Juvenile Experiment

Chapter 10

Luke's head throbbed, and he could feel the unpleasant awareness of his own heartbeat pound in his chest. Slowly and almost automatically. Without any thought. His mind miles away as uncertainty washed over him like a wave of subtle warnings.

His hand moved and gripped tightly onto the delicate fabric of what seemed to be bed sheets.

...

It was... hard to think about anything in particular until he began wondering why his head had been throbbing in the first place. Why had he felt so numb, and why had he felt strange.

Wrong, even.

"Luke?"

Luke tensed. Adrenaline surged through his body at the familiar tone of that voice. His eyes flew open and with a groan he bolted right up. Now gasping at the first thing he recognized.

A certain Sith Lord had now taken a seat at Luke's side and awkwardly placed one mechanical hand on the satin bedsheets.

"What's going on?" Luke immediately shut his mouth.

His voice. His voice was different. It was not his and it sounded younger. Incredibly young even. Luke could not help but feel fear and anxiety hit him like a ton of bricks. A lump grew in his throat and he fought the shimmer of tears glistening in his eyes. Something had gone terribly wrong.

Wait a second, oh no.

No, no, no!

He remembered. He remembered everything!

"Get away from me!" Luke's high-pitched voice echoed through the room and he attempted to wriggle himself free from beneath the bed sheets.

Vader ignored him and softly grabbed onto his arm, "No, calm down my son." he urged.

"No, I know! Stay away!" His attention was no longer focused on his voice. Damn, he did not even have time to acknowledge the shape of tiny legs in front of him trying to squirm and wriggle free.

All he thought about was getting out of the Sith Lord's grasps.

Vader remained still as he held onto Luke's arm, "Even if you do remember, you cannot ignore this second chance we have been given."

Luke gritted his teeth and shook his head.

"You are ignorant, my son."

"I don't want this," Luke retorted, "what are you going to do to me?" he asked in a low whisper as he watched Vader rise from his seat and advance towards the sliding door with slow steps.

"You do not need to worry about that. I would never harm you," Vader comforted with finality before vanishing.

Luke paused for a moment and blankly stared at the place his father had stood only seconds ago.

When his eyes trailed a large mirror in the corner of the room, he briefly wondered whether it was a good idea to check on himself.

Then again, it was best to face the truth now rather than later.

Sighing, Luke position himself to the side of the bed and stared wide-eyed down at the pitch-black and perfectly polished floor. Was he really so small his feet could not yet touch the ground?

Pursing his lips, Luke hopped and landed on the floor with a 'plop', before quickly making his way over to the mirror only to lose his balance and fall facedown to the solid ground. As he straightened with a hint of embarrassment colouring his cheeks, Luke could only freeze when he stood before the mirror. Blue eyes stared at someone familiar, but at someone who he could not relate to since it had been too long.

And even that was an understatement.

Clenching his chubby hands, Luke stared at the mop of sandy blonde hair and then at the black uniform he wore. He could only assume his father, or an acquaintance had made him wear this while he was unconscious.

But what's worse... when the scientists had doubled the dosage, he had initially assumed that if proven successful, he'd change back into someone with the appearance of a nine-year-old since most of the other rebels had become teenagers.

However, his body size didn't look anything like a nine-year-old at all. He was short with chubby cheeks looking as innocent as a lamb who could not even hurt a fly. If he had to guess... as painful as it sounded, four-years-old was more likely to fit his current age.

He plopped on the ground and his small head dangled between his short legs. Exhaustion and pessimistic emotions washed over him so much that he started wiping the tears that had burned behind his eyes. Don't cry, you're not a baby, he reminded himself.

Luke couldn't believe this had really happened.