Divicas heartbeat picked up a pace, nervously she licked her lips. Her gaze fell on the pastry in front of her on the coffee table. It made her nauseous. She tried not to fall into panic, instead she took a deep breath and looked directly at Vader. "I will try my best to help you, Lord Vader", she replied, but her shaky voice betrayed her fear. Darth Vader intimidated her, his presence was consuming, the darkness in him looming over her like the Sword of Damocles, the menace coming from him clearly perceptible. He could assure her a thousand times that he would not harm her, she certainly wouldn't count on it. After all, he was the most dangerous man in the galaxy.

Divica brushed one strand of her curly brown hair back from her forehead before speaking again. "Let's start with some questions, so I can get a picture of your problems. It would be good if you'd answer truthful and honest, only then I can help you." After this she searched her bag which stood on the floor beside her feet for her datapad.

"I will answer your questions as best I can, Miss Bluedancer."

She nodded and activated the pad, swallowed her anxiety, put on her usual businesslike smile and again regarded the dark figure across from her. "Well then, let's get started."

Vader made an inviting gesture with one of his gloved hands and nodded in approval.

"Tell me Lord Vader, when did it all begin? What made you notice that you have … kind of a … problem?"

"I am dreaming of Padmé," Vader replied instantly. "The dreams are so real I have tears in my eyes when I wake up." He lowered his head and inhaled deeply. "Tears Miss Bluedancer, because I wish I could go back to sleep just to be with her. Because I woke up and knew it was just a dream. Because it hurt just like on the day I learned that she was gone." Vader exhaled sharply. "I relive it all, and like a knife through my heart it's causing me unspeakable pain once more. A long time ago it all started with Padmé, and it ended with her death on that dreadful day here on Mustafar."

Divica nodded contemplatively and tapped on her Datapad. "And who was Padmé?"

"My wife, Miss Bluedancer."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and her dark brown eyes looked at Vader. "You … you had a wife?"

"So surprised?" He sounded amused, raised his head, looking at her. "Does the thought really seem so odd to you?"

"Well … I ... uhm …", Divica stammered, then cleared her throat before speaking on. "I certainly didn't expect that. Yes."

"I was once a man, a man with feelings and a heart. And I was a Jedi."

Another surprised gasp from Divica. "A Jedi? You?"

Vader nodded. "Yes, a Jedi. And I wasn't just the average Padawan, Miss Bluedancer. No, I was the strongest in the Force amongst all in the Order. I was the Chosen One." He sounded almost proud when he said these words, but there was a bitter edge in his tone.

"The Chosen One?"

"Yes. I was supposed to bring balance to the Force, and now look what I've become." He shrugged his shoulders then gestured to the cup of tea on the table. "Take another sip Miss Bluedancer, before it's getting cold."

Divica quickly reached for the cup and took a gulp. The tea was already cold, so she put the cup back on the tray while saying: "I don't understand anything about the Force, the Jedi have always been a mystery to me. Let's talk about Padmé, your wife."

"You don't believe in something greater than the universe? Something that's watching over us, that surrounds us and binds everything together. Some unseen energy, which gives life to every living being?" Vader regarded her, the dark mask staring at her. "Where do you think my powers come from? I feel this energy every second flowing through me. It's whispering and showing me everything. I can see it in you, this spark, this light which gives you life."

Divicas brown eyes lay on Vader, impressed by the fervor with which he said this. "I have always been the pragmatic type," she replied softly. "Spirituality and religion were never a thing for me."

"Too bad Miss Bluedancer," Vader gave back. "You don't know what you're missing out."

"We wanted to talk about your wife."

"You wanted to talk about her."

"You brought me here to help you. If you changed your mind please say so and I will go back to Coruscant right away."

Vader sighed deeply, shifted position in his seat and pointed one finger at her. "That's exactly why I wanted you. You're professional and competent, you don't let yourself get distracted. You have a strong will."

Divica took a breath and couldn't quite fathom what Vader just said. "Well, whatever", she began, putting on her professional attitude. "Why don't we finally get started. Your wife Padmé. Tell me about her."

"I could tell you endless stories about her, about her kindness, her beauty and her heart. Padmé was the love of my life, she was the one I was living for. With her I was whole. She gave everything reason … in the end even my fall to the dark side."

Looking at Vader with awe Divica had to swallow. To hear such words emerge from a man who was this infamous throughout the galaxy made her feel awkward, plus, she could hardly believe it. "Then you must've loved her deeply," she mumbled.

Vader didn't respond, just looked at her, silently.

"How exactly did she die?"

"I don't know. The last time I saw her she … she was still breathing. I sensed the life of the baby in her womb … When I recovered and turned into … this," he made a gesture with his hands over his body, "I was told that she had died. That it was I who killed her."

Divica gasped, then quickly looked upon her datapad, typing something. She hadn't known about all this, it was awful to hear of it, and she knew Vader definitely had a lot more shocking revelations in store. Divica didn't look up when she spoke again. She could feel the tension coming from the Dark Lord, sensed his sadness and his guilt. "And what do you believe? Did you kill your wife and unborn child?"

"What do you think, Miss Bluedancer? Could I really have killed them? The only good thing that ever happened in my life, the only love I ever saw?" His voice was low, almost weak.

"I … I really don't know, Lord Vader."

"I'm asking this myself every day and I can't find an answer. I know I didn't kill Padmé, I just couldn't have, yet, she died." Vader lowered his head and his hands clasped around the armrests until they squeaked under the pressure and threatened to break. "It wasn't my intention but Obi-Wan … he made me so angry. I saw him there with her … my anger was consuming me, I just reacted and projected it upon her. A mistake I will regret forever."

"I see." Divica pondered this for a moment, then she wanted to know: "Obi-Wan? Who is he?"

Now she heard a little chuckle coming from Vader and that sound made her real uneasy. It wasn't funny or amused, but rather mocking and full of bitterness. "Obi-Wan Kenobi was my Jedi master, he trained me for over a decade. We were once like brothers." Disdainful he spat out those last words.

Nodding Divica gazed at him. "I see. But let's stay with Padmé before we get to him. You said you were dreaming of her. What kind of dreams?"

"Oh Miss Bluedancer," Vader said and his tone changed, got higher in pitch, with a hint of longing in it. "Those dreams are like heaven. I am again like I used to be, before I had to wear this suit. Before Obi-Wan left me badly wounded and crippled to die on the banks of a lava river here on this planet. A young innocent Jedi I am again in these dreams, with a jolly smile on my lips, a smile Padmé so loved. She always said: Your smile Ani, it'll always make me weak. And then she'd kiss me."

Divica noticed his breathing becoming heavy and he seemed distressed. It was clearly hard for him to speak of his dead wife.

"To be with her again, to feel her touch, her lips on mine, to smell her and to hold her in my arms again - it is pure bliss. When I wake from these dreams I want to scream, I want to cry, I don't want them to end, Miss Bluedancer. How can you miss someone so badly, even after such a long time?"

"It is all part of grieving, Lord Vader", she replied softly. "It'll get better in time."

"In what time? After all these years it's as bad as ever. I want to weep, let the tears fall from my eyes and drown in them." His voice was full of emotion and despair.

"Did you weep for her? When you learned of her death did you cry for Padmé and your unborn child?"

"I cried so many tears after their passing you wouldn't believe." Now he sounded weak, resigned. "My whole life has changed just a couple of years ago, I'm not the man I used to be. Forced to live in this suit which keeps me alive, I'm in constant pain because my flesh is burned and scarred, I feel pain in limbs that don't exist anymore, can't breathe on my own because my lungs are also affected ... I'm more machine than a human being, a cyborg in a black suit and a mask, with unimaginable powers slumbering inside of me." Vader was silent for a while, his head lowered as if in thoughts and only the rasp of his breathing could be heard. "I can only sleep a few hours at a time and during this I'm tortured by dreams of the past." He looked up again and sighed. "I couldn't be the Jedi I was supposed to be, the Chosen one. I couldn't bring balance to the Force as it was my destiny. I fell to the dark side, became a Sith Lord and serve the Empire now." He bent forward in his seat, the dark eyes of his mask gazing directly at Divica. "Help me, let me wipe out the past, so I can at least be the Sith my master wants me to be. It's all I got left now …"

Then, unexpectedly, he got up out of his chair. "It's enough for today, Miss Bluedancer. Vaneé will guide you to your room. We'll continue tomorrow." With this he turned around and hurried through a door into an adjoining room.

Divica sat for a moment, bewildered and confused, when another door opened and Vaders servant entered, waiting for her to follow him. Hasty she put her datapad into her bag, stood up from the sofa and left Darth Vaders chambers.

Her room was on the other side of the tower. It had a huge window through which Divica could see the landscape of Mustafar, the view was spectacular. Pondering she looked outside, beheld the glowing lava rivers, dark hills and mountains, the smoke and mist which filled the air. This castle was as dark and unfriendly as the environment out there, it certainly fit the brooding and sinister being Darth Vader was. Though, she just got to know a whole different side of him.

Vader amazed her to a certain extent. Seen from the psychological side it was almost a dream to work with someone like him. Vader was clearly torn apart, his soul broken in half, that's why he was unstable and unpredictable, which made him most dangerous. Still, there was another side to him. Buried deep within him lay someone else, someone wholly different from Darth Vader.

Whatever her role in all this was, Divica hoped for her own sake she could give Vader what he wanted from her. Somehow she had the vague foreboding she wouldn't get out of this alive.