Leia Organa's hands dug into the Dantooine soil, pushing her head from the grass. She squeezed her eyes shut to somehow loosen the grip of a pounding headache. Spat dirt from her mouth.

No… Her heart jumped into her throat. This can't be happening…

All of those warnings from Luke that she had shrugged off—all of those times he tried to tell her the possibilities of what could happen to their ward of a sister that she had silenced from him, not wanting to hear a word of it. Not wanting to face the truth. Refusing to think that way of the child who once trembled in the Falcon's hold in fear of an Imperial attack that would rip her away from this new life as it had from all eleven years of her old one. She could not associate Tess with the overseer of the Empire that smothered the galaxy's former liberties, because that would mean that Leia had to accept her own connection to that Empire's most malicious pawn.

Leia eyed her lightsaber—just barely more than an arm's length away.

From her position on her hands and knees, the princess raised her arm and stretched it towards the weapon before a shoe came down hard on top of her fingers. She cried out then swallowed the outburst. Her head tilted upward, her sister's frame blocking the gleam of the Dantooine sun.

"This is not who you are," the woman reasoned gently. She cheated just a blink of a glance at the collapsed cottage.

Hold on, Han…

Tess' foot freed her sister's hand, and with the same foot she kicked the disarmed saber in the princess' direction. Leia let the weapon roll into her hand. Her eyes never left Tess.

"You would know who I am, wouldn't you?" the girl sneered, her back to Leia. "From the moment I told you about my connection to your father, you have known more about me than I have. My mother. My creation. The only thing I found out for myself was my paternity."

Leia slowly tucked her legs under her, rising to her feet. She kept her lightsaber in hand, but prayed she would not have to use it.

"I thought it would end after that," Tess continued. "But then this…my own experiences. My own mind. You let me stay empty. Lost. You kept me from a truth that wasn't even your secret to keep." The unfamiliar dark red eyes turned to Leia now, full of anger. Hatred. The blue veins above them pulsed like the lightening they both knew so well. "Because it would prove that I could never be your sister. Because it would prove that I am exactly what they say I am. Spawn of the Emperor."

"You're right," Leia replied evenly. She lifted her free hand, palm outwards towards her sister as if to inspire calm while on the inside, she was reeling. "I've been keeping far too much from you. It was selfish. I was in denial. I held you back, trying to keep you a child—dependent on me. I knew that if you accepted your connection to him, I would lose control over you and that frightened me."

The princess willed sincerity into her face. She erased her thoughts for fear of Force intrusions. If diplomacy had taught her anything, it was to talk her way around an opposing idea rationally and believably. Never had she dreamt she would be using it on her own sister. Not like this.

This is not your sister… she reminded herself. Yet despite a minute of opportunity, nothing could bring her to plunge her lightsaber into this stranger's back.

"No, I'm not," Tess responded, causing Leia's breath to catch in her throat as the younger of the two closed four steps of the gap between them. "I'm a murderer. And a Sith." The dark Jedi eyed the weapon in her sister's right hand, her mouth turning up into a knowing grin. Her face was strong and determined, but tiny twitches of her hands suggested that Tess was not in total control. She just wanted herself to be. "You've been training with Luke. I'd recognize his lightsaber craftsmanship anywhere. I'm sure he's taught you the basics by now. Good is good, evil is evil, good conquers evil, and all the rest of his morally superior condescension."

"I accept the existence of gray area," Leia said. "If you ask me, the universe cannot be so strictly classified into dark and light. Why should the Jedi?" Tess began to circle around her and take a look at what was once her childhood home—now destroyed. Leia smoothly pivoted to follow the girl, making sure to face her.

"He's alive—in case you were wondering," offered Tess.

"I wasn't."

"He's in love with you."

"I know."

A beat.

"That's why he did what he did," alleged the sixteen-year-old. "Spare the kid her innocence, and he can keep being—well, not so innocent with big sis."

Leia bit back a retort, taking the moments where Tess was looking elsewhere to scan the rubble, looking for a trace of Han. She could feel that he was alive. She didn't know if she wanted to see him and risk interrupting whatever progress or lack thereof she had going with Tess—all she knew was that confirmation of his safety would be immensely reassuring.

"Too bad that didn't work out for him," Tess continued, turning back to face the princess, a look of exaggerated disbelief molded into her distorted features. "After everything he'd done."

Leia forced a passive shrug.

"Love isn't one-sided," she sighed. "I can't help the way I feel."

Tess analyzed Leia for a moment, her red eyes looking deeper, seeing through more than her sister cared to show. The younger of the two lifted a smile from her purple lips.

"Do you think I don't know what you're doing?" she ruminated with forced amusement. "Lying through your teeth. Just like you have since the moment I met you."

Leia remained silent as Tess neared her, expressionless. Thoughtless as she could manage. Still as her muscles permitted. Even when Tess pointed the barrel of her lightsaber at the princess and ignited it so that its tip was glowing under her chin. Only one hand moved, slowly turning her own weapon in her palm until her thumb was on the activator.

"I don't want to kill you," Tess claimed, a subtle glisten in her eye. "If you die today, you've done it to yourself with your lies." A quiver of her chin. "If you're not with me, then you're against me." A hard blink to combat the emotions. A violent shake of her head. A tremble of self-doubt in the lightsaber's blade. "I'll do it!"

Leia gulped noticeably.

"I believe you."

With an aggravated, animalistic growl, Tess pulled her lightsaber back into both hands, stepping forward, holding her weapon in an attack position.

"Dammit, Leia—fight back!"

The Alderaanian shook her head evenly.

"You know I won't fight you."

The dark Jedi smoldered with rage, nostrils flaring and shoulders tense. Then she pulled the sword back, and swung in for a lethal strike.

Suddenly, a single blaster shot came from the cottage. The princess blinked her eyes shut and turned her head, blocking a tear as Tess dropped to the ground. Only a small cry—little more than a gasp—escaped her lips. When she dared to open her eyes again, she purposely kept her line of vision above ground. She could not bring herself to acknowledge the small, crumpled frame in the dirt. She nodded to an uninjured Han Solo, his blaster in hand despite being half-buried in the rubble.

"I'm sorry…" Leia whispered.

The princess inhaled deeply, and with an exhale, she released the few tears she had been holding back. Her head fell back to face the sky as if begging the Force for forgiveness.

Then she choked.

Leia looked down, and her wounded sister knelt in front of her, lightsaber in hand. The blade of the lightsaber impaled the princess' side, sending her falling limp into the dirt. Her head and back hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her if the injury had not done that already.

"No!" came Han's voice from the cottage.

Leia's vision was spotted black, white, and yellow. The afternoon sun burned down on her, a contrast to the cool grass against her back. Finally, she managed to close her eyes and force herself to take in a sharp breath. Her hands moved to the blood, covering the wound with a wince.

"Tess, stop!" cried the Corellian.

Leia opened her eyes. Tess stood at her feet, lightsaber drawn over her head. Then it came crashing down.