Work Text:
The sound of footsteps, then the unmistakable whoosh of a door opening and closing. Footsteps again. Boots, softly pounding the hard floor. She knew that gait. Event through the haze that overwhelmed her mind, she recognized it. She had never forgotten. She never could.
The sound grew louder, but the rhythm slowed to a halt. She braced herself, not sure if she should feel relieved or vexed.
The man with the boots crouched before her. Through the bars of her cell, she made out piercing blue eyes that peered at her with concern from the shadows of a hood. She had not forgotten those either. How she used to drown in them.
The woman sighed and held out a hand. Or, more accurately, weakly lifted it.
“Before you say… anything… I was doing fine… on my own…”
It was the hooded man’s turn to sigh.
“You and I always had “very” different definition of fine, Mara” he retorted, his deep voice still the same.
The beaten, red-headed woman could not help but shiver under his slightly scolding tone.
“I didn’t know you to be… so bitter.”
“I didn’t know you to be so easily locked up”, he countered evenly.
Mara did not bother to answer; her pride was injured enough as it was. Once upon a time, she had been the one doing the rescuing. Being imprisoned was unnerving enough without adding the shame of being saved by none other than Luke Skywalker himself.
So much for doing fine on my own.
As if he could read her mind, the Jedi Master let out another sigh. He got up and ran a hand, his real one, over the control panel; the gate slid open, allowing him to step in. He dropped to her level, one knee on the ground, his gaze assessing her wounds, and wrapped an arm around her to haul her up on her feet.
“Looks like you’ve outdone yourself this time…”
She winced when Luke pulled her up. Her head spun but she would rather be caught dead than faint in his arms. He had seen her in worse shape but… things had been different back then.
“Sons of murglaks hit me with… kriffin’ poison… or gas… or whatever… ‘been high ever since… couldn’t use the Force.”
“That explains why they are still alive…” Luke reflected.
Mara was not amused. But she felt a gentle vibration, a warmth that spread from where his hand was pressed on her side. The Force flowed through her, and her head instantly started to clear, the fog fading, her sharpness of mind returning. She opened herself to this energy, just long enough to send him a silent thanks. No need to risk reopening the bond between them. Some things were better left in the past.
Despite already feeling much better, she leaned heavily on him as he walked her out of her cell, past some others that were empty of prisoners, then into a hallway. The gray metal walls were covered with patches of rust, thanks to Trask saline environment, and the few functioning dim ceiling lights flickered to an odd rhythm. Luke said nothing. He knew her too well, knew how much it cost her to be this helpless, even for a moment. Even with him. Especially with him. She had always been fierce, bordering on feral. Cherishing her independence and free will like treasures. He had always respected that. Admired her for that. Loved her for that.
They reached the door at the end of the hallway and Mara paused for a second, still leaning on Luke but glancing around her. Something finally clicked.
“It’s awfully quiet,” she noted. “Where is everyone?”
“Looking elsewhere.”
A laconic answer if there ever was one. She looked at him sideways.
“Of course. No harming for the righteous Jedi Master... I swear Luke,” she declared with a touch of exasperation in her voice “one of those days, your compassion is going to stab you in the back and kill you.”
The door slowly slid open, revealing a circular room with a few worn and sagging chairs arranged around a low wobbly table. A group of mob guards sat there, engrossed in a sabacc game. Their presence went unacknowledged, as if the two of them did not exist, or did, but in a different dimension. It felt like walking behind the cover of an invisibility cloak. Mara should not have been surprised to discover that Luke had learned a few tricks since she last saw him. She had always known his mastery of the Force was second to none alive. Yet she was impressed. And Mara Jade, former Skywalker , was not easily impressed. She felt insanely frustrated. And, of course, Luke picked up on that. Just like old times.
“Spit it out, Jade,” he growled. “Whatever’s on your mind… just spit it out.”
He felt her stiffen against him.
“I’m sorry, but I still don’t get it. How you can wield such power… and waste it away…”
The Jedi Master tugged at Mara’s waist so that they would keep on moving forward.
“I have principles, Mara,” he bit back. “I won’t apologize for that.”
“Principles are a good thing until they keep getting in the way of what should be done.”
Her tone was harsh, judgmental, and he knew she was not referring to some anonymous guards in a random prison on some backwater world. They have had this argument before. Many times. Too many.
Opening a door on his left, he led her up some stairs that were dirty and dusty and stank of stale water. She had regained a good part of her strength, thanks to him, but the climb still left her panting and she sat on the last stair in order to catch her breath.
“It was Maz, right?” It was more an assertion than a question. “Maz sent you.”
Luke nodded. He stood a couple of stairs below her, so as to be eye level with her.
“You had her worrying enough to, apparently.”
“Well, that's on her,” Mara fumed. “Sending me on one of her kriffing wild mynock chases… for nothing, on top of that. You’d think I’d know better by now...”
The rest of her sentence was lost in a growl, but he clearly heard her mumble something about a kriffin’ old lady. He almost laughed, which would have been incongruous. She was pissed enough as it were, though Luke could not really tell if it was about the situation, at Maz… or at his presence. Probably a mix of all three.
Luke tapped his chest pocket with a knowing smile.
“Actually, it wasn’t for nothing.”
“You found the map?” she exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. “How?”
“I have my ways,” he answered enigmatically.
Mara glared at him but remained silent. He gave her one more minute to collect herself before steering her out of the staircase.
“Hang on, we’re almost out.”
The former Jedi merely nodded and leaned on her companion, hopping toward another door and they ended up in a storage area that looked like a upcycled cargo container. No surprise there: on a moon like Trask, everything seemed made from scraps. People on the outer rim were quite creative. Survival was a skill.
The sticky shelves were stocked with kegs of beer, bottles of low-priced brandy and things that were supposed to be food but made Mara’s stomach churn instead; the storage area led into a dive that would not have looked out of place on Nar Shaddaa or in the Corporate Sector. Greasy, slimy, crowded with workers from the dock yard and less reputable people, it smelled of cheap tobacco and stale ale. And dampness. Everything on that Force-forsaken moon did. It clung to you, weighting you down.
Mara expected heads to turn their way. People to react. She braced herself for the inevitable confrontation…
Which did not happen. Luke took the lead again and she shivered as they passed again through the crowd, including some from hypersensitive species who did not pay the slightest attention to them, as they made their way toward the exit. Mara had the uneasy, eerie feeling that she and Luke had somehow died down there and were now ghosts roaming the building. His illusion trick seemed to work so far. But she could tell it was taking a toll on him.
“Ok, but what about security cam… aw, forget it”, she grumbled as she shook her head.
Force-flash. That was how he managed it. He Force-flashed the cameras as they went. Kriffing Jedi Master.
“I heard that”, he whispered without looking at her.
“Stay out of my mind, Skywalker,” she hissed back at him.
She sensed more than she heard a faint chuckle. Some things never truly changed.
As they crossed the hatch leading out of the bar, Mara had to lift a hand to shade her eyes from the sun. After several days underground, it took her a few seconds to adjust to the bright light of what she assumed was the middle of the afternoon, taking in the salty air of Trask and the feel of the wind on her cheeks. It felt weird, casually getting out of jail. Once upon a time, they would have blasted their way out, lightsabers thrumming in their hands, the bright blades taking down whoever stood in their path to freedom. Good old times. But that was before… before everything changed for the worst.
The red-headed woman took a good look of the man beside her. His face was more lined than she remembered, his hair and beard now streaked with grey. That was a sight she had not quite gotten used to. The beard. Because that meant her farmboy was truly gone.
You’re going soft, Jade, she chided herself.
“So… I guess I owe you one…”
Stars! This is awkward.
“Mara…”
He let the syllable trail off, putting a lot of unsaid things in the sound. Their gaze locked and she put a hand on his arm. A genuine mark of affection.
“Luke,” she gently said. “It’s better this way. Believe me.”
“Let me at least fly you back to Takodana,” he insisted. “Just to be on the safe side. Artoo can operate my starfighter on his own.”
The former Jedi hesitated but, as tempting – and reasonable – as the offer was, she could not accept. Leaving him the first time had tear her heart apart. The longer they waited to part ways, the harder it would become. She could not go through that again.
“You can walk me back to my ship", she offered.
They both deserved better than a hasty goodbye on the threshold of some dirty cantina. He deserved better. He did not have to, but he had just crossed half a galaxy to come to her help, after all.
Luke did not argue, gracefully accepting defeat. He never thought she would actually agree. He was not even sure if any good could have come out of that.
The wind grew stronger, and he noticed that Mara had started shivering. Without any other word, he took off his cloak and placed it over her shoulder. She nodded a silent thanks and wrapped herself in it, welcoming the warmth the heavy fabric always provided.
They quietly walked toward the landing pad where she had landed a battered old GAT-12 blastboat that dated from her time with Karrde’s organization. Mara climbed on the wing, opened the main hatch and turned to face the man she had once deeply loved. This was their final goodbye. Maybe that was what Maz was really looking for. Maybe she had orchestrated this all along. To give them some sort of closure.
Luke shot her a lopsided smile that had a clear Solo quality to it but its light failed to reach his eyes.
“Kiss Jaina for me, please.”
Mara stopped dead in her tracks. How…?
“That’s the name you gave her, right? That luminous little girl with the blonde hair and stunning green eyes, whose best friend in the world seems to be a very grumpy vollka?”
She could not help but smile at this huge understatement. Something in his voice told her he had had a nasty firsthand experience with said animal. Netini was a mean electric cat, but somehow loved the little human girl with all her feline heart and would protect her with her life.
“I’m not mad, Mara,” her former husband went on as she got off the wing of the blastboat to get closer to him. “I was. I resented you, for a long time, for the way you left. Now I know. You did what you had to do to ensure her protection. I get it. I’m just… I just wish things were different.”
His shoulders slumped and the calm veneer of the Jedi Master cracked, showing the true human being underneath. A man beaten, disillusioned, who had no more hope for life.
“Are you still looking out for him?” Mara asked softly.
She could not bear to say his name. His new one, the one he chose for himself.
“I have to try and right my wrongs.” He offered her a wan smile and some of the old fire came back to his eyes. “You gave me a reason to keep trying. Even if I can never be a part of her life.”
Luke lifted a hand, the left one, the one that was made of flesh and blood, and gently cupped Mara's cheek, his thumb brushing her cheek. She closed her eyes as he softly kissed her forehead.
“Goodbye Mara. Take care of our girl.”
He was gone in a blink of an eye, leaving Mara to wonder whether he had truly been there or not. The cloak felt reel, at least.
She shook her head, her tangled hair fluttering around in the wind like a plume of fire and stepped inside the ship. Grabbing the medpack, she gave herself two shots of stim before heading to the cockpit for pre-flight checks.
A couple of minute later, the engines roared to life and a solitary figure watched the blastboat taking off until it was nothing more than a black dot in the distance, forever gone.