A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 115

Luna followed Anakin through the Senate Building. It was a rather large and beautiful building that Luna would have probably gawked at had she not been following Anakin to go see Palpatine.

Her fear was keeping her far too distracted to admire the halls around her and she repeatedly ran through what Palpatine did and didn't know about her and how to hide most of her memories and not think about things that she did not want him to know about.

Okay, let's go over this again:

He knows my name is Luna.

He knows I am Anakin's padawan.

He knows I wasn't always raised in the Temple.

He knows I am a hindrance to his plans.

He cannot know about the future.

He cannot know about Earth.

He cannot know I know about him.

He cannot know what I know.

He cannot know about my past, but if it comes down to it, reveal part of it to protect everything else.

I must keep my mind as protected as possible.

I must cloak my Force presence.

I must tell as much of the truth as I can without telling him anything.

I must see things from different points of view at a moment's notice.

I must tell half truths.

I must not act out against him.

I must not let him know how scared I am.

I must not let him know how much I hate him.

I must not let him know I can see through him.

I must not let him know that I am not Force sensitive.

With luck, Luna would manage not to reveal anything and Sidious would managed not to find out anything new.

When had she ever been lucky?

It was why Luna had a back up plan for Sidious getting into her mind. It was a plan that she never wanted to implement, but if it meant protecting the future....

So be it.

Darkness attracts darkness.

And if all you showed was darkness, no one would be able to find the light.

Star Wars was full of happy memories, as was most of Luna's knowledge attached to it, but she had more than enough dark memories to cover it up if need be.

And anything that could break her would be something any Dark Lord of the Sith would be interested in. They reveled in pain, didn't they?

***

They arrived in front of the door to the Chancellor's office. Luna had managed to control herself to to point that she looked passive yet tense. No true expression was on her features and her Force presence was pulled so tightly into her that it would have been extremely difficult for anyone to sense.

"Are you sure you can't stay?" Luna asked, already knowing the answer. Her voice was monotoned with the smallest plea.

"Yes, now go on. I've got to get going," Anakin replied. He watched her walk up to the door and reluctantly knock.

It slide open, and Luna found herself face to face with one of the last people she had ever wanted to meet.

Sheev Palpatine.

"Anakin, my boy. Good to see you. Ah, this must be Luna." His voice sounded cherry, but Luna couldn't help but see past the false tones of faked happiness. It was something she was familiar crafting for herself and had long since learned to pick it out in others.

It takes one to know one.

But it was the first time such faked happiness had made Luna sick to her stomach.

"Yes, this is Luna," Anakin replied, smiling as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Luna relaxed the slightest bit and remembered to smile.

"It's an honor to meet you, Chancellor," she said, ducking her head in a slight bow. Her voice carried the carefully tailored nervous excitement of a child meeting an adult that they wanted to like them.

Luna sometimes surprised herself at how well she could act.

She just hoped she could act well enough.

"Well please, come in. Come in," Palpatine said, jestering them through the doorway. Luna forced herself to walk past the man, away from Anakin, and into the room.

"Thank you, Chancellor, but I have work to do. I only came to drop Luna off," Anakin told the him. Luna stopped and turned to watch the exchange, suddenly hoping that Palpatine would decided to try to talk Anakin in to some ridiculous point of view right then and there and make him stay.

"That's quite alright. Quite alright indeed. In that case you had better get going."

"Very true. I'll be back to pick Luna up."

"We will see you then," Palpatine replied with a smile. Anakin turned away right as the door closed, leaving Luna and the Chancellor alone.

She couldn't help but think of that door as something cutting off contact with the outside world. Permanently.