Star Wars One Shots

The Next Right Thing - Anakin and Padme

Authors Note - An Alternate one shot where Padme survives her encounter with Anakin on Mustafar and reflects how she fought to survive.

It felt like her world was crashing around her as her mind spun at the thought of what her husband had done, and what he was now capable of doing. The one person she loved most in the world, aside from her parents of course, had betrayed her. He had done something so unforgivable that she felt her stomach turn at the thought. Her hand rested on her swollen stomach as the tears begin to fall. 

Anakin Skywalker was no more. Her husband and the father to their unborn child was now gone for good. With her eyes squeezed tight, she remembered the final moments of their last meeting before he went to Mustafar.

"I heard there was an attack on the Jedi Templer, I could see the smoke from here!" Padme cupped both of his cheeks in her hands, relishing the feeling of his skin on hers as her eyes roamed for any obvious signs of injuries. 

"I'm fine" Anakin reassured her, "I came to check that you and the baby were safe"

Padme searched his eyes, seeing the love he held for her and their unborn child in his eyes...along with something else that she couldn't place. "Anakin, I'm afraid"

Anakin gave her a small smile as he ran a hand through her long, curly brown hair that he loved so much. "Have faith my love, everything will soon be set right". He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, wishing he didn't have to let her go but soon knew that they would be together once more, in their new Empire. "Please, wait for me" It wasn't a question, but a plea. He was pleading that she would stay with him, if she ever found out what he was about to do she would never forgive him. But it was for her that Anakin was doing this, to ensure that she didn't die in childbirth like his visions were foretelling, 

Padme watched as he took one last longing look at her before getting into his speeder once more and driving into the darkening sunset of Coruscant. She should have known then that there was something not quite right with her husband. 

I've seen dark before
But not like this
This is cold
This is empty
This is numb
The life I knew is over
The lights are out
Hello, darkness
I'm ready to succumb

It would be easy for her to give up, to let go of the pain and the sadness she was feeling. She could never handle betrayal very well. And as she closed her eyes again she was willing to let herself succumb to the darkness threatening to consume her. Her light and life was gone, how could she manage to go on without him?

I follow you around
I always have
But you've gone to a place I cannot find
This grief has a gravity
It pulls me down
But a tiny voice whispers in my mind
You are lost, hope is gone
But you must go on
And do the next right thing

Padme had followed Anakin through everything, she comforted him in his times of need and during some of his darkest moments. It had been especially tough when he had found his Mother and barely had any time to say goodbye to her before she died in his arms. She should have known after he told her that he had slaughter the men, women and children, that there was something not right. How could any Jedi murder innocent women and children? And she knew that the men could be savages, but they deserved to be punished by being put in jail. No Jedi should take a life. She understood why he done it, but she certainly didn't agree with it, so why did she decide then to stick by him? 

Because she loved him.

Can there be a day beyond this night?
I don't know anymore what is true
I can't find my direction, I'm all alone
The only star that guided me was you
How to rise from the floor
When it's not you I'm rising for?
Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing

Padme stared out into the Coruscant sun, letting the warmth radiate over her as she tried to process the events of the last evening. She had barely made it out alive, if it hadn't been for Obi-Wan she certainly would have been dead and it would have been at the hands of her Husband. 

While she lay on the ship, floating in and out of consciousness she wondered if she would ever be happy again. Anakin had been her life for so long, she had followed him blindly into many situations and had some amazing moments together, but also experienced the terrible. Anakin was her sun, her moon and her stars. The one guiding light she knew would always take her to where she needed to be. Or when they were separated and she was staring out in the night sky, she stared at the one they had picked out together and the thought that he was out there, looking at the same star helped calm her nerves. 

After living for him and not for herself, Padme didn't know how she was going to pick herself up from this dark, lonely place she was in. She wanted to take that first step, she didn't want to lay in misery all day. It was time for her to do the next right thing. 

I won't look too far ahead
It's too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath
This next step
This next choice is one that I can make

As the days passed her path started to become more clear for her, through her selfishness of only thinking about her grief and pain, she had somehow forgotten the one slice of happiness that she had left. The one piece that was her step to do the next right thing. 

Her baby. 

Unbeknownst to Padme, in another version of events she would have allowed herself to succumb to the pain of her betrayal and ultimately allow her children to be orphaned all because she had allowed her heartbreak to kill her. Instead, as she had lay awake slowly drifting into unconsciousness, her mind had thought about the one child she had growing inside of her, and that one, small thought, lit a fire inside of her. She wanted to be there for her child, it would be a cruel fate to allow her child to be orphaned. That was a fate no child should have to go through. 

So I'll walk through this night
Stumbling blindly toward the light
And do the next right thing
And with the dawn, what comes then?
When it's clear that everything will never be the same again
Then I'll make the choice
To hear that voice
And do the next right thing

She recuperated on Polis Massa with the help of Obi-Wan and Senator Organa, they had managed to get her medical treatment just in time and the medical droids monitored the baby closely to ensure that she didn't go into pre-term labour. It was when she awoke for the first time that she was told that she was not having one, but two babies and she cried on the shoulder of Obi-Wan for hours, the events finally catching up to her. 

Her children would now be her light and her life, they would be the goodness she would protect and fight for. 

Padme took in a deep breath of fresh air and allowed herself to smile as her hands rested on her very large bump. The War may not be completely won, and she knew somewhere out in the darkness Anakin, now Darth Vader, was out there. That thought once brought her pain and anger, but now as she enjoyed the small victories and thought of her children and the world they would soon grow up in once the War was finally won, the pain hurt a little bit less. And it seemed to hurt less the more time passed.