Pull Me Out

Chapter 2 - Vader

Author's Note: Okay, so, I know there were questions about how the pain setting on Vader's slave chip was activated. Here's what I think: Watto was angry that Qui-Gon won the bet, so he activated it, just to get back at Qui-Gon, thinking that it would be deactivated soon. It wasn't, because Qui-Gon had no idea that it was something he even needed to worry about, and somehow, somewhere along the way, he lost it. Idk when or how or where, but he lost it and Sidious got it, because by ROTS, Sidious had it. That's all you need to know. :')

Also, this is the last part of the story. Vader's POV of the first chapter. Enjoy! And thank you all for reading, voting, and/or commenting on this story! :D

~ Amina Gila

"It's him," Vader intones, gaze focused on the small shuttle leaving the transport ship. He knew it would lure Obi-Wan out eventually. He's heading down for one of Jabi'im's moon, which means...

The Grand Inquisitor objects instantly, about how they need to keep pursuing the main ship and destroy the movement at its roots. Maybe any other time, he might have agreed, but not right now.

"He is no ordinary Jedi. Follow Kenobi." That's not the reason, though, even if the Grand Inquisitor doesn't know that. This is Vader's last chance, the moment he's been waiting for all these years. He will not lose it.

The Grand Inquisitor doesn't object, even though he looks unhappy. Vader may have been a slave his whole life, but people will answer to him so long as Sidious deems it so.

If Sidious knew what he really wanted... Oh, he probably at least suspects because he always does, but Vader can only hope this time. He did what he had to do on Mapuzo, to convince Sidious that he had no problem or hesitation with hurting Obi-Wan.

The betrayal on Mustafar had hurt more than anything he thought could, and he'd tried to focus on that anger when he attacked Obi-Wan there. He thought he might feel... something, but all he felt, in the end, was more self-hatred than he ever knew possible.

Any desire he once had to hurt his former master is gone, at least right now.

Sidious drilled it into his mind over and over again, not to think about his past because it's separate, yet it's the past that he uses most to control him – beyond the slave detonator chip that's still in him. In this moment, Vader couldn't even say how much he longs for the past.

For when the Jedi were still alive, for when he was still with Obi-Wan.

He tried to lie to himself for years about what Obi-Wan meant to him. Vader knew he should never feel the way he did, even then, seeing Obi-Wan as so much more than just a master, but he couldn't help it. Not when he was so alone, when he didn't have anyone but Obi-Wan for an entire decade.

After he married, though, all that felt like mattered anymore were Padme and his child, even if he'd been scared, too, about how the Jedi would react when they found out. But it wasn't until afterwards, after he lost everything, that he realized who he truly missed most of all.

It's foolish, he knows, because even if Obi-Wan was... kind, compared to any other master he had, he never saw himself as anything more.

Right?

You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you.

It makes no sense. For years, he'd dared to wonder if Obi-Wan actually knew that the Council was keeping him a slave, but he'd still usually treated him like it, even if he was much nicer about it. But those words... Masters don't love their slaves. They would never say something like that. Would they?