Mistrust and Danger

A.N.: For "Where Am I Going To?" I find I'm miring myself in things I never intended. I'm not much for EU, I'm a very big Original Trilogy person myself. And yet, no matter what I originally planned, I seem to be making WAIGT more and more complicated as time goes on. It's not a bad thing. It gives the story more depth and range. But it does mean extra work for me.

This is my first time writing Xizor, and my experience is nilch. I'm trying desperately to get my hands on a copy of Shadows of the Empire with little success. Maybe I'll look back on this and cringe, who knows. Until then, any advice is, as always, greatly appreciated. Why didn't I wait to read more before writing this? Plot bunnies, my friends, plot bunnies…..

"I don't like Prince Xizor."

The comment was not entirely random. Both Vader and Xizor were meeting with Palpatine, and both of the young Force users had been banished from the throne room. Mara hadn't dared protest. Luke didn't want to. He was gloomily slumped in a chair, staring out into nothing while Jade idly looked through a data pad. However, his sudden remark did make her look up, curious, and she pushed her unruly hair out of her eyes.

"Most people don't, I imagine," she replied with a shrug.

"Except the emperor."

Now she smiled, nodding. "Yes, so I am predisposed to like him."

Luke sneered. "You're crazy."

She scowled. "You're only inclination to dislike him is because your father does."

Luke stared at the floor for a moment, rubbing nervously at his arm. "I don't deny that my father's feelings help to solidify my own, but it's more than that. It's…"

Intrigued, she leaned foreword. "It's…?"

Lord Skywalker shook his head. "No, I'd rather not talk about it."

Mara scowled curiously at him, leaning back in her chair. Finally, she shrugged and said, "He's really terribly attractive, though."

Was she trying to make him jealous? It wasn't like seventeen year old Luke really felt that way about her. Oh, she was attractive, but she was his friend. It might be better to keep it like that.

Might be.

He merely sneered at that. "He's a Falleen, he just reeks of pheromones is all."

Mara shrugged. "Call it base and instinctual, but it works."

"Fine," he allowed. "Then I will call it base and instinctual and feel sorry for you that you're stuck on the bastard."

Mara sparked to this. "I do not have a crush on some Black Sun trash!"

"Just base and instinctual desires."

"Well….quite a few women do. It's not serious, I'm not interested in him."

Luke had merely slumped further into his chair. "Whatever."

She looked at him funny. Something wasn't right. "What's the matter with you? What don't you like about Xizor."

Luke stood up, turning his back to Mara briefly before rotating so she could see him in profile. He was rubbing his arms, which he did when he was nervous. And Luke was so rarely nervous.

"When I was little….I couldn't have been more than nine…he…"

Mara stood up, drawing carefully closer to her friend. "He what?"

Luke laughed nervously. "Well, I can't say that he actually did anything to me. He didn't hurt me physically. He really didn't do anything mentally. It was just…."

She placed a hand on his shoulder, but even from that she could feel his furiously pumping heart. "Just?" she encouraged soothingly.

Luke closed his eyes momentarily, and whispered, "A premonition, only so much worse."

She blinked. "Nothing's worse than a premonition."

"This was… I don't really remember what happened, just the way I felt. It was…unnatural. I felt rooted to the spot, I felt….afraid." And Luke was afraid of practically nothing. "I don't even remember what it was he said to me. He just bent down real low so I could see his lavender eyes. Lavender! The color was unnerving. He must have said something, but for the life of me I can't remember what. And he dragged his claw along my jaw bone. It didn't leave so much as a mark, but I was so afraid. I don't know why, but something was telling me to be afraid. The Force, instinct, I don't know…" He shivered, turning to look at Mara with his large, opaque eyes. She blinked and pushed a lock of hair away from the icy blue eyes, pulling him back onto the couch he'd been brooding on.

"I don't understand it either," she whispered. "Are you sure that's all?"

He leaned his head on his best friend's shoulder, and sighed. "Whatever's left is buried somewhere. And I sincerely hope it stays that way….."

…

"Prince Xizor?"

The elegant Falleen male wheeled slowly around, his face a mask of disgust and discontent. The Coruscant Imperial Palace was lavish, but not to Xizor's taste. Everything in it felt black, yet unrefined. It felt rich, but not opulent. It felt...over used.

The voice that had addressed him was that of a nine year old child with blond hair and pale blue eyes. Dressed completely in black from head to foot, the small boy was standing expectantly, arms folded behind his back. What was a child doing in the Imperial Palace?

Seeming satisfied now that the Black Sun leader's attention was on him, the thing sucked in a breath and reported, "The emperor will see you shortly, and my father requests that you wait here a moment."

The fastidious reptilian raised a finely arched eyebrow and asked, "And who might you be?"

The boy seemed mortally offended, and blinked, his temper flaring briefly up. "Luke Skywalker," he snarled. As if that really meant anything to Xizor. He added, "I am the Imperial Prince, and the future Lord of the Sith and Emperor!" The boy felt most passionately about this as his stance, instead of relaxed, became solid and confrontational. Not that a nine year old could challenge a Falleen.

Ah, yes, Skywalker. Vader's little brat. Xizor briefly wondered what woman the dark Lord had violated in order to produce an heir. He couldn't imagine a human female would willingly touch the murdering bastard. Still, here was what was reportedly Darth Vader's powerful and devoted son. Of course, who could ever really tell? Breathing masks weren't hereditary, and there was no way to tell if they had familial physical attributes. And why would the Imperial Prince be named Skywalker when his father was called Vader? So many questions, so many questions.

The Falleen bent low, his claw like hands supporting him by gripping his knees. "Well," he purred darkly. "Don't you just have a pretty face." Young Skywalker seemed quite taken aback by Xizor's suddenly looming presence, for the small boy appeared to wilt slightly. A coward? Then he must be Vader's boy. The boy's breathing increased nervously as Xizor ran an experimental claw gently across the boy's jaw bone so as not to leave a mark. "What a price you'd fetch on a back water black market."

Luke felt himself forced to meet the Falleen's eerie violet eyes, and he gulped slightly. He didn't know why, but something inside him screamed "Enemy!" It was like seeing a poisonous snake curled up in his path. Despite the fact that Xizor was an Imperial ally, Luke found he did not trust him.

"And such eyes…." Xizor praised, tilting the boy's chin up. "I wonder if your father has those icy blue eyes. Of course, I wonder if you're even his."

Before he even consciously realized it, every instinct inside of Luke had reacted the only way it knew how: Father!

Mere moments later, not even a full minute, Luke could feel the room shake beneath his feet, and heard the desperate, frightened cries of Imperial officers as they scattered. Xizor didn't move, just continued to squint and stare as he carefully appraised the future emperor.

With a gigantic boom, the doors to the antechamber Xizor had been put in swung open, cracking against the wall. "Xizor!" Instantaneously, Luke breathed easier. No, it was alright, he didn't have to be afraid, his father was here. The Falleen calmly rose from his kneeling position, whispering to Luke, "We'll have to continue our conversation some other time."

Let's not.

The room continued to rattle under Vader's heavy, dangerous, ominous step, and Luke remained firmly rooted to the spot. "I swear by all the deities imaginable," the deep snarl continued, "that if you have hurt one hair on his head, I'll-"

"You'll what?" sneered Xizor. "Don't make any pretensions in thinking I'm afraid of you. I'm not one of your lackeys. What could you do to me."

Vader didn't pause a beat, his stride as even and thundering as ever. Without so much as a pause, Vader's hands had shot up and wrapped around the Falleen's green, reptilian neck, and Luke had scuttled behind his father's massive black leg. The boy anxiously wanted comfort, but didn't dare cling to his father's boot. Better wait until he'd dispensed his rage. If his father was chocking Xizor with his bare hands then he was clearly very angry.

"I was thinking," snarled Vader, "I could snap your neck in two."

This, of course, didn't happen, as an officer had scurried up to the Dark Lord of the Sith and was nervously begging, "Please, my Lord, His Excellency would like to see Prince Xizor now, so if you could refrain from killing him-"

With a vicious snarl, Vader released the Falleen, instead employing one hand to carefully and possessively caress the boy's head, pushing the soft blond hair out of the icy blue eyes. Luke still watched Xizor carefully, wrapping both of his small hands around his father's large, gloved hand. "Be very grateful to the emperor," he hissed, and Luke's grip on his father's hand became impatient and distressed. Two more officers anxiously guided the scowling and glaring Xizor down the hall to His Majesty's audience chamber, while Vader had quickly bent down to Luke, who was trembling.

"Are you alright? What happened, what did that bastard do to you?"

"He just said things, and…and the Force told me not to trust him, and….and I was afraid," he admitted, and his father patiently soothed the quivering child.

"It's alright, you were right. I don't think you should trust him either. What did he say to you? Did he insult you, what?"

"Am I your son, do I look like you?" Luke begged, trying to slow his breathing.

Vader blinked, slightly confused. "Like I did. You…look like I used to."

Luke was growing calmer. "The lava?"

"The lava." He quickly changed the subject back to the matter at hand. "Don't listen to him. You are my son, always, don't trust him."

"Yes, Father," Luke whimpered. He found the hand he had been gripping suddenly wrenched from him when Vader stood up and wheeled on the officer that had kept him from killing Xizor. "Why weren't you watching him?" The trembling officer was quickly pinned to the wall, the breath being slowly sucked out his body. Under normal circumstances, Luke might have protested that he could take care of himself. But these weren't normal.

Instead, he found himself pleading, "Please, Father, don't!" Vader paused, glancing at his son. "Don't kill him. He…he didn't know."

While the excuse wasn't enough for Vader, he was of the mood to spoil Luke in whatever he asked. He let the shocked officer drop, leading his son back down the corridor. "Now," he whispered carefully. "Are you sure he didn't do anything else to you?"

"He didn't hurt me, Father. He just….Bad feelings," was all Luke could make it amount to with a shrug, and he stared at the tiles of the floor sadly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," soothed Vader. "It doesn't matter. Just go back to your room for a little while, alright? I've got to talk with the emperor…And Xizor."

"Yes, sir." The boy answered, and rushed off, sparing his father and hero a glance, trying to force the incident out of his mind.