Authors Note: Hey Everyone! Hope you all are doing alright! This is the next chapter, make sure to tell me if you like it! Enjoy! Lots of Love - Lorna :)
Obi Wan had fallen asleep, fitfully granted, but asleep none the less. Anakin came staggering in, walking heavily and looking worse than Obi Wan had ever seen him with few exceptions.
He was pale, sweat glistened on his forehead, but he was shivering as if he were cold. He walked with heavy, unsteady footsteps and clutched his arm as though he had injured it. He didn't bother to even acknowledge Obi Wan as he stumbled blindly away.
"Anakin?" Obi Wan whispered raggedly, drowsily sitting up. Anakin shot him a glare straight from the fiery inferno, looking horribly frightening and slightly psychopathic with the shadows contorting his face.
Obi Wan however was not like everyone else, he had seen that look one to many times to ever truly be scared it, even if it was much more impressive now. With wobbly feet, he stood up and stiffly walked towards Anakin who was hunched over the a counter, eyes scrunched tightly, shivering even as sweat appeared on his forehead.
"Anakin?"
"Don't- don't call me that." Vader whispered hoarsely, shaking his head as though he could shake the name with it. "Not, not now." He mumbled.
"Why?" Obi Wan asked. He rustily reached out in the force, trying to find their bond, if it even still existed. He found nothing before the force became too overwhelming.
Without a response, Anakin abruptly turned and retched on the floor, collapsing with a hollow thud. He didn't seem to have much in his system to cough up, but he continued to gag on fits of roughly brought in air.
Obi Wan fell beside him, instinctively searching for ways to help. It was only when Anakin had curled up in basically fetal position on the ground clutching his head tightly between his fists, Obi Wan managed to piece it together.
"Palpatine finished on you, this is your punishment for stopping him, isn't it?" Obi Wan gaped. "You've been gone for hours."
A statement, and a question.
All Anakin did was hiss painfully.
Obi Wan just stared at him for a moment. Anakin groaned, gingerly moving to curl more tightly around himself. Clumsily, Obi Wan managed to fill Anakin a glass of water. He knelt down to give it to the man, placing it against his former padawan's mouth.
"Drink this, you told me you get dehydrated quickly."
Vader took a couple greedy sips, water dribbling down his chin. Obi Wan pulled the glass away.
"Your going to make yourself ill by drinking to quickly. Try to slow down."
"Yes, Master." Anakin rasped with unseeing eyes. Obi Wan had the unsettling theory that these sessions with the emperor made Anakin very vulnerable to suggestion, any suggestion. He decided to test that theory.
"Vader, sit up."
Immediately Anakin pushed himself up despite his obvious discomfort.
"Go lay on your bed."
There was a slight pause in Anakin's movements, something sharpening in his gaze that spoke of coherence, but it disappeared the moment Obi Wan repeated the order. Anakin complied, forcing himself to his feet and stumbling toward his bed on unsteady footsteps. He collapsed on the hard bed with no care for his well being.
"How long does this last."
Anakin groaned but replied, "It depnds'." He slurred. "Few hrs' maybe."
Obi Wan contemplated making a hasty escape but even if Vader wasn't chasing him, there were plenty of people on this ship and he wasn't exactly incospicuous. People would know. Besides, he couldn't leave Anakin like this, not knowing what he did, especially now that he could get some real answers.
"Anakin, Why does he force you to do this?"
"Don't call me that." Vader hissed absently. "He doesn't force me to do anything, at least not really, I could probably stop him but I let him."
Obi wan looked at his former padawan in horror. "Why do you let him to this?"
"Deserve it." Anakin whispered. "I like the pain. I want him to hurt me."
Obi Wan nearly retched upon hearing the words, but he kept going. One more question.
"Why?"
Anakin shifted on the bed, putting himself into an uncomfortable position. "Cause' I know I do bad things. I can't stop myself, but I hurt people, so I deserve to be hurt. I like to break things, so somebody should break me too."
Obi Wan, as angry as he was at Anakin, because make no mistake some part of obi wan was furious that his Padawan could do this, still loved Anakin.
"If you know you do bad things, why don't you just stop?"
"I can't."
"Why?"
Anakin glared at him. "I don't know. I can't though."
"What can't you control? Your emotions or your actions?" Obi wan asked. He was too curious to stop now, especially when e wa guaranteed an answer. Something in the back of his head felt guilty, because Anakin wasn't exactly willingly given him these answers but the other part scoffed it away. Obi Wan was a prisoner, he might as well learn all he could, and this was basically a gift from the force.
"Either, both. I don't know. I just have too."
A pause.
"Why did you fall to the Dark Side?"
"Because the Jedi were traitors and the Emperor could help me. The Jedi wouldn't."
"So you killed them?!"
"I didn't know that was the plan when I signed up. It wasn't like there was a meeting on what Palpatine was planning. He said he could end the war, bring peace and save Padme. I was willing to sell my soul for that."
"But when you found out, why did you do it?"
"The Jedi were traitors, but they didn't deserve to die."
"But you killed them anyway." Anger.
"Yes. I- I don't know why. I didn't want to. I told Palpatine I wouldn't."
"But you did."
"Yes."
"Do you regret it? Do you even feel guilty about what you did? You slaughtered children Anakin!"
"Don't call me that, Ben." Vader growled.
"Do you feel guilty?" Obi Wan repeated.
"Yes. I hate what I've done and I hate myself. Is that what you want? I hate the galaxy and I hate the force. I hate palpatine, I hate you, and I hate myself most of all."
Obi Wan was taken aback. "No Anakin, None of this is what I wanted. I never wanted this for you."
All anakin could do was laugh. "Yet here we are."
"Indeed." Obi Wan said sadly. "You should sleep."
Anakin tried to fight the command, growling and snapping, but after Palpatine's manipulation and mental torture, Anakin was just to susceptible and tired to fight it off.
"I hate you Obi Wan." Anakin ground out.
"I hate you too Vader." Obi Wan replied with a frown. "I hate what you've done to my friend, and I hate that you've made him feel so broken that he actively seeks out things that hurt, because that's the only way to escape."
Vader moaned and then fell asleep.
"I hate that I don't know how to fix this."