Title: “A new hope”, a Darth Vader one-shot for the Mod! Challenge

Author: AzureAngel2

Main beta editor: @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

Co-editor:@DarthUncle

Length: one-shot

Summary: It’s the duty of a Sith apprentice to obey his master at any given time. But sometimes the humiliation is too great to bear. So Darth Vader wanders off from an assigned task only to walk into a person he never thought to see alive again.

Time frame: The story takes place in 15 BBY.

Planet of choice: Coruscant

Reader warning: Please excuse my weird English! I am German. English is only my Second language!

Disclaimer: SW is owned by George Lucas, Lucas Ltd. and now The Walt Disney Company



Touch my mouth
And hold my tongue
I'll never be your chosen one
I'll be home, safely tucked away
You can't tempt me if I don't see the day

The pull on my flesh is just too strong
It stifles the choice and the air in my lungs
Better not to breathe than to breathe a lie
When I open my body and breathe alive

I will not speak of your sin
There was no way out for him
The mirror shows not
Your values are all shot

But oh, my heart was flawed
I knew my weakness
So hold my hand
Consign me not to darkness

Crawl on my belly til the sun goes down
I'll never wear your broken crown
I took the rope and I f...ed it all the way
In this twilight, how dare you speak of grace

Crawl on my belly til the sun goes down
I'll never wear your broken crown
I'll take the ropes and… f... it all the way
In this twilight, how dare you speak of grace

Crawl on my belly til the sun goes down
I'll never wear your broken crown
I can take the rope and I can... f… it all the way
But in this twilight, our choices seal our fate


An ancient Sith philosophy mandated that only two Sith Lords could exist at any given time. Within the 'The Rule of the Two' the roles were strictly determined. The master had to be the embodiment of the power that the dark side of the Force offered. And the other person had to play the role of the apprentice, forever craving more.

Inside his head Darth Vader huffed. These days he longed for many things to improve his existence. A public book signing session at the local library was certainly not among them.

While he stood surrounded by flags bearing the Imperial crest and by library shelves, resignation flooded his senses.

In about ten minutes hordes of children would be all over him. Just because somebody within the ranks of the Imperial Ministry of Propaganda had published a complete visual dictionary of military vehicles and star ships. For Imperial citizens between six and twelve years of age.

Wilhuff Tarkin, his head bent down over a data pad, saw the entire event as a draft. It was obvious that the Moff was even looking forward to it. For the first time since his son’s death there was something in his face that came close to a true smile.

“He does not know that I killed Garouche, Lady Saro and their unborn baby,” the dark lord thought and looked away. “I am pain. I am destruction. I am death.”

In a lame suicide attempt he had crushed a young family under million tons of debris.

Darth Vader had no chance to further drown in self-pity because his helmet visors were attracted to a nearby table. It was loaded with several refreshments.

Somebody had undergone the pain to paint Stromtrooper helmets on all of the white marshmallows, obviously with black food colouring. There were also huge Wookie cookies with chocolate chunks and even an Imperial Star Destroyer made out of gingerbread.

Scattered all over the table top were little plastic action figures of him, Tarkin and other high ranking Imperial officers.

His stomach, forbidden to even taste the food, churned.

He made his gaze wander on.

The water bottles were of a favourite company. Darth Vader did not need to read the slogan on them. He knew it by heart. It said: “Naboo spring water, the Emperor’s favourite.”

His dark master could not care less about his pastoral home world in the Crommel Sector. The only thing that he had ever genuinely cared about had been his niece Nagina. She had been his true and only favourite. After her demise he had cut off all his emotional connections, just like that.

“Perhaps I focus too much on the negative,” Darth Vader thought full of self-sarcasm. “Perhaps I am not trying hard enough to better myself, to let go.”

Something touched his right knee cap.

A human boy with red hair, about six years old, looked up to him. “Sir?”

“We have not started yet,” he hummed. “Stay put for another ten minutes, soldier.”

“No, sir,” the boy said and blushed. “I just wanted to know where the toilettes are.”

“Do I look like a member of the library staff?” he probed somewhat aggressive.

“No, sir, but you look like someone in charge.”

There were many things he could answer to that, but instead he pointed at a desk where a female Togruta stood. “You better ask that lady over there before you pee into your pants.”

The boy made a face. “I will not pee into my pants. But I need to poop.”

“Then go,” he advised the child. “Before this goes utterly wrong for you.”

While the boy rushed off, the dark lord was happy that the conversation was over. Of late he had trouble being around children, and not only the humanoid ones. They simply made him feel uncomfortable, represented a test of his composure. To be involved into the several training program of young Force sensitives, who were to serve as either Imperial guards or as future Jedi assassins, was too much for him at times. Unfortunately, the humiliation of others was something that the Emperor enjoyed very much. It came in many forms.

With disgust, Darth Vader stared at a plate of cookies that were ornamented with his crude mask.

Worship was unnecessary. He did not wish to be anybodies hero.

“It should be forbidden, really,” he hissed inside his own helmet, making the library assistant next to him shudder.

“Are you not satisfied with the arrangements, Lord Vader?” the young woman, barely in her twenties, asked immediately and put on a brave smile.

“It will be fine,” he muttered, not sure whether he was saying that to himself of the library assistant. “Find out for me if the boy ever arrived at his destination.”

“What boy?”

“The red haired human one who needed to...” His heart was missing a beat or two. “Impossible!”

After exclaiming that he almost toppled over the refreshment table. Almost.

“I better find the boy,” the young woman excused herself and hurried away.

The dark lord shrugged.

Where there had been silence for almost five years was suddenly a song of joy. It echoed straight into his head.

“Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ. Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ. Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ. Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ.”

Hectically, he looked around in the library, but of course the presence he felt was not here. But it was within reach.

“Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ,” the mantra was repeated.

A feeling he had not felt since the events of Aota took hold of him.

Hope.

Out there was someone who had a long history with his dark master, and even a family tie.

If Darth Vader was honest with himself, then this person also shared DNA with him. In his mind, he travelled back to the fateful day in Sheev Palpatine’s private quarters. The day he had unmasked him as the Sith lord. Unbidden, the words unfold.

“I have waited all these years for you to fulfil your destiny. I arranged for your conception. I used the power of the Force to will the midi-chlorians to start cell divisions that created you.” - “I don’t believe you.” - “Ahhh, but you know it’s true. When you open your mind, you will sense that it is truth. You could almost think of me as your father.” - “That’s impossible.” - “Nevertheless, you must decide...”

Ever since he had decided that he had no father, just as his mother Shmi always had claimed. Then Anakin Skywalker, idealistic and foolish, had died. The lava rivers of Mustafar had made him rise as Darth Vader.

Then something unexpected had happened on Lothal. Nagina Samye had thrown all her memories at him and they had stuck with him ever since. With the awareness that she had the birth right to be his cousin. Now she seemed to be back from the dead as well. He was not alone any more.

The dark lord rushed towards the entrance, which made Wilhuff Tarkin look up from his data pad. “Where are you going, my friend?”

“I need to be on my way. Something unexpected has come up.”

“If you really must,” the Moff gave back and continued reading. It was no doubt the speech that he was going to hold soon.

Not looking left or right, Darth Vader strode on. Soon he was out of the building and hurried on over the huge plaza.

Even at this time of day this level of Coruscant was busy. It was mostly filled with tourists and day-trippers, keen on seeing the highlights of this district. Museum joined museum. In between there were by far too many gift shops.

He also passed propaganda posters with his overpowering image. They were well done, but unnecessary from his point of view. He got glorified in ways that almost made him feel ashamed. In the end he just served his dark master, the impersonation of the dark side of the Force.

His chase led him straight to a place he rather would have liked to avoid. First of all it was public. It also contained too many personal memories.

The past was an area that Darth Vader did not like to enter. Not after Atoa, that cursed ice planet within the Ghost Nebula. Lady Saro, High Priestress of her people, had poisoned his mind so much, that he had been willing to end his existence. Just like that.

He looked up.

Seen from outside, the Coruscant Intergalactic Art Gallery seemed harmless, but for him it contained more pitfalls than a mined battle field.

“I will not fail,” he promised himself and went in.

But when the cashier, a Bothan male, dared to address him improperly, he flung him against the next wall. While letting him hang in the air he called out, “I answer to the Emperor only.”

After dealing with the Security guards, a swift interlude only, he was granted free access into the gallery, including all the special exhibits.

Once more he reached out with the Force and was able to detect the precise location of his quarry. He braced himself for enemy contact.

While Padmé had to die, Nagina Samye obviously had been obviously favoured by the Force itself.

When Darth Vader entered a room that was full of Jedha art, there was a little girl beaming up to him. There was light inside her, but also darkness. And she was frighteningly familiar.

“Oh it is you! The close confidant of our beloved Emperor,” the child beamed. “I hope His Excellency is well on this most beautiful day.”

There was no fear from his cousin’s side, but not true recognition either. She introduced herself as Cassandra Morrígain Krennic. But it was her, back from the dead.


Sources:
The song “Broken crown” Mumford & Sons (2017)
Wookieepedia – The Star Wars Wiki
Jedipedia, a free German Star Wars-Encyclopaedia

 

Delightful discombobulation from Vader from several sources.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Have to say, that was a blast to read, your Vader is moody and a bit depressed, as I think is appropriate for this phase of canon, yet he also shows some of the curiosity and cleverness, not to mention joy of the fight, that he had as Anakin (at least in the clone wars cartoons). I wonder, is it 'a new hope' because she reminds him of Nagina, or because she might be a way to get back at his master?

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: I am glad you enjoyed this fully!

@Cowgirl Jedi 1701: I am glad you also had fun here!

@DarthUncle: I love you for encouraging me to post my stuff all the time when all I want to do is press the delete button.

Perhaps @Darth_Furio, @Kahara & @earlybird-obi-wan like this one-shot, too.

 

Right now I got an inner image of "Uncle Vader" popping into my head. And two milliseconds later it developed into a "Santa Claus in the mall" scenario with Vader instead of Santa - one child on each knee. I

 

@CaraJinn, this is a wee spoiler for events to come in my Cassandra story, but there is a reason for Vader why he behaves this way in the library. For he has reasons to be uncomfortable around books.

With this fan fic one-shot here I am picking up a paper trail that I started in "Shades of the night", a Vader vignette, where he was inside Palpatine´s private library and surrounded by mostly Sith literature.

 

A quick side note. This story made me chose to continue on Vader´s problem with texts and take part in the "Representing the Under-presented: A Special Mod Challenge".

Here are the follow-up links. (I will also place them at the end of my first post.)

* "Under pressure" (official first part for the Mod! challenge)
* "There might be dragons"
* "Every child is special"
* "Hallo darkness, my old friend"

 

Very good.

Not sure where the 'blasphemic' bit came in.

I enjoyed Vader's interactions with the various staff, that Tarkin felt the event to be a draft - which in turn had me thinking, if any young attendees did go on to join the Imperial military, some might have amusing flashbacks to your decorated marshmallows, whenever they saw stormtroopers, rather than be intimidated by them - and that he sensed Najina in this new little girl.

Obvious implications there!

Is it too convenient to wonder if the red-haired child were to be a young Hux?

 

Dear @Sith-I-5 when a fanfic author writes about Vader there can be a huge discussion out of a sudden. And I thought my idea to give him a problem with reading might be slightly blasphemic for some.