A/N: Dear faithful readers, I am so sorry! I can't believe it's been so long since I updated. I don't want to make any excuses, but I recently started my freshman year at high school. I'm still adjusting, and reviews will definitely be slower. I didn't feel much motivation to write this chapter for some reason either. But I was looking at Reader Traffic the other day and I saw that two people who live in two different countries I've never even heard of read my story!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!! That really helped bring my confidence back. Plus, this is a really nice long chapter to make up for it.
The story will be taking a bit darker turn from here on out. You see one thing I wanted to address in this story is Anakin's struggle with the darkside, something that wasn't really shown in the movies much. It needed to be addressed. And that is what I planned on doing. So without further ado, here is Chapter 25 of The Knight and his Angel
"Come on Padme, you can do this, it's really not that hard."
"Easy for you to say. You've done this like, thousands of times. I'm going to mess up."
"No you won't!" Anakin and Preston yelled at Padme for the millionth time.
"Just reach out with the Force like we taught you, touch the rock, and get it into your hand," Preston explained.
"I can get the rock into my hand."
"With the Force!"
Padme sighed, as she closed her eyes and lifted her hand. Anakin and Preston watched with excitement as the rock lifted into the air. It started moving toward Padme's hand, but than wobbled, and fell down to the ground with a thud.
"See, I can't do it!"
"Only because you refuse to believe in yourself!" Preston yelled.
"Well, I'm sorry but I just don't think I can lift the rock with my mind."
"And that is why you fail."
"Aaaugh! I'm going inside!"
"Padme, wait!" Anakin said as he got up to follow her. But Preston just shook his head and held Anakin back.
"Let her go man. Maybe a break and some time with the twins will help clear her mind. She'll never be able to do this in that state of mind anyway."
"There's my little guy!" Padme said as she picked up a fussy Luke. No sooner than she put a spit rag on her shoulder did Luke throw up on it. Sighing, she put Luke down on the changing table and started to clean up the now, crying baby.
"Hey Padme, how you do…. Did he barf again?" Anakin said as he walked in.
"What do you mean 'again'?"
"He has barfed on me at least three times today."
"Anakin I'm worried. No baby barfs that much," Padme said as she put her hand to Luke's head, and pulled back quickly in shock. She turned and looked at Anakin with a look of worry on her face. "Ani, Luke has a fever."
"Oh no. Are you sure?"
"Ani, he's burning up… okay, um, you take Leia away from Luke, and I'll call Mom." Anakin nodded and carefully picked up the sleeping Leia so as not to wake her up. Padme picked up the still crying Luke and rubbed his back tenderly as she walked to the holo-phone.
"Hey sweetie, what's up?" Jobal said as she came onto the screen.
"Mom, I need help. Luke has a fever, and I really don't know what to do."
"Oh, okay honey. What I need you to do first is calm down, okay. Just breathe, it's only a fever he'll be fine okay. Now did you separate the twins in case it's contagious?"
"Of course I did."
"Good, now just stay calm, and I am going to go to the drug store and get some medicine for Luke. You just stay right there."
"Mom, you really don't have to do that."
"Its okay honey, it's not that far, only takes ten minutes. I want to do this. Besides, I haven't seen you since they let you out of the hospital."
"Okay, okay, just hurry."
"Of course sweetheart I'll be there before you know it," Jobal replied, and then hung up, leaving her youngest daughter to her own thoughts. Padme bit her lip and tapped her foot. She started to walk around the room to keep Luke from crying. But she still couldn't distract herself from the worry she had. She knew it was just a fever, but was afraid it might be something worse.
"Okay, Leia is asleep in her basinet, so all we have to worry about for now is this little guy," Anakin said as he came out of the master bedroom. "Padme are you okay? What did your mom say?"
"Um, she said that she was going to get medicine for Luke and bring it over. I told her not to go through with all the trouble, but she said it was a good excuse to visit us since she hasn't seen us since we got out of the hospital."
"Padme, something is wrong. You don't like it when I shut you out, and now, I'm finally starting to see why. It's frustrating. So just tell me what's going on."
"I don't know. Maybe I'm just… letting my mind run away over the fact that Luke has a fever. I'm… kind of afraid there's something else wrong you know? I mean I know I shouldn't be too worried, but I just can't help it."
"Now you know how I felt." Padme looked at him as if he had to be joking.
"Anakin, that's different. That was just some dream. Luke has a fever, which means there is something wrong with him. I wasn't showing any signs of anything wrong with me."
"And yet, you almost bled to death. Not to mention the fact that my dreams are always right."
"You know what? I really don't want to talk about this. I just want to forget all about that stupid dream!" At the sound of his mother's tense and angry voice, Luke started to cry harder. Padme sighed and continued to walk around the room. Anakin opened his mouth to say more, but heard his comlink go off.
"Just answer it," Padme said blankly. "Just go ahead." Anakin sighed.
"I could just let it go to message."
"You know you can't."
"Fine, I'm going outside." Anakin left and Padme continued to pace around the room. Thinking about the call, and knowing who it was her husband was now talking to a few tears escaped her eyes. When she heard her mother at the door she dried her eyes off and went to answer it.
"Hi mom. Thank you so much for coming over."
"Of course, sweetheart… Honey what's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's nothing. Would you just give me the medicine please?"
"Of course. Where's Anakin?"
"He's outside, talking over the holophone."
"Who is he talking to?" Jobal asked as Padme gave her Luke. Padme took a deep breath before answering.
"Chanc-…Emperor Palpatine."
"Why on Naboo is he talking to that bastard?"
"He wants Anakin's help with something, but what I don't know," Padme lied. But let's talk about something else, like the fact that Preston needs to get out of here and soon. He is really starting to get on my nerves. But I'm going to need him when," Padme stopped before going any further.
"Why would you need him?" Jobal asked.
"No-no reason."
"Padme, for a politician you are a really bad liar."
"No, I'm just bad at lying to my family," Padme corrected. "Listen can we talk about this later, I just want to get this guy some medicine."
"Okay well, here you go. It's already in a little eyedropper so all you have to do is feed it to him like a bottle," Jobal said as she put Luke down on the couch. Padme managed to get him to take about half of the red liquid in the eyedropper before the baby figured out it was not milk. Disgusted, Luke forced the little tip out of his mouth and made a face as though he was about to cry. Padme tried again and again in vain to get him to take the rest.
"Stubborn little thing isn't he?" Jobal said, slightly amused at Padme's attempts to administer the medicine.
"Yeah. It's weird though, Anakin will eat anything!" Padme said in frustration. "He even told me he ate dirt once!"
"Oh everyone does that when they're little."
"What about when they're twenty?"
"Well why in the world would he do that?"
"Because they ran out of food and he's insane!"
"Okay you know what… I think I know how to do this. Where is his binky?" Padme handed it to her and Jobal moved toward Luke's mouth. He opened it up for the binky, and she quickly put the eyedropper in instead. He took the rest of the medicine, but kept the face on when it was all gone and let out a small cry of unhappiness.
"Oooh, it wasn't so bad," Padme said as she picked him up. "That was great mom."
"Works every time," she said with a smile.
"Yeah, I remember once when I was four you did the same thing to me, only you offered me a piece of candy. Sola and Daddy were laughing at me too and I got so angry," Padme said, laughing at the memory.
"Yeah, it stopped working after that though. Hey honey, where is your brother?"
"I honestly have no idea where he could be," Padme answered as she rocked Luke.
"Hey Padme," Preston said walking into the family room. "Mom, what are you doing here?"
"Is that really any way to greet your mother?" Jobal said as she hugged Preston.
"No, not really. But could you answer my question?"
"My goodness, did you drop off the face of the planet? Luke has a fever; I came with some medicine for him. Where have you been?"
"Outside meditating."
"Which in Preston language, means sleeping," Padme added with a smirk.
"I haven't fallen asleep while meditating since I was ten!" Preston shot back.
"Oh so it wasn't you snoring on the porch after saying, 'I'm going outside to meditate,' last week?" Padme replied. Preston opened his mouth to say something, but then sighed.
"I got nothing."
"So it is settled. You will be leaving in two days time. The last of the Jedi will be destroyed my young apprentice. Then you will truly be worthy of your title as a Sith Lord."
"Yes Master. The remaining Jedi will wish they had been captured by the clones when I find them. I won't fail you Master. The Jedi must die," Anakin replied darkly.
"And they will. They will pay for their treachery… Lord Vader." With those last words, the Sith Master cut off the connection, leaving Anakin to his own thoughts. He walked back inside to find Jobal and Preston talking quietly as Padme walked into the nursery with a sleeping Luke in her arms. He followed her in quietly and when she turned around after putting Luke in his crib, she jumped, surprised to see Anakin there.
"Anakin, you scared me…" It was silent for a few moments, but it felt like forever to Anakin before Padme finally spoke again.
"When do you have to leave?" she asked quietly.
"Two days," he answered solemnly. The space closed between them and Anakin wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face in his chest. He felt a few tears wet his shirt. They stood there for a long time in that simple embrace, wishing that everything else outside their house would just disappear.
"Mom."
Rage. Grief. Anger. Hatred. These were the only things Anakin felt as his lightsaber impaled and beheaded Tusken after Tusken. They had tortured his mother for a month before she finally died in his arms and they would pay for it. Anakin came upon a tent where a female Tusken Raider was standing defensively in front of her children and she grunted loudly at Anakin in the Tusken language. But it didn't deter Anakin as his eyes started to change from their normal bright blue and bled yellow.
FLASH!
"I, I killed them. I killed them all. Their dead…every single one of them. And not just the men…but the women, and the children too! They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like ANIMALS! I HATE THEM!!"
FLASH!
"I sense great fear in you Skywalker…You have hate…you have anger…but you don't use them."
Lightsabers clashed red against blue as Anakin and Dooku battled. Anakin smirked for a moment when he realized that this match was his. He was bigger and stronger since the last time he and Dooku had battled, and although he hated the mechanical arm he'd been cursed with, for once he was glad to have it, for it gave him extra strength. Anger spread through him as he remembered the pain of losing his arm. And then, so fast that if you blinked you would have missed it, Anakin cut off both of Dooku's hands. He was kneeling in front of him now, and Anakin held both lightsabers across each other in front of his neck.
"Good Anakin, good…kill him…Kill him now."
"I, I shouldn't."
"Do it!"
The blades severed Dooku's head from his body, and it rolled away, while his body fell down from its kneeling position onto its side.
FLASH!
"Thank you…my Master."
Anakin stormed into the Temple, a small legion of clone troopers marching in behind him. His eyes burned yellow as he entered the room.
"Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What are we going to do?"
Anakin's face remained unchanged as his lightsaber blade came to life.
FLASH!
"NO! LEAVE THEM ALONE! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE THEM!"
"I'm sorry milady."
"NOOO!"
Anakin shot up out of bed, breathing heavily. He looked over to his side and saw that Padme was still peacefully sleeping. He got up and walked into the kitchen, getting something to drink for his dry throat. Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him.
"Anakin? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, you should go back to sleep," he answered, keeping his back to his wife
"No. I can't sleep without you anymore anyway. Have I ever told you that when you were gone I could never sleep unless I worked myself half to death?"
"No."
"Well it's true. Now tell me what's wrong, please."
"It was a dream…a nightmare," Anakin answered.
"Go on," Padme urged.
Preston hopped out of bed, finding he was too hungry to fall back asleep. He walked toward the kitchen, but stopped when he heard voices
"I, I saw all of the horrible things I've done in my life. I saw my mother, and the Tuskens…I saw Dooku, kneeling in front of me, his eyes begging for mercy, completely helpless…and….I saw…I saw the younglings. It was all of my stupid mistakes, all of those terrible things I've done all over again!" Anakin said, slamming his metal fist onto the counter, causing Padme and Preston to jump.
"I don't deserve any of this. I don't deserve the kindness your family has given me. I don't deserve Luke and Leia. And I definitely don't deserve you."
Preston couldn't believe what he was hearing. He looked at his sister's face and saw that she was on the brink of tears. But she shook her head and walked up to Anakin and wrapped her arms around his waste.
"Yes you do. You have worked so hard to help the people of this galaxy. And I know that the person who did all of those things wasn't really Anakin. It was some stranger who, who took you over. You do deserve it," Padme stated. Anakin turned around and looked down at her. Preston was shocked to see a few tears had run down his face
"Give me one good reason."
"Because I said so. And that should be a good enough reason for you." Anakin smiled.
"Don't worry. I've given up trying to argue with you."
"Anakin."
"Yes angel."
"Kiss me."
"Give me one good reason why I should," Anakin replied in a teasing voice.
"Because I said so," Padme replied. And with that he bent down and captured her lips with his own.
Preston turned around, still processing everything he'd just seen and heard. The first thing he realized was that he was no longer hungry. The second thing he realized, as he walked back into his bedroom, was that he'd treated Anakin horribly. True, they'd been getting along, but Preston still harbored feelings of anger towards him for all he'd done and had been downright nasty to him the first few days. This lead him to a third conclusion as he climbed back into bed, disgusted with himself.
"I am such an ass."