This is a Collaboration Story co-written with WarmNyota_SweetAyesha from the Jedi Council Forums.
Thank you for reading! :D
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Heart's Destiny
Chapter 11
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After braving the sandstorm on foot for a quarter of the distance, Luke and the rescue party made it safely to their hidden ships. Han was back with them, blinded by the carbon freeze, but unharmed; he'd recover his eyesight in time. Great relief washed over Luke at the thought that their plan had worked. At least something had gone right for a change. To have his friend back, and seeing Leia and Han reunited, gave him much needed happiness.
The storm continued to rage outside as Luke took shelter in a cave. The rest of the party had sheltered inside the Millennium Falcon, but Luke had stayed outside, waiting for the storm to wind down so he and Artoo could hop on his X-Wing.
There was no way any ship could take off in that sandstorm, and although it was keeping them stranded, it also provided enough cover from anyone who could have venture to follow them. Luke doubted this, after mayhem had broken out, and with Jabba the Hutt out of the way, he was sure all of his minions would be busy quarrelling amongst themselves, trying to seize power over the others, and wouldn't bother to follow them. Still, he kept his newly trained Jedi sense on alert.
While the novice Jedi waited with patience, memories of the recent escape floated in his mind.
Luke reminisced that, for a moment, while standing on the plank of the sail barge, he'd felt that all things could be lost. Seconds later he'd jumped towards the abyss that separated him from the Sarlacc's jaws with blind faith, trusting completely in the Force and in the new skills he'd harboured while following its guidance. Everything had developed like clockwork after that… The feel of his brand new lightsaber in his hand had detonated everything. Soon the emerald blade had ploughed through enemy lines.
Mara had been there! And she'd said she loved him!
"Artoo, you better power down. There's no need for you to keep watch," Luke told the droid, his voice echoing oddly around the cave. The droid's sensors would not help picking up much amongst the rumbling sand and it was best for it to save power.
The droid let out a raspberry of displeasure.
"I'll keep watch for the both of us," his human gently insisted.
Not completely convinced, the droid did as he'd been told. Artoo stood quiet by Luke's side, powered down to standby mode.
Luke drew his attention back to their surroundings. Then a blurred feel of a presence… Her presence? Was Mara there? Had she braved the storm on foot just like they just had? Or his need of seeing her was playing tricks with his mind? Feeling his body tense, he stood up and remained still.
Through the narrow entrance of the small cave, a cloaked figure appeared.
Luke's hand was immediately on his bladed weapon. The figure of the recently arrived stranger stood still for a few moments… Then the familiar, distinct energy signature of its owner floated towards him without restriction. "Mara?!" He uttered with disbelief.
When hearing her name, the visitor approached him without hesitation. He walked fast steadily towards her. Both met midway in a tight embrace.
Luke looked at Mara, amazed at finding her there. She'd come looking for him after leaving Jabba's doomed sail barge, and he was so glad. His fingers delicately trailed along her beautiful features; still afraid she could be just a vision.
"I'm for real, Farmboy," she greeted.
He kissed her with passionate desperation as an answer.
Their lips parted.
"It's been ages since I last saw you…" he said, catching his breath as he closed his eyes, placing his forehead on hers "… until Jabba's sail barge."
Mara smiled softly. "I like to keep an eye on you, Farmboy," she teased, "So you don't get into much trouble."
Luke opened his eyes and looked into hers, "Why are you here?" He could sense a specific reason.
Mara knew she had to tell him the truth, she wanted to. "I came here to kill you," was her blatant answer.
Despite the weight of her words, to Luke these didn't feel like a threat. He already knew her too well, and although she hadn't been open about it, he also knew how deep her feelings for him ran. He could see it right now in her eyes. "I guess that mission was unsuccessful," he gave her a tiny smile.
"Very," Mara confirmed.
Both chuckled. The situation they found themselves in was insane!
"I guess your superior officer is going to be quite upset when he finds out," Luke added, trying to ease some of the tension in the seriousness of the situation. He perfectly knew who Mara's superior was: the Emperor himself; but he could not bring himself to mention it. Mara's fate under the cruelty of that man was an unbearable thought.
"You don't think I can handle it?" Mara countered, a challenge in her teasing.
"Oh! I'd never doubt that," Luke earnestly answered, "but I'm worried, deeply worried… about you."
"I'll deal with it, never fear."
Luke nodded and silence took him over. Something that happened to him a lot lately.
In the dim, velvety light in the cave, Mara looked at the silent man standing in front of her with great care. Something had changed, she realized. Luke's Force sense felt stronger, it was obvious that he'd exponentially grown in the Force. His training with that gnomish Jedi Master obviously had provided that, but there was more there. Somehow, he looked older. Only months had passed since they last had seen each other, and although he still looked young and handsome as ever in that dark outfit, funny enough he also looked as if a number of years had passed all at once over him. It was a strange dichotomy. The young farm boy looked more mature now.
Luke's posture had changed too. His somehow juvenile stance had completely disappeared; he now stood tall, strong, surely a result of all that training, but he also looked like if he were carrying the weight of the Galaxy on his shoulders. He had a deeply sad look in his eyes too, there was a shadow in them.
Mara could feel him radiating his love for her unabashedly, but there were other feelings in the mix, feelings he was desperately trying to hide from her. When probing his presence in the Force, his Force signature felt… scarred. All too different from the shining ray of sunlight his presence had always been. His smile was still warm, sincere, kind… His demeanour gentle… but underneath it all Mara could sense acute sombreness. The spark of gleefulness had died.
"What happened to you?" Mara asked in a whisper, her brow furrowed in worry. Showing calm, but almost screaming in pain inside.
Luke kept quiet; he could not bring himself to speak the truth. To tell her his secret. For a moment he looked away, his lips pressed in a thin line.
"You can tell me!" She encouraged, pulling Luke down by the hand, inviting him to sit next to her.
Luke gave a deep sigh, looking for courage. "I… found out about something I was not expecting…" he started, "…or could have ever been prepared for."
Something unexpected? In war times unexpected things happened all the time! How bad could this be? Mara was really, utterly worried now.
Mara's intense stare urged Luke to continue.
There was no way to soften things or tell them in an agreeable manner… He might as well just say it. Luke braced himself, "Darth Vader… Is my father!"
It took Mara a few seconds to process his words. 'What? Darth Vader had a son? And it was Luke?' But she'd never heard of anything! The Emperor would have told her… Did the Emperor even know about it?
"He told me…" Luke answered her unspoken question, "…Vader."
"He must be lying!" Mara spat in outrage.
"I don't think he is," Luke said with calm resignation. He'd told himself the same words so many times already, to always get a strong confirmation that it was all true.
"You'd better tell me the rest," Mara urged at last.
Luke told her what had happened. How he'd faced the Sith Lord in a lightsaber duel. How he'd lost is hand… How he'd chosen death over being captured by darkness.
As he told his tale, Mara could feel Luke's struggle, and how he kept back tears of sorrow at bay, surely to show some dignity and, knowing him, to not worry her too much. And she deeply knew it all came down to this: he was devastated.
"He asked me to join him," Luke confessed, "So we could rule together," he then snorted at such nonsense.
Mara's ingrained reaction was to flare with indignation, Vader was infringing into traitorous ground! Mara then soon realized that the Emperor wasn't any better, and that she too was already involved in treason. Mara felt herself soften; her heart hurt for Luke. No doubt such revelation must have been painful to him. A few months back she could have even thought that this revelation could work on their favour, that Luke could have come home with her… But now, after everything she'd discovered about the falseness of the Emperor and his Empire, she could only feel sorry for Luke and perhaps even sorry for herself too. There was one thing she was sure of: whatever had happened with Vader, that one event had forged Luke into the man she was looking at now.
"That's quite the world-shattering discovery," Mara admitted, "What're you going to do with it?"
"I don't know what to do…" Luke admitted, "I can't follow him!" That was a preposterous notion!
"You're still you despite it all," Mara observed, putting her conclusion about how Luke was still fundamentally himself into words. She hoped they would be encouraging.
"I don't even know if I can trust myself anymore," he desperately added, his blue eyes full of doubt. The same darkness that resided in his father must reside inside him too.
His words infused Mara with raw anger. "Listen to me Skywalker!" She warned. "I've been around Vader my whole life! And I can tell you this: you are nothing like him!" She said with firmness.
Luke looked back at her with an odd look on his face. She was defending him! And could tell she was being absolutely honest about it. Mara still believed in him! He granted her a tiny smile; her words meant the Universe to him. "What now?" For the first time since they had started their relationship Luke didn't know where things should head to.
Mara knew what he was referring to and reached out to grasp his hand in silent promise.
Taking her hand, Luke accepted her proposition. They would stick together, no matter what, wherever it may take them. For some moments they both sat in silence, processing their exchange and comforting in each other's presence.
"Why did you help me?" He suddenly asked, "Back there at the warehouse… When that deal went all rotten on me." Luke had always wondered why Mara had followed him that night, when they had met, but hadn't asked yet. He'd been so full of adrenaline after their narrow escape and the thrill of getting to know Mara better after that, that the questions about her intervention had got drowned in all the excitement.
Mara shrugged, "It was like a Force nudge. I just went with it." That was all she could say, but when giving a second though to that impulse she was now starting to understand.
"The Force?" Luke smiled. "Do you think it's what brought us together? Regardless of our situation?"
"Maybe Ashla has a romantic sense of humor," Mara quipped, using the Lasat name for the Force.
In silence, she looked at him… her palm on her face, her thumb grazing his lips. She'd given up so much for this man, she was risking everything! But she didn't regret it. Mara kissed Luke, giving herself completely in that kiss. That storm outside would rage on for a few more hours, giving her just more than enough time to show him how much she'd missed him, how much she cared about him, how much she loved him.
In the dimmed light in the cave, love took over them both.
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oOo
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As they lay holding each other, treasuring the moments of quiet peace, the sandstorm outside slowly wound down. The time to leave had come.
"I have to visit someone," Luke cryptically explained, " I have a promise to keep…" he abruptly stopped.
Mara didn't ask more; she had a feeling that Luke would return to his atypical Master. She'd agreed to say nothing of her visit to Yoda, and she was one to keep her promises. Maybe someday down the line she'd be able to tell Luke all about it.
"Where and when shall we meet again?" Luke urged before she could say anything. He knew he could not press Mara to stay with him, to leave the Empire behind, so he'd have whatever she wanted to give him.
"I don't know," Mara said, "But we will."
In the meantime, she'd go back to the Emperor. She could already hear his calling in the reverberations of the Force. Secretly, she planned to do some confirmation of her own, she still hadn't bought all this "Daddy Vader" thing. So she'll investigate whether Vader was telling the truth and the Emperor's motives behind it; there was no way the Emperor didn't know Vader had a son. This was one more piece of knowledge he'd kept hidden from her. Things continued to make more and more sense as she unveiled more lies. What was behind that order to kill Luke, held now more layers of motive on the part of the Emperor.
So she'd go back. She ought to find a way to help Luke.
"I don't like the idea of leaving you alone with them," Luke stressed when thinking about Vader and the Emperor. He knew Mara was more than capable of dealing with dark Sith, but still he didn't like it.
"I know how to keep my true intentions veiled," Mara assured. "They won't discover anything I don't want them to."
This time Luke didn't hold back, "Don't leave… Stay with me!" He felt sick with worry. "The Alliance will provide asylum; I'll make sure of that!"
Mara sighed. "It's not time, yet. Don't worry...When it's the right time for that, I'll know and there won't be any doubt."
So Mara would leave once again and he'd just have to hope and wait for her return.
"Whenever I see you again, I have a feeling everything will be different for both of us." Mara continued.
Luke listened in silence. She was right, things were going to change. The next move of the Alliance was close, he could sense it in the flow of things… The final showdown was near.
For now all was left for him to do was to trust Mara.
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oOo
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Back in Imperial City, Mara had had to give the Emperor the bad news: Skywalker and his friends had managed to escape. Palpatine had not been happy, and she'd gotten a warning. And a warning from the Emperor was something that should never be taken lightly.
Mara could get away with just a warning just because of how good she was at what she did, and Palpatine valued that about her. She was after all, the perfect tool. She was sure the Emperor had believed her, but she wondered for how much longer she'd be able to hide her true feelings in all this matter from the Sith Lord.
To make things worse, she'd heard that Admiral Thrawn was on planet, and she very well knew that a visit to the Imperial Palace and a briefing with the Emperor was going to happen.
That night, Mara had the reunion she had much dreaded.
"I must admit to no little surprise that the vaunted Emperor's Hand let her prey slip away, unharmed?" Thrawn mused, with an air of keen amazement. "Either your reputation is much exaggerated, which I doubt, or you let them get away, intentionally."
There was a heavy pause. Mara dared not answer or give anything away even with a twitch of an eyebrow.
"Now, whatever reason for that could there be in all the worlds?" Thrawn asked rhetorically.
Mara finally stirred. "You are jumping at shadows, Admiral." She was pleased to find her voice was steady, the tone coolly dismissive.
"Tread carefully, Mara Jade," Thrawn warned, "One wouldn't want to mistakenly think that the Emperor's Hand is involved in treason." The Chiss's glowing red eyes gave her a knowing look.
Thrawn knew! There was no doubt.
The following day, Mara had her new assignment.
Mara had been assigned to track the Rebels in the Endor system. She'd follow orders just as she'd always had. She'd follow the Rebels to the end of the Galaxy if necessary, just as she'd been asked.
And this time, she was not coming back to the Empire.
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To be continued…
