"This isn't good, is it?" Vesper Skywalker asked her husband as they just finished viewing a message from Leia and Han via holovid. Leia who was, until now, running for supreme chancellor but it seemed as though her campaign was over. Especially now that her rival's campaign team managed to find out an all too big secret from Leia and Luke's past.
"We're going to have to tell them…Ben, Aayla, and Padmé," Luke said quietly, looking perplexed by this information. Luke realized he was going to have to tell his daughters and nephew the truth of their heritage since it was going to be leaked all over the galaxy in a day's time.
"We should've told them a long time ago," Vesper said sadly, feeling guilty about lying to the kids for that long. Although…Ben and Aayla weren't exactly kids anymore and Padmé would be an adult in a couple years. "Hiding this from them wasn't the right thing to do."
"I was trying to protect them," Luke told her, and the redhead frowned at him.
"Like your aunt, uncle, and my father tried to protect you?" Vesper question and Luke looked away from her, realizing that his wife was right. "We never should've hidden this from them. Waiting this long is probably going to do more harm than good. Ben's twenty-three now."
"I'm not as worried about how Padmé will handle it," Luke told her sincerely. "It's Ben and Aayla that have me worried. Sometimes I feel as though I can't reach them. They have a pull to the dark side that I haven't felt since Vader. Especially Ben."
"They're not Darth Vader, Luke," Vesper told her husband. "Aayla might argue a little too much and rebel against you but she's young. She thinks she knows everything. Ben can be impulsive at times, and he's got a temper, but those qualities come from Han. Not the dark side. Although, being his father's son might be equally as terrifying."
"You joke but there's a reason Leia and Han sent him to us to be trained," Luke reminded her, and Vesper sighed. "Leia sensed his grandfather in him. Too much of his grandfather. I think I sense him in Aayla too sometimes."
"Yet you never worry about Padmé," Vesper pointed out and Luke gave her a knowing look.
"I sense you and your father in her. More so than my side of the family and I'm grateful for that," Luke said honestly. "Obi-Wan is present in her patience, modesty, wisdom, and goodness just as he is present in you in all those ways too. I don't worry over her being drawn to the dark side. Not like I worry over Ben and Aayla."
"I think he's just going through a lot. Aayla too in her own way," Vesper finally said, knowing her husband was right about Padmé. Their younger daughter didn't feel the same pull to the dark side as her cousin and sister did nor as her father did years ago. While the dark side called to Padmé during many training sessions, Padmé was better at disregarding the call than her cousin and sister were. "I don't think that Leia and Han should've just handed him off to us. It's clear that it's affecting him…even as an adult. He feels abandoned by them."
"Either way, I'm not looking forward to having this discussion with them. It's not going to end well. I don't need the force to know that," Luke said, frowning at the very thought of impending conversation to have with his daughters and nephew. "You're right. We should've told them from the beginning."
"Well, we can't change anything now," Vesper told him before giving him a comforting smile.
"We just have to tell them and hope that they handle it better than you did."
"Anything would be an improvement from that," Luke mildly joked, and Vesper laughed. She kissed her husband's cheek before a wave of seriousness came over them again. They knew the conversation regarding Darth Vader was inevitable, but they still dreaded dropping the subject on the children.
There was no telling how they would react.
Especially Ben and Aayla.
"Remember the stories we used to tell you two about your grandfather Anakin?" Luke told Padmé, Aayla, and Ben as he finally sat them down for the talk. The three Jedi's in training curiously listened to Luke after he and Vesper called them in for a talk. They didn't have the faintest idea as to what this was about.
"That he used to be a slave on Tatooine before he was taken in by the Jedi council and trained to be a Jedi under Obi-Wan Kenobi. Aunt Vesper's father and my namesake," Ben said, knowing the stories all too well. He always hung on to every word of the tales from his grandfather Anakin. Vesper smiled at her nephew.
"He fought in the Clone Wars alongside our grandfather Obi-Wan before dying towards the end of it," Aayla added, smiling at her cousin. The usually quiet Padmé spoke up, wanting to be a part of the conversation. Aayla, herself, and even Ben were like three siblings with Aayla and Ben being the older ones. Padmé constantly had to fight to not be left out. It was the consequence of being the youngest one.
"He also fell in love with our grandmother. Padmé Naberrie and my namesake. She was a senator from Naboo and the former queen," Padmé said, smiling at her parents. "Aunt Leia showed me a picture of her. She was very pretty and looked just like Aunt Leia. Apparently, her and Grandpa Anakin's marriage was forbidden because of the attachment rule the Jedi used to have."
"Of course, you would remember the boring girly parts," Ben teased and Padmé playfully glared at him. Aayla smirked at her blushing sister.
"Just because you don't have a romantic bone in your body-" Padmé started to say but she was interrupted her father who looked very grim. The smiles fell off their faces.
"What we're about to say to you isn't easy," Luke started to say, knowing no matter what he said this wasn't going to be easy. "Just keep in mind, keeping this from you was for your own protection."
"Uncle Luke…" Ben said, giving his uncle a confused look. "What is it?"
"Anakin Skywalker did die at the end of the Clone Wars," Luke told them grimly. "But when he died, Darth Vader was born."
"What are you talking about?" Padmé questioned and Luke looked between the three of them.
"Your grandfather fell prey to the dark side. Emperor Palpatine found his weakness and used it to his own advantage," Luke told them, causing Ben, Aayla, and Padmé's eyes to widen in shock. "Your grandfather lost his way and was the emperor's righthand for many years until he turned back to the light during the battle of Endor. He defeated the emperor and has been at peace ever since."
"I don't understand," Ben said in confusion. "Is this some kind of joke? Anakin and Darth Vader were the same person?"
"It's true," Vesper confirmed, giving her husband's hand a supportive squeeze. "Anakin Skywalker fell to the dark side and became Darth Vader. Palpatine seduced him."
"But you told me all those stories about how your father and dad's father were close friends…like brothers," Padmé said, trying to piece everything together while Ben just sat in stunned silence. Aayla remained silent as she felt a wave of fury come over her "And I know Darth Vader murdered both your parents. It doesn't make sense."
"Those who fall to the dark side do unimaginable acts," Luke told her, and tears flooded Padmé's eyes. All these years she thought her grandfather Anakin was a hero who died in battle but apparently that wasn't the case. Her family's history was a lot darker than that. "When Darth Vader was born and after your grandmother Padmé died during childbirth, your grandfather Obi-Wan separated Leia and me at birth. She was adopted by the Organas and raised as royalty on Alderaan while I was raised by my father's stepbrother and his wife. We didn't meet again until much later. It's why Leia and I were not raised together."
"You and mom lied?" Ben questioned and Vesper managed to look guilty at that while Luke just stared back at him.
"It was for your own protection," Luke told him sternly. "There are still people out there who would love to get their hands on Darth Vader's grandchildren. There are also those who wouldn't take kindly to you three, knowing who your grandfather is."
"That doesn't give you the right to lie to us," Aayla snapped, glaring at her father.
"I can't believe this," The younger Skywalker said to herself. The thought of one of the evilest figures in history, responsible for the deaths of millions, being one of her grandfathers was very terrifying. For so long, she idolized the stories about her father's parents. She found their entire relationship to be romantic and beautiful but now Padmé just worried what kind of person her grandmother was.
How could someone fall in love with a monster like that?
"You weren't ready for the truth," Luke told him calmly and Ben scoffed.
"And when would we be ready?" Ben questioned before giving his aunt and uncle a suspicious look. An identical look appeared on Aayla's face almost as though she and Ben shared the same thought in that moment.
"Why are you telling us this now?" The older Skywalker questioned, narrowing her eyes at her parents.
Luke took a brief pause of silence before answering.
"Someone is going to leak this information regarding your mother and I tomorrow," Luke confessed to Aayla. While Padmé felt hurt by her parents' lies, Aayla and Ben were enraged. They felt betrayed that they had been lied to their whole entire lives. A part of them even wondered if their parents lied to them because they didn't trust them. "Leia and I didn't want you finding out over the HoloNet."
"What's one more day, right?" Aayla said sarcastically and Padmé flinched. She knew what was coming. Yet another argument between their father and her. Padmé sometimes wondered if Aayla loved arguing with their father or if she was genuinely angry at him all the time. "You've already kept this secret from us for our whole lives."
"Don't talk to your father like that, Aayla," Vesper warned, giving their daughter a stern look. "Like he said, we were just trying to protect you. I might not have agreed with it one hundred percent since my father did the same thing with us, but we were left with no other choice."
"If you told us then we'd have more time to prepare for the outcome," Ben pointed out, not caring about his aunt and uncle's excuses. "Now we just have a day until everyone finds out the truth about us. How do you think the others here at the temple will treat us? You think they'll welcome us with open eyes?"
"They know us," Padmé said in a small voice. The fifteen-year-old girl looked at her sister and cousin with unsure eyes. She didn't want to think about people knowing that Darth Vader was her grandfather. "They know what kind of people we are."
"Wake up, Padmé," Aayla snapped, glaring at her naïve sister. Padmé blushed, feeling foolish as her sister glared at her. It always made her uncomfortable to speak up about ideas or thoughts around her sister. Aayla was intelligent and Padmé always felt like she knew everything but there was one thing Aayla was better at than all else…making Padmé feel foolish. "It doesn't matter if they know you. At the end of the day, you're the granddaughter of a Sith lord who murdered millions. That's all that anyone will ever be able to see."
"Why are you terrifying your sister?" Vesper accused and Aayla scoffed.
"I'm not filling her head with lies like you and dad did," Aayla argued, and Ben nodded in agreement. Once again, leaving the younger Skywalker forgotten as tears fell from her eyes. She watched as Aayla and Ben argued with her parents.
While her sister and cousin retreated into anger, Padmé retreated into silence. She knew there was no changing what her parents did nor was there any changing of her heritage. Padmé wanted to become a Jedi like her mother and grandfather before her. Her grandfather Obi-Wan who Padmé always heard about in stories her mother would tell her. She could tell her mother missed him immensely. It was in her eyes every time she spoke of him.
Obi-Wan was a good man…a good Jedi.
Padmé used to think Anakin Skywalker was too, but it turned out everything she knew about her father's father was a lie. The very thought scared her. There weren't many children of Jedi. Even back before the Empire slaughtered them all.
Did the dark side run in the family?
Did that mean Padmé was more in danger of the dark side than she previously thought?
Turning to the dark side like many fallen Jedi in the past seemed so far out of reach. Padmé didn't think it was possible even though her father warned all of his students of the fate that was bestowed on Jedi in the past. He spoke of every Jedi starting out with the best of intentions before certain circumstances led them on a path to the dark side which few had ever returned from.
Padmé thought it happened to other people. She didn't realize it could happen to people close to her but it happened to her grandfather so it obviously could happen to her too. The very idea terrified her and Padmé wondered if she could fall prey to the dark side like her grandfather had.
The possibility was jarring but Padmé promised herself in that very moment that she would try her hardest to resist the temptation of the dark side. She would try her hardest to be more like Obi-Wan and be strong. Not like Anakin who fell so far away from the ways of the Jedi that he became the very thing he once stood against.
Padmé refused to lose herself the way he had.
"Are you scared?" Aayla asked her sister one night in the hut they shared with their cousin on the grounds of the Jedi temple. Ben was supposedly asleep in his bed at the other side of the room, but Padmé could sense he was still awake. It had been a few weeks since they learned the truth of who their grandfather Anakin really was.
"I try not to be," Padmé answered as her sister brushed her hair. It was a nightly routine Aayla did with her little sister. Padmé thought the action brought her some comfort. "Fear leads to anger, remember?"
"It's okay to be scared," Aayla murmured as she looked down at her sister. "You're only a child. Don't listen to dad. He can't expect you not to be a child…to not be scared."
"I am a little, I suppose," Padmé admitted as she stared down at her hands in her lap.
"Of Darth Vader?" Aayla questioned and Padmé shook her head.
"Not so much him. He's been gone an awful long time now," Padmé told her sister. "I'm more scared that because of our family's history that we might be more susceptible to the temptation of the dark side. It scares me because I never thought the temptation would be there."
"You've never felt the temptation before?" Aayla asked curiously and Padmé shrugged.
"I mean, no more than anyone else," Padmé said and she didn't get into explanation. She didn't want to explain the only time she felt the temptation was over the jealousy she felt towards her sister and Ben's close friendship. However, she resisted the temptation and reminded herself that she shouldn't be jealous of family.
"It's perfectly normal to feel temptation despite what dad says. It's natural," Aayla told her sister and Padmé listened curiously. "Dad's felt it, mom's felt it, and I even bet our grandfather Obi-Wan felt it too. If dad denies it then he's lying."
"Why do you and dad fight so much?" Padmé questioned and Aayla paused in the brushing of her hair to answer her.
"I think Dad and I just see things very differently," Aayla said quietly. "He tries to stay close to the old teachings of the Jedi and I think that's a mistake. It didn't end so well, did it?"
"Only because the Empire killed them all," Padmé argued and Aayla shook her head.
"They were wrong. Did you know that they used to forbid Jedi to form attachments? To fall in love and get married?" Aayla told her. Padmé was vaguely aware of that because of their grandparents but didn't know much about it. "Mom was telling me that's the reason our grandfather Anakin turned to the dark side was because he fell in love with our grandmother, but it was forbidden. Don't you think that maybe none of that would've happened if the Jedi had been allowed to form attachments in the first place? What's so wrong with that? It's the reason all three of us exist today."
"I think it depends on what kind of attachment it is," Padmé said quietly. "Dad told me our grandfather had an unhealthy attachment to our grandmother. That he was filled with jealousy and viewed her as a possession. Maybe he was doomed no matter what the Jedi had viewed attachments as. Our grandfather Obi-Wan was in love with our grandmother Tellervu but neither of them ever turned to the dark side."
Padmé was, of course, referring to their other grandparents who had both been Jedi in their day. Their grandmother Tellervu had been a Jedi Master who grew up with their grandfather. At some point in time, Obi-Wan and the Twi'lek woman had a love affair which eventually led to the conception of Padmé and Aayla's mother. Tellervu Villacarn ultimately left the Jedi Order when she fell pregnant with Vesper Kenobi and became one of the few Jedi who ever retired although she never told Obi-Wan of the pregnancy. He found out about his daughter years later under tragic circumstances.
"Obi-Wan was a hypocrite," Aayla said which annoyed Padmé. Padmé always admired her grandfather Obi-Wan. In some ways, she wished she could've met him. "He did the same thing our other grandparents did."
"I think he made mistakes like anyone else, but I don't think he was capable of being a Sith Lord," Padmé said coolly and Aayla scoffed.
"My point is that dad thinks he knows everything," Aayla told her sister. "He thinks that he knows best but who is he to decide what's best for the Jedi? Just because he and mom were the only ones for a long time? I don't think everything should be left up to them."
"Dad can be harsh, but I know he's only harsh because he cares," Padmé tried to tell her older sister. "He was just trying to protect us. That's why he never told us the truth about Anakin."
"You sound just like mom," Aayla told her bitterly. "Always coming to his defense."
"Maybe you should talk to dad about your feelings and doubts," Padmé suggested, trying to mend whatever was going on between her sister and father. She didn't want there to be any conflict. Padmé just wanted them to be how they used to be.
"I try but he never listens," Aayla said sadly and Padmé bit her lip before responding.
"Well, make him listen," Padmé told her. "Eventually he'll understand. I know he will."
"I'm not so sure," Aayla said cynically and Padmé turned to face her sister. She looked her sister in the eyes. Cerulean blue orbs meeting emerald green ones.
"He'll listen. Trust me," Padmé promised her and Aayla felt a wave of calm wash over her. Padmé always had a way of calming her temper. It was a gift no one else had. "Just give it time."
"When did you get so smart?" Aayla questioned, a smirk on her face and Padmé laughed.
"I had to get smart…especially with a sister like you," She teased and Aayla playfully shoved her younger sister away. Both sisters erupted in laughter and a still awake Ben grumbled in annoyance. Complaining about his cousins under his breath.
Padmé would never forget that moment.
It would haunt her for years to come.
The last happy moment she shared with her sister before it was all taken away from her.
