Chapter Text
His Father, Himself
Luke Skywalker heard the rasp of mechanical breathing a split second before he saw Darth Vader who just seemed to appear out of literally nowhere, and as such was able to duck a split-second before Vader's light saber would've cut off his head. He activated his father's light saber and the fight quickly resumed. Luke tried to remember everything he'd learned from Yoda, tried not to give into fear or hatred, to keep his mind cleared to focus on what he had to do, but too many little things kept slipping past his shields and distracting him as he tried to solely focus on not being killed here and now like Ben was on the Death Star.
"Luke, it's a trap!"
Of course it was a trap, he knew that, he should've known it. Yoda told him not to come. If Yoda could've promised him that Leia and Han wouldn't be killed if he didn't come, he wouldn't have, he would've stayed on Dagobah and finished his training. But he couldn't, he couldn't take that chance, he couldn't risk his friends getting killed because he wasn't there to help them. Ben had warned him this was a dangerous time for him, that he would be tempted by the dark side. Right now he didn't see how that could even be a possibility when the only two things on his mind were staying alive, and rescuing his friends. If he failed now they would die and it would be his fault.
Wasn't it his fault anyway? His fault they were already in this mess now? But that couldn't be true, they hadn't come to Cloud City because of him. He didn't know why or how they'd decided to get here, but they couldn't possibly have thought he'd be there, he didn't know anything about the place until now. But it didn't matter, somehow Vader knew that they'd be here, that was why they were in danger. It hardly seemed to matter now whose fault it was, it was up to Luke to save them now.
Around all these thoughts swirling in his mind, Luke anxiously became aware of the fact he was being forced further back along the gantry over the reactor shaft. Their light sabers made contact with the metal railing, causing a shower of explosive sparks, and then he fell back, and Vader stood over him, and he saw the red laser aimed at him, drawing nearer.
"You are beaten," Vader told him, "it is useless to resist. Don't let yourself be destroyed as Obi-Wan did."
Luke scooted back along the floor, feeling himself shake, from what he wasn't sure, fear, that he'd lost and was about to die, anger at himself for failing Han and Leia, rage, that Vader would dare mention Ben when he was the one responsible for destroying him. Hardly even thinking, he raised his light saber and deflected Vader's, just long enough for him to move and get to his feet again. Sparks flew as the blade made contact with the area where he'd just been lying, and suddenly Vader was right in front of him again, Luke had just raised his light saber when Vader's clashed against it, Vader drew his back and hit the side of the railing, more sparks. Luke ducked and took the opportunity to hit Vader in the arm with his blade. The dark lord groaned in pain for a second but recovered and followed Luke. His light saber cut through a huge instrument complex Luke had stepped behind, and as it fell, Vader took one particularly lunging step towards Luke, who'd used his saber to block against the blow that didn't come. Instead he felt an intense pain as a durasteel foot kicked his own out from under him, throwing him off balance and he collapsed on the gantry. While he was temporarily distracted by the pain and the fall, to Luke's immense horror, for the second time during the fight, he felt his light saber fly out of his hand and into Vader's, who deactivated it but held his own on the persistent young Jedi.
"There is no escape, don't make me destroy you," Vader threatened.
Luke found himself at the end of the main gantry but found it segued into a very narrow platform just large enough for him to crawl along on his hands and knees, which he did to put as much distance between himself and Vader as he could as the dark lord continued talking.
"Luke, you do not yet realize your importance. You've only begun to discover your power, join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy."
Luke felt a newfound sense of terror as he turned around to pull himself up at the end of the platform, Vader said that like he really believed it. Was this the temptation Ben had warned him about? It was almost too hysterical to even be possible. He'd feel like laughing if he wasn't paralyzed with fear.
"I'll never join you!" he yelled back as he clung to the pipes to keep from falling.
"If you only knew the power of the dark side," Vader told him. "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."
"He told me enough!" Luke venomously spat at the dark lord, "He told me you killed him!"
"No," Vader responded with an oddly calm resolve, "I am your father."
Luke's eyes widened and an automatic urge to scream welled up in his throat, which felt like it was drawing itself tight as the sheer horror and terror of this revelation filled him. He remembered that vision he'd had in the cave on Dagobah, fighting with Vader, cutting his head off, and it was his own head staring back at him from inside the helmet.
"No! No! That's not true!" It couldn't be, it was too horrible to be true. "That's impossible!"
"Search your feelings, you know it to be true."
"NO! NOOOOO!" It wasn't true, it couldn't be true. Luke shook his head almost deliriously as he tried to figure out what was going on.
Darth Vader stood where he was, with no apparent intention of moving from that spot. Very calmly, he addressed the young commander and pointed out, "Why would I lie?"
That was the most terrifying part of all, Luke's mind was scrambling a thousand miles a parsec, but the fact was he couldn't think of any reason why Vader would lie about that. They'd all seen his work, he destroyed, up front, direct, he didn't play mind games. There was no reason for him to lie, he had nothing to gain by it.
"Noooooo..." Luke tightened his grip on the pipes because it felt like the ground was falling away from under him. How could this be true? But if it was, that meant...Ben had lied to him. And why would Ben lie? Had anybody told him the truth since he got involved in this mess?
"Luke."
Vader's voice drew him out of the burning questions in his mind, reluctantly he looked at the man in black armor.
"You can destroy the Emperor, he has foreseen this, it is your destiny. Join me and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son."
This was all too horrible for him to even comprehend. His father was Anakin Skywalker, a brave and noble Jedi, who'd died years ago, killed by Vader...that was what he'd learned, that was what he'd accepted years ago. How could this be true now? It was a fate worse than...
That was it.
Luke looked down at the seemingly bottomless reactor shaft. That was it. This was the only way he could redeem himself. He wouldn't join Darth Vader, and he couldn't live with himself knowing his true parentage. His quest to save his friends was long forgotten, he'd already failed them by being the son of this monster. He knew they'd never forgive him for being the son of Darth Vader, he didn't deserve it either, he just hoped with him dead they'd be alright, Vader would have no reason to hold them prisoner after this since it had all been to draw him out. With one final look down, Luke let go of the pipes and jumped, resigning himself to his fate that he would soon be splattered all over the bottom of the shaft floor.
Nothing happened.
He looked down, his feet were still on the end of the platform, he hadn't moved. His legs felt like they were weighted down, his feet felt like they'd been welded to the floor. He tried again, his body wouldn't budge an inch. With a loud and terrified gasp, he looked, he was able to move his upper body, and saw Vader slowly crossing the platform towards him.
Luke stood there frozen, unable to do anything but shake his head and moan in dread and terror, as this unspeakable horror, his father, marched towards him, murmuring, almost whimpering, "No...no...noooo..."
Vader towered over him and the mechanized sound of his breathing was deafening. Luke fully expected to die then and there, slowly, painfully...
Vader raised his black gloved hands in front of Luke, and he thought he heard something, but he wasn't sure. Suddenly, even though his feet wouldn't move, his legs felt wobbly and wouldn't support him, and his body collapsed against Vader as he suddenly found himself unable to stay awake. His eyes closed like they had weights attached to them, and suddenly everything was black.
Luke felt his whole body shaking, he was freezing, absolutely freezing inside and out, this was worse than being on Hoth. He felt the floor under him, it was about the only thing he could feel, his body felt completely boneless. He tried to push himself up to his hands and knees and just barely made it, he didn't even have that much strength now. Every single part of his body was killing him, this was a pain he'd never known the likes of before and it felt like it invaded every single one of his cells.
As bad as all that was, the real horror came a few seconds later when he blinked, and did it again, and again, and realized everything was pitch black, he couldn't see!
A garbled scream escaped his throat as he tried to form the words that were screaming in his head. What had Vader done to him?
"Luke..."
The voice was suddenly just there, along with the mechanical breathing, he just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Luke tried to be defiant in spite of his current condition, and knew he'd failed, as he weakly demanded to know, the fear shining right through as his voice cracked, "I can't see! What did you do to me you monster?"
"Calm yourself," the voice was methodical as Vader told him, "you were carbon frozen, you have hibernation sickness."
Luke shook his head, the pain in his body made him want to fold up into himself and throw up. "I can't see!"
"A mere side effect, your eyesight will return in time."
The carbon freezing must've affected Luke's hearing too, as terrified as he was by his present circumstances he couldn't help feeling a strange sensation of almost being soothed by that voice and its emotionless assurances.
That sensation however quickly went out the window when a few seconds later Luke felt something wrap around him and felt himself being pulled back from the floor. He felt his back press into Vader's armored chest and a strangled, broken set of sounds resembling a scream escaped his mouth, and would've sounded funny under any other circumstances, but in that moment he was more terrified than he'd ever been, blind, defenseless, in agony, and absolutely no idea what the dark lord had in mind for him.
"Stop struggling," that booming voice sounded slightly annoyed now.
Luke heard a bunch of sounds coming out of him that he couldn't even figure out what they were, he wanted to scream but it broke up and came out as whimpers and grunts and dry sobs as he struggled as best as he could, all to no avail, to get loose from Vader's grip.
He felt one of the strong gloved hands unwrap itself from his chest and instead felt the fingers lightly press against the side of his neck. Something surged through him that felt half like the vibrations from Vader's voice, commanding him to do something, and the other half felt like a small electric shock. Whatever it was, Luke suddenly felt his body go limp and felt his head drop against the floor, he had no more energy, and somehow the pitch black just became blacker as he felt his eyes close against his will.