Epilogue

A week later, Leia had left Naboo to return to politics. While he was still recuperating from his wound, Han had insisted that he accompany her, apparently as petrified as Luke had been at the prospect of being separated from her.

Her doubts, reservations, fears, and depression were all hidden away, suppressed deep beneath the surface. Luke and Han would never know how close she had been to falling off the edge and succumbing to insanity; Vader alone would be her confidante and secret keeper for she had come to realize that there was nobody in the world whom she resembled more than her father.

Luke had tried to keep a neutral attitude in the week leading up to Leia's departure. Perhaps he had realized how terribly he had made her feel about herself. Whatever the reason, Leia was grateful. She wasn't sure how much more guilt she could deal with.

On the final day however, Luke's façade of indifference shattered when Leia insisted that he take her lightsaber.

"Take it, Luke," she had said, handing him her prized possession. "I have no need for this anymore."

Luke had recoiled viscerally, seemingly afraid to even look at the lightsaber. "I couldn't possibly–"

"Luke, you need a lightsaber and I don't. It's as simple as that." Luke had been moping for the past week because he had been unable to find his green lightsaber after Soruna's guards had took it from him. Leia, on the other hand, had unclipped her weapon from her belt the day after she had sliced off Soruna's hand, revolted by the weapon's power in her hands. Knowing that she was returning to politics anyway, she felt it was more than reasonable that she bestowed her lightsaber to Luke.

"I'm not taking it with me," she said definitively. "Either I give it to you, or I throw it in the lake."

Aghast, Luke swiped the lightsaber away from Leia quickly and attached it to his own belt. "You're bluffing," he said, evidently unable to believe that Leia could be so indifferent towards her weapon. "You would never do that."

Leia shrugged. "I don't need it," she repeated. Luke was right, of course. Leia never would have flung her lightsaber away as carelessly as she had implied she would – the weapon was like her baby and even though she feared its capabilities, she knew she could never abandon it. It was better to leave it in Luke's responsible hands, she reasoned.

"I have an idea," Luke said earnestly, his eyes brightening up. "If I can't find my lightsaber within a month, I'll forge a new one. Then I can return this one to you."

Leia opened her mouth to protest, but closed it without saying a word. She realized that Luke was just trying to find an excuse to visit her again, and she wasn't going to deny him that opportunity. Instead she pursed her lips and nodded noncommittally. "That could work," she said.

Having placated Luke sufficiently, Leia had made her way to the Millennium Falcon with Han to pursue her new journey. Looking out the cockpit window as Naboo receded away until it was just a green and blue orb in the sky, Leia couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

She had been so certain just a few months ago that this new path she embarked upon with Luke had been the right course of action. She had been so disheartened by politics and war that solitude with Han and Luke had seemed like a wonderful idea. Yet here she was, returning to politics after just a brief respite.

She was returning to a life she no longer recognized. Before she had never felt an ounce of self-doubt or cynicism. She had always been confident that she was fighting for a just cause. Now she felt little but cynicism and self-loathing. How rapidly had her life changed.

How could she pretend as if nothing had changed? Mothma wanted Princess Leia Organa to return to politics to serve as a rallying cry for the New Republic; a triumphant figure who had resisted the oppression of the Empire. But she wasn't Leia Organa anymore. She barely even knew who Leia Organa was anymore…

Leia Skywalker. That was who she was now. The daughter of Vader and the incarnation of evil. And yet at the same time she was also the daughter of Amidala and the sister of Luke Skywalker, two of the purest people to traverse this galaxy. How could she reconcile these two facets of her identity?

Would it be clear that she was a changed woman? Would Mothma realize that bringing her back had been a mistake? Would she realize that her self-appointed successor was a shell of her former self? How could she willingly accept the power endowed upon her when she knew that she was a monster?

Nobody could answer these questions for her. Not Han. Not Luke. Not even Vader.

"Are you okay?" she heard Han ask her, startling her from her dark thoughts. Leia spun around to see Han's concerned yet deeply compassionate face. Feeling her concern ebb away as she looked into the eyes of the man she loved, Leia gave a heavy sigh and a weak smile.

"No," she said truthfully, reaching out to grasp Han's calloused hand. "But at least I'm with you."

Han returned her smile and gave Leia's hand a squeeze. "Well get used to it," he said. "Because you're not getting rid of me."

Laughing, Leia looked back out the cockpit window to watch Naboo shrink until it disappeared in the vastness of space. Goodbye, Luke she thought into the emptiness before her, knowing that he would hear her.

"Let's go," she said resolutely, tearing her eyes away from the window.

"You got it," Han said, pulling the lever with his uninjured arm. As the Falcon entered hyperspace with a jolt, Leia left her doubts behind her and focused firmly on the future. She was ready to embark on a new path.

THE END