Anakin Skywalker had died as a hero, killing Emperor Palpatine and saving his son Luke from the clutches of that power-hungry monster.
Darth Vader, the ruthless machine, the man without emotions, had untied that heavy black hood that contained his past and had devoted himself again to the Light Side. The last moments of his existence had been the happiest, however short.
Happiness had died out early in the life of that Jedi, who as a young man was also the portrait of beauty with his golden curls and piercing blue eyes.
The death of his mother, his doubts, the tormented relationship with Padmé, the one who had been the light of his life and who died without him being able to do anything to save her.
The feeling of being alone against everyone, including friends.
The manipulation of Palpatine, the clash with Obi-Wan, the one he had considered an older brother.
The rapid descent into hell.
Anakin had lived most of his existence assaulted by remorse for Padmé's death, until he completely anesthetized himself and became more robot than man.
But those last minutes had healed his broken soul and given him the strength to abandon himself to death with serenity.
Luke had cried him, he had considered him a father.
This had not been the case for Leia.
The princess of the late planet Alderaan was not present during Darth Vader's farewell to life, nor would she have had any interest in being there.
But Anakin had no intention of leaving anything on hold, even after his departure.
Having returned a Jedi shortly before his death, he was able to make himself manifest to the Sensitives in the form of a Force Ghost, and Leia was a Sensitive.
One evening, while Leia was going to bed, she saw an ethereal light in front of her bedroom window.
Initially, the woman didn't get upset, but was surprised: who was that tall man with long curly hair? A new manservant? A Jedi? A Rebellion recruit who wanted to talk to Princess Organa?
No... None of this.
Leia's brown eyes focused on the blue aura that the stranger emanated, very similar to that described by Luke, who had seen Obi-Wan as a spectre.
At that moment she realized: he was a Force Ghost, a deceased Jedi whose soul could reveal itself in that form.
The princess, however, still didn't understand what he could do in her private room, now that the war against the Galactic Empire was over and with it also the lives of the torturers who had brought death and despair everywhere.
"What... Who are you? What are you doing in my room?"
Leia didn't want to appear frightened or rude, but she kept herself at a safe distance, sliding her fingers on the sides of her bed, as if she wanted to reassure herself by touching an object very familiar to her.
For long seconds the stranger didn't move, but continued to glow with pale light, which had a strange background noise, like the wind passing through a tunnel, something that Leia could describe as the noise of the Afterlife.
The spirit, who first gave his back to her, turned and reassured her:
"Don't fear me, Leia. I am Anakin Skywalker, your father."
Upon hearing that name, Leia's body stiffened instinctively, and a faint sound rose to her lips as a conditioned reflex:
"Vader..."
Although barely noticeable, that whispered word was a wolf snarl, it was the shiver of terror that had run through her back, it was the hatred that was building up inside her like a high tide.
The spirit noticed the stirring of strong emotions within her daughter and with a note of pain and concern he warned her:
"Leia, don't let grudge cloud your mind. I have been granted forgiveness and now I am here, in front of you, making amends for my actions and reconciling myself with you, as I did with your brother. Be careful with your anger, it is it what led me to the Dark Side."
Leia's fists tightened until the girl felt her well-groomed nails almost penetrating her palms. She felt a great heat throbbing in her temples, while her hands were cold, as well as her heart. Her irises sent out reddish flashes.
"You come to tell me about the dangers of the Dark Side... You... Merciless murderer, destroyer of planets... Do you think that those five minutes of heroism were enough to erase your past? No. They are not enough. Not for me. Go away, and don't come back."
"Wait!"
Anakin's voice contained a plea, a despair he hadn't had since the time his mother died, or since he realized he would never have seen his wife again.
Leia, who was struggling to keep her voice calm, was silent.
"Darth Vader no longer exists. Now I'm just Anakin, the boy I was long ago, a stranger who came to you asking for mercy for his mistakes, who will kneel begging you to give him a second chance. Please, Leia... Don't make my same error."
No. This was too much for her; her voice rose sharply, like the eruption of a volcano.
"SHUT UP! You come here to crawl in front of me, wishing my forgiveness for the abominations you have committed while alive! Tell me, do you have the ability to bring Alderaan back whole? Do you have the ability to bring back the two billion people you killed with a simple order? Can you bring my beloved parents back to life? Bail Organa... he is my real father, and he will be forever. Your repentance won't bring my planet back to life, it won't console the children who have seen their parents perish by your hand, it won't restore the precious resources that have been lost. Your repentance is worth nothing, it's just empty words."
Here Anakin made an even more colossal mistake, with the most wrong sentence of all:
"I have strengthened the Rebellion with my actions!"
Now Leia's eyes darted red and intense.
"Leia, please, I may never come back to you... We may never see each other again!"
That was a tempting prospect... She would have never seen that spoiled boy again, someone that for one reason or another had deviated from the way of the Jedi and committed a series of unspeakable crimes, which still made her heart bleed and keep her awake at night.
In front of her was a Force Spirit, but all she saw was someone who had thrown away his own existence and that of others and who now CLAIMED to rinse his conscience with his children as if nothing had happened, as if he had been simply a cheap crook.
It wasn't like that.
If everything had been conceded to him when he was young, she didn't care.
If no one had disobeyed his commands as an adult, she didn't care.
If he had obtained Luke's forgiveness and acceptance among the Jedi as a Ghost, she didn't care.
She would have been the door slammed on his face.
A door closed internally, without a bolt.
A door that once closed would have burned on itself.
"Good..." she simply managed to say, her voice vibrating with anger and withholding tears.
"Leia, don't say that... Luke forgave me!"
"I AM NOT LUKE!"
He was mistaken if he thought he could take advantage of the fact that she and Luke were twins. Oh, how he was mistaken...
Silence fell...
"... And you're not my father. You're just the cruel joke that fate has played on me."
At that point, the Ghost really knelt in front of Leia, and his transparent hands crossed over the edges of the young woman's white garment without really touching them.
"Please forgive me. Please... Only then I can exist in peace as a Spirit..."
It was a truly pathetic vision... Darth Vader rejuvenated who threw himself at the feet of the one he had hurt the most, the one he had given birth to but at the same time had stripped of everything... Her parents, her planet, the same woman who had brought forth her...
"You know... I could forgive you all the evil you caused me, all the suffering I endured because of you... But not what you did to Han. Tell me, you suffered when you got separated from my mother, when she died away from you. Or maybe I should say... When she was killed by you?"
Anakin startled, now prey to his daughter's outburst.
"I repeat it again, Vader: get out of this room and don't let me see you again. Cry on yourself for eternity. You would have had your daughter's love if you had behaved according to the Jedi principles you preach."
And having said that, Leia angrily left her room, slamming the door. She almost went to collide with Han.
"Hey, honey... What is that dark face?"
"I have seen Vader. He was a Force Ghost. He asked me to forgive him."
Three sentences cut with a knife. Han stood along the corridor silently pondering what his future bride had meant, even considering that appearance as the result of Leia's trauma.
However…
Han chased Leia into the large hall, where she had poured a warm liquor to calm herself.
What could the smuggler say to her? He knew nothing of those things, but he believed her, because his Leia was a pragmatic woman who would never have let herself be thrown down by fantasies and hallucinations.
He understood nothing about it, but he could tell her the right things.
He went over and took a seat next to her.
"Leia... Having a father like Darth Vader is not an easy thing to accept, but you have to admit it... He was very talented in doing what he did, and I'm sure that ability was passed on to you. But you will be better than him, because you will be able to use his genes to do good things."
The princess said nothing, but looked at the glass of whiskey with a melancholy, pensive air.
After that stormy confrontation, Anakin no longer appeared in front of Leia.
A year later, Leia found her paternal grandmother's diary in Luke's room, jealously preserved among his belongings.
In the now completely yellowed pages of the tome, Shmi described all the qualities of that child who came to illuminate her life like a star in the darkest night. Each page was permeated with the love that woman felt for him.
Tears ran warm on the girl's rosy cheeks; how could that sweet child, who was attentive to the maternal well-being become the horrible Darth Vader?
If nothing else, Shmi Skywalker had died without knowing what had become of her son.
Leia had closed the diary and placed it in Luke's drawer.
Shortly thereafter, she went to talk to her twin.
"I found our grandmother's diary."
The blonde smiled amused.
"I knew that sooner or later you were going to snoop around my room."
Leia smiled too, with a hint of nostalgia.
"It would have been nice to poke around each other's room as children..."
Luke drew his found sister in a tender embrace.
"How's the wedding preparations going?"
"They are going…"
Luke noticed that his sister was nervous and was tormenting her hands.
"What's wrong, Leia?"
The twin kept her eyes fixed on her hands, lost in her fears.
"... Luke... Should we have children, there are high chances that they will come into the world with Force Sensitivity, and I fear... I fear..."
"... Are you afraid that they could move to the Dark Side like our father?"
Here, he said it. Leia threw out all the breath she had in her body.
"Yes…"
Luke looked his sister straight in the eye.
"Listen... If they are to come into the world as Sensitives, I will train them on the Light Side of the Jedi."
Her brown eyes brightened with hope.
"Really?"
"I promise you."
The twins hugged each other again, and Leia felt Vader's dark shadow move away like a storm.
Over time, she was sure, she would have been able only to see Anakin Skywalker in her father, and a new promise in her children.
"Hey, you two! You are making me feel excluded!"
It was Han. The Galaxy seemed benevolent at the time to the three heroes.
Finally.