Leia ran to the woods. It was the night before a battle, and she could care less. She had tried so hard to think of Luke, but now she thought of Vader.
Her father, blew up Alderaan. Slaughtered millions. And he tortured her. She remembered the pain like it was yesterday. And he didn't care. Luke was wrong, there was no good in him.
"No he wasn't." Leia jumped. Padme.
"How can you say that?" What was good.
"Before... I knew him."
"You knew Vader?" Leia was shocked. This kind lady knew Vader?
"Did he kill you?" Leia regretted the words as they came out. Padme looked at the ground.
"I don't know," she whispered. "They say I died due to asphyxiation or heartbreak." The first one was not surprising. Heartbreak?
"You knew him -before he turned evil?" Leia asked. She wondered how he had been. "Did you know my mother?"
"Yes." Padme's voice was hollow. "She is so sorry she couldn't be there for you." Tears slid down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry Leia."
And it made sense. The way she felt about Luke. And the Death Star.
I found myself looking into eyes again. So like my own. "You were there, every minute, every day. You did what you could. I love you." Padme smiled, pure joy.
"You are so like me... so like him." Leia recoiled. She was not like Vader. No way. "He was arrogant, stubborn, loyal, and kind." Leia couldn't picture Vader being any of that.
"Did he look like Luke?" Padme nodded.
I've alway wondered where he got his eyes," said Leia. "What happened to him? To Vader?"
"He dreamt I was dying. And tried to save me, with the dark side. In the end, it consumed him." It was so ironic.
"Is that where that story came from, all those years ago?"
"Yes. Now, Leia, you have a big day tomorrow. Sleep. Luke will be just fine." Leia nodded, happy that for the first time, her mother told her to sleep.