Fulfillment: Star Wars

Part Ten

The echoes of flames were etched in her mind. The licking, burning terror that consumed everything in their path, leaving nothing behind besides ashes. Fire was so destructive, it ripped away what something really was and left behind the broken pieces of what used to be. The skeleton of what was... now the ashes of something never to become.

She wondered how many died... she wondered how many burned to nothingness... how many would never be the same again...

Padmé gazed out of her apartment into the cool night. She watched, motionless, as the Jedi Temple was raised in smoke; the embers of the fire dying down in the ashes of what it used to be. Earlier, she watched the Temple collapses within itself. It buried thousands of years of history, of lives, in mere seconds. The young woman wondered how something that seemed to be so strong, so sturdy, could die so quickly. Tears fell freely now. Padmé didn't try to hide them anymore. She realized that emotion, tears, were not weakness. No, they were signs that in an inhumane world, you were still human. She needed so badly that confirmation. Confirmation that whatever she was fighting for still existed. Confirmation that she herself still existed.

Now, the Senator knew for sure that Palpatine- no Sidious, did not keep his promise. She knew that there was only one person capable of doing this act and succeeding. She didn't the tracker implanted into Anakin's lightsaber to find out that it was her husband that burned his very own home.

"How far is he lost?"

Padmé didn't want to live in a world where her husband was an evil Sith lord. She didn't want to live in a world where her child had to grow up around a cruel man. She didn't want a life like this... her dreams dead. Her very life, her very soul... dead. In that moment, the sparkle in Padmé Amidala's eyes fizzled into nothingness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He smelled like soot, like the screams that arose from the ashes. But he didn't care, the deed was done... that is all that mattered. Deep inside, though he wouldn't admit it aloud, he hoped that no one was hurt. Or worse... shaking that thought off, Anakin Skywalker decided to focus on his thoughts on his lovely wife.

He came home to Padmé later that night. Anakin entered the apartment to find his wife on the veranda, arms crossed, gazing up into the night sky. A smile spread across his face at the scene. He found himself leaning up against the wall just staring at his angel.

"You're... so beautiful." Anakin murmured softly. Padmé tensed, startled at her husband's sudden presence. She turned to face him slowly, gently- like an angel. Her eyes were wet and darkened in the lights of the night.

"It-it's o-only bec-cause I'm s-so in l-l-love." Her voice was shaky, as if it could break at any moment. Anakin stared at Padmé in utter heartbreak and confusion.

"Padmé..." He started, but stopped himself, as she turned away to look back into the night. His eyes followed his wife's line of sight to what she was staring at in the distance. The smoke. The Jedi Temple was still burning late into the night, still throwing up orange embers into the atmosphere.

"Padmé..." Anakin whispered as guilt pressing down onto his heart. She faced him yet again, wearing the most horrific expression of anguish and suffering. Hot tears now streamed down the young woman's face and splattered like blood onto the ground. Anakin's face contorted into one of pain when he finally really looked at her. Padmé's eyes showed no emotion... nothing...

The realization finally hit him... he broke his angel.

Her heart was in pieces, shattered all over the floor. She was broken. Anakin thought he could fix anything that was broken, but now he wondered if this was the only thing that was broken beyond repair. He opened his mouth to say something but no sounds came out of his mouth.