Vader strode calmly into the cell, ignoring the fearful azure eyes of his son staring up at his intimidating figure, the boy's body curled up beside his mother, Padmé's brown eyes more cold and sad as she stared at the cyborg who was once her husband.

     "You're awake," Vader stated plainly, his booming vocoder carrying his voice around the small, confined steel walls with a faint echo.

     "What do you want?" Padmé asked simply, her arm snaking tighter around Luke and her other hand absentmindedly groping for her belt only to remember that her weapon had been stripped from her.

      "Simply to discuss matters that concern your identities," Vader said, his voice still unbearably monotone.

     "You know damn well who we are, Vader." Padmé hissed, her hands trembling. Luke watched the both of them argue, his youthful eyes blinking and his left hand rubbing his mother's shoulder in comfort. He was still in a state of shock with his current situation, but the fact that his parents, his living and breathing parents, were right before him, still blew his mind. And his sister was...well hopefully she was far away from wherever he and Padmé were.

     A strange staticky sound left Vader's mask, a sigh most likely, and he began to pace throughout the tiny space. "I just..." He paused, turning his ocular lenses on the duo before returning to his brisk stride. "I just need to know how. It's been twenty-two years and I never thought Kenobi could sink this low, even after I discovered Luke's existence-"

     "This has nothing to do with Obi-Wan," Padmé deadpanned. "I made my own decision to go into exile to protect our child and myself. Who knows what you would've done if I had come back to you? You had killed so many already Anakin, and I-"

     "Do not-" Vader's cybernetic fists clenched at his sides at the name, his restraint obvious.

     "I don't blame you." A small voice perked up, catching the couple's attention. They both turned to see Luke blushing lightly at having interrupted, the blonde hair falling forward as the young man bowed his head in apology. Vader and Padmé had almost forgotten he was there; they had been so caught up in their grievances of the past. Luke continued however, the silence his only ample opportunity to speak despite how weak he still felt, "I mean, I see that Palpatine manipulated you somehow into thinking this dark way...but you used to be a good person. Your decisions were just...bad." Luke winced at the poor vocabulary word, but he knew that was as complex as it got. Vader, or Anakin really, simply made bad decisions that unfortunately affected the galaxy along with it.

     The silence got stronger, Padmé squeezing Luke's left hand and looking hard at her feet, making sure her thoughts were heavily shielded. Strangely enough, Vader wasn't even attempting to search her mind, reminding her briefly of the promise Anakin had made so many years ago to never read her mind.

    '...you are anything but weak-minded.'

     "How is your hand, young one?" Vader said after a few more tense moments. Luke blinked in surprise and then raised his right hand, testing out the limb by stretching his fingers one by one. Each muscle moved at his command, the feeling alien to him, yet something he would have to get used to.

     "It'll be fine." Luke mumbled, trying to forget the fact that Vader had been the one to cut it off in the first place.

     Another staticky sigh before Vader crossed his arms before him, his echoing breathing and his red-tinted eye-lenses foreboding in the dimly-lit cell. "Palpatine wishes to train the both of you. Once I get more information from the both of you, you will begin in the simple stages of Sith arts only to advance further on."

     "We won't go to the dark side, father." Luke snapped, the word still foreign on his tongue.

     "Nor will you be getting information. If you want that, you'll have to do it in standard Imperial fashion." Padmé said coldly, watching Vader take a momentary step back.

     He couldn't torture his wife or his son, he just couldn't. Sith or not, it was a wall that the Anakin Skywalker trapped inside of him would not let him pass, a barrier formed through the heavy emotional turmoil that was his past life. "You know I cannot do that, Padmé. I would rather die."

     Padmé looked briefly conflicted, still stroking the back of Luke's hand and contemplating whether or not her husband was before her or his murderer. "We used to confide in each other for everything," she whispered tightly, not failing to notice Luke's intense blue eyes look over her in worry. "We shared a secret for years, we made it work, we had a child..."

    'Children.' Padmé wanted to say, holding her tongue and fighting sudden tears. It was only then that Luke gasped for the umpteenth time in the span of a few minutes, his hands, prosthetic and flesh, shooting to his temples as his eyes took on a far-away stare. Surprisingly, Vader acted faster than Padmé could even register the situation, kneeling down and grasping Luke by the shoulders.

     Despite the abuse the cyborg had inflicted upon the duo mere moments before, Padmé still let Vader look over her son...their son...her concern much too high to be worried about petty anger and past regrets. "What's happening to him?" She asked hesitantly, wanting desperately to push Vader away despite her knowledge that he knew what he was doing. "I thought his hand was healed, that the shock had passed."

     "It is not his hand. It is...something else." Vader paused, looking up at Padmé as if for her...no, was he asking for her permission? "I need to see inside his head."

     Padmé shot to her feet, her lips poised to protest before Vader held up one gloved hand.

     "I will look no further than the source of the distress. You have my word."

     Padmé stared at him, watching Luke still sit staring blankly into the air, his skin growing paler and his arms starting to quiver. She squeezed her eyes closed, whispering prayers into the Force before stiffly nodding.

     Vader's murmured thanks was almost nonexistent as he leaned Luke down onto his back and began gently stroking his hair, his robotic fingers massaging deep into the boy's skull before he began murmuring lightly. "There is...a foreign presence in his mind. It is bright, brighter then most...but it is confused. It doesn't know that it's causing Luke pain, it's just trying to understand where it is and why...why it feels this way. A force user, a new one, but one with a strong connection to Luke."   

     "Can you make it go away?" Padmé asked, trying not to pace.

     Vader let a cycle of his vocoder pass before removing his hands and releasing a staticky sigh. "Only from the other end. This Force bond is incredibly strong, a newly opened one by the feeling of it. Parental, blood relation, friendship, and even romantic bonds are in no way in comparison to this level of strength. In fact, I would say it would be more likely in a set of-"

     "Twins." Padmé breathed. She should've seen it in Luke's reaction! The moment she told him, he had gone unnaturally stiff, most likely opening the connection with his long lost sister as she felt the sudden Force power of her brother and him of her. That kind of power was powerful in just one body, but in two...Palpatine would have a field day if he had that kind of power in his possession. She couldn't let Vader take her children to the emperor, she couldn't watch it happen.

     "Padmé!" Vader shouted, startling the woman back into a defensive position. Vader simply put his had to his lightsaber, prepped for an attack before his wife relaxed. "I've been calling your name."

     "I'm sorry." Padmé gritted, looking over at Luke whose eyes had now fallen closed and drifted him into a stressed unconsciousness. However, the sweaty sheen over his skin was not a good sign. Leia didn't know her power and she could unintentionally mentally break her brother if she ventured any further. She couldn't expose her daughter to the monster, but if he had truly changed back into the man she loved, then their was a chance to succeed. To destroy the emperor and receive Anakin back to raise their children properly despite all the years they missed. "I...I think I know what's wrong with him."

     "You said twins." Vader said cautiously, his voice almost tense. Padmé took a moment and peeled her shields back only slowly. Not that they were strong enough to keep Vader out forever, but now that she was letting him in, it felt more comforting. Safer. Almost reminiscent of a different man long ago-

     "The princess!?" Vader jerked back with a hand to his heart. If he hadn't been wearing his mask, an expression of horror would no doubt have been all over his features. "But she is Bail and Breha Organa's daughter, she can't possibly-"

     "She's their adopted daughter." Padmé said with a sad sigh before sealing back her mental shields. She felt an undeterminable emotion from Vader then, something almost like hurt at her sudden rejection. She shook it off and glared at him, crossing her arms and trying not to worry too much about Luke. "But now because you just had to go and set a trap, Leia is off who knows where with no idea of the damage she's doing. She's young and confused. The only positive to this is that she's safe from the Emperor's hands."

     Vader was silent for too long to be subtle. He stared regretfully at the fury rising in the brown eyes before he stepped towards the cell door.

     "She's here isn't she? Along with Solo, Calrissian, and Chewie?" Padmé accused.

    "I will arrange a prison transfer into this cell. Until then...remain caring for the boy until we can fix this. We still need to talk." Vader said calmly, deliberately ignoring the question.

     "I already told you Vader," Padmé snarled, already by Luke's side and refusing to look the Sith in the eyes to give him the satisfaction of her breaking. "I'm not telling you a kriffing thing. My husband is Anakin Skywalker, and you damn well aren't him."

     The cell door slid open and the stormtrooper guards saluted to their superior officer, remaining still as Vader paused at the words. The deep, baritone voice came out callously, dripping menace and devoid of the broken man Padmé had witnessed milliseconds before. "That may be so, but there are other ways to make you talk, Jedi. You, Luke, and Leia will bow to me whether you want to or not. I suggest you rethink your ideals before I return with the princess."

     With that, he stomped out, the door sliding down with a loud clatter and bang. Padmé jerked back in aggravation as a tear slid down her cheek, her focus on her unconscious son blurred as sobs bubbled up in her. She nestled her head into the crook of Luke's shoulder and whispered motherly reassurances to fall on his deaf ear. He had been dragged through so much and deserved none of it, his fate and naive optimism combining into a life full of pain and heartbreak. If only she had been there for him earlier, him and Leia both. She shouldn't have let Obi-Wan take them away, she shouldn't have, she shouldn't have...

     'Padmé...'

     The ex-Senator glanced up at the familiar voice, squinting at the sudden blue light materializing before her.

    'Padmé, I don't have much time. But you must not lose hope. There is something in Vader, something I hadn't seen before. It is you who has triggered this in him. You must protect the twins and make sure Palpatine falls. It is our last option.'

     "But we're not ready. Luke is but a Padawan, and I'm not even Force-sensitive. This was all a mistake Obi-Wan. A horrible mistake just like I warned Luke about. He and his sister are reckless just like their father.  I don't know how much longer we can go on like this."

     Obi-Wan sighed, stroking his beard and starting to lightly flicker. 'You may be right. If you are to escape, both Vader and Palpatine will need a distraction. Their sole focus is you and the twins, so they'll need to shift their focus onto another powerful figure that will temporarily draw their interest. It should give you just enough time to escape and train Leia along with furthering Luke's process.'

     "Wait. Who of power would draw their interest? Vader cares about us only because we're blood related to him, but Palpatine could care less if he picked us up off a street corner as long as we had the power he wanted. The only other surviving Jedi near the twins' level of power would be Master Yoda, but they wouldn't try to turn him, just kill him like they did you." Padmé paused, rethinking her statement. "Oh...no, Obi-Wan I couldn't."

    'It was a scenario Yoda and I had already discussed before this entire dilemma. He is dying anyways, so he might as well become one with the Force with a purpose.' Obi-Wan wasn't very good at convincing even himself with the words, but both him and Padmé knew it was their only option.

     "So Vader leaves to find Master Yoda, we escape to the Rebellion, and then plan an attack on the Emperor once we're more properly trained." Padmé gathered, biting her lip at the thought of it actually working.

    'More or less. And hopefully...' The ghost began to fade almost completely, making Obi-Wan look even older than he had been when he died. Centuries older...weariness in his eyes... 'Hopefully you can bring Anakin back as well.'

     Padmé smiled sadly, watching Obi-Wan disappear completely before her eyes. "I hope so too, old friend. For all our sakes..."

     Luke let loose a sudden groan and Padmé snapped her attention back to him, preparing herself to 'accidentally' reveal Yoda to Vader when he returned, and finally get to talk to her daughter. Her beautiful daughter...her beautiful son...

     She didn't fight the tears this time.

***

    "Han. Han, wake up!" Leia hissed, shaking the man as gently as she could, but with firmness in her grip. She knew Han was still suffering from his carbon sickness, but this was too important to pass up. Vader had told her she had Force ability-unless he was mocking her again-yet she had definitely felt something that felt uncharacteristically like Luke. She didn't know why, she just...knew.

     "Han, please, this is important." Leia called, trying for a bit louder but too paranoid that someone was watching her somehow. Feeling another gasp in her throat, another mind in her mind, looking through different set of eyes or feeling with someone else's hands...it was all so surreal. Did Luke feel that all the time or was this something else?

     "Han Solo, I swear if you don't get up."

     "L-Leia?" Han mumble groggily, his hazel eyes blinking thickly and only the faintest of the cloudiness still evident in his irises, indicating his increasing vision capabilities. "What the hell are you screaming about now?"

     Leia frowned at him, looking back at Lando and Chewie's unconscious forms before rubbing the sore spot on her own forehead. "We've been treated for our smaller injuries and locked in a cell together. Now that you're up to speed, will you please listen to me, I think I know what's happening with Luke."

     Han perked up at that, sitting up as quickly as he could without getting vertigo and grabbing her smaller hands in hope. "What is it? Is he alright, is he hurt?"

     Leia suddenly hesitated. "I...I don't know. There was an ache in my right wrist and something throbbing at my temples, but that's it."

     Han blinked in confusion. "You're telling me you feel Luke's pain in your body? You got hurt, sweetheart, that doesn't mean you and Luke are in the same body."

     The words seemed dulling, Leia's breathing suddenly getting heavier as she focused tightly on the bright light in her mind that was calling to her. She reached out a mental fist and yanked it towards her, studying it and somehow seeing the kind blue eyes, the messy blonde hair, and the sweet farmboy smile. Han's concerned inquires faded out of her ears as she found herself plunged into a completely different place, seeing out of eyes that weren't hers.

     She jerked back with a scream as she saw the looming figure of Darth Vader quickly approach her, but he surprisingly grabbed her shoulders and simply rubbed at her temples, looking over her in concern. There was another woman in the background, looking concerned and asking questions that garbled in Leia's ears. Leia recognized the woman who had been with Luke, so that meant...she was seeing things from Luke's point of view. And from what she grasped, something was drastically wrong with him.

     She wanted to pull back, but she was so transfixed at the power that was leaking through her, Luke's warm presence merging with her as if they were one body. Two consciousnesses pushing and pulling on each other, yet fitting perfectly together like puzzle pieces. 'Leia! Snap out of it!'

     Han's voice came as an echo in the back of her mind, Lando's groggy and then equally worried voice joining a few moments later. She wasn't sure how long she stayed, enjoying the comforting strokes of the woman's hands against her hair right before she was addressed by a much darker presence seeping in to her mind. She winced, drawing back and trying frantically to feel the warmth again. Her vision tunneled and she desperately called out for help, lost in her mind that she was positive had never been this complicated before. For a politician whose sole goal was manipulation of the mind, she sure had a way of getting her own taken over.

     'Don't you kriffing touch her!'

     'Restrain Captain Solo.'

     'Leave her alone Vader, she's not the one you want.'

     'On the contrary, Calrissian.'

     'Leia! Leia!'

     Vader tried not to roll his eyes as the troopers loaded the princess onto the hover stretcher, checking her vitals with a small scanner and informing Vader of the results every few moments. He gestured for the soldiers to take her to Padmé and Luke's cell before hearing the hesitant question of another trooper, "The others sir?"

     "Bring them along. I tire of listening to their sad protection of one another. All I require is information, and Princess Organa is vital in reviving the incapacitated Skywalker." Vader said simply, trying not to let his gut clench at the thought of Leia as his daughter. She did look eerily like Padmé, but she definitely had his short temper. To see her in such a vulnerable state...he wasn't sure how many shocks he could take in one day. His entire family ripped from him for over two whole decades...the twins needed control of their power and together they could take down Palpatine and his manipulative, lying ways. His plan was coming to fruition, he just needed their trust, a feat he knew he didn't deserve but needed so badly.

     He took as deep a breath as his mask would allow and strode after the hover stretcher, ignoring Solo's cries against the troopers restraining him and carrying him roughly.

     "Anymore and we'll knock you out you rebel scum." One trooper hissed in Han's ears, tightening his hands behind his back and making the Corellian wince in pain.

     "I just want to know what's wrong with Luke." His hazel eyes turned dangerously towards the moving Sith Lord in front of him. "What did you do to him, huh? Him and Leia! You're sick and twisted, you know that? They're just kids!"

     "Han." Lando pleaded, even Chewie rumbling lightly to try and calm his cub. Han just shot daggers at his old friend, deflating the other man quickly.

     "Don't condescend me, Calrissian. We're in this mess because of your screw up," Han snapped, elbowing back at the trooper as he was pushed forward with more restraint.

     What sounded like a faint chuckle came from Vader in the lead of the group, them pausing before one of the cells and the troopers guarding it saluting before moving towards the controls. The red ocular lenses turned towards Han, a cold humor in the depths of them. "I can see why the princess likes you, Solo, but you forget yourself. I thought of all people a smuggler would know what they were getting themselves into."

     "I'm doing this because I care about them. I have a soul, unlike you it seems."

     Vader shook his head, moving out of the way as the cell door slid open and a woman kneeling over Luke Skywalker's unconscious form was revealed, startling Han, Lando, and Chewie into a sickening silence.

     "Oh, Solo. What need does one have of a soul if they are already dead?"

     It was only then that Luke and Leia decided to both wake up, hoarse screams on their throats and the hallway scattering into chaos.

A/N

I am saying this for the millionth time, but I am so sorry you guys have been waiting so long for this. I had a really bad case of writers block with the first scene of this and I've been so busy with my life that it's ridiculous. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that it wasn't too short.

Only a few more days until Rogue One which I am really excited about! Hope you all have your tickets. ;)

Again, thank you all so much for being patient with this story and I can't wait for you guys to find out what's gonna happen. Sorry for another cliffhanger as well, but you know how I am by now. XD

*space hugs*

May the Force be with You,

- lucky_ducky_123