Chapter 204

Laetitia was silent, watching the sky as she leaned against the tree. After crying and laughing with her friends, she felt the need to be alone for a bit. She wasn't as sad as she was when she buried her father, but she was still grieving.

Just because Luke had forgiven their father, it didn't mean he was ready to mourn the man. Dark side or not, he did horrible things to his children. So that left Leah and Ahsoka to be the only people alive on the Galaxy to mourn the loss of the man they loved as a father.

The thing Leah was so frustrated about was that she still had things to say. She had a lot of things she wanted to say to her father, but didn't get a chance because Palpatine tried to kill her. Once again, he took something from her. Even in death, Darth Sidious managed to make Leah feel like she lost and he won. She hated that no matter what she did or didn't do, he still managed to win.

He truly was her greatest enemy, the greatest enemy anyone could have faced ... until Anakin died to make sure no one, besides him and his daughter, would ever have to fight a monster like Palpatine.

"Do you think what happened was my fault? Or the Council's? No, you're deadly mistaken. You could argue that we helped you, but in the end, it was your own fault that he turned into Vader. Your fear of loss. Your frustration and anger. Everything that you had done caused you to turn into a monster. A suffering monster."

"I don't get it. You knew who the Sith Lord was. You knew that the right thing to do was to allow Mace Windu to kill him, and then there would be peace. for all of us. But instead, your fear and anger drove you to the point where you helped a Sith Lord wipe out millions of Jedi. You helped the destruction of your own kind. And that's what truly made Vader. your own fear. So no. It's not Ahsoka's fault, or the Jedi Council, or Sidious, or mom and Luke's, okay, maybe I win the fault award in 'The Creation of Darth Vader' ceremony. But you're the one who made that choice."

"I'm doing everything I can to live with that, but at the end, you only have yourself to blame."

She wanted to say all that. She had forgiven Anakin for the things he had done, but she still didn't know why he didn't trust her enough to believe that she would never turn to the dark side. She could never forgive the choice he made. She could never forgive him for ... not believing in her.

One could argue that this was the worst thing Sidious had ever done. Not that he killed her father, mother, husband, and tried to murder her entire family ... but that he didn't let her talk to her father, so they could go back to what they were ... A father and daughter who loved each other, not confused about their feelings.

Leah sighed deeply as she tried to fight the unshed tears. It didn't matter what he took from her. It didn't matter what she lost in the process. She was here, and he wasn't. She won ... or at least, she kept trying to tell herself.

"With that despaired look and deep sigh, you could end all the happiness in the Galaxy, Laetitia." Her Master, Qui-gon, stated suddenly, breaking the silence.

Leah blinked and almost reached her lightsabers. It had been a weird and eventful day.

"Seriously?" She yelped as she didn't turn back to see him.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this."

"What? Jump-start my heart twice a day? You do realize I have a pacemaker, right?" She grunted as she pressed her chest.

"I will try to remember that."

"I still wonder how you two actually know each other." Leah heard Obi-wan's voice.

"Well, we don't 'know each other' know each other. More like 'hey! Looks like you're having a peaceful moment. Let me destroy that for you and invade your privacy' know each other." She sarcastically stated, still not turning around to see them.

"I have to admit, it was funny seeing you jump up whenever I appeared. " Qui-gon smiled, to which Obi-wan agreed.

"Was it not?"

"I'm glad that my heart attack can be a source of amusement for you Jedi!" She snapped sarcastically.

Whatever Leah was feeling or wanted to say disappeared as she turned around. What she saw was enough to knock her dead or make her stop breathing. Nothing else in the world mattered, only those who had appeared.

Qui-gon, Obi-wan, Yoda ... Anakin, and ... Thexan. They were all there.

She lost her breath and focus. She frowned and narrowed her teary eyes at the people in front of her to make sure she wasn't dreaming or hallucinating what she wanted to be true.

But it wasn't a dream or hallucination. They were really there ... All of them.

Her eyes were focused on her father, Anakin. Not the broken man who was hiding behind Vader's mask, but Anakin ... The Anakin from 20 years ago ... The real Anakin.

Leah exhaled out of relief and smiled. Now, she was sure. That was proof enough that he truly turned back to the light side of the Force.

The reason for this was the fundamental difference between Sith and Jedi. While Sith strived to manipulate the Force and bend it to their will, aimed to serve the force, and to execute the will of the Force. That was the exact reason why a Jedi, unlike Sith, could become one with the Force.

Before dying, when they opened themselves up fully to the will of the Force, they became one with it, and became a Force ghost. A Sith would never open themselves up to the will of the Force.

Darth Vader was dead. Anakin Skywalker was, once again, alive ... in death.

"Do you guys need a minute?" A voice asked softly.

Leah closed her eyes to have her focus on someone else. While she let tears silently fall off her eyes, she didn't even need to open them or think who that voice belonged to. She knew that voice by heart. She could even recognize it, had she been deaf.

He was the man who died for her. The man her father thought of as a son ... The man she loved and lost. Her husband and the father of her child.

Thexan Palpatine Skywalker.

Laetitia finally opened her eyes, but she didn't look happy. In fact, she was giving her husband the famous Skywalker she invented. She was more mad than happy. Everyone could see that from the way she looked. And that look scared the hell out of the ghosts.

"Hey." Thexan grinned to try to soften his way back into her heart.

"Jackass." Leah snapped with sadness disguised as anger.

"Clearly, she missed him, too." Obi-wan snipped.

"Thexan, go talk to her." Anakin demanded, which made Thexan almost pass out of fear.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"What are you so afraid of? You're already dead. It's not like she can kill you. Be a man and talk to her. You got this!" He tried to encourage his dead son-in-law to talk to his daughter.

Thexan didn't say anything and just turned to Leah, who was watching the dead Jedi Masters and her family to bicker like it was a normal thing. She didn't say a word and stayed silent. She wasn't sure how to feel or even what to say.

'I hate for leaving and breaking all the promises you made about never leaving me', 'I'm so sorry for abandoning you to die', 'do you have any idea what your death made me go through', 'did you know I was pregnant when I killed you', 'by the way, it's a girl', or even 'why didn't you show up when I was confused about Arcann'.

She wanted to say all those things, but she couldn't find her voice to speak. She knew exactly why he never showed up when she asked for him. It wasn't that he wanted her to go through everything alone, but ... she had to. He was dead. She needed to move on and find the answers herself.

That was the only way she could ever find peace within herself.

"I love you." Leah finally said in brief words.

She didn't care if she was in front of her father and Masters. This was the one opportunity, the miracle, she would ever get to confess her unsaid love to her dead husband. She had a lot of things to say, but she felt like that was the most important thing.

That caught Thexan by surprise. He always knew Laetitia loved him as much as she loved her family, but he never expected her to actually say it. And he certainly didn't see it coming that she would say she loved him for the first time in front of his Master, his father-in-law.

But at the end, he was happy. Although he knew, it made him feel good and happy to hear her say it. He smiled softly as gazed at his wife. Oh, he loved her, too, with every being in his heart. He would always love her, in this life or every other life.

"Take care of Iliana." Thexan asked Leah. Together, they smiled in happiness at their chance at a proper goodbye.

Everything hurt and felt heavy. Laetitia panted quietly as she leaned against a tree. They were still in Endor. After she said goodbye to Anakin and Thexan, she felt so satisfied and at peace for a very long time.

That was until she suddenly felt a fierce and long pain in her chest. Her body felt heavy, and she had a hard time breathing. She didn't know why, but she felt like that was another side effect from her battle with Palatine.

Did his Sith lightning mess something up in her body?

"Hey, miss? You alright?" A voice brought her out of her episode.

Leah narrowed her eyes at the figure in front of her to see who it was. She couldn't see that well, but she could swear it was a boy with green hair and eyes. He couldn't have been more than 10 years old, but she could feel he was strong in the Force.

He also gave a funny feeling ... Like she knew her parents or something.

"Yeah. I'm ... fine." She managed to say.

"Are you sure? You look ... out of it." The boy bluntly said, which made Leah chuckle.

"You know, you remind me of someone I knew ... Make that 2 people." She mused.

"Maybe because you know his parents?" A kind female voice stated from behind.

Leah laughed softly at the surprise. It was always good to see Hera Syndulla. She was at Leah's 'funeral', but they hadn't seen each other in almost 10 years. But now, it made sense why Leah felt like that about the kid.

The boy was Kanan and Hera's son. Leah couldn't help but feel empathy for Hera. She may have been the only person in the Galaxy who knew exactly what it was like to be in her situation.

Lose your husband, and raise his Force-sensitive child by yourself. That was anything but an easy task.

"Hey, why don't you introduce yourself, sweetie?" Hera asked her son.

"Hi. I'm Jacen Syndulla. Nice to see you ..."

"Oh, I'm Laetitia Skywalker. But call me Leah. Your dad did." Leah softly said.

Jacen blinked in surprise as he turned to his mother for answers. It was always nice to hear about his father, but he had no idea that the Leader of the Rebellion personally knew his father. Were they close enough to call each other by first name?

"Leah is a family friend. Her father saved me when I was younger than you. She was also in the Jedi Temple with your father when they were kids. She saved our lives more than I can count." Hera finished with a smile.

Jacen turned back to Leah with an amazed look on his face. The boy was a combination of Kanan and Hera, but he acted a lot like Ezra. It pained her heart to think about that sweet boy, who was lost in space and time because he saved their lives.

"What are you guys doing here? It's still not safe to bring a kid to the battlefield, Hera." Leah stated, forcing the pain to go away.

"Well, Jacen is the newest member of our crew. He also helps me a lot. Besides, I don't want to be away from him for a second."

The last words stabbed Leah in the heart, and it hurt a lot. She didn't like how Hera chose to stay with her son when Leah chose to abandon her daughter. Yes, Iliana was a lot more powerful than Jacen. After all, she had a Skywalker mother and a Palpatine father. Those alone made her terrifying enough.

But still, she didn't like it. Was it really a choice? Could she really be forgiven for this? What if she never got her daughter, the only person she wanted in the Galaxy to have, back?

What would she do then?

Done :)

Hey guys! So sorry for the late update. I had a very busy day. My body hurts all over. I have no idea why :(

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. You know the drill. I am looking forward to read your thoughts on this chapter. BTW, I'm not sure, but I think next Saturday, I will publish the last chapter of my first story! Ahh! I can't wait.

;]