CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

TRYING TO MAKE THINGS UP

In her apartment in Courasant, Padmé was trying to reach Anakin through the holo-communicator while Shmi spent the evening with Luke. But nothing, his communicator was off. Padmé was really worried, it had been a week since she last saw Anakin, and they haven't talk to each other since they had that arguement in the house.

In the other hand, Anakin was very busy with all the sith investigations. He was still mad at Padmé, he couldn't forgive her for what she did to Kobby. He hated when his family was apart, but what buthered him the most, was that Padmé took Shmi with her because they were very close and Shmi couldn't stand to be away from her. She always went with Padmé on her trips to Courasant and to her audiences with the queen. Now, little Kobby was all alone in his grandparents house, Leia was in the academy and Luke was in Courasant with the rest of his family.

Three months passed this way, with Leia meeting Han in the house, Padmé with many meetings and no time to spend with Shmi, but she realized that she couldn't leave Kobby alone, so she took him to Courasant to make Shmi some company. Anakin was on his mission that was getting more and more dangerous every day, needing as many Jedi as possible. So Luke had to join his father in the mission, but returned to Courasant because he was hurt. it turned out to be that there was a Sith order, more powerful than the previous one, all those years ago, and there were many Sith lords, at least fifty, against the forty Jedi that were fighting them.

One night, Padmé couldn't take it anymore. She needed to talk to Anakin, by any means possible.

***

Padmé walked through the halls of the senators building very quietly. She had already spoken with Sabé to tell her to take care of her children while she made a little trip to attend some affairs. But the handmaiden wasn't stupid, and she knew her friend too well... She knew that Padmé was sneaking out to see Anakin. The senate was doing alright, and it was going to be a calm weekend, all the senators were going out to visit their families, so Padmé wouldn't be missed or needed.

Padmé got into the fastest ship she found, and headed her way towards the moons of Hiliers. It was a very long journey, and Padmé was very nervous. How would Anakin react when she saw her? How would she find Anakin, in the first place? All this ideas where running across her mind when the computer informed that they were reaching the Hiliers system. Padmé straighten up on her seat and she saw, to her surprise, that there were six moons around Hiliers.

"Oh, Sith!", she said out loud. "Where the hell could Ani be?". She felt frustrated. Suddenly she remembered the bond between herself and Anakin, so she concentrated hard to reach Anakin's mind. This type of excercises weren't very hard for her, after all, she was Force sensitive and was really conected with the Force, in a strange way, though.

Finaly, she felt something strong coming from the third moon to her left. It had to be Anakin, no one else could reach that kind of closeness with her. But she wasn't getting anything back. It seemed that only Padmé was trying to communicate with him, not him with her. This made Padmé a little sad, she thought he was still mad at her.

She headed towards the moon and landed in what appeared to be a crater. It was a red planet, full of dust and no trees or plants. The air and atmosphere were normal and safe, so she just walked towards who she thought was her husband.

She climbed a hill and beneath her she saw a large hole with five Jedi on the edge, looking above the hole to the empty field. But one Jedi caught her attention, the one that was closer to her. She ran down the hill ans stopped seven steps away from Anakin. She smiled when she realized that she had found her husband.

"Anakin!". Anakin turned his head from the edge to look at the person who had call him, and he saw in horror that Padmé was standing just a few steps away from him.

"Padmé, get out of here!", he yelled.

"But Ani..."

"GET OUT!!", he yelled again.

"No, I'm not leaving until we talk", she said in a hard tone.

"Padmé, get out!", he cried out, desperate. Padmé crossed her arms across her chest and just stood there. Anakin heard a blaster shot that went right behind Padmé, but she didn't notice it. Another blaster shot was heard, and Anakin stood up in a jump. "DOWN!", he yelled, but Padmé didn't understand.

"What?", she asked. Anakin ran towards her and pushed her, both falling to the floor. Padmé realized what happened. Anakin was lying on top of her, with his arms around her. Padmé shook him. "Ani?". No answer. She shook him again, but he didn't move. She placed her hand on his shoulder, and her jaw fell when she saw her hand covered with blood. "Anakin!", she yelled desperate. She rolled off of him and turned him around after kneeling in front of him. His eyes were rolled over until they were white. Padmé started to cry hopelessly, she didn't know what to do. "Ani, Ani, please!", she pleaded as she lifted his head. Suddenly, a couple of Jedi ran towards them.

"What happened, who are you?", one of them asked.

"I'm his wife. I was standing right here, and somebody was going to... and he blocked the...", she managed to say, but her crying and guilt didn't let her continue. "This is all my fault!", she cried. She hugged Anakin, thinking that that way, he would react. One of the Jedi pulled her back.

"We need to take him to the enfermary. Please mss. Skywalker, cooperate with us". Padmé shook her head.

"I'm not leaving him, no way", she argued. One of the Jedi sighed.

"Alright, you can come with us, but we must take him right now, or he will..."

"Don't you even say it!", Padmé interrupted furious. The Jedi lifted Anakin very carefuly and took him to the enfermary. A healer was there and he checked Anakin's vitals. Padmé was waiting expectant.

"He's just passed out, he will wake up in a couple of hours", he explained. Padmé sighed in relieve.

"What about his shoulder?", she asked. The healer shook his head and looked down, then at Padmé.

"I'm afraid that we'll have to take his arm, the shot broke all this area", he said pointing at Anakin's right shoulder, "and burned his muscles. The arm is useless now. We'll have to replace the arm with a mechanical one", the healer said. Padmé froze. She sat down and looked at Anakin, who was resting peacefuly with an oxygen mask helping him to breathe.

"Is there any chance for his arm to recover?", she asked. The healer shook his head. "This is all my fault", she said hiding her face behind her hands.

"I shall leave you alone now, I'll come back in half an hour to perform the cirjury", the healer said before leaving the enfermary.

Padmé wiped her tears away and looked at Anakin's right hand. It was white, dead. There was no blood running through his veins now. Padmé felt so guilty, this was all her fault through her eyes, she thought that Anakin would never be able to forgive her. He was going to loose his right hand, and this might interfiere with his Jedi skills. This would change everything.

Padmé sat down on Anakin's bed. She grabbed his right hand and kissed it.

For the last time.