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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 slowly, the word sounding distant on his tongue.
"If you're truly a Sith, Father, you know what you must do. Torture me to the Dark Side or kill me."
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. He waited for the next move by the Emperor, who would emerge from the shadows, smiling a sadistic smile, before cutting him down.
He waited, prepared to put on a mask of obedience and hatred. That was what the Emperor fed off, after all. His anger. But Luke didn't disappear. None of that happened. He extended his senses, daring to go as far as to probe for his Master's presence, only to locate him on Coruscant, surrounded by his power.
No, this wasn't a trick.
Only then did he marvel at his boy's appearance and found a bitter smile crossing his lips. Luke resembled his mother so, so much. He 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 in a deeper monotone. "It need not come to either of those. Join me, and together we can destroy the Emperor. We can 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. The Dark Side has nothing to offer me."
Those words aggravated Vader. What would his son know? He raised him. A pause, and then, "The Dark Side has everything to offer you, son. It will be for your protection. If you do not join me, you will not be powerful enough to combat the Emperor."
"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 let go. It gave its wielders incredible power but took everything else they had in their lives, 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 other choice did he have?
Luke stepped forward boldly, staring up at him. The height difference couldn't have been more pronounced. "Father, think about my mother. Do you think she would want us to destroy everything she fought for?"
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. "She would want much more than this."
He growled, "This is not an ultimatum. You'll join me or be destroyed."
"I don't believe you," Luke retorted, holding his head high.
"Then you are a fool."
"Maybe I am, but I know you. You want me to acknowledge you as my father."
Vader snarled, "My patience is far from cosmic, son."
"No, I don't believe you will ever harm your own son. Not by choice."
It was true.
If Vader brought Padmé back, he would have never harmed her. Thus, he couldn't do the same with any offspring that they had.
"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 ways of the Sith will tarnish our bond, Father."
"The Sith? The Jedi? What is the difference? They are both opposing sides." Vader replied, his voice tinted with perturbation and frustration.
"That's the lie. The justification. Many others before us have believed it. The Jedi ideally work as an Order."
"Both Orders are lost," Vader stated in a clipped tone. "The Jedi believe they can destroy the Dark Side. And the Sith wish for the destruction of the galaxy."
"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 exert control over the Force. The Dark Side exists, and we all have darkness inside us, but we are to keep it at bay, not let it control us. It's impossible to eradicate the Dark Side, but it's possible to suppress it from dominating up."
"The Jedi suppressed their emotions," Vader pointed out. "It would lead to their unpreparedness in time of turmoil."
"Normal emotions should be accepted and embraced. Both positive and negative. One can feel anger, but feeling anger is different from giving in to it. In time, it will pass. Submerging in it destroys you. You must control it, never the other way around. The Dark Side feeds off of you. The more you give in to it, the more destruction it brings. Power is on the forefront of your mind."
"...The Jedi manipulated you," Vader said coldly. It may be too late for his son after all.
"It is a fact. Succumbing to the Dark Side of the Force is like taking a drug. 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 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 at times of weakness, 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, and 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 had given them.
"What do you know?!" Vader exclaimed. This stubborn boy, who had just come into his life, did not have the right to dictate him like this.
Luke gave him a sad look. "I traveled through time from the future."
"What?" The Sith Lord asked, stunned.
It couldn't be done, at least not by choice. Hyperdrive malfunctions were known, yet no one could revert to their younger body and continue with their new identity.
Luke sighed, "Exactly thirty years. I've been brought back to my younger body."
Vader blinked behind his helmet, perplexed beyond belief.
His expression became stricter. "As I was saying, I've seen what the Sith did to you once before. Last time, you were adamant about remaining 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 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 apparent demise, and somehow accomplished the impossible by turning another version of him away from the Dark Side. It couldn't be done. The Jedi and Sith both knew this.
"Come back to me. I love you." Luke continued, stepping even closer.
Vader's breath stopped. A voice from long ago cut through his senses: 'Stop! Stop now! Come back! I love you!'
"I'm assuming that your travel to the past just occurred," Vader collected himself. "Otherwise, you would have come before me sooner."
"Quite a strategist, indeed," Luke confirmed cheekily.
Vader found no amusement in this. Instead, he demanded, "For years, you were hidden from me. By whom?"
"They raised me in a loving home," Luke answered. "They instilled in me morals and love. They taught me to be more. More than I could have ever been otherwise, I fear."
"Whom?" Vader pressed.
"They did not know, for it was kept hidden who you had become."
Luke paused, and Vader's annoyance sparked.
"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 he could have put him out of his misery was beyond Kenobi.
Kenobi would pay for his deception.
Not only did he manipulate Padmé but their child as well...
It occurred to him that he might 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 said, and even now he couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes. He leveled Vader with a stare. "Try not to judge me by my size, will you?"
That sounded all too familiar. There had been some hidden meaning that the Sith couldn't decipher at first, before he received a confirmation in his mind.
"Yoda..." So the Grandmaster survived? The Emperor's greatest fears have been confirmed. The Grandmaster often vocalized the dangers of the Dark Side, especially to Young Skywalker, singling him out from the rest of his classmates. The Grandmaster was an old fool, a relic of stagnation and hypocrisy.
Luke shrugged with a small smirk. "It was a powerful lesson."
"No, it wasn't..."
There was a long moment of silence.
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 by 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 had made. There was no hope of redemption for him.
Moreover, he couldn't lose the man who had just come before him, claiming knowledge that would have been. That would never be.
"Father, I have an alternative proposition. Join me, and we will destroy the Emperor, constructing a new order among the ashes of the Empire."
The boy had inherited Padmé's pertinacious nature as well.
And yet, Vader couldn't renounce it all. His son didn't understand. And yet, he wouldn't turn away from the Dark Side.
Not now.
Not ever.
It was either destroy 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 had 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, Yoda, and all of those involved in this conspiracy.
Alas, his thoughts of vengeance were tempered by realism. No matter how much Vader may have attempted to turn him, Luke acknowledged the Dark Side but refused to give in to it, remaining a symbol of the Light. Incorruptible.
Vader refused to lose his son. For far too long, Vader had obsessed over Padmé and wanted to bring her back. Their son was the last remnant of Padmé. He wasn't lost to him, and he had come here, having already accepted their familial connection. He wouldn't live in regret again about another misdeed. He wouldn't allow the Emperor to reach him.
Their synergy would be paradoxical now, and yet far more preferable than his to Sidious's.
"I will... join you, son," Vader said, much to Luke's audible relief. "However, I will not turn away from the Dark Side."
Luke became crestfallen, 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 said solemnly.
"Very well," Vader obliged.
To have negotiated with a Sith Lord, how very impressive.
And he couldn't 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, his tone turning more flat.
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. Palpatine took one more step.
He would not care in the slightest if the Death Star were destroyed. He saw it as a waste of Imperial resources that could have been allocated to many more smaller ships, as Grand Admiral Thrawn advocated. The only reason he would put any effort into defending it was because he knew the Emperor would punish him if he failed to do so.
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. I've disagreed with its construction since the beginning."
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 said in realization, hatred threatening to swallow him. Everything that went wrong in his life centered around him and the Emperor. They both had 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 it as an 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 an 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 is just a great way of proving how "unbiased" and "unattached" you are." Vader remarked with sarcasm.
"You and I both know Obi-Wan will never accept your fall," Luke stated in understanding.
"He was selfish. He couldn't bear 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.
"...You still want to get information the Princess of Alderaan?" Luke said more than asked, his tone dripping with a mixture of many emotions. Namely, diffidence?
"So Tarkin and his allies will turn a blind eye..."
"Well, that plan is dead..."
"What did you do?"
Luke looked sheepish. "It is for a reason."
Vader had a distinct impression that he strongly resembled a father catching his child in an episode of disobedience. Dismissing that odd thought, he placed his hands on his hips, his voice modulating to become sharper.
"My patience with you is becoming increasingly frayed because of your insolence, Luke."
"Eh, technically, I'm older than you."
"Do not test my patience, boy," he growled. "She has associated with her father, Bail Organa, to construct the Rebellion. She's of no importance."
"I had to make sure that if I couldn't reason with you, she would get away. I can't allow you to torture her." Luke said.
"Son?" Vader pressed in a clipped tone, unimpressed.
He smiled a little, "You're being unreasonable, Father."
Was this how Skywalker was as a Padawan against his Master?
Vader responded scornfully, "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 has 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?"
Vader already felt a headache coming on.
Luke looked up, his face swayed with a range of emotions, before settling with a slight sigh, "She's my sister."
The lights in the cell shattered.