DISCLAIMER: George Lucas and Timothy Zahn own all these characters. I am not making any money off of this story.

This is an AU version from the proposal scene from Vision of the Future. It is a bit dark. I just got thinking about "what would Luke do if he saw something really unforgivable in Mara's past when he Force Bonded with her?" I mean, she was an assassin. She was bound to have many dark secrets.

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Back when you first came here," she said, "I told you you could go back to Coruscant if you wanted to and let the Qom Jha and me tackle the fortress by ourselves. You said no, that you had to be here, and you said not to ask you why."

He took a deep breath. "I had a vision of you on Tierfon," he said quietly. "Back before I knew you'd disappeared. I saw you lying in a pool of water, surrounded by craggy rock." He hesitated. "And you looked…"

"Dead?"

Abruptly, he snapped awake. He was laying half submerged in water inside a dark and cold underground chamber. He slowly realized he had been dreaming while in a hibernation trance. Dreaming about that fateful conversation he had with Mara not more than an hour earlier.

Artoo came over to Luke and was twittering frantically. "I'm okay, Artoo," Luke said as he stood up and dug into his side pockets looking for his glow rod.

He was shivering from the cold but managed to turn it on. He was standing in a shallow pool of water along side of an underground river. He swept the light across cavern to look for a way out when he suddenly froze. Not more than two meters from where he stood his glow rod illuminated a dreadful sight…Mara. She was floating in the shallow pool beside a craggy rock. Her lifeless eyes starring at the ceiling, her arms and legs limp and bobbing gently in the freezing water. It was exactly like the Jedi vision he had seen of her on Tierfon.

"Oh Mara!" Luke Sobbed. Luke wadded over to her side and slowly lifted her body out of the water and to a nearby ledge. "I am so sorry, Mara" Luke moaned.

She was dead.

Luke had watched her die over an hour ago in the adjacent cavern where they valiantly fought the sentinel droids. 'Her body must have been washed to this location by the rush of water created when I blew up the fusion generator,' Luke thought sadly.

Mara's lifeless green eyes stared up at him. He shuddered and looked away. 'They look at me accusingly,' He thought. With tears running down his cheeks he reached up with his hand and gently closed her eyes.

He then sat down on the ledge beside her, buried his head in his hands and sobbed uncontrollably.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>One Hour Earlier>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"There has to be a way out of this." Luke said to Mara even though he knew there was little hope of escaping their situation. It was truly ironic. They both had done what many would consider impossible—they escaped the Chiss and defeated two sentinel droids intent on killing them. Unfortunately, their salvation only placed them in a more precarious situation. Cutting a hole in the wall and allowing water to pour onto the droids was a genius maneuver. Barring a Jedi vision of the future, there was no way for Mara to know that the small hole she created in the wall would expand allowing the water to rush in unabated preventing any chance of escape. 'I should have told her about my vision earlier,' Luke admonished himself.

But prior to the assault of the droids there did not appear to be any need to burden Mara with such knowledge. And once the droids attacked there was no real time to explain. There was no time to think about anything else except repelling blaster bolts, trying to conceive a way of escape, and Mara. He found it odd that even when fighting for his life a small portion of his brain still focused on his friend. During the fight he and Mara were so immersed with the Force that their once tentative bond to each other had suddenly grew until it was as if they were of one mind and soul. Mara's thoughts and memories flooded into Luke's mind as a jumbled collage of emotions and images. He had suddenly become privy to all her fears, desires, strengths, weaknesses, hopes and most private and deepest secrets. It was just too much for Luke at the moment. There was no time to ponder or examine the gift that was suddenly given to him...until now.

With the water slowly creeping up the walls below them and with no obvious way to escape, he had nothing but time to revel in Mara's once private thoughts and memories. He smiled as he reflected on Mara's long time attraction and respect for him. He also could feel the intense loyalty she felt for her boss Talon Karrde and his crew. He was saddened by her feelings of pain and anguish as she was torn away from her parents and given to Palpatine. He saw her as she was trained as the Emperor's personal assassin and watched as she went on her various assassination missions. As Luke filtered through the various memories he stopped on an image of his home world—Tatooine. 'It must be when she was sent to kill me.' Luke thought reminiscently. As he examined the old memory he realized there was something wrong. She was not at Jabba's palace, but near the Dune Sea with a platoon of Storm Troopers. 'That's odd,' He thought. As played through the memory he froze as he saw Mara interrogating two familiar faces.

Luke broke away from his musings momentarily as he realized Mara had been talking to him.

"Too bad, too," Mara said. "You didn't know, but after that pirate base thing, Faughn told me..." Mara stopped when she sensed through their Force bond that something was wrong. "Luke, what is it?" She asked.

Luke was desperately trying to piece together and explain away the images that were flooding through his mind. A dark anger became simmering within his soul. "Mara," Luke asked tersely, "You were on Tatoonine one time before you were sent to kill me." It was not a question, but a statement of fact.

"Yes." Mara said hesitantly. "I was there with Vader to retrieve some data information discs that were stolen. I didn't do much. I traveled with a group of Storm Troopers and questioned the civilians we met." Mara had a bad feeling about this. She did not need the Force to know Luke was angry...very angry about something.

"You questioned a middle aged couple!" Luke almost cried, "What did you do Mara?" Luke's voice was hushed and deep with emotion. Realization flooded over Mara. These people, he knew them…and he must know what she had ordered done to them.

"Luke I didn't know. I was just doing my job. I did not know them." Mara was pleading with her old friend. She could feel the dark tendrils of the Force swirling around Luke as a black rage enveloped him. When he looked up at her she did not see his soft blue eyes, but the eyes of the Emperor staring back at her.

She gasped as she heard a lightsaber ignite. She was in too much shock to even defend herself. In a murderous rage Luke plunged his green blade into her heart. "You may not have known who they were, but I did!" Luke screamed, "They were my Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru and you had them killed!"

Mara looked down at the lightsaber hilt resting against her chest and then up at Luke. "I'm…so…sorry Luke." Was all she could gasp before her legs buckled and she plunged to the water below.

Almost as quick as it had begun, the murderous rage subsided. Luke dropped his saber and fell to his knees. "Oh Force," Luke whispered in shock. "What have I done?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>Present time>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Eventually the tears stopped coming. Luke was shivering and knew he must make a decision soon or he would die of hypothermia. Artoo was still next to him warbling nervously, urging him to leave.

Luke unbuckled his saber and looked at it thoughtfully. 'I killed my best friend because she was the one who ordered the deaths of my Aunt and Uncle.' Luke thought sadly. 'She really didn't know their identity. I doubt she would have hidden the fact from me for so many years if she did. What am I going to do now?'

He momentarily considered pressing the hilt of the saber to his chest and joining Mara in the Force. But he quickly disregarded that thought. He could not do that to his sister, her family or the Jedi Academy. He could confess to this crime. There probably wouldn't be a jury in the galaxy that would find him guilty after they discovered the circumstances of her death. No, that also would only bring pain to the Jedi and his family. Maybe it was best to go back and say he could not find her. Yes, by the time a search party could be sent the water or Fire Creepers would have taken care of any physical evidence of the crime. After all, there were no witnesses.

Making his decision Luke stood up and clipped the saber to his belt. He then glanced down at Artoo standing protectively at his side. 'No, there was one other witness.' Luke thought sadly. Luke patted the droid's dome affectionately. Luke knew his failure as a friend and Jedi was not yet complete.

'Artoo is overdue for a memory wipe anyway.' Luke thought darkly as he made his way out of the cold murky cavern.