Synopsis: Padme suspects that the mysterious figure is Anakin while Vader comes to the realization that the woman before him is Sabe. After an argument where Vader discloses Anakin's supposed death, he releases "Sabe", being unable to bring himself to harm her. Padme flees, only for Vader to discover some peculiarity in Padme's tomb that makes him question the fate of his lost child. Knowing the handmaiden is hiding something about the child, he sends stormtroopers to retrieve her.
"How do you know of Queen Amidala? How do you know that name?" Padme asked suspiciously.
"You're alive?" the figure rasped. Padme's heart was racing. Who is this?
"No, I am the handmaiden of Padme Amidala. I am tasked with defending this tomb from raiders and demand you leave at once, or you will feel my wrath," she barked, trying her best to portray Sabe's classically deep voice. The figure said nothing for a long time, a feeling of disappointment flooding him.
"You're her decoy," he spat angrily. Vader vaguely remembered the white faced decoy from so long ago on Tatooine who looked so much like Padme. Now the hope of her survival came to a crushing end, his heart breaking into a thousand pieces all over again, and every piece breaking into a thousand more. But she feels like Padme, he thought. Similar, but not the same.
"Sabe, yes… But who are you?" she inquired suspiciously. The figure turned and instead placed a hand on the tomb.
"How did she die?" he asked solemnly. Padme grew increasingly annoyed that the strange, intimidating man had been ignoring her many questions.
"I asked who you are," she reiterated. The figure turned viciously.
"You will answer my questions or you will die," Vader snarled. Padme squinted her eyes, preparing to fight, when the voice of a clone interrupted them.
"Lord Vader, we have lost connection to the scanner droid. Do you need assistance?" the clone asked.
"No."
"Yes, sir."
At this Padme's body froze. He's with the Empire, she thought in horror. A seed sprouted in her mind at who the intruder could be, a pang shooting through her heart. Is this Ani? she thought, but kept her suspicions to herself. Padme had assumed Anakin was dead after all, and if she were wrong, she would most likely be killed- if she wasn't poised for death as it was already. She wanted to run, her hair standing on end in fear.
"How did she die?" he snarled, much angrier this time.
"Ch-childbirth," Padme stuttered. The figure bowed his head, his hand once again washing over Padme's stone replica atop her grave.
"You were there? You are certain?"
"Yes."
"Was she in pain?" he asked, his voice catching slightly.
"When she was in labor, yes. She died very quickly…" Padme murmured. She felt awkward lying about her own death. There was something unnatural about it, and even more unnerving was the unknown intent of the assailant before her.
"Did she say anything? Before she died?" he asked frantically. He must be Ani, Padme thought suddenly. Why would he care so much about me if not?"
"She only wanted to know if her husband Anakin was alright," Padme murmured. Vader's fist clenched, and behind his mask tears streamed down his face.
"And the child-"
"Did not make it," Padme lied. There was a long silence between them before Padme finally spoke.
"Who are you?"
"I am tasked with ensuring that Padme Amidala died, and if possible retrieve the child for training. That was all. Go now," Vader lied emptily. Instead, Padme raised her staff. This angered him.
"You will not desecrate this grave," she spat. In reality, she was worried to what length this unknown person would take to prove her death. If there were any forensic tests, she would be found out immediately. Vader turned to her sharply, a familiar grasp on her neck choking the air out of her. As Vader choked her into the air with the Force, she came to a crashing realization: he's a Sith Lord, he must be Anakin. Padme tried to talk but to no avail. Joy filled her despite imminent death.
The panic in her eyes flashed memories of Padme before Vader's eyes: her frightened gaze as her airways closed by his hand, her pregnant body falling unconscious to the ground- all of it traumatized Vader, and he immediately let go in shock. "Sabe" fell to the ground as Padme had, gasping for air.
"You're Anakin Skywalker," Padme coughed out. The figure gave no movement to that statement.
"No," the figure muttered curtly.
"You must be. Take off your mask and prove it to me!"
"I have nothing to prove to you. Anakin Skywalker is dead," Vader growled. Padme could not hide the shock in her face. No, this has to be him, she thought. I will not accept that Anakin died.
"You have the Force, you turned to the dark side to be a Sith Lord, you know of Padme, you must be him-"
"Anakin Skywalker was burned alive after General Kenobi sliced his limbs off and let him disintegrate into the lava of Mustafar. He's dead," the figure spat viciously, cutting off her frantic hopes for the Sith Lord to be Anakin. Padme's face contorted in horror. No, she thought.
"Anakin was weak. He was not the Chosen One he was thought to be. I finished what was left of him and resumed his position. I am my master's new apprentice. You may leave with your life, or stay and be killed," he threatened. Deep down, she wanted this masked figure to be her husband- perhaps she had wanted it so badly she would bend the reality that this was not her Ani- this was a cold, calculated killer sniffing out any loose ends. There's no point in protecting a fake grave with someone else's body inside, she thought, her breath shaking. She had her twins to think about, after all. And the Sith Lord terrified her. Padme felt like she was in the presence of a bloodhound, and the scent was on. He's going to open that grave and know it is not Padme, she thought anxiously. She didn't know how he'd know, but Padme did not want to be there when he did. She just knew.
At that point, Padme nodded, and quickly sprinted out into the forest as fast as her feet could take her. The black figure's masked eyes followed her out intently like a magnet. She's not Padme, Vader reminded himself- yet he could not look away from her, missing the face of his wife dearly.
Once Padme was outside, she began to bolt through the forest, tears streaming down her face. It can't be true, Obi-Wan wouldn't have done that to him, he can't be dead, she thought heartbrokenly as she wiped her eyes- but deep down, she knew what that forlorn gaze of Obi-Wan's had seen. Padme caught her breath after sprinting for a long time, curling herself into a ball and sobbing.
"Oh, Ani…" she cried into the night. She had nowhere to go now, no one in the galaxy she could turn to. In the dark loneliness of the Naboo night, she finally grieved the loss of her husband officially.
xxx
Vader looked over the tomb for nearly an hour. Inside he knew what laid ahead: the rotten corpse of his beloved Padme. He had slaughtered thousands, seen many bodies in various states of decay- but this one was different.
This was his wife.
Reluctantly, he lifted up the heavy stone that laid atop her tomb. He threw it to the side, letting it shatter where it dropped. Dust from the tomb lifted, creating a hazy cloud in front of Vader's vision. Eventually it slowly subsided, revealing the horror of exactly what he expected. Her body, nothing left of it but bones and fragments of dried tissue.
He looked away quickly, unable to bear the sight of her body in such a state. Vader thought he'd wretch for several minutes. He pushed images of her soft shoulders in the sunlight of Naboo instead of the white bone of a shoulder blade that burned into his mind. He tried to think of her luscious brown curls cascading down her backside, the smell of it as he burrowed his face in as opposed to the rank rotten flesh smell that tortured him in this moment. He tried to think of her beautiful smile instead of the ever-grinning teeth protruding from her skull. This is my fault, I caused this, I killed her, Vader raged inside. He hated himself, and his inability to save her.
Eventually he forced himself to look. She was, after all, the only reason for this journey. I need to know, he reminded himself. His sad yellow eyes glossed over the corpse. The worst was over.
"Padme… I've missed you terribly," he rasped. Cautiously, he took off the glove of his hand, exposing his burnt skin. He reached for hers, holding the small collection of bones that was once her hand. He caressed it softly, gently, so as to not disturb it. It was his own morbid goodbye, his last caress of her.
"I am so sorry. I should have saved you, Padme… I should have saved the baby," Vader cried within his mask, the sounds of his sobs turning into a static choking. The baby, he thought suddenly. His eyes cast over her abdomen. Vader expected to see the only view of his child he'd ever have, only there was one major flaw with the plan of using another's remains for Padme's decoy corpse: there were no remains of a child substituted for her own children. Vader blinked in surprise for a few moments, looking around frantically for the body of his child. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks:
It's not here. The child is alive.
Vader roared, destroying several of the nearby pillars. Rocks from the crumbling roof flung themselves to the ground, and the entire mausoleum shook with his rage. A few moments of this later several storm troopers entered the mausoleum, worried for their commander.
"Lord Va-"
"Find her, find that handmaiden! Alive, or it'll be your head!" he barked. The men nodded and immediately ran off into the woods in search of the mysterious woman guarding Padme's tomb. Vader shook, both rage and joy fighting for dominance in his own soul. I have a child, he thought happily- and I have no idea where in the galaxy it is, or if it's alive.
The child was the last living shred of Padme he had left in this galaxy now that he accepted her death, but if one thing was for certain, he would find that handmaiden present at the birth and question her until he found his child.