Padme ran her eyes over the walls of the small room she was in. Crying out in pain and fear, fear because she knew her baby was coming.
Anakin's words rang loudly in her ears, "you will die in child birth."
She was afraid not for herself but for her baby.
"Anakin!"
She cried out as another sharp pain ripped through her. She knew that Anakin was different now but she didn't care. She needed him here with her,
"Anakin…Please...where is he!"
Padme wailed as another series of sharp pains wracked her lower stomach, and she knew the baby would be here soon. A soft voice made Padme look up and she saw Obi-wan's gentle eyes looking down at her.
"Obi-wan!"
"Shh...Padme...everything's going to be alright," he soothed gently while he brushed his hand across her forehead.
A terrible pain filled her lower stomach and she could feel her inner muscles clench and contract along with an urge to push. Padme cried out as she pushed with her all her might. Tears mingled with the sweat sliding down her forehead, she thrashed her head from side to side and let out a blood curdling scream.
A tiny wail filled the room and Padme closed her eyes, more tears sliding down her sweaty face as she drew in deep shuddering breaths. Her inner muscles clenched and contracted once again and she felt the urge to push, but the pain was too much and she was so tired.
"I...I...can't..." she breathed in between sobs.
"Yes you can Padme...your doing fine...just one more big push..."
Obi-wan brushed his hand across her forehead as her breaths grew more labored and harsh. She grit her teeth and pushed, felt the pain shift and intensify as the second child inched out of her body and another scream ripped out of her throat.
Another wail filled the room, and Obi-wan watched as a droid carrying two babies rolled towards him.
"Boy or girl?" it asked as it placed both babies carefully in Obi-wan's arms.
"A boy...and a girl! He exclaimed as he looked down at them.
He was still trying to get over the surprise of Padme having not one but two children, Anakin's children, and it showed as he looked down into their faces.
Padme watched as Obi-wan held her baby in his arms; she was so worn out both physically and emotionally. She felt so tired, she tried to stay awake... tried to keep her eyes open…but it wasn't long before her body gave in to its exhaustion.
Obi-wan continued to examine the two little children in his arms. He couldn't get over how much they resembled there father, there eyes were shaped like Anakin's. The boy's were the darkest blue. He saw some of padme's features too, especially in the little girl.
Watching as her dark chocolate brown eyes stared up at him curiously while the boy kicked his little legs around underneath the blanket.
Obi-wan couldn't stop the smile that spread on his face as he watched them, but the smile quickly faded as he looked down at Padme's still form lying on the medical table. Almost immediately droids surrounded her and Obi-wan backed up with the children still in his arms.
--At The Same Moment Anakin's pov--
Confusion washes over me as I stare over at palpatine
'What's going on?'
"Where is padme...is she...safe...is she alright?"
I slip into further confusion as I hear the sound of my own voice. So deep...like a machine...this isn't my voice! Even worse is when the events of the past 48 hours began to play in my mind.
'PADME!'
"It seems in your anger you killed her,"
Those words slice through me like a light saber blade.
"I...I couldn't have," I stutter, each word coming out of my mouth only fueling my growing confusion as I heard the awful mechanical voice coming out of my mouth.
'This isn't the way things were suppose to turn out!'
I think frantically, my eyes wide with fear under this black mask.
"SHE WAS ALIVE!" I scream, breaking out of the metal clasps holding me to the table,
"I FELT IT!" I scream wildly, hearing that mechanical voice once more.
'I HATE THAT VOICE!'
'What have I done?'
I panic as I begin to replay the last moments I saw her in my mind... no he has to be wrong! Padme is alive...SHES ALIVE! SHE HAS TO BE!
I can barley stand on my legs, or should I say the mechanical limbs that have replaced my legs as I stumble forward. I immediately search for her presence in the force, and that's when I learn the awful truth for myself.
"NOOOOOOO!"
The scream rips out of me and I fall weakly to the floor.
'OH WHAT HAVE I DONE?'
'I KILLED HER...I KILLED HER!'
Tears sting my eyes and I nearly choke on the pain as images of Padme flash before my eyes.
Her fingers desperately clawing at her neck as I force choke her, her sweet mouth open slightly as she tried to cry out to me.
Hot tears trickle down my severely scarred skin and I can barley stand the pain...it hurts so much.
I see her in my mind, her dark brown eyes staring at me, pleading with me, begging me to listen.
I was just so angry; I couldn't hear what she was trying to tell me. Now I can hear her words as if she were standing right beside me, whispering them into my ear.
'What have I done!'
The pain grows and I whimper silently,
'How did things get so messed up? All I wanted to do was protect her...I loved her! I should have been able to protect her! Why couldn't I save her!'
A thought hits me and I whirl around to where Palpatine stood.
"YOU LIED TO ME!" I scream "YOU SAID I COULD SAVE HER IF I LEARNED THE DARK SIDE!"
His yellow tented eyes stay on me and he snickers.
"I didn't lie to you..."
He shoots back in his raspy croaked voice. The voice was cold and completely emotionless, instead of warm and comforting. And I finally see what Obi-wan and the rest have seen in this man all along.
I finally see him for what he truly is, a monster...a dangerous Sith Lord.
The Chancellor Palpatine I called friend never existed, it was this Sith Lord who had been playing puppet master with the Republic, with all the Jedi...with me... so he could carry out his perfectly thought out plan to rule the galaxy, And the horrific thing is... that he got away with it...and I helped him do it.
My emotions spew out of control and I am overcome with rage for a third time.
Almost immediately things began to burst and crack; glass shattering everywhere, machines blowing apart, walls bending and cracking.
I couldn't stop it, and I couldn't control it, everything was being destroyed except the one thing I wanted to destroy...palpatine.
When the room grew silent I glared at him through the giant lidless eyes of the hideous black mask as he continued to grin. Then the pain and grief hits me once again and I curl as best I can on the ground as violent sobs rack my half machine half human body.
I cried for the Jedi I killed, for Obi-wan...the only true friend that I ever had, and I cry for myself...for the man I used to be...the life I could never go back to...for Padme...my angel.
--4 MONTHS LATER--
Obi-wan Kenobi sat in a stiff plastic chair in the medical room as a droid fed the 2 children.
They were doing very well, and seemed to resemble Anakin more and more every day, especially the boy; who already had a head full of blonde hair, and a pair of blue eyes that seemed to darken more in the last 2 months.
The girl diffidently resembled Anakin in a lot of ways...her impatientence was most certainly something she inherited from her father, but seemed to get Padme's dark chocolate brown eyes as well and, even though it was barely visable now...she looks as though she may have Padme's thick dark brown.
When the droid finished Obi-wan slid off the chair and walked over to where they lay.
He couldn't stop the gentle smile that spread on his face as curious eyes looked up at him, their little bodies moving around anxiously as if they were going to get up and start walking around any second.
Another thing that surprised him was how the force seemed to surround and envelope the 2 of them. He felt it the second they were born, it made perfect since of course. The force had been so strong with Anakin that he was able to do incredible almost impossible things; it was only natural that his children have the same abilities.
The boy started to get agitated and sent a tremor through the force; Obi-wan looked down at him in shock.
"Well little one..." he began.
Watching as the boy kicked his little legs furiously under the blanket.
Another tremor washed over him... as if the boy was trying to talk to him, this caused Obi-wan to chuckle and he carefully picked the boy up.
"I can see your going to be a handful when you grow up..." he mused.
Another tiny wail filled the room and Obi-wan chuckled once again,
"Don't worry I didn't forget you."
Carefully he scooped the girl up in his arms and walked the two over to a chair on the other side of the room. He looked into a glass window by the chair and watched as Padme lay in a bed in the next room.
She was so pale and lying so still…if it wasn't for the steady rise and fall of her chest one could get the idea that she was just a lifeless corpse; already the medical droids have had to revive her several times in the past few months. He just wished she would wake up so she could see how beautiful her children are.
--8 months later Anakin's pov--
I stand in front of the large window, tears rolling down my deformed flesh as I watch the construction of the Empires new Space Station.
Something I was surprised to learn that Palpatine...or should I say Emperor Palpatine, has been planning to build for several years now.
'We had no idea what we were up against Obi-wan'
I think sadly, careful to guard these thoughts from Sidious who stood by my side.
Again the pain assaults me and I find it almost amusing that I can't smell or physically feel anything due to my burns, yet I can feel this pain.
A pain that hurts more than any light saber wound can ever inflict; a pain that comes whenever I think of her, of all that I have done.
Every time I remember...how I wish that I can go back...turn back time and be the man I once was.
I now see all the mistakes I have made, what everyone had been trying to tell me.
"I'm so sorry..."
I whisper so silently that I question whether it actually left my mouth at all.
I have nothing left, Sidious has won, and I am going to give myself fully to the dark side. I have no other choice, I can't go back. Maybe one day somebody will come and save me, wake me up from this nightmare.
This pain, the memories…I can't stand it…this pain…it hurts too much to remember…I don't want to remember…
I suck in a deep shuddering breath as the memories wash over me, Obi-wan...my friend...the only true friend that I have ever had...the one who had been more like a brother and father to me. All the Jedi that I killed, my Padme.
I let these feelings wash over me one last time, and then I say my farewell to that life...to that man, and lock those things away inside my mind.
Abandoning the name Anakin Skywalker forever and let the dark power that I hadn't truly embraced until now fill me, felt the incredible energy flow through every inch of my being.
My eyes widen then close as the rush hits me…the delicious power…it surges through me and I feel drunk with the pleasure of it…Who am I now and forever...I am Darth Vader.
She heard distant noises, and for a moment imagined that she was warm and safe in her bed with her Anakin laying beside her and there unborn child safely nestled in her womb, and that the events that had taken place were just a big horrible nightmare that she was going to be able to wake up from.
But as she continued to listen she realized that the noises she heard were voices, muffled voices.
Her eyes fluttered open and she immediately saw Obi-wans gentle face looking down at her.
"Obi-wan..." she croaked, and was quickly hushed by him.
"It's alright padme..." he soothed gently, placing a glass of water in front of her. She eagerly reached for it, allowing him to help her sit up so she could raise the glass to her lips.
"Wh...Where is Anakin...is he ok..."
The Jedi's face fell and she knew something awful had happened.
"I...tried to talk some sense into him...but he wouldn't listen...he was too twisted around by the dark side...by Palpatines words...I am sorry Padme."
Several tears fell from her eyes and she closed them, then it hit her and she suddenly remembered.
"MY BABY...WHERES MY BABY!" She shrieked, Anakin's words ringing in her ears.
"You will die in childbirth…"
"And the baby?"
"I'm not sure…"
"Shh...Padme...your children are fine..."
More tears flooded down her face as her mind still tried to wrap around the fact that her Ani was gone…it was mingled with her fear for her child. Then her dark watery eyes widened when she realized what Obi-wan just said.
"What..."
Her voice trailed off and her breath hitched as a droid moved to her bed side holding two infants.
More tears slid down her face as the droid placed the babies in her arms.
"You have twin's padme...a healthy baby boy...and a beautiful baby girl,"
She began to sob openly as she looked down into there tiny faces. They looked so much like Anakin, she saw him all over there tiny faces.
She found herself looking down into a pair of dark blue eyes that studied her curiously and she lowered her face, brushing her lips over the baby boy's soft blonde hair.
"Luke..." She whispered, her voice chocked with emotion as she remembered a conversation she'd had with Anakin about baby names. Luke had been a name that both he and she had liked and agreed on if the baby turned out to be a boy.
Then she looked down into the dark chocolate brown eyes of her daughter, "Leia..." she breathed.
Another sob escaped her lips, hot tears blurring her vision as she remembered how adamant and sure Anakin had been that she was carrying a girl. He had been so confident and insisted that they name the girl Leia…
--A MONTH LATER--
"So where are we going?"
Padme questioned as she sat in the passenger seat of Obi-wans ship, cradling her two sleeping babies protectively in her arms.
"That's what IV been trying to figure out, we have to hide you and the children in a place where the Emperor will never know of your existence."
An idea began to unfold itself inside her mind as Obi-wan continued to speak, listing planets that were far enough away from the rapidly growing new Empire.
"Tatooine...we will live on Tatooine..."
Obi-wans head jerked towards her,
"Tatooine?"
She gave him a simple nod of her head,
"Padme it's a desert planet, and there's nothing there but gangsters and thieves...are you sure you want to raise Luke and Leia in such a harsh environment?"
Padme's eyes drifted out the window of the ship, then down into the faces of her babies. Sleeping so peacefully, so innocent, completely unaware of the horrific events that have taken place, the now dangerous universe they have been brought into.
"Anakin and his mother were able to do it...so can we."
No more words were spoken as Obi-wan set the ships coordinates for Tatooine; Padme continued to look out the ships window with pained eyes.
--
--12 YEARS LATER--
Splashes of orange and red, mixed with light tones of blues and purples filled the wide Tatooine sky. Then grew darker as the twin suns slowly descended over the horizon.
Padme pulled on the large dark brown blanket that hung around her slender body, her long thick dark hair spilling loosely over her shoulders in a sea of curls as her dark brown eyes watched the wondrous site before her.
She loved the sun sets on this planet, they reminded her so much of her home on Naboo. A place she finds herself missing more and more as the long years roll by. Her mother, father, her sister...how she missed them. Only now she had a family of her own, two beautiful children that she loved with all her heart and soul.
The only thing she had left of the man she loved.
Pain shone in Padme's dark brown eyes and she closed them in a weak attempt to stop the memories from assaulting her once again.
Memories of a time long ago...memories of her Anakin.
The way he looked at her before he used the force to choke her, the things he had said. That wasn't her Anakin, the young boy she had met in a junk shop on this dusty planet, the reckless Jedi Padawan who had stolen her heart.
"Mother...is everything alright?"
Padme felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes, finding herself gazing into the deepest blue, and for a split second she was taken back to all those years ago.
A smile spread on her still youthful face as she watched her 12 year old son. Who wore the same intense gaze that her Anakin used to wear whenever he had been in deep thought or troubled by something. He looked so much like his father…
"I'm alright Luke."
She raised an arm and ran her fingers lovingly through his tousled dirty blonde hair.
His blue eyes never left hers, still holding that troubled expression.
"You're getting so tall..." Padme commented as she continued to brush his hair back with her fingers.
"Why were you crying...?"
Padme's hand flew up to her face, quickly wiping at her moist eyes.
"Ill be fine Luke...where's your sister..."
His eyes focused on something behind her and she watched his eyebrows furrow with slight annoyance.
"She's inside,"
Padme brushed her fingers through his hair one last time before lovingly caressing the side of his face.
Luke's eyes traveled back to her and she sent him a warm smile.
"Let's go inside."
She started to turn but stopped when he didn't follow.
"Are you ok?"
Hastily he lowered his eyes and she frowned, something was troubling her son, she could see it in his face.
"Mother..." he began but his voice trailed away and he sucked in a long, deep breath before continuing, "What happened to my father?"
Padme felt like someone had just hit her hard in the stomach.
All the air rushed out of her lungs and she gasped, eyes wide.
'What did he just ask me'
She thought wildly
"Did you really think they would go there entire lives without asking that simple little question?"
A voice in her mind taunted and Padme lowered her head; she knew this day would come.
The day that her children would question about there father…
She had been dreading this day for 12 years, had spent long hours trying to come up with a plan, but in the end had been unable.
How could she tell her children that there father had turned to the dark side, that he had murdered Jedi and had choked her until she fell unconscious, inducing her labor a month before she was due?
That his actions had helped the Emperor come into power and form the Empire that has brought so much suffering to the universe.
Looking back up into her sons face with pained eyes, Padme once again raised her arm and pressed her palm gently to the side of his face, "Let's go inside Luke."
Well? So what do you think! Please tell me! I love hearing from you guys... :) :) :)
--It's been a very long time since I updated this story and Im sorry for that--
This story is officially on hiatus...I have several different versions of this story fully written out on paper...just having trouble putting all of it together.
It doesn't help either that life has been a real bitch...I can't make any promises on when or if this will EVER get updated but I just wanted you to know that I haven't given up on it yet.
I re-read over this first chappy and cringed...so I re-wrote it...