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Anonymous: Mocking? If this is about the Grandmaster Luke being pretty much a god, yes I told you that, and the same thing can be said about why Luke isn't playing by the script. Neither of them wasn't mocking. Counterpoint, I do take things from Wikipedia when explaining an ability, and on rarer occasions, explaining some features about a character. This is NOT new information nor am I the only author who does this. A lot do because we don't want to misconstrue how an ability works. Two, I have seen a lot of authors do similarly throughout the years. Three, the Larses name is admittedly fandom and is incredibly popular and I like it. Lastly, saying "...you shouldn't mock those attempting to be selfless and give you help with lore and grammar" when your first comment didn't help at all aside from the Skyhopper thing which I admitted, confuses me since I DO have people who do checks over my stories and Grammarly and the fact that we missed something, of course, will warrant my attention and further elaboration. That said, on this app, I do adopt a territorial approach to my stories. I enjoy any form of criticism but I can also offer rebuttals. Especially ones so blind.
Chapter 3
The two stood there, across from one another...
"This changes... everything," Vader began slowly, his bafflement behind the transpirator still audible.
"Yes, it does," his son said slowly.
The Dark Side wavered just for a moment.
The Sith Lord deactivated his weapon and placed it on his belt, staring at him, expression ranging.
"It is the Will of the Force that you were brought to me, son," Vader stated, the word sounding distant on his tongue.
"If you're truly a Sith, Father, you know what you must do."
Darth Vader was adamant that if he summoned enough anger, he could strike down his son. He searched his surroundings, expecting this to be a trick of some sort. Waiting for the next move by the Emperor who would emerge from the shadows, smiling a sadistic smile, before cutting him down.
No, this wasn't a trick.
He marveled at his boy's appearance and found a bitter smile crossing his lips. Luke resembled his mother so, so much. Luke had Padmé's facial structure, height, and nose with Skywalker's coloring and chin, those blue eyes...
But Luke had to join him on the Dark Side. He might have a considerable amount of experience in the Force, but that wouldn't be enough for the Emperor. It was part of the reason why Vader didn't use Marek when the Emperor deceived him into being blind until it was far too late.
Marek was expendable. His son was not...
Pushing those thoughts aside, the Dark Lord spoke, his voice in a deeper monotone. "It need not come to that. Join me, and we'll rule the galaxy as father and son."
"I want to join you, Father, but I cannot join the Dark Side. Not after what it's done to you."
Those words aggravated Vader. What would his son know? He rained this in. A pause, and then, "It'll be for your protection. If you don't join the Dark Side, you will not be powerful enough."
"The Dark Side eradicates everything it oxidizes. To be a Sith will correspond with me killing you someday and taking your place."
His son was several steps ahead of him. Which he supposed he should have anticipated. Even before he had been prone to his identity, he had considered him a possible asset, one that could be inordinately valuable. Now, the image of him mastering the Dark Side, proliferating under his instruction, showing him how to seize the power that resided within him, and rising to join him at the head of the Empire, seemed less appealing.
Vader knew all too well that the Dark Side would never want to let go. It gave their wielders incredible power but took everything else they had in their life, binding them within its chains due to the decisions of their own fortitude.
But, even Grandmaster Yoda couldn't stand against the Emperor at the height of his power.
"If that is your destiny," his tone lacked the previous conviction, for he knew the truth. But what else choice did he have?
Luke stepped forward boldly, staring up at him. The height difference couldn't be any more different. "Father, think about my mother. Do you think she will want us to destroy everything that she has fought against?"
He looked beyond him, remembering the love of his life staring up at him, her face pleading, eyes consumed by tears.
His biggest failure...
"She would have understood."
"No, she wouldn't," Luke countered again. "She will want much more than this."
"What do you know?!" Vader exclaimed. This stubborn boy who just came into his life did not have the right to dictate him like this.
Luke sighed. "I time traveled from the future."
"What?" The Sith Lord was speechless for the first time in decades.
"As I said, I've seen what the Dark Side did to you once before. Last time you were adamant to remain loyal to the Emperor. Eventually, I surrendered to you and you brought me to the Emperor. I saw the good in you then and tried to convert you back to the Light. The Emperor began hurting me, and after a few minutes, you'd helped. But... But..." Luke's eyes became agonized, "I can't just let you die, not again. Please, Father, don't do this."
Vader would have dismissed this knowledge as a deception. But he felt the sincerity through the Force. His son did indeed travel from the future. He'd witnessed his demise.
A voice cut through his senses: 'Stop! Stop now! Come back! I love you!'
"For years you were raised, hidden from me. By whom?" Vader asked. He would destroy those who dared to hide his son from him and twist him against him.
"They raised me in a loving home," Luke answered. "They installed in me morals and love. They taught me to be more. More than I could have ever been otherwise, I fear."
"Who?"
"They did not know, for it was kept hidden about who you've become."
Luke paused.
"Obi-Wan placed me with the Larses."
He stiffened behind the armor, his teeth ground together. It had been decades since Vader last met Kenobi-on that river of lava on Mustafar. How the man proclaimed he was a brother before he'd left him to burn alive. The fact that he chose to be selfish and allow him to suffer when putting him out of his misery was beyond Kenobi.
Kenobi would pay for his deception.
Not only did he manipulate Padmé but his child as well...
It occurred to him that he may have done likewise with Skywalker's stepfamily but they were of no concern to him. If they stood in his way, they would be destroyed as well.
"To place you at a location I'll never revisit? How very clever. Obi-Wan was wise to hide you from me. Now, his failure is complete."
"I have heard that before." Luke's smile became wider. "The Dark Side isn't stronger but quicker, easier, more seductive."
That sounded all too familiar. There had been some hidden meaning the Sith couldn't decipher at first.
"Yoda." So the Grandmaster survived? The Emperor's greatest fears have been confirmed. The Grandmaster often vocalized the dangers of the Dark Side, namely to Young Skywalker, singling him out from the rest of his classmates. The Grandmaster was an old fool-a relic of stagnation and hypocrisy.
"For all his failings, he was right on that," Luke conceded, folding his arms across his chest. "Far too many times, the Dark Side ruined everything. I will never trade anything for you, Father, but I know what the Dark Side leads to."
There was a long moment of silence following that proclamation.
Vader observed him through his eyes and with the Force. The Sith knew that it was much too late to change anything. He had to live up to what he had done-and the best way to do that was through embracing his hatred and anger, letting it grow and fester in him. Through this, Vader completely lost his sense of consciousness and lived his days wallowing in sadness, anger, and hatred.
He knew that there was no hope left except to simply live with the mistakes he made. There was no hope of redemption for him.
Moreover, he couldn't lose the man who just came before him, claiming knowledge that would have been. That would never be.
He spoke again. "This is not a negotiation, you'll join me or be destroyed."
"I don't believe you," Luke retorted strongly, holding his head up.
"You lack foresight and understanding."
"No, I don't believe you will ever harm your own son. Not by choice."
Her eyes... "I am your father, and you are obligated to join me for your protection." he declared, pointing his index finger forward in his direction.
Luke shook his head. "No, the Dark Side will tarnish our bond, Father."
"The Dark Side? The Light Side? What is the difference? They're both sides of the Force." Vader replied, his voice tinted with perturbation and frustration.
"That's the lie. The justification. Many others before us have believed it. You're fooling yourself if you think the Will of the Force can be twisted like that."
"Balance comes with equalizing both sides," Vader stated in a clipped tone. "The Jedi believed they could have destroyed the Dark Side."
"You can't commit one good action and then another evil and pretend that's balance. It throws the spectrum of it off." Luke answered. "The Sith are the imbalance because they try to exhert control over the Force. The Dark Side exists and we all have darkness inside us, but we are to keep it at bay and let the light dominate it. It's impossible to eradicate the Dark Side, but it's possible to suppress it from rising up."
"The Jedi suppressed their emotions," Vader pointed out.
"Normal emotions should be accepted and embraced. Both positive and negative. One can feel anger but feeling anger is different from giving into it. In time, it'll pass. Submerging in it destroys you. You must control it, never the other way around. The Dark Side feeds off you. The more you give into it, the more destruction is brought. Power is on the forefront of your mind."
"...The Jedi manipulated you," Vader growled, probing his son's Force presence.
"It is a fact. The Dark Side of the Force is like a drug for Force sensitives. It poisons your mind and makes you feel great at first, but has devastating consequences in the long run. And eventually, the more you use it, the harder it will be for you to stop. It's like an addiction. And you can't just control an addiction the way the "Grey Jedi" conceptualization claims to do. You can't take Sansanna spice sometimes when you feel like it, and then act like nothing happened the next time you're asked whether you want another shot."
"...The Dark Side will show you true power, strength, dominance. It is the most meaningful way to achieve your goals."
"At the expense of all you've sworn to protect," Luke countered. "I can never do that, Father, power for the sake of power. Padmé Amidala would have never wanted that."
A major blow, and worse, it struck true. Padmé wouldn't have wanted any offspring of hers to be consumed by the Dark Side. His wife would have never understood what the Dark Side would have given them.
"Father, I have a alternative proposition. Join me, we destroy the Emperor, and we construct a new order among the ashes of the Empire."
The boy had inherited Padmé's pertinacious nature.
Vader couldn't renounce it all here. His son didn't understand. And yet, he wouldn't turn away from the Dark Side.
Not now.
Not ever.
It was either kill his son or...
Or to go with him. To follow his son's next move. Vader wouldn't give up the Dark Side, not now. Not ever. The Jedi's life brought Skywalker nothing but pain. Yet, if he'd allowed Luke to leave, he would have to consider his own heritage an enemy. What a foolish boy, hoping to reach a remnant of a man who was long since gone.
The very thought gave him dark satisfaction. Sidious would PAY for all of his deceptions. As would Kenobi.
No matter how much Vader may have attempted to turn him, Luke acknowledged the Dark Side but refused to give into it, remaining a symbol of the Light. Borderline incorruptible.
Vader refused to lose his son. For far too long, Vader obsessed over Padmé and wanted to bring her back. Their son was the last remnant of Padmé. He wasn't lost to him and had come here, having already accepted their familial connection. He wouldn't live in regret yet again about another misdeed. He won't allow the Emperor to reach him.
Their synergism would be paradoxical now.
"I will... join you, son," Vader said, much to Luke's audible relief. "However, I will not turn away from the Dark Side."
Luke's head dropped slightly, and Vader was gripped by a shadowy impulse to embrace him, but he resisted. Such weaknesses accomplished nothing.
"Alright, Father, I only ask you not to kill senselessly..." he managed solemnly.
"Very well." Vader obliged.
To have negotiated with a Sith Lord, how very impressive.
And he was unable to stop a burst of pride at that thought.
"Let's start with Palpatine's first superweapon. That Death Star. How can you abide by it?" Luke inquired.
That look didn't appease Vader in the slightest. It reminded him far too much of Padmé when she and Skywalker ended up in another one of their quite frequent debates when Palpatine took one more step.
He would not care in the slightest if the Death Star was destroyed, he saw it as a waste of Imperial resources that could have gone into many more smaller ships like Grand Admiral Thrawn advocated for and the only reason why he would put any effort into defending it at all was because he knew the Emperor would punish him if he failed to defend it.
More importantly, he would never torture any child of his.
Of Padmé's...
Anger took charge next at the unsettling implication. "That technological terror is an abomination. This weapon is a waste of resources."
Luke nodded. "Well, that's good to know."
Surprise flooded him, "You didn't know that?"
"Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to know your alternate."
"Because of Kenobi," Vader growled. Everything that went wrong in his life centered around him and the Emperor. They both have to be destroyed for this reason.
"What Obi-Wan did to you was wrong, I understand that. Leaving you to burn, screaming in pain and agony," his face became angrier, "I will have words with Obi-Wan about that. However, don't take as a extenuation, but you destroyed his life's work. The Jedi Order was his family."
"Mutilation and immolation are considered to be forms of "cruel and unusual punishment" due to the suffering and pain inflicted on the subjects, we agree on that. Obi-Wan is especially fond of mutilating his victims before he kills them by cutting off limbs and leaving his victims to burn to death. Shall we talk about how the Jedi have a odd tendency for sending Masters to apprehend their errant Padawans or vice versa? I guess delivering your Apprentice or Master to be punished for a crime they potentially didn't commit to is just a great way of proving how "unbiased" and "unattached" you are." Vader remarked with sarcasm.
"You and I both know Obi-Wan is never going to accept your fall," Luke stated in understanding.
"He was selfish. He couldn't take the anguish of his failures, so he raised you against me to destroy me."
The younger man sighed.
A lengthy silence passed.
"Where is she?" Vader demanded again.
"...You desiderate to gain information from the Princess of Alderaan," Luke said more than asked, his tone dripping with mixtures of many emotions. Namely, diffidence?
"What did you do?"
Luke looked sheepish. "It is for a reason."
Vader had a distinct impression that he so strongly resembled a father catching his child in an episode of disobedience. Disowning that odd thought, he placed his hands on his hips, his voice modular turning sharper.
"My patience with you is becoming increasingly frayed at your insolence, Luke."
"Eh, technically, I'm older than you."
"Do not test my patience, boy," he growled. "She have associated with her father, Bail Organa, to construct the Rebellion. She's of no importance."
"I had to make sure if I couldn't reason with you that she got away. I can't allow you to torture her." Luke said.
"Son?" Vader pressed in a clipped tone, unimpressed.
He smiled some, "You're being unreasonable, Father."
Was this how Skywalker was as a Padawan against his Master?
"It is only a matter of time before her extraction is discovered by Tarkin."
"It's not like Tarkin needs to know. The Death Star has to be destroyed," Luke answered, smoothing his disdain for the man. "He have already killed so many people. Princess Leia had to be set free."
Irritation filled him. It was an imprudent move. Tarkin would discover what happened, and when he did, that would paint a target on his son's back.
"You really are your mother's son." His tone made it obvious it wasn't intended as a compliment.
But Luke shrugged. "Believe you me, you should be glad that you didn't torture her. You would have regretted it."
Vader wouldn't have regretted torturing that brat of a girl who dared to defy the Empire multiple times. While the Dark Lord disapproved of meaningless torture, it was never that. Sacrificing the Princess of Alderaan, or any member of House Organa and others, ultimately wouldn't affect the Dark Lord.
However, the Force rippled slightly at those words. The Sith arched his eyebrows in curiosity behind the mask. "What importance is she to us?"
Luke looked up, his face swaying with ranges of many emotions, before settling with a slight sigh, "She's my sister."
The lights in the cell shattered.