Fortress Vader

Thirty-two - Unbosomed

When he just stands there, his back to me, I almost take a step forward. It is a pull I don't understand. I hate him, and yet, there is some part of me that cares for him.

He wouldn't kill Anakin, right? If we can't be together, fine—but I was helping him. He would deny his apprentice's needs? Because why? Jealousy?

Something feels...off. I'm trying to place it, but it's hard to focus on anything other than controlling my rising irritation.

"He has done nothing against you," I finally answer. "It would be more than just inconvenient to kill him, my lord. It's like sacrificing a son." I almost whisper the last sentence, and a curious thought came along with it, that my father sacrificed me. It isn't accurate, but there is something in it that rings true.

He turns around, but he doesn't approach.

"My apprentice is merely a foolish child with the dreams to match," Vader snarls. My brows pinch together. Anakin is a lot of things but a foolish child? I don't agree.

"Something to say?" His modulated voice rings out.

I don't want to create a rift between them. Maybe he is just taunting me. Maybe he loves Anakin. Regardless, I need to get a grip on my emotions. I will not be the reason their relationship goes downhill, nor will I be the reason Anakin gets hurt.

"I think he would die for you, sir," I say in a soft voice. I don't know why, but it makes him go quiet. He seems to shrink away, though that isn't an accurate thing to say about this massive figure.

"Explain." My frown deepens. Is it not obvious? I know they're dark lords and all, but come on.

"He uh, I think he respects you more than anything, my lord. Everything he does is for you, he would sacrifice himself without any hesitation if it meant you lived. If it meant you won." He hates Palpatine, not Vader. I've never heard him say anything negative about his master.

He is silent for so long that I finally look up at his mask.

"Get out," he growls. What? Why does his dismissal hurt?

"I—"

He seems to double in size at my hesitation to follow an order, and I'm spinning before he can open his mouth, my breath turning cold.

"Leave! Before I make you leave, Kitten," he snarls, full of anger.

I freeze.

He does too, but I don't notice.

I blink. He called me Kitten. Not just that—despite his mask's modulation, he sounded like him. The double t was like his tongue snapped, just like Anakin's does.

He wouldn't tell me his name.

I never see them together.

In the lift, all those years ago when he spanked me until I came, he called it his lift.

His trophy room.

He said he could make me come from across the palace, yet Vader appears in my room. He appears in my room.

The way he'd been so intense on learning about my loyalties. The way he wanted me on his desk after my speech.

Vader said no man could touch me, but until now, never mentioned Anakin touching me.

His suit! It keeps him alive! The bacta tank that he needs—it's simply another alternative to his suit. That's why I haven't been able to crack the suit. Critical information has been kept from me.