AN: This is a gift for JackHawksmoor, written as part of the Summer 2021 L/V exchange. These were my prompts:
He's here. I can sense him;
Can you teach me how to do that;
Do you think that was going to impress me?
Of the tropes suggested, I decided to make this about the Alliance capturing Vader.
The folowing (and much longer) chapter will be posted next week, so I hope you enjoy it!
The event that would later be described as the War's turning point happened without much fanfare.
In one moment the Alliance's soldiers were lounging in the mess hall, resting after days of battles and infiltrations. And in the next, the slaughterer of their comrades stood at the door: still armoured and cloaked in fathomless black, his breath cycles continuing on like clockwork.
But there was no blade of crimson light in his hands. Instead, they remained at his back, bound by tight chains.
"We've got Vader!" exclaimed one of the Rebel recruits next to the him, a feverish smile etched on his boyish face. Immediately, applause and chanting erupted in the room.
However, unlike most of Imperial ilk, Vader uttered no promises of revenge nor desperate pleas when faced with the Rebel Scum. Still and emotionless as he stood, even less of his humanity was apparent.
Slumped on a couch at the other side of the room, Luke stared agape at the Dark Lord, still a fearsome sight even with cape his removed and his powers suppressed.
Part of him felt disappointed that he had not been the one to make Vader pay for his crimes. But that mattered little in the grand scheme Old Ben had thrust him into, he supposed. If Leia were here, she would say that the Alliance's achievements would always be of more import than its members' grievances. And his father would be happy to see his killer punished at last.
"I can't believe they managed to do this," said Wedge, raising an eyebrow at his despondent comrade. "Aren't you happy, Luke?"
Luke shrugged and responded, "Sure, but something about this feels wrong. How did they even capture him? Vader was able to kill the heroes of the Clone Wars, so why not these kids?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe he's really a droid, and they found a way to turn him off."
"Yeah, sure... Maybe he is just a droid," said Luke, utterly unconvinced.
Ben's recollections of his renegade apprentice were about as clear in Luke's mind as those regarding Anakin Skywalker. In a way, Vader was what remained of the Old Jedi, twisted as he was.
"He was betrayed and murdered by a very young Jedi named Darth Vader. A boy I was training. One of my brightest disciples... one of my greatest failures."
Meanwhile, almost as quickly as they had entered, Vader and his escorts left, heading towards the cell block. From behind his mask, Vader gazed wistfully at yet another ghost of his past.
~•oOo•~
The cell in which the insurgents shoved him into was remarkable only in how empty it was. The small grey cubicle's only noticeable feature was a transparisteel wall next to the small chair he had been provided with, presumably for his upcoming interrogation.
Vader sighed. Master, if he even bothered to retrieve his wayward Apprentice, would never forgive this failure. How he could he have lowered his guard so much? The destruction of that wasteful weapon had already left him on thin ice with Master, and the rest of the Imperial Brass was not fond of the man they perceived as a relic of a bygone age. Perhaps Sidious had already replaced him with someone youthful and whole.
Dying here would be an ignominious end for one who had erst been the Jedi's chosen. It was fitting, he supposed. Would Luke even-
He terminated that thought. There was nothing to do but wait, and try to his best to rest without the Force's aid. He lay down on the floor, ignoring the pain from his festering wounds and empty stomach.
He was used to misery and squalor; this imprisonment was nothing to him.
