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I step out into the sunlight, wanting to be anywhere but an enclosed space after my strange talk with Qui-Gon. I need room to rage, to fume.
I stalk back and forth in front of the entrance for a while kicking small clouds of sand and cursing angrily under my breath. Why won't Qui-Gon help me?
I am hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion and fall backwards into a small mound of sand, panting heavily.
I want to be with my mother...
With this thought vaguely in the back of my mind, I walk slowly and painfully in the general direction of my ship. It should be just beyond those dunes right there...if I can make it. Even with the suns setting. Tatooine is still an arid desert, a parched Mustafar.
I walk over to the craft, closing my eyes the last ten or so feet as sand enters my eyes and nose and mouth, choking me.
As I fumble clumsily to open the cockpit, I feel a strangely cool hand on my shoulder. I ignite my lightsaber and spin around quickly.
It's Palpatine.
I want to attack him. Is it so important to pretend to be his apprentice now? I don't know. I decide to keep up the fact till I have time to think things over more.
"Hello, Master," I say, forcing a smile onto my face.
"Anakin Skywalker," he says blankly, staring into me, "what have you done with my prize?"
"You mean Leia?" I ask through gritted teeth.
"The Organa child."
"She died of her injuries. So I decided to come here to find Kenobi and kill him." I bow slightly. "I apologize for not asking permission, my master, but I hoped to gain favor with you. I am sorry."
"Well, that will not change anything, will it?" he says softly, "liars must be punished."
I brace myself, but all the same I am not prepared for the jolt that hits me and blasts me off my feet.
I clench my jaw to prevent myself from screaming, and tighten my muscles as I writhe on the hot sand, with singes my clothes as the lightening burns my flesh. All the while he speaks to me.
"Ah, Anakin. Foolish boy. Did I not warn you? Did I not tell you I know when you lie? It is unwise to try and hide things from me. I know perfectly well where your daughter is. I don't know why you insist on putting your family in so much danger. If you had not turned your back on my apprenticeship, they could have been safe from harm...even that fool Kenobi. As it is, they will all be meeting their destiny soon. As will you."
He uses one hand to summon my lightsaber to his palm. He releases me, and leaves me panting as he examines it. "Very nicely made, I must admit. But it holds none of the grace or elegance of a proper lightsaber."
Enraged, I drag myself to my feet and charge at him. He throws me back lazily with a flick of his hand.
"It would be most unwise to attack me now," he warns quietly, "but if you will seriously consider an offer I would like to make you..."
"I'll never!" I spit furiously, charging him again and being thrown back.
"Very well," he sighs, "it is a pity though. A waste of talent. I am sorry I allowed the Jedi to corrupt your mind so long. But before I kill you, you should know that I am fully aware of where your family is hiding. They will be dead within the hour...unless you will hear my proposal."
"You don't know where they are," I glare spitefully, "and I'll never join you. So kill me."
He hisses malevolently. "Do you underestimate me so? As soon as you and that other fool stepped away from your ships tracking signals were placed on them. So unless Kenobi is kidnapping your daughter...they are stationed on Harrulop."
"NO!" I scream furiously, charging him again, "NO! You stay away from her! Leave them alone!"
With a lazy flick of his wrist, he propels me away from him again.
"I have already told you the terms under which your loved ones will be safe. You turned me down. We have nothing further to discuss."
I pull myself to my feet, leaning heavily on the ship, as he strides towards me.
"I will give you one last chance. Hear what I have to offer you."
"Tell me, then," I growl, "but I will not work for you."
"That is not quite what I had in mind," he says, stepping back slightly. "My offer is this: I will stay away from your family, and Kenobi, unless they interfere in my operations--if you will agree to help me with a project I've been working on..."
"What exactly do you mean by that?" I ask, narrowing my eyes. "A 'project?'"
"Oh? You don't accept my offer? I sensed a surge of enjoyment earlier at the same time your laughable 'dark presence' emerged. Wouldn't you like to be free from your 'friend's' relentless banter about how you must be kept feelingless?"
He's avoiding my question, I answer shrewdly, it must be something important...something he doesn't want me to know about until he's sure I'm with him. Maybe I could find out what it is and tell Obi-wan...maybe Yoda would even forgive me somehow.
"I'll do it," I lie.
"I don't appreciate your untruthfulness," he says harshly, "but I will not punish you this time. Be warned, though, Anakin, if you lie to me again, it will be fatal, both to you and to those you care about. I ask you again: will you accept my offer? I allow your life and family to live and die in peace in exchange for your help in a project I'm working on."
"Tell me about your project," I demand.
"No," he states simply.
I stare at him for a moment, trying to gleam some insight as to what he is planning and why he needs me.
"I'll help you," I tell him slowly, "but you have to let me go back and speak to Obi-wan and Padme and see my children."
"Children?" he asks quickly, a horrible spark igniting in his dark eyes.
"No," I say loudly, and, perhaps, too quickly, "just Leia. I have no other children."
"Your wife is pregnant then?" he asks with calculating eyes.
"I mispoke," I say as firmly as I can, trying to meet his eyes, "it's just Leia. No others."
He stares at me just long enough so that I know he is not entirely convinced, then shakes his head softly and says, "Very well. You will go to your 'hidden base to tell your family goodbye. And then you will meet me back on Corascant where we will discuss my project."
"Fine," I say abruptly, "but first take the tracker on my ship off."
He looks at me for half a second, then gives a false chuckle. "You don't miss much, do you, my young apprentice? This will be a great asset."
He steps over to the small green ship and walks to the right side, where he pulls something off of the underside of the right wing.
I grab it from his hand and examine every bit of it closely. It definitely is a tracker, and it was attached to my ship at about te time he claims it was. But still.
"Are there any more of them?" I ask, watching him closely to gauge his reaction, and trying to sense any hint of deception through the Force.
"No," he says calmly.
And that will have to be enough.
Not bothering to asy goodbye, I clamber into the cockpit and set a route for Harrulop.
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I ask the first droid I find if she knows where Padme is.
"Of course, sir," she responds tonelessly, "she is in the medcenter."
Leia?
Without waiting to here any more, I rush off down the strange corridors. Eventually I find the right place and hurtle in.
The room is full of all kinds of droids, rolling this way and that. But all the activity seems to be centered around the right side of the room.
I push my way through the sea of silver and make my way over to Padme. When I reach her I wrap my arms around her.
"Oh, Ani," she breathes.
I look at Leia. She is connected to so many machines and cords it's hard to tell where they end and she begins.
"They don't want to have to do surgery," explains Padme tonelessly, not ceasing her gentle stroking of Leia's foot, "she wouldn't survive. It's a miracle she's alive."
For the first time she looks at me, her white face shining with tears. "What happened, Ani? How could you let him do this to her?"
"I didn't have a choice!" I say loudly, gripping her shoulders, "Obi-wan and I both agreed there would be no way for me to get her unless he gave her to me. I had to, Padme. And she didn't die. She'll be fine!"
"She did die," she whispers, "right after Obi-wan brought her back. It was pure luck that it didn't happen five minutes earlier. Luck that there was a medidroid on hand to revive her. And it'll be luck if we don't...don't loose her."
"We won't loose her," I promise fiercely.
We are quiet a few minutes, as I stare at my daughter, stare at the web of metal she's been caught in.
"Why didn't you come back with her?" begs Padme, her body shaking with dry sobs, "why did you give her to Obi-wan? What is more important to you?"
"Nothing is more important to me," I say forcefully, "Nothing."
"I know," she says quietly.
She pulls herself away from me and kneels down next to Leia, still stroking her tiny foot.
I stay too. For over an hour, just staring at them. Leia doesn't move, doesn't open her eyes. She doesn't see the constant flow of droids or her mother's tears. I try to feel her through the Force but all I get are a few wispy strands of life. I do my best to let her feel my love and affection but she doesn't accept it.
"I have to talk to Obi-wan," I say finally in a numb voice.
Recieving no response, I leave.
The halls are strangely empty and quiet. Every footstep echoes and ebbs away into nothing.
I reach Obi-wan's chambers and rap listlessly on the door.
"Hello?"
"Master, it's me."
"Anakin?" bemused. "Come in."
I step uncertainly through the door he opens and stop, shuffling my feet, unsure of what to say.
"I saw your ship," he says, gesturing out the window through which my landing place is visible, "but I thought you'd be with Padme. What happened to Leia?"
"She was burned. And then he cut her with his lightsaber. And I was with her," I say dully, "but I needed to talk to you before I left."
He reaches for my shoulder and guides me over to a soft couch. He pushes me down on it and he stands in front of me, arms crossed.
"What do you mean, you're 'leaving?'"
"Just that," I say tonelessly, "I'm going, and I thought I'd talk to you before I left."
He moves across the room and sits down on a chair opposite me. "Anakin. I know something happened other than Leia to make you feel this upset. Please tell me."
"No."
"Anakin, I thought you'd learned the lesson of hiding things."
"I have. But that doesn't mean I have to tell you everything. And Qui-Gon says hi." This will distract him, at least temporarily.
"What?" he frowns, more confused than ever.
I allow a smile to slip to my face. "Qui-Gon...he's not really alive, alive. But he's , like some sort of ghost. I think he was going to talk to you later."
A broad grin slowly spreads across his face. "Is this what you came to see me about?"
"Actually, no," I admit. "Do you have any idea where Yoda went?"
"Yoda?" he asks, grin dropping quickly, "not for sure...I have a bit of an idea, though."
"Well?" I ask impatiently.
"I don't know for sure, like I said," he admits slowly, "there were a few places council members were told to go, places unknown to anyone else, in times of need. Why do you need to know anyway."
This time it is my turn to hesitate. I don't want him to follow me on my foolhardy mission and get killed.
"Anakin?"
"Palpatine asked me to work on a project with him," I say carefully, "I thought that if I had contact with Yoda I could keep him updated on the Emperor's 'project' and he could help me sabatoge it."
"Why didn't you ask me?" he wonders, obviously hurt.
"Because I don't want to be responsible if you die." I say simply.
"Oh, and Master Yoda counts for nothing?" he jokes.
"Not 'nothing.' Just not as much as you."
He stares at me for a minute. "There has to be some way I can help you. I'm not going to sit by while you and Yoda take down this Empire."
"Well...I suppose maybe if we had some way to communicate--it would be nice."
"And you would contact me daily and tell me what sort of help you need."
"If I could talk to Padme too."
"You should talk to her before you leave," he says abruptly, lowering his voice, "when I came back with Leia and without you--" he shakes his head. "Why did you send me with Leia? Why didn't you bring her yourself?"
"I think I told you, Obi-wan, I don't want to talk about it," I growl, my voice tightening.
"I think you should."
"I don't particularly care what you think."
He steps over to the window with his hands behind his back, thinking. He turns around suddenly after about thirty seconds.
"You did something to Leia, didn't you?"
I stand up furiously, shaking with shock and anger. "What m--Why would--You--"
He studies me carefully. "Your reaction is enough to confirm that I am right."
"HE MADE ME!" I roar, "IT WAS EITHER THAT OR LET HER DIE--YOU--YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE SITUATION I WAS IN!"
"Calm down, Anakin."
"YOU ACCUSED ME OF TORTURING MY DAUGHTER! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES WERE!"
"Then explain them to me."
His hand is once again on my shoulder, guiding me gently to the couch. I collapse into it, my momentary anger gone. He sits next to me, placing a hand awkwardly on my back.
"What happened?"
I don't answer him, but I don't leave either. I stay where I am, my breathing constricted.
Then, almost without my knowing, my eyes are wet with tears. I wipe them away furiously. I can't afford to be weak anymore.
He seems uncomfortable, but he doesn't leave either.
And then, again before I know, my body is shaking with dry sobs that tear my breath away and then ters come and fall down my face like rivers.
"I'm sorry," I gasp, "I didn't mean too. I don't want...I don't..."
And I stop talking, and stop trying to stop the tears, and forget what I was crying about, but keep crying.
It only takes a few minutes for me to finally control myself. "I'm sorry Master," I mutter, wiping my eyes with a fist.
"Don't be," he says, gently patting my shoulder.
"I should go," I tell him.
"I didn't tell you where Yoda was."
"Oh, yeah. That...um...so where is he."
"My best guess would be Degobah, in the third arm, quadrant two."
"Thanks," I say, standing up shakily and heading towards the door.
As I open it to go, he says, "Anakin?"
"Yes Master?"
"Are you going to tell Padme?"
"No."
I walk out, past the medcenter, and climb into my ship.
Maybe I should have said goodbye.
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