loosed, a little. ]

And yet, I'm still holding it.

[ Kylo was in luck; the Luke he knew had been shied away from fighting, afraid that by being a fighter he wasn't properly following the Jedi Code. This Luke, though? This was a Luke that still knew he needed to face against Darth Vader, that fighting was the only way they would see even a brief moment of peace in an unending war. ]

[ Luke held his saber in both hands, edging toward Kylo as if to test if he would strike first, before doing so himself, swinging down in an easily parried move. He was testing him, getting a feel for his nephew when the seething rage he had witnessed before wasn't powering his actions. ]

Voicemail ~ Mask or Menace

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