Chapter 77:

Mara tumbled to the floor as Invisus hit her legs, barely able to break her fall with the Force so the children would not be harmed. Shock exploded across her face as her mind registered what had just occurred. Even as she leapt up to follow him, he wrapped himself in the Force, bending the shadows around him as she had taught him.

"Skywalker, wait!" she called down the apparently deserted hallway, relieved that she could still sense him.

Atrox did not respond to her as he continued to storm down the hallway. His presence in the Force turned somewhat expectant, almost daring her to hurt him more.

"Please," she pleaded as she tracked his presence, trying to catch up with him. "I- I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to hurt you, I didn't expect you to take it seriously."

Atrox continued to march forward, not caring where he was going or who saw Mara acting like an idiot, he was too hurt to care. Your new… mate is waiting for you. He sent bitterly through their bond, emotion pouring through it like a torrent.

Mara finally pinpointed his presence and reached out to seize his shoulder. She forcibly turned him around and kissed him hard, allowing the Force to conceal her as it had him. I don't WANT your kriffing apprentice. I don't WANT anyone but you, EVER. And don't you DARE think otherwise, got it?she growled into their bond as she ended the kiss.

Atrox was too stunned to reply to her outburst, not even sure if he could put what he was feeling into words as he returned her embrace, resting his head on her shoulder. Understood, Jade.

Good. She kissed his cheek, gently, and murmured, You are the only person I have ever loved, farmboy, and that will never change.

Do you love me or LukeSkywalker? Atrox asked through the Force, fearing her answer.

She was silent a moment, contemplating. At last she said, I love you, no matter what name you bear. You fathered my children, you asked me to marry you, and it is you who saved me from being a pawn and gave me a future, with you.

Iam not your farmboy, only Skywalker can be that. I am the Dark Lord of the Sith, the destiny Darth Vader and Darth Sidious forced upon me. I am not the father of these children, Skywalker is, they know it as well as I do.

She stared at him, at a loss for words. Finally she said, hesitantly, Darth Sidious and Darth Vader are both dead. Your destiny is your own.

YOU TRY TELLING THE DARK SIDE THAT, JADE! Atrox roared through their bond, unsure why he suddenly felt so angry.

Mara recoiled as if struck, immediately realizing she had somehow crossed the line. I'm sorry, she muttered. I didn't mean…

Their father and your future 'husband' are dead, unless you wish to marry the dark side of the Force. Atrox cut her off, sneering from his rage.

Do you want to marry me? she asked suddenly. Do you want our children?

I do not know who or what I am anymore.

She reached up to touch his cheek, tears threatening to fill her eyes. You are the man I love. She felt a shift in the tiny presences within her womb, as if responding to their father's absence, and she sensed rather than felt one of them move again. A tear spilled over onto her cheek as she felt their confusion, and wondered what would become of their fragile family.

They're calling you, can't you feel it? she whispered brokenly. They need their father, the man you were, the man you could be again. They need you, Luke, she added, so softly she was sure he had not heard.

Deep within Atrox's core, Luke heard her words, and felt her grief. Moved, he began fighting the layers of darkness that the Sith had built around him, using his love for her and hers for him as the light to pierce the shadow. I'm... coming, Mara. Luke shouted through their bond, using the love he sensed from his twins to continue to break the darkness, hold on him. Darth Atrox began to have difficulty subduing Luke as he continued to slowly break his hold on him. However, Atrox would now give up so easily. As Atrox sensed his hold on Luke continue to get weaker, he began to channel the very essence of the dark side into his own pain center, not caring if he killed both himself and his former self. At the same time, the dark side attempted to smother Luke in its depths, keeping him from regaining his full strength.

Mara sensed the catastrophic conflict within him, and terror threatened to take her as she felt Atrox attempting to self-destruct. Unsure what else to do, she seized his hand and drew on the power of the light to cut him off from the Force, ripping the darkness from him.

Freed from the oppressive grip of the dark side, Luke began regaining control, fighting down his Sith identity.

Atrox raged, furious that some weak farmboy was about to destroy him. "You are too much trouble for your own worth, Skywalker." Atrox ground out as he used his remaining strength to draw his lightsaber, pointing the hilt towards his own chest. "If you destroy me, I'm taking you with me."

"No!" Mara cried desperately, knowing he was too strong for her to wrest the hilt from him in time, even without the Force.

Luke heard her cry, and summoned all his strength to drive Atrox from him once and for all. Even as the blade ignited, he jerked his arm away. The blade sliced through his right shoulder, leaving a deep, cauterized gash, and he collapsed, exhausted and gasping from the pain.

Mara caught him in her arms as he fell, and held him to her fiercely for a moment, choking back a sob of relief as she bent to examine his wound. Ripping aside his robes, she gasped when she saw the extent of the injury. "Oh, Luke," she murmured, her voice soft yet grim. The blade had cut deeply into his chest and shoulder; a little lower and he would have lost his right arm.

A few moments later Anakin and Leia reached them, with Padmé and Invisus close behind. "What happened?" Padmé exclaimed, horrified.

Mara's face was grave as she tried to heal the deepest parts of the wound. "Darth Atrox tried to kill him."

"We'll talk about that later, he needs bacta, and healing," Anakin ordered, cutting off further questions, but inwardly, his heart was filled with hope.

Mara nodded, and together they lifted him and bore him back to the medical wing. Invisus watched, feeling angry and confused by his master's actions.

Too weak to speak, all Luke could do was lift his good hand to touch Mara's cheek. It only slipped down when he finally lost consciousness just as they reached the medical center. Anakin ordered the droids to begin preparing him for a bacta session while they assessed how bad the wound was.

Mara's brow was creased with worry. "It's too much for me to heal. The bones have been cut into as well."

"He's going to need skeletal reconstruction therapy," Anakin said grimly. "As well as bacta."

As the 2-1B finished its diagnosis, it reported, "The reconstruction process may take several weeks, due to the extent of the damage. My recommendation is that the incision be left open while we fuse the bone tissue, then follow it up with several bacta sessions to heal the muscle tissue."

"Do it," Mara said, her voice tight. She bent down and kissed Luke's cheek, tenderly, then reluctantly stepped away.

"What's going on?" Wedge Antilles stood in the doorway, looking much livelier after his recent bacta treatments.

"Wedge…" Leia's said, surprised. "Should you be up?"

"Yeah, the droids gave me a clean bill of health," the pilot replied. He glanced at Luke's still form. "What happened to him?"

"The path to redemption is fraught with perils," Leia explained softly.

Wedge frowned. "I… see." He shook his head. "Sorry for disturbing you folks. I didn't mean to intrude on a private moment."

"You didn't intrude, Wedge, you're a friend," Leia corrected softly. "How is Airen?"

Wedge made a wry face. "Eager to be gone. I think he wants to ship out as soon as they finish with his arm."

By then the droids had finished their preliminary treatments. "I must ask everyone to leave the room. We're ready to begin now."

Anakin led Padmé out of the room, an arm around her shoulders supportively. Leia followed Wedge out to talk to Cracken, leaving Mara and Invisus the last to leave. Invisus stared at his former master for a long moment, then stalked out of the room, his emotions turbulent.

Mara slowly tore her eyes from Luke, and released the bonds that severed his connection to the Force. His presence was faint, as he was unconscious, but she could feel it, steady and clear, free of the tainted presence of the dark side. I love you, farmboy, she murmured quietly, then left the droids to their work, knowing that the sooner they started, the better the treatments would work.

Mara pulled up a chair beside Luke's hospital bed. His arm was immobilized against his chest, with his chest and shoulders swathed in bandages to keep the wounds clean. The droids had done their best work with the skeletal reconstruction, but it would be some time before it was known how successful it had been. It would be another day before they could begin his bacta sessions, to say nothing of the continued reconstruction sessions, and she knew he would probably be asleep most of the time due to the sedatives and pain medication, but she still felt a need to be near him. She had been in a daze for most of the day, not fully comprehending the magnitude of what had occurred. Now, though, she was shaken to the core, realizing how close the dark side had come to claiming his life. And she was exhausted. Cutting Atrox off from the Force had taken more from her than she had realized at first, too focused on the moment to think about herself. With a sigh, she rested her head on the bed near him, content to sit near him as long as she was permitted.

Leia came up behind her and squeezed her shoulders gently. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." Mara's voice was brittle, belying her words.

Leia shook her head, disapprovingly. "You need to rest. He'll be fine, he's under the best of care."

"I'm not going anywhere," Mara said stubbornly, unwilling to leave Luke unattended.

"You haven't had a checkup your whole pregnancy, have you?" Leia said suddenly.

"So?" Mara retorted sourly.

Leia reached out to Anakin, hoping he could make Mara see reason. Father, I need your help.

I'm on my way, Anakin replied. What is it?

Mara is being… difficult. Leia responded.

Difficult? Anakin barely suppressed a smile as he strode into the room. "Now, what's going on?"

"Nothing." Mara stated firmly.

"Then what isn't?" Anakin asked, knowing something was wrong.

"Mara refuses to take care of herself… again." Leia put in. "Have you even been sleeping lately?" she asked accusingly.

"Of course I have," Mara glared at her.

"When was your last fetus scan, Mara?" Anakin demanded, daring her to lie to him.

Mara's gaze was defiant. "Why do you want to know? None of you cared before."

Anakin's eyes narrowed, and a medicine vial shattered. "How—"

"Watch it, Vader," Mara warned, eyes glittering.

Beside them, the medical monitors began to fluctuate as Luke began tossing and turning, groaning in his sleep, mumbling "Father… Mara… Vader…" the last word spoken with such terror as only Luke Skywalker could show.

Anakin froze, stunned by his son's words. At last, he murmured, "Mara… forgive me. I… should not have lost my temper."

She nodded, curtly, as she bent to try to calm Luke. "Shh," she murmured as she stroked his hair.

He continued to toss and turn even more uncontrollably, still muttering under his breath. "Master." His voice became dark, Atrox's again.

Mara shivered, a tremor of fear running through her at the sound. Her hand came to rest over his heart as she stared at him wordlessly.

"Darth Vader is dead," Leia snapped, her expression harsh. He's dead, her mind practically screamed at her brother.

Anakin opened himself fully to the Force, letting it flow through the bond between him and his son. Luke's restlessness gradually stilled, and he muttered a single word before finally subsiding. "Father."

Once Luke was still, Anakin turned back to Mara. "Now," he said sternly. "You're going in for a checkup, no more arguments." He gripped her arm tightly to emphasize his point.

She pulled away again angrily. "Not until their father can be present," she said flatly.

As Luke shifted again, Anakin warned, "If you keep this up he'll wake. Do you want him to become Darth Atrox once more?! You may have purged the dark side from him, but you have not rid him of Darth Atrox."

Mara fell silent. At last, she whispered, "Fine. Let's get this over with."

"It should not take long, Mara," Anakin said softly as he moved to lead her to the other wing of the medical ward.

She looked down at Luke's still form, and said softly, "Don't go anywhere, farmboy, I'll be back." Then she turned and followed Anakin out of the room. He led her into a separate area of the ward and bade her wait while he sent for an obstetrician.

Anakin stormed in with the obstetrician right next to him, looking furious. "Sit down. How could you neglect these twins!"

"I haven't." Mara snapped fiercely. "They're fine."

"Here we go again…" Anakin muttered under his breath.

Mara turned on Anakin, eyes flashing. "You stay out of it!" she snarled before whirling back on the obstetrician. "Do your job. If I want another lecture, I'm sure their father will do an adequate job when he wakes."

Subdued, the woman began setting up the equipment for the procedures, with Mara eyeing her suspiciously. "Now, lie down and we'll begin…"

Mara stormed out of the room, leaving Anakin to finish with the obstetrician. She went back to Luke's room and collapsed in her chair, feeling both drained and annoyed. The whole procedure, she felt, had been a waste of time; it told her nothing she didn't already know.

Next to her, Luke stirred in his bed, his arm slowly moving towards her, sensing where she was. "Mara," he whispered softly, his eyes barely open.

She rested a hand on his arm, watching him. "How are you feeling?"

"What… happened?" he asked softly, too weak to sit up.

A shadow crossed her face. "It's not wise to cross a Sith Lord, it seems."

"I… could have… told you that," Luke replied, knowing full well what had happened to him when he had crossed Vader. "Now, what happened?" he pressed, his weak tone becoming annoyed.

She winced, knowing he would not let the matter rest. "Darth Atrox… tried to kill you."

"That's an understatement," Anakin said as he walked into his son's room, his eyes locking with Luke's.

Mara eyed him. "It's sufficient for the moment."

"How long have I been here?" Luke asked, his eyes moving towards Anakin.

Anakin frowned. "It's been what… a day?"

"Almost two," Mara informed him shortly.

"Where is Leia?" Luke asked, reaching out through the Force to her.

"Right here," Leia said from the doorway. "I was having a few words with Mara's obstetrician."

"Leia," Luke said reaching his arm out towards her. "How are the twins and how did you get her to go in the first place? She is too stubborn—"

"Look who's talking," Mara retorted, swatting his good shoulder.

"It wasn't easy," Leia admitted. "Father was able to persuade her. He can be quite… forceful–"

"And annoying," Mara cut in, glaring at Anakin for a moment, then returning her attention back to Luke. "I can see where you get it from, farmboy." She muttered under her breath.

"In any case, the twins are fine. No problems were detected, and they're doing very well, though Mara needs to get regular meals and sleep if they are to continue to develop properly." Leia continued, ignoring Mara's interruption.

Luke glared towards Mara, his expression peaceful, but demanding her compliance. "That's good, and I'm sure she will follow the doctor's every instruction." He paused, reaching out through their bond. We would not want to neglect their health.

"I'm doing the best I can, Skywalker, under the circumstances," she grumbled. You're one to be giving advice on the subject, aren't you.

"I suppose," Luke said softly, turning towards his sister. "How have you been?"

"Well enough," Leia replied. "Though I should be the one to ask you. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," Luke said softly, looking towards her. "How much of a wreck was Mara when I was out… when she was without me?"

"I was not a wreck!" Mara snapped, insistently.

"That's not how I remember it," Anakin could not help adding in spite of himself.

Mara glared at him. "The only time I've seen her so bad was when you were injured just before you left on the… the mission," Leia replied quietly.

Luke nodded, looking towards Mara, understanding exactly how she felt. "Sometimes it pays to have someone who is overprotective of you." Luke said softly, smiling towards her, grateful for her protectiveness.

Mara frowned. "If you weren't so danger-prone I wouldn't have to be, Skywalker," she scolded gently.

"Comes with being a Skywalker," Luke teased back softly.

"I hadn't noticed," she retorted. "In the five months I've known you, you've received wounds that would have killed lesser men, and more scars than I care to remember."

"Comes with the being my father's son." Luke said, pride for his father emanating within his very soul.

Anakin smiled at his son, the faintest shadow of pain in his eyes. "That's not always a good thing," he said quietly.

"Yes it is," Luke insisted, his eyes blazing with pride. "I don't care if you were Darth Vader, you are my father. I will always be proud of you; because of you, I see the dark side for what it truly is."

"No, son, I am proud of you, for being able to conquer the darkness I forced on you, and for saving me from a lifetime of slavery to Palpatine's lies." Anakin argued firmly.

"Anything to end his lies," Mara sneered, still angry from her discovery.

"By holding on to them, we let them continue, Mara," Anakin said softly.

She nodded, sullenly, the resentment still there.

"He is right, Mara, by holding onto your anger… your hate, you are letting the dark side control you. Let go of it… if not for me, for our children." Luke said softly, reaching out for her both with the Force, feeling the life inside her and her presence, and with his good arm.

Mara squeezed his hand gently. "Help me," she whispered, unable to meet his eyes.

Luke opened himself to her, filling her with his newfound peacefulness. She felt it filter through their bond, slowly draining away her hatred and resentment and replacing it with a greater realization of her new identity. Gradually she lifted her eyes to meet his, full of love and gratitude. "Thank you," she murmured, bending to kiss his cheek.

"You're welcome, Mara," Luke whispered, trying to sit up to kiss her cheek as well. Slowly, he reached out to his children and gestured for Mara to do the same with the Force, wanting to be together as a family, for his children to sense his return.

She reached out to their children as well, embracing them alongside their father, feeling more complete than she ever had. Within her, she sensed their tiny presences grow calm, contented in their father's presence.

Luke basked in the presence of his children, no longer afraid of him, and their mother, feeling like a complete family for the first time. He smiled, reaching out to her through the Force. These children are the most special gifts. They have saved us from our darkness; I know they will be great Jedi one day.

She smiled back, a hand falling to rest on her womb as she looked into his eyes peacefully. If they are even half as great as their father, I will be content.

As the two were examining their unborn children, Admiral Solo heard the news about Darth Atrox's injury and ran into the ward where he was being kept to check up on him. "Lord Atrox, I just heard about your injury, have you recovered sir?" He asked, kneeling before him in front of the gurney.

Leia started when she saw him; the two had hardly exchanged a word since before the mission. She kept silent, however, as Mara eyed him. "Who gave you clearance to be in here?"

Solo did not look up to meet Mara's eyes and instead continued to look down at the floor below him. "I am Lord Atrox's aide, and my clearance comes from him and him alone. Not you."

"If you're looking for Darth Atrox, you'll have to search elsewhere," Mara said coldly. "This is Luke Skywalker's room."

Solo looked up to meet Mara's eyes, "Luke Skywalker died and became Darth Atrox." His eyes shone with a coldness ingrained by Lord Atrox.

"Luke Skywalker lives, and is in no condition to receive more visitors at this time." Mara snapped, a hard edge to her voice. "I'm going to ask you, once more, to leave." Her tone was dangerous, threatening.

Slowly, Luke looked towards Han. "He may stay, Mara," he said firmly. He moved to the edge of the gurney, and stood before him. "Han, I hope you will remain my friend after this." Luke said softly, a single tear forming in his eye as he prepared to undo the damage he had done.

Mara looked as though she wanted to pin Luke back onto the bed, but grudgingly allowed him to continue. Anakin, knowing what Luke was trying to do, reached out to lend his strength to his. Luke infused the healing power of the Force into Han's memories, fully repairing the damage that Palpatine and Atrox had done. Han groaned with pain as the barriers were destroyed, again feeling as though his mind were being ripped apart. "Wh- what have I done to deserve such punishment, sir?" Han gasped.

Leia reached out to grip his shoulder, reassuringly. Finally Han could no longer stand the strain, and collapsed, sinking into unconsciousness. Leia looked up at her brother from Han's side, and asked quietly, "Will he be alright?"

"He will be fine, he needs rest however." Luke replied weakly, feeling tired once more. "You should be with him Leia. It is unlikely he will want to be near me anymore… after what I have done to him." He continued as he collapsed onto the bed, nearly passing out from the effort of restoring Han's mind.

She nodded, sensing his guilt and grief over the loss of his friend. Anakin sent for a stretcher, and together they moved him into another room.

Mara looked down at Luke, feeling his pain as if it were her own. Eyeing the others, she ordered everyone out. "He needs rest, not excitement."

Leia nodded, and said, "I'll be with Han if you need me for anything."

Anakin walked up to Luke, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so proud of you, my son," he said softly, then followed Leia out of the room.

Luke looked up into Mara's face through half-closed eyes, and he slowly reached up, his hand tracing her cheek. "I... love you… all, Mara… my children. Make… Han see… that I've… changed." Luke whispered as he fell asleep, his hand slowly falling from Mara's cheek.

"I love you too, Luke," Mara murmured softly, stroking his hair. She smiled a little, tears shimmering in her eyes as she felt his presence fade back into sleep.