Part Two

Chapter Four: Memories

Vader walked through the old droid factory on Geonosis. It had been abandoned years ago. Vader – no Anakin – made his way to the execution arena. Here, a long time ago, he had been with Obi-Wan and Padme.

Padme. His beloved Padme.

Why did she have to die? Why did everyone he ever loved have to die? No. That wasn't completely true. Luke had lived. His son was still alive. But face it! He could never be with his son. After all, his son was a rebel, and all rebels hated him. No, all rebels hated Vader. But how many of them would ever believe that he had changed? That he was Anakin again. No one would ever accept him. Luke would never accept him. But he didn't even deserve to be accepted by anyone. Not after what he had done.

Vader looked at the columns in the middle of the arena. One of them, Padme had been chained to. Padme had been awesome!

Just relax, concentrate!

What about Padme?

She seems to be on top of things!

She really had been on top of things! She had climbed to the top of the pillar she'd been chained to.

He wondered what Luke had inherited from him. What he had inherited from Padme. He didn't even know how his son looked! All he knew was that his son had destroyed the Death Star and his name was Luke Skywalker.

It had so been Padme who had named Luke that. Only Padme knew that Anakin had wanted the baby to be named Luke if it was a boy.

Padme looked up at her husband.

"What would you name the baby if it's a boy?"

"I like the name Luke."

"Luke means light. Yes. Our baby is a child of light."

"I just like the way it sounds. It has a nice ring to it. Luke Skywalker."

Anakin smiled. She had remembered! Even though she was dying, she'd remembered!

Did that mean she still cared for him? That she still believed in him even after everything he had done? Maybe that was too much to ask for.

Suddenly, obeying an impulse, Anakin looked up to the sky. Under his mask, he saw a lone X-Wing coming down to the planet.

What was a single rebel doing here?

He reached out with the Force, trying to get some answers.

WHOA!

A Force presence. A really strong one! It was his son! Luke! What was he doing here?

Then Anakin remembered how he'd come to be on this planet.

At first he'd thought it was because that blasted rebel had scored a hit on his ship. But once he'd investigated the matter, he'd discovered that the Trade Federation had set up a crash shield around the planet before they left. It would crash any ships that tried to land! Luke was going to crash!

Chapter Five: You Don't know What This Means to Me

"Artoo, calm down! What do want to do? Give me a heart attack!"

Then he read on the translation screen what the frantic, little droid was saying.

"What do you mean we're gonna crash? Everything's working fine!" Luke said, starting to panic.

Artoo beeped again.

"What the heck is a crash shield?"

Suddenly, there was a terrific bang, and Luke fell into unconsciousness.

"Luke."

Who was that? He sounded concerned. Someone was shaking him gently.

"Luke, wake up."

Luke opened his eyes to see who was speaking.

Darth Vader!

Luke sat up and started backing away from Vader.

"You! I wanted to find you, but not like this!"

Vader cocked his head to one side.

"You were looking for me?"

Luke paused. He almost sounded, hopeful. Naw!

"Yes. I wanted to negotiate with you." Luke looked around him. "Where's my lightsaber?"

"Oh!" Vader said. "Aggressive negotiations!"

"What does that mean?"

"It's negotiations with a lightsaber."

"Oh. Well, see. I'm looking for my father. She said that you know where he is."

"Who said this?"
"My mother."

"Your mother's alive?"

Luke was confused. This wasn't the way he'd expected Vader to act.

"No. It was a vision. She gave me this."

Luke showed him the chapor snippet. Vader reached out and touched it.

"The chapor snippet," he said, in a faraway voice.

"You knew my mother?"

"Of course I knew her! She was my wife."

Now Luke was really scared.

"Your wife! But that would make you my……"

Vader nodded.

"No way!" Luke said, jumping to his feet.

"Luke, I'm not asking for your forgiveness, or your understanding. I just want you to believe me when I say that I've changed. When I crashed here, I saw places that I had been to when I was your age. It made me realize what a big mistake I made."

Luke considered this.

"You mean you're sorry for killing all the Jedi and turning to the dark side and torturing Leia and killing Obi-Wan?"

"Yes, I'm sorry for all of that. If you were more trained, I'd tell you to search your feelings."

"For some reason, Luke did feel a connection. Something that connected him to Vader.

No, Anakin. His father.

"I'm not going to force you to do anything, son. If you'll just help me disable the crash shield, I'll help you fix your X-Wing, and you can leave."

Luke thought back to what his mother had said.

I believe that there is still hope for him.

Keep on loving and you'll be invincible.

"No, father. I forgive you. If you are truly sorry for what you have done, if you want to try and be Anakin one more time, mother and I will be willing to give you a second chance. We love you."

Anakin could hardly believe his ears. His son was forgiving him! He loved him! Yes! He said he loved him!

"Thanks, Luke. You don't know what this means to me."

"No," Luke said, smiling. "You don't know what this means to me!"

Luke ran to his father and hugged him. Knocking him down in the process. He had his father!

Chapter Six: The Crash Shield

"So do you even know where the crash shield is?" Luke asked Anakin.

They were walking through the remains of the droid factory. Anakin had been telling his son what he had done here so many years ago. He told Luke and Padme and Obi-Wan, and what they were doing there to begin with. But Luke pointed out that if they didn't disable the crash shield and get off the planet soon; people were going to come look for them. That would end in a battle.

"I think it's somewhere in the execution arena. I've looked everywhere else."

"Well, come on, let's look!"

It would have taken them forever to find it if they couldn't use the Force. It was hidden at the top of the arena, covered with dust, but apparently still working. They would have already disabled it, if it hadn't been surrounded by high-powered power cufflinks.

"I should try it," Anakin said. "I've had more experience with power cufflinks. Trust me!"

"Wouldn't it be dangerous for you, in all that armor?"

"Oh, please! You are talking to a man who drove through power cufflinks when he was board!"

"Well, aren't you modest?" Luke said sarcastically, hiding a smile.

Despite his bragging, Anakin walked carefully towards the crash shield.

Everything went well until he touched the control bar. All of a sudden, there was a brilliant flash. It was so bright that Luke had to cover his eyes to prevent himself from becoming blind.

It lasted for a full minute………………… and then all was quiet.

"Father!"

Luke looked to the spot that he had seen his father last, he was nowhere to be seen!

"Nooooooooooooooooo!"