Role reverse where a force-sensitive Padmé falls instead of Anakin.

Padmé wakes with a gasp, images of death and destruction still flashing before her eyes.

It takes a moment for her to gather herself, remember that she's safe within her home. Anakin sleeps beside her, and seeing him in comparison with her dreams makes Padmé's skin crawl. She has to get away.

Slowly, as not to wake him, Padmé stumbles from their bedroom and onto the balcony. She wraps a light robe around her shoulders but the shivering doesn't stop.

Never before has she had a dream feel so…real. It pulls on her heart in the way no anxiety has before. Dread crashes over her like violent waves, nausea growing as she watches speeders zip by in Coruscant's night.

"Padmé?"

She startles, then turns to her husband. Anakin's voice is barely audible, sleep still heavy in his throat. His hair is a mess and he squints against the dim porch light, a techno hand rubbing lazily down his bare chest. She tries to find comfort in these small things but her mind won't let go of crazed, yellow eyes.

When she doesn't respond, Anakin comes closer, his expression filled with concern. Padmé lets him wrap his arms around her, his hands warm as they pass through her curls, messy as they are. "Hey, what's wrong?" He speaks in an achingly gentle voice.

She can't bring herself to look at him as she answers. "I had a dream. It's silly to let it affect me but…it felt real, Anakin. Like I was living it. I can still hear you…" Padmé tried to shake his anger out of her mind but it sticks like a parasite.

"Everything I've done was for you!" He tells her as ash and fire burn around them.

She can feel the blood on his hands like they're her own.

A soft kiss to her head has Padmé breaking free of her thoughts again. "It's just a dream. Nothing will hurt you while I'm here."

Any other time, she would've rolled her eyes and pointed out the many times she's protected herself or even saved him. But instead, her chest tightens, that possessiveness making her squirm.

"Let's go back to bed." Anakin offers this time, taking her hand to guide her away from the cold night. She follows despite her fear. She can trust him, she knows she can.

And once they've climbed back into bed, his arms surrounding her as he snores softly, Padmé lets go of the dream. It's nothing more than pre-labor paranoia. Hormones rushing inside her veins, trying to take away the only comfort she has left in this war.

She holds Anakin tightly, like he may slip away if she doesn't.

"Liar!" He screams, the energy around them growing with his power. She tries to deny it -what she's denying, Padmé isn't sure- but an invisible hand wraps around her throat.

It squeezes, making her grab her own neck in desperation, clawing at nothing. Her mouth hangs open, not a single breath able to leave her aching lungs.

She sees those yellow eyes again, burning with hatred like magma in his heart. It consumes her, leaves her afraid.

No, it's so much more than fear. This is betrayal unlike any she's felt before. Tragedy and ruin, all at the feet of the man she once loved.

The hand that used to stroke her bare shoulders, caress her cheek, and pass so lovingly through her hair, now bleeds red with her blood.

"Most concerning, this is." Jedi master Yoda says.

Padmé kneels before him in nothing more than a nightgown. She's left her hair in tangles and her face is bare of makeup. This is no state for a Senator of her value to be seen in, especially not by a Master Jedi, but she can't take it anymore.

The nightmares only get worse with each passing day. Anakin continues to get pulled away by either the Jedi or Chancellor Palpatine; but even in the few moments they get together, her husband still insists her dreams won't come true.

Padmé thinks differently.

"Please, Yoda, tell me what it means!" She begs him, subconsciously holding her very obviously pregnant belly. "Will Anakin fall to the Darkside like I've seen?!"

"Uncertain, it is. A vision, I cannot guarantee you have had. Force-sensitive, you have never been."

Padmé wants to scream. "But I feel this is real! He'll hurt me! Please, you have to believe me!"

She watches the Jedi master shuffle in his chair, his posture closing off from her.

Scowling, Padmé stands. "Fine." She spits, already turning to leave. "He was right about you. All of you! You're arrogant and foolish! The Jedi can't see past themselves!"

Yoda's eyes go wide. "Senator! Trying to help you, I am!"

"No! You're only trying to help yourself! You told Anakin the same thing and now his mother's dead! I never should've trusted you!" She gathers up her skirt and marches out of the room.

Padmé feels hotter with each step, her mind racing with accusations.

The Jedi have always been after their own gain. She knew that even as a young queen. They can't be trusted.

How could Anakin do this?! How can he hurt her, choke her, like she means nothing?! Her own husband will be her executor! He can't be trusted.

If she can't trust anyone else with these visions, she'll prevent them.

Finally, things come together as she sees clouds of smoke billow over the Jedi Temple. It clicks, like a sentence that just refused sound right until she changed a few words. Like a debate that didn't sit well.

Like missing information obtained at last.

He did this. Her Anakin has destroyed his own people. He's destroyed his home and killed those who once looked up to him as an inspiration. The Hero with No Fear.

She goes to the Mustafar system; the place of her death, as foretold by her dreams. She lands her cruiser anywhere available, then waits. Waits as Anakin's own starship touches down not far away. Waits for him to climb out and run to her.

When Padmé meets him on the smoldering surface, her heart is already broken into pieces. Even his relieved smile can't distract her.

"Padmé!" He calls, his arms open in an expected hug. She allows the contact but doesn't return it. "Padmé, I was so worried! I didn't know where you'd gone! Threepio said you went to Mustafar looking for me and I-"

She can't take it. Padmé pulls away roughly, her lips turned down into a deep scowl. "I already know what you've done. You can't hide it from me."

He stops, his smile fading as he stares at her. "What I've done? What are you talking about?"

"The Jedi!" She shouts, her voice rough and cracking as she begins to pace. "You killed them, I know you did! You can't hide it!"

His eyes widen, red fire reflecting against blue irises. He stumbles back a step, weak and pathetic. "Padmé, it wasn't me! The clones attacked out of nowhere! They shot down the younglings-" his voice shakes, his desperation bleeding into sorrow.

"Liar!" She screams. She can't think, can't feel beyond the painful heat in her chest. The fire that runs through her veins. "You can't lie to me! I know you joined the Sith!"

"I would never join Sidious! I refused! He promised me power and I ran! Master Windu-"

She can't think anymore. Padmé reaches out with one hand, her fingers curling in as if she were squeezing his neck. Anakin freezes, his mouth open as he gasps.

"You're going to kill me." Padmé seethes, taking a step closer. Anakin tries to deny it, to shake his head against the pressure on his throat, but it only makes her grip tighten. "I won't let you. Not after everything I've done for this Republic. For our child. I won't let you kill me." She whispers to him, his face only inches away from her now.

She watches him struggle for a moment longer, his eyes brimming with tears and his lips turning blue. "You should've listened, Ani." She tells him, giving him one last kiss before she ends it with a snap.

He falls to the ground in a heap, tears rolling down his pain-frozen face. Padmé steps away from the body, left with nothing but cold where she once burned.

Now, to rebuild her Republic.