What Could Have Been Part 2: Anakin's Trials

The Master

Leia

    

    She finally found Blast, or she was pretty sure at least. "Blast, I need to go," she demanded calmly, though her fear was choking her voice like rope around her neck. Blast scrunched his nose, "What do you mean? We just got here."

     Leia bit her lip. She could sense that she was in danger here, wherever she was. It wasn't the Alliance base for sure. "Please Blast, trust me. It's best if I leave," she begged. The door of the metallic hallway slid open and each of the boys stood at attention including Blast. They looked like an army of Luke's figurines from home.

      A man with green armor strode in with a frozen jaw. At somewhere around twenty years of age, he looked like he could have been the older brother of every single boy in the room. Beside his military cut hair, he was like a mirror to the future of Blast and his peers. The man nodded for his young soldiers to be at ease which only made Leia more frightened. She glanced at Blast who leaned casually over to her, "That's Commander Fett. He's our host."

     Leia stared in confusion, "Host?" she repeated. Blast nodded as Commander Fett strolled down the aisle of boys. "He's kind of like our DNA father," Blast whispered as the Commander got closer and closer. Leia closed her eyes for a second and used the Force to concentrate on the structure of the approaching man and the boy beside her. They're like the same person. They all are. Clones! Fett stopped in front of her and the scowl on his face twisted even more. After a short observation of her, he turned to Blast, "Who is your friend?" he questioned as he peered at her with rock brown eyes. Leia had to look back a few times, but Commander Fett, unlike Blast and his friends, had eyes the color of hard brown rocks. Aslo, instead of the unknowing blankness of the silvery eyes, the man in front of her possessed a hostile awareness that she had seen in her father's eyes when he had met Han. By the look on Fetts's face, Leia was sure that he was ready to devour her like a hungry predator, but Blast finally spoke up, "This is Leia... Leia... What's your name?" he asked, turning to her. Leia swallowed before she opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, a dark chill filled her body. I have a bad feeling about-
      "If I may interrupt- and I will," a voice as sharp as thorns began. A tall man with brown hair as dark as leather waltzed in with pursed lips and golden eyes. His slicked hair matched his arched eyebrows which were thick with fury and his eyes seemed to see Leia before she knew he was in the room. Every person, including Commander Fett whose authority dissolved immediately following the dark haired man's presence, stood at breathtaking attention. "I believe that this young lady was about to say Skywalker," he announced with a glorious smirk that made Leia want to disappear. Fett, although his confidence melted by the minute, stepped forward, "Lord Midas, if I may say, we were not-" With the turn of his head, the man named Darth Midas silenced Fett, "Expecting me?" he finished, "Ah, but I was expecting her," he said turning to Leia with a cat-like grin. Leia shuddered as he bent down to study her, "What did you say your name was my dear? Leia?"

     Leia inhaled weakly as Darth Midas tilted her chin up with his index finger. She jerked her head away, "You're a Sith," she whispered, ignoring his previous question. The man stood back up and widened his ferocious smile, "Such a smart girl," he gushed. Leia glanced at Blast to see him staring forward, his eyes not wavering the slightest bit. "I suppose you know my father then," she continued, pulling her gaze off of the boy she had thought she could trust. Midas' eyes hardened momentarily but still shined with victory as he stared her down, knowing he was winning, "Not formally, but I intend on that changing," he answered, letting his words trail with arrogance. Everything about the man made Leia feel like something was slowly eating her from the inside out. How could she have been so blind? If she had heeded her father's instruction, she wouldn't have done something so foolish. Her father. Was he really coming? Maybe he had decided that a daughter who put herself in such danger deserved no saving. She had failed him.