Second Chances: Chapter One
Darth Vader couldn't help but look upon the face of his son as he watched his Master cruelly unleash Force lightning upon him. The blue lightning coursed all over and through his son. All he could hear was his son screaming in agony, he knew very well how the boy felt. His Master liked to do the same to him when he forgot his place or when he stepped out of line. His Master seemed to get a real kick and joy out of it.
After twenty-three years of serving the man, he built up an immunity to the pain. Pain was something that he could handle though, it was something that he thrived on.
Seeing his flesh and blood son fighting to remain conscious as he lied back against the canisters near the bridge railing, however, something inside of him that he hadn't felt in a very long time began to make him question his place in the galaxy. If Luke wouldn't turn, which Vader didn't see happening, then the Emperor would kill him. Luke was too strong to be allowed to live. If he didn't serve the Emperor, he was as good as dead.
But is that really what you want?
No, it isn't what Vader really wants. The only thing he wanted was for Luke to stand at his side, to help him overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy with him as father and son. The same thing he wanted Padmé to do, once upon a time and she too turned him down. He realized just then that his son was stronger than he was, just like his beautiful Padmé.
They both resisted, when he fell into the trap and paid the price for it, they both stuck to their convictions and tried to save him from himself. It was too late for him to change now, he's done too much harm to the galaxy. But his son, his son, could be the Jedi he never was.
Where he was weak, his son was strong.
Strong enough to surrender himself in an effort to help his friends and to try to save his father in the process, all the while not knowing if he would succeed or what would become of him. His son had the faith that there was enough good in him to save him, if he really thought that then his son really was naive. What would lead Luke to believe there was even a single shred of his former self left in him? Does he have to remind him that it was he, who sliced off his hand?
That it was he, who carbon froze his friend and hunted him from one end of the galaxy to the other?
That it was he, who killed directly or indirectly billions of people and an entire planet?
That it was he, who instead of taking up his son's offer of leaving with him, turned down his offer and instead brought him to endure this?
What would make Luke believe that Anakin Skywalker was still alive within him after all of that?
"Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side," the Emperor leered. "You have paid the price for your lack of vision." The Emperor unleashed another, stronger torrent of lightning at Luke and the boy fell all the way off the canisters and to the floor.
Luke writhed on the floor, using the last of his strength, he lifted his arm and reached out for his father, staring directly at his faceplate. "Father, please," Luke groaned. "Help me."
Vader could see his son was now on the verge of death. If he didn't do anything, his son would perish right before his eyes and he would be left alone in the galaxy again with just his Master and apparently a daughter he didn't even know existed. The Emperor now knew about her too, and if Luke dies, the Emperor would just hunt her down and put her through the same treatment as his son and if she's anything like Luke or Padmé, she'd willingly die too rather than become a monster like him.
It was something he never really gave much thought too. Everything he did, he always did for the Empire. He never gave much thought as to how people saw him, he truly didn't care either. They were beneath him, why would he care what they thought?
He did care though about what his son thought of him.
All he had to do was remember the horror on Luke's face when he told him the truth- that he was his father.
It was almost identical to the look Padmé gave him when he reached out with the Force and choked her when she was pregnant with their child.
Children, he reminded himself
It was almost too staggering to believe.
And he knew that if he did nothing that they would both suffer the same fate as their mother.
He couldn't and wouldn't allow that to happen.
His time was running short, his brain was on overdrive trying to figure out a solution. A million different thoughts ran through his mind.
"Now Young Skywalker..." the Emperor snarled, "you will die."
Luke's shouting became even louder as the torrent of blue lightning shot out of the Emperor's fingertips with more and more intensity and wrapped around Luke, penetrating the boy.
His boy.
Time was running shorter and shorter as the seconds rolled by.
As time ran down, pictures began to filter before his eyes. Memories long forgotten began to resurface.
"You were the Chosen One, it was said you would destroy the Sith! Not join them! It was said you would bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"
Was that Obi-Wan?
He didn't even have time to ponder that thought for more memories flooded his mind.
"Anakin, I'm pregnant."
Padmé, his beautiful angel on one of the best days of his life, a day that ended up becoming one of his worst because of the visions that started that same night.
"I'm so proud of you, Ani. So proud. I missed you so much. Now, I am complete."
Just like Padmé, there was no mistaking Shmi's voice. His mother's voice. And he knew she wouldn't be proud of him anymore, not if she knew what he did. She was proud of her Jedi son, the one who protected the people, protected the galaxy.
Not killed them.
She was proud of her Ani, not of the monster he became. And as much as he would like to believe that she would hate him for who he is, something he rightfully deserves, he knew that like Padmé and like their son, that Shmi would do the same.
She would try to save him. She would try to save her son.
Padmé would try to save her son.
Both of them would even die trying and in that moment, he was no longer Darth Vader.
He was Anakin Skywalker.
The words of his son replayed in his mind: "I'll never turn to the dark side. You failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."
Anakin knew he wasn't a Jedi, he hadn't been in a very long time but he also knew that he was no longer a Sith.
And without even thinking of his own well-being, he reached out and grabbed the Emperor from behind with his one hand and lifted him high over his head with all of the strength he could muster. The Emperor squirmed in his hold and the lightning veered away from Luke and came arcing back, hitting and penetrating both of them. He wasn't expecting to make it out this alive and truthfully, he didn't care if he died.
His only concern was making sure that Luke would survive.
That his son, Padmé's son, their son survives.
He was the only one that matters.
Taking high intensity volleys of Sith lightning, Anakin Skywalker continued on. He wouldn't die until after the Emperor did. His feet felt like jelly, if they weren't mechanical they'd probably give out under him but they were and they continued moving on.
Then he reached the railing and with the Emperor high above his head, he threw him down the abyss of the elevator shaft where the Emperor fell down the seemingly bottomless shaft to his death. Anakin collapsed at the shaft's edge.
Gasping for air, Anakin could tell by the rasping of his respirator and by the lack of oxygen reaching his lungs that that could only mean one thing: his respirator was broken. He knew he would more than likely die, the risk though had been worth it.
His son would continue to live on. Death for himself was a small price to pay for the life of his son.
Anakin barely knew what was happening around him, until he felt his son pull him away from the edge of the abyss.
Just then, the Second Death Star was rocked by explosion after explosion.
Luke wrapped his arms around his father and began to drag him out of the Emperor's Throne Room and out to the corridor beyond, Anakin knew his son's attempts at rescuing him were pointless but he loved his son all the more for it. He wouldn't expect his son to act any differently.
Officers, techs and stormtroopers all ran by them, their eyes fell on them and just as fast as they landed on them, they were gone. None of them cared about the Rebel or the resurrected Anakin Skywalker.
They just cared about themselves and that was fine by them.
Finally, they reached the Lambda class shuttle they arrived on and Luke laid his father down against the landing ramp. The lightning had greatly weakened him, he was barely able to drag his father here but after what his father did, he couldn't leave him behind.
He never would.
For as long as there was a chance to save his father, he would take it. And as small as that chance was, Luke proved he was right. There was still some good in his father, enough good that he gave his life to save that of his son's.
Luke was willing to die, if need be to save his father. He's just glad it didn't come to that, he's just glad that he got to be here with his father.
His father. It was still a bit mind boggling to even utter those words, even more mind boggling when used in reference to Darth Vader- his father.
He came to accept the truth though. And then he planned on finding a way to save his father's life. To bring him back to the good side, as he told Leia he would.
And he did.
"Luke," Anakin said. "Help me take... this mask off."
Luke knew what would happen if he did, he just got his father back. He didn't want to lose him already! Not yet, dammit. "But you'll die..."
"Nothing... can stop that now." Anakin said between breaths. "Just for once, let me... look upon you with my own eyes."
Going against his better judgement, Luke nodded and looked around his father's mask to figure out how to take it off. Then he saw the clasps, he removed them and took off the upper part covering his father's head, then the faceplate covering his father's face.
Luke didn't know what to expect, he knew it wasn't going to be pretty but he didn't care what his father looked like. He knows who his father is, and that's all that mattered to him. The first thing he saw was his father's blue eyes, eyes that were identical to his own and filled with unshed tears. Luke barely noticed his own tears forming.
He knew what was going to happen soon, they both did.
Luke could see the brutal scarring on his father's face and could tell he was once burned. His face was ghastly, deathly pale, there were dark circles under his eyes and to Luke, it appeared as though his father's skull had been hideously damaged. He doesn't know the story of how his father came to need this suit and mask, and by looking at him without the mask, he really didn't want to know.
Not yet, anyway.
He just wanted to spend his father's last few moments with him. He smiled at his father and placed his hand on his father's shoulder. Anakin smiled back.
Luke looked so much like he did. He has his blue eyes, his same hair color and same cleft chin. Then he saw Padmé in his son too. The build and size was definitely more her than him. He also has her compassion, her love, her soft facial features compared to his hard.
Simply put, his son was truly beautiful and he couldn't be any more proud of the man his son has become.
"Now... go my son." Anakin could barely hear himself talk, but he could feel his mouth moving. The Second Death Star continued to take hits and explode all around them. The last thing he wanted was to save Luke from the grasp of the Emperor only for his son to die because he was trying to save him. "Leave me."
Luke gave him a perplexed look, as if he was crazy to tell him such a thing. Doesn't his son know that the station is about to blow up? If he could, he would slap some sense into him. The boy surely needed it.
"No, you're coming with me." Luke said, his voice not leaving any room for argument.
Just like his mother, Anakin wryly thought.
"I won't leave you here, I've got to save you." He continued.
"You already have, Luke." Anakin replied. "You were right. You were right, about me. Tell your sister, you were right." Without explanation, Anakin knew Luke understood what he was talking about. Luke was right about there still being some good in Vader, Anakin still lived and Luke brought him back to life with his love.
Luke brought him back just long enough for him to spend the last few moments with his grown up son.
He just came to realize how his mother must've felt when he found her on Tatooine, she held on just long enough to say good bye and to tell him that she loved him.
With his last few dying breaths, he said the last words his own mother said to him. "Luke... I love... you."
And he meant it, he did love his son.
And he wanted him to know that with his last dying breath.
Tears flowed down Luke's cheeks at those words and his father slumped over. His father's blue eyes faded shut.
He was gone.
A/N: Thanks for reading my little teaser for my new story: Second Chances!
I love Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker, Father/Son stories and we really don't see them all that often around here. I love the FF Free From Force by Haxong and Second Chances by sangoshippokirara, and I kind of got the idea for this story by reading them. This story, however, is nothing like them. This is like them in a manner of speaking, but this isn't a time travel story, rather its one where Anakin Skywalker gets a second chance at life, a second chance to do what he always wanted to do and that is to be able to be a father to his children, and as you can imagine, Leia would probably rather kill him than have anything to do with him.
Anakin also doesn't feel worthy of a second chance at life, not after everything he did. But the Force is giving him the chance to right his wrongs, to get to know his children and to help restore the Republic his late wife loved so much.
This story is also one that merges the Legends verse with the new canon verse, to be honest, I hate Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, he has absolutely nothing on Jacen Solo. And I can't make a story like this without featuring the bad ass Grand Admiral Thrawn.
And that's all I'm going to say, I already revealed too much about the story to come, but I hope I succeeded in making you want to read more.
If you liked this story and want to see more, please follow, favorite and review!
Thanks so much for reading!