Saga Note 5/30--The Ties That Bind--OT AU-Padme joins Vader, mayhem does ensue

Noelie--Yes, a relief to see she's not more wacko than woman these days... well, not quite. There is less room for pity here.

Golden_Jedi--Glad you find it reeeeeeeeeeeeeally interesting because it's only going to get more so! Han and Chewie...you'll see.

 

"Leia never arrived on Ord Mantell."

"So the records would indicate," Obi-Wan responded flatly.

This was not the response one would expect when announcing that the daughter of a Dark Lord had gone missing, especially given that the respondent was a Jedi Master.

"You're not concerned?" Bail asked incredulously.

"Oh, I'm concerned," Obi-Wan countered, "but your focus is rather different."

"I'm not sure I understand," Bail confessed through gritted teeth. "My daughter has gone missing..."

"The records indicate that she never arrived," Obi-Wan reminded, "but that tells us nothing."

"Why are you not concerned?" Bail pressed.

"Because she is in no immediate danger," Obi-Wan stated.

For a long moment, there was a confused silence, but Bail's expression remained pinched into a scowl.

"You've seen something," he accused at last.

"I am not the only one," Obi-Wan retorted, "which is why I risked contact."

"Luke," Bail guessed.

The other man nodded, leaving a lump of molten fear in Bail's stomach. A thousand thoughts flashed through his mind at what Luke might have felt--Leia's death throes, her interrogation, her maiming...

"Is she alive?" he managed to choke out at last.

He hated the hesitation in the man's silence before he responded. "I believe so."

"You believe so?" Bail snapped. "Is your Force so useless that it can give you nothing more than a vague idea?"

The Force was at least traitorous enough to those who served it that it had allowed the Galaxy to be left with nothing more than a few diminished telepaths.

Obi-Wan might have vehemently opposed such an accusation in the past, but he only stared at Bail as if asking what more the man expected of him. Bail, however, was unwilling to say anything more until Obi-Wan was ready to explain himself.

?Luke,? he said at last, ?felt her disappear from the Force.?

?And you did not,? Bail challenged.

Another hesitation. The man seemed determined to drive him mad.

?I have never felt someone disappear from the Force,? Obi-Wan explained. ?I have felt deaths as a dimming.?

It explained why Obi-Wan had always seemed to be less dismayed by death than others. Bail had simply attributed that fact to the frequency with which death stared him in the face.

Nevertheless, the other man still had not said why he was hesitating to give Leia?s father notification of her death.

?Did she dim?? Bail pressed.

?Not that way,? Obi-Wan assured him. ?Luke may have felt what I could not because he will always be the closer one.?

?Or he will not understand what he felt,? Bail suggested, ?because he does not have the same understanding of the Force.?

?That is my hope,? Obi-Wan admitted.

He said nothing more, but there was only one question that needed answering.

?Why is she in no immediate danger?? he asked quietly.

The answer was immediate in coming: ?If she has died,? Obi-Wan asserted, ?they can no longer harm her. If she is not, what we have felt means that they have no use for her as of yet.?
*****
There had been no way of knowing what he had felt. The only experience that Luke had with this kind of personal death had been the sick feeling associated with his aunt and uncle?s deaths and even those had been unconfirmed. When he lost pilots to the war, he would feel something like a sting in his side, as if there was a wound there that was opened a little more by each death.

He had hated himself at first for how little it affected him, but Ben had kept him in the mindset of realizing that death was a natural part of life and something that he had to respect rather than fear.

What he had felt six days ago was anything but natural.

It had exploded through his senses in a way that he had never experienced before and seared his nerves as if he were on fire. The pain had been bad enough, but there had been no way to explain the crushing pressure on his mind.

And then it had ended, not quickly enough, but abruptly as if some connection had been severed with immediate efficiency.

He

 

Poor Luke. I couldn't imagine feeling that. Looks like Han is taking it badly as well.

 

So, the Vaders brainwashed Han or lied to him about Leia... But Obi-Wan is not convinced... It was about time he did something useful!

 

RebelMom--Yeah, Han blames himself and Luke thinks he left her thinking that he hated her. Not good things.

Golden_Jedi--Yup, mostly lied to Han and Luke doesn't really understand what he feels in the force. And yeah, Obi-wan being useful would be a good thing.

 

Note: This will not be updated again until July.

 

Why do I have a sinking feeling that is after the period of no killing?

Poor Leia. I think the consequences for Padme would be catastrophic if Leia died. She's so loosely bound to Vader, even now...

And owww, for Han and Luke. Ow.

 

It has little to do with the nokilling rule and a lot to do with me stressing out a lot lately.

 

I'm sorry to hear that.

 

I've read the whole of what's here. This is dark, twisted, and just enough like the original to be really creepy. Seriously, I'm kind of dreading going to bed tonight. I have this odd thought that I'll have nightmares about torture and parents and probably bees or water, knowing my subconscious mind like I do.

I would like to have a pm when this is updated.

I now have this odd desire to keep writing my fic where I torture Leia...but mostly because I don't torture her nearly as much, so I now have a distorted vision of my fic that tells me it's a happy, light, humorous piece. Bah.