Anakin was still spiraling when they came to a sudden stop in the middle of an isolated hallway. When his gaze came into focus, Jaina was on her haunches before him, gripping his chin roughly in one hand. "Look at me, Anakin. Listen to me." Her voice was firm and unyielding, leaving not a centi open for debate. "I didn't tell you all this to depress you or to hurt you. You wanted to know where everyone you cared about was; we didn't want to lie to you. And we didn't want to spend forever circling around it, either. Yeah, life sucks. Our family has taken a few blows since you've been gone, and we're still trying to recover from the Vong war. But we wouldn't have been able to make it this far without some kind of light. There is always light, Anakin. Always."

Anakin blinked, catching his breath as his sister cautiously released him. "How? How can there be any light to see in a world so dark? And where is it?"

His mother smiled at him sadly, and Anakin caught the small movement of her and his father's hands simultaneously moving to reach for each other's. "You have to trust the Force— just as you always have. But it's there.

"Honey, I was so lost when I felt you go. I was in agony. But I had your father there to pull me back, to remind me that it was all the more reason to hold the rest of my family that much closer. I still missed you and thought of you every single day, but I've had your father and sister and uncle to turn to since."

Doubt curdled in Anakin's stomach as he craned his neck to glance at his uncle. "But Aunt Mara …"

"Anakin." Jaina wore a little grin, apparently amused now. "You do remember that we finally got a cousin, right?"

"Ben …"

Uncle Luke smiled, a soft laugh escaping his lips, providing some light amidst the shadows in his eyes. "Ben is fifteen now. And he's very anxious to meet you."

"Besides Ben," Jaina sang, twisting Anakin back around to see her smiling, true joy beaming in her eyes. "Our family also has a new member."

With matched happiness, Leia whispered, "You're an uncle."

Anakin's gaze instantly flashed to his sister, but Jaina just laughed. "Not quite, little brother."

"Jacen?"

Jaina split a grin. "You'll never guess who the mother is."

"Hang on, I'm not ready for that."

"Tenel Ka."

"Wait, she actually liked him?"

Laughter erupted from Jaina in great guffaws until she was able to calm herself enough to say, "Apparently, because they made us one really cute niece."

"Niece …"

"Come on, what do you say? Want to meet her?"


Upon stepping foot into his parents' current quarters, the first figure Anakin was confronted with wasn't a stranger, to his relief. Rather, Anakin came face-to-face with quite a familiar presence: the ever-present and oftentimes overbearing C-3PO. To his own surprise, Anakin was rather relieved and glad to see the old protocol droid that had served his family for so many years. As bothersome and exasperating as he could be, the golden droid was such a familiar sight that it gave Anakin comfort, the assurance that not everything about his world had changed. At least, he hoped so. Unless the top Corellian manufacturers and techies had designed a program in the last decade or so powerful enough to combat this one droid's entire personality …

Which Anakin seriously doubted.

"Hey, Threepio!"

"Hello— oh?" Threepio turned, and Anakin could have sworn he saw human surprise in the droid's photoreceptors. "Oh, dear! Mistress Leia, I am afraid my photoreceptors must be failing me! Or, perhaps, I am short-circuiting. I am seeing a ghost!"

"Threepio, relax." Leia stepped around Anakin and put a reassuring hand on the droid's shoulders. "Your circuits are just fine."

"But, Mistress Leia! I am sorry to remind you, but my data assures me that this man is Anakin Solo!"

"You're right, Threepio. It is Anakin."

"But—"

"I know it's strange, but just trust us, Threepio. What does your data tell you?"

"I …"

Threepio's photoreceptors almost seemed to blink, like eyes adjusting to the dark. It was eerie to Anakin, how human the droid seemed at this moment.

After a moment of silence, Leia finally said to the droid, "Threepio, why don't you check our comm transmissions and organize them for me and Han."

"Oh, of course, Mistress Leia." Then, the droid hurried off.

For the first time ever … the golden droid said nothing.

Anakin waited to see wires snap and crackle with electricity or Threepio's motor joints suddenly pop, but no such thing happened. The droid disappeared down the hall as fast as his legs could carry him, and Anakin almost felt bad.

He knew what that was like. Thinking reality is one thing only to be shown something completely different and then forced to adjust. Anakin pitied C-3PO that he somehow had such human emotions.

Anakin's mother led him into the living room, shedding her robes on a chair and dropping her comlink carelessly on an end table. "Wait here," she told Anakin, already sweeping back across the apartment with Anakin's father. "We'll go get her."

Her. His niece.

Something about that was difficult for Anakin to grasp— the concept of being an uncle, the idea that his big brother had fathered a child … With Tenel Ka, no less! A daughter.

Even as he called to mind the memory of his brother's face and that of Tenel Ka's, Anakin wasn't sure what to expect, couldn't imagine how the two might blend together to form their daughter. He wondered what she was like, if she spoke with the same formality Tenel Ka had always presented. Or, did her Solo side have the greater grip on her, steering her towards curiosity and mischief?

Was she as prone to asking a hundred questions as Jacen had been in his youth, only pausing her musings of the Force's greatest mysteries to share one of her endless jokes? Or, did she approach the unknown by first weighing the facts?

Jacen, his own brother. He had a daughter with Tenel Ka. Anakin could hardly wrap his mind around it.

Though he had no more time to wonder before he sensed his parents returning, and he quickly looked up to see Han and Leia shepherding forward a small child between the two of them.

In spite of her coloration— the black hair dye and naturally sparkling gray eyes— the little girl immediately reminded Anakin of his older brother. He saw it in her eyes mainly, in the way they instantly focused on him like a turret gun, the way they seemed to take everything in and search out the smallest details. Anakin saw untamed but wholly innocent curiosity in those eyes— Jacen's eyes. Just like him, too.

She had a little button nose that she undoubtedly inherited from her grandmother and a dimple on the side of her mouth that hinted at the trademark Solo grin. If he hadn't already been told, he would have been a fool to miss it. The child was a Solo.

The small girl blinked, hand clenching as she reached for the pocket of her play dress, looking past Anakin to where Han stood just behind him. Before she could utter a sound, however, Han Solo took one of her small hands and kneeled beside her. His granddaughter. "Don't worry, kid. This is that special person Grandma and I were telling you about."

Her little pink lips pursed, but she visibly relaxed, drawing her hand away from her pocket.

"Allana," Leia smiled reassuringly. "This is your uncle Anakin." Then, turning to her son, "Anakin, this is your niece Allana."

Still somewhat shy, the girl slowly and cautiously peeled herself from between her grandparents, big round eyes meeting Anakin's. "You're Jacen's brother."

Anakin couldn't get himself to so much as nod. After a moment— during which Anakin could only stare at her, mesmerized by her resemblance to the big brother he remembered and the bold warrior princess Jacen had spent their childhood crushing on— the girl turned back to her grandparents for help, and Leia swept forward.

"Allana's mother has decided she'll be safer with us for the time being," Leia explained, resting a hand on the girl's back, and smiling encouragingly at her son. "Her parentage cannot be revealed. As far as the public is concerned, she's a war orphan your father and I adopted, and her name is Amelia. But between our family …"

"Allana."

Encouraged, the girl beamed.

Anakin didn't know what else to say, how to respond. Part of him wanted to take Allana into his arms and hug her, but he didn't know this girl and she didn't know him. For a moment, all he could do was stare.

Until he became aware of another stranger in the room.

Stepping out from behind Allana where Anakin now realized he'd been lingering behind Han and Leia this whole time, the figure approached with unbridled curiosity bright in his eyes. He was much taller than Allana, though he stood just shorter than Uncle Luke. He was slim and lanky, young and still growing into his figure, Anakin figured. His curious eyes blinked a brilliant blue below a mop of auburn hair and between a smattering of matching orange freckles.

Just as Anakin had instinctively known who the girl was upon first seeing her, he knew exactly who this was; there was only one place the boy could have gotten his bright hair from …

"Ben?"

Still, it was a wonder. Not a doubt or question, but … a curiosity. To see this stranger and identify him as the cousin he'd last seen as only a baby. He'd been just a baby, not even a year old, not even talking yet or walking. Anakin didn't think his baby cousin had even been crawling yet the last time he'd seen him …

No, he'd just been a tiny baby, always snuggled in the crook of his mother's or father's arms. Or, his aunt's whenever Anakin's mom could get her way.

But this certainly was no child before him, but almost a young man. Perhaps, a young man already, if the distant shadows in his eyes were anything to make note of. And, still, Anakin knew this was his cousin. Ben Skywalker.

Ben was just as nervous as Allana if not more so, and Anakin might have laughed if he wasn't shaking with anxiety himself. He looked past Anakin to Luke, gaze flicking back and forth. "Uh, hi there? Anakin?"

A short laugh of wonder escaped from Anakin's throat as he took the boy in. "You were just a baby when I last saw you. On Eclipse."

"At the meeting when we voted on the Myrkr mission," Jaina agreed.

"No. After our last meal on Eclipse, I held Ben. The evening before we left."

Though Anakin didn't see, Leia smiled as she, too, recalled. "You held him for over an hour, and you wouldn't let anyone else take him."

Ben frowned, perhaps as mystified by this moment as Anakin was. "Huh. I know you were the first person who got to see me after I was born. Dad's only told that story about a thousand times."

"Me and Mirax. That was just barely half a year before the Myrkr mission. You were just a baby."

"Uh, yeah." Ben fidgeted where he stood, a mix of anxiety and discomfort rolling off of him in waves. Thrusting his hands into his pockets, he made another stab at conversation. "I— don't remember you at all. But I grew up hearing stories about you, about all the stuff you did in the Vong war. I used to wish I could have met you. Or, grown up with you, I guess, like I did with Jaina. But …"

"You were just a baby."

Ben blinked at him, something like concern now flickering in his gaze. In the same moment, Allana peeped up from where she stood between her grandparents. "He keeps saying that. Is he okay?"

Leia cut the girl off, gently hushing her.

Her granddaughter. His parents … were grandparents.

And his uncle hadn't had so many gray hairs, his mother's face so many laugh lines, his father such a soft voice, his sister such a hard edge.

And Ben …

He'd been just a baby.

Where was Jacen? Where was Aunt Mara? Where was something— something— something normal. Something that made sense.

Maybe, this was his imagination. Or, some weird dream. He could turn around and blink and there would be his sister just as he remembered her, young and carefree, dressed in her fighter pilot overalls rather than the robes of a Jedi Knight—

But when he spun around, desperate in his search, it wasn't the big sister that he remembered standing there.

Everyone was different. Everything.

Jaina frowned, and her mouth moved, but to Anakin her voice was no more than a whisper, a faint echo. His name?

Anakin.

Anakin?

Baby Ben. And—

"Anakin?!"


There was only one way. Forward. It wasn't a choice; if he stopped, he would only get more of them killed.

What about you?! Anakin could see the plea in his sister's eyes.

It didn't matter. Better him than anyone else. And if they stopped— if he stopped— it would be more than just one life lost. Of that, Anakin was certain. This was the only way.

He dropped out of the team's meld, simultaneously welcoming the Force into every cell of his body, reaching out for all of his family and friends. Like a gentle hug, he embraced them each briefly, filling his touch with warmth and love.

As his bones burned and body barely carried him each step forward, he delved into the Force, letting its waves of life-giving energy wash over him. And, before he knew it, the thrum of the living Force, the release of his every breath, and the steady beat of his heart were all one.

Anakin Solo was one with the Force, and the Force was with him.

With every parry and strike. Every kick. Every blow delivered to the mass of enemies swarming him. Even as the full might of the Force overwhelmed his failing heart and lungs—

And all faded to nothing.


He couldn't be sure if he'd fallen asleep or what other form of unconsciousness had taken him, but Anakin came to with a gasp, heart sputtering as erratically as his breath. He sat up in an unfamiliar bed, sheets still tucked in beneath him. The wall ahead was painted a deep gray-blue, decorated with pieces of art Anakin didn't recognize but undoubtedly were his mother's taste.

Another new place, but it was a refuge from the foreign chaos of everything outside. He knew he should turn his focus inward, relax in meditation and let the Force wash away his anxiety.

He was just getting through his first breathing exercise, working to clear his mind for meditation, when a tinny knock sounded outside the door. "Master Anakin, Mistress Leia sent me with food. She thought you might require sustenance."

Anakin managed a smile. "Come in, Threepio."

The door slid open, and the golden protocol droid entered with a tray full of cheese and crackers.

"Thank you, Threepio." Anakin accepted the tray, placing it on the bed before him.

"Master Anakin, I also came to offer my most sincere apologies."

Anakin blinked in alarm. "What for?"

"Well, I recall witnessing your funeral on Hapes, and it went entirely against all my programming that you are truly alive!"

"That's alright, Threepio. It goes against my programming, too, and I don't know what I'm doing here."

"Nevertheless, I would like to express my apologies for not offering you an appropriate welcome. While I might not understand, I am quite glad that you are back, Master Anakin."

"That means a lot to me, Threepio. More than you know. So, thank you."

"Why, you are very welcome, sir."

"You know, I'm glad you're here, too. Everything around me has changed. Everyone in my family has changed. But it's a relief to see you because you're still the C-3PO I remember. You've been around my whole life, and you're still the exact same— still just as reliable. If you'd changed, too— blast!"

"Pardon me, Master Anakin, but how do you fear I might have changed?"

"I don't know. Maybe, my parents might have adjusted your personality chips, or—" Anakin shrugged dramatically. "Given you a red arm."

"A— a red arm?"

"I don't know, Threepio."

"Oh, dear!"

"But the good thing is that you haven't changed. You're still the same as you've always been. Unlike everything else in my life."

"On the contrary, Master Anakin, in my years of service to the Solo family, I have added forty-three complete and new forms of communication to my database."

Anakin chuckled. "Well, perhaps, that's a good change."

For a moment, the droid seemed to consider this, arms bent in their usual ninety degrees, photoreceptors flicking one way before returning to focus on him. "If I may say so, Master Anakin, I have noticed several drastic changes among the Solos and Skywalkers. For instance, Master Han's complaints concerning Mistress Leia's cooking habits have decreased by seventy-three percent over the last fifteen years. And Mistress Leia is also ten times more prone to physical displays of affection at any given moment towards not only Master Han but also Mistresses Jaina and Allana. Additionally, the number of missions and so-called adventures have decreased significantly, and more than half of the trips now taken on the Millennium Falcon are what Mistress Leia refers to as 'family outings'. Though, they are not always as relaxing as she always assures me they are supposed to be … But even better, Master Anakin, is that the odds of my own harm or destruction on any given outing is now as low as seventy-eight to one!"

"That's great, Threepio," Anakin couldn't help but chuckle again as the protocol droid's photoreceptors lit up. But, this time, his smile stayed as he considered all the odds Threepio had just relayed to him. Though the droid, of course, didn't seem to truly understand what he was saying— or, at least, what it meant to Anakin. While Threepio was rejoicing in decreased incident reports and fewer kitchen fires, all Anakin heard was that his family had grown so much closer since he'd been gone. His parents were spending more time together, happier and closer in their marriage. The relationship between Jaina and their mother seemed considerably repaired, smoothed over with more recent fond memories. And new family members to share those memories with. He had a niece! And Ben was no longer a baby.

Breaking through his reverie, Anakin sensed his mother outside the door, and her soft knock came a short moment later. He didn't need to speak, but gave her the equivalent of a nod through the Force, granting her permission to enter.

Leia peaked her head in, entering slowly and cautiously. She stood with all the confidence and regality Anakin was used to seeing her possess, but her lips pursed and brows furrowed in sympathy. "Are you alright?"

Anakin paused as he regarded his mother, considering his own answer. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound followed.

"I'm sorry, Anakin." She did not falter but approached his bedside, reaching out to him through the Force to offer comfort, love, a sense of security. Immediately, as though by the flick of a switch, Anakin felt himself relax, his anxiety abating. The Force connected Anakin to his mother in such a spiritually intimate way that her soothing touch had always calmed him like a charm, reaching through some of the deepest parts of Anakin's soul and offering him warmth and security in a way only a mother could.

Leia sat herself on the edge of the bed, reaching out one hand to sweep back his unruly hair and hold the front of her hand to his forehead.

While Ben had been a baby, Anakin had been sixteen. Not quite an adult. Still his mother's child.

"I didn't think this would be easy, but … I'm sorry. I should have known this would be hard for you. I mean, I knew it wouldn't be easy. But I never considered just how overwhelming it would be."

Anakin just shook his head, unsure that there was much to be said. "It's okay. Nothing could have prepared me for this."

Leia just shook her head in agreement.

An easy silence settled between them, but Anakin couldn't decide if his mother was waiting for him, or if she was just as lost for words as he was.

"She, um … Allana, I mean— she looks just like him."

A fond smile graced his mother's lips. "She does. There's plenty of her mother in her too, but she looks more and more like Jacen every day." She paused, glanced sideways at him, releasing a heavy sigh as she considered her next words. "Jacen never told us about her," she explained. "He and Tenel Ka kept it a secret, and he never even told us. The galaxy knew Tenel Ka had a child, but she'd never let her be seen in public. Han and I saw her for the first time when she was four. Tenel Ka still hadn't told us; she'd known we would eventually realize the truth for ourselves, but …"

Anakin looked up just in time to see his mother's shoulders bob. Whether with a laugh or a sob, he couldn't tell, but it was clear all the emotion she was holding in.

"The moment I first saw her, I knew there was something special about her. It took me a while— not long, less than a few hours, really. But when we sat down with her and I was looking into her eyes— I knew. She was my granddaughter. And she was already four years old."

Anakin didn't consider asking why Jacen hadn't told their parents if only because he was quickly growing accustomed to seeing strangers' faces in place of familiar voices. From everything he'd been told, it felt more appropriate to assume his brother had always been a stranger. Why should he question a stranger?

But he could tell his mom was waiting on him, expecting a response, hoping he would show some sign that he valued her attempt at relating to him. But if Jacen was one stranger, what was another?

"Anakin, I'm sorry. I don't understand what you're going through. We're trying so hard to help you through this and to make things easier for you, but … a lot has changed for our family. And it's hard to ignore that."

"I can't decide if this family is a stranger to me—" He shrugged, rolling his shoulders in such a way that he was painfully aware of it being a habit when he was uncomfortable. "Or if I'm the stranger."

His mom seemed to almost recoil, flinching back as though she'd been struck. But, if it was possible, her eyes softened further with sympathy as her mouth fell open. "Oh, Anakin …"

He held her gaze a moment longer before he suddenly looked away, shaking his head. "Forget it. Forget I said that."

"Anakin, I don't know how to make this easier, but you have to know that your father and I are here to support you. Whatever you need, whatever we can do to help …"

Anakin let a silence hang between them, persistent in letting the moment pass without further acknowledgment. "Threepio and I were just talking about change."

Leia couldn't help herself, and she smirked. "Oh?"

Anakin smiled back. "He was just reminding me that— not all change is bad. A lot has changed, but some of it is welcoming."

"Such as …?"

"You and Dad, for starters. You guys are inseparable. You're closer, somehow."

When his mother smiled, a radical kind of joy illuminated her eyes and smile— a level of peace and happiness the likes of which Anakin could hardly recall ever seeing in her. There were no words for it, for the levity of her soul at the mention of Anakin's father. Leia's cheeks flushed and she glanced away as she told him, "I found myself leaning pretty heavily on your father when we lost you. I was devastated and I couldn't hold myself up. But he was my rock. He carried me through."

He would have to ask his sister more about their parents later, but Anakin felt his heart swell with pride as his mother recounted her and his father's journey in healing. Chewie's death didn't seem so long ago, and neither did his father's drunken nights and cold stares. Han had picked himself back up, found his feet again after some time venturing the corners of the galaxy for a remedy to his inconsolable grief until he'd finally fallen back into the welcoming embrace of his family. But that had taken months— nearly a year for his father to find his way back to the family. Anakin hadn't much considered how his family might have coped following the Myrkr mission and his downfall. However, he realized that if he'd had the time to do so, he would most certainly have worried about his father.

But he'd remained strong, been the support beam holding up his wife and the rest of his family. Whereas Anakin's mother broke down, lost in the torrents of grief. So … contrary to how things had played out when Chewbacca had fallen with Sernpidal.

For the briefest moment, it hurt. Imagining his father drinking away his sorrows and searching the galaxy for peace upon the death of his best friend, but then faring just fine when his youngest child died just as unexpectedly. But that was foolish, Anakin knew, and he felt guilty for even thinking it. His father loved him, and he knew that.

Of course, Han had been strong after Anakin had died— for his wife's sake, he'd had no other choice.

Anakin filed that thought away for later, deciding to move the conversation on before he had to think about it too much. Wearing a bit of the Solo grin, he looked back to Leia. "What about you and Jaina?"

"You'll have to ask your sister about that one."

"But good change."

Leia nodded, and when Anakin met her gaze, he caught the hint of sympathy with which she regarded him. "Good change."

"More family is a good change."

"It's still your right to feel overwhelmed," Leia granted.

"Sure. But I can get used to that. I want to. I want to be a cousin to Ben. And …"

"An uncle?"

"An uncle," Anakin agreed, still in awe. "To Allana. Are they still here?"

Leia shook her head. "Ben and your uncle went home, and Jaina took Allana to her place to spend the night. We thought you could use some rest."

"I've been resting." Anakin took a breath, bolstering himself before he continued, "I'd like to see them again. If that's alright."

Finally, the hint of pity left his mother's face, and more than a spark of joy and hope lit her eyes and her smile. "I think we can arrange that."