For anyone else in the galaxy, squeezing an appointment into the near-unreachable, highly exclusive daily calendar of Vice Chair Mas Amedda, the Senate Speaker and not too subtle favoured advisor to Emperor Sidious, would be impossible. Unfeasible. Simply out of the question. Not with three office assistants policing his daily schedule more fiercely than Imperial guards stationed by the crown jewels. Not to mention Amedda's commitment to surrounding himself with sycophantic Senators all day long.

But Vader wasn't just anyone in the galaxy. Heir to the throne, Emperor in all but name, if he demanded a timeslot on the schedule of the gods themselves, they would find a way to become free.

It wasn't often he made an effort to speak with Amedda beyond royal council meetings, assemblies of the banking clan and mandatory consultations on the Senate. The man was Sidious' loyal dog. His devoted servant and steadfast protector. They never did have very much in common. Vader remembered the blue-skinned chagrian's ugly glares and cursing hisses throughout his and Anakin's childhood. There was always a reason for reprimand, always something to report to their father… he still had the mottled force-lightening scars to prove it.

So when Vader's name appeared on his schedule demanding an urgent meeting, the Prince imagined the horn-head probably leapt into the air to make it to his office right away.

The thought of reaching out to Amedda, of pandering to the man and making him feel important and superior for even one moment had a muscle in his jaw feathering. His whole body tensed. His hands twitched with the need for a whisky. No… he would have to be alert for this, listening and watching his father's man carefully if he was to get what he wanted.

There wasn't much time. Padme rushed away just over an hour ago, leaving Vader throbbing in his pants and aggravated, which meant that Anakin would be here soon and that would be… Force, he wanted a whisky…

Just as the temptation to give in and pour himself a drink became irresistible, his assistant's gentle voice bled through the comm system built into his desk announcing the Vice Chair's arrival. He must have run across the palace to get here so quickly. Good. The sooner they got this over with the better.

After a moment, Mas flounced into the office draped in black and red robes, the favoured colour palate of his father, as if the man might somehow know his pet was still dressed for him while he lay in a pile of tubes. Pathetic.

"Majesty," Amedda dipped his neck, "I came as soon as I was alerted of your request."

Vader sensed the curiosity swirling within his force-signature, the interest and pride at this summons and bit the inside of his cheek. He could endure negotiating with this man, humouring and rewarding him if it got him what he wanted. He always had been very good at playing pretend when it mattered.

It wasn't as if he couldn't take away anything he gave once he was crowned.

"Tell me something Amedda," he lounged back comfortably in his seat, a pretence of casual leisure, "What is it that you want?"

A simple question, one every man, woman and child in the galaxy had an answer to. Everyone had a dream, a desire or a fantasy that dragged them through the dull days of life. Some, like the man before him, valued the material more than any morals and Vader knew how to appeal to that. Mas frowned for a moment, considering his question very carefully, looking for the silent trap hidden amongst the syllables.

"I… I am afraid I don't – " He began, clutching at the speaker's staff in his blue fist as though it might be ripped from his grasp at any moment. Vader held up a palm to silence his stuttering. There wasn't time for this!

"You choose to be loyal to my father, even now when Sidious is no more than a corpse in that bed. You choose to enforce his laws, see his will be done throughout the galaxy, to leash Anakin and me as tightly as if our father was still awake despite his sun setting and mine rising. Why? There must be a reason. Something you gain… Tell me what it is, Amedda, tell me what you do not have and wish to, and I think you and I might be good friends moving forward."

Whatever Sidious was paying him, Vader would double it. Triple it. Whatever it took to make Amedda bend and stand against the council for him, the price would be worth it to finally begin his life. To have what he wanted – that was priceless.

The Vice Chair gave a low, gentle laugh. His spiked tongue slipping out for a moment. "I can only say that I'm surprised we have not had this conversation sooner, Prince Vader…"

"Tell me what you want," he growled, "Is it credits? Power? Estate? Help me with my desires and you will have whatever it is that you want."

Amedda drew closer to the broad, black desk. "Please, do not mistake my… curiosity for lack of gratitude for your sudden show of generosity, highness," that serpent tongue shot out once more, "but if we are to consider something of an alliance, I would like to know what it is you want from me."

Clever. Vader could see why Sidious liked the man. Conniving and deceitful, like attracted like after all.

His gaze was dragged from the politician before him, to the side of his desk where his hands had made love to Padme not two hours ago. Her gorgeous, naked body writhing, her sweet mouth panting his name… Fuck. His cock twitched in his trousers, threatening to harden all over again even with the killjoy that was Amedda before him. Vader would kill for that. For her. To preserve the light she brought into his life, nothing was too great of a cost.

"I wish to be married. Soon. And I need your help convincing the council to lift the laws barring me the freedom to do so while my father lives," he said, almost sniggering at the incredulity that sparked within Amedda's emotions, the stupefaction and disbelief he felt were palpable. The Vice Chair's jaw almost hung open as he processed Vader's confession, that this was what he desired, not more power or recognition throughout the galaxy, but this small, in his opinion, inconsequential freedom. He fed on it, smirking as the other man faked a cough to disguise his splutter.

"I – Vader… Highness… This was not what I was expecting…"

A strong Empress by his side would do the empire good, it had been many years since there had been a united royal family to lead the public. His father had never allowed his mother to embrace her role beyond the effort of childbearing by all accounts. Vader wasn't going to make that mistake. Padme was a strong, intelligent and accomplished woman who had friends and allies in places he did not. She could reign by his side and help him make the galaxy better – to shape the very stars in their image.

She awoke a passion within him Vader hadn't felt in years, not since Satine. Padme made him feel awake again, not merely sleepwalking through his days. She was the light he had been chasing all this time and nothing was going to take that from him now.

So whatever Amedda wanted, Vader was going to give it to him. Whatever made the royal council kneel to his desire, he would do.

"We both know I will be sitting on the throne sooner than later, Amedda," he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk, "When that happens, you and I can either be good friends… or you can be my enemy. The choice is yours, but I guarantee you will find the former much more enjoyable…"

The Vice Chair gave a small chuckle. "They do say, highness, that any good politician must be able to sense when the tide turns from one way to another… I do believe that we may find a way to loosen the shackles of the law together."

"Padme, darling, I'm so glad to hear from you! Your father and I have been worrying terribly…" Jobal Naberrie's desolate face flickered in the blue light of the holoprojector. Not quite lifesize, but her mother's live image was enough to imagine they were together in this room as Padme shook and fought to hold back everything this day had thrown at her. "I… oh, Padme your father and I… We are so, so sorry…"

Those words. Like a vibro-blade cleaving through the very centre of her chest, they unleashed a small, gasping whimper and with the wound carved open, there was nothing hold to hold it all inside her anymore. Once the first tear spilled, Padme knew there was no stopping any of it. She curled in on herself and began to cry. She let go of herself and let the fullness of every emotion howling inside her go.

Every guilt-ridden, horrible and angry thought crashed into her like an unrelenting ocean wave battering the crumbling shoreline rock. Ruthless and unyielding. Never allowing her one moment to recover from its onslaught before the next slammed into her mind. Padme gulped down air just to gasp it away again and again as her whole body shook with powerful sobs.

Her mother's heartbroken comfort faded away. Padme let that wave punish her, had no other choice as her mind let her see Anakin's pale, devastated face as she told him the truth, told him what happened today in Vader's office as she let her anger and pain ride her body and shut out her mind. Her knees drew into her chest and she sobbed into the sweet darkness they allowed her to bury her face into.

How was she supposed to live with this? The pain, the shame and the guilt… It was impossible.

"Padme, where is Anakin?" Jobal's tight, worried voice drew her head up and into the light again only for that crack in her chest to grow wider, stretching into a chasm she wasn't sure could ever come together again. "I don't think you should be alone right now, dear."

Padme looked at her mother, at the azure, semi-solid image before her and fell apart all over again. She sobbed even harder. Had to let this wave of pain run its course and see the storm through. It battered into her, pummelling, crashing and slamming until she felt like her whole body might break and crumble to pieces right here in her apartment's living room.

"Darling… please… You're worrying me," her mother's own voice sounded tight with tears. "I'll have your father reach out to Anakin and – "

"No!" She cried, shaking her head so violently the very room seemed to spin for a moment. They couldn't do that… It would be unfair, Anakin didn't deserve to be pestered by her parents about her well-being right now. Padme didn't even know where he was, or where he'd gone after storming out of her apartment earlier. Even if he could find it in his heart to come back, to check on her, she didn't deserve his kindness. "You… you can't do that," she rasped.

"Darling…"

"Please stop calling me that… I don't… I don't deserve any comfort, mother. I don't deserve anything at all." She cried, drawing her knees in tighter. Jobal looked overwhelmed and dismayed. Her arms rose and then fell back to her sides, as though she wanted to wrap Padme up within them and was lost without the ability to do so.

"I… Padme… You shouldn't say things like that. It simply isn't true…" Jobal gave a small whimper of her own, "It's breaking my heart to see you like this, sweetheart. I love you so very much. These are dark days. What you have lost is… unmeasurable, but it is not your fault. It is not your fault, Padme!"

"Yes it is," she whispered, burying her face in her knees again. The darkness was a shield, a safe place to hide as she revealed the guilty, shameful, mourning beast inside of her in all its glory. "He knew he wasn't wanted. I forced my dreams onto Anakin and told myself he would come around, that he just needed time to want the things I wanted. The baby knew he didn't want him and he died… I let him die…"

That wave rose up again more powerfully than before as all the reasons her life lay in ruins fought for their turn to be voiced, for her mother to know their shame and disgrace. "I… I knew Vader felt something for me, even after he said he didn't, that his kiss meant nothing, I told myself that I believed him because it was easier for everyone… but I knew. And I… I knew there was something – something that I felt too. But when I went there this morning I didn't think… I didn't plan to…" Every word tumbled out staggered and breathless, a sobbing, painful jumble of her messy thoughts.

"I can't take it back, mother," Padme lifted her head again. Jobal's face was slack with disbelief, "I can't undo it or change it… I can't… I don't know how to fix any of it. I can't bring my baby back, can I?" She cried so hard it felt like her bones might splinter. "I can't mend what I've done to Anakin – to Vader… to their relationship. I don't know how to fix me. I feel so lost and alone."

Her entire body trembled to her bones. She felt cold as Jobal's careful, concerned expression slipped for a moment, flashing the shock she felt. She probably hated her too. How could she not? Padme had ruined everything. She was a selfish monster.

"Padme… I cannot say I'm not… surprised by all of this…" Jobal pursed her lips, wringing out her hands where she thought the holoprojector's cam couldn't see the nervous movement, "A lot is going on in your life right now and much of it is negative and upsetting. I just… well, I only… This – these actions don't seem like you. I – I don't know what to say… Just… I want you to come home, Padme. You should be here with your family right now." Her eyes glimmered with pain for her, as though the wounds tearing at Padme's heart were her own.

Home… The calmness of Naboo tucked away from everyone and everything she had ruined… She wanted it desperately, wanted nothing more than to disappear into the shelter of her family's house and never emerge again. But she couldn't. Couldn't run away from the mess she'd made here, from the work she'd abandoned while recovering. There was only so long Dorme could pretend to be her before people grew suspicious.

As if reading her thoughts, Jobal sighed. "Darling… You deserve to be happy again. You deserve the time to allow your mind and heart to recover as much as your body may have. From what I have gleaned from this conversation, the path onward will not be an easy one, dear, perhaps it will be the most difficult of your life, but goddesses, will it be worth it once your life reaches the destination it was always meant to."

"He's never going to forgive me," a trembling hand came up to wipe the wetness all over her cheeks and chin.

"One of the most difficult lessons we must all learn in this life is that forgiveness is something which we must first grace ourselves with before we can expect to give it to or receive it from anyone." Jobal gave a small, weak smile, "Come home, darling, come home and let the rest of the galaxy fade away for a while."

"Alright," she nodded, "I'll make the preparations now."

Anakin stormed through the palace in wide, brutal steps. The walls and statues and vast marble pillars seemed to quake and tremble in his wake as Artoo rolled at his top speed to keep up. Staff and serving droids hurried out of his path lest the Prince simply knock them out of the way regardless of their task or ranking. He didn't care. He would not even look back at what he left behind him.

"Ah yes, you will find Prince Vader in the gardens meeting with Mas Amedda right now," the silver protocol droid he had found in his unfaithful, double-crossing, piece of scum brother's office.

He marched through the high archways and across long, red-carpeted hallways as quickly as his legs could carry him. Anakin held himself steady. Forced himself to remain calm as he slammed through another gaggle of muttering staff who hadn't noticed his approach. There were cries and hushed curses but he hardly heard them. Hardly heard anything at all beyond the pounding of his blood.

Only when the halls became desolate and empty of non-droid staff, did the Prince give himself over to the raging of his heart. He'd been so distant… so unbearably horrible that Padme deemed Vader to be the better man, the source of her comfort. Somewhere to the right, an ancient statue of a barely clothed goddess shattered to pieces as his raging power flung itself out across the room.

On and on, he stormed through the palace, to where the droid said Vader would be. Along and along. Step after charging step, he barely felt his legs moving. There was nothing but the roaring in his head and the vicious crack down the centre of his chest as Anakin forged onwards.

"Artoo," he barked over his shoulder without stopping, "go back to the apartment." Padme shouldn't be alone right now… the thought was enough to pause the Prince mid-step. Why did he care? Should he care? His mind and heart warred. The woman he loved… and she and Vader had… They betrayed him – together!

A darkness deeply locked within himself roared to be set free. Anakin shuddered as its power throbbed through his body. Vader – the person he trusted most in the galaxy had done this! Tried to take what was his! No! Vader would not take her from him! He had fought for Padme, loved her for years and risked everything to be with her. All of that would not be undone by his own damned brother!

Would it?

Artoo gave a small, disappointed whistle but Anakin took off again, leaving the little astromech behind. As he strode into the vast palace gardens, his gaze bled red to find the Vice Chair and Vader strolling casually through the carefully cultivated plants and flowers, speaking quietly amongst themselves, as if they were lifelong friends. As if the horned chagrian hadn't plagued them their entire lives.

Perhaps it did make sense… the man who prevented Anakin from marrying the woman he loved… and the bastard who wanted to take her away from him. Why wouldn't they be together now? The galaxy felt upside down.

"Has my gift been sent?" Vader murmured to the Senate Speaker, carefully ignoring Anakin's approach. He knew his brother sensed his presence the very moment he began making his way across the palace. If Vader thought pretending this wasn't happening was going to help him, he was about to be very unhappily surprised.

"I have received word that it has been dispatched to Naboo as Your Highness requested," Amedda nodded.

Molten rage blistered in his stomach. It threatened to consume Anakin from the inside out. Pure power rumbled inside him, hissing to be unleashed, to take violent retribution. He crossed the perfectly maintained grass, heavy boots leaving thick imprints with every step – much to the chagrin of the small droid spreading water across the lush blades. It gave an indignant screech which fell on deaf ears. He had more important things to deal with right now.

"Vader" The Prince roared, close enough that neither his deceitful twin nor the Vice Chair beside him could ignore his advance any longer. Vader stiffened but refused to shrink back at whatever he saw in Anakin's eyes or sensed in the storm that was his force-signature.

Amedda watched curiously, considering the tension thick and painful between them. The world around them bled into pure red fury. He betrayed you. He tried to take her away from you… Breathless with rage, Anakin struck a blow to his brother's jaw hard enough that Vader staggered, stumbling backwards and falling onto the white-stone path behind him.

Ten faceless, red-cloaked Imperial guards abandoned their posts at once, rushing across the gardens to pull the Prince's apart, prepared to throw themselves between them in the name of duty. Anakin only bore his teeth. Let them try. They'd soon regret getting in his way. Vader held up a steady palm and they paused their approach at once, hesitating, unsure how to proceed. He doubted something like this was covered in their training.

"Your Highness!" Amedda cried out, pure horror in his wide eyes. "What are you thinking?"

Vader glowered, rolling his jaw as pain throbbed throughout bone and muscle, then slowly rose to his feet, a pillar of steel and flame. His lips curled back from his teeth, "I suppose I probably deserved that."

Anakin's fingers curled into fists at his sides. He took a step toward his twin and growled, utterly ignoring Amedda's pleas to stop this before things worsened. Vader held his ground so he took another step, shifting nearer until they were close enough that one deep breath would have had their chests touching. He looked into his brother's smirking face and breathed, "Why? How? How could you do this to me? To her… You know what she's going through right now."

What we're both going through.

Once, the prospect of Vader hurting him was impossible. There was nothing and no one who could ever come between the two sons of Skywalker. When did things shift so out of place? Crait? Earlier? How could he have not noticed his own brother turning against him like this?

"How could I?" Vader laughed, the sound like cold death, as he touched his jaw gingerly, "Your selfishness and immaturity alone have caused this, Anakin. You all but abandoned the woman you claim to love, pushed her away and shut her out… because she carried your child." His mouth twisted to the side in a crooked, mocking grin. "Is it any wonder she turned to me for comfort?"

There was nothing inside Anakin's head but pure screaming. Nothing in his broken heart but love and hatred and fury as he let go of his splintering control, let go of everything, his anger and his power, and exploded. Amedda screamed as the Princes collided.

All force power and snapping teeth, they rolled through the once pristine flowers, through the rich grass and thick mud, fists flying and pounding. The Imperial guards wavered, torn between Vader's command and their duty to maintain peace. Their twisting anxiety melted into the red-hot anger of his and Vader's force-signatures, intensifying everything. Amedda howled for the guards to move, to do something, anything to tear the heirs to the throne off one another, but they were stone, wavering and yet unmoving.

They must have made quite a sight, two royal Princes fighting, panting and spitting blood. He could barely imagine it as he slammed another fist into his brother's face, blood spraying from Vader's nose and mouth. There was no time to enjoy the blow or even wince at the surging pain throbbing through his hand before Vader slung one right back, nearly knocking him to the side.

"My child died, you bastard!" Anakin panted, "My son is dead and you tried to take my wife from me!"

"She is not your wife yet," Vader seethed into the open air and swung another punch, moving so smoothly, so brutally, the blow was dealt before he could even blink and it knocked him to the ground. The dark-haired Prince gave chase, his power flowing, Anakin sensed its build and channelled the force for himself, that darkness he tried so hard to keep leashed inside him finally awakening. His power slid against Vader's like liquid night. Pure darkness. A reminder and warning of his own strength.

Force against force, power against power, each Prince held up a hand and pushed, determined to gain the upper hand, to overwhelm the other. The ground gave a soft tremble, shaking and cracking and splitting all around them until both were sent slamming backwards. Anakin cursed as his back collided with a marble statue of their grandfather, Emperor Plagueis. 'The Wise' they'd called him if memory served correctly… he wondered what the old man would make of this. The cold, stone eyes gave gazing outwards away nothing as he fought to fill his rattled lungs once more.

"I know why you really did it," he panted, wincing as he climbed to his feet again. "This isn't about Padme. Not really. You're using her to get at me, aren't you? You're angry that the soldiers were loyal to me over you."

Not even he had realised how deeply the bonds he'd made with his men ran. They were soldiers, warriors, brothers in arms. They fought and bled together side by side regardless of titles and rank. Those men followed Anakin's command not only because their duty demanded it, but because they trusted him, trusted his decisions to bring them home safely. He hadn't wanted them to follow him that day, hadn't expected anything but to fight for Ahsoka regardless of the consequences, they made their own decisions.

Vader held his stare, the inherent dominance in it like the force of a tidal wave. He truly was born to wear a crown. But Anakin forced himself to weather it, his glare growing darker. He would not bow or shrink. Not now. "I admit that perhaps my anger on that matter influenced my actions – not the most mature behaviour, I'm aware, but I'm not a perfect man."

Anakin looked to Amedda, to the guards lingering around and grit his teeth. None of them had any right to overhear this. There could be no more hiding after today no matter what was to happen now. Just as his rage threatened to soften, flashes of images poured like pure poison behind his eyes. Vader's hands and mouth across Padme's body… his own brother touching what belonged to him…

"If you're angry about Ahsoka and the soldiers, then take it out on me!" He yelled. "Leave Padme out of this! None of it is her fault!"

"I said," Vader began to approach, slow and deadly, "that the events on Crait only influenced my decisions." Blood dripped from his nose, staining his upper lip wetly. "I don't know how much Padme told you, but when I offered her my hand, I meant it. She is exactly the woman I need by my side to expand my legacy." He gave a casual shrug as if they were discussing the tactics of nuna-ball, "If you will not appreciate what you had, then I will." Pure challenge filled every word and Anakin was more than happy to meet it.

They flew at each other once again. All fists and feet. Teeth and nails. Kicks and stomps. Heavy breaths sawed out of them as they tried and tried to tear past the other's defences. Despite their fury, neither Prince unleashed their full power on the other, no. Anakin wanted this to be physical. He needed this to hurt. And force, it did. The white-hot throbbing in his ribs was nearly unbearable after Vader dealt a powerful blow to them. His nose began to weep blood too. They'd been born for this, born to bleed and fight – to brawl and grapple with each other. He and Vader endured years of their father's brutal training and abuse that honed their bodies into instruments of pure violence. To finally allow themselves to truly challenge each other, their only true rival, was its own sort of freedom.

During their clashes as boys, brawling over whatever toy caught the other's attention or whose lightsaber was going to be the better one once constructed, outside of their barbaric training sessions, it had never been like this. Their fights had been ridiculous and petty, born of their misery and a deeply unhappy childhood. This… this beast was of its own making. Ugly and simmering with resentment and molten rage.

Both Princes snarled as, at last, the Imperial guards found the nerve to intervene, tearing them apart with all their strength. Anakin spat blood onto the grass, refusing to acknowledge the deep agony coursing through his every nerve and rib, not until this was truly over.

"You overgrown, unseemly children!" Amedda howled, "You shame yourselves and your father with such actions!"

With one guard marshalling each brother and two more standing between them should they try and clash yet again, he couldn't fully see Vader as the emotion he'd shoved down boiled to the surface so profoundly, there was no stopping it.

"What have I done to you?" He cried, "What did I do to make you hate me so much?" Why else would Vader try to tear his life apart like this? It had to be more than the soldier's mutiny, this betrayal was deeply personal. More so than he'd ever thought his brother capable of. Vader was his best friend, the person Anakin trusted most in the world… and he'd turned against him. Tried to destroy him… Didn't he have a right to know what came between them?

"I don't hate you, Anakin," Vader said levelly, wiping at his bloodied face with the back of his luxurious, black-velvet sleeve. "I love you… but I deserve the chance to cherish what you took for granted. And I will give you the same advice I gave Padme today. You should stop. Loving her, that is. It will make both of your lives far easier if you do."

"Stop?" He couldn't bear it, the bone-deep horror those words thrust upon him. A life without loving Padme… it was colourless and bleak. He couldn't survive it. "I can't – I won't. Vader, I – I can't live without her…" Those words tumbled from his parted lips, true to their very core even as they felt like cutting at an already open wound just to speak them. She had done this, come between them like this. She betrayed him with his very own brother. Had decided he wasn't enough and sought out the touch of another.

Shame rushed through him. Shame and anger and the agony of what he unashamedly understood as male pride shattered. He wasn't enough, had never been enough for her. Anakin had failed to give the woman he loved what she needed, hadn't been man enough to –

Something in Vader's expression softened. None of that red-hot anger remained. "I understand this is… difficult. I have made my offer to Padme. Everything is in her hands now, but I promise you, I won't touch her again. Not until she asks me to. Should she leave both our lives after this…" he trailed off, as if the very idea was utterly unthinkable.

"Go fuck yourself," he hissed, "Keep your filthy hands and tainted words to yourself, Vader." His brother blinked at the profanity, but remained quiet, "Whatever happens now, you're dead to me." He would swear it on the crown, on their mother's mausoleum, on his very own life, they were no more. He threw every bit of venom he could muster into his gaze. "You and I will never be in a room together again. I don't care what that means for everyone else. I never want to lay eyes on you or speak with you ever again."

And he meant it. As he stormed away toward the palace, aching and throbbing and heart breaking, Anakin realised he truly, deeply, meant it.

He stalked through the palace toward his rooms like a ghost. Neither touching anything or looking at anyone as he moved. Pure, heavy exhaustion pushed down on him, forcing him to drag his limbs every step of the way. He wanted to fall asleep and never wake up. To curl up and disappear for a hundred years and remerge as someone else entirely.

He knew he had to speak to Padme. Dreaded the prospect of facing her looking like this. She'd know what he'd done and would hate him even more for it. Anakin still remembered how she looked at him the last time he let his anger get the better of him, the fear and horror within her beautiful eyes when he brutalised Varlo Hedsard. He'd given into that darkness again, allowed it to reign and, force, had it felt good.

But it was all just more proof he wasn't the man she wanted him to be.

He was a failure. Lacking. Lesser than his own brother.

His shoulders sagged as he entered his private wing.

Where would they begin with this conversation? Luis? His feelings? Hers? The future? What had happened with Vader?

His stomach churned.

Maybe he should drag himself into the sonic-shower and wash away the worst of what just happened. Bruises and cuts were easier to accept than blood and dirt. Just the thought of cleansing himself was enough to send another ripple of exhaustion through his body. He was so tired… so damn tired and angry and hurt… It was a big tangled mess.

Was it even worth untangling anymore?

As he stepped into his bedroom, Anakin startled to find Artoo waiting near the bed in the centre of the room. What was he doing here again? Hadn't he commanded him to return to Padme's apartment and be with her? The little droid gave a low, solum whistle in greeting.

"Hey buddy," he knelt down before his friend, wincing as hot agony slid through him at the movement, and laid a hand on his cool blue dome, "What're you doing back here?"

The responding whistle sent Anakin's jaw agape. His head shook in denial as Artoo gave a low, mournful beep of confirmation. And then, from inside one of his compartments, the droid held out his silver infusion welder as he beeped and whistled Padme's message.

Tell him I'm sorry.

Hanging on the edge of the metal appendage, was Padme's engagement ring.

A/N: Poor Ani... Even if you're rooting for Vaderdala here, you've got to feel just a little sorry for him!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review on the last chapter! Just know I love and appreciate you endlessly! 3