After me and Ahsoka told Mara that we would be "adopting" her I guess you could say, we brought her to the Knight Hawk, which is of course me and Ahsoka's fantastic ship which I am so proud of for finding, and began to show her around. We showed her the cockpit, the main living area, the food storage place, as well as our rooms, of which there were two. We didn't show her the engine, communications or electric rooms, or anything else necessary for keeping the ship in working order, since that wasn't important. Just the places where she would be spending most of her time. And she did love it, much to our relief.
"This place is cool!" she said happily with wide eyes.
"Yeah, sure is Mara. You know I actually found it in a junkyard," I remark.
"Junkyard?" she asks. "You mean the bad, trash place?"
"It's a wonder it still works," Ahsoka jokes.
"It can't be that bad," I protest.
"What's that room?" Mara asks, pointing towards another doorway. We look over and take notice of it being where the cargo bay area is stationed.
"Oh that's the cargo bay," I tell her.
"Cargo bay?" Mara questions again.
"Basically its a room used for carrying large boxes and crates," Ahsoka explained.
"Oooohhh," she says in understanding. "Can I see it?"
"Sure," I say in reply.
We lead Mara over to the cargo bay, Ahsoka holding her hand the whole way, and I open up the door. Inside is a relatively simple cargo bay area, about 25 feet in length or so, and 20 feet wide. The entrance has a small catwalk, which then has a ladder to get down to the main area. The door ramp is on the other end of the cargo bay. Right now there were not too many things in the hold, mainly food supplies or objects for the Fulcrum agency and rebel intelligence. There were also a tiny amount of artifacts of Jedi origin scattered around in here that me and Ahsoka have found over the last few years.
"This looks cool!" Mara says, poking her head through the railing. "What are those boxes for?" she asks.
"Mainly food, supplies and some other artifacts we've found," I told her.
"What's in that one?" she asks, pointing to a certain box on top of all the others nearby. I take notice of it and realize it contains a Jedi holocron, albeit a slightly busted one. Wonder why she felt the curiosity to ask about that particular box... guess she must have sensed it.
Ahsoka uses the Force to pull the box to her and then opens it, pulling out the holocron inside, showing it to Mara. She peeked up at the holocron, eyes focused on it with child-like wonder.
"Woah... what's it do?"
"It's a Jedi holocron, something used to hold stories, and information, or lessons about being a Jedi," Ahsoka explained.
"I've always heard that Jedi were evil," she recalls, a little sadly as past memories came up before I could sense her trying to shove them back. "But I don't think it's true."
"Thankfully it isn't," I reply. "I mean, look at me do I look evil?" I ask rhetorically, pulling a goofy grin.
"No, but you look very silly!" she says, showing off a mischievous side of herself. I pout, crossing my arms while Ahsoka giggles in amusement, putting the holocron back in the box and placing it to the side.
"She got you there little Jari," she says.
"Don't call me that! Not in front of her!" I protest.
"Why do you call him little Jari?" Mara immediately asks Ahsoka, and I stand behind her, shaking my head quietly with wide eyes. Sadly, Ahsoka smirks at me like a shark.
"Because he's the younger, more immature of the two of us," she says. "I think it fits him."
I glare at her half-heartedly while Mara begins to laugh, but to make matters worse, R5 strolls past the door on his way to another part of the ship, laughing as well like some sort of comedic show.
Turning around and crossing my arms, I grumble in irritation. "Great. Now's she's gonna be calling me that for the rest of my life," I mutter in annoyance.
"I still like you though!" Mara exclaims with a nod of her head, before grinning. "As little Jari!"
Ahsoka laughs while I throw my arms up in the air in exasperation. I cannot believe this!
We spent the rest of the day socializing with each other while our ship merely floated calmly through space, isolated from the reach of the Empire. Ahsoka and I managed to get through our first day as the adoptive parents of young Mara Jade, having our dinner with each other, playing around with her a little bit, and finally tucking her into bed in the guest room I originally gave to Ahsoka, before she decided to sleep with me instead in is basically now our room. As of right now, everyone was asleep, however my mind wasn't.
A brownish green, rocky planet with some water on the surface and clouds swirling through the atmosphere was visible. Two fleets of many warships were engaged in combat above the planet, tearing each other apart when a massive light and explosion occurred. In the end, many ships, including the entirety of one side's ships were wiped out, as well as the planet being completely destroyed and corrupted, now crackling with glowing green crevices, the entire thing now an abomination.
Over this, I hear a voiceover of the scene gently speaking around me, sounding monotone, like a droid. "Observation: Master, I do not believe that the Mandalorians were the true target at Malachor - I believe that the intention was to destroy the Jedi, break their will, and make them loyal to Revan."
Then smoky mist obscures my vision, and I get a view of a dark room, seemingly like a throne; one which I am familiar with.
"Those of the line of Revan have great power..." Supreme Leader Snoke said from his throne, seemingly speaking with someone. "And will always be destined for darkness, just like Lord Revan."
I think I hear a girl's voice say 'No.. he's.. light!' but the vision moves away before I can understand what that is about.
Now I'm flying through space, coming upon another planet with two suns and one moon surrounding it. The planet looks like a large ocean, with islands and archipelagos scattered across the surface. I fly down to see an island, with a very green and lush environment. Strange, bird creatures fly around, before shooting off in terror when some sort of flying, lizard creature shoots by with a roar, flames bursting from its mouth.
On the island there seems to be a small village of abandoned old huts, and a tree surrounded by mist in the distance. Up on top of the island is some sort of small, ancient temple in the rock, and inside I see a woman meditating on the ground, wearing brown Jedi robes. Her hair is at shoulder length with small hair tails framing her face... is that...?
Before I can confirm my suspicions the vision then shows me the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, burning. Clones storm the whole place, and memories of that night come to mind. Then, my dark self stands before me, a complete opposite to what I look like, wearing all black, tattered robes with small hints of crimson, pale face and gleaming yellow eyes.
"I will be free soon enough Jedi. I am your true self," he proclaims.
"No!" I say back in denial.
"It's only a matter of time," he says gleefully, once again activating a blood red lightsaber and raising it in preparation to kill me again.
My eyes shoot open, and my breathing is heavy, although I calm myself down much quicker this time, glancing over to Ahsoka, asleep beside me. I sigh in relief, glad that I didn't get unhinged nearly as much this time when a sound makes my heart stop in fear.
Mara is screaming.
Ahsoka's eyes shoot open immediately and we whip the blankets off, running out of the room in our nightclothes without any care, not even stopping to pick up our lightsabers in our fear and worry. We slam open the guest room door to see Mara sitting upright in bed, eyes wide in terror as she's shaking, holding herself.
"Mara! What happened?!" I ask quickly in concern as we rush to her side.
"The red blade monster... she took me again, she killed mama and papa..." she cries, in shock.
Ahsoka immediately wraps her arms around Mara, doing her best to calm her down as she rocks the young girl gently. "Shh, Mara it's ok. There's no red blades here, no one's taking you anywhere," she says in reassurance.
"We're here for you Mara," I promise her.
R5 slowly rolls up to the door quietly, having heard the commotion and peeks in. I look over at him sternly, giving him a silent gesture that now isn't the right time. Thankfully he takes the hint, and moves away again.
Mara sniffles, latching onto Ahsoka tightly. "But the monster lady... she took me to someone... he was so scary!"
I can only assume that she saw Darth Sidious. Not the best person to see in the galaxy as a child, not by a long shot. I scoot closer to both of them, wrapping an arm around Mara, and by extension, Ahsoka.
"You're safe with us you here me?" Ahsoka says, looking down at her. "They won't hurt you again."
"They'd have to get through us first, and that's not happening," I reassure her.
"Do you want to sleep with us tonight?" Ahsoka asks, and Mara quickly nods her head.
She sniffles again, wiping the tears away with her arm before looking up at us with teary, pleading eyes that break my heart. "Are you going to be my mommy and daddy now?" she asks hopefully.
Me and Ahsoka glance up at each other, the question having so many more implications compared to its simplicity. We already know the answer.
"Of course we will Mara," Ahsoka says.
Mara finally offers up a small smile of relief, and the three of us share a long, heartwarming hug with each other for a long while.
Well that was an emotional moment for all of them. Starts off with fun, happy greetings and showing off and teasing of things at the start, then Jarik receives visions, also warnings of his dark side personality, and different planets. Mara of course has a nightmare about the Second Sister, as that moment would be traumatic for anyone at that moment. Finally it ends off with Jarik and Ahsoka officially being labeled now as Mara's new parents.
Glad you all enjoy this story so much, and here's to more hopefully good content from me, because my writing of children and angst moments in fanfiction is worse than Emperor Palpatine's attempts at being the good guy!
LOL