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Chapter 1 - Capture

Author's Note: I've seen countless Sith-raised Anakin fics, but I've honestly never liked how he's portrayed in any of them very much, so I decided to do my own take on that in here. :) 

~ Tirana Sorki

PS. This is a gift for Avaricious_Trash on ao3, and it's for the Obikin 2023 bingo. :)

~ Amina Gila

The Force is always overwhelming. It always has been, though once, years ago, before Ankin's training started, he couldn't feel it so strongly.

It didn't burn in every inch of his body, didn't ache so badly he can hardly breathe.

The Force is what makes him useful, but sometimes, it just hurts. Sometimes, he doesn't want to be able to feel every ache and worry from those within a hundred klicks, wishes he didn't have to feel the pain and death and hurt.

He tried telling his master that once, after an explosion, after he felt the deaths of dozens of people, felt as their lives were ripped away, ripping out a piece of himself along with it. It had hurt, but all his master said was, "their pain makes you stronger, my boy. It is a gift, to be cherished", which did very little to help.

It didn't. Never has. Couldn't.

But Anakin knows better than to question his master.

Anakin is used to death – he grew up on Tatooine, and his Mom –

He can feel death from even farther away sometimes, especially when he's meditating. It makes him a living conduit of the Force, and Sidious always tells him to use that to destroy, and there – there are some people who deserve to be destroyed, but Anakin can't – doesn't know how to hurt people.

But something is wrong.

It's far away and elusive, but it's twisting and burning in the Force, doing the same in his mind. He can't place it now more than he has since whenever it first showed up, but it's getting stronger. Worse. It's something destructive, something that it feels like he should do something about, but he's not done training yet.

Doesn't... want to be done training yet.

But something is wrong, and his master is still away to some political meeting, and Anakin doesn't want to be alone.

The only other one here is Threepio, and Sidious had him shut off a month ago.

He – he came with Anakin when Maul took him from Tatooine, and he's all Anakin has had since, except his master.

But... Sidious isn't here now. It isn't like he'd know if it was for just a few minutes, right?

Sidious is his master. He raised him. He – he took care of him, and Anakin shouldn't do something that he told him not to, either. It's – it's complicated, because he's terrified to be stuck here alone right now.

The place – Sidious' mansion on Naboo – is too big. It's too quiet, and it feels like something's coming.

It was his fault, really, not Threepio's, and he still doesn't think it's fair to leave him off for so long. Not that he dares push the matter with Sidious though, so he doesn't order the droid dismantled altogether. Anakin had been the idiot who thought giving the droid a lightsaber was a good idea, anyway. He shouldn't have – if someone came and saw lightsaber marks inside Palpatine's home, it would incriminate them both. He could've gotten them killed or – or something, and it was an accident, but that doesn't make it okay.

He misses Threepio, and he wants to talk to him again, even if it's only for a few minutes.

He –

Doesn't want to be stuck here alone.