We will leave Padmé and Anakin for a little bit to focus on their kids.
Chapter VIII: Finding Luke
Padmé was alone in her bedroom, inconsolably crying, Anakin couldn't stand to see her like that, so he decided to wait outside, though he must certainly wished he had the ability of comforting his wife and make her feel better. But there was only one thing that could accomplish that: giving her her son back.
He was sure he could do that. Bringing back his son. There's no way Luke could hide from him, no one ever hid from Darth Vader—well, except for one damn person—but no matter what, Luke will be back and he would have to explain a great many things.
But, how far could he have gone already?
What if it takes him months to find him? Leaving Padmé alone again seemed like the most impossible thing to do. It didn't seem like an option, at all.
Could Anakin really risk leaving Padmé alone in a time like this?
No, he couldn't and he wouldn't.
But sending his troops or bounty hunters after him didn't appear too great a choice, either. Making Luke a fugitive would only make matters worse, and it could hurt the reputation of the royal family, even further.
So who was qualified enough to go after a powerful Sith lord?
Why, of course, a Sith lady!
Leia had never failed his father in all her nineteen years and she certainly wouldn't start now.
So, it was decided, princess Leia would go after her brother and bring him back home, safely to Naboo.
Padmé even thought it was a good idea, since Luke would definitely listen to his twin sister. Though she insisted she couldn't go alone—which Vader found ridiculous, but he complied—so a number of stormtroopers accompanied her on her mission, as well as an old friend who had made Padmé's life easier in the past.
At first it was suggested that R2D2, Anakin's favorite droid still, would be the best droid to join her, but he had disappeared with Luke, which actually made the family breathe easier since that meant Luke wasn't alone; so C3PO was assigned on the mission to take care of Leia.
C3PO had been given as a gift to Padmé's sister Sola and her little girls, ever since Padmé realized how much 3PO feared his maker and master; but since Luke and Leia often visited Padmé's family, the protocol droid had come to truly love the twins, though that doesn't mean he was happy to accompany princess Leia on her mission. 3PO hated space travel—not like he'd ever admit that to Vader.
Princess Leia didn't mind to travel, at all, she was more than used to it by now. So while she observed her talkative companion tremble in fear, she couldn't help but to smile, being forced to put her small, white hands on her pink lips to prevent her laugh from coming and hurting the old family droid's feelings.
"You all right, Threepio?" she asked, smiling softly.
"Oh, I have to admit I've been better, your majesty," he admitted and trembled a little more.
"You have nothing to worry about, you know. You're in the safest ship in the galaxy. You don't think my father would put me in space travel without taking every possible prevention, right?"
"Oh, I would never suggest such a thing from master Anakin! Please don't tell him I said anything!"
"Don't worry, Threepio," she comforted him. "I'd never do that. I actually like you."
The droid laughed, nervously.
"Have you any idea of where Master Luke could have gone?" he asked, later.
"Not the slightest."
"And do you know if poor little Artoo is with him?"
"I bet he is."
"Oh, I hope they're all right."
"Don't worry. They can both take care of themselves."
"Master Luke can, of course. But Artoo can be quiet clumsy, if I might say so."
She laughed. "You may."
"I could tell you stories about him for years, my lady. I've known him for a long time. I might even say I miss him."
Leia smiled at the droid, assuring him that he could speak freely, though she quickly came to regret that, since the droid indeed had stories for years.
They searched the planets that Luke was most likely sure to like. She tried to find him through the force, but he had a Sith, a dark force power that he had mastered long ago—the ability of disguising yourself through the force. Anakin learned that from Palpatine, who managed to fool an entire Jedi order about his true colors, then Vader taught that to his children, while he never imagined one of them would ever use that power against him.
The search seemed endless and poor C3PO was getting sick of it. While Leia never lost her faith. She knew her brother wanted her, somehow she knew, but then why didn't he call her through the Force? An image, a place, a word. Anything would do. Uncertainty wasn't very pleasant.
One time while she was eating, the droid did something that annoyed her—he let go of a piece of information that she didn't want to know.
Leia almost choked on her food, while C3PO couldn't realize how important his words were.
It came from the fact that a lot of his stories about R2D2—all of his stories—involved the Jedi. And Leia had been raised to hate them, as one would hate the Sith during the times of the old Republic.
Since the little she knew about the Republic came from her father—an unreliable source, one might say—and she was curious to hear what someone who lived outside of the Skywalker Empire could say of the republic, she asked him many questions.
"When did you meet my mother?" she asked.
"Oh, it was shortly after mistress Shmii was taken. Then master Anakin returned, and he brought your mother with him. She was as lovely as you are today."
"Were they already married?"
"No. They married after some awful battle in an awful planet which I don't even want to recall."
"You were in a battle?" she was surprised.
"Oh, yes. I was there and I helped the Jedi and Clones."
"Threepio? You… the Jedi, you say?"
"Yes, there I was, and oh little Artoo, too. And your parents and master Kenobi."
"Kenobi?" that name didn't ring a bell, at all. "Who's that?"
"Your father's master."
She blinked in disbelief. Vader's master was named Sidious.
"You must be mistaken. I've never heard father mention any Kenobi."
"Really? How strange! I know the Jedi aren't very much admired nowadays—but they were such close friends…"
"Kenobi…" she repeated.
"Yes, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He often visited your mother, too."
"What happened to him?"
"Lord knows! He was must likely killed during… that day."
"What day? The First Empire day?"
The droid nodded.
Leia took time to take in all that new information.
"Who's Shmii?" the droid looked appalled.
"Why, can you possibly not know? Your grandmother, who was sadly taken from us too soon."
"Oh, how come I never heard of her?"
"I couldn't know, princess."
"Hmm…" Leia wandered off for a while. "Did my father love her?"
"He did, it was really hard for him to leave her as a slave when he joined the Jedi…"
"What? What did you just say? My grandmother was a slave? And my father knew?"
"Your father was a slave, as well," 3PO said, unaware of how insensitive he was being; he was simply stating a fact.
Leia thought about it for a long time.
It was hard to think of the powerful Sith lord, ruler of the galaxy, as a slave—it didn't make sense.
"Why did he leave her when he joined the Jedi? Why couldn't he take his own mother and save her?"
"Oh, I can't say for sure. It probably had something to do with the fact that Jedi couldn't form any attachment. It was forbidden. That's why they never could form a family. Which is why your parents' marriage was kept a secret. I was one of the few who knew."
"What did the Jedi do when they found out?"
3PO considered an answer that wouldn't get him into trouble. "They never did."
"Were you happy in the Old Republic?"
"Oh, yes! It was very exciting since your mother was then a senator. She was very important and I was of great use to her. It's been a long time since I was of use to someone. I mean, of important use."
"But, life is better in the Empire, isn't?"
The droid waited long enough to answer, long enough to plant a seed of distrust in the princess's head. "Of course. Though I do miss little Artoo."
"Threepio, what place was that?" princess Leia asked long time after.
"Beg your pardon? Place?"
"The place in which my father built you. Where he and his mother were…slaves."
The droid went through his memory and informed, "Tatooine, your majesty."
"Tatooine…" she accepted.
She stood up and left her friend without another word—he thought her poor manners came from Anakin, Amidala's had always been too polished.
"When are we going to land on a planet?" 3PO asked the princess.
"Soon, Threepio, very soon…"
The princess and the droid allowed themselves to enjoy the quiet comfort of space. Their room was cold but quite luxurious. The chairs in which they were sitting had warm fur, and while the princess had a warm beverage in her hand, the droid had just been given an oil shower. 3PO forgot for a second that there was no actual floor supporting him, he forgot he was floating in the dangerous outer space. For a second he could imagine he was in Sola's living room, and princess Leia had simply come for a visit. It was hard to remember they were actually on a mission and that master Luke was missing.
Though the constant coming and going of the stormtroopers worried him a bit, he could ignore the uniforms and pretend they weren't there. Pretend…pretend… that was so easy to do. How he liked the moment until… did that really happen or was it just his nerves?
No, it really happened because princess Leia had thrown her drink away and she had gone to a stormtrooper asking him what was happening, and, he couldn't have heard that wrong—the ship was under attack!
"By whom?" the princess asked.
"It appears we've gotten caught in a fight between imperials and rebels."
The ship's captain appeared, and he looked angry.
"What are we doing in the Outer Rim? Who in the world set course to a war zone?"
"Princess Leia ordered us to set course to Tatooine, sir."
"Oh, well…" the captain was incapable of saying anything else.
"Captain," princess Leia asked him, completely shocked. "Did you say 'war zone'?"
He pretended he couldn't hear.
"Come now," he ordered. "We must defend our ship. Our princess is here and we can't let them do so much as to scratch the ship. Kill that rebel scum!"
"Oh no!" 3PO sighed and he ran to the princess.
"What's going on? What must we do?" he asked to his mistress.
"I have no idea," she said.
The ship was shaken savagely and C3PO fell on top of the princess, he heard the battle and remembered with fright all those crazy situations Padmé used to get him into, he never imagined the princess would put his life in danger, too.
Explosions made him reminisce the war.
Then, he heard. He couldn't be mistaken. Their engines were destroyed.
The fall was going to be nasty, he could tell.
"Oh, no, no, no!" he cried as he supported himself on the princess.
The imperial ship managed to make into land safely. Though they weren't sure to survive what follow.
The sound of blasters actually took him two decades prior.
Then he heard Leia saying, "Come with me!"
And he couldn't do anything but follow her.
Then he thought his end had come. When he saw the blasters coming his way—but, wait! Princess Leia had a lightsaber! Sure, the color wasn't very pretty, that violent red, but she could dodge the fire as well as a Jedi.
And many stormtroopers got in the way to protect her, giving their lives for her, turning themselves into human shields.
And then he felt the hot sand under his feet.
"We need to get out of here!" she cried.
Leia didn't understand what was going on. Why were those people trying to kill her? She could deflect the blasters with her lightsaber no problem, but why? Could there really be a war going on? No, a person of importance like her couldn't possibly be so misinformed.
She saw the people falling dead on both sides, and fear, real and poignant like she never experienced before, attacked her. When she could recover from the surprise, she remember who she was, and she just knew, she wasn't going to leave those worthy soldiers to be brutally murdered, though they had already motioned her to escape. Escape? Princess Leia? Unlikely. And stormtroopers had been with her all her life, protecting her and her family's empire, she couldn't just abandon them, they were loyal and good, but not as powerful as she, she had to do something more than defending herself, she had to interfere.
The whole squadron of rebels was killed.
Vader's old Sith master would've exploded with pleasure had he been able of witnessing such a bloodbath, the spectacle was worthy of being compared to even that of the young Jedi who betrayed the order that night the temple was raided. For she showed no mercy. She thought there was nothing that could hold her back while protecting innocent people. Still half the crew was killed and the ship was destroyed.
Princess Leia, C3PO, and like twelve stormtroopers were left stranded on that hot desert planet.