January 22, 2014
A/N:
Hello! 8D
Thank you for reading this chapter!
Thank you a thousand times: Mo Angel, angie, broklynturtle, Haley Renee, LadyMarissaGarmadon, Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay, froovygirl, Shilo Thanliana, JourneyRocks13, duchesslynn4, Alexa Skywalker, Mirelles3, Jaspreet, and engineergilr86 for reviewing last update! *heart*
Thank you favoriters and subscribers.
Nope, didn't fall off the face of the earth. This gap inbetween updates—I am so sorry. I didn't plan it, didn't want it, but still it happened. After picking up all the things in my life again, I have begun to juggle them. I hope to hear from you in a review! It has been too long!
Since it has been so long, here is a skim of what has happened last chapter:
The Jedi Council contacted Anakin, needing him to help destroy Sidious. Outraged and scared to have to leave his family, Anakin did everything he could to negotiate with them, but to no avail. He was ready to quit the Jedi Order right then and there, but Padme was in the background and told him he must do this. Reluctantly, he decided to do it for her and the twins.
And that is where we start! Here is Chapter 18: Farewell. Happy reading! XD
Chapter 18: Farewell
Varykino, hushed with the depths of night, seemed peaceful from the outside. But within the walls, inside the master-suit, torment festered. Anakin, unable to rest, stared at the ceiling. Padme, glued to her husband, tried to succumb to the peace of sleep, but found it impossible. Even the twins were restless since they sensed their parents' distress.
Anakin's parting was to come at the dawn of the new day.
He sighed, trying to focus on the peaceful environment Naboo Lake Country provided.
The insect orchestra conducted faintly in the background. Waves lapped softer with Dalia's dimmer pull. Harmless creatures roamed about their lush habitat. Everything was soothing, just as it always had been.
But Naboo's enchantments couldn't lull him tonight.
Tomorrow meant how he must abandon his family. Yes, abandon. This was the same weight of leaving in the middle of a battle to let the powerless be overtaken.
The foolish Council! To send a mere boy to take his place? If anything happened to his family…
Again his senses anxiously revamped. The thought caught breath in his throat, just as it had when Leia was in such great danger. It was more than the young man could bear. Those emotions, plus Padme's presence being uncharacteristically heavy and the twin's innocent messages of discomfort produced a storm of insanity.
'I must focus harder to relax,' he meditated, '…they have always sensed your emotions.' His focus hastily reinforced itself. He allowed a mask of peaceful light to cover him, which seemed to help somewhat.
There was one thing in the galaxy that never failed to calm him; his beautiful luminary amidst the darkest of nights. Padme. How could he have forgotten her powers?
He glanced to her and savored her precious warm body pressed against him, and the delicate scent of her hair. Watched her rise and fall with a deep breath he slowly released. His devotion for her coursed through his very soul, and he let it flood. Allowed it drift him away from the shadows and into her beaming sanctuary.
"I love you," he whispered.
Padme's head tilted up, her gloomy eyes said more than words could, "I love you," they whispered.
For an instant, Anakin touched tranquility. Only for an instant, but none the less it happened. He had almost forgotten what it felt like.
Luke and Leia's agitated signatures were not easing. They were far too force sensitive. It hurt his heart to know he couldn't seem to pull himself together for them.
If only he could just eliminate the problem. Perhaps, if he shielded his connection to them, they would pacify. Yes! This must be how to help them!
He focused on the delicate task of cutting and stitching his strong force presence. He kept his feeling them open, but closed them feeling him. Right as the final cut was made, the force terribly shifted.
The twins panicked. They had never not sensed their father before. The loneliness and fear shocked their little beings. Luke, who was especially sensitive to these sorts of things, screamed out the loudest.
Their distress shot him out of bed. Padme, frightened by the sudden outburst, also hustled to her children. What the force was going on? Were her babies hurt? She looked to her husband's frowning face. He looked oddly distant. The odd distance he obtained when something of the force occurred. Not sure to be relieved or more worried she picked up Leia while he did Luke, "What's going on?" a tremor in her voice made its way out.
His frown deepened and he met her eyes, "I was stupid and thoughtless and…" his sentence became lost to his focus on hastily opening his connection again.
Now she frowned knowing she would have to wait. "Shhh, it's okay Leia, it's okay Luke, shhh…" she hushed. The twins didn't even seem to register their mother's comforting words. Padme grew more anxious. Mixed into her anxiety was a strange sense of panic. Though she was not a force sensitive, she had an unusual responsiveness to the mystical force.
The Senator wasn't sure how much longer she could stand her children's screams. Screams she never knew could be sounded.
The wails of his children consequently dulled his ability to focus. How could he be so foolish? So unable to think something thru? His twins were suffering greatly due to his bright idea.
Finally he reopened the bond!
Instantly the twin's force signatures cascaded his.
Luke looked up at his father, as if confused as to how his father was holding him since he hadn't sensed him. He sniffled and whimpered. Then he seemed to have a monumental epiphany. A toothless grin covered his face, and dimples formed in his wet, chubby cheeks. His cry died down to sniffles.
It cheered his father greatly. "I'm sorry, Luke," he apologized while Luke clung to his index finger. Anakin went closer to his wife and daughter. "I'm sorry, Leia," he told the little brown eyed girl. She shared her brother's grin and shifted in her mother's embrace to nestle closer. Now to explain to Padme, "I thought I could help them sleep by cutting my connection from them. I don't know how I didn't see…"
Padme put her finger to his mouth. He didn't need to say anything else to add to his self-loathing at the moment. Besides, she knew he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. The Senator was honestly just pleased her cradled daughter and son were alright.
Minutes later, Leia calmed and fell asleep again. Luke, however, couldn't seem to do so.
"I'll take him out to the hallway and walk him," Anakin said.
Padme nodded from her sitting position against the headboard, Leia cocooned in her arms. Luke always seemed to prefer motion to help him sleep while Leia could always manage to fall asleep under any circumstance.
Anakin started to pace up and down the long hall. Luke's head rested on his father's broad shoulder. His face turned to his father's neck. Little upset noises sounded, but they continued to quite with the pacing motion.
Anakin gently rubbed Luke's back while softly speaking. "There, Luke. It's alright. I won't do that again, promise." He paused to allow the innocent light of his son to be soaked in.
Luke was a powerful halo of light. It contented the Jedi, knowing Luke was the best of him and Padme; not that she possessed a bad side. He allowed the keen protectiveness of Luke, and Leia, to flow. It provided an unmistakable duty he held for his so very dependent little ones. A duty he would happily continue till his dying day. Whether on the other side of the universe, which was just about how far Sylvantar was, or less then millimeters away, he'd continue his job.
Such a feeling of protectiveness made him nearly tremble. What he would do for his children— he knew there wasn't a thing in the galaxy he wouldn't do, so that must mean he'd do anything. A Jedi should be fearful of such feelings, but he didn't care.
"Did I ever tell you how I rescued Obi-Wan on Cato Nemoidia?" He craned his neck down to see his son, waiting for an answer he knew wouldn't be sounded. Anakin raised his head and continued walking, "I don't think so," he shifted Luke's weight ever so slightly, "Well…"
Darren heard someone talking outside his bedroom door. It was soft and hard to make out, but he believed it was Anakin's voice. Curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to investigate. Slithering out of his wife's snug embrace, he carefully crept out into the hallway. It was indeed Anakin. He appeared to be talking to Luke, and didn't seem to notice him until he turned around to continue the pacing. Darren walked up to him, "He couldn't sleep?" he asked falling in step besides him.
Anakin nodded, "No. He's getting there though," he smiled, tone still calm and hushed.
"Pooja was like that. Had to move to sleep," memories of his little girl in his arms made him smile. "They grow up too fast. Soon he'll be walking and talking and..."
Anakin's eyebrows furrowed. He didn't want to think about how fast these moments with his children would pass, or how he might just miss all of them.
Darren saw his brother-in-law's despair. "Don't worry about it, though. It won't happen tomorrow."
Snapped out of his musings, Anakin looked at Darren. "I'm afraid of missing those moments," he answered solemnly. "I might miss everything," he said even heavier.
Darren sympathized with him, though he couldn't find the right words to say. Awkward silence passed between them for a few moments, until Anakin broke it, "He's asleep."
Darren looked at Luke, indeed he was. He nodded and headed off to his room. Anakin did the same.
Anakin opened the door and closed it. He turned around expecting to see Padme staring at him, but he didn't. Instead, she was asleep on her side facing Leia who lied beside her. The sight melted his heart. He moved towards the bed and placed Luke next to his sister. The twins magically moved to face one another, as they always did. Anakin slipped under the covers and decided to give sleep a second chance. Before he knew it, numbing slumber fell.
Rays of dawn streamed through the window, onto the face of a warrior. Pale blue eyes zapped open. The next day had come. He hoped if he had dreamt hard enough, it wouldn't arrive. A childlike system, but sometimes a futile faith is all he had to cling to.
He glanced to a surprisingly empty bed. Luke and Leia were near—in their cradles he discovered. Padme, she was further away.
The 'fresher? No, the 'fresher was dark and empty.
Soft fabrics rustled and careful footsteps tapped from within the walk in closet.
Seconds later, and to his almost bewilderment, his regal wife walked out of the closet fully fashioned for the new day. "Good morning," she said softly.
"Morning," he mumbled struggling to check the chronometer on his bed stand. He certainly hadn't overslept.
"I decided to get ready after I couldn't fall back to sleep," Padme confessed, sensing her husband's confusion.
"Oh," Anakin grunted stretching his limbs about.
"I told C3PO to make breakfast, it should be ready now." Amidala could see her husband's dread.
"Oh?" he attempted to keep the panic out of his voice.
She smiled an evil smile, "Don't worry. It's something he can't mess up."
Skywalker remained skeptical, "I didn't program him to cook—even if I did, I don't think he'd be able to compute it."
Padme hollowly chuckled while tossing her discarded nightgown into a laundry-hamper. Skywalker studied her for a moment. Something about her seemed—amiss. Her usually bright eyes were dim; much like when she worked… Then he realized the mask his wife was wore today.
The brave face of Amidala, former queen and senator, not his Padme. He frowned at this, continuing to pull his tunic over his head. He walked up to her, lightly caressing her face with his human hand. He didn't say anything but did not need to.
"I'm okay, Ani, really," she said softly, almost shivering under his feather touch. His touch always sent her body into a sea of sensations. Especially when so soft. He fought in battles and used the same hands to touch her so gently.
He titled his head, not believing her a moment. His fingers curled some hair tucked behind her ear.
She wanted to keep the attention off herself since he seemed to be looking straight through her. "We better eat before the twins wake."
He sighed, letting his hand fall. Anakin, and ever other being in the galaxy, knew one cannot make Padme Amidala talk when she wishes to remain quite, or silence her when she wishes to speak. It was an uphill battle never to be won.
He offered his arm, "Milady?"
She grinned and linked her arm under his. They made their way to the kitchen, a nearly overloaded C3PO waited for them.
"Oh! Mistress Padme and Master Ani! I have just finished breakfast, though cooking is not in my programming," he greeted, with a bit of hurt in his voice. He was a protocol droid! Not a cook droid! The job was so very below him.
Anakin pulled out a chair for Padme, and looked at the droid, "I know, C3PO. But Padme told you to. You know if she asks you something, you do it, correct?"
The droid seemed to panic, "Oh, of course Master Ani! I merely…"
"It is alright, 3PO. The meal looks wonderful," Padme saved the droid, giving her husband a scowl. He took his seat across from her. "Don't be so hard on him, Ani."
He shrugged in response before he began to eat.
As time went on, members of the household woke and came to the kitchen and ate their breakfast. Once everyone was done, they all held light conversations, enjoying their limited time together.
Each dreaded the moment they would have to say good-bye to one another.
Anakin glanced at his wrist chronometer. "He'll be here soon; I'll head off to the landing dock."
Amidala nodded, "I'll go with you," she said.
Skywalker helped her up and they left. Members of the Naberries went to the window to watch the couple interact at the landing dock.
It seemed they somehow communicated without words as they gazed at each other. Anakin's hands benevolently stroked up and down Padme's forearms. His stare focused as he memorized every detail of the woman before him. How her curly hair was loosely pulled into a simple bun. The thick gloss that covered her eyes; eyes that held countless unspoken words. Her kind scent with a soft splash of his favorite perfume. The beautiful pale-purple dress she wore. Simple, but never the less stunning on her. She could always look stunning to him, though. He believed not even the blind couldn't help but see her beauty.
Her signature leaned towards her wavering control on sorrow. The wetness of her eyes increased and she eventually bowed her head.
'He shouldn't see me cry before he leaves. Wait until he leaves,' she told herself in vain. 'Why did I encourage him to leave me—us? I don't want to lose him, I don't want to be without him,' a whirlwind of thoughts shouted. A tear slid down with the thoughts. She wasn't usually so self-focused. The greater good always held high stature within her thought process. But today, she felt uncommonly selfish. Not able to see greater good, just herself and her children.
Gentle fingers touched under her chin and they slowly lifted her head so she looked at him once again.
"I'll come back to you, I promise." His gaze bored into her, as if searching for something she didn't have.
She smiled, trying to control her biting thoughts.
He tilted his head, eyes roaming around her face, "Don't make promises I can't keep?" he said, using his uncanny ability to read her thoughts. He moved his hand to cup her cheek. "I can keep this one, Angel: I will always come back to you." Anakin sensed the ship with Zett Jukassa approached, and their farewell approaching with it. Anakin kissed her gently on the forehead, then on her lips.
The bitter taste of their good bye soured their mouths as it always did with their farewells. Padme draped her arms behind his neck and pulled him in tighter while his fingers grazed her neck. She wanted to give every emotion she possessed in this moment. He all but matched her and with great struggle, pulled away. No sooner had they broken apart then when the Jedi Star-fighter came into view across the crystal-blue lake.
The young padawan landed the craft, came towards Skywalker and Amidala. "Senator Amidala and Master Skywalker," he greeted with a bow.
"Padawan Jukassa," Skywalker greeted, scanning over the boy. He couldn't be older than seventeen. Anakin had heard he was good with a saber, and was cunning. But he was no match for a sith. "I assume you have your orders?"
"Yes." Zett's face was very serious and scarred. Zett had obviously seen a few, very few, battles.
It could be worse, "And they are?"
"Protect and keep Senator Amidala," he nodded in her direction, "and all family and estate members hidden."
Time to get down to business. Skywalker became very serious as well, "You will be no match for Darth Sidious. If you are found, stealth will be your best option, and the landscape your best weapon" he pulled up a 3D holographic map, "The estate is secure on all sides but the east, which faces the lake. The air travel from the west is impossible with the strange wind currents emanating off the mountains, so any invasion will come from some other direction. You will head west if worse comes to worse. There is a small village twenty kilometers northwest, that is where you will head," he turned of the projection and handed it to him. "You will not engage the Sith, you will evacuate and contact the Council immediately, understood?"
"Yes, Master."
Approving, he nodded. "The perimeter is monitored, you will be able to find the security center in this building," Anakin pointed to a small garage. "Is everything understood?"
"Yes," Zett confirmed.
Skywalker took in a deep breath, his speech was coming to an end, "Senator Amidala will be able to introduce you to the others," he then gestured to his wife. Ever so painfully giving this boy the responsibility of protecting his family.
Padme graciously extended her hand, putting on a warm smile, "Padawan Zett Jukassa, it is a pleasure."
Zett shook her hand, "Likewise, Senator."
Anakin turned to his wife, "You and your family are in good hands, milady. Until we meet again," he attempted to keep all his emotions out of his voice. He had forgotten how much he hated this act.
"Thank you, Master Skywalker, for all you've done," she thanked, "May the force be with you," she offered.
He smiled, though small, it was bright. Never had those words sounded better.
Skywalker hopped into the Jedi Star fighter and took off, giving a quick loving look towards Padme.
'I love you, Angel,' he spoke through their force bond.
'And I you, Ani,' she replied.
'I'll be back.'
'I know.' "You have to…" she wanted to add as she watched his ship disappear.
A/N:
I really wanted to give you guys a nice long chapter, since I hadn't updated in so long, and wanted to include things you guys have said you enjoyed and/or wanted to see.
If you could please take time to review. The reviews are the force that keeps my fingers typing and this story going. :)
To "guest" reviewers:
angie: Thank you so! I am happy you think so. It is SO nice to hear from you again! Thank you for your kind and encouraging review! *heart*
Jaspreet: Yay! "Glorious"! Happy you think so! Thank you for your review! *heart*
Until next time!
God Bless