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Chapter Six:

Visions Across Time

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Deep in the heart of the Force, Mara floated endlessly. The crystal seemed to reach out and pull her into the depths. She swirled in a darkness that clawed at her mind with hungry fingers. The darkness was broken suddenly by the light of the Force and with it came the visions.

The crystal showed her many things through the Force. Past, present, future. Every thread of destiny that had weaved it's way into this endless pattern. Mara saw it all so clearly from within the crystal shard.

She felt her body dissolving beneath the weight of the Force. It seemed to sweep her away upon a tidal wave. She left the room of the crystal and traveled upwards, reaching for the sky.

The vision bloomed in her mind

A book of glass carved upon a pedestal. Ancient words etched upon the surface.

Luke stood before the book, a shining light that warmed Mara's soul instantly. She felt him close to her, so close she could reach out touch him. Then the light burned his features from her mind and the image shifted into someone else.

Another man stood before the book, his gaze fixed intently upon it. He seemed familiar to Mara's mind, teased at the memories that she held that were not her own. He was someone out of Luke's memories, yet younger than Luke had known him... Who?

"You're a fool, Obi-Wan Kenobi..." the man of her vision whispered to himself. Mara's question was answered. with a sudden deep understanding

Mara watched as he reached out and held his hand over the book. A single word blazed up with light, reflecting all around Obi-Wan's cloaked form.

"Skywalker," it was a sigh from the Jedi's lips that was echoed within the Force. An anguished twist on a beloved name.

Obi-Wan drew his hands away from the book and folded them beneath his robes. Mara's vision flickered and she saw the image of a child in his arms. He walked up to the desert homestead and placed a baby in a woman's arms. With a wordless sigh, he turned and walked away from the twin suns.

Obi-Wan Kenobi drove away from the newborn Luke and wandered alone into the desert, searching for a true vision. What was meant to become of the child? How could he help him? He had to find some answers.

Obi-Wan was weary. Mara could feel it as if she were in his head, feeling these things through him. His heart was still heavy with the loss of Anakin. His most beloved friend had betrayed him in the most vicious way possible. And now Obi-Wan had exiled himself here to watch over the son of Skywalker.

Skywalkers haunted him, the name meaning so much in his mind. Apprentice, friend, brother, son and savior. Any hope for the future rested on two small children, Anakin's children.

He flew blindly into the desert, chased the suns as they threatened to fall below the horizon. The shifting of the sands echoed the waves of the Force that reached out to beckon Obi-Wan onward. He flew deep into the vastness of the sea of the Force, unafraid of what he might find. He wandered for hours, a silent, cloaked figure flying over the endless wastes.

The first sight of the temple came at twilight. He saw the gleam of the twin suns off of something in the distance. His vision blurred and he saw the darkness of the mountain suddenly looming up before him. He was caught in its shadow as it drew him in. The mountain was unlike any he had ever seen before.

The waves of the Force that had drawn him this far were coming from this place. As he looked up at the temple, he found himself looking out over the vast length of time this place had stood in silence. The mountain shifted from its dark shape above him. For a moment he could see through it, the setting suns glinted off the clear glass. From within, the light of the Force shone out brightly. It was calling to him, waiting for him to come.

The desert was silent for miles around, no wind stirred the depths of the sand, no life to be felt anywhere. Yet something drew him onward, some pulse of life within the Force that called out to him. Shadows lengthened across the sand, his own stretched beyond him and before there was only light.

In his darkest moments of despair, Obi-Wan had known he would never live to see the Jedi Order restored. But he was going to do all he could to protect the only hope for the future. The only hope of seeing the balance restored lay sleeping in his cradle miles away from where he stood.

Yet as he stood before the temple now, he understood that the Force had brought him here for a reason. There were so many places Obi-Wan could have chosen to hide Luke, he had certainly considered it. He had thought about taking both Luke and Leia far away and raising them as his own. He loved them both as if they were his own because they were all he had left of two of his dearest friends. Anakin and Padmé were both gone now. All of the Jedi were gone save for Master Yoda. He was the only Jedi Obi-Wan knew still lived.

Two Jedi and two Sith. Two children who were the only hope.

Obi-Wan walked from beyond the heat of the two suns into the darkness of the temple. The door glowed in his vision, alight to him even from within the dark rock that had formed over the glass.

The runes etched upon the glass door pulsed as if alive within the Force. He recognized the ancient Jedi runes, symbolizing the elements of life.

A quiet sense of awe filled him as he realized his was the first foot to step within the temple in thousands of years. Those symbols hadn't been used in over a millennia.

The path through the temple was the same Mara would take decades from that moment. Obi-Wan walked blindly into the darkness, trusting his feet to follow in the path the Force had set for him. He followed the darkened glass walls into the room with the crystal.

Through the crystal shard, Obi-Wan saw many things. The past, the present. The memories swirled around him.

Anakin as a young boy with sand in his hair and innocence in his heart. He had wanted to free the slaves. That memory broke Obi-Wan's heart all over again.

He had been so many things, the apprentice who had followed Obi-Wan so faithfully in everything he did. The son who had come to him when he was sad or afraid as a child. He had loved Obi-Wan, the only father he had ever known. Until the time came when that relationship shifted into the camaraderie of brothers, equals. Without Obi-Wan's guidance, or perhaps despite it, Anakin had fallen.

It had not been the darkness of the war that had twisted Anakin's heart. He had always had too much love in him, for Obi-Wan, and for Padmé. It had been fear, and resentment that had eaten him alive.

That bitter pill of prophecy had been hard to swallow at such a young age. He had always hungered for more power because he had always been told that it would be his. The prophecy had been a burden too heavy for his shoulders. The prophecy that had filtered down through the millennia until it had become akin to myth.

The Jedi had never forgotten the essence of the prophecy, but the texts had been lost for over a millennia. The Journal of the Whills, the legendary book of light, had never been found. Obi-Wan had no idea how close he stood to it at that moment.

Crystal light flashed in response to his thoughts. His visions of Anakin shifted, the image of his friend fading from his mind back into the depths of the crystal. He saw his own reflection reflected for a moment until it melted away and reflected instead, his first glimpse of the future.

He looked into the jade green eyes of the woman who would be the next to stand in this place and look into the crystal. She was studying him intently, aglow with the Force as she focused all of her energy on what she was seeing.

There was something familiar about those eyes, as she looked into him. He felt her presence as if she were inside his mind, aware of his every thought. He caught flickers of emotion, and a name that seemed to resonate from her within the Force. Skywalker. She was not one, not by blood anyway, but she was intimately familiar with the name.

With a flash of insight, he saw a face in her mind that was almost familiar to him. The face of a man who resembled Anakin far too much to be anyone but Luke as a man, far into the future.

This woman would have an important role in Luke's future. Obi-Wan understood it at that moment as the baby Skywalker slept across the desert. This glimpse of the future brought Obi-Wan some comfort. Luke would not be alone, whatever he might have to face. Someday he would have a partner who would complete him better than anyone. He knew it with a deep certainty and peace that only the Force could bring.

Luke would start over and the Jedi Order would not be restored, it would be reborn. These two would change everything.

Mara saw him standing before the crystal as she herself stood now. She saw him in that glittering surface over the course of many years that separated them. Their visions united them, and they looked upon the other through the communion of the crystal.

He saw how she had also been destined to play a role in the unfolding of prophecy. She saw how Obi-Wan himself had played the role of father and brother to Anakin. As guardian and guide to Luke. Mara had her role yet to play as well, one that would change the entire idea of the Jedi Order.

All these thoughts flowed from Obi-Wan's mind to her own as Mara looked deep into the crystal. The years that separated them meant nothing to the Force. They stood still in the waters of time, looking past the horizon to see the other.

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak and the words the echoed from him to her ears echoed from her in his vision. They were the conduit through which the voice of the Force spoke.

Shapers of the Force. Chosen blood. Son of suns and daughter of moons. The stars will fall from the sky and bring life back to the ground.

The words made no sense to Obi-Wan's mind as he first looked into the crystal. There was confusion in Mara's face as well but it vanished as soon as it had come. They looked at one another through the veil of time, silent understanding mirrored in blue and green eyes.

Then the image faded and each snapped back to themselves, in their respective places in time. Mara pulled away from the crystal...

And found herself stumbling back into a room filled with light. She was in a chamber much higher up in the temple, as evidenced by the impressive view that spread beyond the clear glass walls.

She found herself stumbling into the glass, catching her breath as she impacted against the solid surface. Beyond she could see the desert slowly cycling into twilight as the suns lowered in the sky. She leaned her head against the cool glass and tried to overcome the wave of dizziness that had spread through her.

A whisper in the back of her mind suddenly caught her attention and Mara frowned as she focused on it. A murmur of a presence that she knew all too well and loved fiercely. Struggling to hold onto that thread, Mara swung around to look at the room behind her.

She was somehow not surprised to see the book of glass in the pedestal. The crystal had shown her this first and in the end, brought her directly here. Her mind was flooded with warmth at the sight of Luke. His face, illuminated by the light that poured from the book and through his body. His eyes were shut tight but she could see the flicker of movement that indicated he was deep within a cycle of vision.

She reached out to touch him, fingertips landing on warm flesh and she sighed in relief. He shuddered beneath her touch and his hands flew away from the book of glass. The light grew ever brighter, blazing through the room and spreading out in shock waves over the desert. The impact of the Force struck Mara like a wave of cold water, it washed over her. With it swirled a thousand images that she could scarcely comprehend. Anakin, Padmé, and the familiar echo of prophecy that Mara knew.

Luke's body was pushed from the book, as if a sudden magnetism had repelled him abruptly. He flew back across the room and Mara moved quickly to catch hold of him before he struck the floor.

"Luke!" Mara gasped his name as she laid her hands upon his head. The warmth of his presence flooded through her and she pushed her mind hungrily into his.

His thoughts were a swirl of color and emotion. Flickers of his mother's face, hung in his mind beneath the the image of his father. Anakin was speaking to him, eyes dark as the ocean as he focused upon his son. A whisper of prophecy.

'Son of the suns..."

Mara sighed and closed her eyes, "Skywalker, wake up," mentally she pushed their long-standing words to awake from the trance. 'I love you.'

Luke opened his eyes to full consciousness. The bright light had faded, the suns were low in the far sky and his father was gone. All of this flickered through his head before a familiar face leaned over him. He was suddenly very aware of Mara kneeling beside him, cradling his head in her lap. Her presence flooded through him suddenly, coming back to life in his mind where their bond had slept beneath the weight of the Force for hours.

"Mara!" He was up off the floor instantly, twisting around to grip her in a tight embrace. She was utterly calm as he gripped her, still in his arms for a moment. He wrapped himself around her, the familiar length of her body fitting perfectly into his.

She sighed beneath his touch and with that breath came her arms snaking around him. She clutched him so hard that he was sure there would be bruises but he didn't care. Her darkened eyes stared into him in an eerie way. Of course she could see into his mind but he had never been so aware of it until it was gone.

He leaned his forehead against hers, allowing the natural exchange of energy between their minds. The reawakening of the bond was intense, almost as much as the first time. Mara's breath caught at the memory of that dark cave. She could never have found her way out of the darkness without the light of Luke Skywalker.

"I thought I'd lost you," Mara admitted. She had convinced herself that he was fine but the fear had still eaten away at her heart. She tightened her arms around his back and curled around him protectively.

Luke smiled at the gesture, unexpected tears burning his eyes. "You'll never be rid of me, Mara," he kissed her forehead as he spoke. Fingers curled in red curls so caked with sand that they seemed brown. He frowned at this and brushed the dirt off her face.

"How did you find me?" Luke asked, he searched her green eyes as they seemed to grow focused on something beyond him.

"The Force led me here," Mara whispered. "I found a door covered with ancient runes. They glowed with power, they drew me here. Just as they once drew Obi-Wan..." Mara's eyes closed, recalling a vision unknown to Luke. Yet she gripped his hand and opened her mind willingly to share the images with him.

"Obi-Wan," Luke murmured. "Of course..."

"I saw him through the crystal," Mara murmured dreamily. "I saw you for just a moment, when you were just newborn and brought to this place. Obi-Wan returned to Tatooine for reasons he thought logical and cunning. Yet the Force was what led him here, as it has led us to this very moment."

Luke stared at her, the images of Obi-Wan flickered through his mind. They flickered oddly, reflecting upon the surface of the crystal. The crystal glowed with the same power as the book of glass. They were linked in some odd way that Luke did not understand. Yet the crystal had the power to move Mara from one place to another within the Force. That was something Luke had never heard of before.

'Uniting the ancient ways and powerful knowledge,' The words drifted through his mind, pulsing silently as they sank into him. They fluttered strangely within his blood, reverberating throughout his flesh. Mara felt him tremble beneath her fingertips and she opened her eyes to look into his.

"You saw your father," Mara whispered. She was not surprised to recognize the face that had come to the surface of Luke's thoughts. He nodded vaguely without breaking his gaze.

"He spoke to me... about the prophecy." The word cast a shadow over the fierce light in his eyes.

"Son of the suns," Mara breathed. Luke's eyes widened as she spoke and she forestalled the next question.

"I didn't pick that one out of your mind, Luke." Mara turned her gaze away to look out past the shimmering glass walls. The desert stretching beyond was utterly still and silent, yet it seemed to breathe with anticipation.

"Just before the storm hit us, I had a vision. A temple of glass on a world that had not yet become sand. There were trees and grass and a river flowing wide." She moved restlessly from his embrace to stand and look out over the desert.

Luke followed, his grasp on her hand tight. For a moment he saw his father standing before the glass, light spreading out forever. Yet now, all the land beyond was cloaked in darkness. Day had faded into night and even the light of the Force had dimmed to a soft glow within the book of glass.

Luke wrapped his arms around Mara from behind and kissed the curve of her neck. She sighed softly and leaned into him. "I never stopped to think about what Tatooine might have been. I have always known it as a desert."

Mara nodded, "This temple was forged from the sands of a beach on the shore of the sea." She looked out into the distance, seeing the vision again in her mind. The temple had soared upward out of the sand and beyond what she thought had been more desert was something else entirely.

"In my vision, all I could see was the temple but I remember now that beyond it there was water." Mara touched a hand to the glass and touched upon the point where the dark sky blurred into ground.

"It blurred into the blue of the horizon and the only thing for miles was this place. It was not always covered by sand and stone as it is now." Save for this chamber, where light had always flowed. No rock had covered this point, not yet.

"When I looked upon it, looked through it to the horizon, I heard the words of prophecy resounding. And through the crystal, I heard yet more" Her mouth twisted suddenly on the words and a look of exasperation crossed her face.

"I don't know what to make of it, Luke. It makes no sense to me."

"No..." Luke's voice was muffled by her hair and she shifted slightly to look at him. He was staring into the horizon, into the vast depths of shadow that seemed to reflect within blue eyes. He seemed to be searching the stars for something beyond his grasp.

"I don't know if I understand it," he whispered. "My father certainly never did but then he never truly knew what it meant to be the Chosen One." Luke's eyes clouded, "He struggled all his life to find how to fulfill the prophecy and prove himself to the Jedi. Only to fulfill it at the very last." He closed his eyes and from his mind, Mara could see sense the flickers of memory.

The memory of that unbearable pain, Palpatine's lightning in Luke's flesh, caused a shudder in Mara. She knew that pain all too well, having been punished in such a way in the few rare times she had failed him.

Shadows of Luke's desperation at that moment still touched the images. As he pleaded with the father lost to him beneath the black mask. The sight of Vader rising up and stumbling forward to cast his master into the abyss. As the light flared up around them, it burst aflame within the Force as well. Light returned to darkness and a prophecy had been fulfilled.

Yet that had only been the beginning. Luke was beginning to understand now. The truth was coming to light. The only way for the Jedi to survive had been for them to die. He shivered at the thought and yet knew it to be the truth. Obi-Wan must have seen this, and Yoda... They had to have known.

Their Order had begun to fail and Anakin had wiped the slate clean while twisted by the shadow. Only the elimination of the old ways had allowed any change within the Order. Luke was one who had brought this change, without even knowing it.

"I came here searching for answers, Mara..." Luke's voice was a sigh on her flesh. His arms tightened around her waist and pulled her in closer . "And it seems that I got more than I bargained for." A ghost of a smile pressed against her forehead from his lips.

Mara shook her head, "I think that to find the right answers, we need only to ask the right questions."

Luke considered her words silently, settling his chin on her shoulder and staring out once more into the distance. "I have so many questions, I don't even know where to begin, Mara. What must I do?"

The question hung in the air before them, each of them wondering at the answer.

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Naboo was a lush world, Leia could not help but marvel at the sight of it. Something in the Force seemed to speak to her from deep within her own blood. She was connected to this world, she could feel it. Every waterfall that came into view reminded her painfully of her own homeworld. Alderaan was gone forever, she had never had another true home.

Han's hand on her back brought her back to reality. The sight of the vast green hills and lakes were dizzying to her wondering eyes.

"I know this place," Leia whispered. It was true, something about the sight of the lake country they descended into struck a familiar chord in her mind. A memory that was not quite her own but remembered all the same.

Han looked over at her from the pilot's seat and measured her carefully. There was a distant look to her gaze that he had only associated before with Jedi.

At that moment, she looked more like Luke's twin than ever. Han loved the Skywalker in her as much as anything else. Yet those distant places that she traveled to in her waking dreams was somewhere he could not follow. It scared him that he could not protect her against the dangers of the Force.

"You said you've never been here before," Han reminded her. Leia shook her head but her gaze remained on the distant waterfalls rushing over the cliffs.

"I haven't... my mother..." Leia shook her head. "I saw her here... I saw them both embracing before the waterfalls." She smiled unexpectedly, the image that flickered into her mind had been filled with so much warmth. She grasped Han's hand and smiled up at him.

"It's so beautiful, Han. It's filled with so much life, its practically breathing." She beamed up at him and he couldn't help but chuckle at her delight. She pouted at him momentarily before swooping in to steal a kiss.

Han resisted the sudden urge to lock the ship up and take her to bed. Instead he pulled away with a grin and gestured out the viewport. The landing pad beyond them was just as gorgeous as the rest of the world.

There was a group of people standing on the dock. Diplomatic officials most likely, she wondered if Han had pulled rank to gain clearance. Typically the sight of such officials would frustrate Leia to no end but for some reason, she felt as though these people would be different.

"It's okay," Leia assured him. She flashed him a dimpled smile, "I can handle this, Han."

"Well remember that I'm packing heat," her husband waggled his eyebrows at her and Leia grinned. A sudden calm had descended upon her and she wondered at the twist of fate that had brought this in the midst of all her anxiety to get to Luke.

Luke. The thought of him stopped her cold as she reached out to open the hatch. There had been a momentary flicker within her mind, within the blood of the Force, when she had thought of him. Her mind reached out so unconsciously and for a moment, he was there. As soon as she thought on it more, it was gone.

He had to be all right. Her brother was strong and there was surely a logical explanation as to why he had vanished from the Force. Han gripped her hand suddenly and she looked up at him dreamily. His dark eyes and tousled hair swam in her vision for a moment until he became clear once more.

"Come on now, there's a whole world waiting out there for us, sweetheart." He took her hand and opened the door to step out onto the surface of Naboo.

The warmth of the light seemed to glow all around her as she emerged from the cold ship. Distantly she could hear the vast roar in the wind that echoed the rushing of water over rocks. It sang to her distantly within the Force and she marveled at the life this world had to offer.

"I would say this is probably one of the nicer planets we've been stranded on so far," Han nodded to her as he looked around in appreciation. Leia allowed herself to laugh then, it startled her as much as it did the officials who were standing a few feet away.

Leia turned to them for the first time and studied them with a quick glance. A group of them strung out in a pyramid, like a flock of birds. Many of them wore white feathers in their hair and on their clothes. They looked as if they were preparing to take flight.

A woman in white stood in the front, her feathers covered the entire dress of gold and silver. Her elaborate headdress and ornamental makeup spoke to Leia as someone of deep importance. Leia chided herself on her seeming rudeness and quickly acted to recover.

She knelt in the ancient way of a Jedi, her lightsaber slid quickly in her palm as she crossed her right arm over her breast. Her head bowed but her eyes looked up to meet that of the queen. She was looking down upon Leia with an expression of wonder.

Those dark eyes wavered in Leia's vision for the briefest moment, transforming into another face that was known deep in Leia's heart. These flickers within the Force were almost natural to her now as within a moment of blinking, the face of the queen came back into focus.

"I thank you for allowing us to take a momentary refuge upon your world, Queen Mother. If there is any way I can repay you, please let me know."

The queen smiled at her words, and reached out a hand to Leia. "Leia Organa Solo, you have no need to bow before me. Your blood is as noble as mine or any here before you." The hand that brought Leia to her feet was warm and motherly.

A feeling of great comfort washed over her as the Queen enfolded both of her hands. "You would honor me if you would stay with me while you are here. I feel as though learning a bit about our home would be very beneficial to you both."

"Yes," Leia whispered before she knew it. "Of course, your highness."

"Oh Leia, please at least call me by my name," the dark eyes twinkled and for a moment she looked like a mischievous girl. Yet there was a deep maturity in her voice as she spoke.

"My name is Amidala," those dark eyes shimmered suddenly with unshed tears. "And you, my dear, have finally come home."

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