"The force is strong in my family. My father has it, I have it … my sister has it.'
Leia smiled at the memory of Luke's voice in her head. It had come as a shock suddenly realising that the world that she had grown up in hadn't been the world that had been meant for her. She was meant to have grown up with her real parents and her real brother. She had enjoyed life as Princess Leia Organa of Aldeeran but it was nice to know that her real family still did exist or at least that her brother did. Leia had been extremely curious about what had happened to her mother and had gone to Corusant to find out exactly what had happened. When she was there she discovered the real truth from an old Senator of the Old Republic.
Leia could just imagine Padmé's face. It was hard not to try and envision it. She wondered exactly what her mother had looked like. Since finding out who her mother was Leia and Luke had taken a trip to Naboo to see their mother's grave. Leia had cried and Luke had comforted her. They had spent many nights in Naboo before finally tracking down Padmé's sister, Sola and her children. They had stayed several nights with their older cousins pleased to have more family. Leia still wondered about her father though. She had met him before when she had firs met Luke. Did he not know who she was? Had he not felt that she was different? That she was actually a part of him. She had not really met her real father and she wondered terribly what he had been like.
Leia sat in the Jedi temple which was one of the only places where she could be at peace. At home Han was so busy tinkering with the Millennium Falcon and at the Council building where the Jedi trained there were so many Jedi's and Padawans wandering around learning to use the force. So Leia sat in the Jedi Temple. She was an accomplished Jedi now thanks to her brother and was a Jedi Master. Her padawan was a young boy named Reef who was getting on well. Leia's own two children where also padawans of two other Jedi Master whom Leia knew and trusted. It was funny to think that her friend that had been Luke was her brother and together they had rebuilt the Jedi order.
As she sat staring into the fountain upon which she sat she felt a presence and turned round to see the figure of a young man standing. The blue line that glowed along the edge of him told her that this was a Jedi that had passed away. She hadn't seen this Jedi before. She had met Obi Wan, Yoda, Mace Windu and Qui-Gon Jinn when they had done the same thing but this man who looked even younger than her she had never seen before. She stood up and nodded respectively as she was suppose to when Jedi's from the afterlife visited those left.
'Welcome,' she said softly.
She looked at him as a small smile spread across his lips. He was extremely good looking but he held a very strong resemblance to someone she knew although she couldn't quite but her finger on it. He took a step closer to her looking as though he wanted to touch her. She didn't know who he was but he was looking at her with tenderness.
'You look just like your mother,' he said softly.
She smiled at him knowing that he obviously had known her mother where she hadn't. It was nice to know that she looked like her. At least she had some idea what her mother had looked like before she had died. Leia had found out from Obi Wan that her mother had died in child birth but it hadn't been that which had caused it. Padmé Skywalker had died because she couldn't like without Anakin. She simply could not exist without him.
'I thank you,' she said softly. 'May I ask exactly who you are?'
'Leia,' he said softly his eye softly glinting as though he was about to cry, 'I have seen you before yet you haven't seen me. Back then I did not know who you were. I didn't know that you existed. She hadn't told me. Your mother didn't know that there were to be two of you and I did not suspect it. I was too clouded. Luke has already forgiven me and I was wondering if you would too.'
Leia stared at him. The young man in front of her that looked no older than her was telling her exactly who he was and she couldn't think straight. This was him. This was the man that had been behind the black suit that was Darth Vader. This was Leia's father but obviously before he had transformed into Vader. Leia could hardly believe it.
'You are Anakin Skywalker?' she said softly more of a statement than a question. She knew who he reminded her of. Luke. Luke looked like him. He had the same sort of features. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't touch him. They were separated by two different worlds and therefore she wasn't allowed to touch him. He obviously saw her difficulty as he nodded in response to her question and he smiled a slight smile.
'I wanted to see you,' he told her softly. 'I have seen Luke and I regretted not seeing you. I finally decided that I would come to speak to you. It has been a time Leia and I wish I could have spent time with you and your brother when I lived but I couldn't no more than I could save your mother.'
'Why?' Leia whispered. 'Why did you turn to the dark side? You killed her because she couldn't exist with you.'
Anakin looked down ashamed and Leia wanted to hug him. He looked so young with the long brown hair and the single scar down his left eye. She wondered where he had got it. It didn't matter though and as she watched him she wondered if Luke knew what had happened. Leia had always wanted to know why but she had never told anyone.
'I loved your mother so much,' he whispered, 'I still do. She is four years older than me you know. I thought she was an angel when I first met her. I was ten years old. When we finally got married it was forbidden by the Jedi Order. I know that you are married and that it is no longer forbidden to have connections. I loved her so much that I would do anything to keep her. I had lost my mother and I couldn't bear to lose her. I had dreams that she would die in childbirth. I wouldn't let it happen. Chancellor Palpetine was really Darth Sidious and he tricked me into believing that if I became a Sith I would be able to save her. I would have done anything to save her. It didn't work. She died without me.'
Leia took a step closer and nodded at him. She knew how he felt. If she lost Han she wouldn't know what to do. Sure he infuriated her often enough but she knew that without him in her life she would die. That was what love was about. She loved him too much just in the same way that Anakin had obviously loved Padmé. What he had done had been awful but he done it because of love. Leia knew that if things had been different, if their union had been public and if Anakin had told someone like Obi-Wan about his fears then something could have been done to save Anakin from his fate.
'Leia,' said Anakin softly, 'I have to go.'
She looked up at him sharply to see him fading quickly. She took a step closer to try and make him stay. She wanted to grasp him. She didn't want him to leave. She wanted to talk to him about his life, about the love he had felt for her mother and about the time he had spent imprisoned behind Darth Vader but he was fading fast.
'Don't leave,' she whispered.