Luke sat hunched over the small grey table in the hut. He had finally completed his lightsaber. His lightsaber. Not his father's . . . not that man's lightsaber . . . Luke let out a growl of frustration as he dropped the lightsaber. It clattered on to the table. He buried his head into his hands. One flesh. One gloved. He fought back the waves of frustration, depression, and anger that threatened to take over him.
He tried to take a steadying breath. Tried to acknowledge his emotions and let them go into the Force. But it was hard. Especially when the whispers of his father crept into Luke's mind.
Do not cast away those emotions, my son. Use them. Let them power your connection to the Force. Use it to bend the Force to your will.
Luke dropped his hands to the table as he was brought out of his thoughts when he heard steps crunching on the sand. Had he been so lost in thought he hadn't even heard a speeder approach Ahsoka's hut? That he hadn't even sensed anyone in the Force? The door swung open and Han Solo walked in. He carried a small metal crate filled with groceries.
"Hey kid," he said. "Brought some fresh supplies."
"Thanks," Luke mumbled. He grabbed his new lightsaber and clipped into his belt. He placed his hands on the table to push himself up, but stopped mid-motion. His eyes widened and mouth fell slightly open as he watched the second person enter the hut. "Leia," he whispered.
Her hair was braided into a crown that wrapped around her head. She wore spacer clothes of a thick tan material and leather. They were clothes that would allow her to blend right in with the local crowds of Tatooine. She carried a blaster in one hand. It wasn't aimed at Luke, at least yet. Her face was in a scowl as she stopped in the door to glare at Luke.
"If you're going to shoot me, Leia, just do it," Luke said as he sat back down at the table.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Han said as he placed down the crate. "No one is shooting anyone. Leia? Put the blaster away."
Anger burned in Leia's eyes as she tucked the blaster into her belt. She cautiously walked into the hut. Her eyes never left Luke. Luke's eyes never left her. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? He wasn't prepared to face her. Not yet. That's why he had come to Tatooine first. He came to free Han from Jabba the Hutt, and he did. Luke had yet to tell Han everything that happened. Once Han recovered from his hibernation sickness, he insisted that he go into town and grab some fresh supplies.
"I ran into her in Mos Espa," Han explained. "Apparently Lando was working in disguise at Jabba's. Reported back to her when I disappeared."
Luke let out a long sigh. His clenched his hands into fists. Han walked over to Luke.
"I . . . uh . . . heard their side of what happened," Han said. "But I knew I should hear your side of it too." He looked over his shoulder at Leia. "She insisted on coming along."
"I want to hear whatever he has to say," Leia said coldly.
Luke squeezed his hands tighter. His heart was pounding in his chest. He looked down at the table, avoiding the other gazes directed at him. A tense silence stretched between the three.
"I . . . don't know where to start . . . " Luke said. His eyes were still downcast.
"Well you could start with-" Han started, but Leia interrupted him.
"How about being the Imperial Prince? Or-" she snapped.
"Leia," Han said. He was looking directly at Leia. While Luke couldn't see Han's expression, he had a feeling he was telling her to calm down. Han turned back to Luke and nodded at him. "Let's start with the beginning," Han said. "With Bespin."
"I went there to save you," Luke said. "Vader was there. Waiting. We dueled. I lost. And . . . I was taken to Imperial Center. To the Emperor." Luke paused as he finally looked Han in the eyes and then Leia. "There I met . . . There I found out that my father, Anakin Skywalker, was alive." Luke took a deep breath and continued, "My father was alive and he was . . . he is a Sith lord. He's Darth Vader's master and . . . and . . . He's the real ruler of the Empire."
Both Han and Leia shouted out at the same time.
"Wait, what?"
"What?"
Luke flinched, but the tightness in his chest was slowly releasing. Now that he had the real truth out, he felt a tiny bit better. "My father is powerful, extremely powerful, in the Dark Side of the Force. He uses the Force to control the Emperor. Like a puppet. The real Emperor died or was murdered years ago. My father has been secretly ruling since then."
"So you found out your dad was really in control of the Empire, so you just decided to join him? Become the Imperial Prince?" Han asked.
"No," Luke said. "He asked me to join him. To join the Dark Side and the Empire, but I declined."
"Clearly didn't try hard enough," Leia grumbled.
Luke ignored her. "I tried to escape, but he's just too powerful. He was always a step ahead of me."
Luke recalled being pinned down to the floor of a hallway in the Imperial Palace. The overwhelming power that pushed him down felt like he was under a layer of durasteel. He couldn't move. He could barely breath. Then the pressure seemed to change. It started to snake around him. Luke was lifted off the floor into the air, but the cold tendrils of the Force held him tight. He still couldn't move.
Anakin Skywalker calmly and confidently strode down the hall. He was wearing the red armor of the Imperial Royal Guard without the helmet or cloak. Anakin acted as the captain of the guard, which allowed him unquestioned access to the Emperor and to anywhere else in the Empire. The Imperial Guard were loyal to Anakin, to the real Emperor. Anakin had a smirk on his face as he came to a stop in front of Luke.
"Come now, child," Anakin said. "Still haven't learned your lesson?"
With only a flick of his finger, the dark pressure surrounding Luke disappeared. He fell to the ground and at once was taking deep gasps of air. Anakin knelt down beside Luke and put a red gloved hand under the boy's chin. Anakin titled Luke's head up. Luke had no choice but to meet the amber eyes of his father. He had come to notice that the skin around Anakin's eyes was darker. Grayer. Which only made his gold eyes stand out more.
"Didn't I tell you," Anakin said in a whisper that sent a shiver through Luke, "that your place is by my side? You won't be leaving it, my son."
Anakin removed his hand from Luke's chin and stood up. Two more royal guards and two white stormtroopers had arrived.
"Take him back to his room," Anakin ordered. The two stormtroopers walked forward and grabbed Luke by the arms. He was dragged back to his suite of rooms.
The first time Luke had been brought there, Anakin informed his son, "These rooms have been made to contain a Jedi . . . or a Sith. I had them prepared when I learned my son lived." Anakin left him alone and Luke . . . He paced around his room uncomfortably. After their meeting in the throne room, Anakin had taken Luke to the medbay to see to his injuries. There he had taken a shower and was given a fresh change of clothes.
It was the first time he was truly alone after meeting his father. After learning the truth. His father was alive. His whole life he thought his father was dead. Sure as a kid he always held the fantasy that his father was secretly alive. That one day he'd come to Tatooine and whisk Luke away into the stars.
Then Ahsoka told him his father was a Jedi knight. A hero. A general. He desperately wanted nothing more to live up to the image. He was going to do great things too. He was going to become a Jedi. He was going to help people. Then he met with Vader at Bespin and was taken to the palace.
There he met Anakin Skywalker. His father. The Jedi knight . . . the former Jedi knight. He was no longer the hero Luke thought he was. He was . . . in charge of the Empire. All the things the Empire had done, Anakin had been behind it. At least over the past few years. The slavery. The deaths. His aunt and uncle. The Death Star. Alderaan. His father was behind it, or at least allowed it.
How . . . What was Luke going to do? His father. His father, Anakin Skywalker. Why? What had caused this? And what would Anakin do now with his son? What would Luke do? He didn't know. He was confused. There was a part that wanted to know his father, but there was another part that was repulsed by him. At the thought he had fallen to the Dark Side. He was ruling the Empire.
Luke's frustration boiled over quickly. That first night he tried to escape. But his room was indeed well built. The air vents were sealed shut. The door panels were well secured. Luke even tried breaking the window by throwing furniture at it.
"And what were you going to do once you broke the window?" Anakin had asked with a smile when he saw the carnage of the broken furniture. "Jump?" Luke hadn't thought that far ahead. His window was quite high up in the palace. He just wanted to be free. Away. Anakin walked up to his pouting son. "You know you could break this window. Quite easily with the power of the Force. Your emotions are strong. Let me complete your training. I can teach you the ways of the Force."
"You mean teach me the ways of the Dark Side?" Luke said as he glared at his father.
Luke then tried to attempt escaping while he was transit. Though it only took two attempts for Anakin to take precautionary measures.
"Stun cuffs?" Luke growled at Darth Vader as the Sith escorted Luke from his rooms.
"They wouldn't be needed if you just accepted your proper place by your father's side," Vader said in his deep voice.
Luke looked at the tall cyborg. He still wondered who he was. Ahsoka had only told Luke that Anakin Skywalker was betrayed and killed by a fellow Jedi named Vader. But according to Anakin and Vader, it was Ahsoka who tried to kill them. She had left the two to die while she took baby Luke away. What had actually happened? What was the real story?
As they approached the door, Vader and Luke stopped. Vader warned, "Luke, your father grows impatient. You will do well not to deny him any longer."
He should have listened to Vader's warning. Luke had no idea what his father had planned. He recalled waking up one day and running a hand absentmindedly through his hair. He was shocked to find it was no longer the long fringe. He raced to a mirror to see that his hair had been cut short in a military fashion.
Luke was in a fowl mood as he stormed from his bedroom into the sitting room of his suite. Anakin sat on a sofa there. His feet crossed and propped up on a table.
"You cut my hair!" Luke exclaimed as he stomped over to his father.
"You were in need of a more fitting look," Anakin said. "One that aligned more with that of a proper Imperial."
"I don't see your hair cut short," Luke said as he noted Anakin's long wavy hair.
"I am not in the public eye," Anakin said. "Or well if I am, I am doing it behind a red helmet."
"Public? I'm not going into the public!" Luke said.
A smile only grew across Anakin's face. He raised his eyebrows and nodded towards the holoprojector sitting on a table by the wall. A cold chill ran through Luke as he walked over and turned the projector on. At once the HoloNet came on with an Imperial newsfeed. Luke took a step back and gaped. It showed the Emperor giving a speech with Luke standing right next to him. He was in his new haircut and a black military-cut outfit with a black cape. The headline across the top of the page read, "Imperial successor announced: Prince Luke."
"What . . . What is this?" Luke demanded as he spun to face Anakin. "Who is that? I don't remember this!"
"That is you," Anakin said nodding at the holograph. "You just don't remember it."
Luke looked over his shoulder back at the screen. He felt the hairs on the back on his neck stand on in. Goosebumps ran down his arms. There was something cold growing deep inside his gut. It was slowly crawling up his back and clawing at his heart.
"You . . ." Luke said almost in a whisper. His throat was dry. He turned and looked back at Anakin. "What did you do? Did you . . . did you use me like you do the Emperor? Use me like some puppet?"
"You left me no choice, Luke," Anakin replied.
"No . . . no choice? So you completely took away my ability, my right, to choose?"
"You still have a choice," Anakin said evenly.
"For what? I don't want to be a prince!"
"You were always a prince. You were born a prince," Anakin said darkly. "You should have been a prince all your life instead of hidden away on that dustball planet from me. I only put things in their proper place. Not to mention . . ." Anakin paused as a twisted smile came across his face, "it should also help with your attempts to leave. I don't think the Alliance will be welcoming you back any time soon."
Dread pooled inside Luke as his looked at the smug look in Anakin's amber eyes. Luke clenched his fists by his side. He had to get away. He had to get back to the Alliance.
