Chapter 2: He's My Son

At this, Luke took a step back from the wraith and nearly lost his balance in the process. "No," he finally said, feverishly shaking his head. "My father is dead- he was killed by a Sith named Darth Vader- you are just a ghost or shape shifter come to haunt me!"

"I was Darth Vader, my son," Anakin said unblinkingly though he seemed hurt by Luke's accusation.

Horror filled Luke's being but he found that he could not walk away from the disturbing person.

"Who told you that?" the stranger asked curtly, anger flashing in his bright blue eyes. For a minute, Luke didn't doubt that the man who called himself his father had once been a dangerous Sith Lord.

Under the heaviness of the older man's gaze, Luke looked down at his feet in shame. "A very wise old man," he finally admitted.

"Obi-Wan," the man breathed.

Luke gasped and snapped his head up. "You knew Crazy Ben Kenobi?" A flush spread across his face at this harmless slip.

A ghost of a smile spread across Anakin's face. "Let's just say that, even though I might have called him that, though I never said it to his face." As he took a small step forward, such light was cast on his features so that Luke could better see him.

But this was not foremost on Luke's mind anymore- he was only too well realizing the horrible truth though his heart didn't want to accept it. He just couldn't.

"He was my Master and dear friend."

"You can't be," Luke murmured. "You're dead!"

At this, Anakin laughed in such a way that sent shivers up Luke's spine, made even creepier by his startling appearance. "I am as good as dead, Luke."

"But Ben- Obi-Wan- said that…"

"There are a good many things that he did not know," his father said sadly. Fully stepping out of the shadows, Anakin began to pace about Luke with his hands clasped behind his back though the other man noticed his limp. "I should have been dead- what happened to me would have killed any other being." Another uneasy smile crossed his face, more bittersweet than heartfelt. "Sidious offered me all that I had lost if…" he said, putting an emphasis on the word 'if', "if I consented to be his slave for the next twenty years."

"You gave in," Luke spat bitterly, feeling an odd resentment to the man who had fathered him.

"I did, but not willingly," Anakin said defensively, holding up a charred finger. "I soon realized the folly of my hasty decision and eventually turned my own blade against my ruined flesh." He hung his head while the horrorstruck Luke watched on. "These were my quarters, and I was to haunt here until a living being discovered me, the one I had chosen."

"That's why this ship was abandoned," Luke finally managed to say in a weak voice. "You killed yourself-"

"Only to escape my torment. I became one with the Force," Anakin whispered, his ragged cloak brushing against Luke, "but the memories of what I did and what I had left behind haunted me. I was a cursed spirit, never to be at peace. "

"But if you were one with the Force, surely…"

"I had lost her."

Confused, Luke didn't say anything.

Seeing the puzzlement in his son's eyes, Anakin whispered, "Your mother, my angel."

This only dumbfounded Luke. Darth Vader, the Sith who slaughtered without mercy, had loved a person so deeply?

"Palpatine had taken her away from me, and the Force forbade us to be reunited," Anakin spat bitterly. "Cursed, I had to for an eternity endure that I could never see her beautiful face again."

"That's… cruel," Luke offered lamely.

Anakin nodded. "A suffering of the worst kind. For the rest of eternity, I shall neither be able to see nor feel her." His eyes flitted shut and he took a deep breath as if he smelled her sweet aroma. "I know she's there, watching me… but I can't feel her, not even in the Force."

"Come back with me!" Luke cried out a bit impulsively.

Surprise showed on the older man's face. "Go back with you?" he echoed. "I only wanted to see you- for her. I never wanted you to see me… like this," Anakin said in a haunted voice, already slithering back into the shadows.

"No!" Luke cried out. In a moment of desperation, he reached out and grabbed Anakin's broad shoulder.

Instantly, the other man stopped at this contact and stared down at where his son's hand still rested. "I can't," he whispered. "I'll bring with me a suffering that you cannot…"

"But I'd have a father," Luke whispered, not loosening his hold but stepping closer to the former Sith. "I know that's what you want, Father."

In an act that shocked Luke, Anakin hung his head. "There is one little thing that I didn't tell you… your mother sent me here to make peace, and after doing so, I would be allowed a momentary glimpse at her if I succeeded." Here, his voice choked. "By leaving this ship, I would forfeit that blessed chance."

"Please!" Luke begged, dangerously close to losing the one thing he'd always wanted- not a new speeder or new holo game, but a parent. "It is not fair- you got to have her for many years but I just met you and you would rather be with her than me! I am sure that was not what Mother would have wanted!"

Beneath Luke's fingers, Anakin's body stiffened in shock.

The man turned around sadly, but Luke was greeted not with the sight of charred flesh but the handsome face of his Jedi father. "Yes, I am sure of that too."

With Luke leading the way, father and son strode out of the room towards whatever fate awaited them.

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Coming Next: Luke tries to bond with his father by begging to hear about his past. Warning-extrememly AU territory ahead. After the third post, many of the following ones will be a flashback from Anakin's troubled past.