#5 for the SW prompt ask, please!
Vader had failed. He had been punished. Such was the natural order of the universe.
He could barely hear the Emperor’s dismissal through the ringing in his ears. He bowed and tried hard not to stumble as he left the room, vision spotty. He exited the chamber and fell hard to his knees just as the door slipped closed. His vision went white with pain.
He vaguely registered someone on the floor beside him, gentle hands on his arm. He more felt in the Force than heard them offer to help. He gave them directions to his chamber and hoped his vocoder was still working. He couldn’t hear himself speak past the ringing, and he did not protest when they lowered him into a seat.
By the time his vision had cleared and he could hear again, which was a considerable length of time, his helper had not left. Her brown eyes crackled with fury.
“How dare that monster treat you like that. I don’t care what you’ve done, no one deserves to be hurt like that.”
Leia Organa, Bail’s daughter, Vader’s brain slowly supplied.
“If he hurts you, why do you stay?” Leia asked. Vader ignored her in favor of trying to figure out how a Junior Senator had slipped into the Emperor’s inner sanctum and witnessed his punishment by his Master’s lightning. Unfortunately, he was in too much pain right now to think clearly. He needed to summon the med droid and start repairs.
She leaned back and folded her arms, face hard as stone. “So you are his slave.”
He reacted instinctively, thrusting out his hand and the Darkside answering his call. Leia slammed against the opposite wall and slid down.
“I am no one’s slave!”
She stood up, ignoring the bruises that now must be blossoming on her back. “You would only react like that if it were true. I’ll ask you again; why do you stay?”
There was sympathy in her eyes. An emotion that had not been directed at him in decades. Not since Padme died and Obi-Wan had left him to burn. It snuffed out the flames of his rage and made him feel small and weak.
She looked around the room, saw all that was required to keep him alive, and nodded. She stepped forward and pressed a small data stick into his gloved hand. “We can build all this on Alderaan. My father trusts me. If you meet me in the Senate Garden an hour before dawn, I can take you away from the Emperor. I can hide you.”
“You cannot hide from the Emperor.”
Her eyes glint like steel. “Watch me.” He watches her turn and leave. Somehow he cannot bring himself to doubt her. He’s not aware of making a decision, but at the appointed hour, he finds himself in the Gardens. She’s waiting for him. Leia offers her hand and he takes it. He takes it and does not look back as she leads him into a new life.
