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The woman with flowing brown hair walked slowly across the sunny field, her hands delicately holding a small necklace. At first glance, the object might seem simple and worthless, yet it was her most precious possession. For all these years, it had been the companion she clung to remember her lost past. However, like herself and the field, the necklace was not real. The paradisiacal landscape around her was far away, on the planet where everything began and ended for her, as were her beloved pendant and what remained of her corpse.
Today was a special occasion; she hoped that soon her fragment of japor would no longer be the only legacy left by the love she had fought so hard for with which she could interact. The environment she inhabited reflected her nostalgia and longing, her own piece of make-believe; just as it had once represented a sophisticated apartment, a small hut in the desert, or a hell shaped by lava and blood, it now presented the remnants of a former innocence.
The woman had been around her potential mate for a long time, but this would be the first time he would be able to respond to her desperate cries. For twenty years, her messages had been limited to an orbiting but silent presence. The separation between the living and the dead was clear to those who were not Jedi; now the young woman was part of the Force, and the Force was in everything, but never perceived by a limited mind. Thus, her tears of despair could only be expressed by acts barely noticed by the living, like a torrential rain falling melancholically as other lives were slaughtered, along with those of thousands of souls he had hurt. Her rage mirrored by the furious winds as a little princess hid from the black giant hunting her companion, or by the explosion of a star as a young man had his reality shattered by the man he had always admired. Her love was written in the song of birds and the blooming of flowers; she never stopped sending it, even after everything.
This time would be different; now Padmé Naberrie would finally see Anakin Skywalker again. She could feel his presence there, having passed through the threads connecting the different realms of the Force. Her heart sank when she heard the sound of his footsteps hitting the grass; she wanted to find him so badly it hurt.
"Padmé?" a wavering voice sounded behind her. After years of listening to the distorted mechanical sound of his suit, she was almost startled by the real sound of her husband. The woman almost couldn't believe he was really there.
Slowly, Padmé turned to look at him. As soon as she did, she fiercely scanned every detail. Although part of her was still angered by all the horrors that had occurred over the years, the joy she felt upon seeing that familiar face overwhelmed her instantly. Anakin's expression revealed a desperate, frightened longing; if they weren't both dead, she would have worried about his sluggish breathing. It felt like a dream; her prayers had finally been answered.
"Is it really you, Ani?"
His tired eyes continued to stare at her, but the shock that gripped him began to dissipate, and he began to move again. His steps were hesitant, as if unsure that what was before him was real. When he finally reached her, his face contorted in pain and his knees buckled.
"Padmé, I'm so sorry," he said, his voice breaking, his whole body shaking with anguish. "I wasn't the kind and gentle husband I should have been. I did terrible things to you, to our children. It was all my fault; I should have listened to you sooner."
"You hurt me, Anakin. It broke my heart to see you like that," Padmé said softly. All she wanted in that moment was to hold him and feel his warmth once more.
"If you knew everything I've done, all the things I can't change." Tears were now streaming freely down the man's face. After casting off the Vader persona, the magnitude of his actions finally hit him. He still seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and perhaps he did, yet seeing him so lost saddened her.
"What kind of things have you done?" Padmé asked calmly, curious to hear what he would say. During these twenty years, she had observed every atrocity committed, but only recently dead, Anakin had not yet fully acquainted himself with the extent of one's perception after joining the Force.
The look of horror on her husband's face caused her instant regret, but before she could assure him she didn't need to say anything, he began speaking, determined to let her be his judge.
"I left a trail of blood on every planet, while treating friends like objects that I could use, I hurt more lives than I can count on my hands. I am not the man you knew."
Clasping the necklace in her hand, Padmé crouched down in front of him and said, "If that's true, could you do me a favor?"
Anakin looked at her in confusion. After having destroyed her life, his wife's reaction seemed uncomfortably measured.
"It's just a small labour, one that would bring me some peace," she continued, holding up the japor shard. "Do you see this pendant? Could you erase its inscriptions and take it away from here?"
Anakin's eyes widened and his face paled. Despite clearly expecting reprimands, the request still affected him.
"How can you say that? I carved this pendant from the finest piece of japor ivory, a symbol of my eternal love for you. Do you realize what you asked of me? The only way to erase them is to destroy it completely."
Padmé smiled sadly and placed the necklace around her neck again. She carefully took his hands in hers and said, "Only my husband would know that, so I guess that makes him you."
"Padmé…" he whispered, stunned, his eyes drifting to their clasped hands in disbelief.
"Anakin, I will fall in love with for you over and over again. No matter how, where, or when, no matter how much time has passed, you're mine! Don't tell me you're not the same person, you'll always be my husband, and I've been waiting for you," the woman said fervently. Fulfilling the wish she'd felt since the beginning of their conversation, she pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him.
Anakin froze like a statue; she felt his heart beating frantically in his chest. He pressed his face against her neck and cried even harder.
"How can you touch me? I don't deserve your forgiveness," he asked, anguished.
Padmé knew she had every right to yell at him, slap him, and refuse to speak to Anakin for all eternity. There were even moments when she actually considered doing so, when hopelessness threatened to consume her, but deep down, it wasn't what she truly wanted. Despite all those vile acts, in the end, her Ani still decided to stop all the evil he'd helped create, and looking at him now so tortured and remorseful, she couldn't drive him away. In the end, Padmé still longed to have him in her company again.
"It's not about deserving, Anakin," she said warmly. "You're not the only one who's lost someone you loved all these years."
Slowly, he lifted his head to look at her. A hopeful smile blossomed on his lips, something Padmé couldn't help but return. Finally together, nothing could separate them anymore.
"I love you," Anakin said tenderly, as he held her hands again. "I will spend the rest of eternity atoning for what I did to you. I promise I will never hurt you like that again, Padmé."
"Oh, Ani. I know that, and I trust you," she replied with delight.
Even the dead cannot predict the future, but whatever happened now, they would face it side by side. Their time had passed, but their children's had not, and this time they would care for Luke and Leia together.
In a sunny field, husband and wife walked hand in hand. For a time, the relentless darkness tore them apart, but love was a powerful and merciful force. Finally, they were both whole.