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Author	Topic: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
lazykbys Registered: Oct '04	Date Posted: 1/26/05 4:39am Subject: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
	Title: The Death of Anakin Skywalker Author: lazykbys Timeframe: RotS-ish Characters: Anakin, Vader, Padmé Genre: songfic Summary: Vader confronts Padmé for the first time after his transformation. Anakin tries to intervene. Notes: this is an entry for the SongFic Challenge, inspired by the song Glory of Love by Peter Cetera The Death of Anakin Skywalker Just like a knight in shining armor From a long time ago Just in time I will save the day . . . ----- He opened his eyes and suffered a brief attack of vertigo when he realized he couldn't feel the pull of gravity. Then he noticed the thick fluid around him and remembered where he was. I'm in a bacta tank. He could only remember momentary fragments of the fight that had put him there, half an year ago. Obi-Wan's face as it was lit up by his lightsaber. The Jedi Master's words that had stung more than having his arm cut off. Obi-Wan shouting his name, extending a hand that was too late, his shocked face growing smaller and smaller . . . I fell into the lava. Chancellor Palpatine rescued me. Or at least, he pulled me out. And through the miracles of medical technology, he was alive. Complications kept returning him to the foul-tasting bacta again and again, but he was alive. My second chance at life, he thought. I can't waste it. He looked through the transparisteel and found Chancellor Palpatine standing there. His face was a cold grimness he had never seen before. "I had hoped you would have enough time to recover completely," Palpatine said. "But it seems events are not willing to wait. I need you to go to Naboo immediately." ----- Although Senator Padmé Amidala Skywalker stood at the edge of the landing pad, her thoughts were elsewhere. Last night she had dreamed of Anakin again. Like all the other dreams she'd had over the past six months, he had returned to Naboo from the planet Mustafar. However, last night's dream had rapidly become a nightmare as she realized Anakin was still on fire. She still remembered the day Obi-Wan had called, saying that Anakin was missing. When she asked what had happened, he had dodged the issue, saying only that Anakin had fallen into a lava pit and that a search team had been dispatched. The chances of his return were slim, the Jedi had told her. It had taken him ten more days to acknowledge that his former padawan was not going to come back. Padmé, however, was still hoping for a miracle. Although she felt she should know better, to this day Padmé still wondered if Obi-Wan was responsible for Anakin's disappearance. She knew that Anakin's relationship with the Jedi Master had been going from tense to bad to worse over the past few years. She wasn't sure whose fault it was, or that either of them were to blame. She remembered all the political discussions she'd had with Anakin that had rapidly deteriorated into heated arguments. Because, even after all he had been through, Anakain remained the naive boy she had met all those years ago on Tatooine. However, to put it mildly the combination of his naive political idealism with his strong Jedi powers was not desirable. It left him open to manipulation by power players who only saw him as a pawn. Which was exactly what must have happened, she thought bitterly. I should have seen it coming. I should have kept my eyes open. I should have - She wondered who had been behind Anakin all this time, whispering poisonous thoughts into his ear. A dozen candidates rose immediately to mind, not the least of whom was Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The man she was trying to depose. She saw the shuttle approach. It was one of the newer designs, all straight lines and sharp angles. Her senatorial robes fluttered as the vessel landed, its repulsorlifts kicking up a small whirlwind. Padmé stood silently still as the landing ramp was lowered. She deliberately did not look at the half-dozen Clone Troopers that marched down in advance, reserving her gaze for Palpatine's protégé. Darth Vader. He had been introduced to the Senate simply as Lord Vader. No-one knew who he was, or even what world he was from. No-one - except, perhaps, Palpatine - had ever seen his face, as it was forever hidden behind a black expressionless mask. She repressed a shiver as the sound of his mechanical breathing echoed down the ramp. It was soon followed by the heavy footsteps of armored boots. Then those boots appeared, as did the rest of him. Padmé noticed a slight unsteadiness in his movements. It reminded her of how Anakin had been shortly after he'd been fitted with his artificial arm. She remembered him at their wedding, his mechanical hand reaching out for hers. Those fingers had wrapped around hers slowly, hesitantly, as if he were afraid of crushing them. She blinked away the memory and forced herself to focus. "Lord Vader," she said, nodding her head in an abbreviated bow. "Welcome to Naboo." ----- Padmé escorted Vader to one of the more private meeting rooms. She wondered if she should offer refreshments. For all she knew he was from a race that breathed methane and consumed cyanide. Still, common courtesy required she at least make the effort. "Please, have a seat," she said. "Would you like something to -" Vader raised a gloved hand, silencing her. "I am not here to exchange pleasantries," he said bluntly. "Withdraw your petition for a vote of no-confidence." She raised her brows at his tone of voice. "I assume you have valid reasons for your request, my lord. Would you care to discuss them?" "They are not up for debate, Senator. The Supreme Chancellor cannot afford to have his attention divided right now. Especially on such trivial matters." "I disagree. The dissatisfaction of so many worlds is hardly trivial. And his use of the clone army -" "He does what circumstances require of him," Vader interrupted. "After Geonosis, the Jedi Order became suspect in the eyes of too many. The Supreme Chancellor is merely keeping the Republic from breaking apart until their trust can be restored." After the initial cheering over the victory had waned, the Jedi had found themselves in a precarious position. Questions were brought up as to how a single rogue Jedi had hidden such a large army from the Order's eyes. A few Senators had even asked whether the entire Separatist Movement had been engineered by the Jedi for their own ends. Even those who scoffed at this conspiracy theory found themselves wondering if the Jedi Order had lost its ability to control its members. For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights had been the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. More than that, they had been the pillars of stability on which the Republic stood. But now those pillars were starting to crumble under public scrutiny. It did not matter that those eyes were biased by fear, mistrust, and lack of understanding. Padmé did not doubt that this was a temporary setback, and agreed with the Chancellor that the Republic needed to be kept whole. It was the means he had chosen that she disagreed with. "I understand the difficult position the Chancellor must be in," she said. "However, I cannot stress hard enough that a show of military strength is not the solution. The Battle of Geonosis is a thing of the past. The Separatists are no longer a serious threat. This should be a time of rebuilding, not of martial law." "And it will be, Senator, when all worlds freely provide what they can. The army only serves to . . . remind worlds that there are others who are in need." "I would hardly think that destroying planetary fleets and holding entire cities hostage are the sort of reminders they need." Vader stiffened visibly. "These are hard times, Senator, and they call for hard measures." Normally, she would see such trite simplifications as weak spots, as cracks in others' logic that could be exploited. But all she could think about was how Anakin-like those words had been spoken. And that stiffening - she had seen it too often in her arguments with Anakin. It was a sign that she had struck a sensitive nerve, a flaw in his reasoning that he was uncomfortably aware off. Why am I thinking so much about Anakin? I am a Senator, she told herself. I am trained to keep my personal life from interfering with my duties. Focus, Padmé. "My lord, the hard times you speak of are mainly the result of Chancellor Palpatine's increasingly futile attempts to impose peace through force. If he continues his present policies -" "Enough," Vader snapped. "But, Lord Vader -" Her words were cut off by an unseen hand at her throat. Her hand went instinctively to claw at the invisible attacker, only to find nothing but air. It's the Force, she realized. As she did, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. Palpatine's mysterious protégé. Anakin's disappearance. The slight unsteadiness in Vader's steps. The reason he had reminded her so much of him. "As I said before, this matter is not open for debate. You will withdraw your petition, Senator. Failure to do so will end in unfortunate results." The grip loosened slightly, only enough for her to croak out a single yes or a no. However, the word that escaped her lips was - "Ani?" ----- Were his respirator not fully automated, he would have forgotten to breathe. She knew who he was! There were so many things he wanted to say to her. There were so many things he could not say to her. I will always love you. If this were a perfect world, I would never leave you alone. But it wasn't a perfect world, although the Chancellor was doing his best to make it one. And Anakin had sworn his second life as Vader to do whatever was required to reach that goal. Even if it meant choking his beloved into submission. He saw tears in her eyes as she struggled for breath. He did not know whether it was tears of pain or anger. All he knew was that he had caused it. And while it broke his heart to see her cry, he knew he would do it again if he had to. He tightened his Force grip, concentrating on the pressure points in her neck to induce pain. "This will be your last warning, Senator. Next time, I will not be so lenient." He was about to release her when he felt a burning presence in the Force. "Padmé!" a voice cried out. Vader turned to face it and saw something that could not exist - Anakin Skywalker, whole and unscarred, running towards him with a look of pure fury on his face. ----- "Get away from her!" he screamed as he tackled the man in the mask. They went down in a tangled mess of arms and legs. He managed to wind up on top of Padmé's attacker, but before he could inflict serious damage a Force blow threw him backwards into the air. A Sith! he thought. He unclipped his lightsaber and ignited it with a snap-hiss. He held the blue-white blade between him and the attacker, who seemed to be having some difficulty in getting up. A ruse? Or is he really disabled in some way? He reached out with the Force to get a feel of his opponent, and found that many parts of his body had been replaced with artificial parts. But even still, he seemed stronger in the Force than most Jedi he knew. He risked a glance at Padmé. She stood there as if frozen in shock. Part of him wanted to yell at her to run, and yet another part was glad she was here where he could protect her. I will always love you, Padmé, he thought. I will never leave you alone. ----- Vader glared at the intruder - a clone, most likely - with loathing. It was like looking at a trick mirror that distorted the image. The clone was whole and without mechanical limbs, whereas he could not breathe without his respirator. Also, the feel he received through the Force was that of an impulsive, one who allowed his emotions to control him than vice versa. In short, it was the very embodiment of the man he had been not so long ago. But that is of no concern to me, Vader told himself. All that matters is that he is here, with a lightsaber in his hand. And I cannot be seen to be weak. "You are intruding on Senate business," he told the clone. "Leave at once." "No. I won't let you harm Padmé." Behind his black mask, Vader frowned. "You give me no choice, then." His lightsaber fitted into his gloved hand like they were two parts of the same machine. He ignited it as he stepped forward, and at the same time aimed a Force blow to the clone's knee that caught it unprepared. There was a sickening crack as the joint bent in a direction it was never meant to. Make it quick, Vader told himself. There's no need to make it suffer. ----- Despite the excruciating pain in his knee, he did not fall. He could not fall, not with Padmé here to protect. He staggered backwards as the cloaked Sith attacked mercilessly. However, the masked man's sword strokes, while delivered with pinpoint accuracy, were limited by his absurdly slow and steady steps. He's afraid of falling down, he realized. He really is disabled. He leaped several meters backwards, using the Force to lessen the sharp, stabbing pain in his knee. If he concentrated hard enough, he could keep the pain from interfering with this fight. He stole a glance at Padmé. It actually hurt to see the look of fear and apprehension in her eyes. Don't worry, love. You'll keep me standing tall. With a roar he sprang forward. ----- It was all Vader could do to keep himself on his feet under the clone's onslaught. The clone fought as he once had, its entire existence in perfect balance as it attacked. There was no sign of pain in its face. This was no puzzle, as there were Jedi techniques to shut out pain. Or perhaps it's her. He had seen the look the clone had given Padmé, just prior to its counterattack. He knew that look, or at lest the emotions behind it. Once upon a time, those emotions had been his. The clone would not be beaten by an inferior enemy, or even by an equal as long as Padmé was here. Her presence would lend it strength, even after the normal physical reserves had been spent. Therefore I must be the better fighter. I must be the stronger, despite my crippled body. But was he really crippled? A thought blossomed in Vader's mind, almost distracting him from the duel. He had taken it for granted that the loss of living tissue equaled a loss of Force sensitivity. But surely the Force was more than mere biochemical reactions. A midi-chlorian count was only a quantitative measurement, after all. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, his Jedi teachers had taught him. Even if those parts were plasteel and circuitry and servomotors instead of flesh and blood and bones. Vader focused on his lightsaber with its synthetic crystal. In his mind he saw how it fit into the other components in a way that no Force-blind diagnostic tool could ever understand. And he saw the others parts, both mechanical and otherwise, that made up the being he had become. Not completely man. Not entirely machine. And not a mismatched union of conflicting parts, but a whole being. For the first time since his transformation, Vader truly felt that his body was his own. The bland cyberneural feedback from his artificial extremities finally merged with the phantom sensation of lost limbs. The cold, regulated breathing of his respirator at last came under his conscious control. He could feel the Force flowing through him, through every organic cell and electronic circuit of his cyborg body. He stepped - no, strode forward, bringing his lightsaber down in a chopping stroke. Their blades met in a clash that sent shockwaves traveling through both their bodies. He saw the clone's features twist in pain as the force of the impact reached its injured knee. There was only time for a silent good-bye before the duel was over. ----- His lips parted in a soundless scream as the ruby blade sliced through his chest. There was very little blood since the beam of pure energy cauterized as it cut, splitting his lungs into four unequal parts with a wall of semi-burnt tissue between them. The lightsaber must have nicked his spinal column as well; he could no longer feel the lower half of his body. His knees, no longer under his control, gave out from under him, making him fall flat on his face. The last thing he saw was Padmé's face. He longed to tell her how much he loved her, but his voice was gone and her eyes were fixed on the other man. Padmé . . . ----- She watched in shocked silence as Vader bent down over the corpse. Her mind was still trying to process the pieces of data that had been presented to her in the last few minutes. I was sure Vader was Anakin. But Vader killed him. Here. Just now. She had wished for Anakin's safe return and it had been granted to her. But minutes later, that miracle had been taken away. She became aware of a desperate voice at the back of her head that kept telling her that a miracle was still possible, if only her first instinct had been correct. ". . . Anakin?" she whispered. The armored figure looked up, then tilted his helmet down towards the unmoving body. "Anakin Skywalker is dead," Vader said. He rose to his full imposing height. All resemblances to the Jedi she loved had disappeared. Even the slight unsteadiness in his movements were gone. When he spoke, it was in a voice as cold and emotionless as the respirator's mechanical rasp. "Withdraw your petition, Senator. You will not be asked again." Without another word, Darth Vader turned his back on her and left. -----signature----- I would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism you can give me. Please feel free to PM me with your comments. . by the same author (click and scroll dowwwn): http://boards.theforce.net/m/b1/17609715/r17736763
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CapNJaxWench Registered: Jul '04	Date Posted: 1/26/05 5:18am Subject: RE: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
	Wow! Blew me away~ Bravo! -----signature----- But you have heard of me, right?
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clone_storm_trooper Registered: Jul '04	Date Posted: 1/26/05 5:36am Subject: RE: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
	Awesome - i really enjoyed that take on it - BRAVO!! -----signature----- Episode III - why can't it come out any sooner EP II AU - Qui-Gon lives - http://boards.theforce.net/The_Saga/b10476/17981452/ BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC TRILOGY - EPISODE ONE - RISE OF HUMANITY - http://boards.theforce.net/Before_the_Saga/b10475/18211374/
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VaderLVR64 Title: Fan Fic Manager Buried Under Boxes Registered: Feb '04	Date Posted: 1/26/05 6:52am Subject: RE: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
	That was great! A superb songfic! Loved it! All of it! -----signature----- If you have to choose between tears and laughter, remember that laughter burns more calories. They call me NANA Vader. At least she doesn't lack confidence...
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AnakinsHeir Registered: May '04	Date Posted: 1/26/05 9:53am Subject: RE: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
	If only we could have Anakin AND Darth Vader! Loved it! -----signature----- Let Me Go http://boards.theforce.net/The_Saga/b10476/18359174/?2 Master to JediCallista_1_6_e54 A Mother's Wishes http://boards.theforce.net/The_Saga/b10476/20272243/?0
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VadersMistress Registered: Apr '04	Date Posted: 1/26/05 12:10pm Subject: RE: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
	Wow. Just wow. This was an amazing piece. A wonderful entry for the challenge. Bravo. -----signature----- And what it all comes down to is that I haven't got it figured out just yet. Would I rather be feared or loved? Um... Easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me. Persia pwns your face.
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JediFalcon Registered: Feb '02	Date Posted: 1/26/05 8:16pm Subject: RE: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
	wow that was superb that was definately great to the end -----signature----- Rogue Three in FFC Rogue Wing, Ward rm #306 Council Member of the Lightside Crimson makes my heart go Master of BYS AHBY The Impeccably Patient Drugged-Out Lunatic of the Skies I wonder whats my purpose in life
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lazykbys Registered: Oct '04	Date Posted: 1/28/05 4:55am Subject: RE: The Death of Anakin Skywalker (RotS-ish songfic; Ani/Padmé/Vader)
	takes a bow This is my second fic that answers the question: what can you do with a crazy clone? Thank you for reading this, everyone, and I hope I can figure out what you liked about it so I can write some more. AnakinsHeir: If only we could have Anakin AND Darth Vader! Stop it, please. You're giving me plot bunnies -----signature----- I would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism you can give me. Please feel free to PM me with your comments. . by the same author (click and scroll dowwwn): http://boards.theforce.net/m/b1/17609715/r17736763
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