"Are you entirely sure that this is where the ship is?" Leilani was reluctant, if not perplexed. What could Master Yaddle do even near "The Works", what could have prompted her to the most unsavoury place in the whole city?

The droid beeped once again, affirming it.

"We know that she went out in her own will," pointed out the obvious Obi-Wan.

Leilani piloted the speeder smoothly, with Obi-Wan seated beside her and Anakin with R9 in the back. She couldn't quite fathom why they had brought the droid along. Nevertheless, the location unsettled her senses. It was difficult to comprehend why anyone with even a modicum of sanity would go there - it seemed highly out of character for her former Master.

"That is exactly what worries me."

The journey was far from pleasant, with the droid and Anakin engaged in constant bickering, their voices adding to the already unpleasant atmosphere. The air was thick with the stench of gas and smoke, a noxious blend that pervaded the entire industrial area. The surroundings were anything but inviting; rather, they exuded an aura of neglect and decay. Leilani couldn't shake off the feeling of disdain and discomfort that settled over her like a suffocating shroud. She detested every moment spent in this desolate place.

"This place smells worse than the Hutts," Anakin said.

As they neared the edge of the Tower, the ship that Master Yaddle had borrowed came into view. It was immediately apparent that the vessel had been left in a state of haste and disarray. There were no signs of care or maintenance; the claws that usually secured it were conspicuously absent, and the engines appeared to have been pushed to their limits, their once sleek surfaces now marred by scorch marks and signs of overuse. The ship teetered dangerously close to the edge of the building as if one strong gust of wind could have sent it hurtling into the depths below. And despite her initial judgment of Master Yaddle's decision-making, Leilani found herself following suit. She brought the speeder to a halt near the ship, paying little heed to securing it properly, and hastily jumped out of it.

The emptiness of the ship was glaringly apparent, and the task at hand proved to be more challenging than it initially seemed. The thick gas and fog obscured their senses, leaving them with no choice but to rely solely on the Force.

"Ani, stay close to Arnine, no matter what happens," she said, as she took a cautious step on the durasteel bridge.

The boy agreed.

They trailed behind her, Obi-Wan closely shadowing her steps, with R9 and Anakin a short distance behind - while she followed the Force. Reaching a part which appeared to be a dead-end, she jumped down to the ledge below soon followed by the other Jedi Knight as Anakin took the ladder.

Their steps were light, almost soundless, as they moved through the place, no matter how silent the building was.

Then she stopped, right in front of what seemed to be a huge door. "Arnine, can you get this open?"

R9 rolled forward towards the control panel of the hatch, connecting to it. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea to bring him. But after a few twirls of his scomp link to the left and then to the right, he rotated backwards with another loud beep.

"Fried? How can a panel be fried?" Leilani turned to her astromech in shock.

"Perhaps it was damaged by blaster fire," suggested Obi-Wan.

"Well, we'll do it in the old-fashioned way," she sighed, stepping to the smaller door on the side, ushering Anakin out of the way together with the droid and shooting a quizzical look towards Obi-Wan. "Any help?"

He smirked. "Of course."

Lilac and blue lightsabers flared to life simultaneously. Obi-Wan's brow furrowed at the sight of the new colour, but he refrained from asking about it just yet - instead, he pressed his saber against the right side of the door, while Leilani mirrored his actions on the left. The weapons heated the door, gradually separating it from the wall; moving from both the left and right sides, they worked their way up, creating a hole in it, so they could pass. And once it was done, with a swift motion, Leilani delivered a powerful kick, sending the loosened door crashing inward with a resounding thud.

As they stepped into the interior, their eyes slowly acclimated to the darkness that shrouded the space. Absent of any illumination, shadows danced menacingly around them, casting an eerie and dubious atmosphere that gripped their senses. The air was thick with foreboding, each step forward laden with uncertainty and a gut-wrenching feeling of apprehension, with a palpable sense of foreboding, as if the very air was thick with the corrupted energy of the Force. There was a dubious pull, like a gravitational force drawing them further into its depths, dark, brooding, tempting them with promises of power and hidden knowledge - a sensation that gnawed at the edges of their consciousness, tugging at their instincts.

Obi-Wan was the first to cast a broad look across the scene, taking in the breadth of the area. His scrutiny revealed the markings etched upon the wall and strewn across the ground. As his vision pierced through the veil of dust, it settled upon a figure, motionless and shrouded in the stillness of death. He closed his eyes for a moment, needed to, as fatigue got to him once again - only then did he reach for Leilani, not saying anything, but gesturing with his head towards the small body.

Shielding Anakin from the sight, he positioned himself between the boy and the scene, as the woman advanced a few steps, collapsing onto her knees beside it.

No, this wasn't right.

This was not real.

It couldn't be.

The gruesome sight unveiled itself with stark clarity before her eyes. Where once familiar, creased features had dwelled, now lay a face unknit, its lines smoothed by the finality of death. The separation of the head from body, an image so jarring it threatened to overwhelm her senses, drew her perilously close to the brink of nausea. With trembling hands, she reached out, her fingertips brushing against the cold, jelly-like texture of the lifeless skin beneath her palms. Each touch seemed to solidify the grim reality before her - as she closed her Master's eyes, for the last time.

The Master's green skin became almost white, while the duration of the three days, and Leilani's too neared it, as she identified the cut. Stark against the backdrop of time's progression, bore the unmistakable signature of a lightsaber. Its precision, its swiftness in cleaving, left no doubt of its origin. Nothing else could etch a mark so distinct, or sever with such surgical precision.

So, she extended her senses, a rare departure, allowing herself to truly feel and absorb the surroundings. Delving into the aura of the place and its storied past, a profound desire...no, a craving, gripped her-to possess the power, to know who did this.

The voices reached her ears, distant and echoing within her mind. The dust swirled around her, and she sensed Obi-Wan and Anakin taking a step back as she shut her eyes. The Force around her was rigid, in pieces, fragmented and fractured. Its flow disrupted, manipulated with a malevolent intent that seemed to leech the very essence of life from its core. It was as though unseen hands sought to manipulate and contort it, twisting its natural rhythm into a discordant symphony of despair. Each fragment of the Force carried a weight of anguish and manipulation, as if someone dared to bleed it dry.

Her concentration maximised, trying to achieve something she only ever read in the books, to open the atmosphere, reveal it; feel it.

She heard a deep voice, one almost horroristic, giving an order; and then a lightsaber ignite. She sensed the encroaching darkness, but amidst its malevolence, she sensed a hesitancy, an uncertainty; someone grappled with the internal struggle of whether to comply or resist-a fractured mind standing at the crossroads of shattered beliefs.

"Kill her!"

"I am afraid." "It is too late."

"I am on your side."

"Running back?" "It is you, who had run into the arms of evil."

"You betrayed her." "Leave her out of this!"

"Let me give you peace, Master Yaddle."...

The sounds, the voices, the clash of the lightsabers and the crack of the durasteel...All so real, all so painful, so bare.

An abrupt depletion of energy overcame her, the vitality draining from her with startling immediacy. Her countenance reflected the toll, her face contorting into an expression of weariness and perhaps a hint of dismay. The heaviness of exhaustion settled into her limbs, rendering her arms inert and numb once more. Yet she couldn't...couldn't bring herself to acknowledge it.

No.

Her eyes turned, reflecting yellow, from all the terror.

She wasn't aware. She didn't care.

She raised her arms once more, with a sense of detachment, surrenderring herself to the compelling allure of the Force, attuning solely to its call and the myriad of voices. She reached out, her connection to the Force pulsating with newfound strength.

With a sense of purpose, she directed her energy towards the walls, channelling the raw power coursing through her veins. The very foundations trembled under her influence, the walls quivering and rumbling in response to her newfound mastery.

She cracked.

Broke the walls, wanting nothing more but to rid of the place, not caring who was inside, or if she died under the falling debris.

"Leilani!"

No.

"Leia!"

It wasn't enough.

"Don't give into it!"

I'm trying.

"Even in darkness, there is always light. You can find that balance!" The words, whether a revelation or a striking resemblance to Qui-Gon's counsel from not long ago, snapped her back to reality.

Obi-Wan seeing so, moved out of the building, with Anakin and droid right behind him.

Without pausing to analyse her actions, she swiftly unfastened her cloak, manipulating it with a deft motion that allowed it to hover and wrap around Yaddle's lifeless form.

As she rose to her feet, she cradled the diminutive figure in her arms, moving with urgency.

How ironic it was.

Falling to death by one and carried to the light by the other Serenno sibling's hand.

With no time to spare, she sprinted out, leaping into the waiting speeder drove by a concerned Kenobi.

Never looking back.

As soon as they returned to the temple, she tenderly laid the body to rest in the Hall of the Fallen. With a swift yet solemn gesture, she placed it within the confines of the coffin, offering a final farewell and bow-a tribute befitting of the respect owed to the departed. To the woman who was there for her, who taught her...her Master...

Regardless of the sympathetic gazes lining the corridor or the words Anakin and Obi-Wan chose to offer, she wasted no time.

She couldn't hear any of it.

Activating her solar sailer, she swiftly manoeuvred to the ramp from the opposite side of the hangar bay and leapt aboard.

She couldn't wait any longer.

Navigating through the route seemed easy, as she set the course towards the Outer Rim and flied through the blurred hyperspace. Yet, despite the seamless journey, turmoil gnawed at Leilani's core, festering like a wound that refused to heal. The weight of pain, distress, and simmering anger bore down upon her. Never...she never had imagined her own brother capable of such cold-blooded murder - a betrayal that cut to the very marrow of her being, shattering the bonds of trust and kinship. To think that he could be the perpetrator of such heinous acts, the architect of her Master's untimely demise, sent shock waves through the very fabric of her soul.

Her sanity teetered on the brink, her beliefs shaken to their very foundation. The echoes of betrayal mirrored the tumultuous upheaval that had accompanied Dooku's departure from the Jedi Order, only now amplified to an even greater pain.

His actions, his words, the motivations that drove him-each revelation served as a darkness that now tainted the very essence of their shared lineage. It was a truth she was ill-prepared to confront, a truth that sent shivers down her spine and cast doubt upon the very nature of her reality.

No, it couldn't be.

He couldn't do this without someone to manipulate him.