IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER. I WILL ALSO POST TO MY PROFILE. IT IS LONG, BUT IMPORTANT. The songs for this chapter are "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen (What Luke is listening to) and "Open Your Eyes (Deep Blue Songspell)" by Bea Miller


Days passed. There wasn't any more pain, or strange visions in his head, but Luke continued to try to take it easy. Though his mission to find and kill Palpatine kept roaring in his heart, practically begging to be paid attention to, he managed to ignore it for the time being. Running into his father had done something to him. He wasn't sure what, but he'd always had strange visions—usually of flying an X-shaped plane through space, of getting into dog fights in it with weird looking spacecraft over strange, unknown planets, but other than his strange vision of Leia, they had never been painful. Until now. The vision he'd had of Han in those strange clothes, and then having his father asking him the confusing, stupid question of why…it was as if both of those images had collided in his head, causing him the worst pain he'd ever felt. He hadn't woken up until hours later, when Han had landed the Falcon on the blacktop outside of their home in England, and Mara and Chewie had been trying to support Luke's weight to get him off the ship.

It had freaked him out, made him wonder if something was really wrong with him. Han had tried to convince him to go to the doctor, but going to a doctor would have involved giving identification, leaving a record of where he was. Luke didn't want to do that. He had no doubt that his father would now be actively looking for something like that, and would have immediately picked up on that. He didn't particularly want to wake up to Anakin Skywalker busting the door down to attack him. So, Luke convinced his friends to just let him take a few days off, which he spent sleeping in, reading, or fixing Mara's busted TV. He'd wanted to draw the X-shaped ship he dreamed about with the intention to one day build it once the Palpatine-crisis was over, but when he put his pencil to the paper, his head had begun to throb painfully, and he'd immediately stopped.

Now, he sat cross-legged on the floor, the back of Mara's TV opened up before him. Tinkering was a much enjoyed release for Luke, very cathartic and soothing. His iPod was playing wirelessly over his speakers, playing Queen songs. He muttered the lyrics under his breath, not actually singing them, of course—he was an awful singer—but the movement of his lips helped him focus on his task. That focus, however, was broken when there was a knock on his door. He paused, reaching out through the Force and found the familiar presence of Mara. "Come in," he called.

The door opened, and Mara leaned on the doorframe, her arms crossed. She grinned when she saw what it was he was fixing. "Having fun?"

"Tons," He replied as he reached over for the back case to the TV. "It's fixed, by the way. At least, I think it is."

"One way to find out." Mara said, as Luke began to screw on the back of the TV. She paused, watching him. "So, Han and Chewie won't be back from their smuggling run until tonight…"

Luke paused, glancing up at her. What was she suggesting? "Yeah, I know."

"And, I just got my speeder back from Rio." When he gave her a quizzical look, she added, "I paid off one of Han's friends to bring it."

"Han has friends?" Luke teased, raising his eyebrows in mock surprise.

"Apparently so." Mara smirked, but it didn't quite touch her eyes. She seemed almost nervous. "Anyway, since you've been taking a well-earned break from your life's mission, I just thought it might be fun if…" she shrugged, casually, as if she didn't care one way or the other what he said, "If you might wanna go out tonight."

Luke fully stopped then, staring at her, his heart hammering in his chest. Was she…asking him out? Like, as friends or on a date? Sure, he and Mara were friends, but this wouldn't be them and Han and Chewie tagging along. This would just be them—Luke and Mara. Alone. Having fun. Focusing on each other, and…He swallowed hard. Mara waited patiently, not the type of girl to babble when a situation got awkward. Talia's face appeared in his head as it always did when he began to consider moving beyond friendship with Mara…but this time, it disappeared, fading away...like he was letting the past go. He couldn't change the past, he knew that. Perhaps…perhaps, it would be okay to move forward just a small, baby step. It wasn't like Mara had asked him to be her boyfriend, or even her husband. It was just a date. "Sure," He finally said with a casual shrug, and when he smiled, he found, to his surprise, that it was genuine.

Mara smiled back, and when she did, it was filled with so much relief, so much happiness, that it took his breath away. When was the last time he felt like this just because someone smiled?

"Great!" She said, "I have the perfect place!"

"Oh?" Luke raised his eyebrows, grinning. "Where to?"

Mara's smile was now almost wicked. "Oh, you'll see."

Uh oh.


Alexei had been right: Luke had totally destroyed this place.

In truth, it hadn't been hard to find it. Most of this desert was sand (which he was not excited about), with very few towns in-between. As Anakin pulled his ship over the dunes, he'd instantly felt a pull in the Force, directing him to where he needed to go. Padme had indeed found information on the Falcon (honestly, it came in so handy having a DA for a wife), and was currently investigating further. It had certainly been owned and registered to Han Solo, but the address on file had been years out of date. Still, Padme believed that she could still pick up a trail, and had flown to Germany in their private plane with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to investigate.

In this world, Han Solo was apparently the son of the famed actor Harrison Solo, the guy who'd played Indiana Jones movies back in the 80's. Anakin had seen those movies with Padme and Mindy back in their old house just after he'd come to this world, and he'd enjoyed them, yeah, but he didn't understand why women seemed to swoon all over this guy. Padme loved those movies and still watched them occasionally, always getting this dreamy-eyed look when she'd see Indiana Jones on screen, which annoyed Anakin to no end, much to his wife's amusement. They'd always end up in a playful little tiff over it, which normally led to Anakin kissing his wife senseless, leaving them both breathless, just to remind her she had her very own action man to swoon over. Considering what those movies often led to for them, though, Anakin secretly didn't mind that Padme liked them so much. But, sadly, the man had died about fifteen years before, and shortly afterwards, at least according to the registration records, Han had come into possession of the famed ship. He wasn't very good at updating his address, however, so Padme was currently in Germany following a lead with Hayden tagging along (who was very upset at having to miss school for this—Hayden and Luke were practically polar opposites in that respect).

Anakin had chosen to go alone to Namibia. He had a feeling that what he'd find there would be disturbing, to say the least, and he didn't want anyone to know about the contents of what he found until he could fully process it and figure out how to handle it. So, as he found the blackened complex nestled-half buried between the sand dunes and set the ship down with a soft thump, he reached out with the Force to determine if there were any un-wanted surprises waiting for him down there…

And felt a familiar presence hiding in the back of his ship.

He sighed, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers, sensing that the presence knew that he'd sensed them. Leia, He sent through his link to her, You can come out now.

It took a moment, but she eventually appeared in the cockpit, sitting down cautiously next to him in the copilot's seat, a sheepish expression on her face. "Hi, Daddy." She said, trying for a smile, but at his glare, it faltered. "Look, I know you said not to come…"

"For good reason, young lady." Anakin growled, but Leia continued.

"But, I want to help. He's my brother—my twin brother. Unlike Hayden, I actually remember him and…" she broke off, her voice tightening. "And, I want him back."

Anakin sighed in frustration, running an anxious hand through his hair. When he and Padme had sat Leia down to tell her what had happened in Rio, she had seemed reluctant to believe the true gravity of what Luke was going through. She just focused on bringing him home, and Anakin worried…Well, Leia just had such devoted beliefs about right and wrong. They were sometimes very intense, and he was worried that if he let her jump into Luke's situation without warning, it would cause a permanent rift between her and her brother. It was a silly worry: Leia was stronger than that. Still, he couldn't help but want to protect her. She would always be his little princess.

Leia, however, wasn't concerned about being protected. She was concerned about getting her brother back. She was nothing if not determined-and single minded- a trait she got in double doses from both her parents.

"Fine," Anakin sighed, getting up. "Although, when we get back, you're grounded for a month for sneaking onto this ship."

Leia gave him a skeptical look. "Riiight, Daddy." She said with a half smile, getting up as well and moving towards the landing ramp, which was now descending.

Anakin followed. "No, I'm serious, young lady. I am your father, and I have an obligation to ground you for doing something so reckless….not to mention disobedient."

Leia just laughed, brushing off the punishment, and Anakin was tempted to argue the point further, but the moment he left the ship and set foot on the property of the destroyed base, he froze. Even though it was empty, he could still feel the anger and heart-wrenching anguish in the Force surrounding the place. It took his breath away, and he had to force himself to pause just to get his bearings. Leia paused as well, and he felt her go serious as she turned to him. "Is that all from…Luke?"

Anakin nodded grimly: After having sensed Luke in that fight on the rooftop, he could sense a similar essence lingering here, but it was way more intense, practically throbbing in the Force. Something truly horrible had happened here. It almost made Anakin want to turn around and pretend that he hadn't found this place—He himself wasn't sure if he wanted to face what had happened to push Luke so completely over the edge. But he needed to. He had to...as a Jedi, as a father. He needed answers. "He's not a true Sith." Anakin told his daughter firmly, "He's just…lost in darkness right now."

Leia's brown eyes never left his as she slowly nodded. "Let's go find him then." She turned and headed into the complex, and Anakin followed numbly. The outside of the complex was burned to a crisp. Sand from the surrounding dunes had been blown into the property with no one left to keep it at bay. There were instruments and machine parts sticking up out of the ground they walked on. The windows had been completely blown outward, as if by some sort of massive explosion. When they reached one of the steel doors leading deeper into the complex, a huge hole, big enough to allow someone through, had been melted open. Anakin knew instantly what had done it: A lightsaber. He'd used that exact same maneuver himself in his old galaxy...both as a Jedi and as Vader, and he had a sneaking suspicion whose lightsaber had done it, too.

They stepped through the hole in the door and into the complex. Despite the windows being blown out, and the outside being burned to cinders, the inside was more or less intact. There were scorch marks along the outside room walls, but as they ventured carefully into the halls, the scorch marks gave way to lightsaber marks literally slashed into the walls, leaving scorched clefts in the walls. "I think someone tried to burn this place down, but it didn't quite finish burning." Leia softly said. Though they were the only people there, it felt like they had stepped into a massive graveyard.

"I'd have to agree with you there." Anakin said just as softly. They glanced into each of the rooms as they went. It looked like it had been, at one point anyway, the inside of a military base of some kind. There was a kitchen that was in shambles with broken dishes and silverware flung everywhere. There were barracks that had obviously been hastily vacated. There were destroyed conference rooms with furniture shattered or tumbled over. None of it, however, felt like it had what they were looking for.

They reached the end of the hallway, where it split into two different, narrow corridors, one right, one left, leading to darkened, windowless rooms that were impossible to see. Anakin stretched out with the Force, trying to feel which was the way to go. "That way," He said, pointing to the left.

"That way," Leia said at the same time, pointing to the right. They glanced at each other, startled. "Okay," Leia said slowly, pulling out her lightsaber and igniting it. A blue blade bathed them in its glow. "We split up and meet back here with what we find. Agreed?"

Anakin never liked the idea of splitting up, but Leia was seventeen and almost ready to take the trials to become a Jedi Knight. She was a Skywalker, after all, and more than capable of handling herself. Snips had been leading armies into battle at a much younger age, and, he reminded himself bitterly, Leia in their old galaxy had done just as risky missions at her age as a Galactic Senator from Alderaan and a Rebel spy."Fine. Divide and conquer, I guess," He said, as he ignited his own blue lightsaber blade; though, he didn't want to. He had learned a long time ago that overprotecting Leia never, ever worked. She was just too damn stubborn for that. She would do what she thought was best. Just like her mother. Just like him. They split off, tapping their sabers together briefly in solidarity, muttering to each other, "May the Force be with you."

The corridor Anakin wandered down was shorter than he expected, and he soon found himself standing at a pair of metal, locked, dusty doors. Using his lightsaber, he easily cut a hole around the locking mechanism, allowing him to push the doors open with the Force and enter into the darkened room. It was so dusty, he coughed a bit, his eyes watering as the swinging doors kicked up a layer of dust in the air. Kriff, he still hated sand to this day! But, the dust settled and what he found sent a sharp wave of anticipation through him.

It was a control room. The computers, though turned off now, were still very much intact. Computers that would have information, not only on Palpatine, but on his son. He pulled out his phone, turning the flashlight app on as he deactivated his lightsaber. He went to the computer towers. It would be useless to try to turn them on now. The place had no power. So instead, he cracked the shell open and found the memory processor, carefully using the Force to extract it without destroying it. He did the same to the other two computer towers as well, and soon he had three memory chips in his hands, full of information that he could hack into and use to turn the tide of this war. He grinned wildly and almost shouted with joy…but Leia's voice stopped him cold.

"Dad! Come here. You're going to want to see this."

Carefully fitting the cards into the inside of his leather jacket with the Force, Anakin whirled and quickly went back the way he'd come and then followed the corridor Leia had gone down. This hallway was longer, and he jogged a bit to close the distance between them faster. When he entered the room, he stopped cold, as he was suddenly awash with strong feelings of anger, betrayal….and heart wrenching despair. The emotions that still lingered were almost palpable in the Force, and caused Anakin's own breath to catch in stunned shock.

The room they were in had been completely destroyed. It was the biggest of the rooms, with a much higher ceiling. What was once a table was smashed into pieces on the far wall, splinters from it literally embedded in the walls and splinters of wood also coated the floor. There were flat TV screens, cracked and unusable, mounted on the gray walls. But, none of that was what drew their attention. No, it was the sight in the middle of the room that was the most chilling. Leia stood before a pile of charred bodies, one stacked on top of the other on top of another, the bones blackened and melted and…Anakin thought he was going to be sick. He knew who had done this. He didn't know why yet, but he knew.

Luke.

"Daddy," Leia asked, turning slowly to face him, her eyes wide in shock, mouth hanging open. "What in the Force actually happened here?!"

He didn't know. He opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly something sharp and stinging pricked him in the back of the neck, and his vision immediately began to blur. Alarmed, he tried to reach into the Force, but he found it was sluggish to respond to him, and he knew at once what had happened—he'd been drugged. He heard Leia call his name frantically, but he was falling into darkness, falling into oblivion…


Mara laughed in amusement as she watched Luke awkwardly dance on the crowded dance floor in the jampacked night club full of dancing, swaying, sweaty...and inebriated bodies. He had never been a particularly good dancer—even in their old galaxy. He managed it if he practiced, but Luke Skywalker would always, at heart, be the farm boy from Tatooine turned Jedi. And, farm boys didn't dance. Jedi didn't really dance, either. It just didn't come naturally to the poor boy. Still, he made an effort, and as she danced close to him, their bodies just centimeters from one another, she found that for the first time since they'd reunited in this world, they were actually having fun. Real fun. Just the two of them. It made her heart soar, and turned her on. He looked so damn hot, too, his long muscular legs encased in tight black jeans, black Converses on his feet, and a black, long-sleeved, open-collared dress shirt that clung to his well muscled chest and biceps. His blonde curls whipped around his scalp as he moved, and his pale blue eyes twinkled, reflecting the flashes of light in the club's semi-darkness.

Laser lights moved over their heads. Music pulsed an erotic beat. A smoke machine was spewing smoke over the large dance floor. Someone knocked into her from behind, and she instinctively placed a steadying hand on Luke's chest. She felt his heart rate increase under her palm and saw surprise flicker in his eyes, but unlike the many times before when he'd given her that look that said he was thinking about making a move on her, he didn't shut down this time. Instead, he grinned and placed a large steadying hand on her tiny, indented waist. For the billionth time, she wondered what had happened to Luke in this world to make him so lost, but tonight, she quickly pushed that thought away. She wasn't going to sour her mood dwelling on it either. If things went well tonight, maybe he'd truly open up to her. Maybe he'd even reveal those closely-guarded secrets he was keeping from her. If he did, then she knew she would have a better chance at helping him, of bringing him back to the Light.

Tonight, all that mattered was that she'd finally found him. She'd always remembered her past life in her other galaxy. She'd always wondered if she would ever find her farm boy-Jedi in this world. She'd always hoped so. At first, she had been content to just wait, happy to be raised by her beloved parents in this world, but after they died in a car accident when she was twelve, she had been forced to strike out on her own. She had done so with the intent of finding Luke, but she'd run into Han Solo and Chewbacca first. And, Mara knew...Where Han Solo went, Luke Skywalker was not usually far behind. So, she'd taken a gamble and stayed with Solo, who had been like a big brother. And, sure enough, she'd eventually run into Luke…although, he was very different than the Luke she'd loved and married back in their old galaxy.

And, yet he was also the same. Behind those walls he'd built around himself, there was compassion, intelligence. There was patience. There was kindness. There was passion. Even in the overt darkness of his current Force presence, she still felt that blinding Light buried deep within him, that incredible Skywalker Family connection to the Force that was unlike anything else she'd ever seen, that trustful-nature that had broken through her own walls back in their old galaxy. No. He hadn't given up on her then. And, she wouldn't give up on him now. Somehow, Luke Skywalker would make it through this, and she would loyally be by his side every step of the way. Even just as a friend, if that's what he needed.

But, oh, she wanted it to be as so much more.

Still, as their bodies finally touched, briefly brushing against each other, and she was left staring into the clear blue of those Skywalker eyes, she hoped that he would want more...much more, just like she did. Sure enough, she saw the sudden flame of desire there, the debate raging within on whether or not he should close the distance between their lips and take their relationship to the next level. But…

He suddenly pulled away as the song ended, like a spell being broken. He smiled sheepishly, but not unkindly. That same old hesitation was in his eyes again, as if he were warring with himself on the inside, trying to decide what he wanted. Though she felt the bitter sting of disappointment, she respected and loved Luke enough not to push it. She smiled back, and she jammed her thumb in the general direction of the bathroom. "Bathroom break!" She yelled, barely making herself heard over the crowd and the music. Luke nodded to show understanding and tilted his head in the direction of the bar. She understood what that meant—drinks. The night was still young. Anything could happen. And, she hoped it would.

She turned and began to push her way through the crowd, taking deep breaths to try to steady her emotions. It killed her inside to know that Luke didn't remember her, didn't remember them. They hadn't exactly started out on the best footing in their old galaxy—she had, after all, repeatedly informed him that she was going to kill him. She'd meant it, too. But Luke, though cautious around her, had begun to trust her slowly, incrementally, and she'd learned to trust him, without either of them consciously realizing it until much later. Even then, they hadn't immediately gotten together, but eventually, she realized that she loved him, and wouldn't have anyone else. Their wedding day had been the happiest moment of her life, certainly a far cry from the beginning of their relationship when she'd been totally hostile to him. She'd joined him at his side not only as his wife, but as a Jedi in his new, fledgling order. She'd eventually given birth to their son, Anakin Skywalker II, named after Luke's father. It had been a name she'd been cautious about at first, but the way Luke spoke of his beloved father, not as Darth Vader, but as Anakin Skywalker, a good man, a loving husband to his own wife, Luke's mother, and a great Jedi, she'd come to accept the name wholeheartedly as being perfect for their own son.

She paused, her heart wrenching painfully at the thought of their son. What had become of him? When Ben Solo, her husband's nephew and Padawan, had fallen to the Dark Side after finding out who his grandfather truly had been from a news holo, she remembered trying to protect her own son. Ben had turned into Kylo Ren, and had convinced many of Luke's students to turn with him, becoming the Knights of Ren. She wouldn't let her son Anakin suffer that same fate, and she'd tried to stop Kylo…Ben, her nephew. He'd killed her. Without remorse. Without guilt. He'd stabbed his lightsaber through her in cold blood, and she'd been killed.

And, she had no idea what had happened to her son after that. No idea what had happened to Luke either. No idea what had befallen the galaxy as the First Order rose from the ashes of the Empire. More than ever, she wanted those answers, needed them…but the only person who could offer them was Luke, and he didn't seem to remember any of it, because neither Han or Chewie seemed to remember it either. Worse, apparently the man they'd named their son after seemed to be just as bad, as evil and cruel, as Darth Vader had been. Whatever secrets, whatever lies Luke had been telling them over the last year to cover up his schemes, Mara had no doubt that he'd told the truth when he said his father had tried to kill him. The look in his eyes when he'd told them, the way the Force felt as he said those words…it was the truth.

Mara sighed and entered the ladies' bathroom. Strangely, it was empty, but the club did have multiple bathrooms. She stopped at the mirror, looking herself over. Her fiery red hair had been pulled back partially and was held with a clip on one side behind her ear, the waves of hair tumbling down her back like a waterfall of flame, revealing gold hoop earrings dangling from her ears. Her emerald green eyes, smudged with smokey eye colors with black mascara on the tips of her long lashes, were filled with conflicting emotions. She didn't love dresses, even though she looked fabulous in them. So, even in the club she wore her typical tight black pants, black leather, knee-high, three-inch heeled boots, though tonight she wore a dark green, collared silk blouse that hugged her curves to perfection.

She took deep breaths, leaning her hip against the sink. She couldn't lose control, she couldn't break from the stress of not knowing what had happened, what could or would happen. Not now. Not when she and Luke were finally out on an actual date, like a real, normal couple.

Quickly running through the calming exercises Luke had taught her oh-so-long ago, she managed to keep control of herself. She wouldn't think about their old galaxy. She wouldn't think about her death, or what had become of their son. She wouldn't think about what Luke was hiding from her right now. She would enjoy the moment and worry about those things later. Right now…

She heard a slight creak. Instantly alert, her eyes snapped up, the Force stretching out…and suddenly, there was a sharp, stinging prick to the side of her neck. She hissed in pain, reaching up, feeling the unmistakable feel of a dart embedded into her neck. Shit. She could already feel the drug it had been laced with consuming her consciousness, and she was suddenly falling….falling….Her last thought was of Luke, waiting out there for her, and she called upon what Force access she still could to send a distress signal before…

Everything went black.


I am going to do my best not to lose my cool here, because right now, I admit I'm pretty upset, but I also need to be direct and clear up a few things.

My policy for negative responses to my writing has always been to take it where it deserves it, and ignore it when it does not.Some negative responses do have legit points, while others are just meant to be cruel. This story, from it's publishing, has had very few negative responses left on it, and I assume, because of this, that anyone who disagrees with or does not like my story has simply stopped reading it. Fair enough. To each his or her own. I do not delete their responses, but I also do not respond either by PM or publicly. I have only responded twice due to misunderstandings that were cleared up in private, and I've moved on with my life since then. I do this because I am an adult. I recognize that not everyone will like my ideas, or my take on Star Wars, or my decisions with how my story is moving along, and you are completely entitled to that opinion. It will not offend me. I instead look at it as a learning opportunity. In regards to harassment towards myself, I am also generally very chill. I do not try to engage. As someone who has been bullied, I have found that for me, not responding to harassment is usually the best course of action. After all, it does take two people to have an argument.

That said, however, one thing I will NOT tolerate, is reviewers attacking other reviewers and their opinions in regard to my stories.

I care about people intensely. Those who know me know and have seen that the fastest way to make me super pissed off is to hurt people I care about. I do not personally know most of my reviewers, no, but many of you have been loyal fans from the start. Some of you from the very beginning. You have brightened my day, given me food for thought, and inspired me to take this story and other stories beyond my wildest imagination. So, when I posted my last chapter and suddenly I had some of my reviewers attacked, I got very upset. My goal in writing my stories is to have fun, and to provide that fun for others who may want a few minutes to take a break from the rest of the world to read an alternative what-if situation. It is NOT - and never has been intended - to spark an all-out argument in my reviews page, that can be likened to the comments section of a YouTube video (go look at any popular or controversial video and you will know what I'm talking about).

So, you can feel free to disagree with me or my writing, but I do NOT tolerate harassment of other reviewers of my story. I want people to feel safe when they review my story. I want them to feel like they can safely express their opinion - positive or negative-on my writing or the direction of the story without fear of being attacked. My lovely beta, SW, (who is totallyawesome and has helped me so much with my stories) has said that the reason she doesn't usually review other stories she reads is because she worries about getting attacked like that for her opinion, and no one should feel that way. I noticed that many of the people who normally review my story did not review this time, and I wonder if the reason has to do with the apparent disgruntlement being aired in regard to the last chapter update. Because I aim to establish a safe environment for all my readers, I give you fair warning now: Any future attacks on my reviewers will be met with not only a delete of the comment, but also being reported for harassment. I will NOT tolerate flaming. Period. So, everyone, please behave in reviewing. Even negative comments can be said nicely.

As for Mara Jade. Seriously, out of every possible controversial decision I have made on this story, I did NOT expect this apparent issue to stem from my intentions with regard to Mara Jade. So, to clear the proverbial air, I will also make my intentions clear in regard to this character without spoiling as much as I can.

I know where my story is going. I have meticulously planned this story out from beginning to end, and I have been working on it since long before it was published. My beta has the overall picture, but even she does not know every little detail that influenced this decision. Now, you all know that does not mean that I have not taken suggestions from reviewers and incorporated them into my story. I will continue to do so, if it fits within my story line and adds to the story, but if a suggestion does not work out, understand that it is not meant as a reflection of my opinion on you or your idea. Many ideas that I have not included have been good ideas, but just have not fit in with my overall theme. I understand that may be disappointing, but I expect that you will be mature enough to respect my decision, as the author, and perhaps give me a little bit of trust to follow the story line through. That IS, the author's prerogative, as you all well know.

My decision to have Mara Jade in my story was my own decision. It was not influenced by any reviewer, mostly because I had the second part planned intricately out before I ever even published chapter one. However, when I started this story, from the very moment it was revealed that Luke would eventually come into the story, one of the most frequent questions I received by PM from various reviewers was "Will there be Mara Jade?" Mara Jade is important to Luke's struggle. She understands the conflict, the darkness that Luke is facing right now, not only as a person who has gone through dark times herself, but also as a Jedi who has gone through dark times. She is an established character, beloved by many SW fans. Disney has included Thrawn in their Star Wars Rebels series (YAY!) not only because he's a bad-ass, but also because he also is a beloved character from the EU-Canon. Mara Jade is yet another beloved character that Disney has probably at least considered bringing in, if they aren't already going to do so.

I fully understand EU-Canon and Disney-Canon. When deciding to write this story, I spent hours upon hours of research into both. As one reviewer said, right now, there isn't much Disney-Canon after Ep. 6. What canon there is, I have read, and right now the only ones that make sense are the novelization of The Force Awakens and Bloodline (this is SUPER good btw). There is simply not enough to judge what makes sense and what doesn't. Disney is doing a very good job keeping Luke to a minimum in those books because they want Ep. 8 and 9 to be a surprise for us, so what mentions of Luke there are in those books are slim and intentionally unrevealing.

That means that I, as an author, have to make decisions to fill it in based on what information I have and what I don't...as well as what I like and what I don't. There is simply not enough information to say "nope Mara Jade can't be his wife." I could spend pages deconstructing that argument, but I'm not going to.

I will address this fact however:

I have a rule about OC-romances. I don't write them. That doesn't mean that I dislike them, I just don't write them. I also will not write an established character I don't understand or know. I understand that some people ship Luke with Jynn Erso. From what I can tell, Jynn is pretty cool, but I don't know her as a character. I've only seen the footage in the trailers. I have a thing about spoilers, so as the time gets closer I will stop reading articles that reveal spoiler details like I did for the Force Awakens until I've seen the movie. Furthermore, I highly doubt they're going to announce in that movie "oh btw Luke gets together with her." If that happens, we likely won't find out until Ep 8 or even 9. I am not going to put my story on hold to wait to understand her character more. If I put her in my story, what I would be writing is an OC character that happens to have the name of Jynn. It would make me uncomfortable. I would essentially be violating my own rule, and I would stop writing. Furthermore, I would basically base her off of Mara Jade, because like I said, Mara has the characteristics I need for what's going to happen in this story, so she'd basically be Mara Jade disguised as Jynn Erso, and that's not fair to Jynn. I want Jynn to be a strong, female character that stands on her own. I don't want her to replace Mara Jade. I want her to be her own character with her own strengths and flaws. If I wrote her as Luke's wife, I would be violating that.

I suppose the whole issue behind all of this is the debate on whether Rey is Luke's daughter. I'm not going to make speculations. I want to be surprised. I will say right now that beyond the mention of Kylo Ren (which will only be mentioned one more time in this story), I will not actually write any ep. 7-9 characters until ep. 9 is done. That's another rule, because I don't want to spoil it for myself. I named Luke's son Anakin because Disney switched Ben's name to Leia's son, so I figured why not switch Anakin's name from Leia's EU-son to this story's as Luke's son? I also have a very specific reason for doing this, but it's spoilers so I won't reveal it right now. Even then, that has no significant impact on the overall story. I'm choosing to keep Rey out of this, but even if I didn't, I literally did research into this. Red hair is extremely recessive. You could have two red headed parents and possibly not have red-headed children. It's even less likely if one parent is red headed and the other is not. It is predicted that natural red hair will no longer be possible because it is that recessive. Furthermore, brown hair is super dominant. Luke has a ton of brown-haired relatives. It is completely possible for him to be married to Mara Jade, not have red haired children, and even have brown haired children. That scenario has even happened in my own family. Also, physically, we do not have an actress cast as Mara Jade, so to say that Rey does not look like Mara Jade is a fallacy because who are you comparing her to? It could end up being that Jynn is Rey's mother. It could, scientifically, still be possible for Rey to be Mara Jade's daughter (btw. Luke is standing over what looks like a grave at the end of TFA. It was a prop digitally added in. I saw the movie 7 times in theaters, and I have watched all extras, interviews, etc multiple times from the DVD, and I'm not the only one to have noticed this. Mara Jade's grave? His child's grave? Some random ancient Jedi's gave? Just some pretty rock Disney felt like adding? Who knows). So the scenario I am creating is not completely impossible, and it works for my story.

In my story, Mara Jade was previously Luke's wife. End of story. That is my decision. It is not to be offensive. I did not ever intend on explaining it like this, but due to what has happened, I felt it necessary to be extremely clear on my position, at least when it came to my story.

Lastly, the point of this story is the power of love, friendship, family, and forgiveness. The main couple in this story is still and will always be Anakin and Padme. There are other couples of course, but at the end of the day, it's their romance that made ALL of this possible. Without them, there would be no Luke or Leia or Ben/Kylo Ren. So Luke's romantic interest with Mara is just a small element, but does not influence the overall picture of my story. I am WAY more concerned with Luke's relationship with Anakin, Padme, and Leia.

So to sum up: Don't harass my readers. You are free and encouraged to make suggestions, to give critical criticism nicely, but understand and respect the fact that I will not always use them. I don't care if you ship Luke with Jynn or Mara or even a rock on that island, but understand that for the purposes of my story, Mara is the person I've chosen to go with, a decision that is purely MY decision. I'm sorry if you have an issue with that, but please respect my decision as the author. Hopefully, if you've lasted this long (62 long chapters and counting, you guys are awesome!) I hope that you trust me enough to know what I'm doing with my story. If you decide to stop reading, well I will of course be sad to lose you, but I will continue on because at the end of the day, I'm writing because I'm having fun immersing myself in the world of Star Wars, just like all the rest of you in this fandom.

Phew. Super long AN. I know. But, I wanted to make sure we are all on the same page, and that issues like the last chapter's reviews never happens again. I'm still a bit upset, but I'll do what I can to calm down before the next chapter.

Thanks,

Sarah