A Destiny Rekindled.

Vader finds Luke when he is sixteen, realising Palpatine's lies, he leaves the Empire and renounces the darkside. The Rebel Alliance won't aid him - because of his past serving the Emperor.

With no one he can to turn to, and enemies on all sides, Anakin still has his 'kidnapped' son to contend with - but when is doing the right thing ever easy?

OTHER INFORMATION.

_ Vader was healed after Mustafar and did not require the suit to survive.

_ Luke always knew who is father was - Anakin Skywalker, Jedi and hero - But was not aware that he had become Vader.

CHAPTER ONE.

"Where are you taking me?"

Anakin looked back at Luke from the cockpit, it was the first time he had spoken to him willingly, without being goaded into it. Smiling he shrugged, "somewhere safe." He had to keep Luke safe, away from Palpatine - if he found his son he would either kill him, or convert him to the darkside.

Luke walked slowly forward and slid cautiousness into the copilot's seat, "that isn't an answer."

"No, it isn't. Closing his eyes, Anakin sighed, "we're going to Galtea." No one would look for them there; it would give him time to plan his next move, to find a way to defeat Palpatine without causing harm to his son.

Falling silent, Luke bit his lip and folded his arms. Glancing at Anakin he frowned, "what if I ran away?"

Chuckling, Anakin arched an eyebrow, he knew what his son meant, but it was just too tempting to resist. "It would be rather difficult to run away on a ship."

"I mean when we get to Galtea!" Luke glared at him, "would you hurt me if I tried?"

Anakin felt his blood run cold, looking at Luke he shook his head; he could never hurt him, but the problem was that his son did not believe him.

"I will not harm you Luke," he hoped that one day he would trust him enough to believe that much at least. "But I will not let you run away," he had to keep him safe.

"So you would keep me as a prisoner?" Fear returned to Luke's eyes, "you would force me to stay with you, even if I don't want to?"

"I am trying to keep you safe Luke," there was so much his son did not understand. "If the Emperor found out about you, he would either kill you on sight, or force you to turn to the darkside as he did with me." Neither option was agreeable, he could see that on Luke's face.

Taking a deep breath, Luke shook his head. "Why did you turn?"

"I believed at the time, that through the power of the darkside, I would be able to save your Mother." He had failed, failed her and his son. "I trusted the wrong 'friend' and lost everything because of it."

x

"I will never hurt you Luke," Anakin watched as his son slept in a fitful doze. "One day you will trust me." tears blurred his vision, "you never knew your mother. But she would have loved you so much," his heart ached at her loss. "I never saw her more happy than when she talked about you, about what our lives would be like after you were born."

"There is so much I want to tell you," Anakin whispered softly, "so much that you need to know, but I need you to trust me first." Reaching out, he brushed back his son's short blonde hair, "she was a queen when I met her, but I thought she was an angel. She was so beautiful and kind and caring," she hadn't cared that he had been a slave, she had treated him like a person.

"I only knew her for a few days when we first met," remembering their first meeting made him smile, "and I didn't see her again for ten years after we parted. But I never stopped thinking about her," he continued to stroke Luke's hair absentmindedly, "when we saw each other again, she looked more beautiful than ever before." Pulling his cloak over Luke's sleeping form, Anakin sighed, "I will tell you all about her one day, when you can trust me." If that day ever came.

x

Luke stayed still as Anakin stood and walked to the back of the ship; what has he supposed to make of that? Obi-wan had been teaching him to use the Force - what little bit Uncle Owen had allowed - and he had sensed no lie from his father, but surely it was some kind of trick, wasn't it? Obi-wan had told him that his father - Anakin Skywalker - had been a close friend of his, he had told him how they had fought in the Clone Wars together, how his father had become a hero.

How could someone as good as that, fall so far, to become someone as evil as Vader? How could someone as evil as Vader ever return to the hero he had once been?

Luke kept his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep; his mother, he knew practically nothing about her, only her name - Padme Amidala - he hadn't known she had been a queen. And from the way Anakin had talked about him, he had loved her dearly.

So what was the truth? Was 'Anakin' actually good? Or was it Vader, trying to sway him to the darkside? What did he believe? How could he trust a man who had murdered so many people? How could he believe anything he said?

And yet - Part of him wanted it to be true, part of him leaped at the chance to know his father.

x

Anakin closed his eyes and sighed.

So many years wasted, he could have had seventeen years to know his son, they could have been a family. Because of his choices, he had a scared youthful teenager who was determined to think the worst of him.

Not that he really blamed him, he deserved it - that and so much more - he had ruined so many lives, destroyed so many families in the name of an evil deserved his son's fear and hatred, but it hurt; it hurt that his own son could call him a monster, that he looked at him in fear. "I'm so sorry Luke," he was so very sorry.

Shaking his head, Anakin silently cursed himself, wishing that he had listened to Obi-wan all those years ago on Mustafar. He should have listened to Padme and run away with her, he should never have turned in the first place.

He knew his mistake now, but it was too late to change the past; all he could do was make up for the evil he had done, and hope that Luke could - that everyone could - forgive him one day.