◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈
◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈
PADME FELT HER HEART CLENCH AS SHE WALKS DEEPER INTO THE APOLLONIAN PALACE. The last time she had been here, she was helping Astrid with the nursery, and now she was here to either avenge her death or to rescue her. She felt herself grow ill from worry as she thought of all the things that could've happened to Astrid. Was she dead? Was she alive? Was she being tortured?
And she had nothing to quell these thoughts. It could very well be all of them. Her stride stutters a bit when she sees a small girl sitting quietly on the couch. The girl looked to be about two, her tan skin, black hair, facial features, and one of the irises of her eyes were all that of Astrid. The other iris was blue, much like Anakin. And she knew it had to be her.
It was Maya.
The Naboo woman approaches the couch slowly, her lips parted in disbelief. It was the first time seeing her since Astrid and she had parted ways. The little girl looks up, her multicolored eyes landing on Padme as her nimble fingers fiddle with the skirt she wore. She looked sad, a look that pained Padme to see.
"Hey there, little one," Padme crouches down in front of where Maya sat on the couch. She was clueless about why the girl was left alone, but then again, no child should be hearing about a rescue mission about their mother. Padme gently rests her hand on Maya's knee, a motherly smile reaching her lips, "I'm Padme Amidala."
"Maya Skywalker," her voice was quiet. But the girl recognized the name. Her mother had told her about Padme in bedtime stories and how she was excited for her to meet the woman. "Mommy told me about you."
"Did she?" Padme fought the tears that began to well in her eyes. She missed that girl dearly, and the mere possibility of her death was bone-chilling. "All good, I hope."
"She said you're my aunt," Maya mumbles, scooting closer to the closest person she had to her mother right now. The girl's eyes look around the room. If Aunt Padme was here, mommy was here too, right? But she saw no one. Just an unbearably empty room. "Is mommy with you?"
Padme purses her lips, her heart physically aching for both herself and the little girl. No one should have to go through something like this, she is too young to be without her mother. With a slow shake of her head, Padme whispers regretfully, "no, she's not."
And Maya's lip began to quiver and her eyes began to well up with tears. Her arms latch around Padme's neck, the wet tears slipping down her cheeks and burning Padme's skin. Her voice was shaky as she cried, "I miss her. I miss mommy. I want her back. Please tell her to come back."
"She'll be back soon," Padme says, partially to herself. Truthfully she didn't know if Astrid would come back. All she could do was pray.
◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈
HER EYES STARTED OUT THE LARGE WINDOW, the orange lava stream below rushing against grainy ash and stone. It was an unusual sight that Astrid had begun to grow accustomed to, and she wasn't sure if she liked it or despised it. Either way, she sat on a soft and pillowy couch watching it, hands grasping a cool cup of iced sweet tea.
Her mind was occupied with many things, all of which made her life conflicting. The most prominent was Maya. She missed her dearly. The small jokes and silly actions she would do, the unfathomable amount of impulsiveness and recklessness she possessed, the adorable necessity she had for cuddles every time it was after bath time. Everything about that girl made Astrid's heart clench.
She missed her daughter. She wanted to hold her again, to be with her again. Maya was the light of her life and with her gone, it was dim. Even with the small ray Vader—or now Anakin had given her, it was nothing compared to the joy Maya gave her.
A sad sigh leaves her lips, her eyes falling to the floor before her before she tosses her head back in frustration. She felt like she was going insane. Each day passing by in this place made a small chip in her sanity and soon she was sure she would go crazy if she didn't get a breath of fresh air.
Being stuck was the only way Astrid could describe her situation mentally and physically. Mentally, she was torn between being selfish and giving into Anakin's pursuits or leaving and helping the alliance. There was no way she could do both, it was quite literally the opposite sides of the war, and she was in the middle.
Physically, she was literally stuck in Mustafar. She was unaware of the structure of the building, only the route from Vader's room to the training room. She was confined in one space and even then, she didn't have much privacy. Cameras were littered throughout the room, which only Vader had access to. Hell, he was probably watching her right now.
By the time a day had passed after the confessions in the bathroom, Anakin's blue eyes had disappeared, the harsh, sinister yellow ones returning. Palpatine was to blame, a surprise call making him angrier and cold towards everyone but her. Even after that, he remained gentle and kind, he remained Anakin. But eventually, Vader had left to go to god knows where.
So deep in her thoughts, she was unaware of the second presence in the room. Vader was quiet as he placed his helmet on one of the coffee tables, his heavy boots silent as he made his way over to Astrid. As he grew closer, Astrid felt his Force presence, a feeling she had recently discovered she had when she was him.
She turns her head to the side slightly, the dim room leaving her face covered in shadow. The window, however, gave Vader a view of her side profile as she did so. Her long lashes, upturned nose, puffy and parted lips, sharp jawline—she was perfect.
"Didn't expect you to be back so soon," Astrid says quietly, looking back at the view outside of the window. Vader's hands press against the back supports of the couch, leaning on his arms. His cape curtained his shoulder, so if anyone were to come in, they would only see Vader's cape as he was leaning on the couch. That joyed him, only he could see Astrid.
"Why? Did you miss me?" Vader grins, looking down at Astrid as she looks up. His eyes sparkled with mischief but it soon turned into something else as he took in how Astrid looked looking up at him—how she would look up at him whilst doing something else to him.
"Maybe," Astrid shrugs, a light smile tugging at the corners of her lips at the hungry look in Vader's eyes. It was so easy to turn him on, one look was all it took. A leather-bound hand gently wraps around her neck, forcing her to keep looking at him despite him being upside down from her perspective.
Her skin heats up at the large hand unclosed around her neck. It wrapped around completely, and the mere thought of that sent waves of heat all over her. Her lips parted to say something but she'd cut off by Vader.
"You're such a tease, baby," he chuckles darkly, his head dipping down so it was closer to hers. He took notice of the way her thighs clenched and her pupils dilated. She wanted this too.
"Anakin..." Astrid tries to protest but it comes out more like a breathy whisper than anything else. She wanted this so badly, but what would the rebellion say?
"Do you want this, Astrid?" he whispers softly, his other hand moving to cup her cheek, "I won't do anything if you don't want to, but please just tell me now."
"I..." Astrid's breathing picks up, heartbeats racing. Vader could feel it under his grip on her neck. At this moment, she was slowly beginning to care less. The way Vader looked at her, she needed him. "Please, yes."
A smug grin appears on Vader's lips as he gently plucks the glass from her hands, moving around the couch he was in front of her. Astrid felt her heart thumping against her ribs, her breathing labored. She was nervous, excited, and a little ashamed for giving in.
"Yes what, my sweet girl?" Vader presses as Astrid rises to her feet. Her knees felt weak like they would collapse if she were to stand too long on them. His hand slowly makes their way to her waist.
"Yes, I want this," Astrid felt her cheeks heat up, but it was washed away when she felt the soft and oh-so-familiar feeling of her husband's lips on hers. Her hands instinctively move to his neck, pulling him closer as he does the same with her waist.
She felt euphoric. The feeling of his lips on hers made her heart soar, and the feeling of his arms around her made her feel safe. He made her feel good for the first time in ages. Her body pressed against his, the armored suit annoyingly blocking contact with his skin. The kiss was messy, filled with long-awaited passion and need.
Astrid pulls back slightly, a small whine slipping from Vader's throat. Her chest heaved as she breathlessly whispered, "take off the suit."
"Anything for you, my love," Vader whispers with a smile.
◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈
𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲'𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐜 𝐢 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐰𝐚𝐡
𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐚𝐚𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐭𝐭𝐭𝐭
𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲'𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭!
◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈
◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈