Out of Dead Ashes

by TheArgentMoon

Love is a foreign, long-forgotten feeling that died along with Anakin Skywalker. There is neither room nor place for love in Darth Vader, who is set on the course of evil. The peculiar arrival of a young woman, however, challenges his supposed fate and just might rekindle the flames of compassion and warmth in him. But can a fire be relit out of dead ashes?

Seeing as I am obsessed with Star Wars at the moment, I thought it was only fit that I write a fanfic about the franchise's iconic villain.
This freestyle verse is heavily inspired by Bernardine Evaristo's The Emperor's Babe, which if you haven't already read I strongly suggest that you do. It's an amazing novel!
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this. Any comments, constructive criticism or the like would be much appreciated :)

*EDIT: I'm really sorry to those of you who followed this (no hard feelings if you unfollow) or are reading it, but I've actually decided to put this on the back burner. I've honestly lost all inspiration, so for now it'll just be a tentative/experimental one-shot (I may or may not continue this in the future).

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Prologue

Air crackles with electricity
as red plasma slices through

control panels
lining the wall

Sparks fly through air,
landing on pale skin

bared by gaping tears
in a thin robe,

emitting a pained shriek from
the woman sprinting away

in vain

to escape the imposing figure
clad in black,

shiny black, smooth black, matte
black,
the colour of his deadened soul.

Scorched flesh sizzles,
blisters under tight grasp as she

runs on shaky limbs and
breathes with burning lungs

Every inhalation
stokes the inferno stealing

the oxygen from
each of her precious breaths

Every step she wills her legs to take
floods her muscles with lactic acid

She doesn't dare
stop

For to stop
is to surrender

And to surrender
is to spell her impending doom.

Heavy footfalls gain
steadily on metal grating

Deep metallic clunking
reverberates across the corridor,

deep mechanical breathing
resounds to her very core,

urges her forward
and hastens her pace.

Any breath inhaled,
any step taken

could be her
Last

For the power he wields,
bends to his every will,

stops grown men in their tracks,
wrenches off pipes welded to walls,

crushes inches of steel and
throttles until flailing limbs…... still

All with the wave
of a hand.

And sure enough the air around her
ceases to flow for a split second

before she is yanked back
and comes crashing down

before gleaming black boots.
Pulsating plasma coiled tightly

lies so close she can feel
the unbearable heat at her cheek

Beads of perspiration
trickle down delicate skin

Her breathing hitches,
she stills every muscle.

The tension is taut
like a string drawn too far

And she prays that this will end,
that she will be ended

swiftly, painlessly,
without -

"All of this suffering
could have been prevented.

Do not think I carry out this task lightly.
I take no pleasure in seeing to

this ending
of your own creation.

You could have been…"

He stops.

Words lodge in her own throat,
sticking painfully before she swallows them down.

A deep breath,
eyes squeeze shut,

She steels herself for

the end.