6
Padme met Obi-Wan as he stepped out of his small ship. Swallowing back a mouthful of bile, she knew she didn't look that well. Neither did Leia, for that matter. Both of them were pale and wore expressions of sadness so powerful that passerby thought they had just come from the funeral of a loved one.
I might as well have come from a funeral, I know the chances of Anakin and Luke both being alive, well, and intact are pretty slim. Leia, even though she doesn't know what is going on, knows that her brother is gone and can't understand why. I hope they're okay…Stars, let them be okay.
"Padme, we must leave at once, we don't have much time to work with."
"What do you mean, Obi…Ben, I mean."
"It's alright, once we're in space you can call me by my true name." He looked around, glancing with concern at Leia's pale features. "She looks like she hasn't slept much. Is she okay?"
"Considering her brother and father have just been captured by a man who will torture them without a second thought, she's doing fine. A little loss of sleep is to be expected." She looked the general of the Clone Wars in the eye. "What do you mean by 'we don't have much time to work with'?"
"I'll tell you soon." He hustled her onto the ship and swept into the cockpit, lifting the ship off the ground in remarkable time. They broke atmosphere and danced around an Imperial patrol before slipping into the multi-coloured expanse of Hyperspace. Leia sighed and snuggled closer to her mother as Obi-Wan turned back to them. He frowned with worry at Leia's little body, "She should get some sleep. If you wanted, I could-"
"Trick her into sleeping? Thank you, but I think it won't be needed. She'll fall asleep when her body has had enough." Sure enough, Leia relaxed into Padme's arms and allowed sleep to claim her weary body.
Obi-Wan took Padme's free hand in his, looking at the gray deck of the ship as he tried to find words to explain the situation to her. "I felt a disturbance in the Force recently. I clearly felt Anakin and Luke; together they form a pattern so distinct and powerful in the Force that they are very hard to miss. I felt Palpatine nearby," he shivered then, his bones chilling with the remembrance of the Dark power "he, as well, creates a signature in the Force that cannot be duplicated." It amazing that I did not feel him in the beginning… Obi-Wan's thoughts trailed off as Padme's hand tightened on his own.
"Nothing that has happened in these past few years is your fault, Obi-Wan." Padme whispered fiercely.
"I wish I could believe that." He waved off his morbid thoughts "It matters not. Palpatine will try to convert Anakin again; he doesn't want to waste a powerful – and already trained – ally. He may be evil to the bottom of his black soul, but he has proven that he is not stupid. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that he'd separate Anakin and Luke, and play their feelings for each other against them. He's done it before, he'll do it again."
"Does he know we're coming?"
"He knows you're coming most likely. He may overestimate my bitterness towards Anakin; then again, he may not." Obi-Wan shrugged, "We're going to need more people for this little rescue operation either way."
Padme looked at him warily "Who did you have in mind, master Jedi?"
Obi-Wan grinned.
On a distant Star Destroyer, Anakin Skywalker fought for his life.
Blue lightning screamed at him, blocked barely two inches from his hands and thrown into the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and back at the man who had thrown it first. Anakin screamed a wordless battle cry and tried to push the malevolent power back, but only succeeded in exhausting himself more. Palpatine cackled and increased the power of his attack.
Luke cowered behind his father, too scared to even cry. He backed up a few small steps when Anakin was forced back again, scrambling to the wall.
"You see, child? If you used the power you once wielded so effectively, you could save yourself and your son. But you can't, you are indeed pathetic. Little slave, you don't even deserve the title of Padawan."
Anakin screamed again, rage filling his body "You old decaying parasite…" He struggled forward, trying to get at the old man. His incredible anger blocked out all other senses.
"Little fool." Palpatine chuckled darkly, easily blocking the young man's attack and blasting him to the floor. " You think you can defy me?"
"You dried up piece of – AH!" Anakin writhed under the torture that Palpatine dished out.
"Enough of that, my young apprentice, there are children present." Palpatine took on a mocking look of horror. "Oh, dear! That isn't one of the Royal Guards holding your son, is it? My, my, you failed to protect your son!" He shook his head sadly as Anakin struggled to get up and help the young one. "Not much of a father, are you?"
"Luke…" Anakin reached out with one battered hand to his son, who reached back to him. Palpatine smiled evilly as he altered this sight in Anakin's young mind. Luke, in the arms of the red-clad guard, snuggling into the blood coloured robes. Luke, giggling up into the faceless mask.
Luke, looking over his fallen father, calling Palpatine "Da."
Anakin cried out once, "Luke!!" before Palpatine knocked him unconscious with a carefully placed burst of lightning. Anakin slumped to the cold deck.
"Fool." Palpatine turned to the guard holding the struggling child, "Take this one back to his room." He patted the child on the head. Luke lunged and bit the pale hand.
"Little brat!" The Emperor snarled, then smiled as the anger boiled out of the toddler. "We will reach Imperial Center in three days. Wield this one's door shut, and bring him out when we get there." The guard bowed and walked of with the defiant child in tow.
Palpatine smiled wickedly then turned greedy eyes towards the child's sire.
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