Star Wars: from conversations / reader requests

6: Reborn.

For mnp1689

Note to mnp1689: I wasn't quite sure where you wanted me to end this (or how all this was supposed to happen, really- frankly, I'm running out of ideas...), so here's my best attempt. I hope you find it satisfactory. If not, dm me and I'll change it up.

Note: In this AU, Amidala was cleansed and placed in a sterile vacuum container (which was filled with a cocktail of anti-degrading liquids), as a way to preserve her body after death. The container was set inside her sarcophagus, which was located in her mausoleum in the Naboo capital of Theed.

Note: Much of the scenery is an assumption. Other than on Wookiepedia, I haven't read any media covering the visual details of Naboo after Palpatine's death (for legends, his first death).

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Consciousness gradually came, painful yet welcoming, as the lukewarm, smooth liquid tingled her skin. Her eyelids were heavy- she could not yet open them and see her surroundings- but she could feel. Feel the mixture of tepid water brush against her cheeks, swirling around her fingertips, creeping along her spine...

Curious of her surroundings, the eyelids struggled, while the mind slowly came to recall the events, the nightmares, that had just occurred.

Fire. Lava. Breathlessness. A hand around her neck. Tears. Shouts of fury, terrible and petrifying, as if he were a completely different person. Painful cramping of her abdomen; repeating contractions of her uterus.

Wailing of infants- two voices, so angelic-

Her strength waning-

Bright, dazzling brown eyes flickered alive, peering into the comforting darkness.

Where am I?

Is- is Anakin alright?

Who... who am I... Pa-... Padme Amidala. Yes. Padme Amidala Skywalker- no, only Naberrie- no, Skywalker. Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker.

As if the arm were sedated, hesitant, disused fingers slowly reached up, prodding at her face. The skin was intact, yes, and then those fingers, removed from nail-polish, reached for her hair, finding the plentiful strands still there, silky and lush.

The cold glass surface of the container was palpable to her senses. In the darkness, in the confines of this container, she only knew one thing: she was trapped here.

She remembered now. She had died during childbirth. She had safely delivered her- their- children.

But if she were dead, then surely this would not be the afterlife.

Had the CIS remnants captured and revived her? Or, Obi-Wan? Or perhaps, dare she hope, Anakin? The last time she saw him, he was so far gone.

There was only one way to find out. She clenched her hands into fists, punching at the glass above her shoulder area, striking once, twice, thrice, the fourth time-

The glass shattered, rather unspectacularly. She could feel the shards falling down and slicing across her delicate skin, cutting open small wounds that, before she could even wince, the liquid had already sealed. A bare amount of blood oozed out from the scars that spread from her knuckles and the back of her hands. Through the hole, the concoction of liquids began pouring out from its container, spilling out into the sarcophagus.

Another few hits, above her head this time. She squeezed her eyelids shut as the glass fell down, hitting the water and sinking down, floating around her face. Meanwhile, the liquid drained a little more, and she shifted her body upward, carefully maneuvering her hands to reach out of the hole.