Summary: When Palpatine sends Darth Vader to deliver him the Skywalker twins, Padmé finds herself on the run from the man she once loved.
Genre: Romance, Action/Adventure
Pairing: Anakin/Amidala
Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs people with lotsa money. $_$ Unfortunately, all I have is a headache.
Author's Note: Yes, I know it's been a heck of a long time since I've updated. My excuse is that I wanted to make this more interesting, but I was having trouble developing the storyline beyond chapter 3, but that's all fixed now. My sincere thanks to my own intellect (Just Kidding!) and my friends M.M., E.W. and C.S. for putting up with my numerous complaints and refraining themselves from smacking me on the head for whining too much.
In case you're wondering,
Darth Vader isn't stuck in that awful suit of his because nobody has had
the opportunity to run a lightsabre through him yet. Personally,
I don't really get why some people choose to put him in that awful suit
anyways in some fanfics even though he can breath perfectly fine on his
own. O.o
Chapter 2
Padmé watched the star lines fade as they came out of light-speed. They had been randomly jumping from place to place these few days, trying to get the Imperials off their trail. Not that they were having much success so far, it seemed, she thought glumly.
"This is getting annoying." she heard Sabé mutter beside her as another pile Squadron of TIE fighters showed up on the screen.
Obi-wan sighed as he looked at the maps. "Sabé, tell the rest of the handmaidens to hang on. I'm going to try and lose them in the asteroid field up ahead."
The others looked at him as though he had gone crazy. When they realized he was serious, Padmé nodded slowly, "I trust you to get us out of this, Obi-wan. It's worth a try."
Exchanging a look with her friend, Sabé made her way out of the cockpit.
Moments later, she returned. As they watched Obi-wan skillfully maneuver the ship past the incoming TIE fighters, Padmé bit her lip.
Some time later, they found themselves on the border of the asteroid field. Padmé squeezed her eyes shut as they narrowly missed being hit. Beside her, Sabé winced as a TIE fighter behind them exploded on collision with the flying debris.
About an hour later, they had managed to lose the Star Destoryer. Making their way out of the asteroid field, Obi-wan pushed the lever forward as the stars became starlines as they entered light-speed.
"Next stop: Corellia." said Sabé wryly. As she turned towards Padmé, she was startled to see her friend with a unusually worried expression on her face.
"Padmé," said Sabé gently, "Senator?"
Finally Padmé spoke, but her voice was unusually tense, "How does Vader always know where we're headed? Did they put a tracking device on the hull or something?!"
Obi-wan and Sabé looked at each other. Finally the former spoke, "I'm afraid it's the twins. Vader is their father and they have a very strong bond through the Force. Also, you may not know it yourself, Senator, but you are also Force potential, but to a lesser degree."
"But, what can we do?" asked Padmé.
"One way would be to separate the twins," said Obi-wan slowly, "But their Force signature is so bright that I doubt it would be much of a use. We need something that would cloak their presence in the Force for awhile." He sat there silently, thinking.
"I could do that, but I wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. Their Force signature is too bright. No, we need something else, but what?" Obi-wan had once heard something about something that created a hole in the Force, but he had trouble remembering what...
Suddenly he remembered. "Ysalamiri."
"What?" asked Sabé.
"Ysalamiri." repeated the Jedi, "It's a type of sessile creature that blocks off access to the Force found on the planet Myrkr."
"Myrkr." said Padmé thoughtfully "I think I've heard of it before..."
"The Jedi usually avoid this place." Upon seeing their questioning expression, he explained, "One is not much of a Jedi without the Force." Obi-wan said wryly.
Snapping out of it, she turned to the others, "It's a plan then. Corellia for a less conspicuous spaceship and then to Myrkr."
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Meanwhile, Darth Vader stood on the bridge of his star destroyer. His officers made sure to stay far, far away. The Sith wasn't in a very good mood.
"Damn, the morons had lost track of them AGAIN!" he thought to himself sourly.
Unbidden, a familiar image soon entered his mind, as it had for the last few months. It was her again. Padmé.
Where was she now? Was she thinking about him? About the man he had once been? Unconsciously he reached out through their bond - a bond which had weakened as he became more and more immersed in the Dark Side, but nevertheless, was still intact.
He reached out through the Force, towards the bright aura that was his Angel.
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Sabé stopped in the middle of her sentence when her best friend suddenly slumped over.
"Padmé!" she said, shaking her friend. When her friend remained unconscious, she dashed out to find Obi-wan.
Almost smacking into him as he came down the corridor, she said urgently, "It's Padmé. She just slumped over suddenly..."
Seeing her worried expression he ran towards the Senator. After a moment, he came to a conclusion: "Anakin." was all he said.
Meanwhile, Padmé found herself engulfed by darkness, the air around filled with evil and hate. She soon found herself facing her former lover. Darth Vader.
Careful to keep a certain distance from the Sith, she looked around before her sharp gaze settled on him once more.
"Vader." she said coldly.
He gave her a dry smile, "Is that any way to greet your husband?"
"I married Anakin Skywalker." she said harshly, "You are not him."
He gave her dry smile, "Vader and Skywalker are the same person."
Padmé glared at him, "That is no excuse. Ani, you've changed so much I don't even know you anymore."
"Anakin Skywalker is no more. However..."
Padmé backed away as he began advancing towards her.
"Stay away from me!" she said angrily.
"No." Grabbing her wrists, he bent his head down and captured her lips in a passionate kiss. Padmé found her resolve slowly melting away as he deepened the kiss.
Out of habit, she felt herself trying to pull him closer. His
hands traveled down to grasp her waist. Her arms circling his neck,
she moaned as he trailed kisses across her face and down her neck as her
fingers wove through his blond hair.
Finally, summoning what remained of her willpower, she placed her hands
on his chest and pushed him away feebly.
"Come with me, Angel." he whispered softly into her ear.
"And why should I?" she demanded, still a bit breathless.
"I miss you." he said simply, "Besides, my master has decided to oversee the children's training himself. It'll be better than spending the rest of their lives on the run. Surely you're not going to deny them that, Padmé."
"I can and I will. I won't have my children brought up amongst such evil and hatred."
His eyes hardened, "You can run, but you can't hide."
"No, but I can sure try!" Padmé shot back.
At that moment, the vision faded as the connection was broken off.
Vader forced back a growl of frustration, but then he relaxed.
Let Padmé run. It was only a matter of time, after all.
He turned his head slightly. "Captain." The officer immediately walked up and saluted smartly. "Set course for the Sluis Van Shipyards. I believe that the repairs on the Executor should be finished by now."
"Yes, my Lord."
As he turned back to the window, his lips curved into a grim smile, "Soon." he whispered, "Soon."
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Meanwhile Padmé was fuming. How dare he! "Sith." she thought angry at herself for reacting so strongly to his kiss. Then a thought occurred to her, "I just got kissed senseless in a vision?!" she thought in disbelief. "Is that even humanly possible?!" Anakin never failed to amaze her.
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Thanks to all the people that reviewed Chapter 1! ^_^
(As for the people who may insist that Force visions don't work that way - too bad!! They do in my world! so : P )