"Show me the power of the darkness. Show me…Grandfather…and I will finish what you started."
The masked young man stands, staring at the battered remnants of Darth Vader's helmet for just one moment longer before turning on his heel and stalking out of the room towards the Force only knows what. From the Netherworld, his grandfather looks on, yearning to go to him, but he stops himself.
Now is not the time, a voice whispers. Not yet.
Sighing, he continues to merely watch as Kylo Ren makes his way to one of the main decks of the huge starship he commands. Everything, down to his very mannerisms, fight to emulate the one person in the galaxy that he wishes to make proud.
Ironically, all Anakin feels as he looks on is heartbreak.
He mulls over some of Ren's—Ben's—prayer, and it makes it all the worse.
"I'm sorry. I feel it again. The pull of the Light."
Don't be sorry, Anakin longs to tell him. Embrace that pull. Run from the darkness as fast as you can. Don't be as stupid as I was. Don't let Snoke do to you what Sidious did to me. Please.
He pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingers, realizing for a second that the very look he gives his grandson is the same look that Obi-Wan's face wore countless times during their time as friends in the physical realm. Bemusement would accompany that realization if it weren't for the circumstances. He sees so much of himself in Ben; he did from the moment the child was born. He finds himself wishing that he could have been there to meet him in person, to hold him, to teach him about the Force, just as he longed to do with his own children. Regret begins to gnaw away at him, but he immediately wills it into submission, telling himself that wallowing is a luxury that he can't afford. Especially now that the Skywalker history seems to be repeating itself.
For what seems to be the thousandth time, Anakin reaches out towards his grandson's Force signature.
"Don't do this," he whispers.
Ben's signature bristles as if waiting for a hot iron, but just as before, he fails to shut Anakin out.
"There are still people that love you," Anakin continues. "Go back to them. Make things right. Before it's too late."
Anger begins to boil inside Ben, and his spirit's quick reply is a shot to Anakin's heart.
It already is too late.
"I used to think as you do now, but those thoughts are lies. Plain and simple." His voice takes a more desperate edge. "Don't believe them for a second."
I will not be weak!
Anakin's eyes squeeze shut, and he lets out a controlled sigh. He remembers well the days when those very words had been his heartscry as well, back to when he constantly feared that being the best would never be good enough.
A fear that had driven him off the edge.
But when his memory shifts from what drove him to madness to what finally brought him back, he begins to wonder if Luke ever told his nephew the true end of Vader's story. Granted, he knows that it's incredibly difficult for his son to talk about—if he's honest, it's difficult for him to recall now—but he still wonders.
Wonders if Kylo Ren ever heard of the true power of the Light Side of the Force—love—and that even Darth Vader was redeemed by it in the end.
"Oh, Ben," he whispers, more to himself than to his grandson, "if you only knew."