Father to a Princess
Author: SWqueen
Summary: Vader lives long enough to see his daughter for the first
time.
Disclaimer: This alters the story a bit, but I've always thought
it sucked that Leia never met Anakin Skywalker. Of course, Lucas
is the king of fiction, with J. K. Rowling as his queen, and I give all
credit to him. I just let my mind wander...
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Running through the forests of Endor, Leia's heart was breaking. Her eyes were wide with shock, straining to see through the canopy of trees towering high above her. The blood rushing in her ears drowned out the sound of twigs snapping under her booted feet as she weaved through the huge trunks.
/please don't be dead./
Finally, Leia burst through the tree line into a large clearing.
Her feet skid to a halt, and the princess nearly fell as inertia caught up
with the rest of her body. Throwing her head back, she searched the
clear star dotted sky, trying to suck oxygen into her starving lungs.
Right above her, seemingly in the center of the heavens, was a monstrous
ball of fire.
/there.../
The image blurred as her dark brown eyes filled with tears, and the
beautiful young woman fell to her knees in anguish. Leia reached out,
unknowingly searching for her brother through the Force. He had been
on the now burning Death Star, and she had heard the explosion from the Ewok
village.
/Luke... please! come back to me! you're the only family I have.../
"I'm coming."
It had been Luke's voice.
Suddenly she straightened up, and the tears stopped quickly.
Wiping her face off, she stood, and took off again back towards the village.
Somehow she knew that if she just made it back.... A loud *WHOOSH*
made its way to her ears, and wind blew through her hair with sudden
intensity. She didn't think much of it, and decided to keep running,
but then a noise started behind her. It was a horrendous crashing,
like a herd of Nexu thundering through the trees. She listened
intently, trying to discern what exactly was fighting its way through the
underbrush. She knew this planet was dangerous.
/why did I come by myself???/
She knew why. Because she hadn't had enough time to think,
that's why. She whirled around quickly, bracing herself for a fight, when a
man, slightly taller than herself, burst out of the clearing she had just
exited. Her hand immediately went to the blaster at her hip, but as
the man's face came into a patch of moonlight, realization dawned.
"Luke!"
Leia's heart soared with relief and happiness as she jumped into her
brother's arms. He held her briefly, then grabbed her hand and took
off back towards the clearing. Flying between the trees, clasping her
brother's warm hand, her happiness started to drip away as she sensed the
emotions radiating from Luke. These feelings confused her. There
was alarm, yes, but something else...
"Wait, Luke! Where are you taking me?? We have to get back
to--"
The words caught in her throat when she saw what they were going to.
Luke had brought a ship back from the Death Star, but that wasn't what
stopped her voice from sounding. It was the presence... that oppressive
aura that could only surround one person...
"Luke... what have you done?!"
" Leia, don't be angry. you need this. I know you
do."
"No, I don't. He caused all of this, Luke. The entire
Rebellion, the Empire itself is his fault. If he hadn't helped
Palpatine--"
But there was no stopping her brother. He squeezed her hand
firmly, and led her past the treelike. As they neared the ship,
fear wrapped a fist around Leia's angry heart.
"Don't be afraid, Leia. He cannot harm us. He won't."
" How can you be so sure?!" Leia stopped in mid-step, and yanked
Luke's arm with surprising force. "You seem to have forgotten
that this is the man that ordered over a thousand deaths... ourselves
included! This is the man that helped destroy Alderaan! My home,
Luke!"
Before she even knew what was happening, she was crying. Luke
brought her to him gently, and this gesture, such a sign of her brother's
love, caused her to sob uncontrollably. Her tears soaked his
Jedi tunic, and he began to rock her back and forth against him.
" He can't hurt you anymore, Leia. he is a broken man. A dying
man." Luke's soft voice cracked as he spoke of his father.
" D-dying?" Leia looked up slowly, searching her brother for the
truth. When she saw the tears in Luke's blue eyes, she straightened
her back quickly. "I cannot see him, Luke. I'm sorry.
I just can't."
"But Leia... he's our father."
" Lord Vader is NOT my father. Bail Organa is--was my
father." and with that, Leia turned to leave... back the way she had
come. However, her feet refused to move. All she could do was
stand there, tears coursing down her cheeks as Luke came around to face her
yet again.
"Just look at him, Leia. That is all I ask. You don't
have to speak, but look at our father before he dies. He wants to see
you."
Those steps towards the ship were the hardest Leia had ever taken.
It seemed as though hours passed between each footfall. The two
reached the ramp into the ship, and she turned to Luke for reassurance.
" Go."
The next thing she knew, she was standing in the ship, just behind the
pilot's seat. There, on the small cot behind the chair, lay the man
she had feared and hated for her entire life. But he wasn't the same.
His mask, that horrible piece of black metal, had been removed, and a pasty
white head emerged above the silver breathing instruments. The face of
her father was scarred, and the pained blue eyes conveyed years of suffering
and hatred. She gasped involuntarily, and those eyes turned on her.
They immediately softened, looking upon her dark brown hair and eyes.
She could feel the hate, the pain, and all the years of fearing this man
ball up inside of her like a fist, and she immediately looked away from him
to her brother.
" T-thank you for seeing me. I wanted to look at my daughter
before..." a frail voice said.
Leia's head snapped back to Vader, and marveled at the difference the
mask made in his voice.
"It was not my choice."
He visibly flinched, and she felt regret instantly.
/he is dying... you mustn't treat him this way./
But she couldn't help it. She had hated him for so long, and
there was no way she could change that. Suddenly, her anger took over.
" You have a lot of nerve, Vader. Asking to see me, when you've
taken so much from me. Calling me daughter, when the only father I've
ever had is now dead-- at your hands."
Vader looked at her sadly, and for a moment she believed he was going
to cry. This thought only caused her heart to harden more, and was
about to let him have it again, when he spoke.
"I am begging your forgiveness... for all I have taken from you.
Even as a baby, I was taking from you. your mother's fear
for your lives forced her to put you both into hiding, taking both of us
from you. I know now how hard it was for her to leave you both.
That all of this was my fault, I understand, and as much as I wish
you would believe I have changed, I know those chances are slim.
You are my daughter, Leia, and I will always love you, regardless of
how I have acted."
Suddenly, Leia's eyes filled with tears for the third time that night.
She couldn't take it anymore... this monster was the one who had taken
everything, her father (both of them...), her mother, her home... and yet
here he was, asking forgiveness.
" You cannot possibly love me. Not now. You don't even know
me!"
At this, Luke put a hand on her shoulder, but Leia couldn't take her
eyes off of her father.
" You're right, I don't know you. I hardly know you, in
fact. But the truth is I've loved both of you since before you were
born. Not as Luke and Leia, no, but as the child my wife was
carrying... I loved your mother so much... and it was I who caused her
death..."
It was then, after all of the years of holding in tears, that Anakin
Skywalker wept for what he had done. Leia watched him cry, the tears
pouring from the blue eyes that he had passed down to her brother, and her
frozen heart began to melt.
/He really is sorry.../
Leia stepped forward and knelt beside Anakin, took a deep breath
and grabbed her father's hand. He looked over at her with the tears in
his eyes, and lifted a hand to her face.
" You look so much like her... my Padmé."
Leia's heart wrenched at her mother's name, and leaned into his hand.
Then she noticed that Luke had knelt beside her, and that he was crying as
well.
/what a family portrait this makes.../
The moment of silence was broken as Anakin took a shuddering breath
and coughed painfully. He was fading fast. Not for the first
time that evening, Leia felt a stab of regret in her heart, but for a
different reason. She would never know her father. He would die
before she could even know him...
" I don't have much time, my children. But I want you to remember
me... and forgive me for all that I have done. I love you both
dearly. I'm so proud of you both."
Leia looked up, her chestnut eyes filled with pain. She
smiled and nodded, while new tears fell. Anakin Skywalker had
returned, only to leave yet again to something greater than them all.
****************************************************************************
Two hours later, Leia, Luke, and Han sat around the fire in the center
of the Ewok village. They had cremated Anakin, and spread his ashes
over the forest floor. Cuddled in Han's loving embrace, Leia felt
safer than she ever had. The villain that threatened the galaxy was
dead, and she had found her father. She smiled softly as Han kissed
her cheek.
/So this is the end.../
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Standing behind the trio as they stared into the flames, two people
watched with smiles on their faces. One, an older man in Jedi robes,
felt a protective flare as the Captain kissed the Princess. The figure
beside him, a beautiful young woman with brown curly hair and dark brown
eyes, laughed lightly at her husband's protectiveness.
" It's okay, Anakin. He's a good man. They will be very
happy together."
Anakin tightened his grip around Padme's slim waist and
smiled into her upturned face.
" And how do you know so much?"
His wife smiled at him warmly, and just before she kissed him, she said,
" Angels have their ways..."
End