The Son of Vader: Chapter One

Blinking his eyes awake, Luke Skywalker looked around at his surroundings with confusion swirling around in his mind. Then everything that happened in the last couple of days flooded back to the surface.

He still couldn't believe it.

Even two days later, Luke still couldn't believe that Darth Vader-of all people!-was his father. It came as quite a shock to him when he saw that Lambda-class shuttle fly closer and closer and eventually land outside his homestead back on Tatooine and saw the hulking black form of Darth Vader walk down the ramp.

Luke was frozen still. He didn't know what to do. What's he doing here? he couldn't help thinking at the time, and in the next couple of hours everything he ever believed turned out to be wrong. His father didn't abandon him.

He didn't even know he existed.

His father didn't tell him much more than that, just that he thought he died with his mother during childbirth. A lot of questions formed on his mind just from that tidbit of information, but it was clear that his father didn't want to talk about it. And Luke didn't want to anger him by asking more questions.

After that, Vader-his father!-told him to go pack up, that he'd be going to live with him now. He didn't even get to say bye to his friends. Biggs was already gone though, he left for the Academy a few months before. Windy was really his only other friend there.

But Luke didn't have much have much of a choice and even if he did, he would've left with his father anyway. His father might scare him, a lot, but Luke knew they belonged together.

They're father and son, they should be-

"Good, you're awake," Luke tensed at the sound of the mechanical baritone voice and swung his head around to look at the form of his father at the door of his new room. Luke almost shivered at the sound of the mechanical breathing. "I thought you were going to sleep all day, it is afternoon already."

Luke didn't know what to say. He didn't realize he slept so late either. When was the last time he slept into the afternoon? Did he ever? Luke wasn't sure.

His father stepped closer, Luke remained where he was, still lying down in bed. "I have things to do, I trust you will be fine on your own?"

Luke met his father's gaze. And even though he couldn't see his eyes, Luke somehow knew he was staring right into them, right through the mask. He had the strange sense that if he did see his father's eyes, that they'd match his own. He didn't know how he knew that, but he had the feeling he did and he learned to trust his feelings. "Ah," he paused, hesitating. He wasn't sure if he'd be overstepping by asking how long he was going to be gone for.

But, as it turned out, he didn't have to wonder. "I should return by tonight. If you need anything," his father stepped over to the nightstand next to Luke's massive new bed and picked something up, flicked it open, and tapped a few buttons. "This is a comlink, I will get you your own soon. In the meantime, I am speed dial number one, if you need me. Otherwise, the servants should be able to assist you. When you're hungry, just go tell them and they'll make you anything you desire." His father placed the comlink back down and hooked his thumbs into his belt. "Anything else you need before I leave?"

Luke thought about it for a minute, then shook his blond head. This was still too much for him, he imagined it would take some time for him to adjust to things around here.

"Very well," his father turned to leave his room. "Have a good day, Son." He closed the door behind himself, leaving a reeling Luke alone.

Son. He couldn't explain the joy he felt hearing his father call him that. It sounded so natural coming out of his father's mouth too...or his mask, anyway. Luke sighed, wondering what put his father into that suit. But he shoved that thought away and shook his head.

Sitting up, he threw the soft silk and satin covers off of himself and threw his legs over the side of the massive bed. He'd only been here for a night now, he came in when it was pitch dark outside the night before and didn't get to take a look around. He was gonna do that now, he decided.

Standing up, he felt the plush carpet under his bare feet and reveled in the softness of it. He looked around the room, taking it all in, and could barely believe it was his room. It had to easily be five times bigger than his old bedroom back on Tatooine. Maybe bigger.

It was certainly a lot nicer too. His new bedroom had two windows, one on either side of his massive bed. They were covered with blinds and drapes, Luke walked over to one window and pushed the heavy drapes to the side and drew the blinds. His breath caught in his throat at what he saw outside.

The sun was bright and shining down on him. He noted only one sun and smiled, that would take some getting used too. He was used to Tatooine's twin suns. Outside, he saw nothing but green and blue. Green grass, trees, and a...pond? There was a large round fountain too, and beyond that and the walls that seemed to border around his new home, he saw what appeared to be, a large blue ocean.

He never saw so much blue in his life! Green too! Not like this. He saw trees and grass in holobooks, on the HoloNet, but never in real-life before. In that instant, he wanted to feel the grass under his feet, feel the water in his hand.

He turned around and made his way to the door. He nearly made it there, before remembering he only had his sleep pants on. He couldn't go out like that. He looked around his room for his bag and found it near his door. He opened it and found a pair of pants and a shirt, they were his farmer white clothes, he only hoped they'd be warm enough to wear here.

He didn't care all that much though, he just wanted to get outside. He left his boots at the door to his room and changed into his clothes. When he was done, he went back to the door and opened it up. He stepped into the hall and looked left and right, he saw stairs leading down to his right and walked over to them.

Reaching the stairs, he ran down them in a hurry and when he reached the bottom he almost bumped into someone. "S-sorry," he said, sheepishly.

Luke was fifteen, he knew better than to run around indoors. Uncle Owen told him a million times before...he just happened to get a little excited and forgot. It happens. What can he say?

The man he almost bumped into, straightened immediately at the sight of him. "Master Luke, I apologize sir." Luke was taken back by the title. Master? He was never called that before. "I'm Gavin, the Majordomo of Lord Vader's Castle. If-"

Luke tuned out everything...Gavin, he believed the man said his name was, after he mentioned Castle. Castle? He didn't know what to think anymore. This was too much, too fast for a fifteen-year-old moisture farmer from Tatooine. He went from living on a moisture farm on a poor Outer Rim desert world to living on Imperial Center in a...Castle?

"Master?" Gavin said, pulling Luke from his thoughts. "Would you like that tour now?"

Luke didn't hear him mention anything about a tour, but then again, he did tune him out. Having a tour of his new home would be helpful. He'd need to know where everything was. He didn't need a servant to make him something to eat, after all. He could do it himself.

Luke looked back to Gavin, realizing he didn't answer the tall man yet. "Sure," he said, shrugging one shoulder.

Gavin made a gesture to him and Luke followed behind. Luke took everything in as he was given the full tour. All of the drapes were pulled to the sides and the blinds were drawn, letting in the light from outside. It was bright, but not as bright as he knew it'd be on Tatooine. They didn't even have windows there, mostly because the homestead was underground.

Biggs did at his house though. His family was rather wealthy, and they had no problem showing it. His house was even above ground. Luke always remembered being jealous when he saw what they had. But they had nothing on this.

Luke shoved his past out of his mind and followed Gavin through the lower level of the castle as he pointed out each room and described them in detail. He walked through the large dining room which had ten chairs sitting around it, a full chef's kitchen, a sitting room- whatever that was, a living room, a refresher, and a garage. There were large marble pillars, exotic plants that Luke never saw before or even knew anything about, art hanging up on the wall of a beautiful planet Luke never saw before and tapestries Luke only ever saw in HoloDramas.

And that was only on the first floor of the residential wing of the castle. There's a servants wing too, that only the servants use and reside in. The second floor of the residential wing had his bedroom, his father's bedroom which was to the left of his and then they had a guest room that was across from Luke's.

"Before last night, Lord Vader hadn't been here in over a year." Gavin told him, leading him into his bedroom. "I'm not sure if Lord Vader showed you around last night or not, so I'll do it real quick." Inside the room, were three doors besides the door leading out to the hall. "The en-suite refresher is here, you have your sink with a full vanity. A toilet, obviously. Then a full shower and bath," Luke eyed both the shower and bath carefully.

He never had a real water shower before, let alone a bath. They only had sonic showers on Tatooine. Water was precious on Tatooine. And now that he was thinking about it, a shower sounded real good. Or maybe a bath...decisions, decisions.

"You also have," Gavin led him back outside into his room and showed him what was behind one of the other doors. "A full walk-in closet. We'll have to get you some new clothes, but we can talk about that later." Luke felt fully aware of the clothes he wore now. Yeah...farmer whites probably wouldn't be everyday wear around this planet. He even felt under dressed in his new home...a castle?! It still blew his mind. "You also have your own study here, should you need to get any work done, this is the place to do it."

Luke looked around his study and felt his eyes widen. He didn't know if would ever use this room, but he was sure it would be useful if he did. The room was littered with technology on the main desk and the walls. It was also pretty big too, at least twice the size of his old room. And it was only a study!

"Would you like to go outdoors?"

Luke snapped his head around in response, making Gavin laugh. "Definitely," he nodded, following Gavin back out to his room, into the hall, down the stairs and out the front door.

Once again he was stopped in his tracks. He was at the top of a large curving marble staircase that led down to a circular driveway with a large fountain in the middle that shot water high into the clear blue sky. Luke was mesmerized at the sight, and closely followed the water with his eyes as it shot out of the top of the fountain, high into the sky and then back down into the fountain.

When he snapped out of the fountain's trance, he turned his head to the right where the grass he saw earlier was with a lot of trees and shrubs. To his left was a lot of the same. Green, green and more green.

He never saw so much green before.

Gavin said nothing, he just stood next to him and let him take in the sight before his eyes. "Walk with me," Gavin finally said.

Luke followed him down the stairs and off to the right at the bottom of the steps, it was hot and Luke had to run to the grass where it was cool and soft under his bare feet. He left his boots upstairs, he wanted to feel the grass under his feet and he couldn't believe how good it felt. The blades of the grass even tickled him. He smiled at the sensation and followed Gavin over to the large pond within the walls of the castle's grounds.

The water wasn't as blue as the ocean he saw beyond the walls but it was still more water than he'd ever seen back on Tatooine. And he didn't have to squeeze it out of the arid atmosphere- that made it even better.

Luke walked closer to the pond and saw sand before the water, he grimaced at the sight of it, then walked over to it and noticed it was a lot softer than it was back on Tatooine. Then he bent down and felt the cool water with his hand, splashing the water around. He felt a wide grin make its way on his face, it felt incredible.

He was so caught up in how amazing it felt that he didn't even notice that Gavin let him be. Coming from Tatooine, this was a big change in his life. He had a feeling that his father knew that, and made himself scarce to let Luke enjoy his new surroundings.

It was peaceful to be surrounded by so much green and blue. To not have to deal with sandstorms, sand people, or the desert way of life he was used too. His life as he knew it was over, and he was looking forward to seeing where his new life was heading. If it was anything like this, Luke was sure he'd enjoy it.

Lord Darth Vader arrived at the Imperial Palace, shortly after he left his...son back at his castle. Son. Darth Vader shook his head. That would take some getting used too, that was for sure.

Fifteen years. For fifteen years he believed he'd killed his beloved wife in a fit of rage, his child along with her. It wasn't until a few days ago that his master felt a disturbance in the Force, a disturbance that led to him finally tracking down Obi-Wan Kenobi and getting his revenge.

Just as he was about to swing the killing blow, he felt his old master's anxiety grow. But he knew the anxiety had nothing to do with him, or with dying for that matter. It had to do to with someone else...a boy. A teenager. One with blond hair and blue eyes. A cleft chin. A boy with a quick smile and that was full of adventure. He could see that all on his mind, and he reached out in a fit of rage and began choking Obi-Wan.

He began choking him because he felt just how powerful that boy was, and he knew the teen was close by. He wanted Obi-Wan to know that when he was done with him, that he'd kill his apprentice too, except he would make the teen's death ten folds more painful than his would be.

That was when he heard his old master gasp something. He let up to see what he was trying to say, and what he said shocked him. It shocked him to his very core and shook him, like he'd never been shaken before. He's your son, Obi-Wan choked out. Three words and they changed everything.

He had a son. He felt it then. The extremely strong connection the teen had to the Force. His age- fifteen, which was how long it's been since he earned his new name. His eyes. His hair. His cleft chin. He knew the teen was his and he wasn't going to waste another moment apart.

Darth Vader killed his old master, plunging his old master in the heart with his lightsaber. He deactivated his blade, then watched in astonishment as Obi-Wan's body disappeared in thin air. He didn't give it a second thought, just grabbed Obi-Wan's lightsaber, clipped it to his belt and got back on his speeder bike to ride back to his shuttle and fly to where his son was.

He never felt as nervous as he did then. Anakin felt nervous plenty of times, but he wasn't Anakin. He was Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith and he feared nothing. He led armies, commanded fleets and met enemies in dogfights in his TIE Advance x1, head on. Meeting a fifteen year old shouldn't have made him feel as nervous as he did, he knew this boy wasn't just a boy though.

The boy was his son. And chances were, he didn't know who his father was. He might not've even known he had a father who was still alive. Vader felt his anxiety worsen and it only got worse when he saw the teen outside in his stained farmer whites working on a moisture vaporator.

His anxiety disappeared in a flash, his anger was too strong and powerful. It even made him shake in rage. His son shouldn't be living as a poor moisture farmer on a backwater world like Tatooine! He should be on Imperial Center with him, living as the Imperial royalty he is.

Vader felt his resolve harden and made his move.

"Ah- Lord Vader." The Emperor's raspy old voice shook him out of his mind and he dropped to a knee and bowed his head on instinct. He was too stuck in his mind to realize he'd even walked here or reached his master's throne room. "Rise, my friend."

Vader could feel his master's curiosity graze against his mind. He didn't push in or even try too, even though he could. Sidious trusted his apprentice, something most Sith Master's wouldn't, but they weren't most masters and apprentices. Vader knew his master could feel something was on his mind and he wanted Vader to tell him what's going on.

So he did. He told him everything. He told him about what he found on Tatooine, that this disturbance led him to his sworn enemy. How he out-dueled him, beat him into the sand and choked the life out of him. Then...he told him about Obi-Wan's confession and what he did afterwards.

He absently handed his master Obi-Wan's lightsaber and told him about his son. He didn't know much, but he did know he looked like his younger self and was extremely powerful in the Force. Just as much as they were, maybe even more than them both.

"Will he do?"

Vader didn't have to think about that question for longer than a second. "Over time, yes. Especially when he finds out about the Jedi and what they did to him. That they kept him from me...and his rightful place in the galaxy. I just think we need to tread lightly, I know from experience that it will take time for him to adapt."

He didn't know what else to say, he just remembered what life was like for a certain nine-year-old that was taken from everything he ever knew and was forced into a whole new way of life. Granted, Luke wouldn't have to grow up like Anakin did. He wouldn't be forced to forget his past, to stop feeling his emotions, to not get attached to anything or anyone, to not...be who he is.

And Vader hadn't one clue who his son really was. Sure, he'd seen glimpses into his son's mind when he was asleep on the shuttle ride here but he didn't feel right intruding on his son's thoughts and on his past. That wouldn't help them connect, wouldn't help them establish a father-son bond.

He wanted his son to open up to him, to stop being afraid. He knew it would take time and that may be more time than he had on his hands at the moment. But what else could he do? He knew who he was and his son obviously did too.

The Empire's Sith Lord.

The Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces.

Second-in-Command of the Empire.

The Emperor's Enforcer.

He could go on and on. But the point is, he isn't someone a young teen could easily warm up too. It will take time, all he could do is be there and try to get his son to get used to being around him and see that he would never hurt him.

At least not intentionally.

"I'd like to meet young Skywalker for myself." His master's voice echoed in the empty throne room. "In one week's time, take that time to get to know him. I'm sure that'll be enough time for him to adapt, I'll assess him then. If I like what I see, then you may begin training him."

He was about to speak when his master continued.

"But remember, he's fifteen. He still has some growing up to do before he's to be a Sith."

Like usual, his master knew what was on his mind. The Jedi wasn't ready and he was twenty-two, a Jedi Knight and a General in the Clone Wars. Vader won't make the same mistakes with his son that Obi-Wan made with Anakin.

He'll ease his son into it, make him comfortable with using the Force and mastering his power over it before leading him into using the dark side. But even on Tatooine, he saw darkness in his son. He knew he was capable of darkness, just like he was.

But only time will.

"Thank you, Master." It went exactly as he expected it too. He bowed to his master and made his way out of the throne room. His mind went immediately back to his son, he didn't give the bureaucrats or courtiers a single glance as he passed them in the ornate corridors of the palace. He made his way to the hangar bay on instinct and took his airspeeder back to his castle on the shore of the Great Western Sea.

He had a feeling his son would like it there. It's nicer, greener and bluer than his own palace immediately next to the Imperial Palace. From there, you can only see the Imperial Palace, the Senate building and the vast city-planet sprawled out around them.

But that's nothing that would interest Luke. Nothing that would even interest him. But then again, that was why he was rarely here on Imperial Center- something that would undoubtedly change now that he had a reason to be here.

Luke. He thought about his son the whole ride back to the castle.

The Emperor watched as his apprentice left his throne room, and smiled as he left. He could feel his apprentice's mind focused on the boy and Palpatine couldn't help himself, he closed his eyes and stretched out with his feelings.

The dark side rushed to him as he bent the dark side to his will and extended that will all the way over towards the Great Western Sea. His smile widened at the feeling of the boy in the Force. He felt like a supernova, a feeling he only ever felt once before, and that was with his Apprentice.

Like Father, like Son, he thought.

Yes, he shall do quite well, the Emperor cackled. Then, he waved a gnarled hand towards his Royal Guards and decided he'd see some courtiers. He had an Empire to run and the Empire never slept.

A/N: How'd you like this? I'm a big fan of stories like Dynasty, Empire's Son, One Missed Strike, Force Bond, and other stories that take a different approach on Luke and Darth Vader. I've been wanting to write my own Father/Son story and I will say this now, this is a Dark Luke story. Everybody has a dark side to them, Luke is no different.

As noted, Luke is also fifteen. So, this story will go through a lot. I'm definitely taking my time with it and not rushing by skipping years ahead. I want everyone to see the progression of Luke, I want it to be realistic. I also have a lot of plots, subplots, twists and turns that we'll see throughout the story.

I hope you enjoy!

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