I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing
Apologies: So I tried spliting this into separate fic because the break here is a dramatic one, but that failed. I apologize to all the people who did review. I saved them all on my computer and drive, y'all are the real stars. And I can't thank you enough.
Warning: Darth Vader is a villain, if you are looking for sane healthy relationships, look elsewhere
Act I: Return of the Sith - 19 BBY
"After you became Chancellor, I didn't think you would spend as much time here," Anakin said as his Master guided him through the halls of his sanctuary.
Darth Plagueis, who was likely only half listening as he thought through a million things in that strange mind of his, answered, "Corruption feasts on attention, let them starve as the people rebuild their cities." The Muun finally shifted his attention to Anakin, "Your armada has done well over the last three years. I didn't expect them to be able to cover the trade routes beyond Mustafar's immediate neighbours quite so effectively."
Anakin basked in the praise that his Master gave so seldomly, "I know my men, they know me. And Mustafarians are a hardy people."
Which was a bit of an understatement, Mustafarians were an exceptional lot on many counts.
"Indeed, if we ever have cause for a war you and yours will be quite the asset, Darth Vader."
Darth Vader, it was a title that Anakin had earned, had earned in blood and pain and sorrow.
And one he had to distance himself from due to his marriage to the love of his life. He had thought it would be easier to live this dual life. Plagueis certainly made it seem easy. It wasn't as if Anakin ruled his people differently, no matter what his people addressed him with.
But with Padmé, things were different. She was a gentle, golden thing. She was everything good in the universe. She was what needed to be protected and he would do anything for her, anything.
However, he was not aware that the very power he held to protect her, frightened her. He had only slipped a few times, and he was still making up for those slips.
Thinking of himself as Anakin Skywalker, as her 'Ani', helped him stay in control. After all, there was plenty to be furious about throughout the galaxy, but there was nothing concerning his Angel to be angry about.
"How goes your own experiment?" Plagueis asked, skimming his thoughts.
Anakin huffed, "I told you not to call her that, she's my wife."
Plagueis smirked at him, the expression was both placating and fond. "She tests you, Apprentice."
Plagueis had told him that no other Sith in history had learned or mastered more than Darth Vader had, and only recently the Master and Apprentice bond between them had shifted into something else, something that was a power unto itself.
Darth Plagueis was now a part of him as Vader was a part of Plagueis, in ways that they had yet to find the limits of. It seemed each day they learned something new, whether sharing thoughts or sight. It was an evolving thing that left them not as Master and student but two halves to the same whole.
Anakin still honoured Plagueis with the title Master. For Anakin, Darth Plagueis was the only being in the all of existence, aside from Padmé, who he would willingly bow before. Plagueis had earned that trust.
But returning to his Master's assertion, Anakin sighed, "You are not wrong, she has been testing me of late. I knew when Naboo reformed its government and appointed her Queen that she would be busy. But Force help me, the woman can't say no to anyone, she occupies her time with the most tedious of issues. And whenever I do manage to get a moment of her time she's been… snippish."
"She married you for what you could offer her people, not because she loves you," Plagueis said.
Anakin felt a roil of fury race through his heart, seeping into his veins.
His Master let out a low chuckle as he felt the backwash of Anakin's power echo through him. Leaving Anakin to wonder if the Muun had been purposely goading him or if he meant what he said.
His Master stopped, the hall they were in was windowed looking over an underground rainforest Plagueis grew here, "And here is the proof of history being mistaken, our ancestors believed in killing our spouses for the power suffering brought them. But keeping her alive has caused no end of frustration and sorrow upon your life."
"Padmé is not a sorrow," Anakin snapped.
Plagueis sighed, "She is a sorrow to me. I never wished to be this well informed of human mating habits."
Anakin groaned, "You are the worst."
Plagueis dipped his head, accepting the compliment, and they moved on through the labyrinth of the underground. Muunilinst was a strange planet, one he had only been to a few years ago having grown up on Mustafar after Plagueis rescued him from Tatooine.
Anakin enjoyed the quiet, the inherent peace of the planet.
It made savouring the pain of his Master's pets easier to savour.
"Who's the new addition?" he asked, his black robes shifting as they entered the air-conditioned space.
Plagueis tapped on the tank, "Bo-Katan Kryze."
Anakin's brows rose, "Duchess Satine's sister?"
The red-headed girl floated in the tank, appearing asleep. She wore only a white shirt, the tubes coming out of her arms and legs looked oddly beautiful, even the mask on her face.
That was something Anakin grew more and more aware of about his Master, his appreciation of the aesthetic. He wondered if it was something to do with their bonding, but his thoughts were interrupted.
Bo-Katan's eyes flashed open, the bloody egg-yolk irises of the Dark Side glared hatred at him.
Plagueis tapped the glass, "She's paralyzed."
"They are growing stronger," Anakin said, feeling the Force flowing irregularly through the girl.
He nodded, "Yes, but she has about as much intelligence as a feral frit. Jango, however, regains more of himself every day."
Anakin didn't remark on that. Jango wasn't so much regaining his intelligence, as growing accustomed to his lack of sanity. There was a small yet definable difference between the two.
"You disapprove," Plagueis stated.
"No… I just-" Anakin shook his head, "What is the point of this? You said we weren't going against the Jedi."
"I did."
"Then why are you instigating a fight with Mandalore? The Mandalorians and the Dathomirians are the Jedi's strongest allies since they've moved to Serreno."
Plagueis waved the comment away, "The Jedi are nothing. None among them could stand against us, not even together would they be strong enough now."
Anakin met Bo-Katan's gaze with a sense of foreboding, "What do you aim to do with Mandalore?"
"Turn it against itself. As your armada allows commerce to continue easily, Mandalore grows fat."
Anakin sighed, sometimes, the phrase 'you can take the Muun out of the bank but not the banker out of the Muun' was a painful reality. Anakin hated money dealing as much as he had politics.
Plagueis had taught how to be a master in both.
"We all benefit from Mandalore being at peace, they are at a crossroads. Also, killing a Mandalorian is annoying, they don't take hints."
By hints, he meant bombs, and throwing a grenade at Mandalorians was like handing them an invitation.
Not that Anakin was ever put out by a fight if he could deal with it personally, but he didn't enjoy reading reports of how many of his men lost because they were perceived to have been in the way of a bounty.
And those were just the strays, actually attacking Mandalore and purposely pocking at it sounded like a headache.
Anakin liked order, Mandalore was in competition with Mustafar for establishing flaming hellscapes.
Plagueis laid a long finger hand on his shoulder, "It will be an internal attack, crime will flock to their system and the Mandalorians will be forced to work with you to regain sovereignty over their own system."
He sighed, breaking eye contact with the tank-made Sithling, "Do not underestimate them, Master. The galaxy will be brought to heel, but if you start with Mandalore a rebellion will be born early."
"Not if we bring them to heel swiftly."
Anakin ran a hand through his hair, "They will rebel because they are a contrary people."
"They are human."
"Yes, who also have the tendency to be contrary by nature. Mandalorians aren't moved by economics, Master. Please hear me on this."
"Everyone is moved by commerce."
"The Jedi aren't," Anakin argued.
"Trust me, my Apprentice," Plagueis coaxed.
"I do, but even you are failable. That was one of the first lessons you ever gave me, the Sith were only ever defeated by their own hubris."
Plagueis's expression hardened, and his grip on Anakin's shoulder tightened, "Do not-"
Anakin didn't back down, if they were true equals now, then they had to be honest with each other.
They were the first Sith since Bane who honoured each other, who didn't want the other dead, together, they were invincible.
The same could not be said about their growing empire.
"We are a few years out from declaring our expansion an Empire. Mandalore and the Jedi remain natural to our Republic. They are hidden away in the far side of the galaxy, do not give them a reason to be involved."
"We can handl-"
Anakin brushed away his hand, "Of course we can, but that isn't our plan, we birth our empire and when the Jedi finally raise their heads out of their collective arses, their every struggle against us will make us stronger. But we need a united empire first."
Plagueis stared down with yellow eyes, "Then I suggest you start uniting. As Chancellor, my job is to keep the money flowing, if I push too fast I will destabilize what we have already built. It is you who must become the revolutionary for my administration to welcome in. Such movements do not excel from the top down."
Anakin gritted his teeth and he took a step back, "You are making a mistake. My people are loyal but the Republic is still divided," The Force swirled around him, cold and awakening, even as his veins raced with heat. The contrast made him feel feverish. "Can't you feel it? This is not the way."
Plagueis stared at him, "This is my project, not yours. It will never be tracked back to us."
Anakin fisted his hands, thinking it wiser to try attacking the Jedi stronghold than kicking at Mandalore. "Fine, do what you want. I'm not your keeper." He turned on his heel, his caping flowing behind in a satisfying manner.
Darth Plagueis did not call him back, probably already lost in his charts and midi-chlorian harvesting.
Oh, how he wished to disparage these events with Padmé.
But he couldn't.
Because his lovely Queen still had too many ties to the Jedi Order.
As he was lifted to the surface, he mulled over all the secrets he had to keep from her. By the time he stepped into Plagueis's house, he had made his decision. If Plagueis was going to be rash, so would he.
Padmé would either say goodbye to her Jedi or he would silence them. It might take some careful manoeuvring to arrange an 'accident' but it had been too long since Anakin had last slain a Jedi Knight.
Padmé's Jedi admirers would at least, in theory, offer him a challenge. Maybe.
Masters Dooku and Qui-Gon Jinn as Jedi council members were far too prominent for even Anakin to cover up. Besides, they were more cordial advisers than her friends. But Jinn's Padawans?
Master Obi-Wan Kenobi would be a joy to murder. He had never met the man in person, but whenever Padmé spoke of him, there was an odd light in her eyes that drove him to madness.
Obi-Wan Kriffing Kenobi, the Master and inventor of Form VIII, the only form that Anakin did not know, that Darth Plagueis did not know. Yet every Dathomirian Nightbrother knew it.
They had often debated the merits of kidnapping one of them and learning it that way, but the Dathomirian Nightbrothers were almost true monks, all but two, never venturing off world. Plagueis had warned that it was too risky to draw the attention of Mother Talzin who had magicks that could spy on them from afar.
Perhaps, Anakin thought, smiling as he climbed into his fighter, he could learn from the Shono-Mii Master himself as he took pieces off him.
And if that proved futile, he could try again with Kenobi's Togruta apprentice.
Decision made, Anakin stored the loathing away to be stoked at a later date. He didn't truly want Padmé to be driven to grieving for her friends, but if she disobeyed him, then he would have no other choice.
As he reached orbit, he quick-mathed the coordinates, and knowing the limits of his ship, jumped into hyperspace.
Hyperspace was not his favourite part of flying, but it gave him time to meditate, to absorb the Force, time to grow in it as he let himself become one with the ship.
Perhaps Plagueis was not wrong to send his abominations to Mandalore. Anakin might have overreacted.
Jango could not fail to be recognized as a Force user, as a Dark Sider, which would be an impossibility in the Jedi minds as they thought of the Force only within the archaic. The Jedi held so fast to their traditions that they forgot their history, failed their present, and doomed their future. So someone like Jango would be a shock to them.
The fallen Mandalorian had already attacked Serreno itself once.
Also, as Jango was now a Force user, the Mandalorians may turn on the Jedi as easily as they turned on themselves. Anakin had no logical reason to think that this would be tracked back to Plagueis and himself.
But Anakin knew the future, and he had been having it shift of late, his waking dreams leading him through visions he had never glimpsed before.
Anakin sighed again, and pulled the Force into himself, bathing it, letting the worries turn to purpose, letting his hatred turn to power, and basked in the glory of knowing that he -Darth Vader, had the power to level worlds and reshape the face of the galaxy on a whim.
Whatever came, he would be victorious.
He threw his awareness wide, letting his foresight guide him, he said, "Through victory," he picked up the controls to his ship, "-my chains are broken."
He flipped the controls he had customized and went into manual. Gliding through the galaxy at the speed of light, just him, the Force, and the passing stars, he knew that no one, not even Plagueis, owned his future.
"The Force shall free me."
AN: The Queen Does Not Need to Know, is part A of this story, don't be deterred by Daisy, she's my OC. If you like please, please consider reviewing?
KEYnote: Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader, is the Chosen One at full potential. No one in my story is even a tenth of how powerful he is, aside from Plagueis who is a part and an extension of Anakin's power base.
AN: I will be switching povs as I do in other stories, but Anakin has been missing from the narrative for 245K. Did you think Queen was missing a powerful antagonist? I was raising my demons, Mwahahahaha!
Chapter 2 - Hades and Persephone
Anakin arrived back on Mustafar in record time, even by his standards.
Exiting his ship, he felt exhilarated that even setting his feet on the ground. He felt as if the galaxy was his for the taking.
Mainly because it was his for the taking.
"Welcome home, Senator Skywalker," the Captain of his guard greeted him.
Anakin put a hand on the gruff man's shoulder, Fennin was a born Mustarain, unlike the thousands that had flocked to Anakin's cities for job opportunities. Fennin had all the scars to prove his birth rite. Although half his face scarred, warped into a mask, obscuring his vision in one eye, he was still the best shot among all of Anakin's men, both in his personal guard and in the Armada.
"Have you kept us afloat, my dear friend?" Anakin asked.
Fennin smirked at him, "If you're asking if the magma has devoured all hope of reasonable habitation, then yes, Sir, we are afloat."
Anakin patted his back, "That's the spirit."
Ciel, his Sargent, sniggered as Fennin gave him an exasperated look.
Anakin gave the shorter man a wink, before striding toward his chambers.
Fennin was not as trusting of the technology advances Anakin had established and utilized on the planet to keep them safe. Most Mustafarians were about two side steps away from being heathens worshipping anything that lived past thirty standard years. Superstition ran deep amongst his people.
But it also allowed him to rule Mustafar as he saw fit. Despite living on active volcanoes, his planet was one of the safest places in the galaxy. Because there was not a soul on this system that didn't play by his justice.
"How was the Chancellor?" Fennin asked.
Anakin was already running through a list of things he needed to do before he left again, so his answer was a bit distracted as he said, "The same, the Republic has much to be fixed."
And it was a pity his Master wanted to poke more holes in it.
"You seem in fine spirits, today, Sir," Ciel noted.
Anakin flashed him a grin, "I've arranged to take time off and visit my wife. One of the committees I am on rescheduled."
Ciel smiled back, his dark eyes alight with devotion, "You deserve it, Sir, you work too much."
Anakin's mood dimmed a bit, as he muttered, "Not as much as my wife."
Fennin frowned his lips matching directions for once, "Queen Amidala should be more thankful for what she has."
Anakin waved it away, "I'm sure I can convince her to relax, after all, she has never turned me away at night."
Not that that had ever been an option, Anakin had been clear from the beginning that no matter what political arrangements were between them, their marriage would be a real one.
Ciel chuckled, "A shame you two have to live apart."
He shrugged, "Being Queen makes her happy, I would never ask her to choose." After all, once he raised an Empire, she would no longer be a queen but an empress.
The light to his darkness, and they would be worshipped.
Although he knew Mustafar was far from anyone's idea of paradise, he had made a palace of black stone and gold filigree. It was a darker beauty than palaces of Naboo, but it rivalled the galaxy in both ingenuity and artistry.
His own suit overlooked the smaller rivers and magma-falls, the horizon a ridge of dark mountains and volcanoes. But the rooms themselves were heavily air-conditioned and fitted with all manner of water fixtures, both because he knew Padme liked the various water fountains and because as someone born on Tatooine, the water was a reminder of his wealth, of how far he had come.
Water was perhaps one of their most precious imports. Padme sometimes protested that the riches he gave back to her and her planet were too much, but she never seemed to understand, no matter how many times she visited his planet, that the water Naboo gave them so freely was worth more than any fire diamond.
"Sir," C-3PO greeted him, "I hope you-"
"Update on Naboo," Anakin ordered, cutting the droid off, the one thing he had kept after his mother's passing, "We will be departing as soon as I'm done changing."
"Oh!" the droid exclaimed, "How wonderful! Seeing Lady Skywalker-"
"Update, Threepio," Anakin cut him off as he undid his cape, letting the heavy fabric spill to the ground.
"Certainly, Sir," the droid said before rattling off the news reports and those reports that Padme's standard guard sent him routinely.
Though it was his preference to wear black with metal inlay in the stitching, he didn't enjoy making himself a spectacle on Naboo.
Not that Nubians didn't wear black, but he preferred to be Padme's match, not her shadow. Dawning the richer colours, greens and deep purples accented with gold, he left his lightsaber in his closest.
He enjoyed duelling, almost more than anything else when it came to his training, but he didn't need it to squish his enemies.
"You look splendid, Sir," Threepio complemented.
Anakin smirked as he finished putting in his gold earrings on the one ear. He had learned the hard way to never wear such 'vanity' around Plagueis, but Anakin liked the way that Nubian women looked at him, and he loved the way that Padme reached for his ear.
Her hands were always gentle.
"Let's go," he said to the droid. Fennin and Ciel fell back in step behind him as he headed back for his ship.
His fighter could fit two people comfortably, four people less comfortably. Which did not matter overly for Threepio who did not require comfort even as he protested as the guard lowered him into the cockpit.
"Threepio," Anakin said, exasperated, "I am going to leave you with Padme this time."
"Oh, thank the Nubian waters," Ciel said, "R2 is so much more competent."
C-3pO let out an exclamation and began listing off all the things he was useful for and how crazy R2 was.
Fennin gave him a look, "Why did you make him like this?"
"I was nine," Anakin said, settling himself in his seat.
His Captain only shook his head as he patted the exterior of the ship, "Don't crash into a star, Sir."
Anakin saluted him as the wind shield closed and he started the engines.
This time, he let the ship do the work during hyperspace, Threepio had a way of breaking his concentration with his inane comments. There were times he wanted to reprogram the droid, but he would never risk losing any of the droid's files of his mother.
He passed the time in hyperspace reinforcing his shields. It hadn't happened yet that he had crossed paths with Padme's Jedi associates, but there was a first time for everything.
When he landed in the Nubain Palace hanger, he was greeted warmly. His surprise visits were always greeted with this level of welcome as the palace guard led him toward Padme's personal wing of the palace.
Where, as the guard informed him, she had a rare evening off.
Naboo was doing much better but still, she worked herself to her limits. But of course, that's part of what he loved about her, what her people loved about her.
When he caught sight of her, dressed not in the heavy queen attire but in a loose flowing gown of pink and white, his heart felt as if it would burst.
She was talking with Sabe, her handmaiden who resembled her most closely. Sabe spotted him first. Her laughing expression fading into her smooth mask as she came to attention and lowered her gaze.
Padme stiffened, and when she turned, her face too was smooth.
She was still beautiful.
Putting one hand behind his back, the other two his heart, he bowed to her, "My Queen."
A slight smile cracked her expression as she extended her hand to him. He caught her delicate wrist with a gentle hand as he kissed her knuckles.
"Ani," she said, her voice a song, "I wasn't expecting you."
"Hmmm," he murmured as he tugged her forward into his embrace, "I've missed you."
She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he held her back. As much as he wanted her in all the ways a man could want a woman, it was this gentleness that he craved most from her. Her unconditional love that sought comfort before lust.
Padme feared him, but that was alright. It was only her ties to the Jedi that kept him from confiding in her fully, and he knew that keeping secrets is what she feared. And as intelligent a woman as she was, it was the unknown she truly feared. That and while she ruled a planet of water and flowers, he ruled one of lava and toxic gases.
He touched her chin, and she raised her face from his chest to meet his lips.
Force help him, he loved her so much.
She completed him.
She pulled back first, worry in her honeyed eyes.
He cupped her face, "My love, what is wrong?"
She tried pulling back further, but he wouldn't allow it.
"What's happened?" he demanded.
She put her hands on his, "I have news?"
He went very still, not at all liking the tension in her. His truest self rioted inside him, his power pressing against the shields that he had fortified. Anakin couldn't keep the growl out of his voice as he asked in a low tone, "What news, Padme?"
She was shaking now, and that scared him enough that he allowed her to guide his hands from her face to her abdomen, "Ani," she said, voice tentative and almost a whisper, "I'm pregnant."
He blinked at her, the news too strange, too wonderful to match her fear and his anger. But then it sunk in, she was pregnant.
With his child.
His child.
He was going to be a father.
"Ani?" she asked, putting a hand to his cheek to catch his tears.
He smiled, turning his head to kiss her palm, his other hand pulling her to him protectively, "This is the happiest day of his life." She wrapped her arms back around him, sagging into his strength as her worry left her. "How could you keep this from me?" he asked, running a hand down her exposed back.
She shivered, "I wanted to be sure."
He pulled back to look down at her, "All healthy? How far along are you?"
She nodded then bit her lip, "Second trimester, but Anakin, I wanted to ask… that is, I want to have him here."
He nodded, "Of course, anything for you." Then he caught the pronoun, his heart fluttering with excitement, "A boy?"
She nodded, but her expression was still pinched, "I want to raise him here."
He smiled, "Certainly, Mustafar is safe, but even I would rather our babies grow up a planet this wealthy with water. He can move in with me once he's old enough to pilot on his own."
She finally smiled, "Thank you."
"Have you come up with any names?" he asked, his excitement growing as his mind began swirling through the possibilities. All his plans, his entire life, would be rearranged by this little one. He welcomed it.
Family was everything to him.
She bit her lip, but she was smiling too, "Luke Skywalker?"
He grinned, "Luke Amidala Skywalker. It's decided."
Padme laughed, "Thank you, Ani."
He kissed her forehead, joy engulfing him, "Anything for you, my Angel."
It was the very brightest moment of his entire existence, surpassing everything that came before it.
So naturally, the universe seemed fit to poke at him.
Sabe, who had faded from his awareness, reappeared at their sides, her voice soft as she said, "My lady, the Jedi are here."
Anakin knew his smile had a bite to it, "Oh good, I finally get to meet the traitors to the Republic."
Padme jerked back from him, but he caught her wrist before she could put significant distance between them. "Anakin, they are my dearest friends." She tried to pull her hand away but he didn't let go.
"The Jedi are rebel scum," he stated plainly.
Padme scowled at him with her lovely honey eyes, her anger making her that much more lovely.
If Plagueis' experiments didn't lead to death or insanity, he would have liked to share the Force with her.
Padme would have been a Sith like no other.
But he had a son for that now, kin that he could teach and pass on all that he knew.
She stopped pulling on her hand and said, "The Jedi are my allies."
"The Jedi bring nothing but woe and destruction wherever they are, wherever they go. But their passive ways allow evil to flourish."
"That isn't true," she protested.
He glared at her, he had enough of her relations with Kenobi and his influence over her. "I will not have them around our baby."
"Ani, please-"
"No, Padme, you will say goodbye to them this day. You do not need them, Naboo doesn't need them, and I will not have them near my son."
"Anakin, let go, you're hurting me."
He let go at once, pulling her into a hug, "I'm sorry, my Angel, I just want what is best for our family. We have more than ourselves to worry about now."
She buried her face into his chest as he began to rub her back in soothing circles.
"They are my friends," she said almost too softly for him to hear.
He rested his cheek on her head, "The Jedi are deceitful, my love, this is for the best."
When she didn't say anything, he sighed and held her closer, "I love you, Angel."
She hugged him closer, and though she didn't say the words back, the way she clung to his strength was all the reassurance he needed that she felt the same.
He looked up to meet Sabe's glare with a smirk. Padme might not know it, but Sabe was in love with his Queen.
Her jealousy pleased him.
Dorme announced from down the hall, "Master Kenobi, Knight Palpatine, and Padawan Tano."
The Knight, Palpatine, came forward, her steps lights, her robes white and form fitting, a metal staff strapped to her back.
Anakin knew of her, but he had never been overly invested in digging into her background beyond knowing that she was Darth Sidious's daughter.
He knew there was a scandal surrounding her but Plagueis had only ever expressed wanting to take her apart.
But as he sensed the Force flowing around her like a desert storm, he began to rethink his discounting her as a threat to his wife.
He knew at once that he was stronger than her, but it wasn't even her personal strength that bothered him, it was the way Force reacted to her.
She came to stop within a stride of them, a sign of intimacy that she hadn't earned. He took a step in front of Padme, and he greeted coldly, "Palpatine."
There was something familiar about her, very familiar, and it was only seeing her face in person that her features tugged on an old memory.
She cocked her to the side, "Ani?"
He stiffened, only Padme was allowed to call him that.
But this little Knight didn't flinch at his glower, on the contrary, she seemed to brighten, "Little Ani, you were Watto's-"
Kenobi grabbed the girl's arm and tugged her back from Vader's personal space before he did something violent.
The Jedi Master bowed his head, "My apologies, Senator Skywalker, Rey is not a politician."
And that's when it clicked, the girl's image emerging from memories long buried. "Scavenger," he said shortly.
Rey grinned at him, giving another step back as her bearded companion pulled her to his side, "You remember me. I didn't connect your surname, I only ever knew you as Ani. Padme never told us you were from Tatooine."
He lowered his voice, "I do not want my story shared with a rabble like you."
Rey Palpatine raised a brow, looking amused as she said, "Rabble? We share a very similar story, Anakin."
"You will address me as Senator Skywalker," he commanded her, "And we are nothing alike."
She snorted, "Of course we are, both slaves from nowhere desert worlds, both-"
"I was not a scavenger, I was a mechanic."
Her smile finally faltered, her face falling into a closed off expression, the face of the desert people, wary and ready to go for the eyes if someone tried anything, "I was also a mechanic, Skywalker. And I earned my freedom by scavenging."
He sneered at her, "You think thievery earned you anything? The standards of Jawas do not impress me."
She put her hands on her hips.
"Rey," Kenobi warned her, the Togruta was flickering her gaze between them all.
But Rey shook her head, "There aren't any Jawas on Jakku."
Jakku? He thought, the name of the little moon impressing him despite himself. He had never heard of a slave getting out of Hutt hands from a territory as uncontested as that.
Her expression softened, "What happened to your mother, Shmi?"
His throat tightened, the unexpectedness of facing someone who not only knew his mother but knew her well enough to speak of her fondly catching him off guard. Padme put a hand on his back, the gesture saving him from saying something he might regret. "She died," he said stiffly.
Rey took two swift steps forward, and he flinched back from her, putting his hand back to guard Padme. But the Knight touched his arm, and said with sincerity, "I'm sorry, Ani, her loss is to be grieved by the galaxy."
Anakin stared down into her hazel eyes and he was at an absolute loss as to what to do or say. Plagueis's teachings kicked in, "Thank you, I remember my mother thought well of you."
Rey pulled her hand back and smirked, "Oh, that's because I walked in one day when Watto was about to wack you on the back of the head for getting lost in one your practice. I nearly broke his wing with my staff."
Anakin shook his head trying to shake off the memory of Watto swearing at the scavenger who swore right back at the junk trader. The girl in his memory had been wary and always on the ready for an attack.
How had the daughter of a Sith, a slave girl, a scavenger, been so drawn to the Light?
He let down his shields, the tiniest fraction, and was confused by the Light that reached out toward him.
He was Darth Vader, a Sith Lord, the Light Side of the Force had never spoken to him as it did now. He was more puzzled than upset.
This girl was a conundrum. She should have been on their side, not with the Jedi.
Finally, he managed, "You were a strange girl."
Kenobi snorted, "That, my friend, is an understatement."
Anakin had to hold himself back from snapping at the man as he met his blue gaze. He was glad the man had a beard, his ginger hair bright and obnoxious, it settled something in him.
Padme would never lust after a man this unkempt. Kenobi was the peasantry, his Jedi robes marking him as a monk, not a suiter.
"And with that," Rey said, his gaze focusing back on her, "I need to borrow your wife."
His jaw went a bit slack at her remark, and it was part shock at the woman's audacity, and him being ill-prepared for her speed.
In a blink, she was at his side, catching Padme's hand and pulling her toward his wife's bedroom.
He tried to catch the scavenger's shoulder but she moved like a leaf on the wind. Nothing but air met his grip as Sabe opened the door for them and the little thief slammed the door in his face.
It took all of Vader's control not to drop his shields and blast the door off its hinges, not to storm into his wife's chambers.
But he couldn't, if his wife was entertaining women in her suite, in daylight hours, it was the height of impropriety to breach her privacy.
At least not with quite so many witnesses, not with people Padme had essentially left him, as her husband and Prince Consort of Naboo, to entertain.
He turned to look at Kenobi, whose face would have been straight if not for the humour sparkling in his blue eyes.
His Padawan was holding a hand to her lips, attempting and failing to hold back snigger.
He was going to kill them.
He was going to kill them all.
Slowly.
Staring into Kenobi's eyes, imagining how he would flay him, he decided the scavenger needed something more. Kenobi had always been a potential threat, but he was at least being respectful.
Palpatine wasn't.
He would give her to Plagueis. Plagueis had a knack for torture that Anakin did not have the patience for.
She would wish for death years before she was granted that reprieve.
The young Togruta, she must have been seventeen or eighteen at a guess, closer to Knight then Padawan, finally got a hold of herself, "Rey takes some getting used to, Skyguy."
He felt his eye twitch, "Don't call me that."
She smiled at him, her large blue striking in against her skin tone and the white markings, "Whatever you say, Senator Mustafar."
Vader decided he would kill her first, in front of Kenobi. He would make her Master beg for her life. And he would savour watching the light die in his eyes as he failed his apprentice. He caught the man's gaze as he stared at him with a thoughtful hand to his chin.
"What?" he snapped at the dead man walking.
Kenobi smiled at him, a sardonic twist to his lips even as he said candidly, "Nothing, I just have this strange feeling that in another life, you and I would have been good friends."
Darth Vader scoffed, "I sincerely doubt that."
AN: If you're reading and enjoying, please, please review?
And I know people get annoyed with me flopping between projects but this is my creative process. Nauze edited this chapter and the last! :D
Also, I moved reviews over, if this bothers you, pm and I can take yours down. I really can't tell you enough what your feedback means to me.
KEYnote: I can't give you any of my intentions for Anakin without giving spoilers. But his POV will be rare for Act I. Also, I pulled Rey back before the Force Awakens, so she only knew the legends, not Luke turning his father back to the Light. I am working on the assumption she only learned more about Vader after meeting Han and the rest.
Chapter 3 - You Shouldn't Have
Master Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't know what to make of Senator Anakin Skywalker. Padme marrying this man had broken his heart, but as a political marriage, it had saved Naboo from the economic woes it suffered after the deliberate sabotage by Chancellor Palpatine.
There was an awkward silence, and Obi-Wan cleared his throat, "Can I offer you a drink?"
Skywalker's eyes sharpened on him, "You know the layout of Padme's personal suit."
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, already walking toward the alcove adjoined to a balcony that was set further back from Padme's and far enough away that unless she was screaming, there would be no way to overhear conversations.
Without turning he said, "I was a part of Padme's guard for several years. I know the layout of the entire palace."
Ahsoka gave the glowering man a wary look. Obi-Wan didn't blame her, Skywalker was a big man and given that he was Mustafar's first Senator, he wasn't liable to be unschooled in violence.
Obi-Wan glanced at him, "What would you like?"
He sneered at him, "The only thing I want from you, Kenobi, is your absence."
Obi-Wan stilled reassessing his initial feelings of the man. He smiled gently, "If I didn't know better, Senator, I would think you don't like me."
"I don't," the man said flatly.
Obi-Wan shifted on his feet, then abandoned the bar and went to lean against the balcony railing with Ahsoka who was oddly quiet. This was Padme's husband, they hadn't wanted to be his enemy.
"Naboo is doing quite well," Obi-Wan said, changing the subject, the Force warning him not to push.
Was Padme in danger?
Ahsoka put a hand to his wrist.
He turned to raise a brow at her, he hadn't thought he had projected that thought.
Be careful, Master, something isn't right with him.
Obi-Wan looked back at the man who stood unharried, gazing at them as if they were intruders.
He tried reaching out to him in the Force, and he felt nothing wrong with him. His personality was large, his emotions loud, but his Force signature was nothing outside the norms for a non-Force sensitive.
Yet the Force still rang with warning.
Qui-Gon had told him once to never assume a person was sound of mind when they held great wealth and great power, no matter how they appeared.
This was the man who had colonized Mustafar, of all places. He was intelligent as he was dangerous. And the Force swirled with alarm to stand back, to get away from him.
When he continued to say nothing, Obi-Wan quit with the small talk, "Is there a particular reason you dislike me on sight?"
"You're a Jedi," he said as if that was answer enough.
Ahsoka stiffened, "What of it?"
He raised his chin, "You are nothing but a bunch of hypocritical pacifists who answer all your problems with violence. You are the cowards who let the Republic crumble."
Ahsoka, ignoring her own warning, straightened, squaring her feet, "I'm sorry, what were we supposed to do, work with the Sith Lord trying to force us to join a civil war?"
"Yes, because you would have been fighting against anarchy. You could have stepped up, instead, you let countless suffer as you upended the trade routes and left the Republic defenceless," Skywalker said hotly.
That was an argument and view many in the Republic shared. The Outer Rim planets had differing views.
"Instead we have been helping people on forgotten planets. Tatooine, for instance, has an established a government and outlawed slavery, and those laws have been enforced," Obi-Wan said.
Skywalker's face went hard, and his voice was low when he replied, "Tatooine's suns can go supernova for all I care."
Obi-Wan blinked at him, and again he scrambled to redirect the conversation. This was Padme's husband, if things remained this hostile between them, she might never invite them back. Rey would be crushed.
"Congratulations, about the baby, I mean," was all he could think to say.
It was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Skywalker's face went from petulant to murderous, "She told you?"
Padme, are you in danger? he thought even as he back-tracked, "No, no, I didn't know until I saw her today." He didn't say he knew her body well enough to have spotted the extra weight and the curve of her stomach despite the flowing folds of her dress. "I sensed the additional life in the Force."
Skywalker glared at him, "Keep your senses to yourself. I do not want any of your Jedi arts around my family."
Just then Panaka joined them.
"Senator Skywalker, Master Kenobi, and Padawan Tano, all my favourite people aside from the Queen herself," the captain stepped toward the refreshment counter, "Obi-Wan, you should have offered everyone drinks, you know you are still welcome to call the palace home."
Skywalker stiffened, "No, he isn't welcome."
Panaka laughed, "Ah, M'Lord your sense of humour never fails to delight."
Obi-Wan and Ahsoka exchanged a look at Skywalker's expression that Panaka seemed to overlook as he handed him a wine glass.
Then Skywalker's demeanour shifted and he became the perfect politician and gracious host.
Panaka seemed to adore him, as did every staff member, servant, and guard.
The only person that seemed unmoved by the Senator's charms was Dorme standing in the corner, her expression blank but her eyes tracked Skywalker warily.
Obi-Wan, Dooku, Qui-Gon, Ahsoka, and Rey had been visiting Padme intermittently over the last three years, and he had only ever heard good things about Senator Skywalker. Sure, Padme's answers were never of an intimate nature, but given their history, Obi-Wan had never pushed.
Now he was worried that he had made a mistake.
Rey sat herself on Padme's balcony railing, her back to the lake as Padme stared back at the door she had slammed in her husband's face.
"I can't believe you just did that," Padme said, gliding to the balcony.
"He'll get over it," Rey said, "I have things to tell you and I believe you have things to tell me."
Padme flushed, "You can sense my son through the Force?"
Rey paused at her friend's deliberate use of son and not twins. Did she not know? Was it Rey's place to tell her?
"What did the doctors say?" she asked.
"That he's happy and healthy. His heart beats seem like that of a hummingbird to me. I saw him and everything. I'm lucky, he's not a kicker."
Rey touched her own stomach, "I'm not that far along yet."
Padme's face lit up, all traces of worry blown away as she came to Rey and laid a hand beside hers where she was beginning to show. "You're pregnant too?"
Rey sighed, "Twins, I'm going to be useless for months."
Padme's smile faltered a bit, "Twins? You must have heard two heartbeats then."
Rey touched Padme's face, unsure of what was going on with her, but answered the question, "Four actually, both my sons are Zabraks, they have two hearts each."
Padme laughed, "Oh, Maul must be thrilled."
Rey bit her lip, "I haven't told him yet."
She blinked those honeyed eyes at her, "What? Why not?"
Rey sighed, "Because then I'll have to have the discussion of where they are to be raised."
"Don't the females usually raise the babes?"
"They do, but then between the age of ten to twelve, male children are given to the Nightbrother clans. I want them to stay among the Jedi, I want them raised with the other younglings."
Padme frowned, "Wait, you don't want to raise them yourself?"
She sighed again, "I never intended to be pregnant, I've been using contraceptives and it isn't as if Maul and I see each other see each other that often."
"You don't?"
Rey grinned and waggled her eyebrows at the Nubian Queen, "Did you have fantasies about us, Queenie?"
Padme shoved her, "No, but you said you were mates, I thought that meant-"
"It's not the same thing as marriage, love," Rey said, "We care for one another, and we are friends above all else. Being mates simply means we are an acknowledged match by his people."
"Could you be sleeping with other people?" Padme asked, sounding a bit scandalized.
Rey smirked, "By Dathomirian law, yes, but he couldn't. Then again, by Dathomirian law, since I'm now pregnant, as my mate he would have to submit to my killing him."
"I thought they abolished that."
"They did, I'm just making the point that being mates is an intimate thing, but not a romantic one."
Padme shook his head, "But Maul turned to the Light Side because of you."
Rey let out a bark of laughter.
Padme glared at her, "I don't think that's funny. I think it is extremely romantic."
Rey shook her head, the idea of her Dathomirian lover turning to the Light because of romantic inclination tickling her, "Who told you that?"
"Obi-Wan," she answered, a bit defensively.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi is a hopeless romantic, Maul's turning to the Light, and only halfway, I might add, had nothing to do with his feelings for me."
"Then why did he turn?"
"Because his Sith Master tortured him past all endurance. Sith use pain, both their own and others', to gain power. But Sheev Palpatine tortured him to the point where when Maul tried calling power to himself, the Dark Side nearly destroyed him. His finding the Light was almost accidental, when he surrendered his control to the Force, the Light helped heal him."
Padme rested her hand on Rey's thigh, "I don't understand."
Rey laid her hand over hers, "The Light and Dark are equal parts of the Force, but how you access the power of each is different. You take from the Dark, make it suffer with you, while with the Light, you give yourself to the Force and the Force lives through you. Maul was in so much pain that he surpassed how much of the Force he could safely wield without it turning on him. He thought he was dying. The Jedi have a saying, there is no death, only the Force. He let go and the Force embraced him."
"I thought you could turn to the Dark Side from torture?"
"Oh, you can. But the type of torture Maul described to me… I don't think there are many species in the galaxy that could survive what he did. And even most Zabraks… however, Maul grew up being tortured."
"That doesn't mean he's incapable of love," Padme said.
Rey smiled gently and leaned down to press her forehead to Padme's, "No, it doesn't, but that isn't what Maul and I are to each other. We trust one another, and that means more to the both of us than anything else."
"You trust lots of people, Rey, and you've never had sex with them."
Rey pulled back laughing, "I could give up sex, it's enjoyable but I don't crave it."
"Does he?"
Rey winked, "That's our business."
"I don't understand why you're so reluctant to say you love him."
Rey sighed, not knowing how to explain it, "If something ever happened to Maul…" she took in a deep breath, "He would be it for me, I can't imagine sharing that part of myself with anyone else. But it wouldn't break me. We are independent of one another. I wouldn't be broken hearted in the same way Ob-" she cut herself off.
Padme's face fell and she stepped back.
Rey hopped off the railing and pulled the shorter woman into a hug, the lights of their babies sparkling between them within the Force, "I'm sorry, Padme."
Padme held her back, "I miss him so much."
And Rey knew she meant more than she was saying. She held her tighter, "I know."
Rey still shared a suite with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon in one of the constructed convents on Serreno. Ahsoka roomed with her friend Barriss nearer to one of the healer buildings.
She and Obi-Wan were in reality, granddaughter and grandfather, thanks to a bit of Forcely time travel, but they were, in reality, more like sister and brother. Padme's marriage to Senator Skywalker had wrecked Obi-Wan's heart.
Rey pulled back, "But you're starting a family of your own. Have you come up with names?"
Padme whipped at her face, "Luke Skywalker."
The name rang through like a struck bell, "Oh my stars."
Padme's face went instantly wary, "What? Rey Palpatine, what is it?"
Rey grinned, "Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker was the man who helped defeat the Empire in my time. He was the only surviving Jedi, Padme, he was a legend."
"Really?"
"Yes, he was a part of the Rebel Alliance, he was also an insanely talented pilot. He blew up a Death Star, two actually."
"Ani is a talented pilot. What's a Death Star?"
"A planet-obliterating space station the size of a moon."
"What?" this from Sabe still standing by the door.
"As I said, Luke Skywalker was a Legend. Damn, I can't believe I didn't figure this out sooner, Luke was from Tatooine too."
Padme frowned, "Anakin hates his homeworld, I can't imagine why he would live there."
"He was probably in hiding. The Emperor hunted down everyone in the galaxy with Force sensitivity. The Jedi were all but extinct. Luke was known to be the last."
Padme's face went whiter, "You mean…"
Rey nodded, "Everyone. That's why we moved to Serreno, more so than avoiding civil war. Sifo-Dyas and I kept having visions of our people being attacked in the Temple. It wasn't safe for us to stay."
She swallowed, "I am glad that you listened to the visions."
Rey grinned, "Me too. Do you think you and Anakin will decide to bring Luke to Serreno? I mean it's nothing you have to decide any time soon. The Order has even been actively recruiting older initiates."
"No," Padme said, putting a hand protectively around herself, "No, Luke will never become a Jedi."
Rey stepped back, stung by the venom in her voice, "Alright, that's your choice, I just thought-"
"Anakin hates the Jedi."
Rey pushed back a strand of her hair that had freed itself from her braided buns, "What do you mean 'hates'? He must know that we are your allies, and by extension, his allies."
"No, Rey, he isn't. He despises the Order and he thinks we should have gone to war with the Separatists."
"By we, you mean the Republic? Padme, before you married Anakin you were a part of the Separatist movement."
"Things changed."
Rey took another step back, "Why do I feel like you about to give me bad news?"
Padme smiled at her sadly, "Because after today, we won't be seeing each other. This is goodbye, Rey."
She shook her head, "No. No- this doesn't make sense. I'm your friend, and I have been for years. Much longer than you even knew Anakin."
"Actually, I met Anakin the same day I met you. In Watto's junk shop when I was waiting for Qui-Gon."
Rey rubbed her face, "He was a child. He doesn't have the right to dictate who you-"
"He does, though. Especially if Luke is a Force sensitive in truth."
Rey shook her head, "If he becomes even a tenth of how powerful he was rumoured to be then you're wrong. He should be trained, even if just in the basics, Force sensitivity can evolve in strange ways."
"I'm sorry, Rey, but it just isn't going to be possible."
"When did you choose politics over what you know to be right and wrong? Marrying a man you do not love, I understand; choosing your people over your heart, I understand, but I do not understand this. We are not a threat to Naboo, and we would only ever wish the best upon your son."
"It changed because I am not just a politician, I am Naboo. And we need Mustafar to continue to prosper, and if Anakin doesn't want our son around the Jedi, I cannot fight him on it."
"Why not?"
Padme's expression hardened, heat entering her pale brown eyes, "Because while I am glad the Jedi saved themselves, they did so with the ruin of countless systems within the Republic."
"What do you think a civil war would have done to us?"
"I think leaving the way you did was perhaps more detrimental than a war. You gave no time for anyone to prepare."
"And what about the Separatist systems that the Republic abandoned. The Alliance has expanded across the Outer Rim, every year we get closer to abolishing slavery."
"At the cost of betraying your own people," Padme said softly.
Rey felt tears prick at her eyes, she could continue to argue, but she didn't know what good that would do. She did not want to part with bad blood between them.
She didn't want them to part at all.
"Please Padme, you are family to me, to us."
Padme put a hand over her stomach, "I already have a family, Rey."
Rey stepped back, calling to Obi-Wan through their old Padawan-Master bond. "You are telling Obi-Wan, I will not be the one to break his heart, not again."
Rey couldn't even look at her. Yes, Padme and Obi-Wan had been lovers, but Rey knew that Obi-Wan valued Padme's friendship just as much as those deeper ties. He was a good enough Jedi, able to set aside his feelings for her, but Rey knew that to say goodbye completely to this magnificent little queen would be a far deeper blow.
Rey shut her eyes and took in a breath, letting the Force centre her. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the sorrow in Padme's eyes.
This was going to break Rey's heart too. She had many more people in her life now than she had thirteen years ago, but most of those people were either her mentors or children. Losing Padme's friendship would be akin to losing a piece of her heart. "Congratulations on the baby, my friend. Remember that we will always love you."
She went to the door before Padme could respond. Wrenching it open, she was greeted by the sight of the temperamental Anakin Skywalker.
Rey shoved him back with a hand to the centre of his chest.
He clearly hadn't been expecting that, his eyes going large as he stumbled back. Righting himself into an offensive stance, his fist coming around toward her.
Rey had her staff in her hands, redirecting his swing with a twist of her wrist. Within her next movement her staff was between, one end a breath from his raised chin and exposed throat.
He froze, his eyes livid. But he didn't move, clearly aware that it would only take a thought for her to ignite her saberstaff and fry his brains.
"Rey," Obi-Wan cautioned.
She spoke low, realizing how pissed off she was as well. She despised anyone who hurt Obi-Wan, and because of this man, one of her dearest friends was going to have to rebreak his heart. "Padme tells me you're the finest pilot in the galaxy. I would like to see your ship, Skywalker."
He glowered at her a moment longer, then smirked at her, and Rey lowered her staff. He gave her a slight bow, and gestured a hand toward the hanger, "Right this way, Little Palpatine."
Rey walked forward, head high without looking back.
Ahsoka fell into step beside her as Skywalker stalked behind them.
"What just happened?" Ahsoka whispered.
"Standard desert greeting," Rey answered, sending a wave of support through the bond to Obi-Wan.
Wondering why the galaxy would allow such hurt to such a kind soul.
Obi-Wan was suspicious as he entered Padme's rooms. "What's wrong?" he asked, Sabe slipping out from the room. "Is your baby alright?"
She scowled up at him, "Is it really that obvious, I thought this dress would hide me better."
He smiled, "No, your child shines in the Force. So brightly, in fact, I might think you were carrying twins like Rey."
"It's just the boy," she said sharply, then asked, "Wait, you knew before Maul?"
"I live with her, she hasn't seen Maul in a number of months."
"I do not understand their relationship, not at all."
He smiled, "Their relationship is as strange as they are."
"And you're okay with that?"
"It works for them."
"But now that there are babies?"
"The Jedi still raise their younglings in communities, some stay with their parents on Serreno, but even then, more often than not, a friend will follow the youngling home. Parents find themselves becoming a part of creche communities despite themselves. Rey spends a great deal of time with the younglings and initiates as it is. I believe she will love her own children as much as she loves the others."
"Shouldn't a mother love her children more than others?" Padme asked, her mind clearly spinning as she tried to understand.
"Rey is a true Jedi, Padme. She is compassionate towards all if they allow it." Obi-Wan touched her arm and she flinched away from him. "What is wrong?" he asked.
"Anakin doesn't like the Jedi," she said.
"So he told us."
"Wait? He was openly rude to you, that's not like him. I mean when Rey got in his face but…"
"He was quite impolite until Panaka showed up. Your people seem to adore him."
"They do, he's the best thing to happen to us since-"
"You?" he offered.
She flushed, "Obi-Wan…"
He ran a hand over his beard, not wanting to encroach on her physical space again. She looked… defeated. Had she and Rey gotten into a fight? About the babies?
She looked up at him, her eyes a well of sadness, "Anakin is a jealous man."
He stilled, "You told him about us?" He should have realized she would tell her current husband, but she had never mentioned it.
Then ain, that wasn't really any of his business.
Not answering, she smoothed her hands over her clothes, a nervous gesture for her.
"I swear, Padme, I didn't taunt him. I would never do that."
She sighed, "It isn't that. He's… He is in love with me."
"Can you blame him?" he asked, taking a hesitant step toward her.
She shut her eyes and dropped her head.
He felt her pain in the Force, and he closed the space between them, touching her chin, "He isn't hurting you, is he?"
She looked up at him, "No, he's never raised a hand to me."
He cupped her face, willing to do just about anything to ease her suffering. "Then what is wrong, Padme?"
She touched his hands, "I've tried to love him. And I don't hate him, he isn't repulsive, but-"
He dropped his hands to her shoulders, wanting more than anything to wrap her in his arms. Through the Force, he felt her pain as if it were his own heart breaking. "But?"
Tears spilled from her eyes, "I'm still in love with you, Obi-Wan."
Force help him. When she laid her hands on his neck, he bent toward without resistance. He knew he shouldn't, he knew this would hurt him and her more later on… Yet no matter how hard he tried to give his feelings to the Force, no matter how he devoted himself to his studies, to teaching Ahsoka, nothing could make him forget.
He still loved her as much as he had three years ago when she turned down his own offer of marriage.
Her lips met his, and it was simultaneously the same as it had been and better than a memory. He gave in and wrapped his arms around her, holding her warmth close to him. His heart breaking with hers, knowing deep down that this would be the last time they touched.
The farewell had been written on her face.
Anakin is a jealous man.
He pulled back and looked down at her, wishing he could skip the next few minutes.
Padme reached up to wipe the tears away from his cheeks, tears he hadn't noticed. He had managed to keep himself together last time and every time he had seen her since.
"I love you," she said.
He ran a thumb over her cheek, "Goodbye, Padme."
He went to the door before she could tell him she never wanted to see him again.
She didn't call him back.
That they had stayed friends at all after they had broken up was something he had been told was odd. The Jedi didn't exactly have a dating culture, and he hadn't thought it was odd, because he couldn't have wished to marry her and not respect her. Respect her boundaries, her choices. But as his heart that had once been broken shattered anew, when she hadn't even said anything he hadn't already known to be true, he finally understood why breakups ended friendships.
He didn't go the main route to the hanger. He took the servants' passageways and watched from the alcove as Senator Skywalker, in all his finery, his gold earrings winking in the sunlight, stode back down the main hallways to his wife.
Rey turned to him and he began to go to them, her expression was closed off.
Ahsoka ran at him, catching him in a hug. "I'm so sorry, Master."
He hugged her back and let out a heavy sigh, "I'll be alright, Padawan."
Ahsoka pulled back, "I can't believe Padme married that peacock."
He let out a surprised laugh, "Let's get out of here before security locks us down."
Rey's expression grew darker, "You think the guard would turn on you? They know you, you were one of them."
He herded both females into the ship, "I think that Senator Skywalker is a charming personality."
Rey scoffed, "I know Banthas with better temperaments."
Obi-Wan glanced back at the Nubian palace, "We weren't meant to feel welcomed."
Ahsoka took the copilot seat, readying the ship, "Well, they got their wish."
Obi-Wan dropped into the seat behind his Padawan, "So it would seem."
Qui-Gon was pretty sure he and Dooku had only been given this assignment because Rey was off-world when Duchess Satine sent in a request to meet.
The Duchess and her husband, Duke Cody Kryze, met them in the throne room.
"Ah, finally some people of taste," Dooku remarked as they crossed the long hall.
Qui-Gon swallowed a smile, Dooku had gone to great lengths to ensure the Temple of Jenza, while not as large as the Coruscant Temple, was just as beautiful. Or as Dooku would claim, more beautiful.
"Jedi Masters Dooku and Qui-Gon Jinn," announced one of the guards.
They bowed in unison.
Duchess Satine smiled at them, "I did not think we would be graced by two Council Members."
"Your surprise is no greater than my own for the undesired position I find myself in of being a Council Member," Qui-Gon said.
Satine laughed, "Your hair may be grey, Master Jinn, but you have not changed."
"Ah, well let me return such kind words, you have grown into quite the woman and leader, your parents would be proud of you," he said, having protected Satine in her youth when her father had died in the war.
She inclined her head, in gratitude.
"What is it we can do for, Duchess, Duke?" Dooku asked. The question had been driving the Makeshi Master half mad.
Mandalore often offered their help over the last few years. It was announced to be open season on slave traders, a call that the Mandalorian warriors had taken to with glee. But they never asked for help.
Well, they had asked for Rey's help as her friends continued to get her to convert to becoming a Mandalorian and leaving the magic aside.
Cody, who, as they all suspected, had been granted the rank of Duke because as a clone he wasn't a pacifist, said, "We have been getting disturbing requests and reports."
"Disturbing how?" Dooku asked.
"Do you remember Death Watch?" Satine asked wryly.
Dooku gave her a look, having once run afoul of the terrorist group, that remark was more a jab than a question.
"I told you that you shouldn't have come," Qui-Gon muttered under his breath, before he said louder, "Of course, have they continued to cause trouble?"
"Yes," Satine answered, "But we've also had individual groups report strange infighting and disappearances."
"They are terrorists, and they are asking for your help?" Dooku asked.
"We have reports of Mandalorians being kidnapped, some return, others do not. Of those who return, some have been exhibiting both Force sensitive abilities and madness."
Qui-Gon and Dooku exchanged a look. This is why Dooku had come, because what the Duchess was describing is what had happened to Jango Fett. Jango Fett who had murdered Dooku and Dooku's sister in their own home.
"Where are they now?" Dooku asked.
"Gone, some of them died, but the bodies are never retrievable."
"What do you mean by unretrievable?" Qui-Gon asked.
"I don't know. There was an attack in one of the moons, and the warrior brought down a building. Some of the footage shows the man pulling down a supporting beam with an 'invisible rope'."
Cody picked up the rest of the story from his wife, "And we know they are insane because the man pulled the building down on himself. But when the rubble was removed, no body was located."
"Strange," Qui-Gon said, "Do you have any more details?"
"We can show you the footage," Satine said, "But otherwise, we only have missing person reports and one anonymous tip."
"Pertaining to what?" Dooku asked.
"My little sister, Bo-Katan Kryze. She joined a rebel group a few years ago known as the Nite Owls, I haven't seen her since. She, along with twenty others have been reported missing. And those who have come back have disappeared again. Those among them who have died, we cannot confirm are in fact dead, as there have been no bodies found. Most were taken from the Outer Rim, but some were working jobs on Core worlds, several reports from Coruscant in particular."
Qui-Gon felt a chill go down his back, "All of them were bounty hunters?"
"In some form or another, yes," she said.
"None of them have yet been clones," Cody said.
"But someone is hunting Mandalorians," Qui-Gon said.
"And giving them Force powers," Dooku added.
"Which leads to either them losing their sanity or their lives," Satine said.
"Or both," Cody said.
Qui-Gon sighed, this didn't sound like it was going to have a simple solution.
Sigificant Brain Damage has the Mandos you are looking for: So the great thing about writing fanfiction is basically allowing so many people into your creative process and building on ideas that become better ideas. In this case, this story's Mando plot is getting cannibalized by Significant Brain Damage, and the Vader Plotline, unfortunately, is being bagged because the Disney Sequels have depressed me to the point of no longer enjoying playing in this world of thought. This year I have dived so deep into Legends that I'm just very deeply unhappy with them. I put more work into plotting this story than those three movies did and I just, no, just no. That's not okay, especially as the Mandalorian proves they could have done it right. So, hope you enjoyed this journey.