Gripping the blaster hurt. Who knew that a broken shoulder would affect the use of his hand so much? He could hold it, but actually lifting it to shoot would be a problem. Whenever he turned a corner he always brought it up, ready for whoever tried to attack him. Each time was an effort, and soon his whole arm was shaking.

Less than an hour. Less than an hour. He'd heard it straight from his father, and that was enough to keep him going.

He was so close. So, damn close.

There was blaster fire and screams in the distance behind him, and the pained, furious roars of the Creature. It made it hard to not panic and run (or hop) blindly.

It was an effort to follow the turns he thought he'd mapped out in his head earlier-especially when he quickly realized he'd gotten it wrong. He'd known he was taking a gamble before, but to be faced with the very real potential consequences of his choice…

No. He'd make it out. The pirates were busy with the Creature. One would take care of the other, and whoever was left...well, by then his father would likely be there.

The memory of what Vader did to the Rebels at Vrogas Vas replayed in his mind. Rebels whose only crime had been getting in his way to finding Luke. What would Vader do to pirates who'd harmed him?

An uneasy feeling settled in his gut. He was pretty sure he didn't want to know.

He didn't know how long he'd been moving before he finally turned a corner and found a lone door. Through its window, the outside world was enough to make Luke let out a shaky, painful breath of relief. He was almost there-just beyond those doors was fresh, open air, which meant he could find an exit from the town, which meant he could escape while everyone was preoccupied…

He began to hop faster, using the wall to keep him from stumbling. Then-

Footsteps.

Shit.

There was no cover. He could use the Force, but the Creature was too close now, so he'd only trade one enemy for another. And he was so damn close maybe he could get out the door, then use that as cover while he took out whoever was following.

Yeah. That was his best bet.

He gritted his teeth, pushing faster, even as his entire body seemed to go numb from the strained effort on his exhausted muscles.

The footsteps were closer.

Almost there.

Almost-

"Lars!"

Rayner.

He reached the door, whirling, forcing the blaster up even as he slammed his inoperable mechanical hand into the door switch-

He barely saw Rayner's enraged face. He barely had time to aim-he shot on instinct, even as the pirate's blaster aimed at him. His bolt hit him in the shoulder just as he shot at Luke, throwing him off with a shout of pain…

Then a massive force slammed into his abdomen, throwing him backwards through the newly opened door and onto his back, head thunking against permacrete.

His vision darkened. Ringing drowned out the rest of the world. Thoughts were a scrambled mess.

There were other sensations- bad sensations- but he couldn't think long enough to register them...

Then his vision cleared. He was staring up at the darkened sky. The lights of the town weren't enough to drown out the flood of stars above.

Beautiful. And yet...wrong.

Something was terribly wrong.

There was a warmth spreading over his torso-his very numb torso . Was he paralyzed? No. He could wiggle his toes and his left hand. Not paralyzed. So what-?

A slow, building, sting-then horrid, scalding agony spread from his abdomen. His hands instantly went to the source, pressing as though he could push it away-

Don't scream, don't scream, don't remember why, but don't scream-

He screamed.

Liquid. His left hand registered the warmth spreading over him was liquid-

Lifting his hand, he strained to see what it was.

Red. Warm. He dropped the hand back, squeezed his eyes shut as he wrestled to breathe, to stay conscious.

Blood.

He was bleeding.

Badly.

No. This couldn't be how it ended. He was so close. He'd managed to survive so much! Yet even as he thought it, he could feel the life leaving him.

No. I'm so close-Father is coming-

Footsteps.

"Where's your father now, Lars ?"

Rayner.

Open your eyes, open your eyes, open your eyes-

But Force, it hurt so much-

"That thing killing my men is here because of you, isn't it?!"

Open your eyes-

A noise. Then, he felt the unmistakable cool metal of the barrel of a blaster being pressed against his forehead.

Fight back.

With what?

Fight back-

"I'm going to enjoy this-and I'm going to enjoy tossing your body out an airlock."

Luke clenched his teeth, pressure building up.

FIGHT.

The Force exploded, blind and desperate, heeding his call.

Several things happened at once.

The blaster was gone from his forehead. He didn't know why, he didn't know how. He didn't care. His breaths fell rapidly as the Force pushed and pushed-

Then there was someone else there in the Force with him. Someone cold, dark, and furious.

It was a fury he normally would have shied away from simply for its intensity-but then that presence was shooting for him, wrapping around his own presence, and a roaring filled his mind-

What HAPPENED?

Where ARE YOU?

DO NOT MOVE!

His father.

He knew it like he knew his own name. Like he knew-like he knew-

Rayner was choking above him by an unseen Force.

Vader.

Even from wherever his father was, he was killing Rayner, and Luke didn't have the energy to tell him to stop-

Except no. No, that wasn't his father-

It was him.

He was strangling Rayner. Without even realizing it, in an effort to protect-even inflict pain on the person who'd done this to him…

And he didn't let go. Even as another even colder, darker presence zeroed in on him, and in the distance a roar shook the ground beneath him.

His loss of control was a beacon in the night. Would it be his wounds or the Creature that killed him first? He needed to let go. He needed to move, to find somewhere safe to wait for his Father, who was so close it was almost all Luke could feel-

But then another presence.

This one was as bright as the sun, and also near his father, somewhere above. And her emotions he felt as strongly as his own-nauseating fear for him, for what had happened, confusion, and an anxious longing to get to him, to save him.

Leia.

With her being so close, he could now feel her strength in the Force, almost as untrained as his own, but strong enough that he could feel her searching for him. He wanted to reach out, to let her know exactly where he was…

But Rayner was going purple. And the power flooding through him, wild and terrified, determined to protect and hurt…

He couldn't reach out. Not like this. Not while he was about to use the Dark Side to kill a man.

So he let go.

Rayner dropped to the ground next to him, unconscious...but breathing.

He took another few gulps of air, pressing into his abdomen to keep the blood in. The monster was ever focused on him, even as it battled pirates. And Vader was roaring the same phrases as before into his mind; Leia searching…

He gritted his teeth.

So close. So close.

Life was draining away. There would be no more standing. But he couldn't stay either, not next to Rayner, not out in the open.

He cast his gaze about, looking for something- anything- within crawling distance. His vision was blurry, but he managed to identify two potential safe havens. A sewer (terrible for his wound, he'd definitely die of infection), and the building he'd come from originally. Everything else was too far.

Here. He speared his own presence back at both Vader and Leia, even as he forced himself to turn over so he could begin dragging himself back towards the building. He allowed himself to shine brightly, a beacon for them to follow. Instantly, Leia's presence latched onto his-

Come and get me.

Then, even with Vader slamming against his shields, even as he felt the echo of Leia's terror, he pulled away from the Force, smothering it as much as he could.

For that beacon was not just seen by his family, and he had to hope he'd be rescued before he died of his wounds…

Or he was eaten.

Leia had known something had gone horribly wrong moments before dropping out of hyperspace.

One moment, she'd been sitting anxiously in the copilot's seat, waiting for Han to bring back the blasters Vader had sent him to retrieve. The next, she was doubled over, her arms around her stomach. Her skin chilled like someone had thrown ice water over her, and she couldn't breathe.

Something was screaming at her, over and over again, until it was all she could hear.

Danger, danger, danger, Luke's in danger!

There were hands on her and she wanted them off. The cockpit felt too tight, too compressed, and the air was freezing and dark and-

She was being shaken. She needed out. She needed to find her brother!

A dark force brushed against her mind. "Focus, little one, focus!"

She knew that voice. She hated and...and...she didn't know what, but that voice evoked a strong enough emotion that she lifted her head.

"Something's gone wrong!" There were tears streaming down her face. This was like when she'd first lost him but somehow so much worse- "Something's wrong with Luke!"

"How do you know?!" Han. Han was the one who had her, who was trying to console her, likely trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "We're literally sixty seconds-"

"I know," Vader interrupted darkly, and she realized the cabin was so cold because of him. He was always angry, and she'd started to grow used to his mood swings, but this-this-

It was as if a black hole had erupted, and was intent on pulling everything and everyone in. But he just stared resolutely out the port window, his hands gripping the steering yolk.

He was a inferno of terror for his son, and hate for those that had done...whatever had happened to him.

Focus. She needed to focus.

The ship beeped. Vader brought them out of hyperspace, a green lush planet appearing before them-

And the feeling intensified tenfold.

Something had gone horribly wrong, and Luke was so close.

Immediately, she tried to do as Vader had taught her earlier. She focused on her brother. This time it wasn't the things that reminded her of Luke she thought of, but rather the horrible feeling churning in her gut and in her chest. The feeling that told her that if they didn't find him fast, she would lose him forever.

But all she could tell for sure was that he was on planet, and that he wasn't just in horrible pain…

His very essence was fading.

She didn't dare ask Vader what that meant. She had a feeling he already sensed it too, because he roared, twisting the steering yolk so suddenly that it was only Han holding her that kept her from tumbling out of her seat.

"You sense him."

"Yes."

That one word confirmed everything she needed to know. She shivered, and suddenly wanted to throw up.

What would she do if she lost Luke? She had no doubt others would die by Vader's hand if he died-hell, even if he lived, people would still die for whatever had caused this.

And for the first time, she truly understood why Vader would do it. That anger, that fear, that driving need to protect and do whatever necessary to bring Luke home…

She understood.

And though it chilled her to the bone, she didn't care.

She just wanted Luke. She'd do anything to find him, to save him before it was too late.

If only she could find his exact location…

Vader dived into the upper atmosphere, pushing the ship at a speed that caused alarms to set off, red lights flashing. Han's arms tightened around her, the one sign he was worried about their own safety, but he didn't object. Considering the circumstances, he'd probably do the same.

"Solo," Vader snarled, paying no heed to the warnings flashing across the console. Then a split second later they were cut off-likely courtesy of Artoo. "You and Artoo will provide aerial support. You will use any means necessary to assist in rescuing my son."

"No objections here." Han nodded, and Artoo whistled.

But Leia and Vader were no longer paying attention.

Luke's presence suddenly lit up like a brilliant beacon, and Leia locked onto him. She'd done this before at Bespin, but this was so much more potent and desperate-like a sun suddenly going supernova.

A town appeared on the horizon, and her eyes immediately went right to where the beacon emitted.

Here. Leia made a pained noise at how much worse he sounded, at how she could feel his strength weakening every moment. Come and get me.

Then, just like that, it was gone.

The ship began shaking-and it had nothing to do with the insane speed it was being pushed into. She didn't even have it in her to remind Vader they needed a ship to bring Luke back in, because what if...what if…

Do not finish that thought! Vader's words thundered in her mind, even as the ship flew over the town…

Or rather, what was left of it.

Half of it was gone-the buildings were torn to shreds. Below her, fire licked at ruins, and she was certain she could feel people dying-

And ahead, the thing causing it made her heart drop into her stomach.

She'd seen a lot of monsters in her life. Most were of the human variety; senators, Grand Moffs, the Emperor, even Vader himself. Then she'd seen plenty of the animal kind while running from the Empire. Wampas, kongos, plenty she didn't know the names of-all were driven by the need for food, the need for freedom, to protect their territory…

But the monstrosity ahead of them was something else.

By the time Vader flew over it, she'd only had time to see a few things: it was massive, it had spindly, clawed appendages, and scaled armor that seemed to be taking the brunt of most of the blaster fire being leveled constantly at it. And when they flew over it, it screeched so loudly she instinctively covered her ears.

That wasn't the worst-the black, cold darkness it emitted put Vader's presence to absolute shame.

She could feel its hatred, it's hunger, and it was headed for her brother.

Luke was near. Too near. But still out of reach of that thing.

But Vader didn't head for Luke. Instead, he whipped the ship around halfway, finding a good landing spot, and began the landing sequence.

"What are you doing?!" Leia demanded, whirling. "Luke's-!"

"You will get a med pack and you will find him immediately." Vader finished landing, then stood, his lightsaber already in hand. "I must deal with the obvious immediate threat. Solo will assist, and then we will meet up with you."

She wanted to object. It would be easier to just grab Luke and go. But she didn't know what condition he'd be in, and it would be safer to kill the murderous monster who clearly wanted to eat him. Then when they brought him aboard, there wouldn't be anything to get in their way, or make things worse for Luke's condition.

So instead, Han released her and she moved to do exactly as she was told.

"Be careful," Han called after her. She heard (and felt) his worry.

She wished she had time to assure him...she wished she could assure him. But she didn't know what she'd find when she reached Luke.

"I'll be back," was all she could say for certain.

After retrieving the med pack and a blaster, she rushed to join Vader at the lowering landing ramp. "Focus," he growled when she approached. "Do not allow him to die."

She nodded, swallowing bile. "Don't die either."

It was a ridiculous thing to say. He was Darth Vader. He could handle a few...whoever these people were and a monster. But Vader simply pointed at her and reiterated, " Do not let him die. I will be there shortly."

Then the ramp lowered, and they both moved. She burst into a run, hearing the snap-hiss of his lightsaber igniting as he moved in the opposite direction.

She had to trust him. She'd seen the carnage he'd wreaked on literally over a thousand Rebels. He'd make quick work of the threat to Luke's life, and Luke...Luke…

She pushed herself as fast-no, faster- than she'd ever run. She couldn't feel him anymore, but his last location was burned into her very soul. Every step, every breath, echoed the need to get to him.

I'm coming. She didn't know how to project that thought, not like he and Vader did. She doubted it reached him, but she repeated it as hard as she could, over and over again in her mind.

I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming…

She skidded around a corner...and faltered as she saw blood, too much blood, staining the ground. Beside it, a body. She didn't know if it was dead or not, but she didn't care.

All of that blood...she knew without a doubt it was Luke's. And if he'd lost that much blood…

He didn't have much time.

Luke was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't matter. The blood trail was clear and fresh. He'd dragged himself towards a blast door...and made it inside the building.

She threw herself against the door, wildly slamming the button to let her inside, hoping it was unlocked…

The door swished open.

"Luke!"

The name tore from her throat on a scream as she took him in.

She'd expected...she'd felt...but to actually see it…

It was definitely difficult to breathe as she threw herself to the floor, her knees skidding in her brother's blood. He was lying half-propped up against the wall, eyes closed, head lolled to the side, hands over a gaping, bleeding unmistakable blaster shot wound in his abdomen…

Hot tears were already flowing down her cheeks as she moved his hands away...and saw the hole there, exposing flesh and Force, were those organs?

There was absolutely nothing in that med pack that would fix this.

She shoved her hand onto the wound, putting pressure on it in an attempt to staunch the bleeding, while her other fumbled with the med pack.

"Don't you dare leave me! I just found you, don't you leave, I can't-"

His eyes cracked open a bit, and he managed a tiny smile. "I...didn't get...eaten."

She let out a pained cry instead of a laugh. She had brought bacta patches and a spray, but they were meant for minor injuries.

Still, she pulled them out and used her teeth to help her open them up.

"Not funny."

"I...thought so."

She lifted the hand over his wound long enough to douse the wound with spray. "You're not laughing either."

He winced at the stinging it probably caused him. "It...hurts."

"You are literally covered with injuries with a hole in your stomach, I think that's an understatement." The bottle was absolutely pathetic, but maybe it would stop or slow the bleeding. She reached into the pack and pulled out gauze. "I'm going to have to move you so I can wrap this around you."

He only nodded, and she carefully helped him sit up enough to let her start wrapping.

"Va…" The name faltered. This was Luke. He needed to hear… "Father is coming. He's killing that monster so we can get you out of here safely."

She half expected him to protest. He was, after all, Luke. He had a soft spot for most beings, afterall.

But instead he said, "Good...riddance."

Which meant that thing had given him far too much trouble for even Luke to feel bad for it. She wasn't sure if she found that amusing, or disheartening.

She finished and tied the gause up before again going back to putting pressure on the wound. "Just...hold on. Don't...don't go…"

Kriff. She was sobbing. She just felt so useless, and now that she'd at least attempted to help his worst injury, she was now taking in the rest of him. He'd lost even more weight. His hair, still dyed brown, was filthy. His right leg was thrown into a makeshift splint that didn't look like it was done right. There were bruises on his face-he was definitely developing a black eye. Then there were cuff marks on his left wrist, and he was filthy beyond belief…

With the wound in his stomach to top it off, it was a miracle he was even still alive…

"I'm….sorry, Leia." And slowly, carefully, he began to reach up to wipe her tears away.

She quickly, and carefully, pushed it back down. Moving him at all would aggravate his injuries, and she wasn't even sure what she'd done so far worked well enough. "Please. Please. Just focus on being okay."

Now that she had him again, she wouldn't let him go. Never again.

She listened to his labored breathing, watched him slowly nod. "What...do I...need to do?"

She had no idea. She tried to think back to what she'd seen nurses do in the med bay while they waited with critically injured patients to get the care they needed.

"Talk," she pleaded. "Keep talking. Stay awake."

He swallowed, hard. "Okay. Anything...in particular?"

She closed her eyes, fresh tears streaking down her cheeks. "Whatever you want. Just don't leave me again."

She listened to him breathe for a few moments. Then he began to speak, and she soaked in every word.

And tried not to think that they might be his last.

Luke needed him. He needed him now. That med pack likely would do little to help his son, judging by the danger and pain he felt through their bond.

Their ever weakening bond.

He clung to it like a lifeline, even as he stormed towards the chaos of the monster that threatened his son's life.

When he arrived, the monster had a screaming man in its jaws. Then, with a terrible crunch, it bit down and blood sprayed onto the permacrete below.

It certainly was a creature of the Dark Side. It oozed anger and hate for those that were still shooting at it. From this close, Vader could see that the black scales were torn to shreds, but it was still largely uninjured. If anything, the constant barrage of blaster fire just served to make it angrier.

Above, his shuttle swooped in, turbolasers firing. Unlike mere blasters, these managed to do some damage. It screeched in pain, dropping the body and rearing onto its hind legs. Its long, slender neck whipped back and forth; as the shuttle flew overhead, turning around for a second pass, the monster tracked it. Vader could practically feel it working out how to deal with the new threat…

But that was not the threat it needed to be worried about.

Vader stretched out a hand before it could regain its balance and pushed . The Force shoved it back and a building collapsed underneath it.

He barely noticed (or cared) about the lives that were extinguished into the Force as a result.

And above, as the monster struggled and thrashed to get back on its six feet, Solo swooped in again, another barrage of turbo fire slamming into it.

Vader didn't bother to take pleasure in the thing's screams. He didn't have time. His son needed him, and every second was another wasted. So instead he reached into the Force, found the pirates (a quick look into one's mind told him as much), and dragged them out of cover.

And unleashed his lightsaber on them.

With each he killed, he yanked any sort of grenade, detonator, anything that could do serious damage, and flung them at the monster, pulling the pins as he did so. Whenever it tried to stand, another explosion brought it down. It screamed and screamed, and he felt it shift focus from getting to Luke to getting to him.

Good.

He would make it pay. He'd make them all pay-but it was that monster he cared most about.

He approached where the monster had fallen, focused his own rage at the fear and torment it had caused his son, and dragged it back out of the wreckage. Its limbs kicked and thrashed, one coming close to tearing him through. He stepped out of the way in time, and just as swiftly brought his lightsaber down, severing its foot from the leg.

It responded by twisting its body, hissing and snapping its jaws...and getting to its feet. Reptilian gold eyes took him in; he could sense it re-evaluating.

What are you? it seemed to demand, its presence brushing against his shields.

"I am a Lord of the Sith," he snarled, and as Solo made another pass at the monster, he again lashed out at any nearby pirates. This time, he simply went for the throat, crushing larynxes with barely a thought.

When the barrage stopped, and the monster staggered to its remaining feet, scales hung from its body. Muscle and bone gleamed underneath.

Vader took great pleasure in seizing those bones and, with a twist of his hand, shattering them.

"If I had time, I'd break every bone in your body as retribution for my son." He doubted it understood him, or even heard him over its pained cries. He didn't give a damn, and threw the lightsaber, watching it slice through two more legs.

As it went down, he made sure to push it into another ruined building where pirates lay in wait. They were so close this time, he heard their screams just before they cut off.

They deserved it. They all did. If Luke died…

If Luke died…

The creature was struggling to get up as he stepped into the wreckage, approached its prone body, and stabbed his lightsaber into the exposed flesh from the turbo lasers. It whipped its neck around, jaws full of incredible teeth coming straight for his face.

He grasped its neck with the Force. It gagged, spewing putrid, coppery breath over him.

"Pathetic," he growled, and began inching closer to the head, still dragging the lightsaber through its body. "You are not worthy of the Dark Side."

Its eyes never left him, full of rage and pain and even dying, he could feel its desire to tear into his flesh, to take him down with it.

Not today. He'd had enough. His son's bond was slipping further from his grasp. He needed to get to him.

With a snarl, he yanked the saber out of its hide and sliced it through the neck of the beast. The head slammed onto the ground, jaws still opening and closing as its eyes rolled into the back of its head. The remaining part of the neck flapped about as the body finally and fully collapsed.

But Vader had other problems.

With the monster dead, it was clear the biggest threat to the pirates was Vader. Most wisely turned and ran. On any other day, he might have pursued just to prove he could, but there were still those who decided to get in his way and start shooting at him.

Compared to the beast, they were nothing. Just mild inconveniences.

He deflected bolts back to their owners. Anyone foolish enough to actually charge him, he sliced in half. Others, he crushed their windpipes or yanked them out of windows to fall head first into the permacrete below.

All the while, he was moving for his son, grasping onto that bond with everything he had.

He would not lose him again.

This time, there would be no surprise daughter to announce it was a trick. This was too real, and if he died…

He refused to think of it.

As soon as the last of the resisting pirates were down, Vader did what he rarely ever did.

He ran.

His prosthetics made it difficult, of course. They were unreasonably heavy and cumbersome, but he willed the Force to ease the weight just so he could move faster.

He had to get there.

Luke needed him. He needed medical attention-immediate attention. He wasn't even sure his droid had all that it needed to heal him, and he'd always been terrible at healing with the Force. And Leia wasn't at all trained to do it.

He needed to get to his son.

He whirled the final corner, slowing only slightly when he saw another pirate struggling to get to his feet, coughing violently. At his feet was a pool of blood.

Luke's blood.

He didn't have to ask. He didn't need to see the boy. The Force whispered the truth, and with a roar he lashed out, using the Force to drag the man straight into his awaiting hand.

"You."

The man grasped at his hand while he lifted him above the ground. His eyes bulged, and his legs kicked at him, but through the haze of his desperate last gasps, Vader heard his thoughts loud and clear.

Shit...not a lie...kid's….his son…

That filled in many, many blanks in the story.

"My son told you I was his father, and you still harmed him?!" He squeezed tighter.

He wanted to drag this man back to the Executor. He wanted to torture him for just as long as Luke had suffered. He wanted to inflict the same injuries Luke had sustained…

But he didn't have time.

Luke and Leia were just beyond that door, and he could sense Luke's weak attempts at reaching through to stop him.

"You are lucky I don't have time for you!" he snarled, and with one last squeeze, he felt the man's windpipe crunch.

He dropped the body and didn't spare it another glance as he turned for the door, where his son's blood trail led. Behind him, he barely noticed Solo landing the shuttle.

Not as the doors swished open and revealed a sight that stopped him in his tracks.

Luke had told him of his injuries. He'd known. Then he'd felt the obviously new injury the pirate had given him to what he now saw was his abdomen.

But this…

This…

Blood was everywhere. All over the floor. All over Leia's hands, arms, and even a smudge on her cheek.

All over Luke.

And as he stood there, Leia whirled, met his eyes, and though he couldn't hear her over the roaring in his mind, he watched her mouth form the words, Help him.

He already looked dead. He was too pale, and his head hung limply…

Numb, he moved, yanking his cape from his shoulders. Leia jumped away, and he could feel her anguish and terror pounding against his mind, though it was meant for Luke, not him…

He threw the cape over Luke's body, stooped down, and picked him up.

Too light. Luke was small, but this was too light. His head rolled back, giving him a clearer view of the bruises and the black eye, proving that the pirate had given him more than just the one injury.

He'd given him a too swift death. If he could bring him back just to kill him over again, he would.

He carried Luke out of the building, Leia hot on his heels. He couldn't speak, he was too enraged to do so and convey what he needed to with his vocoder. So instead he tentatively, desperately brushed against Luke's semi-conscious mind.

I am here, little one. No one will harm you again.

At first, there was no response. Then...a weak acknowledgement.

No words. Just an acknowledgement.

While he was relieved for a response, the fact that he didn't have the strength for words…

Stay, he pleaded.

The ramp of the shuttle was lowered. Solo and Artoo were there, pushing the medical droid towards them. Leia's anguish was his shadow.

Stay with me.

He boarded the ramp.

There was again just a flicker of acknowledgement. No promises. Just the impression that he'd been heard.

For the first time in twenty two years, Vader was lost, powerless. All he could do was rush Luke into the makeshift med bay and order the droid to fix him.

But for good measure, he again pleaded with his son.

I will do anything you ask. Just don't leave me too.

But by then, the droid slipped a breathing mask over his son's face, and his son was sent into a full unconscious state.

They're reunited! And Luke (sort of?) got a hug! Ish? Does carrying almost unconscious count? I think it does. I'm going with yes.
It's so good to finally get it out of my head and on paper... idk if ya'll will agree with me, but hey! They're reunited now! :D
The song for this chapter is Meet Me on The Battlefield, the acoustic version by SVRCINA. I also hardcore listened to the Witcher soundtrack for all the action (it's a GREAT soundtrack for that)
Leave some love!
Love,
LadyVader23