"Go ahead and say it." He invited, the monotone invitation little more than a rasping whisper, his throat still too injured to do more.
Vader remained silent; there was nothing to say which he had not already said. He knew his son well enough by now to know that self-righteous reminders would gain him nothing, and in the absence of knowing what he should say, he was learning to remain silent. They were quiet for a long time, Vader recognising that his son was falling deeper into the cynical, melancholy state that sometimes crippled him now, but having no idea of how to stop it. Finally he offered, "You were not at fault. They did not understand you - they could not."
"And you do?" There was the slightest of challenges edging Luke's voice, quiet as it was.
"No." Vader said without sarcasm, "Not at all."
Luke couldn't hold out against that, and laughed mirthlessly, the action grating against his burning throat. He looked away, then back thoughtfully, "I don't think I've ever heard you laugh."
"I laugh." His father said, surprising Luke with the dry addition. "Just not out loud."
"At what?" Luke challenged, but there was humour in his rasping voice.
Vader remained silent, suddenly uncomfortable and Luke looked away, sensing this. Both were aware that they were charting new territory here, and neither was willing to step too far from the safety of a path already littered about with deep-rooted grievances and accusations.
Luke gazed at the ceiling for a long time, Vader studying his son. The severe injury which had punctured his throat and the scar which gouged a deep path down the right side of his face remained painfully obvious, as did the darkened bloom of deep red within his still-glassy right eye, though the lens had re-attached and the medics said he would not lose his sight.
His son glanced at him momentarily and despite everything those blue eyes seemed so similar to Vader's own. It was a long time since he had cared to look at his own reflection, but Vader hadn't failed to realize how much the boy looked like him - the same eyes, the same hair, the same jawline. Lean and sinewy as Anakin had been in his youth, but compact and trim, very much like his mother. A mix of them both, of himself and...
What would she think, to see her son like this? Consideration of her grief allowed Vader to acknowledge a little of his own; to realise that the weight which had settled cold and hard, like a stone in his stomach from the moment he knew what had happened was... fear. Not for his plans or his intentions or his loss of potential gains. Not because of what the boy could achieve or the goals he could fulfil... but that he may lose his son. Just that.
Realization that he did not wish to lose the one thing in his life which held value to him. In the absence of his ability to say any of this out loud, he merely observed, "You are recovering- which is good."
Luke didn't bother to reply, knowing that his father had spoken simply to end the silence, an unstated prompt to Luke to do the same. Instead he remained lost in his own thoughts, torn by truth and regrets.
"They were my family." He whispered at last, the loss and disillusionment undisguised in his voice, "I trusted them absolutely - they trusted me." He fell into silent consideration for long seconds, and when he spoke again, his quiet voice was wistful and subdued, lost in the past. "I served as a bodyguard occasionally to Mon Mothma, if she was travelling in dangerous situations - and to Leia Organa - did you know that? Mon said that there were a dozen or so people she trusted enough to appoint to that position when she first asked me. I told her I was honoured. And Madine - Crix Madine only ever used the same ten pilots for Special Ops. The same team- never changed it. Said they were the ones he knew he could count on to get the job done. Leia..." He paused for a moment at speaking her name, then continued, the affection obvious, "Leia Organa told me she would always trust me. Always, no matter what. I once found a bottle of Alderaanian mead on a tapcafe on Ansion and took it back for her. Cost me a month's wages and I would have paid twice that to see her face when I gave it to her. We sat on the flight deck and drank it from plastic cups. She told me that she couldn't remember what it was like before I was there - that she couldn't imagine it without me." He trailed off into silent reverie, lost in the memories.
"They did what they had to, to control you. To keep you there." Vader tried to keep the accusation from his voice.
"No," Luke murmured without looking up, "I belonged."
"You belong here." his father stated, as sure as ever. "Your life is here."
Luke shook his head, "There's nothing for me here."
"That is by your own making." Vader rumbled, bringing his son's head about in open question.
Was this the breaking point, the deciding factor that the boy needed? He'd edged around his life here for so long, remaining resolutely uninvolved- perhaps now the choice had been made for him. Vader made a brief mental note to look a little more closely into the events which had led up to the assassination attempt, but didn't dwell on it now, aware of his son's eyes on him.
"This is your life." he repeated, "If you do not like it, then it is within your power to change it. Do so."
His son looked away, expression neutral, but Vader sensed his mind racing. He pushed forward, aware that the boy was listening as never before.
"Look at your life, your position. The opportunities available to you. Take them - make them your own. You stand in Palpatine's shadow out of choice. You allow him control." Luke glanced up momentarily at that, a flash of uncertainty lighting his scarred face. But Vader felt no such doubt, no lack of confidence in the boy. "You've learned all that you can from him... before he was an advantage - now he is simply an obstruction."
Luke remained silent, blood-streaked eyes skipping over the room, lost in thought, "He's too powerful." he rasped at last, no longer noticing the pain in his throat.
"Because you allow it. Because you will not use the power he has taught you to access. If you drew on that, if you tapped that potential..." Vader paused, knowing that if he pushed too hard the boy would automatically push back- he always had. But he could sense his son wavering now; on the very brink of commitment. "Take control." He urged, bass voice no more than a whisper.
His son remained silent for long seconds, then his eyes turned to his father, sharp and searching despite their appalling injury. "And if I did - where would that leave you?"
"Where I am now." Vader avoided, but the boy was not fooled, shaking his head in wary amusement.
"I know you better than that."
Vader didn't relent; this was the first time ever that the boy had discussed this openly, the first time he had examined the details. The first time he had considered the consequences. The first time he had considered Vader a part of it - as an ally, not an enemy.
"That is something which can be dealt with when the need arises." Vader avoided smoothly.
"Not good enough." Luke maintained, "I need clarification; without it, I can't move."
He stopped suddenly, as if he'd said too much and Vader knew the boy believed his exhaustion had made him slip even though he couldn't see exactly how. For long seconds he held silent, uncertain what Luke meant, searching for the error.
Knowing his father would fathom it eventually, Luke volunteered it, hoping to maintain some kind of control - or maybe he was just tired, and compounding error with error. "I've told you before, my objectives are not yours."
Realisation, when it came to Vader, was a revelation in every sense of the word - why Luke had hesitated this long, why he had shied back from confrontation, allowed Palpatine control...
If he removed the Emperor, Luke believed it would put him in direct contention with his father - and despite everything he said out loud, he didn't want that.
Was this what constrained him? Was his reluctance to be forced into conflict with his father so great that he had been willing to withstand Palpatine's restrictions and coercions and punishments for so long, rather than confront the power struggle that would be left by the Emperor's removal? Vader felt a burst of gratification at that - that he would have such control over the boy, that...