The Far, Bright Center

He could feel it now, in the Force, could recognize the creature before him, recognize the cold, freezing dread that lived in the furnace of his heart, the Obsidian Dragon with eyes of dead starlight, walled away by flame, and held at bay by sheer force of will. The Obsidian Dragon made of fear and failure and weakness and death.

“I will not fall!” He ground out the vow from behind clenched teeth, pressing forward with the Force as hard as he was able. Darth Vader trembled in anger at the onslaught. “I am Anakin Skywalker, and I will never fall!”

Suddenly, intensely, power rushed off Anakin in waves, and Darth Vader bent under the assault, crumpling with wheezing breaths. The painful breaths of a pitiful creature.

Utterly spent from the release of energy, Anakin sagged to his knees, arms falling weakly to his sides.

“I am Anakin Skywalker,” he rasped, “and I am not afraid.”


— from The Chosen Path AU series by steelneena ( @muldertorture ) (originally posted on tumblr)