FInally, after laboring over this chapter for days, it is done. I'm tired, but I'm sooo happy that its over. SO many answers, you're all going to be satisfied I hope.
Oh, and a lovely surprise as well :D
I'm going to fly through this next part: Facebook Page: AngelDesaray of Fanfiction (Go like it) Twitter: AngelDesaray And I published a book through Amazon, just search Eternity's Guardian Shaundra Nash, it's got a picture of a boy and girl in white and jeans, and the boy has wings around the girl.
You're reactions were...lovely. Lol. You were all Anakin! You just KNEW Luke wouldn't kill Mara, and you were desperate to figure out HOW she was still alive but you couldn't find what you needed-the HOW! and then the doubt crept in mwahahahaha and you feared that perhaps she WAS dead...
sorry, lol, I'm evil I know it...I loved seeing you all Anakin it lol hahhaha so many Anakins in my reviews...
Anyway, please review, tell moi whatcha think, I wanna knoooow! (Sorry I just had a Route 44 Cherry Dr. Pepper and i'm all hyped up lol)
ENJOY!
(Tatooine, a few days ago...)
Luke took aim...and fired.
With all the speed he could muster, Luke jumped over the ledge of the roof he was on, already gathering the Force to him in preparation of what he was about to do. He was going to be experimenting yet again, and there was no guarantee this would work; all he could do was trust in the Force.
Luke's feet hit the sandy back alley below and he coiled like a cat upon the impact, standing up and rushing over to Mara who had just hit the ground. He positioned his body to shield her from the camera, kneeling beside her as he slung the rifle over his shoulder.
"Mara..." he whispered, and her emerald gaze focused on him, her eyes widening in surprise as he pulled his blaster out, angling it away from her chest but keeping it in front of his body so the camera couldn't see. "As soon as I fire you need to lie perfectly still; trust me."
Luke took a straight shot at the ground right in between her ribs and upper arm and Mara did as she was asked, going completely still as Luke holstered his blaster. Tenderly, he placed two fingers on her jugular, tipping her head to the side so she'd look him in the eyes. "You weren't supposed to follow me; I told you to turn around for a reason," he whispered seriously. He wanted to lean down and kiss her, but he couldn't, not with the camera behind him. "When you wake up, you'll be dead to the galaxy. Please trust me on this; you need to keep up the ruse as long as you can; now my life is going to depend on it. No one—other than Leia, Han, and Chewie—can know you're alive. I love you."
The next moment, Luke delved into the Force, placing Mara under in powerful Jedi Healing Trance. As soon as she was securely asleep, he put all of his energy into creating a doppelgänger. Not of himself, but of Mara; something that had not been heard of. Doppelgängers of oneself were able to be picked up by cameras, droids, and other electrical equipment, yes. Doppelgängers of someone else, and with a difference as large as he was going to create...
He had a great task ahead of him. In fact, he was planning on a lot of rest after this. Pushing himself as deep into the Force as he could, Luke set about the task of creating a doppelgänger of Mara that would sport a false blaster wound right in the center of her chest and would be as still as death with no breathing. Sweat trailed down his neck and his head throbbed, but as he slowly stood, he could feel the Force flowing through him, complying with what he was trying to accomplish. He felt the Force flowing through him at a steady pace as well as an assurance that his task was complete, and he stepped away from Mara, opening his eyes as he sustained the complex illusion.
Before him was a perfect illusion of the 'murdered' Mara, complete with a trail of smoke from the blaster wound. He would have done a simple illusion if an illusion was capable of being picked up by something other than the organic it was cast over, but the doppelgänger ability was the only ability that suited his needs. He needed there to be apparently solid proof she was dead, and since no one had ever used a doppelgänger to fake a death because of the energy required simply to create the doppelgänger, no one would even think of the possibility. To anyone other than Luke—who knew the truth—it would appear that Mara Jade was undoubtedly, assuredly, dead.
Steeling himself, Luke made sure to keep a firm grasp on his illusion as he grasped Mara under the arms, dragging her out of view of the camera and hiding her behind a dumpster in the alley. Safe from the prying eyes of the recorded image that would go to Judro, Luke leaned down to gently press his lips to Mara's, smoothing her hair down lovingly.
"Please, Mara, stay safe this time...I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you..." he murmured before standing up and fixing his face into an expressionless mask once again.
Hopefully Leia and the others would find Mara before anyone else. Right now Luke had to get Mara's death circling as fast as possible.
(Ruusan, Present)
"Mara..." Luke whispered huskily into Mara's ear as he allowed himself to be pulled into her warm embrace. Oh, how he'd missed her! Knowing that everyone thought she was dead and thought he had killed her had been hard, but he'd eased the pain by taking comfort in the fact he was one of the few who knew the truth, that her death had been faked, and she was safe from becoming a target so long as she kept up the ruse.
Mara craned her neck to the side, and Luke eagerly captured her lips with his own. His fingers curled into her shoulder and the middle of her back with the starving need for her he'd held at bay for roughly two months, and he didn't care if the camera was still rolling. In fact, it had completely left his mind that there was a camera capturing everything that was happening for the galaxy to see, live.
Mara was the one who pulled away, but instead of giving him words of love and comfort she punched him as hard as she could in the shoulder.
"Hey..." he protested, his question of 'what was that for?' dying on his lips when he saw the expression on her face. Mara jabbed a warning finger in his face, looking every bit the Emperor's Hand she had once been.
"Don't you ever—ever—do that to me again, Luke Skywalker," she growled. Luke put up his hands as a gesture of peace almost subconsciously, taking a reflexive step back.
"I'm sorry; I told you not to follow me for a reason Mara," he replied, turning away to approach the door. Mara followed him.
"I figured that out, but did you have to shoot me?"
Luke sighed, examining the control panel for a moment. "It was for effect; I had to make it look convincing, and I really wasn't given any time to prepare. I didn't know you were the target I was given until you stepped into that alley, so it was all very spur of the moment. Besides, it was either that or a vibroblade."
"Cheery." Mara watched as he pulled out his lightsaber, jumping when he sliced the console and making a sound of annoyed exasperation.
"They'll be coming that way; we have to find another way out," Luke told her before she could ask, gently grabbing her arm and leading her to the center of the room. He made a slow circle, examining every inch of the room they were in and stretching out with the Force to figure out what was around their room. "So how long have you been in the base?"
Mara shrugged, smiling at their casual conversation as if they weren't in a life and death situation. "Not long...I came here not long after you did. By the way; Deimos. Really? Did you have to?"
Luke grimaced, approaching the wall opposite from the door. "I didn't have much of a choice; he had me at gunpoint and was going to turn me in to Judro."
As Luke plunged his lightsaber into the wall and started to cut his way through, Mara came to stand beside him, adding her blade to speed along the process. "So is it true? Is Judro really dead?"
"Yes."
"And you killed him?"
"...Yes."
"You didn't...I mean, it's still definitely Luke I'm talking to, right? Not Eius?"
Luke stopped what he was doing and stared at her with an expression of obvious hurt. "No...no, of course not..."
"I'm sorry, I had to ask, it's just...we were all so worried about you going after him, what with Jeza and everything else..." Mara responded quietly.
"Well...nothing like that happened, if that's what you're worried about..." Luke muttered, keeping his eyes focused on his task of cutting through the wall. "He called me in, confronted me, things escalated into a fight, he tried to kill me, I fought him off and then...he was dead. It all happened too fast to even realize what exactly happened..."
There was shouting and banging at the door; the sounds of Judro's men struggling to get through. Luke made the last cut and kicked the chunk of the wall through, gesturing for Mara.
"Come on, let's go home," he murmured, pulling her through the hole with him. They stepped into one of the many halls of the Insurgence base with Luke yanking Mara back just in time as blaster fire flew past them, coming dangerously close. Luke glanced back into the room they'd come from, calling the discarded blaster of one of the incapacitated Insurgence soldiers and taking aim at the soldiers in the hall that had them pinned. Beside him, Mara did the same, returning fire to provide Luke with some degree of cover while he worked to aim true.
"Luke!" Mara warned when the door to the room he'd been contained in burst open.
"Switch me!"
Luke traded her lightsaber for the blaster he was holding with one hand and pulled out his lightsaber with the other, re-entering the room to confront the men streaming in before they could come at them from behind while Mara cleared the hall behind. Purple and green flashed at dizzying speeds as Luke rendered each blaster that came within reach useless, aiming to render his opponents unconscious at the most instead of kill anyone—he'd had enough of all the killing by now.
One man went flying into the wall, his head hitting the duracrete so hard there was an audible crack and he crumpled to the floor lifelessly. Another suffered from the pommel of Luke's lightsaber being rammed against his temple, and two more fell to the floor like Luke had cut their strings when he bashed their heads together.
"Clear!" Mara called behind him, and Luke let his blades flash through the air to deflect the blaster bolts before he reached out with the Force and pulled, causing a chunk of the ceiling to fall from above and plug up the hole that was the door. Luke tossed Mara's lightsaber back to her, already rushing out into the hall with her as they both rushed side by side through the hall.
"Sense them coming from the right?" Mara asked.
"Four of them. The hangar's to the left; I'll open the door, you take care of them."
"Got it."
Luke kept moving forward while Mara veered off to the left. He could hear the sounds of shouting, blasters going off, and her lightsaber igniting, but the fight didn't last long. The sounds ended not long after he'd shoved his lightsaber through the control panel and forced the locked blast doors to open, and Mara was soon by his side once again.
"We're going to want to get out of here soon. The Insurgence officers know their base has been compromised since you were here, and they've already evacuated most of the base. I heard a few whispers that they're going to send this place all the way to Korriban."
Instinctively, Luke winced at the mention of the planet before he answered her. "Why didn't you mention this before we took the long way out? I would have fought through the mass of guards at the other end if it meant getting to the hangar faster. When are they going to level this mountain?"
"I don't know, that's why I suggest we get out as soon as poss—"
"Get down!" Luke suddenly barked, cutting her off. A thick metal pole swung through the air the same instance he shouted, and Mara ducked just in time while Luke danced out of the way of the swinging weapon. Before their attacker could gather himself again, Luke grabbed the pole in his hand and yanked it from his grip, turning the weapon on the Insurgance soldier and swiping his feet out from under him before delivering a powerful blow to his stomach. The man curled up with a pained groan, and Luke grabbed Mara's hand, dropping the pole.
"Keep moving."
"I know, Farmboy, I can handle myself you know."
"Then how come you didn't see that coming?"
"I was focused on answering you."
"Oh, so it's my fault now that you almost had your head removed?" Luke asked with a grin, pulling her around the corner.
"Hmm...yes, let's go with that," Mara mumbled slyly, leaning over to give him a quick kiss on the lips. Luke interlocked their fingers before breaking away, returning his attention to the maze of halls in front of him. He could sense people in the base, but that number was swiftly starting to dwindle.
"We're running out of time," Luke muttered, doubling his pace. "They're almost done evacuating already. If we want a way out of here we need to hurry, or there won't be any ships left."
"Well, if the worst happens, Leia, Han, and Chewie are standing by with the Falcon."
Luke's eyes flickered towards her at the statement, emotion swelling up in his throat. "They're on-planet too?"
Mara rolled her eyes. "Of course, how do you think I got here? I flew on a mynock?"
Luke snorted. "Interesting mental image."
Luke came to an abrupt halt, and this time it was Mara that reacted in defense. She lashed out with a vicious upward kick, getting the soldier that skirted around the corner right in the throat before he could even raise the blaster. The pair hopped over him without a backwards glanced, continuing on their mad dash towards the hangar.
"How many do you sense in the facility?" Luke asked her randomly.
"Why? Can't you sense them?"
"I want a second opinion."
Mara sighed. "I don't know...not many."
"Exactly."
The base around them suddenly shook, throwing them off balance. For a few seconds, there was a deadly silence, and then the rumbling began.
"Run!" Luke commanded, breaking into a dead sprint. They rounded corner after corner almost blindly, trusting in the Force to guide them to their escape. The rumbling of the base grew steadily louder, and Luke struggled to discern the sound of the crumbling, collapsing mountain base from the sound of his beating heart. He could almost see time slipping away right out of their fingers, and suddenly running into Insurgence soldiers was no longer his greatest concern. Now he was having flashbacks to Tythe, of being buried under meters of rubble in a small metal vent.
"We're here!" Mara exclaimed in relief as they skidded into the hanger at the last moment. Dust and chunks of stone were falling from the ceiling, warning them of how little time they had left.
Luke and Mara both sprinted across the hangar bay towards the remaining ship, a rickety freighter on the other side of the room clear in the back corner. Luke grimaced at its position in the hangar bay, wishing it was at least a little bit closer to the exit. Still, it was better than finding out there was no ship in the hangar, so he wasn't going to complain despite the alarming rate the room was collapsing around them.
"Come on!" Luke shouted over the rumble of rubble falling all around them as the mountain collapsed in on itself. Mara stayed right beside him in their mad dash towards their last hope of getting out of the mountain. All they had to do was get the ship powered up and get out of the hangar, and they'd be home free...
Luke's hand slammed the button to activate the landing ramp, impatiently waiting for the ramp to lower enough for them to get through the door. He pushed Mara forward once the ramp had lowered enough, coming up right behind her as they both entered the ship, closing the ramp behind them.
"Do you think you can get us out of here before the place collapses?" Mara asked.
"I don't know," Luke replied in a grim tone of voice. He practically threw himself into the pilot's seat, Mara leaping into the copilot seat as Luke started up the engines. He muttered a constant stream of come ons to the ship, doing his best to ignore the rapidly crumbling hangar around him.
"Luke..."
Luke shook his head. "I can't do anything yet I have to wait for the ship."
"Well then maybe one of us should explain to the ship that we don't have time."
"Be my guest; I don't know if it will make much of a difference."
"Some optimism would help; I'm used to you being the optimistic one in these situations."
"I haven't quite reached that point yet. Still not quite the old me," Luke responded calmly, finally lifting the ship off of the ground. Their window of opportunity was swiftly closing, and Luke was suddenly rather certain that they weren't going to be able to get out before the hangar collapsed. Half the hangar was already full of rubble, rock, duracrete, and it was all a pain for Luke to navigate around considering how pressed for time they were. He swung the ship to the right to dodge a mound of the debris, but considering that put the mound on his left he was unable to dodge the slab of rock that collapsed from the ceiling. The slab dropped onto the ship's right wing, and the ship was immediately set off balance. Luke cursed, fighting to keep the freighter steady.
Just until we're out of the hangar, then you can fail on me, then I'll accept a crash landing, he thought desperately, eyes fixated on the ever-shrinking hole to freedom. All throughout the base, Luke could feel the life-forces of those that had been left behind in the base being snuffed out as the mountain crumbled in on itself.
"Luke, watch out!" Mara suddenly shouted in terror, and Luke yanked the ship's controls to the left in an attempt to dodge the ginormous cluster of rock and duracrete that dropped in front of the exit. Luke pulled back, desperate to stop the ship before it crashed into the wall. There was an alarming scream of rock and metal, and the lights suddenly went out, plunging the room into complete darkness as their only way out was sealed off by the falling debris.
The Force screamed at him so loud in warning Luke's head throbbed, and he gave up on steering the ship. Instead, he focused on his companion, the woman he'd done all of this to protect.
"Get down!" he shouted, grabbing the front of her shirt and yanking her out of the chair, throwing the two of them back further into the ship as the entire base around them collapsed.
"Oh my Force...Han! Oh my Force!"
"Kriff," Han swore, and Chewbacca roared his own exclamations from the copilot chair as the three watched in horror as the mountain the Insurgence base was located began to crumble in on itself. Leia could sense the raw terror from the city at the base of the mountain as well as the terror of those that were still inside of the base. They had convinced as many people as they could to evacuate the town just in case something terrible did happen, and Leia was suddenly glad they had convinced as many as they had to leave.
Now, however, all of her concern was focused on her brother and Mara; she knew neither of them was out of that base yet, and still she was watching this mountain collapse in on itself from the massive bomb that had been detonated not long ago. She stretched out desperately towards her brother through the Force, grasping desperately for something that would tell her he was still alive, that he would make it through this explosion.
To her growing alarm, she felt intense pain, suppressed panic and fear, and also saw the mountain's hangar (which they had made a point to find and pass routinely just in case) closed up by the collapsing mountaintop.
"Luke!" she cried out, standing up from her seat behind Han. Han reached out with one hand to make a rather useless attempt to sit her down, but Leia remained standing, eyes fixated on the mountain in front of her.
"Can you sense them?" Han asked, sounding like he was trying his hardest to keep his own panic hidden. There was no point; Leia could sense it.
She closed her eyes and tried to refocusing, searching desperately in the last place she had sensed Luke and Mara. If she found nothing...
A small sigh of relief escaped her lips. "I can sense them. They're still alive."
Luke groaned once the worst had settled, one hand clenching into a fist in Mara's hair as he held tighter to her while the other splayed flat against her back. He was lying on top of her, pressed against her, trapped between her and something heavy against his back, trapping her in turn between himself and the floor of the ship's hall. Slowly, Luke rested his head in the crook of her neck, taking deep, steadying breaths.
"Are you all right?" he murmured into her ear.
"I'll...I'll be fine..." she answered. "But ah, do you think you could kindly get off of me?"
Luke grimaced, trying unsuccessfully to push off of her and finding that the weight against his back was ominously fixed in place and extremely heavy. "I'm afraid that's not going to happen."
Mara moaned. "Don't tell me we're stuck here."
"I think so...considering I've been in this buried alive situation before...I'd say we're trapped under tons of rock and metal and everything else in this base."
Pure silence followed his statement as they both came to terms with what he'd just said out loud, their slightly uneven breathing the only sound between them in the darkness.
Mara shifted underneath Luke, and he pushed off of her as much as he could, pressing flat against the heavy object that had him pinned to her as she squirmed. "Maybe…maybe I can move…" she muttered, trying to shimmy out from underneath him. However, there was a soft thud and a hiss of pain. "Nevermind…"
"Was that your head?" Luke asked in concern, the fingers that were twined in her hair splaying out to find the source of her discomfort.
"Yes, but it's nothing, just a bump. What about Leia, can you sense her? Maybe the other three can help get us out of here."
"I don't know if they can reach us fast enough. We're trapped under meters of tons of rubble in a mountain; not exactly an ideal situation. We'll only have so much air for so long…"
"You're just full of optimism today."
"I didn't say I wouldn't try it. That's probably our best bet," Luke murmured, closing his eyes and reaching out to his sister. It didn't take him long to find her, as it appeared she'd been searching for him through the Force as well. He sensed relief come off of her in waves, and he was loath to interrupt the momentary joy that she felt upon finding he was still alive. He wouldn't be alive much longer if they didn't start doing something about it.
Luke refrained from taking any deep breaths, wanting to spare as much oxygen as he could as there had to be enough to last both Mara and himself until help could arrive. Instead, he focused on sending a wave of urgency towards Leia, as well as the sensation of being trapped and needing help. It took a few moments, but understanding eventually came from Leia in return, and Luke wilted in relief.
"She'll do what she can," Luke told Mara.
"Do you know what's pinning us?"
"Most likely the rubble on the ship…and the ship itself."
"Could you move it with the Force?"
Luke hesitated, loath of the idea of making a wrong move and causing the remains of the structure that was the only thing keeping them alive to crush both of them. "I can try…but we'll still need the others. It's too risky of an attempt as it is with how far down we are, and it would take to long."
Luke felt Mara's hand rest on his chest just over his heart, and he relaxed slightly. "We'll be fine Luke…you'll see."
Luke sighed against her gentle touch, leaning down to give her a heartfelt kiss on the lips. "I love you, Mara."
Mara smiled against his lips before he pulled away. "I love you, too."
Luke returned the smile, closing his eyes and allowing himself to slip within the folds of the Force, stretching his senses out as far as the rubble above and around them went. His spirits sank when he realized just how far under they were, but he quickly steeled his resolve and poked around to figure out what piece to move first. He was loath to think of the rocks around them as a jigsaw puzzle, as this was a life and death situation with more than just his life on the line. Mara was here too, trapped with him, and even if they couldn't see it, the oxygen was slowly running out. Subconsciously, Luke slowed his breathing and tried to use as little oxygen as he could, with Mara doing the same as Luke started the grueling progress of carving a way out.
"Han, you keep the Falcon in the air, all right? Chewie and I can do the heavy lifting."
Despite the fact it was obvious that Han knew she was right, and someone had to stay behind and keep the Falcon in the air, Han still didn't like the idea of sitting by and waiting for his best friend and fiancé to rescue his brother in all but blood. He wanted to help dig out Luke and Mara.
Unfortunately, it seemed that wasn't going to happen.
"All right, fine," Han growled, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat. "Just please be careful?"
Leia leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, I will. We won't be long…I hope."
"I hope so too," Han mumbled as she hurried out of the cockpit after Chewbacca, who had already lowered the landing ramp and was simply waiting for Leia so they could begin their excavation. Han stared out the window at the debris that had once been a mountaintop and felt a painful ache in his chest. "I hope so too…"
When Leia's feet hit the rubble, she was surprised and also concerned by how secure it felt. It was going to take a while to free Luke and Mara, and she wasn't so sure that the two had that much time.
"Come on Chewie, they don't have that much time," she ordered, already moving towards what she hoped would be a good spot to start in. She bent down to pick up one of the smaller rocks in the strange dip in the rubble, and jumped back with an alarmed shout when the rock moved on its own. The next moment she cursed herself for being so easily startled when she sensed Luke's concerned prod through the Force while the rock remained still, and it continued to move only after Leia had sent back a calm assurance that she was all right.
"Okay…this might go a little faster then," Leia muttered, snatching the rock once she was thinking clearly again. It took Luke a moment, but he quickly found a new rock to target, which Chewbacca plucked out of the air and tossed aside once Luke had started to raise the rock.
So the quick routine began with Luke finding the rocks they needed to move and Leia and Chewbacca doing the actual moving.
Luke didn't know how much time had passed, but he did know that he was sweating, and salty beads were stinging his eyes as he focused all of his attention on the rocks up above. As fast as they were being unburied, it wasn't fast enough. Air was starting to come painfully and Luke's chest was starting to burn. He fought the instinct to panic and kept his mind focused on the task at hand. Occasionally though, he would be distracted by Mara below him, a nagging thought struggling its way to the front of his mind until he just had to speak, paying simultaneous attention to the rescue attempt up above.
"Mara…I have to ask you something," Luke grunted. "You have been there for me through everything no matter what, and I just have to know…"
"You're not saying a goodbye already, are you Farmboy?" Mara asked, though she sounded worried. Luke wasn't ignorant enough to think that she wasn't aware of how serious their situation was; it was a full possibility that they wouldn't be pulled from this rubble alive.
"Mara…" Luke started, pausing to gather himself. "Will you marry me?"
There were several heartbeats of silence before she spoke. "You mean if we get out of here alive?"
"I mean regardless."
Again, Mara was silent, and Luke waited in nervous anticipation, heart pounding and body beginning to tremble from exertion. Finally, she spoke.
"Yes...yes of course I will, Luke..."
A grin lit up Luke's features so bright it nearly gave them enough light to see each other in, and despite the fact they were supposed to be conserving oxygen Luke leaned down and gave Mara a long, passionate kiss on the lips. Mara gasped.
"Oxygen, Luke, we need to preserve that oxygen!" Mara forced out whenever Luke's lips released hers long enough for her to speak.
"Right..." Luke murmured, pulling away with a smile he wished she could see. "I'll...focus on getting us out of here. Thank you Mara, so much. I love you more than I could ever hope to explain."
"I know," Mara replied, and he knew she was probably grinning devilishly below him.
Luke restrained his laughter, focusing once more on deepening his connection to the Force. He could sense Mara adding in her assistance to the surface, but the rate of her breathing below him disturbed him. Worried for Mara—now his fiancé—and her well-being, Luke sneakily started to pull her towards a hibernation trance. If he could put her into the trance that would be a little more time with a little more oxygen to spare.
Luke felt a jab of accusation from Mara once she realized what he was doing, and he sighed. "I'm trying to spare us some oxygen and buy us a little more time."
"Well then you should have asked instead of trying to knock me out behind my back," she scolded him.
"Sorry," Luke apologized sincerely, leaning down to give her a kiss on the forehead. He heard her sigh and relax, taking it as his invitation to put her under. Running his fingers lovingly across her temple, Luke led her into a deep hibernation trance, and soon her breathing slowed and evened out, and she fell into a deep sleep.
Now he was alone.
Pushing that grim thought aside, Luke focused all of his energy on helping his sister to unbury them, lying prone against Mara to save as much strength as possible. He ignored how hard it was getting to breath, keeping himself as optimistic as he could as progress was slowly made to free them. He hadn't told Mara, but he'd put her into a hibernation trance for another reason.
If they did die, he wanted it to be as painless as possible for her. Suffocation was not a joyous way to go out, and he didn't want Mara's last moments to be like that if they did die.
With a sigh, Luke lowered his head onto Mara's chest, slowing his breathing down as much as he could and holding his breath as long as he could, entertaining thoughts of returning home and marrying the beautiful woman he held close to him right now, of starting anew with his family. When a dark thought of impending death crossed his mind, Luke simply thought of how dying would mean he would see Jeza again.
Either way, he would be okay with how things turned out.
As time slipped through his fingers, despite all of his efforts to retain oxygen in their small little prison, Luke's breathing became labored and burned his lungs, sucking whatever oxygen out of the air as he could. He couldn't focus anymore, and so he stopped assisting with the rescue attempt. He didn't have the ability to help anymore anyway. His head pounded and all he wanted to do was sleep...
No, Luke, you can't go to sleep; if you go to sleep...if you...Please stay awake Luke...you have to...you have to...
He didn't know why he needed to stay awake anymore, but he struggled to hold onto consciousness nonetheless, clutching to the unconscious woman with him and fighting for air the entire time.
"Chewie, hurry, please, we're losing them!" Leia cried out, throwing rocks aside blindly with the Force and with her bare hands. There was no point in strategically removing the rocks anymore as that difficult part was over. So long as they didn't accidentally bring the entire pathway they'd carved crashing down on them. High above their heads at the top of their downwards tunnel, the Millennium Falcon hovered, waiting anxiously for their success. Luke and Mara's presences were alarmingly faint, though Leia could tell that Luke was still—barely—conscious. Chewbacca was right beside Leia, tossing aside the larger rocks Leia couldn't physically pick up.
"Hold on Luke, hold on, we're almost there," Leia muttered steadily not only to herself but to Luke as well, even if he couldn't hear her.
Chink!
Leia's heart leapt into her throat when she heard the sound from Chewie's side, and she rushed over to where the Wookiee was standing. Chewbacca was quickly clearing away the remaining rubble, revealing a slim panel of battered steel. There was large dents all over the steel, and for a moment Leia couldn't help but marvel that it was a miracle her brother and Mara had somehow survived the blast—it couldn't be anything but intervention from the Force that had kept them alive, especially when Leia looked up at the meters tall tunnel above them that they had made. It was going to be a pain getting back up there.
Leia unhooked her lightsaber, splaying one hand against the metal as she activated the blade. Just before she plunged the blade into the steel she froze, realizing that Luke was literally on the other side of the panel, and she'd almost plunged the lightsaber right through and would have impaled him, possibly Mara too.
Apparently using the lightsaber was out of the question.
"Chewie, he's right on the other side of this panel, I can't use the lightsaber without burning him or possibly impaling him too."
Chewbacca roared in response, and Leia took a few moments to think over his offer.
"If I'm careful...yes, that could work," she replied, activating her lightsaber again. She purposely lifted the blade just above the metal and then slowly lowered it, gradually slicing through the metal. When she was about halfway through the metal, she started to move to the side, making a gradual cut in the steel just deep enough to create a grip for Chewbacca. Once she was done, she stepped back, watching the metal cool before Chewbacca took her spot. He dug his furry paw into the lightsaber made grip and then pulled, his Wookiee muscles straining and rippling. A groan escaped the great Wookiee, but it also came from the metal he was prying up. The groan morphed into a shriek, and finally the steel gave, and Chewbacca pulled back the steel panel. Leia jumped to the other side, leaning down to see if she could see her brother inside of the hole.
"Luke! Mara! Luke, answer me!" Leia called in a panicked voice.
A heaving gasp for air greeted her, and a black form shuddered in the space she could see. Realization struck her, and she reached out and touched Luke's back comfortingly.
"Leia?" she heard his voice rasp before he took another great gasp for air.
"I'm here Luke, you're going to be all right—Chewie, a little farther, they're deep in."
Chewbacca rumbled in acknowledgement, pulling the panel as far back as he could before he moved to the other side and started to pull that one back.
"How's Mara?" Leia asked Luke while she waited for Chewbacca to free them up as much as he could.
"I put her in a hibernation trance; she's still unconscious."
The steel shrieked again as Chewbacca pulled the metal back and Leia could finally make out Luke's shoulders, as well as the ends of his hair. It was strange seeing it dyed black instead of its usually blonde shade, but Leia refrained from commenting. Carefully, Leia put her hands on Luke's side, pulling him back.
"Come on, I think I can get you out of here—watch your head," Leia told him, gently raising him up out of the hole. Luke leaned against Leia, his chest heaving as he took in great gulps of air. He was weaving dangerously, and Leia had him sit down before she reached down to get Mara. Both of them had multiple cuts and bruises, as well as dust all over them from the blast. Gingerly, Leia reached down and pulled Mara out of the cramped space, handing her off to Chewbacca who was holding his arms out expectantly.
Luke shielded his eyes against the sun, standing up to wrap his arms around his sister in a tight hug. "Thank you Leia," he whispered in her ear, sending a flood of love her way.
"You've got to stop with all of these near death experiences—I think you've had enough to last a lifetime now, so stop it," Leia scolded him teasingly, though she hugged him back just as hard.
Luke pulled back and smiled at her, a strange smile on his face. He seemed to glow as he looked between her and Mara, putting an arm around her shoulders. "So...another day...another dictator toppled...shall we go home now?" he asked teasingly.
Leia grinned. She'd missed this side of her brother dearly, and it was relieving and heartwarming to see him smile and joke again. It was as if a dark, oppressive weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
In a way, it had.
"Yes...let's go home now."