Chapter 11: The Last Visitor
"M…mother? I mean, Padme? Is that you." Leia came off the bed and went to the window. Padme's hands rose.
"Stop. Don't come too close. Your lucky to see me at all." She folded her hands in front of her. Padme surveyed her daughter. She wore a simple white outfit, something Padme would've loved wearing in her lifetime, but wasn't allowed to because of position.
Now she wore, or suppose she wore, a light blue gown with empire cut that floated around her. Then again, she floated too. Padme looked down at the ground she wasn't standing on. Boy, Anakin had tried to warn her, but this was freaky.
Leia was looking at her mother, really looking. Just like her father, she couldn't believe that her mother was standing there. She dropped back onto the bed.
"What are you doing here? I thought only Jedi could…appear like that." Leia could only stare, as her mother's mouth moved in reply. A mouth so like her own. Something she didn't recognize from her father.
"Leia, it's because of your father that I'm here. He found a way to send me. Mind you, it wasn't easy, and this is the only chance we'll probably get. We have a lot to thank him for." Padme waited for the angry response she expected to get.
Leia gave what was expected of her. "He killed you! He took you away from us." Leia's hands gripped the bedspread.
Padme lifted her hands out in a comforting motion. "Leia it's because of this anger that I'm here, and you can't move on. You're destined to become a powerful Jedi like your brother." Padme gave a sigh of regret. "Your father was not himself. He was Darth Vader."
"Imagine," Padme began after a silence, "You're young. Well you are, but a bit younger. You're in the senate, a very important position, and very high profile. You meet a man you know you shouldn't be with, but you do it anyway, in secret. Your family doesn't know, your friends, the public-no one must know or lives will be destroyed. Then a war breaks out, one of the biggest in history, and during that was you're pregnant. That was my life.
"Your father grew up as a slave, he knew love but had to give it up to be a Jedi. When he found it with me he'd do anything to keep it. Anything." Padme's whole being seemed to flicker. "He thought I'd die giving birth. He wanted to learn to keep me alive. He'd also tasted power, and loved it. That's not the Anakin I married or made two beautiful children with. He became a monster I didn't know. So he didn't kill me." Padme seemed to flicker again.
When Leia looked up from the bedspread she saw a phantom tear fall down Padme's face.
"I love you Leia. Anakin loves you. You have to move on, like Luke has." Padme half smiled. "Go marry that scoundrel." Leia laughed.
"Oh, mom. It wasn't fair."
"Life's not fair. It was the will of the force what happened. Now you and your brother have brought peace to the galaxy." Leia nodded.
"One thing more, before I go Leia."
"What's that?" Leia sat up straight.
"Please bring Luke in here for a moment. But don't tell my family. I want them to remember me the way I was." Padme looked up to the sky above her. "A few moments more Ani."
Leia fled the room, closing the door behind her.
Padme took the time to look around the room, her old room. It was exactly the same. She flickered then squeezed her eyes shut.
Leia came back with Luke behind her. Luke's face was ashen and he walked in hesitantly. When his eyes located his mother he relaxed.
"Mother."
"Hello Luke. My firstborn." Padme broke down. The little ones she'd only touched and seen for a moment were here. She had to remind herself to thank Anakin.
"I love you both so much. I need to go. I can't stay long, I'm not strong like you are." She gave them a brilliant smile.
"Remember what you've been told, by the family, by your father, and by me. I won't see you again. I love you both. Had I lived, I'm sure we would've had the best lives together possible."
Padme flickered into nothing, leaving her astonished son, and crying daughter behind.