She was gone.
It felt like a hole in his chest had been carved out. She was the last he had of Padmé, and now she was gone too.
The more rational side of his brain pointed out to him that she was still on the planet and he could easily find her, especially since he had an entire battalion of stormtroopers at his command.
But he also didn´t want Palpatine to become suspicious if he launched a massive search party for a missing girl. He knew that his master had spies in his ranks, and he wasn´t willing to gamble with Leia´s security.
No, he had to find Leia himself.
I have to retrace my steps to find her.
So he began searching for her in the place he began - Padmé's tomb.
He rushed out of the shuttle with his cape billowing behind him. To the stormtroopers watching him, he was like a dark storm flowing past them, darker and more dangerous than a thundercloud but swift and soundless like a ghost sweeping over the ground.
He hopped into his speeder and drove away. The strong wind making his cape fly behind him, and his eyes glowed like the lava streams on Mustafar behind his helmet.
The beautiful scenery flew by him like it wasn't there. His mind was focused and sharp as a knife.
Then he arrived at the tomb. The wind was rustling in the trees surrounding it, and birds chirped. The area was so serene and filled with the light side that he felt disgusted. But he still couldn't help but admire the beauty of the tomb.
"Leia?" he shouted, and the birds flew away in fear as they heard his rumbling voice.
The silence that followed confirmed his fears. She wasn't there.
Then there was only one place left where she could be. Unless she had wandered off and he sincerely hoped she hadn't because then he would have a much harder time finding her.
She must be at the Naberrie home.
He hopped onto his speeder, racing towards the house.
When he arrived, he strode up the stairs to the house with his fists clenched at his side and his shoulders tense.
Vader barged in through the door and the sound of his heavy boots echoed on the floor.
There, at the dinner table, sat the entire Naberrie family gathered. But that wasn't what he set his eyes on. No, because at the far end of the table sat a small figure. Leia.
His shoulders slumped and he breathed out finally.
He stood there dumbfounded, just staring at her. He thought he had lost her, but she was right there.
Six pair of brown eyes landed on him and he remembered that this was Padmé's family. No matter how much he wanted to, he knew he wouldn't touch a hair on their heads.
You said that about her too and look what happened to her.
The dragon roared inside him.
Then it calmed down as he met the gaze of the two pair of eyes in the room that was most important to him.
"Leia", he breathed out.
He almost expected her to cower in fear. But no, she smiled one of her brightest smiles, showing her teeth, got up from her chair and went towards him. There was only a small hint of fear in her eyes. But Vader couldn't help but see this as an improvement. He didn't know what he had done, but it had definitely helped in making her more comfortable with him.
"Daddy", she said. Everyone in the room, including Vader, were stunned at the word she had uttered. It was silent except for the regular hissing in and out from Vader.
Every ounce of anger simmering in his body disappeared.
It was the first time she had called him that and despite himself, he felt himself becoming warm on the inside like there was a sun inside his chest warming him from the centre and spreading out to his fingertips.
"She's your daughter?", Jobal asked and let out a small yelp.
"Yes.", Vader replied mechanically, not even looking at her, his gaze transfixed on Leia.
"Then that means…", Jobal began, her eyes widening with the realization.
"She's also Padmé's daughter.", Vader finished her sentence stoically, looking every bit like the machine people assumed he was.
The family now looked at Leia with new eyes. She was a part of their family. But that also implied he was, and they didn't know how to handle that information.
The only thing they could do was look at the girl, who resembled Padmé so much. Everything from her deep brown hair to her warm chocolate brown eyes. And they could all tell that she was as kind as Padmé.
It was hard for the Naberrie family to see them together, the massive Sith lord and the innocent five-year-old. They were two polar opposites, which made it even harder to think of them as father and daughter. Equally as hard as it was for them to picture Padmé being the dark lord's wife.
However, it did help to know that there was a man behind the mask. That it was Anakin Skywalker who Padmé had married and not Vader.
Vader suddenly felt out of place at their prying eyes and felt the need to leave as soon as possible.
"We need to leave now Leia", Vader said with no hint of the urgency he felt in his voice.
After all he had something he needed to do.
Regardless of how much a party at the palace would bore him, he knew he had to go to keep up the cover. Besides, he didn't like having Leia here, among these people – with their prying questions. And the fact that they knew who had been didn't help easing his discomfort.
"Wait. I have a question.", Sola said putting her hands on her sides.
"Why don't you just leave Leia here?", she asked raising her voice and looked him square in the eyes, or at least where she thought his eyes were behind his mask. Her tone wasn't aggressive or soft, but still stern. Like a politician.
Despite her serious face, his first instinct was to laugh. Because surely, she wasn't being serious.
It was like asking why Leia was with him at all. A preposterous question, that's what it is, he thought.
"Because I'm her father.", he boomed out and scowled inside his mask.
It was the only answer that made sense in his mind. He was her father and she belonged with him and no one else. Surely she had enough sense to realize that.
He felt the frustration build up inside him like water filling a cup. A cup that would soon overflow if she didn't stop where she was.
I will not let you take her from me, his inner voice roared.
The words were familiar to him, but the memory was faded.
"But you do realize that she isn't safe with you, right?", Sola asked with a genuine frown on her face.
"She is perfectly safe with me.", Vader grit out through closed teeth.
"No, she isn't. You know that Sidious will look for her. And when he's found her, then who knows what will happen to her." Sola said, her anger for the masked man increasing as she goes on.
She couldn't let her niece be put into harm's way. She was everything left of Padmé and Sola swore to protect her like she was her own.
"Then, I will make sure that he doesn't find her," Vader said, finality in his voice. The conversation was clearly over.
Then he steered Leia out of the house, sat her on his speeder and drove back to the shuttle.
He went into his quarters with Leia in his arms. She was surprisingly quiet on the way home and he wondered if she was sad that they had left the Naberrie home.
"Did you know who those people were, Leia?", he asked gently as he put her down on the sofa, brushing her mind with a – he hoped – comforting stroke. He wanted to hold her close, so that he may never lose her again, but he refrained – too scared that his grip would be too tight.
She shook her head and looked up at him with big eyes.
"They are your mother's family.", he said.
There was a pause and Leia's eyes widened further. It looked like she was going to burst from the glee that sparkled in her eyes and tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"Can I meet them again sometime?", she asked, so quietly that he almost didn't hear her and looked down at her lap.
Vader hadn't thought of returning there anytime soon, or even at all. His Angel's family was almost as painful of a reminder of Padmé as the tomb was.
"Probably not.", he answered, as he found it difficult to say no to her beautiful little face staring up at him like a sad puppy.
"Okay.", she said and looked down at her lap. Her braids were almost loose, and her boots were muddy, but she still had that defiant spark in her eyes.
Then he left her, striding out of his quarters with his respirator hissing in and out and his boots clamping loudly on the floor. The memories that had been stirred of his late wife were still lingering on the edges of his mind, and he didn't know if he would ever be able to move on from her, she was his life after all.
As he entered the palace all he could think about was how he would rather be anywhere else but here. But he had to play the politician, at least for tonight.
Then he gladly would take Senator Organa prisoner and end this charade. He could feel the dark side swelling in him at the thought. He would finally take his revenge on the senator for keeping his daughter hidden from him for 5 years.
"Why isn't Leia with you, Senator?", a man suddenly asked Bail as they stood in one corner of the room sipping on their drinks and conversing light-heartedly.
"She…she wanted to stay home with her mother.", Bail said, succeeding in not revealing too much but the discomfort was clear on his face, at being asked such a question.
Then he spotted Vader entering the room and his posture became more rigid. He takes another swig of the wine out of the wineglass in his hand.
If Vader is here, then where is Leia?
Bail gulps and sneaks a glance at the dark lord. He at least hopes that she is safe. And if he knew Vader, Leia would probably be locked up somewhere. He dreaded to think the thought. But Anakin was always very possessive over his loved ones…
He couldn't even think of her smile without his heart aching. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and now she would forever be captured by that monster. Or Sidious would get his hands on her… His sweet innocent Leia.
Then the dark lord met his gaze and his whole body turned rigid. Somehow he knew that the dark lord wasn't quite finished with him yet. And it was not like he thought that he would get off easily when he hid Leia from him for 5 years, but he had at least hope that Vader wouldn't go after him in public. He dreaded to think what Vader could do to these people, should he be provoked enough.
And now he just had to wait until the beast pounced on him.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hi everyone! I know this update came out a bit later than my usual time of posting, but today I've been pretty occupied with school and other things. I hope you've all had a great weekend. I have been feeling quite anxious lately, and thus I have had a harder time writing, but I hope that it will pass so that I can get back into writing more.
I originally wrote a much longer chapter but decided to split it into two parts. And I've decided to write chapters that are approximately this length.
Hope you enjoyed!