One Last Encounter
AUTHOR: Abigail
SUMMARY: There was only one way that Anakin and Padme could have stayed together…Twists the plot from RotS.
CHAPTER 9: Overflowing
RATING: T
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything that was created by George Lucas.
NOTE: Voila! Next chapter is here. If anyone would like to discuss my story with me, please e-mail me. I love having in depth and philosophical discussions about many of the symbolisms that I have tried to fit in here. Anyhoo…hope this satiates you.
The cold night air pierced the flesh on Anakin's face. A gentle breeze circulated on the platform, causing the robes on Anakin's body to whip about his muscular form. The disruptive sound of Anakin's rushed stride on the tile was quickly washed out by the sound of Anakin's ship starting up. He finally reached the landing ramp, yet paused before walking up it. His hooded face turned to a window in the higher story of his house. He could barely see Padme's silhouette in the glass pane, but he knew she was there.
She silently watched him turn back towards his ship and walk up inside but then he was no longer visible. Several seconds later, it jetted off the platform. Her eyes followed his ship until it was lost in the maze of distant travelers. Her slightly shaking hand rested against the window pane, letting its coldness seep into her warm skin. She bowed her head against the window as well and let her silent tears drop onto the window ledge.
Padme lingered a while longer at the window, until she slowly collapsed onto the bed. She shakily pulled the quilt up around her. Padme realized that she was sleeping on Anakin's usual side of the bed, and felt another tear slip down her face, as the abnormal feeling of cold sunk into her skin, haunting her. Anakin is truly gone…Padme thought inside her head. And so is every last trace of him…The sudden coldness around her frightened her, and she felt force stirring within her, saying to her…
But she had lost all strength as weakness and stress overcame her. Padme curled into a ball, gathering every drop of physical strength she had to keep herself warm. She lightly closed her eyes, feeling the sting of tears still seeping from her ducts. Suddenly, she heard the creeping silence of footsteps. They stopped at her door, and then proceeded in, not bothering to deactivate the door. Silently, Padme lay there, not daring to think or breathe. And without a sound or warning, a hand slipped over her mouth. Padme gave in, without a struggle, and let the dark figure above her continue to trap the air from her mouth. Gradually, Padme's world slipped into the empty vacuum of her mind…
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Anakin felt lost as he haphazardly flew his ship through the still heavy traffic of Coruscant's airspace. He struggled to remain in control of the ship, but his shaking fingers were of no help. He pushed back the sweaty locks of hair that began to cling to his forehead. R2 –D2 beeped and clicked behind him, the only sound in the cockpit. But Anakin's mind was a paradox to the silence.
It was loud, fanatical, and distracting, his mind. Images began to play again, and emotions flooded over him once more. The wheel slipped from him, and he almost hit an oncoming transport. Anakin did his best to clear his mind and to try and focus on the task ahead of him. My children…he spoke in his mind. He felt their presence close, and his senses were the only thing that could guide him to their location. Anakin usually had the confidence that could help him in a situation like this.
But this was different. Anakin's new attachment towards these beautiful creations of his own were clouding his judgment, not to mention the intense stress of his current relationship with Padme. And in the back of Anakin's racing mind, fear was lurking. Fear of the unknown, yet fear of what he did know…
Anakin's grip on the wheel tightened and the force was swiftly revealed to him. He only had time to pause, before he redirected his destination and abruptly began flying back toward his home. R2 erupted in a cacophony of chirps and beeps, but Anakin ignored this. All other thoughts, feelings, and emotions were erased from his mind and only one remained. It loomed before him, much more ominously and darker than before, when it was only lay dormant in the back of his mind. Fear of the known…Anakin realized. The fear of what he knew pushed him even harder towards the screams and cries he heard in his head, all coming from the twisted image of his home.
He didn't even bother to wait for the landing ramp, but rather he swiftly opened up the top hatch and deftly pulled himself out. Anakin crawled down from the ship and jumped off onto his feet. They touched the ground and he continued to run, only reaching back for his light saber. Anakin activated it and used the force to pull open each door, until he was standing in Padme and his room. He was face to face with that horror that had entered his mind, only in dreams. But now, it was a reality.
Anakin looked at that distorted image of Padme lying on their bed, her face cold with a look he'd recognized so easily in others before. But this was more difficult to comprehend. This was his Padme. And Anakin didn't have the strength to label Padme liked he'd done so easily with others he hadn't cared about. He backed towards the door when a familiar presence caught his attention.
Lord Siddious rose from the chair in the corner. "I knew you would arrive soon, my young apprentice…" the Sith Lord said, his grimy voice dripping with sarcasm and evil. Anakin said nothing, his eyes still frozen on Padme's lifeless body. Siddious took a few steps forward, and he bowed his head. "Your thoughts have been betraying you lately, Darth Vader. I would not like to think that you would disobey me,after everything I havetaught you..."he said.
Anakin didn't move, but slowly turned his face towards his master's. "Therefore, you have given me no choice but to make you choose, Vader." Anakin looked upon his master, and suddenly saw him in a new light. Not even the sheen of Anakin's saber could brighten the evil malevolence of this…monster. "Monster…" Anakin said, the words barely escaping his lips. "What did you do to her?" Anakin asked, his heart quickening. "What did you do to them?" he yelled, the anger boiling up within him.
Siddious laughed, the mangled face wrinkling and twitching. "Good….good, Vader. I can feel the dark side growing in you again." Anakin's grip on his saber tightened as his anger grew. "No…" Anakin said, his eyes flashing. Siddious came even closer towards Anakin. "Kill me…Strike me now, release your anger! Replace me and you will rule the Empire, just like you've always wanted!" Siddious cried, staring straight into Anakin's livid face.
Anakin could already see it in mind, just as he always had. A quick movement of his saber would peel his Master into two, and his eternal visions of power would come true. But Anakin could see past his Master this time, and he wasn't going to let Siddious seduce him again. "No Master, I'm not going to kill you." Anakin said, controlling the passion inside him and replacing his saber into his belt. Instead, he ran to the side of Padme's bed, grabbing her frail hand in his own trembling one. But Anakin was pulled back against the wall by the wall by his master's misuse of the force.
Anakin quickly stood up and was once again face to face with Siddious. "You see, Anakin. I have another job for you. There is someone who is in the way. In the way of what you can become," the Sith Lord explained, his teeth gleaming under his wicked smile. "I need you to get rid of them, and then, only then, can you become Lord Vader, and gain all of the power that will make you the strongest Jedi and Warrior that ever lived!" Anakin glared from under his hood, his heart pounding with the fear and anger that were swelling in his veins.
And then Anakin saw the image from Padme's nightmare. Anakin himself killing his own children…killing Padme. And it was then that Anakin realized what his fate had come to. His very destiny was going to be dependant upon his decision. Anakin tried not to, yet he couldn't help but look at Padme's body lying on the bed. There was no rise or fall in her chest, no color in her cheeks, and no sign of life in her limp frame. But Anakin could see, deep inside her soul the tiny flame that had the will to continue burning. And he knew that the tiny flame remained there because Padme still believed in him. Had faith in him. Hope…Anakin realized.
Hope was something that Anakin didn't have right now. He felt as though this path had been chosen for him, and there was nothing he could do about it. His allegiance was to the Empire, to his Master, and he would do anything to keep those bonds strong. But wasn't his allegiance to Padme as well. Wasn't there a time when he loved her so deeply that he would have done anything at all for her sake? Anakin was unexpectedly surprised, as he felt the hope within him grow.
"Anakin, join me now. Kill what remains of your old life. Cut the final string, and we shall rise to glory!" Siddious continued, abusing the force to arise the weaknesses in Anakin's mind. But Anakin was strong, strong in the hope that he had in Padme. How strong she had been throughout this entire ordeal, he thought. And then he remembered, the babies. His mind shifted and the strength was suddenly lost. Siddious took advantage of it, and began to walk back towards the corner of the bedroom. "Ah, I almost forgot... You were looking for your children, am I correct?" Siddious asked. Anakin finally saw them, Luke and Leia, peacefully laying in their little beds just as they had earlier.
"You didn't think I was going to let that wife of yours raise your offspring and let them grow up with her republican ideals, did you? I know your wife's weaknesses all to well, and I realized that taking her children away from her would make her completely vulnerable…" Siddious smiled as he looked at Padme, then looked down at the baby boy, who only stared straight back at this man of evil. Anakin reached out toward the baby, but his arms were frozen. Siddious used the force to place a grip so powerful on Anakin's arm that he couldn't even move his arm.
"It's not going to be that easy, Anakin. You can raise the children on your own, and when they reach the proper age, they will be ready. Ready to be trained in the ways of the force. They can follow in your footsteps and continue the legacy of power that you and I will have built for them…" Siddious continued his ultimatum, but Anakin began to shut him out. He could only think about his children, they way he had imagined them when Padme told him she was pregnant. He was so close, close enough to feel it. Tiny fingers grasping his own, him and Padme at the lake retreat on Naboo, raising their children in perfect peace and harmony. Anakin could already see himself teaching Luke to become a Jedi like his Father before him.
But all Anakin could see now was the hate and anger that he would end up passing on to his children. How could he even let himself be in their presence, knowing that every living second his children were being exposed to his raw hatred? Padme… Anakin craned his neck to see her still laying there, her body immobile. Anakin stared back at his master, the once orange orbs subsiding into their natural color. "What have you decided, Darth Vader? Are you going to throw everything away for that weak wife of yours? All of that power, glory, strength? The dark side is still strong in you…I can sense it. Give in to the anger Anakin. It's the only way that you will truly become the most dominant human in the galaxy."
Anakin's emotions were overflowing, constantly washing over him and leaving him raw again. Deep inside his heart, Anakin knew what he had to do. But the dark side was all too powerful, all too consuming, and it baited Anakin in all of the right ways. Reluctantly, Anakin pulled out his light saber, activating it. That evil returned to his eyes again, and he could feel the dark side feeding him power once more. He gave his weapon a swish through the airand slowly walked over to the bed where Padme lay. Anakin stopped. Siddious began to chuckle, a low rumble that filled the room ominously. "Good, Vader. Goooood…" he cackled.
