Summary: A short follow-up to Reach Across the Distance.

This one is a teeny bit longer than usual, just cause I haven't updated Moments in a hot second.

Consequences

There's nowhere that Vader can take Luke where they will possibly be safe. Not after his defiance to Palpatine.

His Master will know what he did. He would have felt when Vader remembered. He'll be angry.

Already, Vader can feel him seething in the back of his mind, like the black smoke of a fire seeping into the cracks of a door. Vader can't let him in again. He doesn't want to know what will happen if he does. All he knows is that it will hurt.

Luke is the only thing that matters now.

His son is tilting to the side, the earlier beating having taken its brutal toll. Vader moves his hand from his cheek and grabs him by the bicep before he can tilt over entirely. Carefully, he stands, pulling Luke up with him. Luke whimpers, wrapping his arm around his stomach. He's unsteady on his feet and he coughs harshly.

Vader tries and fails to forget how it felt to almost crush his throat - how good it felt and how close to killing his son he'd gotten.

Damn Sidious.

Damn him to hell.

"Can you walk?" Vader asks quietly. Luke nods but he's already panting and pain is cutting through their bond with reckless abandon. It's hard to tell where it begins and where it ends. "Come on then." He urges, taking a small step forwards. Luke steps with him and almost collapses. He doesn't, straightening his back and leaning further into his side for support. They take another step. And another and their progress is so, so slow.

Luke is sweating and drops of blood mark their path across the floor.

Vader has a shuttle - the ship that he'd arrived in. It's big enough for both of them. He doesn't know where to take them though. Not Mustafar. Not Bast Castle. Nowhere near the Core Worlds. Luke stumbles again and pain pain pain flares up between them.

Vader hesitates for a moment but senses that Luke is fading. He has no right to touch his son at all. Not after everything. But even if it's wrong, even if it's his fault, Luke needs him now. So, as carefully as he can, he pulls Luke into his arms, cradling against him in a mimicry of the child that he once was - the child that Vader never had the privilege to see or know.

Luke doesn't protest, his head lulling as he fights to remain conscious. Vader gets them to his shuttle as fast as he can. He's painfully aware of blood dampening his suit and Luke rigidly trying to hold himself still so that each rocking motion of Vader's body doesn't completely undo him. It's a relief for both of them when Vader is able to set him down again. The shuttle isn't that big and the best place he can offer is the co-pilot's seat. He reclines it back and sets Luke down.

His son is crying - silently - but there are tears streaming down his face.

He did this.

He did this.

Vader stands and steps towards the cabinets sitting along the wall and tears through them, searching for something that he can use. He finds a medical kit and it won't be enough but it's more than nothing. He returns to Luke's side, trying to ignore the quiet tapping concern that is flickering along their bond. Luke watches him as he fumbles his way through the med kit, pulling out what meager supplies that it offers. There is trust in his eyes and Vader privately thinks that Luke's trust is misplaced and ill-advised.

He appreciates it just the same though.

The process is painful for both of them - he cuts Luke out of his shirt and cleans up the blood as best as he can. The floor is soon littered with bloody pieces of cloth and bandages. He tends wounds and using a staple gun, he closes the worst of them and then wraps them up as best as he can. At the beginning of the fight, he had wanted to cause pain. The half-trained Jedi had been a waste of his time, after all. It only seemed fair that he punish him for it. The thought makes him want to throw up. Luke barely notices the pinching.

The broken bones are harder.

Luke cries, openly sobbing, as he sets the worst of them and all Vader can do is try to calm him.

His words feel and taste like ash in his mouth.

In the end, it's a patch job.

It's temporary and it's not enough.

"Luke," Vader whispers, placing his hand on Luke's shoulder and then his cheek, trying to get his attention once again. "Focus, my son. Look at me. Look at me, please."

It takes a few minutes but Luke gets his breathing under control. "I'm here," he assures hoarsely. "I'm here."

Vader nods, hating himself a little more every second that goes by. "Where is your Rebellion?" He asks softly.

"...what?" Luke asks in a confused whisper.

Vader waits, feeling miserable and guilty and needing somewhere to take Luke.

"Um..." Luke blinks and licks his lips. "It's... it's coordinates. No name, just coordinates. 2.427 by 3.886 by 673.52 above the galactic plane."

It's enough.

Vader sweeps the medical supplies out of the way and stands up, buckling Luke into the seat.

"I'll take you there." He promises, settling into the pilot's seat.

A/N And with that, Lord Vader joins the Rebellion. :)

Thanks for reading!