Redemption - A Star Wars Fanfic

Chapter 1

"Father, help me!" Luke Skywalker called out to his father, the notorious Darth Vader, as Emperor Palpatine electrocuted the former farm boy with his lethal Sith lightning. Darth Vader, formerly known in the past as Anakin Skywalker, stared at his dying son with mixed emotions. Could he really let his and Padmé's child die while he could do something about it? When he first agreed to be Palpatine's apprentice, this was not what he had in mind. Then again, he had also thought that his child—children as he now knew—had died at the same time as his wife, Padmé Amidala.

Luke continued to beg for mercy as he felt his life force slowly diminishing away. Pain blinded him, only the image of crackling blue lightning visible as the young boy desperately looked for his father through the haze. The Emperor was electrocuting him through his fingers, a feat which the young Jedi would've deemed impossible if not for the things he had seen through his years as a Jedi in training.

Thoughts of Leia's face as she begged him not to face Vader only moments before he left suddenly barraged his brain, his sister's soft, gentle features morphed into fear and worry. He thought of Han leaving the Ewoks' hut to find Luke up and missing, the Corellian's normally fearless attitude overcome with the gnawing panic of losing a loved one. Luke didn't want to leave them, they were his friends. However, he knew Leia would make it as a Jedi, it was in her DNA. With the thought of the Alderaanian princess donned in traditional Jedi robes and a saber ignited in her hands as she drove out Imperials to avenge her brother, restore the Republic and bring peace to the galaxy, Luke was finally able to find peace. His screams died down and he took in a shuddering gasp instead, sounding eerily similar to the wheezing of his father's respirator.

His father.

Before Luke could fully process exactly what was happening, the pain stopped. The masked menace that had terrorized the Rebellion for years reached over and plucked up the Emperor as if he was no more than a rag doll, the Sith lightning still flowing full force. But instead of shooting into Luke's crumpled body, it flowed into Vader, Palpatine's last attempt at revenge against the ultimate betrayal of his apprentice. Luke watched in shock as the ruler of the galaxy for over twenty years finally met his demise, tumbling down the seemingly endless shaft as Vader threw him over the railing with the last of his remaining strength. Luke was forced to look away as a blazing azure light shot from where the Emperor had fallen, the Force's balance shifting dramatically enough to cause a tremble in the entire galaxy as he died.

The louder than normal wheezing of a respirator broke through Luke's awe and shock as he realized his father was on his knees and gasping for breath, his one good hand shaking as it weakly grasped at the rail for balance. Temporarily regaining his strength, Luke stood on wobbly legs and limped towards his injured father as fast as he could. He pulled him up into his lap and winced at the horrid sound of his breathing. The respirator had to be damaged if the frantic beeping lights on Vader's chest panel were any indication. Slowly stroking the side of the helmet to reassure the fallen man, Luke still pondered, even now, what had happened that had caused Vader to need the suit in the first place. He had heard Ben's stories of course, but Ben's track record of telling the truth wasn't holding out well in his favor. After all, he had never told him that Vader was his father or that Leia was his sister.

Ignoring his own quivering lungs, Luke gathered his thin arms under his father's much bulkier ones and lifted upwards to his best ability. Grunts of effort pushed their way from his throat and his boots stubbornly pressed on the solid metal floor to help give him some traction. There was a garbled bit of noise from Vader's vocoder following what sounded like a moan, but Luke ignored it, knowing his father would be trying to protest moving him. They had to get off the station. Without medical attention, Vader would surely die. Ironic since Luke had always naively believed that the Sith was basically immortal due to his impossible feats of survival on the battlefield.