Realistically, Vader should have destroyed the two programs that housed his Jedi Master’s memories as soon as he had rediscovered them, but whatever remained of Skywalker had prevented it. Although he never did upload the program onto another device, to prevent anyone else from learning about his attachment to the Jedi programs. Now he regretted not having a back up.
Vader had thought the black box was broken. It had chunks missing and the circuits were exposed. He remembered how he watched as the General program’s futile attempts to blink into existence a few months ago. The Padawan program did not appear to be able to run either, indicating the device was broken. Yet Vader had continued to keep the damn box with him.
Which led him here, staring at the broken box, debating if he should let it melt in the lava of Mustafar. The projector flickered, and Vader dropped the device in his surprise. The Padawan program was able to manage to pull itself together for a final time. Vader had not set eyes on either Obi-Wan, and he greedily took in the appearance of the familiar padawan. A young Obi-Wan looked at the Sith Lord, his image becoming unsteady as the device struggled to project him.
Obi-Wan smiled at him.
“Master, I’m so glad you’re alright…” The padawan exclaimed, looking over the Sith Lord for any signs of injury.
“I don’t know why I haven’t see–” The hologram froze.
Vader felt his heart clench, as he stared at the AI. Obi-Wan’s eyes were unseeing as the processor struggled. The Sith Lord was unaware of how damp his eyes had become. How did he not know that the Padawan program was still able to run? Why had it not run prior to this point? Since it was running, he may be able to repair the damage to it, and perhaps restore the General program. He could have his master again…
The hologram unfroze, and it pursed it’s lips together. It had the same tight smile that Obi-Wan would later give Skywalker when he was tried to find words to tell him the bad news. The hologram sighed, gently “cupped” the face, the tears falling through the light. Each droplet sizzled as it touched the hot ground of Mustafar. The program becoming aware of the irreversible damage to it’s processor.
“Oh, Master… I’m so glad I could see you again.” The expression softened greatly. “I’m going to be able to wish you goodbye.”
Vader’s chest clenched, and he felt the Force began to stir. He began to open his mouth to speak, but the padawan cut him off.
“Thank you for everything Master. I’m so proud of you…” It became harder to understand what the hologram was saying. “I love you….”
The final words were uttered and the hologram blinked out of existence. The heart wrenching sadness caused the Force around Vader to wildly thrash. It caused waves of lava to crash onto the far side of the bank he was standing on, as he dropped to his knees. He felt the remnants of Skywalker lament inside his mind just as acutely as he did when Obi-Wan had first perished.
Logically, Vader knew that the Padawan program and the General program had hundreds of lines of coding so both would be able to “feel” and express the love that Skywalker had desired. Whatever the programs “felt” was a product of Skywalker’s own delusions. He should not be as affected by the program saying it loved him in the Jedi Master’s voice, nor should he crave it as much as he did. But, the Sith Lord remembered Skywalker pouring over the Obi-Wan’s personal journals after he passed just searching for any inkling that the other General loved him. Vader had decided there was not enough evidence to draw the conclusion, but he still wanted all of Obi-Wan’s passion and love for himself. For a moment, he had it, and now he had lost it once again.
That
is almost all Obi-Wan does and it takes Vader a disturbing amount of
time for him to understand what’s going on and why he doesn’t
feel like mating the other.
Obi-Wan
is skinny.
How
Vader misses out on that when Obi-Wan is pressed up against his body,
he blames on the layers he’s wearing but a bit of back rubbing and
then exploitative prodding gives Vader all the information he needs
on Obi-Wan’s body.
While
Obi-Wan’s body can still go into heat, he can’t sustain a pup and
that is worrying for a lot of reasons and makes Vader reluctantly
leave the nest to go searching around, finding the latch in the
living room slash kitchen under a carpet that lead down to the
basement of Obi-Wan’s little moisture farm.
Of
course, that in turn makes Obi-Wan whimper and sit up in his nest,
watching Vader with confused eyes for a little bit before he curls
back down and pulls the cape to him, going back to sleep.
‘If
you sleep, you’re not hungry…’ Vader shook himself of the
thought, remembering hunger pains while curled into his mother’s
side as he stepped down the stairs to the basement, mentally
grumbling about how shallow it was.
Whoever
had built this place must not have been used to Tatooine, it was
shallow enough to keep stuff cool but not built far enough down to be cold.
That
meant that water would heat inside the containers and vaporize.
It
meant that you would loose water that you had farmed.
“Idiotic…”
Vader growled out unhappily under his breath, pushing moist curls out
of his face before shaking his head and pulling a flashlight from his
belt, aiming it around with a deep frown at the sizable basement as
he started checking the inventory.
While
there were water barrels in here, only one of them was full with the
second one being mostly empty and as for food…
“What
the hell has he been doing?” Vader muttered unhappily, frowning
deeply as all he found was a basket of dried legumes, some dried
fruit in a lidded bowl and a strip of dried and over salted meat.
All of
the food was fine, in essence but all of it, except for the fruit,
needed some kind of prep.
Something
Obi-Wan in heat wouldn’t be able to do.
An
omegas heat meant they wanted to remain in their nest, they weren’t
suppose to leave them and were meant to prepare beforehand and
Obi-Wan was not up to doing much anyhow with his situation.
Scrubbing
his face, Vader let out a deep sigh before taking the legumes, fruit
and meat with him up.
Obi-Wan’s
lack of verbalization, lack of attacking Vader and reliance on
sleeping also made sense to him now.
He was
relying on instincts to get him through his heat, because he was half
starved and didn’t have a pack around him or a mate.
So,
sleep to ignore the hunger pains and instincts to manage through the
heat, stealing his senses. He had recognized Vader as a danger and
himself as too weak to do anything but had it been anyone else, Vader
had no doubt Obi-Wan would have gone into an omega frenzy to defend
himself and his home.
Had he
not recognized the scent and waited on Vader’s move, Vader would
have gotten the fight he had come for.
Anyone
else however would have gotten savaged.
‘Kark,
I came here to kill you… what the hell Obi-Wan.’ Vader closed the
latch on the basement and set the basket of yellow peas on the
counter along with the meat.
Then
he made his way to the bedroom with the fruits.
While
not much, it would keep Obi-Wan full until Vader could soak the dried
peas and make a basic stew with the meat.
If he
was lucky, he could find some roots around Obi-Wan’s settlement to
add to the stew too.
As
expected, Obi-Wan was sleeping, tucked up with the black cape to his
chest.
An
unexpected pang ran through Vader, freezing him in his tracks as he
stared at Obi-Wan in his pathetic nest, hands clenching on the bowl
of dried fruit he had fetched.
Swallowing
harshly, Vader let out a slow breath before moving to the pallet and
kneeling down, carefully shaking Obi-Wan’s shoulder until he opened
his eyes. “Hey, you need to eat.” He whispered, raising the bowl
slightly.
Obi-Wan
blinked blearily at him before focusing on the bowl, perking up
slightly and opening his mouth.
‘What
the kark is my life?’ Vader couldn’t help but muse as he started
hand feeding the omega Jedi, knowing he had at least two more days of
Obi-Wan’s heat to get through.
Somehow actually standing here under the light of the cool moons
above with sand blowing around him, feeling Obi-Wan’s signature
felt surreal to Vader as he stood outside of the hut at the edge of
the Jundland wastes, standing on Tatooine’s cursed sand once more,
a place he had sworn to never return to unless he had any other
choice.
He
might have been forced to return during the clone wars during the
debacle with Jabba’s sprog but this was different.
Because
he had finally found his old master, finally found Obi-Wan’s
hiding place and it was here.
‘Guess
he really did know me well enough to know where to hide, I would
never have found him if it wasn’t for him contacting Organa.’
Vader couldn’t help but bitterly think before he made his way to
the door and forced it open with a wave of the Force, frowning
slightly at the heavy locks and barricading he could hear clicking.
It was
unusual, Obi-Wan didn’t lock down himself like this, not even in
the worst of the war unless he was guarding someone, like the time
Vader hit his head an- ‘No, those memories were Skywalker’s. Not
mine.’ Vader shook his head sternly, gritting his teeth a bit as
the scars from the Emperors last ‘lesson’ itched.
Though,
thinking about it, considering the jawas would take anything not
nailed down or too heavy to carry, maybe locking it that heavy was
warranted if Obi-Wan had issues with those karking tuskens or jawas.
Maybe
he had finally gotten a sense of self preservation going?
Any
pangs of worry that shot through Vader at the thought of tuskens near
his old master was swiftly stifled as Vader finally got the door
open, air whooshing out to meet him as he stepped through and closed
the door behind him, his had falling to his saber as he looked about
the dark room, taking in the small living quarters where living room
and kitchen were all mixed into one.
Just
as all small moisture farms really.
There
was most likely a fresher and bedroom beyond this and if Vader
remembered right, a cellar to keep food items and water.
‘At
least if Kenobi’s smart there would be one.’ Vader turned on the
heat ray of his helmet finding Obi-Wan’s signature, laying prone on
what was most likely his pallet.
Confusion
itched Vader’s spine.
The
Force should have alerted the Jedi, it should have had him on his
feet and ready to fight but from what Vader could see through the
heat scan, Obi-Wan was curled on his sleeping pallet.
Moving
cautiously towards it with his right hand wrapped around his saber
hilt, Vader pushed the door open with his hand and stood in the
doorway, easily finding Obi-Wan with the heat vision and still the
Jedi did not move.
Cursing,
his heart pounding with worry he’d deny if asked about, Vader
removed his hand from his saber hilt and instead put them to his
helmet, pulling his helmet off.
And
promptly froze as unfiltered air was breathed in.
Because
that scent was unmistakable for all that Skywalker had spent a
lifetime thinking Obi-Wan was a Null
The
scent of an omega in the throes of heat, sweet but slightly tangy
with a suppressed edge of misery adding sourness.
Dropping
his helmet with a loud noise, Vader fumblingly reached out and found
the light switch, flooding the tiny, drab bedroom as Obi-Wan sat up
quickly from his makeshift nest of what little blankets the omega
had.
Sweaty
and flushed, Obi-Wan stared at him with wide eyes, shaking as his
scent turned even sourer while pulling the blanket around his
trembling form.
Vader
stared back blankly only to let out a low noise when a high pitched,
unhappy whine escaped the flushed redhead on the pallet.
Stumbling
forward, unsnapping the cape hanging to his shoulders, Vader let out
a deep, rumbling noise to try and sooth Obi-Wan. “Shh, no it’s
alright. It’s alright.” He mumbled out, several parts of his mind
screaming that it was not, parts of him demanding he killed
Kenobi now but the bigger part of him was the alpha hind mind
in this moment.
The
part of him that saw an omega in distress as Obi-Wan let out a
frightened noise and tried to press up against the wall his pallet
was stationed against.
“No,
no, no I’m not gonna hurt you. Not gonna hurt you Obi-Wan.” Vader
got out of his boots and his chest armor before crawling onto the
pallet, pausing right before touching the other.
Sourness
and fear rolled in Obi-Wan’s scent, in his Force aura and in his
eyes as he pressed against the wall, sweating and red faced as he
stared at Vader.
Swallowing
thickly, the scent demanding he seek out what was frightening the
omega, Vader held open his arms instead. “Promise, it alright. I’m
not gonna hurt you. Not gonna mate you. Just… come here?” He let
out a low pitched, soothing rumble.
The
dark demanded he’d snuff out the light, Darth Vader demanded he
kill the Jedi, his alpha mind demanded he’d mate the omega but
Anakin Skywalker demanded that he get Obi-Wan to calm down and relax
because stress wasn’t good for him and he was so frightened.
A
small, unsure hiccup escaped the man before he slowly, hesitantly
moved away from the wall, uncertainly letting Vader pull him into his
arms.
Cautiously
Vader drew the omega down with him, laying down first so Obi-Wan was
on top of him, the frightened and trembling Jedi slowly settling
before shuddering hard and pressing his face to Vader’s chest,
huffing in the alpha pheromones.
‘What
do you do with an omega you’re not going to mate with in heat?’
Vader blinked at the ceiling before reaching out with the Force and
turning the light off, recognizing that Obi-Wan’s heat was still
driving most of his instincts and there wasn’t going to be any
rational conversations yet.
Strangely
enough, for all he knew that Obi-Wan was desirable and for wanting to
have him before when they were both still Jedi, Vader felt no need
for it now.
All he
could feel was the overwhelming desire to make Obi-Wan calm down, to
get Obi-Wan to relax and let himself be cared for.
Pulling
the blankets up around them and summoning his cape to add to the
pitiful hoard, trying to build up Obi-Wan’s meager nest with the
few supplies he had, Vader decided that whatever was going on with
himself in that moment, it was a subject for the morning or whenever
Obi-Wan was fully able to think and talk.
‘But
let’s get this away from him…’ Vader removed his saber, sending
it across the room and into his own helmet.
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