"Leia? Do you have the stim? I've been doing everything I can think of to wake him, but it's just not working!"

Leia tossed Luke the needle, "Make sure you get a vein. Your hands are shaking so much I wouldn't trust you to put that thing in me."

Luke nodded hastily, and Leia sat down beside him, taking his free hand, "He's going to be all right, you know. He's stronger than you're giving him credit for. I'm sure he's been through worse."

Luke seemed concentrated on trying to steady his hands, finally passing the needle to Leia, "I don't trust myself. Please do it for me."

Leia took the needle and steadied it against Anakin's arm. She still didn't know what was happening, where exactly Luke and Han had been off too, how they got there, or how they got back. Luke had made an attempt at explaining it, but it had been such a stacked, crumpled mess that Leia had disregarded it for the time being. After all, it had seemed as though he was half way through trying to say that they were siblings when Anakin had collapsed.

Hopefully someone more coherent would be willing to enlighten her. She injected Anakin, and he stirred.

"Father?" Luke asked desperately, and Leia couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Luke seemed to have attached himself to Anakin more tightly than she'd ever seen him become attached to anyone before.

Anakin blinked, "Luke?"

Luke nodded eagerly, and Leia found herself smiling. The notion that Anakin might have been Luke's father was ridiculous, but they did resemble each other somewhat.

Anakin tried to sit up, but Leia pushed him back down, "You're not strong enough yet. You collapsed."

Anakin tried again to sit up, "Let me go."

"No," she said, They share a stubborn streak and an unwillingness to let themselves heal as well, "You need rest."

Anakin pushed her aside, "You don't understand. This is very bad. Where's Obi-Wan?"

"Obi-Wan's gone to get more stim in case you need it," she answered as calmly as she could.

Beside her, Luke shifted skittishly, "What's very bad?"

"Vader," Anakin answered, "He invaded my mind. He knows where we are. We need to go."

"You're in no state to travel," Leia reprimanded, "I'm sure it was just a nightmare."

"It wasn't," Anakin insisted, sitting up once more. She chose not to push him back down.

"Leia, I wouldn't doubt him. If Vader knows we're here, we really do need to go. I wouldn't want to bet the Alliance on a hope that it was a bad dream. We should start packing up."

Leia sighed, "Luke, we just managed to get this base set up. I'd rather not pack up the entire Alliance on a feeling that might have been a dream."

"You always seem to trust my feelings!"

And we've been in trouble over that more times than I care to count.

"Princess," Anakin said, trying to stand, "I need to see Obi-Wan."

"He'll be back soon," Leia answered.

"I'll go get him," Luke said, and Leia watched as he raced off down the corridor.

"Why does he trust you so deeply?" she asked Anakin curiously.

"We've grown used to trusting one another."

"Does he really believe that you're related?" Leia asked, securing Anakin as he tried again to stand.

"He does. We haven't had time to prove anything but I believe him," Anakin said leaning back on the wall, as though tired.

"Why did you come here? Wouldn't you want to stay home with Luke's mother?"

"She's your mother as well," Anakin said, and Leia found herself suddenly out of control of the conversation.

"I'm sorry, my mother?"

"Padme Amidala," Anakin answered, "Yours and Luke's mother. Of course I would have liked to stay , but Luke seemed like he could use some help taking care of Vader. I'll be going home shortly after we've finished."

Leia nodded, "I'm sure he'll appreciate your help. However, do you think you'd be able to take him back with you? Luke has lost people he's projected on before, and I think he would be happier with you. Once the Sith have been taken care of, his position in the Alliance that makes him indispensable will be somewhat nullified."

She hated the idea of losing Luke so shortly after she'd thought she'd lost Han, but she knew better than to try to hold onto him if he would be both safer, and happier, in Anakin's galaxy.

Anakin frowned, and Leia imagined that he was wondering how the Alliance would be able to manage without Jedi, "I'm not sure. I'll ask Obi-Wan and Han on his behalf."

Leia sat down beside him, feeling strange. She would miss Luke a great deal if he were to leave. After all, Luke and Han had been her closest friends for several years, and she was certain that Luke's optimism wouldn't be easily replaceable.

"So I didn't hear wrong when Luke said we're siblings?" she asked at last, struggling to fill the gap in the conversation.

"No," Anakin said, "He's told me that Yoda himself told him that. Unfortunately, Master Yoda has since died."

"Yoda didn't die in the Purges?"

"It seems not. I'm still not entirely certain that I know what the Purges are."

"Vader went on a killing spree and destroyed the Jedi Order," Leia answered quickly. She was surprised to see Anakin's face darken, covered by a shadow of doubt.

"Vader again?"

"Almost anything unthinkable that's happened in our galaxy has been done by Vader," Leia said, and she felt a lump rise in her throat as she thought of her home planet.

Anakin seemed equally troubled, and they sat in silence for several minutes.

Finally, Anakin spoke, "Did he kill Yoda as well?"

Leia shrugged, "I don't know."

Anakin had caught sight of her face, "He did something terrible to you as well, didn't he?"

Leia swiped aside a tear, "He did," she said, forcing her voice to be stronger, "He destroyed my planet. He has, since then, amputated Luke's hand and frozen Han in carbonite."

Anakin looked away from her again, and she wondered if the guilty look on his face was her imagination.

"I don't know where Luke's got himself to," she said at last, "But it's taken him far too long to return. Are you ready to stand?"

Anakin nodded grimly, and Leia took his hand and helped him to his feet.

"Leia, Vader's close," Anakin said.

"I hope you're wrong about that," she answered, "The medical bay is this way. Obi-Wan carried you back here."

Anakin blushed and she couldn't help smiling.

"Alright," he said, and she watched as he started out the door.

She followed him quickly, and they were just leaving the sleeping quarters when the sirens began to blare.

"So you were right," Leia said in horror.

Sarcastically, Anakin answered, "Oh, ye of little faith. What do we do now?"

"Try to make it to a ship, and hope he doesn't find us."

"What about Luke?"

Leia started to run down the corridor, and she heard Anakin's footfalls behind her, "All we can do is hope we run into him on the way. You need to get on a ship right away, we can't be sure that you're stabilized."

"I'm fine," Anakin protested, but his case was weakened by the way he stumbled a moment later.

"You're not fine," Leia argued, "Look at yourself, you're pale as a ghost, you're sweating, and it's not even that warm," she finished, just as she turned a corner, and found herself staring into Vader's mask, a shiver already tearing down her spine.

"And that's why," Anakin said, though any humour the words might have had had been drained by the sight of the evil monolith.