CHAPTER 13

Lantillies

Han squashed the shell from the nuts under his heel as he waited for the informant to grace him with his appearance. He had already waited ten minutes past the designated time, and was beginning to wonder if the informant had chickened out, or worse, this was a trap. Nothing seemed unusual in the small park they had agreed to meet in. There were plenty of exit routes, and it was within sprinting distance to the spaceport if needed. No one was loitering for a strange amount of time, and the majority of life forms here were families.

Ah well, at least it was giving him more time to process the many new things he had learned about the princess's life. For starters, that she had a brother, a twin brother, that she had known about for three years, but declined to mention to anyone, because she had thought he was dead, but he actually turned out to be alive, and on this planet at the same time as them no less. That this twin brother was Luke Skywalker, of all people, who had abandoned the Rebellion three years ago, apparently been a guest of the Emperor immediately afterward, and then fell off the grid for the past three years. Why, Leia couldn't say, only that he didn't want to become a Jedi.

So somehow, Leia was a Skywalker, a family from Tatooine, or at least that was where Luke was from, but she wound up the princess of Alderaan. How Luke got that short of a straw, being a moisture farmer on a godforsaken planet in the Outer Rim, and Leia became part of the creme de la creme of the Core Worlds royalty, Han would never know. But what he did want to know was why Luke had decided to leave the Rebellion.

He had seemed so committed to it, ready to become a Jedi like his father was, but one day he just disappeared. Maybe he found out about his relationship to the princess and couldn't take it. Han shook his head, Leia wasn't all that bad, she had her moments. He hadn't seen her as often as he had in the earlier days of the Rebellion, but now there was a sort of calmness, a sense of peace she had that wasn't there before. Not that she had lost her ability to think of a come back for everything he had to say of course.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the twi'lek wearing the purple scarf approaching, and he threw the bag of nuts back into his jacket.

The speeder flew across the grassy hills as Leia steered it deftly over the well worn trail. She knew it would lead her to Luke, he must take this path into town whenever he needed supplies. What exactly she was going to say to Luke when she saw him, she had no idea. Scream at him, berate him for abandoning her and the Rebellion, hug him and promise to protect the only family she had left? Tell him to come back and finish his training so they could take down the Empire together? All the possibilities were racing through her mind.

She could feel her heart racing with anger and anticipation, but they didn't threaten to overwhelm her. That was one thing of many she had learned on Korriban. No matter how strong her emotions were, no matter now much she wanted to give in and act in hate and anger, she could never bring herself to do it. The Dark Side had never truly called to her, no matter how much it beckoned.

She saw smoke rising from a ring of trees, and knew she had reached her destination. Bringing the speeder to a stop, she pulled it off the trail a ways, so she wouldn't alarm him by riding up to the house. Taking a deep breath, she began her climb up the hill.

"Luke!"

The older twin turned around in shock.

"Leia?" He froze for a moment, taking in the sight of his friend. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to bring you back," she said, her voice unwavering.

"You can't bring me back to the Rebellion," he scowled, walking back to his cabin.

"What do you plan to do? Hide here for the rest of your life?" Leia shouted after him, sprinting to catch up.

"Yes, I do actually," Luke retorted.

"That's preposterous. The Rebellion needs you, the galaxy needs you, the Jedi need you."

"Don't talk to me about the Jedi!" he snapped, hurling his tool to the ground in frustration. "They're liars and hypocrites."

"I know about Darth Vader," Leia said softly.

"You know that he's my father? You know that Obi-Wan lied to me about his death, he was too much of a coward to admit he had killed him."

"I know it doesn't excuse what he did, but Obi-Wan only wanted to protect you. Vader was a monster, he would have destroyed or corrupted you."

"He could have been redeemed, there was good in him I know it. But the Jedi refused to see it, to try to save him."

"Luke, I understand why you're angry, and we can talk in circles all day about what Obi-Wan did, but you're not the only affected by this. Vader was my father too."

"Obi-Wan-," Luke froze. Crossing his arms, Luke slowly turned to face his sister.

"Vader. He's your, your father?" he echoed, leaning back against the table.

"Yes," Leia said softly.

"And that means...?"

"That means we're siblings. Twins actually."

"Wow," Luke whispered, staring at his sister. Suddenly, he pushed away from the table and began to pace.

"How do you know this is true? How do I know this isn't some trick to get me to come back?"

"Look," Leia said, pulling up a picture of what could only be their mother and father, before he became in the man in the suit. "We look just like them."

Luke grunted in response. It made sense, he could certainly feel it in their Force bond, now that she had dropped the shields she always had up. He could also tell she had been training as a Jedi.

"I know it sounds crazy, I didn't believe it myself when they first told me. We were born after our... father, became Vader. It wasn't safe to keep us together, so Yoda hid you on Tatooine since he knew Vader wouldn't go back there, and he left me with mom. But she died a few years later, and he took me to Bail."

"And why didn't Obi-Wan tell me about this when he decided to tell me Vader was my father?" Luke hissed. All the emotions he had felt towards Obi-Wan and Yoda were coming back in a flurry, the rage, the hurt, the betrayal.

"Obi-Wan didn't even know until Yoda told me."

"He could've been acting."

"No Luke, I was there. No one in the galaxy is that good of an actor," Leia said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know you expected to be left alone for the rest of your life, but you have to come back. The Emperor is gathering his forces for another offensive, and we have to stop him. He could wipe out the entire Rebellion, and send the galaxy into darkness."

"Well you seem pretty capable of handling it yourself, especially with Obi-Wan and Yoda at your side."

"Luke!" Leia exclaimed. "I need you by my side, we're supposed to do this together. Yoda, I don't expect him to make it to the end of the year, if I'm being honest. He knows this isn't his fight, and Obi-Wan. Luke, I've never seen someone so full of regret. He tries to hide it, but he's tearing himself apart on the inside. Won't you try to talk to him, at least once try to hear him out? He's here on the planet right now."

"No! What he's done is unforgivable! He's made his bed, and now he gets to lie in it!"

"Don't you dare stand there and say that to me! So the entire galaxy gets to live in pain and suffering because Obi-Wan made a mistake? You'll sit idly by and let an evil and corrupt Empire that destroyed my planet, killed my entire family, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, in the blink of an eye and made me watch? You stand here complaining how the Jedi wouldn't give your father a second chance and you're sitting here denying them theirs?" Leia shouted, tears welling up in her eyes. "If that's what you really think, then you are not the man I thought you were. The man who would do anything to stop the Empire, who wanted to save as many lives as he could. You're not the man who blew up the Death Star."

Leia turned on her heel and stormed out of the cabin, wiping away her tears when she was out of sight. She hadn't planned to leave on such a bad note, but for once her anger had gotten the better of her. She knew she had to calm down, and go back in with a cooler head.

So much for my Jedi training, she thought sarcastically. Yoda was right, the destruction of Alderaan wasn't something she could just 'get over', but she had to come to terms with it or something. Even if the Dark Side itself didn't tempt her, who knew how the Emperor would twist his words, put a a spin on it to get his own way, and bring her to the Dark Side.

"Leia wait!" Luke shouted from the cabin.

She turned to look, surprised to see he had a bag in his hand.

"I'm coming with you."

Luke held on as the speeder raced back to town. The thought of facing Obi-Wan was making his stomach turn, how was he supposed to forgive the man who trained him to kill his father, when he had already killed him? The Jedi were supposed to be honest and truthful, that was what Obi-Wan had taught him. But then he had gone right back on his own word. And now his father was dead, his only family besides Leia. And he was grateful she had found him, and he was going back to the Rebellion. What she had said in the cabin was true, they had to stop the Empire. They had killed so many, and wouldn't stop unless they were stopped. Whether or not he would become a Jedi again, he couldn't say, but he knew he had to help Leia.

"Obi-Wan," Leia called from the ramp, looking around for the Jedi Master. He wasn't sitting at the dejarik table like he normally did.

"Well he's got to be somewhere around here, this bucket of bolts isn't very big," Leia said, walking back towards the bunk room.

"Why is Obi-Wan with you?" Luke asked. "I thought he'd be a bit infamous after the Death Star."

"He is, but it's died down a bit. He and Yoda come out sometimes and look for Force-sensitives. The Empire takes them from their families and turns them into Hands, so we try to get there first."

"How many have you found?"

"Maybe a handful. There's not as many as you think. And that's only the ones we find," Leia said sadly.

"Luke, is that you?" Obi-Wans surprised voice echoed throughout the ship.

"It's me," Luke said loudly. Obi-Wan emerged from the cockpit, looking at his former apprentice in stunned silence.

Leia was right about one other thing, he does look a lot worse, Luke thought to himself. His former master looked like he had aged ten years in the past three.

"I'll go check on Han," Leia said softly, slipping away quietly down the ramp.

"Luke," Obi-wan repeated. "I can't believe you're here."

"I'm not here for you, I'm here to help Leia."

"Of course. I'm glad you're here, healthy. A lot of us were concerned."

"Don't pretend you cared about my well-being. If you did you would have told me about my father."

"Luke, there on the Death Star I had no intention of killing him, or fighting him even. I wanted to destroy Darth Vader, and bring Anakin Skywalker back. I had tried once before, but I had failed."

"When, when did you try?" Luke said bitterly.

"Not long after he fell the Dark Side, I couldn't believe it. It had been a few months, things had settled down, your mother was in hiding, I thought he would see reason. I tracked him down to Mustafar, and I tried to show him all the damage he had done, to himself and others. But he wouldn't listen. He still blamed the Jedi for all of his problems, and so we fought. Mustafar is a lava planet, and during the fight he tried to jump from the lava river onto the bank where I was standing. But I had the high ground, and I struck. He tried to jump over me, and I swung my lightsaber, and cut off his legs. That's why he wears the suit."

Luke said nothing, stunned by this revelation.

"I know how horrible it sounds, but I really could not kill your father. He was like a brother to me, and I could not make myself do it. But when we were on the Death Star, all I could think of was how weak I had been on Mustafar, I had allowed him to become the monster that was right in front of me. His fate was worse than death, and I thought I had to stop him. But now I know there was good in him, and I took away any chance he had of redemption."

"I-," Luke started, unsure of what to say. "You think my father had a chance at redemption."

"I think so, but now we will never know. I only hope he can forgive me, wherever he is. I failed him many times, just as I have failed you."

"Obi-Wan don't-,"

"Shh," Obi-Wan said, moving his finger to his mouth. "Something isn't right, I can sense it."

"What is it?"

"There's a Dark Sider nearby, and they're approaching. Get your lightsaber ready."

"I don't have it."

Obi-Wan looked at him in surprise.

"I have a blaster though."

Obi-Wan muttered something under his breath, but he couldn't tell what.

"Stay here, I'll go and investigate."

"Shouldn't I go with you?"

"Luke your face is known all over the galaxy, I'll take my chances."

Luke nodded, watching his father's friend walk down the ramp. He readied his blaster, scanning the spaceport for any hostile presence. Slowly he began to reach out into the Force, which was harder than he thought it would be after three years.

A shot rang out and the blue lightsaber, deflecting it back to whoever had shot it. A black-clad figure lunged towards Obi-Wan, and Luke opened fire. It was the Emperors Hand, the man who had chased Luke across Kuat.

Luke watched in horror as their blades clashed, and wished more than anything he hadn't tossed his lightsaber when he landed on Lantillies.

Use the Force, Luke, he heard Obi-Wan say in his mind. Looking around for anything he could use as a weapon, he concentrated with all his might on one of the barrels nearby, and threw it at the Hand as hard as he could. Thankfully he was knocked to the ground, and Luke rushed forward, his blaster raised.

"Careful Luke, he's still-," Obi-Wan started, raising his lightsaber as the red one rose to meet his. But instead of colliding, it sliced Luke's blaster in half, and a Force push sent Luke flying.

The wind knocked out of him, Luke stood up rapidly and stumbled, the world spinning around him. Blinking furiously, he focused on the lightsabers as the rest of his vision became clearer. The Force began to shake, and Luke sprinted forward, knowing Obi-Wan was in trouble. He was about to reach out to him when he saw the red blade plunge into his chest.

"OBI-WAN!" Luke shouted, all his rage coming to the surface. Without thinking, he summoned Obi-Wan's lightsaber and charged at the Hand, hacking down on him furiously with his lightsaber. The fast, heavy blows were too much for the Hand to keep up with, and eventually one landed, sending him to the ground. Enraged, Luke began pressing his fingers together, choking the Hand. His fury at the Emperor, the Jedi, his father, all came tumbling out. He could feel the sinister, oily tendrils of the dark side flowing through him, but he didn't care.

"Luke!" he heard someone shout, pulling him from his thoughts. Instantly Leia's presence cleared away the darkness, replacing it with a warm glow.

"Luke, what happened?" she asked, confused by the dead Hand and the pile of robes a few feet away.

"He killed Obi-Wan," Luke said flatly, retracting the lightsaber. He felt Leia's anger and sadness rise in the Force as well, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come, released into the Force.

"We need to go," she said, grabbing Luke by the arm and pulling him to the Falcon. "We ran into some stormtroopers on the way, Han and Chewie are holding them off but we have to go now!"

Leia guided him inside the Falcon, Luke unable to take his eyes off of Obi-Wan's robes, laying in the middle of the landing pad.

Go, Luke.

"Obi-Wan?" Luke said, looking around, confused.

"Luke come on, we need to get the engines started so we can get out of here," he heard Leia shout from the cockpit. Shaking his head, he ran up to join her, sitting down in the copilot seat. Dazed, he ran through the takeoff sequence on autopilot. Had he really just heard Obi-Wan, or was it a trick of the mind?

"Good work kid, now lets get out of here," he heard Han say, but for all he cared he could have been on the other side of the galaxy.

Chewie roared something, and Luke got up, letting him take control of the ship. Leia was sitting in the seat behind Han, a severe look on her face. Luke sat down in the jump seat, numbly looking out as the galaxy flew by.