Chapter Eleven: The Crew
"Now tell me, my angel," Darth Vader's voice dripped with venom. "Where are my children?"
Padmé jerked away from him. He let her go. She took a few steps away, but she couldn't go much further. The room wasn't that deep. He straightened. His eyes seemed to glow in his anger.
"Where are they?" he growled.
"No," she said a low voice. "No! Never! You'll never get that from me! You'll never have them!"
"They are mine!" he shouted. It felt as if to Padmé a dark pressure was filling the room. Hatred seemed to be pressing down on her. "You dare keep them away from me? Their own father!"
"Yes!" Padmé shouted back. "I would never let them near this monster!"
"They belong here," Vader growled lowly. "They belong with me. Just like you do. Their proper place in this galaxy is by my side."
"There is nothing you can do to make me tell you where they are," she hissed back at him.
"Oh?" he said amused a small smile coming to his face. "Shall we test that out?"
Ice inside of her seemed to grow only colder. Vader walked over to the shutters on the far wall. He pressed a control panel and the shutters started to slide open to reveal a transparisteel window. The window was long, almost as long as the room. It revealed another room beyond the viewing room she was in.
Padmé's breathing became painful. In the other room sat nine chairs with nine individuals in each one. Each person was strapped to the chair. A stormtrooper stood behind each one. She recognized them instantly. It was her team. The leaders of her Rebel cell. Her Lucky Ten, except Rion who was still in his cell. All nine of them were there: the Twi-lek, the Rodian, the elderly human couple, the Arkanian scientist, the clone trooper, the young human slicer, the odd woman, and the Talz.
They were each conscious and seemed to be looking around the room. Most of them appeared worse for wear. A few sported bruises. Some sported scrapes. They all looked haggard and tired.
"No," she whispered.
"You're probably right," Vader mused. "There probably is nothing I could do to you to get you to reveal where you've hidden my children. You would probably take that secret to your grave. But you do have one glaring weakness, my angel." He paused as he glanced over at her. "You care far too much for others. Like that scum in the other cell."
Padmé stared wide-eyed at her comrades. She found herself moving to the window and placing a hand on the transparisteel. Her teammates were looking around, clearly very conscious and not sedated. Yet while their eyes traveled along the window, their eyes never stopped at her. They couldn't see through the window. They couldn't see her. But she could see them. She could see the fear in their eyes.
Suddenly the trooper behind the first chair, pulled out his blaster, and shot the occupant in the head. The former slave Twi'lek. The other individuals jumped in the restrained chairs and screamed. One or two started to cry. Padmé brought up her hand to her mouth, yet she didn't cry.
"It's quite simple," Vader said as he walked up beside her, looking out the window. He looked unphased. His hands were clasped behind his back. "Tell me where my children are. When you do, I'll order the troopers to stop killing them."
"No," Padmé whispered. She turned her back to the window, she couldn't watch. But Vader was there. He was too quick for her. Her grabbed her and spun her. He pressed her to the window. Her breath created clouds of fog in front of her.
"You will watch this," Vader snarled. "Watch as they die due to your decisions. Due to your mistakes from keeping my children from me." Her body started to shake. She couldn't. She wouldn't. There was no way she could betray her precious innocent babies.
"It didn't have to be like this, Padmé," Vader continued. His voice low. "It's all your fault. You ran away from me. Hid my children away from me. If you had stayed by my side as you're suppose to, none of this would have happened. They wouldn't have to die."
Her body started to tremble more. Grief rolled over her. It swirled with the waves of fear growing within her. The fears for her children. The fears for her team. She watched in silent horror as a trooper brought up another blaster and shot another teammate point blank. The Rodian slumped in his chair. She let out a small whimper. The whole galaxy seemed to be crushing down on her. She felt hollow and empty.
Tears started to roll down her cheeks. She thought she had no more tears, but her grief and turmoil were too strong. Though her vision was blurry she could make out each time a stormtrooper walked up to chair. Each time the blaster shot ran out, her whole body would recoil in reaction.
Despite the pain and guilt that washed over her, she couldn't deliver on what Vader wanted. She couldn't give him anything about his children. She didn't question how it was he knew there was more than one child. There were no official records of her twins' birth. Everything had been erased to avoid detection. Everything had been to keep Vader unaware of his children. The moment Padmé saw him in cell, when the white hood was pulled from her head, she knew he would ask, no demand, to know about his children. It was wishful thinking of hers that he wouldn't, since he hadn't brought it up in the two weeks.
She only let herself dwell on the matter when he wasn't there. When he was around she made sure she kept all thoughts of her children securely locked away and hidden. She didn't want a stray thought floating in her mind where he might be able to somehow hear it. Yet, when he was gone, it was hard to fight back the fear and the anxiety. After seeing what Vader had done to Rion, what Vader had done to simply get her in his bed, she feared what he would do to get his children.
Padmé knew it was going to be worse. She knew that no matter what she couldn't give in. She knew innocent lives were probably going to die because of her. She tried her best to harden her heart. To tell herself it was for the best, but as each shot rang out, pain stabbed through her. Vader was right. They were dying because of her. All she had to do was open her mouth to save at least one of them, but she didn't.
After the ninth shot went out and the ninth body went slack, Vader finally released her. She slid down to the floor and crumpled into a heap. Pain pounded through her heart and radiated out in her body. Though she herself had not been shot, if felt like she had been. Nine times in the heart. Her body shook and trembled on the cold floor, and she let the darkness take her.
She dreamed.
The sound of crying babies rang through the darkness. Padmé moved through a darkened hallway, but she moved on unsteady feet. She was wobbly and had to keep pressing her hand to the wall for support. Yet she kept moving forward towards the crying. Finally her hand fell upon a door frame and she moved into a dimly lit room. The furniture was nothing but shadows, but she could make out the crib.
She swayed on her feet, but gathered herself and pushed on. The crying continued. Her hands gripped tightly to the edge of the crib as she looked down. There was nothing inside. The crib was empty. Cold. The crying had stopped.
"No," she said softly but with deep despair.
"Don't worry," a smooth voice said. "I've got them."
She snapped her head up. A shadowed figure stood in the room obviously cradling a baby. Though she couldn't make the figure, she knew it was him. She knew it was it was his voice.
"No," she said again. Her voice barely a whisper. More a breath. "Give them back."
"They're where they belong," he said again.
"No," she croaked as she pushed herself away from the crib into the darkness towards him. She made her way on wobbly legs towards the shadow. "You can't," she pleaded into the darkness. "You can't have them!"
She was almost there, but two or three more steps. She reached out her arms, ready to take the child away. To have it safe in her arms. Yet then the child's head turned towards her and opened its eyes. Padmé stopped in her tracks. Large glowing yellow eyes stared at her from the shadowed form of the baby.
"They're mine," his shadow hissed very softly.
"No," Padmé said as she backed away. The yellow eyes of the child bore into her. "No," she cried. She turned and fled out of the room and back down the hallway. No longer were her legs unsteady. She raced. She turned down another hallway and then another. The hallways were endless, no doors, no windows, no way out.
She tripped and fell to the ground. She caught herself on her hands. She pushed herself over and let herself lean against the nearby wall. Her body trembled. Part of her was out of breath from running. Part of her was cold. Part of it was fear. She curled up, bringing her knees up to her chest. She buried her head into her knees. The image of the baby with the yellow eyes haunted her.
"My baby," she cried to herself.
"Momma?"
She snapped her head up. Ahead of her stood two small shadows. One was clearly a boy and the other a girl. She knew they were about five years old. No longer babies as they had been the last time she had seen them in real life. The last time she had held them.
"We found you!" one said happily. Padmé brought her knees down and opened her arms. The two small children both came into her arms. She hugged them. She kissed their heads. They muttered momma into her hair.
"Momma are you alright?" one asked.
"Yes," she said. "Yes I'm fine now that you're here."
"Then why did you run away?" the other asked.
The two stepped away from her. They were looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Why did you run away from us?" She wasn't sure which one asked.
"I didn't," she said. "I didn't run away from you!"
"Yes you did," one spoke out. "Your ran away from us just now when we were with daddy."
A bolt of cold ran down Padmé's back. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words. The two children turned to each other. They looked at each other for a moment before turning back to her. When they turned back, both of their eyes were glowing yellow.
"It's ok momma," one of them said softly as if trying to console her.
"No," she said. She pushed with her legs to stand up, but found she couldn't She could only crawl backwards away from the shadows of her children.
"She's going to run again!" one of them cried out in despair.
"Momma don't run away from us!"
The two children followed her calmly.
"No," she repeated. These weren't her children. She could no longer tell them apart from the boy and the girl. There were just children-shaped shadows with yellow eyes. One of the shadows dashed ahead and threw their arms around Padmé's neck. She tensed. Her body rigid. She didn't move to embrace this child.
"Momma!" it cried into her hair. "Please don't run. Stay here with us. With daddy."
Her breathing was sharp and painful in her chest.
"We'll just have to make sure she can't run away," said the other child. The small shadow that had wrapped itself around Padmé, pulled back to look at its sibling. The other shadow now held a small glowing lightsaber. Its beam red. Despite the bright red light, the two children were still nothing more than shadows.
The child that had hugged her stepped back and stood next to the one holding the saber. Then the two walked closer to her, together.
"Yes," one child said. "Let's make sure she can't run."
"She'll stay here forever. With us. With daddy. Where she belongs"
The one holding the lightsaber brought it up. Padmé opened her mouth. She wasn't sure what she was going to say, but no words came out. The lightsaber slashed down, slicing across her legs. Yet she didn't react. She felt as if she was frozen. She stayed in the same position, watching as the bottom part of her legs simply disappeared.
The two children rushed up to her, wrapping their arms around her neck. The peppered her cheeks and head with kisses. They were so happy. One of the children's head moved to her ear. She could feel the child's breath in her hair.
In a soft whisper the child said, "You can't run now."
She awoke with a start, sitting straight up. She was back in her room in her bed. The black outfit was gone, and she was wearing her undergarments. Her heart pounded in her chest. She brought her hand up to her heart, feeling it beat furiously under her touch. Her mind raced as she recalled the dream. As she recalled the last part of it, she threw back to the covers. Her legs were still there.
Then she glanced to her side. The bed was empty. Her eyes moved across the room, but it was also empty. She was alone. But she still felt them. The phantom shadows of her children. She still felt their small arms wrapping around her. She still felt their small kisses. She still heard their small voices.
"You can't run now."