If Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) Survived In ROTJ

One

On the near top of the metal ramp, Luke struggled as he desperately tried to drag his dying father into the Imperial shuttle. Once more, the battle station violently rocked, sending Luke's trembling knees to buckle. He collapsed onto the upper edge of the ramp, right before the entrance of the spacecraft, and although exhausted and gasping for air, he instantly hoisted himself up again. Bending down, Luke tightly gripped his father's left hand and remaining mechanical right wrist, in a frantic effort to pull him backwards, up the inclining slope. Sweat continued to drip down his face, and his lungs screamed for air from the weariness of his smaller frame hauling his father's heavier weight.

Not far away, a gas pipe hissed loudly, and soon, the battle station quaked again. Luke knew they had to get off the Death Star now; the Rebels are going to blow up the place any minute.

"Luke... leave me..." Anakin whispered in a voice barely audible to his son. Luke peeked down at his father, defiantly shaking his head.

"No, father. You're coming with me." Luke declared, his voice coarse from fatigue.

Anakin inched up the ramp, his suit making an atrocious scratching sound against the metal. Using a bit of the Force, he feebly pushed against the ramp with his mechanical legs, letting out small, hoarse moans of pain as he did so. After one final, fierce tug from Luke, Anakin was finally inside the shuttle. With a great deal of effort, the young man flipped his father's body around and lifted him up to a kneeling position, pathetically limping as he carefully hauled (his father tried to thrust himself forward as much as he could, but was not much use) the fragile Anakin from the entrance, across the floor, and onto a black leather seat. From Anakin came another groan of pain, followed by the continuous labored breathing. 

After placing his father in a safe area, Luke quickly made his way out the entrance and down the ramp. With a swift motion, he scooped up Vader's helmet with his quivering hands, hoping it could keep his father alive for a few moments longer. Following that, he staggered up the ramp and back into the shuttle, gently placing the black mask and helmet onto Anakin's head. Other than perhaps blinking a few times, the terribly battered man made no motion of wincing as the neural needles icily sank into his skin. After a hiss from helmet confirming it was secure, Luke proceeded to the cockpit, and hurriedly started the ship.

Merely seconds after the two Skywalkers flew out of the second Death Star, the battle station behind them exploded with a flamboyant bang, like a huge, bright firework in the vast, dark and empty space.

With his frayed sleeves, Luke wiped away the sweat dripping down his face, and sighed with relief at the successful escape. He then looked back at his father, who was weakly trying to hold himself upright with feeble arms. Raspy wheezes crackled through the sleek black helmet- wheezes that could barely resemble human breathing. Awfully concerned, Luke drew in a sharp breath as he hastily prepped the commlink, hoping to successfully send a message to the nearest ship or rebel base with a medical bay.

"This is Luke Skywalker. I am safe from the Death Star's explosion. However, I require immediate medical assistance." His voice was strained with worry, as his father's breathing was quickly shallowing. He wondered if the rebels would ever be willing to treat his father's injuries; it would be hard to convince them to, but he would try with his very best, as he simply cannot watch his father die.

The transmission went through. Instantly, a message was sent back to him, informing that a rebel ship containing a makeshift medical bay will be nearby. Luke gave a small smile, before again frowning upon his dying father, who was barely clinging onto his life.

I will save you, Father.

***

The awaiting rebel ship was soon located, and Luke docked as fast as his spacecraft could allow. Leaping up from the pilot seat, Luke ran to his breathless father and bent down, cautiously lifting him horizontally into his arms. He let out a soft grunt from the weight of his father suddenly crashing down on him, but managed to stand back upright. The young man walked out from the shuttle as steadily and smoothly as he could, sinking his teeth into his lower lips as he tried not to make any more noises of pain and effort. With his arms and legs dangling about and a corner of his cape covering his torso, Anakin stared at his son through his red-hued ocular lenses, giving a frail, sad, yet loving smile at Luke's determined face. 

A rebel soldier rushed towards Luke and Anakin, but suddenly stopped in his tracks at the sight of Vader being carried in Luke's arms. Frozen in a gush of confusion and fear, the soldier wondered what that monster was doing with the renowned Rebellion general.

"Help me!" Luke frantically demanded the rebel soldier, who remained idle and blankly stared back at him. A painful mechanical cough rippled through the dying Anakin, and for a few moments, his chest shook up and down with a raw, excruciating agony that would barely be eased afterward. Luke's shoulders tensed at the hideous, pitiful rattling that his father emitted, then to give a full flinch when Anakin helplessly rolled his helmet sideways into Luke's upper arm as his last strength faded away.

"Stay with me, Father," Luke pleaded, pressing the older man close to his chest, as if that could somehow help him recover. As tenderly as he could, he nestled his face to the side of the mask, trying to comfort the crumpled figure in his arms. Moments later, Anakin slowly nodded, before taking another shuddering breath.

"Luk-ke... my... s-son..." Wheezing, Anakin struggled with every syllable. His chest meagerly puffed up and down with each weak whisper as he tried to suck in as much air as possible. A few more ragged cycles of breaths followed; then came another low, hoarse whimper that barely managed to escape from the dying man's throat. 

Still holding his father's failing body tight, Luke gave a gentle, soothing kiss to his masked forehead. He heard a quiet sniffle coming from Anakin's vocoder, but dared not reveal his scarred face, as the mask was extending his life. The young man wondered what his father was thinking behind the black mask, but perhaps there was no time to ask. A medical droid rushed past the soldier and arrived at Luke's side, insisting to help Luke carry Anakin to the sick bay. Though extremely tired from the events that had occurred this day, Luke (with the help of the droid) soon managed to rush Anakin to the medical bay, and once they were there, Anakin was placed inside a bacta tank, where he would be safely held and kept alive until a Rebel base with the necessary requirements for saving Anakin's life could be found.

Soon, Luke had taken command of the rebel ship, and was locating coordinates for a more advanced rebel base. However, behind Luke's back, the soldier from earlier was contacting the Rebel leaders (including Han and Leia), telling them he suspected Luke now had turned to the dark side, and is now attempting to save the life of his new master, Darth Vader.

Video: 0:34- 1:36

(Link in story description.)

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Thanks for reading! If I have made any mistakes in this story (names, places, parts of Vader's suit, word choices, etc), please comment or send me a private message about it, and I'll fix whatever I can. Thank you, have a nice day. :D

Also, who thinks Darth Sidious should be called "Darth Hideous"? XD

***JUST A QUICK NOTE: I write my chapters on a Word document, and when I'm done, I would copy-and-paste it onto Wattpad. Well, apparently Wattpad is glitching, so some words are being combined together. (I assure you, I check all my spelling errors on my Words doc before pasting it here.) I'll try to find all the "spelling-error" words, but I can't guarantee that they'll all be fixed. Sorry.***