Author Note: Oooh, another cliffhanger! Tee Hee!

And for those of you who were wondering, yes I do like to describe the fights in great detail because I always find that makes the story more interesting than just, 'he hit her, she ducked him, he won' etc.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's almost the last one... boohoo.

(-o-)

Leia, anticipating the maneuver, had stepped smoothly away. She counter attacked swiftly, striking at Anakin with enough force that she knocked him sideways and off balance. Anakin fell to the floor, his saber rolling into the abyss to join Padme's.

Leia stood over him, her saber raised above her head and then brought it down hard. A blue blade cut under it, stopping it with a shower of sparks.

Leia looked up to see Obi-Wan at the other end of the blue blade and a smile twisted on her face. She stepped away from Anakin who was too tired to even try to attack anymore.

Slowly she and Obi-Wan circled. Lightsaber held above her head, Leia readied her attack whilst Obi-Wan held a lateral stance, ready to answer.

Without announcement, Leia brought her blade straight down, then feinted to the right when Obi-Wan moved to parry.

She cut .

Obi-Wan counterparried, letting the impact direct his saber towards Leia's throat...

But Leia met the attack and stepped back.

The first blows traded without injury, or even much effort by either one. Again they circled.

Then again Leia attacked , much more aggresively. She advanced in a flurry of lunges, each met by the blue blade. Obi-Wan retreated back a step at every slash, swiveling once to bring his blade up viciously, but Leia batted it away, pushing Obi-Wan back again. Then Obi-Wan momentarily lost his footing on a slippery rock and fell to his knees.

Impressive! He thought to himself as Leia advanced and he had to bring his saber up to block a head strike. The two sabers clashed and the two people stared into each other's eyes. There was no hint of the bond that had once joined them as master and apprentice.

Impressive! Obi-Wan thought again as he continued to force the blade slowly away from his face. She has learnt alot and her speed has increased. It's a pity I have to kill such a young and promising warrior. She had resisted the flow of three attacks and still feels full of energy like she's new, not spent out like Anakin or Padme. No wonder the Emperor was so desperate to have her as his apprentice.

Now Obi-Wan stood again, having pushed the blade far enough away to give him the room he needed. He glanced over at Anakin who was still lying on the floor, breathing heavily, his age finally catching up with him. Padme was crouched over him, trying to help him to his feet, but each time he stood, he collapsed down onto the floor again.

And then Obi-Wan was dragged back into the fight by another swipe from Leia's blade. The two sabers had broken apart at last and she had swung at him when he wasn't paying attention.

Crafty! Obi-Wan smiled inwardly, remembering how Anakin used to use such moves. He responded by swinging his blade down low, aiming for her ankles, but she jumped back effortlessly and aimed for his head again.

Obi-Wan met the blow and the two moved in close enough to be able to hear each other's words.

"Face it old man, you're finished!" Leia growled over the crackle of the connecting sabers.

"Old man!" Obi-Wan echoed sarcastically. "I believe you're youthfull luck is about to run out Skywalker!"

Skywalker! He had never called any of them that before, but somehow he found Leia was too nice a name for someone like theevil villainstanding infront of him now.

"I don't need any luck!" she replied with a sly grin. "But you do!"

And with that she tore one hand away from her handle and thrust it into Obi-Wan's face. Her hand never touched him, but Obi-Wan was sent flying backwards into the cave wall. There was a violent shudder, and then a miniature landslide as rocks crumbled and fell on him, half burying him and trapping him underneath them. Leia grinned triumphantly, walking over to him, intending to finish him once and for all, but once again her blade was interputed by another blue blade. Looking to see who it was this time, Leia was surprised to see Padme holding Obi-Wan's saber. It seemed that Padme wasn't as spent as the others had thought, and she was going to do everything in her power to ensure that either she stopped Leia, or she'd die trying.

"It's over mother!" Leiahissed, backing away out of the door. Padme followed slowly and carefully, for she sensed a trap. Sure enough Leia swiped at her as she stepped through the door. Padme jumped back and the blade narrowly missed. Then Leia took a running leap and landed on a hovering platform a few feet out. The platform wobbled, but held her weight. She leaned to one side, steering the platform away to one side, away from the cliff and Padme.

Padme wouldn't allow this.

Spotting another platform a little further out, she took a deep breath then leapt for it. For one awful moment she thought she had missed.

Then her feet hit firm ground and she looked down to see the platform wobbling underneath her. Sighing with relief she set off after Leia.

"I have failed you Leia," Padme called after her, "I was never able to teach you to think."

Leia looked back angrily and slowed the platform down so that Padme drew nearer. They were now flying overa large canyon that was at least three hundred feet deep.

"You never cared about me, otherwise you would have seen my pain!" she responded and the words stabbed at Padme, even though she knew that Leia was consumed by the Sith and didn't know what she was saying. She felt the dark side grow stronger, feeding on her despair.

And then as Leia came close enough to swing her lightsaber once more, the Jedi in Padme rose up and at last she did the thing she hadn't thought she could do.

She let go.

Calm, centered, free - for the moment - of sorrow and despair, resting in the living Force as she had been trained to do. Padme Skywalker looked at her daughter and did the unexpected. She made a soaring leap into the air and landed on the high ledge of a mountain some distance away.

"It's over Leia. I have the high ground!" she called down as Leia's platform came to a halt underneath the ledge.

"You underestimate my power!" she called up, but Padme shook her head.

"Don't try it!" she warned, but Leia wasn't about to take advice from the enemy. She jumped with all her might, reaching out for the ledge, hoping to land ontop of it. Instead she fell short a few feet and had to scrabble and grip tight to the very edge.

Now the tables had turned and it was Leia who was hanging, with Padme watching down over her. And she was going to take advantage of this.

"I loved you Leia! I raised you to want to destroy the Sith, not join them! Your father brought balance to the Force, but you have dragged it into darkness again!"

Leia scrabbled at the rock, trying to find a decent foothold. Her hands were slipping and in her desperation to hang on, she had made her fingertips bleed. The rough rock grated and shredded her skin, but she didn't care. She was just trying to hang on.

"I hate you!" she cried at Padme who stood watching, with tears streaming down her face.

"You were my daughter Leia! I loved you!" Padme yelled and her voice echoed through the canyon below. Even Anakin and Obi-Wan heard it back at the landing platform. They had dragged themselves back to their ships and were now taking off in hot pursuit of the other two, desperate to know the outcome. Anakin was too tired to fly, so he just commanded his droid.

(-o-)

A few moments later they were landing the ships on the ground, hundreds of feet below the ledge. Leia was now hanging by one arm, having lost her grip with the other. She could feel her fingers slowly sliding towards the edge and tears welled in her eyes as she realised this was the end. Padme wouldn't help her, because she had turned her back on her and was now making her way down a ledge to the side, trying to find her way off the cliff.

Something clicked in Leia's head as her mother dissapeared from sight and she suddenly realised how foolish she had been. If her mother truly had hated her, she wouldn't have hesitated in killing her there and then. It would have been easy enough to do.But Padme hadn't. She had left Leia hanging, hoping the fall would do what she could not.

She still loves me! Leia thought to herself and then she was hit with a barrage of emotions. Grief, fear, love, remorse, all the things she hadn't been able to feel until now. She was truly sorry for what she had done and knew that she deserved what was coming to her. Closing her eyes she called out to her mother one last time.

"I love you mother! I'm so sorry!"

And then her fingers slipped.