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 11: Downfall
RATING: T
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything that was created by George Lucas.
NOTE: I'm really starting to fall in love with this story…I wrote this right after Chapter 10 but decided to let you all suffer and contemplate over my little cliffhanger there! This one is somewhat short but I promise you that the next chapter will be up very shortly after I post this one.
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Siddious knew how weak she truly was when her body hit the floor. She lay twisted on the ground, unable to move from the hateful energy that had just coursed its way through her body. He waited for her to move. Senator Amidala's death would be no victory for the Empire if she weren't even willing to fight. Finally, she limply lifted her head, looking up at Siddious.
He began to laugh at her. His cackling laughter was full of hate and spite. He looked down on her like she were scum, something that needed to be squashed. Padme struggled to keep herself from hating him just the same, but she knew far too well how far that would get her. Instead, she tried to regain her strength, trying to grasp the force around her. She finally sat up, forcing the Sith Lord to stop his laughter.
Padme grabbed onto the crib behind her and lifted herself up, her muscles throbbing with every second of movement. Her legs wavered, but she stood firmly, letting her hand release from the support of the crib. She looked Siddious in the eyes, feeling the force flowing in her body. "I won't let you take him again…" she said, her voice strong.
Siddious could see the force around her, and how strongly it responded to her will, yet she still obeyed it. Yet he was still disgusted by her consistent will to live, and this made him angry. Siddious closed his eyes and he grasped the force around him, twisted it, molding it, perfecting it into the energy that lay waiting in his fingertips. Padme's thoughts were drifting to her children, who had woken up and began to coo behind her. Siddious knew that his was the moment, her time of absolute vulnerability that would allow him to destroy the final link to his apprentice's old life.
Anakin could feel it too, but he still was trapped. Trapped by the physically bonds of the force and trapped by the mental bonds of his indecisive mind. Darth Siddious opened his eyes and his face lit up. The room shuddered with the power of the force, its misuse trembling under the hold of this evil Sith Lord. Lightning illuminated the room once again, blinding all in the room. The glittering rays traveled quickly, twisting their way through the air and hitting their destination head on. But not this time…Padme's outstretched hands caught the beams of energy, reciprocating them back to their creator, their master. Her eyes twinkled, full of a strength and energy the she herself had never know. Siddious struggled under the blast of the force against his already deformed body.
Padme pressed on, her tiny, weak hands blocking that hateful energy, and turning it into her own. The force had wrapped itself around Padme now, guiding her emotions and actions, but Padme knew that it was love that was crippling the Sith Lord in front of her. Lightning filled her heart, but only in its new and fresh form. She thought about her children, and Anakin, her powerful love for them causing Siddious to scream, his grotesque face fading and dissolving.
The lightning quickly vanished from the room, and its previous luminosity darkened the room except for the bright sheen of Anakin's light saber. Without fail or hesitation, Anakin quickly slashed the stunned Darth Siddious, his warped body collapsing and crumbling to the cold floor, along with everything he believed in. A sigh escaped the Sith's lips, and then he was gone. Leia began crying, her tiny voice quivering with fear as she thrashed about in her crib. Luke remained silent, except for the intelligent coos he made. Anakin was frozen, his body still above the crumpled one of his former master.
A gasp escaped Padme's lips and her hands grasped the sides of Luke's crib. Leia's screams intensified, piercing the room like a needle. Padme slowly sunk to the floor, her head striking the floor. Luke cried out, his tiny little fingers appearing against the glass side if the crib. Anakin dropped his saber and ran to Padme, the pounding of his heart filling his ears like a drum. He scooped her body up into his arms, smoothing her hair back from her face. Her eyes were shut, and her mouth was slightly open. Anakin listened, but could hear nothing. There was no movement in her chest and her pulse couldn't be found.
Anakin held her tighter, hoping that something could be done to breathe life back in to his Padme. How could I have been so blind? Anakin cried out, his voice giving way to the emotions that were pummeling his weakened heart. He cradled Padme close to his body. Anakin knew he had killed her, with his ignorance, his greed, his selfishness. Padme had done everything to save their love and all Anakin had accomplished was the destroying of his very soul, Padme. Nothing could save her now, and his every nightmare had come true.
Inside, Anakin's mind was screaming, and soon the tears fell from his eyes. His hand caressed Padme's cold face, that beautiful face that had been everything to him. Anakin wasn't ready to accept this. Padme was too strong, too pure, and too beautiful to be gone. He continued to stroke her face, waiting for some sign. A sign of life, movement, strength, hope…Leia's screams were persistent, but Luke remained still.
Anakin threw his head back against the side of the crib. Tears streaked down his face as new emotions washed over him. No longer was his heart filled with the once prominent anger and spite. New feelings had replaced those with the death of his Master. Weakness, helplessness, and raw emotion had struck Anakin's heart and he soon realized all of what he had blindly dismissed before. His hope for Padme still remained, as he tightened a grip around her wrist, waiting for the slight twitching of her pulse that would mean 'life'.
Anakin bent his head down overher still face, closing his eyes and waiting. A slight clatter outside of their bedroom door didn't disturb him, until he felt a familiar presence. He slowly lifted his head to see Obi-Wan standing in the door way, with Yoda behind him. The two Jedi Masters surveyed the scene, easily collecting what had occurred. Sympathy filled their faces, but neither one spoke. Anakin lowered his head again, ashamed and humiliated in front of the two men who had once been consider highly of in his eyes.
Obi-Wan walked over to Anakin and knelt down beside him. It took all of the strength Anakin had to keep from protesting when Obi-Wan gently took Padme's body from his feeble arms. Obi-Wan stepped around what was left of the Sith Lord and left the room, only stopping to look back at Anakin's withdrawn face. Anakin closed his eyes, feeling distant and cold. Yoda hobbled over tohim, studying the man's face. Anakin could feel his presence, but ignored it. "Hope, you still have," Yoda said, his wise voice breaking the silence.
Anakin still didn't move. "Perhaps, right you are, that she is alive still," Yoda said, considering in his own mind what was flowing through Anakin's. At his, Anakin lifted his head, his face questioning and confused. A cautious smile spread across Yoda's face as he turned and began to leave the room, when he stopped at the body of Darth Siddious. Yoda closed his eyes, only for a moment, then proceeded to leave the room, until the faint "clomp" of his walking cane was no longer heard by Anakin's ears.
The last words of what Yoda had said still rang in his ears, adding fuel to the tiny flame of hope that wavered in Anakin's soul. And at the moment, the force returned to Anakin. Its presence was new, as it would take time to fully restore itself in his soul. Anakin stood up, and carefully lifted Luke out of his crib. While grasping Luke with one hand, he warily picked up Leia as well. He then left the room, holding his children closing to his heart. Not once did Anakin look back at the deteriorated figure that symbolized everything that had almost destroyed his love. Anakin instead looked forward as he walked out onto the platform, Yoda and Obi-Wan waiting for him by the lowered loading ramp.
The transport soon jutted across the sky, carrying the two Jedi Masters, their apprentice, two Padawans, and a heroine's body in a medical capsule. The silent and dark apartment lay abandoned, the remnants of a powerful Emperor and his Empire left behind, their downfall hidden from the rest of the galaxy.
