Lady Obscura: Vader's Shadow [Star Wars | Luke Skywalker]

Chapter 27

There was no way of knowing how much time had passed since she blacked out. All Athara knew was that it was hard to come back. The Emperor's mind covered hers like a thick, oppressive dark shroud, blocking everything beyond the tiny glimmer of her thoughts that struggled against her forced unconsciousness. And it seemed that the more she struggled, the harder the shroud pressed down on her mind, crushing her back into the blackness of oblivion.

But then she wasn't alone.

At first she thought that, perhaps, it was Qui-gon. He always appeared when she needed his guidance and his support. But it wasn't. It was different, this presence. Somehow calmer, gentler even, than Qui-gon's already soothing aura. There was a similar sensation of great wisdom behind the warmth and quiet of this presence. Without words or even recognizable counsel, it urged her to calm herself, to let go. There was something so comforting and familiar about the presence that she didn't hesitate to trust it and to follow its lead. It made her feel truly safe...it made her feel loved. With the presence's guidance, she let her panicked agitation and despairing fear melt away as water from sun-warmed ice. As her desperation faded so too did the comforting presence.

As did the shroud of the Emperor's thoughts.

True consciousness came flooding back to her then. In an instant she was awake. The fear and panic she had barely escaped threatened to overtake her again. She couldn't move. It was like her mind was disconnected from her body. She was a mind within a lifeless body. No, not lifeless, per se. She was still breathing; her body was still very much alive, but she had no power over it. She couldn't even purposefully blink. Though she had somehow managed to maintain the calm that had freed her mind from the Emperor's oppressive blackout, it was as though his control still extended over her very ability to move.

She hadn't known it was possible to do such a thing.

He had almost complete control over her. She could feel him in her head. It felt precisely like he was blocking her, trapping her, inside her own mind. Thankfully he hadn't been able to truly break through her mental shields. She was still in control of her own private thoughts and memories, but she hadn't been as focused on protecting the rest. It was like he had his fingers pressed inside her skull, blocking the orders she gave her limbs much as a dam stops a stream from flowing. More than that, she could barely touch the Force; he was blocking her from that too. She discovered that when she tried to reach out and discern what was going on around her, only to have her consciousness slapped back.

And now that she was awake, she was horribly, painfully, aware of everything. The floor was cold and hard, driving a deep, splitting ache through her hip and shoulder. The back of her head throbbed where it had been slammed against the durasteel wall and her wrist was twisted awkwardly beneath her body, sending tingling pains up her arm. Her skin itself prickled painfully at the memory of the Force lightning that had sent her slamming into the wall in the first place, a residual ache lingering in her motionless muscles.

More than that she heard everything.

She could hear Luke.

Had her body been her own, she would have been forced to bite back a despondent sob. She understood, now. The Emperor had said he wouldn't need to kill her as his apprentice would. She had automatically assumed he meant her Master.

He'd been referring to Luke.

She had been so blind. Of course he meant Luke. She'd seen that from the beginning. Vader, though powerful, was damaged both in body and spirit in a way that, though easy for the Emperor to manipulate, kept him from realizing the true depths of his potential the way he might have before he was broken. Luke was young, and immensely powerful in his own right even if he wasn't quite so strong as his father. She could see why the Emperor had his eye on her Farmboy.