Forbidden

Reviewers! Thank you everyone for such lovely feedback on this piece (despite the uploading problems ... ahem, I'm not real technical here yet). I relish every single one of my reviews. I laugh, I cry, I read them again ... it's better than Cats. Okay, old joke, no good. But this chapter's good, I think, but you all are the final arbiters. Please let me know what you think!

Remy and Luke Skywolf! Guys, thank you for making me feel so at home here on the new site. I am working towards adding your pieces to my recommended reading (problem: I can't figure out how to do that ... BUT I WILL!). Okay, my technological challenge issues are showing.

FYI - The Skywolves, authors here on AFF, have a hot Anakin x Luke story and sequel. Go, check it out! And give them candy so they'll continue to write on this very small slash couple. I've already plotted two more stories with our favorite father/son force user team after Forbidden. All these pieces, including Forbidden, are epics so at least those of you fans of Luke x Vader will have some reading in the future.

Hint/Smut Alert: Nice dose of smut in this chapter. Hope you like. First part is in Vader's POV, second is in Luke's POV. The name of this chapter gives a big hint as to what its about. Next chapter we find out what the Burning is all about and we see some nifty new powers that Vader has. Plus more smut, lots and lots of smut. Oh, I do love writing slash!

Updates: I rotate which of my three pieces I update, i.e., Guardian Devil gets updated next then Dark Horizons and finally I get to write Chapter Eight of Forbidden. It takes me approx. 2 weeks to write a chapter. So expect the next update of this to be in late December 2005! I try to keep the pieces long so you have something to mull over (this one's 22 pages). So sit back, scroll down and enjoy!

Hugs and kisses,
Raythe:)


CHAPTER SEVEN: ALMOST WHOLE AGAIN

Vader held his son close against him. The boy was trembling; long drawn out shivers wracked the slight form. The Dark Lord rubbed comforting circles over Luke’s back while the child burrowed tighter into his arms.

Vader’s mind swirled with one thought: his son had raised the dead. Truthfully, when Vader had sent his son to Sickbay that morning, he had only contemplated Luke perhaps healing the troopers’ flesh wounds. A minor miracle would have been if he had restored some brain function to the men, but what he had done was shocking … stunning. ‘I did not allow myself to truly contemplate how great Luke’s healing abilities might be, even with the evidence of his re-grown hand. Because if I had then I … I might hope. Hope I could be healed. Freed from this mask and suit after twenty years. Made whole again.’

Vader turned to look at Dr. Nakima, who was slumped on a chair, fumbling to light an Illurian tabac stick even though they were forbidden to be smoked on the Executor. “Doctor.”

Nakima jerked up and dropped the tabac stick with a guilty glance. “Forgive me, Lord Vader, I was not … thinking properly.”

“Never mind your breach of Imperial rules … for now. You need to go evaluate the troopers.”

Dr. Nakima went paler than she was before. Her hands trembled at her sides. Her mouth opened in a horrified ‘o.’ “I cannot! They are not … not … I can’t!”

“You are refusing to obey me?” Vader’s voice took on a dangerous silky quality.

Dr. Nakima went as white as her uniform. “Nnnnnno, I ah…” she swallowed deeply.

MD-357 wandered over at that moment. “If Dr. Nakima is unable to attend to the troopers, I would be most capable of doing so.”

Vader stared at the stricken doctor, who appeared ready to melt into the floor.

“Father, let the droid tend to them. She is … Dr. Nakima has had a shock and would undoubtedly worry the troopers if she went in to treat them in her condition.” Luke’s voice was soft. He sounded calm, but then again he did not remove his face from its place pressed between Vader’s right arm and chest or loosen his grip on the Dark Lord’s waist.

After a brief contemplation, Vader realized Luke’s decision was the correct one. “If you wish it, Luke. MD-357, check the troopers’ conditions.” Just as the droid was trundling off to comply, Lord Vader added, “Also, compare their current conditions to their former mental and physical evaluations.”

With a little nod, the droid entered the troopers’ room. It’s too bright voice could be heard saying, “Now gentlemen, if I could please draw your attention—” Then the door slid shut and the conversation was lost.

“Dr. Nakima, I suggest you call on one of your colleagues to replace you this shift. You should also prescribe yourself a sedative and retire to your quarters until your senses have returned to you,” Vader ordered. “And doctor, you are to tell no one of what you have witnessed here today. Is that understood?”

With a jerky nod, the doctor rushed from the room, but not without one last backwards horrified glance at Luke. Vader stared at the door the doctor had exited with a scowl. ‘To think a woman of science would be afraid of what Luke has done rather than embrace it and try to understand its mystery. Perhaps I should eliminate her and ensure she does not spread her superstitious panic to others. That would seem to be the best course.’

Putting the soon-to-be deceased Dr. Nakima from his mind, Vader fully concentrated on his son. He knew they had to discuss what had happened. Luke had to be assured that what he had done was not foul witchcraft, but a natural aspect of his Force powers. ‘An extreme aspect, but natural nonetheless.’ Vader determined that his own experience with this power was a good place to start their talk.

He pretended to muse out loud, “So one can bring back the dead after all. But it is a Light Side power … not a Dark Side one.”

A muffled cry came from Luke. “You knew this was … possible?”

“Yes, child. Palpatine used it as a lure for me to come to the Dark Side. And I … I believed it was a possibility before that.” Vader answered and stroked the boy’s golden hair. He thought, ‘And how ironic that I took the path that would never allow me the power I sought.’

Luke drew back from his embrace and studied the Dark Lord’s face. “Who did you want to bring back?”

“My mother and … yours.”

Vader clamped his lips tightly shut. He didn’t want to speak of Shmi or Padme for that matter. Too much would have to be explained and potentially forgiven as Luke had been in Padme’s womb when Vader had … ‘shaken her … hurt her … lost control and killed her.’ Vader stomped on that train of thought. He wouldn’t go over it again. It was over and done with. Unless Luke could bring back the dead whose bodies no longer existed … the thought was too much to contemplate yet. Further, he realized that he no longer desired either woman brought back to him. Shmi would never understand what he had become and Padme would try to interfere between Luke and him. Vader raised an eyebrow at himself when he realized that even if Padme, looking as lovely as she did when he last saw her, was brought back to him, he would still desire Luke.

“Father … I … when I went in there with the troopers I didn’t know … didn’t have any idea that they were dead. When I focused on them with the Force I saw … flames hovering over their bodies.”

“Tell me everything that happened, young one.”

Luke started off in a halting voice that broke every so often, but as he talked and Vader made soothing noises and asked probing questions, the Dark Lord could see the anxiety leaving his son. The boy finally felt collected enough to release his father from the death grip embrace he’d had on him and sit down in a chair, though Luke still held tight to one of Vader’s hands.

Vader mused, “There are many who posit that the life force … the spirit … does not leave the body immediately at death, but lingers for a time before it moves on. The flames could have been the lingering life forces of those men that you touched.”

Luke nodded then his piercing blue eyes were raised to his father and there was an expression in them that Vader was not used to seeing: gratefulness. Luke confirmed that emotion by what he next said, “Thank you, Father.”

“For what?”

“For making me feel … less unnatural.” Luke unconsciously rubbed his re-grown hand over his thigh. “Dr. Nakima … she saw me as a monster. And the troopers, because of what I’ve done to them … I could tell she was afraid of them, too.”

“She is a superstitious fool. You needn’t concern yourself with her any longer.” Vader ruffled Luke’s hair and the boy leaned into that touch. Vader couldn’t help but smile as he realized that Luke was fast becoming used to and seeking his caress.

At that moment, MD-357 glided out of the troopers’ room, chirping at them excitedly. “Lord Vader! I have the results of my evaluation.”

“Well?”

“The men are in perfect health, mental and physical. Indeed they are better than they have ever been,” the droid gushed.

“What do you mean ‘better than they have ever been’?” Luke asked, half-rising from his chair. Vader felt Luke clutch his hand tighter.

“Their current status as compared to all their earlier evaluations show that the men’s mental acuity and physical strength and stamina have improved by approximately 34 from their prior highest scores,” the droid answered and cocked its white mechanical head to the side.

Luke sank back down into the chair. His eyes became unfocused. Vader could not hear his thoughts over their link. The boy was unconsciously shielding. Not sure what that boded for his son’s mental health at that moment, he determined to give the child time to collect himself. He turned back to the droid.

“Do they have any … memories of their deaths?” Vader asked.

“I did not inform them that they had died. My programming advised me that they would be unduly excited by such information.”

“That was not what I was asking or suggesting. Did they speak of any of their experiences in general?” Vader restrained the urge to crush the droid’s voice box.

“They were unwilling to tell me about it. Indeed they asked to speak to the young man rather urgently when I pressed them on the subject of their most recent memories.” MD-357 gestured towards Luke.

Luke’s head jerked up. Though deep in his own thoughts, he had obviously been paying attention to what MD-357 was saying. The bond between them was still quiet though.

“You do not need to see them, my son, if it would upset you,” Vader said gently.

“Thank you. But I wish to.”

Luke rose from the chair with his usual grace. Vader noted that the new clothes fit him well, accentuating his muscled chest and slim hips. Even as they walked together to go meet men back from the dead, Vader felt his hunger for his son grow. The need to strip the boy of those new clothes piece by piece, reveal his son’s skin, all golden except for the pale buttocks and groin, burned in him. Vader mentally chastised himself. His sex drive had not been this great since his teens. ‘Yet is it so strange that I feel as deeply as I do? The boy reeks of repressed sensuality. He’s never been touched, explored, plumbed. Truly the old term de-flowering applies to my child. Making love to him will be like pulling back petals to reveal his secret inner core.’

With that last thought, the door to the troopers’ room slid open. Luke hesitated only a moment at the threshold then the boy squared his shoulders and proceeded inside with Vader close behind. Four sets of eyes were turned towards them. The troopers straightened in their sitting positions on the beds when they realized Vader was also present. He told them to be at ease. He noted that the soldiers regarded his son with eager, warm expressions. Vader shielded his presence slightly so the men would converse freely with Luke without being distracted by him. The one Luke had spoken to earlier, a trooper with green eyes, was again the first to speak.

“Hello again. I take it that bucket of … I mean the medical droid told you that we asked for you,” the green-eyed trooper said.

Luke smiled. “Yes. How … how are you feeling?”

“Great! Ready to get out of our skivvies and back into our uniforms.” The other troopers laughed and nodded. “I’m Davel by the way and that’s Greggs, Simok and Trans,” the green-eyed trooper explained and pointed to each man in turn.

Luke greeted all of them. “I’m Luke …” The boy bit his lip suddenly and Vader heard his thoughts again through their link like a shout: ‘Do I say Skywalker? I have to, it’s who I am, but … what if they had friends, family aboard the Deathstar? I cannot take back what I did. I must face it and them.’ “I’m Luke Skywalker.”

There was a flash of recognition across Davel’s face. He frowned slightly and opened his mouth to say something, but Vader cut him off. “My son. Luke is my son.”

The troopers’ eyes went huge. Luke looked up at Vader with a half-grateful, half-peeved expression as if he knew now the men would now not ask him outright if he was the Luke Skywalker that destroyed the Deathstar. That of course had been Vader’s purpose. Whatever the troopers thought of his son or his actions was irrelevant, and the child was sure to be hurt by any negativity.

‘There is no reason for you to be a martyr over this, Luke.’ Vader passed through their bond. ‘It was kill or be killed.’

‘I don’t know, Father. But that doesn’t change the fact that I killed a million people with one shot.’

Vader knew that this paled to the number he had killed in his years as a warrior. But Luke was not like him and perhaps not meant for war. Vader thought to himself, ‘He feels every death too keenly, a weight he believes he must carry and never let down.’

Davel spoke up again, “Well, this is even a greater honor to meet you then, Lord Skywalker.”

“Just Luke. My father is the only lord in this room. MD-357 mentioned that you wished to speak to me of something.”

“To thank you actually,” Trans spoke up then.

Luke’s brow furrowed and a trickle of unease passed through the bond. “For what?”

Trans and Davel exchanged a look. Davel nodded and Trans continued, “For saving us from that … that place … that dark place.”

Luke looked at each of the troopers in turn, who were nodding in agreement with what Trans had said. “What do you mean?”

Davel took the lead again, “We … we all agree that the last thing any of us remembers before the dark place was being on Tanos IV in the troop transport. We’re all in the same unit, see, and then there was an explosion and …”

“Then we were there … in the darkness. For so long,” Simok, the grey-eyed trooper, intoned deeply.

“Then there was a light,” Greggs added.

“No, not just a light … there was you,” Davel said and leaned forward on his bed towards Luke. “You were the light. Calling to us.”

“Taking us out of that … nothingness,” Trans said.

The troopers looked at Luke with such thankfulness that the boy flushed. He stared down at his boots, apparently unable to meet their gazes any longer. “I’m … I’m glad I could help you.”

“We … is there anything we can do for you?” Davel asked suddenly. “We feel we owe you our lives. So is there anything—”

“Oh, no! You owe me nothing. Just be well, that’s all I would ask for,” Luke said quickly.

“Actually, there is something that you four could do that would be useful to my son and me and get you back in the field immediately,” Vader spoke up. Luke gave him a startled look; the troopers appeared pleased.

“Anything, Lord Vader,” Davel said.

“We will need an escort down on the planet—”

“Father, no! Not to Black Heart! The Viateen …”

“This place is dangerous?” Trans guessed.

“Yes, very!” Luke was practically vibrating with anxiety, but Vader knew that this was the right thing to do. The troopers’ conditions needed to be tested and they obviously had a great attachment to his son.

“Yet you are going down there even though it’s dangerous?” Davel asked Luke, one pale eyebrow raised.

“Yes, but …”

“Then we are definitely going. We absolutely wish to accompany you and your son, Lord Vader. It would be more than just a great honor to us,” Davel said firmly. “When will we be leaving for the planet’s surface?”

Smiling beneath his mask even as Luke’s gaze darted between him and Davel, Vader said, “Today. I will let MD-357 know you are released back to active duty immediately. Meet us in the hanger bay in four standard hours. Rest easy until then.”

With that, Vader turned on his heel and left the room, feeling Luke give one last exasperated look at Davel, who just smirked in a good-natured way, before Luke turned and ran after father. They had not even gotten out of Sickbay, before Luke was trying to engage him on his decision about the troopers.

“Father! We can’t bring them down to Black Heart. No matter what the droid said, we can’t be sure of their true mental and physical condition. And that place will test anyone!”

“Exactly, young one. It will put strain on them. We will be able to see quickly if there is anything wrong,” Vader explained as he led them back towards their shared quarters.

Luke chewed on his inner cheek while he considered his father’s logic. “I … I understand what you are saying. It’s just … they’ve only now recovered. To have them risk their lives again--”

“Is what they do. What they wish to do. They would not be happy knowing that you were going down to a dangerous planet and they were being left behind. They want to protect you, child. You have engendered great loyalty in them. You should use this to your advantage.”

“I don’t want to use them in any way!”

“Then I will. I want an escort that will fight tooth and nail for your safety. And since I am their commander, that is the final word on the subject,” Vader said and punctuated the statement with a gesture of one gloved fist. After a few quiet moments, Vader added, “I know that your physical silence is your effort to not be defiant. But, remember, I hear your thoughts, too.”

Luke jerked to a stop then hustled to catch up with him. The boy was clearly exasperated that Vader could read him so easily, but then Luke smiled wryly up at the Dark Lord. “So you heard me calling you overly-controlling and—”

“Tyrannical. Do not forget tyrannical,” Vader said mildly, and realized that he was teasing his son. He had not teased anyone in twenty years. “For myself, I would characterize my actions as decisive.”

Luke raised an eyebrow at him. “Decisive? Hmmm, I’ll have to remember that as a codeword for tyrannical next time.” Then a genuine grin graced his son’s lips. The boy realized Vader was teasing him, too.

They walked down the corridor in companionable silence, which was broken only by a discreet beep. Without stopping or even slowing down, Vader pressed a button on his respirator.

“Father, what was that?”

“It is a signal that I must change out the filter in my respirator.”

Luke nodded, but Vader saw him worry his lower lip. They soon reached the doors to their shared quarters. Vader swiftly entered and went to the panel that housed the filters. Only one remained, which did not make sense to the Dark Lord. There should be at least fifteen behind the panel at all times. He had seen them there just the other day.

“Father, is something wrong?”

Vader did not answer. Instead he buzzed for his personal droid. The silver protocol droid entered quickly.

“C-704, where are the other filters.”

“Oh, Lord Vader, I meant to speak to you about that this morning, but you said not to disturb you.”

“Enough excuses. Tell me.”

“When I went to check your supply, I discovered that other than the filter in your hand, the others were defective.”

Vader’s free hand tightened into a fist. “And the ones in the main storage?”

“Defective as well.”

“And you just noticed this now?”

“It was like the last time, Lord Vader. Up until yesterday morning, all the filters appeared intact and completely operable.”

Vader knew that well. He himself had checked the filters just the other day and they did appear fine. He knew there was a spy on board for Palpatine. No matter how often he changed the codes to his quarters or left Force traps, the person managed to get in and affect his filters. Only Palpatine had the power to avoid his stratagems. He wondered if his newly enhanced Force powers would allow him to find the traitor now. Unfortunately, it did nothing for the current situation. This was disastrous. It would delay their journey to Black Heart and it would part him physically from his son.

“You have ordered more?”

“Yes, Lord Vader. But they will not get here for two standard days.”

A tremor went through the Dark Lord’s form. Even with all his power, he was still only half a man, probably less than that. So much power, but undone because of lava scalded lungs.

“Father?”

The Dark Lord brushed past Luke and went to stand by the viewport. He tried to stop the anger from overwhelming him and spilling out in violence. It would not do to frighten his son again. He would control himself. But the rage ate at him. A gentle hand was placed on his left forearm and he looked down upon his son’s beautiful face.

“Palpatine is punishing me,” Vader answered his son’s unasked question.

“What do you mean?” Luke’s large luminous eyes studied his mask.

“He is behind the destruction of the filters. Without them, I will have to remain in the stasis chamber until proper ones are sent. He does it so I will … remember how dependent I am on him.”

“Stasis chamber?”

“Come, I will show you.”

Vader lead Luke into his portion of their chambers. The large egg-shaped stasis chamber dominated the room. That and a large glass desk with an intergalactic access terminal were the extent of the furnishings in the room.

“There’s no bed. Where do you sleep?” Luke asked quietly.

“I cannot comfortably lie down for any length of time. It makes the respirator work too hard and the weight of the machine crushes even my chest after a time. So I sleep sitting up in the stasis pod.”

Vader saw a frown cross the boy’s reflection in the glossy finish of the stasis chamber’s closed exterior. Vader pushed the button to open the pod. The top half disengaged with a whoosh of pressurized air. The pure white interior and single chair inside were revealed. Vader could run the entire fleet from inside the pod, but he hated it. He felt more like a machine than a human being when he was in the chamber. Even with the luxury of being able to take his mask off inside, the necessary stark antiseptic interior reminded him of a cage or a casket, taking away from him even the minor joy of being free of the helmet and mask. He felt a wave of sympathy from his son. Luke was touching him again, those gentle hands on his forearms.

“How long will the one filter you have last?”

“Fifty standard hours, but since there is only one working filter left… I must not use it unless there is an emergency that requires me to be outside the stasis chamber.”

“That means you have to go in there now for two days?” Luke pointed towards the chamber.

“If I am lucky. Palpatine has sent several defective batches in a row in times past. One time, it took over a standard month for working filters to arrive.”

“A month!” Luke’s outrage ran through their bond. “He’s … a monster.”

Vader was inclined to agree even thought he was aware that sending defective filters was the least of Palpatine’s crimes. But Vader would change things, right many of Palpatine’s wrongs. Bring order to the universe without destroying it as the current emperor seemed intent on doing.

“I am most sorry that we have to be parted at this time, child of my heart,” Vader said softly as he reached forward and cupped Luke’s chin. “I will not be able to physically touch you for so long. I will be … bereft.”

He ran his thumb over the boy’s full lower lip. He felt the trill of heat run through his son. Vader was pleased when Luke did not shove the pleasurable sensation away. Luke shivered, his lips parting slightly under Vader’s touch.

“Father … we shouldn’t …”

“Shhh, sweet child, please, let me have the memory of touching you to sustain me in there.”

It was the right thing to say as Vader felt Luke consciously relax and allow the touch. ‘He would deny himself pleasure, but not me. Truly a sweet child.’

Vader sent waves of love through their bond. The boy’s eyelids shut to half-mast and his breathing sped up as Vader pushed the tip of his gloved finger inside of Luke’s mouth. He was gratified when Luke began to suck gently, almost unconsciously, on the finger. He let tendrils of his Force power drift around his son’s waist, between his thighs, allowing the tendrils to tighten and caress his son’s limbs. The boy gave a breathy moan at being bound like this. They would have to explore more thoroughly this aspect of his son’s submissive personality when he was free of the stasis chamber. When another discreet beep from his respirator sounded, Vader, with regret, withdrew the Force tendrils from around his son. The dazed, glazed expression Luke had as his father touched him slowly retreated.

“I must leave you now, my son. We will be able to communicate via the Com and our bond, of course.”

“Wait!” Luke called as Vader was about to mount the platform to the stasis chamber. “Father … do you trust me?”

Vader was quiet for a moment. “Yes. Why?”

The boy searched his mask for long moments, but then said, “Would you let me … let me try and heal your lungs?” When Vader did not speak right away, Luke said, “I know that I should probably get more practice first but … the Force … I feel I can do this and that I should do it … now.”

“The only safe way to do this would be if you joined me in the chamber.” Vader left unsaid that this would also mean Luke would see what was truly behind his mask. It was one thing for the boy to see his marred visage for a moment, but quite another for him to see it so closely for so long.

“I know and I also know that you are concerned about me seeing your face. But I have an idea. One second.” Luke suddenly ran from the room before Vader had a chance to feel tension that his son could read him so easily on this matter. Luke reappeared a moment later carrying a long strip of black material. “The belt from one of the robes you got for me. Should work as a good blindfold, don’t you think? So long as I don’t directly touch your face, I shouldn’t be able to see it.”

Vader stared at the black strip of silk. He chuckled. The child was resourceful. They were truly going to do this. His son was going to attempt to heal him. ‘He can hardly make my lungs worse. And if nothing else, I will have him close to me for a time since the only way he can fit in the stasis chamber is on my lap or kneeling on the floor between my legs.’

The Dark Lord settled himself in the stasis chamber’s chair and reached for his son.

“Not much room for two,” Luke said as he straddled Vader’s lap facing him. “Do you want to do the honors?” Luke offered his father the black silk belt, a faint blush blooming on his cheeks whether from their close proximity or the intimate act of blindfolding was unclear.

Vader took the belt, carefully folded it in half then covered his son’s blue eyes. He tied the material just tight enough to keep it on, but not to hurt. The warmth of his son’s body against his own was intoxicating, not to mention the sight of Luke’s lean muscled thighs spread over Vader’s own; his son’s body was completely open and vulnerable to his touch. With a shuddering breath that had nothing to do with the damage done to his lungs, the Dark Lord hit the button for the stasis chamber to close and for his mask to be raised.

“The amount of oxygen in here will make you slightly light-headed. Control your breathing, young one.”

Luke nodded and began the Jedi breathing technique. As the mask was lifted from his face, Vader took a moment to just look upon his son without the visor in the way. His son’s skin glowed golden even under the harsh lighting of the pod. Vader reached out and brushed the side of his son’s face.

“More beautiful than …” Vader broke off when he realized he had spoken that thought out loud.

Luke flushed a becoming rose color. “Father … I must … must concentrate.”

“Quite.”

While Luke centered himself again, Vader detached the respirator and connecting ring from his chest and neck and set it aside. He twisted his torso to the right and left, cracking his vertebra, which were happy to be rid of the strain of the respirator’s bulk. He realized that with the respirator’s absence he could do something he had longed to do since he got the boy on board the Executor.

“I know you need to concentrate, child, but … I wish to …”

Luke cocked his head to the side, obviously unclear what Vader wanted. It was easier to just do it than to explain. Tentatively, the Dark Lord wrapped his arms around the boy’s back and slowly pulled Luke forward until Luke’s chest was pressed against his own. Luke laid his head on his father’s right shoulder. The soft strands of his son’s hair brushed the side of Vader’s face. He inhaled the scent of his child: vanilla and cinnamon, old spices he remembered from his Tatooine market days that always warmed him.

“Father …” Luke breathed softly and snuggled tighter against him.

Vader thought, ‘Twenty years since I have been able to embrace someone fully without the respirator in the way. It could become addictive holding Luke like this.’ He rubbed his son’s back with long up and down strokes, from the boy’s neck down to his sensitive lower back. Luke’s arms snaked around Vader’s torso and embraced him. The boy wiggled even closer. The Dark Lord leaned down and brushed his lips against Luke’s forehead. Now that he had the opportunity to kiss the boy he found himself loathe to do so. Not because Luke was any less attractive to him, the child was more so, but rather he felt disgusted that his ugliness should touch his son. ‘The boy would allow the touch out of love and duty but not … desire. No matter what he has said. This has never mattered to me before with others. I did not realize I had any vanity left.’

Vader brushed his lips one last time against Luke’s temple and was about to end their embrace and pull away when Luke shifted upwards and kissed Vader chastely on the mouth. It was just a soft, warm press of lips, but Vader’s skin seemed to ignite from the touch.

“Luke.” His son’s name exited the Dark Lord’s mouth like a prayer.

“Second real kiss in my life,” Luke said softly, one small hand reaching up and touching his own lips as if they tingled. “I liked it. Much better than the first with Leia.”

Shock kept the Dark Lord silent at first. “You never cease to amaze me, child of my heart.”

Luke gave him a dazzling smile. “I shall endeavor to continue to do so. I’m ready to begin. Are you?”

“Twenty years ready, child. I trust you, Luke. No matter what happens … thank you for trying to help me,” Vader said quietly.

“Anytime in any way I can.”

After a moment, Luke reached forward blindly with his hands until they rested on his father’s chest. Vader shivered at the still unaccustomed touch on his pectoral muscles so often covered by the respirator’s cold impersonal bulk. He could feel the warmth of his son’s hands through the leather and mesh armor then that warmth began to spread. The heat bloomed in his chest, raced down his limbs, wrapped around his neck and flowed over his skull.

“Father.”

Luke’s voice seemed to be coming from far away as the waves of heat washed over Vader, not hurting, cradling him, embracing him, not like the fiery heat that had roasted his body so long ago.

Vader struggled to find words through the pleasure. “What … what … is it, Luke?”

“Can I … the Force … it wants to heal more than … more than just … may I …”

“Do what you wish … what the Force wishes, child,” Vader answered as he let himself go into the warmth that bathed his entire body.

There was light all around the Dark Lord. Pure, white light like liquid that suspended him, sustained him, blocking his sight of all else. He felt a pulling on his skull like threads beings run through cotton. The sensation was strange, but there was no pain. In this place of light, there was no pain or fear, just warmth and … ‘This is my son. I’m enveloped in his Force presence.’

He gasped at being so fully taken inside Luke’s barriers. That’s when he realized his lungs felt … fine, good even. He was able to breathe deep. He could feel the tissues expanding and contracting in his chest. What was more he could feel the way his suit moved against his skin and the light weight of his son on top of his thighs. The burning had destroyed many of his nerve endings, leaving him mostly numb or with no sensation at all. The prosthetics had been more sensitive than his own damaged flesh, but no longer. His sense of touch had been returned to him.

A tingling sensation swooped through Vader and he moaned with it. His whole body arched with pleasure, almost dislodging Luke. The Dark Lord was fully erect without the use of his Force powers to augment the damaged, or perhaps not so damaged now, organ. Achingly hard and the slightest brush of his suit against his engorged cock threatened to make him cum. ‘If Luke would only shift up …’ Vader fought the urge to rub himself to orgasm against his child. ‘Not like this … not so out of control …’ But the sweetness of release beckoned to him like a siren’s song.

The white light withdrew to the edges of his vision. He slumped back against the chair. He could see the interior of the pod and his black clad son on his lap again. Vader heard a soft moaning and it took him a moment to realize that wanton sound was escaping from his own lips. Luke’s fingertips brushed his chin.

“Father, are you in pain? I … please, say I haven’t hurt you!”

“No … oh, sweet child, this is not … not pain,” Vader laughed softly even as he gasped again when his erect shaft shifted against the interior of his suit. “It appears that your … healing power has an added … side effect … on me.”

Luke’s hands fluttered up to the blindfold, but he thrust them down onto his lap without removing it. “So you’re not in pain?” He asked hopefully.

“No, Luke. Feel … feel what I feel,” Vader said and sent the pleasure he felt through their bond.

Luke clutched at his father’s forearms and groaned softly. Vader saw and felt his son harden against him. The boy shook with their combined desire. Vader slid his hands around his son’s waist and pulled the boy fully against him until their organs brushed up against one another through their clothes. The boy mewled and shuddered.

“Father! Father … please, I … oh!”

His son had found the simple pleasure of grinding his erection against his father. Vader chuckled.

“Oh, we shouldn’t … I shouldn’t … oh! I can’t stop! Don’t want to stop!” Luke sobbed softly as he thrust against Vader’s muscled abdomen.

A light sheen of sweat had broken across Luke’s face. His cheeks were flushed a delicate pink. The boy bit his lower lip, almost drawing blood, to keep from crying out his passion. The vision of his son fighting and losing this battle was more erotic, more enjoyable, than the sensation of his own shaft being caressed by Luke’s wanton, frantic movements against him.

Vader whispered in his son’s ear, “Let go, Luke. Let go and let me hear you. Don’t hold back from me. I want to hear you, child.”

“Your voice! Oh, Force, your voice … you don’t know what it does to me …” Luke gasped. He stopped biting his lower lip and his moans and cries echoed throughout the chamber.

Vader’s breath ghosted over Luke’s ear and neck. He could almost taste his son’s scent of musk, vanilla, cinnamon and heated leather. He leaned in closer, until his lips were barely touching Luke’s ear and said, “Come for me. Come for me, Luke.”

With a shout, Luke came and so did Vader at the same time with a hiss. His son slumped against him, completely wasted from the orgasm. Vader found himself even relishing the discomfort of wet leather as they both had come in their pants like teenagers. The fact that he could feel the liquid and the discomfort was not something he could have done before. ‘Here I should be enamored of the fact my lungs work and my sense of touch is restored, but I’m happier that I made my son come in my lap. I even feel light-headed due to there being too much oxygen for normal lungs in the chamber!’

Vader smiled to himself and lowered his head to kiss the top of Luke’s. That’s when he felt it. Something soft brushing across the side of his face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw it: honey blonde hair … his honey blonde hair. He had not had hair in twenty years. ‘The pulling sensation … it was hair growing in.’ Vader reached up and tugged at the lock that fell across his cheek. He laughed at the pleasure/pain sensation of pulling on his own hair.

Luke must have felt his amazement through their bond. The boy unsteadily roused himself from Vader’s embrace. He was smiling softly.

“Luke … how much of me were you able to heal exactly?”

The smile grew. “Your lungs fully and … and all your flesh, Father. If the prosthetics had not been in place … well, your limbs would have re-grown. But since they were there … well, we can fix that later.”

Vader placed a gloved finger against Luke’s mouth. He couldn’t even contemplate that his limbs could be returned to him at that moment. What Luke had said before that was stunning enough. His hand was shaking. “All … all my flesh?”

“All. Let me show you.”

Luke felt for and grasped Vader’s left hand, the one limb that had semi-survived Mustafar, although it had been viciously deformed, even after all the surgeries to restore full function to it. Luke unbuttoned the gauntlet and slid the glove off. Vader stared at his perfect, unmarred left hand. Pale as milk from lack of sunlight, but flawless otherwise. He flexed the fingers, feeling the natural stretch of skin as he did so. Then he reached and let his fingertips hover above Luke’s face. ‘To touch … to feel … can this be possible?’ Vader let his fingers breach that final distance and lightly traced his son’s cheek.

“You do feel like silk … just how I imagined,” Vader breathed.

Luke’s smile grew tremulous. “There’s more.”

Vader couldn’t stop touching his son’s silky face, his soft, golden hair, the slick blindfold, the velvety collar of Luke’s tunic … all the different textures were addictive. He hardly heard his son say there was more until he noticed the boy pulling out a reflective cloth from a back pocket.

“I hoped … well, I wondered if I could heal your face … and it seems I could. So I came prepared.” Luke gestured to the cloth. “I think when you see … see your face it will … I hope, it pleases you … make you happy, Father.”

The boy straightened the reflective cloth. With just a slight pressure on the right hand corner, it would become a mirror. Luke blindly offered the cloth to his father. Vader took it from his son’s hands. He was shaking again.

Vader raised the cloth up, closed his eyes, pressed the right hand corner of the cloth and breathed deep. He needed the intoxication of the oxygen filled-room to face his visage. Even if Luke had healed him some, he wondered if he would even recognize his own face after twenty years. But anything would be better than the gargoyle he had become after Mustafar. Gripping tight to the courage he was known for and one of his son’s hands, Vader opened his eyes.

The image that looked back at him from the mirror’s surface was recognizable to him. It was after all a face he had known quite well all those years ago. In the mirror, Vader’s reflection showed his twenty-three-year-old face.


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Luke held his breath as he heard his father activate the reflection cloth. At first all he heard was Vader’s now easy breathing. Luke thought,‘No longer the whoosh of the respirator or the harsh gasps in the pod.’ Finally, his father reacted to whatever he saw in the mirror and it was to laugh. A light joyous sound, rich and full. Suddenly, Luke was encased in his father’s arms, their chests pressed tightly together.

“Child of my heart … Luke … you have … you have freed me!”

Luke couldn’t help the happy cry that left his lips. He felt his father’s hands at the blindfold about to untie it, then they stopped moving.

“Hmmm, perhaps I should leave you like this? You are so vulnerable and open to me this way—”

“Father, do not tease!”

Vader whispered in his ear, “Whose says I’m teasing?”

A trill of heat ran through Luke’s veins. Even though he had just orgasmed minutes before he felt his shaft coming to life again. He fought back the shame that came with that feeling. He wanted to experience his father’s joy without battling his own demons at this moment. ‘Besides, it makes him happy that I desire him and … it does not seem to hurt him any that I do.’ He felt his scars on his back ache though, but he pushed that feeling away as well.

“You are a million light years away from me, young one … although now seeing my face, calling you that may not make sense to many anymore.”

“What? Please, may I see … see your face?”

“You will find it … familiar, Luke.”

With that statement, Vader removed the blindfold. The first thing Luke saw was his father’s eyes. They had fascinated him in the dream, but that was nothing compared to real life. They were glowing amber with irises so black Luke felt he could fall into them forever. Then the rest of his father’s face came into focus: the high, sculpted cheekbones, the full lush mouth, the torrent of honey blond hair that flowed down to his shoulders. It was the same face as the dream. A young man’s face. The only thing that would tell the world this being before them was far older than he looked would be the ancient expression in Vader’s amber eyes.

“You’re … you’re young! That’s fantastic!”

“You didn’t intend this then, Luke?” Vader’s voice held a note of laughter.

“I … I didn’t think about it. I just pictured you … oh! Well, when I was concentrating I pictured you how you were in the dream. I didn’t know how you’d look now. Maybe that’s why it turned out this way. Do you mind it?”

Vader lifted one dark eyebrow at him. “Hmmm, freed from the mask and respirator and made young again? Do I mind? No, child of my heart, I do not mind.”

Luke couldn’t help grinning. ‘The only unexplained thing is how he turned out so much more beautiful than I ever imagined if in fact it was my vision of him that guided the Force to make him young again.’ The smile his father gave him at that moment made Luke wonder if Vader had heard that thought. Vader cupped Luke’s chin and tilted his head back.

“What is it, Father?”

The full mouth pursed and Luke felt himself flood with warmth. “Your eyes,” Vader said softly.

“My eyes?” Luke couldn’t imagine anything all that interesting about his blue eyes compared to his father’s glowing ones.

“Yes.” Vader brushed a stray lock of hair off Luke’s head while he continued to stare into his eyes. “I just realized … they really are that blue. Like the clearest day.”

Luke swallowed hard. Vader released him suddenly. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t know about you, but I’m … sticky.”

Luke felt himself blush as he realized the state of his own pants. Vader pushed the button to open the pod. It also was lowering the mask. The Dark Lord batted the thing out of his way, sending it clattering to the ground. He looked down at it for long silent moments.

“He put this on me the day you were born. He had it ready and waiting. He must have known … known what would happen to me and that I would require it,” Vader said softly.

“The Emperor?”

Vader nodded tightly. He leaned down and gathered up the mask and rest of the helmet, tucking them under his arm as he walked swiftly down the stasis pod’s ramp. Vader offered Luke a hand down.

“Forgive me, you must be exhausted, child, after using so much of the Force to heal me.”

Luke took the proffered hand, but shook his head. “I don’t feel tired at all. I didn’t when I helped the troopers either. In fact, after both times I felt energized.”

“It seems we are accessing not only more of the Force, but perhaps we are accessing it in different ways than before.”

“If you wanted, we could attempt to re-grow you limbs now.”

Vader couldn’t help a shiver of desire for that act to be done. ‘To once again be wrapped in Luke’s Force presence, to feel that light pierce me, and to come back from that place to have my limbs again …’

“I would like to try that, Luke. But only if you are sure you are up to it and not just claiming to not be tired to please me.”

At that moment, the protocol droid C-704 trundled in the room to see what had drawn his master out of the pod so early only to have his electronic brain nearly malfunction.

“Lord Vader?” The droid questioned.

“Yes, C-704, it is me.” Vader turned and said to Luke. “Do you realize that few will believe that I am me? This is the face of Anakin Skywalker … none have seen it for 20 years and very few of them are still alive. And since my face is unchanged from that time … well, it opens up many possibilities.”

“When you speak they’ll know you’re Darth Vader,” Luke answered. “And once they see your eyes … they won’t question it.”

“Those who do, won’t after I use Force persuade on them,” Vader added and Luke couldn’t help but shiver at the cold smile that crossed his father’s face. No matter that his father looked like Anakin on the outside, clearly he was still the Dark Lord all the way through.

“I say, sir … I take it you no longer will need those filters?” C-704 asked.

“Don’t cancel the order. Continue on as if I still require them for now. Oh, and C-704, place an order for a bed … a large bed … big enough for two … for my suite under a pseudonym. Luke and I will use his for now so at the next port will do.”

If Luke thought he had blushed his last that day, it was nothing compared to the radioactive color he turned when Vader said they would be sharing a bed. ‘Somehow I doubt he envisions us just sleeping in that bed either. And when the other … large bed … comes, he seems to intend us to share that as well.’ Luke tried to surreptitiously press down on his groin to stop what those thoughts were causing his body to do. No matter how much his mind seemed to want to reject that he and his father were fated to become lovers, his body had no problem envisioning it and wanting it desperately.

“Leave us, C-704,” Vader ordered and walked over to a side table where he placed the mask and helmet down.

As the droid walked out, Vader swiped one of the blood fruit from the bowl on the center of the table. With his normal hand, he broke open the flesh of the fruit. The tart sweet scent of its juice burst into the room. Vader slowly raised his healed fingers covered with crimson juice up to his mouth. His pink tongue came out and he lapped the juice up. Luke had to catch his breath at the sight of his father’s long elegant fingers then being sucked clean by that lush mouth. Vader took a large bite out of the blood fruit, chuckling as the juice splurted and ran down his chin. Luke grabbed a cloth napkin and came to his father’s aide.

“Do you know, Luke, that this is the first time I’ve ever eaten in here?” Vader gestured to the sitting room.

Luke smiled and shook his head as he tried to dab the juice Vader missed with his tongue from the Dark Lord’s chin with the napkin.

“I couldn’t eat anywhere but in the stasis chamber really and everything in there would have this … aftertaste. Bitter, metallic almost. The oxygen mix, probably. But this,” Vader hefted the dripping fruit, “is like Nirvana to my taste buds.”

“I’m glad. So happy for you.”

“I know. And you have given me this happiness. Your love has restored so much to me, child of my heart.”

Luke couldn’t find words to respond. His eyes suddenly burned with tears. Vader held Luke in that amber gaze again that made Luke want to fidget. Luke settled for trying to wipe more blood fruit juice from Vader’s mouth with the napkin. The Dark Lord took the cloth from his hand though, stopping him. He tossed it to the side.

“Don’t clean me like that, Luke. Clean me like this.”

Vader slowly licked his lips, leaving them wet and wanting and perfect. Luke could almost envision what they would feel like against his own: soft and firm, taking from him and giving. He could imagine licking his father’s chin, the skin rougher as compared to the plushness of the lips. He wondered what his father would taste like under the sweetness of the juice. His body ignited with the thoughts and his scars seared him again.

“Father … please, I …” Luke’s voice seemed to dry up on its own.

“Why are you still fighting this between us? Surely, you know that I enjoy your touch. And I think you might even have accepted that I am … what I am, Darkside and all. I rejected it being the taboo of incest before, but perhaps I was too hasty. Was I?”

Luke hardly understood the reason himself. It was all bound up in what had happened on Tatooine when his uncle had found the datapad. Somehow desire for his father and that horrible punishment were intertwined. ‘And how I failed Father. Failed to keep the datapad … him … safe.’

“I had many ideas of right and wrong before I was … before I was injured … burned, Luke. I learned that things are not—”

“Burned?” Luke hardly recognized his own voice. He felt himself twitch as the word ran though his blood.

Vader stopped, his eyes narrowing as he picked up on Luke’s distress. The distress that ran like wildfire through him … ‘scorching … burning … melting flesh like wax … oh, stop! Stop! STOP!’

“Luke! Force, child, what is wrong? What is it?”

Vader was turning him around, lifting up his tunic and t-shirt. Luke didn’t realize but he was clutching his back where the scars were. The wounds hurt so badly, like they had when they were fresh. ‘But that was five years ago … oh, Force, what is happening to me?’ When Vader’s hand brushed the scars lightly, Luke couldn’t stop the cry of pain that burst from his lips.

Vader helped him sit on one of the couches, careful not to let his back touch anything that might cause him pain. But Luke knew the agony was only in his mind. Nothing physical could truly cause his wounds to hurt like that. It was the knowledge that his father had truly been burned. Luke didn’t know what he had thought was the cause of his father’s extensive injuries, but he had hoped … more like pleaded … that it wasn’t burning.

Vader cupped Luke’s face, forcing the younger man to look at him, “Luke, please tell me what is causing you such distress.”

“I can’t! I … can’t speak about …” Luke’s throat seemed to want to close up on him and his back raged with pain again.

“This is a psychosomatic reaction, my son. Some trauma … something to do with me and … burning? And the … punishment,” Vader’s voice became low and dark as he said the last.

Luke nodded as his voice utterly failed him. The pain was too great. The memories he had long ago relegated to a small corner of his mind kept flashing before him. Owen’s bearded face, the line of his jaw tight, as he scanned the datapad’s contents; spittle flying from Owen’s mouth as he flayed the skin off Luke’s back; Beru pleading with Luke to just break the datapad as the twin suns of Tatooine baked his body and parched his mind.

“If you cannot tell me, young one, show me. Let me help you end this pain,” Vader’s voice was like a balm to Luke’s ragged thoughts.

Luke thought: ‘Yes, just purge it all out. Show him how I was punished. How I failed. No need to fear what he’ll think of me any more. He’ll know everything.’

Luke nodded and offered his father his mind and all the terrible memories within it.