The Nightmares of the Future, Star Wars EU, Anakin Solo, Jacen Solo, Jaina Solo, Rated PG
Title: The Nightmares of the Future
Author: ring34_ani
Fandom: Star Wars EU
Characters: Anakin Solo, Jacen Solo, Jaina Solo
Rating: Rated PG
Word Count: about 1589
Disclaimers: This is fanfiction; I do not own the characters mentioned in this story and do not profit from them.
Summary: Anakin Solo has frightening dreams of the future.
Notes: This story is for lyraeinne who requested something about the Solo kids.
The Nightmares of the Future
Anakin Solo slowly padded down the hallway, clad only in a pair of faded black sleeping shorts, his bare feet making only a whisper of sound on the gleaming floor. He felt too hot though he knew the temperature to be kept at a steady coolness. He gently and carefully used the Force to ascertain the whereabouts of the rest of his family.
His parents were…occupied. Jaina was sleeping. Jacen…drowsing, maybe reading or watching a holovid. The droids he wasn’t sure about, he couldn’t hear them anywhere. R2 was rarely still, even when everyone else rested, and could be anywhere. 3PO could be unexpectedly quiet too at times and it wouldn’t be surprising to find him standing around a corner. But maybe they wouldn’t find him awake. He wasn’t in the mood for company, not even theirs.
Going into the kitchen he made himself a cold drink. He was surprised to see his hands were still trembling. But then his heart was still pounding along at a quicker pace than usual too. He took deep calming breaths, thinking of the countless meditation techniques Luke had taught him over the years.
The dream had been so much more vivid this time. So much color, so much…cries of pain, the snap of a broken bone, the certain sound a lightsaber made on flesh…no, he wouldn’t let it best him this time. It was just a dream. Whether it foretold of a horrifying future event or not was almost beside the point. For the present it was not real and he could not let it cloud his mind and wreck havoc with his body.
Carrying his drink carefully, he made his way through the darkness of the living room to the largest window, settling himself on the cushioned seats under it. He wriggled back into the corner. Maybe no one would notice him here for a while. He’d left his room dark and the door closed. Leia was known to still check on her sleeping children now and again but maybe she wouldn’t tonight.
As he gazed out at the vast cityscape, the traffic still buzzing along steadily, lights in the buildings winking like stars. It was a familiar sight, a comforting sight. Things were still okay, things were still normal…if that word could even be applied when speaking of the Solo family.
He sipped his drink slowly, letting the liquid trace a cool path down his dry throat. He’d been sick after this dream and had clung for quite a while to the shiny white tiles in the fresher with his eyes tightly closed and his stomach doing somersaults that would rival any gymnast’s.
It was just a dream…
Yes, just a dream but one that he’d had half a dozen times now. And though he’d never thought of himself as prophetic, and certainly had never wanted the rare but not unheard of Jedi trait, the dreams smacked of a future occurrence.
I cannot let it happen. I must prevent it somehow.
He turned his head slowly, hearing movement. His father, not much more than a lean shadow, walked through the room and into the kitchen. He was whistling softly under his breath and Anakin smiled at the sound. He kept very still until Han passed back through, a platter of food and two drinks balanced precariously in his hands.
Always before in his young life Anakin had craved adventure, to always be doing something. Recently he had found himself appreciating the quiet times, the times like tonight, when they were all under one roof, safe and unharmed. He meant to see that things stayed that way, that they stayed a family. Because family didn’t hurt one another. Family protected each other. Even Darth Vader had protected Luke from the Emperor, in the end, when all seemed lost.
He closed his eyes again, leaned his forehead against the window. His body was cooling off fast now and he shivered and crossed one arm over his bare chest.
Lightsabers flashed in an eerie glow. The dark figures danced around each other, scorching, bleeding…an abomination, something that should not, could not be.
“Jaina…no…you mustn’t…”
“Anakin?”
Anakin’s eyes flew open and he turned his head to see his older brother standing just a meter away, peering down at him with dark worried eyes.
“Anakin, what are you doing sitting there like that? Are you sick?”
Jacen reached out a hand and laid it on his brother’s arm.
“You’re shaking…I’ll get Mom and Dad…”
“No! No…Jacen. It’s nothing. I just…I just had a weird dream that’s all and I came in here…and…I guess I was falling back asleep. I’m not sick, really. Don’t bother Mom and Dad.”
Jacen stared at him, frowning. Anakin forced a calmness over himself that he didn’t really feel, not deep down. Jacen…agonizing pain…arm severing beneath the violet hued saber…
“Here…sit with me for a while, Jacen.”
“Maybe you should go back to bed.”
“No…not yet. Look at all the lights, Jacen. Doesn’t there seem to be more than when we last looked?”
Jacen looked doubtfully at the other boy, but then shrugged and sat cross-legged at his brother’s feet on the long seat. Anakin held his hand out and after a moment’s hesitation Jacen clasped it with his own.
“What kind of dream?”
Anakin met his eyes and then quickly lowered them, but not before Jacen saw…something…he wasn’t sure what, but something that did not belong in his younger brother’s eyes.
“Anakin?”
“Just a stupid, crazy dream that’s all.”
“What was it about?”
“I…don’t really remember anymore…it was just weird, that’s all.”
But Anakin still held tightly onto Jacen’s hand, not quite ready to let go. He’d never be ready to let go, not really. Jacen’s thumb rubbed a circle on the back of his hand, soothing, comforting, and the lights twinkled across his familiar face.
“Do you want me to stay with you tonight, Anakin? So you can sleep?”
“I’m not a baby.”
“Didn’t say you were. Besides, if you were a baby I wouldn’t want to stay with you. I’d call 3PO to come take care of you.”
Anakin snorted but a reluctant smile lit his face briefly.
“Maybe. Maybe you can stay. Like you used to. Just this once.”
“Stay where?”
Both boys jumped as Jaina seemed to materialize out of thin air, hands on hips, and eyes blinking sleepily at them.
“Jaina!”
Jacen had snatched his hand away from Anakin’s and half raised from his seat.
“What? Why are you two back up? You know we have to leave early in the morning and here you two are, conspiring something. I ought to get Dad.”
Jacen plopped back down and rolled his eyes.
“Go ahead tattletale. But you just keep in mind that you’re up too.”
Jaina crossed her arms, dark eyes watching him suspiciously.
“What are you two talking about anyway?”
The brothers’ eyes met for just a split second before Jacen gave his twin sister a lazy smile.
“Don’t you wish you knew.”
“I’ll find out. Probably nothing to it. That stupid girl you were both drooling at when we went to dinner.”
Then Jaina’s eyes fastened on Anakin and she frowned again.
“What’s the matter with you? You’re all pale and funny-looking.”
“Nothing Jaina. I just couldn’t sleep. Maybe I ate too much at dinner.”
“I’ll say you did. It’s a wonder we didn’t have to roll you out of the restaurant.”
Jaina’s cheek gushed blood as it was laid open to the bone by the pommel of a glowing crimson blade.
“Yeah…yeah, I guess so.”
Jacen stood up suddenly and stretched his arms up high, yawning. He reached for Anakin’s glass and set it on a nearby table for 3PO to fuss about when he came across it in the morning.
“I say we all go back to bed.”
Jaina nodded her agreement and turned to go back to her room, Jacen following behind.
“Hey…”
Jacen and Jaina stopped to look back at Anakin, who still stood uncertainly by the window, his body outlined by the light but his face in shadow.
“We’ll always be like this, right?”
“Like what, Anakin?”
“Together. Like we are now.”
Jaina tilted her head to the side.
“Sure, Anakin. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Oh, I don’t know…things happen sometimes.”
Jacen sighed and walked back to the younger boy and linked their arms together.
“I got him, Jaina. You go on to bed.”
She nodded and stumbled sleepily down the hallway.
“Come on, Anakin.”
They navigated around the furniture in the darkened room and back down the hall to Anakin’s room. Jacen shoved him in, following and sliding the door shut, the only light thin slivers between the window coverings.
“You don’t really have to stay, Jacen.”
“Well, I won’t be able to sleep if I can’t be sure you’re not running around the apartment again.”
They climbed into the narrow bed, wriggling until they both fit comfortably.
“Was it true, Jacen?”
“Was what true?”
“That we’ll always be together.”
Jacen jabbed an elbow into Anakin’s side.
“Well, we can’t always be this close. But if you’re asking will we always be there for each other, then yes.”
“I’ll make sure of it, Jacen.”
“You do that. Now go to sleep.”
Jacen’s breathing quickly slowed and deepened as he fell asleep. But the scant light in the room glinted on Anakin’s pale eyes as scenes of nightmarish visions flickered through his mind until finally he fell into an exhausted and dreamless sleep.
Author: ring34_ani
Fandom: Star Wars EU
Characters: Anakin Solo, Jacen Solo, Jaina Solo
Rating: Rated PG
Word Count: about 1589
Disclaimers: This is fanfiction; I do not own the characters mentioned in this story and do not profit from them.
Summary: Anakin Solo has frightening dreams of the future.
Notes: This story is for lyraeinne who requested something about the Solo kids.
The Nightmares of the Future
Anakin Solo slowly padded down the hallway, clad only in a pair of faded black sleeping shorts, his bare feet making only a whisper of sound on the gleaming floor. He felt too hot though he knew the temperature to be kept at a steady coolness. He gently and carefully used the Force to ascertain the whereabouts of the rest of his family.
His parents were…occupied. Jaina was sleeping. Jacen…drowsing, maybe reading or watching a holovid. The droids he wasn’t sure about, he couldn’t hear them anywhere. R2 was rarely still, even when everyone else rested, and could be anywhere. 3PO could be unexpectedly quiet too at times and it wouldn’t be surprising to find him standing around a corner. But maybe they wouldn’t find him awake. He wasn’t in the mood for company, not even theirs.
Going into the kitchen he made himself a cold drink. He was surprised to see his hands were still trembling. But then his heart was still pounding along at a quicker pace than usual too. He took deep calming breaths, thinking of the countless meditation techniques Luke had taught him over the years.
The dream had been so much more vivid this time. So much color, so much…cries of pain, the snap of a broken bone, the certain sound a lightsaber made on flesh…no, he wouldn’t let it best him this time. It was just a dream. Whether it foretold of a horrifying future event or not was almost beside the point. For the present it was not real and he could not let it cloud his mind and wreck havoc with his body.
Carrying his drink carefully, he made his way through the darkness of the living room to the largest window, settling himself on the cushioned seats under it. He wriggled back into the corner. Maybe no one would notice him here for a while. He’d left his room dark and the door closed. Leia was known to still check on her sleeping children now and again but maybe she wouldn’t tonight.
As he gazed out at the vast cityscape, the traffic still buzzing along steadily, lights in the buildings winking like stars. It was a familiar sight, a comforting sight. Things were still okay, things were still normal…if that word could even be applied when speaking of the Solo family.
He sipped his drink slowly, letting the liquid trace a cool path down his dry throat. He’d been sick after this dream and had clung for quite a while to the shiny white tiles in the fresher with his eyes tightly closed and his stomach doing somersaults that would rival any gymnast’s.
It was just a dream…
Yes, just a dream but one that he’d had half a dozen times now. And though he’d never thought of himself as prophetic, and certainly had never wanted the rare but not unheard of Jedi trait, the dreams smacked of a future occurrence.
I cannot let it happen. I must prevent it somehow.
He turned his head slowly, hearing movement. His father, not much more than a lean shadow, walked through the room and into the kitchen. He was whistling softly under his breath and Anakin smiled at the sound. He kept very still until Han passed back through, a platter of food and two drinks balanced precariously in his hands.
Always before in his young life Anakin had craved adventure, to always be doing something. Recently he had found himself appreciating the quiet times, the times like tonight, when they were all under one roof, safe and unharmed. He meant to see that things stayed that way, that they stayed a family. Because family didn’t hurt one another. Family protected each other. Even Darth Vader had protected Luke from the Emperor, in the end, when all seemed lost.
He closed his eyes again, leaned his forehead against the window. His body was cooling off fast now and he shivered and crossed one arm over his bare chest.
Lightsabers flashed in an eerie glow. The dark figures danced around each other, scorching, bleeding…an abomination, something that should not, could not be.
“Jaina…no…you mustn’t…”
“Anakin?”
Anakin’s eyes flew open and he turned his head to see his older brother standing just a meter away, peering down at him with dark worried eyes.
“Anakin, what are you doing sitting there like that? Are you sick?”
Jacen reached out a hand and laid it on his brother’s arm.
“You’re shaking…I’ll get Mom and Dad…”
“No! No…Jacen. It’s nothing. I just…I just had a weird dream that’s all and I came in here…and…I guess I was falling back asleep. I’m not sick, really. Don’t bother Mom and Dad.”
Jacen stared at him, frowning. Anakin forced a calmness over himself that he didn’t really feel, not deep down. Jacen…agonizing pain…arm severing beneath the violet hued saber…
“Here…sit with me for a while, Jacen.”
“Maybe you should go back to bed.”
“No…not yet. Look at all the lights, Jacen. Doesn’t there seem to be more than when we last looked?”
Jacen looked doubtfully at the other boy, but then shrugged and sat cross-legged at his brother’s feet on the long seat. Anakin held his hand out and after a moment’s hesitation Jacen clasped it with his own.
“What kind of dream?”
Anakin met his eyes and then quickly lowered them, but not before Jacen saw…something…he wasn’t sure what, but something that did not belong in his younger brother’s eyes.
“Anakin?”
“Just a stupid, crazy dream that’s all.”
“What was it about?”
“I…don’t really remember anymore…it was just weird, that’s all.”
But Anakin still held tightly onto Jacen’s hand, not quite ready to let go. He’d never be ready to let go, not really. Jacen’s thumb rubbed a circle on the back of his hand, soothing, comforting, and the lights twinkled across his familiar face.
“Do you want me to stay with you tonight, Anakin? So you can sleep?”
“I’m not a baby.”
“Didn’t say you were. Besides, if you were a baby I wouldn’t want to stay with you. I’d call 3PO to come take care of you.”
Anakin snorted but a reluctant smile lit his face briefly.
“Maybe. Maybe you can stay. Like you used to. Just this once.”
“Stay where?”
Both boys jumped as Jaina seemed to materialize out of thin air, hands on hips, and eyes blinking sleepily at them.
“Jaina!”
Jacen had snatched his hand away from Anakin’s and half raised from his seat.
“What? Why are you two back up? You know we have to leave early in the morning and here you two are, conspiring something. I ought to get Dad.”
Jacen plopped back down and rolled his eyes.
“Go ahead tattletale. But you just keep in mind that you’re up too.”
Jaina crossed her arms, dark eyes watching him suspiciously.
“What are you two talking about anyway?”
The brothers’ eyes met for just a split second before Jacen gave his twin sister a lazy smile.
“Don’t you wish you knew.”
“I’ll find out. Probably nothing to it. That stupid girl you were both drooling at when we went to dinner.”
Then Jaina’s eyes fastened on Anakin and she frowned again.
“What’s the matter with you? You’re all pale and funny-looking.”
“Nothing Jaina. I just couldn’t sleep. Maybe I ate too much at dinner.”
“I’ll say you did. It’s a wonder we didn’t have to roll you out of the restaurant.”
Jaina’s cheek gushed blood as it was laid open to the bone by the pommel of a glowing crimson blade.
“Yeah…yeah, I guess so.”
Jacen stood up suddenly and stretched his arms up high, yawning. He reached for Anakin’s glass and set it on a nearby table for 3PO to fuss about when he came across it in the morning.
“I say we all go back to bed.”
Jaina nodded her agreement and turned to go back to her room, Jacen following behind.
“Hey…”
Jacen and Jaina stopped to look back at Anakin, who still stood uncertainly by the window, his body outlined by the light but his face in shadow.
“We’ll always be like this, right?”
“Like what, Anakin?”
“Together. Like we are now.”
Jaina tilted her head to the side.
“Sure, Anakin. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Oh, I don’t know…things happen sometimes.”
Jacen sighed and walked back to the younger boy and linked their arms together.
“I got him, Jaina. You go on to bed.”
She nodded and stumbled sleepily down the hallway.
“Come on, Anakin.”
They navigated around the furniture in the darkened room and back down the hall to Anakin’s room. Jacen shoved him in, following and sliding the door shut, the only light thin slivers between the window coverings.
“You don’t really have to stay, Jacen.”
“Well, I won’t be able to sleep if I can’t be sure you’re not running around the apartment again.”
They climbed into the narrow bed, wriggling until they both fit comfortably.
“Was it true, Jacen?”
“Was what true?”
“That we’ll always be together.”
Jacen jabbed an elbow into Anakin’s side.
“Well, we can’t always be this close. But if you’re asking will we always be there for each other, then yes.”
“I’ll make sure of it, Jacen.”
“You do that. Now go to sleep.”
Jacen’s breathing quickly slowed and deepened as he fell asleep. But the scant light in the room glinted on Anakin’s pale eyes as scenes of nightmarish visions flickered through his mind until finally he fell into an exhausted and dreamless sleep.