Beyond - Legends Allies [Angst, Introspection, Romance, L/M, L/OC][OTP & Pairing Thread Challenge #28: OTP Bingo]

Title: Allies
Author(s): UltramassiveUbersue
Timeframe: Beyond Legends
Characters: Luke, OC (absent: Ben, Mara)
Genre: Angst, Introspection, Romance
Keywords: L/M, L/OC
Summary: Luke gives himself one last chance to resist moving on from Mara.
Notes: My response to the OTP & Pairing Thread Challenge #28: OTP Bingo!

My prompt words are:
epiphany
dusk/dawn
denial
diaphanous
"please"​

---

Luke awakes at dusk, and colour has drained from the world.

His sleeping beloved is curled toward the window. Holding her has kept him warm, but now he faces the chill of the stone floor, the breeze through the windows, the air itself. He pulls on his trousers and shirt, and quietly opens the swing-hinge door to step onto the porch.

The wind is strong; it whips the crowns of trees and flashes the blades of understory ferns. He crosses his arms over the railing and gazes into the shadow of the forest.

"Mara," he says softly, "tell me you're angry with me."

The wind whistles and leaves shake.

"Please."

Hours ago, he faced his love with hope and trepidation, and the joy she carries overfilled his heart. Now he misses his wife more acutely than he has in a very long time.

He wonders what his son is feeling right now; Ben conspired to pair him up with his companion since the day she arrived on Ossus--

The epiphany stings. Of course Ben had misgivings about his father moving on, and still does. He simply took an opportunity to pull his father's foot out of the grave.

And now Luke is pleading into the darkness for a diaphanous phantom to appear and tell him not to ruin the eternity they are supposed to share. There is still a chance for them to pick up where they left off, if only he can wait.

Wait for the end of his life, which cannot come soon enough. Only Ben has kept him anchored here, and now he has enlisted an ally.

Luke can feel her quiet presence behind the door; she knows he feels guilty and lonely, and he knows she is resisting the urge to bring him a coat because he is talking to his soul mate. His heart aches for her, and he thinks there is no sense in denial; Mara was never one to take any bullshavit, nor shy away from a difficult truth.

"I'm in love," he tells her. "I'm sorry."

The presence behind him recedes.

"I want to live," he says as the first tears escape. "I don't know what to say. I love you and--" He wipes his face with his sleeve.

Rain spatters on the rustling leaves and paving stones.

"There's somebody else. She wants a family. So do I." He sniffs and wipes his eyes again, but they keep flooding, so he hides his face in his hand and sobs quietly.

The woman indoors is agitated; she tolerates distress poorly.

"If this won't make you talk, Mara, I don't know what will." His feet are going numb and his muscles are tense and shivering, but it is only cold; he will wait.

There is a soft knock at the door, and Luke frowns as his companion smiles sheepishly and hurriedly sets out a steaming mug, fluffy oversize slippers, his Jedi robe, and a wool blanket. She disappears behind the door just as quickly and shuts it again.

Luke stares at the slippers with a raised eyebrow. They have stitched-on smiles and googly eyes. He sighs irritably, steps into them, puts on his robe, and picks up the mug: it is hot chocolate. He pulls out a chair, sits down, and drapes the blanket over his lap. He scowls for a while and laughs softly. "Shut up," he says. He looks at the slippers again and shakes his head.

Night has fallen and the rain is coming down. He is sitting in the dark: good conditions for spotting a Force ghost. Raindrops splash in his hot chocolate, and an absurd trace of a smile will not let him go.

He sighs. "Okay." He stands up, takes one last look around, and goes back inside to the golden lamplight and warm bed.

---

Thanks for reading!

 

Poor Luke. Is he still with Mara or is he mourning her?

 

This is a few years after she had died. His new girlfriend is an unnamed OC.

 

Poor Luke. Poor Mara. The new OC is feisty. Reminds me of someone I know. Or maybe several someone's I know?

 

OMG the slippers!!!!!

They were actually a welcome moment of levity in an otherwise pretty angsty story, so thank you.

You wrote about guilt and grief beautifully here, and you show through this story how those Jedi powers are something of a double-edged sword. One aspect of that is that, because Luke expects to see Mara's ghost, it makes it more difficult for him to let go. Another aspect is that, because he has a bond now to this unnamed woman, his thoughts are not his own, and hers aren't private either, and this adds the fear or guilt of being unkind to her. And she definitely comes across as good people in her short appearance; she's very thoughtful in what she brings to him, including the slippers (!!!) that help break through his barriers.

Very nicely done, and a great use of the prompts!

 

Yep, OC is feisty, among other things. If you know someone who can and will whip up a hot chocolate so efficiently, I would like to know them, too! Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you, and you're welcome! I was originally going to give him bunny slippers, but the googly eyes seemed more elegantly stupid somehow.

Thank you. I definitely think that being a Jedi makes it much harder for Luke to let go and move on with his life. He knows for certain that there is life after death, which makes him less invested in the life he is currently living.

He also has no way of knowing if Mara is choosing not to appear to him as a tacit approval for him to get along without her, or if she lacks the capacity to speak to him and is still waiting for him in the next life to live as husband and wife. That uncertainty makes achieving closure that much harder.

He doesn't have quite the same bond with her as he had with Mara, but they are both highly skilled at sensing emotions and inferring where they're coming from.

They also choose to be open with each other in order to prevent a power imbalance (he can put up mental shields easily but she cannot), and this level of openness and honesty makes them highly accountable to each other and themselves. It's what gives Luke the moral courage to tell Mara that he's moving on, and in that way commit himself to his new partner.

She's almost reflexively nurturing. Luke's sad? Make him a hot chocolate. He's cold? Bring him all of the warm things, including her own ridiculous slippers.

Thank you very much! And thanks as always for your feedback.

 

As hard as it is for me to see Luke without Mara I can definitely celebrate him finding someone so thoughtful as to bring him things to keep warm, nothing better than warm slippers and hot chocolate. Totally well done on the conflicted emotions; Mara was supposed to be Luke's forever love and in some ways still is and always will be, yet he's found someone he can share joys and struggles with day to day.

 

Mara's a tough act to follow, that's for sure. But I think Luke's at a point in his life where he really appreciates feeling cozy and loved.

Thank you very much!