Never Walk Alone

Chapter 5 - Mission

Author's Note: Luke goes on a mission. ;D

~ Amina Gila

The fortress suddenly feels unbearably lonely without Luke. It was jarring to come back to that place, knowing there was someone actually waiting for Vader, someone who actually wanted him. He got... too used to that. He clung to the hope that he'd actually be able to have a family, far too quickly.

Of course, Sidious would take that. Because in the end, Vader is his. Sidious never fails to remind him of that.

But Luke is gone, because Sidious took him to Coruscant, and that won't stop circling in his mind on repeat. If Vader was distracted before, he definitely is now, but he needs to focus, to – to do whatever he has to, so that he'll be able to see Luke again.

Except he already knows with a steadily growing, overwhelming fear that he has no idea what his son is going to be like when he does see him again. Sidious is training him now, and that could mean anything. He could be remade into someone else entirely by the time Sidious lets him go for a while.

And he doesn't want to see his son... broken, the way Vader has become.

And he – if Sidious is truly planning to replace him with Luke, he has no idea how he'll go about that. What he's going to... say to him. There's nothing Vader can do, and when it's Luke instead of just himself in this situation, it angers him far more than just an underlying helpless rage.

He has to do something about it. But he doesn't know what. He tried killing Sidious once, and failed. If he tried again –

His comm beeping pulls him from his thoughts, to see that it's... Luke.

"Father?" Luke asks, when the hologram materializes in front of him. He wants to be with him in person again, so much. Something about Luke already feels different, Vader can tell. His Force presence feels more stormy and lost – he's upset about something. Probably, about many things.

"Are you well?" Vader demands, instantly. Because of their bond, he's... picking up minor feelings and physical sensations from Luke's end too, and he hasn't sensed Sidious actually hurting him, but –

His son hesitates for a pause. "Yeah, physically. I don't like being here."

"Once your training progresses, you will require... experience on real missions." Hopefully, along with Vader but he has no way of knowing that.

Luke makes a face. "I can't stand him."

He fights the inexplicable urge to smile. "Do not speak disrespectfully of the Emperor." He doesn't know that the transmission isn't being monitored, after all.

The boy looks this close to rolling his eyes. "Whatever. But I... have a question." He seems almost nervous.

Luke doesn't seem to get nervous about things. That mere knowledge makes Vader uneasy. "What is it?"

"About my – my mother."

Oh. Vader's unease skyrockets to something far beyond that, at the mere mention. Thinking about her at all evokes too many tangled emotions which is why he rarely does. A ceaseless, uncontrolled grief over what he did – even if that doesn't make sense if Luke is alive – and a constant reminder of the life he once wanted, of... So many things. (Including that after everything he did for her, she turned on him, tried to kill him. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka he can understand. It was their duty as a Jedi, after what he did. But he didn't do anything to hurt Padme. So much of what he did was for her, and she turned on him and he'll never understand why.)