Chapter 63:
Vader meditated, his thoughts buried deep in the dark side of the Force. He thought over the recent occurrences, particularly his confrontation with Mara Jade. He was determined not to let her words disturb him; he was Dark Lord of the Sith, and her impertinence knew no bounds, now more than ever. But he would deal with her later, or ensure that his apprentice dealt with her appropriately.
And the vision. He told himself he would not contemplate the vision any longer, but even as he thought it, the images sprang into his mind once more.
"NO! Padmé…" Despair and helplessness filled him as he literally watched the life drained from her. Then Atrox was at their side, a grim determination in his eyes. Opening himself completely to the raw energy of the Force, he poured it into Padmé's failing body, fighting to bring her back from over the edge of death. Vader watched them both with growing shock and alarm, fearing to lose both his wife and his son as he felt the power burning through Atrox faster than he could release it.
With a gasp, Padmé sat up, her brown eyes clear and bright once more. Hope surged through him as he caught her into his arms, then horror returned even stronger as Atrox collapsed, utterly consumed by the power it had taken to bring Padmé back from death.
"Luke!" Padmé cried, pulling away from Vader to cradle her son's head in her lap.
He looked up at her, dazedly. "Mother… forgive me..." his voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. "Tell Mara… I love… you all…" A trace of a smirk crossed his face. "Does this… redeem me?"
Padmé nodded, brokenly, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Luke… no…"
Leia took her brother's hand and squeezed it gently, her numbed mind barely registering the fact that it was Luke Skywalker there now; Darth Atrox was finally no more.
Mara reached them a moment later, her expression almost as tortured and ragged as Luke's was. She almost tore him away from Padmé, gently turning his head so she could look into his eyes one last time. "Mara…" he breathed the word, almost too faint to make out. "I… love…"
"No…" she whispered, fiercely. "I will not let you go… I love you…"
Somehow he summoned his last strength to touch her cheek, and even as he did so his hand fell to his side again, and the light died from his bright blue eyes.
Vader awoke with a terrible start, cold sweat beading on his brow. He tried to dispel the images of his son crumpled on the ground, dead, but could not. The Anakin in him recoiled in horror, stunned by the turn of events. He stumbled to the door, seeking, needing his Angel, his lifeline, to pull him together.
The door slid open and he nearly ran into Padmé, who had finally returned to their quarters. She stared at him, concerned. "A-Ani? What happened? You look…"
He pulled her into his arms, wordlessly. She embraced him, sensing that something terrible had happened, and that he needed her. "Anakin…" she said softly, looking up at him with compassion in her eyes. "Tell me what's wrong."
Vader hesitated for several moments, unable to tell her about what had just happened because of the shock he was still in. "I- I can't tell you, Padmé," he said softly, tightening their embrace. Several more moments passed, before he looked her in the eyes, shock still evident in his own. "I can show you... if you're willing to go through my most recent... vision."
Padmé wavered, knowing how frightening his visions could be, then nodded, accepting. "Show me."
He gently opened his mind into hers, pouring his memory of the vision across her sight.
"NO! Padmé…"
"Mother… forgive me..."
"I will not let you go…"
"I love you…"
As the images faded, Padmé collapsed into his arms, sobbing quietly. "Oh, Ani… we… we can't let that happen. It can't."
He held her tightly against her grief, and said softly, "Do you still doubt his love for you?"
"No," she said in a small voice. A sudden determination lit her eyes. "I need to see him." She hesitated. "Will you be all right until I come back?" At his nod, she kissed his cheek, softly, and left the room.
At the knock on the door, Mara glowered, but sensed that it was Padmé, and let her in. She communicated to her master her intention to… motivate the crew, and departed, allowing mother and son to be alone.
Padmé was silent, suddenly hesitant, feeling Atrox's eyes on her. Finally, she burst out, "Would you truly sacrifice your life to save mine?"
Darth Atrox watched silently from beneath his cowl, his yellow eyes bewildered, as she walked up to him, clearly distraught. "What are you talking about, mother?" Then he sensed it... his father had another vision. He tossed her question around in his mind for several moments. Finally, he spoke up, his voice a whisper as he nodded. "For a member of my family, someone I truly love, in a heartbeat."
His words stunned her, both confirming her fears and wiping away her doubts. When she was able to gain control of her emotions once more, she murmured, "Forgive me… I'm sure you must have thought my question strange."
Atrox nodded in return, sensing her thoughts. "You... wondered if I loved you? Why? What happened?" he asked.
Her face creased in pain. "I… it's too terrible. I-I can't..."
Atrox came towards her and embraced her, gently. She accepted his support, wordlessly, tears coming to her eyes once more at her son's unusual compassion. "I'm… I'm sorry… I didn't expect you to care for any of us so strongly."
Atrox took a slight step back from his mother, gently using the Force to lift her face up to look at his own. He closed his eyes, focusing on himself, focusing on temporarily restoring his normal appearance. It took several moments as he strained with concentration and sheer will. Finally, he opened his eyes again, this time shining bright blue along with his normal tanned appearance. He forced himself to smile at his mother through the strain he was under and tried to hold his normal appearance for as long as he could before becoming too drained from it.
Padmé's eyes met his, and she simply stared, stunned and touched by his gift to her. Unable to speak, she took in her son's natural appearance, temporarily unravaged by the dark side. "Luke…" she murmured wistfully, reaching out to touch his arm. "My precious son… t-thank you."
Padmé's touch was enough to distract Atrox from the difficult task he was attempting to accomplish. Almost instantly, his appearance had completely reverted to the way it was a few moments earlier. He stepped forward once again and continued their embrace. "I love you, mother," he whispered softly.
"I love you, my son," she said softly in reply.
Leia wandered back towards her quarters slower than her mother, taking the time to reflect on what had happened. Lost in thought, she struck someone in the passage, which promptly shook her out of her reverie. "I'm so sorry, I—father?" She broke off, seeing that it was him. "Are you all right? You look terrible."
"Another vision." Vader's voice was hoarse, strained, and she could feel that he was barely holding himself together.
"Will you show it to me?" she asked, softly.
He opened his mind to her, replaying the disturbing images for her to see. When they finished, she was silent, stunned by what had happened.
"Father, that… that's terrible," she said at last. Hesitating a moment, she reached up and embraced him, tightly.
He returned his daughter's embrace, sensing her love and concern.
Mara glared at the crew as they completed the preparations for departure, lashing out at them with the dark side of the Force when they did not operate up to her standards.
The men eyed her, resentful of her abuse but not daring to say anything. "Since when did that turncoat start keeping trained nexu on his leash?" one of the younger, brasher men muttered under his breath.
Almost before the words were out of his mouth, he felt an invisible hand on his throat, cutting off his breath and slamming him into the bulkhead. Mara's eyes were cold, menacing. "What… did you say?" she growled, daring him to repeat it.
The man gasped for air, his face slowly turning grey from asphyxiation. "N-n-nothing, m-my l-lady!" he choked out desperately.
She held him a moment longer, eyes narrowed, then hurled him down the corridor, slamming him into the blast door at the end of it. He groaned, and tried to sit up as Mara stormed towards him, eyes burning. "No one speaks about Lord Atrox that way in my presence. Ever. Am I clear?" She punctuated each word with a blast of Force lightning, lancing through the unfortunate crewman, ignoring his screams. One of the man's comrades broke rank and ran towards her, exclaiming "Stop!" With a single thought, she sent him flying down against the bulkhead at the opposite end of the corridor, just as she ended his friend with a final blast of lightning. "Back to work! All of you!" she snapped, turning on the others. "We leave in less than an hour, and I will not have Lord Atrox find things unprepared."
Without a word, they went back to their tasks with new fear and motivation, realizing that, like Lord Vader and Lord Atrox, Mara Jade was not to be crossed.
Padmé left her son to prepare himself for his mission; it was unlikely there would be an opportunity for hot showers where they were going. She found herself wandering the ship looking for Mara, wanting to warn her about the vision. She found her belaboring the rest of the crew, making the final preparations for her master to depart. "Mara…" she hesitated. "May I have a word? In private," she added, with a glance at the men.
Mara eyed her, suspiciously, but sensed nothing malicious from her. Drawing her into a side room, she turned on her. "What is it?"
"I thought you should know what An… what Lord Vader's most recent vision involved," Padmé said, gravely.
"I already know about the one where you're killed," Mara cut her off, brusquely.
"There's another," Padmé replied sorrowfully. "In… in this vision, Luke… uses his power to save my life… at the cost of his own." She softly related to Mara the details of what had happened, as best she could.
Mara turned deathly pale, then her expression darkened, turning from shock to anger and fear. Without another word to Padmé she stormed out of the room, straight for her master's quarters.
She slammed the door open, and stood in the doorway, glaring. Atrox glanced up at her as he was dressing, then paused when he saw the look on her face. Before he could ask what had happened, she
hurled him across the room, slamming him against the bulkhead. "How… dare… you…" she ground out, shaking with rage. Lightning crackled at her fingertips, and she unleashed all her fear and anger and frustration on him, almost past caring whether it hurt him or not. "How dare you leave me alone with the children?! Don't you care what happens to us?" She didn't give him a chance to reply before increasing the power of her attacks, wanting desperately to punish him, to make him understand. Tears began forming in her eyes, blurring her vision, unable to see the changes taking place in Atrox's appearance as he began instinctively to use the pain to fuel his power. "Don't we matter to you at all?" she asked, her voice hoarse and broken from emotion and shouting. She continued to assail him with wave after wave of the deadly bolts, before she finally slammed him into the wall again.
She walked towards him, slowly, suddenly feeling cold and empty inside. Her hand went out, and she lifted him into the air by the throat, bringing him up to look him in the eye. She held his gaze a long moment, then said, her voice quiet, "I thought I meant something more to you than that. Or if not me, then our baby, our children!" She released him, and turned away, still numb, devoid of feeling, though the tears continued to flow silently down her cheeks.
Darth Atrox completely cut off contact with everyone in the Force, completely closing off his bond with his apprentice.
The last contact Mara Jade received through her bond with her master was a single thought from him. If you were any other person, I would kill you where you stand.
He slowly got up and limped out of their quarters, his eyes now glowing a sickly blood-red. He stalked off slowly, painfully, towards the shuttle where he had found his mother earlier. He assumed a meditative posture in the middle of the shuttle's now pitch-black lounge, completely embracing his pain and the darkness around him.
Mara sank down in the middle of the now-empty room, despair welling up inside her and spilling over into bitter tears. Numbly, she sensed a change in the tiny presences inside her, and the small part of her mind that was unhampered by grief wondered if they were reacting to their father's disappearance.