The Tragic Jedi | Anakin Skywalker

𝓢𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓮 𝟕𝟕

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Astrid cast Vader a furtive glance before quickly looking away, hoping that her unresponsiveness to his comment would make him think that he had been mistaken in regards to her identity. Instead of answering him, she kept her eyes trained on the dancing couples before her.

"You're Senator Organa's advisor," Darth Vader finally said. He drawled out the syllables of her fake name as he added, "Ayla." He paused. "What is your last name?"

Astrid's mind whirled as panic flared inside of her. Her heart skipped and bleated like a sheep. When it came to Vader, she found that she was frequently turned into a sheep, while he remained the wolf.

Astrid scrambled for a last name to tell him, but the only name she could think of for some reason was Ahsoka Tano, so she quickly blurted, "Ayla Rano." She forced herself to look at him and his terrifying helmet.

He cocked his head.

"Why were you speaking with Galen Erso?" His mechanical voice was cold as he spoke.

Astrid immediately understood he was trying to catch her by having her reveal that she knew about the Death Star. After all, she couldn't already know about the ship as Bail's advisor since the Death's Star's construction was top-secret. So, if Astrid let it slip that she knew about the ship's existence, then he would know she was a rebel spy.

Astrid held his stare as she answered, "I admire him for his work as a scientist. I was merely inquiring about his past work."

Somehow, she knew Vader was unconvinced. He turned towards the dancing as he remarked, "You were pregnant last time I saw you. I could sense the presence of your unborn child through the Force." His gaze turned towards her, and she imagined that if she could see his eyes, they would be narrowed with suspicion. "You are no longer pregnant."

Astrid was startled-- and then instantly apprehensive-- by his abrupt change of subject and his uncanny control of the Force to sense such a thing so easily. They'd only spoken for maybe two minutes last they'd met formally in the Alderaan palace-- he didn't know they'd met again in Scarif-- and he'd managed to sense her pregnancy in that small amount of time.

Astrid replied reluctantly, "You're correct."

Vader turned his head to watch the dancing in the center of the ballroom as he said, "It would be quite a shame if I found your loyalties are not as they should be, Ayla. It wouldn't take much effort to find your child."

She read the threat within his words, and her stomach dropped. Astrid quickly reassured herself of her twins' safety-- they were with Obi-Wan on Tatooine, after all-- and the fact that Darth Vader thought she only had one child, not two.

That was a small mercy.

Astrid swallowed and wet her lips before she replied quietly, "You will find my loyalties are exactly as they should be, Lord Vader."

"I would hope so for your sake... and your child's," he responded unfeelingly before he marched away with a billow of his black cape. Astrid watched his back as he strode away, and she noticed him clench his mechanical right hand-- the one she'd sliced off with her lightsaber in Scarif-- in discomfort.

Why did the action look so familiar to her?

Suddenly, Bail was at her side, ushering her away with a hand on her forearm, and he muttered, "What did he want? What did he say? He hasn't caught onto you or anything, right?"

Astrid swallowed nervously as they wove between the people that had gathered around the sides of the room to watch the dancing. She cast a look at the surrounding people as they came to a stop in the corner of the room before she spoke quietly, "He suspects my loyalties are not where they should be. He threatened the life of my child."