"He told me enough! He told me you killed him!" The young man's eyes were wide as he snarled the words at the glossy black metal of Darth Vader's skull-like helmet.
Vader stopped. Inside his helmet, his own eyes narrowed in anger. Obi-Wan…no, finish what you have begun, Vader. He turned off his lightsaber and hooked it on his belt, then held out a gloved hand to Luke. "No, Luke. I am your father."
"No! You can't be! That's impossible!" Luke was screaming now, tears trailing unnoticed down his cheeks as he held the cauterized stump of his arm tightly against him.
"Search your feelings. You know it to be true."
Vader watched impassively as the boy unwillingly went deep inside himself, went deep into the Force, and found the truth that Vader himself had known for only minutes, when he saw his own features in the young Jedi's. He did not question the knowledge that the Force gave him; he knew it to be true. He questioned nothing of the Force, had never questioned.
Luke's eyes—Anakin's eyes—held such pain, such despair, that for a moment Vader truly saw himself as he had once been. Someone had died, and he had been helpless…
Even with his great power, he had been helpless…
Padme.
Luke looked up at him, still clutching his wounded arm as with his remaining hand he held onto a bar to keep from dropping into the abyss below. The young man's face was not purely Anakin's; it held a different set of features as well. Strong features, yet softly beautiful, cast over the Jedi's face in the bluish light from the Bespin electric systems and the smoke in the room.
Padme had died.
Helpless and yet so powerful that the Emperor had predicted that Anakin would one day surpass even himself in knowledge of the Force. I am afraid that in your anger, you killed her. He looked at the Jedi. His son.
Padme had died…
Vader's head snapped up. How was this possible? Padme dead, and the baby had lived? And for the first time in many, many years, Darth Vader questioned the Force. Yes, the boy was his son. But there had been no other woman…
Padme had not died. The Emperor had told him—
The Emperor.
Vader was in a fog as he held his hand out to his son—his son—and said, "Join me, and we can rule the galaxy together, as father and son."
"I'll never join you!"
No. Vader extended his arm farther. "Luke…"
And Luke let go of the bar.
Vader watched him fall as if from a great distance. He could save the young Jedi with little effort, he knew, but he did nothing. The boy would survive. It was not yet his time.
As it had not been Padme's.
He strode away, black cloak whirling behind him.
I apologize if the lines aren't exactly right; I haven't seen the original movies for a while so I shall go back and check, and all lines will be as accurate as possible; thanks! Please review!
etherealfire