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silvereddaye · 4 years

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What if Luke was found by Vader at the age of six? Padme lived and joined the Rebellion? What happens when Vader dies and leaves a message behind for his wife?

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There was a distinct sound of a click, followed by the sound of a machine starting up. Engines started to whirl and slowly the large double doors started to slide open. Padme could see that they were thick, a few feet thick, thick enough to guard against a bombardment. What was beyond these doors? What had her husband left here for her?

A month ago the news of the death of Darth Vader spread across the galaxy. There was shock and celebration and very little mourning. At least genuine mourning. The Emperor had held a memorial service with rows upon rows of stormtroopers forced to attend. But amongst the Empire, there were those who celebrated Vader’s death.

Padme was perhaps one of the few people who had cried. Maybe even the only one. She wondered and worried about her son. How had he taken the death of his father? Luke had been raised by Vader since he was six. She had always hoped for the best for the father and son pair and that they found love with each other. But at the memorial service, Imperial Prince Luke Vader had an emotionless face. If the loss of his father meant anything, he did not show it publicly.

But only a week after Vader’s death, she got a message from her dead husband. It was delivered to her by the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

“You’re not here to kill me or take me in?” she had asked him.

“I was paid very good money not to,” he said. She wondered how much that was considering the bounty on her head was one of the highest in the Empire as one of the leaders of the Rebellion. “As well as to deliver this to you should Vader ever be killed.”

“And what if you were killed?”

“I wasn’t,” he said as he handed her a data chip.

It took her a few days before she looked at it. One night she couldn’t sleep, so she sat at her desk and inserted the chip into a datapad. It asked for a password. What password? She tried typing her name. That didn’t work. His name. His real name. The name of their children. The name of his ships. Their birth planets. His mother’s name. She sighed. Then she slowly typed in the word angel.

At once a blue hologram of Vader popped up. He didn’t say anything for several long moments. Only his breathing was heard.

“Padme,” he finally said. Her breath caught in her throat. “If you are viewing this, it means I am dead. I . . . I . . . There is so much I regret. So much I wish to tell you, but I will tell you this. I love you. I have always loved you. I . . . I have left you something. Credits. I know you want nothing to do with me and my money, but I want you to have them. Use them to fuel the Rebellion, but please use them. Plus there is . . . more . . . waiting for you at these coordinates. I love you, my angel.”

She had cried herself to sleep after that. It took another two weeks before she finally found time to fly out to the coordinates. It was a desolate and lifeless planet with nothing but sharp grey rocks and matching grey skies. The place was filled with abandoned mining equipment and crumbling factories. It looked like the place had long since been sucked dry of whatever resources it had. She wasn’t surprised she found herself landing in a large mine.

She was surprised by the huge double doors on the other side of the mine and that there appeared to be no way to get them to open. There was no control panel. No wires. Nothing. How was she going to get inside?

Of course.

She couldn’t do this alone. She needed a Force-sensitive to open the door and the Alliance had several Jedi and former Jedi members, but only one she would ask. This was far too personal and private to ask this of anyone else besides her daughter.

So another few weeks passed until Padme finally managed to get them both free from their obligations, and once again she found herself back in the large mine this time with Leia at her side. Using the Force, the young woman quickly found a mechanism on the other side of the door that opened the doors.

They stood side by side as they watched the massive things roll open. Leia took her mother’s hand, gave it a squeeze before they walked in. Padme had her blaster up and ready and Leia lit her blue lightsaber. The tunnel beyond the doors was long and angled downwards. Eventually, even the doors disappeared as they kept going. Their only light was the glow of Leia’s lightsaber and a yellow glow rod Padme had lit and held in one-hand. On and on they went. Deeper and deeper into the earth.

What had Vader hidden down here for her? Just credits? It couldn’t just be credits. There had to be more. There was something else. There were a lot of other ways to get credits to her if that’s what he wanted. She knew there was something waiting for her down here.

They had been walking for two hours when they finally came to the end. It was a smooth metal wall with a single door in it. The two exchange a look before Padme walked up and pressed the door release. Surprisingly, it opened without any passcode. A short hallway opened up to a large circular room. It was tiered, with one level going around the perimeter then it would go down three steps to the center level.

It appeared to be the main living area of whatever this place was. The inner level had some couches and chairs to the right side and a dining area to the left. Above the dining area on the higher tier was a small kitchen area. The top tier also had an office workspace with a desk, computer terminal, and small holoprojector. There was another workspace area, but it was just an empty desk by the wall. There were a few closed doors spaced around the room. Most likely these led to bedrooms, a refresher, and hopefully to the storage area.

“Where should we check first?” Leia asked as if reading her mother’s mind.

Padme eyed each of the four doors but then turned to the workspace. Perhaps the terminal would have a map of this place. Maybe even another message from Vader. She walked straight there and sat down, however, the terminal needed a password. While she worked through various words she thought would unlock it, Leia wandered around the room. Her lightsaber hung loosely unlit in her hand.

Padme sighed.

Of course, he hadn’t made this easy. Why would he? Even in death, he had to be infuriating as if he had to have the last word. They should just go. Whatever was down here could stay down here. She had done fine the past twenty years without his help; she didn’t need it now. If he really had wanted to help her why wait until he was dead? He had plenty of opportunities to reach out to her over the years.

She stood up, stretched, and right as she was going to call out to her daughter a door slid open. There was a snap-hiss as Leia ignited her blue lightsaber. It had once been her father’s when he was a different man.

Someone walked out and stopped. They looked at Leia and her lightsaber.

“Anakin?” Padme said.

A pale bald head turned towards her. She’d know him anywhere, even without the helmet. She had never seen what he had looked like . . . after . . . his fateful duel with Obi-Wan . . . but she knew he lived in his life support suit for a reason. No way would Anakin Skywalker limit himself to such a device unless he had to. And seeing him now, it confirmed her suspicions.

His skin was pale, grey, and scarred. The skin around his eyes was dark and baggy. He wore a large oversized black robe that hid his body that could possibly hide life-support machines. There was a thick metal collar around his neck with a clear breathing mask covering his nose and mouth with tubes connected it to the collar. There was a faint hiss of a respirator.

Leia had taken a step back, but her saber was up in a defensive stance.

“It’s you,” she said slowly; her eyes never left him.

There was a slight nod of his head. He gave Leia a long look, before he turned to face Padme.

“You . . . You came,” he said. His voice wasn’t the deep baritone that she had come to know as the voice of Vader. A voice far removed from Anakin. It was wheezy and weak, but there was still a weight to it.

“You’re alive,” Padme growled as she snapped up her blaster and pointed it at him. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“I am,” he said. There was no fire in his voice. He sounded defeated. “And perhaps I should have died, but I could not allow it.”

“Oh? Please, don’t tell me you have had a sudden change of heart.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “And if I said that I have?” His eyes slowly reopened. They were dark and she wondered what color they were. Ahsoka had told her his eyes were now yellow ringed in red. Eyes of a sith. But if that was so now, shouldn’t she be able to tell? Even from this distance?

Leia let out a soft snort. “So what? You died and when they resuscitated you and got your cold little heart to start pumping, you finally rediscovered it or what?”

“I never came close to death,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow and Padme pursed her lips.

“What game is this?” Padme snapped. “You’ve faked your death? Lured me here with Leia. Now what? What do you want? To join the Alliance?”

Vader looked at his wife then at his daughter. “I have no desire to join your pathetic and doomed Rebellion.”

“I was starting to doubt if you really were Darth Vader,” Leia said. “But now you’re starting to sound like him.”

“You know who I am, girl,” he growled as he raised a hand and pointed a finger at her. “You can feel it in the Force, just as I can feel you. Let us stop with this foolishness. Come, we have lots to discuss.”

“Do we?” Padme asked. Vader’s hand lowered and he turned to fully face. “Why am I here, Anakin? Tell me why I shouldn’t just leave right now?”

There was a breath. Then another. Vader’s chest rose and fell with the light sound of his respirator.

“This has nothing to do with me,” he said. “This is about Luke.”

He turned. His robe billowed and fluttered behind him as he stalked back through the door he came through without a look back. Mother and daughter shared a look. Should they proceed? But Padme knew the answer the moment the name had left Vader’s mouth. She holstered her blaster, gave Leia a reassuring nod, and walked to the door to follow her husband.

#ask silver #my writing #wip #i should finish this one #thebixo

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