Predestined Soul Mates
Part 4: Separation
By SJ 29-05-02/06-02
________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. Even more so when related to events of the movies of course
;) I'm only writing stories for fun.
See my homepage for more details.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving
me some of your precious time, my friend :)
__________________
Luke watched the young woman as she literally stomped outside; there, she
paused, obviously taking her bearings, then headed toward their left.
He had done something, he berated himself sadly. He didn't know exactly what he
had done, but whatever he and Jade had been enjoying before making love had now
disappeared like so much smoke.
She was exactly like when he had met her earlier in the morning...
Feeling a heavy pang of regret settle in his heart, one even heavier than his
regret about his life if it were possible, he also walked outside... and turned
toward the slowly setting suns; he sighed forlornly as he gazed at the familiar,
soothing yet sorrowful sight.
Throughout a single day, he had found someone who could understand him... who
could like him, even love him... and had lost her because of some stupid
mistake, or comment, or perhaps just a look he had given her... He really was a
foolish boy, he berated himself even as he angrily brushed his tears away----
No, he suddenly, illogically determined. He would not let it end like this, not
after what they had shared during the day. Something was bothering the young
woman and he wouldn't let her leave until they had figured it out.
Gathering his resolve, he turned toward the direction she had taken and called
out: "Jade, wait up!"
The young woman had barely spared a glance back toward him when he spotted the
shape of moving sand dunes right behind her. His seriousness instantly became
worry and fear.
"Behind you, look out!" he shouted even as he pointed at the emerging Tusken
Raider.
Even as the young woman turned away from him to face the new danger, he himself
ran as fast as he could toward her to help her once again.
Atop the dune of sand, where she had spotted what looked like the buried form of
the landspeeder, Mara restrained a sigh of annoyance as she heard the farmboy
call to her--- when a warning suddenly came to her through the Force, right on
the heels of the youth's verbal one.
Her right hand instantly clutched her left forearm and pulled her blaster free,
speeding up the procedure with the help of a Force-tug. She then turned toward
the nearby presence of danger, her blaster already aimed for trouble; the
emerging Tusken Raider never knew what hit him before he fell back in the sand,
forever this time.
As if taking this as their cue, several Sandpeople suddenly revealed their
presence all around her and attacked her with their axes and gaffi sticks. Mara
ducked under a first swing, then almost simultaneously kicked out sideways,
taking care of a second attacker this way. She then fired two quick shots into
the second, closest enemy even as she raised her free hand and blocked a stick
that would have brained her for good. She shot that other raider while she
straightened up, then finished the remaining two by diving away from their
mutual, enraged attacks.
The aliens finished themselves for her. Meanwhile, compensating with her
strength for the yielding sand, she completed her roll and pushed herself back
to her feet, landing in a crouch.
She thus ended up facing another fight and discovered that the farmboy had once
again come to her rescue, then had tackled one of her attackers even though he
was still as unarmed as ever. His struggle had led him some five meters away
from her own position; he wasn't aware of her presence.
As she watched him fight for his life against the raider who seemed intent to
take off his head, Mara quickly debated what was the best course of action in
this situation. Considering what had happened between them, she already knew
that she would face the consequences for doing something forbidden. What she
didn't know though was if her master would also seek out the boy to punish him
for leading her astray, although unwillingly, or if he would be safe with a mere
memory wipe?
Perhaps leaving him to his fate would be the safest option, she began to think
as she slowly straightened from her crouch. If he were strong, he would
survive, and if he weren't... then she conceded that he would probably be better
off dead.
She had begun to agree with herself--- when the boy suddenly yelped loudly; once
again forgetting her training and conditioning, Mara whirled around and shot the
Raider who had hurt her lover before running as fast as she could toward him.
Once beside him, she made sure that she hadn't intervened too late.
A moan of half-aware complaint informed her that he was mostly all right; a
light scan through the Force confirmed it for her. She still tore a piece of
her shirt to dab at the cut on his forehead.
"Hey, farmboy," she tried to rouse him, "it's too early for a nap."
Slowly, the youth stirred with more strength and opened his eyes.
"Are you okay?" he asked her softly, raising his hand to touch her nearby
features.
Mara closed her eyes at his gentle touch, pained by what she knew she had to do
now. He was safe... she had to leave him behind.
The first image which came to Luke when he recovered his senses was the brief
image of Jade killing his own assailant. The way she had moved, the way she had
aimed... He knew that he would never forget how 'hot and dangerous' she truly
was. If it were possible, it attracted him more to her than what they had
already shared during the sandstorm.
Her voice then cut in his muzzled thoughts and he forced his eyes open. The
first thought that crossed his mind at that moment was that he had finally found
which color were her hair.
They were the color of Tatooine's second sunset, just before it disappeared
under the horizon. Just a little less red in her hair and he would loose her
against the sun that he could now see behind her.
"Are you okay?" he inquired tiredly even as he brought his hand to her beautiful
features.
He had been so worried for her when the Tuskens had popped out of the sand; he
hadn't been able to abandon her, no matter the danger for himself. As it was,
he had discovered just what she had meant by 'being ready for anything'... and
had in the end saved him, not the opposite.
When he had become aware of her watching his fight from a distance, he had
feared, for real, that she had decided to abandon him to his fate; however, she
had once again proven him wrong.
Now, he knew that whoever she was, whatever happened next, he would always be
able to trust her.
The young woman, who had closed her eyes and gripped his hand when he had
touched her, slowly gazed at him once again.
He gaped as he saw that her eyes were filled with tears.
"Hey," he tried to comfort her, forcing himself to a sitting position--- and
practically falling back on his back when his head felt as if it were about to
explode.
He tried again, this time from his laying position.
"I'm okay, Jade," he comforted her. "thanks to you," he added gratefully.
Mara closed her eyes once again and withdrew from his touch..., from his
burning-right-through-to-her-soul, physical presence that seemed determined to
worm its way into her heart. Now it was her turn to turn away from him and hide
her tears.
If only there weren't the Emperor, she dimly wished before she crushed that
unfaithful thought and willingly erased it from her memory.
Meanwhile, the boy had tried again to sit up, more slowly this time; he gently
took hold of her hand and squeezed it warmly.
"I'm sorry too for what happened today, Jade," he apologized earnestly. "I
don't know what got into me," he added as if in afterthought. "I should have
known better than to let us go this far this quickly."
Mara opened her eyes as she understood what he was trying to tell her; he too
had been overwhelmed by her today. Neither he, nor herself, had been completely
their true selves, yet... they had, but it had been someone they had never known
they could be before.
Turning her head forward once again, she sadly locked her gaze with his gentle
one.
She had to do it now, her normally harsh self told her seriously. It was the
end of the escapade; it was time to get back to work.
"I wish I had met you under other circumstances, my dear farmboy," she whispered
desperately, then pulled him into a last kiss... while she changed the setting
of her weapon. She stunned him on the strongest setting she could pull from her
pocket blaster; she had no choice to keep him unconscious for as long as she
needed to bring him back to his home.
The youth naturally moaned against her lips in reflexive complaint just as he
became inert in her arms; she continued to kiss him for a few more seconds, then
merely held his unconscious body, silently asking him to forgive her for this
betrayal.
Eventually, she set him back on the sand, rested her two hands on his head, took
a deep breath to focus and gather all her Force abilities to herself. Then, she
meticulously removed all the memories she had given him today before crushing
them forever while being extremely careful to not pull anything else from his
mind and learn anything about his identity. She wanted to protect him from even
herself.
Their love, she resigned herself once she was finished with the procedure, would
always be nameless and would only live in her memories... her heart, which she
would also silence from now on to protect him.
Wiping her tears of regret and sorrow from her eyes, she pulled her homing
beacon from her pocket and called her ship to her current location, then settled
in to wait, hugging the still unaware young man in her arms.
One last time.
******
Her steadfast ship reached her position less than ten minutes later. She first
carried the boy to it and settle him in the entrance of the hatch before she
herself took the control in the cockpit. She then used her tractor beams to
free the farmboy's speeder from its sandy prison.
Next, she used a twinge of the Force to flip the craft and empty it from the
sand it had collected, then entered the coordinates of the boy's household,
which he had revealed to her when talking about perhaps seeing her again.
Fifty meters away from her target, she turned on the furtive mode of her ship so
as to not alarm her farmboy's family of his peculiar arrival. Once there, she
freed the speeder from the tractor beam and rejoined the still unconscious boy
near the hatch. The light wind of the cool night was gently ruffling his unruly
hair, giving him as innocent a look as he could ever have.
Fighting past her own pangs of regret, she pulled him out of the ship and laid
him in his speeder, making it look as if he had fallen asleep in it. Then, she
pushed the turned off vessel into the nearby garage and arranged things to make
him believe that he had spent his day tinkering on his speeder after returning
from his shopping excursion.
A few minutes later, it was time to leave... but she couldn't. Her eyes sought
his handsome features once again, as if making a print of them forever; she
leaned over the side of the speeder and kissed him one last time, a gentle,
delicate, goodbye kiss she had never thought she would ever give to anybody.
"Perhaps some day, farmboy," she whispered forlornly, then forced her feet to
turn away from him and lead her back to her normal life.
Behind her, the unbeknown young Jedi unconsciously whispered: "I will be
waiting, my love." then lapsed into deeper sleep as the Force, unrestricted by
any conscious thoughts from the youth, flowed in and through him to salvage what
his lover had tried to erase from her soulmate's mind.
In time, they would find each other.
******
Two weeks later, Mara Jade was back on Coruscant, back where she belonged and
where she was comfortable.
After scouring Tatooine for another three days, carefully avoiding any contact
with anybody during those days, she had reported to her master that the Jedi had
probably left the planet.
After leading a few meditation sessions, the Emperor had finally pulled her off
this assignment and ordered her back on Coruscant to further her Force training.
As she stood on the roof of the Imperial palace to practice her sensing skills
on the buildings that were surrounding her, she dimly thanked whoever was
watching over her for saving her from her master's wrath this time.
The Emperor had never felt anything wrong about her mission on Tatooine. He
hadn't even mentioned the possibility that she might have been in touch with
someone during her time on the planet. True, she conceded as she pulled herself
from this willingly forbidden path of thoughts, ever since she had left the boy,
she had devoted her time to not pay anymore attention to her heart.
In fact, she had taught herself to never let it interfere with her life ever
again... had literally forced it down, down, down, in the deepest, least
important levels of her personality.
She didn't care anymore about anyone nor anybody; she was once again Mara Jade,
Emperor's Hand and devoted servant to her master, and to her master alone.
Taking a deep breath to shoo away new, shy thoughts about a certain farmboy, she
focused her mind once again on her current task and resumed her sensing
exercises.
Soon, as soon as he would locate the Jedi again, her master would send her after
him once again.
******
Months later, on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker moaned slightly in his sleep as the
new-yet-already familiar dream of a mysterious red-head girl invaded his mind.
As usual, he saw himself save her, then they outran a sandstorm, talked... and
fell in love, but it was an impossible love.
As the young, unrecognizable young woman sadly told him that someday, perhaps
they would be together, he himself whispered, both in his dreams and out loud:
"I will be waiting, my love."
******
******
******
Approximately six years later, aboard the Second Death Star:
When the Emperor renewed his attack of lightning bolts on him, Luke Skywalker
knew that it was the end; his body was so permeated with pain that he could
barely breathe anymore, and he didn't have any psychological nor spiritual
strength left.
The last of his mental barriers collapsed with that thought, allowing him to see
his whole life in a flash before he prepared himself for death, holding on a
last memory... his last link to life: his strange dreams about the red-head
young woman he could love so much... and for the first time ever, he was able to
distinguish her beautiful features in his mind's eye.
Emperor Palpatine couldn't understand why the Jedi was still alive after the
dose of dark side energies he had already received; the boy, he raged, would die
even more for this last defiance; he blasted him faster, stronger, more
relentlessly, with still no result... until he felt the boy's mind crumple,
succumb to his now unavoidable fate.
Delighted by this first and final victory over the last of the Jedi, the dark
Jedi reached out and invaded the now totally open mind of the unaware Jedi----
and stopped short on what he encountered: the boy had met with his now assigned
assassin... and the girl had fallen in love with the naive, then Force-shielded
foul--- who had been, in fact, her target in this mission. Angered beyond
belief at this discovery, he lashed out completely at the youth, baring his
teeth in sheer rage and hatred.
The little harlot had betrayed him, had lied to him!
At his feet, the young Jedi writhed in throes of final agony as he himself
vented his anger and fury on him... yet the boy still refused to die. Upon
seeing this, the Emperor decided that if he didn't die yet, he would use the
extra time to cause him much more torment; he would not let the boy die with
such 'beautiful' memories. He viciously blocked the Jedi's memories from his
conscious self, thus taking revenge on his soul, then concentrated once again on
finishing him completely.
He ignored the desperate call for help of a foolish boy to a dead father -----
but suddenly found himself bodily lifted off the floor and carried at arms' end.
Vader!, he instantly realized. He had been so focused on the enraging youth
that he had totally forgotten to monitor his other servant. He had thought that
he truly had him under his control, but he had obviously underestimated the
turning potency of emotional elements such as killing Vader's boy in his
presence.
*Curse you, Skywalker!* he spat viciously even as he tried to direct his
lightning bolts at the giant to kill him.
Vader faltered slightly under the assault but didn't drop him. The traitor
would pay for this, he raged while he tried to free himself from his grip; the
giant's grip was inescapable. Belatedly, he understood that he meant to throw
him down the nearby shaft where he himself had meant to send the boy to his
doom; his fury became unfathomable.
Even as he cursed and gathered his essence for his coming 'death', thus no
longer controlling his lightning bolts, he reached out once again, this time for
another servant who had betrayed his trust: Mara Jade.
While he continued to make sure that Vader/Skywalker wouldn't survive long after
his own 'death', he established a contact with Jade, viciously blocked her own
memories of the boy, for lack of time to erase them, and gave her a last-ditch
mission. Accompanying the sending with a false vision of both Skywalkers
killing him, he ordered her to kill Luke Skywalker---- then he didn't have time
for more manipulations or preparations.
He died in a most unpleasant manner... gathered his energies and willed them
into a waiting body which bore his Force resonance, on Byss.
******
When Palpatine awoke, his first thought was that the transition had been
successful once again and no one would suspect that he was still alive since his
first action upon awakening had been to shield his Force-presence.
He stepped out of the cloning vat, covered himself with the robes that the
attendant gave him, then asked for a report about the battle of Endor.
To his dangerous displeasure, he discovered that his transition hadn't happened
almost instantaneously as usual; instead, due to his different manipulations
just before dying, it had taken nearly two months to happen, two months during
which the Rebellion had routed his Empire into a stinging defeat; two months
during which his once perfectly controlled domain was now lost to the chaos of
internal war and factions while the Rebels were pushing their advantage against
them and capturing more star destroyers.
At first, he seethed and almost destroyed everyone around him as he understood
that what he had so craftily built through deceit and manipulations was now lost
to him.
Eventually however, a week or so later, he recovered his more calculating mood
and resumed plotting to reclaim what had once been his.
As he read the reports about the situation in his galaxy, he understood that
keeping his existence secret would work to his advantage for the moment. Since
he hadn't signaled it in any way yet, either physically or through the Force, no
one knew that he had returned, not even young Skywalker who had, after all,
survived his final attack; Jade, who was also still alive, couldn't suspect it
either.
As he read the reports about his true enemy, he discovered that the youth was
now the 'only' Jedi alive in the universe yet still hadn't completed his
training. Considering how lost the young man had to feel, he decided that it
was a nice beginning for his revenge. The boy was alone, had lost his father
after barely saving him, and young Palpatine smiled maliciously as he gazed
coldly at what would be his new domain for the time being, the foolish boy
didn't suspect that he would soon be killed by the very woman he had ever truly
loved.
Now there would be an interesting entertainment until he could get back to
serious business, he cackled lowly to himself: watching his wayward but best
assassin kill the man she had meant to hide from him, her rightful master. It
would be a wonderful revenge, he sighed in bliss: Jade would learn to never
betray him again, Skywalker, the father, would also be punished by witnessing
the death of his son, and the boy would, naturally, pay with his life and love
for all the trouble he had brought down on 'his' up-to-now perfect world.
Sitting back in his throne, young Palpatine settled in to wait and watch his
revenge unfold before him while he prepared his return to the galaxy, a return
for which he planned to be stronger than ever.
******
Meanwhile, unbeknown to the self-blinded Emperor or even the two, young Jedi
soul-mates, the Force shaped events around them so that the two of them never
met until they could be on equal ground once again. Just as it had guided Jedi
Kenobi into strongly shielding the Force presence of both Skywalker children to
protect them from Force detection until the time was right for them to be
revealed, it continued to guide and protect the young Jedi until it could bring
him to his pre-destined, currently 'blinded' soulmate, to a place in time and
space where they would both survive this new encounter.
Thus, five years after the battle of Endor, it led them both to Myrkr where its
own field of energy, Light and Dark alike, was blocked away... leaving the two
soul-mates to their own devices as well as the power of their timeless and
unbreakable bond of unfathomable, pre-destined love.
The end? Of course not :)
TBC in At Point Blank Range (or the missing moments, and thoughts, of Heir to
the Empire (with all the due disclaimers of course; it's only for fun)
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.)
Part 4: Separation
By SJ 29-05-02/06-02
________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. Even more so when related to events of the movies of course
;) I'm only writing stories for fun.
See my homepage for more details.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving
me some of your precious time, my friend :)
__________________
Luke watched the young woman as she literally stomped outside; there, she
paused, obviously taking her bearings, then headed toward their left.
He had done something, he berated himself sadly. He didn't know exactly what he
had done, but whatever he and Jade had been enjoying before making love had now
disappeared like so much smoke.
She was exactly like when he had met her earlier in the morning...
Feeling a heavy pang of regret settle in his heart, one even heavier than his
regret about his life if it were possible, he also walked outside... and turned
toward the slowly setting suns; he sighed forlornly as he gazed at the familiar,
soothing yet sorrowful sight.
Throughout a single day, he had found someone who could understand him... who
could like him, even love him... and had lost her because of some stupid
mistake, or comment, or perhaps just a look he had given her... He really was a
foolish boy, he berated himself even as he angrily brushed his tears away----
No, he suddenly, illogically determined. He would not let it end like this, not
after what they had shared during the day. Something was bothering the young
woman and he wouldn't let her leave until they had figured it out.
Gathering his resolve, he turned toward the direction she had taken and called
out: "Jade, wait up!"
The young woman had barely spared a glance back toward him when he spotted the
shape of moving sand dunes right behind her. His seriousness instantly became
worry and fear.
"Behind you, look out!" he shouted even as he pointed at the emerging Tusken
Raider.
Even as the young woman turned away from him to face the new danger, he himself
ran as fast as he could toward her to help her once again.
Atop the dune of sand, where she had spotted what looked like the buried form of
the landspeeder, Mara restrained a sigh of annoyance as she heard the farmboy
call to her--- when a warning suddenly came to her through the Force, right on
the heels of the youth's verbal one.
Her right hand instantly clutched her left forearm and pulled her blaster free,
speeding up the procedure with the help of a Force-tug. She then turned toward
the nearby presence of danger, her blaster already aimed for trouble; the
emerging Tusken Raider never knew what hit him before he fell back in the sand,
forever this time.
As if taking this as their cue, several Sandpeople suddenly revealed their
presence all around her and attacked her with their axes and gaffi sticks. Mara
ducked under a first swing, then almost simultaneously kicked out sideways,
taking care of a second attacker this way. She then fired two quick shots into
the second, closest enemy even as she raised her free hand and blocked a stick
that would have brained her for good. She shot that other raider while she
straightened up, then finished the remaining two by diving away from their
mutual, enraged attacks.
The aliens finished themselves for her. Meanwhile, compensating with her
strength for the yielding sand, she completed her roll and pushed herself back
to her feet, landing in a crouch.
She thus ended up facing another fight and discovered that the farmboy had once
again come to her rescue, then had tackled one of her attackers even though he
was still as unarmed as ever. His struggle had led him some five meters away
from her own position; he wasn't aware of her presence.
As she watched him fight for his life against the raider who seemed intent to
take off his head, Mara quickly debated what was the best course of action in
this situation. Considering what had happened between them, she already knew
that she would face the consequences for doing something forbidden. What she
didn't know though was if her master would also seek out the boy to punish him
for leading her astray, although unwillingly, or if he would be safe with a mere
memory wipe?
Perhaps leaving him to his fate would be the safest option, she began to think
as she slowly straightened from her crouch. If he were strong, he would
survive, and if he weren't... then she conceded that he would probably be better
off dead.
She had begun to agree with herself--- when the boy suddenly yelped loudly; once
again forgetting her training and conditioning, Mara whirled around and shot the
Raider who had hurt her lover before running as fast as she could toward him.
Once beside him, she made sure that she hadn't intervened too late.
A moan of half-aware complaint informed her that he was mostly all right; a
light scan through the Force confirmed it for her. She still tore a piece of
her shirt to dab at the cut on his forehead.
"Hey, farmboy," she tried to rouse him, "it's too early for a nap."
Slowly, the youth stirred with more strength and opened his eyes.
"Are you okay?" he asked her softly, raising his hand to touch her nearby
features.
Mara closed her eyes at his gentle touch, pained by what she knew she had to do
now. He was safe... she had to leave him behind.
The first image which came to Luke when he recovered his senses was the brief
image of Jade killing his own assailant. The way she had moved, the way she had
aimed... He knew that he would never forget how 'hot and dangerous' she truly
was. If it were possible, it attracted him more to her than what they had
already shared during the sandstorm.
Her voice then cut in his muzzled thoughts and he forced his eyes open. The
first thought that crossed his mind at that moment was that he had finally found
which color were her hair.
They were the color of Tatooine's second sunset, just before it disappeared
under the horizon. Just a little less red in her hair and he would loose her
against the sun that he could now see behind her.
"Are you okay?" he inquired tiredly even as he brought his hand to her beautiful
features.
He had been so worried for her when the Tuskens had popped out of the sand; he
hadn't been able to abandon her, no matter the danger for himself. As it was,
he had discovered just what she had meant by 'being ready for anything'... and
had in the end saved him, not the opposite.
When he had become aware of her watching his fight from a distance, he had
feared, for real, that she had decided to abandon him to his fate; however, she
had once again proven him wrong.
Now, he knew that whoever she was, whatever happened next, he would always be
able to trust her.
The young woman, who had closed her eyes and gripped his hand when he had
touched her, slowly gazed at him once again.
He gaped as he saw that her eyes were filled with tears.
"Hey," he tried to comfort her, forcing himself to a sitting position--- and
practically falling back on his back when his head felt as if it were about to
explode.
He tried again, this time from his laying position.
"I'm okay, Jade," he comforted her. "thanks to you," he added gratefully.
Mara closed her eyes once again and withdrew from his touch..., from his
burning-right-through-to-her-soul, physical presence that seemed determined to
worm its way into her heart. Now it was her turn to turn away from him and hide
her tears.
If only there weren't the Emperor, she dimly wished before she crushed that
unfaithful thought and willingly erased it from her memory.
Meanwhile, the boy had tried again to sit up, more slowly this time; he gently
took hold of her hand and squeezed it warmly.
"I'm sorry too for what happened today, Jade," he apologized earnestly. "I
don't know what got into me," he added as if in afterthought. "I should have
known better than to let us go this far this quickly."
Mara opened her eyes as she understood what he was trying to tell her; he too
had been overwhelmed by her today. Neither he, nor herself, had been completely
their true selves, yet... they had, but it had been someone they had never known
they could be before.
Turning her head forward once again, she sadly locked her gaze with his gentle
one.
She had to do it now, her normally harsh self told her seriously. It was the
end of the escapade; it was time to get back to work.
"I wish I had met you under other circumstances, my dear farmboy," she whispered
desperately, then pulled him into a last kiss... while she changed the setting
of her weapon. She stunned him on the strongest setting she could pull from her
pocket blaster; she had no choice to keep him unconscious for as long as she
needed to bring him back to his home.
The youth naturally moaned against her lips in reflexive complaint just as he
became inert in her arms; she continued to kiss him for a few more seconds, then
merely held his unconscious body, silently asking him to forgive her for this
betrayal.
Eventually, she set him back on the sand, rested her two hands on his head, took
a deep breath to focus and gather all her Force abilities to herself. Then, she
meticulously removed all the memories she had given him today before crushing
them forever while being extremely careful to not pull anything else from his
mind and learn anything about his identity. She wanted to protect him from even
herself.
Their love, she resigned herself once she was finished with the procedure, would
always be nameless and would only live in her memories... her heart, which she
would also silence from now on to protect him.
Wiping her tears of regret and sorrow from her eyes, she pulled her homing
beacon from her pocket and called her ship to her current location, then settled
in to wait, hugging the still unaware young man in her arms.
One last time.
******
Her steadfast ship reached her position less than ten minutes later. She first
carried the boy to it and settle him in the entrance of the hatch before she
herself took the control in the cockpit. She then used her tractor beams to
free the farmboy's speeder from its sandy prison.
Next, she used a twinge of the Force to flip the craft and empty it from the
sand it had collected, then entered the coordinates of the boy's household,
which he had revealed to her when talking about perhaps seeing her again.
Fifty meters away from her target, she turned on the furtive mode of her ship so
as to not alarm her farmboy's family of his peculiar arrival. Once there, she
freed the speeder from the tractor beam and rejoined the still unconscious boy
near the hatch. The light wind of the cool night was gently ruffling his unruly
hair, giving him as innocent a look as he could ever have.
Fighting past her own pangs of regret, she pulled him out of the ship and laid
him in his speeder, making it look as if he had fallen asleep in it. Then, she
pushed the turned off vessel into the nearby garage and arranged things to make
him believe that he had spent his day tinkering on his speeder after returning
from his shopping excursion.
A few minutes later, it was time to leave... but she couldn't. Her eyes sought
his handsome features once again, as if making a print of them forever; she
leaned over the side of the speeder and kissed him one last time, a gentle,
delicate, goodbye kiss she had never thought she would ever give to anybody.
"Perhaps some day, farmboy," she whispered forlornly, then forced her feet to
turn away from him and lead her back to her normal life.
Behind her, the unbeknown young Jedi unconsciously whispered: "I will be
waiting, my love." then lapsed into deeper sleep as the Force, unrestricted by
any conscious thoughts from the youth, flowed in and through him to salvage what
his lover had tried to erase from her soulmate's mind.
In time, they would find each other.
******
Two weeks later, Mara Jade was back on Coruscant, back where she belonged and
where she was comfortable.
After scouring Tatooine for another three days, carefully avoiding any contact
with anybody during those days, she had reported to her master that the Jedi had
probably left the planet.
After leading a few meditation sessions, the Emperor had finally pulled her off
this assignment and ordered her back on Coruscant to further her Force training.
As she stood on the roof of the Imperial palace to practice her sensing skills
on the buildings that were surrounding her, she dimly thanked whoever was
watching over her for saving her from her master's wrath this time.
The Emperor had never felt anything wrong about her mission on Tatooine. He
hadn't even mentioned the possibility that she might have been in touch with
someone during her time on the planet. True, she conceded as she pulled herself
from this willingly forbidden path of thoughts, ever since she had left the boy,
she had devoted her time to not pay anymore attention to her heart.
In fact, she had taught herself to never let it interfere with her life ever
again... had literally forced it down, down, down, in the deepest, least
important levels of her personality.
She didn't care anymore about anyone nor anybody; she was once again Mara Jade,
Emperor's Hand and devoted servant to her master, and to her master alone.
Taking a deep breath to shoo away new, shy thoughts about a certain farmboy, she
focused her mind once again on her current task and resumed her sensing
exercises.
Soon, as soon as he would locate the Jedi again, her master would send her after
him once again.
******
Months later, on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker moaned slightly in his sleep as the
new-yet-already familiar dream of a mysterious red-head girl invaded his mind.
As usual, he saw himself save her, then they outran a sandstorm, talked... and
fell in love, but it was an impossible love.
As the young, unrecognizable young woman sadly told him that someday, perhaps
they would be together, he himself whispered, both in his dreams and out loud:
"I will be waiting, my love."
******
******
******
Approximately six years later, aboard the Second Death Star:
When the Emperor renewed his attack of lightning bolts on him, Luke Skywalker
knew that it was the end; his body was so permeated with pain that he could
barely breathe anymore, and he didn't have any psychological nor spiritual
strength left.
The last of his mental barriers collapsed with that thought, allowing him to see
his whole life in a flash before he prepared himself for death, holding on a
last memory... his last link to life: his strange dreams about the red-head
young woman he could love so much... and for the first time ever, he was able to
distinguish her beautiful features in his mind's eye.
Emperor Palpatine couldn't understand why the Jedi was still alive after the
dose of dark side energies he had already received; the boy, he raged, would die
even more for this last defiance; he blasted him faster, stronger, more
relentlessly, with still no result... until he felt the boy's mind crumple,
succumb to his now unavoidable fate.
Delighted by this first and final victory over the last of the Jedi, the dark
Jedi reached out and invaded the now totally open mind of the unaware Jedi----
and stopped short on what he encountered: the boy had met with his now assigned
assassin... and the girl had fallen in love with the naive, then Force-shielded
foul--- who had been, in fact, her target in this mission. Angered beyond
belief at this discovery, he lashed out completely at the youth, baring his
teeth in sheer rage and hatred.
The little harlot had betrayed him, had lied to him!
At his feet, the young Jedi writhed in throes of final agony as he himself
vented his anger and fury on him... yet the boy still refused to die. Upon
seeing this, the Emperor decided that if he didn't die yet, he would use the
extra time to cause him much more torment; he would not let the boy die with
such 'beautiful' memories. He viciously blocked the Jedi's memories from his
conscious self, thus taking revenge on his soul, then concentrated once again on
finishing him completely.
He ignored the desperate call for help of a foolish boy to a dead father -----
but suddenly found himself bodily lifted off the floor and carried at arms' end.
Vader!, he instantly realized. He had been so focused on the enraging youth
that he had totally forgotten to monitor his other servant. He had thought that
he truly had him under his control, but he had obviously underestimated the
turning potency of emotional elements such as killing Vader's boy in his
presence.
*Curse you, Skywalker!* he spat viciously even as he tried to direct his
lightning bolts at the giant to kill him.
Vader faltered slightly under the assault but didn't drop him. The traitor
would pay for this, he raged while he tried to free himself from his grip; the
giant's grip was inescapable. Belatedly, he understood that he meant to throw
him down the nearby shaft where he himself had meant to send the boy to his
doom; his fury became unfathomable.
Even as he cursed and gathered his essence for his coming 'death', thus no
longer controlling his lightning bolts, he reached out once again, this time for
another servant who had betrayed his trust: Mara Jade.
While he continued to make sure that Vader/Skywalker wouldn't survive long after
his own 'death', he established a contact with Jade, viciously blocked her own
memories of the boy, for lack of time to erase them, and gave her a last-ditch
mission. Accompanying the sending with a false vision of both Skywalkers
killing him, he ordered her to kill Luke Skywalker---- then he didn't have time
for more manipulations or preparations.
He died in a most unpleasant manner... gathered his energies and willed them
into a waiting body which bore his Force resonance, on Byss.
******
When Palpatine awoke, his first thought was that the transition had been
successful once again and no one would suspect that he was still alive since his
first action upon awakening had been to shield his Force-presence.
He stepped out of the cloning vat, covered himself with the robes that the
attendant gave him, then asked for a report about the battle of Endor.
To his dangerous displeasure, he discovered that his transition hadn't happened
almost instantaneously as usual; instead, due to his different manipulations
just before dying, it had taken nearly two months to happen, two months during
which the Rebellion had routed his Empire into a stinging defeat; two months
during which his once perfectly controlled domain was now lost to the chaos of
internal war and factions while the Rebels were pushing their advantage against
them and capturing more star destroyers.
At first, he seethed and almost destroyed everyone around him as he understood
that what he had so craftily built through deceit and manipulations was now lost
to him.
Eventually however, a week or so later, he recovered his more calculating mood
and resumed plotting to reclaim what had once been his.
As he read the reports about the situation in his galaxy, he understood that
keeping his existence secret would work to his advantage for the moment. Since
he hadn't signaled it in any way yet, either physically or through the Force, no
one knew that he had returned, not even young Skywalker who had, after all,
survived his final attack; Jade, who was also still alive, couldn't suspect it
either.
As he read the reports about his true enemy, he discovered that the youth was
now the 'only' Jedi alive in the universe yet still hadn't completed his
training. Considering how lost the young man had to feel, he decided that it
was a nice beginning for his revenge. The boy was alone, had lost his father
after barely saving him, and young Palpatine smiled maliciously as he gazed
coldly at what would be his new domain for the time being, the foolish boy
didn't suspect that he would soon be killed by the very woman he had ever truly
loved.
Now there would be an interesting entertainment until he could get back to
serious business, he cackled lowly to himself: watching his wayward but best
assassin kill the man she had meant to hide from him, her rightful master. It
would be a wonderful revenge, he sighed in bliss: Jade would learn to never
betray him again, Skywalker, the father, would also be punished by witnessing
the death of his son, and the boy would, naturally, pay with his life and love
for all the trouble he had brought down on 'his' up-to-now perfect world.
Sitting back in his throne, young Palpatine settled in to wait and watch his
revenge unfold before him while he prepared his return to the galaxy, a return
for which he planned to be stronger than ever.
******
Meanwhile, unbeknown to the self-blinded Emperor or even the two, young Jedi
soul-mates, the Force shaped events around them so that the two of them never
met until they could be on equal ground once again. Just as it had guided Jedi
Kenobi into strongly shielding the Force presence of both Skywalker children to
protect them from Force detection until the time was right for them to be
revealed, it continued to guide and protect the young Jedi until it could bring
him to his pre-destined, currently 'blinded' soulmate, to a place in time and
space where they would both survive this new encounter.
Thus, five years after the battle of Endor, it led them both to Myrkr where its
own field of energy, Light and Dark alike, was blocked away... leaving the two
soul-mates to their own devices as well as the power of their timeless and
unbreakable bond of unfathomable, pre-destined love.
The end? Of course not :)
TBC in At Point Blank Range (or the missing moments, and thoughts, of Heir to
the Empire (with all the due disclaimers of course; it's only for fun)
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.)