A/N: I'm so sorry for taking so long. If you're still interested, I promise the next chapter will come out pretty soon. Enjoy!

CHAPTER THREE

Ever since she was a little girl, Leia had hated being described as a quick tempered person. Sure, she could be easily angered at times, but she rarely ever let her emotions get the best of her and hardly acted on impulse. Now, all of that could go to hell. As the shock wore out, all Leia could feel was anger. And she was going to make that very clear.

"You lied to me?" Out of all people, Luke was the last person she expected to deceive her. She felt utterly betrayed. Her own brother had brought their worst enemy to their base and was currently tending to his wounds.

"Listen, Leia, I-" Luke tried to speak, but his sister did not let him finish.

"When you said you were bringing in an imperial I didn't think you meant the worst of them!" Leia spoke so loudly she was sure she could be heard from the other side of the camp. She was past caring about that, though. "That's why you didn't tell me, isn't it? You knew that if you told me you were rescuing Darth karking Vader I would tell you the truth," - she berated, approaching her brother, who cowered away from her slightly - "that you are delusional, foolish, naive and absurdly idiotic!" She yelled, scowling. Luke didn't seem to know what to say anymore, so Leia used the silence to take a better look at the monster who lay frail and battered on the gurney, looking like a shell of a human being. For the man who had been used as a weapon of terror and took pleasure in ruining lives in the name of the Empire, Vader sure looked quite unimpressive to her. A very small part of her felt sorry for him, whoever had to endure that amount of pain was in for a fate worse than death, but she knew Vader deserved it. He deserved every tiny flash of pain he had ever felt during his abhorrent existence.

"How could you, Luke?" Leia asked, her voice almost a whisper. "I trusted you." She looked into her brother's cerulean eyes, which stared back at her teary brown ones as Luke tried to make her understand his point of view. He could feel his sister's despair as if it was his own, and couldn't stand to be the one making her feel like that.

"He saved me, Leia. He came back to the light. He is the one who killed the Emperor", said the young Jedi, as he returned to his previous sitting position beside his father's gurney. Luke tried to calm himself down. Soon, he would need to teach Leia to control her own emotions as well, especially her hatred for Vader, which was justifiable and understandable, but potentially problematic for her in the long run. The revelation seemed to stop Leia in her tracks.

"What?" The princess questioned, flabbergasted. Was Luke really telling her that Darth Vader was the one who saved him? The same Darth Vader who had been set on killing them and their friends for years? "This can't be possible", she muttered, mostly to herself. Then again, Luke had told her how he felt there was still good in the Sith Lord. Maybe, just maybe it was true. But that thought gave her no reason to trust Vader at all. He could be using Luke's compassion against him.

"Well it is. Search your feelings, you know it to be true", Luke said, mimicking the words his father had spoken to him on the day he revealed to the boy their true connection. The Jedi knew in his heart that his father had genuinely renounced the dark side the moment he had saved him. Leia, however, was not convinced. She took a deep breath, smelling the hypochlorite and iodine in the room. Luke had sat on a gurney next to Vader's, and no matter how much it disgusted her to be in such close proximity to the wounded Sith Lord whose genes she unfortunately carried, she tiredly settled down beside her brother, looking him in the eyes and placing her right hand on his shoulder.

"Luke, I know you spent your entire life trying to be like the father you thought you had, and now that you know he's alive you're trying to find goodness in his heart so he can be exactly how you have always dreamed of. I understand that, but listen to me, this is Darth Vader we are talking about. The man is immensely strong with the Force, and if he wanted to make you feel something, he could. I'm afraid there is nothing redeemable about him. I'm truly sorry." She said, lowering her head. The princess felt sympathy for her twin. She knew he was eager to make amends and get to know his father, but Vader was a monster and trying to believe otherwise would only cause him more pain. She remembered how Luke's demeanor changed right after his fateful encounter with the Sith Lord on Bespin, in which he lost a hand and his lightsaber. She put the pieces together - that must have been the day Luke found out about his relation to Vader, because he closed himself off from everyone, even from her, to some extent. At the time, she could feel there was something wrong with him, but she couldn't quite figure out what.

"You know, after I found out, he tried reaching me almost every day." Luke said, but before Leia could say 'so he would find and capture us!', he continued. "I know what you're going to say, and you're right. He wanted to find me so he could turn me to the dark side. But I meditated a lot during my training on Dagobah. Even though Yoda and Obi-Wan insisted on telling me father was lost and in order to bring balance to the Force I should destroy him and the Emperor, after a while I started letting him reach me briefly, just so I could search his feelings through the Force. That was when I felt the good in him, Leia. It was buried under years of pain, hatred, malevolence and brutality, but it was there nonetheless." Luke took his sister's hands in his, and went on, "Despite the orders I had to kill him, I felt the Force wanted me to give him one last chance."

Leia couldn't possibly understand why the Force would give Darth Vader a second chance, after everything he had done. What about all the innocent people Vader didn't give a second chance to? Hadn't they deserved one? What about Alderaan? Her family? Why would the Force rather give a second chance to a war criminal?

Luke felt his sister's inner turmoil, and seeing how much she despised their father gave him an idea.

"Leia, believe me. I hated him too. The day I found out he was my father was one of the worst of my entire life. Knowing I was related to the monster that was Darth Vader was a thousand times worse than losing my hand. But while I was training with Master Yoda I learned that hatred, anger, only lead to pain and suffering, and those emotions can bury you in the Dark Side, to the point of no return. Darth Vader, the monster, was once Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi. He was corrupted by hatred, fear, despair, pain. I would hate to see that happen to you." He said, sincerely, and immediately felt it had done the trick. Not that he thought Leia could actually fall to the Dark Side completely - Force knew she was the wiser Skywalker twin - but he had seen her act on anger and revenge before, and one could never be too careful.

"I'm sorry." Leia said, candidly. She still despised Vader, though. She would learn to let go of her hatred for him, but she would never consider the Sith Lord as family. Sighing, she leaned on her brother's shoulder, and noticed how right it felt. Then, a memory from her childhood flashed through her head. She remembered spending countless afternoons sat on her bedroom window, against TooVee's orders, staring at the horizon, admiring the Appenza Peak and Aldera's seasonal thunderstorms as she yearned for a part of her she did not know had been missing. That feeling would constantly linger on Leia's mind, and she had even talked to her mother, Breha, about it once. "You have always been very instinctive, sweetie," the Queen would say, "it's a big galaxy out there, in due time you'll know its secrets." Leia had never been interested in learning about her biological family, though, she figured since they were all supposedly dead, it would only make her interested and curious about something intangible. Besides, she was very happy having Bail and Breha as her parents. She loved and was loved, and those parents were alive.

Oh, how things have changed, She reflected. As she thought about her one parent who was actually alive, she just wanted to be back in Alderaan, lying on her real parents' bed as they comforted her, just like they did when she had nightmares as a little girl, and when she lost Kier as a teenager. She would cry and they would stroke her hair, telling her everything would be alright.

Mom, Dad... we did it. Her parents had died for it, but the Empire had finally been weakened to a point where it could be destroyed. Leia hoped that Bail and Breha could hear her, wherever they were. You didn't die in vain. Alderaan lives, in me and inside all of the refugees across the galaxy.

And then she felt a hand on her face. Snapping out of her thoughts, she noticed Luke wiping a stray tear off her face. He was the part of her that had been missing all this time. Her brother. Her twin brother, whom she loved before she even knew his name. Her biological family was both a blessing and a curse.

"Thank you," she said. She suddenly felt bad for lashing out on him when he had been in her position before. And it had probably been worse for him, since he had a whole idealistic vision of Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight, and had to deal alone with the knowledge that his father was actually a monster. Again, she remembered how closed off and troubled Luke had been for a while, and at the time she could not figure out what was wrong with him.

"You could have told me, you know," she said, still leaning on his shoulder, "after Bespin. You shouldn't have had to go through this alone."

"I wasn't alone. I had Ben and Yoda with me." Luke answered, but Leia knew it was a lie, a 900 year old Jedi and a ghost could not have possibly given him enough emotional support and love while he trained.

Seeing his sister's skeptical demeanor, Luke decided to tell her the truth.

"I thought you would hate me." The elder twin said. "I mean, I even hated myself for a while, and you have always been very vocal about how much you despised Vader. I thought you would see me as a monster." He finished, looking down. Leia felt terrible for her brother. She should have been there for him.

"I would never hate you, Luke. You could be Palpatine's son for all I care. I know who you really are, and you are a hero. You're a pure soul and even before I knew we were siblings I already trusted you with my life." Leia said, and it was true. Maybe it was because of their twin force bond, but there was nobody in the galaxy she trusted more than Luke. Leia had always thought the connection she felt with the young Jedi was due to their close friendship, but now she knew better. She decided to ask him about it.

"Do you feel it too?"

Luke looked at her, with a puzzled expression on his face. "Feel what?" He asked.

Leia rolled her eyes. "The connection between us. A bond."

"I do," the male twin answered. "I even ended up using it unconsciously to call you in Cloud City."

"It was so easy to feel you and know where you were," Leia said. "I feel stupid for not figuring out we were related earlier. When you told me, it was like a veil being lifted off my eyes, everything suddenly fell into place."

"Well, you're way smarter than me, that's for sure," Luke said with a small giggle. "I had never really thought about our connection until Ben told me I had a twin sister."

"Wait, Ben Kenobi was the one who told you? You mean he had known all along?" Leia asked, shocked.

"Yep." Luke answered, amused.

"Son of a kriff." She cursed, making Luke chuckle audibly. "Why is it that everyone seems to know more about our lives than we do?" Leia finished with a groan, not being able to hide her frustration.

"I've been asking myself that a lot lately." Luke agreed, scratching his head as he sighed. "We don't even know who our mother was." That alarmed Leia. Vader was a terrible person, and even though she did not know how - it could be a Force ability or a hallucination - she could remember feeling the woman's profound sadness and despair before she passed away.

"Luke... What if Vader hurt our mother? We could be the product of violence." She said, quietly. Luke did not know what to respond to that. Their father could have returned to the light, but he was a sadistic cruel man for a long time, and the young Jedi did not know how long that time had been yet.

"I hope not", Luke said, honestly.

Anakin Skywalker woke up, confused. He could not, for the life of him, remember what he had been doing before he... passed out? He felt like he had slept for over a decade. Where was he, anyway?

He looked around him. It was dark, but the place seemed strangely familiar... where had he seen it before? Getting up, he started walking around the dense forest of decaying trees, hearing the eerie sounds that broke what otherwise would have been a ghastly silence. What a strange planet. Apparently, not only the vegetation was dead, but Anakin could not feel any sign of life near him.

After walking for a few minutes with no specific direction, Anakin started to feel tiny droplets of water touching his skin from above. He barely had the time to look up before they became heavy rain. Covering his face with his forearm, he dodged slippery mud puddles and rocks as he trudged through the forest, until he saw a blue flickering light in the distance. It looked like... a Force ghost? He followed the iridescent being for several minutes, and then it entered a dark cave. Anakin swiftly trailed behind it, heading inside the chilly, humid cave, sheltering himself from the storm outside.

Wet and cold, Anakin hugged himself for a few seconds, before he heard a very well known voice.

"Welcome home."

Startled, Anakin turned around to see the face of the man he had considered a father for a long time. Obi-Wan looked different, older, somehow. And how was he a force ghost?

"Obi-Wan, where are we? I feel like I've been here before." Anakin asked, confused.

"And we have." Kenobi replied, not explaining it any further.

Annoyed, Anakin looked around once more, feeling like he should have recognized the place already. Why couldn't Obi-Wan be straightforward for once? Regardless, Anakin had more pressing issues to deal with.

"Why do you look so old? How are you a ghost?" Skywalker asked.

"Search your feelings, Anakin. You have to remember it by yourself." Obi-Wan answered vaguely.

Anakin noticed the solemnity in his former master's voice, and complied. He sit on the cave's hard floor, head in his hands as he tried to find out what was going on. Why couldn't he remember where they were? Why was Obi-Wan so old? Why was he a ghost, was he dead? What had killed him-or, better yet, who had killed him?

The image of an elderly Kenobi flashed into his mind. He was in a space station. A military space station, fighting an armor clad... Sith lord?

Sith lord. Sith.

No.

As gentle as a tsunami crashing on the coasts of Pamarthe, the memories came to his mind. Obi-Wan was dead. He was the one who killed him. Anakin had killed his master, the man who had practically raised him, and loved him, because he let himself be manipulated by Darth Sidious. How could he have been so stupid and cruel? He had hurt everyone he had ever cared about. Everyone who had ever cared about him.

Obi-Wan. Ahsoka. Padmé. Luke. The daughter he never got to meet.

Oh, Luke, the boy who saved him. Anakin wished he could tell his son how proud he was of him, and how sorry he was for the disappointment he had become. He also remembered Ahsoka's promise to avenge her former master's death when they battled, and how much it had hurt back then, and now. And Padmé. He would never be able to see her again. The woman he had loved more than life itself, for whom he would have given his life to save... was dead. Because of him. He would carry that grief forever, in life and death.

The more turbulent Anakin's emotions became, the heavier the storm got. The dark side tainted the whole place, as thunder and lightning struck mercilessly outside. Desperately, he let out his anguish with a deep, pained scream, crying at Obi-Wan's intangible feet.

"I'm - sorry, I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you, I'm so sorry!" He sobbed, but apologizing wouldn't change what he had done. It wouldn't fix his atrocious mistakes.

"Dwelling in the past won't help you, Anakin." Obi-Wan said, calmly. How could his master have forgiven him for what he's done, when he couldn't even forgive himself?

"You should hate me. I'm a monster." Skywalker said.

"You know that's not the Jedi way." Kenobi answered with a slight smile. The comment bothered Anakin.

"Who cares about the Jedi way? We are dead!" He exclaimed as Obi-Wan's ethereal form sit beside him.

"There is no death. There is the Force. Can't you recognize this place by now?"

He could. They were in Mortis. But Mortis was not a dimension people went to once they died. How were they there?

"Last time I checked Mortis wasn't Force limbo." Anakin said, sarcastically, running his hands through his hair. His hair. Now, that was something he thought he would never be able to do again. Obi-Wan shrugged. "This isn't exactly Force limbo anyway."

Puzzled, Anakin asked, "what do you mean?"

"You're not dead." The Jedi answered simplistically, which made Anakin roll his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, there is no death, there is the Force and whatnot." Skywalker said, exasperated.

"No, Anakin, I mean literally. Your body isn't dead. It seems the Force still has plans for you." Anakin froze.

"What?" He asked. He could not possibly be alive. His life support suit had been completely damaged and he was not able to survive without it. Palpatine said that himself.

"I know what you're thinking. And yes, you can't live without that suit. But luckily-or unluckily for you, it depends which angle you want to look from, you have a son who is willing to do anything to save you." Obi-Wan explained, putting his left hand on his former padawan's right shoulder.

"That stubborn kid." Anakin said, exasperated. "I'm not even worth saving."

"Anakin, don't say that. Luke believes in you and that might have saved the whole galaxy. Plus, the Force isn't done with you yet."

"It should be. Hasn't it seen what I've been doing the last two decades?" Anakin asked rhetorically. "I think I've done enough damage."

"You've certainly did. But the fact you acknowledge your actions as faults shows you're open for a change." Kenobi said, with a smile. Anakin felt lost, and undeserving of a second chance.

"Why? Why would the Force spare me?" he asked.

Obi-Wan noticed the pain in Anakin's eyes, and smiled reassuringly.

"Well, if it makes you feel better-or worse, since that's how you want to feel because of all your guilt- you haven't been spared of suffering. You are gravely injured and it's going to take quite a bit of time for you to heal." He half jested, somberly. "But you should learn to live with your mistakes to make sure you never make them again."

Anakin sighed deeply. "What should I do?" He asked, resignedly. The storm outside started to turn into a quiet haze. Obi-Wan cleared his throat.

"For starters, you should know that while there's no making up for what you did, you can help your children prevent the galaxy from remaining in this twisted oppressive regime."

Anakin laughed wryly at his old master's advice.

"Yes, because they will certainly accept Darth Vader willingly in the rebellion. I bet they'll even give me a welcome gift basket!" He snapped, sarcastically.

"Are you planning to tell everyone who you are?" Kenobi asked, annoyed. "No one knows the man under the suit."

"Tough luck, then. I need the suit to survive."

"You need a suit. Not that suit specifically." Kenobi explained. Anakin sat morosely contemplating the idea, which seemed dreadful in his mind. If there was one thing he had learned while fighting alongside the Empire, it was that the Rebel Alliance was many things: annoying, foolishly brave, maybe, but they sure were not stupid. They were bound to figure out who he was sooner or later. Then again, he did not even know if he would be in good enough shape to do anything. Besides, would his children even accept him and-

His children.

His children.

Anakin suddenly forgot about everything else. All worries about his future seemed insignificant when he thought of the two lives he had helped bring into the universe. One of which he did not even know, he reminded himself.

"Obi-Wan?" He asked, staring into his old master's blue orbs.

"Yes, Anakin?"

"What is my daughter's name? Who is she?" He asked desperately.

"It's not my place to tell you. You will find out soon, anyway." Kenobi answered, and by the look on his face Anakin knew he would not be getting any further information out of him. Sobered up by the thought of his children, Anakin sighed and looked outside to see the haze had cleared and the dead forest was now bursting with life. Feeling the light side after so long was comforting. He had felt it with Luke, but then it was mixed with conflicting emotions and pain. The pain still lingered, but as the first ray of sun reached the entrance of the cave, he noticed how much he missed this side of the Force. The Light Side was nurturing, lively, warm and peaceful, whereas the Dark Side was troubling, chaotic, lonely. Taking a deep breath, the former Jedi Knight looked at the man he had considered family once, and found him smiling, knowingly.

"Thank you, Obi-Wan."

"It's not me you should be thanking. But I've missed you too, brother."

Before Anakin could say anything, he felt a tremor rock the cave, and started to feel detached from the world. Frantically, he asked "what's happening?"

"It's time for you to go. Remember Anakin, you can't change the past, but you can change the future. I'll be seeing you." Obi-Wan said, winking.

Suddenly, everything went black for Anakin, and before he could understand what was going on, he felt himself coming to his senses again. Unfortunately, the first thing he felt was pain.

He was no stranger to pain, after all, it had been all he'd felt for the previous two decades or so. But this-it reminded him of Mustafar. It hurt so bad it was like what was left of his body was on fire. As he became more alert, he noticed a strange sensation in his throat, and when he tried to breathe, he gagged. Coughing and spluttering uncontrollably, he arched up on his bed, and the action made everything hurt even more, something he did not know was possible.

He heard a mechanical voice say; "we need to extubate him", and he felt himself being restrained by cold, metallic hands as the intruding object was removed from his throat, and an oxygen mask was quickly put on his face, letting him take a deep, shaky breath. After a few inhales and exhales, he tried opening his eyes. After a few tries, he managed to get his eyelids to function, and his breath caught painfully in his throat at the sight in front of him.

"Padmé?"