The Dark Side shrouds everything, even here in this plane between realms, but Darth Vader no longer fears the Dark Side as he once did. He embraces it, instead, delving ever deeper to seek out its innermost mysteries. And now, he has but one quest in mind. He seeks to find a way to locate his deceased wife, Padme Amidala, from beyond the grave and bring her back. Everything he did was in the hopes of saving her, of saving their unborn child, but it was all for naught in the end, when he lost control.

Never again, he vows. He will find a way to transcend even death and keep his loved ones with him, however few they now may be.

The path before him is long, treacherous even, but he continues onwards, pushing past the eerie visions and sights flickering around him of times long gone by. He is no longer the weak man he once was. No. He is powerful, perhaps even more powerful than his master, though his life-support suit, which has an uncanny affinity for lightning, makes it hard for him to actually contemplate betraying Sidious in a way which would mean a face-to-face confrontation.

As he moves, the Force nudges him suddenly, giving another of the voiceless commands he's so learned to heed throughout his life. Stop. Look. He obeys, pausing in his path to focus on a scene playing out to the side. It seems clearer, brighter, more tangible, than any of the ones he's seen until this point. It's from Mortis, and he sees Skywalker speaking with the Son in a place he thinks he should know but can't quite remember. It must be from the missing gap in his memories, a result of the Father's meddling.

Go. The Force's whisper is almost urgent, almost pleading even. You can make a difference.

Vader wavers, torn between continuing the path he's been following until now, and following the Force's urging. Why? He wonders wildly for a moment. Why should the Force tell him this now? Does it really think that giving him a chance to interfere in the past won't have drastic, devastating results? Will it matter what he does if the Father wipes Skywalker's memories anyways? How can he be certain that he's not caught in a time loop, that an older version of himself didn't speak to him on Mortis?

Do any of his actions make a difference? Vader isn't one to shy from the shadows simply out of the fear of what they may contain. Here he is, on the verge of conquering death, and he won't let anything stop him. And yet... could it really hurt to see if he can change another reality simply by willing it?

The possibility is far too tantalizing to refuse, so he turns, steps forwards, reaching out his hand to the image in front of him. Suddenly, it's as though he's sucked into it, as though he's falling. He lands, catching himself on one knee and looking around. He's on Mortis, and the Son is in the middle of speaking to Skywalker, who seems far too apprehensive of the One's presence to have noticed Vader standing there.

"I have had enough of your trickery!" Skywalker declares adamantly, glaring.

"Oh, but you'll like this one, I promise," the Son all but croons as he turns and slowly stalks around Skywalker, who's wary stance never changes. "What if I could show you the future?"

"No!" Vader exclaims fiercely, stepping forwards, but it's too late. The younger man lets out a groan clutching at his head as the Son forcefully plows through his mental shields, riffling through his mind as thousands of images bombard him, only the most important standing out. He doesn't remember this happening, but at the same time it resonates with him.

"No! No! Stop it!" Skywalker cries, trying in vain to throw the Son from his mind as he sees the future, sees what he will become.

Vader finds that he almost pities him. He remembers what he used to be like, and knowledge like what he now possesses would have broken his younger self. Is this what happened? Is this what he saw, what the Son did to him to force him into the embrace of the Dark Side?

"Know yourself!" The Son's voice echoes, and Vader almost feels as if his mind is being invaded as well, the echoes from Skywalker affecting him far more than they would anyone else. It makes sense, for they are the same person. "Know what you will become!" Clouds of the Dark Side thicken and swirl around them, blocking Skywalker from sight.

It only serves to infuriate Vader. Had this not happened, he would never have feared the Dark Side the way he did. He would never have worried that one day, he might end up slipping back, not knowing what had made him choose it in the first place. Worse, it was something that he felt he could never speak up to anyone. There was no one who could help him understand what had happened or at least help him through it so he could master his own abilities.

Vader stalks forwards, not towards his counterpart, but towards the Son. It's hard, the pain echoing as if its his own, though he's incapable of seeing what Skywalker is. By the Force, if there's no one here who will protect Skywalker, even from the future, then he will.

"You will get out of his head," Vader snarls, appearing beside the Son, anger rolling around him as if it was a tangible thing.

The Son only looks at him and laughs. "And who will make me?" he asks mockingly.

Behind him, Skywalker cries out, as the visions fade. Vader doesn't need to look to know that he's on his knees, unable to stand from the overwhelming amount of information dumped onto him. What would have happened, he wonders, had the Father not wiped his mind? What would have been different? But still, he knows that it was the right course of action. Skywalker is still too young to fully grasp the enormity of what his future will be. Vader has lived it; he's dealt with it every day since he Fell.

The Son's focus drifts from him to Skywalker, and Vader turns, reaching out to the boy with the Force. They are the same person, and as such, he can feel the bond between them resonating in his soul. Perhaps he was wrong, for he does not believe that a bond of this strength could ever break without both individuals dying. "Skywalker," he whispers, ever mindful of the Son, who is, no doubt, trying to overhear everything.

"I will do such terrible things," Skywalker whispers, resting his head in his hands, not looking up at either one of them.

"Yes," the Son agrees, "But it doesn't have to be that way. The choice is still yours to make." He fingers the lightsaber in his hands, giving Vader a sidelong look. He must know who Vader is, even if he doesn't know why he's here or how he ended up in this place in the past.

"Skywalker, look at me," Vader hisses, authoritatively. He knows, and maybe even hates, that his mental voice sounds like the others, but he has no choice. Spoken words can be heard by the Son, but this is something else entirely. It's more than telepathy. It's something far deeper.

Slowly, Skywalker looks up, anguish dulling the normally bright blue of his eyes. He doesn't seem terribly shaken to see Vader, and not for the first time, Vader finds that he's curious about what he saw. It may well have included things, events which Vader himself has not yet lived. "Why are you here? How are you here?"

Somehow, Vader wasn't expecting that question. He probably should have been. The eerie silence around them is broken only by the lava and Vader's respirator. "I was on a journey of my own in the nether realms of the Force. It wanted me to come here, so I came."

Skywalker glances at the Son, expression still as hopeless and lost as it was a moment ago. Vader can feel those emotions resonating in the depths of his soul, and he's suddenly desperate to find a way to assuage them. There is no one who he can understand better than Skywalker, no one who can understand him better in turn, for the simple reason that they were once the same person. Perhaps he created an alternate reality by choosing to come here, but he now believes that whatever the future may have held has changed by his presence.

He wants the understanding that his counterpart can give him, and he knows how much the younger craves the same. Even if they are the same person, why can they not find acceptance with one another, knowing that the other is as flawed as he is? It takes him but a moment to understand and contemplate, a moment in which he wraps his own Force signature around the younger man's silently soothing him with the Force.

Skywalker seems to understand to a degree what he's doing, because he outwardly turns his focus to the Son. "How?" he asks, a bit brokenly. "How can I still make a choice?"

"The future, by it's nature, can be changed," explains the Son. "Join me, and together we will destroy this Emperor you see in your visions! We can destroy every symbol of the dark future you could have had. Then, we shall end war, corruption, and suffering throughout the galaxy."

"You cannot trust him, for he is the Dark Side," Vader warns. "Deceit is in his nature. Join me, Skywalker, and together, we can rule the galaxy as equals. We can remake it as we want it to be. You will never have to fear me the way you will him." He knows that he sounds like the other, just far darker, far colder.

Skywalker's blue eyes flicker to him, and a resolve settles into him. Vader doesn't know what he decided, but he can feel the steely determination rolling through their bond. "Will we bring peace?" he queries.

"Of course!" exclaims the Son, holding out the lightsaber hilt. Slowly, Skywalker rises, taking it, though he still seems uncertain.

Vader takes a step forwards. "You lie," he states coldly, pointing at the Son. "There is no peace in the Dark Side." It was one of the first lessons which he learned. Everything in the Jedi Code is true in reverse for the Sith. "Peace is a lie; there is only passion," he quotes.

The Son whirls, moving so fast that Vader can't keep track of his movements. "He's mine now," he hisses, red lightning arcing from his fingertips.

Vader reacts instantly, throwing up his hands, and forming a shield. It's not something he's ever dared do to the Emperor, not during his punishments, but he has still mastered the ability to deflect electricity with his bare hands. The lightning crackles against his shield, redirecting into the rocks around them as he struggles to keep it away from him. He doesn't know how much of this particular electricity his life-support suit can handle before being irreparably damaged. And he doesn't want to die here, not this soon.

The red lightning ceases, and with a flick of the Son's hand, Vader is flying backwards, slamming into the cliff wall before being lifted in a Force choke. He struggles, trying to focus enough to break the hold, soon realizing that there's nothing he can do. "Skywalker," he calls his counterpart through their bond. "Only you can stop the Son. Use the Light Side the way you did when you tamed him earlier. It is the only way."

He loathes that he has to ask such a thing of the younger, for the Dark Side gives power, but he would rather deal with having to turn Skywalker to join him than he would dying. Skywalker seems mildly panicked – or maybe Vader's emotions are looping through their bond, he doesn't know – eyes flickering between Vader and the Son.

He finally obliges, reaching deep into the Force, into the Light that is still present on the planet despite the Daughter's death. "You will let him go," he commands, reaching out to the Son, and holding him still, forcefully breaking his hold on Vader. Vader catches himself on one knee when he falls, wishing he could rub his bruised throat as he silently, swiftly moves closer. They must destroy the Son here and now.

Skywalker pushes harder, finally forcing the Son down to his knees, even though he thrashes and tries, in vain, to break away. "Kill him," he sends mentally, and Vader does, igniting his red lightsaber and severing the Son's head before he has a chance to react.

Everything seems to still with the Son's death as Vader and his counterpart stare at one another. "I do not know why the Force brought me here," Vader finally says, breaking the silence, "But here I am. We can stop Sidious if we only work together."

A flash of pain and betrayal crosses the younger's face at the Sith's name, and he inhales shakily, nodding. "Yes," he agrees quietly, "Yes, I – I want that. We will only have each other. No one else will understand."

Somehow, Vader gets the feeling that Skywalker is thinking about Kenobi. The realization that his – their – former master will soon be arriving sends a stab of fear lancing through Vader. He could kill him; he wants to. "Please don't kill anyone else," Skywalker tells him tiredly as if reading his mind, and maybe he did. Vader doesn't really know. More likely, he sensed the emotions, recognizing their echo within his own soul.

"I will not. For now," Vader concedes reluctantly, crossing the ground separating them so they're standing right in front of one another. "In my time, the Father took my memories. I never knew what happened. Let me do the same for you. You need not be burdened by knowledge of a future you have not lived."

He can't really say why he offered, except that he hopes it will help keep the younger man stable. He knows that he himself is unstable even on his best days. They don't need both of them to be in the same situation. Skywalker ponders the offer for a moment before giving him a small nod. "What do I need to do?"

"Let me in," Vader replies. "Do not fight me."

He rests the fingers of his right hand on Skywalker's temple, reaching out with the Force into his mind. It's surprisingly easy, perhaps because the Force recognizes that they are, in fact, the same person. Vader moves with gentleness, knowing the importance of care during procedures such as this, as he reaches the beginning of the visions the Son showed him. He carefully gathers the memories, trying not to spy too intrusively, though he can't prevent the information which surges into his own mind.

Memories of Mustafar flash through his mind again, accompanied by the pain and betrayal which he's always felt there. He sees his own Fall. He sees how he was rebuilt into the cyborg he now is. And he also sees something else. He sees that Sidious lied to him. Padme, his angel, didn't die by his hands because their children were born. Vader doesn't let himself get lost in trying to seek out more about his children, about Luke and Leia, instead, pushing all the memories into Skywalker's subconsciousness.

The younger man collapses, and Vader catches him, cradling him carefully in his arms as he lowers both of them to the ground, waiting for his counterpart to awaken. This is normal. Unconsciousness means that his mind is working to reset after conscious memories were suddenly withdrawn. He can only hope that Skywalker remembers some of what came after, of who Vader is and why he's here. They have a mission to accomplish, one which they can only succeed in together.

Within a minute, Skywalker groans weakly, his eyes fluttering open and focusing on Vader. "What's going on?" he mumbles.

"Are you alright?" Vader asks, knowing that the flare of concern he's feeling will be sensed by the other, much as he might wish to hide it.

"Yes," comes the answer as the boy slowly sits up and rubs his temple with a frown. "I don't remember what the Son showed me, but I know that he showed me the future..." His voice trails off, and Vader feels a wave of pain crash over him. "I do remember some things," he whispers, hands fisting. "I know how you ended up like that." He gestures, and with a start, Vader realizes that he means the life-support suit. He remembers Mustafar. Why?

"I do not wish to speak of it," Vader informs him curtly. It's useless to try and hide from this younger version of himself. Perhaps had they met on a place where the Force wasn't so strong, he would have succeeded, but here, the Force is overwhelming them both. The bond formed between them is powerful enough that even thoughts could unintendingly be exchanged. Emotions are far easier, and Vader already knows that they cannot hide those from one another. Not anymore.

Skywalker can feel the pain, the betrayal, the fear, the deep and aching hurt which has never faded in the aftermath of his defeat there. After a subdued pause of silence, he reaches out, laying a hand on Vader's arm, even if he can't feel it; he wishes he could. "It was wrong of him," Skywalker says quietly, "And I won't let him hurt you again, even this version of him."

"You will join me then?" Vader inquires, more because he can't believe it, than because he has any doubts.

The blue eyes – he knows they're blue, even if he can't see the shade anymore though these red lenses – are filled with a fiery determination which Vader knows well. "Of course."

Vader stands, and the hand on his arm is steadying as he tries to ignore the constant ache throughout his body. "Then you must accept the Dark Side. Open yourself up to it. Let it flood you. Let it fill you." He touches the bright presence next to him, feeling the inner Light which will never fade, not like his own has. "Look at your emotions. Analyze them. Feel them. Do not let them touch you. They give you power. Use it."

Skywalker does as Vader tells him, unquestioningly letting himself be consumed by the Dark Side. Vader watches as the darkness floods him, as he accepts it, as his eyes bleed yellow from it, and he can't help but feel a vicious, surge of satisfaction, because this Fall is on their terms. Sidious will no longer have any control over them. Everything which will occur from now shall be according to their own will. They are free.