The Orphan, the Princess, The Farm Boy

XVIII

ANAKIN GAVE A SHORT LAUGH AT LEIA'S RESPONSE WHILE AHSOKA PONDERED OVER WHAT THAT MEANT.

The Emperor - killed by Anakin's hands. 

"It makes sense," Obi-Wan offered thoughtfully. "To be perfectly honest, you are the Chosen One - the one to bring balance to the Force. Killing Palpatine would do the job." 

Anakin let out some sort of noise and Ahsoka looked at him, surprised. "Do you not want to kill Palpatine, Ani?" 

"Of course I do!" Anakin cried. "The pain and betrayal and the fact that he destroyed our family is enough reason to want that but..." Anakin broke off. "I don't know...I'm just sort of done with it. With the universe. I just want to stay here...with Padmé and my son and daughter...I don't....I don't want to fight." 

Padmé looked touched and Ahsoka smiled a little. She knew that the others around her were doing the same as a warm feeling filled the Force. 

Anakin looked slightly uncomfortable but Padmé leaned forward to kiss him and hug him. Ahsoka had to admit she still wasn't used to that but Padmé began talking, "I get it Ani, I do. But...with the Emperor still out there, we can't truly be at peace. You know that right?" 

"I know Angel," Anakin muttered lowly, hugging her back as he sighed. "I'll do it. If I have to. I'll do it." 

"Great, now where are the kids?" Rex said suddenly. Ahsoka turned to see in fact that Leia, Luke, and Ezra were gone.

"I have a plan," Ezra said excitedly as they dashed down the steps of the Temple. During the sweet talking of Anakin, Ezra had pulled the twins off and towards somewhere in the woods. 

"Great, why did we have to sprint away from everyone else to hear this?" Leia yelped, side ducking a tree branch. 

"Where are we going?" Luke added, confused while he followed Ezra blindly further into the forest. 

"Ah, here," Ezra stopped and Luke's instincts kicked in so that he ducked out of the way to halt himself. 

"Oh," Luke recognized the fountain in from of them before Ezra turned towards them and started blabbering on. 

"Assuming that the Empire shows up - they'll probably think this is a last fight so Palpatine will probably be on the Death Star as well," Ezra explained quickly. "We'd have to have two teams right? A space team to take out fighters and a fighter to destroy the Death Star - to be honest, that shouldn't be terrible, I think Rex was overstating the risks - but anyways! The second team will be a ground team to help keep the base safe and help out the space team. But, I'm thinking we should be a third team. A team that heads into the Death Star, possibly weaken it from the inside and gets rid of Palpatine,"

Ezra started to pace while Luke watched him vividly and Leia put on her own thinking face.

"Obviously the team that goes onto the Death Star should be us three, and possibly Anakin, Kanan, and Ahsoka. We'll just have to get in there, find Palpatine and kill him yeah?" 

"Simple," Leia replied sarcastically, hands on her hips. "Who will get us there?" 

"Han could," Luke suggested. 

"Then we should probably run and grab him and tell him the plan," Ezra suggest and started running back towards the Temple. 

"This is why we shouldn't have run all the way out here!" Leia shrieked and Luke laughed but they made their way towards the Temple and searched around for Han. 

"Hey Zeb!" Ezra waved at the lasat who's ears perked up in response. "Do you know where Han is?" 

"What do you want now kid?" Han, who happened to be standing next to the Zeb, Sabine, Hera, and Chopper looked over at Ezra, exasperated. 

"Oh hey Han," Ezra said cheerfully while Leia went up and kissed Han. "We're going to need your help to get on the Death Star," 

"I'm sorry what?!" Han squawked. "Why? Why would I have to do that? When would I have to do that?" 

"Ah for my plan!" Ezra spread his arms out wide. 

"Oh great, what's this plan of yours?" Sabine asked dryly and Ezra smiled at her. 

"Ah, well, I'm thinking and just stay with me here okay?" Ezra explained and Zeb, Hera, and Sabine all traded looks. "Two teams - ground team and sky team. Sky team takes out TIEs, Star Destroyers, exhaust port, etcetera. Ground team will help sky team. Third team - heads to Death Star and finds a weakness on the inside while simultaneously kills Palpatine. The third team is probably going to have to be me, the twins, Kanan, Ahsoka, and Anakin, maybe Obi-Wan -" 

"No," Hera shook her head. "Absolutely not, Ezra, you're -" 

"Hera," Ezra said gently. "I'm twenty. And a Jedi with four years of training from Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I'm not the sixteen year old you remember," 

Hera looked surprised and a little pale but slowly nodded. "I - I know." She laughed a little. "I still can't believe..." she sighed. "Oh Ezra," 

Ezra smiled lightly. "It's okay. I get it." He looked over at Han. "So, you, me, Millennium Falcon, ride or die, yes or no?" 

Han looked like he wanted to say something when Chewie chortled. Han sighed. "Urgh, fine. Do your folks know about this?" 

"Uh," Leia and Luke drawed out together. "Not yet -" 

"Well I'm not telling them nor am I formally agreeing until they know," Han said loudly. "Your father already doesn't like me dating you Leia, if he knew -" 

"Oh please," Leia scoffed. "He'll warm up to you eventually." 

Han raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?" 

Leia glowered. "He will." 

There was a paused and then Luke coughed. "Well that settles that."

"What would we be doing in this plan of yours?" Sabine suddenly asked Ezra. 

Ezra hummed. "Well, I'm betting that the sky team would need your help. Hera's a great pilot, they would absolutely need her leadership and flight skills." 

Hera grinned. "Don't you know it Bridger," 

Ezra laughed and Luke smiled. Sabine and Zeb grinned as well. 

"Well, I'll be fine anywhere as long as we all come out alright," Zeb decided. He frowned and then his eyes widened and he looked at Ezra. "Kid, you know that Kallus is on our side, right?" 

Ezra blinked. "Agent - Agent Kallus? - that Kallus?" 

Zeb nodded. "Yeah. Turns out he wasn't appreciated in the Empire and was the new Fulcrum. Then he needed out when Thrawn suspected him." 

Ezra blinked again and he started to talk when a loud noise suddenly went off. Everyone startled but Hera looked ashen. 

"What is that?" Leia demanded. 

"The Death Star," Hera croaked. "That's the alarm - the Empire is here."