Written in celebration of Mark Hamill's birthday!

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Disabilities are a strange thing. They can break someone so easily, or they can make someone strong over a path of trial and error. It wasn't always like this, being blind. But accidents happen, and yet Luke Skywalker did not shrink away from the nothingness he 'saw'. His Aunt Beru taught him to stand up and keep going. To never falter, to trust in his instincts and feelings. Because of her, and a kind desert hermit, Luke grew up strong despite being a blind boy on an unforgiving world.

~~~

Darth Vader felled the old Jedi with a swift and decisive strike. Or so it seemed. Kenobi's body was gone, and while he was curious to know why, his attention was taken from the robe and saber laid before him. Across the hangar stood a boy, lightsaber in hand as stormtroopers attempted to subdue him. The boy shouted at his friends to go, and while they protested strongly, this rash boy forced them into retreating lest the stormtroopers take back the Corellian freighter. It wasn't long before the meager stormtroopers were defeated, and alarms blared for reinforcements.

Darth Vader moved forward now, stepping over the bodies this boy had so easily struck down.

Up close the boy remained small, his stature however was trained and sharp, even as he faced just past Vader, clear blue eyes unfocused.
A blind padawan.
Could Kenobi do no better? Were there truly no other Jedi to train? It mattered little now as Vader poised his lightsaber and suddenly striked like a hunting nexu.

The boy was quick, Vader would give him that as the blue saber abruptly moved and easily blocked the attack. Vader did not stop there however as he gave a series of strikes, one after the other, never did he falter in his decisions and targets, and yet every single one the boy blocked or avoided completely. He was truly one with the Force.

"Kenobi has taught you well." Vader said, almost with respect for the child before him.

The boy smiled ever so slightly at thin air. "Your armor's noisy." He said.

Again Vader attacked, this time ferociously, the boy continued his defense, much like Kenobi would. And it infuriated Vader, despite having gotten his revenge just moments ago. Kenobi wasn't dead til the Jedi were all dead! With this in mind, Vader continued, his skills beginning to override the young padawan's. There was no contest when it came between them. The boy could defend and nothing more. Even now he faltered with every pounding attack Vader gave him until finally Vader knocked the lightsaber out of the boy's grasp.

Using the Force Vader swiped the boy's legs out from under him, his lightsaber poised to end the fallen Jedi.

The padawan quietly sat up however, unafraid despite the show of power he must have felt deeply due to his loss of sight. Vader's heart thrilled. What would only make this sweeter was if Obi-Wan was still alive to watch his padawan die.

"You don't want to do this." Came the soft voice of the boy. He now sat on his knees, blankly staring up at Vader.

Vader moved closer, the tip of his weapon nearly close enough to cut the boy's throat open. "Do not seek my mercy, boy. You will find none."

The boy merely shrugged. "I know you hate Jedi, and I know you've killed my teacher. But would you kill me? Your only son?"

The words he spoke were so innocent, so blunt. Vader frowned at the fluctuations of the Force around them. "Conniving liar!" Vader hissed, his saber point just barely breaking the boy's skin. True fear finally showed itself in a previously blank expression as the boy stiffened and held in a cry.
He was brave, but more foolish to claim to be someone who was long dead!

Stormtroopers ran to the scene, and for these lies the boy spake, Vader saw only one reason to keep him alive. The blind padawan may yet be of use to him. Imperial interrogation would be just as much revenge, if not more, than simply killing the Jedi who's identity he tried to falsify.

"Arrest the Jedi, take him to be interrogated." Vader ordered firmly, watching with satisfaction as the troopers cuffed the boy and took him away. A sense of fear and confusion wrought the boy's face as Vader turned to the brief scene of their dual, finding the padawan's lightsaber.

And his blood boiled as he picked it up. Kenobi deserved a worse death... for training a blind padawan and giving him Anakin's lightsaber... for no doubt putting it in the Jedi's mind to claim to be the child Anakin Skywalker lost due to his weakness. Gripping the lightsaber of old, Vader turned and stalked away. Kenobi would pay, in the form of his lying padawan's blood.