Chapter 78 – To Kneel

Author's Note: Vader... desperately needs a hug or a million. *sobs

To Pjo crossovers: Thanks for your longer review! :D Yeah, it was a little sad when Vizma decided to stay, but... it also made sense given how much she's missed her mother. :P

To Jayden: There may be more tender family moments coming up than you think ;)
This is right after Malachor, which happened when Luke and Leia were still 16, so ANH is still a few years out right now.
We saved Satine to kill her off later for several reasons, actually. :P First of all, we hated her death in the Clone Wars because it seemed stupid and pointless and no consequences were ever addressed. It genuinely just seemed to happen to make Obi-Wan sad. Lol. Also, it felt like something ought to change since Theseus went with Obi-Wan to Mandalore, and Satine surviving then made most sense. Especially because if Maul had killed Satine the way he did in Canon, there would be no chance of Theseus being willing to learn from him later.
And at the point when they were escaping Mandalore, it only felt realistic for someone to die, with a heroic death. Also, that was really needed to help push along Marr and Vizma's story arcs in regards to their feelings about the Empire and their willingness to fight. And after Satine was a pacifist her whole life, dying a death like that, fighting to sacrifice herself for everyone seemed very fitting.
Also, at one point we were considering to kill Bo-Katan at that point, so Theseus could have a relationship with Ahsoka later. This was originally supposed to be Ahsoka/OC but his personality wasn't really fitting with hers at all. Lol. Besides, then we found Theseus/Bo-Katan too amazing and didn't want it to end. XD So we settled on Satine dying at that point instead.
Thank you so, so much for reviewing! ! ! :D 💖

To ElvenMatter: Yeah ikr xD

To Bvc: Thanks. :)

Thank y'all so much for reviewing! :D:D:D 💖💖💖

~ Amina Gila

Vader knew Sidious would be furious from the start, but that makes it no easier to tell him what happened on Malachor – or rather, that nothing happened at all. He failed his mission, and that is never something Sidious takes kindly to. It's not something Vader is particularly appreciative of himself, either, but he... he didn't want to. He didn't want to hurt them. He can't say why – they mean nothing to him.

The very fact that Sidious summoned him to Coruscant is enough to know that his master is... not pleased. Vader regretted his decision the moment he left, but he tried to tell himself that it was worth it, but was it? Theseus and Ahsoka are traitors. They must be stopped, for the Empire. There is no excuse for failure.

The look on his master's face is all he needs to know that he is in very big trouble. Not as if he didn't already know that.

He can't lie about it, though. That's out of the question. He doesn't know what would happen if he did, and he knows better than to try. He – obviously – conveniently dodges around how he didn't fight them at all. That is one fact his master does not need to know.

"So, you have failed to defeat these insignificant troublemakers," Sidious says.

"They were more powerful than I anticipated." It's the best answer he can give, because it is true – he had no idea how difficult it would be for him to see them again, and to end them like he had been sent there to do. It doesn't change that he failed, or what will no doubt follow.

"You have failed," Sidious repeats, "To put down an extra troublesome band of rebels." There is an edge in his voice now. "Is it, perhaps, that your old... connection to these two Jedi has been interfering?"

"There is none," Vader denies immediately, perhaps too quickly. There is not. There cannot be. Anakin is gone. He is. (Then why did he let Theseus touch him? Why did he let them walk away? Why did he not even try to kill them?)

"You lack strength," his master growls. "Your mission was to destroy them."

"I will find them." It's a useless effort, he knows, to appease him. Sidious will never let this go.

He feels his master's presence in his mind, and for as expected as it was, he wasn't ready for it to happen. He's always feared his master's... anger and disappointment, both Sidious's and Obi-Wan's before. "It is as I have suspected," his master hisses. "Still the heart of that weak Jedi remains. Destroy him, Lord Vader, or I will be forced to search for a new apprentice. Do not disappoint me again. You are but a tool. You can be discarded as such."

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate gives him strength. That was one of the first lessons he learned as a Sith, and it is true now. (He can't bring himself to hate Theseus though. Ahsoka, perhaps – she did abandon him when he needed her most, but Theseus was still there. He was always there. He tried to help, even if he failed as well.)

His master raises his hands, and Vader's breathing hitches – or it would have if that were physical possible – terror coiling sharply through him. There's only a moment of warning before the lightning consumes him.

He still acutely remembers the last time this happened when he was confronted someone from... Anakin's past. That was years ago.

**w**

"Do you really want him dead?" the First Sister asks, staring at him through the red lenses of his mask. She sees his soul in a way no other can. Vader can't quite say what it is they share – truthfully, he doesn't know, but it's something.

He holds her gaze steadily. She is the only Inquisitor who will occasionally speak to him as an equal if they're alone. He is her superior, but they...

They are something.

He doesn't know.

"I will destroy him," he vows. Not kill. Never. He couldn't. He – he's not Anakin, anymore, but a life without his old master is meaningless. He deserves this, and far, far more, but the loneliness of it is unbearable. He just wants... them to be together again. As if Obi-Wan would do anything except try to kill him on sight. There is only one way they can truly be together again, and he has long since resigned himself to that. Part of him doesn't want to, but – but it doesn't matter.

The First Sister nods. "Then we will find him."

There's something in her gaze that he immediately knows means she's thinking about Sidious. But Vader is planning to destroy Obi-Wan for all intentions and purposes so... Sidious doesn't know. Or so he can hope.

Vader knows the First Sister knows what he really wants, though, but she'll go along with it. She wouldn't say a word of it to anyone, even if it's an unspoken thing between them. They have... a strange not-really loyalty to each other – he can't put a name on it – that they don't have with anyone else.

**w**

They found Obi-Wan. More accurately, the Third Sister did. She's up to something else, Vader knows, but he'll play along with it for now. She's not what's important here anyway. She's serving her purpose, and that's what matters.

Vader can sense Obi-Wan's presence the moment he lands on Mapuzo, though it's heavily shielded. He feels... different. Darker. It's like he's been closing himself off from everything, but he clearly hasn't been, because Vader sensed him earlier. It had been Obi-Wan who reached through their bond.

It's been so many years since he last saw him. So many years since they last fought on Mustafar. He doesn't know how Obi-Wan's going to react now, but... after he shows him the true power of the Dark Side, he will... understand. (And they'll be together again.)

Vader can sense him close as he moves through the streets of a village, but he can't pinpoint specifically where. It's not hard to find him. He senses it when Obi-Wan leaves – or tries to. He knows this... will not be easy, but he has learned much of the strength of the Dark Side since Mustafar. There has never been a fight he couldn't win, or he wouldn't be alive now. Weakness of any form is something the Sith do not tolerate, especially Sidious.

Tracking Obi-Wan outside the town isn't hard. He spots Obi-Wan right up ahead, moving through the darkness. He looks... very much the same as he did when Vader last saw him, only older.

It's going to start in a fight, Vader knows, so he doesn't wait, igniting his lightsaber. Obi-Wan stops in his tracks, looking between Vader and the surroundings, and then he turns and runs.

...What?

Obi-Wan has never been one to run from a fight. Not unless he's intentionally leading it somewhere, which...

He should have expected from the start. It's what he did on Mustafar too, even if the ending had still been an accident. At least he wants to believe it was, though Sidious denies it, and the details are lost through the haze of the agony surrounding it, so he doesn't know.

"You cannot run, Obi-Wan," Vader calls ominously, moving swiftly through the darkness.

A lightsaber hisses to life in the darkness, and the blue glow gives away his former master instantly. "What have you become?"

They're the first words spoken to one another in years – almost as long as they knew one another from the start, but nothing has changed. Not with them. They still are...

Obi-Wan is everything to him. He is all that matters. They forged each other together – and in the end, it was them, and only them, with the power to destroy one another. "I am what you made me."

Obi-Wan extinguishes his lightsaber and takes off running.

Why does he keep doing that?! Or is he simply waiting for Vader to make the first move? If he won't stop running, leading the inevitable fight away from the town, then fine, he'll make the first move. His frustration flares, and with it, the Dark Side – craving, as it always does, for pain and suffering and something to fuel it.

He sees Obi-Wan still moving and sneaks up behind him – the armor does still allow for stealth surprisingly easily, especially since he blends into the darkness so much – igniting his blade and swinging for his head.

Obi-Wan barely blocks him in time, stumbling back a step. He swings at him again, and Obi-Wan nearly falls as he blocks it, backing away. "The years have made you weak," Vader observes, almost incredulously.

It's like he can hardly fight at all. What has he been doing? This isn't the man he remembers. He had come here expecting a fight, perhaps to come as close to death as he was on Mustafar, and then instead, he meets his old master who is, quite frankly, putting up a far worse fight than a mostly untrained youngling. What is he playing at? Is he trying to prolong this and lead Vader somewhere? Or does he honestly want Vader to kill him? He doesn't know what he expected to happen in their... reunion, but it wasn't meant to be like this.

His anger flares, and he throws him back with the Force. Obi-Wan lands very unceremoniously on the ground some twenty feet away, before slowly dragging himself back up again. Vader has so many things to say, so many over the years that he doesn't know where or how to start, but the first one that comes to his mind is firm and undeniable. "You should have killed me when you had the chance." How often did he wish, over the years, that it had ended there?

And then Obi-Wan turns and runs again. He slashes his lightsaber through something next to him, and smoke fills the air, temporarily blocking him from view. As if he truly thought that would be enough to stop Vader? He can still sense him clearly in the Force. Their bond is dimmed, but it's still as strong as ever – there is nowhere in the galaxy in which they can't find one another.

He would have thought, after all this, that Obi-Wan would either be glad to see him or to try to kill him on sight. Neither are happening, and it leaves him both confused and angry. He walks through the smoke unaffected, stalking after. After everything he went through to find Obi-Wan, Vader will not let him go.

"There is no escape," he calls after him, rounding some of the objects scattered across the area.

Obi-Wan still doesn't talk. He's only spoken once, and that – that's not normal. He's never quiet. He talks and talks and talks until Anakin just wanted to throttle him. That was how it once was. Yes, they both have changed but this is...

Or is it that he doesn't even find Vader worth his time? That can't be right – can it? He didn't want to go. He didn't want to... it doesn't matter. He did it, and it was meant to happen. It was their destiny.

Obi-Wan stops finally, turning around to face him. His face looks pale in the dim lighting, lit by the blue glow of his saber. Does he truly find Vader that... repulsive? It was Obi-Wan's doing. Then again, his old master always did look down on... less humans. It's that which spurs him forwards again, lightsaber raised.

Obi-Wan blocks his next blow with as much difficulty as he has been this entire time, backing away. All he's been doing this entire time is running, and it's growing more and more infuriating. His frustration is only mounting, and he lashes out again, throwing Obi-Wan back.

The excuse for a former Jedi master is too caught off guard, and his blade cuts through something, and it explodes with enough force to throw them both to the ground. Vader climbs to his feet as quickly as he can – which is admittedly irritating slowly no thanks to the weight of the armor – but a Force shove hits him first, sending him skidding a few inches back.

Past the flames from the explosion burning between them, he can see Obi-Wan running again, disappearing into the darkness.

Again.

The Inquisitors are searching the city for his companions, which leaves it... decently likely they will still be found. Only decently, considering their blatant incompetence. The First, Third, and Fourth Sisters are the most... useful. The Second Sister once had been, but she is gone now. She outlived her... usefulness. (Rejoice on those passing into the Force, Master Yoda had told Anakin Skywalker a lifetime ago, and still, Vader can't find himself to do that. All he can feel other than a crushing self-loathing is an absolute numbness.)

Fine. Vader will let him win this round, just this once. It won't be the end. They will see each other again, soon, and he fully expects a real fight then.

**w**

The Third Sister's betrayal was expected and dealt with accordingly – as is that of all traitors to the Empire. Vader resolutely ignores the distinct note of self-loathing flooding him. He lets it feed the Dark Side as he always does. It burns, like fire – it has been, since Mustafar, and it hurts so much sometimes, demanding for more. It never ends, and he wants out. He needs out, and the only person who can end it is Obi-Wan.

Vader knows he won't do it, though – at least he doubts it.

The only constant he had in his life was Obi-Wan. He... he wants that again, more than anything. He loathes being alone, but more than that, he just wants his master back. Years and years ago, he had thought the person he couldn't live without was Padme, but he was wrong. Or maybe he was only lying to himself – because the last decade of his life has been spent in a torturous, ceaseless agony that started the moment Obi-Wan left for Utapau.

They were never meant to be apart. Vader can feel that, but he doubts his old master can – he is a Jedi first and foremost. He always has been. But he... he cares. He stayed, didn't he? (Until he didn't.)

The Grand Inquisitor insists they follow the Rebel insurgents, but even if he was right – which is questionable considering that Obi-Wan could be a far greater threat to the Empire than any group of random rebels – Vader only cares for one thing right now.

He doesn't know what he's expecting when he steps off the shuttle to see Obi-Wan standing there waiting with his lightsaber hilt already in his hand, but he knows this will not be an easy fight. He doesn't know if his master wants it. Vader certainly doesn't.

"Have you come to destroy me, Obi-Wan?" he asks, stopping a short distance away from him. In truth, he doesn't know if he's ready to fight him again. Last time he lost... everything. He still distinctly remembers the sapphire blade running him through.

"I will do what I must." The words ring in a glaring echo of Mustafar, as he ignites his lightsaber. It cuts through him as sharply as the blade Obi-Wan is holding. Likely, it was intentional. His master has always been... cruel in that way. He's not merciful to his opponents. He's brutal and that – that is of the Dark Side. Obi-Wan is stubborn, to be sure, but this should be fast.

But even after last time, Obi-Wan is still willing to draw his lightsaber on him without hesitation. It hurts, and he focuses on that, letting the pain of it fill and fuel him. Truthfully, he doesn't... blame Obi-Wan for it, but that doesn't stop the urge to hurt him. Vader doesn't want to hurt him, but he doesn't know what else to do. He knows of no other way – the Dark Side comes with pain until it's user finally accepts it. It still hurts if it's not fed and fueled, but it comes with strength. Strength is... it is all that's kept him alive.

Sidious never showed him mercy or reluctance. He never held back, and if Vader does this to completion, he will have to do it the same – albeit preferably without all the gruesome torture details. He may not be opposed to hurting Obi-Wan in a fight but that? Just, no.

"Then you will die," he cuts back sharply, igniting his lightsaber.

Just like on Mustafar, Vader is the first to move forwards, though Obi-Wan was the first to start it. Their blades clash in rapid succession. Obi-Wan is not the same as he once was, but he's actually fighting again. Unlike before, there is no holding back on Obi-Wan's part. He's swift and brutal, with everything that Vader remembers from him years ago.

Obi-Wan rips down one of the rock structures, and Vader catches it easily. Still, the fact that Obi-Wan is actually making an effort now is... impressive. "Your strength has returned," he remarks, turning his helmet back to where his master stands, hand outstretched towards the object. It's massive, and if Vader hadn't caught it, it would have crushed him. He lets himself feel every bit of the pain and rage that his master is trying to hurt him again and throws it outwards, flinging the boulder far away. "But weakness remains."

At first, he had really, truly believed that Obi-Wan didn't want to hurt him. That's not what he sees now, though. Obi-Wan is attacking him with every bit of the skill Vader remembers he once had. Vader can feel his anger, his determination. He isn't messing around – and neither is Vader. If not for how it happened on Mustafar, Vader has little doubt who would have come out on top. Vader isn't holding back now here, either. He will have to make him angry, hurt him until he snaps. With how angry Obi-Wan already is, that won't be hard. He can feel how there is an open space beneath the rocks right nearby, and he easily enough moves their fight there, circling around until he himself is on safe ground.

Vader gathers the Force to himself and slams his hand down on the rocks, ripping them apart through where he can sense the fissures in the rocks. "And that is why you will always lose." It sends a stab of... something through him when he sees his master fall into the pit below, but really, it's not that deep. It will take this and more for him to learn strength. He can feel his master's growing desperation and it's with that fear. He's heard it countless times from his master – fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to strength.

It's what he must show Obi-Wan. He will understand eventually.

The Dark won't make him hate Vader any more than he already does. All it can do is bring them together again.

He throws a few rocks down on his head for good measure, before turning away. It's not enough to crush him, not if he reaches fully into the Force. His former master has survived far worse odds before. Vader hasn't made it far when he can feel the other coming up behind him again.

Obi-Wan was shielding himself heavily, but it's not enough to hide his rage – it bleeds into the Force, fueling it. When he attacks again, it's lacking the struggle and Light that he had earlier. Now it's entirely of... Vader doesn't know, but it's Dark.

That's something.

Their duel is keeping him on edge regardless, because he remembers distinctly how it went down last time. He doesn't – doesn't want to do that again. He physically couldn't survive it, and there's far more damage Obi-Wan could do to him even without killing him.

His fear fuels him, but it's not enough to shield him when his master throws him a good thirty feet back into one of the rocky structures. He can feel it even through his armor, but he catches himself on one knee awkwardly – it's the same way he would have if he were fully human a decade ago, but it hurts. It hurts more because Obi-Wan is the one hurting him than anything.

He's still holding his lightsaber and is on his way to maneuver back to his feet when the Force flares in warning.

He twists sideways to shield his chest plate and raises his arm to shield his mask as Obi-Wan throws a barrage of rocks at him with the Force. He pushes himself forwards, anyway, refusing to be deterred. Obi-Wan really is trying to kill him. He doesn't know what to feel about that. He resolutely doesn't think about it – it's what he'd been going for, after all – and moves closer, swinging his lightsaber at Obi-Wan again. His master blocks it, and Vader shoves him back with the force of his blow.

It's the look on his master's face that terrifies him most. He hasn't seen that fierce determination turned on him in years. This is the man who took everything from him – he took his body, and he took Padme and his child, no matter if Vader should have been strong enough to stop it. Vader well understands what the consequences of this could be if he's not careful.

He should have seen it coming. In hindsight, it was obvious. Vader grabs his wrist, partly intent on just ending it here and now – it won't be hard from here, really – but the moment he touches him, feels the contact faintly through his glove, he realizes with startling clarity that part of him really doesn't want to do this. He doesn't want to hurt him. He doesn't even want him Fallen. He just wants...

He just wants Obi-Wan back.

It's so fast after that. Obi-Wan ducks and spins around, reversing their positions. Their sabers clash again, once, twice, and then...

Obi-Wan swings his lightsaber around, and Vader's gaze was fixed on the blade, but the sheer distraction of feeling Obi-Wan's hand on his own is throwing him off, and –

Obi-Wan's lightsaber hilt rams full-force against his chest plate.

Vader lets go of him, stumbling to regain his footing as it starts sparking, the mechanism damaged and his respirator giving out. He can breathe without it, but barely. His lungs were badly damaged on Mustafar – presumably damaged from the air when the rest of his organs started giving out. Vader slashes at him again, anyway, well accustomed to fighting through any sort of pain.

Obi-Wan flicks out a hand, throwing a rock at him with the Force. It throws him off-balance again, but he forces himself up, bracing one hand against a nearby rock and shoving himself to his feet again, tightening his grip on his lightsaber and lunging again. Maybe – maybe Sidious was right, and he was imagining their final conversation on Mustafar. Maybe it was never real.

His respirator is giving out, barely working, and it's disorienting him enough to stumble when he lunges again. Obi-Wan sidesteps the lunge, whipping around him and slashes his lightsaber across his back.

The scream that escapes him is cut off by another one of his respirators attempts to work – it is, but only somewhat. He hits the ground, hard, landing on his side.

It's still smoking when he forces himself back up, with every bit of the sheer willpower and stubbornness that he's always carried. He's stumbling, though, but he won't give up – he can't. He came too far to fail now. He swings his lightsaber at Obi-Wan again, who blocks it, the same look in his eyes. He flicks out his left hand, throwing Vader back with the Force again. It's been a long, long time since someone injured him this badly, since someone came this close to killing him. It was Ryloth, but he and Sidious were there together, and he remembers, distinctly, them fighting together.

That was what he wanted again when came looking for Obi-Wan, when he tried to bring them back together.

Obi-Wan is not holding back anymore, if the rage whipping around him is anything to go by. Vader is only halfway to forcing himself back to his feet when Obi-Wan lunges at him, lightsaber raised. He knew it could get this far, but it's too much, too fast. "Obi-Wan," he starts, even knowing any attempt to stop him now will be fruitless.

He raises his own to block him, shoving himself back to his feet – frankly, the number of times he's had to stand up again so far is ridiculous – but he misjudged the move again. He thought Obi-Wan was coming at him, but he aimed for his head. Vader jerks back barely fast enough to avoid getting it taken off, but it's not fast enough. The blade slashes through his helmet and cuts down deep enough that it burns across his skin before he falls back to his knees.

The left side of his mask falls to the ground, the remainder of it sparking furiously. He's decently proud of the fact that he manages not to scream. Obi-Wan is standing over him now, his lightsaber still out as if he anticipates a threat, as well as he should because even this isn't enough to stop him. Even so, it doesn't stop his sudden, inexplicable desire to cry.

He knew it would come to this, and that their relationship would be full of constant pain, but he didn't expect that to be so soon. This couldn't be worse than Sidious, he reminds himself. If he'll have to blindly serve someone forever, he has no questions who he'd rather it be. The sudden rush of air against his face is unexpected. It reminds him painfully – literally – of what it felt like once when he was whole and free.

Obi-Wan is stilled again, instead of trying to attack him again like he had almost expected. The wind blows across his face for the first time in years, blowing through his curls – he's kept them short, so they don't get in his way, but it... he missed this.

And it was Obi-Wan who took it from him.

No matter of how much Vader deserved this.

He deserves every bit of this and more, to never be human again for all the lives he's taken. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

"Anakin." It's the first thing Obi-Wan says since the start of their duel. He's calling for someone who's gone, who died years ago. (He also resolutely ignores how there's a part of him that wants to be that person, if only to see Obi-Wan look at him again the same way he did years ago.)

His helmet is still sparking, and with a start he realizes that – that this is the same time Obi-Wan has seen him in years, and he looks up, finally, seeing his master's face for the first time in years, illuminated by the blue glow of his lightsaber.

No.

Not his master. Not – not yet. Obi-Wan was... the master of another, and he doesn't understand that the person he used to know is gone forever, or perhaps he never existed – if it's true that those in Anakin's family only wanted him to be... what they wanted.

Anakin was... he had a family. Years ago.

Vader has no one. He never has. "Anakin is gone," he replies, struggling to stand again. Moving hurts, but everything hurts, and that is normal, only his head is spinning both from pain and lack of oxygen. His back throbs, and he knows if he tries to keep fighting, he'll be stumbling blindly, and Obi-Wan will hurt him even more. That's not enough to keep him down though. It never has been, in all that he forced himself up and to keep moving. "I am what remains."

Obi-Wan stares at him in silence for a moment, visibly shaken. The only other time Vader saw seen him this close to tears was on Mustafar. "I'm sorry, Anakin. For everything."

He – what?! That... doesn't make sense. Obi-Wan never apologizes. He looks so... broken and hurt that for the first time in years, Vader can't find it in himself to stand by and watch. "I'm not your failure, Obi-Wan."

"Then why have you been searching for me?"

The question is... a little unexpected, but he'll have to explain eventually anyway. "You must learn the power of the Dark Side."

Obi-Wan's expression immediately starts turning angry again. "I will never Fall."

"You have already touched the Dark Side. You have seen its power," he starts to argue. That's what he'd been trying to show him this whole time. Obi-Wan has felt it. He knows it.

"The Anakin I knew would never want this."

"You still do not understand." He can't help the surge of annoyance he feels as he drags himself upright. "Anakin is dead. I destroyed him."

For a long moment, Obi-Wan says nothing, a strange mixture of pain and anger on his face. "I did not want to believe you were truly lost, but now I see my friend is truly gone." He turns, walking away.

What...? That wasn't supposed to be how it would end. They were supposed to be together, and now, Obi-Wan is turning his back on him, walking away again. He's leaving him. Force knows why he thought he knew pain before this moment. His master, the one person he always – always loved, even now, is walking away because Vader can't be who he wants him to be. "Obi-Wan!"

His master doesn't stop or look back.

He wants to weep, but he physically can't – at least not longer than a few moments. His respirator will never go as fast as it needs to.

Vader stumbles a few steps after before the pain and exhaustion catch up to him, and he falls to his knees. "Obi-Wan! Master!" His cries are in vain, as they always are. Obi-Wan, his only hope at a... different future left him here. Abandoned him. His anger burns fiercely, but that's nothing compared to the raw agony of it. He doesn't know what it is, but – but something about him is too broken and messed up for anyone to care for him. Always. (Except Theseus – he's the only one who didn't leave, and it's best if Vader never sees him again. It'd be easier than dealing with this again.)

His pain slowly morphs into a raw, blinding fury as he drags himself across the ground towards his shuttle. He can't walk, and it's mostly the Dark Side that spurs him onwards. He wants to hurt the person who caused him this pain. He offered everything to Obi-Wan – went as far as betraying Sidious, and he just walked away.

**w**

Lightning is excruciating – always has been, and his respirator can't begin to keep up with the air he needs. His screams are broken by the machine as it works, keeping him alive. It doesn't last long, but that doesn't make it any easier.

"You must start over with fear," Sidious hisses. He had known what Vader wanted with Obi-Wan back then. He had ordered Vader to call off the search, and he had. What else could he do? Turning Obi-Wan will not be nearly as simple as he anticipated, and... Sidious would figure it out long before. He would much prefer not finding out what the punishment for betrayal would be.

"I will do as you ask, my master," Vader replies, head bowed, his hatred surging. This is where he will always be, kneeling at his master's feet. Always. Forever.

There is no escape.

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And! We have a YT channel for tributes! Please delete the spaces in the link. :D youtube channel / UC_g1M5rSCxJUzQCRS29B6pA

Finally, if you're interested, you can submit a SW gift fic request via the following form (delete the spaces): forms . gle / rmXWtRomMMaULuPa6

NEW: We've just opened a SW Anakin-clones fic request form as well. :) (delete the spaces): forms . gle / SC5gBdwhXpTNJidr7