Darth Vader meditates on his past

Neither the Emperor nor Vader ate. Instead, both meditated, communing with the Force, Vader standing, his Master seated.

Vader, still pondering his Master's words, drifted into the Force, let its rough currents pull him where it willed. As was so often the case, he saw moments from his past, a series of inchoate, violent, pain-filled images and sounds.

His decapitation of Darth Tyranus, the first kill his Master had asked of him.

Padme's screams.

His murder of the younglings in the Jedi Temple, their eyes wide with a fear that only fed his righteous wrath.

Padme's screams, her pain.

Treachery.

Mace Windu's shouts of rage as he'd realized the truth.

Padme's screams.

Traitor.

The fires of Mustafar, his hatred for Obi-Wan, who'd feared him and tried to keep him from his destiny, who'd tried to take Padme from him, who'd put him in the armor.

Padme's screams, her despair.

"No, Anakin! No!"

Vader opened his eyes, his fists clenched, his anger overflowing, to see his Master standing across the fire from him, staring at him. His Master's expression was unreadable, his features partially hidden within the depths of his hood.

Vader sensed the anger in his Master, sensed, too, the threat that lived in that anger. Vader did not fear it, not at that moment.

"Where are the guards?" he asked. The Royal Guards were nowhere to be seen. "How long was I..."

"I sent them away. They will return soon." A long silence, then, "What did you see as you meditated?"

"I saw...deaths, and faces from my past, the events that led me to this moment. I see them frequently when I consider the destiny the Force has for me."

His Master's anger grew, though his expression did not change. His voice was the low murmur of a predator. "Your destiny, yes. I have seen hints of it, as well."

For a moment, caught up in the aftereffects of his vision, Vader wondered what it would be like to face his Master in battle, to take his small, frail body in his hands, lift it from the ground, and...

He cut off the thoughts, but his Master had sensed them, for his face split in a dark smile.

"I see you, apprentice."

"And I see you, Master."