Vader stared at Luke, then at Padme, his breathing steady because of the really annoying mechanics, but for no other reason. He had mourned his beloved wife for so many years, and now he had the opportunity to speak – not to her, exactly, but to another version of his wife. So it was Padme, but wasn't his Padme. That was probably close enough. But what could he say? What should he say? He had attacked her after she, well, it truly wasn't his fault. She was the one who had...
"Why did you betray me?!" he blurted out to his beloved Padme. "I did it all for you, and you..."
"She didn't," Anakin said, taking a protective step forward. "Obi-Wan stowed away in her ship."
Vader stared at Anakin, then at Padme, then back at Anakin.
"What!?" he roared.
"After Anakin killed ... killed the Jedi younglings," Padme said, her eyes dark with sadness, "Obi-Wan came to my quarters on Coruscant and told me that Anakin had fallen to the Dark Side. I couldn't believe it, I couldn't, but Anakin had already told me he was going to Mustafar, and I decided I had to talk to him to determine what was happening, especially after Palpatine made himself Emperor. Obi-Wan knew I would rush to Ani's side, so he crept into my ship unnoticed. I didn't know he was on board until we landed at Mustafar."
Vader stared at his wife, no not his wife, because he had killed his Padme, he had murdered her, because he thought she had betrayed him. He had choked the life out of her ...
He fell on his knees before the former queen of Naboo, his great head bowed, and he rasped, "I killed her. I killed my Angel and all she wanted was... was for us to go and, and ... and she loved me..."
"You didn't kill Padme, Father," Luke said, dropping to his knees and placing a comforting hand on the man's giant cyborg arm. "You couldn't have, don't you see? She safely gave birth to the twins so obviously she survived your attack."
"He is right. Anakin choked me..."
This provoked a spasm of anguish on her husband's face and Padme leaned over to plant a loving hiss on the man's scarred cheek. "It's Ok, Ani. I forgive you. I was unconscious while Kenobi and Anakin fought in the lava fields of Mustafar. After Kenobi prevailed, he took me to Polis Massa, and I gave birth to the twins there."
Vader staggered to his feet with some difficulty and turned to stare out of the window, toward the waters which reflected the blue skies of Varykino. "Why did you live and my Padme die?" he rumbled, his Force sense swirling in agony.
"I was dying," Padme said, standing up and taking a step toward Vader. "I was so weak, and it was like the Life Force was being sucked out of me..."
"Which is exactly what was happening," Anakin declared, his fists clenching in rage. "I had lost to Kenobi and was badly burned, and Palpatine came and brought me back to Coruscant. The med droids were working away and I was mostly unconscious, but I was aware that my strength was fading until something happened. I didn't know it at the time, but Palpatine was using Padme's life Force to sustain my own. She was dying so that I might live. But before the process was complete, our daughter Leia showed up and stabbed Palpatine through the chest with her lightsaber and then stabilized me using the Force."
"At the same time," Padme chimed in, "the redheaded woman, your wife, Luke...?"
"Yes," Luke agreed.
"What's her name?"
"Um, let's wait on that. Vader is going back to his timeline at some point, and I don't trust him not to track her down..."
"That makes sense," Padme agreed. "Anyway, Luke's wife, who is both powerful and well trained, used the Force to stabilize my health. Kenobi and Yoda were blown away by it. They thought I was going to die. I would have died, if the time traveler's hadn't interfered."
"Palpatine...Palpatine killed Padme?" Vader stuttered.
"I'm afraid so," Luke said sympathetically, and boldly stepped forward to give his Alter Father a comforting hug, who looked down at the young man in disbelief. When was the last time someone had hugged him? "The Emperor hated Mother's guts, you see, because Padme was in favor of democracy. I mean, he didn't want your allegiance to be divided between him as your master, and your wife and kids. So he killed Padme. Now, I know that makes you angry..."
"Angry?!" Vader snarled. "Angry!?"
"But again, we have limited time, so take a break on breaking anything," Luke said, releasing his Alter Father and then grinning. "See what I did there? Break on breaking. Anyway, Anakin, how did you turn back to the Light?"
Anakin Skywalker kept an uneasy eye on the enraged Sith Lord, but he spoke readily enough. "Well, Leia – the older Leia, reamed me out for being an idiot, and I realized she was right. Of course I was a mess with being a cyborg in pain and all, but by the time she was done with me, I was groveling on the floor, literally. I look back and can't even understand why I did what I did. Palpatine had me kill his former apprentice, Count Dooku, so obviously he was not a reliable master. And then I murdered all those children..."
His voice, already raspy, broke, "I killed those children in the hope that my own wife and child would be saved. I put my trust in a man with no honor or integrity."
"You were having endless nightmares, sleep deprived, and Palpatine had been grooming you for years, Anakin," Padme said sympathetically. "It doesn't excuse your actions, but I understand."
"As long as you do, I am at peace," Anakin murmured, gazing adoringly into his wife's dark eyes.
"So what is your story, Anakin?" Luke asked curiously. "Palpatine is dead and...what happened? Did you turn back to the Light immediately or...?"
"The Light is weak!" Vader roared, causing the other three adults to jerk in surprise.
Luke groaned aloud and patted the older cyborg's arm reassuringly. "I know, I know," he said soothingly. "You hate the Jedi and the Light and the Dark Side is power and so on and so forth. I have heard it all before."
"And it isn't true!" Anakin said passionately. "The Dark allows one to access power quickly and easily, but it is not stronger!"
"It is!" Vader snarled back. "You are a fool to think that..."
"Even if the Dark is stronger," Padme interrupted, her eyes blazing, her back rigid, "even if it is, I would not live with, or support, or love a man who embraces the Dark, who defends the murder of innocent children. Do you understand me?"
Silence fell for a full minute as Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, stared down at his petite wife. It had been 19 years since his own angel had died, but he remembered that expression very well. Very, very, very well.
"I do," Vader admitted, and his masked head drooped. "I do."
"Remember this, too," Luke said briskly. "On the Invisible Hand, when Palpatine arranged for himself to be abducted by Grievous and Count Dooku, you defeated Dooku using the power of the Light Side. As Anakin says, the power of the Dark is quick and easy; I have touched it myself, and know that it responds to anger and terror. But realistically, you beat Dooku, a Sith Lord, with the Light."
Vader turned away from the threesome watching him and stared at a random potted red stalisti plant in the corner of the room.
"That is true enough," he admitted.
He turned back and declared, "Nonetheless, no one can return from the Dark Side of the Force. I must walk the road I chose 19 years ago."
"I did!" Anakin said indignantly.
Vader produced a peculiar blatt out of his vocoder, and then continued, "You returned to the Light within a week of your Fall. I have been steeped in the Dark for nearly two decades!"
"My own father turned back when I was 24 years old, Vader," Luke said gently. "Palpatine was killing me with Force Lightning, and Father picked him up and threw him down a reactor shaft in the second Death Star..."
"There is a second Death Star?" Padme interrupted in horror.
"What happened to the first?" Anakin chimed in.
"I blew up the first one," Luke explained, though his eyes were fixed on the Sith Lord's immovable mask. "Palpatine decided to build a bigger one which the Rebel Alliance then blew up. Basically, I've seen a lot of very large things blow up in my lifetime."
"Rebel what?" Anakin repeated.
Luke sighed and turned his attention on the married pair, "I know this is confusing, but keep in mind that in this timeline, Palpatine is dead and Anakin is back in the Light. None of this is gonna happen in your timeline. The question before us is, what is Vader going to do in his own timeline when he goes back?"
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, stared at his Alter Son, then at his Alter Wife and said, "What if I do not wish to return to my own timeline?"