The Hands of Fate

Dreams and Nightmares

"You cannot protect him."

The echo of his former master hung around the hollow spaces of his helmet, whispering into what remained of his ears and hissing at him to comply. The Dark Lord turned and faced his sleeping son, staring at him with hidden worry underneath that mask. That gravelly voice of his former Master, painted by the strokes of hatred, sounded as loud as the rising of his son's snores in the cockpit.

The voice reminded him of the vision his son was faced with. The Dark Lord of the Sith watched in horror as his son attempted to take on the Emperor, poorly matched but standing his most firm and strong. He wondered if Luke did better than he would have at that age; after all, he never even gave Palpatine a chance to explain himself. Vader wished he had been as bright as a young man.

He was proud to watch his son's defiance. Though his skill with the Force and the blade proved unready for the great fight that awaited them both, he showed true growth and confidence in his performance. Great promise followed his footsteps but so did the signs of great despair. Physical pain: that was all Vader could sense as the blade sliced through his son's arms, unintentionally siphoning the agony from Luke in an attempt to make it bearable. It was something his own body had gotten used to. The mutilation of his limbs grew less painful and more cumbersome as time passed, to the point where they were nothing more than simple machines that acted as tools for his arms and legs.

But the pain being shared from his son was more than just simple shock; it was the realization that he had caused this very same pain to his child, not so long ago, and that Luke harbored that very same contempt and rage at himself for quite some time. The two Sith Lords were monsters of different extremes but monsters nevertheless.

Defeat was inevitable if they were to face him now.

"I will destroy you, Lord Vader. You will bow at your knees for my forgiveness, to rule by my side once more, but your pleas will go unanswered," that voice commanded, so eerily quiet but loud enough to make his head ring. His whispers hung around Vader's helmet, looking around for the tiniest slots of insecurity that formed into the great barrier that was his brain. Failing his former Master still caused him great terror – but something else gave him even greater worry. "And instead, I will claim your son as my own."

"He will pay for your mistakes, my old apprentice. You must be extinguished as the failure you have always been. Such potential, to be sure, though never realized. Not able to save your mother from a death you predicted for months.. nor your wife from your failures.. nor will you be able to save your own feeble self. Corrupting the boy, tearing him apart from your laughable legacy, will be one of the most satisfying acts I have ever done."

"You will not claim him."

That voice frustrated him. Vader knew that this wasn't truly the Emperor – he had attuned himself to shut out the real voice of his Master, worked diligently to deafen his thoughts to the universe around him. Palpatine assumed him to be damaged goods, a walking corpse that was sustained only by the consuming sorrow, and no longer capable of feeling or thinking outside the confines of his surroundings. How wrong that man was; overconfidence was a common occurrence in those employed by The Force. The Sith and The Jedi were both equally blind to whatever they chose to believe and whatever defied it.

Palpatine was a God.

Not a physical one, though his knowledge of The Force perverted him enough to be close. That was how he thought of himself – nothing else existed, nothing else mattered, nothing but the sensation of total domination and destruction. He was the one that towered over the galaxy with an iron fist, beating out the defiance in star systems and executing those that dared threaten his power. The man was unbeatable. After all, this was the same man that started as a lowly Senator and became the most feared individual in the entire universe. For all intents and purposes, Palpatine was a divine beast.