Fate of the Force

by lordtrayus

The death of Jacen Solo and the last war was a disaster. A new force has undone what happened in LotF and given the galaxy a fighting chance against a great evil. By doing so however, the galaxy becomes even more perilous than it was before as the rising power of the dark side and the Sith threatens to snuff out the light of the Jedi, and of the galaxy once and for all...AU

5. Episode I: Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Fate of the Force

It was late at night when Leia awoke. She had finally stopped crying. Jempa's words had ripped open the wounds in her heart, which had been festering since the conclusion of the war and Jacen's death. Yes, Jacen had been a Sith Lord, and had most likely wanted to turn evil...but they, as Jempa had said there had been no attempt to redeem him. And everything the Whiphid had said was true, and that hurt more than anything else in the galaxy.

She got out of bed, then noticed the absence of Han. She wasn't surprised. When they had come home, while she had just come to bed, he had broken open the drinks cabinet and had attacked a bottle of Corellian whisky. She was actually surprised it was only him who was drinking, the way they all felt about what Jempa had said.

She put on her slippers and walked through the apartment, and saw Han conked out on the sofa, with a blanket put over him. Threepio had probably done it. She looked at her husband sadly, and realised that he'd had a point about him as well. But the way he had laid into Jaina and Luke, that hadn't been pleasant to watch, and poor Ben would probably be very upset by everything that had been said, because he still blamed himself.

But the question was why had Jempa laid into them? If she and Luke were right in their suspicions, then he was a Jedi, and if Han was right in his cynicism then he wanted something. But the way he was going on, the only logical explanation was that he wanted them all to go back in time and do everything differently. But as that was impossible, why go to all this trouble?

And she was beginning to think that Threepio had unintentionally been manipulated into choosing Jempa for them to go to. He knew far too much and had too much of an opinion on Jacen's fall to be random coincidence, even when aided and abetted by the Force. So what did Jempa really want? It wasn't as if she could turn back the clock and fix things was it? No matter how much she wanted to?

Before hand she had wanted to go back and save him from falling, do more to get her son back. But after their talks with Jempa, and his judgement, she wanted to do it even more. She wanted Jacen back, despite all he had done. She wanted to go back and do it all over again, and this time prevent him falling to the dark side...and them losing another child.

"Mistress Leia?" Threepio asked hesitantly as he came out onto the balcony where she was standing, with tears in her eyes.

"Hello Threepio." She said wearily, turning to give him a smile.

"I am sorry Mistress Leia, if I had any idea how upset you would all get by going to see Dr Jempa I would never have suggested it." He said sadly, and Leia smiled despite herself.

"It's alright Threepio. Actually, I reckon you did us all a favour by sending us to him. He...told us some home truths that we've been avoiding for a very long time. And believe it or not, we actually needed to confront them." She said with a forlorn sigh.

Threepio looked sad, a remarkable feat for a droid.

"But Mistress Leia, if I had known all that would transpire, how painful it would be for you all, then I would never have even made the appointment." He said sadly.

Leia turned to him and smiled again.

"No Threepio. We needed to hear what Jempa had to say. It hurt yeah, and all of us didn't like hearing it, and it upset us to hear it, but we did need to hear it." she said forcefully, and Threepio dropped the point, though he didn't seem very happy.

"But, speaking of Jempa, how did you come by him?" Leia asked curiously.

"Well the leaflet came through the door mistress. It advertised grief counselling and dream counselling, and as I suspected you had both I thought he was the best man for the job, especially because they still haven't asked for any money." Threepio said cheerily.

Leia snorted.

"I think there's two reasons he isn't asking for money. One, he wants something from us rather than money and secondly, I don't think he's a real counsellor." She said with a raised eyebrow.

Threepio let out a splutter of indignant rage.

"He's not a real counsellor? But mistress Leia, I did some checking the first time he upset you, and he seems to be quite popular and quite good at his job and he comes highly recommended. How can he not be a real counsellor?" he demanded.

Leia actually laughed. The entire family had just been emotionally assaulted by what Jempa had said, and here was poor old Threepio demanding not how he had gotten to them, but how he could have fooled his considerable skills. Bless him.

"Like I said Threepio, it's not your fault. And besides, Luke and I are beginning to think he's actually a Jedi." She stated.

"A Jedi? Part of Master Luke's order, or the old one?" Threepio asked curiously.

"The old one we reckon. But I don't get what he wants..." Leia said musingly, looking out across her balcony top the dark night sky, the wind stirring her hair faintly.

"Are you alright Mistress Leia?" Threepio asked in concern.

Leia pondered her answer to his question. Yes, she felt terrible. She had been told that she had just stood back and let her son become the epitome of all evil, and she had been rightly told that she had let it happen, and hadn't even tried any other approach before ordering his death. And seeing Jempa rage at the others hadn't been easy either. But...she felt something, a critical moment, and she felt she and Jempa were tied to it in someway. But, she couldn't shake the fact that it had to do with Jacen as well, which was impossible because he was dead. And that made her sad again, despite the small amount of odd curious excitement she had felt.

"I...suppose so Threepio." She said, and he seemed satisfied.

"You really should go in doors mistress Leia. You'll get a chill standing out here." He said simply.

But when she made no move to go inside, he decided to stay and keep an eye on his mistress. Artoo had warned him that Luke and Ben had also been upset, so whatever had been said by Jempa had been to all of them. And considering what Han and Jaina had done to themselves, Threepio didn't quite trust his mistress.

"Threepio, can I ask you a question?" she asked suddenly as she leaned on the balcony.

"Of course Mistress Leia."

She turned to her droid, and despite the fact that we was fussy and pompous, he had been a very close friend over the years. Both he and Artoo had been part of the entire Skywalker family for years, and she doubted that they had ever once asked either of the droids for their take on a situation.

"Threepio, I know you might find the Force a bit hard to understand, but...do you think we did enough to try and save Jacen from becoming Caedus?" she asked, fear in her eyes.

Threepio looked at his mistress and pondered. He had never been asked for his opinion on such a matter before. But, he did not want to upset her, so decided to tread carefully.

"Permission to speak frankly Mistress Leia?" he asked worriedly, and she nodded her assent.

"Well...it seems to me that Master Jacen had a significant change in personality after his return from his journey across the galaxy. However, just before the Second Galactic Civil War began, he was getting, well I wouldn't say meaner per se, but he was certainly a lot colder. Mistress Jaina had sort of cut him out of her life, and he was more distant with you all as well. I think perhaps that is why he enjoyed spending so much time with Ben, because he hadn't cooled in his treatment towards him. I saw Master Jacen look a bit hurt on several occasions. And when he started taking over the Alliance, you didn't question it, which is what I always found odd. You just...let it happen, and even when he did things that he was never raised to do, none of you responded. It was quite clear to Artoo and I that Master Jacen was making a turn for the worst, and you did nothing. And when Master Ben discovered that Master Jacen had become Darth Caedus, none of you, even Master Luke, tried to fix him, the way people like Kyp Durron and Mistress Jaina were fixed." Threepio said, afraid of upsetting his mistress.

Leia sighed. So he thought the same as Jempa did. That she had set back and had let her son fall to the dark side and become a tyrant, just like Han, and that Luke hadn't bothered to try and save his nephew. She had thought as much. First thing in the morning she felt like she should go and see Daala and plead with her to put her on the block along with Han and Luke. Heck, Jaina might even join them.

"I thought as much. Thank you Threepio." She said quietly.

Threepio could see that she was very disheartened by what he had said.

"Mistress Leia, I didn't mean to offend or upset you, but..."

Leia shook her head, waving her hand impatiently.

"It's alright Threepio. I asked, you gave me your opinion. And...it's right. And that's what's upset us the most. All of us. You, Jempa, you both saw how little we did to save him. We only couldn't see it ourselves until it was too late." She said sadly, bitterly hating every minute of the war she had spent fighting for Corellia and not trying to save her son from the darkness.

Then, a thought occurred to her. Threepio had been with them nearly all the time in the various crises that had shaken the galaxy. So, perhaps he could tell her when Jacen had turned from the little boy she had raised to the tyrant he had become.

"Threepio, can I ask another question?" she asked, and Threepio appeared uncertain.

"I would rather not Mistress Leia considering that my last answer upset you." He said sadly.

"I told you it doesn't matter ok? No, this time, the question is, when did Jacen first appear different to you, and when did he first start going dark?" she asked, curious to know.

Threepio pondered.

"Well he first appeared dark, as you put it, upon our hasty return to Coruscant after the war officially began. And as to when he appeared different, I didn't actually see him, but the way he contacted you on Yoggoy seemed so unlike him, far too mystical and I must say, a trifle rude." He said musingly.

Leia thought. That was the first time she had known of Jacen's ability to flow walk. Flow walk...

Flow walking was a method in which Force users gifted with the power could travel back or forward in time to see events. Jacen had been very gifted in it, and that had been how he had manipulated Tahiri into doing his bidding, by taking her to see Anakin. Tahiri had told her that she had been able to give Anakin the kiss she had refused him on the Baanu Raas. While she didn't know exactly how it worked, she knew it couldn't be used to change the past. But, it could be used to change small events...

And then it hit her. Jempa wanted to do something with flow walking. But it didn't work like that...unless he knew something she didn't. Maybe...maybe this did have something to do with Jacen after all.

"Threepio..." Leia said quietly.

"Yes Mistress?"

"You are the most wonderful protocol droid in the galaxy." She finished, smiling at her golden droid.

"Oh my, well thank you Mistress Leia." He said, pleased.

"Threepio, contact Tenel Ka. I have something I want to ask her." Leia ordered and she headed indoors.

Flow walking couldn't be used to change the past, unless Luke and Jacen had been mistaken. But, it could be used to change the perception of events apparently. Maybe that's what Jempa was getting at. But if he thought time could be changed he was wrong. But if he did think that, it would explain why he had done everything that he had done, getting to know her family, talking to them, watching them, judging them. She had to go and tell him he was wasting his time.

But she couldn't deny it...a tiny little part of her hoped he knew something she didn't about flow walking, as such she had questions to ask.

"Han." She said, poking her comatose husband.

Han grunted irritably.

"Han, listen to me...if there was a chance, to do it all again, to try and save Jacen and Mara, would you take it?" she demanded.

Han grunted an affirmative and then lapsed back into his loud snores that rattled the glass on the table. Leia rolled her eyes, then went to the comm unit, and contacted Jaina.

"Uh, mom, I felt like dying even before I started drinking and now I feel like death incarnate. What is it?" Jaina asked groggily.

Leia pursed her lips. She knew she should tell Jaina off for going out and getting totally wasted to try and make herself feel better, but she needed her answer.

"I'll tell you off later. Sweetie, if you had a chance, would you go back and do it all again?" Leia asked urgently.

"Do what all again?" Jaina asked, sounding like death.

"Everything to do with Jacen, the war, everything." Leia said impatiently.

Jaina made an irritable noise.

"Would I want to re-establish my bond with my brother, and focus on saving him from the dark side rather than focusing on my Zekk and Jag problem? Of course I'd do it again."

"That's all I needed honey, thanks."

"Mom, what?" she asked in confusion but Leia turned her off.

She then called Luke, and was answered by the small form of Artoo, who whistled at her indignantly.

"Yes Artoo, I know it's late, but could you please wake Luke and Ben up? I have something I need to ask them, it's important." She ordered him.

Artoo whistled reluctantly, and Luke came through looking annoyed and tired.

"Leia, what's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Luke I know it's late, and I know we all feel bad, but I have something important to ask you...if you could do all of the last three years again, would you?" she asked.

Luke looked at her penetratingly, trying to figure out what she was up to.

"Yes I would. Not just for Mara and Ben's sake, but for Jacen's too. Because Jempa was right, we did fail him as much as he failed us." Luke said, sounding disheartened.

"Good. Thanks." She said, eagerly waiting for Ben to show up.

"Leia, what is this about?" Luke asked tiredly, but Leia shook her head.

"I'll tell you more when I'm sure." She said, and Luke rolled his eyes and went back to bed.

Ben then came onto the screen, his covers wrapped around his bare chest to keep him warm. He looked blearily at her, and his hair was a mess.

"Hey aunt Leia, what's up?" he asked.

"Ben sweetie, if you had a chance to do it all again, the entire war, would you do it again?" she asked, looking worried about his answer.

Ben looked at her. Would he do it all again?

He smiled at her slightly.

"Of course I would. And given half a chance...I'd want my mom and my cousin back." He said sadly.

Leia looked at her nephew proudly. Even with everything that Jacen had done, killing his mother and torturing him, he still wanted the version of Jacen he had loved back. She couldn't ask for a better nephew.

"So would I honey. Goodnight honey." She said, and Ben looked at her hesitantly.

"Aunt Leia, if you have a way to try and change it...do it." He begged her, his blue eyes looking at her with a little bit of hope, but a lot of disbelief.

Leia didn't think he should have a look like that in his eyes at his age. He was only sixteen, and he already had a cynical look in his eyes that suggested to her he always expected the worst to happen.

"I don't know if I do Ben, but I promise you, if I do, I will try and fix this." She promised.

Ben smiled at her.

"I love you aunt Leia." He said, smiling at her.

"I love you too." She said as he vanished.

Leia pondered. Her heart was beating quickly, thumping against her ribs. She knew was probably setting herself up for a big letdown, but a small part of her didn't want to admit that. Part of her wanted to believe she could get Mara, and Jacen back. Part of her wanted to believe Jempa had some secret way, because what was the point in doing everything that he had done, and encouraged them to search their hearts for the answer of what he wanted them to do next unless he had something up his sleeve.

And that was why Leia was asking everyone what they thought, about whether they would try to save their loved ones from the devastating last war.

"Mistress Leia, I have raised Queen Mother Tenel Ka." Threepio reported.

Leia smiled at the wan looking queen.

"Leia, if this is another call asking me to be berated for something I sorely wish I could do all over again..." Tenel Ka said warningly.

"You would do it all again?" Leia interjected, cutting across her.

"Of course I would, wouldn't you?" she asked in confusion and Leia smiled.

"Of course. Thank you." She said, and flicked it off, totally throwing Tenel Ka for six.

They would all do it again. And flow walking was the key...or at least it was flow walking that Jempa was getting at, she was sure of it. But what did he intend to do? The Aing-Tii, Luke and Jacen all said that it couldn't be used to change the past, just a person's perception of it. Leia doubted they were all wrong. But, if they were...

"Mistress Leia, are you sure you are alright?" he asked worriedly, and she nodded.

"I'm fine Threepio. I'm going out." She said and got her coat and shoes.

"But Mistress Leia, it's the back of two in the morning! Where are you going?" Threepio demanded hysterically.

Leia smiled, knowing it was the right thing to do.

"To see Jempa." She said and headed for the door.

"But he won't even be in his office! It's the middle of the night! Dont do this Mistress Leia, it isn't safe!" he wailed.

Leia smiled at him gently.

"Threepio, I'm a Jedi Knight. I can take care of myself. I'll be alright. Tell Han where I've gone when he wakes up would you?" she asked and disappeared out of the door.

"Oh dear oh dear." Threepio moaned and shut the door behind her.

XX

Leia signalled a taxi, and told him to take his time as she tried to stall her hammering heart. Hopeful excitement was coursing through her. But, she knew she was probably just letting herself in for a fall. But, if there was a chance...

As the driver, a cautious Ithorian, drove towards Jempa's office, she dozed slightly.

"Mommy!" Jacen cried.

He was the same man he had been just before the last war, the one that had taken her second child. But his eyes weren't as hard, pained and troubled as they had been. They looked more open, more trusting, more loving, more...Jacen.

Then Leia saw what was going on. Lumiya was back, and she had Jacen's hand in her own and was trying to drag him away from her. Jacen however looked panicked, looked scared that he was being dragged into the darkness.

"Mommy, help me!" he yelled urgently, and she noticed that his lightsaber wasn't on his belt or in his hand.

And then she saw the reason. Lumiya's other hand had the Corusca Gem that she had taken in her last dream in it.

"She doesn't love you anymore Jacen, you belong with me." Lumiya purred, looking at Leia gloatingly.

Jacen looked imploringly at his mother, but also looked at Lumiya as if he was listening to what she was saying. And then, Leia decided she had had enough. She reached out her hand towards her son, and he was struggling to take a hold of it, while she could see that Lumiya was struggling to keep a hold of him.

"No Lumiya. He doesn't belong with you. Because there's something you haven't realised. He is my son. Through thick or thin, through light or dark he is my son. And I forgot that. But not anymore. Jacen is my little boy, always has been, always will be. Now get your filthy claws off of MY SON!" Leia yelled and blasted Lumiya back with a Force push.

Lumiya's grip on Jacen's hand finally lessened as she flew backwards. Jacen was free and he dashed to her and wrapped his mother in a tight, loving embrace.

"Mom..." he said lovingly, and Leia hugged him to her, savouring his touch, enjoying his warmth, reliving the experience of hugging her son, the one who had always been closest to her.

"Jacen...I'm so sorry." She said nuzzling him, then turned to see a livid Lumiya, who had drawn her whip.

"Sweetie, stay here. Mommy has some ass kicking to do." She growled and lit her lightsaber.

Lumiya glared at her, her green eyes like lasers as she raised her whip.

"He's mine Leia. He called me mom remember?" she gloated while Jacen looked on.

"Yeah he did, but that's because I forgot how to be a mother. But now, I've remembered. A mother sticks with her kids through thick and thin, and that's what I forgot. A mother certainly doesn't just side with her son when it suits her...'mom'." she said, and leapt at Lumiya, her lightsaber swinging.

Lumiya gave a hiss and twirled her whip upwards to cut Leia to shreds, but Leia blocked the attack and yanked at her blade, cutting several tendrils off. While she did so, she saw that the green Corusca gem had turned to a mix between blue and red, and the blue was rapidly forcing out the light, and it seemed to be burning Lumiya's hand.

"That stone...his love...is mine!" Leia hissed and cleaved her blade down and took off Lumiya's arm, making her scream in annoyance, and the gem flew up into the air and landed in Leia's hand, totally blue. Leia then catapulted herself at her foe, and while Lumiya tried to bring her whip around in time, Leia was too quick, and her blue blade burst through Lumiya's chest, making Lumiya gag in shock. She then pulled her saber out of her body and took off Lumiya's legs and remaining arm in a wide arc, before decapitating her, and her body parts fell to the floor. Leia gave a satisfied noise and smiled, before being enveloped in a hug by Jacen.

"I love you mom." He said, hugging her tightly, his voice full of tears.

"And I love you too Jacen, and I will never forget that ever again." She promised as she stroked his hair, and his gem glowed so brightly that it looked white in her hand.

"HA!" she cried, waking up and making the Ithorian start as he landed the speeder at Jempa's office.

"Are you alright Princess?" he asked in concern, and she nodded, smiling.

"Yes actually. And as a bonus, I just beat the bitch who kept walking into my dreams as well. Thanks." She said, and gave him a very generous tip as she left his cab.

It was still the middle of the night, and Leia began to consider that Threepio might have been right, as she reached the door. But when she pressed it and saw that the office was still lit, she smiled and entered to see Betty, sipping coffee behind her desk, with a young ysalamiri sitting on her lap.

"Good evening Princess. Damn you." She said, but still with a smile.

Leia, who was quite shocked that she was sitting there even at this time in the morning, looked at her in confusion.

"Why are you damning me?" she asked, and Betty smiled.

"Because I made a bet with Jempa. He bet me fifty credits it would be you who came back, I said it would be Ben. Go on through, he's waiting for you. And give him this." She said, smiling, and handing over the fifty credits.

"Um...sure." she said, a bit put out as she entered the office to see Jempa smiling at her from his desk.

"Princess Leia. Please." He said cheerfully, indicating the chair in front of his as she gave him the credits.

"How did you know I would be back?" she asked curiously as she sat down, and for once it seemed as if they didn't have to wait for Betty to deliver the tea.

Jempa smiled.

"I knew from the start that out of all of you, you were the best choice. Luke couldn't do what needs to be done, he's too dictated by what Jacen did to Mara. Han can't because he unfortunately isn't Force sensitive. That of course rules out the droids as well. Tenel Ka can't do it because of her position. Jaina can't do it because she's too damaged by the fact that she had to kill her own brother. And despite however much Ben loved Jacen, what Jacen did to him as Caedus had turned him against him, a little too much to do what needs to be done. Only you my dear Princess can do what needs to be done, as only you can love enough to forgive Jacen for his actions, as a mother should." Jempa explained.

Leia looked at him quizzically. This enigmatic Whiphid had come into their lives, and now he was dangling the possibility of getting her son and sister in law back in front of her. Was it for real?

"Look...I know what you want me to do. But flow walking doesn't work like that. You can't change the past. All you can do is go back and observe it, you can't physically change it." She said sadly, but hope was filling in her heart, hoping that Jempa would have a way around it.

Because what was the point in making them do all of this, make them realise where they went wrong, if not to try and fix it? It wouldn't do them any good knowing where they had gone wrong if there wasn't something that the counsellor had up his sleeve. And the fact that he was almost certainly a Jedi only added to her excitement.

Jempa clasped his hands and looked at her gravely.

"Flow walking can't be used to change the past, you are correct." He said sadly, and Leia felt her excitement ebb from her.

She knew it was a forlorn hope, but she had let herself get excited, she had let herself believe that there was a chance that she would be able to do something, something that would let her get Jacen back, and would let Mara live again.

She fought against the wave of despair and hopelessness and utter sadness that was rising inside her, threatening to choke her. Had he just brought them before him just to tell them where they had gone wrong? Had he gotten off on telling them how spectacularly they had failed at redeeming Jacen? If so...

But then Jempa's face developed into a wide smile and he looked at her with proud excitement in his eyes.

"However, the Aing-Tii are basing that belief on one of their own species using the technique. The Force is incredibly powerful, as is time itself. However, I believe that a direct descendant of Anakin Skywalker, a descendant of the Chosen One himself, should be able to influence the past to such a degree that we can achieve great change." He said cheerily, and Leia felt happiness flood through her again.

"But you don't know." Leia said, despite the happiness now flooding through her.

Jempa shrugged.

"No I don't. But I believe you can change things. And I believe that only you can do this my dear. If you do as I want, only you can love Jacen enough to forgive what he has done." He counselled.

Leia looked at him, her happiness making her feel light headed. He was actually giving her a way in which she could try to get Mara and Jacen back. And that thought was wonderful. But first, she needed answers.

"Alright, before we go any further, just back up a minute. Why do all of this, why talk to me, why depend on me, why come and talk to us?" she demanded.

Jempa looked at her as if he was deep in thought, and steepled his fingers as he did so.

"My dear, the last war was a disaster. Not just for the galaxy and for the Jedi, but for your family as well. As I said, Jacen fell to the dark side and killed Mara, and all through that time there was no attempt to redeem him at all. The fact that you found yourself on opposing sides made it all the worse, and it resulted in the most needless war the galaxy had ever seen, that got millions of good people killed, debased galactic heroes such as Jacen and Tahiri, and saw the completely pointless deaths of good people, such as Pellaeon, Isolder, Cal Omas, Mara and even Jacen himself. It was totally stupid and pointless, and it only got so bad because of wilful ignorance and Lumiya's manipulations. The last war was a terrible wound on the galaxy that need never have happened. It is my belief that it was not the will of the Force, and it only became a war because something was imposing their will on it. As such, I intend to change it, so that we may fight the true threat, whose ends were served by the creation of the last war all too well." Jempa explained darkly, and Leia shuddered at his final words.

"What true threat?" she asked worriedly.

Jempa looked grave.

"An ancient and powerful evil, as old as time itself. The war released it upon the galaxy. And now, it threatens all life. And the very Force itself. So, to defend the Force, that is why I came to you. So that together we will perhaps be able to reverse this tragedy and save the galaxy." He said.

Leia looked worried. A threat that could threaten the Force? No matter what part of the galaxy you were from, that was very bad news. But, even if Jempa thought that the last war was nothing more than a tragedy and that this true threat was behind it, that still didn't justify what he had done.

"But, that doesn't explain why you came to me." She pointed out, and he nodded graciously.

"Indeed it doesn't. I came to you for a reason Leia. Party, it's because I was revolted by what happened in your family during the war, and I wanted to make you see how bad things had become because of your apathy. And the other reason is that I believe the galaxy cannot survive what is to come unless it is unified, and has its strongest champions present. The war took away many of our strongest champions, and also made the galaxy incredibly unstable. The various factions only united against Caedus. And now look. Admiral Daala is still trying to bring the various parts of the galaxy together, and such a landscape is going to be an open range for our foe. We need unity if we are to survive." He explained, and Leia looked at him quizzically.

This true threat was sounding worse all the time. And if they couldn't stop it with what they had at the moment, how could they...?

"You think Jacen is important." She said in realisation, and he smiled proudly.

"Indeed. I believe Jacen found something out about her, or at least might have touched her presence in his travels. And, as he is, aside from Luke, the strongest Jedi in the Order, we need him as much as we need Mara, and as much as we need every other person who fell during the war." He elaborated.

Leia looked unsure. He was making a good point, but she supposed Lumiya must have made one to Jacen as well in order to get him to become her apprentice. But, as she expanded her awareness in the Force, she could feel a darkness unlike one she had ever felt before. Darker than Palpatine, darker than Vader, darker than what Jacen had become, a powerful, needy, hungry darkness that was stretching out, and was determined to destroy the galaxy. Coming out of her trance, she shivered, and Jempa nodded.

"Yes. That's her." He said.

Leia then saw a glimpse of the future. Hundreds of worlds, utterly devoid of life. Jedi dead everywhere. Han, Luke, Jaina, Ben, Allana, all dead at the hands of this great hunger. The entire galaxy, devoid of life, nothing there but this ancient darkness. Her vision ended, and she looked at Jempa fearfully. If he was right, the galaxy as it stood couldn't stop the ancient evil. But...who were they to change the entire fate of the galaxy just so that it would stand a better chance of survival? And if they did change the galaxy, how were they to know that it wouldn't become worse than what it was already?

"We cant change the entire history of the galaxy, not just on a whim." She said, though she bitterly wished it wasn't so.

Jempa nodded in understanding, his eyes also full of worry about what he was suggesting. He knew the magnitude of what he was suggesting, and who knew how much they could change by their decision? He knew this had never been done before, and he knew there was a very large chance that it couldn't work, and also a chance that if it did work it wouldn't work they way he and his allies wanted it to. But, he knew in his heart that despite what it felt like, this was the right decision.

"I know. And this is a one off. Never before, and never again, will this even be contemplated. We are changing the history of the galaxy in order to try and save the galaxy." He said, and he believed it.

Leia however looked unsure.

"Yes, maybe we are. But that sounds awfully like Jacen's reasoning for doing everything he did. How do we know that by doing this, we won't become a new version of Caedus?" she asked in concern.

"I know Leia. This is the biggest risk anyone has ever taken, and we are gambling with the fate of the galaxy, the fate of the Force itself, to try and save it. And I know why you are concerned that we will become like Jacen. I too fear that. But, I feel we must do it. It may be the only way to save the galaxy from our true enemy. And even then it may not be enough." He said worriedly.

Leia had to admit, he did have a very good line of argument. And this true threat scared him so much that he was willing to consider this. Because, in her heart she knew that no matter how powerful the true threat was, Jempa wouldn't be suggesting this if they had any other choice. He wouldn't be suggesting this even if he truly felt that they deserved to change time unless the true threat could truly not be stopped in the present timeframe. But...they would be as bad as Jacen had become, changing the entire galaxy to save it. Did they really deserve to do that? After all, what gave them the right?

"This is bad. What gives us the right? Might doesn't make right." She said worriedly, and Jempa smiled slightly.

"Yes, that is a short sighted philosophy, often recanted upon meeting a more dangerous foe. Master Oppo Rancisis was particularly fond of using that analogy. And you are right, we don't have the right. And just because we can does not mean we should. You are correct, and I dislike this just as much as you do, and it will make us something we are not. But...every time we look into the future, we see our true enemy destroying us all. Perhaps changing time itself will save us all." He said, though he did still look unsure.

"And if it doesn't? Or if the change doesn't go how we want it to?" she asked curiously.

"Then we trust to the Force to fix our mistake." He said.

Leia looked out at the dark night sky. A threat that could destroy everything. And a possible way to save the galaxy from that threat. Was it right to change time to try and stop it? Would changing time be am evil just as great as anything this true threat could create?

But...hadn't Leia and the others already committed a great evil by standing by and letting Jacen become Caedus without even trying to stop him until they had no way out? Did two great evils make one right? And, as Jempa said, would they be able to save the galaxy from the Second Galactic Civil War, and thus prevent millions of countless deaths? Wasn't that doing good?

But what about all the births that had happened since the war? Who were they to possibly stop those births happening to try and give everyone a chance of surviving the true threat? But Leia knew in her heart that Jempa was a good man, and wouldn't even be considering this if he saw any other way, despite how he felt about their actions throughout Jacen's fall. And Leia was willing to trust him. And sometimes, to serve the greater good, you sometimes had to do things you didn't want to do. She and Jacen had both learnt that the hard way.

So, what did she do? Did she trust her instincts and do what Jempa wanted, and in the process hopefully get her son and sister in law back?

Or did she do what was right and hope that the galaxy could stop the true threat without this?

"I know it is distasteful Princess. I don't like it myself. But I am afraid this is the only way. All of us have seen the future, and all we see is the end of the galaxy. At least, the other way, we may give ourselves a small fighting chance to stop the true threat." Jempa said.

Leia was facing a massive internal battle. Did she stick to her instincts and take the risk that she may be able to change the war, prevent Jacen's fall and Mara's death, and possibly save the galaxy? Or did she follow her fears and not do this because of how much it could possibly change?

However, one side of the argument was beginning to eclipse the other. And deep down, in her heart, she knew that there was always only one choice she could make.

"And my dear, it is my belief that a family who has given up so much over so long...I think it may be time for you to take a little bit back." He said gently.

Leia smiled. He couldn't have known that they were her thoughts as well. They had given up so much, a proper family growing up, a peaceful galaxy, friends, family, children...all for the greater good. It was time to be a selfish. It was screaming against everything she believed in, and that was why she knew it was the right choice. For all her life she had fought for her principles across the galaxy. Now it was time to fight for her heart. And if there was a possibility of saving the galaxy yet again inherent in it, then so be it.

For once in her life, she decided to follow her heart rather than her duty.

"Alright, what do we do?" she asked, taking a deep breath as she did so and she turned and gave Jempa a weak smile.

Jempa looked at her in shock. He knew that this part would be the most difficult of all, persuading her to change the galaxy so it would hopefully turn out for the better and hopefully allow them to survive the coming battle.

"You will do it?" he asked curiously, still not sure whether she had what it took to do what he was asking of her.

Leia took a deep breath to still her racing heart. A thought entered her mind that she was just as bad as Tahiri, but she ignored it. It was wrong on so many levels except one...the level of her own heart. And she knew that if she never did this, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

"Yes." She said boldly, and felt her grow more certain as she said it, and she could feel somehow that, despite her relatively selfish intentions, it was the right thing to do.

Jempa then smiled at her proudly, the same sort of way Luke had used to look at Jacen.

"Then my dear, we are on." He said with a grin, and hoped to hell they weren't making a massive mistake.

"So, what do we do?" Leia asked, a small amount of excitement coursing through her, along with a great amount of fear.

Jempa, who she knew still hadn't told her about himself, smiled at her.

"Well, I think all we need to do is look to young Ben for our answer. Where did he say Jacen changed from being a morally ambiguous Jedi to heading towards becoming a Sith Lord?" he asked, smiling, and found himself just as proud of her as he had been of his own apprentice, Jempa, many moons ago.

Leia then realised exactly what they had to do.

"Thrackan!" she exclaimed in excitement as she realised the truth.

Jempa smiled broadly and nodded respectfully at her.

"Indeed. I believe Thrackan is the shatterpoint. He was the one who led Corellia to war, and acted as a ring leader for the other planets that declared rebellion. He was also the one who sabotaged the peace talks with Prime Minister Saxan, with the help of Lumiya. Without him, and with the Corellians fleet exposed and with no one to lead them, we could very well decapitate the rebellion before it becomes a full fledged one, because at the time, the Corellians still believed Thrackan would lead them out of the mess they were in. I believe if we were to remove him...we may have a chance." He said.

Leia gulped. In order to try and save the galaxy, and her son, she would have to murder a man in cold blood. Could she do that?

"I know this is a daunting task, and I tell you now, I am making no promises. There is a good chance that this will not work. But, as I said, I believe that a direct descendant on the Chosen One has enough Force power in order to influence the past to such an extent that we could very well change time itself." Jempa said, though he still looked unsure.

Leia looked at him.

"I know. And it isn't even a guarantee that we'll be able to stop the war. But what about all the brushfire wars that were starting up before the war actually began?" she asked in concern.

Jempa stroked his chin.

"Well, as I said, if we deal with Thrackan Sal-Solo, the various brush wars that were springing up and the various planets considering rebellion will lose their figurehead, and hopefully enough of their impetuousness in order to stop the war and their little fights before they get worse." He said.

Leia looked out of the window. Thrackan was the threat that they had to deal with then. And she supposed that he was actually a rather large figurehead, so if they got rid of him, as Jempa said, the rebellions would hopefully lose their drive and fall back into the relatively unified, is disgruntled, state that they had been before the war had begun.

And she knew that it was only a small chance, and that things could still transpire badly even if she did change the past, but what if she didn't and everything she desired happened? What if they changed time as Jempa wanted, and Jacen stayed good, and Mara didn't die? But what if in another timeline, Jaina was the one to fall? Or even Ben? The entire thing was incredibly complex and was wrought with possible dangers, and a lot of it was just trusting to luck if they succeeded. But Leia knew in her heart that if she could possibly save the galaxy, and her son and best friend in the process, then so be it.

"It's all so risky." She said worriedly, and Jempa nodded compassionately.

"I know. It is all very risky, and we are trusting to luck, to the Force, and to your love for your family to see us through. And that will hopefully enable us to save the day, and perhaps the galaxy, both from the war and the true threat that we face." He said, and Leia could see that he was trusting to luck as much as she was.

But, if some of her husband's luck had rubbed off on her, all would hopefully go the same way that she wanted it to. If it worked. But could Luke and Jacen really both have been wrong?

But she supposed that they weren't actually changing it directly, they were merely making a rather large influence on it and trusting that something would work and save her family and the galaxy from the spectre of the Second Galactic Civil War.

"Alright, we'll go. But first, I want some answers." She said fiercely, and Jempa nodded.

"I thought you might. As you might have guessed, I am a Jedi of the Old Republic. I fought in the Clone Wars, and was a general during them, and I went into hiding after Order 66. After a while, I found a youngling by the name of Jempa." He said.

Leia looked at him. He either had the same name as his apprentice, or Jempa wasn't his real name. And she had been right about him. He was a Jedi.

"Together we made our way to a Hidden Temple with several other Jedi, and that is the basis for our group. There's a fair few of us floating around...Jedi and others alike. My compatriot was one we found there. The lot of us elected to stay out of galactic affairs until Palpatine was defeated, as a couple of us had faced Vader in combat, myself included, which is how I lost some of my tooth, and we had no desire to repeat the experience. When the Sith were defeated we spent years helping those that the New Republic didn't, the ones in the outer reaches who didn't join your new government, and we aided the refugee movement during the Vong War. We elected to sit back and watch during the Second Galactic Civil War, and we have all been watching you for a very long time. However, during the Vong War, a member of us, Kina Ha, happened across a mention of an ancient evil and went to investigate, taking Ferus Olin and my apprentice Jempa with her. They were attacked by the true threat, and my apprentice managed to get a Force message out to me to warn me before he too was killed. Since then, we have been accumulating knowledge about our true enemy, who somehow got let out of her nullification prison during the last war, and have been preparing to go after her. But for that, we needed you and your family, and we decided that we probably needed all the help we could get, and a unified galaxy if we were to survive the coming of the true threat. Make no mistake...we have never faced an enemy like this before. Jedi, Sith and the entire galaxy must be united if we are to save us all. And I think that going through with our plan will give us a better chance...if we succeed." He said.

Leia frowned. This thing had killed three Jedi with apparently no effort, and it had broken out of its prison. And now it was threatening the galaxy as a whole. Perhaps they could succeed in this galaxy, unchanged. But if he was right about the powers of this threat, a lot would be lost before hand, and perhaps the galaxy would be doomed anyway.

"Alright, before we go, what is your real name?" Leia asked.

Jempa smiled at her.

"I took the name Jempa here to stop you investigating me before I was ready, and also to honour my fallen apprentice, who I lost when we became aware of this threat. My real name is K'kruhk." He said jovially.

Leia had heard the name in stuff Tionne and Luke had recovered. A famous Jedi, he had survived such murderers as General Grievous, Asajj Ventress, and apparently Darth Vader, and had disappeared during the Dark Times. And now here he was, fifty years later, and trying to save the galaxy against the coming of this true threat.

Leia thought about it one last time. This true threat had escaped its prison because of the last war. It was strong enough to kill three Jedi with little to no effort at all. It was a powerful needy hunger that would spread across the galaxy consuming everything it touched, and the thing she had felt indicated that it was pure malicious dark side. The galaxy was writhing in chaos and disorder following her sons actions, and the Jedi were weak, and as far as they knew, there was no strong Sith presence left, so if K'kruhk was right and they needed a Sith to help defeat it, they were all in trouble. Changing time was incredibly risky, but if it worked the way they wanted it to, the Jedi would be strong and whole, the Alliance would be strong and unified, Jacen and Mara would be alive, and it might just give them a fighting chance against the true threat. Because Leia knew in her heart that if they stayed here and did nothing, the galaxy would come to an end. Jedi, Sith, normal people...all would be destroyed. She could feel it in her gut. But, was this the right thing? If they succeeded and did what they intended, they would be changing three years of galactic history, just to try and save the galaxy from this true threat. But, Leia had always tried to do what was best for the galaxy, and she knew that changing time to try and give it a fighting chance against this threat was the best thing to do. There was no victory in this galaxy. This thing would exploit the weakness, the chaos, and the disorder and would destroy everything in its path. Changing the galaxy would hopefully enable them to save it. That was what Jacen had thought as Darth Caedus, and it bothered her. He had tried to make the galaxy better by changing it. Perhaps he had. But in so doing, he had left it open to this other threat, and they had to try and stop it. So, Leia would for once follow her son's footsteps and change the galaxy in the hope of making it better for everyone.

And the fact that she might get Jacen and Mara back made it all the easier to take this leap of faith. She was changing three years of history, of the past, to try and save the present and the future, and her family. She only hoped that they wouldn't get it wrong.

"Let's go then." She said, and K'kruhk stood, and fixed a lightsaber to his belt.

K'kruhk headed out of the door and looked at Betty.

"Scout my dear, we're doing it. Let us hope that we get it right. If not, we will have to come back here and trust to luck that we can destroy it some other way." He said, and she hugged him tightly.

"Did you just call her Scout?" Leia asked curiously.

"Yes. Betty was just an alias. Her real name is Scout. Well, actually that's a nickname, but its a lot easier than saying her real name." K'kruhk said as they broke off.

"What is your real name?" Leia asked, and Scout grinned.

"Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy." She supplied.

Leia looked at her in disbelief, with wide shocked eyes.

"I'll call you Scout." She said, nodding to herself, and the other two laughed.

Scout picked up her ysalamiri.

"I'll contact the others. Good luck you two. May the Force be with you." She said, looking worried.

Leia nodded. She was feeling worried too. They were changing the entire galaxy here. This wasn't something you did every day.

"And succeed or fail, may the Force be with the entire galaxy." K'kruhk said and they went back into his office, and they heard Scout go outside so that they weren't affected by the ysalamiri bubble.

"So what do we do?" she asked, as he took her hand.

"Together my dear we shall cast ourselves back...let the grey curtain of this world fall back, feel weightless as we do so, and we shall fall back in time...we shall lose our contact with this world as we do so, and think ourselves back to the appropriate time..." K'kruhk said, and she did so.

Imagining herself back at the time of the attack on Centerpoint, she began to feel feather light, and she felt K'kruhk do the same beside her. The large gentle Whiphid made a noise that indicated he was impressed as the office dematerialised around them, and they travelled in a grey, twirling vortex as they moved back through time. The two of them stood, hand in hand, as time swirled around them.

"Whoa, I've never done this before..." she stated as time fluctuated around them both.

K'kuhk nodded.

"I know. But now you have reason to do so. Your father was quite adept at getting the hang of things first time as well you know." He said, and she could feel through the Force that he was just as nervous as she was.

After all, they were trying to change the galaxy in order to save it. This wasn't anything normal.

"Oh, look lively." K'kruhk said, as a steel grey floor began to materialise beneath them.

"K'kruhk...I mean, I want to do this, to try and save the galaxy, and to try and save Jacen and Mara...but are we doing the right thing?" Leia asked as time started to slow in the whirlpool it was creating around them.

"I don't know. We are acting out of good intentions however. However, our method could be described as one of evil. So I suspect it is up to your conscience to decide whether or not we are truly doing the right thing. But I suspect that if we do all that we aim to, then your answer will be quite obvious." He said with a wink.

Leia looked affronted, but she was only kidding.

"How dare you insist that I'm shallow?" she asked playfully as time started to slow, heading towards a stop.

"Me? Oh no it wasn't me." He said innocently, smiling as he did so.

Then, as time slowed, two figures started to materialise before her. One was that of Thrackan Sal-Solo, lying on the floor. Having the same face as her husband, but with a shock of white hair and a white beard, Leia had come to loathe the face many years before during the First Corellian Insurrection in which the Sacorrian Triad had tried to take over the galaxy. She narrowed her eyes in dislike at his prone figure, knowing he couldn't see her, and felt her heart beat faster. She had to kill this man. Yes, he was evil, and it was by his hand that her children had suffered years ago, and it was his fault that the war had gotten out of hand, and sent Jacen to the Sith...but could she kill him outright and in cold blood?

But then a second figure materialised, and Leia's heart threatened to explode. It was Jacen, just how he'd been at the time. His saber was pointing at Thrackan and he was standing triumphantly over him. He was still whole, her handsome son, the master of Ben, but still with the haunted look in his eyes, but there was still compassion within them, and they were still their warm brown, and not the evil yellow colour they had become when he was consumed with Darth Caedus and the dark side. His hair was its usual brown, straightened state, with the long bangs that he had favoured. His saber was still green from the Corusca gem that she had told him to keep, rather than the Sithly red that he had taken in his final days. And he was alive.

"Carefully my dear. I know how this is for you, but we cannot risk exposure..." K'kruhk counselled as they stopped moving.

"That's not enough. You ruin the future Thrackan. For the greater good, our Jedi traditions not withstanding, I have to kill you." Jacen was saying, slightly apologetically and a little bit sadly.

"Jacen..." Leia whispered, beginning to wonder if her son was always going to go dark, as here he was, going to kill an unarmed prisoner.

However, Jacen heard her, and looked up, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"MOM!" he demanded in shock.

"He can see us?" K'kruhk asked in confusion.

"You are insane boy. Your mother isn't there. I think I'd know." Thrackan said derisively, looking at Jacen as if he was crazy.

"Shut up." Jacen ordered harshly as he looked at them in shock.

"Jacen, you can see us?" Leia asked in shocked surprise.

Jacen nodded, and Leia turned to K'kruhk, who looked most confused, and shrugged.

"I don't know. Perhaps because he is so powerful in the Force, or because he knows how to flow walk himself, he can see us." He theorised.

"And who are you?" Jacen asked curiously, his lightsaber still at the fallen Thrackan, pointing at his neck.

"Hello young Jacen. It is an honour to finally meet you. I am K'kruhk, a Jedi of the Old Republic." He said, and he stepped forward to shake his hand

Jacen shook the outstretched hand, but as K'kruhk stepped forward, Thrackan yelped in shock.

"Where the hell did he come from?" he demanded.

"What, you can see me now too?" K'kruhk asked him urgently.

"You're rather hard to miss, you're a Whiphid for goodness sake!" Thrackan yelled, and K'kruhk looked most affronted.

Leia then stepped forward and materialised before him as well, making Thrackan scream in fright.

"How are you doing this, how did you get here?" he demanded of her.

"Shut up." Jacen and Leia said together, and then Leia looked up at her son, and he lowered his eyes guiltily, knowing that his mother had heard him say he was going to kill an unarmed prisoner.

"Jacen..." she began, and he looked down at her shoes in shame.

"I'm sorry mom, I know it's not like what you taught me, ever. But...I had a vision. If he isn't stopped, it'll lead to another war, one where thousands of people die. All of you suffer. People die, people we know die. And I can't let that happen. I can't let any of you die, it might be you, or Jaina, or Ben..." he said sadly, and Leia suspected that tears were beginning to form in his eyes as she looked at him, but whether because she had caught him or because he didn't like what he was becoming, she didn't know.

And that actually made sense. If he had had a vision about Thrackan living, and Thrackan had escaped, precipitating the war, he was right to see all those things.

"And if it doesn't stop, eventually...it'll lead to a fight between me and uncle Luke...and he doesn't win." Jacen said sadly, and then tears really did well up in his eyes.

And finally it all made sense. The reason for Jacen's fall was noble, as they had suspected. He was trying to protect everyone from yet more wars, from being hurt as a result of war, trying to protect the ones he loved from the terrible future he had seen in his visions. He was trying to save the galaxy, the Jedi, and his family. And that was Lumiya's way in. She had played on his desire to protect his family, and had offered him the strength to protect them, by turning him into a Sith. And because he had withdrawn and had blocked them out as they had done to him, he hadn't told anyone about these visions, and so had just done what he had thought was right, becoming more arrogant in his thinking and believing that only he knew what was going to happen and feeling that only he was strong enough to do it, but whether thinking that it was only him was a result of isolation or arrogance, she did not know.

And now Leia knew why her son was crying. He was crying because he was afraid of what he had seen, and he was crying because he didn't want any of it to come true, and he was crying because he was scared of his visions of the people he loved suffering and dying around him, just like Anakin had done. Meaning, that no matter what, he was still her son.

"Are you crying?" Thrackan demanded in delight.

"Oh shut up." Leia said irritably, then reached towards her son and pulled him into her embrace, gently rocking him, stroking his hair and making soothing noises, despite the fact that the man responsible for the start of the next war was sitting beside them.

As Leia rocked Jacen, and his lightsaber switched off as he returned her embrace, Thrackan tried to slip away but was cut off by a warning growl from K'kruhk.

"Don't even think about it." He warned, then looked at Leia hugging Jacen, and smiled, and repressed the urge to go 'aww'.

"I'm so sorry mom." He said sadly, sniffing a bit, and Leia wondered how long he had been wanting to just break down and tell everyone, but for some reason, maybe because he hadn't felt like he deserved to, hadn't.

"No honey, I'm the one who's sorry. We pulled away, and you pulled away from us as a result. We neglected you honey, and I am so sorry that we did. You've been living with this, and me, your uncle, your sister...we should have known something was wrong, and we didn't. You felt like you couldn't talk to us, and so you lost sight of the sweet little boy you used to be. But we are going to fix that ok sweetie? We are going to sit down and talk, just like we used to do, and you can tell us anything alright? We'll talk about your visions, we'll talk about anything you want. And we'll fix this family." She said, and Jacen's warm brown eyes were looking into hers, and a bit of the haunted hardness inside them disappeared from them, and Leia smiled at him as she released him.

"Mom..." he said quietly, but Leia shook her head and put her finger on his lips.

"Shh. Now, you aren't going to kill Thrackan, because if you do, things could get worse, believe me." She said kindly, and Jacen looked worried.

"What, what do you mean, get worse? Where did you flow walk from?" he asked urgently, fearing something bad had happened.

Leia looked at him sadly.

"Let's just say things get very bad. And, I'm afraid that if you are the one who kills Thrackan, it'll happen regardless." She said.

"But mom, he's responsible for creating a war, for causing pain..." Jacen said, desperate that his visions not come true.

Leia nodded, her face grim.

"I know honey, I've lived the result of him surviving. It isn't good. So, I'm not debating that he die. But you're not going to do it. I am." She said then lit her lightsaber and pointed it at Thrackan.

"This is turning into a really bad day." Thrackan said with a sigh.

"What, mom, no!" Jacen protested angrily, forcing her away from Thrackan.

She looked at him pointedly, trying to make him back down, but he had the same stubborn look on his face that his father got when he had decided on something, and Leia knew this would be a struggle.

"Jacen, you don't know what the future is like. That's why we did this, to try and give the galaxy a chance, try to give us a chance." She said, but Jacen shook his head.

"Mom, you can't murder someone in cold blood. You're not that sort of person. Let me do it. I've...already done bad stuff that I didn't want to do. Don't become like me mom." He implored her, but there were no tears anymore, just determination.

Leia looked at her son, while K'kruhk held Thrackan in place with a glare, though he was looking like he was contemplating something desperate.

"Jacen, you think you have to kill him to stop the chaos. And you're right, he has to be stopped, or a lot of your vision will come true. But, I'm afraid that if you kill him, it'll set loose another type of chaos, one I don't want us going through again. I have to do this to save everyone else sweetie, just like you think you need to." She said gently, and Jacen dropped his hands, though he looked saddened that his mother was going to kill someone in cold blood on his account.

Thrackan looked imploringly up at her, and saw that she truly did intend to kill him.

"What do I do that's so bad?" he demanded hysterically.

Leia's heart went into her throat. This wasn't the sort of thing she did. But, to save the galaxy, what was one life? She suppressed a shudder as that would be the same argument Caedus would have used. But she knew she had to. To prevent a war, to prevent losing Mara, to prevent losing Jacen, to give the galaxy a chance against the true threat when it looked like it wouldn't survive as was, Thrackan Sal-Solo had to die.

"I'm sorry Thrackan. I have to do this. To save the galaxy." She said, and raised her lightsaber, while Jacen looked on sadly and K'kruhk looked on impassively.

"Wait, why?" Thrackan demanded with a scream.

Leia blinked tears out of her eyes.

"You start another war. And I am not going to let you destroy my family a second time." She vowed tightly, and brought her saber down to end his life.

"Mom!" Jacen yelled urgently, hoping that his mother wouldn't do this thing, but it turned out to be a moot point.

Leia's blade had stopped millimetres away from Thrackan's neck, her blade singeing his white beard and turning the hairs black.

"I...I can't do it." She whispered sadly, wanting to, as if she didn't the war would begin, Mara and Jacen would die, and the galaxy could very well be doomed to destruction at the hands of the true threat. But despite all the good she could conceivably do by killing him in cold blood, she couldn't kill an unarmed prisoner, no matter how much evil he had done.

"I know mom, let me do it." Jacen said gently, but she shook her head.

There was then a sigh from beside them and a green lightsaber sprung to life and sliced down, cutting Thrackan's scram off mid gargle as a massive rip opened in his chest. K'kruhk was standing there, his eyes fierce as he looked down at Thrackan's body.

"It is a sad but necessary fact. I'm sorry I had to do that, but perhaps now the galaxy will manage to survive." He said to Thrackan's body, and then turned irritably to Leia and Jacen, who looked at each other sheepishly.

"By the Force if we waited for you pair to decide who should kill him the war would be over and done with by the time you decided to make a move!" he growled in annoyance, and Leia and Jacen grinned at each other slightly.

The ground started to shake, and Jacen immediately went for his comm.

"Ben are you alright?" he asked in concern, and her nephew's voice answered quickly.

"Yeah, this droid thing Thrackan has was just saying he would stop Thrackan using it, but now he says it doesn't matter, because his 'father' is dead. So, I reckon in his grief, he's destroying the station." Ben said, and the floor trembled harder and there were loud crunching noises, like pressure was being placed on the joints.

"Ben, get out of here now!" Jacen ordered, and Ben gave an affirmative, and hung up.

"Mom..." Jacen said turning to her.

"This wasn't meant to happen." Leia said worriedly as she took a hold of K'kruhk's arm.

"Now we shall see, now we shall know if we have succeeded. Good luck young Jacen and may the Force be with you." K'kruhk said, holding on tight to Leia.

"Jacen sweetie, remember, talk to one of us, all of us, any of us, and it'll be better I promise!" Leia called.

"Mom!" Jacen cried in horror, as she and K'kruhk were jerked backwards.

Compared to the tame travel through time the last time, this time things were vastly different. Jagged lines of electricity spiralled out from them, scenes flashed past in a myriad of colours as they span through time and space, heading back to where they had started. Wind whistled through their ears as they were jerked back through time and space, as if they were attached to a high speed tractor beam wielding ship.

"Hold on to your knickers lass!" K'kruhk urged as they spiralled throughout time.

"Did it work, or did we just knacker up the galaxy?" she asked over the howling wind.

"I don't know! We'll just have to see. Oh I hope we land on something soft!" he wailed as they travelled through.

"Alright, we'll try to aim for the space in between Han's ears!" Leia called back with a smile and K'kruhk chuckled.

And then he saw that the massive vortex that they had created was slowing down.

"Brace yourself!" he called, and suddenly time stopped moving, but rather than the gradual reduction it had been last time the vortex just stopped and they were thrown off their feet and they crashed into his office, stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, landing on their backsides.

"Ouch." K'kruhk moaned as he pulled himself up on the table.

"I'm getting too old for this." Leia said bitterly as she used the chair to get herself back to her feet.

"Yeah, join the club." K'kruhk moaned, rubbing his backside ruefully.

Leia looked around the room. It looked just the same as it had when they had left it, and it was still K'kruhk's, but how much of it had truly changed?

"Did it work?" Leia asked curiously.

Because if her son and her sister in law weren't alive like she hoped, she didn't know what she would do., But hadn't time already changed, because Centerpoint hadn't been destroyed back then, it had been destroyed nearly a year later during the height of the war. And seeing Jacen, getting through to him, and getting him to open up...it made Leia think of what she should have done all along, and now that she had seen her dead son again, despite the fact that he had turned to the dark side, she didn't want to go on with him being dead. As K'kruhk had said, she was the only one who could love Jacen enough to forgive him for everything he had done in the name of galactic peace.

"I don't know my dear. Let us find out." K'kruhk said and they headed into the reception, and just as they did so, Scout entered, holding her ysalamiri, and she smiled broadly.

"Master, I think you did it!" she said excitedly, setting the creature down on the floor, and it promptly ran into K'kruhk's office.

"Scout! Do you remember everything?" he asked urgently.

Scout nodded, smiling.

"Yep, I remember the war and all that. But while you were gone, there was a sort of white ripple that spread across the entire planet. It didn't do anything when it passed over me, but things seemed a little different after it passed over everyone else. I really think we did it!" she said in delight, and K'kruhk raised his hand to calm her.

"We don't know that yet Scout. Let us see if the war did indeed happen." K'kruhk said, and the three of them went to her computer to check up on old events.

But then, Leia felt a touch on her mind, and smiled broadly and fought the tears that were welling in her eyes.

"Dont bother." She said, tears of joy running down her face.

"Leia my dear?" K'kruhk asked in concern.

And then the door opened again to reveal Jacen. He was her Jacen. He wasn't Darth Caedus. His eyes were brown, and were still a little bit haunted but she could see that there was a lot more love and happiness in them than there had been on Centerpoint. His hair was still a middle brown, rather than the darker hue it had taken on. He was wearing his usual jumpsuit, grey, a vast improvement over the black robes and cape he had worn as Caedus. He was her little boy again, and she had him back. He looked fuller, more fulfilled than he had on Centerpoint, like he had other things to live for. And his smile when he saw her was beautiful...then it changed into a look of irritation.

"Mom! Where the hell have you been?" he demanded, entering the room.

He then hugged her fiercely, and Leia had to suppress a sob. It had worked. Jacen was alive, he was good, he was a Jedi, and he was her son. K'kruhk and Scout were smiling in delight. It had worked!

"Jacen..." she said and hugged him fiercely when he tried to pull away, and Jacen looked down at her in confusion.

"Um, ok...but don't think that by giving me an extra hug you're going to get out of trouble." He scolded.

Leia broke off from him and looked up at her son, and saw that there was a hint of concern in his eyes.

"What do you mean honey?" she asked in confusion.

Jacen looked at her exasperatedly.

"You've been missing for days! We've all been worried sick, you didn't tell anyone where you went, and uncle Luke couldn't sense you in the Force, so we all started to worry that you were dead, dad's been going off his nut..." he continued, but Leia, and the other two to be fair, were looking at him as if he was mad.

"Mom, are you ok? And sorry, you two are?" Jacen asked as he finally took notice of K'kruhk and Scout.

Scout looked at her computer, and it was the same date that it had been when they had left, just ten minutes later. Perhaps the Force had had to compensate for the change in timeline by making the Leia from this timeline disappear for a while. Strange.

"Yeah sweetheart, we're alright. Jacen, this is Master K'kruhk and Scout. They're Jedi of the Old Republic." She explained, and recognition came into Jacen's eyes.

"Oh yeah, you're the guy who killed Thrackan, now I recognise you." He said, and K'kruhk nodded in greeting.

"Yeah...so I've been missing?" Leia asked, and Jacen turned back to her, looking concerned.

"Yes, all week...are you sure you're alright?" he asked, wondering if something bad had happened to her in her week's absence.

He carefully touched K'kruhk and Scout with the Force, and he could feel a Force empty bubble next door, but the two of them felt good enough. So what had happened?

"Yeah...Jacen, I know you're already worried about my sanity, you're giving me the same look your father gives me when I get an idea into my head, but I need you to tell me everything that has happened since K'kruhk killed Thrackan on Centerpoint three years ago alright?" she asked, and Jacen looked at her in growing worry and concern, as though afraid she was going nuts.

"Mom..." he said in concern, but Leia shook her head as K'kruhk and Scout came and sat down to look at Jacen, who looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Jacen dear, I'll explain everything later, but for now, tell us what I want to know please." She told him, and looking concerned for her sanity while he did so, he nodded.

"Ok mom...well, after K'kruhk here killed Thrackan and you two disappeared from wherever the hell you flow walked from, that droid thingy of Thrackan's went nuts, and said there was no point in its existence because its dad had told it what to do, and didn't want to be indirectly responsible for killing him, so it ripped Centerpoint apart. When that happened, the Corellian fleet didn't have their big blaster back up to reinforce their demands, and they got into serious trouble, and our fleet trounced it and forced it into surrender. We let word out that the Corellians had built a fleet in secret and people turned against them, because rather than use violence as a last resort like they should have, they were going to use it as a first resort and everyone turned against them, arguing that the fleet could be used to attack innocent wars and create some sort of aggressive rebellion. Nearly everyone turned against them because they didn't want another war so soon after the Vong and Killik Wars. They were seen as war mongers, and everyone who had similar ideals quickly distanced themselves and fell back into line, not wanting to be seen as actively encouraging another armed conflict, and since Chief Omas retired and Chief A'kla took over, the various rebellious movements have been relatively quiet because she's promised to scale back some GA control. So, no war, Corellians the bad guys, no Centerpoint and no war fleet. That what you wanted?" he asked looking unsure.

Leia leaned back to smile at the other two and had to suppress a whoop of victory. They had done it. They had averted the catastrophic Second Galactic Civil War, and apparently Jacen's fall to the dark side as well.

"Mom?" he asked worriedly.

"But what about us? Did you talk to us like I told you?" she asked urgently, and Jacen nodded.

"Yeah. We talked...and I actually began to feel a little bit better. It actually felt a lot better, talking to you...about all my visions and fears and stuff. I opened up a bit again, like I was before the Vong War. Just like you wanted." He smiled ruefully, and Leia had to resist smothering him in kisses.

"And then you sort of nudged Jaina into thinking she was just being stupid and she started using our twin bond again, so we're back to normal, like we used to be before the war, the two of keep talking over stuff for hours, so Ben goes to stay with uncle Luke and aunt Mara when she comes over." He explained, and Leia grinned ecstatically.

Mara was alive, Jacen was too, and both he and his sister were apparently a lot more open than they had been of late, before the Civil War. And that news thrilled Leia no end. Her kids were back to normal...or at least as normal as they ever got. It looked as if they had done everything they had intended and Jacen and Jaina were both more open and less haunted because they could now call on each other again for support. And that was just wonderful.

"I even started talking to uncle Luke again, and we do have good discussions and tlak about stuff, and get on...when it doesn't end in an argument about Ben." He said, sounding slightly bitter, but Leia had suspected as much.

Before the war had begun and in its early months, Luke had been rather untrusting of what Jacen was doing with Ben. It was a pity that all the bridges couldn't be mended, but she supposed everything couldn't be wonderful in this new timeline.

"We did it! Haha!" K'kruhk yelled happily and gave Scout a massive hug, which she joyously returned, laughing as she did so.

Leia then pulled Jacen to her, startling him and wrapping him in a loving hug and kissing his forehead and stroking his hair.

"Oh Jacen...I love you so so much, no matter what you've done, and I promise I will not forget how much I love you ever again." She said passionately, nuzzling him.

"Mom..." he said, but she could hear that he was actually quite pleased to be being hugged like this under his worry for her sanity.

He then broke off, looking at her oddly, as though afraid she would turn a funny colour at any moment.

"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked in grave concern, and Leia nodded, a massive smile on her face and tears of joy running down her face.

"Yes I'm fine. I'll explain everything at home. Oh I'm so glad I've got you back." She said tearfully, and Jacen looked further worried, and pulled his mother to her feet and led her out.

"Come on then, let's go home." He said hesitantly, and took her hand and dragged her from the office.

K'kruhk chuckled slightly as Leia gave her son a huge grin, despite how worried he looked about her. It had worked. Against all odds, it had worked. They had saved the galaxy from the Second Galactic Civil War, from Darth Caedus as well. Jacen and Mara were alive and well, and aside from a few squabbles between Luke and Jacen, everything seemed alright with the Skywalker clan. Everything had gone brilliantly.

"Marvellous. Scout my dear, contact all the others and find out if they remember everything. Send me a message when you do so." He said and put on his hat.

"Where are you going?" she asked curiously as she made a link to his contact.

"I am going to see the happy reunion." He said with a smile, and looked at Leia proudly.

She had done everything he had asked for and more. All had turned out for the best. And now the true fight would begin.

XX

Light was just beginning to show over the horizon when they arrived at the apartment, and it was just as Leia had left it earlier that night. The room was dark as they entered, but the figure asleep on the sofa wasn't her out cold husband, it was actually her sleeping nephew. Jacen smiled slightly at the sight, then gently touched his cheek to wake him up. Ben woke up groggily.

"What is it Jacen?" he asked tiredly.

"Look who I found." Jacen said happily, and standing back to let Ben see his mother, standing in the lit entry hall.

"Aunt Leia!" he cried ecstatically, and eighteen years worth of energetic apprentice vaulted over the sofa and wrapped her in a hug which she gratefully returned.

He was exactly like she had left him, bright, energetic, loving, full of life...just like Jacen had been when he was young. Maybe not when he was eighteen as he was fighting the Vong War, but still the same sort of happy that Jacen had been for years.

"Hello honey. Are you mad?" she asked sheepishly, and the swift smack on the head answered that question.

"We've been worried sick." He hissed, and she had a suspicion that Jacen and he had rehearsed their routine for when they found her.

Seeing the two of them together again, master and apprentice, loving cousins, made her heart swell. Things were back to normal.

"Sorry Ben. I'll explain everything in a bit." She said as K'kruhk entered and hung up his hat on the coat stand.

"Ah hello Ben. It is good to remake your acquaintance." K'kruhk said and shook his hand in greeting.

"Uh...thanks." Ben said, looking confused and looking to Jacen, who shrugged.

"Go wake Jaina up." Jacen said with a mischievous grin, that made Leia remember the days when the three of them had been growing up, and she knew that such a smile could not mean good news.

"Sure." Ben said, a little too happily, and she wondered what sort of rude awakening her daughter was about to get.

She entered the room, and her eyes immediately noticed something was missing. A vase that she liked was missing. So where was it?

"Jacen where's my vase?" she asked sharply and Jacen grinned.

"Dad broke it by accident the day after you went walkabout. It's really your own fault." He said with a smile as he went to Jaina's room.

"I'll kill him." She growled menacingly and K'kruhk chuckled.

"Thank you." She said, turning to face her Whiphid companion.

K'kruhk looked at her proudly and clasped her shoulder.

"Dont thank me my dear. You did all this, I was just along for the ride." He said, but before Leia could contradict him, his face broke into a grin.

"Oh dear, I don't she's going to appreciate that." He said, nodding his head at Jaina's room, and Leia turned.

To see Ben levitating her bed with the Force, with her still asleep on top of it, with Jacen sniggering behind him. Ben then tilted the bed and she dropped off of it and onto the floor with a thud and a yelp of pain. She then looked up resentfully at Ben and Jacen who were giggling and hissed.

"I really hate your apprentice sometimes." She growled in annoyance as she picked herself up.

Ben smiled at her, and Leia knew she was fighting down a grin of her own.

"Ah, you have forgotten your training young one. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to heightened blood pressure and poor digestion." Ben said with a wink and Jacen and Jaina laughed, with K'kruhk joining them.

"I'm going to shoot you." She vowed, ruffling Ben's messy red hair, and then she saw Leia.

"Mom!" she cried ecstatically and ran to her mother and hugged her.

"Jaina." She said in relief as she hugged her, and then she stepped back and fixed her with the same stare Leia had used to use on the kids when she had caught them up to no good.

"I'll explain in a minute." She promised, and Jaina turned to Jacen, who shrugged.

"She hasn't told me either." He lamented as there was a yelp from the spare bedroom.

"What was that?" Leia asked curiously, and Jaina smiled.

"Jacen's mean little apprentice waking up his parents no too delicately I imagine." She said, smiling.

"Give us back the covers Ben, what are you, four?" Luke demanded sleepily, and Leia and K'kruhk laughed.

"But you have to come and see this!" Ben responded.

"Ben, what? It's the back of four in the morning." Mara scolded, and Leia's heart leapt to hear her voice again.

"I know that, but come on!" he ordered from the room and came out.

"If this is anything less than a Sith attack..." Luke said bitterly.

Then the two followed their son from the room, and the two Skywalker's faces split into wide, if annoyed and exasperated grins.

"Leia!" Luke cried out and hugged his sister to him in delight.

"Hey Luke." She said, and then she was wrapped in another hug by Mara, which she fiercely and ecstatically returned.

"Oh ok." Mara said, the beautiful red headed woman looking slightly thrown by the strength of her welcome.

"Yeah she tried that with me too, I reckon she thinks she won't get into trouble if she does it enough." Jacen said as Jaina finished shaking K'kruhk's hand, and Leia was glad to see that he looked a lot fonder of her now.

Leia broke off from her best friend, tears of joy in her eyes.

"Ok, what's going on?" Mara asked suspiciously, but K'kruhk interceded.

"Master Skywalker, a pleasure to remake your acquaintance also. And Master Mara Skywalker, an honour to meet you at last, I have heard a lot about you. I am K'kruhk." He said shaking both of their hands.

"Uh..." Luke said, and Jacen once again shrugged.

"Oh I've heard of you. You were one of the Jedi Vader said you had to make sure was dead, if not you'd come back and bite us in the ass." She said, and he chortled.

"Well quite. I don't think Vader ever quite forgave me for escaping when he had me on the ropes." He said with a smile.

"Mistress Leia!" Threepio exclaimed happily as he entered the room with Artoo, who beeped in delight as he saw her.

Leia smiled at the droid who had started all of this, who had made it all possible, and she hugged him also.

"Oh my!" Threepio said, flustered.

"Thank you Threepio. You caused all this." She said warmly, and Threepio could only pat her back.

"Um...if you say so Mistress Leia." He said, put out, thinking he was being blamed, but knowing he wasn't because of how happy she sounded.

Artoo whistled at her and Leia patted his dome affectionately.

"Ah R2D2 and C3PO. A wonder to meet you." K'kruhk said and shook Threepio's hand, and patted Artoo's dome, and the little droid whistled in recognition.

"Yes and it is good to see you too little one." He said fondly.

"Leia!" Han cried in delight as he came through from their room and gathered his wife into a passionate kiss.

Then they broke off and he fixed her with a glare.

"Where the hell have you been?" he demanded angrily, and Leia looked to K'kruhk.

"You can't put it off any more my dear." He said and gestured for them all to sit down, which they did.

They all looked at her intently, and she sighed. Time to face the music.

"I actually don't know where I've been for the last week. Because while I am Leia, and your Leia, I actually came from a different timeline. K'kruhk and I changed time. And we did it to such a large degree that I reckon the Force must have had to remove me for a week to compensate for the time shift." She explained.

"You changed time? How? And more importantly why?" Luke asked worriedly, looking very grave as did Jacen.

Typical. They would agree to gang up on her when she had just saved them both in different ways.

"We changed it by flow walking." K'kruhk supplied helpfully.

Ben looked at the large Whiphid and shook his head.

"But Jacen said it can't be used to change time, only to alter people's perceptions of it." He said in confusion, and K'kruhk inclined his head to both him and Jacen.

"Yes, and in that he is correct. However, if you are skilled enough, you can alter what happened in the past to considerable effect. That is basically what we did. We altered a crucial event, and as a result, changed the past in order to preserve this present, and hopefully the future." K'kruhk said.

Jacen's eyes widened in realisation.

"Centerpoint...three years ago...you were flow walking from your own time weren't you?" he asked Leia, who nodded.

"Yes." She said, and Luke's eyes narrowed.

"Leia, you can't just change time on a whim! What the hell made you do it?" he demanded, and all of them were looking scared, rattled and shocked.

"Well if you let me explain..." Leia said irritably, but K'kruhk cut across her.

"It was necessary young Luke. In our timeline, a great threat was stirring, as it is stirring in this timeline. However, we had no chance of victory. The galaxy would fall before the true threat, and nothing would be left alive. We had to do what we did in order to save the galaxy." He explained, and Luke looked concerned, as did the others.

"What true threat?" Jaina asked worriedly.

"I don't know yet, he hasn't told me. But in the timeline we came from, things were a lot different. Thrackan Sal-Solo didn't die on Centerpoint, and it wasn't destroyed. Other rebellious worlds joined with them and formed a massive Separatist movement that sent us back into another civil war." Leia said, and the others were shocked into silence.

"The war was tragic. Millions died needlessly, and things got worse and worse before it came to an end at the Battle of Shedu Maad. But...I readily admit that saving the galaxy was only one of my concerns when we changed time. I did it to save this family." Leia continued, and everyone was hanging on her every word, and she took a deep breath and looked lovingly and apologetically to Jacen.

"The war changed things. Lumiya," she said, and there was a sharp intake of breath from Luke, "came back, and convinced Jacen to turn to the dark side. He did, and he became a Sith Lord called Darth Caedus." Leia said sadly.

Jacen looked at her, his expression hurt. Ben and Jaina both shook their heads adamantly.

"Jacen couldn't turn to the dark side, he's too good a person! He wouldn't become a Sith." Ben said fiercely, looking at Jacen, hating to see him hurt.

"Yeah, he's an arrogant pain in the ass at times, but he isn't a Sith." Jaina scoffed, though she could feel the hurt that was in Jacen streaming through their re-established twin bond.

Leia sighed.

"I know this hard, for all of us, and most of all for you Jacen. But you did. You became a Sith called Darth Caedus. You deposed Chief Omas and took over the Alliance. You tried to turn Ben to the dark side, you tortured him, and you succeeded in turning Tahiri. You...you killed Mara." Leia said, and this time, tears blossomed in Jacen's eyes and he recoiled slightly from his mother and looked desperately at his aunt and his cousin.

Ben looked at him in shock, but mostly in his eyes was concern for Jacen. He could sense that Leia was telling the truth, but in her timeline, it had been a different Jacen. His Jacen couldn't hurt him, and he knew it. So, he gave his cousin a weak smile and shook his head.

Mara, perhaps sensing her nephew's anxious look, or maybe just trying to break the dark pall that had just settled on them, let out a bark of laughter.

"Ha! As if he could kill me." She scoffed, and the mood lightened a little, but she had a horrible suspicion that Leia was going to go on and tell more horrid tales.

"She's telling the truth..." Luke said in disbelief, looking at Jacen in concern.

"Yeah, I am. I don't want to tell you but I have to. Jacen got steadily worse, killing innocent people, all in the name of galactic peace. And we eventually decided that we couldn't hide anymore, and we actively condoned...Jaina's mission to kill him." Leia said, looking at her two kids in despair.

Tears of shock, horror and revulsion were running down both their cheeks. Ben took both their hands and tried to comfort them, but he too was crying. Han was looking at Leia, Jacen and Jaina with a slack mouth, and Luke and Mara were looking at each other in fear. The other timeline...something had gone spectacularly wrong.

"But...why?" Luke demanded weakly, and though he didn't fully trust Jacen, he knew he was no dark sider, and he loved his nephew despite their arguments about Ben.

Leia sighed, and began to open her mouth, but K'kruhk cut her off with a look. There were things that they wouldn't know. She looked at him desperately, and he produced a small disk from his belt.

"This will shed some light on things. Jacen made some poor choices, very poor indeed, and he actively chose to become a Sith in order to try and save the galaxy. But...none of you present helped much either." He said firmly, and slipped the disc into Artoo, who beeped mournfully.

"It's your judgement isn't it?" Leia asked sadly, and he nodded, and winked slightly to let her know it was edited.

"Then I'm going to the loo, I don't want to hear it again, once was more than enough." She said.

She waited until the faint noises of the rant were over, then she entered to find them all sitting in shock. Luke was white , his eyes wide in revulsion. He hadn't tried to redeem his nephew, who he loved. He had redeemed Vader, but hadn't even tried with Jacen, even before he had killed Mara. The thought made him sick to his stomach.

Mara had tears in her eyes and her face was red with shame. She knew the dark side, knew what it was, and when she had known Jacen was going there, she made a feeble attempt, and that had eventually wound up in her death. She shivered.

Han looked at Jacen tearfully, his mouth open. His son had become a murderer, but rather than try to figure out what they had done wrong, he had just walked away. He had left his son to become a tyrant. He felt ashamed to call himself a parent.

Ben looked at Jacen, tears falling down his face. He had known what was going on apparently, and hadn't told anyone because he loved Jacen too much. And when he had it had gotten his mother killed, and lost her and Jacen to him. He stifled a sob.

Jaina had scrunched herself up and she was sobbing onto her knees. She had abandoned her brother to the dark side. She had known what was happening, but because of her own stupid pride and her own little love triangle, she had let him become a monster, a slayer of kin, and then she had had to kill him herself. The thought was just too awful to bear, and she wanted to throw up. Instead though, she hugged her brother to her, hoping that he would comfort his would be killer, and hoping that in some way she would comfort him.

And Jacen was the worst of all. He was white as a sheet, his eyes were red with tears and his face was streaked with tear streaks. He was shivering in fear and revulsion, and recoiled when Jaina touched him, and he looked at his twin, his would be killer. And then he let himself get brought into her arms and despite the horrible sickness he felt with himself, despite the fact that he felt dirty and unclean, and despite the fact that he just wanted to go home and cry, he wrapped his arms around her too. And the next second he felt Ben hug him tightly and lovingly as the entire family reeled from the bombshell.

"Perhaps I should get this published." K'kruhk said musingly as Artoo returned it to him with a mournful noise, but even the spirited little droid didn't get the joke, and Threepio also managed to look sad.

He then looked at them all and cleared his throat and they reluctantly looked at him.

"I know you all feel like the lowest scum in the galaxy...I'm saying nothing either way," he said, but Leia knew full well that he felt they deserved to feel like that, "but they were extreme circumstances. The Second Galactic Civil War was a disaster. Jacen becoming Caedus was a disaster. Mara dying was a disaster. None of it should ever have happened. We changed time to undo that catastrophe. Not just because we could, but because we needed to in order to try and save the galaxy from the true threat. And now, we have a chance." He said firmly.

They still didn't respond, and K'kruhk looked at them sadly.

"And it is my belief that after everything this family has done, it was time for the Force to give a little something back. You now have a second chance. Make the most of it." He said kindly, and winked at Jacen, who was the only one who met his eyes.

Jacen sniffed deeply and said in a tear filled, wavering voice...

"I won't become a Sith."

Leia then knelt down on the floor in front of him and pulled him into her arms, breaking the embrace he had with his sister and cousin.

"I know you won't baby. And even if you do start to go dark...this time we won't let you become a Sith. We'll be right there to bring you back." She vowed softly and he leaned his head against her shoulder.

Han then grinned, a sad grin, but a grin.

"Yeah. And besides, seems to me like we've already averted what went wrong. We fixed all of us didn't we kid?" he said, and Jacen smiled slightly at his father and Han pulled him into a hug.

Luke and Mara looked at each other sadly, then Mara smiled and ruffled Jacen's hair.

"We won't let you fall. For the main reason that I'm a bit too fond of breathing to let you become a Sith. I bet you cheated." She said petulantly, and Jacen let out a weak giggle, and Leia and Han fought to repress grins.

Luke looked at Jacen, right into the eyes, and Jacen recoiled slightly, but Luke shook his head and brought him into a one armed hug.

"We will save you if you fall. If anyone falls, we'll save them. And we will make sure that none of us kill each other, torture each other or have to hunt each other down...provided your damn fool mother doesn't change time again." He said with a wink and Jacen and Mara actually laughed and Leia looked most affronted.

"Why am I getting the blame for all this?" she demanded.

"You're the one who started all this. It's all your fault your worship." Han sniggered, and Leia raised her hands in exasperation.

"And I promise I won't kill you. Ok, I might kill you if you pinch my chocolate éclair like you did last time, but not for any other reason." Jaina vowed, and she and Jacen embraced.

"I love you sis." Jacen said softly.

"And I love you too." She said, enjoying the contact.

Ben then stood up and grinned.

"And if you start behaving badly, or doing mean stuff to me, I'll drop you in it." He promised and Jacen smiled and hugged his cousin and ruffled his hair lovingly.

"But that doesn't mean you go and tell your mom and dad that Jacen's going dark just because he makes you do the washing up." Han said with a crooked grin and Ben snorted.

"So, no turning to the dark side, no killing each other, everyone communicating, all getting on, all singing and all dancing?" K'kruhk asked hopefully.

"YES!" they answered in unison, and he could feel the mood lift by their stand of unity, and he smiled.

"Aww." He said, tears appearing in his own eyes and he blew his nose.

"You know, I was going to yell at you for vanishing and changing time. But I much prefer having my wife and nephew alive, and my son untortured, so I'll let you off." Luke said, and Leia smiled.

"Yeah, I suppose considering what you both did you're off the hook for vanishing." Jaina said sweetly.

"Marvellous. So we're all one big happy family again!" Threepio exclaimed happily.

"Not happy...not yet anyway Threepio." Jacen said quietly.

"But we will be." Leia promised and kissed her son's cheek.

K'kruhk looked out of the window where the sun was just coming up, bathing Coruscant in early morning light.

"Well I must be off. I think we all deserve some rest. Come to me tomorrow at my office. But, you deserve some time together, and I deserve a day off. Until tomorrow my friends." He said, put on his hat, doffed it to them, and headed off.

"Thanks mom...for fixing me...for fixing all of us." Jacen said as he hugged his mother lovingly.

"Anytime darling." She said and meant it.

The entire family then embraced again as the sun rose and bathed them all in a new light.

XX

Hours later, Jaina sat in her quarters in the temple, looking at the picture on her sideboard of her and Jacen, sitting with their arms around each other, smiling happily. It had been a long night, full of joy and immense sorrow. But their mother, against all odds, had saved them all, had saved the galaxy...had saved the family. And while they were all reeling from Leia's revelation, they were also closer than they had been in years, and it felt good.

"I'm glad I fixed our bond bro." She said, smiling at the picture, then turned to the one beside it.

Jagged Fel stared up at her. Deciding he could wait a while, she went to sleep, just as the temple began to awake outside.

XX

Ben cuddled into Jacen. At sixteen, he was the age when boys try their damndest to avoid all forms of human contact. But considering the massive bombshell his aunt had dropped on them all, he had quite happily hugged both his mother and father, and had told them that he loved them, and had the same back.

And now he was with one of the other people he loved most in the galaxy, and just being there. His mom had asked him if he was coming home with them, but when it had appeared that Jaina was going back to the temple, he had decided to come here with Jacen, to keep an eye on him. And for once, his father had actually liked the idea, and had smiled and nodded at Ben's choice.

Jacen was still fairly white, and still quite upset, but he knew it would pass. Jacen was sitting in the middle of the sofa, doubtlessly planning on just flopping down, and most likely crying himself to sleep. He'd had a horrendous shock. Being told you were a Sith, who had killed millions, including his own aunt, and tortured his own cousin constituted a bad day for anyone who had feelings. But Ben knew Jacen would bounce back stronger than ever, and would most likely keep a very wide berth of anything faintly dark side.

"Looks like I was right." Ben commented lightly as he leaned gently against Jacen.

"About what buddy?" Jacen asked curiously.

"About the dark side leading to high blood pressure." He said, grinning and Jacen actually smiled and lightly smacked him in the ear.

"Smart arse." He said with a smile, and Ben cuddled him, and Jacen didn't protest, and sort of relaxed into it.

It was odd for the two of them to be so close, but they were very close, more like close brothers than cousins, and neither of them minded in the slightest when they turned to each other for comfort.

"I won't let you fall." Ben promised quietly, and Jacen smiled at his pseudo-brother.

"I know." He said with a grin, then sighed.

"What?" Ben asked, fearing his usually strong cousin was going to cry again.

Jacen was pretty good when Ben was crying, but as it didn't happen that often, if at all, Ben wasn't sure how he would go about calming Jacen down.

"I was just thinking about going to sleep. But I don't know if I can." He said simply.

"How not?" Ben asked, wondering if Jacen was scared he would get nightmares.

"Well if I fall asleep I might wake up to find your irate mother and Master Sabatyne standing at the door because I made you do the laundry yesterday." He said, sniggering.

Ben scowled in mock annoyance.

"Swine, you made me think you were going to cry again. No fair! But no I won't. But I can't make any promises for making me clean the toilet." Ben snickered and Jacen laughed.

"I love you Ben." Jacen said.

"I love you too Jacen." Ben said.

Most boys would rather fly solo against the Death Star than admit they loved someone, even if it was family. And they wouldn't do it at all if they were the same gender. But Ben always felt safe with Jacen. And he owed him for the times he had cheered him up. And besides, he didn't see what was wrong with telling someone you were close to how much you loved them.

And he loved Jacen a lot, and Jacen loved him back. With that thought, the two of them fell asleep.

XX

"Well that was fun we must do that more often." Mara commented as they lay in bed.

Luke laughed.

"Um, no thanks. Finding out that my sister had to change time to stop my wife being dead, my nephew being a dead Sith Lord and my son being tortured isn't high on my list of favourite nights out at Leia's. I'd much rather play trivial pursuits like last time." He said, smiling.

He, Jacen, Han and Ben had thrashed Leia, Jaina, Mara and Threepio, much to their great revulsion.

"No thanks. You four cheat." She said haughtily as she squirmed up to him.

"Do not."

"Do to."

"Do not."

"Do to."

The two continued the childish banter as they both settled down to go to sleep.

"No wonder our son comes out with so much rubbish. He was raised around it." Luke said, and found himself actually agreeing with Ben for once...the dark side, or at least news about it, did lead to high blood pressure.

Not that he would admit it.

"Don't blame me farmboy." Mara whispered sleepily.

"It's your fault though. But Mara?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're not dead." He said, and she laughed quietly as they fell asleep.

XX

Artoo whistled happily.

"What do you mean it beats the last time?" Threepio asked curiously.

Artoo explained about Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, who Threepio couldn't remember due to a memory wipe.

"Oh I see. Yes I must agree, no one being dead or evil is a vast improvement." Threepio agreed.

Artoo then twittled something.

"You really think I'm a hero?" Threepio asked in interest.

Artoo beeped an affirmative. Leia had explained that it was Threepio who had sent her to K'kruhk in the first place. So, in a way, it was all his doing.

"Yes. Perhaps you're right. Good night my little friend." Threepio said and the two companions powered down.

XX

"So you aren't mad?" Leia asked in amusement.

Han turned on his pillow to look at her.

"Well call me sentimental, but I reckon that you changing time beats having a dead son and sister in law all hollow." He said with his trademark grin.

"Thought you might." Leia said, and kissed him lightly.

"And if you think things are that bad you need to change time again to save family, I'll be behind you all the way." He promised.

"Thank you dear." She said and they both settled into sleep.

However a few minutes later, Leia spoke again.

"Han?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to my nice vase?" she asked innocently.

"Oh kriff." Han swore.

And so we reach the end of Episode I!

I admit it twisted canon a little bit, but I hope you'll forgive me that. I just think Jacen's death was totally silly and pointless, and he had so much more to do for Star Wars, so here is back again! Mara too is also back, as I miss her character, and I also think it's rude that they didnt tell Timothy Zahn before they killed her. However, as the timeline has been changed, they arent the only one who is once more alive...

And Dr Jempa was in fact everyone's favourite Whiphid K'kruhk! I always liked him, and fear not we have not seen the last of him, never fear. And other familiar faces may yet appear...

The Alliance has also changed, and I can tell you that the new Chief of State replacing Cal Omas is in fact Releqy A'kla, Elegos' daughter, as she seems to have vanished off the face of the galaxy.

Other old friends will soon appear, along with old enemies as thing begin to heat up.

I hope you like the fact that Jacen is back and that his relationships are mostly fixed with his family from the Vong War aftermath. And I always think of Ben and Jacen being incredibly close so bear with me on that one.

So next time, we go onto episode II! Who will we see? What will happen? Time will tell!

I hope you enjoyed the first episode of Fate of the Force, and we are a third of the way through now. Hopefully the first chapter of Impact will be up soon.

Right, hope you enjoyed the first installment, and until next time, please read and review!

P.S I am now going to go and put up the entry crawl for Episode II, so enjoy!

P.P.S Thank you to NKCSF for his help in helping decide the class of a ship which will appear later on.