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The emperor’s throne room reeked of burning plastic and acrid metal. Spindly columns of smoke drifted into the cavernous loft above them, swirling and dissolving into the shadows. Faint sunlight from Coruscant’s dawn slithered in through the circular, kaleidoscopic window behind the throne, but it offered no warmth or hope for a fresh start.
Darth Vader writhed in pain on the marble floor as the seizures gradually reduced in severity. Luke’s arms wrapped around him like a shield, his head buried in the crook of his father’s armoured neck, but there was little protection to offer against the crippling effects of Force lightning.
A cackle resounded somewhere near him, but Luke resisted turning towards the source. Footsteps approached, the click-clack of the heels like artillery fire, then stopped. The chilling presence lingered to his left, but still Luke averted his eyes.
The emperor was enjoying this—that much was undeniably clear in the Force. The punishment he inflicted on Vader—and Luke, by proxy—derived from a sadistic streak that seemed to have magnified since the young man appeared by his father’s side.
Luke and Vader had tried concealing their alliance in the aftermath of Bespin, but the emperor’s machinations had forced them out into the open. At first, the emperor seemed amused by their growing bond, even amenable to the idea of Vader training Luke, but their interactions had felt like walking on eggshells. Both father and son knew what the emperor truly wanted, but Luke refused to turn to the dark side and Vader refused to push him.
Then his father became the victim of the emperor’s increasing levels of torture, and Luke was powerless to put an end to it.
Luke really should’ve known better. The emperor’s disarming attitude was merely a ruse, and Luke quickly realized he was no match for these sick mind games.
His father’s wheezing catapulted Luke back to the present. Vader’s respirator stuttered, and he gasped. Through the Force, Luke felt what his father did—the lightning had penetrated the suit and short-circuited much of his life support functions, not to mention inflaming his already delicate skin.
Without medical assistance, Vader would meet his demise right here in the throne room. Luke shut his eyes as a rush of heat blazed through his body like an inferno. How had he allowed this to happen?
“My boy,” the emperor said, his voice syrupy sweet and tinged with faux sympathy. Luke rolled his eyes behind his lids but unwound himself from his father and stood up. He curled his hands into fists and straightened his shoulders.
“I’ve had enough of this!” Luke said, staring into the emperor’s sunken, yellow-rimmed eyes, framed by heavily wrinkled skin. “You’re trying to kill him!”
The emperor’s jaw dropped. “You are mistaken, young Skywalker. Your father is a dear friend; I would never harm him. He simply needs reminding of his place…do you not agree?”
Luke shut his eyes for a moment and tried not to take the bait. Behind him, Vader groaned as aftershocks ravaged his body.
“No, your highness,” Luke said, calmer that he felt. “My father has done nothing wrong, and he’ll die if we leave him like this.”
The emperor’s eyes narrowed, a sinister smile creeping across his face.
“What a pity.”
Palpatine lifted a pale hand, and Luke watched in horror as the tips of his fingers sparked in warning.
“No,” Luke said, shaking his head, and aggressively took a step forward. His father whispered placating words to him through the Force, which only served to overwhelm Luke’s heightened emotional state. Vader teetered on the brink of death; Luke should be providing comfort and supervising his recovery in a medbay, not engaging in a dangerous battle of wits with the emperor.
“There are consequences for defying me.” Palpatine’s tone darkened and dripped with menace. “Remember this, my boy. Your fate is intertwined with the dark side, just like your father’s.”
Luke screamed as lightning carved through the air and pierced the barrier of durasteel. The emperor grinned in delight as Vader’s body convulsed in a violent fit, but before he could administer the killing blow, Luke raised his palms and kneeled.
“Please spare him,” Luke said, blinking away a sudden flash of tears. His father slipped into unconsciousness, and Luke wrapped his Force presence around Vader’s in a final, desperate attempt to hold him back from oblivion. “Please. I will do what you ask.”
Palpatine’s grin widened. “You wish to save your father’s life?”
Luke placed a hand on Vader’s unmoving form and sighed in resignation. Luke’s body temperature cooled, like the furnace that once burned inside him had depleted its life-giving fuel. His vision sharpened, and an eerie, whitish film tinted his surroundings.
“Yes.”
“Do you pledge your allegiance to me?”
The time would come for regrets and sorrow. Already, Luke predicted his father’s anger and shock at his decision. But if becoming Palpatine’s apprentice meant Vader lived, Luke would never hesitate to drop to his knees.
There was no turning back now.
Luke contained a bitter laugh. Despite the covert plans he and his father had crafted, the ways they had tried to outsmart him, the contingencies they put in place, the emperor had won after all.
“Yes.”
Dry, ice-cold fingers tipped Luke’s chin up, the rotten touch shaking him to his core.
“Yes, what, my boy?”
Luke held the emperor’s victorious gaze. He extinguished the spark of defiance in his heart, suffocating it until no light remained, and forced himself to utter the words.
“Yes, master.”