Chapter 14
Luke walked beside his nephew pointing out different things to him. It was strange to be home again. To see and smell everything that was once common to him. He had returned to this place many times before, but always to visit people. He never stopped to look around the place that was once the only thing he had known. Now he was here and he intended to enjoy it. Then there was seeing the wonder in Anakin's eyes as he heard stories from his uncle's past. Han and Leia were on their way to find parts for the Falcon, which was once again in need of repair. They had taken the twins with them but Anakin had wanted to stay with Luke. He had needed some time away, having had another disagreement with Mara that he wasn't sure he understood. So he had left, taking Anakin and showing him around.
He had shown him a few of the places that he used to frequent as a child, pointing out the places him and his friends used to play, and hang out. They had finally reached here, parked above Beggars Canyon. Anakin had been fascinated to hear the stories of when he had flown through these canyons as a young boy. After all this time, Luke never tired of the energy that these children displayed. He looked down at the boy, his blonde hair blowing in the breeze. He was staring into the canyon, with who knew what running through his head.
His thoughts turned once again to Mara. He had noticed her strange behavior since she had arrived, and could not figure what had been going through her head. Then when he had stumbled across the datapad that she had so recklessly left out, he became more lost than ever. She had told him she had buried that part of her life, but did all this mean that she had been wrong? There were more questions than he had the answers to, and sitting here looking into a rocky pit was not helping him any. Looking around, he noticed that the suns had moved considerably across the sky. They had been gone for quiet a long time and he was beginning to think that they should make their way back to the center of town. That's when Luke's danger since exploded around him. He scanned the area but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"What's wrong?" Anakin asked. Luke looked down and smiled. "I don't know yet, Anakin," he said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. His skin was crawling and he felt something very wrong somewhere near by. He started leading Anakin away from the area when a movement caught his eye. However, turning he did not see anything, just the cliffs off to the distance that he had been showing Anakin. There were too many out-croppings of rock here. Hundreds of places that danger could hide in. Picking up the pace he headed back to the speeder.
"You decided not to heed my warning," hissed a raspy voice from behind one of the rocks. Luke slowed at the sound of that voice, and then stopped dead in his tracks when the person stepped into view.
"Not again," he whispered, grabbing Anakin and pushing him to stand behind him.
"You have always been a fool, Skywalker," cursed an older woman, as she walked to stand in front of him. "So ready to believe. Maybe you should not believe everything you see."
"I have learned that lesson," Luke said, looking around for anything that could help him get Anakin away from this woman.
"You may know it, but you have not learned from it," she shouted, the hatred in her face sending painful memories across his consciousness.
"What do you want?" he called out, trying to block out the sound of the blaster fire from all those years ago. The sound if his life hitting the floor, the sound of the sirens and the mindless chatter when he followed his wife's body out of the house.
"I want you to feel pain such as the pain you have caused," she declared, taking another step towards him.
"What do you mean?" he asked, dread filling his entire soul. He felt behind him to assure himself that Anakin was still there, that he was giving him what little safely could be offered from the woman that had tried twice now to ruin his life. There was no doubt in his mind that this woman was crazy. The last two encounters they had, had ended with either blaster wounds or death.
"Your ignorance on the matter is precisely the problem." She pulled a blaster from the folds of her robes, aiming it in his direction. He could see her, in that other lifetime, as he encouraged Arielle to take their daughter out of the house. His vision changed from the older and younger version until he was completely confused.
Mara was sitting at the table looking over a data pad loaded with figures for a shipment she was planning to pick up. After the argument that happened between her and Luke she decided that it would be best if she went back to work and she would deal with Luke after he returned home to Coruscant. She looked over at Shiella and Gores who were sitting not far away, talking quietly to themselves. They had entered the house just after Luke had left, and seemed to be trying to stay in sight of her. Mara figured they had heard the fight and were trying to make themselves available if she decided that she wanted to talk. All she wanted to do was get off the planet as fast as she could.
"Looks like there's a storm coming," Shiella said. Mara looked and noticed that she had moved to the door and was looking out at the distant horizon. "I hope that everyone gets inside before it hits."
"I'm sure they will," Gores said, looking up at his wife. "You mustn't worry yourself every time one of these storms hit."
"I know, but they are so dreadful to be caught out in. I would rather know that everyone is safe in their homes."
"Yes, and everyone who has spent any time on this planet knows to seek shelter when these things hit. Everything will be just fine. Look, they have plenty of time before that thing gets here. It's still very far away."
Mara sat listening to their conversation, and her thoughts turned to Luke. Meaning to give him a heads up about the storm she reached out to him.
Gores tapped his wife on the shoulder and directed her attention to their house guest. Mara was sitting rigid in her chair with her eyes closed. As they watched, all the color drained from her face.
Shiella walked over to Mara and gently touched her shoulder. "What's wrong dear?" she asked.
Mara whispered something then dashed out the door. No longer seeming to hear, or even see the other people in the room.
"What did she say?" Gores asked, as he watched Mara take one of the landspeeders they had parked out front.
"She said 'Luke,'" Shiella told him, sighing as she pushed in the chair Mara had just vacated.
"So, you were right," Gores said, looking at the door.
"They don't seem to realize what is meant for them," his wife pointed out. "Or they won't accept it for some reason."
"I'm sure they will figure it out," Gores assured her. "Luke is a smart boy, he figured it out the first time."
"Yes," Shiella said, closing the door to prepare for the up coming storm. "But he was a lot more open to suggestions back then."
Mara stopped the speeder next to Luke's and scanned the area for her best friend. The fear he was projecting had not diminished, and that worried her immensely. She could not recall a time when he was even close to the state he was in now. He was terrified. She hopped out of the speeder, grabbing her lightsaber while holding her blaster in the other hand. Whatever had Luke that frightened was something to take all precautions with. She found him around the bend. He stood about 100 feet away with his back to her.
"Why do you keep coming back?!" she heard. Looking around she tried to see who had spotted her. She belatedly realized that it was not a comment directed at her. "How many times do I have to shoot you before you stay away from here?" Luke started to back towards Mara's general direction but stopped again. That's when she realized that he had Anakin with him, and whoever was the cause of his fear was standing in front of him, still out of her sight. "What's wrong? Little Wormie can't speak."
Luke did not move or make a sound. She could feel him struggling to get past the overwhelming amount of fear building up inside him. He was not making much progress. He would move a few feet, in each direction, always keeping himself between Anakin and the danger they were facing. Her danger sense flared and she knew she had to do something. Wiping out her blaster she tried to aim at his attacker, but Luke was still between them.
She had begun to move to a better spot, where she could get a better handle on what was going on. That's when Anakin turned his head suddenly as if he just noticed her there. He looked from her, to his uncle, then to the woman that was threatening them. She could feel his fear mixing in with his uncle's and she knew she had to do something. She started to move once again but was stopped when Anakin suddenly turned and ran towards her as fast as his feet could carry him. Abandoning her search for a better view, she ran towards Anakin.
"Anakin, no!" Luke yelled, trying to grab the boy's arm as he pulled away from him. Luke forced himself through the terror gripping his body and tired to stop Anakin from moving. He knew that running now would only draw her attention, but the boy did not understand that. He was reacting to the fear he felt and trying to get somewhere where he felt would be safer. Wondering what had caused his sudden reaction Luke tried to determine where he was running to. That is when he noticed Mara running towards them with her blaster in hand.
It was like watching life in slow motion, nothing seemed to move fast enough. Luke reached out for Anakin, missing him by the smallest of margins. He then could see and track the blaster bolt as it shot passed his ear and headed towards Anakin. He watched, unable to help, as the bolt hit the rock and sent shards flying. Then had to watch in agonizing slowness as Anakin screamed and fell to the ground.
Mara, still trying to cover the distance between her and Anakin was forced to watch helplessly as Luke threw himself at the boy to protect him from anymore harm the woman meant to cause. As he turned, he gave Mara her first view of the older woman as she aimed for another shot. Mara was sure this one was set to take out both Luke and Anakin. Deciding she had to act quickly, Mara lined up her blaster and shot her through the heart before the woman ever knew she was there.
Putting her blaster away, and continued running until she reached Luke's side, dropping to her knees, Mara watched as he held Anakin, rocking him gently. He seemed oblivious to the fact that the woman had gone down behind him. Luke was carefully wiping some of the blood that covered Anakin, out of the boy's eyes. Careful not to touch the wound that he had acquired to his head. Luke looked in her direction and she was shocked to see the haunted look in his eyes.
"Come on Luke, we need to get Anakin some help," she called out to him. He did not budge. He didn't seem to even hear her. The wind picked up and she could see the storm she had seen earlier had moved a lot closer. If they wanted to get Anakin some help they had to move soon. "Luke, come on. Lets get going."
Her words did not seem to be soaking in, and she tried not to think about the reasons why Luke was acting that way. She could not bear the thought that he could also be hurt, and was incapable of understanding her. She placed her hand under his chin making her look at him.
"Luke?" she asked again. He shut his eyes tight, a tear slipping down his cheek. "Luke, come on…"
"Not again," he whispered, trying to turn his head away.
"What, not again?" She asked. It was good that he was talking, it was better to keep him talking if she wanted to get through to him.
"She can't do this to me again," he said, still trying to break her grip on him. Mara let him go and he buried his face in Anakin's shoulder. "She cannot take away more of my family."
Mara looked over to the woman she had shot and realized that she must have been the one that shot Arielle. She was not sure how she knew that, but it felt right. That would explain Luke's reaction to her, as well as his reaction now. It would be all he needed to bring all those painful memories straight back to the surface, no matter how much he thought he had dealt with them. With that one shot, this woman had succeeded in sending Luke Skywalker into shock.
"Luke, you have to listen to me," she said, determined now more then ever to get through to him. "We have to get Anakin some help. Do you hear me? She cannot hurt you or anyone any more, Luke. She's gone. There was nothing you could do about the past. Trust me, I know this. You can help Anakin, but you have to move now."
Luke still did not respond to her pleas. He sat on the ground, rocking his nephew in his arms. Mara was beginning to wonder if she was going to have to physically drag Anakin away. She was desperately hoping not to have to do that. Luke's state of mind was very fragile and anything that dramatic could send him over the edge. But she found that she did not have to do that. Luke seemed to pull himself together enough to stand and start to carry Anakin back to his speeder. Without a word, she helped them in and sped away.
---Luke sat in the waiting room of the med center. He sat motionless, with his head in his hands, not saying a word.
"How long has he been that way?" Mara asked when she entered the waiting room. She handed Han a cup of the caf she was holding, which he accepted with a small smile.
"About an hour," he told her. "He wouldn't say much to me."
Mara shook her head. "He needs to snap out of it. I'll talk to him, you go back inside."
Han smiled again sadly and left the room. Mara crossed the room silently and sat in the chair beside Luke. She could feel the thick wall of guilt he had wrapped himself in.
"Here," she said and handed him the other cup of caf. He looked up at her, and accepted the cup, taking a careful sip before lowering his head once again.
"The doctor said he's going to be fine," Mara told him.
"I heard. Mara, it's just…" He paused, sighing as he swirled the liquid in his cup.
"You should talk about it, Luke."
"It's just, when I saw her. I thought that was it. She was going to end it now. And I felt like there was nothing I could do about it. Then when I saw you there… I hate to say it, but I was angry."
"Angry? Why?" she asked. It hurt her to know that he was mad at her.
"Because, and now that I think about it, I know how stupid it sounds, but I thought you had something…" he ended there and looked at her.
"You thought I had something to do with it?"
"It's just that you have been acting so strange. I'm sorry Mara."
"You have no reason to be, Luke." She knew now that because she had not talked to him, it had caused him even more pain. It was time to let him know. "I need to talk to you about something. I should have done this a long time ago."
"What?" he asked.
"I found something, just a few days ago. I didn't want to tell you until I got more information. I wish now that I had told you." She paused and took a shuddering breath. "Do you remember when we were stranded, waiting for my ship to be repaired?"
"Of course," Luke said, looking interested in something for the first time that night.
"Well I found a disk inside that imperial building, just as we were preparing to leave. I was looking at a shelf and the label of one of the old data disks caught my eye. I put it in my pocket and forgot about it."
"Well obviously you ended up reading it or you would not have brought it up. What was on it?"
"It was the details of an experiment ordered be the Emperor. He had his scientists develop a virus, that when injected into someone caused that person to become their owe personal weapon. It was designed to only affect the intended victim. Genetically engineered only to react to their DNA." Luke looked at her as if he understood where she was going with this. But she had to make sure, she had to make sure he understood. "According to the disk, they injected it into me."
"And the target was me," he stated. There was no question in his voice, only sadness.
"Yes," she whispered. She could barely force herself to meet his gaze. She had never meant to hurt him. She wanted to comfort him. To do anything that would help ease the shock of what she had told him. But she never got the chance.
"Anakin just woke up," Leia said as she burst into the room, unaware of what she had interrupted. "He is very upset and asking for both of you."
"OK," Luke said, his voice betraying his feelings. "We'll be right in." Leia either did not notice the change in her brother or figured that it was a result of the stress of what he had just gone through. She left the room without another word. Luke stood, but did not move towards the door. Looking up, Mara realized that he was looking at her.
"Luke?"
"I need time to think, Mara. We'll talk about it more later. Right now, lets go assure Anakin that we are alright."
He left it at that. She had bared her sole and he had reacted in the perfect Jedi manner. He would take the time to think it through, not just push her away like she had been trying to do to him. Instead, he took her hand and helped her to stand. Then they walked together to see Anakin.
