Star Wars: Balance of the Force (Anakin Skywalker Redemption)

15 - Choose

As he journeyed through space, attempting again and again to reach out to his children Vader grew increasingly frustrated as he was met with nothing.

Try as he might, he could not quite reach the enormous depth the Force had shown him on Scarif. Again, he meditated, opening himself fully to the Force, gritting his teeth as he passed world after world, feeling every groan of the planet, every whispered word in their alien tongues.

Giving up wasn't an option, so he persevered, allowing the Force to show him new things each day. If he wasn't so desperate to find them, he might have found the experience...transformative. Surrendering to the will of the Force had never been easy for him, despite how easy it was to connect to it. Feeling it in this way was surreal and comforting, once he got around how loud it all was.

When he began to pass the Outer Rim planets for a second time, Vader recalled a lesson from Master Yoda.

'Whisper to us, the Force will,' Yoda had said. 'Allow it to guide us, we must. Helpful, it always is.'

Vader recalled the feeling of it telling him to choose, Anakin or Vader. Could he give up either, knowing that to do so would bring about disastrous consequences either way?

Choose...

He was lost, with no idea where to go now.

Sitting in his ship, Vader looked out to the stars outside, and saw that he was approaching another greenish planet to search. Yet this time, when he reached out, he did so with no intention, no desperation, nothing.

It was not peace, he would not call it that, but it was bare.

The result was instantaneous. As Vader opened to the Force, this time it did not bombard him with all the inner workings of the planet, only a single vision, of a cave. He frowned, confused at the sight of it, but as he continued meditating, it was the only thing he saw.

Opening his eyes, Vader eased the controls out of autopilot, and began the descent onto the planet he had been flying by, hoping to locate the cave and find whatever it was the Force was guiding him towards.

The landing sequence commenced, and Vader found a solid patch of ground to set down on, a difficult feat considering the marshy terrain. From his computers, Vader learned the world was called 'Dagobah', and that no sentient beings dwelled there.

Outside, he began reaching out once more, following the tug towards what he hoped was the cave from his vision. As he made his way forward through the jungle, Vader began to feel a tug forwards, though not from the Force.

He sensed great darkness ahead of him, but also a great light. It was strange, he'd never felt the Force in such a way, how it seemed to pool outwards. Yet, it remained unable to get close to...whatever the source of light was.

Vader continued forward for hours, until he finally reached the cave from his vision.

It was dark inside, but dark in the Force too. He could not sense anything beyond the opening, and could not be sure what to expect.

Even so, Vader was not afraid. He ignited his lightsaber and stepped forward through the doorway.

He continued for a few minutes, the small lizards and insects skittering out of the way of his heavy boots and the angry red light of his weapon. Vader jumped down an opening, landing in another level of the cave, where the darkness grew stronger.

Searching, you are...

Vader spun around, the voice so much like old Master Yoda's.

Find it, you will...