Card of Heart

Chapter 9 - Disorder

A sense of foreboding hangs in the air, one that she's only felt right before someone dies. It's the same clawing sense of urgency, and all Ahsoka knows is that it terrifies her.

She hears a scream, and somehow, she knows who it is. An image swims in front of her eyes, a vague flash of Padme's face.

She wants to scream and reach for her – her mother – but the next thing she knows, her eyes are flying open, and she's in bed. A wave of desperate all-consuming fear crashes through her, her heart pounding. Dread coils in the pit of her stomach, and she abruptly feels like throwing up. This can't be happening. It can't be.

This... it's the same kind of vision that Anakin had. She knows it's a vision, because she can feel it. It can't be mistaken. The urgency and fear of it doesn't fade like it does for other dreams. Visions don't always mean what they seem to, but Anakin saw it, and now so did she.

This... yes, visions can be stopped – like the one she saw about how Padme was going to be killed by Aurra Sing – but in that vision, she didn't actually see Padme die. It was just an assassination attempt. This... she didn't see her die either, but she can't shake that sinking, horrifying feeling that that's what's going to happen.

Force, no. She won't let this happen, but she doesn't know what to do.

She can understand Anakin's panic last night so well now, but she doesn't know what to do about it. She doesn't want to tell him, almost. He has enough on his mind already. Both her parents do. She doesn't need to make it harder by telling them this. Maybe. She doesn't know what to say.

Ahsoka finally sits up, staring around the darkness of her bedroom. Everything was supposed to be fine. Anakin was probably going to leave the Order, and him, Ahsoka, Padme, and the child could all be a family together, and now it's as though everything is about to shatter into a million pieces.

She can't let this happen. She can't. But what can she do? She can trust in the Force, but at least with her nightmare about Aurra Sing, there was something she could actively do to stop it, and she has no doubt that if she hadn't, it would have happened. This is different, and she has absolutely no idea what to do.

***

Anakin notices immediately that something's very wrong with Ahsoka the next morning. She's trying to go for completely casual when she comes in to eat with him and Padme early that morning, but she's radiating an obvious fear that she didn't have the night before when he told her about his vision. And she's hardly eating.

Something happened, and Anakin can't shake the sinking feeling that – what if it has to do with his nightmares? No, no. "Ahsoka?" he asks, finally, "What's the matter?"

The question seems to catch Padme's attention instantly, and she frowns. Maybe she noticed something was wrong but hadn't been sure if she should bring it up.

"It's nothing," the Togruta mutters, very unconvincingly.

"We can both see that it's something," Padme counters.

Ahsoka sighs, reaching up, scrubbing a hand over her face before answering. "I... I had a vision."

Any remote attempt at trying to keep a calm façade promptly disappears. If Ahsoka saw it too, that means – "The same as...?" he dares to ask, knowing the answer even for as much he doesn't want to hear the confirmation.

She nods, looking away.

"Is this about me dying in childbirth again?" Padme asks.

"It wasn't clear, but... I think so," Ahsoka confirms.