Chapter Eleven: Calm Before The Departure

Meditation was a tool that hardly anyone could master, yet everyone knew about. It was the only time when Anna felt safe from the dark and horrific thoughts of Cloud City, which she had been struggling to suppress. She wasn't afraid of relapsing though, and she was sure that the meditation helped her. During the time that she was in the subconscious state, she could let go of all of the unpleasant feelings, thoughts, and memories, and surround herself with the ones that she wanted to remember. However, no matter how hard or how many times she tried, she could not erase the brutal memory on Cloud City. She could still feel the intense pain that had struck her heart when Luke's hand had been severed from his arm, and the cold, numbing feeling that Vader brought with him. The adrenaline that had coursed through her veins was still something she could feel, and the memory of the expressionless mask that Vader wore was seared into the back of her mind, unable to release its iron hold on her mind.

Teaching meditation was something that Anna didn't want to experiment with, but she knew that it would help Luke if he knew how to make himself relax, and start to let go of his terrifying memories that he no doubt still thought about, and that plagued him on a regular basis. Anna could feel when he was unsettled, and whenever he was, she was always by his side, ready to help him through the tough times that he was going through. What she was going to through wasn't light by any means, but Luke had suffered so much more than emotional and mental trauma. The soft, barely-audible sound of the mechanical joints in his right hand were proof of the scars that he would bear forever.

When his ice-blue eyes opened again from one of the meditating sessions that Anna had induced on him, she smiled warmly and stood up. "Feel better?" she asked, reaching for her leather jacket that was lying casually on the chair that stood in the corner of his room, beside his bed.

"I feel great," he said. "I'm starting to regret sending you off to go and train again."

"It was my choice," Anna said, looking down at her jacket as she pulled it around her shoulder. "Besides, I still have a few more hours here. The ship that Leia called for just arrived and is being inspected and cleared for travel."

"I guess that's true," Luke responded, sitting up on the bed and standing up so he could look at her properly. "Make sure that you keep in touch with me."

"My com-link is all set up," she said, and pulled out the small, white microphone-looking device from a pocket in her jacket. "I'll make sure that I stay in contact."

"Good," he said, and lightly placed his hand on her shoulder. Anna barely even paid it any attention even though her heart was starting to flutter, as it usually did, at his touch.

"I'll be in my room getting some things together if you need me," she said a little too quickly, and she realized it right after she said it, but hoped that Luke didn't hear it at first. If he did, he made no sign, and nodded as she pulled away from him, letting his hand drop from her shoulder.

Once she was walking down the hallway again, alone, Anna took a deep breath and took and exaggerated blink. Even though she had admitted the feelings to herself, she didn't feel that she was emotionally ready to act on them, not to mention how dangerous it would be. She knew that if Vader found out that they had strong feelings for each other, then he could use one to get to the other one. Anna didn't want Luke to have more things to worry about, and she wanted to keep it that way. Until she felt that she was ready, she wouldn't try and make any sort of move to act upon her feelings. She turned into her room and shut the door, not hesitating to turn the lock. After it was securely locked in place, she turned around and rested her back on the door before sliding down it, putting herself in a sitting position. She hadn't meditated yet that day, and now she had time. She shut her eyes and leaned her head back against the door.

Flying was my natural feeling. I knew that I didn't want to do anything else. It had been a habit for me to fly, and almost instantly, I began to regret it as I was snapped back to the not-so-forgotten past, with red lights flashing at me. The last time I had flown had been one that I thought I would not survive, yet I had. Through odds defied, I had fought through it. And now I was going to die for it.

He was so much scarier in person. I had heard so many things about him, terrible things, and that he was the reason behind the war. My heart skipped a beat as he talked in his rumbling voice.

"He'll be here any minute now to find you," he said. "And then I'll have something else to use against him."

Suddenly, the face turned into Luke's, but it wasn't him. It was a much darker version of him, yet he looked so real. It had been the piercing yellow eyes that had been burned into my head.

Anna's head shot forward as she was jolted out of the nightmare. Everything had happened so fast, and she raised her hand to her head. The voice still rumbled in her head, and she shook it, trying to get it out. The disturbing image of Luke turning to the dark side was one that would not leave her alone, no matter how hard she fought to get it out of her head. Her breath was coming in uneven gasps and she rubbed her face, trying to get the last bit of sleep to wear off before she stood up.

She knew that what she had wasn't a nightmare. She had never had any nightmares. They were visions, and now she knew why she had seen the horrors twice. She had always passed them off as nightmares, but now that she was training in the ways of the Force, she knew better than to be to ignorant. All she could do now was hope that she was wrong. Luke couldn't turn to the dark side, and she wouldn't let him. As she walked into the middle of the near-barren room, she sighed. Still, she couldn't let her vision change her person. Everything had been blurry up until the point where she had seen Luke's face. It had been so clear that it was still front and centre in her mind, and it was making her almost afraid to blink. Whenever her eyes were closed, for any amount of time, she could see the face, and it scared her.

There was a knock at her door, and Anna knew exactly what it was before she even opened the door. It was time for her to leave.

I know that it's short, but since I have been focusing on another writing project for July, I decided to release this. Once I am done with my July project (I'm halfway done), I'll get back into writing this story. Until then, this will be the last update until my newest project is finished.