Author Note: Well here goes guys, the beginning of the end. I don't want to spoil it too much, but there is a surprising twist at the end. Possibly what you'de expect, possibly what you wouldn't, possibly both...you'll have to wait and see...
But first I think we need some answers to those elusive questions, don't you?
(-o-)
"Remind me again what we are doing here? Whatever it was flew off an hour ago," Anakin grumbled as he reclined on the wing of his starfighter. They were on another landing platform a few miles away from the others, and so, had no idea of what had happened.
"I'm trying to find out why they came here," came a reply from behind a large boulder. Then Obi-Wan re-appeared covered in cobwebs.
Anakin sighed and gazed up above to the peak of the mountain. It was the largest one on the moon and the most impressive thing Anakin had ever seen. It seemed to stretch for miles upwards, and all around its peak were floating platforms, almost invisible against the darkening sky. Anakin found this most peculiar, but he didn't want to spend a second longer than he needed to on this rock, so he decided to keep it quite from Obi-Wan, who would surely want to investigate.
Suddenly a shadow fell across the platform and the two Jedi looked up as Leia's X-wing decended on the platform. Anakin jumped up to greet his daughter, and was concerned when he saw she was crying.
"What's happened Leia? Tell me," he shouted as he sprinted towards her with Obi-Wan hot on his heels.
"Dad, its awfull...Mum's vanished and the others are...the others are dead," she cried, throwing herself into Anakin's arms.
"All of them? Luke? Serena? Scotty?"
"All of them. I saw them die on screens in a control room I found. I didn't know where they were, and it was too late anyway. As soon as I found my way out of the maze, I came straight here to warn you."
"It's ok, it ok. I'm here now," Anakin soothed, hardly able to believe what he had heard. However, Leia would never lie to him, so he knew deep down that it must be true.
"Why didn't you let us go back sooner!" Anakin turned angrily to Obi-Wan. "They needed us, and yet you insisted on staying here! Now my son's dead! And possibly my wife too, all because of you!"
"Now hold on Anakin, you know that's not true. You could have left at any time. I wasn't forcing you to stay."
"Thats not the point. You asked me to stay, and being your best friend, I agreed."
Obi-Wan stood close by in silence for a few moments, then he saw something that he must have missed before. Walking over to it, he picked up a tiny little ring lying in the middle of the platform whilst Anakin went back to trying to console Leia.
As soon as his fingers closed around it though, Obi-Wan sensed a trap, and sure enough, seconds later, laser wall closed around him, trapping him. He pulled out his saber and tried to hack away at the lasers, but it was no use. And then he saw the control panel a few feet away.
"Anakin! Anakin help me! Push the controls!" he called, and Anakin pulled himself away from Leia. He ran over and began pressing button after button, trying to release the shields, but nothing worked. At last, he narrowed it down to one button left on the panel.
"Found it!" he cried triumphantly, pushing it with his finger. Laser walls dropped around him aswell, trapping him next to Obi-Wan.
"Good Job!" Obi-Wan echoed sarcastically as they both turned back to Leia, waiting for her help. But she was delving deep under her seat in the cockpit for something and didn't seem to have noticed what had happened.
Another engine sounded in the distance and Leia's movements became more frantic as she searched for something. At last she found her cloak and pulled it out, wrapping it round her shoulders. Anakin and Obi-Wan were confused.
"Leia? Whats going on?" Obi-Wan asked suspiciously as she turned back to them with an evil glint in her eyes. The tears were gone now that the strong smell of onions had worn off from the cockpit. Leia had been peeling onions on her way there to make herself cry, so that her gulible father would believe her and fall into her trap.
"You were wrong about Luke father. He wasn't the Sith...I am."
"What? No!" Anakin cried in protest. "My dreams about Luke...?"
"A mere divertion that my Master created to keep the attention away from me. Worked remarkably well actually..."
Even as she finished speaking, the Phoenix descended on the platform and Anakin's heart filled with both hope and dread.
Padme can get us out...but she doesn't know about Leia...does she?
Padme hopped lightly from the cockpit and stalked towards Leia, as angry and upset as she had been the last time they had met back in the tunnel.
"You evil, twisted, malicious cow!" she cried as Leia turned to regard her. "You killed your own brother! How could you!"
"I didn't kill him. The clones did!" Leia snapped back.
"Don't you argue with me, Leia!"
"No, don't you argue with me mother! I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do!"
"Leia, there is a reason why I fear the dark side! I have been there before, I know how you feel."
"Then you will know that I must obey my Master. He has ordered me to destroy the Jedi and keep my new Empire Jedi-free!"
"You're new Empire!" Padme echoed with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She could feel anger bubbling in side her, threatening to boil over and cause her to do something stupid, but then she remembered that the Dark Side feeds on anger...she didn't even bother trying to calm herself down.
"I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over!" Leia carried on, ignoring Padme.
"Leia, didn't you listen to anything I ever told you about the Emperor? He's twisted your mind. He's evil!"
"From my point of view the Jedi are evil!" Leia said as the two women circled each other, Leia throwing her cloak to one side, and Padme pulling of her helmet and throwing it back in the open cockpit. Anakin and Obi-Wan were haunted by images of their own duel years ago when Anakin had turned Sith. Only the thought of losing Padme had brought him back, but it seemed that not even the death of her own brother could bring Leia back now.
"Well then you are lost!" Padme snapped angrily, echoing their thoughts, but Leia just raised her eyebrows and glared at her.
"Don't make me kill you mother!" she warned and even Anakin knew that Leia truly meant it. If she wanted to kill Padme, she could. But Padme wasn't going to let that happen.
"Don't call me mother! I stopped being your mother the moment you joined the dark side."
Leia looked stunned and stepped back away from Padme for a moment, shocked at what she had just heard.
"But...I'm your daughter!"
"No Leia, you were my daughter, and I lovedyou once, but now, you are nothing more than a monster full of hatred. To me, you are now nothing more than a Sith, who I swore to destroy. Your words have proven to me that this must be so," Padme said firmly and confidently, and Anakin realised with horror that she actually meant every word she said. How could his loving angel say that to his daughter. Surely there was still hope.
As though sensing his thoughts, Obi-Wan turned to Anakin and shook his head. "Leia is truly gone Anakin. If Padme see's this, then it must be true."
"I know, but I don't want to believe it!" Anakin replied.
I know it's true because Padme always believes the best in people until she is forced to see the worst. Now she has seen the worst in our daughter.
"She will do the right thing Anakin. Trust her," Obi-Wan sighed, and it was clear that he didn't know what Padme was going to do next.
For the first time ever, General Kenobi - the negotiator - was unable to think of a way out of their current situation.
