Padmé paced aimlessly around the halls and rooms of the Varykino mansion. R2 waited beside the door as if guarding the mansion from harm. It had been several hours since Vader left and it was nearing sunset. As soon as the sky changes from day to night, she would be out of time. The marriage certificate would be accessible in the library and she would have maybe an hour at most to evacuate before imperial troops surrounded the planet, blocking her in. She promised Vader she would take public transit to the nearest port, then meet up with a friend of the Rebel Alliance who would secure her transportation to Tatooine. She would wait with his family and he would meet her there when the deed is done…

…if the deed is done.

Padmé knew Vader was powerful, and teaming up with the Jedi and the Alliance gave him a strong advantage. But was it strong enough? The Emperor was also insanely powerful with considerably more men, and had a bond with Vader that he never had the chance to form with Obi-Wan. What if Sidious somehow got into his head and Vader transitioned back to the Dark Side? She couldn't let that happen, especially not now.

Padmé changed into the plainest, most nondescript outfit she owned and fastened a blaster to her belt. She proceeded down the staircase, her heart racing, hoping that she was doing the right thing. She motioned to R2 and he replied with an indistinguishable series of beeps.

"Come on, R2," she ordered. "I'm going somewhere very dangerous and I'll need your help."

Obi-Wan Kenobi never thought he'd see the day when he'd be working with his former apprentice again. He also never thought he'd see the day when he'd be working alongside Darth Vader. But here they were, off to kill the most powerful Sith Lord in the galaxy.

The Jedi had reluctantly allowed his companion to pilot the ship. Anakin had always enjoyed flying and was quite good at it, if perhaps a bit risky.

"I sense fear in you," Obi-Wan stated quietly.

"You always did say fear is the path to the Dark Side," Vader responded.

"Indeed, as are attachments," Obi-Wan added.

"What's your point, Kenobi?" Vader snapped. "You can't go back and fix a decade of torture and ingrained teachings! I have to utilize what I have now to take down the monster who did this to me."

Obi-Wan paused to allow Vader a moment to control his rage before continuing.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you," Obi-Wan continued, "and I want you to know that I never gave up. No matter what your Master told you, I searched for you for years. Even Padmé never took off that necklace you made for her. If I'd known you were right in front of me all along…"

"There's nothing you could've done," Vader interrupted. "That's the problem with you Jedi. You're too focused on the past, whether it's judging an entire person by something they did wrong as a kid or documenting the entire history of the universe. It's not going to work, and that's why you haven't defeated Sidious yet. You need to be in the moment and forget about all your teachings and just attack."

"Only a fool attacks without a plan," Obi-Wan countered. "As a military man, you should know that."

Vader laughed deeply and Obi-Wan had to admit that it briefly gave him chills.

"Of course I have a plan," said Vader. "I'm just choosing not to share it with you because I don't entirely trust you."

"The enemy of your enemy is your friend," Obi-Wan argued. "And we have a mutual reason to fight. Padmé is my friend and if both of us fail, he'll go after her and he will kill her."

"Are you planning on failing, Kenobi?" Vader asked with gritted teeth.

"Well, if you don't tell me your plan and our plans don't align, then yes, I'm going to fail and so will you," Obi-Wan replied.

"You always were an incredibly annoying person who spoiled all the fun," said Vader. "I think it's for the best that our partnership didn't work out. I wouldn't have made a good Jedi."

Obi-Wan scratched his beard and pondered his former apprentice's statement.

"What?" Vader asked. "Not going to give me a speech about how I would've been a fantastic Jedi under your marvelous training?"

"Actually I'm not," Obi-Wan replied. "Because that's one thing you're right about – you wouldn't have made a good Jedi. You're too impulsive, act on emotion rather than reason, and don't seem to care for the good of the general public."

Obi-Wan expected a smart retort, but was only met with a smug grin.

"Perhaps you and I will get along after all, old Master," said Vader as he accelerated the ship. "I see Imperial ships ahead – we're getting close."

Vader had considered directly identifying himself and demanding to be let in. Like Padmé said, he had lost the element of surprise anyway. The soldier who let him through security would be deemed a hero for surrendering the galaxy's most wanted directly to the Emperor's doorstep. But the Jedi convinced him to go with a more subtle route under the pretenses that they would be able to keep what little surprise they had left, and Vader preferred a stealthy entrance over an elegant one. This wasn't about seeing how many people would watch him kill Sidious. This was about his personal, deep revenge.

And so they went through the process of being escorted on board a vessel that examined unmarked ships. Vader used the Force to convince the troops to send them on their way and let them pass into Coruscant. They landed in a public port and Vader wrapped himself in a cloak to conceal his scars and metal limbs. It was difficult not to draw attention to himself with his physical flaws. He now remembered why he liked his mask.

Vader glimpsed the spires of the Imperial Palace in the distance as they shuffled through crowds on the Coruscant streets. He felt the rage growing with the knowledge that he was so close to his goal, but it was accompanied by a sense of dread. Vader avoided this planet at all costs because this is where it happened. This is where he killed children in cold blood thinking that it would lead him closer to some sort of nonexistent destiny that Sidious had invented to trick him into carrying out the act.

This was the only instance that Vader dwelled on the past. He couldn't help being kidnapped or tortured, and he felt no remorse for most of his crimes as they were for the good of the Empire. But he didn't have to kill those children. There were other options – imprisonment, or training them to embrace the Dark Side. They were still young enough where it would've been completely possible.

Padmé and I could have children someday.

He brushed the strange thought aside and recalled that it was this very situation that led Vader to realize his true destiny. Sidious wanted the children gone so that they would never grow up and challenge him. His Master was weak and felt threatened by a pack of kids, and sent his slave to do his dirty work. Well, Vader was a slave no longer. He had escaped that fate as a child and then again several months ago by faking his own death. His true destiny was to be THAT child that grew up and rebelled against Sidious and struck him down once and for all.

And he was so close.

They got off the streets and met up in a nightclub with several members of the Rebel Alliance he remembered from the base on Jakku. It was the perfect place for a rendezvous, with every other patron too drunk or distracted to pay attention to them.

Vader took a seat across from Mon Mothma, who grimaced at him.

"My base was attacked after you left," said the woman. "How do I know I can trust you now?"

I can't believe they're still on about this stupid base.

"That wasn't me," Vader sneered, "and it wasn't Piett either. Piett was captured by the Emperor and he is a weak, pathetic man that doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut."

"And Padmé?" Mon continued. "Is she safe?"

"She's perfectly fine," Vader responded, "and married to me, I would add."

He smirked at the woman's expression of disapproval and pretended to listen as she changed the topic to some sort of plan about surrounding the palace and blowing things up.

"Master Yoda will meet you in the West corridor," Mon stated. "We will create an explosion to divert the guards from the back door to allow time to sneak him inside."

Vader laughed and snorted a bit louder than he expected.

"Is there a part of this plan that's funny to you, Lord Vader?" Mon asked. "Because if you have a different idea, I'm sure we'd all love to hear your input."

"By all means, continue," Vader stated, leaning back to recline in his seat.

The thought of working with not one, but two Jedi was quite humorous to Vader. He knew it was part of the agreement, but he hadn't quite processed it until now. He traced his eyes around the club, seeking distraction from the matter at hand. A small Balosar slid up beside Obi-Wan.

"You wanna buy some death sticks?" the Balosar asked.

"You don't want to sell me death sticks," Obi-Wan responded, nonchalantly waving him away.

Then Vader had a brilliant idea.

"I want to buy some death sticks," Vader interjected. "I want you to sell me every death stick you have. You will offer me a very steep discount, and then you will leave and never speak of this again."

The surprised Balosar emptied his bag and Vader passed him two coins that he had stolen from a patron on the way in and had planned on using for a drink.

"Dare I ask?" said Obi-Wan.

"An explosion?" Vader responded. "The best plans you've had so far include things that make a lot of noise and clearly alert the Emperor that we're coming, therefore signaling more guards and significantly decreasing our chance of success. Here's your new plan – everyone take some death sticks."