The sun was just beginning to set when Padmé Skywalker came to stand on the balcony, watching the brilliant rays change from orange to purple. The sky was beautiful tonight; it always was here on Naboo with the light reflecting off the waters to shine brightly in the eyes of any viewers.
"Dormé, come out here for a minute. You really should see this, it's beautiful!" she called over to shoulder to the other woman. Dormé alone still remained with her after all these years. Her faithful handmaidens from her years as queen had been assigned other duties and most of the ones assigned to her when she was Senator were either dead in her service or working elsewhere. But Dormé was more than just a handmaiden, she was a true friend, albeit one who still insisted on calling her 'milady.'
Frowning slightly at receiving no reply, she called again, "Dormé, did you hear me before? It's gorgeous out here!"
"Dormé can't hear you right now," a voice said from behind her.
Jumping in shock, she quickly whirled around to face the newcomer. "Anakin! You startled me! I didn't know you were on Naboo, why didn't you comm to tell me?"
"I just happened to be around," he replied tersely, advancing towards her.
A shiver went down her spine and she wrapped her arms around herself, trembling from more than just the feel of chilly air on her bare arms and back. He must've noticed for he quickly discarded his outer robe and draped it around her shoulders.
"Thank you," she murmured quietly, keeping her head slightly bowed.
Not responding, the Jedi turned away from her and went to lean on the far railing. His head was bent down, and she longed to run her hands through the long hair that hid his face. He was her husband, her Anakin.
"Why did you do it?"
She froze and pulled the robe around her even tighter. "I don't know what you're talking about, Ani."
"Don't play innocent with me," he snapped, spinning around to face her. The former politician bit back a gasp of shock as she saw the scar running down his cheek.
Hurriedly, she began to back up, in towards the house. "Anakin, please stop, you're scaring me."
"Scaring you?" Anakin snarled as he advanced towards her, black cloak billowing out behind him. "A pity you didn't find Obi-Wan as scary. Perhaps you might've not spilled all your secrets to him."
Padmé bit her lip to prevent letting out another gasp of horror. He knew. Before she could even make a reply, he was before her and had backhanded her off her feet. She fell into a crumpled ball and began to crawl backwards as fast as she could manage. "Dormé!" she yelled, hoping her friend would hear her and come to her aid.
A mocking laugh came from her husband's lips. "Weren't you listening before? Dormé can't hear you, or anyone anymore for that matter."
"Why did you kill her?" Padmé whispered sadly.
"Because she got in my way," came the cold, heartless reply. "Just like Obi-Wan did."
She got to her feet and began to run, but an invisible leash around her neck and torso prevented her from moving anywhere.
"Tell me, Padmé" Anakin said mockingly, as he advanced towards her once more. "What price did my former master pay for your betrayal? A few tricks in the bedroom perhaps? Or was it more like a few days?"
"Anakin, you don't know what you're saying," she cried, "He was worried about you, everyone was. I was just trying to help you!"
He laughed hollowly, it almost sounded dead. "Help me? Help me? He tried to kill me, he tried to kill my master. And you call that helping me?" An invisible hand grasped her throat and began to squeeze and she fought for air. "Kenobi tried to help me about as much as I'm helping you to breathe right now."
"Ani, stop, please!" Padmé gasped out, brown eyes showing her pain. After a moment, he relented and she doubled over in pain, taking in great big breaths of air gratefully. "What's happened to you, Ani?" she asked when she had enough breath to do so. "You've become so angry."
"That is none of your concern," he shot back, turning away to stride out on the balcony once more. "I've found a new master to serve, one who understands me."
"Who, Anakin?" she whispered, slowly following him out.
"Chancellor Palpatine," came the short reply.
"Palpatine?" she asked in shock. "But he's not Force sensitive, how can he-"
"My master is very much Force sensitive, and commands more power than you could possibly even know," Anakin said tersely without turning around.
"Palpatine is the Sith Lord…" Padmé breathed, staggering back several steps as the idea sunk in fully. It was Palpatine who had tried to kill her, Palpatine who was responsible for the deaths of thousands. And she was the one who had given him the power to do so.
"Why all these questions?" Anakin asked, whirling around to face her once more. "Are you a spy for your Jedi friend? Were you supposed to be the bait in a trap to lure me in?"
"No, Anakin, I'd never betray you!"
His expression grew dark and clouded and she could almost feel the dark power radiating off of him. "But you already have."
An invisible force threw her backwards viciously and into a glass table that broke into millions of tiny, crystal pieces. Pushing herself up to her knees and then attempting to stand, he tossed her into the wall with the Force again. And again. And again. And again.
A thin trickle of blood began to flow down her cheek, becoming mingled with her tears. "Anakin, stop, please!"
He grasped her by the throat and roughly yanked her upwards. "That name, no longer has any meaning to me. You chose to side with the wrong side, Padmé, and you've betrayed me for the last time."
Her weak hands beat helpless against his chest as she watched his cold blue eyes change to a hideous yellow. "I'm going to give you one last chance to save yourself. Where is our son?"
"I don't know!" she cried. "I don't know!"
"You lie!" he snapped, tightening his grip on her throat.
"No, I swear, I don't know! He took him, he took him right after he was born," the woman sobbed.
"Who took him?" he said menacingly.
"Obi-Wan did! He never told me where they were going, I swear. Anakin, please, I'm your wife, I bore your child! Don't kill me!" she pleaded.
His eyes locked with hers for a moment before he tossed her down contemptuously to the ground. "You're alive for now, but if you ever betray me again-" He left his sentence hanging, allowing her imagination to finish it. Turning around, he staked out of the house, leaving the woman he once had said he loved, crumpled in a on the floor, amidst broken glass, without a backwards glance. When she was sure he was gone, Padmé began to cry for the man who she loved, the man who was now dead.