II

The door slid open again, and Darth Maul emerged from the dark room beyond. Maul walked slowly and deliberately toward Anakin and Padme. His cloak was gone; he wore only his plain black tunic. The shadows created by the bright lights hid his eyes.

He took the Queen's chin in his hand, kept it still. He brought his finger to her forehead. The tip glowed a stark blue.

Padme's mouth hung open, as if wanting to scream. Her body twitched and convulsed; a thin curl of smoke floated up from her head. Her eyes glazed over and a line of blood trickled from ear.

All this in complete silence.

Anakin had never been angrier than he was now. His right hand a burned, mangled glove; his future master dead; the handmaiden he loved silently tortured next to him, hanging on the wall of a Sith Lord's home.

Anakin lost all control.

The straps keeping him restrained burst open. Anakin hurtled across the room and landed on his feet; he took a sword from the wall and faced Maul.

The Sith Lord laughed.

He too took a sword from the wall. Maul beckoned Anakin on.

To his surprise, Anakin came. He rushed him, swinging his sword in wide arcs. Maul dodged all of Anakin's attacks, but found he couldn't hit the boy either. There was something about him…The Force lived in him as it would in a Sith Master, but the boy obviously had no training.

Maul enjoyed the sparring for a moment longer, then Force pushed the boy against the opposite wall. Anakin slumped over, unconscious.

Lord Maul was impressed with this boy. But for now he turned back to Padme. She still had control of her mind…but only barely.

Anakin woke up dazed and aching. The last thing he remembered was seeing the Zabrak do something to—

Padme.

Anakin looked about wildly, searching for her. Then he saw her.

She sat on the bare floor, drinking something from a small cup. She looked distant, confused. But, worst of all, she looked completely happy sitting next to a Sith Lord in deep meditation.

His eyes snapped open just as Anakin gingerly rose from the floor. "What have you done to Padme?" he demanded.

Maul merely glared.

"Come sit with us, Annie! This is Corellian tea. The best in the galaxy," Padme said cheerfully.

Anakin was again caught off guard. "Padme! He is a Sith Lord! Haven't you heard the legends?"

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Annie. Come," she beckoned again.

Anakin realized something was horribly wrong.

Viceroy Nute Gunray hesitated before accepting the message from Darth Sidious. The Neimodian leader was deathly afraid of his boss, as anyone in their right mind would be. Sidious was already unhappy with him for the disappearance of the Queen.

But Sidious expected Gunray to always answer, and he didn't want to disappoint.

"Lord Sidious," Gunray said with a slight bow.

"Lord Maul has located the Queen. She will be returned in a few days ready to sign the treaty."

"With all due respect, my lord, she seemed rather…opposed to signing the treaty."

"It is no longer a problem. Be ready, Viceroy."

"Yes, Lord Sidious."

The hologram faded; the Viceroy exhaled. He had escaped from another conversation unscathed.

Rune Haako stood beside him, also breathing a sight of relief. "Why would she want to sign it now?" he asked.

"It is probably best we don't know," Gunray replied. He had never been more decided on anything in his life.

Anakin's wildest dreams had never reached the plateau that he stood on now. Padme, his angel, sits before him sipping Corellian tea on bare white floor, surrounded on all sides by the weapons of a Sith. The Sith himself sits with them, now with a flask of his own, filled with something much stronger than tea.

The Sith's evil eyes looked him over. Anakin could almost see the wheels churning his head, plans for him and Padme.

Padme poured him some tea and handed it to him. He took a long drought; it was good. Anakin made his move.

"Who are you?"

Darth Maul eyed the boy with curiosity. The boy was certainly brave. He decided to at last speak to the boy.

"My name is Lord Maul, boy. As you seem to have guessed, I am a Sith," he said quietly; the words still seemed to resonate in the room.

"What do you want with us?"

The boy was either extremely brave or he didn't know when to quit. "The Queen I will return to Naboo. I have another use for you," the Sith replied in the same deep, piercing voice.

Anakin's head spun. "You're the Queen?" he asked her.

Padme nodded. "Yes, Annie. I needed a decoy for protection from the Jedi."

Now Anakin was completely lost. Protection from the Jedi? The Jedi had rescued her from the Trade Federation. Hadn't they?

"The Jedi save people, Padme. They tried to save you from him!" Anakin said, almost in reassurance to himself.

One step too far. Maul Force-pushed Anakin into the wall where he had woken up. He sprang back up.

"See, Padme? A friend wouldn't do that!" he screamed.

"Well, Anakin, you offended him. He goes to all that trouble to save us, and you call him an enemy!" Padme said in that unfamiliar stern tone.

"Save us? He killed Qui-Gon! Jar-Jar and R2 were on the ship, too! And that other Jedi, and your bodyguards! Don't you remember what happened?"

"Anakin. The Jedi kidnapped me from Naboo. Of course, they didn't know I was the real Queen. That's why they let me go to Mos Espa with Qui-Gon. I wanted to run, but then we found you. I didn't want him to kill you, Annie," Padme said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Anakin still couldn't accept it. "Qui-Gon was going to bring me here…I was to become a Jedi! I will be a Jedi!" The Force flared around him again. Anger fueling his power.

"They were Dark Jedi, Annie. They were evil, deceptive."

Anakin shot a glance at Darth Maul. "Then what is he?"

"He is a Sith, Anakin. But Dark Jedi are different from Sith. Dark Jedi have lost control of the Force—and their minds. They are completely evil. But Sith…Sith merely have a different approach to the Force than the Jedi do. The Sith use their passion to reach their full potential."

"They use the dark side of the Force!"

"The Sith tap into the dark side from time to time, but never when it can be avoided."

Fresh tears rolled down Anakin's face as his hand began to throb again. "How do you know all of this?"

"I have learned much while you slept, Annie. Now come, have more tea. We will do something about your hand tomorrow."

Anakin hesitated, but only for a second. He went back and sat with his angel.

Maul cracked another smile.

His puppet danced even better than he had imagined.