Scarlet
By Sapadu
Before the Senate stood a lone figure. The figure was not, however, a single person. Indeed, the woman that stood upon the ostracized platform was clothed, so dully and dark, if it weren't for the rhythmic movement of the crimson mark upon her breast, none would have suspected life to be possessed of this motionless stock.
Around, a buzz of murmurs, the gossip muttered among themselves of the shame brought forth in the room. About the hussy so brought out, dark robed members of great importance with decisions to make and power at will so shouted and harassed the poor sap upon the stand. The latter did not rise to their jeers, nor stand to shield against the shame- it was borne upon her, seared into her, deeply, moreso that could never be healed or lifted. She heard not, saw not, spoke not of the evil that surrounded her, and her alone, the product of which rested one on each of her arms.
Silence fell upon the congregation as in entered the oldest of ministers with no holy power onto the pulpit. He, followed by his loyal servants and persons of lesser power around him, stood, covered in black, a singularly powerful figure, with no particular aura of power, but he had but gather'd it from those unwilling with the force of that one who stood on his right. This man, also robed in black, wretched as much as his master, bore a face of young, and possessed in but one arm the power to kill any unwilling to bow before the louse who was his master.
Senator Amidala stood before the throng, the two lumps resting on her arms pressed against her body, for whence these marks had been brought forth, it was also the place they desired to remain as close to as possible- the womb of the once proud senator had been their home weeks ago, and the two clung to their haven as a hermit crab does it's shell. All about had seen the little faces of these sin-borne creatures, as but a reminder of the fine line between a proud mother and a throw-a-way hussy.
"Senator Amidala- stand and face-up towards the crowd. All here know now of the evil doings you have brought about on yourself. Must you need now continue to hold yourself in silence when it is known- an unmarried woman, no less- to bear twin children without explanation? Any can see you are not alone in this- now, speak, here fore, and give the name of the other criminal who brought forth those children in your arms." Declared the man on the louse's left, pointing a bold finger forth towards the badge that now identified the difference between the lass and the gossip around her.
Senator Amidala shook her head, and disobeyed the command to look.
"Hark! She does not speak!" Cried a Senator in the hustle. Abrupt all around came noise, in protest against the arrogance and utter discordia a simple head gesture should incite. Senator Amidala's ears were block'd to the sounds product of the angered persons surrounding her, and she thus held her ground, though a pallid sweep through her cheeks made itself known, and brought with it a certainty of the utter despair and disgrace that stooped her shoulders.
"Senator Amidala, it holds no reason for you to withhold such details that are of no harm to you when revealed- what purpose of good should the secrecy of the father's identity hold to you? For such a simple reason, Senator, speak of your partner!" Inquired a member of the Senate, with no authority to stand, but much more to have control of strings on one lower than himself.
"I will not speak. Such is the disgrace already, I'll not be a stool as well as unchaste." Declared the ashamed Padme, who stood on her black pedestal, as though about to be flung into the darkest of fires should she utter a name. The louse, who stood above all, in his blackened robes of divinity, turned to his right, and requested upon his servant to take a place in the questioning.
"Senator, see reason- whoever may be this man guilty of the Scarlet Letter now engraved upon your bosom, he will stand to more shame than you in this room. There is but little to lose, and much to be gained, so wherefore should you seek to silence any utterance of name? All will know, and few not regret. The knowledge you withhold would but obstruct justice and balance in the system- speak the name which not but you and this other thus know." The younger was soft and quiet, as words of the motherly persuasion flowed from his lips forth to the floor and with such intensity and kindness that would have made a mountain crumble to pieces. However, such a small, shielded stone as the one in the hussy's breast wouldn't be moved, naught for wind nor rain, nor any shower of gold.
"Should I say any name for justice, it would be to the doubt of those around and not other judgment. Saddle me with no shame other than that I rightfully earned- shalt I but give the license to the loss of the other two scarlet letters I bear in my arms, nor invite the scorn of all others on account that I might seek to deceive them." She replied, not looking up towards those who might salvage her from a prison.
"What's this? Mercy of womanly heart, but she will not speak!" Gasped many of the congregation. Palpatine lifted his withr'd head and peered at the Senator, with orbs that shattered glass and saw through lies, yet could not discern any revelation of a father. 'Twas as though there weren't one at all.
"If no father shall be uttered before any man in this Senate, it will be before the solitude and curse that will reside with you always that this court shalt have a name. Keep in your arms and soul the sin you have before the Senate today, Senator Amidala, but know this- whether by his own desire or the will of a demented fate, the second God of your pearls shall come into the light, and none shall reveal it, but the Scarlet Letter the both of you will bear." The louse's finger, gnarled and knotted like a withered twig, with an utterance of supremacy only he could spout, made for the sear that blazed between the black and the dark.
Two crimson garbed tyrants of the louse's blood came forth and took each a wrung in their grip which supported one of the babes, and with forced compliance pulled the ashamed Padme from the room into a night of lonesome and cold.
A/N: Okay, this might seem screwy now, but Hawthorne had an even WORSE style of writing. It's kind of an exaggeration of how wordy his writing was, and I'm not telling you how far this deviates from the canon. In other words, Anakin may or may not be the father.
If you've read carefully and have also read the Scarlet Letter, you should already know.