Hope is back, and with her usual fluffy, adorable, angsty Skywalker goodness. This is set six months after Darkness's Son Three: And Then the Light Comes. Enjoy, and Happy Christmas!
It had been a long six months for Luke Skywalker. He couldn't understand how Palpatine or his father had ever wanted to be Emperor. In Luke's opinion being Emperor of the known galaxy sucked. And I'm not even a fascist dictator.
Perhaps that was why it had been such a difficult six months. Luke had spent the past months trying to balance the opinions and needs of a galaxy's worth of people; Palpatine never took in account anyone but himself. Of course, that was because Palpatine was a Sith, and Luke was a Jedi, and so he had to take the right path, even if it was the hard one.
And of course there had been good times over the past few months. Leia had been by his side, as had his cousin, Pooja. They both knew far more about politics than Luke did, and he would be eternally grateful for their help. Without them there was no way the date for senatorial elections would be set. Without them Luke would probably have just sat in a corner and rocked.
Still, as much as things were coming along, the process was so slow. Luke knew it was the right thing to do, but trying to negotiate meant things took so long. It would be easier just to do things entirely his way. And that was why he couldn't. So he took the long path and things were finally coming together. He still had a lot more on his plate than any teenager deserved, but he was getting somewhere. He'd had the help he needed, the guidance he needed, and finally things were getting somewhere. Within a year Luke might very well be able to abdicate and hand power entirely over to the New Senate. Yes, that would be a wonderful Forcemas gift.
But it was a gift that was still at least a year off. Things were still too unstable for Luke to step back yet. There were still too many people on both sides of the civil war who wanted to see vengeance served in the name of justice. Without Luke there would undoubtedly be chaos. It had only been a few months since the First Senate was abolished; people knew how to handle life with a senate under the Emperor. It had been almost nineteen years since there was no emperor. If Luke stepped away too soon some former Imperial Moff would try to step in and claim the title. Power had to be given back to the Senate slowly, just as it had been slowly taken away the first time. Luke knew this; Leia reminded him almost daily. That didn't mean he had to like it, however.
But Luke was about to take his first break since his coronation, and so, for a week at least, he didn't have to think about it. After all, it was Forcemas eve, and there were more important things to think of, like Bantha Roasts and spending time with his family. For a week the Empire was in the remarkably capable hands of Admiral Cassel and Mon Mothma. Luke had been surprised to discover how well the two worked together, especially considering their opposite backgrounds, but in so many ways that was what made them work so well together. They balanced each other, and both were exceptionally loyal to Luke and Leia, but more importantly, both of them were good honest people. Luke trusted them to handle any crisis that should come up while he was away, and they were also the only two people who knew where he was going. Neither of them knew who Luke was going to meet there of course, only he, Han, Leia, Yoda, and Ahsoka knew that, but they knew how to get in contact with Luke on Naboo, so if there was truly a crisis…
No, Luke told himself. There will be no crisis. I am going to have Forcemas with my family and nothing will ruin it.
Luke was terrified. This would be his seventh Forcemas with his dad, and yet they had never had a true celebration. They'd come close a few times, but it never really counted because their whole family wasn't there. Leia, even Han- they were family. They were going to have a real family Forcemas for the first time ever, and Luke was terrified.
There were just so many things that could go wrong. For one there could be some crisis which would require the Emperor's attention, but there were also smaller things. Luke was the one cooking. What if he burnt everything? What if they didn't have enough silverware? What if Han made one of his comments and his father reacted? Sure his father was a reformed-Sith-Lord, but Leia got her sharp tongue from somewhere. Han and Luke's father had never spent quality time together. Even Leia had never spent more than a day with their Father since he came back to the light. What would they even talk about at dinner, politics?
"I could cancel," Luke decided going to pull his things out of his bag. "I'll them that something came up and I just can't come to Naboo for the week. He'll understand."
"Are you being a coward again?" Luke turned to see his best friend, Rickon, standing in the doorway, a grin on his chocolate face. "Honestly Luke, I came to give my father a pep talk before Leah and my transport leaves for the resort, and I find you freaking out too? Are there no adults in the Imperial Palace? You're going to have Forcemas with your family. You've done it before you know. Your father no longer being a Sith is supposed to make it easier, not harder you know."
Okay, so perhaps Luke, Leia, Han, Yoda and Ahsoka weren't the only ones who knew. Leah knew because, despite no longer living the palace, Leah knew everything, and so Rickon therefore knew as well. Luke was pretty sure Kes knew too, just from a few comments his friend had made, but at least Kes's girlfriend, Shara, seemed ignorant. People really weren't supposed to know that the rightful heir was not dead.
"Sorry, Leah told me not to bring it up because it would surprise you," Rickon grimaced looking at the shocked fear in Luke's blue eyes. "But I've yet to learn to listen to her it seems. Don't worry, I'll never say it aloud again."
Luke nodded, his hands lingering over his stuff. Rickon was right; he was being a coward. Still Luke wasn't even sure why the idea of a family Christmas was so terrifying. He knew why it was so exiting, but he didn't get how he could also be so scared about it.
But he was a Jedi Master, and Jedi Masters did not let their emotions drive their actions, and so Luke put his stuff back in his bag. "I am not being a coward. I was refolding things," Luke told his friend, and Rickon smirked. "Oh shut up and get going. Leah will kill you if you miss the transport."
She would, and Rickon knew it, but he still lingered for a second, watching Luke. "Luke, I think you're going to have a really great holiday, okay, so just relax. Be Luke, not a Jedi Master or Emperor Skywalker. Be a nerdy kid who loves flying, space, and for some reason Bantha Milk. Everything will work out."
Force Luke hoped so.
Luke and Leia would be going to their grandparents the day after Forcemas, so he didn't feel obliged to stop in before making his way to Varykino. Instead he flew his shuttle, (a model no one would ever suspect belonged to the Emperor), and landed right by their house. The wonderful bit about the Lake Country in the winter time was that it was empty, and even if there were people around, Varykino was far enough away from the other houses that no one knew it was currently being occupied by a dead Sith-Lord-Emperor. (Nor did they know that the current Emperor was the one landing there now.)
The Falcon was already there, so Luke knew that meant Han and Leia had arrived before him. There outside of the estate at least didn't seem to bear the mark of any blaster shots, so Luke figured things had to be going well enough at least.
Things did appear to be going well. When Luke got inside he discovered that Han of all people was cooking, and that his father, Ahsoka and Leia were chatting over cups of caf.
Luke lingered in the doorway smiling to himself. Six months and Luke still couldn't get over how different his father looked. He still had the same mask of course, without it he couldn't breathe, but he no longer wore the dark armor. He still wore quite a bit of black, but for the same reason Luke did-they looked good in black. Besides the mask, there was nothing intimidating or abnormal about his clothes at all. Perhaps the loose fitting tunic and slacks revealed that his limbs weren't quite human, but they looked like they belonged in a hospital more than a battlefield. There was very little intimidation left in his father's wardrobe.
Luke needed to remember to thank Ahsoka for that.
Speaking of which…"Lukey is lurking," Ahsoka announced, turning to catch sight of the teen and laugh at him. Luke rolled his eyes. He absolutely hated the nickname. Ahsoka always called Leia either her name or Skygal, and his father was always Skyguy, but Luke was stuck with Lukey, as if he was eight. It was kind of humiliating. (And he absolutely loved it.)
"I wasn't lurking, I was enjoying the moment," Luke told her reaching out to flick her on the ear (with the Force of course. He'd never have it another way). Right after everything happened Leia had voiced some concerns that Ahsoka would try to act like their mother, but she never had. Sometimes she acted like Anakin's mother, but she was definitely Luke and Leia's cool older sister. Though with Luke 'cool' was probably a relative term.
"I'm just glad you could make it," his father told Luke, his smile was hidden behind his mask, but Luke had learned how to sense it through the Force a long time ago. Anakin was practically beaming at the joy of having his family together for Forcemas. This was exactly what he'd wanted before he ruined everything. To get a second chance… well he only wished he had Padmé.
And yet he knew, just as they all did, that Padmé was among them. She lived on in Luke's calm during a crisis, and in Leia's brilliantly spoken words. She was with them every moment of every day. Whenever they were there as a family they brought all the pieces of her to be there too.
"Thanks Dad, I'm glad we could put this together. I… I never imagined something like this would be possible," Luke admitted. He'd spent years practically begging just to get his father around for Forcemas. To be there with Leia, Ahsoka, and Han, to be there with all his family, it meant far more to Luke than even the wonders of the Force.
Especially when his father reached down and hugged Luke tight.
It wasn't their first hug. Right when Luke had discovered that his father was not, in fact, actually dead they had hugged. Still the hugs they'd shared over the past few months didn't come close to making Luke sick of the feeling. Perhaps almost-nineteen was too old to receive a hug from your dad, but when those hugs have been so long awaited he didn't care.
"Have I ever told you that I love it when you call me Dad?" his father whispered in Luke's ear as they pulled apart. "Father is just so stuffy, so formal. Even… even back then I hated when you called me Father, and yet I wasn't prepared to just be your Dad."
Luke could sense his father's overwhelming guilt, and quickly moved to steer the conversation away from his father's past. Darth Vader had ruined enough things; he was not going to ruin Forcemas. Not again. "Now you are. I like now."
"Alright, I'm slightly concerned by the fact that none of us actually know how to cook, but Chewie gave me the recipe before heading home," Han announced bringing to the table some meat pies.
"I actually got to go when we dropped Chewie off. It was really beautiful. They all live in the trees. I never knew they called Forcemas Life Day there either." Leia admitted, and Luke noticed a blush in her cheeks. Apparently there was a little more to what happened on Kashyyyk than what she was saying.
And perhaps she could have gotten away with it if she wasn't in a room composed almost entirely of the galaxy's most Force Sensitive. "What are you hiding?" Luke teased his sister, attempting to wiggle his eyebrows the way Han always did. Obviously he failed epically, but he realized that Leia was actually a little bit distressed because she didn't laugh. "Leia, what's wrong?"
She exchanged a quick glance with Han, who only shrugged in a very 'I told you so' manner. Concern mingled among them as Leia left the room, but before someone could chase after her she returned. At first the only difference Luke noticed was that her cheeks were a little bit more than flushed and that she was biting her lips, but finally he spotted it.
His father spotted it first and clenched the glass he was holding so hard that it shattered. Ahsoka, the only one who didn't appear to be in shock, went to clean it up, and the sun glittered off the shattered glass as she did.
Just as the light glittered off Leia's hand. Just as it glittered off of her diamond. Just as it glittered off her engagement ring. "Han asked me to marry him… and I said yes."
On the bright side Luke and Leia's father didn't immediately revert to his Sith-Lord ways and choke Han to death. He did look ready to do so, however, when he practically spit out, "No."
"Father," Luke really didn't know what else to say. If he was being perfectly honest he too thought Leia and Han were being a bit hasty, but it wasn't his place to try and rule her life. And Leia certainly wasn't going to ask their father's permission before doing something like getting engaged.
"No," their father repeated again. "This is ridiculous. You are eighteen. No."
"By the time we get married I'll be nineteen," Leia reminded her father. She wasn't too upset by his reaction, she'd mostly expected it, but she also wasn't budging. As nervous as she'd been about actually telling her father about the engagement, she fully intended to go through with the wedding. "You were the same age when you got married."
He didn't shake his head, he didn't move, he simply stared Leia down. (Not that she could tell with the mask. Luke could only tell because he'd received the same glare for years.) "You are supposed to be smarter than me. My stupidity brought the galaxy to its knees for eighteen years. No. You're not going to ruin your life like I did."
He didn't stay to discuss it, he simply stalked from the room. Perhaps it looked slightly less intimidating than it would have during the days when he wore a cape, but the firmness of his decision was apparent. If Leia wanted to get married, it would be without his approval.
"I'll go talk to him," Ahsoka sighed, rising from the table to follow him. Luke didn't know the Torgruta as much as he would have liked to, but he trusted Ahsoka to keep his father from the Dark Side in his anger. Luke would have to do the same with Leia.
"He doesn't get to rule my life!" Leia was practically steaming with anger, and Luke couldn't even reach out to calm her through the Force without her knowing. "He's tortured me. He killed my adopted family. He doesn't get to decide whether or not I can get married. I've been an adult for years."
Luke grabbed Leia's hands and held them tight in his hand. "Leia, I thought you had forgiven him for that."
"I have," she huffed. "But that doesn't mean it didn't happen."
"Leia, true forgiveness means you don't bring it up whenever you get in a fight," Luke reminded her gently. She was shaking a little bit, and Luke felt a prick of guilt when he reminded her of the true definition of forgiveness.
Leia was silent for a minute, but finally she spoke, her voice soft as a whisper, "It's still not his place."
Luke nodded; that was true. Even if their father had raised Leia, even if they were a normal family, it wouldn't be their dad's place to decide whether or not they could get married. They were adults. Perhaps most people weren't adults at eighteen, but they were. They were also technically co-rulers of the galaxy. Leia was, in all technicality, the Empress of the Galaxy. If she wanted to get married… she could.
"Leia, he just wants to protect you. He just wants to see you happy. After everything he's done to you…. He just wants to see you happy." Leia went to interrupt Luke, but he spoke again before she could. "I know that Han makes you happy. I see it every day, but he doesn't. Just give him time. I'll speak with him. He'll see. I promise you that by Forcemas he'll be blessing the marriage."
She seemed doubtful, Luke had to admit that he too was a bit doubtful, but he believed in the sheer power of Forcemas to help them. "I promise Leia. Okay? Just let me speak to him."
Leia didn't say anything, but Luke looked to Han who nodded. Comfortable in the fact that Han, who had so far been silent, would be able to keep Leia calm while Luke figured everything out, Luke headed out on the beach to see his father.
It was cold and the lake was frozen in the place where Luke finally found his father. Ahsoka was sitting next to him, her posture tense and frustrated, but her voice too calm and quiet for Luke to hear. Oh the other side of Anakin 'sat' Obi-Wan. He was more turned towards Luke and had a shit-eating grin on his face even before he saw his favorite Skywalker. (Luke was 100% his favorite. Anakin was a little brat, and so was Leia, so Luke won that competition.)
"I'm just saying it serves him right considering what he put me through! It's a good thing I didn't know you married Padmé at nineteen. I would have had your head-Jedi Code or not."
"If you've come to try and talk me into approving of this wedding, you can just leave," his father called sensing Luke and ignoring his former master. "Leia is ridiculous and it's all that smugglers fault. I should never have hired him to watch you. I should never have let him anywhere near either of you."
Luke wasn't surprised his father blamed Han. Anakin wasn't particularly fond of his daughter's boyfriend even before they got engaged. Han was always 'too old' or 'too much a criminal' or 'too charming' or too anything. Luke was 100% sure that it was just the fact that his father thought Leia was too perfect for anyone. No matter their rough beginning, Anakin loved Leia just as much as he loved Luke. She was, in every sense, his little princess. No man stood a better chance of winning him over than Han, and even that chance was slim. (But Han never liked to be told the odds.)
"Dad, you're being ridiculous," Luke told his father curtly. "I get that you're upset, but Leia is right- what you did was far worse. You'd known Mom for what, three days when you got married?"
"A decade!"
"No, you met her and then a decade later you spent three days with her before marrying her," Obi-Wan reminded Anakin. "At least Leia and Han know each other."
Anakin shook his head fully aware that he couldn't win this fight. "But that's my point. I made a stupid mistake and now your mother is dead, the three of us were separated for eighteen years, and billions of people died. I don't want Leia making my mistakes."
Ahsoka stood up, and Obi-Wan disappeared. "We're going to let you two talk this out. I'm going to go congratulate Leia."
Luke waited until the Torgruta disappeared back into the manor before sitting down where she'd left. Father and son sat in silence for a moment, but finally Luke began to formulate his thoughts into sentences. "Dad, no matter what the Jedi said it wasn't your marriage that led you down a dark path. Even if you hadn't married Mother. Sidious would have found some weakness to turn you. If it hadn't been Mother it would have been Ahsoka or Obi-Wan. Or maybe it would have been something completely different! The truth is that you are a naturally aggressive and emotional person and Palpatine was a naturally cunning and manipulative person. One way or another he needed your strength, and he would have found a way to turn you. If he'd done that without you ever knowing Mom's love… without you having children to bring you back… well Palpatine would probably still be in charge and the galaxy would be a lot darker. Besides, the situation is a lot different. The Sith are gone; there is no one left to try and turn Leia. Plus she's not training to be a Jedi. She has good enough control over the Force to release her emotions into it, but she's not using it the way you did. She's not going to turn from love. The only thing that could turn her to the Dark Side now would be if she grew to hate you again, something that could very well happen if you try to control her life."
"I'm not trying to control her life," his father replied, sounding more like the whiny teenager who sat on this very shore complaining about sand than a grown man and former sith-lord. "I am trying to convince her that she needs to make better life choices. She and that… that smuggler will never be happy. Her life is in politics, and she'll need to be on Coruscant. Solo is a captain, a man of the skies. He does not know how to settle down. They will never be together, and they'll grow to resent it."
Luke felt his father's emotions bubbling just under the surface. The one think Ahsoka had been telling him for months was that he could not hide his emotions, bury them in the Force, without leading himself to the Dark Side. Jedi were supposed to be without emotion, but that simply not the solution for Anakin. He needed to recognize his emotions so that he didn't use them in dark ways. Luke was proud of how far his father had come in this regard, truly, but as much as he did not like taking advantage of it, Luke also appreciated that this meant his father was much easier to read than he'd been as Vader. Now Luke could feel it all- the fear, the betrayal, the… regret.
Luke grabbed his father's hands in his own, and though three of the four hands were mechanical, there was still a warmth to the contact. "Father, are you doubting that you and Mother were happy?"
Luke could not see beneath his father's mask, and yet his father still turned his head away, "Of course not! I loved you mother."
"And she loved you," Luke reminded, knowing full well that his father hadn't intended to finish that statement. He could not believe that after all these years his father was doubting. Of course, they'd been in love. Luke had never met his mother, never seen his parents together, and he knew that. "She would not have risked her career, risked her life, if she hadn't loved you so desperately that she could not stay away. It's the same for Leia and Han. Maybe it would be easier if they weren't together, but they simply can't stand the idea."
"Padmé died because she couldn't stay away from me!"
Yes, well Leia is more likely to kill Han than the other way around. Luke thought, though he was wise enough not to say this to his father. Instead he said, "Father, Leia can hold her own with a blaster and a lightsaber. Han would never try to hurt her, but if he did, she would make sure he regretted it. As would I. Right now, you are the one hurting Leia, not Han. This is your chance to be there for her, as her father."
Luke didn't know how that would be possible, considering his father was supposedly dead, but at the moment he was willing to lie to his father if it meant brining peace to the family. "Maybe, if you're supportive of her."
Pure, unadulterated, unsuppressed, joy radiated from Anakin Skywalker. He had the chance to walk his daughter down the aisle; he could not ask for more. "Very well, let us return to the house."
Back in the manor Leia, Han, and Ahsoka were cooking and laughing about something. That all stopped when Luke and Anakin re-entered. Leia took a step closer to Han, turning her head from her father and ignoring him. Han was still a bit too fearful of the former Sith to be openly hostile, but the way he wrapped his hand around Leia was more possessive than any look. In fact, it was possessive enough to spike new anger in Anakin, though he did his best to push it away. "I have decided that you are right; I have no reason not to support this marriage. Though-Solo- you should have asked my permission before going over my head and proposing to my daughter."
"Yes, sir," Han answered, with as much sincerity as the Corellian could muster. Yet there was quite a bit of sincerity when he continued, and said, "Thank you, sir. I promise I'll be good to her. I won't say I'll take care of her- she'd blast me if I did."
His mask made it difficult to do so, but Anakin joined in with the rest of his family to laugh. "She better," he answered, looking down at Leia. Their relationship was still quite tense. She had no reason to forgive him for all the things he'd done to her. He did not forgive himself for the ways in which he'd hurt his only daughter. Yet she was smiling at him, and she was happy, so he knew he was doing the right thing.
"I know you wanted to cook, Luke," Ahsoka interrupted right as the oven 'dinged'. "But I was starving, and you were getting in too late, so I took some initiative of my own. One Bantha roast, ready for the enjoyment of all. What do you think, Skyguy, if I cut it with my lightsaber will that char the meat?"
Everyone laughed, grabbing trays of the delicious-smelling food, and bringing it over to the table. Leia had set it in traditional Alderaanian style, that is to say excessively, but they all squeezed in for the meal. Luke popped open the champagne, under his father's glare, and poured a glass for everyone. "Happy Forcemas everyone! It's good to finally have all my family here, so welcome to the family Han. I hope you know what you're getting into."
Han smirked, and then, perhaps, realized exactly what he was marrying into, and drank his whole glass of champagne before pouring another, "Happy Forcemas."
Luke laughed, sipping the champagne slowly. Alcohol and the Force were a pretty bad combination, but he was learning to hold the drink. In the past few months, despite being underage, he'd had to drink quite a bit of champagne at functions. It was quite good to be drinking among family, his family. Even now the thought made him smile. The Force had brought his family back together, and now they would not be separated again. He would see to it.
"I had planned on waiting until the morning to announce this, but I suppose I may as well do this now, so that the news can be included in wedding plans," Anakin told those gathered, after exchanging a knowing look with Ahsoka. "It appears Sidious prevented my knowledge of new medical procedures that could repair much of the damage to my body. They will take some months to complete, as discretion will be necessary, but if the wedding could he held off for a year I would be able to attend without a mask. I do believe I would be entirely unrecognizable in that condition- a distant cousin perhaps?"
Luke could hardly believe his ears. His father would be healed? He would actually be able to look his father in the eyes? "Father, that is wonderful!"
Even Leia seemed happy, though there was a certain sadness to her as well, "Perhaps, if it works, you could be an uncle, standing in the place of both fathers I have lost?"
Those strong in the Force, knew that, beneath his mask, Anakin Skywalker was smiling and crying simultaneously, but aloud he kept his voice steady, though he was only fooling Han, "Perhaps, if that was what you willed. We will see. We know well how much can change in a year."
That was certainly true. A year before Anakin had been controlled by the Dark side, and the galaxy crushed under Palpatine's fist. A year before Leia despised Luke, and wouldn't even look at him, never mind their father. Much had changed in a year, and Luke couldn't be more grateful that it had. Finally, they were having a true Forcemas, one about family and love, and light. He couldn't help but cheer, "Happy Forcemas! And may the Force be with you, always!"