The Darkness Within
By: Mylinda Antoinette
Summary: What if Anakin had told the Council of his concerns: that he and Padmé were married, that Padmé was pregnant, and he was afraid she would die in childbirth?
Author's note: I love exploring alternative universes, as they ask the question "what if?" These stories, in my opinion, are the most interesting to write, because they allow the author to take creative liberties and weave their own story without having to stay quite as true to the original storyline. I hope you enjoy this story, and let's hope I actually finish it for once. (I'm not going to rewrite the beginning of ROTS, just so you know.)
Also, I'm very excited about this story because it's my first SW story that doesn't feature Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Many thanks to my friend EsmeAmelia for beta-reading for me!
Prologue:
Anakin sat up straight, panting heavily. The moon's soft light fell in folds across the bed, faintly illuminating his face and showing the panic in his eyes.
He had just had that kriffing vision again.
He glanced over the form of his still-sleeping wife, and smiled softly as he saw the way that the moon's illumination made her skin glow silver, looking almost translucent and further perfecting her angelic appearance. His smile only grew as he traced the outline of her figure, noting that her stomach had visibly increased in size.
He was going to be a father…
Suddenly, the vision returned in full force and his smile faded, his face growing pained, anguished.
At length, he rose, knowing that he would not yet be able to go back to sleep. He walked to the kitchen unit, where he got himself a glass of water, gently touching it with the Force to cool it to an acceptable temperature, and then moved to a nearby chair, where he sat facing the window.
He lost track of how long he sat there, meditating on the vision. He was broken from his reverie only by the feeling of a soft, warm hand on his weary shoulder.
"Ani?" her gentle voice said, penetrating his thoughts and causing him to grab her hand and cautiously pull her toward him, wrapping her arms around him. His head rested lightly on her belly, and a moment later he felt his child kick his head, causing Padmé to giggle softly. Her laugh burned through the disturbing fog that had settled around his mind as a result of his vision, and left him with only a firm determination as he rested a hand on his wife's belly, reaching out with the Force and a soft smile to caress his child.
I will not let them die…
All righty then... I hope you enjoyed it, but don't look for all my chapters to be written in quite this style. I do enjoy writing in this style and I think it suits me and I love writing the prologues in this style because I think it does good at capturing reader attention, but unfortunately I can't ever seem to continue it for a whole story! Maybe one of these days I will be able to, but for now, I hope you like the way it turns out! Leave a review on your way out!