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"Get your hands off me!" Padme said to the guards as they threw her into the cell, next door to her children.
"Did you hear that?!" Leia asked softly.
"It sounded like my momma." Luke said standing up. "Momma!" He yelled, hoping she would be able to hear. Thankfully, the walls weren't that thick and so they could hear each other. Padme swallowed hard and sat up straight hearing her son.
"Luke?!" She called out to him too.
"Yes momma, it's me." Luke called to her. Padme let out a little whimper in relief.
"Oh my Luke. Everything is going to be okay, I promise you." She told him, moving her hand to the cold wall.
"Momma, Leia is with me too."
"Leia…" Padme whispered out. "Oh my Leia." She whimpered out once more.
Leia didn't really know what to say, she had never met or seen this woman in her life and she still couldn't see her. She found it hard to say anything at all. "I promise you both, I will get you out of here. Everything will be okay, just keep holding on." She said softly.
"Momma, we've been really brave." Luke said softly, holding the wall. Leia watched him and swallowed hard, she was only 5 and knew that she would never have the same connection to her mother as Luke did.
"I know you have baby, I'm so proud of you. The both of you." Padme said softly.
"How will you get us out of here? If you are trapped too?" Leia finally spoke up. Padme swallowed hard.
"I will figure out a way, do not worry." Padme promised. Leia looked at Luke and shrugged slightly before going to sit down.
Anakin arrived on the ship and clenched his jaw as he looked around. His eyes flickered between his natural color and the yellow of the sith. He could sense Palpatine and the only thing that was on his mind was killing him and putting an end to this completely. Grabbing his lightsaber he clenched his jaw and followed his senses.
He was a little suspicious, the hallways were practically empty and it was far too easy for him to walk through, the throne room was far too easy to find and he did it all without having to ignite his lightsaber once. It was almost as if Palpatine wanted him on the ship. As he entered the throne room he saw the hooded figure sit on his throne, as he did when he and Obi-Wan were rescuing him during the battle over Coruscant 5 years prior.
"Lord Vader…" Palpatine said with a smirk. Anakin clenched his fists and jaw looking at him.
"Where are they?!" He asked, in no mood to play. He knew Luke was with Leia but he had no idea about Padme.
"I feel your anger flow through you." Palpatine smirked. "Embrace it and you will feel the true power of the dark side of the force!" He added again with an eerie tone.
"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!" Anakin yelled. Palpatine just laughed and stood up.
"You want to kill me don't you?" He grinned.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance." Anakin said, pacing slightly.
"Strike me down and I will grow more powerful. Strike me down and the chance to see your wife and children again will be gone."
Anakin clenched his jaw and felt so angry that for a moment he lost control of his power and blew one of the pipes in the background, just from the force. Palpatine laughed and looked at him, "Gooooood." He hissed. "Allow the power of the dark side to flow through you and take your rightful place as Darth Vader." He hissed again. Anakin's eyes turned yellow with anger and for a moment he almost did before he heard her, heard her voice.
"DADDY!" Leia yelled. Anakin snapped back for a moment and saw two guards dragging the children towards one corner of the room. Though he was angry at them for having his children, Leia's face and the sound of her voice was his cure. "Leia!" Anakin whispered out, before seeing Luke. "Luke…" He whispered once more. This was not how he planned on meeting his son, but my god how he loved him.
"Let us see where your loyalty truly lies." Palpatine added. "With your children…or your wife." he added as another guard dragged Padme through. Anakin's eyes widened and his fists clenched, seeing his wife for the first time in 5 years. His heart was racing.
"Let them go." He told Palpatine.
"Choose." Palpatine asked again with a smirk.
"Anakin, the children.." Padme called out to him, Anakin ran his hand through his hair. Pacing slightly. He could not fight, he could not do anything right now that wouldn't get any of them killed. Then it dawned on him, the one thing he could do, the one thing he could do to save them all.
"Let them go…" Anakin added again, walking closer to Palpatine and dropping on his knee as if he was serving him. "Let them go and I will do what you ask. I will serve you as my new master and succumb to the dark side of the force, to my true self." He whispered out, dropping his head slightly.
"Anakin no!" Padme called to him, tears down her face.
"DADDY!" Leia called again, Anakin just looked at her and gave her a promising nod to say everything was going to be okay, but seeing his wife and daughter in tears killed him. Seeing Luke look so scared killed him and knowing he may never get the chance to know Luke, killed him but this was something he had to do.
Palpatine laughed slightly and took a step down from his throne to stand before Anakin. "You're fulfilling your destiny Anakin, become my apprentice, learn to use the dark side of the force."
Anakin clenched his jaw. "I will do whatever you ask."
"Goood." Palpatine said with a smirk.
"Anakin…" Padme whispered out as she watched in tears.
"Just let them go and I will pledge myself to your teachings." Anakin added, ignoring his wife's beg. Though this was very hard for him.
"The force is strong with you, a powerful sith you will become Lord Vader…" He smirked.
"Thank you, my master…" Anakin mumbled out, looking at Padme with a sad expression then to his children.
"Daddy no!" Leia cried out before they were all dragged away and left Anakin with Palpatine. "NOOOOOO!" Leia screamed out. Her screams for her father could be heard in the distance and it broke Anakin's heart, he let out a small tear and let it roll down his cheek. His hatred for Palpatine just grew stronger by the second.
Padme and the children were thrown on an escape pod and forced off the Imperial ship. Luke instantly ran to her and grabbed her tightly. "Momma!" He yelled, Padme held onto him too before looking up at Leia who was devastated by her father's doings.
"Leia, sweetheart. It's okay…come here." She whispered out, holding her arm out for her. Leia looked at her and shook her head.
"You're not my daddy." She said simply.
"No…but I am your mommy." She whispered again, it broke her heart slightly that Leia didn't want to go to her.
"I want to be left alone." Leia said with a frown before walking into another room of the escape pod.
Padme swallowed hard and wiped her eyes slightly. "Don't cry momma. Everything will be okay." Luke whispered.
"I only hope that to be true Luke." She whispered out. She knew he didn't quite understand what Anakin had just done.
"I can speak with Leia. She trusts me." Luke said softly.
"Thank you. But let's give your sister some time okay? This is hard for her too." She whispered before pulling him close again.
Anakin watched the escape pod from the window and clenched his jaw, how could this have happened? He knew what he must do, the children and Padme were safe now. This was all for them.
"Lord Vader." Palpatine said simply.
"Yes, my master?" Anakin asked, right now he was playing a part, fighting off the dark side as much as he could but he knew Palpatine would sense it soon enough.
"First, you must go to the Mustafar system, wipe out Viceroy Gunray and the other sepratist leaders." Palpatine told him. "Fail me and it will be your wife and children who pay the price." He said simply. Anakin now knew why he so easily let Padme and the twins go, because he could always use them against Anakin to keep him as his apprentice.
"I understand, my master." Anakin said simply, with a clenched jaw.
"Once more the sith will rule the galaxy and we shall have peace." He whispered out.
Anakin just looked at him and nodded his head before putting his hood up and leaving.
Obi Wan was in the Tatooine system when he saw Padme's escape pod fly past and into the Atmosphere of Tatooine. He felt her presence and he felt something terrible, so followed. Landing not far behind her, he watched her and the twins get off the ship and clenched his jaw.
"Padme." He called her.
"Obi Wan?" Padme asked, before running over to him and hugging him tightly.
"I saw your escape pod fly past. I sense something terrible, Padme, I had to make sure you were alright. Make sure the children are alright." He told her.
"Oh Obi-Wan. It's Anakin, he gave himself to the Emperor to save the children and I. He's turning to the dark side." She said as her eyes filled up with water. "We have to help him." She added again. She was so glad to see Obi-Wan but this was heartbreaking.
Obi-Wan clenched his jaw and swallowed hard, before the twins came over. "You're Obi-Wan Kenobi?" Leia asked, over hearing Padme call him.
"I am." He said softly. "And you must be Leia."
"My name is Leia Skywalker and I know about you. My daddy spoke about you all the time." She said softly. "That really bad man is trying to take my daddy and if you are as powerful as my daddy said then you can help him. You can save him." Leia told him. Obi-Wan clenched his jaw and looked at Padme.
"I have not been a Jedi for 5 years. I do not know if I can do this." He admitted.
"Obi Wan please. He is your padawan. He needs you." Padme begged.
"He would save you." Leia added, Luke just looked at the old man and swallowed hard. Obi-Wan was in conflict with the right choice.
"I will try my very best but I can make no promises." He said honestly.
"There is no try in this Obi-Wan. We have to save him." Padme added. "Before it is too late." He nodded his head and looked at Leia who stood tall and strong like her father, but looked so much like her mother. He looked at Luke and saw Anakin. Anakin when he was a child, Anakin as a teenager and Anakin as a man. Luke looked exactly like him and he could not fail these children. He could not fail Anakin.
Looking at Padme, who had already lost so much. They were friends once, he could not fail her.
"I do not wish to leave you, Master but this is my duty now. They are my duty."
The words of Anakin that night of the children's birth on Polis Massa haunted him. Anakin could not do his duty if Obi-Wan as his master failed him. Swallowing hard and gathering his thoughts, he nodded his head.
"I will do what I must." He told them.
"Thank you." Padme said to him, honestly.
"But first, we must get you all to safety." He added, before walking with them to find somewhere safe.
