A/N: I do not own Star Wars. Review response time:
celticank: Wish granted. At least for one couple.
CharlotteCAgain: Are you sure about that?
Dark Lord of the X-Men: Mace Windu ripped off the ancient Sith? Geez.
multyfangirl18: Oh, it goes down in this chapter.
Star Wars: Avenging Angel, Chapter 8- Skywalker Slap Fest
Family reunions are such wonderful things.
As the Falcon touched down, Luke and Anakin rose from their seats as Rey began the post-landing cycle. Anakin fixed Luke with the look.
Tell her, Luke.
I will. I should have said something on the way here, but we were all too tired.
I understand. But put it off no longer. I'll be outside.
"Chewbacca? Artoo? Let's go!"
As the trio left, Luke sighed. Now or never.
Rey was trudging towards the crew quarters to retrieve her things, when Luke stopped her. "Rey? Can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure, Master Luke. What is it about?"
"It's somewhat important. Would you care to sit?" Luke motioned to the holotable.
Oh, no, Rey thought. This is serious.
Once the two were seated, Luke began to speak.
"Rey… I have a gift for you."
And with that, Luke unclipped Mara Jade Skywalker's lightsaber from his belt. "This belonged to my wife. She reminded me a lot of you, actually; her name was Mara Jade. Had she met you, I believe would have wanted you to have this when you were old enough."
Rey took the proffered saber, and switched it on, pointing it away from them. "It's… purple."
Luke chuckled. "It is. Do you like it?"
Rey nodded. "I do. How many colors are there?"
"I don't honestly know, Rey. Aside from white, blue, green, red, and purple, I haven't a clue."
They come in black, too, Anakin butted in on the shared bond.
"I swear," Luke said. "One of these days he's going to regret interrupting."
"Yes- but not today, sadly," Rey muttered.
Luke paused. " Rey…. I have something that I've been meaning to tell you for some time. I just could never assemble the right words until now. As you've probably figured out by now, Rey, the Force is… very strong in my family. I have it, and so does my father."
"Anakin. Who is somehow younger than you."
"The Force works in mysterious ways, Rey. Keep this in mind going forward. Now, as I was saying, my sister also has it. You've met her- General Leia Organa."
"Yes. I've also met her son, who would be your nephew, I guess."
Luke winced. "That is true. But… my wife had it too." Luke then fixed Rey with an odd stare as tears came to his eyes.
"My daughter has this power too."
Rey looked at Luke, puzzled, before sitting back in her seat wondering why Luke said that.
Luke is a Jedi… his wife was a Jedi…. His daughter-
Daughter.
Daughter.
Tears welled up in Rey's eyes now, as she turned to Luke. "D-dad?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes, Rey," Luke said. "I am your father."
And that was when Rey finally cried, as Luke slid next to her to give her a long overdue hug. "I'm sorry, my daughter, for leaving you at such a young age."
This brought Rey out of her crying. She sat up, looked at Luke again-
-and promptly slapped him. Hard.
"Why?"
Luke's shoulders sagged. "The First Order had just destroyed my Jedi Academy. I was a marked man, and so were you, Rey. To keep you safe, I blocked parts of your memory before leaving you on Jakku. I wanted to come for you, but if I did, I'd have to take you with me- and I was, and still am, a marked man. You would've been marked too."
"But…" Rey started. "Why tell me now?"
"After what happened on Starkiller Base, I think the First Order will step up its agenda, which means war once again. And as I know firsthand, there should be no secrets in war. Secrets breed mistrust."
"I… I think I understand…. Father."
Luke smiled at being called Father, before his smile turned downright mischievous. "Now, then, Rey… tell about this Finn you have spoken so highly of during training."
Rey blanched. Oh, kriffin' bloody-
Language, Twerp.
GET OUT OF MY HEAD, Anakin!
Alright, fine! I'm going, Twerp.
Luke shook his head, having caught the entire mental exchange.
The cots in the Infirmary, Padme discovered, were not the most comfortable things.
Neither was the set of binders that kept her secured to the thing, either.
Kriffin' bloody-
"I heard that."
Padme turned to see General Leia Organa herself, as well as Poe Dameron, her… uh, what exactly were they?- standing by the cot. Eh, kriff it.
"Language, Officer Naberrie."
Humph. "How…. How can you hear my thoughts?"
"A trick I picked up from my brother, Luke, who's a Jedi."
"Oh. So… why the restraints?"
"Poe here tells me you're a bit… jumpy, like you're watching for someone. You fainted when you heard my brother's name.
"So tell me- are you a spy?"
"What? NO! Why would you think that?"
"Because you look exactly like Senator Padme Amidala, who died about fifty years ago. Explain that."
Now Padme was oh so close to snapping. "I am her, General. Don't ask me how I'm here, because I don't know.
"Besides," Padme continued, sitting up in her cot, her tone turning more cynical and… sorrowful? "Is that any way… to address your mother?"
Leia froze. So did Poe. Neither of them spoke for several minutes.
Poe's eyes darted between the two women, as if looking for similar features. "You're not kidding, are you?"
Padme's voice dropped into a definitively sad tone. "No, Poe, I'm not."
"Poe?" Leia asked. "Can you leave please?"
"Sure, sure," Poe said. "I'm going to go check on Finn. He should be in the bacta now."
And with that, Poe took his leave.
Leia looked at Padme now, a pleading yet hard look in her eyes. "Why? Why did you end up with… him?"
"Honestly, I don't really know," Padme said. "Anakin was… troubled, oftentimes. Other times, though, he was actually pretty sweet.
"But… he had terrible nightmares, where he thought I was going to die. When I told him I was pregnant, he was over the moon with joy.
"After that… it all went to the Corellian hells. All nine of them."
"You could say that again," Leia said, sarcasm lacing her voice. "Watching over your shoulder for a monster like that… in your place, so would I."
Padme winced at Anakin being called a monster, and was about to reply when Leia sat ramrod straight in her seat, eyes glazed over.
"General?"
"I feel something," Leia said, her voice far, far away. "A presence I have not felt since…" And with that, Leia got up, removed the binders, and walked away, leaving Padme wondering what was going on. For all of a minute.
Padme took the opportunity to bolt. She'd developed a dislike for medcenters of any kind.
Oh, look, Anakin thought sarcastically. I found a Rebel base.
He supposed that he and his crew looked rather weird; an old man, a Wookie, a droid, an immortal, and a desert rat.
There's got to be a joke in there….
Then Luke paused. "Leia's coming."
Anakin nodded. "Alright, Twerp, let's go to the infirmary."
Rey, who was still embarrassed from getting grilled about a boy by her father (a thought that made her quite giddy still- she'd found at least one of her parents!), quickly followed.
Grandfather, I don't think we should be there when Father and Aunt Leia meet.
Agreed.
Which was when Poe found them. Having checked up on Finn, Poe had gone to do some work on his X-Wing with BB-8. Upon arriving in the hangar, he caught sight of Rey and grinned, running up and giving the young woman a bone-crushing hug.
"Welcome back, Rey? How'd training go?"
SMACK!
Anakin, Rey, and Poe turned to where they had left Luke. Leia had found him, it seemed.
"Come on," Poe said. "The general's got some rooms set up for you."
Luke had been alone when Leia stormed into the hangar. She stopped in front of her wayward brother.
"General."
"Master Jedi. May we talk somewhere private?"
"Sure."
"Follow me."
As they walked towards Leia's office, Luke could only think I'm so screwed. When they arrived, Leia closed the door and locked it.
SMACK!
For the third time that day, Luke had been viciously slapped.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"
Luke was silent for several moments.
"You vanish for years, leaving me to face the kriffing First Order alone, and work half to death for years trying to find you. You come back, finally, and you bring HIM with you!"
"Leia… I'm sorry. I just… I needed…." Luke sighed. "I couldn't look myself in the mirror after everything that happened. The galaxy needed a strong hero, and I just…. I couldn't be that hero; I'd lost too much.
"I'm sorry, Leia, for leaving you in the lurch. I'm here now, though, because I can't let things fall apart anymore… and neither will he."
"And what, exactly, is he planning?"
"I don't know. All he said was that he was going to set things right. What that means, I haven't a clue; Anakin is rather… secretive about that."
"I'm warning you, if he goes Dark, I swear I'll blast his head off myself."
"Good luck with that, Leia. He's been dead for decades. I mean that, too. Anakin Skywalker was dead. I saw him die."
"You mean, we now have an immortal ex-Sith Lord on this base?"
"Yes. But, he's been rather helpful in training Rey."
"You finally tell her?"
"I did. She slapped me."
Atta girl, thought Leia.
"Oh? And what exactly has he taught her?"
"He's focused more on the physical training. Exercise, combat forms, lightsaber forms. He doesn't call her Rey to her face, though."
"Oh?"
"He calls her Twerp. She can't stand it."
Leia chuckled at that. "Well, while you've had quality father-son-daughter bonding time, I've had to deal with one of my officers being our mother."
Luke stopped. "Wait, what?"
"It's true."
"Well, then," Luke said, stroking his beard. "We have nothing to worry about in regards to Father."
"Why?"
"Because she's the one person I think Father will actually listen to."
Padme strode purposefully back to her quarters. She felt a lot better now that the shock of hearing her son's name had worn off. It was a wonder she didn't drop dead when Leia cornered her.
And to think, my little twins are all grown up. They're even older than me….
Kriff you, Anakin.
Naturally, that was when she spotted him.
Had Padme not glanced down a side corridor, she would have missed spotting Anakin. As it stood, another officer was showing Anakin his quarters, and asked if there was anything else he needed.
"Well…" Anakin said. "Where would I go to find a new uniform? My current attire is fine, but I'm a little too… tall for it."
The officer chuckled. "The tailor's all the way across the base, by the mess hall."
"Thank you. I'll stop by there in the morning."
While the conversation went on, Padme was moving. This time, she was headed towards Anakin.
As Anakin stepped into his room, with Artoo close behind, Padme slid in before the door shut.
Anakin felt her slip in.
NO. Don't turn around, Skywalker, don't-
"What are you doing here?"
Anakin turned around, now. "I…."
SMACK!
Padme slapped him, hard. Then, she slapped him again. And again.
Then, she punched him.
Anakin was ready for her on the next swing, blocking it in his hand. She punches just like Luke. Padme went to punch with her other fist, but was blocked too. Anakin shifted slightly now, half-stepping forward, blocking his… sensitive areas… from an attempt by Padme to kick him.
Then, Padme convulsed, before collapsing to the ground. Artoo warbled, his electric prod already retracting into his frame.
"Shavit, Artoo! Now what am I going to do?"
PUT HER TO BED. TUCK HER IN. HOPE SHE DOESN'T KILL YOU WHEN SHE WAKES UP.
"I guess. Although, can I even die now?"
LET'S NOT TEST THAT THEORY.
"Agreed. Oh, and I'm totally going to reprogram you to not shock Padme, okay?"
YOU CAN TRY.
Snarky little guy, Anakin mused.
And with that, Anakin did just as Artoo suggested.
"Well, sorry, Angel."
