Anakin is all too familiar with restless sleep. So, when he sees just how tired you are, he offers to help.
“There’s that look again.”
There was a moment’s hesitation before you flicked your eyes up from the data display. Statistics and statement pieces still swirled about your vision, even as you met Anakin’s gaze. His brow was furrowed, in the way it always seemed to be since the Clone War began. Only, in that moment, as he looked at you, there was a softness in his eyes that threw your thoughts far from the image of him in battle. Such a gentleness had no place among the blaster fire and metallic corpses of droids.
“Sorry, what?”
“That look,” Anakin echoed, raising a hand to gesture to your face. “You’re either displeased or thinking too hard.”
A stunted, sour laugh slipped past your lips. “Or both.”
“What’s wrong?” Anakin asked, leaning over across the table, hand outstretched for you to take. Slowly, you moved to meet him in the middle to intertwine your fingers with his. Warm, the skin of his palm kissed yours in the mildest way, melted the ache behind your eyes, and relieved some of the heaviness of your limbs.
“Reviewing old legislation is neither entertaining nor easy on the mind,” you gave Anakin’s hand a squeeze. “That’s all, though. Nothing I can’t work through.”
“It has nothing to do with how you were tossing around last night?”
You quirked a brow at him in question and Anakin leaned back, his hand slipping from yours. A frown quivered along your lips at the loss of contact, but the loss was brief. Anakin stood from his seat across the sleek, metal table and started towards you. The dark folds of his tunics shifted with every step that brought him closer to you. When he was within arms reach, he pressed his hip against the table’s edge and leaned down towards you.
“You didn’t sleep, so I didn’t sleep,” he murmured. “Tell me what’s wrong, Y/N.”
As he spoke, his eyes held contact with yours, unyielding, reading your every microexpression. You knew the second you swallowed too hard that Anakin saw your resolve break. Memories of kicking your legs under the soft sheets of your bed, tossing from side to side, flooded back to you. Anakin must have seen those same memories too because he nodded, all too knowingly.
“Tell me, let me help you.”
There was never any hiding from him.
“Unless you can lift the weight of thousands displaced by the war and convince the Senate to provide for them, then there’s not much helping me,” you explained. “Padme’s proposal is necessary but the precedents for it…they’re nonexistent. At least according to everything I’ve read.”
The thought of all the reading you had done nearly made your throat close up. Endless pages of Basic, detailing every piece of humanitarian legislation passed by the Senate had absorbed you, mind and body, for the past few planetary cycles. Yet, despite all that time, your research had come up empty. There were no prior models that you and the rest of Padme’s team could use to base her new, improved plan off of.
“So, you have to start from nothing?” Anakin asked, putting voice to your whirling thoughts.
Bitterly, you nodded and let your eyes fall from his. “Yes, and when you phrase it in that way, it sounds even more dire.”
“Sorry, you know,” Anakin’s fingers hooked under your chin and lifted your gaze back to him, “it’s not a doomed idea. You make things real.”
“But not without a precedent,” you countered, “this is something new.”
“We’re in a new galaxy, a new Republic,” Anakin pressed. “Now is the best time to push progress forward.”
You couldn’t help the smile at his persistence. “Careful, you’re beginning to sound like a senator’s speech. Padme may enlist you.”
“I’m enlisted in a different war,” he replied, his hand moving along your jaw to cup your cup. “One with fewer speeches.”
You frowned at his words before you pressed a kiss to the meat of his palm. In response, the corners of his mouth quirked upwards ever-so-slightly, but not for long. When his lips fell down again, Anakin stepped closer, letting you feel the warmth of his body more fully. He leaned in closer too, waves of light brown hair falling to frame his face.
“Tell me what I can do.”
“I did,” you sighed, eyes flicking from his to his lips. “Save the people.”
“I’m trying, with every battle, but what can I do for you, right now? How can I get you to rest easy?”
A grin broke out along your features the second the thought entered your head. Anakin seemed to sense it, part of you wondered if it was the Force. Perhaps he used it to help read you, read your mind even. But no, that wasn’t it. It was just Anakin, the bond you shared that gifted you both with a sort of secret language. Either way, he knew what you were going to say before you opened your mouth.
That didn’t stop you from saying it anyway: “I know one way you could help.”
A rumble of a chuckle raced up his throat, a sound that you quickly swallowed when you leaned forward to close the little gap between you. Your lips found his as if you were never parted, to begin with, like being close was your natural state and separated being a foreign condition. Using his hand and, this time you were sure of it, the Force, Anakin pulled you up from your seat until you were standing. As he did, his other hand came up to the other side of your face so that he could hold you impossibly close.
“Would you believe me,” Anakin managed to whisper when you parted for air, “if I told you this wasn’t my initial intention?”
His teasing tone, like the warmth of his hand in yours had only a minute before, lifted your tired spirits. Any hint of exhaustion alleviated, if only for a precious few seconds. A laugh, one truer and lighter than the first, slipped past your lips. Anakin laugh again too and renewed every nerve ending fried by work. You leaned in again, for another kiss. His lips move fluidly against yours, soft and warm.
Then, when you pulled away, you replied, “no, but I’m alright with that.”
I really hope that you liked this is the first fanfic i have written since middle school, so, I am sorry if it isn’t good. I am gonna get better as the parts go on.
————————————
“Ani? Where are you?”
“Y/N, use my voice to find me. What if I am not here to help you?”
…..
beep beep beep
“BD-2 I am awake now thank you.” I say to the small research droid jumping up and down on my bed. Although I can not see what time it is, I am sure that BeeDee woke me up at the correct time, confirming my suspicions. I hear a knock at my door.
“Padawan it is time to arise.” My master, Master Tahl, spoke through my door.
“Thank you master, I think I finally got BeeDee to calibrate correctly, he woke me up just moments before you arrived.” I stated as I called my robe to me and fastened it to my body. I walked over to the door to greet my master.
“That is great Padawan, now that you have him understanding the difference between am and pm, do you want to get him to start waking you up earlier so I don’t have to?” I felt bad at my master’s words, I really hate that I am being a nuisance to her. Ever since I was brought to the temple everyone treated me like I was a piece of glass that would break if it got bumped.
It was the worst when I first came here because I didn’t have the temple memorized and in result I ran into everything, and everyone. While I was a youngling I was never alone there was always another person with me. Whether it was an adult, a droid, a Padawan, or another youngling. When the council told me I would be a Padawan under Master Tahl I was overjoyed, because she told me that she would not treat me like a piece of glass like everyone else would. Over the years she taught me how to see with the force. Even with the ever changing temple with people moving in and out. I haven’t ran into anyone, only when I wasn’t focusing on not running into others.
“Ok Padawan, today we need to find a piece of information that the logs say are in one spot but no one can find. Master Windu has requested we look. Let’s try and get this done as soon as possible and then we can start on your saber training.” I could tell from her voice that she was not happy that her plans for today were changed.
“Yes master, what is it about? Maybe someone thought it belonged in the wrong sector?”
“I believe it is on soul bonds and how they react with kyber crystals. I will look in the archives, you look on the floor.”
“Yes master.” And with that we split up to look.
Three hours later I had gone through every shelf on the ground floor to no avail, so I decided to go up to the second level and start in the section about soul bonds in the force. At this point there was no one else but my master in the archives that i could sense, so I let my guard down and just focused on finding that stupid book.
Why would that book mean so much? It’s literally about soul bonds and kyber crystals. We have entire sections dedicated to each of them. While in my ranting I was not paying attention and bumped in to someone hard. Keeping my head down and using my hands I felt their face, this wasn’t an unusual act form me. It was something I would always do, it let me see them. As I ran my hands up his chest, I took note of how strong their chest is; it’s clearly a man. My hands run up their neck and to his lips, to his cheeks, his nose, and finally to his eyes. I knew from the moment I touched his lips on who it was but the scar over his right eye solidified it.
“Anakin?”
“I have no clue why, but it still amazes me that you can tell it’s me by my face.” he said with a small chuckle. “What are you looking for? Can I help?”
I giggle “I will never tell you my secrets, but I am helping my master find a book for Master Windu. Something about kyber crystals.” While moving my hands away from his face he grabbed my wrist and put them back on his face. “You know if anyone were to see us we would both be in trouble.”
“No we wouldn’t, they would just think you were figuring out who I am.” his voice sounds like he is smirking, and his facial features moved to support my assumption.
“While that may be true I don’t have much more time to find that book.” pulling away from his hands and moving to feel out for the book in question.
“I do think it is a little ridiculous that the council has the two Jedi’s that can’t see, look for a book.” His voice is following me now, “I mean couldn’t they just ask anyone else?”
“They had, Master Tahl and I are the only two who have a chance to find it, wherever it is it’s not in a visible place since neither Master Tahl or I can see we can sense things that are hidden from view. Things that one relying only on sight would overlook, now will you be willing to lift me up? I think i found it.” While explaining why I was looking for the book I felt the presence of something that wasn’t supposed to be there. What most may find surprising is that the hand written texts in the Jedi Archives have a force signature themselves. Something about being in a place that is flowing with the force, such as the temple. My master and I had been to many different ancient temples on expeditions to look for lost texts because the best ones were always hidden.
“Of course I would never deny touching you.” Anakin said as he was moving to grab a hold on my waist and lift me into the air.
“Thank you, but could you not jerk me around it causes vertigo.” Concentrating on the book I reach out for it. When my hand finally grabs it and I am lowered to the ground I call for BeeDee. “BeeDee could you call the council? I think I have the book and just need to confirm with the council.” The small droid lets out a happy chirp and within moments I hear Master Mace Windu.
“Ah Y/N, we were starting to get worried your master came back about an hour ago with the book in question. It was placed in a section about saber hilts. She said she had been looking for you for a while and gave up looking. She then brought the book to us.”
“Then what book do I have in my hands?” Master Windu’s words confused me, why did I grab this book? If they had the book I was supposed to be looking for why was this one calling out to me to find it.
“The cover says something about the light and the chosen.” Anakin responded clearly sensing my distress. “I will say it was weird when she went to grab it, her hand passed through the book case like there wasn’t anything there.”
“Hidden knowledge, that must be.” I hear Master Yoda speak. “Sense it before or after you ran into Skywalker, did you, hmm?”
“After Master, I had him lift me up to grab it.” What is going on right now?
“Like you two to come to the council’s chamber right away I would. Hmmmmmm. Yes.” and with that the static from the holo projector cuts off and BeeDee chirps at me.
“Welp let’s get going, BeeDee, up.” as i go to leave BeeDee jumps on my shoulder. “Anakin, are you coming?”
The Force and Its Tragedies (Sith!Anakin Skywalker)
Summary: Joining the Rebel Alliance was always going to be a risk to your life and safety. But never did you think that you would end up in the clutches of the evil that you have been fighting to take down. And never did you think that you would reveal your biggest secret to said evil.
Word Count:3.4k
A/N: Kay, so this is my first (and maybe last? depending on reception) Star Wars fic in a long, long time. It’s also a Sith!Anakin Skywalker fic. Suitless, uncrispy Vader, if you will. Let me know your thoughts, feedback is always appreciated. If you enjoyed, please like, comment, or reblog! If you didn’t enjoy, pick a time and place and we shall duel.
The first thing that you realize upon waking up is that you have no memory of how you came to be in a position where you would need to wake up. The last thing you remember, your small group of Rebels had landed on Naboo to follow up with the Gungans on a lead about the Empire’s supposed killing machine, the Death Star. Now you’re here…if only you knew where ‘here’ was.
That’s when you realize the second thing, which is that you’re restrained. Considering you don’t usually restrain your hands and feet before going to bed, you’re a little concerned. Now you’re actually awake, and your eyes shoot open to see what situation you’ve found yourself in. You’re strapped to a platform that stands vertically, the restraints being the only things keeping you from falling over. The room is small and constructed almost entirely of steel, with no technology to give you any sort of indication as to where you are.
“Hello?” you call out, cringing as your voice echoes through the room. You clear your throat and try again. “Can anyone hear me?”
The door, a panel on the wall that looks the same as the rest of the room, opens before you can again attempt to summon anyone, and you know that you’re in far more danger than you had originally thought. The all-black figure that marches in would be imposing based on size alone, but the lightsaber at his hilt and the helmet covering his face make him a creature of nightmares. Everybody in the galaxy, and probably outside of it, knows who this is, how he came to be. After all, the Jedi Order and the Republic only fell a mere five years ago.
Anakin Skywalker was a name only spoken in whispers by people gossiping and retelling how the so-called Chosen One had heeded Darth Sidious’s call, executing Order 66 flawlessly and without any mercy. Nobody knew for certain what had happened that day on Mustafar when the student battled the teacher. The only thing that was certain was that after that, both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker had disappeared, the former presumed dead and the latter taking on the mantle of Darth Vader (the worst-kept secret in all the worlds). Some say that he wears the helmet because he had been burned beyond recognition and the suit was the only thing keeping him alive, others claim it’s solely for the fear that it strikes in the hearts of his opponents. Whatever the reason, it’s certainly striking fear into your heart right now.
The door slides shut behind him with a hiss, and for a long few minutes, he just stands there and stares at you. It’s obviously an intimidation tactic, but it’s doing its job. You can’t see his eyes, yet you can still feel them boring into your skin. It’s uncomfortable, and you squirm under his gaze.
The Force and Its Tragedies (Sith!Anakin Skywalker)
Summary: Joining the Rebel Alliance was always going to be a risk to your life and safety. But never did you think that you would end up in the clutches of the evil that you have been fighting to take down. And never did you think that you would reveal your biggest secret to said evil.
Word Count:3.4k
A/N: Kay, so this is my first (and maybe last? depending on reception) Star Wars fic in a long, long time. It’s also a Sith!Anakin Skywalker fic. Suitless, uncrispy Vader, if you will. Let me know your thoughts, feedback is always appreciated. If you enjoyed, please like, comment, or reblog! If you didn’t enjoy, pick a time and place and we shall duel.
The first thing that you realize upon waking up is that you have no memory of how you came to be in a position where you would need to wake up. The last thing you remember, your small group of Rebels had landed on Naboo to follow up with the Gungans on a lead about the Empire’s supposed killing machine, the Death Star. Now you’re here…if only you knew where ‘here’ was.
That’s when you realize the second thing, which is that you’re restrained. Considering you don’t usually restrain your hands and feet before going to bed, you’re a little concerned. Now you’re actually awake, and your eyes shoot open to see what situation you’ve found yourself in. You’re strapped to a platform that stands vertically, the restraints being the only things keeping you from falling over. The room is small and constructed almost entirely of steel, with no technology to give you any sort of indication as to where you are.
“Hello?” you call out, cringing as your voice echoes through the room. You clear your throat and try again. “Can anyone hear me?”
The door, a panel on the wall that looks the same as the rest of the room, opens before you can again attempt to summon anyone, and you know that you’re in far more danger than you had originally thought. The all-black figure that marches in would be imposing based on size alone, but the lightsaber at his hilt and the helmet covering his face make him a creature of nightmares. Everybody in the galaxy, and probably outside of it, knows who this is, how he came to be. After all, the Jedi Order and the Republic only fell a mere five years ago.
Anakin Skywalker was a name only spoken in whispers by people gossiping and retelling how the so-called Chosen One had heeded Darth Sidious’s call, executing Order 66 flawlessly and without any mercy. Nobody knew for certain what had happened that day on Mustafar when the student battled the teacher. The only thing that was certain was that after that, both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker had disappeared, the former presumed dead and the latter taking on the mantle of Darth Vader (the worst-kept secret in all the worlds). Some say that he wears the helmet because he had been burned beyond recognition and the suit was the only thing keeping him alive, others claim it’s solely for the fear that it strikes in the hearts of his opponents. Whatever the reason, it’s certainly striking fear into your heart right now.
The door slides shut behind him with a hiss, and for a long few minutes, he just stands there and stares at you. It’s obviously an intimidation tactic, but it’s doing its job. You can’t see his eyes, yet you can still feel them boring into your skin. It’s uncomfortable, and you squirm under his gaze.
“So,” he begins, his modulator-altered deep voice making you jump, “this is the best that the Rebel Alliance can come up with?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You parrot the alibi you’ve gone over multiple times since you were assigned to this mission. “I was on Naboo to trade textiles.”
“Liar.” He takes a step closer to you, and your breath catches in your throat. “We know that you’re with the Rebels.”
You shake your head. “You’re mistaken.”
“Am I?” His voice sounds mocking—he probably is mocking you. “If you’re not going to tell me what I want to know, I can always just take it from you. I’m going to ask one more time. What were you doing on Naboo?”
“I already told you.”
His head tilts thoughtfully. “So you’re going to be difficult today? Very well, then.”
It’s difficult to explain what it’s like when someone tries to go through your mind unless the person has also gone through the same experience. Unfortunately, it seems that more and more people these days have experienced the cruel interrogation tactics of the Empire. It’s a horrible feeling, one that you can never forget once it’s happened to you.
It’s an invasion of privacy in the worst form when you learn that your mind is not nearly as impenetrable as it’s supposed to be. Your mind feels as though it’s being physically rifled through, one layer at a time. The pain would be enough to send you to your knees if you were physically able to, but your vision whites out instead.
Going down without a fight would be to go against your very nature, so you force yourself to regain some of your wits and attempt what the Rebellion has been training you to do. You lift your head up to stare back at Vader, taking deep breaths in and then, with each breath out, physically pushing him out of your mind. He retreats suddenly, almost stumbling back. You’re sure that this is how you die, considering you’ve never heard anybody ‘defeat’ Darth Vader and live to tell the tale. To your surprise, however, he looks at you and laughs. Maybe you did die? That’s the only logical reason why he would be laughing right now.
“I didn’t realize we had a Jedi as our guest of honor today.”
“I’m not a Jedi.”
“No, but the Force is strong with you.”
“That’s–”
“There’s no use coming up with more lies. Not when I can feel it.” A hand comes up to your face, and you flinch as he brushes an errant hair out of your eyes. “Someone’s on edge.”
You roll your eyes. “Pardon me for being a little jumpy after being captured by some creature in a mask.”
“‘Creature in a mask,’” he repeats dryly. After a moment, his hands come up to his mask. You can hear the mechanisms unlatching his mask, and you close your eyes to try and shield yourself from the horrors you’re inevitably about to face.
Slowly, hesitantly, you peek out of one of your eyes before both open to make sure that what you’re seeing is correct. The stories, it turns out, are wrong. Darth Vader is not some burned husk of a man that’s clinging to life, nor is he horribly disfigured. Darth Vader is arguably one of the most beautiful men you’ve ever seen. His golden-brown curls fall to just above his shoulders, and his sharp features are striking. With a face like his, you can easily see why people could so easily fall to the dark side. The only thing that does give you pause is his eyes; bright and yellow, the eyes of a Sith.
A smirk appears on his full lips, and you know that he doesn’t need to read your mind to know that you’re enjoying (unhappily, albeit) this revelation. “Now that I’ve successfully toppled your ‘creature in a mask’ assumption–”
“You can still be a soulless creature no matter how you look,” you hiss.
Vader raises an eyebrow at you, daring you to speak out of turn again. Upon seeing that the message has been received loud and clear, he continues. “The Jedi keep thorough records of Force-sensitive younglings throughout the galaxy. How did you escape them, then?”
Too late, you realize that you perhaps should have pushed aside your tendency for self-preservation. Maybe revealing that you’re Force-sensitive to a Sith was a very, very bad idea. Judging by the sudden interest in your past, you’re leaning more towards that it was definitely bad instead of just ‘maybe’ bad.
You don’t realize that you’ve inadvertently refused to answer the question until that same pain shoots through your head once again, making you cry out in pain. “Need I remind you what happens if you don’t play by the rules?” The pain disappears just as suddenly as it appeared. If you weren’t tied up right now, you would absolutely flip Darth Vader off. Instead, you settle for mentally flipping him off. It doesn’t have the same effect. “Answer my question.”
You sigh heavily. “Fine! My parents didn’t want to give me up, they refused to allow me to be taken away by the Jedi. I was eight when they came for me, and my parents told them I was dead. They sent me off-planet to stay with family for the week, just to make sure they couldn’t track me.”
“Smart. Although, letting an untrained Force-sensitive run around to wreak havoc on everyone and everything probably wasn’t the best call.”
“I guess my folks weren’t thinking long-term.”
Vader laughs at this. The sound doesn’t reassure you. “It’s been a few years since I’ve seen someone with your…potential.”
“Could that be because you killed all of them?” you ask dryly. He rolls his eyes, but thankfully doesn’t cause you any more pain.
“It’s been even longer since I’ve had an apprentice.”
Your heart drops into your stomach when you realize what he’s implying, and you can feel the cold sweat that begins to form. “I don’t need to be trained. I don’t want to be trained. Especially by you.”
“Think about all that you could accomplish by honing your skills! You could become great, Y/n.” You don’t recall telling him your name—had he gleaned it from looking through your head? Or had it been the Gungans themselves who had betrayed you and sent you to this fate the moment you touched down on Naboo?
“I don’t need you in order to be great.”
Something dark—darker than what you’ve already seen from him—crosses Darth Vader’s face. You’ve angered him by turning him down, and some part of you knows that people who anger him don’t live to see another rotation. His gloved hand hovers above the hilt of his lightsaber, your heart thundering in your chest at the action.
Instead of removing the lightsaber, igniting it, and slicing you in half, Vader simply fiddles with its position on his belt, like some sort of coping mechanism while he thinks. He turns away from you, looking back at his discarded helmet on the table next to the door. You remain silent during these long few minutes, too scared to speak up and ask him why he’s decided to change tactics. Then, he turns around. By the smile on his face, you’re almost wishing that he stayed facing the door.
“Let’s play a little game.” Vader’s hand flexes and your restraints unlock. You fall to the ground, catching yourself on your hands and knees. Your limbs tingle at the sudden unrestricted movement, and you have to give yourself a second before you can push yourself up to a standing position again. “You hide and try to escape, and I seek. If you win, you walk away from here free. If I win, you become my apprentice.”
“And if I don’t want to play?”
He grins. “You don’t get a choice.”
That’s what you were expecting him to say, yet there was a part of you hoping that he wouldn’t. Vader glances behind him, opening the door at his command.
“I’ll even give you a head start.”
If you don’t go, you’re conceding defeat before you can even start, and you won’t allow him to have you without a fight. You look back at Vader one more time, who teasingly motions with his hands for you to get going, before sprinting out of the door. A pair of stormtroopers stare at you as you pass them, but they don’t follow. You don’t stick around to hear if Vader’s telling them not to shoot you.
(When the Troopers hesitantly peer into the room you were being held prisoner in to say, “Sir, the prisoner has escaped. Should we engage?” Darth Vader does, in fact, tell them that they do not have permission to engage and that they should leave this to him)
You round a random corner to make sure that you’re far enough away to have this crucial second before pausing. Your hands fumble for the inner lining of your jacket, and you rip apart the loose seams to pull out the emergency homing signal that all members of the rebellion are sent on missions with. The button is pressed once, twice, three times, which is all the time you’ll allow yourself before you’re running again to try and find some way out of here. The pipes along the top of the wall serve as your guide; you know that they’ll lead somewhere, whether it be an electrical hub that you can sabotage or an exit.
“Rebel,” a voice echoes through the halls further than a voice should reasonably be able to echo. The surprise of it sends you screeching to a stop as your head swivels from left to right in an attempt to see how he’s caught up to you already. When you see that he isn’t, in fact, anywhere near, it becomes clear that he’s projecting to you.
“Stay out of my head!” He’ll hear you even though you’ve whispered it under your breath. After all, if there’s one thing you know about the Sith, it’s that their powers are frightening and limitless.
“Mm, no. I don’t think I will.” Back to sprinting you go, following the pipes and begging your feet to move faster and faster until it feels like you’re hardly touching the ground. “Your shields are impressive for someone with such little training. Once I find you, we’ll work to make sure that they’re impenetrable.”
“Like this?”
A Jedi who had escaped Order 66 and ended up joining the Rebel Alliance, Dia Dorvin took you under her wing when she recognized that there was another Force-sensitive within the ranks. Though there wasn’t much she could train you on, having just barely achieved the rank of Jedi Knight before the fall of the Republic, she tried her best to help you at least hone your skills. Dia would be proud of the way you use her gentle voice to remind you to slam shut the proverbial steel doors of your mind that Vader has managed to slip through. Your mind goes blissfully silent, and you wish you could see the look on his face when he’s realized that you’ve shut him out without his ‘training.’
The loading hangar is devoid of any life when you make it, and only a few droids beep at you when you hit the button to open the hangar doors to give you any indication at all that they recognize your presence. When the door begins to open, you see lava and obsidian outside. Interesting that Darth Vader decided to build his home base on the same planet where he allegedly killed his former master, though that may be more due to the circumstance of an inhospitable planet serving as a good hideout then some sort of poetic justice.
Before you can run past the TIE Fighters and numerous other ships whose makes you couldn’t begin to name, the sound of heavy boots echoes at the back of the room. Considering the stormtroopers are much lighter on their feet to maintain the element of surprise, there’s only one person those footsteps could belong to. Even without that knowledge, your intuition just knows who’s coming. You dive behind a pile of shipping containers, snatching an iron bar from one of the work tables as you do so.
Your breathing is too loud, too scared, and you slap a hand over your mouth to try and keep quiet. Vader’s moving slowly through the hangar, listening carefully for any sign of you. A droid chirps at him, loud and insistent. The red flash of a lightsaber and the sound of metal being slashed gives you enough of an idea what’s happened to that little droid.
“Where, oh where, could my little rebel be?” Vader’s voice sounds like it’s coming from everywhere, making it impossible for you to tell where he is in the hangar. He lets out a laugh before his sing-song tone says, “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
He’s enjoying this, you realize. The sick bastard is hunting you, like a predator stalks their prey, and he’s having fun doing so. You have to move, and now. Slowly, you poke your head out from behind the containers, only to see that Vader isn’t anywhere in your field of vision.
The hairs on the back on your neck stand up, and you tense right before you feel him behind you. “Boo,” he whispers into your ear. You try to jump over the crates, but he grabs you by the back of your shirt and flings you to the ground.
Your back collides harshly with the ground, and you cough as you try to get your breath back. When you can finally breathe again, you look up only to be faced with Vader’s bright-red lightsaber inches away from your face. The heat from it is intense, and trying to be as still as possible only makes you want to involuntarily jerk more.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says. For some reason (like, say, the lightsaber currently pointed at you), you highly doubt that. “Come with me, Y/n. Embrace your destiny, who you’re meant to be.”
Keeping eye contact with him, you stretch your fingertips to get the metal bar that you dropped closer to you. Once it’s close enough, you wrap your fingers around it. “Fuck you.”
You swing the bar at Vader with all your strength, making direct contact with the hand that holds his lightsaber. It doesn’t hurt him, but it does catch him off-guard enough that the lightsaber goes flying out of his grasp. Scrambling back up to your feet, you ready yourself to swing once again as he calls his lightsaber back with the Force.
Vader’s other hand stretches towards you, using the Force to stop you from bashing his head in. The bar won’t swing any further, an invisible hand keeping it from moving any more. In the distance, you can hear the distinct sound of a ship exiting hyperdrive.
“I admire your tenacity, but this ends now.”
Suddenly, you see it. Your way out, and your last hope. “You’re right.” You lift your shaking hand in the air towards a control tower. Now, it’s your turn to smile. “This does end now.”
Yanking your hand back towards you, the control tower collapses along with it, like you’re pulling it with an invisible string. Sparks fly from the wires, and Vader is forced to roll out of the way to keep from being crushed under all of the metal. You take your chance and run outside before he can try to get back around the now-destroyed tower.
The Mustafarian heat is immediately oppressing, sweat beading on your brow as you scan the skies. The dot in the distance quickly becomes an actual ship—a Rebel Alliance ship. The back of the ship opens, and the familiar faces of your friends and comrades appear. They’re yelling for you to hurry, holding their hands out as the pilot drops as close to the ground as they can.
Your legs are burning from the exertion of having to run for your life yet again, a stitch forming in your side as you extend your hand and jump. Though the crew is not Force-sensitive, you trust them with your life…literally. Yet again they come through, a hand grabbing onto yours and ensuring that you won’t fall.
Rip and Oona, two of your fellow Rebels, each grab an arm and haul you up onto the ship. They’re hanging onto you like you’re going to turn to smoke and slip out of their hands. Given the circumstances that have led to this moment, you don’t exactly blame them.
“Kriff, Y/n, are you okay?” Rip is frantically looking you up and down, checking for any sign of injury.
“Yeah, we were sure you were a goner!” Oona adds.
“I’m good. Let’s just get out of here.”
“On it!” Voth yells from the pilot’s seat up front.
As the back of the ship closes and the crew springs to prepare to again enter hyperdrive back to the Rebel Alliance base you’ve all been stationed at, you can’t help but look down at Vader’s fortress. Sure enough, you see a tall, broad silhouette staring up at your ship. Just before you lose sight of him, you hear his voice in your head one last time.“You may have won the battle. But I promise you, my little Rebel, that I will win this war.”
