Chapter XXV: Jedi Vs. Sith

Leia Skywalker stood before her twin brother:

War-torn.

Injured.

Underfed.

Under-loved.

Undertrained.

Her mind in pieces, much like her heart. Lightsaber in hand—the blue blade shining a dazzling weapon—unsure of her actions till another force took over her, controlling her doings till she stood a mere meter away from Luke Skywalker.

She could see a lightsaber hung from her brother's waist, yet he didn't reach for it, confusing her—further enraging her.

"Leia," she heard Luke's voice, calm to the point of absurdity. "You don't want to do this."

Yes. I do. She thought as she got ready to strike. I have to!

But she didn't yet attack. It was the fact that the weapon was so foreign to her, at least she told herself that. Whose lightsaber was she holding? Must be of one of those Jedi…

The Jedi! Just to think of them, know that they were there watching her pain—

She swung the lightsaber, throwing without thinking the blue blade towards where her brother's head was. She cringed at her own actions, realizing what she would've done had he not ducked to avoid her attack.

"I don't want to do this!" Luke cried, now many meters apart from her. She smiled, a small, twisted grin that held no happiness. She could hear it in his voice, a small note of fear, and she relished on it. She was on her way of breaking his façade.

Having been so long since she last felt peaceful, she couldn't help but to deeply envy Luke's Jedi mask of tranquility. It was a mask. She was sure. No human being could ever have so much peace.

"You know how to stop me!" Leia screamed, slowly pacing in circles and getting again closer to her target. "Stop your foolishness and do come home!"

"Leia… You need to learn how to listen. I've meant what I said, though you refuse to hear: I am a Jedi, like our father once was."

"He woke up! He learned their true colors! Their evil ways… Their weaknesses!"

"You're dying of curiosity," Luke and Leia again faced each other. Leia pointed the blade at him again. He cautiously kept his distance. "You want to know what really happened: Why he became a Sith… Why did he leave the Jedi."

"I am dying of many things… but I do not care to hear Jedi manipulation!"

"Manipulation? Is that what you call the truth?"

"Shut up!"

"This could go on for a while," a slightly sarcastic voice said behind them. Leia glanced slightly to see the old man. Kenobi. Hating him.

"How'd they convince you, Luke?" Leia demanded. "What brilliant means did the Jedi employ to make you turn your back on your family?"

"I have not turned my back on my family, my dear sister. I am here, facing you. And may I point out it is you who has our father's weapon pointed with a fierce glare—"

"What?"

"You're holding Anakin Skywalker's last lightsaber as a Jedi."

"You're lying!"

"He built it with his own skilled hands, as a young, hopeful man. I bet he never would've expected for it to end in the hands of one of his children, while considering killing the other."

It's not possible.

"H—how're you so sure?"

"I am fairly familiar with it, Leia. It was the weapon I used when I began my training here."

Leia's hands trembled as they clung to the Jedi weapon. She wanted to throw it away, no matter who's was it. She felt it burned her hands.

"How come the rebel had it?" Leia asked, deciding she was so far along it was better to know as much as possible.

"I gave it to him. During our last mission together. We were in Corellia. You know the place? Beautiful land. Brave people. You wouldn't have recognized it that night."

Leia felt a new pounding beneath her chest, remembering the images she saw, showing her Luke rescuing Jule. The destruction the Empire caused in Coronet City. Her own traumatic experience running for her life…

"Try me." She said. "So, there was a battle, and treacherous fool that you are, took the rebels' side. Bombs fell from the sky. You lost."

"Yes, that's pretty much what happened." he didn't seem surprised that Leia should know all that.

"You took… Jule away."

"Yes."

"Where was Harxsh—her brother, in all of that?"

"At the other side of the city. I suppose he managed to escape back to the base. That's where I had left Father's lightsaber."

"Don't call it that. You told him to give it to me?"

Luke waited a few moments. "He must've known that was my intention—ah!"

A crowd of rocks were lifted from the ground, they rose through the foggy air and towards Luke with vehement force. Many managed to get him, at last he managed to send them away with his lightsaber—careful of not directing any on Leia's direction.

"What was that for?" Luke said, slightly breathless yet fearless; the green blade hanging from his hand.

Leia couldn't fight the tears that were burning at the corners of her eyes. Her face was a violent crimson shade just holding back the impulse. She turned her back on her brother, and said, "I was right," her voice was low as if she didn't want to be heard. "You put those visions inside my head!"

"You needed to know," Luke said and Leia had to put her free hand over her mouth to prevent the sound of heartbreak to show. "No words either of them could say could've had enough impact to make you understand—"

Leia jumped on him even as she grunted. Luke deflected her attacks, but it was obvious he couldn't just stand there all calm. He had to fight back or die. Leia's arms ached with horrible strength, moving so quickly after so many months in which she hadn't used her lightsaber made her attacks slow and almost, almost sloppy. As the two blades clashed with supreme ferocity, Leia couldn't help but to resent how well Luke dueled her.

It had never been like this, she was sure; when they practiced together there were moments in which one dominated the other, but in the end: it was a fair fight. They were always equals. She grunted and screamed in despair, hating that the fact no longer remained.

Her legs could hardly support her. She jumped in the air and heard the clacking her bones made. She felt an agonizing pain under her ribs. Her back was on fire. Her whole self suffering.

Yet she didn't give up.

There was no alternative.

Feeling like she needed a second to gather her breath, she tried using the Force to send rocks his way and at least distract him, but they barely moved and the simple attempt left her exhausted, so that when again Luke swung his lightsaber towards her, he brushed her skin. Her left shoulder felt the fire and she fell to the ground.

"Leia!" Luke screamed.

He ran to pick her up but just then Leia grabbed the hilt of the lightsaber tighter and angrier than ever, and went for his head; his own green blade protected him; and she saw the two bright colors blinding her. They made a blue and green cross where just behind she could barely distinguish her twin's face. She was sure it was the same for him. And she was right, as he held on to his weapon to avoid hers from reaching his face, he saw splashes of gold amidst her broken brown glance.

They stayed like that for an agonizingly long time, one wrong movement and it was it. One head would flow. One of them would be victor.

Her pain and weaknesses didn't matter anymore. Something dark was fueling her actions, giving her power. The tears that fell down her face burned and his voice and words were lost. She felt her throat closing with pain for a lack of air, she instinctively wanted to put her hands on her neck and gasp for air; she felt as all strength left her body, feeling like she was about to die, she threw her father's lightsaber away and collapsed for about ten seconds.

When she recovered, she rolled her body over and saw Luke standing, looking taller than he actually was, before her. He now had both lightsabers in his hands.

Leia's chest went up and down, again and again, she felt he was still choking her, but only her weeping tormented her now. He walked and got closer, he kneeled and she saw, startled, his own eyes flashed splashes of yellowish shades.

He was angry.

He had not expected this fight.

Leia couldn't begin to wonder what was going on through his mind, all she could focus on was pain.

"Why does it have to be this way?" she heard Luke's voice, full with rage and reproach, though she was sure those feelings weren't directed towards her. "What else do I have to do?"

She heard him make noises that resembled a mad man, similar to the ones she had done earlier herself.

She tried to speak but her voice was nowhere to be found. She tried through the Force: "Brother." There wasn't much there could really be said. "My brother!"

She saw his own eyes sparkle with the hint of tears, his own emotions she could feel; the Jedi mask completely fell off.

"I wanted something different," he said out loud. "The galaxy needs us!"

"It has our parents," Leia said through the Force. "Don't give up on them! They love us! We have to trust them! Why do you believe strangers before them?"

"You refer to the Marr siblings. You still believe Jule and Harxsh are just a pair of rebels that I happen to blindly trust? No, Leia. They were the last straw, the final prove I needed to leave home."

"Why did you leave?" Leia's mind burned for that answer.

"I had wondered about the Jedi since infancy. I just never could understand that part of history, so blurry and confusing as it was told. During one of my trips alone—I encountered a group of rebels. They were still at the beginning stages. They didn't know I was the prince—the way they expressed about the Empire, about our parents, made me want to kill them! But they didn't seem evil, but simply desperate. Coming home, I couldn't help but to look at our parents differently. Father, I could easily see him as a dictator. Oh you now know how he is! But he was always away from home; and so I watched mother, and she was an absolute angel. I couldn't doubt her. Until…" he stopped his story for a moment. His eyes were blue and sad now. "I met Jule, she came to the palace in Coruscant in hopes of seeing our mother. She was brutally kicked out of the place. I went after her, and she was in such passionate anger… she revealed everything to me."

Leia stared at her brother, immobile on the ground.

"The story, I am now sure is a hundred percent true. Leia, you and I… we were NOT born in Naboo as we were led to believe! Our father wasn't even present during the childbirth because then… Oh it happened just as the Old Republic fell. He… he attacked out mother." He struggled with his own words. "We could've all died if it wasn't for Master Kenobi. Yes, him." Leia had curved her head slightly to see the old Jedi, who looked deeply in thought and without an ounce of the sarcasm he had displayed before. "He helped our mother escape. This was all in the Capital, and reaching what was called the lower regions of Coruscant, he met with Jule and Harxsh as they were just kids. They helped us! We owe them our lives! Do you understand?" he threw his hands across the air, amazed. "And you know how they were repaid for doing such unselfish good deed? Being turned away. They lived in poverty for years till they joined the rebellion! And the Queen? She had promised to help them but she went to Naboo and never came back. I can't support their Ruling. I will help bring down the Empire. Leia, I'm not even sorry. It is only fair! And I need your help."

She dragged her body across the mud, trying to get up. She was crying still, though more quietly. Luke walked by her side. Stopping, he reached over and tied the lightsaber hilt to her waist. "You're gonna need it," he said, his voice almost recovered. "I trust you, Leia. I will help you heal, and then you can learn the true ways of the Force. You need to get to know the Light."

She blinked strongly, tired of all her tears.

"I met Master Kenobi just after meeting with Jule and Harxsh. I searched him myself after hearing the true version of history. It makes me ache, Leia. Like nothing else. The way our Father betrayed the Jedi. Oh we don't have to talk about it right now. Let me help you into the hut. You'll get to know Master Yoda and Master Kenobi later…"

Leia flinched at his touch. She moved her trembling lips, struggling to let a word out.

"What?" Luke gently asked.

"D…don't…" she muttered a low whisper.

"What?" Luke repeated his question.

"D—DON'T!" Leia's voice broke, her vocal chords shrilled as if ripped apart by a knife. "Don't!" she repeated every time he tried helping her in any way.

"Oh, Leia, please—" Luke tried.

"Let her go," the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi said. "Told you it wasn't time. The girl is broken, she cannot take any more, Luke. This is cruel."

"The Dark Side controls her still," Yoda sighed.

"I can't leave her," Luke muttered as if in despair.

Leia kept dragging her body, every part burning at every attempt. Oh they did not have control over her! They did not get to decide what should be done about her. What she should think or feel. Because she didn't know it herself.

The only thing she knew was that the Jedi man called Kenobi was right: she could not take anything else in.

She felt panic and dread at the uncertainty of what was to become of her. She prayed to the Force for some guidance—anything she would take.

Her brother was lost, life as she knew it completely forgotten. Did she have anything else left in the world at all?

Her mind, or her heart, showed her a face that had never disappointed her before. She saw Han's dark green eyes gleam at her. His handsome smile free of worry searching for her. He would not leave her, no matter what he sometimes said. Even if he didn't love her she was sure there was something between them, and she needed him. She needed his arms as any other time she had felt the world was about to end. Fear of death and attack could be bear with him by her side. It could not be too late. It could not be the end for her!

She kept dragging her frail and injured body, not knowing what direction she was taking, she felt the disgusting dirt and strange plants covering her skin and ripping her clothes but it didn't matter. The Millennium Falcon was somewhere in this planet and by the Force, she would find it.

Her vocal chords were still damaged but she tried with all her might, her need to see him and the strength that she always had had: "H—han," she muttered his name, knowing he had to be close. He would always respond to her call. "Han!" she screamed, still moving at a slow pace but never stopping. "Haaan!"

She would not give up; the scoundrel had to at some point hear her!

"HAN! HAN!"

She felt her strength running out again. There were black spots in front of her, her eyes were closing. Was she wrong? Would she die alone in the middle of this misty fog of a nightmare?

He felt his hands; that touch now so familiar for her. He carried her in his arms, whispering her name, telling her things were going to be all right. Was this a dream? Had she lost her mind?

She felt and heard the metallic clattering of steps aboard the Falcon. She gasped as if unable to believe it and fought to set herself free.

Han letting go of her, she fell to the ground, collapsing and horribly, her mind cleared.

"Oh, Your Majesty!" C-3PO cried, worriedly.

"What the hell?" Han cried bewildered. "What the hell happened?"

She rolled around and passed her hands over her chest, feeling for her beating heart.

"Who did this to you, Princess?" Han demanded, a dangerous tone of rage on his rough voice. "That Prince of yours is useless if he can't even protect you against the creatures of this planet!"

"Oh Master Luke!" 3PO moaned. "Is he all right? No, Captain Solo. There is no one who could defeat the young Prince. Oh Princess, you didn't find him! He's still lost!"

"No, he's not. I saw him with my own eyes," Han cried.

Leia tried getting up, she just managed to sit, clasping her knees on the floor of the Millennium Falcon.

"Princess?" Threepio inquired. "Did you find him? Where is he? Is he alright? Is poor R2-D2 with him? Should we search for him—"

"Shut up!" Leia cried, gathering her breath. "He's—fine."

"But who did this to you, Princess?"

"Threepio… stop…" the droid wouldn't calm down with his questions. At last Leia cried. "He did it!" There was a moment of silence. "Luke dueled me! This is the result… oh don't anyone tell me how I look!" her voice shook enraged.

"He…" Han muttered slowly, his eyes full of fire. "I'm gonna kill him. Goddamn it, I will kill him!"

"Stop!" Leia screamed. "Chewie, please stop him!"

The Wookiee wrestled the ship's captain, at last Han was on the floor next to Leia. He cursed nastily. "Leia, after what he did to you… he almost killed you! And you still worry about him? You still defend him? Or do you think I can't hold against that rich prick?"

"I need to get out of here," Leia said in a tone that left Han stunned and quiet. "Please, get me out of here. Han, I am counting on you. Get me out of here!"

"But—but," C-3PO stammered. "He is here? How can we leave him behind then?"

"He's not coming!" Leia screamed, and the realization, saying the words out loud, confirming it, made her almost faint. "He. Is. Not. Coming."

There was a moment of silence, Han, now aware of what was happening, tried to speak softer and to soothe her, but she just insisted, pretty much begging, on getting out of there.

Han got up, he helped her up, too, and walked her to the cabin. "W—where—"

"Don't ask me. Just fly the Falcon out of Dagobah. Please."

He gently laid her down on the bed, she was really dirty but it didn't matter. Leia knew nothing of the world as she felt the ship rise and jump across space. She closed her eyes and received the much necessary relief of sleep. Devoid of thought or dreams.

A sweet and deserved moment of peace.