Darth Vader

After that one time where Anakin had managed to regain control for a moment Darth Vader indeed grew a lot more suspicious again. But the boy hadn't tried anything else. In fact, he had quickly returned to his catatonic self after Vader had taunted him a few more times with the fact that Padmé was dead and if he kept acting up the girl would be soon too. Who could do anything against one of those famous outbursts of anger Vader was known for after all? A pity if it would hit the one girl looking like Padmé Amidala.

After that Anakin had retreated far back into his own mind again, barely noticeable, the way Vader preferred it. For while taunting the boy, making him rage and snap at him like a kicked dog, had been a lot of fun at first it had slowly grown boring, especially once Anakin had stopped responding as heatedly and grown more quiet. But well, it had been more than fifteen years by now after all.

By now Vader was mostly busy with his life as it was, for the emperor was keeping him on a tight leash and the body he was occupying had been horribly malformed. Badly crafted prostheses and constant pain were keeping him angry and weak, which was so different from what this body had once been that it was more than infuriating. He was already working on a plan to kill his master though, even though the contract he was under was very strict and finding loopholes wasn't exactly easy.

xxx

Which was why he was rather glad for what people thought of as his meditation. Entering his meditation chamber he could let go of the control over his body for a moment, leaving the boy alone with it and the pain, closing his mind off completely for a while, immersing himself in the dark side of the Force... And the boy couldn't escape as the only way to open up the hermetically sealed room was a password only Vader himself knew, guarded strongly to never shine through to the boy, so those were the only moments when he could relax and actually take his time to plot against the emperor in peace.

Which was what he was doing one day about half a year after Anakin's last protest, thinking about a better way to keep his master's spies out of his plans besides constantly killing them off in his usual hateful lash outs, knowing that Anakin wouldn't even bother to take control over the body anymore for it was completely impossible to escape.

He took his time for his thoughts - enjoying the pain-free hours filled with nothing more but the darkness he had long grown to love in a way an assassin loved his favourite weapon - before finally returning, knowing that it was time to make an appearance again to stop people from growing suspicious.

As such he returned to the body, ignoring the flash of pain he began to feel as his anger about it was fuelling the Force that subdued it at least a little, before finally opening up his meditation chamber again.

Which was when it happened.

Just as the meditation chamber opened he felt a huge amount of energy rushing through him, overpowering him even though he had just been connected to the Force. But it had also weakened his connection to the body a little it seemed, for all his strength in that moment didn't hold up against the onslaught.

And as such, a moment later he found himself on the backseat of the body once again, feeling a wave of hatred, but also triumph pass over him.

'Take that, you bastard!' Anakin's voice echoed in his mind, the sent thought obvious in it's meaning. That little twerp was boasting!

'You will regret this try,' Vader answered as such, lacing his words with dark promises. 'I will kill everything that is left in your meagre little heart. Everything that you didn't already kill yourself, that is!'

But this time the desired effect of making the boy squirm failed to happen.

'You can't threaten me with anything I haven't already told myself,' Anakin answered, his hatred sounding far stronger than the last time they had talked.

'What do you want to do, the dark side is far too strong in you, nobody will want you!' Vader scoffed, but again, Anakin failed to react in a good way.

'Oh, I know that. But I'm not stupid, I won't tell you anything more. This is my body and I will not let you defile it any longer!'

Before Vader could react to that, Anakin added a last, hate-filled 'Good riddance!' before closing off his connection to Vader completely, making the spirit exist in darkness, for all of the bodies' senses where closed off. Of course, while normally liking to make the boy suffer through anything he experienced Vader had used this technique a few times himself, mostly when talking to the emperor as this wasn't anything the boy was supposed to know, but to have it used against him right now was making him beyond angry.

And still, even as he cried out in fury he knew, as long as Anakin's hatred was that strong the sound wouldn't carry on to him... But the hatred would subside and the shields would weaken, which was when he would return and make sure the boy would never be able to overthrow him again. Ever.

xxx

Anakin Skywalker

After the initial elation Anakin had felt since regaining control over his body he had quickly begun to start working on his plans. He had secretly ordered a variety of materials for improving his suit from different sources that should not be able to make the connection back to him, and was now working on stage two of his plans: Getting rid of the everlasting pain that accompanied every breath he took. He knew that his face and lungs were almost completely burned since that fateful day on Mustafar, but he also knew that medicine had progressed since then. Vader just hadn't been allowed by Palpatine to heal himself and as such all doctors on this ship were Palpatine's minions.

But Anakin intended on changing that now. He had already hacked into the list of replacement doctors the emperor had provided, replacing the files with doctors he had checked out before. He didn't know if this plan would work out, but at least he'd know then that the doctors wouldn't be lackeys of his enemy.

For now, Anakin was sitting in his room on Vader's Star Destroyer where he had built the equipment to cause an error in his life support system that sent a message to all the doctors on the ship.

It didn't need long for them to come hurried through the door.

"Lord Vader, are you alright? The alarm of your life support unit went off!" the first doctor said, sounding alarmed but also a little confused for Anakin was only standing there, showing none of the signs of obvious discomfort Vader normally displayed when this alarm sounded.

Anakin kept quiet, staring at the doctor that grew steadily more insecure as he closed in on him, obviously wanting to check the system if something was malfunctioning. Thankfully the other doctors finally arrived then, faking their worries. It sickened him, knowing that they all did nothing to make him feel better, only being there to make sure he wouldn't die, just staying in pain. As such, with one big outburst of the Force, they were all thrown back, hitting the walls around them with thickening crunches before dropping to the ground, unmoving.

"Bastards," Anakin hissed, before checking if any of them had survived. But his outburst had been effective, shredding half of the room too, and nobody would suspect anything as Darth Vader was known for his violent outbursts anyway. Especially after his systems malfunctioned, for Vader hated this suit as much as Anakin did.

As he calmly left his room a squad of soldiers walked towards him, a high-ranking officer in the lead.

"Lord Vader, we heard a loud noise from your quarter," he stated after a brief salute, making Anakin turn his head to look at him. The man didn't wince, that was at least something.

"Clean up the mess," he just said, hoping to sound like Vader would, before passing the soldiers, leaving them to deal with the rest. It was their job after all and he didn't want to be near people if possible. Having to act like Vader made him sick, and knowing that part of him was acting like the Sith even without trying was even worse, but at the moment he couldn't change it. If anyone got suspicious he was dead and that wasn't an option. For now.

Still a bit on the short side, the next chapter will be about twice as long though.

Also: A big thank you to everyone who reviewed! I am very glad that you seem to like the basic idea as of now and I hope I won't disappoint you later on! :)

And something more or less unrelated I was wondering about but forgot to ask before:
While I don't think there will be more than light swearing in this story there will probably be several more or less severe mental breakdowns for Anakin later on (the time with Vader in control has to leave marks) so I am a little insecure about the rating... Is T enough when describing mental distress or would I have to updade it once I reach those scenes? (Of course, fighting would also happen sooner or later, but I think that shouldn't be worse than T for I don't like gore, physical torture or anything like that)