Oct 2002
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, all the characters (Except for Tasha) are property of Lucasfilm etc etc.
Hide Your Love Away
Chapter 20
It would be just under a week before Anakin and Padmé received word from the Chancellor. Obi-Wan, who hadn't seen either of them for six days, accepted the message on their behalf. Making his way slowly towards their living quarters he flipped the message on. Encrypted. Shaking his head, he closed it down and continued walking. He'd had no luck tracking Pearl in the last few days and his nerves were shot. Was she alright or had the Force user who'd tried to kill her succeed?
He shook the thoughts from his mind as he stopped outside the Skywalker's door. He hit the comm. on the wall, waiting for a few moments. Anakin's voice came across after a minute and he sounded as if he'd just woken up. "What do you want, Obi-Wan?"
"I have a message for you from the Chancellor."
The door slid open almost immediately. Obi-Wan stepped in to find Anakin smothering a yawn, his bare feet peeking out from under a bathrobe. "Sorry, you woke us up."
Obi-Wan glanced at his chrono. "It's just after noon, surely you can't have been that tired?"
Anakin grinned rakishly. "Actually, we went to sleep about this time yesterday."
Obi-Wan shook his head as Padmé stepped into the room, similarly dressed in her bathrobe and barefoot. "Anakin, who...? Oh, hello Obi-Wan."
"Good afternoon Padmé." Obi-Wan tried to ignore the fact that they were both wearing self-satisfied smiles. He held the datapad out to Anakin. "Here."
Anakin took it and checked the code. He sighed as he entered the encryption. "The honeymoon's over, Angel, we've been summoned." He finished scanning the note and then tossed it to Obi-Wan. "Palpatine has decided to show his hand."
Obi-Wan righted the datapad and read the message aloud.
"Skywalker.
Your time is up. You and your wife will meet me in my council meeting room at two hours after noon. I have something you might wish to trade for. Bring Jedi Kenobi and be on time.
The Supreme Chancellor Palpatine"
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin. "Is he for real? He's pretty much asked to see everyone we wanted to bring, that doesn't strike you as at least a bit suspicious?"
Anakin shrugged. "We have a contingency planned for if he knows of our plans. We go ahead anyway. Padmé, dress in something that won't give anyone handholds. I'll do the same, save for the cloak... but then, it tends to get discarded before we duel anyway."
She nodded, disappearing into their bedroom. Obi-Wan stood. "I'll meet you at the entrance of the temple in an hour. May the Force be with you."
"And with you, Obi-Wan."
Anakin watched his old Master depart and shook his head. The day for facing Palpatine had finally come and he felt nothing more than a desire to have this awful business over and done with. It made him smile.
An hour later the three were standing outside the Temple dressed in clothes more suitable to travel or battle than a diplomatic negotiation. "I talked to Master Yoda." Obi-Wan said without preamble as he walked up. "He said it feels like a trap. I'm inclined to agree with him."
Anakin looked up towards the distant sky, the lanes of traffic crisscrossing overhead. "I know it's a trap. If we don't face him now we may not get another chance. By allowing him to pick the time he's more liable to make mistakes... among them, the mistake of dismissing everyone before we get there. This way, we won't have an audience."
Padmé grimaced. "You have a point. So we just all show up at once and end up in the brig together, is that it?"
"Palpatine doesn't want us in the brig, Angel, he wants me at his feel begging to be trained."
She squeezed his hand. "I won't let him have you."
Obi-Wan checked his chrono. "Well, we have an hour until our meeting. Do we surprise him by being early?"
Anakin looked at Obi-Wan with a strange expression on his face. "You're asking me?"
Obi-Wan's response was a slight nod. "This is your show, Anakin. I'm just along because I was asked to be here."
"More like ordered. But that's neither here nor there." Padmé waved one hand as if to dismiss the thought. "I think we should head over early. Politicians hate having their schedules toyed with, so it should set him off balance."
The men agreed and they headed off to the senatorial buildings, forgoing a speeder in favor of walking. Mundane, perhaps, but it would take longer and they wouldn't be waiting for the Chancellor for so long. They arrived a half hour later, entering by the main doors and headed for the turbo lifts. No one stopped them; they were too well known throughout the galaxy. Most wore expressions of shock as Padmé Amidala walked by. She was a ghost, surely. She'd been dead for almost a year!
None of the three spoke, but they were aware of the curious, and incredulous, gazes that followed them. Anakin shielded his wife from the gaze of many, suddenly wishing he'd insisted she wear a cloak of some kind. He'd forgotten she was considered legally dead. They stepped into the turbo lift and he pressed the buttons for floor that held the main meeting chamber of the Chancellor. Floor 198. If something goes wrong, he found himself thinking, we can't very well jump out the window.
They were silent, aware that they were being watched on cameras and recorded by bugs. They didn't need anyone else knowing what they were here for. Padmé linked her hand with Anakin's, feeling very uneasy all of a sudden. She didn't want to be here.
Anakin ducked his head so he could speak close to her ear. "Easy, Angel. Relax. I won't let anything happen to you."
She was grateful for the reassurance, but pride made her spine stiffen and chased away any of her fear. The look she shot him said volumes about being able to take care of herself.
Anakin chuckled softly before looking back at the floor display. They were coming up on their destination. Squeezing her hand once more, he let it go. They couldn't be connected physically when they finally face Palpatine, it would give him a way to link their thoughts.
The doors slid open on their floor and the three stepped out. The guards made to stop them and then stopped, doing a double take as Padmé, regal as a Queen, swept past them. Jaws dropped and people stared as she walked towards the Chancellor's office. Anakin and Obi-Wan tailed behind her, marveling at the effect of her resurrection on people. She'd been much loved and her death had hit many people hard.
Anakin hide a smile. It was gratifying to see such a reception for his wife. She marched straight to the floor secretary of the Supreme Chancellor and placed her hands on the desk. "My husband and I have an appointment with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. He asked that we wait for him in the council meeting room. Will you please inform him we are here and will be waiting for him in the council room." She turned her back and walked towards the council room.
Behind her the shocked secretary scrambled for her comm. and hit the button to call up to the Chancellor's main secretary. No one would believe her, so she simply said Jedi Skywalker and his friends were here for their appointment with the Supreme Chancellor. The secretary acknowledge her and then cut her off. The Chancellor would be down shortly.
Anakin stepped inside the meeting room, his sense alert. Someone was waiting for them.
"Careful," Obi-Wan murmured, "there's someone else here."
Padmé stepped in first, her hand on the blaster concealed in her sleeve. It wouldn't do much good against a Jedi, but then, not all of Palpatine's guards could use the Force. Behind her, Anakin and Obi-Wan kept their hands from their lightsabers but left them close by in case they had need of them. The room was dark, barely lit, and eerily silent.
Padmé took a few steps inside and palmed the light switch. Overhead lights flickered, as if searching for enough power, before illuminating completely. The room was empty. Large enough to accommodate fifty people easily, it held a huge rectangular table with chairs enough for twenty-five people. Another set of chairs could be found in the walls, along with another table. Padmé's gaze swept across the room, over the drab white walls, and down to the slightly raised speaker's platform. Even here Palpatine had his own space. A table with a huge comfortable chair was placed in the center of the dais, next to the podium's speakers.
"Now, we wait?"
Anakin nodded, still feeling uneasy. Something about the whole situation didn't feel right. The room was too clean, almost as if someone wanted to make it seem harmless. His danger sense flared as his lightsaber jumped into his hand. He lunged to knock Padmé away as the floor opened up beneath her feet. "No!"
Padmé didn't scream. She'd been in worse scrapes than this and Anakin had a hold on one of her hands. The other was curled around the lip of the pit. Below they could see a ribbon of tubes, clear tubes, which descended to the darkness below. She looked up and met his gaze. "Drop me, Anakin."
He shook his head, tugging her out of the hole but she struggled against him. "Drop me. We have to go down here."
"No!" he glared at her. "Don't fight me, Padmé, something isn't right about this."
She allowed him to pull her half-way out of the pit as Obi-Wan watched their backs, and then stopped when her waist was resting on the edge of the hole. "Palpatine will never allow us to face him in this room, don't you see? He's not going to allow us to jeopardize his secret. Going below and following this maze of tubes is the only way to end this. Think, Anakin. Use your noggin."
He glanced back to Obi-Wan. "Your thoughts?"
Obi-Wan turned, glanced into the hole, and then turned back to his lookout duties. "You're in charge of this one, Anakin. The final choice is yours."
"I don't care if I'm in charge, I want your opinion."
"She's right. Can't you feel it? Whatever is going to happen isn't going to happen here. This room is too neat, too public to have a show down. Go with her, I'll follow when you're both down."
Anakin looked back at his wife as he slid to the edge of the hole. "I hope you know what you're doing, Angel. Don't let go of me. I wouldn't want to lose you now."
She squeezed his hand and tugged. Together they dropped down to the hard surface of the tube. Unable to land since it was covered in a thick, slick substance, they quickly began to slide. Behind them, Obi-Wan landed on the slick substance and a muffled cruse followed. Padmé kept her fingers locked around Anakin's as the slope of the tunnel increased, sending them down at a much faster rate. Heavier than she, Anakin began to pull her along, almost tearing her arm from its socket when they jerked sharply to the left. Obi-Wan disappeared behind them.
Anakin tugged on her arm, trying to bring her closer, as he reached back. "Give me your other hand!"
She tried. Really she did, but the slick substance made any attempt at holding his other hand impossible. Coated on her front and back, their joined hands began to slide as the fluid worked its way into the cracks between their fingers.
"Anakin, I can't hold on!"
"You can, don't let go!"
Their hands began to slide and Anakin tightened his grip. He couldn't let her go. They rounded a sharp corner, the tube branching in two different directions. Anakin felt his grip slide and she slipped through his fingers. "PADME!"
"ANAKIN!"
She disappeared down the other tube as he short into a new one. Screaming her name, he tried to slow his slide, to somehow crawl back to the tube she'd disappeared in. He tried and failed as the slimy fluid completely coated his clothes and hands. The wind whipping past him was all that prepared him as he came shooting out of the tunnel into a huge reservoir.
Anakin plummeted like a stone and sank deep before he began to kick towards the surface. His lungs screaming for air, he fought against the dark water. His head broke the surface and he sucked in a huge gulp of fresh air. "PADME!"
His voice echoed strangely in the cavern as his eyes began to adapt to the darkness. The outline of a shore, created by the ripples of his landing swelling against it, became visible. Anakin kicked towards shore, reaching out with the Force now that he could find his focus. Padmé's presence nearby washed over him and he felt a part of him, a very important part, relax. She was alright. Focusing elsewhere, he found several people, including Obi-Wan, to be in the vicinity. A dark presence, barely noticeable in the Force, was approaching him. Anakin reached for the bond his still had with his former Master and warned him of what was coming.
His feet hitting the bottom of the lake brought him back to himself. He scrambled out of the water, slicking his hair back to keep it out of his eyes. His clothing clung to him like a second skin, his robe having disappeared somewhere in the water. Anakin took stock of his surroundings. He was wet, but not cold, as the water and the air seemed to be balancing each other out. He shivered anyway, knowing he'd be cold soon if he didn't find something dry to wear.
He smiled wryly. If Palpatine was aiming to make them uncomfortable, he was certainly succeeding. Putting one waterlogged boot in front of the other, his leather clothing already beginning to stiffen, he set out to find his wife. Obi-Wan was a Jedi Knight; he could take care of himself against a Force user. Padmé, on the other hand, had experience but little in the way of defense beyond her strong will. She needed him.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, all the characters (Except for Tasha) are property of Lucasfilm etc etc.
Hide Your Love Away
Chapter 20
It would be just under a week before Anakin and Padmé received word from the Chancellor. Obi-Wan, who hadn't seen either of them for six days, accepted the message on their behalf. Making his way slowly towards their living quarters he flipped the message on. Encrypted. Shaking his head, he closed it down and continued walking. He'd had no luck tracking Pearl in the last few days and his nerves were shot. Was she alright or had the Force user who'd tried to kill her succeed?
He shook the thoughts from his mind as he stopped outside the Skywalker's door. He hit the comm. on the wall, waiting for a few moments. Anakin's voice came across after a minute and he sounded as if he'd just woken up. "What do you want, Obi-Wan?"
"I have a message for you from the Chancellor."
The door slid open almost immediately. Obi-Wan stepped in to find Anakin smothering a yawn, his bare feet peeking out from under a bathrobe. "Sorry, you woke us up."
Obi-Wan glanced at his chrono. "It's just after noon, surely you can't have been that tired?"
Anakin grinned rakishly. "Actually, we went to sleep about this time yesterday."
Obi-Wan shook his head as Padmé stepped into the room, similarly dressed in her bathrobe and barefoot. "Anakin, who...? Oh, hello Obi-Wan."
"Good afternoon Padmé." Obi-Wan tried to ignore the fact that they were both wearing self-satisfied smiles. He held the datapad out to Anakin. "Here."
Anakin took it and checked the code. He sighed as he entered the encryption. "The honeymoon's over, Angel, we've been summoned." He finished scanning the note and then tossed it to Obi-Wan. "Palpatine has decided to show his hand."
Obi-Wan righted the datapad and read the message aloud.
"Skywalker.
Your time is up. You and your wife will meet me in my council meeting room at two hours after noon. I have something you might wish to trade for. Bring Jedi Kenobi and be on time.
The Supreme Chancellor Palpatine"
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin. "Is he for real? He's pretty much asked to see everyone we wanted to bring, that doesn't strike you as at least a bit suspicious?"
Anakin shrugged. "We have a contingency planned for if he knows of our plans. We go ahead anyway. Padmé, dress in something that won't give anyone handholds. I'll do the same, save for the cloak... but then, it tends to get discarded before we duel anyway."
She nodded, disappearing into their bedroom. Obi-Wan stood. "I'll meet you at the entrance of the temple in an hour. May the Force be with you."
"And with you, Obi-Wan."
Anakin watched his old Master depart and shook his head. The day for facing Palpatine had finally come and he felt nothing more than a desire to have this awful business over and done with. It made him smile.
An hour later the three were standing outside the Temple dressed in clothes more suitable to travel or battle than a diplomatic negotiation. "I talked to Master Yoda." Obi-Wan said without preamble as he walked up. "He said it feels like a trap. I'm inclined to agree with him."
Anakin looked up towards the distant sky, the lanes of traffic crisscrossing overhead. "I know it's a trap. If we don't face him now we may not get another chance. By allowing him to pick the time he's more liable to make mistakes... among them, the mistake of dismissing everyone before we get there. This way, we won't have an audience."
Padmé grimaced. "You have a point. So we just all show up at once and end up in the brig together, is that it?"
"Palpatine doesn't want us in the brig, Angel, he wants me at his feel begging to be trained."
She squeezed his hand. "I won't let him have you."
Obi-Wan checked his chrono. "Well, we have an hour until our meeting. Do we surprise him by being early?"
Anakin looked at Obi-Wan with a strange expression on his face. "You're asking me?"
Obi-Wan's response was a slight nod. "This is your show, Anakin. I'm just along because I was asked to be here."
"More like ordered. But that's neither here nor there." Padmé waved one hand as if to dismiss the thought. "I think we should head over early. Politicians hate having their schedules toyed with, so it should set him off balance."
The men agreed and they headed off to the senatorial buildings, forgoing a speeder in favor of walking. Mundane, perhaps, but it would take longer and they wouldn't be waiting for the Chancellor for so long. They arrived a half hour later, entering by the main doors and headed for the turbo lifts. No one stopped them; they were too well known throughout the galaxy. Most wore expressions of shock as Padmé Amidala walked by. She was a ghost, surely. She'd been dead for almost a year!
None of the three spoke, but they were aware of the curious, and incredulous, gazes that followed them. Anakin shielded his wife from the gaze of many, suddenly wishing he'd insisted she wear a cloak of some kind. He'd forgotten she was considered legally dead. They stepped into the turbo lift and he pressed the buttons for floor that held the main meeting chamber of the Chancellor. Floor 198. If something goes wrong, he found himself thinking, we can't very well jump out the window.
They were silent, aware that they were being watched on cameras and recorded by bugs. They didn't need anyone else knowing what they were here for. Padmé linked her hand with Anakin's, feeling very uneasy all of a sudden. She didn't want to be here.
Anakin ducked his head so he could speak close to her ear. "Easy, Angel. Relax. I won't let anything happen to you."
She was grateful for the reassurance, but pride made her spine stiffen and chased away any of her fear. The look she shot him said volumes about being able to take care of herself.
Anakin chuckled softly before looking back at the floor display. They were coming up on their destination. Squeezing her hand once more, he let it go. They couldn't be connected physically when they finally face Palpatine, it would give him a way to link their thoughts.
The doors slid open on their floor and the three stepped out. The guards made to stop them and then stopped, doing a double take as Padmé, regal as a Queen, swept past them. Jaws dropped and people stared as she walked towards the Chancellor's office. Anakin and Obi-Wan tailed behind her, marveling at the effect of her resurrection on people. She'd been much loved and her death had hit many people hard.
Anakin hide a smile. It was gratifying to see such a reception for his wife. She marched straight to the floor secretary of the Supreme Chancellor and placed her hands on the desk. "My husband and I have an appointment with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. He asked that we wait for him in the council meeting room. Will you please inform him we are here and will be waiting for him in the council room." She turned her back and walked towards the council room.
Behind her the shocked secretary scrambled for her comm. and hit the button to call up to the Chancellor's main secretary. No one would believe her, so she simply said Jedi Skywalker and his friends were here for their appointment with the Supreme Chancellor. The secretary acknowledge her and then cut her off. The Chancellor would be down shortly.
Anakin stepped inside the meeting room, his sense alert. Someone was waiting for them.
"Careful," Obi-Wan murmured, "there's someone else here."
Padmé stepped in first, her hand on the blaster concealed in her sleeve. It wouldn't do much good against a Jedi, but then, not all of Palpatine's guards could use the Force. Behind her, Anakin and Obi-Wan kept their hands from their lightsabers but left them close by in case they had need of them. The room was dark, barely lit, and eerily silent.
Padmé took a few steps inside and palmed the light switch. Overhead lights flickered, as if searching for enough power, before illuminating completely. The room was empty. Large enough to accommodate fifty people easily, it held a huge rectangular table with chairs enough for twenty-five people. Another set of chairs could be found in the walls, along with another table. Padmé's gaze swept across the room, over the drab white walls, and down to the slightly raised speaker's platform. Even here Palpatine had his own space. A table with a huge comfortable chair was placed in the center of the dais, next to the podium's speakers.
"Now, we wait?"
Anakin nodded, still feeling uneasy. Something about the whole situation didn't feel right. The room was too clean, almost as if someone wanted to make it seem harmless. His danger sense flared as his lightsaber jumped into his hand. He lunged to knock Padmé away as the floor opened up beneath her feet. "No!"
Padmé didn't scream. She'd been in worse scrapes than this and Anakin had a hold on one of her hands. The other was curled around the lip of the pit. Below they could see a ribbon of tubes, clear tubes, which descended to the darkness below. She looked up and met his gaze. "Drop me, Anakin."
He shook his head, tugging her out of the hole but she struggled against him. "Drop me. We have to go down here."
"No!" he glared at her. "Don't fight me, Padmé, something isn't right about this."
She allowed him to pull her half-way out of the pit as Obi-Wan watched their backs, and then stopped when her waist was resting on the edge of the hole. "Palpatine will never allow us to face him in this room, don't you see? He's not going to allow us to jeopardize his secret. Going below and following this maze of tubes is the only way to end this. Think, Anakin. Use your noggin."
He glanced back to Obi-Wan. "Your thoughts?"
Obi-Wan turned, glanced into the hole, and then turned back to his lookout duties. "You're in charge of this one, Anakin. The final choice is yours."
"I don't care if I'm in charge, I want your opinion."
"She's right. Can't you feel it? Whatever is going to happen isn't going to happen here. This room is too neat, too public to have a show down. Go with her, I'll follow when you're both down."
Anakin looked back at his wife as he slid to the edge of the hole. "I hope you know what you're doing, Angel. Don't let go of me. I wouldn't want to lose you now."
She squeezed his hand and tugged. Together they dropped down to the hard surface of the tube. Unable to land since it was covered in a thick, slick substance, they quickly began to slide. Behind them, Obi-Wan landed on the slick substance and a muffled cruse followed. Padmé kept her fingers locked around Anakin's as the slope of the tunnel increased, sending them down at a much faster rate. Heavier than she, Anakin began to pull her along, almost tearing her arm from its socket when they jerked sharply to the left. Obi-Wan disappeared behind them.
Anakin tugged on her arm, trying to bring her closer, as he reached back. "Give me your other hand!"
She tried. Really she did, but the slick substance made any attempt at holding his other hand impossible. Coated on her front and back, their joined hands began to slide as the fluid worked its way into the cracks between their fingers.
"Anakin, I can't hold on!"
"You can, don't let go!"
Their hands began to slide and Anakin tightened his grip. He couldn't let her go. They rounded a sharp corner, the tube branching in two different directions. Anakin felt his grip slide and she slipped through his fingers. "PADME!"
"ANAKIN!"
She disappeared down the other tube as he short into a new one. Screaming her name, he tried to slow his slide, to somehow crawl back to the tube she'd disappeared in. He tried and failed as the slimy fluid completely coated his clothes and hands. The wind whipping past him was all that prepared him as he came shooting out of the tunnel into a huge reservoir.
Anakin plummeted like a stone and sank deep before he began to kick towards the surface. His lungs screaming for air, he fought against the dark water. His head broke the surface and he sucked in a huge gulp of fresh air. "PADME!"
His voice echoed strangely in the cavern as his eyes began to adapt to the darkness. The outline of a shore, created by the ripples of his landing swelling against it, became visible. Anakin kicked towards shore, reaching out with the Force now that he could find his focus. Padmé's presence nearby washed over him and he felt a part of him, a very important part, relax. She was alright. Focusing elsewhere, he found several people, including Obi-Wan, to be in the vicinity. A dark presence, barely noticeable in the Force, was approaching him. Anakin reached for the bond his still had with his former Master and warned him of what was coming.
His feet hitting the bottom of the lake brought him back to himself. He scrambled out of the water, slicking his hair back to keep it out of his eyes. His clothing clung to him like a second skin, his robe having disappeared somewhere in the water. Anakin took stock of his surroundings. He was wet, but not cold, as the water and the air seemed to be balancing each other out. He shivered anyway, knowing he'd be cold soon if he didn't find something dry to wear.
He smiled wryly. If Palpatine was aiming to make them uncomfortable, he was certainly succeeding. Putting one waterlogged boot in front of the other, his leather clothing already beginning to stiffen, he set out to find his wife. Obi-Wan was a Jedi Knight; he could take care of himself against a Force user. Padmé, on the other hand, had experience but little in the way of defense beyond her strong will. She needed him.