Author's Note: Alright! Here we go, now we're getting into some action, primarily with Vader at first, but branching out to touch Luke at some point! The story will most certainly be venturing into the realm of plausible canon AU right now, as in it could have happened in the time between Episode V and VI. But...after this, it will be definitively AU. SO! Bear with me here, it's going to be a bumpy ride!


Amenofis: Thank you!

Froovygirl: I'm glad you liked the last line, haha! Thank you!

IntelEwok: Finals might be slowing updates down a bit, so I apologize in advance. Sorry! But I hope you like it and keep reading!

Alderaan Girl: Thank you!


Disclaimer: Not mine.


Four


Up until Bespin, I had not understood, really, how others acted and reacted to the ones they loved. Luke tried to save his friends, and it failed. I do not see how he cannot understand that the only way to save anyone is through the Dark Side. I suppose, however, that his friends' adoration of him, which made me afraid in one way, comforted me in another. For I was confused in my mind, sometimes thinking of what the Emperor would do to him if he couldn't be turned, and sometimes of what his friends would do if they knew I was his father.


The lights had long been shut off in the hyperbaric chamber. Without the dreadful mask, there was no noise, aside from the soft hiss of the vents filtering air. Vader was alone with the darkness. Alone with his thoughts.

Again.

It had been a few weeks since Bespin, nearly a month, now. He had spent every day venting his frustrations on his men, his enemies, and even entire planet systems with new laws and demands to be met. And, finally, most of the anger that had turned his vision red had drained out, leaving just the darkness, confusion, and endless, maddening questions. Power was all he Luke would have needed to save his friends. Power from the Dark Side. And Vader had seen the traces of the Dark Side in him. Felt it. The anger, the spite, the fear. It had all been there. Luke would be a superb Sith apprentice, just as the Emperor had foreseen.

Vader leaned back with a heavy sigh, letting his eyes drift shut. The waves of sleep and exhaustion he had staved off for so long threatened to overcome him. It was only moments until sleep overtook him.

As per usual, sleep didn't grant him any relief from the horrors of life.

Haunting fragments of a life that no longer existed floated before his eyes. Sand, dust, dirt. Running, racing, flying. Panic, running, escaping. Angels and demons. Saints and sinners.

Padmé screaming.

Vader jerked from his deep sleep, but couldn't pull himself into awareness. Despite how desperately he wanted to escape the realm of terrors, something kept him trapped just out of reach of the memories.

He felt himself floating out, away from his mind. An experience he likened to those Force-awful times Obi-Wan forced him to meditate in the temple, on the starships, or anywhere his Master decided to inflict torture. Former master. A voice somewhere distant nagged him, but he paid it no heed. At the edge of his reality, he sensed a powerful presence, lingering, waiting, almost inviting him to come. He ventured closer. The presence grew.

Luke.

A trill of excitement rushed through Vader at that. A way to contact his son! He could feel the dark amusement bubbling up in him. Luke would never be able to resist the awesome power of the Dark Side, now. He would be able to constantly talk to him, reassure him, convince him that the Dark Side of the Force would be the only way to truly be free and save those you care about. Eager to bring his son to his rightful place – by his father's side – he reached out along to the presence.

/Luke? Can you hear me, my son?/

The reaction was immediate. Shields unlike any Vader had encountered in the boy slammed up, the boy's entire being recoiling from him.

Vader froze.

/Luke, listen to me. You must listen to me./

There was no reply. The shields refused to budge, but he could feel every emotion radiating out from the boy's Force presence. He dismissed all the confusion and hatred quickly, letting it go, and tried to make contact again.

And then his son took him by surprise yet again.

There was a fear unlike any he had experienced. It wasn't a fear of loss, or dying. Not a fear of leaving loved ones behind, or starting over. It was a fear with an explicit, singular source. A source with a black cape that breathed with the help of a respirator.

Vader jerked back.

His son was...

Was...

Terrified. Of him. Of his father.

Oh, Force, what have I –

Vader's own shields slammed down. Skywalker was dead. The imbecile was dead!

Cold fury rose up in his chest. The slight bit of conflict –

There was no conflict. There was only the Dark Side. There was only the Dark Side of the Force. The foolish Jedi had never known the extent of the power that it had given him. The power to save everyone, protect everyone.

So why is –

Vader awoke with a start, feeling remorseless as the Force slammed into the sides of the chamber. The helmet clamped around his head and he gave not a care as his fury blasted the hyperbaric chamber apart. The snarl he gave came out as a hiss through the vocoder. His foolish offspring would soon have no choice but to reconcile the so-called 'hero' Anakin Skywalker' with who his father was meant to be; Darth Vader.

After all, it was as the Emperor had foreseen.


Short chapter, I know, I'm sorry! Please review, and thank you for reading!