Eternally Yours

Short Story #2 - In My Veins

This story was inspired by the beautiful song In My Veins by Andrew Belle

"Oh you're in my veins

And I cannot get you out "

Anakin Skywalker was a broken man or was it cyborg now? A cyborg by the name of Darth Vader. Anakin was sure that he was no longer human, he was more metal then man. Yet, his heart was the same although part of him wished it was artificial, it would take away all his pain. His wife, his angel was dead and he had killed her. Over what? Power? Rage? At times, Anakin found it hard to breathe, as if when she had died, all the air had been sucked away and the very ground that he stood on seemed to have crumbled beneath his feet. He'd killed her and he'd killed himself just the same. There was no way that Anakin Skywalker could exist without Padmé Skywalker, she was a part of him, in his veins, a piece of his soul. Her death had left a simmering whole in his heart and the physical pain of his recent transformation was nothing compared to the emotional pain and guilt that wracked his consciousness.  

This kind of pain, this grief wasn't one that he could simply wish away because as he'd told Padmé so several years ago, you can't wish away feelings, no matter how much you wish that you could.  This pain would stay with Anakin forever and linger in his thoughts and when if he ever had to visit Naboo...well lets hope that he would never have to visit. There was no conceivable way that he could gaze upon the planet that she loved so much without hearing her laughter and seeing her brown eyes light up with excitement. Anakin Skywalker was more like a phantom then a human or ghost, he simply felt numb to any idea of happiness. He'd not only lost his children but his child. His family was all gone. He'd lost everything.

And so, as a survivor always does, they look to the future and as Anakin did, he began to embrace Darth Vader. His family was gone, he had no one left to love but he still had power. He could still bring peace to the galaxy, after all, wasn't that what Padmé wanted?

Nothing. Vader felt nothing even as he thought about his future as Vader. He was empty and saw nothing that sparked excitement. Padmé had been in his very veins and now he felt like she was lingering still, begging him to fix his path even though he knew that he had already passed the point of no return. 

Things were changing and it was time for Anakin Skywalker to lay his lightsaber down and concede defeat. Vader had a feeling many would believe that the Hero With No Fear had died heroically and it truly was better that they believed it, instead of realizing that he was now a tyrant and so Anakin Skywalker was buried deep under Vader's inconsolable sadness. Darth Vader was a new man, still broken, still hollow.

But he had one thing in common with the recently deceased Anakin Skywalker.

He was a survivor.