Chapter 5: In the Middle of the Night
Luke was awakened in the middle of the night by a restless undercurrent in the Force. Now alert, he stretched out with his senses to confirm his suspicions and could feel Mara's anxious presence once more. Luke knew she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in well over a week, but had chosen to leave her to her own devices. He had hoped she would come to him sooner or later, but now, he didn't think she would. For some reason, she insisted on doing everything on her own unless Luke pressed the issue.
Throwing off his sheets, Luke jumped out of the bed and grabbed a robe on his way to the main living area. He walked out of his bedroom to see a faint light from the desk in the opposite corner of the main room. Just as he had noted for the past week, Mara was sitting at the computer terminal, searching for some link to the life she had lost. She was wearing herself down and after the injuries she had sustained when he first found her, Mara was running the risk of further ailments. This behavior had to stop.
Luke loudly cleared his throat as he walked into the room towards Mara. Surprised, Mara snapped her head around and reflexively reached for the vibroknife she always kept in her boot. She started suddenly when she realized what she was doing. There was no vibroknife. She wasn't even wearing boots. Mara ran a hand through her hair. She was doing it again. Repeatedly, she had acted without thinking, calling on skills and instincts she didn't even know the source of.
Luke looked on curiously at Mara's reaction to him. She had seemed startled at first, but that had quickly faded into confusion. He had almost thought she had been reaching for a weapon, but there was none in the place her hand had gone. Another disparate piece to add to the quickly growing puzzle that was Mara Jade. He wondered if he would ever see the finished work. For now, he would just have to be satisfied with the journey. "I know what you're doing."
Finally drawn from her thoughts about the vibroknife, Mara snapped her head up to look at Luke. She thought she had been careful. Mara had wanted to find her past without Luke's aid and the only time she could do that was at night while he was sleeping. Apparently, her stealth hadn't worked on him this night. Mara remained silent and turned away from Luke to look once more at her half finished searches. After nearly a week, she hadn't turned up any more than her travel papers. It was almost like Mara Jade didn't exist outside that single document.
Luke walked over to stand next to the desk. He couldn't help but feel a little hurt that she had left him out of her search. At the very least, she could have told him what she was doing. Luke could understand the need for privacy. All he asked was to be kept informed so that he wasn't worrying about her every night. Luke knew she didn't intend to, but Mara's nightly work had been disrupting his sleep as well. Every night, he lie in bed and wondered if he would wake up the next morning to find her gone. Luke had grown accustomed to having the red haired beauty around and was not looking forward to the day she inevitably left him. "Why didn't you ask me to help you?"
Mara slowly turned her head away from her search to look at Luke. She had expected to find him upset after his comment, but she only found worry on his face. Worry over her. How could she tell him the real reason she dreaded to go to sleep at night? The dreams kept getting worse. Each time, she saw more. More violence, more death, more of the dark men. She was afraid of her past and wanted to face it head on at the same time so she threw herself headlong into finding her past, foregoing her restless sleep. This was her burden and Mara didn't know if she wanted anyone to see what she would find. "I haven't been able to sleep. I'm sorry to wake you."
Luke folded his arms across his chest, not ready to accept her dismissal. There was more to this than a simple inability to sleep. She was working feverishly to unlock the clues to her past at night, but was unwilling to bring the subject up during the day unless Luke forced her to confide in him. Even then, he was hard pressed to get any more than one word answers and halfhearted reassurances that she still wanted his help. What was Mara afraid she might find? Luke knew as well as anyone the darkness that could lie in a person's past, but he also knew that the past wasn't what was important. It was who a person was in the present that mattered. The past was simply a roadmap of how you had gotten to where you were. "You haven't slept a full night for the past week. Why are you doing this to yourself?"
Mara closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. Luke was on to her even more than she suspected. She could have just lied to him. Just told him she was sleeping fine and have seen if he was bluffing, but she knew better. The worry etched across his face told her that he knew. Mara wasn't going to be able to resist his help this time. "Every time I try to sleep, the dreams come back, haunting me."
Luke pulled up a nearby chair and sat down next to Mara. He knew that she was Force sensitive. A dream could be much more than a simple dream for her. She could easily be seeing a vision of her past or even her future. And if she described the dreams as haunting, they would be of great importance. This could be the key they needed to help Mara regain her life. "What do you see in these dreams?"
"They're more like nightmares really. I see countless deaths. Executions. I've never seen the killer's face, but I can hear her pass judgment on her victim and kill them immediately. She says they betrayed her master and the sentence is death. They aren't even given a chance to defend themselves." Mara took a deep breath and looked toward Luke. She had to know his reaction to this part of her dreams before she went on. If he didn't accept this, he would never believe what else she had to say. Luke would probably think she was insane and he would have every right to think so.
Mara saw no doubt in Luke's face, however. He simply sat silently in his chair, propping up his chin on his gloved fist as if in thought. At least he was taking her seriously and not writing off what she saw as the nightmares of a child. After a moment, Mara could see him silently asking her to go on. She could only hope he would continue to be as understanding as he had been up to this point.
"I've also seen two dark men. I never saw either of their faces. The armored one's was hidden behind a mask while I could only see the yellow eyes of the other through the shadows of his cloak. They were both in a massive room and the one with the yellow eyes sat on some sort of throne. I kneeled down with the armored man and we both called the one on the throne 'master'." Mara looked up nervously after finishing her description. She knew that this could be a memory, but who could possibly believe that this had really happened. Seeing the thoughtful yet sad look on Luke's face, she had an answer. Luke could believe it.
Luke folded his hands in front of his mouth, trying to come up with a suitable response. There was no mistaking the two dark men from her dream. Even the vague descriptions made it clear that Mara was acquainted with both the Emperor and his father. He couldn't help but wonder just what her relationship to the late Emperor was. Mara had shown flashes of elite combat training ever since she had regained consciousness. The wariness to open up, the insistence on self-reliance, and the scars that marked her body: the clues were all starting to line up and Luke didn't know if he liked the answer. Mara Jade was likely an Imperial agent at one point in time. Luke just didn't know if she would be again when her memory returned.
"I'm almost afraid of what I might find." Luke looked at the nervous eyes of the woman in front of him. He refused to believe that this woman was a knowing party to the Emperor's evil. It would be better to leave his suspicions unspoken for now. Perhaps it was simply a coincidence. There could be some other explanation for her vision, but Luke wasn't so sure. Regardless, it would be best to keep quiet until he had something more concrete to back up his claims.
Luke rose from his seat and laid a hand on Mara's shoulder. "We'll figure this thing out together. Don't overdo it. I don't want you getting sick because you're pushing yourself too hard too soon. I'll see you in the morning."