A Secret Revealed
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Jayelle watched Luke Skywalker spar with Mara Jade somewhat tensely. Watching those two with their lightsabers was, for someone who cared about them, frightening. The fragile truce they lived under for Leia's sake often cracked, and the practice room was where their frustrations were expressed. She would rather they yelled at each other, Jayelle thought ruefully.
Jade disarmed Luke for the second time and he went to retrieve his lightsaber, cursing and shaking his numb hand.
"Your turn, Leia" Mara called out gleefully.
Leia moved from the opposite end of the room and took out her lightsaber. It ignited with a snap-hisss and Jayelle involuntarily closed her eyes. She wished Lord Vader had not allowed the children to practice with real energy weapons. He had waved aside her protests, though, saying that they needed to learn to be careful, and how better to teach them than to let them practice with real weapons.
Jayelle's attention was recalled to the match by an exclamation from Luke. As she watched, Leia brushed a wayward lock of hair out of her sweaty face, and with a cry of annoyance, lunged at Mara. Mara's lightsaber fell from her hand as Leia casually cut off a lock of Mara's hair with her blade. Mara fell into a crouch to avoid getting hit by the lightsaber's arc.
"Leia, no" Luke exclaimed as he rushed towards the contestants.
"No, what?" Leia asked as she shut off her lightsaber.
"Don't use your anger while you fight" Luke earnestly implored, with a worried glance at Mara. She seemed more stunned than anything.
"It helps me win", Leia said giddily, flushed with triumph.
"It will also make you lose control" Luke said with conviction. "That way lies the Dark Side". He helped Mara up and examined her closely. She seemed to be fine.
"The Light side is for cowards" sneered Mara, feeling uncomfortable at the concern the farmboy was showing for her. He was nice to train with, but that didn't give him the right to lecture Leia.
Luke whirled on her, happy to have someone he could get mad at. "Would you say that if Leia had slit your throat?" he asked icily, touching the short lock of red hair near Mara's neck.
"I wouldn't have" Leia said with conviction.
"No?" Luke asked her, looking into her eyes. Blue eyes held brown for what seemed an eternity. After a minute, Leia lowered her gaze.
"Well, no harm done" Mara said, eager to finish the awkwardness.
Leia nodded. "I'll be more careful next time" she promised her friend.
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Ben Kenobi stared at the metallic planet below him intently. Three weeks after Vader's assuming command of the empire and Imperial Center still hadn't settled down. Which was very good for his mission. He would be able to land without much fuss.
Ben smiled grimly. Getting off the planet wasn't an issue. His plans went only to the death of Darth Vader and no further. Although, it would be a plus if he could rescue Luke. Leia was probably beyond redemption.
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Vader stiffened on his throne. Then, ignoring the officers in front of him he pressed a large button built into his seat. "Initiate maximum security protocols" he ordered.
Dinner that night took place in a different dining room from the one which was normally used. It was a quiet affair, everyone feeling constrained by the presence of the guards.
Jayelle looked at her dinner companions. None of them had been able to change before they were hurried to this underground location by their respective bodyguards.
Leia had been attending to some diplomatic business when the alarm had sounded and she was still in her white diplomatic robes. Her hair was braided in a deceptively simple style, with small white flowers running through it.
Luke and Mara were dressed identically, in training fatigues. Mara had been teaching Luke how to run a flight sim. They looked cute together, Jayelle thought, arguing about something or the other. They had grown closer after that near accident in the training rooms. Also Vader had kept Leia very busy with diplomatic work, while Luke and Mara were free to practice. Jayelle wondered why Leia wasn't being allowed time with her friends but had held her peace so far.
A quiet sound, and Vader walked in. Leia saw him first and smiled "Hello, Papa".
Vader acknowledged Leia's greeting with a nod as he took his place at the table. He looked around at the people sitting around the table and smiled. Leia's chosen family. And by extension his. And if one of them was his son, well, so much the better.
"How long do we have to stay cooped up here, My Lord?" Mara asked, her manner belligerent.
She was getting dangerously close to being disrespectful, Vader thought with a frown, and allowed himself to radiate displeasure through Force. "Have you forgotten how to obey orders, Jade?" he asked, in a voice which was almost silky. Then he cut off a part of her airflow by beginning to choke her. "Or do you only respect force?" He released her abruptly and her head fell on the table as she gasped for air.
"No, My Lord" she said, her voice slightly hoarse. Her voice held grudging respect.
"Good" Vader intoned darkly. Then he continued "Jade, I am promoting you to Galactic agent, as soon as Princess Leia is able to defend herself".
Mara brightened a bit. The Emperor thought her enough of an adult to punish her, and had enough confidence in her to restore her to the position she had enjoyed before Palpatine's death.
Luke watched the scene, shocked. He hadn't understood what was going on, and now that he did, he was horrified. Had his father been like that?, he wondered, thinking for the first time that maybe Obi-Wan had killed him for a reason. But taking him from his mother was still inexcusable, he thought, steeling himself against empathizing with the Jedi.
"May I be excused?" Jayelle asked, her voice slightly scornful. She left the table at Vader's nod and went to the small room she had been given at one side of the underground suite.
Leia just looked at her father, her dark eyes wide. She understood his reasons for giving Mara a not so gentle warning; no ruler could allow insubordination. But then, instead of punishing her friend, he had promoted her.
"Obi-Wan is on the planet" Vader announced at the end of the rather tense meal.
They were all surprised, but only Leia had the nerve to question her father. "How do you know?" she asked curiously, her voice going hard.
"I feel his presence" Vader said. "He is coming to kill me."
"I won't let him" Leia declared, her father's roughness to her friend forgotten. Her hand had crept to the lightsaber he had constructed for her.
"Neither will I" Mara declared.
Luke looked at the two of them, eyes wide. How they could defend Vader after his behavior earlier was beyond him. Especially Mara. She didn't seem resentful at all.
"You will both stay here where it is safe" Vader said, his voice containing a hint of fondness. "And you, Jade, are assigned to protect my daughter, and also Lord Skywalker".
"Yes, My Master" Mara said, giving Vader a half bow.
"Your Highness, will be sufficient" Vader instructed, feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of making the child worship him the way Palpatine had.
"Obi-Wan may be here to rescue Luke" Vader continued. If that is the case we will use him to draw Kenobi out."
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"Your Highness" Jayelle intoned coolly as she got her breakfast from the table.
"Lady Palmer" Vader responded. "How are the children?" he asked abruptly.
"Leia is normal, Luke is upset and Mara is overjoyed at getting her wings back" Jayelle said as she sat down on the sofa opposite Vader. "And they all stayed up very late last night, playing cards and pillow-fighting".
"The joys of youth" Vader said with a sound that was almost a laugh.
"Indeed" Jayelle said, smiling fondly at some memory of her own. "I hear you plan to use Luke as bait" Jayelle said, her voice carrying a faint hint of disapproval.
"If I do not, Kenobi will try to capture him when we are not prepared" Vader said, forcing himself to show no signs of the struggle he had gone through, before deciding to put his son at risk.
"I see" Jayelle nodded. "How can I help?" she asked, remembering with amusement that the last time Kenobi had tried to kidnap someone, she'd been on his side.
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When Obi-Wan Kenobi decided it was time to rescue Luke, he waltzed into the Imperial Palace without a problem. Of course, he didn't realize that Imperial Guards were tracking his progress all the way. He wafted through the security network as if he did not exist.
After some thought, he had decided not to confront Vader. The Emperor was always well guarded. His children, however, were not. Especially not the boy, who was publicly nothing more than "Lord Skywalker". Obi-Wan had decided that he would simply go to Luke, and rescue him. Surely the boy had not been totally brainwashed in the month following his kidnapping.
Amidala's son's Force presence shown like a beacon and Obi-Wan followed it, totally unaware that he was being drawn slowly into a trap.
The unrestrained laughter of children spilled from the practice room into the hall, and Ben smiled, enchanted. "I got you" a triumphant female voice crowed and the sounds of a scuffle were clear.
Ben pressed a control and walked in.
Jayelle sat in a chair facing the door, watching the children at play. The slight tension that had come with being part of a threesome had vanished, and now Luke and Mara got along as well with each other as with Leia. Well, maybe not as well, but the violent fights had disappeared. Luckily, the position of favored child did not seem to be spoiling Leia, who had shown herself to be a fair mediator when her friends had an argument. She saw the door open and her eyes widened. Moving quickly, she pushed a button on the side of her chair, all the while cursing Vader for using the children as bait.
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Leia drew away from her friends as she felt a half-remembered presence. "Kenobi" she hissed, her hand going to her lightsaber.
Luke whirled to face the door, his senses on alert. He would not let the Jedi hurt his new family as he had destroyed his old one, the boy resolved firmly, his mouth setting in stubborn lines.
"What are you doing here, Ben?" Luke asked in harsh tones as Jayelle moved towards them.
Leia stepped forward, her lightsaber held in front of her.
Obi-Wan was slightly taken aback. He had never expected Amidala's children to be so willing to harm him. He looked closely at Leia. She had grown to resemble her mother a great deal. Except for the fact that her mother had never held a lightsaber, and never with such confidence.
Luke followed her and grasped her shoulder. "He's mine" Luke said insistently. "He harmed me far more than he harmed you". Leia thought for a moment than nodded, conceding Luke's claim. It hurt to let someone else kill the Jedi, but Kenobi had killed Luke's father. Leia thought about how she'd feel if Kenobi killed her father and hated him even more.
"I never hurt you, Luke" Ben said, his voice echoing with Jedi serenity, hoping he could get through to the boy. The boy who looked like his father had. Perhaps the brainwashing would wear off, Ben thought. But how to save so reluctant a rescuee. "I just wanted to save you from your father".
"His father?" Leia asked for her friend, who could not speak.
"Your father" Ben said impatiently, the reality of the situation escaping him. Then comprehension dawned and he smiled. He had perhaps found the right tool to taking Luke back. "Vader is your father, Luke," Ben said calmly "And Leia is your twin sister."
Leia gasped, shocked. "It's not true" she said faintly. Her lightsaber fell from her hand. Mara and Jayelle both gasped in the background.
Luke felt her surprise and it added to his own.
Luke felt dizzy with conflicting emotions. Vader was his father!!! And the princess he had such an affinity for was his sister. His twin.
His father lived. And he had lied to him, and he did not love him. And he was often cruel.
Luke had always dreamed of parents who cherished him, and to discover that his father had decided not to acknowledge him hurt. Luke felt a burning anger at Vader, for not wanting him. He felt a faint stirring of guilt as he realized that he was even angry with Leia, for being the child who was preferred by first their mother and then their father.
Bewildered, Luke made his way towards Kenobi like a zombie. Better to be with someone who wanted him than someone who didn't.
"Luke, no!" Leia said, trying to grab Luke without success.
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Ben Kenobi walked purposefully towards Luke, only to fall back as a shimmering wall of green light came into existence as his hand touched it. He drew back with a cry, and the smell of burnt flesh filled the room As soon as he stopped touching it, it disappeared.
Behind the wall, Jayelle breathed a sigh of relief. So the energy wall worked.
Behind Obi-Wan, Vader appeared, lightsaber in hand.
"Instead of confusing children" Vader said, his voice coldly cordial "why don't you end this?"
Ben answered by igniting his lightsaber. It was a pity he had not been able to rescue the boy without having to face Vader, but it couldn't be helped.
They fought, oblivious to their audience. They danced through intricate steps, a dance they had performed in fun during happier times. Fifteen years ago. Before one had envied the other his wife. Before the other had sought forbidden knowledge and been rejected without love. And now they danced, the tred of their feet, the wheeze of the breath mask, the snap-hiss of their blades a deadly kind of music. Green meeting red. They both moved gracefully, so gracefully that it was hard to remember how deadly their intent was. To kill or be killed. Black against brown.
Luke forgot his confusion, watching the duel as if in a trance. At the moment all that mattered was aesthetics. A distant part of his mind observed that he was in shock.
Leia grabbed Jayelle's hand. She was breathing fast; her father couldn't die. Never. Leia experienced a blinding flash of clarity as she realized that no matter what he did, she'd always love her father, always forgive him. Always.
Jayelle observed Vader move fast, striking Obi-Wan. His manner suggested that he was done playing. He moved fast, faster than the older man could and began wearing him down elegantly, with brutal strength. Each time the red blade hit the green one, the Jedi's grip loosened. Finally, when the whole room was tense with anticipation, Ben stumbled.
He fell and Vader's saber was against his throat. "Go ahead, Vader" he said hoarsely. "Finish it".
"Not in front of my daughter, old man" Vader replied coolly as technicians stepped into the room with a furry animal on a branch. Suddenly all of the Force sensitives felt a veil draw over their perception of the Force.
"What about your son?" Obi-Wan asked harshly, hoping that his revelation would make Luke reject Vader. At least his death could serve some purpose.
Vader saw no surprise from his children. He sighed. He had hoped to explain their relationship at a time and place of his own choosing, not the infernal Jedi's. One more thing to punish him for, clearly.
"Nor in front of my son, either" he agreed, seemingly unperturbed .
Leia felt a pang of betrayal. Until now, she had been half convinced that Kenobi was lying. She was sure her father was trustworthier than the Jedi. Perhaps she had been wrong.
The Imperial guardsmen who had been waiting outside the room stepped in and handcuffed Kenobi, who shuffled out, a broken, defeated man.
He left behind a family both reunited and shattered.
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A/N: If someone could suggest a better title for this chapter, I'd be grateful.
I'd like to thank Quamzin, justaperson, Blue Moon, Teekoness and Renee for reviewing the last chapter.
Justaperson: I generally lurk too and am bad at reviewing. Thanx for letting me know you're reading, it really helps my motivation to get reviews (Hint, hint J) .
Next chapter: Leia and Luke try to cope with their father's lies. Leia does something unexpected