Prompt 48a - Dark

[peppermint_shamrock]

Title: It seems I've gained the world but have nothing
Prompt: Dark
Author: peppermint_shamrock
Rating: G
Characters: Darth Vader, Darth Sidious
Pairing: None
Star Wars Media Property: Prequels (ROTS)
Word count: 300
Warnings/Spoilers: N/A
Summary: Vader takes his first steps into a life without Padmé.
Author Notes: I'm back!
Beta: None, it's just me

Read on AO3

 

Eventually, there is nothing more in the room to destroy, nowhere for his rage and grief to lash out, so it turns in on itself and congeals into a dark, cold thing at his core, pulsing in time with the mechanical breaths keeping him from following Padmé into the grave.

Sidious looks on, with sympathy Vader knows to be false. A weary hatred joins that congealed mass, but it’s weighed down with the knowledge that Sidious is all he has now, every other bridge burned, and the twisted but intact remains of the respect and the affection Vader had held for the man before he called him Master.

“Lord Vader,” Sidious says, unbothered, even gleeful at Vader’s feelings, “come. Our efforts have been successful. Already the Empire has accomplished much to clear away the rot of the Republic, in so short a time.”

Had Padmé still lived, he would be glad to hear it. It was long his belief that the Republic needed someone like Palpatine to be given free reign to set things right. But now, at the moment of fulfillment, that cold, dark center where all his pain sits is surrounded only by emptiness. What does he care for the Republic and Empire? What do they matter in a galaxy without Padmé? This should have all been hers.

“The traitors in the Senate have been dealt with, and thanks to your efforts, my friend, the Jedi destroyed,” Sidious continues.

Vader stumbles, not solely out of inexperience with his new, heavy prosthetics.

“Oh,” Sidious says, sensing Vader’s objection before he speaks it, “I know. Some yet live. I will let you deal with that soon enough, my apprentice. But even Master Yoda could not touch me, and the rest would be fools to try.

“We, the Sith, are victorious.”