To My Daughter...

Chapter Three: Meeting Evil, And A Not So Evil Dark Knight.

Disclaimer: I don't own Mara Jade, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, or any other characters that you recognize. I do own Aileen, and Bryz Dewates.

A/N: Well, I'm up to five reviews now, and it's been a week since I updated, so I'm updating now. However, I'm a sophomore in High School, so after the 7th, updating will slow to every other weekend(when I'm at my dad's, my mom hogs the computer.) I'm trying to put up a one shot on Obi Wan and Riannon (Aileen's mother, Obi's Lover), but it may take a few weeks to finish it. Oh, and thanks to all those who reviewed my first two chapters.

Love,

Laurelleaf

"All right Mara, you have to be good in there, no crying, or fussing, or unneeded wiggling. Got It?" Aileen told the baby, fighting her nervousness as she walked down the marble hallway to the Emperor's throne room.

"Aileen!" A young man ran up, his black hair a mess.

"Bryz. Is there a problem?" Aileen asked pausing a minute, and changing the arm that held the baby, who had fallen asleep, her little mouth open, making little whistling noises with every breath.

"No, I just wanted to come too, make sure you were all right." He said, smoothing his tousled hair.

"Bryz, I will be fine, it's Little One here who I'm worried about, he may not let me keep her. I'd hate to think of what will happen to her if someone else raised her." Aileen said, glancing at the baby in her arms.

He smiled at her, "He'll let you keep her, he has to, it is the will of the Force, even the Emperor won't go against it, yet. I'm just worried about what will happen when he finally does go against it. I'm worried about you, he has no choice right now, but to allow you your life, but what will happen when he finally tires of you, tires of the Force running his life." He said, reaching out to touch Aileen's shoulder.

She sighed, "Then the Light-bearers will hide, and their light will not glow. Until then, I will do as I am meant to, and spread my light. It is all that I can do." She looked at him, looking into his hazel eyes. "If you are coming with me, you'd best straighten your robe, and tuck your shirt in. And hurry, we don't have much time."

Bryzen Dewates, a Light-bearer and Aileen's Force-Mate (soul mate), looked down and tucked his cream shirt into his black slacks, and straightened his brown robe, that had gotten tangled during his run. He grinned, catching his mate's eyes on his body. "Better?"

"Much" She said grinning, and shifting the sleeping baby to her shoulder. She reached out with her free arm, and hugged him tight. "Let's go."

They walked together to the huge, ornate, and deadly doors. The crimson cloaked guards stood to attention. "Names?"

" Lady Kyna Aileen Katja, Light-bearer. Lord Bryzen Dewates, Light-bearer. Mara Elysia Jade, a harmless infant." Aileen stated, rather unkindly. "Now will you let us to our business, we are expected, you know. Or is your job to make the Emperor's Chosen late?" She added, looking rather annoyed, that she, of all people, had been held up. Or so the guard thought.

He chose not to respond, and turned, and opened the doors, and walked through, announcing as he went. "Lady Kyna Aileen Katja, Lord Bryzen Dewates, and Mara Elysia Jade. Milord." He bowed, and at a gesture from Palpatine, turned and walked away.

"So, you have brought the child. Come, let me see her." He said, his voice like gravel, telling of all the evil he had caused, all the evil he had ordered. His price to pay for his evil, was the decaying of his body, it decayed like a dead man's.

Aileen walked up to his throne, and knelt, moving the sleeping baby to the cradle of her arms. At some point the baby had grabbed some of Aileen's waist length hair, and she kept a hold on it still. As Aileen looked at the sleeping child, she could not help but wonder, such innocence, what would happen when she was exposed to evil, to the dark, would she become the shadow the Emperor wanted? Or would she be something else?

"She is the one. Good take her to the nursery, the droids will care for her." The Dark said, sitting back in his throne.

"Droids, sir?" Aileen asked, incredulously. She stepped back. "Sir, I'd like to ask for a boon. I've done all the you've asked, to the letter. I'd like to raise the Little One."

The Dark laughed, "You, why should I allow that?"

The girl grinned, he was fighting a losing battle. "Dark is not dark without Light, because then people would be indifferent. Evil is only evil when accompanied by good, otherwise there is only indifference, one must know the boundaries to cross them. Wrong and Right don't exist without each other. Rules are made to be broken, it is said, but if there are no rules, how can one break them? Mara is meant to be a shadow, but to be that, she must be taught by both the Light and the Dark, I am the Light, need I say more?" She finished, holding the child close to her.

"The Force tells you this?" The Emperor asked, standing up.

"Yes, it does." The girl stated.

"Does it also tell you that you should raise the girl?"

"It does."

"And if I say no?" The Dark asked.

"You disobey the Force..." Aileen started.

"You die." Bryzen finished. He grimaced, he'd seen that kind of death before, it was not pleasant. The man who had died had spent hours in pain, his skin blistering as though from a internal fire. The blisters had popped, and oozed green pus, then scabbed over. The man's whole body had begun to swell, and the scabs cracked and bled. The man had begun to vomit by that point, he vomited blood. Soon blood was oozing from his eyes, his nose and his ears. Not much after that, blood was oozing from every pore in the man's body. His body rose in the death seizure, his body supported only by his toes and his head, over a growing pool of crimson blood, life's blood. It rose and rose, until eventually Crack, and the man's life had ended. Even after he died, his body still grew hotter and hotter, until it literally exploded into a cloud of ashes.

"Fine, then, raise the girl, but let me remind you, if I could, you and that mate of yours would be dead, along with that child, Hand, or no Hand, all Jedi should be destroyed." The Dark said, his gaze resting on the sixteen year- old girl, holding the innocent baby in her arms. The boy stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around his family.

"Are you done, M'lord?" He asked, his tone dangerous. No one threatened his family, and that now included Mara.

"Yes, Quite done, you are dismissed." The Dark lord said, turning his back to them. He would not be interested in Mara for several years.

Bryzen turned his family around, and escorted them out. After they had walked a while, he said, "Let's go home and change, and then go buy some things for Mara. She needs a crib, and a chair, and baby clothes."

"Wonderful idea. Let's be the family we are." Aileen said, beaming at the idea.

"So, how should we decorate her room? Pinks, Purples, blues, greens?" She asked, handing the baby to Bryzen. She walked backwards, talking as she went.

"I say why not decorate in all four." Bryzen said, laughing at his mate's change of mood.

"Sounds good to me, what do you think, Mara? All four colors? I think that will suit you. I think that will be perfect. We'll get you a crib set in lavender and green. And we'll paint the walls in waves of each color. We'll buy you a cool lamp, and teddy bears, and stuffed animals, and a baby monitor, so we can hear you when you cry. We'll buy bottles, and milk, and infant cereal. We'll have to get you clothes too, of course, and..." She stopped there because she had run into a man dressed in black armor. "Sorry Anakin, I wasn't looking. Oh, you have to meet Mara." She reached out, and grabbed the stunned man's arm, and pulled him over to Bryzen and Mara.

"Anakin, meet Mara, the Emperor's Hand, and currently, my adopted daughter." She said, handing the baby to the armored man. He held her gently, as if she were glass. She looked up at him, and smiled.

Anakin gasped. "So, this is what it's like." He said, thoughtfully, his voice hissing.

"What's like?" Bryzen asked, watching the armored man carefully. This was his daughter.

"It's what it's like, to hold a little one in your arms, and to know you have to keep her safe, and that she can't take care of herself." The dark man replied, a little bit of light showing through. He sighed, and held her out. "Fate has decided this is not for me, even though I wished. Here, take her." He said. Aileen took the baby from him, and held her close.

"What do you mean, it's not for you?" She asked, rocking the baby gently, swaying back and forth.

"My wife was pregnant, she miscarried." He said, sadness in his mechanical voice, if that were possible.

"Oh, Anakin, I'm sorry. But maybe that just meant the Force has another plan for you. Maybe, when Mara gets older, you could watch her for us, so that we could get some time alone?" She said, her voice healing.

"Maybe." was all that he said. He turned and walked away. Aileen and Bryzen could feel his sorrow.

"Do you really think that he'll watch her?" Bryzen asked.

"I have know idea, but it was worth a try. Now, let's go change." Aileen said, they had been walking and had finally made their way home.