gwinna: (Anakin)
gwinna ([personal profile] gwinna) wrote2015-06-04 12:58 pm

SW Ficlet: out of the desert (sand and sky) [PG; Vader, Luke]

Title: out of the desert (sand and sky)
Author: Gwinna
Fandom: Star Wars
Rating: PG/K+
Characters: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker
Genre: Gen, metaphorical
Summary: Darth Vader dreams he is in the desert.

A/N: This was written in response to a poetry prompt; the piece of poetry is included at the end of the story. Also, I really need to learn how to write something longer than a ficlet.



out of the desert (sand and sky)


He is in the desert. The sky is blue above him, the suns blazing white, and the sands below exult in their cruel fire. In every direction, there is nothing but sky and sand, as far as the eye can see.

The sight is familiar, inevitable even, no matter that it has been long years since he last saw any color but red, and even longer since he saw the desert with his waking eyes. He still sees it in his dreams.

In these visions, he knows the desert has no end. Even if he walks for a hundred miles, or a hundred years, there is no escape. The desert has consumed everything. Just as it consumed his mother and Padmé, just as it stole Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, it has covered the whole world in sand and desolation.

The sand surrounds and penetrates him, tears and bloodies his skin, chokes him so he can’t breathe, threatens to swallow him whole.

He has always hated sand.

On the horizon, there is a break in the dialogue of desert and sky. The dissonance grows, draws near, and he realizes it is a person. His son. Luke.

It is the first time he has ever seen another being in his soul’s desert.

Come, says Luke, I will show you the way out.

The desert is endless, he says. There is no way out.

His son names him: You are Anakin Skywalker. There is not only the desert. There is also the sky.



You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on you knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

– Mary Oliver, from Wild Geese

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