To Love a Jedi

Chapter 13: Till Death Do We Part

Author's Note: I went to starwars. com! They have three new trailers! And they are all very evil! I really feel sorry for Anakin. (Yoda's pretty pissy when he finds out about Anakin and Padmé.)


I gasp. It's true. Its Vader…he's here. In front of me. After those years…we meet face to face. But not under the best circumstances. I back away quickly, not taking my eyes of his mask.

I can hear his breathing through the suit. It is chilling to the marrow, but, there is something in the breathing that makes him sound shocked. "P-Padmé…?" I hear him say.

I am unable to utter a sound. I continue to stare at him. Stare at my long departed husband…now unrecognizable.

"You point a blaster at me?" He asks.

I remember the blaster in my hand. In one movement, I throw it away, against the wall. "No." I reply. "I could never point a weapon at you, Ani."

"Ani!" He yells. "That name no longer has any meaning for me."

"It is the name of your true self!" I beg. "It was the name you were born into! It was the name…of the man I fell in love with."

He comes closer, making me stand still. I will not run from Ani. "You still hold to that, foolish woman? You still deny the past! Your husband is dead!"

"No!" I cry. "My husband is not dead. Ani…you are not dead! You have only forgotten the good side to you! The love you knew! Come back, Ani! Come back!"

He turns away and sighs. "I can't come back. I'm already too far gone. It is too late for me."

"No, Ani! It's not. There is good in you! I saw it! I don't care what everyone else says, you're still the same person inside!"

He looked back at me. "Am I, Padmé? Am I still the same person?"

I looked at the floor. "No, not now…but you could be! If you wanted to…you could be!"

"Oh really." He says dangerously. "Would your husband dare to threaten his wife!" He ignites his red lightsaber and holds it dangerously close to me. "Would your dear husband dare to pull a lightsaber on you?"

Though the blade is a few inches from my face, I will not run. I will not cry out. "No matter what you say, you are still in the body of Ani. And I will only think of you as Ani."

He will not listen. "I can kill you. I was ordered to kill you."

"By the emperor, no doubt."

"Yes," I can feel the heat omitting from the blade. "The emperor ordered me to kill you."

I say the most dangerous words in this situation, "But will you?"

His hand shakes. He is thinking it over. He had been sent to kill me, but can he do it? "I don't care if I die, Ani. I've wanted to die for four years. If you want to kill me, then do it."

Ani's grip on the lightsaber becomes tighter. I close my eyes, hearing the hum of the blade come closer. He is going to kill me. I don't care. I wouldn't want to die by the hands of anyone else…

The hum has stopped. I open my eyes. He…he didn't kill me! But…why…? "Ani…?" I ask.

He scoffs. "Why should I kill you? It would be a waste. I could just take you prisoner. Besides, I have a feeling you'll die soon anyway."

My eyes fill with tears, tears for him. "Ani…I don't care what you do to me…I won't stop lo—"

"Where is your child?" He demands, cutting my proclamation off.

My child…he wants to know about my child…I must use the trick of hiding my feelings like I had learned years before. "The…the child died…" I said, trying to sound convincing. "It…was so weak…and the war…" I shook my head. "It couldn't live in this world…it died…"

I can hear him build in anger. "Foolish woman!" He yells. "You allowed my son to die!"

"No Ani!" I cry. "It was destiny! Our child was destined never to live! And…it was a daughter…"

He looks away. "Destiny?" He looks down at his mechanical hand. "Fate? I hear these things all around my master, yet I cannot believe them. Ever since four years ago, I believed I was destined for great things." His hand contorts into a fist. "I was the chosen one. I was to bring about the balance of the force…and then…" He turns around sharply. "I became this!"

My mind flashes to that dream I had not a few weeks ago. When he told me it was my fault for everything. When it was my fault that thousands of people lay dead. Is he going to tell me that now? Is he going to blame everything on me?

"Fate." Ani repeats. "Fate is too cruel." He looks back at me. "We were never destined to be together, I can see that now. Somehow, our youth and ignorance over rid our better judgment. And now…this galaxy is ruined." Ani looks down at his lightsaber. "With these two hands…I killed more people than I can count. I hunted down jedi knights. I oversaw the republic falling into disarray. I had been sent to kill you." He looks back at me. "And yet you still don't hate me!"

Hate him? "I couldn't hate you, Ani! I could never hate you! Don't you understand? I still lo—"

Where is the child's grave? A voice in my head asks.

I feel like screaming, when I remember what is going on. Years ago…after we were married…we noticed that he was able to communicate in my mind, though I did not have the force. It was called a 'force bond'. When two people who love each other very much and one person has the force, they are able to communicate without words. At first it was very weak but I suppose all the married activities we did strengthen that bond. After all, jedi weren't allowed to marry.

Where is it? He repeated.

Where is it? Where is it? Where would it be…? I suddenly realize he can hear my thoughts in his head. He knows I made this up. Without thinking, I run past him towards the hidden hangar.

I don't care if this hangar is noticeable. It is the only way I can escape without him learning of the whereabouts of "my child". I can hear Ani running after me, but I must be faster. I will be faster. I would rather run from him than doom my children.

Inside the hangar, it is a scene of panic. Bail Organa and some of his men are fighting stormtroopers. I wish I hadn't left my blaster in the corridor, since I have to dodge blasts coming at me.

I hear a crash and the sound of a lightsaber deflecting blasts. Anakin has come. For a split second, I almost believe it is the old Anakin, protecting me. Then I remember it is the new Anakin...attacking me.

I turn around and look. Ani is standing over Bail Organa with his lightsaber drawn, ready to kill.

I have only one chance to stop his death. Yet I somehow know I can reach Ani inside.

"Ani!" I yell. "Look!" I hold out my right hand. And on my fourth finger…with my wedding ring still on it. He looks up, and though I cannot see his eyes I know they are shocked. "Do you see this?" I ask, tears streaming down my face. "I have never taken it off, not once from the moment you gave it to me…"


Anakin was supposed to be returning me to Naboo. He was "escorting" me. But we both knew what was really going to happen on that beautiful planet. We were engaged, or as engaged as people who were hiding their love could get. Several times we had to jump away from embracing in the nick of time, so people would not notice. Thankfully, we were able to get a small ship for me to go home in, with Anakin as the pilot. We were both glad that we were able to embrace for as long as we wanted, without having to check to make sure the compartment doors were locked.

As soon as we landed on Naboo, we made for the lake retreat. He was accompanying me to make sure I would be able to get "settled in", but we both had planned for more than that. We had not been back one day before I searched for a minister in a nearby town willing to marry us. The day before we were married was probably the night we spent feared the most that someone should discover our secret. We even acted as friends in front of the servants. And when Obi-Wan gave an awkward hologram to Anakin, before we opened it we were sure it was about us being discovered.

But the day we were married was probably the happiest of my life. That morning we said nothing to each other, but with glances and gentle touches we expressed our love. I dismissed the servants for two days, to give Ani and I enough time to begin our life as a married couple. We both counted down the hours and the minutes until we would be married, since we had agreed to marry at sunset.

One hour before the minister was to arrive, I felt more nervous than I ever had in my life. But it was a happy nervous feeling. I was nervous because in an hour's time, I would become Padmé Skywalker, Anakin's wife. He gave me a small grin, knowing he felt the same way. "I-I have to get ready." I told him, running up to my room. After tedious minutes of trying to decide what to wear, I found a white gown in the very back of my closet. It looked just like a bridal dress. "Perfect." I said. As I dressed in it, I made the decision to leave my hair down.

I looked in the mirror. I really did look like a bride. I couldn't help myself from a few tears falling down my face. I could not believe I would ever look so beautiful.

Finally, I emerged from my room. Ani, who was at the end of the hallway, looked stunned. "P-Padmé," He said, "You're beautiful."

He almost kissed me, "Ani," I said, stopping him. "Save it for the wedding."

Ani grinned, showing he was happy to oblige. Hand in hand, we walked out to the balcony, where the minister was ready to begin. I looked behind me and saw the two droids were there to act as witnesses.

"Are we ready to begin?" The minister asked. Ani and I both nodded. A gigantic flutter passed through my heart.

"Do you, Anakin Skywalker, take Padmé Naberrie, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to honor, love, and cherish, in famine or poverty, in sickness and in health, til death do you part?"

He looked back at me, with unending love in his eyes. "I do." He said, in a soft voice that only made my heart beat faster.

"And do you, Padmé Naberrie, take Anakin Skywalker, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to honor, love, and cherish, in famine or poverty, in sickness and in health, til death do you part?"

A shiver crept down my spine. Once again I was confronted with the thought that this was wrong, but I pushed it aside angrily. How could love be wrong? I asked myself. "I do." I said firmly.

"Then by the power invested in me I pronounce you man and wife." The minister said, sealing our bond of love in holy matrimony.

Anakin quickly slipped the ring which I kept for many years onto my finger, while I put his on his left hand since his right was unable to bear a ring. Then with our vows made, we took each others hands.

The minister left, as Ani and I looked at each other closely before sealing our passions with a kiss. We did not think about how hard our marriage would be, or how many rules we were breaking with our love. We only thought of each other, how we had suffered to come to this day, and how we now triumphed.

As we broke the kiss, our eyes lingered on each other. Ani's eyes especially on my breasts. Well, we are married. I thought, looking back at him, Ani, no longer just Jedi Anakin Skywalker, but now he was just Anakin Skywalker, my loving husband. Who's charm had made me fall so deep in love with him that I knew I would never free myself from it.

We both turned away and looked out to the sunset, thinking of the new life we had made. Our lives were different from that day on. We were "living a lie" and we would keep "living a lie" until we would die.

But I knew our love would not die. I knew our love would remain strong "til death do us part".


"Don't you understand, Ani?" I yell back, now fully crying. "You may try to make me hate you, you may try to convince me you are gone, but I know you're still in there somewhere! I still wear this ring as proof of that! Ani…I can't help it but…I still love you!"

He still stares at me in shock. He expected me to hate him. Yet I cannot, I cannot ever hate him.

"I tried to forget you Ani!" I cry. "I tried so hard to forget our happy memories together, yet I can't! I will never forget them! But Ani…you promised me you would always love me. You promised me you would never leave me…yet you did. Though you try to hide it, Ani…I know you are still you inside there. I know some part of you remembers your former self. Please, Ani…" I beg. "Come back…"

I look at Ani through a tear stained face, my hand still held in front of me. He stands still, thinking the situation over. He could kill us now. He could kill both of us and his mission would be complete. But…

He sheathes his lightsaber. With one last look at me, he turns away, his cape fanning out behind him.

"But sir," Asks one of the stormtroopers, "What about your mission?"

"We are leaving." He says in a low voice. "We will return to Coruscant immediately."

It is my turn to stare as he walks out of the hangar, leaving us behind. Once he is gone, I sink to the floor, tears flowing freely from my cheeks.

Bail Organa comes to me. "Well done, milady." He congratulates me. "He believed it."

"Of course he believed it." I do not even try to wipe the tears away. "It was the truth."


Author's Note: THE STORY IS NOT OVER YET! Behold the next two chapters: Epilogue Part I and Part II!