My Life as Leia

Chapter 38 - Homesick

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE (or Christmas, depending on where y'all live haha)!!!!!
I'm back with another jam-packed chapter, so hold onto your metaphorical hats and get ready!!

We see all our old pals, like Darth Vader and stormtroopers! Oh, and let's not forget another PAST DIARY ENTRY brought to you by Leia. Consider it my Christmas gift to y'all, haha XD

OKAY!! Let's do this!!!

WHEEEEE! (Why. Just why.)

Darth Vader had never been patient—not when he was a boy, not when he was a teenager, and certainly not now. In fact, the impatience had long since morphed into something far more dangerous: worry.

Worry and anxiety were also not usually part of Vader's vocabulary. . .at least, not anymore.

He didn't just want to find Princess Leia; he needed to find her. Vader had felt something shift in the Force recently, and he knew Leia to be the cause. He also knew the Princess was somewhere on that forsaken desert planet. However, actually finding the Princess was proving to be a problem.

Every time Vader felt close, something would block his perception of where Leia was. And that wasn't the only problem. Once or twice, Darth Vader had gotten extremely close to finding the Princess, but he'd felt a force so strong that it made him stop in his tracks. Then, the Princess would get farther away, taking her distinct Force-signature with her. All of that, with Vader's lack of patience on top, was enough to drive the Sith Lord insane.

Every now and then, Vader would question his own motives. Why was he in such desperate pursuit of the young Princess? He had never paid much attention to her home life (or academic life, for that matter) on Alderaan, and Leia had never shown any signs of being sensitive to the Force.

Vader would then wonder if the Princess had shown signs, but he'd just never noticed. If there were any early signs of Force-sensitivity, they would've never made their way to Vader's knowledge. The Princess had never even left her home planet.

Vader had limited experience with Princess Leia and her planet. Alderaan was calm, peaceful, had no planetary defense system, and was the home of Senator Organa, Leia's father. The planet never directly disobeyed the Empire, though Vader suspected Alderaan didn't exactly agree with the Empire either.

Then there was the matter of Leia. Vader knew her age, what she looked like, her parents, her home planet, and her position as royalty. That was it. Bail Organa was deeply involved in politics, so Vader supposed Leia would follow in her father's footsteps one day. She didn't have any other interests Vader knew of.

The Dark Lord had met the Alderaanian Princess only once, though he'd seen her many more times. Leia was only a little girl when he'd first met her. Even then, when he'd been so close, Vader hadn't detected the faintest trace of the Force in the girl.

Other than that, was there even anything interesting about Princess Leia?

Yes, Vader thought, there actually was. The small girl carried a striking resemblance to someone Vader had known long ago. . .someone he couldn't ever forget and wasn't sure if he ever wanted to. A certain beautiful woman, Padmé Amidala.

Vader's wife.

They had been in love—in the most deep, true love. Padmé had been pregnant. Vader had been having dreams of his wife dying in childbirth. After that, everything plummeted so quickly. Vader had done all he could to save Padmé from dying. He'd sacrificed his career, his best friend, his soul. And for what? In the end, Padmé had died anyway. Because of him.