Love never dies

Chapter 11

He rides around on the shaak, laughing his head off. I never thought he'd take my dare seriously, but I dared Anakin Skywalker. If I had dared him to take a swim at Mustafar, yep, he'd do that. Probably would be ashamed of himself if he refused! I chuckle at his goofy antics, until the shaak he is riding gets, perhaps a little too boisterous and suddenly bucks Anakin off. Ani's body flies through the air and lands in the long grass. He doesn't get up. "Anakin!" I scream, racing over to the spot where he fell.

I encounter him face down, lying in the grass. Fear clutches at my heart. What if he's been badly injured? Or worse?  I carefully roll Anakin over to see...him laughing his head off. I sigh, in both exasperation and relief, before joining in with his laughing. He pulls me up to my feet. "Come on!" he says, dragging me over the fields. I laugh and run alongside him.

We run for an unmeasured amount of time; minutes, hours, days, I don't know. Finally we pull to a halt in an alleyway looking out onto an open space which I recognise as the Market Square in Theed. "Wait here." Ani says. I nod, smiling with the same giddiness I always get when Anakin does something unexpected. I watch him race out of the alleyway and into another little side street. I lean back against the wall and wait for his guaranteed return within the next five minutes. Five minutes pass. He doesn't return. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Twenty. At this point, I'm getting worried. What if he's got into trouble. Deciding to go and look for him, I take a step out of the alleyway. Suddenly, a troop of stormtroopers march off a road and into the square. I gasp when I see them, and quickly move back into the shelter of the alley. When I see who they are escorting, however, I duck down and pray that they don't see me.

"Sir, the whole city of Theed and all areas within ten acres of the cemetery have been searched. There's no sign of the rebels." A stormtrooper says.

"They could not have gone far. In fact, it would be foolish for them to go far from the city. They will know that the longer they evade capture, the further out the branches of  our search will reach. Hiding in plain sight, yes, that is Amidala's strong point." the familiar deep bass voice replies.

Hiding in plain sight. Huh. If only they knew where I am currently crouching. "Should we limit the boundaries to only Theed then, sir?" the trooper asks.

"No. Amidala is not that rash. Keep the search boundaries the same as they are now, keep all spaceports closed, and go to all of her known residences. There is a chance that she may be hiding in one." Vader says.

"Yes sir." The stormtrooper gestures for the rest of his troop to follow, then leaves Vader alone in the square.

Right then, Anakin decides to show up. I open my mouth to warn him about Vader, but no sound comes out. I can only crouch and watch, horrified, as Anakin comes to a stop next to Vader, who doesn't seem to have noticed his presence. Anakin turns towards me "Help me Padme. You're the only one who has the power to do so. I made bad choices, all for you, and the fragile peace of the galaxy is now shattered. You are the reason all you believe in was destroyed, so it seems only fitting that you should be the one to put all the pieces back together. By doing that, you may be able to save us. You may be our only hope. Padme, I'm sorry."

The form of Anakin then starts to blur, and somehow starts to merge with that of Vader. "ANAKIN!" I scream, unfreezing and racing over to the Anakin/Vader form. "Padme, I'm so sorry!" they both yell simultaneously.

"NO!" I yell, bolting upright.

It takes a minute for my breathing to slow down, for the uneven rhythm of my chest to even out. for me to realise, as I look around my room-it was just a dream. I sigh, and lean back against the frame of my bed, pondering over the strange events in the dream. After several minutes, I decide that I will come to conclusions best if I have a clear head and fresh air in my lungs. I swing my legs out of bed and race over to my wardrobe. I pull on a long sleeved, light green dress that exposes my shoulders and hugs my figure tightly before billowing out slightly from my abdomen downwards. Cherry coloured roses entwine their way around the hem, and gold threads wind around the sleeves. One of my favourite springtime dresses in Naboo. I brush my hair quickly, then leave it half loose, half pinned back, tumbling down in loose curls behind me. Satisfied that my dress will suffice for going out onto the terrace, I open the balcony door and step out into the sunlight. I take a deep breath of the cool, fresh morning air and look out over the lake. So may event took place here; good at the time, but depressing to think of now. A cold, dark shadow seems to hang over the villa, Naboo, the galaxy. The shadow of the Empire. It sucks in all that is light and good, then turns it dark and bad. I bury my face in my hands. What has the galaxy come to?