WHO:
emperorshand and
im_not_the_popeWHERE: idk wherever Uncle Palps is at
WHEN: LAAAATE in the night
WARNINGS: Mental maniplation, force style!
SUMMARY: After nearly a week on little sleep, Mara goes to confront the one thing she didn't think she'd have to.
FORMAT: Paragraph!
(
Lines blur red )
Her fingers itched to wrench the saber from the clip on her belt, or to pull her blaster from the holster and level it between his eyes. She didn't have to use the force. She could just be what she had been for ages. Mara Jade, smuggler. Not Mara Skywalker, Jedi. Not Mara Jade, Emperors Hand.
No. She could just be Mara Jade. She could shoot the kriffing sleemo between the eyes and be done with it.
Except that wouldn't be the end. She knew it wouldn't. It would feel damn good, but it wouldn't do a world of help for her. She needed to be smart. She needed to be what he had trained her to be. This had been in contrast to the entire plan that she had made coming here. Confronting him.
"I won't do anything for you," she managed, her fists tightening at her sides. She was stiff as a board, just staring at him defiantly. "You can ask all you want, you can threaten all you want, but I'm better than that now."
Reply
"I don't believe I ever told you the story of Lord Vader," he continued. "It truly is rather remarkable...If you don't believe that Skywalker could let himself go out of love, it will truly be a sobering reminder for you. You see, Lord Vader was once a Jedi Knight, the same as Skywalker. And he was deeply in love with a Senator from a backwater planet." He chuckled slightly.
"As his friend and confidant, he told me everything he kept from the Jedi, especially how frightened he was of losing her. It was that fear, that desire to save her, to protect her, that led him to turn to me, and destroy everything he had held dear to him, everything that meant anything to him...he single-handedly destroyed the entire Jedi Order for the sake of protecting the woman he loved." Palpatine couldn't help but laugh loudly.
Reply
That resolve, that was a dead end for him. Luke was still on the light side, and she had been killed by someone who was supposed to be a family member. She knew Jacen, the kid wasn't bad.
"Skywalker is better than that," she said simply in return. He was. She was dead already to him.
Reply
"Of course, you may have died to him already, but...now he has you back. Do you think he will so readily let you go a second time? Perhaps a third?" He smiled at her. "I wonder how many times he can sit back and let you die before he just has to do something."
Reply
She was proud of that. She could stand there and tell him the complete truth. She buffed the innards of her shields, blocking off what she could from his probes, from that corridor in the back of her mind. She couldn't block him out entirely, but she could keep him from her deepest, darkest desires.
Reply
"If you did not come here to kill me, then I suggest you stop wasting my time. I have no further use for you right now. Don't worry - when I need you, you will know." He raised his presence in the Force, as if it were a dark, thick blanket covering everything, weighing it down. "Do not think that you can escape your destiny, Mara Jade. And you cannot keep Luke Skywalker from meeting his own, as well."
Reply
"If I'm such a waste of your kriffing time, then stay out of my head," she added, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She had to remain strong, continuing her show of solidarity. "You have no idea what destiny is, you couldn't even prevent your own."
Reply
He returned to his chair, sitting down, his eyes closing as he visibly relaxed in his chair, as if taunting her, completely unafraid of her weapons or her anger or anything about her. "I look forward to seeing you again, Mara Jade."
Reply
The one thought that kept running through her mind was that she couldn't escape the feeling that she had just done more harm than good.
Reply
Leave a comment