To say that I love you guys, is an understatement. The response I got for the last chapter was astounding, and by far the largest yet. I feel like I should say hello to the new readers, and thanks to those that are still with me. So, thank you, you guys!

Also, I want to let you know that I love this chapter. It's the Dark Side Cave!

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Star Wars, and part of me is glad. I'm not responsible for Jar Jar this way.

Chapter Fourteen

Mara was distant. Luke watched as she ate her ration in silence on the other side of the makeshift camp from him. She was staring off into the trees, completely lost in thought. She'd been like that the last two days since they'd started sharing a tent. Every morning he'd woken up to her already being up and ready for the day. She didn't fool him though. He could feel the pain and sorrow radiating off of her every time their eyes met.

Her Jade irises, the ones he'd focused on in meditation so often, had dulled. They didn't hold the liveliness they used to, and had turned almost gray with lack of warmth.

He couldn't help but feel guilty. He must have done something. Something to make her so distant and lost. But every time he wracked his brain for something that could have set her off, he came up empty.

So he'd settled down and pretended to ignore that Mara wasn't herself and instead teased her like he normally would.

But she never teased back, and he hadn't heard that gentle teasing-flirting tone she used when she called him Farmboy in two days. She hadn't even called him that since before the tent situation.

"Young Skywalker, Young Jade," Yoda called, exiting his hovel. "On separate missions I send you today."

"What are they?" Luke asked, watching the old Jedi Master hobble into the center of their camp before stopping to rest his hands on his gimmer stick.

"To the Cave of the Dark Side," he stated. He pointed his stick towards a pathway they'd traveled before. "A true test it is. The tree it rests in, a servant of the Dark Side it is."

"What's in there?" Luke asked, glancing off at the path.

"Only what you take with you," Yoda answered. Luke looked at him before grabbing his weapon's belt.

"Your weapons," Yoda said, causing Luke to glance up at him. "You will not need them."

Luke nodded but put the belt on anyway. He trudged off towards the path and disappeared in the trees.

"What is my task, Master Yoda?" Mara asked and Yoda turned to her.

"A conversation," he nodded. "In the days of the Old Republic, most intimidating Jedi's was I. Padawans feared my criticism. Only did Younglings follow me with rapt attention. Mind of a child, truly fascinating it is."

Yoda smiled softly and looked up at her.

"Mind of others is also fascinating, wouldn't you say?" He asked with a sly smiled. Mara gaped at him as she realized that Yoda knew about the dream she'd entered of Luke's.

"Master," she began but Yoda held up a small hand.

"Finally stopped lying to yourself, I sense," he nodded. "Truly ready to become a Jedi I believe."

Her mouth gaped open in surprise. "You're not mad at me for entering Luke's mind?"

"A Jedi does not feel anger, no," he mused. "But rather pride in my student, I feel. A very advanced technique that is. To enter one's mind with little force and good intentions."

"But I didn't have good intentions, Master," she said, pain marking her face. "I was greedy. I wanted to know what Luke dreamed of."

"But malicious, your intents were not," Yoda conceded. "But finally, you are no longer lying to yourself. Remember my conversation with you on the first day, do you?"

Mara thought back to when they were talking about attachments and meditation before.

"Your friends make you rash, they do," Yoda chastised. "Separate destinies you and your friends lie. You two, similar destiny, but different paths all the same."

He sighed again and closed his eyes.

"Lying to yourselves you are."

"About what?" Mara asked hesitantly.

"If you do not know, only proves my point that does," Yoda grumbled and pointed to her.

"With all due respect, Master, how can we change it if we do not know what you are referencing?" Luke asked.

"Discover that on your own, you must."

"I do," she answered.

"Then discovered what I referenced you have?" he asked.

"Yes," she nodded. "My attachment to Luke."

Yoda nodded. "But more there is, than just attachment."

Mara looked down in shame and nodded.

"Love makes one rash, but powerful ally it is," Yoda sighed. "Most powerful. Love for our duty, for our honor. If separate ourselves from love we do, nothing do we become."

"What does that mean, Master?" she asked.

"Your attachment to Young Skywalker, harmful it could be," Yoda said firmly. "But wrong it is not."

"What?" she asked, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"If unable to focus on your Jedi powers without leaving out your attachment, dangerous you become. But if separate they are, and instead love fuels you," Yoda paused and grinned. "Then powerful, immensely powerful you will be."

"But I thought the Jedi order banned attachments?"

"True, that is," Yoda said and looked down sadly. "Too many Jedi lost due to love and attachment. Lost to the darkness."

"What does that mean for me?" she asked.

"If separate your attachments from your use of the Force, then likelihood of your falling will drop."

Mara gasped as she looked at Yoda.

"Your love of Skywalker, bad it is not."

She smiled at Yoda and nodded, her eyes brightening for the first time in days.

"Much like Luke's father he is," Yoda continued. "Not able to separate himself he is. Dangerous it is, if the difference he does not seek."

"So he's not ready for an attachment," she summed up.

"Once he learns the consequences, he will," Yoda said. "Until then, ready he is not."

Mara nodded, knowing she'd have to wait for Luke. That thought didn't bother her in the slightest.

"A truly powerful Jedi you shall become, Young Jade," Yoda smiled. "Foreseen it I have."

"Thank you Master," Mara smiled. A branch broke behind her and she turned to see Luke trudging out of the trees, a horrified look on his face.

"Master Yoda," he said, sitting next to Mara.

"Young Jade," Yoda said, ignoring Luke. "Your turn in the cave it is."

She nodded and walked away from Luke and Yoda towards the cave. The area surrounding the tree the cave resided in was ice cold. She winced as the same feeling had permeated the area around Palpatine for almost a whole mile.

She ducked into the cave, and suddenly realized she'd left her blaster and lightsaber at the camp. She'd been too preoccupied with talking to Yoda she'd forgotten it. Her panic ebbed away as she remembered Yoda's warning:

"Your weapons. You will not need them."

She inhaled deeply and headed forward into the dark foggy cave, bits of light filtering in here and there.

"Mara!" she heard Luke's voice call out.

"Luke?" she called back. A hiss sounded over her shoulder, reminding her of the respirator of Vader.

A flutter of robes crossed the light in front of her and she stopped in her tracks.

"Did you really think there was no punishment for betraying me?" an evil, raspy voice asked from behind her. She spun and saw the ruined face of Palpatine. "I have a new apprentice working for me now."

A cloaked man walked out of the shadows and pulled back his hood to reveal the face of Luke.

"Thanks for the position, Mara," he sneered. "You should have kept the power, it was yours."

"It was never mine," she snapped back. "I will be a Jedi."

A deep laugh resonated from Palpatine. "A Jedi? The Jedi are dead! Extinct!"

The respirator of Vader hissed behind her and she spun again.

"I killed them," Vader said, his deep voice echoing off the cavern walls.

"You failed," she grinned. "All of you. You didn't kill them all Vader, you never owned me Emperor, and Luke," she stepped closer to him. "You failed because you fell for their tricks."

Luke smiled. "You think you've won?"

She grinned back. "I know I've won because I know you are actually sitting with Yoda right now."

The image of Luke faltered for a second before fading away into the fog completely.

"The rebellion will win," she told Palpatine. "Your time is running out Your Highness."

The Emperor's vision floated away with Luke's. She turned to Vader who threw his hand out in a Force choke.

Her air ways constricted and she clutched her throat.

"Real enough?" the vision hissed, its black armor shifting menacingly and leaning into her. "You don't know all the answers, Jade."

Mara's vision began dotting as the black armored vision shifted to that of a young man with shaggy blonde hair and a scar running down his right cheek.

"You don't know the truth," he hissed, his sith-yellow eyes boring into hers. "You need to find the truth. The truth is the weakness. The truth. The truth is the weakness."

The Force grip released her and air flooded into her lungs again. She fell to her knees and panted, looking up as the man's image disappeared into the fog.

Her eyes bore a new determination as she stood, swaying slightly, before turning and exiting the cave.

"Saw yourself, you did?" Yoda asked, already knowing the answer.

"Is it true, Master Yoda?" Luke asked, dread and panic filling him. "Will I fall to the darkside and become Vader?"

"Always in motion, the future is," Yoda said, his ears lowering sadly.

"Can I change it?" Luke asked desperately. "I don't want to fall to the darkside. I want to be a Jedi, like my father."

Guilt rushed through Yoda at that comment, but he released it into the Force. Some things were not his to tell. "Always in motion," Yoda repeated. "Always changing, altering. A warning this is, of what could happen, not of what will."

Luke swallowed and nodded.

"Realize your mistake, you have?"

Luke nodded once more. "I'm too rash," he said. "I need to control it. To think and consider."

"Said it better myself I could not have," Yoda grinned before his expression sobered. "Much training you still have."

"I agree," Luke nodded.

"Run you shall, until Mara returns," Yoda said. "Discuss her visions in private as well I will."

Luke nodded before standing and jogging off into the trees. Not a minute later, Mara emerged from the path that led to the Dark Side Cave.

"Sense accomplishment in you I do," Yoda nodded.

"Yes, Master," she nodded before taking her seat again. "I warded off the visions, I overcame them."

"But still troubled you are?" he asked.

"Master," she started, thinking of the best way to phrase things. "I... I saw something. Darth Vader. He... He turned into a young man."

"Describe him, you can?"

"Scar over right eye, sith eyes, shaggy blonde hair," she rattled off. Yoda sighed and looked down.

"Vader's former self, you have seen," he said and looked back up at her. "Before he was in the suit."

"What does it mean?" she asked. "He kept repeating that I needed to find the truth, that the truth held the weakness."

Yoda sighed again. "Most surprising this is."

"What does it mean?" she asked. "Does he mean the weakness to the Empire? To Palpatine?"

"In time, it shall be revealed, and once it is, the time for the Empire to fall shall arise," Yoda answered.

"Do you know?" she asked quietly, and the small Jedi's eyes lit up with pain and guilt.

"Many things happened the night of the Purge. Many grave, tragic things," Yoda said, pain evident in his voice. "Many friends and Jedi were lost. Most promising student had fallen."

"Vader," she said, instead of asked. Yoda nodded.

"Powerful minds were killed, and those that escaped were hunted and killed," Yoda said. "Killed by the Dark Side."

"We will end it, Master," she said firmly. "We will discover this truth. And we will use it against the Empire."

"Easier said than done, that will be," Yoda nodded, before turning and returning to his home. Mara sat alone on the bench in thought, not really noticing when Luke came back. They readied for bed, and laid down in the tent as they had the past two nights.

When Luke woke up in the morning, his arm was firmly draped around Mara, holding her close to him.

Anyone want to take a shot at the meaning of Mara's vision in the cave? I'm kinda devious when it comes to how this is playing out! I'm really getting into the cryptic stuff.

When I first started this, I didn't take it super seriously, and now that I'm this far into the story, I've discovered how much I love it. It's my baby. The first chapter story I've truly stuck with and plan to finish. Everything is in my head waiting to get out, and you guys are the cherry on top! Swears. So yeah.

Thank you.

NEXT CHAPTER: Luke's vision of Bespin.

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