Darth Vader opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. He was in some sort of medical facility. Anger surged through him as he thought of what had happened on Mustafar. Padme had betrayed him and brought Kenobi to kill him. He remembered the reason why he would be in a medical facility and he grew even more angry. He couldn't remember how he ended up in the medical facility but as his body woke up with his mind he felt as if his skin was on fire before he noticed the bandages that covered his body. He was lucky to be alive.
He decided to take his mind away from the memories and he surveyed his surroundings. The room was all dark and he was hooked up to machines on either side of the bed he was in. From the looks of things this was one of those luxury rooms that no jedi had ever been allowed access to. The thing that proved this thought was the holonet hookup. Feeling restless, Vader turned on the holonet and was greeted with the picture of Padme.
"It is with great regret that I have to announce the tragic death of Senator Amidala from Naboo. We've received word from Polis Massa Medical Facility that the nabooian senator was brought to their facility last night after being attacked by an unknown assailant. The official cause of death is asphyxiation. Senator Amidala was also five months pregnant, the father of the ill fated child is still unknown. Senator Amidala will be remembered as the champion for peace and democracy. She was loved dearly by the people of Naboo. He funeral service will be held within a week in Naboo's capital of Theed. She will be laid to rest among the Queens," a reporter announced.
Vader screamed upon hearing this going into a fit of rage and despair. Around him machines became crushed and jars of medicine exploded. Everything he had done was to save her! But she had died anyway! He vowed to personally see to the information on her death once he was out of here. One way or another he would be at the funeral. He had to see for himself that she was gone.
Anakin snapped his eyes open in the middle of the night. He remembered the funeral all too well. When everyone was gone, he stood by her grave. He held her limp hand. She was dead. But she is here alive. He couldn't figure out how Obi-Wan had managed to pull it off. How he was able to fake her death. Obi-Wan knew that he would be there. He knew!
Anakin quickly got out of bed and threw on his cloak. He had to see her. He had to reassure himself that she was alive and breathing. Quietly he moved through the house towards her room. She had switched her room with another, he knew. He knew why. She couldn't be in that room after what had happened inside there. He himself could not go in that room without feeling immensely guilty. As a sith he had no conscience but as a jedi, he was ruled by it.
He rounded a corner and instantly stepped back behind it. That man, who Anakin had learned was Han Solo sat in a chair outside Padme's bedroom door guarding her. There was no doubt in his mind what Solo was guarding his wife from. He was guarding her from him. But Anakin wasn't about to let this get in his way. Let Solo think that he was keeping him out of there. Anakin was nothing but determined. He would find a way in there.
He silently left the house and traveled along the side of it until he reached the window leading into Padme's bedroom. He chanced a look around and found Artoo keeping watch. Artoo. He hadn't seen the droid since Mustafar.
"Anakin, all I want is your love,"
"Love won't save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that,"
"At what cost? You are a good person. Don't do this!"
"I won't lose you the way I lost my mother! I've become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of and I've done it for you. To protect you,"
"Come away with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can," .
"Don't you see, we don't have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him, and together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be,"
"I don't believe what I'm hearing . . . Obi-Wan was right. You've changed,"
"I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me!"
"I don't know you anymore. Anakin, you're breaking my heart. I'll never stop loving you, but you are going down a path I can't follow,"
"Because of Obi-Wan?"
"Because of what you've done . . . what you plan to do. Stop, stop now. Come back! I love you!"
"LIER!"
Anakin closed his eyes as he remembered what he had done next. He nearly killed her. He hated himself for it. He knew that Artoo knew exactly what had happened between him and Padme. Artoo was loyal to Padme first before him. Making a decision he used the force to quietly slide the window open which alerted Artoo. Anakin moved quickly and used the force to shut the droid off. He then climbed through the window and walked over to the bed where Padme laid sleeping. He stood there for a moment just watching the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. He hated the fact that she almost died because of him. The shame and guilt tore at him as he watched the angel sleep being tortured by the fact that he could only look at her from far away. To watch her when she was unaware that his eyes were on her. It tore him apart that when her eyes used to look at him with love and trust now looked at him with mistrust and fear. He would never have what he once did. He had destroyed their love. Their marriage. He had destroyed it all.
"I love you Padme. I have always loved you," He whispered before backing out of the room from where he had come remembering to turn Artoo back on before he left.
He then moved to Luke 's room where he saw Luke sleeping peacefully. Something he had never been able to do. Luke was a lot like Padme, he could sense it. Luke shifted in his sleep and Anakin backed up not wanting to disturb his son.
"Luke and Leia were born four months premature Anakin. Some of their organs including their lungs weren't fully developed and their hearts failed a few times."
He almost killed his children. All because of what? Because he chose to believe the lies of a monster rather than believing the ones who loved him.
Slowly he backed out of the room to visit Leia who slept in the next room. She too was sleeping peacefully. She was beautiful like her mother, but she had his spirit. She took after him. Suddenly he was afraid. Could Leia be tempted to the darkside? Could Luke? Would his children have the same temptations as he had? They were powerful, without a doubt. Should the emperor find them, he would destroy them. He would do to them what he did to him. He had to find a way to keep the emperor from finding his family. Suddenly he had come to a decision. He would need Obi-Wan's help.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obi-Wan normally rose with the sun. But he found himself rising several hours earlier than he normally did. He was needed, he could sense it. He got out of bed and threw on his cloak. He could sense a mixture of emotions. Guilt, shame, fear and anticipation. He knew that the force had woken him up. Anakin needed him. He followed these feeling coming into the kitchen where he found Anakin sitting on a stool by the counter slumped over the counter drinking something Obi-Wan was sure was brought into the house by Han.
Obi-Wan took a seat next to Anakin. "Something heavy is on your mind, I can sense it. You seem to be in the same moods as you were in as you fell to the dark side," he said.
"How did you pull it off?" Anakin asked.
"Pull what off?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Padme's supposed death. How did you pull it off?" Anakin asked.
"I would think that it was quite obvious," Obi-Wan told him.
Anakin took a drink of whatever liquid that he was drinking. "I was there Obi-Wan. I saw the body. I touched it. How did you do it?" he said.
"The body that you are referring to was a clone. The Viceroy paid for it. It had taken a lot of money for the kemonians to do the job, after all it was done in three days. There were two clones one grown clone and one fetus. We had to act quickly Anakin. We did what we had to to protect Padme and the twins. I'm not sorry," Obi-Wan told him.
"I had to see for myself. But Seeing it, it drove me further into darkness. I did everything out of desperation. I was so sure that she was going to die, I had to find a way to save her." Anakin's grip on th glass tightened. "He told me that he knew how to prevent her from dying. He lied to me," he said the last part out of anger. "He used me! But no more! My main priority is to my family now. I must keep him off of their trails."
Obi-Wan didn't know what to say. He knew that he could have prevented Anakin's fall. He knew. If he had only just listened to him before. Perhaps this whole mess could have been avoided. He knew that he had failed Anakin, but he would not fail again.
"I need your help Obi-Wan," Anakin said.
"What is it you need?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin looked at him then and Obi-Wan could see the determined look in his eyes. "I need you to help me plan my death," he said. The words sent a chill up Obi-Wan's spine.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke and Leia Skywalker always did almost everything together. Though they no longer shared a bedroom as they did when they were toddlers. Neither did they bath together since then. But everything short of personal duties they pretty much did together. They even woke up at the same time. Today was no exception. The first thing that the twins did when they woke up was brush their teeth and brush their hair before changing into their swimming gear. No matter where they were, they always found time to go swimming. There were only a few times when they couldn't go swimming and that was when they were on backwater planets hiding from the Empire. They never really understood why they were hiding from the Empire, but now they knew. They knew that it was their father who had a hand at building the Empire. But they also knew that their father would now have a hand at destroying it.
Luke and Leia met up in the hallway outside of their bedrooms fully prepared for swimming and raced each other out to the veranda where they ran and leaped off of the railing into the water. They were however surprised to find a third party come up for air out of the water and allowed their jaws to drip as their father wiped water from his face and slicked his hair back.
"Don't tell me that that was your running footsteps I herd coming from inside the house," Anakin said.
"Alright, we won't tell you," Luke said and flashed him a grin.
Anakin narrowed his eyes at him for the cheeky reply but didn't say anything. He didn't say anything because he knew that he had to jurisdiction to say anything. Sure he was their father, but he had no part of their upbringing.
"We didn't know that you'd be out here," Leia admitted.
"I came out here to be alone and think," Anakin told them.
"About what?" Luke asked and cried, "Owe!" when Leia kicked him under the water.
Anakin narrowed his eyes at Leia for a moment.
"If you want to be alone, we can go somewhere else," Leia suggested.
"No, no, you're fine. I don't mind the company, most of all if it's the two of you," Anakin told them.
Luke and Leia looked at each other before nodding and grinned at their father. "Okay," they said in unison and then began to splash him with the force before swimming away.
Anakin laughed as he wiped the water from his face and began to swim after them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Padme was in the kitchen preparing the morning meal. She had spend the better part of that watching out the window where she had a clear view to where Anakin or Vader was swimming. He looked like Anakin but with few more scars, but she knew that he wasn't Anakin. He could never be Anakin. Anakin was dead. She turned her attention away from the window and continued on what she was doing.
"Mind if I helped?"
Padme startled at hearing Obi-Wan's voice and she put down the knife she was cutting with to turn to him. "It depends," she said.
"Depends on what?" Obi-Wan asked.
"On where you're loyalties lie," Padme told him and then realized what she had said. "I meant on how great you were in the kitchen!" she said.
Obi-Wan betrayed nothing. "I know what you meant Padme," he said. "The problem is that my loyalties lie with both sides on this. With Anakin's and Yours, I am now stuck in between," he told her.
"But he isn't Anakin, not anymore," Padme told him. "Anakin died Obi-Wan."
"That is what we had to believe in order to survive. But it isn't the case anymore. I know that you don't understand the natures of the force, but it was the force that has enabled us all to have a second chance," Obi-Wan told her. "Perhaps, you can let everything slid for one second to see that it is possible for Anakin to have returned to us," he said.
Padme said nothing as she looked out the window again to see that the twins had joined their father and had now splashed him with the force and started swimming away. For a brief second she though she could see him laugh before he tore off after them. Could it be possible for Anakin to have returned? Could she forgive him? No. "Even if Anakin did come back, it's too late. It's just too late," she said and left the kitchen.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Padme prided herself on how she spent her day. She prided herself on how well she had avoided Anakin/Vader. They may have been stuck in the same house together but it didn't mean that they had to speak to one another. There were quite a few times that Anakin/Vader caught her in a room alone, but someone had always come up to take their attention away from one another. During the meals, Anakin/ Vader chose to eat in a different room and Obi-Wan occasionally joined him. Padme had made herself scarce for most of the time not wanting to speak to her husband. But it was difficult. He was everywhere. She was finding herself not being able to take it. Han and Chewbacca were busy scouting for imperial scouts. They didn't know if any other imperials knew where they were. Or if the Emperor did.
Padme hurried into the living room where Anakin had first professed his love for her. She closed the doors behind her and took a deep breath. Hopefully no one would be looking for her for a while. Luke and Leia were getting ready for bed and Obi-Wan was probably off talking to Anakin/Vader. And with Han and Chewie taking rounds she would be left alone. Padme pressed a hand to her heart and felt like weeping. Instead she took a deep breath and continued into the room to light the fire before sitting down. She watched the fire dance in the fireplace and remembered that night twenty years before.
"From the moment I met you, all those years ago, a day hasn't gone by when I haven't thought of you. And now that I'm with you again, I'm in agony. The closer I get to you, the worse it gets. The thought of not being with you makes my stomach turn over - my mouth goes dry. I feel dizzy. I can't breathe. I'm haunted by the kiss you should never have given me. My heart is beating, hoping that kiss will not become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me. What can I do? I will do anything you ask..."
Padme continued to stare into the fire as she remembered that conversation.
"If you are suffering as much as I am, tell me."
"...I can't. We can't. It's just not possible."
"Anything's possible. Padmé, please listen..."
"You listen. We live in a real world. Come back to it. You're studying to become a Jedi Knight. I'm a Senator. If you follow your thoughts through to conclusion, they will take us to a place we cannot go... regardless of the way we feel about each other."
"Then you do feel something!"
"Jedi aren't allowed to marry. You'd be expelled from the Order. I will not let you give up your future for me."
"You're asking me to be rational. That is something I know I cannot do. Believe me, I wish I could wish my feelings away... but I can't."
"I am not going to give in to this. I have more important things to do than fall in love."
"It wouldn't have to be that way... we could keep it a secret."
"Then we'd be living a lie - one we couldn't keep up even if we wanted to. I couldn't do that. Could you, Anakin? Could you live like that?"
"No. You're right. It would destroy us."
And it did destroy them. It destroyed everything including the galaxy. If she could do it all over again, she wouldn't have... She would have done exactly the same thing. She had very little regrets with her marriage. Padme looked away from the fire to look out the window. Nights on Naboo would always be her favorite. The scent of a ithilian flower that only bloomed at night floated through the air. Nothing could compare to Naboo.
"You know I meant what I said all those years ago."
Padme turned around and stood up suddenly going straight for the door but he was already there. "How long have you been here?" she demanded.
"Longer than you," Anakin told her from his spot in front of the door. "We need to talk," he said not budging from his spot.
"I have nothing to say to you," Padme told him. She knew that there was another exit somewhere in this room.
"I don't believe that. I've been trying to talk to you all day but something just kept conveniently coming up. But here we are together with no interruptions. We need to talk about what happened," Anakin said.
"Have you considered the fact that I don't want to talk to you let alone be in the same room as you?" Padme demanded.
"I wouldn't blame you after everything. The way I went about doing things I ended up destroying what actually mattered most," Anakin said still standing guard at the door.
Padme didn't know what to make of this act of humility. But she couldn't believe that this was all Anakin. He was gone. He just was. They would never have what they once had back. Her next words however, she didn't know where they came from. "Somehow I don't think your mother would have been very proud of you, it's a good thing she died before she could see what you've become," she spat out. She instantly covered up her mouth with her hands hardly able to believe what she had said.
Anakin turned his face as though he had been slapped. "You're right. For once I am glad that she had died when she did," he admitted.
Padme didn't say anything else too afraid of what she might say next. The fact that he didn't lash out at that one remark should have been testament that he had changed. But her heart wouldn't let her believe it. It could be a trick.
"I hurt the people who I cared about the most. I committed unspeakable acts all for a lie. What right do I to your forgiveness. But I'm asking for it anyway," Anakin said.
"I'm not the one you should be asking for forgiveness. You owe the entire galaxy forgiveness," She told him.
"I don't want the galaxies forgiveness only yours!" Anakin told her stepping away from the door momentarily. But it wasn't large enough for Padme to escape.
"If this is some trick to bring me to your side it's not working," Padme told him.
"What?" Anakin said. "No! Padme I swear I'm not trying to trick you!"
"You could have fooled me!" Padme snapped. "I'm not entirely sure what you're hoping to pull off by this game, but I refuse to play. I have too much to loose. I've lost too much because of you, I'm not loosing again. If you think that I'm giving in then you are mistaken. I want nothing to do with you, ever."
"You said that you wouldn't give in before," Anakin pointed out.
"I made a mistake. A fatal error in judgment," Padme said automatically.
"No! You love me just as much as I love you, you can't ignore that!" Anakin said desperately.
"No," Padme said her voice shaking at what she felt that she had to say even if she didn't believe it, even if it weren't true. "I don't."
Anakin looked at her hard then hoping that she wasn't saying what he thought she was saying. "You don't what?" he asked.
"Love you," Padme said simply. A large part of her was screaming at her for saying this. Screaming at her to stop this and a part of her was regretting it when she saw the expression in his eyes. She was breaking his heart. Another part of her felt satisfied. He had broken her heart it was only fair that she broke his.
"I don't believe that," Anakin said. "Love doesn't die! Not ours!"
Padme forced herself to stay strong. She had to get through this. "It did. Love died the minute you chose Palpatine over us," she told him.
Anakin didn't say anything he just approached her and cupped her face in his hand forcing her to look him in the eye. "Prove it," he told her and kissed her with the passion of a desperate man.
Padme tried to fight him but soon found herself giving in knowing that she had longed for this moment for sixteen years. The moment when she would have her husband back, but then she remembered everything that he had done in the end and she fought harder breaking the kiss and moving away from him. "Don't do that again!" she snapped.
"You can't deny it, you do love me!" Anakin told her. "I'm not asking you to forget the past, I'm asking for your forgiveness. I'm asking you to salvage what we had, to start over!"
"I can't even trust you," Padme told him going to the door. "If you ever touch me again I will kill you," she added as an after thought. She never wanted her weakness to show again. Without another look at Anakin she left the room.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anakin didn't bother knocking, he just barged into Obi-Wan's room ignoring the fact that the old man was sleeping. He moved about the room collecting the things that they would need and threw them in a bag. He then turned to where Obi-Wan grunted in his sleep and threw the bag at him hitting him in the stomach. Obi-wan sputtered and coughed as he sprung up in bed.
"Get up old man it's time," Anakin said.
"I see that you are still trying to kill me," Obi-Wan grumbled.
"Like you'll ever give me the chance," Anakin grumbled back crossing his arms.
"You have a better chance now. I've gotten old and I'm out of practice," Obi-Wan told him as he got out of bed.
"I doubt that you are out of practice and age is nothing for a jedi," Anakin told him.
"Well your methods for waking a person up can kill them," Obi-Wan said throwing on his cloak. He then saw what time it was. "Blast! It's the middle of the night!"
"It's the perfect time to disappear unnoticed," Anakin countered.
Obi-Wan looked at him hard. "Why now? What happened?" he questioned.
"I don't want to talk about it," Anakin told him flatly.
Obi-Wan sighed. "I take it that you have a ship then," he said.
"It's hidden," Anakin told him walking over to the far wall where he knocked three times before a doorway appeared.
"How did you know about the passageways?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin looked at him then. "You're kidding? Obi-Wan, I've been here several times and I have gotten bored on a few occasions, I found them," he said flatly.
"I always figured that you were too enamored with Padme to take notice," Obi-Wan admitted.
Anakin frowned at the old memories that popped up torturing him. "I don't want to talk about that," he said.
Obi-Wan glanced at him but said nothing as they continued through the passage. There would be plenty of time to get Anakin talking on this mission.