The moment she'd been dreading finally arrived and she was summoned to the Imperial Throne Room.

She followed the Red Guards in front of her as they made a procession down the large, marble halls. The walls were thick enough to block out the sounds of the city outside, and she found herself trying to keep her steps light as not to disturb the artificial silence. Like a place of worship, it seemed disrespectful to make any fuss but the quiet swishing of her dress.

The doors leading into the throne room were at least three times her height and looked far heavier than she cared to think of. When the guards began opening them, she was certain she wouldn't have been able to get in on her own.

She moved in like she'd been there dozens of times before, completely confident and happy to see the heart of the Empire.

He sat at the top center of a marble staircase in a black throne. His bony arms were exposed as they rested on either side of him. They looked so thin and fragile, not befitting an emperor at all.

She was struck by his figure, seated in the highest seat in all of the galaxy and was left wondering all over again just how he'd managed to get there. For how much longer could he last, Alliance or not, there seemed to be an expiration date on him.

The image of Vader seated on that throne became crystal clear in her mind. Bulky armor and loud mechanical breathing that would echo through the silent halls. What a frightening emperor he would make.

Padmé stopped just a few yards short of the staircase and looked up solemnly. She bowed as respectfully as she could muster. She'd done this only once before, to the Gungans who'd actually deserved her respect. If not for them, she was certain she would have lost Naboo while Palpatine debated here in Coruscant. Trying to keep her bitterness at bay, she once again forced her tense muscles to relax.

"Rise, young one," that slithery voice filled the room.

She did with years of courtroom etiquette returning to her all at once. The black robes dragged behind him the slightest bit as he trudged down the steps to meet her. He was taller than her, but not by much she noticed when he stood only a few feet away. His yellow gaze stayed focused on her, his ashen skin foreign from the man she once knew. The creature before her might as well have been a stranger.

"Thank you for inviting me here." She fell back into her polite upbringing and experience, trying to seem as genuine as possible. If he suspected she was a liar, he did not show it.

He reached out and took her hands. Alarm bells went off in her head, but she forced herself to relax once again and focus only on the details of her work and not the constant struggle to sabotage what she worked on.

"Forgive me, but I truly did not expect you to take the job on Despayre," he admitted.

She gave a tight smile. "Truth be told, I've felt… conflicted about my decision more than once." Close to the truth but not blatant. She prayed he would excuse her right away and this was just a catch up.

He nodded like he understood exactly where she was coming from. "And Vader? How has he treated you thus far?"

For a moment, she froze. The sound of breathing was ringing in her ears, and she tried to push away that nagging wish that Vader was with her now so she wouldn't be left alone with the emperor.

She swallowed but kept her eye contact steady. "He's been fine. Keeping the work going."

He raised where his eyebrow was meant to be and gave her a pointed look. "You, my dear, are perhaps the first person to describe Vader as 'fine.'"

"The works being done right and on time. That's all I wanted."

He nodded a few times and pulled away from her. "I'm glad to hear all of this. Alas, I actually wanted to talk to you about something else, child."

"Oh?" she asked, nervously. His hands had been cold, but already she could feel her own growing hot as nerves settled in.

He smiled, and she took a quick glance at his crooked and dying teeth.

"You see, since I took my throne it's been hard trying to determine who my allies are and who's just… there. You know? I'm sure you went through this when you left school to take your own throne."

She thought of Palo and the way they left each other to pursue their dreams and nodded, for once in agreement with the emperor.

"And then I thought of Naboo and couldn't help but think of the faithful people still on the planet. Then, of course, I thought of you."

She winced and felt her confidence shaken, her mind retreating as flight became an appealing idea. Impossible, but appealing. She kept her feet planted and gave another fake, tight smile.

"Your majesty?" she urged on, ready to get everything over with. Alive or dead, she wanted to know where she stood in the eyes of the empire.

"The job I offered you before, I would like you to consider taking it."

"And what job would that be?"

"Mayor of Coruscant."

Dooku moved quickly despite his obvious discomfort in the heat. Luckily, they didn't have to go very far before they arrived at the Skywalker home. Inside, though, there was nobody but Threepio sweeping.

"Oh my!" he called out but was ignored by a thoughtful Dooku and an anxious Anakin.

"What do we do?" the boy asked.

The man ignored him as he pulled something from his robes. "Give me your hand."

Reluctantly, Anakin obeyed until he saw the foreign metal device Dooku was holding. "What's that!" Before he could pull away, Dooku had pricked his finger and began to type away on the little machine.

"Will your mother be with the man I'm looking for?"

Anakin shrugged, rubbing his finger where a thick bubble of blood formed. "Probably." He glanced outside and knew wherever Watto had sent her to deliver purchases, she was most likely staying until it cooled. Qui-Gon would probably be with her, talking about whatever it was he was always visiting her over.

Dooku smirked when there was a little beep from the thing he used to make Anakin bleed. He gave a satisfied hum before turning his full attention over.

"I take it you and your mother are close?"

A nod. They were all each other had.

"Boy, I want you to reach out and find your mother."

"What do you mean?"

"You should be able to sense her, yes?"

"I guess."

"No, you will be able to," Dooku said, more to himself than anything. "Relax your mind and let it guide you. We must find her."

Anakin was confused and truly had no idea what Dooku wanted him to do. His face must have said as much because Dooku sighed.

"I'll explain."

"You want me to be mayor? Why?"

"Amidala, you were once such a fine Princess of Theed, an even better queen. You've done an excellent job as a director for my battlestation. But surely you miss politics, don't you?"

In all honesty, Padmé didn't really miss the constant array of decisions she had to make, the never-ending galas and balls she had to attend. She didn't even miss the elaborate gowns she'd worn or the fine foods she ate. That time of her life had served her well, but she'd been ready for change. The end of her reign was anticipated, but all too sudden at the same time. She hadn't made plans, always half-suspecting that Mothma would come to her just as she had that night. There was almost a relief when she did, an unburdening where she no longer had to come up with alternative plans for what she would do next. True, the Rebellion was important, but more than once she wondered if she would have joined on her own. She liked to think she would have, but there was always a little curiosity if maybe she would have tried to find Palo and start a life with him. Him, or somebody who could… what? Make her happy? Start a family? A childlike longing filled her.

Oddly, she thought of Vader for a moment. Her curiosity of what was under that mask paused her thoughts of family.

Now wasn't the time, she kicked herself. "Yes, your majesty. Sometimes I do miss the responsibilities of ruling." That was true enough, too.

"Do you accept?"

She stiffened. "What about the Death Star?"

"You've done well. I'm sure they can finish without you."

"They will fall behind."

"Vader will keep them in line," Palpatine reassured.

Even though he was a terrible man, the idea of Vader all the way on Despayre and her in the heart of the galaxy was troubling. They'd found a truce, and she didn't want to lose that honest, albeit tentative relationship they shared.

"Is this an order, your majesty?"

His eyes narrowed slightly. "Of course not. As I said before, this is a job offer."

The Alliance would want her to take this new job. There would be more information to gather here than Despayre.

"May I have time to think it over?"

She had a strange freedom on Despayre that she would lose here. No doubt she would be bugged.

He waved his hand. "If you must."

She wouldn't see Vader again, not on a daily basis, not until he became the next emperor.

She would be forced to smile and lie, just as she had on Naboo. She would be alone again.

By the time he'd learned about the Force, it was cooling enough outside that he thought they could just wait for his mother. His curiosity won though, and he did just as Dooku instructed and reached out.

It really wasn't hard to do. It came naturally, too. Easy enough that he locked onto Shmi almost immediately. He frowned, when he was able to get her approximate location. "She's far away, out in the desert."

"Is she alone?"

He closed his eyes and tried again. "No, I-I think it's Qui-Gon with her."

"Good job, Anakin. You are very gifted in the force. That will come in handy. Now we need to go and find them."

Beaming from the praise, he began to follow but stopped when he heard voices outside. When he saw the boys only a few years older than him he retreated back inside, much to Dooku's annoyance. "What is it?" he snapped.

"They work with the Jawa's sometimes. They might try to take Threepio."

"Oh dear! I can't be taken by them! I'll be dismantled for certain." The wire exposed droid popped out from the kitchen area.

Dooku looked back and forth and then out the door into the cooling afternoon. "Bring him, then."

Padmé used a scrambler she'd been given by Mothma when she first joined the rebellion to give her room a technical glitch. While the cameras and recording devices were temporarily off, she retrieved the bulky holo Vader had given her.

Sending out her call request, she waited patiently for him to answer. A quick check told her Despayre was only forty-five minutes behind Coruscant. It took a while to connect, her mind blank she let her eyes wander around her naked room. When Vader answered on the other end, she lazily let her eyes fall onto his hologram.

"Vader," she greeted, trying to remain cold and impassive when they observed each other.

"Amidala."

She leaned back and played it cool. "I just finished speaking with the emperor. He offered me a new job."

"So, what will you be doing now?"

"I asked for time to think the offer over. He wants me to be mayor of Coruscant."

"Why think it over? Surely, you will learn more spying in the capital than you do here."

She grimaced as he echoed her exact thoughts back to her.

"I'm sure he knows I'm with the Rebellion, or at the very least, he suspects it. This is just a way for him to watch closely." After a moment of thought, she also had to add, "Or he'll use me to make an example of."

Vader didn't respond and so she was left to quietly wonder what to make of the whole thing.

"When will you be coming back?" his deep voice broke the silence.

"Soon, I hope," she answered, truly meaning it. What a thing, to actually want to return to Despayre.

It took them a while, but after finding out Dooku had a top of the line speeder they were able to head out into the desert. The wind felt good and kept Anakin cool as they sped forward into the endless sea of sand.

That's when he saw the foreign ship that sat stationary just behind the big red rocks he always fantasized about racing through. Thoughtlessly, he reached out with the Force to see where his mother was. He could feel her, but despite knowing she was so close he felt her slipping somehow. Or rather, her presence was suddenly blocked by something much larger than Anakin had ever anticipated.

The speeder stopped not far from the ship, and Dooku jumped down, leaving Anakin and Threepio alone. "Wait here, boy."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he told the droid.

They waited patiently until Anakin couldn't take another moment of it, the pressure becoming too much he jumped out of Dooku's speeder. "Wait here." He told Threepio.

"But Master Anakin! The scavengers! Oh, I'll be torn to pieces and sold off, oh no the injustice."

Usually, Anakin might indulge in Threepio's fantasies or even coddle them. Today, however, he focused on getting to the grounded ship where he felt his mother's presence the closer he got.

He was almost there when he felt the sudden burst of energy that threatened to throw him to the ground after it blasted from the ship. He managed to stay on his feet but had to take a moment to stop the wobbling and reground himself on the rough terrain.

When he felt confident about moving forward, he took off in a sprint until he reached the ship. Ignoring the overwhelming dread he felt, he pushed inside the open doors.

He saw nothing but could feel the immense energy just down the hall. Losing some confidence, he paused inside the doorway. With no weapon at his disposal, he took small, hesitant steps down the short white hall until he reached the room he was certain his mother was in.

When the door sensor felt his presence and slid open, he nearly turned and ran. The red and green beams of light were clashing together, throwing the entire room into their bright streaks of color.

They were so mesmerizing when they clashed, that he nearly missed the sight of Shmi Skywalker dying off to the side of the battle.

He ran to her, uncaring of his own safety when he realized she was there. He feel beside her, crying out for her and completely unsure what to do to help her.

"Mom!" he repeated, over and over until her dark eyes finally fell onto him. They kept rolling like she was fighting to stay awake, but deep-down Anakin just knew.

"An-Ani?"

"What do I do?" he asked quickly, not sure what he could do for her at this point.

She was fading fast, he could see that as much as he could feel it. "Mom?"

"I love…"

She went completely limp after that, gone forever no matter how much Anakin wished it weren't true. He gave her a quick gentle shake with no results. He stayed with her, too frightened to completely accept the truth yet. The light beams made a fantastic sound when they clashed that made Anakin jump with each smack. He stayed crouched for at least another minute before taking a thoughtless, wobbly step away from his mother's body and the ugly slash cutting through her sun-tanned body.

When he turned, the tears fell off of his round cheeks quickly dried up when he spotted Qui-Gon holding the green beam of light. Anger pooled in Anakin's stomach until his entire body burned with it. He felt a swirl of power encase him as he watched the two men fight it out. He wasn't sure just how he did it, but he certainly knew why he raised his small hand up and directed all of his mourning at Qui-Gon.

He felt the neck as though his fingers were really wrapped around it, and then he squeezed. Maybe it wasn't enough to kill the man, but it was enough to give him pause and he hesitated.

Dooku's red blade went straight through the other man's stomach. He said something to the fallen Qui-Gon, something Anakin couldn't hear, but at that point it didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

After that, Vader left the planet with Dooku. He'd left behind the dust ball of a planet without a single thought and planned to never return. Dreams of freeing the slaves died with his mother. They buried her and left only a small marker before they flew away, the unfinished droid following him and for once not saying a thing.

He'd never asked about the events leading up to his departure, and in truth he didn't care to know. The results were the same.

Over the years, he gathered that Qui-Gon had once been Dooku's student and soon Anakin followed in those footsteps, becoming Dooku's apprentice. They went to the Sith Temples and Anakin began to learn the ways of the Force in ways much different than Qui-Gon had once learned.

He was a young man before he finally left the second desert planet, Dooku dead at his heels as he followed Dooku's master and eventual emperor.

It was for practicality and not sentiment, he reasoned, that he brought the droid with him and finally gave him coverings. Fine gold plates that he would never have dreamed of as a child.

The years after that had been bloody and had left millions dead, but Vader had felt none of it.

Standing in his destroyed apartment now, he still felt so little.

But then the unseeing eyes of the droid stared at him, and before he could stop himself he waved through the Force and those eyes lit up.

"Oh my! You've certainly made a mess, haven't you?"