Rating: G
Turn to the Dark Side
"I'm sorry Ani, but I have to go."
"What? Wait, I don't understand, what did I do wrong?" Anakin
Skywalker cried out, as his wife, with a determined look on her face, turned
towards the door. He tried to run to her, embrace her, kiss her. But something
stopped him.
"I've told you Anakin," Amidala said, in a clear, cold voice she had
never used with him before, "You're not what you used to be. I loved you
once, loved you so much." Her eyes softened as she remembered. Then they
became cool and jewel-like again. "But something's changed in you. You
still look the same, you still act the same. But you're not the same Anakin
Skywalker I met so long ago..." She couldn't bear to say 'I don't love you
anymore.' It was too cruel. It wasn't true. Something *had* changed with Ani.
Something subtle, almost imperceptible. But even though she was not a Jedi, she
could feel that strange change in him. She saw it in the way he gazed at her,
still lovingly, but somehow more...hungrily. Like he was lusting after
something, and she was in the way. But somehow or other, she sensed that the
change was sinister. And it was even harder on her since she was with child.
Ani didn't know it, but she was due to give birth to twins in a few months.
Taking a small platinum ring from the ring finger of her left hand, she pressed
it into his hands, looked into his eyes for a bare second, and then left.
Once outside and free, the former Queen of Naboo looked back at the Jedi
Temple. She had come to live there with her husband, even though she was by no
means a Jedi. Then she sighed, turned, and walked away, a tear dropping from
her eyelash as she went. She walked half-blindly to a restaurant where she sat
down, refusing any food or drink from the waitress. Sighing, she wondered
whether she would come to regret her choice.
"Well, Madame, strange that I should meet you here." Amidala looked
up sharply. General Kenobi smiled down at her, but the smile vanished, for a
wave of pain suddenly washed off of her. Sitting down, he asked softly,
"What's wrong?" Then,
"I left him," she said stiffly, afraid to trust her voice lest it
betray her emotions. Not that her emotions hadn't been betrayed already. Still,
it was rather embarrassing to break down crying in the middle of a restaurant,
so Amidala tried to prevent that. Yet nonetheless, she felt Obi-Wan's
penetrating gaze, knew that he was concerned for her. Obi-Wan didn't look
shocked in the least, only nodded slightly. She added, "He...he changed
Obi-Wan, it seemed like-like..." she cast about for the right words,
"like our love was a tool to him somehow. As if the only reason he loved
me was because it was useful to him."
Obi-Wan was not surprised that Amidala had left Anakin; he too had felt the change
in his Padawan. "So you felt it too," he said softly. Not waiting for
the answer, he stood up. "I'll have a talk with him. And meanwhile,"
he placed a hand briefly on her shoulder, "you might want to get something
to eat." With a swish of robes, the General left. When Amidala looked up
again, the waitress was there. She placed her order.
Obi-Wan knocked softly at his and Anakin's quarters. There wasn't any answer,
but Obi-Wan knew that Ani was inside. Quietly, he let himself in and went to
his Padawan, who had his head buried in his hands. He sat down beside the boy
and was silent, waiting for Anakin to speak.
"I don't understand what I did wrong, Master," the boy said, his
voice muffled by his hands, "she just left, and all she said was I wasn't
like what I used to be. I still love her Master, I love her so much..."
his voice trailed off, and he hiccupped now and then. Obi-wan ran his hand
soothingly along Ani's back. Finally, he took his hands away from his face, and
looked his Master in the eye. "Am I really changed, Master? How could
that...how did it..." he looked as if he were keeping something back.
"What is it, Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked softly, his heart going out to
the boy.
"Master, on the last mission...I know I should have told you this. On the
last mission, Chancellor Palpatine came to me in a vision. Told me it was my
destiny to join him or something like that..." Anakin pushed a tuft of his
blonde hair out of his eyes. "But it was weird. He was wearing black
robes, and the Force was shrouding him. He looked an awful lot
like...like..." This time Obi-Wan was a little surprised. Palpatine...yes,
he would be the one. Long had he felt the haunting similarities between him and
the Dark Lord, Siduous. But that his Padawan had neglected to tell him
something so eminent was disturbing. However, the only thing Obi-Wan did was
nod. Anakin continued, "And Master, he's starting to come in dreams now.
Telling me over and over that it's my destiny, that sooner or later I will go
to him and be his apprentice. He...he showed me the power I could have, all the
people I could control." His voice wavered at that, and Obi-Wan could
nearly feel the indecision in him.
"You're right, you should have told me before. But you are the Chosen One,
and it is your choice that will sooner or later bring balance to the
Force." Obi-Wan was careful to keep his voice neutral, but he couldn't
help the pang of uncertainty that what his Padawan had just said fired into his
heart.
"Master," Anakin asked, looking up at Obi-Wan suddenly with
realization in his azure eyes, "I'm *not* turning to the dark side, am
I?" His look was so beseeching, and he *had* tried so hard to do his best
in everything. It was hard to resist those eyes that were still red with unshed
tears. But Obi-Wan couldn't forget the tremor in his Padawan's voice when he
told of the power the Dark Lord had promised; Ani's mother had always been
poor, and he never exactly had a luxurious life at home or as a Jedi.
Carefully keeping his voice neutral, Obi-Wan answered, "You're only turned
to the dark side if you have chosen to do so. As I told you, it's your
choice..." Apparently, Obi-Wan's choice of words was not careful enough
for his Padawan. Anakin's hurt look before he spoke made his Master kick himself
mentally.
"You think I'm turning too, don't you?" Anakin cried out
passionately, ignoring Obi-Wan's protests. "First Ami, then you! You all
think I'm stupid or something? I can positively hear you all thinking I'll turn
evil someday soon! And then the galaxy will be doomed because of the choice the
Chosen One made! Well, I might as well just doom the galaxy now, shall I?"
And with that outburst, Anakin stormed out of the compartment, outside past the
gardens, and out the front gates of the Jedi Temple. *I've got to find Ami and
bring her back,* he thought, *without her with me, I probably WILL make a
choice that dooms the galaxy someday...* And he concentrated his mind to
tracing his wife, whose traces felt extremely faint, despite the fact that he
was using his senses to the fullest. What he *could* feel of Amidala's trail
was full of regret for having to leave. *Good,* he thought, tightening the
fists in his pockets, *I can persuade her back then.* He felt something cut
into his palm, and took his fist out of his pocket. The ring. The ring he had
placed on his beloved's finger on the day they were joined "forever" in
marriage. The platinum ring that he hoped Ami would let him put on for her
again soon. Seeing it glimmer there in his hand renewed his determination. Kissing
it gently, he placed it back in his pocket and doubled his speed as he found
more clues to Amidala's trail, which led straight towards a restaurant across
the street from where he was standing. Sprinting across the street, he thought
of a dozen ways to apologize to Ami the millisecond he found her. He ran to the
door of Heavenrun's Eatery, and placed his hand on it to pull it open.
Suddenly, he froze, though not of his own accord. When he tried to move, a
searing pain raced from his shoulder to his thigh. He would have winced had he
been able to. *Not so quickly, my young friend,* laughed a sinister,
all-too-familiar in his mind.
Amidala, former queen of the planet Naboo, looked up sharply as the bells above
the entry of Heavenrun's jangled. Mid-jangle, they stopped, and Amidala turned
her attention to the person in the doorway and froze with surprise. Anakin
Skywalker was standing there, but his expression and body were frozen, and his
eyes were surprised. His gaze was fixed upon her, but he moved not a whit.
Amidala narrowed her eyes, and tried to stand to walk over to him, but found
herself frozen too, and not because she was surprised either. Something was
controlling her and Ani, and she couldn't get to him.
Anakin saw his love freeze as he had, and thought fiercely, *Why are you
controlling her? My love has nothing to do with you and your evil plans!* The
voice in his mind laughed again. *Stay away from her boy, you're mine now.* the
voice became hypnotic: *Give that silly girl up and come with me...come with me
to rule the galaxy. Come!* Ani saw again the vision of power that the Dark Lord
had injected into his mind, then mentally shook himself and resisted. *Come off
it, you think I'm going to take THAT in front of the woman I love most?* *Many
people have, my friend. Power is a wonderful thing, I can tell you. Troops will
attack at a nod, people will obey at your slightest word, wonderful weapons and
machines will be for you to use and command...* That power...it was so sweet.
But Anakin stood strong. *Get away from me!* he screamed in his thought, *I'm
not coming to you anytime soon, and I'll NEVER be your apprentice!* *Have it
your way then,* said the Dark Lord airily, *I will have to find someone else.*
The presence turned away then, but an image, more powerful than the last one,
poured into his mind. It was of himself sitting on a throne, regal and
powerful; his copy made a slight hand movement, and immediately, five squadrons
of masked soldiers marched away down a hall. Another movement with his other
hand, and another squadron went the other way. Just the slightest movement, the
slightest word...the Emperor was giving him the chance to have that power, to
be able to command so much. *Wait!* he called out. *Yes?* the voice asked
expectantly. *I'll come. Show me the way.* *Very good...* and his body was
released. He reached out to the Force, and felt a pull in a certain direction,
and began to walk that way.
Suddenly, Amidala was released, and she slumped down. Then she saw Anakin turn
away and begin to walk in another direction. Something flashing had dropped to
the ground in the doorway, and Amidala ran to it, catching it up before she
went on, out towards her husband, for she had seen Ani's eyes glaze over. Just
as she began to follow him, she looked down at the thing in her hand. Her ring.
Kissing it, she placed it back upon her finger, where it belonged. Quickening
her pace, she called out, "Ani! Wait Ani, come back!" At the sound of
her voice, Anakin began to run, quickly and surely, and before Amidala could
catch up, he was far ahead. "Wait, Anakin, I still love you!" she
called out, as the tears began to flow. "I still love you," she
whispered. And she knew. She knew beyond doubt that Anakin would never love her
again, no matter how much she loved him. She turned and fled back to the
Temple, up to her quarters, nearly bumping into Obi-Wan as he came out of the
neighboring compartment.
"Did he-?" Obi-Wan didn't even need to finish the question and
Amidala was already nodding. He looked into her eyes briefly and squeezed her
shoulder. "I know. I felt it. We must waste no time. I've already notified
the Council. We'll go back to Naboo, and see how it goes from there.
Here." He handed her a packing box, which she knew held her own essentials.
She took the box and turned around, letting Obi-Wan lead the way. "Our
ship is going to be at the spaceport soon, the Millenium Falcon, they
said." And they were out of the gates. Obi-Wan hailed a hovercar-taxi and
they sped off to the spaceport.
The inside of the Falcon was actually quite nice, considering the outside
looked like the thing was about several decades old. The pilot's name was Lando
Calrissian, and he was also a pleasant sort of man, though a bit cocky. Amidala
went into the cockpit, and addressed him, "Excuse me, Captain Calrissian,
do you think I could a holocom call real quickly?" Lando nodded. Amidala
pushed in the call code, hoping for dear life Naboo's Royal Security Base had
not changed codes. She was very gratified when the image of her friend
Lieutenant Vrain appeared.
"Your Majesty!" the Lieutenant cried out, looking overjoyed.
"Don't Majesty me around until I get back, Lara, I need to ask you one
thing: Who's ruling right now?"
"Actually...no one to tell you the truth, the planet never chose another
ruler after you left. It's still mostly organized, just without a ruler. I
think they'll take you back as queen once you come back."
"Alright, that's all I wanted to know, except one thing Lara."
"Yes?"
"You can tell them it's me that's coming, but DON'T have a Royal Guard or
the handmaidens near, okay?"
"Yes, my queen, whatever you want my queen..." Lara smiled teasingly.
"Oh go along, come meet me when I come okay?"
"Yeah." And they hung up.
"Naboo, here I come," Amidala whispered. She sat looking at the image
screen for a few seconds, then got up and went to her cabin.
The End
A/n: Was it good? Was it bad? Write it all in the box below!
Turn to the Dark Side
By: Alina Seine
I had to take this off to do something with it, people that already reviewed, would you mind reviewing again?
Rated: Fiction K - English - Words: 2,719 - Reviews: 5 - Published: Aug 31, 2001 - id: 389803
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