Sorry for the cliffhanger, I wanted an entire chapter to cover Luke's reaction. I hope I'm not killing you all with too many ROTS flashbacks.
Chapter 4 - Phoenix
"Luke, I am your father"
Luke's mind reeled at those words, as he was thrust deeper into the confusion that already gnawed away at his mind. "Don't kid with me Vader, I'm seriously." Luke told the giant weakly, his voice shaking with emotion.
"As am I, my son." Vader responded, his voice loosing its sharp edge.
Weakly, Luke closed his eyes. Vader was playing games with his mind again, trying to turn him to the darkside. There could be no other answer! He was being baited by his dreams for his strong hero father that had resided within him all his life.
"Look into your heart Luke, you know it to be true." Vader urged him, breaking the revere, "I did not kill your father, I am your father."
Remembering the quiet place in his and, Luke tunneled deeper and deeper, yearning to snatch the truth by its tail and throw it headlong at Vader. He fought to find the calm and peace there that had welcomed him before, and tried to join the flow, waiting for the force to guide him. Surely he had never needed to witness a vision as much as that moment!
Yet all that greeted him was a rising conviction that Vader spoke the truth, and a little voice at the back of his head. You know he's right. He is your father.
"Nooooo!" Luke shouted at the voice, and his eyes snapped open.
"You cannot deny the truth." Vader snarled at his sudden outburst.
"My father was Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight." Luke snapped, "He was nothing like you!"
"All things change, Luke." Vader answered him, almost mournfully, "Show me now that you are worthy of this hero you claim to be your father. Show me you will not do him shame."
Luke took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and tossed his lightsaber away, "I will not fight." To confront Vader while he was under such emotional stress would leave the door open to the darkside. Inside, he was aching with confusing and longing, but outside, he remained calm.
"You are unwise to lower your defense." Vader growled, pacing closer. Luke eyed him nervously, but he would not respond. If Vader chose to kill him, at least his anguish would be over. Vader's red blade loomed closer and closer to Luke's unprotected frame, and in one powerful movement, surged forward. Luke closed his eyes and gladly accepted his fate, as Obi Wan had so died.
There was a sharp pain and the blade bit into his flesh, sending fire throughout his right arm and chest. Vader stumbled backwards as he saw his blade strike Luke, surprised the Jedi had not tried to defend himself. The lightsaber in his hand deactivated before it went deep enough into Luke's skin to be a fatal blow. Luke collapsed to the ground in pain, hunched over.
"Foolish child!" Vader yelled, "Are you weak enough to die as Obi Wan."
"No Vader," Luke replied slowly, through teeth clenched against the pain, "I'm strong enough." Things grew blurry as Luke tried to stay on top of the crest of pain, but failed. Before he passed out, he could have sworn Vader had knelt beside him on the floor, with a gentle hand on his shoulder.
When Luke came around, he was lying on his back in the same room he had been left in originally. Large bacta patches lay across his shoulder and chest, and Luke sat up gingerly so as not to pull them away.
Bad idea. The fiery pain tore through his shoulder again, sending a bright parade of colours flashing before his eyes. His hand caught on something behind him, jerking him back down. Great, his left wrist had been left in the custody of a binder, effectively restraining him to the bed.
"It is unwise to move yet." Vader cautioned him, from across the room. Luke's eyes snapped around to catch the black figure, as surprised traced its lines across his face. He closed his eyes in despair. No, not Vader, not then! 'Ben...' Luke called desperately.
"I have told you before, Luke, Ben is dead. That is another truth you must accept." Vader told him plainly.
Luke winced, and tried to restore his newly acquired mental shields. However, he was exhausted, and the trauma of the past events had thrown him into a mental state where he could not easily use his light side powers.
"Have you accepted yet that I am your father?" Vader queried, after a moment of silence.
Once again, the voice in the back of his head was there, nagging at him. He tells the truth. He is your father.
You're the son of a sith.
You're the son of a murderer.
You're the son of a monster.
You are the son of evil.
Luke's only reply was to hang his head, and close his eyes. It told Vader all he needed to know.
"You could become as powerful as I, Luke." Vader told him, his voice laced with persuasion.
Thinking back to his dreams of flying away from his old life on Tantoine with his father aboard a starship, everything seemed so hollow. To think that his entire life he had wanted nothing more than to be with his father, and now he would do anything to have never known who he was.
"We can make new dreams, child. Together we could rule the galaxy as father and son." Vader continued.
"I...I don't want power." Luke whispered, "I only want a simple life."
"You cannot avoid your destiny Luke. You were chosen by the force, you were born to be great." Vader told him firmly.
Luke shut his eyes tightly, "I don't want this."
"It is your destiny."
The tears began openly streaming down Luke's face, as he felt himself slowly being swallowed by the darkness surrounding Vader. He was too weak to resist anymore, and what choice did he have anyway? With Vader as his father, would the Rebel Alliance ever accept him again?
"They would kill you in revenge." Vader answered his thoughts, "Your only place is here, at my side."
In that moment, Luke made his choice. He let go off the last hold he had, and allowed the sea around him to swallow his being. Vader sensed his surrender, "Your first lesson, my son, will be to use the force to be rid of that binder."
"I don't know how." Luke mumbled miserably.
"You will learn." Vader told him firmly, "Unleash the anger you have within you, and let it be your tool."
Luke felt all the hurts within him, and all the things he hated. There was one source he hated more than any other.
His father.
All the anger and hatred that had built up against Vader rose in his mind like a surge of water, which crashed against the mental dams he had erected to quell such feelings. Now he released the floodgates, and aimed the angry stream at the task at hand.
The binder immediately fell from his wrist, and he felt the approval of Vader at his strength. And something else... Was it hurt? If Vader had expected Luke to feel anything but hate towards him, he was terribly mistaken. Luke would never love his father again.
"We shall train tomorrow, young one." Vader told him in a monotone, rising, "Collect your strength until then."
Luke made no reply – he was too busy destroying all the dreams of his father that remained in his mind. He hated every single one of them with a passion. For many minutes, he burned them all from his mind.
Then a voice broke the silence. "Luke, you must calm down. Control yourself!" Luke turned to see Ben standing before him, his hands raised in a soothing motion.
"You!" Luke shrieked, rising from his bed, using the dark energy to give him strength, "You lied to me!"
The pain his words caused Ben were evident, even in the lines of the phantom face, "Oh Luke, my dearest child, I didn't mean to lie. I wanted to protect you! What I told you was the truth... from a certain point of view."
"A certain point of view! You consider telling me Vader killed my father even remotely resembles the truth!" Luke accused, pointing a finger at Ben's phantom.
"It was true, Luke." Ben told him in the calmest voice he could muster, "When your father fell to the darkside, he ceased to be Anakin Skywalker. All that remains is the dark monster of Vader, who kills without a second thought. He is not your father."
"Well guess what Ben," Luke retaliated, straining to keep his voice from breaking, "Vader doesn't see things according to your view. He wants me to rule the galaxy with him, and what can I do? I'm the son of evil!"
"Luke..."
"No! You lied to me Ben. It's too late for me, and it's certainly too late for you!" Luke told him bitterly.
"I have failed you, Luke. I have failed you." Ben murmured, dropping his head into his hands.
"I hate you!" Luke shouted in desperation, sinking down to his bed cloaked in misery.
"You were like my son, Luke. I loved you!" Ben responded in anguish, "And I still love you. It's not too late for you, you must resist –"
"Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan!" Luke cut in, "Just...leave me to my fate." His voice dropped to a whisper.
"I will never abandon you, Luke." Obi Wan told him, his voice close to breaking. There was silence in the room, and when Luke looked up at last, Obi Wan was gone. Finally he was alone in the darkness.
The tears that he had tried to hold back came streaming down his face uncontrollably, and such great sobs racked his body that he could hardly draw breath. He cried until he had no more tears left to shed, and then all he could do was stare numbly at the wall, wishing with all his might that Vader's saber had killed him.
Had Vader ever been good in reality? Luke remembered his visions of his father long ago as Anakin Skywalker, "Vader could never have done that." Luke announced to the silence of the room, "It was all...a lie."
"A lie."
Luke closed his eyes wearily, and sleep came as a welcome friend. He longed for oblivion, or at least to live for a brief time far away from reality. Yet the force had other plans in mind. A vision rose again to his mind. No, no! Despite his protests, the figures taking shape continued. There was Anakin Skywalker, charging at a tall Jedi with a purple blade in his hands, before he could bring down the blade on an older man who lay on the ground before him. Was that the emperor!
In one swift motion, Anakin severed the hand from the other Jedi, who was hit by a wave of lightning from the hands of the older man. The Jedi reeled back, and toppled out the window. Luke shivered. It was certainly the emperor.
"What have I done?" Anakin asked in despair, turning to the emperor.
"You are fulfilling your destiny, Anakin. Become my apprentice. Learn to use the dark side of the Force." the other told him, in a deep voice that screamed power.
" I will do whatever you ask. Just help me save Padme's life." Anakin answered weakly, trembling.
"To cheat death is a power only one has achieved, but if we work together, I know we can discover the secret." the emperor announced.
"I pledge myself to your teachings. To the ways of the Sith." Anakin said with resignation.
"Good. Good. The Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith you will become. Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth... Vader."
"Thank you...my Master." Anakin replied with the same anguish that tugged at Luke's heart.
"Lord Vader... rise!"
Then the scene changed again, to a dark and fiery world. The alternating surges of heat and cold chased each other up Luke's spine, and sent him shivering. "You're a good person, don't do this." His mother's voice broke into his mind. The view shifted and rested on her, obviously pregnant, speaking to Anakin.
"I'm doing this for you, to protect you." Anakin told her fervently.
In response, his mother broke down into tears, "Anakin... You're breaking my heart. You're going down a path I can't follow!"
"Because of Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked bitterly.
The tears continued to stream down his mother's face, "Because of what you've done, what you plan to do. Stop. Stop now. Come back!" As she saw Anakin's eyes drift away, she shouted, "I love you!" The heartfelt sincerity of her words pierced Luke's heart.
At that moment, however, Anakin had spotted Obi Wan walked down the ramp of a nearby ship, "Liar!" he shrieked.
"No!" Padme screamed.
Yet Anakin was too far gone, and like Luke, he turned on those closest to him, "You're with him! You brought him here to kill me!"
"No!" his mother gasped, clutching her throat as Anakin choked her.
"Let her go, Anakin!... Let her go." Obi Wan commanded firmly.
At last Anakin did so, and turned to glare at Obi Wan with utter hatred, "You turned her against me!"
Obi Wan nearly spat out the words, "You have done that yourself."
"You will not take her from me!" Anakin snarled.
"Your anger and your lust for power have already done that... You have allowed this dark lord to twist your mind until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy." Anakin's former teacher remonstrated.
"Don't lecture me Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do... I have peace, freedom and justice to my new Empire."
"Your new Empire!" Obi Wan said with scorn.
"Don't make me kill you." Anakin threatened in a low voice.
In the most reasonable voice he could muster, Obi Wan answered, "Anakin... My allegiance is to the republic, to democracy!
The hate lit Anakin's eyes, "If you're not with me, then you are my enemy."
"Only the Sith deal in absolutes." Obi Wan pulled out his lightsaber, "I will do what I must."
"You will try." Anakin retorted. The two circled, and then charged each other. The fight showed such incredible skill, Luke would have enjoyed the spectacle had he not been breathless at seeing two people who had influenced him so much fighting to the death. If their sabers didn't kill each other, the terrain certainly would. Great waves of magma washed up and threaten to cover them, as they moved around the lava flow in a deadly dance.
At last Obi Wan left up to a high bank, while Anakin was left floating on a block that rose above the lava flow. He glared defiantly at Obi Wan.
"It's over Anakin! I have the high ground!" Obi Wan announced.
The darkness that had swallowed Anakin brought with it great pride, "You underestimate my power!"
"Don't try it..." Obi Wan cautioned with serious concern.
Yet Anakin did, and Luke gasped in horror as Obi Wan's blade slashed forward and stroke his father's legs, completely severing them. Suddenly, he was feeling his father's pain eating away at his own legs.
"You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! You were to bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!" Obi Wan screeched in his own anguish at seeing his former apprentice hewn down.
"I hate you!" Anakin screamed with all his passion, as the flames licked at his flesh. Luke cried out as he felt the intense pain, too great to bear.
"You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you." Obi Wan answered, with pain crossing his face.
He picked up Anakin's lightsaber, and walked back miserably to the ship, where his mother was hovering on the edge of unconsciousness. Obi Wan tended to her until she passed out, and Obi Wan covered his head with his arms, "I have failed you, Anakin. I have failed you." He sobbed again and again, and tears streamed down his face.
Beyond his control, Luke's vision shifted back to the fiery planet, and he felt another surge of his father's pain, mingled with love, despair, hate, anguish, grief, and confusion. Then a cold sensation drove into his spine, and the emperor appeared to claim Anakin – his father.
Strange machines placed mechanical limbs on his burned flesh, and slowly the Anakin Luke had come to know disappeared into the more familiar black suit.
"Lord Vader, can you hear me?" the emperor called.
"Yes, master." The voice Luke had come to hate was the one that now arose from his father. "Where is Padmé? Is she safe? Is she all right?" he asked, the strong mechanical voice filled with strange weakness.
"It seems in your anger, you killed her." The emperor answered quietly, his voice nearly a taunt.
"I? I couldn't have! She was alive! I felt her!" Anakin's voice became more and more desperate and angry. Things flew about the room, and glass shattered at his rage.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Luke snapped out of his vision and found himself jumping to his feet, echoing his father's scream, "Nooooooooooooo!"
Slowly, his breath returned to normal, and he let his eyes shift around the room, to bring himself back to reality. He let the calm flood into his mind that had previously abandoned him.
His...father...had been Anakin Skywalker. The man he knew as Vader was suddenly reconciled to the image of Anakin. His father's intense pain and emotions were still fresh and crisp in his mind. He winced in memory.
Yet he could now understand Vader a little more. His fall became...more human. It was a fall that Luke himself had nearly undertaken with the same despair. No, Luke thought, it would not be so.
Now he had a purpose, and a reason to fight to remain with the lightside.
He would bring back his father.