Who Are You?

The Hero With No Fear

"Mother, no!" Padmé could hear Luke scream as he immediately went to her side.

She was already growing weak at this point, and focusing hard on keeping herself calm. Sitting in on those meditation sessions with Obi-Wan and Anakin was paying off in spades, but Padmé knew her time was ticking down. A stern gaze was thrown at Palpatine, who held his own look of sickly pleasure. The same joy that fills a hungry snake as it crushes the life out of its unfortunate prey was surely coursing through the monster, as he held a look that was a far cry from the usual bantha fodder eating grin he originally gave.  Luke was clearly not having it, and Padmé feared he'd do something rash. 

"Release her now!" Luke demanded, rage beginning to coat his words. "Or I'll make you!"

He quickly activated his stolen lightsaber, its red glow coating both him and Padmé.  He looked ready to charge, much to Padmé's anguish.

No!  She desperately wanted to scream to her son.  This is just what he wants, don't fall for it!  I'm fine-

Her knees suddenly buckled and she began to collapse.  Luke caught her with his freehand and gently lowered her to the ground.  However, before he could stand back up, Padmé grabbed his shoulder.  Her vision was going, and she could barely find the strength to lift her head, but she tried her best.  Meeting his gaze as closely as she could, Padmé slowly shook her head.  Luke appeared angry and she worried he'd try to protest, but she stood firm.  Slowly, he let the lightsaber drop from of his grip, ignoring the fallen weapon as it deactivated and rolled away.  Turning around, Luke fell to his knees and looked to Padmé.  His blue eyes ran dry, but Padmé could tell how scared he truly was.  Letting her hand slide across his shoulder, she managed to brush against his cheek before losing the last of her strength.

"Mother please, I can't lose you, not again!  I'll fix this, just please hang on a bit longer.  Mother, stay with me..."

Luke's words faded as darkness consumed Padmé's senses.

***
"Just stay with me Mom, everything will be fine!

This memory...he had taken extra care to lock it away in the darkest recess of his mind.  The pain, the fear, the anger, that night had been his first true taste of the dark side. His slaughter of the Sand People had started under the pretense of revenge, however, it quickly morphed into a desire to kill. It went against every Jedi teaching ever imparted upon him, but he enjoyed their suffering. It was wrong, it was so very wrong, and when the moment had passed, he could see that clearly yet again. His mother wouldn't have wanted it.

His mind snapped back to the present, watching as Luke tried desperately find any sign of life in his own mother.  She remained motionless, and he could hear Luke's continued pleas, despite how quiet they had grown.

"Please, please, don't leave me."

The sight pained him immensely, and he longed to join them, but an even greater shame kept him in place. This wasn't the first time he had seen her like this. His mechanical right hand twitched, as his foremost regret suddenly came to a head. No, he didn't deserve to hold her or Luke. It might as well have been his fault in the first place, he still followed Palpatine despite her attempts, and all that's done is led her to the slaughter once again.  The Force was just torturing him at this point!  To rip her away from her own time and thrust her into his life after so long, why now?  What is so important about right now?  The Emperor is at the height of his power.  The first Death Star had nothing on this station, the resistance is close to total destruction, and Luke is going to succeed him as the next Sith apprentice, what could possibly be accomplished by dropping her off at this point?!