Padme froze. She saw the tall, black figure enter the ship. She heard his mechanical breathing. He turned to look at her and started down the hall towards her cell. Her breath caught in her throat. A jumble of emotions swept through her. Blinding hatred. Horror. Pain. Disgust. And remnants of love.
They just stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. She wished she could see his face! If she could just look into the eyes of Anakin, the man she had loved, her husband. But she knew that the eyes were changed. The man was changed. No. Not changed. Anakin is dead. This is NOT Anakin!
Darth Vader finally spoke up, his voice mechanical and evil. "My Master was right about you. He knew you would come out of hiding for him!" He spit out the last word as if it were a curse. "When will you see him for what he is? He is a weak failure! He isn't worth your loyalty! He wasn't worth mine!"
With that, he spun around and walked away. Padme hadn't been able to get a word out. She realized that she hadn't been breathing. She let out the breath that had been stuck in her throat. She felt utter revulsion. There was nothing left of the Anakin she had loved. She closed her eyes and thought of those beautiful, blue eyes that could hypnotize her. She thought of his smile, his laughter. Tears started to fall down her cheeks. Oh, Anakin! Why Anakin? Why wasn't my love enough for you?
She shook herself. She couldn't allow herself to get caught up in the despair again. She paced the cell. She knew Vader was going to take her to the Emperor. What did the Emperor want from her? Did he just want to make an example of her? Did he want to publicly execute her as he'd done so many others?
Her thoughts turned to him again. Where is he? Is he all right? Even as she asked, she knew the answer. She knew he wasn't all right or at least wouldn't be for long. She knew he was the main target. The Imperial news had announced that he had been captured. She had seen the announcement on the holovid in her apartment on Alderaan. One of the Emperor's cronies in the so-called Senate had appeared. "This message is for one of my former colleagues, Padme Amidala. I know you're out there somewhere. I regret to inform you that Obi-Wan Kenobi has been captured. If you do not turn yourself in immediately, he will be executed. Slowly and very painfully executed. If you value this Jedi's life at all, you will do your duty by him!"
She had sat there in front of her holovid with her hand clamped over her mouth. She had wanted to scream! She had known that she couldn't ignore what she had heard. She had gone to Bail Organa to inform him that she was going to turn herself in. He had been dead-set against it. "You're walking into a trap, Padme!" Padme had felt the same way, but had steeled her features. "I'm going, Bail. I can't sit back and do nothing!"
Padme had then gone to see Leia one more time before leaving. She had held her precious four-year-old daughter in her arms and wondered if she would ever see her again. She had held her close, singing to her and kissing her sweet little face. Leia had seemed to feel her mother's sadness and had cried with her. Padme had wiped away her daughter's tears and had given her a smile filled with her love. Finally, she had given her back to the nurse maid and left for the transport.
She had disguised herself as a traveling peasant. She had put on a blond wig and raggedy clothes. She had thought that if she looked like she was poor and insignificant, maybe the Stormtroopers would leave her alone. She had wrapped herself in her cloak. Bail Organa had made traveling papers for her, giving her the name of Onliy Nabirm. No transport station, no spaceport was without Stormtroopers anymore. Anyone traveling had to have papers. She had planned to turn herself in, but not there on Alderaan. She had wanted no connections to be made with her and that planet.
She had made it past the Stormtroopers and onto the transport with no problem. She had decided to get off at a small trading port and turn herself in there. She had removed her disguise and turned herself in at the Imperial Headquarters there. The Imperial cruiser she was in now had picked her up and taken her quickly away. That's when she had found out that Obi-Wan had never been captured. She had bought the lie hook, line and sinker. The pilots of the ship had enjoyed taunting her with that fact. They had traveled only half a day when the cruiser landed at the place she was now. She now knew that this stop had been to meet up with Vader. Buy why aren't we leaving? Vader's been onboard for a couple of hours now.
She found out why an hour later…