A/N Part of an additional chapter to 'Difficult Roads' that I play with in my spare time.
Aftermath
Luke didn't stir as Vader finally set the shuttlecraft down and turned off the engines. Their Force bond was wide open, the connection between them thriving for the first time in years. Luke had been conditioned not to touch the Force by that damn Hutt and so there were no shields between them to protect his thoughts from Vader.
He dreamt of nothing and yet, in the deep recesses of his subconscious thought, Luke felt tense and uneasy. Vader knew without needing to be told that Luke would wake up in an instant with the right stimuli. Whatever it was that he had become accustomed to hearing which alerted him to imminent danger.
The jingle of keys on a belt or perhaps the sound of heavy boots walking in his direction.
For Anakin, it had been the sound of Watto's wings as he moved through the air. Or sometimes the sound of his mother coming back to their pathetic little hovel in the early hours of the morning after a night of being rented out to the highest bidder.
Vader turned away from those thoughts quickly. He hated looking back and seeing all the ways he had failed – but he couldn't afford to be angry right now. Not when Luke was in such a fragile state. Their minds were too intimately connected and while Luke was lacking the ability to shield, and until he could be convinced or feel comfortable enough to access the Force on his own again, he would be especially vulnerable to outside thoughts and impressions.
Luke had slept through the entire flight. His head was still resting in the crook of his arm and his breathing was deep and steady. His hair was long now, looking more like Anakin's had all those years ago, and blonder after once again being subjected to the harsh rays of the twin suns. Some strands of it had fallen into his face as he slept and Vader was barely able to refrain from brushing them away.
Instead, he stood up and left Luke sleeping in the co-pilots seat, closing the cockpit doors softly behind him.
The main cabin looked much the same as it did a few hours ago. Luke had touched and used nothing – the only evidence that he'd been in here at all were the slave garments and jewelry that he'd rid himself of laying scattered across the floor. Vader snatched them up in the Force and swiftly chucked them in the garbage chute where they belonged.
A/N I can't say exactly when I plan to add the rest of this, but the angst is too great for me to ignore. :)