Chapter 12
She was about to turn to corner when she found a large, spacious office on the third floor of the Senate building. Leia didn't usually snoop around like this—okay, maybe she did, occasionally…
She poked her head into the empty office, searching around. "Hello?" She called, wondering if anybody had left the door open for any particular reason. "Anybody home?" She giggled, amused by her wit.
She shrugged happily, running in and closing the door behind her. She looked around again, as if anybody would be here the second time. She didn't feel anybody present in the room—it was a special gift that she hadn't told anybody about. She could feel people's presences, whether they were in a room or not.
She hopped onto the desk chair, seeing that the desk was left in disarray, like somebody had already gone through this before, for the bottom drawer was left half open.
Leia pulled it open, searching the contents for anything interesting to look at. She felt like a spy set on a secret mission all of a sudden. Scuffling under massive heaps and piles of papers and datapads, she found a data chip simple marked 'Padmé'.
The name 'Padmé' was her middle name, and this somehow intrigued her, making her want to read the data on the chip.
"Artoo!" She called, and the little droid whirled in, beeping something cheerful. "Come 'ere." She shoved the chip in Artoo's receiver, excited to see what was to come. She hit the droid's rusty top, making the hologram play out before her.
"Anakin," the woman called, Padmé, presumably, "Don't—tell that droid of yours to put down that camera!" She was dressed in a simply nightgown; the color was unclear, for the entire hologram was taken blue. Her hair hung loose below her shoulders, the curls cascading down her back.
The man, Anakin, wrapped his arms around his shoulders and said slyly, "No can do, sweetheart." He leaned in to kiss her, and the camera went black.
Leia seemed happy by the romance between the unknown couple. Could this man be Anakin Skywalker, the father of the boy she had met only hours before?
Could Padmé be Senator Padmé Amidala, the late but great senator who was a close friend of Leia's father, Bail Organa?
She hopped off her seat, and carefully slid the data chip out of Artoo's receiver. She would talk to her father about this later…
"It's all over the Holo Net!" Luke exclaimed, flipping through the channels that only seemed to be about the death of the emperor. Some channels, obviously with different opinions, called Palpatine 'a great leader'. Then some, the con-empire channels, rejoiced over the emperor's murder.
Anakin shook his head in disbelief. "Different view, different opinions," he said grimly, "It's what causes conflict in the universe."
"Well aren't we Mr. Optimism today?" Luke said, sarcastically, in attempt to lighten the mood.
He chuckled, amused by his son's sly joke. His mood dawned when he became serious, "I'm sorry, Luke—this whole trip, I—I don't know what has gotten into me," he said, looking down at his hands. Luke switched off the small HoloNet screen, listening intently to what his father had to say. "Going back to Naboo again…"
It would bring back memories. They were painful memories, no, but joyous. Ones that should be remembered but are always pushed away…
"I never met her," Luke said, "But I read about her a lot in school—she was my heroin, the person I'd choose always for all of my projects." This was new to Anakin. "Her death was somewhat of a public notation, yet they never publicized exactly how she died."
Luke buried his face in his hands for a moment, sighing, and then returned to the conversation. "I guess I never told you that," he said to his father, "I guess I didn't feel the need to. But she fascinated me, for some reason I couldn't explain at the time."
Nodding, Anakin studied his son's emotions. If possible, he missed his mother, even though he had never met her.
"I wanted to find out more information about her once," he said, interrupting his father's thoughts of the past. "But I heard that someone—someone tried to find out about her, and her death, and he or she was brutally murdered by someone…"
He or she was brutally murdered by someone…Anakin's heart skipped a beat, and he felt a pang in his lower stomach. He didn't want to tell his son that he was the one to 'brutally' murder the person, his lightsaber thrust through the woman's chest, instantly killing the innocent victim.
Right then, right as he was thinking about what happened eight years ago, Anakin felt something in the force—just for a moment…
He caught sight of the lush planet of Naboo below him, seeing it for the second time in two weeks. When he and Luke had ventured here to see the grave of Padmé, Luke had known—he didn't know how the boy had figured it out, but he had. The force, maybe, Anakin thought.
After all, Luke was probably of high count in midichorlians, since his father had the highest count of all the Jedi, even the fallen. It was a wonder Anakin hadn't sensed him before, especially since he had such a high count.
He was far away, though, from the Outer Rim mostly. He wouldn't dare to step foot on Tatooine until nine years after the death of his wife, and the turning to the dark side, which he was convinced was the best choice at the time—it clearly wasn't.
Arrival on Theed was a blur—many HoloNet reports followed him, wanting a good wanting a good story for the viewers at home to enjoy. Anakin Skywalker said nothing. Luke Skywalker clung to his father, being dragged along by his tight, sweaty grasp of his flesh hand. The boy didn't even dare to say 'Dad' or 'Father' while the reporters were following them—it would've been broadcasted…
Darth Vader, the infamous face that one year ago was all over the HoloNet, hadn't made an appearance on the network in over a year, and the crew could notice the change in the man as he walked swiftly past Theed Palace.
Losing sight of the reporters, Anakin hardly remembers renting a speeder and flying across the clear waters of Varykino—the lake country was far away from the capital city of Naboo, and the ride across the lake was silent.
He watched Luke as the ship docked by the stairs that he had led Padmé up so many years before. The boy ran up the stairs excitingly, before his father, as if a spark had lit below him, and he was set off—he was obviously excited to be away from the center of the action, away from the troubles of the fallen empire.
"Hey Luke, wait up!" Anakin called, following Luke swiftly up the stairs, where he waited at the top, his back facing Anakin. "I'm not as young as I once—"
Luke stood frozen, staring at the plain face of a seventeen-year-old girl, who had obviously stopped running, for her wet bathing suit was dripping on the tile below them. Shortly, another girl joined her, approximately twenty years old, or so—she stopped behind the younger one, wondering why the girl had stopped so abruptly. "What, you forget something again?" The older one teased.
The older girl shook her head, laughing at herself, and noticed the two men standing there, watching them react to one another—"Anakin?" She blinked, looking at the man standing there.
He couldn't deny that he knew whom these girls—no, women now—were. "Ryoo?" He looked at the older one, "Pooja?" The younger girl.
Pooja's eyes averted to Luke, the small boy now standing shyly behind his father. The boy was almost a clone of Skywalker, only he wasn't—he had something else about him… "Is that—is that…" her hand rose from her sides. She pointed behind Anakin, "My—my aunt's…"
Anakin solemnly nodded.
Ryoo burst out in tears, burying her face in her younger sister's shoulder, wrapping her arms around her. "He's—Padmé's son, Pooja," she muttered, as if the girl couldn't figure it out. Almost as if she had a revelation, "And your son, too—Anakin Skywalker—right?"
He nodded again. "Yes," he said. "I know you probably hate me—"
"Hate you? Hate you?" Ryoo sputtered laughing, "That doesn't even begin to describe the feeling, Darth Vader!" She spat.
Luke suddenly appeared from behind his father. "No," he said quietly. "No—he's not Vader anymore."
Ryoo didn't meet Luke's eyes. "Oh, and what makes you think that?"
"Look into his eyes," he said, "They aren't yellow anymore."
Pooja pushed Ryoo off her shoulder. She knelt down to meet the boy eye to eye, she ignored Ryoo, knowing that this boy was right. She had always loved Anakin Skywalker, when he came to visit as Padmé's bodyguard and Jedi protector when she was in danger. She knew, though, towards the end of the clone wars, something was going on—Padmé pushed away all the handsome men her parent's invited over that Pooja had thought she had crushes on, excusing herself from the table to retire to her own room. "What's your name?" She asked the boy.
"Luke," he squeaked, his voice not coming out like it usually did. These people were related to his mother—it was something he had never known—he had never met anybody from his maternal side, "Skywalker. Luke Skywalker."
Pooja smiled, her short blonde curls half dry from before. "Pooja," he offered her hand, which the boy took ever so graciously, "Naberrie. Pooja Naberrie." She mocked how he had introduced himself, "So I guess we're cousins."
"Cousins?" Luke blinked. He had never had a cousin before! Padmé had a sister—or a brother, he wasn't sure. "I wasn't aware—"
"I wasn't aware that you were alive," Pooja remarked slyly, "But you are—so now we're cousins." She got up from her crouched position, and pointed to the crystal clear lake that sparkled with the sunlight. "Come and swim with us?"
Luke looked from Pooja to Anakin, casting him a questioning glance. Anakin nodded quickly, silently telling him that he should go have fun for once—"Okay," Luke answered sheepishly, following the wet Pooja down to the sandy beach.
Ryoo awkwardly followed the two, wondering if she had acted rather rashly.
Knowing that Sola and her husband were probably down at the beach, he guided himself inside to the country home, where he had shared so many good memories. He glanced behind him, catching sight of the balcony where Padmé and Anakin were married many years ago. It was also where they shared their first kiss—the beginning of many to come.
Bringing himself into the kitchen, he pulled a chair out and sat down in it, slumping down, wondering if he made the wrong choice to bring Luke here. He hadn't told anybody he was coming, which was a mistake, obviously, for Padmé's family was vacationing here. He'd have to face the rambunctious Sola, who Anakin had grown to love, but still felt slightly interrogated by ever since he first met her.
He traced the wood carvings on the table with his fingers, remembering the last time they shared in this place, wondering if Padmé (and Anakin's) room was the same way they had left it, the bed unmade and the curtains open, swaying with the breeze of the open window. Probably not, he presumed—
They would stay here. It was where she wanted Luke to be raised, their baby, their child, all those years ago, in the room by the garden, he remembered her saying—they would stay here. He would enroll Luke in a local school, a quiet country school, and they would start a new life here.
He got up, going over to the holotransmitter in the kitchen. He remembered Luke saying something about being born on Polis Massa, a foreign planet that was hardly one—more of an asteroid. He needed Luke's records, his birth certificate, everything, so he could enroll his son in school.
He pressed in the coordinates of the Medical Center on Polis Massa, and kind-looking native Polis Massian came in.
"My name is Anakin Skywalker," he said formally, "I would like the birth records of my son, Luke, so I can put him in school."
The alien made a content noise, and asked, "How old is your son?"
"Eleven," he answered quickly, "His life day was yesterday?"
The alien ran her fingers over several files, muttering 'Skywalker, Skywalker' as she did so, "Ah ha! Skywalker," she said, finding something. Much to Anakin's surprise, she pulled out two folders, instead of one—
"I have two here," she said, "Which one would you like—the boy, or the girl's?"