Haunted

One

"Obi..."

The voice was beautiful and familiar, but it was cold. Dead.
Her image flashed in his mind and his eyes bolted open. She was still there, in the daylight.
Tormented, Kenobi paced about his small hut trying to push the thoughts from his head.
Looking up at the figure -memory- of Satine he whispered, "I couldn't save you... I'm sorry. I miss you so much."
With Kenobi's sigh, she disappeared.

"Why can't you just forget, Obi-Wan?" he inquired of himself, "No. Not Obi-Wan, Ben."
The former Jedi had to leave that life behind, including his name.

He smiled.
Satine used to call me Ben.
The smile turned to a frown.

Why did everything always lead his thoughts back to her?
He knew why...

Because he could never forget.

*   *   *

"You turned her against me!"

"You have done that yourself."
§

"Be careful of the Jedi, Anakin. Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. Learn to use the Dark Side of the Force and you will be able to save your wife from certain death."
§
 "I won't lose you the way I lost my mother. I've become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of. And I'm doing it for you, to protect you."
§
"Lord Vader... can you hear me?"

"Yes, Master."

"Where is Padmé? Is she safe? Is she all right?"

"It seems in your anger, you killed her."

"I...? I couldn't have! She was alive... I felt it!"
§

"Padmé!" Darth Vader shouted as he opened his eyes.
He was in his Meditation Chamber aboard the Executor. His helmet had been removed and he reached with his gloved hand toward his face. Vader's fingers brushed over his scarred skin.

Would Padmé have loved him like this? He shook his head and his arm fell back into his lap. He glimpsed something on his glove. It was wet.
A tear?

No. It couldn't be. Yet it was.
Anger filled Vader. Anger towards himself. Why was he still attached? She was dead. He wasn't even Anakin anymore.

But she would always be in his soul...
If he even had one.