Things were strange in these days, very strange indeed. Almost
abit too much for Leia, as the one love of her life was taken,
snatched from her hands, her gentle grasp, and thrown into a
cold, eternal hell where even in Han's mind, she sensed, he could
only hear his own voice silently screaming in pain. His voice
would echo through the darkness, to her, and she felt his pain,
but in return when she called for him, he would hear nothing,
feel nothing. No, he wouldn't hear her heart searching for him,
her one voice silenced by the darkness, a darkness so horrible it
devoured everything she had known. It ate away in her
own heart as well, for a few times she had heard Luke identify
it, utter it's true name, and in just thinking of it she could
almost feel it's pull of hatred tendrals wrapping around her
heart, suffocating the light from her soul. Vader. Leia sighed in
fustration, letting her rage escape in her exhaling breath,
cleansing her body of all thoughts. Unlike Luke, she realized,
there wasn't a kind, gently old man Kenobi for her. Except for
the tender years she had with her family on Alderaan, the
innocent world sacrified to Tarkin's twisted taste for blood. She
saw it's people in her minds eye now, one by one led to a great
altar before
the emperor's throne on Corusacant and slaughtered, her sisters,
her brothers, her playmates and the entire household, but lastly,
her father. And the emperor stood over her father in her mind's
eye, in the darkness, backlit by his own evil light, and hold in
one hand her father's still beating heart, Organa blood streaming
down between his fingers to pool on the floor and the white,
pristine robes of her father's office of state, stained. As for
his body, it lay at the emperor's feet, Bail Organa's mouth open
wide in a grimace of horror. Leia tried to break the nightmare,
the falsehood, but she could not. It kept her at attention by
forcing cold chills on her spine, erecting her to stand at
attention and staring into the darkness of space.
The nightmare shifted. Before her now stood her mother Organa,
smiling silently and reaching out to leia with both hands to
embrace her daughter. Leia reached out with her mind to the
ghost, but when she tried, she felt only pain when her hands
touched her mother's white, pale ones. Just as suddenly as the
ghost came, it faded and now, as if staring into a limpid pool of
water, she beheld another woman of gentle face and kind, worldy
yet sharp features which suggested a gentle innocence beguiling a
wise, allknowing and powerful being. She watched the vision in
morbid fascination. The lady in the pool was interacting in an
upscale enviroment and expensive, yet simple and tasteful
surroundings which somewhat resembled her childhood home,
Organa's vast estate. But somehow she got the impression that the
home of the lady was abit more dated, perhaps of a generation or
two ago but still considered somewhat modern. The lady was
wandering around the room playfully chasing after two small
children who could have been no more than one or two, as if
playing a hide and seek game.
Quite suddenly the lady stopped and stood still. A shadow
appeared on the far wall of the room near the entrance, a shadow
which somehow haunted Leia and caused her heart to freeze.
The lady appeared very frightened and as Leia watched, the two young ones ran to hide in the folds of her gowns. The lady turned directly in Leia's direction and with the same eyes, stared into Leia's soul.
Her own eyes, she realized. Those were the eyes of her mother pleading with her. From the darkness she head a voice, a soft voice which hinted at great sorrow by the inflections, but betrayed no emotion. It somehow soothed her heart, yet upon touching her soul tears streamed from her eyes and she felt as if she needed to run, to escape, anything but the approaching dark presence.
The vision disappeared again, but this time her mother's voice remained, though she could not hear the words which with she spoke. Steeling herself, Leia decided to continue with the nightmare, to let it play out to the light on the end. So with a heavy heart she waited to be shown, waited for the next unveiling. It came just as suddenly, but with an exacting swiftness. Again she saw the body of Bail Organa, but unlike this time, he slowly faded away and this time only the emperor remained. To his right stood his henchman, vader. He still held Organa's heart, but slowly he lifted his head and let the still beating heart fall to the floor where it lay still. He rose with a grace unnatural to his aged appearanced and then pointed a green, crooked finger at Leia. His cracked lips parted in a skull, deathy grimace and he opened his maw to speak.
Again leia could not hear any words, but she felt the langauge in emotion. She felt the emperor himself searching her heart for rage which she afforded vader alone and kept it very well concealed, way deep down in the bowels of her brain, so well only a dark soul such as vader could feel it. Such were her powers of supression. "Young Jedi spawn!" The emperor raged in reaction to leia's denial of letting him feel her hatred. She held no anger for the emperor except for the fact that she treated him, viewed him as just a malignancy, a symbol or head of the entire cancer which threated the galaxy. "Deny me if you will, destroy me if you can, but you will not have what you long for!" The emperor spat and grit his teeth, then turned to calmly take his place in his chair and continued. "You are strong," he admitted, " you are just as cold as your father after his transformation." He gestured to Vader, who peered down on Leia with not so much as a hint of indifference. She was not prepaired for what she heard.
NO! no! no! It could not be possible! Luke, yes, he had spoke of these lies, these nightmares, vader spoke and his emperor as well. No, they were but a lie! Her mind quickly rationalized in defense.
Somehow the emperor felt her conflict. "Yes, young one, did you not see your mother in the vision?!? Did you not feel her pain, her words echo in truth as you heard her screams? Don't deny it, Organa! You are spawn of a jedi, a creation of mine in which soon I will have the latest addition as well."
Luke, her brother! How could it be?!? No, that was a lie!
"Luke, your brother, has a more emotional heart, let's say," the emperor went on, adding a touch of malicious deviancy in his voice. "He has somewhat a more probing heart, a searching heart, a curious heart. His tantooine setting shaped all that into place by just being a nothing world, a desolate world. His heart can more readily be picked apart slowly and he is most ripe for the time now. But you, young one, you are stronger, cold, hard steel. But, alas, my henchman has also found a way to your weakness and has proven this experimentation to be most productive of results," he gestured to vader again. "I'm sure that overgrown corpse of rotting cellulose will find plenty of ways to display his trophy with his degenerate mind. Of all of Solo's credators, he fit best the profile and the means which to freeze him, in short giving up a perfect and legal reason within our obligation to our loyal citizens."
"You are nothing, and you will just waste away like the rest of your nightmares, as a dream dissolves before the break of day," Leia countered carefully, steeling herself.
"Oh but the night does linger, and we can't have outlaws running around to threaten our citizens, loyal peoples of the Empire. So you see child, as long as Jabba has your weakness, we also have it. We can make it impossible for you if you wish, or we can return him to you as if a wish. We know you will go after him, child, but do us a favor and dispose of Jabba in your attempt. Of course we care nothing for Jabba, but he might find himself interested, " the emperor eyeballed her healthy features, "in a lady whom he might partake to be his bride." The emperor waved his hand and Leia found herself frozen to the spot, her body would not respond to her thoughts but she remained strong. The very thought of Jabba's fat fingers sliding over her the back of her neck, her chest, and worse...
She doubled over physically sick and curled into a fetal postion on the floor. "Unlike before in that disaster, she is controled but i myself must control such a strong willed child," vader nodded at the emperor in approval.
"Ah now, child," the emperor continued his torture. "I knew that would discust your pristine, virtous thoughts. And sometimes lecherous ways are the most enjoyable, for some of us, even for myself." The emperor's brows raised as if he was struck with a most entertaining idea. His lecherous, old eyes eyed her form again and then he slowly walked down the steps of the platform until he stood over her. With a wave of his hand she stood or hovered before and slightly above him. He lifted her chin up with a single finger and breathed his foul breath in her face once more. She almost felt as if she were going to regurgitate her last mea, but still she kept strong and firm in heart.
Then he turned and triumphantly roared, "Look, Lord Vader! Behold what is before my hand! She carries more weight than Mon Mothma herself, my unfortunate wife which i fell out with, sadly, as she agreed as well. The leader of the rebellion herself! They would pay handsomely for her return alive!" He turned to leia to add, "Oh my dear, alive you will be." then to vader, "What say we make an example of her defiance? What say we should mar her body in great pain and return her in worse condition?"
Vader, as usual, said nothing.
"What say you?" The emperor raised his voice, prompting his henchman to answer just to add to the young one's misery for he knew she held her hatred for him alone. vader, the emperor reflected, was a man of few words and many actions, so of course it would take him time to think.
Papaltine scanned over the body, admiring the Skywalker features in Leia's face. Clearly they were those of her mother's and not vader's genes, almost as if fate had spared her that misery of connection. If so, there was proof of it. Papaltine took his sharp, crooked fingers and gently raked across leia's midsection. The fabric peeled back obediant to his will, and he found nothing there. he turned to vader again, "Look here, Dark Lord! Where are the scars that have marred her body? You told me yourself that you marred her! That you killed her personally! Where is proof of it, eh?" He waved his hand in his trademark style and the fabric went back into place. Vader as usual was caught up in his own response, and knew better to be silent. But he also knew this would not be the end of it, so he would eventually have to produce something. "I will spare you a small dignity and let you keep your body coverings..."
How grateful of you, Leia thought sarcastically but her thought was broken off when Papaltine took his chair and continued his long wind. "In summation, you have survived torture, escape, and a sabre duel at the ends of the Dark Lord himself, and from the evidence unscathed! Even Luke himself has not done better. But to continue with your weakness...
"I personally admire you leia, of all beings, and if i make myself young again, have a new body, it can be tailored to your desires. If you want, this body before you can be gone. But only if you will have me, and then our spawn can replace some things."
What?!? Leia thought herself insane, but yet it was true. "You insane soul! You honestly think, of all beings, i would have you?!"
"I have forseen the fate of your brother and your father," the emperor calmly added, touching Leia's mind with telepathy. "Luke will be victorous, i will die and Vader will betray me. I fear my creation most. But you, you are my wildcard in the future, for you have no set destiny. Help me, please. Anything and everything you wish will be yours for i have created a monster which will drag me down with it. I was wrong but cannot break the cycle, show me the way out! We can destroy this and be set free, you and I as founders of a master race!" Denial, denial, denial, was the only thought in Leia's brain. "Since you will not, then," the emperor turned to embrace the dark side of his nature again. "I will either force you, or you will die but i will not take it from you. For it is not your body i want, but your soul.
"Vader, what say you now? What say of your advise on this?" The emperor asked for a final time.
Vader answered. "I myself personally watched her die, and thus it would do no reward to kill her again. I have tortured her, taken everything from her, and still she is strong. She will not be destroyed, but she can be turned. It concerns the most devious and dark ways which i normally do not expose myself to for i still believe in a clean kill.
"My daughter," for the first time he addressed her directly. "What must be done is what must be done. Killing Solo would only be pointless but allowed to fester, it might encourage you to turn."
Leia's mind screamed in dire pain as Vader entered her thoughts. She recoiled with each approaching wave of hateful emotion he sent into her heart, until she could recoil no longer, but she would not fight, she would simply resist until he was expired. But she felt no end to his darkness, a vast eternal sea which he drawed upon. "I could turn her myself," he motioned to vader's attention, "but i have pressing business. what say you, Leia? Let's see," he teased, "about this problem. Jabba's lecherous tastes are somewhat sloppy and his women don't last long under employ, i'm afriad. That is not what we want of a jedi spawn, that would not be condition enough to break your will for your record speaks for itself so something more direct and painful should be applied. No, you needn't be harmed so much, for that beautiful body of yours holds no value to yourself so scars and lashings would not do. Solo is fine where he is. As long as he is there, i will not have to hear my lackeys complain of his chronic complaits. You'd think he'd have more resources than he does, but being on bad terms with the hutts in general, even he has his bounds. "So, as you once found yourself at the hands of the Dark Lord, so do you again. He will find ways of breaking you, but i just hope his mind is more clear and clean than mine. Because if i didn't have this matter to attend to, you would be in alot worse shape. But come to think of it, my henchman is the expert on these matters so his mind is full of lecherous ideas. But first, we must come get your physical body before the Dark Lord can start his work, of course. And, best of all, when your brother finds out what has happened, and where you have gone, he will come personally...then we wil have the both of you, one for each." The emperor smiled a cruel grimace, then motioned to Vader.
"But don't forget, Lord Vader, she is mine and mine alone, nomatter how much you don't like it." With that, the vision vanished.
Three nights later, still aboard the medical frigate, Leia's body lay in the intensive care chambers, stabilized and on life support, but in a coma.
Someone cut the power and a moment later when the lights were on again, her body was gone.