Boundless as the Sea

Chapter One

There was a distant scream.

Anakin's head snapped up as soon as he heard it.

"Anakin, help me!"

He knew that voice anywhere. It was the voice of his beloved, his angel, Padmé. It seemed to be coming from every direction, and he couldn't tell where the source of the agonized screams could be. Her screams seemed to envelop him in a torrent of agonizing sound.

"Padmé! Where are you?" He shouted helplessly as he searched for his wife in the growing darkness around him.

"Why, Anakin, why won't you help me?!" Her words echoed through the ever-growing labyrinth of darkness surrounding him.

Suddenly, he heard laughter. Not pleasant laughter, but dark, disturbing laughter. Anakin immediately recognized the voice that the laughter belonged to. He knew it from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place a face with it. Padmé's screams and the stranger's laughter became louder and louder, until he himself was screaming for it to stop.

Finally, the darkness overtook him.

♦️

Anakin's eyes snapped open, and he started shaking. It was only a dream. No, a nightmare.

He looked at his surroundings. It was dark, so it must still be really early. He was in a cave, surrounded by sleeping clone troopers. Well, at least they were sleeping.

"You alright there, General? You were talking in your sleep, and then you started to get pretty loud. Reckon you woke the whole squadron. Let's hope you didn't wake any creatures that might be in here, or worse, Seppies."

"Sorry, Rex. Just a bad dream, is all. Must've been that nasty creek water I drank. Tell the men to go back to sleep."

"Yes, sir."

And with that, Anakin laid back down on his makeshift cot and tried to fall asleep. But the young jedi would get no more sleep that night, for he could not get the sound of Padmé's screams, or the evil laughter, out of his mind.