[FIC] The Protege' 15/15 (Vader, ensemble, PG-13)

[jedinemo]

Title : The Protege'

Author : jedinemo

Rating and disclaimer : Rated PG-13. The Star Wars Universe belongs to George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd, and I have gained nothing but satisfaction from this fanfic.

Summary : Darth Vader has an unsettling encounter within the Imperial Palace that changes the course of Galactic history.

Timeline : A few

Comments

[ring34_ani]

God, I'm sitting here bawling my eyes out...I'll have to comment more later.:)

[jedinemo]

I know if I cry writing it, you all are going to cry reading it :)

Thanks for commenting!

[lumy12]

Oh my. If you could just see the tears streaming down my face right now!

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for this final chapter to go up! What a beautiful, bittersweet ending.

Loved the Cato Neimoidia reference!

I wonder if a more perceptive reader would have realized before this that Anakin had to die. :( I guess I always hope for fluffy bunnies and rainbows before realizing the cloudy gray sky is what's needed. Or something. Heh.

"Because that's what Anakin Skywalker does."

O_O GUH.

When he called Obi-Wan "Master" - More GUH.

But a cage, only living things were put inside a cage.

Mmmmm. Perfect ending, just perfect.

I look forward to the epilogue!

[jedinemo]

Thank you. All those same moments really got to me, too.

As far as Anakin's death, I was hoping I'd left enough hints that something ominous was going to happen. And it's certainly never good to be the subject of one of Vaderkin's visions.

It came to me fairly early on that Anakin would have to die. Because Anakin killed Palpatine, Vader never had to give his life for Luke. He's chosen to come back to the light, but there's a karmic price, a blood price, that hasn't been paid for his terrible deeds. It got me thinking that there's a destiny for Anakin Skywalker to give his life for Luke Skywalker that couldn't be escaped, no matter which alternate universe.

In this case Vader paid by proxy, and it was clone!Anakin who paid the price. But now Vader owes Anakin, and it is his obligation to straighten up and fly right. I think he'll take that obligation seriously.

[luminations]

I'm sure you DID leave enough hints -- but ever the fluffy-bunny-ist, I probably covered my ears and sang "LA LA LA" right over them.

I'm going to reread this story eventually, I'm sure of it. It's on The List.

[rabidfangurl]

And you call *me* evil? *wibbles*

I knew you were going to kill Anakin, but still, WAH! Though now I'm curious as to why Vader didn't sense Anakin's death. Or was he too busy saving Obi-Wan's bacon?

Vader reached a gloved hand down to him. "That's eleven."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened briefly and then he gripped Vader's hand. "Ten. Cato Neimoidia still doesn't count." :D It's nice to see they can still banter.

He shouldn't have been so hard on his apprentice. He'd should have given him more praise. And now he knows how Obi-Wan felt. Poor woobie.

"Let's get you out of this flightsuit," he said. "And then we'll talk. Man to man. Face to face." Yay! It's always nice when Vader decides to stop hiding behind his mask. Especially for his son.

You do realize we need a sequel to this, right?

[jedinemo]

I think that Vader was too caught up in the battle to sense Anakin. Kind of like how Palpatine doesn't sense Anakin is in trouble until the duel with Yoda is over.

It's always nice when Vader decides to stop hiding behind his mask. Especially for his son.

Yeah, I really wanted him to step up to the plate and be the adult. I wanted a story where Luke didn't have to parent his father. He's Anakin, so he still needs help getting there, but I wanted that help to come from someone other than his child. I think they can really be father and son now, not just have the odd dynamic where Luke has to be the parent.

And after you read the epilogue, you'll really be shouting "Sequel."

[emavalexis]

This was just absolutely LOVELY, and I look forward to the epilogue. Every emotional punch in this was just so bang on the money.

Excellent, excellent work.

[jedinemo]

Thank you so much!

[brightbear]

Ah, I'd almost forgotten about this.

Was sad to see Anakin go but not unexpected. Poor Vader, who has 3 times had a premonition of someone dying and been unable to stop it (Mum, Padme and Anakin). I liked that the banter between him and Obi-Wan came back.

I like happy endings and this fixed so many things. Looking forward to the epilogue.

[jedinemo]

It is very sad about Anakin, not really fair that he was the Anakin who paid for Vader's sins, but it was a price that couldn't go unpaid.

I'm glad the end was enough to balance the sadness.