Author's Note: This is my newest Luke/Vader father/son story (it can be considered a rewrite of Whispers of Daybreak because it starts off similar and some events might be similar) but this does not mean I am abandoning my other stories (namely A Blessing in Disguise) but I have writer's block big time for those stories. Also, a little reminder for those of you who haven't read any of my other Luke/Vader stories, Vader was not burned (I usually explain why in the story). I hope that you like this new story and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, I never have, I never will and I'm only saying this once so I will not repeat it in later chapters
The dark side's power is limitless. It feeds upon hatred and anger, despair and fear. It is the predator that strikes at the prey's weakest moment. It claws at everyone and seduces all; many have fallen prey to the darkness's seduction. Most have gone so far so as to not be drawn back while others lie on the brink and could go either way. Then there are a few, a few who have fallen deep into the darkness and yet can be drawn back to the light.
How? Some may ask. Those who do not understand the Force would say that nothing could change the monster the dark side created and nothing can quench the evil flooding the mind and soul of the monster. Even some who do understand the Force might say such things.
Once one starts down the path to darkness, it will forever dominate their destiny. That is what the wisest and oldest of the Jedi has always stated and, after seeing the horrors committed by those who have fallen, it became a general belief. However, put bluntly, that belief was wrong.
Though crimes committed by those deep in the dark side's grasp cannot be undone, they can be forgiven. Though those who have fallen have caused deep rifts in the lives of everyone affected, there are ways to bridge those rifts. Though many see those who have fallen has beyond reach, there is a way to reach them.
There is a way to guide one out of the inescapable darkness and that is to rekindle the light within the darkness and use that light as a guide out of the shadows. One way that this can be done is with the use of the darkness's greatest weakness.
Always Darkest Before the Dawn
Chapter 1
Accused of Treachery
The airshaft was quiet like a tomb and eerily so. Luke crept toward the walkway that led to the center of the airshaft in the middle of Cloud City gazing around, looking for him while hoping he had somehow lost him. The Sith Lord that had tried to freeze him in carbonite, the right-hand man of the Empire, a man who tried his hardest to keep people from seeing the true him. All people ever saw was a dark cloaked human who kept a hood over his face. However, the aura that seemed to surround the Sith Lord was a menacing coil of dark tendrils, a predator ready to strike at any given moment.
And Luke did not want to be the prey the predator attacked.
He peered around the corner but still couldn't see anyone. Did I really lose him? He thought.
The sound of a lightsaber igniting dashed away the spark of hope Luke had felt briefly. He quickly ignited his father's lightsaber just in time to block the attack as Darth Vader's crimson blade slashed toward him. The duel proceeded to spill onto the walkway and Luke found himself pushed toward the center of the airshaft still blocking the attacks. Vader had him on the defensive almost immediately.
Luke's lack of lightsaber combat training was obvious in that he was unable to avoid many of the aggressive attacks Vader thrust at him but Vader obviously didn't want him injured for he pulled back every time Luke failed to block or avoid an attack. He used that to his advantage but he still couldn't go on the offensive.
When he landed a lucky block on Vader's arm, one that barely burned through his cloak, the surprise that he actually landed a blow on the Sith Lord provided Vader with the perfect opportunity. He was pushed backwards again nearing the edge of the walkway until he was knocked to the ground.
He pushed himself to his feet and attacked again but he made the mistake of going wide in his attack and searing pain flooded through him as Vader's blade sliced through his wrist sending it and his father's lightsaber flying down into the shaft. Crying out in pain, Luke fell to the ground clutching the injury.
He expected Vader to finish him off so he was surprised when the Sith Lord switched off his lightsaber and lowered the hilt. He scrambled away even though there was really no place for him to go.
"There is no escape," Vader said; his voice was menacingly quiet. "Don't make me destroy you."
He paused as Luke scrambled onto the power convertor support to the disposal unit in the middle of the airshaft. "Luke," he began speaking again as Luke pulled himself upright, "you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me and I will complete your training .With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy."
"I'll never join you!" Luke shouted back.
"If you only knew the power of the dark side," Vader said not at all fazed by Luke's words. "Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father."
"He told me enough," Luke said. "He told me you killed him."
The room seemed to go silent as if the Force, itself, was holding its breath before Vader uttered the words that shocked Luke to his core. "No, I am your father."
"No. No. That's not true. That's impossible."
"Search your feelings, you know it to be true."
"No!"
Luke sat up sharply in his bed gasping a cold sweat on his face as the nightmare continued to cling to his subconscious except that it wasn't a nightmare. It had happened and Luke couldn't stop remembering it. It was so surreal to think that the Emperor's secondhand man, the second in command of the Empire, was his father and yet Luke had felt it to be true. His father was alive and a Sith Lord.
"Ben, why didn't you tell me?" Luke whispered the same question he had been asking himself since Leia, Chewbacca and Lando rescued him beneath Cloud City two months earlier.
He closed his eyes but a treacherous tear still slid from beneath his closed eyelids. He quickly wiped it away as he opened his eyes and glanced at the chrono that was resting beside his bed. It was only 0600 hours; Luke didn't have to get up for another hour and yet he knew that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep.
A knock sounded on his door and he got to his feet before making his way to the door surprised that someone was waking him up that early. He opened it to find Leia standing there already dressed for the day with her hair in a ponytail at the top of her head. "Leia, what are you doing here?" he asked confused.
Leia looked a little uncomfortable. "Mon Mothma and the other rebel leaders want to speak to you," she said.
Luke frowned. "This early?" he echoed.
Leia nodded. "Luke, I'm sorry," she said quietly, "but they want to know where you were those three months after Hoth."
Luke hesitated; that was a time he didn't want to talk about with anyone. He wanted to keep Yoda's location a secret. "Why?" he asked.
Leia shook her head. "I don't know, Luke, but I don't like this. The way they worded their request, it was more like a demand. I don't know what's going on."
Luke stretched out a hand and placed it on Leia's shoulder. "That makes two of us," he said. "I guess I should get this over with. Just give me a minute or two to get ready."
Leia nodded. "We're meeting in conference room A," she said and walked away.
Luke stepped back into his room and the door closed in front of him. Almost as soon as it was closed, he rested his head on the wall before closing his eyes. Why did they want to know where I've been since Hoth? He thought. The only possibility, and the one Luke didn't want to think about, was that they had discovered the truth about his parentage. He hoped that wasn't it because the only ones who knew were Leia and Chewbacca because they were the only ones Luke trusted.
Lando knew too but that was only because he accidentally overheard Luke talk about it with Leia just before he and Chewbacca left to go try to find Han. He had promised he wouldn't say anything to anyone but Luke didn't know Lando well enough to really trust his word. The only thing that he knew about Lando was that he was a friend of Han's and had helped Leia and Chewbacca get out of Cloud City.
Let's hope this has nothing to do with my parentage, he thought as he got dressed and grabbed his blaster. It felt so different to not have his lightsaber with him anymore especially since it belonged to his father...or rather to Vader before he turned to the dark side.
That caused another question to pop into Luke's mind, a new one that he hadn't considered in the two months it's been since the incident on Bespin.
Why did my father turn to the dark side?
Ben had told Luke that he and Luke's father were best friends and that he was a Jedi. What could have caused Vader to turn his back on both the Jedi and his best friend?
Luke also wondered why he was suddenly thinking about this now. He should hate Vader for what he's done, Alderaan, Hoth, freezing Han in carbonite, slicing off Luke's hand and yet he couldn't.
You certainly have both your parents' compassion, Luke.
Luke jumped before turning around to find Ben's ghost floating in the middle of his room. "Ben," he said before, now that he had the chance, he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Ben's ghost flickered as he sighed. To be honest, I did not think of how you would react, he admitted. Your father was my closest friend. I will even admit that I loved him like a brother.
"But what happened?" Luke asked.
Ben shook his head. I am afraid that is not for me to tell you, he said. Luke, your father was once a good man.
"You sound like you don't believe he isn't a good man anymore," Luke said; he could sense the hope mingled in Ben's tone.
Ben was silent. If only to honor your mother's last words, words that I had forgotten until I became one with the Force, he replied and then he was gone leaving Luke with more questions than answers.
"Wait, what did you mean? What were my mother's last words? Who was she?" Luke asked but Ben didn't answer.
Luke sighed before he shook his head. He wished Ben would be more forthcoming with answers instead of leaving him with more questions. He decided to ask Ben the next time his Force ghost showed up and hope that Ben answered him.
After he finished getting changed, he left his room and walked down the quiet corridor of Home One toward conference room A were the rebel leaders were gathered. He met Leia outside and she smiled in greeting before leading the way into the conference room. Luke followed her and was surprised to see not only were all the rebel leaders present but there were a few soldiers in the room as well.
"Welcome Commander Skywalker," Mon Mothma greeted him before she gestured to the seat across the table from her.
Luke sat down.
"All right, we just have a few questions for you and we apologize for waking you up this early," Mon Mothma said. "But General Madine thinks it's pressing that we get answers right away."
"Okay?" Based on what Leia said, the rebel leaders wanted to know where he had been the three months before he showed up in Cloud City but he didn't know why they wanted to know.
"Where were you those three months before you rejoined the fleet after the incident on Bespin?" Madine demanded.
Luke hesitated. "Why do you want to know?" he asked instead.
"You're avoiding telling us," Madine said coolly. "I told you he would do this."
"Please, Luke, just tell us," Mon Mothma said gently not responding to Madine's words.
Luke sighed and decided that there was no getting out of it. "I was visiting with a Jedi Master," he said finally.
"A Jedi Master?" Mon Mothma's eyes sparked with surprise. "Another Jedi survived? Who is he? Where can we find him?"
"I can't tell you," Luke said.
"And why not?" Madine demanded.
"If he wants to reveal himself to you then he will himself," Luke said; he had a feeling Yoda wouldn't want the alliance to know where he lived.
"I don't believe you," Madine growled, "because you won't tell us where this Jedi is even though we could use his help. Besides, why would you go see a Jedi Master especially considering who your father is?"
Luke winced. So they did somehow figure out his parentage but he had to wonder how.
"What are you implying, General Madine?" General Rieekan asked warily.
"Commander Skywalker's father is Lord Vader himself," Madine said coolly.
Shock crossed the faces of all the rebel leaders even Leia but Luke could tell that she wasn't surprised by the news; she was surprised they had discovered the truth.
"That's impossible," Admiral Ackbar said finally. "How can Commander Skywalker be Lord Vader's son?"
"I learned it from someone who heard the truth from Commander Skywalker's own lips," Madine said smugly.
Luke glanced sharply at Leia who quickly shook her head her eyes were wide with surprise and betrayal. She wasn't the one who told Madine about Luke's parentage but there was only one other person who had overheard Luke telling Leia about his parentage that could have told Madine.
Lando.
"Who would say such a thing?" Mon Mothma asked shocked.
"Lando Calrissian," Madine said confirming Luke's suspicions. "He told me just before he left to find Captain Solo a month ago."
"And you just decided to bring this to our attention now?" Mon Mothma's pale eyes narrowed.
Madine looked uncomfortable. "I did not have the time to tell you sooner," he said.
Luke could sense that he was lying. Why is Madine lying to them? Why didn't he tell them sooner? He thought.
"Well, is this true, Commander Skywalker?" Rieekan asked turning his gaze to Luke who looked away under the general's scrutiny.
He wished he could just lie about it but he found that he couldn't. There was no point in denying the truth and Madine had Lando's words to back up his argument. Whether anyone can believe Lando Calrissian, it was still evidence. Besides, they would find out the truth eventually and Luke would rather be the one to tell them rather than them figuring it out from someone else.
Luke?
And Vader chose the perfect moment to intrude upon Luke's thoughts. He ignored the Sith Lord's voice as he said, "Yes, it is true. Vader is my father."
Leia looked surprised. It was obvious she didn't think he would just come out and say it.
"Traitor," Madine hissed.
"Traitor?" Luke echoed eyes widening with shock. "I haven't betrayed the alliance in anyway."
"You're Vader's son," Madine said coolly.
"That doesn't prove anything."
"Then where were you those three months?"
"I told you already. I was visiting a Jedi Master."
"I don't believe you. You were spying for Vader and that's why you were missing those three months."
"Spying for Vader? He cut off my hand for Force's sake. Why would I be spying for him?"
"It could have been a setup to fool us into thinking you weren't an agent of the Empire."
Luke was stunned; never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be accused of being a spy for Vader.
They accused you of being a spy? Vader's voice sounded shock and angry at the same time but, again, Luke ignored the voice.
"I am not a spy," Luke insisted. "Come on, after all that I've done to help you against the Empire and you suddenly think I'm spying for them?"
"You were just doing all that to fool us into letting you into the alliance," Madine said.
"I didn't even know about the alliance before I joined."
"This is ridiculous," Leia said before Madine could reply. "Luke isn't a traitor and he isn't a spy."
"He's Vader's son," Madine exclaimed.
"That doesn't mean anything," Leia said. "Besides, just as Luke said, Vader cut off his hand and it wasn't a setup."
"That you know of."
"Enough," Mon Mothma said before Leia could respond to the ex-Imperials words. Her eyes were fixed on Luke though. "Perhaps if we know of where you had gone to find this Jedi Master of ours…"
"I already told you that if the Jedi Master wants you to know about him then he will reveal himself to you," said Luke.
The Rebel Alliance leader sighed. "Then I'm afraid I have no choice," she said before she gestured to the soldiers in the room.
"Are you crazy?" Leia protested while Luke leapt from his seat staring in surprise at Mon Mothma. "He's done nothing wrong."
"We cannot take the chance that Madine is correct. I'm afraid we'll have to put Commander Skywalker into custody until we can clear this all up."
Luke was shocked that Mon Mothma would actually treat him like a criminal when he did nothing wrong. "But I didn't do anything," he protested.
"I'm sorry but it's for the best."
"For the best? Right." Luke snorted. "I can't believe you would actually think I'm a traitor just because Madine said so and because I'm Lord Vader's son."
"We will give you a fair hearing…" Mon Mothma began.
"I didn't do anything," Luke exclaimed in exasperation.
"Yes you did, traitor," Madine shouted leaping to his feet.
"You can't blame him for what his father did," Leia protested.
"Take Commander Skywalker to the detention center," Mon Mothma said. "We'll discuss this more later. Don't take it personally, Commander Skywalker, we're just being cautious."
Don't take it personally? Being labeled a traitor and a spy just because I'm Vader's son and she doesn't want me to take it personally? Luke thought.
They labeled you a traitor and a spy just because you're my son? Vader's voice echoed in his mind.
Luke scowled. Now really wasn't the time for Vader to start butting into his thoughts. "Well if you consider me to be a traitor and want to lock me up for something I didn't do then I'm leaving the Alliance," he said before he turned around and dashed out of the conference room.
Bypassing the soldiers he could see, he reached the hangar bay. Without pausing, he walked over to his X-Wing thankful that they weren't in hyperspace so he could leave. Artoo was beside the starfighter and Luke smiled at the little droid. "Artoo, prep it for launch," he called.
Artoo beeped in a puzzled tone but flew into his socket in the X-Wing. He activated the starfighter's systems before beeping a question as Luke retrieved his flight helmet from the cockpit. Realizing Artoo was asking where they were going, Luke thought about it. "Dagobah," he said finally putting on the helmet.
"Luke! Wait, don't go!" Leia shouted running across the hangar bay to join Luke.
He turned around just as his friend nearly cannoned into him. "Sorry Leia but I don't want to be locked up for something I didn't do," he said. "Besides, I can sense that Madine isn't the only one who thinks I'm a traitor."
"It's all a big misunderstanding. Mon Mothma will see it that way," Leia insisted.
"And if she doesn't?" Luke asked before he shook his head. "Sorry Leia but I'm leaving. Goodbye, you've always been a good friend. I'll even try to get Han back for you."
Leia had tears in her eyes and she wiped them away. "Just…be careful, Luke, since I can't convince you to stay."
Luke hugged his friend before he climbed into his X-Wing. Leia stepped back again wiping tears from her eyes as Luke activated the thrusters of his X-Wing and flew out of Home One. Once he was clear of the ship, he activated the hyperdrive and disappeared into the mottled lanes of hyperspace.
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: like I said, the beginning I a lot like Whispers of Daybreak so it can be taken as a rewrite but many things aren't going to be the same
Darth: ah cool
Vader: stupid rebels causing my son to be exiled
Anakin: your son? He's my son idiot!
Vader: I'm you, you idiot
Anakin: only because of Palpypie
Vader: true that
Blaze: have you two seen Severus or Tigerstar anywhere?
Vader: (pulls out bazooka) Severus was called away to help Voldymuffin
Anakin: (pulls out E-Web Repeater blaster) Tigerstar decided to go haunt ThunderClan
Blaze: oh, they were supposed to be here
Darth: (looks at weapons) who's your target?
Palpypie: hi
Vader and Anakin: him (fires bazooka and E-Web Repeater blaster respectively at Palpypie)
Palpypie's Ghost: that wasn't nice
Obi-Wan: (begins stabbing Palpypie with Ice, the ghost stabbing sword)
Palpypie's Ghost: OW, OW, OW Lord Vader help me!
Vader: (ignites lightsaber)
Obi-Wan: (holds out cappuccino)
Vader: (deactivates lightsaber and takes cappuccino) you're on your own (walks off)
Obi-Wan: (grins and continues to stab Palpypie's Ghost)
Blaze: (laughs) whoops, I've got to stop with these long author's notes. Please review and I will post the next chapter as soon as I possibly can but I doubt it will be anytime soon.