AN: I'm posting this chapter sooner than expected. I just got so excited with the story that I felt like posting this. There may be a few editing mistakes and such in the chapter. I'm still waiting for my beta reader to get done.

Title: Hiding From Darkness

Author: Kimberly

Beta Reader: Amanda

Summary: After Palpatine took control of the Senate and declared himself Emperor, Padme Skywalker flees for her life trying to escape from the Emperor and his right hand man, Lord Vader, but what will happen when the past catches up with her.

Disclaimer: I pretty sure that I own Star Wars but my psychiatrist says I don't so I think I need to go by what he says.

Chapter 3:  Escaping

         Padme and Sabe walked as quickly as they could through the mountainous terrain. Both knew that the sooner they got out of site the better. They didn't talk at all on their way there, in case someone was around listening in. About half an hour after they started their hike they arrived at the mountain villa. 'It's beautiful,' Padme thought.

         Sabe walked over to the front door and unlocked. "We'd better get inside," she told Padme.

         After taking one final glance at the outside Padme nodded and walked inside.

         "You're room is up the stairs, 2nd door to the right, it has a nice view of the valley below," Sabe told her.

         "Thank you," Padme said and then started walking up to her room. When she got there she couldn't believe the beautiful furnishings and the beautiful view from her window. She set her small bag down and took some time to explore the room. After some small amounts of exploring she sat down in a chair by the window and gazed out into the beautiful landscape that was Naboo.

         'I miss you so much Anakin,' she thought, 'I wish you could be here to share this beautiful site with me.' Slowly tears started forming in her eyes during her reminiscing of her lost husband. Soon tears started to fall down, staining her face. Padme didn't know how long she sat there silently crying until Sabe came into her room to tell her dinner was ready.

         "Padme what's wrong," Sabe asked concerned for her crying friend.

         "I miss him so much Sabe," Padme said through tears, "Why did he have to die?"

         "There's going to be things that happen in your life Padme that don't make sense, like everything going on in the Senate and Government right now, but everything happens for a reason. You many not see it now, but maybe in a few days, months or maybe even years you'll finally understand. You just can't give up hope. You always have to believe that something good will happen. And never give up hope," Sabe told Padme trying her best to comfort her friend.

         "I know, but I just can't see where the good is in any of this. I just wish he could be her with me," Padme said.

         "I know," Sabe replied, "Well, dinner is ready, and I suggest you eat. You'll need your strength, who knows what kind of grand escape we're going to have to make."

         Padme slowly stood up and followed Sabe down the stairs and into the dinning room. The food was all out on the table and looked delicious. Padme gently sat down and started to get some food to eat. Sabe carefully watched her friends to make sure she would be all right. Once sure that Padme would be OK, at least until dinner was over, she got some food and started to eat.

         "So," Sabe said, trying to start up a conversation to replace the deadly silence, "Where are we going to want to go once we leave Naboo?"

         "I don't know," Padme replied, "Some where very far away from the Empire. I don't think I could stand to live anywhere near it."

         "I know what you mean," Sabe said, "I just hope Obi-Wan doesn't want us to go to some place like Tattoine."

         "Me neither," Padme said.

         The rest of dinner went on in silence. When Padme was done she excused herself and went up to bed. When Sabe finished eating she decided to go sit in the living room and wait for Obi-Wan to contact her. Sabe spent her time waiting reading. At 10:00 that night, after the sun had set and the mountains were dark Sabe's comlink went off.

         "Sabe, this is Obi-Wan. Are you there?" she heard Obi Wan ask.

         "Yes I'm here. And so is Padme. We are both safe for now," Sabe told Obi-Wan back.

         "Good, but you have to get out of there now. Lord Vader is almost there and we cannot let anyone find Padme. You must leave now. Get on the ship and head for the eastern borders of the once Republic. I will contact you once you are gone. Go now," Obi-Wan told her hurriedly.

         "Ok," Sabe said back, "We'll leave now."

         "Goodbye, and good luck Sabe," Obi-Wan told her.

         "You too," Sabe said back and then cut off communication. She quickly climbed the stairs and went to Padme's room. She saw that Padme was sleeping and even though she didn't want to have to wake her up she knew she had to.

         "Padme," Sabe said to her shaking her slightly to wake her up, "Padme it's time to get up."

         Padme opened her eyes from her disturbed sleep. "Sabe? What's going on," Padme asked.

         "Obi-Wan just contacted me. He told me that Lord Vader has tracked you here and we need to leave now," Sabe told her.

         "Ok," Padme said getting up from her bed, "Should we take anything with us?"

         "What was left on the ship when you arrived?" Sabe asked.

         "Not much, probably enough food to last 3 maybe 4 days and some water, but that's about it," Padme responded.

         "Ok, you pack some clothes up here and I will get some food and such from the kitchen. We need to meet at the front door in 5 minutes," Sabe told her.

         "Alright," Padme said getting out of the bed and hurrying towards the small closet she had. She grabbed a small bag and stuffed as much cloths as she could into it. Once everything was packed she hurried downstairs. She was met shortly afterwards by Sabe who was carrying a bag that had food and such in it.

         "Alright, let's go. Remember, we have to stay out of site. He may already be on Naboo and we have to be careful incase there are troops around. My suggestion is that we go through the woods. We can stay close to the trail, but that way incase anyone is on the trail we will be where no one can see us," Sabe informed her. Padme nodded and followed Sabe out the door. They made for the woods that were close to the path they had taken to get up there.

         They slowly made there way down in the woods not seeing anyone on the path. When they were only a few minutes away from Padme's ship they heard footsteps on the path. Both stopped to listen to whoever was there.

         "Come on, we'd better hurry, we don't want Lord Vader getting mad at us for being so slow," one of the voices said.

         "Why are we even going up here anyway?" another voice asked.

         "Because Lord Vader is looking for something and he thinks that whatever it is is up here somewhere at the end of this path. He told us to go ahead and scout everything out and report back to him," the first voice answered.

         "Right, we'll we'd better get going then," the second voice said.

         Padme and Sabe stood still for a minute or two after they two voices left before starting to move again. "He's here," Padme whispered.

         "I know," Sabe said, "We'd better get to the ship and quick before someone notices it."

         Padme and Sabe started walking again, getting closer and closer to the ship. They finally got out of the woods and got to the clearing where the ship was staying. "We made it," Padme stated.

         "Yeah," Sabe replied, "We'd better get on and get out of here before anyone finds us."

         Both women rushed towards the ship and boarded dropping their bags near the entrance and made their way to the cockpit. "So, which one of us is going to fly this thing?" Sabe asked.

         "You can, I don't think I could fly all too well right now," Padme replied.

         "Ok then," Sabe said while starting the engine of the ship, "Let's get this thing going."

         The ship started lifting off the ground under the control of Sabe. When they were only a few feet off the ground troops burst through the trees and into the clearing. Along with the troops came Lord Vader. When he saw the ship taking off he quickly told his troops to stop it, but Sabe was too quick for them and got the ship into the air and out of the area before they could do much damage.

         "That was close," Sabe commented.

         "I know," Padme replied, "Who was that with the troops? Their leader. He seemed to familiar."

         "That was Lord Vader, the Emperor's right hand man," Sabe replied.

         "Why would the Emperor send his right hand man to find me?" Padme asked somewhat to herself.

         "I guess the Emperor thinks you're a very important person to have out of the way, or at least in his control," Sabe replied, "But one thing is for sure. If got that close to getting us, he sure isn't going to give up now. We'll have one bumping ride ahead of us with him chasing us."

         "But we have to loose him, we can't have him following us wherever we go," Padme said.

         "Don't worry, we'll loose him," Sabe said while flying the ship out of Naboo's atmosphere.

A/N: Wow! That is my longest chapter yet! I just couldn't stop writing, and I almost didn't stop here, but I figured it was time to stop. Anyway, FYI, incase you didn't know yet, Padme and Sabe do not know that Vader is Anakin. As stated in chapter 2 only few know. Don't worry, she will find out, but just not yet, it's not time. Please review, I really want to know what you think of this story or chapter. The more reviews I get the more motivated I will be to writing the next chapter.

Thanks to Reviewers:

Liz- Thank you so much for reviewing again. It's nice to know I have a reader out there who actually reads my story. I hope you like this chapter too. I am also curious to see where this story is going. I still haven't figured everything out yet.

KiTsTeR- and- Annie- Thank you for reviewing my story! I can't say whether or not Vader will find her. I am also hoping he does but that just depends on where the story goes. Sorry there is no interaction between the two in this chapter, but there should be some coming soon!