For what seemed like hours, but was only a few seconds, there was silence. Nobody knew what to say, everyone in that room knew exactly who the little girl, except Vader, but nobody wanted to be the one to tell Vader who she was. So taking the silence as an opportunity, Leia did what many young children do in the presence of a stranger.
"Hi! I'm Leia," she said, walking over to Vader, introducing herself. "and I'm three years old. What's your name?"
"Umm...my name?" Vader stuttered, confused. "My name...I am..."
"You don't know your own name?" Leia interrupted. Queen Apailana, Obi-Wan, and the three handmaidens looked on, speechless. "It has to be awfully terrible to forget your own name."
"I haven't forgotten my name!" Vader shouted, slamming his fists on the table jumping up, scaring Leia as she jumped and then ran back towards the handmaidens. "Obi-Wan, Queen, what is this bewitchery? Why does this child seem so familiar?"
With Vader standing there, his face contorted with rage and Leia's holding a look of utter terror, Obi-Wan simply couldn't contain himself. He began to chuckle, amused at the situation he had gotten them all into. As his laughter continued, the confused looks of both the queen and the handmaidens slowly turned into laughter as well. Then Leia, though she did not understand the amusement, joined in the laughter with her own giggling. As the unknown humor of the scene thrived, Vader's anger and confusion grew.
"THIS IS NOT FUNNY!!" Vader said, enraged as he Force flung his glass across the room, barely missing the queen's handmaidens.
The violence of Emperor Vader's anger brought the room back to seriousness and the laughter subsided. Obi-Wan decided that since he had brought Leia, he would be the one to tell Vader. So he cleared his throat, ready to tell the truth.
"I apologize for my laughter. Now first off, this no bewitchery. And secondly, this child seems familiar to you because," he paused, now unsure of himself. "Well because..."
"Because why??!!" Vader demanded impatiently, now pacing about.
"Try not to interrupt and I shall tell you." Obi-Wan said, remembering how Anakin had been impatient like this. "To be frank...Leia is your daughter."
There was dead silence. Vader froze and the look on his face was one of pure shock. No one knew what would happen next or who would speak first.
"Daughter?" asked a small and innocent voice. "You're my daddy?"
"Umm..." Vader replied, looking to Obi-Wan, his face going from confusion to anger. "My children have been alive these last three years and you have hidden this from me?! Where is my son?"
"It appears to be that way, though it wasn't fully my decision." Obi-Wan replied, his eyes shifting towards Vader. "Your son is in a safe place, do not worry.""I'm not worried about him! I just want to know where he is!! I deserve to know where he is!"
"My apologies Emperor, but I'm not permitted to give you that information." Obi-Wan said solemnly.
"You're their self-appointed guardian!" Vader shouted, moving towards Obi-Wan, fully enraged.
"I am not." Obi-Wan said calmly. "Their guardian is their mother, who, before you ask, is very much alive."
With that statement, Vader froze again. He didn't know what to think. Padmé...alive? thought Vader, Impossible! She was found dead in her apartment on Coruscant over two and a half years ago...Or was she?
---------------------
He couldn't believe it. These past three years he had believed, no, he had known that his beloved angel was dead. But now everything he had known to be true was a lie. His children were not missing, they had not been kidnapped, and his wife was not dead. Vader didn't know what to say, he didn't even know what to think. But after a moment of silence, he finally found some words.
"How is this possible!" Vader demanded, glaring at Obi-Wan. "She was found dead! YOU LIED TO ME!! Or you're lying to me now!!"
"I swear on the Force itself that I am not lying." Obi-Wan said calmly. "What you see and hear now is the truth. Padmè is very much alive as are both your children."
Vader didn't know what to think, he looked from Obi-Wan to the little girl who called him Daddy, beaming up at him. She looked so much like her mother, with the chocolate brown hair and the deep brown eyes that could drown you with just one look. It was too much; three years without his angel had taken a toll on Anakin, it had left him as the broken shell known to the galaxy as Emperor Vader.
"Get out." Vader hissed, and when no one moved, he shouted. "I SAID GET OUT!! ALL OF YOU!!!"
Sensing his deep anger, in addition to his shouting, Obi-Wan was the first to move. He walked over to the handmaidens, grabbed Leia by the hand and lead her out of the room. The queen and her handmaidens then followed suit, leaving Vader to himself and an empty room.
After everyone had left, Vader began to pace up and down the room. He needed to process the information that Obi-Wan had just thrown at him, but he just didn't know how. Anger was boiling up inside of him and his instincts as a Sith told him to embrace that anger, but his instincts from when he was a Jedi told him not to let it take control. The confusion was tearing Vader apart, the incessant pulling from both the light and dark was enough to drive one to the brink of insanity. Anakin screamed in pain, the frustration getting the best of him. He fell to his knees clutching his head, the civil war inside him was almost too much. He needed Padmè for she was the only person in the galaxy that would be able to help him quiet the screaming confusion of voices in his head. He needed his angel, but he couldn't move, he could barely even think.
Vader moved to the door and flung it open shouting after those who had left the room moments before.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi!"
"Yes, Emperor?" Obi-Wan replied turning back towards the dining hall.
"Bring her to me immediately. Bring Padmè to me now or I will hunt her down without rest and destroy anyone who dares to stop me."
Obi-Wan hesitated, but then replied, "Of course, if that is what you wish. I will have her here tomorrow at this same hour."
Obi-Wan turned and led Leia out of the palace, back towards the outskirts of Theed. And it would be there that he would have the unpleasant task of convincing Padmè to visit her estranged and power-hungry husband.
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A/N: There you go!! Chapter 6!!
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~ Sara :)

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When Darkness Falls (Part Two) ✔️
FanfictionIt's been three years since the return of Darth Vader--free of the suit--and the galaxy is under a rule of utter terror. With the Jedi practically wiped out, there's almost no one left to keep the peace, allowing Darth Vader-now emperor of the galax...