A/N- Just a heads-up to everyone, I am leaving on vacation in two days for a week. After that, I'm going to be home for a day and then leave again for another week somewhere else. Crazy, huh! There is a slight chance that I will be able to update the first week or on the day I get back, although it is slim. This story probably will be about six more chapters, and my goal is to finish it before school starts. And thanks very much for all the replies! As for some of your questions, I am afraid that I can't answer them and they won't be answered in this particular part, but will be adressed in the sequel I am planning.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Emperor sat in shadow in his throne room on Coruscant. Darkness weaved its way around him, wreathing him in it. It was of no particular comfort to him at the moment as he seethed, cold dark fury almost palpable in the air.

He had sensed the sudden tipping of balance in the Force. He had shrunk from the light as it had thrown off the darkness in Vader. His apprentice- former apprentice, he reminded himself- was of no use to him now. The light had spun itself around him and his wife until he was gone, lost to the Emperor forever.

The Dark Lord reminded himself that it was only a temporary imbalance in his plans. He was still searching for the Skywalker children; the search would merely have to intensify. And he would have to take care of Vader sooner then he had planned. He hated to loose an apprentice before gaining another, but it was necessary. Anakin was a factor that had to be eliminated. He leaned back in his dark throne with a hideous grin. Yes, that was what he would do.

He gestured impatiently to one of his aides, a sallow-skinned, nervous man. He brought forward a large, bulky object that he quickly set down and tinkered with until it produced the shape of one of Palpaltine's minions, an intuitive general.

"General Nilar," the Emperor hissed. The man bowed in deep respect, paying homage to his master. Nilar was force-sensitive, and knew enough that he was cunning, but not too much to be a danger. Palpaltine waved his hand, prompting the General to stand straight again quickly; he had no time for the pomp and ritual that went along with his office.

"You will lead a battalion of my best troops to Vijun and Bast Castle," Palpaltine ordered. "There, you will eliminate the man who was once known as Lord Vader along with a woman known as his wife, Padmé." He paused on her name, relishing in the anguish he knew seeing his wife die would plunge Anakin into. "Kill her first."

Nilar bowed again before turning abruptly with military precision, doubtless to relay the order to the rest of his fleet. The Emperor leaned back, closing his eyes and drawing on his dark powers, drawing them around him like a cloak. He sensed the changing tides in the Force, but did not know which way they would turn. He knew with a touch of anxiety that things had not been in so much turmoil since he had overthrown the Republic and pronounced it an Empire. But even he could sense the impending doom that was hanging over Bast Castle, and allowed himself a small smile to savor the moment.

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Padmé woke to the same synthesized light she had fallen asleep to. She blinked, raising her arms in a stretch before noticing that Anakin had left. She remembered their last night, and unconsciously reaching out to him until their hands were almost touching through the glass. She smiled a little bit at the memory.

She reached out through the Force to him, and was not surprised to find him in the tower he had led her to. She was not advanced enough to know what he was doing, although she could feel the light around him.

Come love, he reached out to her. Come here.

She grinned and pushed herself off the sleep-couch, every bit the young lover she had been ten years ago.

Coming, she teased him.

She slowly made her way through all the dark corridors and passageways that made the way to the high tower. She shivered a little bit; now that she could sense more through the Force, she could tell that the place was brimming with traps in the Force laid by Vader. He had carefully instructed her exactly where to walk and what to do, and now she understood why.

The whole place seemed more forbidding and evil to her then it ever had, and she began to look forward to leaving it with Anakin. It had been a place of darkness, and it would be good to leave it behind.

She came upon him in the tall tower, realizing with a slight flush that she was still dressed in her slightly revealing nightgown. It was irrational for it to bother her; when they had first been married, they had slowly acquainted each other with every inch of skin on the other.

He was sitting straight up with his legs crossed and his hands raised upright. She caught a great sense of frustration within him, and she knew that it was because he was less powerful then he used to be, due to the fact that his limbs were no longer flesh and blood.

That was before she sensed him in the light. The seed of potential she had sensed in him the other night had bloomed, encompassing all his potential. The light flowed around him and into him; he was the light, and it was him. There was no distinction in her mind between him and the brightness of the Force. It was beautiful, in its own way. She sensed within him a great struggle and effort, and it was, she realized, to touch the light that he had not used for so long.

Come, he said to her through their bond, and a wave of loving-tenderness rushed over her, illuminating her in the light he was. She knew then what he wanted him to do.

She sat by his side, not touching him physically, but merging once again with his presence. She held herself in the same way he did, flowing into the overwhelming tide of light until she was no longer there sitting on the floor on Vijun. She was away, wrapped and floating in a pool of golden energy that flowed through her. She had always been awed by Jedi skills in a battle, and now she understood. It was not them that was blocking the blasters and whirling around; it was the light directing them.

He appeared to her in her vision, not as the scarred, pale man he was, but as he had been with golden hair and a roguish smile. He in the vision extended a hand to her, and she saw his eyes burn with desire. She smiled and took it, knowing that for every movement they pantomimed, they grew only closer together in the Force.

He led her through all of the glowing brightness until they were at its core, at the very center of it. There, he turned to her and held her by the hand, and on his face grew a calm expression.

"There is no emotion," he said into the stillness of her heart, where there was only a calm, serene quiet love that burned bright. "There is peace." She absorbed it into herself, allowing the lesson to be absorbed into her mind until it was a part of her.

"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge." She allowed him to teach her the truth and strength of the ideas the words represented, the foundations of Jedi Code that had stood for thousands of years.

Before he could go on with the rest of the code, she recited with a smile, "There is no passion, there is serenity."

In his eyes flashed astonished surprise and what might have been pride, but it soon vanished, leaving only a calm cool.

They finished together, slowly reciting the last line.

"There is no death, there is the Force."

The light that she had felt growing inside of her swelled, bursting over her in a sudden explosion that enveloped her, waking her from the Force-dream.

She opened her eyes to find herself sweating and still sitting by Anakin's side. She smiled as she realized that she was still able to feel the light, still able to touch it easily from within herself. He had come out of the meditation pose, and was staring at her. She turned to him with an uncertain smile.

"Where did you learn the code and meditation?" He asked abruptly.

She hesitated. The Jedi Code had been one of the first things Qui-Gon had taught her, with the warning that it was not all it seemed. She wanted to tell him that his former master still lived in a sense, but if Qui-Gon had not revealed himself to Anakin, then it must have been for a reason.

"I… I can't…" she allowed her voice to trail off, hoping it would be enough for him. When he did not respond, she sighed and continued.

"It will all be revealed to you when the time is right, Anakin." She placed her hand on his arm. "Trust me."

She felt a vague sense of distrust and anger through their bond, and responded to it by allowing the love she felt to overflow into him, strengthening him and purging all doubts. There was one thing that she could tell him, however, and she took a deep breath in preparation, allowing her calmness to return. She did not know whether he would react with joy or anger; joy that he had children, anger that she had kept it from him for so long.

"Anakin," she paused, searching for the right words. His sense of tender, loving concern flowed into her, and she absorbed it, grateful. She remembered all the times they had talked of the child she had been carrying, and then of the only glances she had of her newborn babies.

She allowed some of those thoughts to flow over into him, until his curiosity was piqued. He nudged her, letting her know that she could tell him anything, enveloping her in a blanket of love.

"I have some wonderful news," she said slowly, turning to him. Where could she even begin to start? She searched for her thoughts, trying to find some way to tell him.

But before she could, a low, pulsing alarm echoed all around them. Anakin sprung up with surprising mobility, running over to a discrete panel laid in the wall. When he looked back up at her, she sensed a deep terror that ran in him, not for him, but for her.

"An Imperial fleet has amassed outside of Bast Castle, and is preparing for invasion."