Chapter 19

Vader found Luke unconscious in the lap of Solo, who looked up sheepishly. "I had to knock him out. He was running from something."

Vader nodded, and tossed Luke over his shoulders. It was time they went home, and at least with Luke unconscious he'd have time to plan their conversation. In an odd way, Vader was grateful to the Correllian, just, this, once.

Luke's head pounded, probably from having been knocked unconscious twice within a day. The room around him was dark, but the stars shone above him. No, not stars, star stickers- Luke was in his room.

He sat up, which only made his head hurt more, and finally heard the steady breathing of his father. Vader was sitting in the shadows of the room, watching Luke, but very much awake. The boy shivered as he pulled his legs towards him, not wanting to hear the words he knew were coming.

"Kenobi is dead."

Luke hadn't known Ben well of course, but he couldn't help but mourn the man. "You killed him."

"He attacked me first."

It was true, which only confused Luke more. His father had only been defending himself and Luke, but Luke hadn't needed defending. Luke had wanted to go with Obi-Wan… more or less. "Did the younglings attack first? Did my mother?"

Even in death it seemed Kenobi had the ability to ruin Vader's life. "No. They were innocent, and yet I killed them."

"Are you going to kill me?"

The fear that resonated behind Luke's words actually amused Vader. He looked around his son's room, a child's room no doubt, and then at the boy who actually seemed concerned he was to die. "I considered it, when I found out you had gone to the shopping center alone I certainly considered it, but I don't think murder is included in a proper parenting style, so I've changed my mind."

Luke couldn't believe his ears. His father was joking. After everything Luke had learned, everything that had happened his father was joking about killing him… and yet it made Luke feel better. If his father had just denied it Luke might not have believed him, but he believed him now. "Ben made me think you would kill me. That even if you could somehow love me the Darkness would make you kill me."

"Kenobi knew nothing of the Dark Side, how could he possibly know if it would drive me to kill my own son?" Vader countered, moving to sit next to Luke on the bed. "No Luke, I swear I will never hurt you, not intentionally. I'm sure there will be plenty of days where I wish I could, but I could never bring myself to hurt you. Do you believe that?"

The Force told Luke it was true, but he didn't need the Force. Despite everything Luke trusted his father. "Yes. I'm sorry I was going to run away."

"Kenobi was manipulating you. You didn't know better, but you must learn. Others will surely try to do the same… now that they know."

"Know what?"

Vader didn't want to kill Luke, but he did wish Luke was trained enough to come with him at that very moment to kill Palpatine. "It seems the Emperor let slip our relationship when revealing that yet another evil Jedi has fallen to the strength of the Empire."

Luke was beginning to wish his father was willing to kill him. "Everyone knows? Rickon, everyone at school?"

Vader nodded, "I'm sorry. You do not deserve this trouble the Emperor has caused. I believe you will be able to handle it, however, because you, my son, are strong."

"Right, strong," Luke grumbled thinking of what school was going to be like on Monday.

"And I'm afraid I have other bad news. Captain Solo and I have agreed that with Kenobi gone you no longer need protection, and it's seems the credits I gave him from finding Kenobi's transport are enough to repair his ship."

"Han's leaving," Luke sighed. He'd known Han didn't really plan on staying around forever. He couldn't even blame Han for wanting to be up in the stars, but Luke would miss his friend. "He hasn't left already yet, right?"

Vader shook his head, and Luke scrambled from bed. "Would you like me to fly you to where his ship is?"

"It's not far. I'll walk… if that's okay?"

Vader nodded. Luke was in no real danger on Coruscant now that Kenobi was gone, and the boy deserved some freedom. Plus, everything that had happened surely was still weighing on Luke. He deserved time to himself.

Despite being worried that Han would leave without saying goodbye, Luke didn't rush to the landing pad. He didn't want to say goodbye, and he didn't want to have to explain why he'd been so desperate to escape. But Luke was telling the truth when he said it was a short walk, and soon enough he was at the hanger bay.

Chewie was running around the outside attaching things, and so Luke just walked right inside the ship to find Han sitting at the control panel. He first caught sight of Luke in the glass, and turned with a smile, "Glad to see I didn't leave too much of a bruise. Sorry about having to knock you out, but we couldn't get out of here without your father's credits. Now we can leave though."

We- the word both warmed Luke's heart and made him terribly depressed. Han still thought Luke wanted to run away, and was risking the danger involved with 'kidnapping' Vader's son to help him. "I can't go with you Han."

"But you said…"

"My father… he's done things." Luke couldn't deny that his father was a killer. But he was also Luke's father. "And Ben made me believe he would kill me, but was wrong, about my father being solely evil, and about my father ever hurting me. I need to stay here, because I do make him better, and maybe I can even make him good."

Han absolutely despised the idea of Luke staying with Vader. Despite what Luke seemed to now think, Han was convinced there was no good in Vader. He killed so many people, and he might just kill Luke.

But Luke didn't want to go, and Han wasn't going to kidnap the kid. Sure, he's help him run away, but he wasn't going to force Luke to go. That was where Kenobi had gone so wrong. "Whatever you say kid, but I'm going to miss you. And if you're ever in trouble you just call me, okay? No matter what… or who you're running from, I'll come."

Han offered the Falcon's code, and Luke accepted it willingly. He doubted he'd ever need to run from his father or the Empire, but it could never hurt to know he had a way out, should trying to save Vader become too impossible. "Thank you Han, and I swear I'll remember."

"You better," Han told Luke, pulling him in for a quick (manly) hug. "And keep out of trouble… if you're capable of it."

"You're taking all the trouble with you, I'm sure," Luke teased. He hadn't known Han long, but it didn't matter. He was very sad to see the man go. Still, Han belonged up in the skies, just like Luke belonged with his father. "And if you ever run into trouble you know how to find me. Let's just say I have some sway in the Empire… and soon enough probably a lightsaber as well."

Han would never, ever call Luke for help and they both knew it, but the offer was nice. "Take care of yourself kid."

"You too Han."

First day morning Luke felt sick. The HoloNet had been swarming with stories about Vader's hidden son all weekend, and now Luke actually had to go to school. Everyone would surely either hate him or be terrified of him. It would surely be horrible, and Luke was really, really wishing he could just die.

"You'll be fine," Nila reassured him as they pulled up to the Emperor's Academy. "No one your age even watches the news. They probably don't even know, and if they do they won't care. Everyone at your school has powerful parents."

"No one else's dad is a Sith Lord."

Yeah, Nila didn't have a good response to that besides opening the speeder door and shoving Luke out. He was so surprised that he didn't even manage to jump back in before she sped off, leaving Luke to face everyone.

Needless to say Nila was so very wrong and everyone knew. Kids far older than Luke gave him a wide berth of space in the halls. Strangers Luke had never met stared at him. But no one came to speak to him.

He had history first, and Luke, after noticing his teacher staring mouth literally agape, hid in the back corner next to Leah. She was reading, and only looked up to laugh at Luke. She'd known all along, of course, and now found it amusing to watch Luke scrambling to deal. It wasn't so much that Leah was mean, but that she simply didn't have any other amusement in her life.

"Luke Skywalker I'm mad at you!"

Luke slammed his head against the desk as Rickon arrived in the classroom, stalking over to Luke. He expected some cruel words, and braced himself for a repeat of Brandon.

"How dare you get yourself kidnapped?" What? Luke looked up into Rickon's chocolate eyes and saw pure fury, but no judgment at all. "Do you realize how angry my father was when he went to speak with the only witness and discovered it was me?"

Luke blinked, "I'm sorry?"

"Good," Rickon declared sitting down next to Luke. "I forgive you, just don't do it again."

Luke continued to blink, wondering if his brain had just broken from stress or if Rickon had really not brought up his father. "That's all you're mad at? Not the lying or anything I had control over, but me getting kidnapped?"

"I mean I knew your dad wasn't a Captain, my father was way too awkward that day for your dad and him to be equals," Rickon shrugged looking at Luke as if wondering whether or not the boy wanted him to be angry. (Luke did not.) "I mean I didn't expect Lord Vader to be your father, but at least he is more or less military. I couldn't be your friend if he was a governor or something."

"Okay then," Luke was very confused, but when Rickon cracked a smile so did he. "Sith is okay, governor is not. Got it."

It took a few moments of silence for the pair of them to burst out into hysterical laughter while Leah behind them just rolled her eyes. Boys.

Even knowing Rickon was still a friend, the day was terrible for Luke. Never in his life had there been so many eyes trained on him and only him before. He caught snippets of conversations that ranged from Luke actually being a clone to Luke probably being an assassin in training. Very few people actually were willing to do it in front of Luke, but he knew everyone was talking. It stunk, but Luke pushed through. Sure, his father was Darth Vader, but did any of them get lightsabers?

Slower than Luke thought possible lunch came, and he went to sit in the corner with Leah and Rickon as always. Leah's presence, however, didn't do its usual repulsion act. Luke had barely unwrapped his sandwich before a beautiful blonde who had to be at least five years older than Luke, cast her shadow across the table. "Hi, I'm Marel Perets, you've probably heard of my father, Grand Moff Perets, of the Chommell sector. So my friends, who parents are also all Grand Moffs, well we were talking and agreed that since your father has such an important role in the Empire, just as Governors do, that you should come and sit with us."

This was worse than the stares. People stared because they were curious, but Marel was hoping to use Luke. Naboo was in the Chommell sector, which made Marel the most powerful kid in the school, until Luke. Not even the Grand Moff of the Emperor's homeworld held more power than Darth Vader. So Marel needed Luke as her friend, just as so many people had needed Marel as a friend before now. It really wasn't her fault that she believed friendships should be based on politics, and it really wasn't her fault that Luke had been raised on Tatooine.

"You know, Marel, thank you, but I like my seat. It has a really great view of the speeder lot."

Marel had no idea how to respond to that, and so she just flipped her hair and crawled back to her own table, horrified. Everyone was horrified. Luke wasn't playing their game, just as Vader was known for not playing the games of the Empire. And no one knew the rules when they didn't know the game.

The thing that made Luke sad was that they truly believed there had to be any game at all. "I think I'm really glad I'm friends with you," Rickon muttered grinning. "Because I think I'm also a little scared."

"Don't be. Everyone else here may be miniature versions of their parents, but not me. I'm just a moisture farmer from Tatooine."

Leah scoffed at that, but Luke noticed her lips curled up just a bit at the edge, "Yeah, a moisture farmer from Tatooine living with a Sith Lord and studying to be a Jedi."

"You're learning to be a Jedi!" Rickon's voice carried, and suddenly everyone was staring again. Yeah, it was going to be a really long week.

When Luke arrived back at Republica500 that night, he was surprised to find the building surrounded by HoloNet crews. He'd heard before of the media stalking some politician or celebrity, but never imagined it was actually true. Still, Luke saw no other reason why there would be so many cameras there than some Senator being in trouble for a bill he wanted to pass.

"There he is!"

Luke turned, trying to see where the reporter was pointing, before realizing the reporter was, in fact, pointing at him. Suddenly all the cameras and reporters were dashing over to Luke, yelling out questions.

"Is your name actually Luke Skywalker?" "Do you have the Force?" "Where have you been all these years?" "Is it true you were kidnapped by Jedi?" "Who is your mother?" "Does Lord Vader have other children?"

Luke's head swum as all the questions were thrown at him, and he just made a break for the door. As he was attempting to pin in the code, the reporters just kept swarming, and panic flared through Luke.

Vader felt Luke's panic, and arrived within moments. Suddenly instead of a massive break towards Luke, every reporter ran as far away as possible… all except for one.

"My name is Meka Boiles, I'm with Coruscant Daily News. Luke, what is it like having Lord Vader as a father?"

Luke felt the anger and hate rising with his father, so he remained calm and turned to the woman. She hadn't been crowding him like the others, and even now stood back at a respectful distance. "It's alright," Luke whispered to his father before the girl died just for doing her job. "Look. I don't really know what you want me to say Ms. Boiles. I guess it's a bit different, and sometimes hard, but he's my father and this, this is just my life now I guess."

So, this is the end. Thank you all so much for sticking with me. Now it's not the end, end, because there are more parts to the series, but I need to finish the sequel before I can post it. Tomorrow I have a one-shot set a few months after this story that WeylandCorp 4 requested, so look out for that. I hope to have the sequel, sequel out by early June, if not before then, so look out for that as well.

Thank you again for reading, and I hope you find yourself reading the sequel, because it's only going to get more interesting.