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[Leia freezes as she hears her name shouted at her, from a voice she knows all too well and never wants to hear. Literally freezes, because the temperature around her drops, freezing the bench, the grass, the trees around her. Last she checked, Anakin didn't know her name. She never gave it to him, not her first name. He must have learned it from someone else here, which isn't all that shocking, but is just as undesirable as him knowing anything at all about her.

But that doesn't last long. Leia soon gets to her feet as Anakin draws closer--because sitting down with him that close puts her in a position she doesn't want to be in. A position where she feels trapped, that she can't get away easily if and when it comes to it.

As she gets to her feet, the cold is replaced with an almost unbearable, oppressive heat. The ice that formed earlier cracks and melts almost instantly, steaming and evaporating in the hot air. Because she's sure she knows what Anakin is talking about, it's not hard to guess, but it should be obvious why she hasn't told him. Why she doesn't want to tell him. And why she won't admit she knows what he's talking about now.]

I don't know what you're talking about. I've made my thoughts on you abundantly clear.

[ Anakin doesn't fail to notice her initial reaction. And in a way, it pleases him to see her freeze.

But then she shifts right back into that insufferable behavior of hers. That attitude that gets even worse to bear now that he knows what she has been hiding from him. And as he visibly grits his teeth at her words, those blue eyes shift into a burning yellow for several moments as his own anger flares exceptionally high. ]

Stop that.

[ He warns, hands clenching into angry fists. And again he just barely reigns his voice in. ]

Why didn't you tell me that you're my daughter?

Where did you hear that?

[Her tone, much like her expression, is guarded, on edge, and barely concealing an anger underneath it.

Because she's angry, at Anakin and at whoever decided against her wishes to make him aware of this, and maybe just a bit panicked, but that panic isn't showing through her expression. Counting her time here, it had been months since she learned the truth of her parentage, and Leia still doesn't know how to reconcile this. She can accept Padme, even with their differences and the arguments they've had; Padme was a good person, and someone Leia genuinely wanted to know more about.

But Anakin? She doesn't care if Anakin may have once been a good person. There's a block in her mind preventing her from even considering that, given her experiences with Vader and everything he's done to her, Han, Luke, and the galaxy as a whole. She can't accept that, she can't accept or understand him, and all knowing it does is make her doubt herself and everything she's done thus far in her life.

Knowing now that someone (she assumes Obi-Wan, because she already knows Anakin is a priority to him) decided Anakin needed to know something she's made clear she wants kept secret only serves to make Leia feel vulnerable and wary of everyone around her. And her only response to that is to draw up her shields and continue to lash out.]

Perhaps it didn't make it through your thick head the first time, but my father is Bail Organa. I'd tell you to ask him yourself, but I don't want you anywhere near him.

Bail Organa...

[ The name is an angry growl. A growl that marks the beginning of Anakin pacing around Leia. Her inquiry doesn't make it through his anger and a loud noise from above accompanies a flash of lightning. ]

He took you from me? Will take you from me? KEEP you from me?! And twist you - MY OWN DAUGHTER - against me?!

[ Anakin's glare is fixed on Leia. If the thunder, the forming darkness, the tense electricity and the cracks he leaves on the ground aren't enough, now a sharp wind sets in as well. It's only the beginning of the storm. ]

With what RIGHT does he do that? What right does he have to steal children away from their parents? To steal YOU away from me and raise you to hate me??

Would you shut up?

[ah, she's yelling now. Because she doesn't fully comprehend Anakin's train of thought, but she doesn't like where she's sure it's leading. The air is still hot, oppressive, and almost difficult to breathe in, but there's a sickly undercurrent of fear causing their surroundings to attempt to freeze over once more. It's in vain, of course, and their surroundings are stuck in a cycle of melting and freezing, to which Leia pays no mind.

She wants to back away, she wants to be as far away from him as possible, but she can't let herself do that. Not right now, not when he's saying dangerous things like this. So Leia remains firmly planted where she stands, her hands curled tightly into fists as she stares Anakin down, not tearing her gaze from him. ]

Don't you dare blame him for your own mistakes. Someone like you, a monster like you, has no business raising any children.

[not just her and Luke, but she knows how Galen was raised by Vader, and what that did to him. But now isn't the time for that, and it's not her place to discuss it, either.]

You want to know why I didn't tell you anything? This is why. You're irrational, you're a danger, and you've ruined everything back home. I don't care what sort of person you once were. I'm not Luke. I claim no relation to you, nor do I want you in my life.

[but she knows her not wanting that isn't enough. Because Vader has already ruined so much, and even though he's dead now in her time, would continue to ruin more.]

I believe I asked you a question, and I expect an answer. Who told you this?

Just because you expect something, doesn't mean that you always get it, Leia.

[ He has a bit of experience with this... He's also hissing that response through his teeth, eyes flaring. Her words, however, they hurt. They hurt and only fuel his anger further. ]

I'm not a monster, I'm your father! You can't just blame me for something that hasn't even happened yet! You're not even BORN!

[ There's a rush of sadness to that last statement. Because Obi-Wan had already told him that he wouldn't ever see his children. Or hold them. Or watch them grow up. He wouldn't even know about them. A steady rain sets in in response to his mix of emotions, each of them attempting to be the strongest.

But ultimately, grief and anger win out. ]

If someone's irrational, it's you! But I take it that's the work of this politician!

[ That last word he literally spits out. ]

I'll find him and make him pay!

You can't use that excuse to defend yourself. I don't care whether you've committed these actions or not in your time, because they've already happened in mine. I don't care about you. You're dead in my time, and as far as I'm concerned, the galaxy is better for it.

[the rain is a good thing, with Leia's anger being close to boiling over. This way, at least, there's less risk of things literally going up in flames. But it doesn't stop the raindrops from hissing and steaming the instant they hit the ground.

With his threat to Bail, Leia steps closer, against everything in her mind screaming at her to run the other way and let Qui-Gon or Luke deal with this instead. There's only anger and hatred in her glare, no trace of any sort of fondness for Anakin. Because it doesn't exist. Whatever Luke and Padme see or saw in Anakin is lost on Leia, because all she sees when she looks at him is this: a threat to her, her family, and everything she cares about.]

My father is the man who raised me as his own with love and care. Not you. Not the monster who tortured me and held me still, forcing me to watch as my planet was destroyed, who tortured and nearly killed the man I love, and who disfigured my brother. Every time I look at you, it's like I'm reliving each of those moments. And if you go near him, I will take action.

[ Her words are aggravating, but also numbing. Every word, every sentence another painful stab followed by a twist of this very metaphorical knife. A knife stabbed into him by the child he has been looking forward to embrace and protect and raise.

As she speaks, that specter from Galen's vision appears back in his memories. He can practically see that dark, menacing figure performing all those things Leia accuses him of. He can see it and it makes him feel sick. Sick and numb and somehow, somehow he even understands... But he doesn't want to understand. He doesn't want to simply accept all that hatred. He's stubbornly clinging to his anger even as most other emotions of his are slowly being muted away their effects fading and even colors and sound dulling out around him.

But it's also anger that's slowly being redirected at himself.

Himself, who instead of protecting his children, will hurt them in so many ways. Instead of being a loving father, he will bring fear and terror and pain. Now his own daughter hates him... And it hurts. It hurts.

Anakin feels his own throat constricting, finding himself unable to breathe. He also notices his hand by his side, slowly opening and closing, and he knows that he's strangling himself.

Because he can't bring himself to do it to her.

He opens his mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. No further yelling and no further threats. The glare remains, but it's less furious and more desperate.

Why. Why? Why??

Why is this happening and why can't he even keep his family safe? Why does he have to accept that Bail Organa takes what should be rightfully his? This can't be true. None of this can be true. It's a joke, right? A terrible, a cruel joke. A cruel joke wearing a massive, black armor.

He wants to argue, but he can't. He wants to insist, but he can't do that either. First and foremost, however, he can't breathe. ]

[Leia either doesn't notice or doesn't care that Anakin appears to be choking himself through the force. His lack of a response does nothing for her anger, in fact, only making it worse. Not because she wants to hear or would believe any excuses from him, but because she expects him to say something. To give some indication that anything she just said sunk in.

She doesn't back down, and her gaze does not leave him. Nor does the temperature cool down any.]

I want you to leave me and my family alone. I want you as far away from us as physically possible here.

[there's anger, hatred, and even a tinge of fear lacing those words as she spits them out. She doesn't expect Anakin to care about what she wants regarding him, he never has before. But continuing to make her point known is worth it.]

There's no possible way for you to understand how even knowing your existence has destroyed everything. Any credibility I have and any trust others have in me to fairly rebuild the republic will vanish the instant this leaks back home. Because who would trust Darth Vader's daughter in any position of responsibility in the new government?

[she exhales an angry, shaky breath, in a futile attempt to calm herself down as she continues.]

I want you to leave. I never want to hear from you or see your face again. You've done enough.

[ He can sense her anger as well as her hate, but ultimately it's that bit of fear that gets to him the most and only has his throat close off further. His own daughter.... Fears him. Him and what he might do to the family that wasn't his.

Anakin wants to wince, but he can't. He opens his mouth again, lips moving in a futile attempt to speak and he knows his mechanical arm by his side is clenched into a tight fiat by now, making it impossible for him to breathe at all.

He can practically hear the noise of a respirator sounding steadily in his ears.

It's then that his vision begins to darken. Leia's words still ring in his head even as he crumbles to the floor, his consciousness slipping in response to his subconsciousness taking away his air.

And then everything goes black.

He has done enough. ]

Edited 2017-02-20 21:14 (UTC)

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