Missing and Presumed Dead

Shattered

It would seem his efforts in repairing his relationship with his daughter were going somewhere. Who knew the smuggler would be so useful. Maybe he'd let her keep him around for a little longer...

No.

He immediately shoved that thought away. Solo was unworthy of her.

But his rescue had certainly sped things along, and he couldn't complain about that. In fact, if things continued this way, perhaps he could reconsider turning Leia to the dark side.

He mulled this over as he followed Leia back to her quarters. Leia remained uncharacteristically silent, though he could feel turmoil and hatred still coating her presence. Yes, those feelings would serve her well in the future, but as willing to talk as she suddenly was, he wasn't foolish enough to think she was ready for him to push her into joining him. But if Solo was her weakness...

The kiss he'd walked in on was enough to remind him that he was still potentially better off throwing the man in an escape pod. Who knew what would happen between them if he kept the smuggler around?

As soon as they were back in the confines of her quarters, Vader crossed his arms, giving off the picture of confidence and superiority...despite the fact that he had no idea how to proceed from there. Did Leia have something specific to say about Luke? Should he just ask what he wanted to know anyway? Then again, he was interested in anything she had to say about her brother.

But if it was more about his son hating him...well. He was already fully aware of that.

Leia walked to the view port, staring out at the stars and the planet below. They had still yet to move from over Tatooine. They likely wouldn't for some time, if only to contain the power vacuum Vader had opened by killing Jabba. "You were going to tell me information about Luke," Vader finally said when she continued to stare out, saying nothing.

There was a spike of fear in the Force before it was smothered by forced determination. Interesting. He opened his mouth to pry further, but she finally spoke.

"What did you do with Luke's X-wing?"

He frowned in annoyance. "You said you had information for me, not that you were going to pester me with useless questions."

He watched her tense and waited for her to snap at him. Instead, she repeated, "What did you do with Luke's X-wing?"

His fists clenched. "You are stalling. The X-wing is in my private hangar, all information stripped from it."

Leia was silent, still staring out at the stars. "He loved that ship. He would be pissed if you ruined it."

"He is dead, so it doesn't matter..."

"No."

If Vader could have, he would have stopped breathing. His brain struggled to process that simple response.

"...No?" he repeated, lowly, dangerously.

Luke was dead. He'd felt it. He knew it for a fact.

Perhaps she had yet to process it herself. Twins were, after all, closer than any other familial relationship, so perhaps...

She was speaking, words he heard but struggled to match with the reality he'd grown to accept.

"I told you what you did to him on Bespin haunted him. It changed him. He barely ate. Barely slept. Lost weight. I was worried, and I confronted him. He...told me what happened. Suddenly your crazed obsession with him made too much sense, and I wanted to protect him. From you. From the fate you wanted for him. So I convinced him..." a hesitation, and another spark of fear, "...I convinced him to fake his death."