Lay Your Weapons Down - A Star Wars Fanfic | Obikin

Chapter 1

Vader first senses a (long-lost, as he thought) connection when he wakes up in a bacta tank in his castle on Mustafar. Moreover, he responds. A quiet word "Anakin", full of despair and mixed with barely glimmering hope, touched something very deep in his soul. It brought to the surface what had been dead for ten long years, what he had tried so hard to bury forever.

Him.

It freaks him out. Vader calls to the Force, finding the end of the once strong bond with such ease, as if the last time he did it was just yesterday. Pictures of a past life, shared memories flash before his eyes, blurry like frames from a bad old holo-movie, but Vader knows, he's sure, that he's not watching this holo-movie alone. This inflames his anger even more, he tightly raises his mental shields and closes his mind. After the droid finishes putting on his armor, he heads resolutely to his office.

His steps are heavy and confident, a long black cloak flutters behind him, and loud breathing echoes from the walls. No one dares to contradict him, argue with him, even show themselves in front of his eyes; he is the one who instills terror and fear in the hearts, makes the blood run cold in the veins, takes lives with one movement of the hand. He is a mighty Sith Lord, the right hand of the Emperor, the son of the Force itself... He can't be unbalanced by just the ghostly presence of an old man who was his Master once.

"Or can you?"

Vader brushes off the intrusive voice in his head, so unfamiliar after all these years, and glass shatters out of the hallway window behind him.

The view from his office is as scary and ominous as Vader himself, but he finds it oddly soothing. The waves of the lava river, which his fortress stands on, splash on the rocky shore; the air is hot here, burning the lungs from the inside, but Vader doesn't care – his armor allows him to breathe any air, on any planet, he is not afraid of either heat or cold; he is afraid of nothing. And things are not the same for Obi-Wan. When the Third Sister tracks him down, Vader will personally come after him and make sure that he pays the price for all the anguish and pain Vader has endured, while Vader himself looks on it feeling nothing but grim satisfaction.

He longs to get even and he will not stop until he has accomplished his revenge.

"Revenge and anger blind you."

"Shut up," Vader mutters, and slams his fist on the table angrily.

He returns to his chambers, and then he goes to his meditation chamber. He spends the rest of the day calling to the Dark Side and trying to get Anakin Skywalker back out of his head forever.

***

He forgets his uneasiness in heavy restless sleep, temporarily ceasing to control his own mind. He finds himself (Anakin?) in the middle of an abandoned devastated field, his armor is gone, and his body is completely hidden by a long dark cloak. He can move, see and breathe... by himself. Without any help. He senses such a familiar presence and turns around. Obi-Wan – tired and raddled, but it's still him – is staring straight at him. The bond is filled with such all-consuming grief and longing that it seems as if his heart is clamped in a metal vise and is about to turn into bloody lumps. There is not enough air to breathe, and ... Vader opens his eyes in his bacta tank.

***

On Mapuzo, Vader feels him so close that he almost suffocates (even though the respirator in his armor is working properly). He goes forward, driven by anger, pain and hatred. He is ready to sacrifice everyone who gets in his way, because he knows that this will lure Obi-Wan out, he will not be able to calmly watch innocent people dying before his eyes. At least, he wasn't before. He ignores the desperate cry "Stop!" in his own head, choking random people and breaking necks with the Force. He grabs a woman who was unfortunate enough to get into his field of vision and drags her along the ground like a rag doll. He doesn't feel sorry. For none of them. If he has to, he will kill them all.