A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 130

Luna wanted to go to sleep so badly. She was exhausted from the night's events.

Yet she was still sitting in the middle of her bed, cross legged, with her back straight.

The room was dark and the blinds were drawn. Even so, she tried to remain alert.

They had gone back to the apartment after they left the Galaxies Opera, Anakin having decided to inform the Council of Grievous's whereabouts in the morning. Padmé's belly was beginning to get very large, and Luna had begun to wonder how in the galaxy she was managing to still hide it. It also reminded her that she needed to ask Obi-Wan how the revision of the code was going next time she saw him.

Dinner was as normal, well what had become normal. It was weird how easily and right it felt for Luna to eat dinner sitting down in an almost family setting nightly, despite the fact it was with Padmé and Anakin. It had been a while since something so normal for other people had felt that right to her.

It honestly sort of scared her. She wasn't supposed to be there, and yet it felt right. Luna could even sometimes manage to pretend that it was the way it would have felt for her to have an actual family dinner.

It scared her how she was so open for comfort the times that she had nightmares.

It scared her at how easily the walls that had been built around her mind and heart were coming down. Luna had chalked it up to it being, well, Star Wars characters for the longest time, but the more she thought about it, the less that it made sense.

Sure, it was the Star Wars factor at first. It was why she trusted and knew them before she had met them. It was why she knew that she had to help them.

It was why her iron walls had revealed a crack long before she had come to their galaxy.

But she couldn't help but notice how the longer she had been with them, the more she was beginning to care, something Luna hadn't thought was even possible before.

And, something that was even more problematic to her, was that, unless she was mistaken, they were beginning to really care for her. Any doubt about that was officially gone for now, even as thoughts tried to plant seeds of doubt.

Because she was scared of what they would think of her should they learn the truth about her. About what she hid in her past.

She was scared of what would happen to them if something happened to her before Sidious was dealt with, and they, being Anakin more likely than not, blamed themselves. Then maybe nothing would change.

And she was scared about what would happen afterwards.

If Anakin still fell, would Luna be sent back to Earth? Or would she be stuck?

What if things did change? Would that send her back?

Being sent back.... That's what Luna was frightened of the most. How would she explain her absence? How would she be able to move on?

How could she live with herself if she failed?

For now.... For now she did need to keep them open to her and herself open to them, but after everything was finished, distance would be the best option....

It would be better for everyone once things were said and done.

But for now....

Now Luna needed to not fall asleep or become distracted. She needed to, at the most, fall into the Force and do nothing but meditate.

Because she had told Anakin that she would try not to die, and if there was an assassin sent after her, he would try to get her at night, when everyone was asleep.

The assassin may even find a way to nearly cloak himself from the Force.

And so, Luna needed to be alert and connected to the Force because she knew that she wasn't Luke, and therefore wasn't someone the Force may make an exception on when it came to death.

She was also only a girl. It wouldn't take much poison to kill her.

So she sat there in the darkness, resisting the calls of sleep.

***

Darth Sidious was very much done with the horrid little girl's interference. The meeting with his soon to be apprentice at the opera could have gone a million times better.

And yet, Luna had managed to not only slow down his progress, find a way to come to the meeting with Anakin, but also interrupted the groundwork for drawing Anakin closer to the dark. Twice. And the last time was extremely thorough despite Sidious's best attempts to get her to shut up.

Sidious had thought, at first, that scaring her off would be simple, but he had sensed her continual interference, even as he managed to draw Anakin away from the Jedi, there was always something along the lines of Luna said this or Luna would know if that's true running around in his thoughts that stopped Anakin at a point. Always.

It was infuriating.

And it didn't help that Sidious didn't understand how the girl had such sway with his soon to be apprentice or knew so much. He would have actually liked to use her if it weren't for the fact she was interfering. Luna's skills for manipulation could rival Sidious's own, and she wasn't even Force sensitive. She could be a decent pawn in the future, with enough....education. He could tell there was far more to her then met the eyes along with a past that could be used to his advantage.

But she was far too unpredictable for such use in the current moment and too much of a hindrance to his plans.

And Anakin was far to protective of her for Sidious to manage to get her away from him, not to mention the Jedi around Luna seemed to have begun to take special care with her, if the reports of his spies were true.

And so the best way to deal with the girl would be to kill her. It would both stop her interference and help push Anakin closer to the clutches of the darkside.

It was the perfect plan. Sidious even knew who to contact.

"Lord Sidious," a female voice said as a hologram appeared, "how can I be of service?"

"I have a girl under the protection of the Jedi that I want eliminated," he told her, smiling. She was straight to the point as always. She knew to fear him, but that didn't make her a stuttering mess.

"When?"

"As soon as you are able. The reward will be more than satisfactory, I can assure you."

"How would you like it done, and where would I find this girl?"

"She is posing as the padawan of Anakin Skywalker and is called Luna Ramsey. It would be the easiest to find her, and kill her, in 500 Republica at night. I will send you an image of her shortly. I would prefer a painful poisonous dart, the slower and more painful, the better, but her demise is the main concern.... Do not fail me, Aurra, or I can guarantee a very painful death."

"Consider it done," Aurra Sing replied. A moment later, the holo disappeared.