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Light the soul like a kiln

Summary:

He gains nothing from his senseless cruelty.

Written for Fandom Empire Bingo 2025 - Prompt: Murder
and Sweet and Short September 2025 - Prompt: Hands
and Horrortember 2025 - Day 8: “I know you can hear me.” | pursuit | out of sight | consequences
and Fandom Free Bingo: Virtues and Vices - Prompt: Roman Mythology AU Punishment Befitting the Crime
and Lyrical Titles Bingo 2024 - Prompt: 00's song ("Sleep Apnea" - Chevelle)

Work Text:

Thousands of lives, weighed against Padmé? There’s no question, no contest, so he buries any conflicted feelings deep down, as if they never existed.

No one buries his victims.

Their corpses are either preserved as cruel trophies, or used for experiments, or left to rot until cleaning droids clear them away like refuse.

But the fire that should have claimed the murdered dead instead claims him, alive. The agony visited upon him will never match what he has inflicted, yet it is a punishment he grasped with his own hands.

So Vader burns, and loses everything he destroyed himself for.