Chapter 196

Laetitia was in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. While the mechanics were working to fix the technical issues with the ship, Leah was sitting behind the control, moping. She could pretend to actually be doing something, but she wasn't in the mood to even touch the ship.

She was very confused ... because she didn't know herself. She was the Qorit.

"I think anyone deserves a second chance and I don't wanna be left with regrets of 'what if's. I try something and if it doesn't work, I know that I did everything in my power to prevent it from happening. I've given my father thousand second chances but he let me down every time. I've given up on my dad, but yours isn't completely the bad guy here. you have to know the complete truth here to judge. You might regret it in the future."

While she was moping in confusion, her thoughts went back to Thexan ... when he talked about regrets and second chances. She couldn't believe how right he was ... about everything. But she, too, was right. The new truth had trapped her in where she was. She couldn't move a bit.

"Something on your mind?" Han asked as he came in.

Leah sighed as she tried to pull herself together.

"That obvious?"

"Only to me." He softly commented as he smiled.

"I'm thinking about something Thexan said … about my father and second chances. You know, there was actually a time when I wanted a relationship with my dad." She wryly said, feeling childish.

"But now that time's passed because you're too angry with him?"

"Yep. I just ... can't seem to let this anger go. He tied to kill Ahsoka, did kill thousand innocent lives, including Obi-wan, cut off my hand, cut off Luke's hand, stood idly when Arcann and Palpatine killed Thexan, tortured Luke and me ..."

"And me." Han defensively added.

"And you ... He is a monster, maybe even worse than Palpatine because he has a heart, but chooses to ignore it." Leah sadly stated.

"When I was a kid, I always idolized him. He was smart, tough, kind. The way he never gave in to fear and never gave up. How much he loved his family ... That amazed me. He was my hero. I wanted to be like just him when I grew up and had a family of my own. And then, when I next saw him on Mustafar with yellow eyes choking my mom, how he betrayed me, all of us, after a second ..." She trailed off as she remembered how angry and sad she felt after her father's betrayal.

"I used to tell myself that there was a good reason. 'He was just trying to do what he thought was right', or 'Sidious threatened me and mom if he didn't help him', or even 'Maybe he got amnesia and forgot the person he was attacking was his wife'." Leah chuckled, feeling stupid with tears in her eyes.

"Years passed, and eventually, I just gave up trying to convince myself that there was actually a reason for his one-night mistake. I forgot what he actually once meant to me because it was too hard to remember. Then it turns out it wasn't a one-night mistake, and the monster in the HoloNet was actually him. From the second I found out, I hated him or wanted to hate him. I wanted to blame him for everything wrong in my life." She said, her voice shaking in guilt.

"Picturing him as someone you didn't want, made it easier to accept he didn't want you. You wanted to hate him to justify what you did to him when you saw him without that suit." Han stated, which Leah responded nodding sadly.

"But then it turns out that I was the reason he turned to the dark side in the first place. He sacrificed everything he had, destroyed everything around him, killed everyone on the way, to protect me from meeting the same fate ... It was just a lot easier when I thought he was a Sith Lord, the monster with absolutely no good in."

"You understood him then ... because you knew what a parent would do to protect their child, and it made things complicated."

"Yeah. I mean, I would do the same thing for Iliana. I would walk through fire and burn the Galaxy to save her." Leah strongly promised.

"You feel that way, and it scares you ... because you spent all this time hating your father for becoming the bad guy when you would do the same thing to save your little girl, too." He concluded from her, relating to what she was feeling.

"Look, I can't tell you what to do, but I do know that if you don't at least try to bring your father out of that back dude, you will regret it for the rest of your life. And whatever decision you make, it'll be the right one." Han simply said.

Leah turned to her brother and just looked at him. She knew he had a point, but ... it was a bit weird to hear it from him. Han was never the type to say things like that. Though she knew he'd support her, no matter what.

"You have the backlog of these speeches filed away, don't you?" She snipped, which made Han grin from ear to ear.

"You should hear the one I've written for when my niece is gonna say she wants to be a Smuggler." He laughed seriously.

Leah gave him a death glare. He was talking about her daughter. A Smuggler?!

"Over your dead body." She coldly threatened him.

Han swallowed hard in fake fear. He wanted to make her feel better, or at least take her mind off of things. And it worked ... because he was Han Solo. He was one of the few people who could make Leah laugh at any time. Leah was both grateful and irritated to have him in her life. If he wasn't her friend, she had no idea how she would have stayed sane in the past 20 years.

"Come on, buddy. It's gonna be okay." He reassured her.

"How do you know?"

"I don't. But It's all I got." He simply said.

Leah couldn't help but smile with him. That was true. Hope was the only weapon the Rebels had left.

Han and Leah were talking when the others joined them. Luke, Ahsoka and Rex walked to them. They were the ones who pushed Han to talk to her, and seeing she was smiling, they knew it worked.

But Luke was so confused. He had no idea what his sister learned on Dagobah that wrecked her like that ... but he had a bad feeling that it was about Darth Vader. What was it about him?

"What is it?" Leah demanded when she saw a Rebel soldier come closer.

"Sir, 2 recruits just came in. We don't have any information on them, but they say they wanna join us in the fight. And ... they're specifically asking for you."

Leah and Ahsoka frowned in confusion. Who were the recruits that decided to join last minute?

"I'll check it out." Leah carefully said as she ran out of the door to find them.

"Don't bite their head off yet! They might be friendly." Han shouted after her.

Laetitia ran out of the cockpit to find the recruits. She didn't know why that Rebel led them to her room in the Millennium Falcon. She understood that they didn't have a Base anymore, but still. It was a bit ... reckless.

What if they were Imperials?

Leah calmly entered her room. She walked closer to the figures. When she saw that they were hiding their faces, she touched her lightsabers on her belt. She was ready to kill them as soon as they made a wrong move.

"You wanted to see General Skywalker?" She started, not letting them know who she was.

"Yes, General. We've come a long way to see you." The figure replied.

Leah frowned. How did they already know who she was? Had she met them before? Where and when?

"I heard you'd like to join us in the next fight. I appreciate the gesture, but I don't know who you are. You haven't even introduced yourself. You do it like this: My name is ..." Leah was saying, but the other figure interrupted her.

"Laetitia Shmi Naberrie Skywalker, and now, Palpatine. Former Jedi Knight, and currently, a Gray Jedi Master. 23 years old, 24 as of next month. Daughter of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala Skywalker, born on Helona 15th, 3624 ATC, which is 22 BBY now. The 5-year-old General of the fallen Old Republic, and the High General and the Leader of the Rebellion now." He answered in detail.

"How do you know who I am?" Leah demanded dangerously.

"I don't think there is a person alive or dead who hasn't heard about you. You are a legend among people and your life story gets around the more popular you are." He mused.

"Good to know. Now back to why I came. Who the hell are you?" She asked in irritation.

"You definitely didn't leave your attitude behind, General Feisty." The other figured laughed.

Leah was about to shoot them with words, but she froze when she realized what he just called her. She had to play the conversation back in her mind to make sure she heard right.

She lost her breath even more when the figures took off their hoods. The lightsabers in her hands fell on the ground as she dropped her hands numbly.

It was ... Echo and Kix ... from the Clone Wars.

"Hi, kid." Kix chuckled.

"REX! AHSOKA!" Leah screamed as she covered her mouth.

Rex and Ahsoka jumped into the room immediately. Ahsoka activated her blue lightsabers, and Rex was holding his twin blasters, both ready to attack. Leah wasn't one to scream in any case. What the hell happened?

"What is it ...?" Rex asked as he turned around to see who the 'recruits' were.

"My God!" He breathed out in shock.

Kix and Echo merely smiled in happiness to their brother. They all had gone through a lot together with Laetitia, Anakin and Ahsoka.

"You can see them?!" Leah shrieked as she held Rex's arm in desperation.

"I thought it was my old age playing tricks on me."

"You're not that old! And I thought it was a hallucination from the past."

"You're both fine! They're really here." Ahsoka laughed at their crazy ideas.

Leah couldn't help but laugh in happiness. All the anxiety and exhaustion she felt disappeared in a matter of seconds. Kix and Echo were here! They were ... alive.

"Oh, my God, Kix. I am so, so, so sorry." Leah cried out in guilt as she walked to him.

"Hmm? For what?" He asked in confusion, though he had a feeling why.

"For everything! I'm the one who sent you on the mission to find out more about the chips. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have ... Wait. How are you here? You were missing in action, and presumed dead. How are you alive?" She asked, remembering the events from 20 years ago.

Kix smiled sadly as he glanced at Echo. Now, Rex and Ahsoka were curious to know what happened, too.

"When I left Coruscant, I followed some trails. I was this close to figuring out what was the real deal with the chips in our heads ... but I obviously couldn't make it in time." He bitterly said.

"I was on my way to make contact with you when a ship full of Separatists ambushed me. They grabbed me and froze me in Carbonite."

"That explains why you look so younger than the others." Ahsoka wondered.

"But wait. If you look like ... well, this, does that mean you were recently freed?" Leah asked in horror, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"Yeah ... The Bad Batch found Kix in a pirate decoration. We saved him." Echo said.

Leah exhaled deeply in guilt and sadness. This was all her fault. If she hadn't asked Kix to find out more about the chips, Palpatine wouldn't have sent the Separatists after him.

She saw how unbalanced Han was when he was in the Carbonite for a year. How was Kix standing if he was asleep for 20 years? How was he still sane when he woke up to a completely different Galaxy?

"How did you avoid Order 66?" Rex asked Echo.

"I had Tech with me. Besides, it turns out the Seps did me a favor when I was their prisoner. They took out the chip when they were messing with my head." Echo smirked.

Laetitia, Rex or Ahsoka couldn't bring themselves to smile. Neither of them. They couldn't find the irony or humor in it. It was just cruel ... Too cruel.

Luke and Han broke the tense silence when they came in. They wanted to know why Leah screamed when she met the new recruits. But they were both confused to see that they were 2 old men, who looked exactly like Rex.

"Wow." Luke breathed out in amazement.

He could only guess that they were Clones ... from the Clone Wars! How did they survive the Empire on their own for 20 years? While he was amazed to see his sister's old comrades and friends, Echo and Kix were amazed ...

To see how similar the young man was to their old friend, General Anakin Skywalker!

He was, without doubt, his son ... But how did he survive? He was supposed to have died with his mother before he was born!

"Yeah." Leah smiled when she realized they put the pieces together.

"Holy Force!"

"You look just like your father, sir."

"Uh ... thank you. 'Luke' is alright. My name is Luke Skywalker, but everybody knows me as Luke Lars." Luke introduced himself.

"It is a great pleasure to meet another Skywalker." Kix stated.

"You Skywalkers just keep breeding, don't ya?" Echo joked.

"You have no idea!" Han agreed with them.

Leah made a weird face when everyone laughed. That was ... true. Anakin, Leah, Luke, Iliana ...But still! It was embarrassing to put it like that.

"You in the military, sir?" Echo asked.

"My brother's a Commander, Echo." Leah answered for him.

"I see."

"What are all these grandpas doing here? Guess they lost where the meeting was held." Han said when he couldn't hold in his curiosity any longer.

Everyone turned around with a look on their face. What was wrong with him?

"'Grandpas'?" Kix repeated.

"Watch it, son." Echo warned him coldly.

"Okay, Echo. You do sound like a grandpa when you call him 'son'." Leah chuckled with Ahsoka.

"Are we supposed to know who he is?" Kix asked.

"That's my friend, General Han Solo. But I'd watch your tone with him because he's kinda in the midst of a psychotic break." She snipped.

"I'm sorry. I'm what, now?" He asked to the suddenness of her claim.

"Oh, come on! You really think I don't know about you and Qi'ra?" Leah asked with a hint in her voice.

Han closed his mouth immediately to shut up. He had nothing to say about that. He had no idea Leah watched the security camera when he ... kissed Qi'ra. She was basically in their moment with them.

Crap!

"Wait, what happened between Han and Qi'ra?" Luke asked in confusion.

"Yeah!" Ahsoka turned to Han, demanding an answer.

"I was going to tell you." Han quietly told Leah in desperation.

"I'm glad you didn't!"

"Look, I know you're worried ..."

"More like grossed out! See? He's off his rockers. He's losing his mind! Playing on the brink of insanity." Leah seriously whispered to others.

Kix and Echo smiled, getting some ideas of what was going on, and who this 'Han' was. He was clearly good friends with Leah, seeing she treated him like that. But it was good to see her like that. That she wasn't alone.

It was good to be together again for the last fight.

Done :)