Darkness {4}

Chapter 36

Artoo whistled as he adjusted for Luke slowing down, rotating his domed head to see the Jedi stopping at Leia's door. He blew out a long breath before entering his sister's quarters, raising his brows. "Well, this is certainly an upgrade."

Leia chuckled and stood up, stretching. "Being the chancellor has its perks." She looked up at him. "Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine, I just wanted to talk to you. We haven't talked in a bit." Luke replied, sitting down next to her. "How is everything with you?"

"Well, being chancellor isn't easy." She admitted, sighing. "I have to deal with medial tasks such as bills while also juggling my work with the militia and observing the warfront as a whole and how it's going so far."

"And how is it going?" Luke asked.

"Winning the battle over Yolau shows that our pilots are superior to the Empire's at the moment, however we lost the battle as a whole because we didn't extract the information we wanted. Leena told me that she failed at retrieving the technical readouts for the Rings, and she seems really upset about it."

Luke raised his brows. "You talked with Leena?"

"Yes, why?"

"She hasn't talked to me at all yet." He admitted, and Leia frowned.

"What happened?"

Luke shook his head. "She's been struggling lately, and I'm really worried, Leia."

"Struggling with what?"

"Her own identity, her allegiance, inner conflict, teaching..." He trailed off with a sigh. "Everything."

"So that's why you've been in such a sad mood lately." Leia mused, and Luke frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I can sense worry coming off of you in waves, Luke." She revealed softly. "Now I finally know what the target of your worry is."

Luke looked down at the ground, and Leia could sense his despair deepen. "I've failed her, Leia."

Leia put a hand on his shoulder. "How so?" She asked gently.

Luke shook his head. "I wasn't there for her when I should've been."

"You had your own worries."

"Yes but I was supposed to be able to handle hers too." He argued. "That's my job; to be there for her even when I'm struggling myself."

"Luke, your job is to be open with Leena. She's older now, she understands that you're not perfect like you try to make yourself to be. Let her in, and maybe she'll let you in too."

Luke looked up at Leia mournfully. "It's too late."

"What do you mean?" Leia asked, her breath hitching in her throat. "Luke, what happened on Yolau?"

"I lost her." He responded in a fragile whisper. "I lost her, and I forced her to come back even when I wasn't sure she wanted to."

"What are you talking about?"

"She turned, Leia." Luke's revelation made Leia gasp in shock. "She turned and I couldn't save her. I had to fight her, and I'd like to think that it was all the Empress's doing but I know that wasn't the case. It was Leena's decision, which made it hurt even more."

"But why isn't she still turned?"

"She's Divided, a term I learned from the archives." Luke explained. In reality he had learned everything about the condition from Kira after planning her 'escape' with her. Now she was gone, piloting a non-traceable vehicle back to Hijjan. "Her Force signature is split fully into Dark and Light, with no in between like everyone else. The Empress was able to keep her in her Dark stage, using her to get to me."