A Single Slip of Resolve

Leia quietly watched Tatoo I and Tatoo II as they slid beneath the horizon. She and Anakin were watching and waiting on a cliff edge waiting for sunset. "Where is the wall?" she asked.

Anakin pointed with his head. "On the other side of the camp. We'll have to go through to reach it."

Leia watched the camp below. Most of the Sand People were gathered around a large fire while one of them stood to tell a story. Anakin stood without warning and jumped over the edge. Leia rolled her eyes. "No wonder Anakin Solo was so reckless. He got it from his grandfather." She leaned over the edge to see Anakin Skywalker land quietly below. He raised his hand to her and signaled for her to follow. She hesitated for a second before she felt a Force pull. She covered her mouth as Anakin lowered her to the ground. "You could have warned me," she threatened in a whisper.

Anakin didn't seem to have heard her. "Next time I'll push you." Leia couldn't tell if he were joking, but she decided it would be safest to assume that he wasn't. He ducked low and ran to the nearest hut. Following another hand signal, Leia slid to his side. They peered out towards the center of the camp. "The Force wall is directly on the other side We'll have to take the long way around." Leia watched Anakin dash to the next nearest hut ahead. He continued on without stopping to motion to Leia nor to see if she were following. She tried to gather the courage to run after him, but a sensation in the Force told her to sit still.

Anakin disappeared around the edge of the camp. Leia pushed herself up. She closed her eyes and mentally pushed out in search of Anakin's presence. She gasped and opened her eyes when she found him. He was extremely upset. She could sense a powerful urge for destruction. Without thinking, Leia rushed past the huts. She didn't notice that she'd caught the attention of a Tuskan Raider child. She stopped at the last hut and peered around it. A herd of bantha slept just a few meters away. Leia crept around the hut until she noticed one with a light glowing from within. Sensing something was wrong, she ran to the hut and looked inside.

Anakin was kneeling in the center of the hut. There was a rack on the other side; a bruised and battered woman was tied to it by her wrists. Hoping not to provoke him, Leia ducked inside. She got close enough to touch him, but stopped short of actually doing it. Anakin was rolling his unlit lightsaber between his palms.

"I didn't think there would still be trials for me." He gave no indication that he knew she was behind him.

Leia shook her head. "What are you doing?" She was sure the question was unnecessary.

Leia could sense the wicked smile, though he wasn't turned in her direction. She held her ground as he stood and pivoted to face her. "They're doing it again."

Leia glanced at the woman she knew to be a phantom of her grandmother, Shmi Skywalker. The Force rippled again. Leia felt the hatred and anger it carried from Anakin. The lights flickered as if in response. A heavy shadow fell over the light in the hut until it was covered in total darkness.

"Don't do it," Leia quietly begged, but she knew Anakin wasn't listening. As if in a trance, Anakin turned to leave the hut. Leia snapped to attention when she heard his lightsaber ignite. "Anakin! No!" Leia ignited her own lightsaber as she chased after him. She saw him slice two Tuskan Raiders in half. Her mind went blank as she ran to his side. His lightsaber swung towards a Tuskan Raider child. Leia's blade intercepted from below and knocked his lightsaber back.

Leia drew on the Force to prevent falling to the ground from his belligerent glare. "Get out of my way!" he threatened.

Though the voice was different from the memories, Leia recognized the tone. "I can't," she said calmly. "I need you to get me home, but you can't if you repeat this mistake. I won't let you."

Anakin was still for a moment as if to contemplate her words. "You let me?" Leia saw Anakin's eyes glance beyond her shoulder. "Get out of my way."

Leia held her lightsaber steady. "No. I can't."

"I said move!"

With a wave of his hand, Anakin Force pushed Leia to the ground. Her lightsaber deactivated when it hit the sand and rolled away. She scrambled to her feet and turned to see Anakin slice a gaderffii in half. If Anakin hadn't pushed her out of the way, the Tuskan Raider wielding the gaderffii would have smashed her head in. She grabbed and activated her lightsaber in time to deflect laser blasts from another gaderffii. She backed away towards the Force wall.

Anakin Force pushed several more Tuskan Raiders into the air. "Get through the wall!" he ordered. "I'll cover you!"

Leia wasted no time. She let the Force flow through her as she pushed her hand into the invisible barrier.

(X)

"Uh oh," Leia said as she walked through the corridor. She recognized it as a building in Imperial City. She could hear lightsabers buzzing down the hall. She reached back towards the Force wall, only to discover that it was no longer there. She wondered what Anakin was doing on the other side. Then she began to worry that she may have lost him.

"With the Force, trust, and hope, you will make it home," she remembered her son saying. She allowed herself to breathe the thick Force energy to calm her. She made her way towards the buzzing, which was followed by the sound of shattering glass. She got close enough to see two men fighting with lightsabers in the room on the end. One of them was a dark skinned Jedi. The other she immediately recognized as Palpatine, though she'd never seen what he looked like before he was emperor.

She watched the Force Lightning deflected by the Jedi's lightsaber warp and destroy Palpatine's skin. She narrowed her eyes when she thought she heard him say, "I have the power to save the one you love."

"What?" Leia looked towards a third person in the room. Though she was seeing him from behind, she knew right away that it was Anakin Skywalker. "So this is how it happened." She heard Anakin beg the Jedi to let Palpatine live. "What do you know of the Jedi way?" she asked Anakin aloud, though she knew she wouldn't be heard. She watched the scene unfold further in silence. Though she assured herself that the outcome was not surprising, she still screamed when Palpatine threw the Jedi through the window.

"What have I done!" she heard Anakin cry out. Leia pressed herself against the wall as she inched into the room. She watched Anakin drop to the floor in a fit of tears. "You have to save Padmé. I can't live without her."

"What are you doing?" Leia asked. "It can't be like this." She watched in disgust as Palpatine initiated Anakin into the Sith as Darth Vader. Everything else seemed to melt away into a thick darkness. Leia became disoriented as she walked back towards the hallway. She could make no sense of what she saw, but its implications made her stomach churn.

The sounds behind her faded into silence. Leia made her way to the other end of the corridor. She was completely unaware that the building around her was fading also. She unconsciously used the wall as a guide as she stumbled into the darkening hallway. She felt the Force gather itself around her and gently push her farther into the darkness. Leia felt herself lean backwards as if someone were picking her up. She felt herself being carried. The feeling of floating in an ocean of energy returned right before she lost consciousness.