The castle on Mustafar was plunged into a silence that only the sound of lava and the distant rumble of volcanic storms could break. Yet that silence was more than stillness. It was a calm charged with power, with desire, with what had grown in the shadows.
Ashara stood by one of the castle windows, looking out at the lava that ran across the horizon like a river of fire that never goes out. The red light reflected in her eyes, but beyond the fury of the lava, it was the very heat of her soul that now shone in her. The fire of the Force. The fire of darkness.
Ashara's dark cloak moved gently in the breeze, but she did not seem to feel it. Her mind, her heart, her being, everything was occupied by a single presence. His presence.
And it was not long before he arrived.
Vader walked down the hall to her side, his breathing the only sign of life coming out of his mask. But his steps, though imposing, were different when he was near Ashara. Softer, more controlled, as if he were trying not to disturb the atmosphere they shared.
When he came up behind her, Ashara felt the familiarity of his energy, that invisible but indestructible connection that had been woven between them. She didn't have to turn around to know he was there.
"Did you feel it?" Vader asked, his voice deep, charged with something she knew well.
Ashara turned slowly, her blue eyes shining with a light only he knew.
"I felt it." she answered, her voice soft, but with a firmness that hadn't existed in her youth, before everything changed. Everything she had done, everything she had chosen, had led her to this moment. To this place. To him.
Vader stepped closer and, for the first time in a long time, dropped his mask. Not the metal covering his face, but the emotional distance, the coldness he had learned to carry in his years of darkness. What was left of Anakin Skywalker showed for an instant, and in his eyes shone a love that had been repressed, that had been lost, but that had never faded.
"Do you regret it?" His question was not an accusation. It was a vulnerability Ashara had never expected to see in him. In that moment, Vader was no longer just the dark emperor, the master of the dark side. He was Anakin, the man who had once taught her, who had loved her before fear and anger consumed him.
Ashara looked into Anakin's eyes, not just the warrior she had known, but the human being who, deep down, still burned with the love he had always had for her. He moved closer slowly, almost as if he were moving through time, returning to a purer, more tender place. Yet this was not a return. It was a transformation. They both knew it. The darkness had changed them, but somehow, the connection they shared had only grown stronger.
"No, I do not regret it." The answer was simple, but full of power. Not just from the Force, but from a truth that only Ashara could understand. "I will never regret it."
The two looked at each other, and for an instant, the castle, the lava, the entire universe seemed to fade away. There was nothing else. Only them. And the promise that, no matter what, there would be no separation between them.
Vader, Anakin, raised a hand, gently touching Ashara's face. It was an almost reverent touch, as if, for a moment, everything he had done to protect her, to control her, had vanished. What was left of him needed that touch, needed to know that she was there.
"You are mine, Ashara. You always were, even when I thought you lost." His voice was a whisper, but laden with a heartbreaking truth. —"I won't lose you again. I promise."
Ashara closed her eyes as she felt the warmth of his touch. The darkness between them was their refuge, but this moment was more than that. It was the hidden love, the forbidden love that had survived tragedy, pain, death. She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, joining him in a kiss that was as dark as it was sweet, as brutal as it was tender. The Force between them surged, like a burst of energy, illuminating the darkness of Mustafar.
When they parted, Ashara whispered, almost with a broken smile on her lips.
"So, you are my king, and I... am your queen."
Vader, with a smile only he could show, brushed her cheek.
"You always were, my queen."
And, together, they stood there, between the shadows and the light, in their dark castle on Mustafar. The love between them was as potent as volcanic fire, but it was marked by the tragedy of the galaxy. Yet, through it all, they had each other. No escape. No regret.
It was a broken love, but unbreakable. And it was theirs. In the darkness of their realm, they held each other, letting the Force envelop them, binding their destinies forever.