Revealed Identities
Chapter 15: Father and Son
If Anakin had not been so nervous about receiving Luke's acceptance, he would have found his son's face quite humorous. Luke sat, his mouth hanging open, staring with utter disbelief.
"Hi." Luke managed. Anakin lifted his eyebrows, and gave Luke a genuine smile. He could tell that he had knocked Luke's senses out again. Jallishka, on the other hand, had regained his composure.
"It is nice to see you looking so healthy milord." Jallishka uttered as way of greeting.
"Thank you for looking after my son. May I sit?" He asked, pointing to the chair. Luke, his mouth still hanging open, nodded dumbly. A waiter scurried over to take Anakin's order. Anakin looked hesitantly at the menu. He had only had rations since he had been out of his suit, and he had forgotten the foods that he liked. It may have done him some good if he had done more meditation other than just to heal his wounds with the lightside. He should have healed his memories as well. Anakin knew that the darkside had washed some of those away as well.
'Luke, any suggestions? I am not familiar with any of these items.' Anakin sent through their Force bond. Luke jumped out of his chair at the sudden question. The waiter looked at him strangely.
Luke just smiled awkwardly at the waiter's questioning glance, and sat back in his seat.
'The local fish was good.' Luke managed to send.
"I'll have the local Gefogaen Tratall Fish." Anakin said aloud to the waiter.
"That comes with '54 wine. Which kind would you like?" The waiter asked in an exasperated tone.
"Red please." Anakin replied. The waiter waddled away with his order. It was a good thing that Anakin had taken some money out of his account before the Emperor got a hold of him. He might cancel his account. It was not wise for him to access it anyway because then the Emperor could always trace him. A sudden realization hit Anakin, and he stored it away for later use. Right now, he had to speak with his son.
"Milord, if you do not need my services, I think I shall guard the ships." Jallishka said. Both Skywalkers could tell that he wanted to give them privacy.
"Yes of course." Anakin said, giving him a kind smile. Jallishka left the table. The other two watched as he went to the cashier and paid for his food there.
"I have so many questions that I want to ask you," Anakin admitted to Luke, "but I think it only fair if you ask first."
Jallishka looked over at Luke's X-wing. Using his sense of smell, he figured out which one had his master's scent on it. It was faint, but he found it. He wished to know what happened to Darth Vader. Not only was his appearance different, but so was his personality. He had smiled at Jallishka, and it had made him feel so proud. Now he wondered though. Luke was definitely a member of the Alliance, so where should his loyalties lie? All he knew was that something major was going to happen.
Luke stared at the man sitting before him. He realized that this man had said something to him, but his mind had not registered that fact yet. He was still trying to figure out if this was his father or not. Blinking, Luke said dumbly:
"Could you repeat that please?" The man sitting before him raised his eyebrows in a way that made him look comical.
"Don't you wish to ask me any questions?" He prompted. A million buzzed through Luke's mind. He blurted out the first one that came to mind, and immediately wished he hadn't.
"Why are you so much taller than I am?" The man who claimed to be his father didn't laugh, as Luke had expected.
"You're mother was fairly short. You are taller than she was." He replied.
"Oh." Luke could only come up with the one word. The man sat there looking at him inquisitively.
"Actually, you might take after my mother. She was even shorter than your mother." Luke looked at the man curiously. He had always imagined himself talking to his father, had always wished for the chance, but now, he wasn't sure what to ask. The man seemed to take the initiative though, all of a sudden, memories started to flood back into his mind, and he began to retell his life story.
"I lived on Tatooine until I was nine years old," Luke's head shot up in response. Anakin continued. "My mother and I had been slaves to Gardulla the Hutt, but she lost us betting on the Pod-races to a junk dealer named Watto. While working in Watto's shop one afternoon, a curious looking group came into the shop..." Luke listened intently as his father explained most of his life story. For Luke, it was finally learning about the heroic father that he had always dreamed of. Pod-races, light-saber duels, Blood Carver's trying to assassin him, being captured as a slave to work the Kessel mines, pretending to be a student at a wealthy school, being targeted by a man who had killed a Jedi Council member, and his love for Luke's mother.
The man before him faltered for a minute, and Luke looked at him with a question on his lips, but the man continued before Luke got a chance to ask it. His voice had become low so that no one else could hear the conversation. Luke leaned in to hear him better, and he listened with mortified fascination as the heroic father that he had always longed for, slowly turned into the monster that he had grown to despise but forgive, and had come to accept as his true father.
"I made contact with the Emperor," he explained, "and I realized I didn't want him to have you. Ever since before I could remember, I have always wanted a proper family. I never had a father growing up, and when I finally got Obi-Wan as a father figured, I could not even see my real mother. After you left, I felt as though I had let you down." The man looked at him. He gave a short laugh and turned his face down to look at his hands. "You were right. I had become a monster." With those words, Luke knew that the man before him was his father. He was no longer a monster, he was no longer a sith lord, he was Anakin Skywalker, HIS father. Luke got up from his seat and embraced his father in a hug. Anakin looked at him surprised, but hugged his son back. The two realized that there were still other people in the pub, and a little alien looked at them curiously. They broke apart, embarrassed.
Anakin looked around, slightly embarrassed that his son would hug him in public, and yet pleased at the same time. With a sudden growl of his stomach, he realized that the waiter had not brought him his food yet.
"Where's my lunch? I'm starving." Anakin muttered. Luke burst out laughing. Anakin raised his eyebrows again. He realized that he had been doing that a lot. He guessed he had picked it up from one of the commanders that he had always seen working on some sort of scheme to get the Emperor's appreciation.
"We have a lot in common. I used to live on Tatooine. I love to fly, and those two droids you had sound so much like my two. C-3P0 and R2-D2." Luke explained. Anakin's mouth opened lightly in surprise.
"You mean you own Threepio and Artoo?" Anakin blurted out. The waiter took that moment to finally show up with Anakin's food. Anakin thanked him.
"How do you know them?" Luke wondered.
"Threepio was the protocol droid I built to help my mom, and Artoo was the little droid that your mother owned. I remember joking to her once about him. We were both nervous because she wasn't ready to leave Courscant because her negotiations weren't finished, and I was nervous because protecting her was my first assignment alone. I told her we shouldn't worry because we had Artoo with us."
"You've got to be kidding." Luke said, muffling a laugh.
"No. Though I don't think that they'll remember me that well. I think I might have actually erased their memories around the time that I fell to the dark side so as to attempt to erase myself from the galaxy's memories, and if I didn't someone else might have." Anakin said through mouthfuls of his lunch.
"What do you mean you think you might have erased their memories? Don't you remember?" Luke wondered.
"Well," Anakin finished chewing his mouthful, "my memories from those times are very few and scattered. For all I know, I might have actually had known that you and Leia were my children." Anakin became quiet after that, and Luke knew what his father was thinking.
Could Leia ever forgive me? Luke let his father eat in peace for a few minutes before asking him another question.
"What are you planning to do with the information that you have?" Luke wondered.
"I plan to use you as a mediator. I know that they would not want Darth Vader to come to any of their bases, so I need you to give them the information." Anakin said lightly.
"They'll kill you if they find you. You may have information for them, but by the codes that the Alliance follows, you deserve to receive the death sentence. We cannot tell them who you are." Luke said firmly. Anakin laid his fork down on his empty plate.
"I deserve whatever punishment they give me." Anakin stated in a quiet voice. Luke knew that he regretted all that he had done.
"Don't you understand? You can be so much more helpful to us alive! You have incredible knowledge that could help us bring back and then stabilize the Republic." Luke babbled.
"Luke-" Anakin started to argue, but Luke cut him off.
"I just found you." Luke rushed on. "You said you wanted the chance to a family. Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen may have loved me dearly, and I them, but it wasn't the same." Anakin knew what Luke was talking about, and Luke could tell. It made him smile to know that his father could understand him so well.
*Yes, yes! Convince him that he is needed.* The voices said. Luke shook his head. Anakin looked at him.
"What is it?" Anakin asked concerned.
"I keep hearing these voices." Luke mumbled.
"Midi-chlorians." Anakin explained Luke about how they lived inside his cells and talked to him.
"Some can literally hear them, others cannot. I used to be able to when I was younger, but as I grew older, I stopped hearing them. Obi-Wan said it was because they can only talk to us in a human voice for a certain amount of time. Now, are you ready to leave this place?" Anakin asked. Luke looked around and nodded. They stood up, and Anakin pulled out his money and placed it down on the table, enough for his and Luke's. Luke thanked him.
They left. Luke smiled to himself. He wondered if Artoo really did remember his father. Well, there was only one way to find out.
The Emperor lightly tapped his fingers together, a nefarious grin on his face. He hadn't had a challenge in a while, and turning young Skywalker to the darkside would be quite unpleasant...for young Skywalker.
Next part...The Chase