A/N: Hello, yes I've come up with a new story. This is just a prologue. It's going to be slightly different from my other star wars stories, I'm sure you'll be able to see why soon enough. I'm really excited to explore this idea, and I hope you enjoy this. I do not own Star Wars, Disney and Lucasfilm does. George Lucas was the brainchild. Not mine, I'm just playing a bit. I only own my OCs and the story-line. Just a warning: This story is going to be dark, there will be depictions of both physical and mental abuse, not overly graphic as I want to keep it at a T rating, but this is a very different version of the Empire. I will warn at the top of chapters though if there is something particularly rough.
Prologue
The teenager watches from in between the trees as the game progresses, tag, by the looks of it. He watches the boy with a contemplative expression. Will he join the game? No, his task is singular. Wait for an opportunity. The girl that he chases… she is of no consequence, easily disposed of if the need arises. The teenager brushes a damp ponytail aside as he crouches down, his eyes not leaving the boy for a second, mouthing words that will make this extraction much easier. He sends them out, the Force carrying them as if on a gentle breeze. Come on Snatch, take the bait. The teenager's mouth curls as he sees the boy's blue eyes light up.
"Hey Leia," the boy taps the girl on the shoulder.
"I'm 'it' now." The girl frowns, but it quickly turns to a grin. "What's the matter?" she notices that the boy doesn't run.
"I'm tired of tag. Let's play hide and seek."
The girl, Leia, lifts one eyebrow looking at the boy, then at the balcony where a gaggle of adults stood talking topics she couldn't comprehend. The teenager watching from the trees nearby knows who these adults are, knows who the girl is looking for, the woman at the center of it all, Padmé Amidala. But he knows she won't be looking for long, what he put in the boy's head is too strong. "I dunno Luke, Mommy doesn't want us to go so far."
"We won't." The boy's mouth twists into a smirk. "Besides, don't you wanna see if you can beat me?"
"You always find me too fast, it won't be fair!" Leia says.
"You can seek me." The boy says. "Come on please!"
The girl sighs. "Okay. I'll count."
The teenager shakes his head in amazement as the boy runs to hide. The girl loved her brother, it was almost too easy. He rises to his feet, priming to run as he whispers into a comm, "Snatch on the move. Get into position."
Leia finishes counting stopping at twenty. Luke was fast, besides she didn't want him to go super far, so she couldn't go all the way to a hundred. Her mother's words entered her mind. It's dangerous to wander off. You two have to stay together promise me? This promise was something Leia had never broken, never, and the funny thing was something as simple as a game of hide and seek feels like such a betrayal. Even as she shouts, "Ready or not, I'm gonna find you!" she feels a trembling in the pit of her stomach. It had only been five minutes since she started counting, but there was a reason Mother called Luke a wild one. There was no telling where he'd run off to.
"Luke, where'd you go?" Leia walks checking behind every branch and under every rock knowing she probably wouldn't get a response. It was against the rules of hide and seek. "Luke!"
"Leia!" She stops hearing her brother's shout. He sounds scared. "Leia, get outta here! Run!"
Of course that sends her sprinting forward toward his voice. She feels the crack of the rock under her feet, only just realizing she was on top of a cliff, and just below she saw her brother on the ground. He must have slipped and fallen down the cliff face, she thinks. Surrounding him were a group of stormtroopers. Come on you dummy, get up! Leia urges. But then she sees him wince, looking down at his leg which is bleeding and twisted at a weird angle.
"You've got nowhere to go." An older boy parts the wave of troopers, as with a simple flick of the wrist, the soldiers stepped aside as one, each keeping their blasters trained on Luke. "So you have a choice to make."
Leia can see her brother trembling as his eyes slide over to where she's hiding. He always seemed to know where she was. It's what makes him the hide and seek champion. He lets out a breath before he turns to the boy in front of him. Leia doesn't recognize him from anywhere. He has to be a teenager, way older than they are, maybe fourteen. His hair is slicked back with sweat and as bright orange as Tatooine's twin suns, cropped short and close to his ears except for one long strand which is tied back. His eyes are crystalline blue and severe. The way he stares at Luke makes Leia want to tackle him to the ground.
"A choice?"
"Yes," The boy stretches the word out lazily. "It's really quite simple." He flicks his gaze upward. Leia feels his eyes on her. How does he know where she is? "Either you come with me, do your duty to the Empire, or your dear sister-"
"LEIA, RUN!" Luke shouts, his eyes widening as his hands go to his throat.
"Did I say you could talk Snatch?" The boy's eyes flame as Leia notices his hand clenched.
Luke shakes his head, his eyes cast downwards. The boy releases him. "T..that's not...my name."
"What was that?" The boy raises his hand as his eyes rove to where Leia is hidden.
"I'll come with you." Luke's voice is soft as his eyes fill with fear.
"Excellent!" The boy grabs him roughly by the arm, but Leia doesn't wait to see what happens next. She runs, panic coating every step.
A/N: So Luke went with the boy. We'll learn who he is soon enough. The first chapter will involve a time jump to when Luke and Leia are nineteen, but flashbacks will probably be applied. This story will involve a different version of the Empire, an Empire where the conscription of Force Sensitives could be a possibility, so it's going to be dark as I said. I was inspired to write this when seeing the variety of Dark!Luke stories on this site. I thought I'd write my own, slightly different, take on it. Let me know what you think.