CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Padmé was not entirely happy with Anakin's decision to allow the children to stay at the ball field while she waited anxiously back at home, wondering where in the world her twins were.
When they returned it was late in the day and the sun had already set. The Numans had left as soon as their daughter was returned to them, promising to visit the Naberries again after the New Year.
Luke and Ryoo—covered in mud and sweat after several vigorous games of extreme smashball—were immediately sent to the refreshers to get cleaned up before dinner. Jobal and Sola prepared the food while Anakin and Darred set the table.
"It's a good thing Luke is warming up to us," Darred said to his brother-in-law, "I think he actually likes his stay here."
Anakin chuckled, "I think he likes it here more than Coruscant."
"More of a reason for you to move back." Sola said, joining the conversation as she stepped into the dining room to deliver a plate of steaming hot food to the table.
"Mmm," Darred closed his eyes, inhaling the aroma. "Bantha roast. My favorite."
Members of the extended family gradually took their places at the table, waiting for the others before they began eating. The last to join were Luke and Ryoo.
"Finally," Pooja exclaimed, annoyed with her sister for her actions earlier today.
Ryoo paid her no mind and immediately set out to pile food on her plate. Luke followed suit as he realized he was famished from the day's activities.
"There's going to be a severe snow storm tomorrow night." Ruwee said, starting the conversation of the dinner. "If we want to arrive at the lake house in one piece before the sun sets, our best bet is to leave at dawn."
Ryoo let out an audible groan.
"What now, Ryoo?" Pooja asked, annoyed.
"We have to wake up early?" Ryoo complained.
Ruwee just chuckled without answering.
The next few days were like nothing Luke had ever experienced. The lake house was a white wonderland. The large estate's rolling green fields were covered with snow all over. The kids ended up doing everything Leia had talked about at dinner that one night: skiing, snowboarding, and ice-skating on the lake.
The Naberrie estate at the lake was wide and spacious, so any neighbors that lived in the area were far and spread-out. Nevertheless, this didn't stop Luke and Ryoo from organizing the biggest snowball battle Varykino has ever seen. There were at least a dozen people on each team, including parents and adults. The rivaling "armies" built forts out of snow and pelted each other with the best crafted ice balls each team could make.
Luke couldn't think of a time he had ever been happier.
The sun peeped through the curtains at the window, filling the spacious room that Luke had all to himself with the early light of the morning. It had been two days that the Skywalker-Naberrie clan had been at Lake Varykino. Luke sat up in his bed, looking at the covered window. He stretched out his hand and waved it, using the Force to draw the curtains to the side. The sun was still rising, casting an orange glow that melted into the fading nighttime's purple.
Luke threw his legs over the side of the bed and got up, heading towards the refresher. Once he got ready and everything, he came back out to his bedroom to find Anakin waiting for him, sitting on his bed. He looked up at his son and patted to a seat next to him on the bed.
"Good morning, Luke."
Luke sat down next to his father, "What are you doing up so early?"
Anakin raised an eyebrow, "I'm always up this early. What are you doing up so early?"
Luke shrugged and looked out at the window.
After a moment of silence, Anakin spoke again. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
He was talking about Naboo's natural beauty. Luke only shrugged again.
"I guess you're more of a city person though, huh?" Anakin said quietly.
"Naboo is very…nice." Luke responded awkwardly, uncomfortable with all this small-talk.
"Don't worry," Anakin said, more cheerfully. "We'll be back on Coruscant soon enough, and then you can start your training."
Luke's eyebrows shot up and he looked up at his father, his eyes angry. "I told you," he said in a low voice, "I'm not becoming a Jedi."
Anakin took a deep breath and looked away, pursing his lips sternly. "I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter."
His tone was cold. Luke just scowled at him and jumped off of the bed, turning to Anakin. "I won't. I'll put up a fight, anything, to resist you. I won't become a Jedi. I, I can't."
Anakin shot up from the bed too, walking up closer to his son so that he was towering over him.
"Oh yeah?" he goaded, getting frustrated. "You'd rather be a Sith instead?"
"Why does it always have to be one or the other?!" Luke asked, exasperated. "Isn't there such a thing as being neutral?"
"No! Luke, listen…" Anakin said, putting his hands on his son's shoulders as he bored into his eyes.
"Why do you think Vader did what he did?"
Luke frowned, looking up into Anakin's eyes.
"Why do you think he took you away from us? Did you think it was coincidental? Did you think you were just chosen at random?"
Luke's frown deepened, "No—"
"Of course not!" Anakin said, letting go of his grasp on Luke. "You were chosen because of me! He took you because of me, because of your genes. Luke, you were born special. Vader knew this and he didn't want you to be trained by me, as a Jedi. He knew you'd be a threat."
Luke looked away from Anakin, still scowling.
Anakin's voice became softer, "He was more concerned with removing you from me than he was bent on training you as his apprentice."
Luke took a deep breath and looked out of the window again. He wished Anakin would just go away already. Luke made it clear that he didn't want to be a Jedi. Everything Anakin was telling him now only made Luke feel worse.
Anakin ran a hand through his hair and looked down, sighing. His tone became softer, "Listen, Luke, I know nothing I say makes it better. But I'm sorry. I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry I couldn't fix it when I had the chance. This is all my fault."
Luke continued looking out the window, a trace of his scowl still in his eyes.
Anakin patted Luke's back. Luke watched him as he left his room, but Anakin turned back around before going out the door, "By the way, happy birthday."
Luke was very much surprised with Anakin's last comment.
He was always aware of when his birthday came around, though he often tried to forget about it. Birthdays were nothing more than an insignificant reminder that he had spent another full year living in his own personal hell. The best present he probably ever received was on the twelfth anniversary of his birth into this world, a lovely broken arm courtesy of Lord Vader.
Now Luke was fourteen, and though his twelve-year-old days were not too far behind him, they felt like light-years away.
Everywhere he turned, family members came to kiss and hug him and wish him a wonderful birthday.
He didn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal about his and Leia's birthday. Leia received all this attention as if it was expected, but Luke thought it was just out of the ordinary.
Perhaps it was the fact that he had grown up with an unconventional family. But then again, was Luke's family ever worth the title of 'family'? All his life, Luke had only his father as his familial pivot; everyone else left and changed throughout the years. From the furthest back he could he remember, his "mother" figure was Ysanne Isard, Director of Intelligence who remained on the Death Star with him during Luke's earlier years. After that, he was deemed old enough to start living on Corellia. (Luke realized, of course, that Vader hadn't brought the six year-old Luke to Corellia because it was time to train, but because the search for him must have been winding down). On Corellia, Luke lived with Vader whenever he was home (which was still often while he was president) and Natasi Daala, as she was the "mother" figure to Jared and Aria. Needless to say, these sorts of people were the last to participate in traditional family rituals and celebrations.
Various family members presented the twins with presents—the oddest part of the whole "birthday celebration." Why did someone have to be awarded presents for simply reaching another checkpoint in his life?
Aunt Sola gave Leia a formal invitation to meet with the Queen of Naboo while Darred covertly slipped Luke a data chip containing the secret dates and places for all the illegal sabacc tournaments on Coruscant.
"I use this whenever I'm visiting and need to satiate my desire for gambling. I think you'll make a lot of good money at these games."
Pooja got Leia a wide assortment of dresses and other girly objects and whatnot that caused her to squeal in delight.
Ryoo—like her father—had to give Luke's present in secret as it would probably upset his conservative mother. She gave him a whole collection of some of the most violent video games that he never even heard about.
"They work on any regular data pad," Ryoo explained. Luke just grinned.
But his favorite present must have been the one his grandparents had gotten him. Ruwee and Jobal both decided to get the twins a pair of swoop bikes. Their hope was that this would encourage the twins to visit Naboo more frequently, as a pair of swoop bikes would be waiting for their use at the lake house at Varykino. This definitely did encourage Luke to want to come back…
Finally the twins' parents got them the latest comlink devices for their own personal use.
"It's for emergencies," Padmé explained.
Anakin rolled his eyes, "It's for sending messages to your friends during school."
Luke had to admit, no matter how weird this whole "birthday party" was, it was still pretty fun.
As the night was winding down, Luke returned back to his room to get ready for bed.
A knock at the door interrupted him.
Luke looked up and frowned, confused, as Anakin walked in.
Anakin walked in, smiling at his son as if he was sad about something.
"Sit down, Luke." Anakin gestured for him as he sat down on the bed as he did earlier that morning.
He clasped his hands on his lap, looking down at them. "I just wanted to…apologize for being so hard on you."
Luke frowned, not expecting this. He expected Anakin to come in and try to talk him into Jedi training again.
"It's not your fault that things are the way they are—it's mine. I was young and careless, I was a bad father… and I still am."
"I don't think you're a bad father," Luke said quietly.
"Nonetheless," Anakin smiled, "I just wanted to give you something that you might need."
Luke frowned again and looked up at Anakin with questioning eyes.
"It doesn't matter to me what you are, Luke," Anakin tried to explain, "I know that you are an exceptionally talented Force user, but that doesn't mean I can force you into becoming a Jedi."
Luke looked down at his own hands, actually feeling guilty for giving Anakin so much trouble about Jedi training.
"But Jedi or not," Anakin continued, "you still need to have a way to defend yourself if Jared or Vader try to corner you again."
Luke raised an eyebrow as Anakin reached for his lightsaber.
"After Windu confiscated your lightsaber, he told me you weren't allowed to build another one, but he didn't say you couldn't have another one."
Luke watched, awe-struck, as Anakin took his own prized weapon off his belt and handed it to Luke.
"I want you to have mine." Anakin said, looking at Luke very seriously.
Luke was at a loss for words, "B-But you need it!"
Anakin smiled, "I'm already in the process of building another one."
"But what if something happens before you can finish!"
Anakin chuckled, patting his hand softly over his injured abdominal. "It seems as if you can protect me better with a lightsaber than I can."
Luke's mouth hung open, watching the lightsaber in Anakin's outstretched hand.
This was Anakin's lightsaber. The Anakin Skywalker. Son or no son, Anakin was giving Luke his lightsaber! This was the weapon he used to slay Sith Lords and evil villains, the weapon that he used to defend himself from every blaster bolt and weapon's fire during the Clone Wars and any other attack, this was the weapon that he used to fight off Darth Vader… Without this weapon, Anakin was nothing. The most important symbol of a Jedi was his lightsaber. This weapon was his life.
Slowly, Anakin put the lightsaber in Luke's reluctant hands.
"It's yours."
Luke stared at it in awe as if he had never held a lightsaber before.
He now felt guilty for all the times he ever took his old weapon for granted. He never really thought of it as an extension of his own arm, the way his old master tried to teach him. In fits of anger, Luke often took the offending weapon and threw it out a window, letting the glass shatter to the ground at the collision. Of course, he'd go back and retrieve it later—wherever it had fallen—but not because he felt sorry for his actions. To Luke, the lightsaber was always just a tool. Now, as he held the cold hilt of his father's most prized possession, he finally understood how wrong he was.
"I'll train with you." Luke conceded, barely whispering the words.
"What?" Anakin said, unsure if his ears were deceiving him.
Luke nodded, building up the courage. The courage he needed to finally stand up to Vader—the courage he could only attain by officially joining the Jedi Order.
"I want to be a Jedi."
Anakin was completely speechless.
"Wh-What? You will?!"
He jumped off the bed and grabbed Luke into an enormous bear hug.
"I knew you'd come to your senses!" Anakin grinned, squishing his son in between his arms.
"Can't—breathe—" Luke choked out.
"Sorry." Anakin smiled, setting his son down. He patted his shoulder.
Luke sighed and looked back down at the weapon in his hand, "So that's it? All I need is your lightsaber and then I can become a Jedi?"
Anakin looked down, frowning. "It's a little more complicated. The Council opposes your training, just as they opposed mine—"
Luke frowned, "They opposed your—?"
Anakin nodded, interrupting. "Yes, and they'll do all they can to try to prove to me that you're a lost cause, too dangerous to be trained. We need to prove them wrong."
Luke nodded, "I see."
Anakin smiled encouragingly, "You can do it, though. I have faith in you. You are a Skywalker, after all."
He patted Luke's shoulder one last time and left the bedroom.
Luke just looked back down at the lightsaber he still held in his hands and ignited it, watching as the blue blade emitted from the hilt of the weapon.
His first Jedi lightsaber.
He was a Skywalker after all.
