Chapter 19: Healing

Vader staggered back to his shuttle and collapsed in the pilot's chair. He winced and grimaced as every movement hurt. He tried to call upon the Force to heal his wounds, but he found that his ability was still blocked.

Vader knew that his master would be displeased that Organa had escaped, but he had not been prepared for his punishment. Vader closed his eyes and put his face in his hands as he tried to block out the memories he had been forced to recall. Sidious was right; failure could lead to terrible things, like the events that had killed his mother.

The rebellion could have been stopped if he had successfully captured Senator Organa yesterday. The people of the Empire would be safe, or would they? Vader recalled part of Sidious's speech from earlier; "I would have total control over the galaxy if it had not been for you."

He had always thought that Sidious was a good man who wished to serve the galaxy, but this statement sounded like he lusted for power. Vader sat in quiet contemplation for a moment while he mulled this over. Then Vader shook his head, no his master was a good man. If Sidious were heartless he would have never saved him from life as a slave. His master's previous display was just to help remind Vader the importance of his work.

With this last thought, Vader fired up the engines of his shuttle, and headed back to the Executor.

Back in his throne room, Sidious seethed in anger. The power he had longed for had been denied him from his apprentice's failure. He would have to wait longer for the control he craved.

Sidious walked back to his throne and turned it towards the windows. Sitting in his chair, he could just make out the outline of his apprentice's shuttle heading back to the Executor. He smiled at the sight.

His apprentice would not forget this lesson quickly, for Sidious's Force block would not wear off for quite a few hours. His apprentice would not fail him again after the punishment he received. The memories of the past would influence his apprentice to work harder and drive him to relentlessly pursue the rebellion. Sidious cackled as he whispered, "Soon the galaxy will be mine."

Vader landed his shuttle in the Executor's docking bay. He grimaced as he stood up from his chair and swayed slightly from pain in exhaustion. The lack of sleep from the previous night had caught up with him and he was further drained from his wounds. His tunic was sticking to him, and he suspected that some of the wounds on his chest were bleeding.

Vader steadied himself since he did not want to show weakness to his crew. He exited his shuttle and carefully walked down the exit ramp. At the bottom of the ramp, Vader's admiral greeted him.

"Welcome back, my lord. What are our orders?"

"Go back to Alderaan and continue your search for Senator Organa and the rebels." Vader said as he tried to hide the pain in his voice.

The admiral did not seem to notice Vader's discomfort because he bowed as he said, "As you wish my lord."

After the admiral had left, Vader walked back to his quarters for some much needed rest.

Padmé had awoken earlier in the morning to find that Vader was not around. The ship must have reached Coruscant and he was meeting with the Emperor. As she ate breakfast, she wondered how Sidious was taking the news of Organa's escape. She smiled at the Emperor's failure to stop the rebellion.

After her breakfast, Padmé helped R2 and C3P0 clean up the kitchen. Once that task was completed she decided to go back to the bedroom and wait for Vader's return. She could not wait to revel in his failure some more.

As Padmé stepped into the sitting room, she heard the front door open. Smiling she turned towards the sound as she watched Vader walk into the room. She started to say something to him, but stopped herself.

Her smile faded as she got a closer look at him. Vader looked pale and the front of his dark tunic was damp with what she suspected was blood. She watched, as Vader seemed to take no notice of her and staggered towards his bedroom. Padmé had been furious with Vader's actions against her rebel friends, but now that she could see what his Master had done to him, she felt sorry for him.

Padmé followed Vader into the bedroom, and felt pity for him as he collapsed on his bed and groaned in pain. Padmé had wanted Sidious to be angered by Organa's escape, but she had never expected him to lash out violently to his apprentice.

Vader groaned in pain again as he tried to make himself comfortable. Padmé remained silent as she watched her enemy and captor struggle through his pain. As a rebel she should have let the Sith Lord suffer. However, she was horrified that Sidious would cause his apprentice such pain, and her compassionate nature drew her to Vader's side.

Padmé carefully approached the bed and sat down next to Vader. He did not move or acknowledge her presence. Padmé could clearly see a dark stain on Vader's tunic. She slowly started unbuttoning his tunic to get a closer look, but he put his hands over hers to stop her.

Padmé sighed as she replied, "Look, quit fighting and let me see. I'm trying to help."

Vader grimaced as he replied, "I don't need your help."

Padmé rolled her eyes as she responded, "Really? Well, if you don't let me help, I'll start asking you about your name. I'm pretty sure you are too weak to hurt me today."

Vader groaned in response, but released Padmé's hands. She quickly unbuttoned the rest of his tunic and gasped as she opened it up. Large gashes from a whip were cut into Vader's chest, which were oozing blood. It also appeared that there were some on his upper arms as well. She would need to remove his tunic to be sure.

"I'm going to need your help, you have a lot of open wounds and I think your tunic is covering some of them. I need you to remove it so that I can see them." Padmé stated.

Vader did not say anything, but gritted his teeth and sat up in bed. He then carefully removed his tunic. With every movement, Vader tried to stifle his moans of pain. With a grimace he finally removed the tunic, and threw it on the floor before collapsing back on the bed.

Padmé's suspicions had been confirmed, Vader had wounds on his chest and his upper arms. She quickly walked to the fresher and grabbed some supplies to clean and dress Vader's wounds before returning to his side.

"How could you serve someone who does such things to you? Padmé asked as she poured some antiseptic to a cloth.

She started to dab his wounds with the cloth. The antiseptic burned and Vader hissed in pain. However, he gave no response to her question.

"You do not deserve to be treated like this." Padmé continued.

Vader remained quiet as Padmé cleaned his wounds. He could not believe that the woman who had been making his life miserable was now tending to him. She was an enemy and a rebel and should not be showing him such kindness. His master had punished him to remind him what failure can cause. She should be thrilled by his injuries, but instead she was healing them.

Vader gazed at Padmé's face as she started to apply bandages to his wounds. He had always considered rebels to be monsters. He thought they did not care about anyone but their cause as they fought the Empire, but here was one that was tending to the wounds of her enemy. Her compassion created a feeling of trust within Vader, and as Padmé continued to apply bandages he softly whispered to her, "Anakin."

"What?" Padmé said as she finished applying the last bandage.

Wincing, Vader sat up and locked his blue eyes on Padmé's. Through gritted teeth he replied, "My name is Anakin Skywalker." Then succumbing to his pain and exhaustion he slumped back onto the bed and fell asleep.