And You Never Freed the Slaves

Part 1

I fought alongside them once, Vader thought, disgustedly. He swung his lightsaber around, the red beam reflecting in his fire-filled eyes. I fought alongside them once, and I thought I was on the right path, Vader thought, with even more disgust.

I have corrected that mistake now, though, he reassured himself, with a satisfied smirk beneath his mask. Almost.

Vader tapped in the controls that would take his ship down onto a narrow path that ran between an alleyway in the less hospitable parts of Coruscant. He had been tipped off by a rather helpful (despite his trembling) barter that often visited these parts saying had run across a jedi once here. In a bar, he had told Vader through a series of many stutters and short breaths, the jedi had pulled out a purple lightsaber on one of the attendants and told him to take him to his ship. The attendant had shaken violently and had sworn that he did not have one, that he lived there in Coruscant itself, but the jedi would not settle for that. He dragged on and on, but eventually he had deactivated the lightsaber, and left.

Vader was particularly intrigued by the mention of the purple lightsaber. True, it was not quite the jedi he was looking for, but he was also excited at the thought of taking down Mace Windu. Not that he bore an impending amount of hatred toward the man, on the contrary, he had once greatly respected Master Windu. But times had changed now, and Vader knew that if he could defeat the legendary fighter Mace Windu, he would be able to defeat the jedi he detested almost as much as Obi-Wan: Yoda.

Maybe he held more malice towards yoda than anyone; it was actually deplorable the way he fought over whom he bore the most ill-will to. Or maybe it was laughable. Nevertheless, whatever it was, he would enjoy every second of all of their downfalls. Every last one.

Once, Vader--no, not Vader, but the person he had been before, that pitiful, weak life form, had vowed he would become the greatest jedi of all. And in a sense, he soon would be. He would have triumphed over every jedi that had ever existed, a feat none other had accomplished. But he refused to do it in the name of a jedi, and indeed it could never be done in that name, which broadened Vader's grin all the more. He would venture as far away from that title as he could; because those avaricious, impassive hypocrites had taken away from him the two people he had loved more than any in the planet, his mother and his wife.

The love that foolish counterpart of himself had once held for them still lived within him, and his rage over his loss of them powered the hatred that pulsed within his ever cell.

He would avenge their deaths-- he would kill them all! All those bloody jedi that refused to accept the truth!

He was more powerful than they could ever be! They were afraid of him! They had held him back as long as they could, and now they would pay for their mistake. Vader realized, with a greater clarity now than ever why the jedi hadn't wanted him to be trained. They had known how powerful he could become, known how powerful he would BE and they had been afraid. Those conceited jedi with their laws and traditions had been afraid that he would surpass them all, and they had been right to be afraid. Maybe, if they had let that boy rise to meet his potential in the beginning, things would have been different. He could have used the power, the power he now held, to save his mother. He could have used it to save his beloved Padme. Instead, he just sat by helplessly and watched, in turn, both of them die is his arms.

Pain. Pain plagued him underneath the dark mask he wore every moment of the day. Every moment that is, except for when he called the dark side of the force to him and took out the ones that had caused him to lose those he had loved with every part of his soul.

And it was hurt him knowing in the back of his mind that all the jedi he had learned to trust had been plotting behind his back. Obi-Wan had been like a father to him, and he had thought that they shared a close bond, but obviously Obi-Wan had not thought of Anakin as a son. All that time he had spent training him had been a lie, for all the time he had held the boy he had once been back, back from meeting his full potential. Then he had taken away his wife. Hidden her from HIM! Why would a father hide a person's wife from them? He would never, ever have done anything to hurt lovely Padme. But Obi-Wan seemed to have believed he would have.

NO! Screamed the weakening shadow of the person he had been before, YOU DID HURT HER! DON'T YOU REMEMBER?

Vader shook his head violently, to try to keep the memories away. But they flooded back, regardless of his effort to block them out.

***"Ani?! What are you doing to me?"

"Padme, I'm sorry, so sorry... forgive me my darling, forgive me..."

"My arm hurts Ani. What is wrong with you?! What has happened to you?! Why are you acting like this?"

"I don't know what came over me, Ami, forgive me!"

"How many times, Ani? How many times? This anger, these mood swings; this isn't the man I thought I married!"***

Vader hung his head in shame. The one he had been had failed her. No--it was the jedi that failed her. The jedi made him ill-tempered, irrational, and he never was able to save his wife. The jedi killed her. And now he would kill them.

Vader stepped out into the empty alley and let his fury coarse through his body. He felt the force swirl around him, become one with him, as he fed his malice to it. With every impending step forward his perception grew, and he smiled triumphantly as he felt the very presence he had come for trying to get away.

*You cannot hide from me, Mace Windu. Your only alternative is to fight. Or I will destroy you on the spot.*

*Don't do this, Anakin. It will accomplish nothing.*

Vader sneered. *Nice try, Windu.* He no longer answered to that name. That was the past, a past that had been all too brutally taken from him. That was then, this was now. Vader called the dark side to him and rammed through the stone building that lay before him. He was in here.

Vader pushed aside a table and threw a lamp that sat upon it into the far wall. "WHERE ARE YOU?" He screamed in a blind rage, and almost immediately turned around as he sensed the presence behind him.

"Right here," Mace Windu already had his lightsaber activated and rushed toward Vader. Vader was not completely off guard, though, and he managed to leap over Mace and land clear behind him. He ignited his lightsaber and waved it slowly and deliberately in front of him. He was not ignorant, and remembered what had happened the last time he had rushed a jedi-- Count Dooku. And so he waited, waited for Mace to make the first move.

But Mace Windu just faced him, lightsaber held at the defensive in front of him and legs in a back stance.

I have the dark side to aid me now, Vader told himself, and with that he struck, spinning around and aiming high, at the head. Mace Windu ducked and swung to Vader's midsection, but Vader easily stepped aside and tried to strike Mace Windu's unguarded right side. Vader knew that Mace would be able to block this, even so, and was already using that to his advantage. Using the force he disconnected a large section of the counter, and heaved it at Windu's backside. Windu almost didn't have the time to turn around and push it away, and already parts of the table were flying at him towards the front. He did a front flip over the two forces, and the counter and table collided in midair in the spot where he had just been. He moved quickly towards Vader and fought, putting Vader now on the defensive. But Vader had a few more tricks up his sleeve. He twisted his lightsaber around and up and brought it down sharply to where Windu was ! standing. Windu anticipated that too, and rolled out of the way, but he failed to see the simplest of moves as Vader whipped around and knocked him onto his back with: a low round kick. But Windu was quick still and pulled from underneath the blade of Vader and struck at his backside, narrowly missing Vader and taking off a piece of his cape. Vader spun and parried the blow, and they were back at exchanging blows once more. Vader faked to his right and then tried to get Mace to the low, but Mace jumped over and to the left, standing once more in the defensive position.

"This is pointless, Anakin. We are accomplishing nothing."

"I WILL end this!" Vader retorted and a sudden rush of hostility prompted him to race forward at him without thought. Mace saw this as him opportunity as rage blinded Vader, and spun, taking off a portion of his life support suit.

"AH!" Vader yelled in shock and fell backwards. He could not lose. Not now. Windu turned around to see the place where Vader fell, and at the moment, Vader took his lightsaber and tossed it as hard as he could towards Mace Windu, who had for once been taken off guard by the sudden deafening scream. He tried to avoid it, but it slashed across his chest, and he fell, clutching it tightly. Vader gathered the dark side and let a wave of anger strengthen him to stand, and call his lightsaber to him. He moved quickly to where Mace Windu lay and swung at him-- only Mace used the force to propel himself forward-- where Vader redirected his lightsaber, and cut Mace Windu's head clear off his body. The body fell back down with a sickening ëthud', and Vader gazed at it triumphantly.

Vader exited building and walked back to his ship with the same demeaning air, only this time there was a slight bounce in his step. Only two more to go.

Go to Part 2