Chapter Three: Arrival At Mustafar.

Peter walked down the metal ramp, his hand still holding onto his father's. Surprisingly, the temperature of the planet wasn't as bad as he had imagined it to be.

He could feel the raw power that was held here, the darkness swirling like a whirlpool. Yet it was peaceful, everything strangely calm with his father's presence.

It was like Mustafar itself was responding to Vader's presence, welcoming him home..

His senses had never been so active before, and he was taking it all in, awed by everything.

"I am a powerful force user, the force is in everything and thus reacts to my presence. This is my home, as it will be yours. Naturally it responds as such." Vader explained quickly.

"Do I have the force?" Peter asked innocently, if he could feel those reactions, then does that mean he is linked to the force? That he is anything like his father?

"Yes, and in time your surroundings will also react to you. But for now you are untrained, thus your power is sporadic, uncontrolled." His father revealed. "You can feel everything, but you do not know how to respond or react, do you?"

Peter flinched slightly. "No... when I try I often hurt people or myself, I don't mean to. It just happens."

Vader gently squeezed his son's hand. "None of that is your fault, okay? Never be afraid that you are different. It is not something to be hidden or fearful of, you power is a gift, not a curse."

Peter nodded, finding himself comforted by his father's words. He had always saw his power as a curse, but his father just told him that they were a gift. Maybe the man would help him understand how?

Before he could think anymore about it, he found himself sat down at a large stone table, where a small feast had been provided by robed servants. Peter was encouraged to eat, and so he did so. To his confusion though, Vader had some kind of liquid pumped through a straw into his mask.

Peter had assumed that the Sith wore the armour and helmet mainly for protection against the elements and enemies, he never even considered the fact that it was a medical suit. Worn to keep it's wearer alive. But that could be the only other reason for him not removing the armour, even at home.

Wisely, Peter didn't bring up his suspicions. He didn't want to embarrass himself or his father, but he still felt sad for his dad.

Speaking of, Vader had not left his side the entire day, unless Peter needed to go to the restroom, then he would wait outside. (Much to his embarrassment)

Peter had been looked at by a doctor immediately after they landed, one Vader trusted explicitly. Surprisingly it was a clone who's name was Kix, Peter was just surprised to see one alive and seemingly still young, well middle aged, but still alive.

He didn't hate clones or anything, it was just surprising!

Anyway, the doctor discovered that Peter needed a lot more calories than normal. Hence why he was so hungry a lot of the time. Kix, of course, had discovered the altered DNA of the boy and had secretly disclosed it to Peter's father.

Vader ordered him to keep it under wraps until he said so. He would take his son aside when ready and ask him if he knew why his Dna was altered.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~

"Can I see what you look like under the mask?" Peter asked after a while, having been sat with his father in the man's personal office.

His father still had work to do, but did not want to dismiss his son or leave him alone after having just been reunited with him. So he had let him accompany him to his office.

A secondary holo-computer had been installed specifically for Peter to use for his educational needs as well as entertainment (with parental locks of course) the boy had been pleasantly surprised and instantly began to use it.

Vader had installed some software that allowed him to see what his son was doing as a a small popup on his own device, and much to his delight, the boy had looked up recent starship races and engineering sites.

It seemed he had inherited his father's love of ships and mechanical objects.

"No, I do not wish to frighten you. Plus I can only breath in an adjusted environment, it is not safe for you." Vader replied, continuing to work while Peter frowned.

"I'm not afraid of anything, You are my father. I love you, do you not believe me?" Peter asked suddenly, eyes brimming with tears as he turned from his computer.

"Peter...I-" how could he deny his son's request, especially one so simple and earnest?

"Okay..but you'll have to wear a special mask in order to breathe in my medicated air." Vader Relented.

Peter nodded, wiping away his tears and putting on a brave face. In reality he was nervous, excited also, but mostly nervous.

([After entering Vader's chamber])

The metal claw took off the last part of his mask, revealing his burnt and injured face for his son to see.

Peter gasped at seeing his father's face.

Vader froze, fear overtaking him. His son probably thought him as ugly, or maybe even scary-

But to his surprise, his son's words were soft, sad and full of love. "What happened, who did this to you...Were you experimented on too?"

"No- wait. You were experimented on?" Vader blinked. He had theorised on various reasons as to why his son's DNA was altered, but having it confirmed this way was not what he had expected or intended to happen.

"No!" Peter exclaimed, fear and sadness flooding out of him. He pulled back, eyes wide and a cold, deep darkness flowed out of him in the force.

Vader was shocked and overjoyed by his sons acceptance of him, but that joy had quickly turned to anger at his son's words and force presence.

He hated lies. At least ones that were given or spoken towards him. But he could not fault his son, he was scared, not of Vader but of his reaction to the revelation.

So the sith lowered his voice and gently spoke: "Peter, dont lie to me, I'm not angry with you, okay? I'm angry at that you had to go something like that. Now, please, tell me what happened."

Peter shuffled on his feet, his eyes staring at the floor. He was nervous and scared again, but for another reason this time.

Vader was patient, and so allowed his son a few moments to gain the courage to finally respond.

"I've always been interested in science, but Ben would never let me go to any conventions or buy any books about it. But then one day I was out shopping and overheard these gangsters talking about a geneticist who has been hired by the hutts and they had been ordered to protect. So I followed them, broke into the apartment and just...explored. I found animals in cages that just seemed weird, like they were made of other different animals I guess?" Peter began to explain, sounding confused as he mentioned the weird things he saw.

'Cross species experiments, heavily illegal and very dangerous'. Vader theorised, making a mental note to have some of his spies look into the matter while he was still listening to his son. "As I was still exploring, I saw a small glass case full of dead arachnids. Then I felt this...pain on my hand, and as I went to look I saw it was one of these arachnids, but it had escaped the case and was still alive. It then scurried off somewhere and I got scared so I left. I was sick the whole night, and then woke up with more muscles and these weird...quirks. like how I heal quicker from Ben's...discipline. The geneticist found out and secretly stole me, and ran some tests."

The sith Lords rage rose, but he kept it locked away so his son didn't feel or notice it. Peter needed an outlet, someone to confide in. He would accept this trust, but would later on teach Peter not to trust others he didn't know.

It was a weakness.

"What were these...tests?" Vader asked.

Peter closed his eyes. "No pain reducing drug would work on me, so they would just c-cut into my chest, arms and legs. I would heal quickly, so they had to do it multiple times. They took my blood and parts of my bone called Marr-roe, marry ow? Something like that I think."

"Marrow.." Vader corrected, his ton soft but cold.

"Yeah, that's the one. They also took some liquid out of my back?" Peter added with a confused look.

'Spinal fluid'

"And... that was it. They then just tossed me onto the streets and that was that. Ben beat me up for 'running away' and then life went back to normal." His son finished.

Vader gently placed his hand on Peter's face, wiping away the tears. "Thank you for telling me, I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Peter shrugged. "It's not the worst thing to happen to me." He muttered.

That conversation would be for another time then. But they would be having it, Vader vowed to know everyone who had harmed his son. It was time to return their insolence in kind.

"Umm so what happened to you?"

Vader blinked, he owed his son something after that. So he decided to be truthful, but not overly detailed. Peter was too young and Vader wasn't ready for him to know just how bad his injuries were, just how close to death he had gotten. "Somebody I once called my ally and friend, one I trusted like a brother, turned on me and betrayed me on the day I needed them the most. They inflicted these wounds and left me for dead..."

The room became cold, well colder. The dark lord of the sith looked up to see his son's eyes glowing crimson, he had seen anger, but this was fury. Pure, Righteous fury.

The room shook, and Vader felt pride and love flood his chest.

Only a child of the force would hold such raw, untamed power.

He brought his son in for a hug, understanding his anger and sadness. "I am stronger now, don't feel sad for me..." he whispered.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~

"You're certain the DNA cannot be changed back."

"Completely sir, to even try and do so would kill him. I ran several simulations, they were all conclusive." Kix confirmed.

Vader nodded at that, mentally cursing the person who altered his boy. He wanted to hunt down the hutts and make them tell him who did it, but he was too big of a figure to do so. There would be questions, confusion and curiosity if he did so In a public manner. The only alternative therefore was to have his personal spies look into it for him.

He would make the necessary arrangements as soon as his business in the medical bay was done. "Kix, was there anything else you found that was abnormal?"

The clone sighed. "Yes my lord, however I did not wish to frighten the young one. So I thought it best to wait until he was asleep before I informed you."

Had he been any other medical officer, Vader would have crushed his windpipe and deposited his body in the lava at that. But this was Kix, one of his 501st. One of his men, one of his friends.

Vader had sensed the shock, awe and delight once he had introduced Peter to him. His reaction was a good clue as to what the other clones would possibly think and feel about his son's existence. He could not wait till tomorrow, for that was when the rest of his men would meet his heir, his son.

For now, however, other issues were at hand. "Proceed Kix."

A holographic figure was projected before them, showing the T-posed form of Peter. Kix pressed a few icons on his data pad and the image changed, zooming in slightly and revealing the skeletal structure and organs of the boy.

"His bones are stronger than a regular humans, stronger than a wookies even. Meaning it would take a significant amount of force to fracture or even break them, thankfully his growth isn't stinted, so we don't have to worry about that. Now there is also.. this."

The hologram focused on the skull, specifically the mouth of the jaw. Where canines should be were instead short, sharp points. Eerily similar to- "Fangs... he is growing fangs." Vader realised.

"Venom infused fangs, there are small glands located in both of his cheeks, I theorise he will be able to paralyse and possibly even poison someone by biting them." Kix corrected, showing the small 'voids' located in the cheek bones.

Vader took this information in stride. "Will this effect his intake of food? Will he need to learn to not... puncture his meat?"

"No, I'm positive he will only use his fangs instinctively, so if he's being attacked. He will however need hard things to chew, he will have teething pains as they grow. But his feeding times should be unaffected." Kix explained.

"I see... is there anything else?" Vader asked.

"Notice anything different about his arms?" Kix replied, manipulating the hologram to show just Peter's arms.

"There is some kind of thin long bone within the Ulna ."

"That would be his stingers, another defence mechanism. Should he be in danger, they will burst out the front of one of his knuckles and slice into anything. Because of the strength of his bones, he could cut through plastoid, transparisteel, wood. I would of course need to run tests to confirm though." Kix sighed.

Peter was unlike anything he had studied, it was fascinating, but the clone could only feel Anger. Anger that someone would experiment on not just a child, but his general's child.

If only they had found him sooner...

It didn't matter now, he was here, he was safe. And Vader and the 501st would make sure he would stay that way.

(End of chapter three)

Sorry for the late update, I'm busy working on a ton of stories but also I have work and other IRL stuff I'm dealing with lol.