Leia woke to find herself in a small confining space sure to be her cell, an unwelcoming home for the time being but far less terrifying than the last moments she recalled living. At the sudden thought memories seemed to come alive again.

Leia felt her body once again numb and her throat sore, she recalled pain and then nothing all around her, beating hearts suddenly jolted and then plummeted to a stop.

Leia tried to push all the pain aside as she pulled herself up only to discover her hand ached as much a her chest. Before unwillingly recalling the pain again, Leia opened her palm to find shards that had cut through her skin. However hopeless the situation
might have seemed before, Leia restored it all in sight of the single unshattered kyber cristial she still held.

Leia closed her fingers around the cristal and shut her eyes trying to feel out the worlds around her. At first, she felt nothing but then stars that should of been years away were closer, through the force Leia was able to sense soon enough that she
was no longer anywhere near Naboo or any of the desolate planets she'd gotten used to seeing.

Leia brushed her right hand against her hair and sat there feeling the cold and unfamiliar space around her that might as well have been empty, except one presence that was removed from Leia's thought as the door inside the ship swept open and she clenched
her hand shut.

Vader entered the small cell, making Leia's skin prick up at the seemingly similar scenario that had occurred years before. Both could feel Leia's uneasiness as an eerie feeling swept through the room.

"You will meet with the emperor."

No discussion, not even a warning, just a simple statement to cover up the facts but it was all too raw too soon for Leia as she realized her whole body had stiffened and she was truly more afraid than she'd ever care to admit now.

However, even before Leia had time to completely react in the pure terror she felt— to internally scream and damn the whole world, to react on pure instincts of her fears, two stormtroopers came into the small cell. Again, everything happened before Leia
could realize it and cuffs were immediately placed around her wrists restraining all the little free moment she'd had seconds ago.

Vader watched as Leia struggled against the white armored men and intended to insult and force her way out of the situation with an uninterested and defying glare.

Darth Vader seemed to stare blankly before exiting the room wondering when all the certainty he'd held of his fate in the dark side had been reduced to barely a strand.

It was all coming back but how and why? Everything his other self had once cared for and thought to have lost was returning. The light that had long ago been asphyxiating now proved to be seemingly more seductive, just as the darkness had been all those
years ago.

The image of who he'd been those ancient days had returned to haunt him bearing his son's name. And now as he intended to lead a few paces ahead, a few paces away to keep from the the familiar and perhaps even more haunting face than that of himself of
the past, there was the tormenting image of his dead wife burning through the back of his helmet with just her eyes.

Leia released her glare from Vader's back to cast it against the moving city all around her. The contrast between not only color but liveliness of the inside of the ship against the skies of Corusant were obvious to Leia as she stepped into the day light.
The movement and rush of Corusant and it's blue skies were too much for Leia to resist being marveled by all of it. Every vibrant color and signal of life seemed to outpour Leia's memories of her and her father's many visits to the never resting planet.

The warm memories brought a small smile to the once princess' face before all too soon the memories were shattered by the dark presence before Leia that obviously intended to ground her to reality as the flying vehicles continued moving forward and every
other which way above them.

Before she was able to realize it, Leia and Vader were alone again, already away on a small empty transport that would take them to the grounds of Corusant. The transport echoed with nothing but Vader's breathing that unsurprisingly didn't at all help
in calming Leia's nerves.

There was anger all around them, Leia could feel it as if hot and heavy lava was flowing in the air and she was trying to move in it. With consideration of recent events Leia would not be one to do little of it,

"Only because I couldn't defeat you does not mean I will join you."

There was silence, as much as there could be with just Vader's breathing and the noise from outside sweeping in.

Leia didn't take being ignored too well and looked out, trying to forget the other singular presence inside the transport. Soon enough she realized she was terrified and it would probably be best to try and engulf herself in her own mind to escape the
present.

Leia stared off into the busy skyline above her and wondered to herself what the emperor pretended to do after already condemning the Galaxy to seemingly infinite subordination beneath him. Without warning all Leia's thoughts and worries seemed to bring
her back to where she stood—the barricading present that still she had no idea what to do with.

Leia straightened her posture to match her wit before she carried on the previous conversation,

"I would die before I joined you."

Again there was no sign the dark figure had heard her, no indication he was on off mode until suddenly the cuffs released Leia's hands. There was astonishment that seemed to dwell within Leia as she searched around for an answer that stood beside her—
still and breathing as loudly as ever.

Leia of course knew this wasn't permission to try and escape, she knew it was futil and before any more thoughts could cross her mind the the transport reached the elegantly menacing once Jedi Temple that was now the Emperor's Palace.

Awe struck Leia at the incredible intricately design every corner of the building seemed to have first from outside and later from within. Already a few steps inside Leia was left to wonder why her father had never let her step into this building. Every
surface of the carved, painted and even plain walls seemed to hold a story Leia wanted to learn about. The great corridors were all filled with imperial officers and other world visitors that made the sight even richer but as Vader and Leia seemed to
near their final destination it became apparent to Leia why her father had been so strict to never let her into the imperial palace. As soon as they entered a large room with a glass plastered for a wall, Leia's senses seemed to immediately pick up on
a particularly sickening sinister presence, guarded by beings in red that made her feel all the more uneasy about the situation.

The felt malevolence alone was enough to send tugs of pain to Leia's stomach and speed up her breathing.

"Hello, Princess Leia,"

A cloaked figure seemed to have been looking out the window from a large chair that had obstructed him from Leia's view until it began rising from the seat.

The cloaked figure had soon enough completely turned around to reveal a pale and ghastly old face with yellow haunting eyes that lit up beneath the cloak. Leia felt taken back by it's face but responded non the less.

"Thanks to your doubled efforts, I'm no longer that,"

Leia squirmed away even from Vader then and was met by another red guard a few feet away.

The old man laughed so boldly Leia waited for him to choke.

"My, my a Skywalker."

Leia felt heat set across her face but before she could speak the old man continued.

"It is quite a surprise... two children in the midst of dying. However,"

The ghostly man played with his fingers, as he moved around the table,

"You are to train and become my new apprentice. I've prepared quite the-"

"Whatever in your mind has made you think that I would so willingly subdue to your wishes? I'm-"

The arrogant laugh seemed to have worsen and again the dying face spoke,

"Surely your reputation with the alliance would be tarnished if they were to discover you are the daughter of Darth Vader."

The simple words seemed to slip out so grotesquely from the emperor's mouth and sicken Leia even more than when she had seen him but still courage and pride seemed to well up inside her.

"And surely you realize I am not that. I have worked hard endless hours with countless collaborators around the Galaxy. I have made a name for myself even aside from the honorable Organa that was kindly given to me on my homeworld. Now, a birth right
I had no say in... That will not be the end of me. So surely, your highness I am a many great things before anyone could care that I share blood with Darth Vader."

Leia seemed to have spat the last few words and the emperor seemed to be amused,

"Think what you please, in time you'll learn I was right. Vader."

The mechanical man stepped forward and extended his hand to Leia,

"Perhaps you should consider it this way, voluntarily or by force. And on a much smaller scale the life of your allies, the emperor would not care disposing of numerous planetary systems."

••••Author's Note••••
I'd like to wildly thank all of you readers who are so enthusiastic about this storyand alsoGigira who has written marvelous POVs that have helped me greatly writethis chapter and make the turn this story needed to take.