An unfortunate blessing

By Mireille

02-01-01/2012

Previously: Vader managed to capture his son but Luke escaped from Executor before crashing on Myrkr. He became gravelly injured and Vader found him even as the Emperor turned against his traitorous servant. With Vader's help, Luke escaped the search parties and even received proper medical aid, but before he could be fit with a prosthetic leg, they were forced to once again hide into the forest. While moving around to avoid capture, father and son slowly bond over shared memories and revealed secrets, but not all revelations are pleasant.

Good afternoon everyone! First of all, thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story's last post! Your comments really mean a lot to me and I'm really happy that you enjoyed this last part as much as I had fun writing it

Thanks as well for the favorites and alerts. I still hope to one day hear your thoughts in more details :)

For everyone else, please, don't hesitate to share your thoughts :D The more I know people read and enjoy this fic, the more I want to post more ASAP and end up making time write more of it (sacrificing other activities or lesser responsibilities in the process ;P)

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to Lucasfilm and Disney. I'm only writing stories for fun.

Part 7: Of plan B and food

Two days later, around mid-day, they came within sight of Hylliard City. Like the rest of the forest around them, it appeared to be devoided of imperial presence, but both warriors knew better than to trust appearances.

Hence, they settled in the bushes and well under the cover of the trees, careful to remain out of sight while they carefully monitored the town's activities. Then, they patiently waited for something to happen.

For hours, they remained silent and monitored the distant city, using their rudimentary binoculars to see what the naked eye couldn't.

Unfortunately, with the exception of occasional movement here and there, it was quieter than a temple.

"I think that this place is even more boring than Anchorhead," Luke sighed while he nibbled at his once again tasteless lunch of ration bar. He distractedly scratched at his chin, which now bore the first stubbles of a light brown beard, while he surveyed their immediate surroundings, always wary for attackers.

Laid on his stomach beside him, Anakin continued to watch the deserted-looking town and frowned. "Far too many places could compete with one another in terms of boredom, Son. Still," he paused and turned to gaze directly at him, "backwater world or not, something just doesn't look right about this place. It definitely looked more alive last time we were here." He turned back around and ran another scan of the place before he put down the binocs and rose to a sitting position. "I doubt they evacuated the town," he observed quietly while he mentally ran through his knowledge of imperial procedures in situations such as theirs.

"Unless they killed everyone?.." Luke mumbled and visibly shuddered in dread.

Anakin knew that he was thinking of his guardians who had suffered that unfortunate fate at the hands of overeager stormtroopers. He rested a comforting hand on the nearest shoulder of the dejected child.

"No," he reassured the youth. "There would be no point in that action either. Besides, the inhabitants didn't collaborate with us in any way because they don't even know who we are. No," he concluded out loud, "when a search party is in doubt, the normal procedure is to leave a means of surveillance behind and to monitor the situation from a distance."

"What kind of surveillance are we talking about?" the young rebel inquired, turning toward him with eyes that showed his own attempt to analyze the situation in light of this insight into the enemy's mind.

"It can range from mere recording devices to a squad of troopers and their complement."

Luke's shoulders slumped a little at the mention of the latter option. "So… what would you have left here if you were in command?"

Although Vader was a part of the past for them both, and that Anakin was now extra careful about his bad temper, there was no denying who he used to be, or even the tactical genius that he still was despite his change of allegiance.

He was simply fortunate that Luke was able to accept both parts of his history. That way, they could take advantage of his skills and knowledge born of twenty-one years spent as the Empire's second-in-command, yet they weren't constantly dealing with the horrors that were also implicit with any mention or thought of those years he had wasted serving evil.

"Devices," Ani answered confidently. "Given our Forceless status, they can catch us with only the collaboration of local enforcers, or even stun traps where they would merely have to collect us; we would have no way of avoiding the danger of the traps. If the Emperor is behind their orders, like I suspect he is, then he will have passed on the information about my powerless state while on this planet. He wouldn't want my former troops to fear a confrontation with me if they managed to find me."

"Of course, so that means that the city is as good as off limits," Luke concluded, disgruntled.

"It never was my target anyway," Ani shrugged quietly. "I've been watching the movement of ships and speeders… and they are eerily absent of the picture here."

"No doubt they were confiscated as well," Luke replied before he resumed his tasteless lunch.

Seeing him eating awakened Ani's own hunger. However, unlike his son, his meals were now composed of his nutrient pills; they simply didn't have enough ration bars left for the two of them if they were to last for a while longer in the forest. Since his body was used to the pills that had fed him more often than not throughout the past two decades, he could easily revert to them without suffering any side effect whereas the same wasn't guaranteed if the boy were to rely on them. Whether their efficiency was due to their tailored manufacturing or the fact that Ani's biological body was reduced to about half of what it used to be, the fact was that since they had perfectly served him during his servitude, they would also prove useful here, during his escape from said servitude.

It also allowed his son to eat a little more per meal than he would have if they had had to share the remaining ration bars.

"Did you really eat only those since your surgery?" The child inquired while he watched him insert a few nutrient pills into the chest plate of his suit.

The first time that Luke had seen that particular procedure, he had balked in horror and had argued that they could continue to share the ration bars. When Ani had retorted with a stark refusal to eat what could save the boy's life while he once again ressorted to his usual pills, Luke had stated adamantly that he would rather remain hungry than watch him lower himself back to his previous dependance on yet another cruel means of control that had been cleverly devised by Sidious.

Although deeply touched by his son's compassion about his physical limitations, Anakin had still refused to reconsider his decision and had finished inserting the three pills into the reinforced tube that was carefully tucked behind his breast plate and that went straight into his stomach.

He had then resealed the small conduct, just like he had countless times since his surgery.

Surgery. It was how they had taken to describing the physical transformation that had resulted from his defeat on Mustafar. It wasn't an accident anymore – for it hadn't been - and it wasn't a reason to hate Obi-Wan by constantly referring only to their duel that should have never taken place. The surgery, however, was the moment when he had been forced to undergo the drastic reconstruction of his body that had erased any visible trace of his former self.

That was the true step that had bereft him of ever living normally ever again.

Worse, the operation hadn't healed him as much as transformed him into a cyborg that only retained basic biological functions. It had been a machiavellian design that had worked flawlessly to ensure his indentured loyalty and service forever after.

So, in the end, it wasn't any less pleasant now to refer to this chain of events than before they had chosen that expression, but it allowed him to confront the truth without antagonizing himself further than he already was about the involved parties.

Besides, he couldn't desire Palpatine's agonizing death anymore than he already did, so there was no need to stoke that particular blaze of dangerous hatred with more negative feelings.

He refocused his attention on his son and finally answered his question about his usual feeding regimen as Vader.

"When I finally had time to retire to my private rooms for reasons other than sleep or meditation, I could pressurize my dining room enough to be able to remove my mask and eat a real meal. However, the occasions were few and far in between, mostly because I didn't care much about anything else but my duty to the Emperor or, later on, my desperate search for you."

"Even though you were one of the most powerful men known to the galaxy, you truly were living in a prison. I never would have thought..."

"And I never realized the truth of it until I lost you after Bespin."

"What suddenly made you see your invisible bonds for what they were?" The boy inquired, quietly captivated by his father's new revelation.

"It was when I realized that if I ever brought you in like I had been planning so far, I would lose you once again, the real you. That reminded me of how slave children in Mos Espa were regularly separated from their parents merely because their owners sold them for a profit, the children never to be seen again. It suddenly occurred to me that if Palpatine could claim you without worrying about my will regarding you, as I knew he would, then I could only be a slave… again. From this moment on, everything became clear to me and, although I was still very much tainted by the Dark Side and its influences, I was adamant to protect you from him. I would not let Palpatine destroy my son's life the way he had destroyed his mother's and mine. He would not enslave my child like he had me."

Luke was watching his father intently while he retold the moment of his epiphany, his heart wrenched in his chest at the mention of what Palpatine had truly done to his father - how he had turned him into the frightening pawn that he required. When the eyes of the larger man began to shine with unshed tears, he could only rest his right hand on his father's left arm.

"It's all right, Father. You're free now, and we will eliminate his threat forever."

When Anakin shifted closer and pulled him up against his side and in the crook of his left arm, Luke didn't resist and leaned further in, wrapping his arms around his father's chest. "It's so messed up, Son. I was so stupid, and arrogant, and naïve... I should have listened to Obi-Wan and Padme... I should have listened to the Jedi's warnings about the Sith. I should have known that I was making a deal with the devil and that it could never end well for any of my loved ones."

"Father," Luke tightened his arms around him a little more.

"I'm so very sorry, Son. I can never say it often enough, yet it is completely pointless after everything I've done... How can you forgive me so easily?" He asked and pushed him just far enough to look him in the eyes. "I hurt you so much."

Luke gazed deeply in his father's blue eyes that were identical to his own. "Because it's the only thing that I can do, Father. Holding a grudge against you would only keep us apart for a longer while, and for what? For a past that can't be altered? I know that you have changed and that's what matters the most to me. I have found my father, and he returned for me. What more could I ask for?" he smiled wanly and leaned back against his father's strong side.

He could never get enough of this close physical contact with the man he had yearned for all his life. In his arms, he felt safe, right at home, and like a little child once again, uncaring about everything that went wrong in the galaxy.

Not even Uncle Owen had ever held him like that.

Anakin was too relieved by his answer to complain and resumed holding him to himself in a hug- when a loud electronic shriek startled them both.

They swiftly pulled apart and turned their heads in the direction of the city they had been observing, and Anakin cursed in Hutteese, coming up with a string of expressions that Luke had never heard before.

"What is it?" he asked, scanning the city and failing to find the reason for the strange noise that they had heard.

"They installed an isolation shield all around the clearing."

More Hutteese swearing that tugged Luke's lips into a smirk of amusement at his father's discomfiture. He really had a bad mouth about him, which was not something he had ever envisioned when thinking of the always regal and overconfident Dark Lord of the Sith.

"There's no leaving the area and no ship can land or take-off for as long as it is in place... No wonder that there's no traffic."

Luke was horrified by that revelation. "But... but what about the people and their needs forsupplies?... They can't just condemn them to starvation because of... of a potential escapee! It's inhuman."

He had heard of such devices, of course, but never of them used against innocent civilians.

Now that he knew what he was dealing with, Anakin resumed his scan of the area and located the control device of the shield. He breathed with more ease after he read the details of the timer. "It is only set to last a month or so. It is a long-enough delay to discourage anyone outside of it from waiting for its turning off, yet short enough that with a little rationing, the citizens will hold out just fine." He then spotted familiar containers and turned to reassure his still upset son. "They left them supplies for more than a month, Son. They will be fine."

"But we won't be... What now?"

Ani rose to his knees and began packing their gear. "We search for another ship. There are smugglers and small operations on this planetoid. We only need find one and borrow one of their ships.

"That could take a while, though, and the rations are dwindling rapidly, even with you leaving them to me. How will we survive once we're out of those?"

"I'll hunt for your meals... And hope that we find sooner than later what we're looking for."

"Oh," Luke retorted sheepishly. "Right. I guess I'm so used to being the prey now that I forgot the basic rule of survival: find food wherever you can."

"Yes, and nature is what feeds the galaxy, even though we rarely recognize its original form anymore once it appears in our plates."

"Yeah… but I'm not eating vornsk. They don't look appetizing in any way and with their tail being poisonous, there's no telling if they are even edible."

"Pity," Anakin commented and turned his teasing gaze toward his son. "They would be easy to find and kill with us acting as bait."

"Fa-ther!" the boy strongly protested with a grimace, purposefully separating each syllable to enhance the seriousness of his rebuttal. "Ewwww."

The older Skywalker smirked as much at his son's discomfiture as he did at the irony of their situation.

Undoubtedly, the Force was having a blast at their expanse; they just couldn't Feel its chortling in amusement because of their current location in the vast galaxy.

Less than half-an-hour later, they were once again disappearing in the undergrowth of the forest, searching anew for a means to escape the planet that, while cutting them off from the rest of the galaxy, also brought them closer as a family.

Little did they suspect how important this time of bonding would prove once they left the Forceless planetoid.

TBC

Well? How was that? What did you think of their particular topics for this part? Or Luke's reaction to eating Vornsk ;P Anything else to share with me?

Have a great week-end everyone, and remember, reviews are very precious gifts all year long :) They are also a great incentive to post more and faster than I might ;P (hint hint ? ;P) Given my busy schedule, it will probably not be soon, but with the proper encouragements… miracles can happen and give me more time to write faster ;P