And then an alarm sounded from somewhere and the Emperor paused, mid-swing. Anakin heard an engine and looking up, saw a sleek silver ship descending towards the platform. He knew who's ship it was, and he knew why they were here.
"Padme." he whispered and tears pricked his eyes again. She would be killed for sure. As soon as she stepped out of the door, the Emperor would cut her down.
And sure enough, the Emperor left Obi-Wan and walked towards the ship, pausing at the bottom of the ramp, waiting.
And then he was thrown backwards as a blinding yellow light burst out from inside. Anakin had to shield his eyes from the glare, and looking behind him, saw the Clones having to shield their eyes aswell, despite the fact that they wore helmets designed to withstand bright lights.
A single figure walked down the ramp, cloaked and hooded. They were too small to be any man, and too big to be some alien species. Anakin knew it was Padme, but why was she wearing a cloak? Why was she even wearing a hood?
He began to drag himself along the floor towards her, and as he got nearer, she turned to him, smiling. However when she eventually lowered her hood, Anakin knew immediately that something was different. There was a huge jolt in the Force and a seering pain ran through his head.
When Padme looked at him again, he saw that her eyes glowed the same yellow as her ship's inside had. Where there had once been the beautiful brown eyes that he had gazed lovingly into so many times, now there was just an evil looking yellow. And there was a yellow glow around the eyes, highlighting them with horrific clarity.
"What have you done?" he yelled in disbelief as she stepped off the end of the ramp.
"I looked into the Force...and the Force looked into me." she said and her voice was pure and calm, yet sort of...mechanical, Anakin supposed, like she were in a trance.
"You looked into the force-cube didn't you? Padme no-one's supposed to see in there!" he exclaimed in shock and horror, but Padme smiled.
"Trust me Ani." she said and for a moment the light dimmed and her soft brown eyes were visible for a moment, but only a moment before she turned back to the Emperor.
He had composed himself now, getting back to his feet and snarling maliciously at the Senator.
"You have interfered with our affairs for the last time Senator." he said angrily, curling his fingers like he was grasping a ball. And sure enough, a ball of blue energy appeared. He drew the hand back to his chest, then thrust it forwards, sending the blue lightning towards Padme. Anakin expected to hear her screams as she was slowly fried by the energy, but nothing ever came. And then he realised he had his eyes tight shut. Daring to open them, he saw the Emperor's hand extended with blue lightning shooting out of his fingertips. Anakin followed the blue lighting until it met up with the yellow lightning that...no, it was impossible...it couldn't be...the yellow lightning was issuing from Padme's fingertips and she stood with her arm out aswell, blocking the Emperor's energy with her own. Slowly the blue energy retreated and the yellow energy advance, forcing the Emperor to step back. And then he stopped and the yellow lightning knocked him off his feet again.
