"I cannot say you are what I expected."

"Oh."

Padme looked around the room decorated with windows that showed worlds she had never seen before. A woman sat casually before her upon a small wood chair, rocking herself on the back of its two legs.

"I expected someone more intimidating."

The woman stared at her for a few moments, an expression of interest pulling at her molten gold eyes.

"Intimidation takes no imagination, my dear. As a politician, excuse me, as a former politician you should know that there are far more intriguing ways to grab a person's full attention."

"So I am dead," Padme whispered, lowering her eyes to the dark marble floor. Thoughts of Ani and their unborn child swirled around inside her head, tugging at the strings of her heart.

"I suppose you must be, otherwise you would not be here speaking to Death would you," said the woman bored, setting her chair down on all four legs without making a sound.

"And why am I speaking to you?" Padme asked suspiciously, "Why am I not a part of the Force right now?"

"Because you fascinate me, Padme," Death answered, looking back at her as if the answer was quite obvious. "I want to know why you chose death when we clearly both know you could have continued on living."

Pictures and memories shifted through Padme's head as Death spoke her words. A little blonde boy was staring back at her, dirty and bruised but with a triumphant smile. A handsome young man was lifting her up and twirling her under the protection of the shadows of the columns. An invisible force was wrapping around her neck as a man with sickened, yellow eyes stared at her with frustration and anger.

Padme did not know how to answer, she tried to find words but the elegant phrases she had so prided herself on during her political career seemed to have vanished. She could not answer.

Death, for her part, waited patiently in her chair, her legs gracefully crossed and her black fedora hat tilted to shadow her eyes. Padme stood still and remained quiet but Death did not so much as glance up at her. Was truly she waiting for an answer?

The pain she had felt upon seeing her Ani for the last time slowly crept back into her body, relinquishing the painful memories of that evening. She did not want to remember them but they were like ghost slipping in and out of her mind and she held no control over them.

Her husband, her protector had tried to kill her that night. She had tried to look for some sign of remorse or pain as he clutched the Force around her neck but the love that had once reflected back at her from those blue eyes was gone. There were only signs of hurt and betrayal. The man she had loved would have never looked at her with such disappointment, such cold mistrust.

"Do you have an answer?" Death asked lightly, slowly bringing her eyes up to meet Padme's.

"Why do you need to know?" Asked Padme, shaken from her memories.

"I told you," she replied simply, with a shrug, "you fascinate me."

"Well I shouldn't," Padme snapped bitterly, "I am nothing but a senator who rallied against violence and other things that brought death and destruction. Why should I be of any interest when I hate you so vehemently?"

"You don't hate me," Death said, rolling up her collared sleeves, "you hate the things that call my attention. You are against war and disease, starvation and poverty. You hate the idea of needless deaths, not death itself. You are not a person afraid of Death but I do not believe you would die without a reason."

"Does a person need a reason to die? Everyone dies at some point, with or without a reason, it does not matter."

"That is true," Death nodded, her eyes boring down on Padme, "but I do not believe the same can be said about you."

"What can you possibly gain from knowing my reasoning?"

Death blinked before slowly sliding from her chair to stand. She did not speak as she stepped lightly to one of the windows, her golden eyes staring out at the scenic view without really seeing. Padme waited, her brown eyes flickering impatiently over the woman's back.

Finally, she answered. "I want to know what can possibly be considered worse than death. What was out there in the world that made you choose the unknown rather than a life with your children and the familiarity of living? I want to know what could possibly be worse than me."

"Losing love," she whispered.

"What?" Death turned around sharply to look at her.

"Losing your greatest love is like dying, if not worse. It rips your heart out and takes away your will to live. Death is preferable to a world without love."

"And you lost you love?"

Padme dropped her eyes, unwilling to answer. But she did not need to.

"You lost him but not to me?" Death continued.

"Death is not the only barrier between two people," she said sadly.

Death nodded once and paused for a moment to think before speaking, "Padme you have answered me honestly and truthfully and for that you will be rewarded eternal peace in the Force but before doing this I believe I will offer you a wish."

"Like a genie?" Padme questioned, uncertain.

Death nodded. "Yes. But you only get one wish, not three."

Padme did not pause to think and her voice never cracked with uncertainness. She answered surely and desperately, "I want my Ani back. Back to the way he once was. I want him to see the good in himself and hold onto it tightly. That is my wish."

"That will take time," Death replied steadily, "but I promise that it will be carried out."

Then, almost as if suddenly she had grown bored of her visitor, she waved her away, turning back to a window to stare out into empty space.

"I believe you," Padme smiled.

I will admit the story is a little depressing but I am tired and I needed to write something to help with my writers block.

Thanks for reading!!!