To the Reviewers:
AnakinFan- I'm sorry to hear about your pet. :-( I'm glad I was able to bring a bit of light to your day, though!
Jedis'Mistress said: "I like the way you describe how R2 communicates and how Luke was and now is said in 'R2 Language" ---I'm glad that came across! I was hoping that I could show that even R-2 has been affected by Luke's fall.
Maphisto86 said: - "After reading your story once or twice I noticed your affinity for using Greek mythology. The Erebus and the Nyx are Greek God's and the names fit perfectly for the ships and their owners."
You're the first person to comment on those, and I'm glad someone finally recognized them! Yes, I love mythology in general, and I thought that those names fit quite well too (Obviously –grin-)
Maphisto86 also said: "If only we knew what the Erebus and the Nyx look like." – Your comment made me realize that I never really described them well, so I edited chapter 10 (during the conversation between Onorea and Vesra) so that there is a more detailed explanation of what the ships look like. Thank you for pointing that out!
Crazytook said "The end of the dream sequence with ben was creepy, reminded me of some parts with rand in the wheel of time series" -- I love the Wheel of Time series, so it's a great compliment to compared to it. Thanks!
To Everyone: I'm glad that virtually everyone liked the bit from R-2's perspective. I really liked the idea of having a portion from the little droid's viewpoint, but it was difficult to try and come up with a way to work that – but it seemed to come off well, at least from the responses I've gotten! And of course, thank you all for the great comments. You're keeping this story going by the wonderful encouragement!
Thanks ever so much!
And now, of course….
The Souls of DemonsChapter 11
By Pyxelle"How much longer before you start the final series of treatments?"
"Several hours, my lord. Most likely we won't begin until tomorrow morning, and we should be completed with the final series in approximately seventy-two hours."
"Very good. I would like some time alone with the patient, if you don't mind."
"Of course, my lord."
A pause. "Good day, doctor."
Luke?
Was that Luke's voice?
Wedge Antilles felt a vague relief as his mind swam out of the dark pool it had been lost in for an indefinable amount of time. He felt disoriented, almost as if he had spent too much time in deep space and was trying to adjust to a planetary schedule again. No, that wasn't quite what it was…it was a bit like a hangover, though Wedge's experiences with those were limited, but not quite that either. Whatever is was, his mind seemed to be disconnected from him, distant, as if it were sending his thoughts to his body via some strange mental broadcast, making everything he heard and felt reverberate disconcertingly in his head.
He simply couldn't define the sensations. He had no frame of reference to put them into.
"Wedge…Wedge…can you hear me?"
Wedge licked his lips and cracked his eyes open, but the light beyond blinded him and his eyelids squinted shut again almost immediately. His mouth worked as he tried to respond to his friend, but no sound came out.
"Doctor!" he could hear Luke's voice shout coldly. "Dim the lights, please."
The bright light above him darkened, and Wedge tried again to open his eyes again, this time with a slightly greater degree of success. He still couldn't see much, but he was at leastable to make out Luke Skywalker's fuzzy features above him. He tried to speak again. "Lu…L…"
"Shh. Don't talk yet." Luke held a small glass of water up to his lips and Wedge drank gratefully. The water revitalized him a little, the cool liquid blessedly reviving his parched mouth. "Take your time. You've been on intravenous fluids for a while now. It'll take a moment before you can talk."
He nodded, his eyes slipping closed again. Why was he on intravenous fluids? Had he been injured? Wedge's thoughts whirled away from him, spinning off in a dizzying rhythm, and he fuzzily realized that his difficulties were probably due to whatever painkillers or anesthesia he had been given. The glass touched his lips once more, and he sipped at the water again.
"Good?" Luke asked. Wedge nodded without opening his eyes. Even those few sips were making his stomach feel queasy.
How long had he been unconscious?
"L…Luke…what happened?" Wedge finally managed to whisper, his tongue feeling thick and stupid in his mouth. "Did I get shot down?"
Luke was quiet for so long that Wedge cautiously opened his eyes, braving the stinging lights. His friend swam into a wavering focus above him, a frown deeply creasing his face. Distantly Wedge thought that Luke looked…different, somehow. Harder.
"You don't remember?"
Wedge shook his head and instantly regretted it. A shocking pain pounded within his skull, and his face grimaced in pain. "N…no."
"Well...to be honest, I'm not quite sure what happened," Luke said slowly. "I was hoping you might be able to tell me."
His mind raced backwards through a shimmering confusion of memories. Wedge had a vague recollection of flying out of Borunn's atmosphere, heading towards someplace he didn't really want to go, someplace where he was very likely to be taken prisoner, some battle station
(the Deathstar)
the Deathstar, that was it. He had been heading to the Deathstar with someone else…no…not someone, but something…
(R2D2)
some droid…and he was alone…because he wasn't the important part of the mission, no, he-
"Wedge?" Luke asked, his voice gentle. "Are you still with me?"
"Yeah," Wedge whispered, the train of his thoughts derailing as he spoke. Why had he been going to the Deathstar? "I'm here."
"I need to know what you were trying to do, Wedge." Luke's voice was soft but very firm. "Please, try to remember. It's extremely important."
The urgency in Luke's voice made Wedge struggle harder to make some sense out of his murky thoughts. Luke wouldn't be pressing him if it weren't of the utmost importance, though there was something about Luke
(Darth Eivel)
that he thought he needed to remember, some bit of information that was significant about his friend
(his enemy)
that for some reasonhe couldn't quite dredge up into his conscious mind.
Wedge tried to focus on Luke again. The dimmed lights made it easier, and Wedge could see Luke's face clearly for the first time. Luke's hair was shorter than he remembered, brushed back neatly, and his blue eyes were calm as they met Wedge's gaze. He was wearing a simple high-necked black shirt, plain and functional, andthough he couldn't see anything to cause it, Wedge suddenlyfelt a strange sense of alarm.
Apparently, Luke was able to sense this because he smiled reassuringly at Wedge. "It's all right, Wedge. Take your time. I'm just glad you're all right."
That was the Luke that Wedge remembered, and he felt the apprehension slip from his mind. He struggled to remember. "Han…and Lando…and…"
(…Princess Leia looked at him seriously. "Wedge, you don't have to do this. It's practically a suicide mission."
"Oh, it's not that bad." Wedge gave Leia a lopsided grin, hoping that his fear didn't show on his face. "Come on, think about it. The longer we wait, the less likely it is that little droid's program is going to work."
"There's no guarantee it's going to work at all," Han muttered darkly. "I don't like this. I'd just like to state that again, for the record."
"This is off the record, Han, remember that," Lando said softly. "This entire mission is off the record."
"Well, for the record, I'd like to say that I don't like that the mission is off the record, either," Han retorted shortly.
"Han," Leia put her hand on her husband's arm. He just looked away.
Wedge leaned forward. "Look, this is my choice. If it works, hey, after R-2 runs Alpha23 I've got what…fifteen minutes? That's plenty of time for me to get to my ship and away from the Deathstar. No problem." He smiled jauntily at them, an expression he hoped looked more genuine than it felt. "I can handle that."
"And what it doesn't work, Wedge?" Han demanded. "What if Luke finds you…hell, he's not Luke anymore! What if -")
"Wedge, wake up." Wedge's eyes jerked open as he felt Luke's cool hand on his forehead. "Come on, Wedge, don't fall asleep on me now."
"Sorry," Wedge muttered, taking a deep, painful breath. "Sleepy."
"I know you're tired, but I need you to stay focused." Luke's voice was grave, and Wedge could sense his urgency, but he couldn't quite bring himself out of the fog that clouded his thoughts. Luke continued to speak. "Please. What did Han and Lando want you to do?"
"They…take my fighter and…" he trailed off again.
"Wedge, please," The blue pools of Luke's eyes seemed to be bottomless, and for some reason Wedge suddenlycouldn't seem to pry his gaze away from them. The rest of the world was fading into a distant nothingness, drowning reality around him in those unfathomable depths, and Wedge's heart began pounding like the beating of some primal drum in his ears. "Tell me what you were doing."
Some part of Wedge tried to claw its way up from the deep well of his mind, trying to tell him something that was at once massively important and mind-numbingly insignificant. His heart sped even faster. Thud-thud… Thud-thud… Thud-thud…thud-Thud-thud-Thud… "I was-"
Clipped footsteps and a dispassionate voice cut him off.
"Lord Eivel, his heart rate-"
"Quiet!" Luke snapped at the doctor who had walked up behind him. "I asked you to leave us!"
But it was too late. Lord Eivel.
"Luke?" His voice was no more than a whisper, and even as he said the name Wedge's memory came rushing back in a black flood. The pounding of his heart seemed to stop all at once, the blood freezing in his veins as he stared at the monster who wore Luke Skywalker's face.
(no not luke not luke darth eivel and gods oh no what have i told him is r-2 here and how long have i been here how long how long )
"Dr. Belei, I will discuss this later with you," Darth Eivel said softly, addressing the doctor but never breaking eye contact with Wedge. Distantly, Wedge could hear the doctor stammering in a belated attempt to apologize.
"Yes, my lord, I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"
"Leave!"
Wedge could hear the doctor scurrying away. Darth Eivel was looking down at him, a strange, almost sad expression on his face, and Wedge couldn't help the wild panic felt.
"Wedge-"
"No!" Wedge somehow managed to make that single word sound strong. He swallowed painfully. "I'm not telling you anything."
Eivel sighed. "Please, Wedge-"
"Stop talking as if you're my friend." Wedge surprised himself with the steadiness of his voice and the sudden clarity of his vision. He felt the steel in his words. "You're not my friend."
Darth Eivel looked at him for a long moment. "No," he finally said, giving Wedge an indecipherable look. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Wedge almost believed there was grief in that look. "We're not friends, are we?"
Wedge just stared back as coldly as he could, remembering what Leia had tried to drum into him. This was not his friend. He's not Luke Skywalker, he's not Luke Skywalker, he's not-
"Dr. Belei!" Eivel's voice was sharp, and it cut off the mantra Wedge was repeating in his head. The Sith turned away and began to leave. "Continue your work. I have nothing else I wish to do with this patient."
"Yes, my lord." The doctor seemed to be busying himself somewhere out of Wedge's sight, but he could hear the physician's nervousness in his voice. Luke would have never inspired that sort of fear in anyone. He's not Luke Skywalker, though, remember, not Luke…
"No, I'm not Luke Skywalker," Darth Eivel paused, glancing back over his shoulder. "You're right about that, Wedge. It's something you should have remembered before you came here."
There was a moment of silence. Wedge's mind had gone to a blank surprise when Eivel had repeated the words that had been going through his own head.
How much of my mind can he see?
"Lord Eivel?" The doctor's voice was hesitant.
"Yes, doctor?"
"What would you like us to do when we are through with the procedures?"
Darth Eivel locked eyes with Wedge Antilles, one of Luke Skywalker's oldest friends, and a cold, hard understanding came between them. For the barest fraction of a second before his ice-blue eyes flickered up to meet the doctor's question, Wedge swore he saw Luke hesitate…but only for that infinitesimal moment in time. Then it was over, and whatever reflection of Luke Skywalker he had seen was gone.
"Kill him," Darth Eivel said evenly.
OoooOoooO"Do you think Wedge is all right?"
Leia looked at Dena Beratt in some surprise. That was an odd question, considering that Dena didn't know where Wedge actually was – as far as most of the Rebels were concerned, Wedge had gone to visit family in the Outer Rim. "Why wouldn't he be all right?"
"No reason, I suppose." Dena shrugged a little too casually. "I guess, well, I guess I just expected him to check in. That's all."
"I'm sure he's fine." Leia wasn't sure of any such thing, but she couldn't tell her friend that. Wedge should have checked in by now, Dena was right about that, although she didn't know it. Han had assured Leia that Wedge probably just wasn't able to get a communication off to them – after all, he had to make sure it wouldn't get intercepted before trying to contact the Alliance. Wedge should have been deep within Imperial Space by now, and they knew that meant that their communication with the Rebel fighter pilot would be spotty. "He's probably just busy."
Dena nodded. "You're probably right," she said, giving Leia a weak smile. "I worry too much sometimes."
A flash of insight suddenly illuminated Leia's thoughts. She didn't know if it was due to her new training in the Force, or simply woman's intuition, but the certainty that suddenly filled her mind made her mouth drop open in surprise. "You have a thing for Wedge, don't you?"
"What?" Dena looked honestly surprised, but then gave herself away by blushing, her normally powder blue face staining a deep violet. "Of course not!"
"Yes, you do!" Leia grinned, and if possible, Dena flushed even more. "I would have never guessed…you and Wedge?"
"Leia!" Dena made a motion to shush her. "Keep your voice down! I don't want the whole ship to hear!"
"The whole ship? You mean Han and Chewie?" Leia didn't mention Anakin. She just laughed a little, but she lowered her voice and leaned over conspiratorially. "Okay, spill it, Dena…how long have you two been dating?"
"We're not!" Dena denied.
"Dena…" Leia straightened, pretending as if she were going to shout out loud. "Han-"
"No, really, Leia!" Dena pleaded, her eyes darting quickly to the door. "We're not…not really."
"Not really?" Leia raised an eyebrow. "So…you're sort of really dating?"
Dena let out a frustrated breath. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"Nope." Leia shook her head playfully. "No way."
"All right, all right." The Twi'lek's fingers played with the tip of her left lekku, a habit that Leia had realized Dena had when she was nervous. As she always did, Leia wondered briefly if the delicate scrollwork of Dena's black tattooing on her lekku had been painful – she vaguely remembered reading somewhere that the skin on a Twi'lek's cranial tentacles was highly sensitive. For the first time, however, she wondered just how sensitive it was, and if Wedge could possibly answer that question. Despite herself, she felt herself grinning again.
Dena, however, still hadn't answered. "Dena…"
"By the Ninth Ring of the Pestilent Hells, Leia, you can be really pushy." Dena glared at her. "I'm thinking."
"About…?"
"Well…" Dena's anger lifted as if a cloud had passed and a small, almost shy smile touched her lips. "We haven't really dated yet…but he asked me out. Just before he left Borunn."
Leia didn't let her own smile falter. That would have been just before he left on his mission to the Deathstar. "Go on."
"It was kind of funny, actually." Dena actually giggled, her eyes going momentarily far away. "I've been sending hints for a while now, at least, I thought I was…but he's human, after all, not a Twi'lek male, so I was beginning to think I was being too subtle - though how anyone could mistake a Val'ersaru'mai for anything other than forward is a complete mystery to me." Dena's tone was slightly naughty, and Leia wondered briefly what in the galaxy a Val'ersaru'mai was before deciding she probably didn't want to know. Dena went on. "So I was actually shocked when he pulled me aside the night before he left and asked me out."
Dena tossed her lekku back over her shoulder, clasping her hands in front of her and smiling happily at Leia. "You could have knocked me over with a microfilament wire, Leia, seriously, I was that surprised. There I was, just checking over his X-wing, making sure it was ready for extended flight...I didn't even know he was in the hangar with me, and suddenly I turn around and there he was."
Leia watched her friend's happy face, and inwardly winced. At that moment, she really wished she didn't know where Wedge actually was. "And?"
"And…well, he looks at me, his face as serious as a slaver's sister-" as serious as a slaver's sister? That had to be some Twi'leki phrase Leia wasn't familiar with. "…and he says, 'Dena, do you have a guy back home?'"
"Seriously?" Leia couldn't help but laugh. "He asked you if you had a guy back home?"
Dena laughed as she nodded. "I know, silly, isn't it? Of course I said no, I mean, there's no way I'm ever even setting foot on that backwards mudball again, much less go back to get married. So I say, 'No, I don't have a guy, here or anywhere else, Wedge.' And then he says, 'Well then, would you do me the honor of accompanying me to dinner when I return?' Just like that. I almost felt like I was reading one of those sappy romances that human girls like so much."
"Hey…human here!" Leia reminded her, a tone of mock harshness in her voice.
"Oh, Leia, you're much too practical to read those." Leia didn't argue with Dena's amused dismissal, although she flushed the very slightest amount – she had uploaded a few of those 'sappy romances' to the Falcon's recreational database just two weeks prior. "They're so silly."
Leia let that slide. "Well, what did you say?"
"I said sure, I'd love dinner. And I asked him where he wanted to go."
A wide grin spread over Leia's face, and she was suddenly surprised to realize that she had been sensing Dena's excitement this entire time, and part of her own giddiness was actually coming second-hand from the Twi'lek. She hadn't even noticed it, had in fact just taken the sensations as a matter of course – when had that happened? Just a few weeks ago that had been so very new, so very strange, and now it just seemed to be a natural thing for her to feel. She made a mental note to ask Anakin about that during their lesson today. "So where is he taking you?"
Dena's smile wavered a little, and Leia sensed a somewhat troubled confusion tinge her friend's excitement. "Well…that's kind of the funny part. He wouldn't say. When I asked him where he wanted to go, he told me to think of the most romantic getaway spot I could think of, anywhere in the galaxy, and when he got back we'd leave immediately. But he wouldn't let me set a date, or make reservations, or anything. He said we'd take care of that when he got back." A touch of worry tightened Dena's eyes, and she looked at Leia with a rapidly fading smile. "You don't think he's going to back out at the last moment, do you?"
It didn't take more than a few seconds of internal debate for Leia to make her decision. Dena had already witnessed more than enough to warrant her the truth about Wedge, classified mission or no classified mission. She'd handled Anakin's presence and their explanations with remarkable maturity. She hadn't made an issue out of the fact that she was trapped for an as yet undefined period of time with them on the Falcon, since they were avoiding the Vegalles system and she had no easy way of getting there on her own. But most of all, Leia just couldn't continue lying to her friend.
"Dena, I have to tell-"
"Good day, ladies."
Leia and Dena looked up in surprise as Anakin entered the common cabin, smiling slightly at them and inclining his head respectfully.
"I should get cleaned up." Dena said, standing. She smiled faintly at Leia, an expression that didn't touch her eyes. "I'll talk to you later, Leia, all right?"
"Dena, you don't have to go." Leia realized the futility of her words even as she said them. She could clearly sense the strong unease Dena felt whenever Anakin entered the room, an emotion that actually bordered on outright fear.
"No, I really have too much to do," the Twi'lek said, retreating into the corridor. She inclined her head politely. "Good day, Master Anakin."
"Denabe'eratt," Anakin replied in a musical, lilting accent. Leia could see Dena's lips tighten at his pronunciation of her name, but the elegantly beautiful humanoid didn't say anything. Leia waited until her friend had left the room before speaking.
"Why do you do that?" Leia demanded after Dena had gone. Anakin looked at her quizzically.
"Do what?"
"Say her name that way." If Leia had no difficulty sensing how uncomfortable it made her friend, surely Anakin could feel it too. "Can't you tell that she doesn't like it?"
Anakin watched her curiously. "Do you know much about Twi'leks, Leia?"
"Enough," Leia replied. "And yes, I do know that you're pronouncing her name properly, but it obviously makes Dena uncomfortable."
Anakin sat down across from her in the seat that Dena had just recently vacated. "Do you know much about your friend's history, Leia?"
"I've told you that Dena doesn't like to talk about Ryloth, Anakin," Leia told him curtly. "Considering how they treat the women there, I can't say I blame her."
"Nor do I," Anakin agreed, "but until she makes mention of it herself, I am going to continue to use her proper name. A Twi'lek's name is very important to their clan…to break it up so that it's in separate, distinct pieces indicates that the individual is a criminal. It's a grave insult." He looked at her steadily. "I'm surprised you didn't know that."
Leia flushed. She had known that, but she had become so accustomed to Dena that she had entirely forgotten that little bit of her friend's cultural oddity. "I did, actually," she said softly, "I suppose it never occurred to me…the idea that Dena was a criminal in her own society. She never talks about her past."
"Ryloth is a backwards society by much of the galaxy's standards, Leia, and I'm sure her transgression was entirely innocent from our point of view." Anakin shrugged. "A Twi'lek female can be labeled a criminal for simply resisting being sold into slavery."
Leia shuddered, her mind briefly going back to that short time that she had spent as a slave for Jabba the Hutt. There had been several Twi'lek females there, all dancers that Jabba had kept for his amusement. Leia didn't like to think about it.
"Point noted," she sighed as she looked at him. "So…are we getting started, then? Should I get ready to have a target droid singe a bit more of my skin off?"
"Not today," Anakin shook his head. "We're taking a break from lightsaber training for a while."
Leia looked at him warily. "Please don't tell me we're going to spend the entire day meditating."
Anakin laughed at that, a young, almost carefree sound that surprised Leia. Was it just her imagination, or did he seem more relaxed today? It almost seemed as if some sort of weight had been lifted from him. "No, we're not going to be spending the day in meditation, although you could probably use the practice."
"So, what are we doing today?"
Confusion began to grow in Leia as she watched Anakin begin to pull various objects out of his pockets. There were several data-pads, a multi-spectral scanner, a couple of spare circuit boards, and even the burned out shell of a faulty blaster. Anakin finished piling these on the table, and then smiled at her.
"All right…"Leia said cautiously. "What, we're doing a seasonal cleaning?"
"No," Anakin said, amusement in his voice. "Although I think this ship could use one, that's not the plan either."
"Then what is the plan?" Leia picked up the multi-spectral scanner, looked at it for a moment, and then frowned at Anakin. "Because you've completely lost me."
"We've been focusing on lightsaber training, but I think I might have been going about this wrong." Anakin folded his hands on the table and looked at her earnestly. "Your strengths lie in a different direction than mine did when I was first learning."
"All right," Leia nodded. "So what's all this junk for?"
"The Force surrounds all things, creating a link between us and everything else in the galaxy," Anakin said. His eyes fell on the scanner she still held, and he lifted his hand, palm curved slightly over the tool. It floated out of her hand and into the air, spinning lazily as he twirled his fingers. "We're going to see how well you can sense that link, and see if you can begin to manipulate it."
This wasn't the first time Leia had seen this power used to shift objects in space, but it was the first time she had seen it since she had begun to actively learn the ways of the Force. She watched Anakin carefully, both his physical movements and the soft ripples he sent into the Force, trying to catch every delicate nuance of what he was doing. The scanner spun one last time and dropped gently to the table.
"Are you ready to begin?"
Leia nodded, surprised at the excitement she suddenly felt. This was something she understood, the concept of interconnectivity simple for her to grasp in a way that the precognizant swordplay hadn't been. "Yes."
"All right…lets start with the calming techniques…"
Leia rolled her eyes and groaned, surprising herself a little with her impatience. "I thought we weren't going to be meditating today."
Anakin looked at her ruefully. "Well, not exclusively, but this is a new skill for you, Leia…you're not going to be able to jump right in without any preparation at all."
She glanced at him questioningly. "Why not?"
He opened his mouth…and then closed it. "Well, because…"Anakin floundered for a moment, and Leia had to resist the urge to laugh. He looked completely flustered. "Because you can't, that's why," he finally finished lamely.
"That's not an answer, Anakin," she said with amusement.
Anakin looked at her, one eyebrow shooting up. "All right, have it your way, Leia." He waved his hand out and sat back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. "Be my guest. Let's see what you can do."
"All right," Leia grinned, and almost immediately the expression died on her face. A moment ago it had seemed so simple, as she had watched him guide the currents of the Force to spin the scanner in mid-air, but now that she was trying to recreate the same effect she found the image slipping from her mind. She stared at the scanner, hard, but the currents she tried to coax into grasping the scanner evaded her, dancing away from her thoughts more quickly that she was even able to sense them. Leia bit her lip in frustration.
Across the table, Anakin laughed softly. "It's not so easy, is it?"
"I'm trying," she snapped, anda flash of irritated anger illuminated her thoughts. Suddenly Leia could feel the Force start to bend in accord with her will, her mind exerting a cold control over the eddies of the power she sensed, and a fierce joy filled her as she seized that power –
"STOP!"
Anakin's shout was loud enough that Leia jumped several inches into the air, her heart pounding in her chest as the Force disappeared from her mind. She glared at him furiously. She'd almost had it!
"Why in the galaxy did you…do…" Leia's voice, which had been raised in an annoyed anger, trailed off. The look of pure terror on Anakin's face made her own throat tighten in fear. "What?"
"Couldn't you feel it?" he asked strengthlessly. "Leia, couldn't you tell the difference?"
She opened her mouth to say no, but the protestation died before ever being uttered. Any protest she made would have been a lie. Leia had been able to tell the difference. There had been an unmistakable change in how her mind had related to the Force for that small moment of time, as if she had ceased to be working with the power around her and had begun to force it to submit to her. She had been demanding that the power be given to her, compelling it to obey…. and it had been easy.
So very, very easy.
And what's more…it had felt good. It had felt wonderful.
"It was the Dark side, wasn't it, " she said softly. It wasn't a question. Leia looked at Anakin, noting that his frantic alarm was still present on his face and in his thoughts. She felt her own panic flutter like a caged bird in the back of her mind. "I touched the Dark side."
Anakin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again to meet her gaze, his blue eyes were very clear. "Yes. You touched it." He leaned forward, his voice sincere. "But that's all, Leia. You didn't channel it. You didn't let it fill you. You just…touched it. For the briefest of moments. That's all."
"But-"
"It was my fault, not yours," Anakin insisted, and he sighed deeply, running his hands through his wavy brown hair. "I shouldn't have teased you. I'm sorry, Leia. It wasn't your fault."
But Leia knew that wasn't entirely true. It had been her anger that had allowed her to grasp the Force as she had, her own strength that had made the living energy field bow to her will. For the first time, she had tasted the pure, cold power of the Dark side…and everything she had thought she'd known shattered into a thousand frozen shards of razor-sharp confusion.
"I think I'd like to try meditating, Anakin," she said softly. When Leia looked up, she could see her father's impossibly young face blurring as tears fought to well up in her eyes. "I think I'd like that very much right now."
Anakin reached over and grasped her small hand lightly. It was the first gesture of affection that they had shared, and Leia surprised herself by clinging tightly to her father, her fingers clutching his as if they could somehow tether her to the Light itself.
"It's all right, Leia." Anakin squeezed her hand gently, and Leia continued to hold onto him, finding a strange comfort in that slight contact. Anakin's voice was very soft. "It's all right."
Leia could only wish that she truly believed that.
End of Part 11
