Anakin's Unforgiving Daughter:
D200/4 ABY, Endor Moon
With night taking hold of the village and everyone winding up to do some serious celebrating, Leia made her way to the tree hut that she'd been given last night. She quickly changed out of her soldier gear and back into last night's dress, loving the soft feel of the light fabric. As she reached up to pull out the pins in her hair, she felt another set of hands beat her to it. Leia smiled and leaned back against Han's chest while he removed all the pins holding in her braids.
Han ran his fingers through her hair, savouring the silk strands as he brushed it out. He pushed some of the flowery smelling stuff to the side and pressed a soft kiss to her neck, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "Someone promised to make something up to me earlier," he whispered suggestively. "I'm calling that in."
Leia turned around in his arms and raised her hands to wrap one arm behind his neck and play with his hair with the other, an eyebrow raised teasingly. "Oh? Who was this someone?"
Han's ever changeable hazel eyes leaned towards a deep shade of green as one of his hands came around and traced the line of her cheek softly, a teasing smirk playing with his lips. "It was a girl. Perhaps the most beautiful girl I ever saw. She had these amazing chocolate eyes, and a smile that stopped my breath. I think I might have to go find her, because she stole my heart and I doubt I could live without her."
Leia gripped him tighter and giggled as he made to pull away from her, looking towards the doorway with a longing glance. "Silly man," she chided laughingly. "I'm right here. I'll always be right here."
Han looked back at Leia, eyes going soft and heavy lidded. "I know." He leaned down and kissed a path from her forehead to her lips, stopping there and pressing soft kisses to her mouth until she opened with a pleased hum, fingers tightening in his hair, and kissed him back hungrily.
Han gathered her even closer, lifting her a little to get a deeper angle into their kiss, lost in the sweetness of her mouth. Neither of them noticed the Force ghost who appeared behind Han in the doorway to the small hut. They did hear the rather loud clearing of a throat though, making them pull apart fractionally and stare in befuddlement at the strange young man interrupting them.
Anakin glared at the man embracing his daughter. The much older man. "I could swear I saw you frozen in carbonite and sent to Jabba the Hutt. It wasn't exactly a mistake that I orchestrated that," he more or less snarled at the smuggler.
The couple pulled apart and blinked gape mouthed at the ghost. Han was the first to recall his senses. "Who the kriff are you?"
Anakin crossed his arms over his chest and kept up his glower. "I'm her father, you nerfherding sleemo scumbag."
Han glanced at Leia to see if she could confirm what the ghost was saying, but she was staring wide eyed at the young looking man like she'd never seen him before, and had, haha, literally seen a ghost. So Han rolled with it on his own. "Well, I know where she gets her insulting genes from at least," he joked without humour. He crossed his own arms and glared back at the ghost. "What's your problem with me anyway? I don't recall ever even meeting you before."
Anakin let his image flicker to that of Darth Vader, which got a gasp from Leia, and raised brow and a snorted, "I should have known," from the piece of poodoo scoundrel who was clearly having relations with his daughter.
Somehow Anakin wasn't surprised that the pilot wasn't impressed with who he'd been. The man was frustratingly resilient. He never even broke under torture at Cloud City. A small part of Anakin was grudgingly impressed with his daughter's choice of man, but he didn't have to show it. "My problem with you, Solo, is that you've got your hands all over my daughter, and she's much too young for you."
Han looked taken aback. "What? What do you mean?" He looked down at Leia. "Tell that galaxy destroying, glowing excuse for a man that you're not too young for me. How old are you anyway?" he asked at the end, almost as an afterthought, because he honestly didn't know. Because of her position of power and her maturity level, Han had always assumed Leia was in her mid twenties when they met, putting her about five years his junior, which was close enough in his mind.
Leia glanced up at Han with a wince. "Twenty-three," she mumbled.
Han did a double take, sure he'd misheard. "Say what?"
Leia sighed and opened her mouth to speak again, but the image of her... biological father spoke first.
"She's twenty-three, you idiot," Anakin said in exasperation. "How did you not know that?"
Han hung his head in embarrassment. "I have no idea. It never came up I guess?"
Leia finally got her act together and stormed forward, getting in her so-called-father's personal space. "It doesn't matter. Han is the man I love. I don't care that he's thirteen years older. And what say do you have in it anyway? You're not my father. Not really. You helped murder my real father. You tortured me. You tortured Han. You took him away from me. You tried to turn Luke to the Dark side. You tormented him. Cut off his hand. Caused him endless sleepless nights because he BELIEVED in you. And what for? You're a spineless, murdering, poor excuse for a human being who doesn't deserve the title of being my father. There's only one man who I will ever call that, and he's dead. And so are you, apparently, and I'm GLAD!"
As his daughter ranted at him in a magnificent fury, Anakin backed away one step at a time until he was all the way down to the middle of one of the countless bridges connecting the tree huts. Maybe coming to see her so soon was a mistake? "I take it that Luke hasn't told you yet that I told him to tell you that he was right?" Anakin said tentatively as Leia stood huffing in front of him, looking about ready to push him right off the bridge.
That caught her attention enough to settle her down a smidgeon. Anakin couldn't believe how much she was like Padme. Padme had ranted at him once or twice exactly like that. And her eyes were exactly the same. How he hadn't noticed that Leia was his daughter when they first met was beyond him. And now that he concentrated on her, with her natural shields lowered a bit, he could feel her strong presence in the Force, feeling so much like a mix of Padme and Luke. Leia could be a Force user too if she wanted. Easily. Despite her rage at him, Anakin couldn't help but be incredibly proud of her. She'd accomplished so much in her life already, and she was so strong. It put him to shame, really. Because she'd lost so much. Just as much as he ever had, if not more, and look at her. Still standing there, a beacon of the Light side, even with her anger, proving you could be mad and not fall. You could despair and not fall. You could lose an entire planet and not fall. Leia and Luke were the epitome of everything he should have been. The prophesy about the Chosen One had only gotten it sort of right. He might BE the Chosen One in terms of power, but his children...? They were the chosen ones in terms of right. They were saving the galaxy while he was destroying it. The irony wasn't lost on him, that's for sure.
As Leia's temper ran out, since the father imposter wasn't exactly giving her any more fuel to rage at with his silence, she stared at him intently as her breathing finally calmed down. Narrowing her eyes at him, she wondered what he was thinking as many expressions crossed his face that looked too much like Luke's the more she looked at him, which she found painfully disconcerting in her current mood. Even though she wasn't trying to feel him, like she could Luke, who she just knew was now on the moon somewhere doing who knows what, Leia was starting to get glimmers of impressions of feelings from the young looking ghost. Not that she wanted them, but she got them anyway. Leia sighed and relaxed some of the tension that had been holding her frame rigid. She wasn't sure, but it felt an awful lot like this man who called himself her father felt PROUD of her. She raged and ranted, and he felt proud. That certainly put a crimp in any further plans she had at ranting some more. You just can't rant at someone who thinks you're great. "Why are you here?" she asked, as calmly as she could manage.
Wow. Anakin flashed back to a couple hours ago when Ahsoka had asked the exact same question in the exact same tone. He figured he better answer before he got the one word at a time version. "I came to see you, and to apologize profusely for all the wrongs I did you," he answered with as much sincerity as he could pack into his tone, expression, and feelings, hoping she'd pick up on at least some of it.
While Leia was trying to decide how to respond to that, Han walked up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist in support. He gave the ghost his best version of his grumpy glower. "I don't think she wants your apologies, Vader. And I doubt she wants to see you either."
Leia elbowed Han slightly. "Don't put words in my mouth, hotshot."
Han just shrugged and tilted his head towards the ghost. "I'm not wrong, am I?"
"You're not wrong," both Leia and Anakin said at the same time.
Leia narrowed her eyes at Anakin again. He shrugged too. "Hey. It's what you're feeling. The Force around you is practically screaming how much you don't want me here. I can take a hint. You won't see me again until you're ready to. I hope you can forgive me one day." Anakin turned his focus on Han. "And as for you. My name's Anakin Skywalker, NOT Vader. That part of me is dead. Just do one thing for me. It's obvious that she's made her choice, so I won't bug you anymore, but you could at least marry her. That would help my peace of mind a lot."
Han met the ghost's eyes steadily, feeling far too old in comparison to the young looking ghost and his equally young love. "I don't care about your peace of mind, VADER," he said pointedly. "But I do care about your daughter. I was going to ask her to marry me anyway, I just haven't had the chance yet. I just woke up from that carbonite freezing a couple days ago. Things have been kind of hectic since. So you can go toddle off somewhere and leave us alone while I ask the beautiful princess if she'd be willing to marry an old scrumrat like me. Thanks ever so much for ruining the surprise."
Anakin waved a hand magnanimously. "You're welcome. I wish you luck. Sort of. But I doubt you were actually going to ask her right this minute."
Han dug a hand in a pocket and pulled out a silver engagement ring, holding it up triumphantly. "Actually, I was. I got Lando to find one for me on Cloud City. It's been in my pocket ever since. This thing's been frozen in carbonite, just like me. That's got to make it worth more. And hey! I just realized something. If I was frozen for almost a year, that means I'm one less year older than Leia. So there." Han had to resist the childish urge to stick his tongue out at the ghost, not even realizing that Leia was staring at him with open adoration for sticking it to her biological father and for having a ring in his pocket.
Leia jumped up at Han, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing many kisses all over his startled face. "Yes, yes, yes!" she cried.
Han completely forgot about their unwanted audience and twirled her around once, beaming like a Tatooine sun, before getting lost in a passionate kiss.
"Well, that's got to be the galaxy's most unorthodox wedding proposal ever made," a familiar voice said from beside the hut Leia had been in.
Anakin looked up past the lost-in-their-own-world couple and broke out into a massive grin at the sight of two old clones standing at the top of the bridge, wearing identical green camouflage uniforms. He flashed to just in front of them. "REX! And Cody!" He somehow managed to pick up both of them in an exuberant quick hug, before putting the startled brothers down and grinning at them some more. "It's so good to see you! Does Obi-Wan know you're here? How have you been? I didn't know you were still alive, but I'm really glad you are. Have you seen Ahsoka lately? Hasn't she grown up spectacularly?" Anakin looked from one brother to the other, waiting for answers. Cody had a slight smirk on his face and Rex just looked flabbergasted.
Cody picked up the slack, since Rex was still speechless. He'd barely recovered from his first shock of finding out that Anakin was Darth Vader. And now the person in question was bouncing questions at them like he'd only been gone on a vacation or something. Typical Skywalker. It made Cody's heart glad to see it. He certainly hadn't been himself when he was Darth Vader. Now THAT was a person you did not want to piss off. This one... This one was more like a brother than an evil Force wielding psychopath. This one he could deal with. "General Kenobi does know. I've already seen him," Cody said, like he was giving a report. "I've been okay. Thank you for asking. I'm glad to be alive too, now that I've found Rex again. Life was pretty bleak for a while there. I haven't seen Ahsoka, but Rex said he sees her about twice a year." Having run out of questions to answer, Cody stopped speaking, not knowing what else to say, but then something popped into his mind. "It's good to see you too, General. You're looking much better than the last time I saw you."
Anakin winced as a memory flashed into his mind of the last time he saw Commander Cody. They were on a planet, he didn't remember which one, since it was about twenty years ago and they all blurred, he'd been on so many. The mission was to search out pockets of anti-Imperial resistance. They'd come across an entire army. Vader and the 501st had dealt with them handily enough, but Cody had managed to charge right into an enemy canon blast. Anakin remembered seeing the white armour with the orange markings (he'd refused to change his colours to 501st blue, saying that only Rex deserved to wear the blue markings of a Commander for the 501st ) go flying through the air a good twenty metres. Vader had been surrounded by the downed bodies of the enemy at the time and covered in mud (because of course it was a muddy planet) and there were more charging at him. Even in his rage fuelled mind, Vader had spared a thought of concern for the Commander. By the time he'd made his way over to where Cody had landed, he was already gone, medvac'd out. He'd later seen a report about Cody being too injured to be an effective leader until he healed from the minor spinal injury and broken legs. He vaguely remembered approving the transfer of another commander to take over the 501st until Cody could come back, but he never saw Cody again and the new Commander had become a permanent resident. The fate of Cody had eventually slipped his mind as the constant pain and other matters took precedence. He knew that if he'd been in his right mind, he would have gone searching for Cody until he found him and brought him back to the 501st as its rightful Commander. Little did he know that Cody had been in the 501st for a couple more years, but further down the chain of command.
Anakin gave Cody the best apologetic look he had. "I'm sorry, Cody. The last time I saw you was in battle and I never went to the med facility afterwards to see if you were okay. I'm glad to see that you made it."
Cody shook his head with a slight smile. "Don't worry about it, General. I know you weren't yourself. I'm just happy you seem to be finding some sort of strange closure. Although I'm not sure why you're interested in Generals Organa and Solo." He raised a brow as the two in question (who he knew because Rex had given him a quick briefing on the inner workings of the Rebellion), were still making out like they were the last people in the galaxy, chuckling lightly at the sight.
Anakin looked behind him and then quickly turned back. He REALLY didn't need to see that. He cleared his throat in discomfort. "Right. Umm. Yah. Leia's my daughter."
That brought Rex back to life. "Well, kriff, I didn't see that coming either. Does anyone have any other shocks they'd like to lay on me tonight? Because I think I might just be old enough to succumb to a shabla heartattack," he said, only slightly joking.
Anakin pretended to think seriously for a moment, counting points on his fingers. "Let's see. You know about Leia. I'm assuming you know about Luke." He raised a brow at Rex in question and got a quick nod in response. "You know about Ahsoka. You've already seen Obi-Wan and I in our shimmery forms. I don't think there's anything else I can shock you with, Rex. You should be safe." Anakin smiled at his old friend happily. Aside from the minor hiccups with Ahsoka and Leia, he thought this whole reunion thing was going pretty well. It might even be turning into one of the best days of his life. "How about you two go join the party I can hear getting revved up from here. I'm sure whatever you were going to tell Leia can wait."
Rex glanced past Anakin and smirked. "It can definitely wait. No way am I interrupting that. You should have seen those two fighting liking mookas for four years. I much prefer this. And you know. I think I might have just won a bet that I made with Ahsoka years ago. She thought they'd never get together. I said they would." Rex grinned to himself, pleased at the hundred credits coming his way someday.
Anakin scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I think I prefer the fighting. No man wants to see his daughter making out with anybody. It's flat out disturbing."
Cody and Rex guffawed as they turned towards another bridge and started walking away. With nowhere else to go for the moment, Anakin followed the laughing fools but went invisible. No point scaring the little natives after all.
As they approached the edge of the party a few bridges later, Anakin heard a familiar whiny droid voice.
"This is so undignified. Why am I the one always being carried around everywhere?" Threepio bemoaned from where he was strapped to Chewie's back as the wookiee climbed a ladder up into the trees.
Rex, Cody, and Anakin peered over the edge of the bridge to see the moaning gold protocol droid being packed up a ladder, the clones chuckling at the sight before moving on.
Flying beside Chewie was a blue and silver astromech that Anakin almost cried to see. "Suck it up," Artoo beeped at his friend. "At least you're not in pieces this time."
Chewie laughed a deep rumble in agreement.
Anakin solidified his form and called, "Artoo!" excitedly, catching the droid's attention.
Artoo swivelled his dome, spotting the shimmering form of his old master. He gave an equally excited beep and flew over to where Anakin stood and then knelt in front of him as he landed.
"How have you been, buddy?" Anakin asked.
"I'm good," Artoo beeped. "Been taking care of your offspring. They're really good at getting in trouble, just like you."
Anakin chuckled, laying a hand on his dome. "Thanks, Artoo. I've missed you. Even when I wasn't really myself, I still missed you. There's not another droid in the whole galaxy as good as you."
Artoo twittered out a few pleased beeps. "Just doing my job."
Anakin petted the droid fondly. "I know, buddy. And you're amazing at it. I'm happy you're looking after the kids. It makes me feel a lot better."
"Master Skywalker!" Threepio called from a few meters away, hurrying over now that he was on his own feet again. "I never thought I'd see you again as yourself. It warms my circuits to see."
Anakin stood and faced Padme's protocol droid. "Thanks, Threepio," he said dryly. "Come on, guys. Let's get you to the party before someone misses you." Anakin walked down the rest of the bridge and came to face to chest with a subtly growling wookiee whose arms were crossed over his chest, that he'd met a few times before in both versions of himself. Anakin looked up at the displeased expression on the wookiee's face. "Hi," he said, wondering what he could have done to earn this. Then again... What hadn't he done?
"You tortured my friend," Chewie growled out.
Anakin winced, as that could apply to a LOT of people, but he assumed the wookiee was talking about the man exchanging saliva with his daughter right now. "Yah, well, he was the enemy and had designs on my daughter. I considered that fair enough at the time."
Chewie's scowl slowly transformed into a grin and he began laughing with big, booming guffaws. "I would do the same," he finally admitted between chuckles. "Just don't do it again," he warned, serious all of a sudden, then turned on his heel and marched towards the party.
Anakin stared after the wookiee with wide eyes. Wow, he was glad he was already dead. He'd heard wookiees liked to rip the arms off their enemies. Something told him that Chewbacca would have happily removed one of his arms if he had the chance and probably laugh while doing so. And HOW did Chewie know who he was?
"He's really just a big softy at heart," Artoo beeped from beside him.
Anakin glanced down at his droid. "I'll take your word for it."