"Uncle Luke! Oh, Uncle Luke!"
Somewhere within the bearded, wrinkled, elderly face of Luke Skywalker, a smile crinkled over being addressed by his six-year old nephew. He gazed at the youngling sitting upright in his bed, looking up at him eagerly with shining, innocent eyes.
"What is it, Ben?"
"Will you tell me a bedtime story? Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssssssse?"
"Oh, very well!" Luke chuckled heartily at his nephew's request as he sat down on the side of the bed. "I'll tell you the story of your grandfather."
Ben's smile widened with excitement as he made himself comfortable under his duvet. He was looking forward to the story his uncle was about to tell which he was going to be the only one to listen to.
Or so he thought…
"So like, one day," began Luke, "I travelled in my X-Wing Fighter to Cloud City to rescue your mother and father-"
"Rescue Mom and Dad?" Ben interrupted. "What were you saving them from, Uncle Luke?"
"Never mind! That's not important!"
"Not important?" Han muttered gruffily, turning to face the person who had joined him outside Ben's bedroom door to eavesdrop on the story he was being told – which they had a role in. "How can that brother of yours say that about what we went through?"
"Hush, Han!" Leia put a finger onto the lips of her scruffy-looking nerf herder of a husband to shut him up. "We don't want Ben to know we're listening in on the two of them!"
Han rolled his eyes, disgusted. He had a good mind to barge into his Ben's room and tell him the details of his role in Luke's story.
"So anyway, I was looking around for your mother and father when I came across the most dangerous Sith Lord in the Galaxy – Darth Vader!"
Ben let off a huge gasp at the mention of who his uncle had encountered. He had heard the name before and knew how feared the person it belonged to had been – but he had no idea how it affected him.
"So what happened when you saw Darth Vader, Uncle Luke?"
"Well, he was like, 'The Force is with you, Young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet!' Then I ignited my lightsaber and he did the same! The two of engaged in a lightsabre duel! It was very exciting and very intense…" Luke paused, making some lightsabre noises as he did some swinging gestures with his arms. "…until it came to an end when he cut my hand off!"
Ben's jaw fell open as his eyes widened in shock. He thought the story was getting very dramatic. How little the youngling knew of the twist he was in for.
"What happened next, Uncle Luke?"
"As I stood on a platform, high above a bottomless abyss, Vader was like, "Join me, Luke, and turn to the Dark Side!' I was like, 'I'll never join you! You killed my father!' And then Vader was like, 'No, Luke! I *am* your father!"
"What?!" Ben squealed loudly as his face filled with disbelief over what his uncle told him. "That can't be true!"
"I thought the same!" Luke continued. "I was like, "That's not true! That's impossible!" But when Vader advised me to search my feelings, I knew it to be true! So I was like, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Ben stared at Luke, bewildered by what he had learned. If the most feared Sith Lord in the galaxy had been his uncle's – and his mother's – father – then there was no doubt about it for the youngling…
He was the grandson of Darth Vader.
"And that's how I found out Darth Vader was Dad Vader!"
With the story now over, Luke smiled at his nephew as he ruffled his hair. He stood up from the bed, preparing to leave to let him sleep.
"Hope you liked the story, Ben," he said, switching off the bedroom light. "Have sweet dreams now of your good old Uncle Luke training you in the future to become a Jedi! See ya 'round, kid!"
Ben didn't answer. He didn't even glance at his uncle as he disappeared through the door. He just sat upright in his bed within the darkness, a stunned expression on his face as he digested what he had learned.
"Well now, I think he'll sleep well after that," Luke said as he closed the door of Ben's bedroom, having found his parents right outside it.
"Now wait just a minute, Luke!" Han hissed, pointing a finger at his brother-in-law as he made his way after him. "You left out so many important details of that story you told Ben! Like how his dad was frozen in carbonite!"
"I didn't wanna bore the kid," Luke replied, shrugging, "so I left out the unimportant bits!"
"Unimportant bits?!" Han hollered, insulted that the terrible ordeal he'd been through had been overlooked in the story. "Now look here-"
"Oh, you deliberately left out bits, eh?" Leia raised an eyebrow as she smirked coyly at her brother. "Like the bit when you were hanging by your one arm left high above the city – and it was your sister – that's kid's mom – who rescued you?!"
While the trio of old heroes were bickering, the newest and youngest addition to their family was about to fall into a peaceful slumber. Ben smiled as he rested his head onto his pillow, thinking about what he had learned from the story his uncle had told him.
"Darth Vader's my grandfather…" he whispered to himself. "How super lucky am I! I hope I can be like him in the future!"
As Ben drifted off happily to sleep, he didn't sense a certain Force Ghost appearing in the room, having heard what he had just wishfully said.
"That's my grandson!" cried Vader proudly.
