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“Whatever it takes – that’s what you said. You promised me, Skywalker.”
Skywalker was bent over, one hand brushing back Padmé’s hair, the other helplessly fluttering up and down her body. Trying to give comfort. Trying to take comfort. There was no where he could put his hand without Padmé hissing in pain and so instead it flittered over her without ever touching.
“Skywalker!” her voice was a bark now, sharp and commanding.
The Jedi – former Jedi? Sith? – continued to ignore her, mumbling into Padmé’s hair.
“Anakin. Please.”
His head snapped up, blue eyes locking with her brown ones. Distress, fear, and now confusion worn openly on his face.
Sabé took a step forward so she was standing against Padmé’s bed, directly opposite Skywalker. She reached across and grabbed his right hand with her left, her other hand going to gently stroke Padmé’s hair.
Husband and handmaiden, General and guard, perfectly mirrored on either side of the centre of the universe.
Sabé’s voice was clear and gentle when she spoke, eyes on Padmé’s face. “Please, Anakin… I always knew this was how our story ended.”
She was still looking at Padmé but for the first time that Sabé could remember, she finally understood how Padmé felt. For the first time in her life Anakin’s attention was purely, singularly focused on Sabé.
It was breathtaking. To have the sun cast everything else in shadow so that it’s light shone only on you.
“My life has always been for her. My entire existence has only ever had single purpose.”
Sabé licked her lips, looking up, meeting Anakin’s eyes.
“I was born to die for Padmé Amidala.”
She squeezed his hand with her own. “I want this. She needs this. And –” Sabé’s voice was cut off with a gasp.
Anakin’s – Vader’s eyes burned like lightning as they bore into her own. She felt her heart beating slower, and slower, sluggishly trying to pump blood around her body. She felt lightheaded, her vision slowly greying.
She felt… stretching. She felt pieces of herself being pulled apart, stripped out of and away from the meat and bone of her body.
If she could have, she would have screamed.
Vader’s face was furrowed, veins starting to pop in his forehead, as though he was straining against a great weight.
She felt a sudden, sharp, snap. Like every tendon in her body had torn at once. Suddenly she had no sense of her body at all.
Her vision was now almost entirely black. Padmé’s eyelids fluttered open, her brow furrowed with confusion.
The last thing Sabé saw was brown eyes so like her own, staring at her out of the face she loved.
The last thing she heard was the voice she had long ago given herself to sobbing, “Tsabin, NO!”