Chapter 4.

                                    

                                          
Vader's POV
                          
__________
                          
"This isn't about you. But I have to sort this out on my own – without the Council ... and without you."  Her eyes were sad, her voice gentle. But she was determined. She was leaving, and she was leaving me behind.

                          
"I-I made a choice. I've left the Order. I left to be with her." His eyes were wide, his voice a whisper. His face was tainted with surprise and guilt. He hadn't known. He hadn't thought about me.
                          
"Get out of my life. I intend to make it legal as soon as I can." Her eyes were burning with a dark flame, her voice saturated with searing poison. She had seen me for who I was. And she didn't want me.
                          
A gentle heat warmed my face, and soft hands were shaking me awake. It took me a minute to emerge from the thick currents of dreams and sleep, and then I was blinking in the early morning sun, partially blinded by the brightness of its orange glory.
                          
"Vader, wake up," someone was saying from above me, and I focused on the white face that smiled down at me.
                          
"G'morning," I mumbled, struggling to sit up. Asajj helped me up, then brushed the pebbles and dust off my navy shirt. "I still don't know how you managed to convince me that we should sleep before leaving."
                          
She shrugged, dusting off her own jersey. "You're not sleeping properly. And you want to be at the top of your game before you go out."
                          
I watched her dubiously, then rolled my eyes and turned my gaze out across the waking city of Coruscant. The sun, rising from behind us, picked us out on top of the building, showing us for what we really were: criminals, outcasts, exiles. Only the sun was allowed to see us like this. No one else could know what we had done and what we had sacrificed to get here – what I had sacrificed. If they saw us – saw me – as I truly was ... what would they see? And would they see? Or would they look straight through me?

                          
"Right, let's grab a bite to eat, then get going, shall we?" Asajj asked cheerfully, getting to her feet and meticulously brushing herself down.
                          
I glanced up at her, then stood silently and followed her downstairs. Having changed into my "work outfit," as Asajj called it, I snatched something for breakfast. Heading out of our apartment, I couldn't quell the shiver of excitement that crawled down my spine. We had their location. We could get revenge; I could get revenge.
                          
Jumping through a hole in the cracked balcony, I landed in a dark space, lit eerily by shafts of sunlight that filtered through the broken stone. Dust drifted through the golden light, disturbed by my movement, and the air hung close, smelling faintly of engine grease. My heart swelled with pride at the beauty that lay before me, for, parked comfortably in the middle of our "garage," was my ship. 
                          
Tracing my gloved fingers along the black wing, I flicked a speck of dirt off her sleek surface. She was small and compact, able to hold around two passengers at a time, but she was the fastest, most reliable ship I had ever built. She was shaped something like an arrowhead, but her design was strong enough to withstand lightspeed travel without the help of a hyperdrive booster ring.
                          
I popped open the glass cockpit, then leaned across to the control panel. Typing in the coordinates for my desired destination, I felt a thrill shivering down my spine. We would be there soon. I could hardly wait.
                          
Asajj dropped down from the ceiling, her boots slung over her shoulder, then sauntered over to the west wall and slammed the button on the panel. The "garage" door slid open, the mouth gaping wide enough for my ship to glide through.
                          
"Can I fly this time?" Asajj pleaded, swinging herself onto the wing and pulling her shiny black boots on. 
                          
"No," I responded automatically, my protective streak showing again. "You might damage her."