Vader glared furiously at the door of his cell. He couldn't believe he'd been so careless! Letting a rebel sneak up on him like that… it was disgraceful! And the Rebels were so disorganized. His interrogator was supposed to have arrived at least half an hour ago. Of course, Vader didn't particularly want to be interrogated, but he had accepted that it was going to happen no matter what he wanted, and now he just wanted to get it over with.
Suddenly, the door opened and a boy walked in, instantly tripping on a small ledge in the floor. Vader stared, dumbstruck.
The boy picked himself back up and brushed his hair out of his eyes.
"Hello, sorry I'm late."
Vader stared at him, nonplussed. "Late?"
"I'm supposed to… I'm supposed to try to get information from you."
"You?" Vader snorted. "You're the interrogator?"
The boy blinked, "I'd rather not be called that. My name's Luke, by the way."
He held out one hand to Vader. Vader ignored it.
"How are you going to try to get information out of me?" He asked, curious in spite of himself. The child seemed quite harmless, and he didn't have any weapons or torture devices with him.
Luke smiled hopefully. "Well, if you would just give me some information, we could avoid anything nasty."
Vader gaped. "Nasty? Are you threatening me?"
Luke shook his head, "No! I'm just saying that then they wouldn't send a real interrogator in here to hurt you. I'm not going to. But actually, that's only part of why I'm here. I was told that you knew my father."
Vader just stared at him. "You came down here hoping I would tell you secrets for no reason other than because you asked, and tell you all about your father?"
"Uh, well, I thought it couldn't hurt too much to ask." Luke shrugged. He sat down on Vader's bed next to him. Vader stood up, glad to take a more authoritative position.
"What are you going to do now?"
"Wait," Luke said simply. "I'm supposed to work on you for an hour. But I don't really know what else to do. So I'm just going to wait and hope you change your mind."
Vader walked to the wall, closing his eyes. The boy was a complete imbecile. He had hoped that the rebels would respect him enough to send in someone competent.
Finally, Vader turned back to the bed. The young rebel still sat there, his legs crossed, gazing curiously at Vader.
"It would be a waste to let your abilities go unused." Vader told the boy.
Luke looked confused, "Abilities?"
"You're Force sensitive."
Luke smiled, "Yeah, I am. I inherited it from my father. I'm going to be a Jedi, like he was."
"I could teach you to use your abilities." Vader offered reasonably.
"As a Jedi?"
"Sith are not so different."
Luke shook his head, "No. You killed my father and Obi-Wan. Sith are killers."
"Jedi are killers as well."
"At least they're trying to help." Luke said defensively.
"I'm offering to help you."
"No." Luke shook his head.
Vader turned away and walked back to the wall. He had been subconsciously moving towards the Jedi boy as he made his offer.
"Lord Vader? Can you please tell me a little about my father?"
"I am not your nursemaid, rebel. I will not tell you stories."
Luke sighed. "Okay."
They were silent for several minutes before Luke spoke.
"What made you turn to the Dark Side?"
Vader looked back at the child. "Concern." He snapped, hoping to shut the boy up by giving him a few quick answers.
"Concern?"
"I was worried about the direction the galaxy was taking, and I was worried about-" Vader broke off, realizing what he had been about to say. He wasn't going to dispense all that personal information to a rebel who had been sent to get information from him.
"Worried about who?" Luke asked.
Vader's mind raced until he lighted on an answer that he might just have been able to get away with. "Obi-Wan."
"And my father?" Luke asked hopefully.
"Your father?"
"Obi-Wan said you were friends."
Vader racked his brains, trying to think of a human male Jedi he might have considered a friend. Not Obi-Wan, of course, because he wouldn't have lied to his own son. Not Ahsoka, obviously. But-who else could it be? The only other people he might have considered friends were the clones, and Luke was convinced that his father had been a Jedi. "I have no idea what you're talking about." he snapped, hoping to cover for his lack of recollection of Luke's mysterious father.
"Oh, come on. It's not like keeping it secret is crucial for the Empire. It's not like there's anything the Alliance can do with it. Won't you please tell me just a little?"
"I have no intention to be your storyteller."
At that, Luke crossed his arms, looking angrily at Vader. "Well, I'm sure he would have been, but you killed him!"
Vader looked at the boy in disgust. "You're never going to make it as a Jedi."
The anger disappeared from Luke's face, replaced by hurt. "What do you mean?"
"Jedi are not allowed emotions such as the ones you are displaying."
Luke glared at him.
"What you are doing is simply juvenile."
Vader saw tears start to gather in Luke's eyes. "Well, that's easy for you to say! You don't know what I'm feeling!"
Frustrated with the boy, Vader moved instinctively, slapping him.
"Pull yourself together, boy!"
Luke put one hand on his cheek, which was already turning an angry red. He looked at Vader with an expression of betrayal for a moment, before seeming to realize who he was looking at and turning away.
Tears started to run down his cheeks, and Vader felt a fierce sensation of accomplishment. Perhaps he had finally convinced the boy to shut up!
Luke's free hand moved up and started to wipe at the tears. Vader wanted to slap him again, just to be certain that he wouldn't speak again, but he knew better. It had been foolish to allow the boy to annoy him so much. Slapping the boy could easily close the rebel's potential for forgiveness.
Luke hadn't turned back, nor had he stopped crying. He looked lost.
How hadn't he understood that Vader would harm him for being so childish? Whatever had made him approach the Sith as a friend?
As if answering the unasked question, Luke opened his mouth. "You're the last link to my father. All media about Jedi is banned. I'm too shy to approach any of the older rebels. I thought I would be safe to ask you because you're a prisoner, so I wouldn't feel like there could be much negative effect."
"Haven't you learned your lesson about trying to make me feel guilty?" Vader demanded.
Luke closed his eyes. "No. I just want to know something about my father."
Vader watched in amazement as the boy curled into a ball and continued crying.
"The Jedi would call your behaviour disgraceful." He told the boy, wanting nothing more than for the boy's chance to try to extract information to end. He wanted the true interrogator to drag the whimpering, pathetic, Jedi wannabe out.
"You killed him," Luke said to his knees, "Why didn't you think about his child?"
"That's another thing I don't understand," Vader said ruthlessly, "Jedi aren't supposed to have children. What made your father break the rules and have you? You're illegitimate, at best."
Again, the young man looked at him with that terrible expression of betrayal. Again, the boy turned away to bury his face in his hands. Vader watched the child's shoulders shaking, still feeling joy at his agony.
He pondered his choices. He was tempted to just go on telling the boy how worthless and unwanted he was, but he had to admit the boy had sparked his curiosity. Who was it who had fathered the boy?
"I'll tell you something about your father, boy." He told the crying child on the bed.
Luke looked up, eyes still watery, but wide and trusting. "Really?"
"You'll have to tell me his name, because I can't think of anyone dishonourable enough to have chosen to have a child." And the last words were directed at himself as well.
Luke frowned slightly at the words, but then the smile returned and he looked up into Vader's mask. "Anakin Skywalker."
For a moment, the galaxy froze for Vader as he looked at the boy on the bed. Then the galaxy accelerated to a rate he couldn't comprehend. And then, unable to adjust to such quick changes in speed, it came crashing down around him, one piece at a time.
"Luke Skywalker." Vader said slowly. And then, in a surge of pride, "You destroyed the Death Star." Imagine, his child being so skillful!
Luke sighed, looking embarrassed, "Yeah."
"Why are you ashamed?" he asked.
"I guess you'd appreciate mass destruction, wouldn't you? I dunno, I just don't see what's so wonderful about killing so many people with one action."
And as Luke spoke those words, Vader realized that the boy hadn't shared his realization. He found himself taking his son's shoulders in his hands, looking the boy right in the eyes. "Luke. Son. I'm very proud of you, Luke."
Luke's face registered only confusion.
"You're my son, Luke," Vader repeated, feeling somewhat fevered.
"But-" Luke faltered, "All those things you said!"
Vader sighed softly, "All true, I'm afraid."
"But-" Luke started again.
"Just trust me, Luke. I can't prove it to you."
Luke looked unsure for a moment, and then said, with great conviction, "I do believe you. I just don't understand."
"Neither do I, Son," Vader told him, savouring the feeling of that title. Could there be a more glorious title in the galaxy?
Luke had taken Vader's gloves in his hands, and suddenly his hands tightened on them. "They're going to kill you, Father."
A wave of wellbeing hit Vader with the last word, sweeping away all worry at the beginning of the sentence. There was definitely at least one title better than 'Son'.
"I can't let them hurt you!" Luke exclaimed, worry etched in every feature.
"Oh, Son. My life is complete. If they kill me now, I will die happy."
"But-" Luke started. Then he cut himself off suddenly and looked away.
"What is it?"
"You'd say it's not Jedi-like." Luke mumbled.
"I only said those things to hurt my captor. I didn't believe them. Although you would have been in some trouble for letting your emotions get the better of you."
"I want to know you." The boy said, looking back into his father's mask. "If they kill you now, I could never be happy. I need you."
Again, wellbeing swept through Vader. After everything he'd done, everything he'd left undone, his son still needed him! The boy thought he couldn't go on without him!
"I'll convince them not to kill you," Luke promised determinedly.
Vader smiled, and hugged his son gently. In his arms, the young man melted back into tears. Vader held him gently for a few minutes before carefully tucking back the covers on his bed and tucking his son in. The boy clung to the warmth of the blankets, and Vader sat over him, glad, in a way, that he was in prison. If he had been any freer, he would have felt that there was something he should have been doing for the galaxy. As it was, he was completely and utterly free to give his son every moment of his time.
Vader sat with his son, carefully wiping tears from the young man's eyes and wrapping the blankets more tightly around him whenever he started to shiver. "Luke, what will happen when the next interrogator comes in and sees this?"
Luke shook his head, "None will come. Eventually my friends will notice I've been gone to long and they'll come looking for me. But we can manage that, can't we?"
"Yes," Vader promised.