Chapter Text
He had a son.
His vision blurred as the force rang with the truth in those words.
Was he really all that surprised? After the shock of finding Padme in a near-inescapable coma, he had simply accepted that Sidious had lied to him.
But he still assumed that his child had died.
He turned to face the closed system that kept Padme alive. He had moved her to Mustafar in a last-ditch effort to use the dark side to save her.
That's what he told himself now, anyway. A part of him was acutely aware of his own attachment to her. Sidious would kill her (and probably him) if he found out that he was still weakened by such emotions that the Sith strictly rejected.
The only thing keeping her alive was the life support system and his own efforts to use the force to try and improve her condition. He had been consistently unsuccessful at finally waking her for the last 10 years. But he simply refused to let her die. How could he?
But now there was a son in the picture. A son who was responsible for destroying the emperor's most recent obsession. The Death Star.
He was aware of the Princess’s feeble attempt at lying, which had gotten her own planet blown up by the hideous machine. The destruction of the Death Star was possibly equal parts a retaliation against that as well as an attempt at weakening the empire.
But in all honesty, it was not as if he had made any real attempt to interrogate her. He reminded him too much of Padme. While he would never say this out loud, she also reminded him a little too much of Skywalker as well. The same headstrong nature and stubbornness.
He had simply done the bare minimum to make it appear as if he had interrogated her and left the cell as quickly as possible.
His own cowardice alarmed him. A part of him scowled at this. But for the most part, he was too tired to care.
But Luke’s…existence was a new problem. Sidious would no doubt want to turn him and use Luke to get rid of him. He knew Sidious was growing bored of his current apprentice. And another Skywalker had shown up just on time.
Sidious never knew the full extent of recovery he had undergone when he got out of the wretched life support suit. Largely because he didn’t tell him. But mainly because the power he regained from completing the procedure was almost always used to help Padme.
His head spun slightly from the ever-growing list of problems he had to deal with.
But he had a sense that solving this particular problem would probably require more…decisive actions than he should probably be taking.
But the rage and hatred he had for Sidious for the last 10 years was now reaching dangerously high levels.
He is going to choke the life out of that bastard with his own two hands, force be damned, even if it is the last thing he does.