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[neverjoinyou]

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[neverjoinyou]

His heart sinks at the news about the world, and the damage done--he'd tried to mitigate it, he had, but he'd known even then it wouldn't be enough.

But he looks up sharply at the offer, brow furrowed. The loss of his deal is nothing--he'd lost it the moment he'd met Kylo Ren, and known that no matter what he learned, his future was one in which no knowledge would avert disaster. But he's surprised to be asked if he wants to stay, after all that.

"No," he says quickly. He doesn't need time. He needs to ask one question. "I'm not abandoning him. If... you still think there's some chance he's learned something?"

[bargemods]

"I very much suspect that will depend on the follow-through."

But it is a chance.

[neverjoinyou]

"I'm not going to abandon him now," Luke says, shaking his head. He doesn't know if he knows what to do next, but he knows that, given the chance, he can't walk out on Bill now. "If I let you send me home, it's just another super-powered entity taking the choice from him, isn't it?"

[bargemods]

"If you choose to go home, Mister Cipher will be confronted with the fact that his actions have had consequences for him. He has no particular right to make choices about your life," the Admiral points out.

"If you choose to remain, I will allow it. Perhaps your solidarity with him will have some benefit for your partnership, as you hoped. But do endeavor to remember that he is not the sole victim of powerful entities in his life, hm?"

[neverjoinyou]

Luke raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms.

"I'm trying to get him out of thinking himself the victim at all," he says. Admiral interference notwithstanding.

[bargemods]

"Carry on then, Mister Skywalker."

He doesn't chuckle, but he sounds slightly amused, the first lightening of his somber tone in their conversation; the angle of the hat dips slightly, as if in a nod, and the glare of the light pours over it.

For a few seconds, all Luke can see is white. Then the ache of the death toll settles into his muscles, and he blinks awake in the infirmary. The previous conversation has gone a little hazy, as though he were waking from a genuine dream, but Luke certainly remembers the gist of it. When he checks his item, Bill still registers on it: currently alive, in the decks below.