Fulfillment: Star Wars

Part Nine

A slight pinging noise aroused Padmé from her slumber in the early hours of Coruscant. The young senator stirred slightly, feeling to see if her husband was there. Sadly, her fingers only touched crumpled sheets. Padmé remembered Anakin coming home late last night right after she had gone to sleep, and now she inferred that he left early. Did he have yet another nightmare? Frowning at the thought, she reached over to her datapad to read the incoming message. The sender was none other than Chancellor Palpatine. Padmé tensed but opened the message to see that it only contained a two words.

Empire, TODAY.

Her teeth found the bottom of her lip and she put a hand on her head. The realization of what she was going to have to do hit her so suddenly that she began to already feel dazed. Her thoughts then drifted to Anakin as her other hand drifted over to her stomach. She did not know exactly what Anakin was up too, he would come home late at night and leave early in the morning. Every time that she asked, he would dodge the question or make some excuse about being exhausted. Padmé was beginning to wonder whether Sidious was keeping his promise about Anakin. Because if he wasn't...

A kick to her abdomen cut off what she was going to do to the Sith lord. She sighed and glanced down at her abdomen thoughtfully, knowing that there was nothing she could actually do to harm the Sidious.

"Is this all worth it?"

She had to believe it was. She just had to have hope that the good would prevail. Because the day she stopped believing, the day she stopped hoping, would be the day that she could no longer go on.

So the senator arose from her bed and went over to her closet. Swinging it open, a dazzling array of gowns flooded her eyes. This was, in the eyes of the Sith Lord, an important event. She knew then, that if she wasn't dressed like she was giving the most important speech in her life, she would be punished... severely.

Out of all the dazzling dresses custom made for her, only one stood out as perfect for this occasion. Padmé reached up and grabbed an embellished, low cut, ruby dress.

"Perfect," She whispered, tearing a bit. "Red. To show how much blood is on me, how much I have strayed from innocence..."

Taking a deep breath, fighting against the wave of emotions that threatened to break her emotional dam, she began unzipping the dress.

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Padmé gazed at herself one more time in the mirror, her face hard yet sad. Her reflection looked back at her with an expression that was almost piteous. In this moment, Padmé wished she was her reflection.

"Please forgive me."

Composing herself by taking a deep breath, she turned and stood tall. The senator chastised herself for trembling, no weakness could be shown for risk of exploitation. She knew very well that the dark lord would search through her very soul for anything, anything, to break her.

After she gained control over her shaking, Padmé reached over and pressed the button that led into the Chancellor's office. The door swooshed open and there stood the Chancellor, dressed in his finest regal garbs with an attendant at his side. He eyed Padmé with pride and smirked at her compliance.

"Ah, Senator Amidala, you look radiant. I expect then that your speech is ready." He asked her with slight malice underscoring his tone.

"Yes, it is Chancellor. And I expect that you are keeping up your promise?" Padmé asked firmly.

"But of course, Senator. You should expect nothing less." Sidious narrowed his eyes and her and she shot back with her own eye glare.

"Of course." Padmé responded coldly and turned on her heel to begin walking down towards the main Senate rotunda. The Chancellor followed with his attendant trailing behind.