Back To The Beginning [Star Wars EU Fanfic]

Chapter Seventeen

"So you do know someone named Amidala." Luke said slowly.

"Yeah, but she's a lot older than me. I don't think I'd get to marry her." Anakin's eyes had a dreamy look. "She is real pretty though, and smart, and a strong leader. Do I get to marry her?"

"You'll have to figure out that one on your own, kid." Luke clapped Anakin on the shoulder and stood up. "Thanks for the information, though, you'll never know how much that information me and to Leia and-" he stopped, and suddenly ran out the door to the sitting room.

"Where's Mara?" He asked.

"Relax kid," Han stood up and held up his arms, conditioning for Luke to calm down, "She just went to check on your kids-"

"No she didn't!" Luke exclaimed, heading for the door.

"Luke, what's wrong?" Obi-Wan asked.

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong!" Luke hardly stopped in the doorway to give the answer.

"Mara is confronting Palpatine as we speak!"

**************

Mara held her lightsaber aloft, in between her and her enemy as she glared at him.

"So, my future apprentice, you have finally come to kill me," Supreme Chancellor Palpatine- looking more like Darth Sidious now- cackled. Mara thought he must have never been young.

"If I destroy you, I'll never be your "future apprentice" now, will I?" She said sarcastically.

"Ah, interesting. But even if I have trained you, then you must know that no one can destroy me."

Mara snorted. "Yeah right. Thirty years from now my In-law strikes you down in your own superweapon.

"And that's how it's going to be." Both Mara and Darth Sidious turned to see Luke Skywalker standing in the doorway.

"Mara, come on, let's go." Luke crossed the room in several long strides and took Mara by the arm.

"No!" She shouted, pulling away from his touch. "Luke don't you see what we can accomplish here? We can save thousands of lives!"

"Oh, I get to kill a lot of people, what fun!" Sidious interrupted.

"Now if you don't mind, Skywalker," he spat, "your bride and I we're just about to have a little duel, so stay out of the way!" Raising a hand, he shot the infamous blue electricity, catching Luke square in the chest and tossing him across the room.

Mara cried out his name, running after his limp body. As she tried to help him up, Sidious aimed for her too, and she had to keep both hands on her lightsaber to block the lightning.

"Ah, you are clever, my young apprentice. But your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side."

Sending a smaller jolt to her arm, Sidious made Mara drop her blade and used the force to knock it far out of her reach. Now Luke and Mara were both lying on the ground with sore muscles and no weapons.

"So this is your husband," Sidious sneered, looking down at Luke. "I can see it now, 'The hero of the rebellion and the Emperor's Hand wed'. What a delightful couple you to make!

"Only now do you see the consequences of your resistance." He shortens again, adding more and more voltage. He came closer and closer to their writhing bodies until he stood directly over Mara.

The lightning hadn't taken so much out of Mara that she couldn't glare at or spit on her former master.

Sidious's yellow eyes narrowed, his face contorting with rage.

"You...have betrayed me." He said, his voice deathly quiet. 

Luke knew what was coming as Sidious raised his hands. It was just like Ben's dream.

He was nearly blinded as Sidious shot powerful forces into Mara's body. She screamed at the pain, but that took her last bit of energy out of her and she lay silent and still.

Luke looked over at Mara, feeling her pain joining his through their bond in the force, adding to his own. He could feel all of her suffering through the force.

There's nothing I can do about it, he thought helplessly. He tried to move, but his muscles were still trying to gain their strength back.

In the darkness of Palpatine's curtained private office, a gleam caught his eye, reflecting in the light of the electricity.

Mara's lightsaber.

Using all the power he had left, he called upon the force. Even as he made his decision, faces of everyone he had know flashed through his mind.

Owen and Beru. Threepio and Artoo. Wedge and all his friends from the rebellion days. Tionne, Kyp, Dorskk 83 and all his trainees from the academy.

Han, Chewbacca, Jaina, Jacen, Anakin, Ben, Ami, and...

Mara. Would he still remember her? Would he ever see her again?

Leaving the question unanswered, Luke jumped to his feet, catching the lightsaber neatly in the palm of his hand. All it took was a quick slash downwards and Sidious died in a flash of light.

All the dark force trapped inside Sidious exploded outwards, throwing Luke back. When the energy disappeared, Luke crawled over to Mara as fast as he could.

As Luke pulled her into his arms for what might be the last time, he started to cry, holding her close as the darkness was overtaken by the light.