Sequel - A broken galaxy for us to fix

|| The Dark Side ||

Anakin felt his whole body shake as he tried to keep everything inside of him.

That was what he had been doing since he- had banished Vader to darkest parts of him. That is what he would do until... he did not know.

He supposed he would always live with this. The guilt, the pain, the suppression. The anger.

Ashoka slowly stopped laughing.

"Your joking right?" But her smile was wavering and she was eying her lightsaber.

Anakin flinched, he bit his toung, reveling in the pain as he shook his head.

He's eyes were on the floor. It was gravel, the rebels really did not like their prisoners.

He didn't dare look up, even when he heard Ashoka breath a nervous breath.

"Anakin."

He dared a glance. Her expression... was unreadable.

"This isn't funny." She whispered kneeling down next across from him. She reached out a hand.

What was she doing? Why would someone like her want to be in close proximity to a monster like himself?

He watched her outstretched hand as he swallowed, once, twice.

"I'm not joking, Ashoka. I a- was.. Darth Vader."

He met her gaze and let it stay there. He conveyed everything through his eyes. The truth. The pain. He wanted her to see.

Her hand was still outstretched but she was shaking. She shook her head, slowly, then violently, looking away from him.

Down. Down to see her hand still outstretched, quickly she pulled it back. Jumped up and grabbed her lightsaber.

She took a step back.

"What?" The word was barely auditable.

Anakin barely caught it. He stared at the spot where her hand had been moments before. When she had thought- had thought that Darth Vader had been someone else.

He followed his gaze to see her lightsaber hilt. He saw the stance she had. She was ready.

He felt himself start to crack. Anakin didn't know there was anything left in him to be broken.

He wanted to turn away from her. But he couldn't. He just stared at her lightsaber hilt.

"Please." Her voice broke. She took a deep breath and said, this time steadier. "Please Anakin."

He didn't know what she was asking for. It didn't matter. He couldn't save her from the pain he was causing.

"Y-you." She shook her head violently and her shaky voice became steady. Cold.

She put her lightsaber on her belt and said. "You deserve to rot in here."

Then she walked away.

Anakin let out a sound, he didn't even know what it was. She might as well have stabbed him with the lightsaber. It would have hurt less.

As he listened to the sound of her steps fading, he tried not to let himself think. That this, this was the end of their friendship.

That Ashoka would now forever hate him, like everyone else did. Like Padme did.

That there was no one he could blame for all of this. Other than himself.

As Anakin sat against the far wall of his cell he let himself fall apart. What had he done 7
months ago?!