AN: I'm exhausted. I got my last paper in and now it's time to study like hell! Anyway, here's the next chapter. Nothing to say at all. I'm so tired. Going back to sleep.

Read, enjoy, and review!

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Chapter Nineteen

Ahsoka laid in her bed, rubbing her turning stomach with one hand and her other arm over her eyes, the lights off. She couldn't believe she had done that. What kind of person was she turning into that she could even think about torturing another human being like that? As guilty as it was though, she felt relieved that she had killed the woman and made her feel some of the pain she made her little girl go through. Vader mentioned the holovids, but she didn't want to see them. She didn't want to feel that rage again as righteous as it had been. It went against everything she had been taught, everything she still claimed she believed in.

She felt Vader come in the room and then flick on the light. Ahsoka imagined he was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed staring at her in a strange mixture of exasperation and concern at her sulking. A peek at his emotions told her she was right.

"What happened back there?" he asked simply.

"I did something terrible," she said.

"I doubt it," was his confident response.

"Yes I did."

"If you're talking about Melody, you gave her exactly what she deserved," he said sitting in a chair near the bed.

Ahsoka removed her arm to look at him in confusion. "What are you-?"

"I saw the footage and you did exactly what you should have done," Vader replied carelessly.

"It was wrong."

Vader rolled his eyes. "Only according to the simple Jedi truth's you cling to."

"I did it out of anger."

"You did it out of passion," Vader argued. "And that's exactly what I've been trying to teach you. Apparently you understood the lesson on some level."

Ahsoka sat up and looked at Vader with her head tilted. Sometimes it worried her how calm was about these sorts of things. He was more sith during those times than the person he was.

"What do you mean by that?"

"The Jedi's lack of passion is what led to their downfall. Just because your enemy is down doesn't mean they're not a threat. It's why the Republic could never attain true peace. They wanted to lock everyone up for their crimes and give them second chances. But some crimes don't deserve mercy or second chances, not when lives are at stake," Vader explained.

"Coming from the guy who kills his subordinates for the slightest infractions," Ahsoka said in response.

"The death penalty is made out to be worse than it really is. If we want to look at it from an economic point of view, it gets rid of baggage. Do you know how many trillions of credits it takes to maintain prison facilities, feed prisoners, take care of them, money that good be used in another area to benefit the general public?" Vader asked her and Ahsoka rolled her eyes.

"Only you would justify capital punishment by arguing that it would save the galaxy some money in the long run," Ahsoka said dryly. "You sound the psychopath people think you are. Hell, I think you're a psychopath sometimes."

"Well if you want to look at it from a humane point of view, to be honest, death is a mercy to the one being persecuted and the ones who are in danger from him in some cases," Vader replied ignoring her comment about being a psychopath. That was another argument not worth fighting.

"How is death being merciful?" Ahsoka asked.

"Isolation drives a person insane. It's a form of torture Ahsoka, something that death is sometimes preferable to. In a way, you're setting a person free by killing them, but they're also not any living person's problem anymore," Vader explained. "So it's no point sulking about it. Melody was one of Palpatine's cruelest and inhumane hands. It was necessary. If you hadn't killed her, I would have."

To Ahsoka's dismay and relief in a way, Vader's logic made sense.

"You and your twisted Sith logic," she finally said.

"It's not Sith logic. It's common sense, something the Jedi seemed to have forgotten in their pathetic attempt to follow their code. This is your first step in completely letting go of their truths," Vader said with a smirk. "And it's about time."

"You know, that isn't exactly a Sith philosophy either," Ahsoka pointed out smugly.

"Meaning?"

"When are you going to let go of their truths?" she asked seriously and Vader became tense so she added, "I guess you can't take that first step because you don't know why you cling to them."

Vader did what he did best when he didn't want to acknowledge something. He changed the subject.

"In any case, it seems I've underestimated the emperor's insistence," he admitted to her.

"Again," Ahsoka grumbled.

"Therefore we will more of our time and resources into finding Shmi. It is imperative that we do so," he added.

"But now the emperor knows everything we're up to. He knows what's going on. How do you know he's not going to come after you?"

"Because we're at a stalemate," Vader pointed out. "I do know that in order for him to rule, he needs an apprentice to do his dirty work for him and he won't risk doing away with me until he can assure himself an equally powerful or more powerful apprentice."

"But where do we start?"

"With this," Vader said holding a datapad in his hand. "It looks like Melody has been on this for a long time. We're bound to find a few leads using this."

"Then where are we going?" Ahsoka asked sitting up.

"According to this," Vader said dryly, "Shmi's been seen with an… exotic pet several times. I saw it on the security holos earlier."

"Exotic?" Ahsoka asked warily. "What are we talking?"

"A tusk cat," Vader said rolling her eyes. "I'm really beginning to wonder what you were thinking leaving her with that man."

"She's always wanted one… I have to wonder how she convinced Han to let her have it," Ahsoka pondered dryly.

"In any case, it's one of the best leads we have. If we assume she got it sometime in the last year, we can track down where they went from there. I've narrowed it down to a list of planets and sent my own personal spies to ask around," Vader said to her.

"And what are we going to do?"

"We're going to forget about those pointless small rebel uprisings and look for leads to the root cause of it all," Vader said determined. "The Rebel Alliance."

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Luke couldn't believe they were going to do this. He couldn't believe that things were so black and white with the Alliance. As of right then, he knew exactly why Leia had such a problem with them. She knew both sides growing up with a former Jedi who had fought for the republic and a Sith who was second in command of the empire, not to mention she had successfully set the two up.

It had all started with a distinct disturbance in the force, a tremor in the dark side and only one thing could lead to that. It was Ahsoka. Leia had felt it before any of them did and the fact that it had been Ahsoka worried them. So they contacted the alliance who confirmed that in the last year, Ahsoka had joined the empire to which Leia replied that Ahsoka had joined Vader, not the empire. There was a difference. The discussion had gotten heated which resulted in the High Council revealing that an informant of theirs had just notified them that Ahsoka and Vader had been on Bespin and to everyone's shock, it wasn't Vader who had committed the worst atrocity.

As per usual, Vader sent a crew to clean up the mess and a woman was found dead, severely beaten, a finger cut off, and her head decapitated. Further investigating revealed that it had been Ahsoka who had done the deed. Leia hadn't batted an eye and said that just because it looked dark and inhumane (on in the Jedi's case felt dark and inhumane) didn't mean it was evil. Evil had no purpose and evil knew no remorse or guilt.

It was apparent everyone was obviously concerned about Leia's dark inclinations. Luke however wanted to know what she meant. A few years ago, he probably would have taken the Jedi's and the High Council's word on face value. But Leia had rubbed off on him. So he drew into the force and through his connection with Leia, found the tremor, found Ahsoka and what he saw surprised him. It was the darkness, but it was full of righteous anger, hesitancy, remorse, sorrow, and regret, a feeling of doing what needed to be done in essence. Then Luke understood what Leia meant. Just because it had been dark didn't mean it was evil. And perhaps it was the same for their dad… sometimes.

He didn't get a chance to ponder it though because then Obi-wan and Yoda came to talk to him and Mara, in secret away from Leia. That's why he was searching for her then.

He rushed to find his sister knowing that he didn't have much time. She was probably somewhere playing around with Lana and Abdul. She didn't get to spend as much time with them as she wanted being that she was always training. But Leia wasn't an ideal student. She always had a retort to some Jedi truth that Yoda like to call her being arrogant. When Luke thought about it though, Leia's logic always made sense and not in some twisted way or point of view (Although she did that too in retaliation to what she called twisted Jedi truths. She was manipulative like that, Luke mused). It just was.

"Leia," he said sensing her ahead near their camp where she was playing a card game with Lana and Abdul.

Leia smiled at him as he approached. "Hey Luke. You want to play?"

Luke didn't reply as he started gathering her things.

"Luke what are you doing?" Leia asked him.

"Pack your things Leia," he said. "You've got to get out of here."

Leia looked at her brother stunned as were Abdul and Lana.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him.

"The alliance is on their way to come get us. But I doubt they're going to let you roam free. They're going to detain you Leia," he said grabbing some other stuff into her bag and then looking at the three of them added, "Well don't just stare at me. Get your stuff!"

Lana immediately started packing her bag, going behind Luke to gather some of Leia's more personal things that he had skipped over in addition to her own things.

"Luke," Leia said to him.

"Listen, I don't have a lot of time to explain before Obi-wan and Yoda get back so shut up and listen," Luke said to her shocking everyone with his firmness. "Ahsoka's with Vader and the alliance knows it. The whole galaxy does in fact. Rumors are running amuck on who Vader's new partner is. The alliance also knows that Shmi's Vader's daughter. The only thing they don't know is that Vader used to be Anakin Skywalker. The alliance thinks she was a traitor all along, and since she raised you, they don't trust you. Obi-wan and Yoda tried to convince them Leia. They understand what you're going through in a way, but the Alliance still thinks you're a threat. They're going to ask you whose side you're on Leia. They're going to want you to betray father and Ahsoka."

"What?" Leia asked though she wasn't all that surprised.

"I already know what you're going to say and they'll try you for treason Leia. We may have different views, but I won't let them do this to you. You have to go. Now," Luke added.

Leia was at a loss for words at her brother. She always knew her brother cared about her, but she had always been under the assumption that he'd never side against the Jedi or the alliance. She couldn't let him put his neck out for her like this.

"But Luke wait a minute. I don't know anymore. After that vision I had… everything's just so confusing," she whispered. "I don't know."

Luke stopped what he was doing and faced her.

"You may not know Leia. But I do know one thing. You aren't meant to be a Jedi," he said. "You don't know now but if there's one thing I know about you it's that you're going to come to your own conclusion and the Jedi aren't doing anything but making you more confused. Whatever it was you were supposed to learn with them, you learned it. Now go."

"We're ready," Abdul said to Luke with his bag on her shoulder.

Luke nodded and led them through the forest to the Alliance ship they had arrived on Dagobah on a little over a year ago.

"Artoo start the ship," Luke said to the droid that was resting off to the side.

Leia finally found it in herself to talk.

"Luke… Luke come with us. The Jedi have you under their twisted web of Jedi truths. Come with me and we'll both figure out where our destiny lies. Daddy's always told me to choose my own path. You don't have to go down this one," Leia pleaded.

Luke sighed and put his hand on her cheek.

"I know where my destiny lies. You've got me thinking a little… The Jedi need me here. I'm still meant to be a Jedi. I have to reform it. But you… Father needs you."

"Luke-."

"Let me talk for once sis," Luke said to her. "I know there's good in our father. I know because despite everything he cares about us. He's just… misguided. You and Ahsoka can help him."

"You can help him too. Luke, daddy loves you as much as he loves me even though he doesn't know you," Leia said to him.

"Maybe he does. But you know him. You may be confused now but I know you aren't meant to be here. Now go. I don't know how long Mara will be able to slow down Obi-wan and Yoda," Luke said to her.

"Leia are we getting off the swamp or what?" Lana asked. "Artoo and Abdul are ready to take off."

Leia gave Luke one last pleading look, but he shook his head. Leia smiled.

"You're more like daddy than you're willing to admit. He would have done the same thing," she pointed out.

Luke visibly scowled in disdain but didn't deny the statement as Leia boarded the ship and the ramp closed. Shortly thereafter, the ship lifted off the ground and took off into space.

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AN: So Leia's gone, Ahsoka and Vader talked about capital punishment and in the next chapter things get interesting… One more thing… two more things to deal with and then time for the beginning of the end.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!