You don't know how weird it is only having one story to update since my other series is done. Now it's just this and I can focus purely on writing it to the end. This chapter was interesting to say the least. I enjoyed writing it. Anyway, not much to say about it except it was interesting writing Vader observe how Luke and Leia interacted and sometimes argued and his perspective from a father and military man, especially since Luke and Leia don't see any problem with their behavior at times since they're just used to being around each other. Lol. Read, enjoy, and review!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chapter Two
Dysfunctional Family
When Luke opened his eyes, he was aware of two things immediately. One was that he was alive and two was that he wasn't on Dathomir anymore. He was in a hospital or something… He started to sit up and then abruptly fell back down. His entire body ached. He sat up slower as not to hurt himself again and then propped himself up on his pillows. A million questions were going through his mind, the first on his mind being where was Leia?
At that moment, the said girl walked through the door and launched herself at him.
"Luke!" she exclaimed hugging him tightly.
Luke winced. "Leia…"
Leia let go of him when she felt his pain in the force. "Sorry. You won't believe how worried I was about you. You almost died back on Dathomir."
Luke sensing her sadness grabbed her hand. "I'm fine now Leia. That's what's important. Where are we anyway?"
Leia shrugged. "Not really sure. All I know is that they have one of the best medical facilities in the galaxy. You needed it after what Tytus did to you."
Luke was instantly on alert again and he cursed. "Tytus, where is he?"
Leia pushed Luke back down as he tried to sit up more all the while shaking her head.
"Don't worry about him. He's dead," Leia replied.
It was then Luke suddenly became aware of some things. The first thing was that Leia didn't seem like she was being entirely honest with him. Not that she was lying, but she wasn't saying something. Next, she seemed strangely happy about something as well as conflicted. Luke crossed his arms.
"Leia," he said in a warning tone.
Leia played dumb, "What?"
Luke glared at her. "You're not telling me something. Where are we? What happened and how did you kill Tytus?"
Leia crossed her arms to match his stare. "We'll talk about it later."
"Leia," Luke said knowing Leia. She would do something incredibly dangerous and stupid if it meant saving his life, not that he wouldn't do the same, but he didn't feel that she should have to do that. She didn't deserve that kind of burden. He protected her, not the other way around.
"You might freak out," Leia warned and then started to tell him until Threepio came in.
"Oh Master Luke! It's so good to have you back with us. We were afraid you might not make it. That would have been terrifying. What would we have done without you?" he asked in relief.
"Hey Threepio," Luke said smiling at the droid. "Where's Artoo?"
Artoo rolled into the room at that moment whistling and beeping something, but it wasn't directed to anyone in the room. Just as Luke started to ask who Artoo was talking to he heard a noise that froze his blood. The mechanical breathing became louder and into the room came Darth Vader replying to Artoo, but Luke didn't hear what he said. He just sat staring at the man stunned.
"Holy sith," Luke muttered and then looked at Leia who looked strangely calm about all of this. "Leia, what's he doing here?"
"He killed Tytus… and I asked him to help me…" Leia said trailing off. Sure people were afraid of her temper and tendency to overreact, but when Luke lost it, it was scary if only for the fact that Luke never got angry unless it was when he was defending Leia.
Luke glared at Vader and then at Leia.
"You're joking right?" he asked dryly. "Please tell me he captured you and gave you no choice."
"Well he would have anyway. Not like I could get anywhere trying to drag you behind me," Leia said. "Besides, you were dying. I had to do something."
"You wouldn't have had to if you had just left like I told you," Luke shot.
"It's really not as bad as you think," Leia said trying to explain.
"Not that bad," Luke said laughing and forgetting Vader was standing there. "Not that kriffing bad. Leia you idiot!"
"Who are you calling idiot you-." Leia insulted him in huttese and Luke, who knew more huttese than she did, switched all the way to foul language.
Vader didn't know whether to be amused by the two arguing or horrified by their extreme lack of discipline. They were both extremely casual in their use of vulgar language, almost like it was habit. Then again, he guessed travelling in the galaxy, especially since they seemed to travel in the outer rim a lot, forced them to have to use certain language to get their points across, especially being that they were only sixteen. Most adults didn't take a twenty year old seriously.
"Luke you ungrateful nerf herder. Vader's the one who stopped Tytus from killing you and if it was going to be a tossup between letting you die or asking him for help, asking him for help would have won out a million times over," Leia yelled "I wasn't going to let you die even if I had to sell my soul and freedom to do it."
Luke started to reply when her words sunk in. He owed Darth Vader of all people his life. The second in command to the empire that they had been running from saved him, and he didn't have to. Now, not only did he owe him for helping him save Leia a year ago, he owed him for saving him when he could have let Luke die and been rid of a nuisance to the empire.
"Oh stars," Luke said leaning back in his bed. He suddenly felt horribly sick.
Leia smirked as she looked at him "You look like you need a really strong drink."
"Yeah… Do we still have some Corellian whiskey?" he asked. "This is too much."
Vader decided that this was no laughing matter. His children were in dire need of structure and discipline starting now.
"No one under the legal drinking age will be consuming alcoholic beverages, especially not Corellian whiskey."
"Depends on where you are actually," Leia said. "On Tatooine no one cares."
"Well you'll both act according to the legal age in Coruscant law and that says that the legal drinking age is eighteen," Vader declared.
Leia rolled her eyes. "And when did you have you first drink?"
"That has nothing to do with you princess," Vader warned.
"Who do you think you are? My dad or something?" Luke asked crossing his arms and tilting his head.
Leia and glanced at Vader who was staring at her. They had agreed it wouldn't be good for Luke's recovery to tell him the truth immediately, at least not about who Vader was.
"Can me and Luke talk for a minute?" she asked Vader.
Vader looked at Leia, and though Leia couldn't see under the mask, she got the message through the force. She had better hurry up because he wanted to talk to Luke himself.
Darth Vader left the room followed by Artoo Luke noted. He seemed strangely attached to the sith lord after so short a time.
"Looks like you all have gotten all buddy buddy with Vader while I was out," Luke said to her.
Leia sat on his bed across from him. "He's not that bad after a while."
"This is coming from the girl who doesn't trust anyone and hates men," Luke pointed out.
"True, but I've met some real bastards Luke and Vader is different. There's something about him," Leia said.
"And you know what that something is," Luke accused. "Since when do we hide things from each other?"
Leia felt his hurt in the force and felt guilty about hiding the truth from Luke, but she had no idea how he'd take it. She supposed if she had been raised differently, by people who really were against Vader and everything he stood for, she'd hate the idea. For once though, she was worried about how Luke would react. Sure he was the impulsive one and a bit cocky when he wanted to be, but he was rational-at least a little more rational than she was- and took things calmly and in stride. She on the other had was logical, tried not to jump head on into things until she had at least thought it out a little (she became impulsive in the midst of the situation), and was the diplomat when needed, but didn't react to things well. Either she went off the handle or she was completely passive about it. There was no in between about certain things.
However, the roles reversed completely when it came to Luke's sense of good, light, and right. Even after three years of traveling around the galaxy, Luke still had an innocent outlook on life and when he found out Vader was his father… He would definitely find that whiskey. Leia on the other hand had seen real evil and the so-called atrocities Vader committed were nothing compared to them.
"So are you going to tell me?" Luke asked when Leia didn't respond.
"He knew our parents," Leia finally said with a small smile. It wasn't exactly a lie…
"He knew my father?" Luke asked.
"And mine," Leia added. "He used to be a jedi but he doesn't talk about it much."
"What about your mother?"
"He won't talk about that much either. I think he may have been in love with her. He recognized my necklace. Said he accidentally hurt her," Leia explained. That wasn't exactly a lie either.
"How do you feel about all that?" Luke asked.
"He didn't mean it. I don't know the whole story, but he regrets it," Leia said in a tone of certainty. She couldn't hold back her smile anymore and Luke noticed.
"What is it?"
"The doctor thought they might have to do a blood transfusion and wanted to see if we have the same blood type since they thought we were siblings," Leia said still smiling, but Luke frowned.
"What happened?"
"I told Vader the truth. We weren't siblings. But he didn't believe me because he said unless we were soul mates or something, it was impossible for two people to have such a strong bond unless they were related. Anyway, he did this thing with the force and then did a blood test to make sure," Leia said.
"Was he surprised we weren't related?" Luke asked and Leia shook her head.
"That's the point. He was right."
Luke was silent for a moment as he thought about what this meant. Vader's assumption was they had been siblings or soul mates so that meant…
"We're soul mates?" Luke asked skeptically.
Leia laughed and moved to sit next to Luke hugging him around the waist and leaning her head on his chest.
"No Luke. We're twins."
Luke looked down at her in shock. "Twins?"
"I can get the doctor to show you the results if you want."
Luke gaped at her. And to think she used to joke that the likelihood of them being twins was about as likely as Darth Vader being their father. And then everything made sense. It was the reason even though they played around and flirted a bit, they never really tried nor really wanted to pursue a romantic relationship, why Luke felt like he knew her when they met on Tatooine, why Luke had always done what he could to protect her and had never abandoned her even when he had the chance to, why Leia didn't leave him on Dathomir even when he told her to. Somewhere, subconsciously perhaps, they had both known.
"Oh wow," Luke said. "Talk about irony."
"I know. What were the odds?" Leia asked.
"You could always ask Threepio," Luke said grinning.
"I'd prefer not to. To think that all this time we were twins and didn't know it," Leia said.
Luke shook his head. "Well it makes sense. It's why we're more powerful when we work together. And you do know that means I was right to share my birthday with you… And your name really is Leia Skywalker. I wonder why we were separated."
Leia frowned. She was trying to figure that out herself. Someone had deliberately hidden them from their father. Luke must have been sent to Tatooine and Leia was adopted but other than that, Leia was just as stumped. She had never been so curious about her adoptive parents in her life now.
"Maybe someone was trying to hide us from the empire. I mean, ever since we showed all that force potential, they've been trying to find us," Luke suggested.
"I think it was the jedi," she said to Luke.
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
"I'm saying that maybe our dad turned on the jedi," Leia said to Luke trying to tell him the most truth she could without telling him Vader was their father. "Think about it Luke. Our dad was the most known jedi in the galaxy and the guy disappears during the purges, and it's assumed the empire killed him. Someone that famous doesn't just die without a big story about it. Something doesn't add up you know?" Leia continued trying to get Luke to think about the possibility that their father was alive and well… somewhat anyway.
"Why would our father turn on the jedi? They were the peace keepers in the republic according to what we know."
"But the history books say they tried to take over the republic," Leia pointed out.
"And the history books were written by the empire," Luke deadpanned. "And by accusing someone else of trying to take over, someone else took over in the name of protecting the freedom of the galaxy and now look what happened?"
"I'm not saying I agree with the empire, but the jedi don't actually seem like the kind of people I would want to be a part of," Leia pointed out.
"I knew a jedi. Ben was a nice guy."
"And Tytus tried to kill you for something our dad did. Besides, I'm not saying they were evil, but to deny people the right to have a family or love just sounds wrong and do you know that they used to take children from their parents when they were younger to train as jedi?" Leia asked.
"Where did you find out all this?" Luke asked dryly.
"I've been looking it all up the last few days. Anyway, a person had to dedicate their entire life to it, no family, no material items, no life. It was just the force and serving others. Sounds a lot like slavery to me," said Leia.
"Seems like they had the right principals involved. They were just basing things off of how people were a thousand years ago or something. They didn't change. But how do we know if that's true or not?" Luke asked.
The sound of Vader clearing his throat gained the twins attention. He stood with his arms crossed.
"If you don't mind Leia, I would like to speak with your brother privately," he said.
To Luke's everlasting shock, Leia simply shot Vader a glare and walked past him without a word.
What are you doing? he sent.
Leia gave a mental sigh and said, When you're dealing with Darth Vader, you learn it's pointless to argue early on.
With that, Leia cut off their communications and Luke was left with Vader. Both of them stared at each other for a moment before Luke finally spoke.
"Don't think because you have me and Leia here now you've won. We'll escape again," he said.
Vader almost rolled his eyes. "Calm down child. I have no intention of hurting you and your sister. Quite the contrary actually."
"What do you mean by that?" Luke asked.
"It's long overdue that I overthrow the emperor, but because of my obvious disadvantage, I haven't had the chance to do so," Vader said. "But you and your sister being as powerful as you are, if you help me…"
"We're not joining you," Luke said not wanting to hear any more. "Why would we? Our father was a jedi."
"Yes," Vader said. "And I knew him quite well."
"Really," Luke asked hopefully and then realizing that Darth Vader could use this against him said in a more careless tone, "Oh really?"
Vader smirked under his mask. He knew exactly what the child was trying to do. He sat down in a chair.
"Yes. He was a good friend of mine," Vader replied.
"Was he?" Luke asked carefully. "If he was such a good friend, what happened to him?"
"The jedi turned against the republic, tried to take over and when your father wouldn't join them, they left him to die and took his pregnant wife with them. I'm assuming they separated the two of you to hide you from me and use you to take down the empire someday," Vader said to him. The end was an assumption, but it was a highly likely assumption.
"So you mean to tell me my father would have wanted me to join you.
Vader paused. "Perhaps."
Luke leaned into his pillows with his arms cross. "What does Leia think about it?"
"I'm presenting this offer to you first. Your sister knows nothing about this yet," Vader pointed out.
Luke began to think about it. He could just imagine all the good they could do for the galaxy if they joined Darth Vader, all the things they could learn about the force. Besides, if they got the training and it didn't work out, they could always escape…
"I'm not making a decision without Leia," Luke decided.
Vader paused to regard his son. He was very loyal to his sister and had been loyal to her before he even knew she was his sister. The sith lord pointed this observation out to Luke and the boy sighed. Vader picked up on his confusion and conflict in the force, but instead of prying, he waited for the boy to speak.
"I always swore I'd never do anything without her. People always said we were too close to not be siblings… well the ones who knew we weren't. They used to think we were a couple, especially when Leia decided she wanted to flirt and play around. But it wasn't like that at all. Not sure how long that would have lasted though. I didn't plan on ever leaving her and I did kind of toss the idea of marrying her one day around in my head a few times. We were already best friends, more than that even," Luke admitted and then when he felt something akin to alarm and anger from Vader he added. "Not like that. We were never that close. But I guess what I'm trying to say is… I'm glad that we found out before we got to that because I really did love her, still do, and to be quite honest, I was starting not to know what to think about Leia."
"She is very much like your mother in some ways, diplomatic, confident, defending others before she ever defends herself," Vader commented thanking the force that he got his hands on the children in time.
"Let me guess," said Luke. "She got her temper, wit, impatience, and stubbornness from our dad?"
"The stubbornness can be blamed on both your parents," Vader replied. "But yes. You can blame your father for your sister's other character traits."
Luke was silent for a moment and thought, I can't believe I'm having a conversation with Darth Vader. I actually feel comfortable around this guy. Then again, Leia would say she's been around worse. Vader caught the thought through a leak in his mental shields and felt a surge of anger. His children should feel comfortable around him and not feel like it was such a horrible crime to feel that way. Then again, he guessed they had heard and seen the horrors of the empire after travelling on back water planets and uncovering confidential information in the last three years. It wasn't his fault though. Vader was forced to obey the emperor and bid his time until the time came for him to finally overthrow the man.
"Let me talk to Leia first and then we'll decide what we're going to do," Luke finally said.
"Fair enough," Vader replied. "But I warn you. My patience has its limits."
Luke laughed. "I didn't know you had any patience or that you were fair at all. You're not exactly known for it."
Vader didn't reply and left the room. Leia came in a few minutes later.
"You called?" Leia asked coming into the room.
"Yeah," Luke said thinking over what Vader said to him.
"What's wrong?" Leia asked and narrowed her eyes. "What did Vader say to you? What did he do?"
Luke rolled his eyes. "Why are you always assuming someone has done something wrong?"
Leia gave him a pointed look and Luke slapped his forehead saying. "That's right. Never mind. But no, he didn't do anything. In fact he gave us an interesting offer."
Leis raised her eyebrow and sat on the bed. "What?"
"He wants us to join him," Luke said simply and to his surprise Leia didn't immediately jump off the bed in disbelief and cross her arms with a defiant no. In fact, she didn't seem to have much of a reaction at all. She wasn't even putting up a fight.
"I figured as much," she said simply.
Luke looked at her in alarm. This wasn't Leia. Leia was not submissive. In fact, she was anything but submissive. It was the reason she was always in trouble with her master as a slave, why every time he went to see her, he was helping her clean some bruised from where Meyrin had smacked her because of her defiance.
"So?" Luke asked beginning to wonder what Vader had done to make her like this.
Leia, sensing Luke's suspicion, started to talk.
"I think it's a good idea. If we join him, more than likely he'll train us. Just think. This may be our only opportunity to learn more about the force. I mean look at how powerful we are together now. Just think of what we can do with a little training," Leia said.
Now Leia was sounding more like herself. But usually it would have been after he convinced her that it might be a good idea and that it was probably their only option at the time… Something wasn't right about this.
"You sure about this?" Luke asked trying not to sound suspicious.
"Sure," Leia said and then added dryly in a more exasperated tone than angry one, "It's our only choice right now anyway. You have to get better."
"I am better. In fact, we could escape right now if we wanted," Luke said, but he got the feeling that Leia didn't want to escape at all.
"Luke, we've done the running around with blaster wounds and broken bones before and it never made us feel good afterwards. For once you're getting some of the best care in the galaxy and I want you to. So just rest and if we find that this isn't going to work out, we'll blast our way out of here," Leia said standing up.
"Well you should go get him then," Luke said and Leia laughed.
"That pain medicine must make your senses really dull if you don't sense him standing next to the door," she pointed out.
Vader came back in the room standing with his arms crossed and Luke noted that he and Leia made the exact same pose when they were becoming impatient about something.
"So?" he asked.
Luke and Leia exchanged a look. "Alright," Leia said.
"We'll join you… for now," Luke said.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
A few days later, Luke still wasn't quite recovered, but that didn't stop him from getting up and dressed, despite the fact that he still couldn't breathe without a little chest pain. In fact, he managed to sneak out the hospital to the hanger where the Amidala was docked. He stepped onto it and felt better immediately. The Amidala was home to him. He decided that the ship needed an engine tune up and started to find the tools needed to do so.
"You're supposed to be resting young one," Vader pointed out.
Luke rolled his eyes. Count on the sith lord to find him…
"I'm bored. I'm going to explode if I have to stay in that bed any longer," Luke replied going to the engine. "Besides, you're not the boss of me last time I checked."
Luke headed for the latch that opened the panel covering the engine and opened it. Then he added, "And I don't know what you said or did to Leia to make her so submissive all of a sudden, but if I found out you hurt her or threatened her, I swear I'll try to kill you."
"You're very protective of her," Vader noted taking this as a good opportunity to find out more about the children's past.
"That's what everyone says," Luke said starting to work on the engine. "And it's not surprising considering I'm her brother."
"But you were protective before that, more than any brother protecting his sister I've encountered. Why?"
Luke looked at him in a calculating manner before sighing. "Don't tell Leia I told you this, but she had a hard life before I met her, still had one while I knew her until we ran away from Tatooine. You've only known her for a few days so you may not have noticed, but she does things and says things that people don't understand sometimes, and it's not that she's trying to. She just can't help it. She did things to survive and some of the habits are hard to break. I used to think that was just a cliché, but it's true. That's why I'm surprised she hasn't tried to blow your brains out yet if you did threaten or hurt her. She has the tendency to shoot first and ask questions later."
"I wouldn't have guessed," Vader commented. "She seems to be very diplomatic."
"When she wants to be," Luke said taking a piece off the engine to clean it. "Sl- Her past really messed her up. She doesn't trust anyone and is always inclined to think the worst of people while I'm the exact opposite."
"Like your mother," Vader pointed out.
Luke smiled slightly. "I wish she hadn't died… for Leia's sake more than mine. I didn't have an easy life, but it was heaven compared to what Leia went through."
"You always seem to talk about Leia. What about yourself?"
"Why do you care?" Luke asked.
"I thought you were the trusting one," said Vader.
"I am. But since Leia has apparently been taken over by some alternate personality, I have to compensate," Luke replied.
Seeing that he was getting nowhere trying to get to know his son like this, Vader looked at the engine.
"You have taken great care of this ship," Vader said.
"It was the least we could do after we stole it from Naboo. But it wasn't like they were getting any use from it just sitting there in honor of Padmé Amidala's memory. We named it after her anyway though. Leia said it was the least we could do after we dishonored her," Luke replied.
Vader smirked. They hadn't dishonored her as much as they had just taken repossession of a ship that was theirs to have since their mother died anyway.
"You know, there are many enhancements you can use to improve the speed and hyper drive capabilities on this ship," Vader said.
"I know, but I can't figure out how. A friend of ours, Han, he had some ideas, but to do it his way would take away from the integrity of the ship I think. It would make the ship faster, but it would make the ship stall and for every time we could get into hyperspace, the hyper drive would fail at least twice. Not to mention all the rewiring I would have to do and I didn't want to ruin how nice this ship already is," Luke said.
"I can help you with that," Vader suggested.
Luke sat back suddenly and turned to Vader. "Can I ask you something?"
"Yes child."
"Was Padmé Amidala our mother?"
Vader tensed. "Why do you ask?"
"Because she looks just like Leia… Well except for the hair, but Leia's hair was like that before the suns bleached it. She still has some of the streaks under that dye."
"Dye?"
"Yeah," Luke said running a hand through his own hair. "My hair is actually blonde. So was she? I heard she died before she gave birth but if me and Leia were hidden, was it possible they made her look pregnant?"
Vader almost smiled. Luke was very intuitive.
"I suppose they could have, but yes. She was your mother," Vader replied and Luke smiled.
"I always knew she was Leia's mother before, even though Leia didn't want to admit it, but it's nice at least knowing who my mother was," he said. "No wonder Leia acts like a spoiled little princess sometimes."
Luke started to mess with the engine again and then dropped a tool, but he reached out and stopped it from falling in mid-air with the force calling it back to his hand.
"I look forward to teaching you and your sister how to use the force. Your father would have been appalled at how little you know about it at this age," Vader commented.
Luke looked at Vader out the corner of his eye curiously, shook his head and went back to the engine. Vader started to point to the hyper drive and show him how to modify it for faster space travel when Leia called from below with Artoo.
"Luke Skywalker," she said and went over to where Vader and Luke were sitting. "You're supposed to be resting."
"I'm tired of resting Leia," Luke whined. "Why can't we just leave here? I hate hospitals."
"Maybe if you let the doctor look at that hand again, we can convince him to let you go early," Leia suggested.
Luke sighed. "I'm coming," he said closed the panel and jumped down from where he was, landing neatly on his feet next to Leia. He winced rubbing his chest and Vader watched as Leia berated him for being so reckless.
As Vader watched them, he began to make plans on how he was going to train them. No doubt they had missed years of school and though they had worldly knowledge, worldly knowledge he preferred they didn't have, they needed to finish their formal education. Then, they needed to learn an extraordinary amount of discipline if they were to be future rulers of the empire. But before he even did all this, he needed to tell Luke who he was.
He got back in the room late in the evening and found Luke and Leia to already be asleep. Luke was lying on his back and Leia was next to him with her head on his chest, Luke's arm wrapped protectively around her. This was the first good sleep Leia had gotten in days. Vader wasn't sensing the turmoil and fear he had sensed when she was sleep before. He went over to the two and ran a hand through Luke's bangs, his brown bangs. They would have to rectify that later.
Vader started to touch Leia and then sensed a presence behind him. It wasn't menacing but it was oddly familiar and strong with the force. Vader turned around with his light saber at the ready to defend him and his children. No jedi was going to take them away from him again.
He was shocked when he found the shimmering blue form of someone he hadn't thought about in a long time, over a decade. He stared, stunned with his light saber still raised.
The figure rolled her eyes.
"You can't kill a person that's already dead Sky Guy."
Vader certainly hadn't heard that name in a long time.
"What are you doing here? And how is that you're here if you're dead?" Vader asked the torgruta woman.
Ahsoka's spirit walked around Vader to stand over the twins.
"I can retain my consciousness through the force. Padmé asked me to help the twins when they needed it. She would have, but she can't cross over back into the living world. I've been helping to a limited extent," she said.
"Do they know?" Vader asked referring to the twins.
"It's only recently that I manage to tell Leia my name, but they don't really see me per say. They see a light that they know is a spirit. That's more than other untrained force users can see though," she said.
"How is Padmé?" Vader asked after a moment's hesitation.
"She's fine, very sad. She still has faith in you. You know?" Ahsoka asked and then added dryly, "That's a lot more than I can say."
"Did you come here to tell me that?" Vader asked wishing she weren't dead so he could be rid of her.
Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "This wasn't my idea. I just came to check on Luke and Leia before you take them with you. I should go to Obi-Wan and Yoda and tell them that you have them."
Vader glared at her. He didn't care if she were dead or not, if she even thought about trying to take Luke and Leia away from him he'd find a way to make her feel more pain than she ever had.
"But I don't think that's best for them. The force wants this. So does Padmé. She's watched over them for years and she wants them to have a stable home, especially Leia. But I'm not sure how stable a home they'll have with you as their father."
Vader ignored that insult and addressed what his former student said before that.
"Leia?" Vader asked. "Luke says she's had a difficult life. What does he mean?"
"They'll tell you eventually," Ahsoka said. "Don't be too angry when you find out."
Ahsoka began to fade away. "Padmé says take care of them the best you can. She knows you will… And try not to let them get their hands on alcoholic beverages until they're eighteen."
"So you're not coming back?"
"I'll be checking in every now and then, but they don't need me right now. Padmé says they have you now," Ahsoka replied and faded away.
Leia stirred at that moment and sat her head up. "Dad, who were you talking to?"
Vader's heart skipped a beat when Leia called him Dad. She was half sleep and probably wouldn't remember it in the morning, but she had called him that nonetheless.
"No one princess. You get some more rest now. We'll be leaving in a few hours," he said.
Leia nodded and laid her head back down, falling asleep.
The next morning, while Luke was putting on some clean clothes and the doctor was telling him how to act for the next couple of weeks, Leia walked behind Vader with Artoo. Threepio was going to walk with Luke when he was done. Vader however, was very annoyed with his daughter at that moment.
"Seriously, when are you going to tell him?" Leia asked. "He needs to know. The longer we hide it from him, the worse his reaction is going to be. If there's anything Luke hates, it's when someone hides something from him."
"We will tell him while in the confines of your ship in hyperspace," Vader replied again. "I believe we already discussed this."
"But he's already suspicious. He thinks you did something to me and if he even gets the inkling that you hurt me, he's going to try to kill you. He's tried to kill people for just threatening to kill me. He killed my-." Leia abruptly stopped.
"He killed who?" Vader asked turning to her.
Leia avoided his eyes and cursed herself for becoming so comfortable around him that she made a slip up like that. "No one. It's nothing."
"Is this about why you ran away from Tatooine? About that Imperial officer that was found dead in Mos Eisly?" Vader asked.
"No, of course not," Leia said smoothly.
"You're lying child," Vader said.
"Do all teenagers have problems hiding things from their parents?" Leia muttered.
"All children with force strong parents," Vader said.
Leia groaned and stomped away from him heading up the ramp of Queen Amidala. Vader stared at the child who had an obvious attitude problem and abrupt mood swings. She needed more discipline than even Luke did perhaps. He started to call after her when he sensed Luke's approach. Luke stood next to him staring after Leia.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked
Vader didn't reply and headed up the ramp to the ship. Luke raised his eyebrow at the man's retreating form. He reminded him very much of Leia, ignoring things he didn't want to talk about.
Luke went to the cockpit and saw Threepio and Artoo already in their spot, as well as Leia, but Vader was in Luke's seat.
"This is our ship and I pilot it," Luke said standing next to Vader expecting him to move out the way.
"That may be so, but I'm on the ship right now and since you don't even know where we're going, I'll be the one flying from now on," Vader said simply.
Luke gaped at him and Leia rolled her eyes. This wasn't going to go over well since it seemed like both of them liked flying and knew they were good pilots. So this was where Luke got his love of flying from.
"That's not fair. You can't just come on here and take over," Luke snapped.
"Actually, considering who this is he-." Threepio was cut off by Luke.
"I don't care who he is. This is me and Leia's ship and we'll be the ones to fly it," Luke said glaring at Vader. "Move aside."
Vader turned his mask slightly to Luke and said dryly, "I hope you aren't trying to intimidate me child."
"So what if I am?" Luke asked.
Vader just looked at the child and then as if deciding Luke wasn't worth his time at the moment, he turned back to the control and took off.
Luke stared at Vader dumbfounded, unable to believe that the man had just brushed him off. That was something Luke did to other people, not something people did to him. Leia stifled a laughed at Luke's expression, but Luke, sensing her amusement said, "Ha ha. Laugh it up Leia."
"There's no point in trying to argue with him Luke," she said as Luke sat down next to her and crossed his arms. "I've been with the guy all week and he always wins."
Sith grouch, Luke sent to Leia who laughed.
"I heard that," Vader said to them.
"Oh stang," Luke muttered.
"And watch your language son," Vader replied.
"I'm not your son," Luke said.
Leia rolled her eyes at the irony as she got up and headed to the back when Vader made the jump to hyperspace.
"You may check the controls if you wish," Vader said standing up. "To see if I got everything right or made an error," he added and Luke had a feeling he was humoring him more than anything.
With that Vader followed behind Leia leaving Luke in a disgruntled mood. Artoo called him and Luke snapped, "What?"
Artoo made a shrill whistle in response and rushed out behind Vader. Luke faintly heard Artoo say something to the sith and then Vader reply, "I was much the same way in my youth. He may eventually grow out of it."
Artoo made a dry response.
"You must admit though, it isn't as obvious."
Luke groaned. That was it. Something was going on and they weren't telling him what. He made his way to the back where he found Leia listening intently as Vader instructed her on the pros and cons of the different weapons in their weaponry.
"So for long range," she said taking the blaster and weighing it in her hand, "This one is best? But it's so light."
Vader started to reply, but Luke came in with his arms crossed and Leia rolled her eyes.
"Oh prefect. You're having mood swings again," Leia muttered.
"You're one to talk," Luke said to her. "And I want to know what's going on."
"What are you talking about Luke?" Leia asked taking apart the blaster she was holding.
"Oh I don't know Leia. Maybe the fact that you're suddenly best buddies with Darth Vader. Or the fact that Artoo acts like he's known the guy for the last twenty years. Or that you are acting so... accepting of all this and submissive to this guy like he's your master and you're his slave!"
Leia's eyes narrowed at Luke's last comment and though Luke knew it was insensitive, he was beyond caring. Vader knew Luke had hit a nerve by Leia's sudden dark mood and anger and before he could even tell what was about to happen, Leia had crossed the room and slapped Luke across the face.
Luke caught her wrist when she tried to do it a second time, and Leia used her other hand to slam him into the wall.
"You insensitive jerk. Take it back!"
"No," Luke yelled struggling to hold Leia back without hurting her. "Because it's true. Since when do you hide anything from me? And since when can the guy that's been chasing us for three years know about it and I can't."
"Jealous," Leia taunted lifting her knee to gut Luke.
"No, but since when do you give in to someone you barely know so easily?" Luke said grabbing Leia's knee, managing to grab hold of both her wrists, but Leia swept him off his feet, and they both tumbled to the ground.
"You insensitive jerk. I didn't want to say anything because you were hurt and I didn't want you to react badly when you needed to heal," Leia snapped as she and Luke struggled to get the upper hand over each other.
"I've been fine all week."
"No you haven't you hypocrite. If it had been me you would have stood guard at the door with a kriffing blaster set to stun if that's what you had to do to get me to rest," Leia said managing to grab Luke in a head lock.
"Well," Luke choked out. "Since I'm sitting here fighting you," he flipped her over his shoulder causing her to lose her grip on his neck, "Apparently I'm kriffing better! And fyi, I'm your brother. That's what I'm supposed to do."
Suddenly both of them were frozen in place and no matter how much they tried to break out the hold they couldn't move. Vader pulled Luke and Leia apart with the force and for a while the only sound was Vader's respirator as Luke and Leia glared at each other, Leia attempting to flatten her hair and nursing a bump on her forehead, Luke trying to stop the bleeding of his busted lip.
"You mother would be appalled if she saw the way you two are behaving," Vader finally said.
"And you're amused?" Leia snapped.
"Far from. It only reinforces my belief that you are both in need of some serious discipline and a formal education," Vader replied.
"And just who are you to tell us that? Our Dad?" Luke snapped sitting down in a chair.
Vader began to reply but Leia beat him to it.
"Actually he is. That's why I've been all buddy buddy with him. He's our father," she snapped.
"Stop joking around Leia," Luke muttered.
"I'm not," Leia said tiredly. "I didn't tell you because I didn't know how you'd take it, and I didn't want you to hurt yourself or complicate your healing."
"Like you helped me out by attacking me," Luke replied, but without as much malice as before. "And you're kidding right?"
Leia was silent and Luke took that as a bad sign. He looked between Vader and Leia and stood up.
"This is your sick idea of a joke right?"
"I don't joke Luke. Your sister is telling the truth. I am your father," he said.
Luke didn't know what to feel. To be honest he couldn't believe it and so he settled on a feeling that reflected that: Denial.
"You're lying," he said to Vader simply. "And you're tricking Leia into believing it so we'd join you."
"There is no use denying it Luke. Use your feelings. You know it to be true. You are my son," Vader revealed.
Since Luke wasn't quite sure how to react, he turned to Leia who was suspiciously calm about this revelation. When he asked her why, she shrugged.
"The way I see it, our dad could have become a slave master working in league with Jabba the Hutt in the sex trafficking business," Leia replied honestly. "I think he did alright. You said yourself Vader wasn't so bad."
"That's before I knew he was our father," Luke pointed out with his arms crossed and then said rubbing his head, "Are you sure?"
"I'm standing right here," Vader reminded. "And you would do well to simply accept it Luke. The faster you do so, the easier it will be to live with the truth."
Vader left the room and Luke stared where he had been standing before turning to Leia and saying, "I can see where you got your bluntness from."
"I can see where you got your tendency to brush people off from," Leia replied.
Threepio, who was standing in the hallway with Artoo out of any possible crossfire, said, "And I can see where you both got your stubbornness, impulsive natures, and mannerisms from. All three of you are very similar. It's no wonder you're related."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In the next chapter, Vader decides it's time to lay down the law in order to discipline his two children, but when Leia throws an uncharacteristic tantrum over all the rules because she thinks he's trying to control her, Luke is forced to tell their father about Leia's less than pleasant past. If that wasn't enough, Vader figures out he can't keep his two restless children (who he sometimes think are five instead of sixteen with all the trouble they seem to find) confined on a ship for very long, especially if he doesn't want the emperor to learn of their existence…
I did the whole fight between Luke and Leia because my twins sisters have gotten into a disagreement and physically fought and hurt each other, but two minutes later act like nothing happened and it's not just them. I know several sets of twins, fraternal especially and they've all physically fought at one time or another. By the way, I'm going out of town this weekend and we'll be heading back Monday, so I have no idea if I'll update on time or not. I might put it up Sunday, but you all know how much I hate updating on Sundays. Anyway, I'll let you know what I'll do later on this week, but I just though I'd put it out there. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Review please!
