The Fate of Angels

9. I'm Better Now

"How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him."

- Frank Herbert

Padmé

The brief contentment that fills the room lingers for only a few seconds and it disappears all too quickly as the high-pitched shrieks of the twins comes from the pilot cabin.

"You should probably put your mask back on, It's best to have this conversation with the twins once we land" I announce, having made up my mind. They thought their father was dead and yet here he was but was this actually their father? Their father was Anakin Skywalker, not Darth Vader, and it's hard to decipher which one this young man standing in front of me best represents. Perhaps he's somewhere in the middle or maybe he's still very much Vader despite the physical change on the outside. Its easy to change how you look on the outside but it's harder to make internal changes.

"And what conversation would that be?" Anakin asks lightly, his blue eyes darkening ever so slightly. I think he knows full well what the conversation is going to be about but first we had to have a conversation between each other and this was neither the time nor the place.

"We'll talk about it later" I answer smoothly, diverting from the subject before it explodes. I quickly find that I've made a mistake, it would have been best to give him an inkling of the conversation to come so that he didn't let his mind wander and think up the worst scenarios. Which is exactly what it does, it seems.

"Your not taking the twins from me, they are just as much mine as they are yours" Anakin snaps as he reaches for his mask.

"It's not the time to have this conversation now" I insist, turning away from him but not before I see his blue eyes flicker a molten yellow for a few seconds. He snarls back a response but it's muffled by the mask as he slides it back in time. Luckily, I'm saved from asking for clarification as the twins bounce into the room, obviously having gotten bored with whatever it was that they were doing.

"Back so soon?" I ask as Leia traipses over and plops down in a seat, beckoning Luke to do the same.

"Too many stars, we were going to try and count them but we're going to fast" Luke answered glumly, resting his small chin on his fist.

"Yeah and anyways stars are boring, they don't do anything. We're too far away and going too fast to get a good look" Leia chimes in, her brown eyes glittering with disappointment and boredom.

"Well maybe sometime tonight, we can go outside and look at them through a telescope" I soothe, pulling Leia close as her brown eyes begin to droop with weariness.

"That'd be fun" Luke mumbles, stifling a yawn

Through all this, Vader hasn't said one word, watching the conversation with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. Abruptly, he pivots on his heel and storms into the pilot cabin, sliding the door shut behind him.

I frown slightly and stroke Leia's hair lightly, hoping that maybe I can just fall asleep and let everything go, all the worries, all the painful memories.