To his credit, Luke tried to keep back the feeling of the torture, but his own trauma got the better of him before very long. The memory of the pain, watching himself writhe on the floor, the glare of the lightning cutting through the red glare of his father's mask, made him tremble, drawing a faint whimper from him. He wasn't sure if he begged for his father to help him in the memory or in real life; he couldn't tell over the feel of the lightning coursing through him, biting into his skin and--
I can't...
His father's thoughts cut through the pain, reminding him that he wasn't actually there, wasn't actually experiencing this again.
My son... I'm watching my son die... just like...
Vader paused, his view turning to the Emperor as he hissed those words that Luke could just barely remember hearing over the ringing in his ears and the pain in his body.
"And now, young Skywalker... you will die."
His scream of pain echoed in his father's ears, and every scream brought actual pain from his father, like he was being ripped apart, piece by piece, until all that was Vader was just fragments on the floor, leaving only who he really, truly was behind.
Not again. Not my family. Never again...!
It was the first, conscious thought Anakin had in over two decades, and the light burned in his chest, warm and bright, as he turned to the Emperor and grabbed him, lifting him up over his head despite the fact he was missing a hand. The Emperor screamed, lightning splattering everywhere, hitting Anakin as he staggered toward the edge of the platform, nearly dropping him as blast after blast of lightning caused a new error to come up in the mask's view. Anakin ignored it, focused on getting one foot in front of the other, getting to the railing, and...
With a mighty heave, he tossed the Emperor over the edge, before collapsing against the railing, watching as his former master fell down, down into the reactor core, sparking lightning the whole time, until an explosion of Darkness suddenly ripped through the whole room, buffeting Anakin before sucking back down into the core, leaving everything deathly quiet...
...save for the painful, wheezing noises coming from his respirator. That... that was it; for a moment, Anakin debated following after his master, dying on his own terms, before he felt a trembling hand on what little of his arm was left. He was pulled away from the railing in the next moment, his son coming into view, in pain, gasping for breath, but... still alive. His son was still alive.
His son would live.
Anakin cleared out the errors in his mask -- it didn't matter now, not right now. He just... wanted to see his son.
Luke let out a shuddering breath as he finally pulled the both of them out of the memory, letting his father's lightsaber drop into his lap. It took him a moment to bring himself back to the present, to remember where he was and why he was there, before he finally looked up at Maul, a shaky smile coming to his face.
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I can't...
His father's thoughts cut through the pain, reminding him that he wasn't actually there, wasn't actually experiencing this again.
My son... I'm watching my son die... just like...
Vader paused, his view turning to the Emperor as he hissed those words that Luke could just barely remember hearing over the ringing in his ears and the pain in his body.
"And now, young Skywalker... you will die."
His scream of pain echoed in his father's ears, and every scream brought actual pain from his father, like he was being ripped apart, piece by piece, until all that was Vader was just fragments on the floor, leaving only who he really, truly was behind.
Not again. Not my family. Never again...!
It was the first, conscious thought Anakin had in over two decades, and the light burned in his chest, warm and bright, as he turned to the Emperor and grabbed him, lifting him up over his head despite the fact he was missing a hand. The Emperor screamed, lightning splattering everywhere, hitting Anakin as he staggered toward the edge of the platform, nearly dropping him as blast after blast of lightning caused a new error to come up in the mask's view. Anakin ignored it, focused on getting one foot in front of the other, getting to the railing, and...
With a mighty heave, he tossed the Emperor over the edge, before collapsing against the railing, watching as his former master fell down, down into the reactor core, sparking lightning the whole time, until an explosion of Darkness suddenly ripped through the whole room, buffeting Anakin before sucking back down into the core, leaving everything deathly quiet...
...save for the painful, wheezing noises coming from his respirator. That... that was it; for a moment, Anakin debated following after his master, dying on his own terms, before he felt a trembling hand on what little of his arm was left. He was pulled away from the railing in the next moment, his son coming into view, in pain, gasping for breath, but... still alive. His son was still alive.
His son would live.
Anakin cleared out the errors in his mask -- it didn't matter now, not right now. He just... wanted to see his son.
Luke let out a shuddering breath as he finally pulled the both of them out of the memory, letting his father's lightsaber drop into his lap. It took him a moment to bring himself back to the present, to remember where he was and why he was there, before he finally looked up at Maul, a shaky smile coming to his face.
"Y-you okay?"