Yoda's face was grimly set.
Choices he and Obi-Wan had carefully made were now blowing up in their faces.
Vader was alive. The man with more midi-chlorians than even Yoda himself had pulled a blindfold over his and Obi-Wan's heads...Powerful Jedi Masters, indeed.
When the time was ready, Vader had clearly advertised his existence to Force-sensitives across the galaxy by causing the utter destruction of a New Republic shipyard.
But Vader appeared to want to keep his presence temporarily hidden from the rest of the galaxy, trusting that Force sensitives would not tell anyone of their knowledge out of fear that he would come after them, as he had so many Jedi Knights.
Although it was risky, Yoda felt that he owed it to Luke to explain what the two Jedi Masters had done several years previously.
Taking a deep breath and gathering his concentration, Yoda drew upon the Force to create a powerful Force-shield to hide his and Luke's conversation from Darth Vader. It was fortunate that the cell was made specifically to contain Force users—it meant that the use of ysalamiri was unnecessary, so that he would be able to contact Luke.
He would have to make the Force-conversation short, for the longer he spoke in Luke's mind, the more likely it was that Vader would pick up on it. Vader appeared to be currently preoccupied, but there was no telling how long that would last.
The ancient Jedi Master didn't want Vader to know of his and Obi-Wan's existence until it was too late for him.
To put it lightly, Luke was stunned when he heard a familiar voice speak urgently in his mind, Luke.
Yoda?! Luke returned, wide-eyed and gaining the curious gaze of his companion.
Surprised you must not look! Yoda hissed via the Force.
Luke quickly extinguished his astonished expression, his eyes telling Mara to hold back any questions and pretend to not notice his surprise.
Short my time is. Know you do now, alive I am. As is Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan's alive?! Luke could barely keep his face blank.
Speak, you should not. Easier for me it is to hide my thoughts from Vader than yours.
And so Luke was quiet, and Yoda continued. In the Kathol Rift, a group of monks live known as the Aing-Tii. A certain understanding Obi-Wan and I had with them. Alone, we usually left each other, but a few times together we would get to compare Force perspectives. While talking were we, exchanged a few Force techniques we did, including the one used to disappear from the Death Star that Obi-Wan performed. Simple, my death was, as well. A Force illusion.
Almost reluctantly, Yoda went on. Our appearances of death were created so find us Vader would not and so rely solely on us you would not. Stunted your growth, permanently relying on us would have. Created, we did, the spirits on Endor that you saw. Wished to convince you, we did, that pointless our supposed deaths were not, finally balanced the galaxy was, and traces of the Dark Side were wiped away. Thus stay Light, you would, and believe that in the universe all was good.
But Yoda wasn't quite done. In a dream-like state, Obi-Wan appeared to you once. Did so, did he, in order that wait you would not for his voice to give you advice. By yourself, the answers needed to be found...Know, we did not, that Vader was alive. Whatever happens, alone you shall not be. With the Light you must stay, Luke, for help is on the way.
And then Yoda's voice was gone. Imprints on Luke's mind were all that was left from the realization of how everything he had thought was right had in fact been wrong...
How his teachers had done nothing but lied to him...How those he had once held on a high pedestal were nothing more than bearers of conceit.
But his mind was carefully guarded from Vader. He could easily tell that Mara wanted nothing more than to speak in his mind and question him right then and there, but both could feel that Luke's father's Force sense had just turned to them curiously.
Biting her tongue to prevent herself from demanding that Luke tell her what had happened, Mara finally spoke, "So what kind of torture do you think he's going to perform on us first? Interrogation droids? Water torture? Painful s—"
Luke cut her off weakly, "There's no telling."
He didn't feel like talking.
What he wanted to do was bust through the door, slice off Vader's head, demand that Yoda and Ben tell him why they lied to him, and blast all of the Imperials into oblivion.
His anger was rising to the surface, bubbling threateningly, and it scared Mara. In a low voice, she told him, "Anger is of the Dark—"
"I don't care!" he bit out. "Even Jedi are allowed to get a little ticked off now and then, aren't they?"
Mara's eyes flashed. She wasn't going to let this hack from Nowheresville talk to her like that. "Oh, so is this a case of 'Do as I say, not as I do,' is it? Because you always seem to enjoy telling me every time I get mad that it'll just lead me to the Dark Side!"
"Maybe I was wrong! Maybe the whole Force concept of Light and Dark is little more than a carefully constructed illusion so that people can hold onto their ethics. I see no reason why using one side or the other determines what kind of person you are! It's the ends that matter, not the means!"
Mara tilted her head, contemplating the being in front of her. Skywalker was truly angry about something—she had never heard him talk in such a negative manner. He was always the one lecturing about how one should stay with the Light and not let the Dark Side corrupt one's soul.
But now matters were getting dangerous. His dark emotions were growing stronger and rising to the surface, all because she had been stupid enough to provoke his anger. There was no telling what he was going to do now.
Biting her lip to keep her almost knee-jerk sarcastic replies from coming out, she spoke softly, "Luke, you need to get a handle on yourself."
"How am I supposed to get a handle on myself when my whole universe has just been turned upside down?" Luke hissed in an angry voice that was little more than a whisper.
Mara had no answer to that, and so he continued, struggling with his anger but unable to keep his pent-up emotions inside any longer. "I've been lied to all my life, by my aunt and uncle, by my father, by my teachers...And here I am, in the clutches of one of those liars who wants little more than to take my life and twist it past any point of recognition. I might have been able to live with it all, if it weren't for their betrayal. My masters caused me to go through needless grief and pain..." Luke took a ragged breath.
He was frightened of the future and angry at his mentors. But, most of all, he was hurt.
Hurt that they hadn't trusted in his ability to rely on himself, instead thinking that he would always turn to them if he had known that they were alive.
Furious with them and furious with himself, he gritted, "Blast them! Blast them, and blast Vader, and blast the whole blasted universe!"
"Calm down. You're letting the Dark Side win—" Mara was cut off rather viciously by a glaring Luke Skywalker.
"Letting the Dark Side win? The Dark Side isn't an entity, and therefore it cannot win."
"Fine," she growled, "—then you're letting your father win."
Luke's eyes narrowed. "I haven't told him that I would join hi—"
"Shavit, Skywalker. Open your eyes! If you give in to the Dark Side, then you let Vader win without putting up a fight. If you use his methods, you stoop to his level, and that means you are on his side, whether you admit it or not. So people lied to you. One one's infallible, and that includes you! Maybe I once thought you were, or at least thought that you imagined you were. But I now know that you have just as many insecurities as everyone else, if not even more since you're always trying to save the galaxy and everyone in it...But never yourself."
Mara took a deep breath. It was her turn to be the more philosophical one. "For once, farmboy, you need to try to look after yourself and realize that using the Dark Side for a good purpose doesn't make it right. Using it for any reason will hurt you and others. Think about what you want. Do you really want to walk down the path of evil that your father has chosen? Or do you want something more?"
His blood still boiling, Luke tried to calm himself down as he gazed into her waiting eyes. What did he want?