Kazzy: Thanks...I'm glad you find it interesting. I love Zekk too! He'll be in this more a bit later on, don't worry! haha

Tera Lands: I love Jaina fics best too...although I don't mind Zekk, or Tenel Ka and Jacen fics. Thanks for your compliments!

Tim Knispel: I hope you're still with me!


Chapter 5- Broken:

It had been five weeks -one month, since the attack on the Peace Ceremony. One month since the New Empire had risen from the shadows of the galaxy. One month since chaos had erupted in the New Republic. One month since the galaxy had began to divide. One month since Jaina had disappeared.

That last thought hit Jacen hard. Jaina.

After the attack, the casualties had been looked over and identified, as had the living and the injured. Jaina had not been among any of them.

The last people to have been with her when he and Tenel Ka had left the table were Lowie and Zekk. And they were both still in the medcenter, recuperating.

Jacen leaned his head against the cool durasteel of the banister, closing his brandy brown eyes. He was sitting on the stairs of the Solo's apartment on Coruscant with his younger brother, Anakin.

He could hear the voices of his Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, Mother, Father and Chewie from downstairs. They were using the kitchen as a place to conduct a search for Jaina.

"...well why don't they try harder?!"

"Han, the NRI's hands are full with the New Empire..."

"I don't give a-"

A series of growls and roars could be heard, then the sound of someone scraping a chair across the floor and sitting down.

"Who did you say was last with her again?" came Luke's calm voice. Jacen guessed he was playing the role of mediator. Trying to get the others to stop, think, and listen to the facts in order to find a sensible way to find his missing niece.

A series of growls erupted again, ceasing a moment later.

"Lowie and Zekk..." Han's muffled voice translated for the others.

"And where are they...have you talked to either of them yet?" came Mara, sounding on edge and concerned for her former apprentice.

Chewie growled again and once more, Han's muffled voice -it sounded as if he had his head down on the table- translated, "They're in the Imperial medcenter. Last we knew they were in bacta tanks, or unconscious."

"Any idea when they get out?" That was Mara again.

A strange sound came then, it sounded fairly distant and all the voices stopped.

"Leia..."

She hadn't taken part in the exchange so Jacen guessed that she was standing, instead of at the table, probably looking out the big windowport in the kitchen.

Jacen could hear the sobs a little more clearly now, though they seemed muffled. That was the sound he had heard a few moments earlier.

A small peek around the corner proved that she was crying into Han's shoulder.

Jacen ran a hand through his dark brown hair, so like Jaina's, and leaned back, ignoring the stair that was pressing uncomfortably into his back. Anakin glanced at him from the step above, and their eyes met- ice blue meeting liquid brown- and the two brothers went back to listening to the conversation.

"Leia, it's ok. We'll find her."

"W-what if we don't! You know how the Imperials are with prisoners! Wh-what if-"

"So that's what you're afraid of?" Han asked her, obviously trying to hide that he had thought of that too. "Don't worry Leia, our daughter's too smart to get caught being an Imperial slave."

They heard the sound of chairs scraping across the floor again and the heavy thumps of people sitting.

"I can't even feel her -with the Force..." Leia continued, "Can you, Luke, can you feel her?"

There was a long, awkward pause before Leia spoke again.
"...Mara? Can you?"

"I'm sorry, Leia." Mara said in a comforting voice that Jacen doubted she used often.

This was nothing knew to him. He had tried countless times to reach Jaina through the Force. Nothing had worked. But there was something strange about it. Almost as though she was being shadowed...somehow. He gad given up on that theory. Neither Luke nor Mara had felt it, so he must have been imagining things.

He leaned his forehead against the durasteel banister once more, hiding his face. It had felt as though Jaina had been ripped away from him, tearing their bond. It was as though a part of him had gone with her. He reached out with the Force, hoping it would comfort him.

He sensed Anakin then. He had almost forgotten he was there. But his presence only made Jacen hurt worse. It should have been him and Jaina listening in on the conversation, like they always had when they were younger!

But fate wouldn't allow it. Instead, it had brought them to where they were now. On Coruscant, all together as a family. Minus one. And it tore them all apart.