AN: SW Belongs to GL and yeah. Basically. Things that you might need to know:
Stuff like thisis said by Chewie and things like this is Force conversations.
Beth had been separated from Leia, Han and Chewie. Chewie, locked within a cell, wondered what had become of his companions when an ear-splitting siren went off. Using his voice, the wookiee competed against it until it turned off again.
Turning back to the broken protocol droid parts that had been brought to him, Chewie set about to repair Threepio. He lifted his head as the door slid open and Han was thrown in. The wookiee supported the smuggler enough to get Han to one of the beds in the room. Then Leia was brought in.
"They never asked me any questions," Han whispered.
Leia knelt beside him and stroked the hair off his forehead. "We have to be strong," she whispered soothingly, but with much pain in her voice. "Han, why did we come here? Why are we even here?" The door slid open again and she spun on her knees. "Lando," she told him.
Han painfully got up and hissed at Lando, "Some friend. Is this what you planned?"
"I never meant this to get so much out of hand. I only agreed to hold you."
"Vader wants us all dead!" Leia snapped.
"Vader's not after you at all," Lando shot back. "He's after somebody named Skywalker."
"Luke?" Han asked. "Why would he want Luke?"
"I don't know, but—"
What Beth had said before going to dinner with Vader came back to Leia.
"Thank you. But I don't mean to go. Not if it's going to be dinner with Vader."
"And what makes you so sure that Darth Vader will come here?"
"Because he wants Skywalker. And we're the bait."
"She was right!" Leia said. "We're the bait!"
c d
Vader looked down upon the woman he held aboard his shuttle. He had now come to overlook the young fool of a Jedi. She had been taken there after her series of torture.
"You are nothing compared to my son," he hissed.
Beth looked up at him with a painful expression on her face. "Really? With the information I have? I wouldn't count on that."
"You are unarmed and without your lightsaber. Tell me, young Padawan, who is your master?" He spat the name out as though it was beneath him to say it. "Who are you?"
"I thought you'd know, Vader."
"Tell me!" Vader roared. "Now!"
"You don't have a son. The man you claim to be was buried long ago," Beth said, knowing that what she said was not what Vader wanted to hear. "Luke will never come."
"Are you sure?"
"Are you?"
Vader applied pressure on Beth's mental shields and forced his way in. Beth began to violently shake as he started to scour her mind. Beth fought back and blasted his mind with the light within her. His mind had been opened fully to her and she had taken advantage of that, knocking him off his feet.
"Don't do that ever again," Beth told him coolly. "Ever!"
She got up and made for the door.
"You are a Knight!"
"That is correct, Anakin," Beth paused and then added, "no wait. That's right. You killed him."
Vader got up and asked, in fact, demanded of Beth, "Who are you?"
Beth looked at him with sadness in her eyes. "Somebody you've long forgotten." He did nothing to stop her from walking off the shuttle.
c d
Luke was cleared for landing on Bespin and he looked down at the young girl sitting in his arms. He brought his X-Wing into land, opening the canopy as he touched down. Myrrha was asleep so Luke carefully cradled her in his arms and he stood up. He had to lower her to the ground somehow without waking her.
"Luke, pass her to me," a woman's voice called to him. "Pass Mia to me." Luke turned and looked down to see Beth standing beside the X-Wing.
"Thanks. How do you know Myrrha?"
"She's my daughter." Beth took Myrrha from Luke and kissed her forehead. She saw Luke's confusion written on his face. "Mia is her nickname.
"Mommy?" Myrrha asked sleepily.
"I'm here, sweetheart. Go back to sleep." Beth turned her gaze on Luke. "Why did you come?"
"Leia and Han are in pain. So's Chewie. I can't even think, let alone imagine them dying at Vader's hand. Master Yoda told me to bring Myrrha here with me, in case you were wondering."
"Thank you. Your friends aren't going to die. Vader's after you."
"He's still after me? I thought he might have given up by now," Luke said sarcastically.
Beth sighed. "You remind me a lot of Anakin. Vader will never stop hunting you because of your legacy. Because you are still not fully trained."
"You're starting to sound like Master Yoda. You know that?"
"I'm sorry, but I know the danger you're in."
Luke sighed deeply, realising that he was facing the unknown and that Beth was better prepared to face Vader than he was. "What do we do now?" he asked.
c d
Han, Chewie and Leia stood together with binders on their hands. Threepio was still incomplete but he was strapped to the back of the wookiee.
"What's happening, buddy?" Han whispered spitefully to Lando.
"You're being put into carbon-freeze," Lando whispered back.
Three of Vader's men made their way to the captives to take Han from their number, but Chewie broke his binders and roared.
"Chewie! Stop," Han commanded him. "This won't help us. The princess, you'll have to look after her."
Leia moved closer to Chewie and Han. Han looked down at her. Their lips met and the kiss spoke all the words that needed to be said between the two. Leia had finally allowed her love for Han to show. Love, she knew, she couldn't deny.
Piett pulled them apart and Han was taken to the carbon-freezing chamber.
"I love you," Leia called, not caring who heard her declaration.
"I know," Han replied as the binders were taken off his wrists. He was lowered into the chamber.
A purple lightsaber hummed to life underneath Piett's neck before Han was put into carbon freeze, drawing attention to its wielder. Vader turned slowly to face the Jedi. The cloak the Jedi was wearing covered their face, but Vader knew that dark gaze anywhere.
"Mace Windu," He quietly jeered. Beth took her outer cloak off, revealing the Jedi garments underneath. She had disguised herself as her former master. "Brave," he continued, "but foolish."
"I don't think so. I know your weakness." Beth advanced on Vader. Now, she thought, it is time to show my true purpose. "You have destroyed my family and you threatened my child." She didn't quite release her disguise. She was saving that.
Vader frowned beneath his mask. That voice… it was familiar somehow. He knew that it wasn't Mace's voice. It was younger, more feminine. He remembered killing Mace five years before.
"Release them," Beth said coolly, her disguise falling away, revealing her true identity.
"Artoo!" came Threepio's voice. "What are you doing here?"
Artoo whistled his reply and made his way past Chewie and Leia to the control centre.
Luke ignited his blue lightsaber and joined Beth, as Vader's saber ignited and was pointed at Beth.
"Release them, Lord Vader," a low, masculine, voice growled. Piett stepped in to stand behind Beth. He had finally realised who she was.
"Do you wish to die yourself, Admiral Piett?" Vader asked.
"More than I wish for you to kill my wife," Piett replied as he took his daughter's hand unknowingly.
"You will not harm him and you will not harm me," Beth said. "But more than that, you will not harm our daughter or my nephew."
"Bethie?" Vader queried, mystified. The pieces of the puzzle were finally being put into place.
Beth didn't reply to his query. Instead, she told Artoo to get Han, Chewie and Leia out. After her command, the room became a deathly silence.
"Bethie?" Vader asked again.
"Myrrha," Beth said, deactivating the lightsaber in her hand. Piett looked down at the girl beside him, realising for the first time that she was there. He picked up the girl and looked at Beth.
Vader looked upon the small child in Piett's arms. She brought back memories he had long forgotten. Myrrha looked exactly like Beth did at that age with the exact same eye colour and dark blond hair. Beth smiled at her daughter and asked, "Are you alright?" Myrrha nodded. Beth's eyes locked momentarily with Piett's before turning back to the blood red blade in front of her. She whispered low enough for just him to hear her. "I didn't ask you to join this fight, but I appreciate it. Would you be able to help clear the room? This duel's not going to be pretty."
Piett stepped back without question and ordered the men from the room. Before all had filed out, Vader attacked. Beth, anticipating his move, did a few back flips, trusting Luke would engage the dreaded dark lord.
Getting to her feet, Beth switched on her lightsaber and joined the frenzy. Vader, not being aware of how much training either had, fought them both, thinking he was tiring them both down.
"You were unwise to challenge me," Vader seethed at her.
Beth was too busy watching Luke battle Vader on his own to reply. She was figuring out what she needed to do to help Luke along his path. His lightsaber went flying. It was time for her to step in and fight to her full potential, knowing that Vader would not be ready for it, let alone be expecting it from her. She had to time it right.
Vader hardly saw Beth coming at him as he advanced on Luke. Luke was backing from Vader.
"Luke, this is your destiny. Join me."
"If you need blood, Vader, take mine. Leave Luke out of this. It's me you want," Beth said with her lightsaber held high. She was far quicker than what Vader expected, and far stronger.
He couldn't get a single attack in as Beth, powered with the light side, continued her relentless attack. Luke, having recovered enough, had worked his own attacks in amongst Beth's. Beth brought her knee up and knocked Vader's blade from his hand as she used her other foot to push him to the ground.
She kept him there by putting her blade under his chin. "I would stay there, if I were you."
"How?"
"My master was the best dueller of his time." Beth's gaze turned to Luke. "Luke, find the others and get as far away from here as possible. Don't come back for me." Calling Vader's lightsaber to her, she called to Luke once more. "Take this for me." She threw her master's lightsaber to him and he disappeared from the chamber.
She winced and shivered from pain. The last few days and weeks had worn her down so much and then to battle with Vader took her remaining strength. Vader watched her collapse at his feet into unconsciousness.
"You will be easy to turn, young Jedi," Vader said, knowing that no one heard him. "You came so close today of joining me at my side."
c d
Luke found the others waiting on the Falcon for him and Beth. He told them to go, not really wanting to tell them why Beth wasn't with him. Piett, holding his daughter close to him, couldn't miss the fact that Beth had not returned.
"Where's Bethie?" he asked.
"Vader's got her, and she doesn't want us to go back for her," Luke replied honestly. By now, they had already left Bespin's atmosphere and were escaping from the Executor's grip.
"What does she think she's doing?"
"I don't know," Luke said quietly. "But how did Vader know about her?"
"I never told him," Piett said. He sighed and looked at Myrrha in his arms. "I haven't spoken of her for a long time, not since I last saw her, three years ago."
Leia came into the common room from the cockpit. "We're in lightspeed now. Luke, I need to tell you something."
"What?"
"Beth told me about our parents. I knew I was adopted into the royal house of Alderaan, because I knew my mother. Her name was Padmé and she was married to your father."
Luke gazed over her with a puzzled look on his face. Something within him was finally put into its place. He looked away from Leia as comprehension dawned on him. Finding his voice, he said, "We're twins, Leia."
"I know."
"The troubling thing is, how did Vader know about Bethia? None of us told him. Especially not me. Officers do not socialise with Vader if they wish to live longer than five minutes."
"Lukie, play? Daddy too?" Myrrha interrupted.
Luke groaned while Piett smiled.
c d
Vader had a nagging sense of foreboding when he left the sleeping Jedi some time after his return to his ship. Beth had survived when he thought that all of the Jedi students in the crèche had been killed. How had she escaped from death?
He went to his chamber, knowing that the Falcon had escaped with his son and his admiral. His anger burned strongly against the people protecting Luke from the truth. It was a pity Piett had gotten involved. Especially when he had become involved with his little sister.
His mind turned to the Jedi he now held. His sister. She had become so close to turning, or had been when they were duelling. Bethie, his little sister, had survived his Jedi Purges. How?
My master told me that she was dead, as was my angel. Why did he say that to me?
Vader sighed. One of his many suppressed memories surfaced. He tried to stop it from surfacing further, but he couldn't. A tear rolled down the inside of his mask as he let the memory of Beth and Padmé unroll before his eyes.
c d
Beth opened her eyes to see Vader standing over her. "What do you want with me, Anakin?" she asked him dryly, placing emphasis on his name.
"Why do you insist on calling me by that name?" he returned, just as dryly.
"Because that is what Mom called you," Beth replied. "It is the name of your true self that you've only forgotten. Now answer my question."
"You are strong and you will turn."
"What makes you so sure?"
"The duel. You were close to turning then and will be again."
"I had complete control over my actions, Ani. I know where my limits are. She closed her eyes and immersed herself in the Force, touching his Force presence slightly.
He recognised the light touch and realised that Beth had been so close to him before. And he recognised it as the lost presence on the Falcon. "You were on the Falcon!"
She looked sadly up at him, not saying anything more.