And now that I've gotten my authoress-legs, it's time for my very first major fic.

Warning, this story is very much A/U...for those of you that couldn't already tell.

I do not own Star Wars in any way, shape or form...

And, Begin!

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He woke up.

At first, he couldn't recall what he'd been doing, or even where he was. It felt like he'd been on one of those 'all-nighter' thingys that he'd seen the out-of-work freighter pilots back in Mos Espa having. Going out drinking all night, and passing out Force-knew where…Obi-wan was going to kill him for sure now -

Wait. That wasn't right. And why did his body feel so sluggish and heavy? Was he wearing armor? And was that a helmet on his head?

And what was that weird high-pitched noise? Sounded like somebody's respirator had gone on the fritz…

Detail took that moment to slam into his brain all at once. Nausea and bile fought for control of his digestive system as Anakin Skywalker re-registered the fact he'd spent the last two decades as Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.

Anakin suppressed both - neither being that good a plan with the facemask on - and instead concentrated on figuring out where he was.

He remembered…Palpatine! He'd thrown Palpatine over the railing…that was the first clear memory. The memories of his time as Vader were strangely murky currently, which actually suited Anakin just fine. And he'd finally killed the Emperor because…because Palpatine had been killing Luke.

Luke! Even after all this, the idea of him having a son was a little scary. Padme had hidden him…and oh wait, a twin sister? Vader's memory was so damned hard to navigate, extremely blurry.

Anakin briefly wondered who Luke's twin sister was. Probably someone with a close resemblance to Padme…Force, he missed her…and the girl was probably someone just as stubborn as he himself was…

…And so she couldn't be anybody but the Alderaanian Princess, Leia Organa.

Sithspit! He'd tortured his own daughter, nearly to the death! So much for the family reunion…now Anakin really wanted to die. It would be so much simpler than facing down a girl with the brains of Padme and his own boulder-headed way of using them. She'd probably never forgive him for the rest of her life…at the very least.

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Speaking of which…why was he still alive anyway? When he…when Vader…when he had been dueling Luke, Luke had managed to toss him around pretty easily. As a matter of fact, one of his hands was missing! Well, that was the one he'd lost before the Clone Wars, so that was okay. Just so long as it stopped happening. Anakin Skywalker had lost enough of his major body parts for one lifetime, thank you!

Anakin realized that his thoughts were babbling, his mind seemingly unable to fully concentrate on any one train of thought. That was a sign of shock…and that lightheadedness was probably a result of the damaged respirator. Anakin was probably lucky he was conscious.

And that lead him back to his original question…where was he? The last place he remembered being was on the Second Death Star. And where was Luke? Had the Alliance destroyed the Second Death Star? Was a gang of Red Guards approaching to slay the one who had killed their master? Ah, there he went again with the mindless brain-buzzing.

'Just use the Force, stupid,' he told himself before doing just that.

He'd been weaker than he'd first thought…it was extremely hard to tap into the Force. And it probably didn't help that Anakin was out of practice dealing with the Light Side.

The amount of sensing he was currently able to do…was the equivalent of floating in a lightless room, whose size you had no way of knowing…and flinging oneself out with eyes closed to try and find the ground. And the thing you were flinging out was actually a thin piece of cable you were holding with your teeth.

He thought he felt something…before Anakin could relocate it, the thing he'd felt brushed him back. Curiosity and worry and - Luke! It was a tired, injured, and yet still-feeling-extremely-pleased-with-himself Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker.

Luke's presence brushed slightly more forcibly against his own. Anakin, still rusty with this sort of communication, tried to reassure his son that he wasn't going to die…at least not yet. While most of his armor's systems were shot, the ones controlling his air supply worked well enough for Anakin to continue living. The reason he felt numb and heavy was because the suit had closed off a lot of his nerve endings due to them becoming overloaded…Anakin tried not to think about that. He instead tried to ask where they were right now.

In reply, Luke send a series of pictures and words, most of which Anakin missed.

/Shuttle - destroyed - Endor - Medical - get help for you, Father./

Like piloting a Racing Pod, mind-to-mind talk was something you never really forgot how to do. Still very weak, Anakin sent another inquiry. Although he probably deserved to be shot, that would probably devastate his son, so Anakin had decided to avoid it if that was possible. Even though Darth Vader's helmet was probably on the top of the Alliance's 'Blast on sight' list.

/Won't let that happen - Mon Mothma - she'll understand/ came the scattered response.

Anakin let his son feel his skepticism before relaxing his Force senses. It was still enough to let Anakin monitor what was going on through Luke's senses - albeit just a little and only with Luke's permission - but it was much less of a strain on him. His head hurt from what he'd done already.

He remembered Mon Mothma from the senate. Hopefully, she would be reasonable, as Luke thought. Luke was a good judge of character, after all - he'd pegged his own Father down well enough, and that was after said parent had chopped off one of his hands! Padme's level head was definitely in there.

Anakin waited while Luke landed their shuttle in one of the Rebel ships, and sent a page to Mon Mothma, asking her to come as soon as she could.

Were the positions reversed, Anakin would have just as soon left the ship and headed to wherever Mon Mothma was - ah, and he could just hear Obi-wan Kenobi now, going on and on about how Anakin, I know you've got a good head on your shoulders, and I wish to the Force you would just try to use it more often, for heavens sake! And so on.

No wonder Obi-wan had looked so old when they'd fought - after having a block-head like Anakin for a Padawan Learner, and for ten years, well, who wouldn't look like that?

…Come to think of it, he was still officially a Padawan Learner, wasn't he?

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"Commander Skywalker?"

Voices were coming from outside the shuttle…Luke left off gripping Anakin's shoulder as he went over to the ramp to answer. After only that short distance, Anakin's read on Luke fizzled to just knowing if the boy was alive or not. It didn't help anything that the optics in the faceplate had long since automatically shut down to protect the delicate wiring, so that he was for all purposes blind to boot.

And while all of this should have rightly sent Anakin into a blaze of indigent fury, he didn't feel any real anger or even irritation. Anakin's mind mostly felt numb, in a way that had nothing to do with the circuitry in his suit.

Maybe he was in deeper shock than he thought.

At least Anakin was aware enough to notice that two people had entered behind his son. And that they both froze in their tracks when they noticed him. Maybe Anakin should have left off that strangling people thing…Darth Vader's trademark brutality was going to get Anakin Skywalker placed in front of a firing squad.

"Commander Skywalker…"

Male…sounded familiar…someone raised on Coruscant, at the least, although Anakin had no clue who that was.

"This is the 'defector' you mentioned, Commander Skywalker?"

Female…so that one had to be Mon Mothma. Hmm, he was a 'defector' now? Made sense…sounded better than 'traitor', anyway.

"Yes," Luke said, his voice holding the faintest tinge of defiance, "I know a lot of people, probably including the entire command staff, are not going to react well to," A hesitation, "To Darth Vader suddenly appearing in their midst. That's why I wanted to talk to you first. Ma'am."

"I can understand your caution," went the male voice, "But how can we be certain his 'defection' is not a plot of some kind to destroy us? What has he offered in exchange for joining the Rebellion?"

"Well, General Madine, you see…"

Back up - Madine? Crix Madine? So this is where the defector Madine had ended up! Anakin actually felt impressed.

Madine must have planned the sabotage of the Endor shield generator…that sort of thing was the man's specialty…no wonder Palpatine's carefully orchestrated plan had failed. Palpatine had thought the traitor was dead, or at least on the wrong side of the galaxy by now. Madine was one of the few people that Palpatine had actually personally set a bounty on…although that was all moot now that Palpatine was dead.

Meanwhile, Anakin could sense - even with his own vague, weakened Force perceptions - that Madine had mentally reset Darth Vader from 'defector' to 'possible kidnapee'. Mon Mothma probably just considered him a prisoner.

"Well, for whatever reason, he's here now," Madine said, relieving Luke of a confusing explanation, "Even if he's genuinely changed sides, the security implications to this are staggering. We'll need to be on the lookout more than ever, since Imperial Forces might attempt to 'rescue' him."

'Hardly,' Anakin thought to himself scornfully, 'They're too damned scared of Darth Vader to come 'save' him. At most, they'll try to kill me for knocking off Palpatine…or to keep me from taking over where he left off.'

Luke had heard that - Anakin could feel it when Luke's hand tightened its grip on his shoulder. The suit was letting more of his nervous system function again.

"Is he conscious?" Mon Mothma inquired out of the blue, "Can he hear us?"

"Yes," Luke admitted.

"Can he speak?" Madine inquired next, "It would be helpful if we heard things from his own mouth."

/Do you think you can you talk, Father?/ Luke inquired mentally.

In reply, Anakin angled his head to where the voices were coming from - the now-aware nerve endings barely allowed that slight movement - and attempted to speak. The voice box made a peculiar noise before resetting. Anakin tried again.

"I can speak - somewhat," he said, speaking as softly as the voice box would modulate to, which wasn't much.

Speaking took more air then just lying there. There would be conspicuous pauses while he gasped for air, since the respirator was damaged. It was infinitely better to whisper.

"Lord Vader," Madine said briskly, going straight to the point, "Why should we trust you not to return to the Empire?"

"Because," Anakin said calmly, "I killed - Palpatine."

"The Emperor? He died when the Death Star blew up," Mon Mothma said.

"No," Anakin corrected, "Palpatine - died earlier. I threw him - down the shaft."

"I was there, I saw it," Luke was quick to add.

"I see," Mon Mothma said slowly.

The hidden relief coming off both her and Madine seemed as thick as the air outside the helmet that kept Anakin alive. Mon Mothma was a pacifist-gone-military leader…Madine must have been suffering from old loyalty pains. Only to find out that neither of them had killed Palpatine after all. The universe was weird like that.

"…Lord Vader," Mon Mothma said next, "May I ask…how did you become injured?"

Anakin felt Luke tense, ever-so-slightly. He rushed to speak before Luke said anything too self-condemning.

"Palpatine - is not - lightly crossed - Senator," Anakin quickly wheezed, albeit it was a firm wheeze.

"Most of those injuries are my fault," Luke said abruptly.

"No," Anakin was swift to correct, "I - brought these - upon myself."

Luke didn't enjoy that idea at all, and unfortunately the compassion in their brief exchange did not go unnoticed.

"There's something neither of you are telling us," Mon Mothma said, her voice stern, "If we're to do anything, all the facts must be set on the open."

'I should have expected this from a senator,' Anakin sighed to himself, and when Luke's presence touched his again, nudged the boy. Anakin was tired from talking anyway.

"The main reason I saved him and brought him with me when I escaped from the Death Star," Luke said slowly, weighing his words carefully as he released them, "Is because…he is my father."

You could have heard a pin drop. Mon Mothma broke the silence.

"Darth Vader is your father?"

"My name," Anakin hissed, momentary anger subverting the survival instincts that were screaming at him to just shut up and lay there and breathe, dammit, "is - Anakin Skywalker. I gave up - the name Vader - when I killed Palpatine."

"I…see," the senator replied, although she clearly didn't, "Is that all?"

"Well…" Luke hesitated, then plunged ahead.

"It turns out I also have a twin sister. We were separated and raised in different places, in order to protect us. I didn't know this myself until very recently."

"Do you know who this sister of yours is," Madine asked in curiosity.

"I do. She's Leia."

"Leia of House Organa? …Does she know?"

"I told her before I left the strike team," Luke said, "And she also knows about Father."

"This is serious," Mon Mothma said.

"I suggest what we have discussed does not go beyond us," Madine said after a moment's thought, "Morale implications aside, some of our more…radical people might be tempted to act…unwisely."

It was just like being back in the Old Republican senate. At least Madine's idea hadn't gone into a committee yet, Anakin thought sourly.

The suit's pain-suppressant circuitry was shutting down by now, and Anakin winced as he shifted his head a little. Luke must have noticed it somehow, because he started using his own Force skills to try and help alleviate the pain.

Anakin tried to shrug the help off, but he was still weak and what Luke was doing was actually making him feel sleepy…with only a brief mental struggle Anakin let himself fall unconscious again.

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I've been editing the chapters to clear up some minor formatting issues. As you might have noticed, I'm taking more from the Extended Universe then from the prequel trilogy for this story (after all, I did start writing it before most of the prequel trilogy came out...), so I hope you'll bear that in mind if you notice anything too diverging from the movies.

Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!