For the first time during their meeting Obi-Wan felt a flush of fear. He moved quickly, aided by the Force, and snatched Luke up before Vader could get anywhere near him. Obi-Wan held Luke against his chest and angled his body so that the boy was turned away from Vader.
"If there is any shred of humanity left in you, leave the boy out of this," Obi-Wan pleaded, forcing himself to hold that reptilian gaze. "Luke has nothing to do with any of this."
"He's my son," Vader insisted, taking a half step towards them.
Obi-Wan backed away two steps. "He's Anakin Skywalker's son. I swore to his mother that I'd keep him safe. Even from you."
"Padmé loved me, she wouldn't say that," Vader ground out, the air around him all but crackling with dark energy.
"Padmé would not have said that about Anakin, no," Obi-Wan agreed, tracking Vader's every move carefully. "But you are no longer Anakin Skywalker and have said as much yourself. You were as much a stranger to Padmé as you are to Luke."
"Daddy, this the sad man?" Luke whispered in his ear.
Not taking his eyes off Vader, Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, Luke, this isn't the sad man. He's too angry."
Peering over Obi-Wan's shoulder, Luke examined Vader with eyes far too perceptive for a little boy.
Daddy had never been scared before. Not that he could remember. Daddy was the bravest and smartest of all the Daddies. But Daddy was scared then. Of the Sad Man. Daddy said it wasn't the Sad Man, but he knew it was. It was just the Sad Man being all scary 'cause he thought he was s'posed to be. The Sad Man didn't need to be scary for Daddy and him.
"Daddy still loves you. You don't have to be scary to us," Luke told the Sad Man, wanting to wiggle out of Daddy's arms but knowing that Daddy wouldn't let him.
He was only trying to be nice to the Sad Man, but the Sad Man got mad. "He's not your father! He stole you from me! You're my son! Mine!"
Luke held on tight to Daddy's neck. Daddy had said last night that the Sad Man was his daddy too, but he wasn't sure he wanted the Sad Man to be his daddy. Daddy didn't yell at him like the Sad Man did.
"Luke belongs to no one, Vader," Daddy said in the voice he always used when it was time for a bath. "He's a little boy who is loved by a great many people. I know that Anakin loved him, but what about you? Has the Emperor left any trace of that emotion in your or has it all be leached out?"
"He's my son," the Sad Man said again. "He's all that I left of her."
"He's all that I have left of my best friend."
"That doesn't give you the right to steal him from me!"
Daddy breathed very loud. "I can see that you haven't worked on your negotiation skills at all over the years. You are talking us in a circle."
Daddy was talking in the way that normally made people turn red. The Sad Man was turning red too, but it was an angry red that made him hold Daddy's neck tighter.
"Do no mock me, Obi-Wan. I'm more powerful than you could ever hope to be."
"You assume that what I wanted was power," Daddy told the Sad Man. "You are the one who always craved power. My only purpose right now is to make sure that Luke is safe and happy. Which yours should be as well."
The Sad Man's eyes got small and he started to walk very fast in front of them. "You don't get to lecture me any longer, Obi-Wan. I am no longer your apprentice."
Daddy made a funny laugh and shook his head. "I never trained you. The man that I trained was a good man. Impulsive, but a good man nonetheless. I would have trusted him with my life. Instead you ended his."
Luke tugged on Daddy's sleeve, wanting his attention. When he had it, he said in a loud whisper, "That's the Sad Man, Daddy. I see blue. Blue like you."
Vader stopped his pacing at Luke's words. What Luke supposedly saw in him shouldn't exist anymore. Anakin Skywalker didn't exist. The last traces of him had been burned away by the fires of Mustafar and Sidious' cruelty.
"You are only seeing the lies Obi-Wan created for you," Vader told his son, eyes locked on his former master.
"Daddy doesn't lie," Luke insisted, glaring at him.
Vader barely resisted the urge to shout at Luke, denying his words. Obi-Wan was an expert of altering the truth to suit his purposes. He was the Negotiator; famed across the galaxy for his ability to talk everyone from politicians to tribe leaders to war lords into changing their tactics and stepping down their aggressions. How difficult would it be then for Obi-Wan to convince a child that he hadn't tried to murder his father? Obi-Wan had left him to die on the side of that hill. The man who had claimed to love him had left him to die. Hadn't even tried to help him.
"There is a great deal that you don't know about your Daddy," Vader spat out at last. "Things that I will gladly teach you the truth about."
"You would really turn him into another puppet for Sidious to manipulate?"
Obi-Wan's words caught Vader momentarily off guard. There was a truth to Obi-Wan's question that Vader didn't want to admit to. Loathe as he was to admit it, Luke would become another of the Emperor's pawns.
If Sidious ever found out about him.
"Don't be a fool, Vader. Your master knows all about Luke," Obi-Wan said, cutting into his thoughts. "Why else would he bother with Owen and Beru Lars? He wanted to ensure that I would have nowhere to hide Luke. That way, if he ever found me, he would have Anakin's son."
"You still think that you are so important," Vader scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. It was all that he could do to refrain from lashing out each time that Obi-Wan denied him his past. He may not have been Anakin Skywalker any longer, but that didn't mean he never had been. It didn't make Luke any less his son. "You were the one who decided that I wasn't worthy of raising my own son. Would you ever have told me about him if I hadn't found you first?"
"No," Obi-Wan said simply. "When he was older, I would have told Luke about what happened. It would have ultimately been up to him to decide whether or not he wanted anything to do with his father's murderer."
Vader wasn't even fully aware of what he was doing until Obi-Wan began to gasp for breath. And though he hadn't meant to do it, at this point he could no longer stop. Not without appearing weak to Obi-Wan. Vader felt almost detached as he watched Obi-Wan struggle to draw air into his lungs.
"Stop hurting Daddy!" Luke screamed, clutching at Obi-Wan's cheeks as the older man dropped to his knees. "Stop it! STOP!"
The next thing Vader knew he was flying through the air. He landed hard on the sand, skidding to the water's edge. In his surprise, he had released Obi-Wan who was now crouched over on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. Luke was standing next to him with his small arm wrapped around as much of Obi-Wan's shoulders as he could manage.
"Stay 'way from Daddy," Luke growled, his blue eyes dark with anger. "Yer mean and I don't like you."
As Obi-Wan slowly rose to his knees, then heaved himself back up onto his feet, he gathered Luke up in his arms, holding the boy close to his chest. Obi-Wan staggered briefly, but he didn't release Luke. Luke was latched onto him like a limpet, holding tight to the man he foolishly thought of as his father and glaring at the man who was.
"I see that you've already begun training him in the ways of your pathetic religion," Vader mused as he rose slowly to his feet. His chest felt tight and he was having a bit of difficulty breathing, though he did his best to hide it. He couldn't allow Obi-Wan to realize the advantage that he had.
"I've begun teaching him the value of a life, if that's what you mean," Obi-Wan said, his voice hoarse as a result of the invisible fingers that had been squeezing his esophagus. "That even the most pathetic lifeforms should be cared for."
Vader was not fool enough to miss the barb directed at him by Obi-Wan. He'd always known that Obi-Wan saw him as little more than an obligation to his dead master. Obi-Wan Kenobi was nothing if not loyal to a fault. Even if he would have rather seen Anakin back on Tatooine living the life of a slave, he wouldn't send him back because he'd promised Qui-Gon that he'd train him.
"I never would have sent you back to Tatooine," Obi-Wan told him, his voice slightly stronger as he shifted his hold on Luke.
It took a moment for Vader to realize that for the first time Obi-Wan hadn't made a definition between him and Anakin.
Vader was floundering. As much as he may have tried to hide it, Obi-Wan could sense that the Darth Vader that stood before him wasn't the same one he'd last seen on Mustafar. There was no definitive difference that he could point to, just a general feeling that he got from the younger man. It wasn't even enough to allow him to hope and he certainly wasn't going to trust Vader, but he wanted to believe that there was still something of the good man he had known trapped within Vader.
In truth, it would have been easier if there was nothing of Anakin left in Vader. He had been told too many times that he was far more attached to Anakin Skywalker than he should have been. That hadn't stopped the boy from worming his way into his affection. The boy had been stubborn like that.
"Give me my son."
A trait that hadn't been lost when Vader had entered their lives.
"I will not give him up to become another puppet for that madman," Obi-Wan said calmly with a shake of his head. No good would come from arguing with Vader, the man was too stubborn to listen to reason. "So either kill me and take him, or leave us in peace."
It caught him off guard how surprised Vader seemed by his comment. Stranger still was that Obi-Wan noticed his lack of eyebrows for the first time. Though that was a close second was the fact that Vader hadn't simply killed him. Obi-Wan had truly expected Vader to attack him long ago. He was so full of hate and anger and Obi-Wan was fairly certain that he was the focus of a great deal of it.
"Please don't kill Daddy," Luke snuffled against his shoulder. "Daddy didin wanna hurt you. Th' little frog made 'im go. Don't hurt Daddy."
Vader growled low in the back of his throat then, to Obi-Wan's surprise, stalked away into the forest.
As soon as he was certain that Vader wasn't coming back, Obi-Wan sagged. It had been his will alone that had kept him on his feet and now that he no longer had to put on a show for Vader he slumped to his knees, Luke still clutched tight to his chest.
Vader hadn't killed him.
What's more, Vader hadn't even made an attempt to kill him. His injuries certain wouldn't have prevented Vader from killing him; Obi-Wan had seen HoloNet footage to prove it. The only reason to explain Vader's restraint was Luke. Whether Vader wanted to admit to it or Obi-Wan to believe it, what he had just witnessed left no doubt that enough of Anakin remained locked inside of Vader to keep the boy safe.
"'M sorry, Daddy. I didin mean to make 'im mad," Luke snuffled against his shoulder.
Obi-wan pressed a kiss to the top of Luke's head, resting his cheek on the soft blonde mop. "It's not your fault, Luke. Vader is a very angry man. He always has been."
Later Obi-Wan would wonder just what Luke was doing so far from the village. At the moment he was simply grateful that Luke had survived unharmed. And that Vader hadn't taken him. That was what Obi-Wan had feared the most. Not that Vader would hurt him, but that Luke would be placed in danger. Luke was the only proof that a man named Anakin Skywalker had ever existed.
Vader didn't pause as he stalked towards his ship. He could feel Sidious on the edge of his mind and didn't want the old man tracking him to Endor. Vader would never admit it to Obi-Wan, but he didn't want Sidious anywhere near Luke. It was his own fault that he was the Sith Lord's puppet; he wouldn't put Luke in the same position if he could prevent it. He would keep Luke safe no matter what. Even if it meant going back to Coruscant to face Sidious' wrath for having disappeared for so long.
There was far too much truth in the things Obi-Wan had told him than Vader wanted to admit to. It had been almost off hand the way that Sidious had told him about Owen and Beru's deaths. Having only met them once, their deaths hadn't meant much to him at the time. Even now Vader wasn't too sure whether he wanted to believe Sidious or Obi-Wan's account of events; each one placing the moisture farmer's death on the other. If he allowed himself to be more rational about it, Vader knew that Sidious was a more likely candidate. Obi-Wan Kenobi was many things, but a murderer wasn't one of them.
The thought brought Vader up short. Obi-Wan was a murderer. He'd left him to die on Mustafar. What was that if not murder? Vader didn't like the turn his thoughts were taking. It had to be Obi-Wan's doing. Even now, when he had finally broken free of his old master, Obi-Wan was still turning his thoughts in on themselves. It was like Sidious had said, Obi-Wan and that old troll Yoda had destroyed everything in the galaxy that had anything to do with Anakin Skywalker. Even C-3PO and R2-D2.
But then why leave Luke alive? His step-brother and the droids were insignificant when compared to the destructive possibilities that Luke represented. Young as he was, Vader could already sense that Luke would one day be more powerful than him. And he feared what would happen if Sidious tried to harness that power. And, oddly enough, it wasn't his own position among the Sith that concerned him, but rather the effects on Luke. He didn't want Luke to become a shell of a man.
So Vader did what was expected of him. He relayed a message to Sidious, informing him that he would be returning to Coruscant the next day. It would give him time to finish things on Endor without running the risk of Sidious discovering what was going on.
"I expect to be fully informed of the reason for this little escapade of yours, Vader."
Back in his black suit and mask, Vader allowed the recording of the dreadful suck/hiss to run for a few cycles before responding. "Yes, my lord."
"This will not happen a second time, Lord Vader."
"Yes, my lord."
There was an entire list of orders that Sidious rattled off to him, the man micromanaging his every move on the return to Coruscant. Vader patiently sat through it all, well used to Sidious' ramblings. With each new statement, Vader was more and more tempted to continue staying far away from Coruscant. He didn't want anything to do with Sidious or his plans at the moment. All that he wanted was to take Luke and disappear somewhere in the Outer Rim.
To do that, though, he would have to kill Obi-Wan.
The fact that he was hesitating frustrated Vader to no end. Killing Obi-Wan should have been simple. The man had destroyed his entire life. He deserved it. However, there was still Luke to consider. Young as he was, Luke was still powerful and he would not willingly go with the man who had killed his "Daddy." Since he was still untrained, Luke would be as dangerous as a live bomb.
Leaving him with Obi-Wan, however, wasn't an option. He would not allow that man to poison his son's mind against him any longer. He was the one Luke should have been calling "Daddy." He was "Daddy" not the "Sad Man."
Once he had finished his conversation with Sidious, Vader stripped out of the cumbersome suit and back into the tunic and trousers he'd been wearing earlier. He wasn't going to allow Obi-Wan to continue raising his son. It had gone on long enough. Obi-Wan wouldn't steal any more time away from them.
He wasn't going to leave Endor without Luke.