Chapter 14

Padmé gasped as she saw her son clinging to the coolant tower. Anakin steadied himself and ignited his blade. Asajj Ventress turned away from Luke toward his parents.

"Vader you came back after all."

"You and I both know that's not my name anymore." Luke watched anxiously, stilled stunned by the revelation.

"Ah yes, your son and I were having a very informative conversation on the subject before the two of you rudely interrupted us." Anakin spoke to his wife using the Force.

"I need you to do something for me…get our son, and get out of here." She nodded her head without replying, igniting Ashoka's green blade to Luke and Ventress's amazement. "You can't win Asajj." He charged at her with Padmé behind him and struck her hard pushing her back. Padmé diverted to try to get to the coolant tower but Ventress pushed her back with the Force. Anakin saw his son barely clinging to the tower.

He matched Ventress's attack hit for hit, all the while trying to make it to his son. He saw Padmé, she was staggering back to her feet. She wouldn't make it in time. With a rush of strength again parried a few more of Ventress's blows and force pushed her away from him. Taking a deep breath, he turned back and ran toward his son. "Luke…grab my hand…please son…" Luke Skywalker didn't budge. He moved away from his father.

"I can't do it Dad."

"Son…come with me. It is the only way out of this."

"Dad…" There were tears in his son's eyes. "After all we've been through…how could you lie to me?" The two men exchanged a glance. Anakin was at a loss for words. He didn't know how to answer his son. All he could do was keep his hand extended out—reaching for him. Luke stared at his father and then gazed down below. Then, he let go of the coolant tower falling down to the depths of the void. Anakin dropped his hand to his side lost in thought. He couldn't even shout. It was then that Asajj Ventress came at him. But something else happened that no one expected.

Anakin turned around, fully expecting to see a lightsaber through his chest. Instead, he saw his wife kneeling in front of him, with both of her hands in front of her holding back the energy of the lightsaber which had barely penetrated her hands. It reminded Anakin of legends from the Old Sith Wars, of Jedi who could use the Force to absorb the energy of a lightsaber and prevent it from piercing them. It was the stuff of myth, and yet here his wife was somehow pulling it off. All three of them stood there stunned before Padmé managed to get a word out.

"I don't know how I'm doing this…but make your move fast." He grabbed his blade and leapt over his wife striking Asajj Ventress hard in the chest. She moaned loudly as she collapsed to the ground—wounded but not dead. He stood over her body as he turned to face his wife.

"When did you realize that you were Force sensitive?" She looked away from him as he kicked Ventress's remaining blade away.

"The day you turned. I sensed what happened in the Chancellor's office. I saw what you were going to do. I felt you and I were one then…but how could I tell you when I couldn't even understand it myself?" Ventress's breathing was labored as she writhed in a pool of her own blood.

More than two decades earlier, Coruscant.

She stared out of the window looking at the spires of the Jedi Temple. Tears soaked her eyes. Padmé Amidala Skywalker could feel Anakin's confusion. Then something else stirred in her, a presence she had always known but had never been able to put her finger on until today.

You will save him. A disembodied voice resonated through her mind.

"Who is that?" She asked, barely holding back the tears.

Your destiny…will be to save him. The voice spoke again. She looked away from the window in shock. Her husband had told her enough about how the Force worked for her to understand exactly was going on. She sighed as she closed her eyes.

"Who are you?"

Daughter of Naboo, long has the Force watched over you. The voice paused. Then it spoke again. You will save him.

"How can I feel this? I am not a Jedi."

The Force is open to all those who are willing to listen. All the years you have served the galaxy…that is exactly what you have done. Now you have opened yourself fully into a world that is much larger than anything you can imagine. She instinctively grabbed her swollen belly with both of her hands and she felt the presence of her children, not their physical presence—but it was something entirely different. She could hear their thoughts and feelings even though those were all but the most rudimentary kinds of feelings unborn children could have while they slept in their mother's womb.
The Force is strong with you. You are a Skywalker now…those you carry inside of you are Skywalkers. You carry within you a terrible burden—a secret that no one should ever have to keep.

"But how can I save him? He's thinking of doing evil to save me?

It is at once a curse and a blessing to be born to the House of Skywalker—nevertheless…you will save him from the precipice—for the Light Side calls to him yet. Love will bring him back.

"I don't understand," Padmé said as she moved back to the window.

In time, you will, responded the voice. She wiped the tears from her face and turned to face her room. She extended her hands out in front of her and closed her eyes breathing deeply. Suddenly, the objects on her desk rose up into the air as she began to open her eyes slightly.

The Present. Cloud City.

Luke Skywalker was hanging on to an electronic weather vane hoping he wouldn't fall down into the gaseous clouds of Bespin that swirled below him. He called out to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Ben….Ben, please!" But there was no answer. He tried to pull himself up closer to the opening of the exhaust pipe but ended up falling back down. Somehow, he managed to hook one of his legs around the base of the weather vane and found himself hanging upside down.

"Ben!" He called out again. Then he realized who he needed more than anyone else right now. "Leia!" There was cracking sound from the base of the vane as a piece broke off and fell down to Bespin. He cried out again. "Leia, hear me! Leia!"

Aboard the Millennium Falcon, Leia could sense her brother's voice penetrating her mind. She heard it again…Leia! Hear me! Leia!

"Luke!" The rest of the crew turned to face her, Ahsoka cast a worried glance outside. "We've got to go back." Chewie growled surprisingly. Lando asked her,

"What?"

"I know where Luke is." Lando spoke,

"But what about those fighters?"

"Just do it Chewie!" Lando put his heads in his hands.

"But what about Ventress?" Chewbacca turned back and growled at Lando Calrissian.

"All right, all right!" said Lando as he sat back down in front of the controls. Quickly, the Falcon did a swift maneuver and headed back for the underside of Cloud City.

"Kill me Vader! Finish it, and take my place at Sidious's side." Anakin knelt by her and extinguished his blade.

"I won't do that Asajj." He paused as he looked at his wife briefly. "You and I both know that the Emperor never wanted you as his apprentice anyway…he's using you like he used me." She closed her eyes trying to stifle the pain she was feeling. Somehow she managed to speak out against her old enemies.

"If you don't strike me down…I will never stop hunting you or your family. All the people you care about will die." What she said was menacing, but it sounded forced. Anakin Skywalker looked at Asajj Ventress with a mix of sadness and pity.

"I don't hate you anymore. I used to, I wanted to kill you…I almost turned because of you."

"Yavin IV," Ventress managed to speak…her own tears blinding her.

"Yes," said Anakin. "You do have another option Asajj."

"What is that?"

"Call of your fleet and let us get away." She scoffed at him.

"Do you take me for a fool Anakin?" She finally used his real name and he smiled.

"Not at all, but it seems to me that you have few options left." She closed her eyes and managed to pull herself up shakily.

"The Emperor will kill me for this betrayal. You must know that my life means nothing if I let you go."

"Wrong." He paused as he grabbed his wife's hand in his. "Perhaps your life will actually mean something once again." Ventress grabbed her remaining lightsaber and clipped it back on her waist.

"Go. Go quickly." She paused again. "Skywalker?" He turned to face her.

"Kenobi would have been proud of you."

"I know." The two adversaries exchanged uneasy glances as Anakin and Padmé left the room. Ventress sighed as she spoke into the commlink.

"Report?" Some static came over.

"Lady Ventress, what news of the Jedi?" She thought very carefully of her next words.

"They escaped. I was wounded in the fighting." She paused again. "Bring me my shuttle and prepare to leave the system immediately. We're leaving the system."

"As you wish my Lady."