Prologue I
17 BBY; 18 ArS
Author's note: This takes place two years after Order 66. 17 years before the Battle of Yavin, and 18 years After the ReSynchronization period.
Location: Mustafar; Lord Vader's Castle; Meditation/Support chamber
Summary: After tireless months, Vader seeks solace in a cold, empty chamber.
He seeks only silence. The chance to breathe without the aid of the disgusting prison that would forever be encapsulating his body.
Silent as the ash from which he rose, he lets his damaged soul open up to the Force. Years have passed since he last let this happen, and he forced himself to not lose control. Even a Sith could not afford so much damage to their own life support this time. Supported by the glass chair, his body still waking from its Bacta sleep, mere moments before, he succumbs.
Taking a deep breath in, the slightest screaming sound escaping on the exhale out, his mind wrenches away from his body.
He focuses hard on the planet he now resides. Darkness envelopes him, and he again seeks to feel Mustafar's very depths. Traveling in his mind to its core, he feels heat, scalding heat.
The dark shadows comfort him. A past self could not have possibly imagined such a feeling. He was the center of all things. Light and Dark. Perceived good. And perceived evil.
He relishes the feeling of true Evil. Sith whispers take control of his very thoughts and he conjures the vision of his glorified self.
Brilliant red replaces what he sees and he appears on the planet's surface. In an instant anger and a ravenous hunger for revenge replace every nerve in his body.
"Don't try it."
Anakin had lept, high above and upside down for a split second, dead set to face his enemy for the last time and finish this. Adrenaline coursing through his veins now, Vader could not retreat the memory.
Blood. He is reminded of the flames that tortured his broken body. In agony on the floor of the chamber, his mind unconscious to the physical reaction he is having, he writhes against the cold surface, screaming. Flashing back to what he believed would be his downfall he lets the smell of blood and fire take over his senses at the present moment.
"You were my brother Anakin!"
Suddenly anger explodes in his gut and he screams, fully conscious and present, tearing away from where he sits. Trapped in the chamber's walls, the voice of a kind-hearted man echoes in his mind.
"I loved you!"
He can't do it. Fully out of control, his mechanical arm slams into the wall, and he collapses. Everyone he ever loved would have said those words to him. But something about it was not what his former Master, confidant, and friend would have said. He hears the phrase again. The voice is replaced by that of a seventeen-year-old girl. His apprentice. His little sister.
Tears well up in her eyes. "I loved you." She hesitates, before walking away. Leaving him to stand in agony, watching his life be taken from him.
Though he knows it did not happen like this, he feels the knife in his heart just the same. He returns to the events that made him this monster.
"I loved you!" He looks pained at the creature melting in front of him. Taking his lightsaber, Obi Wan away, leaving him to burn and wrench in pain.
Obi Wan was speaking on her behalf as much as he was his. Embracing the reality that was his own, physically returning to the present, Vader erupts in sobs. The Dark Side of the force takes full control over his decrepit form. Burning hatred directed back to himself, he could not afford to return to his past.
1 month later
Location: The Mid Rim Territories; Star Destroyer; Vader's personal chambers
Vulnerability would never do. Lord Sidious was disappointed beyond belief at his treachery, sensing that outcry to the Light side. Weakness, he told him, must only fuel his own power.
Behind his mask, Vader scans the room he is in.
Seeing the hardware that kept him alive, outside of this menacing breathing chamber, on display across from him was surreal. Mask on, he could command entire legions in the pursuit of order in the galaxy. Mask off, though equally as menacing but more so hideous, he was just an apprentice learning his trade in the Dark Side. He relished both feelings. Nodding, he allowed the mechanical droid, whose eyes glowed red, to complete his reconstruction.
A communicator to the right of where he sat beeped.
Reaching out through the Force he senses an annoying presence. The Admiral was not much to focus on. He awaits the reply that followed the beep.
"Lord Vader." A wavering, yet clipped, and professional voice breaks through the barrier. His reconstruction is complete, helmet and respirator mask on once again.
"Yes Admiral." The blast door opened vertically.
When the Admiral takes an agonizingly slow step into the dark chamber, blast doors closing with a slam, Vader went to work. He pushed the intimidation and monstrosity within the depths of his soul out through the Force directly onto the poor man; initially reverting his first instinct to just address the Admiral's purpose of coming so far to speak with him.
The only connection the simpleton would make was that of fear from the looming presence before him, and the loud steady sounds of the respirator.
"Uh-" He hesitates, but retains his strength. "Lord Vader, the reconnaissance team sent to gather intel on the mid rim territories regarding a Jedi presence did not return. Save for one elite trooper who was able to escape Sullust and pass what they found to an intelligence member on their ship the way back to The Devastator."
Vader did not like where this was going. He marveled at the Admiral's courage to continue.
"The TK died moments later from what medics confirmed burns and blood loss on his upper thigh, his other leg missing. The piece of intel gathered has been notified as something to put an identity on the Jedi, or, er, individual. I thought before the information was dissected, you would want to have a look." He reached into his pocket and placed the small datapad on a table in the room, hand shaking.
"This is all I came to communicate, Lord."
"Thank you, Admiral." Determined to instill fear, he added, "Ten standard minutes earlier, and you would not have been so lucky. After relaying such... information."
After the Admiral escorted himself out of the chambers, Vader reached for the datapad, tiny in his hands. Upon reading the titled file, his grasp faltered and the device clattered to the floor.
- - - - 'SOKA'S LOG - ENTRY 1 - - - -
NO. Not again. Memories flooded his mind and he screamed. Without thinking his gloved hand reaches for the Mech and he crushes him under the Force of his anger.
Perhaps he would be revisiting his past after all.
Author's Note and Disclaimer
[This is my heartfelt message to those who enjoy Star Wars as much as I do, and to the creators thereof. Shorter disclaimers and author's notes will be featured before or after any new chapters following per FanFiction guidelines.]
This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Star Wars Universe, which is copyrighted by The Walt Disney Company, who owns Lucasfilm. All characters in this fanfiction are created, owned, and Trademarked by Lucasfilm, and I do not claim any ownership over them or the Star Wars Universe, though they claim my heart. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is not part of the official storyline, though the events will coincide with the story canon and universe. I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story, though one day I wouldn't mind getting a contract to work on one of their many new television series', of which I am obsessed.
To creative Writer, Director, and Producer Dave Filoni and Mr. George Lucas, I am extremely grateful for their inspired visions on the character of Ahsoka Tano, whom this story is centered.
I am even more so grateful to George Lucas's original storyline surrounding the life and major events of Anakin Skywalker, as well as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, and all major and minor characters therein. Without them, and the Star Wars Universe, I am convinced I would be a totally different person, and would not be here today.