A/N: This beast is taking on a life of its own and I'm about to let it.

(IV) Saturation Point

There was too much Vader in him...it was as simple as that.

The angel-faced oft have devils breeding inside them. It is an irrevocable destiny as unyielding as the flow of time. He'd taken a risk with Leia- but wasn't that the very essence of true love; the ultimate risk? The danger didn't lie in the love itself but in the seed they'd planted for the future. And he'd seen it, as early as the child's fourth summer, that propensity towards the darkness. Much as she denied it, so had she. He'd blamed himself for the child's wayward tendencies; after all, he was a rogue to the core and shied from communicative declarations whenever possible. Even the life and death speech had only come after the child had 'mistakenly' killed his pet, for the second time. This time he'd watched his son staring at the tiny corpse as if the first had been a fluke, the second an experiment. He knew better than to ask what had become of the creature callously, merely accepted it as it was and they sat watching twin moons in silence. The reverie was one they often engaged in but growing scarcer by the week. With so much needing to be said he still hadn't been able to formulate the sentences, fearing he'd do more damage than good. In truth, the offer to train with Luke couldn't have come a moment sooner. Thankfully Lando was with them, encouraging their decision to provide their child with the chance to explore this exceptional path.

Rightfully so, the separation from his parents had broken the child's heart, so much so that even Leia had had second doubts about the decision. But he'd made up his mind and, just as he'd prepared himself to give the boy a speech about life's pursuits and destiny and the like, he found his son standing under the moons, staring out in the great expanse on such a night as many they'd shared though this happened to be his last before their separation. The boy stood alone. Surprising, considering they'd always shared the moment. Pale light shone on the small creation, the fruit of his love with Leia, and Han knew in that moment that there was nothing greater to live for. His moment of clarity, which should have been met with the consolation only one's own kin can bring, rather faced a stark silence and the feeling, that feeling, came back once more...

"Hey Ben," he'd said in that awkwardly charismatic diminuendo only he was capable of delivering, closing his mouth immediately after, followed by a half smile that twisted just so that the scar on his chin became noticeable. The child stared into the night, stiff and full of pent-up emotion. Just like your mother, he thought and instantly stiffened at the implications of the thought, now six summers in.

"Quiet night, huh?" Communication was not the forte of one who'd had a habit of breaking everything he touched and sometimes he cursed himself for ever trying. Next time he'd let the wookie take over. Yet the child said nothing. "So, ah... your mother and I are taking you to the halfway point in the morning." Silence again. The echo of the night became almost deafening in the interlude. Finally Ben turned around, his face stripped of any emotion- a chilling visage of a child who seemed to have aged throughout the day.

"What are you going to do, dad?" he asked with such a monotonous tone he may as well have been tranquilized. It was enough to chill Han's bones.

"What do you mean?" he'd asked, unable to make sense of the question.

"When I'm gone. Mom says I'll be away for a long time... What are you going to do, dad, when I'm gone? Will I see you again?" That had been enough to break his heart and wordlessly he took his son into his arms. Upon releasing him from the hug he faced his boy with that same quirky smile, patting the child's raven hair down, enough so that he finally got a smile from the kid. They stayed that way for a while, sharing their half smiles until the cold of night set in and they went back indoors, hearts lighter than they had been. And where was Leia? Likely still catching up with Lando.

Just as they parted ways, Ben to his room and he in search of his wife and guest, Ben spoke from the doorway of his room.

"Dad."

"Yeah, Benny."

"I didn't... I didn't mean to do that to Unlce Lando. We were playing and... and...I love my present. Goodnight, dad."

Han stared after his son as the child crawled into his bed. When the boy finally retired Han listened for voices but the house seemed devoid of anything but whispers. He walked until he was almost out of the kitchen when his boot skid on something slippery. The light was too dim for him to tell but he figured he'd managed to smear the stain onto the floor and Leia would definitely have his head for not cleaning up. He knelt down as if to wipe the stain but his hand stalled mid-air. The closer he leaned the redder the stain became. Then, what had started out as a singular patch became a trail of droplets. He followed them, out of the kitchen and through the next room, his panic increasing with each step. One full panic-stricken minute later he found the end of the crimson trail along with his wife and best friend, the former tenderly placing a healing salve on the latter's marred face as he continued to bleed onto the carpeting. Leia turned to him as soon as he entered the room, her face stricken with a foreboding worry he'd not seen since the carbonite... Lando had tried to laugh the incident off as child's play gone wrong but his carved face told a different story. As he looked into his wife's eyes she began to tear up and he knew that she had finally accepted sending Ben to train as the best hope for a future away from the darkness.

There was too much Vader in him...it was as simple as that.