Author: Jaid Ziaen

Rating: PG-13

Genre: AU? Angst? Torture? I don't really know....... Well, Reader torture!

Disclaimer: Yeah! I'm making millions out of this!! NOT! George Lucas has it all, blah, blah, blah......

Feedback: LOTS.

Mark up codes: //….// = bond speak, **……** = Force Stone, italics = thoughts

A/N: This is an AU fan fic due to the fact that I hate Cannon stuff. Welcome to my world. :-D


A Darkened Day


By Jaid



(pertaining to Prologue only)
ALL PARTS IN [PARENTHESIS] ARE DIRECT EXCERPTS FROM TIMOTHY ZAHN'S BOOK "DARK FORCE RISING"


Prologue

[There was a snap-hiss from beside her, and suddenly the terrain was bathed in the green-white glow of Skywalker's lightsaber. "Get behind the ship," he ordered her. "I'll hold him off."

The memory of Myrkr flashed through Mara's mind; but even as she opened her mouth to remind him of how useless he was without the Force, he took a long step forward to put himself outside the ysalamir's influence. The lightsaber flashed sideways, and she heard the double crunch as its brilliant blade intercepted two more incoming rocks.

Still laughing, C'baoth raised his hand and sent a flash of blue lightning toward them.

Skywalker caught the bolt on his lightsaber, and for an instant the green of the blade was surrounded by a blue-white coronal discharge. A second bolt shot past him to vanish at the edge of the empty zone around Mara; a third again wrapped itself around the lightsaber blade.

Mara's fumbling hand brushed against something metallic: her blaster. Scooping it up, she swung it towards C'baoth] and pulled the trigger.

The bolt of energy raced from the barrel of her small blaster, sizzling its way into C'boath's flesh.

With a startled cry of anguish he lashed out at Mara with Force lightening, oblivious to the fact that the ysalamir shielded her from his Force attacks. Luke strode forward, his lightsaber at the ready.

Suddenly the scene erupted in a flurry of explosions that temporarily blinded and deafened Mara, as powerful wave of Force energy knocked Luke backwards into the ysalamir's ring of influence.

"Skywalker!" Mara raged as his form plowed into hers. Mara's breath caught as she saw a large blaster burn on his back roughly the size of both her hands. "Skywalker!" she yelled again, this time her tone almost pleading.

Luke's R2 unit continued firing the X-wing's lasers in C'baoth's direction, a stay bolt catching the ysalamir, allowing the comforting feeling of the Force to wash over them.

"Mara…" Luke's pain tinged eyes fluttered open weakly, then slipped back.

"Come on, Skywalker." Mara's voice was a strange combination of pleading and demanding. "You're the only one who can help me."

"Ahh!" Luke cried in pained horror as he felt a sudden surge of Dark power. Mara's brow furrowed as she felt the same rage. "Leia!" Luke cried out, his ice blue eyes flying open as he recognized the Force wielder as his sister. "Leia," he gasped softly, he squeezed his eyes tightly shut. "Leia, don't fall. Leia, please..."

Mara's brow furrowed as her mind whirled. Pain, confusion, and death wreaked havoc upon her soul. Or what was left of her soul at any rate. "What is she doing?" Mara's heart was in those few words.

"It's the Senate." Luke said, his voice barely recognizable as the pain from the deaths of Mon Mothma, Borsk Fey'lya, and the other members of the Senate crashed down upon him. "Leia is on a rampage. She's killing members of the Senate."

Mara felt a weak smile cross her face. "At least when she's done there'll be less politicians." Her tone was wry as she watched Luke's face carefully.

Luke turned his head to face hers, their eyes locked. "How can you say that?" His voice was broken, "The Senate is made up of real, living beings. How can you joke about that?"

"Oh, get off your high horse Skywalker." Mara's words were flippant but her tone was not. "Everything dies. It's natural."

"Natural?" Luke's eyes flashed, "Is that what you told your self whenever you killed someone? That it was natural?"

Even as he uttered the last few words, spikes of light pierced through the darkness that Leia was creating.

Four spears of pure white light penetrated the blackness of evil.

Just as quickly as they flared up, they were blanketed in a darkness that exploded through the Force. The massive amount of death was catastrophic to the already weakened Jedi Master.

Gasping for breath from the pain, Luke begged Mara. "Please. Promise me you'll watch out for Leia. Please. Promise me."

Caught off guard, her jade-green eyes blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Leia." Luke grabbed her hand weakly and gazed imploringly into her eyes, "Please. Watch out for her and her children."

"I-" Mara felt her excuses drowning in the depths of Luke's eyes. "I-"

"Please." His voice caught at the end and her defenses crumbled.

"Alright."

"Promise."

-You will kill Luke Skywalker!!- Her master's voice reverberated in her mind. Mara gritted her teeth and blocked out the voice.

"Please." Luke's body longed to make its self one with the Force but he tenaciously hung to life. Mara could see the struggle that was going on inside him and uttered two words that sealed their fates.

"I Promise."