The Early Afternoon Celebration, which was pure collaboration and relationship building with Imperial commanders, was as much of a waste of time as any celebration. All of these celebrations were pointless and uneventful, celebrating anything was a useless act. Mawkish speeches were made by members of staff who cried their love for the Empire and what the Empire meant to them. They were unimpressive, and a pain to listen to. It was a shock to Vader that anyone even clapped for them.

The only speech he did clap for was Luke's, he made a small speech, something the Emperor has requested him to do so since he turned eleven. He wanted to have Luke show more of a public interest in the Empire, though Vader believed Luke was too young for him to be on public display, even now Vader felt his almost fourteen-year-old son was too young for something like that. But some things were out of his control.

It had been hours since the Early Afternoon Celebration, it was time for the Dinner Party. This was the most important one, at least to the Emperor. Vader and Luke were currently walking down the halls of the palace towards the main dining hall. Luke was almost bouncing, he could feel Luke's excitement through the force. He looked down at his son.

"What has made you so excited?" Luke looked up grinning.

"The fireworks show!" This made sense to Vader, the only aspect Luke enjoyed about Empire Day was the fireworks show. Though, when Luke was really little he was terrified of fireworks and would hide behind his cape. But now, they were Luke's favorite part of the day. "I just hope this dinner party goes by fast."

"I feel the same as well, young one." Vader paused, "Soon after the fireworks event, you must go to bed. We leave early in the morning." Luke's eyes widened and stopped in his tracks, his mouth was slightly agape.

"We are leaving so soon!?" Vader stopped and faced his son.

"Yes- is this an issue?" Luke slumped his shoulders and looked to the floor.

"I just thought we would be here longer than that.." Luke paused, "I just wanted to see more of this place I guess." Vader crossed his arms over his chest.

"We are not required to be here after this day is over, we can not delay our departure. I have work to continue with, and you, young one, have school to get back to."

"We can't stay here just a little bit longer?" Luke asked as he looked back up at Vader, he felt something spike in his chest. He felt no urge to stay any longer than necessary, he never even wanted to come back to this planet. Despite his desire to leave, he did want to give Luke extra time here, but it was not possible due to time restrictions.

"That is not possible, unfortunately, we are on a strict time schedule." Luke was disappointed, this was obvious. His eyes had drifted to the floor and nodded slowly. Vader paused before turning and continuing down the hall towards the dining room.

They reached the location of the dinner party, Vader walked ahead into the grand dining room which was full of members of high society who flew here on their expensive personal shuttles to be with the Emperor on this day. Being in the Emperor's favor is all that mattered to these Politicians and higher ranked military members. Vader found their constant want to be in good terms with the Emperor a disgusting facade, the Emperor found it endearing.

He could feel Luke's dropping mood, knowing full well Sidious felt it as well. Luke tended to scream his emotions into the force, his shields were not strong. He knew Sidious must enjoy his son's turmoil and would find a way to use it against Luke by making him feel worse.

Luke looked around the room solemnly, he felt like he was being a baby but couldn't help but be disappointed. While Luke wished to look around the planet more, he really wanted to stay for his birthday. It was coming up and Luke didn't want to spend his birthday on a Star Destroyer, he wanted to have it on his mother's planet. Not to mention, he wanted to be able to see his mother's grave again before they left.

The dining room was huge with great chandeliers hanging from the tall ceilings with tapestries hanging on the walls. He felt like the palace on Naboo never failed to impress him, every room he saw was more elegant than the other. The crowd at the dinner party was large, though it always was. Luke was shocked to see a lot of the Senators, Moffs, and Generals flew themselves here just to be at this party. He thought celebrating off Coruscant would be more quiet, just a few of the highest members of Imperial Society.

Several Imperial members bowed to Luke, waved to him, and wished him a happy Empire Day as they passed. Luke did his best to put on a smile and wished them a good day as well, they reached the Emperor. Luke bowed towards Sidious, the Emperor's face slowly curled into a smile.

"Greetings, young Skywalker."

"Hello, your highness, it is an honor to dine with you this evening," Luke said, Sidious still held the smug grin.

"I could feel your distress through the force child, why must you sully the evening with these emotions?" Luke's eyes widened, not expecting the Emperor would confront him on this or even be paying attention to his emotions.

"I-I uh-," Luke sputtered.

"Oh please, do tell me, and try not to stutter." Luke furrowed his brows and looked between his father and the Emperor.

"I was- I was just upset about leaving tomorrow." The Emperor laughed softly.

"For someone who is about to be fourteen you have the emotional capacity of a small child," Luke gasped softly and felt his stomach twist tightly. His eyes began to water, "Do not ruin my party with your moping."

"Master, I believe he is upset because he did not get to properly look around his mother's planet." His father defended, Sidious seemed to seethe with anger as he turned to look at his father.

"Do not defend your offspring's childish emotions!" Sidious turned back to Luke and narrowed his eyes, "You are dismissed." In a quick and urgent want to run away from the Emperor and eat at the opposite end of the table, he turned quickly and charged forward.

Unfortunately, in his haste, he ran into someone holding a plate of food, which was dropped onto Luke and fell on his outfit. Luke stumbled back and looked at his now ruined outfit and at the man he ran into. There was a tense silence until the Emperor began to chuckle, Luke looked at him mortified as tears began to run down his cheeks. He heard snickers here and there from other people around, he glanced at his father then ran down the dining room, out the door, and down the hall.

He was so embarrassed, so mortified, people laughed, the Emperor laughed. The Emperor pulled him over and made him feel terrible for how he had felt, he did not want to be in the same room, no, same building as that monster. He kept running and running, multiple times he felt his father poke at his presence urgently, but he didn't open their connection. He wanted to be alone.

He ran out the main entrance and down the main street, he wanted to be at his mother's grave. It would be quiet, peaceful, he would be with his mother, and he would get to see it one last time before leaving the planet. He didn't know the next time he would get the chance to come back to Naboo, his father might be mad for him running off what it was worth any punishment.

"You may look for your offspring." Sidious groaned as they watched the staff clean up the mess caused by the collision between Luke and the Imperial officer. "But I must warn you," His voice suddenly became grim and venomous, "Never defend him from me again, he is up to my criticism."

"Yes, my master," Vader said.

"You have ten minutes, if you cannot find him by then you must still come back to the party. You are expected to be at events like this, Lord Vader." Sidious added, "You cannot allow your offspring to distract you from such things." Vader felt his anger rise.

"Yes, master." Sidious waved him away, he quickly walked down the dining room and held onto Luke's force presence. Sidious gave him only ten minutes to find his son, so he would use every second he had. He kept attempting to form a connection and ask Luke where he was but he wasn't responding. He walked out into the palace hall and stormed his way down looking for his son. Luke could not possibly navigate this place without getting lost, Vader expected he was hiding somewhere to be alone.

It aggravated Vader without end of what happened, Sidious is a master manipulator. His son still took so much to heart it may not be possible for him to comprehend what Sidious is always intending to do. Causing emotional turmoil was his end goal, allowing Sidious to do this to his son was upsetting, to say the least. He had allowed this as an attempt to ultimately keep Luke safe, keeping an image of always siding with Sidious is a vital role in this, defending Luke was to show weakness and treason to the Emperor. But Vader knew this could not last any longer, this was unacceptable.

He pulled out his comlink, "Lekauf, send search parties throughout the palace in search of Luke."

"Luke!?" The shocked response from Lekauf crackled from the comlink, Lekauf took a moment of silence. "Yes my Lord, right away!" The com was cut and continued his search.

Luke reached the entrance for the Royal Burial Ground, his heart was racing from sprinting down the main road. It was dark out, the burial ground was dimly lit by tall lanterns. He walked slowly through the graveyard feeling more than a little creeped out. He never really thought he would be creeping through a graveyard at night but he was glad to be away from the Emperor.

After slowly making his way through the graveyard he ended back up at his mother's memorial, he smiled softly and bent over and picked a small handful of flowers from the ground. He walked up the steps and placed the flowers on the stone coffin, his eyes began to water again. He took in a deep breath and sat on the floor. He tried to forget the wave of humiliation the Emperor made him feel, he sat in silence, he rubbed the palm of his hands into his eyes. He felt slightly tired and hungry, hopefully, a droid would be able to bring him a meal to his room later that evening.

He felt a small inclination to voice his problems to his mother's grave, which he felt slightly weird for. He had come to terms with it yesterday, that she couldn't hear him, but for a moment, he wanted to pretend she could.

For a long while, Luke sat in silence in his mother's memorial listening to nothing but his own breathing and the bugs buzzing in the night time. He felt his heart skip when he heard footsteps softly scrape on the stone passageway leading to the memorial. His shock quickly subsided, he assumed it must be guards sent out to look for him. Luke stood up and slowly makes his way out of the memorial.

He stopped in his tracks on the stairs of his mother's memorial, he was staring at a middle-aged brunette woman who held a flickering candle.

"Who are you?" The woman asked as she looked Luke up and down.

"Uhm."

"What are you doing here?" The woman's voice wavered, Luke worried that maybe she thought Luke had come here to prank the area. Something like that has happened on Coruscant where teenagers would deface anything they could get away with. Luke held up his hands as evidence for his innocence.

"I-I just came to visit my mother's grave," Luke said quickly, he wanted it to be clear he wasn't trying to disrespect the area. The woman's eyes widened as she looked from the memorial to Luke over and over again.

"Mother?!" She hissed, "Are you saying you are walking out of your mother's memorial right now?" Luke sucked in a nervous breath, wondering if he was allowed to even say his mother was Padme on Naboo. He had just panicked slightly to not seem like a vandal, his father might not like Luke mentioning his mother was Padme Amidala.

"Oh uh-" Luke turned to face the memorial, he thought about attempting to lie that this wasn't his mother's memorial. But he could not find it in him to lie about who his mother was while he was in her memorial. Luke turned back to face the woman, "Yes, she is." The woman frowned and folded her arms over her chest.

"That is not a funny joke," Her voice was very serious, Luke frowned and sighed heavily.

"I am not joking-"

"You have to be joking-" She paused, "My sister died before she was able to give birth, she-"

"Sister!?" Luke jumped down from the steps, "Padme is your sister!?"

"Yes, she is- so your whole faking being her son can stop." The woman said firmly, "I would know if her child survived." Luke couldn't believe he was staring at his aunt, his mother's sister! Unfortunately, she didn't believe him. Luke took an ernest step closer to her.

"No- I am telling the truth, she was- is, my mother," Luke said with his brows furrowed, hoping she would believe him.

"That's not possible-" She shook her head, "She was still pregnant when she-"

"Please, you have to believe me!" Luke pleaded, though realizing it must be hard to believe him. To her, he was some random kid hanging around her memorial. "There must be something I can do to prove-"

"Please stop!" She protested, "It's near the anniversary of her death- I can't handle you pretending to be her son." Her voice wavered, she looked as if she was about to cry. Luke deflated, in his haste to make her realize who he was, he now saw he was causing her emotional turmoil. He wished his first meeting with his aunt had gone better, he wanted their first meeting to be amazing and ask a million questions about his mother. All he was doing was causing his aunt pain.

"Mom, I got the flowers!" A voice came from the distance, his heart quickened. "Sorry for taking so long, I- '' From the darkness a woman some years older than Luke appeared, she was speaking with Luke's aunt. So he had a cousin?! His mouth dropped open slightly as he saw his family grew bigger by the second. His cousin looked at his aunt with concern then her eyes darted to Luke. "What happened? Who are you?! Why is my mother crying!?"

"I- uhm…" Luke was almost at a loss for words, he was not sure how to even tackle this situation. What would she say if he revealed they were cousins? She most likely wouldn't believe them. She seemed already freaked out by her mother's state, he didn't know how to tell her everything that happened without freaking her out more. "I-I was, uhm.."

"Who are you!?" His cousin asked again.

"I am Luke Skywalker, and I-"

"Skywalker?!" His aunt looked up, her eyes wide. "Your last name is Skywalker?" Luke nodded. His aunt walked up to Luke, she looked him deep in his eyes in silence for a long while. He felt uncomfortable being under her gaze.

"Your father is Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker?" His aunt asked quietly, almost in a whisper. Luke tensed at the question, obviously, they had no idea that his fathers identity changed.

"Y-Yes," Luke said, not wanting to reveal his father's new identity. "You kne- know him?" His aunt nodded.

"Yes, I met him once and-" She paused as she examined him, "From what I remember, you do look like him." She took a step back. "He and Padme were a secret, so secret that she only told me about it.."

"What's going on?" His cousin asked, "Who is this kid?"

"Would you be willing to have a blood DNA test?" His aunt asked, ignoring his cousins question, Luke nodded quickly.

"Yes!" He smiled.

"We have a medical droid at my home, come with me and Ryoo. My name is Sola, by the way." She formed a small smile and turned around and walked down the stone path. Ryoo looked at her like she was crazy. Luke hesitantly stepped forward and began following her. He looked towards the palace, wondering what his father was doing. He wouldn't be too long, although he wished he had more time to get to know them. There was no way he could stay missing for much longer without his father freaking out. He followed her out of the graveyard and into the speeder.

Vader paced in the main entrance hall, all security has been stretched to each end of the palace. He was not able to stand still, at first he had just expected to find Luke around the corner sulking at what the Emperor had said. His ten minutes were almost up, and where Luke's presence was it was now clear he wasn't in the palace at all. Sidious did not allow him to search the main street of Theed.

He heard quick footsteps then saw Lekauf enter the hall, he was rushing towards Vader, gripping his datapad. "So far, the search for Luke has been unsuccessful.." Lekauf said, his face contorted in concern. He could feel the stress radiating off of the man. Vader's anger rose immeasurably, his fists tightened and the large stained glass window shattered behind him.

"Send search parties through all of Theed, tell them they may take any course of action to retrieve my son. I must return to the Emperor." Lekauf bowed.

"Yes, my Lord." Vader turned on his heels and walked down the hall. He should be out there looking for Luke, when he gripped Luke's signature he felt somewhat far about a half a mile or so.

What if something had happened to him? Why was he out of the palace? Had someone kidnapped him? Who could have broken through the palace defenses, passed the guards, and stole Luke without being noticed? It was unlikely, but he did not want to dismiss any possibilities. Vader never panicked but felt a swirling knot form in his chest.

He did not want to lose his son the same day he lost his wife.

A/N Ahhh! Okay, Empire Day pt two! Okay ngl low-key kinda nervous about this chapter but still, I hoped you liked it! Kinda nearing the end of this, then it will be back to the one-shots!

Please let me know what you thought! I love to hear from you guys!