Entry tags:

30_somethings, fanfic

FIC: Unlimited Power - Anakin - PG-13
TITLE: Unlimited Power
AUTHOR: agentj / agentjedi
CHALLENGE: 30_somethings
CLAIM: Anakin Skywalker
THEMESET/PROMPT: Moments, #29 Twilight
RATING: PG-13
DATE WRITTEN: idea November-December 2004, written August 2007
TIMEFRAME: Post Revenge of the Sith
SUMMARY: Darth Vader takes his first step into a larger—and darker—world.
CONTENT WARNING: violence
WORD COUNT: 813
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I conceived the idea of this scene for an AU that I never got around to writing. I wanted to show how powerful the Force really felt to Anakin, especially the dark side of it, how it was intoxicating and devastating it was at the same time.

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Vader sat in the middle of his meditation chamber. With the protective field in place, he had removed his mask. His hands were folded neatly in his lap, his body composed as if in meditation, but the cloudiness in his eyes betrayed his true feelings.

Vader, as Anakin Skywalker and a Jedi, had never achieved a full meditative state, yet no one ever knew it. But he did. It was one thing he never told anyone. Not Master Yoda. Not even his closest friend and mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Over the years, Anakin had pushed the bubble of the meditative state he was supposed to achieve, but he constantly held himself back. Just on the other side of that bubble he held firmly in place was the tantalizing taste of richer things, of power beyond belief.

Master Yoda was right, had always been right. It was fear that held Anakin back, lead him astray, molded him into what he became in the end. It was not fear of what was without, but what was within.

That power he felt, just at the edge of his sanity, was his own. And it had terrified him.

Vader closed his eyes. His understanding was complete now. He remembered his death as Anakin Skywalker. He remembered his defeat at the hands of his old teacher. He remembered his flesh burning away the light within as the dark energies coursed through him without the limitations of the physical impeding him.

And he knew what he must do.

Vader re-opened his eyes and focused his energies into the flow of the Force surrounding him.

As he began his meditation, Vader felt the familiar sensation licking at his body and tingling his mind. The tendrils of energy flowing around him and through him linked him to the meditation chamber, the deck plating beneath him, the inert objects surrounding him, the blackness of space on the other side of the bulkhead. He felt the microscopic beings that lingered in every space of the ship and feasted upon his body. He felt the living presence of the other people on the ship, even the mechanical glow of life of the droids.

Reaching further, Vader felt the coolness of the planets in the nearby system, the energies of the living planet with its people, animals and creatures, and the burning energy of the star that warmed the whole. The oneness young Anakin had once felt with his podracer, Vader felt now with the star system. His heart was the sun's pulse. The movement of the planets was his breath.

Vader pushed his limits further. The bubble of fear pulled tightly around him. He paused briefly and pushed again. His whole being shuttered as the fear enveloped him, drowning him with visions of all the horrors from his memory.

In a flash, Vader felt the deaths of the Jedi Masters. The blood of the children who had been chosen for the future Jedi flowed over him as his lightsabre cut through their screams. He heard Obi-Wan's accusations as the molten lava seared his flesh.

He was awakened by Padmé's delicate frame as it shook like a leaf in the wind.

Padmé.

Vader's soul winced. He knew he had hit his furthermost boundary when the memory of Padmé returned; it was buried so deep inside of him. Even his new master, the Emperor couldn't touch it when he found displeasure in his prize.

Vader's body was drenched with sweat, his breathing laboured, his heart pounding as if to burst.

Padmé's face was twisted in pain, her body tossed about by an unseen hand. Then, unlike his real memory, her face contorted into a snarl of hatred and resentment. Her soft sable eyes turned dark and burned as coal on her delicate features that mutated into a grotesque mockery of Padmé.

It's not real, Vader chanted to himself in order to will himself to believe it. Not real. It's my fear. My fear that she hated me for what I had done. My fear that my secrets I had buried myself with would be found. My fear to become what I was meant to become.

Reaching deep inside himself with everything he was, Vader unleased the monster that he had hidden within. He willed himself to absorb his fear, accept his new found power, and acknowledge the pain he caused.

The moment before the bubble burst, he was more than who he was.

Throwing back his head, Vader opened his mouth in a silent scream as the energies beyond rushed in and engulfed him. His body lifted from his meditation mat, his torso stiffened with untold pain. Vader's whole being was buffeted with the blinding light of a thousand stars, sucked dry by the massive gravity of every collapsing star.

This time Vader's throat unleashed the scream he could no longer hold back before he passed out.

( More moments from Anakin Skywalker's life. )