Chapter 4 - A New Master

Author's Note: Things... change. ;)

~ Amina Gila

"What was my father like?" Leia asks as she and Ben sit in the front of the shuttle that they're taking to Ilum, so she can get a kyber crystal. She couldn't practice with his lightsaber for very long, and being a Jedi means she needs to have her own. Leia knows a bit about swords, and lightsabers have a similar concept.

Whenever she doesn't have the Rebellion to focus on, she finds herself just... brooding, and that helps no one. She'd wanted to know her biological parents for so long. She's a war orphan, and it wasn't a guarantee they were dead, though Leia always assumed they were. Or at least, she told herself that every day after she met Ben.

Ben's expression shifts to something almost distant. "He was the strongest Jedi I knew, and he was a cunning warrior."

"You... knew him well?" Leia ventures.

"He was a good friend," Ben replies, something fond and strained in his expression at once. Somehow, she gets the feeling they were closer than simply 'friends'.

"I'm sorry," she supplies, quietly. There's nothing she can say to that which would actually... help. It's been a long time, but Kier's loss has never stopped hurting, not truly, and she knows Alderaan's never will, either.

"Me too," he answers, expression distant.

"What... happened to him?" Leia asks, tentatively. She's curious, and she really wants to know, but she knows it couldn't be an easy topic. "If you're alright with talking about it."

"He was betrayed and murdered by a Fallen Jedi," Ben explains, "Known as Darth Vader."

Vader. The cyborg she saw on the Death Star? Him? She can't quite imagine him ever having been a Jedi, but her father has always said that even good people can do... terrible things, and she knows people are more than their actions. They can change, as he must've.

He felt so empty when she saw him, and it made her feel the tiniest bit bad for him.

She feels like that now.

She lost everyone she loved.

But he killed her father, and Leia has no idea how to feel about that. Having the name of his killer somehow makes the entire thing seem far more real, and she doesn't want to think about it anymore.

She's going to get her kyber crystal, and that's more important than anything else. She needs to stay focused.

She's going to become a Jedi, and Leia doesn't entirely think she's fit for this, but it's what her father was, and she thinks that's what he would have wanted her to be.

**w**

"Did you stop Kenobi's escape from Ilum?" Sidious' hologram looms over Vader, who's kneeling on the floor in front of it.

"He escaped the planet before I had time to locate him, Master."

There's an almost agonizing pause of silence. "How many times will you fail to stop him, Lord Vader?" Sidious hisses, "He is already training a new apprentice, one who could prove a threat to us."

Vader twitches. "I will hunt them down, my master."

"You are distracted. You have failed enough times." Sidious raises his hands, unleashing a blast of lightning on him.

Luke jerks awake, gasping. Except, an overwhelming agony is still burning through him, so much like the fires on Mustafar but not quite as bad. He hardly registers that he was screaming in the first place until it stops. It feels like hours, but he can't imagine that – that was more than a few seconds.

But that was – What –

For a few moments, he just lays there, struggling to catch his breath, mind racing wildly.

What he was seeing in his dream felt like it was really happening right now. That Sidious was hurting Vader, torturing him. And – Force. Vader was just called away on an emergency mission to Ilum. That – what he just saw must've just happened.

And unlike in Luke's dreams, the lingering ache in his body still isn't fading. He forces himself upright with a quiet groan, wincing at the ache that flares through him. Looking down at himself, Luke sees the faintest red marks tracing across his skin.

Lightning burns.

Like... what Sidious was just doing to Vader. For some reason, Luke was feeling that, through their bond. It was... physically affecting him for real. He finds that far less mind-numbing than the knowledge that his father was just being tortured. How often does this happen? Or is this the first time it has? He has no idea, but he does know that he's never been quite this angry before.

Mustafar was entirely inexcusable, but it was a battle, and he has no idea what all the circumstances were. This is – this was literal, outright, senseless torture and it's happening now, not twenty years in the past, and he has no idea what to do. But he's going to be demanding answers from his father as soon as he gets back.

He'd deal with the lightning burns while waiting but he doesn't know his way around well enough to get medical supplies for himself, and it's not an injury he's ever had to deal with before. He just hopes Vader will be back soon.

**w**

The lingering pain from the lightning – in addition to how much he's always hurting – does little to help Vader focus on anything, as he flies back for Mustafar. He's bitter and angry and – and afraid, not as if any of that is unusual.

He knew Sidious would be angry by his failure to get to Ilum, even if he hardly had time to get on planet before he sensed Obi-Wan and the new apprentice leaving.

It's hardly a surprise that Obi-Wan decided to take on a new apprentice, to train someone else to fight the Sith, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. That doesn't mean it doesn't cut a hole through him as deeply as the medical droids did when he was getting his suit on in the first place. Even if it really shouldn't, because he already knows he means nothing to Obi-Wan anymore. If he ever did. He realized that much on Jabi'im. At least, he means nothing to whatever Obi-Wan's become since the Jedi fell.

But Sidious is angry with him now, and he gets the feeling that this... isn't over yet. Sidious probably won't let it go until Obi-Wan is dead.

Considering who Obi-Wan is, as the last surviving Jedi Council member, and considering what he's capable of, Vader can understand that. He needs to... he knows what he needs to do, and Obi-Wan isn't what he used to be anymore, anyway, so it doesn't matter. That doesn't mean Vader wants to kill him.

He – doesn't. Not anymore. He doesn't want to see him again at all, and doesn't really want to think about him, either. Doesn't mean he can ever stop, though.

But no matter how tired he is, how much he desperately wishes out suddenly – it wasn't until he met Luke that he even had reason to entertain such a possibility again – his still burning skin from the lightning is enough of a reminder that he has to do whatever he must to appease his master.

Sidious doesn't electrocute him often, but the times he does aren't times Vader ever forgets. Though, something about it this time didn't seem as bad as it ought to, but maybe he's just grown too used to it.

He's still brooding – not that he's ever capable of doing anything else – when he finally arrives back at his castle.

Luke is waiting for him, unsurprisingly, but what catches Vader's attention instantly are the minor lightning burns he has. "Who harmed you?" Vader demands, stilling.

Sidious wouldn't have had any reason to hurt Luke. That doesn't mean Vader would put it past him.

"I felt what was happening to you," Luke replies. He looks as sick as he feels about it, and Vader's dread grows even farther. "It was... affecting me, too. I don't understand how."

Their connection is that strong? He didn't know it was possible for that to happen, even if he can understand in theory how that could happen with such a strong Force bond. With how much Jedi shun attachments, it's not as if he would ever know if his... bond with Obi-Wan could've become anything like this or not.

"You should not have been able to feel that," Vader supplies finally. He needs to try harder to shield him the next time that happens – because it'll be again, even if it's not for a while. Sidious doesn't electrocute him frequently. It takes a lot for his master to get that upset, like... right now. This is the fifth time Obi-Wan escaped him, to be fair.

"He shouldn't have been able to do that!" Luke half-yells. "He can't just hurt you and get away with it!"

"I failed his mission," Vader replies, "There is now another powerful Jedi in training by Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"I don't care what excuse he had!" Luke yells, "That doesn't give him the right to hurt you."

Vader just stares at him, awkwardly, because he genuinely has no idea what to say to that. It's just a fact of life, even if it's not something Luke understands yet. It has always been a part of Vader's life, and it was central to it, even when he still went by the name Anakin Skywalker. Nothing, in that regard, has really changed. "It is... expected," Vader supplies, finally, "Sith do not fail their masters."

He's not used to people anymore. Anakin was. Vader is not. He doesn't even understand Luke's horror enough to address it. What is he even supposed to say to him about this? There's not anything he has to offer. It's who he is. Everyone does it. Obi-Wan did it when he failed. All his masters have.

"I didn't know Sith Master meant he was your master," Luke says finally, a little quieter, though his horror is certainly no less, "I didn't know it meant you were a slave."

"I am not," Vader argues instantly. ... He can understand why Luke would think that, though. It does feel like it, far more than he wants to admit or even think about. But that's never mattered, because he's always had things of far more importance to worry about than himself.

"Then how could he do that?"

"It is complicated," he answers. He didn't want Luke to understand any of this. He wanted... Luke saw him as a hero, which he is not, and it would be unfair to make his child see him as anything other than exactly who and what he is, but he still wishes that illusion didn't have to be shattered so soon.

"I don't see how," Luke scowls, "He's awful to you for no reason. That's not how you train me."

As if he could ever dream of hurting his child. (He could never have hurt Ahsoka on Malachor either.) "That is... different. You are my son."

"I don't care if that's the normal way Sith are trained. That doesn't make it okay."

Vader has... no idea what to say to him. He's used to it, and he would be furious if someone was treating someone in his family that way, but it's different for him because it always has been. He's used to it. He doesn't really... see why Luke is so upset about it. (Especially when he deserves no less, after everything he's done. Even if he sometimes wishes for – for what his relationship with Palpatine used to be like before everything fell.) "Your... injuries must be treated," Vader says, opting to change the topic entirely.

"What about yours?" Luke objects, "You're hurt worse than me."

"It is of little consequence," he brushes it off. He's used to it. It's fine. "There are matters I must attend to right now." Like actually trying to find a way to track down Obi-Wan in the first place, when they don't have any leads on where the rebels are right now. (It would help if it was something he actually wanted to do. Not that so many of the things he does are. But his wants are immaterial. They always have been.)

"That are more important than recovering?" Luke demands, dubiously.

Vader can't remember the last time someone asked him something like that. Probably, it was Kix, years and years ago when he was getting tired of Anakin never resting, no matter how injured he was. "Yes."

"I don't see what could be," he says, a little sullenly.

"The galaxy is at war, Luke." And that chaos is something he does intend to bring to an end.

"Fine," Luke huffs, still scowling fiercely, "I can go first only if you're actually going to treat it after that, regardless of whatever important matters you need to deal with."

He doesn't really know how to feel about someone... acting like this towards him. It's been so long he no longer remembers what it was like. But he doesn't want Luke to worry about him needlessly, no matter how used to the constant pain he is. "Very well," he concedes, finally. He'll do as Luke asks, if it's still an option by then.

**w**

Luke is still angry when he's taken out of the bacta tank some hours later. Whether Vader denies being a slave or not, he obviously is, even if it's not in name. He knew Sidious was horrible, but he never realized it was quite this bad. It reminds him far too much of the slaves he's seen on Tatooine, and he doesn't think he'll ever stop feeling sick.

He feels fine physically now, but he can still feel lingering traces of pain that aren't his own. Presumably, it's just a small amount of what his father is feeling right now, and it doesn't even seem to bother him.

He needs to find some way of getting Vader away from Sidious, but he doesn't know how. He doesn't know much about his father's situation, period. He's very obviously not staying here willingly, more because he has nothing else, and while Luke's tempted to suggest they just walk out, he's pretty sure it's not that easy. Might be worth trying, though.

If they left, Luke doesn't even know where they could go. There aren't many viable options, to say the least. The Rebellion? Vader is no doubt a wanted person there. That's the last place they should go, and he doesn't want anything that could lead them back to Ben. Especially not now.

It's not improving his mood in the slightest that he can sense Vader seems... upset about something when Luke goes to find him.

"Father?" Luke asks, hovering in the doorway of his office.

Vader stands immediately, approaching him. "Are you well?"

"Yes. But you –"

"Sidious called while you were recovering," Vader interjects, and Luke pauses, a rush of fear and anger flooding him.

"What did he want?"

"He desires that you come to Coruscant immediately so he can aid with your training."

What?! Of all the things he expected to hear, that wasn't one of them. "Why? I don't want him to train me!" He didn't stay so Sidious could teach him anything. He stayed because he wanted to be with his father. Learning about the Dark Side is entirely secondary.

"He believes you are distracting me from my... duties. This is the only way he will allow your training to continue, for now."

"I don't want to go," Luke says stubbornly, and he knows he's being childish, but he really doesn't care. He doesn't want to be around the person who hurt his father, unless it's to kill him for it, and he has no idea how to deal with this.

"We must do as he asks, Luke. For now," Vader replies.

Now isn't a good time to point out that this is exactly what he meant about Vader being Sidious' slave, but it's perfectly obvious now, if they really don't have a choice in this. Sidious shouldn't be able to take them apart just because he wants to, Emperor or not. But he does have that power, and until he's gone...

"If you intend to betray him, he will know," his father adds, ominously.

What?

"How?" Luke demands.

"He will sense it. Always."

Well. That makes things a lot more difficult.

**w**

Luke keeps the comm from Vader concealed, just in case Sidious isn't happy about it, though he can't imagine what excuse the Emperor could have for that. He's probably expected to ask respectfully, but he's very much feeling the opposite as he's escorted to where Sidious is waiting, in the Imperial palace on Coruscant.

Also, the Imperial palace is not somewhere he wants to stay. It might be fancy, but it also looks plain creepy half the time. It's also so different from Tatooine. There were large towns there, but nothing like the endless skyscrapers on Coruscant.

"I have been waiting for you," Sidious greets, hood pulled so low over his head Luke wonders how he even sees.

"Why am I here?" Luke demands, his hatred welling up instantly. Maybe he's not supposed to think about that in Sidious' presence, but just seeing him, he can't really help it.

"Did Lord Vader not inform you?"

"His failed mission didn't have anything to do with me." And even if it did, who cares? He's expecting Sidious to get angry, but the Sith merely studies him, contemplatively.

"You will learn more of the Dark Side here," Sidious replies, instead of addressing that point, "Lord Vader is still an apprentice." Is that some way of prodding him, to see if he's loyal to the Sith or just to Vader? It... probably is, so he should probably watch his tongue even if he doesn't want to.

"And what will I be, if you're training me?" Luke objects, "I thought there can only be two Sith." He can't be the apprentice, too. Unless... Sidious is planning something else entirely, and he's not fully sure what.

"Yes," the Sith agrees, "The apprentice is always loyal to the master unless they show weakness, and the apprentice must give all their loyalty, in return."

Is that what this is about? If he's hoping either Luke or Vader will give all their loyalty to him over each other, he's entirely wrong.

"But times are different now," Sidious goes on, "You have much potential, and your power will be a valuable asset to the Empire. I am aware of your... importance to Lord Vader. If you are both apprentices, you should have no conflict with one another."

... He really feels like Sidious is saying two things at once here. It feels like more than a simple agreement to have them both as his apprentices. Luke doesn't follow his meaning, but he doesn't like it. He's always been straightforward, and Luke doesn't like it when people aren't.

"You hurt him," Luke accuses, instead of answering. He still remembers every second of how much the lightning hurt him, and knowing Sidious could... easily do that again is unnerving, but he's too angry about the whole situation to care. Sidious hurt his father.

"I have never hurt him, my boy," the Sith replies, and Luke really wants to throw something at him.

"I know what I saw." Though, he would've expected Sidious to be more annoyed with how he's talking to him.

"Pain leads to strength. Fear leads to anger, and anger to hate, and hate to power," Sidious replies, "You must have seen this already, if Lord Vader has truly been instructing you in the Dark Side."

Well, his anger at how Sidious and Obi-Wan certainly has led to hate. Vader hasn't had time to train him much, but he's meditated while reaching for the Dark a few times, and it always answers easily, its strength rushing to him.

"I have," Luke replies, eyes narrowed, "But I don't see how that means you have to hurt him."

"In time, you will understand. His pain is what has made him as powerful as he is. It makes him stronger. I have no desire to harm him, but there are times he has made it... an unfortunate circumstantial necessity."

An unfortunate necessity that he's torturing his father. Riiiiight. How, precisely, is he just expecting Luke to be perfectly okay with that? But evidently, he expects Vader to be perfectly okay with that and he... doesn't really resist it, even if Luke doesn't fully understand why. All he does know is that this entire thing is making him sick.

"I look forward to completing your training." The feelings are not mutual. "You will address me as master, as you will become my apprentice as well," Sidious adds. What if he doesn't want to? Now is probably the time he should shut up, though.

"Aren't you busy?" he asks, thinking fast though it's obvious Sidious already made up his mind, anyway. "How do you even have time to train me?"

"With Kenobi and his new apprentice on the loose, there is great risk to the Empire, and evidently Lord Vader requires assistance in destroying them."

Will he stop making it sound like this whole situation is either Luke or Vader's fault? It's entirely Sidious', through and through, and it's getting very upsetting. He lets that fury burn to hatred, lets it fuel him. That's what he is supposed to do after all, isn't it?

... Do Sith normally hate their masters? Because that seems like a very ineffective way of having any kind of relationship.

"Maybe there wouldn't be a rebellion if everyone didn't believe they needed to fear you," Luke snaps back, and he should probably be careful, but he is so, so angry. He wants Sidious dead, and he doesn't think he'll stop until he is.

"You will find it is you who are mistaken about... a great many things," the Sith muses, "You did not see the corruption of the Republic. I would have expected Lord Vader to speak to you of this."

"He did," Luke shoots back, "But I don't see how the Empire is any different."

"The corruption of the Republic ran far too deep to root out quickly. You know very little about politics, my boy. The Rebellion has made bringing any order to the galaxy impossible." Even if that is true, that's not really what Luke cares about. He probably shouldn't make that more obvious than he already has, though. "Much of this dissidence was instigated by the Jedi."

It... was? He doesn't know much about the Jedi, except about Obi-Wan, so he doesn't have a very good opinion of them.

"I can feel your anger at them," Sidious muses, studying him. How does he know that?

"I met one once. I didn't like him." Not as if what Obi-Wan did is different from how Sidious has been treating Vader, though.

"Kenobi?" Sidious asks, and he nods. "Ah, yes. He has harmed Lord Vader repeatedly over the years. How much do you know of the Jedi?"

"Not much," Luke admits. Just enough to know he's not impressed.

"You may... question my methods of giving Lord Vader strength, and but you must know that I am the only one over the years who has never betrayed him."

Apparently torturing him isn't betrayal? ... Sure. And the fact that he says it, and that Luke is certain his father actually believes it, makes him even more sick.

"Perhaps we should start at the beginning," he says, "When I first met Anakin, he was a padawan at the Jedi Temple. He was mistreated by everyone. He had no one, least of all Kenobi, who claimed to care for him. I wanted to help him. As a Jedi, he was never allowed to love or show attachment to anyone, no matter how much he craved it. I offered him the support he needed. I saw that he would never find peace as a Jedi, but he was practically forced to remain in the Order even when he wanted to leave."

He didn't realize the Jedi treated him that badly. It... only serves to make him angrier at them, but he doesn't believe a word about Sidious' so-called caring for him. And if this is some Sithly way of showing affection, his father would be much better off without it.

"When he could no longer handle living within their ranks, I offered him somewhere to go. I was the only one who offered to help him when he needed it most. Shortly before your birth, he began having visions of your mother's death. The Jedi told him to let her die."

They – "What?!" he demands, incredulously.

"Unless someone is fighting for the cause they currently deem right, their lives are insignificant. I am sure you have seen this yourself." Considering what he's seen in his visions every night for years, he doesn't doubt that. But –

"I offered him a way to save her, so he joined me," Sidious continues. His father Fell to save him and his mother? He... never would have expected that. It doesn't really surprise him, though, not from what he's seen of him in the short time they were together. Does that mean Luke is only alive because of Sidious? That – frankly, he doesn't care if he ought to be grateful to the Sith for that, because he's not.

"Then why didn't my mother live?" Luke demands.

"I am afraid that... was because of your father's own actions," Sidious replies. "She disagreed with some of his actions, and in his anger, he strangled her with the Force. She died as a result of the injuries."

... What?

His mind short circuits entirely at the words. "I don't believe you," Luke denies. Sidious has to be lying about that, because there's no way from what he knows of Vader, he would ever hurt someone he cared for. Not over a mere disagreement.

Luke's never really thought about what happened to his mother before. He wondered about her sometimes, but it was always his father he cared to know. He never thought about how she might have died. Until now. But he... does not believe what Sidious is saying is true.

"Ask him yourself," Sidious replies, "With her injuries, there was nothing I could do to save her."

"If that was true," Luke demands, mind whirling furiously, "Then how did I survive? Why wasn't I raised by him?"

"The Jedi took you by force. We both believed you had died with your mother, until now."

Luke doesn't want to believe this. It can't – He has no idea how to feel about it or what to think of it. He needs to talk to Vader himself. Sidious is obviously twisting something, but that doesn't stop the horror and confusion gnawing at him. His father wouldn't...

Ugh. He just needs to talk to him.

"When do I start training?" Luke asks. He doesn't want to continue this conversation at all, right now.

"When I have time, beginning tomorrow," Sidious replies. He seems... pleased, though Luke has no idea why. That's probably a bad sign. It's Sidious. How could it mean anything good?

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