Star Wars: The Chosen One || An Anakin Skywalker Story [COMPLETED]

One || Dreams

Anakin's POV

Similar to the past three nights, I awoke with a fumbled start; I was sweaty, hot, and anxious. I found myself to have been awakening at around the same time a frequent amount of nights this past week. It was a disturbance, sure, but it was not so much the fact that I was awakening randomly, but more so the dreams that are the causes of it.

I tried to gain control over these dreams. Every time I tried, I failed. They were too much like the dreams that were a warning of my mother's death - I still hear her last words in my head sometimes before I fall asleep. Other times she surrounds me in my sleep, right before the new dreams occur. But these new dreams, my mother is not the subject in. It's Padmé, my beloved wife, and the main focus of my dreams about her is the thing that perhaps startles me the most.

Upon being startled every night, I have the same routine to get my mind off the dreams. I swing my legs over the side of the bed, pull on a robe, and head out to the balcony where I can stare off at the flourishing Coruscant and let my mind wander anywhere else than where it had been only minutes before.

The first night the dream occurred, I awoke Padmé in my panic. I ended up telling her of the dreams, of course, but she wasn't half as worried as I was. In fact, she made me a promise that the event of the dream wouldn't occur to her in actuality. In my mind, she cannot be the one to prevent such an event.

In my mind, the one to prevent such an event is me.

The second night was worse. The second night she cried out for me in all desperation, and I had yet to see myself appear. I didn't come to her aid when she needed me the most, and I awoke this night in a disastrous panic. Thankfully I didn't wake her, and I was able to regain the relaxation to fall back asleep without having to go out on the balcony.

The third night, the dream continued, and I watched Padmé die. I watched her die in the event of childbirth, birthing our child she was now carrying. I didn't see whether or not the child lived, but seeing Padmé in pain the past few nights and now witnessing her death in my sleep caused me to be ever most panicked when I had awakened. I was panting, my head spinning in all different directions as I frantically attempted to gather myself and my emotions when they were no where to be grasped. Padmé awoke, and she turned herself over to face me.

"Ani..." her sweet voice breathes, sounding as tired as she looked. No light was peering through the blinds, as it was the heart of the night. I couldn't even gather myself to answer her; I buried my face in my hands and sobbed.

"Please tell me you're not dreaming again, Ani," she whispers, not able to reach over and touch me due to her instability lying on her side. I couldn't look at her, couldn't answer her; all I could do was cry and feel her presence beside me. At last, I found it within myself to answer her.

"You... died," I breathed, my voice as cool as the air surrounding us. She was silent for a moment, unaware of the fact I was trying to wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes. I felt her look at me intently with her beautiful brown eyes, and then I heard her sigh.

"I promised you, Ani. I'm going to promise you again... I'm not going to die in childbirth. Now please, do yourself a favor and get some rest, Ani."

I turned my head slightly to watch her roll back on her other side and pull the sheets up to her chin. Within moments, I felt her nod off, and I had yet to be asleep myself. However, her words were lost in my mind: I promised you, Ani. It wasn't hers to make. It was mine.

A night after, around the same time, I awoke again. The dream tonight was different. I saw the child. The images were confusing and mixed up in my mind, but I believe to have seen our child. And I believe it did not live.

Without Padmé being the main focus of the dream, it was an abstract blur that distracted me from the moral of it. My child dies. I could never bear the pain I would have to endure with such a tragedy. My chest throbbed in agonizing pain as I awoke tonight, and I couldn't simply tell myself a few words of recognition to entrance myself to sleep again. I rose, slipped on a robe, and walked out to the balcony.

I was lost in the lights of Coruscant when I heard tiny footsteps behind me. It was none other than my beautiful wife, looking displeased with my action to have come out here. I couldn't help it, she knew, but she was still disappointed.

"Come back to bed, Anakin. Stop worrying about this, please. It's no help to trouble yourself thinking of it every night."

I didn't turn around, I simply stared off into the night. I continued to do this until, like the first night, she came and sat by me, calmly rubbing my shoulder.

"Ani," she whispers, her soft voice soothing to my panicked body, "come back to bed. You need sleep; you're restless."

She was right. I was utterly restless. Other than my being unable to sleep through a night becoming a disturbance to Padmé, I had a meeting with the Chancellor in his office the following day. How could I show up unrested? It would only lower the level of trust between us, as he could most likely sense restlessness. What would he possibly think I was up to?

But I had Padmé beside me now, and she was more worried than I'd seen her in quite awhile. I ignored her statement about my restlessness and instead shot back with what had really been on my mind the entire time: "It was our child."

Her eyes stared at me, those brown eyes I loved dearly. I could sense her fear, but she concealed it well. "What?"

"Our child," my voice stutters, "our child doesn't live through the childbirth either."

Padmé is quick to respond to my stuttering voice and trembling body. Her hand slides to my back and rubs it gently, resting her head on my shoulder. "Oh, Ani," she breathes, "Don't worry. Our baby is fine. I'm fine. We're always going to be fine."

I blinked, and I was reluctant to feel tears down my cheeks. The thought of losing my child... a chill ran up my spine, but Padmé's hand was there to comfort me. I planted a kiss upon her forehead and closed my eyes.

It was my turn to promise.

"I promise you, Padmé. I won't let anything happen to you or our child."

She said nothing, but after moments of silence she insisted I go back to bed with her. So I did. And thankfully, I slept through the rest of the night.

Padmé's POV

Anakin wasn't looking well to me any longer. He was tired, cold, and sorrowful. I couldn't bear see him like this, nor accept that he had Council meetings and missions he had to be well for. I knew quite well he had a meeting with the Chancellor tomorrow, as well as a Council meeting. Obi-Wan had mentioned to me that giving Anakin a seat on the Council had consequences as well as duties he had to fulfill, and Obi-Wan had sincerely been hoping Ani would follow through with them.

It is classified for the time being, of course, what Ani has to do as an initial mission for the Council, but I know it has something to do with his friendship with the Chancellor. Obi-Wan is intrigued by their obscure friendship, and I believe he wants to gather more information about the Chancellor discreetly, and through Ani. I wasn't bias in any way towards what I think Obi-Wan is going to assign to Ani, but I sincerely hope Ani does follow through and does as told. After all, Obi-Wan is a great mentor to Ani and always has been - I'm sure he wouldn't assign anything that he wasn't sure Ani couldn't follow through with.

Little to Anakin's knowing, I lie awake at night sometimes and listen to his startled breath as he jolts awake, panting. I can sense his warmth as he sits in place for a moment - other nights, he ventures to the balcony in search of recollection to return to sleep. He awakens me every time he has a dream, but it is my choice whether to join him on the balcony or to even notify him of my awakening.
Poor Anakin has had a reoccurring dream four nights in a row, one that apparently involves me and our unborn child. He says they are like the dreams he used to have about his mother shortly before she died, and he got his revenge on the Sand People.

Within myself, I know the child and I will be fine during childbirth, but it startles and panics Ani too much. After tomorrow, with his meeting at both the Chancellor's office and the Council, I hope Ani can finally get some sleep without the startling of the same occurring dream.