Darth Vader's Palace
Mustafar
6 weeks later
Darth Vader, clad only in black trunks, hung silently, with his eyes closed, in a giant tube of specially formulated bacta.
It was, in a way, a pleasant experience. He felt weightless in the tank, whereas his armor weighed so many kilos that he often felt like a lumbering tauntaun while menacingly striding around his Star Destroyer.
Furthermore, while in the bacta he had no responsibilities. He was not ... helpless, exactly, since he was one of the two strongest Force users in the galaxy, but he was admittedly limited without arms or legs. Sidious would not expect him to single handedly take on a Rebel outpost, or defeat two or three or four hostile Force users in the next fifteen minutes. For that matter, he couldn't exactly breathe well outside the tank, so if he was forced to defend himself right now, it could well be a tricky business.
Fortunately, he was in his own castle on Mustafar. Defenses were strong, and few even knew of the fortress's existence anyway. So he was safe enough.
His mind turned, rather sluggishly, toward his current pantheon of responsibilities and worries. Vader had never minded hard work, had even thrived on it, but there were times when the weight of his role in the galaxy dragged him down. And now, with the knowledge of his twin children (mercifully unknown by Palpatine, at least as far as he was aware), the burden was even heavier. He often found himself thinking frantically, in circles. How could he kill Sidious? How could he keep the children safe? How could he make up to his daughter for those horrible hours in that horrible cell on that horrible Death Star?
At least the horrible Death Star in question had been tidily blown up by the Rebellion two weeks before. But that brought about its own share of concerns, because Vader was quite certain that Luke had fired the killing shot. Not that the younger Sith had been there; his injuries on the Death Star after the explosion and subsequent sprinkler shower had been fairly severe and he'd been recovering here on Mustafar for the last six weeks. But it had been a nearly impossible shot and given how strong the boy was in the Force, it could well have been Luke.
(For a brief moment, an image filled his mind's eye – of the cockpit of an ... an X-wing! Speeding down a trench at incredible speed ...)
And if Luke had destroyed the Death Star, Palpatine could find out that his son was alive at any moment. Sidious had been ridiculously angry when his toy planet destroyer had been blown up, and had placed a gigantic bounty on the currently unknown pilot's name.
Vader had his own bounty hunters searching for his son, and had provided them with additional information which would aid their search. But still ... it was hard not to worry about the boy.
There was a soft ding, indicating it was time for Vader's bacta bath to end.
With a soft groan, he opened his eyes.
And then he started dramatically. For on the other side of the transparisteel tube, only a meter away, stood Luke, eyes wide open in apparent shock.
At that moment, the boy's Force presence, which Luke had obviously been shielding with great skill, burst into supernova radiance.
Vader's brain, which had been sluggish enough, froze. What was Luke doing here? How did he get here? Was he here now to kill his father? Had he heard too many horror stories of Vader's homicidal actions and decided to finish his sire off himself?
Luke's eyes moved from his father's head down to his torso, to his severed arms, and finally to his severed legs. And then back up to Vader's face.
The youth's mouth moved, but the combination of sludgy bacta and damaged hearing from his lava encounter 19 years prior meant Vader couldn't hear a thing. In addition to being flummoxed by Luke's sudden appearance, he was also incredibly frustrated.
Luke apparently picked that up from either the Force or his father's expression, because the boy pointed a finger at his own chest, then pointed toward Vader's recovery room, then gave his father a thumb's up along with a tremulous smile.
And then, while Vader watched in bemusement, the boy strode into the recovery room and closed the door.
Darth Vader broke a record for getting out of the bacta tank and into his armor.
He stormed into the next door office and then stopped in stunned disbelief. Luke was seated on his own personal desk, his brow furrowed in irritation. Next to him, with twin lightsabers in both hands, was ... was ...
"Tano!" Vader said in astonishment.
Tano turned toward him, her montrals shifting in clear anger, her eyes blazing, "Vader."
Luke smiled, hopped off the desk and walked boldly over to his father. He wrapped his arms around the cyborg's broad chest, then stepped back to look up at his sire's mask.
Suddenly, all three started to talk.
"Father, you are a mess."
"Luke, are you out of your mind? Don't get so close to him!"
"Why is Tano here?"
And then they all stopped talking just as abruptly.
Luke stepped back a meter and then sighed dramatically, "Ahsoka is here because she stowed away on Dengar's ship ..."
"Because I thought you had been captured, Luke," Ahsoka riposted angrily, "I had no idea you were actually insane enough ..."
"I had the situation under control, Ahsoka, and given that you're flashing death ray eyes at my father, I have to say that ..."
"He's not safe, Luke. Not. Safe. What would Kenobi think ...?"
"I suggest that you don't tell him then ..."
"Stop, both of you," Vader ordered slightly more loudly than was his wont.
Both turned vaguely surprised faces at him, like they had forgotten he was there.
"Luke, how did you get here?" he demanded.
The youth raised his eyebrows a little, and answered readily enough, "I just wanted to see you, and you said I could call so I figured you wouldn't mind if I dropped by. Then this bounty hunter by the name of Dengar, a human from Corellia ..."
"I know him," Vader interrupted curtly.
"Ok, well, he tracked me down in a bar ... somewhere, not that I was drinking mind you, 'cause I'm kind of young to be into the hard liquor. Anyway, he found out from an informant that I was someone in the Alliance ..."
"Luke, you should not be telling him this," Tano snapped angrily.
Vader turned and lifted a menacing finger, "You are here in my castle on my sufferance, Tano. Do not interrupt my son again."
The shoulders twitched irritably, as did the montrals, but the Togruta lapsed into reluctant silence.
Luke rolled his eyes slightly, apparently at both of his elders, and continued his story, "So anyway, I kind of convinced him that I had valuable info about the destruction of the Death Star and that he should take me here to see you. So he tied me up and dragged me aboard his ship. But it turned out Ahsoka was playing nanny and she stowed away on board and then she killed Dengar in hyperspace but we were all set up to land here with official codes so yeah, we landed here and snuck on in. Ahsoka didn't want me to, but I insisted."
Vader turned to his former padawan, vaguely surprised that she wasn't literally steaming at this point.
"Another era, another Skywalker," he commented smugly.
To his surprise, this comment didn't cause outrage, but rather an arrested, even stunned, expression.
"Do you still think of yourself as Anakin Skywalker, Lord Vader?" she inquired softly, her blue eyes thoughtful.
The Sith froze.
After a long pause, he said in a measured tone, "No, of course not. I am merely ... merely ..."
Luke, thankfully, spoke up, "We can discuss your personal and existential crisis at another time. Father, I had no idea what a physical mess you are! If you like, the next time I see Obi-Wan I'll sock him in the eye. He should never have left you to burn like that. Can't anything be done to heal you?"
The reality that his son had seen his scars, his amputations, his battered body, should have provoked both anger and self-consciousness.
But the love and concern in those blue eyes washed away such feelings, leaving only regret.
"No, my son," he responded softly, "nothing can be done. The bacta provides temporary relief and slight external healing, but the more serious injuries are permanent."
The child looked so downhearted, so distressed, that he quickly and uncomfortably changed the subject.
"Much as I enjoy seeing you, Son, I must agree with Tano that this was a very risky operation on your part. Who saw you come into this area of my castle?"
"Ah, no one who noticed, if you get my drift."
Vader glanced at Ahsoka, who sighed, "Unlike you, he's entirely capable of walking around unnoticed, Vader. Those who saw us were gently redirected with the Force. I doubt they remember us at all."
The Dark Lord relaxed slightly, even as he turned back to Luke, "And ... and how is your sister?"
Luke's expressive face grew sad, "Well, she's ... ah ... Ok. Still really mad at you. Physically she's recovered now, and I appreciate the counselor droids, not to mention the stuffed animals. She chose a bantha."
The Sith's throat grew even dryer than usual.
"I'm afraid I do not know what you are referring to," he said stiffly.
The boy rolled his eyes again (who did that, and lived?), even as he strode forward to pat his father gently on one giant arm, "Father, please. A couple of pilots suddenly decide to defect to the Alliance with a load of counselor droids and a bunch of cute stuffed animals which are part of the counseling protocol? It wasn't too hard to figure out."
Vader opened his mouth to deny it, changed his mind, and blurted out, "Does your sister know that I ... uh ...?"
Luke shook his head, "No. I scoped out the pilots pretty carefully and it is obvious they genuinely want to be with us, so we just took the gift as intended. I'll admit I chuckled a bit that Leia chose a bantha because they are stinky beasts. I took a rancor. They're probably stinky too, but I have no personal knowledge."
Vader cringed slightly, "And I trust you never will, Son. They are most dangerous beasts."
"But the plush rancor is adorable. We've had a couple of counseling sessions where we talk to each other through the plushes. It helps us process our feelings better, the counselor droid says. I don't know if he is right or not. Usually Leia's bantha starts attacking my rancor, which is kind of silly because banthas are a lot of things but not very aggressive ..."
"Someone's coming!" Ahsoka suddenly said, looking at the door.
Vader focused on the door in surprise. Sure enough, his major domo was approaching the door. He had been so intent on his son that he hadn't noticed.
He turned back and was astonished to see both Ahsoka and Luke disappearing into a large storage closet at the side of the room. Vader was briefly concerned that they wouldn't fit, but the door shut easily. Being small had its advantages.
Raising himself to his full height, Vader planted his feet firmly, grabbed a holopad, randomly opened an article about the danger of elderly shaak meat on the intestinal tracks of Imperial stormtroopers, and gestured imperiously towards the door.
The door slid open, and his meek servant, clad in black, approached with a bowed head.
Vader ignored him for a long moment, then looked up, "Yes?"
The man lowered his head even more, even as he spoke nervously, "My lord, I fear we have a security breach. A ship owned by a bounty hunter, by the name of Dengar, landed within the last hour. As no one left the ship, an investigation was mounted. We discovered the ship empty, but no one recalls seeing the individual exit the landing pad."
Vader hesitated, then nodded, "Very well. Order Squad 3 to conduct a search for the bounty hunter, but do not sound the general alarm."
"As you wish, my Lord."
The man withdrew, and a few seconds later, Luke and Ahsoka popped out of the closet, Luke complaining vociferously.
"See, you shouldn't have killed him, Ahsoka! If we'd just knocked him out, they'd have found him unconscious and thought he was drinking off too many Corellian brandies. But no, you had to kill him and then throw him out the airlock!"
"The last thing we needed was Dengar alive, Luke. He was a wily one, and my job is to protect you, whether you like it or not!"
"And I am pleased with that, Ahsoka Tano," Vader interpolated, to the surprise of the two verbal combatants.
He smiled slightly under his mask, "It would appear my son is in need of a loyal bodyguard, Snips."
The Togruta jerked at his use of her old nickname, but Luke interrupted any retort by striding forward boldly and putting both his hands on his father's large, mechanized chest.
"So I assume that given the mechanized respirations, your lungs are a disaster?" the boy demanded.
Vader nodded with a mixture of self-consciousness and frustration. How he hated his dependence on the suit for his bodily functions, for breathing.
"Yes, my son," he said quietly, "As I told you before, nothing can be done."
Luke frowned irritably, "Ben says I'm pretty good at Force assisted healing. I'm going to work on your lungs a bit. So long as that is Ok with you?"
Vader shook his head, simultaneously touched and sorrowful, "Luke, the damage is too serious. It is pointless."
An extremely stubborn expression appeared on Luke's face, his look so much like a hyperfocused Padme that Vader swallowed convulsively.
"So you won't even let me try?" the boy demanded.
Vader breathed through four cycles.
"You may try, but, Son, it really ..."
"Is useless, I know," Luke grumbled back, even as he placed his hands on his father's broad chest.
"Just relax," he ordered, even as he closed his blue eyes.
Vader tried to relax. Luke seemed like a confident person, and would probably be moderately at peace with failure. And this gave the Dark Lord the opportunity to study Luke's face up close. The child looked so much like the youthful Anakin that it was startling.
A strange feeling stirred in his chest. How much he had missed. How many years of babyhood and toddlerhood and early spaceflights and ...
No wait, that feeling in his chest was ...
Was ...
Frowning, he used the Force to switch on an external monitor on his right arm which showed his blood oxygen saturation.
It never ever went above 95%.
But now, he watched incredulously as it hovered at 96%, then hit 97% ...
Luke gasped and opened his eyes, dropping his arms.
"I'm sorry," he said apologetically, "that's worn me out. Yeah, your lungs are bad."
Vader stared at the red figures incredulously, "It's never been ... never been this high in 19 years, Son. You are truly ... truly ..."
"Gifted?" Tano demanded in a snarky tone. "Not too surprising, given whose son he is."
Luke blushed a little, even as he looked sad, "I wish I could do more. Now if Leia helped me I really could get a lot done. We work really well together in the Force."
"That will be the day," Ahsoka said, with a mixture of anger and sorrow.
"I would never ask that of your sister," Vader responded, his throat tightening, "after what I did to her."
"Yeah," Luke said with a downcast look, and then he lifted his head determinedly. "I'm still not fully trained so maybe when I have more practice I can do more."
There was a beep, and Vader, with a gesture of his hand, turned on his com, "Yes?"
The filtered voice of the head of his security detail spoke, "My Lord, the Emperor orders you to make contact with him."
The Dark Lord hesitated briefly, "Very well."
He turned off the com and gazed at his son and Ahsoka, "You must go, now."
Luke looked slightly surprised, then grateful, "Ok. Do you know what Old Wrinkles wants?"
The Dark Lord shook his head, "No, but he may have felt that disturbance in the Force when you partially healed my lungs. You must leave. I will order my troops to conduct a search in the east wing of the palace, which will give you a free path back to Dengar's ship."
"Ok," Luke said with a tremulous smile. "Thank you. I love you, Father."
The Sith hesitated just briefly, then stepped forward to gently encircle his son with his strong arms, "And I love you too, Luke."
Author Note: I love writing crack because it doesn't have to make too much sense. So yeah, just suspend your disbelief about anything that seems totally illogical! Thanks to my wonderful husband for editing and adding vibrant details.