Anakin didn't even notice the door was open at first.

Not that it mattered. He couldn't move from the floor on his own. The shock whip had taken too much out of him.

Two silvery feet stood in front of him. Not Palpatine, then.

The door closed. Anakin knew he wouldn't have had the strength to escape, but his heart sank in his chest regardless.

A metal hand grabbed his arm and hauled him up to a sitting position. His head tipped back and he was left staring up at a protocol droid.

A protocol droid with a tray of food in one hand.

The droid placed the food on the floor and ripped the mask from his head. Anakin gasped as the Force flooded back in. Why were they—

The droid knelt on the floor and grabbed a cup from the tray. "Drink," it ordered.

Oh. The droid was feeding him. Right. Made sense. Palpatine didn't want him to die, after all. A dead apprentice made a bad apprentice.

The droid held the cup to his lips. He drank deeply. "Where am I?"

"I am not authorized to impart that information." The droid replaced the cup and released Anakin's arm to pick up the plate and a fork. Without the support of the droid, Anakin's weakened body fell backward onto the floor.

Undaunted, the droid simply knelt in front of him and fed him.

The food wasn't exactly tasty, but it was soft and easy to swallow. Probably nutritious, too. All the nastiest foods were. A bit of his strength returned, though not much more than allowed him to level a steady glare at the droid. "Where am I?"

"You are in a cell," the droid said.

"I can see that! But where is the cell?"

"The cell you are in is currently residing in an undisclosed location." The droid placed the empty plate down on the tray.

Anakin growled. He forced himself to his feet, despite the shakiness of his body.
The food had strengthened him. "Let me out." He reached for the Force. He probably wouldn't be able to reach Obi-Wan from this far away, but it was worth a try. Obi-Wan. I'm in a cell somewhere being held by Palpatine. I don't know where. You have to help me! He blasted the droid against the wall and opened the door with the Force. Outside was a long corridor, also made of this black…stone. Anakin believed it was stone. The hallway was very dark and completely empty. He couldn't see where it led, but anywhere had to be better than here.

He ran out of the cell. Pain seized every muscle. He collapsed on the floor with a scream. Through the pain, he managed to force his mind to focus on the source. The cuffs.

He released them from his wrists and stood up, making his way slowly and shakily down the corridor. His body couldn't take much more of this.

The bond with Obi-Wan was too strained by the distance. He must be quite far from Coruscant, then, unless Obi-Wan was far off in the galaxy looking for him. Yet one of the bonds he had was still somewhat strong. His bond with Luke.

Luke, buddy, I need you to tell Uncle Obi-Wan I'm somewhere far away from him and I just escaped the cell Palpatine put me in, all right?

A gasp filled his mind. "Daddy?"

Anakin crept along the corridor. It took a turn to the right. He pressed himself against the corner. Yes, it's me, Luke. I'm okay. Palpatine's trying to make me turn to the Dark Side, but it's not going to happen. Tell that to Obi-Wan, too, okay?

"Okay. I love you, Daddy. You're going to come home, right?"

Of course I am. Just as soon as possible. Give Mommy a kiss for me. I love you too, baby.

"I will. Don't let the bad man hurt you."

Anakin smiled and poked his head around the corner. Still empty. It ended a couple of feet away in a large blast door. I won't. He strode to the door. No control panel, no access panel, no nothing. With no lightsaber, how was he going to open this door? Yoda says size doesn't matter. I can do this. He focused on the Force and slowly, painfully, opened the blast door.

Palpatine stood on the other side, grinning.

"Shavit." Anakin almost bolted back where he had come from, but there was no way to escape from there. He'd have to face Palpatine head on to escape. "Let me go and I won't demand your execution."

"Oh, my boy, what makes you think it will be that easy? Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design." Palpatine folded his hands.

His hands. Those weren't real hands. Anakin reached his hand out and felt for the circuits in Palpatine's robotic hands.

There. He destroyed the circuits. Now, Palpatine wouldn't be able to use his lightsaber, which he should probably steal from him and use against him.

His belt was empty.

No. What was Palpatine doing? Why would he not come armed?

Palpatine raised his hands, his useless hands, and blasted Anakin in the chest with Force lightning. He flew back and landed on the floor, gasping, too spent to even scream.

Not fair.

Palpatine bent and grabbed Anakin's arm, then dragged him back into his cell with surprising strength. Must be the Dark Side. He removed the droid, then retrieved the stun cuffs from the floor.

Painful tremors wracked Anakin's body. He could do nothing but watch. Soon, he'd have the mask on his face again and be unable to touch the Force. Luke, I'm so sorry. I didn't escape. I failed.

Palpatine pulled Anakin's wrists behind his back and snapped the stun cuffs around them, then bent and grabbed the Sith torture mask.

Anakin's heart beat wildly. No. He didn't want to feel that again. He wanted to feel the Force, the light. He wanted to feel his son. "Please." His voice was ragged and hoarse, but once it had moved Palpatine. No longer. "Please, no. Not the mask." His eyes filled with tears.

"What? No! Come back! Daddy!" Luke's shriek abruptly stopped as the Sith mask was pulled over Anakin's face again.

Anakin's heart ripped to shreds. His baby needed him, and he wasn't there. It wasn't as traumatic as seeing him die before his eyes, but this was different. This was real. Luke's shriek would haunt him for a long, long time.

STAR WARS

"Mommy!"

The shriek arose from Luke's bedroom where he had been quietly playing. Padmé bolted from her office where she had been reading over some bills instead of doing fundraising calls and ran into the bedroom Luke shared with Ben. "Baby, what's wrong?"

Luke crashed into her and wrapped his arms around her, sobbing. "Daddy's gonna die! The bad man's gonna kill him!"

Ben, who was sprawled out on his bed, looked up from a flimsi he was coloring. "No, he's not! He's gonna escape with the Force."

"He is not!" Luke retorted. "I heard him, and he didn't. He got caught. He said he failed. Mommy, you have to save him!" He stared up at her, his face streaked with tears.

Padmé patted Luke's head, not sure what to say. "Come here, into my office, and tell me what's wrong." It might be more comforting to stay in his bedroom, but she didn't want Ben to hear what Luke had to say. It would simply distress him further, especially if Luke had really heard Anakin through the Force or something.

Luke sniffled and walked with her to her office, his arms wrapped around her the entire time. She sat down in her office chair and pulled him into her lap. "Now, baby, what's wrong?"

"I heard Daddy! He said he'd escaped and he was far away from Uncle Obi-Wan, and that Pal—Palpatine was trying to turn him to the Dark Side. Then he…he said that he didn't escape and that he failed. Mommy, you have to help him!"

Padmé wrapped her arms around him. "I'd do anything to save Daddy if I knew where he was."

"But I don't know! He didn't say!" His voice rose hysterically. "You've got to find him!"

Padmé fought back tears. Oh, Ani, I need you. "We're doing our best, baby."

Luke pushed himself up, wrapped his arms around her, and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Daddy said to give that to you."

Her tears fell. "Oh, Luke." She squeezed her son tight and tried to restrain from sobbing. She forced herself to straighten up. "I'm going to call Master Yoda. I want you to remember everything Daddy said to you."

"Okay." Luke wiped his tears and slid off her lap. "I can call him up for you."

Nausea churned in Padmé's stomach. "Thank you, dear. I'll be right back, it'll just be a minute." She darted into the 'fresher and vomited into the toilet. Exhaustion pounded through her.

She straightened up and began washing her hands in the sink. She stared at herself in the mirror. If only Anakin's face would appear beside hers, and he would wrap his arms around her. "Come home, Anakin. Come home."

Notes: So, I realized later that I'd had Palpatine use Force lightning even though he lost his hands. Oops. I heard somewhere a while ago that you don't lose the ability to lose Force lightning if you lose your hands, so let's just assume that's a thing and Vader never knew because Palps never told him, and also if he'd tried, his suit would have fried. Next, Anakin suffers and Padme makes a bittersweet discovery.