The first to come was Saw Gerrera.

He came in the dead of night, long after Marion should have been asleep. She crept down the stairs, sitting just outside the kitchen so that her parents couldn't see her.

"You should consider it," Saw Gerrera was saying, although Marion did not know who he was, she only knew him as a strange man in her kitchen.

"No," it was her father, "We told you this six years ago, we don't want any part in this, whether it be the Rebellion or the Partisans. Especially not now, not with Marion."

"Marion is why you need to fight!" Saw urged, "How long do you think you have before they figure out you're here?"

"You helped us hide here, and now you're saying that they might find us?" Now it was her mother.

"I hid the Ersos better, and now Lyra is dead, Galen has become their slave, and I have to raise a child."

Her parents didn't respond. Marion poked her head around the corner, just enough to see the three of them sitting at the kitchen table. The first thing she noticed was how scary Saw Gerrera looked. He had a hard face and a blaster strapped to his side.

Her mother had her head in her hands, rubbing the sleep from her eye. Her father was leaned back in his seat, arms crossed.

"They will do much worse to you, if they find you. You're a Jedi, Lavinia. They are hunting you everyday. Sonny, you're just some run-of-the-mill former Rebel. They'll kill you because you're no one. And Marion? I don't know what they'll do with her. Maybe they'll kill her, maybe they'll see if she has the Force, like you, train her to be an Inquisitor. There's no knowing."

Her father almost laughed, "You always had a way with words, Saw."

"You always had a way of ignoring my words," Saw shot back, "Don't run off to Coruscant to see the Jedi, Sonny. She doesn't care for you, Sonny, she has more important things to do. And what did you do? You run off to Coruscant to see the Jedi."

"Well, she clearly she did care for me and she didn't have more important things to do, so you can't use that as an example."

"I am not a Jedi," her mother cut in, picking her head up from her hands, "I haven't been a Jedi for six years. I haven't picked up my lightsaber since you moved us here."

"The Empire doesn't care whether you are one currently or not. As long as you're alive, you're a reminder of the past, of the Republic. As long as you're alive, you pose a threat," Saw said.

"They won't find us. They can't."

"They can. But I hope they won't."

Saw stood up, placing his palms on the table. He sighed, shaking his head.

"Reach out if you need anything, anything at all. I would reach out to the Rebellion as well, let them know you're here. I'll put in a good word for you, if they'll take it," Saw told them, "If they come, contact me immediately. I will get here as soon as I can."

He started to walk away from the table, but then stopped, "I remember when we first met you, Lavinia, back on Onderon. My sister said you had a brave spirit. I hope your spirit serves you well."

Marion's father turned her head to face him, "Take care of yourself, Saw. I hope to see you again soon."

Saw placed a hand on her father's shoulder, patting it a couple times, "Just as I hope to see you. Don't do anything too stupid, you have an example to set for your daughter."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

And then Saw Gerrera continued on his way. Marion scooted back along the wall, hoping to avoid his view. He exited the kitchen, and she almost went unnoticed before he looked over his shoulder. When he saw the little girl, up against the wall, knees curled up to her chest, he smiled.

"You should get to bed before your parents find out you've been listening," he whispered.

Marion nodded.

Saw gave her a little wave, and then turned back around and left the house. The moment he was gone, Marion silently scrambled up the stairs, back into bed.

Marion knew that her family was different. Her parents would always warn her not to talk too much in public, not to draw attention to herself, but she never knew why. She still didn't, but Saw Gerrera made her worry.

At five years old, Marion didn't understand that the Galactic Empire was bad, or that her mother used to be apart of an ancient order, or that her father had left everything he knew behind for a life in hiding. All she knew was that someone was coming for her family, and that it was only a matter of time before they found them.

☆ ★ ☆

The Inquisitors were the next to come. And they were not alone.

They came at dusk as they were eating dinner. When their sensors picked up that they were coming, their peaceful home turned into one of chaos.

"Shit, how do you think they found us?" Marion's father asked, shoving any valuable item he could find into his bag.

"I would guess that the nickname 'one-eyed witch' doesn't leave much to the imagination," her mother said. She was on her knees, picking at one of the floorboards.

Marion watched from the kitchen doorway as they scrambled around. It had been two years since Saw Gerrera left them, but the conversation that they had that night, the threat he had told them, had not left her.

"Got it," Marion's mother muttered. She pulled up one of the floorboards, pulling a box out from under it.

She looked up at her husband, who was zipping up his bag, "Take Marion upstairs and lock yourselves in our room. Don't come out."

"You expect me to just leave you on your own?" Marion's father asked.

Her mother didn't answer immediately, for she was too busy opening up the box. She stared at what was inside it for just a moment before grabbing it. Marion had never seen anything like it before. It was a metal cylinder with black stripes around the top. Really, it wasn't anything special, but her mother looked at it like it was an old friend.

"Lav, I'm not leaving you," her father urged. Her mother stood up, the metal cylinder in hand. She walked over to him.

"I can beat them, Sonny. I know I can," her mother urged, "It's been awhile, yes, but I know I can do it, or at the very least hold them off until help arrives. Marion needs you. If we both die, she has no one. You know that I have a better chance at holding them off than you do."

Her father grabbed her mother's hand with both of his, "I can't leave you. Don't make me."

"This isn't about you, and this isn't about me. It's about Marion. I cannot let her be alone in this world."

They both went silent, so silent that it was eerie. Marion watched her parents, her father's hands holding her mother's, their eyes closed, their foreheads touching.

And then the alarms started going off. Whoever was coming was almost there.

Marion's mother pulled away, "Contact Saw and Bail. If neither of them answer, contact Obi-Wan. I doubt he'll answer, so use him as a last resort."

She then came over to Marion, who was still standing in the doorway. She kneeled in front of her, and cupped the girl's face with her hands.

"Listen to your father, my love, do everything he says," she told her, "I love you. More than the suns and the stars. I love you more than anything."

She hugged Marion tightly, kissing the top of her head.

"Be brave, my love. Remember, the Force is always with you. I am always with you."

Marion didn't know what she meant by the Force, but she knew that now wasn't the time to ask.

Then her mother was up, and she was hugging her father. She kissed him hard, then whispered something to him that Marion could not hear.

Marion's mother kissed the top of her mother's head one more time, and then her father had her by the arm, guiding her up the stairs. He led them into her parents' bedroom, locking the door behind them. Immediately he went over to the communication terminal and began typing away.

"Get under the bed, Marion," he told her, not taking his eyes away from the terminal.

Marion did as she was told, crawling under the bed. She had a vague idea what was happening, that someone was coming to hurt her and her parents. After all, that was what her parents told her would happen whenever the alarms they had installed went off. Danger was coming soon, they had said, and she had to do exactly as told when it did.

"Just get here as quickly as you can, Saw. Yeah, I'm contacting him next, just hurry, please," her father was saying. Marion could hear things being thrown around downstairs and screams of pain. She closed her eyes and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying her best to only focus on her father's voice, despite how terrified he sounded.

"Please, just get here as fast as you can, we can't hold them off for long."

Her father went silent, but his ragged breathing filled the room. Marion peaked her head out from under the bed, seeing her father kneeling in front of the terminal, unmoving. There were shouts coming from downstairs, but her father did not move.

"Dad?" Marion called, her voice barely above a whisper. He turned around to face her, a blank expression on his face. There was the sound of furniture breaking.

Then her father was up and going to the closet, digging through it and then digging through boxes. He pulled out four different blasters, and Marion tensed upon seeing them. Her father strapped one blaster to each leg, then turned to his daughter, who's head was still peeking out from under the bed. He went over to her, kneeling on the ground in front of her. He held her face in his hands.

"Hold fast, Marion," he told her, kissing her on her forehead just as her mother had done, "I love you, Mare, more than the oceans and the moons. I love you, I love you, I love you. Now, tuck your little head back under there, and don't come out until your mother or I comes to get you."

Marion did as she was told, climbing back under the bed. Before he could stand up, Marion reached out and grabbed her father's hand. She could feel him freeze under her grasp, and for a moment it was just them. The screaming and sounds of fighting faded away, leaving just a father and his daughter.

Her father gave her hand a squeeze before standing up, grabbing the two blasters from the floor, and heading out without looking back. Once again, she pulled her knees up to her chest and curled herself into a ball, waiting for it to be over.

It was not even five minutes later that Marion heard her mother let out a heart-wrenching scream. Marion poked her head out from under the bed. She had never heard her mother, or anyone for that matter, scream like that. Should she go check on her? She knew her father said not to come out, but her mother sounded hurt. A quick glance, just to make sure her parents were okay, couldn't hurt.

Slowly, Marion crawled out from under the bed. As silently as she could, she opened the door to her parents' bedroom. She crept down the hallway, the sounds of fighting growing louder and louder as she went. Marion felt as if she was dreaming, and she could see herself walking down the hallways and down the stairs.

If Marion had been a bit older, she might have understood the scene that lay before her. She might have understood that the Inquisitors on the floor were dead, that her father, who laid in the corner, discarded, was also dead, and that the droid that her mother was fighting wasn't a droid at all, but a man, a man who used to be Anakin Skywalker, a man who used to be her mother's best friend.

Her mother was locked in a standstill with the droid in front of her, holding both of its wrists as the beams of light they each had were drifting closer and closer to each other's faces. Tears were streaming down her mother's face, but her eye widened with terror when she saw Marion on the steps.

"Marion! Marion, run! Run!"

Her mother's screams to flee followed Marion as she dashed back to her parents' room. She slammed the door behind her, locking it and then crawling under the bed. For the third time, Marion curled herself into a ball, shutting her eyes and crying. She cried and cried, wishing that she could be in her mother's arms or her father's arms, or anywhere that wasn't under that bed.

Then, there was another, gut-wrenching scream from her mother. She stopped crying and looked up. It was silent downstairs. Marion's breaths were quick and fast, waiting to hear anything. Even her mother's screams were better than silence.

It was after a few minutes of silence that Marion heard footsteps coming down the hall. After living with her parents for her entire life, she had memorized the sound of their footsteps. Her mother's were light, almost as if she were walking on air. Her father's were heavy and fast paced. The footsteps that she heard were heavy like her father's, but these footsteps were slow, almost like the person was carrying a weight. Marion crawled further under the bed.

Whoever was outside tried to open the door. Then, the door went flying into the wall. Marion covered her mouth with her hand, trying her best to hide her breathing. The droid walked into the room. She could see it's black feet and hear his loud breathing. It's feet turned to face the bed. Marion stopped breathing altogether.

"Stay under the bed," the droid said in a deep voice. Then it walked out of the room.

Marion stayed under the bed, even when she was almost positive that the droid had gone. She waited for one of her parents to come and get her, still not understanding that she would never see them again.

☆ ★ ☆

The last to come was Saw Gerrera, again.

He came into the house, calling out for her. Marion did not move. Her mother or father had to be the ones to get her.

Saw came into her parents' room, and he wouldn't have thought to check under the bed if not for Marion's silent cries. He kneeled down and looked under the bed, seeing the teary faced girl.

"Oh, my child," he sighed, "Come with me. I'll take you somewhere safe."

She remembered him from that night, and the kind smile that he gave her. Marion did what he said.

Saw made sure she didn't see her parents as he carried her out of the house. He put her on his ship and took her to a storage area in the back. He laid out a jacket on the ground, laying her on top of it, then placing another jacket on top of her.

"I can come back later if I need to and get anything you need, okay?" he said, kneeling next to her. Marion nodded, but she was too tired to really understand what he was saying.

As Saw Gerrera and his team cleaned up her home and laid her parents to rest, Marion slept. She didn't know that her life would never be the same, that she would never see her parents again. All that she knew was that she was tired, that Saw Gerrera was trustworthy, and that she couldn't wait to be held by her mother and father.