Luke screamed in pain, thrashing about as Palpatine blasted him with Force Lightning.
"Father, please! Help me!"
Vader watched silently. He could understand part of his son's pain.
He, too, had once been subjected to Force Lightning, but then,Dooku had only hit him with a solitary bolt to subdue him. Palpatine was using it to kill the young Jedi.
"Father! Ah! Please!"
"Anakin, no! Anakin!" called the distant voice of a young Obi-Wan.
The agony of the blast of lightning hit his body of the past in time with the next blast upon his son of the present.
He saw Dooku's head falling with his body. He saw his mother dying in his arms. He saw Padme falling to the landing platform of Mustafar. He saw Obi-Wan's robes and lightsaber falling to the floor of the first Death Star.
He had failed his mother, Padme, Obi-Wan, and all the Jedi. He was now failing his son.
No! He couldn't fail again!
He called Luke's fallen 'saber to his left hand, activated the yellow-green blade, and swung at his Master, who turned a fraction too late to defend himself.
Clipping the weapon to his belt, Vader rushed to Luke and gently held him.
"Luke?"
Glazed blue eyes blinked open, and a weak smile formed on his lips.
"I was... right about... you. There was... still good... in you."
Vader carried his son to his shuttled and headed for the forest moon, programming in the auto-pilot so he could tend to his son.
He went to where he had left him in the small medbay.
"Luke?"
There was no answer.
"Luke? Son?"
The small form remained still.
Worried, Vader gave his son a gentle shake.
"Luke?"
He still got no response.
Now on the verge of panic, he shook him a little harder.
"Luke? Luke!"
It was too late. Luke Skywalker was dead.
For the first time in year, Darth Vader wept.
"You shouldn't have tried to save me! My life wasn't worth yours!" he cried, though no one could hear him.
He stayed as he was, weeping beside his son's body, until his shuttle landed. He knew Rebels would soon arrive. Looking at his son's form, he made his choice.
Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Chewbaca were the first into the shuttle and stared at the sight they saw.
Luke lay on the medbay bed, still and pale. On the floor, beside the bed, lay the face-down form of Darth Vader.
Silence filled the shuttle, and turning Vader over, they found a hole scorched through his chest.
Out of grief and misery, Vader had impaled himself upon his son's lightsaber, taking his life.
Defeating the Emperor had been his final victory, but losing Luke had been his final failure.
