Wassup, bitches? I actually had this chapter planned out a couple of different ways, but that's just life.

EVIL LATIN TEACHER IS RETIRING!!!! O hallelujah, break out the champagne! Unfortunately I won't be able to see him go, since I wouldn't have had him next year anyway. My school doesn't seem to be able to hold a Latin teacher for more than two years. We had one in fifth grade, another one in sixth and seventh, and now the eighth grade one is going.

Disclaimer: no shit.

Chapter 8: Fear and Anger

"No, Luke. I am your father."

And as Luke's scream rang in her ears, Lila let the tears fall.

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Lila stood silently as Luke stared at Vader in horror. She couldn't look at him.

"No, that's not true!" shouted Luke. "It's impossible!"

"No," said Lila quietly. "He's telling the truth." Luke stared at her. She couldn't meet his eyes.

"How do you know that? You're lying…"

"I've known for five years," she whispered. "Ever since Obi-Wan told me."

"He told you? But why didn't you tell me?"

"What did you expect?" she snapped. "I was going to walk up and just casually say 'hey, your dad's the one who fucked up the galaxy?'"

"You're still not telling me the whole story," Luke accused. "I can tell."

"Yes, why don't you tell him?" asked Darth Vader. "Tell him the other half. Tell him just what you are."

Lila closed her eyes in a failed attempt to stop the tears that flooded her vision. She opened them again, looked down, and dove off the walkway into the vacuum below.

The wind roared in Lila's ears as she fell, rushing downwards, until something pulled her off into an exhaust pipe. She tumbled around for a bit, finally coming to rest in a silver tube. Lila was about to start catching her breath when the floor dropped out form under them, launching her into the empty space below Cloud City.

She grabbed a weather vane and held on for dear life. Seconds later Luke came hurtling down.

Luke managed to grab onto the vane. "One-handed…not bad!" he panted.

"Yeah, and since when did you grow a sense of humor?" Lila pulled herself up until she was sitting on it and raised her eyebrows.

But Luke's fleeting moment of sarcasm had flown; it was back to seriousness. "It is really…true?"

"Unfortunately," Lila said. "The Emperor told him that only the dark side could save your mother from dying, so he turned, and then your mother ended up dying of a broken heart."

"When did Ben tell you?"

"About an hour before I met you." They sat in silence for a while.

"What did Vader mean, about you not being who you say you are?" asked Luke.

"Well, I might tell you later."

"But you probably won't."

"Damn straight."

Lila decided she didn't like clouds. Sure they were pretty, but she was freezing. Tatooine had given her a misconception of heat. This was Lila: If we're up way in the sky, doesn't that make us closer to the sun? So, by default, shouldn't we be warm?

Nope, guess not.

"So…what do we do now?" asked Luke finally.

"Well…let's see, how much did Yoda teach you?"

Luke reacted with visible shock. "How did you know I went to see Yoda?"

"Never mind, how much did he teach you about the Force?" snapped Lila. "Actually, never mind that, try to find Leia."

Lila would have tried it herself, but…well; she was scared to admit it to herself, but she was afraid to use the Force right now. Sitting among the clouds was mind-clearing; she now remembered what she'd done to Obi-Wan.

Put simply, Lila Skywalker was afraid that if she used the Force, she would be confronted by Obi-Wan and forced to apologize. Stubborn people don't like apologizing. Lila Skywalker was a very stubborn person.

She never thought it would come to this. Lila was afraid to use the Force? It was almost laughable.

Use the Dark Side, and you won't have to apologize. Darth Vader's voice rang out in her head.

"Shut up," she whispered, "just shut up." Lila realized she was still crying and angrily wiped her eyes, but that didn't help. Anyway, there was no time to worry about herself, Luke needed medical treatment now.

"Look," gasped Luke. And Lila looked.

There, speeding through the blood-red clouds, was the Millennium Falcon. Saved.

Whoo boy that was a sappy chapter…I'm not used to writing sappy, how'd it turn out? HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SILVER BLADE TRILOGY!! One year ago Lila showed up in my head and I posted the first chapter of Three Lives Connect. Yay! A whole year!

So, I estimate about one more chapter in this baby, then she's done and we can finally move on to ROTJ.

Cowgirl4Christ: Ah, the hidden soft side…well, we all knew Lila had it in her somewhere.

Draye: Since when the hell do you read Star Wars stories?