Slowly, Luke learned not to run to his father's room at night. For a while, Leia was confused when she woke up to find her brother sleeping on the floor beside her bed, but she never questioned it, and eventually Luke realized she knew, and explained it.

Something about Luke's losing the habit made Anakin feel rather lonely. He'd liked knowing that Luke trusted him deeply enough to run to him, even with Luke's admitted fears. He knew, of course, that it was for the best. But that had just been a wonderful reminder that Luke's trust hadn't been completely shattered by how they had met.

As such, it came as a surprise when, in early fall, Anakin was shaken awake by a terrified looking Luke.

"Daddy! Wake up!" he shook his father's shoulders.

"Luke? What's wrong?" Anakin asked groggily.

Luke, who had rapidly gained strength physically as well as emotionally, yanked his father upright and ran to get his father's boots.

"Daddy, we have to leave. I don't know what's happening, but it's the end of the world!"

Anakin took the boots and put them beside himself, "What do you mean, Luke?"

"Please, Daddy, we really, really have to go," Luke sobbed, looking utterly panicked.

Anakin took his son's arms in his hands, holding him still, which usually comforted Luke, "Luke, son. What's happening out there?"

Luke wrenched himself away and ran to grab his father's traveling cloak, "The sky. Something's wrong with it. It's all dark, and something is pouring down. All the holy books talk about tribulation, and this is it, isn't it?" He threw the cloak on Anakin's bed and burst into tears.

Anakin pulled him close, "Everything's going to be okay."

"Not if we don't get going!" Luke wailed, "If we don't get moving, we'll all die here! I don't want to die anymore! I don't want you and Leia and Obi-Wan to die!"

Anakin flinched when his son said 'anymore', but tried to hide it, afraid that it would upset Luke further, "Luke, please, take a deep breath. Are you trying to say that there's water coming from the sky? Which is cloudy, and probably looks pretty sinisterly dark because it's still nighttime?"

Luke nodded shakily, "Yeah. All that, but there's more too! It keeps making awful crashing sounds, and light flashes!" Luke burst into tears again.

There was a flash of lightning, followed almost instantly by a roll of thunder. Luke screamed and started trying to rush his father through getting up once more. Vader gently rebuffed him, pushing him down on the bed.

"You're going to let us all die!" Luke shouted, "After everything we've all been through!"

"Luke. Everything's all right. This happens sometimes, it's called a thunderstorm. You arrived here in summer, which sometimes has these, but not too often. We haven't seen any yet. Have you woken any of the others?"

Luke kept sobbing, "I don't think so."

Anakin kissed his cheek, trying to comfort him, "It's not a tribulation. It's an annoyance at worst. Take a couple of deep breaths."

Luke shakily did as he was told.

"I've seen lots of thunderstorms. I've never known anyone who was killed in one. The safest place we could possibly be is right here."

Luke had stopped running around enough that Anakin was able to put his hand on his son's head, gently holding him still.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"But-but I saw it hit a tree. The tree burned!"

"Yes, Luke. Lightning can kill. But it won't reach us if we stay inside. If you were in a boat in the middle of the lake, this would be understandable. We're surrounded by trees taller than our house. We'll be all right. Sniff the air. You can't even smell burning. The tree was still alive, so it was too damp to really burn. If any embers jumped, the rain will have put them out by now."

Luke sniffled, slowly calming down, "How many thunderstorms have you seen?"

"Too many to count. You'll get used to them, I promise."

Luke pressed himself against his father, and Anakin held him close.

"They scare me."

"I know they do. Just stay calm. As long as you stay inside, there's nothing they can do to harm you."

Luke mumbled something unintelligible.

"I guess you'll have to learn a bit about weather. I'll teach you in the morning, okay?"

Luke nodded.

"Now Daddy's tired, and he needs to go to sleep."

Luke started to look frightened again, "Can't I stay with you?"

Anakin nodded, "You may stay as long as you wish. Lie down and I'll tuck you in."

Luke nodded, and crawled into his father's bed, allowing himself to be pampered. Anakin tucked him in, and then crawled in behind him. Almost immediately, thunder crashed and the room was lit momentarily by lightning. Luke whipped around and buried himself against his father's chest, crying once more.

Anakin held him close.

Each time lightning struck, Luke would sob and cling a little tighter to his father.

At last, Anakin gave up sleep and sat up. Luke, who was now potentially permanently affixed to his father's chest, was pulled up as well. As Anakin sat still, holding his child, stroking the boy's hair, and trying to convince him to release his father, there was another flash.

Luke had been staring catatonically at the window. When he saw the lightning, he screamed. Anakin expected it to be another short burst, but Luke sustained it. His scream dragged on and on, finally fading out, only for Luke to take a breath and scream again.

"Luke, what's wrong?" Anakin asked, worried.

Luke only screamed again.

Anakin carefully caught hold of his son's voice and temporarily silenced his son.

"Luke, what's wrong?" He released his hold on his son's voice, and Luke instantly took another deep breath, as though to scream again.

Anakin put his finger to his son's lips, and Luke didn't scream.

"Luke, this is bothering you too much. I know you've never encountered lightning before, but it's more than that, isn't it?"

Luke sniffed, tears streaming silently down his face, his eyes still transfixed on the window.

Anakin took his son's head and guided his range of vision back to his father's face, "What else is wrong, Son?"

Luke closed his innocent blue eyes, his entire body shaking, "It's just like it's always been," he mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

"When I can't see it, it crashes and lights up the room, just like they used to do to my cell to keep me from sleeping," Luke said in a very frightened voice. Miraculously, Luke's voice became even softer as he spoke the next words, "And when I can see it, it's just like he used to do to me."

The words didn't click immediately, "Like who used to do to you? How did they hurt you?"

Luke closed his eyes tighter, squeezing them shut as if trying to keep something away, "He would raise his hands like it was nothing and then… you called it lightning."

He used Force lightning on my son! "Palpatine?"

"Yes!" Luke sobbed, "Always! Again and again and again! I'll never forget it! Not if I live forever! The pain was so terrible!"

Anakin rocked his son slowly, trying to comfort him.

"Remember how I said I saw the tree burn? He lit me on fire once too! He was just too angry, and he decided I wasn't reacting strongly enough, so he just kept shooting it at me. And the whole time, all I could think was that there was no-one in the galaxy who'd save me."

"Luke, I would've saved you if I'd known."

"I know," Luke whispered in a terrified voice, "But I didn't then. All I knew was that there was no-one in the galaxy who knew I existed beyond my torturer and my father who I thought didn't care. All I knew was that I couldn't hope for rescue. My only hope was death. Daddy, please, tell me it's not normal for a five-year-old to want death!"

Anakin shook his head, "I promise you. You were raised in the worst way possible. I know it's hard for you. I know it will go on being hard for you. But you have to understand that I'm always here for you, and your sister is always here for you, and Obi-Wan, for all his talk of Jedi not having children, is an excellent father figure."

Luke sniffled and nodded, "But I'm going to keep coming to you, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind. I love you very much, Luke, and I'm honoured you trust me enough to care for you."

Luke smiled slightly.

"Now, I'm tired, and I'm sure that panicking has worn you out too. Would you like to just crawl back into bed, and I'll keep you safe?"

Luke sniffed a final time and crawled back into bed. Anakin didn't bother to tuck him in before crawling in behind him. Then he pulled the blanket up over both of them and waited for the thunder. Although Luke tensed when it came, he was able to roll over and cling to his father a little bit more slowly, and Anakin was able to hug him back without fear of being suffocated by his son's attempts to get closer, further into his father's protective bubble.