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Description
in its original sketch form, it was fanart for the fic "Allegiance", by KaelinaLuvsLomaris . Then when I started coloring it, Luke got the outfit that suggested it might be a continuation of "Dismay" and "In Over His Head". So I don't know anymore lol. It could fit anywhere.
Oh heck with it. I'll just make something up on the spot lol

When Luke awoke, it was dark. There was a persistent ringing in his ears and his body felt like one big mass of bruises. Well, pain meant alive, at least. Given how close to the explosion he'd been, Luke would've expected something more severe. Breath hissed through his teeth as he willed stiff arms to cooperate and lift his body into a sitting position.
Failing that, he settled for propping himself up on his elbows.

Small fires dotted the landscape, giving shape to the hillside he found himself on, and debris stuck out of the turf at odd angles, forming strange silhouettes against the sky. Flames flickered and danced in a chilly breeze, and Luke realized that he wasn't all that cold.

When he pushed himself up a little further, he felt cloth slide down from where it had been draped over his chest. Confused, Luke reached out and felt a thick, homespun blanket. Where had it come from? And for that matter, what kind of person went and found an unconscious person on the ground, dropped a blanket on them, and left?

If they had left, that was.

Luke sat the rest of the way up and licked his dry lips. Should he try to call out? Who would answer? Now that the stubborn pounding in his head was beginning to fade, he tried to reach for the Force. He could at least try to determine if anyone was nearby.
The Force felt as hazy and sluggish as he did, somehow, and he wondered if he'd struck his head harder than he'd thought.

A sudden spike of a cold that was more than physical jolted through him, and he jerked upright, wincing, as a nightmarish figure strode through the smoke and darkness. Darth Vader stood silently for a moment, stating down at him, hands clasped behind his back.
This was not good at all.

But Luke was tired, and sore, and too irritated to show fear at the moment. He inched back, then raised his eyebrows.

"So," he cleared his throat when his voice came out far raspier than he'd expected, "Who talks first? You talk first? Do I talk first?"

Vader made a sound that his vocoder didn't quite translate and set down a power lamp near Luke's feet. Suddenly unnerved by his proximity, Luke made as if to jump to his feet, but the armored giant caught him by the shoulder and pushed him back into a sitting position.

"Don't bother," he said flatly, "There is nowhere for you to run. The ships have left."

"Except yours, I assume?" Luke asked bitterly.

"There are no ships," Vader sounded the tiniest bit exasperated. Had his shuttle left without him? Or had the Rebels destroyed it?

Luke would've been content with either. Both majorly inconvenienced the Sith. Unfortunately, that left him just as stranded with the man who'd killed his father. Reflexively, he felt for his lightsaber, scrambling to his feet with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

"Well," he mused, a little fatalistically, "This was definitely not high on my list of ways to die."

"Do not be dramatic," Vader said, sounding almost as though he were rolling his eyes, "You are not going to die. Your core temperature has already stabilized. But I agree, this is hardly an ideal situation."

Luke blinked, astonished, then squinted at his enemy. Was he mocking him? He gritted his teeth and his hand grasped empty air when he reached for his saber. It was gone! Anger turned to a momentary flash of panic as he glanced around.

He spotted a hilt in Vader's hand, but in the darkness he couldn't tell if it was his or the dark lord's. Either way, it did not bode well.

Luke swallowed hard and lifted his chin. "Look, just get it over with, will you? I don't really have the patience to sit through an interrogation and execution."

Darth Vader said nothing at first, which was unnerving, then he spoke, which was worse.

"You appear to be under the impression that an alive-only bounty somehow translates to "kill on sight". Our previous encounters have been...less than amicable, and so I suppose I should've expected something of this nature."

What? What was that supposed to mean? Luke glared suspiciously at Vader and shifted another step backwards. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No, I expect not. Obi-wan, doubtless, concealed a great many things from you."

Oh, now that rankled. If Vader hadn't been holding the lightsaber, Luke might've done something foolish then. Instead, he crossed his arms and spat, "Oh? Like what happened to my father?"

"Particularly what happened to your father," Vader snapped back.

Luke balled up his fists and let the blanket drop. He stepped forward, almost daring his adversary to move. "Right, and I suppose you're going to tell me Obi-wan killed him instead?" he hissed.

Vader answered with a step forward of his own, looming over Luke ominously. "He certainly gave it his best effort," he growled, "But as with so many other things, he ultimately failed."

The words had to bounce around Luke's mind a moment or two before he could comprehend them. Was the Sith lying? Did he even have a reason to lie about this? He was startled enough that he didn't react when Vader reached down and snatched up the blanket, settling it around his shoulders again in sharp, irritated motions.

Luke would later regret that his mouth started moving before his brain caught up. "What are you talking about?! What do you want?"

When Vader did not respond other than to put a hand on Luke's arm and push him back over to the power lamp, Luke dug in his heels and shrugged off the hand. Fear and discomfort had pretty much been forgotten now. Now he was just annoyed.

"Look, if you're not going to kill me, and you're not going to interrogate me, I don't know why you're after me." This wasn't quite true. He did halfway wonder if it had anything to do with trying to turn him to the Dark Side. But he didn't say that. "Just say what you mean!"

Abruptly, Vader let go, and without the extra resistance holding him back, Luke pitched forward and hit the dirt in an undignified heap. Before he could move, his captor knelt beside him and turned the lamp up to a higher setting, chasing away a little more of the cold.

"...as you wish," he said at last. "I did not kill your father. Nor do I intend to kill you."

Astonishingly, Luke sensed that, while he was holding something back, he wasn't lying.
"You know what happened to him."
Half accusation, half quiet plea. He wasn't expecting an honest answer, really, not from an Imperial.

The black helmet swiveled to look at him, and Luke flinched back when Vader reached towards him briefly. The hand retracted and Vader turned away.

"Kenobi left him for dead." His voice was flat, emotionless. "He awoke to find everything gone. His health. His wife. His child. He served the one who saved his life and discovered nineteen years later that his son still lived."

Something was very wrong. A choking anxiety was beginning to fill Luke's chest and scrabble at his throat even as he tried to pick apart what the older man was saying. He could discern no lies -- which bothered him more because he'd learned to do that after Ben had died and he'd never gotten to test it on him -- but the words Vader was using were too casual, too personal. Almost as if-
No. Oh please no.

Relentlessly, Vader continued. "He encountered his child in battle several times, mistaking him for a stranger during their disastrous first encounter. But considering the boy's thoroughly reckless tendencies and general obstinacy, he was forced to place a bounty on his head."

Luke scooted backwards, dropping the blanket again and shaking his head. "No nonononono that doesn't make sense, you're not-!"

"I am." The two words had the ring of finality to them, and Luke felt his heart sink.

He stared, numb, at the mask for several minutes. Then, only half conscious of it, muttered under his breath, "Well that's...complicated."

His stiff muscles protested all his quick movements and he drew his knees up to his chest, trying to let the heat from the lamp sooth the abused skin. All the while he did his best not to think, or focus on the thunderstorm in his chest. Just breathe, Luke, just breathe.

He started when the blanket was thrown over his shoulders again. When he glanced up, Vader wasn't looking at him (that he could tell).

"A ship will come at dawn," Vader murmured. "Keep that on until then. It's going to get colder."

Luke pulled the blanket tighter around him and resisted the urge to throw it over his head to hide his face, like he used to as a child when he was frightened. "I hate this place," he blurted out, staring at the lamp."

There was at long silence, save for the perpetual automated breathing, and then there was a shoulder so close that Luke had to make a conscious effort not to lean against it as Vader rather dryly agreed, "No, it is not ideal."

Both men sat in silence after that, each wondering the same thing.
Now what?

Description
in its original sketch form, it was fanart for the fic "Allegiance", by KaelinaLuvsLomaris . Then when I started coloring it, Luke got the outfit that suggested it might be a continuation of "Dismay" and "In Over His Head". So I don't know anymore lol. It could fit anywhere.
Oh heck with it. I'll just make something up on the spot lol

When Luke awoke, it was dark. There was a persistent ringing in his ears and his body felt like one big mass of bruises. Well, pain meant alive, at least. Given how close to the explosion he'd been, Luke would've expected something more severe. Breath hissed through his teeth as he willed stiff arms to cooperate and lift his body into a sitting position.
Failing that, he settled for propping himself up on his elbows.

Small fires dotted the landscape, giving shape to the hillside he found himself on, and debris stuck out of the turf at odd angles, forming strange silhouettes against the sky. Flames flickered and danced in a chilly breeze, and Luke realized that he wasn't all that cold.

When he pushed himself up a little further, he felt cloth slide down from where it had been draped over his chest. Confused, Luke reached out and felt a thick, homespun blanket. Where had it come from? And for that matter, what kind of person went and found an unconscious person on the ground, dropped a blanket on them, and left?

If they had left, that was.

Luke sat the rest of the way up and licked his dry lips. Should he try to call out? Who would answer? Now that the stubborn pounding in his head was beginning to fade, he tried to reach for the Force. He could at least try to determine if anyone was nearby.
The Force felt as hazy and sluggish as he did, somehow, and he wondered if he'd struck his head harder than he'd thought.

A sudden spike of a cold that was more than physical jolted through him, and he jerked upright, wincing, as a nightmarish figure strode through the smoke and darkness. Darth Vader stood silently for a moment, stating down at him, hands clasped behind his back.
This was not good at all.

But Luke was tired, and sore, and too irritated to show fear at the moment. He inched back, then raised his eyebrows.

"So," he cleared his throat when his voice came out far raspier than he'd expected, "Who talks first? You talk first? Do I talk first?"

Vader made a sound that his vocoder didn't quite translate and set down a power lamp near Luke's feet. Suddenly unnerved by his proximity, Luke made as if to jump to his feet, but the armored giant caught him by the shoulder and pushed him back into a sitting position.

"Don't bother," he said flatly, "There is nowhere for you to run. The ships have left."

"Except yours, I assume?" Luke asked bitterly.

"There are no ships," Vader sounded the tiniest bit exasperated. Had his shuttle left without him? Or had the Rebels destroyed it?

Luke would've been content with either. Both majorly inconvenienced the Sith. Unfortunately, that left him just as stranded with the man who'd killed his father. Reflexively, he felt for his lightsaber, scrambling to his feet with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

"Well," he mused, a little fatalistically, "This was definitely not high on my list of ways to die."

"Do not be dramatic," Vader said, sounding almost as though he were rolling his eyes, "You are not going to die. Your core temperature has already stabilized. But I agree, this is hardly an ideal situation."

Luke blinked, astonished, then squinted at his enemy. Was he mocking him? He gritted his teeth and his hand grasped empty air when he reached for his saber. It was gone! Anger turned to a momentary flash of panic as he glanced around.

He spotted a hilt in Vader's hand, but in the darkness he couldn't tell if it was his or the dark lord's. Either way, it did not bode well.

Luke swallowed hard and lifted his chin. "Look, just get it over with, will you? I don't really have the patience to sit through an interrogation and execution."

Darth Vader said nothing at first, which was unnerving, then he spoke, which was worse.

"You appear to be under the impression that an alive-only bounty somehow translates to "kill on sight". Our previous encounters have been...less than amicable, and so I suppose I should've expected something of this nature."

What? What was that supposed to mean? Luke glared suspiciously at Vader and shifted another step backwards. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No, I expect not. Obi-wan, doubtless, concealed a great many things from you."

Oh, now that rankled. If Vader hadn't been holding the lightsaber, Luke might've done something foolish then. Instead, he crossed his arms and spat, "Oh? Like what happened to my father?"

"Particularly what happened to your father," Vader snapped back.

Luke balled up his fists and let the blanket drop. He stepped forward, almost daring his adversary to move. "Right, and I suppose you're going to tell me Obi-wan killed him instead?" he hissed.

Vader answered with a step forward of his own, looming over Luke ominously. "He certainly gave it his best effort," he growled, "But as with so many other things, he ultimately failed."

The words had to bounce around Luke's mind a moment or two before he could comprehend them. Was the Sith lying? Did he even have a reason to lie about this? He was startled enough that he didn't react when Vader reached down and snatched up the blanket, settling it around his shoulders again in sharp, irritated motions.

Luke would later regret that his mouth started moving before his brain caught up. "What are you talking about?! What do you want?"

When Vader did not respond other than to put a hand on Luke's arm and push him back over to the power lamp, Luke dug in his heels and shrugged off the hand. Fear and discomfort had pretty much been forgotten now. Now he was just annoyed.

"Look, if you're not going to kill me, and you're not going to interrogate me, I don't know why you're after me." This wasn't quite true. He did halfway wonder if it had anything to do with trying to turn him to the Dark Side. But he didn't say that. "Just say what you mean!"

Abruptly, Vader let go, and without the extra resistance holding him back, Luke pitched forward and hit the dirt in an undignified heap. Before he could move, his captor knelt beside him and turned the lamp up to a higher setting, chasing away a little more of the cold.

"...as you wish," he said at last. "I did not kill your father. Nor do I intend to kill you."

Astonishingly, Luke sensed that, while he was holding something back, he wasn't lying.
"You know what happened to him."
Half accusation, half quiet plea. He wasn't expecting an honest answer, really, not from an Imperial.

The black helmet swiveled to look at him, and Luke flinched back when Vader reached towards him briefly. The hand retracted and Vader turned away.

"Kenobi left him for dead." His voice was flat, emotionless. "He awoke to find everything gone. His health. His wife. His child. He served the one who saved his life and discovered nineteen years later that his son still lived."

Something was very wrong. A choking anxiety was beginning to fill Luke's chest and scrabble at his throat even as he tried to pick apart what the older man was saying. He could discern no lies -- which bothered him more because he'd learned to do that after Ben had died and he'd never gotten to test it on him -- but the words Vader was using were too casual, too personal. Almost as if-
No. Oh please no.

Relentlessly, Vader continued. "He encountered his child in battle several times, mistaking him for a stranger during their disastrous first encounter. But considering the boy's thoroughly reckless tendencies and general obstinacy, he was forced to place a bounty on his head."

Luke scooted backwards, dropping the blanket again and shaking his head. "No nonononono that doesn't make sense, you're not-!"

"I am." The two words had the ring of finality to them, and Luke felt his heart sink.

He stared, numb, at the mask for several minutes. Then, only half conscious of it, muttered under his breath, "Well that's...complicated."

His stiff muscles protested all his quick movements and he drew his knees up to his chest, trying to let the heat from the lamp sooth the abused skin. All the while he did his best not to think, or focus on the thunderstorm in his chest. Just breathe, Luke, just breathe.

He started when the blanket was thrown over his shoulders again. When he glanced up, Vader wasn't looking at him (that he could tell).

"A ship will come at dawn," Vader murmured. "Keep that on until then. It's going to get colder."

Luke pulled the blanket tighter around him and resisted the urge to throw it over his head to hide his face, like he used to as a child when he was frightened. "I hate this place," he blurted out, staring at the lamp."

There was at long silence, save for the perpetual automated breathing, and then there was a shoulder so close that Luke had to make a conscious effort not to lean against it as Vader rather dryly agreed, "No, it is not ideal."

Both men sat in silence after that, each wondering the same thing.
Now what?