"Suppose..." Luke paused and licked his lips for they seemed very dry all of a sudden. "Suppose you HAD known about me. From the beginning. About my mother I mean. Would... would things have been different?" He raised a hand when Vader strode towards him, the feelings overwhelming him. "I know you loved her. But would you...would you have loved me?"
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"Suppose..." Luke paused and licked his lips for they seemed very dry all of a sudden. "Suppose you had known about me. From the beginning. About my mother I mean. Would... would things have been different?" He raised a hand when Vader strode towards him, the feelings overwhelming him. "I know you loved her. But would you... would you have loved me?"
Vader was silent for a moment after he asked, which set Luke's heart hammering—sent him swallowing, regretting even asking, shifting as far away from the man as he could without vacating the throne. No, kriff that—he'd started learning swear words from Crown of Stars—he threw himself out of the chair and paced, hands twitching, ignoring the looks the guards were giving him—
Vader had loved his mother, that was true. But he'd hated his father. He would probably have hated Luke, as evidence that Padmé had loved someone else, as everything he'd never had, and it was beyond the realm of acceptable or wise to just... ask the man to lie to him so that the little emperor would stop fretting—
"Little angel." Vader's voice halted him in his tracks. "Of course I would have."
Luke blinked. Then he turned and stared.
Vader took a tentative step forwards. Then another one, then another one. Until he was less than a metre away, Luke had to tilt his head back to look him in the mask, and he placed his heavy hand on his bony shoulder.
"I..." Vader struggled for a moment, before he said, "I do love you, little angel."
Luke blinked again. Tears welled and broke like waves over his cheeks, and before he knew it his face was soaked.
But Vader's hand was an anchor holding him steady.
"More than anything else in this galaxy," Vader promised, and more tears came when he felt the truth of it in the Force—felt the vastness of the truth of it, like a bottomless well, like the ferocity of a thousand suns that burned with truth and affection and— "I love you."
Luke stared at him.
Stared some more.
Then without so much as thinking, he threw himself forwards and smushed his face against Vader's armour.
Vader jerked back for a moment, but Luke just held on tighter, and then he made a burst of noise that neither Luke nor his vocoder could interpret, and—
He bent over, wrapping his arms around Luke's torso and hugged him back.
Vader crouched to his knees so he could get a better angle, so Luke was about half a head taller than him, and hugged him tighter than Luke had hugged his bantha toy the day Nova had left. Luke slotted his face into the crook of his neck.
"There do not exist words," Vader murmured, "to express the regret and agony I feel, at knowing that I have hurt you, my—" He swallowed. You are brave, and strong, and brilliant. I said it moments ago, I will say it forever: Your parents would be so proud of you." His breathing hitched. "I... am so, so proud of you.
"I know you are afraid, little angel. I am too. The thought of losing you, is... abhorrent. I could not live with myself if I let you get hurt again." He pulled back from the hug just enough that they could look each other in the eye and a gentle had came up to wipe away another tear from Luke's cheek. Luke just stared at him, his mask a black blur, eyes glistening and glowing. "So I will not let it happen. Sabé loves you just as much as I do, and neither will she. Ahsoka has barely met you, but already she would lay down her life for you."
Luke snorted wetly. "She told you that?"
"She did not have to. She was my padawan, when I was still a Jedi. I know her well."
A thousand more questions bubbled up onto Luke's lips but he just stared, and Vader stared back.
"Destiny has not been kind to you so far," Vader admitted. "And neither have I. But never doubt that you are loved, little angel."
Luke nodded.
"And," Vader added fiercely, "never doubt that you are loveable."
Luke burst into sobs.
Vader just held him for an age, occasionally murmuring soothing words, occasionally moving his hard, heavy hands up and down Luke's back like Nova did when she held him.
"The commotion outside has died down," he said at last. There was a flicker of light in the Force, then— "Ahsoka has contacted me. She reports that all attackers have been neutralised and captured. It is safe, Majesty."
He pushed Luke away from his lightly, and put him back to stand firmly on his feet. "You are safe."
"For now."
"Yes," Vader agreed. "For now. Tomorrow, you will be even stronger than you already are, and therefore even safer. And the same goes for every day after that."
He tilted his helmet towards the door. "Would you like to return to your rooms, now?"
"Yes." Luke sniffled. "I... thank you, Lord—" He took a deep breath, and smiled a broad, watery smile up at him, his chest full to bursting with... some feeling he couldn't quite name.
It was could, though. It was bright, and soft, and full of warmth.
"Thank you, Vader," he whispered. Vader said nothing—just reached for the thin jacket Luke had been wearing over his plain, dull training clothes, and handed it to him to dry his face with, humming when Luke looked presentable again.
Nova and Ahsoka descended on him the moment he left the bunker, and he let them fuss. His head throbbed from... all of this, but... he found a smile gracing his lips nonetheless.
Send me the first sentence of a scene from this AU and I’ll continue it!
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