I am not and never will be able to out buy Disney and therefore own Star Wars.
Almost finished. Feedback is welcome.
This work was written as a character study to explore the psych of one of the most complex and interesting Dark-Lord-Space-Wizard-Samurai ever created. References to Rogue One, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Darth Vader comic series, and of course, the main movies.
Vader paced the corridors of his fortress in a rage.
Could Sidious be testing him somehow? It would explain why Vader couldn't wake up, no matter how hard he tried, though he didn't know how his master had been able to conjure Jinn. He didn't know how Sidious could make someone so convincing and yet so unrealistic. What was he even supposed to prove? That he would kill Padme if she were to return from death? That his loyalty was to his master and him alone? That not even the lure of a family could tear Vader from his place within the Empire?
It had to be a test. Sidious was trying to find his weakness so he'd know where to stab the next knife. He had half a mind to call Sidious, expecting to hear the Sith Lord tell him that he'd never use something so primitive simply to test Vader's conviction. That it was all his imagination. All in his head.
Vader went over to the control panel in his medical chamber and keyed a special sequence on the switches. The bacta tank was slowly raised, revealing a lift. Standing on the pad, Vader disappeared into his private sanctum. It wasn't really a sanctum so much as the only place in the castle no one but he and the Emperor knew about. He went inside and slammed the button to seal the blast-door behind him.
Once, this had been a natural cave housing a shrine. After taking up residence in the fortress above, Vader had personally supervised the droids which had carved and expanded the cavern until there were two separate chambers. Smooth, glossy obsidian lined what had once been rough stone. The shrine itself had been smashed and razed, the Dark Side energies it collected dispersed and infused into the surrounding walls.
The sanctum's first chamber held a holotable where he spoke with Sidious over private matters. Lining the first chamber's wall were racks of duplicate suits of armor. Each bore some type of damage, scars which served as a testament to a trial Vader had overcome.
The second chamber was where he kept the few items which made him feel sentimental, along with his private throne. Each item was prominently displayed on its own podium. A beaded Padawan braid. An ancient, blue Sith war helmet. A pair of green lightsabers, one standard length, and the other a shoto. A broken, corrupted kyber crystal.
Vader sat down hard on the sanctum's central chair and stared at the wall. The ghosts hadn't made their way down here yet. In this room he could believe everything was as it always was: dark and cold.
Vader turned his head and his gaze finally stopped on the stand that held Padme's necklace. He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned back.
Why? Why in this accursed galaxy had he kept it?
Because it was all that he had left of her after finding out that she'd been buried on Naboo after that forsaken night.
He shook himself, unwilling to relive that day again. He'd already done so far too many times. He had half a mind to take the necklace and throw it into the lava. Maybe Sidious was trying to provide an opportunity for Vader to purge himself completely.
Vader agreed. It was time to kill Anakin Skywalker once and for all.
