Author Warning: This one is sadder than my usual offerings.
Polis Massa
"Medically, she's completely healthy," the med droid said with a wave of his mechanical arms. "For reasons, we can't explain, we are losing her."
"She's dying?" Obi-Wan Kenobi demanded incredulously.
"We don't know why. She has lost the will to live," the droid replied. "We need to operate quickly if we are to save the babies."
"Babies?!" Bail Organa asked in amazement.
"She's carrying twins," the med droid explained.
Obi-Wan ran a weary hand over his mouth. First Anakin was lost to the Dark Side and the lava, and now Padme was dying? It was too much to bear.
"Who is that?" Bail demanded suddenly.
Kenobi's head jerked up in astonishment. Two human figures, one male, one female, now stood next to the prone figure of Padme Skywalker lying on her medical bed.
"What in all the galaxies?" he cried out, rushing into the med room at the heels of Master Yoda and Bail Organa.
"Who are you?" Bail demanded harshly even as he yanked out a blaster. Given the death of the Republic, the rise of the Empire, and the slaughter of the Jedi, he couldn't take any chances about his dear friend Padme. Perhaps these were assassins?
The lovely, dark haired woman lifted her gaze from Padme and her eyes widened in shock, "Papa!"
Bail's hand dropped in astonishment, "What?"
Leia shook her head apologetically, "I'm sorry. That's confusing, I know. I'm Leia, this is Luke. We're Padme's twins from about 30 years in the future."
There was a long pause while the Yoda and Kenobi exchanged incredulous glances and Bail Organa gaped in a very unroyal way.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Kenobi asked angrily.
"Not at all, Obi-Wan Kenobi," the young man said, though he kept staring at his fragile mother, who was nearly unconscious and moaning on the table. "You and Master Yoda must be able to tell that we are trained Force Sensitives, and we are Light Siders. The Force sends us randomly here and there to fix timelines and this time ... this time it looks like we are supposed to save our mother."
"What happened to her?" Leia asked softly. "We never heard the details of her last interaction with Vader."
Kenobi hesitated, then decided on honesty. The Force was ringing with truth; incredibly enough, these two were from the future, and were Anakin's offspring.
"I stowed away on Padme's ship because I knew she would rush to Anakin and try to turn him back. He had already slaughtered the younglings in the Jedi Temple; he had to be stopped. When he discovered my presence, he thought ... he thought she had betrayed him. He choked her in a rage."
Leia's eyes flashed with pain and anger, "He choked his pregnant wife?"
"Yes."
"Why is she dying?" Luke demanded quietly, his eyes somber.
"We are losing her," the med droid repeated. "We don't know why, but she has lost the will to live."
Leia scoffed aloud, "You have got to be kidding me. Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker, giving up? She has baby twins to live for!"
"I suspect that is med droid speak for 'we don't know what is going on'," Luke murmured softly, placing his hands on his mother's head and focusing his considerable power on her.
Leia reached out and touched her brother's arm, closing her eyes and joining with him ...
"What is that?" she demanded suddenly.
Luke scrunched up his face, concentrating, "Force Bond, I think between our father and mother. They would have one, of course. But there is something wrong, it's like energy is flowing away from Mother!"
He looked up now, his gaze spearing Kenobi, "Where is our father?"
"He is dead," Kenobi stated heavily. "I'm sorry, but he ... I tried to bring him back to the Light and he wouldn't listen to me. We fought in the lava flows of Mustafar. In the end, I ... I removed his remaining limbs and he burned to death. I am so sorry. He was my brother and I loved ..."
"He's not dead," Luke interrupted without compunction even as he turned to his twin, "It's got to be Sidious, Leia. He's using Mother's life force to sustain Father. It's the only explanation for what we are feeling. Father is dying and the Emperor is drawing on Padme's strength to sustain him while he is placed in the suit."
"What suit?" Bail demanded.
Leia's eyes were wide, her face pale, her lips compressed, "Can we stop Palpatine?"
Luke's jaw clenched, "We can. But if we stop him ..."
"Our father dies."
Both twins gazed at the mound of womb where their infant selves were waiting to be born.
"They need her way more than they need him," Luke murmured.
"Given that he's now a homicidal maniac, absolutely."
"He'll never have the chance to turn back to the Light ..."
"Alderaan might be saved," Leia stated flatly.
Luke took a deep breath and nodded, though tears filled his blue eyes, "Let's do this, Leia."
The Skywalker twins entwined their hands and laid them gently on their mother's frail form. They reached into the Force and ...
/
Palpatine's Private Medical Ward
Coruscant
Darth Sidious hissed in rage and disbelief. Something, no someone, someone incredibly powerful, was interfering with his frantic attempt to save Vader by draining the Life Force from Padme Skywalker. He closed his eyes and reached with all his strength into the Force, trying to sustain his fatally injured apprentice. And was stopped. Batted aside easily. Was it one person or two? There seemed to be two signatures, but they were joined in an odd way. They were unfamiliar, though. How could he have missed two such strong Force Sensitives, especially two who were able to connect to Amidala and stop him from killing the wife to save her husband?
His ears were suddenly ringing with the sounds of alarms, and the med droids were chattering to one another in languages Basic and binary, and the heart beat of Darth Vader slowed.
And slowed.
And slowed.
And stopped.
"I am sorry, your Highness," the main med droid announced six minutes later, after every attempt to revive the burnt corpse had failed. "Lord Vader is dead."
A minute later, every med droid in the room was a shattered heap of sparking wires and red blinking lights and Darth Sidious, breathing heavily, was standing over the still form of his apprentice.
Darth Vader was dead.
The future of the Empire suddenly looked far less certain.
/
Maximum Security Prison Ship
In Orbit Around Alderaan
6 years later
Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker stepped into the room adjacent to the execution chamber and strode up to the glass so that the captive inside could see her easily.
"Senator Amidala," Darth Sidious croaked, his yellow eyes narrow with fury and fear. His legs were gone, lost in a fight with Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and a legion of other Jedi who had survived Order 66 and banded together to destroy him. His arms were chained to the chair on which he had been seated, and a shock collar was around his throat.
"Sheev Palpatine," Amidala said coldly. "You have been tried in the high court of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and found guilty. The sentence is death."
Palpatine grimaced and reached out with the Force towards her in a ferocious attempt to kill or wound, only to be blocked by Kenobi and Yoda, whom he sensed were nearby though he couldn't see them with his eyes.
"And will you carry out the sentence yourself?" the former Emperor inquired sarcastically.
Padme leaned forward and typed in her personal password, "Mon Mothma?"
In a nearby office, Mon Mothma also typed in a password.
"Senator Organa?"
"Entering password now," the viceroy of Alderaan replied solemnly from his own working space.
Padme continued calling on the other seven members of the Alliance High Council, all of whom typed in their passwords, giving their permission to execute Sheev Palpatine.
The light on the console turned red, and Padme took a step forward to gaze directly into the Sith Lord's scarred and wrinkled face.
"You destroyed most of the Jedi using Order 66," she stated with durasteel calm, "and you destroyed my husband through his fears for my well being. My twin children have grown up without a father because of you. I will always grieve Anakin's loss, but I will find some peace in your death. Farewell, Sheev Palpatine."
Her right hand reached out and she stabbed the red button. A second later, the execution cell filled with poisonous gas which infiltrated Palpatine's airway and into his lungs and onto his nervous system. He twitched briefly, his eyes rolled back, and six seconds later, Emperor Palpatine was dead.
"For Anakin," Padme murmured, her eyes filled with tears. "For Anakin."
/
Varykino
Naboo
5 years later
"Here," Padme Naberrie Amidala Skywalker Kenobi murmured, reaching out to yank her husband's hand onto her belly.
"I feel it!" Obi-Wan murmured in a hushed tone. "I feel her kick!"
"Or him."
"I'm certain it is a her."
"Oh, Obi-Wan, I am not having this argument with another husband. Anakin thought the same thing, that we were having a girl and I was certain we were having a boy. We were both right, of course, but this time I am sure it is one, not two!"
"We'll see in about 4 months," Kenobi murmured, leaning over to kiss Padme's hair.
There was a shout from the shore and the couple looked up quickly just as ten year old Luke Skywalker leaped off a large rock and hurtled into the water, causing a gigantic splash. Leia, never one to be left behind by her twin, followed up with a larger leap and even larger splash.
"Luke looks so much like Anakin," Padme murmured.
"He does. And Leia is the very image of you."
Padme nodded and leaned against her husband's chest with a sigh. She truly loved Obi-Wan, who had guarded her and the twins through six years of war, then had resigned his position with the Jedi when Padme had refused to release Luke and Leia to Master Yoda when the war ended. It was clear already that the twins rivaled the power of their dead father, and Obi-Wan had stood by her when she insisted that they needed a normal life with a semi-normal family. She still had moments of intense sorrow over the loss of Anakin, but she could soldier through it, as she had soldiered through so many griefs.
"I miss him too, Padme," Obi-Wan murmured. "He truly was like a brother to me and I loved him."
Padme put a hand on her husband's arm and smiled sadly. Obi-Wan could always tell when she was melancholy over the loss of Anakin.
"As we've said before," she said quietly, "it was for the best that I lived and...and Anakin died. In the time traveling twins' timeline, Alderaan was destroyed. I wish Anakin's end had been different, but I willingly trade his life for the life of an entire planet."
Kenobi kissed her again, "Indeed."
/
Author Note: This one was a somber one, wasn't it? Also,I am guessing some of you are creeped out that Padme and Obi-Wan got married BUT hey, it had been 10 years since Anakin/Vader died and Obi-Wan is a good guy. I could flesh this out but I won't. Suffice it to say Anakin was gone, the twins needed a good father figure, so Kenobi was around a lot and Padme and Kenobi fell in love and got married.