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No. 28—It’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Anger Born of Worry | Punching the Wall | Headache
Vader was asleep when the Imperial guards came back. Leia went with them without a word. He had taken enough for her. It was time for her to take her turn.
They led her down the hall a bit to an empty cell where Palpatine sat in a chair. This cell had a metal bench with steel cuffs for wrists and ankles. The guards led her to the bench and locked her in.
Palpatine smiled at her as if he was peering through her. She was suddenly glad she had rezipped her jumpsuit. Not that there would be any signs of her bandages and bacta patches, but still.
“Hello, my dear,” Palpatine said. “And how are you?”
Leia glared at him, wrapping her anger around her like a wall.
Palpatine’s smile widened. “Ah, the sheer potential you have. I hope you’ll enjoy this cocktail we’ve prepared for you.”
One of the guards injected a cloudy serum into her arm.
Leia drew in a sharp breath. The probe droid on the Death Star with its needle, Tobin Elad with his soft voice and the drugs that coaxed Luke’s name as the Death Star pilot out of her.
“I hate you,” she spat.
“My dear, I could want nothing else,” Palpatine said.
Leia’s anger slipped. He wanted that? What could she use as a defense then?
“Leia?” Vader called, muffled. “Leia! Sidious! Don’t you dare hurt her!”
“Leia?” Luke called. “Leia, you’re here?”
“Ah, your father and your brother,” Palpatine said. “Tell me, my dear, didn’t my former apprentice interrogate you on the Death Star?”
“Kriff you,” Leia said, but her mind automatically slipped to that dark cell and the pain that almost broke her.
No! She’d moved past this! Why had he dredged it up again?
A pressure pushed against her mind, pressing against her thoughts and her control on her emotions. She gritted her teeth, trying to hold onto her walls. Pain spiked through her head. Her anger built, her hands curling into fists.
A warm presence reached out to her, a contrast to Palpatine’s cold pain. Leia latched onto the lifeline, letting the presence wrap itself around her and shield her with its own walls.
It’s all right, my child. I’ve got you, a warm voice close to Vader’s own said. Maybe it was him, his internal voice. I won’t let you fall.
Leia sank onto the bench, the terrible pain in her head bringing tears to her eyes. Before, Vader had ripped apart her walls and now he was becoming them.
Palpatine pressed harder. Leia screamed. Vader’s presence tightened.
She wasn’t in the cell anymore, but in a green meadow. Colorful flowers bent under a gentle breeze. Waterfalls surrounded the meadow, splashing musically. A strong young man laughed. She wasn’t an adult rebel being tortured by Palpatine anymore, but a little girl in a white lacy dress. She grabbed a handful of flowers and ran up to the man.
“Here, Daddy, here’s some flowers,” she said.
The young man scooped her up and held her close. “Thank you, little one.” He plucked one flower from the bunch and tucked it behind his ear, hot pink petals against his curly brown hair. “They’re perfect.”
Leia giggled. “You’re silly, Daddy.”
The young man kissed the top of her head and hugged her close. “I love you, little one. I’ll always keep you safe.”
Leia didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything. She just clung to her father as the cold pain spiked deeper into her head and somewhere, her body screamed.
She was barely aware of hands unstrapping her from the bench and dragging her across the floor. Cold skeletal arms wrapped around her.
“Oh, Leia. It’s okay, I’ve got you.”
Leia grabbed the robe she knew was black and tucked her head against the strong shoulder. “Father.”
She focused on the pale face, the scar through the blue eye, instead of the pounding heaviness in her head. Vader sank down next to the ‘fresher facilities and cradled her on his lap.
“You know, even on the Death Star, I didn’t want… I respected you,” Vader said. “And I knew interrogating you was pointless. I didn’t think Tarkin would actually…”
Leia covered his mouth with a shaking hand. “I forgive you.” Though that explosion would haunt her, she knew that creepy old Tarkin had controlled them both and would have blown up Alderaan no matter what she’d done. And, oddly enough, she couldn’t hold onto her anger for Vader, no matter how justified it had been. Not after he had been the only thing standing between her falling under Palpatine’s sway just as he had. “I…I forgive you, Father.”
Vader—Father kissed her forehead. “I love you, little one.”
Leia tucked her face back into his shoulder and dropped off to sleep.