Jedi-lover: Another well written post, but boy is this story depressing.
I'm terribly sorry... This chapter isn't any better either! But, the next one should be more light-hearted. Well, to a point. This entire story is horribly dark now that I think about it...
Please tell me there is going to be a happy ending. I like happy endings.
It'll be a happy ending for Luke and Mara... but it's definately something you won't think of now. I promise they'll end up together in the end! Even though they'll go through hell first but...
But somehow I believe I am not going to get it...at least not right away.
...pretty much...
Why do I have a bad feeling that somebody is going to go over to the Darkside and kill somebody else with a lightsaber? I guess I am just being paranoid.
No... but going to the Darkside is one of the main plot points here. Or rather, the start of a destruction sequence that will rock the firm world this is set in...
Keep up the good work.
I will! Thank you so much!
REMEMBER I WANT A HAPPY ENDING!
:Salutes: Yes Ma'am!
Szhismine: what's going on...
An evil!twisted plot?...
what's up with Mara and Leia...
Leia hates Mara. Mara knows it and thinks she deserves it. Theyalllive happily ever after.
GAH THE LAST TIME THEY'LL SEE LUKE AND MARA?
Yup! So! PROUD! of! Self!
tries to breathe but ends up exploding
Holy... I have exploding readers! Ah! No! No exploding:tosses oxygen canisters at the poor readers before they can explode:
KEEP WRITING PLEASE!
I do! I am. Or, rather, I'm trying...
CeeKay: Argh! Evil nasty cliffhanger! Sheesh, that was mean. If I wasn't already hooked, I would be now.
Yes! I still have the touch! (teh touch... of EVIL!)
I have to disagree with you. "Fall Like Fire" is twice as good as you think. I swear. I don't say things like that lightly.
You're making me blush horribly, Dearest Madam...And I thank you for the insurmountable trust you're placing in me, and I hope I'll be able to keep it in good faith.
And to answer your question, I've been playing euphonium for 10 years. If you don't know what that is (and almost nobody does), it looks like a little tuba, plays in the same range as the trombone, and sounds like a fat French horn.
You're right... I didn't know what it was... but I have seen them before! I just called them "The Smaller Ones Of Those" and pointed at the tuba's...
CrazyGeek22:WELCOME TO Fall Like Fire OH WONDERFUL REVIEWER! I am SO thrilled that you saw fit to review this, it means so much to me!
y does Leia hate Mara so much?
Plot device. Mainly for the ending which might not be reasonable unless I make Leia hate Mara. I'll see if I can fit in a flashback to explain why Leia hates Mara...
Agreed they aren't on the best of terms, but come on!
Teh Plot demands it I tell you!
I really liked WM, but this has been going on a little too long. I loovvee angst, but really, I think this is too much at times. This is not a flame, I am just suggesting that you lighten up, just a tad.
Don't worry, I didn't think of it as a flame. I'm really sorry that this is dragging, but, I honestly have to admit that it's not going to get any better. Well, it will at the end but I'm quite a ways away from it.
By the way, I'm still not breathing. I know you're not going to kill them, but Luke and Leia can't be seperated forever!
:Laughs: Not going to kill them, eh'? Says who? I'm sorry, I'm being a little brat, but... your comment was just so ironic. And you shouldn't worry about Luke and Leia as much as you should Luke and Mara...
MaraJadeSkywalkerJedi: o0
Aw! So cute!
Interesting story, that... Keep it up, can't help but wonder what's gonna happen.
LOTS is going to happen. Lots and lots and lots...
AN: Okay guys, this is just a heads up. I'll be leaving the country at the end of the month till June. I'll try to get out two or three more chapters before then, but I might not be able to. My mom had surgery on Friday and the doctors tentativly let her come home today and we're having to baby her right now and it's taking up a lot of my time... so... yeah. Enjoy!
Chapter Five
The day was bright, cold, and windy – something rarely seen on the jungle planet – when the Fires Freedom landed on Yavin IV several days later. Mara Skywalker strode down the ramp onto the landing platform, her pack slung over one shoulder and another held tightly in her right hand. If anyone had bothered to look close enough, her white knuckles would have been plainly obvious. The thick braid that hung down her back was tighter then comfort should allow, but she was beyond noticing. The haunted look in her green eyes no longer was visible, and the former Trader radiated confidence. And she knew it was false confidence.
"Hey, wait, Mara!" Luke Skywalker yelled as he stumbled, and fell down the ramp after his wife.
A smile of real amusement lit up Mara's face as she turned to face her red-cheeked husband as he picked himself up off the ground and brushed his shirt off and grabbed the bags he had dropped.
"Having fun?" Mara asked teasingly.
"Oh yes," Luke said sarcastically. "Loads of fun."
Mara shifted her weight to one leg, watching her husband with undisguised amusement as he hurried to join her. Her loose garments fluttered madly in the wind, and Mara's attention was distracted by the odd sensation. In lieu of her normal black form-fitting jumpsuit, she was wearing flat-footed boots, loose brown pants, and a lightish red (pink) shirt that supposedly belonged to her husband, not that he'd ever admit to it. The clothes contrasted strangely with her military-grade tense braid and the harshness of her exotic features, but in a strange way they seemed to compliment them as well.
"I'll make sure to let you do it again for your life-day then," Mara said with almost perfect seriousness.
"…Life-day?" Luke asked, frozen in mid-step, his eyes opened in almost comical horror. "Dear Force no! Not that!"
"Ah, face it Luke, you'll soon be a year older." Mara tormented impishly, smirking at him.
"I will never grow up," Luke declared haughtily.
"Oh I wasn't hoping for that much," Mara muttered. "Just for grey hairs. You haven't changed in forever. It isn't fair."
"Jade, you've changed less then I have. What the sith are you on about?" Luke was genuinely puzzled.
"It's your attitude. You seem like a teen still, how do you do that by the way?"
"What?"
"Seem so unknowing of your own vitality."
"Huh?" Luke blinked, unfreezing to hurry after Mara. "What do you mean?"
Mara shifted under the weight of the bags, and ignored the question. "They're waiting up for us up at the temple, we should get going."
"Mara, what are you talking about?" Luke persisted.
"About being teased mercilessly for being late," Mara evaded, not meeting Luke's eyes as she turned away.
"Mara…" Luke trailed off, the conversation he had, had with his wife two weeks before flashing into his mind. The one where Mara had said he thought she was a disappointment. The same helpless rage swamped his senses as the one that had held him in thrall till Mara had asked to be trained as a Jedi…
Luke stilled. She had used training to be a Jedi to distract him. To get him to leave that topic alone.
"It's nothing Luke, really." Mara shook her head and turned around so she could walk backwards. "Trust me."
Luke's automatic response died when she said those two little words. He felt uneasy for some reason, but he was unable – or unwilling – to identify it. He forced a smile and he cocked his head at her. "Of course I trust you. But that doesn't get you out of that conversation." Oh, trust me, Lady Skywalker. We'll be having that conversation…
"Which one?"
"The one you've been dodging for weeks." Luke broke into a small jog until he was close enough to Mara to pull the bag off her shoulder, sling it onto his own, and capture her hand in his with a familiarity that would've been alien even a few months before.
"Oh. That conversation." Mara sounded less then thrilled, and it made Luke even more nervous.
Mara bit her lower lip. Damn! Can't he just leave that alone? I don't want to have that conversation. He'd see everything in me if I did that, and he already views me as a task… what would he do to me if I became a chore he hated?
"If becoming a Jedi is what's worrying you so much, it's the right choice." Luke tried to assure her. "I promise you that."
"It's not that, exactly," Mara hesitated, wondering if she was actually brave enough to open up Luke, and hating herself for being so full of fear.
Luke stared at her impassively, waiting for an explanation that Mara was incapable of giving him.
"If I become a Jedi, then can we have this conversation?" Mara asked, her voice slightly strained, praying with all her heart that he would say yes and give her enough time to make herself worthy of his admiration, to prove she could be a success, even though she was a failure in the past.
"Will you level with me?" Luke questioned.
"Yes." Mara said with as much surety that she could muster.
"Okay then, we'll come back to this conversation later." Luke raised their linked hands to his face and pressed a gentle kiss to Mara's fingers. Mara smiled softly, her cheeks blushing a little as she tried to ignore the love she felt for the gentle Jedi.
She wasn't worth this.
-
Great going, Genius. Mara snapped at herself. You gave your word! How could you be so… so… caviler about this?
Luke has a right to know!
To know what? Girl, he already KNOWS you're a failure. Admitting it all to him won't change anything.
I'll… I'll tell him about my old Master - Palpetine. How I'm remembering what he told me.
Please, spare me. You've always been hearing voices, why should now be anything special?
It just is! I've just gotten worse since I heard it, not that I ever was a particularly good… well…. Anything…
Exactly. You were a failure as a Hand – you had to wait SEVEN years before you could carry out your last order! And even then you only got off on a technicality. Smuggler? If it wasn't for you, Karrde would still be able to be one. Now he has to be 'Respectable'. Whose fault is that?
…Mine?
Got it in one. You're a failure as a wife – or did you notice how Luke wasn't even there when you were released from the medward. If you were a better wife, he would've cared enough to be there.
Stop saying those things!
What? The truth?
It hurts.
Truth hurts. It's how you separate the truth from lies. Lies feel good, but the truth never feels good. That's the truth!
NOO! I can't accept that! Just… stop it! Stop talking!
And you were a failure as a Force adept! Shrieked the voice inside Mara's head, unable to stop pointing out all of her failures.
I am one of the most powerful-
Powerful? You think talking to people inside your head is a – a – a talent of some sort! It only illustrates how much of a freak you are! Normal people don't do that. They can do things like heal, or help animals, not hone in one a person, hunt them down and slaughter them with the least bit of effort! THAT is what makes you such a failure! That's all you were made to do, but you can't do it! You showed MERCY to your enemies! And your weakness has only grown since you met Skywalker.
Mercy is not a weakness; it is a-
Foolish emotion. It tampers with your common sense. It turns you into a fool. A failure.
No, it's NOT!
It does! It was illustrated time and time again in the Empire! Those who showed mercy failed, and those that did what was right were the ones worth remembering.
No. I can't accept that! I won't!
You can't hide from the truth!
The truth can't be real! I won't let it be real! I'll be a Jedi! A good one! Hell, I'll be the best Jedi you ever saw!
Best Jedi? Why do you go against everything you were ever taught? The Jedi are evil, self-serving, ego-driven, self-righteous fools! And you should know as well as I do that there is no such thing as a good Jedi.
Luke is one.
Skywalker… The man you should've killed. That was the reason that you were made. Is what the Master wanted you to do so difficult? All you were supposed to do was to help him. To kill his enemies. If you had managed to that, then he might've in time learned to love you. After all, you're not completely unlovable, you just make yourself so.
Luke loves me! He said so himself!
And the Master could've said he was really a Gungan! Would that've made it any truer?
The Master lied to me. I wouldn't have trusted him.
Oh… but you would've. Because he's the only one that really could ever love you. He's the only one that could care about you. He didn't try to change you – he gave you guidelines and let you follow them according to your own will. Skywalker can't even let you walk around on your own; he has to hold your hand!
He means it to show how much he cares about me! I told you he loves me!
He's controlling you. Can't you see it? You can't even think ill of him.
Luke would never do that.
Oh? Then why is he going to interrupt you and make you meditate – with him?
He won't. He said he'd be talking with Kam and Tionne for a long time, catching up on things here at the acade-
"Mara?" Luke's clear voice sliced through her inner battle as cleanly as a lightsaber as he opened the door to their quarters and walked into the entryway.
Mara forced herself up on slightly-trembling knees, heading for the doorway. "Y-yes?"
"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind meditating with me for a while, I think I need it rather badly." Luke explained rather sheepishly when he saw her. "Kam said I was far too distracted to be of any use to him and sent me away."
Mara smiled at him, leaning her shoulder against the doorjamb as he walked closer to her and took her hand in both of his. "Kam sent you away?" she snickered. "Of course you can meditate with me."
Luke smiled at her and kissed her forehead. "Thank you, Mara Skywalker, for you're oh so generous offer."
"My pleasure entirely, farmboy," Mara's eyes sparkled at Luke and he felt at peace.
You see? He is troubled by something. He needs my support, he isn't controlling me. Mara said sincerely, ignoring the other voice in her head to the best of her formidable talent. He loves me. He says he loves me…
Just wait, Jade. One day, you'll see I'm right. You'll see.
Mara's given her word, but there are so many ways to escape it. I mean, she got out of killing Luke... can she get out of explaining this problem to him?