A soft reassurance reached out to Maul the moment emotions started to bleed, and Luke's light met his fear with gentle calm, just as the memory Luke verbally sparred with the Emperor, refusing that Palpatine would be completing his training, but it wasn't until the Emperor had taken Luke's lightsaber from Vader's hands that his father seemed to take real notice of what was going on in Luke's head.
"You're wrong. Soon I'll be dead, and you with me."
You're not going to die here, son; have you gone mad? Why are you resisting? was running through Vader's head, as if the answer wasn't obvious, as if he didn't already know said answer. But while Vader was responding in disbelief, the Emperor wasn't taking Luke seriously, taunting him.
"Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel fleet," his master sneered, and Vader could feel he had his son's attention without even looking. "Yes... I assure you, we are quite safe from your Rebel friends here."
And his son -- stupid, brave, impossible boy -- did the one thing that no one had dared to do to his master in over twenty years: call him out.
"Your overconfidence is your weakness."
The red tinted gaze snapped immediately to the young man, a mix of admiration and pride and fear and annoyance and genuine worry just barely kept in check, watching as Luke didn't even flinch when Palpatine shot back -- "Your faith in your friends is yours." -- with as much venom dripping from his words as he could summon, the Dark lashing out in retaliation, and -- stupid and brave -- Luke didn't flinch as he continued to resist his master. But there was a crack there, a barest hint of just how hard this was on him.
"It is pointless to resist, my son," Vader reminded him, almost sounding like he was doing him a kindness with the verbal nudge. He watched as Luke's shoulders sagged slightly, suddenly looking small and fragile, and an unpleasant lurch made itself present in Vader's thoughts, something he quickly shoved away.
The images skipped again, though it seemed mostly because Vader's focus was solely on Luke, watching him as the Emperor taunted him with the view from the throne, letting him watch as ships -- clearly belonging to the Rebellion -- were being cornered not only by Star Destroyers, but by the fully functional battle station they were in. Anger and helplessness were welling up in Luke, the calm he had shown before cracking even more, until it suddenly exploded and --
They were fighting.
Luke had Vader's entire focus as he intercepted the lightsaber that first went swinging toward his master and then straight for him. The pride was there as they fought, but also concern... and then fear as the image of the fight skipped over to Luke fighting like he was possessed, like he was almost feral as he struck out at Vader again and again and -- he may actually kill me. My son may actually kill me and not care...
And then a sharp burst of electronic pain as Vader's dominant hand was cut off, as a pulsing green blade was at his throat, breath wheezing as he found himself holding up a hand, not realizing until that moment just how much he didn't want his son to be the one responsible for his death.
"Good," the Dark hissed from the throne, and the sneering voice, the insistence that he kill him and take his place. He had seen this moment before in visions, and it always ended with his vision fading, the last thing he saw was his son presenting himself on one knee to his new master--
...but instead there was a loud thud as his son threw away his lightsaber.
"Never. I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, Your Highness; I am a Jedi, like my father before me."
Like my father before me. The words echoed in Vader's head, emotion carving through the black shell of his armor. He didn't deserve to have something like that said of him, to have the faith that his son held in him... and yet...
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"You're wrong. Soon I'll be dead, and you with me."
You're not going to die here, son; have you gone mad? Why are you resisting? was running through Vader's head, as if the answer wasn't obvious, as if he didn't already know said answer. But while Vader was responding in disbelief, the Emperor wasn't taking Luke seriously, taunting him.
"Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel fleet," his master sneered, and Vader could feel he had his son's attention without even looking. "Yes... I assure you, we are quite safe from your Rebel friends here."
And his son -- stupid, brave, impossible boy -- did the one thing that no one had dared to do to his master in over twenty years: call him out.
"Your overconfidence is your weakness."
The red tinted gaze snapped immediately to the young man, a mix of admiration and pride and fear and annoyance and genuine worry just barely kept in check, watching as Luke didn't even flinch when Palpatine shot back -- "Your faith in your friends is yours." -- with as much venom dripping from his words as he could summon, the Dark lashing out in retaliation, and -- stupid and brave -- Luke didn't flinch as he continued to resist his master. But there was a crack there, a barest hint of just how hard this was on him.
"It is pointless to resist, my son," Vader reminded him, almost sounding like he was doing him a kindness with the verbal nudge. He watched as Luke's shoulders sagged slightly, suddenly looking small and fragile, and an unpleasant lurch made itself present in Vader's thoughts, something he quickly shoved away.
The images skipped again, though it seemed mostly because Vader's focus was solely on Luke, watching him as the Emperor taunted him with the view from the throne, letting him watch as ships -- clearly belonging to the Rebellion -- were being cornered not only by Star Destroyers, but by the fully functional battle station they were in. Anger and helplessness were welling up in Luke, the calm he had shown before cracking even more, until it suddenly exploded and --
They were fighting.
Luke had Vader's entire focus as he intercepted the lightsaber that first went swinging toward his master and then straight for him. The pride was there as they fought, but also concern... and then fear as the image of the fight skipped over to Luke fighting like he was possessed, like he was almost feral as he struck out at Vader again and again and -- he may actually kill me. My son may actually kill me and not care...
And then a sharp burst of electronic pain as Vader's dominant hand was cut off, as a pulsing green blade was at his throat, breath wheezing as he found himself holding up a hand, not realizing until that moment just how much he didn't want his son to be the one responsible for his death.
"Good," the Dark hissed from the throne, and the sneering voice, the insistence that he kill him and take his place. He had seen this moment before in visions, and it always ended with his vision fading, the last thing he saw was his son presenting himself on one knee to his new master--
...but instead there was a loud thud as his son threw away his lightsaber.
"Never. I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, Your Highness; I am a Jedi, like my father before me."
Like my father before me. The words echoed in Vader's head, emotion carving through the black shell of his armor. He didn't deserve to have something like that said of him, to have the faith that his son held in him... and yet...