“Who... who are you?“ Vader asked raspily. The woman's featured softened even more and graced him with a smile full of compassion.
Pain was all that Darth Vader felt in that moment. Although he has by now completely gotten used to it by now, the amount of both mental and physical pain was too much, even for a powerful Sith Lord like him.
Just a few moments ago, he killed his master, Darth Sidious but his Force lightning had hit him, pushing him to the brink of death. His son, Luke, was trying to drag him aboard an Imperial shuttle, but Vader knew his time had come. He slipped and fell on the stairs on the shuttle.
“Luke... help me... take this mask off.” Vader asked his son.
“But you’ll die,” said Luke, sounding worried.
“Nothing... can stop that now. Just for once... let me... look at you... with my own eyes.“ Vader pleaded. Luke hesitated, but decided to fulfil his father's final wish. He removed his helmet and his mask. Luke wasn't prepared for what he saw. Under the mask that struck terror in the hearts of enemies of the Galactic Empire, lied a damaged face of an old man. His skin was grayish and his eyes were bright blue, like his. He had a large scar on the top of his head as well as one under his left eye.
“Now... go, my son. Leave me.“ Vader said, but without his voice amplifier, his voice was weak and raspy.
“No, you're coming with me. I'm not gonna leave you here, I gotta save you.“ Luke said, refusing to leave his father.
“You... already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister... you were right.“ For the first time in many years, Vader smiled. He blinked few times and then, he let out his last breath. The last thing he heard was Luke, begging him not to die.
Vader groggily opened his eyes. He found himself lying on a jet black floor, surrounded by seemingly infinite whiteness. He was stark naked, his burnt flesh exposed and he had his mechanical limbs no more.
"So, this is where a monster such as myself is condemned to? Strange.”, Vader mused. Like all deep practitioners of the Force, Vader knew there was no such thing as an afterlife, only the Force. However, what he had in mind was just an eternal state of peace and rest, a nirvana. He did not expect to be lying in the middle of nothingness, plus all alone. He had truly hoped he could see his beloved Padme just one more time, but it seems it was not an option.
Maybe this place was truly meant for him. A never-ending loneliness, only the whiteness and his near-insane mind to keep him company for the rest of the eternity.
"Anakin...", a voice, the most beautiful voice Vader has ever heard, rang from all sides. Vader weakly raised his head up, trying to locate the user of such a divine voice. What met Vader's ruined eyes was, dare he say, the most beautiful human woman he has ever laid his eyes upon.
Straigth raven hair was falling behind her back, her warming blue eyes were holding endless amount of kindness and her smooth and glistening skin looked like it has been made by that famous inhabitant of the planet Olympos, Aphrodite, herself. Vader noticed she had had a pair of majestic wings sprouting from her back and a gold weighing scale in her hand.
“Who... who are you?“ Vader asked raspily. The woman's featured softened even more and graced him with a smile full of compassion.
“I am known by many names, although you call me the Force.“, the woman gently answered, never once breaking an eye-contact with Vader. As for the former Sith Lord, he could only gape at the physical image of the Almighty Force.
“Why do you come to me?“ Vader dared to sound commanding, even though he knew trying to fight the embodiment of Life is a fool's gambit. Old habits die hard, apparently.
The All-Mother merely smiled again at Vader, not looking like his tone offended her at all.
“Why, what kind of mother would I be if I have never even spoke directly to my own offspring.“ Force answered his question. Even though Vader had known of his true origins even before he had become the Dark Lord of the Sith, the fact that he was talking to the supreme being of the universe, as well as his own mother, made Vader feel slightly awkward, but he did not show it and instead pressed on.
"If you truly cared, you would have talked to me sooner, not leave me to rot in my mechanical prison.", he callously remarked, watching as the radiant smile quickly fell from the Omnipotent's face and was replaced with melancholy.
“It may seem like that, but do not think for even a second that I have left you in complete darkness. I have always been watching over you, even when you could not muster power to look at your own self in a mirror.“, the Force sadly stated, her eyes becoming misty. For the first time after almost 30 years, Vader felt a pang of guilt within himself.
The Force, however, shifted her mood 180° almost instantly and her heavenly smile appeared yet again on her lips.
“But now is not the time for regret, we already had more than enough time to wallow in our self-loathing.”, the Force sighed and snapped her fingers. Vader found himself getting raised from the ground, now floating in front of the Force, being actually a head higher than her. The Force raised her right arm and placed her delicate index finger on Vader's forehead.
The sensation which followed was unlike anything Vader has ever felt, being of both pain and satisfaction. He felt the remaining lumps of his limbs extending and repairing, his once scorched skin slowly turning back to its original shape. The feeling of his own body which he hasn't felt for decades was slowly returning to him.
Few minutes later, Vader stood looking like the whole Order 66 deal has never happened. He wiggled his fingers and his toes, trying to flex every muscle in his body, like it's going to disappear if he did not give it enough attention. His eyes roamed every milimeter of his flesh, not caring even slightly for being completely naked, rather enjoying it, as now he finally felt whole again.
"Your job is not finished yet, my son.", the Force's voice snapped Vader out of his self-admiration and made him look her in the eyes.
"What are you saying? What job?", Vader spoke, more to hear his true voice again than caring about an explanation.
"I purpousely mated with Shmi Skywalker to create a child who would bring peace to the galaxy, but not by only defeating Sith.", the Force explained nevertheless. "Your death on the Deathstar is only the trigger to the rest of the prophecy, where the son of the Life would defend the galaxy from the constant danger of my dark counterpart, the Chaos, and finally, after 10,000 years of battle, bring it to balance.", the Life Entity's hightened dose of crypticism brought Vader to the edge of uneasiness. He was right now being told that he had to fight some evil deity for 10 millennia and apparently destroy it and as it seemed, he had no consent in it.
"It sounds indeed selfish, I know, but I had no choice. No one but you is powerful enough to challenge the Chaos and I cannot do anything due to the Divine Law created by Him.", Vader saw the parts of his fearsome armor floating around him. Before he could even blink, they lached on his body and covered him whole, save for his head, for his helmet was in his arms.
"You will also need this.", the Force opened her hand before him. A lightsaber appeared in it and she handed it to Vader, who took it curiously. One press on the button and purple plasma erupted from the hilt, suprising Vader a bit, since his lightsaber color used to be red. Nevertheless, he deactivated it and put it on his belt.
“Goodbye, Anakin… my son.”, the Force whispered distantly, snapping her fingers, which caused Vader to fade away into nothingness.
Vader opened his eyes and noticed that he was surrounded by a thick forest. He took a deep breath. After all these years trapped in that armor, he missed the smell of fresh air. He stood up and checked his armor. It was so much lighter, or he became stronger, than before. He didn't feel restricted at all. Vader also noticed his armor lacked its chest buttons, but his belt control boxes for breathing, audio and temperature control still remained. Vader remembered what Force said about his connection with her being much stronger. Vader reached his hand out and concetrated on all the pain he has felt, but resisting the seductive hold of the Dark Side.
Without any warning, the infamous Force lightning erupted from Vader's gloved fingers and vaporized at least five closest trees. It would have vaporized more had Vader not stop on time. He was very surprised and a bit scared to see how much more potent his Force power, which he couldn't even cast from his fingers due to his cybernetic prosthetics, had become.
Vader picked up his mask from the ground and put it on. As soon as his helmet connected with the mask, it hermetically locked and his fearsome breathing became apparent. However, his respirators didn't produce filtrated oxygen which he used to breathe in, only normal oxygen was produced.
"The Force has probably designed them to filtrate toxins.", Vader thought the most logical explanation.
Vader inspected his surroundings. Nothing but thick forest as far as his eyes could see. He began walking in a random direction, curious about the “Equuis” planet that Force had sent him to.
Vader had only been walking for about five minutes before his audio sensors picked up a scream. He quickly ran to its source and saw an animal, looking like a fusion between a bat, a scorpion, and lion slowly closing at what looked like an alien girl. The girl had a buttery yellow coat of fur with matching yellow wings, pink hair, a muzzle, and a pair of hooves where her feet should be. She was wearing a leaf-green skirt, and a white blouse. Considering what Vader had seen during his travels on different planets during the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War, she did not leave any lasting impression on him.
Vader stepped out of the shadows and took a long breath, thus making his presence known. The yellow horse-like girl heard him and looked in his direction. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. The beast turned around and glared at Vader. It didn't look intimidated by his appearance at all and promptly charged at him. Unfortunately for the beast, he was Darth fucking Vader. The beast was slain in a singular precise slash of his lightsaber. Taking one last glance at the halved corpse, Vader made his way over to the yellow creature.
"Are you alright?" He asked in his deep, robotic voice.
The girl's eyes became even wider and she ran away screaming before Vader could even blink, leaving only a trail of dust behind in her path. Vader slowly turned his head in the direction in which the girl had run off in.
“She’s probably going to contact the local law enforcement, so following her might not be the best idea. I’ll have to see if there is some place where I could stay in the meantime”, thought Vader and went back into the forest.