The Other Side

She could feel her lips pull back into a snarl as she faced the darkness surrounding her. A cold, driving rain slashed across her, causing the jumpsuit she wore to cling to her body. A shiver raced up her spine as her eyes darted forward and back.

The hilt of her saber was heavy in her hand, and she shuffled her feet to the side, straining her ears to hear anything around her.

There! she crowed in exhilaration at the soft shift of pebbles off to her left.

Mara Jade Skywalker began to move forward, raising Luke's shoto in her hand, readying to strike down her nephew.

Why Jacen? Why did it come to this? She wondered as she advanced silently, her presence dampened in the Force.

The sound came to her ears again, this time much closer. He's coming towards me!

The brilliant blue light of her blade flashed into existence, at the same time as light flooded her surroundings. Confused, she backpedaled, wondering what was happening. How light had come to be in this room.

Something tripped her, and she landed on her butt hard.

"Aunt Mara? Are you okay?"

Mara could feel her eyes widen as her head snapped up to look at the person standing over her.

Anakin?!? Where's Jacen? She shook her head, forcing her mouth closed in the process.

Anakin chuckled slightly, and knelt down in front of her. "Jacen's not here. I... I doubt that he'll come."

Mara looked around her, frowning as she did not recognize the surroundings. It wasn't the tunnels where she was fighting Jacen. It felt more like the catacombs beneath the Jedi Temple on Ossus.

Where are we? she thought to herself.

Anakin looked around, chuckling again. "We're everywhere and nowhere. We're one with the Force."

Mara's head snapped around to face him again. "What?"

One side of Anakin's lips snacked upwards, twisting his mouth into a wry grin. "Is it so hard to believe? I'm here. I've been reading your thoughts. This isn't those dirty tunnels where you were fighting Jacen."

Mara sighed, lowering her head to the top of her knees. "I know... I... I just don't want to accept it. I can't. Not being able to see Ben or Luke again?"

Anakin shrugged his shoulders. "You should know by now that the future is always in motion." He barked a short, sharp laugh before continuing. "Besides, we're going to be here for a while-I'm sure they'll show up sometime."

He stood up, brushing some dust off the knees of his pants and then held his hand out towards her. "Come on," he said. "Let's go see the others."

She grasped his hand, and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "Others?"

He again gave her that famous Solo smirk, the one that so often infuriated her. "Yeah, you didn't think we were going to spend eternity alone did you?"

She felt her lips twist into a smile. "I'm sure there's some sludge-news reporter who would love that thought. Did you know that after the war, one of them reported that Ben was yours?"

Anakin chuckled again, and shook his head. "Yeah... sorry about that. Technically, we're not supposed to put ideas into the heads of the living, but the dead have to have fun somehow..."