Chapter 53
Of The Force and Mastery
A/N- Hey all. I'm here again for another update. I'm still having some writer's block with most of my other fics, so I figured I'd just focus on this one for now. Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been preoccupied with my art classes (as I mentioned before they take up most of the day, so when I get home I'm super tired and my brain doesn't function). It's only this week and then next week and then I'll be done, so there will be more consistent postings after that.
Any rate, I think I covered all the notes I needed to mention in my last A/N- so I'll just reiterate that you should vote in the polls if you haven't already. Thank you to the six voters who have already participated.
Please enjoy!
Best,
-Don "QuixoticQuest" ^_^
Mara leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes as she ingested what Luke had just told her, "So, let me get this straight," She reopened her eyes and looked at him, "You think that Xillanor is planning to revive the Empire?"
Luke nodded, "Either that, or he knows who will."
Mara frowned, "I don't like the sound of that." Luke held up his hands.
"Hey, I don't like it any more than you do, but we have to tell the New Republic that we know this much at least or," He turned his head, "Keep searching and hope we come up with more information."
Mara scowled even more deeply, "Such as?"
"Who that man was," Luke said, his blue eyes furrowing along with his brow. Mara knew that look and she wasn't about to let Luke go on a wild gundark chase.
"Luke," She said sharply. Mara knew his tone well enough to know that he planned to do something that was either reckless or stupid or both. She was positive it was the latter.
"It's not like I want to take these risks, Mara, but I'm the Grand Jedi Master, it looks bad when there are Jedi dying all around me and I'm just standing here doing nothing!" Luke's face turned slightly red as his voice cut through the silence of the long tunnel. Mara's green eyes regarded Luke with a sense of understanding as well as serious concern.
"Luke, we're both doing what we can, but going after a complete stranger when the galaxy needs all the Jedi to be united, isn't productive."
Luke sighed, "I know," His eyes went to the ground, "I feel like all the deaths are my fault. Kam's, Jacen's, and I'm getting a bad feeling that it's not going to stop there."
Mara nodded, "No, not if we throw our lives away meaninglessly."
"It's not meaningless if I'm doing my job as the teacher." Luke bit back.
"Which is what?" Mara questioned with a stony glare at him. Luke didn't falter but his insides jolted to see the look in her eyes, it was one he didn't like seeing because it meant she clearly disliked what she was hearing and was likely to start lashing back any second or remain coldly silent.
"To protect the Jedi that this Order needs to survive," Luke stated with an overbearing sense of calm. As she sensed his resolve and acceptance, Mara's gaze softened but still remained firm.
"You forget that the Order still needs you to lead them," Mara replied, looking down the dark passageway. All the floating candles had gone out and cast both Mara and Luke in almost complete darkness. Mara could just make out the lines of Luke's face and he hers.
"There is a time when the mastery must be passed from one person to another," Luke said with a wistful expression. His blue eyes closed as he let himself sink into the warm embrace of the force. It was telling him to act and that was enough for him. He knew what he had to do.
The New Republic needed to know the complete truth, he couldn't go chasing another ghost to a dead end like Han had. Luke reopened his eyes and stared straight into Mara's.
"You've decided, haven't you," She stated, her eyes narrowing as she grow soberly acceptant of Luke's decision. She knew him well enough to realize that once he made a decision, she couldn't convince him otherwise. Luke was also wise beyond his years and could take care of himself. Though despite Luke's resolve, she couldn't help but feel a strong sense of foreboding, but where it was coming from, she couldn't tell. "Go then," She said without waiting for his response. "You have a strange sense of how to handle things, but I trust that after all this time you know what you're doing."
"What do you mean after all this time? I've always known what I was doing," Luke replied with a mixed look of injured pride and incredulousness on his face. Mara rolled her eyes and kissed him, immediately putting all of his retorts from his mind. I'm surprised that still works, She thought with some amusement. Some people just didn't change.
Luke pulled away, his hand on his lightsaber as he gave a curt wave of his hand before running down the dark corridor.
Korsk Deris lifted his head as the phone in his office buzzed. He clicked it.
"Deris," His silver eyes narrowed, "You better have a good reason for calling me right now."
"Don't be so cold, Chief of State," The mocked taunted with a dry wit, "Your involvement in this will produce its desire results when you complete the task assigned to you."
Deris scowled, "You expect me to just outright do something like that?"
The voice on the other end sighed and a clucking sound was heard, "Really now, Chief, you have no sense of propriety. Your orders will be carried out or you'll face the same fate."
"Our mole still has to make his move," Deris said coldly, his brow finally beginning to drip with sweat. The voice turned to a cold and dead-pan tone.
"You leave that to the mole, Deris," The voice changed slightly as the figure on the other end shifted, "Make sure you take care of your end or the mole will fail as well."
"Understood, Sir," Deris said in clear tone of reverence and respect. "It will be done as his Excellency commands."
"As it should be," The voice said approvingly. "Finish your business for the day and arrange a council meeting. I will be along to oversee the results."
"Yes, Sir," Deris inclined his head and then stiffed as he felt a sense of cold dread in his blood.
"Oh, and Deris," The voice said in a falsely sweet tone. "You've been careless. Get rid of the pest under your floorboards."
Deris stiffened, "A-as you will, Sir," the connection buzzed as it was terminated and Deris sat back in his chair with a drawn out breath, running a hand over his face. Then a grin slowly spread across his features as he lowered his hand. "A pest needs the best exterminator. It shall be as his Excellency wills."
Deris then stood up. He had plenty to do in preparation for the meeting. It was time for the prophecy and Deris would set the first piece in motion.
Anakin swallowed hard as he stared hard at the crying form of Jaina as she clutched tightly onto Jacen's limp form. There was nothing good about the future he was seeing. Every image brought tearing feeling of pain through his entire body.
"Make it stop," Anakin said, averting his eyes as he clutched his fists into white knuckled rocks that he pounded against Other-Anakin's chest. "Stop!"
"Peace, Anakin," Other-Anakin said, "It is not reality, at least not for you."
"What about later?" Anakin demanded. "It could happen! Tahiri's suffering and there's nothing I can-"
"Yes, there is," Other-Anakin cut in. "There is always something you can do. The force is constantly changing and with it the lives of those within it. You must realize now that your choices not only affect you, but those around you. You are the only one who is one with both the light and dark. Therefore only you can achieve all the pathways of Nordia."
Anakin opened his mouth and then shut it, regarding Other-Anakin with sober silence and a slightly furrowed brow. "The pathways only open to the one who follows his divided heart."
"Divided heart?" Anakin questioned, "What do you mean?"
"Your heart cannot be whole with just one part of the whole force or the pathways will not open," Other-Anakin said, "Therefore, you must retain your current course or face death when the time comes to enter the second pathway."
"But I'll be exiled from the Jedi Order!" Anakin snapped. "I can't do that." He turned his head away and then turned as he felt Other-Anakin's gaze on Anakin. He paused before speaking tentatively, "What will happen if I don't?"
Other-Anakin waved shrugged and then waved his hand before the scene returned to reality. The two of them were still standing in front of the cave. "Only the force knows and only you will be able to decide where you go from here." Anakin turned his head once more to look out at the dry, cracked, earth that seemed to stretch forever until it reached the sun as it slowly made its way into the sky.
"There will be a time," Other-Anakin said, "When you realize that you are not just a part of the present, but the past and alternate futures as well," Other-Anakin smiled as he shimmered in the light, "But the force, as life, is what you make it. So, make it well, Anakin." Other-Anakin shimmered once more and then all Anakin could see was the wall behind where Other-Anakin had stood.
Anakin sighed. The last thing he wanted was to cause Tahiri any more grief, but he knew that he'd have to make the decision sooner or later. The galaxy doesn't have the time to wait…. The air rushing through Anakin's ears seemed to speak the words he was feeling from the force.
"Long time no see, Anakin," Anakin turned and smiled as he regarded the familiar Sytar.
"I was wondering when you were going to show up," Anakin said with a glint of amusement in his eyes that made the Sytar laugh in his hearty and deep way.
"It is quite hard not to when someone is talking about you," Synthor said with a wistful smile.
"I thought you'd be used to it by now, " Anakin said, raising his eyebrow. Synthor laughed again.
"You'd be surprised," He smiled and then looked out at the landscape, "You've been told, then, what the pathways are?"
Anakin nodded, his gaze growing distant as he stared out at the orange streaked sky. "Yeah, even though I don't know why I have to be the one to go through them or why someone has to go through them at all."
Synthor nodded, his webbed hands now clasped as much as they could be behind his back, "All good questions. I do not have the time or the ability to tell you everything now as you must find out the rest on your own. But I will say that the pathways are the only way for a force user to become truly one with the force in life without dying."
Anakin turned his blue eyes to face the Sytar, "There's a way to do that?"
Synthor nodded, his own brow furrowing, "Yes, but it only begins once one has gone through the void and survived."
"But Zekk did that too, why can't he do it?" Anakin questioned. Synthor looked down at the young man, regarding his desperation and fear with care.
"Zekk was stuck in there and would have still been if it hadn't been for the pact you made with me, and therefore with the first pathway."
Anakin paused, "You're the first pathway?"
"I only appeared because you had the ability to open your own first pathway. The reason why I'm still here is because you passed through the first and haven't passed through the second."
Anakin's face fell slightly, "So you'll leave once I pass through the second pathway?"
Synthor smiled, "Yes, but like everything that is the force, I will always be here, living with everything that exists."
Anakin nodded his somber understanding and then turned his head as someone gripped his shoulder. He turned to see that Synthor was gone before sighing. "I knew you'd follow me. When are you going to stop acting like Han?"
Anakin had to grin at the voice as he turned to face his uncle, "When I stop being a Solo."
"Fat chance of that," Another voice joined in and both men turned. "I thought you'd be long gone by now, Luke." Mara said, raising her eyebrow questioningly.
"Right," Luke said sheepishly as he hurried away towards where their ship was parked. Mara shook her head in exasperation and then looked up as a smile crossed her face.
"I think that's my ride," Mara said with a grin. The small shuttle lowered itself onto the ledge and Mara made her way over as the door opened to reveal Natie Renders in all her bounty hunter gear.
"I've got an idiot to find, out of my way," Natie said and darted down the passageway as Mara shook her head with a knowing smile.
"Don't we all," She cast a knowing glance at Anakin, who smiled despite himself. The two then waited for a short while before the thumping of footsteps sounded the arrival of the two other people.
"What do you mean?" Natie was saying to Kirk as they emerged from the darkness.
"He was killed in a duel," Kirk replied with a deep scowl. "There was definitely something wrong with the way he died, though. It was like he'd been fighting someone who knew him. No one could have killed my Master otherwise," Kirk's eyes turned to Anakin and then Mara before returning to Natie.
"There's something going on and I'm not sure where to begin looking," He said. Mara nodded.
"Luke thought that too," She said, cupping her chin in between her thumb and forefinger, "If only we knew who it was that Luke and your master fought."
Kirk turned abruptly, "Luke fought someone?"
Mara blinked in surprise, "He didn't say who it was, but Luke said the person felt familiar." Kirk then started down the cliff-side as Natie followed behind him, grabbing his arm.
"Where are you going?" She demanded. Kirk frowned.
"I already lost one master, I'm not about to lose another," Kirk then pulled himself free and strode off to Blue Rain and within seconds his ship was lost among the stars. Natie watched him until the ship was out of eye range and then turned to Mara and Anakin.
"We need to get back to the New Republic, something's telling me we're looking in all the wrong places," Natie stated. Mara nodded as she mulled over Luke's words and then those of Roan. Both had said fairly vague things but in the end the words had meant more than all the circles that the Jedi had been running in to find out more about Xillanor and his band of dark Jedi.
Mara jumped as her comlink buzzed and then picked it up, "Jade here," She stated and then frowned. "What?" Mara repeated and then held up a hand as if to stall further comments, "Slow down, what happened?"
Anakin felt his blood go cold. There was a clear disturbance creeping its way across the galaxy into the very life-stream of the New Republic. He wasn't sure where he had to look or where he needed to go except to follow the paths of Nordia and to betray the Jedi Order. He sucked in his breath. He then turned to look up as Mara finished her comlink call. Her expression showed the tension Anakin had already sensed from her.
"What is it?" Anakin questioned. Mara grimaced as she faced her nephew.
"Another Jedi was just killed."
A/N- Cliff Hanger! =P Chock up the reviews and I just might update when I should be going to bed tomorrow night.
