Star Wars One-Shots

Reset (2) - Chapter 2: Floundering

Author's Note: Just so y'all know, this is a continuation of Reset, posted earlier in this collection. 

Here's the link for the first part: https://www.wattpad.com/1235190853-star-wars-one-shots-reset

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this continuation! :D There will be one concluding chapter in two weeks. ^-^

~ Amina Gila

Luke and Leia are born, the same time they should have been otherwise, according to Obi-Wan. Padme survives. Vader doesn't know how to feel about that. She's still alive and breathing, though barely, and in a way, that makes it worse. It means everything he did was for naught. She would have lived, anyway. No one needed to die for it. He killed them, though. He did everything Sidious told him to.

Vader is the one who suggests they go to Naboo, if only briefly, because Sidious will find them there – it's where Padme had said she wanted to stay. It's where he had once wanted to stay, not that it matters anymore. He's not... free. He's still here only because Obi-Wan... spared him, and Vader has no idea why. He must want him for something. He only wishes he knew what. Ignoring him altogether is easiest. He doesn't even know what else he could do, anyway.

He's trying to ignore the part of his mind that whispers of how he should end it himself, instead of waiting for someone else to. What could it hurt, after all? Except then there would be no one left to protect his family – though it's not as though Vader is capable of that, anyway. He can't truly say why it is that he keeps moving.

Vader expected it from the very beginning, and he's not at all surprised when he feels Sidious reaching for him. It's... hard to fight back against the part of him that wants to give in instantly, to go back to his master, but he fights against it. He can't leave here, either. Padme won't let him leave, and neither will Obi-Wan. Vader would much rather not test the length of his former master's patience. It's not as if he wants to, anyway.

Sidious's presence is lingering constantly in the back of his mind – it has ever since he Fell, but it's stronger now. He wants attention, answers. Vader reinforces his shields to block him out. "You cannot hide from me forever, my wayward apprentice," Sidious growls, pulling back. He tries to shake it off, but he can't. If he stays with them, they'll never be safe.

What he has no idea is how he'll protect them from Sidious. He'll have to figure something out. It's not as if he can tell anyone.

Perhaps the Dark Side will have answers – but does it? Sidious promised it would, but he could have lied about that as he has about everything else. And can Vader truly consider himself a Sith? Fear is supposed to fuel the Dark Side, and it... does, but it also completely numbs him. He fears Sidious and Obi-Wan, and that doesn't make him stronger. All it does is make him freeze up at the mere mention of their names.

He's so tired of fighting and of life but being with Luke and Leia at least gives him something else to focus on.

***

It's been a few weeks now since they came to Naboo, and Obi-Wan feels almost as numb now as he did after he first arrived on Tatooine. The only difference is that he's not completely alone here. He and Vader have been pointedly avoiding each other, and that works... mostly. At least it does until he senses the other being abnormally quiet and closed off. He normally is, but Obi-Wan can still tell by the way Vader's holding himself that something is seriously wrong.

"What is it?" Obi-Wan demands at last.

He was expecting a very snarky or cryptic response and is surprised when he gets an answer. "Sidious is looking for me. As long as I am here, my family will never be safe. He won't stop until he finds me."