Epilogue

Author's Notes: Thank you all for reading this story. A much stronger thank you to those who reviewed the story or helped support it by favoriting/following it. You, readers, are the reason I do this and your feedback helps me continue when I might otherwise falter. I hope you enjoyed this story and hope you'll continue to follow my future endeavors. My other story, Shockwaves, is also near completion. I don't have any other stories planned at the moment, but I plan to continue writing once inspiration strikes. I was tempted to write other fanfics, specifically Doctor Who or Halo standalones/crossovers, but I think I'll stick with Star Wars for the foreseeable future.

TheRedScreech: I suppose it wasn't entirely clear, but when I stated that Leia heard Luke explaining things to Han, it meant that Luke was explaining the presence of a Force Spirit, specifically one that Leia needed to confront alone. Having Han in the room while Leia spoke and snarled at air would be nothing if not awkward.
lunarchroniclesandcockatiels: It was stated earlier in the story that Darrid was off-world. This story takes place over a very short period of time, but I'm going to try to tie him back into the family, probably indirectly, in this final chapter. Also, I completely forgot about Jobal and Ruwee. I already had their roles figured out, I just forgot to place them into the story, I will fix that, also in this chapter.

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"You alright?"

Han's quiet voice echoed in the small room the moment she had opened the door and entered their room. It didn't surprise her that he knew, she figured that Luke probably knew about Anakin's presence before she had even laid eyes upon him. She did not envy her brother in having to tell Han that the ghost of the man who froze him in carbonite was having a heart-to-heart with her.

"Leia?" Han asked with concern.

Leia sighed deeply and sat on the edge of the bed that Han was laying in. "He...he-"

"Did he hurt you? What did Vader do?!" Han practically snarled.

Leia had to hide a smile. That inner Corellian spirit of his meant he was more than willing to drag Vad...no, Anakin, from the grave so that he could give him a good punch to the face. She sighed again. "He told me he was proud of me."

There was a moment of silence before Han simply said, "huh."

She supposed that was about all he could say. Han had just as many grievances against Vader as she had, but didn't have the Force to confront those issues directly. It was a cowardly thought, but she wished for a moment that she had never heard of the Force. Making any sort of peace, even with just the ghost of Anakin, felt like a betrayal to her father, Bail Organa, not to mention the entire planet of Alderaan. It was somewhat unfair to blame Vader for Alderaan, she knew. It had been Tarkin who ordered, who wanted it, and he had been favored highly by the Emperor. She understood better now that the Emperor wouldn't have stood for any intervention of Vader's, and that the Emperor truly had controlled Vader...until Luke.

Leia remembered wanting to slap the naivety out of Luke when he had told her he had felt good in Vader, but apparently he had been even more correct than she could have possibly believed.

"He told me he was proud of me, of both Luke and I. He told me some of what happened to him, to our mother, and how things went so wrong. He told me that, in death he would be there for me as he had utterly failed to do in life."

"Huh," Han repeated.

Leia rolled her eyes. "I could feel it, Han. I could feel his guilt, his shame, even his self-loathing. But it was all completely dwarfed by the pride he felt for Luke and I."

"It's hard to imagine Vader feeling guilty," Han said slowly. "I never put too much stock in the Force, you know that. But it's hard to argue with the things I've seen." He scowled then, "That old fossil I picked up on Tatooine with Luke would be laughing at me, I just know it."

"Obi-Wan," she said thoughtfully. "Did you know the reason Vader was in that dreadful suit of his was because of his first fight with Obi-Wan? Obi-Wan managed to win the duel by dismembering him and left him there next to lava. He told me he had been burning alive before the Emperor found him. He hated Obi-Wan for that, to be honest, I'm not even sure I blame him."

"Makes carbonite seem like a vacation spot," Han said, obviously not quite comfortable with the idea of feeling sympathy for Vader and the suit he had been confined in.

"He told me that he can communicate with Obi-Wan now and that they've made some peace. It's hard to imagine anyone being able to make peace after that," Leia mused.

"It's something Luke would do," Han said. Leia could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke of his best friend. "Guess maybe there's something to this Jedi nonsense after all." Han went quiet for a moment before he asked her, "Will you train with Luke to become one?"

"It's been something on my mind ever since Luke told me of my sensitivity. I'm not sure. I think I'll learn some things from Luke, both he and Anakin suggested it would dangerous not to do so, but I don't think I wish to become a Jedi. My interests lay elsewhere, at least for now."

"And what might those interests be, your Worshipfulness?" Han asked, smirking as he ran a hand down her flank.

"There's a New Republic to build," she said simply, pausing until she saw Han scowl. "And a Corellian scoundrel to love," Leia grinned before she leaned down over the bed to kiss him deeply. It wasn't long before she had joined him in the bed and to their mutual satisfaction; it wasn't sleep that occupied them for quite a long time.

"Do we have any other family out there, other than your husband?" Leia asked Sola the next morning.

Luke, Leia, and Han sat at a table with the three Naberrie women. Han had introduced himself more completely while Luke and Leia had spoken of their early lives. Given that Leia and Pooja were already acquaintances, it was mostly Luke who talked about his past.

"No...well, perhaps distant cousins that we don't keep in touch with, but we're your only immediate family," Sola said. Sola looked down and spoke again, grief lacing her words, "Father...Ruwee, died a few years after Padmé. He was heartbroken at his daughter's death, his daughter and the grandchild he was never able to hold. He never believed the story that it was the Jedi who killed her, Father knew better than that, and he was so upset that her death had been used to slander the Jedi whom she had so greatly respected." Sola wiped at a tear and drank some water before continuing. "He became ill not too long after Padmé's death. He recovered but his health got progressively worse after that. It's been about...19 years since his death."

She lapsed into silence and Pooja continued the story. "Our grandmother, Jobal, lived another five years before she also passed, also of natural causes. Padmé's death broke Father, I think, and hurt my mother greatly. When my father died, I think it was just a matter of time before Mother joined him."

Ryoo then took up the story. "It wasn't just her death, though. It was her pregnancy, the baby they believed dead. They didn't know that Padmé was in any kind of relationship and they felt like they had done something wrong because she had never confided in them. Then Palpatine, a man whom the people of Naboo respected, had declared himself Emperor and had begun the extermination of the Jedi. There was so much going wrong at the time, I think it was too much for a couple who'd known mostly peace for their entire lives."

"I can't believe Ani became Darth Vader," Ryoo said in a small voice. "He was nice, not just because I was Padmé's niece, but because he was a good person."

"He was." Leia startled herself when she spoke and evidently the others at the table as well, given their expressions. But she resolutely continued, "He was a good man and he became one again, at the end of his life. He saved my brother as his last act. It was he who destroyed the Emperor. Whatever else might have happened, he became a good man at the end."

"Do you know what happened to him?" Pooja asked.

Leia hesitated before she said, "Yes. Last night I...spoke with him." At their blank looks, she grimaced. "I am sensitive to the Force and when Anakin died, he became one with it. He is able to...manifest himself as a sort of...spirit."

Pooja and Ryoo looked skeptical, but not as much as Leia had feared. Sola cleared her throat, "I remember the Jedi, though I was never really acquainted to any of them besides Anakin. But I can remember some of the things they could do. They were capable of many things: visions of the future, for example. Their abilities weren't constrained to the physical world...not from what I understood. I share some of my daughters' incredulity...but I am willing to accept it. Please, Leia, what happened?"

Beside her, Leia saw Luke shift slightly and saw his gaze turn slightly away from the others. Following his gaze, she saw the spirits. Anakin was leaning against a wall, watching them, watching her. Next to him was the man she had only briefly seen on the first Death Star. General Kenobi, she realized. The Jedi Master stood next to Anakin and had a hand on the younger man's shoulder. Obi-Wan smiled at both Luke and Leia.

Anakin whispered, "They deserve to know the truth. Please, Leia...tell them everything."

I will...Anakin, she thought loudly. Anakin's wide smile was confirmation he had heard her. Leia supposed being called by his true name and not his Sith one was a relief.

Seeing the others' expectant faces, Leia began to tell them the story of Anakin Skywalker, the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, and the brief moment where Anakin Skywalker had been reborn at the very end. She spoke slowly while Luke, or even R2-D2, would sometimes interject or add something. Occasionally, she heard Anakin whispering the words that would fill in the blanks. She told them of his life as a slave, of the wonders he had accomplished as a Jedi, and of the horrors he had unleashed upon the galaxy as Darth Vader. Leia told her newly discovered relatives the story of Anakin Skywalker, her father.

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The End