Five

Leia ran so fast that it hardly felt like her feet were touching the ground. The violent images tormented her, propelled her forward as she was driven by unencumbered terror. They kept her moving even as her lungs began to burn with each exerted breath, and her legs became like jelly. She was the only one who knew the truth now, the only one to recognize the depths of her father's appalling evil. Her mother and Luke were vulnerable. She could not fail them.

Even when she could hear Abeloth calling to her, beckoning her to return with the promise that she would keep her safe, Leia didn't dare stop. Couldn't stop. Her own safety was hardly a concern. She had to get to her mother and to Luke. They were living with a devil, and they didn't seem to know it. There was no time to waste.

Abeloth had reassured her that it was only a memory, an echo in time that could no longer hurt her, but Leia could not let it go. She had become obsessed with what she had seen, and she turned it over repeatedly in her mind until the vision was all she could think about. Yet even while it consumed her thoughts, she still couldn't make sense of it. She almost wished that she had never seen at all. Then again, Abeloth had warned her that she was not ready.

When Abeloth had led her to her small, isolated home deep in the Nabooian countryside, Leia had not known what to expect. She knew very little of her newfound friend other than the fact that she was a former Jedi who had gone into hiding like so many others following the clone internment and the murderous Jedi witch-hunt that followed. Leia knew that she lived alone, and that she had no family because they had abandoned her long ago. But beyond that superficial knowledge, Abeloth was a stranger to her. It was only then that Leia had begun to consider that the choice to follow the enigmatic old woman might not be the wisest.

She had felt the first stirrings of fearful apprehension once she and Abeloth left the beach, and those misgivings only strengthened as the old woman led her further and further away from her grandmother's borrowed estate. Her instincts cried out to her to turn back, but something else, something deeper compelled her forward. The entire time she could practically hear her mother's usual admonishment sounding crisply in her ears. Leia, don't wander too far!

The warning had held deeper meaning. She could sense that she was doing that, both literally and figuratively, but she also didn't know if she had the option of turning back any longer. If her father wasn't the man that he claimed to be then she needed to know that. And if he was a potential threat to her mother and brother, then she needed to know that too. She needed to stop him. Leia didn't doubt that Abeloth could help her. She would never be strong enough to face her father on her own, not without the former Jedi's wise guidance. Abeloth had already taught her so much about the Force, and there was still much to learn.

So, she shook aside her unease, and she followed the woman…because she wanted to. Because she had to. Or, at least, that was the thing Leia told herself.

Upon reaching Abeloth's home, however, the same thrill of unease pervaded Leia anew. She found herself hesitating once again. The tiny house didn't appear to be a lived-in abode at all. It was set off far off the main road, tucked away in a gnarled thicket of dead, dried underbrush, and overgrown trees, a forgotten relic from simpler times. The house would prove difficult to find for someone who didn't already know of its existence. Leia was struck by the realization then that she was completely isolated. If Abeloth wanted to hold her there, she could easily do so.

But that was a ridiculous notion, and Leia chastised herself for even momentarily entertaining the idea that Abeloth might harm her. She had done nothing to incur Leia's suspicion or mistrust. On the contrary, she had been kind and patient with a very confused and irrational girl when most others might not have bothered. She had listened to Leia and guided her and taught her things about the Force that she could never have imagined were possible and Abeloth had asked for nothing from Leia in return. Friendship and trust were very small things to offer to someone who had already given her so much.

Besides that, Leia had already come that far, and from her standpoint, there was nowhere else for her to go. No one else she could turn to. Abeloth was the only one willing to hear her concerns about Anakin Skywalker and take them seriously. She was the only one who would listen.

And so, Leia stuffed down her misgivings and doubt yet again and dutifully followed Abeloth into the house. However, her steps faltered a bit when she stepped inside. The interior had been sparse, with little more than a bed, table, and chair, all of which were composed of peeling, desiccated wood, and covered in a fine coating of dust and insect webbing.

"You live here?" she had balked at Abeloth in disbelief.

"I reside in many places, my child. I make my home wherever I wish."

The way she said the words gave Leia the impression that Abeloth must not have a true home. However long Abeloth had been residing in that squalid dwelling, it was clearly only a temporary resting spot and certainly not a home. She seemed to Leia more like a nomad, always wandering, always searching but never finding a place to truly belong. The thought had filled her with abundant pity. Leia had imagined that perhaps she could be that place of belonging for Abeloth and she told her so.

Abeloth smiled at her then. "I think you shall indeed," she said, "More than you realize."

Reassured by her reply, Leia pushed aside her lingering doubts and forced herself to relax. After they had finished the light meal that Leia had packed for them, they sat down together on the floor in the center of the small cabin to meditate. Abeloth explained to Leia that the technique she intended to teach her would involve separating herself from her physical body so that the energy within her to flow freely with the Force. She would become a part of its ever-flowing current and be guided through the ebbing streams of time to wherever the Force chose to take her.

"It will only work if you release yourself completely," Abeloth had warned her, "You must not hold anything back from me, Leia Skywalker. Can you do that?"

She had nodded firmly, full of determination and confidence and foolishly ignorant of the gravity of her decision. "Yes. I can do that."

"I will help you begin the journey, but the rest you must discover on your own."

"I'm ready, Master."

Steel gray eyes brightened with fervid light. "I believe you are, my child. Close your eyes."

With unwavering trust, Leia did as she was instructed. She took a deep, fortifying breath. She closed her eyes and gave herself over to the Force.

The initial sensation felt a great deal like floating in mid-air…a gentle lifting away from the ground as if she were being cradled in a tender current and elevated among the clouds. And then she began to feel as if she were being cleaved in two, ripped apart in a way that was almost agonizing. She writhed from the pain. There was the physical Leia, folded solemnly on the ground next to Abeloth, in deep, thoughtful meditation, and then there was the phantasmal Leia, twisting and jerking fitfully, suspended high above her.

That apparitional Leia, the Leia she had become, was composed purely of an ethereal energy that was being pulled inexorably back into the flux of the Force. And then she was tumbling, slowly at first and then swiftly, violently. Jerking, arcing, and spinning as if she were being whipped up into a violent windstorm before she came to a sudden and abrupt halt.

The first thing she noticed was that she was surrounded by a murky haze that gave her surroundings an almost dream-like quality. The atmosphere seemed to shimmer and bend all around her. When she reached out to touch it, the surface rippled like a disturbance on the surface of calm waters. She had never experienced anything like it.

But the second thing she noticed, and that was the most alarming thing by far, was that she was standing directly above a massive, pitching river of free-flowing lava. In fact, she was surrounded by it. The molten rock sprayed intermittently from massive geysers. She could feel the heat boiling off the thick, bubbling surface, coating her flesh in a fine sheen of perspiration, and filling her lungs with dense, foul smelling, sulfuric air.

Leia started to pitch herself back in fear, but that was when she realized she was perched rather precariously on some type of scaffolding, and any careless step on her part might send her tumbling into the boiling river below. But when she lost her footing due to the shock of that realization, she found that she didn't fall to her death after all. Instead, she remained suspended in the air, as if held aloft by invisible flooring that had the same rippled quality as the atmosphere. That was when she realized that she was still being cradled by the Force, suspended in that strange environment but not truly a part of it.

She tentatively tested out her environment, gradually growing more confident as the seconds passed. She had no idea where she had been transported or why, but she was certain that the Force had brought her there for a purpose. Leia was still trying to puzzle out that purpose and also acclimatize herself to the sensation of walking on absolutely nothing that she saw him.

He stood alone on a balcony overlooking the flowing magma river below, his dark cloak billowing in the oppressive heat, his heavy cowl half concealing his face. Leia froze. Even from the distance separating them, she recognized the man in an instant. His Force signature was distinct, and she would know it across a thousand galaxies. Her father.

Though she didn't completely understand where she was or what she was seeing or why he was on such a fearsome planet to begin with, she did know that he was in anguish. She didn't need to see his face to know that he was weeping and mourning an incredible loss right then. She could feel it. All of it. His fear and grief and sweeping self-loathing, but also his determination and conviction…and his rage. There was so much rage and hatred in him that Leia physically recoiled from it.

He had committed unspeakable horrors, but he hated them because they had left him with no other options. They had limited him, stifled his incredible potential, and denied him his rightful place among their ranks! They had laid the foundation for his fall. What other choice did he have? They had forced him to become the monster, and now there was no turning back.

His tumultuous inner musings weren't entirely foreign to Leia. She had sensed such conflict in her father before while on Mortis, the rippling remnants of rage and hatred that he kept so carefully buried and suppressed. The chaotic emotions were always there, but beautifully tempered by his love and goodness and strong sense of justice. It was a dynamic balance within him that secretly fascinated her…that he could so perfectly encompass that dichotomy of light and dark.

But the man she beheld now felt like an Anakin Skywalker whose worst inclinations had been magnified to a frightening degree. There was no light within him at all. Only shadow and tempest and storm. His fury and hatred were in abundance now, almost heady. He was feeding the monster inside of him…and it was steadily growing.

Leia started to turn aside, to will the Force to whisk her away from that place and all those dark emotions so mercilessly pervading her, but she saw the ship coming in at the last second and she stopped. A sleek vessel that she immediately recognized as a Nabooian cruiser. Her father obviously knew the pilot too because he suddenly pushed back his hood, his young, beardless features alight with surprise and anticipation as he went sprinting towards the landing pad. Leia was carried behind him unseen on an invisible Force plain and she felt joy bloom over his incessant anger when her mother suddenly came running from the ship and straight into his open arms.

She appeared younger as well. Small and frightened, not at all like the fearless, capable woman who had raised her. Leia could sense the worry and dread that peeled away from her mother like curling ribbons even as she tunneled her shaking fingers through her husband's hair and met his lips with grateful kisses. Leia could see that her abdomen was round with pregnancy and her eyes were swollen and rimmed with red, as if she had been recently crying. Besides Artoo and Threepio, her mother appeared to be alone. Leia suspected then that she was witnessing some event that happened well before her birth and, perhaps, just prior to Luke's.

At first, her parents' reunion seemed punctuated by gladness and relief, but it quickly deteriorated into something filled with desperation, disbelief, and despair. Her mother begged her father for reassurance that he had not become all the terrible things that she had been told. She needed him to reassure her that the foundation of her world had not been damaged beyond repair, that he was not lost to her as Obi-Wan had claimed. She needed to hear that he was still her Anakin, that he had not become someone…something that she didn't know, something that thoroughly repulsed her.

But he didn't tell her that. He couldn't. Because he was that abomination that she feared. And he wasn't sorry for it either. He had chosen what he had become, and he didn't want to turn back at all. He had no room for regret. He wanted her to join him. He needed to be the monster to save her.

When she pulled away from him, Leia wasn't surprised. That version of her mother might have been foreign to her, but she wasn't a total stranger. Leia could still recognize the righteous conviction that pulsed vividly beneath her mother's fear and grief. She had fully expected Padmé to reject Anakin's wild offer, so she could not understand why he seemed so confused by her mother's response. In fact, he acted almost betrayed when she backed away from him, as if she had been the one to become unrecognizable in that moment. She told him that he was going down a path she could not follow. She was going to tell him goodbye, but Leia knew he wasn't going to let her go.

Leia felt a spurt of relief when Ben suddenly materialized at the open hatch of her mother's ship because she could perceive that her parents' argument was becoming something sinister. But that relief was short-lived. Her father snapped, and the snarling hatred that had been steadily emanating from him was suddenly directed towards her pregnant mother.

When he took hold of her in that invisible chokehold, Leia was pummeled with his pitiless rage. In that instant, he didn't care that this was his wife, that she carried his child or that she loved him deeply and madly even then. He wanted to punish her for being so ungrateful, to silence her lying mouth forever…

It was the realization that he wasn't going to let her go, that he truly meant to kill her that propelled Leia forward with a horrified cry. But as soon she started forward, an unseen force abruptly yanked her back and she was unceremoniously slammed back into her own consciousness, her physical body and mind conjoined once more. When she came to herself, she was sobbing hysterically. Leia was left shaken and terrified by what she had seen.

Abeloth had placed a hand on her shoulder, apparently attempting to comfort her as she murmured reassurances that Leia had nothing to fear. She had only seen "the truth" after all. But Leia was far beyond comfort at that point. She was overcome with the urgent need to get to her mother as quickly as she could.

"I have to go," she'd mumbled pitiably before shaking off the old woman's kind touch and rushing from the house, blinded by her tears. She ran so fast that it took her a few minutes to realize how late it had become. She hadn't realized so much time had passed. The Nabooian sun had already begun to sink low on the horizon with approaching dusk by the time Leia made it back to the beach. And when she did, Luke was already there frantically searching.

"Where the kriffing hell have you been?" he flared when he caught sight of her, swiftly closing the distance between them, "Mom and Dad have been tearing this place apart looking for you!"

Leia could barely return his frantic embrace. A wave of wild hysteria rushed through Leia when she realized he was unaccompanied by their mother. She shoved him way, her eyes wide and unfocused. "Where's Mom? Why isn't she with you?"

"She's with Dad on the other side of the estate. We've been searching for hours, Leia!"

His words kicked her into a frenzy then, but not the reason for her flurry of apprehension both surprised and alarmed Luke. She wasn't worried about possible discipline. Leia feared their mother was in danger.

"Are you crazy?" she cried maniacally, shoving past her brother in absolute panic, "You left her alone with him? Don't you know what you've done? He's going to kill her! He's going to kill her!"

"Leia, wait! Where are you going?"

She was impervious to his cries for her to stop. She tore down the beach at top speed as if her heels were being nipped at by ravenous demons. Luke was left with no choice except to chase her down and tackle her before she could go tearing towards the house in a volatile frenzy, presumably to hunt down whomever she believed was a threat to their mother. They collided against the wet, compacted sand with a hard thud but, as soon as they did, Leia attacked him. She fought him off like a rabid thing, kicking and bucking and snarling until Luke was finally able to subdue her flailing limbs and pin her down against the ground.

"Stop it!" he admonished her sharply, "You're going to hurt yourself! What's wrong with you?"

"You can't see him!" she wept madly, her large brown eyes glassy with erratic fervor, "You can't! But I do! You don't understand, Luke! You don't know what he is!"

Attempting to reach out to her through the Force felt like a futile endeavor. Leia was a storm there too, chaotic and volatile and whirling so violently that she threatened to consume everything around her. There was a jumble of fractured images that assailed Luke one after the other, but nothing made sense. It was all flame and baking heat and darkness.

He shook her firmly, not out of exasperation but out of pure fright because he had never in his life seen his sister behave like someone unhinged. Even in a rage, Leia was always composed. She rarely lost control of herself. But what was even more startling was that her hysteria was a genuine thing. It was visceral. She was utterly terrified. Her fear was quaking around her so violently that even Luke could feel himself being pulled into that vortex of fear with her. Through sheer strength of will, he forced himself to remain calm.

"Leia, you have to tell me what happened!" he urged her, "I can't help you if you don't tell me!"

"We have to get to Mom! We have to help her!"

She tried to hurl him off her, to throw him back in the Force, but Luke held her firmly in place, despite her constant efforts to dislodge him by any means necessary. "Mom is safe! Listen to me! She's safe! Feel her! Feel her for yourself!"

Though it took several minutes to penetrate her incoherent raving, Luke was eventually able to reason past Leia's wild mania to convince her to reach out and touch their mother in the Force. When she finally did, the tension gradually ebbed from her body, and she broke down into pitiable sobs. "She's…scared. She's…she's worried about me."

"Yeah…" Luke agreed sardonically, finally rolling away from her to sprawl out across the wet sand with exhausted pants, "You really freaked her out." He turned a dubious look towards his weeping sister. "You freaked me out. What's wrong with you? Where have you been this whole time?"

"With my friend."

"Did something happen?" Luke asked, propping onto his elbow to stare down at her, "Did she hurt you?"

Leia responded with an unhappy shake of her head and wiped at the tears still meandering from the corners of her eyes. "No. She would never do that. She's been helping me."

"Helping you?" Luke parroted dubiously.

"I saw something, Luke. Something terrible…"

The tremor in her voice had him straightening completely. "What did you see?"

For a brief instant, Leia's features brightened with hope and relief that he might be on her side after all before she abruptly became withdrawn again when she considered his probable reaction. He would likely reject anything that didn't paint Anakin Skywalker in a beam of glistening light. It was unlikely she would find an ally in Luke no matter how much she wished otherwise.

"It doesn't matter," she mumbled in despair, "You wouldn't believe me anyway."

"That's not true," Luke whispered, "I do believe you…and that's the problem." He flopped back against the wet sand with a miserable grunt. "I know we've been fighting lately, and I've hated every minute. But it's not because I think you're wrong. I trust your instincts, Leia, but I don't want things to change either. I don't want him to leave."

The admission disarmed her, and Leia rolled to face him. "What if he should? I think he might hurt her."

A disconcerted frown darkened his countenance. "Is that what you saw?" Leia jerked a nod. He almost whimpered aloud as his stomach did a sickening dip. "Are you sure? When does it happen? Why?"

"I think it happened a long time ago," she said, "before you were born."

"That can't be true."

"I know what I saw!" she bit back, "He attacked her!" Her features crumpled with tears as the memories assailed her again. "He hurt her, Luke."

"No. He wouldn't do that! He couldn't!"

Leia pushed to her feet with a hard glare. "I knew you wouldn't believe me. I'm on my own."

He caught hold of her forearm before she could stalk away from him entirely. "Where were you when you had this vision, Leia?"

She yanked away from him, her brow set in an obstinate scowl. "Why does it matter?"

"It matters! Where you with that old woman when you saw it?"

"Don't try to blame this on her!"

"Leia, think about it!" Luke reasoned, "Do you honestly think that if Dad attacked Mom that she would be with him? Does she even seem afraid of him at all?"

Although she was angry and heartsick, Leia reluctantly took a moment to thoughtfully consider Luke's reasoning. Despite what she had seen and felt in her vision, she could admit that she had never sensed any sort of abject terror from her mother since her father's return. She felt her mother's sadness at times, and confusion and the fear that came with the thought of losing him again, but mostly she felt her mother's complete adoration for Anakin Skywalker…and she likewise felt the same thing from him about her mother. It was as if the two people she had seen in her vision and the two people she knew now were completely different people but, at the same time, Leia knew with absolute conviction that what she had seen was real.

"You don't know how it was between them when they were younger," she argued, "Maybe that's the reason she never wanted to talk about him before."

"You know that's not true," Luke argued, "You're the one who told me that it hurt her too much."

"Maybe what I saw was the reason."

"What exactly did you see?" Luke prodded gently when she started to become lost in her thoughts, "You can tell me, Leia."

"I think they were on a planet made of lava," Leia recounted woodenly, "It was dark and hot. Threepio and Artoo were there too, and Mom and Dad were fighting."

"About what?"

"He…He did very bad things," Leia said, "I…I think he turned on the Jedi. I'm not sure. But Mom…she wanted him to come away with her, and he wouldn't." She stared at her brother with vacant eyes. "I think she was pregnant with you."

Luke digested the information but did not comment on what she told him. Instead, he asked, "What happened after they fought?"

"Ben was there. He was on Mom's ship and, when our father saw him, he got really angry. He called her a liar. He said Mom had brought Ben there to kill him and he…he…" She trailed off into hiccupping sobs as the memory of Anakin brutally Force choking Padmé into unconsciousness chased through her mind. "He tried to kill her," she wept brokenly.

Without hesitation, Luke pulled his sister into his arms and stroked her heaving back gently as he held her. "That didn't happen, Leia," he soothed her gently, "That would never happen."

"I saw it…I saw it…"

Luke reared back to regard her earnestly, his manner tender and calm as he spoke, "Think about this for a minute. You said that Ben and Threepio and Artoo were all there when this all happened, right?" Leia nodded. "But do any of them act as if Dad might be a threat to Mom? Have any of them ever given you the impression that they think he's dangerous?"

"No…"

"I get that you don't know our father," he said, "You don't trust him. That's fine. But trust me. Trust our mother. She would never stay with him if she thought he was a threat to us. You know that."

"Then what did I see, Luke? It felt real. I know that it happened."

"There has to be a reasonable explanation."

Leia grabbed hold of his shoulders, her slim fingers biting into his flesh, her arms wide and fevered. "What if it's not him?" she posited wildly, "What if we just think he's our father, but he's not? What if he's something else?"

"Something like what?"

"Something evil."

Luke stared into her frantic eyes and felt the first stirrings of real, true fear since he first encountered her sprinting across the beach. At first, he had been confused, aggravated, worried but now he was truly terrified. It wasn't simply the outrageous theorizing Leia was doing either. It was the undeniable implication that she believed every word. That frightened him more than anything.

"Leia, I don't think you should be spending so much time with that old woman anymore," he advised tentatively, "I think she might be putting ideas in your head."

It was the wrong thing to say, and Luke knew it even before Leia whirled away from him with an angry glower. "You're wrong! You don't know anything! She's helping me to become stronger in the Force! She's teaching me!"

Luke breathed out her name in horrified disbelief. "Ben is our teacher. You don't know this woman!"

"Ben didn't teach us everything," she maintained stubbornly, "He doesn't know what we're up against!"

"What you're doing is dangerous and foolish and this is not like you at all. I don't think you should see her anymore."

"She needs me! She's all alone, Luke! I'm all she has! I won't abandon her!"

Luke started to argue with her further but then wisely decided against doing so. He knew in his gut that the old woman was somehow the source of Leia's growing psychosis. Somehow, she had planted the idea in Leia's head that their father was inherent evil, and the belief was slowly destroying his sister. But he also knew he would never convince Leia of that. She had already formed a bizarre attachment to the woman and any attempt Luke made to convince Leia that she might not have her best interests at heart would only further alienate his sister from him.

Furthermore, while he firmly believed that the vision Leia had seen was most assuredly conjured, Leia clearly believed that was she had seen was true. And because she did, it had made her mistrustful, not only of their father but anyone who might side with him. Consequently, Luke understood that he needed to tread carefully with her.

"I believe you," he told her gently, and it was evident that Leia needed to hear the words because she wilted with gratitude almost immediately, "I believe you about all of it. But can we both agree that some things don't make sense?"

"I guess…" she mumbled, her tone unconvinced.

"Let me do some investigating," he cajoled, "You don't have to worry about anything. I'll take care of it. I'll get the answers."

"You can't tell him, Luke," she cried, making a desperate grab at him, "You can't let him know that we're on to him!"

"I won't," he replied, "I'll be careful. I won't tell anyone."

"Good. Good."

"But you need to promise me something too. You can't run off like that again. If you're going to protect Mom, then you have to stay close."

"You're right." She gripped his hands tightly. "Thank you for believing me."

"You're my little sister. I'll always take care of you, Leia."

After the siblings had formulated a plan on how to proceed as well as a plausible explanation for Leia's disappearance, Luke led his distraught sister back to the house. Thankfully, everyone was so relieved that she had been found that no one truly questioned the flimsy explanation that she had gotten turned around while looking for shells on the beach. They were too preoccupied with reassuring themselves that she had been returned to them unharmed. They couldn't perceive the invisible scars that had been inflicted upon her. Only Luke knew…and Anakin.

While Padmé, Jobal and Sola appeared to accept Leia's story with tearful gratitude and were satisfied with her promise that she would never wander off like that again, Anakin remained leery. But when he began mentally probing Luke for the truth, his son was quick to shut him out. Luke could tell that the action both startled and hurt his father. He also knew that Leia was pleased by the action. She was wary of their father, and she wanted Luke to be wary too. He didn't have a choice.

Luke didn't necessarily want to shield himself from Anakin, but he also recognized that if he didn't, he would quickly lose Leia's fragile trust. He feared that his sister felt poised on the brink of madness, and it would take very little to push her over the precipice. Luke couldn't risk Leia isolating herself further, especially if it meant that she was going to cling to that woman even more. That was sure to make an already bad situation worse. Luke could only hope that his father would understand his motives later when it was all said and done.

He watched his sister with wary concern…and she watched their father.

That night, Leia remained restless despite the reassurance from Luke that he would handle matters. She could still sense his skepticism. He didn't completely believe that Anakin Skywalker could pose a great danger to them, and that would be his undoing. He wouldn't remain vigilant. He was too blinded by the false façade of fatherly concern. Leia wasn't certain that he had the fortitude to resist Anakin Skywalker on his own. His attachment to the man was still too great. She would have to do it for him…and for their mother as well.

Eventually, those devouring, obsessive thoughts drove her from her bed. She crept down the darkened corridor towards her parents' guest quarters. She could sense through the sealed door that they were both asleep, an altogether rare thing because Anakin Skywalker was frequently as restless at night as his children. Leia had followed him often enough to learn his nocturnal habits, and she knew that he usually meditated well into the early morning hours. Tonight, however, exhaustion had finally claimed him, and he was sleeping for once.

Leia quietly slipped into the room to find her parents tangled together in the center of their bed. Anakin was sprawled on his back and Padmé was splayed across him, snuggled deeply into his flank. On hand lay across his bare chest and the other was nestled in the halo of her mother's dark, messy curls which spilled over their bodies in an unfettered silken cascade. Leia moved silently to stand beside the bed, and stared down at their relaxed, sleeping countenances with impassive eyes. The picture of domestic contentment they created was deceptive.

But she was not fooled. Her eyes had been opened. She could see her father for the crazed murderer that he truly was. And, in time with Abeloth's guidance, she would help Padmé and Luke to see beyond his treacherous facade as well. She would be strong enough to defeat him then.

Abeloth's words from earlier that morning echoed clearly in her mind, crystallized with profound meaning. A prophet is never appreciated in her own household. Leia realized that she was that prophet. Only she could see the truth. Only she could protect her family. She glowered down at the man that she now understood was only masquerading as a loving father and husband, filled with implacable resolve. She knew exactly who he was…he was her enemy, and she would deal with him accordingly.

She would protect her mother and brother, and she would do so at all costs.