Chapter 21
(temporary new playlist: her intermission - 〘fake smiles by phora〙〘im sorry that i let you down by crooked world〙〘see you again (feat. charlie puth) by wiz khalifa〙〘don't give up on me by andy grammer〙〘need you now by lady a〙〘mothers daughter by miley cyrus〙〘falling skies (feat. charlotte lawrence by yungblud〙〘no time to die by billie eilish〙〘roslyn by ben pellow〙〘shut up and drive by rhianna〙〘invincible by deaf kev〙〘'till i collapse by pitbull and nate dogg〙〘get you to the moon (feat. snøw) by kina〙〘in my head by peter manos〙〘i lost a friend by finneas〙〘if the world was ending (feat. julia michaels) by jp saxe〙)
Padme drifted awake. Someone was shouting a name. A familiar voice, a familiar name. Not hers, someone she knew. Rey. Finn's voice was shouting for her.
"No, no, no, no... Rey!" She could hear distantly.
Padme tried to talk. "Finn..." she mumbled. He didn't hear her. She tried again. "Finn." She was louder this time, but the blast fire drowned out her voice once more. "Finn!" She shuffled, finally getting his attention.
Finn turned to see her body nearly under a cinder block. "Padme!" He panicked and ran to her. "Padme," He shifted her body out of the rubble. Surprisingly, nothing was broken.
"Where's Rey," She asked him, regaining consciousness. "Dad," She remembered Anakin's words, your father, go to him.
"They aren't here," He helped her up. Padme's legs nearly gave out from under her from the sheer pressure in her head.
"Finn," She was rudely awakened by her own thoughts. "Where is Rey?" She asked firmly this time. They walked towards Han, who was now closer than Padme had thought.
"They took her! Did you see that? He took her," He ranted to the other two.
"What do you mean he took her?" She managed to stand by herself just so she could interrogate Finn.
"She's gone!" He forced out.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Han and Chewie walked away, leaving Padme to deal with the fear-stricken Finn.
A transport landed on the outskirts of the clearing. The doors opened to reveal someone she couldn't be happier to see (though she would realize that wasn't true within the next few hours alone). Leia was here, which meant so was backup.
X-wings bit through the air above her, fighters she didn't even realize were here yet. She went to reach out and see if Poe was piloting, but she thought all she would find would be disappointment.
She dragged Finn with her, limping towards her aunt. She had to find her father.
They approached Han and Leia in an awkward meeting, Threepio and BB-8 in the middle. Padme laughed at the gold droid, but soon found her droid to be lacking in the scene.
She stopped walking. "Where's Sev," She mumbled. Her body stiffened.
"Padme?" Finn asked her, not hearing her voice the first time.
"BB-7. Where is BB-7."
BB-8 and Threepio leave the conversation.
Padme has had enough panicking for the day, but she can't stop one last burst. "BB-8!" She shouted after the droid, limping quickly towards the droids. "BB-8!" Tears started welling in her eyes, her throat closed up around the screams threatening to exit her mouth. "BB-8!" She tripped on a dead trooper's body.
Finn ran after her. "Padme!" She wouldn't listen.
She approached BB-8. "BB-8, scan for Sev. Scan for BB-7 right now!" She orders the droid in frantic shouts. Nausea approaches when Finn tries to hold her up. "Don't touch me! Where's Sev?!"
"Padme," He tries to calm her down, but it only infuriates her more.
Rage courses through her veins. If my fucking cousin even touches Rey, he will pay. Heat builds in her stomach, adrenaline fueling her body. She can't feel anything but a bubbling inside her.
She's impatient now. "BB-8! Where is she?!"
He beeps in response.
"What? What do you mean 'no signal'?! Where is she?!"
Beeps again.
"She's here, BB-8. She has to be."
Padme turns in circles, surveying the dusty ground. Airfire has slowed, but the dust is still settling down.
A droid body catches her attention near where she was laying down. "No," She sprints to it, sliding on the pavement that used to be a wall. She uses the force to lift up the wall. Rage burns in her fingers while she does, or else that wall wouldn't have been lifting any time soon.
Smashed parts were laying on the ground next to where Finn had found her. "No, no, no," She fumbled around until she found a BB unit head. "No," She grabbed it and sat back on her heels.
The fury that once carried her body was gone, emptiness took over. Pain. Loss. BB-7, her best friend for years, was gone. She was too destroyed to piece her apart. Her memory chip sat on the ground, split in two.
Padme held the head to her forehead. She closed her eyes and squished out a tear in the process.
It fell with ease down her face. No stops, just a smooth trip from her eye to the dust below her. Like rain on an umbrella, the tear rolled right off.
It was almost like her face was built to hold tears.
"Padme," Finn touched her shoulder, hoping to help her onto the ship. "We have to go."
"... I saw him. Leia," Padme's ears were hooked into the far conversation between her uncle and aunt. "I saw our son. He was here."
Padme stopped again. The scream that had been building up this whole time was released at them.
"YOU KNEW!" She screamed wholeheartedly. Fury boiled her skin again. "YOU KNEW IT WAS HIM!" She stood up violently, shoving BB-7's head at Finn, who was now backing up. If he knew anything about the Skywalkers, it was that they weren't to be messed with. "YOU KNEW THIS WHOLE TIME!" She approached them.
Han turned to face her. "Padme, just listen -"
"No! You listen to me," She slowly walked to her uncle, pointing her finger straight into his soul. "I had a RIGHT to know!"
"We were going to tell you, Padme," Leia tried to help.
"Doesn't matter, I had to learn by getting TORTURED by my own BLOOD! Do you KNOW what that does to someone? Getting tortured by your own family, just to learn that the rest of it knew the whole time?!" She paused and stopped walking.
The two stayed silent. They knew. They knew what it felt like. To suffer at the hands of people they loved. Of course they did. But they knew she wouldn't listen. She wasn't in the right headspace.
"That's what I thought." Padme backed up and turned away from them.
"Padme," Finn held out his hand for her to take, but she just passed him. "Padme, we have to go."
She kept walking. "Go then. I'll find my way back, I know where base is."
She left them behind. She would return, but she had to stop somewhere first.
She had to go where only Ben would know.
The old temple.
a/n - thank you guys so much for 1k reads! it means a lot!
also, my entire state just shut down yesterday whoop whoop.
- olivia <333