b r e a t h e
The night was quiet.
Naboo was peaceful as it typically was, with the evening air full of crisp citrus and the echo of little crickets. There wasn't a cloud in the sky with stars glimmering overhead. It was the kind of peace that usually soothed her when nightmares crept in, resting in her childhood bedroom. She felt safe here. Content. Loved in the presence of parents who had wanted her, cared for her, when no one else in the galaxy seemed to notice an abandoned Hapani child. It should have been another night, like any other.
Only something woke her with a gasp.
For a moment, she didn't understand and could only feel the racing of her heart. Her breathing was short, and something inside her ached. Not the soft, familiar kicks and pulls of the child she carried but a sharp and foreign pain that wasn't her own. It burned through their bond like lightning flowing across still water. She shivered. Brandyn.
Her fingers gripped the sheets. The connection between them had always been gentle, even after his parents had passed away. Even when he had taken revenge for their death. This was suddenly raw and electric, and it flooded her with agony and fear. Cybelle tried to rationalize it with herself, trying to quell her panic. Of course, it couldn't be physical pain. It just couldn't be. But it was deep, wounding, and all too real. "Bran…", the whisper was full of plea, coupled with the whimper of a wounded kitten.
The next wave hit her before she could brace for it. Pain twisted through her abdomen, sharp and unfamiliar, stealing every bit of her breath away. She curled instinctively inward, holding her stomach with varying degrees of panic, worry, surfacing for their baby. For the man she loved more than the air she breathed. The Force around her trembled while it reacted to her distress…She tried to calm herself, to find her center, as Master Aegis had taught her time and time again. 'Breathe'. Find peace…But there was no peace.
Only the echo of his pain.
Tears blurred her vision as she tried to reach Brandyn through the ether, tried to find him in the dark. Nothing answered her but distance.
"Bran, please…"
The pain struck again, sharper now, lower, and more urgent. It faded after several moments…But then the cramping started again. Worse. Realization dawned on her slowly and terribly. 'No…Not now. Please, not now.', she thought to herself, pleading to nothing, while she forced herself upright. Her breathing hitched, and the room started swimming. Something didn't feel right…
Was it supposed to hurt this badly?
"It's all right…", she whispered, though, her sweet voice shook from the bravery she tried to fake. "It's all right…We're going to be all right…"
But she wasn't sure she believed it.
It was only a few moments later that
Gianna Aegis
burst into the room to find Cybelle barely conscious and crying softly about the baby, about Brandyn, delirious, but very obviously going into labor. She didn't respond to commands or instructions but kept trying to refuse them. As if it could somehow stop the process—As if she could wait for her husband.He was supposed to be there.
He was supposed to be there.
"I need Brandyn…I need him. I can't…Go away—I need him…I…"
He was supposed to be there.
He wasn't there.
He was hurting, she couldn't help, and he wasn't there… "Bran…"
"I—"