Trigger warnings for illness, uncleanliness, abuse. Let me know if I missed any!
.
When the mountains fall,
And all the buildings rust,
It's only love,
And us,
-Sam Tsui, Love And Us
(A quote which will become more relevant.)
.
The stormtrooper whose shoulder Luke had been hanging off of suddenly released the young Jedi, shoving him into his cell, as the door clanged shut behind him. Immediately, his legs nearly buckled, and he grabbed onto one of the bars, gripping it tightly as he gave his head a quick shake, hoping to clear it.
The galaxy promptly spun even faster, and he let himself slide to the floor, sure he was about to pass out. Crossing his legs, he leaned forwards, pushing his face into his hands, struggling to stay conscious as his stomach churned.
Finally, taking tiny sips of air, he managed to look up, and around the barren room once more. Looking back outside, he was relieved to note that the stormtrooper hadn't stayed around to watch him collapse. Clinging to his cell bars with all the strength he still possessed, he managed to drag himself upright, and stumble to the metal bench, which he collapsed onto, tugging vaguely at his boots.
Once he'd pulled one off, he gave up, deflating in exhaustion, his eyelids too heavy to support any longer.
He was a bit unclear by now how long he'd been in prison, but he'd also stopped caring. There wasn't much of a point keeping track anymore, since it wouldn't get him out any sooner, and it was likely that his friends had already stopped searching for him. All that mattered now was knowing when it was worth trying to sleep, although Luke had lost track of that too.
Regardless, now was feeling like a great time to sleep, he decided, listening silently to the cold quiet of the prison.
There was a sudden clunk, and Luke's eyes flew open, only to be met with darkness. Right. The overdramatic lights. He rolled his eyes at himself, how had he forgotten?
Probably the exhaustion messing with my brain, he decided, tugging off his other boot finally, before trying to drift off again.
He had nearly left the prison behind when he could have sworn he heard something in the pitch blackness. He started upright, trying to peer through the dark, but he couldn't even spot the bars, a mere few feet in front of his face.
He scooted back against the wall, realizing sleep wouldn't be coming anytime soon with the threat of the stranger, and sat in silence, staring through the darkness, until he was certain he heard another footfall.
"Who's there?" he called through the dark, only to be immediately met with a sudden swat through the Force.
Barely managing to catch himself before he could fall to the cement floor below, he silenced himself again, shivering. He had no idea who had decided to show up, but one thing was for sure. Only Dark Siders knew how to use the Force, other than himself.
Assuming that there'd been a change in the interrogation schedule or something, he found his boots, and began to pull them back on.
The door to his cell clanged open, and he heard a soft swear.
Managing to get his boot over his uncooperative heel, he whispered, "Mara?"
"Shut up, Skywalker," she snarled at him, her voice so quiet he could barely hear it, before she took a step into the cell, and accidentally stepped his foot.
"Force, do you want to wake all the guards?" she hissed, kicking again at the toe of his boot, "You walk like a bantha."
"What's it to you if we wake everyone up?" Luke asked, keeping his voice low as well.
"Just take them back off, laser brain," she said.
Annoyed in spite of himself, Luke did as he was told, "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Just follow me," Mara said, grabbing him by the back of his shirt, and pushing him towards the door.
Managing to stay on his feet, Luke kept ahead of her, navigating the hallways by memory, the Force suppression drugs still running through his system preventing him from seeing through the dark.
"Left," Mara said suddenly from behind him, and as he attempted to follow her direction, he walked into the wall, having never taken the specified path before.
Mara grabbed his shirt again, pushing him down her chosen hallway as he decided they were probably far enough from the guards that it'd be safe to speak, "What are you doing?"
"That's none of your business," she said, still guiding him by the scruff of his neck.
"Well, you're taking me with you," he argued, "So I think it is."
She spun him around sharply, and he nearly flew off his feet as she jabbed something under his ribs, "I'd shut up, if I were you."
She withdrew, and with a familiar sound, her lightsaber blazed through the darkness, and Luke realized that it was what she'd stuck in his ribs.
Remembering suddenly that Mara was someone better left alone once she was annoyed, Luke fell silent, merely following the purple glow of her lightsaber through the silent prison, until he suddenly saw light ahead, and promptly forgot about being quiet, "What are you doing?"
Mara turned sharply, and nearly cut him in half, presumably by accident, "If you have to know, your father and the Emperor have given me opposing orders on you, and I have enough of a headache from that without your help."
"What orders?" Luke asked.
"Vader wants you alive," she said, stepping behind him, and giving him a well aimed kick to get him moving again, "And Palpatine would rather see you dead than free. You're just lucky I like you."
Luke couldn't hold back a snort of amusement, "You like me? I thought you didn't like anyone."
Mara's blade came dangerously close to his neck, and he ducked away as she said, "Don't tempt me."
"I'm done," he promised, holding up his hands in surrender as they finally reached the door, and Mara pushed him off to one side, looking out quickly, before grabbing him and tugging him after her once more, as she dashed across the landing platform, Luke stumbling after her, the suddenness starting to wear off, leaving him even more tired than he had been before.
As they made it to the top of the ramp of her ship, Luke found himself suddenly released, and barely managed to stay on his feet for long enough to reach the cockpit with her, quickly strapping himself in, before suddenly catching a glimpse of the Force, and reaching out for it, drawing strength from it as Mara began prepping the ship for take off.
Letting out a slow breath, he opened his eyes to find the galaxy rearranging itself properly before him.
After taking a moment to make sure it wasn't just going to swim back into oblivion, he turned to Mara, who was moving quickly around the cockpit, already about to take off, "Need any help?" he asked.
"Frankly," she said, not turning to look at him, "I was hoping you'd collapse in the hold."
"I guess I'll just sit here, quietly," he said finally, folding his arms, and looking out of the cockpit.
"Please do," she said through gritted teeth, sitting down, and wrenching the controls skywards as the ship jumped.
"Woah!" Luke protested, his arms springing free of each other, despite himself, "What are you doing?"
"I thought you were supposed to be some sort of fighter pilot," she said.
"I am, but," he began, as the ship suddenly jumped again, and Luke recognized the turbulence as shots.
"Then you should kriffing recognize combat!" she shouted, as they shot for the open sky, and it was all Luke could do to keep himself from trying to help stabilize the ship, staring wildly at the readouts. So far, they had miraculously not been hit too hard, and he was just beginning to pray that it would stay that way, when his seat suddenly dropped out from under him, and his eyes leapt back to the display.
Still fine.
He turned wildly to Mara, just as they banked ninety degrees, and nearly took a row of outside lighting off of an apartment building.
"What are you doing?" he asked again, "You can't fly down here!"
Mara didn't answer, swinging the ship wide around a corner, and out of range of the turbolasers that had been firing on them. A glance back, however, told Luke that, far from being in the clear, their distance had only begun a pursuit. Screeching through the planet-wide city behind them was a small unit of TIE fighters.
"Why are they chasing us?" he demanded, looking to Mara, "Aren't they on your side?"
Considering the ways the Force could manifest, Luke reflected, it was entirely possible that he wasn't imagining that he could see the exasperation rolling off of her, "No, laser brain, because if they were, you wouldn't be sitting there."
"Right," he muttered, unfastening himself, "Does that mean I'm allowed to shoot back?"
"Anything to get you out of my hair," Mara muttered, and Luke started to walk back to find the weapons just as the ship bucked once more, nearly sending him flying into the ceiling.
"That was intentional!" he complained, without any real anger, as he grabbed the back of her chair tightly, and began to work his way back towards the guns.
"I could have done worse," he heard Mara mutter, as he managed to get his footing once more, and barely got to the gunner's seat before Mara took off on another chaotic, twisting path. Strapping himself in just before she turned a full aileron roll, he grabbed the spinning controls, and spun them back to the incoming TIEs, quickly destroying one, before several hairpin turns lost the rest.
Nonetheless, it would probably be for the best to stay with the guns, in case they found them again. With a yawn, he decided that it'd probably also help his chances of surviving a flight with Mara. Not to mention, it would be an opportunity to get some sleep.
Really, no downsides to this arrangement at all, he thought, closing his eyes, and making sure that the Force would alert him to approaching fighters, before falling comfortably unaware.
"SKYWALKER!"
Luke jumped, and spun to find Mara poking her head into the gunner's pod, "What?" he demanded.
"I thought you got shot off the ship," she snorted, standing up, and heading back towards the cockpit.
Luke hauled himself out after her, "Well, obviously I haven't been! What was the point of waking me up?"
"If you're going to let me believe I've lost the one thing both my Master, and your father demand, I'm afraid I'm not too concerned about your sleep," she shot back.
"And I've certainly never been caused any pain by your empire!" Luke shouted after her, running to catch up, "Or by you in particular," he added, feeling vindicated by his bruises.
Mara sat down in the pilot's seat, "Besides, we've arrived," she said.
Coming into the cockpit as well, Luke found himself frozen, staring out at the towering building ahead of them as Mara began to bank to set down on the large landing platform.
Seeming to realize that he hadn't sat down yet, she turned to look at him with a mischievous look on her face, "Did you forget where we were going, Skywalker?"
Luke shook his head, still feeling stunned, "Never really thought about it…"
Mara returned her attention to piloting, "Well, if you can tone down the annoyance to about fifty percent, you should survive the week."
Luke sank into his seat, still blinking vaguely at the castle, "Thanks. That's really reassuring."
The ship set down lightly, and there was a sudden loud, abrasive beeping noise, which Mara growled at, before answering it. Immediately, a small hologram of Vader popped up, and Luke stopped breathing.
"Agent Jade," he rumbled, "I trust you managed not to kill him?"
"He makes it difficult," Mara said, setting the ship down, and fortunately not directing Vader's attention to Luke, who had shrunk even farther from the pick-up, although he was fairly certain he was already not visible to his father.
"I would expect nothing less," Vader answered, "See him to his quarters, I will speak to him in the morning. After that, I would speak to you."
"Actually, no, you wouldn't," Mara said, with shockingly little respect, "I'm only staying long enough to drop him off."
"Is that so," Vader said, but to Luke's surprise, he made no attempt to insist, "Give him some explanation, I do not wish for him to panic."
"That's why I'm your favourite messenger," Mara said sarcastically, flicking off the holoprojector and standing, "Come on, Skywalker."
Luke stood up, following her, still somewhat stunned, "You talked back to him," he said, "And he didn't kill you."
"If he did that, he'd lose one of his best agents," Mara said flatly, stepping out onto the landing platform, and heading for the massive doors without pause. They opened before her, and she stepped in, without looking around at the dark, empty space.
Luke, however, had to pause to try to take in the strange room. He had assumed Vader simply lived on his flagship, or something, although this wasn't exactly unexpected from the Sith. Nope, it was big and ominous enough to belong to him, for sure.
"I thought you'd be glad to avoid him for the night," Mara said sardonically, and Luke looked back down from the ceiling to look at her.
"What do you mean?"
"He does walk around his castle," she said, and Luke nodded quickly, hurrying after her, as she lead him into a smaller room, dominated by a large sphere.
"What's that?" he hissed at her, feeling a need to be quiet as he stared at the dark shape, looming into all but the corners of the room.
She lead him around the sphere, their shoulders nearly brushing its curve until they reached a door. Stepping inside, she quickly pointing to another door, "You have extra clothes," she said, before indicating another door, "And a personal 'fresher. I'll be locking you in, and you can lock Vader out in return."
"What?" Luke asked, turning quickly towards her, but he'd already missed her, and all he saw was the door closing after her, followed by a dull thud of the lock.
"Alright, then," he muttered to himself, going to the door as well, and locking it from his side too.
Turning back to the room, he let out a sigh. He was in Vader's castle, but he was also stuck, so he'd deal with that in the morning. For now, he hadn't changed or showered in at least a week. At the moment, he was more worried about getting some sleep, though.
He headed over to the bed, and flopped down, closing his eyes for a moment, only to find he lacked the energy to open them again. Yawning, he pulled a pillow under his head, completely ignoring that the lights were still on, too exhausted to care.