No. 19—Enough is Enough
Knees Buckling | Repeatedly Passing Out | Head Lolling
A/N: I wrote this while watching Jurassic World: Dominion.
Luke leaned back in his chair, enjoying the rare occasion where he didn't have to be in charge or responsible for anything. He scanned the conference table of smugglers then glanced over at his beautiful wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, here on Karrde's behalf. She was negotiating beautifully.
"That just isn't possible!" Mara said. "Your demands are, quite frankly, ridiculous."
Luke took a sip of the hot chocolate the smugglers had provided for him. Normally, he wouldn't partake in food provided by opponents in negotiations, but he couldn't resist the drink. Even if these negotiations fell through, he was glad for the time with Mara. She was even more beautiful when she was frustrated.
"Ah, Mrs. Skywalker, but we have the ultimate trump card." Gratmin, the grizzled human male leader of the group of smugglers, smiled and stared at Luke. The rest of the smugglers stared at him as well.
Luke froze, his mug still to his mouth. He hadn't come to disrupt anything, he just wanted to hang out with his wife. Why were they dragging him into it?
Mara turned to him as well, her emerald-green eyes locking with his. "What trump card?"
"Are you familiar with the poison cykatoxin?" Gratmin asked.
Oh. Luke set his hot chocolate down on the table. The proffered drink seemed a lot less tasty now. He hadn't felt any danger sense with the Force. Were they bluffing or had he been admiring Mara too much to notice the warning? That would be a rookie mistake he wouldn't relish explaining to his students.
Mara drew her lightsaber but didn't ignite it. "You wouldn't dare. The New Republic will never work with you if you poison Luke Skywalker."
"I'm sure that if you know about cykatoxin, you know the antidote is incredibly rare," Gratmin said. "They will have no choice."
Mara ignited her lightsaber and pressed the blade up near Gratmin's neck. "Give me the antidote."
Luke's stomach cramped. His vision blurred. He really had been poisoned. "Mara."
"I know, Farm boy, but there are some times when anger is—"
"No, Mara!" Luke rubbed his eyes, but his vision stayed blurry. "That's not what I…" He curled over and vomited on the table. "I can barely see."
"You can kill me, but you won't get the antidote," Gratmin said. "So? Will you agree to my terms?"
Mara deactivated the lightsaber, glaring at him. Through their Force bond, Luke could feel her preparing herself for the humiliation of conceding to his terms.
Luke stood up, his hand on his own lightsaber. "The answer is no. I refuse to be a pawn in your plans."
"What—" Mara said.
Trust me, Luke sent her. Leia had a growing collection of every antidote she could get her hands on due to stuff like this happening to them far more than normal. He had heard her say cykatoxin in connection with her antidote stash recently, so that might mean it was part of her collection.
It was a gamble he was willing to die for. They just had to get to Coruscant first.
Mara nodded. "Your call, Farm boy." I suppose it is your life, after all, she sent to him.
Luke flipped towards the window, or at least, where the window had been a minute ago. He crashed through the transparisteel amidst a flurry of blaster bolts and fell several stories, slowing himself with the Force. A few seconds later, a blurry form with red hair he assumed was his wife landed next to him.
"So, what's the plan?" Mara asked.
"Run to the ship, fly to Leia, get the antidote," Luke said. Best Mara not know it was only a possibility Leia had it or Mara would yell at him. He reached out his hand. "I think you should…guide me."
"Probably," Mara said. She grabbed his hand. "It's not too far to the ship. Let's go."
They took off running.
Luke's breaths came hard, harder than they should with his training. His vision had gotten worse. All he could see was a dark blur. Cramps spread throughout his stomach and squeezed his chest. Sweat poured down his arms and trailed down his stomach.
Mara pulled him to a stop. "Shavit."
"What?"
"They took our ship!"
"What?" Luke curled over and vomited on hangar floor. "Where's… What…"
"Oh, Luke." Mara grabbed his shoulders. "Just breathe with me."
"We need to…get out of here," Luke said. "They're going to…be waiting for us here." He automatically activated his lightsaber and jerked his hand up.
A blaster fired, knocking his hand back with the force of deflecting the bolt with his blade.
"This way!" Mara said. She pulled him forward.
Luke stumbled behind her, deflecting bolts he couldn't see with the prompting of the Force.
Mara shoved him forward and released his hand. A door slammed.
"All right, we need to find an alternate route out of here," Mara said.
Luke's knees buckled. He fell forward, losing his grip on reality.
"Come…on, Farm boy," Mara said.
Luke lifted his head. His legs dangled down one side of Mara and his head down the other. "Wha…"
"Luke!" Mara dropped him to the ground. "You're awake!"
He groaned. "Mara, where…"
"Trying to find another ship," she said. "How are you feeling?"
"I don't…" He panted for breath. Awful aches spread through his body, especially through his chest and stomach. "I don't feel very good."
"Do you think you can walk?" she asked.
"I can…try. You'll need to…help me up."
Mara grabbed his arms and helped him to his feet. He wavered, leaning on her.
"How's your vision?" she asked.
"I can't see anything." His head lolled, dropping onto her shoulder.
"No, wait, Luke. Luke!" Mara patted his cheek.
"I'm sorry," he breathed, collapsing into darkness again.
"Cykatoxin, huh?" a gravelly male voice asked.
"Yeah," Mara said.
Luke jerked. He was over the shoulder of a broad, tall man whose Force signature he didn't recognize. He heaved, spewing his guts all over the back of the mysterious man.
"Luke!" Mara cried.
"Ma…Mara," Luke panted.
"Talk later, run now!" the mysterious man grunted. "This way!"
Blasters fired all around them. A lightsaber hummed, deflecting bolts.
"We're still…running?" Luke asked. Shouldn't they have gotten to a ship by now? He didn't exactly have a lot of time.
"Yeah," the mysterious man snapped. "Still running. You okay with that, Jedi?"
"Mara!" Luke called. He wanted her, not this stranger.
"I'm right behind you, Luke," Mara said. "Don't worry, I'm right here!"
"Mara!" Luke called, dropping off again before he could reach out for her.
He woke up shuddering. "Iss so…cold," he slurred.
"I know you are." Mara kissed the side of his head where it was propped up against hers. He was curled up against her side, her arm wrapped around his back. They sat against cold metal. "It's going to be all right. We're going home."
"Home. But…the ship…" Luke said. The Jade Sabre, Artoo, their stuff…
"We'll gather a team and storm the smugglers. We'll get the ship and the droid back," Mara said.
"Okay." Luke closed his eyes, though it didn't make much difference. His robes were soaked with sweat, but he was so cold. "I want to go home." Had she said where they were headed?
"We are going home, Luke," Mara said. "Just hold on."
So he did, grabbing onto her jumpsuit and holding on tight until the darkness pulled him under again.
"You're stupid."
Luke dragged his eyes open, squinting against the bright light. "Hello to you too, Leia." His twin sister hovered over him, arms crossed. The med center of Imperial Palace rose up around him. Mara slept in a chair by his bed.
"I got the antidote to cykatoxin yesterday," Leia said. "While you were in the smugglers' den. Being poisoned."
Luke smiled. "Great timing, then."
"You banked on me having an antidote that I didn't have!" Leia said. "You're stupid! You could have died!"
"But I didn't," Luke said. "You got the antidote just at the right time."
"If you say that the Force was directing your steps…" Leia shook her finger in his face.
Luke laughed. "How do you know it wasn't?"
"Ooh!" Leia snapped her hand back. "It's a wonder Mara can put up with the stress you put her through."
"Leia, I'm sorry," Luke said, dropping his smile. "I'm sorry I worried you."
Leia sighed. "You'd better be." She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. "Get some rest, you look terrible."
"Thanks," Luke said drily.
Mara stirred, blinking and rubbing her eyes. She glanced at Luke and dove forward. "Luke!" Before he had the chance to breathe, she grabbed his cheeks and kissed him soundly.
Luke blinked up at her, not wanting her to pull away, but slightly relieved she gave him the chance to catch his still-labored breath. "I should almost die more often if this is the response I get."
"Don't you dare." Mara glared at him with her beautiful sharp emerald-green eyes but leaned forward to kiss him again.
"I'll leave you two alone," Leia said. "Make sure he gets rest, Mara."
"I will," Mara said. "I'll make sure of it."
"Hopefully not too much rest," Luke murmured.
Mara rolled her eyes. "Sorry, Farm boy. This is as good as it gets until you strengthen."
Luke heaved a sigh. "Spoil sport."
The door hissed shut behind Leia.
Mara shook her head, flopping down on the chair. "So much for our couples time, huh?"
Luke reached out an aching arm and took her hand. "This isn't so bad."
Mara ran her thumb over the back of his hand. "I was hoping more nice restaurants and peaceful beaches. But I suppose ICU beds will have to do."
"I love you," Luke said.
"I love you too, Farm boy." And Mara leaned in for another kiss.
A/N: The Force: Luke, there's danger in this room.
Luke: You're right, isn't Mara just so beautiful? I'm so lucky to be married to her.
So there's this Tarzan sequel where Tarzan runs into a former servant on his estate who wants to steal gold from a nearby temple founded by descendants of Atlantis (long story) where Tarzan got most of his wealth. But as she's planning this theft, Tarzan happens along her camp on his way to steal more gold from the Atlantis-descended people who once tried to sacrifice him to their sun god. The former servant is like, "Hey, he'll be super suspicious of us if we just hang out with him and he'll recognize me and will go all ape on us, but he has this big weakness for coffee. Like super huge. If we pour narcotics into his coffee, he'll drink it even if he's suspicious of us because he can't resist coffee and he'll pass out and we can go on our merry way and steal the gold." And it works. Even though Tarzan is suspicious of the camp of people, he can't resist their coffee. And he wakes up several hours later tied up and abandoned and kicking himself for getting tricked with delicious coffee.
I know this is Star Wars, not Tarzan, but I've always loved that part of the Tarzan sequel and had to recreate it with Luke. You know that no matter what suspicions he had, he wouldn't be able to resist a nice cup of hot chocolate.