"Luke? ...Luke..."

Luke opened his eyes, not sure if he was dreaming or not, that however was quickly answered when he saw his father standing over his bed in the med bay.

"Father?" Luke asked automatically before remembering he still hadn't regained his voice, and no sound had come out. It didn't matter, not this time.

Luke sat up in his bed and leaned forward to hug his father, still not a sound emanating from his throat, but through their bond he was able to communicate perfectly as the young Jedi felt his eyes burning with tears quickly building up.

"Father! I was so worried."

"I know, my son."

"I told you something bad would happen."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I wouldn't knowingly endanger you for anything."

There was something so ironic to that statement when roughly 72 hours ago he had personally delivered Luke to the Emperor to either be turned or killed. But Luke knew it was true, this wasn't that same man, this was his father, the Jedi Anakin Skywalker.

"Father, when can I get out of here?"

He felt a gloved hand patting the top of his head.

"As soon as the medics permit it, how are you feeling?"

"Awful," Luke tightened his hold on his father and pressed himself tighter against the black armor and leather, "but better now that I know you're safe."

Another thought was troubling Luke, he pulled back from Vader and told him through their bond, "Father, Admiral Piett had a son who died."

"What?" the former dark lord asked out loud.

"I don't know how but I was able to search through his memories," Luke explained, "his son drowned when he was very young, Piett tried to save him but it was too late."

Vader's respirator was the only sound in the room for a moment. Now, things were starting to make more sense to the man, given what Piett had just told him out in the hallway. Despite the impossibility, this fact made the man feel cold inside his life support suit. He pushed it aside for the moment and told Luke, "It's late, you need to rest, I'm here now."

Luke knew he wasn't going to win any arguments tonight and he was too tired to bother trying. He laid back against his pillow and pulled his blanket back up, took a breath and tried to fall back asleep, taking comfort in the fact his father was here now and Luke could see for himself that he was alright.

Piett came to see Luke the next morning.

"I understand the medics are releasing you today."

Luke nodded and only got out a raspy, "Yah." Little by little he was starting to recover his voice but most words only came out in half syllables, and it was still a frustrating experience for him.

"I suppose this is where our paths differ," the admiral said.

Luke looked at him. Instinctively he'd known that Piett wouldn't be coming with them, but he still hadn't given the whole idea much thought.

"Wha' wi'' you do now?" Luke croaked out.

"That's difficult to say, isn't it?" Piett asked. "With the Empire gone, I'm not sure what's going to become of the Imperial Navy."

Luke nodded in understanding. He looked to the man as the admiral turned to leave, and struggled to get out, "'iett?"

The older man turned towards him. "Yes?"

"I'm 'orry abo' your son."

The admiral blinked. "What?"

Luke shook his head. He cleared his throat and explained as best as he could, "I didn't mean to pry, it just kind of...came to me."

Piett's eyes widened slightly at this revelation, he slightly nodded his head as he looked at the young Jedi with a blank expression of awe.

"That part of my life..." the admiral didn't finish the thought. "It was so long ago...after that, I threw myself into the Navy, try to forget...it never really worked."

"I'm sorry," Luke got out though the words were gravelly.

He nodded again. "Thank you, Luke." The admiral inhaled a breath and told him, "I hope you and your father will be well."

"Thank you," Luke more mouthed the words than gave actual voice to them.

Luke felt something of the bright-eyed kid he used to be on Tatooine before everything happened that happened to make him what he'd become. He felt his eyes widen to their full capacity as he took in the ancient palace they'd landed in front of.

"This is where we're staying?" he asked his father.

"It is."

Luke looked up to the top of the palace and felt his jaw drop. It looked like a genuine castle, it was even bigger than the Imperial palace on Coruscant.

"Who lives here?" he asked.

"No one," Vader answered. Luke turned to his father, who explained, "It has been unoccupied for many years. I made the necessary arrangements."

Luke wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but as they got out of the speeder and walked up to the place, Luke gazed around at the surrounding land. They were the only people out here, the land just spread out for what looked like miles, green grass, tall trees, hills and embankments. Even in the fading twilight of the evening it was beautiful. Growing up on a sand trap desert planet like Tatooine, a place like this could only be possible in a dream. Luke thought he was understanding better just why his father had selected this place as his refuge. He gazed up at the palace again, it didn't even look like any place he'd ever seen, judging by the view ports it had at least four floors, and the entire thing looked like it was carved out of black carbonite. But it didn't look like anything associated with the Empire, the material seemed to shine in the fading sunlight and when it did, certain parts of the palace looked like they changed colors.

"Can we go in?" Luke couldn't even believe it when he heard himself say those words, but he just felt in total awe of the whole experience.

"Of course."

Luke was starting to understand what his father meant when he said he made the necessary arrangements. The palace was run by a bare bones crew of droids, there were no humans on staff. The palace had running power and water, a room on the second floor had already been transformed into a master bedroom which housed, among other things, Vader's oxygen pod so he could remove his mask and breathe on his own while he meditated. A room on the same floor had been fixed up for Luke. It was sparsely furnished but it didn't matter to him, it had everything he needed for the time being. He spent several hours exploring the palace and looking through the rooms, most were unoccupied and looked like they hadn't been used in years. He found one room on the first floor he wanted to talk to his father about turning into a workshop, he wasn't sure how long he was going to be staying here, but for however long it took, he'd need something to keep him busy.

Finally Luke decided it was time to call it a night. He crawled into bed, his bed, and lay there in the large, dark room. Sleep didn't come instantly, in fact, he seemed to lay there in the dark for what felt like forever. He tossed and turned every which way trying to get more comfortable, but after a while he realized that that wasn't it.

He told himself it was just the adjustment of being in a new place, but that wasn't it. He tried telling himself he just felt anxious because he didn't know what was going on with his friends, but he wasn't sure that was it either. Luke finally tossed back the covers, sat on the floor and meditated for an hour, hoping that would help, but when he climbed back into bed, it was more of the same, he just lay there staring into the darkness, waiting.

Something didn't feel right. He couldn't pinpoint what it was. Part of it might be initial unease at being in a strange system miles from anyone with nobody but his father around, but even that didn't seem the likely culprit.

He missed his friends. Leia, Han, Chewie, they'd been his family for years. And now he knew Leia was his real family, his sister. His sister, how could he have done this to Leia? How could he have let her think he was dead? For that matter, would she believe it? Or knowing now she was his sister, and she had the Force as he did, did she know he was alive?

Luke knew his father would be furious if he knew what Luke was going to do, but he decided to try reaching Leia through the Force. Not enough that she'd actually know it was him, just so he could tap into her thoughts and know what was going on.

After a few minutes, Luke considered that he might be too far away from Leia for it to work, but after a while he realized he was picking up on something, a couple things. One was a sickening feeling like a vibroblade in his chest, and the other, he heard Leia, no words, just the faint sound of heartbroken sobs.

That seemed to answer that anyway. Leia was convinced Luke was dead. And now he was supposed to just sit back and wait and see what happened. This proved one thing anyway, she hadn't been part of the plot to assassinate Luke, but now it was a matter of finding the Rebels who were involved. How long would that take?

Luke felt exhausted, especially after that experience, but he still wasn't able to sleep. He thought about going down the hall to his father's room, but he decided against it. Admittedly he didn't have any idea what his father did at night, if he actually slept. If he did, Luke didn't want to disturb him. Still, his father was used to solitude, being alone, this was new for Luke. He hadn't been on his own for many times in his life, he went straight from having a family, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, to flying with Han and Ben Kenobi to Alderaan, and from there it was all quicksand. In less than 24 hours he was a fully fledged member of the Rebel Alliance, they were his friends...

They were his friends, and they had been ready to kill him.

Luke needed someone to talk to and there was no one. He felt minuscule in this large empty room.

That was it, that's what was missing. For the better part of five years Luke had been used to sleeping in cramped barracks on the Rebel bases where the sound of 30 men and one wookiee snoring eventually lulled him to sleep. And when he wasn't, he'd been on Dagobah with Artoo and Yoda, and then he went back with Leia and started to devise a plan to get Han back. He spent several months on Tatooine alone, perfecting his plan to rescue Han from Jabba's palace, at the time he hadn't paid the isolation any mind because he had a mission, a purpose, now he didn't have that, now there was just the quiet. He'd had very little time in his life where he was truly on his own...and now that he was, it was overwhelming.

Even though the room was huge, Luke felt like the walls were closing in on him. He knew better, but even with his Jedi training he couldn't get past that notion, like a giant black maw just getting ready to swallow him. In his chest his heart was beating rapidly, his breaths felt heavier but he felt like he wasn't getting any air. The only wide open spaces he'd really known were the neverending sand on Tatooine and the neverending ice and snow on Hoth.

Luke shook his head and tried to clear his mind. Stop it, stop it, stop it! He was acting like a child, thinking like a child, he was a Jedi like his father before him, he had been a commander in the Rebel Alliance from the time he was 19 years old.

None of which, a nagging thought reminded him, mattered now. His future was undetermined, he had no idea how long he was going to be staying here, when he would return to his friends, if they would even want him back. He still had no idea how he was going to explain this to Leia. If he'd returned to Endor and told her what was going on, she might've understood, but as many concussion missiles as he'd already dropped on her the last time they saw one another, she his sister, Vader their father, this could easily be the last straw, making her think he was dead, only to pop up sometime in the unspecified future, even if his reasons were valid, the betrayal Leia would feel...even from where Luke stood on the matter, it seemed an unforgivable act.

He felt like a coward, he'd run away and was in hiding...hmmm...something about that idea didn't strike him as all that bad. Luke leaned over the side of his bed and looked under it. It was too dark to actually see anything, but the bed was high enough up from the ground that he could...it was silly...but he wasn't getting any sleep as it was, it couldn't hurt anything to try. He grabbed one of the pillows and yanked the top blanket off his bed and crawled under the bedstead and made up a makeshift bed on the floor.

The floor was harder than his bed, but he'd definitely slept in worse places over the years. He vaguely remembered when he was a little kid, hiding under his own bed on Tatooine when he had a nightmare or he thought the sand people were outside his window. Strange, he thought to himself, he'd always heard how little kids imagined monsters living in their closets or under the bed, even when he was a kid himself it seemed like a stupid idea, monsters don't live in your bedroom, but outside the window, that one was definitely plausible. Tatooine was a dangerous place to live, it was crawling with all kinds of sand creatures, that's why it was always too dangerous to head out after dark with every life form imaginable crawling around looking for prey.

He was exhausted. His eyes burned, their lids felt heavy, slowly it dawned on Luke his eyes actually closed, he'd open them again every few seconds, but each time they stayed shut a little longer...a little longer...a little...

The next morning was a dreary overcast day, the sky was full of gray clouds that threatened rain but never delivered. Luke left the palace to explore the wooded area behind the castle. Nothing but trees and grass and rocks as far as the eye could see. It wasn't an even terrain, the land was full of hills and dips and holes and large tree roots sticking clear out of the ground. So many trees, not like the ones on Endor, but still a sight to behold. They were tall, thick, all different kinds. Some were covered in green needles, some were turning an orange-brown and dropping all over the ground, others were covered in millions of big green leaves, others were dark red, others were purple, some were white. He'd never seen anything like it anywhere the Alliance had set up base, and you definitely never saw anything like this on Tatooine.

In the distance he could hear the sound of birds, some cawed, some chirped, some sang, some...sounded like they were barking. Looking up Luke could only see an occasional bird here and there, most were varying degrees of black, some with white spots on their chests, some with green metallic heads, some with blue metallic wings.

It truly was so beautiful here, not just the palace which from the outside was like an optical illusion, everything was beautiful, the animals, the plants, the blue sky he'd seen yesterday when they arrived, only one sun, warm but not burning hot. Luke couldn't help wondering just how his father had found this place, even more puzzling, he found it in the days he was still a sith, the Empire couldn't take it over, and the Rebels never moved their operation here...

Luke looked up at the trees that just seemed like they spanned upward forever, he couldn't even see the tops of the ones he was currently walking under. His father had found this place and kept its location a secret from the Emperor, somehow he'd had the foresight to know the Empire could topple one day, and he would be hunted for his crimes against the galaxy. This was his escape. Luke had known what he was talking about when he told Vader there was still good in him, that he could sense the conflict. For all Luke could tell, this was a very peaceful place, it would be ideal for anybody to come and...live out their final remaining years.

That was a thought he hadn't needed to pop into his head. He'd spent 24 years thinking his father was dead, then he found out the truth, then it took a year to fully come to terms with what it meant. He had made up his mind he would either save his father and turn him back to a Jedi, or die trying, both had been on the table, he was just thankful the outcome had gone the way it did. His only concern had been saving his father, turning him back to the side of Light, Luke had had no further plans past that. Now he found himself wondering things he'd never thought of before, how old was his father? Being, as Ben had put it, 'more machine than man now', how long could he live in his present state? It didn't seem fair he could finally redeem his father, and actually get to know the man, only for some cosmic force to take his father away from him so soon. And yet it wasn't impossible. Luke realized while he was staying here, awaiting any news about what was going on with Leia and Han and the others, and life as he'd known it had ceased entirely, he now had a perfect opportunity to learn about his father and find out everything he'd always wanted to ask the man.

Luke had been so absorbed in his thoughts as he walked along taking in the scenery, he hadn't noticed when the grass died out and the ground became rocks and hard dirt, and he hadn't noticed until it was too late when the ground disappeared from under his foot and he fell off a ledge, he was only faintly aware of his screams before he hit the bottom.

Luke groaned as he regained consciousness. The medics had cleared him when they discharged him from the bay the other day, but he felt like he'd gotten another concussion. His head was killing him, there was a strong pulsating sensation deep inside, and there was a horrible unending noise ringing in his ears, almost like voices. He opened his eyes and found himself on the hard ground somewhere. He turned over, slowly, and looked up, and realized there must've been a huge seismic quake on this planet once. The ground, as it was, was now above him, roughly 50 feet above him, and from the looks of things, it had been split open some time ago and created this huge canyon he was now trapped in.

As Luke shook his head, the incessant ringing in his ears got even worse. He slowly got to his feet for a better look around, and his eyes popped wide open and his jaw dropped as he looked up and saw the 'walls' where the ground had been ripped apart, were adorned with thousands of kyber crystals of all colors. If the resonating in his skull was any indicator, they were all singing.

He stood there for a few minutes staring up at the crystals embedded in the walls in complete awe. Kyber crystals were what powered light sabers, they were also, Luke remembered with a slight chill running down his spine, what had powered the Death Star so it could destroy an entire planet with one shot. To do that, millions of crystals had to be harvested...he wondered to himself if that was how his father had found this system.

Knowing what was causing the noise, Luke's headache improved slightly, he walked over to the wall and looked at all the crystals just waiting for someone to harvest them. It was only then that Luke remembered his light saber had been left behind on the second Death Star, which had been blown to pieces after the Rebels breached the shield. He looked up and saw a green crystal that seemed to stick out more than the others, he reached up and dug into the nearly petrified dirt and rocks and tangles of tree roots to remove it.