Leia's father had a residence in the Senate complex. When the building was attacked, it was the first time he ever let himself show fear in front of her. She smelled the smoke when she was in her bedroom. Father rushed in, threw her over his shoulder, and charged out. She'd never considered him a weak man, but Leia never saw him move so fast before.
CorSec found who did it. Her stomach stopped doing somersaults when Father told her they'd been punished. It wasn't because she was scared -- but news of the sentencing made him calm down. Their Coruscant home would have to be rebuilt. The Emperor paid for a large penthouse in an upper Imperial City hotel until repairs could be made, and safety could be tightened. The panic returned.
Leia wasn't allowed to visit the Imperial Palace, the Senate, or anywhere the Emperor stayed. Father would joke and tell her it was because he didn't want any tall dignitaries stepping on his short little girl. But in her heart, Leia knew the off-hand comments were used to hide his fear of Palpatine. Father wasn't supposed to be scared of anyone. His jovial laughter had ceased since they moved in. To sense that he shared the same apprehension about their apartment situation only made Leia even more unsettled.
"Will you require anything else this evening, Your Highness?"
Leia bit her lip. She fidgeted on the nerf-hide recliner in the penthouse's living room. The work assigned by her tutors was haphazardly spread out on the table in front of her.
"I'd like to place another comm call to my father, please," she said quietly.
The aide narrowed his eyes. "With all due respect, Your Highness, I doubt he would appreciate another interruption."
The Senate had sought a late-evening audience with Father. Whenever this happened, Leia made several calls throughout the night. She was reprimanded for it, but the practice quelled her nerves, especially during times like these.
She raised her chin. "All right," she smiled sweetly. "I'll be going to bed soon."
With that, the aide nodded. He spun on his heel and retired.
The Imperial Senate-assigned aides were the only good part of this arrangement. They weren't like Father's own, who had been with the family since before Leia could remember. They constantly hovered over her. Instead, these substitute ones merely cared about getting paid. Father was concerned; Leia was enthralled.
Leia went into her bedroom. As soon as she was sure the aide was gone, she pulled on a black, fitted trench-coat. Despite being child-sized, it was still huge on her. The hood hid her entire face. Leia pushed her hair behind her ears. She grabbed her microbinoculars, and ran to her window, stealing a look at the street level below. The walklanes were packed. Perfect! She grinned and slung a small messenger bag over her shoulder. Inside were some credits; Leia always left her commlink behind. She knew about the Galactic Positioning Locater chip Father installed in it. If he knew about her late-night walks, she would never be allowed to leave his sight again.
The hallways of the hotel were quiet this late at night. The majority of patrons were off-world professionals with early morning meetings. Occaisonally, Leia spotted a high-class prostitute or two or nine on her late evening walks. They would walk past the tiny princess with an arrogant sway (everyone knew whose family she belonged to), but Leia wasn't fooled.
Just because she was eleven years old didn't mean she was stupid.
Tonight, things were even more silent than usual. The hums and bustle she often felt inside of her heart weren't there. She ignored it and continued down until she reached the turbolift. Leia punched in the buttons for the lobby floor. Leia could sense an odd mutedness radiating off the staff as she passed by maids and waiters. Father didn't like her mentioning when she could feel emotions in others. He said it was dangerous, and something not to be discussed. She would always refute it with, "Can't I help people if I know how they feel?" Leia only received the same answer: Dangerous.
Everything was dangerous. Sneaking out at night when she was bored was dangerous. Watching too much Holonews was dangerous. Practicing ballet on top of the bookshelf was dangerous.
The reception desk was lightly staffed. With her hood pulled up, Leia was unrecognizable to the lone patron working behind the marble-lined counter. She checked her bag one last time for her key and strode
out the lobby door.
-------
From the banned literature she'd secretly glanced at, Leia knew that there were far more interesting parts of Coruscant to explore. The beings on these walk-ways were all human. They were all wealthy. The younger ones were loudly laughing and clapping each other on the shoulders, while the older ones had faces etched in stone. Imperial City would have to do until Leia was old enough to find a way to get false ID documents.
The cold air felt exhilarating against her face. Leia crossed a few airlanes until she'd decided it was far enough, and time to head home. There was rarely any cause for excitement on these late night excursions. But she would rather stare at different faces than the same boring walls. And back home, she was never granted this much freedom.
The hotel was only a few blocks away when Leia finished the snack she'd purchased at a convenience store a kilometer away. Oddly enough, the foot-traffic had thinned out until only she remained. Even when Leia was all alone, she could always feel the essence of a beetle or houseplant, at the very least. She shoved both her hands into her trenchcoat, humming to take her mind off the strange, empty feeling. Her candy wrapper fell out as Leia fished around for her key. She sighed and reached for it.
A wind picked up. The wrapper skirted across the walkway a few feet. Leia crouched down, brushing it with her fingertips, when it jumped away again. She put her hands on her hips and frowned.
Then, a crash.
Leia saw a bright fireball light up the alleyway behind her. Terrified, she stood completely straight, finding herself off-balance. It sounded too quiet to be a speeder wreck. It was probably just kids lighting firecrackers. She turned, rolled her eyes at herself, and continued heading home. The wind was blowing hard now. Leia didn't even hear the footsteps behind her.
She walked through the lobby door after swiping her key. When it didn't close automatically, she spun around. A man had followed her. He was hunched over in pain. Leia was instantly taken aback.
Shaggy blond hair fell in a disarray around his pale face. Their eyes met. Suddenly, Imperial City wasn't quiet anymore. Leia could sense the feelings and emotions swirling around her again. And they all came from him. She felt wrongly harmonic as they made a bizarre connection, not moving, not speaking, simply staring at each other. Quickly, she found herself moving toward him until she noticed the sheen of bright blood glistening on his neck. Leia's eyes traveled down. The red trail spilled onto the man's tunic, and even gathered on his large, torn robe.
It's my blood as well.
She blinked, not knowing where the thought came from. "Do you need a medic?" Leia asked gently, looking into his clouded blue eyes. Guilt welled up inside of her. He had obviously been injured in the explosion she'd seen; and it was her own stupid fear which had kept her from checking from happened.
The man said nothing. His eyes drooped, almost as if he would fall asleep. Then he twitched while trying to upright himself.
Leia was becoming more frightened by the second. She knew that staying until she could find someone to call for help was the right thing to do -- she groaned inwardly, remembering that her own commlink was upstairs. But there was no one around.
His boots echoed in the large, stone-floored lobby as he came closer to her. He opened his mouth after a few attempts.
"Leia," he croaked out. Blood was drying on his lips. Fingers brushed her forehead, and Leia gasped, stepping back.
Warning bells went off in her head. Plenty of people knew her name, but Leia knew instantly that this man felt wrong. If he needed medical help, someone would find him. She'd make sure to call a medcentre. His sudden bond with her was too alarming.
She kept backing up, knowing she was going toward the turbolift plaza. "I... I..." No, she told herself. Stop talking. If he has a head wound, he'll get distracted and stop watching you. Swiftly she turned around, now running at full speed. Then she heard another pair of feet running; the man's.
Leia was too terrified to look behind her. The man ran with a hard limp, but her legs were shorter than his. The artwork and pottery adorning the walls blurred as tears sprang to her eyes. In the back of her mind, she told herself to not focus on the situation. She just let her body react. Her feet flew as they carried her closer toward safety. All that mattered was reaching the turbolifts. Someone along the way would have to see what was happening. Leia would go to her apartment, and call Father, and she'd be safe. Leia skidded in her tracks as she reached the lifts and read the sign that made her heart sink into her boots.
[ Repairs in progress. Please use stairs. ]
She bolted in the opposite direction. The man had stopped running as soon as she had, and when he didn't budge, their cloaks met in a confused rustling. He still followed. Leia was too upset and too tired to consider why he hadn't grabbed her. Leia's hands trembled for her key outside the stairway. Kriffing hells, where was it? Bile worked its way up into her throat. When the man was a mere two feet away, she finally got it open-- too slow. The man jammed the door with his arm, allowing himself in as well.
After eight flights of stairs, Leia's throat was hoarse. The man closed the distance at all times by only a few steps. Her floor was getting closer. Closer. She'd be there soon.
No! Her mind raced. No, he can't know where I live. She made a split second decision and burst through the next door as soon as she got to the platform, not even sure what floor it was. For the briefest of moments, she'd thought she'd lost him, but the labored breathing continued behind her.
Her heart sang to her. She could sense Father on the roof. Leia asked him why he always went up there after Senate meetings. He only said, "To think," and that was silly, because why couldn't he just--
Leia snapped out of her thoughts. All she had to do was climb up the trellis which ran length-wise up all balconies. It was only two more stories. The man was far too injured to follow this way, no matter how hard his perseverance was.
Covered in ivy, the expensive and rare bark of the trellis was slippery. Leia's small hands could hardly get a decent grip. A few feet before the final floor, she looked down as she felt a thorn tearing her leggings. She instantly regretted it. The view of the airlanes made her stomach do flips, but the man had disappeared. He'd either left the hotel or figured out what she was doing, and had taken the stairs.
Keep climbing. Keep climbing.
Finally, she swung a thin leg over the roof top's safety barrier. Tears ran down her face when she saw her beacon of safety.
"Daddy!" she screamed.
In any other night sky, Father would have been virtually invisible. The bright lights of Imperial City illuminated the back shell of his suit. Leia let the wind get knocked out of her as she ran straight at him and threw herself around his leg.
"Leia?" Father's puzzled voice rumbled through his voice vocoder. "What is the meaning of this? Why are you not in bed?" Leia didn't answer.
He placed a hand on both of her trembling shoulders. "What's happened?"
The roof-access door swung open.
Father suddenly pulled her into his the crook of his left arm. Leia whimpered.
"Who's there?"
Lord Vader cradled his sobbing daughter in his arms as he drank in the sight of the man. High Imperial Princess Leia had an awful penchant for giving her spare credits to street bums, most of them raving lunatics. This one must have followed her.
Leia sensed Father's growing anger. The blue-eyed man stared at both of them, horrified. Everyone knew Lord Vader's daughter was Leia. If the man hadn't wanted a confrontation, then he shouldn't have-- Leia felt guilty, again. He was obviously suffering from an ill mind to follow her and not expect to find him. Despite her terror, she was sympathetic.
He edged back in fear, his shoulders colliding with the wall behind him. "I wasn't trying to hurt her," his voice shook. "My ship's wiring caught on fire. I crashed. I thought I saw Leia, she looks just like her, and... and..."
Vader laughed. Leia was not comforted. "And?" he mocked. "You assumed my eleven-year-old daughter could help you fix it?"
The blood on the man's neck was drying, becoming a brown-tinted crimson. "Your... your daughter?" He rubbed his face with his hand, eyes widening. "I felt... the Force.. shifting..."
It almost seemed as if the chase had helped the man snap out of his state of shock. He still trembled, but now his eyes were sharp and clear. His own emotions which resonated within Leia still felt jumbled. There was a bizarre element at work which she did not understand, because she felt him self-healing.
"The Force?" Vader cackled. "You consider yourself--"
His grip on Leia loosened. She felt Father's confusion and horror as he himself reached out and brushed the man's mind. Suddenly, the formerly muted inner voices of Coruscant sang in unbearably loud crescendos inside Leia's heart. She swung her head around, at Father, even though his mask never had an expression for her to read.
"A Jedi," the man finished for him, still edged against the wall. "Like my Father."
Leia steadied herself as Father instantly crossed the distance between them. Her pulse pounded between her ears. She flailed and flung her arms around his neck as he was overcome with sheer anger and kicked the man squarely in the ribs. He violently coughed.
"Father, please," he choked. "You don't understand-- I don't understand--"
But Leia did. The unavoidable mind meld between all three of them now hummed with images and impressions, filling her with enough information to sort through for years. Childhoods, battles, friends, laughter and fears swirled around them in a jumble. Two infants. One red and squirming; one blue and cold. A dead mother. That was her life's beginning as she remembered. The same infants. One quiet and watchful; one wide-eyed and peaceful. Separated but alive. Luke's earliest memory (she now knew it was his name, and she repeated it over and over like a mantra) was different.
"Daddy, he's not lying," Leia whispered. It seemed like she had been entranced for an hour, but she knew it was only a matter of seconds. Her sweaty palm prints on Father's suit were the only way she could be sure it wasn't just a dream.
Then, Father's grip tightened protectively, almost hurting her. "Do not get involved."
"I felt it," Leia insisted. "Coruscant went all dead. I know you don't want me to talk about when I can feel everyone else, but Daddy, he's not lying. I think he's... he's from another time, maybe another place--"
"He's a Jedi!" Vader snapped. "He is trying to trick you." With that, Father pushed her to the ground. "Stay back."
Leia rubbed her arm, bruising from the fall. "Everything was quiet!" She shouted. "But I could feel him--"
Instantly, Luke summoned the strength to grab the metal cylinder on his utility belt and unleashed a blue blade of his own. He charged at Vader, knocking him off his feet.
"Don't hurt Leia again," he hissed, pointing the tip of his lightsaber at Vader's throat. It was no use. Vader leaped up and threw Luke back against the wall. He fell forward, almost colliding into the Sith, but Vader stretched out his fist and made Luke hover in mid-air.
The fear in Luke's eyes was wild, untamed. "Father, I don't know why the Force wanted this to happen. But it's not Leia's fault."
"You are precisely why I've spent the past nine years hunting down members of your Order," Vader spat. "Who sent you? Who commanded you to terrorize my child with psychological warfare?"
"I--" Oh, gods. Luke felt his throat tighten. "No one sent me, Father. Leia's supposed to be older, she's the Chief of State--" He gagged as his airway constricted further. Breathing became laborious. Luke knew Father -- no, he wasn't redeemed -- Vader wanted him dead. He was already dead here. How could he explain that the Rebels had taken back Coruscant? That he and Leia were 24, but he knew the little girl was her because they shared baby Holos with each other? Luke had seen himself buried with his mother in Leia's memories. He had to concentrate on willing his trachea from being crushed. It was all that mattered.
Leia couldn't take anymore. She jumped up and ran toward Father, pulling on his arm.
"Daddy," she begged, "Let him go. Please."
Luke futilely struggled against the pressure clenching his windpipe. Black spots gathered in front of his eyes. He was still so unlearned. It had been only two years since he redeemed Father; his skills were unmatched, and as Luke's feet dangled, Leia's face was all he could concentrate on. His beloved sister was being raised by a monster, the light was fading fast--
Leia. Her head snapped toward her brother as he melded his mind with her own. You'll.. always be strong.
"No!"
His body fell.
Leia wanted to convince herself that it was all a nightmare. Maybe Father could tuck her crying, screaming form into bed. In the morning, he could use his powers to wash away the unpleasant things she'd seen, and tell her it was just a bad dream. He'd done it before. She knew it was a trick, but it made her feel safe. Leia felt a smothering pain rip through her chest as she felt her brother ripped away for the second time.
"You killed him," she said, repulsed.
"I am sorry you had to witness that." The concern in Vader's voice was genuine.
Enraged, Leia curled her hand into a fist and hit the shell of his suit. "He was my brother."
Vader was becoming annoyed. "Enough of this," he spat. "That traitor was in his 20's. Your brother died when you were born."
"Not... not where he came from!" she shouted. "I saw it in his head. We were twins, and you-- you died, and Daddy, I don't know what the Force even is, but it was so happy for you--"
A sickening crack filled the crisp night air as Vader's gloved palm met Leia's cheek. She fell to the ground, curled in a fetal position.
Vader wanted to rip open his chest plate and tear out all the wires himself. He could hold his lightsaber to his forehead and activate it. The pain would be over in under a second.
"Leia." He crouched down on one knee, gingerly touching her shoulder. "Leia, I am... deeply sorry."
Leia said nothing, exhausted and blank from devastation. She'd heard "the Force" mentioned in pained whispers, and finally, she knew what it was. The Force was what possessed Father when he wasn't reading her a bed-time story, or ordering a servant to put bacta on her scraped knees. The Force was how her favorite teachers mysteriously disappeared when Leia didn't receive a perfect grade.
She wrapped her arms around herself, not paying attention to her Father's pleas for forgiveness. Completely unattached, she watched a worm scuttle through a crack in the cement.
Deep in her heart, Leia knew her purpose was to make life better for everyone. She always had. The Force -- or at least, her Father's vision of it -- held her back from making the galaxy a peaceful place. Leia now knew to regard the Force as her enemy; and there was no better way to fight an enemy than by keeping it close. Finally, she spoke, very quietly.
"The Emperor will be angry with you."
Leia knew Luke had not tricked her. Father could be redeemed one day, and stop killing people because it was the right thing to do, not just because Leia thought it was bad. Luke could be right, and Leia could grow up to be a compassionate hero. He'd be the galaxy's savior, just like she'd seen in Luke's own memories.
Father's tense breathing filled the air. "The Emperor must not find out about this incident, dear one."
Leia allowed herself a final side-ways glance at the crumpled body. Her brother's skin had started to turn all the wrong colors.
Luke was right, but this was NOT Luke's universe.
Leia nodded her head. "You have every right to be scared, Father. You killed a Jedi without interrogating him first. Palpatine should know."
Vader paused. He realized, right at that moment, his daughter no longer belonged to him. He'd lost her through his own doing. She would meet with the Emperor, not to ask for vengeance, but to ask for teaching. Leia violently entered his mind, picking up on his thoughts as well.
"And you can't kill me," she said, raising herself up the ground. She paused, still seeking his hastily hidden thoughts. Father's shields were crumbling from despair. Leia recoiled. "No!" she yelled, horrified. "You cannot throw me and yourself off this edge." Shaking her head, tears beginning to fall back down her face, she carefully walked closer to the same door Luke had used to enter. "You're too selfish to damn yourself so permanently."
The self-hatred coursing through Vader had never been as strong since the day of Padme's death. No, no, he didn't want to kill Leia, it was just a desperate thought that had raced through his mind, he hadn't meant it! He extended his fingers. They were gently bent, beckoning her to come toward him. There was no threat.
Leia simply stared at him. She turned and swung open the stairway door, breaking his heart. When Leia was a baby, the sound of Father's respirator always comforted her. She loved to cuddle against his suit and allow the steady hum lull her to sleep.
Now it sounded like a death march. She walked down the steps, completely in-tune.