"Father?"
Vader spun. Who had said that? Who would be so cruel as to remind him of his loss? Was it some kind of trick, of test, from his master?
He had just finished concluding that it was his imagination when it came again, softer, more shy. "Father?"
Vader ignored it. It was nothing but his conscience berating him for his failures.
A gentle tug came on his cloak, "Father?"
He turned around, ready to crush whatever dared to mock him so, but a pair of tantalized blue eyes looked back at him, simply too wide and fascinated to be acted. They belonged to a young boy, maybe six. He had tousled blonde hair and an expression of nervous awe on his face.
"Father?" he asked again.
Vader gazed at the child, afraid to believe. But the child's words felt true. And he certainly looked like Anakin once had. Vader told himself that it was the child's choice of a place to introduce himself that kept him unsure. He took his cape in one hand, wrapping the edge around the boy and pulling him close.
The child didn't argue, simply sticking close to his father. Vader gently shepherded the boy back to his castle, carefully keeping him hidden in folds of cape. The child struggled to stay close to Vader when they reached the steps up to the castle. Vader carefully shunted the boy in front of himself, taking one of the child's hands to help him up the oversized steps.
No-one would see, he told himself, the boy's small form was completely shielded by his own bulk.
When he entered the door, he released the child and closed the door.
When he looked at the boy again, the boy was still looking up at him. "Where are we?"
"I've taken us back to my castle. Who are you?"
The boy looked hurt and confused at the question, "I'm your son."
Vader knelt down, the better to see his son. "I meant, what's your name?"
The hurt evaporated from the child's face, "Luke."
"Luke," Vader said softly, testing the name. It felt right. It felt like it could certainly be a name Padme would have given to their child. He had so many other questions he wanted to ask his son. He wanted to know everything his son knew about the child. He told himself he should try to be a bit more gentle, and try to slip into those questions slowly.
"Do you need anything?" he asked carefully.
The boy looked confused again. He shook his head, "No, Father."
Father. He called me Father. Vader closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself. He was coming undone at a very undignified rate. Anyone could call him 'Father', it didn't really mean anything. It was just another word.
"Father?" Luke asked.
"Give me a moment, please, Luke."
"Okay." Luke stood still and waited silently for his father to be ready to look at him.
Finally, Vader opened his eyes and looked up at the boy. "Thank you."
The boy smiled, and Vader almost had to ask for a few minutes more to compose himself. "You're welcome."
Vader reached out and put one hand on his son's shoulder just as his mother had once done years ago. "I don't know what separated us, Luke, but I promise you it will never happen again."
Luke smiled again, "I know you won't."
"What did separate us? Do you know?" Vader asked.
Luke looked a little sad. "Obi-Wan took me an' Leia."
"Sorry, Leia?"
"My sister," Luke said simply. "He took us away when Mommy died."
"Uh, Luke, I'm going to need another minute, alright?"
Luke nodded and wrenched himself out of his father's arms, opting to cuddle against his chest instead.
"If Obi-Wan took you, and you never contacted me until now, why did you introduce yourself to me today?"
Luke looked terribly sad, "Obi-Wan's sick. He's not getting better. He says he's dying. Now I've gotta find food for us, and I don't know people like he does. So I'm not as good at it, an' he's only getting worse. I think he really needs food. I think if he got some food maybe he'd be all better. An' now Leia's getting sick too. I didn't know what to do. Then I saw you. Obi-Wan always said you'd want us. He said if it got really bad, you'd probably do whatever I asked. Father, please help them. I don't know what I'd do without them."
Helping the man who'd stolen his children was pretty near the bottom of the list of things Vader wanted to do, but clearly it meant a lot to Luke. The last thing in the galaxy he wanted was for Luke to be hurt. And besides, his daughter was with Obi-Wan. And, he thought hesitantly, Obi-Wan had clearly cared for the children as his own.
"Luke, can you show me back to Obi-Wan and your sister?"
"Yes!" Luke exclaimed. "You'll really do it, then?"
"Of course I will, Luke. If your sister would be harmed."
"What're you gonna do with Obi-Wan?"
Vader scowled, "I haven't decided yet."
"Please don't hurt him. He's been so nice to us."
Vader sighed, "I suppose if he means so much to you."
"I'll show you were to find them now," Luke said.
"First we should get some food for them when we find them. that way maybe at least one of them will be able to stand."
"It won't be Obi-Wan," Luke said sadly. "He's not gonna be able to. Father? I want him to be okay. I want him to be fine. You'll save him, won't you?"
Vader's heart melted a little as he knelt before his son. "I'll make sure he's okay. I promise."
The boy wiped away his tears and nodded. "Thank you."
Vader took the young boy's hand and gently led him towards the kitchen. As he started to load a pack with the survival rations, Luke's stomach growled loudly.
"Luke, you're been eating, haven't you?"
"I didn't want to. I didn't want to get any more than the rest of them. But Obi-Wan said I had to, because I had to go looking for food for everybody."
"Shh, Luke. I wasn't saying you'd done anything wrong. I thought you must be hungry."
Vader passed the boy a ration and the boy took it and ate it eagerly.
"Come along, Luke. We should go find your sister."
Luke nodded, taking Vader's hand. "Okay."
Vader grasped his child's hand as the boy led him back out of the castle. Somehow, his fear of anyone seeing the boy had evaporated. The child could clearly take care of himself. And besides, anything that tried to hurt his son would find themselves suddenly all across the galaxy.
The boy led him into an apartment, at last, calling out. "Obi-Wan? Leia? I've got Father! He's gonna help us now!"
Vader watched as a young girl came stumbling out of a room down the hall. "Luke, I think he's dead."
Vader felt his son's terror, and felt responding worry rise up unbidden.
"Show me to him," he ordered the girl.
Immediately, she came and took Luke's hand, pulling both father and brother towards their guardian.
When they entered the room, Vader immediately tried to release his son's hand. But the child clung to him desperately. Looking down at his son's face, he saw the boy was crying.
"Luke, let go of my hand."
The boy gave a sob and released. Vader knelt next to his old teacher's prone form. The man lay on a mat on the floor, his face pale.
Vader put one hand on the Jedi's forehead, watching as a diagnostic popped up on the viewscreen he saw through.
"He's alive," he told his twins softly. At his words, Luke launched himself against Vader's chest, clinging to him desperately.
Vader gently put his free hand in his son's hair as the diagnostic continued to run. "He's very weak. It might be quite hard to wake him."
In his arms, his son gave a sniffle. Vader was aware of his daughter, now holding his sleeve and looking down his arm at her pallid guardian. He carefully pulled her close against himself as well.
"I think that we can manage it."
The diagnostic stopped running just as both of the twins gave frightened sniffles and burst into tears. Vader carefully gathered both of them against himself, wanting to protect them from the idea of their teacher dying.
After a few minutes, he was able to put his children down and coax Leia to eat some rations. Luke took another bar as well, and Vader gently shunted them off towards the hallway. The children went along willingly enough, and Vader returned his attention to Obi-Wan.
"Obi-Wan?" He asked. He wasn't sure how he felt. Of course, he was angry about what Obi-Wan had done to him. But at the same time, he had taken such good care of the twins, despite what Vader had done against him. He had clearly been putting them first in order for Luke especially to still be in such good shape. That was the ultimate sign of self-sacrifice, it had to be.
"Master?"
Much to Vader's surprise, Obi-Wan moved. His face tightened for a moment, then relaxed.
Vader decided that that was clearly the right approach to trying to wake him. "Master? Wake up. The twins need you."
Again, Obi-Wan shuffled in his fevered sleep.
Vader reached into the Force, into his own memories of caring for the older man. Obi-Wan had held together a remarkable portion of Anakin's old life. And as he tried to save the man his children cared for, Vader felt Anakin slipping back. Using the Force to add healing energy and power to wake him, "Master, wake up. The children need you. Wake up."
"Master?"
Obi-Wan's eyes opened, and to Vader's relief, they stayed open.
"Thank the Force."
Obi-Wan's pale face registered surprise, and then relief as he sensed the truth.
"Where are the children, Anakin?"
"They're here somewhere. I told them to take their food somewhere else while I tried to wake you. I didn't want them to see that I couldn't. You should eat as well."
He pulled another nutrition bar from his pack and passed it to Obi-Wan. Then he carefully lifted the man into a sitting position and leaned him against a wall.
"When you're done, there are more in here," he said, putting the pack on the ground beside his teacher. "I'll find the children."
Obi-Wan smiled. "Good."
Vader walked out of the room, looking for his son and daughter. He found his children seated around a small table in what seemed to be the kitchen.
"He's awake," Vader told them. Immediately, both children threw down the last bits of food and raced past him. Vader followed them, smiling slightly. He was glad he'd been able to wake Obi-Wan. He couldn't imagine trying to tell the twins that he had died.
When he entered his teacher's room, he found Luke wrapped around Obi-Wan's left arm, and Leia sitting on his ankles. He swept his daughter up and held her gently, kneeling down.
Obi-Wan was smiling, running his free hand through Luke's hair. Vader deposited his daughter at Obi-Wan's other side, and she wrapped herself around him as well.
"Leave Obi-Wan alone for a bit. He's not strong enough to have you using him as your own private jungle gym."
Obediently, the children released him and attached themselves to Vader instead. Vader sighed and sat down, taking Leia on his lap while Luke went back to Obi-Wan more calmly. Vader took out new pieces of food and began encouraging his children to eat them.