A/N: Hello! I hope you enjoy this, I am so tired!
Sorry for any spelling errors I missed!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Glimpse
A sharp blast of white hot pain racked through his entire frame stinging through every nerve before retreating towards whatever dark hole it crawled out of. Darth Vader rocked on his feet for a moment before steading.
What had that been? Vader stared forward for a moment looking outwards at the blurring colors of hyperspace. The Emperor had sent him away for the time being, claiming that he was growing lax and it would be good for him to meditate then return to services. As if. The man was just trying to get Vader away to think about something else beyond his child.
The Executor remained steady in flight and Vader was once again drawn to the present day, confused. The pain, hadn't been his own. Who's was it then? The Emperor's? No. The bond between Master and Apprentice is strong, much like what he used to share with Ahsoka but the strings the Emperor wrapped around his puppet weren't like that.
He must've just imagined it. Maybe his armor was wearing thin again. But that...wasn't his own. He was sure of it.
"Um, sir?" The quiet, shrill voice drew him from his suddenly scrambling thoughts and Vader turned his head to look at the soldier standing less than five feet away from him. A tall lean female with long red hair tied back in a smooth ponytail. Vader rarely had woman work on his crew, he hand picked every single soldier but this woman had been an exception.
"Speak." Vader commands his voice deep and full of irritation.
What had the pain been from?
His breathing hummed quietly and the woman, Vira swallowed thickly before lifting up a data pad seeming to shrink under his gaze. Her mouth opened to speak as Vader finally found the source of the pain.
Luke.
Panic, more than he'd ever admit to raced through him abruptly and he took a step forward his cape sweeping behind him leaving Vira behind with a quiet, "Uh...Sir?" behind him.
Vader quickly made his way down the bridge heading towards his private quarters his thoughts racing. Luke. The child rarely showed or slipped into his mind unless Vader himself shoved his way into the younger man's.
This was bad.
He what he should do. His child, his only child had either asked for help without words or the pain had been so great that he had to reach out.
Vader wanted to let out a groan but the wheezing of his respirator prevented him. Grinding his teeth in annoyance Vader slipped into his quarters then released a slow breath. He needed to find Luke's presence just to see if he really was hurt.
He was usually a bright beam of light sticking upwards through the force, Vader couldn't pin-point his son's location through the light but he could reach to Luke through it. He was strong in the force, very strong. Vader was impressed he missed it for nineteen years. Then again, the Emperor had told him his child was dead.
Vader never felt like searching.
"Luke…" He called out quietly. "Luke?"
A few more minutes passed as Vader quietly called for his son. Where was he? Luke was stubborn, incredibly stubborn maybe he wouldn't-agony raced through him again biting at Vader's chest mostly but it stung through other places.
"Luke!" Vader called out more frantically.
The pain dimmed but didn't retreat like before.
"...Father?" The voice was quiet, weak and small and Vader nearly missed it had he not been straining to hear anything from the child.
"Luke, what happened?" Vader demanded trying to keep his emotions stoic.
His mental voice was quiet for a few moments, "He was mad...I wouldn't let them hurt her."
"Them?"
"The pirat-bounty hunters. Father, help us! Please! There isn't much-" His voice was cut off abruptly with another stab of pain and panicking rage settled through Vader.
"Where are you?" Vader demanded. He would go, nothing could stop him.
Luke hesitated. "Ranaca."
000o000
Luke's body hit the ground with a few rolls and the Bounty Hunter who threw him, a Tusken Raider laughed. The Raider knew more forms of basic common tongue than others Luke had met but it didn't make the experience any better.
"All ya' ha've to do lad is give us a few answers and you'll be on yer way." He says moving towards his captive.
Luke remained still. His entire body ached from their recent interrogation and they wouldn't worm anything from him. They knew who he was, why he was wanted but the Hunters wanted more credits than the current bounty on his head. They thought if they could work the location of a rebel base out they would be rolling in cash.
Which in it's own way, was true. But Luke refused to talk.
The Bounty Hunter snickered once before sending a kick towards Luke's already abused chest and Luke let out a small groan, not working up enough energy to do anything else. The Tusken Raider turned and left the room closing it behind him.
Luke curled in on himself the cuffs around his wrist biting into his skin. The Jedi hardly noticed it. His brain was in distant places. This wasn't going right, he'd been sent by Leia and Mon Mothma to search for more possible Rebel base locations but had been caught by the Bounty Hunters.
With the size of the bounty his father had on his head, Luke was immediately recognized, captured and immobilized and had been like this for days. Part of him was hopeful that Leia would send someone for him but the chances were slim. Han wasn't available currently...his only chances were to wait.
Between dying from his lack of responses or being sent to the Empire...Luke would rather lose his life to the torture than his soul to the dark side.
He laid in the feeble position for hours it felt like before the door hissed open again. Luke stilled dread slicing through his every being despite his best efforts to stifle it. "I'm...not going.. to talk." Luke promised his voice raspy from the lack of water.
"You will." A male voice responds. There was four Bounty Hunters Luke knew of, with various nicknames given by him. There was the Tusken Raider, Gruff as Luke had declared him then Aggressive, a constantly masked man who was currently speaking and true to his nickname was consistently aggressive. Curse, an older man who was nearly always cursing and finally, Pivot. The man had tripped when Luke first saw him and it had sorta stuck.
Luke didn't bother to respond to Aggressive's comment, preparing himself for a hand to wrap around his upper body and drag him towards another integration but was surprised when he heard a female grunt of pain before a heavy thump in his blindspot.
Puzzled, Luke twisted around with more effort than he felt was necessary for his blue eyes to widen with horror.
Aggressive moved towards their new prisoner grabbing Leia by the chin and forcing the bruteente to look at him though her gaze was fidgeting towards Luke. So. She had come after him.
He wasn't sure if he wanted to cry in relief that he wasn't expandable or groan in frustration for the same reason.
"Your friend here...she could be persuaded." Aggressive says. Definite, Leia ripped her chin from his grasp sending a plant withering glare. Her teeth grit tightly but Luke could sense the waves of panic radiating off of her.
It didn't even brush against his.
Leia didn't deserve to go through the torture he'd been dealing with for the last few days, week however long it's been! He'd protect her he had to. "All we need is a planet name. Just tell us the location of the base and we'll let you both go." Aggressive promised.
Leia snorted the same time Luke struggled into a sitting position. A pair of binders was wrapped around his wrist, keeping his arms firmly behind his back and it made it nearly impossible at the state his muscles were in to move. Leia wasn't much better her eyes rung with exhaustion and her hair was in a sloppy braid down her back nothing like her usual hairstyles.
"Over my dead body." Leia spat.
"Leia-" Luke started in panic and immediately clamped his jaw shut mentally smacking himself over the head as Aggressive turned towards him smirking slightly.
"Ah, so now we have a name for the girl as well." Aggressive said smiling in an unsettling way. Luke flinched as Leia mouthed something he didn't catch to focused on the panic swirling through his thoughts. Her dirty attire with multiple patches hadn't been because she'd been reduced to it, it was an act and Luke had effectively crippled it in less than a minute.
Way to go.
Aggressive's eyebrows lowered as he turned looking back at his two captives, "Leia Organa. Yes, that's right." He said her name rolling of his tongue like poison. Uneasyinesss crept into Luke's already troubled mind.
Leia's jaw clenched even further.
Aggressive's expression darkened and his hands moved behind his back slowly as he took a step into the cell not bothering to close the door as if knowing they weren't going to make a run for it. Luke couldn't and Leia wouldn't leave without Luke no matter how much he begged her too.
"Yes, yes…" Aggressive said and his feet moved slowly towards Leia, his eyes laying on her and only her as if Luke no longer mattered to him. Fear settled in his bones. "The reason behind Alderaan's destruction." His fist swung forward before Luke could even sense it coming and struck Leia in the face.
She stumbled backwards for a moment rolling slightly. Rage flowed through Luke, how dare the man harm the girl Luke considered a younger sister?
"Do you KNOW WHAT YOU DID!?" Aggressive shouted moving towards Leia again this time he ripped out a small weapon, about as long as a blaster with a sharp, needlelike edge. "Because of you the entire planet it gone, thousands of lives lost BECAUSE OF YOU!" Leia started to scramble backwards her eyes wide with fear.
Leia rarely showed when she was afraid.
Terror raced through Luke's veins.
Aggressive moved forward towards her and slammed a foot down on her stomach to keep her in place as he swung the weapon forward and Luke watched as it collided with Leia's arm. Leia screamed.
Reaching for the force Luke broken, bruised and utterly exhausted threw himself forward towards Aggressive tackling the man, without his hands towards the ground. Aggressive's eyes flashed wildly and threw Luke off of him without a problem as Leia whimpered curling in on herself and moaning.
Aggressive snarled his lip curling and he turned back towards Leia snapping his weapon outwards again. "No!" Luke managed to gasp before with another rush of energy taken from the force, Luke thrust himself towards the Princess and the weapon smacked into his chest.
Lighting spiked through his veins followed by an empty rush of cold then a blast of pain like every nerve was being stabbed, burned then grinded to thousands of pieces. He felt the weapon smack into his chest a few more times, resetting and increasing the pain until Luke couldn't stand it.
Pulling what little there was of his consciousness left, Luke retreated to the back of his mind panting.
The pain still reached him here.
Luke let out a ground curling in on himself unable to retreat to anything, his memories had been disconnected and the force was oddly quiet. He laid there the pain still ringing in his ears before he felt a presence leak into his mind.
His first response, in a different circumstance would have been to resist and shove back at it.
Darth Vader.
His father.
"Luke!" The voice was relieved, frantic and something else to focus on. Luke immediately latched onto it.
"...Father?" His voice was quiet and weak and Luke clenched his jaw his eyes flickering with annoyance. He felt terrible but his father didn't need to know that.
"Luke, what happened?" Vader demanded.
Luke was quiet for a moment before carefully answering:"He was mad...I wouldn't let them hurt her."
"Them?"
"The pirat-bounty hunters. Father, help us! Please! There isn't much-" Another rack of pain shot through his body-another stab to his chest maybe, Luke didn't know. He wanted out! He wanted Leia out! He wasn't conscious enough to protect her.
"Where are you?" Vader demanded.
Luke hesitated and before his consciousness faded completely he managed to mouth, "Ranaca."
000o000
"Admiral!" Vader roared stepping onto the bridge his presence immediately causing every soldier in the room to pale and their heart beats to quicken. "Set course for Ranaca." Vader commands and the man looked up at him bewildered.
"Sir-" he started and Vader looked at him feeling irritable and possessive. He need to go protect what was his.
"You question my actions?" Vader tested and the man's eyes widen and he leaned away from the Sith slightly.
"N-n-n-n-no." He stuttered then turned to the other troops, "You heard the commander. Plot course for Ranaca immediately."
"Estimated arrival time?" Vader demanded and the Admiral looked up at him.
"Twelve standard hours, sir." He said and Vader nodded before turning and looking towards the windows. It was unusual for him to remain on the bridge for a jump but he felt no desire to move. Slowly, Darth Vader watched the colors blur past him as they made the jump to lightspeed.
000o000
Vader stepped off of his shuttle inwardly grimacing. The planet was muddy, covered in moss and it was raining. Perfect.
"Ugh," one of the troopers of the six he was taking with him grumbled quietly, "it smells like feet."
"Shut your trap." Another retorted.
The statement, however, was indeed correct.
The nerve wracking pain drove Vader to take a step forward and the troopers followed after him. Before they'd landed, he'd had several men locate the pirate bounty hunters. Somewhere between the mixture of both. The thought of pirates immediately drove his thoughts to Hondo and it make his insides crawl. The man laughed as he tortured them. Who knows what they'd done to his son.
Gritting his teeth, Vader moved forward and they quickly moved towards the bounty hunter's small base. There was a ship parked outside of a cave with a man scrubbing down a blaster guarding the entrance and the ship. They were fools to think if that would stand in his way.
Vader moved forward and the man looked up, "Oi! This is private propert-" The man's voice died in his throat as he made the dotted line connections of who Vader was.
"Where are your prisoners?" Vader question his hand flickering towards his lightsaber. Paling slightly, the man shook his head.
"I have absolutely no idea what you're going on about-" Vader fist raised and so did the man lifting his hands towards his throat his eyes wide.
"Don't test me. Where are your prisoners kept?"
Several minutes later, Vader moved down the hallway of the large caves with ease having latched onto his son's weak force presence and drawing to that. He quickly moved through the halls and finally, finally reached the cell he was looking for.
Two more Hunters stood guarding the cell door, both raised their blasters and fired at him. Vader lifted up his hand to stop both bolts in mid air the red light frozen in place. "Stand aside." Vader snarled the hum of the respirator announcing quite clearly who they were testing.
The Bounty Hunters quickly stood to the side.
Vader drew his lightsaber and shoved it into the cell door after a moment it hissed open. Vader mentally braced himself before stepping inside. It was dimly lit but lit and Vader quickly made out three figures, two were shackled against the far way arms elevated over their heads well the third stood in front of both of them holding a weapon.
His eyes swept over the captives, the Princess captured his attention after a moment, her face was bruised and she had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep or worry. Vader turned his gaze towards the second prisoner.
Luke.
Relief flooded through him, more than he would ever admit to before it was quickly replaced by rage. Leia in all her glory looked terrible but she didn't even brush the depth of how much worse Luke was. He was bleeding at his torso and his hair was tousled and the sandy brown was filled with dirt. Bruises littered across various parts of his body but he wasn't even looking upwards unlike Leia whose gaze had immediately swept towards him.
Vader's hand snapped outwards grabbing the man with the force in a choke hold. "You did this." He hissed moving forward towards the man and in response he lifted his hands toward his throat trying to peel the invisible fingers from his throat.
Ha.
Vader was furious, not even that could touch his feeling, black hate.
No one touched his son-looked at him funny!
How dare they touch him, what is Vaders? What gives them the right? What makes them so special?
The man gives a choking gasp drawing Vader from his rage and with a snort of disgust Vader throws the man across the room releasing him from the choke hold. "Take him back to the ship, General." Vader commands with the best control he can muster through his anger.
The stormtroopers behind him grab the gasping man slapping a pair of restraints onto the man's wrists and leading him away. With the men out of the way, Vader turned towards the captives.
Leia's eyes widen with fear as his hand moves towards his lightsaber and he activates it moving towards her.
"Don't-" She starts to plead before Vader swings his weapon forward and slices the cuffs around her wrists. The falls forward her elevation ended and her balance off. Vader holds out a hand to steady her as her feet start to give out and she looks up at him.
Vader turns his attention away from the Alliance leader to his son. He releases her shoulder and Leia stumbles backwards her hands pushing back against the wall. Vader swings his blade forward and slices the cuffs around the younger Skywalker's wrists. His deactivates his lightsaber as Luke falls forward only to be caught by Vader's arms.
Vader swings his lightsaber onto his belt as Luke lifts his head tiredly towards him his eyes widening before his lips purse into a tight line looking over towards Leia. "Can you walk?" Vader asks and Luke, stubborn as ever nods.
"I..I'm fine." He wheezes.
Vader gives him a sceptical look.
Luke moves to take a step forward only to nearly fall flat on his face. Luke's shoulders slump in defeat and Vader grabs the boy's arm swinging it over his shoulders and turning to look back at the Princess.
"Come." He commands.
She moves forward stifling grimacing in pain but managing to keep upright.
Vader gestures for her to move forward ahead of him and as soon as he, Leia and his stumbling son make it from the cell, Vader clasps a hand down on Leia's shoulder. He doubted she would run, but some part of him suddenly felt possessive over her as well. He didn't know why.
Vader released his hold on the blaster bolts still hanging in mid air and they smashed into a nearby wall with a heavy blast of smoke. Leia coughed and Luke let out a hitched breath. Vader started to lead them forward.
Later, Leia and Luke would make a successful escape from the Executor returning to the Rebellion and then rescuing Han; But for now, just for now, -even if they didn't know their ties to him yet-, the twins let their father lead them forward.
A/N: Well, I didn't think it was to bad. If I can come up with something else it might then into a two-shot. ;) HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Please review!