Part Three: The Birthplace of Hope
Padme...Padme...
She drifted on a sea of calm, letting that voice pass over her.
Anakin?
You are so beautiful.
Love has blinded you.
The scene changed and they were back on Mustafar. The red glow of molten rock lit his eyes, glowed in his hair like a million burning embers.
The Jedi betrayed me. Don't you betray me too!
She tried to speak, tried to tell him that she had not, that she loved him and could never betray him. But the words wouldn't come. It felt like an invisible hand was around her throat, sqeezing the life out of her.
Anakin, no!
Her world burst into flames. She was burning, her hair charred away, the clothing stripped from her body as the fire consumed her.
You were my brother Anakin!
Skin peeled from bone, consumed by the fire. She was burning alive. So much pain, so much...
I HATE YOU!
No, it was not her that was burning. It was Anakin. He was screaming, burning, bellowing in pain and rage...
No! she cried. NO! ANAKIN!
"Anakin!" The scream tore from her mouth and woke her. Someone was leaning over her and she pushed him away, sliding from the table, eyes wild and that cry still echoing in her ears. Anakin screaming, Anakin in pain...
She forced the dream back. She was not on Mustafar.
She was standing across a table from Darth Vader.
And Luke...
"Luke!" She looked around the room. "What have you done with my son?"
The Sith did not answer. Padme brought her arms up and hugged them to her body. She felt something pulling and looked down at the bacta bandage on her shoulder. Memory returned.
She had been shot.
And Luke had lost his hand.
"Isn't it enough that you murdered his father? Must you take him from me as well?" Padme did not try to keep the bitterness from her voice. Again, the Sith did not answer. He just turned and walked out.
A few moments later a man came to fetch her from the medical bay.
"Please follow me, my lady."
To her surprise, she was not taken to a holding cell, but to a suite of rooms. Padme looked around, confused. She'd stayed in quarters like these sometimes when she travelled as a Senator, but never as a prisoner. She turned to ask her escort why she was being treated like this but he was already gone.
She tried the door. It was locked.
She sank down slowly onto a chair. Where was Luke? Was he safe?
The door hissed open again and Luke entered, flanked by two troopers. He looked shaken and pale but he was alive, alive!
Padme could barely keep herself from throwing her arms around him. She controlled herself with difficulty, remembering that this boy did not know her at all.
"Hello." she said, as the troopers left, locking the door again.
Luke's blue eyes flickered to her and then away, taking in the room at a quick glance. There were shadows in those eyes, she was saddened to see. What could have put them there?
"I am Padme."
" Luke Skywalker." he said.
"Yes, I know."
The Imperial doctors that had tended her had also seen to him. There was a new hand already fastened to his wrist.
"Does it hurt?" she indicated the artificial hand. She knew it was a stupid question but she couldn't help it. Now that he was here she found herself at a loss and yet she was desperate to get him talking.
"Not really." he said.
He had turned to her, was looking at her with a frown on his face.
"You were on Bespin, weren't you? You tried to help me escape."
"Yes."
"I feel...I feel as though I should know you..." he trailed off, his face twisted in concentration.
"Luke," Padme said gently. "What did your Uncle Owen tell you about your mother?"
He looked up at her, shocked understanding on his face. Padme smiled at him, reached out-
Her son twisted from her hands, shaking his head. "No...no. Father?" he whispered. Padme furrowed her brow. She had expected him to be surprised, shocked even, but the terror in his face she had not expected. "Father?"
"Luke, your father is-" She could not finish that sentance because the door slid open.
Darth Vader stepped inside. Luke turned to him, face uncertain, fear and pain clear on his features. "Father, why are you doing this?"
Padme felt all the air go out of the room. Father? My son calls this man father...
"No," she whispered. And then, more strongly, "No!" She stepped in between them, turning to Luke. "I don't know what this...this thing has told you but he is not your father. He murdered your father!" She whirled, trembling with fury, to face Vader. "How dare you! How dare you mock Anakin's life by claiming his son! I will not-"
Vader interrupted her tirade with one word. "Padme."
The voice she did not recognise. It was deep and harsh, pulled down to a basso rumble by the vocoder. But the feeling, the light caress of the Force down her body as he said her name...
She took a step back, shaking her head in disbelief. No. It could not be...
Anakin killed the younglings in the Jedi Temple.
Anakin turned to the Dark Side.
Anakin fought Obi-Wan on Mustafar.
And she saw Anakin in her dreams, in flames...
"Oh..." The air left her lungs. She bowed her head, clutched a hand to her chest as through her beating heart might break free. Her Anakin, reduced to this? It was unthinkable. It could not be. It could not...
She thought for a moment that she would crumple to the floor and weep.
But then rage exploded through her, pure in its simplicity.
"No! NO! I won't believe it! My Anakin would not do the the things you've done! HE COULDN'T!"
She shot forward, screaming at him, pounding on his armored chest in horror. "NO! I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! ANAKIN CAN'T HAVE DONE THESE THINGS! NO!"
She felt Luke pull her back, turn her into his body. "Mother, stop, please. It's no use." She clung to him, fighting for control of herself, fighting the darkness that threatened to overwhelm her. How easy it would be to retreat into that darkness and never come out. How easy it would be to slip into it and let it take her away forever.
Then her son's arms came around her and she realized why she was still alive.
She buried her face in his chest and wept.
"Just go." she heard Luke say. And she felt Vader leave the room.