Scars that bleed
He stood, between the Emperor and the one he had come to know as his son. His breathing, not so mechanical now, came in shallow rasps. Although he was still Vader, Anakin Skywalker remembered this scene from all those many years ago.
Mace had held the Chancellor down on the window sill. His purple lightsaber pointing straight at the leaders face. Anakin couldn't believe it. Master Windu was going to kill the only person who would be able to save Padme. He had to do something to stop it. And he had. Setting Mace up for the Chancellor to take the master's life. Anakin was so ashamed. The shame he felt then fed his dark side calling. Padme...nothing else mattered.
Now Anakin watched as his son was tortured by the Emperor. Although Vader was grateful to be saved by the Emperor, Anakin felt the anguish and pain of his child. The two sides fought against each other. He wasn't sure which one would win in the end.
Luke, battered and unwilling to fight, called to Anakin. Vader wanted to stop it, but Anakin could hear him through the mechanics that shrouded Vader.
"Father please!," Luke cried and reached for the suited Vader. The Emperor was unrelenting and Vader sometimes admired that about him, but Anakin did not.
Will you let this man kill your son? Anakin asked. Vader wasn't willing to listen, but Anakin asked again. The boy was relentless in his constant questioning. Something carried inside Vader until this day. The one trait of Anakin that didn't go away. He still questioned authority. Anakin wanted to know why and not just carry out the tasks assigned to Vader.
Luke had let Vader live because he knew that somewhere inside, Anakin still lived. Anakin could never truly be gone. Perhaps that was why Vader felt the disorienting effects of the light side. Something that he never wished to be associated with. Anakin could easily step into the light. Anakin felt free in the sun, but Vader kept to the shadows. The dark was where he belonged.
Luke still writhed on the floor. Vader looked to the Emperor, but Anakin saw his son and the injustice the Emperor continued to dole out to all those in the galaxy. Not just himself, but everyone.
In that split second, Anakin made the final decision for both parties involved. Not thinking of the risk to himself, Anakin used the superior strength of Vader and picked up the Emperor. He threw the dictator into the shaft and leaned heavily against the guard rail.
Anakin had chosen his fate and that of everyone in the galaxy. Maybe that is what everyone had meant by Anakin being the "Chosen One." The choice between the light and the dark, death and life.
Anakin had made the right choice, but Vader wouldn't live long enough to share it with Luke.
As Luke drug him to the shuttle, Anakin was unable to breathe. And without Vader and the machine component, Anakin could not live.
"You already have, Luke," Anakin said when his helmet was removed and he could look at Luke without the mechanical eyes of Vader. "Tell your sister."