Day 6: Nightmares Come Alive

Summary: If Luke is a ghost that seems to be tethered to Darth Vader, then he is going to haunt the Sith Lord.

Darth Vader ripped his red lightsaber out of the chest of a human dressed in tattered camo and plastoid armor. They were part of a ragtag group of dissenters against the Empire and had decided to rebel. Perhaps they could even get the Alliance's help, but the Alliance was unable to provide support before Vader arrived with his troops.

It was a slaughter.

The rebels were falling everywhere. Many from blaster fire, while a few met Darth Vader. He marched through the battlefield, now muddy and trampled, without stopping. His lightsaber hummed and hissed as it slid through bodies or bounced off bolts. With his free hand, he pulled and pushed rebels with the Force. Once he used the Force to detonate a bag of bombs one rebel was carrying. And throughout all of that, his stride never faltered.

The only thing Luke could do was watch. He couldn't help. He couldn't even offer calming words to the dying. Problem was, he was dead. He didn't remember how it happened. His current theory was he crashed his X-Wing. But he was blue, transparent, could go through walls, and no one could see him . . . well no one beside Vader. And somehow he was bound to Vader as if by some invisible chain. If Vader moved than Luke's ghostly body was forced to follow. If there was something blocking his path, his body would just slide right through.

It had been the very first day that Vader revealed he could see Luke, who had followed him into his strange pod-like hyperbaric chamber. He watched as an arm came down and removed the helmet. He was surprised to see that Vader, the feared Darth Vader, looked . . . so weak and pathetic under that mask. He was a pale white man with horrible scars.

"Leave," Vader said. His voice wheezy and weak, no longer the threatening bass that came out of his vocoder.

Vader's sickly yellow eyes seemed to be looking directly at Luke.

"Like you can see me," Luke grumbled to himself. No one else had seen him despite yelling and shouting and waving his arms. He had tried to push several officers and troopers, but his body only went right through them.

"I can."

Luke jumped. "What? You can see me?"

"Yes. Now leave."

Luke just stared with his mouth open for a moment before he straightened up and squared his shoulders. "No."

Vader clenched his crooked teeth and growled, though nowhere near as menacing as it would have been had he still be wearing the mask.

"Are you trying to do something?" Luke asked. "With the Force? Trying to get rid of me?"

Vader was silent.

"I was going to be a Jedi," Luke said proudly. No point in hiding it now.

"And the fate that came across you is the one that all Jedi have met."

Luke narrowed his eyes and glared.

"Now, leave," Vader said.

"Why? Are you in here to get some peace and quiet?" Slowly, a devilish smile spread on Luke's face. If he was a ghost and was bound to Vader . . . well he might as well make the most of it . . .

Vader lasted twenty minutes of Luke constantly talking. He talked about Vader's bald head and his stupid suit. He talked about how bad the Empire was. Vader closed his eyes and attempted to tune Luke out, but eventually the mask and the helmet were put back on and Vader marched out of the pod.

He tried to escape Luke by going into his fighter and flying amongst the stars, but Luke was there.

"You can't escape me," Luke said hovering next to Vader's arm. "Trust me. I've tried to escape you. We're stuck together."

Vader's helmet slowly turned to fully face Luke. He was silent for a long time before he looked back out the cockpit and brought the fighter back to the hangar.

Perhaps it had been a mistake telling Vader that Luke could not escape him because Vader made sure to go out of his way to make Luke's days miserable. Every prisoner brought on to the ship, Vader would personally interrogate and torture. It would go for hours. Possibly days.

"No," Vader said to the stormtroopers and the officer in the detention cell. "Heal him. Summon me when he is lucid again and we will begin again."

He turned and left the room.

"You're doing this on purpose," Luke hissed as he jogged along next to the Sith. "You're doing this because I can see it."

"Then leave," Vader said.

"I can't."

"Then be silent."

"So you can get some peace? Like in all hells am I going to let you do that!"

Vader paused in the middle of the hallway. "Then whatever scum I can get my hands on I'll use their screams to drown your incessant voice out." He pointed a gloved hand right at Luke's chest. "I will make this your hell. Your nightmare."

Then he turned and stormed away. Luke didn't want to follow him. He wanted to stand there and glower at him, but the invisible force pulled him down the hall after him.

Vader didn't lie; he lived up to his word. He made sure to induce pain and agony on any and all that he could, especially Rebels. Though that wasn't as bad when it was innocent people, who had been caught up in this war. Those were the times Luke tried to get away. Tried to go through the walls and cover his ears to stop hearing the pleading and calls for loved ones they would never see again.

Luke soon lost track of days, especially since he didn't sleep or eat. Everything started to blur together. He was tempted, oh so tempted, to stop with his attempts to annoy Vader. There were a few minutes when his exhaustion finally won over, and he sat curled up in a corner while Vader did some boring task like paperwork. But then he remembered all the cooling corpses, scattered starships, and at least one lost planet Vader was personally responsible for, and Luke's anger returned and he continued his nonstop noise.

Sometimes he would sing. Sometimes he would ramble aimlessly. Sometimes he would describe every move Vader made.

"Oh and now he's picking up the stylus. What will he do with it? Ah, sign something. And now he puts it back down."

Luke wasn't surprised when Vader slammed down his datapad and rode a turbolift down to the detention center.

"And what will it be today, oh great Lord Vader?" Luke asked as he trailed behind him. He was a little disappointed that as a ghost he still had to walk. Or if there was a trick to floating, he had yet to learn it.

Vader didn't acknowledge the ghost as he continued down the hallway to the cell at the very end. The interrogation chamber. Luke took a sharp breath, a habit he had when he was alive. He didn't need to breathe. Not anymore. But he still held his breath and his shoulders were tensed as he followed Vader in.

The prisoner wearing an Alliance uniform was already strapped to the table, which was standing upright with an IT-O Interrogator droid floating beside it. An officer, usually the interrogator, and two troopers stood in the cell.

"Leave us," Vader barked.

The Imperials followed orders without question and soon the cell was empty save for the prisoner, the Sith, and the ghost.

Vader walked over to the prisoner and ripped his rank insignia off. He gave it a quick look before he threw it to the ground.

"Now, lieutenant commander, you will tell me what I want to know."

To the prisoner's credit, he glared and spat at Vader.

"Rot in all nine hells, Vader!"

The prisoner's head jerked back as Vader's hand snapped up and curled into a fist.

"What do you know of the pilot who shot down the Death Star?" Vader asked.

A chill ran through Luke. How many interrogations had Luke witnessed? This was the first time Vader had asked that, but this was the first Rebel prisoner of rank. The others were just toys Vader played with to annoy Luke. This one was different.

"Noth- nothing. I know noth-" The words were cut short by a scream.

"What do you know of the pilot who shot down the Death Star? What is their name? Their rank? Where are they currently located?"

The prisoner only took in sharp breaths and glared at Vader. The screaming started again soon after that and went on for a very long time until finally the prisoner shouted out a name.

"Sky- sky- walker! SKYWALKER!"

Vader's arm dropped and he went still. Long seconds passed with only the sound of breathing coming from the two living beings.

"Sky . . . walker?" Vader asked. "His name is Skywalker? Where is he? Where is this pilot?" He took a large step forward and grabbed the prisoner by the collar.

"He's . . . he's . . ." the prisoner mumbled.

"Tell me and you will live!"

"He's right here," Luke said bitterly.

Vader slowly turned around and looked at the ghost.

"I'm Luke Skywalker. The pilot that shot down the Death Star. I'm already dead."

Vader let go of the prisoner and turned towards Luke.

"You're . . . Luke Skywalker?"

"Son of Anakin Skywalker," Luke said. "Remember him? You murdered him."

". . . No," Vader grumbled.

"Skywalker . . . he's . . ." the prisoner continued. "He's . . . in . . . a- a . . . coma . . ."

Both Luke and Vader's were instantly on the prisoner.

"What?" Luke said breathlessly. "I'm not dead?"

Vader slowly turned back around and looked at Luke. "If you are not dead, then I will find you."

Luke tensed up. How long had he been terrorizing Vader's every waking second? And now he realized he was alive but helpless in a coma. Vader would kill him the moment he could. But . . . Would it mean this would all be over? Would his spirit finally be free of this nightmare or would he just wake up in his body and be the poor prisoner on the table?

Vader took a step closer. "It's time for your dream to end, young one."