(This chapter was cowritten by @-JustADaydreamer- )

Somehow, Amras Von had thought Senator Amidala would put up more of a fight. But once she realized that there was no escape, she didn't resist.

This puzzled him at first, but he glanced over and could see her eyes darting around, alert and consistently aware of her surroundings, and he realized she hadn't really surrendered at all. She appeared to just be waiting for something. He had observed the arrival of the Republic and the Separatists before he had reached her. She must have realized that they were here as well, and no doubt she realized that her odds were better with either of those two groups than they were with the Renegades. Amras did his best not to harm the innocents of this war and saved as many as he could that had felt the backlash of this fight, but he didn't consider any of the ones involved with either side to be innocent at all. Those people usually suffered a rather unfortunate end if he got his hands on them, but only after they had fed him as much information as he could glean from them. Perhaps he would have to make an exception in this case and kill her more swiftly. Things hadn't gone quite as smoothly as he would have liked.

It was for this reason that he chose to take Padmé away instead of simply interrogating her there. The fight, or at least most of it, would stay in the boundaries of the village and he wasn't too worried about any stragglers that might be sent to chase him down. It was being caught in the middle of a large fight with the Senator in his grasp that he wanted to avoid.

Neither of them spoke for a while as Amras flew the ship over the barren land, but it was Padmé who finally spoke first. "You won't win," she said, her voice surprisingly steady. He commended her silently on her bravery in such a predicament. Most he captured were squalling and begging by now. Amras hated when they did that. "The Republic will stop you and your terrorist group will fall."

Amras didn't respond to that but said instead, "You have something I want a great deal. Give it to me and I'll spare your life."

"No, you won't. I know your kind."

He paused and then shrugged. "Perhaps not, then. But I'll do you the favor of making it painless."

"I'm flattered."

They continued in silence again for the remainder of the trip until Amras finally landed the ship at the edge of the cliff and turned to face her. She sat stiffly in the chair he had put her in, her hands tied well behind her. "If you won't make this easy..."

She remained silent.

With a sigh, Amras pulled her up and half dragged her to the back of the ship. He would get what he wanted. The sound of her screams were met with nothing but silence, and in time she, too, fell silent and Amras emerged from the room victorious and stashed his prize away in a secret compartment in the ship. That was all he had needed from her. It was time to kill the Senator and head back to pick up the Renegades. He'd hated to leave them there in that battle but these plans were of the utmost importance and he trusted Shona to carry them through it, and he trusted the Renegades to do what they had signed up to do. Fight.

* * *

If Anakin had been paying closer attention, he would have sensed something very strange about that "Balian Curth" person. But he wasn't.

He was completely distracted by that one type of disturbance that troubled him most: Padmé being afraid, and in pain. And this wasn't the first time Anakin had sensed that; he hated that he even knew how to recognize this type of disturbance. Padmé was a diplomat, a peacemaker—she was never meant to experience the horrors that this war brought to the galaxy. If he had only arrived a few minutes sooner, maybe this could have been prevented...

But at least he arrived at all. He had found a cheap and reliable speeder in the town (though it had some strange-looking stains on it), and whoever was on the ship didn't seem to realize that they were being tracked. Anakin soon arrived at the ship's landing site, and the disturbance in the Force was strong.

Oddly enough, there was nothing there besides the ship, no battle droids or guards or anything like that. It should have been a relief to not encounter enemies right away, but Anakin found it unsettling. Usually, these petty politician types hid behind entire armies and security forces. Something was definitely wrong here.

And in a small, dark room he discovered Padmé.

Whoever had done this to her was not kind at all.

Honestly, Padmé couldn't remember everything that had just happened to her. After a while the pain had begun to blur together, regardless of what that man was doing, and before long she couldn't even place up from down or left from right. And she couldn't quite remember at what point she had broken and told him what he wanted to know. It had almost felt like he was messing with her mind, but she didn't even have the willpower just then to be angry at herself for breaking, or to ponder over how and why it had happened.

The only thing filling her mind just then was Anakin. His face, his voice, his touch... the thought of him both frustrated and reassured her. The memory of him always helped but the realization that he wasn't there just made her want to scream. And she needed him. Though ever determined and resourceful, Padmé finally -- albeit reluctantly -- admitted to herself that there wasn't any way she was going to get away from that monster on her own. Not this time.

It wasn't because she was frail of mind. In fact, she had been far more resilient than most, but she couldn't fight against her captor when he forcefully strapped her down and injected her with who-knows-what, and she was far too weak now to escape the bonds on her own. She couldn't even move her head with any measure of control. Flopping it this way and that to try and see through blurry vision was just exhausting and pointless. And so, closing her eyes, Padmé just waited for him to come and finish her off, and thought of Anakin. The man with the gleaming red eyes would kill her, she knew. There had been no mercy or remorse in his eyes when he had tortured her.

Anakin couldn't see exactly what all was wrong with Padmé, but her pain radiated through the Force like a pounding headache. Her eyes were glazed over and glancing off in different directions, not really seeming to realize he was there.

He tried to speak soothing words to her as he freed her. "Padmé, it will be all right, I'm here. Hold still so I can cut these binders... that's it... let's get out of here, shall we?"

She heard Anakin's voice. Now she must be hallucinating. But the next thing she knew, her hands were free and a familiar pair of strong arms was around her. She could have sobbed if she had the strength. Of course, she should have trusted him. Was he not always there when she needed him?

"Anakin..." she murmured, her voice hoarse, and she couldn't say anything else. But somehow she knew he'd understand what she was feeling.

He did understand, all too well.

The weakness, the pain, in her voice broke his heart. His own experiences in this war combined with his close connection to Padmé through the Force made him recall vividly what it felt like to be in her place. The burning sensation shooting through every nerve. The world spinning around at dizzy speeds and everything turning into a blur. Anakin was familiar with torture. This was one thing he wished he and Padmé did not have in common.

After Anakin untied her and cut apart the handcuffs, Padmé started to collapse. He reacted quickly and caught her in his arms. She felt so limp... so weak. All this was so terribly wrong and he couldn't bear to see her like this. However, it was an immense relief to have her back at all, and getting her out safely was more important to him than pounding the scummy person who did this. But still, he wanted a fight, and he wanted answers.

"What did he do to you, my love?" he whispered in her ear, picking her up gently and taking her out of the room. Not that he expected an answer; he was simply trying to think out loud and calm her with his voice. "Don't answer that, Padmé. Save your energy. We're on our way out now, and everything will be all right, I've got you...."

But even as these gentle words escaped his lips, violent thoughts swirled in his head. Whoever had the nerve to do this... who were they? What justification did they supposedly have for torturing his beloved? His hold on her grew subconsciously a little tighter. Once Padmé was safe and recovering, Anakin wanted an honest fight with this person, whoever he was.

In fact, he wanted more than that.

He wanted him dead.

(Author's Note: You have now met Amras Von, the leader of the Forsaken Renegades, and his shady methods! Anakin hates his guts already. Their relationship is off to a great start. What do you think of Amras so far? Don't forget to vote and comment on this chapter! Thanks for reading!)