Suns Among Stars

Book Three:Shadows Fall Behind

.

.

.

A/N1: Major AU story!

.

.

A/N2: I do not own Star Wars.

.

.

A/N3: Please note that this is the THIRD BOOK in a Trilogy.

Please read Book 1: A Man Among Boys and Book 2: The Light of Love first.

.

.

Chapter One:

Lightsaber clashed against lightsaber, red on blue...

Objects flying... before he did...

"Join me! Help me rule..."

"...Why am I so important?"

"Because... you are my son!"

Blue eyes snapped open as their owner gasped in a sharp breath. His chest heaved with the adrenaline brought on by the recollection. Despite his best efforts not to recall the final part of his recurring nightmare— no, he knew, a memory— it came on the heels of waking as it always did: echoing, unforgiving, through his mind.

I am your father...

Luke Skywalker closed his eyes against the booming voice of Darth Vader, trying to calm himself down. His wife stirred in her sleep beside him, and Luke doubled his efforts not to wake her up. He carefully left the bed, making sure not to jostle her in the cramped confines. Once his feet were firmly on the ground, Luke paused to look upon his beloved.

A warm smile lit his face, and he lovingly caressed her red-gold mane of hair with his fingertips.

Then, with a quiet sigh he donned his shirt and robe and went outside. Soft tones of the early morning were beginning to paint the night sky as Luke walked out to his usual spot for quiet contemplation.

Darth Vader was Luke's father.

He'd told Mara that it was true, and he knew it was true...

...but accepting the fact was another matter entirely.

He didn't want to accept it... because he was afraid. He was terrified now, more so than he ever had been before, of becoming evil. While Luke was not conceited, he knew the deep wellspring of power that rested within him. He knew he was capable of great things.

However, he'd always had this deep-seated fear of becoming a horrible monster like the two men who ruled the galaxy. But until Vader's revelation, he hadn't truly understood where that fear came from.

And Luke had been certain after his ordeal in the cave on Dagobah that he had come to grips with his fear.

But now... now he wasn't so certain anymore.

After all, if his father was such an evil being, and he came from Vader... what did that make Luke? Was it his destiny, no matter how much he tried to stay in the Light, to become a Sith?

That thought alone was depressing, and Luke felt himself sink into a mild depression. Why did his family have to be so suddenly screwed up? Was it the Skywalker name that was cursed? Anakin had become one of the most evil Sith Lords to date, and Shmi was now in the clutches of the only being worse than Vader: Emperor Palpatine.

The thought of Shmi brought a sharp pang of longing to his heart as usual. How he missed her: he missed waking up to her cheery smile and intelligent eyes. He wished he could hear her sweet voice telling him goodnight. Luke wanted to feel her arms encircle his neck and hold him tightly.

Silent tears tracked down his face, dripping from his cheeks to paint the dusty ground in darkened drops of brown. Looking up and out, Luke gazed without really seeing upon the Dune Sea that lay beyond Ben Kenobi's old hut.

He and Mara had retreated to Tatooine to affect her training, and to also await word that Han had arrived at Jabba's palace. Artoo Detoo was there already, undercover and ready to send Luke the signal.

Once he did, Luke and Mara, along with Leia, Chewie and Lando— who would arrive within the next week— would attempt a rescue of their friend and brother.

Luke settled onto the ground, thinking of how Leia had questioned Luke's choice to go after Han before Shmi. But though the decision hadn't been an easy one, Luke had made it only after many hours of meditation and a long conversation with Mara.

It was clear to him that Han would be needed when it came time to go after Shmi. Though, whether the man would accompany Luke and Mara to Imperial Center when the time came, Luke wasn't entirely certain.

But for now, they needed to get Han back.

With an effort, Luke cleared his mind, though the recurring thought that he would need to accept Vader would not leave him alone, and he felt his spirits droop further.

00000

Mara Jade Skywalker stretched an arm out languidly, her half-asleep mind intent on draping the limb over the torso of her husband. However, when her arm did not meet with the intended resistance, Mara lifted her head.

She squinted until her eyesight focused, and then frowned: Luke was not in the bed. Looking out over the small room she and Luke had taken as theirs upon their arrival at Ben Kenobi's former home, Mara wondered if her husband was in the refresher.

But the light was off, and no sounds came from the smaller space.

Sitting up, Mara swung her legs over the side of the bed and left the security of the sheets. The bed was cold and lonely without her husband's presence anyway.

Mara stretched as she padded around the house. It had been a few weeks since she had retreated with Luke to train as a Jedi, and that time had been as intensive: sometimes more-so than her training to be the Emperor's Hand had been.

However, she had loved every moment of her time alone with Luke, and so she'd eagerly taken in everything he'd taught her. Mara now exhibited a level of not only understanding, but simple power that she'd never known she had within her.

Another of the many things her former master had kept from her.

Mara paused when she felt a ripple outside the hut, and she followed it back to the source. Then, with a weary sigh, Mara left the house, still only in her sleep shorts and tank-top.

As she trudged forth, Mara realized she'd forgotten just how chilly the Tatooine night could be, and shivered slightly. Shaking it off on favor of helping her husband, Mara approached his silent form, noting the slump to his shoulders.

"Luke?" she murmured as she approached, though she knew he was aware of her presence in the way his head turned slightly.

She knelt behind him and placed her hands upon his shoulders. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

Luke hesitated, but Mara caught a snippet of his thoughts, and she knew without him having to say it.

"Luke, you can't keep letting Vader's relation to you eat you up like this," Mara told him with gentle firmness.

"How can I just accept it?" Luke whispered, turning his head to see her better. "How can I be... part of that... monster?"

Mara shifted to sit more so he could see her clearly, and she looked into his eye. "I know you, Luke; that's to how you really see Vader. You already know he's your father, and that you should allow that and move on. So why won't you?"

Luke dropped his gaze, and his body language spoke of a fear she hadn't seen in him in a long while. It was a fear he'd exhibited in his training with her before Dagobah.

"You don't want to accept it, because you're afraid that in doing so, you will automatically become like him," Mara stated.

Luke flinched as though she'd slapped him, but he did not object.

"Luke, that is ridiculous," Mara told him flatly. "Just because you're related to someone doesn't mean you will make their mistakes."

Luke finally met her gaze, had she saw tears simmering within his blue eyes. "Doesn't it?"

Mara took his hand in hers. "No. You are not going to become Vader. You don't want that, and you aren't about to be cowed by the Dark Side."

"How can you be so sure?" Luke asked wearily.

"Because I know you, Luke," Mara said patiently. "You are far stronger than you often give yourself credit for. I mean, how many men— with the power you possess— would have flown into a protective, and utterly destructive rage in an attempt to get their only child back?"

Mara saw Luke mull that over, and went on.

"I've seen Vader do that very thing: fly into a rage and destroy everything in his path to get what he came for." Mara dropped her gaze momentarily. "I thought I had committed horrors... well, his atrocities make my job look like a child's game."

Mara looked to her husband again and tilted his sagging chin with two fingers. "You can choose— you already have chosen—not to go Dark. You stayed strong and you decided to do things the right way. You are following the Force, just like Yoda taught you. You are not going to become Vader, because you don't want it." Mara now took his face in both hands. "So maybe you need to accept yourself as Vader's son before you can allow him to be your father."

Luke held her gaze, and she could see the gears turning in his mind. Finally he smiled softly at her and covered her left hand with his.

"What would I do without you, Mara?" he murmured. "You're right. It's not Vader I need to accept: it's myself."

Mara smiled; glad to see he was coming around. "You know, if your previous theory was true, then what would that mean for Leia?" Mara asked knowingly. "If you are automatically evil just because you share Vader's blood, then by extension your twin is also."

Luke's eyes widened. "Leia is the farthest from evil."

"Then so are you," Mara decided. "Luke, you already went through all this on Dagobah, remember? Maybe this is the final part of that test that began in the cave?"

Luke closed his eyes in deep thought. Mara was right, he knew: he had to allow himself to be Anakin Skywalker's son... Vader's son. Luke did indeed refuse to become the man Vader was now. He did not want to be feared like that, or to have that much power flowing constantly with him. Luke had seen Palpatine through Mara's memories, and he shuddered with disgust.

How could the man stand to look like that? And if the man was so flush with power, could he not heal his own body?

The Emperor was the ultimate living proof of how the Dark Side corrupted the user and made the person its slave. Luke refused to be like that: he was free, and he would remain in the Light... always.

And no amount of Vader's DNA would change that.

Luke took a deep breath and said it in his mind: I am Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader.

Then he opened his eyes and met Mara's gaze squarely.

"I am Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader." He repeated aloud, letting his fears dissipate with the fading night sky.

Mara smiled proudly at him while Luke felt a weight lift from his shoulders; one that had been there since Vader's confession. He could breathe easier, and his posture straightened.

"I am a Jedi like Anakin was before me," Luke pronounced seriously. "But I will never become a servant of the Dark Side like my father did."

"I'm glad to hear that," Mara told him evenly.

Luke then took note of Mara's semi-clothed state, and that she was shivering. He felt a pang of guilt and shifted his position, opening his robe invitingly. Mara gracefully climbed into his embrace and snuggled against his warm side, sighing contentedly when he enclosed her with him inside the safety of his cloak.

Luke smiled at the beautiful woman in his arms, and kissed the top of her head lovingly. Then, to his joy, the first of the two suns peeked over the horizon, highlighting Mara's hair and face so that she glowed.

"Mara..." Luke breathed. "You are breathtaking."

She threw him a smirk. "Thank you, Love."

Luke bent his head down and kissed her lips gently, exhilarated by the sweet taste of her. He would never tire of her taste, her scent, her touch... and he knew would always crave more. But they had a lifetime in which to continue basking in each other, and Luke did not intend to waste any of that time.

However, when their lips parted, he knew that lovemaking was only one facet— albeit a most enjoyable one— of their relationship. Simply sitting with Mara, watching the sunrise Luke had grown up with was very welcoming, and Luke smiled happily.

"I don't think I ever told you," Luke murmured after they had watched the sunrise for a while longer. Mara tilted her head, and he continued his thought. "But in the year or two before I left Tatooine, I would often rise early to watch the suns come up, and wish to share it with a woman. I never imagined that fantasy would come to be."

Mara lifted a hand to touch his face, and Luke turned into her palm to kiss it lovingly. "I'm glad I could be that woman."

Luke nuzzled her nose with his. "So am I."