Divided Loyalties

XIV

Only when assisting to Alderaan's destruction had Leia experienced such a heavy pain.

"Dead?!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking and filling with concern for both her brother and her father.

Sidious nodded his head slowly, appearing sad and compassionate.
"As I expected, they were so fool they did not see the threat" he said. "Take my advice: if you don't wish to be a weak fool yourself, you must leave the Jedi way".

Leia made an effort to answer, even if her grief was starting to make it hard to speak.
"You won't have my loyalty like this" she stuttered, barely restraining from bursting into tears.
This situation was reminding her of the barbaric end of Alderaan she had witnessed three years before. At the time she had promised to herself that she would protect everyone she had left, that she wouldn't allow anyone to die for her sake... and what was happening now?

"As you wish, my child" Palpatine cooed. "But I can feel your anger, your fear. If I were you, I would embrace the dark way right now in order to avoid unnecessary pain".

The Sith Lord's hooded figure disappeared behind the minuscule door which separated Leia's darkness from the rest of the galaxy. The prisoner saw a little ray of light before being absorbed by the total blackness, again.

Unable to resist under her pain's weight, Leia curled up on herself, arms tight around her knees, maybe trying to look for some comfort despite being utterly and helplessly alone. Bitter tears that had been restrained for too long now streamed down her cheeks, glistening around her big brown eyes. Her small hands pressed on her eyelids, a foolish attempt to stop that display of desperation.

To Leia, accepting her last family's loss was simply impossible. She couldn't even use the Force to understand if the Emperor had lied or not, or to connect with Vader and Luke!
Not only she couldn't even hope to see her dear ones again, but she couldn't be rescued from that cursed prison either!

She wasn't going to return with her rebel friends. She wasn't going to see again Lando and Chewie... she wasn't going to see Han. And she was very well aware that Sidious would have broken her will, sooner or later. He had time and means to do so.

As much as she hated to acknowledge it, the Dark Lord was right: she was furious, pained and terrified. After all, how could she be any different when her brother and father had been murdered brutally and deceptively? How could she live when she was so lonely, without the possibility of being rescued and haunted by the guilt of having led her loved ones to death?

And a terrible nostalgia was already filling her tired mind. She couldn't imagine a life without her brother, that person who had been there with her when she was happy and when she was in despair, that person who loved her so much that he would have died twenty times for her. She couldn't imagine a life without her father, the man who was bravely rising up from the darkness he had been trapped in, the man who had sworn he would protected her with his life.

And it was all a filthy worm's fault. A filthy worm who was sitting on a throne and oppressing the galaxy.

Leia knew it was terribly wrong, but she now wanted only one thing.

Revenge.

She would kill the Emperor as soon as possible, honoring Luke and Vader's memory and finally demolishing the Empire.

Had she been lucid, she would have understood that this desire of hers was exactly what the Emperor wanted, but she was too worn down emotionally to comprehend. She was devastated beyond measure and deeply frightened. And these feelings were what Palpatine was looking for.

~~~

Luke looked up to the scorching Utapau sun, trying to deduce the time and wondering how far the rebel hidden base could be. He had been walking for five hours with his father partially leaning on him for support, with the man being able to use only one leg. And Vader was not only horribly heavy, but also extremely weak; he had to be handled with the utmost care because of his own wounds.

According to both men's perceptions, the Rebel outpost couldn't be more than one hour far away, hence Luke tried to speed up his pace in order to be safe before the sun could reach its highest point: that would mean a terrible hindrance in their condition.

The young Jedi's plan was very simple: they were going to reach the base, then remove and hide Vader's mask - keeping it on would have meant certain death - and finally they were going to have him recognised as a civilian who had been implicated in a horrible accident.

Vader had agreed: even though being taken care of by Rebel medics wasn't exactly his wildest dream, he knew Luke was going to be an excellent protector since the enemies trusted him. It wasn't the moment for being picky since his own life was in danger.

Sadly, despite their efforts, father and son weren't able to reach their destination in such a little time: they were too weak and they had been walking for hours. Therefore, as soon as they found a massive rock, they took shelter in its shade. Luke delicately helped his father sit, being careful not to damage his own broken arm - he did not want to need an operation when his sister was in danger.

Vader hit the ground with a soft whimper, a sound that no one had heard coming from his throat, and clasped his chest, trying to do his best to ignore the terrible pain. He was feeling bad, but he didn't want to tell his son: the boy didn't need more reasons to hurry and hurt himself further. The whole situation was painfully delicate, and the Dark Lord knew he had to save his energies.

He spent some seconds trying to inhale as much air as he could, then he spoke to Luke.

"You need rest. I say you might use some sleep" he suggested. "You must regain your strength... I know I am not that easy to move". A glimpse of irony wasn't missed in his tone, and the boy chuckled.

"Don't run away" Luke replied, an exhausted smile on his face. He was so weary that he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the dusty ground, as if that wild land had been a canopy bed of the Royal House of Naboo.

Vader pulled his son slightly closer to his own body as soon as the boy dozed off and shifted him so that his wounds couldn't get infected because of the sand. He started to distractedly stroke the young man's blonde hair while Leia's face was starting to haunt his mind again after those hours when he had only thought about his safety.

"Oh, Leia" he said to himself. "Where are you?".

HEYYYYYYYY I'M ALIVE!!!!!!!!
I hope there's still someone out there who still remembers about this story... I'll try to be more consistent in updating, I promise!
As always, I ask you to point out any grammatical mistakes since the last part wasn't checked a second time.
Thanks for reading, and...
MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!!!!
(This date was chosen purposefully)
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