How to Take an Empire

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Halfway

Though Vader's preference was to kill those who stood in his way, in many ways, it made things a lot more complicated. Killing the suspected perpetrators meant an unfortunate lack of ability to glean much more information about their attack for both the Empire and the Rebellion. Now, neither governing body would be able to discover if this had been an isolated incident or if the Eriadu rebel cell had ties to more terroristic rebel organizations throughout the galaxy. Not that the distinction mattered to the Emperor. All rebels were the same as far as he was concerned. But if Vader had the presence of mind to take some information from their heads before he'd executed them, it would have made his job in the aftermath a lot easier. A job that was already made harder since he was distracted.

It had taken all his focus and willpower to hide his distraction from the Emperor when Vader made his report to him. But he was almost positive he'd done a relatively sufficient job of it. Once Vader confirmed that no Jedi had been involved in the plot and that the culprits were dead, the Emperor dismissed him. If he'd sensed anything amiss, the Sith master would have played one is mind games. Vader doubted he had the energy or focus to keep himself from falling for the man's mind traps while at the same time making the man think he had. If he'd slipped, no doubt he would have been called back to Imperial Center immediately, and Vader wasn't sure he'd be able to keep Ahsoka's survival from Sidious any longer.

Vader resisted the urge to groan as he tried and failed to take himself into a resting meditation to bring some clarity to this confusing mess as he lay on his bed.

From the day Vader had met her, Ahsoka had always been the type to speak her mind. But with all trust between them lost, their mutual fury at each other, and the Jedi tenants that would have tempered her long abandoned, Ahsoka was a lot more likely to make sure he explicitly knew when she was displeased with him. There was no occasion which she had been displeased with him that she held back on the cutting remarks or biting truths that he didn't want to hear.

For the first time, though, she was giving him the silent treatment. Even her end of the bond was suspiciously muted. The silence bothered him even more than it had on Naboo a year ago. Though, unlike back then, he knew the direct cause of her silence, knowing only complicated the matter more when he had no idea what to do about it.

Ahsoka wasn't one to resort to silence for long, though. So Vader decided to consider it a temporary blessing. It was hard to examine his own mind and feelings when they were both trying to blame the other for the latest dilemma they were dealing with at the time. That was certainly so now when he needed to examine his apparently more-than-friends feelings for her, though he denied their existence when they'd both uncovered it.

This was wholly and completely different from Padmé. He'd admittedly been childishly enamored with her since he met her, not even having a complete understanding of what he felt for her was. The only thing he'd known was that the Force—before he even knew it by that name—whispered to him that she was his destiny. So he'd carried that promise and that torch for her in the interceding years before they were reunited. His and Padmé's feelings for each other had been passionate and all-consuming from the beginning. He had never not known how he felt about her.

Whatever was coming across the bond with Ahsoka was quiet, creeping up on him in such a way that it had been easy to ignore until he took the time to inspect it. Truthfully, he should have known something was happening when their bond somehow managed to repair itself despite them both mutually ignoring its presence. Initially, anyway. At some point, the convenience of the bond became hard to resist. At some point, they'd stopped ignoring the bond when its presence presented itself. Yet, somehow they had both still conveniently ignored how much the Force connection between them had actually strengthened. At some point that Vader couldn't specify, they had gone from hating one another to tolerating one another enough that they could loosely call each other friends to whatever was happening now.