The Sith Dragon and His Baby

Summary: (Dragon AU) The Sith dragon Vader takes care of his young son. However, something else keeps brushing against his mind. It feels like another dragon, and it isn't his son.

Possibly, completely self indulgent. This is a prequel to my previous dragon AU fic, chapter 13 in this collection. (The Story of the Sith Dragon) This fic is basically just some fluff. Fluffy daddy dragon and baby dragon time. I regret nothing. But also shout-out to those who really loved the dragon fic. You silent readers. I see those stats. It's one of the most re-read chapters in this collection, so I know at least someone out there would love some more dragons. Also you'll find cute art on my tumblr for this fic as well.

Vader, the massive Sith dragon, carefully cleaned his claws. They were stained with the blood and flesh of his meal. The large buck had calmed his appetite, for now. Vader stretched. The large cavern was massive and big enough for him to completely stretch his wings. His black scales and spikes glittered in the warm glow from the hole in the floor in the corner. Below this cavern were lakes and rivers of lava. Their warm glow danced from the hole into the cavern.

Vader turned his attention to what laid next the hole. A ring of rocks. Inside the rocks was a pile of furs and skins. Vader gently pushed the furs aside with his great snout. Deeper and deeper he went until he was close to the bottom. He clawed the furs away to reveal a small baby dragon. Vader looked down at his son.

While Vader was a Sith, a dragon who had lost its internal fire and fallen to the cold darkness, Luke was a skywalker, a true dragon, though he was still far too young for his internal fire to keep him warm. Thus little babies had to be kept warm. Luke slept close to the bottom of the nest where the rocks were warm from the lava below. He looked like Vader once had. Golden scales and sky blue eyes.

Vader let out a soft snort of a laugh. Luke was laying on his back. His wings spread out. His round belly, full from his meal, was up in the air. Surely it was not comfortable. Luke's back spikes may be nothing more than little nubs right now, but still he had them. Vader lowered his head and sniffed his son. Then he started to lick Luke.

He started on Luke's exposed belly. At once the baby started to stir. Vader knew Luke wasn't in a deep sleep. Earlier, Vader had fed Luke first and put him back in the nest while he ate. Luke let out a few squeaks as he woke up. He rolled him over to his side. Vader continued to groom his son. Blinking blue eyes looked up at Vader. Luke let out a long, loud squeak. The baby was far from being able to roar.

Vader used his snout to push Luke so he was laying on his belly, which allowed Vader able to easily and gently bite down on Luke's neck. Vader picked up his son, who curled up a bit as he was being carried. Vader made his way through the large cavern and into the twisting tunnels. He made his way up higher and higher.

Luke started to wiggle a little bit as they neared their destination. He let out a small muffled squeak. Vader soon stepped out of the tunnels into the large courtyard in front of his fortress. Luke could not longer contain his excitement. He squeaked and wiggeled. Vader slowly lowered him down. The moment his feet touched the ground, he was off running across the courtyard and flapping his wings in excitement.

This place Vader called home was called Mustafar, but once it had been known as Theed, the capital of Naboo. Naboo was the country known as the place with a hundred lakes and waterfalls. It was the home of Padme Amidala, Vader's human wife. After her death, after her murder, Vader had used his unquenchable rage to poison the land. The lakes and rivers turned to lava. The ground blackened. The once beautiful palace surrounded by waterfalls was now a towering fortress that pierced the sky with a single waterfall of lava that poured down the cliff it sat on.

Theed and the lands around it were now a wasteland. Nothing lived there except for Vader and his son, and that was how the Sith preferred it. With a leap, Vader jumped up onto a ledge on his fortress. He jumped up a few more stories. He curled around the fortress and laid down. It gave him a good view of the courtyard and the surrounding ruins. Every now and then Vader saw a flash of gold as Luke ran and climbed amongst the toppled walls and collapsed roofs.

Vader watched as Luke climbed up to the highest point of a destroyed house that overlooked the courtyard. Luke crouched low. His butt wiggled as his hind leg claws gripped into the stone. Then he leapt into the courtyard. He unfurled his wings. He glided across the courtyard. When he landed, he let out a happy squeak and quickly found a new building to climb to the top of. Once he was up high again, he jumped and glided across the courtyard again.

Luke had yet to figure the whole flying and flapping his wings bit, but the rest he had taught himself. It must be some innate drive inside a dragon to learn to fly. Afterall, Vader had no dragon parent to teach him. He had learned to fly on his own.

Vader loved to fly, and Luke seemed to have the same attachment. He loved to glide. He easily learned how to, but he took a while mastering the skill of landing. There had been some rough tumbles the baby had gone through. Only a few were hard enough for Luke to cry for his father to come soothe him. Most of the time, he just bounced back up and was gliding again.

Eventually Luke had gotten distracted by the ruins. He started to dig around the destroyed buildings. Vader stretched his wings and lazily glided down to the courtyard.

Luke, he called into the Force.

At once a bright response called back. Luke communicated mostly without the use of words. He talked by projecting a mix of his emotions, images, and colors along the shared Force bond with Vader. Vader assumed this was how dragons naturally talked, but the only other dragon he had ever talked to was his son.

Vader did wonder who his father was. His mother never shared anything about who it was or might be. Surely his father had to be a dragon. Most likely one in human form. So were there other dragons out there? Perhaps hiding?

When Vader was a child, when he had gone by a different name and had different colored scales, he had joined the Jedi Order. The Jedi were humans who able to wield the Force. They had been taught to do so by the skywalkers, the dragons of old. When Vader had been a Jedi, he had read through all of the Order's archives about dragons. There were some old scrolls that talked about the dragons teaching the Force to the first Jedi. But there was almost nothing about the dragons themselves.

But of course there was plenty of material on killing dragons. Eventually the Jedi grew jealous and greedy. They felt the dragons were withholding knowledge about the Force. Refusing to teach the humans everything. So they started to kill the dragons. There were piles upon piles of books and scrolls that talked about ways to sneak up on dragons, overwhelm them, maim them, poison them, and kill them. Once his Jedi master had taken him down into the lowest vaults of the the Jedi Temple and showed him the old bones and hides. The trophies of the dragon hunts.

It was believed all the dragons were killed off during the great purge. They weren't seen again for hundreds of years until Vader. So how did Vader exist? Had the old skywalkers discovered how to change their form into that of a human? Were dragons alive just living as humans? Vader didn't have the answer.

But he did have Luke, who had just jumped over a pile of rubble and was now trotting across the courtyard. His tail and head were held high. He walked up to his father and sat down right next to Vader's right leg. He leaned against it and then looked up with big blue eyes. Vader lowered his head. Snout to snout father and son touched. Then Luke stuck out his tongue and licked the tip of his father's nose.

Warm emotions flooded into Vader from his son. Warmth. Light. All in colors of gold and pink. Luke sent a vision of Vader, a big black scaley blog. Love. Luke was sending love. Vader sent happiness and love back to his son. Luke let out a small happy squeak as he received it.

Vader gently grabbed Luke by the scruff of his neck and picked him up. Luke curled up as Vader carried him back towards the sharp tower fortress. Vader headed down into the maze of tunnels that cut through the rock under the fortress, but he didn't make his way back to the nest cavern. Instead he wound away from the fortress.

It took a bit of a walk, but Luke stayed still and quiet. At last Vader stepped into a large open cavern. It was actually a series of connected caverns. Various pools of thermal springs were spaced amongst them. The largest of which was big enough for even Vader in his dragon form to go swimming, but he didn't take his baby there.

He dropped Luke into a small shallow pool. At once the baby squeaked and started running around the pool. The middle of the pool was deep enough Luke could swim if he curled his feet up. He used his wings to push himself around in circles. Just like with flying, Luke was able to figure out how to swim without any instruction.

After a few laps, Luke made his way back to the shallow edges of the pool. He laid down in the water and spread his wings out. He set his head against a rock on the side of the pool as if it was a pillow and let out a large yawn. Vader inwardly smiled to himself. Finally his son was tired out. Again Vader picked Luke up, but this time Luke hung limply. He yawned a few times and started to nod off as Vader brought them back to their cavern home.

Vader headed towards the ring of rocks that made up the nest, but stopped before he reached it. Slowly he lowered Luke to the ground. The baby let out one squeaky huff. His emotions were blue, purple and gray. He was sleepy and a bit cranky. Vader carefully lowered himself and gently pressed his snout against his son. He sniffed him and started to groom him. Luke rolled over to his side and with all four of his legs tried to bat and push his father away. He was not in the mood to be cleaned.

Vader laughed to himself. He was thankful cranky tired baby dragons didn't cry like their human counterparts. He curled around his son and tucked Luke into the crook of his foreleg against the warm smooth belly scales. Luke at once curled himself into a tight ball and fell asleep.

Vader sighed. He closed his eyes and focused on his core. His internal fire. The spark that gave a dragon life. Luke's was but a warm little ember glowing inside of him. It wasn't a raging fire, but one day would be. One day it would keep Luke warm and strong. For now, his fire was too tiny. He got cold far too easily, and thus snuggled up against his father. Vader would need to be the one to provide the warmth Luke needed.

But no longer did Vader's inner fire stay lit by itself. His core was a blackened coal he constantly fought to keep aflame. When Padme . . . when his wife died . . . Grief and anger consumed him. His fire raged through him, burned him, and changed him. His once gold scales became black and his blue eyes became a golden-red. But after he got his revenge on the Jedi and destroyed Theed, he laid down to rest. His fire slowly started to fade away.

Smaller and smaller it became. Colder and colder he got. He knew once the fire inside of him was gone, he would die. He was ready for it. There was no point in living anymore. Not without Padme. Not without their child. He had lost them both, and now he would join them in death.

Never had he experienced such cold before. His blood turned to ice. His scales hardened. His insides froze. Slowly, he was becoming stone. Cold stone. The Force was the magic of the Earth. The dragons were the children of the Earth. There were fueled by the same fires that fueled the Earth, and now Vader would return to the Earth.

And then he felt it. A soft brush of golden warmth against his mind.

He knocked it away. Whatever it was . . . it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore. He was dying. He looked at his right front leg. It was starting to look more like rock than flesh.

But then it came again. That gentle happiness. Vader scowled. Why was he feeling this? Then it came again. What was it? Another . . . another dragon? Perhaps they would have better luck in this cruel world than Vader had.

Again it came. It was so tiny whatever it was. A young dragon? . . . a baby? Yes this world was cruel to the dragons.

Vader didn't know why he reached out to that tiny presence. Perhaps he wanted the baby to know it was not alone. Perhaps Vader himself was lonely as he died. But when touched the mind of that presence, he knew. He knew this presence. He had touched it before when it had been growing inside of its mother.

His child! His child still lived!

He tried to move, but his right front leg was solid rock. His whole giant body was sluggish. Cold. Weighted down. He couldn't even lift his wings.

No! He couldn't die! Not here! Not now!

His child would grow up without either parent! What would happen to them? Vader had to get to his child!

So he focused back on his core. It was now but a blacked coal that had a few flakes of glowing red embers in it. He had to reignite his core. With everything he had in him, he fanned the flames. Slowly, painfully slowly, his fire grew. It was a bit painful and took constant concentration to keep the fire strong, but he had to. Right now, in the present, it was to keep the little baby snuggle up against him warm. The little baby whose own internal fire was only a gentle flame.

He remember the first time seeing his baby. He followed the pull in the Force. It led him to the Tatooine deserts, the very same he had been born in and called home. It was there he found his son. He was in a human form. Just a small baby wrapped in a blanket. He was asleep the first time Vader had ever laid eyes on him, but when Luke's eyes opened, it stole Vader's breath away. They were so blue. A true sky blue. There was no doubt this baby was a skywalker. A dragon.

There was a brush against Vader's mind.

At once his eyes snapped open. His head jerked up, but the rest of him stayed still. It had felt just like when he had first felt Luke. He looked down. Luke was fast asleep. Had it been a trick of the mind? Vader had been recollecting on when he first felt and found Luke. Surely, it was just his memories. He lowered his head and fell asleep.

He awoke to the feeling of small claws digging their way into his scales. He opened his eyes and at once noted Luke was no longer curled up sleeping. Vader felt the claws dig into his back again. Bright warm orange and yellow danced across the Force bond from son to father. Luke was playing one of his favorite games: climb all over his father. Vader didn't get the appeal, but Luke loved to scramble up on Vader's back and wind his way around Vader's back thorns. Sometimes, he would stop and chew on them.

Vader rolled over. He could feel Luke trying to dig his claws in for purchase, but the baby failed and fell to the ground. Dark reds and oranges were blasted at Vader. Vader rolled back up and stretched his legs and wings. Luke marched to stand in front of his father. He let out a series of huffy angry squeaks while he walked in a circle. Then sat down and looked up at his father. It was the baby dragon equivalent of pouting.

Vader sat and just watched his son. The emotions Luke was projecting started to change colors. The darkness started to lighten. It became a brighter yellow orange. Then Luke let out one sharp staccato little squeak. It was a simple sound, but one Vader knew all too well. Luke was hungry. The baby looked over his shoulder to the far wall. Vader kept a few wildlife carcasses hanging there.

But Vader didn't walk over there and pull down some meat. He picked Luke up by the scruff of his neck and carried his baby out of the cavern into the tunnels. Luke's emotions turned a dark red again. He was annoyed. He was hungry. Where was his father taking him? Vader made his way upwards until he made it to a large cavern. At the far end the cavern there was a grand staircase leading up to a large door.

Vader approached the staircase, and as he did so he reached deep inside of him. He felt the hum of life and triggered the change. A deep loud bell sounded deep inside of him. His body started to get warmer and warmer. Vader also reached deep into Luke to start his transformation as well. But Luke's chime was a small higher pitched bell.

Father and son grew smaller and smaller. Vader's large wings morphed into a long flowing cape. His hind legs became legs and his front legs became arms. The black scales slowly faded away to tan skin and black clothes. However, his eyes stayed the same color.

It was no longer a dragon who strode across the cavern, but a man. A man holding a squirming toddler.

Luke was also in his human form. His hair was a fluffy blonde, his skin a light tan, and his eyes were still a bright sky blue. He was dressed in soft white clothes. He wiggled in his father's arms as he adjusted to being in his human form. He reached down and grabbed his feet. He looked intently at his toes.

Until Vader had found Luke, the baby had lived as a human. When Vader found him and brought him here, Luke lived the next several weeks as a dragon. They were both dragons. They should live as dragons! But Vader eventually faced the truth he had been avoiding. Luke would need to learn to be human in this world. They were the last of the dragons. When Vader died, there would only be Luke unless he had children as well. But how would Luke find love? He would have to learn to be human.

Vader initiated that change, and Luke changed into a small human baby. The child was frozen in confusion and then his face scrunched up. It slowly turned red. And then the crying began. Luke hated being a human baby that first time. He couldn't move! He couldn't even lift his head. His eyes couldn't see well. He didn't have wings, and now had this soft squishy flesh instead of scales. And he was so small!

Vader tried to calm him down, but eventually gave him. He changed Luke back into a dragon. Vader tried again to have Luke as a human, but had the same results. Luke would scream and cry until he was back as a dragon. One day, Vader was determined. Luke was going to be a human for more than an hour. He changed the baby into its human form. Then he put the baby on the blanket and walked into another room.

Oh the little baby cried and screamed. Vader could feel his sons wrecked emotions through their bond. He had to tighten his hands into fists. It was a battle not to hurry into the next room and console his son. After three hours of crying, Luke finally quieted down. When Vader entered the room, Luke was awake on the blanket. His face was red and puffy. His eyes were watery. His little human arms raised up towards his father.

Vader at once scooped his son up. "I'm sorry," he whispered into the soft downy hair. He walked over to a table and picked up the baby feeder pot. It looked like an oil lamp, but Vader had seen plenty of mothers use such devices to feed their babies. Inside was a mixture of milk and honey. He put the tip up to Luke's lips and gently poured a bit against the baby's lips. Vader pulled the pot away as Luke licked his lips.

The baby's face lit up. Vader brought the feeding pot back up to Luke's lips. Luke opened his mouth and quickly drank the milk. Bright pink came across the bond. Luke was happy. He enjoyed the milk. Vader couldn't help but smile. It had been the same for him as a child. There were many great things about being a dragon, but there was one thing humans were better at: food and taste.

A dragon's diet consisted of meat, but a human's? There were so many different and wonderful things to try. It was how a human slave had managed to get her dragon son to come inside after a day of flying. She just said it was dinner time, and a young boy with sun-kissed tan skin and gold hair would be sitting at her table. Luke was now no different.

Vader walked into his fortress. The levels above ground were made for a human. Eventually he made his way up the many stairs to the level Vader had furnished. He placed Luke down. The toddler wobbled a bit, and then off he went toddling around. Vader walked to the kitchen with the toddler waddling behind him.

Vader still ventured into the human world. Sometimes it was to hunt down Jedi scum who survived his initial purge. Sometimes he went as a human. Despite everything . . . he was still half human himself. He hated actual humans. A disgusting lot. But he enjoyed what they made, especially when it was something Vader could share with his son.

Luke and Vader had a meal. It was a messy affair. The toddler ate his hands and the food got everywhere. Vader had to change his son's clothes and wipe his face clean. Afterwards he held his son and kissed him. Luke giggled. He loved kisses. He pushed his lips against Vader's face. He hadn't quite figured out that he needed to suck. Instead Luke stuck his tongue out, which eventually just turned into him licking his father's face. But Vader loved Luke's affections. He loved the golden pinks that Luke would send him.

Vader loved his son.

The day wore on. Vader worked on teaching Luke to learn human words. As enjoyable as the colorful emotions and images Vader got from Luke, there was something easier about using words to convey complex ideas. Though Luke was still far too young for any complicated conversations.

After their lessons, Luke played. He had a few human toys Vader had purchased in human markets: wooden tops, dolls made of corn husks, and wooden blocks. His favorite toy was still his father. He loved to climb all over Vader even when they were both humans. Eventually Luke tired, and Vader cradled his son to his chest. He rocked Luke, who yawned and fought to keep his eyes open. But eventually he fell asleep.

Vader carried his son to a large bed where they both slept. As Vader started to nod off to sleep, again he felt a brush against his mind. It snapped him wide awake. He looked at Luke who was deep asleep. His emotions were dulled, but were currently a soft purple. What had brushed against his mind had been cold and green. That was . . . odd . . . Perhaps Luke was dreaming. The emotions didn't come again, and Vader soon fell asleep.

The next day, Vader brought Luke back down into the caverns. He pulled one of the carcasses off the wall. He had to chew the meat a bit before he gave it to Luke. But Luke was unphased. He happily gobbled down the meat. It was interesting to Vader how much his natural paternal instincts had kicked in once he had Luke. How he simply seemed to know things like to chew the meat before feed Luke or how to build a nest.

Vader kept giving Luke meat, more meat than he would usually give the small baby. Luke kept eating. Eventually he grew full and sluggish. His belly was round. He blinked a few times and sent his father bright purple emotions. He was tired and wanted to sleep. Vader collected his son and put him in the bottom of the nest next to the warm rocks. Then he covered the child in the furs and skins. Luke was asleep by the time Vader finished.

When overfed, the baby dragon would go into a deep long sleep which allowed Vader to go hunting. Even if Luke did wake up, he wouldn't leave the nest without his father near. Perhaps it was the baby's own instincts, but Luke knew to stay put. The first time Vader had ever left Luke like this, he had been a nervous wreck. He still felt anxious leaving Luke alone. Luke was so tiny. What if he crawled out of the nest? What if wandered into the tunnels? Fell down a hole into the lava?

Vader pushed those thoughts aside. He had other things to focus on. He started off by making rounds of Mustafar. Ever since Vader's attack on the Jedi, there had been nations who had sent fools to try and kill him. They had sent bounty hunters, great beast hunters, knights, mercenaries, even whole armies, and a few times surviving Jedi. Vader had killed any who dared venture into his lands. Sometimes he saw the remains of such scum. Armor glinting in the red light with rotting flesh clinging onto bones. Not even the scavenger birds ventured here to pick the bones clean. At least they had sense.

Something brushed against his mind. Yellow. Orange. Happiness. It caused Vader to lose focus. He took a short dive in his flying, but quickly recovered. He circled down to the ground. As soon as he landed, he reached out into the Force. He quickly found Luke. The baby's emotions were soft pale blues and purples. He was sleeping. Then what was that just a moment ago?

Vader shook his head. Luke dreaming again. He was preparing to jump into the sky, when it hit him again. Happiness. Vader froze. For a moment, it even caused him to forget to focus on his internal fire. His body started to cool. His head snapped to the east, away from his fortress. That was the direction this emotion was coming from. Away from Luke.

Another . . . dragon . . .? Surely . . . not.

Vader reached out searching for the source. Again it brushed against his mind. Yellow. Orange. Happiness. He caught a glimmer of a vision. Bright green grass and bushes. Flowers. Humans. Vader's lips rose in a snarl. Perhaps there were surviving dragons hiding amongst humans. But then he thought on the vision again. It was low in height as if the person was sitting or . . . they were small. Like the height of Luke . . .

Vader poured all of his strength into reaching out towards the source. It was fleeting. It kept slipping through his grasp. But just for an instance, he caught it again. This time he was sure. It was another dragon. Another baby dragon. Another child.

Twins.

His wife had given birth to twins. Just as Vader had felt Luke, he was feeling his other child.

Where? Where was this other child? He tried to search for their presence, but he was met with nothing. He had to find them! He would find them!

He didn't know it would take him years to eventually track down his daughter, but he eventually he would. Eventually he would bring his family together again. At last, all of the skywalkers would be together.