Eclipse

Chapter 27- When He Cries He Smiles

Angelic screaming filled his exploding eardrums.

"Anakin! Anakin! Help me, please!" Why was it said so desperately on the angels lips? Why couldn't he see her and rectify her pain? He didn't want to hear the angel cry.

He ran. But how was he running? He couldn't feel his legs move- he couldn't even feel his legs beneath him. All he could see was a perceptual blackness that seemed to echo the despairing angels cries like a blasters ricochet. He couldn't see her, but he could feel her agony as plainly as if it were his own. It was his own. The force pushed him further into the darkness, and shoved him in the direction of his sobbing angel.

Something here told him however, that he should be running from something and not for someone. While she was important to, he felt as though something was lurking on his heels. It chased him relentlessly, tearing through long corridors in the void. How was it that he dashed across air but could hear the thumping of boots? Something was solid beneath him and he wondered what it was for a fleeting moment...

Until they returned.

The cries of the unfortunate. The sound of a lightsaber whispered into his ears, reminding him of things he did and have yet to do.

Suddenly, he was running from much more than a shadow.

Anakin.

That voice. It was from a demon.

Your time is limited.

He ran faster

That's it. Run. Run! You can't save them now Jedi...

The snakes words crashed down on him like waves of a turbulent storm. He could almost feel it's venomous bite, tearing into his flesh and letting the blood of an open wound pour.

Then a scarlet wave chased the shadow. The screaming and the shadows cackling merged into a horrible cacophony with the angel's screaming as he kept running, faster and faster until his heart felt like it would implode. They followed him, they wanted something from him.

So he ran.

From the bloodshed- the hideous waves of scarlet.

From his insidious master- the maniac laughing above his head.

Running from the politics, from the children's sobs...

Running to her as fast as he possibly could. She would keep him safe. Safe in her warm embrace, delivering him to salvation as her fingers traced his jaw and her eyes touched his, where she'd whisper, It's okay. You don't have to run anymore.

Thank you, or force thank you angel!

Then he made a mistake. He paused.

He stopped to thank her. For all she did for him, for holding him after a nightmare and chasing his tears away from his handsome face with the tenderness of a mother's all-encompassing love. For marrying him on Naboo and starting the happiest years of his young life... For everything.

For ending his suffering. He paused serenely in the middle of the evil blackness, shut his eyes, and waited for the scarlet wave to come crashing down on him...

Now he stood outside a sliding glass door. The hall he stood in was a stark white- a painful swap of lighting- and there was an obnoxious ringing in his ears as if he were only semi-conscious. Everything was tainted in an ominous crimson haze, but he didn't care because he finally saw her. Surrounded by machines and screaming in severe pain. He was about to rush in and demand what had the angel so distraught when suddenly, she wasn't alone.