AN: I swear I don't mean to do these cliffhangers. But good God it just seems like they're coming like this. I didn't find the last one to be a cliff hanger, but some of my readers did. Well, as we're down to the wire with ten (or is it eleven?) chapters to go, get used to it. I was going to do a post today and a post tomorrow to commemorate breaking the three hundred review mark, but I'll be busy all weekend. I might get the post in if I can edit the next chapter, but who knows?

Read, enjoy, and review!

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Chapter Twenty-nine

Leia adamantly and swiftly packed her speeder with her Aunt Sola hot on her heels. Needless to say, they weren't very happy about her sudden departure.

"But Leia where are you going?"

"I have to go talk to Ahsoka. I have to ask her some things about my mother that I can't get from you all," Leia replied.

"What does she know that we don't?" Jobal demanded. "She was my daughter and you're my grandchild. I'll answer anything you want."

Leia dropped her bags in the trunk and then rounded on her grandmother and aunt.

"Tell me," she said with her arms crossed. "What did my mother really tell you all about what she was doing during the clone wars? You probably didn't see her for months at a time."

"Still," Sola said.

"Still nothing. It's not-."

"Look," Abdul said cutting Leia off before she blew her short fuse on her family. "There's a lot of things about this whole thing that you all don't know and trust me, you might not want to know. Sometimes I wonder if I wanted to know it…"

Leia laughed at him, grateful her friend had successfully quelled her temper and said, "What he means is a lot of things were happening during the Clone Wars that you don't know anything about and I would tell you, but right now I don't know the entire story and it's why I need to talk to Ahsoka. She was there, right amongst it and she probably knows better than anyone what really happened."

"What do you mean what happened? How would she know?"

"I promise," Leia began. "I'll come back and tell you everything one day. But right now I need to talk to Ahsoka."

Leia then got into the speeder with Lana and Abdul. Artoo then propped himself in his own seat before Leia waved good-bye to her family and then took off toward Theed.

"You could have told them you know?" Lana said.

"Sure," Leia began sarcastically, "Tell them what? Anakin Skywalker's not technically dead. He became Darth Vader and broke your daughter's heart in one way or another. I don't even know the whole story. Ahsoka never told me…"

Leia.

"Luke," Leia said out loud.

"What about Luke?" Abdul asked.

Leia ignored them.

Leia where are you?

On Naboo, headed to Theed right now.

Right now?

I'm going to the Executor. I have to find Ahsoka…

Leia frowned as Luke paused and then said, Do you know where she is?

No… but I can find her. Why?

I'll meet you in Theed in an hour, Luke sent simply. I'm going with you.

What?

But Luke had already cut the connection by then.

"Who was it?" Lana asked.

"Luke… He's meeting us in Theed," Leia replied.

Luke got there in less than an hour though as Leia arrived at the docking bay forty minutes later and Luke was already there.

"What did you do? Speed here?" Abdul asked Luke when he got there.

Luke smiled, but Leia sensed it wasn't quite genuine and frowned.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

Luke shook his head. "Nothing."

"Don't lie. I sense your conflict. What happened? Did the rebellion do something?" she demanded.

"Nothing… I just. I'm not sure anymore."

"Sure about what?" Lana asked this time.

"My destiny, being a Jedi, Vader…" he said trailing off.

"I know the feeling," Leia assured.

"So you suddenly had an epiphany and ran off to try the only person who could answer it too?" Abdul asked and then sighed. "Seems like you two are more connected than you know."

Luke looked at him confusion before Leia said, "I need to ask Ahsoka something. It's about the end of the clone wars."

"Me too," Luke said to her. "I found some old stuff you all left with the rebellion. Some old holos and stuff from when you were a baby. It just made me wonder how the person you grew up with is a Sith. I knew there was good in him… but that really confirmed it. Do you know why dad turned to the dark side."

Leia shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I never saw it as a bad thing because I didn't see it. Vader's never been evil to me. I mean, I know all the things he's done. Ahsoka never lied about it when I saw it on the news or she's always fought with him about it but… It just didn't fit. Mind you, he was never a Jedi either."

"What video did you see?" Lana asked.

"A lot of them… What did you mean when you said you'd seen more scandalous stuff anyway?" Luke asked Leia.

"When?"

"You were about twelve I guess and wanted to make a romance like Across the Stars for a video project. Abdul said you weren't supposed to see it and you said you saw something more scandalous."

"Ugh!" Leia said covering her eyes with both hands. "Why did you remind me of that? Can Jedi wipe memories?"

"What happened?" Luke asked as Lana and Abdul burst into a laughing fit. "What?"

"We'll tell you on the way," Lana said as they followed Leia to their ship.

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Ahsoka anxiously waited in the bridge of Executor as she waited for the two ship to arrive. She had been immensely surprised when Leia had contacted her and asked her to meet them. She hadn't talked to Leia in person in two years. It seemed like such a long time now after having never spent a day away from her in her youth.

She immediately demanded that the navigators drop them out of hyperspace and then sent Ahsoka the coordinates to find them. That had been an hour ago. It shouldn't have taken that long though. Leia was coming from Naboo. Finally Piett called to her and alerted her that two ships were approaching them, one identified as a rebel fighter.

"Let them land in the main hanger," Ahsoka said. "I will go and wait for them."

Her storm trooper guards began to follow her.

"I don't require you protection," she said and went about making her way to the main hanger. "As soon as they land, continue the course to Endor."

No doubt the men were puzzled at this but they didn't question her as they prepared to go back into hyperspace.

Ahsoka made her way to the main hanger which was quite the distance on the massive ship. By the time she got to the hanger, the passengers were out and being held at blaster point by the troopers guarding the hanger.

"Stand down," Ahsoka said to them and they immediately obeyed.

"Ahsoka!" Leia said running past the troopers to embrace her.

"Leia," Ahsoka said and a burden she hadn't known she had been carrying lifted off her shoulders.

Artoo ran into Ahsoka's legs and Ahsoka patted his dome.

"Hey Artoo," she said and then looked at Lana and Abdul. "Still following her?"

"And let her have all the fun?"Lana asked with a grin.

"I stopped trying to argue with her years ago. Better to go along with it and try to stop her from killing herself," Abdul replied.

"Hey Ahsoka."

Ahsoka hadn't noticed Luke. Heck she hadn't even noticed his X-wing parked next to the Mayan Cruiser.

"Luke," she said in surprise and blinked a little stunned. "What are you doing here?"

"It's why we're both here," Leia replied seeing that Luke was having a hard time formulating what he wanted to say. "We need to talk to you about some things pertaining to our parents."

Ahsoka frowned. In the last twenty-two or so years, Luke and Leia had never directly asked to sit down with her and talk about their parents. Sure they had done so off-handedly and in passing, but this was different.

"Follow me," she said turning on her heel with a sweep of her cloak. There was a pause as she started ahead of them (At which Abdul said, "She's been hanging around your father too long.") before they followed her.

"Where is da-Vader," Leia corrected noticing people around. "Where is Vader anyway?"

"One of the Nightsister clans called him for something. I don't know why," Ahsoka replied a little perturbed that Vader hadn't tried to contact her in the last four days.

"The Nightsisters. Who are they?" Luke asked.

"Dark witches. The force is their magic," Ahsoka said finally coming to the lift that would lead them down to the floor where their personal living area was.

She punched in the security code and then made her way to the last door on the hall. She opened it with the force leading to the living quarters she shared with Vader.

"Hungry?" Ahsoka asked them.

"You bet," Luke said immediately. He hadn't eaten since before he took off from the rebellion.

Ahsoka ordered a variety of food from the kitchens and they sat around the coffee table tensely to wait on it. The droid finally arrived and sat it on the table of which the young adults dug in. Artoo meanwhile plugged into the nearby wall to recharge.

"So what do you want to know?" Ahsoka finally asked.

Luke and Leia exchanged a glance. It was something Ahsoka knew they did when they were trying to figure out where to start with something.

"I guess what we both wanted to know kind of crossed. We just… We're a little confused about everything with the Jedi and Sith and this crazy war," Leia said sighing.

"You're not the only one," Ahsoka said dryly. "I don't know how much help I'll be. I'm the one playing the fence between light and dark."

"I think we all are in some ways," Luke admitted. "But you'll definitely be able to help us, the only person actually."

"What?" Ahsoka asked cautiously.

"What happened at the end of the Clone Wars?"

Ahsoka froze halfway into grabbing a piece of fruit on the tray. Her heart began to thud in her chest.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw some things that you and Leia left and I saw Vader and some things just don't add up," Luke replied. "It doesn't fit with the Jedi's story of how he fell and what he became…"

"And I want to know what part mom played in it. How did he meet her? How did you meet her?" Leia asked.

Ahsoka blinked as the memories of those last six weeks in the Clone Wars, flew back to her. She hadn't thought about it in years to tell the truth and when she did it was only briefly, not to mention she had never recounted what actually happened. Unconsciously, she laid a hand on her abdomen where her son (she wasn't sure, but she had a feeling) was shifting. She tried to play it off by making it seem like she was smoothing out her dress, but Leia had already seen it.

"You're pregnant?" she said surprised.

All eyes flew to her stomach.

"Oh… I forgot to mention it," Ahsoka muttered.

"Stars," Luke said rolling his eyes with a grin. "Isn't there something about birth control in the Sith and Jedi teachings."

Ahsoka blushed.

"Guess not," Leia added. "Imagine what Yoda would say."

"Self control, you lack. Another child of Vader," Abdul said in a mocking voice of Yoda as he remembered the time Yoda found out Ahsoka was pregnant with Shmi.

Ahsoka huffed. If they should fuss at anyone it was Vader for his wonderful idea to create a new memory to celebrate on Empire Day…

Leia choked on her fruit and then said, "But seriously. Back to the point. What happened?"

Ahsoka sighed as she began, "I met you all's mother through Vader… Anakin actually, when I was fourteen or so, after I became his padawan."

"You were dad's padawan?" Luke asked in surprise.

"You didn't know?" Ahsoka asked.

"I didn't know," Leia said sitting up. "I didn't even know dad took on a student at all. I thought you just happened to know him and our mother or something."

Ahsoka smirked. "Your dad was too big of a hotshot to make random acquaintances with a youngling. He didn't even want a padawan. Yoda and Obi-wan set him up to get one thinking it would make him less reckless, more into the ideal Jedi. Turns out they had given him his perfect match."

"Dad didn't want you," Leia asked.

"Hardly. Skyguy nearly freaked out over it. I wasn't too thrilled myself. I wanted a master but not some newbie who had barely just been knighted. We didn't completely get along at first but we grew on each other," she said explained as she smiled. "If someone had told me how important he would become in my life…"

"If someone had told you you would have two kids by him," Leia added.

"I would have laughed," Ahsoka said seriously. "The Jedi didn't have much regard to love and attachment. They believed it did more harm than good, but I wonder if they had allowed it if your dad would have turned to the dark side at all."

"Dad turned to the dark side for love?" Luke asked.

Ahsoka gestured for him to wait and said, "Anyway, your mother and father were secretly married at that point. He introduced me to your mother and we became fast friends, like sisters in fact. In hindsight, I wonder why it never clicked that they were more than friends. Anyway it wasn't until your dad was sent to the outer rim on a mission I couldn't go on that she told me about their relationship."

"Why?" Lana asked eager to find out the history of her best friend's parents as well.

"She was pregnant," Ahsoka said absently remembering the day Padmé called her not knowing whether to laugh or cry at her situation. Ahsoka had been shocked. Anakin had been the perfect Jedi in her eyes. He wasn't stuck up and uptight like the council, but had the maturity and sense of duty and loyalty that all younglings aspired to have. When she put it that way though, it hadn't been so surprising.

"I helped your mother through her pregnancy. When her handmaidens couldn't get her to rest, I took all her work and made her. I brought her food when she forgot she was pregnant and needed to eat," Ahsoka replied. "I didn't know what I had done would save my life."

None of them spoke and even Abdul, who usually didn't like to hear this kind of stuff, listened with rapt attention.

"Your dad came back and Padmé told him I did everything I could to help her and he decided he was in debt to me. Everything looked like it was going to be fine. The war was going to be over as soon as we found Grievous. But then your dad started having the nightmares about Padmé dying in childbirth. He was obsessed with finding a way to save her."

"But they were just dreams," Abdul said.

"Dreams weren't just dreams for Anakin. They were visions, but I have to wonder if he hadn't tried to stop it if it would have come true. Padmé was worried. I tried to talk some sense into him. It wasn't logical for a woman's Padmé's age in perfect health to die like that, but your dad doesn't hear logic when it comes to someone he cares about dying. Palpatine offered him a way to save her and revealed himself to be the Sith we were looking for. Anakin became Vader and killed all the Jedi. I was with Padmé at the time, but I don't think Vader would have killed me anyway. He told me not to leave her house. At that point me and Padmé had no clue he had turned to the dark side. Obi-wan told us the next day when he was looking for him and Padmé refused to tell him where he went. He told us in a last ditch effort that he killed younglings, but it was just too out there to be true," Ahsoka said as the tears began to slide down her face.

"You don't have to-."

Ahsoka cut Leia off, "It's okay. I went with Padmé to Mustafar to find out if it was true, but Obi-wan had snuck on the ship. Somehow I'm sure Vader would have listened to her if Obi-wan hadn't showed up on the ramp. Vader thought she had betrayed him."

"Then what?" Luke asked having a bad feeling.

"Before I tell you this you have to understand that by this point, we weren't even dealing with Vader. We were dealing with a man consumed by the dark side, not thinking sanely. All he knew was that on face value, it looked like we had betrayed him and if there's one thing your dad fears and hates, it's betrayal," Ahsoka explained. "I'm not saying he should have done it or that it wasn't wrong. but it happened and to this day your dad can't stand himself for it."

"He hurt mom," Leia stated.

"Choked her," Ahsoka added. "He didn't want to kill her though and so he let her go, that was after he pushed me aside. I don't remember much, but the next thing I knew, he was on the riverbank burning and Obi-wan carried me away," she said bitterly.

"He left him to burn," Leia muttered.

"What happened to Padmé?" Abdul asked.

"She was dying of heartbreak. Nothing was wrong with her. The doctors on Polis Massa induced her labor and you two were born. She died right after but she was convinced there was good in your father," Ahsoka added.

"Is that why you took Leia to him?" Luke asked.

"It was a combination of that and other things," Ahsoka said before adding. "I tried to take you too Luke, but Obi-wan caught me."

"A combination of other things?" Leia asked and then said. "You loved him then too, didn't you?"

"I guess… Yeah. Sometimes I wonder if your dad knew about it all along. He clocked me on it a few years later. In any case, the Jedi didn't think I was going to do something so drastic in their eyes. They said my emotions were clouding my judgment and in a way they were right. In a way they weren't. I fully expected your father to kill me after I handed you over Leia," Ahsoka admitted remembering she had accepted her fate and at that point hadn't really cared. She was spent and living in exile with nothing to do hadn't appealed to her.

"I still don't get it," Luke said to her. "If at this point he wasn't anything like the person that trained you, like the person Vader is to you now… whatever he is to you now, what made you go back after all that."

"What have the Jedi told you about the dark side Luke?" Ahsoka asked.

Leia rolled her eyes. "I can tell you that one. Once down the dark path you start, forever it will dominate your destiny."

"I didn't know what it truly meant then, but I did know I wasn't just going to leave you father in darkness without trying to reach out to him."

"Obi-wan says he tried," Luke said.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "If there's one thing your dad's right about when it comes to the Jedi, it's that they're no better than the sith when it comes to twisting the truth. Obi-wan went to Mustafar with the sole purpose of killing Vader."

"But he said he tried to get through to him," Luke insisted.

"In the middle of a duel where he was trying to kill him, Obi-wan was trying to get through to him?" Leia asked pointedly and at that point Luke figured out how bad it sounded.

"I have nothing against the Jedi… not like your dad does anyway Luke. But this whole fiasco with your dad not only exposed the Sith for who he was, but exposed the hypocrisy and flaws of the Jedi. The Jedi never truly knew how to handle Anakin. He was different than the other Jedi and not because he was trying to be different. He couldn't help it. Believe me. I watched the guy for three years. I know he couldn't help it," Ahsoka said certainly.

"But the council tried to treat him like he wasn't. They tried to treat all the Jedi the same in fact. They didn't take into account that he had already known love and family," Ahsoka said a bitter edge to her tone.

"Don't we know it," Leia said remembering her training with the Jedi. They had wonderful principles (she herself was working on the self-control principle), but telling her something and not giving her the reason other than some cryptic answer didn't fly with her.

"Actions spoke louder than words to Vader," Ahsoka added. "So to try and talk some sense into him in the middle of a duel was failing from the beginning. The Jedi were content to leave him in darkness convinced that they had tried. The only thing we agreed on was that you two were the key, but I agreed in another way. Your dad has the boundless capacity to love Luke and Leia, something I didn't even understand fully when you were born."

"Wait a minute," Leia said. "If you didn't understand it fully why…?"

"I think the force played a factor in it," Ahsoka said reminiscing. It felt like only yesterday the thought suddenly occurred to her to steal Leia away from the Jedi, against all logical reasoning. But if there was one thing Anakin had taught her was that the force wasn't always logical. He had been the living proof of it.

"Philosophize about the force later. Back to the story!" Lana demanded.

Ahsoka paused trying to see where she was, cursing her bad memory that seemed to be a symptom of her pregnancy.

"Oh yeah… But you father also has the boundless capacity to hate and with everything he loved snatched away from him, the Jedi were unwittingly going to push him further down the twisted dark path he was on. Bringing him Leia gave him hope. Now he had something to cling on it, he had more than just the darkness. He still did atrocious things and still was cruel and harsh, but I hate to imagine how much worse it would have been if he didn't know that there was a little girl waiting for him somewhere."

Luke's face lit up in understanding. "I get it. That's why after all this time he's never tried to kill you. The Jedi were wrong."

"What?" Ahsoka asked.

"I get it too!" Lana said. "Oh that's so sweet."

"Oh no… Don't tell me this is another one of your space opera philosophies," Abdul said and Lana glared at him.

Ahsoka was confused by this point. What in the galaxy were they talking about?

"The Jedi always said that the only Vader kept you around was for Leia's sake back then-even they have to admit there's something more now-but they were wrong," Luke said. "He's wanted you with him all along."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. If their definition of wanting her around was avoiding her when she was around, arguing with her any other time, and very nearly attempting to kill her once, then sure Vader had wanted her around...

Leia picking up on her thoughts said, "Really Ahsoka. How much control did I have over staying with my dad until I was about nine? You could have up and left anytime, but you were always there. Actions speak louder than words. Despite all you all's disagreements, the fact that you stayed when my dad was at his lowest spoke volumes. You were able to do something my mother couldn't do. She wasn't willing to follow him into the darkness if only to protect him and give him hope. She loved democracy too much, what she thought was freedom maybe more than she loved our dad at all and perhaps he picked up on that, why their relationship fell apart in the end. They were both at fault."

"Isn't democracy the only true freedom though?" Abdul asked.

"Technically, the Jedi Order wasn't a democracy. We didn't chose our council members. They heard our sides, but ultimately, the council made the decisions," Ahsoka said. "But we were certainly free to do what we wanted within the bounds of the code."

"And that's not much," Leia said dryly receiving a glare from Luke.

Leia ignored him and suddenly asked, "You said mom died of a broken heart right?"

Ahsoka nodded.

"So was it dad she was heartbroken over or the fact that dad had destroyed the republic?" Leia asked.

Everyone was silent. It certainly was a good question.

"Her dying words were for your father, probably a combination of both. It still all went back to Vader in some way. He helped destroy it and almost destroyed himself in the process."

"Still," Leia said as her vision replayed in her head. Please understand, her mother said to her. Understand what? "I have all the answers but I still can't make sense of my vision."

"What vision?" Ahsoka asked narrowing her eyes.

Leia started to explain before Ahsoka's com beeped.

"Yes," she said.

"Lady Pesinoé we've dropped out of hyperspace," Admiral Piett said.

Ahsoka sighed. "Duty calls."

"Where are we?" Leia asked her not realizing they had been headed somewhere.

"Endor," Ahsoka said simply and left the room to head to the bridge.

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AN: You know, I realized that in none of this series does anyone ever mention to Leia that Ahsoka was her father's padawan and given that Luke didn't seem curious about it, neither does he. I noticed it when I wrote the last chapters and notice Leia kept saying that Ahsoka was a friend of her dad's during the war and I was like hold on a minute… Maybe I did and don't remember, but if it is inconsistent, I'll change it to match.

So Leia's got the pieces and has to put them together and the next chapter is the battle of Endor. There's nothing to say except keep a look out in case I do get the chance to update tomorrow as I want to get this done before I post, Ruminations: Dark Compassion, although it looks like this is going to run into it. Oh well. At least it'll be mostly done by then.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!