Chapter 7

Anakin Skywalker wandered the corridors helplessly, eyes straying left and right, unseeing.

He stumbled down, leant on the cold, clinical wall and slid on the floor, numbness filling him until he couldn't breathe.

Why?

That had been the question plaguing his mind. The first question he asked to this blasted medical droid.

The answer had come, swift, efficient and ruthless.

"She had no injury, Sir. It seems some emotions were too strong for her."

Emotions? Emotions? What could it know about emotions?

It was a droid.

He had laughed then, laughed, because had it not been Obi-Wan's favorite lecture? No emotion? Only the Force?

And his fist had clutched the droid's useless neck. With the Force, he had detached some wires after the others, feeling contentment in the droid's crumbling in his grasp.

Emotions…

Another droid had explained to him that a pregnant woman needed calm and rest and too many emotions at once, especially negative ones were no good for the baby or her.

He had destroyed the droid piece by piece this time.

And now his eyes burned with rage and despair and guilt.

Padmé…

He reached out to her desperately, needing to feel her around him through the Force, knowing she couldn't hear him and not caring.

His Master had come back to the Senate, more pressing matters occupying him for the time being. He had stood there, eyeing the scene between him and his wife with a calm, detached eye. With smugness even.

Anakin had found himself suddenly hating him with every inch of his body.

Padmé's limp body had been pressed against him as he tried to shake her, bring her back to him. His hands had trembled and he had been unable to bring her back with the dark side.

He had concentrated, sending wave after wave of the dark power in the frail body. To no avail.

How useless he had been.

He had felt the coldness of his Master's essence probing inside Padmé with malice and he had almost unleashed then.

He couldn't touch her.

But the Emperor had only smiled, smiled, his cold voice entering his mind in shambles as he sat there next to the operating table, the droids taking her body away from him.

You are not strong enough, young fool. Not yet.

He had felt his eyes burn with rage as he watched him leave.

Leave…

In the direction of his children.

Leaping to his feet, he ran for his life, trying to keep his promise to Padmé. His Master was there, one disgusting hand reaching out to touch his son.

Anakin surged forward, shielding his child with barely refrained hatred. Luke started to cry, waves of confusion and fear sweeping from him.

"Your son is very strong in the Force. The girl is too."

There was threat in his voice, a mixture of anger and contentment. But beneath it all, Anakin could only feel fear.

The Emperor feared his children. Feared him too.

Rage spurred him on. "You told me the dark side would protect her." He spat.

A dismissal with a wave of his pale hand.

"I said you would be able to save her, did I not? You were not strong enough in the dark side."

Rage swirled around him, the dark side twirling inside him with its comforting embrace.

"You would be wise to pay attention, Lord Vader." Sidious snapped harshly when all he had for a response was his apprentice's clear anger. "I would not want your family to be permanently damaged."

There was no hint of threat anymore. Everything was out in the open.

"I understand, my Master." He said through clenched teeth, feigning obedience and bowing his head.

Inside, he was raging, anger blurring his vision.

The Emperor left him with two crying babies.

When he turned around to touch them, reassure them, they only cried further. Looking up, he saw his reflection on the opposite window.

His eyes were yellow.

He staggered away from them and their cries, unable to reach Padmé again, the ache in his chest spreading.

And here he was now, sitting against the clinical wall, his gaze distant.

He may fail.

He could die and his family would stay unprotected. He could die and the Emperor would be unstoppable, training his children to become Sith.

And what would happen of Padmé?

Anakin closed his eyes against the thought shakily.

He had to succeed.

It was time to get his revenge against the lies and empty promises.

The dark side had been useless. It had destroyed her, him, everything.

In the end, he had been unable to protect Padmé. She was there, away from him and he could not bring her back.

He rose slowly, leaning against the wall for support, feeling rage fade to be replaced by controlled anger. It was swifter, more efficient, gave him focus.

A last thought plagued him as he strode through the corridors confidently.

I'm doing this for you, Padmé.


The Emperor was not surprised in the least when Vader strode inside his office with self-confidence, hood obscuring his face.

"I was waiting for you, Lord Vader," he said coldly.

The young man did not respond. Only eyed him coldly and told him the words he had dreamt of saying for ages now.

"I don't need you anymore, my Master."

"Oh, you do not?" he asked, leaning slightly on the arms of his seat.

"No, I don't." he responded coldly. "The dark side, it was all a lie, wasn't it? I never needed it to save Padmé."

Cruel laughter from the Emperor.

"This is pitiful." Yellow eyes shone from beneath the hood, dancing in amusement. "You are acting like a petulant child. Your wife is not dead!"

And with the Emperor's callous words, the painful memories returned swiftly to Vader.

'Your wife is in a coma, Lord Vader.'

At first, when the connection between them was suddenly cut off, he had thought she was really gone. And then he had felt the faintest heartbeat against the palm of his hand. But she was so still in his arms... And he was unable to bring her back. She was not dead but she was not with him either. She was so still in his arms. The dark side had pushed her there but the dark side was powerless against a coma.

'But she will wake up!'

'She will probably not, milord.'

The pain nourished his anger.

"I did all this for nothing!" he exploded, the hilt of his lightsaber comforting against his warm palm.

"No, my apprentice. You have so much power as a Sith now. Try to deny it."

The ugly whisper inside him was reminding him of the way he could use the Force unconsciously, of the way he felt it in his hands, in every cell of his body, strong and powerful. All this power, exhilarating, in his hands.

Freedom.

"Yes, you helped me become powerful." He acknowledged.

The Emperor flopped back to his seat in cold contentment.

"But this is exactly why I don't need you any longer."

Sidious had barely the time to react as Sith lightning erupted from Vader's flesh fingers and hit him squarely in the chest.

His anger was giving him focus. So much focus. He almost laughed when the mighty Emperor was blasted back by the force of Vader's attack. The Emperor had not suspected it, had he? He had not suspected that all those missions had only strengthened his apprentice's abilities. Palpatine's overconfidence would be his undoing.

The red guards tried to stop Vader. Tried. Vader snorted with cold amusement as he sent them flying backwards, bones cracking with a satisfactory sound.

Sidious reacted at last and sent him Force lightning very strongly. Vader caught it with one hand, effortlessly, saw the look of disbelief pass on his former Master's face.

He took a step forward and fought the urge to laugh madly with the exhilaration filling him as the Emperor took another backwards.

Vader glanced at the glass behind them and willed it broken. The material shattered, million pieces exploding, air twirling around them forcefully, lightning cracking.

How ironic that Sidious would meet the same end the traitorous Windu did.

The Emperor's face was distorted with fear and rage and triumph spurred Vader on as he advanced.

It had been very quick.

So easy.

In a second, Palpatine was on the edge of the precipice.

"I can make you become even more powerful!" he shouted desperately as he hovered over the oblivion.

"I don't need you anymore, Your Highness." Vader spat coolly. "You were right… I am more powerful than Master Yoda."

The Emperor never had a chance. The lightsaber surged in the young Sith's hand and in one quick move, he had torn his Master's chest apart.

Palpatine fell through the open window, his bloodcurdling scream echoing all the way down the steep descent until his body landed on the ground below. With a crack.

And there was silence.

The Force swirled around the young Sith, cloaking him in the darkness. He felt the cold air on his cheeks and felt the soul of the former Emperor disappear into oblivion with deep contentment.

"I am the Force, old fool."

Darth Vader had his revenge and it was even sweeter.


On the other side of the galaxy, an old Jedi Master stumbled down, clutching his chest as the waves twirled around him in the Force.

"Master?"

Obi-Wan Kenobi's worried voice washed over the green Master and he nodded absent-mindedly.

"Dead, Sidious is." He rasped, eyes calmly settling on the young man before him.

The cries of the strange birds around them were suddenly unnoticed. Obi-Wan's eyes settled on the mud around them and the jungle obscuring the feeble sun of Dagobah.

"Anakin?" he asked, blue eyes settling on him again.

"Vader." He corrected.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Then it means he is even more powerful than the Emperor now. We should have taken Padmé with us. The child could have been a great asset," he said, not for the first time.

The old Master closed his eyes, letting the warm waves of the Force flow around him.

"Patience, Obi-Wan. Guide us soon, the Force will."