Padmé was drowning in parental pride as she watched Luke and Leia walking. Of course they had been walking for a long time already. They were two after all. But they were almost running around on the floor of the cabin.
Luke only fell once and got up on his own immediately. They didn't hesitate. They didn't show any sign of fear like they had done when they had been conquering their very first steps.
Padmé was even more delighted when she realized that her twins were playing a game. They took turns chasing their sibling. If only Ani was here to see them. She frowned. She missed the love of her life so very much.
Her happiest memories were of him and her on Naboo. Right before and after their marriage. When he was assigned as her protector and they had spent their time together at her most favorite place in the Galaxy.
She assumed very strongly that one of their escapes from everything there, was the time when the twins had been created. She looked at the little miracles, the tiny versions of Anakin and herself playing and giggling.
She couldn't do anything but smile, as a wave of happiness and love overtook her. "Your daddy loves you very much.", she said, without really thinking. Luke's eyes rounded. "Who, daddy?", he asked, his attention was caught.
"Everybody has a mommy and a daddy.", Padmé explained, crouching down to be on level with her son. "I am the mommy of you two. Your daddy isn't here." Luke frowned a little. Leia's interest had too been caught, and she joined her brother.
Padmé put a hand on each of her children's shoulders. "If he was here now he would be very proud of you." She gave them a smile, ignoring the terrible pain she felt speaking of Anakin.
"Daddy, come?", Leia asked, taking part in the conversation. Sadly, never, Padmé thought to herself. He was dead. "Maybe.", she promised them.
Maybe a miracle had happened and Anakin had survived Mustafar and was looking for her all through the past two years. Just maybe Obi Wan wasn't as great of a killer as he thought he was. "Know, our daddy?", Luke demanded to know.
Padmé bit her lower lip. "I know him very well. But it's been a long time since I last saw him.", she told them.
"Who, daddy?", Luke asked again. But this time he meant something else. "Your father is a Jedi." Padmé savored the look on the little faces. She had told them stories of the brave knights who protected the galaxy's innocents.
She couldn't bring herself to use the past tense to tell her children of Anakin's position. She jumped as the door of the little cabin suddenly screeched open. She was relieved to see a familiar face.
He wore boots to the knees and a lightsaber at his belt. She stood up to wrap her arms around the jedi's neck for a moment. "It's very good to see you alive, Obi Wan.", Padmé said.
"I didn't dare hope you would survive after Order 66", she added. Obi Wan looked to the ground, reminded of all his dead peers. "Mommy?", Leia asked. Padmé turned around giving her daughter a smile. "Yes, dear?"
"What, Order 66?", the girl babbled. Padmé's expression froze. She shouldn't have mentioned it in front of the kids. "I will tell you when you are older.", Padmé promised her daughter. Leia disliked being called too young for anything.
Padmé could only see how Leia's lower lip started moving slightly. She had to change the topic. Obi Wan did it for her. "The two of you have grown quite a bit, haven't you?", Obi Wan asked gently with his familiar coruscanti accent.
He was crouching down like she had just done, making conversation with the children. "I not know you!", Leia called out, looking to her mother searching for help. "Leia.", Padmé said. "Calm down."
"This is Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi.", Padmé explained. Their children had heard Jedi. Obi Wan had earned their trust. "Are you daddy?", Luke asked out of the blue. Padmé expected Obi Wan to be a little caught out of guard.
But the Jedi master only smiled. "No, Luke. But your mother and I are friends..." Luke interrupted him. Padmé would have to teach him not to do so. "Daddy is Jedi too.", Luke explained.
Obi Wan looked at Padmé who was biting around on her lip. Don't tell them, that they are half orphans. They are too young. Padmé hoped that Obi Wan felt her fear, and he did. Obi Wan put a hand on Lukes shoulder.
"I haven't seen your father in a long time but in the way i know him, he is a brave and skilled Jedi. He has saved many lives, he is a hero." Luke stared up to Obi Wan in quiet admiration.
But Padmé noticed how hard it was for Obi Wan to pronounce Anakin a hero. He technically didn't. He called the man Obi Wan had known to be Anakin a hero. It probably was because of their fight on Mustafar.
He had turned to the dark side for what was barely a day. Padmé was still proud to be Anakin Skywalker's widow. She would honor his name, no matter what he had done to the younglings.
She knew him well enough to know that he must have had reasons, had been deceived or lied to. The man she had married was not evil. She loved him unconditionally.
Obi Wan didn't bring it over his heart. He couldn't tell Padmé that her Husband was alive. But was he? Darth Vader was, if one could call his poor existence a life. Obi Wan believed that Anakin had died.
Not on Mustafar, but in the chancellor's office. Anakin Skywalker died when he chose to kill Mace Windu. Obi Wan whaled in pain innerly, as he remembered his apprentice. His Padawan. Obi Wan felt like everything was his fault only.
Obi Wan felt like every death that Darth Vader had caused was his own fault. Because he guided Anakin miserably. Obi Wan felt like he had betrayed so many. Qui Gon Jin, whom he had promised to take care of Anakin.
The members of the council, many of them killed by Anakin himself. All the citizens of the Galaxy because they were victims to Vader's terrorization. And Anakin himself, who was Obi Wan's oldest and closest friend. Obi Wan kept feeling guilty.
In the office Anakin had to chose between killing Mace Windu or killing the Emperor, an exposed Sith Lord. The Anakin that he had known would have killed the Emperor in a heartbeat. Obi Wan just wanted to know why.
He wanted to understand and comfort his padawan. He wanted to help Anakin abandon the sadness and pain. Like he did when Anakin was younger. Obi Wan wouldn't ever spent a night without a nightmare about Mustafar.
Sometimes he dreamed of a burned Anakin who came to him crying. Without limbs, skin or hair. Anakin would scream at him for doing it to him, and Obi Wan knew he was right.
He should have saved his Padawan of the flames, when he was unable to attack already. Why didn't he? He didn't know. He was too scared of him. He thought Anakin died on Mustafar but soon after the twin's birth Obi Wan could feel him.
Anakin's force signature was ever so strong, and Obi Wan knew who he was now. Darth Vader. He could feel it two years ago and he still felt it now. Vader was in pain, in agony. He was full of hatred.
But Obi Wan felt a shift in that a few days ago. Vader felt less physical pain than before and his hatred had shrunken, making place for endless sadness. That was why Obi Wan had come here.
Finding out Padmé was alive would be a possible reason for the change of emotion in Vader. Bail Organa had told him that Padmé would be on Thyferra. Finding her wasn't very hard.
He couldn't just ask her if his suspicions were correct. According to himself, she believed that Anakin was dead. He couldn't possibly ask her if Anakin had shown here. But he felt that Padmé wasn't hiding anything.
But she had always been very strong when it came to mind barriers. Reading her feelings was hard when she didn't want it to happen. "I wanted to check if you're alright, Padmé.", Obi Wan explained.
Padmé watched how he stood up and walked over to her. Her children resumed their game, and waddled through the cabin. "We're okay.", Padmé said. "We have a little financial problem though.", she admitted.
"I can see that.", Obi Wan smiled, looking around in the poor cabin. "I'm making it work.", Padmé said, looking down at her children. Leia had just tapped Luke on the shoulder, then turned around to run away from him.
Vader was wearing his mask again. He didn't have trouble breathing, it was his disguise. He knew Palpatine wouldn't like his human body. It was uncomfortable how the masks mechanics forced air in and out of Vaders lungs.
Vader knelt down, amazed that the position didn't put him in pain. The sound of his mechanical breathing was reinforced by the tremendous hall, he was alone in. His master appeared as a holo.
The Emperor was a little old man, the hood hid most of his face. "What is thy bidding?", Vader said, almost disgusted by his mechanical voice that was so much deeper than his own.
"A padawan survived order 66 and has been spotted on Geonosis. Go there and kill the jedi." The Emperor didn't give Vader time to reply. The holo disappeared and Vader rose. It was only a padawan, it wouldn't take to long.
Vader went straight to his shuttle, he would go there alone. As soon as Vader reached his TIE fighter he took off his mask. He was relieved to be breathing on his own again. He wasn't wearing his armor at all.
He had just put a tunic under a black cloak. As he kept the cloak closed, the Emperor didn't notice the difference. Vader started the TIE fighter. The Executor wasn't too far from Geonosis at the moment. Vader didn't like the planet.
When he visited it the last time, he barely survived his own execution. Although it wasn't only his execution. He wouldn't ever forgive the Geonosians for trying to kill her. He hadn't visited it in the past two years.
His services weren't needed there, since the Emperor already had good control over the planet. Vader left the executor and put his mask in a little storage unit. Geonosis was just like he remembered.
Filled with red sand and swarming with the insect like Geonosians. Vader pulled his hood deeper, many knew his face and assumed his death. He took a Speeder from the Stormtroopers that were stationed on site. They didn't even notice.
Vader had the coordinates of the padawan's last sighting. It was in the middle of nowhere, far from any civilization. Vader felt the jedi's force signature, it was a familiar one. His heart cramped. Ahsoka Tano. She couldn't be alive.
He remembered her being in the outer rim during order 66. Countless clones went for her. There was no way she survived. He was a little proud of her. Hiding on Geonosis was pretty smart of her.
If she hadn't shown herself the Emperor wouldn't have looked here. Vader remembered how he once had taught her that hiding right under someone's nose, was often the best place to hide. Vader was still sensing her force signature.
He was getting closer.