Title: If I Fell
Author: RedHandedJill44
AU Luke/Mara, Han/Leia
Mara is named Heir to the Empire, who follows a vision from the deceased Emperor Palpatine to find Luke Skywalker.
I own nothing - George Lucas owns it all.
Prologue
"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny... Consume you it will."
The Jedi Master's voice reverberated through the Jedi's head, as if the wizened old alien was trying to reach him from beyond the grave. He closed his eyes, trying to maintain control as the power of the Force danced just beyond his reach - as if it was waiting to be summoned. It was held at bay by sheer will, but he knew it was only for a moment. Once he felt just an inkling of peace he dared to open his eyes to look at the man before him. The man holding the green lightsaber.
His lightsaber.
With all the power of the Force, Luke knew he couldn't keep the anger out of his eyes. The man swung the lightsaber casually, smirking as the simple act brought on more animosity from the young man before him. Like a caged animal, he paced back and forth, his fingers twitching with pent up rage.
"Who would have thought?" the man asked, swinging the saber. "The infamous hero of the Rebellion, reduced to..." The man gestured with his free hand around the cell. "Reduced to all... this."
The Jedi's eyes narrowed, pausing only slightly as the insult registered in his ears.
The man watched as Luke seemed to judge the distance from his end of the cell to where his captor stood with the saber. He chuckled. "Look all you want, Jedi," the last word coming out as a sneer. "Even with all the powers of your legendary Force, you can't get out of here."
The man was telling the truth - Luke didn't need to reach out to the Force to confirm that. He could see it in his eyes.
"Besides..." the man holding the lightsaber swung it casually once again, his voice dropping to a level nearly inaudible. "We wouldn't want an excuse to hurt your girlfriend, now would we?"
Luke's blue eyes flashed with barely restrained anger. A calculating smile came across the man with the lightsaber. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to her, do we?" He came close to the captive Jedi, the green blade within inches of Luke's arm. "Could you live with yourself? Live with the knowledge that her suffering - her pain - was because of you? Was your fault that she-"
Suddenly, with a cry of rage more animal than man, the Jedi acted. Within the blink of an eye, he called out and the Force eagerly replied. Anyone looking on the holocams would see nothing, he knew. Only a blur as the seemingly helpless man suddenly regained control of his lightsaber and turned to face the other man. In that instant he knew bore a striking resemblance to his father, Vader, when all had been taken away from him and sacrificed. Before he was confined to the black suit. Within the blink of an eye Luke had pinned the other man to the wall, the lightsaber at his throat. The Force coursed through his muscles, no longer sore and stiff from weeks of imprisonment. The Force was once again his ally; it gave him strength - gave him power.
"Where is she?" he growled. The other man risked a glance from the green blade to look into the Jedi's eyes - and for the first time since being charged with the younger man's imprisonment, he was afraid: no longer did a Jedi stand before him. He glanced down at the blade as the young man pushed it closer to his throat. "Tell me." His voice was laced with anger, his blue eyes burning with a red fire.
Dimly, the man realized his breaths were becoming shorter and labored as an unseen power pressed down upon him. "Better off... than you are..." he struggled as the Jedi pushed him further into the durasteel wall.
At that realization, the young man faltered and his eyes lost some of their fire. The unseen pressure on the pinned man's chest alleviated. "Will you take me to her?" The Jedi's voice was cautiously hopeful, like a child asking for a bantha cub. Taking his opportunity, the pinned man elbowed the Jedi in the face, twisting out of the Force grab - reaching for the control panel on the door - only to find himself pinned to the wall once again. He reached into his back pocket, reaching for his blaster, but his fingers never touched its surface.
The Jedi stepped back from the body as the corpse sank to the floor, two precisely placed lightsaber marks on the torso and neck. He stumbled backward, startling himself as his back reached the opposite wall. He glanced down to his lightsaber, it's green blade still pulsing with life. He closed his eyes and listened to the raw power of the Force coursing through his body.
Throwing the weapon on the ground, Luke fell to the floor, unable to keep his eyes off the dead man's body. The weapon shut off within contact of the cortosis ore floor and the lacking hum of the saber left only deafening silence in the Jedi's ears. Reaching up with his gloved right hand, he covered his face and wept, his master's voice once again reaching his thoughts.
"Control, control! You must learn control!"
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