I Bet My Life

Fifteen: Cutthroat

2 years later...

5 years after Order 66...

Leia woke up, rubbing her eyes as they caught a glimpse of the two suns through the closed shades. She yawned before getting out of bed just to crawl into her brother's bed, the boy sleeping peacefully all curled up under a weighted blanket. Leia never understood why her brother needed a heavy blanket on a desert planet, but as always just shrugged it off. She gingerly laid next to him, trying to not wake him up suddenly. As she stayed there ever so motionless, her thoughts wandered. She was only five, but she didn't feel five. If anything, she felt older. The world around her was changing everyday and her mind couldn't fully wrap itself around the concept. She couldn't understand the Empire. Their ideas. Their actions. Everything that came from the central government on Coruscant spoke of building a better world, one far greater than the Republic that had stood for centuries Yet years later, Leia saw quite the opposite. When her dads would watch the holo-news, they always talked about "the assassination of traitors of the Empire", but some of them were only children like herself, maybe around the age or Reva too. It just didn't make sense to her. However, she had other motives for her next actions. She turned on her side to face her sleeping brother's back, poking him gently a few times to get him to turn back to face her. He rubbed his eyes, yawning. Luke looked at his sister, confused by her look,

"What's wrong, Leia?"

"I feel sad."

"Why?"

"I had a dream, I think."

"What... What was it about?"

"I'm not sure... I just remember voices."

"Really?"

"Yes... They were screaming... crying, maybe."

"Why were they crying?"

"I don't know..."

"That's okay... Maybe Papa can figure it out? He's good at that."

"Maybe..."

The two just laid there, staring at the ceiling. They were so young, yet grew up in a world that pushed them to grow up. Luke sighed, closing his eyes to collect his next words,

"Leia?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think the Empire will come for Dad and Papa?"

"Why would they come after them?"

"You know how Papa says we're special?"

"Yeah. We have a deep connection with the Force."

"Well, Papa said that the Empire wants to harm people who can use the Force like that... And I keep seeing it from the Holonews."

"We should ask."

"Ask who?"

"Dad or Papa?"

"I agree."

The twins got out of bed, both putting on slippers before walking out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. They were walking down the hallway until they were stopped by... Reva? She put a finger to her lips and the twins stood behind her. Leia looked at her, matching her brother's look of confusion,

"Why can't we go into the kitchen?"

"I don't know, something happened."

"Is it bad?" Luke asked, his face growing worried.