Unchained

Title: Unchained

Fandom: Star Wars

Characters/Pairings: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker

Genre: Hope, Tragedy

Warnings: Spoilers for Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Summary: Once you turn to the Dark Side you can't return... or can you?

Prompt: Bonds

Emotions play a great role in shaping our actions, whether they be well-intentioned or not. When you start letting your emotions guide your actions, your emotions start to change you, mold you. Sometimes we change for the better, sometimes for the absolute worst.

Hatred is a bitter emotion that guides us into a hole so deep, that once we've begin to dig, we can't get out. Even if we think we're back to our "normal" selves, we collapse inside and fall even further down the abysmal pit of bitterness. 'Tis not always our fault that we become so bitter, but the faults of those whose hearts are full of hatred before we change into ... them.

I could see myself change. I wanted to deny it, I honestly did. Just like those who chose to deny all of the terrible things they've done to me. Resisting the hatred is not as easy as it seems. Actually, it is quite the opposite. It's much more difficult to resist the bonds of hatred than it is to resist them. Perhaps the reason why I didn't want to resist them was because the one thing I hated most in this world still exists with every breath I take: me.

My son, Luke Skywalker, no matter what I did to him to make him fall never worked. He always believed there was some form of "good" inside me.

I stared up into his eyes. He was crying. Tears over me? The man that tortured him? The man that wanted him killed? The man... that was his father...

I smiled up to him.

"Tell your sister, you were right..."

Perhaps the only hope for those with hatred, whether it be for themselves or even the entire world, is to be shown some sort of kindness. Only a person so pure could release us from our bonds of wickedness. Even though I thought there was no hope for me, there was...

The bonds of hatred could no longer imprison me. I became one with the Force.

I became free.