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Chapter 3

Luke had drifted off to sleep about an hour ago, but at one in the morning, Leia was still awake. She was afraid to go to sleep.

Leia listened to every noise the house made. It was old, and shivered in the Tatooinian wind. Sand was flung against the windows, a desert symphony. These were sounds she had heard every night for as long as she could remember, but without Obi-Wan there, they suddenly seemed larger and more threatening, ready to swallow her if she made the slightest move.

Her throat leapt into her throat with relief when she heard a speeder approaching. Her eyes and head ached, her throat cracked and dry, and she wanted to go to sleep. She hurried to the door and threw it open. "Obi-Wan?" she asked, her voice hushed so as not to wake Luke.

As her eyes became adjusted to the light, and she could see, she screamed.

Ever since he'd received confirmation of the area Kenobi was living in two weeks ago, Vader himself had been living on Tatooine. He'd made his excuses to his master and taken a star-ship to Mos Eisley. He had clones and Imperial Soldiers stationed at different places Kenobi was known to frequent, under orders to contact him if the man was sighted.

It had paid off. Vader hadn't expected it to be so easy. Kenobi had gotten himself drunk, and had, of all things, willingly told Vader where to go. No coercion, no force, was necessary.

How disappointing.

Vader and Kenobi had arrived at Kenobi's house in record time. Vader had noticed, with some annoyance, that his former master hadn't bothered to complain about his reckless driving. Apparently he was too drunk to even notice. Or maybe he'd just stopped caring.

Kenobi lurched towards the door of the speeder. Vader grabbed his arm tightly. "Where do you think you're going?" Vader asked, a cruel smile curving up under his mask.

Kenobi's face was confused, his mouth hanging slightly open, as he stared at Vader. He tugged futilely at his arm.

With his free hand, Vader reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe. He injected it into Kenobi just between his shoulder blades. Kenobi's blue eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell forward. Vader opened the speeder door, and Kenobi pitched headfirst into the sand. Vader exited on the other side and walked to his limp body. He drew back his foot and kicked Kenobi's face. His nose started bleeding, staining the sand a harsh crimson.

Vader kicked him, over and over. Neither of them ever made a sound.

The door opened, and a small girl peered out. "Obi-Wan?" she said.

Everything stopped.

Vader knew instantly that the child was his; her force signature gave her away. And she looked like Padme, everything about her. Her face, her eyes…if he had been able, he would have stopped breathing.

And then the child began screaming, and everything shattered back into reality.

The Padme-girl screamed, and began running towards them, Kenobi and Vader. She was there in seconds, leaving small footprints in the sand behind her. And she kneeled in the sand beside Kenobi, blood instantly staining her hands and white garments.

"Obi-Wan…Obi-Wan…" She was crying, sobbing his name over and over as she rolled his head over and shook his shoulders. Nothing happened. Kenobi's face was pale and cold.

Vader recognized an opportunity when he saw one. He reached down and grabbed the girl's shoulder, his claw-like hand digging into her flesh.

The girl hissed in pain and flinched away. She turned around, saw that it was he who was holding her.

She surprised him by wrenching herself away. She bolted towards the house, the light reflected off the sand giving her a soft, glowing feeling. She was white except for the black streaks of blood on her face and arms.

She slammed the door tightly and he heard the faint click of a lock.

Vader smirked. It was of no importance to him.

He was in no hurry.

The door slammed behind Leia, and she leaned against it for a second or two, eyes closed, breath shallow, and blood rushing through her veins so hard it hurt.

She felt frozen in place, and it took all the courage she had just to move. But once she began moving, she couldn't stop. She was by Luke in an instant, shaking him awake with trembling hands. "Luke—Luke, wake up, Luke, Luke!" He voice grew louder and higher as she spoke, until she was nearly shouting.

His eyes opened, and she wanted to sob with relief…but there was no time, no time…

"Come on, Luke, please."

And he sensed her agitation and didn't question her as she dragged him out of the room and to the hall closet. Leia pulled her brother to the very back of the tiny closet, pulling them both against the wall behind a row of old brown robes that she'd never seen anyone wear. They were just small enough that they could both fit underneath the bottom shelf.

A heavy thudding echoed down the hall.

"Leia, what's happening?" Luke was fully awake by then, and he was just as scared as his sister was.

"The Black Man from the holovision's here and I think he killed Obi-Wan," she whispered as quietly as she could. Her body shook with the pressure of holding back tears, and she clutched her brother's wrist painfully tight.

Luke felt the blood rush out of his head. He said nothing, just gripped his sister's hand.

The sound thumping stopped, and they breathed a collective sigh of relief. Leia pressed her forehead into Luke's hair.

Glass shattered, closer to them than the thumping had been. From the sound of it, the window in Obi-Wan's room had broken, barely fifteen feet away.

Silence. The twins didn't dare to do so much as breathe.

They were motionless for perhaps thirty seconds, waiting and holding their breath for any noise, and movement, anything.

Finally it came, what they'd been waiting for and dreading. Heavy footsteps closer and closer. They closed their eyes.

The door opened, throwing a stream of light into the closet.

"Come out. There is no need to hide."

Suddenly, it made perfect sense—he was right. There wasn't any need to hide, and Leia was confused as to why she was hiding at all…he was such a nice man…She crawled out, vaguely aware that Luke was at her side, his body pressed against hers.

The man's face was incapable of betraying any emotion, but Leia could tell that he was shocked. "Two," he breathed. "Padme…" She felt his surprise, and, dimly, in the back of her mind, considered taking advantage of it and bolting. She thought better of it, however, and sat perfectly still where she was, staring up at the man.

He bent down and took one of her hands in his and one of Luke's in his other. He pulled them gently to their feet. "Come with me," he said. Leia nodded automatically, not understanding why she'd ever been afraid. The stranger's voice was strange and persuasive, and Leia knew he could get her to follow him to the ends of the galaxy.

The three of them walked in unison to the door, and the man dropped her hand to open the door. She shivered to be alone, and was relieved when he took her hand again.

A stream of moonlight poured across the sand, illuminating a speeder. Out of the corner of her eye, Leia saw a black figure sprawled across the dunes. She tried to turn her head to get a better look, but the man jerked her so that she was looking straight of head. An ache began in the bottom of her stomach as she thought about it, a sick, nauseating pain. She knew it was something bad, but she couldn't remember what.

Luke didn't seem to have noticed anything.

There weren't enough seats in the landspeeder for all three of them. Leia was squashed uncomfortably between her brother and the window. She stared straight ahead, not even looking back at the only home she'd ever known.