Every day it got worse. The second day, Cliegg would start screaming suddenly. Like Daddy'd said, I didn't feel his pain, but when he screamed I could feel at least a bit of it. On the third day, Cliegg was either screaming or crying all day. On the fourth day, he just screamed. I tried to make it all better for him by using the Force to give him a warm feeling the way Daddy does for me sometimes, but it didn't work.

When the fifth day came and he wasn't screaming, I asked Daddy why.

"You don't feel him screaming anymore?"

"No. He's got all quiet. Is he dead?" When I have to deal with something sad, I get very feelingless, so asking if Cliegg was dead made my voice sound dead.

"I don't think so. I would have felt if he'd died."

"You can't feel him screaming, though, can you?"

"No, I can't. I don't know why he stopped." Daddy just won't look at you when he's sad. He was bent over a datapad and he wouldn't look at me.

"Daddy, something happened to him and you know about it."

"No I don't," Daddy said.

"Yes you do. Otherwise you wouldn't be crying."

"It's just that it might take them a while to tell me if he had died. It might be hours before we'd know.

"Are you saying that you think he is dead?" I shivered.

"I'm saying that I don't know. And I don't know how to find out. The worst thing for me is that by the time I know, it would be too late to do anything."

"We could go to Coruscant and then they could tell us faster."

"I think that's a good idea. Go pack your teddy and feed your snake," Daddy said. I've had clothes and stuff at Daddy's other castle for as long as I can remember.

I nodded and ran to get him. When I got back, Daddy was all set to go too. Actually he was ready to go before I left. All he ever takes is his lightsaber, and he always has that with him anyway.

"All ready, Luke?"

"Yeah." I held up my teddy, "Bear's ready to go too."

Daddy bent down and picked me up. He tends to get more snuggly when he gets the feeling. I put my arms around his neck and Bear hung down his back. He carried me into his ship and put me on the co-pilot's seat.

"Daddy, do you think Cliegg's okay?" I asked. Daddy had said to forget it, but I can't just forget that he's not there. When I look for him in the Force, he's not there.

"I don't know."

"I know you don't know, but do you think he's okay?"

"Luke, you'll take whatever I say as a fact. It'll give you potentially false hope, or make you cry. I can't deal with that right now." Daddy started flying.

"I hope he's okay."

"I hope so too, but we can't do anything about it, so let's stop thinking about it, okay?"

"I can't stop thinking about it." I hugged Bear.

"Well, at least don't talk about it." Daddy snapped. He didn't mean to hurt my feelings, though, so I just hugged Bear and watched the star-streaks.

When we came out of hyperspace, Daddy turned to me, "I'm sorry, Luke. This is just really hard for me."

"I know. I love you, Daddy. Don't let Cliegg be scared, okay?"

"How can I avoid it? He's being tortured and he knows that no one will come to help him. What could I possibly do to make him feel better that wouldn't get all of us killed?" Daddy sighed and picked me up.

"Just send him the warm feeling."

"The warm feeling?" Daddy asked.

"When I feel bad you give me a warm feeling with the Force."

"Oh, this one?" Daddy gave me the feeling.

"Yeah! Give Cliegg the feeling and he'll feel better. He won't be so scared!"

"I can't, Luke. My master thought of that. If I contact him through the Force, we'll all be punished."

"Oh… but poor Cliegg…"

"Sorry, Luke. Cliegg's sentence is almost over. If he's survived this long…"

Daddy stopped. He didn't know. Or it was bad. He carried me into the castle and up to my room there. He put me on the bed and wrapped one of the blankets around me.

"Sleep, okay, Luke? Cliegg needs the sleep, and you can give it to him, in a way."

"Okay, Daddy." I curled up and he tucked me in. Then he kissed my cheek and I closed my eyes to sleep. I heard Daddy leave the cell and walk down the hall. Then he screamed my name.

I jumped out of bed and ran to find him, but when I got close, I could hear him talking to someone. I peeked around the corner and saw him staring at Cliegg, who was curled on the floor crying. I decided that I didn't feel like actually telling them I was there yet.

"Father, please! Don't send me back there! I can't take it… please…" Cliegg looked up at Daddy.

Daddy knelt beside him and took his head on his lap. "Luke, I can't. My master would kill us."

Cliegg managed to drag himself up against Daddy's stomach and Daddy hugged him, "Please. It's too much. I can't take it. I promised… your little son that I could take it, but I can't. I just can't. Please…"

Daddy started to run his hands through Cliegg's hair, "I wish I could, but it would just make it worse for all of us. I'm sorry, Luke. I have to turn you in again. It'll be over soon."

Cliegg whimpered and reached for Daddy's neck. Daddy picked him up and held him close. "It might be over sooner than you think. Father, I think I'm dying."

Daddy tensed, then started to rub Cliegg's back again, "Don't be frightened, Luke. You can hold on. I'm sure of it."

"I'm not. I'm frightened. Please hold me. If you're going to turn me in again, just promise you'll hold me until they get here to take me away. Promise you'll treat me like I'm the one you raised. Like I'm your baby. Like you actually care…"

"I do care, Luke. I do care about you. You are my little baby, even if you're not the one I raised. Why are you so scared you won't survive? You're a strong child, you can survive."

"I don't know about that. They torture me all the time. I'm not allowed to sleep. I haven't eaten since I arrived. Force, it's so cold in those cells. Father, I'm not well suited to cold! I grew up on Tatooine, for the star's sake!" Cliegg broke down and started sobbing.

I sat down against the wall. What was Daddy saying? What were he and Cliegg talking about? Why was Cliegg asking Daddy to treat him like he was the special one? Special next to what? He was special to me. And why was Daddy calling him 'son'? More than that, why was Daddy calling him 'Luke'? I know I said that Daddy could be Cliegg's Daddy too, but I hadn't meant this!

"I know, I know. You're frightened. Don't be, you can make it." Daddy was snuggling Cliegg the way he snuggles me.

"Daddy? Cliegg? What's happening?" I came out of my corner. Daddy looked up right away, but he didn't let go of Cliegg.

"Come here, Luke. How long have you been listening in?" He held out one arm to me. I walked over, but didn't get close enough for him to pull me into a hug.

"What's happening? Why are you calling him Luke? I'm Luke, he's Cliegg!" I pointed at me, then him to show what I meant.

Daddy blinked at me for a moment. Then he nodded, "Yes, I called him Luke. I know you're used to calling him Cliegg. He chose that name when he heard me call you Luke and then you asked him what his name was. He didn't want to confuse you."

I gave Daddy my hardest look. It doesn't work very well, because apparently I'm very cute when I'm angry. Daddy smiled. "You're lying to me!"

Cliegg-no, Luke- looked up at me, "It's true, Luke. Don't worry about it." He smiled at me a bit.

"It's not the whole truth! You're not telling me something!" I stomped my foot and started to cry.

Daddy used the Force to pull me over to him and he hugged me, "It's okay, Luke. Don't be upset." He kissed my forehead.

"I'm upset! You aren't telling me everything! He calls you 'Father'! He asked you to treat him like your baby! I'm your baby!"

Cliegg nodded, "I know, and I'm not trying to change that. I'm not trying to take him away from you, I just need some attention. You're okay with that, aren't you?"

"He can be your Daddy too, but-but- it's more than that! You think he is your daddy!"

Daddy hung his head, "Luke, both of you, I have to tell you something. You especially," he said looking at me, "You've learned about cloning, right?"

I put my thumb in my mouth and chewed my nail. Then I nodded a little bit.

"You are a clone." Daddy said quickly. I laughed. He was being silly again!

"I'm not joking, Luke. You are a clone of your friend Cliegg, who is the real Luke Skywalker."

"That's silly!" I laughed again, "You're being silly!"

Daddy shook his head, "Sit down, Luke. I have to talk to you. I don't want you running away in the middle of the conversation."

I sat down.

"Look at your friend, Luke. He looks just like you."

"He's older. He's skinnier. He's got scars everywhere. I don't."

"Luke, you're deliberately not taking me seriously. You have the same colour of eyes, a similar hair colour, although yours will darken to the same shade as his later. You're both short," we both glared at him for a moment, "Sorry, but it's true!"

I nodded a bit. That made sense. "Why did you clone him an' take care of me? Why didn't you just take care of him so none of this happened?"

"Are you saying you wish I hadn't cloned you?" Daddy asked.

"No, I just wanna know why you did."

"It wasn't me. When a child is born in the Empire they are required to donate some stem cells for cloning experiments. My master found the ones from Luke and cloned him. The clone, that's you, grew up in his palace. At the time, the original Luke was growing up with his aunt and uncle on Tatooine.

"When Luke became entangled in the Alliance, and I found out about him, I became obsessed with finding him. I fought for almost a year to catch him so he could be my little son, so I could be a parent, but when I finally captured him; my master told me that I had to send him to prison.

"In return, my master brought me the clone. He wiped the clone's memory of living in a cloning tank, and replaced it with false memories of living with me. You both know what happened from there."

I blinked up at Daddy. This was all silly! It sounded like one of my games of make-believe-and-let's-pretend, but I felt like it was real. If that was true… I wasn't any more important than a few cells… I wasn't me. I wasn't my own person. I was just Cliegg, but younger…

I felt myself start to cry. I wasn't special! I was just a copy! Why would my Daddy even want me when he got Cliegg back? What if he didn't? What if he sent me away?

Daddy hugged me, "Don't worry, Luke. You're still my baby, just because you're the same genetically as-as, well, the other Luke, doesn't mean that you're not you. There's more than just genetics to who a person is. How you're raised, what you do… it all contributes! Epigenetically, you and… you know, are probably very different."

"What's that?" I sniffled.

"Epigenetics are like something above genetics. Kind of like temporary genetics, because they can be changed, but they can also be passed from parent to child. I was just trying to say that you are your own person. Don't be afraid that you're exactly the same. I've told you about working with the clones during the Clone Wars, haven't I?"

I nodded.

"I've told you how different the clones could be, right?"

I sniffled and nodded again.

"Well, they were all clones of the same guy, and look how different they were from one another! I couldn't tell you of any two that were exactly alike. There were millions of them, there are only two of you, and I'm sure you'll be very different." Daddy smiled a bit, "Heck, I've met unrelated originals who were more alike than some of those clones."

I sniffled. Daddy can always make me feel better. I pressed against him. "We don't hafta send him back to jail, do we?"

Daddy looked at Cliegg. "No, we don't." He put me on the floor and stood up. Then he picked Luke up and carried him through the halls into our hidden chambers. I followed him way, way down into the castle. We went through more and more trapdoors and hidden stairways and all I could think was, just like the holos.

Finally we got to the bottom of a last staircase and Daddy carried the other Luke into a small room. He put him on the bed and I scrambled up beside him. Luke smiled a little bit and let me hug him, but he'd stopped moving mostly.

Daddy smiled at us, "I need to get Luke some food, okay? You stay here and keep each other company.

I nodded. That I could do. I put my arms around Cl-Luke again and snuggled close to him. Daddy gave us another smile and left back up the staircase.

"You're gonna be okay, right?" I asked.

"I think so. Daddy's being really nice letting me stay. Otherwise I might not have been."

"Did you really think you were gonna die?" I asked seriously.

"I would have died. It's definite."

I shivered a bit, "Both being Luke's gonna be confusing, isn't it?"

"Yes, it will be. I could stay Cliegg if you want."

"No, you're Luke too. Could I have a new name?" I asked hopefully. As long as everything was working like movies, I could have a code name, couldn't I?

"Sure, if you want to. What do you have in mind?" He smiled at me.

I shrugged, I hadn't thought about that yet, "I dunno, do you have any ideas?"

"No, you asked if you could have a new one, I just assumed that meant you had one in mind. Why don't we ask Daddy?"

I nodded. That was a good idea. Then Daddy would like the new name too.

"I don't feel well enough to talk much, okay, Luke?"

"Okay," I pressed close against him to show him that I was still here, and that I cared. Then I started to go to sleep. He lay back down and snuggled me the way I snuggle Bear and started to go to sleep too.