Epilogue
Luke rode up to the dusty homestead, his landspeeder making a fair amount of noise as he did so. The speeder was not the newest model, but it was not on its last legs either. He and his father had souped it up quite a bit, and it could give any other speeder on the planet a run for its money. He and his father were geniuses with machines; somehow, it came naturally to them both.
Though Luke was proud of the landspeeder, he was even more proud of the podracer they had built. With the mixed blessing of his father, Luke had entered the podracer into several races. It was one of the activities he glorified in the most. The activity was officially banned by the Empire, but the galactic government barely had a presence in the Outer Rim, and podracing was perhaps the planet's biggest draw.
Luke stopped the speeder beside his father, who was working on a moisture vaporator.
His father glanced up at him and grumbled, "It doesn't matter how new the technology is. The sand always ruins everything."
Luke snorted and rolled his eyes. He knew his father was not truly upset. Both Luke and his father were fine right where they were. Eight years before, they had left the Empire with Threepio, Artoo, and some Imperial funds and had gone underground. Luke's father—who went by "Anakin Stargazer" now—had built a light gray suit which did not necessitate his face being completely covered, and they had eventually gone to Tatooine. They had bought the homestead where they now lived, and they spent much of their time eking out a living in the barren wasteland. While for a long time, Luke had had nightmares every night, they had gradually begun to ease up in intensity and frequency, and he hoped one day they would disappear altogether. Despite the lingering effect of his former life, however, Luke felt it was not possible for him to be any happier.
Piece by piece and bit by bit, Luke's father had revealed everything . . . or almost everything, anyway. Luke felt he was probably holding back on a few things. But it did not truly matter.
Luke's father had said that he once believed Tatooine was the one planet where all the possible ways of suffering in the galaxy collided. He had seen only the bad: corruption, slavery, dust, and dead things. He had never thought about the good to be found on the desert planet: hard work, loyalty, and love. He said that Luke was the one who had helped him realize that if a utopia lost sight of those things, then it was not a utopia at all. And that was why he had walked away from the Empire.
Luke hopped out of the landspeeder, waggling the part he had just bought at Tosche Station for his father to see.
Anakin grabbed the object from him, his triumphant smile visible beneath the clear breathing apparatus on his face. "Great! Maybe now this blasted thing will finally start working again."
"Yeah," Luke said, tilting his head and looking at the moisture vaporator. It was the machine that always gave them the most trouble. Even with the combined technological skills of Luke and his father, it often seemed like an uphill battle. Anakin had spoken time and time again about buying a replacement, but he was always reluctant to dip into the Imperial funds they had hidden away. He wanted to earn their living through hard work and not what he referred to as "blood money." Luke's attempts to learn more information about what he meant were met with a solid wall. But that was fine. There were ghosts and monsters in both their pasts.
"I should throw this thing out to the Jawas," Anakin muttered.
"Uh huh," Luke said, watching his father for a few moments. Then he said in an offhanded tone, "So, Biggs says he's going to the Imperial Academy soon."
Anakin's head shot up. "Oh, he is?" he said, attempting to keep his voice just as casual-sounding. Yet his nervousness was more than obvious to one who knew him well.
Luke felt hard-pressed to hold back a smile. Anakin had mentioned more than once that he was glad Luke had made some friends during the past few years, but he always seemed worried about their ambitions.
"Biggs is determined to save the galaxy," Luke said. "You know, make his own utopia."
"What do you want, son?" Anakin asked, staring at him with clear blue eyes. His face—the top half of which was uncovered—was lightly tanned, and Luke found it hard to picture the way he had once appeared, with a black helmet that seemed modeled after something in one of Luke's nightmare. Nothing was black and white anymore; everything was shades of gray. But Luke was more than willing to take the bad with the good.
After grabbing one of the tools on the ground beside the moisture vaporator, Luke moved to provide some assistance. "I've already got a good life of my own. I'm with my father. That's all I need." He tilted his head toward the cantankerous machine. "Now, let's fix this thing so we can eat lunch."
His father grinned at him. "And then maybe we can spare a few minutes to work on that podracer of yours. I've got a few ideas on how we might be able to increase its speed. It might require a little loss to steering, though, so I'm curious to see whether you have any ideas about how to get around it."
Luke smiled right back at him. "I can't wait, Dad."
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading! I'm sorry it's so short, but I just didn't have time for a full-length story. My conscience has been assuaged by the happy ending at least, heh. :)
The Plug: I'd like to put in a plug for my two-part Waiting for an Echo series, which I co-authored with Jann Rowland. It can be found on Amazon (Volume 1 is Words in the Darkness, and Volume 2 is Echoes at Dawn). I would really appreciate anyone who supports my writing efforts. This site has always been my playing ground, so to speak, before moving on to more professional endeavors. If you have enjoyed any of my stuff over the years, I would really appreciate your supporting me yet again. :) And maybe one day, if I'm successful enough to be a writer full-time, I'll be able to dive back further into fanfiction again. Haha. I can dream, can't I?