The whole hangar stopped it's busy traffic for a moment. No one could believe their eyes. Vader was holding two children with devotion and carried them carefully. And they didn't make a sound.
They didn't cry or sob in terror as the masked man picked them up, it even looked like they were leaning against his chest feeling secure and protected. Nobody that was stationed on the executor had ever seen anything like it.
They knew Darth Vader as a cruel warrior without shame or scruple. It just made what they saw now weirder. He smirked under the mask, even though he was a little surprised himself.
He had expected them to fear him, they were toddlers after all. He was wearing a mask that was enough to fill a child's nightmare on it's own, but it was also accompanied by the mechanic breathing sound.
Vader was impressed by his own children, who were giving him such trust even though they had just been brought here against their will. He heard how everyone continued what they were doing as soon as he left the hangar.
He carried them all the way to his quarters where he entered the code through the force. He couldn't spare a hand right now. Vader slipped through the opening door and heard it seal behind him.
He put down the children carefully, to then free himself of the helmet. "Ahsoka!", he called. The togruta appeared in the doorframe. "They're adorable!", she squeaked as she saw the twins.
Vader looked at their faces, seeing a little version of himself and Padmé before him. The girl looked just like her mother and the boy had inherited Vader's blonde hair and blue eyes.
They looked around from the table on which they had been put curiously. "What are your names?", Ahsoka asked friendly. "Leia.", the girl said quickly. "Luke is.", she added and pointed at her brother.
"Those are very pretty names.", Ahsoka smiled. "Who you?", Luke asked Ahsoka. "I am Ahsoka.", she introduced herself. "And that is your daddy.", she added with a smirk in Vader's direction. He stared at her, baffled. Leia's eyes widened.
"Mommy said, our daddy is jedi.", Luke said before his sister could open her mouth. "She said he is hero." Ahsoka looked at Vader, burning on seeing a reaction. At first he remained silent not knowing how to reply.
"Your mother said that?", he asked as his heartbeat increased. Leia nodded enthusiastically. Ahsoka looked at Vader crookedly.
"You shouldn't get your hopes up too much, master. They probably grew up with someone else that they call mommy.", she suggested. "With a jedi father?", he asked bitterly. She shrugged.
Vader turned to the twins. "Could you just think about your mother, for me?", he asked them. Both nodded and closed their eyes. Vader closed his too and reached out through the force.
The twins were incredibly force sensitive. No wonder Sidious had found them as easily. He was overwhelmed by the emotions he received from them. It was pure and innocent love as they imagined her.
Vader saw their memories of her, caring for them and loving them. Her face appeared in their minds over and over again, how she was smiling at them or looking into their eyes with concern.
He pulled his mind out of the connection, even though he hated to interrupt the memories of her. She was just as beautiful as in his dreams. "When have you seen her the last time?", he then asked the twins.
"When the white men with the black eyes came.", Luke told his father and tears gathered in his little eyes. "Mommy was crying." Vader ran his gloved hand through his hair.
"It's her Ahsoka. She's alive! Sidious lied again, what a surprise.", he called out. Ahsoka stepped forward so the children wouldn't hear her. "They probably killed her to get the twins, master. I suppose it would be pointless to look for her."
Vader shook his head. "She's not dead." "How do you know that, master? I can imagine how hard this is, but..." Vader interrupted her. "Do you remember the thing that holds me back sometimes through the force, I told you about? It is still there."
Padmé was tired. They had been walking through the jungle for what felt like hours, and her abductors had enough bottles with them to stay just as drunk as they had been when they came to her.
All of them had a sour scent to them that drove Padmé crazy. She had to admit that the twins were better off where they were now. Of course she hated the idea of them becoming sith, but at least they weren't slaves.
Well, they were a different kind of slaves. Padmé stumbled around without coordination. She hadn't slept nor eaten since the twins were taken from her and her throat was dry from thirst. "Where are you taking me?", she asked quietly.
The rodian stopped her with a tug. "There.", he answered shortly and pointed to a huge pit that was only a few yards away. Padmé looked down to the bottom of it and jumped in shock. There were countless dirty tents set up below.
Dead animals that had been rotting for days were lying around, attracting insects. Women and children were running around, busy with whatever they were doing. Padmé noticed the slave collars around their necks.
Some of them blinked from time to time making their wearer jerk in pain. Padmé had heard of those before. She looked at her abductors in disgust as they pushed her down the pit over a muddy ramp.
They followed her and looked around smiling. They had obviously seen this place before. A fat Twi'Lek with yellow skin left one of the tents and greeted the skinny one with open arms. "My dear friend! And you brought goods."
The Twi'Lek looked at Padmé with a smirk. "She's pretty. You'll fetch some credits for that one.", he promised. Padmé hated how they talked about her like an object, but that was what slavery was about. She swallowed her anger.
She had spent nights over nights without sleep, negotiating and signing contracts. She put so much work into securing the anti-slavery laws on the planets far from the core. And she had earned quite some triumphs too.
All the time she had sacrificed payed off as the strict rules were passed. All her achievements disappeared when the Emperor took over. The anger came back, stronger. She had trusted the chancellor.
And she had even helped him to be elected as such. And now here she was, ironically, being sold as property herself. The Twi'Lek took the skinny one to a tent. Padmé assumed they were discussing her price.
She had given up on talking reason into her kidnappers hours ago, they valued credits more than freedom or honor. She had never understood these criminals. How could anyone be greedy enough to live with the things they had done?
How could they sleep at night, knowing what others were suffering because of them? Padmé couldn't even remotely understand this kind of cruelty. The Twi'Lek returned with her abductor, who was now carrying a credit package.
She had been sold. The Twi'Lek snapped his fingers and a few men with blasters came closer. Padmé was shoved into a tent roughly, she wasn't even given a glance from any one outside.
Inside many women were sitting on the blank floor, all of them wearing slave collars. They held onto their children which varied from every possible age. The kids were pale and way too thin.
Padmé was glad her own twins weren't here too. Her heart cramped as she recalled where they were instead. She gulped and looked into the many frightened eyes that were staring at her.
Obi Wan sat down on the cave ground. He didn't find Ahsoka's corpse nor any traced of blood in the cave or before it's entrance. That was unusual. He knew Vader to leave a mess behind.
Why would he kill her so carefully? Obi Wan couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation, no matter how hard he tried. The only theory that made sense to him was that Vader had been too late.
Maybe Ahsoka had fled before Vader reached her. Obi Wan attempted to proof his idea. He concentrated, aiming on finding Ahsoka. If she had fled, there was a chance that she was still alive.
It took a while until he was sure he wasn't going to find her. He had done this a lot of times before. The fact that he hadn't found her yet meant that there was nothing to find.
A new theory formed in his mind. She had fled, but was hunted down by Vader anyway. She was killed but not here. She had been here only a few hours ago, when she had not yet been one with the force.
He thought about where she might have gone. He didn't know why but he wanted to know what happened to the Togruta in detail. He knew she was dead, but that wasn't enough.
He was still curious. He thought about all the times they had fought side by side in the clone wars, he wasn't able to just accept her death like that. Until he had seen her lifeless body, he would keep looking.
He felt like he owed it to Anakin to look after the Padawan he had left behind. To look after everyone he had left behind. It had been fifteen years, and Obi Wan was still cleaning up his messes.
Vader sighed. Leia was crying again. It had only been a few days and yet he was exhausted. He had had a lot of seemingly impossible tasks in the past but taking care of the twins was more than he could handle.
"Mommy!", she cried in between her sobs. Vader had not yet figured out on what planet to look for her. "I am trying to find her. And I promise you I will.", he said with a calm voice before picking Leia up. Leia's sobs got a little quieter.
Vader carried her into the other room where Ahsoka was busy entertaining Luke. He too had his moods concerning Padmé. Vader could imagine how confused they were. They had never known any other than their mother.
Her disappearance had to be impossible to comprehend for both of the children. Luke was easily distracted. Ahsoka merely had to let things fly around in the room and he was sure to forget about his mother for the moment. Leia wasn't as easy.
When she started crying, it was a whole load of work to get her to stop. Vader sat her down on the improvised bed and stroked some of her brown hair out of her face. The bed Vader had built was actually part of a torture chamber.
He had removed all the restraints and put soft pillows and blankets at their place. Letting his children sleep on it felt weird anyway.
He had put away every horrid tool or mechanism he could find until the room looked a little less hostile, and the kids didn't even notice anything odd about heir surroundings.
Ahsoka and he slept right next to them on huge sofas he had brought in from the next room. He used to take dignitaries through the room full of torture devices into another one with seating opportunity to negotiate. It had never failed to intimidate.
Leia joined her brother watching as Ahsoka moved around cushions through the force, even though she was still crying. Luke reached out to them, giggling, and Ahsoka lowered one so he could grab it.
It was weird to feel how the force was being used around him, but not feeling the user. Ahsoka had done an excellent job hiding her force signature, not even Yoda would be able to detect her.
She dropped all of them on the bed and smiled at Leia, encouraging. "Have they said anything else about their home?", Vader asked full of hope, as Ahsoka strolled over to him. She shook her head.
"No. They just repeated that it was a wooden house in a forest." Vader threw his hands in the air. "That barely excludes any planets!", he called out in frustration. Ahsoka sunk in thoughts.
"Is there anyone you can reach, that might know about her whereabouts? Someone she trusted." He looked at her, insecure. "Someone I can contact who is not following the Emperor and is yet...how shall I put it...alive?"
Ahsoka shrugged. "Maybe there is someone who is good at hiding secrets. What about the leaders of Naboo? Some of them must still be alive." He thought about it. "Maybe you're right. But not on Naboo."
Ahsoka leaned forward expecting him to continue. "She knows that telling someone on Naboo would be too obvious. If she has told anyone it was Bail Organa of Alderaan."