OMFG! Anakin might do ~something~ *pearl clutch* (darkforcerising) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-07-09 20:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | anakin skywalker, padme amidala |
Who: Anakin and Padme
What: Anakin felt that earthquake (back in April) coming and had to warn Padme
When: Backdated to that earthquake plot in April
Where: Padme’s parent’s house
Rating/Warnings: Low – some swearing
Status: Complete
Anakin couldn’t shake the feeling dread that had been since he woke up this very morning. He’d tried to pass it off as the collective state of mind he was reading from all the doomsday chanters that were on every corner of the city. But he couldn’t fool himself for long.
And he should really know by now when the strange ratcheted up, things were about to shitfaced.
And once he accepted the truth of this premonition, his thoughts turned first to Padmé.
Well, he also thought about Majy, but Majy was safely locked inside his apartment and what could go wrong there?
He’d been to Padmé’s parents’ house – mansion, really – once before: their first meeting at the Wounded Warriors’ Ball. So he knew what to expect by its size. But now that he was here, it dawned on him that this might be the wrong way to and that maybe calling first would have been better. Because how did he explain how he knew to come here?
But he was both easily distracted from the proper order of things and singularly driven when he was emotionally rushed.
And that feeling of dread was only getting worse.
He knocked on the door and hoped his presence didn’t make things worse.
***
Dinner was boring, but what did Padmé expect? They sat around, said their pleasantries, talked about superficial things while Padme tried not to be bored to death.
Actually -- if she was honest, it WAS one of the more pleasant dinners she recalled. No one was overly antagonistic, and she did have fun with her sister. Maybe it was those lingering dream feelings, of having an actual loving and caring family, but it made Padme want to like hers more.
When dinner was over, she almost wanted to stay, until Maria came to the dinner table to inform Miss Padme that there was a young man at the door asking for her. A pin drop could have been heard over the sudden quiet. Padme couldnt remember the last time someone came to her parents' house for her, let alone a man.
Excusing herself, she followed the housekeeper into one of the front parlour rooms, where she was surprised to see Anakin.
A broad smile crossed her face as she entered the room. "Anakin! What are you doing here? Did I miss a phone call?" her phone was in her purse, which was with her jacket. A requirement of dinner meant no phones.
***
"I-"
He looked sheepish as he ran his fingers through his hair. Sheepish and worried and boy did he feel like something bad was going to happen.
"Okay," he said trying to keep his voice low. "I know it's really weird that I showed up here. I can explain how I knew you were here. But I there's something more important- something's going to happen. I don't know what- I- I know that sounds suspiciously vague. But it's a thing, in our..." he lowered his voice more, "in our universe. I get premonitions. And I think I'm having one of those. I think all those people chanting about the end being near are right."
***
Padmé listened to Anakin with an impassive look on her face while she processed the information. It wouldn't do to show how worried she was by his words, or the fact that her family would never believe these words.
"Do you know how or exactly what to expect? Or is it just a feeling that something is going to happen?" She wasn't overly concerned about the mansion itself -- it was fairly reinforced, and her father had installed a safe room years before. But her sister would be heading out after dinner, and it would be hard to convince her not to.
She lowered her voice as well. "Will this affect my family or just ... OC type people."
***
Anakin realized he didn’t know the answer to Padmé’s questions, which left him feeling a bit perturbed. The Force needed to be more specific, please.
“I don’t know,” he shook his head. And he was going to say more when he started feeling it. He paused, his focus dropping from Padmé and it seemed as if he was listening to something.
Low at first, the vibrations could be shrugged off as a plane passing by overhead. They could be if the vibration stopped after a few seconds, but after those few seconds, it was clear they weren’t stopping. But getting more intense.
And just as this realization set in, the Earth accentuated the vibrations with a loud, violent clap, similar to thunder, but strong enough to shake the ground and everything on it. The vibrations after that only continued to increase in magnitude
He reached for Padmé’s hand and pulled her towards a table in the room. Even fortified buildings shed facades and things hanging on the walls or from the ceiling.
“I think this is it,” he shouted above the noise.
***
Padmé clutched onto Anakin's hand and ducked down, covering her own head with her hand. The table was a fairly solid..at least Padmé hoped it was. Sitting as closely as she could to Anakin, she looked around the room, worried about so many things. The house, well, the house would stay standing, there was insurance for that kind of thing anyways, but her parents ...the staff .. even Jane back at her work ... all of that, she worried about.
Closing her eyes tightly, she put her forehead on Anakin's shoulder, instead trying to draw some strength from him. He always seemed so calm and collected, and right now, that's what she needed while she waited out the rumbling.
***
Earthquakes made eternities out of a handful of seconds. A minute may have been all that had passed, but when each second is filled with fear and dread about what would happen next, time was felt in its excruciating exactness. But he resolved to ignore that fear for that second, and then the next, and the next, he just kept pushing it off.
Anakin pulled Padmé close to him with one arm, and, even though they were under a table, he still held his metal arm above them in case… Well, he made sure to be ready with every bit of strength he could pull from the Force if they needed it.
The house shook, its joints adding their own terrifying screeches to roar of the earth moving under them. Things were tipping over or falling off shelves and walls around them.
But at some point all the motion and commotion around them started to abate.
The ground still moved, but the rumble was so diminished Anakin felt certain the earthquake was going to stop.
“Okay- okay,” his voice might be a bit shaky. “I think it’s stopping.”
***
Was it? Padmé opened her eyes slowly, and looked around the room. Dusty, which was to be expected but it looked like things had...roughly survived. Without thinking, she reached down for Anakin's hand and squeezed it tightly. She didn't trust herself to speak yet and she waited a few more moments to make sure Anakin was right -- it had stopped.
"Will there be more? Can you tell?" She looked up at him, and swallowed thickly. It was cramped under the table but she didn't have the guts to move yet.
Listening, she tried to see if she heard any screaming or anything. So far so good. That had to mean her family had managed to be safe right?
***
“Usually major earthquakes have aftershocks,” Anakin said, but he was quick to add, “They aren’t as powerful. I think we should be okay.”
He was extending his Force senses as far as they would go and he really couldn’t tell much more than feeling the earth settle into a new shape.
He squeezed Padme’s hand, focusing more on her. “Are you okay?”
***
She nodded, peeking out from the table. Now that things had settled a bit, she could hear the sounds around her again.
And she heard her name.
"Over here!"
Her father rushed into the room, an expression of terror on his face that Padme found strange. She'd never seen her father act like this, and here he was, worried. Over her. Odd.
"Padmé!"
She let go of Anakin's hand and walked up to her dad, giving him a hug. "I'm okay. Are you guys? Anakin pulled me under a table right away, we managed to ride it out." She looked down at where Anakin was and motioned for him to come out. "Dad, sorry -- my manners. This is Anakin. He's a friend of mine. We were chatting here when this happened."
Rudy Naberrie looked over at Anakin, an unimpressed look on his face erasing the one full of emotions. He was hardly a man to share anything, and to have some unknown boy see it made him very uncomfortable. Gently pushing Padme away, he gave a stiff nod. "Hello."
***
Anakin had pulled himself out from under the table when Padmé did.
He gave the man a half smile and said, “Hello,” back, but didn’t extend out his hand for the man to shake. He didn’t feel like testing this man’s courtesy towards amputees when he wasn’t hosting charity balls. Not after dealing with the earthquake.
“I think this one was worse than the one in Ninty-one. Is everyone alright?”
***
"Yes." Rudy noted the lack of handshake briefly while he tried to place the younger man. He looked familiar, and the name ...
His eyes widened slightly.
"Oh, you're Anakin Skywalker. Palpatine has spoken of you before." Snippets of conversation were coming to Rudy's memory. "And yes, everyone is fine, thank you for asking. Sola and your mother are in the garden, recovering. We will of course be speaking to our insurance immediately."
Padme almost rolled her eyes. Of course her father was already thinking of the logistics of repairing. There would be no more conversation about feelings and emotions, which was fine.
"Good, I'm glad," she responded before turning to Anakin. She didn't have really any desire to check on them, considering her father said everyone was fine. "Can we go now? Is it safe? Or do you think there might be aftershocks?"
***
Anakin struggled with what to answer, feeling like this wasn't his place with each passing second. "Um. There's... always aftershocks."
But as he thought about it, when he focused one the Force, he wasn't sure if there would be now. There wasn't that urgency anymore. It was confusing.
"But... they would be less powerful if there are any."
***
Padme nodded at Anakin's words. It made sense to ask him, but Rudy hadn't missed the strange connection between the two. Normally, Padme kept herself somewhat aloof from others, a trait that both he and his wife had encouraged.
To see her be so familiar with someone was different. He wasn't sure how he felt.
"We should go then," Padme said finally, breaking the silence that had slowly fallen in the room. She could cut the awkwardness with a knife, and had no real desire to stay around longer than she should. "Can you let Mom know I'm okay? I want to check on my office."
Rudy nodded slowly. "Of course."
Neither moved to hug the other.
"I drove, so let's hope my car is still standing," Padme said to Anakin. She hoped he didn't ask to meet the rest of her family.