Skywalkers' Hotel room [early evening]

[sith_happened]

Anakin had been sitting with Juliet at a table and trying to convince her to eat another chicken nugget shaped like a dinosaur when he felt it: the unique, Ben-shaped spot in the galaxy was gone. For just a second, Anakin forgot how to breathe.

Juliet burst into tears.

JAINA? LUKE? he sent immediately, more an emotion than actual words. If he felt frantic in the Force, well, so be it. He was frantic.

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[solo_sword]

Jaina felt it too. She might have taken a second to respond, because that had been a shock she really hadn't expected, but she reached back at him just to... show she was still there, or something.

And then she left her own hotel room to find her grandfather's, knocking almost frantically on the door even if there wasn't anything else about her that would say 'frantic.'

[sith_happened]

Juliet was still crying into Anakin's shoulder when he opened the door, took one look at Jaina's face and reached out to hug her too.

[solo_sword]

On one hand, she appreciated that and really needed to hug someone. On the other, she was really afraid she was going to start crying now, and that was the last thing she wanted.

"What just happened." Not that she needed to ask. She knew. She just didn't know what else to say.

[sith_happened]

"I know as much as you do, sweetheart," he said, clinging as tightly as he could with one arm.

[solo_sword]

"I'm tired of this," she said, and pulled back so she could wipe at her eyes before she just lost it. If people were disappearing here, she couldn't allow herself that right now. "All these disappearances... That's it. We're fixing this somehow."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded, opening the door so Jaina could come in and hoping she didn't notice the small mountain of tape and batteries Anakin had accumulated yesterday.

[solo_sword]

At the moment she was a bit focused on other things. Let's see if that still went unnoticed when she calmed down a little.

"Still nothing solid about what this thing is?" Jaina asked. She figured him being him, he'd hear about it before she did.

[sith_happened]

Anakin shook his head. "And I don't know if it's getting stronger or if the shielding just can't hold it back."

[solo_sword]

"I kind of lean towards the second thing," Jaina said, folding her arms. "I touched it with the Force."

[sith_happened]

"What did that feel like?" Anakin asked.

[solo_sword]

"Empty," she answered. "It didn't feel like there was power behind it at all. I was expecting to feel dark energy, maybe-" And so she totally went ahead and did it anyway... "-but it's like there's nothing there at all. Just black."

And still she'd let herself start to think that maybe there was a way out of this, that people like her would be able to go in and do something about it, and even if they still could, their timing was horrible.

[sith_happened]

"Like how the Vong didn't show up in the Force?" Anakin asked, frowning. "Or different?"

[solo_sword]

Jaina frowned, trying to figure out how to best explain it. "The Vong exist," she said finally. "You couldn't sense them in the Force, but you knew they were there. This thing is like nonexistence itself, it feels like."

[sith_happened]

"Fantastic," Anakin grumbled. "How can you fight nothing?"

[solo_sword]

"I'd say you go after the people responsible and make them do it," she said. "It's not something we can push back, not physically. So we're going to have to go above it."

Talking strategy made her feel better. It just did.

[sith_happened]

Anakin looked thoughtful. "Without touching it. Shielded ships? Did you bring yours?"

[solo_sword]

She shook her head. "I came by portal. Does anyone still have theirs on island?"

[sith_happened]

"Ben," he said, looking pained. "But I think he kept his on the beach."

[solo_sword]

Jaina felt a pang at that, but shook it off, telling herself that she'd deal with it later. "So that's not an option."

[sith_happened]

"Not right now, anyway," Anakin agreed.

[solo_sword]

"We'll figure this out," Jaina said. Not much because she believed it right now, but because there had to be a goal to hold onto.

[sith_happened]

"We have to," Anakin agreed. "I'm not losing any more family."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"What happened?" Rory asked blearily. She'd been trying to sleep a little, but Juliet's crying -- coupled with the way her body seemed to surge with adrenaline -- had her out of bed and rushing over.

[sith_happened]

Saying this out loud was going to hurt as much as telling her about Aeryn had. "Ben's gone," he said softly, rocking Juliet and trying to get her to calm down.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory immediately reached to wrap her arms around both of them, making shhing noises for Juliet as she reached a hand up into Anakin's hair.

"We're going to fix it." She had to believe that. Had to.

[sith_happened]

"We are," Anakin said, putting reassurance into his Force-sense for Juliet even as his expression for Rory was anything but reassured.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Dad? Luke sent back. What do we do now?

[sith_happened]

Anakin didn't have the slightest idea.

Keep looking for a way to get them all back.