BEACH BAD, BEACH BAD [OPEN]

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

To say Vader was out of his element was the understatement of the millennium. He'd taken refuge under a large umbrella and was seated in his his chair as though it were the Emperor's own throne. Under the pretense of meditating, he was keeping a three-foot radius of space around him sand-free.

His beach towel would stay immaculate until he got someone else's blood on it.

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[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"I am not delusional. She was...the most perfect woman in the entire Galaxy. She was a queen, every inch of her, and she was just and fair to her people...they Jedi stole her from you as much as they did from me!"

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"I didn't say you were delusional," Luke replied, then quieted and watched the waves. Even after all these years away from Tatooine, he never got tired of seeing so much water in one place. "As much as I wish I could have known her, I understand I was shaped to be who I am by these events," he said quietly. "I like who I am."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"But you do not have to give your entire life to this galaxy- they do not deserve you! They never deserved you, only I because I gave everything to have you. You were supposed to be living the perfect life I created for you because you are my son!"

Vader hardly stops for a breath the entire tirade.

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

Luke stared blankly. Sometimes, he wasn't very good at responding to these things.

"What if I chose to?"

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

Vader was very quiet for what felt like hours. Very, very quiet.

"You would choose them- every faceless, worthless criminal from Coruscant to beyond the Outer Rim- over your mother and I? I created a Galaxy you could live in and you would turn it back over to the very people who-- who--" Vader's eyes aren't just glowing yellow now, they are blazing and bloodshot as though they might pop out of his head.

"I gave everything for you and you would turn your back on me for them?!"

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"I would choose to help them," Luke said. "I wouldn't feel right if I didn't."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"Without you and your mother in it, my life is worthless," Vader hissed. "When my duty to the Empire is finished I will only continue to live as you do, breathe as you do-- and you would chose them over me? They who would turn on you, hate you, spit at you in the streets- you would choose them over your mother?"

In a moment, he would begin to foam.

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"Well of course, not over you two," Luke said, becoming more incredulous by the minute. "I mean... you'd be my family. But I'd still rather be a Jedi than not."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

This seemed to pacify Vader and he settled back in his chair, the storm diverted...for now.

"Your life always came first. Always. I made you a galaxy that you and your mother and sister could live in. It was for you."

Perhaps if he says it enough, it will stop being terrifying and start being true.

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"We lived just fine in the galaxy we came from," Luke said simply. "But that won't matter unless we're able to stop the Ohm."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"Surviving is not living. They had to right to throw you into that prison that is Tatooine," Vader said.

"You should only have the best of the Galaxy."

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"I turned out all right."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"BUT I NEED YOU!" Vader exploded, shouting as loudly as his ruined lungs would allow. "I have given everything for you, why do you not want it? I want you to be happy with what I have created for you and you do not want it! You do not want anything to do with me! Why is it that you do not want me to be your father as badly as I need to?!"

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"I'm happy!" It took a considerable part of Luke's control not to snap. "I'm happy with Mara and Ben and our friends. I'm happy being a Jedi."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"Very well," Vader hissed. "If you are so content with me gone from your life then I will not presume to intrude! I can stay at arm's length from you and your perfect wife and perfect son and perfect Jedi Order if that is what you wish!"

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

Luke sighed, and drew on the Force to maintain his calm. Even Jedi Masters lost their patience with recalcitrant parents sometimes, but Luke knew that if he reduced himself to shouting it wouldn't be pretty at all.

"I'd be happy if you were in that, too," he said at last.

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"Would you?" Vader asked. "I know that Kenobi raised you to hate me- would you be able to overcome his conditioning when you see me every day? If not, I will not stay. I will let you be a Jedi if this is what you have chosen."

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"Obi-Wan didn't teach me to hate you." That earned Vader another incredulous look. "You're my father, I'd love you regardless."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

I'd love you regardless. Those words were enough to stir something in Vader's formerly shriveled and blackened heart. They echoed in his mind, enough to distract him from correcting his son on Kenobi's certain treachery.

"But he raised you to defeat me."

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"He and Yoda trained me to defeat the Empire," Luke corrected. "You aren't the Empire. And in the end, even, you brought Palpatine himself down."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

Vader shook his head.

"I sense the truth of your words, and yet...I cannot believe that. I would choose you over the Emperor," he said slowly, as though it were the most difficult choice he could ever make, "but...how could it come to that?"

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"You chose love over the Dark Side," Luke replied. "You chose your family over Palpatine. I can tell you, if you want to know. Or you can talk to Leia." He shrugged. "I don't know how much will be changed by revealing what's past for me, but future for you." He turned his head and drew his knees up to his chest, a very boyish pose. "I guess a lot's been changed already just by both of us being here, huh?"

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"Why would the Emperor make me choose? He would want you at my side as badly as I do..." Vader shook his head. "The Force does not show me the future as clearly as it once did, you will have to tell me how it came to that point. Though..." he paused. "Do you believe we can be returned to our own galaxies and that...it would be possible to act on our knowledge?"

He would turn Tatooine inside-out looking for a certain toddler if that were the case.

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure what'll happen when this is all over." Luke thought about returning to a galaxy without Mara and felt his heart constrict a bit. "As to the Emperor... he wanted me to turn, and I wouldn't," Luke said simply. "I chose to a Jedi like my father."

[sin-and-misery.livejournal.com]

"You would emulate the man who failed you," Vader said, resting his fingers against his temples. "Skywalker was not able to save Padme- he was weak. You do wrong to choose him as your idol."