Archive of Our Own ^beta

To feel his son reach for him in their bond out of nowhere, after having been trying to ignore it for weeks, was surprising. To feel his usual warm and light presence clearly dampened even more so. But the way he frantically asked to meet him was intriguing… and though he hated to admit it… concerning.

He had accepted, of course, because he would not let an opportunity to catch his son escape him like that. And despite his usual paranoia he doubted it could be a trap, coming from the boy… he didn’t seem prone to deception, and after realizing that he had been lied to so blatantly by Obi-Wan it seemed probable he had grown to dislike it even more.

It wasn’t long until he felt his son’s presence approaching, although again the boy seemed oddly… subdued. As if he was trying to hide himself, despite having come voluntarily. If they did not have that Force bond between them already in place, he doubted he would have felt him at all. Even the way he was dressed with a cape that covered his face with a hood seemed to scream of wanting to remain unseen.

“Father…?” Luke called him, strangely shily.

“Son” he responded, feeling far too pleased to finally hear that title from him. It seemed he really had accepted their connection, but more than that… “Since you were the one to request our meeting, have you finally accepted that your destiny lies with me?”

“I…” he looked down, and Vader could feel a deep shame coming off of him. He seemed unsure if he should approach further, beginning to motion towards him before stopping a couple of times.

Vader frowned behind his mask, beginning to feel more anxious than intrigued by his son’s reluctance. He had expected Luke to be at least a bit hesitant, despite having been the one to call him, since his previous… refusal had been so strong. His foolish son had let go of the gantry instead of taking his hand on Bespin, and the rejection still infuriated him… and still hurt, much as he would like to ignore that. That his own son would rather choose death than joining him… how could he disregard his life like that? Did the boy not know his own value? What Vader would do, what he had already done, for him? He would make him understand, one way or another… he refused to lose the boy again, in any way.

Still… it was strange. It didn’t feel like Luke was afraid for his life now either, not even his soul since turning to the Dark side had seemed to be so abhorrent to him. No. This felt different than that, somehow…. It felt like he was afraid of… himself?

Finally Luke seemed to gather his determination and stepped up to him, taking his hood off. What it revealed seemed so preposterous that it made Vader take his chin in his hand, forcing him to look directly at him.

“What happened?” he asked, although with his tone it was more like a demand.

“I didn’t know what else to do, where else to go, I… I could only think of you…” his son began to babble.

“What. Happened?” he repeated, making Luke flinch at the slight anger in his voice.

Even through the red tint of his mask he could notice that Luke’s eyes weren’t blue anymore. They had the yellow and red hues of the Dark side, and now that he had revealed that it seemed the boy had also relaxed his shields, and now that he knew what to look for Vader could tell that Luke’s presence in the Force was also swamped with it.

Somehow, his son had Fallen. And with how steadfast he had been in his refusal to use the Dark side before this, he knew whatever had made him do it would be no trivial matter.

This was not how it was supposed to go. He had wanted his son to fall to the Dark side yes, but he should have been there too…. To finally take him underwing, at last. To make sure Luke would pledge himself to his father, be loyal only to him as he always should have been.

He should not have to have suffered alone….

“I was… I was on a mission, with Leia…” Luke began “It… it wasn’t going well. We got captured by some… some low lifes that wanted to sell us off for the bounty, I guess. They started… they started torturing us…. I managed to endure it fine when it was me, but when they went for Leia I just… I lost it…”

Vader had known that his son’s feelings for his friends were very strong, he had used it against him by setting up his trap in Bespin after all, but he had not expected it would lead to Luke tapping into the Dark side. Although he did seem very close to the princess, she had seemed more interested in the smuggler than the boy… but Vader supposed that wouldn’t matter to his son’s own feelings for her.

“I killed them all. And not… not for any righouts reason, I did it just because they had hurt the both of us and I wanted to make them pay. They needed to pay. It was brutal, it was… it was a bloodbath. I… I think I even enjoyed it…” the guilt he exuded at that admission was almost crushing the boy “And… and by the time I got ahold of myself I knew that I… that I had used the Dark side for it, that I had turned…. I saw my eyes and I knew I had gone too far… ”

Luke bit his lip, looking at Vader with those corrupted eyes, that despite their unnatural colour were full of sadness… like he was close to tears and barely holding them in. Memories of The Jedi came to Vader’s mind uninvited: lamenting having slaughtered those animals that killed his mother because he should be better than that, killing Count Dooku and instantly knowing it was wrong, cutting Mace Windu’s hand and being stunned wondering what he had done, submitting to his masters teachings because he saw no other way to save her, crying after massacring all the Separatist council…. His son looked just like him at those moments of misery, knowing that what had been done was wrong but that there was no way back, no way to change what had just happened… just the feeling of being full of regret and sorrow at his own actions….

“I realized that I couldn't stay with them like this, I couldn’t stay with the Alliance. They would take a look at me and they would know, they would know that I have Fallen. They might even… I don’t know, they might even guess who you are to me if they make the connection now that I’m… like this…” Luke continued, looking up at his father full of anguish and… something else… something familiar… “I dont… I don’t belong there anymore. I had… I had nowhere else to go… but… to you…”

Suddenly Vader recognized what that something was: it was need. A very raw and painful need for someone, anyone, that could understand, that could forgive what he had done… who would look at those gold eyes and not look away in disgust. The need for acceptance of someone who thought himself a monster.

Vader couldn’t contain how pleased he was. It seemed his son had known instinctively who to seek once he had found himself lost in the dark, he had known who would welcome him with open arms when everyone else would have rejected or loathed him. Someone who would accept him, trust him, want him….

“Of course you came to me, my child…. You will always have a place by my side, Luke…” he reassured him, cupping his face with his hands and relishing the way his son leaned into the touch like he had been yearning for it all his life, the way his presence in the Force seemed to reach for his just as he had been trying to do to his since their bond had set into place “My son… you will always belong with me, you always have… it’s your destiny, you merely have to accept it…”

“Father, I… I…” Vader could feel that Luke still resisted the pull he clearly felt towards him, just barely. Even though he was unmoored, desperate for something to cling to, he was still… scared. His child should not fear anything, he had no reason to anymore, everything would be perfect from now on….

“You do not need to be afraid, son…” he reassured him “Now that you understand the true power of the Dark Side, now that you have finally come to me, together we will be invincible…”

“Yes. Yes, I know, I can… I can feel it too, that together we could be… we are much more. I want to… I want to be with you, father, but…” he was close, he was so close. But something was holding him from completely giving in, something that still made him hesitate to join him “Just… just please don’t make me fight my friends. Anything but that. Please…?”

Vader gave a thoughtful nod. So that was it, his son was afraid that once he joined his father he would be forced to destroy the very friends he had fallen to protect. He could understand that… after all, he himself had turned with only the goal of saving those he had cared for… and after losing them all he had felt… empty. But he wasn’t anymore, not now that Luke was here. His son, finally in his grasp….

“Luke, I will never force you to do anything of the like” he declared, as he caressed his temple as gently as he could manage with his mechanical limbs “I will not hurt you. I will never hurt you, my son…”

He could not bring himself to inflict anymore pain onto his child. He hadn't wanted to in the first place, their duel at Bespin had gotten far too out of control by the end and he had lost his temper, maiming his son for life. He regretted it, especially when that action may have been one of the reasons his son had rejected his offer back then. And while nothing could be done about that, he would not risk anything that would make the boy hate him.

“You won't…?” Luke asked, tilting his head slightly with confusion “But I thought… that you only wanted me for my power, so we could crush the rebellion and dethrone the Emperor and all of that, why would you… why would you care about my wellbeing…?”

Luke’s lack of faith should not be surprising, but it… hurt nonetheless. The truth was that he… cared about what Luke thought of him. He didn’t want his son to fear him, or resent him… he couldn’t bear it. He wanted him to feel safe in his presence, to be loyal to him, to know that they would never betray each other….

“You are my child” he simply said as he pet Luke’s hair, the boy relaxing at the gesture “I want us to be together. I want us to be father and son. I want us to rule together. I want you to be with me as you should have always been. I want to teach you, I want to spend time with you, I want to know you. To put it more simply… I want you…”

He knew it was… unbecoming of a proper Sith to be so sentimental, but he had never been one to follow tradition, even as The Jedi. Back then he would not have been allowed to feel so attached to his son either, but Vader would not be restrained as he had once been. The boy was his, everything that had been of The Jedi was his now, and his son was… hers as well. He was living proof of the love they had once shared, that it had been real, that she had mattered… and she had left someone so precious and important as Luke behind.

His son was the only person that mattered anymore, the only one Vader could call his own… the only one who might… might feel the same way about him too. He just hoped the boy could feel how much he needed him to stay.

Luke stared at him for a few moments, seemingly awestruck by his declaration. And by his touch too it seemed, since he let him keep doing it, despite how unrefined it must be. Vader had not had to be delicate in many years and his limbs were not made for it… he was sure that metal and leather were not a true substitute for a father’s hand. Hesitantly, Luke raised his own hands and grabbed his father's wrists, and for a moment Vader thought he would try to shake him off, but instead he just held them tightly, as he looked at him pleadingly.

“Do you truly mean that…?” he asked, his voice sounding almost broken with a deep and old longing… the longing of a child that had thought himself unwanted or abandoned in a desertic planet that he loathed, and had looked up to the stars hoping against all reason for his father to come for him, and that had never gotten his wish. Vader could sense that image was a memory his son was broadcasting without even meaning to, that their presences in the Force were getting so close and their bond so deep and open that they were beginning to intertwine.

Instead of responding with his words he decided to do it with the Force, letting his son sense his own longing to the fullest. That he had mourned him when he thought he died with his mother, the years of loneliness and emptiness that he had endured because he thought his family was dead, his own bottomless desire to have him by his side when he found that his son lived, that he had a son! A son, so powerful and perfect, yet ignorant of their connection. How Vader’s blood had boiled when he saw his only child offering his loyalties to those undeserving of him, to Obi-Wan and the Rebellion, to the people that had stolen him from his family. When Luke should have always been with him.

“You are mine. My son. Mine. Mine” he sent without even realizing, unable to hold back his need to claim him now that he was so close.

“...yours?” Luke’s own presence seemed to ask, his only recently darkened presence feeling out Vader’s own cold one and approaching further, instead of recoiling as it used to.

“Yes. Mine”

“...are you mine too?” he asked, almost… curious, but also avid. As if this was a concept he had never contemplated before, but now that he had he was ravenous. Like giving into the Dark side had unlocked some deep hunger that he had been ignoring till now, a desire to have his father by his side just as powerful as his own to have his son by his.

“Yes”he answered without hesitation. There was no one else that truly deserved his allegiance when his son existed. When Luke was all that was left of her, the only person he had truly devoted himself to completely, the only one he had sacrificed everything for. For her and their child. He had been his son’s too, from the moment he had learnt he would exist “Yours. Your father, my son. It's your destiny”

“My father” he repeated, almost mesmerized “Your son, my father… yes, you are mine too. Mine” he grabbed unto Vader’s presence, like he was finally taking the hand that Vader had extended to him back in Bespin.

When they got back to themselves Luke took one last look at his father before he closed the space between them, hugging him tightly. He was grabbing hold of the cape with one hand while the other was encircling him as he nuzzled into Vader’s side, leaning his head on his chest. He briefly wondered if Luke was searching for the sound of his heart under all the machinery and the respirator, if he wanted to hear proof that it existed now that he had taken his rightful place in it. He enveloped him in his arms just as tightly, or as much as he dared to without causing him harm due to his mechanical limbs, and was rewarded with a pleased hum from his son.

“Father… oh, father, you don't know how much I longed for this… for us…” he admitted, feeling so utterly relieved, and surprisingly comfortable against the harsh surfaces of the suit.

“I am certain that I can imagine, Luke…” he replied, relishing in the feeling of fulfillment he was experiencing. He had paid a high price for this moment… he had spilled oceans of blood to be able to keep his wife and child safe, and now finally he was holding his child in his arms. Luke, who was appreciating his touch instead of flinching from it, his son showing him so much affection….

How he wished he could feel his son’s touch directly, instead of through all the layers of armour and leather… but this would have to do. It was still better than nothing, better than what he had in years, in decades. He wished he could see his son with his own eyes… but he would have to take Luke to his hyperbaric chamber and take his mask off for that….

“We could do that, I want to see you too…” Luke suddenly said, and Vader realized they were so linked at that moment that his son had heard him.

He did want to see his son without the infernal red tint, but… but that would mean his son would see him too… he would see the poor miserable creature that truly lived under the mask….

“I… am not sure you would like what you see, Luke…” he tried to argue, but Luke frowned, resting his cheek on his father’s chest as he looked up at him, meeting his eyes oddly accurately.

“I don’t care what you look like under that, you are my father either way” he declared “I want to see you… and I would like… I would like to be able to really touch you too” he raised a hand up to touch the side of his helmet, as if he would also pet his hair back if he could, just as his mother so often used to do… “I heard you are more machine now than man, but you aren’t entirely gone…”

“I am not sure you know what you are asking for…” he sighed, or as close to it as he could. The machinery that kept him alive didn’t give him much room for it, and it also didn’t let him dream of being able to truly share any skin contact. Besides taking off his mask, the only other possibility would just be when the entire suit was removed when he went into a Bacta tank, but that… surely that would be too much….

“I wouldn’t mind that…” Luke commented out loud, but then seemed to suddenly feel guilty “Unless… it would make you feel uncomfortable? I guess it would be… showing far too much vulnerability…”

It would be. If it was any other person in the galaxy he would not even contemplate it for a second, but for Luke…. For his son, who seemed to genuinely want to feel his father’s touch, who wanted to… who wanted to show him affection, just the way he was now….

“...we shall see” he decided to settle on, and Luke seemed satisfied with that response. He nuzzled into his side again, taking one of Vader’s hands and placing it back in his hair, a clear request for more pets that Vader was more than happy to concede.

“I will stay with you, father. I want to stay with you… I won’t leave you…” his son was mumbling, as if he was getting drunk on the potency of their bond, and Vader honestly couldn’t blame him because he felt quite lost in it as well, indulging in his son’s open neediness and affection that he had been craving for years “You won’t ever abandon me either, will you…?”

His son’s question had come with a small whine, the old ache of feeling unwanted during his childhood still clinging. How he resented that they had been kept apart all these years.

“I’ll never let you go, my son” he promised, clenching a hand on his son’s back while the other continued his distracted petting. He meant it with absolute certainty. Now that he knew what his son’s loyalty… and what his son’s love felt like… he would give everything to keep them. He was surprised he had managed to live so long without them. He would never let this end now that he had tasted it, now that he knew how right the kinship between them felt, how unconditional his son’s love was now that it had been freely given. It would always be his.

Luke hadn’t known what would happen to him once he joined Vader’s side. But it hadn't been… this.

He had his own rooms in the Executor. And not just a special prison cell or a repurposed side room, no, these were personalized quarters right next to his fathers, and probably just as huge.

“Did you have all these prepared already?” he asked his father, after gawking at the rooms for a while.

“From the moment I learnt of your existence, I have prepared for you to join me” he answered.

“I… see…” he felt a bit self conscious, having these enormous rooms just for himself, knowing his father had prepared them specially for him. Because he had been that convinced he would eventually join him, apparently.

Well…. he hadn't been wrong, in the end. When Luke realized he had turned one of his first thoughts had been to run to his father, feeling like a lost child scared of the dark. He had been afraid, both of and for himself. Of what he now knew he was capable of, having succumbed to the temptation of the Dark side. Of what would happen to him as he put himself in Darth Vader's hands.

Luke hadn't known exactly what to expect when he had surrendered himself to his father. Probably just to be made into a tool for power, if he was being pessimistic about it. To be used against the Rebel Alliance, if he was being completely pessimistic about it. To lose whatever was left of his soul after Falling, maybe even be marched right off to the Emperor and made to serve him as both his Jedi masters had tried to warn him about.

…but a part of him… had hoped that his father’s offer had held more than just the pursuit of power. Vader had said that if he joined him they would rule the galaxy as father and son. As father and son… that distinctive detail kept resonating in his head when he had been debating what to do with himself, once he realized what had happened to make his eyes change colour. He had felt so lost… as if he was indeed falling, like an acrobat suddenly knowing there was no security net for their act, that he would splatter to the ground with nothing to stop him… and then realized that there was someone there ready to catch him.

His father had sounded quite power hungry when he had reached for him before, during his many calls to join him. Offers to commit regicide together certainly made it sound like all he wanted was help to get the throne. But… Luke had always suspected something else was there, something his father tried to keep hidden in that offer, something that sounded far more like… desperation. The desperate calling of a desolate man for his only family to come back to him. That, more than anything else, was what had convinced him to reach back when he found himself in a critical point.

He didn’t have much else to lose if he was wrong, so he had decided to reunite with his father and hope that he wasn’t throwing himself to the wolves. Hope that whatever good he had felt still remained in his father was enough to take mercy on his son, once he was in his grasp.

Luke had certainly gotten more than he had bargained for. His father hadn’t just wanted a tool or an apprentice, he had wanted him, specifically. He wanted his son, his father had claimed with a fierceness that he thought only he himself tended to have… he wanted to be family. To be gathered into his father’s arms, surrounded by his father’s presence, treasured as if he was the most important person in the galaxy… had felt so… gratifying. Like the little boy that had grown up looking at the stars and hopelessly expecting to be claimed by his father finally got his wish.

It turned out that Falling hadn't been quite as terrifying as he thought, once he was by his father’s side. He had come to his father completely miserable, knowing that no one would look at him the same now if they knew what had happened, knowing that everyone thought there was no way back from the Dark side….

He had cried for far longer than he’d like to admit, feeling forsaken and forlorn, before calling on his last resort. His father, who had just… immediately accepted him, comforted him, held him in his arms as he petted his hair and whispered words in their bond that Luke could tell were underlined with everlasting love…. He had done pretty much the same, truth be told… once he had stopped resisting all he wanted to do was to let his father pamper him while promising to always stay with him in return. It was kind of embarrassing to realize how in sync they were, once they had let their barriers drop. Maybe it really was his destiny all along, maybe it had always laid with his father, because he felt like there was nowhere he’d rather be.

He still felt his father’s possessive hold on him in the Force, just as he was finding himself unable to let him loose either. Luke hadn’t thought it would feel so… right, so natural, for them both to do that… but he didn’t want to let go. If he listened closely he was sure he would hear the whispers of both their inner voices constantly claiming Mine Mine.

“Do you… like them?” his father asked, taking Luke out of his thoughts and back to the present.

“The rooms?” he guessed “Yeah, they are very… very impressive. And… well… I can tell you put a lot of thought into them…”

That was another thing. He had thought his father didn’t really… care about him as a person, really. He had hoped he did, deep down… that his father wanted to know him, that he would appreciate him as he was, and not just mold him to be what he wanted. But… well, it had seemed unlikely to say the least, considering that his father was practically the personification of all he had detested: the Dark side, the Empire, the senseless slaughter and cruelty that plagued the Galaxy…. Darth Vader was a monster to everyone’s eyes, Luke had hated him for years thinking he had killed his father and had known exactly how seeing him as a symbol of everything wrong with the world was. How could someone like that ever want anything but an obedient tool rather than a son?

But these rooms….

The size of them and the huge viewport to space outside was already impressive, and just what he would have liked in any room, and all the mobiliary was obviously of high quality. But rather than all of that, what had caught Luke’s attention were some small things left here and there, some trinkets that any pilot would love… like some actual ship parts and even some ship models, both complete and still in the box ready to be put together. And he, poster boy of the Rebel Alliance for destroying the Death Star on his first space flight, was known first and foremost for his piloting….

Somehow, Luke couldn’t help but think of expecting parents who prepared a nursery for their incoming child, filling them with toys they hoped they liked. It made him wonder… had… his father ever had the chance to prepare a room for him… before…?

“...your mother wanted to… set up your nursery…” Vader suddenly said, probably having catched that thought since Luke was not really hiding much of himself at the moment. His voice, despite having still passed through layers of machinery, had sounded incredibly soft.

“My mother…” he repeated, feeling his curiosity reel up. He wanted to know... he had always wanted to know about his mother… it just had been impossible to find out anything when his guardians didn’t have any answers. In the end he had latched onto the idea of his father instead since at least he had something of him, some vague idea of a great pilot. He didn’t have anything for his mother. But now that his father was here….

“...I will tell you more about her… eventually, my son” the older man said, his presence radiating… sorrow. A very old, yet still very palpable pain, at the mere thought of her.

He really must have loved her for the pain to still be this raw, right…? Surely he would not feel this way if Luke’s mother wasn’t still an important person to him…. Luke hadn’t known if he had been an accident, but he had always feared he was. But the way his father wanted him so insistently, the way he spoke of the woman that had been his mother… told him that he wasn’t an accident.That he had been a child of love….

“...I understand. I will wait, I've already waited this long…” he easily acquired. It had already been a pretty emotional day after all, he could wait to find out more about his mother until he got used to the idea that his father truly wanted him “But… could I… could I know her name, at least…?”

It seemed that little request also made his father ache. A brief image of a petite brown haired woman passed through his father’s mind, so fast that if Luke had not been so attentive at the moment he might have missed it, but he was glad he didn’t. She was in a meadow, with a beautiful yellow dress decorated with flower embroidery, and laughing at something his father must have said. His mother… it had to be….

“...her name was Padmé” Vader finally said, after what seemed like an eternity, every word said as if he was pulling them from his heart with pliers “She was… she was my wife, she was… all I lived for. I… I loved her from the very depths of my being, with all that I was… I always will…”

Luke could tell that his father meant that completely and utterly sincerely. That was something he had quickly realized about his father now that he could really take a good look at him and the way he felt through their open bond: in his own way, he was extremely straightforward. After all the lies Luke had been given that had ended up shattering his world once the truth was revealed at Bespin, he really appreciated that about him.

Luke was finding that his father was also very… uncompromising. When he had said earlier that day that he was his son, that he was his and they belonged together, he had meant that the same way. He had meant that with the certaintanty that one would say fire is hot, like it was an unmovable truth of the universe, a foregone conclusion. His fathers love was relentless, once given it would not be taken away… it would be eternal and inexorable. His father had loved his mother, and still loved her… and he had loved him too, probably from before Luke had even been born. And he hadn’t stopped since… despite his seeming death.

His father’s apparent death hadn’t stopped Luke from loving him either, so he could understand that part far too well. It was as if the both of them had kept a space in their heart for the other, despite thinking it would be hollow forever. But now that they were both here, both alive, and both of them tainted by Darkness… they had latched onto each other, both unwilling to ever let go of the other, their love and fealty unlimited.

Luke sensed that his father also… wished to be reciprocated, for all his dedication. There was a tinge of franticness in the way he loved, the way it was so unrelenting and obstinate… like he expected that if he showed the depths of his devotion constantly, if he loved so adamantly, then he would surely receive the same kind of undying love and loyalty back.

Luke was starting to realize that his father had offered him the galaxy like he would offer a sacrifice at an altar, like deep down his soul had been praying love me, love me, love me, until Luke answered it. Perhaps Vader thought that he was so entrenched in the Dark that there was nothing else he could offer but ultimate power, that he could not conceive Luke would want anything else for him. He was entirely wrong on that conclusion, of course.

Honestly now that he had finally Fallen to the Dark side he did see the appeal of the power he had been offered, it was very… tempting, to finally make things how he wanted them instead of constantly having to fight tooth and nail for them. But even more tempting was just the simple idea of being with his father. Of not having to resist the pull he felt towards his only family, to follow it until finally being able to embrace him, to feel like he belonged as he did at his father’s side….

He had been resisting it from the moment the truth of his parentage had settled as reality, when his father had first called him using their bond and he had responded automatically. There had been many reasons why he stayed away, chief among them that he didn’t want to turn, but he could not deny to himself that he had felt drawn towards his father and that he had wanted to know him… but even then he had realized, if he gave in, he would never get himself back. It seemed that stubbornness and fierce loyalty were very distinct Skywalker traits, and he somehow instinctively knew that once he and his father joined, on either side of the Force that they did it in, they would never be apart again. He had hoped it would be on the Light side, that he would save his father from a dark destiny, but… this wasn’t so bad. This wasn’t bad at all.

He suspected that neither he nor his father were lost that deep into the Dark side to have stopped feeling love altogether, because the way he felt about his father was clear to him now… and his father felt very similarly, under all the possession, even if he wouldn’t vocalize it. Come to think of it, he hadn’t either… perhaps it was time to correct that.

“Father…” he smiled as he approached him, opening his arms welcomingly “I don't know if you will chastise me for feeling a sentiment so contrary to my current allegiance… but from what I can tell I think you know that trying to convince a Skywalker not to follow their heart would be foolish. So I want to tell you that I… I love you… I loved you ever since I was a child, since I learnt what a father was and I dreamed of how mine must have been, and I love you now that I have you before me. Perhaps more, now that I actually know you. Now that I understand that we were meant to be together. I will always love you…”

His father didn’t respond with words, but he did easily accept the hug, enveloping him in his own presence in the Force once more as well, the cold it emitted no longer that alarming now that his own was similarly tempered. The armour should have made it uncomfortable, but instead Luke felt like he fit right in, like he was alway meant to be there. It just felt so safe, like nothing in the world would ever harm him as long as he just stayed.

The loud noises of the respirator and all the other machinery didn’t really bother him either, or the knowledge that the hands that were showing him so much care were so thoroughly bloodstained, or how much anyone else would judge him for that… nothing could keep him away from this, from his father, nothing. Not anymore.

“I won’t let anything get between us either, Luke…” his father said, his presence surrounding him with protectiveness, covering him like a heavy blanket “No one will take you from me… especially not the Emperor, we shall destroy him. He will pay for making me believe… for making me believe I had a part in your death. For trying to make me kill you once he learnt of your existence, and then just wanting to take you for himself… he has no right to you” he put a hand to Luke’s temple, making him raise his head to look directly at him, his words full of obstinate determination “He will never have you. I promise you that”

“I believe you, father…” he easily accepted, feeling a bit too content with his father’s conviction to keep him and be rid of his master “He will not control you anymore either, once we kill him… you will never have to bend to his will…”

Luke was surprised to find how much he loathed the Emperor, once he realized how his father was so bound to him. The idea that his father, who had left Tatooine after earning his freedom, had been practically enslaved again…. The Emperor had taken his father from him, he had taken Anakin Skywaker and twisted him by making him a Sith, and then chained him to his service. And that such a despicable man had wanted to do the same to him….

“Neither will you, Luke. You are my son, and you shall never bow down to him or anyone…” the dark lord insisted.

“I wasn’t precisely planning to, father” he arched an eyebrow “I joined you in your quest to defeat him so we can rule as father and son, remember?”

“Nevertheless, you should be wary of him… he would break all we have, all that binds us together…” his father cautioned, a strange dread in his tone, like he feared even giving voice to the possibility “If he learnt of your change of allegiances he would surely try to create a drift between us… to make us betray and fight each other…”

“That will never happen. I will never go against you anymore. Not after we finally connected like this, I will not give this up for anything in the galaxy…” he tried to reassure his father, even using his left hand to rub his upper arm, pretty sure it was still flesh underneath “I won’t leave you, I promise…”

Vader looked at him contemplatively, like he was trying to memorize him saying those words. Like he knew he would need to remind himself of them often.

“Would you stay with me even if… your friends came to rescue you…?” he asked, almost cautiously.

Luke sighed deeply at the thought, nuzzling into Vader's side “Even then… my place is no longer with them… it is with you…”

He missed them. He really did. The Rebel Alliance had been had he had besides his vendetta against who he thought had killed his father for years after all, of course he missed them. He specially missed all his close friends: Leia, Han, Chewie and even C-3PO. The only one he had brought with him was R2, unable to part with the astrodroid… turned out his father knew him, which had been quite the surprise.

But regardless… he knew he couldn’t go back. Leia had… seen what he had done to those that attacked them. She had seen the slaughter he had left behind. He couldn't even phantom looking her in the eyes right now, knowing that his own were a different colour. He would find a way to protect them from this side, somehow, but he knew he couldn't go back to them. Even if they tried to organize a rescue mission for him… he wouldn't go with them. His father needed him far more than them, and… he felt a sense of belonging by his father’s side that he never had in the Alliance, much as he tried.

“Why are you asking about that anyway? Are you afraid I'll run away? Because I already told you I won't…” he protested, but his father just kept staring at him somberly.

“They have known you for almost four years… and you still care for them…” he said, as if that explained anything.

“Well of course I care for them, they are my friends, I want to keep them safe if I can…” he began, but stopped when his father let out something like a low irritated growl. It made Luke blink with surprise, what the hell did he say to warrant that reaction…?

His father’s feelings weren’t helping much in figuring it out, it just seemed like he was… annoyed that Luke would say something like that. Annoyed that… he still cared about his friends?

“Wait… are you… jealous?” he asked, unable to hold back a small laugh when he noticed his father’s immediate sullenness at the accusation “By the stars, you are! You are jealous!”

“Simple jealousy is beneath me, young one, do not be preposterous” he tried to deflect, but Luke just laughed harder.

If his father was getting like this over friendship he didn’t want to imagine how he would get when he eventually fell in love someday, the woman he married would have to be a strong one to stand Vader’s spite at not being the only person in Luke’s life.

“As fun as it is to see you try to deny it, you don’t have to worry…” he said appeasingly “None of my friends could compare to you. You are my one and only father, after all… you are part of me, just as I am a part of you. You have been my lifelong wish… no one will compare to that as far as my loyalties go. I love you, father… that will never change…”

His father seemed incredibly pleased with that answer, all of his being seemed to be exuding possessive and proud content. He ran his hand through Luke’s hair as he stared at his face, as if he was beholding a marvel, while sending him a surprisingly warm brush of affection in their bond that Luke was starting to think was probably the closest thing to a ‘I love you too’ he was able to give. Luke wondered if he was smiling fondly under that mask… it certainly felt like he was. Like he couldn’t believe he was blessed with his son's affection, as if the way he was looking at him with equal devotion was making him dazed.

Luke almost felt a bit guilty at how blatantly he was flaunting his feelings to make his father hold onto him tighter, make him even more lenient on him, make sure that just as he was not going to run from his father anymore his father would never abandon him either. It felt almost as if he was manipulating him, but could it be really called manipulation if the feelings were entirely real and clearly mutual?

Still, a part of Luke felt very self-satisfied knowing that all he needed to keep his father by his side was simply to offer him open love and acceptance, something which Luke was very glad to give and that Vader was clearly hungry for.

It seemed strange to think that the great Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy… was insecure. But he was. Luke had felt it. He supposed it was partly having spent almost all of Luke’s life without anyone to call his own and as the Emperor’s service, and being a Sith seemed like a fast path to having trust issues, but he suspected that even before that he might have been like this. Luke did know that his father was born a slave… that would do no favors to one’s self esteem.

And on top of that there was… the suit, and everything it entailed. His father had felt almost… ashamed when Luke had brought up wanting to see his face, he seemed even more distressed when he said he wanted more than that. His condition clearly pained him, having to rely on so much machinery merely to stay alive must make him feel so… inhuman. Luke only had a metal hand and he already got some weird looks for it, and had felt the need to cover it with a glove the second the synthskin had been damaged, he couldn’t imagine being as much of a cyborg as his father was. But Luke didn’t mind that.

He didn’t mind the insecurity and paranoia either, truth be told. If his father needed him to repeat his words of love and promises of kinship and belonging everyday to be sure they were true he would be more than happy to oblige. If he wanted them to hug every time they did it too he wouldn’t be that opposed either, the physical affection was cementing their bond like nothing else had. His father was clearly starved for it all… just as Luke had been for his father to love and want him all his life.

Oh, how his father had lived up to those expectations… his father wanted him with the power of a million stars, above everything else in the galaxy, and would destroy it all if it meant he would stay with him. It would be alarming if he didn’t feel the same way.

Now that he had stopped holding onto many of his principles as a Jedi his only qualms were his own friends in the Alliance, because he would not compromise them, but other than that? He would do anything. Anything as long as his father kept holding him like this, as long as he kept giving him such fond and affectionate gestures as he was now, since he still kept petting his hair during all this time.

“Luke… I would do anything you asked as well…” his father said, probably still just as intertwined with him as he had been since they claimed each other “You are all I have, and I am all you need…”

“Yes, I just told you that I love you too, father…” he replied, a bit cheekily, but knowing his father could tell he was also being sincere.