This is the last Dagobah chapter! I'm kinda sad to see Yoda go, but we'll see him again come Return of the Jedi! After this it's Bespin, and if you've read my author notes, you know how much I've wanted to do the Bespin part!

Also, I want to wish all my American buddies a Happy Fourth of July, and to all my non-American buddies, a Happy Monday! May the Force be With you All! Can I still say 'May the Fourth be with you' even though it's not May?

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Star Wars, never will unless George will sell it to me for Twenty bucks and a stick of gum.

Chapter Fifteen

Another week had passed on Dagobah. It had passed in the entire Galaxy as well, but to Mara, the only place that mattered was the swampy planet that had been her home for the past three weeks.

She awoke that morning, as she had the past week with Luke's arms wrapped solidly around her. It had gotten to the point where they simply had pushed their pillows closer together in silent agreement. They didn't say anything about it to each other, but they wordlessly allowed it to happen nonetheless.

She sighed as Luke buried his head in her hair once again. It always happened, and sometimes he said her name in his sleep while doing so. The feeling of his warm breath on her neck gave her a slight thrill, and she burrowed deeper against Luke.

She heard him groan and begin to wake up and moved slightly farther away. He yawned and she sat up and looked down at him.

"Morning," he mumbled through the yawn, rubbing his sleepy eyes. She stared a the way his overgrown hair brushed at his eyebrows, highlighting his light blue eyes.

"Morning," she grinned, and began to leave. He grabbed her wrist and she looked back at him.

"Stay," he said, and looked at her. She didn't know why, but she found herself nodding and laying back down. She turned towards him and propped herself up on an elbow, grinning.

"Morning," he said again with a grin.

"You already said that," she teased.

"Well, it's a good morning," he announced. "It deserves to be recognized."

"What makes it so good?" she asked, a happy smile on her face.

"There was a beautiful girl next to me," he said and she blushed.

"Really?" she asked jokingly, looking around the tent. "I don't see anyone else."

"You know who," Luke laughed and she grinned at him before burying her face in her pillow. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" she looked up at him.

"Hide your face," he said, his expression sobering. "It's the most beautiful face I've ever seen. Don't hide it from me."

She smiled at him calmly and stared into his eyes. If there was ever a moment to kiss him, now was it. But Yoda's words rang through her head about how Luke still needed to understand attachment and learn why his actions couldn't be rash.

"We need to get ready," she said, still grinning. He nodded and closed his eyes, sitting up and stretching. She watched his muscles flex and turned away so he couldn't catch her blush. She stood and exited the tent picking out her clothes. She was running low and they would have to be reused if they stayed any longer. Her nose wrinkled at the thought.

Luke exited the tent and and she reentered and changed for the day. By the time Luke had finished getting dressed himself and they were settling down for rations, Yoda was exiting his hovel for the day.

"Much to cover today we have," he told them, walking over to where they were seated. "Yes, mmm, much to cover."

"What will we be doing?" Mara asked and Yoda smiled.

"Practice your Force technique," he told her. "Moving objects. Hard work."

Luke nodded, finishing off his ration. It was probably going to be a long day...

"Focus your mind," Yoda encouraged, standing atop Luke's foot, which was up in the air. Luke was standing on his hands, using the Force to hold himself upright and keep his balance. Mara was in a similar position across from him, raising several rocks around her. They rotated slowly around her like the ice rings to some of the gas planets in the Unknown Regions.

"Use the Force," Yoda continued. "Yes, focus your mind. Be strong."

Luke raised a rock and stacked it upon a second one, manipulating the Force to balance those as well. He raised out his arm, standing evenly only on one hand. The Force flowed through his veins, igniting his nerves in raw potential.

Artoo beeped from the side of the clearing nervously. Desix had long ago powered down, seeing no need for his services. Artoo however had remained on, choosing instead to monitor his master. He rotated his dome and his optical sensor picked up movement with in the lake. Upon closer examination, he realized the X-Wing that Luke had crashed there was slowly sinking into the mud.

He twittered nervously, trying to get either Luke or Mara's attention.

Luke looked over at Artoo, and suddenly felt the weight of gravity heavily on his body. He put his second arm back on the ground, struggling to support himself.

"Concentrate!" Yoda called out, before losing his balance and falling from his perch on Luke. Luke fell as well, curving so as not to land awkwardly and rolling into a seated position.

Mara opened her eyes and saw Luke sprawled on the ground and Yoda hoisting himself back into a seated position with the help of his gimmer stick.

"Trouble, Farmboy?" she asked lightly, a grin on her face. Luke rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, trouble! The X-Wing just sank! Now how am I supposed to get off this planet?" he asked, frustration and anger in his voice. He stood and walked to the edge of the water. "Oh, we'll never get it out now!"

"So certain are you?" Yoda asked. Mara watched the two of them from her position upside down. She slowly moved all the rocks floating around her into a single pile before flipping forward and onto her feet. She walked over towards where Yoda stood. "Always with you what cannot be done," Yoda continued sadly. "Do you hear nothing I say?"

"Master," Luke sighed. "Moving stones around is one thing, but this is totally different!"

"No!" Yoda barked. "No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned."

Mara furrowed her eyebrows as she thought Yoda was referring to his Force teachings. Then she realized he would never suggest that and grinned slightly.

"Alright," Luke shrugged. "I'll give it a try."

"No!" Yoda called out again. Luke looked back at him curiously. "Try not! Do, or do not. There is no try."

Luke nodded and looked back at his X-Wing, focusing on the Force and gathering it within himself. He reached out a hand, and focused on the X-Wing moving out of the water. It began to lift out of the water, before Luke grunted and it fell back below the surface once more.

Luke sighed and walked back away from the water, giving up.

"I, I can't," he panted. "It's too big."

"Size matters not," Yoda said quietly. Mara leaned against a tree, watching the exchange carefully. "Judge me by my size, do you?"

Luke smirked and shook his head.

"As well you should not," Yoda said. "For my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life it breathes. Makes it grow. It's energy surrounds us," he said looking around, "and binds us. Luminous beings are we. Not this, crude matter!" Yoda pinched Luke's arm to make his point. "You must believe in the Force around you. Everywhere. Even between the land we share."

"You want the impossible," Luke sighed, standing up to retrieve his jacket. He threw it on and sat down on a log. Mara closed her eyes until she felt the Force shift around her, and opened them to see Yoda lifting the X-Wing through the air and to the shore. Artoo twittered in amazement and Luke walked towards him. He stared at the sky in awe, utterly amazed by Yoda's power. He touched the nose of the Fighter to make sure it was really there.

Mara grinned as she saw the smug look on Yoda's face.

"I, I don't believe it!" Luke said in surprise. Yoda closed his eyes before opening them to look at Luke.

"That is why you fail."

The lessons resumed with more enthusiasm from Luke. He'd now seen the true raw power of the Force, and more than ever wanted to harness that gift and maneuver it with ease.

Mara and Luke stood opposite each other, once again on their hands. Boxes and rocks lifted and hovered off the ground around them, levitated by the Force.

"Concentrate," Yoda commanded from his spot next to Luke on the ground. "Feel the Force flow. Yes..."

Artoo beeped nervously as he began floating along with the other objects nearby.

"Through the Force, many things will you see," Yoda said. "Other places. The future, the past, old friends long gone."

Luke focused on the words, letting the Force fill him with any thing it needed to. Images shot through his mind quickly. The Millennium Falcon. Han. Leia. Vader. Clouds surrounded a sunset city, lighting them gold in hue. The vision was cold, filled with pain... dread. Purpose.

"Han? Leia!" He cried out, the panic rippling through the Force. Mara felt the spike and opened her eyes to see the shocked look on Luke's face. Boxes and rocks began falling from their floating position as the two lost concentration. Artoo squealed as he fell as well.

Mara grunted as she fell and rolled to avoid hurting her neck.

Yoda sighed and shook his head at his two students. "Control, control! You must learn control!"

"I saw..." Luke said distantly, focused on his vision. "I saw a city in the clouds."

Yoda nodded. "Friends you have there."

"Han and Leia?" Mara asked and Luke nodded to her.

"They were in pain," he told her.

"It is the future you see," Yoda said calmly.

"The future?" Luke asked and Yoda nodded. He stood and looked around before turning back to the Jedi Master. "Will they die?"

Yoda closed his eyes in thought, touching the Force for answers. "Difficult to see," he said. "Always in motion the future is."

"I've got to go to them," Luke said, turning for camp.

"Luke!" Mara called out and he turned. "What about our training?"

"Stay here," he said. "I'll go rescue Han and Leia."

"No!" she cried out. "I'm not letting you go alone!"

"Mara, please-"

"No! You could die and I would never know! I need to help you," she said firmly.

"Decide you must, how to serve them best," Yoda said evenly. "If you leave now, help them you could, but you will destroy all for which they fought and suffered."

"Master, I need to rescue them. They're in danger."

"Unclear the future is on that," Yoda shook his head. "But your decision it ultimately is."

Luke nodded firmly and trudged back towards the camp. Yoda turned to Mara, his eyes thoughtful.

"Time has come, for Young Skywalker to see the error of his ways," Yoda announced.

"Then this is a bad idea?"

"Say that, I did not," he said, shaking his head. Mara furrowed her brow in confusion. "Necessary this may be for Luke to learn the true meaning of a Jedi."

Mara nodded, thinking of her conversation with him while Luke was in the Cave of the Dark Side.

"I'll help him, Master Yoda," she said. "You can trust me on that."

"Trust you I already do," Yoda assured her. "Much closer to a becoming a Jedi Knight you are than Young Skywalker."

"Really?" Mara asked in surprise and Yoda nodded.

"Go now you must. Prepare to leave."

She nodded and followed the path Luke had taken towards their camp.

Luke stumbled around the top of his X-Wing, removing the last of the swamp matter off the ship. Everything was packed up, returning Dagobah back to its natural form with the exception of the small hovel of Yoda's.

Mara sat on the nose of her ship, fiddling with her helmet and waiting for Luke to be ready to leave. Desix and Artoo were already working on the pre-flight checks and fixing any minute bugs they encountered.

"Luke!" Yoda called from his spot far down on the ground. "You must complete the training."

Luke sighed, shaking his head and finishing up his examination of his ship. "I can't get the vision out of my head, they're my friends, I gotta help them!"

"You must not go!" Yoda pressured. Luke walked down the ladder that was propped up next to his ship and turned to the small Jedi Master.

"But Han and Leia will die if I don't!"

"You don't know that," an echoed voice called out, and the shimmering form of Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared over the shoulder of Yoda.

Mara gaped at his form, never realizing that the Force allowed those to reappear in a true form. "Wizard..." she whispered under her breath in amazement, using slang from the days of the Republic.

"Even Yoda cannot see their fate," Obi-Wan told Luke.

"But I can help them!" Luke said, a bit of desperation coating his tone. "I can use the Force!"

"But you cannot control it," Obi-Wan reminded. "It's true. This is a dangerous time for you. When you will be tempted by the Dark Side of the Force."

"Yes, to Obi-Wan you listen," Yoda encouraged and Luke sighed, leaning his head against his arm which was propped up on his Fighter. "The cave, remember your failure at the cave."

Mara wondered what Luke had seen in the cave. They'd never discussed it out of privacy to the other. Something bad must have gone down for Yoda to be so adamant in using it against Luke.

"But I've learned so much since then!" Luke ensured. "Master Yoda, I promise to return and finish what I've begun! You have my word."

"It is you and your abilities the Emperor wants," Obi-Wan told him.

"He's right Luke," Mara said, and three sets of eyes looked up at her on her X-Wing. "After he figured out who shot that shot that blew up the Death Star, he became obsessed with finding you and turning you. He wants you to kill Vader and take his place."

"I would never turn," Luke told her.

"That is what Vader said so many years ago," Obi-Wan said sadly. "It is you the Emperor wants and that is why you're friends are made to suffer."

"That's why I have to go!" Luke told him, examining the engine of the Fighter.

"Luke, I don't want to lose you to the Emperor the way I lost Vader," Obi-Wan confessed.

"You won't," Luke said with a grin.

"Stopped it must be," Yoda said. "On this, all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end you're training now, if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did, an agent of evil you will be."

"Patience."

"And sacrifice Han and Leia?" Luke asked sharply.

"If you honor what they fight for," Yoda said sadly. "Yes."

"If you choose to face Vader you will do it alone," Obi-Wan threatened. "I cannot interfere."

His words tumbled over and over in Luke's mind as he made his decision. With a quick glance at Mara, still perched on her X-Wing, he turned back to Yoda and Obi-Wan.

"I understand." Luke turned and began heading up the ladder to the cockpit of his ship. "Artoo, fire up the convertors."

Mara watched the shocked expressions of the two Jedi Master's faces harden and return to their neutral state before she stood and walked back to her cockpit.

"Mara," Yoda rasped from below. She looked at the Jedi. "Beware of the Dark side, and mind your attachments."

She grinned and nodded. "May the Force be with you, Master Yoda."

"To you, may it be as well," Yoda nodded. Desix closed the roof of her fighter, darkening the surroundings around her.

"Luke!" Obi-Wan called. "Don't give in to hate! That leads to the Dark Side."

"Strong is Vader! Mind what you have learned! Save you it will!" Yoda called, trying to be heard over the sound of both X-Wing engines firing up.

"I will," Luke called down. "And I'll return, I promise." The roof to his cockpit closed and shut Luke off from the two Masters down below. Mara's ship hovered before taking off for the skies, Luke's shortly behind her.

Yoda closed his eyes as the light of their ships faded. "Told you I did, reckless is he. Now, matters are worse."

"Those two are our last hope," Obi-Wan mused.

"No," Yoda denied. "There is one more."

The light of the landing gear faded away, leaving Yoda alone on the planet once more.

Goodbye Yoda! I'll miss you! It will be a lot of chapters until the next time I see you! *Tear*

Anyways, the mid point of this story is drawing near. Amazing, I know. I pretty much have everything in my head planned out at this point, but you never know quite exactly where your characters will take you.

I haven't done this yet in this story, mostly because it embarasses me if that particular author reads this and sees it, but I'm recommending what I deem one of the best Luke/Mara stories on here. I am crazy envious of her. Really.

Alliance of Heros by JediMara77

It is insanely good. Basically, Alderaan has a slightly different effect on people, and Mara is tasked with removing the defectors from the Navy. But when she gets sucked into a plot to defect, she discovers the true evil that the Empire can be, and ends up truly defecting as well.

I started reading this story slightly before I began this story, but it didn't get to Mara's defection until after I'd already posted a few chapters of this. I'm basically just reminding you guys that I didn't plagiarize her story. We have similar concepts, but hers is alot different and insanely better. You should totally read it.

Back to my story. Don't forget to Review!

NEXT CHAPTER: Bespin