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Chapter 5

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Slight hints of crushed foliage outlined the narrow path she had taken, barely traceable, as befitted her former could hear his own fast footsteps as he ran chasing after her; the sound mixing with that of plants brushing against his body as he went by them and with the cries of the occasional startled creature that ran away as he approached. The heat and the humidity of the jungle made it a strenuous task. Trying not to mind the unkind conditions he concentrated on tracking her down, as he followed he noticed that she had changed direction; instead of heading to the Academy she was going deeper into the jungle. She was close, he could feel her presence; he hurried his stride. He trailed her until he reached a small clearing and found her was standing still and looking up to the sky, bathed by the sun beams shining down through the openings on the tree dome; her red-gold hair sparkling where the light touched it.

He approached the spot where she was standing and stood next to her. When feeling his presence, she turned and looked at him with a warm smile on her lips. Something changed in her sense, her features softened as she smiled at him. Slowly she reached out and caressed his cheek; he felt her warm touch on his face and held her hand with his own. He could feel his own heart beating hard on his chest, she looked so beautiful. Hesitantly he moved his face closer, and then stopped an inch from hers. She moved the last inch and kissed him softly on the lips, a warm gentle kiss. He kissed her back loosing himself in her warm touch.

The wind started to blow. Without warning a violent gust burst in and several startled creatures flew away from the trees, crying out a danger call. They broke off their kiss. The light changed, the clouds ran wildly above their heads in a dance of lights and shadows all around. She broke off the embrace and stepped back.

"What is it Mara?" Luke asked concerned and giving a few steps forward following her.

She kept stepping back, moving away from him. A loud rumble shocked his senses as he felt the earth shaking under their feet. Luke looked down and noticed the opening cracks on the ground where he was standing; he caught the glimpse of the ground underneath Mara collapsing, trees and everything around sinking into a large hole -including Mara, leading her to a deep fall.

"Mara!" he yelled.

Reacting immediately, he reached out for her as fast as he could, throwing himself forward and grabbing her by the arm. He lay there holding her with all his strength as he felt the ground underneath him starting to collapse and crumble down. The abundant rain of the past weeks must had loosened the soil he thought, but to this extent? He felt the strain in his arm's muscles as he tried to hold on to Mara. He felt so week, so slow… and she felt so heavy, so difficult to hold on to…

"Mara, I need your help here, give me your other hand!" He said to her, feeling the ground giving in under his weight as the rumbling of the earth became louder.

"Your other hand!" He yelled as loud as he could, trying to make himself heard above the rumbling noise and extending his free hand towards her, urging her to respond. Oblivious to what he was asking for, Mara didn't give him her other hand, instead she reached up and tried to lose her arm from his grip, willingly ready to meet the same fate as the one the trees and her surroundings were.

"Mara! What are you doing?!" Luke asked in disbelief "You need to give me your other hand or you'll fall, please give me your other hand!" He desperately pleaded trying to grab her free hand with his own free one. "Mara, please! Don't let go!" he said with a broken voice. He looked into her eyes… What was going on with her? Why wasn't she reacting?

Mara kept pulling away from him and with a sudden jerk she got herself loose from his desperate grip and fell into the abyss. Everything turned into total darkness.

"No, Mara!" he yelled in shock after her. 'No, no, no, this cannot be happening!'

Reaching the brink of desperation, he called on the Force with all his might and reached out for her with his power, he had to stop her fall; he had to get her back to safety…. but the harder he tried, the more he tapped on the Force, the more he could feel her presence fading away. He followed her with his sense; she kept falling deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Then there was only silence.

He lay where he had fallen, incapable to move, frozen by fear and terror; submerged in an oppressive darkness. His mind burned with doubts and questions. Why had she let go? Why hadn't she tried anything? And then he thought of the others. Had something happened back at the Academy? Were they safe? He could not sense a thing…. everything was so death quiet. Was he alone?

She was gone… Mara was gone. 'Please, not again… please!' Luke pleaded.

"Skywalker!... Skywalker!" he could hear her voice calling him "SKYWALKER!"

He abruptly sat up on his bed with a gasp of desperation. He felt short of breath, a cold sweat pouring off his forehead. He opened and closed his eyes trying to adjust to the brightness in the room; he could feel his head ringing. A grab on his right arm startled him… when turning he found a worried Mara staring at him with concern.

"It was just a bad dream," he heard her say "It's all right now."

Luke rubbed his eyes with his hand, realizing that he was in his quarters, sitting in his own bed and with Mara kneeling beside him.

'Mara?' he registered. He turned to look at her "Mara… w-what are you doing here?" he said in a coarse voice. His mouth was so dry.

"Well, we were supposed to meet at the Gym half hour ago… and since you didn't show up and you didn't answer your com link either, I decided to come and see what was wrong…" she explained "…when I got to the door I didn't get any answer and then suddenly I felt that you were kind of distressed so I decided to use the code key you had given me. When I came in looking for you I found you asleep and struggling with some kind of nightmare… I let the light in, I called you and I called you, but you wouldn't wake up!"

Luke let some air out with relief "It was just a dream," he whispered. It had been just a distressing, scary dream.

He looked back at Mara, he felt so glad to see her safe and sound… he reached out and hugged her.

"Good morning to you too." Mara said feeling a bit uncomfortable with his sudden sign of affection. What was going on with him?

Aware of the awkward situation Luke let go, a bit embarrassed of himself "Um, thanks for waking me up," he just said and then feeling a bit worried he asked, "Did I say anything while I was asleep?" Worried that he might have said something he wasn't sure he would have liked Mara to hear.

"Nothing I could understand really, I've been in here only for the past few minutes," Mara answered and noticing her friend's apprehensiveness she added "You didn't share any secrets if that's what you're asking." She soothed him with a bit of mischief showing in her voice.

Luke felt relieved and then asked, "You said you could feel my distress?"

"Yes, I did. I guess at some point in your nightmare you let your shields drop unconsciously, and then it was when I was able to sense you were all stressed out," Mara explained "And please, don't tell me that now you're gonna have me coming after you not only when you get yourself into some trouble, but also to save you from your own bad dreams." Sarcasm was now in her voice.

"Don't worry, that is not going to happen," Luke assured her "Besides I think I'm not the only one who gets into trouble often, you've had your share too. And who's been there to get you out of it?" He reminded her.

"I know, I know." She told him throwing a pillow at him, "You don't have to rub that on my face." Standing up she then thought of how distressed he had been a few minutes ago, while sleeping. "Are you sure it was just a bad dream? Mara asked suspiciously "Or it was one of those Jedi visions of yours?"

"It was just a dream." Luke reassured her.

She relaxed and then added "Well, it certainly was a pretty vivid one too. You made quite a mess in here!" She gestured at the messed-up bedroom.

It was then that Luke noticed the disaster. Papers, clothing, holo frames and such laying everywhere. He certainly had done this while dreaming, perhaps the moment he was trying to use the Force in his dream.

"I guess I'm going to have a very busy day." He said a bit discouraged.

"You can be scary at times Skywalker." Mara mocked him while turning around to see the mess "Need a hand in here?"

"No, thanks." Luke said, "I'll have Artoo to help me –not that he's gonna be glad." He then hurriedly added "I better get ready, we're late as it is." He jumped out of bed and headed towards the fresher.

"Take it easy Farmboy," Mara slowed him down "I suppose that, since we're VERY late already, maybe we should skip to the next lesson. I'll make you work double tomorrow."

"I guess I don't have much of a saying in this." Luke half-complained.

"That's right." Mara pointed out "Now, go and get ready and I'll wait for you in the gym. I'll do the warm up on my own. There are several things I would like to check with you."

"All right." Luke answered amused. Who was the teacher and who was the student? He wondered.

Mara had always liked to have the lead, she was a natural leader… he liked to lead too… a bad combination! May be that was why they got into so many arguments, he thought.

She headed to the door. "So… do not tell me that yesterday's race worn you out and made you sleep in today!" She teased him "Of course loosing is never an option, but I think you took it pretty well!"

"Believe me; I need a lot more than that to feel worn out. Yesterday's race was a stroll in Coruscant's Botanical Park." Luke countered.

She picked up something suspicious in what he had just said "Did you let me win?" Mara asked giving him a menacing stare.

Luke just smiled to himself.

"I need to get ready," he said changing the subject and closing the fresher's door behind him. He didn't want to get into an argument with Mara for such a trifle.

Mara let it pass, they we're running late and there were several things to get done before the end of the day. She'll go back to it some other time; Skywalker wouldn't get out of the hook that easily. She turned serious; she could tell that there was something happening with the Farmboy, but what? Maybe she was going to have to beat it out of him. Knowing Skywalker that would not be an easy task, but she had to try at least; she'll find the right time to do it. She started down, preparing herself for another full day of instruction.

Once ready, Luke headed down to the Gym. Thank the Force it had just been a bad dream! It had felt so real though. Had it been just some random dream? Did that dream mean anything? Was it telling him something? He wasn't sure; he'd have to meditate on that. For now, he had to put aside his worries, there was someone waiting for him and expecting to receive some training and he had to have his mind focused on that.

Another full day of training had just begun.

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