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The Jedi-Sith war has been waging for near a galactic decade, both sides continually fighting - one to preserve the balance and the light, the other to tip the scales and defend the dark. This is, of course, a very simplistic explanation of a brutal war between two sides of an order, with multiple fractions and denominations within each other. Nothing is quite so simple as light and dark, as good and evil, as black and white. Any Master who would tell you that it is indeed so was not fit for Mastery, and not fit for following. Any Master that would force you into a binary that did not take into account the complexities of life, love and the universe was only interested in controlling their learners.
Darth Vader stands at the mouth of a cave with his Master, Darth Sidious, beside him. Both are cloaked in black, as is tradition. Both serve the self to set themselves free - as is tradition. One of them wishes to be the only creature in the galaxy, perhaps the universe, that is free, by subjugating all other sentients under him - which is not strictly Sith tradition, but it supports his desires and passion towards unlimited power, which he cannot have so long as the ‘lie of freedom’ exists. These are the teachings he has passed down to his acolyte, Darth Vader.
“Now remember, Vader - the creature deep in the bowels of this cave is a threat to Sith everywhere. You must be strong and exterminate it, for the good of our people, for the galaxy itself. Should it be allowed to live, or worse yet - thrive, our legacy will be nothing but cruel ash under the fires of their hateful light.”
“I will not fail you, Master.” Vader lights his sabre to act as a lamp and leads the way into the cave, Sidious trailing behind him like molten tar. Vader is different from Sidious in a number of ways - Darth Sidious found it far better to guide and manipulate Vader towards framing his destruction as a necessity, as an act of mercy rather than relishing and bathing in the power and bloodshed. Before becoming Darth Vader, the man suffered, and from his suffering that man felt fear, pain, loss, death, all swirling together to make a hot bubbling hatred sizzle in his veins. It is this hatred that Sidious still nurtures in his apprentice.
It is not simply that the Light needs to be extinguished, it is that it is Right and Just to do so, that the warriors of the light, the Jedi and others, deserve their deaths due to their wrongs. Darth Sidious does sometimes tire of appealing to Vader’s sense of righteousness, but such is the balance one takes when one is the Master of a man who murdered himself free of slavery, only to willingly place his neck in front of Sidious to secure a new collar in his quest to free others, to bring justice to those who deserve to die. Sidious’ patience is rewarded in the growth of Vader’s power.
Vader is not entirely unaware; he knows his Master manipulated and schemed, knows he has traded one yoke for another. He suspects his Master keeps many things from him, including the depths of just how strong they - Vader and Sidious - truly are. He is just over twenty now, young enough to have hope for the future but old and bitter enough to sneer at it, to pretend and ignore his softer desires, to sacrifice them for the war effort, to ensure that those who must perish do so without his heart grieving.
The cave twists and turns and splits in many paths multiple times, but Darth Vader is not deterred - the Force is strong in him, whispering, pointing the way, clear as transparisteel as he chooses each path, bracing himself for the terrible thing that he is to slay. What manner of creature can bring such devastation to the entire Sith order? What creature of the light causes even Darth Sidious to tremble?
Darth Sidious never trembles.
The tunnel narrows down and Darth Vader crouches, his helmet scraping along stalactites despite his posture. At the end of the path, stalagmites and stalactites converge to make a wall that resembles the great, sharp teeth of a beast, with only a thin crack between them for airflow.
Vader swipes his saber through the maw, de-fanging the structure, points dropping to the floor before him. He steps through the opening he created and stands up to his full height, pausing at the scene before him.
There, in the centre of the room, is a cradle. At the side of the cradle is a nanny droid, gently rocking it too and fro. A small babbling noise emanates from the blankets.
Vader steps forward slowly, his sabre still drawn. Surely this is a trick of the light side. Surely there is an assassin droid hiding in the chassis of the nanny droid, ever so gently reaching out to touch the head of a redheaded infant with eyes the colour of perfect sailing skies. Surely there is more to it. Surely his Master isn’t asking him to slay an innocent babe, not even a standard year old.
“I can feel your hesitation, apprentice.” Sidious’ voice hisses at the end of his sentence; Anakin can practically hear the bare amount of spittle in that dry, age-stained mouth.
“The creature will be formidable. Now is the time to strike, before the future comes to pass.”
“...it is a babe, Master,” Vader insists. He approaches closer still and catches the attention of the nanny droid, its chest cavity opening to reveal an impressive artillery. If only it was able to use it.
Vader has sliced it in two before a single shot could be fired. Its legs stand motionless as its top half falls to the ground, sizzling. Vader looks to the cradle, where the young babe begins to frown and whimper.
“It matters not.” Sidious’ patience dissipates within the time it takes for the babe to start squalling.
“Kill it. Kill the babe and save us, Darth Vader.” The side of his lip twists in an unimpressed sneer as Darth Vader does not, in fact, follow his orders to kill the babe, but instead gets down on his knees to inspect a hand-sewn label attached to its clothing.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi…” he murmurs.
“I said kill it, Vader, not name it!” Sidious snaps. Those are his last discernible words, everything else garbled due to the sudden, vicious pressure inside his throat.
“If the Sith, in all its interactions and all its power of the dark can truly be eliminated by a mere infant, then perhaps the Sith are the ones which deserve to die.” Darth Vader does not elaborate on the babe’s innocence, merely waits for the feeling of his Master’s windpipe to collapse before letting the body crumple to the cave floor.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is still crying.
Darth Vader takes off his helmet, putting it down by the foot of the cradle.
Anakin Skywalker picks up the blue eyed child and holds him in his arms, cooing softly to him, singing the song his mother sang to him when he was young and sad or scared. Obi-Wan’s wailing quiets down to the tune, and immediately ceases the moment he notices the man’s eyes, one blue and one gold.
Obi-Wan reaches out in the Force to touch Anakin’s signature with his own, a radiant beam of rainbow light. Tears flow freely down Anakin’s cheek as he holds the most powerful being in the Force he has ever witnessed, his little hand reaching to touch him, to comfort him as Anakin does.
“I pledge my life to you, little Obi-Wan,” Anakin whispers. In their new Force bond, Anakin feels a warm cascade of love shower down upon him in return.