I felt like I was starting to go delirious from hunger. Padme and I tried to pass the time telling stories about our lives. I was thankful I wasn't alone, but I was starting to become extremely weak. My whole body was numb from sitting for weeks. Everything constantly hurt.
I had just started to doze off when I heard a familiar low humming sound. I was confused at first but then figured I was probably just going crazy. I was so tired. I couldn't open my eyes even if I wanted to. I wondered if this might be the end. Would I wake up? I heard someone calling my name. I must already be dreaming. It sounded like Anakin. Sweet Anakin. My heart ached for him. He didn't deserve the pain he would get.
Suddenly I felt myself falling. Were my wrists so small now that they had fallen out of the cuffs? I wanted to look but my body told me I was still dreaming. It wasn't until I felt a warm hand on my face that I was able to even open my eyes a little.
A dark figure was leaning over me. I couldn't see their face because the light was behind them, but it almost looked like Anakin. That's it. I really was dreaming.
"Ivy? Ivy! Ivy come on baby wake up." a familiar voice pleaded gently.
My eyes narrowed. This couldn't be real, could it?
"Anakin?" I asked weakly trying to reach up to him but my arms gave out halfway.
"I'm here my love. I'm here." he grabbed my hand and kissed it. I could feel his cheek was wet. Was he crying?
I heard people running into the room and Anakin gently set my hand down.
"Over here!" he called out.
"Over in the corner!" I heard a voice call out. It was a clone's voice.
I forced myself out of the daze I was in and focused on Anakin. "Anakin?" I asked more alertly and saw that he really was there. I wasn't dreaming. I couldn't believe it. I found strength to push myself up.
"Hey, hey take it easy. I'll take care of you." Anakin said and gently picked me up in his arms.
"Where's Padme?" I asked suddenly remembering her.
"I'm here." I heard her voice close by. "I guess he came after all." she joked weakly.
I smiled. He had come. We were saved.
"Who did this to you?" Anakin asked searching my face. He had a pained expression.
"The lady. Paula or something like that. The president's lady thing." I said weakly. It was hard to focus on anything or remember anything.
Anakin got a dark look on his face. "Why?"
"She was going to give us over to Count Dooku once she became president." Padme said. She sounded much stronger and more with it than I was.
"She's dead." Anakin said determinedly.
"Anakin no. Just get us out of here. Please take me home." I begged him.
He looked down at me torn. I could tell he wanted to go after her and kill her, but he also wanted to stay with me.
"Okay. Let's go home. Rex, follow me. You're in charge of making sure senator Amidala gets out of here unharmed, got that?" Anakin said.
"Yes sir!" came the voice of Rex.
I wanted to look over and see him. I hadn't met him yet, but I could barely move my head.
"Is that Rex?" I asked Anakin excitedly.
He looked at me in amusement. "Yeah, he's here. I'll introduce you guys once you're all better, okay?"
I nodded and Anakin ran with me in his arms until there was an explosion that knocked him off his feet and I went tumbling onto the ground.
I heard Anakin cry out in rage and heard his lightsaber ignite.
I used all my strength to stand up. My legs felt super wobbly and weak, but I wanted to help.
"Ivy! Here!" I heard Padme's voice and saw her run towards me through the smoke. How was she able to run?
"Take this. It's bactade. It will heal you fast. I found it in a box over there." Padme said, handing me a bottle of disgusting looking liquid.
I drank it though and found my strength returning almost immediately.
My eyesight stopped being so fuzzy and my head stopped spinning. My legs felt stronger as did the rest of my body.
"Thanks." I said.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Padme grabbed my arm.
"What about Anakin?" I asked.
"He can take care of himself. We've got to go. We have no way to defend ourselves and they're coming." she said urgently.
"Who's coming?" I asked but saw what she was talking about. The explosion that had caused us all to fall was from droidekas. They had blasted a hole in the wall and were coming through, along with more magnaguards.
"Let's go." Padme urged.
"I'm not leaving here without Anakin." I insisted and Padme groaned.
"Anakin, can you tell Ivy to run?!" Padme called out to Anakin who was trying to hold off the droids as the clones struggled to their feet.
"Ivy, go with her! Rex, follow them! Make sure they stay safe!" Anakin ordered.
"Right, sir!" Rex hopped over crates and made it over to us.
"Let's go!" he told us and Padme grabbed onto my hand tightly as she followed Rex.
I didn't want to leave Anakin, but I didn't know what I could do to help if I stayed. I would probably just stress him out more knowing that I was in danger.
I was relieved to see that he was following us, protecting our backs.
"So what's the plan?" Padme asked as we ran blindly through endless rooms and hallways but not finding a way out.
"The plan was to find you. Success." Anakin said.
"Okay, what was your plan after that? How do we get out?" Padme asked in annoyance.
"Well, we wanted to go back the way we came, but that's not an option so we're improvising." Anakin said.
"Improvising? Great." Padme said sarcastically. "Oh yeah, he's definitely a keeper."
"Excuse me?" Anakin turned to Padme angrily.
"Hey guys, let's not fight. Once we're safe have at it, but right now let's try not to die." I said pulling them away from each other.
"Okay lover boy, let's find a way out." Padme said.
"You know I could have just left you there-"
"Guys!" I yelled angrily.
"Over here! I found an exit!" a clone said in the distance.
We instantly ran towards him but stopped when he got shot.
"That's our exit." Padme said.
"If you didn't notice, there are droids blocking it." Anakin said.
"Aren't you a Jedi?" Padme asked before running over and picking up the fallen clone's blaster.
She hid behind the door and started shooting at the enemies on the other side.
Anakin shook his head and ran after her. He ran through the doorway much to my horror and I heard him start slicing up the droids with his lightsaber.
Rex and I looked at each other before following.
We followed the piles of broken droid parts and found Anakin and Padme fighting the last few droids together.
I watched them move together perfectly and I felt those old feelings of unease rise up again.
When all of the droids were destroyed I saw Anakin look at me. He saw me glance between him and Padme and he shook his head.
"I know what you're thinking. Stop." he said firmly.
"I-"
"Stop." he pointed a finger at me angrily.
I nodded and he hugged me, not caring that Padme and Rex were there.
"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
"I'm better now." I told him.
"This is sweet and all, but let's do this once we're actually safe." Padme said and Anakin turned towards her trying to keep his cool.
"Okay. Your majesty." he said with gritted teeth and held onto my hand as we continued to run to find a way out.
We found some stairs and took them up which led us to the outside. The fresh air felt amazing on my lungs. We only stopped for a moment though before we were being shot at again. This time they were thankfully just regular B1 battle droids. The seperatists must have already taken over Servis.
Anakin used the force to push them all away while Padme and Rex shot at them with their blasters. I felt kind of useless as the only one without a weapon but I followed them.
I saw a familiar ship in the distance.
"Is that Mandro's ship?" I asked pointing to the ship.
"He let me borrow it to come and find you. He almost wouldn't let me go without him." Anakin said with a smirk as we ran towards it.
With luck we were able to make it to the ship alive. Anakin immediately went to the controls and tried to start it up.
"They're getting closer." Padme said looking at all of the droids coming towards us.
"I can see that." Anakin said in annoyance.
"Well, is this thing going to go?" she said angrily.
"Rex, can you take Senator Amidala to the med droid? I think she is still feeling unwell." Anakin said as he quickly checked the ship and tried to figure out why it wasn't starting.
Rex looked at Padme unsure and she rolled her eyes.
I shook my head and joined Anakin, trying to see what was going wrong.
"I think they disabled the starter. I can try to hook it back up. I should have brought Artoo." Anakin mumbled to himself as he fiddled with the ships controls.
Padme and Rex readied their blasters as the droids kept moving closer. They started firing at the ship and I winced. I hoped they didn't damage it too much. I didn't want to bring Mandro his ship back damaged.
"Ah ha! Got it!" Anakin said happily as the ship started up.
He quickly flew us up and out of Servis and I had never been more happy to leave a place.
Once we were in space Anakin had Rex take over the controls.
"How are you?" Anakin asked and sat down next to me.
"I'm okay. How long were we missing?" I asked shivering. I had forgotten how cold space was.
"The meeting was supposed to happen three weeks ago." Anakin explained.
"How did you know how to find us? I thought you were busy in the outer rim?" I said.
"Obi wan got a message from the council saying that you and Senator Amidala had never made it to the meeting. They knew something was up. I wasn't supposed to go look for you, but they couldn't stop me." Anakin said smiling at me. I had missed his smile.
"What happened? To the meeting?" Padme asked worriedly.
"Well, from what I know, when you two didn't show up to the meeting, King Randu sent a message to the Jedi asking what had happened. The Jedi immediately knew something was wrong and alerted the Republic immediately. We've been looking everywhere for you but no one knew what happened. The first round of Republic investigators came to Servis, they thought that the President Hantyr was involved. They took her in for questioning and the Jedi even questioned her, but it was obvious she was innocent. No one knew what happened to you. The most popular opinion was that you were taken by one of the Seperatists and sold to Count Dooku, but when we never received any sort of ransom offer, we wondered if that was even true. As soon as I heard that you were missing I came here to try and piece together what had happened. Servis was the last place anyone saw you two. I'm just glad I listened to my gut and stayed to look around." Anakin said.
"How did the Republic take it? Please tell me they didn't ruin any chances of us working with those systems." Padme said worriedly.
Anakin looked at her sympathetically. "Unfortunately your work seemed to be for nothing. If anything, this made things even worse than they were."
"No! No we'll fix it. We have to!" I said angrily. We didn't do all of this for nothing.
"If anyone can fix it, I know you two can." Anakin said calmly and I saw Padme's expression soften.
"You two should get some rest. There are some beds in the back. Once we get to Coruscant we'll get you both to some medics." Anakin said and offered his hand to me.
I took it willingly and let him lead us to the room.
"Don't go far." I said holding his hand for a little longer as he helped me into the bed.
"I'll be right out here. I promise I'm close by." Anakin said smiling at me.
"Anakin- thank you." Padme said quietly.
"Of course, senator." Anakin said before heading back to go to Rex.
"Maybe he's not that bad. I can see why you love him. He definitely loves you." Padme smiled at me and I smiled back.
"Don't worry, he's still not my type." she said with a laugh.