5Endor's night was fairly quiet. The moonlight shone down in a gentle beam with not a breeze or flutter of trees to mar the perfect silence. The mood of the night was just the opposite of Luke's nervous state. Anxiety was in his veins as he prepared for the inevitable: facing Darth Vader. To face his father was the final task for both his knighthood and the end of the Sith rule. It was now or never.
There was something that he needed to do first. Something to ensure that if he failed, not all would be lost. There is another.
The young man sucked in a deep breath, sensing a familiar presence behind him. "Luke, what's wrong?"
Luke wondered why he hadn't noticed before. Leia had always been unusually perceptive. From the beginning, he had felt bonded to her, but those feelings had initially put him in the wrong. She was his sister, he knew that now. The notion that they were twins felt so natural that he couldn't help but feel stupid for having fancied her, even kissed her. But what was he going to say?
"Leia," he said, facing her. His curiosity swelled with his sense of urgency. This could possibly be the last time he ever saw her, and he needed to make it worthwhile. He needed to know if she possessed the answers he had always wondered about, especially when he was giving her answers that she had never wanted.
"Do you remember your mother? Your real mother?"
"Just a little bit. She died when I was very young. Why?" There again, she knew that there was something else.
"What do you remember?" He remembered nothing, a fact that disturbed him to no end. He had never even tried to remember. In his childhood, he had always wanted to know more about his father, only his father. Why was it that he had never paid more attention to the woman who gave birth to him?
"Just images really. Vague images. She was...very beautiful. Kind, but...sad. Why are you asking me this?" Leia was frowning, as if answering his questions gave her memories of a time she didn't care to hear about.
He was disappointed. Why had she retained that information when he had not? "I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her."
"Luke, tell me, what's troubling you?" Her voice was a combination of persuasion and sympathy. Luke refused to look in her eyes, for fear that he might lose his nerve. Were he to do that, to turn back, he would never be able to stop running away.
Looking at her, he replied, "Vader's here. Now, on this moon." And it's time to stop turning back. If I'm going to run, I go forth.
"How do you know?" Her expression was still, almost fearful. She already knew the answer to that question, she just didn't want to hear it.
"He's come for me. He can feel when I'm here. That's why I have to go. As long as I stay I'm endangering the group and our mission. I have to face him." There, his fate was sealed. He had spoken the decree for her to acknowledge. He had now convinced himself, only to impress the point upon her. She needed to know that any hope would end with her.
"Why?" Because it's the only way. I'm sorry Leia, I'm sorry for the truth.
"He's my father." A second passed where he couldn't look into her eyes again, but then the moment came where he had to witness the results of his confessions, a child looking for his mother's approval.
"Your father?" Her tone was incredulous, almost angry. Above all, it was pity. Pity for the poor farmboy wonder who was a lone hero, but with close to the devil for a father. It wasn't his fault after all, only genes. Then, she thought, at least it wasn't her. At least she could soothe his woes with words and kind embraces, but she did not have to be the cursed child. Yet there was a fear, a small and quiet fear that he had more to tell her about curses.
"There's more. It won't be easy to hear, but you must. If I don't get back, you're the only hope for the Alliance." Time lapsed faster and faster, making him ever-nearer to his destiny. The urgency in his voice could not be abated.
"Luke, don't talk that way," she snapped, "you have a power I-I don't understand, and could never have." She held her breath in the hope that he wouldn't continue, and that things would just go back to normal where parents are beloved and long gone. There is enough anguish outside of family, there is no need to have even more on the inside.
"You're wrong," he contradicted gently, "the Force is strong in my family. My father has it, I have it. My sister has it."
The gavel fell in solid declaration. She knew. He knew she knew and there was nothing either of them could do to change it. There was no turning back now, and because of it nothing would ever be the same.
"Yes. It's you, Leia."
"I know. Somehow, I've always known." But I wish I didn't. The discovery was bittersweet, as discoveries almost always are. Of course, she figured, Luke is her brother. But above all things, why do they have to have the same parents?
"Then you know why I have to face him?" He was hopeful that she could overcome the shock, that she could understand what he thought he knew.
She couldn't. "No!" Standing up, Leia shook his hand hard. "Run away, far away. If he can sense your presence then leave this place. I wish I could go with you." For a moment, neither one of them was sure just what she meant there. Either way, she was lying to both of them.
"No, you don't. You've always been strong," he reassured.
She wouldn't take that for an answer. "But why must you confront him?" She was pleading, pleading for him to stay and to refute the truth, the truth that became so prominent she couldn't hide from it anymore, although she still could not confront it. And if she's so strong, why couldn't she?
"Because. There's good in him, I've felt it. He won't turn me over to the Emperor - I can save him, I can turn him back...to the good side. I have to try," he was pleading now. That naive hope was the last thing he would carry, and the last thing he would pass on. If only she could have taken it then, maybe the dread in the pit of his stomach could have gone with it.
Luke's time was finally up. It was a surprise to him that he had managed to spread it out that long, but fate finally caught up. Pressing his lips to Leia's cheek marked his goodbye. He might never have seen her again, but he had done what he must have done. He crossed the bridge without looking back.
A/N: There are a dozen other fanfics I should be working on, I know. However, the idea wouldn't leave me and I'm in a bit of a rut with my other stories. I have the ideas, but no inspiration. Reviews appreciated.