Authors Note: Thank you all for reading my story. It is exciting to write and then when people actually like it I am even more excited. Thanks especially to KD Skywalker for being patient and helpful to me.

Disclaimer : I don't own Star Wars.

Chapter 2

What is real?

Pain is real for Anakin. Palpatine revels in his healing pain. He knows this will help bring Vader out stronger and make Anakin weaker. He awoke in a bacta tank and all reality swirled into a mixture of physical pain and mental pain. The physical pain brought to light his deepest darkest thoughts. Visions of Ventress charging at him both light sabers barely missing his head: Her hatred radiating toward him as she threw him across the jungle floor. Padme's sweet face contorted into pain and then death. Obi Wan charging at him in the control room on Mustafar, never in hatred only in determination; Then his satisfaction at rendering him limbless and leaving him to die on the sand. Screams of rage filled his mind. Count Dooku's face right before he cut off his head swirled amongst the face of his beloved mother's dead face along with many of the sand people he had murdered. Countless faces of Jedi younglings lying on the floor after he had killed them. All these tortured his mind while the burns on his body tortured him physically. Anakin suddenly blacked out again leaving the world of pain behind but its traces never truly leaving him.

Inside the darkness of his mind a new being appeared. He rose out of the darkness to stand unafraid, powerful and ruthless. He stood dressed in black and standing beside him was someone who had been a friend mentor and now Master. Anakin was nothing anymore only Vader existed now.

Oh! Anakin lived because a small part of him still loved. The part of his heart that Padme had held so carefully. Vader knew how to stamp part down and make it weak. There was no room in his weaker man to show himself too often. He did allow his thoughts to drift to Padme. Not often mind you, but he did think about her. Mostly when he was in a meditative state. He could think on her and yet get himself back to the Darker side before he finished.

This was now Vader's reality and he reveled in it.

What Else was real?

Padme was not dead.

She lies still as death on the hard cool table on Polis Massa. The medical Droids tested her and they declared her dead. She was sent to Naboo where she was taken to the morgue to be prepared for her funeral.

Obi Wan and Bail mourned for her but they could not attend the funeral. Bail took the baby girl to his home on Alderan; Obi Wan took the boy to Tatooine to live with his uncle and aunt. They never knew things had changed.

Change they did; because Padme woke up in the morgue. She opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by white. WHY? She twitched her fingers and realized it was a sheet. She ripped the sheet off her face feeling very scared. Then she looked around at where she was and she screamed. A dead body was on either side of her, and it was very dark. Only a small light on the far wall cast enough light for her to be able to see. No one was in the room and being there all alone made her very scared. She got off the table; her legs were very weak. She made her way slowly across the room and out the door. The hallway was empty. She leaned against the wall and slid down into a crouched position. She needed to rest and to get away. What should I do? I am nothing anymore. Everyone thinks I am dead else I would not be here. Being dead would not be such a bad thing. She just lay there not moving, and not caring.

Someone did care though. One very special very devoted friend. She had been there all her life. She was a best friend back in Legislative Youth Program. She had become her handmaid when Padme became queen; she had been chosen because she looked extraordinarily like Padme. Sabe.

She came to the morgue because she could not believe her friend; her queen was dead. She had to see for herself. She came alone for she could not face it with people standing there watching her. She had disguised herself as a doctor so she could get into the place with out question. She came down the hall and stopped to see someone slumped into a ball outside the door of the morgue. She stopped and gasped as she turned the person so she could see the face. "Padme!"

Padme opened her eyes and saw Sabe leaning over her and she grabbed her into a strangling hug. Tear ran streaming down her face. Heart wrenching life draining tears. Tears for her fear. Tears for her sorrow. Tears for her children (she had no idea where they were). Most importantly, the awful empty tears for Anakin. Her heart felt as if it was bleeding right through her chest.

Sabe just held her and listened as she talked about what happened. After all was told to her she knew what to do. "Padme, we need to get you off this planet. You need to go into hiding."

"Why? I have nothing to live for anymore. I should have remained in there and died."

"No there is still hope. Hope that you may one day find your children again."

"Why should I care? I am sure Obi Wan took good care of them. They don't need me."

"Listen to yourself Padme. You act like you have given up. I have known you all my life. You have never backed down from anything."

"I have no Anakin."

"So that makes it right to just give up on your children. They were not just Anakin's they were yours."

"They were mine weren't they? I don't know, Sabe. I am not ready to hunt right now. Anakin would surely try to find me if he knew I was alive."

"You leave that to me. I am going to find you transport off this planet and to somewhere he would not think to look. Here lets first get you out of this hallway."

Sabe picked up Padme and took her to an empty room just short way down the hall. Padme lay on the bed and soon fell asleep. Sabe went to work. She checked all immediate flights off the planet. There was only one transport going to a place decent enough to send Padme. The transport was going to Roon. They had good medical facilities, and it was in the outer rim so it would not be place Palpatine or Anakin would look right away. She registered her under the name Ami and she was a refugee. No one would recognize her in her state of depleted physical health. So she would disappear without a trace. Sabe decided that she would then take her place in the morgue. She looked so much like Padme she was sure the droid wouldn't know the difference. She only hoped she could fool the others When everything was taken care of she went back to the hospital to get Padme.

Padme felt stronger after her rest so she went to the docking bay holding Sabe's hand. She did not want to draw any attention to herself at all. She dressed as a plain person with a cloak covering most of her face. By the time she reached the docking bay she was quite weak and the cloak hid most of her face so she did not see too well where she was going; she failed to hear Sabe's word of warning and she bumped into an equally cloaked figure.

Palpatine had left his new apprentice in the capable hands of the droid doctors. He had heard through a source that Padme Amidala had been brought to Naboo for her funeral. He decided to go to the funeral. After all he was her "friend". Really he wanted to make sure it was her. He took his private transport and landed in the docking bay at night. This way he could be undetected. He did not want the people to know he was there, Just Yet!

He had plans for after the funeral though. He pulled the hood over his head and walked quickly through the crowd. He dodged, as many people as he could but suddenly it seemed out of nowhere two ladies seemed to be right in front of him. He ran into the one causing her cloak to fall away from her face.

"Padme" he said oily, "how nice to see you." He smiled wickedly down at the bleached white face.

Padme was shocked into another blackout and fell to the floor. Sabe tried to scream for help but was silenced by a knife expertly stabbed into her heart. Palpatine quickly called a servant over to take Padme to his ship. As for Sabe she had her own purpose to serve, he took her to the mortuary and placed her on the table that had held Padme. Palpatine planned on having the funeral recorded so he could show his apprentice that his wife was really dead.

In truth, Palpatine was going to keep her alive. His hatred for her caused him to decide to make her fate far worse than death. He had a few things he had been dying to tell her since her days as queen. He wanted to watch her suffer and suffer badly.