Grave Plots

The beautiful woman bent over the crib, stroking her child's soft face. "Ah, my little baby," she cooed quietly. "How long I've waited for you." She picked him up, rocking the newborn in her arms, looking up and smiling as her husband entered the room.

"Mara," Luke murmured softly, so as not to wake up Ben. The Jedi walked up to his wife, kissing her cheek, then stroking Ben's downy hair atop his head. "Having a child is like a dream come true. I never thought I'd be this lucky." He looked up, just in time to catch an odd expression on Mara's face, like a shadow flickering across a sunny meadow. But it passed as swiftly as it came, and he wasn't certain he'd even seen it truly there.

"Yes," Mara said lightly. "We're lucky. Both so incredibly lucky." Gently, she placed the baby back in the crib, then took Luke's arm. "Come, my love. It's late, and Ben needs his sleep."

Together, they walked out of the nursery, dimming the light as they left the room. Inside his crib, the baby opened his blue eyes, and gave a little gurgle as sparks tingled at his pink baby fingers.

Two years later...

Luke didn't know how to stop Ben from howling hysterically. The beings passing in the streets would hurry past, trying to escape the shrill screeching coming from just inside the store. "Ben, listen to me," Luke tried reasoning with his young son. "You can't have every toy in the galaxy. You have to save some for other children."

"I WANT!" Ben protested at the top of his lungs, clutching the small, plastic rancor to his chest. "MOMMY LETS ME!"

"Mommy does not let you have anything you want," Luke argued, belatedly realizing that arguing with a two-year-old was fruitless.

"I WANT RANCOR!"

"Ben..." Luke said, sighing. "You're too young. It has sharp teeth. You could hurt yourself."

Ben glared at his daddy, his cheeks stained with tears. "I HATE YOU!"

An older woman walking past looked down at the kneeling Jedi and the child, turning her nose up in disgust as she continued on, and Luke felt his face flush with embarrassment. "You don't mean that," Luke whispered to his son.

"I do too!" Ben said, throwing the toy on the floor. "You gonna be sorry." With that, the child hurried away, and Luke stood up and ran after, afraid of letting Ben out of his sight.

He never noticed the toy rancor slowly sizzling and melting into a dark puddle.

Five years later...

The woman was furious, and unimpressed with the fact Mara was a Jedi Master with a lightsaber clipped to her belt. "This is the third time - the THIRD time - that your son has deliberately hurt my daughter while they practiced with lightsabers," she practically shouted. "If this doesn't stop, I will not allow my child to be trained as a Jedi, Force-sensitive or not."

"The lightsabers are training models," Mara shot back. "They can't cause serious harm."

Luke glanced nervously at his hot-tempered wife, then hurriedly stepped between the two women. "Ben doesn't hurt Teena on purpose - "

"Don't give me that bantha-spit," she interrupted harshly. "My Teena has told me how your son taunts her, and then uses his superior skills to burn her skin. He laughs at her when she gets hurt!"

"We'll talk to Ben," Luke said soothingly. "I'm sure this is a big misunderstanding."

The woman looked angry and dubious. "I doubt it. But if it happens again..."

"It won't," Luke said quickly, watching as the mother turned on her heel and stalked away.

"She's just jealous of Ben," Mara said, crossing her arms. "None of those younglings can come even close to Ben's talent, and they're all jealous."

"I don't like this," Luke said, sighing. "Ben shouldn't be teasing the girl, and certainly he shouldn't be hurting her."

"If she gets hurt, it's her fault, not Ben's."

"Mara," Luke admonished. "You can't believe that."

The red-head turned her icy green gaze at her husband. "And I can't believe you're taking someone else's side here."

"I'm not taking sides," Luke replied tightly.

"Sure you are," she snapped back. "Just don't make me take sides, Luke."

"What does that mean?"

"Figure it out," Mara hissed as she walked away.

One year later...

"BEN!" Luke yelled upon seeing the disaster. "What have you done?"

The eight year-old grinned up at his shocked father. "I took it apart."

"It? Threepio isn't an 'it'!" Luke said, appalled at the array of metal parts strewn across the child's bedroom. "You put him back together. Now!"

Ben stood up, kicking the round, empty golden head, watching in satisfaction as it bounced against the wall. "No."

"No?"

"That's right. I said no. N. O. And you can't make me, either."

"I most certainly can, young man," Luke said sternly. "I'm your father, and you'll do as I say."

"Or what?"

Luke looked startled, then finally said, "I'll take away privileges until you put Threepio back together."

"Mom won't let you," the boy replied, folding his arms in a perfect imitation of his mother.

"Of course she will," Luke said with far more certainty than he felt. In fact, the older Ben got, the more Mara stood up on the boy's side, forcing Luke to either back down, or have else have an argument in front of their child. When he tried to talk to her about this issue in private, she accused Luke of expecting far too much of Ben. Luke felt the situation was exactly the opposite: it was Mara that never expected anything of Ben, especially when it came to his behavior.

Ben tried pushing past his father, and Luke reached out and placed his hand on Ben's shoulder to stop him. "Ben, listen to - " He never got any further, as Ben turned around, his eyes shining with hatred, his own small hand raised in a tight fist. Unprepared for the Force-blow, Luke flew across the room, slamming so hard against the far wall that the plaster cracked.

When Luke regained consciousness, he was in his own bed, and Mara was standing and staring down at him. "It was an accident," she said firmly. "We're not going to talk about this... ever again."

"Mara..."

Her eyes blazed in cold fury as she cut him off, her fingers touching the hilt of her lightsaber. "An accident! I said it was an accident!"

Luke swallowed hard. "It was an accident."

Two years later...

"I'm tired of being trained," Ben announced at the breakfast table. "I want to be a Jedi Knight."

Luke stared at his son, trying to formulate a response. Unfortunately, Mara was faster. "That's a great idea, Ben." She looked at Luke with a challenging expression. "Isn't it, my love?"

"Great?" Luke spluttered. "He's ten!"

"So?" Ben shot back. "I've been training for eight years already. You only trained for a couple before you made yourself a Knight. Right, Mom?"

"That's right, dear."

Luke sighed. "Things were different back then."

"I want to be a Jedi!" Ben said hotly. "I can beat you in a lightsaber fight... dad."

"You know that's not true."

"Prove it."

"Yes, Luke," Mara goaded with a laugh. "Prove it."

"Fine," he said tiredly. "After breakfast, we'll go to the training area - "

"Now," Ben interrupted, standing up. "Can I use your lightsaber, Mom?"

"Sure."

"Mara!" Luke gasped, watching as his wife casually handed her saber to their son.

The violet-hued blade hissed to life, and Luke barely had the presence of mind to throw himself to one side as the table was cleaved in two. Rolling to his feet, Luke ignited his own green blade, unaware how it even had ended up in his hand. "Ben... stop this. Someone could get hurt."

"I think that someone is you, Skywalker," the boy said in a deep voice, peering out from beneath a hooded gaze. The boy's eyes were no longer blue, but a sickly, glowing yellow. "I've waited so long... so long for this day."

"Mara... something's wrong..."

The red-head threw back her head and laughed. "Nothing is wrong, Skywalker. Everything will finally be put right. Starting today."

The young child lunged forward, slashing away and forcing Luke to back into a corner. "Today, young Skywalker... you die," the boy cackled at Luke's fear and confusion.

"Wha... what's happening?" Luke stuttered, defending himself but unable to bring himself to strike offensively at his own off-spring.

"Luke Skywalker, meet your son," Mara mocked. "Meet Emperor Palpatine."

"This... isn't possible..."

Palpatine threw back his young head and roared in amusement. "Did you really think she loved you? Foolish, foolish boy..." Ben's face turned wicked, twisted. "Now I will finish what I started over Endor. Prepare to die, young Skywalker."

And the Emperor struck back.

THE END

Hey! If I killed my beloved Han in the previous story, I had to even things out with this story by killing Luke.