A Destiny Rewritten

chapter viii: the son.

Padmé has barely said a word since the Millennium Falcon escaped from the Death Star. Tie-fighters had chased them on their way out, but Luke and Han defended the ship. It would be smooth sailing from here, despite the fact that the Empire is tracking them. They would have to move quickly once they reach Yavin IV, as Padmé suspects that the Empire will launch a heavy attack on the rebel base.

She should be happy that she escaped with her children, but instead, Padmé sits on one of the sofas and mopes.

Padmé tells herself to keep her chin up--she has a responsibility to the Rebellion, and to her children. She should take this opportunity to get to know her son, and possibly unite them together as a family. Padmé isn't sure of how to go about that, but she yearns for Luke and Leia to know that she is their mother. She's missed out on nineteen years of their life, and now, it is time to make up for it.

Obi-Wan approaches her, coming out of the cockpit, where the others are. She looks up at him, her dark eyes filled with gloom.

The old Jedi master sighs. "He told you, didn't he?"

Obi-Wan does not need to clarify who 'he' is. Padmé nods at him in response and trains her eyes on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Padmé," Obi-Wan apologizes. He takes a seat beside her and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I thought it would be too painful to tell you the truth."

"So, it was better for me to find out this way?" she snaps, her emotions getting the best of her. There is a storm building inside of her--despair and anger dance and tangle together, creating a dark, impenetrable maelstrom of volatile feelings. "Do you have any idea what that was like for me?"

"If I told you the truth, it would have only put you in harm's way," Obi-Wan explains.

"Anakin wouldn't hurt me," she argues. But he has before, she reminds herself bitterly. Part of her does understand why Obi-Wan lied to her, but she is too stubborn to admit that to him. "Maybe you were just being selfish."

"What?" inquires Obi-Wan, furrowing his brow.

"He told me what you did to him," Padmé says, a dark expression falling over her face. "He said you watched as he burned alive on Mustafar." Vader is cruel, yes, but Padmé also believes that what Obi-Wan did to him was absolutely callous.

"It would not have been the Jedi way the kill him," replies Obi-Wan, his voice and facial features completely calm. "A Jedi does not kill a vulnerable enemy. I was simply allowing the Force to guide his fate."

Padmé shakes her head. "That doesn't change that it was cruel, Obi-Wan."

"Padmé..." Obi-Wan stands from his seat and saunters to the center of the room. "Your love and pity for the man he once was is getting the best of you," he warns. "He is not the man we knew anymore."

She knows that Obi-Wan is right. She knows that Darth Vader, that Anakin, has committed some of the darkest deeds the galaxy has ever known. He has enslaved worlds to the Empire, exterminated possibly hundreds of Jedi, murdered children in cold blood, slaughtered rebel friends of Padmé's like they were nothing. But in all of that darkness, she sees a point of light, like a star in the middle an endless expanse of space. It is hope--because if Anakin Skywalker was truly gone, Vader would have tortured her like she was any other rebel. He wouldn't have spared Leia for her--he wouldn't have cared at all.

"Anakin is still there, Obi-Wan," she tells him. "You just don't know him like I do."

Obi-Wan places his hand on his forehead and shakes his head in disappointment. "Padmé, you don't know what happened to Alderaan, do you?"