Chapter 49
Owen practically pushed Laetitia and Obi-wan out of the door. Obi-wan looked at her. She was truly broken.
Leah saw two gravestones outside of the Lars' house. She knew one of them was her grandmother.
She sat on the sandy ground and payed her respect.
"Hi, grandma. I'm Laetitia, your granddaughter. Sorry I haven't come here before. Dad wouldn't let me come to Tatooine unless I absolutely had to. You know how much he hates sand." She said chuckling to herself but started crying again.
"I'm sorry. I should have protected him instead of killing him. What a daughter I am, right? Now I come to Tatooine and see my grandmother for the first time and tell her son to destroy you. I'm sorry. I have to do this. I have to do this to protect Luke. He's the only one I have left, thing I care about."
While Leah was talking to her grandmother. Obi-wan was struggling as well.
He was apologizing to Shmi for failing her son. He had never met her but from the stories Anakin told him, she was a wonderful person.
He was supposed to train Anakin how to be a good Jedi and he had failed the one job he was supposed to have. And now he was failing his daughter too. By letting her destroy herself to save her brother. He knew what he had to do. He just wasn't sure if it was the right thing.
Obi-wan and Leah were walking away from the Lars' house when a voice suddenly stopped them.
"Laetitia!"
Leah turned around and saw Beru running after them.
"What is it, Mrs. Lars?"
"It's 'aunt Beru'. Owen might not accept you as his niece but you're mine, no matter what happens."
"Okay, aunt Beru." She said, trying to smile.
"I wanted to apologize for Owen's behavior. Believe it or not, he's just trying to protect us."
"And that's exactly what any father or husband should do. Put his family first and protect them until the end, not hurt them."
Beru frowned at her response. She could feel there was more to the story than what she was letting on. But Obi-wan knew exactly what Leah was talking about.
"Hey, don't worry about Luke. I promise I'll raise him as my own son."
Leah should be happy that Luke could get to have a kind mother like Beru, but her words hurt her more than anything else. Luke already had a mother. The best one in the whole Galaxy but she wasn't here anymore. He shouldn't need someone else to fill the job.
"Thank you. I know you will." She said, holding the scream she wanted to release in.
Obi-wan had found a small hut not so far from the Lars' house. Laetitia landed the Comet near and saw BB-8 rolling around in the sand.
They were both staring at the stars, not know how to deal with everything that had happened.
"Where are you gonna go?" Leah asked.
"I'm staying here."
"What?!" she half-shouted as she sat up.
"Someone has to protect Luke and watch over him."
"But Owen Lars was perfectly clear that he didn't want anything to do with us."
"He said you couldn't meet him. He didn't say anything about me. I know he'll be safe here but it won't hurt to have someone watch over him. You know, just for a rainy day."
"Thank you." She simply said as she lied down.
"Are you alright?" Obi-wan asked, without looking at her.
Leah sighed deeply. She didn't even know what 'alright' even meant.
"I'm … numb. Just numb."
"It will get better."
"You really believe that?"
Obi-wan wanted to say 'yes' more than anything but he'd be lying if he did.
"You know after everything that's happened, I can't help but blame mom and dad for this."
"What do you mean?"
"I love them but they chose to stay and fight rather than just go away and live a peaceful life. They could've gone away after I was born."
"Being a Jedi was Anakin's destiny. He was the chosen one."
"Being the chosen one isn't an honor. It's a curse! Look around you. Everything that's happened is because of that. If Palpatine didn't believe dad was the chosen one, he wouldn't try to turn him to the dark side and I wouldn't have to kill him. He may have not said anything to you but he was always tortured by the idea."
Obi-wan sighed. There was a lot he didn't know about Anakin.
"Be that as it may, your parents stayed and fought for the Galaxy. They wanted to make the Galaxy livable so they could live in peace after, with you and Luke."
"Yeah and where are they right now?! I mean, look at Owen Lars. He's just a simple farmer, who has no idea how to even throw a punch and no one knows him. But he'll do anything to protect his family, even if it means not doing something heroic and save people. If you ask me, his job is more heroic that dad's." she said bitterly.
Obi-wan looked at Leah with sympathy. He knew where she was coming from and she was right. What did matter more? Being in a peaceful Galaxy without your parents or in a war but with them?
Laetitia took out her necklace and stared at it. Anakin had always said that the necklace would protect her. But how was it supposed to protect her this time?
Then some idea suddenly hit her.
"Master, do you have a Holo recorder?"
"Why?"
"I wanna record something."
Obi-wan placed a recorder in front of Laetitia.
"What exactly do you have in mind?"
"You'll see."
She started "This is a message from Laetitia Naberrie. I know Emperor Palpatine has said things about me but they are nothing but lies. I regret to inform you that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen, with dark shadow of the Empire rising to take our place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi. Trust only in the Force. The time of being able to use our power freely has passed and our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust, our faith, our friendships. But we can't give up. We get up every day and hope that tomorrow, things will be better than they yesterday, before because I know they will be. I believe they will be. May the Force be with you … always."
Obi-wan ended the recording and stared at the 5-year-old in front of him. She had no hope or belief but gave it anyway to the others. She really is a remarkable child.
"Your parents would be proud of you. I know I am."
Laetitia smiled in appreciation.
"We need to place this message to Holocrons. I can hack it into them, if you want. The Jedi left or any Force-sensitive need to hear this."
"They will."
After a moment, he just said "I'm sorry, Leah."
"For what?" Leah frowned in confusion and turned around.
But she never got to hear his answer as he injected her with something and everything went black.
Done :)
