Part III

It was only a matter of time before the Emperor decided to use his superweapon to deal with the Rebels. The Death Star, now completed, headed straight for the center of the war.

Leia and Vader were well prepared.

The last words Leia had heard from her lost friend, Admiral Ackbar, echoed in her ears as the Death Star came out of hyperspace right in the center of the Rebel fleet. "It's a trap!" Well now the tables were turned. Leia had sent double-agent spies to feed the Emperor this location, and the old man had walked right into the palm of her hand. The newly rebuilt Rebel fleet unleashed its fury onto the Death Star, motivated by vengeance and hope. The Death Star quickly tried to return fire, but struggled. Leia studied hard for this fight, and built her armada out of small ships. The Death Star was meant to fight against warships like the Star Destroyers but the Rebels kept with smaller ships and individual fighters that slipped through the Death Star's defenses.

Leia watched with satisfaction as the Death Star feebly tried to take out fighters one at a time. Its weapons were powerful, but its shots were few. The bigger ships of Leia's fleet stayed out of range and behind powerful shields.

But this space battle was not hers. Minutes after the dogfights began, she and Vader headed straight for the heart of the Death Star. Leia inwardly thanked the spy she'd had the foresight to place in the Death Star. The spy had opened a hanger for her and Vader to reach. It was a simple, smooth landing, and they were in.

It would not be simple from here, however. They were after the Emperor; once he was killed the Empire would be leaderless and far more vulnerable. Leia couldn't risk him escaping this battle.

"Stay close to me," Vader commanded her as they dismounted the ship.

Leia rolled her eyes. "I'm the one in command, remember?" She gave him a teasing smile.

"You don't know your way around this battle station," Vader countered slyly. "I, on the other hand, do. So follow me, young one." Leia gave him a flat look at the belittling term but Vader was already exiting the hanger. She hurried to follow him.

Lightsabers in hand, they cautiously moved forward. Father and daughter worked as a team to defeat the guards in their way, well-practiced, almost as one. It was a matter of minutes before they closed in on the throne room.

The Red Guards proved difficult. There were four of them on the Death Star, armed with vicious, long pikes. But Leia and Vader triumphed in the end, and turned to the door of the Emperor's throne room.

"Hurry," Leia eagerly headed for the door, "He could already be escaping—"

Vader put a hand on Leia's shoulder and stopped her. She paused, glancing back at him. "We must be prepared," Vader emphasized. "My old Master will have a plan. It may be to surprise and overpower us, or more likely to manipulate us. He will try to turn us against each other." He paused, looking at Leia for what seemed for a long time, regret dancing on the edges of his emotions. "He has much material to use if that is his plan."

Leia took a deep calming breath in and let it out. She then fixed Vader with a firm look, anger still in her eyes. "He is the one I am angry at. He killed Luke. I will stay focused."

Vader hesitated; anger was the way of the Sith. He knew the Dark Side was stronger and he wanted Leia to use it. But he felt he should advise against it at the moment. The idea felt sick, like the Jedi. But in this situation, it was necessary.

"Control your anger," Vader warned slowly. "Palpatine will try to use that against you too." Vader released Leia's shoulder and turned back to the door. "We must proceed slowly." He turned his head back to her. "Are you ready?"

Leia nodded mutely, taking her rightful place by his side and lifted her chin. Her lightsaber ignited, as did Vader's own. She pressed the control panel and the door opened.

The room was dark, but their eyes quickly adjusted to the dimmer light. Step by step, they walked in; glancing in all directions to be sure nothing would jump out to attack them. Vader moved closer to Leia, his arm brushing with hers and cape partly enveloping her. Luke's screams echoed in his mind and fear tried to take hold of him, but the Sith Lord did not let it. He would not lose Leia too.

Both of them stopped when they realized what was directly in front of them. The Emperor sat completely in the open on his throne. Behind him, fiery explosions through the window showed the battle in space outside.

Leia could not see the Emperor's eyes; he wore a black cloak that hid most of him. She could only his mouth from within the hood as he addressed them. "Welcome, my Apprentice, and Daughter of Anakin Skywalker."

Leia and Vader paused, assessing their options as the Emperor stood. They tensed, lightsabers humming in their hands, as the Sith Master calmly walked forward, still quite a ways away from them, to get a better look. Leia made a quiet gasp as the Emperor's gleaming red-yellow eyes shown through the cloak and pined onto her.

"Leia Organa," the Emperor said with interest. "We meet at last." He leaned forward slightly, observing her. "You look much like your mother."

Leia swallowed, shifting her grip on her lightsaber.

Vader did not like how his old Master was watching his daughter and stepped in to distract the other Sith's gaze. "It is time for the Apprentice to kill the Master, as is the way of the Sith."

"Is it?" The Emperor's tone sounded almost bored. He gestured a long, pale finger at Leia. "Is this your Apprentice, Lord Vader? She is no Sith, not yet and I doubt she will ever submit to you. She will destroy our Sith Empire and bring back the cursed Republic," the Emperor spat the word.

He turned fully to Vader and sneered. "You think I am still a threat; I am. I will not die easily. But I know I am beaten and I want you to win. I want the Sith Order to continue. Why would I have you as my Apprentice in the first place if not to replace me someday?"

"To use me," Vader said bluntly.

"Yes," the Emperor admitted, "But to replace me if needed." He returned his gaze to Leia. "At the moment the two of you are not Master and Apprentice, as it should be. You are partners," the Emperor grimaced. "And that will not do for the Sith."

"The Sith shall die, then," Vader said simply.

The Emperor blinked in surprise at his Apprentice. "Have you lost your way so much?"

"The Dark Side failed to save Padme, and failed to save Luke," Vader spoke softly. "If it could not do that, than it should die." Leia glanced at Vader in surprise. She didn't think Vader had so completely lost faith in the Dark Side.

The Emperor snorted. "Then how shall your daughter survive?" The Emperor nodded to Leia again and she narrowed her eyes. "She has a dangerous path before her. An entire galactic government to rebuild and she hardly has any help to do it with all her friends dead. In such positions of power, people from all worlds will try to kill her to seize her power. Or they might try assassination if they find out her connection to you, Lord Vader. You will not always be around to protect her. Her Jedi training won't be enough. How will she defend herself if not for the Dark Side?" The Emperor smiled and added slyly "How will she defend herself if not for a strong government, like the Empire, rather than a weak Republic?"

Vader had no reply, the seed of doubt planted in him.

The Emperor went in for the kill. "Make her your Apprentice. Turn her to the Dark Side. Create a Sith out of her. It is the only way she may live."

"Your underestimate me," Leia growled.

"No, dear child," the Emperor turned back to her, his cloak trailing behind each of his movements. "You underestimate the cruelty of the Galaxy. I know my Apprentice has shown you much of it." The Emperor's lips curled into a smile before he tutted disapprovingly. "He killed your men, tortured you, made you watch as your home was destroyed, hurt your loved ones…"

The Emperor's eyes glittered coldly as he stepped forward, tone becoming insistent and urgent. "Right now you are using Vader to get what you want. But why stop using him just for the Empire's downfall? Take him for everything. Let him train you so you may reach your full potential. Why would that be any different from how you've let him train you up until now? Become his Apprentice in full, and take your vengeance on him when the time is right."

Leia grit her teeth. "I want the Sith destroyed as well as the Empire," she spat, "Why would I carry on your legacy?"

"Then don't take an Apprentice when you become the Master," the Emperor dismissed with a slight shrug. But Leia knew what he was doing; it was obvious. The Emperor wanted to lure her into the Sith. He hoped that once Leia had a taste of the Dark Side, she would embrace the Sith Order and take on an Apprentice when the time came.

Leia hissed but the Emperor turned away from her before she could say anything, returning to face Vader. "She is not strong enough as a Jedi and never will be. You must train her completely, Lord Vader, or lose her just like you did with your mother, your wife, and your son."

Vader tensed more, screams of his dying family filling his head. He stared up at his Master. "Her power in the Dark Side will be more than you can imagine."

The Emperor smirked as Leia whirled on her father. "What?!" she shouted, alarmed, "You do plan to turn me?!" She shook her head in disbelief, not noticing that she'd disengaged her lightsaber. "I don't believe this. You don't think I can handle my future without being a Sith?"

She was amazed at the feelings of hurt and betrayal that filled her. She had fought by Vader's side for over a year now and the fact that he still doubted her…why did this matter to her so much?

No, she realized. This is what Palpatine wanted. "He's tricking us," she realized in shock. Her astonishment was quickly replaced with new fury, directed at both Vader and the Emperor.

"You," she snarled, pointing a finger at Vader. "You warned me to watch out for the Emperor's lies and yet now you're falling for them yourself! You haven't redeemed or changed yourself at all from being a Sith Lord. Five minutes in this room and you believe whatever he says."

"When I warned you I meant he would turn us against each other," Vader snapped back. He didn't trust his Master, but knew the ancient Sith Lord wanted his precious Order to continue. If making Leia a Sith kept her alive, Vader would do it. "But he doesn't want us against each other. He wants us to replace him and he needs us alive for that. You will die without the power of the Dark Side." He took a step towards her, radiating the power of both Sith and father. "You will turn for your own good."

Tears entered the sides of Leia's eyes and she rapidly blinked them away. She couldn't be distracted at the moment. She shook her head, casting off the pain, confusion, and sense of betrayal. "He's turning us against each other now," she insisted. "I have to stop him before this goes any further."

She turned away from her father, reigniting her lightsaber and charging at the Emperor with full strength.

With a calm smile, the Emperor neatly sidestepped her strike. There was a clatter as the Emperor abruptly dropped his two silver lightsabers. Vader stared at the small metal sticks in confusion, but Leia didn't even notice as she slashed at the Emperor again.

As Leia and the Emperor continued their odd dance—her striking, him avoiding—Vader caught on. By dropping the lightsabers, the Emperor was now unarmed. A Jedi couldn't kill an unarmed man.

That didn't seem to bother Leia as she continued to attack. Leia was no Jedi, and the act of killing someone unarmed, the evil Sith Emperor no less, would not be enough to turn her. Of that, Vader was sure.

But if the Emperor wanted Leia to strike him down in an attempt to turn her, why was he still avoiding her deadly blows?

Leia suddenly leapt into the air and came down upon the Emperor. For a moment, Vader was sure she had him, yet the Emperor again slipped away. Her plasma blade hammered into the floor, the metal instantly melting on contact. Leia shouted out in frustration and continued to strike at the Emperor.

Vader realized what the Emperor was doing—he was building up to his death. With each miss, Leia grew more and more angry, more and more consumed into the Dark Side. The Emperor was waiting for the right moment, when Leia reached her peak in fury. At that moment, the Emperor would allow her to kill him. After that, it would be too late for her to turn back from her hatred.

But as Vader watched her do strike after strike, he saw the almost crazed look in her eyes. He became uneasy, seeing the pain in the eyes that resembled both his mother and his wife. The light he had always felt from Leia in the Force was fading with each passing moment. At any second, Leia would be engulfed by the Dark Side…

The spell his Master had cast on him was broken. Leia was strong enough alone. He should have never listened to the Emperor's tricks, never should have hurt Leia like that. He had been trying to protect her yet had hurt her in the process. But it wasn't too late.

The Emperor paused as Leia lifted her blade once more and Vader knew this was the last moment. His Master smiled in victory, but Vader ran at them. As Leia's lightsaber came down, Vader's own came between them, blocking her strike and stopping the kill.

Leia's furious eyes met his own. "You're protecting him?!" she demanded. Her voice was full of outrage.

"I'm protecting you," Vader said softly, calmly. "Leia, listen to me—"

"NO!"

Leia suddenly parried his blow, taking Vader by surprise. He stepped back; the Emperor suddenly vanished into the darkness as Leia struck again. He was alarmed at her power and rage, hammering away at him relentlessly. Pound after pound, forcing him away. Until he was too slow to block one of her blows and the lightsaber flew from his grip.

Vader stumbled back with a scream of surprise. He blinked in alarm for a moment, only to find a blue lightsaber pointed right at him. Right above it was Leia's furious eyes.

The Emperor's malicious chuckle, the one Vader was so familiar with, echoed through the room. Vader swung his head to see the Emperor standing a few feet away.

"Good, good!" The Emperor laughed. He grinned awfully at Leia. "Just like your brother, but you will be wiser than him. Strike Vader down, and take your rightful place at my side!"

History truly does repeat itself, Vader realized. Now Leia was precisely in the same position Luke had been. The Emperor had manipulated them perfectly—the whole suggestion of Leia being Vader's Sith Apprentice had been a ploy. And Vader had fallen right into it.

What would Leia do? Would she stand up to the Emperor and get killed like Luke? Or kill Vader and join his Master? The Emperor had trapped them in a foolproof plan.

As Vader looked back into her eyes, he had a creeping feeling Leia wouldn't be like Luke. Her gaze was full of anger, perhaps a tint of yellow within her brown. She was so full of bottled-up rage and it was coming out now. Leia would kill him, Vader realized, and then his Master would have his daughter.

"Leia," Vader breathed softly. "This isn't what you want. Think for a moment and remember who you are."

Leia hesitated. Vader could see her starting to think again and clear her blinding rage, but the Emperor immediately stepped him.

"He has abused you!" the Emperor snarled. "Do you not remember the torture? Do you not remember him forcing you to watch as your planet was destroyed? He froze your beloved in carbonite, nearly killing him!"

Rage returned stronger, and Leia drew back the lightsaber to finally kill Darth Vader for all he had done.

"Leia," Vader said again, making her pause. Even if she killed Vader at this moment, there was one last thing he wanted to say to her. "I….I am sorry."

He was sorry for killing her mother. For hurting the Galaxy. For torturing her, for harming and killing her loved ones. For almost killing Han Solo. For failing her brother.

For everything.

Leia blinked and even through Vader's visor, their eyes met. The rage vanished into shock. Throughout their time together, Vader had never apologized for any of his actions to Leia.

It snapped Leia out of it. She closed her eyes and gave a long, slow exhale. Then she opened them again and looked at Vader, eyes fully brown once again.

"I forgive you."

She then whirled around and sliced her lightsaber right at the Emperor. She struck, burning through his arm. The Emperor screamed and fell to his knees, clutching his wound.

"For Alderaan," Leia said. She struck again, a bringer of justice, but the Emperor scrabbled back out of the way. Leia moved forward, calm and sure. Behind her, Vader flanked around them.

"For the Galaxy," Leia said, striking a second time. The Emperor barely managed to avoid it, fear in his yellow eyes as he crawled backwards.

"For Luke."

Leia lifted her blade and the Emperor tried to back up only to bump into Vader's leg. Vader grabbed the Emperor's shoulder with mechanical hands, pinning his Master in place for Leia's final blow.

A clean cut, and the Emperor was finally dead.

Epilog: A few years later…

No matter how many times he did it, Vader always felt awe whenever he held his grandson in his arms. Ben Skywalker Organa-Solo.

Vader was still skeptical of the first name. Leia had said she wanted to name her son after Obi-Wan's alias to remember the Jedi, as a race rather than the singular man, in a subtle way. Vader didn't like it, but it was better than Obi-Wan's actual name.

The middle name, Skywalker, was not for Vader, but for Luke. Leia said Luke had always been proud of his last name, the name of his heroic Jedi father. She thought it best to give the name to Ben, but not Luke as a first name. Vader didn't think she could bear for such a constant reminder of her lost twin.

Leia still insisted that she keep the Organa in her own name, and by extension Ben's name, rather than Skywalker. Vader did not blame her. She loved Bail and Breha Organa more than she could ever love Vader. Vader was grateful for any love at all.

The child had already lived up to the Skywalker part of his name. At just a year old, the boy already proved reckless and danger-prone. He continuously ended up in situations that were as ridiculous as they were dangerous. But Vader, Leia, and Han were there to keep Ben safe. Vader in particular kept close eye on the child whenever he could.

He was not always with his grandson, however. After the end of the war, Leia had found Vader a peaceful and secluded place on Naboo. Except for his family, everyone in the Galaxy thought Vader was dead. Droids in his home tended to his every need.

Vader past the time by studying old Jedi Holocrons that had survived the purge, watching Leia on the news, and observing the development of the New Republic. Leia's speeches made him believe that maybe the form of government would work this time. Without the Hutt Empire, the New Republic cracked down on crime and corruption and had no tolerance for slavery. Vader was pleased that the practice was now illegal galaxy-wide.

But Vader's joy came whenever Leia, her husband, and Ben visited. Leia came frequently, despite her busy schedule. When she had to take time off when she became pregnant, she had stayed with Vader. Whenever she was with him, she would listen with interest as he told her stories of the past. He no longer regretted the days of being Anakin Skywalker. He would tell her the flaws of the old Republic to warn her as she rebuilt it, and, very rarely, he would tell her stories of Padme.

Leia had continued her training as a Jedi, but entirely for self-defense reasons. Assassins continued coming after her (as the Emperor had predicted) because she was a vital senator to the New Republic. Vader had wanted to follow her wherever she went to ensure her safety. She had objected quite strenuously to this, insisting that if anyone discovered that Vader was alive it would be disastrous for the entire family. So Vader was forced to settle with teaching her as much as he could, but only in the Light Side. He barely used the Force anymore; only feeling it peacefully through meditation and when he practiced it with Leia. He never used the Dark Side. The Sith were truly defeated.

The Jedi survived. Ahsoka Tano had lived and revealed herself once the Empire fell. Though she still did not call herself a Jedi, she gathered younglings throughout the galaxy to train and rebuild the Jedi Order. She also explored the Unknown Regions in search of Ezra Bridger.

Vader planned to speak with Ahsoka again. To apologize to her. He didn't know how to do it, yet, however. He waited, for now.

Leia smiled at him as Vader lifted his grandson higher to observe how much the boy had grown. The child reached out with small hands, not the least bit afraid, and fiddled with Vader's mask. Ben curiously clutched where Vader's cheeks might be. Vader smiled underneath, and Ben smiled too.

Ben was already so big. Every time Vader saw him he seemed to have grown in some way. He had tuffs of black hair now and knew a few words. Only the basics; 'mama' and 'papa.' But as Ben gripped Vader's helmet, he murmured a new word.

"Gran-pa."

Author's Notes: Thank you for reading! This story was inspired by a Tumblr prompt I found a long time ago by someone named "Lucky Jak" or something like that, but I don't know Tumblr well so I have no idea how to find it again. I've tried. Nor do I have any idea if 'Lucky Jak' actually decided to write the story.

It's my first Star Wars fanfiction, which is a big deal for me because I'm a huge Star Wars fan but have trouble writing the characters. I love Leia and Vader, but have difficulty with writing Han (though lots of love for him, too! Was my interpretation of him good?).

This work is also majorly inspired by a FANTASTIC Achieve-of-Our-Own fanfiction that I HIGHLY recommend you check out. It's called "Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns" by chancecraz. I love her characterization of both Leia and Vader and their dynamic.

Thank you for reading and for all your lovely comments. I hope you enjoyed the story!