Surrender Is Stronger
It was true, in that moment when he decided to give all he had to the dark side, Anakin Skywalker ceased to exist. It was no longer the person who filled the empty vessel that was his body. It was merely someone who had been cast away and thrown into the dark recesses of a mind that no longer cared what the good thought and no longer chose to seek out what the light wanted it to see.
This was Darth Vader's body now. Badly burned and charred from a fight which seemed so very long ago, but still was so very fresh every time his brain asked for a limb to move. The bastard Obi-Wan Kenobi flashed to Vader's mind every single time that he was forced to suit himself in armor and move out of his hyperbaric chamber. When he was forced to become the machine that he heard so many people murmuring about behind his back and pretended he didn't hear it.
But the Dark Lord of the Sith hears it all and yet he doesn't act. He isn't sure why he does nothing, but he merely pretends he hears nothing at all.
Anakin Skywalker is no more. He surrendered all he was to Darth Vader. Skywalker was weak and could never have done all the things that Vader did. Oh no, he would've held to some sort of ideology that Vader didn't care for and forced Vader to actually consider his action. As far as Vader was concerned, Skywalker was never far away enough.
Vader knew that Skywalker, should he ever decide to return and reclaim his body, would be a difficult man to resist. Surrender would be the only thing Vader could consider, should the Chosen One return for what was rightfully his and somewhere, deep in the recesses of what pretended to be his heart, Vader knew that Skywalker would return.
The return would be unavoidable. Skywalker's son had been found. Vader hated how that man treasured family. He hated how he had cried for a lost mother and now for a son who would be given up to the Emperor as a prize. There was no excuse for such weakness. Prizing a family member over the unlimited power of being a Sith was sickening in Vader's mind.
But there stood Anakin Skywalker's son, with those eyes that said they still believed in the goodness of people and a stance that suggested he was neither fearful nor impressed at the imposing sight of Vader. It irritated Vader that Skywalker's son was not more fearful. He was, after all, a power Sith Lord who could rain complete destruction upon anyone he wanted. The boy should've remembered how they had fought on Bespin and then perhaps he would've feared what Vader could do to him.
This wasn't to be though.
Today, Vader would do as he was instructed by the Emperor and deliver Skywalker's son straight to the man who would show him the benefits of surrender. Anakin Skywalker would never know and Vader would smile slyly at the idea that he had been the one to deliver the child to his final destiny. That was if he could remember exactly what a smile was like. It had been far too long since even a terribly evil one had graced his lips. Vader could almost feel that grin curling his lips now, but there was so much more to do, so many more things to say.
"The Emperor has been expecting you," Vader says.
"I know, father," Skywalker's says back, quietly but with a sureness to his voice. Vader isn't sure that he likes that the boy feels so sure, perhaps he should strike some sort of fear into the boy.
"So, you have accepted the truth," the Dark Lord of the Sith says.
"I've accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father,"
"That name no longer has any meaning for me."
Vader can feel the anger rising inside of him. How dare this boy, who didn't even seem old enough to know anything of the truths of the galaxy as a Sith Lord understood them, call him by the name that he was trying to avoid. That name, it shouldn't ever be spoken aloud because it would possibly be able to return Anakin Skywalker to his body and Vader would be lost. That was not something that Vader wanted to even consider.
"It is the name of your true self. You've only forgotten. I know there is good in you. The Emperor hasn't driven it from you fully. That is why you couldn't destroy me. That's why you won't bring me to your Emperor now," the boy says snapping Vader back from his thoughts.
"I see you have constructed a new lightsaber," Vader says trying to avoid the conversation which Skywalker's son seemed to want to have. There is no need for the conversation to happen. Anakin Skywalker will not be returning and Skywalker's son will be a servant of the Emperor. That is the final word.
"Come with me," Skywalker's son beckons and Vader feels Anakin Skywalker listening very intently from somewhere in the back of his mind. Vader hates that Anakin has been wakened by this boy.
"Obi-Wan once thought as you do," slips from Vader's lips, but he knows that it's not really him. Anakin Skywalker wants to speak to his child, no matter how many years have separated them and how Vader tries to strangle him down. He still wishes to know that his child is safe.
"You don't know the power of the dark side. I must obey my master," Vader says and it almost sounds apologetic, but a Dark Lord of Sith is never apologetic. He is strong and he shows others the true meaning of power.
"I will not turn...and you'll be forced to kill me," the boy says managing to show of the defiance of Anakin Skywalker. Damn the force for reminding Anakin just how defiant he could be.
"If that is your destiny," Vader is noncommittal. He doesn't want Skywalker's son to know that he somehow would be sorry should the boy perish at the hands of the Emperor.
"Search your feelings, father. You can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate."
"It is too late for me, son. The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is
your master now," Vader says trying to convince himself as well as Skywalker's son. Maybe, just maybe Anakin wants to speak to his son again. Maybe he didn't surrender so fully to the dark side and somewhere deep in there, wriggling about, is a small sliver of the good man that Anakin Skywalker could be and Vader is just merely the bad part which has worn out its welcome.
"Then my father is truly dead," Luke says and Vader feels the hollowness in his heart fill a bit with sadness, for today a child believes that the good man, who still haunts the back of Vader's mind, is gone forever. It's far from true though. Anakin Skywalker has begun to stretch his limbs and Vader knows that in mere hours, he will return to look upon the face of the child he made with Padme.
He will be happy. He will be at peace. He will be one with the force.