The first time he sees her, blue and nearly transparent, he wants to scream and curse. It's bad enough that he has to live in a world without her, but now his mind is playing tricks on him by making him view the dead? He wants to howl in pain and anguish, to roar in his almighty wrath, to showcase his infinite fury. He wants to make the illusion cry out in pain, terror, and fear. He wants it to hurt in the same way that he does, despite knowing that it will only pain him even more if he is to actually attempt to destroy her apparition...so, rather than do that, he asks a single question; it's not very simple, but it is short.

"Why?"

"Why what, Anakin?" She responds, just as sweet to him as the day that she died.

"Why...you? Why does my mind tell me that you're here?"

"Because I'm here, Anakin. I'm not physical, and I can't touch you or let you touch me...but I'm here. It's me. The Force is letting me manifest."

He's still not entirely certain that it's her, that he's not losing his mind. He wants it to be her so badly that it's painful, even in his robotic parts, but he needs his wits about him; Obi-Wan is coming for a battle, on this Death Star, and Vader will not have a repetition of Mustafar on his hands.

He doesn't truly have time for confirmation, however, so he continues to let her speak.

"I know there's good in you, Anakin. I can feel it. You've tried to hide it and get rid of it for so long that it's almost not there, but you can't fool me."

"I was never able to, Padmé."

He watches her vanish as she mouths a silent farewell, and Vader closes off his heart once more. He has unfinished business to attend to, and cannot afford to be open to wounding. Though Obi-Wan is old, he will no doubt have grown strong in the Force; Vader will not allow his old master to obtain victory here, not when vengeance is so close.

As he strikes the wizened Jedi down, he can sense Padmé behind him. She raises a ghostly finger, blue and immaterial, pointing out at a boy with sandy hair...beside him is Leia Organa, the adopted child of the former Senator from Alderaan. "Our children, Anakin. Luke and Leia. Your son and daughter."

He looks up from the robes that once held a body, now fallen to the floor with Obi-Wan's disappearance, and sees the two. He starts forward, his ungodly hatred suddenly replaced by a wellspring of hope and happiness; his children, meaning that Padmé had been carrying more than one. His children, a son and daughter that had survived the Empire's ruthless culling of all opposition. His daughter was a rebel leader, and his son was a burgeoning Jedi...

The door closes quickly, shot by a man he does not know, and Vader stops himself. He wheels to face Padmé, but finds her gone; though he hardens his heart once again, something is changed. It isn't quite as cold as it used to be, or as lonely, or as dark. A light, one that he'd thought snuffed out forever, shone from deep inside. It wasn't enough to break through the darkness, but it was a light nonetheless.

Fight on, my children. He declares, sending the words out with the Force despite knowing that nobody will ever hear them. Rise up so that you can save the galaxy, and yourselves, as I failed to.

He sees her next on Bespin, after he takes his son's hand off, and he is mercifully left alone with her. Her appearance has not changed, and she is still just as beautiful as he has remembered...but he curses himself as well, because she would still be with him if he hadn't let his rage and hatred guide his vision.

"That wasn't very nice, Anakin."

"Pain is an effective teacher, as I learned when you died...and every day since."

"You just want to feel more like him, closer to him." She accuses, because she knows it's true. "You gave him the wound that Dooku gave you...as a Sith did to a Jedi, so does a Sith do to a Jedi. Like father, like son."

He doesn't bother trying to refute her words, but instead reaches out with his black-gloved hand and strokes her invisible face. If he tries hard enough, and he does, he can almost feel like it's twenty years in the past and he's doing it in reality, on Coruscant. The moment shatters quickly, however, when he remembers that he is the reason why she died; the ramifications of his violence will haunt him for all of eternity, even beyond death, for that reason alone...and so he returns to hate, closing off his heart, but a ray of light breaks through the shadows of his evil. Padmé senses it, he knows, and he sees her smile.

"I still wear it, you know." He says. "The ring from our wedding. Even though the hand got cut off, I went back to Mustafar and got it and put it back on."

"I know, Anakin. And I know that you remember what the promise of that ring meant to me. What it meant to you, and what it still means to both of us."

As her image fades to nothing, Vader knows of what she speaks. He knows it, and it comes out as nothing but a whisper...but the acknowledgement is enough for another burst of light, of hope, to break through the darkness. It's almost enough to make him break down and weep.

"It was a promise," he intones, and even his mechanically-assisted hearing can barely pick up the words, "that I would love you forever."

The third and final time that he sees her is when he's dying, after Luke has left for a few moments to do something or another; perhaps he is saving Mara-Jade, the Emperor's not-so-secret apprentice...it wouldn't surprise him too much. All the same, he is alone with his long-dead wife for the third time.

"You did it." She says. "You really did it."

"You had doubts?"

"No, Anakin. Not me...but Obi-Wan did, and Yoda, and you doubted yourself as well. You've fulfilled the prophecy of the Chosen One, destroyed the Dark Side of the Force. You won."

"Did I?" He asks, almost laughing, knowing that he'll die soon. "Tell that to the lightning that went through me. Tell that to the Jedi I killed. Tell that to my mother. Most importantly, tell it to yourself. After all that I've done, how can I possibly win this game of life that we all play? There is no winner, only losers."

All the same, he cannot deny the feelings rushing back to him. The darkness cracks, beams of light striking through it and reducing it to near-nothingness. He feels pure joy, happiness, love...and regret. Perhaps his victory, though it still seems so far from a victory to his dying mind, is due to the fact that he regrets what he's done? He admits to himself that he doesn't know; more than that, he doesn't care. All that matters is that he won, because Padmé says that he's won. His destiny is complete, and he's finally being allowed to die. At long last, he will get to see his wife again...and he smiles, at long last, before giving a short and blood-spewing laugh.

"I'm coming for you, Padmé. Whether or not I'm allowed to is arbitrary. I will come for you, and be with you, forever. Please, I beg of you, wait for me."

"Of course, Anakin. There's nothing else that I would rather do...but perhaps you'll hold on just a little more, for our son?"

"Yes." He replies. "Stay with me, Padmé."

"I never left you, my love."

And she does stay with him, throughout his refusal to come with Luke. He is dying, and the galaxy no longer needs a man like Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader; they need a new hero, one who is untouched by the cruel manipulation of the Dark Side. Luke will be that hero, he knows, and Padmé understands it as well...so he watches his son leave before looking at his wife one last time. As the light breaks through entirely, and consumes him in whole, he declares his final words:

"I love you."