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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Saga Under a Dark Sky: AU, Luke

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by Raissa Baiard, Jun 21, 2014.

  1. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Superb post with amazing revelations and warm sibling supportiveness. Yup, secrets that didn't necessarily need to be kept coming out- those are always the most shocking and generally tend to turn your world view upside down and sideways. Clarys is right about Lord Vader though - there is no love in that family circle. :p

    And I do hope she never loses her hope or kindness. @};-
     
    Raissa Baiard likes this.
  2. Jeff 42

    Jeff 42 Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 14, 1998
    I'm posting on the JC for the first time in over six years to say that Raissa, I've now read this entire thread and I absolutely LOVE this story. It's a wonderfully intriguing AU with vibrant characterizations and beautifully described scenes. I'm so glad I decided to read it. You do such a great job writing the AU Luke and Leia, and Claryse is a great OC.

    My favorite scene so far is probably Luke's visit to the old Lars homestead. Also, I know this was over a year ago, but no one commented on it and I wanted to say I just adored this part:

    I can't wait to see what the elder Lord Vader is like in this timeline, and how he interacts with his children. I'm also curious about when and how the Death Star will come into play. I eagerly await your next posts!
     
  3. Raissa Baiard

    Raissa Baiard FFoF Artist Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 1999
    Thank you so much :) This was one of those chapters that I just felt like I couldn't get right. It's been plaguing me for, oh, three and a half months now. I'm glad it finally turned out okay. I wanted to give Kitt some character besides just "overprotective big brother."

    Welcome back, Jeff 42! :D I actually started this story the last time we were on the boards together. (And it's still not finished, thanks to a ten year hiatus for life, the universe and everything).

    The farmstead scene is my favorite, too. It's the only time my own writing has choked me up. Luke's "special hatred" for sand is one of those moments where life and fanfic intersect. We were on vacation at the beach while I was plotting that scene. Let's just say I am not a beach person.... ;) My frustration that no matter how well you rinse off, the sand will follow you back to your room and get everywhere reminded me of Anakin's immortal words on sand in AotC, which in turn lead to the quoted passage.

    Lord Vader, Sr. is slated to appear in the next chapter. Hopefully, it will not take another 3 months. :D
     
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  4. Raissa Baiard

    Raissa Baiard FFoF Artist Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 1999
    NightWatcher91, Priyanka, EGKenobi, JEDIFLYSWATTER, Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Chapter 23
    Luke decided the best place to start searching for the truth was with the one who should have told him the truth from the start: his father. Though he'd never spoken about their mother before, Luke hoped that, armed with Leia's revelations from the Emperor and his own visions at the Lars farmstead, he could convince his father to be more forthcoming now.

    It was a good thing he hadn't planned on surprising Father, because his door slid open before he had a chance to knock. "Luke." Father greeted him with a nod and waved a black gloved hand to indicate that he should come in.

    Father's chambers were, like so many things in the Imperial Palace, an artfully staged fiction. The rooms were more austere than most of the Palace, but still elegant as befitted one of the Emperor's closest advisors. Luke was never quite sure who the suite was meant to fool. The servants surely knew that the bedroom that was never slept in and a conversation circle that seldom saw conversation, and no one who ever met Lord Vader would believe he was simply another member of the Imperial Court. In fact, the only rooms that Father ever used were the study and his meditation chamber, and those increasingly rarely. Between the Rebel's increased activity and Grand Moff Tarkin's secret project, Father was seldom at the Imperial Palace; the travel case sitting open on the polished ebon wood caf table showed that Luke had just caught him before he left Coruscant again. Father stood next to the table, his hands folded behind the small of his back like a soldier. He looked down at Luke, who took a seat on the woodoo hide sofa. "The Emperor tells me that you and Leia were successful in your mission."

    Luke shrugged. "It was really Leia's mission. The Emperor sent her to Alderaan; I was just...along for the ride." He couldn't help but contrast this tepid reception with the enthusiastic welcome Clarys had received on Alderaan. There were no warm embraces or fond declarations that he'd been missed for Luke, just his father's sterile greetings. He wouldn't go so far as to dismiss them as emotionless, though he knew most outsiders would see it that way. Luke could sense the feelings hidden behind the immobile features of Father's mask, but now he found them wanting after experiencing the easy warmth that flowed through the Antilles family. How had he never noticed before how fiercely possessive Father's feelings toward him were? Pride and fear mixed with a desperate sort of love whose tendrils clung to Luke, binding him, pulling him tight.

    And behind that, as always, a simmering resentment towards the Emperor.

    Unlike Leia, Luke had realized long ago that Father might obey Palpatine, but he had no love for him. Today, his animosity was keener than usual. And Luke knew thought he knew why. "I don't blame you for being angry that he sent Leia to Alderaan. Not after the Jedi kidnapped her and gave her to Organa to raise." He paused. "The Emperor told her, you know, about our mother, and the Jedi, and Organa. He didn't, however, mention what happened to me."

    As an opening sally, it was completely ineffective. Father clenched his hands behind his back, and though his anger boiled up higher, his emotions betrayed nothing else useful. "It is not my place to gainsay our Master's decisions," he answered stiffly.

    Luke felt Father's mental shields, thick and unyielding as a blast door, closing into place; he knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but he was determined to get answers. "Really?" he pressed. "I would think that when it came to what you told your children---when it came to secrets you've kept for nearly twenty years--that it was your place." Bitterness stained Luke's voice. Father could hardly have missed it, but he remained unmoving and unmoved; with his emotions shielded, his Force sense was as hard and blank as his mask. Luke felt his own anger rising at the lack of response. "Perhaps the Emperor was simply concerned for Leia," he suggested, "and wanted to spare her the kind of visions that I had on Tatooine."

    That shot hit home. He felt Father's shields tremble and slip; anger--and fear? Surely not, not from Father--leaked through before he slammed them up again. "Tatooine?" he demanded, advancing on Luke. "You were on Tatooine? When?"

    Luke wasn't immune to his father's menace, but he'd learned early on that a Sith never showed weakness, never backed down. He made himself sit up straighter, holding his ground. "Princess Clarys went on a humanitarian mission to the planet; we accompanied her. She was bringing equipment to a settlement of moisture farmers that had been attacked by Sand People. It was the most insignificant little speck of a town I've ever seen--Anchorhead. The strange thing was the moment I set foot there I felt like I'd been there before."

    Now he was sure he felt a current of fear seeping through Father's Force presence, a dark miasma that was growing ever thicker. Was he remembering Anchorhead and the little farmstead outside of it where the Sand People had been blamed for slaughtering a young family? Did he remember the screams and flames? "And these visions, what did you see?"

    Luke hesitated. He felt an odd reluctance to share what he had seen from the Lars homestead, particularly his memories of Beru. That fleeting love seemed too precious to share with the man who had cut her down. He decided it was his turn to be evasive. "There was an old man in Anchorhead. They said the Tusken Raiders hacked off his arms and legs and left him to die in a fire. He was completely mad, but the locals regarded him as a kind of prophet."

    "So Obi-Wan still lives." Father's voice was gloating, but there was an odd strain of wistfulness behind it. He seemed almost unaware he'd spoken aloud.

    ''You know him." Luke seized on the admission; here was his opening, confirmation that there was at least some truth in Old Ben's daft rambling.

    Father came back to himself with a curt shake of his head. ''Merely an old...acquaintance." He flicked his hand, dismissing the suggestion as if it was no more than a troublesome fly, but his rapidly crumbling shields told a different story. His control was slipping; Luke could sense the disturbance in his emotions clearly now. Hatred and anger churned with an old, deep pain and a deeper sense of fear and loss. He'd never felt such turmoil radiate from his father before. Anger and hate were a Sith's tools, but fear was weakness. What was buried in his past, and who was Old Ben that he could make Darth Vader afraid? ''He's of no importance."

    ''He knew you," Luke said. ''And he knew me. He called me the Light Bringer, the son of Skywalker. What does that mean?"

    ''It means nothing," Father insisted-- a lie; Luke could sense it. ''The old man is mad; you said it yourself." He turned away, picked up his travel case, and left the conversation circle, his cape swirling behind him as he went. Clearly, the conversation was over as far as he was concerned.

    Luke felt his own anger rising. Father was lying, avoiding him, just like he'd done for the past nineteen years. His entire life had been one lie after another about his family, about himself. He was sick of it. He wanted the truth and wanted it know. Luke slapped his hands against the leather couch, pushing himself up and strode after Father. ''He knew my mother," Luke shot after him. ''Your lady mother, he called her. 'Oh, how your lady mother would weep if she saw what your master...'"

    ''Enough!'' Father roared, rounding on him. He stabbed a finger at Luke. ''I will not speak of this!"

    ''Will not speak of this?'' His anger was a red haze now, and he felt his power surging through him, crackling at his fingertips and in his words. ''Will not speak of my mother? I have a right to know! Who was she? Was it Beru? Why did you kill her? Tell me! "

    ''Enough!" Father's hand slashed the air, and Luke was swept aside like a leaf in a storm. He crashed into the wall with a grunt. Father loomed over him, his right hand clenched into a fist. ''I. Will. Not. Speak of this." His hand tightened, and Luke realized too late what was happening. He scrabbled uselessly against the incorporeal hand that choked him. As his vision began to darken at the edges, he saw his distorted image reflected in the curved eyes of Father's mask. ''Father!" he gasped. "Please!"

    Suddenly, his vision changed and Luke saw himself not in his father's eyes, but through them-- struggling, gasping, pleading-- and another face replaced his. It was a woman's face, her dark brown hair pulled back from her pale face, her brown eyes wide in fear. So like Leia, yet so unlike. It was a face that haunted his father's memories and his nightmares. Shame and self-loathing, Father's emotions, flooded him. The crushing grip on his neck disappeared, and Luke slid to the floor.

    And Darth Vader turned and fled his own chambers.

    Luke slumped against the wall, panting, and closed his eyes. A bitter laugh rasped up in his aching throat and turned into a wracking cough. That had certainly not gone well. But though he'd gotten no answers, Father had revealed something to him, after all--his first glimpse of his mother's face...struggling, gasping, pleading as the man she loved choked the life out of her.
     
  5. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Wow, this is amazing! =D= :cool:
    How had he never noticed before how fiercely possessive Father's feelings toward him were? Pride and fear mixed with a desperate sort of love whose tendrils clung to Luke, binding him, pulling him tight.
    A fascinating glimpse of ties that forge a unique form of loyalty. [face_thinking]
    Breathtaking contest of wills and turmoil of emotions! And though Luke did not get any specific details, he certainly got a strong revelation about his mother's fate. :eek:
    Also, Vader has to know that Luke is not a wimpy wuss. :p He is going to push for what he thinks he needs and deserves to know.
     
  6. Laine_Snowtrekker

    Laine_Snowtrekker Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2003
    Enjoying this, as always.
     
  7. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Finally caught up on the last two chapters! And by reading them in one go, I got to enjoy the contrast between the two, and the irony -- Clarys, with her loving family, her loving brother whose open-hearted advice takes her unwittingly further away from the truth, Luke, in his cold Imperial environment, with his distant father who won't speak, but who reveals a new element of his past... It was artistically done! ;)

    I'm very curious to see how the storylines of these two characters will reconnect -- I suspect that, in looking for the person they miss (Luke for his mother, Clarys for her cousin) they will find themselves in each other's presence sooner than they expect.
     
  8. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Raissa Baiard -- I'm back and catching up on all the stuff that continued and had to stroll back in here just in case this wonderful AU was finished. Now that I'm back, [face_laugh] I hope this continues. [face_batting]
     
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  9. Darth_Drachonus

    Darth_Drachonus Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 2005
    Please tell me this hasn't died. It's amazing!
     
  10. Darth_Drachonus

    Darth_Drachonus Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 2005
    Sorry, double post
     
  11. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Yes it is. [:D] [face_batting]
     
  12. Cowgirl Jedi 1701

    Cowgirl Jedi 1701 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2016
    This is a very engaging story. You have swept me up in the drama, and now I want to know how it ends!

    Also, I never thought that I'd ever in a million years find myself saying this about Leia, but Dark! Leia is a real b--...um, er, butthead.
     
  13. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    The only things this story is missing:

    a) MOAR MOAR MOAR
    b) Chapter names Oh, wait, they're added now. D'OH.

    Since it's not eligible as whole, we can praise it as much as we want to - I'd go as far as to say that it might be one of the best AUs, ever.
     
  14. Raissa Baiard

    Raissa Baiard FFoF Artist Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 1999
    Okay, okay, you guys... How can I say no to all this :D

    Wow, quite overwhelmed by the response here! I need to dig out my old notebooks and see if I can remember what I had planned. It may take me a bit to get going, but there will be MOAR (Ewok Poet).
     
  15. Darth_Drachonus

    Darth_Drachonus Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 2005
    Woohoo! Moar is gud! We definitely want MUCH moar!
     
  16. JEDIFLYSWATTER

    JEDIFLYSWATTER Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2004
    @};-Please tell me this story is not dead. I really want to know what is going to happen.
     
    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha likes this.