CHAPTER SIXTEEN

VERSUS DESTRUCTION

"You were Sidious's apprentice?", Anakin asked shocked.

"Yes". Keenius removed the hood from his face. He had pale skin and red eyes. He was scary just to look at.

"Impossible. He told me he needed another apprentice, that means he didn't have any at the time". Anakin was confused.

"That's right. He dropped my training to take you as his apprentice. That didn't make me very happy", he answered sarcasticly.

"Why didn't you arranged this with me, why did you hurt my wife and my. . .". It was hard to say it. "My. . . child".

"I wanted to hurt you, and it looks like I've succeeded", he smiled evilly at him.

Anakin couldn't hold his anger back anymore. Keenius read his mind, and turned on his red bladed lightsaber. Anakin yelled and attacked first. Keenius blocked his swings with no major effort. When Anakin was attacking in anger, his skills weren't at the top.

They fought, Keenius grin never left his face, Anakin's eyes never left the hatred and anger he felt towards the Sith in front of him. Anakin was exhausted to say the least. He was holding his lightsaber with one hand and backing up. There wasn't any room left to Anakin to keep backing up, so he crushed in the wall of his house. He fell down, and Keenius took his lightsaber away with one smooth swing. Anakin was unarmed now.

"Now, young Skywalker, you will die. That was my master's will". Anakin saw his whole life run in front of his eyes, just like the time Palpatine was throwing electric shocks at him in Courasant. He opened his eyes again, and saw Obi-wan dueling with Keenius. This was a surprise for Anakin. How long had he kept his eyes closed? Obi-Wan kicked Keenius in the jaw. While the Sith was recovering, Obi-Wan turned to Anakin.

"I'll take him from now. You go inside!", he yelled. He was going to say something else, but Keenius was on his feet once more. Anakin stood up and ran to his bedroom. Something was wrong. . .

*********

"My baby! Where's my baby! Anakin, get Anakin!! He will bring our baby back to me, he will save our baby!!", Padmé screamed while she was crying hopelessly. Sabé was trying to calm her down, but she was decided to get out of that bed.

"M'lady, Padmé. . .!". Sabé tried everything to comfort her, but it was useless. Padmé pleaded Sabé with her eyes to let her go, but her loyal friend was trying to hold her still.

"My baby! I want my baby!", she kept calling. Anakin appeared in the room running from the garden. Padmé turned her eyes on him and her excitement grew. "Anakin! See? He's come with our baby, he brought our baby back!"

Anakin wrapped his arms around Padmé and let her cry on his shoulder. 'Anakin, our baby, our baby', she kept saying. Anakin realized that not anything he said would calm his wife, so he concentrated and waved his hand in front of her eyes.

"You are tired, you want to rest now"

"I'm tired, I want to rest now", she repeated. She rested her head on his chest and slowly closed her eyes. In an ordinary day, this Jedi mind trick would've never work on her. But she was weak, and this wasn't an ordinary day. Not at all.

"Yes, that's my girl", he whispered while he softly rocked her. He looked at the window. There was Obi-Wan, still alive and with the Sith's lightsaber in his hand. Anakin nodded his head, thanking him. Obi-Wan smiled and left the room.

Anakin looked at his wife again, this time tears rolled down his cheeks. She looked so innocent with her eyes closed. She wasn't sleeping though, no matter which mind trick Anakin would play on her, she never fall asleep, never. In fact, this was the closest thing to sleeping Anakin had ever reached with his wife, and he was glad he did today.

"Ani. . .", she breathed. "Ani, don't go away, don't leave me alone, or they will take the baby away from us again". She was sedated, mind tricked, tired, poisoned and sad. Never a good combination in anybody's life.

"I'll never leave you alone again, Padmé. Never". He said this right before he started to cry. He could still picture Padmé, three months pregnant with a little belly coming out of her small figure. This thought only brought more tears to his eyes. He stopped his sobbs when he heard the twins crying. He asked Sabé to bring them to him and then to give them a moment alone. Sabé did so, figuring what was Anakin going to do, and left the room.

Anakin rested Padmé's head on the back of the bed and carried both twins in his arms. He sat next to Padmé and told her to open her eyes. When she did, a weak smile lightened up her face, that was dried because of all the tears that had rolled down. She slowly moved her hand to touch Leia's head, who was the closest baby to her. She smiled again when she felt the tiny light brown curls between her fingers. Anakin laid Leia on Padmé's lap and wrapped his free arm around his wife. She rested her head on her husband's shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Will you ever forgive me, Ani?", she whispered with a weak cracky voice.

"Padmé, you must understand this wasn't your fault. There's nothing for me to forgive you. I love, and I'll always be with you". Anakin softly kissed her on the lips and sighed. Padmé moved her hands to her stomach, as if she was looking for her baby. Anakin covered her hands with his and cried quietly without her noticing.

//Will she ever overcome this?//. Anakin didn't know what to do. He had a very emotionally weak wife (//not very like her// he thought), twin babies and many explanations to give to the Council and the senate. Since Palpatine's death, the republic was a mess, though it looked things were going to be fine. Once again, Anakin asked himself:

//Will she ever overcome this?//