Title: The Happiest We Ever Were

Author: devilinthedetails

Characters: Anakin Skywalker; Padme Amidala

Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst.

Timeline: Right after Anakin and Padme marry in AOTC.

Summary: Anakin, Padme, and the happiest they ever were.

Author's Note: This dialogue only minific is written for the OTP Challenge #15. I chose prompt #19-things you said when we were the happiest we ever were. This story is the first dialogue only one I've ever written so hopefully it comes up to snuff.

The Happiest We Ever Were

“You’re beautiful as the sun setting over a Naboo lake.”

“Your eyes are wetter than a Naboo lake.”

“I’ve never been so wildly happy as I am now that I’m married to you, Padme.”

“Then why am I wiping tears from your eyes now?”

“Not all tears are salted by sorrow. Some are sweetened by happiness.”

“Am I to understand these are happy tears, Anakin?”

“You are. My mom always said that we can’t help but cry when we’re the happiest we’ve ever been, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been because we’re together. My tears don’t ruin my pleasure. They don’t add torment to my joy.”

“Nevertheless, something does. I taste more than joy in your tears.”

“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”

“It’s the happiest I’ve ever been too.”

“Not even becoming queen or Senator can compare to this?”

“Of course not. Those were political achievements that came with many burdens and responsibilities. This is a personal joy, the happiest moment of my life.”

“Perhaps that alone causes me grief, knowing this moment might not just be the happiest we’ve ever been but the happiest we’ll ever be. This peak happiness won’t last forever for either of us.”

“It’ll last forever in our memories. That and our love for each other will have to be enough.”

“You’ll love me and be with me forever?”

“Not even death could part us as I swore to the holy man by the lake, Anakin.”

“I don’t want to think of you dying now. It intrudes on the happiest moment of my life.”

 

Lovely dialogue only mini-fic showing their love and joy

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for your sweet comment! I've never written a dialogue only fic before, so it was an interesting experience, and sometimes I had to fight the fingers at the end of my hands that wanted to type extra words of narration as I normally would, but this was a great chance for me to focus on how I could just communicate everything necessary to telling the story through dialogue, so that was very rewarding and satisfying. And it makes me very glad and proud that you thought this was a lovely dialogue only mini-fic. There were so many excellent prompts to choose from this time around, but I fell in this one as a way to explore the joy and love Anakin and Padme felt for one another when they were the happiest they ever were after their marriage.

@mavjade Thank you so much for commenting! I'm so flattered that you found this to be a lovely look into Anakin and Padme's relationship. This being a dialogue only fic gave me the opportunity to really focus on refining every piece of dialogue and that was one of my favorites so it makes me so happy that you chose to highlight that line in particular. That sort of sweet paradox of crying of happiness, mixing joy with what is typically seen as a sign of sorrow, was really something that I was interested in exploring in this story along with the tragedy that sort of comes bundled in with bliss when the realization comes that in the moment of peak happiness and fulfillment there is a sort of death in the sense that peak happiness and fulfillment cannot remain forever except perhaps in memory. Joy is perhaps a fleeting thing, but in a way that makes our experience of it all the more intense and profound. At least that was an idea that I was sort of toying with in this story if that makes any sense.

 

I like this!
You manage to show us Anakin and Padmé's utter happiness, and at the same time the anguish Anakin feels on what he dreads the most: losing the one he loves, which deeply conflicts with his current happiness.
Very nice

 

@Jâd Sphera Thank you so much for commenting! I'm happy to hear that you liked this story. I was trying to balance on that knife edge of both showing Anakin and Padme's utter happiness after their moment, the peak bliss they were experiencing, coupled with the sorrow and the anguish Anakin feels over what he dreads the most: loss of those he loves. I always feel like that inability to handle loss is Anakin's most tragic and most relatable trait, so I really wanted to explore how that trait weaves into even his happiest moment with Padme. Thanks again for your kind comment, and I'm really so glad you found the story very nice!

 

You were able to keep the balance between mush and serious subjects, between teasing and being truthful. Well done!

It felt like being R2D2 and listening in to them by accident.

 

@AzureAngel2 As always, thanks so much for your kind comments! I really wanted this story to be a mix between mush and more serious subjects like loss as well as a blend of the teasing and the truthful to show the different facets of Anakin and Padme's relationship at their moment of peak happiness that also foreshadows so much tragedy, so I'm super flattered that you thought I was able to achieve just that balance. And being R2 listening in on them by accident is a great way to describe and imagine it. Thank you again for your sweet comment!

 

Nice scene, fits well as a kind of mini epilogue to AotC.

 

@Anedon Thank you so much for commenting! I'm so happy that you felt this was a nice scene since I really enjoyed being able to delve into the moment in the idyllic Naboo lake country setting where Anakin and Padme are the happiest they ever were, and I definitely thought of it as a sort of a mini epilogue to AOTC so I'm so glad that came through in this mini story.

 

Oh, what a sweet glimpse of JustMarried!A/P! What a treat to see them in a moment when All Is Right, Nothing Hurts, and they are the happiest ever (and in a way perhaps happier than they'll ever be afterward, too, given how things go). I too like the idea of this what they say to each other just after their wedding at the end of AOTC--headcanon so accepted! Wonderful work as always, devil!

 

@Findswoman Thank you so much for commenting! I really enjoyed being able to write this sweet glimpse into a moment between a literally just married Anakin/Padme When I'm writing Anakin/Padme stories, one thing I've noticed is that even the sweetest moments can feel injected with a sense of tragedy just because we know that their happiness won't last--that their love and relationship is doomed. To me, as I was writing this story in particular, it was sweet to see them in the moment where they were happiest, right after their marriage on Naboo, but also something sorrowful about how as you say this is happier than they'll ever be afterward given how things go for them in ROTS. There was a sense of paradoxical loss to this moment of ultimate bliss that I found really interesting to explore a bit in this story, and I'm so flattered that you liked this version of what they say to each other after their wedding to accept it into your headcanon. There really can be no greater compliment than that so thank you very much

 

@Mira_Jade Thank you so much for your sweet comment! I'm so flattered that you found this piece lovely. I didn't want to shy away from that unabashedly sentimental style of dialogue that Padme and Anakin had in AOTC because I think it sort of works well with the tragic nature of their love and with the fact that this is them at their most blissful. I really wanted to capture that starry-eyed and happy feeling that you mentioned while also showing the almost bittersweet edge of desperation as they sense that this moment of peak bliss can't last forever and that their marriage will have to be hidden because I really wanted to showcase that sort of paradoxical yet somehow complimentary mix of emotions in this short, dialogue only story. Again, thank you so much for reading and for offering such a kind comment!

 

Lots of lovely metaphors in there and I second @Mira_Jade on not shying away from the sentimental language of Anakin and Padme.

 

@Kit' Thank you so much for commenting! I think of the lake country of Naboo as such a beautiful setting that I couldn't resist trying to put in some lovely metaphors to try and match the gorgeous scenery, and sentimental language just suits Anakin and Padme romance so much that I had to include it