Three Things Leia Never Told Anakin (PG)
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars.
Author's note: Thanks for the prompt on this one to darth_eldritch. I hope you like it. :)
THREE THINGS LEIA NEVER TOLD ANAKIN
One: "I remember you."
She shouldn't be able to remember her birth father, whom she never actually met, not as Anakin Skywalker. (She'd met him far too often as Darth Vader, but she was in her twenties before she knew that, and by then it was too late to mean ... whatever it was supposed to mean). But she remembers, dimly, that time Before, hearing her father's voice while still in her mother's womb. She knows that isn't supposed to be possible, so she never mentions it. She tells herself it's a figment of her wishful imagination, but deep inside, she knows better. She remembers how much he loved her. That's why the betrayal of learning his true identity - Luke says it's the other way around - hurts so much.
Two:: "I'm sorry."
She should be sorry that it took her so many years to come to peace with her father's life and death. To forgive him for the destruction of Alderaan even though she was there and she knew the order didn't come from Vader, but from Tarkin. He didn't stop it, and that was enough, enough for him to bear the brunt of her anger for years to come. She knows he never blamed her for that, just as he was never angry with her for her refusal to accept him, his love and his endless, grieving remorse. But all these years later, when her son is born and she gives him her father's name, she feels him in the room with her and knows she doesn't have to say sorry, because he has already forgiven her.
Three:: "My father told me stories about you."
It would sound strange, to put it that way, but Leia is sure Anakin would know what she meant, if she ever got up the courage to say it. She lived the first twenty-some years of her life in the shadow of Darth Vader, but it is Anakin Skywalker her father - her real father, the man who raised her - remembers. He tells her stories at night about the Hero With No Fear. Much later, she realizes that this was out of character for him, always so cautious, especially if he knew - and Luke thinks he did - the truth about Vader's identity. Somewhere, he must have wanted Anakin's daughter to know. And maybe he didn't want a good man to be forgotten.
She never tells Anakin this, but she tells her own children all those stories, and together they remember.
Author's note: Thanks for the prompt on this one to darth_eldritch. I hope you like it. :)
THREE THINGS LEIA NEVER TOLD ANAKIN
One: "I remember you."
She shouldn't be able to remember her birth father, whom she never actually met, not as Anakin Skywalker. (She'd met him far too often as Darth Vader, but she was in her twenties before she knew that, and by then it was too late to mean ... whatever it was supposed to mean). But she remembers, dimly, that time Before, hearing her father's voice while still in her mother's womb. She knows that isn't supposed to be possible, so she never mentions it. She tells herself it's a figment of her wishful imagination, but deep inside, she knows better. She remembers how much he loved her. That's why the betrayal of learning his true identity - Luke says it's the other way around - hurts so much.
Two:: "I'm sorry."
She should be sorry that it took her so many years to come to peace with her father's life and death. To forgive him for the destruction of Alderaan even though she was there and she knew the order didn't come from Vader, but from Tarkin. He didn't stop it, and that was enough, enough for him to bear the brunt of her anger for years to come. She knows he never blamed her for that, just as he was never angry with her for her refusal to accept him, his love and his endless, grieving remorse. But all these years later, when her son is born and she gives him her father's name, she feels him in the room with her and knows she doesn't have to say sorry, because he has already forgiven her.
Three:: "My father told me stories about you."
It would sound strange, to put it that way, but Leia is sure Anakin would know what she meant, if she ever got up the courage to say it. She lived the first twenty-some years of her life in the shadow of Darth Vader, but it is Anakin Skywalker her father - her real father, the man who raised her - remembers. He tells her stories at night about the Hero With No Fear. Much later, she realizes that this was out of character for him, always so cautious, especially if he knew - and Luke thinks he did - the truth about Vader's identity. Somewhere, he must have wanted Anakin's daughter to know. And maybe he didn't want a good man to be forgotten.
She never tells Anakin this, but she tells her own children all those stories, and together they remember.