SIGH.

The manipulation of Mariana almost made him feel bad. Maybe not. Vader was no more a prisoner of the emperor than she was. In fact, the emperor didn't know about Mariana. At least, that they had gotten back together.

It was a lie.

A treacherous lie planted as a means of launching his nefarious plan to seduce her into becoming his pupil.

The line about her being his last hope made him smile. The hopelessness of it all. Mariana loved the idea of saving him. It's why she fell in love with him to begin with. The hopelessly charred invalid, incapable of so much as feeding himself... or so she thought.

Darth Vader already ruled the empire. The emperor was finished. Politically and as a Sith. He was a hermit who was so out of touch with the inner workings of the empire that he'd lost control of it. In fact, the troops and the senate reported to Vader alone. No one saw the emperor but Darth Vader, and generally he told him only what he wanted the him to know... So one might say that the emperor was Vader's prisoner. Overthrowing him was merely forcing him to acknowledge that Vader had already seized control of everything the emperor desired, including the construction of the death star. A weapon that could be used to destroy the emperor's ship on sight at his command.

Of course the emperor would understand Vader's betrayal. Treachery was the way of the Sith.

And what if Mariana were to kill him? Remove Vader from power so that she was the ruler of the Empire? Wouldn't happen. She loved him too much. And he loved her too. And that gave him exactly the leverage he needed to control her.

The downside to Mariana learning to use the force again, was that he'd need to control his thoughts, since she'd become capable of sensing them. He'd also miss their nights together.

But master/apprentice boundaries would to remain firmly in place if she was to be properly trained. Their lives depended on it.

The following morning, Mariana stood in her room wearing a white one piece stretch outfit and a pair of white boots, waiting for Vader.

What would it be like? Holding a lightsaber in her hand again? She was aware of her past, but had no memories of it. She remembered her old master, but none of her teachings. It was too hard, too painful. And now, Vader wanted to awaken those memories and she allowed him to do so because she loved him. Perhaps leaving him would be better than facing the past, remembering her friends and people who were like family to her, now gone because he killed them.

The doors to her suite slid open and before she could blink, Vader stormed inside with his arm outstretched and his hand crumpled into a fist. The air in her lungs tightened and immediately, her hands rose to her throat as if to pry invisible fingers apart.

Mariana gasped and struggled not to fall to the floor. It felt as though the blood vessels in her eyes would pop.

Then suddenly, she was free, air rushing through her lungs and out of her mouth so quickly that she began to cough.

"The emperor will do much worse. You are weak, Mariana Narfur!" Vader barked.

"But I thought..."

Vader cupped her chin, fingers biting. "Perhaps a bit of torture will inspire you."

"What?"

Vader yanked her by the collar of her jumpsuit, her feet barely touching the floor as he pulled her out of the suite and down the hall, passing bewildered Imperial troops.

"Open the interrogation room!" Vader barked at a scrambling soldier.

"But Lord Vader," the troop protested.

"Do as I order or meet a similar fate," he warned.

Mariana scrambled, toes scraping the clean white floors. She reached out, grabbing him by his cape and nearly tearing it from his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked.

They paused before an open door and Vader shoved her inside, not giving her enough space to run away. Inside stood several Imperial officers going about their usual duties, viewing images on a holovoid screen.

With a point of Vader's finger, the soldiers scrambled, nearly colliding with each other in a rush to leave as ordered.

In the center of the interrogation room sat a large vat of ice cold water. Vader pulled Mariana by the back of her jumpsuit and dumped her inside.

She went under, nearly swallowing a mouthful of water as a gloved arm reached in after her, holding her under.

It felt as though an eternity had passed before she was free, bursting from her watery grave like steam from a kettle.

Mariana gasped, swallowing gulps of air before he plunged her beneath the waters again, holding her in place. She couldnt' think. She couldn't even scream. Several moments passed as she squirmed beneath the water before he allowed her up again, holding her by the collar as she spat liquid out of her mouth. She gasped, head against the side of the tub as she struggled to control her sobs.

Then suddenly, Vader spun around and force pulled a lever on the other side of the room, running a electrical current through the water. Mariana screamed, and slipped into the tub again, prompting Vader to force pull the switch into the off position.

Mariana sunk to the bottom of the tub like a block of lead and Vader reached into the tub and pulled her out. After coughing what felt like her lungs out of her throat, Mariana opened her eyes and stared into the mask of terror.

"Kill or be killed," Vader spat.

Mariana rolled and flipped over the side of the tub and kicked his chest plate, causing the colorful lights to blink manically.

And suddenly, laughter rose from the robotic sounding mask stunning her into ever deepening silence. In fact, it was the first time she had ever heard him laugh. He laughed for so long, and so hard, that his stomach hurt, prompting him to sit and catch his breath.

His condescension hurt even more than the physical torture. But hurt led to anger and anger led to hate. He needed her to hate him more than he needed her to love him. Hate would make her strong.

Vader pulled Mariana by the back of her jumpsuit and drug her down the hall, pass the gaping mouths of his Imperial soldiers as he shoved her into his suite.

Her show of strength, as small as it was, filled him with desire and the anger swelling within her filled him with fleshly lust that left him locking the doors, for fear his subordinates might disturb them.

The embers that lit her eyes were now flames.

"If you think you're going to have your way with me now after that stunt then you're sadly mistaken!" Mariana barked, water spilling from her mouth.

How long had it been since he'd seen such fire in her?

Vader scooped her into his arms and carried her to the waiting hyper baric chamber as Mariana kicked her flailing legs.