hadriel | [Video]

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[Anakin is nursing a burned leg - thanks, fire - looking like his usual peppy, happy self.]

Eclipse, leave it alone. [He shows a curious cat sniffing said leg and coaxes it into his lap. Another cat, one that is smaller, with a face that is almost too adorable for words follows in Eclipse's dainty footsteps, laying over Anakin's leg. There. That's better, right?]

Thank you, Ravager. [No, really. This is the terrifying Darth Vader. With a pair of sweet cats.]

I swear this is the last I do for you, Hadriel. Unless there is a burning building filled with cats, you are on your own.

[Cats > People. Obviously.]

Hux? Are you alive? [That's a nice way of checking on someone, right?] Maedhros? Fingon? What about you?

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I was five years old at the time- perhaps a bit of both. [He got up, deciding that he was not drunk enough for this conversation, especially when talking about Luke, Leia, and Kylo.

He grabbed two bottles of whiskey from the kitchen along with two glasses before returning to the living room.]

Of course, I understand.

You must've been cute. [He tries to imagine a little Hux and all that comes to mind is a little boy with red hair and a perfect uniform. Did Hux ever play games? Get dirty? Explore? Anakin had a full childhood thanks to his mother.]

If we had followed the rules, they wouldn't exist. I guess that's one more reason for you to cling to your regulations.

Edited 2017-09-23 10:25 (UTC)

[he looked at Anakin, confused. His father had always considered him a pathetic disappointment when he was younger, he wasn't sure why Anakin would call him cute.]

I think it was mostly because I was useful. My father had never been in good health so I was needed to take his place.

[No, he would never think that of his kids. Hux's father doesn't deserve to have a son in his opinion. Then again, maybe he doesn't either.]

At five? [His nose wrinkles.] And I thought I had it bad. At least I had a good mother and time to be a kid.

[Don't worry, Anakin, you couldn't be a worse dad than Brendol.]

Yes, I started my training as soon as I could walk so it was only natural I took over as soon as I could.

[He set the glasses and bottles on the table between them, pouring out whiskey for both of them.]

[Oh he can try! Cutting off Luke's hand was awful. Destroying his daughter's planet was exponentially more awful.]

I feel bad for you, Hux. [He means it, his features softening.] Kids should run around and play. I would've socked your dad in the jaw for raising you like that.

[Hux is at a loss of what to say. He knew Admiral Sloane had put a stop to most of what Brendol had done to him but his father had always treated him like something he found on the bottom of his boot.

Everyone knew it, no one had said anything.He didn't understand how anyone could have mourned his father, it made him angry to think about it.]

It's done now. He died years ago.

[He misses his mother. Every day, every moment. She would have helped settle his mind and given him the guidance he sorely needed. After her death, after Obi-Wan's dismissal of his desires, the only one he could depend upon in a parental capacity was Palpatine.

Stars help him, he still wants that guidance.]

Horribly, I hope.

[He picked up his glass of whiskey, downing it. He needed something to help him talk of Brendol.

He was quiet for a moment, peering at Anakin.]

Yes, I saw his terror and pain at the end. He contracted some unknown disease and his heart exploded.

[Along with the rest of him.]

[Anakin pours himself some of the whiskey while he waits. Maybe it will dull the pain of his leg.]

Huh! [He gives a short, sharp laugh.] Not as slow as I would've liked, but it will do.

Don't worry, he suffered plenty.

[He had made sure of it, though even now it didn't still feel like enough after years of abuse he had endured. But he had survived, he was stronger for it.]

[He pales slightly, imagining his kids wanting the same for him. Can he blame them? No.

Down the whiskey goes, burning his throat and his chest.]

There is some justice.

[He saw Anakin pale as he refilled his glass, thoughtful. He knew what Darth Vader had done, everyone did. But he also heard rumors of what had happened on the second Death Star, how Vader apparently saved Luke from the Emperor.

He knew Brendol would have never done anything like that for him.]

Indeed there is.

[He trailed off as he threw back his second glass of whiskey despite the burn in his throat.]

[Luke, in better circumstances, would have never doubted that he was loved. Anakin would have never abused him.]

Now we have cats. [And the great General Hux is doing housework while the mighty Darth Vader cooks.]

You don't need to be the man your father envisioned.

We do. [The arrangement worked for him though he never thought he would find himself living with Vader, Ren, and a bunch of cats.] We are rather fortunate to have them.

[He chuckled at that comment, shaking his head.] I'm certainly not the man my father thought I would be.

'Thin as a slip of paper and just as useless' was what he apparently what he said about me to the ruling council after the Emperor's death. And he made it clear what he thought of me growing up. I'm certainly not what he envisioned, especially since I'm sure he didn't expect me to survive this long.

I'd say you turned out extraordinary under those circumstances. [A little rigid, OCD and definitely too tense a lot of the time, but he can talk to Hux at least without him looking horrified or judging him.]

It's weird to think I could've taken care of you. If I had survived, that is. [He was practically on death's door ever since Mustafar.]

Thank you. I grew up under the instruction of Admiral Sloane- I believe you knew her in your future. She served with Vader on the Executor before her promotion.

[He had a great deal of admiration for Rae Sloane, he knew she would have been a strong Emperor.]

Between the both of you, I have no doubt I would have been in good hands.

[Strange to think Darth Vader would have been a better parent but he doesn't doubt that.]

I look forward to working with her. [Brendol would have been a different story. You know the trash compactor? Yeah. That would've been his room.]

You might have been scared by the suit, but I would've let you be a kid.

[To some degree. Vader isn't Anakin. Not entirely anyway.]

I'm sure I would have been.

[He's not going to lie about that, he's not quaking in fear now. In fact, he chuckles as he played with his glass, amused.] I grew up learning how terrifying Vader was, meeting you in person when I was five would have been scary.

I can understand that. [He raises his glass in a small toast to his future self.] Tall, masked, suited... I must look like a nightmare come to life.

Most Imperial officers, my father included, were scared of Darth Vader.

[He laughed at that, raising his refilled glass as well as a toast.]

I only know of a few who weren't terrified of you.

It sounds lonely and useful.

[He finishes his glass in one gulp, chuckling as he feels light-headed.]

My only friends.

[He reached over to fill up Anakin's glass again.]

The cats certainly aren't scared of you here.

[He snorts and accepts the refill, swirling the liquid in the glass.]

Do I look like a monster to you? Besides, they like what they are given and they return it.

No, you don't. [Unprediable, yes. Emotional...but despite the Force choking several weeks back, Hux saw Anakin as human. He wasn't the dark mechanical Vader of the Imperial years.]

That is how Millicent is, though I expect she's more intelligent than she lets on.

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