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No. 17—Hanging by a Threat
Breaking Point | Stress Positions | Reluctant Caretaker
“Ah, my dear,” Palpatine purred, the soft voice at odds with his wrinkled-prune face. “As soon as I learned of your existence, I was wondering when you’d show up.”
“Where is my brother?” Leia spat. Luke had left her so sure he could turn their father—their father—back. But Vader had taken him to Palpatine. And the three hadn’t been heard from since.
Palpatine smiled, showing crooked yellow teeth. Leia almost thought they should be pointed. Han would definitely say so.
Han. This whole wacky plan was counting on him. She had been implanted with a tracker—so it couldn’t be found and removed—and had found Palpatine, which had been her job. Now, Han would lead a Rebel offensive to take him out, and Leia would free Luke and lead whoever she could against Palpatine from the inside.
She just had to last for a week, at most.
“Your brother is enjoying our lovely hospitality as you will be soon,” Palpatine said. He gestured to the red-clad Imperial guards. “Take her to Cell Two.”
They bowed to him and strode forward.
Leia bit back the insults that leapt to her mouth and let the guards lead her away.
At first, Leia’s heart leapt when she saw the crumpled black-clad figure on the floor of Cell Two. But the figure was too long to be Luke, and each limb was made of gleaming metal peeking out underneath the linen black robes.
Leia collapsed to her knees. The man had brown hair just beginning to grow in around fading scars.
She swallowed. “Hello?”
The man pushed himself up, cold filling the cell. Blue eyes met her own and the cold dropped. He sat up, sitting cross-legged and propping his limbs up. “Oh, it’s you!”
Leia chilled. That presence… She had felt it before, in her cell on the Death Star. “Vader.”
Vader shrugged. “I…prefer Anakin.”
“How…” Leia trailed off. “Where’s your suit?” She had thought he needed it to live.
Vader shook his head. “I used the Force to heal myself. Funny, I tried so hard to do it with the Dark Side for so long, but as soon as I turned away from it…” He shrugged again. “It’s like the Force was just waiting for me to turn back to heal me.”
Leia crossed her arms. So he was claiming to be good now. “If you’ve turned away from the Dark Side like Luke thought you would, how come Palpatine isn’t already dead?”
Vader dropped his head. “I underestimated him. I thought I could just lop off his head and walk away but I guess he saw me coming. Turns out he can electrocute two people into unconsciousness with Force lightning at once.”
Leia set her jaw. Maybe. Maybe that was what happened. Maybe Vader had turned good. But no amount of trying to kill Palpatine could make her forgive him.
“What are you doing here?” Vader’s voice grew sharp.
“I’m here to rescue Luke,” Leia said, more confident than she felt. She couldn’t exactly spill her plans to him even if she did trust him. They were always being watched.
“Rescue? Well, this is some rescue!” Vader crossed his own arms. “It seems like you’re just getting yourself killed along with us!”
Leia’s chest tightened at his words that matched her own years ago to Luke and Han. “Why are you upset? Why do you care? I’ve led a rebellion for years, I think I know how to lead a rescue!”
“Bantha shavit, you’ve never gone against Palpatine in your life before!” Vader said. “You have no idea how strong he is! What was the plan, waltz into the detention center, free Luke, and shoot your way out? You don’t even know how to use a lightsaber!”
“What, and you need a lightsaber to win a fight?” Leia shot.
“Against Palpatine, yes!” Vader said. “A lightsaber or a very large bomb! I don’t suppose you have a bunker buster in that white jumpsuit of yours.”
“What kind of thanks is this? I come in to get you two and all you do is insult my efforts!” Leia stood up, putting her hands on her hips.
“Efforts! Correct me if I’m wrong, princess, but we’re still in a detention block awaiting torture and eventual execution.” Vader stood up as well. He shook his finger in her face. “You…you…”
“I what? I’m putting my life at risk to save my brother and the galaxy? Isn’t that what Jedi are supposed to do? I’m just doing my duty.” Leia raised her chin in the air.
Vader shook his head. “Just because it’s a Jedi’s duty to sacrifice their life for the greater good if necessary doesn’t mean you should recklessly throw your life away! I don’t feel like it’s asking too much that you use a little common sense! You don’t do anybody any good with a rescue if all you do is get yourself captured to die alongside your friends!” He placed his hands on the back of his head, wide-eyed, and shook his head. “I don’t believe this. I’m turning into Obi-Wan. He was right. He was right all along.”
Leia scoffed. “You are nothing like General Kenobi. He was respectable and good.”
“It’s no wonder he went all grey, keeping you two alive for nineteen years,” Vader said. “Do you have no sense of self-preservation?”
The door of the cell hissed open. Palpatine stood in the doorway. “Hello, my dear. It’s time for our first session.”
Vader stepped between her and Palpatine, putting at an arm to keep her behind him. “If you want her, you’ll have to go through me.”
Palpatine smiled. “Gladly.” He held up a hand.
Vader began to choke audibly. He grabbed at his throat and dropped to his knees.
Two Imperial guards rushed in, grabbed his arms, and dragged him out. The door hissed shut behind him, leaving Leia alone in the small white cell with ‘fresher capabilities in the corner and a drain in the middle of the floor.
Now that Vader was gone, she could see a still-drying puddle of blood near the drain surrounded by days old dried blood stains.
Her throat closed up. She sat down near the ‘fresher capabilities and wrapped her arms around herself. She didn’t care about him. He wasn’t really her father, anyway. That would be Bail Organa (the man who’d lied to her for years about who she was and kept her brother from her).
No, she didn’t care about Vader at all.
Leia knew what Luke’s screaming sounded like. A few too many run ins with Imperials had taught her that.
Vader’s screaming sounded very similar.
During one brief period, she did hear Luke’s screaming as well. And some faint yelling of his, which she couldn’t quite make out, but she thought was something like “Leave him alone!”
Leia pressed her hands over her ears as hard as she could.
Hours later, the Imperial guards dragged Vader’s limp body into the cell and tossed him down on the white floor. A trail of blood drips followed him to his spot over the drain.
Once the door hissed closed, Leia moved forward. She laid a hand on Va der’s shoulder blade. “Vader!” she hissed. “Can you hear me?”
Vader groaned. “Do not…touch me,” he murmured.
Leia jerked her hand back. If the temperamental Sith Lord didn’t want to be touched, then she wouldn’t touch him.
Blood glistened on her hand.
“I will not…be your slave anymore,” Vader murmured. “I won’t. You can’t make me. I’m with Luke now. I’m a Jedi. You can’t stop me. You can’t make me stay on the Dark Side.”
“It…it’s me,” Leia said. “It’s Leia. I’m not Palpatine.”
“Leia,” Vader breathed. He tried to push himself up, but fell on his face after only getting up a few inches.
Luke’s desperate screams echoed in Leia’s ears. “Where are you hurt?”
Vader hummed lightly.
“Vader, where are you hurt?” Leia asked louder.
“I’m Anakin,” Vader corrected. “I’m a person, and my name is Anakin.”
“Anakin,” Leia allowed. Anakin Skywalker. Her father. “Where are you hurt?”
“My back,” Vader said. “My arms.” He panted hard. “I…I don’t know, everywhere.”
Her hands shook. She couldn’t touch Darth Vader. But he was also her father, and some small part of her cared about him. And then there was the fact that she couldn’t leave an injured Rebel alone covered in his own blood, no matter how recent his defection was. Or even simply an injured man. Not to mention her brother had been screaming for their father’s safety in a nearby cell.
She shook her head and peeled Vader’s blood-soaked robes up to reveal his back. He groaned as the cloth peeled from his skin. Deep gashes ran along the lengths of his back, as if from a whip, but worse. The skin was also inflamed, as if it had suffered a mild burn.
Leia unzipped her jumpsuit and peeled the top off. She had come prepared for injuries, but she’d expected to be tending Luke. She unwound bandages from around her t-shirt, bacta patches falling out. “Can you take your shirt off?”
“I’ll try,” Vader said.
“Please don’t tell me there’s any problems below that, because if I have to tend you there, I will physically vomit,” Leia said.
“No, don’t worry,” Vader said. He pushed himself up and wiggled out of his robes, grumbling something about “Children.” Then he collapsed back on the floor.
Leia grabbed one of the bandages and wet it at the sink in the corner. “Hold still, this will probably hurt.” She wiped at the lowest cut.
Vader flinched. He curled his hands into fists.
Leia stopped. “Are you all right?”
“It will not get better,” Vader said. “Just keep going.”
Leia kept going, carefully cleaning the blood from his back. Her bandage quickly got filthy and she kept having to rinse it out in the sink. But she refused to use any more to clean him. She’d need the rest to bandage the wounds.
Vader shuddered as she cleaned his back, gasping and occasionally even whimpering. His arms, what was left of the real ones, anyway, were also covered in deep gashes. She cleaned them both and slapped bacta patches on the deepest gashes.
“I need you to sit up so I can wrap your wounds,” Leia said.
Vader nodded. He sat up, his hands shaking. She swiftly wrapped his chest and arms, using all the bandages she’d brought with her. Once she was done, he moved to lean against the wall, his eyes glazed over.
“There,” she said. “I’ll rinse out your robes and then you can have them back.” She grabbed his robes and stood up.
He caught her wrist. “Leia,” he whispered.
She froze. “What is it?”
“Thank you.”