Last Chapter: Kanan realizes just how close Ezra is to joining the Dark Side. Obi-Wan reveals to Ahsoka Ezra's true identity. Ezra has a run-in with the Dark Side, proving to Vader how suseptable he truly is. Vader realizes how alike him and Ezra are, so he decides to run a blood test to see if they are related.
^^OOo(With Ezra)oOO^^
Opening his eyes was a mistake. His head was on his shoulder, looking down his right arm. The sight made him want to gag. His arm from his forearm down was a mess of irritated flesh and clotted blood. He moved his arm slightly, erecting a sharp yell of pain from him. The wounds on Ezra's arm reopened, spewing both blood and white pus from the offending flesh. There must've been poison on the knife.
'Kriff. That's gonna get infected, if it isn't already...' he thought, his thoughts sluggish and slow. Ezra felt hot, hotter than hard summers in the sun on Lothal. He had a high fever.
The sense enhancer the torture droid had given him seemed to be wearing off. The table wasn't that cold anymore and the pain in his arm was a dull, but often painful, throb. His head still hurt and the lights were still too bright. Ezra groaned slightly, turning his head to the other side. Ezra tried to move the rest of his body but he remained immobile. His limbs simply refused to do his bidding. Ezra relaxed, deciding that he wasn't going anywhere for the time being. He closed his eyes and tried to meditate.
The room seemed to darken. Everything was blocked out. Sound and sight were nothing. Ezra extended his senses, trying to get a message to his Master. He sensed Kanan clearly, as clearly as the storm troopers guarding his door. But he couldn't reach was nothing but white noise, another presence, another light, another fish in the ever expanding ocean of the Force. This wasn't natural. Ezra and Kanan had a bond, they should be able to contact each other! Something was blocking Ezra from reaching Kanan and vise versa. They could sense emotions but nothing else. Not locations or thoughts. Nothing useful to them.
Suddenly, Ezra felt as if an impenetrable cage was slammed down around him, trapping him and cutting him off from the Force. He gasped as a sharp pain went through his head, a cold tendril of the Force searching him. The tendril gently probed his hastily put up mental shields. Suddenly, the tendril slammed against his mental shields, making a large crack. Ezra cried out in pain as the tendril slithered through Ezra's defenses, searching through Ezra's memories and thoughts.
'You won't get them, you sleemo.' he thought, determined to protect his Rebel friends. He strengthened his shields while simultaneously pulling the Dark tendril from his mind. He doubled and then tripled his defenses, awaiting another attack. It never came.
The dark tendril seemed almost amused as it retreated the rest of the way out of Ezra's mind. Ezra relaxed slightly, opening his eyes yet again. The bright lights aggravated his headache so he closed his eyes yet again.
'What in the world just happened?'
He wasn't allowed thoughts on that matter, however, because the door to the room opened, bathing Ezra and his table in white light. A slight humming could be heard as the door slid shut, cutting off the sharp source of light. The humming was still present. Ezra opened his eyes, annoyed at what he saw.
The torture droid from the day before was hovering before him, a needle in one of its arms. Ezra struggled fruitlessly in his binders, trying desperately to escape his prison. The droid stuck a different needle in his neck and a sense of unnatural calm came over him. Ezra relaxed, letting down his mental shields in the process. His eyes closed, subjecting him to a blissfully dark oblivion.
'It's okay. Nothing's going to happen. Everything is fine. Don't focus on the fact that you've been captured. Don't focus on the torture droid in front of you. Don't- wait, torture droid?!'
Ezra's eyes snapped open just as the droid inserted another needle into his arm. Ezra felt sluggish and his eyes felt heavy, as did his limbs. Yet another needle was brought out as Ezra struggled to keep his eyes open. His vision had dark spots on the edges and he could feel himself slipping from consciousness. He could, however, still feel the prick of the needle as it was inserted into his neck, feel the uncomfortable pressure of an unknown liquid being pushed into his bloodstream.
Ezra couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He just couldn't. He closed his eyes again, welcoming sleep. However, he didn't welcome the Sith Lord induced nightmares that plagued him...
^^OOo(Start Nightmare)oOO^^
Ezra was standing in a field. One of the fields of Lothal, by the looks of it. He had his lightsaber and blaster with him. The Ghost was suddenly a few yards away from him, the ramp open and inviting. Ezra tried to move but he couldn't. His feet seemed to be rooted to the ground.
Then, the rest of the Ghost crew walked down the ramp. They had looks of betrayal on their faces. They seemed to be afraid of him. But how, why? There was nothing to be afraid of. They were friends, family even. But that didn't explain the looks of betrayal on their faces.
"We trusted you. How could you sell us out?" Hera's voice was breaking.
"We trusted you so many times. We saved you so many times and you still betrayed us." Sabine couldn't even look at the teenager she used to call a brother, who seemed very confused right now.
"Wait. What are you guys talking about? I didn't sell you out, the Imperials know nothing!" he said, desperately trying to defend himself. He scanned his crew, searching for any indication that they were kidding or under Imperial influence. But he found nothing. They were telling the truth. Kanan stepped forward.
"What are we talking about? You joined the Empire and sold us out!"
Ezra was flabbergasted. He joined the Empire? The same Empire that killed his parents? That's just crazy. There was no way that he would join the tyranny that was the Empire. Kanan seemed to see his confusion and smirked.
"Look for yourself, traitor." he said, gesturing at Ezra's clothes. Ezra looked down and his jaw dropped. He wasn't in his Rebel uniform anymore. He was dressed all in black with a belt and a chest plate, cape and shoulder guard. On the shoulder guard,the Imperial symbol was stamped proudly in white.
"What?" he gasped. His voice sounded weird now. It was mechanical and sounded a bit like Vader's voice. He had a mask on, covering the lower half of his face from the bridge of his nose down. He couldn't see his eyes, but he was sure that they were a burning gold. His blue hair was shoulder length and curly.
Suddenly, Kanan lunged at him, igniting his blue lightsaber in the process. On pure instinct, Ezra unclipped his lightsaber and ignited it, bringing it up in front of his face horizontally to block Kanan's blow. To his surprise, the blade of his saber was red. The hilt was the same but the blade was a blood red instead of an artic blue. The color reflected eerily off of his face.
Kanan and Ezra dueled. They dueled more fiercely then they ever had. Their light sabers were a storm of blue and red, a mass of purple. Ezra was mostly on the offensive, keeping Kanan busy and tiring him out fast. Ezra easily disarmed Kanan, kicking the back of his knee. Kanan crashed to the ground, defeated. Ezra had barely broken a sweat. He pointed his red lightsaber at Kanan's neck.
"You are beaten, Kanan." he said, his mechanical voice icy.
"So it seems... so it seems." Kanan said, looking at his former apprentice with malice. Suddenly, he jumped forward. Ezra tried to lower his saber but his reflexes weren't fast enough. He ended up impaling Kanan in the stomach with his blood red lightsaber. Ezra gasped as he quickly extracted the lightsaber from Kanan's abdomen, the noise sounding strange with his mechanical voice. He knelt in front of Kanan, holding him steady by his shoulders. Kanan looked up to him, his eyes showing his sorrow and betrayal. As Kanan looked up into Ezra's burning gold eyes, he muttered but a single word.
"Traitor..." With that, Kanan fell on his side, dead by his apprentice's hand. The ground around him turned black and Ezra woke up, sweaty and shaking at the dream he'd had. And Ezra couldn't shake the picture from his mind, the picture of his Master's eyes staring up at him, dull and lifeless.
^^OOo(With Vader)oOO^^
Vader was impressed. The boy's mental shields were strong for a Padawan. Even when immersed in the vision, his mental shields were set firmly in place. The boy was strong, there was no doubt about that. But there was the effort of breaking him. The boy was resilient and stubborn, much like his younger self. He wouldn't be particularly easy to break into the Dark Side. It would be better if he walked the Dark path by his side willingly. If only the results from the blood test were conclusive...
Vader had asked for updates on the test multiple times, only to be shut down by an annoying droid seemingly bend on hiding the results from him. Vader had just decided on making the trip down to the med-bay when his comm link sounded. Vader pressed a button on his desk, transmitting the feed. A hologram of a medical droid showed up.
"What is it?" Vader asked, his mechanical voice rivaling the droid's own.
"Lord Vader, the results from the test you requested have come in." the droid said. Vader leaned forward anxiously.
"Well?" he asked, his impatience getting he best of him. "What were the results?"
"Transmitting now." Vader nearly growled in frustration. Why couldn't the stupid, good for nothing droid just tell him the results?! A picture came up on his holo-comm. It was two DNA strands revolving slowly next to each other. Under the strands, there was text.
DNA Sample from Patient 1: E. Bridger
DNA Sample from Patient 2: Lord Vader
DNA Test Results: Conclusive
Percentage of Paternity: 99.99%
"So as you can see, Lord Vader, the results to the test were conclusive. There isn't any doubt that the boy is your son."
Vader was barely listening at this point.
"Is there any chance the test was wrong?" he asked.
"Impossible. There isn't any margin for error in our institution."
"Very well." With those two words, Vader ended the transmission, pondering what he just heard.
He and Padme had a son. Their son survived Mustafar. Vader had regretted his actions on Mustafar with his very being once he heard of the consequences. The woman he'd loved with all his heart had been killed by his hand, along with their unborn child she carried. At least, that's what he'd been thinking all these years...
But there was another possibility. If their son survived, it was possible that Padme survived as well. Yes, that was unlikely, but not impossible. But in order to even consider that, Vader had to face the thought that his Master had lied to him all these years. He had destroyed everything he'd once stood for in order to follow his Master into darkness. His morals, his wife, his friendship, his child... He would give anything to go back and do it all again differently but he can't. He was doomed to live this live. But now maybe with the help of his son, he can create the life he'd always want for him and Padme. But that would have to wait. He had to find out how his son had survived.
Vader walked over to his holo-vid. He searched up medical facilities close to Mustafar. There were several but the closest was one called Polis Massa. That's were they would've gone. Pressing a button on his holo-vid, Vader hailed the medical center. While he waited for them to pick up, he thought on what he knew of the medical center. Vader had killed many Jedi that had escaped Order 66 that had seemed refuge there. It was far from any major trade out post so it made sense to hide there. Suddenly, a medical droid picked up the line from Polis Massa.
"Lord Vader, this is a pleasant surprise. What can I do to help you today?" the droid asked.
"To start, you can tell me if any births took place about 16 years ago? Around the rise of the Empire?"
The droid paused for a moment.
"Yes. It seems that only two births were recorded in that specific timeframe. Both from the same mother it seems."
Vader froze. Could it possibly be true?
"What was the mother's name?"
Another pause.
"Padme Amidala Skywalker, my lord."
Vader released a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"And the children?"
"They were named Luke and Leia, sir. They were twins, the girl born only minutes after boy."
"What was the fate of the children?"
"Both the girl and the boy were taken by one Obi-Wan Kenobi." Taken? No, that could't be right. Padme would never let him out of her sight, much less their children. Unless...
"What was the fate of the mother?" Vader asked, fearing the answer.
"She was ill for a short time after the birth but made a speedy recovery. She checked out mere days after giving birth."
So, Padme survived the events of Mustafar. Palpatine had lied to him, he had lied right to his face! Raw anger and untamed rage took over Vader's thoughts. Not only had that wrinkly bastard taken away his wife, he had taken away his children! When Vader got his hands on that slimy piece of bantha poodoo, he would make him burn hotter than the fires of Mustafar...
But that was to be discussed later, when his family were standing with him against Palpatine. For now, he had to try and break the news to his son. How would he take it? It was a big adjustment, to be sure. The poor boy thinks that he's an only child and his parents are dead. He's lived most of his life believing that lie planted by the Jedi Kenobi. Little does he know he not only has a twin sister, his parents are alive as well. But his parents aren't who he thinks they are. Hell, he isn't who he thinks he is. He isn't Ezra Bridger, son of two insurgents. He's Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin and Padme Skywalker, twin brother to Leia Skywalker. And nothing will stand in the way of Vader reconnecting with his lost family. Not Palpatine, not the Sith, not even the damned
coffin he was forced to walk around in all his life for the past 16 years!
Nothing will stand in his way.
Nothing at all.
Whew! This concludes this chapter. Aren't you excited?! I sure as hell am! I can't wait to type Ezra's reaction! Ahhh! **takes deep breath*** okay. I really need to calm down. Unfortunately, I'm going back to school tomorrow so updates will be slightly slower. Fortunately, I'm off from my softball team for a few weeks so that should speed things up a bit.
Okay, so in this story, Leia is indeed raised on Alderann, but runs away from home. She establishes herself in Corellia, securing a ship and a co-pilot for herself. She's a smuggler and she has run ins with both the Empire and the Rebellion but she is more involved with the Rebels. She is a vital part of the Rebellion but avoids Bail Organa. She changes her name, which is to be revealed later. **dramatic pause**
Anyway, I'll try to update my other stories a little more often. I know it's been a while so I really need to get back on track. Next update will be for one of my other stories, for sure! I'll try my best, at least. Please don't kill me...
Oh, I almost forgot!
Disclaimer: I DONT OWN ANYTHING! As much as I wish I did...
Until next time, guys!
-Nightingale0708
