A/N- Sorry this one took me awhile; I'm finding that I suddenly have less and less time on my hands. Anyways, thank you very, veyr much for all the replies; I do appreciate them! And enjoy this one!

Chapter Three

Padmé stood, watching Anakin, noting the way his eyes were only empty reflections of the flames below her, not sensing any of his warmth in them. She wanted, once again, for him to hold her, to allow her escape from what was happening. She wanted to wake in his arms, warm and comforted and protected and everything else seeming a dream, a brief nightmare from which they would wake, together.

But she could feel the realness of everything, could smell the lava smoldering beneath her, could almost taste the force of Anakin's rage. There was no denial, only cruel, bitter fate. And it burned her, scarred her deep beneath her surface, beyond her tears, beyond everything else.

Then Padmé felt something tremulous rise up between them, so faint it almost was not there, so uncertain she could barely feel it. She caught after the feeling, however, finding it even in the rush of emotions she was feeling and that she could sense streaming from Anakin.

When she finally was able to reach it, was able to find her way through all the layers of defenses Anakin had set, she almost gasped at the stunning intensity of what she felt. The emotions, the memories, the thoughts, all that she loved and was good about her husband; they all boiled beneath the surface of the monster he had made himself. There was tremendous good in him, unceasing potential that lay just beneath the anger and hate that burned within him. It shone brighter then the lava, brighter then all the stars in the galaxy, brighter then all he had done. It was the core of the man she loved, his goodness and love unceasing.

She had to reach it, had to release him from the shackles he had bound himself to.

"Come away with me," she whispered, looking into his eyes, reaching down to grasp his hand, to give and take comfort from him the way they always had. She searched the expression in his face, knowing that it was simply a lie, that it was not her Anakin that looked like that, that it was all a façade meant to fool her. But she was loyal, and, above that, she loved him and she knew that he loved her.

"Help me raise our child," she husked, and she felt a small kick within her belly, the sign from a new life that was theirs. "Leave everything else behind while we still can." She longed to go with him, anywhere where they could be at peace. She would follow him to the edge of the galaxy if there was only a place where they could simply be, where he could forget all that he had done. She reached out to him with other senses as well, finding the part within her that loved him the most and casting it away from herself and towards him, into him, merging her love with his.

For a moment, there was a slip where thoughts and feelings and regrets flowed into Padmé in a breathtaking moment, and for a moment there were no thoughts, only love and emotions and timelessness. But then the feeling closed itself off, and even as she cried out in her heart, there was nothing to answer her, only the broken strands of a dream.

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Anakin had felt her reaching out to him, had felt her presence gently brushing his in an intimate way that had burned him. He had felt triumph in her, as if she realized something that he did not, and he had been repulsed at the idea; there was nothing more to him then she saw. Anger won over him in the battle raging in his heart, and he slammed down his shields on her, showing only Vader to his wife.

He heard her gentle plea, and condescending frustration fell over him. She could not see what path he had clearly put before her, so he would have to show her, allow her to see the way…

"Don't you see?" He asked her softly, his eyes glinting. He would be gentle with her now, slowly seducing her with promises, hopes and dreams of a life together that they could have, the life that they were meant to have. "We don't have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic." He cupped her shocked, horrified face in the palm of his hand. She deserved a better life then the one she had been endowed with, the one of loving a man who had sworn his life to the Jedi… she deserved a life as an Empress, powerful, beautiful, loved and revered by all. But she would still be his, only his, he told himself.

There were things that had to come first, Anakin told himself. She had allow herself to come away with him, had to embrace the darkness in herself just as he had recognized it in himself.

"I am more powerful then the Chancellor," he said, and he reached out to the limitless power that lay in him, knowing that Padmé could feel it. "I can overthrow him, and together," he took the hand that lay on his arm, "You and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be." The dream that had lodged itself inside his heart now came to the ripeness of all its glory upon being spoken. Anakin smiled.

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As Padmé stood before him, countless images of Anakin streamed through her head. Waking up, caressing her face, stroking her cheeks softly as he bent down for a kiss… laughing, saturated with blissful contentment… Love rising softly, love that passed over everything, nothing remaining unchanged, hearts binding themselves together…

And as he spoke of domination and conquest, of dark dreams untouched by the light of their love, she closed her eyes, only wanting to see her husband again, only wanting to see his warm smile, only wanting to feel his fingers, calloused by saber training, glide softly over her skin… But even as she stood there, remembering, she knew with a sudden inevitability that she could not escape any longer, could not avoid the truth.

He was no longer Anakin Skywalker, she thought, and tears coursed even more freely down her face.

He was gone to her; lost. The thing she had felt before… that had only been fleeting, a whisper, nothing transient that she could hold onto. Her hopes and her spirit plummeted, and she could barely breathe for a second as dark inevitability clenched her heart in its dark talons. A whispered name came to the back of her mind, and it was when she mouthed it, when she tasted it on the tip of her tongue and said Vader soundlessly and a chill ran down her spine… only then could she speak.

"Obi-Wan was right… you have changed," she whispered numbly. Her soul darkened to the point where it was just as despairing and hopeless as the landscape around her. Her heart felt as raw and red as the lava that coursed below her, filling the fissures and cracks in the rock. She took her hand back then, and not wanting to hear the next words that came out of his mouth, she still somehow managed to listen.

"I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan," he said firmly, and she clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palm to the point where it bled. Obi-Wan was his protector, his mentor, his father… he loved Obi-Wan.

"The Jedi turned against me," he hissed at her, his eyes suddenly turned feral. "Don't you turn against me." The words seemed to rip a new hole in Padmé, somehow seemed to arouse new, unceasing pain. Could he not see that she loved him, that she had always loved him, that she would never even dream of turning on him? Her soul cried out to his in a desperate, aching plea that he did not acknowledge, that she knew he could not. Even the fraction of light that she had seen in him, even that had somehow disappeared, had become engorged within the hate that was Anakin.

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Anakin could sense parts of him falling into helpless anger. Part of him fought with it, battling the rage that he knew could destroy him… but the other part welcomed the power, allowing it to fill him whole. He ignored her pleas; he was past them, beyond them.

"I don't know you anymore," she choked, sobbing. He thought, his mind tinged with the sharp blade of arrogance, Then why don't you try"Anakin," she pleaded with him, "You're breaking my heart." A part of him revolted against the words, hating himself for hurting her, hating himself for everything he had done… "I'll never stop loving you, but you are going down a path I can't follow."

Anakin's thoughts withdrew into themselves, and he encased himself behind a solid durasteel wall into which there crept no light. Why could she not follow him, give into her desires and passions as he had? What could possibly overcome the force of their love? The answer came to him, white-hot and searing in its betrayal.

"Because of Obi-Wan?" He asked, speaking through a suddenly tightened throat. Jealousy flared up in him, as his mind, even as he told it to stop, played out images of them together… His lips caressing her skin, his beard rasping across her cheek as he whispered secrets in her ear… Rage poured into him, more dangerous and hotter then the lava beneath him, and this time, there was no reveling, no wallowing and rejoicing in the force of his power and majesty.

This time, there was only revulsion and the unbearable shock of betrayal, one that was imminent and rose up in him, darker then he had ever dreamed it could be.

And it was all directed at his wife, his love, his angel.

He found that he did not care.

Ending One