Author's Note: Wow, awesome, I got a review already! Thanks so much Hieiko! (cool name, by the way) Yeah, maybe it'd be good if I explained the terms of my alternate universe: Obi-Wan does not walk away from Anakin at the end of the Revenge of the Sith. Obi-Wan also doesn't injure him as badly, only cutting off one leg at the knee instead of three limbs (because I didn't think I could write Anakin as a quadriplegic, to be honest). And Padmé doesn't die, because with Obi-Wan's "rescue" of Anakin she still has a reason to live.
I'm glad you like it! Below I try my hand at Sidious's point of view. I'm not sure how well I did—pure evil is difficult to write or understand, and I don't see much else in Sidious's character.
Three
Mustafar—searing, roiling flame against the still darkness of space.
Darth Sidious closed his eyes, drinking in the untamed power of the molten world below him. He could almost taste his success, his ultimate victory. The feeling of it was intoxicating. The Jedi were gone. He had defeated Yoda himself in combat, even if the little Jedi Master had escaped death in the end. He had declared himself dictator for life of the fledgling Empire and had been greeted in the Senate with thunderous applause.
All that remained was to reclaim his new apprentice and consolidate his hold on the galaxy with Lord Vader at his side.
The ship settled down on the landing platform of the planet, and one of his clone troopers came up to Sidious to inform him of the landing. "Yes, I know," he replied, brushing off the soldier's words, and moved to leave the ship for the planet.
Something wasn't right. The feeling of danger that had brought him here had spiked, red and black in the Force, some time ago. Now it had faded. Now there was—something else, some feeling he couldn't quite identify. A . . . strange premonition. Vader's presence seemed strangely faded, far away and difficult to pinpoint through the Force. Sidious closed his eyes and reached out to the darkness around him to get a clearer idea of where his wayward apprentice had gone.
His eyes snapped open and focused on a slope of crumbling shale some distance away and farther down, near one of the rivers of lava that crisscrossed the world. He got a sense of Vader's presence from the spot, but it was still odd, more like an implanted echo of fierce emotion than the new Dark Lord's actual signature in the Force. "Come," Sidious snapped to the clones. Perhaps there was greater need for haste than he had thought.
His suspicions proved to be correct when he reached the place where the Force led him, the clone troopers following obediently behind. His sense of Vader was strong, but there was no trace of the boy himself.
Sidious closed his eyes again and stretched out his hand over the crumbling bank of rock, reaching out to the Force to strengthen his perceptions of the events that had taken place here what couldn't have been too long ago. He felt great emotion here. Anger, hatred, pain, terror, desperation, sorrow, guilt—whatever had happened would be simple to trace through the Force.
A wavering image formed before his eyes—that tenacious pest of a Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, stood with his feet firmly planted on the slope of crumbling shale, facing down Vader, who stood on a repulsorlift platform floating above the flow of lava, seething with rage. Sidious's lips curved in a smile of cruel approval as he felt the boy's fury through the Force. With training to focus and shape that anger, Vader would become a powerful Sith indeed—the perfect apprentice he had long searched for.
As Sidious watched the memory of the emotions that still lingered in the Force, Vader flung himself forward at Kenobi, raising his lightsaber in a reckless swing meant to separate Kenobi's head from his shoulders. The Jedi Master spun away in a quick dodge and brought his own saber down in a slash to his opponent's legs.
Sidious could feel Vader's pain echoing through the Force even now. With one leg severed at the knee, he lost his balance and tumbled down the rocky slope on his side in an uncontrolled freefall. He caught himself precariously halfway down by digging his real hand into the gravel above him and hung there for a moment, staring up at Kenobi. The agony of betrayal resonated from both men as they stared at each other. Surges of pain, rage, hate, indescribable loss twisted the Force.
And then Vader opened his hand and let go, letting his head drop as he rolled down the slope to the lava river. In the last moment before he toppled into the roiling magma, a desperate plea for help reverberated down the bond he had shared with the other Jedi. Kenobi dropped to his knees and flung out a hand to catch him with the Force just inches from the molten river.
Sidious's mouth twisted in disgust as Kenobi levitated Skywalker's limp body into his arms, cradling the unresponsive form against him as gently as if the boy was actually his brother instead of just a former apprentice he had nearly killed a moment ago.
Anakin groaned and turned his face into Kenobi's shoulder, his good hand clutching at the cloth of the Jedi's tunic.
Sidious dismissed the Force vision as he opened his eyes, a wave of fury crashing through him. What was this? He had fully expected the Jedi to kill Vader if his new apprentice slipped and foolishly allowed one of them the opportunity.
Did Kenobi think he could "save" the boy or some such nonsense? Pathetic fool. Skywalker was his now—now that Vader had tasted the power of the dark side he would never go back. The new Dark Lord would never be turned from the sinister path he had chosen.
Such was the power of the dark side.
Sidious would have to find the boy, get him away from that Jedi fool—how had Kenobi survived the purge, anyway? Kenobi, of all people? Sidious had thought he'd made certain that annoying Jedi had been finished off for good.
No matter, soon the last of the Jedi would be dead in truth and Skywalker would be in his power once more. "Return to the ship," Sidious ordered the clones who had accompanied him. "Ready it for takeoff."
He closed his eyes again. It was clear that Vader was there no longer, but there was more than one way to find someone through the Force, especially a Sith apprentice. Sidious felt a black smile curve his lips as he opened his senses wide to the dark power that always waited around him, searching for Vader's presence.
It wouldn't be long now.
