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No. 29—What Doesn’t Kill Me
Sleep Deprivation | Defiance | “Better me than you.”
Anakin glared at Sidious. “I’m not going to turn.”
Sidious smiled, showing his crooked teeth. He strolled around Anakin, strung up in the cold metal cell by his hands and feet much in the same way that Hondo had strung up Dooku. “Ah, but you’re already over halfway there.”
Anakin closed his eyes. He kept forgetting that his usual weapon of defiant stubbornness could only backfire here. He pictured the quiet farm he and Padmé had fled to after everything collapsed, the little babbling brook in the back of the property, the mechanical shop—or “junk shop,” as Padmé liked to call it—he had set up in the speeder garage attached to the house. Luke splashing in the stream, the sun shining on his blond hair. Leia hanging upside down by her knees from the rafters in the barn roof.
Even though every trip to town reminded him of the Empire’s presence, every day he missed Obi-Wan and Ahsoka and strolling through the peaceful Jedi Temple, every news cycle made him want to jump in a ship and go fight the Empire, staying on that farm had been…nice.
Pain crashed through Anakin’s body. He curled up on himself as much as he could, screaming. The scream set off a wave of painful coughs that wracked his chest. He’d finally had the respirator removed, but his lungs still hadn’t fully recovered from Tarkin’s torture.
Palpatine lowered his gnarled hands, Force lightning dying down. “You think of home, don’t you?”
Anakin narrowed his eyes. “What do you care?”
“Your home is gone, isn’t it? Burned by my troops,” Sidious said.
“And how exactly is that supposed to make me want to follow you?” Anakin spat. “Oh, by the way, I dominated and enslaved the galaxy, murdered your family, burned down your home, and am trying to capture the few family members you have left and either execute or enslave them. Come be my Sith apprentice! What can you possibly offer me that I want?”
“Power,” Sidious said. “I can unlock a galaxy of power for you the likes of which you’ve never dreamed of. I can teach you how to cheat death and keep your loved ones from dying.”
“Sith don’t have loved ones,” Anakin said. “The Dark Side can’t heal and you and I both know it. Funny what you can learn when you can read the Jedi’s collection of Sith holocrons. And the only power I want is the power to kill you.”
Cold spread through the room. “Those fool Jedi never should have elevated you to the rank of master,” Sidious snapped.
“Yeah, well, they did, and I did my own research on the Dark Side,” Anakin said. “You’re a kriffing liar. You lie about everything! I’d rather die than be your apprentice!” He spat in Palpatine’s face.
Palpatine wiped the spit off his cheek and stared at his hand. “You are going to regret that,” he said quietly. “Very very much.” He raised his hands and shot lightning into Anakin.
Blinding pain enveloped Anakin. He convulsed, screaming louder than he ever thought possible. His vision went white. His body slumped, but his awareness didn’t die. The Force flooded him, or perhaps he was dissipating into the Force.
He was dying.
No! He grabbed the Force, the only thing he had, and lashed out. His awareness finally crumpled, darkness enveloping him.
Anakin dragged himself into awareness. He was curled up on the floor. The entire cell was warped, the metal walls distorted and the cuffs broken and sparking. A limp body lay twisted almost beyond recognition near the open door.
Palpatine was dead.
Anakin must have killed him in that last lashing out before he died—or at least, he had thought he was about to die. Clearly, he wasn’t dead yet.
Stormtroopers flooded into the cell. Two of them checked on Palpatine’s body while the rest trained their blasters on Anakin. Not good.
“The emperor is dead,” one of the stormtroopers reported.
“Long live the emperor,” the rest of them chorused. They all got to one knee and bowed before…
Oh. They were bowing to Anakin.
Anakin dragged himself upright, ignoring the agonizing pain that screamed through his muscles and bones. “I could get used to this.”