When he arrived at the doors, the guards let him in without delay knowing better than to keep the old man waiting. He entered the dark room and heard the doors firmly shut behind him giving a signal that he was about to be tortured. As usual, Vader stalked through the dark effortlessly, before pausing before a large armchair, and kneeling to the ground. They did not speak, but they didn't have to. Both knew what was about to occur. Vader could feel his Master's Force signature hitting against his mind, trying to enter; but his walls remained secured. They did not fall and Palpatine was forced to surrender.
"I am beginning to think you forget your place, Lord Vader." The Emperor spit, his anger obvious in his words.
Vader did not rise, but remained knelling on the ground. He dared not look up into the eyes of the man that had moved to stand before him. He was still the servant. He had to obey his Master, "I would never–"
"Do not lie to me!" Palpatine yelled, sending lightening from his fingertips and over Vader's body. It was beyond painful. The lightening hit Vader like a giant force, knocking him on to the ground. He did not yell, he did not fight, or make any move to rise. He knew better. "It seems," Palpatine continued with a evil grin, "that I must remind you of your place, Lord Vader." The lightening once again shot from the Emperor's hands and into Vader's body; burning him to his inner core… but he did not scream. He refused to give his Master the satisfactory; but he knew it was only a matter of time. He could sense his Master had other plans in mind; very painful plans.
"It seems lightening will not be enough this time," The Emperor laughed showing his yellow teeth, "You are becoming very powerful, Lord Vader. I must remind you that you are still human… and not invincible."
Vader tried to control the pain that stormed through his body, but it was pointless. It overtook him like a fire, burning him. It felt like a beast was attacking him, swallowing him whole. He was reminded of physical pain and as his blood streamed onto the floor, he was helpless but to let out a loud scream. The torture would never end and by the end of today, he had no doubt he would be close to death.
Where was he? Where was he? Where was he? That was the only question that remained constant within Padme's mind. It has been hours since her little incident involving the Queen's communication from Naboo, but still Vader was no where to be found.
Vader had specifically told her that all forms of communication would be monitored and if she said anything about her predicament or even try to aid the Rebellion in any way, he would personally see to it that she regretted it. With his reputation, she hadn't doubted him… but now she was. Where was he? There was no way in Sith's Hell Vader would let her get away with this. She might be able to trick the Empire's troops into thinking the communication went dead, but not Vader.
When the communication ended, Padme had expected Vader to be the first one into her office, with his raging anger and outstretched murderous force grip. She expected him to torture her, make her spill her secrets, and then beg for mercy until he killed her…. but never did she expect this. Not only had he just not come, but he hadn't come for hours. At the time of the incident the troopers had stayed with her in her office, waiting for their commander to arrive like they had been told… but he never came. Some time later, a lone trooper had reported just to take her back to Darth Vader's establishments, and so they did. She was blindly led to a speeder and taken to Vader's establishments before handed over to Threepio, who escorted her to her room. And so she waited.
The anticipation was killing her. She knew she would never get away with this. Vader may ignore her in one of his moods, but something like this would just result in his anger…. And probably her death… just like the others. Padme tried to push away the thoughts of the people that had died aiding her, but the pain exploded inside her, and the guilt was maddening. She had to busy herself before the pain, guilt, anticipation, and anger overwhelmed her.
So, Padme pulled out a datapad and began skimming through various files as well as looking on the HoloNet. All of the HoloNet stories seemed to have the headline of the one person Padme was furious with… Darth Vader. The first story was about his glorious contribution to the Empire, the next about his extinguishing the traitors of the Empire within their own Senate. All lies followed by lies. Darth Vader was a monster, and the people's lives that he took were people that were anything but traitors. They were her colleagues and only did what they were told for her sake. The HoloNet had it all wrong, but people would know the truth, she would make sure of that. She would not let anyone die in vain. She continued to skim, looking for any signs of clues or truth. There wasn't much. There was only one story Padme could even view as remotely true and that was the newest, an article on how the Grand Moff Tarkin had been rushed to a medical bay after receiving multiple injuries to and around his oral cavity. The reason was unknown, as well as who had inflicted the injury. But the time and place of injury were all Padme needed to know to figure out the true answer. Darth Vader. The injury to the Grand Moff had happened at the Imperial Senate building at the same time as her communication going dead. It seemed that Lord Vader had taken his anger out on someone… and more importantly someone that was not her… but why?
Turning off the HoloNet, Padme began looking further into files within the datapad itself. She knew that there had to be a reason for Dorme and the Queen to want her to have it. There had to be something she was missing. There was.
It took more than an hour, but Padme finally found a secret file on the datapad, in a folder named so plainly that not even she cared to look into it until it was a last option. The first file within the folder that she pulled up was a list: the list of the people that had signed for her return to the Senate. There were more than a hundred people that had signed the paper, and Padme couldn't help the pain that she felt remembering the Queen's words. That Vader had made it a personal mission to kill all members on the list. Her heart ached as she read over the dozens of red names… the names of the people that had already lost their lives to Vader because of her. But the pain didn't even compare to what she felt when she came over her family's names. The thought of any of them dying because of her… She couldn't bare it. Her family was everything.
.
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