Rescue for a Sith Princess

Chapter 16

A.N. Another chapter is here! I'm thinking just one more after this, so start preparing yourselves for the end. Thanks so much for reading! P.S. There are some references to Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope in here, so credit for those go to George Lucas.

"So be it. Rebel." The Emperor spat. He released his hold and tossed her violently to the floor. He drew up his hands with a cruel smile and sent hot bolts of lightning into Leia's body.

The Emperor looked up from Leia and noticed Darth Vader standing in the entry to the throne room.

"Ah yes, you are just in time, Lord Vader. Witness the demise of our enemy, your daughter, Princess Leia Organa."

The lightning stopped for a moment as the Emperor's wicked laugh resounded throughout the throne room. Vader took slow steps towards Leia's body. She was breathing painfully, her breaths coming in short gasps. Her face turned up towards Vader once he towered above her. Sweat fringed Leia's hairline so that pieces of hair stuck to her face. He could tell she was biting back tears, and she stared up into his mask with watery, chocolate eyes. He'd seen those eyes a long time ago.

"Come away with me. Help me raise our child far away. Leave everything else behind while we still can!"

Vader shook the thought away and directed his focus back towards the Emperor.

"Why are we killing her, Master? She was supposed to join us."

The Emperor glanced down at Leia with disgust. "She is a traitor now. Brought back to the Light Side with help from her fellow Rebel scum." He gestured towards the still unconscious bodies of Luke and Han. "She must be destroyed, or we risk destruction ourselves."

Leia let out a soft whimper beneath Vader, and an unsuspecting flash of empathy struck Vader. He looked down at Leia again, and she turned her pained expression into one of steely resolve.

"You and your Empire are wrong. If you strike me down...I shall...become more powerful...than you can possibly imagine," Leia rasped between breaths.

The Emperor laughed again. "So naive," he drawled. "The only power you ever had was through the power of the Dark Side. And you gave it all away, for what? A Jedi you've never met? A man who betrayed you? You are weak and foolish, powerless to stop me."

Suddenly, Emperor Palpatine sent a raging course of electricity through Leia's body. She let out a gut-wrenching scream and began to convulse. Her body twisted back and forth, her cries echoing in the large chamber.

Vader squeezed his eyes shut behind his mask, hoping to drown out the sounds of her pain. His own bloodcurdling cries rang in his ears, recalling his agony on Mustafar. Somehow, Leia's screams seemed louder and more painful than anything he'd ever felt. Obi-Wan's words from earlier came back, words Vader regretfully accepted as true.

"You knew she was your daughter! Yet you allowed her to suffer."

Out of the conflict in his mind and the crackling of lightning bolts, two words cut through from below him. "Father, please!"

Leia was looking up at Vader desperately, pleading to her last hope. Somehow after everything he put her through, she could still believe in him. Like Obi-Wan. Like Padme. What did they all have that he didn't? The Light Side of the Force? Voices of the past shouted in his head, as if telling him the answer.

"Anakin, you're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I cannot follow!"

"Stop! Stop now... come back... I love you!"

"You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!"

Vader drew his attention to the Emperor, watching his twisted, maniacal face cherish Leia's torture. Then he took one last look at Leia, taking in her dark brown hair in a mess around her head, her tears staining her cheeks, and her big, brown eyes fluttering shut, succumbing to death.

With one fluid motion, Vader reached over to the Emperor and hoisted him off the ground, disconnecting the electricity from Leia but sending it coursing throughout his own body and life support systems. He grimaced at the blinding pain, but persevered enough to throw Emperor Palpatine over into a deep chasm at the edge of the throne room. Vader collapsed and faintly heard the Emperor's cries disappearing down the chasm.

Leia's foggy vision began to clear and as she sat up, she realized she was no longer in pain. Her body ached, but the Emperor was not above her with his wicked smile and agonizing torture. She heard wheezing a few feet away and noticed Vader laying up against the railings of the chasm. Leia couldn't stand, so she dragged her sore body across the floor, drawing Vader's head in her lap.

"Leia," he muttered. "I'm sorry."

She chuckled lightly. "Sorry? You saved me!"

Vader shook his head. "You did that all on your own. I knew there was still good in you."

Leia beamed, that warmth filling her again. "You too," she whispered.

"Now, please take my mask off," Vader said.

Leia's knitted her eyebrows. "I can't! It'll kill you!"

"It cannot be helped now. Please. I want to see you with Anakin's eyes."

A tear trickled down Leia's cheek, and she nodded. She found the controls to release the lock on his mask, and slowly pulled it over his head. Underneath was a scarred man, a man who perhaps felt more pain in his life than he dealt. Anakin. Leia reached out and gently drew her finger across a scar on his cheek. How many more scars were within?

Anakin's eyes turned soft and misty as he made eye contact with Leia. "I never thought my eyes would meet hers again..."

"Whose?" Leia asked curiously.

"Thank you, my daughter..."

"Whose?" Leia insisted.

Anakin's lips fell into a smile, he closed his eyes, and laid his head back as his last breath escaped him.

"No. Thank you, Anakin," Leia barely whispered. All she could do was sit with him in his arms, cradling his head lightly while her tears fell onto his face.