Beyond - Legends Love is Blind--inspired by the Crack!Ship Roulette challenge (see A/N)--Wedge/Mara

Title: Love is Blind
Author: furrylittlebantha
Characters: Wedge, Mara, brief/implied Luke, Leia
Summary: What if events on Niruan had taken a sharp, tragic turn? Where would Mara Jade be thirteen years later? (Disregards NJO)
Timeframe: post-VOTF
Genre: tragedy, general wierdness

Disclaimer: Everbody altogether now: "I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS!"

Author's Note: I got swept away by enthusiasm after reading some marvelous Crack!Ship challenge responses one night and dashed off to write on of my own--without checking the thread first. Or even stopping to consider the implications of "roulette." Yeah. 2:00 AM does that to a person! Anyways, now we have a truly bizarre pairing fic that doesn't even have the prop of Challenge Response. If you're still reading after this disproportionately long author's note, please be assured that I really am a L/M shipper and really, really don't have it out for Mara

Many thanks to divapilot for a superb beta-ing!



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One night it came to him. The reason was his X-wing. Years of living in it, tinkering with it, had left etched on his body the faint smell of things greasy and durasteel, of ozone, of exhilaration and the metallic aftertaste of killing.

He supposed that was what Luke had smelled like to her.

She shifted in her sleep, moaning, and he propped up on his elbow to look at her. Even after all these years she is so beautiful, he thought, reaching out to run a broad, callused finger down her bare spine. He had never been one for poetry, but Mara?s skin in the moonlight always made him think of that moment when a ship is between real-space and hyperspace, and starlines, shining and clean, fill your sight like the essence of flight itself.

Disturbingly ironic, the comparison to flight?considering.

Her mutterings grew louder, and Wedge strained to hear the broken words. Ah. This dream. He sighed, and sat up completely, flexing his tired muscles.

??No! No, please, please?Master?don?t?I?kill him, I?ll kill him!?no, no, no!?help me?? And then, like so many times before, she thrashed the covers off her legs and lunged for his throat, fingers of her prosthetic hand slightly more curved than the others.

Easily, he grasped her bird-like wrists in his hands and held her firmly against his chest, solidly still as she kicked and scratched and screamed and writhed helplessly in his arms. Shifting her wrists to one hand, he stroked her thin hair gently and hummed a lullaby his mother had sung him to sleep with as a boy.

Chika bird, chika bird, all alone,
What are you doing so far from your nest?
Have you no mama with downy breast
To hold you and feed you and make you to rest
What are you doing so far from home, oh
Chika bird, chika bird?

At last her frantic motion ceased, and she lay against him, panting. He released her arms, carefully. They fell like long-dead twigs to the bed.

?Mara, Mara,? he murmured. And years of the same response did not stop him from shuddering as her face tilted towards his in an eerie mockery of comprehension.

?You know I?d never kill you, don?t you?? Her voice was soft as a child?s, desperate, pleading. ?I love you, Luke. Nothing in my past or our future can ever change that. I love you, so very, very much. You?you do believe me, don?t you??

?Of course,? Wedge said tenderly, aware of but disregarding the futility of the gesture. ?I love you, too, Mara.? And he did, he realized, with weary marvel. Not like Iella, his girl, his real girl who had died so many years before and took the majority of his heart with her. Iella, of the sparkling humor and adoring eyes. So terribly different from the woman nestled against his chest now. But this woman held the leftover scraps of his heart, and he felt that the other would not begrudge her them.

Never in a million years would he have seen himself as Mara Jade?s mate when he met her for the first time. They were both young then, she bril

 

Um... wow? (No, furry, the title is not inexcusable. It's perfect and fitting.)

Loved every minute of it, especially the flashbacks. Wow.


Good response to the roulette. Really good.

 

wow this is really creepy but really really good. i guess wedge had to pic up the pieces some how. a stunning look at a might have been if things had worked out that way. great job

 

Oh my goodness, that has to be the creepiest thing I have ever read!

Fantastic little story! I always saw what happened on Nirauan as a turning point in the SW universe. So many things could have been different if events varied just a little bit. What if Mara died, what if she turned down his proposal, what if Luke died? I am glad Zahn had a happier ending to the events on Nirauan.

Wonderfully written story!! Great job!!

JL

 

Wow, now that is a heart wrenching story!!

Both Iella and Luke die, and Mara is a shell of her former self... damn!

But it's nice to see a hint of happiness in there... if only just...

 

Mara?s voice, cool, self-possessed intelligence surfacing like a ghost who isn?t aware that it died. ?Palpatine?he could have shown them propaganda! Do you know that for all the decades of his rule no one ever even suspected his true power? Except for the Jedi, of course. And then he killed them. That, my love is the secret of image-manipulation. If no one has eyes to see, what is there to hide??

This is so creative and heartbreaking. What if Luke had slipped in that cave? What a horrible death. No wonder she's so fractured.

A very true look at Wedge, too -- the quiet and steadfast friend, always in Luke's shadow, picking up the pieces he left behind.

Love this look at what might have been if one critical error had occured.

 

Yikes... the imagry in this is chilling. I loved Wedge. Being there for Mara is such a Wedge thing to do, especially since Iella's gone. I mean, he's right, Luke would expect him to take care of Mara. though, the description you give her is just heart wrenching. Poor Mara!

A really well written fic, wow!

---

[i]I got swept away by enthusiasm after reading some marvelous Crack!Ship challenge responses one night and dashed off to write on of my own--without checking the thread first. Or even stopping to consider the implications of "roulette." Yeah. 2:00 AM does that to a person! Anyways, now we have a truly bizarre pairing fic that doesn't even have the prop of Challenge Response.[/i] <--- Mind if add it to the index anyway? *laughs* I realize it's not technically a part of our challenge, but it is truly in the spirit of it. It really is a Cracked!Ship ;)

Feel free to send me numbers and do one the other way!

 

Brilliant.

 

Creepy creepy creepy.

And Mara picking Wedge because of the smell of his pilot's suit? interesting.

Creepy, but nice job.

KT

 

that was great!!

Creepy, scary, and haunting, but great!!!


Wonderful job!

 

That was absolutely briliant....

What a great "What could have been"

Loved it...


FL

 

Strange what the mind cooks up at 2 AM. It gave me the creeps, but I must say that I enjoyed reading it.

 

DaenaBenjen42:

No, furry, the title is not inexcusable. It's perfect and fitting.

Good! I thought it was a little--okay, a lot over the top, but hey. Sometimes tongue-in-cheekiness can be so blatant that it works.

Loved every minute of it, especially the flashbacks. Wow.

Thanks!

frankieskywalker: i guess wedge had to pic up the pieces some how. a stunning look at a might have been if things had worked out that way.

Poor Wedge. Someone should give this guy a medal for all the grief he endures as second-fiddle/piece-picker-upper to the Main Characters!

Jedi_Lover: I always saw what happened on Nirauan as a turning point in the SW universe. So many things could have been different if events varied just a little bit.

Very true.

What if Mara died, what if she turned down his proposal, what if Luke died? I am glad Zahn had a happier ending to the events on Nirauan.

So am I. Or else I would have murdered the man. Me, a hypocrite? I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about.

Wonderfully written story!! Great job!!

This is a very good day.

RedGold: Both Iella and Luke die, and Mara is a shell of her former self... damn!

That about sums it up.

But it's nice to see a hint of happiness in there... if only just...

My whole thing was I wanted to create a half-way believable scenario in which they actually are a 'ship. Unfortunately, the only way I saw to that 'hint of happiness' involved pain... a lot of pain...

divapilot: You quoted the bit I wrote as a gap-filler in the wake of your edit--so glad you liked it!

This is so creative and heartbreaking. What if Luke had slipped in that cave? What a horrible death.

Yeah. *shivers* You know, the irony is that I can't bear stress or scary things in movies. Heck, I can't even watch Princess Diaries without running into the next room with a pillow over my head when Anne Hathaway blunders her way around fine society. (she just gravitates towards those roles, doesn't she?) Writing fics like this must be some sort of wierd psychological form of vindication.

A very true look at Wedge, too -- the quiet and steadfast friend, always in Luke's shadow, picking up the pieces he left behind.

Glad you thought his characterization worked. I've never written him before--never even read the X-wing series, for that matter.

Jade_Max: Yikes... the imagry in this is chilling.

Chilling, creepy...somehow, I'm starting to get the feeling that shouldn't catagorize it as Fluff over at ff.n.

I loved Wedge. Being there for Mara is such a Wedge thing to do, especially since Iella's gone. I mean, he's right, Luke would expect him to take care of Mara.

Gosh, if you think about it, what kind of a guy is Luke, to wish Mara Jade on a friend? [Han] Must be one of those crazy Jedi things [/Han]

A really well written fic, wow!

Yup. A good day. Thanks!

Mind if add it to the index anyway? *laughs* I realize it's not technically a part of our challenge, but it is truly in the spirit of it. It really is a Cracked!Ship

I'd be thrilled to have this indexed. As for the other way, well, I checked out the thread, and I have to admit that my knowledge of most of the characters up for grabs would fill the inside of Jar-Jar Binks' head. That is, really, really, small. All I've really read are Zahn's books and some scattered others.

Kissa: Brilliant.

Thank you!

Killik_Twilight: Creepy creepy creepy.

Hope I didn't scare anybody...

On second thought...

And Mara picking Wedge because of the smell of his pilot's suit? interesting.

Well, there had to be some reason. *shrugs* After all, everyone knows Luke's the only man out there for our favorite sassy smuggler. (Except those who haven't realized it

 

I'd be thrilled to have this indexed. As for the other way, well, I checked out the thread, and I have to admit that my knowledge of most of the characters up for grabs would fill the inside of Jar-Jar Binks' head. That is, really, really, small. All I've really read are Zahn's books and some scattered others.

*chuckle* you and everyone else involved! Seriously, I've links to most character information anyway, and those with little info you can pretty much make up - PM me about it - I'll give you more info!

I'll add your story to the index tomorrow when I'm home from work

 

*sniffle* You do your suspense-loving former Master a great service writing like that.

That way I can claim some minutia of responsibility for your gift, (when it's really all your own talent that I had nothing to do with).

Very good, in case you were perplexed by the melancholy tone of my post.

 

oh, gods, this made me cry. To see Mara in such a state is horrendously sad, to know the reasons for it just compounds it even morre, but at the back of my mind, a voice is saying, "This fits Mara so well. It is in her character, that she NEEDS Luke so much." and Wedge is so brave and gallant, i think. it's just beautiful and sad. very good work here!

 

Healer_Leona: Far less disturbing to me than sad and tragic.

Yes. It really, really isn't fluff, not by any strectch of the imagination!

I'd been pleased that it seemed they found common comfort after their losses, but that Mara beieves Wedge to be Luke... that tears me up for the both of me.

She's living in a dream-world, and his is broken. Comfort? Perhaps, since they're both fairly comfortable there by now. Thanks for reviewing!


Jade_Max: Okeydoky, will do, Jade! This should be interesting.


BrentusofGath: *sniffle* You do your suspense-loving former Master a great service writing like that.

Aww...

That way I can claim some minutia of responsibility for your gift, (when it's really all your own talent that I had nothing to do with).

Not true! Where would I be today without your tutelage, Brentus? Probably on the Light side of the Force!! *guffaws*

Very good, in case you were perplexed by the melancholy tone of my post.

Not a bit. Thanks!


magehound: at the back of my mind, a voice is saying, "This fits Mara so well. It is in her character, that she NEEDS Luke so much."

Yes. Deny it she can, try to kill him she can, avoid him like the plague for ten stinkin years she can, but live without him she cannot. Even if he's dead.

Wedge is so brave and gallant, i think. it's just beautiful and sad. very good work here

He really is a great guy. At least, that's the impression I've always gotten in those brief cuts of him in his X-wing during the movies. I've never read his books.
I appreciate your lovely comments!