Monsters of Mustafar
Author's Note: Don't ask what this is. I don't know either. XD
This is also a gift for QuietWolfie on Ao3. :)
~ Tirana Sorki
Sidious doubts his apprentice's castle is much to look at. Vader has never been one for colors or creativity, but this is his first visit to Castle Vader. The building's design is elaborate and Sithly on the outside, which he's pleased to see. The towering door opens as he approaches, letting him inside.
Vader is waiting for him right inside, kneeling when he enters. His hood is pulled low over his head, mostly concealing his face. That he was able to heal from his injuries on Mustafar is still surprising. Sidious doesn't understand how it happened, only that when he found him mostly dead on the lava bank, he was suddenly a vampire and his body was slowly healing on its own, a rate far more rapid than it ought to. The Dark Side is a pathway to many abilities considered unnatural, and considering this is – was – Anakin Skywalker, he is entirely unsurprised that something that unheard of had happened from embracing the Dark Side. It isn't a disadvantage, just an unexpected complication, if that.
"Rise," Sidious tells him dismissively, looking past him.
It's not his apprentice's presence that he finds initially unusual. It's the wolves lining each side of the massive entrance hall. They're varying shades of brown, though Sidious wasn't aware there were brown wolves.
Not that it's something of concern, of course, though it is exceedingly odd. Vader is bound to be up to all sorts of irrational things, considering his present state. All the wolves are tense, snarling as they pass through.
Vader pauses to pet one of them, and Sidious gives him a disapproving look. Sith are not to be affectionate or compassionate with any creatures, and his apprentice must learn that.
One wolf that really catches his attention is a blonde colored one with abnormally short fur compared to the rest of them. Something about it seems a little familiar, but he can't explain how.
There are a few of them that look a little different. A dark brown one, same shade as the others, though a little smaller, and another almost identical blond-colored one. Another is curled around it, bigger but lighter. A large gray one, that perks up, snarling and hissing furiously when he sees them – it has an odd scar-like mark around his right eye. And there's a very, very big one that looks even more vicious, missing half it's left ear and a very large patch of fur.
What stands out the most of all is a black one that's lacking a good amount of it's fur, some sort of mechanical headpiece embedded into it's head. All the way down it's spine are mechanical implants, and it's back legs and front, right leg are metal. What is this one? Is his apprentice practicing his mechanical skills on his wolf pets now? Sidious is almost proud.
Though as for where he found all these wolves, the Sith Master is not entirely certain.
"Where did you find these wolves?" Sidious inquires.
The black, mostly mechanical wolf trots after them, nosing Vader's hand and snarling quietly.
"It's a long story," Vader replies, "They're... the clones. I do not understand what it is but being on Mustafar has changed them. It did the same to me."
This was caused by Mustafar? "Why am I only hearing about this now?" If the planet is so powerful in the Dark Side that it can change the forms of beings, he should have known long ago.
"It... did not seem important," Vader offers, shifting a little uncomfortably.
Sidious keeps walking, giving his apprentice a pointed disapproving look. He expected higher of him, but keeping him waiting and analyzing is preferable to outright confrontation.
...also, since when did Vader get all the clones to live with him on Mustafar?
**w**
For the size of the castle, Sidious expected an elaborate dining hall – not a tiny table with only four chairs at it. He's never eaten at such a small table in his entire life.
But what really gets his attention are the two creatures that run over to Vader the moment he enters the room. He's never seen such strange creatures in his life. They look a bit like humanoid mice – considering they're huge furry ears – but not really, at the same time. They are covered in spotted patterns of black and white fur, and their markings are identical except that where one has black spots the other is white, and vice versa.
"What are those?" Sidious demands.
Pets do not belong in the dining room.
Vader smiles fondly, a look full of adoration and completely unbefitting of a Sith Lord. "They're my children."
His children?
He had better not be acting like those stupid pet owners who call their animals their children.
"Luke, Leia," Vader says before Sidious can call him out on such utter stupidity, "This is the Emperor."
Wait.
He means these are really his children? What in the name of the Dark Side –
"Hi," one of them offers, furry face pinching in what looks like a frown.
The other edges a little behind the first one, saying nothing.
It's been five years since Luke and Leia were born, but Sidious never did ask to meet them. There was no point while they were still so young. It would not be worth his time to indulge in a meeting with little children when they are practically incapable of using the Force, and certainly most incapable of learning the Dark Side.
"What are they?" he asks dubiously, "They are not human."
Considering Vader is half Force and apparently a vampire now, it makes sense his children may be non-human, but this?
"I think they're gremlins," Vader replies, a little awkwardly, "This is how they looked when they were born."
...Okay then.
The four of them go to sit at the ridiculously tiny table, and a golden protocol droid brings in food for Sidious and the... gremlins. Vader only gets a cup of water for some reason.
The wolf that followed Vader into the room trots over to sit next to his seat, briefly rubbing its head against his leg. Vader pats it on the head before it settles onto the floor next to him.
He's hurt this wolf, but still managed to keep it loyal to him?
That, Sidious is impressed with. Perhaps he's a better Sith Lord than he often appears. So Sidious doesn't get why he feels so strangely light now that they're in here.
The gremlins grab at their food, eating it like literal animals.
Seriously, manners.
What has Vader been teaching them?
Clearly nothing about the Dark Side yet. With how ridiculous they look, Sidious doesn't know how well they could become Sith Lords, anyway, which isn't ideal. Maybe he needs to give it a few years until they're a little older.
The meal is still strange, though, especially when he's the only one actually eating.
"Why are you only drinking?" Sidious asks finally.
Vader's hands tighten on the water and he shifts a little uncomfortably. "I don't really... eat."
Is he that strong in the Dark Side now?
Sidious looks down at the gremlins; they do feel strong in the Force, like Skywalkers. "I have waited to meet you for a long time," he says.
They both look up at him.
"I have a question," one of them says. He can't begin to keep them apart.
"Ask," he replies.
"Why are you so ugly?"
...
Vader coughs, then hastily takes a drink.
"The Jedi injured me when they attempted to assassinate me years ago," Sidious replies curtly.
"But I thought you were powerful. How could they hurt you if you're powerful?"
"They – "
"Why do you smell weird?" the other one pipes up.
He hardly even knows which one is talking anymore.
"Why are your eyes yellow?"
"Why do you wear black?"
"Why do you wear a hood over your head?"
"How can you see when it's pulled so low?"
"Why does your voice sound so yucky?"
Vader ducks his head away sharply, gaze locking with the wolf's. The wolf looks like it's laughing, and Sidious sees Vader's lips twitch suspiciously upward.
Is he seriously –
Sidious glares at Vader hard enough that he flinches back, but that's still not enough to wipe the traces of a smirk off his face.
"I see my apprentice has yet to begin your training," Sidious says.
"What training?"
"I don't wanna be a Sith if it means having ugly yellow eyes."
"Yeah. Mommy said Sith are bad."
Wait, Mommy? But –
"Except Daddy, of course. He's the only nice one."
"If he's still a Sith."
If? Vader is still his apprentice. Is he considering betrayal? Sidious scowls. Of course, he is. He should have known better than to permit his apprentice to keep his entire family and have so much distance and space to himself. He's forgotten his place.
He will have to find a way to remind him of it.
Sidious ignores the gremlins' continued questions, standing. "I would like to see the rest of this castle you have built," he says, leaving the room without waiting for Vader to get up. The meaning is obvious – he intends to look around without his apprentice hovering close by. If there's anything else here he's attempting to hide, Sidious will find it.
He's almost certain he sees Vader pet that wolf again, which seems to be happily wagging it's tail now that Sidious himself is out of the room.
**w**
By going to explore the palace, Sidious did not intend to stumble onto some strange garden built into the top of the castle. How are they even growing any planets here, when the place is so exposed to the toxic air from the lava?
Something moves in between the bushes and he turns sharply, in time to see an enormous creature ripping one of the bushes straight out of the ground and straight up eating it – branches, leaves, trunk, and all.
It looks... like a dragon? Its colors are a swirl of blue and green, and the Force-presence is suspiciously familiar. He would recognize the presence of Senator Amidala anywhere in any shape or form, considering how overwhelmingly infuriating she's been to his plans. He intended for her to die on Mustafar, or preferably, in the war, but she lived on and gave Vader those – those gremlin monsters or whatever those things are.
They are terrors. They will never become true Sith. He should have destroyed them long ago. They will be impossible to tame.
"How are you living?" Sidious demands, though perhaps admitting that he wasn't aware of this isn't ideal.
The dragon stands to its full towering height, studying him. It growls in response – he can understand the meaning from her mind even if not the words.
She survived somehow and became this.
"I've been waiting to see the Emperor for a long time, but Anakin never did think you would like meeting me," she replies.
Ten minutes later, and he's pretty sure that she's right – he had no interest in having such a stupid argument about politics. How Senator Amidala is managing to out-debate him while never losing her cool, he doesn't know but he doesn't appreciate it in the slightest.
He would kill her right here if that wouldn't guarantee that Anakin would turn on him on the spot.
But he is going to go find his apprentice and have some words with him.
**w**
He tracks Vader through their bond and the Force – his presence is still too bright to be mistaken as anyone else, considering how dim or purely wild the other presences in the castle are. What he truthfully did not anticipate was to walk into him curled amidst piles of wolves. One of the clones is in his... human form beside him, leaned against the same cyborg wolf from earlier and partly in Vader's lap.
Vader's face is pressed to the clone's neck, and Sidious takes a few seconds to genuinely realize that he's probably drinking his blood. He's a vampire now. That's what they do.
That would probably be why he was only drinking water earlier and said that he doesn't really eat anymore.
Sidious is curious as to what other kinds of musters Mustafar could create, but he is certainly not appreciative of the way any of these are acting. He granted Vader his castle, and he did not do it to anticipate him bringing a band of traitors who Sidious had intended the removal of here. As though it were not bad enough Senator Amidala is still here.
The same short-furred blonde wolf from earlier is curled up on Vader's other side, it's head resting on his leg. It immediately perks up when Sidious enters, eyes narrowing and baring it's teeth.
He's beginning to wonder if that wolf is... Vader's former clone captain. Sidious is fairly certain he had blonde hair though it was hardly important enough for him to pay attention to.
"Well, hello, your majesty," the human clone says dryly, and Vader very slowly pulls back from him.
The clone turns back, and Sidious stares at him when he recognizes the tattoo and Force presence. Fives, that annoying clone friend his apprentice had gone on and on about for so long. One of the biggest throws in his plans, who he'd taken so much pleasure in relieving, except somehow, he survived, and here he is again with Vader.
How is he alive? He had given Commander Fox specific orders to ensure he died.
"You're a traitor," Sidious says, eyes narrowed, "And you were dead."
Just like Senator Amidala was supposed to be.
"Oh, do I look dead?" Fives asks cheerfully, "I wouldn't know. I haven't looked in the mirror in a long time but General Skywalker still thinks my blood tastes good, so I must be in pretty good health."
"Fives," Vader hisses, scandalized. His mouth is covered in blood which he hastily tries to lick off.
The clone shoots him a very unapologetic look.
Sidious is so done with all of this – this – nonsense. First, his apprentice has monkey-mouse children, then Senator Amidala is alive and a dragon, no less, all of the clones are living with his apprentice when he had tried so hard to ensure as many as possible were eliminated to prevent this exact thing from occurring, and then Vader had to somehow resurrect Fives from the dead.
He is going to destroy every last one of them.
"Vader," he says icily.
His apprentice stiffens, hastily disentangling himself from the wolf plus Fives pile and standing. "Yes, Master?"
The blonde wolf edges closer, pointedly rubbing against Vader's leg and barring its teeth at Sidious.
Genuinely.
The disrespect.
Sidious is fuming. He will not tolerate this behavior. He is the Emperor.
"You are a disgrace and failure to all of Sith kind," Sidious growls, fully intent on unleashing a lightning storm or outright pulling the entire ceiling down on all of them to crush them, but that's not slow enough. "And a traitor to this Empire, just as you once were to the Jedi, and you will be dealt with as such."
His apprentice is scared, and it feels delicious.
The blond wolf snarls, jumping to its feet.
"Rex, no," Vader starts, but the wolf flies at Sidious.
**w**
"Ew, Rex," Anakin protests, "Stop trying to lick me. You have the Emperor's blood all over you."
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