Darth Vader stood at the edge of the balcony, reminiscing his old life. His Padme.
The fields of Naboo, where he fell and pretended to be hurt. The arena at Geonosis, where they fought side by side. Tatooine, where he slaughtered all of the sand people. Even then, he still had hope. Hope that maybe one day, he could save the ones he loved, but in the end, he wasn't strong enough. At least so he thought. If Kenobi hadn't shown up, I could have saved Padme. Even though he choked her, he knew he didn't kill her. He felt her. He was going to apologize later; after he had killed Kenobi. He could've won her back, but he never realized that once the love of his life saw him as Darth Vader, she had lost all love for him. She could not see Anakin Skywalker anymore.
It had been three days since he entered the suit, and he still found himself not used to it. He supposed it was a big change to go from a human with flesh to a cyborg. Like Grevious, he thought.
He gritted his teeth, though no one could see it. He was a shell of his former self. I was strong, agile. I could have overthrown the Emperor, but Kenobi…
Vader clenched his fist, the sound of rubber tearing from his gauntlets as pieces of furniture started to levitate above the ground, plates and tables following suit. Kenobi… Kenobi… Kenobi! he repeated in his mind.Shards from the now broken plates flew around the room, hitting everything in sight. He didn't even know he was doing it. It's all his fault!
"Sir!"
He slowly turned and saw Commander Fox standing at the door in his red and white uniform, his head upward looking at all the flying debris. Vader let out a silent sigh as everything fell to the floor. "What is it?"
"The Emperor wishes to see you."
Darth Vader entered through the senate doors, approaching his master, who sat in his new chair, staring out onto the streets of Coruscant. It gave off the image of 'Ruler of the galaxy.' The room smelled like fresh lavender, ironic considering who the Emperor was.
He bent onto one knee, his reflection showing in the newly installed window that broke during the fight with Mace. The red holograms lowered into the floor, allowing Vader to see his master. "Yes, my master?"
Sidious stood up, his red robe flowing side to side as he did. "Lord Vader." With a large, dark grin, he said. "Our Empire is complete at last."
"Yes, my Lord. We have won."
"Yes… we have won." His smile turned into a frown as he glared at the former Jedi Knight through the mirror's reflection. "But the Jedi still live. Kenobi, Yoda, others. They still harbor themselves in the galaxy. They must be found!"
"How do you suppose we do that?"
"Yoda will be hard to find, but Kenobi…" the Sith lord turned to Vader, pointing his frail-ghost like finger at him. "Search your feelings, Lord Vader. You know where he is hiding."
Vader paused, looking up at his new master. "I'm not sure what you mean, master."
"Kenobi!" he screamed. "You know where Kenobi is hiding if you focus hard enough."
"I—"
"Concentrate Lord Vader! Focus your mind…"
Vader shut his eyes, doing as his master instructed. He closed off everything and anything around him. The sounds of footsteps coming from outside the room, the beeping of the computers, all of it he excluded allowing only the force to flow through his mind.
He saw blackness, a void. He focused harder but still saw nothing but that same void. "I don't see anything," he told his master.
His master extended his hand, shooting bolts of electricity at his apprentice.
"Aghhhh!" Vader screamed in anguish.
"You are a worthless apprentice. You couldn't beat Kenobi. You let him turn you into a shell of your former self. I should have let you die." Sidious pulled back his arm, stopping his attack. Vader fell to the floor, taking shaky, shallow breaths—along with coughing— as he tried to collect himself. Sidious frowned at his apprentice. "Get up, Lord Vader."
Vader pulled himself upward, hunching his back and lowering his chin, "I am sorry, my master."
Sidious snarled. "Go to your quarters and come to me when you find the answer!"
Vader lowered his head to the floor, and with a scowling expression, he said, "Yes, my lord." He stood up and approached the door but not before turning back at his master, who didn't look at him, then leaving.
He walked through the gray metal doors that led into his quarters. It was nothing special: a bland white room, a white floor made up of tiles, and four white walls. A single, large bacta tank laid in the middle of the room; wires and cords leading from the bacta tank and going into the holes in the walls.
A mechanical droid named Proxy approached the young Sith Lord. He had built in artificial yellow eyes. "Are you ready for extraction my Lord?" he asked.
"Yes," he said, laying himself onto the table the medical droids brought out. One by one the droids detached his black metallic armor, putting the pieces into a symmetrical order onto a different table. Vader looked at his reflection through one of the droid's skin. He still wasn't used to his new look.
"Will you be staying long, master?" Proxy asked.
"No," he replied.
"Very well. I will get your tank ready."
A few moments passed as Darth Vader was being attached to a variety of different pulleys. "This will pinch my Lord." A medical droid said. He unclamped the stitching on Vader's mask, peeling it off, along with bits of his skin. "Hold your breath." Twenty seconds passed by as he waited for a breathing mask to be attached to him. These droids are taking a long time, he thought. His eyes began to water as his blood began thumping in his temples. Small flutters in the lungs stabbed throughout his chest. It felt as his lungs might burst at any second. "Here you go, my Lord," a medical droid told him as he attached a breathing mask on him. Something that was so unaware to a person, a function they did on automatic, had to be sustained by machines for him.
The droids heaved him over the swirling water. It was clear and shined brighter than a diamond. Like the earrings Padme used to wear, he thought. Everything reminded him of her.
Proxy pointed at the other droids that stationed themselves by a large lever, "Now." Slowly, they turned a crank, lowering Vader into the water. The cool rush of the water quickly filled every hole and crevice that embodied Vader. It was a welcome feeling to the young Sith. "Close the lid," ordered Proxy.
Thump
"Everything is ready, my Lord," Proxy said. "I wish you luck."
"There is no luck, only the force." He shut his eyes, using the bacta's tank ability to concentrate deeper into the force.
Again, he saw nothing. It was total blackness. What? he asked himself. What am I supposed to find?
His master's words echoed through his head. "You know where Kenobi is hiding if you focus hard enough." He didn't know what that meant, however. The galaxy was far and wide; how could he know where Obi-Wan Kenobi was hiding.
He focused harder, and still, he saw nothing, but Vader was nothing if not relentless. "If I can't see," he told himself. "I will use my other senses." He fell back onto his primal instincts. "If one could not see, he will hear. If he cannot hear, then he will feel." This method, however, seemed to show results.
He could hear the sounds of dust blowing in the wind. Particles felt like it was hitting him even though there was nothing there. A familiar heat bathed on him. He had felt this heat many times before, but he couldn't exactly figure out from where. Planets ran through his mind. "Mustafar… no. Geonosis….. no." He couldn't figure out where. "Jakk—"
He stopped. It was like he was teleported to a place all he could do was watch. He had no arms, no legs, no body.
"What are you doing?" a young Anakin asked.
"Checking your blood for infections," Qui-Gon tells him. Vader smirked. If only he knew then what Qui-Gon was actually testing. He was teleported once more, but this time he didn't see Qui-Gon; instead it was the burial site of his mother. A place he never wanted to visit again.
He clenched his fists, which could only be seen through the tanks. The droids looked at one another, wondering what his master was seeing.
"These locations…" he said to himself. "It can't be…"
Like a flash, he was teleported onto a beach, but he didn't see any water. Two suns shined down upon him. He ran his hand through the sand—something he despised on the level of Obi-Wan. He grasped it in his hand, smelling it, squeezing before opening his hand and letting it slowly fall back into its place. The sand was familiar to him. To anyone, all sand felt the same, but to him, it was different. He could sense a lifetime of events just by touching it, but this sand, he knew where it was from. "Tatooine," he muttered in distaste.
Buildings made out of sand started to appear around the young Sith. Places he had been before when he was just a child. His old home, where he was enslaved by Watto. The Hutt palace, the small town where he and his mother frequented, but there was a building that appeared that he had never seen before. A small disfigured hut.
He walked up to the building, slowly caressing the badly built wooden door.
Vader walked in slowly, cautious and inspecting everything and anything around him. Inside was a man in a Jedi cloak, cleaning a familiar lightsaber. Upon closer inspection, Vader realized it was his old lightsaber.
The figure stopped, slowly turning his head to stare at Vader. "You…" Vader stopped in his tracks. "I thought I killed you."
"Who are you?!" Vader demanded.
The cloaked figure stood up, taking off his hood to reveal a tired Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Vader stammered back, almost losing his balance. "You…" he stuttered. He was barely able to catch himself. He planted his feet firmly, "You…" he said strictly.
"Oh, Anakin," he said solemnly. "What did they do to you?"
"You did this!" Vader yelled.
"I had no choice, Anakin. What you had become… I had to."
"I will kill you!" he screamed. Vader lunged at his old master. Obi-Wan put out his arm and used all his strength to force push Vader out of the hut.
Vader awoke in his bacta tank. Proxy walked up to him, "Did you find the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi, my Lord?"
He muttered out the word, "Yes."
"Very good, my Lord. Where is he located?"
He snarled, "Tatooine."