Child of Mine

Summary: Vader has discovered his son amongst the Force sensitive children kept at Fortress Inquisitorius. Despite trying to give Luke a normal childhood, the poison of the Inqistors training in the Dark Side runs deep.

AN: Slight warning for a small bit of gore in here.

Vader swept into the room with his cloak snapping at his heels. His small young son sat on the floor of his room playing with his favorite toy, a stuffed Loth cat named Whitey. The stuffing was lopsided from too much cuddling and tight headlocks. The plush fur was worn and matted with patches shorter than the rest of it. All signs it was clearly loved. Luke never went anywhere without it from the moment Vader had handed it to him.

"Luke," Vader said. Luke had been looking pointedly at the ground and had tensed at his name. He knew he was in trouble. "Luke," Vader said again. This time the little boy looked up at his father. "Come with me."

Slowly and a bit reluctantly, Luke stood up pulling Whitey with him. He hugged it tightly as he fell into step right behind Vader as they walked only a short distance down the hall into the closest sitting room. It was a favorite spot for Luke to play in. A few toys, plastoid starships of various makes and some blocks, were scattered about the floor. That wasn't the only thing scattered about the room.

The bodies of four stormtroopers were thrown across the room like discarded rags. Blood was splashed along the walls and furniture. Their limbs twisted at wrong angles or completely separated from their bodies. Each of their heads was missing and sat still in their helmets in a neat line on the floor. One of the visors was cracked. The eye behind it was frozen wide in terror. Crayon had been scribbled across some of the clear spots of armor. There were pictures of Whitey and Luke and Vader smiling and holding hands.

"Luke," Vader said in a stern voice.

Luke looked up at him. His lip was in a pout and his eyes- oh those eyes- were gold ringed in red.

"They said mean things," he said.

Vader sighed and the sound only came out as static. "They said mean things or they thought mean things?"

Luke looked down at his feet and was quiet for a long moment before he finally admitted, "They thought them."

"Luke . . ."

His head snapped up. "They were mean, Daddy! They thought mean things about me!"

Vader sighed again as he lowered himself down to one knee. He opened his arms and Luke needed no other invitation. He was there instantly, wrapping his small arms around his father as Vader pulled him close. Luke cuddled against his shoulder armor completely unphased by how cold and hard it was.

"Luke, what did we talk about?" Vader asked. He had turned the volume of his vocoder down so it wouldn't boom into Luke's ears.

"Mmmm," Luke groaned as he hid his head into Vader's neck.

"Luke."

There was some muffled talking.

"Luke."

"Not to kill people," he said reluctantly.

"Yes, not to kill people," Vader said evenly as if he was chastising his son for something ordinary and normal. But Luke was anything but normal.

He tightened his hug on his son, who returned the gesture.

"Return to your room, little one, while I see about getting this cleaned up."

"Ok, Daddy!" Luke said happily.

Vader watched his son leave the room far too cheerfully. Luke had no regrets about his actions. He only felt bad because he had disappointed his father, who he was very attached to.

Vader recalled the first time he saw the boy. There had been a great disturbance in the Force at Fortress Inquisitorius. When Vader arrived, a large section of the tower had been blown apart and at the center was a small little boy. How had this child created so much damage? Who was he? Vader's quest for answers revealed the truth. This child was Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala. Son. The word had repeated in his head over and over again. His child had lived! He had a son!

He recalled the hum of the laser gate as it shut off and he stepped into the cell. Luke was curled up tightly in a ball in the corner. Vader knelt down in front of him holding up a stuffed Loth cat. He wasn't sure why he brought it. It seemed right. Fatherly. Luke's eyes were already a bleeding gold. The poison of the Inquisitor doctrine had already bitten him. Yet, he still took the toy and hugged it to his chest. A flare of hope rose in Vader seeing it.

"Luke," he had said. "I am your father. You are coming with me."

"F- father?" Luke whispered.

"Yes."

Though the title had not stuck. Luke soon abandoned the formal father for the use of daddy, and Vader secretly loved it. He had hoped it was a sign of restoring Luke's childhood, but the trauma of the Inquisitors could not be escaped. There was an anger in Luke. A darkness. And as son of Darth Vader, there was also power. So much power. And Luke had no qualms about unleashing it on anyone or anything that made him upset. Only Vader and Whitey seemed safe from the boy's wrath.

Vader watched as cleaning droids worked to collect the mangled bodies. These weren't the first bodies to be scrubbed off the walls, and he was sure there would be plenty more. The staff were all terrified including the droids with personality programming that allowed for such things. There was good reason to.

Luke had once imploded a cook's head when he served yucky vegetables for lunch one day. A maid had every bone in her right arm turned to dust when she accidentally picked up Whitey while cleaning. One night Luke had wanted to stay up and wait for Daddy to come and kiss him good night when his nanny droid insisted it was bedtime. Vader found the droid smeared across the hallway in an oily mess.

The only reason Vader still had a staff was through bribery and threats, or in the case of some of the droids, reprogramming and memory wipes.

"Daddy!" Luke crowed happily when Vader finally returned. "Look what I made!"

"Is it a TIE fighter?"

"Yes! It's a TIE fighter for Whitey!"

Luke did a little jump as he ran over to a small ship he had built out of rainbow-colored interlocking toy cubes. He placed the Loth cat in the middle and proceeded to make flying and blaster noises.

"Pew! Pew!"

Vader smiled. "Come now, little one. It is time for dinner." He ruffled Luke's hair.

Whitey in tow, they walked to the large dining hall. Huge windows opened up to the glowing red landscape of Mustafar. Vader sat at the head of the table with Luke directly next to him on the right. Whitey sat in the chair next to Luke. A booster seat had been prepared so the toy was at the proper level.

They didn't have to wait long until a droid placed a tray in front of Luke. It was a standard meal of meat, vegetables, and some sort of noodles in a cheesy sauce. Luke happily munched down on everything but the vegetables.

"You will not be allowed to leave the table until you have cleared your plate," Vader rumbled.

Luke frowned as he glared down at his plate. "I don't like 'em," he said under his breath.

"I am well aware of that," Vader snorted. "But they are part of a balanced diet and good for your growing body."

"What if I don't want to grow?" Luke asked, crossing his arms across his chest defensively.

"Then you will be tall enough to reach the pedals and the steering yoke inside your own TIE fighter."

Luke's eyes grew wide. "My own TIE fighter?"

"When you are old and big enough for one," Vader quickly added while he pointed a finger at his son. "And that will only happen if you eat your vegetables."

Luke smiled as he stabbed the greens with his fork, though it quickly faded into a frown of disgust as he started chewing. Vader couldn't stop the small chuckle, but it faded away all too quickly as he remembered why he was here. He could not eat food as Luke did, and as such, this whole event was unnecessary for him. And while he would like to claim it was to spend time with Luke, it was really to make sure Luke didn't get upset over vegetables. The windows in the dining room had already been replaced three times.

The evening wore on into night. Vader tucked his young son into bed.

"I love you, Luke," he said as he brushed the hair from his face.

Luke beamed up at him. "I love you too, Daddy!"

The next day, work kept Vader away from checking up on Luke until after lunch. Luckily the meals had gone on without incident. Probably because either no vegetables were presented on the plate, or no one commented on them. Luke, as always, was excited to see his father.

"Daddy!"

He ran up and wrapped his arms around Vader.

"Are you done with work? Can you play now?"

"I am done with work," Vader said. "What do you want to play?"

"Bounty hunters!"

"And what are we hunting?"

"A pirate!"

They played until dinner. After which they cuddled together and watched a children's show on the holonet.

"Luke," Vader said. Luke rubbed his eyes. It was nearing his bedtime. Vader continued, "I have been called away. I am afraid I will-"

"No!" Luke whined. "No, don't leave, Daddy! Please! Please stay!"

Vader placed a large gloved hand on top of his son's head and gently stroked it.

"I am sorry, but I am needed. Rebel terrorists have invaded a military base in the Lamaz Sector."

Luke let out a small whine but said nothing more.

Vader didn't sleep, not truly, but he did meditate for a few hours. His com was full of messages when he stopped. He made his way to the communications room. A clearly frazzled admiral accepted his call.

"L-Lord Vader," he said. "I . . . It's Lamaz . . ."

"What about it?" Vader demanded. His mood souring by the second.

"The plan- planet, sir. It's gone."

A breath. Two. Three cycles of Vader's respirator.

"Gone?"

"It's blown up, sir."

"How does a planet blow up?" Vader snapped. It made him think that detestable Project Stardust the Emperor was building over Geonosis, but it was far from complete.

"We don't know, sir. Perhaps it was struck by an asteroid?"

What were the chances of that happening? Vader barked some orders and closed the call. He had to make several more calls before he finally retired back to his own private office. It wasn't long before Luke skipped in. He didn't hesitate to crawl right into his lap.

"Are you going to stay, Daddy?" Luke asked.

"Stay?"

"Yes! You don't have to leave anymore!"

"What do you mean?"

How did Luke know? He hadn't talked to the boy.

"Because there is no more planet with bad rebels on it anymore!"

A cold sinking formed in his gut and started to spread through him.

"Luke . . . did you . . . do something?"

"I got rid of the rebels for you!" Luke said happily. "Now you can stay here!"

Luke had . . . but how . . . That was impossible! Lamaz was on the other side of the galaxy. Was it even possible to use the Force to destroy a whole planet? The coldness inside of him was growing heavy and pulling down on him. He looked at his son.

It could not be . . . Luke couldn't have . . .

But he had. Vader could sense the truth of it in the Force. Something slithered around inside of him and wrapped around his damaged heart. It squeezed it and there was a warning beep inside of his helmet. What was this sensation?

Luke giggled as he rested his head against Vader's chest and looked up at him with those large gold eyes.

Vader realized what he was feeling. Fear. Fear that this child, his child, had that much power and it was unleashed on his every whim. The alarm was beeping more frantically as his heart rate rose. If Luke could reach across the galaxy and destroy a planet, where were the limits of his power?

"Daddy?" Luke asked, looking concerned. He placed a small hand on the side of his helmet. "Are you ok?"

"I . . . I'm sorry, Luke. My suit needs maintenance."

Luke frowned but nodded. "Ok, but you're going to stay here, right?"

What if he said no? What would Luke do? But for now, he only said, "Yes. Of course."

Luke's smile was big and large, and of course, it warmed Vader's heart which at the same time was hammering in his chest in fear.