Parallel Shadows

Chapter 6 - Failure

Author's Note: There are two chapters left, and they'll be released weekly. :)

~ Amina Gila

Luke pauses in spite of himself, even if he knows he should just keep running if he has any hope of avoiding this confrontation. He looks over his shoulder, to see her racing towards him, through the darkness.

"Leia, I –" He should go. He should run. He can't stay here. Unless –

"What are you doing?!" she yells, though he can see the hurt in her eyes, past her anger.

"You'd never understand," he protests, but it sounds lame to his own ears. (How can he do this to Leia? She's – she was all he had for so long, when Han was gone, and Chewbacca and Lando were out looking for him. He was all she had.)

"That's all you have to say?!" she demands, voice rising, "What are you doing? How can you do this? Why are you fighting for the Empire?!"

"I can't stay with the Alliance anymore, not after what they did!"

"So you go to the Emperor instead?!"

Luke jolts, eyes widening. How – how does she know that?

"It's the only way to –" No, he can't say that out loud. Not now. "It's the only way to bring peace to the galaxy. Join me, Leia. Come with me, and we can rule the galaxy – "

He stumbles back a step when she slaps him. "I don't want to rule the galaxy! What's –" She takes a step back, drawing in a breath, eyes suddenly filling with tears that spill down her cheeks, "Do you know what you're doing?! Even our father is afraid of this –"

Snoke slams sharply against his shields, ripping past the barrier that Luke put up.

Wait – Luke's eyes widen in shock and confusion, (and pain as he can feel the Emperor's fury radiating into his mind.) "Our father...? What?" he utters.

"I talked to him!" Leia replies, "I –"

"She's lying," the Emperor hisses, but Luke can't believe that, not fully. But what Leia is saying doesn't make any sense.

"You don't know what you've gotten yourself into, Luke. Stop this and come home."

He wants to, so much, but he already knows it's too late for that. "I can't, Leia. This is what I have to do. I know more about this than you." She doesn't know about Exegol. She doesn't know about – any of it.

"I know what our father said!" Leia yells, and an explosion suddenly rings out, much too close by. It snaps Luke out of his spiraling thoughts, dragging him back to the present, or maybe it's the Presence clawing at his mind that really gets his attention.

"You will cease ignoring me, apprentice. You are distracting yourself." He sounds furious, and something in Luke twists, fearfully. This is bad. If Snoke decides that Luke is failing his end of the deal –

"I'm sorry, Leia," Luke whispers.

He shoves her back with the Force, spinning and running as fast as he can. He doesn't slow down, even when he hears her calling for him, even when it breaks him into a million pieces. He'll get her to join him later, to understand. For now, it's probably better if she's away. He won't let her change his mind. (Even if he feels like that's already happening.)

His heart is pounding as he slides into his fighter again, and flees the system along with the rest of the Imperial Forces. He can feel Leia reaching for him, and he blocks it off, trying to ignore the pain ripping him apart, and the guilt – and the fear. This is not going to go over well at all.