It is Anakin, or rather, Darth Vader, who carries her onto her ship. The moment she opens her eyes and saw him, she knows that Obi-Wan must be dead.

But her consciousness fades quickly; the moment is gone almost as soon as it comes.

While Padmé is out cold, she is flown back to Coruscant, where she is then taken to a medical center. When she comes to, she sees Vader and Palpatine—the Emperor—standing at her beside.

She begins to panic, her emotions surging in turmoil. Padmé finds herself unable to handle Mustafar, the Emperor's presence, and the birth of her child all at once.

Her breathing slowly accelerates as her mind processes everything, her memories repeating like an infinite roll of film. A dark force closing around her throat, her plea to her husband, Palpatine's announcement of the Galactic Empire in the Senate, Obi-Wan exposing what Anakin had done at the Jedi Temple.

"I saw a security hologram of him… killing younglings."

"No," she says, shaking her head.

Vader's eyes meet hers as she speaks, but she avoids the burning yellow stare of the Emperor. "Padmé, it's alright, you're just going into—"

Hot tears leak from her eyes as she shakes her head still; she doesn't want to be here, doesn't want any of this. She does not want to live in the Galactic Empire—everything she loves, democracy, peace, Anakin, has been ripped away from her.

"I don't want him here!" she nearly chokes on her words, but they ring clear. "Get him out! Make him leave!"

Vader turns his head to the Emperor, who gives a slight nod. He then turns and exits the room, leaving Padmé with only Vader, the doctor, and the medical droids.

It is almost physically painful to see her husband here, knowing that everything Obi-Wan had said about him is true. This is the father of her child—not a kind Jedi, not a hero of the Republic, but a dark Lord of the Sith.

She doesn't want this. She doesn't want any of this.

But she does not have a choice.

—✥—

Padmé blinks as she looks Death in the eye.

Despite the birth of Luke and Leia, she is devoid of hope. It felt as if the last light in the galaxy has been snuffed out and she has been left in darkness—darkness that Vader has brought. She can't live in a galaxy governed by the iron fist of an empire, a rule that her husband enforced. She won't, she decides.

Padmé is hanging on by a thread.

And so she begins to cut it. She uses the last bit of her strength to fray her thinning connection to this earth, picking it apart piece by piece. Padmé starts to fade; her breathing begins to slow and she tilts her head to the side to lay it to rest.

She wants to leave. She wants to let go.

But Vader has other plans.

Unbeknownst to Padmé, the Emperor has returned to the hospital room. He moves as quietly as a shadow and Padmé's eyes are fluttering shut as death begins to pull her away.

"She's dying," Padmé can hear Vader's panicked voice over the crying of her children. "Master, help me. You said I could keep her from death."

"Do not worry, my apprentice," comes the low drawl of the Emperor. "Your powers have grown enough to do what must be done. I will guide you."

Padmé's consciousness is ebbing, her mind slowly giving way to the endless blackness of death. She only hears pieces of what Vader and the Emperor are saying. But there is one clear sentence among the jumble of noises: "The midichlorians are dying. Make them grow—force them to stay."

Her protest to this is to just let herself be carried away. Vader won't make it in time.

"I can't do it alone—help me or this was all for nothing."

As she feels herself severing her connection to the Force, to the coil that binds her here, something is tugging at her soul, slowly tying it back to her body, sewing it in place stitch by stitch. Her consciousness becomes clearer and clearer, her heartbeat growing stronger and stronger. She can now hear the roar of blood in her ears again.

Her soul is fastened back onto her body. It will not budge—she is stuck here, forced to suffer the reign of the Empire rather than find freedom in death.

Padmé still feels weak, but that may have just been because her heart is crushed. But she is just barely strong enough to open her eyes and raise her head. She is strong enough to muster her anger and glare at the Emperor.

"No," she says, her voice barely a whisper. She looks at Vader, whose satisfaction is quickly fading, her eyes full of bewilderment. What had he and his master done to her? Why is she still breathing? Why is she alive?

Padmé was trying to die—she wanted to die. But Vader took that choice away from her, just as he took the Republic from her.

"What did you do?" her voice is still soft, but there is an underlying accusatory tone.

"With the help of my new master, I saved you," Vader replies, seemingly very confused at Padmé's despairing expression.

She begins to shake her head, her eyes darting between Vader and the Emperor. "Why?" she asks, even though she knows the answer. "Why would you do that? I wanted to die! Anakin, I—you should have let me!"

Padmé didn't think it was possible to acquire such a dark, unnatural power. But if she had known that it was possible, she wouldn't have doubted for a moment that Vader would keep her alive.

"I would never allow you to die," says Vader, his tone defensive. "I told you that I would save you from death and I did."

Tears burst from her eyes as her tumult only intensifies, her frustration clear in her eyes and furrowed brows. "It shouldn't be your decision!" she cries.

As all of this was unfolding, beneath the darkness of his hood, the Emperor is grinning.

But Padmé and Vader are only focused on each other, not the Sith Lord.

"Why would you want to die? Padmé, we have children. We have a chance at a life we never could have had with the Republic!"

"You don't understand," she snaps. Her face is now glistening with tears, but she doesn't care to wipe them away. "I could never love the Empire! I don't want to live in a galaxy where—"

She glowers at the Emperor as he interjects. "Lord Vader," he says to Anakin, "Let her be for now. She has been through quite the ordeal."

Is that his new name? Vader? she wonders. But Padmé knows she won't call him that; she refuses to accept that her beloved is now a Sith.

The Emperor meets her gaze with a cold yellow stare and she looks away, averting her eyes back to Vader. Despite everything he has done, he is more comfortable to look at than the Emperor. He doesn't have those horrible Sith eyes, menacingly bright and unnaturally colored a liquid topaz.

Vader stares at Padmé for a moment, who looks back at him with defiance. "Fine. I'll leave you here to recover, for now."

For now—eventually, Padmé will have to face the fact that she will have to live one of the worst periods of galactic history. Vader won't let her die and she knows that running would be pointless, for she is certain that he would find her and bring her back.

There will be no escape. That sinks in like a cold brick in her stomach as her husband exits the room with the Emperor, leaving her alone.

—✥—

Days have passed after the birth of the twins and it is not long before the doctor comes to release her.

"My lady," says the doctor, her voice gentle. "Lord Vader has requested that you return to your senatorial apartment."

"Do you know where my children are?" asks Padmé. She hasn't seen them since their birth; she hasn't even held them yet.

"They are with their father, my lady," replies the doctor.

Padmé nodds. Their father—her husband, a Lord of the Sith. No longer Anakin, but rather Darth Vader. But she still can't quite see him as what he is now and she certainly will not call him by his Sith name.

With the request for Padmé's release, Vader has also sent her clothing from her apartment, as she was wearing a hospital gown. It is a simple floor-length dress but sleek in design. It isn't delicate and lace like her wedding dress, but rather it is made of satin. It comes with a thick gold belt, which fastens around her waist.

She dresses herself and does her hair so that they are in two buns on the sides of her head. Padmé looks into the bathroom mirror; she looks like herself and yet at the same time, she doesn't. The woman in her reflection is different—she has a hollow heart and a heavy soul.

On the outside, it seems as if nothing has changed. She appears as she always does, with elegant clothing paired with an elegant hairstyle.

When Padmé leaves the hospital, she is taken to her apartment by a speeder. The driver is clearly Imperial and there are two clone troopers on each side. She doesn't want to go with them, for she suspects that Vader will be waiting for her at her apartment.

She is not ready to face him. But it is inevitable anyway; he is still her husband and the father of her children. Just because he is Darth Vader now doesn't mean that any of that has changed.

And she still loves him—she just doesn't know how they can have a relationship anymore. Although he saved her from death, he also hurt her on Mustafar. He hadn't even listened to her when she denied his accusation that she had brought Obi-Wan there to kill him.

Anakin had become so mad with rage that he quickly jumped to the conclusion that Padmé had betrayed him.

Padmé arrives to her apartment to see that she was right: Vader is waiting for her. His back is turned and he has traded in his Jedi robes for Sith attire—tailored black clothing with a long cape to match—but she can still recognize him by the back of his head.

She steps onto the veranda and he turns to face her, his movements swift and silent. Her heart stops as his eyes met hers. Despite everything that has happened, he is still her Anakin.

"Where are Luke and Leia?" she asks before he can get a word out.

"Here," he tells her. "They're in the guest room. But before you go to see them…"

She looks at him with curiosity but then she realizes: he wants to talk with her before seeing the children.

Her anger reveals itself more quickly than she intends. "What? Are we going to discuss how you killed Obi-Wan and turned on me?"

For only a moment, his composure wavers. "I did not turn on you," he replies, more calmly than Padmé would have thought. "You brought Obi-Wan to Mustafar. His fate was sealed."

She shakes her head. "I didn't," she retorts. "He stowed away on my ship. I went to see you alone. I was worried about you—I didn't want you dead!"

Vader stares at the skyline rather than meeting Padmé's sharp gaze, but he eventually does. "Padmé, I'm sorry. I should have listened to you, I—I was so blinded by the rage of seeing Obi-Wan there." He exhales deeply. "I shouldn't have lost control like that. I almost killed you, and you have every right to be angry. But it will never happen again."

Padmé shakes her head again. She isn't exactly rejecting his apology; she does appreciate his attempt at reconciliation, but there is something else on her mind. "You didn't almost kill me," she tells him.

"What?"

"I… it's hard to explain. I had let go of my will to live—I was severing my connection to… the Force," Padmé says. She hadn't exactly realized in the moment, but that was what she had tried to do before Vader stopped her.

"I knew you… wanted to, but I didn't think…" Vader's brow furrowed.

"Almost everything I love is gone," Padmé explains further. "The Republic, you…"

"I'm not gone."

"In a sense, you are," she replies. "Anakin, you… hurt me. The fact that you would do that indicates that the man I married isn't completely there anymore."

"I made a horrible mistake," Vader says. "I love you. That is something that will never change." And though she knows that he is now a murderer and a much colder man than before, his words soften her heart. He seems to truly feel remorseful about what he did—at least there was that. She doubts that any other Sith ever felt guilt at all, from what she knows of them.

Padmé does believe that there is good in Vader—the Emperor hasn't taken him from her fully. Perhaps… perhaps this is all somewhat reversible.

Now that she is here, she can't turn her back on Vader, her children, or the galaxy. Padmé now sees that there would be no point in dying—Luke and Leia need her, and so does Vader. It won't be easy and it won't be the life she wants, but the possibility of a better future gives her a glimmer of hope.

Besides, she is sure that even if she tried to die, Vader would just pull her back from the abyss again.

"I love you, too," she tells him. That will never change for her either—she suspects that no matter what he did, she wouldn't be able to let go of her feelings. Her love for Anakin is already deeply rooted in her heart; it could not be easily cast out.

"You could still take the offer I gave you on Mustafar," Padmé continues. She knows it is a longshot but she tries anyway. "It isn't too late."

Vader has a very different vision of the future than Padmé, though she doesn't realize that yet. He wants the throne. He has gotten a taste of the seemingly infinite power of the dark side and now he wants more, until he becomes the most powerful Force-user to ever live. Vader wants the entire galaxy to be his and he wants Padmé to rule at his side.

But her mind is as far away from that as possible. When she looks at the future, she sees the beautiful horizon of Naboo and the glimmering lake. Padmé wants to live in peace with Anakin and their children, with no power struggles or corruption.

"It is too late, Padmé," Vader says. She is disappointed even though she knows that his answer was going be no. "I can't just stop being the Emperor's apprentice."

And you don't want to stop, she thinks to herself. He is choosing power over her, though he does not fully realize it.

"Does the public know that we're married?" Padmé asks, changing the subject. They will go in circles if they continue like this and she doesn't have the energy for that.

"No," replies Vader. "Why?"

"I was just curious," she says. "They will eventually find out, I assume." He will be in the spotlight even more than he was before and very few things stayed a secret on Coruscant.

But she also knows that the public opinion of her may change, depending on how many people support the Empire. She doubts that most of her current supporters do, but she may gain a new following after the news is released.

Vader nods in response. "Eventually. We don't have to hide anymore."

He pauses for a moment until he looks at the chronometer on Padmé's wall. "I should go," he says. "I have matters to attend to."

And with that, he leaves her there with her children. She wants to ask him where he is going, but then she thinks better of it. Padmé doubts that she really wants to know.