Chapter 2: Darkness
Over the last two decades, Vader has brought many people to face his Master, and most of them have reacted the same way.
They usually don't seem too reluctant at first, while they're still in the safety of the turbolift – because what could some old guy possibly do to them.
Most of them shudder as they enter the throne room. And he has to admit, the atmosphere up here is something else. You can feel the attitude of the Emperor physically.
The next thing he senses in those who accompany him, as the throne comes into view, is fear, the wish to run back into the turbolift where no one could harm them. It's a safe space, like a bubble of protection when they're about to face a possible death – because no one knows what awaits them here.
A lot of them feel a slight spark of rebellion whenever he kneels, but surrender when they're pushed to the floor. Barely anyone resists. The Emperor's presence makes them feel weak, worthless, like they wouldn't have a chance anyway.
And as the throne turns and the voice speaks, everyone considers that any place in this Galaxy would be better than what they have gotten into.
It's the exact process the Princess went through as he leads her to the throne. Confidence, reluctance, fear, resistance, surrender. Even the Stormtroopers showed these phases to some degree.
The outcome, though, he can't predict. It's different every time, mostly depending on Palpatine's mood and plans rather than importance or intention of his visitor. No one knows what will happen. The girl could be dead in a minute or free to go – while the latter is highly unlikely, it has happened on rare occasions, if it benefits the bigger picture.
The Princess tenses as the man in front of her speaks to Vader, his voice the familiar mixture of menace and calmness.
"I see, you have brought me the girl, Lord Vader."
"Yes, Master." He bows even deeper, then gets up again, leaving the girl on the ground, feeling ridiculous as always. And his suit, while certainly intimidating and practical in some situations, doesn't make this easier. Most of the times, it feels like he is chained to it. It is his personal prison, holding him back.
"You were right about her. She has potential."
Organa stirs next to him, lifting her elbows from the floor to come to a kneeling position. For a moment he thinks she is about to say something, but she's stopped by the Emperor's voice once again.
"You must be wondering why I demanded your presence, young Princess."
She merely nods, doesn't dare to respond verbally.
"Lord Vader has sensed a great ability in you. A high sensitivity to the force. Thus, I have chosen you to be my apprentice. I will show you the power of the dark side."
"No."
Vader is surprised as Princess Leia protests and rises to her feet. He feels her confusion about this new information she was likely never told before. Force-sensitivity was not often detected these days, mostly hidden since the fall of the Jedi, in fear these children would meet a fate similar to the Order.
But there is something else. Something about the way she talks back, challenges her obviously superior captors. The fire in her eyes, her will to fight for what she believes in.
He can't shake the feeling that it somehow seems so... familiar.
"I-" She stops, at a loss for words.
"You will obey soon, young apprentice. Fulfill your destiny and join me and you will be rewarded."
x
She can't quite figure out if this is really happening or if it's just one of those nightmares she's had since her ship was boarded by the Empire.
She has heard the legends about the Jedi Order that fell with the Republic around the time she was born. But she always thought it was just that: stories that glorified the supposed heroes of the old times. She hasn't lived long enough to know what they were like and what exactly happened to them. But she knows that the light side of the force held power over the Galaxy for thousands of years.
But her being one of those force-users – if the force even exists... It just doesn't make sense.
Why her, of all people? And why would no one have told her?
She shakes her head, suddenly not so frightened anymore. If she has this power, does that mean she has a chance against her enemy?
"No." Her voice is strong and clear now. "I'd rather die than become what you are."
"You will change your mind soon, Princess."
She spins around as the turbolift doors open again. None other than Grandmoff Tarkin approaches them. Why can't this murderer leave her alone?
She feels a rush of hatred as he kneels, wants to make him suffer the way he hurt her. Or worse. She wants to kill him, slowly and painfully.
"You requested my presence, Your Highness." He rises next to her, towering over her again. She feels so small between these killer machines, but not weak. The opposite. She feels like she actually has a chance at finding the revenge she seeks.
"Good." Palpatine's words are unmistakably directed towards her. "Give in to your anger. Let the hate flow through you freely."
She winces, wondering how he can possibly know what she is feeling. Maybe it's not as subtle as she thinks.
"Follow your feelings, young Princess."
She looks at Tarkin's face, which lacks any emotion. His cold calmness is the most intimidating thing about him.
It's the same expression he had when he gave the order to fire on Alderaan. To cruelly destroy millions of life forms without a second thought, without any doubt. To him it's nothing but collateral damage for the greater cause of complete control.
She has mostly succeeded in pushing the memory back, distracting herself with bizarre thoughts so she doesn't have to think about the fact that her home, her people, her family all died because of her. Because she didn't manage to escape the Empire, because she didn't deliver the plans to the Alliance in time, because she resisted every torture method Vader knows, because she lied. Because she failed.
Now it's back, the picture, as clear as it was the moment it happened. Controls around her being operated, lights blinking, people knowing exactly what to do.
She sees her planet in front of her, peaceful from the distance, but probably looking up at the battle station in terror. Vader's iron grip on her shoulder, forcing her to watch the disaster in front of her. A green laser, bigger than any she has ever seen, approaches Alderaan and she screams in horror. Moments later the explosion is over, followed by unsettling silence. Left is nothing but an asteroid field. No trace of the blue planet she called home. It has been vaporized with everything on it. Her parents, her friends, her palace, her people. Everything she loved, gone forever.
Any will to fight vanished in that moment. She gave up, dropped to the floor, let Vader drag her back into her cell without struggling against him, didn't talk back to Tarkin's disparaging remarks anymore. She lost a piece of herself.
And before she knows what she is doing, she has turned around to one of the Stormtroopers and grabbed the blaster from his hands, taking him and the other one down.
Neither Palpatine nor Vader try to stop her, only Tarkin attempts to reach for the weapon.
But she doesn't think and she won't stop. She is driven by pure hatred, fury and agony to an extent she has never experienced before. Her finger presses the trigger and she hears the shot, smells the familiar odor of burning flesh when the wound is immediately cauterized by the heat of the laser.
She loses control over herself, can't stop as shot after shot hits the man in front of her. His body sinks to the floor and she knows he is dead, there's no way he wouldn't be, but still she fires one last blast directly into his heart – or the spot where it would sit if he had one.
She breathes heavily as she turns around. The Emperor has an evil smile on his lips as his eyes burn into Tarkin's corpse. She expected to feel some kind of relief, but instead there's nothing but dark emptiness and a fire of pure anger burning somewhere deep inside of her.
The blood rushes loud in her ears and she seems to hear nothing but Palpatine's voice and her own breathing.
"Very good."
She stares at him and still doesn't think as she points the blaster at his head. The old man just laughs.
The weapon suddenly rips out of her hand and flies towards Vader, who catches it.
She storms towards him, but he lifts his hand and it feels like running against an invisible wall as something pushes her back.
The last thing she feels is her head painfully hitting the floor before everything around her disappears as she blacks out.
x
He looks down at the Princess as she lies motionless a few meters away from him. She hit her head as he force-pushed her away from him.
The Emperor probably would have preferred if she had actually attacked him, it would have been a much larger step towards giving in to the dark side. Ordering Tarkin here solely to let him get killed by her wasn't enough for him, nothing ever is. Not until he reaches his goal.
And then, once the girl complies, there will be two options for Vader: stay and accept that she will have as much power as she does, or be replaced by a much younger, mobile and healthier Sith apprentice. Lately, he has been getting the feeling that Palpatine wants to get rid of him. And that would be his certain death. It's the more probable option, though, regarding the rule of two. But on the other hand, his Master has never been known to follow anyone else's rules.
He thinks back to her moment of resistance. Her eyes, her steady voice, her straight posture. And then the way she fired the blaster at Tarkin. How she wouldn't give up, even when she knew she had no chance against Vader.
So much about her makes him feel like he has known her for longer. Sure, they have met a few times on Coruscant, but that can't explain the way he feels every time she is around. Like she is someone long-lost he now has found.
He stares at her, then. She rests there, on her side, like...
No.
It can't be. It's simply not possible. His Master told him she died, that he had killed her. He hated himself for nineteen years, punished himself by building his Castle on the planet he had murdered his wife and unborn child when he was only trying to save them. And now...
He must be wrong, foolish to even consider something like this.
But in this position, she looks so unmistakably like Padmé. Her brown eyes have the same fire. Her frightened face as he entered with the interrogation droid, pleading him to stop and come to his senses like his wife on Mustafar.
It all ties together. And somehow, somewhere deep inside, he knows it to be true.
"So you have felt it too, the shift in the force."
He looks up at his Master, hating the way he always knows what is happening. Vader can't hide anything.
He suddenly wants to protect this girl, not hand her over to her greatest enemy. He wants to apologize for the things he did to her, his heartless cruelty as he tortured her, looked down at her with amusement as she screamed in pain, begging for mercy. But he can't, because there's no excuse for what he did.
He never thought he could have these kind of feelings again since the love of his life died. Everyone he ever loved did.
"I have, Master," he answers, hoping he won't be able to sense his uncertainty.
"There is no doubt she is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker."
"How is that possible?"
"Search your feelings, Lord Vader. You will know it to be true."
Yes, he knows. There is no doubt. But he still doesn't understand. His Master told him he killed her. Either he didn't know better... Or he lied.
He forces down the rush of anger. The Emperor can't know that he questions his honesty. He can't know that in one second everything changed and after almost twenty years he suddenly started questioning his loyalty, his past and his own Master, the one who saved him when he had nothing.
Still, all that trust fades away slowly. If he lied about this, what else doesn't Vader know?
x
The first time she woke up in captivity, she startled at the unfamiliar surroundings. It took her some time to remember the events leading up to her unconsciousness: the stolen plans of a battle station, chased by a star destroyer, boarded by Vader, knocked out by a Stormtrooper's weapon. She felt dizzy for a while, but recovered soon.
This time, it's worse. She is immediately overwhelmed by a throbbing ache, so intense that she has trouble controlling the urge to vomit. Lightly touching the back of her head with her fingers fires waves of pain through her body.
It's nothing compared to the Empire's torturing methods. But still, it's bad.
As she takes in her surroundings, she immediately knows something is off. She expected to wake up in a cell. But she's still on the floor of Emperor Palpatine's throne room, and she can feel both his and Vader's eyes on her. The two most powerful and most dangerous men of this galaxy, regarding her with interest.
"I see you are back, my young apprentice."
She shudders at Palpatine's voice, seemingly taunting her.
She hoists herself into a sitting position, then looks at the Emperor, forced boldness in her eyes. "Let me go."
The old man laughs in that disgusting way again, watching her from his raised position. "You may be granted freedom only when you serve my cause. Now, there is something else I intend to talk to you about."
Leia jumps up onto her feet, body in a defensive position. "Maybe I don't want to talk to you!"
What is she doing here? She doesn't stand a chance against her enemies, they have proven it to her several times already. She is unarmed, alone and weak. They are the exact opposite.
Still, she doesn't stop.
At least she wouldn't if she had a choice. But that is taken from her – like so many things before – when Vader pushes her to her knees again.
"Listen," she hears the dark Lord's hard, modified voice for the first time since she regained consciousness.
He somehow sounds... Uncertain. No, she must be wrong. Darth Vader can't be hesitant. He is Darth Vader!
She tries to struggle against his hand on her shoulder, but he is stronger once again. Just like he was in the control center of the death star...
"What my friend here is trying to express," Palpatine interrupts, "is that you were wronged. Lied to. You are, by no means, a royalty."
She is puzzled for a moment. What is the purpose of this conversation? Stating facts she was told a long time ago?
"That is not new information. It is commonly known that I was a war orphan, adopted by the Queen and Viceroy of Alderaan."
"No one told you the truth."
"You are not an orphan, Leia," Vader says.
Palpatine silences him with a slightly raised hand. "Your father is very much alive."
"What?" The headache she forgot about comes back even stronger, her skull seemingly exploding. She can't think, she can't-
And then it's Darth Vader's voice again. This must be a nightmare, her imagination running wild. Because there is no way his words could be true.
"Leia. I am your father."
Everything stops. It's like the planet ceases to turn, time doesn't run anymore. The things around her seem to be far away.
"How..." She mumbles, her eyes closed. The sensations are drowned out. She doesn't feel anything except the consuming pain behind her eyes. "That's not true. That's impossible!"
She strains against Vader's grip again, this time actually succeeding in pushing him away. Surprised, she flees a few meters away, and he doesn't follow.
Her breath comes in short bursts, the cool air heavy in her lungs. She can't think of her next move, can't function anymore.
This is too much. He is lying. There is no other way.
"Search your feelings," the Emperor speaks.
"My mother..." she whimpers, the images and feelings she has known all her life suddenly clearer than ever. Beautiful, kind, sad.
"She was presumed dead before she could deliver you. But that is not the truth. You were wrongfully taken away from your family to be raised apart from the force. This mistake must be corrected. Join your father and rule the galaxy alongside me. The Master, the father and the daughter."
She shakes her head in disbelief. No. Her parents wouldn't have lied to her. Either Palpatine and Vader are purposefully telling her an untruth, or they simply don't know better.
Once again, her actions repeat themselves as she storms towards Darth Vader, ready to fight him, this time unarmed.
But then she is stopped by... Something. She is not sure what it is, but suddenly she can't move. She has frozen mid-step, feeling like she is restrained by invisible metal. No matter how hard she tries, not a single part of her body moves even a millimeter.
She fights, but only exhausts herself. And then she sees it out of the corner of her eye. Palpatine's hand is slightly raised in her direction.
It flicks down... And she falls, remaining a huddle on the floor. She doesn't have any strength left. None to struggle, not even to lift her head as the Emperor's voice is directed towards her once again.
"You will soon learn to accept this truth, Lady Vader."
AN: Thanks again for reading and especially to those who left kind reviews on the last chapter. I hope you liked this one too :)