VADER- Weak No More

PART 1:

He had dealt with the apprentice, for now at least.

Vader felt the core of the Sith Holocron draw towards him. The boy was pulling back, but it didn't matter. The Holocron would soon be a great asset to Vader and his master, and this boy- no these Jedi would be dead. Why wouldn't the boy simply run? Or accept his fate along with his master? As Vader pondered this, he felt something familiar and fast behind him. He turned just in time to block the sweeping arc of a white lightsaber, but lagged just enough to miss the-

SLASH

Vader staggered backwards as the vision in his right eye became sparks and light. He fell; the cybernetics in his arm moving faster than he could register in his daze to stop himself from falling over completely. The helmet had been broken open. He could feel pain in his throat and lungs from the damage to his respirator. The pain snapped the Sith Lord into focus as he caught what he could of his breath. "I taught her that." he thought in a twisted sense of pride. Another breath, more pain, and Vader rasped out one word: "Ahsoka…". Why did he say that name? Vader said it again, "Ahsoka." It felt stale, he had not said her name in years, why was he saying it now? "Anakin…" replied what had once been his apprentice, his friend.

As Vader stood, he watched the boy and his master begin boarding their ship. They had the Holocron, Vader couldn't change that now, but it was no matter. He doubted they could figure out how to use it anyways. Ahsoka's voice interrupted his thoughts as she shouted "I won't leave you! Not this time." There was no rage in it, no hate. It wasn't a plea or a beg or any of those things. It was a promise; It felt sorry.

Something shifted in Vader's mind, and the pain distanced itself from him. He knew what this was. He had felt it a long time ago… and he hated it. It is what made Anakin too weak to save Padmé. It is what Obi-Wan claimed he once felt for Vader as he burned on the black rocks of Mustafar. It is what made Ahsoka abandoning him hurt so much and she had the gall, the audacity to try and make up for it now? To appeal to what Vader had rightfully destroyed? It had made him weak before, but Darth Vader would be weak no more.

He looked to the former Jedi while the hate- the power surged back into his mind and body. He ignited his lightsaber and said with as much intent as he could muster:

"Then you will die."

PART 2:

"Now, young Skywalker, you will die." claimed The Emperor as he stood over Anakin's son.

Vader watched on, wounded and exhausted next to his master. Skywalker's son had nearly killed him, but didn't. Why? Why did he show Vader mercy when he most of all did not deserve it? Why did the boy refuse such power? "Such is the weakness of Jedi" he half-thought.

KA-RACK

His thoughts were interrupted by Luke's screams as force lightning began to course through the boy's body once again. The Emperor had been toying with Luke before, torturing him. Now, Darth Sidious was not holding back. Vader watched the Jedi- his son writhe in agony on the floor of the throne room. He was shocked to find that the screams were becoming sickening, and with each one something in Vader's mind screamed too.

He looked over to his master and saw a twisted visage of malice and ecstasy. Anakin wondered if that's what he had looked like under his helmet when he was killing Jedi. A wave of disgust burst through his mind, and something else came forward as he turned back to his dying son. It is what he felt when laughing with Padmé on Naboo, when he rushed to save Obi-Wan from Count Dooku on Geonosis, and when he watched Ahsoka make a brave decision alone on Coruscant, betrayed by the order she swore to protect.

It was not weakness, it was love.

Now there was truly no conflict; He was going to save Luke. He was going to save his son and bring balance to the force. He had let his hatred and fear consume him, he had let Sidious warp his mind, and it had made him weak before. But Anakin Skywalker would be weak no more.