My family… if Vader…
The door to her room slid open, interrupting her train of thought. She quickly closed the file and shifted the datapad under her pillow, hiding it from whoever entered. It was him. Lord Vader stormed into the room, and immediately Padme's anger exploded. She acted quickly, knowing that if she didn't act with her anger, she wouldn't act at all. Instead of hiding or backing down to the dark lord, Padme jumped off her bed and met him half way.
"Get out, you monster!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, "Get out!"
"You have forgotten your place, Senator!" Vader roared.
Padme said nothing, as she paused in front of the Sith that towered over her. His height itself was beyond intimidating, but Padme didn't let it faze her. She acted as if she was the taller one and met his hidden gaze without mercy. She would not lose this time.
"Your place." Vader growled, closing the small gap between him and the Senator.
As their bodies came into nearly touching distance, Padme felt the coldness and darkness of his body surround her, trying to engulf her. She realized that this was his way of challenging her, as she had seen him do to various others. No one could stand to be this close to him. No one could handle being threatened by Lord Vader, himself. Everyone always quivered and surrendered to the Sith Lord, but not today.
"I haven't forgotten!" Padme yelled, pushing up on her tiptoes to get closer to his height, "How could I?" "Could have fooled me, Senator." Vader breathed, allowing his breath to hit Padme straight in the face; and for a moment, Padme was stunned. Actually feeling Vader's breath across her skin. The breath that had his scent, the smell she loved. The smell that made her insides – Stop. He is tricking you. Even if Padme's body betrayed her, her mind was straight. Vader was smart, cunning, and did not like to lose. Vader had switched his tactics; he knew that she would not back down by force, so he had tried another way, by using one of her weaknesses.
The bastard.
Padme turned her head away from his gaze incase any of her emotions leaked through her mask. "Get out." She growled, allowing all of her conflicting emotions to be heard within the small sentence. "Now."
Vader made no attempt to leave, but instead seemed to move closer to the girl before him. "I'm warning you, Senator.' Vader's voice boomed, "It would be best not to push me, as you know, I tend to get a bit violent."
Padme immediately felt Vader's invisible grasp tighten around her throat.
"It would be a pity, don't you agree?" Vader mocked arrogantly.
Padme was floored. What was this? Just his little game? Her friends were dead, people that protected her were dead, and so many more were to follow, but all he did was tease her? Remind her that she was his prisoner? Remind her of her weaknesses? Remind her that she too would be dead soon?
Padme turned back to the Sith Lord, not caring what emotions showed on her face, "If you're going to kill me," She screamed, "then just go ahead and do it. Stop playing around with me, Vader! Just do it! Kill me and no one else! Don't kill others in my place, just me!" Vader was quiet for a moment, as if surveying the woman in front of him. When he seemed satisfied he took a step back as if he was bored and done with the conversation.
"If I haven't made it clear, Senator, I would be enthused to dispose of you, but you still are some use to my Master. As for your friends, they were stupid enough to stand up against the Emperor. They paid their price."
"A life isn't just something you can take away from someone!" Padme cried, taking a step forward and closing the gap between them once again.
"It is very easy to take away someone's life" Vader replied uncaringly, as he turned away from Padme, and began walking towards the door.
"That's not what I mean!" Padme cried as she chased after his fleeing figure, "What happened to you? What caused you to become like this?" To Padme's surprise, Vader paused, but did not speak. They both stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity before Vader spoke again.
"Because my life was taken from me." He growled, before disappearing into the hallway and leaving Padme alone with her thoughts.
Vader walked through the twists and turns of the halls, making his way towards his chambers, and away from the annoyance of the senator behind him. He had had every intention of making the Senator pay for what had happened today, but he had misjudged his own strength. His rage that was giving him strength was all but depleting, and he knew that in a matter of time before the pain would catch up to him. It always did.
But the crash came all too soon. One moment his anger and rage had upheld him, but now it was all too much. He paused suddenly, gasping for air as his body began to take in the inflictions that had been brought upon it.
Vader was in pain, terrible, terrible pain. He couldn't move. He couldn't breath. He couldn't think. The pain was almost unbearable, and every movement was pure agony. The punishment he endured from his Master was everything he had expected; it was a punishment to remind him of his true place. The wounds that Vader felt aching on his body were similar to the ones he received multiple times as a child. Their purpose, to remind him that he was only a slave to the real Master… but the pain reminded him of so much more besides that fact.
It reminded him of every reason why he wanted to become his own Master, of why he wanted to kill Palpatine, and of why he would become Emperor… but only if he could last that long. Even with Vader's own stubbornness, he had to admit that this pain was nothing like the others he had experienced, and as he began to force himself to move, with each step he felt closer towards death than he did his chambers.
As he reached the main living area, the pain rippled through his body, causing his legs to give out, and his body to slam into the ground. He groaned inwardly, the weakness burned him even deeper than the wounds on his body did. Vader was not weak; he was not supposed to feel pain, only inflict it.
Slowly peeling himself off the ground, Vader pushed himself onto the nearest couch as he moved into a sitting position.
.
.
.
👓☕️Consider supporting me and enhance your reading experience with the ready-to-read PDFs I have on my Ko-fi.☕️👓
🎯https://ko-fi.com/cmrowling🎯