A/N
Okay, here were are. I would recommend getting comfortable, this is the longest chapter yet, almost 9k words woops. I really do hope you enjoy, your comments mean the world to me and always make me smile, I appreciate you guys so much (I'll stop talking I'm sorry but ily)
TW - A lot of violence, angst, emotional rollercoaster really.
Morning was breaking over Coruscant.
I stood out on the temple landing pad, atop of a crate that held supplies in front of the freighter that was being readied for the journey ahead.
I overlooked the crowd, the team that had assembled to assist us on the mission. To help take down Palpatine.
When I first saw them all walking out towards Anakin and I only minutes ago, he had to physically close my mouth after my jaw dropped at the sheer number of people willing to help our cause.
Now I settled, hands on my hips, surveying the familiar faces that looked back up at me, waiting for my command.
The first few faces I could see included those of Ahsoka and Obi-Wan of course. And Obi-Wan's battalion the 212th were there. Also the 501st, Rex smirked at me, Fives, Echo, Jesse, Hardcase, Dogma - all of them. Their blue decorated helmets tucked under their arms.
This mission wasn't on record, the council would disagree with taking such a risk with such large numbers but still there were several Jedi willing to join us. Kit Fisto, Aayla Secura, Plo Koon and Shaak Ti were among some of them. Even people from outside the temple, outside of Coruscant, had been rallied to join us.
Bo-Katan Kryze along with other Mandalorians came for their shot at the empire. Wookies and Gungans, species from all planets had arrived. It was overwhelming, the fact that all these people were willing to put their lives at risk so easily with no questions asked.
They trusted me, when I wasn't even sure if I trusted myself.
"Right. We are gonna need more ships" I muttered under my breath.
I turned to tell Anakin that we would need more supplies to match the numbers but as I did, someone caught my eye.
"Padme? what are you doing here?!"
She grinned back up at me with a pleased look across her face "well I've come to help of course" she replied like it was obvious, gesturing to the blaster in her hand.
Looking down at her and all my other friends that I had gotten to know so well and who had been so welcoming to me from the very beginning, I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that panged through my body.
What if this all went wrong?
Anakin saw how my face had dropped, his hand brushed along my arm from where he stood next to me on the crates "hey. They are here because they chose to be"
I turned my head to face him him, offering him a weak smile "I know. I- I'm scared. Not of Palatine just...of losing everyone" I spoke quietly to him.
"It's going to be okay. Right now, these people need a leader, and they're looking to you sweetheart, try and be strong for them like you always are. I'm right here"
I nodded, raising my hand to his cheek then turned back to the gathered crowd.
"Okay! the coordinates received are pointing us in the direction of the planet Malachor. The empires base on Mustafar has been completely abandoned so we can only assume this new planet is where they have fled to, Palpatine included"
People nodded, taking on the information, Obi-Wan stroked his beard in thought.
"You may not know much about this planet, I only ever heard stories about it from Dooku but it's said to be home to an ancient Sith temple. The entire planet is clouded with the dark side so we need to be careful." My gaze dropped to the floor "This mission is going to be dangerous. I don't know what we are going to face, but it's not going to be easy. If you can't handle it, now is your time to leave"
I looked back to the crowd, only to be met with eager faces and not one person fleeing from the scene. A smile spread across my face "alright then! we have freighters and I assume some of you brought your own ships, I will put a beacon on mine and speak to you over the comms. Good luck everyone..." I inhaled a breath, taking in the Coruscant morning air with more appreciation this time as it may just be the last "and may the force be with you"
"And with you"
"Good luck General"
"Yes General Skywalker" Some responded with a nod before disbanding off to their designated freighters and ships.
The time had arrived.
Anakin and I took the leading ship sitting side by side, pilot and co-pilot (though we both fought over who got to sit in the pilot's seat. He won.) He kept a reassuring hand on my thigh as we dashed through hyperspace.
"Anakin" I said, staring out into the blue, watery tunnel ahead of us.
"Mhm?" He hummed back.
"...I feel it again"
"Feel what, baby?" he asked lightly.
"The darkness" I responded heavily.
He turned to look at slowly, like he wasn't sure if I had actually said it or not. He didn't say a word, just stared at me, confusion across his eyes but a sense of knowing on the rest of his face.
"It calls to me. When I'm angry, or upset, or even just when I'm alone, it gets to me. It creeps in through memories.Of being manipulated by Dooku for most of my childhood. The look on Athena's face when I...Of Darth Vader, the way he looked at me with such...such hatred. Of Zac. Memories of pain." my fingers knitted into my hair, I was struggling with the images flashing through my mind as I recalled the past "I try not to listen to the calls but sometimes...sometimes they are just so loud that I can't hear anything else"
This wasn't the right time to be telling him this. But I wasn't sure how much time we even had left at this point.
"Look at me"
I didn't move.
"(y/n). Look at me"
As I turned my head towards him, the single tear that had been hanging on for dear life finally fell, racing down my cheek, hurrying to get away before more would follow.
"I don't know what's happening to me" My voice cracked under my barely audible whisper.
"I love you"
"I know but-"
"No I don't think you do know. I love YOU. YOU. I love the girl who was trying to kill me the first time we met. I love the girl who was meant to be a sith lord for gods sake! I love the girl who has never had it easy, but through it all has been strong. You are so strong baby. The strongest person I've ever known" he took both my hands in his, pleading for me to understand "I didn't fall in love with the girl for her goodness. I didn't fall in love with her because of the light she possessed. I fell in love with her because she was you. Darkness and all. She's my girl. You are my girl. My sweetheart"
Maybe this was our final moment of peace, our final moment of happiness. And if so, I'd say it would go down as a good one.
"And you're my Skywalker" I smiled back.
"Always"
His grip moved shifted my hands, he trailed his fingers up my arms with light touches until they reached my shoulders and he pulled me into his broad frame.
I rested on his lap, curled up in his arms. He kissed the top of my head as we both gazed out onto the journey ahead.
We were shot out of the blue channel of hyperspace sooner than I had expected as we arrived at Malachor.
Malachor was nothing like I had expected, no spewing lava, no scorching deserts or crashing waterfalls, it was just...nothing. A wasteland. There was no sign of life, no army readying their weapons or base barricading their walls. It was barren across the entire circumference of its surface, there was nothing interesting about this planet. It was grey and it was dull. That was about it.
Had we gotten it wrong? Had Palpatine deceived us once again?
I let out a sigh, twisted my neck and looked to Anakin with a smile then leant in and kissed him, not quite wanting to let our final moment of peace go just yet.
A short moment after, I got onto my feet and spoke down the comms.
"Okay. Doesn't look like much but it's worth a look since we came all this way. Everyone prepare for landing" I commanded.
Minutes later we were on the ground, the sound of ramps lowering and hatches opening resonated through the area. Anakin held my hand, helping me down, holding on for a little longer than he needed to after we were both standing safely on the new terrain. I squeezed his hand tighter though, never wanting to let go.
The ground didn't seem completely solid, more like something that had been frozen and was threatening to melt...or crumble.
And just as everybody gathered together, something started rumble and crack beneath our feet. The ground.
I didn't have time to think, much less time to shout before what we thought was the stable floor gave way underneath us and everyone went plummeting into darkness.
This was all too familiar, that intense feeling I got in the pit of my stomach when falling. The way the air was flying out of my lungs, like it was desperately trying to make it back up to the surface.
The fall seemed to last forever, yells and screams crashed all around me but I couldn't make out the faces, all I knew was that they were all my fellow comrades screaming in terror.
We hadn't even caught a glimpse of the empire yet and already we were on the brink of death.
Strong arms were around me, pulling me into their body tightly. It was Anakin, I could recognize the way he held me instantly.
Everyone that could, put in the effort, calling to the force and reaching out to soften the landing as we finally made it the floor.
By some miracle, no one was hurt, maybe a few bruises here and there but luckily no one was dead. Yet.
I untangled myself from Anakin who had landed beneath me and pulled him up onto his feet before patting myself down.
"What is this place?" Rex spoke up with a cough.
It was darker down here, more mysterious. More sinister.
"I don't know but whatever it is, we're not the first here" Padme said, nodding up above us.
The surface we had just fallen from occupied hundreds more gaping holes and crumbling breaks where other innocent or perhaps not-so-innocent travellers had made the same error of falling through. Light broke through these holes, the sun rays were misty with dust and dirt that floated through the air so the sunlight barely reached us.
The ground was rocky and where there weren't rocks, there was dirt. Boulders and stones contorted into tall, towering shapes. Some caved above our heads, others lay low on the floor, just waiting for one of us to stumble over them.
"Great" Bo-Katan threw her hands up and kicked a rock at her foot "We are stuck down here with nothing but..." she stopped. Another rumbling was heard, but this time the ground wasn't the cause.
It was quiet at first, coming from somewhere over in the distance, but it was too dark to make out what it was. Until it got closer. Louder. And then we heard it.
Marching.
"...rocks" She finished her sentence breathlessly before clamping her helmet down over her face.
"GET READY" Anakin yelled.
We all turned to the direction of the marching and finally saw what our ears had been warning us about.
Soldiers. A stampede of soldiers rampaging towards us. They carried weapons of many varieties but all with one purpose. To kill.
Next, bursts of green and blue lightsabers lit up the darkness. In any other circumstance, I would have admired the beautiful sight, but there was no time to stand around gawking.
Clicks of blasters loading, crossbows cocking and spears clattering came next.
We were ready and focused. I glanced from side to side, nodding to my friends who nodded right back with cocky smiles.
I looked back ahead to the nearing, snarling army, but my view then overlooked them, travelling to something behind them.
A temple.
Others wouldn't have noticed, maybe thought it was just another convenient collection of rocks. But no. It called to me, with those same voices I would hear in my nightmares, those same voices that slipped into my mind no matter how unwelcome they were.
I wanted to block them out, pretend I didn't hear them.
"I need to get to that temple" I said, mostly to myself.
I couldn't keep denying what had to come next.
Anakin was the only one that heard me. "I'm coming with you"
"No you-"
"I am coming. With you." there was no persuading him.
I looked to him. Watching how the humming blue shone onto his face, his scar glinted under the light but his eyes were what shone the brightest. Even in the midst of the impending chaos, he still cracked a smile at me. My Skywalker.
Anakin's POV
She was scared, I could see it by the look on her face and I could see the way she was trying to hide it too. She didn't like being scared, always thought it was a sign of weakness, well I guess that was all she'd ever been brought up to believe.
She didn't take her eyes off mine as she pulled out her two sabers and ignited them at her sides, the purple beams illuminating a lavender haze around her.
Purple. A mix of blue and red. The Jedi and the Sith. Light and dark. It represented her better than she knew.
Her darkness had always been there, but it had never been evil. No, her darkness was softer, filled with hope. It was the dark that came just before the sunrise, a kind of dark which helps create a canvas for the orange and yellow bloom across the sky on an early Coruscant morning. It was the dark that encourages you to fall asleep when you close your eyes, tossing and turning, aiding you to slip away into dreams of a more peaceful place.
Her darkness was the one that occurs in a complete solar eclipse, blocking out the blaring light, the deafening noise, making you forget all the pressures of life, leaving you in the silence of serenity...even if it was for only a few seconds.
Her darkness lit my way.
My sweetheart.
(y/n)'s POV
Palpatine was in that temple. I could feel it. We needed to get to him. But first, we had to get through the army hurtling towards us.
It was time.
"ATTACK" Anakin yelled.
Everyone echoed his command, picking up their pace, running head-on to meet the chaos ahead. We moved as a group, like a wave building up energy to eventually crash down on its enemy.
Some of the soldiers wore masks, revealing only their blood-thirsty eyes. Others let their expression show and from the look on their faces, they were hungry for a fight.
I ran faster, my legs taking me quicker than the rest of my body could anticipate. My hair swept in the wind behind me, my feet barely touching the ground.
They were hungry for a fight. But I was ravenous.
The first hits came with a crash as everybody set sights on a target of their own.
I leapt atop the shoulders of the nearest soldier and before they could even attempt to fight back, I had snapped their neck.
Anakin stayed close beside me, we worked together fighting them off. He would duck so I could get a shot at the person behind him and I would jump so he could slice them at the ankles.
It was all a colourful blur, a vibrant painting of battle. Sabers swinging and lasers flying past our heads.
There were deaths on both sides, but only when this was over, only when the smoke cleared would we able to see who we had lost.
My heart was pounding and head was screaming. The smell of burning flesh invaded my nose and the air I breathed was filled with burning vapour from the pummelling weapons but there was nothing that could stop me from getting to that temple.
I leapt over jagged rocks and ducked under treacherous strikes from blunt weapons aiming for my skull.
Minutes later, Anakin and I had made it to the other side. Not once did we stop running. They say you're not meant to look back, but Ignored that, my head whipped round to take what may just have been my last look at my friends. They hadn't even taken a second thought when it came to joining me and I would be grateful to them for the rest of my life - however much longer that would be.
And then I looked back ahead, took a breath...and let it out with a nod as we ascended up the decaying stone steps of the ominous temple.
It resembled a pyramid. I hadn't noticed it before but as we drew in closer, a red glare radiated menacingly from its walls. There was no bulb, no voltage causing this low crimson glow. Its energy came from the blood red, grand kyber crystal that was poised at the pyramids peak. Its power sunk into the deteriorating walls and through the cracks in the floor underneath our feet. Its energy enveloped the entire temple in a vicious and dark grip, an energy similar to the man I knew was inside.
"Stay close to me" Anakin called, gesturing out an arm for me to get behind him.
I could handle myself, we both knew that. But with this whole situation being so out of our control, Anakin needed to know that he could at least keep what he cared about most safe, and so I stepped in behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder to reassure him that I was there.
We walked further into the temple, down a deep, dim hallway. Our sabers were clipped back into our belts but we still kept ourselves on high-alert.
The walls beside us held red, glowing, ancient carvings. I trailed my hand across the rough surface, my fingers bumping over the jagged engravings of a language I couldn't understand but had seen before.
"This writing its..." I begun. But another voice spoke up from the shadows.
"The runic language of the Sith. Yes, you would recognise it"
Palpatine.
We sped up towards the sound of his poisonous voice. We came out to an opening, the hallway fanned out into a huge open room of which we walked into the centre of. The walls sloped upwards and caved inwards until they reached the very top, meeting at the kyber crystal that I had observed from outside.
Its crimson glow bled down on us, illuminating everything in a sea of blood. And at that violent thought, Palpatine stepped out of the shadows. Along with four men, clad in armour. His knights.
"Recognize anything else?" he grinned with a cynical smile then nodded to the men beside him.
One by one, the knights removed the bandanas that covered their identities and revealed their faces.
My breath hitched, I tried to shove down the emotion that was brimming, inside I was breaking.
I knew these people.
Their names were Archer, Mekhi, Blaze and Phoenix. And only now did I realise the knight I had killed earlier was Axel, the little blonde boy who had once offered me a friendship, in what felt like another lifetime.
Anakin looked to me "what is it? who are they?"
"Your wife here, was once friends with my knights, isn't that right sweetheart?" he mused.
"Don't call me that" I snapped, view still fixated on the men who watched me with those sinister, dark eyes.
It was early into my training with Count Dooku when a group of five, young, eager boys arrived on our dreadnaught under Palpatines command. They came to learn from Dooku, they didn't battle with sabers, they were taught on aggression with blunt force and utilizing only the limbs on their bodies to destroy their enemies. I got to know them, they were nice enough, some of them were even sweet to me. I knew they would go on to be powerful but I hadn't heard from them after they left a few weeks later. Little did I know, here we would meet again. As enemies.
"I'm sorry, what would you prefer I call you? weakling? little girl? oh no, I've got one, traitor"
Finally my gaze turned to the emperor - the epitome of evil in human form. He moved from the shadows to a black, marble throne at the front of the room. The throne fanned out into jagged spikes at its head and held sparks of red in its body, like a thunder storm was trapped inside.
"Because that's what you are aren't you? a traitor. But even now, you're not certain. Even after all this time trying to prove to yourself and others that you are worthy of the Jedi's trust...you still don't even trust yourself"
"Save your breath, you don't have much left" Anakin flared.
He sunk down into his seat and cackled with a smile.
"Knights" he voiced to the men who stood before him. They watched us so intently, like lions sizing up their prey. And then they moved, stalking towards us with that same starved craving. One thing was for sure, these weren't the boys I once knew.
"We take them together" Anakin glanced at me.
"Together" I glanced back at him.
Third-person POV
The knights were all silently shocked to see her.
Palpatine had warned them that the Jedi were on their way but he hadn't informed them that she would be among them.
She had grown up into a fascinating young women. She held herself with such confidence, yet her eyes were deceiving her, they always did. Her eyes held the tunnels to her emotions and now anyone who looked closely could see, she was hurt. She didn't want to kill them. They didn't particularly want to kill her. But they all knew what they had to do. Did they have the strength to do it? that, they would find out seen enough.
They had caught word of who she had become and they knew her power. She had been strong before, but now she was a Skywalker and her husband, Anakin was poised right beside her.
The men weren't afraid, they weren't allowed to be...but they were apprehensive of who would be first to strike.
"What? too afraid to make the first move? alright then" She pounced on them, going for Mekhi first.
(For this next part, play the song "Run Boy Run" by Woodkid)
She reignited her sabers at her sides then brought them above her head and smashed them down heavily against Mekhi's armour. Luckily for him but unfortunately for her, he and the boys had recently made a trip to Mandalore and stolen some of the finest beskar on the market which they used to upgrade their armour. It was expensive, rare and almost indestructible.
The screams of the beskar against her blades echoed through the vast temple. She wasn't one to give up and so, she repositioned herself and continued her attack on Mekhi, smirking to herself as she did. She loved the rush she was granted in the midst of a fight. It made her feel powerful.
Blaze moved in to assist Mekhi whilst Phoenix and Archer cut Anakin off before he could move in to help his wife.
Meanwhile, Palpatine watched from his throne, grinning at the entertainment. That's what this was to him, entertainment before the main event.
He would be the one to kill the traitor and the chosen one, but he wouldn't turn down the chance to watch them suffer a little beforehand.
All four knights possessed the advantage of the beskar amour. But their enemies possessed the advantage of being the Skywalkers.
The men carried small blades with them but apart from that, they lived up to their training, using only the skills they carried with them. Anakin got a good hit on Phoenix, giving him time to look over at his wife. She wasn't tiring, she was powered by her raw emotion. It flared through her body and channelled down her plasma blades into each precise hit, weakening the men with each blow.
"Hey boys" she greeted them casually "been a while"
Always finds time to chat, Anakin thought to himself, shaking his head with a smirk.
They didn't respond. "Not in the talky mood huh? come on, Blaze? you used to love our little chit-chats!" she exclaimed, driving one of her saberds through the air, searing the material of his bandana that hung round his neck, only just missing his skin.
Suddenly, Mekhi had managed to slip behind her. He swiftly pulled his arm around her neck, trapping her in a headlock. He was quietly proud of himself, she was better skilled than he had expected and now he finally had the upper-hand that he had been grasping for.
"Nice to see you again" he whispered, bringing his lips right up to her ear.
"Ooo tempting but I have a husband and he's right..."
Mekhi didn't have time to get away before Anakin had slipped beside him and sunk his lightsaber through an exposed gap in his armour.
"There" she finished, letting the man tumble to the fall with a simple push.
Anakin had just succeeded to take out Archer when he saw what was happening and got to saving her in time.
Two down, two to go.
Husband and wife peered at each other with a smirk before moving back-to-back to take on the two others who were altering their stances and planning out their next moves. They were angry now. Furious.
"Tempting? did you say?" Anakin inquired over his shoulder playfully.
Blaze jumped forward going for swing after swing at Anakin but he met each with a deflection as once again the sound of metal meeting plasma reverberated through the chilled room.
"Is that jealousy I hear skywalker?" she laughed back as she moved her attack on Phoenix.
She surged her energy into debilitating him and before long, had him pinned on the floor. She knelt on top of him, kneeing at his ribs and crashing her sabers against the armour on his chest, damaging it with each strike.
"Hey baby?" Anakin was wrestling against Blaze, pushing against his beskar protected forearm. Their faces mere centimetres apart as both tried to push harder to get the upper hand on the other. "Throw me one of your sabers" he called over to her.
Blazes eyes widened, realisation struck at the same exact moment the purple saber drove into the exposed skin of his neck.
Anakin panted, regaining himself. "Thanks h- PADME WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
To everyone's surprise, Padme came rushing in from the battlefield, stepping into the new arena of chaos.
"I- I came to help you!" she protested, heart pounding. The longer she spent standing there helplessly, the more she was regretting her decision to follow them. She wasn't meant to be there.
Panic settled into the Skywalkers. "Padme, YOU NEED TO GET OUT. NOW."
The girl was losing her focus, losing her sense of control. Padme was her best friend, she had been there from the very beginning. She couldn't lose her now. Not when they were so close.
Phoenix saw the fear in the eyes of the girl above him and an idea struck.
Padme stood her ground "NO. No I can help you!" she fumbled for her blaster and proceeded to aim it straight at Palpatine. She could kill him....yeah...she could do this, she attempted to convince herself.
The Skywalkers were her closest friends. She wanted to help to them and believed she could. They were family to her.
Meanwhile, no one had noticed Phoenix rotating the blade in his hand. He narrowed his eyes, setting his target.
"We've got this Padme. you go back and-"
The blade was hurled from Phoenix's grip. It sliced through the air with such speed that no one could even try preventing what came next.
It pierced straight through Padme's skin and plummeted into her heart.
Then everything went quiet.
The girl atop of Padme's killer couldn't form words. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream. She killed Phoenix with her bare hands in a matter of seconds. Then sound finally followed in her screams.
"NO. NO. NO."
Padme stood there for a few more moments. Eventually, when the pain started sinking in, she looked down to see the knife in her chest.
Padme often thought about how she would die. She liked to think it would be for a good cause. Maybe sacrificing herself for her true love or for the good of the republic, maybe even in saving her children. But there would be no time for that now. It was too late.
Anakin was there immediately. He caught her when she lost her balance and lowered her slowly to the ground. His wife however took longer to get over. It was like she had forgotten how to move, she could barely stand, she could barely breathe, it was like the knife had been plunged into her heart, for padme had always held such a special place in it, and now it was dying.
"Stay with us Padme. You- you're okay. Everything..."
The girl sobbed beside her. Her best friends blood coated her hands as it seeped from her body at too fast a rate. Padme s eyes flickered upon her friends. She took the crying girls hand in hers and offered her a nod.
"It was a pleasure knowing you. E-everything...is going to be alright" she strained with a whisper.
"No no no no. Don't go, please please don't go" She begged, cries wracking from her throat.
Padme had a few breaths left, she turned her head to Anakin slowly "take care of her...okay Ani?"
Anakin tried holding himself together but the tears broke free, falling onto Padme's skin below. He nodded, reassuring her, that's all he could give her.
And then her eyes shut and a final breath wisped out from her body.
Padme Amidala was never meant to die so young. She was their angel, until the very end.
"Are you done? I want my turn" Palpatine stood up from where he had been sitting, whining like a child.
"You are going to pay for this. You are going to pay for EVERYTHING you have done" Anakin seethed, standing up and turning to face the emperor.
"oh I'm sure I will" his face tilted downwards to eye Anakin, the anticipation burned in his firelit eyes. "But first...I'm going to kill your wife. And you are going to watch."
Hundreds of invisible ropes tied themselves around Anakin's body, pinning his arms to his sides and encasing him entirely under their hold. Palpatine was responsible. He had such a knowledge and power in the force, it bent to his every command. He held out his palm and brought Anakin to his knees, shifting him over to the side of the room so that he could could get a front seat spot at the finale of what the emperor thought had been a magnificent show.
Anakin struggled with all his might to break loose from Palpatine's hold. He was covered in gashes and bruises, he was exhausted and hurting. And now there was nothing he could do but watch as his worst nightmares were re-enacted before his eyes.
"Rise traitor. It is time to meet your destiny."
He was wrong. Her Destiny was at home, sound asleep in the sweet nurse's arms. And that was what bothered him most in the entire galaxy. He wanted that baby. He was confident he would get it eventually. For he always got what he wanted.
The distraught girl was still knelt beside her best friends cooling body, facing away from the man edging closer behind her.
The grief had quickly morphed into anger. Pure, overpowering anger.
Never had it taken such control. It consumed her body. It consumed her mind. It devoured her entirely, and yet it was still hungry for more.
The tears on her cheeks set alight, burning her skin and seeping into her soul. Her emotions were a furnace. And Palpatine had added the fuel.
Her eyes were slammed shut, preventing anymore of the scorching tears to escape. Her breathing was uneven and rapid, her chest danced erratically like movements of a flame in the wind.
Hair had fallen out from her once perfectly neat braid. Loose strands stuck to her sweat-covered face. Muck and dirt, scrapes and bruises decorated her once spotless skin. The scar across her lip was flushed pink. Her appearance was a perfect parallel to what had unravelled inside of her. Everything had been under control. Now, the chaos was breaking loose.
It was when her eyes opened again that the fire inside her could finally be shown for its full glory.
Her eyes were red, normal considering how much she had cried. But what wasn't normal was the way deep crimson rimmed her irises, bleeding into a smouldering orange and simmering yellow, defining her dilated pupils in a solar eclipse. Eyes of the dark side.
She stood to her feet with a newfound strength. Turning to finally face her enemy.
"Welcome back to the dark side young Skywalker. I knew you would return to join me eventually" Palpatine mused, observing the way her eyes shone with their newfound colour.
She moved in closer, taking each step with confidence and purpose.
"I will never join you" she fumed.
His bold smile dropped and turned into a look of disgust. His face twitched and after a tense moment, he responded with a simple "So be it. I am going to kill you. I am going to finally rid the galaxy of the abomination that is the Skywalkers. Once I am done with you two, I will steal your precious daughter. She will never even know you existed. She will take the name of Palpatine. And we will rule the galaxy as master and apprentice. As father and daughter." he grinned.
"IF YOU LAY A FINGER ON HER I WILL-" Anakin roared, straining under the grip that pulled tighter round his body.
"Silence" Palpatine snapped.
The girl only stepped closer "she. Is. Mine." she spoke through gritted teeth, observing him through her lashes.
"Not for long"
Palpatine knew what he was doing. With every comment, ever proclamation, he was fanning the fire of the dark side scorching inside of her. But what he didn't stop to realise was that she was aiming the blaze at him. And it was going to burn.
What happened next happened very fast. Her hilts had dragged off the floor and into her open palms. Palpatine only had enough time to retrieve his lightsaber from where it had been tucked away in his sleeve before the violet blades came crashing down above him.
Palpatine's skills extended beyond just his knowledge of the force. He was strong and agile with a lightsaber, he was quick with defeating any enemy who challenged him, but getting the upper hand on her was proving difficult.
She yelled out with each strike, using all the energy in her body and all the passion in her veins to create the most violent and aggressive moves she could uncover. She delved back into her memories of the old days, training with Count Dooku and all the actions he taught her.
She remembered the way he would hurt her when she made even the slightest mistake. She remembered the way he would remind her she was 'nothing without the Sith.' And she remembered how much the bruises and words would hurt when she lay alone in bed those nights, sleep taunting her with the way it was unreachable.
She carried the pain and trauma with her now but she instead, used it to her advantage. She had been caught in a trance, loving the way her enemy hissed and winced when the pulsing blades of plasma would near his skin. She was drunk on the power. Glancing over at Anakin and the look on his face was the only thing that managed to sober her up.
She stepped back, panting and out of breath, view still locked with her husbands who looked back into her eyes with shock. She hadn't realised how deep she had fallen into the haze of destruction. Her hands were shaking, her skin was sweating and her wounds were screaming.
"LOOK OUT" Anakin suddenly yelled over to her. He had to watch as Palatine's saber sliced at her arm. It slashed through the skin with ease but not deep enough to reach the bone. She cried out in agony, dropping both of her sabers as a reflex to grasp at the burning gash.
Palpatine seized the opportunity, kicking her to the ground, she fell to her knees. She desperately tried to pull herself back together and she almost succeeded. That was until the lightning struck.
Powerful bolts of electricity shot out from his hands and into the girls cowering body.
"AHHH NO AHHHH" she wailed, her head throwing back in torment. Every inch of her skin was set ablaze with the icy blue bolts. The pain was unimaginable but she knew it could never measure to the loss of her best friend.
"STOP. STOP. DON'T KILL HER. YOU CAN'T..." Anakin had never felt so helpless. He would beg, he would trade his life to save hers, he would do anything, but Palpatine wasn't interested in him right now. He thrashed to break free from the invisible chains but to no avail. He watched his wife screaming and recoiling on the floor with tears in his eyes. All he wanted to do was scoop her up in his arms and protect her from all the pain, all the hurting. But instead, he was going to have to witness her die.
Hadn't the universe had enough of torturing the Skywalkers?
Palpatine stopped for a moment to admire the way his unmatchable power made her writhe in pain. Smoke wafted through the air after the intensity of the force lightning. But Palpatine wasn't finished yet, he would use all his power, even if it took hours, days, he wouldn't stop until she was dead. And he wanted to make sure it hurt.
She found the pain fascinating. It coursed through her body, roaming her arteries and scouring her veins, searching for a place to stay permanently. But she wouldn't let it.
She smacked her palms flat down onto the cold stone floor. She panted, the air was wary to return back to her lungs, scared of what she could unleash if it provided her with the oxygen she needed to regain her strength.
Anakin slammed his eyes shut dreading the moment when Palpatine would resume the persecution and the blood curdling screams of his wife would return.
He couldn't watch...he just couldn't.
Saying she was angry was an understatement. She was so infuriated that the raw emotion made her overlook the pain. She was so enraged that now, instead of agony...she felt something new rushing through her system.
Something powerful.
Something almost electric.
She had never experienced anything like this before, it was new and it scared her, but she welcomed it. And unlike before, now she felt completely in control.
(Time to play "Toxic" by 2WEI)
Once again she rose to her feet. With a shaky but confident exhale, she straightened up. Lifting her chin slowly, she once again sealed eyes with the villain of her story. His glowing orange irises may have mirrored hers but in no way were these two people the same.
As much as Palpatine hated to admit it. He just couldn't seemed get his hands on her, she always managed to slip right through his fingers.
Panic seeped into Anakin when everything had gone quiet, he thought she must have died already, but when his eyes creeped back open, he was amazed at what he saw.
The man who stood before her was secretly amazed too. He wanted that girl badly and he wanted her child. The things they would do together...the entire galaxy would bow at their feet. He fell into a trance, watching how the infuriation consumed her. She was even more powerful than he had expected. But little did he know, he had only seen the half of it.
"I am going to kill you" she echoed his words from earlier.
"I am going to make you hurt." She took a step closer.
"And I won't stop." That new energy was beginning to emerge from the darkness, where it had been hiding inside her all along.
"I will never stop fighting you." It flared through her body, pulsing down her arms and into her fingertips.
"I am going to send you back down to whatever hell you came from" She spoke with a satanic calmness.
A spark ignited in her hands.
A spark of electricity.
And almost as soon as it flashed to life, it was gone again.
But she had felt it. She looked down to her hands, admiring them like it was the first time she had ever laid eyes on them. A smirk crept across her face.
"Is that a threat traitor?" Palpatine laughed. He had no idea what was coming.
"No" she tilted her head to the side, flicking her eyes back up to look at him. "That's a promise"
For the first time in his miserable life, a new wave of emotion swept over him. Fear.
She wore the face of something he had never seen in an enemy before. The face of someone who knew they were going to win.
She opened her palms.
And let the chaos run loose.
Her hands drove up above her head and then...she pushed. How she was doing it, she wasn't quite sure. How it had come to this, that she didn't know either.
All she knew now...was the lightning that broke free from her hands.
She was a thunder storm, rumbling with anguish and crashing with power. Her force lightning lit up the entire room in frosty blue shards of light.
Sparks flew everywhere but she made sure to concentrate the bolts on the emperor.
Every sharp blade of electricity that pierced into his body was a reflection of all the pain that had been building up inside of her. All the pain that he had caused. She was simply returning it to its rightful owner.
Her whole life flashed before her eyes, like she was dying. But really, she had never felt so alive.
The fire had been building up inside of her for a while and now its blue, frozen flames burned bright.
She felt liberated. Finally. As the lightning broke free, so did the resentment, so did the agony she had carried with her for so long.
"This..." She ploughed closer, pushing harder at the power blasting from her hands. "Is for my parents..."
She stepped closer again. Pushed harder.
"For the years with Dooku...for the miscarriage...for Athena..."
Another surge of blinding light passed down the jagged current of electricity, into Palpatine's trembling body.
"For the empire...for Anakin having to die...for almost being assassinated at my own wedding..."
Palpatine was wailing in agony, but she couldn't hear him over her own screaming thoughts and the searing bolts.
"For DARTH VADER" it hurt to even think about, but he needed to know, she needed to get this out.
"For Kayla"
"For Zac"
"For MAKING ME LITERALLY FIGHT DEATH"
She kicked him to the ground. Crushing her foot against his ribs.
"For my Destiny. For my Anakin. For my family..."
"For Padme"
He was deformed from the electricity that had set alight his entire being, everything about him was burning on the inside and out. He begged for mercy. Tried to promise he would leave her alone. But he couldn't form words. His time, was up.
Anakin had been told of the great things he would grow up to do, the powerful person he would grow up to be. Everyone was always so sure he would be the one to do it. To kill Palpatine. To finally bring balance to the force.
He was bewildered as he watched her. This was the same woman he held in his arms every night. The same woman who asked him to dance in the rain with her. The same woman who kissed him so softly and hugged him so sweetly.
The same woman who at this very moment, was bringing balance to force.
Changing the galaxy as they knew it forever.
And maybe that's what the prophesy had been trying to tell everyone all along.
Anakin was the catalyst. He brought her to the light, showed her love and gave her everything she ever needed. He gave her the strength, the strength to finally do what no one else could.
Anakin was the catalyst. But she was the chemical reaction.
He was the keyhole. And she was the key.
He was the thunder. And she was the lightning.
"But most of all..." She inhaled the blistering air into her lungs and uttered her last words to the emperor. To her past. "This is for me"
The ropes around Anakin's body finally snapped, he scrambled to his feet and ran to her.
She had used everything in her. She made her concluding effort to destroy Emperor Palpatine once and for all. Her teeth gritted together, she cried out so loudly that the fighters outside halted to a stop as she launched the final blast of electricity from her hands.
Death came to visit Palpatine in that moment. The emperor attempted to fight him, but unlike the girl, he failed.
He didn't only die. No. It was more final than death. He disintegrated out of existence. With a final roar, light exploded through the room.
Bright, blinding, white was all that existed for a few seconds, like the gates of heaven were swinging open in their direction.
When everything faded back to normal, Palpatine was gone. To be clear, he was dead. Once and for all. And he would never return.
A new light blended into the room. It wasn't cold or unwelcoming, it was warm. Sunlight. In the girl's power, she had smashed the kyber crystal that sat at the peak of the pyramid temple. Its thousands of tiny pieces poured down like ruby rain. And now, in the gaping hole of where it had rested, sunlight creeped in from another hole cracked in the surface of the planet.
The sunlight always managed to find its way in. That was the girls last peaceful thought before she collapsed to the floor.
(And finally, play "As the World Caves In" by Matt Maltese - the song that played when Anakin first said I love you)
"(y/n)!" Anakin had been standing beside her, frozen in shock.
He hadn't been there to catch her in time but he immediately lowered to the floor, pulling her limp body into his lap and stroking away the hair that had fallen across her face.
His wife fainted a lot, everyone knew that. But after what just happened (though he wasn't really sure what that was), he didn't know if she would wake up again. And not only that...she wasn't breathing.
"No. No. No. Sweetheart, stay with me" He rocked her back and forth, his hands were on her face, tracing across her skin lightly like he would do when she was asleep most nights.
She looked so peaceful. Underneath the scratches and the dirt and the scars that littered her skin was a fragile girl. She didn't deserve this, any of it. She deserved happiness, and peace. And he couldn't help but think maybe she had finally found it. But this wasn't what she had wanted. She had told him only a few nights before, of her dreams for the future.
He remembered the way her face had lit up when she talked about wanting to go to Naboo. They would get a little place by the lake, they would raise Destiny there, watch the sunrise each morning and gaze at the stars every night. She had forgotten all of her troubles when she lay their talking about her dreams with him all through the night.
Anakin wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't cry. He couldn't scream. He could only keep talking to her, he could keep trying to bring his girl back. And so that's what he did it.
"You did it baby" he whispered "it's over now. Come back to me. We can go home. We can start living our dream. Just come back to me."
He brought his forehead down to hers and shut his eyes, whispering more pleads into her skin.
He wasn't sure if what came next was real, but he could have sworn that in that next moment, he was being kissed. Soft lips met his, maybe he was dreaming. Maybe he had died too.
But then a hand knitted into his hair, she always did love to play with his hair. Another hand went to his cheek, rubbing their thumb along his jaw like she always would.
Anakin pulled away, eyes snapping open. And he was met with a sight that thawed his slowly freezing heart back to warmth.
Her smile. It was a dream, but not the kind that you get when you're sleeping, not the kind where you have to wake up and realise it's not real. No, this dream was real, unfolding right before his eyes as she pulled him back in to kiss her.
(y/n)'s POV
I was alive. Okay, that was the first piece of information I was trying to digest.
I had finally killed Palpatine. That was the second.
And at one point or another I had turned to the dark side and used force lightning to bring balance to the force and the hope of peace to the galaxy. That...that was the third. That one was taking longer to sink in.
I saw everything differently now, no longer in blazing shades of orange and red, no longer through the bleeding glass of hatred and pain tainted by the dark side.
Now there was just him.
Looking back at me.
And for the first time in forever. Everything seemed okay.
"It's over?" I had to make sure.
"It's all over baby" Anakin nodded.
The tears began to spill soon after. Years of misery, years of grief, all led up to this moment. The moment where I could look at the one I loved most and finally believe him when he told me everything was going to be okay.
And maybe now, we could really start living.
My eyes travelled over his beaming face and his over mine.
Is this really happening? I thought, he nodded at my silent question.
And then again, he kissed me.
He didn't care that I was covered in blood and muck and dirt. All he wanted in that moment was to kiss me and all I wanted was to kiss him.
To kiss him slowly and take our time, because there was no place we would rather be than right there with each other. To kiss each other with that childish delight. To laugh into his lips and let him inhale my sighs. To kiss him with my face in his hands and my hands in his hair. To let him pull me closer, closer than just the physical boundaries of our bodies. To kiss him like he's the brightest star in the sky. The brightest star in my sky. To kiss him until we forgot the concept of time. To kiss him loud and to kiss him silent. To feel his smile against mine and the warmth of his heart through his lips.
The 'end' that had been so feared had finally arrived but with it came the bud of a fresh start that grew and was blooming into a new beginning.
The beginning of the rest of our lives.
A/N - Not the final chapter! I think i've decided that we're going to end it on 70 chapters so we still got a little way to go!