Heroes of Our Time

Chapter 4 - Reunion: Confrontations

Leia laughs at her brother's words, sounding and looking as young and carefree as she should be, given her age. She's only twenty. If it was up to Vader, he would have ensured that both of his children remain young and innocent for as long as possible. He would have shielded them from the horrors of the world. He failed them too, it seems, but it's a failure which they both seem content to ignore. They love him. They want to try and build a family together, even if it is two decades too late.

Nearly three months after the peace talks first began, representatives of the Empire and Rebel Alliance have reconvened to discuss the changes which have been made. The initial talks took almost a month before both sides parted to begin their side of the bargain. Vader has reinstated many powers to the Senate, though he had insisted upon smaller, local gatherings in the various regions of the galaxy. Not only does it take much of the burden off the Imperial Senate, but also, it will allow the different sectors to become more responsible and take a more proactive role in resolving conflicts in the area.

This meeting is going to be different for many reasons, one of which is that neither side has engaged in armed conflict since the peace talks began. Another reason is that they'll have additional... guests at this meeting. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka have finally returned from the Unknown Regions, reuniting Ezra Bridger with the rest of his family on the Ghost, and bearing word of Thrawn's demise.

Vader ought to celebrate, but he only feels sick at the thought of seeing Obi-Wan again. It took years before the realization that everyone he loved was dead finally sunk in, years in which he'd operated almost robotically, doing what he was told in a numb daze. It was the fourth year after the formation of the Empire before he broke down and grieved for what he had lost, for what he could have had. He's long blamed himself for everything which happened, and it was jarring to learn that he was wrong, that Obi-Wan was still alive, that he had yet again deceived him.

But then again, it's not as though he had a reason to announce his survival. He'd already denounced Vader, denying whatever relationship they used to have, so he owed Vader nothing. Logically, his actions make sense – and really, Vader deserved nothing more after everything he did – but that doesn't mean he finds it easy to accept. Was he surprised by the truth? Perhaps not as much as he should have been. He's already accepted that Obi-Wan will never see him as anything more than an enemy, a monster to be put down. So, no. He's not looking forwards to seeing him again.

It's different with Ahsoka. Their last meeting on Malachor wasn't the most pleasant, but Vader thinks that she saw him for a moment before she went unconscious. He thinks that she might have glimpsed him through the mask he's grown accustomed to wearing. Whatever and whoever he used to be is now irrelevant and unimportant. He's only a shadow of the man he once was, but he's okay with that. He can never become the hero Ahsoka used to worship. He can never become the good man she used to know. Apparently, that man is dead anyways, if Obi-Wan is to be believed.

Perhaps he should have responded differently when he met Ahsoka there, but his mind was... broken, still, just as it is now, even if time and his children's presences have helped. He had wanted death. He had sought it out. And Ahsoka had refused to leave, so they fought. He thought he could kill her before the Temple did, protect her from the Dark Side storm which would rip her body apart, shred it down to its last molecule. He didn't want her to feel it, to experience it. She knew, though, that he didn't really want to kill her. He could see it in her eyes, and when she drove her white blades into the floor.

She wanted to save him. She knew what he wanted there, and she couldn't let him go. In that last moment, Vader realized that she was willing to sacrifice herself, that was willing to risk her own death if it meant that he'd be spared. So, he did the only thing he could. He bodily tackled her to the ground, and they'd fallen into the depths of the Temple together. Anakin, she had whispered, half-unconscious from the fall, staring up into the red lens of his mask – one of them was broken – and his Sith-yellow eye. I know you're still in there. There was so much hope in her bright blue eyes, that he had been unable to look at her, so instead, he used the Force to suggest her into sleep before leaving.