#merak reader

"Lord Vader," an officer said, running to the Sith, three Stormtroopers following close behind.

The three Stormtroopers raised their blasters at you and your brother.

Vader looked at his troops then at you and Galen. You were both strong and untrained in the Force; it would be a shame if you were both killed when Vader could easily take one of you to train as an apprentice.

Vader turned his attention back to the troopers then quickly retrieved his lightsaber with the Force, and deflected the blaster bolts back at the Stormtroopers and Imperial Officer.

You gasped and grabbed your twin’s shoulder at the loud sounds of blaster bolts, a ‘vhoom’ of a lightsaber and painful grunts of men as they were killed. You wanted to look away from the gruesome sight and run like your father said, but found yourself frozen in fear. You tightened your grip on Galen when the bulky, tall, figure of Vader walked up to you and your brother. Galen tried to guard you with his body by straightening himself and spreading out his arms.

Vader found the actions of Galen trying to protect you humorous. Anything the young boy could do to save you would be useless in the end. If Vader wanted you dead, you would be dead.

Vader was going to kill you like he did your father, but there was a chance you were stronger in the Force. He couldn’t pinpoint which one of you was the stronger one, as the Force emitted from both of you in waves, and your Force presence appeared to merge with each other. If Vader wanted the stronger child as his apprentice he would have to take you both then kill the one who was weaker.

Finding out who was stronger took longer than Vader thought. Both of you picked up the Force easily, and when you decided to alter your combat technique to a long range or Jar'Kai style instead of charging and overpowering an opponent, you were both good in combat. However, you tended to be more stubborn in certain aspects and at times lost focus during meditation, making Galen the more appealing candidate for Vader’s apprentice. As more time passed with each of you having more one-on-one training with Vader, Galen proved to be the more powerful twin.

This outcome pleased Vader greatly. Galen was more focused, and you were far too caring with Galen, always warned him to be careful, hugged him to show comfort, tried to patch him up, and tried to calm him when he was angered. Caring wasn't a Dark Side trait, and it was these traits that added to your weakness as well as weakening Galen. Vader also liked Galen more, Vader was more distant to him than with you. Whenever your caring side showed for your brother, it reminded Vader of when Padmé would care for other people, and at rare moments Vader found himself going easier on you or spending more time on you than he should. Vader didn't know the gender of the child he would've had with Padmé, but believed the child would be a girl, and it was these two things that had Vader less distant to you. He disliked the fact he was closer to you and how you reminded him of Padmé, so it was best if you were the one to be disposed of.

In order to make it less obvious that he killed you Vader waited a few days after discovering Galen was stronger and went to your chambers during the middle of the night. If you were asleep when he killed you, you wouldn't make a disturbance through the Force and potentially wake Galen with your Force bond. Vader had learned that the two of you had a unique bond in the Force, and were more attuned to each other, having a heightened connection to the other’s feelings, were able to tell if the other was hurt or in danger from miles away, and were able to find the other from miles away just by following the other’s Force presence. Vader was unsure if this connection could wake Galen if you were scared enough or in danger, but he didn’t want to find out. It would be better if Galen didn't know or suspect Vader was the cause of your death, as that could bring problems with the boy's loyalty or behavior.

Unfortunately, when Vader reached your chambers the door swooshed open and you ran into his boot. 

Pain spread throughout your nose after hitting Vader's boot, but the sudden pain was quickly forgotten when the mechanical breathing hit your ears, and you felt a swift change in the Force. You jumped back blood running cold by Vader’s presence and the sharp chill within the Force. Out of the three years of you being trained by Vader, he had never been at your chamber door in the middle of the night, and him being here made you on edge. The worst part about this situation was the Force felt antsy and as if it was poking you with needles of ice, which served to make you more anxious. You had no idea why the Force felt like this and didn’t like it at all.

Part of you wanted to keep staring at Vader’s boots and not look at him, hoping that if you didn’t look at him you would become invisible to the Sith’s gaze. The other part of you wanted to continue heading to Galen’s chambers, hoping if you kept on going like you never ran into Vader this situation would be forgotten as if it never happened, and your nerves from your nightmare, Vader being outside your door, and whatever he planned to do would vanish by your brother’s presence. However, if you kept looking at Vader’s boots or kept walking without acknowledging him, it could be taken as disrespectful, and you’ve learned the hard way that Vader demanded respect.

You gulped down your nerves then slowly looked up, trying to hide your emotions, but doubted you did well in hiding them. You regretted looking up as the cold running blood froze when you actually saw Vader’s helmet pointed down at you. 

"Master," you whispered, mentally cursing with how your voice seemed to abandon you, and how your mouth became dry.

Vader glared at you. You shouldn’t be awake at this hour, you should be asleep, you had to be asleep for the best outcome of his plan to be achieved. You being awake only made him dislike you more, but what made him hate you was how the frightened facial expression resembled the frightened look Padmé gave him on Mustafar, and the frightened whisper of 'master' made him remember when she whispered his name when he Force choked her. Vader knew if he really wanted, he could still kill you if you were awake, but he couldn’t kill you when you resembled Padmé, even if it was just by a facial expression combined with a whisper. He would have to kill you another night.

“Is-is there anything I can do for you?” You asked, voice still quiet.

“Come with me.”

“Yes master.” You said, forcing the words out. “Can I go see Galen first?”

“No.”

“Please, I always go to him after I have a nightmare.”

“No. Now come,” Vader gripped your shoulder then pulled you from the doorway and into the hallway.

“Please master, I must see him. I must see that he is alive.” 

“He is fine. Do you not sense him through the Force?”

“I do, but I have to see him to be sure.” You said, desperate to see him.

If you had any other nightmare you would deal with not going to Galen, not wanting to anger Vader, especially with the Force’s sharp chill, but after the nightmare of him being killed you had to make sure he was still alive. You always checked on Galen whenever you had the dream of him dying. You knew it was a dream, but it never failed to scare you to the very core. It felt so real, regardless if he looked way older than he was now, but you couldn’t get the image of his lifeless body laying on the ground. 

“The Force is enough confirmation,” Vader said. 

“But-” you paused when Vader gave a firm squeeze to your shoulder, a warning you knew, but you couldn’t bring yourself to heed it, “it eases me to see him. If I don’t see him all I can picture and think about is him lying dead on the floor like he does in my dream.” You clasped your hands together. “Please let me check on him, I will be able to focus so much more on whatever you have me do master.”

Vader felt something tightening in his chest at your pleading face, and the knowledge you had a dream of someone you loved dying. The fear you had reminded him of the fear he felt when he had visions of his mother and Padmé dying. The difference though was your fear was from dreams and his were visions. 

At least Vader believed your fear was from a dream. He couldn’t imagine a child like yourself having Force visions of the future. However, you were strong in the Force, even if you weren’t as strong as your brother, and the Force did work in mysterious ways, so it could be possible your dreams of Galen dying were visions. If your dreams were visions Vader felt a sense of sadness that you were experiencing this, knowing how painful it could be.

Vader clenched his fist, angered at how he felt a bit closer to you with the revelation of your dreams of your twin dying. Worse than that he was angered at how you reminded him of himself, and how his first thought was pity, instead of anger and an urge to kill you. 

“No. Use your fear in your training, it will give you power.” Vader said, before dragging you down the hallway by your shoulder.

Vader would give you a harder training session for giving him these feelings and memories of his past.