Summary: The Ewoks can't fight the empire's best troops, the trap succeeds, the rebels lose. Darth Vader descends for the captured rebels, a quarrel with Leia ensues. There's no happy ending, not here and not now, this tale is all sorrows and woes.

Note: When trying to decide how Vader could end up capturing Leia on Endor, this seemed like the most logical series of events…?

Scenes and dialogue paraphrased from the 1981 script of Return of the Jedi.

...

On the forest moon of Endor, small pinpricks of light sparkled and flashed in the clear blue sky. They haloed the unnatural grey moon, hovering in a geostationary orbit. A deflector shield surrounded the half completed station, invisibly projected from the generator hidden on the forest moon.

Leia frowned up at the winking lights, knowing that for every small flash she saw, a cruiser or capitol ship was destroyed. She only hoped that some of them were Stardestroyers and that the Alliance forces were holding their own. They just needed a little more time.

An explosion brought her eyes back down to the battlefield before her. The sound of blaster fire and the battle cries of the Ewoks filled the air.

Han was at her back, attempting to hotwire the blast doors for the deflector shield bunker. So far he'd had no luck, only succeeding in bringing an additional layer of the blast-door down. If only Artoo hadn't been hit by that lucky shot, they'd have the Death Star's deflector shield down for the fleet by now.

As she laid covering fire for Han to work in peace, she worried about Luke. He was up there, alone, with Darth Vader and the Emperor. Her mind shied away from the revelation last night. The detonator Luke had dropped on her and then disappeared to face Vader. She didn't know how she knew Luke was on the Death Star, or she did, but it was a feeling she didn't want to examine.

However, Luke's final words to her played in her mind over and over as she worried and tried to focus on the task at hand.

"Because...there is good in him. I've felt it. He won't turn me over to the Emperor. I can save him. I can turn him back to the light. I have to try."

Luke was so certain he could save Vader, someone who'd committed countless atrocities in the name of the Empire. She just couldn't understand it. If her feeling was right, and he was on the Death Star with the Emperor, than he'd been wrong. And if he was wrong in thinking Vader wouldn't turn him over, was he also wrong about the good in him? Why was he even trying?

She shuddered and missed a stormtrooper stealthily approach from the cover of nearby brush.

"If I don't make it back, you're the only hope for the Alliance."

As if she didn't already play a large role in the fate of the Alliance. A General herself, now he expected her to become a Jedi and be responsible for Vader and the Emperor? Alone? Without him? She wanted nothing to do with that power! Not if it meant being anything at all like…him. Nausea rose in her at the thought of sharing anything with that-that attack dog! A prominent, painful main feature in years of nightmares.

Who would teach her anyway? There were no Jedi left.

Distracted, the red blaster bolt from the nearby bushes caught her completely by surprise.

"Ah!" She cried and stumbled back into Han, gripping her shoulder in pain. He grunted in surprise and quickly helped settle her in the corner he'd been occupying, her feet no longer able to hold her up due to the sharp pain.

"Oh, Princess Leia, are you alright?" Threepio fussed from his cover next to the fried Artoo.

"Let's see." Han demanded, hands hovering hesitantly over her.

"It's not bad." She shook her head and grit her teeth against the pain. She wouldn't be taken down but a glancing blow like this.

"Freeze!" Leia and Han froze in shared surprise. Multiple stormtroopers approach them, including the one who'd shot her, blasters drawn.

"Oh, dear." Threepio fretted.

"Don't move!" They ordered, closing in.

Leia carefully readied her blaster with her uninjured arm, using Han's body to hide it from view of the stormtroopers. Han glanced down at it then up at her in understanding. Their eyes met, his filled with affection and admiration, hers with determination. She'd need to be quick to get the troopers, but she was a very good shot.

"I love you." Han quietly said, admiration clear in his voice.

Leia smiled up at him, her worries and fears temporarily washed away. They had yet to address what had been said during that last moment on Cloud City. Both still dancing around each other, uncertain of what to say or do.

Feeling fond and happy at him finally admitting his feelings as well, she knowingly replied, "I know."

"Hands up! Stand up!" The modulated voice of the stormtroopers ordered, breaking the moment.

Han gave her a quick nod and slowly raised his hands in the air.

Leia tightened her grip and readied herself. She'd need to be very fast to shoot them all before they could return fire. In this moment, Han's life was in her hands.

Han began to stand up but as he did so, a hazy feeling began to build in her mind. She almost frowned at Han, why was he standing up so exaggeratedly slowly? but blinked and realized it wasn't him. It was her perception that had changed.

A strange pressure joined the hazy feeling and her mind drifted without her consent from the moment. Panic flared at the foreign sensation she couldn't control. Her eyes gained a faraway look, unable to focus on Han's slow movement.

Han, not noticing her distraction, began to turn to give her the shot. In her mind, she wanted to yell at him to stop. Something wasn't right! The pressure continued to build in her head until it was unbearable. A muffled sense of pain that would give her no relief.

As quickly as the pressure had built, it vanished in an instant. And with it an unnameable sense of connection she'd felt ever since a young boy had opened the door to her cell and claimed 'I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you!'

The muffled pain gained a sharpness that had her grimacing.

Time resumed its normal flow. Han had turned enough for the stormtroopers to see her blaster and they reacted.

She was numb to it all. Unable to move.

"She's armed! Stun them!" Was the last thing she heard, along with Han's furious shout, before darkness fell along with relief from the horrifying pain. The severed connection. And the reality of what it meant.

…

Leia came to with a groan and a deep throbbing in her head. She tried to bring her hands up to massage her temples, but jerked her eyes open when cold metal dug into her wrists.

What? What happened? Were we captured? She thought hazily.

She was lying on her side in the dirt, hands bound in cuffs behind her back. The shoulder not on the ground throbbed painfully as she glanced around, moving as little as possible. Next to her, Han was on his knees, head bowed and hands cuffed behind his back. Beyond him, Chewie was slumped on the ground, unconscious.

With a shaky gasp, the aftereffects of the stun bolt wore off and she remembered what had happened.

No.

Han glanced over at the noise and his mulish expression turned concerned, "Leia, are you all-"

"Be quiet!" A trooper behind him snapped and smacked him across the head with his blaster. Han fell forward with a grunt and glared back at his attacker.

A hand landed on her injured shoulder and roughly brought her up onto her knees. She grit her teeth and tried not to let out any noise of pain, but didn't quite succeed.

"Hey!" Han cried, indignant, coming to her defense as always, no matter how futile the gesture, "You watch it you-"

He was cut off by another crack of the butt of a blaster. She winced and shook her head at him, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut and saved his energy for later.

A stiff looking officer approached and she squinted up at him over her headache, refusing to think about the cause.

"Get them in position, Lord Vader is inbound." He addressed the surrounding stormtroopers. With a sneer he met her glare, "He will be inspecting them personally."

She grit her teeth and pushed down the terror that pronouncement brought, not giving him the satisfaction. When his words didn't have the desired effect the officer huffed in disappointment and glanced around, "Well? That was an order!" He snapped and stalked off.

Vader is coming… does that mean…? She scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head, trying to banish the thought.

Leia and the rest of the prisoners were roughly brought to their feet and marched to stand at the edge of the clearing around the shield generator's back entrance. Failure sat heavy in her gut as she saw how few of them had survived. Most of the strike team was being laid out on the ground, dead.

It had been a trap. That much was obvious to her now. An entire Legion had been waiting for them. Not even the help of the brave little Ewoks was able to turn the tide. None of the natives were present in their lineup, but she could see some furry bodies scattered on the other edge of the clearing, stormtroopers working quickly to clear them.

Had the plan been doomed from the start? She looked up into the sky, the dreaded Death Star mocking her by its continued existence.

A pinprick of light caught her eye, the sun catching on an object heading towards them. She couldn't supress the shiver at the realization of who was on that shuttle. If he's coming here, then where is…? She violently cut the thought off and looked around to distract herself.

Han was looking at her in concern, but didn't say anything. A slight wince betraying the throbbing headache he must have after the repeated blows to the head. She tried to give him a reassuring smile but probably only succeeded in a grimace, going off of his wince in reaction. Chewie was now standing next to Han, and he gave a muffled whine when their eyes met.

The rest of the strike team looked as dejected as she felt. The whole attack had relied on them getting the deflector shield down. With their failure she could only hope that the fleet had been able to get away before the Empire could mount a dedicated counter offensive. A slim hope given the trap they'd fallen into here on the ground.

The throbbing in her head increased in potency as the roar of a Lambda-class Shuttle sounded overhead.

Vader had arrived.

Multiple emotions swirled uncomfortably in her gut, the thought she'd been trying so hard to suppress threatening to come to the surface. Fear dominated. Fear for herself and the unwanted connection and accompanying responsibility. Fear for Han and Chewie, their torture at Vader's hands not even a year past. And fear for the fate of…

"If I don't make it back, you're the only hope for the Alliance."

Dust and debris swirled around them as the shuttle touched down before them; Leia was forced to duck her head to protect her eyes. Before the wind even had a chance to settle, she heard the hiss of the shuttle's ramp lowering.

In dread, she forced herself to raise her eyes, the pain from the headache and her shoulder throbbing and keeping her hyper aware.

Through the steam of the hydraulics, a black shadow emerged. Her heart began to beat so fast in her chest she worried it would burst. As the steam cleared, the armoured form of Darth Vader became crystal clear, stalking down the ramp.

He looked like his usual self, a black void that seemed to suck the very life from the air around him. There was no sign that that he had been in any of the fighting. The heavy black fabric he wore over his shoulders flared out and her eyes were arrested by a startling sight.

He's missing his right hand.

There was a ringing in her ears. Her breath came in quick pants. Sweat left her hands slick where she gripped them, bound behind her back.

He's missing his right hand! Her brain was stuck on the thought, refusing to move past it.

In the distance, she heard a growl to her right.

He's missing his right hand. Just like…

Anguish built up painfully in her chest, closing her throat. If Vader was injured, there was only one person who could have done it. One person who was not here. Who she could no longer feel. The sensation of being wrapped in a warm blanket, a feeling that had followed her through last night all the way up to… all the way up to the moment she'd felt it ripped away. Replaced with immense pain. Then silence. Emptiness.

Just like Luke.

A scream built up inside of her. Vader reached the end of the ramp. The ringing stopped and with it, her self-control.

She knew now, without a shadow of a doubt, something had happened to Luke. And it was Vader's fault.

The rage at the supposed man before her, the man Luke had called Father, burst from her in a scream of agony and fury.

"You!"

She leapt forward, quicker than her guard, and charged at the black monstrosity. Behind her, shouts of surprise sounded.

"Vader!" She growled, hatred making her voice rough.

Vader paused in his advance, but made no move otherwise. So intent on him, not even knowing what she'd do when she reached him, besides wanting to attack, she didn't hear the booted feet behind her until she was half tackled from behind. Together, both Leia and the stormtrooper stumbled and fell to their knees. She immediately tried to leap to her feet but the trooper managed to grab her injured shoulder, causing her to contort and gasp in pain.

It was almost a relief from the stabbing headache.

The sound of boots on gravel, and the fearfully apologetic words of the trooper to Vader, made her open eyes she hadn't realized she'd shut. Black boots, armoured up the knee, stopped a pace away from them. She raised her eyes but was caught once more by the missing right hand.

"Luke," she whispered to herself, grief almost overcoming her anger.

Vader motioned with his remaining hand, ordering them to their feet. The stormtrooper began to lift her back up but she refused to be manhandled. She struggled to stand on her own, hampered by the cuffed hands and the surprised fumbling of the trooper.

She glared at Vader through the pain and raised her chin, every inch the royalty she had been raised to be, ignoring the stormtrooper as if he was a minor annoyance.

"What did you do to Luke!?" She demanded, almost shouting in Vader's face. Gasps sounded behind her, along with a nervous growl from Chewie.

Vader made no move to answer. In fact he didn't move at all, merely tilted his head as if he was studying her.

The stormtrooper yanked at her, causing her to stumble back a step, obviously trying to get her back into line and away from Vader. Having none of it she ripped herself free, despite the stab of pain that shot through her shoulder. She took a step forward, having to raise her head to meet the black, vaguely red tinted lenses and growled, "Vader, answer me!"

Vader once again didn't answer at first, to her rising ire, but he did give a flick of his left hand, sending a gust of wind past her ear. She twitched to the side, enough to see the stormtrooper flat on his back behind her. A very brief frown crossed her face but she refused to be distracted and turned her glare back onto Vader, intent to get answers from him.

Luke couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be.

"The Emperor killed him." Vader rumbled, cutting through her denial.

Her anger left her in a swoop that made her take a wobbly step back, head shaking in denial. Not like this, not after she just found out about their connection, not her brother. The only family that had been left, regardless of whether she'd known it or not.

"But you already knew that, didn't you, Princess?" He asked contemplatively and took a step forward to maintain the distance. "You knew the moment the Emperor destroyed him."

Leia stared at Vader with wide eyes for a moment, beginning to realize what he might be implying, afraid of what conclusion he might come to. Her skin crawled in disgust at the shadow of the truth, unwilling to think or acknowledge it. She tried to cover her shock and fear by going on the attack.

"He never should have left - gone to you in the first place." She snarled up at him, scowling once more, "You gave him to the Emperor. It's your fault he's—" She couldn't bring herself to say it. She could barely think it, her headache throbbing painfully as if in response to the thought.

"You are correct, he should not have." He replied, surprisingly subdued.

He raised his left hand and Leia flinched and tried to take a step back. But she couldn't move. She blinked in shock. Something held her in place, her muscles refusing to respond. Ice shot up her spine as she realized he must be doing something with the Force.

She glared at Vader in hatred now, pain and anger mixing together. She tried to angle her head out of the way of his reaching hand and hissed, "Don't touch me!"

He roughly grabbed her by the chin, thumb against her cheek, to the outraged squawk of Han. He turned her head from side to side, looking for something. Icy fear once more cut through the heat of her anger. She tried to wrench away from him to no avail, panic blooming where anger and grief had ruled.

Her headache flared to migraine levels of pain. An unbidden whine of pain escaped her and her knees gave out. Or they would have, if she wasn't held up in an immobile grip. Her world tunneled down to the excruciating pain, vision going black at the edges, and the black armoured form of Vader. Then, suddenly, as if a cold compress had been placed on a throbbing wound, the migraine retreated back into a dull throb. Less painful than it had been since she recovered from the stun.

She blinked hastily to bring everything back into focus as he finished his examination wordlessly. A stomach turning thought temporarily cleared her head of the angry fog, does he know…? Is that…why he is acting so strange? She asked herself, finally realizing that he'd been behaving… differently than she'd expect.

Leia was still frozen in place and so couldn't duck away when his hand released her chin and moved to grab the scruff of her jacket. She shivered in disgust and gave an outraged, "Let go!"

Vader turned and began to maneuver her towards the shuttle, her ability to move restored. The grip caused her jacket to rub painfully against the blaster wound and she was forced to grimace in pain and follow him, almost slumping against him to get away from the pain as he walked with her at his side.

Quietly, as if he only wanted her to hear, he said "Your destiny lies with me, now."

"Never," She growled while he raised his voice to address the Imperials around them.

"Commander, collect Captain Solo and the Wookiee and secure them in the shuttle." Leia looked up at Vader in trepidation as they reached the base of the shuttle ramp. Tilting his head down to look at her he finished his order with, "Execute the rest."

She shivered, cold once again. She tried not to let any of her true feelings show. Knowing the message Vader was sending her. The only reason Han and Chewie were alive, was because of her.

Leia blinked her eyes at the sudden darkness of the shuttle, the lighting surprisingly dim after the bright late morning light on the moon. They came to a stop in front of a seat that she recognized as right next to the medical berth. It was a designated first-aid seat with bacta patches and other wrappings for minor wounds.

Vader released her and stepped back, obviously expecting her to sit down. She straightened her back, intent on refusing until the others were there, acutely aware that they were alone in the shuttle.

Her eyes caught on Vader's missing right hand and she bitterly said, "He should have just killed you."

Blaster shots rang out from the clearing; Han and Chewie's shouts and cries of dismay reaching them in the shuttle.

Vader raised his right arm and seemed to examine his missing hand for a moment. He let it drop then agreed, "Yes, he should have." His voice was tight from some held back emotion but she could not fathom what it could be, completely confused and off balance at his response.

His next words shattered her.

"Your brother…" Her legs gave out and she slumped down into the seat behind her, "was wrong." Vader was looming over her now, the bright light of the forest cut out in the dim lighting of the ship, his bulk blocking out the remaining light. Her breath was coming in quick pants, panic overtaking her in the darkness of his shadow. "You will turn to the dark side."

...

Note: Thank you to all the lovely reviewers! Glad Bespin was a novel take on what could happen and that people enjoyed the fight scene :) It is very tempting to write continuations of these chapters... I want to know what happens next too! ;) We'll see where inspiration takes me over the holidays!