Night of Spirits

Summmary: ((Part of my Halloween Trick or Treat Luke & Vader series.)) It has been a few months since Darth Vader discovered and claimed his young son. The child asks his father if they can go to the Festival of Harvest to attend the Night of Spirits where festival goers dress up in costumes and collect treats. While Vader buys Luke a costume, the child changes it in secret to trick his father.

Darth Vader looked down at the small child. It had been a few months since Vader had discovered the truth. That his child, his son, had lived. The boy had been whisked away and kept from his father. But Vader had found out the truth and claimed the child as was his right.

"Father?" Luke asked. His big blue eyes looking up at the tall dark Sith lord. There was uncertainty there, but not due to fear as almost all others when looking at Vader. Luke had quickly overcome any fear towards his father. Something to this day Vader was honestly amazed by.

Luke was just little ball of joy and sunshine and love. Yes love. The little boy loved Vader. It sung triumphantly in the Force all around the child. Luke was a blessing. He was everything a child of Padme Amidala should be. Kind, sweet, caring, and loving. There was very little of the father in the child, which honestly Vader was thankful for. He liked Luke just the way he was.

"Yes Luke?" Vader replied.

"Your ship can go anywhere in the galaxy right?" Luke asked.

"Yes."

"Can it go to Rendili?"

"Any system you can name, this ship can go there," Vader replied. Luke took a step closer to his father. Vader asked, "But why Rendili?"

"There's a festival there," Luke explained. "I saw it on the holonet. It's the Festival of Harvest. The festival ends on Night of Spirits. Everyone dresses up in costumes! And they get sweets and candy if they do! I want to go!"

Vader's first instinct was at once to tell the boy no. The child had no concept of his own importance. A public festival would be a nightmare to keep Luke safe.

"Please, father," Luke begged. He leaned forward and grabbed one of Vader's large hands. Little fingers wrapped around black gloved ones.

"I will . . . think about it," Vader answered not having the heart to disappoint the child. "I will research this Festival of Harvest and Night of Spirits."

A huge smile spread across Luke's face. That was all it took for Vader to know he would be taking his son to Rendili.

Several days later Luke sat in Vader's lap at Vader's desk. They were shopping via the holonet for a costume. Vader had researched the Rendili holiday. Originally the idea had been to scare away evil spirits by dressing up in scary costumes, but over time that notion was lost. Now people dressed up in whatever costumes they desired.

Luke didn't seem all the interested in the creature costumes. There were costumes of nexus, rancors, gundarks, and more. Luke showed some interest in animal costumes such as loth cats, banthas, and convors. There were a dizzying amount of costumes. From plants, to famous holonet celebrities, to even food items.

After two hours of looking at countless costumes, Luke finally exclaimed, "That one! I want that one!"

"Are you sure?" Vader asked.

"Yes!" Luke said excitedly.

Vader eyed the costume. It was based on local Rindili legends. Something called a vampire. A humanoid with sharp teeth that went around biting people's necks to suck their blood.

"Didn't you like that loth cat costume?" Vader argued. Luke would look adorable in it.

"No," Luke said. "I want that one."

So Vader ordered the costume. The week before the festival, Luke spent a lot of time in his room. Each time Vader went in there Luke would shout at his father.

"You can't come in!" Luke said. "I'm working on my costume!"

At night when Luke was asleep, Vader would take a peek at the small desk in the child's room. All his saw was a mess of black fabric and cut up pieces of paper. Finally the day arrived. Luke was so excited, though Vader was not. He dreaded this trip. He loathed social functions. He hated the stares and whispers. But Luke glowed with happiness, and Vader didn't want to dim that light.

Vader held a black furry cloak in his hands. It was his costume. Some tusks had been attached to the hood to make it look like an animal. It would blend in decent enough with his suit.

"Luke?" Vader called. "Have you finished getting dressed yet?" Vader's star destroyer was in orbit over Rendili. A shuttle had been prepared to take Lord Vader and his son to the surface. It was time to depart.

"Yes!" Luke shouted.

The door to the child's room slid open and Luke marched out. He wore a black shirt and pants with the long black cloak that Vader recognized from the vampire costume. The child also had on black gloves and black boots. On his head he wore a black plastoid bucket. Tied around his face was a black paper mask Luke had cleary made himself. On his chest, he had tied a thin paper box with grey and red squares on it. Lastly he had a belt on with a cardboard tube painted silver hanging off of it.

It took a moment, but then Vader realized that Luke wasn't dressed up as some vampire humanoid.

"Do you like my costume?" Luke asked.

The only sound that came out of Vader was the hiss of his respirator. He looked down at his son unable to think of anything to say.

"I'm you!" Luke said joyously.

It became clear now why Luke wanted the vampire costume. It came with the black cloak. The child had made everything else. From the helmet to the mask to the control panel on his chest to the sloppily painted lightsaber. Luke walked up and grabbed his father's hand.

"We match!" Luke exclaimed.

Night had fallen on Rendili. The Night of Spirits had begun. People walked around in costumes carrying orange buckets made to look like local orange gourds. Others gave out sweets, which the festival-goers collected in their gourd buckets. Walking through the crowd was a very tall man holding the hand of a young boy. The boy happily swung his bucket that sloshed with collected treats.

Darth Vader was all too aware of all the stares and whispers. He hated it, but . . . he had to admit it was quite different to see people smiling and nodding at him. He had left the black furry cloak behind. He simply walked around in his suit. The festival goers thought his suit was his costume.

It was wrong. Vader was on to be feared. People shouldn't be shouting at him for a good costume. They should be shrinking away. Hiding their children behind them, not calling their children over to look at him. Vader's hand twitched next to his lightsaber. He was tempted to light it to show it was real, but the weight pulling his other hand kept him from taking such an action.

Luke tightly gripped his father's hand. Though Vader couldn't see Luke's face beyond his paper mask, he knew the boy was smiling from ear to ear. His happiness radiated into the Force causing it to ripple in the world around him. At the end of the night, Vader collected the child into his arms. Luke rested his head sleepily against his father's armored shoulders. Luke's mask had been shoved into his gourd sweet bucket. His eyes drooped as he yawned.

"Father?" Luke said sleepily.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Vader didn't reply. He just squeezed his son a bit tighter as he made his way back to his shuttle. The Night of Spirits was coming to an end. Vader thought about how originally the festival had started as a way to scare evil spirits away. Who else was scarier than Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith? And any evil spirits who came near his son wouldn't just be scared away, they would be destroyed. Vader wasn't going to let anything touch this precious child. A child who loved his father so much he wanted to dress up like him. Who didn't see the suit and the black mask as scary, but something he loved instead.