There will be some big deviations from the Movies and it's very AU. If that's not something you like, don't read it. There are loads of good stories in this forum so, if this isn't the style for you, read something that you will like.
There were voices ahead of me. They sounded so familiar, and yet they were unknown to me. I shook my head and force my eyes open. The sight was blurry, black mixed with grey and light blue.
Where am I?
I pushed myself up and rubbed my eyes, trying to get a clearer view of where I was. The cold floor numbed my bare feet; the fragmented light tricked my eyes, and confused me even further as to where I was.
Movement and voices ahead of me lured me forward. Out of the shadows that engulfed me and towards the collection of voices.
"There is no escape, my young apprentice. The alliance will die, as will your friends." I gingerly, took a few steps towards the conversation. Why did it sound so familiar?
I stopped behind a hexagonal control board, trying to be as quiet as possible. Whoever was talking, didn't sound like they would appreciate someone eves-dropping. "Good - I can feel your anger. I am defenceless. Take your weapon, strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards the Darkside will be complete."
Hang on. The Darkside? Oh no. No, no, no, no, no! Please, please tell me I'm wrong. That's impossible. I must have heard wrong.
I peered round the edge of the control panel, hoping to be proven wrong. But I wasn't. In front of a large window, was The Emperor. But he wasn't alone. With him were Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
Luke was turned towards the window staring out to a small cluster of ships and the occasional orange flash. He turned back to The Emperor; his composure gone- replaced by something fierce, something angry. Something dangerous. He threw his hand out in front of him, calling his lightsaber into it. The sound of its ignition followed swiftly by the crackle of contact with another sabre blade.
The Emperor's cackle filled the throne room and spurred on Luke's new persona. The lightsabers clashed repeatedly as Luke tried to make contact with his opponent. Both parried the blows and fought on, but Luke got the upper hand and kicked Vader down the throne room stairs.
"Good. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you." Luke turned his face toward The Emperor, and then back to Vader. He retracted his lightsaber and returned to a neutral stance.
Vader took a few paces towards him, "Obi-Wan has taught you well". As he started up the stairs Luke replied.
"I will not fight you father." Sorrow, regret and contained anger weighing down his voice.
When Vader was level with him, he tried to strike Luke down, but Luke Parried the blows easily, and kept Vader's sabre from meeting its mark. They worked their way back up the steps, back towards me. I shuffled back into the encirclement of panels.
More blows were dealt, and Luke jumped back into my hiding place, his feet a few mere inches from me. Vader tried to contact Luke with the blade but missed, as Luke jumped up onto the platform above. Luke glanced down to me, face filled with bewilderment, before his eyes snapped back towards his father.
"Your thoughts betray you father. I feel the good in you, the conflict.". Vader stepped closer to the platform, putting some distance between us.
"There is no conflict." He darkly replied, an edge of menace and warning to his tone. Luke's eyes met with mine before passing further along the platform, and further away from me. As Darth Vader followed him, I started to breathe again; nice even, controlled breaths.
"You couldn't bring yourself to kill me before, and I don't believe that you will destroy me now" He stopped, facing his father directly.
"You underestimate the power of the darkside. If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny." He leaned back slightly and threw his Lightsaber at the platform, cutting through the connecting beams and causing it to tip suddenly. The sparks from the severed metal could have flown anywhere, but they came showering down on Luke, and on me.
Luke rolled off the platform to below the main floor of the throne room. And I, stupid as it was, yelped out in pain. The pain was so sharp, and sudden that I couldn't help it.
In realising my mistake, I clamped my hand over my mouth, hoping that it hadn't been heard.
Some luck.
The Emperor's cackling stopped. I could see Vader pausing, and turning back towards me. I was swallowed by my own fear. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I couldn't breathe. My vision was dark and blank; it was as if I couldn't see.
Vader's mechanical breathing was getting closer and closer, but there was nothing I could do. A black gloved hand grabbed me by the neck, and lifted me into the air. I struggled against the vice-like grip, trying to break it, and breathe.
With each step, my surroundings were becoming blurrier and seemed to be pulsing. When Darth Vader was beside his master he released me and I fell two and a half feet to the steely grey floor below. I was coughing and spluttering, taking in shallow and uneven gulps of air.
"Young Skywalker, come out of the shadows. You wouldn't want your young friend to suffer, would you?" I was on my knees, shaking with both fear and exhaustion. I tried to stand, but my feet just fell from beneath me. I could feel The Emperor's impatience behind me.
I tried to find Luke in the darkness. Hoping he would come out and save me. I found his eyes in the sea of shadow and darkness, illuminated still by his anger and ferocity.
A pair of invisible hands lifted me, and helped me to stand. I know I should have run from the emperor, but I didn't. I should have taken the opportunity, but I didn't. I wasn't even sure who had helped me.
I turned my face towards The Emperor and Darth Vader. Vader's hand was raised slightly away from his side. Even if I tried to run, I wouldn't have been able to move. I was turned fully towards the front of the throne room.
The Emperor didn't know actually where Luke was, so he just had to make sure that wherever he was, he would see me die.
"So be it young Skywalker." Luke won't come out. One girl who he doesn't know, or staying on the Lightside of the force? Well, I somehow don't think it's going to be me. "So be it." The emperor cackled and weakly raised his hand. And with that I was lifted, none too gently, above the ground. I looked out into the shadows of the room, wishing Luke would just show himself.
I again found his eyes and searched them, looking for a silent apology, something to confirm my suspicions. But this time his emotions were torn and unrecognisable, I couldn't read or make sense of them. There's no certainty that The Emperor will kill me. Is there? A solitary tear escaped the corner of my eye. I was going to die, unless Luke showed himself, and surrendered. Then - as if in answer to my prayers - Luke stepped forward, towards us.
But something wasn't right. The Emperor's face twisted into that sick smile.
"That wasn't so hard, was it boy?" His tone was filled with ice and lead, freezing and weighing down any hope that had decided to bloom. "My patience is not something to be trifled with. Remember that."
The lightsaber in Luke's hand fell to the floor, clattering as it did. The image of his face, torn between pain and anger, rested only with me.
The Emperor clenched his fingers into a light fist. And my air was closed off. A few moments later the realisation dawned on me, even though Luke had surrendered for me, I was going to die. As soon as I had been seen by The Emperor, my destiny was mapped out. I was going to die, to prove a point. T
he Emperor clenched his fist harder, squeezing the remainder of the oxygen from my lungs; then purposefully hit his fist against the arm of his throne, throwing me to the floor in front of Skywalker, where I fell in a crumpled heap; the world, as well as my stomach, spinning.
I glanced weakly above, to Luke; the saviour of the galaxy, hero of many – now the apprentice and prisoner of The Emperor. And it was entirely my fault. My head killed, and my strength was failing.
"Young fools. Pray you don't make any more mistakes, Skywalker, my young apprentice." Emptiness was flooding my vision, and throwing me out of consciousness.
