Chapter 7
Obi-Wan POV
"There has to be something we can do. Anything!" Luke exclaimed and kicked a nearby crate in frustration. This action made the single light bulb illuminating the tiny cell flicker.
The old Jedi sighed. With as much traveling as they did, he was sure thy had visited nearly half of the rebel bases in the outer rim by now and none were particulary comfortable.
"She's been his captive for two months now! She said if something like this ever happened, she'd escape on her own but she hasn't. She hasn't even sent any messages." Luke drew a hand through his hair, his face twisted in worry and desperation. "Leia is so good at shielding her mind. Would I... Would I even notice if she...?"
Right after Leia told Luke she would be taking her adoptive parents' place as Vader's hostage, Luke had wanted to start a rescue mission. It took all of Obi-Wan's experience and skill as a negotiator to convince him that it was a bad idea. In the end the only thing that had stopped him was the reminder that Leia herself, driven by her visions, had warned him of exactly this scenario.
However, a week passed, then two and still no message from her. She wasn't even trying to call Luke through the Force.
There had come news from another source though.
"Don't forget that according to Bail, the Empire ordered one of Princess Leia's old handmaiden to transfer to Vader's ship. That much is true. She wouldn't need a servant if she were dead or a prisoner. Even if the latest reports are faked, it is unlikely that she is dead. The Empire would've used even that against us."
Multiple attempts had been made since then to free or at least contact the Princess, both from Alderaan and the Rebellion itself. They'd tried to smuggle in a spy or spying equipment but security around the princess was so tight, none of the attempts had even gotten close. After one month, Nymia had started to send messages back to her own family on Alderaan. These messages went through Imperial-approved and screened channels and thus far nobody had managed to find any encrypted messages in them. If taken at face value, the handmaiden was still serving Princess Leia, who was supposedly being treated as an honored guest while still under heavy watch and restrictions. But of course, any message that the Empire allowed to pass though could be entirely fabricated.
News was unfortunately slow to travel from Alderaan to the Rebellion and even slower from the Rebellion to the two Jedi who were jumping bases every couple of days. After being so heavily targeted and narrowly escaping total destruction, the planet had understandably withdrawn a lot of its support for the Rebellion. That was why Obi-Wan and Luke had only now heard of this supposed confirmation of Leia still being a captive through her servant.
"But if she's not being kept in prison, why hasn't she managed to escape yet?" Luke worried.
Obi-Wan was quiet for a moment. He debated whether or not he should tell Luke about Bail's... other suspicion. In the end, with a heavy heart, he decided he had to.
"Luke... It is time that maybe we consider all options."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
Obi-Wan looked at his padawan sadly. "If she's not a prisoner and if she's made no attempts to escape or request help... Maybe she doesn't want to be rescued, Luke. Maybe she's there of her own free will."
Luke stiffened. "You're thinking... No. No! Leia wouldn't betray us!
"Maybe not willingly, not if she were herself, but Luke... It's possible Leia had too much confidence in her shielding abilities. The dark side can do terrible things to a person. It can twist the mind, cause illusions, make you doubt your every belief... The Empire has entire programs dedicated to brainwashing people and turning them around. Vader never wanted Leia just because she's his daughter. He's looking for an apprentice to help him usurp the Emperor, that is all. If he can make her cut all ties to her past and betray everything and everyone she's ever loved, she will have nowhere to go and no one to turn to but him. That is what he wants. We have to consider at some point the possibility that he's succeeded", Obi-Wan said as gently as possible. "Is is even possible that he planted the first seeds of that when he first held her captive on the Death Star." It pained him deeply to think Leia would follow in her father's footsteps. But he saw the pain in Luke's eyes himself every time Vader came up. Family was a powerful connection, one that Obi-Wan didn't fully understand. He'd never had such yearning simply because of shared blood. It made him sick to think Vader would use the Force to twist a child of his that way... But after everything he'd seen, he wouldn't put it past him. Vader could be truly obsessive when he considered something personal.
"Then it's all the more important that we get her out as fast as possible!" Luke demanded. His hands were balled to fists. "She's my sister, Obi-Wan. I have to do something!"
"And what do you suggest we do?" he challenged. "Leia is being kept on Vader's flagship. The Rebellion doesn't have the resources for a frontal attack, even if they agreed to it. None of our spies have manged to get in. Do you want to jump into your x-wing and take on a super star destroyer and the entire Imperial fleet all on your own?"
Luke started pacing up and down.
"What if we set a trap... For Vader? What if we captured him - surely the Empire would exchange Leia for him?"
Obi-Wan was starting to doubt his padawans sanity. "Are you serious?!" He had to put a stop to this madness right now. If he didn't, he might lose Luke as well if he ran off on his own.
"Alright, look. I might have one idea", he offered.
"What is it?" Immediately the old Jedi Master got Luke's undivided attention.
"Vader will want to speed up Leia's training as much as possible. That means she has to construct her own lightsaber eventually", Obi-Wan explained. "It is one of the earliest rites of passage for any apprentice, Jedi or Sith. The Sith use the dark side to corrupt the kyber crystals at the heart of their saber but they still need their own personal crystal. Just taking any lightsaber from Vader's collection won't do. The crystal has to be attuned to the wielder. There are two ways Leia can get one. One is to kill another Force-Sensitive and take their weapon as trophy, then try to 'tame' their crystal. The other is to look for a natural grown crystal and corrupt it herself. Vader might not want to risk a beginner like her going up against an Inquisitor and we are the only other viable targets for the first method. It is more likely then that he'll have her gather her own crystal. The Empire has build massive industrial plants of various planets with a rich supply of kyber to mine them to build the superlaser of the Death Star. He could take her to any such facility to select her crystal. Of course, this would still mean they'd be in a highly secure Imperial base - but it is marginally better then both of them being on the flagship, surrounded by the main fleet. The security around those bases should've been lowered a bit since the Death Star's completion and subsequent destruction. We might be able to slip someone in to monitor them and notify us when Vader announces a visit. Incidentally, you also need to build your own lightsaber and have a need for a crystal so we'd have to go to one of those places eventually."
Luke's hand absentmindedly touched the hilt of the lightsaber at his hip, the one that used to belong... to his father. The weapon had been working well for him so far, even after he realized its true origin. Nonetheless, he couldn't deny that he held a certain hesitance in his heart, always wondering what acts of horror might've been committed with this blade.
"So we find out which of those bases Vader is going to visit and when... And then we go in and free Leia", he summarized.
"It is the only opportunity I can see where he will have to let her leave the ship", Obi-Wan said with a nod. "But again, Luke... if we do meet her there, it means she's agreed to be trained by Vader and has already made quite some progress too. At this point, no news about her is good news. If this plan works... She might not agree to come with us willingly."
"She will", Luke said determined. "I'll convince her. She's my sister. And if Vader dares to try and stop me..." His eyes narrowed in dark determination. "...I'll kill him."
Obi-Wan merely sighed and shook his head. If Leia was already lost, Luke was the last hope of the galaxy... He couldn't allow him to fall into the same trap that claimed the rest of his family. If nobody else, Luke had to remain strong. But right at this moment, he wasn't strong enough yet.
XxX
Bella POV
"And that's why Djem So is far superior to both Soreso and Ataru."
"I see", Bella said as she parried another one of Vader's strikes. She knew he wasn't using all of his strength but even so her knees trembled as Vader switched moves at the last second, forcing her to turn her parry into a block.
"But say, what does that have to do with the lack of vegetarian options in the trooper's cantina?"
Bella had moved on from katas to actual sparring a while ago. Since Vader had only so much time he could dedicate to her training he wanted to make as much use of it as possible to reduce the time Qui-Gon had to fill her head with what he called 'obsolete rubbish'. He thought Bella had to learn to incorporate the movements flawlessly so she wouldn't even have to think before moving. That's why he occasionally drew her into one discussion or another right in the middle of a fight. Thankfully he was also only ever using a training blade during spars. If not for that, Bella would have less intact limps than him by now.
This time, the discussion had started from Bella asking why the Empire was so human-centric. Everything on the military was build for humans, from atmosphere over food to weaponry. This looked pretty inefficient to Bella. Just because humans were so numerous didn't mean other alien races couldn't offer their own unique abilities. Not that she wanted the Empire to be more efficient, mind you, she was just curious. Vader had explained that the Empire's equipment was largely mass-produced, with quantity being valued over quality. Producing and transporting specialized resources for the less numerous alien supporters of the Empire was more trouble than it was worth. There were exceptions to every rule but a non-human with special needs would have to be truly exceptional to warrant the effort it would take to properly outfit them. More specialized resources could therefore usually only be found on planets with a particular great native non-human population.
Bella had then goaded Vader into recounting his experiences with 'really specially capable' non-humans and whether he also though they were so rare relying on loads of less capable human soldiers was more efficient. That had made Vader go on a tangent about all the non-humans he'd fought in single combat, which somehow resulted in a lecture about lightsaber styles.
It wasn't unusual for Vader to get off-track when Bella tried to goad him into a debate about something.
"The point is that you and I are exceptional and so we're more likely to encounter other exceptional people, human or not, that want to kill us. You should keep that in mind while developing your fighting style", Vader growled.
"I know, everyone is out to get me", Bella allowed if only to placate him. "But I was more curious about your opinion on the capability of non-humans in general."
"Why would that matter to you?" he asked frustrated.
"It matters", Bella said seriously while sliding back from an overhead strike of his, "because I think I'd honestly be a bit ashamed if I'd have to call you the R-word. I don't want to believe that you are."
"Are what?" Vader made, angry but confused.
"You know", Bella stressed, not wanting to spell it out lest she really tickle the krayt dragon.
"I don't think you are, anyway. While ghosting through the Force the other day, a little birdie told me you used to have a non-human padawan. Surely you wouldn't call her inferior to humans, would you?"
"Of course not", Vader said automatically. The Force swirled around him indignantly and Bella suppressed a gleeful grin.
"Oh, that's a relief. You really had me worried there for a second. But if you don't agree with the unfair classicism of the Empire", Bella entered into a series of attacks, all easily parried by Vader, then slid back and spread her arms in an exaggerated shrug, "then why does it still exist? You're one of only two Sith and this Empire is ruled by your order. Surely you'd have the power to change a few aspects here and there?"
Vader scoffed. "You need to work on your technique. That was a sloppy execution of kata six."
He was right of course. Bella was much more focused on the conversation than the fight. Still, she repeated the attack with a bit more concentration and got just as easily rebuffed again.
Bella huffed. "Seriously, father. What's the point of training yourself to have a great deal of personal power if you don't use it?"
Vader shook his head. "The order I serve and my position in the military are two entirely different things. They do influence each other but more often than not, my goals as a Sith are independent or even opposed to my goals as a commander."
Bella dropped all pretense of combat and relaxed her stance. "Explain that to me, please."
Vader shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."
Bella's heart clenched. She took a step forward and talked to him imploringly. "Corruption. Inequality. Racism. Slavery. Those aren't oversights. They're not a bug, they're a feature of the system. A system you support. Why?"
Vader's vocodor made a strangled sound. He too had lowered his weapon. Weeks ago, he would've mocked her, scoffed at her, evaded the question or simply get angry. Not anymore. When Bella reached out for him in the Force, he latched onto her, holding tight. Afraid she'd turn away form him.
"I just want to understand why", she repeated quietly.
There was another one of those strangled sounds and Bella suspected that it was a sigh. Vader deactivated his saber and leaned himself against one of the crates serving as obstacles in the training hall. Bella suppressed a grin, smelling victory and jumped on top of the crate, sitting down with her legs dangling over the edge, settling in for a story.
"The Sith chase power for the sake of power. Ultimate power means ultimate freedom, the freedom to do whatever you want without consequences - at least consequences to your own person. Personal power is valued above political or even military power. The Emperor has enormous amounts of all three. I am no match, as I am now, for him when it comes to personal power. My position in the Empire gives me great military power but I have made little effort and have little interest in working towards political power. That does not mean I don't have any but my influence mainly stems from the military. There is naturally a lot of overlap in a military dictatorship."
Bella nodded along, signifying that she was following. "I get that you can't do anything that directly opposes the Emperor, at least without loosing power or even your life. But many of those negative sides of the Empire don't really serve to grow the Emperor's power either. He's not even all that active in politics anymore. If he doesn't care, why not use the influence you do have to change it?"
"Leia, you lack a fundamental understanding of the dark side", Vader said quietly. "The personal power of the Sith grows with the strength of the dark side. The Emperor is as powerful as he is because the entire galaxy is shrouded in darkness. He does benefit from all the suffering, he benefits greatly. He drinks in their pain, their desperation, their hopelessness. It is not in his best interest to make as many people as possible happy. He only needs to keep a large enough number of well-armed people happy enough to suppress the rest."
Bella's face fell. It wasn't like she hadn't suspected something like this but...
"Then what about you? Do you... Do you do that too? Draw strength from the suffering of others?"
"I do", Vader confirmed neutrally. "I have to or my failing body would've given out long ago. I do not and cannot do it to the same extend as my Master. But every battle I fight invigorates me." He turned away from Bella, his presence drawing tight around him as he stared into the distance. "If I had ultimate power, ultimate freedom, I'd like to say I would not be so greedy. I'd like to say that I would only take what I need and I would allow this Empire to thrive. That I would be content with the suffering of criminals and rule-breakers and enemies. But it would be a lie. The only way to reach that peak of unlimited power is by casting aside any and all empathy for those of lesser power."
"Is that why you haven't ever made a serious attempt to overthrow the Emperor?" Bella asked, doing her very best to sound neutral and to hide the swelling of hope in her. "Because you do not want to pay the price of shedding that last rest of empathy that would make you powerful enough to do so?"
Vader hesitated for a moment. "I suppose that is part of it", he said at last, looking back at her. "My Master has proven many times his foresight. He has backup plans layered into backup plans. In the past years, I have many times wanted to overthrow him but never felt that I was ready. It would be foolish to make such an attempt if I was not sure that I could win. A capable apprentice could've made the decisive difference."
"If you didn't have to go up against him alone", Bella realized, "if you had me at your side, you might be able to win without paying the price. Have the cake and eat it too. Is that what you mean?"
Again, Vader hesitated, then gave a stiff nod. "It would've been the ideal scenario. I hoped that together with you, we could one day shape the Empire into whatever we wanted it to be." He folded his arms and turned his head away. "But given your stubborn nature, that point has become moot."
"Then what about the Rebellion?" Bella asked curious. "Isn't it good for you that the hope they spread weakens the Emperor's influence?"
For a moment, Vader's presence spiked in vicious amusement. "Of course it is. Why do you think they've survived for this long?"
Bella raised her eyebrows in mock outrage. "Lord Vader! Are you admitting to being less effective than you could be on purpose?"
"The Emperor's original plan was to push the most rebellious elements of the Empire to band together so they would reveal themselves and could be exterminated quickly", Vader explained. "The Rebellion proved to be more... stubborn and resilient than he expected. Still, they were little more than an annoyance in the beginning. I had hoped that they would eventually grow into a real threat, something that would distract my Master and cause him to grant me more power in dealing with them... And they did grow larger and it did benefit me. But the Rebellion was only causing death, destruction and disorder wherever they went. They didn't so much as put a dent in the Emperor's power. They only served to further mine. That was, until the Death Star."
"The Death Star could've ended the Rebellion and severely limit your military power", Bella realized. "It would only be natural for you to be against it."
"It is not only that. As much as the Imperial propaganda tried to do damage control and hide the reality of the project, rumors have leaked through on all levels. The Rebellion has gained massive amounts of support. It is only now that they are beginning to to spread a hope across the galaxy that even my Master can't ignore."
"And the more powerful the Rebellion grows, the more freedom and responsibilities you are being granted in wiping them out", Bella recognized. "This entire situation works in your favor."
Vader nodded. "I even have the excuse of being busy training a particularly stubborn daughter of mine to excuse a lack of major breakthroughs."
"But it won't work forever. If the Rebellion becomes too strong, you will be caught between the enemy that wants to kill you and a displeased Master who seeks to replace you for not serving your purpose."
"I don't imagine he would be too displeased so long as I eventually pull you to the dark side and he can use your own desires to turn you against me. I'm sure nothing would please him more than be able to use you as my replacement", Vader said and Bella felt his bitterness in the Force.
"But I have no intention of using the dark side", Bella mused. "I have even less intention of fighting you and any desire to work for the Emperor under any circumstances is somewhere on the sub-zero scale. The moment the Emperor realizes that, I'm dead."
"I won't let anything happen to you", Vader said rather forcefully.
"Maybe not but for how long could we keep up this ruse?" Bella wondered. "Two years? Three? Four? Eventually, if I don't turn, the only safe place for me will be with the Rebellion. If you truly want to keep me safe, you'll have to make sure the Rebellion survives and remains strong enough a party for me to hide among in the future. But again, doing so could grow into a threat for you. It's quite the difficult situation..." Bella thought aloud. She was desperately looking for a solution, something that would allow Vader to live even when the Empire fell. Maybe if Vader could move from simply being inefficient in fighting the Rebellion to actively if secretly supporting it, a deal could eventually be struck between the two parties. If Vader could gather a large enough fleet loyal to only him and start a coup, at the same time as the Rebellion launched a major attack... It could succeed. The last Jedi came to mind, the battle of Endor. It would be the perfect opportunity. The Rebellion couldn't afford a second Death Star to become operative and without Vader's fleet to defend it, the station would be vulnerable.
But even if Vader aided in overthrowing the Empire, what would happen after? The Moffs might fall in line behind him out of sheer fear in a way they would never surrender to the Rebellion leaders. On the other hand, the Rebellion wouldn't accept simply replacing the current Sith Emperor with a new one as a victory. Civil war would continue unless major concessions were made and every one of those concessions would lower Vader's ability to keep the Moffs from rebelling and military splinter groups like the First Order from forming.
What the galaxy really needed was a third party capable of negotiating a middle ground. Something in between demanding mass executions for war crimes from the Imperial military and and continued exploitation of less developed planets and non-human populations. What the galaxy really needed was a return of the Jedi. If they, the group most wronged by the Sith, could be made to help working towards a peaceful reform, many planets supporting the Rebellion would follow. The galaxy was plagued by many evils and there was enough work for Vader and a few Jedi to do. If Vader took care of internal security, suppressing organized crime like the Hutts, stamping out corruption and implementing more ethical methods, then the planets supporting the Rebellion, possibly lead by the Jedi, could form a force that reformed the prison system, wrote new laws and rights and established structures against modern slavery. It would necessarily mean there would be no justice for past victims, no crimes punished that were only deemed crimes at all under the new leadership. It would be impossible to get any significant part of the military on board if most of them would need to face punishment. There would need to be a hard cut at some point and anything before that... It wouldn't be forgotten but it would need to be looked past. That meant countless of people who would go unavenged. It wouldn't be fair... But it might secure a peace more long lasting than what the New Republic could offer. And it might allow all Skywalkers to live.
"What are you thinking about?" Vader asked. Bella had been silent for nearly two minutes, thinking deeply.
"Galaxy peace", Bella replied with a shrug. "And how to bring it about without either of us having to die."
"You could always change your mind about the dark side. The offer stands", Vader said. His black humor made Bella grin.
"Thanks but I don't consider a suffering galaxy to be peaceful."
"Better suffering than dead", Vader muttered.
"I could name a few thousand martyrs who would disagree with you", Bella said sadly, quietly.
Vader was silent for a moment, leaving her to her thoughts or maybe lost in his own. After a few more moments, he asked slowly, hesitantly reaching out to her through the Force: "Why do you... care so much?"
"About people suffering?" Bella clarified.
"No", Vader replied quietly. "I can understand that. Even if that's not me anymore, I can remember being that idealistic once. I wonder why you care whether I live to see it."
'Because you're my father', Bella almost replied automatically. At the last moment, she stopped herself. Vader was opening up to her at last, seriously considering her thoughts and opinions without getting angry or dismissing her outright. It was just words right now and words were worth little without action. Still, it was great progress and she couldn't spoil that by lying to him.
"There are two reasons", she started. "One practical and one personal. The first is that I genuinely don't believe the Rebellion, with all of its ideals and big dreams, can or even should succeed. The old Republic was a flawed system that had been crumbling for centuries even before Palpatine took over. Pretty much the only thing holding it together for as long as it stood were the Jedi. With them gone, simply restoring the Republic just won't be enough. Even if they, against all odds, succeed in a military victory so grand it lets them overthrow the heart of the Empire, even if they manage to kill the Emperor and even you and whatever survivors of the Jedi start rebuilding their order - it will never be the same. Twenty, maybe thirty years later a bunch of Imperial loyalists or military splinter groups or cults of former Inquisitors will form their own counter rebellion and the whole war will start over again, more devastating than ever. Yes, the Empire is evil and corrupt but I think it would be more effective in the long run, even if it's more slow-going, to reform it than to try to replace it completely. There is nobody better positioned than you to lead that change."
"If you think the Rebellion is doomed to fail, why did you join it at all?" Vader asked.
"Let's call it... aggressive negotiation", Bella said, smiling a bit at her own joke. "A lasting compromise can only be found in the middle of two opposites. If I didn't start with an ideal I could fully stand behind, I would have to give up far too much. I was hoping that a group like the Rebellion would wake up all those people that are so used to only looking at their feet. Even if we didn't win, any sort of change would've been a victory for me. After all, just giving the people a bit of what they demand could quell a lot of the support of the Rebellion. I didn't consider that the Emperor literally just keeps up the suffering because he feeds on it like... like some overgrown space-vampire!" Bella let out a short laugh at the sheer irony of it all. It wasn't really funny.
(Except it kind of was.)
"I see... And what is your second reason?" Vader wanted to know.
"That one came later", Bella said quietly, now herself looking at her feet, dangling over the edge of the crate. She purposefully didn't specify when. "I just... I guess I just care about you. I don't want to see you dying. That would be... sad. You represent a hope for me. If I can make it work with you, if you and me can get along and find common ground, no matter how different we are... Then anything is possible, you know?"
Vader's vocoder gave another strangled sound, different this time. Bella caught a brief spike of sardonic amusement in the Force and realized incredulously that it was a laugh.
"You get your ambition from me, if nothing else... daughter."
Bella grinned. "Maybe one day, when everything is over, you and me can just focus on traveling to every single star in the galaxy together."
"... You need to stop talking to Qui-Gon."
XxX
Leia POV
School was over, summer had arrived and Leia was now officially 18 years old. Again. Her birthday was celebrated in a big manner for Forks standards with the entire Cullen Clan as well as most of the pack attending. Of course it was nothing compared to the lavish parties of planetary royalty but Leia found she much preferred this small, cozy gathering where she knew everyone by name.
By the time summer break came around, the Cullen's were already halfway done building their very own secret research facility to start working on their vampire fertility project. Leia was by no means an expert in medicine but she did have a a good idea of what was possible, even if she didn't know how to arrive there and offered her own ideas for the project.
Two weeks into the break, Charlie finally caved into Leia's begging in letting her travel to Texas to see the Jedi temple there. Together with Edward, the couple took an international flight over to Houston and a rented car to travel to Beaumont. Alice had send them an exact (to the minute) schedule of when there would be sunlight in the considerably less cloudy state.
The temple was a serene haven in the middle of the busy city, surrounded by towering oak trees. The air was filled with a sense of tranquility, as if the Force itself resonated within the lush surroundings. Leia was surprised as she drank in the pure atmosphere. The Force did not exist in this dimension, at least not in the same way it did in her galaxy. But maybe something like magic existed nonetheless. Maybe the presence of people that were calm or happy was just that powerful all on its own.
Leia and Edward entered the temple grounds, marveling at the mix of modern architecture and ancient Jedi symbolism. The entrance was marked by a grand arch adorned with intricate carvings of lightsabers and mythical creatures.
As they stepped inside, a hushed silence embraced them. The main hall was adorned with soft, ambient lighting, creating an atmosphere of peace. Jedi initiates and practitioners moved gracefully, engrossed in meditation sitting on soft cushions facing a grand set of Jedi statues or engaged in quiet conversations.
The couple had registered with the temple months ago and they'd had some online courses. Today would be an open, public service but usually only members attended it with very few visitors. When they entered, Leia and Edward were approached by a wise-looking Jedi, who introduced herself as Master Kinsey. She welcomed them warmly, claiming that the Force had guided them to the temple.
"You don't know how right you are", Leia said with a warm smile, shaking the older woman's hand.
Master Kinsey guided them through the various chambers of the temple, sharing the Jedi Code and the principles of balance and harmony within the Force.
The couple was particularly drawn to a meditation chamber bathed in soft blue light. They sat cross-legged on cushions, surrounded by other Jedi attendees. Soft, relaxing instrumental music played from somewhere as Master Kinsey led a guided meditation, encouraging everyone to connect with the energy that bound the universe together.
When Leia closed her eyes and followed the instructions, she was sad that she could not feel a connection to the entire universe or even just the planet. But she thought she felt Edward's presence next to her more acutely than she normally would. Eventually she focused inwards, letting Master Kinsey's words guide her as she spared a thought or two for all the little worries and troubles that plagued her, then letting them go, shedding all negative thoughts. In the end, she felt calmer, more grounded and relaxed.
After the meditation, the attendees gathered for a communal discussion. Master Kinsey invited individuals to share their insights and ponder the deeper meanings of the Force and the effect the Jedi teachings could or should have on their life. When it was her turn, Leia shared her worries about how an imbalance in the mind could lead to the madness of the dark side and how taking care of ones mental health was one of the most important things one could do. The Force was both Life and Death, order and chaos and while aiding others was important, one could only efficiently do so if one was healthy and happy in mind and body.
Edward had his own insights to share. With carefully chosen words, he spoke of his own immortal perspective on life. Humanity was constantly changing and developing. Many discoveries got overlooked and there were amazing inventions that never really got spread because of one reason or another. A Jedi should keep the grand picture in mind and always keep a lookout for those little jewels that might otherwise be swallowed up and help them to realize their potential. The Force, as an energy connecting all living things (Leia squeezed his hand in support when his voice broke for a second upon the word) could be seen as a parallel for human progress.
The gathering concluded with a sense of unity among the diverse group of attendees. Leia and Edward left the Jedi temple, their minds expanded and hearts touched by the shared experience. As they stepped back into the world outside, they carried with them the lessons of the Force and the knowledge that, no matter the universe, the search for balance and understanding was a journey worth taking. Edward later confided into Leia that he was amazed at the degree of calmness the Jedi actually archived during meditation. There had been one or two who kept fantasizing after seeing the the otherworldly beauty of the vampire but most of them had a remarkable amount of control over their own thoughts.
"I think I might actually try meditation again later, when I'm alone somewhere", Edward mused. "It's really hard to let go of any thoughts of emotions when I'm still hearing them from everyone around me... But the practice itself definitely has value."
"I feel... cleansed and more at peace", Leia said happily. "I still don't quite understand what the Jedi mean with letting go of emotions... But taking a moment to look inside of myself and simply focus on something calming is great for stress relief."
"Do you want go to service more often then?" Edward asked.
Leia nodded. "I would definitely use the two weeks Charlie gave me." The Jedi Temple had communal services once a week but there were in person courses and guided meditations through the week.
"Then we'll do some sightseeing in the city and come back here for the courses", Edward said as he held open the door of their rental for his girlfriend.
"That sounds great", Leia said and kissed him before she sat down in the car. Edward joined her a moment later and they were on their way.
So immersed they were in each other and exploring their recent experiences that neither of them noticed a pair of blood red eyes watching them. It belonged to a pale figure sitting in an open cafe on the far side of the busy street.
Leaving her beverage untouched, the gorgeous vampire rose from her seat, drawing the gaze of nearby mortals as she fished a mobile phone from her purse.
"Maria", she said with a strong southern accent, "you won't believe who I just saw..."
XxX
Bella POV
It was the middle of the night, early morning really when Bella suddenly woke from her sleep for no apparent reason. She'd been dreaming, the faint memory of a dream, of being a super spy having just escaped a secret lab on an island still lingered. One moment she was dangling from the skid of a helicopter, the next she was falling, falling, falling... falling out of her bed.
And a red lightsaber seared an angry line straight through the bedding where her head used to be just a moment ago.
Bella gave a surprised squeak, which rose Nymia from her sleep one bed over and she shouted in shock and fear when she saw the dark shadow looming over her princess.
Bella reacted on instinct, shielding herself with her arms, which was of course so stupid against a foe wielding a lightsaber. Except she didn't push her hands forward with just the power of her meager muscles. She also pushed forward with her mind. The outer layer of her shield slammed into the assassin. Where an ordinary person probably wouldn't have felt anything at all, this one actually stumbled back half a step.
This tiny moment was enough time for Nymia to grab the blaster from under her pillow and fire three shots. All of them were being reflected by the whirling red blade and the last one ricocheted right back, hitting Nymia who went down with a cry. Bella had rolled over and under the bed and fearfully flared her presence as much as she could. She needed help. Anyone - Vader! Vader would come and safe her. The troopers outside the door would hear the commotion, any moment now-
The bed was ripped up and away. Bella could see her attacker clearly now. He was male and bald and human but with skin a sickly gray and eyes like infected yellow pits of hell, he might've just as well been a demon. His black and dark red garb of leather and fabric made him nearly melt into the shadows and in the light of the red saber, Bella could only see her death.
She'd never been so terrified before.
"Pathetic", her unknown assailant snarled with disgust.
Bella was too afraid to do anything. A small part of her realized that if her guards at the door were still alive, they would've stormed in by now. A small part of her knew that Vader's chambers, while close, could've just as well been light years away for even if he got her warning, he would never make it here on time.
A small part of her realized that she was about to die.
A much larger part though was simply frozen in fear and shock. She could only watch as the red blade came down onto her head.
XxX
Leia POV
By the time Leia picked up her phone to answer a frantic Alice, it was already too late.
Edward and Leia were halfway back to their hotel when the vampire noticed that they were being followed. Edward cursed up a storm the way Leia had never heard of him when he picked out the thought pattern of a single vampire from the hundreds of humans in the surrounding streets. A vampire who was suspiciously busy mentally chanting old 90ies songs and kept a constant distance to them.
Alice' words over the phone made Leia's blood freeze in her veins.
"It's Maria - damn, Bella, I'm so sorry!" her favorite pixie called out. Next to her in the driver's seat Edward stiffened, then cursed some more.
Before Leia could even think of a response, Alice prattled on:
"She was supposed to be further south - she is further south still but not for much longer. I checked Beaumont just two days ago and it was clean! One of her subordinates must've decided spontaneously to travel further north."
"Can we shake her?" was all Edward wanted to know.
"Edward - NO! You can't go to Houston!" Alice protested whatever route Edward has decided to take.
"It's the closest airport", Edward growled.
"They'll be waiting for you there! Edward, you absolutely cannot let Maria get anywhere close to Bella! She-" Alice choked on a sob. "She'll be worse than James. Much worse. Jasper and I are taking the next flight down. Go to a sunny place - there's a park nearby - turn left now - there won't actually be any sun there now but they don't know that."
Edward turned the car sharply, making Leia press against the side with a gasp.
"It's just one vampire right now", Leia said. "Can't we take her?" Leia had to leave her blaster at home, having no way to smuggle it into a plane. But she'd practiced her powers a lot. She wasn't anywhere near where she'd say she could take on a vampire alone but together with Edward? One ordinary vampire should be well within their capabilities.
"The one who follows you is called Emely. She's not going to come anywhere near you unless you try to move further north. She's waiting for backup", Alice said.
"Then we hunt her down first. Without a tail we can make it to the next airport north of Houston, can't we?" Leia asked. "I've practiced my telekinesis. I can hold Emmet down for three seconds straight. That's basically an eternity", Leia stressed.
Edward hesitated for a moment before he asked: "Well, Alice?"
A few seconds of silence. Then Alice said: "You two can take her on together. Just make sure you burn her and leave no trace, then her out of there. She must not carry notice of Bella's powers back to her leader."
Leia looked at the grim faced vampire next to her and fell a bit more in love with him. Novel-Edward would've insisted it was too dangerous, that she needed to be protected. But her Edward trusted her.
"Can she hear us?" Leia asked quietly after she ended the call with Alice.
"Not well enough to make out words", Edward replied tensely.
"Maria... She is...?"
"The vampire that turned Jasper", Edward explained darkly. "She's old, powerful and charismatic. Back then she used the civil war for her own territorial war. With her armies of newborns she would depopulate entire cities. She's like a vulture, always going where there is suffering that hides her actions. Hurricanes, earthquakes, war, plagues... Cartel victims and refugees at the border. She's possibly the most dangerous vampire in the America's. And she's a collector."
"She'll be after me for my talent, if she learns what it is", Leia stated. "She kept an eye on Jasper after he left, didn't she? That's how she knows you and your gift that's how her subordinate recognized you."
"It must he one of her higher ranked lieutenants", Edward confirmed. "She wouldn't have bothered warning a lesser member."
"What if you turned me?" Leia asked suddenly.
Edward stared at her as if she'd lost her mind.
"Not for real of course", Leia hurried to say. "But our tail can't know anything about me other than what she learned from watching us today. She might suspect I'm your mate but nothing more. So this is what we'll do..."
XxX
Emely POV
They had stopped. Why had they stopped?
Emely hid herself behind a tree, one of the few for miles and miles along the road through a very sparcly populated landscape.
Follow them but don't attack. I want to see for myself what kind of human has him so interested.
Those were the orders Maria had given her when she reported sighting the Cullen mindreader.
Their coven was ten members strong right now and they had no serious rivals at the moment. But it was not enough. It would never be enough. Maria wouldn't be satisfied until she was the sole, I dependent ruler over the entire western twin continent. And Emely would be right at her side. They would rule over their kingdom the way those wrinkled old Volturi ruled over the Old World.
But in order to make that dream reality, it wasn't enough to just have numbers. They needed experienced fighters, talents and a way to keep them all together. The Olympic Alliance of Cullen and Denali was the biggest threat to Maria's ambition. They had plenty of talents and Carlisle' charisma and ideology, as unnatural as it was, had proven just as efficient in keeping his group together as Maria's iron discipline had.
The Southern coven wasn't ready yet to take on the Alliance. But a lone member encroaching on their territory, accompanied by a human no less, one he seemed intimately familiar with? It was too good a chance to pass on.
So Emely had followed the two, careful to stay out of sight, hiding among crowds. They'd noticed her anyway and she'd done her best to disguise her thoughts as she followed them at a distance. Now they had stopped, their car parked by an abandoned shed that offered protection from the sun. Emely didn't know why and she couldn't think too much about why lest the mindreader heard her.
Carefully Emely rightened her hooded jacket to make sure no part of her skin could be seen. It was more a habit than anything else. Emely could smell no humans nearby other than the one the mindreader had with him. Emely raced across the fields. She might not have any obvious supernatural talents but she was fast. The fastest out of all the fighters. The vampire circled around the shed in an wide arc, then back again from another direction. Now the wind was carrying her scent away. She could hear them talking. Closer... Just a little closer... She wouldn't attack, that wasn't what she was here for, she was just watching, just harmlessly... She could hear them now. Lying flat on the ground behind a small hill, she could make out their voices. Emely wasn't sure what the mindreader's range was but it looked like she was lucky. He seemed far too busy fussing over his human to pay her any mind.
"I'm so sorry, Bella. I wish there was another way. I wish I could give you more time." That was the vampire talking. Emely could hear his voice clearly now even through the walls of the shed and nearly a mile away. For a vampire, that was basically the room next door.
"But I'm not ready to be a vampire yet", the human girl protested. "I love you, Edward, but... I'm afraid. What if I can't control myself as well as your family can?"
"Shh, don't worry about that, my love. I will be with you every step of the way. You will be an amazing vampire. Your gift will only grow stronger. We'll never have to run from anyone again."
A gift? Emely perked up. Vampires had tried to solve the mystery of what made them gifted for millennia. Statistically speaking, gifted vampires were more likely to sire other talents and talented vampires were more likely to a find a mate with a talent themselves. If Edward Cullen had found himself a mate, or even just a gifted human he seduced for his own purposes, the enemies of the Southern coven would grow stronger soon. Emely couldn't let that happen.
"But why does it have to be now?" the human girl whined. "You said we'd get help from Carlisle and get the morphine first and, and I haven't said goodbye to my Dad yet and - and - didn't you say that it wouldn't be safe because I'm your singer?"
Emely froze. Singer? The stupid boy didn't seriously think he could turn a singer, did he?
"I know, I know, but we don't have a choice any longer", Edward whispered, sounding desperate. "Alice predicts horrible things happening to you if Maria gets you. I would do anything to spare you a fate like Jasper's."
The were silent for a moment. Emely wondered if they were serious. She had no idea how Edward could even stay so close to the girl if she was really his singer but there was no way he could bite and turn her without draining her. Except... Maybe that was the point. Maybe his love for her was just pretend and he really just wanted to kill the talent before Maria could get her. Except why then - gah, she was thinking too much! He would hear her at this rate, she must clear her thoughts!
"It's that bad, is it?" The girl's voice shook. "Very well. Do it then."
"I promise I'll make it as quick as possible. I'm sorry", Edward whispered.
Except there was no way to quickly turn someone. He would-
The girl let out an ear piercing scream and Emely rushed forward like an arrow let loose from a bow. This was her chance. There was no way the other vampire could turn away from a meal that delicious, even if it was to defend himself. It was perfect, she'd be saving the girls life, technically, she should be thankful, really-
Except when Emely came crashing through one of the nailed shut windows she didn't find Edward draining the life out of his human snack. Instead, she found the human unharmed, standing alone in the shed screaming to high heavens and then suddenly Edward jumped at her from behind.
The two vampires fought in a blurr of limbs. Edward was fast and had the element of surprise but Emely was faster and had many years of battle experience. She bit and clawed and pulled at her enemy, chanting old country songs in her mind and relying entirely on her instincts. At last she managed to throw him off. For a split second as Edward got back to his feet, Emely wavered. She'd been tricked, she realized that now and her orders were clear. Maybe she should retreat now, return later with a greater force.
"Bella, NOW!" Edward shouted and stormed at her again.
Emely's eyes flit to the human girl who had stopped screaming. She soon had to fight off the other vampire again though, who now stopped her every attempt to break through. Whatever he thought the human could do though wasn't happening. Emely caught a glimpse of her standing still as a statue, her mouth slightly open, her head tilted back and her eyes rolled into the back so only the whites could be seen. She looked only seconds away from spewing green acid or something. A build-up talent perhaps? Something creeping, powerful enough to be a threat to one of her kind? In that case... She would have to apologize to Maria later.
"NO!" Edward let out a desperate cry as Emely slipped through his grasping hands with the litheness of a panther and lunged at the defenseless human. She wouldn't allow her to finish whatever she was doing.
XxX
Bella POV
Leia gasped. She held out blue, translucent hands that were shaking with effort, sweat pooling on her brow.
"What", she made slightly hysteric, "is going on?"
Bella blinked her shock away. The inquisitor, for her would-be assassin could be nothing else, stood frozen mid-motion above her, the lightsaber inches from her throat. His yellow eyes were wide in shock and fear. And there, behind the dark figure, stood Leia's translucent form.
Before Bella could reply, there was a second gasp. She whirled around and saw Nymia struggle to her feet from where she'd fallen behind a small table. The handmaiden still had her blaster in her hand and she threw one look at the frozen assailant - and pulled the trigger.
At the noise Leia whirled around, saw the audience, panicked and instinctively shifted her form, now appearing as Bella Swan. A very blue Bella Swan. She needn't have bothered of course. Nymia couldn't see her, as became clear when she ran right through the apparition, jumping over the assassin that had sunk to the ground with a smoking hole right in his head.
"Princess! Are you alright?" she wanted to know.
"I... Yes", Bella said shakily, still looking at Leia. "T-Thank you. You just saved my life."
"Well, that's one of us", Leia muttered. She looked strangely lost and... resigned.
In that moment, the door to Leia's suite got utterly demolished, the solid two feet thick durasteel crumbling like alu foil and taking half of Bella's furniture with it as it was thrown across the room.
Darth Vader had arrived, the Force wrapped around him like a dark storm cloud. In her fear Bella had made herself small and compact in the Force and pulled her shield tight so she hadn't noticed him approaching. Now that she saw him though her senses happily reached out for him. They were met with a massive well of power that was truly oppressive in its fury and its promise of violence.
Vader threw one look Bella, one at the dead assassin. (Nymia got dismissed entirely.) And then he turned his head - and looked straight at Leia.
The Sith Lord took one threatening step towards her apparition and Leia flinched as she too realized that he could see her and stepped back in fright.
"Uhm", Bella made and hurried to her feet. Damage control, she had to do damage control!
"Father, this is my best friend Bella. Bella, this is my father. Thanks for saving me from the assassin, Bella. I would be dead without you."
"A Force ghost?!" Vader snapped. His eyes went to the dead man again. "They can't affect the physical world!"
Oh, shoot.
Bella could practically feel Vader narrowing his eyes under his mask. "This one is alive", he snarled and to Bella's horror he raised his hand as if to Force-choke Leia. Something she knew from personal experience to be entirely possible.
But Leia no longer looked afraid. Instead her shoulders just slumped a bit. "Not for much longer, I'm not. I'm afraid you pulled me right out of a fight to the death of my own, Leia. But that's okay." She smiled sadly at Bella, whose eyes widened in shock. "After all, you are far more important than me."
Vader's fingers curled around nothing and Leia... Leia was suddenly gone.
XxX
Leia POV
Leia's eyes snapped open and instead of a black mask she saw a twisted, pale face with blood red eyes right in front of her. She reacted on instinct, pushing outward with all of her might. The hostile vampire was catapulted away with enough force to leave a vampire-shaped hole in the shed wall. A small plume of dust in the distance marked her point of landing. Confused, Leia sought to orient herself and flinched when Edward suddenly wrapped her into his arms.
"Leia, oh Leia, are you okay? What happened, you looked..."
Leia's eyes widened and she pushed Edward away enough to look at him.
"That's not important right now - you have to catch that woman! She mustn't get away!" Leia had screwed up. She'd been pulled away and back again too suddenly. She'd attacked instinctively, in time to save her life, perhaps. But she'd been supposed to paralyze the vampire so Edward could behead her, not push her away.
"But Bella, your eyes... Are you sure you're fin-"
"Go!" Leia urged her boyfriend, her voice now tinged with desperation. Edward gave her another long look. But then he turned and left.
For five minutes Leia anxiously paced up and down inside the ruined shed. At last though Edward returned. Empty handed.
Emely had escaped. She'd escaped back to Maria with news of Leia's telekinetic abilities.
XxX
Vader POV
It had been two decades since Vader had last been as terrified as he was the moment he felt Leia's deathly fear spike in the Force.
The Sith Lord had awoken from his forcefully induced sleep in the bacta tank nearly an hour before it happened. It wasn't immediately clear what was wrong, just that something was. Decades of evading his Master's underhanded attempts to 'test him' by sending assassins after him had taught him to trust the warning of the Force. If his gut told him something was wrong, then something was wrong. So he'd donned the suit, a process that took itself nearly twenty minutes. He checked the position of the fleet - still en route to Corellia to answer a call for help in hunting down pirates. They were in hyperspace, there was no way an attack from outside would come anytime soon and no reason to think they were heading into a trap. So Vader checked the internal security next. His subordinates were well used to his occasional bouts of paranoia and a drill was ordered that rose everyone from their bunks.
Then Leia's chief of security commed him to tell him that her night guards weren't responding.
And then he felt his daughter reach out to him across the ship in a terrified bid for help.
It was like the last twenty years had not happened at all. It was as if he was back on Tatooine, just a stupid teenager, staring down at his mother's bloody corpse. It was as if he was back on Coruscant, waking up covered in sweat from terrible visions about her death. It was as if he was back in that nightmarish med bay, his burned body aching with pain and he learned that the two beings he loved most in the world were dead by his hands.
Vader thought he was prepared for anything when he saw the dead troopers in front of his daughter's suite and heard the shots fired that he knew would be useless against anyone brave or stupid enough to attack his daughter. Horrible visions flashed before his mental eye and though he could still feel her in the Force, he could also feel a malicious, dark, foreign presence threatening her. He would be too late. He knew that. Vader cursed the Force for being so damn cryptic with its warnings because there would've been time if only he realized where the threat was heading!
Then he was finally there, storming into the room, ready to pounce on whatever threat presented itself with all the ferociousness of a mother nundu.
As it turned out, he was not prepared for what he saw. The assailant was dead, his presence snuffed out mere seconds before Vader burst in. Leia was cowering on the ground, her bed upturned, her handmaiden, sporting a smoking hole in her shoulder, crouched behind a nearby table. Above Leia stood a translucent, blue glowing form of an unknown, young human female, her arms still raised for some kind of attack.
The relief about seeing his daughter still alive was short lived as Vader focused on the new threat. He barely heard Leia's stuttered words, claiming the girl as a friend.
"Force ghosts can't affect the physical world", Vader growled. "This one is still alive."
All the fear and terror of losing his daughter made the dark side rear its ugly head inside of him and it needed an outlet. Fear transformed into anger, into betrayal even - dead Force ghosts were one thing but he couldn't condone Leia conspiring with a living Jedi behind his back!
He raised his hand and raised the Force and reached for the girl's essence to destroy her - but she slipped away from him. The ugly monster inside of him was roaring angrily, wanting to kill something.
"Who is she?!" Vader raised his voice at his daughter.
Leia flinched away, her relief at seeing him replaced with fear.
It was the first time since she'd come to live with him that she was afraid of him.
A tiny voice at the back of his mind told him to calm down, to not make matters worse, to not make the same mistake again. But a much louder voice fought and clawed and raged because why would she be afraid unless she'd done something wrong? Why would she be afraid unless she was conspiring behind his back like all the others, like her mother, like Kenobi, and he knew this was going to happen and he'd let her in anyway-
"Bella is my best friend", Leia said quietly. "I've known her since I was a little child. She's two years younger than me but she's as precious as a sister. We've never met in person though, only ever through the Force. She lives on a far away planet with no space-faring technology... Not even I know where her home world is. I don't know how I found her or she found me or why we are connected... But hers was the first Force ghost I ever saw. It was through her that I learned that there was anything special about me at all. But her own world is dangerous to her. She's hunted there as much as I am here..." Leia's gaze fell on the dead body next to her and tears welled up in her eyes. Eyes that she turned pleadingly back to him.
"Please, Vader, you mustn't hurt her. If she ever comes back... Please don't ever hurt her."
Vader fought with himself, his rage and fear still clinging to him. A part of him wanted to believe her. Another part knew that she was lying.
"She is a Jedi", he hissed aggressively.
"I told you, her planet doesn't even have space travel! Neither the Jedi nor the Empire have a presence there. And even if she where, what would it matter?" Leia asked. She was shaking now, trying not to cry openly. "She is no threat to you or anything you value. She's just an ordinary girl with a boyfriend she loves and a planet she wants to save and maybe some telekinetic powers thrown in. You have no reason to want her harm. It's not like all Jedi are inherently evil."
Vader bristled at the insinuation. Leia wiped her eyes dry and found her defiance again and shakily got to her feet. Her shield was drawn tight around her.
"I want to get Nymia to a medbay. She saved my life as much as Bella did, she shot the guy who attacked me while Bella held him still. Can we go, please?"
"You're not going anywhere without an escort after what happened here!" Vader forbid her, angry that she would even dare to ask.
"Then can you come along? I don't want to stay here with all the b-bodies", Leia made.
Behind her, her handmaiden gave a tiny noise of protest - she wasn't capable of much else, watching the fuming Sith Lord with a terrified stupor.
Leia slowly uncurled her outer layer shield, pulling it over Vader like a cloak. A gesture of reconciliation.
Vader felt disarmed, helpless. He still sensed that Leia was hiding something from him, that she was deceiving him in some way. It made him angry but it also... it hurt. He'd agreed to spare the Organas, had even let the dog go that had stolen the position that was rightfully his. He'd given her a luxurious place to stay, had made time for her every day. He'd trained her and supported her and forgiven all of her past acts of treason against the Empire. He'd protected her from naysayers and protesters and rumors and he hadn't even said anything when she insisted on continuing her Jedi training under the guidance of a dead man. Not once had he asked her to reveal any information about the Rebellion or her planet's involvement with it. He'd thought they were getting... close. He thought that she cared, that she was willing to learn, to understand, to... forgive. But even so, even after nearly half a year of bonding, she still wouldn't trust him with the truth about this mysterious friend of hers? Why would she hide her existence from him? If she was truly living so removed from the rest of the galaxy, she could've been as free with this information as she was with telling him about Master Jinn. As friendly as Leia acted with him most of the time... She didn't trust him.
She had little reason to, of course, given her background and the circumstances of her coming here. But she pretended to trust him and expected him trust her.
'I can't make the same mistake again.'
That was what it all came down to, wasn't it? But what exactly had been the mistake he must not repeat? Trusting his loved ones... Or doubting them?
Leia was still waiting for his reply. It was so hard for him to trust her, knowing she was hiding something. But he'd already almost lost her once today. He knew if he pushed her away now, he might lose her again. Leia wasn't his wife or his Master. She wasn't his equal, she was his child that he had to take care of. She was too old for him to truly raise, to shape and form and disciple. But that didn't mean he could discard her just because she didn't always behave the way he wanted her to.
Slowly the Force settled around the Sith Lord.
"Very well. I'll take you to the med bay. Do you have any injuries yourself, Leia?"
Leia shook her head. He could feel the regret in her. Whether she knew he'd noticed her dishonesty or not he couldn't tell but she had no joy lying to him.
He would solve the mystery that was his daughter eventually. Until then, he would keep her protected and make sure something like tonight never happened again.
Sidious would pay for daring to send a killer after his daughter.
XxX
AN:
Here you go, I hope you had fun with the new chapter! I have been extremely busy as of late so writing is very slow. I'm uploading more slowly because of that. I did recently finish chapter 9 though (I like to have something in the back for really long breaks) so I thought I'd throw you a bone.
After James' coven was dealt with I had much fun focusing more on Bella and Vader. However, that doesn't mean Leia gets to just be lazy all day. We have to remember that her world is filled with bad vampires, not just James and the Volturi. Given her history, I thought Maria would make for a wonderful new villain for Leia to play with. What do you guys think?
Also, Vader finally found out about Leia! Was it too confusing having them both in the same scene ;-) I'm still thinking about how Vader should learn that Bella has been lying to him all along. A dramatic showdown where Sidious tries to turn them against each other? Will Leia tell him? Will Bella? Will Luke find out first and spill the beans? So many possibilities!