A/N:

This chapter may border on M rating due to violence and gore, please read with discretion.

Hey y'all!

Hope you're doing well. Also that this chapter brings something good to your day!

Thank you so much to the new followers and favoriters from this and the last chapter. And thank you for all the reviews! I forgot to add this part into the beginning of Chapter 22: Ensnared, so I'll catch up now!

Thank you reviewers: Bosmer1701, Eldar-Melda, thunderofdeath97, WolverineIK1973, Guest, DS2010, and Danni! It was so nice to see familiar faces again after all these years! THANK YOU! Response to "guest" reviews will be at the bottom of the chapter!

Here's one of the last chapters! Really hope you enjoy it! Happy reading!

Chapter 23: Rage

Every inch of her body was in a pulsing, stabbing pain. Senator Padme Amidala forced her eyes open. Black and white dots took turns blocking her vision. Her disorientation scared her; she did not know where she was.

She became terrified once she heard the pleasured voice of her captor and torturer: Darth Sidious.

A perverse purr echoed the room. "From this day forth, you shall be known as Darth…. Vader!"

While her body was unable to move, her survival instincts slowly focused her spotty vision to the horrific scene before her.

Her beloved life partner on his knees before a yellowed eyed demon. Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, General of the Republic, "The Hero with No Fear", the father of her children, her beloved spouse, her best friend, and partner in legally questionable galactic endeavors- he kneeled completely defeated before the most evil being in the galaxy. A man whose entire body flaunted how the man crumbled before him was all his.

A protective, jealous rage boiled through Padme. Anakin was hers. This vile monster had harmed her family and the entire galaxy enough. It was time for his death and the universe to be a better place for it.

Laser focused eyes scanned the throne room for something, anything, she could use to kill the creature towered over her spouse. She would use her bare hands at this point. Mechanical litter from Separatist droids littered the floor below her.

A metallic object was something to increase likelihood of physical damage and death.

She discreetly tilted her head to gaze above her, and thank all the goddesses of Naboo, an E-5 blaster rifle lay within reach. Its position was perfect, and she could read the ammo counter on the side: fully loaded.

Padme spared a glance at her prey to check his position. Sidious was still before Anakin, hands raised and eyes closed. That worked for her.

She gently reached her battered dominant right hand towards the weapon. Her eyes locked deadly onto her target.

His position went unchanged. Once she felt the cool metal under her fingertips, she locked her practiced fingers onto the blaster.

She calculated her aim carefully, to ensure her beloved was not in the line of fire, and that the first shot would be deadly.

Her swift finger pulled the trigger and a red bolt cut through the air.

Yellow eyes snapped open as a reaction to the sensed incoming danger. Sidious had been so confident and absorbed in his proceedings, he could not sense the blast soon enough.

The blast pierced straight through his heart.

He stumbled backwards and clawed at the hollow wound. Enraged, Sidious reached to lash out at her via the Force. It was a small amount of time, seconds maybe, from when she saw the blaster till now. And already she had managed to fire three more shots at the dying individual. All of which hit their targets, which were vital organs.

Padme would not relent, or stop until he was a heap of lifeless flesh before her. Padme kept firing until the blaster ran out of charge.

Riddled with bleeding holes, Sidious fell to his knees. The utter shock on his face reassured the empty weapon holder of her masterful precision.

Amidala saw the look in his eye. The primal, primitive fear of death and loss of control. Blood bubbled out of his mouth with gurgles. The Sith was drowning in his own blood.

The senator was pleased, relieved, and satisfied with the scene before her. Once he was truly dead, she would allow herself to feel jubilant. Now was not the time, because he still had to be dead. The growing pool of blood beneath him and the death rattles proved life, even if nearly completely gone.

The Senator forced herself up, her job not done. The pain forced her to notice the harm sustained by her body. Some wounds she recognized: lesions, burns, deep bruising, broken ribs, and her recovering sprained ankle must be broken. It flopped and twisted unnaturally. Padme did not care. Her concerned gaze went to her spouse. He had not responded at all, he was frozen like a statue before Sidious. It troubled her greatly and reinforced her focus ten times over.

A glisten caught her eye and she looked down. Beside her was Anakin's lightsaber, practically calling her name. She armed herself with the blade

She limped towards the dying man unflinching. The blue blade was activated in the hands of the driven women. Padme went in front of Sidious, his eyes filled with rage and fear. Her body protectively between Anakin and the expiring blood bath before her.

Padme did not utter a word, she did not have to. Her cold, unmoving stare told it all.

The Sith tried to say something, but only spatters of crimson were articulated.

She raised the blade and quickly made a long, diagonal slice from his shoulder to thigh. Finally the man fell backwards, more pathetic sputters of blood. Obviously he wanted to scream. The smell of singed flesh perfumed the air and filled the redeemer's nostrils. Such a sharp, heinous smell.

She closed in a step and began slicing and stabbing the near corpse over, and over, and over again. By the time she finished, an unrecognizable, red corpse lay before her.

Furious panting howled through her mouth. Satisfied, she deactivated the weapon and turned around.

Bizarrely, Anakin remained kneeled and head down. Unmoved and unresponsive. She teetered down to her knees and touched his face. "Anakin? Ani, can you hear me? Anakin!" she called. Her benevolent fingers brushed some hair out of his face. The Jedi's weapon quietly clinched to the ground, the freed hand also coming to his face.

No movement. She called to him with increasing urgency.

His eyes snapped open.

Padme froze in shock. Instead of his familiar blue eyes full of love, glowing yellow eyes stared unfeeling. Still, he did not look at her but stared lowly and unfocused. Her brain rapidly took in every detail and bit of information in an attempt to process this horror. "Ani?" she called unsure.

The burning gaze flickered up to her. The hate she met in the eyes- this was not her husband. "You bitch!" a voice said. It came from her husband, but it sounded like Sidious and ten other dark, contorted voices.

Her fingers encircling his face ran cold. The whole room ran cold. She could feel it in the air again, the oppressive, foul, cold presence. Despite Anakin's body kneeled before her, it was Sidious. Somehow, Palpatine had returned and latched onto what he could.

The horror sunk into her stomach and she began to tremble.

The smile that marred Anakin's face was the same Sidious had been parading. Padme remained frozen in absolute terror.

"Didn't see this coming, did you?" the possessor boasted, grin somehow widening.

"Anakin?" she called again, barely able to utter the syllables.

"Anakin's gone!" the voices shouted.

Her fingers now trembled above his skin. His now very cold, clammy skin.

His face seemed to morph before her. Every shadow seemed to deepen on his face, every line became harsher and sharper. Black veins began to show around his eyes, and the skin above them began turning red and dark purple. The once white of his eyes were a painful red.

She refused to believe what was declared. She cupped his face. Padme's goal was to reach and latch onto her life partner's soul with her touch. "Anakin! Anakin! You're not gone, I know you're not gone! Come back to me!"

The creature wearing Anakin's body snarled and raised his hand to her neck. It clamped down on her swollen and tender neck.

She gasped and instinctively clawed at the hand. Words tried to be spoken by her, but nothing came out. Padme's edges of vision began darkening and she could feel herself losing consciousness. Her eyes stared into his eyes and her vision worsened and became harder to focus. "An-a-kin…" she croaked out.

The hold on her neck froze and a shaky breath was released by the assaulter.

In her heart, she felt him. Felt the good in him, felt the conflict between him and Sidious.

His face softened and blue began to return in flecks to his irises around his pupils. His face began to soften.

The hand strangling her shook and flinched, eventually it released.

Desperate breaths and gasps sounded as Padme clambered for breath in between coughs.

Without his mouth moving, the voices returned, Sidious' voice the most dominant. "No! You're mine!" they screamed.

Padme wanted to speak, but could not. Her body forced the much needed oxygen into her lungs. A reflex forbidding her from anything else until the body's survival was reinsured.

Anakin grabbed his head, fingernails digging into his scalp. "No! Get out of my head!" he cried, his voice was reinforced with more voices. Strangers to the conversation, and were more feminine though still near genderless.

The room around them began imploding and trembling. Not yet in immediate danger, though the display was a extraordinary proof of the power within Anakin.

"You're mine!" growled the invader. "You've pledged yourself to me!"

"No!" he cried, weaker than before.

"MINE!" it roared.

Padme dragged herself to her husband yet again, and rose to her knees before him. "Anakin…" she rasped, throat and vocal chords swollen from the attack. "Anakin, you can do this. I'm right here!" she assured him. Her throat burned, and she feared her voice would be lost completely.

"Get away from me!" Skywalker ordered in fear. The battle within him, the hate and harm it wanted to be done to the love of his life… and the fact he could feel it clawing deeper into him again. "I can't… keep him out!"

She nodded no and put her hands on his face yet again. "I'm not leaving you, and you're not leaving me!" she called adjusting closer. "You're supposed be with me and raise our children! Leave all of this war and fighting behind with me! I refuse to live in a universe where you aren't besides me! I love you, I-"

Wails of the oppressors sprang from his mouth and echoed through the room. His head raised and he cried to the endless heavens above them, below them, and surrounding them. Once the cry ended, his head fell down weakly, staring into Padme's eyes. She saw more blue in his eyes, but also the unbearable fear he held.

"I'm not afraid of you, Anakin. I know you can do this! Because I need you, you're children need you, and you're always there when we need you!" she pressed her forehead where his damp hair clung to his skin. Amidala willed, with everything in her and around her, with all her love, her life partner to return. For the monster terrorizing him inside to be completely expelled.

He stiffened away from her. His back arched back and his arms pulled violently to his sides. His whole body was rigid and nearly breaking with how harshly he bent back. Only Anakin's voice sounded as some shadow began to haze his silhouette.

It vibrated out of him more and more, until a cloaked smoke figure left his body. Pitch black and disintegrating.

Once it left him, he crumpled forward, barely conscious and heaving breaths as hard as Padme had.

The form had a shape of a person to it. Only parts of the head, shoulders and torso were still there. The rest were tattered bits of cloak and hood that reached near the floor.

It's phantom head turned towards the Senator, she stared back at the all absorbing black of his distorted face. Sidious released a scream and lunged towards her quickly.

The movement was so fast, Padme hardly had time to raise her hands in an attempt to protect herself.

Right before he reached her, he froze, as if trapped in a tractor beam. The apparition vibrated again, as when it was forced out of Anakin's body. It was completely trapped.

Padme looked over her shoulder and saw Skywalker's trembling hand reaching for the metaphysical specter of what remained of Sidious. He stared at it exactly like Padme had. Without a word, he tightly clenched his fist and a blinding light began engulfing and compacting the remnants.

Sidious screamed as it enclosed him, like a frightened animal death screaming into the uncaring night of its death. He desperately attempted to escape with what little remained of himself. But to no avail. Soon, he was swallowed into the compressed light and vanished into nothingness.

The room stopped shaking, the metal stopped groaning.

Anakin fell forward and barely kept himself from falling onto his face. He shook violently and sweat dripped from him, despite how cold he felt.

Physically, he had never been weaker. But to Padme, he had never been stronger.

"Are… you… okay…?" he panted so breathily that he hardly made any sound. He kept forcing open his eyes, on the verge of consciousness.

Padme hobbled on her knees, broken ankle dragging on the floor, towards him and latched onto what she could hold of his upper body. She held onto him tighter than she ever had.

"...yes…" she barely rasped out, her voice now completely gone. Her fingertips clawed into his shoulder blades. She was unable to get close enough to him, to hold onto him so tightly so he would never disappear from her again.

I love you! I love you! She cried through their bond, desperate to tell him just how much.

The exhausted Anakin heard, loud and clear. The corner of his eyes twitched up as much as they could with joy. He reached a shaky arm around his life partner and pressed her tightly towards him. Despite her furious clamp to him, there were still molecules of air between them to squeeze out. "I love you too… so much…" he panted out. Tears fell out of the corner of his eyes and mixed with the sweat dripping off onto the floor.

Whether they were from exhaustion, his love for her, the trauma of what had just occurred, or because the sting of his sweat stabbed at his eyes, he did not know.

He could barely stay conscious anymore, and he felt all his muscles give out at once. His full weight wedged onto Padme, but he had faith she would catch him.

Anakin was done fighting. Finally, it was all over. He could rest in the arms of his beloved, his home.

A/N:

For, genuinely, over a decade I have been waiting for THIS CHAPTER. I wanted to write a story where Padme kills Sidious. I hope I did the idea justice!

If you'd like to follow or favorite, feel free to!

Please review, it truly means the world to me and has helped keep this story alive for over a decade. I love talking with y'all and responding to your reviews. I've met and connected with wonderful people over the years, and truly appreciate every word.

Until next time,

Heaven's Prayers

Guest Reviews Responses:

Danni: OH MY GOODNESS! Thank you SO MUCH for your TWENTY-TWO reviews! So kind, sweet, and thoughtful! It made my week, maybe even life, ha-ha!

Aw! I was in High School when I began this, and now have university education, too! Also an adult, so I'm told, lol

Aw! Thank you so much! I'm glad you have loved the story all these years. I'm glad you believe I've grown as a writer, too!

I'm glad you like how I wrote about Anakin's state in the first chapter.

Thank you for the offer; you gave so much! I'm going to try and respond to all of them, haha! I condensed it all so it'd not stretch on longer than the chapter, ha-ha!

Aw, thank you so much! That's exactly how I thought about Padme calling Anakin instead of an emergency line. You are quite the observant reader! I'm so glad, I really wanted to communicate their connection! Ha-ha, real smooth! Yeah, gotta take care of the mama! Ha-ha, yeah, partners in crime! Gotta swap those gender roles! I've always seen Padme as the most powerful being in the galaxy, because she can "control" the most powerful being. Scruffy little Han and little change of scenery indeed! Future family on Naboo be like… lol. Plot and Jedi business stuff and thangs. Thank you! I don't write with many characters usually, so having so many was a lot! Thanks, I'm happy you liked the scene and all the fluff! Padme had to come clean, or else Anakin would have "lost the will to live", lol Thank you! I remember really enjoying describing and writing those scenes out! Yeah, can't relate; if I was married to Anakin, duty would not be top of my list! I wanted to raise awareness, and I agree! Yeah, great catch on the parallel and switch. So happy I could provide some gender euphoria! Yeah, Sidious has to GO and DIE!

Thank you again, so, so, SO much (x22)! Until next time,
Heaven's Prayers

God bless and many blessings.

July 18, 2023