Ahem
... I'm SO sorry that I haven't been updating for so long. I'm
very bad at regular updates ... Anyway, here's the next
chapter.
Please read and review!!! It's so important to me
to know what you're thinking of the story.
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"I
want to go to Naboo with you, I need it!" stated Padmé to
her daughter.
"Only if the medical team that is taking
care of you agrees with this plan mother," answered Leia.
Padmé
laughed at that, "Look at us, it seems you're the mother and I'm
the child"
Leia was mortified at her mother's comment,
"I'm sorry mother, I didn't want to ..." she started.
"I
was joking Leia. Don't worry." She smiled and then her face
shifted back to concern.
"I really have to go you know.
They're destroying all that I worked so hard to set."
"I
can understand that mother, but your health is way more important to
me," simply said Leia. Her mother looked at her, very touched by
her daughter's statement.
"Look, what if I accept to take
another bacta session during the trip? I mean it could help a lot
don't you think?"
"That couldn't do any harm I guess
but the medics will tell you what to do exactly," answered Leia to
her mother's proposition.
"Then let's go back to the
medical center and ask them, then we can start to get ready for the
trip," said a very determined Padmé.
"I wonder why
they left so quick, they did not even let us a word of explanation,
which is very odd," wondered Leia.
"It's not at all the
way they are used to act; Gungans are very polite and respectful of
their duties," said Padmé. "Something very bad must have
taken place on Naboo. I really don't like it. Could you open a
holochannel with Naboo? Maybe we'll have more information about
it?" she asked.
"That's the best thing to do I guess.
It's too bad they couldn't say what happened to C 3PO though,"
said Leia.
"It's too bad I don't know the current ruler
of Naboo, otherwise I could have talk to this person," started
Padmé.
"Mother, I think you'd be highly
disappointed by the current King of Naboo, he's an imperial and his
way of ruling Naboo isn't the best of all I'd say. Even if we
can't interfere in his ways, Naboo currently is on the list of
planets secretly but highly checked by the special diplomatic
services of the New Republic. We highly suspect that they're not
respecting the intergalactic constitution that created the New
Republic and that all the systems taking part of it had signed. As
soon as we'll have a real evidence of that, I'm afraid they'll
have to either respond us in an appropriate way or leave the New
Republic," explained Leia.
"How was it during the Imperial
era?" asked Padmé.
"I was an imperial senator, but
I was an active member of the rebellion. It was very tough at the
beginning, I mean, acting as if I was loyal to the Empire. Then I was
captured by Darth Vad..." she quickly stopped suddenly feeling very
uneasy. She knew she'll have to tell her mother soon or later but
was it the right time?
"Then you were captured by your
father, that's what you wanted to say?" asked Padmé.
Leia
looked at her and sighed. She then continued her story, "I was
captured by Darth Vader and he took me to their battle station called
The Death Star. He ..." then again she stopped, very unsure of how
to tell her mother.
"He questioned you I guess,"
continued Padmé for her. Her face was much tensed; her eyes
full of resentment. Leia wondered if at that precise moment, her
mother hated her father for what he had done. Then Padmé
continued with her voice barely audible. "Did he hurt you?" she
asked on a very weak way, as if hoping with all her heart that the
answer would be negative.
Leia's mind was checking every
single possibility. What could she say? Her mother needed to know the
truth but, the truth being what it was; it would have been terrible
to tell her, especially given her current state.
"I need to
know Leia, did your father tortured you on that ship?" Padmé
asked again on a more confident tone this time.
"He didn't
know I was his daughter at the time you know. He was still deeply in
the dark side," said Leia as if trying to make her mother to
understand what she meant without pronouncing the horrible
words.
"How could he do that? To his own daughter? He was a
Jedi, Jedis are supposed to be powerful enough to know such things!
He should have known!" she said, "He should have known and done
something to protect you, this is not the Anakin I knew and loved,
this is impossible ..." Padmé was now crying without even
being aware of it. Leia didn't know what to do. She simply came
closer to her mother and hugged her tight. She suddenly heard the
door behind them opening and Luke entered the room. Not a single word
was said but she knew he had felt their mother's sadness through
the force. He hugged his mother as well, not really knowing what Leia
could have told her to make her react in such a
way.
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Padmé was now lying on
her bed and deeply sleeping. The events of the day had exhausted her
way past her current resistance. Luke was staying close to her as
Leia had been obliged to attend a senatorial assembly to explain what
happened with the Gungans representatives and why she needed to go
back to Naboo.
Communications with Naboo had been impossible
to be set. There was a total black out about what was happening
there. The New Republic had been obliged to send one of their secret
agents there. He was supposed to investigate another planet but since
he was close to Naboo, the senate had decided to change his orders
and to ask him a full report on the situation. He should be on Naboo
right now and the Senate was eager to know more.
Leia's trip
was getting organized. She was going there on a diplomatic ship
together with her mother and family. She will be escorted by military
ships just in case. After all, it was the usual way to deal with such
situation. When the communication channels were cut without any prior
notice, it meant something was happening.
Her mission was
still the same though: sorting out what was happening on Naboo
between humans and non-humans. Nothing military, those ships were
just here to protect the New Republic ambassador.
At the end
of the senate session, Leia urged to the medical center to check on
her mother. She was very concerned about her state after having seen
her lost conscience while she was hugging her with Luke. She
shouldn't have told her, it was way too soon for this kind of
information. What was she thinking? She was beginning to understand
what Luke had been experiencing. She was loosing her control over her
emotions because she was very happy to get her mother back. She was
very far away from being as powerful as Luke in the ways of the force
but still, she had been taught to deal with her emotions without
using the force, so maybe it was easier for her to deal with the
current situation. It might be more difficult for Luke because he was
feeling way too many emotions to use the force to help him. And what
about her mother then? She had been trapped into this carbonite block
for years, and now she was back to life, finding her children, one of
them she thought dead, finding a world free from a monster, having
grand-children ... and discovering her loved husband had been a
monster as well, so much that he had even tortured his own daughter.
Not that easy to deal with either.
She silently entered the
room were her mother was asleep and sat close to her brother.
"Did
she wake up?" she asked.
"No, but I think she might be
dreaming. Her eyes are moving from time to time. I didn't dare
putting her in a jedi trance though. I think she needs to sort her
feelings out, and dreaming might be a key to do so," said
Luke.
"That's true," answered Leia looking at her
mother.
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Padmé was back in her
apartment of Coruscant, she had found them exactly the way she had
left it when she had been forced by Obi-Wan to leave the capital
planet for Naboo in order to deliver her babies. Nothing had changed.
She was nearly sure she could open her cupboards and find all of her
finely styled dresses inside of it. There might even be the holopic
of her wedding in the secret place in her bedroom. She made her way
towards it to check on it. She pressed the hidden spot opening it and
a little voice said "Secret pass word please". Padmé
smiled and answered "Tatooine's suns". A small part of the wall
opened to reveal a bright holopic featuring two very happy young
people. A man and a woman, on their wedding day. Padmé reached
the holopic to touch it slightly. Once again she was feeling the now
familiar feeling of tears filling in her eyes. She fought the urge to
cry again and tried to avoid the tears to cascade down her face.
"Oh
Anakin why did you leave me?" she said.
"I've never left
you Angel," answered a calm voice.
Padmé quickly
turned towards the voice and startled at the sight of the man
standing in her bedroom. She couldn't believe what her eyes were
showing her. There stood her husband. The one she loved, the one that
left her for the dark side of the force, the one that tortured her
daughter, the one that was evil.
"I came here to speak with
you and explain everything," continued the man.
"You did
left me Anakin,"answered Padmé's cold voice, "You did
it when you choose the dark side of the Force."
"You've
always been in my heart Angel," said Anakin.
"I wasn't
aware that Siths had a heart." The cold voice said again.
"You're
not going to make it easy," regretted the voice. "Leia did the
same. But when she truly forgave me, it was too late for me to come
back to her, I had only one chance to do so, and so it is for you, I
won't have another chance to come and apologize for all the pain I
caused to you," he continued.
"The pain? What are you
talking about? Are you talking about leaving me alone while I was 7
months pregnant? Or are you talking about helping this so called
Emperor? Or maybe you're talking about destroying the Jedi Council
and chasing them all to kill them? Or," she continued with hatred,
"Are you talking about torturing your own daughter and thousands of
other people?"
Anakin was at a lack of words. He looked at
her with so much pain in his eyes that she was deeply touched in
spite of the anger she was feeling. These eyes were little Ani's
eyes, not Darth Vader' eyes. Padmé's eyes connected with
Anakin's. All was said. No word was needed.
"You won't
be able to come again will you?" she finally asked.
"I
don't think so," answered Anakin approaching her. He stopped
within inches of her suddenly unsure of his next action. He looked
again at his wife. He could feel the pain he had caused to her, he
could feel it as it were deep stabs. He then lowered his stare, he
was not able to look at her and see the result of his choice. Padmé
was now staring at him, wondering what he was thinking at the moment.
She then realized it might be her last occasion to be with her
husband. If her children had been able to forgive him, she could do
the same. This was her last talk with him until she joins him in the
dead world.
"Ani?" she said. He looked up at her shyly.
"Yes Angel?" he answered. "How much time do we have?" she
asked. "Not that much, it takes loads of energy to be here you
know, and" he was stopped when Padmé throw herself in his
arms, holding him tight.
"I've always loved you too
Anakin," she said with all of her heart. "But you hurt me so
much. I'm back to our children and I'm going to love them for
both of us. But it's so hard to know all that you did." She
continued.
"I know Angel," he simply said. "I know I'm
responsible of that entire situation. But I'm doing my best to
amend from where I am," he said. "I did my best to enable them to
find you. I'm so glad I succeeded!" he said in a very animated
voice.
"I'll always been watching over you and the kids
my love," he said cupping her face in his hand and making a deep
eye contact with her. He approached her face again and then hesitated
a second as if he was having a second thought. He was going to
withdraw again when Padmé's lips captured his in a
passionate kiss. She knew their time was counted and she wanted a
good-bye kiss more than anything else.
"I love you Angel,
remember I'll always be watching you." Anakin said as his figure
was fading away.
" I love you too Anakin," she said trying
to hold him even tighter in a desperate attempt to keep him with her.
"I forgive you," she said just before he totally disappeared.
"Tell Leia I know she forgave me, tell them all I love them" said
Anakin's voice even if his body had
disappeared.
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Luke and Leia were still
sat close to their mother's bed when they noticed she was crying.
She then began to stir and she looked at them smiling, but sad in the
same time.
"Your father came to me in my dreams," she
said.
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All right, that's all for
now. Hope you liked it!!! Please read and review !!!!
