Across the Stars: A Cinderella Story

By Serena Kenobi

Author's note: I had a few people saying the whole thing with the droids was sorta cheezy. LOL! Yeah, I kinda agree. However, it IS a Cinderella story. The whole Cinderella thing is cheezy. Ah, well. For this kind of sappy romance story, ya gotta have at least a little corniness in there somewhere, lol. SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER!! Aww... that makes me so sad. But we start on BatB next!! HOO BOY!

WARNING! This chapter is VERY, VERY MUSHY AND FLUFFY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Disclaimer: Don't own Star Wars, never will.

Chapter Eleven

Anakin and Padme darted into a closed off room, then shut and locked the door so they could rest for a minute. Padmé plopped down in a chair, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Anakin strode around the room, looking out of the windows for any possible escape routes. However, the room they were in was on the edge of a steep and high waterfall.

"This is all my fault," Padmé said, irritated with herself as she listened to the sounds of the blaster fire outside the room. "I shouldn't have given my stepmother away so soon. I should have waited for some kind of backup."

Anakin, who had turned to listen to her, frowned, came forward, cloak billowing behind him, and knelt before her, lifting up her chin with his hand. "Listen to me, Padmé," he said firmly but softly. "You did the right thing. She needed to be revealed. You didn't do anything wrong." He cupped her cheek in his hand, gently caressing her soft skin.

Padmé shyly smiled at him, placing her much smaller hand over his.

"That reminds me," he continued, "I think this is yours." He slowly reached behind his back and brought out her mother's glass slipper.

Padmé gasped. "How in Naboo's name did you find that?" she asked earnestly. "I thought I'd lost it."

Anakin glanced down at the slipper. "You left it on the Temple steps, so I took it to find you. I didn't want to lose you forever."

Padmé looked up and stared into his bottomless cerulean eyes.

"I love you, Padmé," he whispered, and brought his lips to hers once again while slipping the glass shoe on her foot.

"Anakin, I love you," Padmé said, happy tears in her eyes. Both wished that moment could have lasted for longer, but they were jolted out of it by the sound of blasters at their door.

Anakin glanced at Padmé, and then to the window.

"I've got an idea," he started, grabbing her hand and pulling her up, "come on!" He took out his lightsaber, smashed one of the windows with the handle, and took out a special gun from his belt. He then shot out a hook rope that attached to the ledge above and wrapped an arm around Padmé. She held tight onto him as they rose into the air and up to the next level.

The droids had opened the door and were now firing at them, but they were already out of reach. Anakin and Padmé ran through one of the upper levels, heading towards the main weapons room. However, a number of droids came out at them, firing. Anakin drew his lightsaber and continued to slash them down, flipping and twisting in the air. Padmé blasted at them the best she could, and she was a pretty good shot.

"You call this a diplomatic solution?" Anakin called, chopping down another droid.

"No, I call it aggressive negotiations," Padmé shouted back, grinning mischievously at him. He grinned and hacked down two more destroyer droids.

Once they managed to destroy of all the droids on that level, they raced down to the next and were immediately confronted by a mass of both droids and Nubian royal guards. Before Anakin or Padme knew what was happening, they had been surrounded. Ray shields suddenly burst to life right in front of the pair, and they were trapped inside its circle.

"Do you have a plan B?" Padmé muttered. Anakin frowned and glared at the droids.

"I say patience," he replied, waiting for them to fire. Padmé raised her eyebrows.

"Patience?"

"Yes. The clones will be here any minute and destroy the droids, also releasing the ray shields."

Padmé didn't reply, knowing there was no point in trying to argue with him.

"Don't move, Jedi," Panaka said, aiming his blaster at him.

"Captain, please, don't do this," Padmé pleaded, gazing at him. "The Queen is evil - you know that!" And as they stood there, Padme suddenly thought of an idea. Using her comlink on her belt, she slowly touched it and sent a signal to Artoo.

Panaka shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't disobey orders."

Yes, yes, yes, I know you're all going to kill me for making it so short. Sorry! The next and last chapter will be longer. I'll update quicker if I get some nice reviews!! Lol!

Hey, has anyone heard about that new SW: the Force Unleashed video game? Looks totally wizard, doesn't it?

MtFbwy,

- Serena Kenobi