Hello ya'all! Sorry for disappearing for a minute. I got busy cutting fabrics strips into two inch strips and sewing them into a rug. It is not done but my fingers hurt from stitching it together, so here we are. It's some more Sidiousness! *happy dance* I love writing Sidious.
Sidious grits his teeth as he stands outside the door to Senator Amidala's apartment. Bile rises in his throat, and he swallows it carefully, so as to not spoil his breath.
He stares at the button to notify the occupants of the apartment there is a visitor, and wills himself to press it.
Before this moment, he had not known that there was something he would so hesitate to do, purely because he loathes it. He supposes it is fortuitous that he should find out this way, but a larger part of himself hisses in fury at having to discover it at all.
By every stupid goddess his even stupider nursemaid tried to impart on him, it is worse than the Jedi temple. At least the Jedi attempt for serenity. For peace. For emotionless. In some ways, this is what Sidious himself strives for, and so the light of the temple, though irritating, is something he easily floats through.
This. However. This is so much worse. It is ghastly, revolting, truly mind numbing… happiness.
It oozes into Sidious, passing through his shields as if they aren't there, spreading violent shades of what he can only describe as "yellow" and "sunshine" and "joy" and "contentment".
He had started to feel ill when he entered the building. Now that he is at the door he is beginning to wonder if he is truly going to be sick.
Well, if he does, he can pass it off as some stomach bug, and no doubt that will garner sympathy. He presses the button and sets his hands at his side, keeping the darkness in him leashed deep inside, for all it wishes to jump out and correct the world around him.
The door opens, and Sidious hides the nails digging into his skin by fisting them behind his back.
His future apprentice has his hair tied back into a knot of a ponytail. There is a cloth on his shoulder, and a tiny infant barely bigger than the hand that cradles them lays atop it. His eyes show circles underneath, and his simple tunic and trousers are stained and likely two days without washing. He has not even bothered with a glove over his mechanical hand.
And he is beaming exuberantly.
"Chancellor!" He cries, and he leans forward and crushes Sidious in a one armed hug. "I am sorry. Please forgive my silence, I meant to answer your message the other night, but Leia stopped breathing for seventeen seconds and I had to focus my attention on her."
With one tight fist, and a churning stomach, Sidious pats his back gingerly. "Ah well, it is quite alright my boy."
Though Amidala had been very careful in keeping her pregnancy secret, Sidious had had her medical records sliced into and kept meticulous track of her health. (Though he wished she was not so particular about not wanting to know the children's gender.)
She had been set to give birth a month to two months from the point when the boy would return to Coruscant. The perfect amount of time to sew doubt and fear into his future apprentice.
Of course, he hadn't accounted for twins. And as such, they were far more likely to be born early.
And so, to Sidious' horror, he found that Amidala had gone into labor a mere hour after he had been "taken captive", and had given birth just in time for his aforementioned future apprentice to be at her side to atend his children's rather poorly timed entry to the world.
Really, with all the modern technology Amidala had access to, it was truly ridiculous that one could not know one was having twins. Yet somehow, somehow, it had simply slipped the medical droids minds to even so much as check (most likely because of her aforementioned aversion to revealing the child's gender) and now his dear soon to be apprentice, rather than being filled with anxiety and tilting head first towards the dark side, as Sidious had been preparing him all his life, he was now deep in the joys of being a new parent, and now had the dark side potential of a newborn puppy.
This, combined with the force strength of not one, not one (for he is still rather strung up about that), but two children, created a light side nexus in Amidala's apartment to rival the Jedi temples.
Such a nexus has prevented from Sidious from sending any dreams whatsoever, despite his attempts over the last two weeks. So, he had decided to take a more direct approach. Hence the unanswered comms. And the visit now.
"I must admit," Sidious says, though the boy's shoulder is pressing into his trachea, "I was quite concerned. The news was quite startling, the reveal of your marriage to Senator Amidala, you leaving the Jedi, and then the press managing to steal a photo of your poor children…" he tutts, "Truly despicable. It must be very stressful, to have your children be such an object of attention, and so young."
His future apprentice releases Sidious from his grip and laughs gaily. It sends miniature explosions of light with every "hah."
"It was no accident. Padme suggested it. She says it ought to keep them busy for a few weeks at least, and by then the doctor says it will be alright to do a photoshoot." He stands in the doorframe. "Come in, come in."
Sidious steadies himself, and manages to cross the threshold without strangling every gibbering senator in the building.
He has visited Amidala's apartment before, and remembers it as a rare example of good taste. A painting from some Nubian artist here, a statue from Mandalore there. Simple, elegant furniture. A flat rug with geometric shapes.
This is not what greets him.
The paintings are still there, but the statues have been removed. A few pieces of the furniture remain the same, but there is a wooden chair that rocks back and forth on curves of jush branches. A garishly patterned plush couch now dominates the room. It is covered in small toys, likely meant to engage a small child's mind. The sleek glass table is buried in various objects that must help in raising a baby… somehow.
In the center of that once proud table is a woven basket where another small baby lays, slumbering, wrapped in a sky blue blanket coated in fluffy white clouds and yellow Nubian ducklings.
It is possibly the most disgusting thing in the entire room. Sidious finds himself itching to burn it.
The boy checks on the baby in the basket before slumping down on the plush couch. He takes a tiny device from his waist and eyes it expertly before reattaching it to his belt.
Sidious gingerly sits in the single remaining sensible chair.
"I see you have been redecorating." He says, keeping his voice light and friendly.
"This?" The boy gestures around the room with his durasteel hand. "This is all Padme. And her handmaidens. It's been a bit of a strain for them. We- well, they, weren't expecting the children for another two months. They weren't expecting children either." He adds ruefully, and his cheeks nuzzles the head of his newborn the same way a mother Shaak might rub spit and chewed cud onto her young to offer them protection from buzzards in the swamps.
"The more the merrier, I suppose." Sidious finds himself saying stupidly, because words are not forthcoming and he is thus saying the first phrase that falls into his mind. "You must tell me all about them."
His future apprentice gestures to the baby on his shoulder. "This is Luke." And the one in the basket. "That is is Leia. We- well, Padme named them for the Huttese words for Love and Justice." He smiled, dripping admiration and love. "They were born just after we-" he chuckles, "landed on Coruscant. I'm glad you're alright."
"I'm quite well, but for a bruise here and there." Sidious points to the children. "But you said they stopped breathing? Are they ill?"
"No, no." The boy clutches the tiny thing closer to his chest. "The doctor promised us that there should be no long lasting effects, not with todays technology. And I- Padme has the best in the galaxy, here. It's not at all like it was on- on Tatooine." He sighs. "They just have episodes of apnea. They have a monitor-" He tugs up the baby's shirt to show the tag on its stomach, "and it keeps track of it for us. It should fade in the coming months."
"That is a relief to hear." Sidious says, laying his hands gently into his lap. "They are such sweet little things."
"Yes." The boy smiles a little. "How are you Chancellor, I hope my resigning hasn't made things too difficult for you."
"I am well, my bumps and bruises from my escapades have healed quite nicely." He grins, and struggles to keep it from turning to a grimace. "The senate has been rather… uplifted by the death of Dooku. I'm must thank you again, for that. Ah- oh. My dear boy. Are you still feeling conflicted about that?"
His face had gone went still, the ever present smile vanishing from his mouth. "I should not have done that. He should have stood trial." He said quietly.
"He has influence in both the courts and the senate. He would have only been imprisoned. And not for long." Sidious says, shaking his head. "I only wish I knew which really do argue for mercy, and which are truly on his side. It is a tricky game he plays, I tell you."
His future apprentice slumps down, hand still on the baby, staring moodily off into the distance. The children respond, their own moods dropping with their father's. Excellent. The level of joy in the room has lowered to an almost bearable level.
Then the boy lifts the baby from his shoulder and holds it in front, his eyes softening. He turns the youngling for Sidious to examine.
"Does he not look a great duelist, Chancellor?"
Sidious stares at the miniscule thing. At it's too large head and squinting eyes and fingers no larger than the prong of a fork. "I couldn't say, it is not my area of expertise."
"I have seen it." The boy says, with a confidence hasn't had since he was a bright eyed padawan, speaking of all the slaves he will free when he is a Jedi. "The force has shown it to me. He will be better than I, better than Mace Windu, perhaps. One day there will be no Jedi or Sith that will beat him in a duel."
Sidious leans foreward. "Really?"
"Yes." His future apprentice brings the child close to his chest and runs a duresteel finger over the flesh cheek. "I… I was thinking it over. One day, my son will be like Count Dooku. He will have gray hair, and wrinkles and spots. Maybe I won't live to see that day." He says, mournfully, but with a calm that freezes Sidious down to his core. "-But he will reach it." The boy looks to Sidious, earnesty painted all over his face. Sidious realizes, with a jolt, that this is not a boy plying for justification or comfort, but a man who has already made up his mind and is trying, albeit with clumsy, enormous strokes, to make his friend understand.
"And I was thinking, that if my son had done the things that Count Dooku had done, that I would want him to have a trial, however flawed, than killed outright. And that, maybe, Count Dooku had a father, or a mother, who would want the same."
Count Dooku did not. He had, in fact killed most of his own family, and sent the rest in exile to Alderean. But Sidious held his tongue.
Skywalker smiles ruefully, and a sort of peace emanates around him, an acceptance of how things were, peace, without desire to change it.
It is, perhaps, better for Sidious' stomach, but not for his mind nor his plans. He laughs lightly, nervously. "Perhaps you are right. I am… I am sorry for pushing you. Let us hope the Jedi will not catch wind of it, eh?"
Skywalker shrugs. "They know."
"What?" Sidious' voice is sharper than he intends for it to be, but Skywalker does not seem to notice.
"I told them." Skywalker focuses in on his child again, a curl of a smile appears on his face and at once Sidious is holding back bile again. "They… they offered to keep me as a Jedi. To allow an acception for me. Because of my service as a general."
Sidious smiles against bared teeth. "A generous offer."
"Yes, but-" Skywalker sighs again, and he presses his forehead to the head of his child and sends such a wave of love and comfort in the force to the youngling that Sidious pulls his hands back into the sleeves of his robes and clenches until it draws blood. "But I didn't accept. I told them, so they wouldn't fight so hard for me back."
"Why wouldn't they fight for you?" Sidious argues. "My boy, you are indispensable. I cannot fathom we would have made it this far in the war without you. All of your accomplishments, your missions. One well deserved kill surely would not stop them from giving you up at this crucial time."
Skywalker shrugs. "Dooku is gone, Chancellor. It's only a matter of time before we find Grievous. Padme thinks the peace talks will start soon, maybe even before we find him. Apparently the Separatists are as tired of this war as we are."
"Do you really think Grievous will allow himself to be found?" Sidious says softly. "He has hidden himself well in the past, who is to say it will take another three years to find him?"
Skywalker laughs. "You sound like the council. I think it will be easier, with Dooku gone, to find Grievous, and besides, tracking others down has never been my strength." He smiles wryly. "Obi-Wan would do better at that, than I. But Chancellor, I won't be joining the Jedi, or the war, again. I understand now why the Jedi are not allowed families." He gestures to his son in his arms and the child in the basket. "I- when I held them, I-" he breaks off, and his face takes on the face of an enlightened statue, face resplendent in some answer from some nonexistent god. "It was as if all the darkness in me was chased away, gone. And I- I could think clearly for the first time since- since- I don't know. This war has darkened everything."
Your purpose was to ensure the darkness would stay. Sidious snarls inside. Your purpose was to take the mockery of the day the Jedi claim to spread across the galaxy and bring it to night. You were to be the dusk of the Sith, into a new era of glory.
"Oh?"
"I held them, and I knew I would never forgive myself if I missed anything." Skywalker murmurs. "Their laugh, their first steps. All my life I've wanted to be a Jedi but- I understand now. As a Jedi, I would miss it. I'd be on missions. I- I would be away from them. I thought I could have that too, if it weren't for the rules. But when I held them- I knew. I knew." And he smiles, and the room brightens with his surety and joy. "I knew I had to choose, and how could I not choose them? Look at them." He holds out the baby, and for a horrible moment Sidious thinks he's trying to hand that ball of pure light to him, but he draws the child back to his chest. "I chose them Chancellor. I'm sorry. I- I know that it will be a disappointment to you, but I hope you can forgive me."
Sidious manages to arrange a calm smile on his face. "Of course I can. I can only congratulate you on your newfound sense of purpose. It is a gift to have such clarity in one's life."
Thirteen years. Thirteen years he has bred doubt and anger and hate in this boy. For thirteen years he has groomed and prepared the boy for his turning, for the inevitable day when he will become Sidious' apprentice.
And it is all undone in the course of two weeks by two tiny sniveling babes that cannot even breathe properly.
The babe in the basket stirs, mouth opening in a soundless yawn, wriggling from side to side. In the force they release a simple wave of want and hunger.
Skywalker is up at once. "Excuse me, Chancellor."
He dashes to the kitchen and returns moments with a bottle under his armpit and leans down to pick up the girl with his durasteel hand.
Sidious raises an eye. Skywalker smiles sheepishly. "It helps warm it up, for them."
He places Luke in the basket instead and carefully tucks Leia into the crook of his arm and takes the bottle and tickles her lip with the tit. The young thing catches on quickly and is soon sucking away, releasing crushing wave after crushing wave of happiness and fulfillment. Skywalker responds in kind, brushing over her with safe-love-always.
It will be a miracle if Sidious leaves the apartment without being sick.
The boy is saying something.
"I'm sorry, say that again?"
Skywalker nods in apology and repeats himself. "Would you like to stay for dinner? Padme should be home soon, and then I'll have time to cook. I never did get around to cooking you my stew, did I? I know you were worried about the beetles, but I promise they add so much flavor."
The very thought makes some (very small) part of Sidious fear for his life. Even now it screams at him to bolt out the door before this pungent haze of positivity threatens to consume him and he spends the rest of his life spooning out soup for disabled war orphans or some ridiculous cause. He would rather spend five years in the heart of the Jedi temple then another five minutes here.
"I'm afraid I only came for a short visit, as you can imagine, things have been quite busy since my kidnapping. Truly an astonishing amount of paperwork." He shakes his head with a despondent face. "Here I thought the hard part was over. Pity you can't rescue me from that, my boy." He chuckles, and Skywalker laughs with him.
"I wish I could, Chancellor. But my wife could better help you with that than-" he pauses, then bolts from his spot at the couch and is halfway across the room when Obi-Wan Kenobi strides through the front door with none of his usual manners and all of his usual gusto.
Skywalker skids to a stop and his face hardens. "Master, please. You've the manners of a tooka, at least knock."
Kenobi strokes his beard, grinning from ear to ear. "And you would open it with what? Your third arm?"
Skywalker looks down at the two preoccupied hands and blushes. Blushes. "Maybe I'll build myself a third, it could come in handy, with twins."
Kenobi finally notices Sidious on the couch and starts. "Ah. Chancellor." He bows briefly. "I've just come on behalf of the Jedi Council. I'm to tell our Hero with No Fear that our publicity is quickly crumbling down to naught without him and we very much appreciate it if pretty please you would consider at the very least being our poster boy until the war ends."
Skywalker snorts. "A convincing argument from the Negotiator."
"Ah, well." Kenobi sways his way past the Chancellor and leans down to pick up the baby left in the basket. He picks it up with a well practiced motion and sets them against his chest. "As long as you keep on refusing I can find excuses to leave the meetings. The council room gets very stuffy, you know. Besides, I ought to see my niece and nephew sometimes."
"Granddaughter and grandson."
Kenobi nigh on gasped, raising his unoccupied hand to drape across his chest. "Do I look a grandfather, padawan?"
Skywalker grinned. "I can't tell, all the gray hairs makes it difficult to see the wrinkles on your face."
Kenobi sat heavily on the couch, patting the back of the baby. "I don't know how you put up with him, Chancellor. It's astounding, truly astounding. I come all this way with a most generous offer from the Jedi Council. I help care for the children but no- no- my own padawan insists I am a grandfather. It's no wonder I've these gray hairs, it's a blessing from the force I haven't died of a migraine." He pauses. "Oh, Ahsoka will be coming for dinner, by the way. She's managed to rope a few other knights into guarding Maul for her. As if they could be a suitable replacement."
Skywalker's head ducks in his immense happiness to smile to his little one. "See Leialee? Your sister is coming."
Leia merely breaks away from the bottle and stuffs her fist into her mouth. Skywalker shoves Kenobi the child. "Burp her, I'm going to make supper."
Kenobi fumbles for a few moments before situating both of the children in his arms. He turns, calling over the couch to the retreating figure. "I can't do this forever, you know. The council is bound to send me off somewhere once the 212th and the 501st become situated with one another."
"Better to take advantage of it while I can, then." Skywalker replies.
Kenobi shakes his head, settling himself down on the couch and props one ankle on his knee. "And how are you Chancellor?"
Sidious speaks through his teeth. "Very well, thank you."
He has seen enough. With his hands still fisted, he rises from his seat. "I really must be going."
"Hmm." Kenobi glances down as one of the babes waves a hand clumsily, brushing against the Jedi Master's beard. "Paperwork?"
"A great amount of it. I assure you." Sidious assures him.
Were he not so careful to portray himself as dignified, he would have fled the apartment. As it was, he privately admitted it was only a step up from that.
On the way down the stairs, he found Padme Amidala. She was dressed in a pink gown with flowers embroidered with the Orthuil flowers, which were known to represent birth on Naboo, due to their blooming coinciding with the birthing time of Shaaks.
She smiles politely at him. "Chancellor Palpatine."
Good stupid, nonexistent, gods of Naboo he does not have time for this. He must return to his rooms where he can unfurl the cramped darkness within himself and recover. It's no use trying to charm Amidala, either, she hasn't trusted him since he had leaned over her shoulder when she was queen and pushed just a tad too far.
Still, he must be polite.
"Senator Amidala." He smiles and gestures above. "I was just here to see your husband and your lovely children. They are quite sweet, you are a very lucky woman."
She gazes at him critically, and for a moment he worries she sees the tension wound up beneath him, but her eyes eventually soften. "Anakin has been quite worried about you, he hasn't seen you since your rescue."
"Perhaps we should meet over dinner sometime soon."
In a very high profile restaurant where Skywalker will feel uncomfortable and out of place, and children will not be allowed.
"Perhaps. I'll ask Sabe if she can find a space in my schedule." She smiles blandly. "I'm not optimistic, the twins have filled our lives completely."
"Of course, of course." Sidious nods quickly. "I must ask, however. I know the rules the Naboo puts on the Senators are quite strict, is the queen asking you to retract your position?"
Amidala smiles, and internally he curses. "Well, since we were married from the beginning, she's quite alright with my finishing the term. Besides," she snorts, "she was quite the fan of the Hero with No Fear, and she's quite overjoyed he will be coming to live on Naboo with me."
"Ah. I see fame does have its benefits." Sidious says cheekily.
She nods idly, her smile going wry. "Yes, I suppose it does. She's offered me the position of the Ambassador between the Nubian people and the Gungens. I intent to accept."
"We will miss you in the senate." Sidious tells her. "I must say your voice has been truly inspiring to me over the years."
"Really?" She raises an eyebrow. "I hadn't noticed." She glances upward. "If you'll excuse me, I must be getting home."
Sidious nods. "Yes, of course. I must be going as well. I only meant to stop for a few minutes, but your little ones kept me longer."
And here her smile becomes truly pleased, at the thought of her little ones. "Yes. I can hardly leave them to go to the senate. Goodbye Chancellor, I wish you the best." She hurries up the stairs, her two handmaidens trailing behind her.
On the drive away from the senatorial building, he finally unfurls the darkness inside him, hissing as it burns against the residual light.
He must have that dinner with Skywalker soon. Preferably while Tano is guarding Maul and Kenobi is away fighting the war. It is regrettable that thirteen years of work have amounted to nothing, but the two twins will make excellent apprentices once they grow old enough. Until then, he has enough accolades to tide him over.
Given enough time, he does not doubt he could turn Skywalker over to the dark side again, but it is time he does not have. Already he is past schedule, and its not as if he is getting any younger!
Such a shame that thirteen years of work on such a fine specimen was overtaken by the such ghastly, revolting, mind numbing… happiness.
But it is all part of the tricky game he plays.
I unironically love The Phantom Menace. Genuinely think its a great film, but I don't mind Jar Jar binks at all. *shrugs* But if I could change one thing, it would be while Sidious is hovering over Padme's shoulder while she watches the Senate go into uproar after she called for a vote of no confidence, and after he gives his whole speech about "A strong Chancellor!" there's a moment of silence, and then her eyes slowly slide over to watch him for a second, then go back to the Senate. I just think it would be a neat detail.
But anyhoo! Sidious is extra icky in this one! So icky he simply cannot stand the love the Skywalkers feel for one another. Lol. I love trying to take what is universally known as signs of love and affection between parents and their babies and trying to translate it into what Sidious sees it as, disgusting. It's a great writing challenge. Highly recommend.
All reviews are greatly appreciated! :)