Chapter 2

Anakin

"Not brought an end to the war, the death of General Greivous has." Yoda sat, looking concerned. "Troubling, this is. More meditating, I shall do. Another threat, I sense."

I tried to listen. I really did. But my thoughts kept wandering back to my little newborns back on Naboo. Sweet little Luke would smile and giggle uncontrollably if you so much as said "Good Morning" to him. Leia was not a morning person in the slightest, and I can't help but think that she came by it honestly. She was… already pretty stubborn and maybe a bit sassy.

I couldn't wait for her to talk.

Padme had recovered from childbirth well and regularly sent recordings of the babies being… well, the babies. They were so cute. So chubby. So sweet.

And I had never missed them more than I did when I was stuck in a meeting.

"Adjourned. Try to find this new force, we shall." Everyone got up and went their own separate ways. Obi Wan followed me to my apartment (I had a very cute video to show him).

"Ani…. I have their middle names picked out."

We were sitting in the main room of the Lake house holding the babies. I had Leia in my arms and she had Luke. I hardly ever got to cuddle and play with my babies, so I would try to enjoy every moment I had.

"What do you want them to be?"

She picked up our son. "His full name will be Luke Naberrie Amidala-Skywalker, but legally the Skywalker part will be left out." She nuzzled him and he squealed, flailing his chubby little legs around.

"And Leia?"

Padme looked up at me. "Her name will be Leia Shmi Amidala- Skywalker."

I hadn't registered the tears on my face until Leia's little hand wiped them away.

My little daughter.

Leia Shmi Skywalker.

Padme

I have to admit, that little girl had more Anakin in her than Anakin himself.

The teenage years were going to be pretty rough. Now that she was three, she had become a bit of a menace to society and Luke was her accomplice. He didn't have a bad bone in his body, but he did love his sister and essentially took her word to be law.

But was pranking the chancellor really necessary?

He had just sat down and we were discussing the continuation of the outer rim siege with other senators when all of a sudden his soup began to look gelatinous. I looked at Leia and she had a smirk on her face that I knew all too well.

"Chancellor, you may not want to…"

It was too late.

"This is… interesting, I've never seen Tsa-Kilek soup do that…"

Well, long story short he had some "tummy troubles" during the senate hearing the next day and they were, rather unfortunately, amplified along with his words. Leia looked rather satisfied with herself, and Luke was trying not to show that he was as well. Anakin was standing in our booth for "protection" and desperately trying to keep it together.

In hindsight, it was pretty funny, but I was not amused at the time.

As soon as we weren't in public, I flipped around to see the culprits in a fit of giggles.

"How did you even manage that?!" I shook my head. "You two are going to send me to an early grave!"

"It was pwetty easy!" Leia giggled.

"Maybe too easy." Luke playfully pushed his sister.

That night, Anakin was lying on my bed when I turned to him.

"Ani, I think we should train the kids in the ways of the force."

"What?" He turned to face me. "Are we sure? I mean, shouldn't we let them decide what they want to an extent…?"

"They don't have to be Jedi, I just want to know if you can…"

"I don't know if I can teach them both, but I could probably take on one… they would become my padawan eventually." He stared at the ceiling. "The other one should probably be trained as well, I will ask Ahsoka to do that."

"Alright. So which one will do what?"

"I don't know… I can already sense that Leia is extremely gifted. If I had to guess, her midichlorian count is a bit higher than Luke's, but I can also sense a bit more darkness in her than I do him. I mean, I was the same way, but I'd like that to be taken into account…"

"Luke would probably be a better Jedi. Leia would be a better warrior."

"I think we should ask them tomorrow. They'll choose."

We sat the twins down the next morning to talk. Luke was all sunshine and smiles, but Leia looked like she wanted to murder everyone and everything.

Anakin sat down in front of them. "So, mommy and daddy were talking last night, and we wanted to ask… would one of you want to become a Jedi?"

That woke Leia up.

"I wan do it!" Luke jumped up. "Jus wike dada!"

"Wai, but you have to weave me." Leia looked at him, her little eyes shining.

"Oh." Luke looked down. "I did no fink bou dat."

Leia sighed, shaking her little head. "Bu… I fink it wight to do. It feew good."

Luke waddled over to his sister and gave her a hug. "You suwe? You no want it?"

"Muma need someone to stay." She hugged him tight.

"I miss you Wi."

"Me too Wuke. But we see each uddew sometime!"

"Yah. Wuv oo."

I looked at Ani, watching his big heart melt as he looked at his babies. Our babies.

A few days later, Luke and Leia said a tearful goodbye. I knew I would worry for my husband and son every day, but they were in good hands.

At least, that was my hope.

Leia was going to start training to become a senator, maybe a queen, I would allow her to choose that. She was already bilingual, and was already debating with me about certain issues, ranging from bedtime to the Jedi being able to have families. Her argument was always "I want to see daddy!" and I couldn't talk her down from it.

Three years later, we were fully in our new normal.

I was Leia's personal tutor. Ahsoka was training her in the ways of the Jedi, teaching her to meditate and how to fight. She was progressing well, especially in the force. Luke was doing incredibly well in lightsaber combat, even moving to spar with kids four or five years older than him. Anakin was very proud and had his eye on him, waiting for his tenth birthday so that he could select his son as a Padawan.

When Leia was almost seven, I took her to her first senate hearing. She was excited until she sat down and her demeanor completely changed.

"Something is weird." She whispered to me. "I can feel it."

"I'm sure everything is fine honey…"

"I don't like Mr Palpatine." She shook her head. "Something feels wrong."

I pulled her onto my lap and allowed her to listen as points flew back and forth. A rather large battle had broken out on the swamp planet of Dagobah, and the end seemed to be nowhere in sight. The clone wars had been going on for nine years, and everyone was starting to become tired of them.

Anakin

"I would like to select Luke Amidala as my Padawan." I turned to the council and watched them digest my proposal.

"Shown extraordinary progress, Luke has." Yoda said. "An asset to you, he would be."

It was true. I was so proud of him, watching him sparring with and besting the older kids. Although he wasn't the greatest at book work, he more than made up for it in his other skills.

Mace Windu led my son into the council room. "Luke Amidala, Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker has requested that you become his padawan, and the council has deemed both of you fit to do so. Do you accept?"

A smile spread across Luke's face. "Yes!"

"Very well then. You will accompany and learn from Master Skywalker until he deems you fit to become a Knight." The council meeting ended and I took Luke to my apartment. This time, to stay.

Padme

"Tell me again, how did this happen?"

I was in the medical ward next to Leia, who had just come out of surgery with five broken ribs. Ahsoka had found her an hour or so before at the bottom of a tree.

"Well… It's long, I don't know if you'd really want to sit through that…"

"You'd be surprised."

She sighed. "Well, I was with Tamir and she dared me to try to catch a tree branch from the roof. I did. And then the branch broke and I woke up here."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Why on earth would you listen to anything Tamir says?"

"Morbid curiosity?"

"You come by it honestly hon."

I love Ani, but sometimes these types of traits would get him in trouble. I suppose it was only fitting that the same would happen to our daughter.

As she drifted off, I stroked her hair, wondering how on earth 13 years had passed so quickly.

Leia

Okay, I can do this.

I think.

Tamir was being crowned queen today and she had selected me as her head advisor. At this moment, I was in a midnight blue dress, waiting to walk out of the palace and greet the thousands of people in the square.

No biggie.

I had never wanted to become queen. As much as my mother tried to sell me on it, I couldn't bring myself to deal with the pageantry of it all. When my cousin Tamir asked me if I wanted to help, however, I was willing to join her.

"You ready?" Tamir turned to me. She was wearing a gorgeous white dress with an ungodly amount of makeup. "About as ready as I will ever be." I replied, fidgeting with the fabric flowing over my hips.

The doors opened, revealing a massive, joyful crowd to welcome us in. Her handmaidens followed behind us, careful not to take the spotlight. I would have been more than willing to give it to them. I smiled through the crippling fear in my chest and waved, inciting a roar from the crowd.

I was going to be so sick.

"Beloved citizens of Naboo, I am honored to be elected as your queen!" Her voice rang through the square, artificially amplified by the devices around her. The crowd went absolutely feral, screaming louder than the amplifiers could combat. "I also would like to introduce a new figure that was approved by the council: The chief advisor! The first to fill this role shall be none other than Leia Amidala, the daughter of the esteemed Padme Amidala!"

The crowd erupted again, this time screaming my name. I simply smiled and waved again, afraid that if I opened my mouth I would vomit.

My mother was standing in the front row, beaming at me. This was probably the proudest I had ever made her, which is sad when I had 15 years to do something better. I supposed this would have to do.

My father was fighting against a siege on Alderaan, and Luke was with him. He made sure, however, to tell me how incredibly proud he was over a holorecording. I knew that there was no way for him to justify coming, but it still hurt when I looked out and didn't see him.

That whole day was a blur of shaking hands, dancing, smiling, waving, trying not to pass out, and brief conversations with Tamir. By the time it was over, I had no energy to take off the dress or any of my makeup, so I settled for just taking out my hair and falling asleep.

I had to admit, it was kind of nice to feel useful for once.

Naboo was doing fairly well all things considered, although we had to ration to support the Republic and the Jedi. I was only a month into my new position when Tamir asked me to go to Coruscant with my mother and report back about the war. She felt it best to stay with her people, and I accepted. We set off for the city planet 2 days later.

When we got to the familiar apartment, I felt a rush of nostalgia. Most of the time if I had any time to interact with my brother, it was in this front room. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't constantly worried about him in the war, I was terrified that one day I would feel his life force disappear. There were some times where I felt he was injured, but luckily never dead.

I set my suitcase down on the bed and pulled out some of the clothes I had packed for the senate. They were simple, all in varying shades of blue and green. At the bottom of my suitcase was a single kyber crystal. It chose me when I went to the caves of Ilum with Ahsoka and my father, and it created a white blade, and I always tried to keep it on me. I don't know why, I just felt safer with it.

Once I was done unpacking, I met with my mother to speak about business. She updated me on everything that had to do with the war, and I updated her on Naboo and its struggles. We were truly not in much of a crisis, but as the war raged on, many of us were becoming nervous. After eighteen years, the war had still not shown any signs of ending, and a mysterious sith apprentice had been running around wreaking havoc.

That night, however, everything changed.

I put on a simple white nightgown, watched the news, read Tamir's correspondence, and went to sleep, not thinking anything of it.

I woke up to an air of unease in the room. I slowly sat up, looking around for anything expressly out of place. Everything looked normal, but I had a sick feeling in my stomach.

That's when I looked out the window and saw a red lightsaber.