A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 137

Training was exhausting, and it didn't help that all the movements Luna had been learning the past few months seemed to had completely left her mind. Eventually it got to the point where she could successfully block the way she was supposed to, but that was when Anakin wasn't trying. At all.

Basically Luna was wondering how the heck it was supposed to help. She had managed to not die when she had fought Vader, but she had been in full retreat and just swinging and blocking at whims. If she was worrying over how to do it right during a fight, she'd get nowhere, and probably be even easier to defeat.

"I'm done," Luna finally said. She was laying on the mat and staring at the ceiling. Her limbs felt like lead.

"Get up," Anakin told her as he stood over her. She shook her head as she closed her eyes.

"I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"I can't. I'm dead."

"You aren't dead."

"What's going on here?" a familiar voice said. Luna opened her eyes and squinted into the light, finding Obi-Wan, before closing her eyes again.

"We were training," Anakin explained.

"And I died," Luna added.

"You're rather talkative for someone that's dead," Obi-Wan pointed out.

"If this were an actual fight, I'd be dead several times over."

"Well....you have a point there," Anakin admitted. "But you're getting better."

"And yet I feel like I had a better chance before I had to use the forms in combat."

"You wouldn't have, trust me."

"Agree to disagree. I fought Vader twice without any training and didn't die."

"Only because you were insanely lucky."

"Well, if you're done laying on the floor, I believe we have a dinner to get to," Obi-Wan said. Luna peeled open her eyes and propped herself up.

"Already?" she asked.

"Yes," Anakin said with an eye role. "Come one." He reach out a hand which Luna took before he helped her to her feet.

The three of them left the training rooms, heading to the speeders.

"So.... How much are we planning to tell Padmé?" Obi-Wan asked after a moment. The color drained from Anakin's face.

"I was thinking we'd wait on the Vader thing until after the war's over," Luna told them.

"No," Anakin said immediately. "We tell her everything." She looked at him, slight worry coming across their bond, despite her look betraying nothing.

"If you want to," she said. "It's your choice...."

"You don't agree."

"It's just she's worried enough as it is. My entire reasoning behind not mentioning it earlier was to keep everyone else from worrying. She's already got the Delegation of Two Thousand—"

"Hold up, the Delegation of what now?" Anakin asked. Luna's eyes widened at the slip up.

"Whoops."

"Okay, why don't we want to know about it?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Because no one but the senators working on it are supposed to know? And that rule applies to spouses?"

"What's it about?" Anakin asked.

"Once again, I shouldn't even know and am not a liberty to tell."

"Luna."

She huffed. "It's....sorta a show of force to the Chancellor of how many senators are ready to fight should he try to keep everything in a state of emergency?"

"He wouldn't—" Anakin cut himself off with a groan. "Sidious."

"I'm assuming it didn't work," Obi-Wan said.

"No. Most of those senators were executed or disappeared even before the Empire was officially named. Vader got protection for Padmé, and she convinced Bail and Mon to shoot a Yes vote to try and keep under the radar. It worked rather well for them until Mon publicly defected to lead the Rebellion and Leia blew it for Bail considering she was far more aggressive about her beliefs than he was. All in all it's the beginning of the beginning of the beginning of the Rebellion."

"Let me get this straight," Anakin said as he massaged his temple. "I went on to lead Imperial armies, and Padmé helped plant the seeds for the Rebellion."

"Yep."

"All at the same time."

"More or less. The seeds were being planted long before Vader happened, and Padmé actually wouldn't allow the other senators to talk about certain things around her because of what the Rebellion would entitle. Besides, she didn't even start the movement of the delegation, she just assisted it."

"Why hasn't she mentioned that?"

"Well...." Luna sighed, trying to find the right words even as she listened to the Force. "She felt like—feels like really, still completely relevant now, despite my best attempts—that by making this stand against Palpatine, she isn't only betraying him, but also you."

"That's ridiculous!" Anakin said, shaking his head.

Luna looked away, her voice gloomy: "That isn't how Vader takes it."