Anakin is here. Somehow, I just know. Not in the house, but close. Obi-Wan will try to keep him at bay, engage him in a duel because it is his duty, and to protect me.

I rack my brain for how he could possibly have found us, and a fragment of remembered conversation taunts me. A passing remark I made at least two years ago during a clandestine meeting on Naboo. Something about how the lake country is incredibly beautiful, where my heart is, but that another option was for us to retire together to a quiet village in the hills, one day in our imagined future. Something only someone who loved me would remember.

And now he is here. Emotions war within me, anticipating the sizzle of clashing lightsabers. I am afraid. For myself, for the twins. For Obi-Wan. But also, for Anakin. He has wrought so much destruction, and yet he deserves one last chance. Not to win me back. But to repent his actions and turn himself over to Obi-Wan without a fight.

I will not lie here in the dark. I will use my voice. I will make the gamble that Anakin still loves me enough to stop and listen, if just for a moment. That there is something of the man I fell in love with buried within him. I will not give up on him entirely.

With an effort, I heave myself from the cushions and pocket the blaster, then slowly ascend the stairs. The latch gives way beneath my nimble fingers and I push the door aside. Adrenaline fuels me. I clamber out of the cellar and walk unsteadily toward the front door. Hand on the knob, I take a deep, regulating breath. Then I step outside to try to save my husband from himself.

The two of them stand only a hundred metres away. Eyes locked, bodies tense, hands hovering by lightsaber hilts. Their discarded Jedi robes form a strange ring around them.

Anakin sees me first. His face twists with betrayal. I stride toward them, head held high.

Obi-Wan glances over his shoulder at me, his eyes rolling with a silent of course. Anakin's eyes shift between me and Obi-Wan, wary, as if we have conspired against him. Which, in a way, we have.

"Anakin, listen to me. It doesn't have to be this way," I say. "I know you have done terrible things. Sworn oaths that feel unbreakable. But it isn't too late. You can end this, now. Surrender your lightsaber and give yourself over to Obi-Wan's custody. This doesn't need to get violent."

"I did this for you, Padmé," he replies, eyes yellow with anger. "I won't lose you the way I lost my mother! I've become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of, and I've done it for you. To protect you. The Jedi could not teach me how to stop you from dying. But the Emperor can."

"At what cost? I would rather die than be responsible for the deaths of so many younglings." I dare to move a little closer. "You are choosing a dark and destructive path, but you can turn back. I know there is still good in you, deep down."

Instead of responding to me, he yells at Obi-Wan, "You have turned her against me!"

"You have done that yourself," his former Master retorts.

Anakin's gaze, and his rage, is fixed only on Obi-Wan. "You will not take her from me!"

"Anakin, I am right here, making my own choices, fighting my own battles," I tell him, voice raised. "Obi-Wan does not control me. You do not control me. And your dreams do not control me, however frightening they may be. I left you. I left you, because your violence made me feel unsafe. I left you to protect our baby. I left you because you are going down a path I can't follow –"

Suddenly, I can't breathe. My throat constricts, robbed of oxygen. Words dead on my lips. Dimly I hear Obi-Wan shouting at Anakin to let me go. As I struggle for air, I am struck by the inevitability of this moment. Of Anakin's violence, no longer in protection of me but directed toward me. My vision blurs as I fight to remain conscious. But it is a battle I can't win. Everything goes black as my limbs crumple.

Note: Some of the dialogue in this scene is taken from the script of Revenge of the Sith.