Immalleable

A/N: This is a very, very, VERY au story. I have absolutely no idea what's canon for the planet Coruscant so just ran amok with creative license to give it something akin to Halloween. Also I went back and forth on if this should be one of those 'Luke doesn't have the Force' stories or not, and to keep things interesting, made it that he does, but it's not canon strong in him. Hope you enjoy! Please read and review.

Darth Vader entered his son's bedroom but didn't see the boy anywhere. Coruscant's sun was going down, it was going to be night soon, and he knew his son planned to go out. So what he could possibly be doing now was beyond his father's imagination.

"Luke?"

Through the door to the boy's private fresher, he could hear Luke's muffled response, "I'll be out in a minute."

The dark lord shook his head. Some days he swore there was no use trying to figure his child out. If he'd been smart he probably would've given up on that long ago. Luke's mind had a tendency to roam a dozen different directions at any given time, it wasn't that the boy was flighty, for lack of a better word, it was just that his brain tended to work in multiple dimensions compared to most, his own father's included.

The door whooshed open and Luke stepped into the bedroom, dressed in a colorful set of robes and a black mask tied around his eyes.

"Well, how do I look?" he asked, the eagerness for his father's approval evident in his voice.

Of course Luke knew his father could only see everything in a neverending shade of red, but it had never stopped him from asking his father's opinion.

"You look very nice, Luke."

He knew that Luke had spent a long time working on his costume. The seasons were changing, the nights were growing longer and colder, and the time had come once again for Coruscant's masquerade festival. Tonight thousands of people dressed up in gawdy and brightly colored costumes would be out in the streets, drinking, dancing, laughing, vendors would sell everything imaginable, there would be all kinds of game booths set up, it was a time honored tradition, and his son was going to be among them, as he was every single year.

Ordinarily Vader would go with Luke, just to keep an eye on the boy and make sure he was safe and stayed out of trouble. One year when Luke was younger and Vader hadn't been able to keep an eye on him the whole night, he took all the money out of his wookiee bank and spent about all of it at a slug thrower gallery trying to win a mini speeder. The Rodian running the gallery had accused Luke of cheating and Vader had come upon the scene just in time to see Luke biting him. Those were the instances where his reputation in the Empire suffered the most credibility damage, not his own policies, but the times Luke went out in public and acted like a wild animal. Thankfully those were few and far between, but for many years after that he made it a point to watch Luke every year at the festival just to make sure there weren't anymore incidences.

This year however there was Imperial business to tend to that couldn't be avoided, and Luke had nagged his father that he was 18 and didn't need a chaperone anymore. In theory, Vader knew this to be true, but he'd spent 18 years raising his son alone after his wife, Padme, had died in childbirth. It had been his first and foremost job for almost two decades to keep his child safe, it was hard to accept that that responsibility had now shifted to Luke. There was so much he still didn't know, Vader knew he would learn it in time but the very idea was almost enough to give him an anxiety attack.

Luke went over to the window and looked outside. The sky was turning colors as the sun started to set, and down below and as far off as the eye could see, a crowd was starting to gather.

"I'm going to be late," he said as he turned back towards his father.

Vader put his arms out to halt his son for a moment before he just zipped out the door.

"I know that you know to be careful," Vader said, "and I know you're 18-"

"Father," Luke was already rolling his eyes in anticipation of a lecture.

"But I don't want you staying out late," his father finished, "I want you back home at a regular time."

"I will," Luke pulled away and stepped around him, "I promise!" and with that he was out the door, calling behind him, "Bye, Father!"

If it would've done him any good, if it wasn't for his respirator, Darth Vader would've sighed. He went over to the window and looked down at the palace grounds. A moment later he saw Luke running across the grass to catch up to the foot traffic that was amassing far down the road.

Behind his mask, in his head, Vader chided himself for being such a sentimental fool. That was his secret he kept from the galaxy, one of anyway. He couldn't help it. It felt like he'd spent Luke's whole life trying to slow time down so his son didn't grow up too fast, but he grew up all the same, in the timely manner that all children did. First a child learned to crawl, then they learned to walk, they learned to go up and down the stairs with both feet on each step, then they learned to climb with one foot on each step. When they first learned to walk, they learned to hold your hand, and then one day, they let go, and once they let go, they never held your hand again. Luke had done that long ago, but this just felt like more of the same, that Luke was one step closer to running out of his life entirely. It wouldn't be too much longer now before the boy left home for good, met a girl, got married, started a family of his own, and then he'd be in the exact same ship as his father.

Sentimental fool indeed. Vader shook his head, trying to clear his mind. These various thoughts had entered his mind semi-regularly from the time Luke was a baby. Most of the time he'd learned to tune them out, once in a while though they were more resilient. He pushed it to the back of his mind. Luke would come home tonight, as he always did, he wouldn't be moving out anytime soon, there was time for this discussion later, right now he had to meet with the other members of the Empire.

Luke was having the time of his life. This was the closest experience he'd ever had to flying while he still had both feet on the ground. The whole night had been like that. He loved the masquerade festival. He loved losing himself in a sea of people, all dressed up and masked, he could just blend in and nobody knew who he was, nobody held him to any expectations as Darth Vader's son, nobody expected him to conduct himself 'appropriately'. For a few hours he could do what he wanted and just enjoy himself. He felt like he was spinning, the stars above blurred together when he looked up, he was lightheaded and dizzy but it felt good. He'd spent the night listening to street performers play music, he'd danced with several girls in shimmering gowns and masks, he'd enjoyed exotic foods commonly found in other systems, he'd tried his hand at several games of chance and won a few smaller prizes, which he gave to one of the girls he danced with or a small child passing by with their parents. He didn't care if he didn't take anything home with him, just winning had been enough for him.

The music wasn't stopping anytime soon, and the people were still dancing. Luke knew it was getting late, and he knew he'd promised his father he'd be home on time, but he was just having so much fun, he hated for it all to end so soon. Surely it wouldn't matter if he was just a few minutes late getting home.

The problem was in a crowd like that, time could fly by so quickly simply because so much of it was just trying to push past everyone else. You blinked, and somehow an hour had passed. Luke hadn't been paying too close attention to the time, but at one point he looked up and saw just how dark the skies were, and his internal chrono told him he should've been home hours ago, and a cold streak of panic ran down his back. Father was going to kill him!

Now he really was pushing and shoving his way through the crowd, trying to get out of it so he could hurry home. His only hope was if his father had gotten tied up on work for the Empire and wasn't home yet himself. He could never get that lucky though. His father always seemed to have a sixth sense when Luke did something wrong. He was going to be in so much trouble when he got there.

He was never going to get there at this rate. There were too many people. An hour, two hours, four hours ago it had been fun to lose himself in the middle of this sea of people, now it felt like a rip tide trying to pull him under and drown him. He'd never get back home this way, he'd have to try a shortcut. Using all his strength and momentum, Luke pushed his way past a small group of people to turn off at a corner and duck into an alley behind several of the establishments on either side of the festival.

It was dark in the alley, around the corner there were lights everywhere, here there were none, except for the faint glow of the stars above, and a sliver of the moon that had come out that night. Luke fell against something that made a metallic clang and he guessed it was a set of durasteel trash cans. Something reached out and grabbed him and he fell off balance.

"Where do you think you're going?" a gruff voice asked him.

Luke couldn't make out anymore than an outline in the dark, he scrambled to get to his feet and apologized, "I'm sorry, but I've got to get home."

"No," the single word was spoken with an ominous air like Luke had never known before. "You're not going anywhere."

Luke heard sounds around him, footsteps from other directions. One, no, two other people, he was sure of it. He struggled against the man who had him by the arm and tried to get loose but he couldn't. Though he could hardly see anything in the dark alley, he could see that all three of them were closing in on him. He didn't have any idea what it was they wanted, but he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he did know.

"No..." the word was barely audible even to him, but it came again, as he futilely struggled and tried to escape, "No...no...no...no!"

He felt another set of hands on him, two of the men practically lifted him off his feet. He writhed and kicked and struggled but it was all to no avail, they were too strong and he couldn't get loose. A deafening sound of fabric ripping mixed with the sudden sensation of cold night air on his skin sent a new set of chills through Luke's body, inside and out. The next thing he was aware of was being shoved face first to the ground, and one arm being pinned behind his back so tight it felt like it was going to snap. Luke yelled as loud as he could but with his face pressed to the ground his screams were faintly muffled, not that it would've made any difference. The night's festivities were still carrying on enough that around the corner, nobody would've heard him anyway. It didn't stop him from trying to scream louder when he felt his legs forced apart and felt the weight of one of the men on top of him. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't get loose, they pinned him down, and their sick laughs of amusement filled his ears and were almost enough to drown out his own screams of pain and terror.

Captain Han Solo of the Imperial Navy sauntered through the streets with a cigarette between his lips and a tired but contented feeling coursing through him. He had a weekend pass and he was making the most of it taking in the sights and sounds and tastes of the masquerade festival. He was full from a good Corellian meal like he hadn't had in ages, he was a little tight from the Corellian whiskey he'd had over at the liquor garden, and he was a little buzzed from a fruit flavored stimulant shot a charming little number with green skin had offered him, he suspected there was something else in it but so far all it was making him feel was low energy like a ship's generators beginning to start up, he half suspected he'd feel the full effects of it in about an hour. He'd lost a few credits playing the space carnival games but he'd won it back and then some in a sabbac tournament being held at one booth. All in all it had been a pretty good night.

It was late, the foot traffic was starting to die down, people were starting to call it a night and leave the festivities in exchange for a warm bed at home. That sounded pretty good to Han too, that and a hot shower, it would've sounded better if he could've gotten that green skinned girl to go back with him, but that was neither here nor there. Now was the part of the evening Han Solo always hated, trying to remember which square he'd parked his land speeder at. That was the one downside of an event like this, everybody parked their speeders and ground coaches everywhere but especially, most of them were piled as close to the action as possible, everybody figured they'd be first in and first out. Yeah right, good luck. First in maybe, but when everybody's scrambling to head home, it could take an hour, at least, just to even get to your speeder, then you had to wait for all the other morons to finish clearing out so you didn't ram into anyone on takeoff. Han was smarter than most, he'd parked his speeder in a back alley away from everyone else. The alleys tended to be narrow enough most people wouldn't even think of landing their speeder there, that however was a moot point for in his opinion the best TIE fighter pilot in the Navy. He could fly anything anywhere, out of any space any size, no problems, if it could fly, he could fly it, if nobody else could maneuver out of there, he could.

So he could clear out of there an hour or two before most people would leave, and actually get a few hours of sleep before reporting back for duty in the morning.

Han suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked around. Nothing seemed anymore out of place than it had been all night. He wasn't sure what it was, if he'd actually heard something...or if it was just a feeling. There wasn't anyone there that he recognized, as far as he could tell, nobody had called to him. And yet...something made him turn around and look every which way, like he was missing something. The crowd that was still there all seemed to be enjoying themselves and very gradually wearing down for the night, it didn't look like anything was wrong anywhere.

Shaking his head, Han decided that stimulant was finally taking full effect, he took another step, then stopped again. Whatever it was, it was there again. He turned one way, looked, listened...turned the other way, and he picked up something. A faint, muffled sound from somewhere nearby that wasn't part of the night's gala. Han tried to follow the sound and came to a corner between two buildings leading to the alley.

Walking through a dark alley, what could possibly go wrong? That was one of those stereotypes in any bad holo horror flick. On the other hand, why draw attention to yourself before you knew what or who was in there? Han parted his teeth just enough for the cigarette to fall out on the ground as he stepped further into the alley. His hand automatically went for his blaster holstered at his side. The sounds were getting louder and more distinct, now he could hear the sounds of several people, some were talking but the words weren't clear, it also sounded like there was a struggle taking place.

Blaster drawn, Han reached with his other hand for a portable search light. He turned it on and made a sweeping motion to cover as much of the alley with one move of the light as he could, and what he saw, though he reacted before his brain could fully process just what he witnessed, made him sick.

There were three human men, maybe 30s, maybe 40s, he didn't know, it didn't matter, and there was a fourth body pinned on the ground underneath them. Like animals, their heads jerked up in sync at the sight of the light, they yelled and swore at whoever it was that had interrupted their fun, and Han had a good idea they would have no compunction about doing to anyone else what they were doing to the person trapped under them.

Han had his aim set for the one who was right on top of their victim, one blaster bolt to the head finished him off and he was fried before he crumpled to the ground. His two partners in crime had just enough time to react, but not enough to get out of the way before they met the same fate. Their bodies slumped over in a heap, the cold night air was filled with the combined stench of ozone and burnt flesh. Han lowered his blaster but didn't holster it yet, he had no idea what he was walking into as he stepped over to the fourth person in the alley.

He could tell it was a young man, naked, bloody, bruised, facedown in the dirt and with a muffled sob he seemed to be trying to press himself even tighter against the ground as if willing himself to curl into a ball and disappear.

"You're safe now," Han told him as he cautiously approached, "no one's going to hurt you now."

"Captain Solo?"

He knew that voice. He blinked before realizing he also knew the young face that was staring up at him, face blackened with dirt in places, eyes wide and glazed over, tears running down his face.

Han felt his heart drop down to his stomach.

"Luke."

Everybody in the Imperial Navy knew who Darth Vader was, slightly fewer people in the Navy knew about his family, and only a handful of members knew Vader's son personally. Han had been brought in on an interim assignment a couple times to serve as one of Vader's wing men when the dark lord took to battle against enemy fighter ships. When they returned after the fighting, Luke had been there waiting for his father, Han had gotten to meet him, and for no more contact than they had, he liked the kid. He was bright eyed but intelligent, he would make a hell of a pilot himself one day, and mutually for the constricted time frame, he liked the captain as well.

Han felt like his brain had shut down, for a few seconds he just stood there with his jaw dropped, his eyes wide and his mind completely blank. What, how, what, what should he do first? He was scrambling to actually come up with something when he caught something in the beam of his search light. A set of trash cans had been knocked over against the back of the building, there was something sticking out of the top of one, long and white that looked like a sheet. Holstering his blaster, Han snatched it up and realized it was a plastic curtain, it would have to do for now. Working quickly before his brain had too much time to think, Han draped the curtain over Luke and got it wrapped around him to try and preserve some of the poor kid's dignity. Luke was shaking like a leaf and sobbing hysterically, it took Han about a minute to realize there were actual words coming out as well.

"Please!" Luke grabbed two handfuls of the captain's shirt and begged, "please take me home."

Han felt like his brain was stuck in swamp muck, instinctively he knew what he had to do but it still wasn't clicking. He gathered Luke in his arms and hugged the kid tight, feeling how cold his skin was and feeling how hard he was trembling and told him softly, "It's going to be alright, Luke, trust me."