oratorical | IC Contact

That's not what I meant. The Rebellion has changed between our times. There's a lot that's happened that you don't know yet.

[largely because she hasn't shared it with him, because she doesn't like discussing it.]

What I'm telling you is that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are one and the same. That sort of darkness doesn't come out of nowhere. It had to have always been there.

Then by that same argument, the light that was there had to come from somewhere, too! Leia, he was a hero! He was a Jedi and he inspired hope and people admired him!

[He had admired him.]

I may not know what happens in the future, but I do know what happens when people give up hope. If I can't hope that the Light can win, then what am I even trying to be a Jedi for?

Hoping for a triumph over the Empire is completely different than hoping Darth Vader still has a shred of humanity left inside him.

[Even if it's technically still Anakin they're talking about, before all the armor and the heavy breathing. But Leia doesn't care about that technicality.]

Jedi are meant to destroy the Sith. And if that light is still in him, doesn't that just make things worse? Knowing he committed the atrocities he carried out while knowing full well they were the wrong thing to do.

This isn't different. This is both.

[Argh, this is so frustrating. Ezra rakes his fingers through his hair, half tempted to pull on it. Part of him wants to laugh that he's even having this argument at all, that he's arguing for the hope of good in Darth Vader, but part of him...

Part of him wants to believe that the Dark Side doesn't have to win on any battleground - even the battleground of Darth Vader's soul. Now that the idea is there, presented by Anakin himself and supported by Obi-Wan, and by Ezra's own experience with Maul, not just pulled out of thin air, he can't bring himself to let it go.]

Leia, I've got to try. Even if it's just to say that I did try. I want to beat the Sith as much as you do. [His voice hardens.] Trust me, I want them to pay. But if I have a chance to stop those atrocities before they can happen, I'm taking it. A Jedi's mission is to protect life first, not seek revenge.

Besides, if he stops being Vader, then that counts as destroying that Sith.

[She thinks it's a futile effort and that Ezra is just wasting his time. Luke may have claimed to bring Anakin back to the light, but as far as Leia cares, it didn't do much of anything. He only turned to the light for Luke, and that light was nowhere to be found when she needed it. Her own irritation with Ezra's choices comes through loud and clear, even if she may not want it to.]

Even if it were possible, stopping or delaying his turn in his time will do nothing for our time. No matter how good he may pretend to be here, and no matter how determined you and any other Jedi are to prevent his turn, it won't change what we've already experienced. It won't save Alderaan. As far as I care, Anakin Skywalker is a lost cause.

Even if it doesn't benefit me, that's no reason not to try anyway. Turning him back would save someone out there at least some of the pain we had, so as far as I'm concerned, it's still worth it. It-

Wait, what do you mean, it won't save Alderaan?

[Leia may not have intended to snag his attention like that, but that's certainly what just happened.]

I told you that the Rebellion had changed in between our times. That's just one of many reasons why.

[She'll explain if pushed, but for obvious reasons, it's not one she wants to dwell on.]

[He might have been willing to drop the subject about almost any other world. The future is a headache they've already agreed to leave mostly untouched. But Alderaan in particular has a significance that only Lothal can match.

He has a friend there. He hasn't seen her for more than a year, but she's there.]

What happened to Alderaan?

[a friend on Alderaan, wow. You know who else had friends and family and everything else on Alderaan??? Okay no.

It takes Leia a moment to respond, but in that moment, an overwhelming icy chill of fear and grief fills the silence, but there's a hot undercurrent of anger along with it. It's a lot of emotions, perhaps, but Alderaan will always be an open wound, something that even time can't fully heal.]

The Empire destroyed it. Alderaan is gone.

[Look, he knows Leia's from Alderaan, but she's here. She's okay. His thoughts haven't spiraled out to the people he doesn't know yet.

And how can they, really, before he even knows what happened? Before that grief and anger hit him like a wall, staggering him. The words that follow are just as bad when they sink in, and if colors can be ascribed to their connection, then everything between them goes gray, dulled by shock.]

W-What? Wait... What does that even mean? Did they strip mine it? Poison it with too much waste? What about all the people who lived there?

[The thought that Leia was being literal hasn't occurred to him. Before the Death Star, who even would believe that a whole world could be blown up?]

Alderaan was a core world. They keep strip mining and waste dumping to planets less likely to cause an uproar in the Senate.

[not that she wasn't outraged by all that regardless, and there wasn't really a Senate anymore either, but that was generally how things work. The core planets are too wealthy and too important to the Empire. But she would've preferred anything to what actually happened. Destroy Alderaan's natural beauty as retaliation, but at least leave the planet there.

But they hadn't and they wouldn't and even though most times she knows better, Leia still blames herself for what happened, as if she could have changed anything. Those strong emotions don't fade at all as she continues, really only getting worse the more she has to explain.]

I mean it literally. The Empire developed a new weapon and tested its full power on Alderaan.

What?!

[He feels like a scratched data disc, just repeating the same thing again, but he can't have heard what she just said. The world around him rocks, until he realizes that it's actually him. He sits down abruptly.]

But-! They wouldn't-! That's billions and billions of people! Billions of innocents! That's a planet, and... and a Core World! Even the Empire wouldn't-!

[He might be on the verge of hyperventilating, and Leia's emotions aren't helping one bit. His mind just can't wrap around this. How can a whole planet just be gone?]

The Empire doesn't care. As far as they were concerned, Alderaan and all its inhabitants were to provide a lesson to the rest of the galaxy.

[because that's what Tarkin had said, wasn't it? That the old base on Dantooine was too far out of the way to be an effective example. A fresh wave of guilt rolls through the link at that recollection. She's not sure how she would've felt if the Empire really had gone ahead and destroyed Dantooine instead at her word. Alderaan would've been safe for another day, but Dantooine's destruction would have been her fault entirely.]

A message?!

[Disbelief and outrage rise up like a bubble through the shock.]

What kind of message did they think they were sending?! "You guys should all join the Rebellion because the Empire is a bunch of murderous kriffing bastards?!"

[Sorry not sorry for the language there, Leia. Some sentiments jut can't be expressed without it.]

[no need to excuse that language, because it's exactly what she feels. She can excuse Ezra this time.]

That was the message they wound up sending.

[because Alderaan's destruction was seen as an unforgivable offense, which it was, and many defected to or joined up with the Rebellion after all that. They couldn't pin the destruction on the Rebels, as much as they tried.]

But it was intended to instill fear and obedience into the galaxy. To show the dangers of rebellion.

[Ezra's emotions seethe across the connection, roiling dangerously. Shock is quickly giving way to anger.]

Yeah, well, I'd like to show them the "dangers of rebellion!" If they think stuff like that is how you rule galaxy, they better not be surprised when it backfires!

This is how the Empire has always been. They may have tried better earlier on, but it's impossible to keep it hidden forever.

[Their attitude is disgusting, and she can't see how they can feel the way they do. Nor does she want to try. There's value in trying to see the other side of arguments sometimes, but not when it concerns anything about the Empire and their beliefs.]

We have to stop them.

[Anger and fierce determination snap in equal parts.]

I know that's what the Rebellion's about, but I mean it. We can't let them do things like this! We have to find a way to blow up that weapon, or stop it from ever being built.

[Screw the timeline. The future isn't as important as all those billions of lives.]

[Timelines are dumb, everyone knows this, especially someone named Leia who is also currently trying to change her future timeline. But that last bit is something Ezra doesn't need to know. He may want to stay in the dark about most other parts of the future, but leaving him with just Alderaan and not the knowledge of what happens to the Death Star is cruel.]

We do destroy it. There's a story behind it I'd be proud to tell if you were interested in learning it, but the end result is the destruction of that abomination.

We do?

[That's a relief, even if it wasn't soon enough to stop what happened to Alderaan. Ezra's still going to try to prevent that, if he can find a way, but it's at least something to know that there's hope, even if he fails.

Though speaking of preventing it, what better way than by learning how they destroy it in the future?

Besides, it sounds like a good story.]

Sure, I'd love to hear it, if you've got time.

I have time.

[Well, she can make time, because it's an important story to share. And Ezra, as a part of the rebellion deserves to know. And it's not just that, he needs to know, more because it's owed to the people whose lives were lost. Their story has to live on where they couldn't.]

It's a long story, depending on where we start.

Just start with where you think it needs to start.

[He'll settle himself down to listen to her now.

~~And we can fade out and handwave that she told him the basic story here, minus details that Leia wouldn't (or couldn't) tell him.~~]

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SHOULD I WARN FOR SPOILERS BELOW HERE???? If I mention Rogue One stuff? IDK

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