Chapter Ten

Anakin stared down at her expectantly; the only thing running through his crazed mind was that she didn't belong there. She should be at their apartment in Coruscant, safe from all the madness that he now found himself in. He took her gently by the shoulders then used a hand to cup her chin.

"Padme, you shouldn't be here. What are you doing?"

"I had to see you…"

He smiled quickly at her then turned serious again. "That's great, Padme. But couldn't you have just waited until I came home?"

She shook her head. "No. This is important. I have to talk to you. Obi-Wan came to see me again. He said horrible things about you…and I…"

His eyes closed briefly then he opened them to look at her with an annoyed expression on his face. "I told you this was going to happen. You can't believe it…you know that whatever he was telling you was just to find out where I was. All of it was a lie."

"I'm not sure about that anymore, Anakin."

He froze and stared at her in disbelief. "You can't mean that. Don't tell me you actually believe him."

"Obi-Wan said that you had turned to the dark side, that Palpatine is the Sith lord and you're his new apprentice. He said there was a recording of it and…he said you murdered Bail. Did you do that, Anakin? Did you kill him?"

Anakin shook his head hurriedly, refusing to believe she was doing this to him. He had come so far, he had the power to save her and now…she was turning on him.

"He was a traitor, Padme. He betrayed the Senate. After learning that and after everything he's done to you, I didn't hesitate to kill him. He was a horrible person and he deserved everything he got."

"No, Anakin, he didn't deserve to die. You know I don't like Bail but no one deserves that. How do you know that Palpatine was even telling you the truth and even if he was, Bail should've been brought to trial before the Senate. You just took justice in your hands, Anakin and that's completely wrong."

"Padme, I had to do that because Palpatine can help us. He can help me save you."

She backed away from him, fear shining in her eyes. She placed her hands over her abdomen and continued to distance herself from her husband. "You do all this just to save me? What about you, Anakin? What about your soul? What about our child? You would bring him or her into this, as a Sith? No…I can't allow this. You have to stop this, Anakin. Get out of it…do whatever you have to do…just end this!"

He stared at her in shock and horror. He had gone through all of this, turned his back on everything he had ever known for her and now…she didn't want this. She didn't want to accept help from the only person they could turn to? He glared at her now...darkness began to take over him as his anger towards her intensified.

"Padme…we can overthrow Palpatine. He's taken over the Senate by now and after he's gone, we'll have complete control. We can rule the galaxy together."

"A dictatorship? No…Anakin, that's not what I want. I can't believe that this is something you want. He was right about you. Everything Obi-Wan told me was true. You have turned to the dark side. What have you done?"

He clenched his hands in anger and resisted the urge to take his anger out on her.

"Everything I've done has been for you. All of this is for you, Padme. Why can't you see that? Why won't you let me save you?"

She stepped closer and took his face in her hands. "I don't need anything but your love. That's all I want. Our love and our child will save me, I know it, Anakin."

He shook his head sadly, the anger quenched for a moment. "Love can't save you, Padme. Only my new power can do that."

Tears began to flow down her cheeks as she realized that maybe there was no reasoning with him. He had turned just like Obi-Wan had said. And he had committed murder. It didn't matter to her who it was; he had committed a horrible, violent, unforgivable crime and she couldn't let that go. And now, he had turned his back on everything he had ever stood for and by doing that, he had turned his back on her and their child. The man she had married was gone.

She began to shake uncontrollably and when he moved to comfort her, she backed away hurriedly with fear in her eyes. His hands froze in midair then fell to his side in defeat. Out of nowhere, it rose up again…the darkness…the anger…boiling over and he couldn't stop it. It took control of him and drew him dangerously close to the edge.

Padme stared at him in horror now as all hope of saving him grew dimmer and dimmer. He stood before her now, no longer a man, no longer her husband, but a monster.

"You've gone down this path, Anakin, and I can't follow you. I can't…"

"NO! I won't allow this, Padme. You're mine! You're my wife! We belong together…"

With that, his arm outstretched and he firmly gripped her neck with his bare hand. He began squeezing slowly, gradually increasing the pressure and taking away her precious air.

She struggled against him, shock and fear shining in her eyes. Soon, he was lifting her up in the air with such a menacing expression that she thought she would die just from the horror of what he was doing to her.

He squeezed even harder now despite her struggles for air. Then he looked in her eyes and all he saw was fear and pain. He had done this. He was causing her pain. He was causing her to die. She fell to the ground with a thud and all he could was stare at the hand that had almost choked the life out of the one person he cared about more than anything. At that moment, he wanted to cut it off, punish it for what it had done to his wife, but then again, he realized that he was the one who had done it. His anger and his loss of control was what had caused this. His stupidity and trust in the wrong person had caused this.

Tears flowed down his cheeks as he carefully picked her up and set her down in her transport. With one last look at her unconscious form, he trailed a hand down her abdomen then set course for Coruscant.