The doors to his private chambers slid open with a whisper of hydraulics, but Darth Vader remained still. seated in the center of the room in his towering obsidian throne, hands resting heavy on the arms of the chair. the low, rhythmic pulse of his respirator echoing through the space like a steady heartbeat

The room was dark, lit only by the red glow of Mustafar's ever-burning rivers far below, casting shifting shadows across the floor.

He had been waiting. All day, the Force had tugged at him-faint restless threads pulling at the edqes of his control. Not fear, not danger but unease. The kind only you could cause.

For you'd been with him-the Emperor Palpatine's intentions were always layered beneath silk-tonqued lies and empty warmth, but what unsettled Vader most was how much 'trust' you'd given the old man. As a child You had clung to him like a child clings to a beloved elder.

And Vader let it happen. Because it was what the Emperor demanded Because your smile plastered across the holos made the galaxy forget the screams. Because you, in your innocence and carefully crafted charm made the Empire seem human.

You were not the child he raised, not the ghost of his past he swore to protect.

they had needed you perfect Untouched. And so he watched, day after day, as vou were shaped by another man's vision.

Now he waited. cloaked in silence. as the faint sound of your steps finally echoed down the corridor. The tension in the room tightened with every breath.

He was not angry. But he knew the moment you would walk through that door, he would be reminded-again-of how much of you he had lost