As the sand swirled around them and memories came flooding into his mind, Vader nodded. "How could I not remember?"

All around them in the sand, little children played or small animals (mostly lizards, for those are the only kind of pet that can survive in the desert) followed their Masters home, eagerly awaiting the post-harvest celebration that was to be held that night.

"All except one." The Spirit said aloud.

Then she looked forward, and pointed.

"Look there, Anakin. Watto's shop. Do you remember it?"

He only nodded. She stared at him for a moment, aware of the shining tear that coursed down his cheek. When he finally noticed her stare, he looked at her strangely, as if trying to cover up the fact that he had been crying.

"What?" He said.

"You were crying."

"I was not!"

"Anakin Skywalker, don't you lie to me. I know when you've been crying. It's all right, really it is."

His eyes seemed to soften for a moment, almost to the laughing blue she remembered, but then they darkened again, leaving only a dark, stormy blue mixed with sadness and pain. His voice was low, and almost threatening.

"Anakin Skywalker," he said in a low voice. "Is dead. I killed him. And I was not crying."

With that he turned from Amidala's ghost and stomped off in the direction of the junk shop. Before hurrying after him, the specter directed her eyes toward the sky, where Tatooine's twin suns blazed in all their fury.

"This plan of yours had better work, Qui-Gon." she breathed.

Patience, came a whispered voice. The balance will come soon.

Meanwhile, Vader found himself inside a dusty, familiar work shop where a small boy tired laboriously. He could not have =been more than four or five, by the looks of him, and he was sitting on a stool, tinkering with a small droid that sat in front of him.

He was no stranger to Vader.

Walking up to the child, Vader's eyes hardened.

"Such a fool you are!" he said, speaking to the boy. "A fool, do you hear me? You cannot hide forever in your dreams, little boy. One you'll wake up to find them all a lie!"

Frustrated that the boy didn't seem to hear him, Vader reached for his lightsaber, only to remember that it wasn't there. It lay motionless on a table in his bedchambers.

All of a sudden, a very quiet Padme-ghost appeared beside him. The appearance of her--the gentle softness and the sadness in her eyes--calmed him at once. He could find nothing more to say.

"He can't hear you."

"What? Why?"

"These are only pictures of things that used to be. He can't hear you."

Vader was silent.

"That little boy," she started. "Works all day long with naught but his imagination for company. His mind dreams of adventure, of love, and laughter. Of the places he'd see and the people he'd meet. Of becoming a Jedi. Of visiting every planet in the galaxy." She seemed to be the one crying now, and suddenly the Anakin inside of Vader began to scream for release.

"It seems so far off, doesn't it, Lord Vader? An innocence like that, I mean."

Vader stopped. It was the first time since their ghostly encounter that she had acknowledged him as Vader. Somewhere inside of him--the part of him that was Anakin Skywalker still, perhaps--something stirred, and he felt sad.

Vader however, shoved Anakin back down inside of him with conviction.

"The boy is a fool. His hopes are nonsense, his dreams stupidity. He will not survive."

The ghost sighed. Would he never learn?

Before she could respond to his remark, a rough voice could be heard from a room deep in the shop.

"Anakin you can-a go a-home!"

"Yipee!" he shouted, and jumped from the table. He ran out of the shop.

Padme smiled and looked longingly after the little boy, and then turned to Vader. She lay her hand on his arm.

Before Vader knew what had happened, they were standing in the middle of a small hut, where the boy and his mother bowed their heads in a prayer of thanksgiving. When they were done, Vader walked over and stared in wonder at the woman.

"Mother?" he whispered. "My mother?"

Padme knelt beside him. "Yes." she said softly. "Christmas here was always a happy time, even though your mother had little money. She always gave you her best, didn't she?"

Vader nodded. "Yes. Sometimes she would go a week without anything to eat and only water to drink. She loved me so much, and I loved her too."

Padme lay her hand on his shoulder, noticing that the hard shell was beginning to soften again. They watched the little family eat, and then they got up merrily from the table.

"I have a gift for you, Ani."

The little boy smiled. "Can I go first? I have something for you, too."

Shmi nodded, and smiled. Anakin rushed into his room, leaving Shmi to look lovingly after her son. Vader frowned.

"It took me a whole year to save up for the necklace he's going to get her." His eyes got a little angrier. "And then Watto wouldn't let her keep it. He stole it and used the money to bet on the races."

"Oh, Anakin," she sighed. "I'm so sorry."

Before he could reply, the boy came rushing back in with a small box. Shmi opened it with gentle hands, and gasped as she brought the silver necklace from it's case.

"Ani, where ever did you get the money for such a thing?"

Anakin's little eyes brightened. "It took me a whole year to save up, Mom. Do you like it?"

The little necklace was in the shape of a five-pointed star, and shimmered as Anakin placed it about her neck. She kissed his cheek.

"I love it, my dear little Ani." She smiled. "Now, for your present."

Shmi quickly exited the room, and brought back with her a brightly decorated box, with a blue ribbon on the top. Anakin's eyes widened. He opened the box carefully.

"Thanks, mom!" His blue eyes shone as he looked at his present. Shmi had worked for months to find the right parts, and even begged Watto to let her have some of the extra parts lying around the shop.

In the box lay, what would have looked to anyone else a pile of junk. But for Anakin Skywalker, it was a box of treasures. Droid parts and tools of every kind were his present, and he jumped up and down and threw his arms around him mother's neck.

"I love you too, Anakin. So much."

As the scene unfolded before the two unseen visitors, Anakin Skywalker began to peek through Vader's armour once more. Tears ran fresh down his cheeks. Padme took his hand.

"Come, Anakin," she used his name again. "We've other things to see."

When Vader dared to open his eyes again, he found himself in a place not unfamiliar to his eyes. There was a small room to the back, where slept a young man, of about twenty-five years. The room was cozy, and it seemed like that of a house. However, when you walked a little more to the front of the place, a large cockpit showed the blackness of space from it's viewscreen. There was a panel of lights buzzing and blinking, and a young boy--he could not have been more than ten or eleven years old--controlled it. He was dressed simply, with a brown tunic and robe, and a short, buzzed haircut. A lone braid hung down to his neck, denoting his status as a Jedi padawan.

"It's Obi-wan's ship!" Vader exclaimed. "I remember this. We had just returned from visiting my mother for winter holidays, and I had...reservations, about leaving her again. Obi-wan told me that if I'd be brave and try not to think about it, he'd let me pilot the ship on the way home."

Padme smiled. "Yes," she said softly. "It was the last Christmas you spent with your mother."

Vader's eyes became dark. "Yes." he said simply. "Watto went broke on some gambling debts and had to sell everything, including mother. I never saw her again."

As Vader grew sullen, he walked over to the ships quarters where Obi-wan slept as the boy Anakin piloted Lightning Myst.

"Obi-wan did everything to comfort me that year. He hated seeing you sad, Anakin." Padme said softly.

"Anakin Skywalker," Vader said, in a less menacing voice. "is dead. And Obi-wan Kenobi never cared a lick for me. He only tried to pacify me so I wouldn't get on his nerves. He only trained me because Qui-gon made him promise. There was no love in the action."

Vader's words were harsh, but the tone of his voice betrayed his true feelings. The Ghost looked up at him as he watched Obi-wan sleep.

"How could you say that?" she whispered. "He would have died for you, had he the chance. You were a son to him."

"Son?" Vader sneered. "Son? No, I was no son of Kenobi's. I was a responsibility that he had. Thats's all."

Before Padme could respond, Obi-wan blinked his eyes open, and got up from the bed. He stretched, and yawned, and then looked through his open door at Anakin, smiling.

"Having fun, Anakin?" he said. He seemed to look right through the two unseen passengers.

Ten year old Anakin flashed a smile at him.

"Yes, Master! Thank you so much!"

A satistfied smile spread across Obi-wan's face, and he walked slowly and sat beside Anakin. They engaged in a soft conversation, unheard by the two specters. Vader said nothing, and Padme looked at him sadly.

"See how he cared for you? How can you say that he never did? It made him happy because you were happy."

Vader remained silent.


They both stood still there for what seemed like a long time, with Vader staring into the black space displayed on the Myst's viewscreen, and Padme staring intently at the conversation between young Anakin and Obi-wan. Once, Padme thought she had almost caught her onetime lover staring at them right along with her, listening to the conversation, but Vader had other thoughts. He would not be caught in weakness. He turned away from her before she could say anything.

"Spirit," he said in a commanding voice. "Take us away from here. I cannot stand looking at this man's face any longer and the boy annoys me. Is there not some other vision you are to show to me, or at least will you take me back to my quarters so I may wake up from this dream?"

The hardness in his voice startled the she-ghost, though she knew it shouldn't have. The hope had almost drained from her face as she stared up into his eyes.

Padme looked as if she had lost everything, or as if she might break down into fits of tears. She deserved it, and I have a feeling no one reading this story would blame her if she had broken down. But it was not the way of the former queen. No, she did not cry. She hadn't cried when her parents died, gave no outer manifestation of grief when Anakin left her, and only cried a little bit during childbirth. No, it was not her way.

She would not defer.

Then, like a light suddenly flaring to life, she stared back up into Vader's eyes. Though clouded, they were the same vivid eyes she remembered staring dreamily into as she recited her wedding vows. Anakin still resided within the hollow shell that was Darth Vader. Darth Vader might be able to bury Anakin alive, but he would never be able to fully extinguish the light of the Chosen One.

He hasn't driven it from you fully.

Vader had expected a worse reaction to his harsh words. He hadn't expected to see Padme smiling up at him, brightly. Laughing merrily, she grabbed his hand.

At her touch, the Myst faded slowly away, and was replaced by a scene very familiar to both the guide and guided.

All around them couples danced on a wide, marble dancing floor that spread out onto balconies and reflected in the tall, crystalline windows. The ceiling was high, and grand chandeliers hung from it, reflecting light from it's prisms in a rainbow of colors. A grand table was set out not far from the dancing floor, where the rarest delicacies and purest, oldest wines were served to the guests, human and alien alike.

There were many kinds of people all around. Some were nobles, whom Padme recognized, with high collared dresses and fancy hairstyles native of Naboo. Others, whom the Anakin within Vader knew very well, were Jedi and various people that Anakin had rescued or befriended on missions,or perhaps some of them were friends from Tatooine; Anakin couldn't tell.

It was he who mumbled this time, gasping at the accuracy of the vision. This had been such a happy time; the calm before the storm, he was sure Padme would call it.

"Our wedding reception." The Anakin within Vader breathed silently. "Our wedding reception."



Padme' got a sort of satisfied look on her face, as if they had finally reached what she had been waiting for. The maskless Vader, however, remained silent after his initial exclamation.

"Look, Anakin!" Padme' shouted gleefully, "It's Jar Jar!"

Vader forgot himself and laughed as Jar Jar stumbled head first into a bowl of punch. "And look!" he replied. "Kitster!"

The past seemed to come alive before them as familiar faces showed themselves all around the room. Siri Gallia smiled contentedly on the arm of Master Mace Windu, and Kitster was had a sly look on his face as he romanced a Nubian handmaiden.

Seated at a formal Nubian dinner table, was the closest of family and friends from both the bride and the groom. At one end of the table sat Master Yoda, surrounded by the three remaining handmaidens (and he seemed to be having a marvelous time) and down the ends of the tables were seated many Jedi whom Anakin had once known and respected. Most of of them, he noted, had died at the hand of Darth Vader.

At the other end of the table, sat a vision that made his heart wrench. Clad in formal white, Padme Naberrie Skywalker sat in contented conversation with his younger self. The two lovers seemed to be lost in a world all their own, not knowing or caring that they were surrounded by hundreds of people. A proud-looking Obi-wan sat beaming near him, his arm around Sabe' with his eyes full of pride.


As Vader looked upon the happy scene, he was filled with memories of how it had felt to sit there, holding her as if nothing else mattered. He looked over at the Spirit and the forlorn look on her face made his heart want to burst. He swallowed as she turned her gaze on him. Her opal eyes were full of tears.

"Anakin..." she whispered. "What went wrong? What happened?"

His voice was hoarse, and she saw Anakin in his eyes as clear as day. For the moment, Vader had been beaten into submission.

"I don't know, my angel. I honestly don't."

The'r gaze lingered on the happy couple for what seemed like an eternity, both of them longing to recapture that day for as long as they could. Anakin made no attempt to hide his tears this time; they flowed freely down his scarred face. Padme let go her hold on his hand and slipped her arm around his waist, and she reached up and wiped the tears from his face. His blue eyes blinked open and for the first time in eighteen years he smiled at her. He sighed and moved his arms to encircle her waist...

and found he was holding his pillow very tightly.


Vader's eyes popped open, and he gasped for breath. He sat up in bed, noticing the fact that he was still connected to the respirator.

What a strange dream!