Note: So sorry I haven't replied to reviews yet. I'll do so this afternoon, but lunch starts in two minutes and I wanted to get this up. Smiles!
Lou.
Luke froze as he came over the hill. Before he even spotted the dark figure, he knew that something was wrong. Very wrong. Screaming in his ears about being wrong.
And then he saw.
Darth Vader.
Darth Vader was standing in front of Padmé Amidala's grave.
The man who had killed his father was standing in front of his mother's grave.
He reacted on instinct.
-
They'd walked into a trap. Han knew it as soon as they cleared the hill and he saw Vader. They had somehow walked completely into a trap.
In the case of Luke, they appeared about to run directly into the center of the trap. As the kid sprang forward, Han grabbed his arm, pulling both him and Leia behind a mouldering stone wall.
"What are you doing?" hissed Leia. Luke didn't respond.
Han glanced wildly back down the street. No Imps. They might have a chance if they ran now.
Luke chose that moment to speak. "What is he doing here?" He wasn't bothering to keep his voice down.
"Waiting for us," muttered Han. "C'mon, we can make it if we-"
"What is he doing here?"
This was great. Insane. Luke had gone insane. Han was relieved that Leia had grabbed his friend's other shoulder, because the kid still looked like he was going to attack. "Luke, you need to-"
"He has no right to be here."
Okay, then. Not only were they going to have to run back to the Falcon while dodging Imperials, they were probably going to have to do it while keeping Luke from screaming out their position.
Man, I wish Chewie were here.
That thought came at a very unlucky time. While Han considered how much easier his copilot could make this sort of situation, Luke continued to lose his self control.
Vader had killed Ben. He'd killed his father. His Empire had killed Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.
And now he was standing at Padmé Amidala's grave as if he had some sort of right to be there, as if he was going to kill her too, was going to take every little bit of family away from Luke-
Without thinking much about it, Luke stood up.
Thinking even less about it, Luke drew Anakin Skywalker's saber from his belt.
And thinking not at all, Luke yelled something incomprehensible at the top of his lungs and vaulted over the wall.
-
The kid had gone insane.
-
The sound of the yell was almost immediately followed to Vader's ears by the familiar sound of a lightsaber igniting. Being a familiar sound did not mean it was an expected sound, of course.
Here. The Jedi- they had killed her- daring to challenge him here, of all the accursed places in the galaxy.
Vader spun unwillingly to face the intruder.
A boy. That was surprising, he supposed. Not an old enemy of the sort who still popped up from time to time. A new enemy.
At most times, he would have relished this challenge, a hunt for whoever had trained the boy- he was too young looking to have been a Padawan before the Temple fell- and a chance to get in some decent fighting as opposed to the mindless, endless routines of commanding a ship of people he wished would all die but could not kill all at once.
Right now, he just wanted the annoyance gone. Dead, and gone, and forgotten.
These thoughts had very little time to flash through his mind before the enemy let out another yell. "Get away from her!"
Of all things the boy could have said to seal his fate, that was probably near the top of the list. Vader did not deign to answer, merely flicking on his own lightsaber and taking a few steps forward.
The boy was holding his own saber all wrong, titled at a useless angle for defense.
The boy was holding Anakin Skywalker's saber.
-
Luke's thoughts returned to him about at the time Darth Vader drew his lightsaber.
Oh, shavit.
He was in way over his head now. This was why High Command hadn't wanted to let him go. As the Sith strode towards him, Luke's thoughts swirled in a mix of fear and anger. He was about to die. Of his own recklessness. And he would never avenge his father and never know who his mother was and…
Vader raised a hand. The Force tugged at the weapon in Luke's hand, threatening to send the hilt spiraling out of his hand and towards Vader. Stubbornly, Luke clung to it. Stay.
Vader's fist clenched, and Luke's knuckles whitened around the saber hilt.
He was going to die, and Han and Leia were going to die, and High Command was going to be so mad…
Vader spoke. "Give me that, boy, and your death will be quick."
"No," said Luke. His throat was dry with fear, and the word came out as much more of a squeak than he would have liked. "No," he repeated, braver this time.
"I do not give second chances." But the dark lord didn't step forward again. He paused, almost as if considering something, and when he spoke again seconds later, it was in a horrible tone. "You're the one."
Luke said nothing, adjusting his stance slightly. What did he mean?
"That pilot." Apparently being about to die meant you were not worthy of explanations. What pilot? Did he mean the Death Star?
He had to mean the Death Star. Kriff.
Apparently Luke's sudden appearance of panic was all Vader needed for confirmation. "Kenobi." Even in Vader's mechanical voice, the word was spat. "Kenobi trained you, didn't he, Rebel?" Two steps forward. He was now maybe five feet away from Luke.
It would have been lightsaber range had Luke been capable of that level of thought at the moment. How much did Vader know?
"And he gave you that." Another step forward.
Luke found his voice again at that line, with a sudden surge of courage. "My father-" he said. It was more difficult to talk than usual. There was pressure on his throat, though whether it was through the Force or his own terror he couldn't tell. "My father wanted me to have it."
And that gave him another rush of courage. He was about to die. He knew that, and it scared him. But, stang it all, he was not going to die without answers. He had spent too long searching for family, and he was not going to die without answers.
Vader froze again for a brief second. "It was not his to give away."
Luke, furious now, managed to combine most of his questions and a good deal of his defiance into his next statement. "It was Anakin Skywalker's saber, I am Anakin Skywalker's son, and get away from my mother's grave."
Behind the two, Han's fist met his forehead in exasperation, and Leia clenched her fist around a rock as if hoping to crush it.
But Darth Vader didn't make a move as Luke Skywalker walked calmly around him, hoping his luck would hold.