Vader gazed into Mariana's eyes and pressed into her thoughts using the Force...

She was far from weak minded, strong willed even. But Mariana's will was no match for his power. He had used the Force against her gradually when they first met: each day, a Jedi Mind Trick to make her fall deeper and deeper in love until she was his. Until... she'd become blind to the suit he wore, blind to his scars and misdeeds. He forced her to see the real Vader. The man, the "peace-maker", the enforcer, the lover.

Slowly, Mariana's resolve began to weaken as he held her against him. He sensed it. Despite the anger she was still in love with him. But was her love sincere? How could it be when he had coerced her into falling in love with him in the first place?

Vader decided he would appeal to her affections then manipulate her into telling him more about the Rebellion and the mysterious little princess he'd seen in his dreams.

"Tell me about your rebel friends," Vader commanded.

But Mariana shook her head, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes.

Again, he reached into the Force: "You will tell me about the rebels and their headquarters."

"You can kill me if you want. But I'll never betray my friends."

At this, he was taken aback. He was certain his Jedi mind trick would work. That they had always worked...but Mariana stood firm. He could sense her resolve... her determination.

His Jedi mind trick had even swayed Padme into giving in to him on Geonosis... He was sure of it. He knew Padme was in love with him but would never give in for fear of impropriety. But the Force had allowed him to obliterate those fears and soon, she was his.

Vader released Mariana from his grasp then paced the room. Reaching into the Force, he again, prompted her to betray the rebellion, and again, she declined.

"I can feel the conflict within you," he said, though realising she battled the swirling emotions her love for him created. Her resolve on not betraying her friends was strong.

Then suddenly, with a knowing gleam in her eyes, Mariana's eyes rose to meet his face..

"Your Jedi Mind trick will only work against the weak minded."

"Then you must have been weak in the strongest sense of the word."

"What do you mean?"

Vader approximated a sigh. "At the villa..."

He turned, as if he were suddenly embarrassed at having resorted to such a thing.

Mariana looked away. Suddenly, she felt the cape against her back fall to the floor at her feet. Vader stood behind her caressing her shoulders with his gloved mechanical hands.

"When I was a padawan, Master Yoda's taught us how to block such use of the Force. It meant the difference between life and death."

Vader recalled being trained by Master Qui Gonn Jinn.

"So if you're suggesting my feelings for you were coerced, then you are sadly mistaken."

"Then your feelings for me were genuine?" Vader asked. He couldn't resist.

"Loving you was a mistake. I'll never forgive you for what you did to Danny Maxo...for what you've done to me, Naboo, or the galaxy."

Vader tugged at Mariana's arm then spun her around. She loved him. She truly loved him -- he could see it in her eyes. It wasn't the Force, a Jedi Mind Trick, or a scheme to save Naboo. She had loved him despite the terror he inflicted on his enemies, despite his courseness, his arrogance and "evil". She may have loved Danny Maxo, but she would never love the ex-Imperial trooper the way she had loved him. He could see it now, but wished he had known how much she loved him when it really mattered.

Vader released her, then watched her frail arm as it fell to her side. "You and your rebel friends are free to go. But if you should ever cross the Galatic Empire again, you will not be spared."

Mariana looked at his face, surprise in her eyes. "Is this a trick?"

Vader turned his back and with a wave of his hand allowed her to walk away... out of the Queen's chamber, out of his life.

As Mariana reluctantly walked down the hall, Vader's troopers moved aside allowing her to pass. She wondered if it were a ploy so that she'd lure him to the rebels.

So she decided to stay away from her friends and took a freight ship to Rea. Something in her gut told her the entire ordeal was really over. Like Clarme and the Emperor, Vader would finally set her free. Bitterness will slowly eat away at what is left of his soul and she would disappear into complete oblivion, reminiscing over what will never be. In time, he will forget she ever existed, forget love ever existed and the galaxy will enter its darkest era.

All because she loved him. And somewhere deep inside, because he loved her. Sometimes loving someone meant setting them free. But what if she didn't want to be free?

Days would pass before she acknowledged the truth. No man, not even Danny Maxo could replace Vader; the menacing towering figure in her nightmares and dreams placing tender kisses against her flesh in the night as though he were by side.

Mariana watched the rain as it pattered against the window of her villa and waves from the ocean crashed onto the shore. Sometimes, she'd see a ship flying over the horizon and...

sometimes... those kisses felt so real and so warm...

Sometimes, he was standing before her on the other side of the door when she opened it, and sometimes, he held her in his arms when she was lonely.

One day, she'd even found a fresh marsh flower laying on her pillow... and on another night, she found a necklace fashioned out of a piece of wood hanging from her door knob. Sometimes, she would even leave her house to find footprints in the sand on her lonely beach.

Then one day, many weeks later, Mariana heard a faint tapping sound at her door. To her surprise, when she opened it, she found Vader standing there... without his troops... without his armor, baking in the sun. Quickly she moved aside, allowing him in.

Vader limped toward the sofa and collapsed on top of the cushions. He moaned and groaned in pain and Mariana wondered if the Emperor had done something to hurt him. She grabbed a blanket, laid it on top of his body and was about to run outside, hoping to find his mask and armor when a mechanical hand shot out and grabbed her by the arm.

"The Emperor is dead..." Vader said in a whispery voice.

Mariana felt like her heart was about to stop. "Dead? How can that be?"

"I killed him."

"Did he do this to you?"

Vader shook his head... "No."

"I need your suit and your mask," Mariana pleaded.

"Leave them," he said, shaking his head again.

"But you'll die without them," she cried.

Vader approximated a smile. "No I won't. I'm more alive than I have ever been."

"Who did this to you?"

"You did."

His face was pale and there was a dark circle around his eyes. Vader's hair had even began to grow and even more astounding -- he was breathing all on his own.

"How?"

"You saved me. I'm alive, Mariana. The Emperor was draining my life force to sustain his own. The longer he lived, the less human I became. When he died, I could breathe on my own again. I can touch my power again."

She wanted to hug him, but feared she would hurt him in this fragile state.

"I know I'll never be the man I once was. I've been evil, swayed by the Emperor's dark forces."

He sounded like Anakin Skywalker. Hero of the Republic. But there was deep sadness in his eyes. "My friends are gone," he said.

"I forgive you, Vader. I believed in you. I knew there was goodness in you. I knew it," Mariana sobbed, burying her head into his chest.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi is still alive."

"But he was killed in the Jedi Purge...How do you know?"

"I've always known. But I blocked it out. Somewhere deep inside I couldn't kill him. He was like a father to me."

"What will you do now?"

"Stay with you. Love you the way you deserve to be loved. When I'm better, we'll find him. Together."

He caressed her cheek with one of his gloved hands. For years, he'd been locked away, a prisoner in the recesses of Vader's mind. But Vader was still very much a part of who he is... Twelve years, since the fall of the Republic. There was time to atone and rebuild the Republic. He couldn't tell Mariana about Padme. That his awakening had also reawakened his love for her as well as the guilt he felt at having killed her. Padme would always be his first love even if he loved Mariana more than words could ever express.

Mariana helped Vader up the stairs to her room and laid him on the bed. He undressed. She looked away from the depression left by the control panels on his chest. It was a disturbing sight. His back was scarred, there was a cut across his eye and a burn seared into his cheek. Still, she could see how handsome he was. The man had been devastatingly handsome, truly blessed despite his wounds.

When the sun went down Mariana laid beside him and closed her eyes. His body, with the metal pieces still in tact, was heavy. A gentle breeze blew into open patio doors and her bedroom was aglow in the moonlight.

There was so much to do. So much to learn. There was even the girl Vader had seen in his dreams time and time again, traveling the galaxy with a dangerous pirate. Soon, he and Mariana would find her too. He'd also seen the desolate landscape of Tattoine in his visions, but a force of light had kept him and the Emperor's darkness away.

Vader's lips brushed across Mariana's forehead... he was getting stronger every day, and soon, the universe would be right again.

- The end.