The Father
Prologue: Insane
There was a place deep inside him where it brewed. It churned and simmered and at certain times, it exploded. When that happened, it was impossible to stop it from engulfing his entire soul. It changed him, morphed him into a mindless creature with barbaric intentions.
It drove him to kill, maim, and destroy. Not even his Jedi training could dim that feeling or force it into submission. Nothing was more powerful than the Dark Side and the more he embraced it, the more he was convinced that it was where he belonged. The teachings of the Jedi were useless when the teachings of the Sith offered so much more.
These were the things he mulled through in his head as he strode across the landing platform to confront 3PO.
"Master Anakin, you must hurry."
Anakin ignored the way his stomach lurched in fear; the Sith had no use for it.
"Let's go, then. Put us on a path for Coruscant." 3PO bowed his head and went about the order. Anakin, meanwhile, walked up to the cot where his wife lay motionless.
As the ship lurched and rose into the atmosphere of Mustafar, Anakin put two fingers to Padme's neck, looking for life that he couldn't feel through the cloudiness of the
Dark Side. Her pulse thrummed, lowly and barely. He breathed a sigh of relief and ran the palm of his left hand down her face.
She groaned, winced and slowly returned to the land of the living.
"Ani."
From within him, Vader sneered at the childhood nickname, but Anakin just smiled down at the woman he loved.
"I'm here." Inwardly, he was hoping that she didn't remember what had occurred only a while before.
"Where's Obi Wan?" Her voice broke through his hope.
With a grimace, he replied,
"Master Kenobi is not going to be leaving this planet for a long time."