Ghost - A Star Wars Fanfic

Chapter 14

"Bring the princess, hurry!" Vader shouted to the troopers, shoving past Han, Lando, and Chewie, and barreling towards the hover-stretcher that held his daughter. Her petite form was writhing back in forth in agony, piercing screams leaving her lips the closer she got to her twin brother.

     Trying to push back his concerned feelings, Vader pulled her stretcher into the cell and then picked up her small form as if she weighed no more than a child. He noticed how equally small both his children were and grimaced, setting the young woman beside Luke and kneeling down next to the both of them.

     Padmé slowly moved out of his way, eyeing him out of the corner of her eye as she mainly focused on the stormtroopers shoving Han, Lando, and Chewie inside and forcing them to their knees on the opposite side of the cramped cell. The trio looked over at the twins in their own worry, struck speechless at the screams that simply would not die down.

     "Padmé. I need your help to separate their minds." Vader said slowly, looking up at her cautiously. The older woman stilled and bit her lip, nodding after a second of contemplation.

     "Just tell me what to do." She said gently, placing her hands by Luke's temples and following the Sith's lead.

     Vader took in as large a gulp of oxygen as possible through his respirator and focused on the princess's complex mind, his attention diverted to one bright spot of pure red. He blinked in confusion, the red representing a dark energy inside the girl before him. She had channeled too much dark side energy inside her over the past few days and now that she had linked with a light side force user with which she had a strong bond, it had let loose all its havoc on both her and Luke.

     Padmé noticed it as well as she drew back in horror, her hands shaking. 

     "I cannot do this," Vader said cautiously, "My focus is the dark side--destruction--not healing." He pulled his hand back in frustration.

     "Like I said. Show me what to do." Padmé said. Vader tried to breathe properly as she focused on him, looking through the mask and into his soul.

     "Padmé, I would have to go in your mind. Break the boundaries, get information that you've already stated quite firmly you do not want to give to me." Vader said, almost with a sarcastic tone.

     Padmé rolled her eyes, grasping Vader's wrists and pressing them to her head. "Just do it."

     Han and Lando shared a quizzical look, Chewie rumbling out his own confusion beside them. "Does that lady...know Vader?"

     "I wouldn't know. I've never seen her before. She looks a lot like the princess though." Lando responded with a shrug.

     Both the smuggler and the gambler cut off their conversation with shouts of pain, the stormtroopers that were guarding them smacking them hard on the soft parts of their heads with the butts of their blasters.

     "Quiet scum." They hissed despite their equal curiosity and confusion with the scene. They only hoped Lord Vader wouldn't kill them afterwards for witnessing a moment of weakness for him.

     Vader meanwhile was hesitantly reaching into his wife's mind, breathless at the light blinding him inside. It was a different light from his children's however, a light of a non-Force sensitive yet a light of a pure soul knowledgable of the Force. He felt Padmé's faint presence pushing him along, letting him through her memories and thoughts as he searched for the controls of her minuscule Force abilities.

     Every living being had midichlorians, but Padmé's number was low. Low for a Force user at least, but definitely high for a non-Force sensitive. He took control of each one, melting his presence with hers and using her light energy to filter through Luke's head, and inevitably through Leia's.