Dark Emperor: Chapter 3
The timer on the navicomputer begins to count down audibly. We're just about ready to drop out of hyperspace. I shake myself awake, rub the sleep out of my eyes, and lean forward in the pilot's chair, examining the controls on the dashboard.
3...2...1...
I push the hyperspace lever forward, and the dimension of hyperspace compresses. The stars stretch out like a never ending streak of lines and then decompress and spit us out into real space just outside of Coruscant's atmosphere. Like always, there is a long queue of ships waiting for permission to enter orbit and land. Padmé's skiff, however, is allowed immediate entry with her transponder casting a senatorial code.
"Welcome back to Coruscant, Senator," A young male voice echoes through the cockpit. "What is your destination?"
I flick the switch and activate the comm. "This is General Skywalker. I have the Senator and Emperor aboard. They're both injured and require immediate medical attention. We're heading to the med center in the Federal District. Have two medical teams prepped and standing by."
Over a trillion beings of all types of galactic species reside on this single planet, all the way down to the depths of the lowest levels. If you don't know exactly who you're looking for, and don't know exactly what their presence feels like, and where exactly they are, chances are you won't be able to find their Force-presence in the never ending sea of beings. A sudden surge of panic, though, gives this guy away, and I follow that presence back to the building I know to be the Coruscant Space Traffic Control Headquarters. I've been there before. Several times, in fact. "Right away, General. I'll notify them immediately, Sir!" His panicked voice assures me.
Feeling him in the Force, I can see the thoughts running through his mind, and if he tells everyone, or anyone, for that matter, about the Emperor, then things beyond my control can - and probably will - happen. And, I can't let that happen. This is something I need to control. It has to be dealt with sensitively, carefully. Stretching out with the Force, I find his signature and manipulate his mind, commanding, "You will not tell anyone about the Emperor or the Senator. You will instead notify the med center of two high priority VIP patients, and ensure their medical teams are standing by upon my arrival."
"I will not tell anyone about the Emperor or Senator. I will instead notify the med center of two high priority VIP patients, and ensure their medical teams are standing by upon your arrival." His glazed over voice echos over the comm.
I nod approvingly, glad that I thought of mind tricking him before it was too late. There's no telling what kind of damage could've been done had I not caught myself there. Last thing I want is some power hungry senator to try and take what is now rightfully mine. I haven't done everything I have in the last day and a half just to get screwed over by some opportunistic politician. "And you will forget this conversation after you carry out your orders, and destroy any recordings made."
He echoes my order again, and I cut off the transmission, plotting a course for the most direct route through the sky traffic to the med center.
Twenty minutes later we arrive. I lower the landing struts and prepare for landing on the landing pad on the roof of the med center. Two teams of medical professionals are standing by with two hover gurneys, and medical droids standing by with them. I nod, satisfied my orders were carried out to the letter. Once I touch down, with a perfect landing, I unbuckle my crash webbing, stand up out of my seat, and make my way downstairs to the cargo bay and unlock and open the door. Stepping in, I grab the Emperor by the back of his cloak and drag his corpse out into the hall, then hit the button for the landing ramp to lower to the ground.
It does, and I play my part to the hilt. "Hurry! We need help now!"
Human doctors begin to board, urgently. "Get me the gurney! Now!" One of them orders, his eyes widening as he begins to realize the seriousness of the situation. He checks the Emperor for a pulse. A pulse that he hasn't had for the last several hours, nearly half a day if the chrono on the wall is correct. I leave them to their work and go up the steps to the second floor and make my way to the medical bay of the skiff.
"Ani?" Padmé's soft voice welcomes me, her brown eyes follow me as I enter the medical bay and walk over to stand next to her.
I can't even describe how hearing her voice right now makes me feel. It's like feeling the Force for the first time. "I'm here, Angel." I hold my hand out to her, and she wraps her small soft hand around mine and squeezes. "We're back on Coruscant, at the med center in the Federal District." She nods weakly and tries to stand to her feet. "What the kriff do you think you're doing?" I gently push her back down on the bed and wrap one arm under her legs on the underside of her knees, and wrap my other arm around her back. "I've got you, my love."
She gives me an admonishing look, a look I know to be annoyance at me treating her like she can't take care of herself. We both know I don't think that of her at all. She's by far the strongest woman I know. She just happens to be nearly nine months pregnant with our baby and as big as a bantha. "I know you do." Her words sound raspy and hoarse coming from her abused throat, and they send another pang of guilt through me like a vibroblade to the heart.
After what I did to her, how could she possibly still trust me? Did she forget what I did to her? Has she forgiven me already? Or, does she believe that I would never harm her again? Because Force knows I wouldn't, regardless if she's carrying our child within her or not. I'm not gonna say I haven't hit a woman before. That'd be a lie. I've hit a few women before, but that was always in war, in hand to hand, and lightsaber combat; Asajj Ventress being a prime example. I even Force choked her too, and my hold on her throat was a lot more severe, since she has the Force and could always get out of my hold.
Padmé couldn't. Still, I could never kill her, even if she did betray me. I push that thought roughly out of my mind, and lift Padmé into my strong arms, holding her tightly up against my chest. Her slender arms come to wrap around my neck, and her head drops to my shoulder, and I carry her out into the corridor, down the stairs and down the landing ramp. The team with the Emperor has already gone inside. I'd imagine they're trying to save him, even if its impossible and a complete waste of their time.
But, who am I to stop them? They have to be able to do everything they can think of before they officially declare him dead. He's the Emperor, after all, or former Emperor, I should say.
"Lay her down here," one of the doctors say, patting the gurney. I lower Padmé gently to the gurney and let her go. She keeps her arms wrapped around me and pulls me down to her, molding her lips to mine. She catches me off guard for a moment, and I just stand there shocked, but her lips pull me out of my shocked state, and I return the kiss with urgency, letting her know that I'm still her Ani, her loving husband.
That hasn't changed. And never will, no matter what else happens.
Even if I don't consider myself to be that man anymore.
She lets me go. Our lips part with a soft pop, and she gives me a beautiful smile, one that literally takes my breath away.
"We should get her inside," the same doctor says, ruining the moment between my wife and I.
I nod and grab my wife's hand, and we move inside the turbolift and down to the VIP wing of the med center. We're moved into a private room, and the medical droids start to hook her up to different equipment and machines as directed by the lead physician, a tall, middle-aged gentleman with dark hair graying at the temples, and a thick Corellian accent.
Is something wrong? I wonder. "What's happening?" I ask them, not caring who tells me, so long as someone tells me what the kriff's happening.
One of the droids answers for them. "Senator Amidala is in labor. Her water has broken," it says, pointing to her wet pants that I hadn't even noticed, nor did she, or if she did, she didn't say anything. "Did you know your water broke, Senator?" The droid asks Padmé, beating me to the punch.
She shakes her head. "No. I mean, I felt something, but I just thought that I...wet myself." Her cheeks redden in embarrassment. I squeeze her hand and smile reassuringly down at her.
We're about to be parents! And, she's worrying about that? "Nothing to be embarrassed about, Angel," I assure her.
The nurses in the room get to work, removing her top and placing a medical gown on her first, before removing her boots, lowering her pants and panties and removing them both and draping a sheet over the lower half of her body, and then placing her feet in a set of stirrups to keep her legs spread and bent for the doctor to examine her. She doesn't take her eyes off of me, and I try to keep myself from getting furious that another man is looking at - and touching - my wife down there, even if its not in an intimate manner.
Only one man has ever seen or touched her there before, and that's me, but I keep my temper in check when Padmé squeezes my hand and gives me a reassuring smile. "He's just doing his job, Ani. Trust me, Honey. I'm sure he's delivered plenty of babies before."
I nod, because that's the only reason why I haven't decapitated him yet. But, it doesn't stop me from keeping my eyes firmly locked on the man and what he's doing to my wife's body with his gloved hands. Quickly, I search his mind, my temper momentarily eased by his concentration on his medical duties.
But, even one improper thought crossing his mind will have me pulling my lightsaber off my belt and swinging it through his neck, faster than he can blink. And, I would enjoy every moment of that. "Alright," the doctor says, walking around the gurney and looking down at Padmé. "I've finished my exam, Senator. You're currently five centimeters dilated. We still have some time to go," he looks up at me, giving me a look I can't quite decipher and then back down to Padmé. "You should contact the babies' father, I'm sure he'll want to be here when-"
He stops talking mid sentence, his hands flying up to his throat as he starts choking. An ice cold chill runs through my body at his words. How dare he look at me, dismiss me like I'm vermin, and suggest Padmé contact the babies' father like it can't possibly be me. Did he not see how we interacted when I placed her down on the hover gurney? How could he have missed that kiss?
"Ani! Let him go!" my wife implores me.
I ignore her. My mind is too focused on the slight against me. I let go of her hand and stalk around the gurney until I'm standing right before him and then I let my Force grip on his neck go, and lift him to his feet with my hands on his jacket. "I'm the father, doctor, or am I invisible to you?" How dare he insult me like that!
Fear oozes out of him, and I have every intention of just ending his useless life right now. "I'm-I'm sorry, General." He sputters. "I just didn't think Jedi..."
"Yes, you didn't think," I interrupt him, my voice soft and lethal. "If you weren't my wife's doctor, I'd end your life as I speak. Fortunately for you, you're still useful to me." I push him back against the wall and retake my position on the other side of the gurney. "Was there anything else, Doctor?"
He shakes his head, vehemently and makes his way for the sliding door, leaving in a hurry.
Padmé levels me with a glare, and I return it. "What?"
She shakes her head sadly. "You did that to me, Ani." Guilt twists into my gut again at the reminder. "I tried to forget it, to give you another chance to redeem yourself in my eyes, to trust you...and you go and choke the doctor taking care of me for no reason. I don't know if I can-"
"For no reason?!" I throw my hands in the air. "Seriously? He had the nerve to ignore me the whole time and told you to call the father of our child, like I wasn't even here!"
A couple of tears slip from her eyes, fall down her cheek. "How was he supposed to know you're the father?! Jedi aren't supposed to father children!" She may have a valid point, and so did he, but...
"I'm not a Jedi!" Not anymore, and if I have it my way, there won't be any Jedi scum left to teach their perverse beliefs on to the next generation, or to anyone else for that matter.
Padmé looks away from me. I can feel her emotions strongly, as if they were my own, and I don't like what I feel. "Ani, please go...I-I need some time to myself." Her words cut through me like a lightsaber to flesh. "I don't need the added stress right now."
Kriff! She's pregnant, in labor, for Force's sake! Of course she doesn't need to see me choking her doctor like I choked her not too long ago! I nod my head and heed her wishes, even if every fiber in me tells me not to go. "I understand...I'll be outside when you're ready to see me again." It kills me to leave her, but my vision of her dying in childbirth flashes through my mind, and even though I know I changed it by killing Obi-Wan and by being here for her, that doesn't mean I changed her fate. Maybe the stress I've just added to her already overly stressful state is what kills her...maybe her death is a self fulfilling prophesy.
There are too many variables, too many unknowns, and when I should be in there holding her hand and trying to be a supportive husband and soon-to-be father, what do I do? I screw things up when she tries to give me a second chance. I'm such a kriffing idiot. Apparently some of Anakin is still in me, my hot-headed temper. Something I can't allow to continue. Being a father will be trying enough, especially if Padmé can't trust me to be alone with our child for fear of me losing my temper and potentially hurting our child like I did her...
The vision of Padmé grasping for an invisible force surrounding her throat, my extended hand applying that pressure to cut off her breathing floats through my mind. Shaking my head, I clear it of the memory as I exit her private room.
If I can't be in there to be with my wife, then I need to do something to keep my mind occupied for the time being, and that's when my need for a plan comes rushing back. I need to check on the status of the Emperor, make sure the medical team doesn't try and tell the galaxy the news. I need to control things.
This is my Empire now, and I intend for it to stay that way.
Grabbing my comlink off my belt, I open it and comm my third speed dial. "General Skywalker, sir!" Captain Rex, the Second-in-Command of my 501st Legion answers.
The familiar voice calms me a little. He's one man I know won't let me down. He's been at my side, fighting with me, for the duration of the Clone Wars and has gained my utmost trust. "Captain, I need a platoon to respond to the VIP wing of the Federal District's Med Center. Have them guard all entrances and exits, and I need all incoming and outgoing communications to be severed until further notice for everyone inside that isn't one of us."
He doesn't question my orders. "Yes, sir!" I end communications, and I have no doubt he'll be here as fast as he can assemble his men, board the gunships, and respond. He's a man much like myself. He'll see to this mission himself to ensure its carried out to my express orders.
In the meantime, I walk down the corridor with purpose to the front desk, and a nurse gives me a startled look before asking in a wavering voice, "H-how can I h-help you, General?" Where before it would be a look of adoration, of frank admiration, now it's close to terrified
She must know what I did to the doctor. Good. That should make things easier for me. Fear is a good motivator to keep people in line. "What is the condition of the other VIP patient that arrived with me?" I don't have to say who it is. I'm sure the whole wing is aware of that VIP's identity, which is why my men need to get here as fast as humanly possible.
No one will find out the news, outside of this wing, until I wish for them to do so. Nobody will leave, enter, or even communicate with anyone outside this facility until further notice.
She types away on her datapad, and I can feel horror flood her. "He's dead, isn't he?" I ask. She nods, sadly. I just nod, trying to look sad myself and walk away, then turn back to her. "Where is he?"
She looks at the datapad and gives me directions to the operating room where they worked on him. Reaching out with the Force, I could feel the lives of about a dozen or so people inside the room with the deceased Emperor. I enter the room. All eyes fall on me and quickly look away.
There's no possible way they could know what I did to the other doctor, but it's clear they know I was close to the deceased monarch lying on the table before me. The Emperor and myself were known by many to be relatively close. The Emperor would use our relationship to his benefit. And, I'd use it as well, using his connections to further my own goals and help me get things the Jedi refused to give me.
It makes sense why he helped me now. He wanted me to turn to him first, to get closer to him and draw me further away from the Jedi Order, and I'm grateful for that.
I never belonged in that Order. I could never be the Jedi they wanted me to be. That much is clear to me now.
The Sith though, the Sith allow me to be myself and allow me access to power that I never imagined possible before. Palpatine was right about one thing, the Jedi did have a rather narrow dogmatic view of the Force. He was also right that if I wanted to be a wise leader, that I would need to see a larger view of the Force, and I'm already seeing it in a new light...or dark, I should say.
I walk up to the side of the metal operating table. The dead man that I used to hold on such a high pedestal, so much so that he was like a god in my eyes, lies there, breathless, lifeless. It's hard to see the man I knew, the man I looked up to in him now. "You were right," I tell the old, cold corpse. "I'll remember what you taught me," and what I took from your mind, "and I'll carry on the Empire, ensuring peace and order reign throughout the galaxy."
Saying all I want to, to the dead man, I leave his side and walk back out to the corridor. The clones are here. I can hear their boots clattering on the floor, echoing down the hallway. Two of them turn the corner and see me, relaying the information into their comms.
"General Skywalker!" I even feel like him again when they run to stand before me, stopping, saluting, and waiting for my orders.
If it was anyone else, I'd lash out at them for calling me a man I no longer am. But, my men aren't anyone else, they're my troopers. "Secure the floor. Nobody enters or leaves without my direct say so. Also, cut off all communications. Nobody, except for us, sends or receives any calls, messages, or holograms."
They salute me again. "Yes, sir!" Then they go and ensure my orders are carried out.
I keep walking back down the hall to Padmé's room and use the Force to pull a chair from the nearby nurses' station and sit guard outside Padme's closed door. She may not want me to be in there right now, for good reason, for the both of us, but I'll be damned if I'm not nearby when she needs me most.
"General!" Captain Rex salutes me. I stand and return the salute to the one man I have left that is like a brother to me.
At least I know he won't turn his back on me. Not just because he's a clone, but because he's been nothing but loyal to me, and I've earned his respect, like he has mine. "Captain, I assume your men know their orders?" He removes his helmet and levels a glare at me. I smirk and nod. Of course they're being carried out. "Good," I pull him close and speak low into his ear, "If anyone attempts to enter, exit, or make contact with anyone outside of this wing, they are to be terminated immediately. Is that understood?" Rex is an honorable man, not a Separatist who would kill needlessly, but he needs to understand that I mean what I say and that what I'm telling him to do is nothing compared to what I may expect of him in the future. But one step at a time. "We live in a different galaxy now, Captain." I wrap an arm around his armored shoulder and bring him down the hall to where the slain Emperor's body lies. "I need to control the flow of information, and until I'm ready, and decide how to break the news to the people of the galaxy and to the Senate, I need to keep everything locked down."
The direness of the situation becomes clear to him, and he nods in agreement. I pat him on the shoulder and lead him back to Padmé's room. Glancing in the window of the closed door, he appears startled. "Is...is that Senator Amidala?" He stutters.
I nod, looking through the same window with a smile. "Yes. She's my wife and soon-to-be mother of my child," I tell him proudly. His eyes widen, mouth drops open, helmet falls to the floor with a clatter, gaining Padmé's attention. She smiles tiredly at him and waves weakly. He nods back, closes his mouth, speechless. "I also need to keep this quiet as well, until we decide to tell the galaxy our business."
Rex is a man of few words, another thing we have in common. He's also sensible. He picks up his helmet and scratches his bald head. "What are your plans, General?" If he wasn't a clone, he may be able to help me with that. He is a clone though, and although he may be one of the more intelligent men I know, he's only really good at one specific thing.
Warfare. Military. Strategy.
All one in the same. You can't have one without the other. "The Emperor is dead," I flat out state. "When the news comes out, there will be chaos in the galaxy, and although I've destroyed the Separatist leadership and made sure their droid army has been shut down, there are still Separatists out there, as well as those who would wish to bring the Empire down, even from the inside. I can't...I won't allow that to happen."
My determination hardens over. I mean business, and Rex must see it in my expression. "Then what are you going to do, Sir?" His voice is cautious, curious.
He's still looking up to me as his General, it's nice to have someone look up to me for orders. To listen to my every word, my every command and not admonish me or attempt to put me back in my place like I'm a child who has no clue what he's talking about.
I can get use to this and have every intention of doing so.
First I bring him up to speed, let him come to his own conclusions from there. "Before the Empire was born, the Emperor and I met in private, after the Jedi Council attempted to assassinate him in cold blood. I saw Master Windu attempt to kill the then Chancellor and would've had I not intervened and cut Master Windu's hand off. The Chancellor killed him. It turned out he was the Sith all along, the one we've been looking for, but he wasn't what the Jedi painted him as."
I shake my head, take a deep breath, then continue my carefully constructed story. One that I'll end up repeating, until I get what I want, and then there will be no stopping me until this galaxy is painted in my image. I wasn't kidding when I told Padmé that we could make the galaxy the way we wanted it to be. We will. I'll make sure of it.
"As I was saying," I continue, "he proved to me that the Jedi were the evil ones, the ones who stood in our way of ensuring peace and order in the galaxy. It was hard for me to believe too, but everything he said was proven to be true when I saw what the Jedi attempted to do by trying to kill the Chancellor with a Jedi hit squad instead of taking him into custody, like I so adamantly demanded. Master Windu refused my demand and tried to slay the Chancellor. We know how that turned out, and it proved that he was right all along."
I tell him all about what happened then, how I pledged myself to his teachings, accepting my place as a Sith Lord as his Apprentice. How I stormed the Jedi Temple with the 501st, something he knows well, yet wasn't a part of. How I then went to Mustafar, had the droid army shut down and then slayed the Separatist leadership, something he enjoyed hearing in explicit detail, and then how Master Kenobi ambushed us, killing the Emperor, and attempting to kill me.
That was the hardest part of the story, since it wasn't true in the least, and I had to be sure to word it carefully. He bought it all though and cursed in Mandalorian.
When I finish my tale, he brings his hand to his chin and rubs it, deep in thought. "You're going to declare yourself Emperor, aren't you?" I'm not surprised he connected the pieces. He may be a clone and limited in his intellect, but he always was as sharp as a vibroblade. "Well...General, you can count on our support." He salutes me, a smile on his face. I salute back with a smile on my own face. "Just tell us what to do, where you need us, and we'll do as you command."
There was never a doubt in my mind that Rex would stand by me. He's been at my side for even my craziest planned missions, missions that I only pulled off because of his help and my power and skill in the Force. I've come to rely on him, and he's yet to let me down. "Thank you, Captain." He's going to be one of the few I come to rely on in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. The future is never certain, but what is certain is that I can't do everything on my own, even if I wish I could.
A glance in the window again shows a medical droid tending to Padmé's needs, and guilt punches its way into me. I should be inside that room with her. I should be the one tending to her needs, not a droid, but I lost that right. Just like Anakin almost lost her when his jealousy seized control of him, and he nearly killed Rush Clovis for trying to kiss her. That name alone sends me back on top of that icy mountain, but I don't feed into it. He's dead, and what Anakin did then is nothing compared to what I did to her on Mustafar.
I'm not the man she married.
I'm not the man she fell in love with.
What I am, however, is an evolved form of that man.
I'm a Master now, a Sith Master, and soon-to-be Emperor of the Galactic Empire. I'd say that's a huge improvement over where Anakin was just a couple of days ago.
Jedi Knight to Sith Apprentice, then Sith Master and soon Emperor.
And, let's not forget soon-to-be father on top of that. Needless to say, my hands, from here on out, will be full. But, I'll be on the top, the one making the decisions for not only my new Order of the Sith Lords but also for my Galactic Empire.
Things they are a changing, and I'm loving the change.
No more hiding who I really am or my beloved wife and soon-to-be daughter from the galaxy.
No more of my hands being tied behind my back.
No more keeping me from reaching my full potential.
And most of all, no more having to be a slave to anyone, except to my daughter of course, who'll no doubt demand a lot from me.
That's one Master I wouldn't mind having though, and the only master in life I'll ever have. Wrapped around her little finger, I'm sure I will be, as well as the fingers of any other children we may have in the future, of course.
My time for reflection is over, as I hear the chattering of a certain protocol droid and the beeping and chirping of an astromech droid that saved my life more times than I can count. Artoo sees me first and beeps in greeting, then Threepio greets me himself. "Master Ani! We finally found you, sir!" Threepio walks faster, looks down at his little friend. "I told you I knew where I was going you little tin can!"
Artoo tweets back, shooting a derogatory comment that isn't very appropriate for flesh and blood beings, never mind droids, but that's my little astromech, my buddy. He may have picked up some cuss words from me over the years we've known one another. Much to my amusement.
But not my protocol droid.
Threepio slaps Artoo's dome, "Why I ever help you is beyond me, you rust bucket!" He continues to shuffle my way, and then he's finally before an amused Rex and myself. They turn and see, through the window in the door, Padmé inside her room, and Artoo opens the door and rolls right in, after beeping a greeting to myself and Rex first. Threepio is right behind him, and, as the door swishes shut behind them, cutting off their greeting to my wife, I feel better knowing that Padmé has them in there if she needs help.
Artoo and Threepio are family.
They'll take care of her like they always have.
"Ah, sir..." Rex lets his words die there, though it's more than obvious he's wondering why I'm not in there, too.
I run my hand through my hair, and the whirrrrrrrring of my mechno-hand reminds me that I need to fix it. I take a seat on the chair by her door and take off my glove and lean my hand on my right thigh and take a look at it while telling Rex why I'm out here and not in there. "I messed up, Rex." I admit, my voice honest, sincere. I know I messed up big time, and I'm not going to minimize that. "I'm not going into details, but I hurt her today in ways I never meant to. In ways that I don't know I can ever truly repair."
Kriff, what if she never forgives me for the monstrous things I did to her today? She forgave me for many things before, even looked the other way for other things, like slaying that whole camp of Tusken Raiders after they killed my mother, and twenty-six others that tried to save her life.
But that was different, they killed my mother. She died in my arms. I was hurting, grieving, in so much kriffing pain that I wouldn't have truly cared if one of the Tusken's got in a lucky shot and killed me dead.
That's how it felt to lose her, and that's when I first tasted the power of the dark side. It's not a power I'm ever going to give up either, I just need to find a way to balance myself with Padmé. She's the love of my life. She's my lover, my soulmate, my wife, my everything. I can't hurt her again, ever, and I need to be able to control myself around her, and our daughter. I'll never forgive myself if I hurt her again, or hurt our daughter. Not ever.
Rex pats me on the shoulder, nervously. I don't look up, just continue working on my mechno-arm. "I'm sure you'll find a way to get her to forgive you, General. I find that you're great at repairing things." He leaves me with that, putting his helmet back on and joining his men.
I am good at repairing things, but how can I ever repair our marriage after what I did to her? One thing's certainly clear, I lost her trust and maybe even her faith in me today. In order to regain her trust, I'll have to earn it back, and that'll take time and a whole lot of effort on my part. I'll do what it takes though. Even as Emperor, and a soon-to-be father, I'll do whatever I have to do to earn back her trust and faith in me. To earn back the love of my wife.
There's never been anything in life that I haven't been able to accomplish, if I put my mind to it. This task won't be any different.
It just may take me some time, that's all.
Several hours later, my mechno-arm is back to its original state, thanks to some additional help from Artoo, and Padmé is up to nine and a half centimeters and having contractions every one minute and twenty-two seconds, according to Threepio. She's still not letting me in the room. I've just been pacing outside, my hands clasped behind my back, ready to pull my hair out of my head in frustration every time I hear her having a contraction. It's killing me to hear her screaming in agony, and feel her pain through the Force, and being helpless, unable to go in.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" She screams again. I look into the room through that blasted window in the door and see her sitting up, the gurney slightly reclined, one of her hands is wrapped around one of the bars of the gurney and the other crushing Threepio's hand. He looks as horrified as a droid possibly could. And hell, I've had kriffing enough. She's my wife, dammit, and in extreme pain! She can be mad at me all she wants, but she needs me right now, regardless if she'll admit that or not.
She eyes me with a glare, as I enter the room, sweat pouring down her face. I take Threepio's place, and he gladly lets her hand go and steps out of the way. Padmé wraps her hand around my organic one and squeezes- hard. "It's about damn time you came in," she has the nerve to say.
I take a deep breath. I refuse to lash out at her. She's a woman going through labor. I's natural that she feels angry, considering all of the pain she's going through. "I would've came in sooner, Angel, if you'd have invited me back in, instead of watching me pace out there like a caged animal." I reach out with my feelings and try to send her some comforting vibes, try to help her body relax.
Even if I'm anything but relaxed in this moment.
She yells again in agony, head thrown back against the pillows, eyes squeezed tightly shut. I can feel her pain all the way down to my toes. Once the contraction passes, she opens her eyes, glares at me, and says, "You needed to realize that this isn't about you, Ani." She takes a deep breath, something I heard the doctor tell her earlier to do to help her calm down. "I'm the one giving birth here, I'm the one in agony who's about to push a human being out of my body! This should be about me and the life of our son, not you and your hurt feelings over a doctor not guessing you're the father, dammit!"
She's totally right, I know, but after the day I've had, the Dark Side is right there with me. It wants me to feel its emotions, it wants me to feed it, and that's what I'll have to learn to control. Feed it when it needs to be fed, just like the baby, and don't feed it when it ate too much or doesn't need to be fed. So, I clamp down on it and try to soothe my wife. "I know, Angel. I'm sorry about being selfish. I know this isn't about me. I get it. Right now, it's about you and our soon to arrive daughter, so tell me how I can help you." I'll do whatever she needs or wants me to do.
I need to regain her trust and faith, and that means doing whatever she needs and wants me to do in her time of need.
"I need you to shut up and listen to me." I do just that. I keep quiet and give her my full undivided attention, arching an eyebrow for her to continue. "There are certain things that I haven't told you...or anyone, for that matter. Only two people know, actually."
What the kriff does that mean? What's she been hiding from me?
"When you told me you had a vision about me dying in childbirth..." she says but then stops suddenly, squeezing my hand and screaming as another contraction hits before continuing once the pain passes, "I knew it to be true-"
"What?! You told me that you'd be okay. That you wouldn't die!"
She glares at me for cutting her off. "I saw how much the vision affected you. You had a horrified expression on your face, and you were trembling. Of course I told you that. But, it wasn't the truth. I don't know if I'll die, but your visions always happen the way you see them, and when I was sixteen years old, I was diagnosed with a heart condition. My healer wanted me to tie my tubes then. She said child birth or stress, a lot of stress, could kill me."
My throat's constricting, it feels like I'm using my own powers to choke myself. I can't breathe, yet my heart's beating so fast it feels like it's about to jump out of my chest, and my skin feels and even looks clammy to my own eyes.
She contracts again. It didn't feel like a minute and twenty two seconds though. She squeezes my hand harder this time. "I have a will on Naboo, and put all my money away in various accounts around the galaxy with you being my sole beneficiary with provisions for my parents and Sola and her family specified in my will. Just if I die, promise me you'll raise our son like we would together if I was still here."
I still can't talk, but I can see how much she's affected by what she just told me, and now I can see what'll kill her. Its her heart, not childbirth. If I can manipulate the midichlorians in her body to repair her heart condition then maybe I can-
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" She screams bloody murder, and nurses and doctors rush into the room with a couple of medical droids. The same doctor I choked earlier, who has kept me fully informed of what was happening since just after our first encounter, checks on her status and instructs everyone to gown and glove up.
"You too," he tells me, as I'm guided out of the room for a minute and a nurse helps me put on a gown, hands me something to put over my hair and gloves, even over the glove I'm already wearing, before escorting me back to my wife's bedside. "Alright Senator, when I say push, push. Give it all you've got."
Padmé grips my hand as hard as she possibly could, it feels like the bones in my hand are going to break. Maybe I should've given her my mechno-hand? It would've hurt less, but I deserve the pain, and that's why I gave her my organic hand. Besides, pain only serves to give me more strength in the Force.
"Push," he orders, and she does, and the grip on my hand gets harder as her whole body trembles with exertion, as she tries to push our baby girl out of her womb. She follows the doctors orders, pushing with all her might, screaming at the top of her lungs along with it, and then two minutes later, a high pitched wailing fills the room. "Congratulations! It's a boy."
Padmé gives me an I told you so look, even in her current state. She's a mess, which is to be expected, but she's still so kriffing beautiful. Especially now, I can't help but think, and I've never loved her more than I do in this moment.
"You're not done yet, Senator." The doctor says, confusing the both of us as he stays standing between her legs. "Would you like to cut the cord, General?" He asks me, to which I readily nod and follow his instructions cutting the cord, disconnecting my baby boy from his mother. He then hands our screaming son to a nurse who's holding a towel ready and cleans the fluids off of him, and carries him to the side of the room to examine him. "You've still got one more baby to deliver."
What?!
"We're having twins?" We both say at the same time, shocked, as I come back from watching the nurse tend to our son to stand at my wife's side.
He looks between us both, obviously surprised we didn't already know. "You didn't get any examinations?" He waves his hand in an it doesn't matter kind of expression. "We can talk more after, but right now, you need to push, milady."
She sits back up, and does her best, and I help support her back with my other arm. I'm certain my hand is broken by now, it feels like she has a death grip on it. But after a few more minutes of pushing and trying to break my hand, if it isn't broken already, another set of lungs are let loose upon us as our second baby's crying punctures the air around us.
The doctor smiles, "Congratulations! It's a girl." Now its my turn to give Padmé an I told you so look, and naturally, I do. I cut the second cord just like the first, and the nurses help Padmé clean up. The nurse that took our baby boy brings him over to me, as another nurse takes our baby girl. I reach out and listen to every word as she instructs me on how to hold him. She shows me how to position my arms as she hands him over to me.
I've never held a baby this small before, and I'm more than a little afraid that I'll drop him. I'm also afraid Padmé will just turn over and die. I try not to worry though as I hear her heart beat on the monitor. As long as that's making a beeping noise, it means she has a heart beat, and that means she's alive.
My son is now in my arms. His head is lying on my upper left arm, against my chest, and his body is nestled between my arms and my body. The nurse said to watch his head, as he can't hold it up on his own, so we have to support it. I at least knew that much.
I marvel over how much he looks like me and then Padmé slaps my arm. I look over to her and find her eyes locked on our son. Grinning, I lower him a little so she can see him. "Want to hold him?"
She nods eagerly and positions her arms correctly. That shouldn't surprise me. She has two nieces, she was probably there for both of their births and would know how to hold a baby. "Luke," she says reverently, her voice choked up with emotion.
"Luke," that was the name she wanted to name our son. and it fits him. "Luke Skywalker." It has a nice ring to it, I have to admit. and I'm glad that we have twins, even if it'll be more daunting to deal with than just one baby.
Twins. Even seeing them both, and feeling their incredibly strong presences in the Force, it's still hard to believe that they're ours. That we made them together.
Luke and Leia Skywalker.
"Here's your baby girl." The second nurse says, the one that took Leia to clean her up and examine her. "She weighs five pounds and two ounces, same as your son."
"Leia," I love the way her name rolls off my tongue as I say it, and my baby girl's dark colored eyes, so much like my wife's, find mine, and I can't help but smile. She's beautiful, just like her mother, and I'm certain she'll look and take right up after her.
Just like I'm sure Luke will take right up after me, too. It would make me a happy man and father if he did, but he won't be a Jedi.
He'll be a Sith. Leia will, too.
Leia cries in my arms, I gently rock her, but she won't budge. Padmé motions with her right arm, and I hand her over, "She's probably hungry." Padmé says, as she hands Luke back over to me.
Nurses help Padmé rearrange herself so she can breastfeed our daughter, and she was right, like usual. Leia goes right to work on suckling something that only I ever got the pleasure of sucking on before. Luke moves in my arms, his light blue eyes looking into my own. His eyes are a bit lighter than mine are, but I'm certain they'll be the same exact shade as mine. He even has some wisps of blonde hair on his little head, while Leia has a bigger thatch of dark colored hair on her own.
One thing is for sure, we make beautiful children together, and I tell Padmé so. She agrees completely, "We do, don't we?" I nod in one hundred percent agreement, and can't stop looking down at the two little lives we created with our love and passion for each other.
Love and passion that Yoda wanted me to let go. What the kriff does he know about the miracle of life? About love? About loving someone so much that you feel what they feel? He knows nothing of love, of happiness, of family, and I'm feeling all of that right now, even if I'm keeping a close eye on my exhausted, yet extremely glowing and beautiful wife.
Her heartbeat is still strong and coming down from its accelerated heart rate when she was in labor. The nurses and doctors have left us alone in peace, and now its only us, our beautiful children, and our droids. Maybe I was wrong about my vision? Maybe the death of Obi-Wan and me being here have changed it? And, I would believe that if she didn't confess to me earlier about having a heart condition that can kill her if she gave birth, or was too stressed out. I'm certain that giving birth is stressful enough, and twice as much at that and that only increases her chances of dying exponentially. Please Force, don't let her die! I beg the Force, and if the Force is what brought me into existence then maybe it'll listen-
"Ani?" Padmé's voice is suddenly weak, her eyes slowly fluttering shut, arms dropping down to the bed. "Take...take care...of them, and yourself. And love them...for me. I love...you, Ani."
Leia's falling from her arms, I quickly scoop her up before she rolls out of her mother's arms and hold her possessively in the crook of my arm with Luke being held the same way in my other arm. The heartbeat monitor slows down, and then comes to a halt, flat-lines, and her heads falls to the side, and I can feel her presence fading rapidly. "Padmé!" I shout, the twins screaming, crying in my arms. "Padmé!" Nurses and doctors run into the room, medical droids with them, and I pass my twins off to them, knowing that if what Padmé told me was true, which it most definitely was, then there's nothing they could do to change anything.
Only the Dark Side of the Force can bring her back.
"What are you doing?!" One of them barks at me, trying to push me out of the way. My eyes gleam with anger, impatience, and the pain of possibly losing the mother of my children, my wife, just like my own mother and having to watch her die without being able to save her. I raise my hand and push it out towards him, sending him flying out of the room with a Force push. Nobody else bothers me as I set about trying to save my wife, without having any kriffing clue exactly how to do it.
I only know that Darth Plagueis was able to bring people back from the dead, even save people from dying by manipulating the midichlorians in a being's body. If he can do it, then I can, too. I just have to learn how, and I don't have that time. I just concentrate all of my Dark Side energy on Padmé, willing her heart to beat and for her to come back to me.
Come on, Padmé! Fight, My Love! You can't leave me here to raise our twins alone! They need you! I need you!
I keep repeating my words, sending every thought to her through the Force and willing her to come back to me.
This has got to work. Our family is depending on it.
A/N: Duh... Duh... Duhhhh...
I know, cliff hangers right? Especially when it's just getting good? Don't worry, you won't have to wait long to find out if Darth Vader is successful in his attempts to bring back his beloved wife or not.
I will point out that Darth Plagueis was able to bring people back from the dead, he was also able to manipulate the midichlorians in beings and create life in creatures without there being a second partner, and lastly, he was able to heal himself through these manipulations.
If he can do that, then surely Vader could save his wife. He only lacks the knowledge and practice that Plagueis had. Nevertheless, even as Vader, he's still the Chosen One right? He can accomplish things thought to be impossible.
I also added in that heart condition because I hate the whole lost the will to live thing, and even if it is possible to die that way, I still don't like that for a reason for her as it wouldn't really apply in this situation.
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