“Vader?” His name left me as a whisper, a thread of pain laced with surrender. “I know you don’t feel the same way about me… and I’m okay with that. I still want you.” The words tore through the tightness in my throat, each one trembling as I swallowed back the tears threatening to spill.
He only stared, his face unreadable, expression carved in indifference. I knew, in the hollow of my chest, that I could never reach this man’s heart.
“I’ve been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life,” I rasped, the confession breaking free like a wound.
Vader leaned down, his nose brushing mine, the faintest graze of contact. His breath was warm against my lips when he whispered, “Your love for me is going to destroy you, little one.”
His words hit me like a blade sliding between my ribs. Not loud. Not cruel. Just absolute. Maybe that was the worst part. He wasn’t trying to hurt me. He was stating a fact.
I drew in a shaky breath, but it caught halfway, lodging somewhere behind my sternum. “Maybe,” I whispered, voice breaking. “But at least it will be my choice. And if it’s going to happen, let it be you.”
His fingers came up, brushing a tear from my cheek with the pad of his thumb. The gesture should have been gentle, but it felt like a claim. His touch left heat in its wake, a mark only I could feel.
“You don’t know what you’re asking for,” he murmured. Not a warning. Not a comfort. A statement.
“Yes, I do,” I breathed. “I’m really asking for what I want this time. I’ve known since the first time you looked at me like I was something you could break. And I still stayed.”
His jaw flexed, that unreadable mask flickering for a fraction of a second into something darker, sharper glinting behind his eyes. “You think you’re ready to drown,” he said quietly. “But drowning isn’t romantic. It’s violent. It’s a fight until your last breath.”
“Then teach me,” I said. My voice shook, but the words didn’t. “Show me what it means to stay. Even if it hurts.”
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