Word Count: 146
Rating: T
Genre: Tragedy/Drama/Not actually a drabble
Characters: Anakin Skywalker, younglings
The Council reminded him of many things, but what surfaced most strongly was the thought of Ki-Adi-Mundi, the Cerean master. He had wives, and offspring, because his species were rare. Anakin could not remember why; they had been struck by war, or radiation, or were simply going extinct, and so Mundi was allowed a family. I don't know whether he loves them, Vader realized. It's not reproduction that Jedi are forbidden from; it's love. But he was allowed--!
We're going extinct, Vader thought. Humans. The universe. Jedi. Everyone. Heroes. Padme is going to slip into entropy, like our child, like the Republic if it's not shaken up and reformed, even remade. The ones I love will be picked off, selected, unless I become the fittest.
The threat of extinction spurred him to leave the bodies of the children, to re-cross the room, and carry on.