The Thief

Summary: A thief has snuck into a large house hoping to find something to steal. Meanwhile Darth Vader returns home to find his young twin children have escaped their nannies.

Rusk was glad he wasn't completely human or completely alien. He had no idea what he truly was. He had no idea who his parents were. He was just another orphan in the under layers of Coruscant. Though he supposed it was now called Imperial Center. That didn't matter. What did matter was this change in names had brought a change of rich people. Rumors had it a lot of rich people died when the Emperor took over. They probably had it coming. New rich people came in. Dumb rich people. Unfamiliar to the dangers of Coruscant.

Rusk was thinner than a normal human. His limbs were longer and narrower. His body was more limber. The only downside was his head was a bit bigger and his skin was a pale blue-grey. Rusk sometimes wondered if he had Duros blood in him. Regardless his body was good for sneaking into places. Coruscant was ripe with places to sneak into. The city had been built upon buildings on top of buildings on top of buildings. Old tunnels, sewers, air vents, and piping mazed its way through the city. If one wasn't smart, then fancy new homes could be accessed by forgotten passages. Luckily for Rusk, the new rich of the Empire didn't seem to be that smart.

Well except for whoever lived on the other side of the current passages Rusk had been navigating through. He had found this place months ago. At first he thought it would be another easy hit. Another new rich person who wasn't wise enough to completely block out the old passages. Yet than Rusk ran into security. Whoever built their home here was smart. This should have discouraged Rusk. He should have just turned around and found an easier hit, which was what he did the first time he ran into the place. But then he thought about it. Security meant money. There was sure to be a big hit if Rusk could get himself through.

It had taken months of delicate work. The security to this large home was intense. Now finally he was in. Gold light shone in from the air vent in front of him. He carefully undid the screws and slowly lifted the vent. Then he lowered himself down into the hallway. He had been almost living in that vent for a week to observe the living patterns of whoever lived here. He had only observed cleaning droids moving through this hallway.

Rusk took in the hallway, finally able to get a good look at it. The place was indeed rich. Rusk didn't know the names of fancy materials these rich homes were made of. But he could see the white swirling stone on the floor, which he only saw in rich homes. He knew this home had riches, and Rusk just had to find them. He cautiously made his way through the home.

He first came upon a sitting room. As expected it had fine looking couches and chairs with real wooden tables. Yet there wasn't a knick-knack or piece to steal. At least nothing Rusk could shove into his sack. The place was nice and all, but it seemed sparse. There were some very nice vases holding fresh flowers on the wooden tables and some large paintings on the walls. Rusk was sure those might be worth something, but it wasn't something he could take back through the vent.

He continued down the hall. Each room was like the first. Very nice furniture, but nothing for Rusk to take. No sculptures. No bottles of fine wine or liquor. No jewelry. Not even some tossed-aside datapad or com unit to swipe. It made Rusk wonder if anyone actually lived here. Rusk had just entered a strange room. Not much to it. Lots of plants. The room had large open windows. Again nothing for Rusk, so he made his way back into the hallway.

That's when he saw them, or well almost stepped right on them. Rusk jumped back and grabbed his blaster, but he lowered it once he saw what it was. Two small human children. Very small. They still had some of their baby fat. They were the same size. Both wore red outfits. One in pants and the other in a dress. A boy and girl? The boy had blonde hair and blue eyes. The girl had brown hair and brown eyes. They held each other's hand as they looked up at Rusk silently.

All three just stood like that for a while. Rusk had shifted to the balls of his feet. He was ready to run back to vent, the moment the children ran away to get their adults. But they didn't. They just stood staring at Rusk.

"Go," he hissed in a whisper at them. "Go and play little ones."

The two children shared a look with each other, before they looked back at Rusk.

"Who you?" a high pitched voice asked. Rusk wasn't even sure which one had spoken.

"No one," Rusk hissed back at them. He stepped around them and started to make his way back to the vent. The two children followed right behind him. He kept glancing back over at them. Their large round eyes followed him. He found his way back to the spot and looked up . . .

Kriffin' hells, Rusk cursed to himself. There was no vent. He had gotten turned around. He casted a glare at the children. They were not affected by it. They just stared back him. Their faces unchanged. He turned and made his way back. He would just have to restart. Find a spot he did know and retrace his steps back to the vent.

He walked up to a door, hand out to the door panel, when a small voice came behind him. "No." Rusk looked down at the two children who were still following him.

"Das dada's room," said one of the children. The girl one? "No go there. Dada mad."

A wicked smile spread across Rusk's face. Perhaps he could still find something to take with him after all. He pressed the door panel and the door slid open. He walked into the room and looked around. He was expecting a bedroom, but instead it was a large empty room. Rusk frowned as he continued to look over the room. But then his eyes caught something.

Weapons! Rusk thought with glee.

Rusk rushed over to the far wall. There were shelves displaying different types of blasters and knives. Rusk greedily eyed them, sized them up, and figured out which one would get him the most money. He followed the shelves down the wall, when suddenly the shelving stopped. Hanging on the wall in neat row after row were lightsabers.

Lightsabers! Jedi lightsabers! These things were worth a fortune each. After the Jedi had been declared criminals, their lightsabers had been confiscated and destroyed. Now these weapons were worth some serious credits in the right market for arms dealers and collectors. Just one of these metal tubes would make Rusk rich, and there was a whole karking wall of them.

He grabbed one of the lightsabers off its display. He turned it over in his hands before he stuffed it in his bag. He wasted no time in grabbing about five more of the sabers. He wanted more, but he couldn't be bogged down. He turned around to see the children. They hadn't entered the room. They stood in the door just staring at him with their big child eyes. He stormed back to the door. The children were smart enough to back out of the way.

"Das dadas!" one little voice said as Rusk passed the children. He paused and looked down at them. The boy one was pointing his finger at Rusk's bag filled with lightsabers. "Das dada's sticks!"

"Dada mad!" the girl one said backing up the other one. Her brother? Siblings?

Rusk only scoffed at them and made his way back down the hallway. He paused and looked back. The two children still stood by the door. They hadn't followed him this time, but they were still watching.

Darth Vader walked with long steps down the halls of his palace. He still wore his military uniform having come from Imperial High Command. His caped swayed behind him. His two little children had escaped their nannies yet again. He had yet to punish the nannies, as he understood all too well the annoyances of raising two Force sensitive children. While Vader would never admit it, the twins had given their father the slip before. Luckily, for Vader, it wasn't hard to find them when using the Force. Their presence in the Force was bright and unmistakable.

"Luke. Leia," Vader called as he saw his two younglings standing down the hallway. They turned to face him.

"Dada! Dada!" they shouted happily as they ran over to him.

Vader tried to keep his face stern. They were in trouble, but he couldn't. Not with them. He smiled as he knelt down and opened his arms. The two children ran into their father's arms. They wrapped their little arms around his neck. Vader kissed each one on the cheek and then on the head. They both kissed him back.

"Now my little ones what are you doing here? You know you're supposed to be with your nannies," Vader said. The twins took a step back. Leia grabbed at Vader's cape and pulled at it.

"Dada," she said as she pulled. She clearly wanted to lead him somewhere. Vader stood up and let Leia pull him down the hallway. Vader's cape was tightly clutched in her hand. Her little face was scrunched up in determination. Luke calmly walked next to his father. She paused at the door to Vader's training room.

"Dada!" she said as pointed at the door.

Vader crossed his arms. "You know you're not allowed in there," he said.

"No go," Luke said as he walked to stand next to his sister.

"Yes, Luke," Vader said. "You don't go in there, but did you go in there?"

"Weia no go," Leia said. "Wuke no go."

"You didn't go inside?" Vader asked.

"No," Leia answered.

"Good," Vader said smiling at them. Perhaps this was just an episode of the two exploring and reasserting their boundaries. They just wanted to confirm that they indeed were not supposed to go in there. "Let's go back," Vader said.

"Dada no," Leia said. "Dada go!" She pointed at the training room.

"You want me to go in there?" Vader asked. Leia smiled and nodded. "I'm not going to go train right now, baby."

"Dada go," Luke said. "Dada's sticks gone!"

"Sticks?" Vader asked.

Luke pointed at Vader's lightsaber, which was clipped to his belt. "Dadas sticks," Luke said. "Dadas sticks gone!"

Vader looked from one child to the next. It was hard to read their emotions, especially the more delicate ones. They were so young, they really hadn't sorted out their emotions yet. Anger, happiness, and sadness were easy to read, often without the use of the Force. Yet at times like this Vader could sometimes only tell they were bothered by something.

He sighed, keyed the door panel, and stepped into the room. At once he noticed an unease in the Force. Something was off. His eyes made a sweep of the room and paused when he saw the far wall. He stormed over to it. Six lightsabers were gone. The trophies he had kept from the Jedi he had personally slain. He looked back over at the children, who hadn't entered the room. They stood in the doorway.

They knew. This is what they were trying to tell him. The lightsabers were gone. A panic surged through Vader as he quickly made his way back to his very little and very fragile children. He had to find those lightsabers before the children accidentally turned one on. It was miracle they hadn't already gotten hurt.

"Luke, Leia," he said fighting to keep his voice even and calm. "What did you do with the lightsabers? With daddy's sticks?"

"Wuke no have," Luke replied. Vader looked at Leia.

"Weia no go!" she said angrily at Vader. She was trying to tell her father she hadn't even entered the room, much less have the lightsabers.

"Did . . . did someone take them?" Vader asked.

Both twins smiled. "Yes," they both said.

Vader pushed his growing anger under a shield. It would do no good to get angry here in front of the children. There would be a time for that later. He would find whoever on his staff thought they could steal from him. There was a small part of relief inside him knowing his precious little ones hadn't gotten their hands on deadly weapons.

"Dada sticks!" Luke said pointing down the hallway. Then he started off jogging the way he had pointed with Leia right behind him.

"No. Luke! Leia!" Vader called out, but they were too set in their little minds. Vader sighed as he ran after them. Luckily they hadn't gone far. They stopped a bit down the hallway. Vader knelt down next to the children and pulled them close to him. Vader was about to lecture the children on running off and not listening to him.

"Dada sticks!" Luke said happily and pointed up.

"Up Dada!" Leia said.

Vader looked up to see an air vent. He noticed that one of the screws of the vent wasn't as tight as the others. The anger was doubling, tripling inside of him. It pushed at his shields. The Dark Side of the Force swirled around Vader. It hungered for the anger growing inside of him. It wasn't one of his staff members who thought to steal from him. It was an intruder. Someone, some pathetic fool, had managed to sneak into his house and steal from him. Darth Vader.

"Dada mad?" a small voice asked.

Vader looked down at the children who he still had at his side. For a moment his anger was washed away as realization dawned on him. This could have gone much worse. What if intruder had hurt his children? Vader pulled the two into a hug and kissed their heads. He couldn't allow that. He couldn't allow them to be hurt. To be taken away from him. They were all he had.

Gold eyes glared up at the vent. Vader would see his small children back to their nannies. Then he would hunt down this intruder personally.

Rusk made his way through the vents and passageways. It was slow. The security of this place was tight and heavy. He understood why now. Lightsabers. He hoped that whoever owned this place didn't move the lightsabers. Perhaps Rusk could come back and score some more. Yet wouldn't these six be enough? How much could he get for them? It had to be a lot. More than he had ever scored before.

Rusk paused. He noticed the metal beneath him getting colder. Why was it getting colder? And quite suddenly at that. He glanced around looking for any cooling coils or tubes that would explain the coldness, but there was nothing. The cold was starting to make him uncomfortable, so once again he started forward.

Suddenly the spot where he had been a moment before in the vent, bent upward. The metal groaning and screaming as the metal bent down and tore open. Rusk gasped. Over his shoulder and through the opening he saw a man. He stood staring right up at Rusk with angry golden eyes.

Run.

And Rusk did. He didn't pause to think about it any more. He pushed himself up on the balls of his feet and used his hands to crawl as fast as he could. Now he ignored all the security. Whatever that was, knew he was here. There was no point going slow now. That person, that thing, was dangerous.

Stop.

Rusk stopped without thinking. A red beam shot up into the metal in front of him. It sliced toward him, but Rusk was just out of range.

Back. Back.

Rusk scrambled backwards as he watched as the metal of vent was ripped down as if by a giant claw. He had avoided being dragged down with it. The man was there again. This time holding a red laser sword. No a lightsaber. That was a lightsaber. Like the six he carried in his bag.

"A force sensitive thief?" snarled the man.

Run. RUN. MOVE!

Rusk was again moving as fast as he could. He crawled back the way he came, but this time he took a turn he hadn't before. He had to get away from that man. That . . .

Kark. Karkin' kriff. How had Rusk kronged this up? That was Vader. That was Lord karking Vader. Rusk ran through all the other curse words he knew. He soon ran out and just repeated the ones he already said. How had he run into Vader? What was he doing here? Rusk had to run. He was going to have run fast.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the air vent and until he tripped over it. He slammed into the vent, causing it to buckle. Rusk tried to regain himself, but the vent buckled and broke open. Rusk toppled out and slammed into the floor below. He heard a scream. Luckily a woman's scream. Not a manly scream. Did Vader scream?

Rusk rolled himself on to his feet. His was in a hallway of the rich house. The same white floor and soft gold walls. How kriffin' big was this place? That's when he noticed the woman. A human. An adult, but young. She wore a black dress with a white apron. In front of her were . . . Oh shavit, seriously? The two human children were there. Again. The two were unchanged how Rusk had seen them earlier. They both wore their little red outfits. They big round eyes were staring at Rusk.

The woman's eyes darted down to the children and back to Rusk and back to the children. She ran towards them, and so did Rusk. The woman grabbed the girl child. Or at least the one with the brown hair. Rusk grabbed the yellow hair one. The child let out a whiny scream noise as Rusk hauled the boy up into his arms. He put the child in a choke hold and then pulled out his blaster from his bag. He pressed the end of the blaster to the child's head.

"Wuke!" the other child cried. Her little hands were reaching out for the one in Rusk's hold. The human woman held her child tighter and angled her body so she was between Rusk and the child she held.

"Weia!" the child in his arms called back. "Weia!"

"Wuke!"

"Shut up!" Rusk shouted. The boy, Wuke?, started to cry and wiggle in Rusk's hold.

"Please," the human woman cired. "Let him go! He's just a child! A baby! Please!"

"Where's the exit?" Rusk hissed. Darth Vader was still lurking around this place. He had to get out.

"No, please give him back," the woman pleaded.

"Where's the karking exit?" Rusk shouted. He squeezed the boy tighter. He made little choking noises and wiggled harder.

"Dada," he cried. "Dada!"

The woman's eyes were large and full of fear. They kept flickered to the boy and then back to Rusk. "This-this way," she said. She slowly started down the hall. She was walking backwards. Never taking her eyes off Rusk. Not allowing the girl child to be firing range. Smart woman, Rusk noted.

The boy continued with his pleas but softer now, "Dada. Dada."

Something was wrong. Darth Vader didn't know what, but the Force was a buzz all around him. Something was wrong and Vader hated not knowing what was wrong. He knew there was an intruder in his house. A pale blue humanoid, but was there something else? He moved towards the disturbance. That was when he felt the fear. It almost caused Vader to trip over his own feet. His breath got caught up in his throat.

Luke!

Luke's fear was broadcasting into the Force all around Vader. Vader ran. He wasn't a person who ran, but he ran now towards the glowing beacon of his children. He reached out in the Force towards his children. Leia was scared as well, but nowhere near as scared as Luke. His son was on the edge of panic. Why? Vader asked. He was almost there. Almost to his precious little ones.

He turned the last corner and stopped dead in his tracks as he took in the scene. One of the nannies was holding Leia. She jumped and let out a small yelp as she saw Vader. She squeezed Leia tighter. Further down the hall was the thief who had stolen the lightsabers. The thief held Luke in a chokehold and a blaster to Luke's head. The little child was crying.

"Dada! Dada!" Luke cried. His little hands reached and grabbed for his father.

"Dada! Dada!" Leia cried as well.

But Vader was only focused on Luke. His son. His precious tiny little son hanging in the grasp of some scum. His child. His. HIS. The rage that overtook Vader was bottomless. It fed his powers into the Dark Side. He could feel his rage and hate lash out violently. Leia let out a cry and hugged the nanny.

"Dada," she whimpered.

"Let my son go," Vader growled as he started to approach the thief. There was a small bit of satisfaction as the thief realized the boy in his arms was Vader's son. As Vader came even with the nanny, he glared over at her. "Take Leia and go," he ordered. She only hesitated a second, then she nodded and ran down the hall.

With Leia safely away, Vader could devote his whole attention to the scum ahead of him. The scum whose hold on Luke had tightened. Luke was trying to break free. Vader's poor little baby kicked and clawed at the thief. But he was so little, so little and tiny, that he couldn't fight back against the creature holding him.

"Let. My. Son. Go," Vader demanded again as he came closer to the thief who was now backing away from Vader.

Vader brought up his hand. The blaster in the thief's hand was ripped away. Vader swiped his hand to the side and blaster was thrown into the wall nearby. The thief watched in horror as he weapon fell to the ground. At once his free hand started to grab at the bag. The lightsabers, Vader realized.

"No," Vader said.

At once his own lightsaber was in his hand. The red blade came to life with a quick snap-hiss. Vader wasted no time. He couldn't allow the thief to pull a saber out. A lightsaber was dangerous, and that fool would easily cut off his own arm and the child it held. Vader titled his body low and threw his saber out. It spun across the hall, just above the floor, and easily sliced into the legs of the thief.

He let out a loud scream and fell to the floor. Luke screamed as well as he fell with the thief. Vader was there at once grabbing Luke's arm and ripping the boy away from the thief. Luke was crying and his little hands at once tightly clasped around Vader's neck.

"Dadadadadada," the child cried into Vader's neck.

"Shhhhh," Vader said as his flesh hand came to rest on Luke's head. He gently stroked his son's soft hair. "Shhhh. It's ok now. I've got you. You're safe. Daddy's here. Shhh."

A pained groan snapped Vader's attention back to the body squirmed at his feet. Vader snarled in disgust at the thief. Vader took a moment to consider how he should kill him. Choke with him with the Force? Stab with his lightsaber? Decapitate him?

"Dada . . . Dada . . ." Luke continued to cry. Vader's shoulder was wet from his son's tears. No this thief did not deserve any of those quick deaths. That was too merciful. Vader summoned his lightsaber back to him. He deactivated it and clipped it back on his belt. He used the Force to turn on his commlink so he could summon his guards to drag the scum away. Vader would deal with him later. The thief would have a death deserving of his crimes. A very slow painful death.

Yet later that night, Vader's thoughts were not on the thief. Instead they were on the two small children snuggled up on his chest deep asleep. It had been a hard night with the twins. Any time Vader put Luke down, the boy would start screaming to be held again. Leia, Vader's tiny little angel, would ask her brother where his boo-boo was. She would kiss his arm or cheek to try and make him feel better.

Luke finally fell asleep exhausted from all of his crying. Leia followed soon after. Vader laid still. Not daring to move in fear of waking either child. He listened to their small breathing. He felt their little heartbeats against his chest. Every now and then he would lean his head down and give them both a small and gentle kiss on the head.

Eventually Vader allowed sleep to claim him. He had to convince himself his children were safe. They were in his arms. Right here with him, where he could keep them safe.

Rusk laid on the bench in his cell. His eyes kept traveling down his body. He would look past his knees, see a bit of leg and then nothing. No ankles. No feet. Nothing. His legs had been cut off a bit below his knee. By Darth kriffing Vader and his red lightsaber. He thought of two little children. Darth Vader's children. He should have known. With those stupid red little outfits. Red like Vader's lightsaber. And those big round eyes that followed him everywhere. How they weren't afraid when he had first pulled his blaster.

The more Rusk thought about it the more and more he realized how stupid he had been. Who else had a wall of karking lightsabers in their house? Who else was actually smart enough to have security like that? Rusk shivered as he recalled Vader's words to him. "Let my son go." There was a deep anger and hatred in those words. Why was Rusk even alive?

Well he wouldn't be for long if he just let himself sit in this cell. The troopers that emptied him in here had given him a shot. They laughed and said it would keep him awake and make his pain more intense. But Rusk wasn't some soft Coruscantee. He was used to working on no sleep. He was used to pain. He examined his cell again. It was made of dark gray metal. The walls angled slowly upward.

But the floor was made of grates. There was no toilet in here. No other drainage system. The grates allowed for easy clean up. Rusk noticed the slow drainage below the floor and smiled. He reached into his mouth and pulled out the fake teeth. The troopers had only down a quick pat down on him. Only searching for the obvious weapons. Good thing Rusk wasn't human and didn't have as many teeth as them naturally. His back few teeth were fake. They came out together along with a metal mouthpiece that kept it all together.

He snapped the metal ribbing bars off the teeth. They snapped perfectly into small sharp little tools. He screwed the battery-pack teeth into the end of the tools. He slid off the bench and onto the floor. He at once used his tools to burn through the metal of the grates. Luckily it was only simple durasteel. Slowly Rusk was able to create a hole big enough for him to fit through.

He pocketed his tools and eased down into the hole. The drain tunnel below was filled with foul smelling liquid, but it wasn't the first time Rusk had crawled through sewage before. He would do it again and again if it meant he would live. He flipped himself on to his stomach and started to crawl down the sewer to hopeful freedom. He was grateful to walk away with only his life.