Saving You, Part 4, Star Wars AU, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Rated PG-13 (original) (raw)
Title: Saving You, Part 4
Author: 
my_ani
Fandom: Star Wars AU
Characters: Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Jamus, boy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: A little bad language.
Word Count: about 2750
Disclaimers: This is a work of fanfiction; Luke and Vader belong to Lucas.
Summary: Luke has been captured by Darth Vader and taken to his star destroyer.
Saving You, Part 4
The first thing the boy did was clamp his teeth down tightly on Luke’s hand. His real hand, not the mechanical one. Of course, that may have been a good thing since it took all the extra strength that mechanical hand had to detach the boy without losing a chunk of flesh. Luke gave a hard shove and the boy sat down firmly on the floor, rubbing his cheek and neck where Luke had dug in with his fingers to force the boy to let go.
Luke flexed his injured hand watching the boy as he spat out a particularly vile Corellian curse, his face flushed an unbecoming purplish red. Luke stared at him in amusement. “Is that the best you can do, kid?”
“Don’t you touch me again, you stinking rebel!”
“Looks like somebody forgot to teach you how to respect your elders.”
“You mean you! Are you crazy? You’re nothing but a booby prize.”
Luke squinted his eyes, pondering over the boy’s words, wondering how much he knew of Luke’s situation with Vader, and deciding it was very likely, given the boy’s knack for sneaking around and his apparent closeness with Jamus, that he knew more than Luke did. Luke sighed, deciding to take a different direction in his questioning than he’d intended.
“I thought Jamus said you weren’t to run the halls. I thought he said there would be consequences if you disobeyed this time.”
The boy frowned up and Luke and then pushed himself up off the floor. He took a half step back and sneered at Luke.
“What would you know of it?”
He lifted his chin defiantly, his eyes simmering with anger as he glared at Luke. Then a slow, crafty smile spread across his face.
“I go where I please on this ship. Unlike some people I know of. Unlike a certain scumball, nothing, rebel pilot. I don’t have to be watched. Though why they’d worry about you is beyond me.”
“Yeah, whatever kid.” He looking the boy up and down a moment. Was it even worth the trouble? He doubted it. Shaking his head at his own folly he walked around the boy and started back in the direction of his claustrophobic room. A confused look blossomed in the boy’s eyes as he watched.
“Hey…hey…you can’t just…”
He stood there glaring a moment more before jogging to catch up with Luke’s quick strides.
“Why, you’re nothing but a coward. Starting a fight and then running off.”
“I think I can find something better to do than listen to your whining, lying mouth, kid. Hell, almost anything would beat that.”
“Stop calling me kid. I know more than you.”
Luke smiled, remembering all the times Han had called him kid, especially when he said Luke didn’t know quite as much as he thought he did, Jedi Knight or not.
Luke reached the door to his room, entered and allowed the door to slide shut in the boy’s face and swiftly keyed the lock on the side. Stupid kid. He flung himself back on the bed and crossed his arms behind his head, one hand idly rubbing at the now hurting bite mark on the other.
There was a muffled thump against the door. Luke closed his eyes briefly. Was the brat actually kicking the door? Well, he could kick all he wanted, those things were reinforced and Luke doubted anything could breach it unless the boy had a lightsaber up his sleeve which Luke doubted very much since that would have been something for him to brag about. The boy could keep whatever information he had, he wasn’t worth the trouble.
Luke closed his eyes, taking deep, slow breaths, willing himself into a state of calmness so that he might touch the Force more fully. He’d gotten quite a lot better at this meditation thing. He was even beginning to think it might be possible to one day have the particular calmness that had encased Ben Kenobi. If only he still had his lightsaber so he could train again.
Luke felt himself drifting, his mind flitting here and there to memories. Aunt Beru with the morning sun glinting on her graying hair. Owen watching her with a rare smile on his weathered face. Leia, and the expression she’d had in her eyes when she’d first looked at Luke, really looked at him. Vader standing still and silent in front of the big viewport in his rooms, giving off an unexpected serenity that had lapped around the edges of Luke’s awareness and made him long for something he couldn‘t put a name to…
The bed jiggled a little and Luke’s mind flickered and he frowned at the loss of concentration, his memories tangling and slipping swiftly away from him. He sighed and opened his eyes, expecting to see the now familiar and hated room he’d spent too many days occupying. Instead…instead he saw what was beginning to be quite a large thorn in his side hovering barely a meter away.
The boy’s eyes were brown with a bit of amber color speckling through them and they were staring at Luke’s face intently and reminding Luke uncomfortably of his old friend Deak’s face as he watching a small gimpa bug crawl through the sand before squeezing it in his grimy fingers.
“How_…did…you…get…in…_here?”
With each word Luke felt his jaw muscles tighten. He’d locked the door. He distinctly remembered doing so. He was sure Vader and perhaps others had the code to unlock it but if it had been given to this stupid boy…well, even Luke had his limits and he would certainly tell Vader so and anybody else who would listen.
“You were meditating, weren’t you. Kind of like a trance. You didn’t even know I was here. He does that sometimes.”
Luke’s mind locked on the last confusing statement.
“He…who?”
“Who?”
The boy straightened up, frowning again.
“Huh?”
Luke felt his teeth grind together. “You said, he does that sometimes, and I want to know who you meant.”
“Oh. Lord Vader. He does that. Meditates with his eyes closed and doesn’t seem to know when I’m there.”
Luke stared at the boy. The implications of his words were just…just…_not_…believable. One thing stood out though and Luke had to have an answer for it even if he had to wring it out of the irritating hellion.
“How…exactly…do you know Lord Vader has his eyes closed when he…meditates?”
The boy looked at Luke like he was dense. “Well, I guess because they’re closed, dimwit.”
Luke had had enough. Beyond enough and had completely lost whatever calmness he’d hoped his own meditation would bring him. He jumped to his feet and grabbed the front of the boy’s thick shirt.
“Do you really expect me to believe that Vader had his helmet off and allowed you to just stand there watching him? What a little liar you are!” Luke gave the boy a good shake to emphasize his words.
The boy scrabbled at Luke’s hands. “What’s the matter with you? Are you crazy? Yeah, you must be. Maybe that’s why they guard you, they’re not protecting you, they’re watching you ‘cause you’re mental!”
Luke gave him another rough shake before letting him go.
“Well, if I’m crazy, kid, then you’re a lunatic. And I want to hear you admit it.”
“Admit what?” The boy placed his hands on his hips and thrust his face up at Luke.
“Admit that you were lying about Vader. What color are his eyes then if you’ve seen him without his mask?”
“I am not a liar and his eyes are blue.”
“You’re just saying that because my eyes are blue! Try again.”
“What’s it matter if your eyes are blue, what’s that got to do with his…”
The boy stopped, frowning, and backed up a step, suddenly looking unsettled and his eyes glazed over a moment as if he were suddenly seeing something far away. Then he shook his head from side to side, his face now pale instead of flushed. “You know…I really don’t like you. I think you’re just meaning to cause trouble for Lord Vader. You’re trying to trick me into something.”
Luke’s hands dropped to his sides and he took a sudden shaky breath. The door suddenly whisked open and one of Vader’s droids stalked into the room.
“Lord Vader wishes to inquire what all the noise is about and has warned that if it doesn’t cease immediately he will end it for you.” The metal face managed to give the impression of a disapproving scowl.
Luke massaged his eyes with his fingers. “Great. I guess I was “leaking” again.” He berated himself mentally for his lack of control.
The boy kicked Luke swiftly in his right shin. “See, you’re always causing trouble. Why don’t you go back to where you came from?”
Luke swore at the pain flaring in his leg and lunged for the boy who sprinted out the still open door. Luke connected with the tall, shiny droid instead and fought to keep them both from crashing to the floor. The droid stumbled backward and, with an odd, mechanical moan, clattered swiftly out the door.
Luke sighed and sat himself on the edge of the bed, awaiting the imperious summons he knew was sure to come.
*****
Luke glowered at his own face that was reflected in the glossy, high-shine of the back of his father’s helmet. The Dark Lord had left him cooling his heels while he conversed with a group of beings with a decidedly unsavory air. He cut his eyes to his left, eyeing a particularly nauseating fellow who drooled perpetually out of every orifice of his lumpy yellow face.
His heart was still beating a little too quickly for comfort. He had expected a summons from his father but had not expected to be marched by armed guards to the star destroyer’s command bridge. The fact that he had been did not bode well for him, he decided, or for Vader’s famous temper. His eyes flitted around the enormous bridge of the Executor. No one was looking at him, had not been looking at him at all, not even Piett, since he had arrived, and Luke wondered if Vader was doing something that was making Luke unnoticeable to the bridge command staff.
Finally, Vader’s…guests…filed away to get on an elevator and Luke found his eyes steadfastly riveted to a large smear of drool the yellow alien had dripped onto the shiny metal floor. A little voice in Luke’s head was frantically trying to remind him that he was a commander of the Alliance and therefore should not be standing there hanging his head like a first day Imperial cadet from some outer rim planet.
Luke sighed and had the sudden and unwelcome urge to be back at Tosche Station listening to Fixer’s bragging and Biggs‘ elaborate plans for his future. Raising his head he discovered his father standing quietly amid the bustle of the bridge crew and watching Luke out of his implacable metal mask. His eyes are blue. Luke swallowed, feeling…what? Alone? He had been alone before. One did not grow up on the outskirts of the Jundland Wastes without feeling a good deal of aloneness. Afraid? He searched his emotions. No…no…he no longer felt afraid of Vader, not exactly.
“I understand you have found a distraction from your boredom.”
Luke tilted his head in confusion at Vader‘s mild words. This was not the path he had expected his father to take with his questioning.
“Uh…I…suppose so. I don’t know if distraction is quite the right word since it implies something interesting and I would never call your young…friend…interesting. However, I can think of a few other words to describe him.”
“I do not think it in your best interests to continue to associate with him.”
Luke’s mouth dropped open, then snapped shut as his father walked past him, black cloak brushing against Luke’s legs. Apparently Vader considered the conversation ended. Luke whirled around, following the taller man as he strode across the bridge.
“Wait…you had me dragged all the up here to the bridge to tell me that?”
“I was not aware you were “dragged” here.”
“Well, I certainly wasn’t asked politely. And that…boy…came looking for me…entered my room without permission.”
“And assaulted you. Let’s not forget that part.”
The conversation was deteriorating. Even Luke could detect the dry humor in the mechanical voice. He took another deep breath. This would not do. He would not act the immature, reckless youth he knew he had once been labeled as.
“Father…”
Vader stopped suddenly and slowly turned and it was only then that Luke realized how he had addressed the Dark Lord. The name so familiar and so right that it was frightening. The universe seemed to stand still for a moment even as the bridge crew and officers still went on their merry way, attending to their many tasks and seemingly unaware of the two figures standing so still in their midst with one having exposed their intimate connection.
“Luke, it is for your own safety that I ask you to stay away from Trese.”
“I am quite capable of protecting myself from a young boy. Is that his name…Trese?”
“I would have thought you’d have learned that for yourself after all this time. And yes, Trese is the name he is called by here.”
Vader walked suddenly back to him and Luke fought against the urge to step back from the grim figure. His father had perfected the art of intimidation, after all.
“What is wrong with your hand?”
Luke stared at the mask blankly for a moment before glancing down at his left hand where a perfect ring of teeth marks had appeared in glorious red and blue coloring. The little bit of bleeding had dried and Luke had forgotten it.
“A battle wound.”
“It would appear so. Follow me.”
Turning, the Dark Lord stalked to the nearest bank of elevators. Luke closed his eyes briefly and then followed. The quick ride to the medical bay was silent until they reached their destination and the doors whispered open.
“This is unnecessary.”
“I think not.”
Vader watched impassively as Luke was treated and a patch of bacta slapped on his wound. Then he gestured to a guard who had come to stand by the door.
“Escort him back to his room.”
*****
“I guess you’re mad.”
Vader sighed to himself as he looked at the mournful expression on the young boy’s face.
“I am a little disappointed, Trese. I expect better of you.”
The boy stared down at his boots, scuffing the toe of one with the other, and the Dark Lord waited until the silence weighed heavily enough that the boy began to speak again.
“You won’t teach me how…how…to use the Force. Like you do. Like he does.”
“It is not your destiny to learn of its use from me.”
The boy looked up at the tall man, robed and helmeted in inky black.
“But someone will teach me?”
“Yes, Trese. When it is time.”
“What about him? What about Luke? You…protect him. Why?”
The Dark Lord hesitated. He knew the boy would know a lie. So he gave him a half-truth and hoped he would accept that and not ask any more.
“It is my…place…to protect Luke.”
The boy let the words simmer in his mind. If it were Vader’s place to protect Luke then there were very few answers that would fit with that. He thought of how Luke shone in the Force. And how familiar he had seemed the first time Trese had seen him. Familiar because he had reminded Trese of someone.
“He’s yours.”
The boy looked up at Vader, remembering when he’d seen the man unmasked. Remembering…_knowing_…what Vader had once been.
Vader sighed, the sound strange through the vocoder. “Yes, Trese, he’s my son.”
*****
Luke paced the confines of his room, it’s exact measures already long memorized, every flaw in its makeup noted. This could not go on. He could not be held here indefinitely. Time was going by quickly and here he was stashed away for his “protection” while Leia and the others fought and suffered. Did they believe him dead? Or worse, lost to the Dark Side and the Empire?
Luke finally stopped and clenched his hands. “No more. He will give me answers. I will know what he intends for me. I will decide my future.”