Never Walk Alone

Chapter 7 - Rescue

Author's Note: One more chapter!  

~ Amina Gila

Heart pounding, Leia scrambles to Vader's side. He's still on the ground, unmoving, armor occasionally sparking from being electrocuted. And Luke is –

Laser shots are occasionally striking the ground around them, as the Imperial and Rebellion forces exchange fire overhead. One of the ships already came down to pick up Sidious, and they took Luke with them.

She tried to stop it, but she wasn't fast enough, not when there were stormtroopers everywhere. Still are stormtroopers everywhere, except the Falcon is shooting down at them now, keeping them distracted. But they need to get out of here before they get overrun.

They already were. Luke is gone, and she has no idea what's going to happen to him, but this is exactly what Vader was warning about. When he said Sidious was after Luke, not him, she didn't realize he meant this. Not exactly, and – Force. She can't lose her brother. She hasn't even gotten to know him yet, and they already had an entire life together taken from them, and she doesn't even know why.

And Vader is... she has no idea what exactly his condition is, but it doesn't look good. He's a cyborg. Lightning is drawn to him, and it could kill him easily. That's probably the one weakness he has.

The Falcon finally lands between them and the stormtroopers, the ramp lowering. Leia exchanges a wordless glance with Ben before they lift Vader with the Force, bringing him onboard.

It reminds her of the one million questions she still needs to ask him about everything.

"We need to get him somewhere," Leia says, crouching next to him, though if there's anything she can do right now, she has no idea. She didn't quite expect the overwhelming panic she feels at the thought of him dying here right now. She'd care for anyone, but this is even more personal. (He's her father and she hasn't even gotten the chance to start getting to know him.) "Is there anything we can do –?"

Ben crouches on Vader's other side, expression tight. "Not that I am aware of."

For now, all they can do is focus on getting out, and that's enough to spur her into motion. She scrambles for the guns, joining Chewie in shooting the pursuing Imperials, until they can make the jump to hyperspace.

Leia waits a moment, letting the rush of adrenaline wear off before she scrambles back to the hold. Ben is still sitting next to Vader, and she thinks he's at least still conscious enough to know that they're there, though she doesn't think he'd be able to speak coherently right now.

"Did you pick up the kid?" Han asks, stepping into the hold and then freezing.

Leia shakes her head. She'd told Han just a quick rundown of the situation when asking him to come out here. "The Emperor got him, and we... got someone else instead."

Chewie growls warily, sniffing the air.

"...Vader? The guy who the old fossil was fighting when Luke left?" Han repeats, incredulous.

"This will sound strange," Leia replies, trying to smother her amusement – which isn't hard in the tenseness of the situation, "But yes. He's helping us now. And we need to get him back to base to get treated."

"Shouldn't take long," Han says, still looking thoroughly mind blown.

"Hey, this isn't much stranger than you choosing to stick around."

"Oh, I'm only doing that because you don't want me to go," he snips.

No, she doesn't, for many reasons. Sometimes, being around him makes her remember Kier, and then she remembers losing him and Alderaan and she can't – she doesn't think she can handle that happening again. Not just for Han, but for anyone else. "Now isn't a good time for this," Leia replies, flatly.