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On the Death Star, Luke Skywalker saw the great evil that his father was ensnared in. Saw the chains that kept him bound to the will of the Emperor and knew that he would never escape on his own.
At his moment of victory, he saw a man broken and pathetic… and instead of cutting him down, he felt love and pity for this fallen creature who was his father. Saw the faint flickers and remnants of the man he’d used to be… and couldn’t bear the idea of adding his name to the list of people who had all left him behind.
His last act as a Jedi was to throw away his weapon and surrender.
Endor was a failure.
For the rebellion, it ended in a pathetic defeat. Their last great unifying effort to save the galaxy from a terrible evil. Everything they had went into their attack but the Emperor had been wiser and more cunning and he’d planned their defeat and because of the weakness of one… he saw it all come to fruition at long last.
The rebellion had failed and it faded into the wind as all things that die must do.
Sidious kept them both.
Two servants were better than one, after all.
Both of them kept in check for fear of the life of the other. He taught them both, through pain and suffering that stepping out of line meant that the other would endure the punishment. He taught them to kneel and to come when called and to execute his will and desires without question.
Luke fell and his Fall was not the great thundering of a tree that collapsed in the forest or that of an avalanche as it roared down a mountain. It was a silent fall, a gradual one, the light inside of him disappearing slowly, slowly… so very slowly… the goodness and kindness taken out of him with every crack of the whip that sounded over his shoulder. Every command given from a master whom he had surrendered himself over to - whom he had no choice but to obey.
He fell only because he refused to leave.
The Emperor knew nothing of mercy. His cruelty left scars that were not easily erased.
Apathy had been Vader’s way of enduring.
With Luke in the picture, he no longer had the option of being apathetic. This son of his who had followed him into hell… even his black heart could not stomach the pain of it.
At Endor, he had not believed there was anything left to fight for. There was no longer a point in believing in a different future. The opportunity had been missed with Luke’s refusal to join him. There was nothing except the will of the Emperor for either of them.
But… everytime Luke screamed and screamed under the torture and misery that their master forced him to endure… something defiant flickered to life in his heart and whispered that maybe there was still a chance. If there was, Vader thought that maybe he would try and take it, if only to never have to hear his son beg for mercy again.
The day that Luke’s eyes turned yellow, Vader began to plan.
Weeks turned into months.
Months turned into a year. A year turned into two.
The Empire went on.
Anakin Skywalker, the Hero With No Fear.
Luke Skywalker, the Hero of the Rebellion.
Hope.
Freedom.
Justice.
Peace.
It all died with their names.
Skywalker.
Skywalker.
Skywalker.
They became known as servants of the Emperor instead.
Luke became dark.
Vicious and cruel… an efficient killer on the battlefield. Pain made him hard and experience in suffering made him less sympathetic to the pains of others.
He could endure. Why couldn’t they?
Sidious owned his soul; what could possibly be so horrible about everyone else's lives in comparison to that?
The galaxy was under his control.
Kept in line by his word and his pets who enforced his laws. Pathetic creatures that they were, kept in line almost solely through fear for the other.
When they weren’t being useful, Sidious toyed with them both, manipulating them like puppets on a string. Mind games were a specialty that he had perfected over decades. Secrets bonds in the Force were an easy way to present new ideas. To make someone doubt reality. To turn trust into fear. Fear into anger.
The Skywalker’s were more effective together, more brutal and cunning as a team than as individuals.
To kill one would be to destroy the potential of the other. Sidious could put the broken pieces of whichever was left back together and make do with what he had for however long they could last. But their combined power was intoxicating.
It was dangerous to give them so much free reign. Dangerous to allow them to think that one wasn’t going to turn on the other eventually. He whispered lies to them instead. Created doubts and fears and inspired distrust between - enough that they could never know what was really true. Embedded it into their very beings. After all… it was the way of the dark side.
It was hard to plan when they fought constantly.
Something was wrong with both of them and Vader didn’t know what it was. All he knew was that sometimes he saw Luke and the very sight of his son inspired rage.
Pathetic, traitorous little worm.
The brat would turn on him. Would betray him to Sidious the same as everyone else had.
He knew it.
It was only a matter of time.
Shadows seemed darker than usual, always whispering, always watching. They moved on their own and there was never any peace.
Whenever he could think clearly, and those moments were becoming few and far between, whenever he saw what damage he had done to his child in some awful fit of rage…a horrible sense of urgency would grip his heart.
Luke was accustomed to pain and he had endured more than his fair share on behalf of his father. It had driven him into the depths of insanity and he’d clawed his way back countless times, meaner and angrier than he had felt or been before.
He wanted everyone to hurt the same way that he did.
And Vader, the bastard - he wanted him to hurt most of all. Because Luke had done this for him and there was an awful chill that ran up his spine now whenever his father stepped into view.
He’s going to kill me.
The thought tormented him. Haunted him. Deprived him of peace and sent him into a rage - if causing his father pain was the only way to make him understand that Luke would do anything for him, then by the Force, he would do it.
The shadows whispered that Vader would hurt him. That he wasn’t safe. That there was no one he could trust… and sometimes he believed it.
It was hard to communicate with someone you couldn’t trust.
There would be moments when Luke would look and Vader and Vader would look at Luke and they would know something was horribly, horribly wrong… and yet neither of them could bring themselves to say it out loud.
Just in case.
Somewhere along the way, they both got lost.
The Force around them fractured and broke at the same time reality did.
Faces, people, ideas, memories… all of them are slippery and deceptive. Nothing feels real anymore. Everything is a lie.
One moment Luke is on the battlefield, slaughtering and killing innocent people, some with faces that he knows and others that are strangers - and in the next instant, he is walking the cold streets of Coruscant alone in the middle of the night. The planet has become his cage - his hell, a place that he cannot escape.
He does not know who he is anymore.
Vader watches, kept in place by a will that is stronger than his, unable to act - or perhaps even worse, unwilling to act. Luke is suffering under the torture of blue Sith lightning and his echoing screams are making his ears bleed. He reaches out to stop it and in the blink of an eye… everything is fine.
Calm.
Quiet.
There is no pain. His son is kneeling before the feet of their master, at his beck at call.
Reality is an illusion.
They know each other.
Their Force bond ensures it, the tie between them making it almost impossible for the whispering lies to cement themselves completely… but there are moments when doubt flickers. When they aren’t certain. When they do nothing except stare at each other and wonder if driving a blade through the other's heart would bring an end to it all.
They can’t, of course.
Neither of them are willing to risk it; the idea of being alone again, with only Sidious for company was too terrible to bear.
No one was safe.
He’ll kill you, the shadows whispered. He’ll stab you in the back. You are nothing to him.
Luke squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to block it all out. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be. His heart pounded in his chest, pumping fear and hurt and anger through his veins.
This is all your fault, the shadows cackled. You did this. You destroy everything. You destroyed him.
He’s not gone yet, Vader hissed back, watching his son’s yellow eyes glare at him from across the room. I can still fix this.
Hate.
Love.
Fear.
Anger.
The truth came to both of them, like a distant whisper of sunlight.
Luke thought that it sounded like Ben.
Vader thought that it sounded like Obi-Wan.
Sidious was the source of everything.
That was their masters’ one great flaw - his massive oversight in all of his plans… was his inability to love.
He cared for nothing and no one. Only his power and his wealth, which were as cold and as empty as he was inside and he believed that everyone else was exactly the same. Or at least, that they could be made to be exactly as he was.
Sidious made the mistake of keeping them both alive for his own ends - of giving them the chance to realize that all the fear and paranoia and distrust was because of him .
After breaking Luke and dragging him down and turning him into a slave to be used on a whim, he’d forgotten that Luke had descended into darkness in a last ditch effort to bring Vader out of it.
All the pain and anger and manipulation in the world couldn’t change that fact. Neither could it change the fact that Vader had once fallen to the dark side in some vain, misguided effort to keep his family safe.
Where Vader went, Luke would follow.
Love was loyalty that couldn’t be bought.
It nearly kills them both, but they kill the monster on the Coruscant throne.
What they did is broadcasted everywhere and the galaxy holds its breath while they watch the flames set fire to everything.
Luke and Vader escape Coruscant, the black fog of evil and hatred chasing after them, and they hole up in Bast Castle, seeking refuge.
Sidious is dead and neither of them can grasp the reality of it.
Both of them are aware enough to know that they made the plans - that they made the attempt itself - but they are too uncertain of their reality to know whether or not they truly succeeded.
Darkness and hallucinations followed them across the galaxy, whispering things that they couldn’t escape. It felt like another trick, one that was meant to break them into pieces. A false sense of security so they can work up the courage to step out of line and then be ruthlessly put back in their place.
The Force around them is broken. Pulled taut; tired and frayed and the exact opposite of balance.
Sidious’ power is gone but his hold on both of them isn’t. He lives on only because neither of them can let him go.
Time passes.
The galaxy waits for the Enforcers to return.
They don’t.
Bast Castle feels safer than Coruscant but sleep becomes next to impossible.
The shadows move here as well and flickering images and figures flash in the corners of their eyes. They’re constantly on edge, fearing that their victory was nothing but an illusion. They treat injuries as best as they can; Luke adopts Vader’s habit of renewing his energy through the Force, out of fear of their master returning and catching them off guard.
It does not sustain him well.
The whispers of distrust, of anger, and pain remain.
Parts of the castle which slowly becomes their home are destroyed in moments of fear and rage and paranoid delusion.
Luke threatens to leave.
Vader tells him to go.
Neither of them can leave each other alone for very long.
The hallucinations come in many forms.
For Luke, it is members of the Rebellion.
People he loved.
People he abandoned.
Beru.
Owen.
Leia.
Han and Chewie. Even his faithful little droids.
They ask him why why WHY did you leave us behind? Why did you abandon everyone? How could you fail us all?
The hallucinations come in many forms.
For Vader, it is Padme.
Shmi.
His daughter.
Even Luke, at various stages of his life, coming back to haunt him.
They mock him endlessly. Whisper of his failures. Of his weakness. Of all his many wrongs.
Mostly, it is Sidious.
Worthless, pathetic little worm. You are nothing. Nothing. Nothing without me.
Days turn into weeks.
Nothing changes.
Weeks turn into a month.
A month turns into two.
Something changes.
Vader stares at the ghostly figure sitting in the center of his floor and in return, the old Jedi master Yoda stares up at him with an odd sort of calm, his ancient hands resting on a small little twig that serves as his walking stick.
There’s something… something different about this one. Something peaceful about him where all the other hallucinations and mind tricks are not.
Yoda seems to wait, his ears pricking forward while Vader’s mind rebels. Part of him wants to throw a couch at the little monster… and the other part of him is frozen and unable to move.
“Grown so old, have I, that you do not recognize me, General Skywalker?”
Vader opens his mouth to respond but feels a shiver run up spine instead. He turns, angry and paranoid and ready to throw whoever was sneaking up on him through a wall. He stops, heart suddenly pounding when it is only Luke.
Luke grows still at the sight of Yoda, his shoulders tense. The look in his yellow eyes is almost predatory.
Vader senses through their bond as his son's mind begins to rebel at the sight of the grand master. Luke knows who he is and is frightened by the sight of him. Very slowly, Luke steps closer to him, as if Vader might protect him from this apparition somehow.
“Unwell, you look, young Skywalker.” Yoda hums quietly. “Very unwell.”
Vader glares at him, feeling angry and offended.
Luke isn’t weak.
He turns to Luke, prepared to point out how strong and powerful he had become over time. How feared and mighty and skilled he is. Instead… Vader freezes and it feels like waking up after a long time in darkness.
His son is not healthy. He looks at the young man, at this son of his who so resolutely chose to stand beside him, and some part of him realizes that it has been a long time since he has truly seen him.
There has been a cloud of… of something blocking his vision. He can only tell now with the sudden absence of it.
His son is sick. Sleep deprived and frightened. He has scars and injuries, many from Sidious and others from war, and plenty that Vader doesn’t recognize but thinks, after looking at them for a few seconds… that they might be self-inflicted. Luke is prone to occasional bouts of madness and anger that have become something of the norm between them now.
When the whispers and darkness become too much and Luke reacts with rage, shouting and screaming to be left alone, breaking everything in sight in some desperate attempt to make it all stop.
Vader has done the same thing, more than once.
He isn’t certain when that became normal. Or how he didn’t recognize that it wasn’t.
Luke is not alright.
He slowly turns his attention back to the Jedi Grand Master and for the first time since Luke had chosen to stand by him and damn the consequences… it felt like someone was actually seeing him. There is no cruelty in Yoda’s old eyes… no hint of malice or flickers of yellow in his irises.
Instead, there is something sad. It feels like pity and it does more to convince Vader that this is not a hallucination at all.
How very strange.
“Get out,” Vader finally says. “You are not welcome here.”
“Need an invitation, do I?” Yoda chuckles but there is no humor in his old face.
“I do not need your help to protect my family.”
“Father? “Is… is he real?” Luke whispers.
Vader stares at Yoda’s glowing, flickering form for a long moment. “Yes,” he finally says. “I think so.”
“Trust yourself, do you not?” Yoda asks, directing his question at Luke this time.
His son shakes his head. “No,” he said adamantly. “I don’t.”
“Why?”
Luke blinks and swallows thickly. “Because… because why would you … come talk to me?”
“My student, are you not, mmm?”
Something that feels a lot like a hot mixture of hurt and pain and shame flutters along their bond.
Luke opens his mouth to respond but just then something scuttles in the dark corner of the room. Something… something awful. Luke stiffens, withdrawing backwards a few steps as the shadows seem to move in their direction.
Nothing good ever happens when the shadows move.
The hairs on the back of Vader’s neck stand up straight and he extends an arm out in front of Luke to push him backwards and out of the way of danger.
“Nothing there,” Yoda says calmly. “But lost you are. And rest, you both must.”
“Do not dare presume to tell me what I must or must not do in my own home,” Vader snaps, his eyes searching the shadows for the danger that he is certain is present.
“Came to help, I did.”
“How benevolent.” Vader hisses.
“Out of balance, things are,” Yoda says quietly. “Feel it, do you not?”
Yes, he feels it.
The Force is stretched thin around him and Luke.
Cracked.
Broken.
Nothing is real, the shadows whisper. Trust no one.
“Listen, you must,” Yoda continues, his voice a little sharper than before. A Grand Master, expecting to be listened to. “For your son, if not for yourself.”
His son.
Luke.
Vader hesitates. The shadows are still whispering and shifting, promising pain and suffering. But… the space around Yoda is… not. There is peace there and he wants Luke to have that peace more than anything.
“And what,” he bites out, loathing to ask a Jedi for help with anything. “Does he need to do?”
Yoda takes a shuffling step forward for the first time. “Rest,” he repeats. “Sleep. Begin to heal, he cannot, until the mind is calm. A damaged mind, truth cannot be discerned from.”
Luke stiffens, withdrawing a few steps. “Don’t make me,” he warns, his yellow eyes glinting. “I can’t. Our master will find us if I do. I know he will. He’ll hurt us both.”
A damaged mind. Something about that rings true.
Sidious is the source of it all, he remembers distantly.
“Luke,” Vader says, turning away from Yoda. “I will stay with you and protect you. But you… you should rest.”
Vader wonders how he could have forgotten that sleep was important. And Luke… Luke so desperately needs to sleep.
“I won’t,” Luke snarls, shaking his head. “Who will protect you if not me?”
“You trust me,” Vader says and it is not a question. Luke sold his soul for him a long time ago and has followed him into hell. There was a time when Vader understood that he’d done it because his son believed that they would both eventually walk out of it together.
Luke blinks, glaring at him suspiciously. His eyes flicker and linger on Yoda for a long moment before coming back to him. “Yes. I trust you.”
“Then trust me now. You should rest. I will keep safe while you do.”
It takes a few more minutes but Luke finally agrees. Vader suspects that he is also aware of and feeling a longing for the peace that can be sensed around Yoda. They find a room - a library - that is not in shambles from one of their fights or outbursts.
To his slight annoyance, Yoda himself doesn’t leave. He makes himself at home on top of the mantelpiece like a little green gargoyle.
Vader sits on the edge of the couch and Luke curls up next to him with a blanket, resting his head in Vader’s lap.
It takes over an hour for him to relax enough to drift off into sleep. His heart is pounding and paranoia toys at the edges of his thoughts and he sits upright several times, preparing to fight off something that only he can see.
He is out of practice being gentle but Vader eventually manages to soothe him into falling asleep.
Once Luke passes out, Obi-Wan appears.
For a moment, Vader is stunned, completely outraged and he makes to stand up and do - something. He doesn’t know how to kill a ghost but he is willing to try.
Except… Luke.
His son is sleeping and he needs sleep. A thought occurs to Vader then, that Obi-Wan probably knew that Vader would not risk waking Luke up to shout at him.
Bastard.
Instead, he is reduced to glaring at him, projecting his rage and hatred at him in the Force. He hopes it burns like Mustafar.
His old master looks a little younger than he did on the Death Star. Not old or weary from a lifetime of being hunted. Instead, the lines on his face are not quite so withered and his hair is not gray. He seems more vibrant.
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan greets cautiously, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his robe.
Vader seethes.
There are so many things that he wants to say. So many accusations and declarations of hate that he wants to spit and shout. He wants Obi-Wan to hurt - the way that he had been hurting all these years.
None of them come out.
“You left me,” Vader hisses instead.
Obi-Wan nods. “I know I did.”
“You - you,” his temper rises, denying him the clarity of thought needed to express all the ways that Obi-Wan Kenobi had failed him. It is just anger and betrayal.
In the corner, the shadows start to stir once again and Vader trails off before he can even get started, his attention abruptly stolen. A familiar tingle of fear slithers down his spine as a dark figure in the corner steps out from the shadows.
It’s Palpatine.
Sidious.
Something inside of him stiffens - in fear or obedience, he isn’t quite sure. It doesn’t really matter in the end. He should kneel - bow, move out of the way of danger and pain… but Luke. Luke is resting and… and….
Obi-Wan tilts his head, staring at him with a strange expression on his face. Finally, he turns to look where Vader is staring with such intense dread; it is seeping into the Force for both the two Jedi to feel. Obi-Wan doesn’t react to Palpatine and Vader doesn’t understand why.
“There’s nothing there, Anakin.” Obi-Wan says after a moment, turning back to look at him. There’s sadness and regret and pity in his eyes. Vader hates him for it.
“You know nothing.” he snaps in denial.
Sidious is glaring at him.
Weak. Pathetic. You failed me, Lord Vader.
Blue lightning is sparking at his fingertips and Vader shifts as his Master begins to advance on him, preparing to push Luke out of the way of danger. Luke, who is fast asleep, resting against Vader, for the first time in weeks. He hesitates, torn between two equally powerful desires.
“Trust your senses, you must.” Yoda chimes in.
Vader ignores the stupid little fool. What does he know? What do either of them know about Sidious? They couldn’t see him for what he was when Anakin was a boy and they don’t know what he is capable of now.
His Master steps closer, glaring at him with his angry yellow eyes, spitting promises of pain and torment his way. He is almost to the couch when Obi-Wan steps directly through him. And Sidious… disappears in smoke and darkness.
Disappears as if he was never there in the first place.
Vader is trembling. Phantom pain is shooting through his body, the memory and horror of Sith lightning a familiar and intimate pain. He was so… so sure of what was going to happen….
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan’s ghost says gently and Vader twitches before turning his head to look at him. He doesn’t know what to feel but his heart is pounding in his chest and his hand is gripping Luke’s shoulder as if it is the only lifeline he has. “Just relax. He’s not here. You don’t need to be afraid.”
“If that is what you believe, then you know nothing.” Vader repeats harshly. “He is a monster.”
“I know that he was,” Obi-Wan says quietly.
Was.
Past tense.
That would be a… peculiar lie for a Jedi to say. Vader does not often recognize one day from another, trapped in a haze of uncertainty and whispering lies, one moment blending into the other. But... this was so very different from that. Vader takes a few seconds to loosen his grip on Luke’s shoulder, trying to calm the storm of emotions in his heart.
“Is he gone?” Vader dares to ask, speaking the question that he has not truly known the answer to in… he does not know how long.
Obi-Wan nods. “Yes, he is. You killed him. The only thing that remains of him now is what you are holding on to.”
Gone.
Vader can’t handle the kindness that is in Obi-Wan’s eyes, nor the patience and understanding. He looks down at Luke instead and slowly threads his fingers through his hair. His son is not hurt. Neither of them are. It’s… it’s just them and the realization is a tidal wave of pure relief. He does not laugh or cry at the understanding that they are free from their torment… instead, he just sinks into the feeling of having his son with him.
They got out.
Luke is real and he can be free once more.
“I know that you are angry with me,” Obi-Wan says quietly after some time has passed. He is still standing where Sidious… or, or the image of Sidious had tried looming over him. Obi-Wan stands there as if he has the power to prevent him from returning. Maybe he does. Vader isn’t certain how he feels about that.
“What gave that away?” he sneers instead.
Obi-Wan ignores the snark. “I know I hurt you. Not just on Mustafar. And I’m sorry, Anakin. I’m so sorry.”
It hurts.
More than Vader had expected it to.
He’s angry.
He’s been angry for so very long.
And he’s angry now because somewhere deep inside, he knows that he is the one who should be apologizing.
“I don’t want to talk to you about this,” Vader interrupts before Obi-Wan can say anything else. He doesn’t want to talk to him, period. Allowing two Jedi into his home is already more than he can handle. But Obi-Wan hasn’t moved and something deep inside of him balks at the idea of trying to send his old master away, lest Sidious should return in his stead.
He does not know where to even begin untangling and ridding himself of the hallucinations which have chased them here. He has an uncomfortable feeling… that it is not something he will be able to do on his own.
Obi-Wan hesitates and then nods. “Alright,” he says simply. Vader doesn’t look away from Luke, still running his fingers lightly through his hair. After a few seconds, he senses when Obi-Wan follows his gaze.
“Your son takes after you.” he says instead and Vader is almost annoyed.
Almost.
“Crazy, you mean?”
Obi-Wan snorts. “No. Not crazy.” he says, shaking his head. “Just lost. You’ll find your way back.”
As if there could be a way back from that place where he had Fallen and from where Luke had dared to follow him into.
Death must have made the old fool hopeful.
“Luke is better than I am.” Vader says after a minute or so. Luke shifts and both of them fall silent, waiting to see if he would stir. He doesn’t. Instead, a sleepy sort of contentment drifts between them. Paranoia is still present and Vader can sense for the first time in a long time that it is woven deeply into his being, like claws that had sunken in a little too deep. The same ones that have a hold on him, no doubt. But… Luke is resting. Genuinely. For the first time in a long time.
“Will he be alright?” he asks, before he can stop himself.
Obi-Wan is silent for a long moment and Vader can only imagine what he is thinking. The Jedi had powerful opinions about the Sith and their ability to be redeemed, after all.
“You will both be alright,” Obi-Wan finally says.
Vader doubts that that is the truth. Not for him at least. But the Force and his mind are quiet and he can’t deny that he feels like himself for the first time in a long time. At least for tonight, he’s willing to let it slide.
“He is beautiful, isn’t he?” Vader says softly, stroking Luke’s cheek with the back of his knuckles.
Obi-Wan takes another step closer and for a few seconds, it is as if nothing had ever changed between them. He can see it, just for a moment, a vision of a different time - of himself, introducing his infant son to the man that had been his brother, proud and happy to share one of the greatest joys of his life.
“Yes, he is.” Obi-Wan agrees easily.
Something… almost like contentment exists between them for a few seconds. Something friendly and familiar.
Those few seconds end though.
Obi-Wan has not been his friend or his brother in a very long time. And even if Vader cannot bring himself to try and send him away now, he has no real desire to speak to him.
Instead, he wants to know and understand what has happened to him and Luke. He wants to know how to make all of the fear, paranoia, and hallucinations stop. He wants Luke to be free of the pain that he suffered… and was still suffering… because of him.
Perhaps… if his mind is calm, he will find the answers in the Force.
Obi-Wan seems to understand that. Vader tunes him out and starts to slip into a light meditation which is the only version of sleep that he will get. The Jedi steps back again; he doesn’t go too far; just far enough to lean against the fireplace near where Yoda is still standing guard.
The hours tick by slowly and as he follows strays paths in the Force and picks apart the last few months in his mind, trying to unravel everything that had been happening. It’s tedious and once he’s gone as far as he can for now, his mind wanders and relaxes. The Jedi are still present and Luke is a warm weight against him.
He leans back into the couch and yawns.
Vader… or Anakin, Obi-Wan supposes, slips off into his version of sleep. For once, neither he or Luke are taking turns and neither of them are losing anything for the sake of the other. The Force around them feels almost quiet for the first time in a long time.
The fire soon dies and the shadows that had been made by the flames vanish. The only light source is that of him and Yoda as they stand watch over their two apprentices.
“Will they be alright, Master?” Obi-Wan dares to ask.
“Up to them, that is. Fearful, they are. Lost in the Dark Side, they are.” Yoda hums.
“Sidious left a dark shadow.”
“Yes,” Yoda agrees. “But not a permanent one, perhaps. Light there is, in both of them still.”
“Even though they are Fallen?”
Yoda closes his eyes but nods. “Yes,” he says the word like someone world weary and exhausted. Like someone who had lost everything and been forced to confront his own mistakes. “Wrong, we were. In many ways.”
“Love drove them to become this,” Obi-Wan points out, though not necessarily to argue.
“And bring them back, it may.”
“...was this the prophecy?”
It had been Vader who had struck the final blow and killed the Emperor. The Sith master was gone. Despite everything, Anakin had still been the one to end it all.
“No,” Yoda shakes his head. “A different future, this was. Not the original. Not one I foresaw.”
Obi-Wan opens his mouth to respond but just then, Luke shifts, groaning on the couch.
“Father,” he grumbles pathetically, blearily blinking open his yellow eyes as he lifts his head off of Vader’s lap. There isn’t much heat in the dark look he sends their way, but Obi-Wan assumes that that is more because he is tired. Luke, when angry, had become something quite terrifying to behold. “Make them stop. Please.”
Vader sighs and lifts his head to level them both with a truly formidable glare. “Be silent or get out, both of you.”
Yoda chuckles in amusement. “Eavesdropping, are you?”
“I live here,” Vader hisses indignantly. The effect of his anger is ruined by his smoothing Luke’s hair back and quietly telling him to go back to sleep. Luke willingly slumps back down against him and is gone again in seconds, his breathing deep and easy.
“We’ll keep it down,” Obi-Wan promises after a moment.
“You had better.”
Obi-Wan lets a small smile grace his lips as Vader goes back to ignoring them, his warning coming without much bite in it. He does not know how to go about redeeming two Fallen Sith. It went against everything that he had ever learned as a Jedi. But… he must concede that Yoda seems to be correct.
There is still something light in both of them. Something gentle, beneath all the twisted paranoia and anger that Sidious had interwoven into their beings, in their love and interactions with and for each other. But perhaps… perhaps if they could somehow untangle the web of lies that Sidious had so cleverly trapped them in and get rid of the stain… perhaps if they could regain some clarity… they would realize that there was no longer any need to fear.
The galaxy keeps spinning.