Chapter Text
Darth Vader
Breathing hurt. After that last scream he could no longer speak without his throat punishing him with more pain. The last half hour repeated in his mind What had he done wrong? Where had he failed?
However, even for just a few seconds, Anakin Skywalker emerged. He never stopped repeating to himself, again and again, Anakin Skywalker is a weakness I can’t rid myself from.
Vader has spend one hour in pain, breathing erratically and feeling remorseful , lamenting not having ended Obi-Wan’s life. The eyes of his old master were forged in his memory, the same eyes that made Anakin Skywalker slip from within all his layers of mental shielding.
If such was the hatred he harbored for him, why was he still laying on that desolated planet, feeling remorse? “I need… I must…”, he could barely speak, “return…”. His consciousness was abandoning him slowly until everything faded to black.
“Anakin, are you still in bed? I thought you would be the first up and about, yesterday it seem you could barely sleep.” He felt his arm being touched softly, trying to pull him from his sleep. The voice was so familiar, that accent. Obi-Wan.
He opened his eyes fully and was out of bed with a sharp jump. Vader couldn’t remember the last time he had such agility.
“Hey, easy. It’s me. And you should already be ready, we’re late to meet with the senator.” A small grin escaped Obi-Wan’s mouth, Vader couldn’t believe his eyes. His former master, long hair without a trace of greying and fair skin.
It was then that he realized immediately, he looked down to his arms, examining his legs even faster. “Anakin, are you alright?” The voice of his former master carried a hint of worry, his smile already gone.
“Obi-Wan” sople Vader shyly, gasping immediately after. His voice was free from the breathing apparatus, his lungs no longer hurting. “I… What is this? Are you messing with my mind?” He demanded immediately.
“What are you saying, padawan?” Obi-Wan stood from the edge of the bed. “I don’t know what you were dreaming of before, but you must get ready. We do not wish to be late to see senator Amidala.”
The name made him snap out of the panic he was feeling. Obi-Wan abandoned the room while lecturing him on punctuality. Vader simply, with very slow movements, arose from the bed and trembled while getting used to his legs, the real ones, nothing mechanic on his body. He arrived to the bathroom and finally look at himself in the mirror.
Once again, the face of a nineteen year-old boy, a long braid at the side, short yet real hair, his eyes still blue. Anakin Skywalker.
Anakin Skywalker
His head was trying, in any possible way, to understand what was happening. He remembered everything he had lived, Darth Vader was conscious of everything, but somehow he fell unconscious in Vader’s destroyed body and woke up as Anakin in like, twelve or thirteen years prior?
From what he gathered, he thought this was the day he would finally see his Angel again after years of Jedi training. Padmé.
After all the suffering, after Mustafar, he would finally see her, alive, thriving. The last thing Sidious told him was that she had died during his fit of rage, a scene he replayed in his mind over and over again. Mustafar. This was an opportunity that he could not miss, he was unable to let it pass. It wasn’t clear if it was just a dream or he simply had gone back in time somehow.
On the way to Padmé’s apartment with his old master, well, now his master anew, he looked towards the senate. Palpatine. Clearly the Force felt foggy, but he didn’t know if it was due to the miraculous event he was experiencing or Sidious was already fogging the Force through his machinations.
But everyone around him seemed oblivious to the events, of course they would only see the facade of a kind old man, the Jedi stupidity of not wanting to see beyond and the corrupt senate. He could be easily caught by surprise and end the Sith once and for all.
“Are you listening to me, Anakin?” Obi-Wan’s voice brought him back from his spiraling thoughts. “Since this morning you’ve been distracted, you look tired.”
“I…” he didn’t know how to act, seeing the face of his old master, without tears, without the burden of the years, asking for forgiveness. “I haven’t been sleeping well…” was the only thing he could answer.
“Do you need to say something? Can I help?” It was then when Vader felt it. It was like water in the middle of the desert, a spring amidst drought. The bond.
He couldn’t remember how comforting it felt to have Obi-Wan on the other side of the bond. He didn’t know how much he had missed it, small touches to his mental shields, probing delicately, seeking answers without being invasive, careful. That was Obi-Wan.
The last times Vader has tried to connect with Obi-Wan the pain was evident, his mental shields were weak and he knew that Obi-Wan had been disconnected a long time from the Force, a weakness that allowed him to partially win their encounter in Mapuzo. Mapuzo. “What have I done?”
Obi-Wan parked the speeder and softly touched Vader’s shoulder, which startled him.
“Anakin, seriously, you can tell me. You’re completely lost in your mind. I thought that you would be nervous today, or that you wouldn’t stop talking about Padmé, much like last night when they briefed us on the mission. But today since you woke up is like you’ve been elsewhere.”
“It’s just tiredness from our last… mission?” Vader couldn’t remember clearly what they were doing before meeting Padmé again. “It left me exhausted and, like I told you before Obi-Wan, I didn’t sleep well.”
Obi-Wan looked at Vader strangely and tried again “I know more often than not you prefer to trust in your other friends” he began carefully “but you are my padawan, Anakin. My worries will not go anywhere. But let’s leave it for later. We’ve made the senator wait long enough, I don’t want to deal with any angry politicians.”
His heart was about to escape from his chest. Padmé, his angel, his greatest love, his everything, his wife. Meanwhile, the nearer they got to the elevator, the more nervous he got. How was it possible to feel the same as that first time? What would he do upon seeing her? His master side-eyed him.
“Anakin.” He begun. “She will be happy to see you, I’m sure of that. But…” He hesitated a second, Vader could see that he was mentally calculating his next words. “Please don’t say anything stupid.” He finally said, laughing.
Vader was shocked. He remembered little of this conversation in the elevator, barely remembered the words of encouragement, the “she will be happy to see us, but do not let you thoughts betray you.” but this was completely different. And before Vader could respond, the sound of the elevator’s doors interrupted him.
The least expected character of all ran to greet them, Jar Jar. He didn’t know what had been of the Gungan after Sidious began removing little by little different senators from the imperial senate. It was almost certain that Jar Jar was amongst the first.
“Obi?” He ran to embrace Obi-Wan tightly, it was hilarious to see how uncomfortable his master seemed. Obi-Wan was of little contact, however little touches from him were always comforting.
Little did the Gungan lasted before hugging Vader tightly instead. “Ani!” He released him immediately and entered the apartment announcing them. The nervousness returned immediately, Obi-Wan was in front greeting the group, it was then when he saw her.
Padmé Amidala.