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crack_van2005-05-15 08:34 pm
malabud.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2005-05-15 08:34 pm
Entry tags:
Anniversary by Fernwithy (G)
Fandom: STAR WARS
Pairing: Gen
Length: 3,500 words
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fernwithy
Author Website: Vader's Mask, Fern's Humongous Bighead Site
Why this must be read:
In this slight AU, Anakin manages to survive for a few days after the destruction of the second Death Star. He awakens to find himself unmasked, alive, and in a medical facility, much to his surprise. His children are there, and they have many questions for him, especially about their mother.
This bittersweet tale explores the familial connections of the Skywalker family. Leia is understandably unwilling to forgive and Luke is too willing to do so. Anakin knows he is dying and refuses to take offense at any of Leia's harsh words. He knows they are well deserved. He tries to tell his children about their mother, but he keeps fading in and out. By the end of the story, all three--father, son, and daughter--come to a better understanding and are able to let go.
No author writes a better Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker than Fernwithy. She has his voice down, whatever his incarnation. Every character is in character as we saw them at the end of Return of the Jedi. The reader can almost hear the characters saying the dialogue. You may get a little choked up after reading this short story -- it's that powerful. Highly recommended.
* * *
Anakin Skywalker awakened from his long sleep on his wedding anniversary, though he didn't realize it at first.
It was cool dawn, and green-gold light came through the windows of the
(hospital? prison? morgue?)
he found himself in. He could feel Luke somewhere nearby, and the restless pool of energy that was Leia not far beyond. How had he missed her?
He blinked, and the light fluttered with his eyelids.
I'm seeing through my eyes.
The thought brought him fully awake, alert. There was a slight motion of the air going across his scalp, and a needle pressing into his natural arm. He could see this from the corner of his eye; the arm itself had no feeling. No part of his body lower than a hand's width under the base of his neck was offering any sensory input. His mechanical arm lay senseless in its place. The hand had been replaced, but it was inert. The circuitry in the entire limb had been shorted out on the Death Star.
It was supposed to have been his own death as well as Palpatine's. His respiratory circuitry had taken a beating, and he'd felt the life slipping out of him. And yet, he wasn't dead. He could still hear the hiss-shush of artificial air, but now, it came from outside. He shifted his eyes up, and saw the respirator standing behind him, impossibly tall, the levers going up and down with each cycle. Tubes fed into the IV, oxygenating his blood directly.
But he was breathing. Not very much, granted, but he was, so at least some autonomic functions remained. He couldn't see his chest very well, because the circuits that provided motion beneath his severed spinal cord were dead and he couldn't lift his head more than an inch or two, but he got the impression of a vast burned and sunken area. It rose and fell in shallow, impossible gulps.
He fell back onto the pillows.
Anniversary
Pairing: Gen
Length: 3,500 words
Author on LJ:
fernwithyAuthor Website: Vader's Mask, Fern's Humongous Bighead Site
Why this must be read:
In this slight AU, Anakin manages to survive for a few days after the destruction of the second Death Star. He awakens to find himself unmasked, alive, and in a medical facility, much to his surprise. His children are there, and they have many questions for him, especially about their mother.
This bittersweet tale explores the familial connections of the Skywalker family. Leia is understandably unwilling to forgive and Luke is too willing to do so. Anakin knows he is dying and refuses to take offense at any of Leia's harsh words. He knows they are well deserved. He tries to tell his children about their mother, but he keeps fading in and out. By the end of the story, all three--father, son, and daughter--come to a better understanding and are able to let go.
No author writes a better Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker than Fernwithy. She has his voice down, whatever his incarnation. Every character is in character as we saw them at the end of Return of the Jedi. The reader can almost hear the characters saying the dialogue. You may get a little choked up after reading this short story -- it's that powerful. Highly recommended.
* * *
Anakin Skywalker awakened from his long sleep on his wedding anniversary, though he didn't realize it at first.
It was cool dawn, and green-gold light came through the windows of the
(hospital? prison? morgue?)
he found himself in. He could feel Luke somewhere nearby, and the restless pool of energy that was Leia not far beyond. How had he missed her?
He blinked, and the light fluttered with his eyelids.
I'm seeing through my eyes.
The thought brought him fully awake, alert. There was a slight motion of the air going across his scalp, and a needle pressing into his natural arm. He could see this from the corner of his eye; the arm itself had no feeling. No part of his body lower than a hand's width under the base of his neck was offering any sensory input. His mechanical arm lay senseless in its place. The hand had been replaced, but it was inert. The circuitry in the entire limb had been shorted out on the Death Star.
It was supposed to have been his own death as well as Palpatine's. His respiratory circuitry had taken a beating, and he'd felt the life slipping out of him. And yet, he wasn't dead. He could still hear the hiss-shush of artificial air, but now, it came from outside. He shifted his eyes up, and saw the respirator standing behind him, impossibly tall, the levers going up and down with each cycle. Tubes fed into the IV, oxygenating his blood directly.
But he was breathing. Not very much, granted, but he was, so at least some autonomic functions remained. He couldn't see his chest very well, because the circuits that provided motion beneath his severed spinal cord were dead and he couldn't lift his head more than an inch or two, but he got the impression of a vast burned and sunken area. It rose and fell in shallow, impossible gulps.
He fell back onto the pillows.
Anniversary