The Ascension of the Queen (sequel to By the Grace of Lady Vader)

Okay, never say never.

a-p and I found out by accident that we've been thinking about this for quite awhile.

This story is the sequel to "By the Grace of Lady Vader." For those who weren't here for it, that story posited that Amidala had been held prisoner on Naboo. The prisoners in her camp were being moved to the Death Star to be used as human shields when the Death Star was destroyed. The ship transporting them was the closest to Vader's escaping TIE, and in that way, the couple was reunited. She brought a compassionate face to the Empire, and many people, weary of the war, left the Rebellion and became loyal Imperial subjects, leaving the Rebel forces badly depleted. As the months and years go on, Amidala becomes more and more single-minded, more prone to anger and despair, and more a part of the Dark Side.

Obsessed with reuniting with their children, Amidala and Vader chased Han and Leia from Hoth, and set a trap for Luke on Bespin. Leia, who had realized who the crimson-veiled "Lady Vader" was two years before but not told anyone, adamantly refused to join them. Luke was drawn in.

Meanwhile, Palpatine realized that the Vaders were plotting treason, but underestimated exactly how sincere Amidala was about getting even with him. The Imperial military becomes split between those loyal to Palpatine (led by Ozzel, whose life Amidala saved, much to his chagrin) and those loyal to the Vaders (led by Piett). A battle is waged around Bespin as the Vaders try to collect their children. The Vaders -- now leading the "New Empire," with Amidala as Empress -- prevail, and are able to call in many allies, including the exiled Gungans, who are diverted to Coruscant. They raid the Imperial palace and kill Palpatine, leaving Amidala as the sole ruler of the galaxy.

The battle rages on, and Han, Chewie, and Leia are trying to escape in the Falcon. Ozzel's troops fire on it and hit it; it crashes down to the surface. Luke, now with his parents, goes down with them. They find all the passengers badly wounded, but Luke lies to his father and mother (Leia overhears) and says that Han is dead. Han, in a half-daze, sees them carry Leia off and, since he knows she wouldn't go of her own free will and he hears Amidala weeping, he assumes she is dead. Lando finds him, and they go off to try and rebuild the Rebellion, decimated in their own efforts at Bespin.

Leia awakens to find her birth family around her. Believing that she has lost everything else, she reaches out to take her mother's hand...

And now...


EDIT: By the way, we aren't working from any AOTC spoilers, and until the movie is out, we won't be using anything from it.

 

THE ASCENSION OF THE QUEEN
The sequel to By the Grace of Lady Vader
by ami-padme, FernWithy/JediGaladriel, and Alderaan21


PROLOGUE

Pain was the world, the galaxy, the universe.

There was no focus to it, no particular injury from which it seemed to emanate. Crushed bones, bruised organs, burned skin, torn muscles... all worked together to play a perfectly balanced symphony of agony, agony that filled sleep and waking equally. Any motion, from the blink of an eye to the grasp of a hand, increased the volume until it became a visible thing, a creature of shimmering white that traced the edges of the world in bright haloes.

Leia was glad of it.

The pain made everything else secondary. When she concentrated on the rough, sharp edges of her bones, she could forget the death of the Rebellion. When she let herself feel the deep heat of the burns on her side, she couldn't see the fire on the Millennium Falcon as it dove to its death over Bespin. When the lacerated muscle of her left thigh sang its high and horrible song, she could no longer hear her brother's voice, saying, over and over again, Han and Chewie were killed in the crash.

But the worst of the pain was in the comfort... in the fact that she needed comfort, and that the hands that gave it -- the loved, hated, feared, desired, warm, gentle, cruel hands -- were always there now. The hands that had touched her as an infant, the hands that had laid the trap at Bespin.

Mother's hands.

"I can see that you're awake, Leia."

Leia didn't try to move her head. She had done so once out of instinct, and had passed out immediately. "Awake," she whispered.

Mother's face appeared in her field of vision, as she had known it would. The scarlet veils were thrown back now, but they still trailed around her like a cloud, and Leia watched them settle on the pillow beside her like a spreading stain. Mother was smiling brightly, as she always did here. "You're mending, Leia," she said, also as she always did. "You'll be just fine." A hand reached up and brushed hair from Leia's forehead. "The medic said we would have to cut your hair. But I told him to work around it. I knew it would make you unhappy to lose your hair." The hand lingered at her hairline. "My beautiful little girl."

Leia licked her lips. Something seemed to be required of her. "Not... at my best," she managed, fighting with her dry throat.

Mother frowned. She did not like being reminded that Leia was not simply taking an afternoon nap. "You'll be fine," she said again. "You'll see. And we've tracked down the last of Ozzel's army. Your father... Ani resolved that situation this afternoon."

In other words, he executed them without trial. Leia bit down on a response. Arguing with Mother was as pointless as arguing with Vader was fruitless. She lived in her own world.

But it was a world that wasn't completely cut off. Every now and then, a shadow would come over her face, and she would briefly become fully the woman Leia remembered -- with all the kindness and all the sadness. Leia loved her achingly in those moments, and that was what she hated most. That look was on her face now, thinking about whatever it was Vader had done to Ozzel's men for their role in the battle of Bespin. She was silent and distant. Then she blinked and the strange, glowing light returned to her face. "Everything Palpatine built has been destroyed. It's over, Leia."

Mother reached across to the night table and picked up a glass of cold water. She tipped it expertly down to Leia's mouth, and smiled sweetly as Leia drank.

Leia twitched her lips in something she thought might resemble a smile. "Thank you."

"You have no need to thank me, Leia. I'm so happy to have you with me. I only wish you hadn't gotten hurt. I wish you had just come to us and let us take care of you."

"And Han... "

Another frown, a momentary shadow. "Yes. Certainly, if you wis

 

*bounces in excitment and cries for joy* A SEQUEL!? YEAH!! This is my most favorite story of all time Thank you guys so much for starting one!

:

Sorry, I'm just very excited This is what got me inspired for Ami/Vader things
*runs off in joy*

 

Okay, never say never.

LOL. That's right.


I'm so glad we're starting up again, and that's a great post to get things going!

 

You're doing a sequel!!!!


I'm so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

WOO-HOO!

By the Grace of Lady Vader was the best piece of fanfiction I've ever read. I'm so glad that both you and ami-padme have decided to make a sequel. An amazing and wonderful first post, JG. I'm looking forward to more!

 

Wonderful start.

Looking forward to more.

 

Ascension?

As title for a sequel of "By the Grace of Lady Vader"?

Thats great, i can already see the **** hitting the exhaust.

 

I was reading by the grace of Lady Vader at Fan fiction. net I'm so happy to see you continuing it.

jedi blue

 

[face_shocked] A sequel! And here I was thinking that all the great epic stories and authors weren't really around lately.

And here's another by JG and a-p!

What luck

 

Wow. Whoa. This was great. I was totally freaked out by Amidala(which, I think, is a mark of a good writer). I haven't read your previous story, but believe me, I'm going over there ASAP.
Great work.
~Eirtae

 

Well, if anything can drag me back into posting, it's this! Wheee!

Lovely from start to end. Leia, I admire Leia's ability to be strong, when she clearly is in a position of weakness; She is at their mercy for the moment. Loved the description of Ami's veils on Leia's pillow. Beautiful and haunting...

*claps*

~jennifer

 

At long last, a sequel! Amidala really scares me in this story! I can tell already that this will be a most psychadelic fic.

 

Cool, a sequel.

 

AHHHHH!!!!!! I CANNA BELIEVE IT!!! A...*calms down*. You are doing a sequel. Thank you SO MUCH.

Heh...my roommates are staring at me.

Anyway, great first couple of post! They look really good. Once again, great job and keep it up!

 

Lady Vader was one of my favorite stories. I am so glad that there is a sequel. Amidala is creepy but so was Luke. Loved Leia's POV.

 

Oh...my...God...

A sequel! YES!

Thank you, JG and ami-padme! Great start! Can't wait to see what's going to happen next!

 

Alderaan21 will in fact be joining us shortly...

Glad everyone's enjoying. We're actually pretty psyched to be back in this world.

 

You're not the only ones who are psyched, JG. Welcome back to the world of Lady Vader!

You know, Amidala is really scary in this. The way she acts, you do NOT want to say no to her.

 

Can I say, uhh....

Wohoo!!

If the sequel is anywhere near as good as the first one...

-Tim

 

oh. my. god!!!!!! a sequel!!!!

by the grace of lady vader is also one of my all-time faves, and i'm so glad to see this!!!!!!! i cannot even explain how excited i am!

i agree with the others about amidala being freaky, and i love it!!! i could very much see the progression (or deterioration) of her mental state in the first story, and i've wondered since reading it what would end up happening with her in power now that she's pretty....um...*tries to think of a nice way to say it* out there....now i get to find out! you guys just made my day! can't wait for the next post!

 

*Robin does a little tap dance of joy*

I absolutely freaked out when I found this (in a good way, of course)! Great start--I liked Leia's ambivalant feelings towards her mother, mostly because I shared them until the end of the chapter, when Amidala really started freaking me out

 

OMG it's the sequel!! This is too awesome! I never expected it! Teeheehee!

K. Now that I'm somewhat over the shock I'll go read what was posted

 

You should have heard my litle cry of joy when I saw this thread. I *adore* By the Grace of Lady Vader, and this already looks like it will be amazing.

Man, Leia is living in the loony bin.

One of the scariest things is, while it's clear Padme is insane, she's still a likable character. [face_shocked]

Long live the Queen!

~Meredith

 

This may be the anxiously anticipated sequel since...um...AOTC?

Fantastic start, JG! Glad to see you and ami-padme and A21 back in action on this. Lady Vader is one of my all-time favorites.