Chapter 25- Dark Skies

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Trigger warning: talk of the miscarriage and grief caused by it.
Written by Sam
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Padmé was exhausted, she could barely move, and was in constant pain. She refused to talk to anyone aside from Anakin, shutting out the worlds around her. Anakin wasn't allowed that luxury, he was still a war general and a Jedi Knight, which meant he had responsibilities.

The couple had been together for half the day, it was getting towards sunset on Naboo, when Obi-Wan and the rest of his men were due to arrive. Anakin knew he had to tell Obi-Wan, but, saying it would make it real, make it hurt. Turning to his love, he lay down in the bed, pulling her into his embrace; the comfort of eachother led them to both start crying again, not stopping until long after Padmé had fallen asleep again. Anakin wiped his eyes with his gloved hand, his real one on Padmé's shoulder, and checked the time.

Obi-Wan arrived at the palace just after sundown, he could feel the negative force energies swarming the building, which could mean nothing good. He looked for Anakin's force signature, and through their shared bond, but was met with nothing. The sensation was akin to running blindly into a brick wall, painful and sudden, furthering the idea that something terrible had happened. He made his way to the hospital section, planning to ask Ahsoka if she had seen her master, but instead saw the man coming towards him.

He was a wreck, his eyes puffy and red, his face stained by tears, his fists clenched. Anakin was barely keeping himself together as he walked towards Obi-Wan. When the two reached one another, it took all his strength to not break down right there.

"Anakin, what's wrong? What's happened?"

His vain attempt to answer came out as nothing more than choked sobs, the younger man falling to his knees. He had been the one to keep his guard up talking to the doctors, he was so tired of pretending he was okay. The tears wouldn't stop, and he couldn't find it within himself to move.

Obi-Wan, upon seeing this from his brother, he jumped down to embrace him. Whatever it was, it was bad, very bad. He heard Anakin's cries fade into a silent stream of tears, reminding him of some of the boys worst days. When raising his padawan, he learnt something about children: when they cry loudly they want comfort and attention, when they cry silently, it's because they simply can't stop. Obi-Wan prayed to the force that his former padawan would be able to get through his current pain.

It took about fifteen minutes for Anakin to regain enough composure to talk. He stood slowly on shaky legs, falling into Obi-Wan's arms for support. Once balanced, he looked at his master and took a long breath. This was it, this was the moment it became his reality.

"It's Padmé master," his voice a hoarse, painful whisper.

"Is she-?" Obi-Wan immediately assumed the worst, given the nature of their earlier rescue mission.

"No, she- " another cry broke through his words, "she was pregnant Obi-Wan. She, she lost the baby. That wave in the force, the one I felt before I left... That, I felt my baby die Obi-Wan. I... I... I lost my child, I nearly lost my wife as well! All because of that sick bastard and his vile weapons!"

Anakin was hysterical now, it was clear that he had been trying to hold himself together for most of the day. His mental shields were quickly fading, his grief slamming into Obi-Wan's mind, causing the elder to start crying - at least harder than he previously was. He was sure that the boy's pain could be felt all the way back on Coruscant.

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Ahsoka was lying in her bed, chatting to Rex. Neither of them could say much due to the after effects of their illness. She was listening to Rex tell her a story of Fives in a bar, when she froze. A millisecond later, and she was crying her heart out. The young togruta cried harder than ever before, worrying those around her.

"Ahsoka! What, what is it? What's wrong?"

Rex's voice cut through the waves of pain and anguish in the force, calming the girl enough to speak. Once she wiped her eyes, she looked at the empty spot next to her where Padmé had been lying this morning.

"I know what happened to Padmé... Anakin, his, um, have I told you about mental shields?"

The clone captain nodded to confirm.

"Okay, well, he has had his shields up all day, as soon as he arrived. I didn't notice fully because I'm feeling rough, but, um, they just crumbled. All his pain, all his emotions, everything... I can feel it all. And I've never felt this before, it scares me Rex. Really scares me. I've never seen him in his entirety, all the time I've been his padawan, he's kept some stuff from me. Just because he has to look out for me you know? But this, it's, cold, and dark, and it hurts so much."

After finishing her explanation, she began to cry again. Looking out to the night skies above, a vast darkness looking back, the child feared for her master. Could he recover from this, could anybody?

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So, please tell me what you think, and vote if you liked the chapter. I know it's a bit short, but yh. Also, I'm going to remove the updates, at some point, idk when. Hope you all have a good day, I've not lol... Nightmares inside my depression nap, not cool y'all... But yh enough about me, hope you're all good. Remember, drink something and eat something today! Love you all x

- Sam xx

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