Chapter Seventy-One
Obi Wan

"Hidden, the children should be. Safer, it will be." Yoda suggests, looking around to the three of us. We are all sitting at a table in one of the rooms of the medical center, with the children a few doors down, sleeping soundly in their cribs.

I nod my head slowly, rubbing a hand over my beard, leaning back in my chair. "We must take them where Palpatine and Anakin won't be able to sense their presence."

"Split up, they should be." Yoda adds on.

"As much as I don't like it, I agree. It will be safer for both of them if they are apart."

Aiden and Padmé share a long stare, and in that stare is a silent conversation, one only a married couple can have. They both seem to be in agreement for whatever they have just wordlessly discussed, and Aiden is the one to voice their decision; "Padmé and I will take Leia. I assure you that she will be loved as if she were our own."

I turn to them both, seeing Aiden slip his hand into his wife's, smiling fully for perhaps the first time this whole day. "Are you sure about this?" I ask.

Padmé is the one to nod and reply to me; "We've wanted children for a while now, so Leia will be a welcome addition to our family. Besides, we owe it to Fallon and Anakin to make sure their daughter grows up loved."

"And what of her son? Where should we send Luke?" I ask.

"To Tatooine, to his aunt and uncle send him." Yoda replies.

I think of Jayce sleeping in his crib in the other room, think of the life that has just been taken from him. This morning he was living in a palace, he was the future king of Taris. But now he has nothing, he's the lost prince, and he has nowhere to go. Neither of us do.

"My son and I will live on Tatooine and watch over him. We will make sure he is safe and cared for, for Fallon and for Anakin."

Yoda nods his head in agreement, turning in his chair to be able to look at us all fully; "Until the time is right, disappear, they must. Hope for the future, there is. In these children, that future lies. Sense it, I do."

I sense it as well. Jayce, Leia, and Luke; three children who were never meant to be born. They were born of forbidden attachments, born into a life of secrecy and lies. And now that the galaxy has plunged into darkness, they are the only source of light. If the galaxy has any future at all, if the Galactic Empire will indeed fall one day, I sense these children will play a large part in it. Which is why they must all be safe.

"What should I tell my family?" Padmé asks me specifically. "My sister and my mother?"

"Tell then the partial truth. Tell them that Fallon and Anakin both died and you have adopted their daughter. Don't tell them about how she died or that Anakin is now Darth Vader, let's spare them of that."

"How are we going to explain all this?" Aiden now asks. "Genevieve's dead body is in my guest room and the last time she was seen was fleeing on a ship with you, Fallon, and Jayce. And since Anakin is alive, he knows you are too."

He has a valid point, I ponder on this for a moment, thinking of what we should let the public believe. After a minute a solution comes to me; "When we get back to Coruscant, call Palpatine's advisor and tell him that you arrived to find Genevieve's dead body in your apartment. Tell him that she must have snuck inside while you two were on Naboo."

"And you?"

"If Palpatine knows Jayce is alive he'll hunt him down. Everyone needs to think he and I are dead. It's safer for us both. We need to fake our deaths."

"How will you do that?" Padmé inquires.

"I'll get onto a ship on Coruscant and make sure I am seen doing it, but I'll rig the ship to explode and jump off the ship just before it does, we'll escape in an escape pod. That way Jay and I are both seen dying. Yoda can stay on a ship with Luke and he'll pick us up. We will take the baby and then head for Tatooine."

"The senate will vote on a replacement for Genevieve," Aiden says with a sigh. "And once everyone knows she's dead we will have a funeral for her, which I'll be expected to attend. But once the replacement takes the throne, he'll most likely fire me as senator. He'll pick someone else."

Padmé squeezes her husband's hand, giving him a mournful look; "Which is why we will raise Leia on Naboo. My family will help us take care of her as I work in the senate, and I am certain you will find a job in no time."

A half smile forms on his lips. "I hope so."

We are silent for a long moment, taking in the plans we have just made, the harshness of our new reality. The lives we had are now eradicated, within the span of hours, everything we know is gone. It is too much for any one person to bear alone, which is why I say;

"Every year we should contact each other, make sure we are all doing alright."

Aiden nods, as does Padmé. "I would like that." She says, her lip wobbling ever so slightly.

"While in exile," Yoda begins, speaking exclusively to me. "Train your son. The ways of the Jedi, teach him. The last of the Jedi, he will be."

The last of the Jedi. Genevieve had discussed this at length when Jayce was first born. We knew his destiny was the throne of Taris, not to become a Jedi. I had promised I would teach him basic training, teach him to hone his abilities in the force. But that is all gone now, now his destiny isn't the throne. It's to look after the son of the chosen one, to train as a Jedi by my side, living on a desert planet away from his true home, his mother's home.

I wish I could change how things have turned out, but I can't. I know that the best chance Jayce has now is to become a Jedi, to keep our religion going even though the remains of it are all but destroyed. And perhaps one day Luke will become a Jedi like his father, do what he could not. Maybe even Leia will too take up a lightsaber alongside her brother.

As Yoda said. They are the hope for the future of the galaxy, and perhaps now the Jedi as well. Maybe the prophecy had been misread. Maybe it wasn't Anakin that is the chosen one, and instead it's these three; the senator's daughter, the farm boy, and the lost prince; our new hopes.

-

I lean against the doorway of the nursery, watching the babies cooped up in their cribs. Luke and Leia are in the same crib, with Luke sleeping soundly and Leia looking around in confusion, not too fond of the facility she has been born in. Jayce is sitting up in the crib next to theirs, staring at Leia, just as confused as she is. He seems very interested to see another baby, but his stare is freaking Leia out and she start to cry, just making Jayce more confused.

I smile at my son softly. He notices me looking at him and reaches out for me, to which I walk over to his crib and give in to his pleading stare. I kneel down next to the crib, sticking my hand inside and gripping onto his tiny hand. Jayce giggles and smiles at me, his deep brown eyes lighting up in excitement. With his other hand he reaches through the bars of the crib and plays with my beard, making me chuckle.

As Jayce is occupied with my beard, I take this moment to speak to my son frankly, knowing he won't understand one bit of it. "You and I will have to find a new home, my little prince. Its nothing like Taris, it's not the most ideal place to live, but what matters is that we will be together."

Jayce doesn't seem to care, he now directs his attention back to my hand, hitting it repeatedly, enjoying the sound it makes.

I stick my other hand inside the crib and caress his hair, just as his mother used to. Jayce likes this as well, leaning his head into my touch and ending up falling backwards, erupting into a fit of giggles. I find myself chuckling too.

"You're going to live a different life than the one you once could have," I tell him, watching him sit back up and begin playing with my hand again. "But you will still have a life filled with love, because I love you so very much, just as your mother did. And even though she's gone, the three of us will still always be together. I promise you that."

Jayce looks away from my hand and back towards me. He crawls closer to the bars, sticking both of his hands out of the crib and resting them on my cheeks. His toothless smile makes me think for a moment that he does understand what I'm saying. I bring my hands up and rub the backs of his tiny hands, feeling rather startled as Padmé's voice cuts through the room.

"We just put Fallon's body in the ship, it's time to go." She informs me, smiling briefly at Jayce as he lets go of me and waves his hands at her.

Aiden appears behind her, leaning against the doorway and smiling down at Jayce as well. There is sadness flowing through them both as they look at him, knowing that it will be a very long while until they see him again. Padmé has tears brimming her eyes as she walks over to the crib, picking Jayce up and hugging her close to her chest, cupping the back of his head as she lets a tear fall.

Aiden walks forward as well, but not to Jayce, to me. He opens his arms wide and embraces me, gripping onto my shoulders tightly. I embrace him back, meaning it as I tell him; "Taris couldn't have asked for a better senator, nor could Genevieve and I for a better friend."

As he pulls away from me, his eyes are clouded, his voice quiet as he says; "Take care of yourself. We will contact you once the funeral is over and we are safely back on Naboo."

Padmé turns to Aiden and hands him over Jayce, walking over towards me and giving me a large embrace as well. I feel her tears falling onto my shoulder, her body shaking as she cries. I rub her back gently, kissing the side of her head as she begins to pull back. She wipes at her eyes, forcing a mostly believing smile. "Genevieve would be proud of you." She murmurs to me.

"She would be proud of you, too, Padmé. She can rest easy knowing that you will still fight for all she believed in."

Aiden places a kiss on Jayce's head before handing him over to me, walking over towards Leia and Luke's cribs to pick them up. He hands Luke over to Padmé, he smiles up at her once he sees her. Padmé smiles back, securing him tightly in the crook of her arm. Leia has stopped crying and looks up at Aiden in content, finally shutting her eyes and beginning to dose off. Jayce has never more awake, he seems excited to be getting out of this room. I can't say I blame him.

So with that, the three of us make our way out of the nursery and towards the ship, carrying one of the three children in each of our arms, each of whom carry the weight of the galaxy on their tiny shoulders, having no clue the destiny the force has in store for them.