Leia Naberrie sat cross legged on the floor in front of a large viewport. She was on board a star destroyer. Not just any star destroyer, Emperor's Vader flagship destroyer. The Devastator. She sighed as she looked at the blue whorls of hyperspace. It had only been twenty-four standard hours since she first met her father. It felt like it had happened only thirty minutes ago. It felt like it had happened weeks ago.
Before she was told the truth of her relations to the Emperor, she had always found the Emperor and the prince fascinating. When she had access to the holonet, she would pull up videos of the two. Usually it was at formal events, usually speeches or parades. There was something she was drawn to about these two. It wasn't until Master Kenobi told her the truth that she realized why that was.
That had been ten years ago. She had never stopped looking up her birth father, but she was much more interested in her brother. Maybe because there were a lot of things out there on Vader. His speeches. His policies and laws. His military victories. But on Prince Luke? He didn't step into the spotlight much. However, he was a hot topic amongst the paparazzi. There were plenty of stolen shots of the prince. They talked about his clothes, his hair, his mood, and especially his love life.
They were twins. Born of the same mother and father. Yet he lived such a different life than hers. And she knew so little about him. What was he really like? Then a few months ago she had the first nightmare. The first vision.
It was a fancy large home. A mansion. The type she saw the rich of the galaxy live in on shows on the holonet. The large halls were a mess. Deep burn marks and smears of blood were everywhere. Bodies littered the floor. They were all dressed in fine clothes. The vision moved through the massacre. Then finally at the end of a hallway there stood a figure dressed completely in black with a long hooded cloak. The cloak was pulled over the face obscuring the top half. But the gleeful smile was easily seen. The figure held a lightsaber glowing red in their hand.
Every few weeks she would get a new vision. They started becoming more and more frequent. The setting changed. From fancy mansions, to dirty packed apartment buildings, to cities, to battlefields, to spaceships, to farms. But it was still the same. Everywhere there were dead bodies. The only one standing was the figure in black holding the red lightsaber. Leia knew. She just knew that person had killed off everyone else.
She also knew it wasn't Vader or his apprentice. The figure was smaller. Thinner. Luke. It had to be Luke. The Force was trying to warn her. Luke was going to fall to the Dark Side, and when he did the galaxy would be casted in a cruel darkness. She had to stop it.
Which was why she was here. On this star destroyer. The Emperor's star destroyer. With her father and brother. She was here to make sure Luke didn't fall to the Dark Side and become a Sith like their father. But honestly, Leia had no clue how she was going to do that. She meditated. She reached into the Force, but she found no answers. In fact she just kept running into him. Darth Vader.
Vader's presence in the Force was huge, violent, and dark. He was a hurricane. A massive wild beast. She could ignore that, but he wouldn't leave her alone. His presence kept reaching out to her. Trying to wrap itself around her. When she had finally fallen asleep, she had awoken to find she had been completely cocooned in his presence in the Force. It had taken two hours to unwind the dark tendrils and get herself free. The heavy pressure from him was giving her a headache.
The door behind her opened. She heard the gentle swoosh followed by heavy steps approach her. There was no doubt who had entered the room. The dark pressure had only worsened. She sighed as she pushed herself up and turned to face him.
"Are you always like this?" she asked.
Vader paused. There was a quick look of confusion. It was satisfying for Leia to see. "Like what?" he asked a bit cautiously.
"In the Force," she said while she waved her hands. "It's just . . . so . . . much."
At once his presence shrinked back. The tendrils that often sought to curl around her, pulled away. "I was unaware," he explained.
He was unaware? How could he not be aware of how much of a presence he was projecting? He was just naturally like this? How did others deal with this? But then again, there was only Luke and Galen as the only two Force sensitives Vader dealt with regularly. Those two probably didn't question Vader.
"Why are you here?" she asked. Darth Vader, Emperor of the galaxy . . . looked uncomfortable. He shifted his weight from one leg to another.
"I am here to ask if you need anything."
He was checking up on her? That was a very normal thing to do.
"I'm fine," she said. The 'guest' room she had been provided was nice. It had a small sitting room and a seperate bedroom with a private refresher. Most likely these were guest quarters for high ranking senior officers. The sitting room had a datapad in which she could order food or clothes, though all the clothes were Imperial military issued. She currently wore black sweat pants and a gray athletic top. "But how long am I to be imprisoned in here?"
"Imprisoned?" he spat.
She tilted her head and crossed her arms across her chest. "This is what this. I can't leave. There are guards stationed outside my door to prevent my from leaving."
"You are not a prisoner," he said. "I assure you, girl, this is nothing like being my prisoner."
A small shiver shook her body. She had no doubt of that. "Then if I'm not a prisoner, why is my door locked? Why the guards?"
"Precautions."
"Precautions?"
He just stared at her. His blue eyes were like ice. Cold. Hard. Felt like they sliced right through her. She was the one to break the silence.
"You don't trust me," she said slowly.
"No."
A silence stretched between them.
"Why should I?" Vader asked. "If you think my trust is gained so easily because you are my daughter, than you are mistaken." He paused for a minute. "You were raised by traitors, liars, and thieves. By Jedi. I will give you the respect of your station, your proper station as princess, is due. But trust you will have to earn, child. I do not give it freely."
"That's . . . fair I suppose," she said reluctantly. Why she was expecting anything else, she didn't know. "How . . . How is Luke?"
Vader took a deep breath, but only answered with, "He is fine."
She scowled. "He is fine? That's it?" Vader said nothing. Did nothing. Just stared. "Can I see him?"
Something was happening inside of Vader's mind. Wheels were turning, but about what she didn't know. But finally he said, "Very well. Come." He turned sharply and marched out of the door. Leia was quick on her feet right behind him. She didn't want to be left behind. They stepped into a gray hallway. Two guards dressed in bright red helmets and cloaks stood nearby. She knew these were the royal guard. Vader didn't even acknowledge them. He just kept moving down the hall.
However, he didn't even go that far. He soon stopped in front of a door. It looked like all the other doors in the hallway. He entered a code and the door slid open. He glanced over his shoulder at her before he walked in. She entered the room right behind him. The room was large. Much larger than the guest room she was staying in. This must be the royal suite.
There was a large living room with cushioned sofas and chairs. There was a small kitchen and dining area close to the door. The room seem to have a bit more of a cozier feel, despite it still looking plain and harsh. Perhaps it was from what lingered in the Force. Leia could sense it. This was a place of warm emotions. Happiness. Love. But there were also notes of worry, annoyance, and loneliness.
Vader had only paused briefly before he moved through the room to a hallway. He opened a door and walked into Luke's room. Luke was laying in his bed. It was a large bed that came out of the wall in to the middle of the room. There were two small nightstands on either side. She noticed a small desk in a corner.
"Shouldn't he be in the med bay?" Leia whispered afraid to wake him.
"He has been released," Vader explained. He hadn't lowered his voice. "He's currently resting and getting the drugs out of his system."
She noticed Vader's presence had expanded again, but instead of coming towards her it went towards Luke. It wrapped around her brother gently. Like when she had woken up, Vader's presence cocooned the prince. The coldness in Vader's expression had softened as he looked at his son. His lips had downturned just the smallest bit. His brows had raised up a small amount. It was a look of yearning. Of worry. Of love.
Very cautiously, very slowly, Leia reached out with the Force towards Vader. At first all she felt was a burning coldness. She was tempted to snap her reach away, but she didn't. She pressed on. She was glad she did. For once she got pass the boiling darkness, she felt it. She gasped out loud. Love. Unbelievable strong love. Vader loved Luke. Very deeply. Very fully. She quickly pulled away before her father noticed.
The two left the room quietly leaving Luke to rest. Once back in the large sitting room, Leia walked over to the large viewport. The view hadn't changed. It was still blue hyperspace streaks streaming past.
"What happens now?" Leia asked. Vader stood a few steps behind her. His arms clasped behind his back.
"We are returning to Imperial Center. To the palace," he said. His voice was a bit flat. Emotionless. Leia sighed.
"Yes and then what?" she said turning to face him. His face was back to its earlier seriousness. "What . . . about me?"
Vader stood unmoving. He just looked at her. Did he know what he was going to do? Had he given it any thought?
"Lessons," he finally said.
"Lessons?"
"You will take your proper place as the Imperial princess. I have no doubt your education needs to rectified from whatever the Jedi have taught you."
She wanted to say something. There were so many things she could say. She should say, but she stayed quiet. Despite what Vader had just claimed, the Jedi had taught her patience and that staying silent can be just as strong as being vocal. So she didn't reply. It would do her no good to argue. She was doing this to stop the visions. To stop Luke from falling. And for that to happen, she needed Vader to trust her. At least a little bit.
Vader's comlink beeped. He dug it out of his pocket and scowled once he saw the display. "I have to leave. You are free to stay in these rooms. There is another bedroom down the hall. You can return to your rooms. The guards will escort you there." Without another word or goodbye, he turned and left.
