AN: Sorry It took so long to get back to this. Gods, I hate writer's block. Well, here it is. I've finished all the chapters for this piece, I'll just be posting them bit by bit. So every one knows, about three months have passed betwixt this and the last chapter.

Broken

YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER. WHETHER YOU WISH IT OR NOT.

As the raging tone of the voice raged in her dreams, Mara Jade sat up abruptly. Her hand rose and blindly swept her unruly hair from her face. For nearly three months these dreams had tormented her, a curse she'd left behind nearly five years ago, yet in one moment, it had all come back to her and in greater force than before. Then she had felt no relief, nor had she sought any, believing that there had been no relief for her troubled spirit. Now, she had control of the Force, little control though it was, and she had Obi-Wan Kenobi.

This particular thought occurred to her softly, like a joke being told during comedy night at the nearest cantina. Yet she knew, deep within herself, that Kenobi's presence was a comfort. His spirit melded with her own, his words like the fatherly advice she had never realized she wanted. When her mind failed to supply her with answers, Kenobi's journal would fall open at her call, always on the very page she needed. His thoughts always seemed to provide the solidity she needed, the purity of mind without the innocence of youth. Though she knew that his years as a Jedi had corrupted him, in the sense that he was no longer objective about most things, and had a very Jedi way of looking at some things, his insight was incredibly informative. He added calm to her character, the more of his words she heard and read.

At this moment, her waking mind found itself seeking the peace of Kenobi's records. The journal swept across the room at her mental call, falling gently onto her bed, its pages fluttering open to a page she had read once before, but had not really internalized. It seemed that the Force, communicating with her through the persona of Obi-Wan Kenobi, wanted her to understand something, something that had nothing to do with her dreams at all.

A Broken Heart

Yesterday, while cleaning the filters on my moisture vaporators, I found myself thinking of young Luke and Leia's mother. I recalled that the medical droid came to us saying she was dying, despite her perfect health. The droid's exact words to me were: "She has lost the will to live". As long as I had known milady Padme' she had been a very strong-willed woman. At the age of 14 she single-handedly allied the two opposing nations of her world and used that alliance to conquer the Trade Federation Army destroying her world. It was she who began the Delegation of 2000, the brainchild that began the Rebel Alliance. It was she who took the Petition of 2000 to Palpatine himself, knowing well what his response would be. It was she who gave her life to save Anakin, long after he was beyond saving. No woman I've ever met gave her heart so willing to anything to which she believed it was deserved. Anakin was the only being that had a hold on that heart, and it is my belief that his fall to the darkside, stole the innocence that was left within that heart. Darth Vader truly is the murderer of all that once was Anakin Skywalker. The Anakin I knew would have fallen apart in the face of her desperate love, would have lived to die in the face of her pain. The Anakin I knew may have even fallen on his own lightsaber if it were enough to save her life. Padme' Naberrie Amidala died of a broken heart. Her last words to me were of hope, a hope I believe was unfounded, but a hope nonetheless. She died believing that there was good within Vader still, that a piece of the Anakin we had both loved still lived. In the years since that day, I have not seen any remote hope of Light within Vader. If any truth be told, he has only receeded more into the dark than before...

She shut the book, angered by the words written on the page. Death by broken heart, what a preposterous idea. Not to mention the idotic thoughts about Anakin.

"Anakin Skywalker was an inherently good man, just like his son. There was always a hope of Light within Vader, one had only but to look to find it. How can a broken heart kill anyone? You don't let pain destroy you, you pick up and move on. Eventually the pain dulls and once enough time passes, the pain goes away, becoming only a memory. This Amidala woman could not have been a strong spirit if only one moment of heartbreak killed her."

Were it that simple, Mara, I might even agree with you.

Mara spun at the sudden voice, her mind realizing that it wasn't just a whisper of the Force. She felt the presence within her bedroom, despite the fact that no one was aboard the ship. As she turned toward the voice, she noticed a small blue glow about the room. When her eyes found the source of the voice, she started, not expecting the surprise she'd gotten.

Don't be so alarmed, Mara Jade. You've called, I've come, that is the way of the Force.

Standing before her was a woman in her late twenties, long dark hair cascading down her shoulders in thick curls. She had deep brown eyes that reminded Mara much of Leia. Mara realized that this must be the woman whom she had been reading about, Padme' Amidala. She looked at the woman well, memorizing her distinct features. Though cast in an iridescent blue light, the woman was extremely beautiful. She wore a soft lavender shift, her crimson kissed skin glimmering in the light of the Force. She had a tender smile, hidden within it a touch of innocence that Mara knew all too well. It was the innocence that she often saw within Luke Skywalker himself. This woman was definitely the mother of the Skywalker twins, each of them bearing some resemblance to her, be it in their character or in their physical features. Mara couldn't help but smile.

"I thought killing Skywalker's clone was the weirdest thing that ever happened to me, but this? This definitely tops that by a long while. You must be Padme' Amidala, mother of the Skywalker twins." The woman smiled.

I am. You seem surprised to see me.

"I didn't know Luke's mom was a Jedi too. Kenobi makes you sound like a politician."

I was a politician. I was the youngest queen to rule the Naboo people. After serving two terms as queen, I was the senator of Naboo for 13 years. I'm not a Jedi.

"I thought this eternity thing was a trick reserved for jedi only. If you're not a Jedi, how can you do it as well?"

It seems that I am a special case. Apparently there was enough potential within me that I have found a way to bind myself to the mortal world, to trace my steps back to you and only you.

" Only me? Why me? Why am I so important?" Mara asked anxiously. Interesting as it was, she was not comfortable with the idea of thirty year old spirits being attached to her.

I died to protect my son from Darth Vader, to save him from the darkness that ruled his father's world. I cannot die for him this time, Mara.

"So is that what this is about? You spent all that energy to tell me that I'm going to die to save Skywalker? Never going to happen. I don't even get why I'm in this mess in the first place. Luke Skywalker destroyed my life once already. I don't need him to do it again."

Enough lives have been lost to save my children. The time has now come to live for them, Mara Jade.

"I've been living for them enough for the last nine years. I spent five years searching for your son. I've spent four years continuing to rebuild the life I once had, my attempts always distracted or interrupted by your two children. I'm tired of living for Skywalker and his friends."

I once thought the same thing, staring at the fireplace when Anakin vehemently professed his love to me. I'd known of his love since the day we met, and I'd held a special place for it within me until ten years later when he had the chance to truly show me his love. It wasn't until death greeted us that I truly confessed the torment that had gone on within me. I'd been dying since the day he walked back into my life, and it was only right that it was he that ended it. It was when we were riding in that genosian arena, that I realized I had to die to begin to live again. The moment of my death passed quickly and threw me into a life I had vowed to never live, and I had never been happier in my life.

"I do not see the point of all this meaningless information. So you fell in love with a demon child, what has that to do with me?" Her impatience was getting the best of her, but Amidala showed no signs of offense at her tone. Instead the young woman only smiled, her eyes shining with something more than knowledge, but Mara could not identify the emotion.

One day you'll know. One day you'll have dreams, Mara. When the time comes, all that you are will save my children. One day, and the day shall come soon, that you, Mara Jade, will die to save my child from the darkness that ruled his father's world.

The spirit faded, and as it departed a feeling of bliss gently swept over Mara, and she fell into a deep sleep, her dreams as dark as the night sky.