Prompt: "Hi! Here's my prompt: (Allegiance-verse) Vader comes back from a meeting pretty late and when he enters his room he gets "attacked" (hugged) by Luke who had a nightmare and now he just needs to be comforted."
Just as a disclaimer, I don't think this is something that will specifically happen in Allegiance, but in spirit it's something that could happen, and something similar might, depending on how everything plays out.
I also took "meeting" to mean "conversation with the Emperor" because I needed a reason for Vader's shields to be locked down so tightly he couldn't feel the turmoil in Luke's mind from the nightmare.
This is the last of the Father's Day fics!
The Emperor's blue-cast image flickered out of existence, and Vader bit back a sigh of relief. Regardless of whatever else the Emperor wanted or was angry about, a conversation that didn't include a demand for Luke to be brought before him was a successful conversation. Vader knew it was only a matter of time before the Emperor grew too impatient, or too suspicious, and decided to turn Luke himself. It wasn't a matter of if but when, and all he could hope was that that day didn't come until he and Luke were ready to fight the Emperor and have a chance of winning.
Vader stood, gritting his teeth at aching muscles, and stumbled off the holopad. He waited a moment for the pain in his joints to subside, finally allowing himself to acknowledge the burning anger ignited by the Emperor's treatment of him. He always left him kneeling for far too long, needlessly, delighting in his apprentice's agony and inability to stop it.
Once he was able to stand without the fear of his legs buckling under him, he left his comm suite and headed for Luke's quarters. Luke was always nervous during Vader's conversations with the Emperor, and even though it was late, far later than Luke should be up, Vader wanted to reassure him that everything was fine.
He was barely through the door connecting their quarters when Luke, who was clearly pacing his office and currently at the far end of the room, launched himself at him, arms wrapping around him tightly. Vader staggered back a step from the impact.
"Luke?"
His son buried his face in Vader's shoulder, clutching at him even tighter, and fear stabbed at Vader's chest. Even with Luke's inclination toward initiating physical contact between them, this behavior was odd.
"Are you alright?" He placed his hands on Luke's shoulders and attempted to push him back, to get a look at him, make certain he wasn't hurt, but Luke clung to him, and Vader quickly gave up. Instead, he hesitantly wrapped his own arms around Luke and felt Luke relax a little at the touch.
Luke nodded. "I'm fine," he said, "I just…" Luke took a trembling breath, and it required all of Vader's minimal self-control to wait for Luke to continue on his own. The delay was enough to make Vader's fear mingle with the anger leftover from his treatment by his Master. If someone had dared to hurt his son… His right hand clenched into a fist where it rested against Luke's side. Luke inhaled sharply, and Vader relaxed his hand.
"I had a dream that I… that I killed you," Luke mumbled into the cloth of Vader's cape. His voice was shaky, broken, and it cut off into a sob.
Vader's arms tightened convulsively around his son, and he closed his eyes, cursing whatever it was in the Skywalker blood that made them prone to nightmares.
"Luke -"
Luke shuddered and cut him off, his words tumbling over each other. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I swear, no matter what Obi-Wan says, I would never -"
"Luke," Vader said quietly, ignoring the flare of hatred at the mention of his former master and his machinations. He moved one hand to rest it against the back of Luke's head, and Luke fell silent.
"There is no need to apologize." Vader cautiously lowered his shields, which were still up from his conversation with the Emperor and were, Vader realized, the reason he had not felt his son's distress during and after the nightmare. Now his mind was assaulted by Luke's horror and shame as it flooded their bond. Vader sent a wave of reassurance over the bond, trying to soothe the turmoil in his son's mind. It worked marginally.
"You just stood there. You didn't defend yourself, and I didn't stop!" Vader's insides froze at the pain in Luke's voice. This was the root of Luke's fear, and Vader could never fully assuage it.
"It was nothing more than a nightmare." He gently stroked Luke's hair and felt his son relax at the calming gesture. He wanted to reassure Luke that it would never happen, that dreams were nothing more than dreams, and even that he would never allow Luke to kill him, but he had made a vow to never lie to the boy, so he chose a different tact, even if it was a decision he disapproved of.
"Did you not tell me, when I first retrieved you from the Subjugator, that you would choose your own death over killing me?"
Luke nodded against his shoulder. "I still would. I always will." Vader's heart lurched, though its physical beating remained steady as always, at Luke's reaffirmation. Part of him wanted to shake the boy, make him see the folly of his decision and take it back, somehow prove to him that Vader's life wasn't worth his and never would be, but managed to shove those thoughts away and focus back in on what Luke needed in this moment.
"Then you have nothing to be afraid of." He hesitated for a moment, and then lost the battle against his desire to impress upon Luke the importance of his own life. "But then I, on the other hand, do."
"What?" Luke pulled away from him and tilted his head back to meet Vader's gaze.
"Do you think I would prefer to outlive you?" Vader asked softly. He brushed his hand against Luke's cheek, and Luke leaned into the touch, closing his eyes.
"No," he whispered. They stood for a moment, allowing the truth of that to settle around them, and then Luke looked up at Vader again. His eyes, though somewhat unfocused due to the moisture in them, seemed to pierce straight to Vader's soul, and he found himself unable to speak for several breaths. Luke saw him with more clarity than anyone else ever had, even more than she had, and sometimes Vader thought he could break under the compassionate weight of that gaze.
"Then clearly the only option is for both of us to survive," Luke said after a long moment, and it was enough to shake Vader out of whatever stupor he had fallen into. Luke gave him a small but genuine smile, and Vader could see the effort it took Luke to calm himself, to release his fear into the Force.
"That would be best," Vader agreed. It was over-simplistic, and Vader knew there was no way to guarantee that outcome, but he also knew he would do everything in his power to prevent either of their deaths. If he lost Luke now, he would have nothing to live for, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he followed his son. He had clung to the ghost of his friendship with Palpatine and his sense of misplaced duty after Mustafar, but he would never be able to return to that state of apathy. Luke had reawoken something within him that could not be put back to sleep. And even though he was able to admit to himself that he would gladly die in his son's stead if it was required, if he died before his Master did, he would be unable to protect Luke, and that was unacceptable to him.
"How did your conversation with the Emperor go?"
Vader stared at Luke, gauging whether changing the subject would really help Luke or if reassurances were still needed. But Luke's eyes were wide and pleading, and his apprehension grew the longer Vader hesitated to answer his question.
"We still have time," Vader finally said. "He does not seem to be anticipating us moving against him and has not yet demanded you be brought to him."
Luke sighed, some of the tension dropping out of his shoulders, and rubbed his hands over his face. "Good. I'm not looking forward to that."
"Nor am I, but I will make sure you are prepared before you have to face him, and you will never have to fight him alone." Vader took a step forward and reached out to place his hand on Luke's back, guiding him back towards his bedroom. Luke gave him a sheepish look when he yawned.
Vader hovered in the doorway as Luke straightened his sheets, which had been kicked half off the bed. Luke did not reply until after he had gotten himself settled on his bed, sitting up with his legs tucked under him.
"Can we defeat him?" he asked quietly. He did not look at Vader as he spoke, distracting himself by pulling at a loose thread on the hem of his shirt.
Vader watched him for a long moment, waiting until Luke's hands stilled and he glanced up at him. Then he moved forward and brushed Luke's hair away from his face. He gently pushed him down with a hand on his shoulder, and Luke didn't fight him.
"Sleep, little one."
"Father?"
Vader turned away. There were so many things he wanted to say - empty reassurances, echoes of his promises on Bespin, things a father should say to ease his child's mind - and truths that were probably important for him to say - that there was no way to guarantee it, the Emperor would always be strong enough to be a threat to them, even working together - but he could bring himself to say none of it.
Instead, he turned back to Luke, placed a hand on his forehead to help the Force lull him to sleep, and murmured, "We can only try."
