Day 1: "I did it for you."
Done for Angstober 2020 on tumblr. Summary: Vader has been summoned by the Emperor to return to Imperial Center, a place Vader has been avoiding since he handed Luke over to his master.
Vader walked down the loading ramp of his shuttle. There was no greeting party, not like he wanted one. He made his way alone through the Imperial Palace. The few aids he saw, all quickly moved out of the way. The stormtroopers were silent and unmoving at their posts. He didn't acknowledge them as his thoughts were elsewhere.
He had been summoned away from his fleet, away from hunting down the Rebels . . . from hunting down his daughter. Once he found her, she would join him and together they would . . .
There was a heavy weight in his chest. They would what? No. She would not join him. Not like Luke had agreed to.
Luke with his blue eyes so much like his had once been. Blue eyes that had looked at him so softly, much like a Nubian senator had, and said he would go with his father. Blue eyes that had silently pleaded with that same father to help him as Force lightning tore through him. Blue eyes that had been glazed over and lifeless the last time Vader had seen them from behind the ray shield of a cell.
Luke had agreed to come with Vader but had not agreed to turn to the Dark Side, especially as the Emperor's apprentice. And he had been punished for it. He should have been killed as if the Emperor would allow such a strong Force user to live who wasn't devoted to him. But Luke's slow torture was also torture for Vader, so he had fled unable to look at his son's fading blue eyes. He ran away to his fleet and buried himself in his work hoping to escape, but he hadn't. The Force carried the echoes of Luke's screams across the lightyears.
One time a faint call had risen up to answer them. It wasn't Vader. It was her. His daughter. He had a daughter. In a single moment, Vader's purpose had changed. It had happened before when a bounty hunter uttered the name 'Skywalker.' He would find her, just as he had Luke. He wouldn't turn her over to the Emperor. Not this time. Together they would-
His thoughts cut off as he arrived at the turbolift that would take him to the throne room. The doors slid open and he entered. The first thing he noticed upon exiting was the lack of guards. There were almost always guards. The Emperor loved his displays of power. His little reminders he was in control. Even if it was a meeting between just the two of them . . . unless . . . things were going to get personal.
A frown pulled on his scarred lips. This did not bode well. Had the Emperor discovered the truth about his daughter? Had Luke known about her? And he finally cracked? Thoughts swirled in his head as he started up the steps. The throne was turned around, but he still bowed down to one knee as he reached the top.
"You summoned me, my master?" Vader asked. His voice void of any emotion. Void of any of the internal conflict threatening to pour through any cracks should they appear.
A second passed by. Then another. The sound of his mechanical breathing filled it. He lifted his head, but the chair was still turned around. Should he say something?
It was then the chair turned around, and sitting in it, with one leg propped up on the armrest, was not Emperor Palpatine, but Luke. Luke, his son, dressed in all black. Luke, the son of Padme, with glowing red-rimmed golden eyes and a twisted smile on his face.
Vader was on his feet at once.
"Well?" Luke asked. "What do you think? I think the throne suits me." His twisted smile grew.
"Where is the Emperor?" Vader asked.
Luke slid his leg off the armrest and leaned over placing his elbows on his legs. "Dead," he said.
The Force confirmed the words. Truth. Luke was telling the truth.
"You . . . killed the Emperor?"
"Former Emperor, Father," Luke said.
"When? How long ago has it been?" Vader asked stepping up to the throne. Luke leaned back.
"Why does that matter?"
"Do you realize what you have done?" Vader asked pointing a finger at his son.
The smile fell from Luke's face and twisted into a frown.
"Do you?" Luke growled. He stood up and glared up at Vader. "I have freed the galaxy."
"No one is free, yet. Palpatine had plans, fail-safes, contingency plans if he ever fell unexpectedly."
Luke narrowed his eyes. "I did this for you," he hissed.
Vader's helmet lowered. "And not for you?"
Luke stiffened. He looked away as his eyes grew distant. There was a shudder in the Force as memories ran through him. Vader couldn't see anything, but he could feel them. The pain. The fear. The desperation and desolation. But it disappeared sharply as if it was being cut off. When Vader looked back at his son, Luke was looking at him. His face hard, but his eyes were watery.
His Sith eyes. Luke had fallen. The Emperor . . . had succeeded . . . in turning him . . .
"So. Tell me about these plans Palpatine had," Luke purred. Any signs of distress had vanished. "If worse comes to worst, it seems like the Empire might need a bit of culling." The devilish smile returned and grew and grew. "Oh, and Father? Tell me how my dear sister is doing."