𝕃𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕔𝕪 - 𝔸 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕎𝔸ℝ𝕊 𝕊𝕋𝕆ℝ𝕐

3 - WATCH YOUR STEP

(Song: Cornfield Chase - Hans Zimmer)

"Hello, my dear." He bends down and reaches out a hand to help her up. He smiles at her.

"I don't understand, how are you here? Why do you look so young? Is this real?" Mae takes his gloved hand and it felt real.

"We're in your dream, does it feel real?" He looked down at her intently.

"Yes." It felt so real, but was it? Dreams aren't real.

"Then maybe it is." He lets go out of her hand and looks around the cave.

"If this is real, then why are you here, Master Skywalker?"

"I believe I'm here to guide you, the way I wish I could have helped my own children." He looked around the cave, and whispered to himself, "The Force sure works in mysterious ways."

"How can you help me? I mean why do you think you have to?" Mae's life was normal. There was no reason for Anakin to be in her dreams, even if she didn't mind.

"We sense something is rising in the shadows, something dark. You're not safe anymore." He looks gravely at Mae and her heartbeat starts to pick up. His voice was serious. He was here to warn her.

"What is it? I have to tell dad." She starts panicking a little. Her emotions seemed to be controlling the dream because quickly the ground starts to shake beneath them. The walls crack.

"It looks like our time is up." Mae and Anakin step back to catch their balance from the rocking and shaking. "I sense something is breaking our connection."

"But Master what's-"

Mae falls back on her butt. Something has tripped her up. She looks down and sees it. The melted black mask, or what is left of it stares at her between her feet. It's the mask of Darth Vader. A mask that haunted her dreams before. Her eyes widen she looks up to her grandfather. Everything is shaking around them. His eyes widen, showing his concern. She scrambles up to her feet and they start running out of the collapsing cave together. He covers her keeping her head down so the rocks don't hit her. Once they're out of the cave he grabs her shoulders quickly. And looks down at her.

"Wake up Mae. You have to wake up now. It's okay, I will see you soon." His tone is serious. He lets go of her shoulders, takes a few steps back and crosses his arms.

"Oh, and watch your step." He adds and smiles.

"What does that me--"

Mae jolts awake, sucking in a huge breath. She feels like her spirit is returning to her body. She was ripped from the dream and her mind and body are trying to keep up. Is this real? Was that real? What's real? Was that actually Anakin Skywalker? She is so off-balance. She stumbles to a standing position, but her foot misses the ledge.

And just like that, she's falling, again. This time she's falling off the top of the Jedi temple. She screams. She's jumped off the temple before in the lake beside it to scare her friends, but not from this height. She reaches out and tries to grab at the side of the wall at anything that could stop her from plummeting to her death. Her cloak catches onto something, a balcony railing. Her fall stops, but she is not nearly as close to the ground as she hoped to safely jump too. She looks down and tries to look for help. Where is everyone and what time is it? It looks like morning. It must be breakfast. Holding on for her life she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. I can do this. She reaches with one hand to her belt for her lightsaber. It was not there. Dad's gonna kill me, she thought. She would be seeing her grandpa sooner than she'd hoped. Panic rises in her as her cloak starts to tear. She screams so loud her own ears hurt.

"GRANDPA! HELP ME! PLEASE!" She saw the cloak held by a thread.

"DAD!" She screams as she falls to her death.

She's falling, falling, and falling.

She knows she's getting closer to the ground. She closes her eyes. Waiting for the impact.

Nothing happens. She feels the air stops moving around her.

She slowly opens her eyes, one and then the other. The ground is a foot away but she is levitating above it. She looks up and sees Luke. His hand is open facing up, using the Force. His eyes widen with worry. He slowly drops her and runs to her side. He pulls Mae into a hug.

"Are you okay what happened? Where were you? We looked everywhere for you this morning!" He strokes through her hair and holds her tightly. Mae relaxes in his arms.

"I'm so sorry Dad. I fell asleep on the roof and I-I fell." He releases from the hug and looks at her.

"Excuse me, you were where, young lady?"

With the growing tension, she realizes how many people were actually around them now. Almost the whole school. She tries to give a laugh to soothe the awkwardness. Not only did she fall off the roof of the temple, from the most restricted area in the entire school without her lightsaber, she also just called him "Dad" in front of the whole school. Only Ben, the teachers and themselves were supposed to know this secret.

"Go to your room, right now. I'll be there in a few moments." The disappointment in his eyes makes Mae want to cry. She's used to her father getting upset, calling her by her full name for doing something stupid, but not like this.

She gets up with shaky legs and pushes past the crowd. Mae looks down at the ground. There are whispers. It's an awkward walk with everyone staring. She feels the presence of Ben and she looks up again. He was standing at the top of the stairs, arms crossed leaning his back against a pillar. His expression reminded her of Anakin's and it conjures the memory of her dream.

She needed to ask Ben if Anakin came to him too. She starts to open her mouth but catches herself. It can wait. Her father would just get more upset. She walks to her room and using the force she slams it so hard that the bang echos throughout the temple.