Chapter Text
Darth Vader stalked slowly down the little street, his helmeted head turning slowly from side to side as he searched.
Obi-Wan flinched back from Vader’s roiling Force-presence, the raw edges of his own presence curling up inside him, shriveled from lack of use. Obi-Wan – Ben – hadn’t dared to reach out to the Force in years. To stay hidden, he had immersed himself as completely as possible in the persona he’d adopted, hiding from the universe and his nightmares and even his own self in that little desert cave.
And then - a little girl with her mother’s convictions and her father’s gifts fell off a roof, and Obi-Wan had reached for something so withered he thought it was nearly gone.
(He almost hadn’t caught her in time.)
But now. She was here, and he was here, and this should never have been.
It was the only thing he still lived for. Preventing this.
The Jedi were gone. Even the idea of the Jedi, of everything they represented, had been crushed.
(Or he thought they had, and then a lying, thieving rogue saved the lives of a Jedi and a little girl, and an officer in the Empire turned against her comrades and superiors and sacrificed the life she had to offer two fugitives safety.)
The Jedi were gone. Anakin had burned. Padmé had faded away and died on that table, in that thrice-bedamned lifeless room.
(But that room was also where Luke and Leia had entered the world.)
It was the only thing he still lived for. Luke and Leia must be protected. He loved them both, as fiercely as he’d loved their father – more, even, because they were what was left of Anakin.
Not that – that hissing creature in black metal, standing incongruous in this little village street.
Keep going, Obi-Wan thought, almost paralyzed with fear. Keep walking. Keep looking. Give Leia time to escape.
But that mask kept staring, impersonal and emotionless, and then the dark side swelled.
Obi-Wan barely had a split-second to grasp what was about to happen. He threw himself down as the buildings all along the side of the street ripped themselves free with a great creaking and groaning and flashes of sparks, and lifted into the air, leaving those within them exposed.
Shouts of terror filled the night.
Hopefully the tunnel was low enough, Obi-Wan thought wildly. It could still escape Vader’s notice. Obi-Wan was Vader’s target, not Leia.
But as Obi-Wan rose to present Vader with the target he sought, to distract him and lead him away, his ears caught something he couldn’t mistake. A little girl’s scream. Leia’s scream.
Obi-Wan’s blood ran cold, and he paid little notice to the Sith Lord (the Sith Lord-that-was-once-his-brother) as he vaulted into the into the street and broke into a dead sprint.
Six buildings down, a depression in the ground showed where the tunnel was caving in. But Obi-Wan knew Leia was not dead. He could still feel her presence.
“Leia!” Obi-Wan shouted, desperate. “Leia!”
“Obi-Wan!” a high-pitched voice shouted back, faint through the dirt and broken rock. “Obi-Wan, help!”
But before Obi-Wan could gather himself to do anything, the street also began to rise up.
Obi-Wan looked behind himself in horror as Vader approached, tossing the rubble aside.
Vader raised his gloved right hand. Obi-Wan’s chest and throat constricted as he was lifted into the air.
Vader raised his left hand, and a small figure floated out of the hole in the street, struggling.
Obi-Wan struggled to gather the Force to himself, fighting to break Vader’s hold.
“Let us go!” Leia shouted.
Vader ignored her, looking at Obi-Wan.
“So this is what finally brought you out of hiding,” Vader said, in that slow, deep, mechanical voice. “The Organas’ daughter. A princess.”
Obi-Wan didn’t respond, too busy fighting the bonds that held him. He managed to push out with the Force just a little bit, lessening the pressure on his lungs. He gasped for air.
Vader looked at Leia.
Leia quivered under that black gaze, but held her head high anyway, staring right into Vader's helmet.
“I promised you would suffer before you died, Kenobi,” Vader said. “So watch her die first, and suffer.”
“No!” Obi-Wan screamed.
Leia began to choke, her young, dark eyes wide with panic.
“No!” Obi-Wan screamed again. “No! No, Anakin, don’t!”
Vader halted, turning to look at Obi-Wan, fury mounting around him. “You dare – ”
It was the most important secret in the galaxy.
(But what did the secret matter if Leia lost her life – )
Leia gasped, her legs kicking uselessly.
Vader’s fists began to clench. Obi-Wan felt his breath grow thinner, the air he’d fought for fading under Vader’s overwhelming might. He summoned the last bit of breath and power he had, his vision swimming.
“She’s your daughter, Anakin!”
Everything stopped.
Obi-Wan fell out of the air, and he scrambled to catch Leia as she fell too. Just before he could, the Force halted her fall, and deposited her gently in Obi-Wan’s arms.
Leia looked up at Obi-Wan, shocked and afraid.
Obi-Wan closed his eyes, unable to meet her gaze. “I’m sorry, little one.”
“What did you say?” The voice was monotone, still, but halting. Obi-Wan could hear where the cracks in Vader's voice should have been.
“You heard me, Anakin.” Obi-Wan stood, Leia cradled in his arms.
“No. Pad – she died. My child died.”
“Padmé died,” Obi-Wan agreed, sorrowful. “But her daughter didn’t.”
(Obi-Wan carefully didn’t think about – )
“No,” Vader said, shaking his head. Horror seeped into the Force. “No. No. Not again. Not again!”
Vader’s words rose into a scream, and power erupted from him.
Obi-Wan clutched Leia and fell to his knees, shielding her as best he could.
The world shook around them, a cacophony of breaking stone and metal and whirling air screaming in Obi-Wan's ears.
But as the storm of power faded, Obi-Wan looked up. He and Leia sat in the only spot that had been left untouched.
The street around them was torn apart, the debris blasted back. What had been left of the buildings on either side of the street was flattened.
The Imperial troops hadn’t been spared.
Leia curled into Obi-Wan’s chest, and he held her tight as she trembled.
That awful blank mask stared down at them, and Obi-Wan looked back defiantly. Anything, he thought. He would do anything for this little girl.
(And for – )
He hoped Vader could see it on his face.
Vader raised a hand, the dark Force around him seething.
Obi-Wan tensed.
“Sleep,” Vader said, powerful Force-suggestion lacing the word. It washed over Obi-Wan, deadening his exhausted limbs. In his arms, Leia went limp.
“Sleep,” Vader said again, and this time Obi-Wan could not fight it. His body and mind both were too tired, too deep in anguish. He fell into sleep like it was an old friend, and saw no more.