Chapter 12.

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'Denying The Truth Does Not Change The Facts'

"He's here."

The words of Padme lingered through the flying ship, as she stay sitting on her knees in shock, her eyes watered from the tears, her eyes never leaving the spot she was staring at, she had been like this for 7 minutes, her right hand on the jappor snippet around her neck for the whole 7 minutes, Mali kept the twins in a separate room as she put the ship into autopilot, they couldn't see their mother like this. Obi Wan sat in front of her as he tried to break her from her trance and Threepio and R2 just stood rather concerned. Obi Wan knew the only way he could get her out of this state was to go inside her mind.

He found her, in the fields of Naboo by the lake, where she and Anakin sat, ate together. Her hair was long again, her dress was golden, she was glowing, she was happy. Obi Wan saw her and slowly walked up the hill coming up behind her and standing next to her, she was smiling, she was watching something. Obi Wan didn't say anything, not yet, he just stood next to her looking at the empty fields that Padme was looking at, in her joy, in her happiness. "They're perfect aren't they?" She asked soft softly never taking her eyes of the spot that she was looking at, her hand holding the jappor snippet around her neck. Obi Wan looked to her to see the smile on her face before looking back in the direction she was staring in, where it was once empty, was now his old Padawan, young, alive, healthy, good...he was running in the fields, still wearing his dark Jedi robes, he was smiling, no, laughing, he watched how Anakin ran and his children, his small children, 5 years old if that were running after him, chasing him, laughing with him. Obi Wan felt sad, he looked down at the ground a little heartbroken that this was where Padme had got herself stuck, in her trance, well in her state of shock, she had found a place he was afraid would be difficult for him to get her out off. He looked back up to them, he wished Anakin could have had this too, he wished things were different, but he knew they couldn't be and Padme's denial was not going to change anything. "Padme you know you can't stay here right?" he said sadly knowing it was hurting her. Padme looked to him, her eyebrows arched, "I can't leave...they need me." She said simply before looking back to her husband and their children. Obi Wan once more sighed sadly, "Denying the truth does not change the facts Padme. Do not become a victim of your own mind, your children need you out there, not in here..." He said trying to find ways to get her to come out of her own mind. Padme shook her head, "But...I'm not sure I can, I'm not ready." She said battling her own mind. "No one is ever ready, but it is no longer about that anymore." He spoke softly once more looking at his old friend and his children. "If you stay here...your children will die, they need their mother. Anakin..." he took a breath at the name of his friend, his brother, "Anakin is an adult...he made his choice, he doesn't need you like they need you, if you stay here, Anakin will ruin their lives, the Sith will ruin their lives. I will be by your side until my last breath, I will fight with you and give my life to protect those children, but your pain, your suffering does not matter anymore, nor does mine, none of it does, because the real importance are two innocent 11 year olds, worried for their mother, afraid of the things they witnessed today.." Obi Wan saw the changed expression on Padme's face, it was a sad one, because she knew she couldn't stay here, where her family where everything she wanted them to be, she knew she had to go back, she had to go back to reality and save her children, even if it meant dying herself. A small tear fell down her face as she nodded, "This was all I ever wanted...to be a family." She said softly as the tear rolled down her cheek. Obi Wan nodded, "I know...I am so sorry it didn't work out this way, Anakin would have made a great father." He said, and he meant it, he truly believed Anakin would have made a great father. Padme took a deep breath before taking one last look at the life she wished she had. "Okay...I'm ready." She said looking to him, knowing if she looked any longer at Anakin and the kids she would never want to leave, Obi Wan took her hand. "You are strong enough Padme, the strongest person I've ever met...and you can do this." He said knowing he was to guide her out of this trance.

Padme opened her eyes and let go of the jappor snippet on her chest, looking to him, sadness in her eyes as she sucked in her bottom lip, taking a deep breath Obi Wan looked to her too before nodding to tell her everything was going to be okay and that she could do this. She nodded back before standing up with him, she was going to protect these kids no matter what it cost her, but first, she had to tell them the truth. Walking into the other room to see them, they ran into her arms, "We were so worried." Padme bent down to their level hugging them tightly. "I thought you were leaving us." Luke said sadly as she hugged her tightly, Padme closed her eyes resting into her children, holding onto them tightly. "Never...I'd never leave you." She promised them, before looking to them, "There is something I must tell you...about who you are, about where you come from...about your father." She said looking at the pair, she knew she had to swallow any grief and denial she had because no more than ever this was important, they had to understand, although she had hoped that they would be a little older.

They all sat down around the table of the ship, all of them, supporting Padme in what she was about to tell them. They knew their mother to be Annie Varla, a no one from Tattooine when in fact she was so much more than that. She took a deep breath looking to her children, looking to Mali and Obi Wan once more before back at her children, "My name is not Annie Varla, my true identity is Padme Amidala...Skywalker. I was a queen, at the age of 14 I ruled the Naboo system as their queen, I served for two terms before moving to Coruscant to become a member of the senate. There is was known as Senator Amidala, I was a well respected senator and I fought so hard to make things right. Uncle Ben was a member of the Jedi order, he worked along side the senate on Coruscant, as was your father." She paused her hands shaking slightly. "You father, his name was Anakin Skywalker, I met him when I was queen, here on Tattooine, I was under the Jedi protection of Ben and his master after an attempt on my life, it was on Tattooine that I met your father, he was just a slave boy, so sweet, so kind and caring, brave, he was already a great pilot but he was stuck in a life he did not deserve. So, he left with Ben to become a Jedi knight." Padme watched as her kids ears perked, they were so intrigued but could feel such sadness within this story, within their mother. "We parted for ten years, he spent those years fighting across the galaxy, protecting it and I was serving the senate. We reunited on unfortunate circumstances when once more an attempt on my life, Ben and Anakin were sent to be my Jedi protectors and when matters got worse, Anakin and I were sent to Naboo for my protection, it was here he confessed his feelings for me, but I refused, I was a couple years older and he was a Jedi knight, it was forbidden. But then dreams of his mother, your aunt Mali's sister, dreams of his mother once again brought us back to Tattooine, after her death he was no longer the same. Then we received a transmission from Ben who had been captured on Geonosis by a dark lord, so we went to rescue him but ended up becoming prisoners ourselves. I thought we were going to die, so...I confessed my love to your father, I knew I couldn't let either of us die without him knowing. We survived of course and fought in the clone wars together, and once everything was over...we secretly married on Naboo. We spent the next 4 years living in secret, at times it was easy, at times it was hard, but we loved each other so much that it didn't matter." She paused once more as she drew closer to heartbreak of the story. "After 7 months apart because of his duty, I told him I was pregnant when he finally came home, I was so afraid, I was already so heavily pregnant with you both, and no one knew of anything. Anyway, a couple weeks had passed and he begun having dreams of my death in childbirth...I'm sorry this is so much information and in detail but you must know, you must understand why what happened, happened." She told her kids. "He became so fearful that he became so lost, promised me he would not lose me and in doing so was manipulated by the dark side for the force who made him believe that the only way to save me was in a power only the Sith use. He knew what he was doing when he gave himself to the dark side, but it was all just to save me. He ended up destroying the entire Jedi Order...with only a few survivors, and at the point the reason he had become so dark was no longer a reason. I went to mustafar to try and stop him before things became even worse but it was too late, he was not the same person I had married and he no longer just wanted to save me, he craved the power and..." Padme stopped knowing she didn't remember much after that since she was unconscious. "Your mother had fallen unwell through the heartbreak and I had snuck onto her ship, I had to stop him, we fought and we fought and it killed me, but it was my duty. His body caught on fire from the lava rivers, I felt so guilty but he couldn't live...however I had failed my duty and his new evil master had found him, built a new suit for him, and he now lives on by the name Darth Vader." Obi Wan finished that part of the story for her. "Your mother moved here with you both, under new identities to keep you safe, if he or the emperor had found you, he would of forced a terrible life of pain and darkness onto you both, your mom couldn't let that happen." Mali added. Padme looked to her children who seemed so touched by the story, anger in Leia but sadness, fear in Luke but a sense of belonging and hope. "You are Luke and Leia Skywalker, and you have brought so much happiness and hope to my life, I just wish I could have given you something so much more than this. But, I had to protect you...I still have to protect you." Padme said to her kids. "Vader saw me, he knows I am still alive and I don't doubt for a second that he will do whatever it takes to find me, that is why we must flee...I can't have him find you either." She said in a sad whisper. Luke and Leia didn't know what to say really, it was a lot of detail and information for two 11 year olds who just a few hours ago were nobodies from Tattooine, but they weren't nobodies, they were royals, they were the son and daughter of a queen, a senator, the son and daughter of a great Jedi knight who lost his ways.

Leia looked to Luke and Luke looked to Leia, nodding to each other as they shared their connection, before taking their mothers hands. "You're not going to face this alone mom...we'll do this together." Luke said softly, Padme's eyebrows arched. "We will save him...no matter what it takes." Leia added, it caused a tear to fall down her face, her kids, her brave kids, willing to lay down their own lives to fix this mess, they had their mothers strength, their fathers bravery and passion...Padme looked to her children and swallowed the lump in her throat. "You deserve normal lives, I will not let them take that from you, you have missed so much already." She said to them. They shook their heads "We don't care." Leia added.

"We do this together, or not at all."

Luke added, like a true Jedi.