The Dance of the Heart Broken
ANAKIN'S POV
The radio played softly in the background, it's tune laced with the sorrowful keys of a piano, the words slicing at Anakin's already split heart. Its severed pieces rested within his soul as he stood trembling in the centre of Padme's lavish living room, his quaking arms carrying his two newborn children, Luke in his left while Leia was in his right, both sleeping soundlessly. Tears had gathered within his eyes, desperate to break free, yet he refused to let them fall, not now.
Coruscant was surprisingly quiet, still, unemotional, it's cogs jammed by the discovery of a Sith Lord within its ranks, devouring the entire city with their power. Yet the Sith was dead, a friend he once thought he knew perished by their own monstrous actions, the war losing its life with them. It was a time of celebration, but the ending of the desolation seemed the least important thing at the moment to Anakin...
The birth of his children had seemed to be the brightest moment of his life, yet something had gone horribly wrong. A failing heartbeat. A dissipating vital. The fading breaths. She was falling fast. And then she slipped away. Just like that, Padme, his wife, the love of his life...was gone...he didn't want to think of the horrid word that truly ended it all, because the moment he uttered it, even thought of it, she would truly be gone...stolen from him for all eternity...
The song that played, it had always made Padme cry. The first time she heard it play, she sobbed into his chest, speaking of how beautiful it was, but also how tragic. He had agreed, attempting to sooth her, yet now he understood why. It provoked the the unshed tears to battle against their bonds, longing to fall. He remembered how he had swayed with her as the sorrowful melody continued to resonate from the speakers, trying to dance her into security. She had laughed, smiling through her tears. It had been a happy memory, one that had once filled Anakin with joy; yet now, to reminisce on it was an agony that was so unbearable that he swore he might die, and dying seemed like a relief.
He heard a small, squelched sob from below him and his gaze fell to Leia's sweet, youthful face, his eyes so hazed that he could hardly see. She represented her mother in so many ways that he choked, feeling the venomous snakes of despair slither up his throat, suffocating him from the inside. He squeezed his eyes shut and felt a tear slip loose, splattering down his cheek like the rain that hadn't truly begun to fall. He could feel the music within his soul, assaulting his heart as his spirit bled, a wound that would surely never heal.
Yet he began to sway, just like he had with Padme all that time ago, dancing to its cruel tune, clutching his children close to his shuddering body. And as they began to cry, so did he, his sobs raking his entire being, the tears splashing down with the force of torrents. He was drowning, sinking deeper and deeper below the surface, his heart shattering more and more with each second, as fragile as glass.
Yet he still continued to rock from side to side, his body in sync with the rhythm, his children the only reason that kept him from plummeting down into nothingness. This was why he danced. This wasn't the dance of those who celebrated the end of war, the end of conflict, the end of destruction. This wasn't the dance of laughter, or fun, or the smiles through tears.
This was the dance of the heart broken, and Anakin swayed to it, knowing that it was all that kept him alive, that kept him breathing, that kept him from going down, down, down...
XxX
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HeartElyse
