Divided Loyalties

IV

Many hours passed, melting in the night, and Leia didn't wake up; the doctor and Vader weren't going to show up either.

Luke was about to fall asleep after all that time alone. He finally tried to rest since he didn't want to disturb his sister, who surely needed her relaxing time. He was so exhausted that sleep greeted him with open arms, making him forget the nightmares that were sure to come.

Leia left the world of dreams hearing a call for help.

She bolted awake, sitting up quickly despite the aching burns on her chest. She noticed that Luke was moaning desperately, but it was most likely because a nightmare. Making an immense effort, the girl outstretched her arm to shake her friend awake.

Luke felt his hand being squeezed and heard a voice calling his name: he used that voice to pull himself out of the darkness, and saw Leia's concerned face.

"L-Leia?" he murmured incredulously, noticing for the first time the tears streaming down his bruised cheeks. In his nightmare, Vader's revelation was just about to come: Leia had saved him perfectly on time.

"It's me" the princess said with a sweet smile. The doctor had treated her when Luke was out with Vader: she couldn't talk loudly, but she was able to whisper.

Luke nodded his head eagerly and sat up slowly, trying not to hurt himself. When he managed to, he tossed the sheets aside to find some air: he felt as he had just finished a running race.

He looked at Leia, and remembered everything he had to tell her.

But he didn't start immediately with the bad news: first, he wanted to know how she was. The previous day she looked like she was suffering a lot.

"How are you feeling?" Luke asked, noticing that she had, in fact, spoken.

Leia smiled and slightly tilted her head. "I'm fine. I can speak, not loudly, but I can" she replied. "Yesterday I couldn't talk to you, but I want to thank you for convincing Vader back in the cell. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there with me".

Luke's lips slightly turned upright as he squeezed her hand tighter. If Vader hadn't listened to him and if Leia had been killed, he would have never forgiven himself.

"About Vader..." Leia added after a few seconds "what did he do yesterday? When he brought you out I was afraid he would bring you to the Emperor! I was so scared...".

She looked so worried that Luke felt his heart curl up, and felt the urge to stroke her hand reassuringly.

Now that he had an occasion, though, the young Jedi decided to speak. He turned on the lamp on the nightstand, then he slowly stood up, ignoring the pain, to sit beside his long lost sister.

"Leia, I must tell you something" he murmured seriously, his gaze travelling to the floor.

Leia frowned. Of course Luke was keeping something bottled up inside since Bespin, but she didn't expect him to tell her right now.

However, she didn't argue. "Alright" she said softly.

Luke took a deep breath before finding the words to describe what had been torturing him for three months.

"Worse things happened on Bespin" he spoke slowly. "I mean... things that I haven't told to you yet".

Leia was already concerned. Her friend had lost a hand and fallen from an endless pit just to wait terrible minutes of agony hanging in nothingness... could anything worse exist?

"Tell me, Luke" the princess said, wrapping one arm around the boy's shoulders.

He hesitated, eyes low, breathing wearily.

"Vader... told me he is my father" he confessed finally.

Leia furrowed her brows, disoriented. It wasn't true! Luke was her best friend, the most caring and kind person she had ever met; he loved her beyond measure, he would have done - he actually had done - anything for her.
Vader was cruel; he had tortured her, he had destroyed her family, he had taken Han away, he had brought evil to the whole galaxy.
How could such different people be related?

But Leia felt guilt rushing over her when she looked at Luke: noticing her incredulous expression, he had hugged his knees to his chest, eyes tearing up.

"Oh, this isn't changing anything" Leia said gently, moving her friend's head on her shoulder. "Your family doesn't define you. Even if you had been the Emperor's son, you would have been the same person who crossed the Death Star to rescue me".

Luke let Leia's words heal him, feeling an indescribable gratitude. He needed those words so much, he needed to hear that his blood didn't define him.

Not losing time, though, he managed to gather the last specks of courage he had.

"There's something else, Leia, there's something Vader told me yesterday" Luke said, his voice more confident than before. He looked in the girl's eyes and grabbed her hand: she wasn't going to be happy.

"The Force runs in my family. In my... father, in me. And in my sister, my twin sister".

Leia's brown eyes widened and looked for the truth in Luke's blue ones, finding only a silent confirmation in them.

"Yes, it's you, Leia" he clarified, guessing what she was supposing.

Leia put everything together, and, hit by the realisation, cried out desperately as she looked for shelter between her brother's arms.

She could accept Luke as a brother - their relationship had always been deeper than a friendship and different from romance - but Vader couldn't be her father!

"I know it's hard, but we have to accept it" Luke said sadly, caressing the girl's soft hair. He didn't want Leia to carry that burden, but at least she hadn't heard the truth from Vader. That was the reason he had spoken in the first place: his sister wouldn't suffer as much as he had.

The two newfound siblings spent many minutes like that, one embracing the other, to sustain each other in such a delicate moment.

Leia broke the silence after what seemed an eternity, her voice feeble and vulnerable.

"He wants us to join the Empire, doesn't he?" she asked.

Luke sighed, knowing that she wasn't reminding him of the worst part of Bespin willingly... when he had chosen death over the Dark Side.

"He told me that he wanted me to defeat the Emperor" he replied.

Leia nodded her head. "It's over" she murmured.

"Leia, what are you saying?" Luke spoke loudly, suddenly stronger than before. "I'm sure he will never harm us. He could kill me on Bespin, but he didn't. Our real father is somewhere under the mask, we can use our time here to find him".

Leia was left stunned when he spoke with such a faith, but she couldn't believe him.

"I hope you're right, but I don't think so" she stated bitterly before burying her face, once again, in her brother's chest.

What did the Force have against them?

Hello! I promise the angst will come to an end sooner or later XD
Buuuuut I'm going to publish something happier! I'm planning to start a collection of one shots about the missing moments of the OT trio - there are too few of them on Wattpad! I hope you'll like it (-:

Also, I didn't ask KaitoDetective1412 anything because I didn't have any grammar problems in this chapter. But I surely made some mistakes, just tell me

May the Force be with you!