Beyond - Legends There is Another (AU: Leia, Mara, award-fic for ThreadSketch)

ThreadSketch had some very well deserved wins in the recent Fanfic Awards, and one of her prizes was a fic gift. What she asked for will become apparent, but I don't want to spoil anything.

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The sun was setting on Coruscant, the brilliant golden glow fading with every minute that passed. It was a beautiful end, one final burst of light filtered through the expanse of thin wispy clouds, but an end nonetheless. Soon the sun would sink below the horizon to be replaced by the artificial glare of Coruscant’s neon nightlife, a poor imitation of the bright star that bore down on them by day.

On the roof of the Imperial Palace, Mara leaned against the chest-high railing and gazed out at the setting sun. The intensity of the light even while fading made her eyes sting and water, but she could not bring herself to look away. She had never been one for such wasteful and useless reflection, but with everything that had happened over the past few days she supposed an indulgence could be permitted.

The door to the roof opened behind her, but Mara didn’t need to turn around to know who it was - she’d felt the presence in the Force long before they’d approached.

“Hello, Leia.”

“You’re very good at that,” Leia commented as she took a position next to Mara by the railing. She wore a simple white jumpsuit, her hair done up in braids, so Mara assumed she was not headed to the State Dinner that night. She supposed that was understandable, given the circumstances.

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Mara answered, turning back to the sunset. What she couldn’t tell Leia was that her presence in the Force so closely mirrored her brother’s that it was easy to sense - and even if it wasn’t, the grief that roiled off Leia was impossible to ignore.

“You’ll have to teach me sometime,” Leia said lightly. “I could always sense someone when they reached out to me, but I always had difficulty with the reverse. I suppose I didn’t take the time to practice.”

Mara swallowed down the bitterness that suddenly flooded her mouth. When she had been alone it had been easier to ignore the pain, but now with Leia so close, with her sorrow so powerful and unrestrained despite her external, deceptive calm, Mara felt drowned by it. She wasn't sure why she was so upset - she'd barely known Skywalker, and hadn't even liked him.

Perhaps it was simply guilt - after all, it was her fault he was dead.

“What makes you think I’m going to stay?” Mara managed to ask, keeping her voice cool so not to betray the anxiety beneath. Her plan was to leave Coruscant as soon as possible, to help Karrde scout a new base of operations, and if he wanted to continue with his Smuggler’s Alliance pipe dream, run it for him while he was faffing about with the New Republic government.

“That’s why I came,” Leia said evenly, although her lip quivered ever so slightly. “I didn’t see you at the funeral.”

Mara bristled at the unspoken accusation, and fixed Leia was a withering glare. “There was no reason for me to go.”

But rather than withdrawing or becoming angry, Leia simply stared back at her with a calm determination.

“I’m not a fool, Mara,” she said. “I know that he meant something to you. Reading people is something I have had time to practice.”

Mara sighed heavily, seeing that Leia would not be put off by harsh words or denials. “I admit that he...helped me,” she said reluctantly. It was the truth, if somewhat downplayed, but Mara had difficulty admitting that she’d been wrong - that everything Skywalker had told her about the Emperor, about the lie of a life she had led had been the truth. He’d helped her break free from the Emperor’s hold, but there was no way to express that adequately to Leia. How could the woman understand how her whole world had shattered, but that she was grateful it had?

“I couldn’t go,” Mara said softly, looking down at her hands which gripped the railing so tightly her knuckles had turned white.

“I know how hard this is for you, Mara.” Leia’s voice was soothing, and through the Force Mara felt a strange wave of comfort pass over her. She flinched at the unfamiliar contact, thoroughly unnerved and reinforcing her barriers. Briefly, she wondered if Leia had even been aware of the healing wave she’d sent out, but decided it hardly mattered. Mara didn’t want to be comforted, particularly by someone who had much more cause to grieve than her. Leia had lost her brother, her husband had lost his best friend, and her twin children would never know their uncle. That Leia was reaching out to her instead of railing and screaming at the injustice of it all or burying herself in grief, Mara found utterly confounding.

“Have you….seen him?” she asked, looking cautiously at Leia’s calm countenance to see if it would crack.

“I...hear his voice sometimes, in the back of my mind.” Leia’s gaze drifted out to the horizon, squinting slightly into the sun which dropped with increasing speed. “He was always there, even when I was small. I thought it was an imaginary friend; a boy who lived in the sun, who would send me secret messages as I sat out on my balcony and looked up at the sky. I dismissed it as a childhood fancy, but when I found out the truth I knew it had been him. His soul had reached out to mine across the stars without understanding how or why - so I know that we will always be connected. Not even death can break that bond.”

Despite herself, Mara was deeply moved by what Leia had shared and yet also saddened that no one had ever loved her so much. Her parents were unknown and lost to her, she had no siblings she was aware of, the Emperor had only ever lied and used her, and while she liked Karrde they were hardly close friends. Mara had to admit to herself that part of the reason she felt so agonisingly anguished over Skywalker’s death was that he had been stolen from those who loved and needed him. She was sure that if her life had been taken instead of Luke’s it would have had much less impact.

Leia turned to her, her eyes wet. “Have you seen him, Mara?”

Mara shook her head. There had been whispers at the fringes of her mind, and every now and then she almost caught glimpses - the tail of a long robe disappearing around a corner, footsteps in a distant hallway, a shadow caught in her peripheral vision which had disappeared as soon as she’d turned her head. Once while she’d been sleeping Mara had almost felt a light touch, as if someone was brushing her hair back from her face. But when she’d reached up to chase those ghostly fingers there had been nothing.

Luke had told her that at first he’d only been able to hear his old Master’s voice in his head, during the attack against the first Death Star. As his awareness of the Force had grown Obi-Wan’s image and voice had become clearer and clearer, until he was corporeal. She wondered if her own strength in the Force was honed, whether she would see him; she wondered if she even wanted to.

“I am going to become a Jedi,” Leia announced, and the determination in her words surprised Mara; it was the last thing she’d expected the woman to say. “I know what you’re thinking,” Leia added with a self-deprecating smile. “How can I presume to train myself with Luke gone? People forget, he had only a few weeks training with a Jedi Master, and the rest he taught himself. I’ve had five years with him.” Leia’s strength faltered then, her face crumpling for a moment with tears threatening to fall, but she composed herself almost instantly and Mara was struck by the woman’s strength.

“I’m an Organa, and a Solo - but I’m a Skywalker as well,” Leia told her, her chin tilting proudly. “It’s time I accepted that.”

“Well good luck,” Mara forced herself to say, suddenly uncomfortable with Leia’s heartfelt words and needing to distance herself. “Just don’t follow your brother’s example and ask me to train with you.”

Leia smiled for the first time, and Mara realised with sickening dread that she had come to her to ask exactly that. “I’m no Jedi,” Mara told her firmly. “I don’t intend to be one.”

“I thought a great deal about what I should say to try and convince you otherwise,” Leia said with the air of a woman who thought she’d already gotten exactly what she wanted. "I could tell you everything you already know - that it was what he wanted, that you should honour his sacrifice. But I won't patronise you."

"Thanks so much," she responded dryly.

“I could wax poetic about honour and duty, and that the New Republic will need the Jedi in the years to come, but I suspect you wouldn’t care about that.”

Mara shrugged. “Not really.”

"Luke saw something in you Mara,” Leia placed a gentle hand on her arm. “I see it too - that’s why I’m asking you to help me. Luke’s greatest burden was that he had to carry the Jedi legacy alone, and so he had to be everything to everyone. I didn’t help him when I could have, but you can help me." Leia smiled wryly. “Who knows, we might even become friends.”

“You’re quite the optimist,” Mara said dryly.

“Someone has to be, now that Luke’s gone.”

Once again Mara felt the sharp claws of guilt and recrimination grasp as her, and she pulled away from Leia, unsure of what to say or do.

“Here,” Leia reached down to her belt and unclipped a lightsaber, holding it out to Mara.

Mara reached forward to take the hilt, its weight pressing down into her palm. Her fingers skimmed the surface, cool and smooth, and she recognised it as the blade the clone Luuke had fought with on Wayland.

“It was Luke’s first lightsaber,” Leia told her. “And before that it was his father’s.”

“Darth Vader,” Mara grimaced.

Leia threw her a pointed look. “Anakin Skywalker.”

Mara knew she’d touched a raw nerve, and threw Leia a small satisfied smile. “Your father as well?”

Leia sighed, and her expression said she knew exactly what Mara was doing. “Yes.”

“Are you trying to guilt me into becoming a Jedi?” Mara asked suspiciously. She wouldn’t be forced into anything, no matter how good a politician Leia was.

“No,” Leia said simply. “It’s not an inducement, it’s just that he would have wanted you to have it.”

Mara was unconvinced. “How can you know that?”

Leia tilted her head and raised one eyebrow, amusement creeping into her expression.

“Right,” Mara corrected herself. “Of course.” She found Leia unsettling - the way the other woman had of making her feel foolish. In the Force Luke had felt like warm acceptance, and she’d known that if she had allowed herself to be enveloped by it he would have helped her discover a deeper understanding of the Force and her own abilities. By contrast Leia felt like a driving rod, constantly probing and pressing and never allowing an inch. Luke had been patience, waiting at the finish line and allowing Mara to find her own way; Leia was the runner by her side elbowing her to make her keep up.

She wasn’t sure which method was more successful, but Leia’s was the only one available now. Mara knew that if she accepted her offer there would be no half ways, no part time training when Mara felt like it, no withdrawing when things became too hard. With Leia, it was all or nothing, and that was not a choice Mara took lightly.

“I know I’m asking a lot,” Leia said, stepping closer towards her again. “This means starting over for you - again. Believe me I had to make the same decision and it was so hard. All my life I’ve been geared towards politics, by my mother and father into the senate and the Rebellion. Mon Mothma wants to take her place as Chief of State one day. That’s the path I always expected to walk, but things are different now. Not even Palpatine was able to force the extinction of the Jedi, so how could I let myself be responsible for such an evil?” Leia shook her head with steely determination. “And besides, I want my children to know their heritage, and there is no one else to teach them.”

Mara swallowed heavily her hand closing around the lightsaber. “Those are all good reasons, but they have nothing to do with me.”

“Don’t they?” Leia pressed her, touching her arm again. “Isn’t it your heritage as well? Isn’t this the true defiance against the Emperor, and so your ultimate victory?”

Mara turned away, the last light starting to dip below the horizon as a cool night’s breeze brushed across her face.

“It wasn’t your fault, Mara.”
Hot tears sprung into Mara’s eyes, ones that she would never let anyone see. The memory came back to her unbidden, of that fateful confrontation in the Mount Tantiss throneroom. During the battle Luke had been able to launch himself at C’baoth, catching his Force lightning with his lightsaber and getting close enough to strike the man down. The resulting burst of dark side energy had thrown them all to the ground, include the clone Luuke who Mara had been dueling against.

The clone’s lightsaber had deactivated, but Mara had managed to keep hers alight, and in between the surge of energy and falling rocks she had her chance. She had advanced, ready to strike the clone down, to finally silence the booming voice in her head. But at the last moment she'd hesitated - it was the easy way out, to finally rid herself of the Emperor's last command, and yet not pay any price for it. It would be giving in - continuing the cycle of violence and death, to follow orders to the last. Wouldn't the real victory be to refrain, to not carry out the command and so free herself from him forever?

Her split second hesitation was all it had taken for the clone to launch at her. But Luke had been there despite the burns from C’Baoth, hauling himself desperately across the room and grasping the clone from behind, trapping his arms against his body and rendering them both immobile. Luke had lost his lightsaber in the fall, but he held the tip of the clone's unlit saber flush against the clone's chest, the strength of Luke's grip making the clone unable to move or fight back.

For the first time in her life, Mara had frozen. She remembered being unable to move, as if her body was seized by fear and indecision. As he struggled with his clone, Luke's eyes had met Mara's one last time, and then he'd switched the lightsaber on, the blue blade screaming to life, burning a hole directly through the clone's body and back into Luke's chest.

Pushing away those memories with a shake of her head, Mara looked down at the lightsaber again. In her hands she held the instrument which had ended Luke’s life - how could she ever look at it and not see her own failure?

Once, she had failed to kill him and it had haunted her for five years. Now she had failed to save him, and it would haunt her for the rest of her life.

"I should have killed that clone when I had the chance," she said bitterly.

Leia looked at her with obvious sympathy. "Luke would probably say that there is no failure in choosing not to kill."

"Is that what you believe?" Mara challenged her.

Leia was silent for a few moments, as if considering her answer. "I believe you made a choice to overcome your past, and you succeeded."

"At what price, though?" Mara asked.

"One that Luke was willing to pay," Leia said gently, her hand closing around Mara's on the saber hilt. "And one that you must accept."

Could she accept it? Could she take up the mantle Luke had left her, could she fight for the light knowing how many years she had served the dark? Luke would probably say that becoming a Jedi wasn’t penance but an opportunity for fulfilment, and perhaps that was true. Mara knew that she could continue with the path she had set for herself, squashing her old life down deep inside her heart so she didn’t have to deal with it, and try to forget she had ever been the Emperor’s Hand.

But as a Jedi there would be no escaping it - maybe that was the point. Leia was offering her forgiveness, trust and friendship, all of the things Mara had never thought she would want or need.

“I’ll be at my apartment if you make your decision,” Leia told her, a hopeful smile on her face. “I have children to feed and a Jedi Order to rebuild, and there’s at least one of those I can accomplish tonight.” She squeezed Mara’s hand again and then walked back across the roof.

Mara cast one look final look at the sun as it sank below the horizon, and then down at the lightsaber in her hand. She had never taken a chance in her life - first she had lived the life she had been raised to, and then the life she’d been forced to survive in. Perhaps now was the time for a life she chose for herself

“Wait,” Mara called after her. “I’ll come with you.”

 

WHAT DID YOU DO?????? NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

*ugly sobbing*

You both are evil. Positively evil.

But beautifully done as well. Oh my heart.

 

Oh kriff. You really did it. You killed Luke. But as always your stories are so bittersweet.

 

*echoes taramidala * WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!?!?!?! *flails and sobs*

So very beautiful. Loved the echoes of grief threaded with hope. So very Star Wars, yes?

But still.. OMG NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Thanks for sharing!

 

I didn't sign up for this!

But it was so artistically done.

 

Stupendous!!!! The insights that you demonstrate into both Leia and Mara... the plausibility of Luke's sacrifice blended with Mara's hesitation.

The interpersonal dynamics between these two courageous, strong women & the facets of choice and overcoming, forgiveness, friendship, and trust!



LOL It's a testament to your writing skill that you could do that to Luke & Sketch's - what?! to ask for it.

 

Brilliantly written, but so, so sad!

 

KAAAAAAAAAAAATE

I NEED ALL THE TISSUES GIVE THEM TO MEEEEEEEEE









(I'm not even exaggerating, I'm a snot machine right now. )

JUST. Ugh. Okay. Yes, this was MY dastardly idea - to kill Luke off at the end of TLC so that Leia would be the one speaking to Mara and handing her the lightsaber instead and cue awesome sis relationship - but I gave JadeLotus the reins to do whatever she wanted with the bunny and even I was wondering how she was going to compose it, and GUUUUUURL you did not disappoint, natch. Everything was beautifully restrained in spite of being so painful; of course Leia's strength is unparalleled, as much as the poor woman has been through [call the Leia Blanket Brigade stat, LOL] and I LOVE THAT YOU MADE THE REASON FOR LUKE'S DEATH MARA'S DECISION TO RESIST SHEEV-O'S COMMAND. I can totally understand why it eats her alive with guilt but it's awesome that she wanted to make that choice for herself and we just know that Luke would not have resented her for it. I was also blown away by the way Luke died; it was the ultimate self-sacrifice, and alongside his clone instead of C'baoth. Amazeballs, hon. Amazeballs. It was everything I wanted and more.



*turns around and sees everyone stalking forward with pitchforks and torches*

Oh, um...heh. Hi y'all. Nice...nice fans...

 

It's the "sliding doors" thing that I think affected me the most. JadeLotus, you've touched on it briefly before, in Chasing Dreams, where Mara asked Luke what would have happened if he'd married Callista instead. That trope just...it kills me. You can feel it in your characterization of Mara here. Leia's right: she did feel something for him, but she can't recognize it...because she (and they) never had time to figure out what that something was. So along with the guilt of him dying for her, Mara must also be feeling this incredible sense of future loss, because she unknowingly lost her soul mate, her heart, and any family they might have had together. I just...

Spoiler

 

Agreeing with taramidala - that the could-have-been, might-have, never-will-be now would be more of a crushing loss than if they'd spent years! together. The loss would be intense, but there'd be happy, squeelicious memories for consolation and gratitude.

 

You killed Luke?! While I find that completely unacceptable, I find this fic amazing. Mara's guilt, though misplaced, felt so genuine. I loved her conversation with Leia.

Wonderful!

 

RHAAAAAAAA! WHAT WAS THAT!!!??????​

​

Beautiful and well-written, but so freaking sad!​

 

Thank you! This sounds horrible, but I love making you cry, gal. (If only to get you back for doing it to me )

Thank you! I've done it three times before (wait...twice...that other fic isn't posted yet ) so yeah...I'm not afraid to kill Luke, since Iove angst.

Absolutely! As much as I enjoy making my characters suffer, I like giving them a bit of hope, as well. In this the idea that Leia could absolutely become the one to rebuild the Jedi Order despite her personal losses - and bring Mara with her as well. Thanks for reading!

Ha! And thank you

Thank you! I love Leia and Mara's friendship, and their connection was there pretty much from the start but it perhaps didn't forge it properly until after she married Luke. But I kind of love the idea of them becoming Jedi together and picking up where Luke left off, bonding over their mutual grief.

Thank you!

Thank you! I know it's a bit cliche to use a setting sun for a metaphor of a life ending, but Luke has such a natural connection to the sun (the name Skywalker, and of course Luke meaning light, not to mention the role he played in Mara's life) I couldn't resist! Nor could I resist not only sneaking in the title of ThreadSketch's fic, but to parallel the meeting on the roof between Luke and Mara at the end of The Last Command which of course ends with that same line.

They love it, really

This was a fantastic prompt, and I really enjoyed writing it (despite the evilness...oh, who am I kidding, I loved being evil). As you know, I think it's a great deal stronger for Mara's character to choose not to fulfill the last command at all, finally turning away from the path of violence and her personal victory coming from passive defiance. Of course, her inaction results in Luke's sacrifice, but I like to think that's what spurs her into becoming a Jedi, where in Legends she resisted it for so long. And I think it was easier for her to relate to Leia more as an equal, someone starting from relatively the same place as her (and without all that UST!)

Yes, exactly!

It is a concept I'm very drawn to - the connective tissue between parallel universes and events that happen in one universe echoing in another. It's rather romantic idea, that every version of Luke and Mara out there will be connected somehow, even if it doesn't happen exactly the same way, and if it doesn't happen at all like in this fic, the undercurrent is still there. That's why I love AUs so much.

I like to think that ForceGhost!Luke pops up in this universe every now and then

But thank you!

Thank you! Sad is my specialty

 

Oh! I am waiting! And I hope someday you'll finish "Lift not painted veil". I am still looking forward to read this angsty angst.

 

I'm so terribly amused at all the pain I've helped cause.

 

That fic's next on my list, actually! Hopefully I'll be writing and post more chapters soon.

It feels good to be evil

 

So so sad, but very well written.

 

Wow!

Wow wow wow!

Excuse me while I find a corner to curl up in a ball and weep in...

This is the fic I never imagined I needed. The consequences if Mara hadn't taken the 'easy' route to fulfil the command.

I love the way Mara and Leia interact here, and it's enormously helpful for working out how they'd bounce off each other for a Lea and Mara fic I want to write someday, so thank you!

 

BBBBLLLLAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!

How could you!? How would you?! But I love it so much and it breaks my heart!!!!

*Sigh* ohhhhhhhh so lovely. I can see so much possibility here...as others have said, Mara's loss of the what-might-have-been's...and Leia's heartbreaking loss...and the way it came about. So beautiful and perfect and so Luke, gosh darn him!!!!

You're amazing. That's all.

 

Dignified, sad, honest, a wonderful AU. Thank you!

 

Wonderful. I love how you begin it, with the setting of the brilliant sun, and what comes after can only be a poor imitation. Nice symbolism.

This really hit the core of Mara. I always thought that killing the clone = fulfilling the command was kind of a cheat, and your decision to hesitate because ALL KILLING IS WRONG makes so much more sense and is so much more "Luke."

An excellent story.

 

Something may or may not be wrong with me, but when I skimmed through this earlier last week BECAUSE BRAIN FOG and saw the comments, I assumed that Mara killed Luke in this AU and I was like "Oh, that's twisted and cool." Not sure if I need to be locked up for homicidal thoughts or if I have a skewed perspective of what the award receiver would like. Anyway...it's obviously cool the way it is, otherwise I would not be rambling here.

The combination of so much golden and dark blue and violet-ish hues setting the mood of the story and the idea of death is interesting. At the same time, the "en nonetheless" comparison is pretty much straight to the point, yet the artificial glare contrast is a good sign that most people do not realise whom they lost. And this is inevitable with all great tragedies, as well as wars. I am discussing fics here while a refugee from the middle East is trying to cross the border to Hungary after days of walking. The sad and harsh reality.

Then, as Leia joins Mara, there is the contrast of Mara's guilt and the fact that she learned so much from Luke and that there is a way to go on, a way to give herself to the worthy causes. Yet, in the light of what happened, she is humble.

It looks like she's wanted to stay all along, but that the guilt was making her think otherwise until the very end.


“I...hear his voice sometimes, in the back of my mind.” Leia’s gaze drifted out to the horizon, squinting slightly into the sun which dropped with increasing speed. “He was always there, even when I was small. I thought it was an imaginary friend; a boy who lived in the sun, who would send me secret messages as I sat out on my balcony and looked up at the sky. I dismissed it as a childhood fancy, but when I found out the truth I knew it had been him. His soul had reached out to mine across the stars without understanding how or why - so I know that we will always be connected. Not even death can break that bond.”

This may be the single most beautiful passage I have ever read in a fanfic. What a lovely way to say that there is always hope and that the lost ones live for as long as the memory of them is a fire that keeps on burning.

Mara's softer side is enjoyable, even though she cannot let go of negativistic personality type traits, such as assuming that nobody would care if she died. With how she grew up and lived her life, it's understandable, though. I assume that, in this AU, she would have gone on to discover compassion, love and other things that make life worth living in a more complex way - as in, not through a romantic relationship.

At the same time, her little glimpses of Luke don't even have to be Force, they could be a figment of her imagination. In her current state, she may be vulnerable to going full dark side and, with her lack of self-esteem and guilt over what happened, it seems as if she had closed herself to Force somehow. Brilliant.

I found the original scene that you reworked for a tragic ending and the rework is top-notch. The idea of Leia giving Mara the lightsaber is awesome, too!

And I assume that the last line is a nod to the winning fic written by the, well, receiver of this lovely gift? That's clever.