Chapter 200

On the Death Star

Darth Vader was accompanying his daughter to his Master. On the entire time, neither of them said a word. Laetitia just looked ahead coldly with no fear. She wanted her father back, but she wasn't gonna show it in front of other people.

Also, she didn't want to think about what happened. She asked her father to come back. She begged him crying to be her father again ... And he called the Stormtroopers on her to take her away to his Master.

Was he really that gone?

Leah and Vader entered the 'Throne Room' on Death Star. The minute she stepped foot in the room, she felt cold. He was there. The man who destroyed her life ... was there.

He started a war only to 'collect' the Chosen One, killed Padme to save Vader, seduced Anakin to the dark side in the name of protecting his daughter, tried to kill her a thousand times, succeeded once and had her tortured for 3 years, tortured Luke a few times after trying to kill him, made his son kill his other son, made her a widow on her wedding day ... and made her daughter an orphan.

Literally, everything that had gone wrong in her life was his fault. In everyone's lives!

"Welcome, young Skywalker. I have been expecting you." Darth Sidious calmly started.

Leah had to bite her tongue to bite back an angry comment. She was so enraged from just looking at his pale wrinkled face. It was taking all her strength to not grab her lightsabers from her father to slay him right there and now.

Palpatine turned around with a smile on his face. Leah could feel that he felt her anger, and that ... pleased him.

"You no longer need those." He said as he broke the restraints on her wrists.

Leah watched as the broken restraints fell on the ground. She rubbed her wrists and looked back to the monster. He was taunting her. He wanted her to lose control ... Just like he did with Thexan and Anakin.

"Guards, leave us." He coldly ordered.

Once they were alone, the Emperor stood up from his seat and took a step closer to Leah, who was glaring him emotionlessly.

"It has been ... far too long."

"Why don't we skip the pleasantries? Everyone here knows we don't mean it." Leah finally said, which made Palpatine nod in acceptance.

"Very well ... I must congratulate you. No one has ever been able to survive me the way you did. I have thought you were dead numerous times."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Palpatine."

This time, Sidious didn't smile in fake-calm. He looked back at the girl in front of him, who had dared to call him by name. He was the Dark Lord of the Sith, the Emperor! How dared she speak to him that way?

She was clearly as fearless and bold as her late mother.

"'Palpatine'? Laetitia, I am surprised by your rudeness. You must know better than to treat an Emperor like this. Surely your mother taught you manners before she tragically sacrificed herself for the sake of the Empire." Sidious deliberately said to set Leah off.

"Do not mention my mother with your filthy mouth." She gritted through her teeth.

"Did I say something wrong? Your mother did help me become the Chancellor of the Republic. I owe my success to her."

"Trust me, she regrets it." She muttered.

"Does she?" He asked, smiling in satisfaction.

Leah fisted her hands to stop herself from tearing Sidious apart. He was using her mother's mistake in a way to insult everything she stood for. Was he really that monstrous?

"I will never bow before you, not kneel, nor even call you 'Your Highness'. After everything you've done to me and my family, you don't even deserve to be a beggar, let alone an Emperor. 'Your Highness', my ass! Literally everyone in the Galaxy knows you don't deserve it." Leah scoffed loudly in ridiculousness.

Darth Vader gulped under his mask. He knew that the calmer his Master looked, it actually showed the angrier he was ... and now, he looked too peaceful. That was dangerous. Who knew what he was going to do to Leah?

"I thought you at least knew when to hold your tongue. Clearly, you lack manners in more than one way." Palpatine stated in disappointment.

"Add that to the list of things I'm guilty of." Leah coldly said.

She was guilty of a lot of things. She didn't even have time to make a list of them. They were too much. Causing the entire Jedi Order, her mother, Kitster, Obi-wan and thousands of innocent people to die. Not to mention, what she did to her own father, whose only crime was loving her.

Who cared about one more? She could not handle them as they were.

But Darth Sidious ... Just from one bitter statement, he figured everything out. Laetitia had finally found out the truth about everything. About why Anakin became Darth Vader, and ... her prophecy. The Qorit.

"Oh ... You know. Is that why you surrendered yourself? You forgave your father when you came to know the real reason why he submitted himself to me as an apprentice? I must say, I am disappointed. There is nothing more destructive than your own feelings. Remember that." He warned her.

"Forgive me if I don't give a damn about your 'advice'. But thanks! Appreciated it." She snipped hatefully.

While Laetitia and Darth Sidious were having verbal contests with each other, Darth Vader just stood by idly. He could neither join them or stop them. He was powerless when it came to these two. Sidious, he could fight at least, but Laetitia ... He was completely numb and paralyzed when it came to her. He had put her through enough.

"By now you must know your father can never be turned from the dark side. I'm sure you thought that you were all your father had left, but you do not mean that much to him. You are just a small, burdensome fragment of his past life. He doesn't love you. He will not turn back for you. And he will kill you, if I ask him to." Sidious coldly said as Leah was struggling to put on her emotionless face.

Vader didn't even have the power to deny the horrible things his Master was telling her. He wanted to console his daughter, hold her in his arms like he did when she was born, and tell her that he still loved her ... but he didn't. He couldn't. What right did he have to act like her father?

"Let me guess. You're about to offer a deal."

"Yes."

"Shocker!" Leah sarcastically gasped.

"Give into your anger and accept your true place as the Crown Princess of the Galaxy and Thexan's wife. I will let you live. You have my word." Palpatine 'sincerely' said.

Leah fisted her hands in anger and hatred. 'You have my word'? Was he kidding?! She had to bite back the comment 'it means a load of crap to me'. He really had some courage to say what he did. According to the Imperial data, Thexan never betrayed his father. He died as a 'hero' for the Empire.

Palpatine killed him, and he had the nerve to tell her to act as his wife?

"I think I'm good." She finally said, holding herself back.

"Are you? I can feel the hatred within you. You are trying to suppress it, but ... you cannot deny it. It is ... beautiful." Sidious whispered in amazement as he closed his eyes.

This time, Leah couldn't shut up. She had had enough. She knew her 'father-in-law' was taunting her, waiting for her to break down. And as much as she wanted to deny him that satisfaction, she couldn't not say anything.

"You know, sometimes, I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering about what Anakin would think of me. He was my father. He raised me. He loved me and I loved him ... But I threw all that away the moment I started hating you. I destroyed myself because of you." Leah quietly stated, trying to calm herself down when she was actually drowning in rage.

"Yes, you did. And it was your choice."

"One I wish I never made." She hatefully added.

"You would be dead if not for me. I made you strong, how to survive. I turned you from a spoiled brat to a fierce warrior. You owe everything to me." Palpatine seriously demanded, which caused Leah to scoff.

"My strength didn't come from you. It came from me. I make me strong. And I am going to end you with that strength." She promised strongly.

Emperor Palpatine, the Dark Lord of the Sith didn't say anything. He just glared at the woman in front of him, trying not to show his true feelings. If he was being absolutely honest with himself, he was ... scared.

He would be a fool not to be. Laetitia Skywalker was both powerful and angry. She had the power to turn Darth Vader against him. And ... 10 years may have passed, but he could never get that vision out of his head. The one Leah killed him and Vader. She looked just like this.

Darth Vader just stood aside, not speaking a word and barely making a sound. He knew better than to speak and mess with any of them. But he couldn't do that anymore. The look of his Master's face was dangerous. He could dare say that he had never seen him this angry and scared.

To break the ice that was taking everyone's ability to breathe, he took a step closer to Sidious and presented his daughter's lightsabers to distract him.

"Her lightsabers, Master." He said.

Palpatine fixed his eyes on Leah, who had the same expression on her face. After a moment, he moved his head to see the lightsabers. He picked them up and took a closer look. They were beautifully built. It was clear that a Skywalker had worked on them.

"Ah, yes, a Jedi's weapon. Much like your father's, of course. I can see his skills in you."

Laetitia didn't say anything and just glared at the Sith Lord. It took her every ounce of strength to not jump on him and strangle him at this second.

"There is so much power in you. You resist it ... and that's your mistake. You chose to become a Gray Jedi. That is wise, but no matter what color of Jedi you choose, you will always be a Jedi. Always too weak to fully embrace the dark side." Sidious hissed, his voice humiliating her for her strength.

"True strength is the resolve to rise above the dark side, Hideous. And like you said, no matter what color of Jedi I choose, I will always want to rip you apart." She hissed back in hatred, using the same words he used.

Sidious only smiled in rage when he heard that. That girl was impossible. The more he looked at her, the more he talked with her, the more he wanted to kill her. She was too dangerous. He couldn't risk it.

"I'm sorry, Lord Vader. Someone who is willing to die fighting against us will never fight for us. She must die. I have given her chances, but ... she does not see reason. I understand you want to save this girl as she was one important to you. But now, she is nothing but your enemy. All she wants to do is kill you for killing her father." He 'softly' said to his apprentice, which caused Leah to scoff in anger.

"How do you do that? You just ... open your mouth and say 3 lies in 1 sentence. Honestly, it's a gift." She shot back.

"I accept your compliment."

"Expect it wasn't one, but sure ... Jeez, he has no brain, either." She muttered bitterly, loud enough for him to hear.

"Leah!" Vader decided to stop his daughter before she got her death wish.

"With the hatred you're feeling, are you confident that you will not kill me?" Palpatine asked.

"Don't push your luck." Leah gritted through her teeth in hatred and restraints.

"Why do you hate me? I have made you into the powerful person you are. Everything you have gone through has made you stronger." He stated, as if he had no idea what he actually put her through.

Seriously?

"What do you do to someone who has taken everything from you?" She asked back quietly, not even having the strength to argue with him anymore.

"I didn't take anything from you. Nothing you hadn't already abandoned ... like your husband." He smiled to set her off, which almost worked.

"Let's not into our families." Leah seriously warned the Sith Lord, to which he replied with another smile. He enjoyed sensing her anger and torturing her.

"I will not deny you of your last wish as a Gray Jedi. Soon, when you are my apprentice, you will tell me everything."

Leah scoffed as she secretly glanced at her father. She didn't believe that for a second. She knew full well that Palpatine had no intention of making her his apprentice or turn to the dark side. He knew that with the hatred she felt for him, a Sith Lord Laetitia would only make matters worse for him. He only said it out of courtesy for his actual apprentice.

"You're wrong. Soon I'll be dead ... and you with me." She promised him strongly.

"Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel Fleet." Sidious smirked, which caught Leah off guard, but she didn't show it.

"Yes, I assure you we are quite safe from your friends here ... Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your friends up there on the Sanctuary Moon ..." He paused as he stood up and took a step closer to her and turned to the Endor outside the Death Star.

"... Are walking into a trap. As is your Rebel Fleet! It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them."

Leah was doing her best to not react at all to his true threats. The tables had turned. Now, everyone was in danger because of her, and she was no where near them. This was all her fault. Her eyes darted from Palpatine to Vader and, finally, to the lightsabers in the Emperor's hand. She needed them back.

"Oh ... I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive. From here, you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance, and the end of your insignificant Rebellion."

"Your overconfidence is your weakness." She stated.

"Your faith in your friends is yours." He bitterly shot back.

"It is pointless to resist, Laetitia. Give into your desires. Then you may have a chance to save your friends." Vader quietly advised his daughter.

Leah tried not to show her emotions and just turned away. There was no way in hell she would ever turn to the dark side, even if that was the only way to save her friends. She wouldn't become Darth Xela ... not when a great price was paid to make sure she didn't.

This only angered the Emperor. He could no longer feel her anger, hatred or fear. He felt nothing in the Force. She was hiding all her emotions, or ... she wasn't feeling anything at all. Palpatine angrily lashed out and Force-pushed her against the wall.

Vader had to fight the urges to step in and help her. All he could do was watch as his daughter winced and got up. Her death glare was scaring even him.

"You miscalculated. I see all. I know all. You thought yourself worthy to challenge me, but you are nothing but a false hero. The last of the Jedi to fall at my hands ... A spoiled brat with a father who betrayed her. You have led your friends to their destruction. Go on. Fulfill your 'destiny', I dare you ... Jedi!" Palpatine spat angrily.

This time, Leah knew she could no longer ignore him. She was ready to kill him. She had to kill him. She knew it was her father's job to bring balance to the Force, but when he was unavailable, what could she do?

She suddenly used the Force to free her lightsabers from the Sith Lord's grip, only for it to be clashed with her father's red blade.

Done :)