"Luke, what have they done to you?" Vader sobs.
"Nothing you didn't want to do yourself," Luke answers coldly. Luke spreads his arms to the sides, waving around his red lightsaber. "Isn't this what you've always wanted, Father?"
"I wanted us to be on the same side. I was wrong to try to pull you to the Dark Side. I should have joined you long ago."
"Now it's too late for either of us to find light."
"No!" Vader insists. "It's not too late for you. Even if it's too late for me, you still have hope. You resisted the Dark Side when you were offered power as I should have."
"You offered to make me your servant until the day you betray me," Luke counters. "Such is the way of the Sith. You planned to betray the Emperor as he betrayed his master."
"Luke, I know you have no reason to trust my word, but even when I was consumed by darkness, I wanted us to be the exception. I had no intention of betraying you."
"LIAR!" Luke swings his red lightsaber at him. Vader grabs and ignites his own just in time.
"I know you can see reason," Vader says as their blades remain locked. "You are wiser than I ever was."
"If that's true, what does that tell you about the paths we have chosen?"
Luke attacks, swinging his lightsaber at Vader viciously. Vader defends against each attack, not letting Luke land a hit. But each attack still hurts coming from him. Vader doesn't try to strike back; he only guards.
Vader hates the idea of fighting his son. He needs a way to end this without causing permanent damage. Vader catches a look at Luke's lightsaber; it looks . . . wrong. Vader can tell this one was made for a Sith. That means Vader won't feel bad about breaking it. Vader also knows that Luke's right hand is already replaced with a mechanical one. Vader feels another pang of guilt, making it harder to defend against the many attacks. Vader knows that if he cuts off Luke's already mechanical arm, it won't do any more permanent damage than is already there.
Vader goes on the offensive, surprising Luke with his sudden interest in the battle. Vader strikes hard, making Luke tire and even struggle to stay standing.
Luke stabs forward, but Vader deflects the attack with a clockwise motion. Vader grabs Luke's wrist to hold him in place and cut the emitter off of the lightsaber, taking a portion of Luke's hand with it.
Luke screams and Vader immediately releases him. Vader deactivates his lightsaber and tries to calm him down, saying, "I'm sorry, Luke. I only . . ." His voice trails off because he's seen something most interesting. What remains of Luke's right hand doesn't show wires or anything mechanical.
Vader's voice loses all pity and remorse. "Is that hand . . . real?"
"NO!"
"Show me."
"Father, it hurts so much!"
"SHOW ME!" Vader demands as he force-pulls him. Vader grabs his wrist and takes a good look. Sure enough; burnt flesh where there should be wires.
Vader's grip crushes his wrist as the steaming anger builds inside him. Vader feels so stupid, so manipulated. He remembers the inquisitor that didn't show his face earlier. This isn't Luke; it's a changeling. "I should have known," Vader says, staring into the face of the wretched changeling who dared to impersonate his son. Vader wraps his other hand around the Changeling's neck and lifts him up. "I should have known that Luke Skywalker would never turn. HOW DARE YOU?!"
Vader lets go of the Changeling's wrist so he can punch him instead, breaking a few of the Changeling's ribs with his mechanical fist.
Vader drops the Changeling, letting him collapse on the floor.
"Okay, okay! You win!" the Changeling pleads, dropping Luke's appearance and changing back to his natural form. "Have mercy, please!"
Vader stares at him, letting him sweat and cower. Eventually Vader tells him darkly, "There is no mercy."
Vader uses the Force to lift the Changeling off the floor and hurls him into a wall. He then flings him across the room to collide with the opposite wall. Vader jerks him to the center of the room and makes him float there. Vader pulls the Changeling's limbs, bending them and pushing the limits of his straining joints. The Changeling whimpers and screams as his limbs are tormented. Finally, Vader focuses more strain on a single limb, breaking the Changeling's left leg in three different places. Vader drops him back to the floor and starts walking toward the Changeling as he tries hopelessly to crawl away.
"PLEASE STOP! I was just following orders!"
"That does not matter," Vader replies coldly.
Vader kicks the Changeling's stomach, ending his crawl. The Changeling points his left hand at the corner of the ceiling and shouts, "HELP!"
Vader looks where he's pointing and sees a camera in the corner. He uses the Force to rip the camera off and crush it. Vader pushes the Changeling onto his back. Vader lowers himself, putting his knee on the Changeling's stomach and holds his arm in place.
"What are you going to do to me?" the Changeling whimpers.
"Everything." Vader ignites his lightsaber upside-down, digging the blade into the floor near the Changeling's arm. Vader slowly moves the blade through the floor, terrifying the Changeling with the sound of scorching. The blade gets closer and closer to the Changeling's arm as he cries and begs until-
"ANAKIN!"
Vader jolts his head in the direction of that voice.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Ahsoka screams furiously.
Vader deactivates his lightsaber and tells her, "This does not concern you."
"This is the most concerning thing I've seen all day!" Ahsoka contests.
"What do you care if he dies? You did not meet him when he was still innocent," Vader stupidly says.
That cut Ahsoka deep. Vader had just implied that she only sees someone as worthy of redemption based on her relationship to them. The part of it that hurts the most is not being able to provide evidence that he was wrong.
Ahsoka says, "Whoever he is and whatever he did doesn't excuse torture!"
"You are so amusing."
Somehow, Ahsoka can tell that Vader is about to say a lot of things he's going to regret.
Vader says slightly aggressively, "Blowing up the unsuspecting population of an entire star destroyer is acceptable, but torturing one man is where you draw your moral line. It is all a necessary evil until I 'fall back into old habits.'"
"And what's necessary about torturing him!? It didn't sound like you had questions."
"He impersonated my son," Vader growls. "He tricked me into thinking Luke had turned."
Ahsoka replies, "I'm sure that was frightening for you, Anakin. But you can't act on anger like this. Think about the real Luke."
"I cut the real Luke's hand off. The real Luke is lost to me. And this fool thought he could get away with tormenting me with his image!"
Vader reignites his lightsaber and, again, moves it toward the Changeling's arm.
Ahsoka screams, "DON'T . . . MAKE ME . . . KEEP MY PROMISE!"
Vader stops and stares at her, but doesn't deactivate his lightsaber. Vader knows which promise she's talking about. He asked her to kill him if it was the only way to keep him from turning to the Dark Side. Ahsoka's face is stern, but there's a tear running down her cheek.
Finally, Vader deactivates his lightsaber and gets up, choosing not to torture the Changeling. But Ahsoka can sense that he's not pleased with himself for doing so.
Ahsoka tells him, "Anakin, I know you're going through a lot, but revenge is . . ."
"Not the Jedi way?" Vader finishes, a hint of resentment in his voice. Ahsoka remembers well the day he's referencing. "How hypocritical of you."
Ahsoka takes his words under serious consideration. "You know what; fair enough."
Ahsoka takes something out of her pocket and tosses it to Vader who catches it. She had tossed him the detonator for the bombs on the star destroyer.
"There's no reason for anyone to be on that ship," Ahsoka explains. "If you blow it up now, no one gets hurt."
Vader wasn't expecting this.
Ahsoka continues, "Anakin, I appreciate that you just resisted doing something I didn't want you to do. So, if you don't want to blow anyone up, I'll accept that."
The weight of everything he just said all comes crashing down on Vader. He insulted Ahsoka after she gave him a second chance because he wanted to take out cruel revenge on someone who was just following orders and then she proved that she is willing to listen to him. Vader says with remorse, "Ahsoka, I had no right to speak to you that way."
"It's alright. Frankly, I have bigger things to be concerned about. I'm not always going to be there to talk you out of stuff like this," Ahsoka says strictly.
"You shouldn't have to. I know you were right to tell me to stop. I'll remember this next time."
"I'm going to hold you to that, Skyguy." Ahsoka points a warning finger at him. "So, uh . . . what's your decision?"
Vader takes another look at the detonator. He puts it in his pocket and says, "I have decided that the bombs will make the perfect motivation for our prisoners to cooperate with us."
Ahsoka hates knowing that his plan is both the hard way to do things and perhaps also the right way to do things.
"Now, what do we do with him?" Ahsoka asks in regards to the Changeling.
"Leave him. The Empire will attend to his wounds."
"But . . . if he meets up with them, he'll tell them about the bombs."
Vader shakes his head amused. "No. . . . No, I don't think he will." Vader walks toward the door and Ahsoka hesitantly follows.
As they walk, Vader asks, "How did you know where to find me?"
"At first, I could sense that you needed help in this direction. And then I followed the sound of screaming and something being thrown against the walls."
Vader starts thinking hard. Padme never would have talked to him the way Ahsoka just did. She should have. One day a long time ago, Anakin told Padme about how he took out some very violent revenge and she told him, "To be angry is to be human." If he was talking to Ahsoka, she wouldn't have stood for it. Ahsoka isn't afraid to stand up to Vader. If Padme was more like her, things could've ended up a lot better.
Ahsoka has been there for him for everything. She can both comfort him and keep him out of the darkness. She's clever, she's formidable, she's feisty when she needs to be, and it doesn't hurt that she's beautiful.
Vader looks at Ahsoka and feels something he hasn't felt in a long time. In time, he sinks into despair. He thinks, "Why would she love me the way I love her?"
The other inquisitors along with several stormtroopers and an imperial officer find the Changeling.
"I told you this was wrong!" shouts the Chiss. He kneels beside the Changeling and asks, "What happened?"
"He was too weak," the Togruta says without a shred of sympathy.
The officer tells the Changeling, "You inquisitors were supposed to be able to handle Vader and yet you fail when given everything you needed!"
The Changeling can't believe what he's hearing. These imperials are cold to him after he got hurt doing something they ordered him to do in service to an Empire that tortured him into submission. The Chiss seems to be the only one that cares about his beaten and battered state; it speaks to the Changeling that the only one who cares is the only one who clearly doesn't want to be imperial. It speaks to him even more that Ahsoka, his enemy, showed more compassion than them.
"Did you at least learn any information we can use!?" barks the officer.
The Changeling could tell them about the bombs. But . . . "No. I didn't learn anything."
"Anakin, I need to talk to you before we do anything else," says Ahsoka nervously.
"What is it?"
Ahsoka takes a moment to figure out how to get the words right. "You . . . You told me that you did terrible things for Padme. And now, you tortured someone over your son. I wish you could have known that they wouldn't have wanted that. So I'm telling you now that I wouldn't want that." Ahsoka wraps her hands around her arms and continues, "I made you a promise that was very hard to make. I want you to make me a promise, too."
"Anything," Vader professes.
"I need you to promise me that if it comes down to helping me or doing what's best for the greater good, you will not put me before the fate of the galaxy. Can you promise me that?"
Vader isn't so sure if he can always keep such a promise. But Ahsoka did make a hard promise to him. Deep down, he knows that he would be selfish to go against what she asks of him. And this sounds like a condition she's setting if Vader wants to be close with her. He can't say no to that. "I Promise," Vader says, not looking back. He doesn't want to ruin things with Ahsoka the way he ruined everything with Padme; even if he doesn't think Ahsoka can love him.
For a while, Vader tries to distract himself from his sorrows by making strategy plans with Ahsoka. But, of course, the more time he spends with her, the more he loves her and the more it hurts to think she'll never feel the same way. Eventually they split up again, leaving Vader to wallow.
As Darth Vader makes his way through the Post-Separatist Holding Facility, he is tormented by what he is. He constantly hears his suit's respirator and imagines that Ahsoka can't stand listening to it for very long. Each step reminds him of how much of his body is mechanical. Who would ever want to be with someone built like him? Ahsoka hasn't even seen him with his helmet off. And all that is just what's physically wrong with him. All that emotional comforting might be romantic from Vader's perspective, but why would Ahsoka want to be with someone so emotionally needy? Ahsoka doesn't want to go her whole life validating her boyfriend twice a day. She certainly doesn't want to go her whole life talking her boyfriend out of torture every day. And on top of all that, even if she was interested, Vader's reputation would make being with him dangerous. If only Vader could be someone she could trust. If only he could be someone who's good for her.
It wasn't too long ago when Vader was starting to feel hope. But now he has another reason to despair.
Vader thinks, "At least I can help her. I could never have what I want from her, but I can give Ahsoka an end to this war. I can fight so that she can find freedom and happiness without me. That will be my hope."
Ahsoka isn't sure how to feel about Vader. Or rather she knows how she feels about him, but isn't sure what she should do about it. Ahsoka is quite fond of him, but . . . she's not going to date him if he keeps doing stuff like torturing someone for revenge. Ahsoka realizes that what she wants is the person he can become, not him as he is right now. The good news is that Vader is trying to be that person; he wants to be the man she could see herself with and he's making progress. Ahsoka starts thinking back, wondering if she ever had romantic feelings for Anakin before. She knows for a fact that she wouldn't have done anything to come between Anakin and Padme. But how would she have felt if Anakin had been single and if she was older at the time? Well, they wouldn't have started dating immediately in such a timeline. They both annoyed each other when they first met. Maybe she's asking herself the wrong question. Maybe she only thinks about him that way now because there's so much that's different about him. He's a lot more mature now than he used to be. Ahsoka might give Vader a chance if he can keep from losing his mind all the time.
Author's Note: For those of you who are interested, my other fanfiction, Disney Princesses: Extermination is about to be completed. So if you usually prefer to start fanfics after they're finished, you might as well start now.
Thank you for reading. Please follow and review.
(This next part was added in later.)
I have a YouTube Channel now. I review fictional couples, talking about how well they're written, how good their chemistry is and the story of how they get together. You'll be able to find me by typing into the search bar –
Couple Reviews by MVPKnight
