As Anakin had suspected, Leia was groggy and tired when she woke up the next morning. "I'm never staying up late again," she grumbled as she dragged to get ready for the day.

She had learned the lesson for herself, which was all that Anakin had wanted. This little experience would motivate Leia to go to bed early, much more than it would have if it was nothing more than Anakin telling her what to do.

Soon, they were in the speeder and on the way to school. Even though Leia was tired, she seemed to be growing more and more alert as they drove. "Is something wrong?" Anakin asked her, noticing her fidgeting and uneasiness.

"I don't want to go to school today," she said bluntly.

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I just don't."

"Are you worried about those bully kids who were teasing you yesterday?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Her voice was nonchalant, as if the bully kids were actually the last thing on her mind.

Anakin wondered if Leia was feeling some disturbance in the Force that he was not aware of. Children did have a tendency to be even more sensitive to the Force than highly trained adults, because their potential was so raw, so new. Anyone else might have dismissed Leia's remarks as nothing more than a little girl feeling grumpy and sleep-deprived, but Anakin did not take them lightly.

"Just remember this," he told her. "If anyone ever tries to hurt you, either by saying mean things or by pushing you around or anything like that, fight back. Argue, push them back, stomp your feet, yell. Bullies never expect people to fight back. And if someone is too strong for you to face on your own, get help. Get a teacher or contact me. Does that make sense?"

Leia nodded. She stared off into the distance, deep in thought.

They soon reached the school, and Anakin parked the speeder and got out to walk Leia up to the entrance. Her earlier grogginess seemed to return; she dragged her feet and walked slowly. When they got to the front door, she stopped altogether.

Anakin was about to urge Leia to go in, but then she turned around and hugged him tightly. "Daddy," she whispered, "I really don't want to go. Can I just skip school today and go to work with you? Please?" She stared up at him, her big brown eyes anxious and pleading.

Slightly alarmed by Leia's urgency, Anakin knelt down so that he could be at eye level with her. "It will be all right," he reassured her. "Work is only five minutes away from here. I can come and get you if something happens. You have your comlink, right?"

She nodded and frowned slightly. "But why are you making me go?"

"I just don't want you to get in trouble, after yesterday's incident. And I promise, I will come and get you if you contact me. But I want you to be a big girl and at least try, okay?"

"Okay," she sighed, and reluctantly walked away. "Bye."

"Bye," he said. There was something about her sudden anxiety and clinginess that bothered him; she wasn't normally like this. He made a mental note to come back in a few hours and check on her, just in case.

It wasn't until a while later, when he had been working in the shop for a half hour or so, when he finally felt it. A disturbance in the Force, one that reeked of the Dark Side.

He shuddered slightly. Leia had felt it long before he had.

Anakin suddenly wished he had listened to her and not sent her to school at all. She had no business being remotely involved with any sort of Dark Side activity; it was bad enough that she had seen him use the Force choke. If the Dark Side really was here, there was no time to waste. He closed the hood of the speeder and drove off, not caring that he wasn't technically allowed to drive it at this time.

Just after he turned onto the street, his comlink vibrated. He snatched it and recognized Leia's number on the ID screen. Heart pounding with dread, he answered, "Leia, what's wrong?"

He listened tensely. Nothing was to be heard except sounds of scuffle, and people clamoring in the background. Leia was breathing heavily, and the sounds of her breathing grew softer and louder at random times, as if she were trying to hold the comm close to her mouth, but was being restrained. "Help-" her voice came out choppy- more scuffling- "Help me- hey!"

Leia's voice was cut off by that of an adult. "I'll take that." The voice sounded like it was behind a helmet. The only people who commonly wore helmets were Stormtroopers.

Then, the call was disconnected.

Anakin drove like he had never driven before, and that was saying something. He pushed the speeder to its maximum speed, breaking the law into pieces. But it worked; he arrived at the school two minutes later.

Everyone had evacuated the school and was standing outside, and a large group of Stormtroopers was surrounding everyone and pointing blasters at them. The children were crying and the teachers were yelling, and the Stormtroopers kept shouting, "There's been an emergency, but it's under control!"

Anakin parked the speeder and anxiously scanned the crowd for Leia. But he didn't sense that she was there. However, the Force seemed to be directing his attention to the Imperial gunships that had landed nearby. As he watched the site, he spotted the white armor of two Stormtroopers dragging a little dark-haired girl. Anakin couldn't see them too well, being too far away- but he knew that the girl was Leia.

He was probably the only person who saw this. Everyone else was distracted.

Without really stopping to think about it, Anakin jumped out of the speeder and dashed after the Stormtroopers. He concentrated on the Force in order to move faster. As he ran, the Stormtroopers got closer and closer to their ship.... Its ramp opened.... And they disappeared inside, before Anakin could get remotely close. A deafening roar blasted through the air as the gunship's jets were fired up, and it lifted off.

Years of Jedi training had taught Anakin to always keep three things: lightsaber, comm, and tracking device. After all this time, the habit had not died, and now he was thankful for that. After glancing around to make sure that no one was watching, he threw a tracking device at the ship's hull.

Then, the ship took off into the atmosphere, and disappeared. Leia was gone along with it.

"No," he whispered, as if the simple word would turn the ship around and bring her back.

At this point, there was only one thing left to do. He had to go after her.

Anakin ran back to the speeder and jumped in and drove off towards his house, knowing that he would have to get Artoo out of there. This was partly because he would need the droid's help to navigate, and partly because he was aware that they might not ever come back to this house.

Artoo beeped anxiously when Anakin burst in. "Artoo, get in the speeder," he said hurriedly. "We need to get out of here!"

The droid obeyed, beeping frantically the whole time. Anakin understood some of the Astromech language and knew that Artoo was saying, Why? What happened? Where are we going? Where is Leia?

"No time to explain, but it's bad. Really bad."

Once Artoo had used his jets to lift himself into the speeder, Anakin drove off towards the shop, where he kept his old Z-95 Headhunter.

"Skywalker!" his boss said irritably as he rushed in. "That speeder is not for your personal use, and you didn't report when you left!"

"Sorry, I don't have time to explain!" Anakin pulled off the ship's cloth cover and fired up the engine. He ignored his boss' disapproving frown, knowing that it was unlikely he would ever return to this place.

Artoo rolled into the ship and Anakin lifted it off. As they gained altitude, they spotted a swarm of Stormtroopers gathered around a house. They looked like shiny white beetles devouring their prey.

Anakin realized that the Stormtroopers were surrounding his house. Artoo gave an alarmed beep. What is going on? The little droid demanded.

"Artoo... they... they took her. Leia."

For once, Artoo was silent. Anakin took the counterpart to the tracking device and connected it to the ship's dashboard. A plotted course showed up on the screen- one that led straight to Coruscant.

Coruscant, the belly of the beast, the throne of the Empire.

"And look where they're taking her," he mumbled. The very thought of returning to that planet, after all that had happened, was sickening. The thought of Leia being all alone with the Empire there was even worse.

Artoo gave a few quiet beeps that translated to: I will help you find her.

Anakin tried to smile at his faithful little droid. While he was thankful to not technically be alone in this quest, he understood the odds. It was the two of them against the whole Empire now.