Chapter Text
Leia kept herself distracted by thinking of all the places she'd rather be. The veranda that overlooked Alderaan's sweeping mountain ranges. The clear stream she had spent much of her childhood playing in. The Tantive IV, the vessel her mother had given her when she demanded to be allowed on humanitarian missions and then later, missions crucial to the Rebel Alliance.
Anywhere but sitting across from the now Emperor Vader on Empire Day. For sixteen years she had been forced to watch her birthday be overshadowed by a holiday that symbolized everything wrong with the galaxy. But this one was special.
When the former Emperor Palpatine died from carbon monoxide poisoning of all things, the entire galaxy felt the shift. They held their breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Vader to show just how monstrous he would be without the Emperor reigning him in.
Leia found herself studying the new Emperor whenever scraps of her parents' conversation broke through her mental list-building. Vader’s very presence burned her, the queer feeling tugging at her navel refusing to go away. She knew, somehow, that the Emperor was bored with his first public outing, and furious at the distraction. As often as she could, she excused herself. With the faceplate from her nightmares observing at the partygoers, food was the last thing on her mind. The air warmed the further she fled from him, but she was always expected back at her parent’s side.
She, and the galaxy at large, knew very little about their new ruler. For years he had stood by Emperor Palpatine's side, his towering form never far during the old Emperor's public appearances. His armor prevented him from sitting comfortably, that much she could tell by the careful way he moved, his respirator hitching as he lowered himself into the place of honor. He towered over them even sitting, his height and his bulky frame giving off an air of restrained violence she didn't know how to explain away.
But if she looked closer, she would swear he appeared anxious. His crossed arms didn’t thrum with anticipation but agitation. He didn’t want to be here any more than she did, she’d wager.
The conversation was stilted, her father going progressively whiter as the night continued, her mother deflecting questions the Emperor leveled at Bail with a monarch's poise. Most of the questions were banalities typical of a function like this one, easily asked and easily answered. Leia chimed in where she could if only to take some of Vader's attention from her father. The poor man looked like he was about to be sick.
Leia tried not to squirm under the ruler of the galaxy's undivided attention whenever she spoke, but it was impossible. She was privy to most of the intelligence the Alliance had on the black-clad man. This man had committed atrocities under his predecessor and they were expected to roll out the red carpet and welcome him with open arms? Leia bit back her anger as she kept up her attempts at conversation, wheedling out promises and gossip from the older dignitaries when she found a lull in the conversation. The palace chef had outdone himself, but most of the royal visitors seemed to have lost their appetite for anything but Alderaan's fine wines.
As the night went on, Vader's irritation became almost tangible. The air became heavy enough to be used as a bludgeon, and Leia feared the violence he was capable of. Since Palpatine's death, the Empire had stopped many of its most heinous crimes per their propaganda, but her contacts in the Alliance were of the opinion that Vader was just better at covering his tracks than he had let on during his service to Palpatine.
Leia shrugged mentally. Vader spending time hiding his crimes helped her cause, letting the rebellious members of the Senate pass laws Palpatine would have shot down instantly.
The conversation shifted, and Leia made her first mistake of the night. The Imperial Senate was to vote on a sentient rights bill, and an anonymous amendment had added clones to the list of people that would gain many personal freedoms. Ever since she was a child, something within her resonated with the plight of the clones. She had been lucky enough to meet many of the brave men, and watch some of the holofilms the ISB had done their best to bury. She had loved the heroic men in white and blue facing off against wave after wave of a mechanical menace that threatened to shatter the Republic, a handsome Jedi leading from the front. They had been born to fight and thrown themselves into it with their entire being. Her father had been sure to make her understand the Empire's view of the Jedi was wrong but was always ready with stories of the many clones he had met during the war. When she had joined the Rebellion she had met many of the aging men, the quiet, stoic professionals who held the Rebellion up through sheer force of will. An old captain, Rex, had spent any downtime telling her stories of the clones in blue, the 501st. She was shocked to discover the propaganda was all true, but Rex told her of the two people the holos left out. The warmth and pain of talking about General Anakin Skywalker and Commander Ahsoka Tano broke her heart. Still, she listened raptly as Rex talked about two of the craziest people he had ever served alongside.
So when one of the other dinner guests questioned the need for a clone and sentient rights bill after their dinner had been cleared, she couldn't hold her tongue. What followed was the most respectful tongue lashing the dining room had ever held, her words shredding through the unfortunate soul until they couldn't even meet her eyes. The man had bowed out shortly after Leia finished, citing pressing business.
After her outburst, Leia tried to shrink in on herself without making it obvious, but Emperor Vader scrutinized her for the rest of the meal, ignoring any attempts to draw him into a discussion. Any time she turned, he watched her quietly as tittering socialites struggled to keep out of his way.
As the night went on and more and more guests retired for the evening, Vader approached Leia and her parents on the plaza overlooking Alderaan's capital. With a dismissive gesture and firm words, the two stormtroopers that guarded Vader saluted and left them in private. Vader's mechanical breathing cut through the still air, content to let it disrupt the natural peace of the royal palace. Breha ended up taking her hand, tremors shivering up Leia’s arm. Leia squeezed once as the family waited for the Emperor to speak.
"I must commend you, princess. Tearing into Senator Oonalah as you did was the highlight of my evening."
She dropped into a practiced half curtsey as the praise washed over her. "I didn't do it for you, your excellency, but I'm pleased you enjoyed it." She ignored her mother's grip tightening on her as she spoke. At her words, her father lost any remaining color in his face, quickly moving to appease the Emperor.
"Please forgive Leia, your excellency. She has had a long day." His voice shook.
Vader didn’t react, his mask sweeping over the trio before tipping his head. "And she is older for it, is she not? Sixteen, coming of age on most planets." Vader sounded no different, but his words carried an air of…melancholy?
Bail piped up at that. "But not Alderaan. I can keep her at my side for a few years longer." He joked, his voice shaking as Vader turned his mask to watch him.
"I remember before the Empire you two had difficulties conceiving. I never did congratulate you two, and for that, you have my apologies." Vader rasped for a few moments before continuing, "it always hurt Senator Amidala to know she and her husband had no such issue and one of her greatest friends couldn't. She spoke of it with great regret."
"I wasn't aware you knew the late Senator Amidala, your excellency."
Leia shivered. The temperature had dropped noticeably despite the night being calm. The faint lights of the capital seemed to bend around the Emperor as he formulated a response.
"I will give you this one chance to come clean, Senator. Out of respect for her." A finger was raised in warning. "I could just as easily order a test and dispose of you. Only your connection to Senator Amidala is preventing me from doing so. You will tell me," he paused as his breath cycled ominously, "why Leia Organa has Padme Amidala's eyes and Anakin Skywalker's face. Why when she spoke and tore into that pathetic excuse for a senator, all I could see was Padme standing before the Senate."
Leia couldn't explain it. Hearing Vader’s belief that her parents weren't her parents should have been denied instantly. She loved them and they would do anything for her. But something stopped her, that deep feeling in her gut told her he was right. "Mother? Father? Is it true?" She asked quietly. They had told her she was adopted - stolen, something dark and cold whispered, but she shoved that aside - before. It hurt to learn they didn't trust her with the knowledge of her birth parents. She wouldn't have loved them any less.
"Is it true?" she repeated when neither spoke, her voice barely a whisper when she turned to her parents. "Am I their daughter?"
A mechanical growl didn't stop Breha from taking her hand again, the warmth grounding her. "It doesn't change how we feel about you, darling. Your father and I love you no matter what, Leia. Bail brought you home two days after the Empire was formed."
Leia shivered again. Vader's fists were clenched hard enough to strain his leather gloves. "You stole her from me," he accused, "does she even know of her father?"
Bail hadn't spoken since the truth had come out, his breathing shallow and hurried. Breha shook her head and spoke for both of them. "We told her stories of Padme, but Bail didn't want her to learn. I never knew it was General Skywalker."
“You knew,” he spat, “they were never subtle.”
Bail smiled, soft and true. “No, they weren’t. But the two of you were happy, weren’t you, Anakin?”
That gave Vader pause. Leia’s eyes widened. The stories Rex had told of the Hero With No Fear were about the monster in front of her? “That name means nothing to me now,” He finally droned.
Breha took the revelation of Vader’s identity much better than Leia did. “Then whose daughter stands before you? Padme didn’t have a child with the Sith Darth Vader, she never looked so fond when news of the front came about his imperial majesty, she never held her bump and whispered quiet words to the child of a Sith. I have no expectation of outliving the night, but you will do right by our daughter,” she said sternly.
“My daughter.”
“Who read me bedtime stories?” Leia had finally found her voice, and it blazed with the fury of two suns. “Who kissed my scrapes as a child, who took care of me? Because it wasn’t you.”
“If I had known of your existence -”
“But you didn’t, and you burned the galaxy for Palpatine.” She spat.
“I burned the galaxy for your mother.” He corrected.
“Something tells me she wouldn’t have wanted that,” she muttered, her voice heavy.
“It had to be done." For the first time, Vader sounded unsure, his words hesitant. "I can… atone for it now if that is what you wish. Ask, and I will do everything in my power to make it so.”
“Abolish the Empire?” She smirked.
“I would give you the galaxy instead,” he countered. “Become the Empress, do as you will with it. All I ask is for a chance to know my daughter. I would hand you your destiny.”
That gave her pause. Here was her sire -For Bail would always be father-, the most powerful man in the galaxy, willing to give it all up to know her. All she had to do was stick her hand in the nexu’s mouth, and play nice with a man who had the blood of millions on his hands. With Vader at her side, no one would question her when she tore down the Empire.
“My parents go free.” This was not negotiable. She pinned the former Emperor with a glare. His gloves creaked under his wrath, but eventually, he nodded. “As you command, my Empress.”