Chapter 15 – Be brave and don't look back. Don't look back. – Shmi Skywalker
:::
Luke held onto the small holocom in his hands a little while longer.
It was a comfortable weight in his hands even if it was a little battered thing and the surface was rough under his fingers. It was visibly worn around the edges to the point that it should have cracked and damaged the message recorded on it.
It was only sheer luck it hadn't.
He could not help but wonder what this little thing had suffered through before it ended up in Grakkus the Hutt's morbid collection. He ran his fingers carefully down the edges that he feared would crack if he held onto it too tightly. But when he looked at the image that rose up at his gentle touch it gave him the strength he needed.
He sighed and stared into the darkness in front of him, then back over his shoulder to the world that was now almost as dark. There was no moon this night but the stars blinked bravely up there alone. He breathed in deeply once more.
This was it.
:::
Anakin stood back up from his kneeling position. The cloth was carefully placed into a plastic bag for analysis. Aside for the carnage, this small cut piece of cloth was the only proof that Vader had been here at all. He had Rex to thank for that proof, the soldier's shot had given Anakin the edge in the battle with the Sith.
A fight he lost.
'All right, now that's done.' Anakin thinks as he closes the bag. He didn't usually collect the evidence himself, but Vader was a special case, and most of the troopers were still recovering from the ambush. There were no causalities, 'thank the force!' But Fox's arm was clearly broken and while the trooper didn't say anything it was still very obvious that it was extremely painful.
But the biggest clue in all of this had not been the piece of cloth he just collected, but a sentence the Sith had spoken. "The force is my ally." Anakin repeated, still mystified by it. "Have you ever heard a Sith say that?" He asked Rex.
"I don't understand what you mean, Sir." Rex replied in his usual matter-of-fact way. In the time Anakin had known him, he had always been like that.
"It is a teaching of the Jedi and perhaps the most important." He said while still trying to understand why a Sith would say that. There had been no mockery in the words when he spoke them, but it was against their teachings to regard the force that way. "The Sith are opposite." He explained to Rex as simple as he could. "To the Sith the force is a tool. Nothing more."
"Maybe he was just trying to fool you." Rex said. "Sith are not usually known for telling the truth."
"He wasn't lying." Anakin said. "I felt it. He meant every word."
"…What does that mean, sir?"
'Force, if I know!' He thought before he said "Maybe nothing…"He dared not speak it, but maybe this Sith he had been chasing around… was no Sith at all? Was it possible to use the dark side of the force without being Sith? Then his eyes widened in shock. "He healed Fives." He muttered out loud before he could catch himself.
"Sir?"
"He used both sides of the force." Anakin said in wonder, replaying the memory in his mind. "Healing is a light side ability. 'About as light as is gets.' The thought nagged at him. Every lesson he had ever had concerning the dark side had made it very clear that the dark side was almost impossible to resist and when people turned… there was no going back. It was a pit that waited on the edge of every Jedi's life, always ready to devour them whole.
"Isn't that impossible? To use both" Rex said trying to be analytical about it, because he really did not understand the meaning of this discovery.
'Yes' Anakin thought immediately, it was impossible. Using both the light and the dark side of the force could not happen. But he had seen it. 'It should be.' He thought upon reflection, with the doubt creeping in, but said instead. "Apparently not." He hesitated. "I will have to speak to Obi-Wan about it."
He put his hand up to his face and tried to still the raging thoughts in his head. Too much of this wasn't making any sense.
Suddenly Rex's Holocom made a short sound, the sound of an incoming message. Rex quickly stepped away and accepted the call. When he answered, his voice was not raised above normal speech-level but the words were loud as blaster-shots in the otherwise silent room.
There was a great silence in the hall from all others, but it was a quiet that did not exist in the force, where feelings of humiliation and frustration rang louder than thunder. Anakin did not doubt that those very same emotions also came from him. He grimaced at the thought. He had been so close he could taste it.
'I had him!' He thinks and the admission tastes terrible in his mouth. He had had Vader in his grasp and the Sith somehow still managed to gain the upper hand. When Rex snapped the cold binder around Vader's wrist he thought he had won. 'Fool!' He berates himself and grimaced at his own stupidity. 'I should have known it would not be that easy!'
But in his defence, how could he had known that Fives would turn on them like that? Anakin still couldn't wrap his head around it. Fives never seemed like a traitor, but his actions were speaking against him. First the mess he had made on Kamino, then the attack on the Chancellor and now… siding with a Sith.
If anyone had told him this about Fives yesterday he would have called them a liar. Now…
He shook his head to himself and regretted it immediately when pain stabbed him in the back. The sting of the force lightning was still an uncomfortable reminder down his back where the worst of the damage was. While Vader's reluctance to kill had shown itself once again, and Anakin no longer believed it a coincidence, Vader was certainly not pulling his punches. Vader had hit like an ion cannon.
'Next time it will be different.' Anakin promised himself. Anakin knew the technique Vader used to be so much more powerful than he had been in their previous fight. It was a risky method, but it had done its job. Vader was gone. He drew in a tight breath and forced the frustration out of his system with a heavy exhale.
Acting out of emotion would not help him catch this Sith.
"Sir!" came a voice suddenly over the crowd and Anakin had to block off the feelings broadcasted at him through the force. Rex had ended the call and walked up beside him, his expression was strictly controlled.
"Yes, Rex?"
"They just sent word from the Temple. They are giving us reinforcements."
Anakin nodded, swallowing his pride. He knew Windu would be among them.
"We are not going to wait for them." He said and Rex looked like he had expected that answer. There was not even the ghost of surprise to be read from him through the force.
"The trail is already getting cold." Rex agreed. "Can you get a read on him?"
"Give me a moment." Anakin said, and closed his eyes. His connection to the force deepened as he breathed in slowly and exhaled. The force shone back at him when he opened his connection completely. He could sense the troopers on a deeper level and that they, despite their confrontation with the Sith, were largely unharmed.
This was a peaceful place in the force, he could tell that it was a place not usually disturbed. Vader's damage to it had luckily been minimal, but his marks were still very distinct and his presence was still a shadowy touch in the hall.
"I can track his presence." Anakin said. "But only to a broader area, I won't be able to pinpoint his exact location."
The massive force power Vader had used within the hall lay thick in the air. Even a non-force sensitive would feel the cold of it. Ironically if Vader had not been so powerful his trace would be long gone by now.
"You won't need to sir." Rex said and pulled something from his belt. It was a small tracker. "He might still wear the binder I got on his wrist. If we can get close enough, I can use this to track him."
"How precise is it?"
"Very."
Anakin did not even try to supress his smile.
"Then that is our plan." He said and locked in on Vader's force presence. He could still feel the power that Vader had wielded in their battle. Anakin now recognized the technique Vader had used to reach this insane power. It was a double-edged sword.
With the technique the force-user would draw energy directly from the force and make it possibly to push past their normal boundaries, but it had consequence. Vader would burn like a supernova for a while, but eventually his body would not be able to sustain the immense strain of the technique. A collapse was imminent.
And Vader was already tired.
"You stay with Commander Fox." Anakin ordered one trooper before he turned to face the others. He did not need the force to recognize the determination in their eyes. "The rest of you are with me." He said with certainty he had learned through experience. The chase was on.
Vader would not escape
Not this time.
::::
Fives only realized he had blacked out when he opened his eyes again. The frost was heavy in the air and his warm breath turned into small white clouds. He tried to collect his thoughts. He did not remember this place that had a nasty smell of burned flesh. The damp of the ground has long since bled up into his armour, a clammy coldness he is familiar with.
But he did not understand. Was he not on Kamino?
"..What?" he said and regretted it the moment he spoke. The word was unbearably loud. Fives touched his head, the whole world was spinning.
"You fainted." A voice from above supplied helpfully but he did not understand. He was… on the floor? His mind struggled with it... Then everything snapped into focus when he saw what was leaning over him. A pair of yellow eyes stared unblinkingly down at him.
All the little dots in Fives mind do not connect. He had helped Vader! Why in all that was sacred had he done that! He tries to recall the reason, but the poison made everything so hard to focus on, and even those resent memories were only blurred shadowy images.
Then he remembers. It all came rushing back, Tup's death, the obedience chips and Chancellor Palpatine.
The man, Vader, pulls back his hands and they leave a lingering warmth on each side of Fives' face where they had been resting just moments before. Fives tries not to dwell too long on that uncomfortable observation.
The air is thick between them and the tension heightens in the complete silence. Unease creeps in on Fives and Vader's heavy stare is not even broken by blinking. Fives tries to ignore it, but it is hard when Vader is kneeling right in the middle of one of the few lights coming down form the streets above.
It is not a lot of light on second thought, barely even brighter than the darkness around them both, but it is the only light in the alley. In contrast to the almost pitch black shadows at the roots of the walls it appears a lot brighter than it should.
Fives pushes back to gain some distance from the kneeling Sith. Vader follows the retreat with his eyes but does not move otherwise. Fives throws a look around and does not recognize anything. It looks like any dark alley in the bad end of the slums. It is impossible to judge a more detailed location.
"Why did you bring me here?" He asked and the words rose and died alone, unanswered.
Vader stared back at him from under his hood. It was drenched and looked uncomfortable and heavy. The shadow the hood cast did not improve the dark circles around Vader's eyes, the man looked beyond exhausted. It was very little comfort, because Fives knew from experience that desperation and exhaustion was an unstable mix at best.
Fives knew what men looked like when they were reaching their limit and the thought sparked an idea in his head.
Fives eyed the end of the street. It was far, but maybe he could-
"Please don't run." The Sith says, and the trooper realizes how young he looked with shadows carved heavily under his eyes. The grim look in narrowed eyes reminded Fives that youth did not necessarily mean innocent. He had met many young enemies and allies and they could be just as dangerous as men and women twice their age
"It took a lot out for me to drain your system of the venom." The Sith explains and cocks his head slightly. His eyes stared unblinkingly at Fives. It was unnerving. "I am exhausted, and in a very bad mood. Don't make me chase after you." The promise in those words formed into a threat in Vader's unnaturally yellow eyes.
Fives had fought Sith before, but none of them had yellow eyes like this one.
They looked like poison and decay.
"Who says I am gonna run? maybe I am gonna fight you instea-"
The world blur out of focus, the memories of the recent horrible days flash before his eyes, like he was watching an old holovid but with his own memories playing on the screen. He shook his head and felt like he pushed back at an invisible force. When he regained his senses, the Sith was drawing his hand back.
"Obedience chips." The man whispers in wonder. The Sith looks down at his hand like it is its fault. For a moment it looked like there was a tremor in the Sith's hand. Then Vader-s eyes snapped back to Fives and he reaches forward again. This time though his reaching hand did not connect to Fives forehead because of the backhand colliding with it halfway there.
"Hey, Hands off!" Fives shout and pulls himself further back, as far as he can until his back hit a dead end when it is pressed flat against the wall.
"I need to know." The Sith insisted with narrowed eyes, he flung his hand out and struck faster than a snake. Fives felt most awful sensation, it feels like nails, nails scraping for purchase inside his head and suddenly a memory was ripped right to the front of Fives mind. It was the memory that had not stopped for one moment to haunt him ever since he stood in front of Palpatine.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Fives hand strikes back out but a strong force wraps around it before It can connect. It is just Vader's hand wrapped around his wrist but the hand feels more like it was made of stone, the grip is unnaturally strong. 'The force' he thinks with dread and he freezes on the spot, he suddenly remembers the sound of Fox's arm snapping like a twig.
He swallows, trying to master the sudden stab of fear and stared back at the darkness that has collected impossibly deep around the Sith. It gathered around Vader like a cloak that draped thickly around him and it flows down his shoulders like black smoke.
"I can force you." The sith makes very clear with an intense look in his eyes as darkness snaked up between his fingers like it was a living being." Do not make me."
Vader reaches forward again, this time Fives is sure he can see the shake and he can hear the chain dangling from his wrist clink softy as it swings softly back and forth. "I need to know where they are." Vader said like it was an apology and he was so intendent on completing this objective that Vader did not realize his mistake until it was too late.
The click of a safety snapping off breaks the silence like a roar of thunder,
"I don't think you want to do that." Fives said behind the blaster he just took from Vader's belt. Vader's eyes widen and his hand freezes instantly between them. Fives grins. Vader was a fool to simply place the blaster where Fives could reach it.
The Sith's hands lift slowly, palms open before him and the darkness breaks away like it was never there in the first place. It leaves the alley almost as dark but a lot warmer than before. Now the air does not sting the inside of his throat like a thousand needles every time he breathes.
"Now it is my turn to ask the questions." Fives pushes himself up, surprised at how revitalized he feels. All the hurts that had been bothering him after the mission and the intense episode that happened after were all completely gone. He felt ten years younger.
The Sith was a good healer…and wasn't that in itself weird?
"Why would you want the obedience chip?" He asked and eyes the Sith still kneeling on the ground "They are probably destroyed by now anyway."
"Why do you think they have been destroyed?" The Sith asked instead and pushed himself up on his feet. Fives knows he does not imagine the small stumble when Vader stood up even if the Sith tried to cover it. He suppresses a satisfied sound when he realizes that Vader does not reach his eyelevel. A short Sith is a lot less intimidating.
"Don't move." He says and takes the lightsaber from the Sith's belt and clips it to his own. There is no other weapon on him. Through the quick search, the Sith stares unblinkingly and does not move. Not Yet.
Fives takes a small step back.
"Why?" The Sith repeated condescendingly.
Fives considered the question. He did not know what kind of thing the chips were, and exactly what they could make the troopers do against their will. Maybe the chips controls could be commandeered by the enemy they could make the clone troopers do whatever they wanted.
'His brothers…' Fives thinks and his mind stumbles over the horror of that possibility.
"It is what I would have done." He answers quickly to ward away the images and pushes the blaster forward so heavily that the pressure against the Sith's chest pushes him back against the opposite wall.
A strange look crosses in the Sith's yellow eyes, and it pulls at something in Fives memory. There was something familiar about that expression, like he had seen it before but he cannot place it. Then it clicks "Stay out of my head!" Fives orders and a subtle pressure he had barely noticed pulled away. "Why are you even interested in the chips anyway?"
The Sith looked at him with an unreadable expression. The silence stretched for so long that Fives knew whatever came out of that mouth next would be a lie or a half-truth. The Sith leans back against the wall in what Fives has no doubt was supposed to look casual and unworried, but he was leaning to heavily and his breath is too quick.
"Believe me when I say that it is in both of our interest that you help me." The Sith finally responds carefully and bites his lip. "I am trying to prevent something horrible, and in order to do that chancellor Palpatine needs to go." The Sith says his voice is calmer but he seems nervous now and he keeps looking down on his left arm.
"The chips just proves that Palatine cannot be allowed to continue." Vader say and Fives did not manage to say anything to that before the Sith continued "Palpatine needs to die, it was the very same thing you tried-"
"No, I am not trying to kill him. I am trying to expose his plans!" Fives said and his words are heavy with denial "The Jedi do not believe in killing their enemies."
The Sith just stares like Fives just sprouted a horn between his eyes. "I'm not a Jedi…" He says slowly, like he is fearing Fives would not understand. "…and neither are you."
"I can't just kill somebody like that." Fives snaps back ignoring the words. "There's is no proof of how much the chancellor is in on, it could be that he is merely-."
"So you are going to let him force your fellow soldier into killing their friends?" He pauses then narrow his eyes and goes for the throat. "You would do that to your own brothers?"
"I won't come to that!" Fives tries to ease his frustration, but he was failing to hide it and he knew it. The Sith was very skilfully getting under his skin, but Fives couldn't help it, all the bottled up fear and desperation finally had a target. "I told you. I am going to do this the right way. I am going to find proof and then I'll-"
"Show it to Skywalker? Because that worked out so splendidly last time-"
"Shut up!" the gun is at Vader's throat now, digging into the skin so hard it had to be painful, but the Sith did not react to it at all. There was no trace of pain in his face.
"Just tell me where the chips are hidden, and you don't need to do anything else." Vader said very calmly for someone with a gun aimed at his neck. "I will take care of it for you."
"You?" Fives does not try to mask his sarcasm.
"I know Palpatine far better than you do." Vader said and actually leaned forward against the deadly gun uncaring that it digs mercilessly into his neck. "When Palpatine only kills his enemies, it is as close to mercy as he can get."
Fives did not like how honest that sounded. He relieves the pressure but keeping his finger on the trigger as he considers the Sith in front of him. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't know what that bastard is capable of. He will kill the entire- ." Vader stutters, his mouth gasp in a silent scream and he pulls back again with pain suddenly carved into his eyes. His breath catches and his hand sudden grip his left arm. His shoulders tense up and Fives is close enough to see Vader's entire body tremble.
Just how far had Vader pushed himself?
"What… do you think he…" A painful gasp cuts the sentence off before Vader manage to finish "H-he would do… with that power?"
"If the chips are not already destroyed" Fives says and back another step away while Vader was trying to collect himself from whatever fit he was having. "And that is a big 'if'." He adds keeping his eyes very carefully on Vader who seemed to get the trembling under control "They will be in Nala Se's possession, but I doubt she is stupid enough to carry them around with her. They are most likely in her private rooms in the senate."
"…in the Senate?" Vader breathes, and it sounds like merely bringing the words past his clenched teeth was painful. The darkness around him flickered, like it was touched by some persistent unseen light. "Why? She is a doctor not a Politician"
"No. She is not. But as one of the chief engineers of the clone army, she has a permanent room she stays in when she is on the planet."
Vader seemed to deflate in front of him and for a split-second there is a look of such hopelessness on his face that it makes something uncomfortable clench in Fives chest. "All right." Vader whispers so lowly that Fives almost didn't catch it.
"Thank you." Vader said and it was like the words was an unsaid command. Suddenly the darkness is back and the entire world around him is cold. So cold his breath become white puffs of white smoke again. "That was just what I needed to know" Vader says and pushes away from the wall. He no longer shakes and his movements are bold and strong.
The darkness moved with him.
"Hey." Fives points the blaster at Vader "I have the blaster remember? You are not going-"
The blaster ripped out of his hands. A rumble like thunder tear though the silence and the blaster hovering in the space between them crushes in on itself. It falls to the pavement as only an unrecognizable lump of metal.
"Figured you would be more willing to talk if you thought you had all the cards in your hand." Vader said with a casual air that does not match the heavy yellow stare that carries little to no emotion at all. "I suggest you find a place to hide until this is over." And with that Vader hold out his hand and the lightsaber in Fives belt jumps willingly into the open palm. Vader puts it back in his own belt before he turns and takes off at a brisk walk down the alley, the end of his cloak brush against Fives shins when he passes.
Stunned, Fives could first only stare after him. At first he is flooded with relief, then the mental image of his brother's suddenly springs to mind and the horrible things the chip might make them do.
He screams at his body to move.
"Wait!"
Vader does not react, does not stop. There is not even a halt in his steps
"I said wait!" His hand close around Vader shoulder and pulls the Sith back around. He feels a rush a wind and a powerful impact. He stumbles back, crossing his arms over his chest but the intense lash that hit him disappeared along with the wind.
"Careful." Vader says and lowers his hand again to his side where it came to rest on the hilt of the lightsaber that Fives can barely glance under the heavy cloak the Sith was wearing. "I am done playing around."
"So am I." Fives says and close the distance between them. He only stops when Vader start lifting the lightsaber out in warning. "Listen to me! If we are going to do this we are doing this my way, there is no way that someone like you can-" he should perhaps have dialled down on the attitude, because it made the Sith snap.
"Someone like me!" The Sith says like Fives had just insulted his mother. Then he leans forward and actually pokes Fives in the chest with sharp motion. "And for the record there is no 'We', you ungrateful son of a Hutt! You would be dead without me!"
"And you won't get into the senate without my help!"
"Your help!" The Sith says like he is choking on the words and he suddenly seemed very much younger without the controlled emotionless mask he had worn ever since Fives first met him. The Sith was not taken aback for long though. "You can't even help yourself! You don't know-"
"I know you won't get far with this thing on." Fives says and snaps a hand out to tug at the chain dangling from Vader's wrist.
"This thing might have been made to block the force if it was placed correctly, which it isn't!" Vader swipes his other hand out at Fives and the trooper immediately let's go of the chain. "It blocks nothing of my power." Then Vader adds with a sinister undertone. "Do you perhaps want me to demonstrate this for you?"
Vader is frightening like this, standing with the growing darkness at his back, but if Fives had been a stranger to fear then he would not have come far as a soldier. He knew better than that. Bravery was not the absence of fear but the courage to act in the face of it.
"If it does nothing, then why haven't you taken it off yet?" He says without backing down. 'Bullseye'' he thinks with triumph when Vader suddenly look less certain and his eyes shift away.
"If you must know, then it does not block the force from me, but it makes my control of it…" he pauses and adds finally. "Imprecise." The word is sharp like a gunshot, like he is ordering Fives not to ask about it but Fives never was great at taking orders from Sith.
"…so in other words, if you try to break that binder off, you will take the hand with it?" He asks and Vader disgruntled twitch in his otherwise blank expression says everything. "What will you do about the tracker then?"
Vader mouth opened and closed in a moment that would have been comedic in any other setting. Whatever words he had wanted to say were forgotten as he lifts his hand to inspect the chain.
"We had them installed in case a prisoner escaped from custody during transport." Fives explained but he seems largely forgotten by Vader. The Sith was already inspecting the chain closely. His fingers ran over it, no doubt trying to locate the tracker. He took half a step back underneath one of the small light that came from somewhere above as he lifted the wrist up close and into the ray of light.
"You won't get into the senate." Fives says with a greater calm, now that Vader is no longer looking at him. "Not without my help." He adds with more force and Vader finally glances at him over his inspection.
"I will figure something out. I always do." Vader replies with a sceptic tone that leaves little room for argument and his eyes slide down again to the chain with his brow furrowed, but the anger in him seems to have gone, and there is less of the foreign pressure in the air.
"If I had not held a gun to Rex's head, you would be sitting prettily in an interrogation room right now." Fives said. "You still might get there, if we do not get rid of that." He says and gestures at the binder.
"…what do you suggest?" Vader says like it was painful as he straightened from his search of the tracker to give Fives a searching look.
"I suggest we work together." Then without asking for permission he reaches forward and tugs the chain closer and the startled Vader along with it. "We will have a better chance of unveiling this conspiracy than we do on our own."
Vader seems completely dumbstruck by Fives rash move and stands very still in the seconds it takes Fives to unlock it. "Universal key" Fives comment and throws the chain into the nearest pile of trash. Vader follows its path through the air with his eyes to where it lands and he rubs the place around his wrist where the binder had been before.
"I don't know what history you have with Palpatine, but there is no need to kill him." Fives says holding up a hand "Wait! Hear me out." He pauses for a moment, but the only ripple on Vader emotionless expression is a slightly raised eyebrow. He crosses his arms across his chest in a very stubborn pose, but he keeps his silence.
"You obviously think Palpatine will do something with those chips. Correct?" Fives asks and receives a blank stare from Vader, not about to be discouraged Fives press on. "Wouldn't disabling them solve your problem?"
Vader drums the fingers on his one hand restlessly on his arm. "Go on..."
"If we get to Nala Se, we can take the chips and have them analysed. That way we can figure out how to destroy then or turn them off." He explained to the Sith. "Palpatine, whatever his role in this is, will be without this hidden weapon leaving him powerless. You won't have to kill-"
"I will kill Palpatine." Vader says and for a moment there is an odd pressure in the air and Vader's words resound like they are echoing against the walls of an empty room. It sounded like there was more than one voice speaking. The effect is gone before Fives can be certain he heard it right or if his mind were playing games with him, because it is no trace of it when Vader continue. "That is non-negotiable."
"And how has that worked out for you so far?" Fives says back with just as much determination as the Sith. "The man is the leader of the republic, a republic that has been at war for years now. If it was easy to kill him someone would have done that by now."
The Sith looked like he just swallowed something disgusting and couldn't quite decide if he should throw it up or try to stomach it.
"…I have almost killed him twice." Vader says in a quiet opposition, but it sounds more like a stubborn teenager than a dangerous Sith. Vader realized that too if the lines deepening under his eyes are any indication. He looks vulnerable enough that it makes Fives pause.
"Almost, being the keyword in that sentence." Fives persist ignoring the fragile expression on Vader's face he does not want to see before it disappears behind a blank mask when Vader got himself under control. "Look." He said and bled enough sincerity into his voice to be believable. "I can get us into the senate. Unseen."
Vader looked to the right, as if searching for a response out there in the dark. His brows pulled together in a collected but fatigued expression before he throws a look down the alley behind him. He breathes out in a huff, then looks back to Fives with something that looks like resigned regret in his eyes.
"…Alright." The Sith says with a sharp undertone. The strict calm Vader wears like a second skin is back, and his expression betrayed none of the feelings he might have hidden behind it. "Our interests are aligned."
"Deal?" Fives says cheekily and holds out a hand. A look ghosts over Vader's eyes. He looks at the hand as if it is a poisonous snake about to bite him. Fives hand was already dropping when Vader's hand closed around his in a firm handshake. The hand didn't feel right, it was cold and felt like unyielding stone.' A robotic hand' Fives realized when he closes his hand around Vader's.
Vader must have seen his shock, because he grins in a way that does not reach his eyes before he agrees.
"Deal."
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To be continued
Author's note:
A quick update this time! Thank you for your reviews ! It is what keeps me writing :)
A big thanks goes to Shinigami Merchant for taking the time to Beta :)
