Like many nights over the past four years, the exhausted shell of the person that was now only known as Darth Vader fought his sleep. He liked it better when he was awake. In his slumber, the subconscious memories of the life he used to lead came creeping back. When he was awake, he could stifle those memories, bury them deep down into his core, use them to fuel his hatred and his rage.
His chambers were completely silent, save for the hissing sound of the respirator forcing recycled air into his scarred lungs. It had a rhythm of its own, a hard, mechanical metronome keeping time in the cruelest way possible.
Vader sat in his black leather chair - the only piece of furniture in an otherwise empty room - his back toward the entryway, his eyes transfixed on the blank gray wall ahead of him. The room was a reflection of his life: a shell of what was, what could have been, what should have been. Without her, without their child, he was truly nothing.
Eventually, his body caught up with him and he succumbed to slumber's temptation.
He was in the hallway of a building he did not recognize. Tall stained-glass windows stretched from floor to ceiling, letting in enough sunlight to bathe the entire room in bursts of red, green, blue and purple. Figures of queens and kings were immortalized in the glass, their faces forever staring silently at those who walked down the corridor. Outside, under a bright blue sky, stood tall trees and snow-capped mountains.
It seemed so familiar to him, but he just couldn't place it.
The silent, serious air of the place was pierced by the high-pitched laughter of a child. Vader focused his gaze at the opposite end of the hallway. A small girl squealed with delight as she held a large rubber ball in the air for a moment before letting it fall to the floor. She'd kick the ball a few feet down the hall, stop, hold it in the air and let it fall, letting out another entertained squeal as she went. She repeated this game over and over, inching ever closer to Vader as she did.
It wasn't until she was closer to him that he realized she wasn't using her hands to hold it up.
She kicked the ball once again. This time, though, it stopped right at Vader's feet. He looked down, not sure what to do with it. Without skipping a beat, the little girl ran right up to him.
"Gimme my ball."
He looked at the toy, then at the girl. She was wearing a little pink dress. Her dark brown hair was twisted into two partially undone knots on either side of her head. He met her dark eyes, sparkling with innocent joy. She didn't seem to be scared of him at all, despite all seven feet of pure intimidating blackness looming up from where she was standing. Grown adults didn't have half the nerve that this...youngling...did, standing up to the second most powerful being in the galaxy, someone who could crush her tiny form in an instant if he really had the inclination.
He looked back down at her, studying her round, chubby face, as if he had seen it before. Those cheeks, those eyes, that nose, that olive skin. She looked just like –
No. This is a dream. This isn't real. You're dead. You died with her.
"Anakiiiiin!"
The girl's small, innocent voice brought him back to reality. Gods, she even sounded like her.
"Hi, Anakin!"
What did she just call me?
"I'm Leia."
He felt his heart flutter.
She stood on the balcony of her apartment, looking out at the never-ending hustle and bustle of Coruscant. Her hair was hanging down her back in ringlets, her butter-yellow silk nightgown just barely concealing her rapidly growing belly. That's when she was the most beautiful. The entire galaxy saw the straight-laced senator in heavy, formal gowns. Only he got to see her like this. No titles. He wasn't a Jedi, she wasn't a senator. They were Anakin and Padmé. Just husband and wife. He wanted it to be like this all the time.
He stood behind her, caressing her belly, each tiny kick and bump from within bringing a smile to his face. With the war raging on and the possibility of being called out to the front lines at any moment always there, precious moments like this were few and far between. He savored every moment he could spend with his little family.
"Ani, what do you think of Leia if it's a girl?"
He gazed out over her shoulder at the late evening sun setting behind the Jedi Temple several miles away.
"It's beautiful."
Once again, the little girl's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Wanna play with me?"
Vader looked back down, but the girl was gone. All that remained of her was her voice echoing off the ancient stone walls of the palace hall.