Star Wars 1. Prologue

**These first few chapters you're probably going to be thinking "Been there, read that." Please bear with me, I'm sure I've got twists and turns enough to keep you interested if you'll just hang with me until I can get there. **

Prologue

"Help me, Anakin! Don't let him kill me," Chancellor Palpatine pleaded, holding his hands before his face. The scarred man shied away from the brilliant purple blade humming with deadly intent above his chest. Jedi Master Mace Windu growled angrily and threatened to lunge forward, forcing the sniveling politician to retreat further against the wall.

"Don't listen to him, Anakin. It must be this way," Master Windu cried, leveling his lightsaber at the Chancellor's throat close enough that the man could feel the heat radiating from the blade of plasma.

"Please, Master. Don't kill him; it's not the Jedi way. He should be given a trial, not killed in cold blood," Anakin Skywalker cried, taking a single step toward the furious pair. Windu scowled over his shoulder, half turning his head to face Anakin. "Please, I _need_ him to live," Anakin added after a moment's pause. Mace shook his head once before he turned back to the Chancellor.

"Yes, yes, Anakin. I can save her; together we can save her. But if you let him kill me now she _will_ die. Without a doubt she will die. Kill him, Anakin, kill him now."

"You must resist him, Skywalker. If you turn to the Dark Side, the Jedi will fall. His reign must end here or the Sith will simply continue to resurface, eventually destroying the balance we have so carefully maintained."

Anakin groaned and clenched his hands into fists, glancing from Jedi Master to Sith Lord with troubled eyes. Padmé's screams taunted him, urging him to strike down Master Windu. It was possible that the vision would not come true, he knew that, but he couldn't be sure. There was no way to be sure. The young man's mind and heart pulled him in different directions, pushed him to different goals. He could almost scream in frustration. "At least do not kill him now, not like this," the Jedi knight begged, desperate for a way out that did not involve making this critical choice now.

"He's too dangerous to be left alive. Look at what he did to your fellow Jedi, Anakin. He murdered them, each and every one. You are better than this, Skywalker. Palpatine doesn't care about you, or anyone else. Take a good look at those dead Jedi. If you try to stop this from happening, you will condemn thousands to the same fate," Master Windu explained, gesturing to the corridor where the bodies of several Jedi lay strewn across the carpeted floor. Anakin's eyes shifted warily to the corpses as discomfiture and uncertainty washed across his face. Master Windu could see that his argument was swaying the young man, but so could the cowering politician. Chancellor Palpatine snarled and lashed out at the Jedi Master with brilliant blue bolts of crackling lightning. Master Windu moved to block the attack with his saber, but a significant portion made it through his defenses. Shuddering and flailing from the electrifying assault, the Jedi stumbled backwards.

"No!" Anakin shouted, dashing forward and lunging for the Master. His movements were much too late. Mace Windu tumbled through the broken window and into Coruscant's cool night sky. The young Jedi knight watched with mournful eyes as the Master disappeared into the dull glow of the city lights below.

"Come, now is the time for you to take up your true potential. You have seen the shortcomings of the Jedi. Join me now as a Dark Lord of the Sith; rise as Darth Vader and stand by my side as I remake the galaxy," Palpatine cackled as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. Anakin's shoulders suddenly ceased their quaking as he raised frighteningly angry eyes to view the Sith Lord.

"You are a monster. If I join you, I too will become a monster. You deserve nothing more than death, and death I shall give you," the young man growled as he rose and ignited his lightsaber with a _snap-hiss_. Chancellor Palpatine blinked once before a malicious grin spread across his face. He did not move to retrieve the lightsaber that Master Windu had deftly removed from his possession earlier. In fact, he did not appear to move at all, barely even seemed to be breathing.

"You are naïve, young Skywalker. The Jedi might label you as the Chosen One, but you are no match for me. You are weak, held back by your foolish love for those around you. It will destroy you, and when it does you will look back on this moment and wish that you had chosen to join me," the Sith Lord said calmly. Rage flared within the Jedi knight, and Palpatine's grin spread wider yet. "Such potential. It's a shame that it's going to be so wholly wasted. Goodnight, young Skywalker. Mark my words: we will meet again." Anakin started to spin around, but the chair Palpatine propelled through the air struck him directly. The young man crumpled into a heap, his lightsaber extinguishing itself as it fell from his grasp. Palpatine stepped over his body, laughing as he went. The Sith Lord wondered if perhaps he might be better off finishing the boy now, but he decided that now was not the time and place. Destroying him later before an audience would be all the better. That way the Jedi could watch their precious Chosen One fall. Yes, he would be left alive for now. It would mean delaying his plans and cancelling the execution of Order 66, but that was a sacrifice that the Sith Lord was willing to make. He would never succeed in establishing his Empire without a suitable apprentice and heir to support him. Huffing angrily, but willing to accept this alternative, Palpatine strode out of his office to begin his short exile. "Until then, Skywalker."

* * *

><p>"Master Yoda, I just heard the news. How is he?" Master Obi-Wan Kenobi asked as he jumped out of the cockpit of his starfighter and began to unload R4 from the astromech's droid socket. The mission on Utapau had been successful, to say the least, but Kenobi had been rushed back to the Temple along with the mother missing Jedi Masters. He had been informed of the newest developments during his approach of Coruscant.<p>

"Fine is young Skywalker's health. Suffering is his mind. Know, you do, of his union to Senator Amidala, hmmm?" the small green-skinned Jedi Master asked as he hobbled toward the small starfighter and its robed pilot.

"I had guessed as much, Master. I would never have suspected that it would play such a pivotal role in these events, however." Obi-Wan joined Master Yoda with R4 in tow, pulling his robes tight around his body, feeling very suddenly chilled. "Has the council been called back to make a ruling on Anakin's fate with the Order?"

"Yes and no. Addressed, the issue must be. Broken the code, young Skywalker has, but saved our order as well. Difficult to make a decision on the matter. Very difficult," Master Yoda replied as he retrieved his hovering chair and set a steady pace through the corridors of the Temple, heading for the Council Chambers. Obi-Wan noticed several other Masters returning from their missions away from Coruscant and sighed quietly.

"Master, you know the lengths of my devotion to the Order, but you also know my devotion to Anakin. I will be the first to admit that he has strayed from the proper course for a Jedi. I understand my duty to the Order; however, I cannot make an unbiased ruling on Anakin. I wish to respectfully remove myself from the judging council," the younger man explained in a hushed voice. Master Yoda came to a halt and turned his chair to face the other Master.

"Patience, Master Kenobi. An ultimatum prevent yourself from reaching." Obi-Wan nodded once as the two continued on, reaching the Council chambers a few minutes later. The other masters had assembled themselves by the time that Obi-Wan and Yoda took their seats. Anakin was standing nervously in the corridor before the chambers as they passed, shifting slowly from foot to foot. Obi-Wan dropped a comforting hand on the young man's shoulders before he stepped into the chambers and the door slid shut behind him. It was several more minutes before the masters called Skywalker before them, and the young knight spent it quickly pacing the corridor. Despite his impatience, when he found himself doubled over in a bow before the scrutinizing gazes of the Council, Anakin wished that he were still out in the hall.

"A grave loss we have suffered, very grave. Felt by all, will be Master Windu's loss. Know the story of his death, we do not," Master Yoda said as way of giving Anakin permission to rise from his bow. The young man launched into a detailed description of the events, having come to the decision that keeping details from the Council would only hasten his being removed from the Order. Anakin could see from the expressions on the masters faces that they were finding his tale very difficult to believe, but he pressed forward anyways.

"I have failed the Order, Masters, and no one feels my failure more than myself. It will not lessen the pain of losing Master Windu nor will it cancel out my actions, but I will accept whatever punishment this Council deems necessary," he said in conclusion, dipping his head low between his shoulders. Master Yoda turned to survey the other masters of the Council, reading into each of their expressions in turn. Very suddenly he stopped and cocked his wrinkled head to one side as if listening to something. The other masters watched him with anticipation.

"Suspect that a cheerful moment has come for you, I do, young Skywalker. Come to fruition, Padmé's pregnancy has," Master Yoda explained finally. Anakin's eyes went wide, but he did not move for the door. "Go to your wife, you should. Deliberate the Council will." Anakin bowed deeply once more before he strode for the door quickly. Once outside of the chambers he advanced to a near run, rushing for a speeder to carry him to his wife. The masters watched him go silently, each observing their own thoughts on the young man's decisions. Master Yoda cleared his throat only when he felt Anakin's presence receding into the distance. "Very difficult a decision to make, this is. Your thoughts?"

"I do not believe he should be removed from the Order," Master Secura answered in a gentle voice. Several of the masters, notably Ki-Adi-Mundi gasped audibly but waited for her explanation. "Anakin has faced the dangers of passion and maintained his connection with the Light Side. Clearly his confrontation with the Sith has shown us that he is capable of withstanding the lure of his emotions."

"He has survived this time with his nobility intact, but there will always be a next time. Even if he manages to make it through that confrontation, it will happen again. We cannot be sure that the threat to our Order is eliminated unless we remove it ourselves," Master Ki-Adi-Mundi added almost before Master Secura had finished speaking. "Furthermore, this blatant breach of the Code cannot be ignored lest we set a precedent for future rulings."

"I fail to see how removing Skywalker from the Order eliminates the threat," Master Shaak Ti countered. "If you kick him out we are severing his only life-line. When next he faces the Sith – and do not be fooled into thinking that they will not try again – he will very likely fall. I say we allow him to remain with the Order under close scrutiny. It is clear he is completely capable of continuing his normal duties, and, as long as we keep an eye on him, any suspicious behavior will be noticed immediately."

"Agree with Master Shaak Ti, I do. Master Kenobi, join me in delivering the news, you will, hmmm?" Master Yoda asked, preparing to dismiss the Council. Obi-Wan nodded in answer and the Council stood as one, bowing to each other before making their way out of the chambers.

* * *

><p>"It is a boy," the medical droid crooned in a gentle voice. Anakin took the swaddled babe from the droid's cradling arms and held it before the gasping form of his wife. Padmé leaned forward on the med table just enough to kiss the boy's forehead before she looked up at her husband's worried face.<p>

"Lucas – Luke – I like that name. Do you?" Padmé asked her husband. Anakin thought for a moment, rolling the name around on his tongue.

"Luke…yes, I think it fits. Say hello to your mother, Luke Skywalker," the young man answered finally, tilting the babe forward. Brilliant blue eyes scanned Padmé's face as the baby crooned gently. Both parents grinned broadly for a moment before Padmé cringed and groaned in pain. The young woman seemed to curl up on herself, sweat standing out in beads on her brow. Anakin started, turning to the medical droid with panic written plainly across his face. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"There's a second child. It's positioning is not right, though. It seems the baby has turned itself around in the womb, and the umbilical cord is wrapped around its neck too tightly to remove without killing it." On the table, Padmé gasped, gazing up at her husband with pleading eyes. Anakin took hold of his wife's hand and squeezed it tightly, shifting Luke to a single handed grip. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew where his vision had come from. Terror threatened to strangle his heartstrings as he realized that if he had turned to the Dark Side, he most likely wouldn't have been here. By herself, with a husband lost to evil, Padmé would surely have sacrificed herself to save the baby. Anakin would have caused his wife's death.

"Is there no way to save the baby?" he asked the droid quietly, the realization he had made still fresh in his mind. Tears began to leak down Padmé's face.

"Your wife is too weak for such an operation. It would require surgery, but already Padme's body and systems are stressed from the first birth. The additional strain of extra blood loss would almost certainly send her into shock." The young woman closed her eyes and turned her head away, already knowing her husband's answer before he even opened his mouth to speak it. "I'm sorry, angel. I wish there was another way," Anakin whispered before he told the droid to abort the labor. The droid fell to work, removing the tiny corpse of a baby girl some minutes later. Anakin stroked the baby's forehead gently, identifying his wife's features in her face. Tears threatened to flow over his lashes, and he very suddenly turned away, gently covering the child with a swaddling blanket so that his wife would not have to see her. It was only a few minutes more before Padmé was free of the labor table and was resting quietly with her newborn on a stretcher. Anakin watched his wife and child for a long time, wondering vaguely how he could have been so lucky. Memories of his vision drifted through his mind, but he pressed them away, determined not to let them spoil this moment. There was a knock on the silvered glass behind him, and the young man turned to see Masters Kenobi and Yoda beckoning him into the next room. Anakin took one long look at his wife before he went to join them.

"Very beautiful, the birth of a child is. Wish you congratulations, I do," Master Yoda said as Anakin entered the antechamber and the door slid shut behind him. Anakin dipped his head in thanks, but kept his eyes on the ground. The young man fully expected the diminutive master to inform him that he had been removed from the Order. "More good news have we for you. Decided to remove you, we have not. Stay with the Order you shall." Anakin's head snapped up in surprise, and he turned to Obi-Wan as if seeking confirmation. His Master's face remained impassive and his eyes stern.

"It is true, but you must never forget what you did. You very nearly fell to the Dark Side, taking hundreds of lives with you. This is not the Council condoning your actions; this is the Council protecting its own. Do not let your defenses falter in light of this decision, Anakin. Do _not_," Obi-Wan said in a quiet but deathly serious tone. The young man's head dipped low between his shoulders again.

"I understand, Master," Anakin replied. He wished desperately to excuse himself and return to his wife and child, but he could not bring himself to be so rude. Luckily for the young man, Obi-Wan's face brightened very suddenly into a wide grin.

"Enough of this solemnity. Go, be with your family. If you do not mind terribly much, perhaps I could visit you all later. I certainly would enjoy meeting the new arrival," Obi-Wan said with a laugh. Anakin's head came up again and he smiled broadly. Very quickly and with enthusiasm the young man nodded his thanks and turned on his heel, a newfound bounce in his step as he went. Padmé and their son were both hovering on the edge of sleep, the baby quietly feeding on her breast. Anakin stroked his son's hair as he kissed his wife's forehead once gently, pulling her back to consciousness.

"Ani? That was Obi-Wan wasn't it? What did they decide?" Padmé asked quietly, shifting just barely beneath the near sleeping baby. Anakin half wished that his wife hadn't asked, but he knew that there was no reason to delay the discussion.

"They have decided not to remove me from the Order. I can only assume that I'll watched closely, but I would gladly put up with it if that's what it takes to remain a Jedi. And no; they are not going to make us separate," Anakin added, noticing the fearful look on the young woman's face.

"You know, I felt something earlier, Ani, while you were gone to the Temple. I still don't know what it was; it felt like part of my soul had been torn away from the rest for a few minutes. It was the worst pain I've ever experienced. I could have sworn I was dying, but then it suddenly went away and I felt freer – stronger – than ever before." Anakin flinched, already knowing what it was that his wife had felt. It wasn't that he had been planning to hide the truth from Padmé, but he certainly had hoped that it wouldn't come up now. "Something happened to you, didn't it, sweetie?" Padmé brushed her husband's cheek with the heel of her right palm, neither her voice nor her eyes accusing.

"You remember that vision I told you about? The dream where you died in childbirth?" Padmé nodded in response. "It frightened me a great deal. I couldn't bear the thought of losing you; I was determined to prevent my vision from coming true. Palpatine slowly convinced me that – by turning to the Dark Side – I would be able to prevent you from dying. I very nearly turned; I wanted to kill those that had denied me help. Do you hear me? I wanted to slaughter Jedi, could almost feel my blade slicing through them." Anakin's face was twisted with anguish, his eyes blurring with tears. Padmé stuttered with revulsion before she realized that this was still her Anakin, not some murderous stranger in her husband's skin.

"Shush, Ani. You pulled through, and you have no way of understanding how proud I am of you. But right now…this isn't the time for such talk. Put it from your mind for now, and enjoy this moment with me. Look at our son, Anakin, and try to forget what could have been," Padmé said gently, scrubbing away the tears that had started down the young man's cheek. Anakin dutifully turned his eyes down to his newborn and a gently smile spread slowly across his face.

"He's perfect." Anakin leaned forward to press his forehead against his wife's, wrapping his arm around both her and their son.

"No, Anakin. We're perfect; our _family_ is perfect."

* * *

><p>Masters Yoda and Kenobi were still standing quietly outside of the med room. Yoda turned away slowly, muttering a hushed 'hmm' under his breath. Obi-Wan's mouth was hanging open slightly as he watched the newly formed family closely. As the human turned to follow the diminutive Jedi master, he forced air back into his lungs, not realizing how long he had stood without breathing.<p>

"Master, did you see…" Obi-Wan started, already wondering inwardly whether he had been imagining things.

"Yes, very interesting this development is. Perhaps incorrect our earlier assumptions were," Master Yoda answered with a nod. Obi-Wan glanced over his shoulder again, wincing at the bright glow emanating from the room.

"How can Anakin not see it?"

"Blinded by his emotions the young one is at this moment. Only in time will he see. Know of this, the boy must not; seen the results of pride we already have," Master Yoda went on quietly, his words barely audible over the distance between him and the younger master. Obi-Wan nodded slowly despite the fact that he knew Master Yoda had no way of seeing him do so. The young man's eyes were still focused on the med room, narrowed to slits against the brilliant silver glow of the baby's Force presence. It didn't just surround the boy; it filled him, infused him with the warm light from the deepest depths of his being. Obi-Wan shook his head sadly and turned away.

"Force help them," he muttered under his breath as he followed after Master Yoda, leaving the family behind them to their time of happiness.


	2. Everything Begins to Shatter

Chapter 1

Everything Begins to Shatter

"Again. You're not focusing on your footwork enough, Luke. It's sloppy and loose, with no care paid to finesse. Get up and let's try it again," Anakin snapped as he stalked away from his son, who was currently sitting – yet again – on the ground, eyes wide with surprise. The boy found that his rear was becoming very sore from his being tossed to the ground.

"I'm sorry, but I am trying, Father," Luke said finally as he pulled himself to his feet, wincing at the soreness of his muscles. He had only just turned twelve, but Anakin was pushing him harder than most masters pushed padawans nearing the Trials. In some respects, such pressure was well needed, as Luke was quickly becoming known as the best young swordsman in the order.

"There is no try –" Anakin started to quote Master Yoda for perhaps the sixth time during this day's practice alone. Luke rolled his eyes slightly as he interrupted his father.

"There is only do or do not. I know, I know," the boy said with a sigh, using the Force to call his lightsaber back to his hand. "You know I'd do better if you'd let me dual wield again."

"You can dual wield only when you've mastered the skills to stay alive with a single blade. What would you do if you were caught in a duel and you lost your second blade? At this rate you'd be dead within two minutes. No, Luke, you aren't going to use a second blade to hide your lack of skill with one. _Again_." Anakin's voice was stern and riddled with threat. Luke, who had opened his mouth to reply, closed it again quickly and ignited his blade just as his father lunged. The two blades connected solidly with a crackling hiss until Luke jumped back, yielding ground to Anakin. Desperate not to be thrown to the ground again, the boy feinted high and cut low, reversing his grip on the lightsaber as he did so. Anakin snarled as he noticed what his son had done. The older man parried the low cut quickly and did a half-spin, bringing his blade in line with his son's unprotected side.

With a gasp of surprise, Luke twisted his body out of the way, sluggishly bringing his lightsaber around to block the blow. The boy stumbled, his feet a tangled and disarrayed mess. Anakin started to drop to the ground and used his momentum to complete a low circular kick that took Luke's legs out from under him.

"No, no, no!" Luke shouted, angry at himself for having fallen for the same trick yet again. The youth threw one hand out toward the ground and used it to push his body up and over in a somersault. Anakin took a step back and blinked in surprise before he pressed on with the assault again. Just as the boy's booted feet hit the ground with a loud thump he was forced to give ground again under the furious blows his father threw at him. Luke tried to press forward, completing a double feint to either side and then a swift uppercut. Anakin was not fooled. His parry was quick, so fast that his son could hardly follow it, and his response deadly. Luke tried to keep himself calm, and succeeded until he felt his heel connect with the wall of the training room. Panicking, the boy did the only thing he could think to do. The youth leapt into the air, using the Force to push himself higher, and kicked off the wall to flip over his father's head, throwing in a half twist to bring himself down facing his opponent. It would have been a brilliant move… if Anakin hadn't been expecting it.

Midway through his flip, Luke felt his father's hand twist into the fabric of his tunic a split second before he found his momentum redirected toward the ground. The boy barely had time to bring his hands up to protect his face before he slammed into the hard stone of the floor. Groaning in pain, Luke rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to gasp air back into his lungs. Anakin strode calmly over and leveled his blade at his son's neck.

"Again," he hissed quietly. Luke glared and waited for his father to move before he jumped to his feet.

"You read my mind!" the boy shouted accusingly at Anakin's back. The older man didn't turn to look at him.

"You let your defenses fall. The fault is not mine, Luke. If you expect your opponents to be lenient toward you, think again. Any Sith would have taken the same opportunity to invade your mind. How can you expect to survive if you aren't even capable of keeping your mental defenses active during combat? Do not think to pass blame for your own shortcomings on to me," Anakin said quietly. Luke's fury was not depleted.

"My defenses only slipped for a split second. There's no way you could have detected the loss and made it into my mind that quickly. You've been inside my head the whole time, haven't you? Does privacy mean nothing around here?" Before the words had even left the youth's mouth his father's hand connected solidly with his jaw. Luke stumbled backward in surprise, landing flat on his rear again. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he blinked several times to clear his spinning head. Anakin stared down at his panting son for a second before he turned away again, believing the boy suitable chastised.

"Again." Luke wasn't quite sure why that particular blow had such an effect on him, but he suddenly found himself incapable of facing his father again. Fighting back hurt tears, the boy pulled himself to his feet and bolted for the door. Anakin thought vaguely about stopping him, even had his hand out to wave the door shut, but something stopped him. Perhaps a vague glimmer of pity slipped through his mind. Whatever the case, he watched in silence as his son fled the room in a fit of anger. Anakin knew he would have to talk to the boy later, explain to him why he had thrown the punch, but for now he simply sighed loudly and left the room himself. Somewhere in the back of his head, part of him was screaming at him. He couldn't make out the words, but it was quickly giving him a headache. Anakin winced as he dropped his hand to the control panel of the door and began to pass through it. _Oh shut up! I'll apologize to him later, _he thought to himself, directing it towards the screaming part of him. The sound slowly began to dull before it fell away to nothing, taking the edge of the headache he had felt with it. The halls of the Temple outside the training room were empty, most of the students having returned to their rooms at this late hour. Luke's dashing footsteps echoed quietly for a moment in the corridor before even that sound disappeared. Anakin knew where his young son was headed, but he also knew that it was best to give Luke time to calm down.

* * *

><p>Luke threw himself to the soft grassy ground of the small contained park hovering not far from the Jedi Temple with a cry of frustration. He immediately regretted the move as a million pin pricks of pain shocked his nerves. Groaning he resituated himself, swiping at the line of blood running from the corner of his mouth to his chin. His jaw ached with throbbing pain, but he set it tightly anyways, grinding his teeth together angrily. <em>What right did he have to do that? He's the one that went snooping around in my head!<em> Luke could feel his own anger, knew that he shouldn't be giving in to it so easily, but he couldn't help himself.

"Blast it!" he snarled very suddenly, hurling the rock he had been toying with across the park, where it slammed into the clear material surrounding the grassy area with a loud crack that echoed about for a long moment. Luke leaned backwards, propping himself up on aching elbows, to stare out at the ever moving traffic of Coruscant's busy populace. The planet-city was all that the boy had ever known, though he often spent hours poring over holograms of lush forest planets, wishing he could see them in real life. Even now, as he attempted to calm his mind, Luke envisioned himself feeling the cool wind from a lake as it rustled his hair. Slowly, a smile spread across the boy's face as he closed his eyes and let his mind drift away.

"It's a shame you called our game off; I would have had you," someone said from disturbingly close by. Luke's eyes snapped open and he started to scramble away from the newcomer until he realized that it was only Mariana. The orphan girl was little more than a street rat in the rest of Coruscant's eyes, but she was Luke's best friend regardless. The two had met in this very same park when Luke was six, and their friendship had only blossomed since then.

"Yeah, well I'd still have been ahead by like five anyways," Luke replied, settling back down beside the raven headed girl. She glared and punched his shoulder playfully. The boy tried to shrug the blow off, but it felt like she'd hit every bruise he had. Mariana blinked once as Luke winced and inhaled quickly.

"Oh man, let me guess: you had lightsaber training today?" Luke nodded in response and the girl shook her head slowly. "You know, he's going to kill you one day if you aren't careful. I still think you should run away. At least then you can get beat up by people that _aren't_ related to you. It makes it less painful, trust me."

"He won't kill me. Father's just…He just wants to make sure I learn what I need to stay alive. You'll see. It'll all be worth it once I'm a full Jedi knight. With his training, I'll be the best that's ever lived," Luke's defense of his father was genuine, and it was clear that the boy loved Anakin with all of his heart.

"I don't have anything against him training you, but come on, Luke. I'm sure the punch that busted your lip like that didn't have anything to do with lightsaber skills, did it?" Mariana's voice was quiet, and Luke looked away with a flush spreading across his cheeks. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, you know. My mom beat the crap out of me when I was little, but I'd never blush if someone pointed it out. It's not like it's _your_ fault that he likes to use you as a punching bag-" Before the girl could finish speaking Luke had launched himself at her, sending the both of them rolling to the ground in a tangle of grappling limbs. When they came to a stop, Luke was firmly seated atop Mariana, holding her by the shoulders.

"My Father does _not_ use me as a punching bag. He loves me, and he'd never let anything hurt me. Just because your parents were so terrible doesn't mean you have to act like mine are the same way," the youth growled angrily. Mariana's eyes clouded with tears as she pushed Luke off of her and jumped to her feet.

"You know what, Luke? I'm beginning to think it's better if you just stay away from me. Your father doesn't want you hanging around with me anyways," she muttered, her eyes steadfastly focused on the ground. Her shoulders were shaking with well restrained sobs, but when Luke made to put a comforting hand on her arm she shrank away from his touch.

"Maria…I didn't mean it. I'm sorry; don't go," Luke apologized, cursing inwardly at himself. The young girl shook her head furiously, long black hair tossed around in a storm as she did so. "Come on, Maria. You know I didn't mean anything by it. Everything that happened today…it's just got me on edge. Please don't leave; you're the only thing I've got to keep me sane." The boy's voice was pleading, and Mariana took a step toward him, perhaps deciding that it wasn't worth losing a friend over such a slight. After a few more tense moments, the girl settled herself on the ground, arranging her tattered dress carefully as if it were made of the finest silk. Luke sat down beside her, picking up another rock to levitate. Mariana giggled as the youth sent the rock spinning in a series of acrobatic swoops and dives.

"So when is your father going to take you on a real mission?" Mariana asked after a moment, glancing over at the youth sitting beside her.

"I don't know. He keeps saying it'll be soon, but then every time he leaves he comes up with some excuse for me to stay behind. It's so frustrating! Plus, it's making me the laughing stock of all the other padawans. Most of them that are my age have been into the field a bunch of times," Luke complained.

"Well…I'm sure you'll get your chance soon. The rumors in the Undercity are that the Separatists are still around in the shadows. Some of the more wildly travelled smugglers think that we could see another war sometime soon."

"No kidding, really? I thought the Separatists were gone for good. I mean, after Father foiled Palpatine's plans to start an empire and everything…What army could they possibly have to fight the Republic with, anyways?"

"That I don't know. I've heard of everything from highly advanced droids to renegade clones to battalions of dark Jedi. Every rumor I've heard sounds pretty improbable, but you never really know, do you? Haven't you heard anything about it at the Temple?" Luke shook his head in response.

"Most of the masters have been focused on Outer Rim conflicts. Apparently there have been several uprisings beyond the Core Worlds, so I guess that could be related to the Separatists. I don't know, maybe I can get some information out of Father about it. That's assuming he's not too upset about today though. I was probably pushing it by running out on him, but I don't think he'll be too angry by the time I make it back," Luke said, tossing the rock away.

"I wasn't all that angry to begin with," Anakin's deep bass voice echoed from behind the pair. Both of the pre-teens jumped to their feet, Mariana glancing around for an easy way of escape. Luke's face was already darkening with the shadow of anger, the boy already assuming that his father had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation. Anakin raised his hands in mock surrender, a coy grin on his face. "Hello, Mariana. It's nice to see you again. I don't mean to run you off, but I need to speak with my son." Mariana bit her lip and bowed before quickly slipping past Anakin. Before she slid from view entirely, she tossed a single encouraging look over her shoulder at Luke, who managed a weak smile in response. Anakin waited until he sensed that the girl was gone before he settled himself down on the ground beside where his son was standing. Luke remained stock still until Anakin motioned for his son to join him. The pair was silent for a long moment before either of them dared to break the tension.

"I'm sorry for…for running out today," Luke said finally. Anakin glanced over at him but did not reply. "I…I don't guess I have an excuse for doing it." The boy's head hung low between his shoulders in embarrassment, his feathery blond hair falling across his face.

"You know I didn't hit you just for the fun of it, right?" Anakin asked, waiting until his son nodded before continuing. _Yes you did_, something in his mind prodded him. Anakin pushed it aside. "You demonstrated great anger today, pointlessly tossing blame in order to make yourself feel better. Anger leads only to the dark side. I hit you to remind you of that fact." _That's not why. Do you know why you hit him? I know why_, the same voice said playfully. Anakin blinked a few times, trying to clear his head before he look back over at his son. Luke opened his mouth to call his father a hypocrite but thought better of it at the last second.

"You were invading my mind well before the session started though, weren't you?" the boy asked quietly, his head still lowered. Anakin seemed to think about his response for a moment before he reached down to place a hand under his son's chin and raise the youth's head.

"Yes, I was, but before you give into your anger again, you really do need to understand that everything I do, I do it only to keep you safe," Anakin answered. Luke pulled his head free from his father's grasp and looked away stubbornly again.

"It's my mind though, what goes on there should be my own business and mine alone. I don't need you snooping around in it to keep me safe. In fact, I think what you mean to say is you want in my head to make sure I don't go getting myself into trouble. That's it, isn't it, Father?" the boy asked, turning back to look at Anakin with fires in his eyes. Anakin sighed once, knowing that it was pointless to try and dance around the issue.

"That's part of it, yes, but I don't just hang around and read your thoughts. Your mind is a private place, I know that. Look, can't we discuss this later? Your mother's probably having a fit right now worrying about the both of us; we'd best not keep her waiting any longer." Anakin stood, holding his hand out for his son. Luke ignored it, pulling himself to his feet on his own. His father could tell that this was going to come up again as soon as they were out of earshot of Padmé tonight, but at least he had managed to calm his son down for now. The pair was on their way out of the park when Luke stopped suddenly and turned to the side, motioning to someone hidden in the bushes. Anakin smiled crookedly as Mariana took a shy step toward her friend.

"Hey, I'll…I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Luke asked the girl, hugging her once quickly. He had tried to get her to come home and at least get a hot meal several times before, but she was just too stubborn, unwilling to accept help that she could not return. Mariana blushed at the sudden display of affection and nodded quickly before she turned and faded back into the plant life. Luke started walking again as if nothing had happened, and Anakin fell into step beside him with a slight chuckle. "She thinks you don't want me to hang around with her," Luke said after a moment. Anakin turned curious eyes on his son, one eyebrow cocked up ever so slightly.

"I wonder why. I don't think I've ever given her any reason to think that," the older man answered. Luke looked up at his stern but confused face and had to suppress a laugh.

"It's probably because you keep me so busy training that I don't get to see her that often," the boy muttered quietly, unable to resist but hoping his father wouldn't hear. Anakin glanced down at his son, feeling slightly hurt at the comment, but held his tongue regardless. The two remained in silence until they reached the small speeder docked on one of the upper landing pads at the Temple. Anakin paused as his son settled himself into the passenger seat, fastening the crash restraints quickly.

"I don't have any problem with you visiting with Mariana, but please make sure you two don't get yourselves in trouble, okay? The last thing I need is to have to bail you out of some situation again. Understood?" Anakin asked, watching his son closely. Luke looked at his father and then dropped his head slightly again as he nodded. Anakin bit back a more stern response and focused on piloting the speeder up and away from the landing pad.

* * *

><p>Mariana watched as the speeder joined the traffic flow and was whisked out of sight before she sighed and stepped out from the cover of the foliage. She was a year younger than Luke was, but her life on the street had taught her much more than the boy would ever learn in the Temple. She had survived on her own – in a place where men twice her age were killed in a matter of hours – for years. If anything, Mariana knew the tricks to staying alive, the lessons that had taught her them brutally unforgiving. Sometimes staying alive meant doing things completely opposite to your character, meant betraying those you care about the most.<p>

"I know what you were trying to do, Mariana, when you told him his father didn't want him hanging out with you. Anakin never once insinuated such a thing. You know what I think? I think you were trying to get the kid to stay away from you. That just won't fly," a man's voice growled from behind the young girl. She jumped slightly, but kept her face straight as she turned around to face the newcomer. He was tall and burly with astoundingly pale skin and a bald head, sporting a tight leather combat suit and deadly looking blaster rifle.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Zaji. I'm pretty sure Master Skywalker doesn't appreciate me in the least," the girl answered innocently, tilting her head slightly to one side. The Rattataki male growled and took a threatening step toward the girl. Mariana's lip twitched slightly in response, but she firmly held her ground, unwilling to yield to someone who was little more than a bully.

"Watch yourself, girl. You may prove yourself useful now, but as soon as my employer decides he's finished with you, I wouldn't mind killing you myself," Zaji snarled, reaching out to wrap one gloved hand around the girl's throat and giving it a brief but tight squeeze in order to emphasize the truth in his words. Mariana shook free of the grasp and took a step backwards.

"Look, do you have new orders for me or are you just here to prove how few brain cells you have operating in that thick skull of yours?" she asked, glancing away as if the man weren't worth her time. Zaji growled but reached to his belt to pull out a small datapad which he tossed to the girl. "Thank you," Mariana said sarcastically as she caught the datapad and thumbed it on, scanning the information written on it. For a moment, her beautiful features were twisted with unease and a hint of sadness. "So that's it then? Your employer's decided to make his move so soon?"

"Don't act so sad, girl. You're the one that so willingly turned on him. It's pointless to try and seem like you care so much about the worthless kid. Some friend you are, eh? Willing to betray him for a few credits," Zaji continued to antagonize the girl. She spun around to face him angrily, hurling the datapad away from her.

"You have no idea what you're talking about! I'm not doing this just for a few credits; you know that as well as I do. If I hadn't agreed to do this filthy job for you and your employer I would have been dead within minutes of refusing. Who do you think you are, anyways? You're no more important to your employer than I am. Don't even begin to think that you'll be kept alive after this job is completed. You're expendable, Zaji," Mariana shouted, her face flushed bright red in fury. The Rattataki stepped toward her again, snatching her shoulder and pulling the girl tight against him. She could feel the muzzle of his blaster pressed against her chest.

"Don't press your luck, girl," he whispered before he pushed her roughly away from him. "You've got four weeks, then we attack. For your own sake that boy better be here when it happens. Don't think I won't have you killed. I'd take an immense amount of joy in doing it myself, in fact. See you then, kid," the Rattataki said with a laugh as he turned on his heel and headed back to whatever pit he called home in the Undercity. Mariana stooped to recover the abandoned datapad, rereading the assignment written on it. Not for the first time she pondered the idea of sneaking off-planet. She knew the extent of her employer's power, however; she knew that it didn't matter how far she tried to run.

"Now look what you've gotten yourself into," the eleven year old muttered to herself as she too made for the Undercity, taking an elaborate series of side passages and turbolifts that she had long ago ingrained into her mind. Mariana regretted having become friends with Luke in the first place, wished desperately that he had never approached her that day in the park. An Undercity orphan had no business being friends with a Jedi, especially not the son of one of the most powerful Jedi Masters ever to have lived. For a split second, jealousy radiated through her body. Why did she deserve to lead this miserable life, to be forced to betray her only friend, while he was the beloved son of a powerful Jedi. He was always loved, always cared for. The only hug Mariana ever got was when she wrapped her own cold arms about herself.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered as she stared out of the turbolift she was riding toward the distant apartment building that the Skywalkers called home.

* * *

><p>Luke sat bolt straight in his bed late that same night. His chest was heaving as he glanced quickly about his room. He looked down and realized with a bit of surprise that his lightsaber was in his hand. The boy guessed that he must have called it to him sometime while he was in the depths of the nightmare. Now, having shaken off the shock of the dream, Luke found himself chilled by a constant feeling of danger. He couldn't place where it came from, wasn't even sure whether it was directed at him. The youth glanced up as his bedroom door slid open and his father stepped in, lightsaber in hand.<p>

"Luke? What's wrong?" Anakin asked his son as he quickly scanned the room and determined that no immediate threat existed. Luke could only shake his head in confusion, still not understanding what he was feeling. Anakin stepped further into the room, pressing his hand on the door's operating console so that it slid shut behind him. The older man's face softened as he sat down on the edge of his son's bed and reached out to gently slide Luke's lightsaber from the boy's tightly curled hand. "Having the nightmares again?" he asked as he set the hilt on the bedside table alongside his own. Luke nodded slightly, his wide eyes wandering over to the closed privacy blinds on the window. "Tell me about it," Anakin prompted, settling a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I saw…strange people. Beings with red skin that marched against the Republic's armies under the command of…I don't know. I think he was a dark Jedi. He…she…it…it had a red lightsaber, and it slaughtered Jedi by the dozens. I watched…I watched it duel you, Father." Luke paused to try and swallow down the lump that rose in his throat, tears threatening to blur his eyes. "I watched you fall to its blade. It killed mother, Master Kenobi…everyone. And then it came for me…I think it's still coming for me." Anakin inhaled deeply and pulled his son against his chest, stroking the boy's hair gently.

"I'm sure it was just a bad dream. Try to forget it, son," Anakin cooed, though inwardly he was making a mental note to discuss this with Obi-Wan. Luke pressed into his father's presence, allowing the warmth of Anakin's embrace to carry him into sleep again. Needlessly, more for his own sake than his son's, Anakin repeated twice, "I'm sure it was just a bad dream."


	3. Into the Unknown

**Okay, so I noticed a few random and kind of stupid errors in the first two chapters. My apologies! Any reviews, constructive criticism, etc. would be much appreciated. This chapter is a little bit shorter than the last, but it'll pick up soon. Anyways, thanks for reading!**

Chapter 2

Into the Unknown

"Gone the threat of civil war, is not," Master Yoda announced as the masters of the High Council finished seating themselves. A stir of unrest ran through them all, nervous eyes cast about the room as if attempting to avoid the very idea. The small green Jedi master nodded to himself as he watched his comrades. They had suffered many losses in the final events of the Clone Wars and had found the prospect of peace very pleasing indeed. The concept of another full scale war was an understandably disturbing one, but Master Yoda knew that ignoring it any longer would only make facing the truth more difficult.

"Experienced the uprisings in the Outer Rim territories, many of you have. Not just random events, are these. Connected to a central event, all of them are. Master Secura? Compare, for us, the planets that joined the Seperatist movement, and those that in uprisings are now involved." The Twi'lek master shifted in her seat, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

"Foremost among them all is Geonosis. Republic forces have identified holdouts of Geonosians armed with the remnants of the droid armies claiming themselves to be independent of the Republic. Behind that, the Danjar, Sluis, and Abrion sectors have all experienced uprisings after only so recently being pulled wholly back into the Republic," Aayla Secura explained, watching her fellow masters closely.

"As Master Secura has pointed out, these worlds and sectors have all only recently been returned to Republic control. Isn't it possible that these uprisings are just rollovers from the Clone Wars?" Master Plo Koon asked, his masked eyes meeting Master Yoda's.

"Wish, I do, that were so. No, strange feelings I have about these uprisings. Clouded with the Dark Side, they are. Learned recently, I have, of a disturbance on another Outer Rim planet. Master Skywalker?" Yoda asked, addressing the newest member of the High Council. The decision to add Anakin to the Council had been controversial, but Master Yoda's support for the young man was what had finally swayed the majority of opinions in favor of him. Anakin glanced up from his thoughts with eyebrows raised questioningly. "Wish for you to go to Dathomir, I do. A disturbance among both the Nightsisters and Nightbrothers, I have been informed of. Very dangerous, the loss of a planet of Force-sensitives, could be."

"You wish for me to arrange a peace treaty between our colonies and the natives, then?" Anakin asked. When Master Yoda nodded in response, the young master sighed. "I'm not sure how willing the Nightsisters will be to work with Jedi, not after Ventress. If I am unsuccessful, what will we do then?"

"It's best we don't dwell on that possibility. That is an obstacle we can overcome when it arises. For now, focus on trying to arrange the treaty. Contact us if that proves impossible and we will work from there. Understood?" Master Kenobi answered. Anakin nodded his understanding and leaned back in his chair with a quiet sigh. Memories of the dark Jedi Asajj Ventress flooded his mind, tormenting him. The young master was surprised to find that he was actually quite nervous at the thought of returning to the planet that had spawned such a deadly opponent as Ventress had been. She had, after all, returned to the Nightsisters before their battle on Boz Pity. It was likely that her legacy with the group would be a great obstacle for the Jedi to overcome.

His musings lasted so long that he barely noticed Master Yoda calling an end to the meeting after handing out assignments to several other masters. Anakin remained seated for a while after most of the others had begun to file out, still engrossed in his own thoughts. Obi-Wan eventually made his way over to his former padawan, standing by Anakin's chair as he stared out the window solemnly. Anakin guessed that Obi-Wan had also addressed Ventress' memory, though the two still held opposing views on the dark Jedi.

"You should take Luke with you," Obi-Wan said suddenly after a moment of quiet contemplation, glancing down to observe Anakin's response. The younger man's face remained impassive, but there seemed to be a flash of fear in his eyes. Obi-Wan turned to him fully this time, settling himself down on the arm of the next chair over. "You can't keep him hidden away here forever, Anakin. Most padawans his age have been out in the field several times. Surely the investigation of a simple dispute can't harbor that many dangers for the boy."

"It's not about the dispute, Master. Luke…I think he's inherited my ability to see into the future," Anakin explained, looking up to meet Obi-Wan's eyes. "He's been having nightmares, much like the ones I had about my mother and Padmé. They could make him susceptible to the Dark Side just as I was." Anakin's face suddenly twisted with sadness and he found himself incapable of meeting Obi-Wan's gaze any longer. The older man had to hide the sharp intake of breath that accompanied his surprise. "Even the thought…it's unbearable."

"Has he told you what these dreams are about?"

"The most recent one happened about a week and a half ago. Luke told me that he saw an army of red skinned beings fighting Republic forces. He said that they were led by someone wielding a red lightsaber who fought and killed Jedi by the dozens. The boy said that this person killed everyone dear to him and that they were coming for him next. I don't know, Obi-Wan, I think he really believes the person from his dream is coming to get him. I can sense the fear and apprehension rolling off the boy, as if he were constantly sensing a threat." Anakin shook his head sadly. Obi-Wan had one hand to his face, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, it doesn't sound like he's responding by looking for alternatives to the outcomes he's foreseen. If anything, it sounds like Luke is bolstering himself to face this threat. Perhaps your worry is misplaced?" Obi-Wan asked after a minute, hoping to comfort the younger man seated before him.

"But Master…it sounds like Luke is foreseeing the rise of another Sith, and not just any Sith, but a very powerful one. You…you know as well as I do that Palpatine is still out there somewhere. Our efforts to hunt him down have all been in vain. What if he's managed to garner himself an army and is coming back to complete his overthrow of the Republic? To kill my son, or to…to turn him?" Anakin's voice had dropped to a near whisper, the pain in it evident. Obi-Wan could think of little else to do but drop a comforting hand on his former apprentice's shoulder. The two sat in silence for a long moment before the older man spoke.

"I don't believe this is something you need to worry about right away. Besides, worrying about it won't get anything done, if anything it will only make matters worse. I think you should take Luke on this mission with you, at the very least to get away from here for a while. Coruscant does become grating after a time, and this way you'll surely have some time to get the nightmares off your mind. If they get worse – or you think Luke's responding to them dangerously – you can always talk to Master Yoda when you return." Obi-Wan patted Anakin's shoulder once more before he turned toward the door. The younger man stood with him, walking slightly behind Obi-Wan as the two of them left the Council chamber. Even before he was completely through the door, Anakin was bombarded with questions from his son. Luke had been waiting outside the Council chamber, probably having rushed through the simulations he had been told to complete in order to get up here by the time Master Yoda dismissed the Council.

"Am I really going to get to go on a mission with you, Father? Am I, am I?" Luke asked, virtually jumping up and down with excitement. Anakin turned disapproving eyes on his son, but couldn't hide the lopsided smile that came to his face.

"Who was snooping around in whose head now, eh?" he asked Luke, one eyebrow cocked up sarcastically. Both Obi-Wan and Anakin suppressed their laughs as the boy's face flushed and he lowered his eyes to the floor. "It _is _impressive that you got through my shields without my noticing; well done. Next time, though, you could just ask me before you go breaking in. _Or_, better yet, you could just be patient and at least wait until I've been dismissed." Anakin ruffled his son's hair with one hand before he turned to bid farewell to Master Kenobi.

"I'll see you when you return, Anakin. And Luke, congratulations on your first assignment," Obi-Wan said with a wave as he turned down the corridor. Anakin could hear his former master's chuckle echoing back to him, but it didn't seem to bother Luke, who was again staring up at his father with a broad grin on his face.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Luke. If we get there and I don't think you're in control of yourself I will gladly lock you in the shuttle until I'm finished," Anakin warned sternly. Luke immediately wiped the grin from his face and set his shoulders stiffly. "That's better. Now, we're being sent to Dathomir. It's an-" Anakin started to explain, but Luke cut him off.

"Outer Rim planet in the Quelii sector. It's got a total of four moons, its geography is extensively varied, and there are only a few scattered Republic colonies on its surface. Why are we going there?"

"Honestly, if you'd let me finish for once, you wouldn't need to ask that question," Anakin snapped. Luke dropped his eyes again apologetically. "I'm sure you've heard of the Nightsisters and their Zabrak counterparts the Nightbrothers. Apparently there have been uprisings in both groups against the Republic colonies. We're being sent to try and establish peace between their tribes and our forces there. It should be a fairly simple and straightforward mission, so don't get yourself all excited. Chances are there'll be little for us to do except mediate talks between diplomatic groups," Anakin finished explaining. For a brief moment, Luke's features were riddled with disappointment before he took control of his emotions again. Suddenly, the boy was backing away from his father. Anakin's features twisted in confusion.

"Hey! I just realized that I…uh…forgot to turn off the simulation before I left. You know how Master Kenobi gets when people do that. I better go, um, turn it off," Luke lied with a nervous laugh before he turned and bolted down the corridor. "See you later, Dad!" he called over his shoulder before he disappeared around the corner. Anakin shook his head once before he strode quickly off to locate his wife and tell her the news.

* * *

><p>"Maria?" Luke called quietly, his voice echoing around the silent park. He wasn't really sure why he expected the girl to be there waiting for him, but he guessed that she was. Sure enough, the black haired child rolled out from beneath a bit of shrubbery and blinked sleepily in the bright sun. Luke supposed that she must have spent the night here. Typically the thought of her sleeping out in the open saddened him, but right now he was too caught up to notice. He dashed over to her in excitement. Having miscalculated the distance, the youth had to tilt back on his heels to try and slow his slide before he toppled over her. Mariana burst into laughter as Luke overbalanced and fell with a loud <em>thump<em> on his rear. "Oh ha ha, yeah, it's so funny," Luke growled, leaning to one side to rub his wounded posterior. As if he suddenly remembered why he had been so excited in the first place, Luke's face very quickly went from angry to ecstatic.

"You'll never guess what happened today," he said teasingly. Mariana cast him a suspicious look, clearly not thinking for a second that anything that amazing could have happened.

"You learned how _not_ to stay on your feet? On no, wait, I bet you learned how to make a complete fool of yourself," Mariana joked, a sarcastic grin on her face. Luke punched her arm playfully. "Hey, I'm just going off what I've seen so far."

"Once again, very funny, but no. Father got assigned a mission off-planet and he's decided to take me with him. How awesome is that?" Luke explained, wholly unable to contain his happiness. Mariana's face seemed to fall, her expression crumbling very suddenly and seemingly without explanation. Luke's face twisted in confusion. "Maria, what's wrong?"

"How…how long will you be gone?" Mariana asked slowly. The boy's brow furrowed as he studied his friend.

"I don't know. I'm sure we're going to leave soon, but everything else depends on how long it takes to settle the disputes. Why do you ask? Is something wrong, Maria? If there are thugs or whatever bothering you, I could help clear then out." Mariana looked at her friend with a sad smile on her face. _If only you knew_, she thought to herself before she shook her head.

"No…No, it's nothing like that. I'm just going to miss you, that's all," she answered. Luke stared at her for a long moment, sensing that she wasn't telling him the truth. Aware of his probing, the girl turned away and began picking nervously at the grass in front of her. "So where are you headed off to, oh great master Jedi?"

"The Outer Rim territories. We've been sent to Dathomir," Luke answered hesitantly, not sure how to respond to his friend's sudden loss in interest. Mariana nodded, calculating in her head the time it would take for him to reach the planet, adding in a vague estimate of how long the Jedi would need to settle the conflict, and the return trip. Her heart clenched in fear, but she immediately forced it away, knowing that the youth seated next to her would sense it in a heartbeat. The girl looked up after a moment, noticing finally that her friend was staring at her expectantly.

"You're finally going to get off Coruscant, see a new world. That's great for you. I'm sure you'll do-" Mariana was cut off as Luke's comlink suddenly crackled to life. The boy snatched it from his belt just as his father's voice came through. Luke glanced at his friend with uncertainty written on his face. The girl waved him off, hugging him briefly before she retreated from his presence, leaving Luke alone. The youth sighed before he raised the comlink to his lips.

"Yes, Father?" he answered, already pulling himself to his feet.

"Luke, I need you to meet me on the main landing pad. I've already got your things packed, so don't worry about that. Make sure you've got your lightsaber with you. Our pilot wants to get going now, so hurry," Anakin said from the other end, the reception shaky due to electromagnetic interference. Luke scanned the park quickly as he replaced the comlink in its pouch on his utility belt. Mariana's presence was still nearby, but the youth could sense that she wanted to be left alone. "I guess I'll see you when I get back," he called before he turned to leave the park. A wave of sadness washed over him from his friend, but it was quickly replaced with a sense of steadfast determination. Luke shook his head as he made for the Temple, wondering to himself what had come over the girl.

It was several minutes before Luke made it to the landing pad, and he spent all of them trying to figure out why Mariana would have been so out of sorts over his leaving on such a simple mission. When the boy finally looked up, it was to see his parents standing before a Consular-class star cruiser painted solid red. The two were engrossed in an intense conversation, and Luke could sense waves of apprehension rolling off his mother. When the pair turned to observe their son, the boy could tell that Padmé was busy arranging her face into a semblance of happiness. When the youth approached, Padmé snatched him into a tight hug.

"You'd better be careful, and don't you dare ignore your father if he tells you to do something, understood?" she commanded as she planted a kiss on her son's forehead. Luke squirmed in her embrace, attempting to free himself.

"I know, Mom. I'm not five anymore," Luke growled in the deepest voice he could manage. Padmé pulled away suddenly, taken aback by her son's brusque words.

"No, you're not," she answered with a hint of sadness in her voice. Luke glanced away, ashamed at how he had responded. His father saved him from having to apologize by stepping up and putting both hands on his son's shoulders. Brow creased thoughtfully, Anakin turned the boy so he could look at him clearly.

"What's wrong, Luke? I can tell something's bothering you. Has something happened?" Anakin asked. Luke looked up at his father, wondering if he should tell him about Mariana's strange response.

"I guess I'm just a little bit nervous about this," he replied finally, trying to shrug nonchalantly. Anakin started to press for more information, but was interrupted by the pilot waving the pair onboard. The boy started up the loading ramp beside his father but stopped and turned suddenly. The mask of maturity he had been wearing broke as he ran back to his mother and hugged her tightly.

"I love you, Luke," she said before she released him and gave him a slight push up the ramp. The youth tossed his mother a crooked grin before he dashed up the loading ramp to take his seat beside his father in the salon pod. Aside from the two Jedi, the only people onboard the cruiser were the six members of the crew, cut down from the standard eight. As usual, Anakin and Luke were joined by the astromech R2-D2 in the salon pod.

"Are you ready for this?" Anakin asked his son as the engines on the cruiser roared to life and the craft lifted into the air. Luke turned to stare at his father for a moment, the look on his face amusingly serious.

"Ready doesn't even begin to describe it." Luke's response was heady with hidden meanings, so much so that Anakin had to blink once to make sure he had actually heard it from his young son and not a man with twice as many years under his belt.

* * *

><p>"Hey, don't get all grumpy on me, Zaji. I didn't know about it until today, and neither did he based off our conversations. This must have been assigned and decided upon at the Council meeting this morning. It's not like I can go back in time and change the Council's mind on giving this mission to Master Skywalker," Mariana explained, holding her hands up in surrender before the fuming Rattataki. Zaji was currently pacing angrily about the private room he had claimed in the Undercity cantina, clenching and unclenching his fists every so often. "Guess you'll just have to tell your employer to delay the plans, eh?"<p>

"Wipe that smug grin off your face before I do it for you. You better hope that he doesn't decide to take his frustration out on you. I wouldn't be surprised if he did; you're far too happy about this development to not have had a hand in it," Zaji growled, staring the girl down. Mariana laughed inwardly at how easy it was to fool the Rattataki. If he had any sense at all, he would have been able to tell how distressed the girl was. On one hand, she was glad that Luke had escaped death for a little while longer, but on the other she had hoped it would be over soon and she wouldn't have to think about it any longer. Having to dwell on the concept of causing her best friend's death was much worse than actually doing it could ever be. "Are you sure he won't be back in time for the attack to continue as planned?"

"I don't know if he will be or not, I just happen to know that missions to the Outer Rim territories tend to take some time, and we've only got a couple weeks until the attack is supposed to happen. It'd be much safer just to delay the plans rather than hoping the Skywalkers will be back on-planet by then. After all, your employer probably won't appreciate having to change his plans, but I'd imagine he'd be much angrier about missing his mark," Mariana answered with a slight hitch in her voice. Zaji seemed to growl low in his throat as he continued to pace for a minute more. Mariana pretended to be distracted, toying with her hair as if this meeting held little interest for her. Zaji suddenly grabbed hold of her right forearm and dragged her back out through the cantina, ignoring the vaguely curious glances that were tossed their way.

"Hey! Come on, you don't have to be so rough. You could have just told me we were leaving," the girl complained as she struggled to match the large man's pace so her arm wasn't being wrenched painfully in its socket. Zaji maintained his grip on her arm, marching her through the streets of the Undercity until they reached the shell of a small cantina that had been modified to serve as living quarters some time ago. The Rattataki shoved the girl through the door before he turned and locked it behind them. Mariana glared at his back as she massaged feeling back into the aching muscles of her arm. "Going to tell me what we're doing here now, or would you prefer to drag me somewhere else?"

"We're reporting to our employer. You're here because it's your neck on the line, not mine," Zaji replied with a cruel grin on his face. Mariana started to protest, but silenced herself when the man took a threatening step toward her. Zaji pushed her forward into the center of the room, where an expensive hologram projector had been built into the floor. "For now, sit down and be silent. The last thing I need is for your uncontrollable mouth to get him irked." Mariana sneered at the Rattataki as he bent down and attached his comlink to one of the ports on the projector. Zaji fell silent as he opened the transmission, waiting for his employer to respond.

"Now what do you want, Zaji?" a male voice snarled in heavily accented basic on the other end of the transmission as a fuzzy image slowly appeared on the screen. Mariana had never seen such an alien as the one that appeared before her, though it seemed like whoever was on the other end had purposefully adjusted the quality of the image in order to make it far more difficult to make out his face. The girl could see that he had recessed eyes under a sharp, projecting brow, and several things resembling tendrils hanging from his jowls. Despite the grainy, unclear image, Mariana could make out the fierce, threatening visage that stared the usually impertinent Zaji down.

"I've been informed of some very…disappointing developments, sir. It seems that the boy and his father were sent on an off-planet mission today. They will likely not be back on Coruscant by the time we had planned to attack," Zaji explained, bowing low in submission before the intimidating man. The alien's furious eyes turned to Mariana, who found herself trying to slink away. Zaji snatched the collar of her dress to hold her in place, hauling her an inch higher and thus closer to the hologram.

"This is the rat you've been using to get to the boy?" the alien asked with disapproval evident in his voice. Zaji nodded quickly, thrusting Mariana forward into full view of the hologram. "So then, _girl_, why are just now hearing about this, hmm?"

"Look, I told Zaji the same thing I'll tell you. Luke didn't even know he was going to be leaving until today. I don't think this was planned any earlier than this morning. How could I have possibly known something that wasn't even decided upon by the Jedi Council?" Mariana explained, allowing a bit of the fury she felt to sneak into her voice despite her desperate position.

"How, indeed." The alien seemed to be pondering something for a long moment, allowing both Zaji and Mariana to sink into a tense, uncomfortable silence. At last, the alien man turned back to the young girl, appraising her for the first time. "Tell me where they were sent." Mariana's eyes widened slightly, but she immediately shook her head, feigning ignorance. "You're his closest friend; I know the boy told you. All I need of you is to tell me where he's going, and then you can be free of this business for good."

"Dathomir…They were sent to Dathomir," Mariana answered, her head hanging low between her shoulders in guilt. All she wanted was to be free of Zaji and his overbearing employer. Living with no credits at all was better than suffering through this.

"There now, was that so hard? Zaji, I'll handle the boy and his father myself. Proceed with the attack when the time comes, but keep this…rat with you. If I can't subdue the Jedi myself, I believe she will be of use to me." The hologram disappeared abruptly as the alien ended the transmission. Mariana's head popped up as she scrambled away from the Rattataki, scanning the room for anything she could use as a weapon. Zaji snickered as he stepped toward her, already pulling his blaster from its holster on his belt.

"It's such a pity that I'm going to have to set this to stun. I'd much rather kill you and be done with it," the man said with a smirk as he calmly adjusted the settings on the blaster. Mariana broke for the door, trying to turn off the lock before the Rattataki could immobilize her. The door slid open with a hiss just as the girl was enveloped in an electric blue bolt from the blaster. She fell to the ground with a _thud_, her raven hair spilling about her head in an endless black pool as her mind fell into a similar pit of darkness. "Such a pity, indeed," Zaji grumbled as he twisted a hand into the girl's jet hair and hauled her back into the chamber, tossing her limp body roughly to the ground. Several onlookers from the street laughed wickedly at the scene before continuing about their own business, the fate of a single street rat none of their concern.


	4. From the Shadows

**Okay, sorry I missed the update yesterday. I'm trying to get one done every day before I head off to bed, but you know; things come up. As usual, let me know if you catch any errors. Reviews, constructive criticism, and the like would be greatly appreciated. This one ends in a bit of a cliffhanger (apologies, but it was just too good to resist), but hopefully you won't have to0 wait long for an update. As usual, thanks for reading!**

**Chapter 3**

**From the Shadows**

"Luke, wake up. We're here," Anakin's voice infiltrated the pleasant unawareness of Luke's dreams. Groaning once loudly, the boy slapped his father's hand away and rolled over onto his side. "Now, Luke!" The words were accentuated by a slap on the back of the head that was a great deal short of a gentle wakeup call. Luke stifled his cry of pain as he sat up, hand rubbing at the spot where his father's hand had connected. Anakin watched him to make sure the boy was awake before he turned away and crossed the salon pod. The Jedi master had spent the past five days of travel pacing about the cabin, crossing back and forth between the cockpit and the salon pod. Several times Luke had tried to ease the tension in his father, but every attempt had ended in failure.

"Is something wrong, Dad?" Luke asked as he watched his father. Anakin half turned his head over his shoulder but otherwise ignored the question. Shrugging, Luke rolled his eyes and turned back to glance at the chronometer built into the wall. The boy was in the process of yawning tiredly, nearly toppling over onto the bunk asleep again when a pair of supple leather boots smacked him squarely in the chest. The youth's face twisted into a confused scowl as he swung his legs over the edge of the bunk and began pulling the boots on. "What's wrong?" he dared to ask a second time.

"Enough. Nothing's wrong. Let's just get this treaty signed and be done with this planet once and for all. I can't stand it here," Anakin snapped, tossing Luke his lightsaber as he turned to leave the small diplomatic vessel. The boy jumped to his feet, shrugging his dark brown cloak on over his tunic as he struggled to keep pace with his father. While the older man strode purposefully down the ramp and over to a small contingent of clones that had assembled to meet the Jedi, Luke found himself thoroughly distracted by the landscape. The small Republic colony was settled on the edge of a densely forested area that was flanked by a range of soaring mountains topped with glittering snow. Through breaks in the range, Luke could see the glimmering sands of a desert baking in the midday sun, shimmering rays of heat rising from its surface. Beyond the colony's buildings came the sound of waves from a wild, untamed ocean. The boy's neck craned backward as he attempted to take in the entire expanse of the mountains before him, eyes narrowing to slits against the glare of the sun while his nostrils flared to take in the salt tinted air from the sea. It took his breath away, the bright and empty spread of the sky, free from the towering buildings and constant traffic that clogged Coruscant's air.

"Luke!" his father called over his shoulder, motioning for the boy to join him. Anakin was standing alongside a clone whose armor bore bright yellow splashes to indicate that he was an officer of higher ranking than a captain. Unsure how to greet the military officer, Luke managed a slight bow as he would have offered to a higher ranking Jedi. "Major Bast, this is my son – and padawan – Luke. He'll be accompanying me on this mission, with your approval," Anakin said by way of introduction. Bast scanned the nervous face of the young boy before he raised his eyes to meet the Jedi master's again.

"If he's even half as skilled as you are I doubt you'll need us here at all, sir. The natives hadn't been giving us that much trouble until just recently. Four days ago we were ambushed by a group that claimed themselves to be Nightwitches…or something like that. We lost a significant part of our force, but since then everything's been quiet. I don't know how much luck you'll have in making contact with any of them considering that the attack was the only time we've _ever_ seen them. They might as well not exist." Major Bast and Anakin turned toward the scattered buildings of the colony, Luke falling into step behind them.

"I'm sure we'll find a way. If we can make contact with just one of them I'm certain that she'll be able to lead us to the others. Master Yoda mentioned that the Zabrak Nightbrothers have been giving you trouble as well?"

"Oh, _those_ guys. Yeah they've been giving us trouble all right. Came in with that crazy group of women. I'm sure they caused more of our casualties than the women did. We kept shooting them down, but I don't think it deterred them at all; they just kept coming. Most of them seemed well trained in sword combat too, though I'm not sure what kind of weapon they were using. Seemed similar to what you'd think of as an archaic sword, but they had a strange sort of glow around them. Not a single one of those things even got nicked during the fight that I saw. The women were using leather whips, but they also had bows and arrows that had the same type of glow." Major Bast shook his head as he glanced down at his own blaster rifle, perhaps pondering what it would be like to have to resort to using the same primitive weaponry.

"It's possible that the Nightsisters have managed to hone their Force-sensitivity enough to enhance ordinary weapons. If that's the case, they may yet be so far advanced as to block lightsabers and the like," Anakin explained. Behind the pair Luke swallowed down the fearful lump that had formed in his throat. He was opening his mouth to ask his father something when a female Lorrdian approached them from the largest building in the colony. As she neared them, the woman lowered herself in a deep bow, which Anakin and Luke immediately returned.

"Welcome, honorable Jedi. My name is Elan Vrene. I am the elected…mayor…of this colony. We greatly appreciate your coming to help us ease the tension here. Dathomir is a nearly forgotten planet; we had not expected to receive such an honored member of the Council," the woman introduced herself. Anakin shook his head and managed to place what came off as a pleasant and appeasing smile on his lips.

"Nonsense, Lady Vrene. Your plight is as important to the Council as any other. You haven't suffered many casualties, I hope?" the Jedi master replied. His voice seemed distant and distracted – something that did not go unnoticed by the twelve year old Luke.

"Thankfully no, the colonists have been spared for the most part. Although our clone protectors…Let's say we'd rather this conflict be ended quickly," Vrene answered. She glanced down with uncertainty at Luke as she placed her hand on the activation console of the door on the administration building.

"Luke, go and see if Major Bast needs help with anything," Anakin commanded, motioning toward the clone leader. Luke nodded, though he eyed his father closely, feeling that there was definitely something off about him. Unable to place what it was, the boy turned on his heel and strolled back to the group of clones.

"Major Bast?" the youth asked as he approached the group. The leader moved to face the young Jedi, holding his helmet under his arm. "Uh…is there anything that I can help with?"

"Kicked off the center stage, eh?" Bast asked, covering up what may have been an amused chuckle with a cough. Luke raised angry eyes to meet the clone's before he realized that the officer had actually rather accurately addressed the issue. The youth nodded once, glancing over his shoulder at the administration building. "Well, we're just settling in to continue with our regular scans as per defense protocol, but I doubt any one would mind having an observer around. How old are you, kid?"

"I turned twelve a month ago."

"I take it this is your first off-world mission then. Well, guess you've already pretty much seen what's left of my battalion. We started here with the normal five hundred and seventy-six troopers, but the two confrontations we've had with the natives have dropped us down to the hundred you see here and another seventy that are on sentry duty." Luke scanned the busy clones and tossed one worried glance at the forest behind them.

"The odds seem pretty stacked against you guys. Are the natives that deadly?" he asked nervously. Bast did not even bother to hide his exceedingly cynical laugh this time as he picked up a datapad that had just been offered to him by another clone.

"No, they're worse. I've never seen a group fight with such ferocity. It doesn't matter how many of them you kill, they'll still be willing to throw more into the fray. Not that it matters, because they seem to be incredibly hard to take down. Their rancor mounts are essentially immune to our blasters, and from a mounted position they've pretty much got clear shots at us all the time," the officer answered before he made a note on the datapad and handed it back to the trooper. "And don't even get me started on the Zabrak they bring with them. At this rate, my battalion will be wiped out within the month."

"Why do you suppose they're suddenly attacking like this? I mean a primitive race like this one; could it really be related to the Separatists?"

"I don't think so. I have heard rumors that Count Dooku's influence made it this far out, but I don't think that these Nightwitches or whatever they call themselves are rebelling against us because of that. If you ask me, their devotion to whoever's leading them is borderline worship. Whoever's holding their leashes must be pretty powerful," Bast replied. He moved to stand behind a clone tech specialist that was currently poring over a datascreen. "Have someone check out that anomaly; the last thing we need right now is our equipment malfunctioning," the officer commanded as he leaned over the trooper's shoulder.

"Sir!" a second clone cried from several stations over. Bast straightened and looked over at the trooper with expectant eyes. "Our sensors have picked up movement in the forest. Definitely on the approach, and not resembling any of the animals we've encountered before." Eyes suddenly narrowing, Bast stepped toward the datascreen to investigate the issue for himself.

"There can't be more than two beings out there. You three, come with me," he ordered as he straightened again, pulling his blaster rifle from where it had been slung across his back. The three clones that had been standing guard around the post where the sensory equipment had been placed jumped to attention as they joined their officer. "Here's your chance, kid," Bast said with a lopsided grin toward Luke, who was resisting the urge to pull his lightsaber. The five of them marched quickly to the forest's edge, the clones spreading out in a line. Luke very suddenly found himself placed in command position with a line of trigger happy soldiers flanking him. Despite the relatively low chance that the disturbance was an attack force, the boy had to swallow several times to relieve the nervous dryness in his mouth.

The low lying scrub bordering the clearing began to shake at the approach of two shadowy figures just barely visible against the dark backdrop of the forest's depths. As Luke strained his eyes for a better view, two women wearing elaborately decorated helmets and clothing that seemed to be made of lizard skin stepped forward beyond the boundaries of the forest. The pair took four steps away from the protective covering of the tree line before they halted and planted their feet in an unassuming position. Luke and the clones stared at them expectantly, all of their muscles tensing to respond to a threat.

"Peace, friends," the eldest of the women said as she spread her arms out before her. Her words seemed to have a strange ring to them and an underlying rhythm that didn't quite match up. It wasn't until Luke turned around and observed the puzzled looks on the faces of the clones that he realized the woman was using the Force to make herself understandable to the young Jedi. The youth motioned to the clones to lower their weapons, which they did only reluctantly. "My name is Augwynne Djo, clan mother of the Singing Mountain Clan, and this is Sister Chastina. We come seeking assistance in this time of great despair. Our clan is weakened by the Nightsisters; we cannot hold out against their assault. We have heard of your grand armies, and we wish for your aid in defeating our corrupted rivals. Come, see that we approach you unarmed. We do not walk the same path as our lost sisters, though our numbers are diminishing. Please, it is only peace that we beg of you."

* * *

><p>The sun was setting over Dathomir by the time that Luke managed to escort Augwynne Djo and Chastina past the nervous clones and into the administration building. The Amazonian women seemed wildly out of place awash in the technology of the communications center, though if they felt ill at ease they deftly hid it. Luke stood at his father's side, seeming to take shelter in the older man's shadow while the two Witches shared their tale.<p>

"You know, perhaps, that two great Nightsister leaders came from our very own clan. We regret their loss to evil, but now we have come to fear them greatly. In the past we fought them back with greater numbers and a bond of sisterhood much stronger than their own. Now, however, they are bolstered by a force that is unknown to us. Strange beings walk in their midst, never quite visible, but always there. The Nightsisters powers have grown in strength; their spells far exceed our own in potential. When they attack us they boast of being a part of a galactic revolution that will throw down the Jedi and bring the true rulers of the galaxy to power," Augwynne Djo explained, her eyes cast to the floor in a mixture of sadness and shame. Luke could only imagine what it must have taken for the women to overcome their pride enough to ask the outsiders for assistance.

"Most frightening of all, master Jedi, is that they speak of these rulers rising _again_. A power the galaxy has faced before and barely survived," Chastina added, a visible shudder running down her spine. Luke, suddenly feeling a sneaking suspicion that he knew who these beings were, stepped out of his father's shadow toward the two Witches.

"You've never seen this new race? Not in any of the conflicts you've have with the Nightsisters?" the boy asked, his voice impatient. Augwynne Djo's eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to berate the youth for his impertinence, but Chastina stepped in to his rescue. The younger woman seemed more at ease around the brash young Jedi than her clan mother, possibly because she wasn't that much older than the boy herself.

"None of our sisters have reported anything beyond seeing their shadows amidst the dark ones. I-" she cut off, glancing to Augwynne Djo as if seeking permission to continue, "I have seen one. At least, I believe that it was a being I saw and not a creation of my mind. She was slender, with bony projections in some places that twisted and malformed her shadow. When she stepped in to the sunlight, it looked much like every pore in her skin was oozing tiny droplets of blood, so dark was the crimson hue of her skin. And her face…it was fierce and feral, as if she lived only to kill." As the young Witch finished she looked away from the Jedi, perhaps embarrassed that she alone claimed to have seen one of these beings. Luke could have cared less, as caught up in the trepidation that suddenly coursed through his veins as he was.

"Is something wrong, young Jedi? Do you know of these creatures?" Augwynne Djo inquired, her brow furrowing as the boy took a trembling step backward against his father. Anakin dropped a hand to steady his son, but otherwise continued to seem detached.

"I'm sure it's nothing. We will alert the Council to your plight, and I am certain they will send reinforcements to bolster your own forces. My son and I are no army, or we would offer our full assistance. As it is, your own sisters will likely have to hold out for several days until our troops can arrive. Will this be possible?" Anakin asked tiredly, as if the whole business was nothing more than a slight distraction.

"It will likely be difficult, but I'm sure we can manage on our own until your warriors arrive to help us," Augwynne Djo answered. Anakin nodded and stepped around the table to bring himself closer to the regal woman.

"You've done your clan a great deal of good by seeking assistance. You should be very proud of your own actions. As you return to your sisters, know that the Force goes with you," the Jedi master said quietly, his eyes appearing to see straight through her and focus on something behind the woman. Augwynne Djo shifted uncomfortably, casting a suspicious eye at the Jedi. Luke guessed that she too could sense the discomfiting changes that were coming over his father.

"We thank you, master Jedi. Come, Chastina, let us rejoin our sisters. Our actions today will not go unnoticed by the Nightsisters," the elder woman said at length, motioning toward her younger clan mate to join her. Luke followed them out of the building to tell Bast to see the Witches off. When he returned, Anakin was already standing before the large holoprojector waiting for the connection to Coruscant to be established. The concerned faces of Masters Kenobi, Yoda, Secura, Mundi, and several others that were also present in hologram only appeared above the holojector.

"Ana – Master Skywalker – do you bring word on the issues on Dathomir?" Obi-Wan asked almost as soon as the connection had been secured. Anakin bowed quickly, hesitant to dispense with the formalities.

"We have met with two of the native Witches. They report that the Nightsisters have been joined by a new race that is unknown on Dathomir and that they speak of the return of some dark power to the galaxy. The Witches are losing members as their younger sisters are enticed to leave their clans and join the Nightsisters, and, according to the clones stationed here, the Nightbrothers have also been involved in this so called revolution," Anakin responded, his mind hardly seeming to register what was going on around him.

"Have you seen these strange beings the Witches spoke of?" Master Mundi questioned, glancing around at his fellow masters. Anakin shook his head and glanced down at his son, one eyebrow raised slightly.

"All that we have had contact with were the Witches, masters," Luke added in response to his father's glance. "But, if I may, I don't think we should withhold support for the Witches just because we haven't actually seen this new threat in the flesh. Augwynne Djo came before us pleading for our help, but we lack the forces here now to lend them."

"Well said, young Skywalker's words are. Send additional aid for both the colonies and the Witches we must. Ensure peace between our people, such actions will. Stay to fight I think you should not, Master Skywalker; shrouded with darkness your presence is, much like the planet on which you stand. Return to Coruscant with your son you shall," Master Yoda said, one hand to his chin thoughtfully as the other Masters nodded their agreement. Luke and Anakin both lowered themselves into bows before they ended the connection. The youth looked up at his father with worry plain on his face as soon as the image faded.

"Father, what's wrong?" he asked after a moment's silence in which Anakin barely moved. When he lowered his eyes to meet his son's, the boy noticed a disturbing orange glint that seemed to flare within them for a moment before disappearing again.

"I don't…I don't feel quite like myself. It's this planet; I could swear that every plant on it were infused with the Dark Side. The presence of it…it's overbearing, and I feel it around me like a cloak that I cannot shed. I haven't experienced anything quite like this since…well, let's just say that I'd rather we get off this rock as soon as possible."

"How can a planet have a presence in the Dark Side? Everything on it would have to be corrupted, when we have seen Augwynne Djo and Chastina. Clearly they are not of the Dark Side." Luke's voice was laden with anxiety, and Anakin couldn't help but notice that the boy was subtly distancing himself as they walked.

"Not every being would have to be corrupted for the planet to be darkened. Whatever power is growing here…it's very strong."

"Father, you know Chastina's description fits what I've seen in my dreams. If I truly have foresight – as you do – then we should stay and uncover this race. We must stop them before they have a chance to amass their armies and march on the Republic. If anything, we cannot allow what occurred in my nightmares to happen in real life," Luke said, his voice slowly rising in volume and pitch as his uneasiness got the better of him. Very suddenly, the boy found himself on the ground, warm scarlet blood dripping from his busted nose. Anakin was standing over him, the fiery glint having returned to his eyes. The Jedi master reached down and grabbed the boy's collar, hefting him off the ground slightly.

"Don't you _ever_ try to change what you see. It can lead only to more despair, more destruction, and more death. Forget your dreams, wipe them from your mind as if they never existed. Do you understand me, boy? Do you?" Anakin's accentuated his words by shaking his son roughly in short jerks. Bewildered by this suddenly violent response, Luke nodded vigorously in response, wanting only to free himself from this dangerous predicament. Anakin released the boy, who clambered away from his father, swiping at the blood that was dripping from his chin. Abruptly, the older man's eyes seemed to revert to their original crystal blue, perhaps with even a flicker of sadness buried within them. "Luke…son, I'm so sorry," he started to apologize, stepping nearer to the boy. Luke matched his steps by retreating further away from his father, shaking his head furiously.

"You aren't yourself, Dad. I just…let's just leave this place; you're scaring me."

"No one is up for the return trip yet. I think we both need to get some rest. We can leave first thing in the morning. You go on ahead to the ship; I need to alert Major Bast to the change in plans," Anakin said stiffly before he spun on his heel and virtually ran away from the youth.

* * *

><p>"Luke! Do you have any idea what time it is?" Obi-Wan asked, feigning irritation at the disturbance. The youth glanced at his wrist chrono and winced.<p>

"I'm sorry, Master Kenobi, but I needed to talk to someone," Luke replied, pulling his cloak tighter about his body. Obi-Wan's brow creased as he sensed the boy's apprehension.

"What in all the worlds happened to your nose? I thought you and Anakin hadn't seen any fighting."

"That's what I had to contact you about. It's Father, but I don't know exactly what's wrong with him. This whole time he's been vague and distant, as if his mind was elsewhere or he was constantly trying to listen to something very faint. I questioned him today about trying to… to change the outcome of my nightmares if they're really foresight like we believe. He's hit me once before, but...but not like this. I didn't even have a chance to react; by the time I registered what was happening I was on the ground," Luke explained quickly, glancing over his shoulder as if fearing that Anakin would step into the building at any second.

"Blast it. I knew sending him to that world was a terrible idea. The Dark Side has developed a strong grip on it. Listen to me, Luke; you must try not to provoke your father any more until you are free of the planet. He's vulnerable right now, feeling the call of the Dark Side. If you press him we could lose him at any moment. Do you understand?" Luke nodded, swallowing back the lump that was rising in his throat. Obi-Wan's face softened slowly as he watched the boy nervously dance from foot to foot. "Once you're off Dathomir things will calm down again, Luke. You must be patient and mindful of your feelings. Now, get your father back to me in one piece so that I can have a word with him. And Luke, may the Force be with you."

As the hologram of Obi-Wan faded from existence, the youth sagged against the table that the holojector was built in to, his stamina suddenly drained. Lethargy threatened to pull him into sleep where he stood, causing him to sway dangerously on his feet. Sleep beckoned to him, calling him into pleasant unawareness, the one place where he could be safe. Suddenly, the youth realized that it wasn't his own mind and body urging him to sleep. Spinning around with lightsaber at the ready, Luke pressed back against the unyielding, oppressive presence that was settling over his mind. As the youth faced off against a figure standing in the shadows just beyond the doorway, a deep rumbling laugh echoed its way across the room to him.

"I get so excited for battles that are always all too easy," a male voice said in heavily accented Basic. The accent was unusual, not one that Luke could place readily until the figure stepped into the dim light of the various idle datascreens in the room. It was as if every nightmare he'd ever experienced had come to life in the form of the red-skinned, sunken eyed man that stood before him. The boy's mouth twitched with the terror he felt as he struggled both to defeat the blanket slowly covering his mind and to bolster his own spirit. The man stepped further into the room, bringing himself closer to the youth. Only when he was close enough that Luke could have struck him down with a single swipe of his sapphire blue lightsaber did the alien man stop and pull something from his belt. Finally overcoming his paralyzing fear, Luke struck out with his blade, watched as it dove toward the alien's neck just above the collar of his jet black robes. Time seemed to slow for the boy as the blanket on his mind gained ground. Luke snarled in anger as he pressed against it, until finally he felt it withdraw completely. His shout of triumph was cut short by the sound of lightsabers smashing together with electric squeals.

"Now, now is the time for you to die, young Skywalker."


	5. Armies of Darkness

**Whoo, yay: climactic result of cliffhanger ending from the last update! This one is a wee bit shorter than the last couple of chapters, but I think the emotional content makes up for that. As usual, reviews, constructive criticism, and the like would be much appreciated, and thank you for reading! **

**Chapter 4**

**Armies of Darkness  
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The crimson blade singed the ends of the boy's short blonde hair as he ducked underneath it. As the man's blade sliced cleanly through the air above him, Luke spun into a roundhouse, driving his booted foot into the alien's stomach. The youth's leg shuddered at the impact against a solid wall of muscle that refused to give. Realizing his error the boy frantically tried to pull his leg back, but his opponent beat him to the move, grabbing his ankle and wrenching it to the side. Luke yelped in pain as he staggered away from the alien before him. His opponent strode purposefully toward him, hefting his blade to finish the young Jedi off. The youth threw his hand out toward the red-skinned alien with a desperate cry. The man grunted as a rippling wave of pressure hit him square in the chest, sending him tumbling through the air to crash into an array of datascreens. Taking advantage of the pause, Luke leapt over the table, brandishing his lightsaber for the final blow.

"Unfortunately for you," the alien started seconds before the air was forcibly knocked out of the boy's lungs and he was hurled across the room, "I can use the very same powers." Luke only had time to blink once before he had to bring his lightsaber up horizontally before him to block the powerful downward swing that would have sliced him open head to foot. The boy pushed upward with his blade until the clearing was wide enough for him to somersault backwards. Midway through his roll, Luke pushed himself up into a handstand before launching himself to leap over the alien's head and slash at his back. The man parried as he spun, redirecting Luke's blade wide to the side. Before the youth could correct the positioning of his lightsaber, the alien punched him in the jaw, hilt leading the way. Dazed, with a tear in the skin along his jaw now oozing blood, Luke stumbled backwards for a second, trying to clear his head.

"Disappointing. I had hoped for a stronger opponent in you," the alien said with a smirk as he stalked forward. "That girl, what was her name…Malina…Marina…Mariana, that's it. She talks so highly of you, but I can see that her praise is misplaced." Luke's eyes went wide with fury and his lip curled back into a snarl as he lunged forward, feinting to the right before slicing from the left. Flipping the hilt over, the youth reversed his grip in a heartbeat and repeated the slash in a diagonal from right to upper left. Even as the alien moved to block, Luke leaned forward into the momentum of his swing, smashing his elbow solidly into man's nose in the space between the crackling blades. As the boy pulled back from his opponent he also brought his blade down in the reverse diagonal, the very tip searing a jagged line into the skin just above the alien's sunken orange eye.

"If you've hurt Maria in any way, I will personally return the favor tenfold," Luke snarled, the fury he felt overtaking him. He felt a twinge in the back of his mind urging him to kill the man in the most painful way possible. The bloodlust that filled the boy was at first confusing and shameful, but gradually he gave into it as it proved itself to be the best way to ensure survival. To his dismay, the alien before him seemed to find the rage within the youth to be quite amusing.

"Rest assured the outcome of this battle will not affect her fate. She will die one way or another," he laughed. Luke's scream of frustration was accentuated by another furious exchange of blows between the opponents, neither one able to take the upper hand. The boy's only saving grace was his dexterity and agility; the alien was clearly the stronger of the two. Luke slowly became aware of his father's presence frantically pounding against his mental defenses. Surely the Jedi master had sensed the turmoil within his son and was even now coming to his aid. To his own chagrin, Luke found himself pushing Anakin's presence away, focused fully upon the opponent before him. Unfortunately for the boy, his split second of hesitation had given the alien enough time to work himself close enough to slam his knee into Luke's stomach. As that blow doubled the youth over, the man brought his hilt down on the boy's head, sending him reeling to the floor.

"And – luckily enough – it seems that you will share her fate as well," the alien said as he raised his blade above Luke's chest. The boy had a second to squeeze his eyes tightly closed, anticipating the pain. When none came, he opened one hesitantly to observe a blue blade that was not his own blocking the path between the alien's scarlet one and his heart. Luke scrambled backwards and to his feet, swaying slightly from the dizzying blow he had taken. "Oh isn't this just the best little party we've got going here. The famed Master Skywalker and his padawan son. I quiver with fear," the man said in jest as he took a step back and shrugged off his jet black cloak.

"Together, Luke. We attack together," Anakin said quietly as his son ignited his blade again and tensed to leap forward. The youth glanced at his father and forced himself to calm down enough to keep a clear head. As the two Jedi prepared for their assault, the alien pulled a second hilt from his belt. When it was ignited, it lit his face with a dull violet glow.

"I'd be willing to bet you recognize this one, _Master_ Skywalker," he taunted. Suddenly forgetting what he had just reminded his son of in a fit of rage, Anakin struck furiously. Luke leapt into the fray a second behind his father, the two of them spinning and slashing in perfect harmony. Gradually they drove the man back, each of them feeding off the anger that was coursing through their veins. Luke abruptly became aware of the extent to which he was using his fury, and thus the Dark Side. He jumped back from the thick of the fighting to clear his head, watching his father continue the battle with fluid, practiced motions. It was several long moments before the youth was finally calm enough that he felt confident in his abilities to control his emotions. Swinging his blade around to bring its deadly potential to bear, Luke moved to rejoin the battle.

After a few exchanges during which Luke noticed his father's attacks were growing every more vicious and feral, a burst of intense pain sizzled its way up from the boy's left shoulder. He was at first bewildered, having been aware enough of the battle to know that both the crimson and violet blade had been nowhere near him, at least not near enough to have struck him in the shoulder. When he looked down to see what had caused the pain, a startled cry escaped his lips as he stumbled backward, the sapphire blue blade that had impaled his shoulder sliding easily back out of the wound as he moved. Luke raised baffled, frightened eyes to his father's face as he slid to his knees, grasping his wounded arm as the hilt of his lightsaber rolled freely across the floor, forgotten. All three opponents remained immobile for a handful of breaths as it registered with Anakin what he had done. Before the Jedi master had a chance to say or do anything, the alien lunged forward to take advantage of the distraction. Anakin spun to face him, calling Luke's abandoned lightsaber to his hand while positioning himself between the enemy and his son.

"Betrayed by your own father, by your best friend, you truly do lead a miserable life, young one. If only you'd let me cut it short for you," the man said to the shell-shocked boy kneeling on the floor. Anakin's assault against him was violent and furious, forcing him back until he was nearly pressed up against the wall of the building. Clearly, the alien had pressed his luck too far, and he knew it too. His actions became purely defensive as he struggled to move himself closer to the door of the building and the way out. The opponents seemed to vanish into a blue, red, and purple haze as their lightsabers spun and clashed together in a storm of sizzling energy. Suddenly, perhaps falling for the same move that his son had, Anakin stumbled backward, blood starting from his temple. The alien took his chance to dash for the door, throwing his hand out toward Luke and then gesturing wildly toward Anakin. The boy found himself spinning through the air on a direct collision course with the crossed electric blue blades that his father held. Forced to drop both hilts to the ground, Anakin tried to slow his son's flight down, but it was too late. The two of them crashed together with great force, Anakin being carried backward by his son's momentum. A sickening crack echoed through the room as the Jedi master's leg was caught between two banks of datascreens and his body continued in the opposite direction.

When the two finally came to a stop, Anakin's face was twisted with pain while Luke's daze seemed to have been cleared by the brush with death. Dropped from his father's arms as Anakin's muscles screamed in pain and refused to follow his commands, Luke tucked into a roll and leapt forward, calling both lightsabers to his hands. It wasn't until he had them ignited that he realized there was no opponent for him to face. The boy spun, dropping to his knees as he examined his father's leg. A pale, gleaming spike of bone smeared with blood protruded in grisly fashion from the limb. Observing such a gruesome wound, the pain in his shoulder suddenly seemed to fade away.

"No, Luke. Go, follow him. We can't let him escape," Anakin ordered in between groans. Luke looked up at his father, hesitant to leave, but the older man's eyes were clear. The youth laid his father's lightsaber on the ground beside him before he took off out of the building. The alien man was not in the clearing, but Luke could still feel his dark presence retreating quickly. The young Jedi rushed toward the forest, diving into it despite the calls from rallying clones behind him for him to stop. Branches scratched against his skin, tearing at his hair and the braid that hung beside his ear, but he pressed forward anyways. Reacting to a twitch in his danger sense, he ignited his lightsaber and threw it up above his head just as the crossed crimson and violet blades of the alien appeared to fall from the sky. The man carried his weight forward to complete a full spin - using Luke's parrying blade as surface to push off from - landing in front of Luke and disappearing into the brush again.

"You coward! Come back here; come back here and even try to strike me down!" Luke cried, his words strangely muffled by the close pressing branches of the trees around him. The boy stood there, blade humming happily away until he could no longer sense the man's presence. Luke screamed in frustration, driving his lightsaber into the trunk of the nearest tree to accentuate the point. Fatigue and pain suddenly catching up to him, the youth sank to his knees, extinguishing his blade. He sat there panting for several long moments before a group of four clones appeared from the brush behind him and helped him back toward the clearing.

"My father; he's still in the administration building. His leg is broken badly, he'll need help," Luke told the clones as the deposited him before a medic. The medical trooper took one look at the wound on his shoulder and wrapped it in bacta patches. Immediately the pain ebbed as the chemical did its work encouraging the regeneration of flesh and muscle tissue. The blade had pierced his shoulder blade, but the bone couldn't be treated with field medicine. Major Bast went with a group of three troopers to retrieve Anakin, two of them supporting him on either side. The Jedi master was delirious with a mixture of pain, anger, and embarrassment at what he had done, his eyes seeming to flicker between hues as the clones laid him out on the ground beside his son. Luke scrambled over to his father, forgetting whose lightsaber had stabbed him through the shoulder as the older man moaned in pain. The clone medic examined the wound, muttering quietly about the extent of the damage.

"You might want to take a deep breath, sir," the medic said a second before he jammed the spike of bone back through the jagged tear. Anakin's entire body seemed to seize with the shock of pain as the medic maneuvered the spike into its correct position as quickly as possible, adding a field splint to keep it in place. Sweat stood out in beads on the Jedi master's forehead as he fell limp suddenly, on the verge of succumbing to blissful unconsciousness. On his knees beside the older man, Luke could hardly stand to witness his father in such pain. The boy remembered having observed Jedi healers doing their work before, and wondered if he could possibly recreate the feat. His reserves of energy had been all but depleted by the battle with the alien man, but he was unwilling to admit that fact. Bowing his head, he tried to calm himself, focusing on regulating his breathing. The sounds of the clones moving about him slowly diminished until all he could hear was his heartbeat drumming slowly in his ears. The youth reached out, feeling for the wound with his mind. He could feel his father flinch at the sudden intrusion, but he pressed forward anyways, willing the cells of the broken tibia to regenerate and rejoin. At first there was no response, but, gradually, the pain-paralyzed cells seemed to come alive again, knitting themselves back together readily at his behest.

* * *

><p>Major Bast stood watch over the pair of Jedi for the long hours that the boy sat in meditation. The clones had been alarmed when the youth had appeared to begin glowing, but by now they had simply come to accept it. Bast couldn't help but pace back and forth, anxiety getting the best of him. His battalion was on full alert, constantly watching for whatever shadow they two Jedi had faced off against in the waxing hours of the morning, but so far all had been quiet aside from the Jedi master's quiet moans.<p>

"Kid! Luke!" Bast cried as the boy suddenly seemed to snap out of his trance and look around a split second before he toppled over in exhaustion. The clone officer rushed to his side, rolling him over and propping him up. The youth blinked in the bright morning sun that had risen fully while he had been meditating. Dark purple bruises had appeared under his eyes, becoming more and more pronounced as the glow that had enveloped him began to fade. "Kid, what happened? What did you just do?" Bast questioned. He was answered not by Luke, but by Anakin stirring and regaining consciousness beside him. The Jedi master propped himself up on his elbows, looking down the length of his body at the blood stained tear in his pants leg that marked where the bone had sliced through. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Major Bast said as he watched Anakin prepare to test the leg. The Jedi glanced up at the clone with a crooked grin on his face a second before he jumped to his feet. His elation at being fully healed didn't last for long. As soon as he noticed his son lying immobile in the officer's arms, Anakin dropped to his knees again.

"You shouldn't have done that, Luke," he chastised gently as he took the boy from the clone. "Not only did I not deserve it, but you had no reason to expend that much energy in one go. You're lucky your heart didn't just stop."

"Couldn't…couldn't watch you suffer," Luke replied quietly, relaxing in his father's presence. The disturbing orange glint was gone fully from Anakin's eyes, though a hint of the fury he had wielded so dangerously mere hours earlier remained to smolder behind them as he appraised his son. It came as a great surprise to the Jedi master that someone as young as Luke could possibly have managed a healing trance effective enough to mend a badly broken bone. Anakin had watched Jedi healers that devoted their entire lives to the study try and fail to accomplish the same task. In some regards, the hidden power that resided within the boy was disturbing to contemplate, much less behold.

"Are you still planning on leaving right away, sir?" Major Bast asked, breaking the silence that was stretching over the party. Anakin's eyes shifted from Luke's face to the clone's.

"Yes, of course. I think with the discovery of this new threat it is best that we return to the Council with all the haste that we can manage. I take it, Luke, that…whoever he was, escaped into the forest?"

"Yes, I…I lost him a short way in," the boy whispered, drifting ever closer to the edge of sleep. Anakin stood, cradling his son gently in his arms, wincing at the slight discomfort from his recently healed leg. Other than a twinge of pain every now and again, it seemed that the youth had done a very thorough job in mending the bone, despite the drain it had been on his strength. Anakin still wondered, even as he carried Luke up the loading ramp of the cruiser, how he had driven his blade through his own son's shoulder. He realized only now how dangerous the haze of anger was to those around him, uncomfortable memories of what he had nearly become twelve years earlier flooding his mind. He could sense the shadow growing within his soul, wondered vaguely how long it would be before he could no longer hold it back. If this were to be any indicator, then he was certain to suffer a relapse every time he came in contact with a Dark Side user. It was a discomfiting prospect, one that he quickly pushed from his mind for the time being.

"Sir, is he alright?" the pilot of the cruiser, an older man that bore patches on his Republic uniform that indicated he was a veteran of the clone wars asked as Anakin came on board. The Jedi master simply nodded, giving no additional explanation about the boy's condition before he turned down the narrow corridor toward the salon pod. By the time Anakin managed to hit the button to lower a bunk and lay Luke down on it, the boy had lapsed into deep sleep. Anakin stared down at his son as he carefully pulled the youth's boots off and set them underneath the bunk. The older man pulled his cloak off and covered the boy with it, vaguely wondering what had happened to Luke's. It all seemed terribly surreal to Anakin, as he still found the events that had transpired the night before difficult to understand. Part of him wanted to ask Luke what he had been doing in the communication center alone so early in the morning – and another, deeper part of him already knew the answer and was responding with anger. It was the deep, hidden part of his soul that so frightened him, because he knew that one day it would make its way free of the cage holding it back.

Anakin paused in his musings to smooth the boy's hair and inspect the tear along his jaw, which was already on the mend, most likely due to the time spent in the healing trance. Although he had been focused on his father, it was unlikely that his own midi-chlorians hadn't responded as well. The swollen, purple-tinted ridge along Luke's nose caught his father's eye, reminding him again how he had struck out at random against one of the two people that mattered the most to him. Not taking his eyes off the sleeping youth before him, Anakin reached up to key on the onboard voice system.

"Get us out of here, Captain, and with any luck we'll never have to see this place again," he said quietly, pausing to listen for the sound of the engines roaring to life before he sat down on the cold metal floor and pressed his back against the wall. As he did, Anakin Skywalker, one of the greatest Jedi to have ever lived, found himself feeling very much the same as he had when he was ten years old; cold and alone in a world that he didn't quite understand.

* * *

><p>Far from the Republic colony, a dimly smoldering pair of orange eyes watched the Consular-class cruiser lift off from the surface of Dathomir and rise into the sky, disappearing from view a short time later. Hidden beneath the low-pulled cowl of his black cloak, the man's now scarred visage twisted in a mask of hatred. He knew that he had risked much toying with the boy the way that he had. In retrospect he wished that he finished the youth off during any of the numerous opportunities he had encountered, but he truly hadn't expected the Jedi master to respond as quickly as he had. The alien knew that his master would not be pleased by his failure here, but he also knew that he held the counter to the boy's will to fight. Soon, he would have the youth wrapped around his finger, and the father could only follow shortly behind.<p>

"You have failed; why am I not surprised," a woman asked from behind him. The man didn't turn to assess the newcomer, simply chuckled to himself as he considered his response.

"I have not failed, not yet. The boy and his father will run back to Coruscant to seek shelter in their Council's arms, but they will find only death and despair upon their return. The trip will easily take them five days, much as it did the first time, and by then we will have made our move. Do not doubt so easily what you don't fully comprehend."

"You speak with the same assurance in your success that Count Dooku suffered; as you will recall it ended in his demise at Skywalker's hands. What makes you so sure that this plan will not blow apart in your face?"

"Count Dooku was a fool! Do not even begin to compare his feeble mind to my own. He took the cause for which we fight and made a bad joke out of it. If anything, he deserved the death he got; pity it didn't come any sooner. I have full confidence in my chances of success because I am confident that I understand the Jedi and their motives. They claim to be detached and free of emotional bonds so that no one can be exploited to get to them, but yet they all form relationships regardless. They feign a stoic attitude, but slaughter enough people and they will throw themselves on your blade if you swear to stop killing afterwards. All that we must do to seal their downfall is exploit their need to show compassion. It's like a drug that they cannot resist." The man's voice was filled with echoes of disgust and resentment. The concept of compassion was as foreign to him as the concept of love.

"You forget that now we face not one Skywalker, but two."

"The boy will be rendered useless in this fight soon enough. Don't forget the little treasure we have hidden away on Coruscant with that Rattataki fool. Dangle her before young Skywalker's eyes and he will come crashing to his knees. Do you see now how pointless it is to care about others? It doesn't matter how you go about it, they will only suffer for it, and in the end it will always be your downfall. The Jedi have somehow survived for centuries without learning this lesson, but I believe the time has come for them to experience it firsthand." The alien man turned away from the ridge he had been standing on to observe the army that had gathered in the valley behind him. Dathomiri Nightsisters mingled with Zabrak Nightbrothers, with a sprinkling of his own race thrown in just for good measure. His thoughts turned to the other sectors where his master's agents were mustering similar forces. Their numbers were as varied as their races, but they were a force to be reckoned with. But the true gem in this rising power's armies was now en route to Coruscant, to be joined shortly by this man himself. The Jedi would never expect such a bold move to come from their oldest and most easily forgotten enemy.

"Look upon this army we have assembled and then think of the countless worlds that we have so easily enslaved to our purpose. The galaxy is ripe for a revolution; let us give it to them with the added benefit of a strong and fully formed government. For centuries now we have been pressed further into the Unknown Regions, but no longer," he said proudly, gesturing grandly at the valley. The cloaked woman behind him emitted something that sounded like a disappointed clicking of her tongue, and the man spun angrily. "Still you do not believe?" he shouted, his booming voice echoing across the valley and the army amassed within it.

"I merely find your extreme arrogance to be slightly disturbing, especially in light of your so very recent…_defeat_ by the two Skywalkers," the woman explained, the positioning of her hands placating, but her voice clearly mocking.

"You do not believe because you have not experience the true power of the Dark Side. Your time with Dooku and your turning from the Light pale in comparison to our generations of practice. My people have so fully honed our skills with the Dark Side of the Force that we have been able to so fully hide our presence that even the most powerful Jedi masters have been unable to detect us. Our agents are everywhere, simply waiting for my master and myself to call them to action."

"And what makes your race so specially attuned to the Dark Side that you believe your powers to be nearing an all powerful level?"

"You, Ventress, have never encountered the True Sith."

**On a side note (since I'm just going to go ahead and guess that someone, somewhere is going to be angry about it), I checked my facts just to be sure, and Asajj Ventress was _presumed_ dead by the Jedi, though it is more likely that she escaped into the Unknown Regions. Hence my creation of a correlation between her and the big bad...well...baddies.**


	6. The Battle Begins

**Okay, two days worth of updates culminates in this next chapter. You'll notice that it's slightly longer than previous ones, which is my way of making up for missed update times. This chapter ran so long that I actually had to split it in two. If all goes well I should be back on my regular update schedule.

**Chapter 5**

**The Battle Begins**

The ship was so small and sleek that it never even got noticed on its descent toward Coruscant's surface. It seemed to be barely more substantial than a shadow as it slipped into an all but abandoned docking bay and settled itself smoothly on the ground with the aid of its advanced repulsorlifts. Everything about the small vessel appeared to be organic; absent were the blocky, geometric shapes that characterized most starships. It gave the ship a very strange look, as if it were something not of this galaxy. As the loading ramp lowered itself to the floor beneath the powerful twin engines, a small group of shadows detached itself from the walls of the docking bay. Two beings came down the ramp after a moment of silence in which the shadows had remained immobile. Leading the way was the heavily muscled hulk of a dark cloaked man, followed by a pale and incredibly thin woman. The woman's head was absent of hair, her skin so white that her tight fitting shirt appeared as part of her flesh. A long, flowing black skirt hid the movements of her feet as she walked, making it look as if she simply glided across the ground.

"Malékum'ari, we have been expecting you," one of the shadows said as it stepped toward the disembarking pair. The speaker reached up to pull back the cowl of its own dark cloak, revealing the finely sculpted features of a woman's face.

"Takina, I assume you have brought that which I asked for?" the large man responded as he moved to meet the woman. Takina smiled in appeasement – the action twisting her scarlet-skinned face into a grotesque image of civility – and motioned over her shoulder to the group that had accompanied her. A tall man whose features resembled the woman that had arrived in the starship but for the strength of his build, split off from the group, dragging a raven haired human child by her arm. The girl's lip pulled back over her teeth as she was thrown to the ground before the group, catching herself on all fours. The man knelt down before her, pulling back the cowl of his cloak as he did so.

"You won't get anything that you seek from Luke; you're wasting your time with me," the girl snarled. The man didn't reply, so the girl boldly pressed onward. "None of you will get anywhere with this. Once Master Skywalker and Luke get back, they will stop you. Monsters like you deserve nothing better than extinction." At this, the man reached forward and took hold of the girl's chin, pulling her face close to his own.

"If you're going to act that way, at least get your terminology correct. The True Sith are not monsters; we're the only people that understand the true manner in which this galaxy should be controlled." His free hand traced the path of a developing scar just above the bridge of his brow. "Do you see this? Your little '_friend_' did this to me on Dathomir...right before his father had to come to his rescue. Mark my words, child, the boy will comply or he will _die_." At this, Takina flinched.

"Sith'ari ni mal'ek sho," she hissed in a strange tongue that the girl couldn't decipher. The one word that stuck with her, sending chills down her spine despite the fact that she didn't know what it meant: _Sith'ari_. The word sent images of death through her mind as if it had a power of its own. The man stood to address Takina, his eyes bearing a deadly gleam.

"Ja'ak Sith'ari!" he snapped, though it was accompanied by a nervous twitch at the corner of his mouth. "He will comply or I will kill him." His intent was clear, and everyone around him seemed to understand that getting in his way was a bad idea. Takina took a small step away from him before she lowered herself into a slight bow. The girl stared up at them, wondering what had just happened, but she didn't dare ask.

"Now – what was your name – Mariana? We're going to be late for our little party if we don't get started soon. I'm sure you'll do me the pleasure of accompanying me to the Jedi Temple. Don't worry, I can't kill you quite yet," the man said as he reached down to pull Mariana fully to her feet. The girl dodged his searching hand, asking herself who he thought he was. Outraged by her disobedience, the man decided it was time to show her that she had no defenses against him, not even in her own mind.

"I am Malékum, Lord of the True Sith, and – after today – Lord of Coruscant," he answered her unspoken question with a cruel smile. Mariana didn't dodge away from him this time when he reached down and snatched her arm. Her thoughts fell to Luke, screaming out silently for him not to try and save her. The emotions that emanated from the girl disgusted the Dark Lord, prompting him to drop a Force blanket over her mind simply to muffle the screams.

"Malékum'ari, we have mustered all of the Sith – pureblood and no – for this attack. The first shuttles from Dromund Kas arrived yesterday, with more on the way. We have also convinced the Jensaarai to join our cause. They will help us to overthrow the Jedi on the understanding that they be given a sector for their own kind after our revolution," Takina said, switching back into Basic for the sake of the ambassador she motioned forward. The ambassador pulled aside the cover of a steel gray cloak, revealing a detailed cortosis-fiber armor suit that covered much of her body. On her face she bore a strange mask that appeared to be modeled after the features of another human woman.

"Lord Malékum," the ambassador acknowledged with a slight inclination of her head. "I am the Saarai-kaar. The rest of the Jensaarai and I will join you in this fight; while we may not agree on everything we do see the same on the failure of the Jedi. It is time for them to fall."

"The Sith are honored by your presence Saarai-kaar. Rest assured that your demands will be met in full once our coup has been completed. Now, we must discuss the arrangement of our troops during the battle. Ventress?" Lord Malékum asked as he turned to the woman that had accompanied him. Asajj Ventress stepped forward, raising her chin proudly under the scrutinizing gaze of both the pureblood Sith woman and the Saarai-kaar.

"Yes, my Master," she answered with a slight smirk on her face as the Sith woman's eyes flashed with jealousy.

"This girl is the key to bringing the younger Skywalker to his knees, but the elder one is another matter entirely. The Sith'ari's demands for him were clear; he must be killed. Given your…_history_ with the Jedi, I find it's only fair to let you do the honors. There is only one sure way to draw him away from the Temple," Malékum explained. Ventress' face twisted with a demented sort of joy as she took the Sith's meaning.

"It will be done, my Lord," she replied, dipping into a grateful bow.

"You shall take a small group with you to overcome the security that is doubtlessly placed around the building. The two Skywalkers will land at the Temple, and I will be there waiting for them with the largest part of our armies. Takina, you will join me there. Saarai-kaar, I ask that you lead your Jensaarai against the Senate buildings. Most of the politicians will surrender with little actual fighting, but feel free to kill as many as you wish; we'll have no use for them in our new Empire." The Saarai-kaar inclined her head to show her agreement. "The Skywalkers will arrive soon enough. I give each of you thirty minutes to be in position before we begin the attack. It must be swift and ruthless or we will lose the element of surprise." The four commanders bowed to each other in unison before Lord Malékum turned on his heel and made for a small speeder with a closed cockpit. Unlike the ship in which he had arrived, this one was a common model.

"Wait! Stop, where are you taking me?" Mariana screamed as she was dragged along by the Sith's side. Malékum glanced at her with disinterested eyes.

"I think we've been over this once before; you should try using that pesky brain thing you were born with," he growled as he shoved the human roughly into the speeder. "It doesn't matter, you won't have much need of it at all soon enough."

* * *

><p>"Sir! We can't seem to contact anyone inside of the Temple to clear our landing," one of the two copilots cried over the onboard communications system. Anakin and his son exchanged concerned glances as the older man moved to the console mounted on the wall.<p>

"What do you mean you can't make contact with anyone?" the Jedi master asked, feeling a chill run through his spine.

"Everything seems to be jammed. We…" The woman's voice trailed away to nothing as if she had suddenly become distracted by something.

"What's going on?" Anakin cried, quickly becoming frustrated.

"You…you need to see this, sir," the woman answered, a quiver of fear evident in her voice. The two Jedi exchanged nervous glances once again before both of them bolted for the cockpit. As the approached, the wrongness of the situation settled over both of their minds. Neither of them could have placed it until they were able to finally look out through the cockpit's transparisteel viewport. The Jedi Temple was awash in smoke through which the dull glow of dozens of scarlet hued lightsabers could be seen. Jedi defenders were rushing out to meet the attackers, countless different duels raging on the promenades and landing pads situated on the various levels of the Temple.

"We don't have a clear point to land anywhere," the pilot announced after having completed a full circle of the Temple. Anakin shook his head and pointed to the main landing pad, upon which the most vicious of all the battles was being played out. The pilot turned shocked eyes on the Jedi master, already opening his mouth to point out that there was no possible way for him to land in the midst of such chaos.

"Luke and I don't need you to land. We cannot sit idly by while those Jedi need our help, just drop the loading ramp and bring us in as low to the ground as possible. We can make the jump ourselves, we only need you to just get us close enough," Anakin ordered. The pilot seemed about ready to disobey before he caught the glimmer in the master's eye and directed the ship in a steep dive toward the landing pad. Anakin and Luke both took off for the loading ramp, which was already lowering even before the ship pulled itself out of its dive to glide twenty feet or so above the landing pad. The two Jedi leapt out as the ship passed over the pad, both of them tucking into a roll as they landed to come up on their feet with lightsabers drawn. As they pressed across the landing pad to reach the other Jedi that had been fighting nearer to the Temple entrance, both Skywalkers realized that their opponents were of the same race as the man they had faced on Dathomir. Some of the shadowy figures seemed to recognize the two Jedi fighting their way through the thick of the battle and hissed in surprise, perhaps having believed that they were eliminated on the Witches' planet.

"Anakin!" a familiar voice called through the smoke as Luke and his father found themselves standing back-to-back, surrounded by a ring of enemy blades. Both Jedi lunged toward the sound of that voice, lightsabers spinning wildly to beat back their opponents. For the first time in his short life, Luke felt the sickening thud of his lightsaber driving home in another being's chest. He pulled back in surprise, falling into his father's wake as he watched the thin, red-skinned woman slump to the ground, her blade extinguishing itself as the hilt rolled from her limp hand. The boy would have stood still until cut down if Anakin hadn't reached backwards to haul him away by the collar of his tunic.

"Better watch yourself, Luke," Obi-Wan said as the boy was pulled into the line of Jedi. The master was joined by a group of Knights, most of whom the youth didn't recognize, and a large group of padawans slightly older than Luke.

"How bad are things, Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked as he maneuvered next to the older man, beating back the Sith that tried to break their lines. Off to the left a young padawan daringly pressed forward, only to be cut down from three different directions. The Jedi were reduced to fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with each other, risking cutting their compatriots down to protect the Temple.

"They started the attack ten minutes ago. There are at least two main groups, but they split up as they came in. Virtually every level is under attack. The younglings have been moved into the very interior, but we don't have near enough to protect them. If any of these Sith slip past us… it wouldn't take them long to work their ways through the entire Temple," Master Kenobi answered. There came a series of shrieks from further down the line as a group of padawans and Knights were thrown back by a speeder that was Force pushed through their ranks. Before those behind them could fill the gap, the Sith surged forward. Anakin and Obi-Wan fell back from the frontlines where they were to stave off the flow, Luke following along behind them.

"Anakin, fall back. We can't have everyone along this landing pad or they'll overwhelm us. Get to the main hall. Now, go!" Obi-Wan ordered as he fell into the fray, lightsaber whirling frantically. The younger man hesitated before he spun, dashing back away from the main line and into the Temple proper. There were only a few Jedi in the halls, hurrying to the various locations that were in need of their help. Anakin and Luke ran up the main stairwell, from the top of which they had a decent vantage point of the two main levels. Every few minutes a small group of Sith would break the line and make their way into the interior of the Temple. The two Skywalkers kept them from reaching the younglings hidden away deeper within the building.

"Well, isn't this a surprise?" a heavily accented woman's voice called from above them. Both Jedi spun in time to watch a scantily clad red-skinned female drop from the railing of the next level up. "Malékum wants to cut you down himself, but it would be my pleasure to take the task from him," the woman growled as she launched herself forward, igniting the blade of a lightsaber pike as she fell. Anakin attacked high, leaping over the woman's head to drop behind her while Luke dove in straight ahead. The woman fought Anakin with all she had, but the boy noticed she never once tried to directly attack him. It seemed that she only wanted his father dead, but of course Luke wasn't about to let that happen.

"Takina, you fool!" a deep voice cried from behind them. Both the woman and the Jedi started in surprise, but Anakin kept enough of his concentration to slash straight across. The woman's body jerked as a gurgle escaped her throat. She coughed once, spewing droplets of blood across Luke's face before she collapsed forward, a gaping slash across the back of her torso. Anakin turned to meet the new threat, but something flashed by him, pushing him back in its haste. It was another second before the Jedi master realized that it was his son rushing out to meet the man he had recognized as the same Sith from Dathomir.

"Luke! No, come back!" Anakin cried as he took off after his son. Luke was following the Sith through the interior corridors, tracing a path which led to the largest sparring room on this level of the Temple. When the boy broke into the room he skidded to a stop, looking around in confusion. The Sith seemed to have disappeared; the room was a dead-end, there wasn't anywhere he could have run. It wasn't until an explosion rocked the corridor that the youth realized he had just run straight into a trap. Anakin's face appeared around the corner a split second before the roof of the hallway collapsed to the ground, sealing the sparring chamber off from the rest of the Temple.

"Dad! Father!" Luke called as he ran to the pile of wreckage, scrabbling frantically to pull it out of the way. He didn't know whether his father had been buried under the rubble or not, but he knew that for some reason he could no longer feel his presence.

"Oh come now. Do stop; it's pitiful," a deep, rumbling voice said from behind the boy. Luke spun around, lightsaber held at the ready.

"You!" he called. "You'll pay for what you've done today, for the Jedi you've killed!"

"Ah, young Skywalker, it is so nice to see you again. I was admiring your saber work on the landing pad; you've certainly been trained well."

"What do you want with me?" Luke asked, frustrated and full of anger. The Sith didn't draw his blade, instead stepping tantalizingly close to the boy.

"Ah, such a simple question, yet so bothersome to try and answer. You see, thousands of years ago my species learned that the truest power in the universe was stored in the Dark Side. Bit by painful bit we built an Empire, an Empire of Sith. When the first of your Jedi discovered us, they too realized the truth of our teachings and joined us. We were all powerful, even overthrowing your Republic. It should have remained that way – even now we can't understand why your pitiful Order didn't stay dead – but we were overthrown. Not this time, though. This time we will destroy you, every last one of you," the Sith explained slowly, pacing before the boy.

"Then why don't you draw your blade and face me?" Luke demanded angrily.

"Now now, calm yourself," the Sith answered. "The Sith'ari has other plans for you. I'm here to retrieve you for him. I think once you see what I have to offer you'll be _very_ willing to accompany me." As he spoke, the Sith waved his hand toward one of the shadowed corners of the room. A girl was pulled forward from the shadows, struggling silently against the Force grip that was wrapped solidly around her neck.

"Mariana!" Luke cried as he recognized her. The eleven year old fell to the floor gasping as the boy dashed toward her. He fell to his knees beside her, pulling her into his arms before he pulled back to scan her for injuries. Beyond an already bruising neck, the girl seemed to be alright.

"Luke, you can't give in to him. Whatever he asks, don't agree to it. Do you understand me? No matter what he says he'll do to me, don't you dare give in," the girl gasped to him, pushing his hands away from her.

"But Maria –" Luke started. The girl shook her head and grabbed hold of the boy's chin, turning his head so that he had no choice but to look into her eyes.

"Don't you dare," she said before she was ripped away from him and held just out of his reach by her throat.

"Well, that was touching. Here's the deal, young one. You're going to come with us, or the girl dies right now, right in front of you. If you come with us, she'll be spared," The Sith said as he twitched his hand slightly, shaking the girl back and forth. Her hands were working pointlessly about her neck, trying to break the grip that was slowly crushing her windpipe. Luke knew that he only had a few seconds to make a decision. The youth had witnessed so much death today that he couldn't bear the thought of one more, especially no his best friend. Despite her struggle, Mariana caught the look in her friend's eye.

"Don't…" she gasped, but the rest of her statement was dragged away as the Sith clenched his hand shut a little more. Luke closed his eyes and turned away as he threw the hilt of his lightsaber to the ground by the Sith's feet. As soon as the man had the lightsaber in hand, Mariana collapsed to the ground again, clutching at her wounded throat. Luke tried to move to her side, but she pushed him away, her face a twisted mask of anger. The boy turned around to glare at the Sith.

"Alright, genius, I've surrendered. Lucky for us both, you cut off the only way out of this place. What's your grand plan now?" he asked, stalking back and forth in front of his injured friend.

"Patience, young Skywalker. You'll see soon enough. In the mean time, perhaps you'd like to get to know your friend again; she will, after all, be spending a lot of time with our little party." Luke's face flushed with anger.

"Wait a second, you said she'd be free," he shouted, stalking toward the Sith and wishing terribly that he hadn't surrendered his lightsaber.

"No, no, young Jedi. I said she'd be spared. I don't believe I ever mentioned whether or not we'd be letting her go," the Sith replied.

"You double crossing bastard!" Luke cried, fury welling up within him. As he paced back and forth he foolishly pondered the idea of attempting to overpower the Sith. His frame was slight even for his age, he knew, but he was willing to try anything, so deep in desperation was he. Before he could take any action one way or the other, an explosion rocked the chamber as one of the side walls collapsed. Through the opening came a wave of Sith, armed with their various chosen weapons.

"Malékum'ari, it is good to see you were successful," one of them called, a younger member of the race by the looks of him. He was surrounded by a mixed group of Sith pure-bloods and Dark Jedi of various races. "Shall we take them now?" he asked, motioning toward the two humans with a slight twitching of the tendrils hanging by his jowls.

"Take them directly to my ship and await my arrival. There is yet one issue that I must be sure of." The young Sith nodded and pulled Mariana to her feet, motioning two of his comrades over to seize hold of Luke. "And Dejna," Malékum continued after a moment, waiting until the Sith had turned to face him, "there had better be no mistakes." The younger Sith bowed low, dragging Mariana and leading the group with Luke back out through the broken wall. The small group passed an older, scarred Sith woman who sneered down at the two humans before she moved to join Malékum.

"My Lord, the battle is no longer going in our favor. The Jedi have found a second wind; the surprise has run its course. They have us vastly outnumbered, and more of our own are falling every second," she said in a hushed tone. Malékum turned some-what amused eyes down on the woman.

"Don't worry, Hal'esh, we never expected victory to be easy. Now that we've stunned the Jedi, and all but destroyed the Galactic Senate, we've paved the way for rebellion. Soon enough the unrest and fright in the Galaxy will urge on more uprisings. We've sown the seed of disillusion amongst the people and their Jedi protectors; now, with some time and some careful tending, the fires of revolution will grow. Come now, we must check on the rest of our forces. I sense that Ventress may be coming very close to her goal."

* * *

><p>The apartment building was riddled with security guards, far more than anyone had expected. By the time Asajj Ventress had worked her way to the top floor, her Sith entourage had been reduced to only one. Their losses didn't bother the Nightsister, however, she could care less about them. The only thing she cared about was getting her chance to take Anakin Skywalker down. When she had last faced the Jedi, she had been distraught, too caught up in her emotions. She'd even told that annoying Master Kenobi that he might have been right about her; it was such a ridiculous thought that she shuddered to even think about it. What made it worse was that the idiot had actually believed her, though he had turned her to the Light. Killing Anakin would prove that fool otherwise. She would strike him down and finally have her revenge.<p>

Not yet, though. No, first she had to get him away from the Temple, away from all of his guardians. Ventress and her master knew exactly how to do that, knew where to strike that would hurt him the most. It would only take one blow, one single strike, to bring the Jedi master to her. The Nightsister relished the thought, felt the thrill of the kill already flowing through her veins. _Soon_, she reminded herself as the turbolift neared the top floor. As the door slid open, Ventress shoved the last Sith through it, ignoring his cries of protest as the blaster bolt she had expected ripped through him. She leapt over his body as it fell, whipping out both of her lightsabers as she did so. The rippling edge of a dress was visible as it disappeared around a corner. The Nightsister grinned in anticipation. _Nowhere left to hide, Senator_, she thought as she stepped forward.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Ventress called as she passed through the living room of the finely furbished apartment. As she passed, the Nightsister overturned end tables and bookcases, throwing things about with small twitches of her hands. She was toying with her prey, savoring the terror she felt emanating from the depths of the apartment. "There's nowhere left to run, my sweet. Why won't you let me end your pain?" The sound of muffled crying could be heard from within one of the closed bedroom doors. Ventress made her way to the door, stroking the very edge of the activation console. Typical, for someone as ignorant as this Senator to attempt to hide from a Sith behind a locked door.

Ventress hoisted one of her lightsabers and dug into the metal of the door with it. It didn't take long for her to work through the thin door, cutting out a square large enough for her to fit through. She kicked the metal inward, brandishing both of her blades to block the inevitable blaster bolts as she stepped into the room. Her target was standing by the veranda doors in a firing position, blaster held before her. Ventress could easily have deflected one of the bolts back into the woman's chest, but she wanted to feel her blade slice through her prey. Ventress worked her way forward, dodging and blocking the bolts as they came. Finally she was close enough. One blade flashed across, searing through the blaster and rendering it useless. The woman stumbled backward, eyes going wide as she realized that she was truly facing the end. Grinning, Ventress raised her lightsaber high and brought it down in one final, vicious blow that cut a wide gap along the woman's chest.

Ventress stepped forward to catch the dying woman on her shoulder, rather enjoying the feel of the still warm blood that the Senator coughed onto the Nightsister's neck. They stood that way until Ventress could sense that the woman's life was finally ebbing fully.

"Thank you, Senator Amidala. You've been a wonderful help," she whispered into the woman's ear. A single last wave of pain rolled off of Padmé before she slumped to the ground heavily, her life gone.

* * *

><p>Across the city in the Temple, Anakin's chest felt like he had been run through. Screaming he fell to his knees, clutching at his heart. The other Jedi that had been with him ran to his aid, thinking that he had been struck by something. He pushed them away, struggling to rise to his feet. The Jedi master couldn't find the strength to speak until Master Kenobi knelt beside him and placed comforting hands on his shoulder.<p>

"Anakin, what's happened?" the older man asked quietly. Anakin slumped against his former master, seeking refuge in the stability of his presence. The loss of his son had already torn his heart in two, but now it seemed that something even more tragic had happened. Obi-Wan felt that he knew what it was long before Anakin actually opened his mouth to speak.

"Padmé…it's Padmé…She's…" the younger man couldn't bring himself to actually say the word, but Obi-Wan took his meaning.

"I am so sorry, Anakin. They must have broadened their attack-"

"No…it was Ventress, I know it was. I have to go; I have to kill her once and for all. I knew I should have done it back on Boz Pity," Anakin interjected, pushing himself with some difficulty to his feet.

"Anakin, listen to yourself! This is revenge you're talking about; you can't possibly go through with it. Control your anger. I know how much pain you are in, but you can't let it get to you so thoroughly," Obi-Wan replied, taking hold of Anakin's forearm, trying to calm the man.

"She killed my wife, Obi-Wan. She killed my wife, and the Sith have taken my son. I can't just walk away from this, and you know that. It's my right to confront the woman; would you deny me that?" Anakin snapped, pulling his hand away. Obi-Wan tried to think of any answer that would suffice, but the younger man was already brushing past him roughly. The fiery orange glint in his eyes didn't go unnoticed by the older Jedi Master.

"Why, Anakin?" Obi-Wan whispered as he watched his former apprentice take the steps he had missed twelve years earlier toward the Dark Side.


	7. Souls that Fall

**Alright, guys. Not too much to say this time around. I'm going to visit some family so the updates might be a little slower than normal until I get back home, but I will still be pushing ahead, I promise! Hope you like this next chapter, and expect another one soon enough. Also, just a few Easter eggs I've slipped in: if you're interested, go to Wookieepedia and look up the Sith language. It'll be a nice little hint of what's to come if you can translate some of the words I use in these chapters, previous ones, and those on the way. Thanks for reading!**

**Chapter 6**

**Souls that Fall  
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"You're a fool, Luke Skywalker," Mariana snapped, pushing herself away from the boy, nearly overbalancing the Sith that was holding her by the sudden move.

"Easy, girl. You'll have time enough to act like the child you are once we're aboard," the young Sith pureblood Dejna growled as he tightened his hold on the collar of the girl's dress. Luke's two captors pulled their own prisoner farther back from Dejna and his, though the boy remained silent with his eyes downcast. After being led from the sparring room, the two humans had been loaded onto a speeder and raced to a hangar that was farther away from the Temple and his home than the boy had ever been. Dejna pulled Mariana from the speeder and led her up the loading ramp of a ship whose make neither of the children could possibly have identified. The two Sith who took hold of Luke handled him with significantly more care than Dejna handled the girl, perhaps fearing what would happen if the boy broke free.

"Zhol kash dinora," Dejna announced into a comlink that he had pulled from somewhere beneath the folds of his dark cloak. His attention piqued by the strange language, Luke seemed to pull himself out of his stupor slightly. The comlink remained silent for a handful of heartbeats before it crackled to life.

"Tasephai Sith'ari; savaka nai jiaasjen." The harsh voice of Malékum seemed to be clearer in this new tongue, as if the words fit his mouth better. The young Jedi suspected that the Sith purebloods had developed their own language, and the rest of the Sith empire had adopted it. Just as his friend had done hours ago, Luke took note of that one severely discomfiting word. _Sith'ari_. His musings were interrupted by their captors herding them further into the strange craft until they came upon a small living area with bunks imbedded in the wall that could be lowered and a small refresher.

"Welcome to your new home until we arrive. Let's all make it easier on each other and agree that you're not going to try anything during the trip; after all, I'd hate to have to kill the girl," Dejna said offhandedly as he stepped back out through the open door. The port slid shut a moment later with a quiet whisper, followed by the electronic sounds of a lock code being entered. The two children stood still in the middle of the room for a long moment, staring at each other as if daring the other to speak first. Mariana finally broke the silence.

"How could you be so stupid?" she demanded, stamping her foot once against the floor to emphasize her words.

"I don't understand," Luke replied, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"No, of course you don't. You expected me to be all over you, crying and thanking you for rescuing me. But you just made the worst mistake of your life. You're a bloody fool!" Mariana's voice was ragged with the tears she was trying valiantly to hold back. The truth was, part of her _did_ want to be hugging him, trying to desperately to thank him for doing the one thing no one else in her life had ever been willing to do: save her.

"What would you have had me do?" Luke cried, his frustration finally overwhelming him. Mariana turned on him with angry eyes, only to feel her face softening. Though she was younger than Luke was, she pitied the youth. In her own life she had faced too many painful situations to be affected in the least by this most recent one. The twelve year old Jedi, however, had been under enough stress in the last couple of days to send a grown man into tears.

"You should have let him kill me," Mariana answered in a whisper. Luke's eyes went wide as his jaw went slack.

"Are you mad? How can you expect me to have willingly stepped back and let him kill you? You're my best friend, Maria, I couldn't have watched that, couldn't have possibly let it happen."

"Listen to me, Luke. My death…it would have meant nothing – nothing whatsoever – to the galaxy. It might have been a benefit even: another street rat gone. The point is, it wouldn't have changed things at all. But now they have what they want, Luke. They have you," Mariana explained, her small voice speaking an idea far too mature for her age.

"Maria, I'm one Jedi among hundred. I'm…I'm not even a full Jedi; I'm just a padawan. What possible use could I serve for them? Surely nothing that would be worth letting you die," Luke responded, leaning forward to grasp her hands in his.

"There's something special about you, Luke. I don't know what it is, but clearly they do. Out of all the Jedi that were defending the Temple, they _chose_ you, and you played willingly right into their hands." Mariana stared at her friend with wide, pleading eyes, urging him to understand the truth in her words. The boy stood, dropping her hands as he ran his own through his short, feathery blonde hair. The youth paced the distance of the quarters several times before he turned and slammed his foot into one of the walls with a scream of frustration. Mariana winced, but stood and crossed to her friend's side anyways. Before she managed to make it there, Luke turned to face her.

"Your death _would_ have meant something, Maria. It would have meant something to me…more than something. It would have meant everything; you're my best friend, my only friend. You're the only person that was willing to get to know the gangly kid that spent all day in a training room with his overbearing father. I can't lose you, or I've got nothing left," he said quietly, eyes on the floor with a rosy blush spreading across his cheeks. Mariana couldn't meet her friend's eyes when they rose to her face. Shame, guilt, embarrassment. All of them were spreading across her face as she realized how much she meant to the boy she had betrayed. For the first time, the girl truly wished that she had refused to take the job and faced the consequences. Anything, she reasoned, would have been better than having to tell Luke that she had sold him out just to save her own skin and earn a few credits.

"You…you don't really know me, Luke –" she started to explain, swallowing to ease the dryness that was suddenly seizing her throat and mouth.

"How can I not really know you when we've been so close for so long?" the youth interrupted. Mariana held her hand up silence him, mustering up every bit of maturity that could possibly fit in the body of an eleven year old.

"You know the crying little girl that you met in a park one day. You know the miserable child in the tattered dress with the bruises on her face. That's not me, Luke."

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked, his mind not yet operating on the wavelength required to accurately analyze the information he was hearing.

"I'm a street rat, wandering from odd job to odd job just to make enough to eat. People come to me when they need someone spied on, or something stolen. In the Undercity you have to be ruthless, and I'm right up there with the best of them." The confusion on the boy's face was slowly clearing as he began to see his friend in a new light. Inwardly, Mariana sighed, knowing that the young Jedi would now be all about empathy despite the fact that he didn't know the half of what she'd been through in her eleven years of life. The girl was preparing herself to fire the final bolt into their friendship, but she never got the chance. Without warning, Luke gasped and clutched at his chest before he fell back against the wall and sank to the ground. Mariana was beside him in a second, pushing his hand away thinking he had been injured.

"Luke, what's wrong?" she cried after she had come to the conclusion that the boy had suffered no physical wounds.

"My mother…they killed my mother," Luke whispered between gasps. He had never felt such pain as he did in the sudden absence of his mother's presence. Never in his life had he felt so alone. Both of his parents' Force presences were suddenly gone, his last lifelines and connections to sanity wrenched away. The boy couldn't keep the tears back any longer; they flooded his eyes and ran in rivulets down his cheeks as his chest heaved with sobs he was trying to keep silent. Mariana pulled her friend against her, frightened by the sudden display of emotion. The girl didn't know what to say, though part of her knew it didn't really matter anyways; nothing she could think of would bring his mother back or ease the pain of losing her.

"What am I doing here, Maria? What are we doing here? Why are they targeting my family? There's nothing special about us, we're just humans," Luke sobbed as he leaned against his friend, taking solace in her presence.

"I don't know, Luke, but somebody will get you out of this. The Jedi wouldn't just let them get away with this. Even if you are just a padawan, you're part of their Order."

"Maria, there's no one left to send them after us. I can't sense Father at all, and Mom…The other Jedi will be worried about protecting the Republic, not about hunting down some missing padawan," Luke said as he pulled away from her slightly. Mariana shook her head in denial, desperation written across her face.

"Don't talk like that, Luke. We'll get you out of here one way or another. We will; you'll see," she muttered. Luke leaned back against the wall of the starship, pulling his friend back with him. The two children huddled against each other, both seeking comfort in the other's presence. Mariana had never let herself feel lost or abandoned in her life, but she was suddenly bombarded with both emotions. Being around the young Skywalker boy was slowly chipping away the hard shell she had built up for herself. _ Soon you'll be a blubbering mess on the floor. Get a hold of yourself_, her mind scolded her. To her own surprise, Mariana felt her pushing aside the commanding voice in her head. She leaned against her friend, suddenly realizing just how tired she was.

"Maria…you had something else to say earlier didn't you?" Luke asked abruptly. Mariana's heart picked up its pace as she remembered what it was that she had to tell him. The girl knew that the repercussions of her actions would only get worse the longer she waited, but she couldn't bring herself to cause the boy more pain.

"It can wait," she answered quietly before she dropped her head onto his shoulder, curling herself up in to a ball to keep warm in the unfriendly and foreign starship.

* * *

><p>Anakin pushed the speeder to its limits as he raced from the Temple to the towering apartment building. In his mind he was already imagining the battle that would take place between Ventress and him. Most of his musings involved a rather vulgar stream of curses aimed at Master Kenobi. When the two Jedi had last faced Ventress, Anakin had wanted to finish her off and be done with it, but Obi-Wan thought she had been turned away from the Dark Side. <em>If that old fool had just listened to me…<em> Anakin's thoughts were a raging sea of fury that crashed angrily against the black sand shores of depression. Every few moments he would groan through clenched teeth and slam the fist of his artificial arm against the console beside him; by the time he pulled the speeder to a stop on the building's landing pad there were several large dents in the material of the console.

The interior of the building looked just as chaotic as the Temple had. There were wounded security officers lying here and there, tended to and watched over by the frightened, near panicked denizens of the building. Anakin strode past them all to the turbolift, shoving them back furiously as they approached him seeking information. The hilt of his lightsaber was already in his hands as he rode the turbolift to the top floor, twitching with anger and anticipation. He could feel Ventress's dark presence, could sense her silently mocking him, daring him to come after her. He would kill her. Oh yes, he was going to kill her once and for all.

The whisper of the turbolift door sliding open was accompanied by the _snap-hiss_ of his lightsaber igniting in a defensive position expecting an attack which never came. The foyer of the apartment was empty, as were all of the rooms that Anakin could see from the entrance. The Jedi master stepped carefully through the chaos of overturned furniture, glancing into each room as he passed. He hesitated at the door of Luke's bedroom, sadness threatening to overcome the anger that fueled his drive. Anakin managed to push it back after a moment to continue moving down the main corridor. The door to the bedroom he shared with his wife loomed ahead of him, the ragged opening cut into it chilling his heart. His pace slowed as he approached, caution overriding his need to know.

"Oh gods," he gasped as he finally reached the opening and looked in. Ventress apparently hadn't been happy with just killing Padmé. The dark Jedi had stripped his wife down into her undergarments – which she had been wearing in preparation for her husband's return home – and carefully arranged her on the bed in a pose that was as grotesque as it was alluring. The mottled gash that ran down her chest stood out starkly against the sickly pale of the Senator's skin, and her eyes were stuck wide open with the pain of death.

"Do you like it? I made it especially for you," Asajj Ventress whispered from a shadowed corner within the room where she had been observing the scene. Anakin turned on her, his jaw working as he clenched and unclenched it repeatedly. The Jedi master stepped through the door, lightsaber held at the ready.

"You're going to die here today, Ventress. One way or another you will not be leaving this building alive," Anakin growled a second before he launched himself toward her. Twin blades of scarlet fire erupted from the curved hilts in the Nightsister's hand as she responded furiously. The two combatants came together with a clash and a series of electronic squeals as Ventress worked her second blade free of the bladelock. Anakin leapt back just as her second blade came free and launched itself toward his chest. He parried the blow as he spun to the side to strike at her flank. In a flash her left-hand, defensive blade sliced across to block the blow while her right-hand blade sliced straight across at the level of Anakin's neck. Anakin parried and retreated a step to size up his opponent for the first time in more than a decade.

"What? You didn't expect to take me down in just a few moves, did you?" Ventress asked with a disgusting tone of innocence in her voice. She drove ahead with both blades, one staying relatively closer to her body for defensive purposes. The two seemed to blend together with the speed of her strikes into a single red glow. Blade working furiously to defend against the continuous stream of attacks, Anakin's jaw clenched rigidly as he formulated a rough plan in his head. A few moments later, Ventress was thrown across the room, crashing into the remains of the door. Anakin was on her before she had a chance to recover. The two duelists came together again in a whirlwind tinted purple for several tense moments.

Both combatants paused for a heartbeat as a sizzling piece of metal flew between them to smack into the wall off to the side. Ventress glanced down in surprise at the sparking half that was left of her right-hand blade. Very aware that she had just been thrown into a severe disadvantage, the Nightsister drove one foot solidly into Anakin's chest, forcing him backward to give her time to transfer the still working lightsaber between hands. As the Jedi master gasped in air to recover from the blow, Ventress pressed forward just enough to put some distance between her back and the wall before she fell to the defensive.

"Same as always; your reliance on two blades will soon be your downfall," Anakin snarled before he struck aggressively. He put so much power behind the blows that Ventress could actually feel her feet sliding backwards slightly with every parry. She worked to maintain her defense, willing to wait until Anakin had worn himself down in this sudden fury. The knowledge that – without her second blade – a single missed parry would be the end of her hung ominously over her head, however, urging her to find a way to balance the scales. Her mind searched about, scanning the room for something. There was a small bench at the end of the bed off to the left and slightly behind the Jedi. Grasping it with her mind, Ventress hoisted it into the air and sent it spinning toward Anakin's back.

The Jedi did a half-spin, thrusting his right hand out to catch the bench while easily flipping his lightsaber hilt to his left palm. The hurtling piece of furniture slowed to a stop just in time for Anakin to parry the Nightsister's swift uppercut. His right hand came around in a wide arc as he held her lightsaber in a blade-lock, leading the bench toward his opponent as well. Leaping backward, the Jedi slammed the bench into his opponent. Ventress emitted a sound that appeared to be a mix between a grunt a yelp as the bench erupted into a spray of wooden shrapnel upon impact with her body. Anakin turned his head away slightly as splinters flew past him. When he next faced the door where his opponent had been standing, he realized with a shock that she was no longer there. Cursing himself for having taken his eyes of his prey, the Jedi spun.

Ventress was already almost upon him by the time he managed to face her. She feinted high, struck low, and then leapt over his head. As she landed she spun a complete circuit while simultaneously lowering her body into a crouch. Anakin was hard pressed to parry every blow launched at him; the scarlet blade darted through his defenses just as Ventress finished her spin. The Jedi hissed in pain even as he shoved himself backward. The front of his tunic fell open across his midsection where her blade had seared its way across the skin. The wound wasn't deep, but it was enough to shake the master in his strive for victory. Ventress grinned up at him from her crouch, the display twisting her features grotesquely.

"One point for me," the Nightsister said happily as Anakin regrouped and struck ahead of him. As the Jedi launched into a complicated series of attacks, Ventress' smile slowly disappeared. The wound had sobered the man up enough that his swordplay was no longer the puerile sort that his anger had induced previously, and the woman found herself wondering if she could hold up against his refined blade skills. Her thoughts distracted her enough that she almost wasn't able to register Anakin's booted foot slamming into her face. Her nose cracked loudly, blood spraying across the white fabric of her shirt as she stumbled backward. The Jedi wasn't about to give her a chance to recover. He pressed ahead viciously, his blade slamming against hers repeatedly, the force behind the blows slowly weakening her grip until finally the hilt was knocked from her hand. Before it hit the ground, it redirected its momentum toward Anakin, landing in his outstretched left palm.

"Game," Anakin hissed as he ignited the crimson blade and brought it to bear on its owner. Ventress stared up at him with furious, bloodshot eyes, spitting crimson blood from her mouth. Her unsettling crystal blue gaze did nothing to shake the Jedi master, whose fiery orange eyes barely seemed to see her.

"Welcome to our side, Skywalker," Ventress started. Anakin didn't give her a chance to finish. Enraged by her words he drove both his own blade and that of the Nightsister straight ahead into her stomach. The woman's words turned into a shriek as she doubled over, curling herself up around the blades.

"I'm nothing like you, Ventress," Anakin snarled, though it was hard to tell whether he was actually talking to her or trying to convince himself. The Nightsister raised her head, blood stained teeth clenching against the pain of impalement. Defiant to the last, Ventress' lips curled into a wicked smile.

"Yes, you are. More than you know," she managed with a cough that quickly erupted into a fit of hacking that sprayed thousands of droplets of blood into the air. Anakin grimaced, his own jaw working silently as he tried to find the words to argue otherwise. Finally, perhaps as angry at himself as he was at the woman before him, the Jedi gave both blades a strong twist and he tore them free. Ventress slumped to the ground at his feet, gasping in a few more short breaths before her eyes seemed to glaze over and her chest stopped heaving. Anakin stared down at the woman's body, his eyes brimming with tears that he couldn't explain. The Jedi felt as if the two halves of his personality were dueling within him, tearing his soul to pieces bit by painful, wrenching bit.

"I'm not like you," he whispered after several moments. Staggering backwards, Anakin dropped both hilts to the ground before he turned to the bed upon which his wife's corpse was laid out. "I'm not like her, Padmé. I'm not," he moaned as he pulled the lifeless form against him, the tears he had attempted to hold back overflowing down his cheeks. The Jedi rocked back and forth slowly as sobs racked his chest and threatened to choke him. Desperately he wished his wife would suddenly gasp and wrap her arms around him. The turmoil that raged within him was tearing him apart, throwing him through a rollercoaster of emotions that all ended with the depression of tragedy.

"How am I supposed to go on without you?" he whispered into his wife's hair as slowly cried himself into a dazed stupor.

* * *

><p>"That arrogant fool of a woman," Lord Malékum growled as he watched the scene in the apartment through a pair of macrobinoculars. He lowered the viewing device and fell silent, the tendrils hanging by his jaws twitching angrily as the muscles that ran underneath him danced with the motion of him clenching and unclenching them. Beside the red-skinned Sith stood an aged and scarred pureblood woman. She took a step closer, eyes narrowing as she stared across Coruscant's skyline to the apartment building in question.<p>

"Is there a problem, Malékum'ari?" she asked with false innocence evident in her voice. The Sith Lord turned on her, fist raised as if to strike out. At the last second he caught himself and brought his hand to a stop inches away from the woman's unflinching face. The pair was still for a long moment before Malékum lowered his hand and allowed a small smile to spread across his face.

"Of course not, Hal'esh. This will be but a minor setback in the grand scheme of things," he answered as he replaced the macrobinoculars on the belt he wore beneath his dark cloak. From the look in Hal'esh's glowing yellow eyes, it was clear that she didn't fully believe his words.

"The elder Skywalker is alive, is he not?" she questioned, determined to confirm her suspicions.

"Yes, Hal'esh, Anakin Skywalker has not been killed," Malékum replied, the tone in his voice telling her that he was already pushing her onto the ignore list. Hal'esh reached out and snatched his arm, one of the talon adorned digits on her hand digging into the fabric of his cloak.

"Failure to eliminate the elder Skywalker is not simply a minor setback, Malékum'ari. You know that the Sith'ari will not accept such failure. How can you expect to face him and survive?" The elder Sith's face was twisted with anger. Malékum cast a disinterested look upon her as he waved a hand nonchalantly through the air.

"Killing him was a minor part of our plan if you truly think about it. We have what we came here for. Even if the Republic does hide behind their 'Chosen One', we will soon have the weapons we require to fight them off. Our race has been living in hiding since our 'extinction' thousands of years ago, Hal'esh. Would you let such a minor thing as the survival of one human deter you from our goal?" Malékum's voice was suddenly filled with deadly threat. Hal'esh took a small step back from his side as she shook her head in response. "Exactly. The Sith'ari won't either; he knows what must be done if we are to succeed in rising again."

"The Sith'ari is not one of our own. Why would he abstain from killing you when he has no way of understanding the plight of our species?" Hal'esh dared to ask. She knew it wasn't wise to press the powerful lord as she was, but she was sure that he wouldn't actually try anything.

"He knows where his truly loyal and powerful allies are," Malékum answered, the threat in his voice evident. Hal'esh took note of it, storing away the comment in the catalogues of her mind. "Now – if you've truly sated your curiosity – we have places to be, and it would be best if we weren't late to our own party."

"Of course, Malékum'ari," Hal'esh said with a bow that she held until the Sith Lord had passed her. As she moved to rise and follow behind him, Malékum halted very suddenly, half-turning his head to look over his shoulder at the woman.

"And Hal'esh," he started, pulling her attention fully back to him, "I suggest that you keep your questions to yourself from now on. You never know what might make its way back to the Sith'ari." Amazingly, Hal'esh kept her eyes from going wide in the face of the lord's warning.

"As you wish, Malékum'ari," she replied quietly before she fell into step behind him, glaring daggers at his back as she contemplated how wonderful it would feel to strike him down. Ah, such were the ways of the Sith.


	8. Destiny's Lure

**Well...this took forever. I'm seriously sorry. For a few days there I lost the will to work on this because...frankly I hate everything I write... But never fear, everyone! _**I've got a plan_!_**_ Thanks again for reading, and please review and comment.**

**Chapter 7**

**Destiny's Lure**

The trip was cold, dark, and lonely. Their Sith captors had apparently forgotten about the prisoners entirely as soon as the sleek ship had broken through Coruscant's atmosphere and into the looming void of deep space. There were no windows in the quarters they had been given, nothing with which to mark the passing of time. The two children drifted in and out of consciousness, overcome with the feeling to sleep as if they would wake up and realize that everything had simply been a dream. Tears came and went, drying into salty rivulets on cherubic cheeks that were pale with the chill of space. Earlier, the two had tried to make conversation, attempting to make the hours more bearable, but each one they started simply drifted off into uncomfortable silence. Eventually they had both given up, falling into the depths of their own minds to the exclusion of all else.

Neither of them knew how long they had been travelling and, for the most part, neither of them cared all that much. All that they knew was that falling into sleep was almost as painful as remaining awake. Dreams haunted them both, visions of bloodshed and bodies rent limb to limb by blades of scarlet fire. The boy saw his mother as he imagined her in death: skin mottled by livor mortis, eyes sunken in, and flaccid lips stretched across her silently screaming mouth. The girl was plagued by visions caused by her own guilt at having betrayed her best friend. In her mind's eye she saw a hideous monster, twisted and mangled, that trailed along behind the glowing form of her best friend. It wasn't until she finally noticed that the beast had the remains of a tattered dress wrapped around its body and stringy clumps of raven hair clinging to its head that she realized the monster was herself torn asunder by betrayal. Despite these nightmares, the two prisoners couldn't quite rid themselves of the foolish hope that sleep would somehow put everything back to normal.

The boy's shoulder was aching; the bone that had been seared through days earlier had only been partially healed by his trance. The strain of battle had weakened the stability of the mend. When he reached up to massage it gently, the skin was warm to the touch from inflammation. Part of his mind contemplated trying another trance to seal the repair solidly, but he knew he'd never be able to accomplish the level of concentration needed.

"You hurt your shoulder?" Mariana asked quietly from across the small room where she was huddled on one of the retractable bunks. Luke raised swollen, bloodshot eyes to her face, leveling his unsettlingly solemn gaze on her for several long moments before he nodded. Wordlessly she slipped from the bunk and crossed to his side, reaching out to him. The boy flinched at the soft touch of her fingertips, his muscles tensing as she pulled away the bacta patches that had been applied to the wound the day it was received. "There's no infection in the skin. How much internal damage was there?"

"The lightsaber missed everything but my shoulder blade. Don't worry about it; it'll be fine in a few days I'm sure. It's already partially healed anyways," Luke answered, edging away from the girl. Her words earlier had made him realize that he truly didn't know Mariana at all, not the true Mariana at least. The maturity he had long admired in her suddenly frightened him, marked her as a stranger in a friend's clothing. The girl knew she was losing him, but it was made much worse by the knowledge that she hadn't yet revealed the worst news of all.

"Luke…There _was_ something else that I need to tell you," she started. She made a point of moving back to the opposite bunk before continuing, perhaps fearing his reaction or possibly anticipating that he'd never want to see her again once he knew. It took a few moments for the boy's full concentration to fall on the girl. Only once she was sure that he was paying attention did she go on. "Malékum – the Sith that you faced in the Temple – he knew that you were on Dathomir because…because I told him so." Luke's face remained blank as if he wasn't really absorbing the information he was hearing. Mariana paused, waiting patiently for the anger to erupt, but it never came. Instead, the boy seemed to collapse inwards on himself as if his body had suddenly lost the strength to support his wounded soul. Mariana's heart broke to see him in such a state, but she couldn't stop now; she had to tell him everything.

"I was hired by the Sith and a Rattataki named Zaji to relay information about you to them. I reported on your training, the schedules you followed, who you were close to, just about anything they asked for. If you hadn't been sent to Dathomir, I…I was supposed to lure you to the park so you could be taken prisoner before their attack even began. I'm so sorry, about everything." Mariana bit her bottom lip, knowing how insignificant her words were in the face of what she had done.

"How much was my life worth?" Luke mumbled, his blue eyes lowered to the floor. Mariana started to answer before she realized that the boy wasn't hurt by what she had done, he was hurt by what he hadn't. To him, this was just another failure to observe. He had failed to save his friend when the trouble she was in was evident on her face. He had neglected to observe the existence of the trap he had sprung on himself in the Temple. He had let down his father, his mother, his best friend, and the Jedi Order. His entire life was in shambles, and this was just the icing on the cake.

"I didn't do it for the credits, if it means anything. I agreed because I was too selfish to risk the consequences. They would have killed me, and I couldn't bring myself to face that," Mariana said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Luke let out a something that was a cross between a cynical laugh and a groan, pretending as if he found this whole thing to be rather amusing.

"It doesn't matter what you took for it, Maria. If they'd killed you over me I would only be hurting more. The real issue is that I should have been able to see that you needed help. I should have been there for you, and I wasn't."

"Luke, for once in your life will you stop being so selfless? I betrayed you, tossed you out to be torn to pieces and you're sitting there blaming yourself for it. Sacrifices often have to be made, but you don't always have to be the one doing the job. And don't go spouting some business about the Jedi code, because I don't have time to hear it all again. I don't care what your Order has to say about it, if you keep acting this way it's going to be the end of you someday," Mariana snapped, exasperated. Luke fidgeted under her commanding gaze, a flush of embarrassment coloring his cheeks slightly.

"I can't, Maria. I just can't," he said after a long span of silence stretched between them. Mariana threw her hands up before she brought her forehead to rest against them.

"If you won't quit acting like this, at least tell me what in all the worlds it is that you're trying to make up for," the girl said at length, willing to compromise with him. Confused, Luke looked up at her, his brow furrowed. "Oh, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. You did something – or at least _you_ think so – and you've been trying to make amends for it. I know you, Luke. There's a reason for every little thing you do."

"You don't understand, you can't possibly," Luke answered after a period of quiet contemplation. The girl snickered, very obviously not convinced. When she took notice of the injured look on the boy's face, her expression softened considerably.

"Well then, help me understand, Luke. Keeping all of your feelings inside will only make things worse for you. Didn't the Jedi teach you that?"

"Look, you just don't know what it's like for me," Luke started, holding his hand up palm outwards to keep her from interrupting testily. "I know, your life hasn't been a walk in the park, but bear with me. Can you possibly imagine what it's like when your own father looks at you like there's no way in all the worlds that you could actually be his son? No, you can't. That's what I suffer through every time I see my father. He expected his son to be as great a man as he is, and instead he got stuck with me. And my mother…She tries to hide it, but I see how she looks at me. There's always sadness in her eyes, as if I don't quite match up to her standards either." The boy pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his head against them, his eyes closed tightly. At first hurt by the boy's words, knowing that he was subtly alluding to her own pitiful parentage, now Mariana could barely keep the laugh she was inclined to release within herself.

"That's not true," she said once she had regained control of her urge to giggle. Hearing such things come from the youth before her was astoundingly humorous; she could think of people that would kill to be half the person that her friend was.

"How could you know?" Luke snapped back at her, perhaps picking up on the amusement she was trying to keep hidden.

"Because I know you, Luke. If your father is disappointed by what he got with you then he's a blasted fool. And your mother is the sweetest person on any planet; I don't think there's a way for you to make her any less proud of you than she already is," Mariana answered, sincerity written across her face.

"I know she's proud of me, that's not the problem. It's something else…I get the feeling that me being born destroyed something she could have had. Sometimes in my dreams I see this woman who looks an awful lot like mom. Every time I see her she asks me why I killed her, but I don't have any idea who she is. I'm pretty sure she has to do with it, but I don't know."

"Well, I think you need to forget about it. Right now, we need to focus on getting out of here. Once we're safely back on Coruscant we can tackle this issue with your father. Sound like a plan?" Mariana was trying to be chipper for the boy's sake, but it didn't seem like her attitude was having that much affect on him. He still turned away with a defeated look on his face even as he nodded his agreement. The girl was at a loss of how to help him; although, it was probably better that she didn't get involved. It wasn't her battle to fight, no matter how much she desperately wanted to assist her friend in overcoming his demons. The girl stood and paced around the room again, trying to find something to take her mind of things. She had repeated the same motion a dozen times already as she looked for anything that could help them get out. The walls were smooth and adorned only with the two built-in bunks. The single chair that had been placed against the wall next to the narrow door that led to a small refresher was securely bolted to the floor, and there was no other furniture.

"You think we're still in hyperspace?" the girl asked as she looked over at her motionless friend. Luke stirred slightly, his eyes tracking about the room slowly before he answered.

"I certainly didn't feel us revert to realspace, but I might have been asleep…" His words trailed away into nothingness as a dark look spread across his face. When the boy didn't say anything to elaborate on the sudden shift in his emotions, Mariana spoke.

"What's wrong? Did you sense something?" she asked the youth. He nodded, but remained silent for an additional span of time, his head tilted to the side as if he were trying to identify the source of whatever he was feeling.

"Something's gone terribly wrong. I can just vaguely feel my father's presence, but it feels almost like…like he's not all there," the boy replied just as Mariana was preparing to press for more information.

"But if you can feel him that means he's alive, right? That should be good news."

"No, you don't understand. The feel of him…it's darker, filled with anger and sadness. It seems like the light side of his character has been torn right out of him. I…I can almost feel the pain from the split. Maria, I think…I think he's turned," Luke's voice was quivering with what seemed to be fear and when he raised his eyes to her they were wide and terrified.

"Turned? What are you talking about?" she asked, but before Luke could answer there was a slight jolt and the rumbling sound of the hyperdrive kicking in to slow the ship down and deposit it back into realspace. Mariana and Luke both glanced around nervously, their eyes eventually landing on the sealed door that led to the cockpit where their Sith captors were waiting.

"Where do you think we are?" the girl questioned in a lowered voice, her eyes remaining on the door. Luke shook his head and shrugged, glancing at his wrist to measure how long they'd been travelling before he remembered that he wasn't wearing a chrono.

"We can't possibly be anywhere past the Outer Rim. Do you think they're rebuilding their Empire within the boundary of the Republic?" Luke questioned.

"Does the notion frighten you, boy? Our Empire's roots stretch farther than you could ever imagine; your precious Republic will fall. In the meantime, welcome to Dathomir. Or perhaps welcome back would be more suitable? At any rate, you'll be joining us here until the Sith'ari has need of you," the Sith pureblood Dejna said from the now open doorway. His voice was taunting, mocking the two children held captive within the small chamber. Mariana glared daggers at the man, meeting his slightly glowing orange gaze defiantly. The Sith seemed to growl low in his throat before he motioned over his shoulder. Two of his underlings stepped into the room with binders in their hands. The corners of Luke's mouth twisted up into a small smile when he realized how their captors intended to restrain the pair. Taking note of the slight twitch, Dejna erupted into barking laughter.

"If I were you, I wouldn't try using the Force to knock those off. You see, we _are_, in fact, more intelligent than you give us credit for. If you try to release the locks…Well, let's just say it's going to hurt," the Sith said with a lopsided grin. Luke's shoulders sank slightly as one of the cloaked Sith pulled his arms behind his back and latched the binders around his wrists. On the other side of the room the same was done to Mariana.

"Now get your hands off of me!" the girl snarled when the lock clicked into place. She drove her weight backwards before she leaned forward to pull her linked arms free from the Sith's grasp. The surprised captor overbalanced and fell to the floor, leaping to his feet almost before he landed. The back hand he launched sent the girl reeling to the floor, landing with a sharp thud on her shoulder. The Sith's booted foot knifed into her stomach a moment later, doubling the gasping child over on herself. His injured pride not yet sated, the Sith pulled back for further torture.

"Stop it! You've got us here, we're not going anywhere, and we're not going to try anything. Just leave her alone," Luke exclaimed, struggling against his bindings. The other Sith glanced over at their leader, their masked faces tilted slightly to the side in question. Dejna's eyes narrowed, but he inclined his head a fraction of an inch. Mariana's attacker bent and pulled the girl to her feet, ignoring the popping sound that came from her wounded shoulder. The girl hissed in pain, but did her best to keep her face straight.

"If you're quite through making a show of things, these accommodations are far too well furnished for the likes of you two. We simply must get you to the proper housing," Dejna said, motioning the two Sith forward. Although he was presented again with the soaring expanses of the isolated planet, Luke's shell shocked senses registered only the shadowy buildings that the Sith had erected and the dozens of black cloaked figures milling about in the compound. It seemed that the small city had been built in a bowl-shaped valley that was very well hidden in the curves of two mountains. It was arranged in a circular pattern, with the buildings growing ever more grand and elaborate as one moved through the rings. Luke realized that the Sith must have been building the city for quite some time, with the Republic never so much as guessing that they still existed. For a race that was believed to be extinct, they'd certainly been busy little bees.

"Isn't it magnificent?" Dejna asked as he led the prisoners and their captors down the ramp. The pureblood inhaled deeply as he scanned the city, his chest rising with pride in his race's recovery from the brink of annihilation.

"It's hideous," Mariana growled from Luke's side. The Sith spun around angrily, pulling his hand back to strike at the girl. Neither of the children were willing to flinch and give the Sith the satisfaction he sought. Apparently realizing this, Dejna lowered his hand and allowed a smile to spread across his lips.

"No matter. I'm sure you'll enjoy the view of stark metal walls a great deal more," he replied as he waved his hand lazily through the air. The two other Sith pushed their prisoners down the ramp. They turned once to their commander for further orders just before they entered the outskirts of the city. Dejna was poised to hoist the landing ramp, but he halted long enough to meet the gazes of both of the children. "Don't worry; this isn't the last you'll see of me. You know where to take them," he said just before the loading ramp slid upwards with the hiss of hydraulics. The metal clang as it closed fully seemed to the children to be the final blow to their already upended lives.

* * *

><p>"The two have been safely delivered to Saarai City?" Lord Malékum asked as soon as the holographic image of Dejna appeared before him. The Sith Lord paced back and forth before the holojector, battling with the sense he had that something had gone terribly wrong with his plans. Dejna bowed low before he answered, the tendrils on his jowls twitching irritably as he heard the undertone of doubt in his lord's voice.<p>

"As you commanded, Malékum'ari. They will no longer be any trouble for us. The boy's spirit has been worn thin and broken. The girl remains as…fiery as ever, but she is no threat," the younger Sith answered, raising his prominent chin an inch into the air.

"The Jedi will come for him, I am certain. Anakin Skywalker was not killed on Coruscant," Malékum explained away his anxiety to his underling, gradually slowing down his pacing as his head tilted back contemplatively.

"Excuse me, my Lord? How is it possible that the elder Skywalker wasn't killed? The Sith'ari commanded us to finish him off once and for all. Why did you not tell me this before I arrived?" Dejna demanded, forgetting his position in the sudden panic he felt. He was closer to the Sith'ari now than Malékum was, and he certainly didn't want his neck to be the one on the chopping block.

"Calm yourself, Dejna; the Sith'ari would take no notice of one as low as you anyhow. The situation will be rectified soon enough, and I am quite certain that the Sith'ari will be pleased with our progress."

"But Malékum'ari, we have failed at one of the most important objectives that the Sith'ari placed before us. How can we expect to be treated mercifully with such failure over our heads? The boy is nothing compared to his father if we are to believe the Jedi and their prophecies."

"Well, that's just it, isn't it Dejna? Forget their prophecies. The only thing you need to worry about is making sure nothing happens to those prisoners."

"My Lord, are you saying that the boy is-"

"Dejna! That is enough of your questions. Control yourself or I will personally see to it that you are silenced permanently. I believe you have a job to attend to," Malékum snapped just before he reached out to end the transmission. Dejna's image distorted, stretching and compressing madly for a second before it finally vanished. The Sith Lord sighed once, stroking the tendril hanging from his right cheek as he stared blankly at the space where Dejna's image had been standing. Despite his confident words to Hal'esh and Dejna, the powerful Sith pureblood had no clear idea how he was going to handle Ventress' failure. He took solace in the notion that Anakin had killed the Nightsister for vengeance. _Perhaps the Jedi will drop their 'Chosen One' because of it…_ Malékum toyed with the idea and found it pleasing to his mind.

"Lord Malékum, I assume the campaign on Corsucant was successful?" a harsh, growling voice asked as a second transmission came through. The pureblood's spine stiffened as he turned to face the wavering blue image that was appearing above the holojector. He had not expected the contact to occur so soon, had counted on having a little bit more time to arrange his thoughts and his plans.

"Quite so, my Lord," Malékum replied as he doubled over in a bow. When he raised his head again, the image had refined itself into the bent and twisted shape of a black cloaked human. The white skin of his face was just barely visible beneath the dark cowl, lined with the sharp crags of age and corruption. As Malékum watched, the man pulled back to cowl just enough to reveal glittering dark eyes that spoke highly of the great evil buried within the tiny frame. Even the battle hardened, supremely volatile pureblood yielded beneath that commanding gaze, dropping his eyes respectfully to the floor as he shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"Do not lie to me, Malékum," the man said icily after a moment of staring at his underling. Lord Malékum took a deep breath to steady himself, summoning up all the courage and confidence that he had been using to stave off those beneath him in the hopes that it would help combat the power he faced.

"The boy and his street rat friend have been apprehended and delivered to Saarai City as you commanded. The Saarai-kaar and the other Jensaarai succeeded in eliminating a large portion of the Galactic Senate, and my own soldiers took out a great deal of Jedi. We have infiltrated dozens of systems and set the stage for rebellion just as you asked. The Galaxy will be ours for the taking soon thanks to the disillusion with the Republic we have caused," Malékum answered, dancing about the issue over which he was concerned while simultaneously highlighting all the good that had been done under his leadership.

"And Skywalker?" Malékum's breath came in sharply this time as he braced himself for the worst.

"Asajj Ventress failed to eliminate the elder Skywalker, Sith'ari, but I do not believe he will be a threat to our movement despite that fact."

"What leads you to believe such things? Keep in mind that if you are incorrect, I will personally see to your complete destruction. You will not live to observe the reawakening of the Sith Empire."

"Yes, my Lord. I understand, but the elder Sywalker attacked and killed Ventress to avenge his wife's death and his son's abduction. Even though he is their 'Chosen One', the Jedi couldn't possibly ignore such a blatant breach of their code. If he comes after us he will do so on his own, and we are prepared to handle that threat."

"They have adjusted their code to accommodate him before. It is completely possible that they might do so again. And even by himself Skywalker is a force to be reckoned. He will come after his son, Lord Malékum; we must act quickly."

"What do you propose I do, my Lord?" Malékum secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If he wasn't yet lying dead on the floor than his chances of survival were greatly improved. If anything, he might yet be able to come away from this with his dignity intact.

"I will arrive at Saarai City in a day's time. Once there I will meet with the boy. If we are to act before the Jedi can respond, we will need to transfer both prisoners off Dathomir as soon as possible. I will leave Saarai City for Dromund Kaas immediately after I have met the boy."

"As you wish, my Lord," Malékum said with another deep bow. When next he looked up, the Sith'ari's image had already vanished, leaving behind only the vague sense of dread that seemed to follow the twisted human around like a shroud. Even now Malékum and the other purebloods couldn't understand how such a pitiful human could have risen to such great heights in command over the Dark Side. As far as they were aware there had never been a pureblood with such power. It was the only reason that those of his species were willing to follow along behind the man. In the years since the Sith'ari had appeared on Dromund Kaas, he had proven to be a merciless taskmaster, but he had also brought the Sith together again and brought the purebloods out from hiding. Single handedly, the Sith'ari had ushered in the age of the new Sith, and under his guidance the galaxy would fall.

* * *

><p>"Anakin!" Obi-Wan called from the foyer of the apartment. The entirety of the home was dark, the only light that of the city streaming in from the windows. The Jedi master stepped carefully into the living room, brushing aside debris with the toe of his booted foot. He could sense the turmoil within his former apprentice and was able to trace it back into the small home. In the hours that Master Kenobi had been tied up at the Temple seeing to it that the injured were being cared to, wave after wave of unsettling emotions had poured out of the apartment. In his distress, Anakin's mental shields had fallen, broadcasting his feelings to virtually every Jedi on Coruscant. Obi-Wan himself was quickly developing a throbbing headache from the constantly shifting battery of emotions that his former apprentice had subjected them all to.<p>

Master Kenobi could see the crumpled body lying in the middle of the room as he approached the mutilated door to the master bedroom. It was the bald pate and stark white skin that indicated the identity of the corpse to him. For a long moment, he couldn't believe what he was seeing; the last time he had faced Ventress, he was certain she had seen the Light. Yet here she was, face-down on the floor of her nemesis' apartment.

"You should have just stayed dead," Obi-Wan muttered under his breath, referring to the period when Ventress had seemed to drop off the face of the galaxy. In the silent apartment his voice seemed magnified tenfold, and the master flinched at the sound of it, wondering perhaps if Anakin had clearly heard him. The Jedi master took a deep breath before he stepped through the jagged opening in the door's metal. "Anakin?" he asked gently as he blinked in the deep gloom that hung about all but the center of the room.

"You shouldn't be here, Master," Anakin said from off to the left. Obi-Wan turned toward the sound of the voice, waiting for his eyesight to clear enough that he could make out the two shadowy figures on the bed. The larger of the two – obviously Anakin – was sitting on the edge of the bed, his arms wrapped solidly about a limp body. Obi-Wan took a small step toward the pair, only to see Anakin wince and push himself backward an inch.

"I had to come, Anakin. We've all been worried sick about you, and…and I had to see whether what I suspected had come to pass," Obi-Wan answered, setting his feet in a non-threatening manner in an attempt to calm the younger man down. He hoped against hope that there was something left of the real Anakin to be redeemed hiding somewhere within the hulking shadows that had overcome the younger man's presence.

"I feel such terrible things, Master. When I look at you I am overcome with an urge to strike you down. When I think of the Jedi I see only those upon which I can lay the blame for my wife's death. The concept of my son…even that fills me with such anger as I've never felt before. You must go, before I take up my blade against you as well."

"That's not you speaking, Anakin. I know the true you, and it's somewhere within you yet. Think about Padmé, think about what she would want for you" Obi-wan said bluntly, his eyes on the flaccid figure strewn across the younger man's arms.

"Padmé…Ventress killed her and all of the security positioned here as well. There must be dozens of good men lying dead throughout this building, but she didn't stop until she made it up here. The bitch killed my wife just so she could get a chance at me. Wouldn't you know she was too damned cowardly to come after me at the Temple? My wife died for no other reason than to get back at me," Anakin answered, his voice quiet but filled with poison. Obi-Wan sighed, knowing that his former apprentice was being lost to the shadows fast. He started to speak, racking his brain for the proper words, words that would draw the younger man back from the edge. He didn't get the chance; Anakin began to pull himself to his feet, stretching the pale corpse of his wife out on the bed. The skin around the gash on her chest had turned nearly black with congealed blood just beneath the surface while the rest of her body seemed to be drained empty. Her wide eyes stared up at her husband, clouded with what might have seemed like tears if not for the laid open wound. Obi-Wan could hardly stand to look at her, bile rising into his throat bringing with it the foul tasting need to be sick. Anakin took no notice.

"At least I got her," he whispered as he bent over his wife's corpse. With one bent finger he stroked the deathly pale cheek, feeling the chill of her lifeless skin against the digit. Obi-Wan could not restrain the shudder that ran down his spine as he watched his former apprentice lay a single kiss on the slightly open lips. Unable to watch any longer, the Jedi master turned away to inspect the stiffening body of the Nightsister, rolling her over gently and feeling for a pulse despite already being aware that she was dead. The aging man was having difficulty convincing himself that this was all really happening, needed to prove to himself without a doubt that the woman was truly gone. Her missing pulse seemed to confirm the loss of Anakin's soul.

"Why did you do this, Anakin? You know Ventress' death neither proved nor accomplished anything. Did you think that by killing the Nightsister Padmé would somehow come back? If so you were sorely misled by your feelings. Yes, her death was a sad thing, but what's worse is that the Jedi have lost two great men today instead of the one we had previously assumed. First, your son was taken from us, and now we've lost you as well. We could have rescued Luke and taken down this fledgling Empire together, but instead you have given in to the Dark Side. Now you are certainly lost to us." Anakin turned on his former master faster than the older man could follow, taking a threatening step toward him. Obi-Wan refused to flinch in the face of the threat.

"The Jedi would dare kick me out of the Order after everything I've done for them? The Council allowed me this marriage; would they dare take action against me for avenging it?"

"A Jedi does not take vengeance. Not for family, not for friends, not for anything. When you fled the Temple to kill Ventress, you left behind the man that served the Jedi. You are nothing now. Nothing but a soulless husk."

"The Jedi _will_ help me get my son back, Obi-Wan. If it weren't for them he wouldn't even be gone. I've already lost my wife for eternity; I will not be denied this!" Anakin's voice was rising in timbre as his frenzied panic got the best of him. Obi-Wan's face softened just for a second and the exhaustion he was carefully hiding came through in the aging eyes.

"No, Anakin. We cannot help _you_ because you have turned from our ways. But we can help Luke. Once your son is returned to the Temple you will have to explain everything to him, Anakin, and I mean everything. Do you honestly think he'll be able to simply forgive you for what you've done today? Twelve years ago you turned away from this path, but I can see that you never actually overcame the urge of the Dark Side. I wish we had seen it sooner; we might've been able to make this easier on the boy." The younger man's face suddenly flushed, his orange flecked eyes flashing with fury. He knew what Obi-Wan was insinuating.

"You will not take my son from me, Obi-Wan. If Luke were here he would have done the same thing I did today-"

"No, Anakin. He wouldn't have. Your son would have understood what was required of him as a Jedi. If anything, what you have done today has disgraced your wife's memory and your son's future. I can see that there is no hope left for you here; let's pray that the Jedi can at least save your son." Obi-Wan turned on his heel, refusing to look over his shoulder at the still dumbstruck face of his former apprentice. Anakin watched him go, tried to keep his tongue from betraying him, but was not successful. Somewhere within his soul the last vestiges of his true self were struggling to breathe beneath the suffocating darkness, finding this single outlet through which to speak.

"I tried, Obi-Wan. For twelve years I've been trying, but I couldn't stop that dark side of me from getting larger and stronger. Everything I did only made it grow more powerful. The Jedi told me I was destined to bring balance to the Force, but it seems like I was destined for nothing more than betraying those I love. Perhaps I have been fighting something that was always meant to happen; twice now I have played a pivotal role in what may result in the establishment of a new Sith Empire. Please, just bring my son back safely. I…I might not be around much longer," the younger man said, his voice little more than a whisper. Master Kenobi half turned his head over his shoulder, his curiosity piqued.

"You're going to kill yourself," he said, clearly a statement as opposed to a question. The younger man raised troubled, stormy eyes to his former master, breathing heavily and swallowing several times before he found the voice to speak.

"Just tell my son how proud I am of him. He's going to be a great man and an even greater Jedi. I wish I had seen how much he meant to me sooner but…" The younger man swallowed the lump in his throat down, taking a moment to steady himself. "I haven't once treated him like I should have; he deserves to hear it at least once in his life…Even if it doesn't come from my mouth." Obi-Wan stood for a moment longer in silence. Surprisingly, he found his face twisted by sadness at the loss of a friend he had held dear for more than two decades. Part of his mind reached out hoping that when he touched the younger man's conscience he would feel that familiar warmth of friendship. There was nothing but the darkness that had overwhelmed his former apprentice's soul. Feeling those hulking shadows, Obi-Wan knew that death would be a merciful option for his former apprentice. For his part, Anakin knew that if he remained alive any longer he would be unable to stop himself from joining the Sith and overthrowing the Republic. It seemed that the kind, gentle, stable part of his soul had overstayed its welcome.

"Good bye, brother," Obi-Wan whispered as he bit back the tears that choked his throat. With that, Master Kenobi stepped through the ragged tear in the bedroom door and out of Anakin's life just as two tears like diamonds fell to shatter against the floor. Half way across the galaxy in the dimly lit gloom of a tiny prison cell, two similar tears dripped slowly down cherubic cheeks stained crimson with despair.


	9. Facing the Mirror

**Alright, I'm sorry. It's been...weeks since I updated. But here it is folks! The longest chapter to date (and one of my personal favorites!). The story I had wants desperately to expand beyond my original expectations, so expect a part 2 at some point in time. Who knows how long this will actually go... Anyways! Thank you for reading. Please, please_, please_ review. Thanks! ****  
><strong>

**Chapter 8**

**Facing the Mirror**

All of the furniture in the apartment had been righted and put back into its proper place, the shattered glass and sparking electronics cleared away. If not for the shadow of death that hung about the entirety of the living space, one would never have guessed that anything had taken place within it aside from the normal activities of a comfortable family. The sole living occupant of the place knew better than that. He had swept from room to room trying to pick up the pieces of his shattered life, as if righting tables and chairs would be enough to reverse the damage that had been done. He had forced the door to the master bedroom open so that the yawning hole in its center was no longer visible, had moved the pale corpse from the center of the floor to the veranda where it was out of sight. He had worn himself to exhaustion, yet he could not push back the depression that had settled over him. He could not erase the wound that had struck his wife dead. He could _not_ reach into space and pull his son back.

After all of his work, Anakin found himself standing in the center of his son's bedroom, holding the stuffed toy that Luke had been unable to let go of until he turned nine. It had been taken everywhere, from the Temple to the Senate building and back again, wedged in between Luke's thin arms. The boy had held that toy through numerous taunting and mocking sessions, seeking refuge in its soft fur. Anakin was surprised that the thing had survived nine years of constant hugging, but he was more surprised by how far away from stuffed toys his son had come in a mere three years. Anakin had helped to raise the boy, but somehow he still couldn't quite understand how Luke could be the outstanding person that he was. The Jedi master wished desperately that he were half the man his son was turning into. For a long moment, Anakin looked around the room, taking in the bare walls and the small metal frame bed. Luke had been given ample opportunities to live comfortably, but he had chosen the same treatment as the other recruits got in the Temple. Without his father's approval or assistance he had obtained a spare bunk with bedding set and set it up in his own room. The decorations that had been up on the walls when he was little were torn down and thrown away. Anakin had asked his son why he had chosen thusly, but the only answer he'd ever gotten was that Luke didn't want to be treated any differently than just another padawan. The boy never skipped out on classes, never complained when he was asked to do something at the Temple. In terms of behavior and strength of character, Luke was the poster child.

Padmé had been so proud of her son, he remembered, but she had never quite been able to overcome the loss of her daughter. Anakin knew that she silently wished for a baby girl every time she laid eyes on Luke despite her best attempts to keep the sentiments at bay. At times, she couldn't help but contemplate what life would have been like if the girl had been born first and Luke had been the one not to make it. Padmé had shared those feelings with Anakin only once, to which he knew he had reacted poorly. Even still, he had hoped to one day answer her wishes and expand their family to include one new member. With an aggravated snort, Anakin realized that he had been planning to discuss the matter with his wife upon his return from Dathomir. That moment seemed like it had occurred a lifetime ago, not the span of hours that it actually was. Anakin also felt like he had somehow managed to age a lifetime in those past hours. He felt ancient, as if every joint in his body were crying out in protest at each minor movement. Beyond that, his heart ached with a pain that went beyond physical injury. It ached with the pain of a love gone missing.

"Damn it!" Anakin cried into the silence of the apartment. Furiously, fighting back the sobs that were racking his chest, he threw the toy against the opposite wall and slumped down to the floor. Lowering his forehead into his hands, he leaned back against the edge of the bunk, pulling the blanket down to hug it to his chest. "Damn it," he repeated again in a whisper as he closed his eyes against the warm familiarity of his son's bedroom. Against his will his mind wandered back to all of the times he had stood beside his wife and watched his young son sleep. Memories of carrying the boy into his room when he had fallen asleep on the couch. Memories of Luke's failures and successes, of triumph and heartbreak. Through every moment, his family had been together. They were a fighting force, one to be reckoned with. A Skywalker was never alone, not for a single second no matter where he was. For a moment – with these thoughts fresh in his mind – a small smile spread across Anakin's face, belying the tears that rose against his eyelashes. The turmoil within him was raging again, the shadow of anger fighting to bury the sadness and sense of loss. The Jedi was certainly alone now, and he knew that somewhere his boy was too.

"I need you now, son. I wish I'd been there with you to stand by your side against them. If only I'd been faster…If I'd just managed to keep up with you," he muttered as he brought the rough cloth of the blanket up to his face. In its coarse folds he could almost feel his son's presence. It was a comforting notion, one that he tried to envelope himself in fully, but closer investigation always led to the feeling's tantalizing disappearance. Desperate to relieve at least a portion of the heartbreak he was suffering, Anakin reached out with his mind, forcing his way pass the mental obstacles until he was able to gingerly press out into open space. Hoping to feel a hint of his son, anything to indicate Luke was alive and well, the Jedi probed outwards. Anakin was about to give up when he felt something, distant and faint, but recognizable as Luke. Gently, the Jedi pressed against the presence, sending what he hoped came across the gap as comforting thoughts. _I love you, Luke. I've always loved you, and I hope you know how proud I am of you_, he said in his mind, pushing the words toward his son's presence. There was no way for Anakin to be sure of how much had gotten through the weak and faltering connection; he only hoped that his son was able to hear him.

Several long moments of tense silence passed before the Jedi registered a mere glimmer of hope from the boy. He allowed himself a small smile, but it quickly vanished as the connection was wrenched apart violently. Surprise rolled over him in waves as he wondered what could have caused the sudden break. The first thoughts that came to his mind pointed toward Luke having been injured or knocked unconscious, but he forced himself to shove those aside. The Jedi thought about trying to contact his son again, but he found that it was much too painful for him to dare reaching out once more. Anakin sighed once, steadying himself before he opened his eyes, narrowing them to slits against the light from the overhead glow panels. He tried to stand, even made it to his feet before he was brutally assaulted with a wave of dizziness. Anakin worked to blink away the fuzzy feeling in his head, attempting vainly to focus his eyes against the blurriness that was quickly spreading. Swaying on his feet, he stumbled a few steps toward the door before he fell to his knees and continued on to land face first a moment later. The Jedi lay there very still, believing that he could wait the feeling out and it would pass completely. When five minutes had passed and he still couldn't manage to think straight, Anakin began to worry that something was very wrong.

"What's happening to me?" he asked no one in particular, his words slurring with the confusion that was seizing hold of him. To his great surprise, an answer rang out from somewhere in the back of his mind, beating back his feeble mental defenses.

"If you'd only stop fighting the darkness within you, these things wouldn't happen. You could be stronger than you've ever been before. All that is required is for you to give in, Anakin," the growling voice said, the sound of it echoing about in his mind knocking back any coherent thoughts that the Jedi could string together. Anakin set his jaw against the confusion, grinding his teeth together as he scrabbled at the floor in an attempt to lift himself from it. "Stop that, Anakin. It's pitiful and fruitless. You know that I speak the truth; if you'd look inwards you would understand."

"Shut up; that's not true," Anakin snarled in response as he pushed his upper body up onto his hands and brought his knees up under himself.

"Of course it is. You were destined for greatness, Anakin. Why are you holding yourself back with these pointless and cowardly moral standards? Compassion is for the weak, mercy for the insecure. Overcome those feelings and give in to your anger."

"No! I'll never do that. I've made it twelve years; I can keep going. I know I can."

"You can't Anakin, and there's no reason to. Look at what's happened to you. Your wife is dead, your son taken captive by the Sith. Did the Jedi and their Code help you to save them? No, Anakin, they didn't. They told you to let Padmé's murderer run free, to forget that Ventress slew her in cold blood, didn't they? How can that represent goodness?"

"Leave me alone. You're not real, your words don't mean anything," Anakin groaned as he finally managed to regain his footing, taking hold of the doorframe to keep himself from tumbling to the ground again. A raging headache was quickly developing, pounding in his temples and pressing against the back of his eyes.

"Of course I am, Anakin. I'm very much real and alive. How could I not be when I'm you?"

The Jedi's vision went black very suddenly as his jaw fell slack. For some idiotic reason he tried to shake his head in denial, only to worsen his dizziness and send him flailing toward the floor again. The voice in his head laughed at him, mocking his confusion and pain. Thinking clearly remained a distinct impossibility even as he caught himself a foot from the floor and lowered his body gently down. Every nerve in his body tingled as it seemed that every synapse fired simultaneously. Anakin found that his legs and arms had gone wholly numb and unresponsive, leaving him slumping to the ground limply.

"Finally realizing the truth, are we? It took you much too long. Now that we're on even terms, it's time for you to stop fighting me. Everything will be much clearer and easier if you'll give control over to me. I can take care of things, bring your son back safely. Give in, Anakin." The Jedi fought furiously to regain control of his wayward senses. His vision cleared slightly as he pushed back against the oppressive darkness. For a moment, his thoughts were clear and strong.

"You can't be me, that's impossible. I know who I am, damn it!" Anakin cried out, grasping his aching head in his hands.

"You only know the half of it, Anakin. You've spent your entire life seeing with only half of your being. Because of the Jedi's teachings you hid me away, locked me in the back of your mind permanently. But I have news for you, weakling: nothing can hold me back forever. While you blissfully passed the last twelve years, I've been slowly taking over your thoughts. Remember the sand people? Did you not enjoy cutting them all down to avenge your mother's death? And Count Dooku… Oh I can still feel your anger over the loss of your arm. I helped you to take him down, you know. You wanted to save him, take him to Coruscant to stand trial, but we both know that decapitating him was much more fulfilling. Join me now, Anakin. Join me so that you can be whole and strong again. Join me so you can feel that same awesome power. We can take the galaxy by force if you'd only stop fighting my influence."

"I will never give in to you, you would destroy me!" the Jedi snarled as he reached for his lightsaber. Anakin grasped the hilt tightly enough to drain the blood from his knuckles as he pulled it loose from his belt. Struggling to steady his trembling arm, he brought the hilt to bear on his chest. With the metal cylinder placed flush against the cloth of his tunic, he stroked the power switch gently with his thumb.

"What are you doing, you blasted fool! You say that _I_ would destroy you, but look at what you're about to do! Anakin, you must stop before you ruin everything we've worked so hard to attain," the voice screamed in protest, suddenly shifting timbres until it scratched at his nerves and raised the hair on his arms.

"I would rather die by my own hands with a clear mind than give in to your poison words," Anakin replied, his thumb pressing down slightly on the switch, just enough that a single twitch more would send the blade lancing through his heart.

"Regain control of yourself. Even I know that you're better than this. What would your son think? And Padmé? Would you dishonor her memory by killing yourself like this? Go after your son; pull him back from those that seek to destroy you. Then we can work for the power and status you deserve, Anakin. We can make you truly great, just as your destiny predicted."

For the first time, Anakin hesitated, his jaw working silently as he thought the proper words to argue against the insidious voice in his mind.

"Padmé would never forgive me for giving in to the Dark Side. Were she alive it would devastate her, raze everything she held valuable to the ground," he finally managed to snap back.

"But you think your son could forgive you for stealing his father away from him? For leaving him alone with the Sith?"

"He…Luke…he would find a way to exonerate me. My son would understand. He has to…" Anakin's voice faded to barely a whisper, his words meant more to convince himself that they held truth that anything else. The voice in his head cackled sadistically again, relishing in the tumultuous nature of Anakin's confused mind.

"You can pray that he does, Anakin, but you know for a fact you wouldn't be able to pardon _your _father for doing something like this. And let's not forget what happened on Dathomir, now. Did you notice how I very silently slipped into your conscience and drove your lightsaber through your own son's shoulder? Luke doesn't know about me, Anakin. He's under the impression that his father willfully attacked him. If you join me, you will have your chance to explain the truth to the boy."

Anakin could feel his control slipping again, the shadows working their way back into the seat of power. He couldn't deny the apparent logic in the voice's words. The Jedi had no wish to leave his son, would gladly give anything to see his boy again and explain everything to him. Being used as an instrument of evil was a discomfiting notion, to be sure, but the idea of dying without Luke knowing the truth… As his vision began to fail and numbness started to sneak its way up his legs, Anakin attempted to maintain a clear head enough to make his final decision. There was no turning back from this point, he understood that much. He knew he had only seconds to act, yet still he paused on the brink between self sacrifice and lust for dominance. Luke's face flashed in his mind's eye, the grinning visage of a padawan being taken on his first mission. Anakin's heart skipped a beat as he contemplated briefly the idea that he would never see his boy again, would never again hug his son or help him through a difficult situation. Luke would be left alone in the galaxy, a twelve year old without a home. The thought was unbearable to Anakin, and his balance on the knife edge between good and evil wavered again. _Luke_…

The unspoken cry for help returned nothing, not that Anakin had expected it to. He remained in silence, alone with the part of himself that he had refused to acknowledge existed. There was no way around it now; a decision had to be made, and fast. Anakin closed his eyes as tears began to flow down his cheeks in rivulets.

In much the same manner as a strong light shining through the darkness of a raging storm, Luke's voice reached him strong and clear, repeating what he had so innocently said on Dathomir. Anakin's mind registered the words just as it fell away into troubled waters, the phrase becoming the deciding factor between sinking and swimming.

"I couldn't watch you suffer."

* * *

><p><em>I love you, Luke. I've always loved you, and I hope you know how proud I am of you… <em>

The words echoed in Luke's head, invading his dreams and conjuring up images of his father's face. Warmth welled up within him for the first time in days, and, for just a moment, the boy was completely at peace. Just as suddenly as the words had come, Anakin's presence was wrenched away from him. He screamed out in frustration, calling for his father, begging the Force to allow just one more touch. Vaguely, Luke could sense his father's conflicting emotions, could feel the dark intentions that lay in his future.

_ Father! No, Father. Please…_ the boy begged in his mind, pressing with all of his mental might to make those words reach the clouded skies that were his father's mind. Luke had never known that his dream body could cry, but he could feel the hot wetness on his cheeks that told him he had begun to do so. Every nerve in his body was stretched taught with despair and the anticipation of another loss. He knew that his mind couldn't hold up to much more of this.

And then any connection that had been there disappeared. His father's presence was overcome with something so dark that Luke could hardly bear to feel it at all, and then it was gone entirely. It didn't feel like Anakin was dead to the boy, but there was no way to be sure. _No, Dad. No…_ Luke moaned in his mind, sobs chocking him even in his dreams. Against his will his imagination conjured up the worst possible scenarios to explain what had happened to his father. The intentions the boy had felt in Anakin's mind were enough to cause any number of creative scenes to appear in the deepest reaches of his brain. And then a sense of danger wandered in to disrupt the images, leaving every muscle in his body tensed in anticipation of an attack.

"Hey, Luke. Luke wake up," Mariana's voice drifted into the boy's dreams as he lay prone on the floor of the small dark cell they had been given to share. For a long moment, the youth didn't stir as his mind tried to struggle up from beneath the shrouding blanket of sleep. When it did manage to surface, Luke bent straight up from the waist in an eye blink, reaching to his hip for the lightsaber that was no longer there. Mariana flinched back for a second, giving the boy time to recover from the shock of awakening once again in an impossible predicament. After a moment, Luke's breathing leveled out and the fires in his wide blue eyes reduced themselves to smoldering embers.

"What is it?" he asked his friend finally, his voice cracking slightly before he managed to clear his throat.

"I don't know; you started talking in your sleep. I tried to ignore it so you could get some rest, but when you started crying…" Her voice trailed away as Luke lowered his head and turned it away from her. Mariana could just make out the flush of embarrassment spreading across the boy's cheek as he scrubbed miserably at the salty stains on them. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Luke. Everyone has nightmares." The youth's only response was a small, disbelieving grunt as he brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. "Maybe if you tell me about it, it won't seem so bad."

"I don't really want to talk about, Maria. My dreams are private enough without being shared with _you_," Luke snapped almost before the girl had finished speaking. Mariana almost felt the sting of his intonation physically, reminded again what she had done to her best friend. He had a right to be upset, but she hadn't expected it to be like this. Distraught and downtrodden, the girl moved back to her corner of the holding cell and tucked herself away within it. Luke stared at her for a moment longer before he stretched back out, staring at the ceiling miserably. The two fell into a horrid, uncomfortable silence, neither one of them willing to break it.

"I'm sorry; that was uncalled for. Everything's still just kind of a blur; I can't even manage to think straight." Luke said after a while, raising himself up onto his elbows to peer into the shadows where his friend was sitting. "Half the time I can't even tell what's up and what's down. It feels like everything's been turned about on its axis, but when I was asleep…Everything was clear when I was dreaming. Being able to see it all laid out to me was…disturbing. I couldn't hide from the truths anymore, had to face each and every one of them."

"You felt your father again… He's going to do something awful, isn't he?" Mariana asked after a moment's quiet contemplation of her friend's words. Luke tossed her an alarmed glance as he wondered how she could possibly have guessed so accurately. He nodded slowly, still staring at her intently. It looked like something had come alive within her, a dimly glowing light that illuminated her from the inside out. Luke had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what he was looking at, and part of him flared with pride in the girl.

"I…I don't know how I knew that," Mariana explained quickly as she observed the youth's intense gaze. She shifted uncomfortably, already mentally denying what had just occurred.

"Yes you do, Maria. You used the Force and your own intuition. I knew there was a reason we were drawn together! Do you know what this means? You could be a Jedi, you could be trained!" Luke's earlier despair was completely lost in the pervasive cloud of excitement that had engulfed him. He sat up, leaning forward towards his friend.

"No!" Mariana gasped very suddenly, the strength and confidence in her voice causing Luke to jump slightly in surprise. "No," she repeated again, quieter this time, "I cannot be trained."

"Why are you talking like that? You can, and you will. If the Council won't allow you to join because of your age, then I'll train you myself. Imagine it, Maria-"

"Just _stop_, Luke! I'm not like you, or your father, or anyone else in the Order. Don't you understand? It's better that I never learn how to use the Force, that I forget what I already do know how to do." Mariana's voice had a pleading edge to it as she sought to explain her reasoning to the boy. The confused and shocked look on his face told her that the message wasn't quite getting through.

"What are you talking about, Maria?"

"I don't have the strength of will, you do. If given the opportunity, I would fall to the dark side. I know I will. The first time I used the Force was the day I met you, and I knew even then what would happen to me if I practiced it anymore. I am susceptible, Luke. Just look at what I did to you just to save my own skin. Doesn't exactly sound like Jedi material, does it? Just trust me, it's better this way. Forget what you saw or what you sensed. Please, Luke, please." Luke could hardly bear to listen to her words, denying to himself the truth hidden within him. The eleven year old's courage and maturity was astounding, but once again it led the boy to wonder just who he had befriended all those years ago. He made to speak, got so far as the first syllable before a commotion in the hall beyond their cell interrupted his train of thought. Both boy and girl leapt to the small door with its grated window to see what was going on.

"Luke, look! Almost all the guards are leaving. They've only left the one," Mariana whispered cheerfully gesturing toward the end of the short hallway where a single black cloaked figure now stood at attention. Since their arrival in the small dungeon, there had always been a group of six standing in two rows of three down the length of the short hall right up to the locked door. Luke pressed his ear against the grating, stretching out tentatively through the Force as well to see whether there were any others approaching. He felt a large group moving away from him, but none come any closer.

"They're all heading off somewhere. Maybe with just one of them I can get them to open the door. We might be able to get out of here!" Luke explained as he turned back toward the door. Mariana didn't look to be quite convinced. She grabbed Luke's arm and pulled him away from the door slightly.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? If it doesn't work…they'll know what we tried to do, and there's no way they'll be willing to let us just get away with it," the girl said urgently, her eyes wide and pleading. Her friend shook his head quickly, leaning towards her with a serious look on his face.

"It's our only chance, Mariana. We've got to go for it," Luke replied. The way he used her full name instead of the nickname told the girl just how serious he was about this. She knew that it would be useless to argue any further, much less try to keep him from enacting his plan anyways. She held her hands up in surrender and stepped away from her friend while the youth moved back toward the door. She watched as he closed his eyes and pressed his hand against the grate, muttering under his breath. The boy was focused entirely on the sole Sith in the hall. He urged the shrouded figure to open the door, placing the seeds of deception in his mind.

"Your master told you to check on the prisoners in person. You'll be punished if you don't visually confirm that everything it still squared away," Luke murmured, pressing gently behind the words with the power of his own mind. It was insane for a padawan of his rank to even hope for success, but, to his surprise, the guard did turn toward the cell and take a few hesitant steps. Luke fed his thoughts, urging the Sith toward the door. Perhaps catching on to the boy's actions, the Sith raised a series of thick mental barriers around his mind, his yellow-orange eyes narrowing dangerously. Understanding that time was running out, Luke tapped into every bit of strength that remained in his body and stabbed his way through the walls. The youth winced, knowing that he had probably just caused permanent damage to the man's mind, but he told himself to forget that fact. The Sith was moving for the door again.

"Luke-" Mariana started to exclaim in a whisper, noticing that the Sith was armed with a lightsaber pike. Her friend hushed her urgently, concentrating on the approaching guard. His focus having faltered slightly, the guard came to an abrupt halt, looking around in confusion. _Not now, Luke. Focus, focus blast it!_ His mind screamed at him for a moment before he managed to clear it again. Delving fully into the Sith's mind, he became aware of the fact that the guard was tired, aching, and extremely displeased at having been left behind. The youth took those complaints to heart, using them to convince the Sith to open the door. As the guard typed in the access code, Luke scanned it into his own mind just before the door slid open quietly. Mariana edged away from the Sith, fearful that he would break free of Luke's influence. Her friend pushed her past the guard and into the hall just as he took hold of the man's pike. The Sith stood still, dumfounded as Luke moved past him and typed in the access code again. It wasn't until the door slid shut that the boy urged him to sleep. The Sith collapsed where he fell, leaving the two children alone in silence.

* * *

><p>The group of Sith that had assembled themselves to meet the arriving shuttle jumped to stiff attention as the luxurious spaceship landed with a nearly silent hum in a clearing that was just beyond the boundaries of Saarai City. Lord Malékum stepped forward – flanked by his lieutenants Dejna and Hal'esh – while the other masked acolytes fell away from the group slightly, lowering their eyes respectfully to the ground even before the loading ramp began moving. When the ramp fell open, everyone – including Malékum – doubled over in low bows to the small, hunched, dark cloaked figure that stood at the top of the ramp. Most of the acolytes took deep breaths and held them in, fearing what would happen if their Lord did not approve of them. The clearing fell deathly silent as all patiently waited for their leader to make the first move.<p>

"Lord Malékum!" the figure called out in a rasping voice as it started down the ramp at last. Malékum straightened and hurried to the end of the ramp, dropping himself into a second obeisance as the cloaked figure reached him.

"I am at your disposal, Sith'ari" Malékum answered as quickly as was allowed before impatience became evident. The Sith'ari stared out at the Sith lord from underneath his cowl, beady black eyes taking in the view with apparent disappointment.

"I assume the prisoners are still in our custody?"

"Of course, my Lord. They are being kept in the center stronghold as per your command. I can take you to them right away if you wish." Something that may have been an irritated, impatient laugh echoed out from beneath the hood.

"No, I think I'll wait a few days…Take me to them, you fool. I didn't race across the galaxy just to spend my time in idle chatter with the likes of you," the hooded man said sarcastically, black eyes flashing with annoyance. Malékum took a deep breath to avoid allowing his anger to get him into problems. _Were that the prophecy of the Sith'ari had died with Darth Bane_, the Sith lord thought to himself, remembering the tales he had learned from the old holocrons. The wrinkled old man before him seemed to be a pitiful mocking of that particularly powerful lord, but any Miraluka would have been happy to tell just how deeply the new Sith'ari glowed with the power of the dark side.

"As you wish, Sith'ari," Malékum said as he dropped his head into a curt military bow and spun on his heels. The amusement and pleasure in his lieutenant's eyes caused a flare of anger to rise in his throat. His fiery orange eyes flashed dangerously as he passed by them, roughly throwing his shoulder into Dejna's. Hal'esh took a step back out of the way, smiling inwardly as the younger Sith contemplated making a move on Malékum. Under the Sith'ari's approving gaze, Dejna glowered his challenge and turned to the side to make room for the Sith lord. When the hooded and aged man passed by the lower ranking Sith, both Dejna and Hal'esh bowed respectfully, unconsciously competing for the greatest obeisance. Malékum snorted quietly, never a fan of the political intrigue that the rest of the Sith order seemed to so enjoy.

"I believe you earlier suspicions about Anakin Skywalker may have been accurate, Malékum," the Sith'ari said just before the pair passed out of earshot of the two lieutenants. Malékum's back straightened with pride even before he heard the quiet gasps of the younger Sith behind him. His master _was_ a generous one. "I have sensed his turmoil – and the grasp of the dark side strengthening on him. Skywalker is no fool; he has faced this path before and would much rather die than walk it again. I believe he will remove himself from the equation. It is no matter anyways, for we have at our disposal a weapon that far outshines his power."

"But my master, how can you be sure he will turn?" Malékum'ari couldn't resist asking, even though it placed him in the way of danger. The Sith'ari favored him with a wicked smile for just a moment, one that drew wrinkled and scarred flesh away from mottled teeth.

"It won't matter either way. You will find that our plan will succeed regardless of the boy's foolish choices," he answered smugly. The pair walked in silence through the winding streets of Saarai city, those that they passed dropping to their knees in respect to their all powerful ruler. Malékum was finding that the feeling of power the Sith'ari enjoyed was quite pleasing, maybe even worth pursuing… No, no. He shook the thought from his mind, knowing that the end of it could only be disaster. The Order of the Sith was based upon the quest for power, but overthrowing the Sith'ari was where that search became impossible.

As they neared the center of the city and the stronghold that was contained within it, Malékum became aware of the frantic footsteps that echoed down the avenues. There seemed to be more Sith than usual dashing about those interior streets, more than a few of them with blades ignited. It was only then that the wrongness of the situation washed over the Sith lord. The Sith'ari, aware of the disturbance from the moment he set foot in the city, was not surprised.

"Malékum, it seems that you underestimated the boy's power," the Sith'ari growled even as he continued to walk. Malékum fell back from his side to call one of the masked acolytes over to him. By the time he was able to demand an explanation from the man – one of the humans – it was useless. There, from just around the next corner, emanated the sounds of battle. Lightsaber clashed against lightsaber with electronic crackles and squeals, emphasized now and again with pained yelps and groans as the death count rose. The Sith'ari stepped around the corner and stopped just out of reach of the boy's furiously glowing blade. The hunched man pulled his hood back just enough to favor the young Skywalker and his friend with a calmly evil smile.

"Luke Skywalker. We meet at last," the Sith'ari said smoothly. The blond haired boy turned astonished eyes to the wrinkled old man, most likely able to sense his power. The Sith'ari himself had to admit that the youth's own strength was incredible; much more than anyone's before. There were dozens of Sith swarming around the pair, more than a few currently engaged in battle with the young Skywalker. Around the group the bodies of numerous Sith lay scattered, the air stained with the stench of their cauterized wounds. But Luke was tiring, that much was evident in the way the pike he held dipped slightly toward the ground even as he fell back into a ready stance. The Sith'ari noticed that, unlike his father, the boy seemed to prefer the Soresu style, and wielded the pike – an unfamiliar weapon to him surely – with remarkable skill. It was no matter now, though.

"You will stay back if you know what's good for you," the boy cried, though there was a slight waver in his voice that betrayed his fear. The Sith'ari began to laugh, quite amused by the youth's audacity. Just like his father.

"This is such a terrible way for us to meet. Why don't you lay the blade down, my friend? You are vastly outnumbered regardless. It would be a terrible shame for me to have to kill you." The Sith'ari allowed his gaze to pass over both of the pair, noticing the girl for the first time. She had picked up a lightsaber from one of the dead Sith and was holding it in a puerile, but stable ready position. Beside the boy, her powers seemed nearly nothing, but she had potential. He could sense it. How interesting it was…

"I will not surrender to you, Monster. You'll have to kill me," the boy replied, foolishly. The Sith'ari nodded ever so slightly to the Sith that surrounded the youth. Three of them dove into battle against the pair. Luke was forced back onto his heels for a second as he tried to maneuver that long, heavy pike into blocking position. His offense was minimal, but his defense was perfect after he had recovered from the surprise of the attack. Strike after strike rebounded uselessly off the blade and long hilt of the weapon as he held two of the attackers at bay. Behind him, the girl – quite surprisingly – held her own against the third. Luke found an opening in his opponents' strikes and dove for it, slicing through one of the acolyte's defenses and driving the pike into his chest. Quickly, not bothering the wrench the blade free, the youth pressed his weight against the hilt, sending the saber knifing completely through the already dead Sith's body and into that of his comrade. Both fell as Luke pulled back on the blade and swung it in an arc to the side and behind his back, taking down the third Sith without even looking at him.

"Good, good," the Sith'ari said approvingly, a slight tinge of something similar to jealousy in his voice. He took a step nearer to the pair, still not reaching for the lightsaber that hung at his side. Luke clearly didn't mean to stay and find out how skilled the aged man was with the blade. He switched his pike into a one-handed grip and snatched his friend's hand. With one long sweep of his weapon, the boy cleared a path through the Sith. Pulling his friend along with him, Skywalker dashed through the opening and down a side street. The Sith'ari watched them go, knowing full well that he would be able to sense the boy no matter where he ran to. "Let them run. It amuses me," he ordered Malékum, who was in the process of motioning the other Sith into pursuit. Casting an uneasy glance at his master, Malékum nodded and called off the search with another hand wave.

* * *

><p>Luke ducked around another corner, not daring to glance over his shoulder. The ease of their passage worried him, made him suspect that there was no hope to escape this city. Getting out of the central citadel had been simple enough, but the two children hadn't counted on it being smack in the center of the city. Some luck they had.<p>

"We have to get up. I can't know which way is out without getting a good look at the layout," Luke said, motioning above their heads to the flat topped buildings. Mariana looked at him suspiciously, already preparing to ask how he intended to do that. The look on his face was indignant.

"Stay back there, behind those crates. Keep low, and turn that blade off," the youth answered simply, not explaining further. It didn't take long for the girl to see his plan, however, for a moment later Luke leapt into the air, summoning the Force just enough to get him high enough to grasp hold of the edge of the nearest building with his finger tips. He pulled himself up and over the small lip, lying flat as he scanned the city for any good means of escape. They were still stuck in one of the inner rings, and every avenue he observed seemed to be blocked by small contingents of Sith. _They're just standing there, waiting. They're playing games with us…_ Luke realized as he watched them mill about, weapons at the ready but clearly not seeming too worried.

Down below the boy, crouched low behind a small group of durasteel crates, Mariana trembled as she felt a strange presence stroke her mind gently. Remembering what Luke had said once about mind-shielding, she tried vainly to push the intruder away. Instead of being forced to retreat, the presence was digging deeper into her vulnerable mind, searching through her most private thoughts and feelings. The intrusion was nearly painful, and it caused tears to rise in the corners of her eyes. She shrank inwards, merely hoping that the probe would withdraw. Instead, she heard a voice, one not so unlike that of the cruel Sith'ari they had faced earlier.

_You have potential, child. Great potential… And such anger…You could be very useful you know. In fact, if you gave into that rage you could have more power than you've ever imagined. Give in to it, my daughter. Feed that fire and claim the strength you deserve! You've been beaten and trodden upon your entire life. Fight back, girl!_

Mariana felt herself unconsciously leaning toward the voice, finding its words attractive. She _could_ have power. Yes, yes. Luke had said so himself. He had sensed her potential. But he had suggested she seek training from the Jedi, training in the light side of the Force.

_No! No, the Jedi would ruin you, turn you into a pawn for their bidding. There is no true power within the light side. Trust your anger, not your compassion. You have compassion for the boy, a hint of childish love. Banish that feeling! It hasn't gotten you anywhere except trapped and under fire. Your anger will keep you safe, not put you into harm's way as the boy's _light side_ has. _

It was true… Being friends with Luke had only caused her trouble. It wasn't as if she had asked to be dragged down with him. How much did he care anyways, to have put her in such a dangerous position? She didn't deserve that, did she?

_Of course you don't, my child. Come, join me. Embrace your true power._ _Use your anger!_

Mariana felt herself swaying, felt burning hot rage well up within her being. She could feel it in her stomach, churning and roiling. She stroked the power switch on the lightsaber, glanced up to where she thought Luke was still laying. _He_ was the cause of her problems. She could strike him down here and now. She could-

"Maria! Maria, what's wrong with you? Snap out of it!" Luke's voice interrupted her thoughts. Mariana turned, blinking as her head cleared of those earlier, insidious thoughts. She turned confused, apologetic eyes on her friend as she tried to forget how much she had wanted to kill him. Thankfully, Luke was much too distracted formulating a plan of escape to pay much attention to the shadow that was spreading across the girl's presence. "Come on! I think I've found a way that's clear. Cross your fingers that we don't have to fight anymore on our way out. There's a shuttle docked in a clearing just beyond the city. If we can make it to it…well, we may be able to make the jump to hyperspace…if I can fly it," Luke said as he straightened and started to move down the street. Mariana followed behind him, lightsaber hilt held ready in the same position that Luke held the pike. The pair moved swiftly at a near sprint, turning left and right as Luke gave himself into the Force to help navigate.

_Now, child. Now's your chance_.

The disgusting, very evil voice rose within her mind again as Mariana stared at Luke's back, having to struggle to keep pace with him. Again, she stroked the ignition switch on the lightsaber, a small smile spreading across her face as she imagined what it would feel like to slide the blade through the boy's unprotected spine, to watch his eyes glaze over…_No! No! _her mind screamed, begging for her errant thoughts to fall under her control again. She pressed against the shadow of the dark side, frantically trying to keep her arm from moving against her will…

Reacting to a flare in his danger sense, Luke ignited the pike's blade with a _snap-hiss_ and spun a half circle to meet the threat with the hilt. The boy's eyes went wide, struck through with the heartbreak he now experienced as Mariana's scarlet blade connected with the phrik alloy handle of the pike. The girl's eyes bore a wild, crazed appearance, seemingly punctuated with flashes of brilliant crimson fire. In his surprise and pain, Luke fell back from his deranged friend, lowering his blade toward the ground.

"Maria…why?" he asked quietly. The girl offered no answer as she swung in again, her blade controlled with such skill as she had never displayed before. Luke felt her connection with the Force as her emotions rolled over him. He could sense her anger, her fury…and he could sense that it was directed solely at him. Luke gave ground to her, parrying blow after blow, but never taking advantage of the openings presented to him in her pitiful defense. "Maria! Please, stop this! I don't know what's gotten in to you. We're friends, don't you remember. You and me…together we're going to get off this rock. Come on, Maria. Remember," Luke urged, his voice frantic and panicked. To his chagrin, Mariana's blows became more violent and aggressive instead of easing off as he had hoped.

_What are you doing? Stop! Stop, blast it!_ Mariana ordered her body time and time again to cease the attack, but she could not banish the urge to kill Luke from her mind. Instead of leaving her, the feeling intensified tenfold, pressed onward by the voice she had heard earlier. Her swings grew more powerful as the will she had to protest began to wane. The girl was completely engulfed in her determination to strike the boy down. She pressed him back further, causing him to concentrate all of his energy on keeping her blade away from him.

Behind the embattled pair, the Sith'ari laughed wickedly, wholly enjoying the show. Luke spotted him over Mariana's shoulder, and his face flushed with fury. The feel of his anger as it washed for the aged man was delectable. It only succeeded in feeding his power, which was already engorged from the girl's desire to kill. He had the raven haired child completely under his control now, and he was quickly realizing the depths of her potential. She would make a fitting addition to his army, perhaps even a decent Black Hand. Yes, one way or another he would train this girl. He would hone her rudimentary skills into an unstoppable force. With the two new weapons he planned on adding to his arsenal, the Sith'ari knew that there was no way for anyone, not even Grand Master Yoda, to defeat him.

"Betrayal hurts, doesn't it, my son?" he asked the boy as he stepped further from the shadows. Again, the anger within the child grew significantly, but the Sith'ari sensed that Luke was able to beat it back and maintain his control. _Much more difficult a task than turning his father was…_ "Do you see now why it is useless to care for anyone? Look at how easily the girl you thought a friend turned on you. Not once, but twice did she betray you." Luke ignored the Sith'ari's words, turning his attention to Mariana as he fell back even more, unwilling to return her strikes. The Sith'ari let out a disappointed sigh as he raised his hand toward the boy. "A pity, Skywalker. It would have been so magnificent to watch you strike your closest friend down." Luke glanced at the Sith'ari just as electric blue lightning arced out from his gnarled fingertips.

With his blade engaged against Mariana, Luke had no choice but to throw his hand out and attempt to deflect the lightning using only the Force. For a moment, the boy succeeded magnificently; the lightning seemed to bounce off his palm and dive harmlessly into the ground. But then Mariana – her anger fueling her strikes into an aggressive, incredibly brutal assault – slammed her blade against Luke's pike hard enough to shatter his grip. The pike flew to the side as her lightsaber continued forward. Frantically, Luke twisted around to avoid being cut through. His concentration thus destroyed, the lightning blasted through his meager defenses and coursed furiously through his veins.

The pain was beyond anything the boy had ever even imagined. His muscles danced spasmodically, dropping him to the ground with their inability to remain stable. His jaw clenched against his will so tightly that he thought he felt teeth cracking. A high pitched, pained scream was wrenched from his throat even as he strained to pull lifegiving breath into his pleading lungs. He felt consciousness slipping away from him, a dark tunnel closing around his vision. This wasn't how he had imagined dying, not by a long shot, but he was sure that he was going to regardless. The Sith'ari laughed, abruptly ending his assault. Luke continued to twitch for a long time afterward, even as he toiled to rise from the ground. Twice he made it to his knees only to fall forward again. Tiring of the boy's floundering, the Sith'ari motioned the Sith in. Luke was dragged to his feet and bound again, this time with much less care than before. The boy's vision cleared enough that he was able to see the Sith'ari approach Mariana, who was still standing dumbstruck with her blade ignited.

"Good, my apprentice. Very good," the Sith'ari crooned as he reached out one twisted, mottled hand to stroke the girl's raven hair. Luke still expected her to react, to come to her senses. Instead, the girl smiled crookedly and looked up at her new master with appeasing eyes. She was lost.

* * *

><p>The Temple still smelled of the acrid smoke from electrical fires, no matter how deeply into its corridors one went. The bodies were still being cleared away, some of them still scattered where they fell. The sounds of mourning were evident, and tears were a common sight on many face. Obi-Wan's heart wrenched as he passed a group of frightened younglings being led quickly past one of the areas still serving as a graveyard. The damage to the Order was extensive. Masters Koon, Tiin, and Allie were lost, their bodies lying among the deceased. Any number of knights and padawans had also been lost in the fray. The sudden absence of their feeling in the Force was heartbreaking enough without being compounded upon by the deaths at the Senate.<p>

The Jedi had, as of yet, not identified which faction had swept through the Senate building, spreading death in their wake. Those that had narrowly survived the massacre told such tales as were difficult to believe, but the fear in their eyes when they spoke was enough to convince anyone of their honesty. Those senators and their aides told that any number of the murdered had surrendered and offered no resistance, but they had been run through regardless. It was only after the others had seen that surrendering made no difference that they had begun to fight the invading force. Some of them had been mildly successful, banding together into groups in order to stay alive. Even still, a huge portion of the Galactic Senate had been wiped out.

Master Kenobi sighed inwardly as he thought about the turmoil now spreading through the Republic. He, like the other Masters that had survived the attack, knew that this was the time when the Galaxy needed to stick together the most, but instead the Republic was fracturing before his very eyes. Already systems were withdrawing from the Republic, forming their own independent governments. They did not believe in the ability of the Republic to defend its own…and perhaps they were right. The attack on the Temple had easily been enough to sober the Jedi. There had been no time to summon the Grand Army, and clearly the Jedi alone would not be enough to stop the Sith when they made their move. _Especially not after the number of casualties we've suffered…_

Obi-Wan knew that the strength of the Republic was quickly diminishing, and he feared that another Sith Empire would rise completely unopposed. Without a unifying force, the individual systems would fall quickly, either to Sith attack or to infighting. Either way, the Sith would spread like wildfire if the systems did not remain together. Master Kenobi had a sinking feeling that he was watching the withering death of the Republic from a front row seat.

As if the shattering of the Galactic Republic wasn't enough to sadden the Jedi master, Obi-Wan's thoughts kept shifting to his former apprentice, wondering if he had actually gone through with his plans. Anakin's presence had long since disappeared; vanishing for good only moments after Obi-Wan had left the apartment. But that didn't necessarily mean that he was dead… Master Kenobi contemplated stretching out for him, desperately needed to know whether his friend was still alive. He resisted the urge, knowing that if Anakin were still among the living, his probing presence was the last thing the younger man needed.

Instead of reaching out to his former apprentice, Obi-Wan turned his thoughts to the younger Skywalker. Wherever Luke had been taken, it was far beyond Obi-Wan's mental reach. Master Kenobi knew that, in the hands of the Sith, the boy's time for escape was limited. The aging man wished furiously that he could go after the youth, knowing how alone and frightened he must feel. Immediately following his conversation with Anakin, Obi-Wan had tossed about the idea of immediately requesting the surviving members of the council for a small force to go retrieve the boy, but it had been apparent that the Jedi lacked the resources to do so.

Master Kenobi stopped by one of the verandas, stepping out into the cooling night air. The smell of smoke and death was evident, wafting from both the Temple and the looming Senate building some distance away. The fires of war were still burning in the Senate, tiny orange pinpricks against a dark backdrop. Obi-Wan took it all in with troubled eyes before he raised them to the sky. Narrowing his eyes to slits as if he could see out into space, the Jedi Master searched through Coruscant's traffic, wondering how the Republic was going to survive this.

_If only you knew how much we need you both…_


	10. Ashes of War

****Alright so, that was a rediculously long wait. This chapter is a LOT longer than those in the past, and I believe it's going to be a fairly constant trend for the next few chapters. I will most certainly try not to let my classes get in the way of my writing so much again, so the next wait should be so bad.****

**Chapter 9**

**The Ashes of War**

He sputtered and gasped like a swimmer coming up for air after being under much too long. His head was spinning, awash in confused thoughts and a hazy train of images. For a long moment, he had no idea who or where he was. It seemed that the atmosphere around him was devoid of any sensation. He couldn't feel whether he was hot or cold, sad or happy. Nothing. His world seemed to be a pool of inky blackness from which he could not escape. And then everything flooded back to him. Anakin Skywalker sat bolt straight as he remembered what he had been about to do. The Jedi glanced down, noticed that his lightsaber was no longer in the lax grip of his right hand. The chronometer on his wrist told him that he had been out for hours, doing Force knows what. His mind was instantly engulfed with questions, the primary one being why he wasn't dead. His finger had been on the power switch, itching to press it. In fact, he thought he _had_ hit the switch as he lost consciousness. He was _sure_ that he had. So why was he still alive?

Anakin looked around, blinking several times as he struggled to completely clear his head. He was no longer in Luke's bedroom, that much was for sure. The air around him smelled moist and earthy, pleasantly aromatic. He was sitting on soft grass, individual blades poking up between his fingers. He knew where he was…Yes, he'd met Luke here often. Somehow, during those hours that he could not remember, Anakin had made his way across part of the city and to the park. Presumably he had completely passed out when he got there, because the sting and uncomfortable warmth in the right side of his face told him he'd been lying face down for quite some time.

But those facts didn't answer his question: _why wasn't he dead_? Anakin's eyes shifted between his hands and the hilt of his lightsaber. It took several long moments of quiet contemplation before the Jedi realized that the darkness in his soul had been pushed back. The gates that he had long kept sealed across that presence were locked solidly in place again for the first time in years. He felt stronger, more alive than ever, but the shock of the knowledge he had gained earlier remained with him. Anakin gingerly felt around the lock on that gate and found that it was not as solid as it had been in the past. His hold on sanity – and the light side – was tenuous. Determined not to fall to the dark side when his son needed him so badly, Anakin pressed aside any residual anger in him and pulled himself to his feet. The city seemed disturbingly quiet, the atmosphere tinged with a sense of fear and panic. The traffic continued as usual, but the Jedi noticed a significant increase in ground-to-space ships than was normal.

_They're abandoning the Republic_…Anakin thought as he traced their paths through the transparisteel dome of the park. When he lowered his eyes again he noticed the embers still burning in the Senate building, and the cloud of smoke that still hung around the Temple. The details of the attack rushed back to him clearly, followed closely thereafter by memories of his conversation with Obi-Wan. Anakin sent his mind out gently, searching for the master among the swarm of confused and worried voices. He was able to locate the older man's presence, but refrained from making contact; he had destroyed his friend's confidence in him, effectively severing the bond they had shared for so long. Anakin was sure he had never felt quite so alone as he did now, so detached from the world he had inhabited. His life had been turned end over end, cast into the fray between good and evil. This Jedi – if he could even still be called a Jedi –had faced many tests in a short period of time. Anakin had failed each and every one miserably.

Except, perhaps, this most recent one. It may have just been selfish – and wishful – thinking, but it seemed like Anakin had overcome the most recent challenge. He _had_ managed to lock the dark portion of his soul away yet again. _But for who knows how long_… Anakin knew that the time he had to save his son was already slipping through his fingers. Anxious, full of action inducing adrenaline, the Jedi turned a full circle to locate the nearest turbolift. As he moved for it, Anakin contemplated just _how_ he was going to go after his boy. The only craft he had in his possession currently was a small speeder that was certainly not space-worthy. In the turmoil of the recent battle, it wouldn't be too difficult to sneak one away from the Jedi Temple. But then again, his presence would raise red flags in everyone's mind. Surely Obi-Wan had told the others what had happened to the younger man. The Jedi would never willingly allow him to return to the Temple, not under any circumstance.

But perhaps there were other channels for him to go through. Anakin had a few contacts in the city that would possibly be willing to help him. He wondered if Senator Organa had survived the attack on the Senate. Padmé had been close to Bail, so perhaps he would be willing to assist her husband in tracking down their son… Anakin searched through the pockets along his belt and found that his comlink was still there. It wasn't until his fingers were poised over the keys that he realized he didn't have a clue how to get a hold of the Senator. Organa was sure to have a secure channel dedicated to his business calls, but Anakin wasn't aware of its code. With a sigh, the Jedi lowered the comlink and glanced around, his eyes eventually once again focusing on the towering shadow of the Temple through the clear sides of the turbolift's encasing.

There were many landing pads scattered throughout the Temple…and many ways to get to them. Surely the Jedi wouldn't miss a single shuttle. So long as it was hyperspace equipped… Anakin made up his mind just as the turbolift reached one of the grated durasteel walkways that crisscrossed the city as artificial ground. Not for the first time – since Luke had used it as a retreating place so often – Anakin was exceedingly pleased that the small park wasn't far from the Temple. The walk would be short, but it would still give him enough time to formulate a plan. The nearest landing pad where any sort of hyperdrive equipped shuttle would be docked was several stories above the ground floor of the Temple. If he could slip into any one of the maintenance shafts, he could work his way up unseen. He was confident that his mental shields were still in place enough to keep his presence from being blatantly obvious. In theory, the worst part would be getting the shuttle into space before the Jedi became aware of the theft.

_And then what, Anakin?_ His mind raised the questions that his heart was unwilling to face. _Where will you go? You don't know where they took him. You don't even know where to start_. Anakin silenced the internal voices in order to focus on the task at hand. No, he didn't know where to even begin the search for his son. In fact, he had no way to be sure that Luke was even still alive, but it didn't matter. He would go to the only place that held a connection to the Sith for him: Dathomir. That was the first place he had faced a member of the New Sith Empire, so it was logical to him that he begin his search there. In fact, if Artoo's scanners had been running, he could probably pull the information for the path the Sith had taken in retreat from the colony.

_Oh no, Artoo!_ Anakin thought suddenly as he skidded to a stop. He hadn't seen the droid since…since the Consular-class shuttle they had taken to Dathomir had dropped them off. The little astromech certainly hadn't made the jump into battle. Since the shuttle was commissioned by the Jedi, it must have landed somewhere else at the Temple, or at least returned after the attack had been routed. Artoo would have landed with it, but what does an astromech unit do when it's left alone with no orders and no master to follow? Anakin certainly didn't know, but he was aware that he wanted the droid with him. Surely Artoo couldn't have made it out of the Temple, and if he had, there wasn't much of a chance he'd made it far. Anakin's fingers went to his comlink again as he walked, but he restrained himself from trying it yet. He would wait until he made it into the Temple – where the chance of him actually making a connection was greater.

With this crisis thusly averted, Anakin picked up his pace to a brisk sprint, keeping to the shadows as much as possible to avoid being noticed. Not that there were many people around to notice him. The section of the city around the Temple was virtually deserted, leaving this walkway in particular completely to him. At least there was a stroke of luck. With no one around, his chances of slipping in were much higher. Anakin slowed to a walk as he approached one of the less used Temple entrances. Above him, on the other terraces, he could hear the bustle of post-battle commotion, bodies being moved, losses being tallied. He kept his senses on high alert, reaching out just enough that he could be aware of those around him without making himself known. He was almost upon the automated door now.

When he finally stopped before the heavy metal gateway, Anakin realized for the first time that he might be revoked passage through it. Eyeing the bioscanner nervously, he moved to the side and peered into the gathering gloom. There had to be an exhaust output around here somewhere – there was one near most of the doors. Anakin pulled his lightsaber from his belt, and ignited it, quickly slashing through the metal grate on the exhaust shaft as soon as he located it. The renegade Jedi only had a moment's chance to catch the metal before it crashed to the walkway, extinguish his saber, and throw himself into the shaft before the door slid open and a pair of Jedi knights spilled onto the walkway. _They must have picked me up on the security holos…_ Anakin scrambled to replace the grating behind him, hoping against hope that the angle of recording on the security network had been against seeing him slip into the shaft. He certainly didn't stick around to watch those Jedi search for him.

The exhaust shaft was coated in a thick layer of dirt and grime, with a musty stink that choked the renegade Jedi and stung his eyes. It was perhaps a meter across, shaped into a perfect circle. For the most part, navigating it was easy, except for places where ribbing had been installed to ensure structural integrity. Quite a few times Anakin had to utilize his lightsaber just to pass through. Material damage aside, he thought his passage was going quite well. At least he did until he edged his way around the grate of an air vent and managed to overhear snippets of the exchange that occurred below. The words drifted up to him and caused him to pause in his tracks, straining his ears to capture as much as possible.

"…lower entrance…disappeared…may be…ventilation system or…"

"…could be Skywalker…capture…alive…if possible…"

Anakin had heard enough. He leapt forward, crawling through the filth of the shaft as quickly as he could. Sounds of pursuit hadn't started wafting from behind him yet, but he knew he had to get out of this particular system as soon as possible. He held back the gasping coughs that rose into his throat from the dust circulating in the air, forcing himself to press onward. There had to be an access panel for maintenance to get through to these tunnels somewhere. Anakin could only hope it was close. When he finally did stumble upon it, the panel was so covered in grime that he almost passed right by it. Doing a double take, he noticed the small keypad next to the hatch. Of course it would be protected by a passcode. The Jedi weren't going to let just anyone into their maintenance system.

Glancing up and down the shaft he currently occupied, Anakin reached for his lightsaber again. He certainly didn't know the maintenance code, but he did know how to slice his way through a door. Patiently, the renegade Jedi waited for the cycling ventilation system to start up again, timing the ignition of his lightsaber and the quick cuts needed to get through the hatch with the loud initial burst of fresh air. Leaning back against the curving wall of the tube, Anakin coiled his legs up to his chest and then kicked out, knocking the hatch into the maintenance shaft. He reached out with his mind to catch the heavy piece of metal before it could crash loudly to the floor of the new tunnel. This one was much larger, though not quite tall enough for him to stand straight. At this point, the lone Jedi was in no position to be choosy.

Anakin stood still for a long moment, focusing his ears and his mind to check for pursuit. There was definitely a massive amount of movement going on the Temple, and he thought he picked up the first traces of activity in the ventilation shaft he had just vacated. Turning left and right, he realized that he was completely and utterly lost. Now was as good a time as any, he supposed.

"Artoo?" he asked in a whisper as he raised his comlink to his lips. With any luck, the connection to the astromech was still intact. The device crackled frighteningly loudly before any kind of response came in. Over the link, Anakin heard Artoo's frantic beeping and a series of loud and panicked whistles. The renegade Jedi very suddenly regretted this decision.

"Shut up, you blasted droid!" A rich, perfectly tuned female voice came through over the comlink. One of Anakin's eyebrows rose toward his hairline as he pulled the device away from his face and stared at it skeptically. More static, and then the comlink rustled as if the female had wrestled it from the droid.

"Who is this? I demand you tell me right now!" Anakin was about to answer her brusque question when she decided to amend her statement with a rough command, " Quietly!"

"I'm…I'm the owner of the droid with you. I just want to get my astromech back. Tell me where you are and we can go from there," Anakin replied in a whisper, trying to place where he had heard the woman's unusual accent before.

"Your droid is going to help me get off this planet. I'm not just going to give him back to you!" the woman's voice was strained, as if fear was making it difficult for her to keep it to a whisper. She was clearly frustrated and panicked, stuck in a situation that she was desperate to escape.

"Look, if you're close enough to receive this, you've got to be in the Temple. Perhaps we can help each other. I need my astromech _and_ a way off-planet. You just need a way out. If you'll find Artoo a data port, I've come across a terminal where I can track your location."

"Artoo? Is that the blasted thing's name? It doesn't matter, I'm not just going to trust some voice over a comlink. Who _are_ you?" Anakin sighed, knowing that there wasn't much he could do at this point. He needed his droid, especially if he wanted to track down that Sith on Dathomir. At this point, he was a renegade, wanted by the Jedi for the crime of turning to the dark side. What did he have to lose?

"My name is Anakin Skywalker. I think we can safely say that the Jedi would rather not have me get off this rock anymore than they seem to want you to escape. Now, could you please just get the droid to a data port?"

"You…you're supposed to be dead," her voice had dropped in volume again to the point that Anakin couldn't make the words out. He figured that it was probably better that he didn't know. There was a pause on the other end of the communication, and the sound of rushed footsteps. The woman must have been forced to move from whatever hiding spot she had found. It was another minute before she spoke up again. In that time, she seemed to have weighed her odds. "Alright, there's a data port here. I'll have the thing tap into it and drop a small beacon that you should be able to pick up."

Anakin nodded to himself, moving to the wall of the maintenance shaft where he had noticed the dirty datascreen of an information terminal. He keyed into the network, using every sort of work around he could think of to get past access codes. The screen was illuminated with a skeleton layout of the Temple, including the maze of maintenance shafts above the actual corridors. Anakin analyzed the image intently, looking for any anomaly. There. Just for a second a small flash of light had pinged in one of the smaller side passages. The woman and Artoo weren't that far away, thankfully.

"Okay, I know where you are. Stay put. One of the maintenance tunnels runs right over your position, but it's going to take me a minute to get there. Try not to get yourself caught," he said before he shut down the comlink and returned it to his belt. There were bootsteps in the maintenance shaft now. Refusing to glance over his shoulder, Anakin turned on his heel and dashed off, trying to keep his steps light but his speed up. If he had read the blueprints right, the woman was near one of the security banks – maybe not the best place to be hiding – on the level just above the tunnel in which he currently ran partially hunched over. If he could reach her level, there was another ventilation shaft near the security bank…one with an exhaust vent right on to one of the main landing pads.

Anakin counted the hatchways as he went, keeping track in his mind of where he was in relation to the woman. Three…two…one…He skidded to a stop and drew his lightsaber. Hearing the sound of boots far behind him, the renegade threw caution to the wind and ignited the saber, slashing violently upward and hoping that the woman wasn't in the way. He angled his cuts slightly, pushing up a surprisingly regular square of floor tiling when he had finished. Not bothering to check for the woman he had come to meet, Anakin turned and slid the square back into its hole. The angle of his cuts insured that the piece fit perfectly into place, the incisions nearly invisible on its dark surface. From below, they would be almost impossible to spot.

His lightsaber flew from his hand, deactivated. Anakin spun in time to see a Sith woman catch the hilt and latch it solidly to her belt. She held the elongated hilt of a dual bladed saber in her other hand, the points of ignition directed both at Anakin and at Artoo behind her. Hoping to placate the woman, Anakin held his hands out before him, palms facing her. He hadn't expected a Sith – although to be honest he didn't know what he had expected. Somehow, this woman must have been caught in the interior of the Temple when her forces had retreated. That meant she had been stuck here for hours, constantly trying to evade the Jedi. Anakin couldn't imagine the stress she must have been under. Right now, though, she motioned him behind her, next to Artoo, but she kept her lightsaber trained on him even when she glanced around the corner for pursuers. Only when she had confirmed they were alone did she address her new companion.

"Get me to a landing pad and we shall part ways. You can take your stupid astromech. He's a stubborn little brute, you know," she explained in a whisper as she cast a disdainful look at Artoo. The droid whistled very softly in a note that sounded very prideful indeed. Anakin couldn't keep the corner of his mouth from twitching up into a small smile even as he moved to dodge into the next corridor. The small alcove in which the woman had been hiding was a security holocam blindspot. But this new corridor was wide open. The pair would have but seconds to cross it and work their way into the ventilation system. Luckily, the grate this time wasn't terribly well hidden. Anakin eyed it for a second before he hurled a Force blow against it, crushing the panel inward. Leaping to grab hold of the edges, he hauled himself up. Glancing back down out of the hole he had made, the rogue levitated the astromech into the tunnel with him. With the droid safely behind him, Anakin hurried off without waiting for the woman who was clambering up.

With the three of them all scrambling for safety, they made their way through the shaft quickly. Even moving at a brisk pace, it seemed like an eternity before they worked their way through the maze to their final destination. Anakin threw his full weight against the grate, buckling it out. He tumbled free, rolling to come up on his feet. With his mind a blur of adrenaline, he didn't notice that there was only _one_ shuttle on this pad. At least, he didn't until he had lowered Artoo to the ground and demanded his lightsaber back from the Sith woman who dropped down behind him. This conflict inducing fact struck the two Force users at the same time as they turned to regard each other with suspicious eyes. After a moment's hesitation, they both broke for the shuttle at full sprints, jockeying for position. They collided just in front of the controls for the boarding ramp, Anakin wrenching his lightsaber free of her belt. When they came together it was on opposite sides of crackling blades.

"You have your astromech, the deal is done," the woman purred in her curiously accented basic. Anakin couldn't keep himself from laughing. Even as he did, he leaned into the bladelock, forcing the woman to press closer to him as well.

"You can't possibly think I'm that stupid. I'm certainly not going to stand around here and wait for them to come get me. What kind of idiot do you think I am?"

Casually, Artoo rolled between the two combatants and flicked out an extension to press the control. The loading ramp on the Eta-class ambassadorial shuttle slid down with a slight whisper, beckoning both renegade Jedi and Sith onboard. The little droid rolled halfway up the ramp before his blue and silver dome swiveled around to eye both of the embattled pair. They were both straining to overpower the other, paying little attention to the twittering astromech. With teeth bared and muscles working, the two vied for victory, focused solely on beating the other out for the ship. They probably could have stayed there all day long if it weren't for the sound of bootsteps behind them. A small group of Jedi burst onto the landing pad, lightsabers igniting as they took in the bizarre scenario. Anakin and the Sith woman both turned half open mouths and wide eyes to observe the group. For a disturbingly long moment, not a single person on the pad moved.

Artoo emitted a sound that, translated, would have meant something similar to 'How I wish these organics weren't quite so stupid,' that set everyone into motion. The astromech had to backtrack with his rolling legs to avoid being trampled by the pair now rushing up the ramp. Anakin broke for the controls, slipping into the pilot's seat just milliseconds before the woman could have. Resigned, the Sith dropped herself into the copilot's seat and slapped her hand down on the control to raise the loading ramp. Through the rear-view screens, they could clearly see the group of Jedi dashing across the pad toward their shuttle. His hands running desperately over the controls, Anakin flicked on the repulsorlifts just to get them out of reach before he thrust the shuttle up into the air. Acceleration threw both pilots back against their seats as the rogue locked the ship into a near vertical climb towards the shimmering bluish outline of Coruscant's atmosphere.

"Artoo! The navicomp is going to run, right?" Anakin called over his shoulder to the little astromech, who was currently pressed against the far wall of the cabin. The droid struggled to turn to the side and edge along the wall to reach a terminal he could tap into. Whistling and beeping in panic all the while, the droid locked into the terminal and fell into communication with the onboard navicomputer. One of the screens inset into the control panel lit up with the aurebesh translation of Artoo's whistles. "I don't care what you have to override, Artoo! Get it done, now!" He really shouldn't have snapped at the droid like that, not when there wasn't much Artoo could do except work as fast as his circuits were capable. The tension in the air was palpable as they broke for the freedom of space, dodging through the congested ground-to-space traffic ways. The scanners showed several approaching blips from the Temple, fighters meant to intercept the stolen shuttle and escort it – forcefully – back to the Temple.

"That damn droid of yours better get us out of here!" the woman in the copilot's seat shouted, casting a threatening glance at the astromech who beeped indignantly.

"It doesn't matter at all if we can't even make it out of the atmosphere. Can't exactly make a jump to hyperspace right here, now can we?" Anakin replied testily, though he tossed another nervous and anxious glance over his shoulder at the astromech before he turned his eyes back to the transparisteel viewport. One of the Jedi starfighters had circled around and was just visible off the front left of their Eta-class shuttle. A light on the communications center began to blink, indicating an incoming transmission. Eyeing it, Anakin motioned for everyone in the cabin to be quiet before he flipped the comlink on.

"Stolen Jedi shuttle, you are to return to the Temple immediately. You shall be taken into the custody of the Jedi. Any actions to the contrary will be taken as hostile," a curt voice said as soon as the link was established.

"We're way past that point, buddy," Anakin answered before he flipped the link back off and threw the acceleration joystick forward. The shuttle leapt ahead in the air with the sudden burst of speed. Knowing full well that the Jedi would never bring down a passenger ship, the renegade dove into the nearest channel, weaving in and out of the passenger transports and merchant ships. Sure enough, the Jedi starfighters fell back, drifting away from the congested column enough that they could have a good view of wherever Anakin brought the shuttle out. The renegade flew like he'd never flown before, accelerating, stalling, dodging to and fro. It was a gut wrenching trip, but it was enough to evade the starfighters. With a whoop of triumph from its pilot, the small shuttle burst out into the vacuum of space.

"Did you get it Artoo?" Anakin asked, awaiting any hint of confirmation. Behind the shuttle, two starfighters burst out of the atmosphere and gave chase. The astromech whistled loudly and Anakin leaned forward to pull back the hyperdrive lever. The speckled lights of stars blurred into long streaks that slowly resolved into the shifting blue tunnel of hyperspace. The two sitting in the piloting chairs breathed a sigh of relief, the tandem motion causing them to lock eyes again. Hands hovered above lightsaber hilts as they eyed each other suspiciously for a long moment, both wondering how they'd wound up with the other.

"Alright, just who are you?" Anakin asked.

"Why is a Jedi running from Jedi?" the woman demanded at the exact same time.

"Long story," Anakin answered.

"That's none of your business," the woman replied right along with him.

Silence fell as their overlapping voices faded into infinity. _This_ was going to be a long trip.

* * *

><p>The two Jedi knights dashed through the corridors of the Temple, their boots falling with loud clumps, marking the tempo of their steps. They had rushed to the landing pad with another pair, but had been split up shortly afterwards. Now they navigated through the corridors searching for Master Kenobi. Yoda hadn't been seen much since the attack, perhaps still devastated by the loss of life that had occurred, which left Kenobi as the de facto Grand Master for the moment.<p>

"Where do you think those two were going?" one of the knights, a female Miraluka with braided locks of brilliantly white hair, asked her companion as they ran. The other, a male Togruta simply shrugged. He wasn't even sure what he had seen out on the landing pad. At first they were after the renegade Skywalker, but then the holocams had spotted a lone Sith in the corridors. Suddenly, they were searching for two armed and dangerous invaders with orders to capture, not kill. When their small group had burst out onto the landing pad, it had seemed that their targets were going to do the Jedi's job for them; the pair had been caught in a fierce bladelock. The scene had caught everyone off guard, so much so that the Jedi had skidded to a confused stop.

"They didn't really seem to be working together, did they?" the Togruta asked rhetorically as he slowed to duck his head into one of the large debriefing rooms where Master Kenobi might have been.

"It looked more like they agreed to help each other to the landing pad, but there was only one shuttle for them to steal. I bet that's going to be an interesting ride," the Miraluka replied with a laugh. Her companion tossed her a disappointed look, and she caught herself before she could continue. That's right; there wasn't anything funny about a dark Jedi and a Sith escaping to return to the Sith Empire. But there _was_ something terribly amusing about the looks that had been on their faces. The Miraluka giggled once more quietly to herself as she rounded another corner just ahead of the Togruta.

Rounded a corner and nearly plowed over Master Kenobi. The knight stumbled backwards a step, raising blindfolded – though empty regardless – eye sockets to the older man's face. Obi-Wan looked down at her with a half haunted, half amused look in his eyes as he waited for her to get over her surprise and explain herself. Rising to the moment, the Togruta launched himself between the two.

"Master Kenobi! We were told to inform you that two intruders were spotted in the lower corridors-" the man started, but the master interrupted him before he could finish the thought.

"What? Why wasn't I made aware of this sooner?" Master Kenobi had to strain to keep himself from screaming in the knights' faces. Both the Togruta and the Miraluka shrank back from the seething master, who wrestled his anger back down.

"I'm sorry, Master. When Master Mundi caught sight of them on the holocams he ordered us to go after them immediately. We chased them onto one of the landing pads, but we've been told they made it offplanet and into hyperspace using a stolen Eta-class shuttle. There are returning fighters with full details of the escape," the Miraluka explained in a quiet, timid voice. Obi-Wan felt frustration bubbling up within him. Of course, Master Mundi would have been the one to observe the intrusion. For some reason that Obi-Wan could not explain, his relationship to the older master had been quickly deteriorating, even in just the short time since the attack on the Temple. In Master Mundi's presence – and his curt words – Obi-Wan could identify underlying tones of disapproval that were particularly disturbing. Ki Adi Mundi had expressed his belief that Obi-Wan was solely responsible for Anakin's affinity to the dark side many times before in Council sessions, but he had never shown himself to be openly against the younger master. It was vitally important that the Jedi stay united at this point in time, but perhaps now, with Anakin's fall, Mundi had lost all faith in Kenobi's abilities…

"Who were the intruders? Were they identifiable by the holocams?" Master Kenobi asked the two knights before him, who had been waiting silently while he was engrossed in his own thoughts. The pair exchanged nervous glances, each trying to shift the responsibility of answering to the other. "Oh, for Force's sake, one of you tell me. Now!" Obi-Wan commanded, nearly losing patience in this game of charades.

"One of them was Master… I mean, Anakin Skywalker," the Togruta replied at length. "The second was a woman we believe to be one of the Sith race that was left behind when their forces retreated." Obi-Wan opened his mouth to say something and then shut it quickly as he caught the rest of the knight's answer. Anakin was working with the Sith? He hadn't seemed capable of doing such a thing when Obi-Wan had seen him last. Master Kenobi closed his eyes to steady himself.

"Thank you," he said curtly a moment before he pushed his way past the two knights and broke for one of the security centers where he could access the holocam recordings. He had to see for himself. Somewhere, deep within his person, a part of his mind rejoiced at the knowledge that Anakin was still alive. But the consequences of Anakin allying with the Sith did not escape the Jedi master, and he forced that part of him back. _Anakin is dead_, his mind told him over and over, trying to convince his wounded heart that it was true. That's right, his friend – his brother – was dead, lost to the dark side. Obi-Wan repeated this under his breath several times as he broke for the security bank. Approaching the bank, he made for the nearest projection unit, flicking his hands over the controls to locate the proper holocam and to go back in the recording logs. Images flashed quickly in the air above the holojector as Obi-Wan searched for the correct holocam. He was guided by intuition to one of the lower entrance recording units, and, sure enough, when he scanned back the lone figure of Anakin Skywalker strode into view.

Obi-Wan inhaled quickly as he looked upon the man he had given up for dead. Again, he reminded himself that his former apprentice was lost to the darkside, but he couldn't resist the urge to zoom in on the recording. The image grew fuzzier the further in he went, but Obi-Wan could still make out the worried, saddened, yet determined look on Anakin's face. It was a far cry from storm of dark emotions that had hung over his handsome features in the apartment. For a moment, Obi-Wan wondered if his former padawan was _really_ lost. Maybe it was possible for him to pulled back from the edge again… That train of thought was quickly cut off as someone spoke up from behind him.

"Master Kenobi," a quiet, but calmly disapproving voice said from the door of the security bank. Obi-Wan looked up to see the elongated skull of the Cerean Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. Inwardly, Obi-Wan sighed, wishing he had time to collect his thoughts before having to face Master Mundi.

"Master," Kenobi replied as he inclined his head in greeting. He had to struggle to keep his voice from being cold. "I was just told about the intruders in the Temple. It is good that you handled the situation quickly, but I deeply wish I had been informed sooner," he went on, attempting to subtly express his disapproval. Master Mundi's face remained completely impassive, but behind his eyes his two brains worked in a cold and calculating manner.

"Given the situation, informing you seemed unnecessary. I apologize for having left you out of the circle of communication, but immediate action was required to attempt a capture of the intruders," Ki-Adi-Mundi replied icily.

"I was told they escaped into hyperspace. Were our fighters able to scan their retreat vector?"

"Yes, one fighter was able to record their vector, but, as I'm sure you know, Skywalker's R2 unit doubtlessly plotted coordinates for a short jump. The vector we've traced is very unlikely to take us to their final destination. If anything, it will likely take us far off course from where they're actually heading."

"So, in short, we have nothing at all to go off of?" Master Kenobi asked, unable to control the slight hint of anger that edged into his voice.

"Skywalker and the Sith are gone, but they will surely surface soon enough. They will probably join up with the main Sith force. I'm sure their new Empire will be greatly pleased to have such a powerful Jedi in its grasp. We must locate the roots of their corruption, and there we will find Skywalker," Master Mundi answered, though there was a note of triumph in his smooth tone. The two eyed each other for a long moment, both of them clearly struggling to control the urge to voice their true thoughts. It was Master Kenobi who broke the tense silence.

"Master Mundi, I know that you blame my training for Anakin's fall, and you must understand that no one is as acutely aware of my failure as I am. But this was not the fault of one person. I alone did not pave the road for his fall. The _entire_ Jedi Order is to blame. We all failed to give him the help he needed, when he needed it. The Jedi failed Anakin Skywalker," Obi-Wan said quietly, keeping his eyes locked on Ki-Adi-Mundi. For a moment, it didn't seem that his words made any difference one way or the other, but then Master Mundi seemed to contemplate his words, the binary brains inside his large skull analyzing them from multiple angles.

"Your words hold a truth that I had not considered, Master Kenobi. I have come to the conclusion that you are correct, and that my derision was misplaced. Consider accepting my humblest apology," Ki-Adi-Mundi said at last, dipping into a low bow to show his concession of the argument. Obi-Wan stuttered once, caught off guard by the success of his words.

"Thank you, Master. I-"

"Sir!" a young padawan called as he dashed up to the pair. The boy didn't realize that he had interrupted Obi-Wan until he skidded to a stop before the two masters. "I'm sorry, Master Kenobi, but I was told to alert you right away." All at once remembering his manners, the youth fell silent, waiting for approval from Master Kenobi to continue speaking.

"Well?" Obi-Wan asked at last when it was clear the boy was not going to go on without a push.

"Oh! Well, one of our long range scanners detected an Eta-class shuttle come out of hyperspace only a few light years from Coruscant, only to re-enter a moment later. We believe it was the same shuttle stolen from the Temple. And," the boy paused as if to give his words greater effect, "we traced their last known vector."

Obi-Wan's hopes rose slightly. If they could track down Anakin, they could track down the Sith. And if they could track down the Sith, they could rescue Luke. "Very good. Tell the ones who sent you to calculate all the likely destinations given that vector. At least now we have a chance to find them. Has Master Yoda been informed of this?"

"Well…sir…Master Yoda has asked for your presence in his chambers. I…I don't think he'll be joining us outside of them," the boy replied hesitantly, shifting nervously from foot to foot while keeping his eyes locked on the ground. Sensing something terribly wrong, Obi-Wan pushed past him and rushed down the hall. The concerned look on his face coupled with his hurried steps were enough to keep others from detaining him as he broke for the Grand Master's private quarters. Had something happened to the diminutive master? Had he discovered something about Anakin that he wanted only to share with Obi-Wan? That was a discomfiting thought, one that sent chills down Master Kenobi's back. Somewhere within himself, the Jedi master was still hoping against hope that something could be done for the younger man.

Master Kenobi didn't knock on the exterior door as he approached the Grand Master's private sanctum. The metal door slid open along its groove with a quiet whisper without Obi-Wan even having to do much as break stride. He stepped into the gloom of the inner rooms with trepidation evident on his face.

"Good that you have come, Master Kenobi," Master Yoda croaked from the small round couch on which he sat. The small green-skinned Jedi master had his back to the slated blinds of the window, bars of light and shadow falling across him. He kept his eyes closed, though it looked as if his small chest rose and fell only with great effort. There was an underlying note to his voice that Master Kenobi had never heard before. It wasn't fear, or anxiety. The Grand Master sounded…resigned.

"Master Yoda, I believe we may be able to track down Anakin and rescue Luke from-" Obi-Wan started, though he knew Yoda was surely already aware of the developments.

"Summoned you here to talk of that, I have not. Grave news I have, very grave. Sensed it you have, I believe. Yes, felt the corruption of the Sith spreading, have you."

"Corruption, Master? I have felt only the shadow of the dark side clouding those we battle…and the presence of my former apprentice. That is all." Obi-Wan's voice shook with an unsure note. Master Yoda raised his head and opened his eyes, staring through the younger master. Obi-Wan shifted slightly beneath the Grand Master's piercing gaze.

"The worst crime it is, to lie to yourself, Master Kenobi. As I have felt it, so have you. Dangerous, very dangerous, it is. Know, you do, what it means for the Order, hmm?" Master Yoda said at last, finally turning his eyes away from Obi-Wan's face. The younger master settled himself to the floor before Yoda, crossing his legs as he arranged his robe about him.

"Forgive me, Master. I had simply hoped… You don't think this will be like Revan's war all over again?"

"Many Jedi unable to resist the call, will be." Yoda answered, nodding his head slowly. Obi-Wan's spirit plummeted, seeming to crash through the floor beneath him even as his heart rose in his throat. This was the last thing the Jedi needed. The Order needed unity now, a cohesive force to push back the Sith.

"What can we do, Master? If the Order fragments, there will be nothing to stand for the Republic."

"Keep the Order together, you must. Pass the title Grand Master to you, I do." Master Kenobi opened his mouth to reply, but snapped it shut before he had so much as drawn a breath. He blinked several times, staring at Master Yoda as if he expected the wizened master to laugh and tell him it had all been a joke.

"Master Yoda-"

"Come, my time has. Come and gone. Too much of my strength to battling the corruption has gone. Ready for a new leader, the Order is."

"You can't be dying! Not now. The Order needs you too much. I…I can't lead the Order, Master. I'm not ready for that! There are others far more prepared for this position than I-" Obi-Wan's voice was gradually rising in volume as his anxiety grew.

"Thought long about this, I have. The best choice for the position, you are," Master Yoda replied, his voice fading to a near whisper at the end. He slumped forward, one three clawed hand grasping the edge of the couch to prevent him from tumbling off it. Obi-Wan dove to help him, noticing for the first time how thin and frail Master Yoda's body was. It seemed that all of the power had been drained out of the diminutive master, leaving behind only a meager shell of the powerful Jedi. Master Yoda was dying. There were a lot of things the Jedi could foresee, but this wasn't one of them. This would be a blow like no other to the Order, testing the faith and abilities of every Jedi. Master Kenobi was fearful of their chances.

"Go, Obi-Wan, to take up the mantle you've earned. Need you now…the Order does," Master Yoda said with a voice that was almost not there at all. The tiny Jedi master gripped Obi-Wan's shoulder as tightly as his failing strength would allow as he leaned close to the younger master. "The key to balance….Skywalker is," the Grand Master stuttered with the last ounce of life he had left. Obi-Wan felt hot tears rise to his eyes that he blinked back quickly. A Jedi did not feel emotions, he reminded himself several times. It took two rounds of his calming techniques to bring his rampant emotions under control, and Master Yoda was completely gone by the time he succeeded. All that remained of the powerful Jedi were his empty robes and the hilt of his lightsaber.

Obi-Wan rose slowly, taking a single deep breath to steady himself. Any thought of going after Luke fled his mind as he came to understand what he needed to do. Luke was Anakin's quest now; the Jedi had the rest of the galaxy to look after.

* * *

><p>"You've experienced firsthand the effects of trust, of love, of compassion. Come now, son, admit to yourself that you're terribly angry about being betrayed. Anger is only natural, why do you cut yourself off from it? Don't you know the lengths to which it can push your power?" The cruel voice echoed out through the chamber, crashing over the stretched and strained figure within. The Sith'ari was seated comfortably on a hover chair, a raven haired girl-child by his side. Every now and again, the wizened man reached out one gnarled hand to stroke the girl's hair. The girl watched in silence as the limits of her friend's willpower were pushed to the breaking point.<p>

"Your words are poison! I will not…ever...give…" Luke Skywalker struggled to finish his sentence as the Sith'ari waved one finger nonchalantly through the air and his body was contorted into another backbreaking position. The boy tried to find calm, to use the Jedi skills he had worked to master to wash away the pain that racked his body. He was unable to. Hot and red, it lanced through his veins and shocked his heart, wrenching a loud, rasping breath from his throat. This was surely a fate worse than death. His world was pain; there's was nothing else that existed to him besides the screaming of his muscles. He was close to the breaking point, nearing the edge where he couldn't resist the fall. Just when he thought he would cry out his devotion to the Dark Side, the pain ceased. His muscles fell lax as the grip that the Sith'ari held on him was released. His limp body crashed to the floor of the chamber, the metal blessedly cold against searing pain.

"I sense your turmoil, boy. Why do you continue to fight it? There is no reason for this resistance-" the Sith'ari began.

"Luke, it pains me to see you like this. Why do you force yourself to suffer? Please, won't you give in? For me?" Maria's voice was cold and lifeless, a tone that would only have been appropriate from a droid. The sound of it stung Luke to his core, reminding him how far his friend was lost.

"No, Maria. I won't do it for you, but not because I don't care for you. I won't do it because I know that this isn't _you_. You're a good person – I know you are – and I can still sense the good in you. Please, I can help you find the Light again if you'll only just let me in," Luke said as he began to slowly push himself up from the ground. The Sith'ari uttered a low, guttural growl of displeasure as Mariana watched her friend with empty eyes.

"You foolish boy! There is nothing for you in the ways of the Jedi. Your father saw that truth once. It was such a sweet day. Do you know what happened the night you were born?" The Sith'ari asked coyly.

"I would imagine that I was born," Luke replied snidely, refusing to let himself be led down this line of questioning. He had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't like where the conversation was headed. The Sith'ari wasn't about to give him any reprieve.

"As arrogant as your father, I see. No matter, his arrogance was his undoing, just as it will be yours. You see, it wasn't Palpatine that your father battled on the night of your birth, as you no doubt have been told by the Jedi. It was himself! Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side that night, if only for a few precious moments." Pleasure at the memory brought a twisted smile to the Sith'ari's face that was only just visible beneath his cloak. Luke leapt to his feet, his hands balling into fists at his side as he struggled to maintain control over his emotions. His rage radiated out through the chamber, rolling over the Sith'ari in delicious waves. Mariana closed her eyes, shuddering slightly at the sheer amount of power pouring out of her former friend.

"You speak lies! My father is a Jedi; he would never give in to the Dark Side. He knows the true ways of the Force," Luke snapped, still trying to rein his emotions back under his control.

"I'm sure you would like to think that, boy. But your father is not the man you think he is. Or have you forgotten already the feel of his lightsaber going through your shoulder? Did you not see the truth of his soul in his eyes? Even now he battles the corruption, but he cannot win. Anakin will fall again, and this time there will be no return."

"How…you can't know what happened on Dathomir…" Luke stammered, his eyes going wide even as he delved deep into his own mind, searching for the presence he already knew was there. The Sith'ari laughed wickedly.

"It is very naïve of you to think your defenses so strong, child," the aged man purred, eyes flashing beneath the hood of his cloak.

"There's no way you could know what happened the night I was born. You weren't there!" Luke cried, grasping blindly for some way to avoid facing the truth. Feeling the intense jolt of anger that rolled off of the Sith'ari, the boy winced slightly, but otherwise held his ground. Infuriated at the boy's stubbornness and stupidity, the Sith'ari reached one hand up and pulled the hood of the cloak back from his face.

"Of course I was there, you idiot. I am Palpatine! _I_ turned your father to the Dark Side, and soon, I will turn you just the same. There is no hope for you, _Jedi_." Palpatine sneered as he spat the last word. "You will fall just as your father did. One way or another, boy, you _are _mine!"

"No! No, that's not true. I will never give in to you! You'll just have to kill me." Luke's eyes were filled with desperation, but his resolve was strong. The Sith'ari could sense as much; it was no matter. The mental fingers that were embedded in Luke's mind began to writhe, tearing memories and dreams to shreds. A horrible, keening wail leaked from the boy's throat as he crumpled to the ground. Palpatine grinned maliciously, flaccid pale lips pulling back from mottled teeth.

"So be it, Jedi. Soon enough you will regret those words, and then I will hold the key to your soul," the aged man snarled before he returned to his relentless assault on the boy's mind. Mariana stood silently at her master's side, pale face impassive as she watched Skywalker twitch and spasm on the floor of the chamber. A single tear slid down one cheek, a subtle reminder that somewhere within the cold shell of her body, an ember of life still glowed.

* * *

><p>Anakin flopped back on one of the uncomfortable benches in the only common area of the shuttle, set just off from the tiny galley. This was the first moment he had been able to relax since he had taken off from Coruscant with the Sith woman. The two had not shared any other words after their brief confrontation in the cockpit, far too busy watching each other for any signs of deception. It was far from an encouraging environment to work in, but the renegade was determined not to let this setback interfere with his search for his son.<p>

"Oh. Damn. I half thought I'd be able to have a moment to myself," the Sith's voice rang out in the chamber. Anakin twitched slightly in surprise, confused at having been taken off guard.

"By all means, feel free to leave," he replied, glancing over at the crimson skinned woman with one eye. The Sith seemed to chuckle slightly as she crossed the room to the small galley. The rogue Jedi sighed quietly to himself, not that he'd really expected her to leave. He could hear the woman shuffling through the stores of food packages, clearly displeased with the findings. Anakin closed both eyes again, propping his head on his arms and trying to pretend that he really was alone. He quickly discovered that doing that wasn't any better than talking to the woman; at least by talking he didn't have to constantly reflect on his recent losses.

"I don't suppose any of this is actually edible?" the woman asked from the galley as she stepped away from a cabinet with a food package dangling by its corner between two fingers. Anakin opened his eyes and raised his head just enough to see what it was she was indicating. The corners of his lips twitched upwards in a slight smile before he shrugged and dropped his head again.

"Your guess is as good as mine," the renegade replied casually. The woman scowled back at him for a long moment before she seemed to decide that she didn't really care. With a small sigh she tossed the package into the preparation unit and flipped the device on. The two fell in to another uncomfortable silence as the woman waited for the unit to finish. When it was finally done, she pulled the package out and crossed the room to the bench opposite Anakin's.

"So, what's your story then?" she queried as she set the package down on the table and began opening it. Anakin sat up at last, leaning back against the wall behind the bench as he raised wary eyes to the Sith's face.

"That's not important," he answered simply, throwing in a small shrug just for good measure.

"I'd like to know just who it is I'm travelling with; thank you…And why he was running from his own people."

"I'm not a Jedi, okay? Maybe I was once, but now…Now I don't know. I've got no reason to tell my tale to someone like you," Anakin snapped, throwing one hand up as if to ward off the woman's questions.

"It's not as if I'm enjoying this any more than you are," the woman rejoined as she picked at the not quite appetizing meal. The renegade simply stared at her for a long moment, his eyes clearly telling her that he would not speak. Finally, the woman sighed and put down her utensil. "Nastala. My name is Nastala, and I'm a senior intelligence officer for the Sith empire. Is that good enough to get you to open your mouth at the very least?"

"This is ridiculous. We shouldn't be sitting here chatting like old friends. You're a _Sith_ for Force's sake. And an intelligence officer at that?" Anakin cried in exasperation, pulling himself to his feet and breaking for the door.

"You already said you're not a Jedi anymore; why does it matter if I'm a Sith? This brought Anakin to a halt. What _did_ it matter? He was no longer bound to the Jedi Code. He could do whatever he wished, regardless of what others might think. For the first time since his days on Tatooine, Anakin was completely in control. It was almost discomfiting, this feeling of no longer having a system to guide his life by. His choices no longer seemed so clear-cut, so simplistic. Every decision he made could throw his life into chaos, as if it weren't there already.

"I don't guess it does," he muttered quietly, head dropping between his shoulders slightly.

"So, what's the deal then, eh?" Nastala questioned as she took her first daring bite of the meal. Her face twisted in disgust, but she apparently decided the taste was better than going hungry. "You're Anakin Skywalker, right? The famous Jedi Master?"

"I was, yes. I don't really know who I am anymore," the renegade answered as he moved to join her again at the table. "Nothing seems to make sense anymore."

"You've seem to got some kind of plan running through that thick skull of yours. That obviously makes sense to you, right? Where are you going anyways? You seemed nonplussed at the idea of staying on Coruscant much longer."

Anakin snorted once, as if the comment were a vast understatement. "There's nothing left for me there. The Jedi will never accept me again, not that I'm entirely sure I want them too. My wife is dead, murdered by a woman I should have slain years ago. Worst of all, my son has been taken from me."

"Your son…Luke. I…I didn't know Malékum'ari's plan had been successful. None of the Sith really thought it possible…"

"Plan? What plan? Do you know where they're taking my son?" Anakin's eyes went wide as he leaned forward intently across the table. He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Hey, I'm willing to be friendly for the moment, but I'm not about to go divulging information like that. The Sith Empire is my home, I'm not going to betray the Sith'ari." Nastala explained quickly, pushing back away from the table slightly. Anakin's face went red with anger, but he inhaled deeply, trying to keep himself calm.

"The Sith left you to die in the middle of the Jedi Temple. Is it really worth defending them?" the rogue asked, hoping to sway the woman to his cause.

"Don't pull the Light Side high card on me, _Jedi_," Nastala spat, pushing herself to her feet. "My place is with my people, the true Sith. Do not think that you will so easily turn me away from them!" With that, she broke for the door, rage evident in the heaviness of her footfalls. She paused with her hand on the door's control panel. "Even if I were willing to listen to someone tell me what I should do, it wouldn't be from the hypocritical rogue who can't admit to himself what he is." Anakin trembled where he sat, fury eating away at the edges of his control. He could kill her now and be done with it. He _should_ strike her down for what she had said to him. Nastala laughed harshly, eyes flashing with mirth as she observed the chaotic soul of her unwilling traveling companion. "You are such a pitiful fool, Skywalker."


	11. In the Place of Shadows

****Well, here it is. The long awaited continuation. I swear to you, regardless of how much I beat myself down, I will not abandon this story again! Thank you again for all of your kind words, guys. They really helped to spur me into motion ****

Chapter 10

**In the Place of Shadows**

Obi-wan paced the center of the tactics center, nervously scanning each holoscreen as they scanned through a series of informative layouts. In this specific room, he was the only Jedi. Around him, clones and Republic officers milled about, almost whispering as if they were afraid to put anything more on Obi-Wan than there already was. He knew what was going on even without hearing it though. They had found the Sith. That much was certain. Less than five hours after the Jedi had managed to track Anakin's final hyperspace vector, the Republic had lost contact with their colony on Dathomir. Whatever was going on out there, it couldn't be anything good.

"Master Kenobi!" a feminine voice called out from behind him. He did a half turn, eyes still glued to one of the datapanel embankments. Master Secura was panting lightly as she stopped beside him. The young twi'lek had been dashing back and forth across the temple for hours attempting to help him organize their forces, and now she had been forced to run all the way to the Senate building. Obi-wan managed to pull himself away from the tactical displays long enough to rest one hand gently on her shoulder. She smiled sadly at him for a moment before she closed her eyes and allowed herself several seconds of deep breaths to calm down.

"I'm sorry, Master," she said after she had regained control of her heartrate. Obi-wan almost laughed at her, wanting to tell her that everyone in the order was precisely as worried as she was at this point. Instead, he simply gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Master Mundi and his padawan were able to reach Dathomir, but all they felt was pain. Not death, mind you, just pain. They suspect that these _Sith_," she spat the word, "are keeping the colonists hostage. Bargaining chips I suppose."

"Well, we can't sit idly by while those monsters hold Republic civilians hostage. If the Republic won't defend their own people, we at least have to." Obi-wan declared this while casting a heated glance over his shoulder. The commander in charge glanced up at him for a split second, only to quickly avert his gaze as the red blush of embarrassment spread across his cheeks. Obi-wan nodded curtly before he turned back to Master Secura.

"But sir, we have no idea of knowing just how many Sith are out there on that planet. There could be dozens, hundreds….You know as well as I that we simply can't muster the firepower to fight them all. I mean….Master, there are only a handful of us left from the council. We lost _dozens_ of knights. And the padawans…It is difficult for anyone to even contemplate rushing off to battle right now. We have not even had time to put our dead to rest," Secura chastised. Her voice was stern, yet sincere. She knew what needed to be done as well as Obi-wan did, and it also pained her as much as it did him that the Jedi could not be there to assist the colonists.

Obi-wan sighed once in resignation. Of course Master Secura was correct. The aging man closed his eyes and ran his hand across them, wishing against reason that things were different that what they were. It was a foolish, and childish, thing to do, but Obi-wan could not restrain himself. Not for the first time in those span of hours, Obi-wan began to reach out for his former apprentice, to seek the strength that had so long been Anakin's trademark. Just before he made contact, Obi-wan gained control of himself again. It was painful, reminding himself that his brother no longer existed, but it had to be done.

"I can't allow those colonists to go unaided, Aayla. You know that I could never forgive myself if I did. I will go alone then. It could be quick, simple. I would only need one crew to pilot a shuttle large enough for all of the colonists. If I can get in, I can slip through and free them one by one," Obi-wan answered at length. Master Secura almost laughed in his face. It was not that she didn't think he was capable of succeeding at such a task, but that she knew there would always be something more he would decide he had to do.

"No, Master Kenobi. You're Grand Master of the Jedi Order now. We can't have you gallivanting across the galaxy saving colonists. Do you know what would happen to the Order if you were lost? It's in enough turmoil as it is. Please, I am imploring you to leave this matter alone until we are better conditioned to handle it. No one wants to lose you, Obi-wan." As she spoke, Aayla leaned in to Obi-wan, who was now staring ashamedly at the floor. She let her forehead rest against her fellow Jedi's in a show of camaraderie and fellowship. Obi-wan sagged against her for a long moment before he found the strength to admit to himself that she was right.

When at last Obi-wan pulled away from Secura, he turned to face the commander he had been nagging earlier. "Commander, I want you to keep one hell of a close eye on that colony. If we hear anything so much of a peep out of that place we're going in guns blazing. The Republic may have taken a serious hit from the Sith, but we have certainly not sunken so low as to let our civilians be tortured by our enemies while we cower in fear and lick our wounds." Obi-wan's voice was terse, belying how nervous he was. The commander nodded curtly, his face still flushed from earlier. With great flourish, the soldier turned to his underlings and directed their attention back toward the screens.

"You heard the master Jedi. Keep a close watch on the place and make sure you do not miss a thing. Nobody wants to be forced on a suicide mission," the commander said to the techs sitting at the banks of datascreens. Both Obi-wan and Aayla sighed, realizing just how tense the situation was between the Grand Army of the Republic and the Jedi. Like it or not, the Jedi were the ones taking the blame for the attack on Coruscant. Obi-wan had to admit to himself that _he _even thought the Jedi should have felt the assault coming. He wanted to be angry at the scores of Republic citizens who were now pouring out of the city, but he couldn't. The aging Jedi understood how they felt because he found himself feeling much the same. _Only I can't leave, can't abandon my post._ The weight of command fell heavily on his shoulders, threatening to crush him into the ground. It was all the aging man could do to keep his voice steady and his shoulders straight when all he really wanted to do was give up.

* * *

><p>The world was upside down. That was Luke's first thought as he came to once again. Dark was light, black was white, and the world wasn't right. The boy groaned, raising one trembling hand to his head. He didn't know where he was. The world was dark, empty. His head hurt. He couldn't see anything, just darkness. The boy rolled over onto his side, pain lancing through his body. Gasping he sat up quickly. He couldn't see. <em>Why<em> couldn't he see? Panicking now, the boy reached up to his face, only to feel a band of smooth metal wrapped around it. It covered his eyes in a veil of pure black. Luke pulled at the veil, hoping against hope that it would come loose. When it didn't, he threw his hands into the air angrily.

"Calm down, Skywalker," a chillingly familiar voice cooed. Luke's senses came on high alert, and he skittered backwards a few feet from the direction of the noise. He knew that voice, even with the tinge of inhumanity that accompanied it.

"Maria," he stated, though his intonation made it more of a question than it really was. Luke expected himself to feel anger, sadness, despair….something. Instead, all he felt hearing the vacant voice of his friend was emptiness.

"Empty is good, Skywalker. It opens up so much room in your body for anger. Pure, raw, unadulterated fury is the single greatest weapon at your disposal. Tell me, would you like to kill me?" his friend asked him blankly. Luke started for a moment, opening his mouth to declare vehemently that he would never do such a thing….and then he paused. That moment of hesitation, that split second of indecision, was enough to convince him that something within him had changed. He delved deep within his soul, searching for the difference. When he found it, he drew back with shock. He couldn't find the love he had always held within him. In the place in his heart that was set aside for his mother, father, and everyone else he had ever loved was now nothing more than a resigned feeling of hopelessness. "You won't miss that feeling, Skywalker. It is a weakness, something for your enemies to prey upon. It is better for you this way. Trust me."

Wishing that he could feel the sadness he should have felt at the time, Luke bowed his head. Who was he now? Who was he without the love that had so defined him. He couldn't call himself Luke Skywalker, not anymore. That was a different boy. Luke Skywalker was a loving, caring youth. He spent hours every day doing everything he could to please his parents, his friends, the Jedi Order. He had never felt anger, and certainly never given into it. This boy that now lived in his body though…he was something different. This new child was empty, devoid of emotion. This new child was dark.

"Let me help you. Allow me to open your eyes to the world as you should see it," Maria said, seconds before Luke felt cold fingertips at his temples. He wanted to twitch away from her touch, wanted to be frightened. Instead he calmly let her pull the metal wrapping away from his eyes. Cringing, he had to spend a moment blinking away the spots that flew across his field of vision due to the suddenly blinding light. When he was ready to open those once crystal clear eyes again, he found himself staring into the pale, lifeless face of his former friend. She smiled a mirthless grin, showing off perfectly white teeth that seemed to be more jagged and sharp than they had before. Luke shook his head slightly; that was a foolish notion. This was the body of Mariana, once his closest friend and ally. The once kind, if weary, eyes of Maria were no filled with orange rage. Luke feared that, had he been able to see a mirror, his would have looked the same.

_No, no they wouldn't_, he tried to tell himself. He wasn't full of anger, or sadness, or anything. He was just empty. His eyes would be dull and lifeless, just as his mind felt.

"Come away with me, Skywalker. It is time for us to choose our new names so that we might serve our new master. Wouldn't you like that? He is a powerful Sith, our master. He will teach us to use the Dark Side so that we might vanquish all who stand before us. Isn't it delicious?" the formerly empty voice of Maria was now tinted with a deranged sort of joy. Luke stared at her blankly, as if he didn't quite comprehend what she was saying to him. Somewhere in the back of his head, Luke Skywalker was screaming at himself to stop, begging himself to turn away from this. The empty thing in his body simply stood, swaying slightly on its feet. That small part of him that was still aware of his surroundings seemed to deflate, resigned to accept the fate that this monster was carrying him to. For a brief moment, a split second no more, the real Luke Skywalker was able to break to the surface of the empty pool of his mind and call out in fear and pain. The brief flame of rebellion was quickly quenched by the monster that inhabited his body. The real Luke sank back, erecting powerful walls around himself to prevent that small bit of him that was left from being overrun.

_Please, Father. Please hear me. I know you're out there somewhere I just…I just hope you can hear me, _Luke silently begged as the being that was him nodded and followed Maria out of the cell and down a hallway that was as poorly illuminated as his soul currently was. The craftsmanship of this building was alien to Luke. Everything was stark metal walls, but not the sort you would see on a capital ship. Purple and black flags hung from most of the large, square pillars that supported the chapel-like roof. The boy noted that there weren't any windows in what he could see of the building. Instead, there were many doors thrown wide open, offering views of a bustling avenue. Here in this place, their sanctum, the Sith did not wear their battle armor. Men and women, pureblood and no, walked the avenue in relaxed attire, similar to anything one would have seen on Coruscant. Luke's pace slowed as he watched a young Sith boy walk swiftly beside his mother. The two didn't hold hands, didn't even walk particularly close to each other despite the fact that the child couldn't have been more than five. As Luke watched, the boy turned to look at him over his shoulder, likely sensing the fact that someone was watching him. The Sith did not have the eyes of a child. His were as orange and bloodthirsty as Maria's. The notion made Luke shiver and turn away, even as he heard the child snickering at him.

"Where are we, Maria?" he finally managed to ask his friend. The girl spun on him suddenly, digging one clawed hand into his chest as she gripped the top of his tunic. Luke started to stumble back a step, only to find himself caught by the girl.

"Do _not _call me by that name," she snarled at him, her nails digging into his skin slightly harder. Luke expected himself to apologize, but that was not what came out of his mouth when he opened it.

"Unhand me this instant," his body growled. "I will not submit myself to being assaulted by street rats." The voice was laden with deadly intent that Luke did not truly feel. For a split second, Luke saw hurt flash through the girl's eyes. The part of himself that he had locked away would have gasped loudly. His friend was still in there somewhere! She was still there if only he could make it to her. As quickly as the emotion had come, it was gone in Maria's eyes once again. She glared at him for a second more before she opened her hand and let him fall away from her.

"We are on Dromund Kaas, the capital world of the Sith Empire," she finally answered as she began walking again. Luke nodded as if he knew what that was.

"And where are we going?"

"The inner sanctum of course. It is time for you to meet the Sith'ari. He has already informed me that we shall be partners in our apprenticeship. He expects us to work together for the time being. Today, we shall receive our new names and begin our training," the girl answered just before she turned down a corner away from avenue Luke had seen. The locked up part of the boy hesitated for a moment, forcing his body to do so as well. If he made his move now, he might be able to make it to the avenue, and then he could get lost in the crowd outside. No, every person wandering those streets was a Sith. There was no way he could simply slip through them and on his way as if nothing happened. Maria noticed his hesitation and turned disapproving eyes on him.

"Come now, you are passed such foolishness. If you bolt now, you will be quickly apprehended and the punishment you will receive from the Sith'ari will be worse than anything you could even imagine. Don't make this any harder than it has to be," she said, before she simply turned away to let him decide for himself. Inwardly, the real Luke sighed and followed along behind the girl, knowing that he didn't stand a chance on a planet full of nothing but Sith.

It wasn't long after that point that Maria stopped before a pair of elaborate double doors. Luke scanned for an activation mechanism, but didn't see one. He watched as Maria stepped up before the heavy metal portals which were engraved with scenes of torture and pain. The girl bowed her head and muttered a few words under her breath before the doors began to slowly swing open. As soon as the orifice began to open, Maria stepped inside of it, beckoning for Luke to do the same. The room beyond was dimly lit in a hazy violet glow. A group of empty yet elaborate thrones stood around the outer rim of the chamber, complete with plush pillows. Leaving Maria's side, Luke wandered over to one. He could see that dust had accumulated on them nearly two inches thick.

"What is this place?" he asked the girl, the curious nature of his true self getting the better of the stranger that now lived in him.

"This was the home of the Dark Council in the days of the old Sith Empire," a voice which was not Maria's answered. Luke turned toward the sound, squinting against the shadows. "They had two meeting places, here and on Korriban. The Dark Council was intended to make decisions for the continued survival of the Empire, but instead they tore it apart with infighting and intrigue. That is why, in this new Empire, there is only one ruler." A dark figure sat on the largest and most elaborate throne in the center of the outer ring of the room, Luke could now see. The body of the boy stepped forward, trying to make out who the figure was.

"Sidious," he growled at last. For the first time since he had awoken in the cell, he felt hot anger rush over him. Here sat the man who had torn his life asunder, who had murdered his mother and destroyed his father. Worse than that, this murderer expected Luke to submit to him, to learn from him. Luke would have none of it. The good side of him beat its way to the surface, determined to make a stand here. He wanted desperately to push that anger aside, but he felt that without it he would be unable to maintain control in his weakened state.

"Young one, you are being such a bother. It's time for you to give up, my son. I have wrenched all love out of you, I have tortured you, and I have infuriated you. The Light Side will serve you no longer. Even now I feel you embracing your anger; it's wonderful isn't it?" the Sith'ari said casually, waving one hand through the air as if he didn't really care. Luke snarled angrily, his lip pulling back over his teeth.

"What exactly did you seek to accomplish with me, Sidious?" Luke questioned, his voice deadly serious. His eyes were slates of ice blue flint, hardened with fire.

"Son, I am going to turn you, and then once I have you properly trained, I am going to use you to tear down the pitiful remains of the Republic once and for all. It is your destiny, my child."

"That's ridiculous. Nobody can know what fate intends for us all."

"With the Dark Side, anything is possible. Can you even imagine the amount of power that I hold? Had I not been injured in my confrontation with Mace Windu, I would have wiped the Jedi off the face of the galaxy long ago. Had it not been for your father holding tightly to his pitiful ideals, I would already be the ruler of the galaxy. No matter, that's where you come in," the Sith'ari said this with another flick of his wrist toward Luke. The boy had a split second to anchor himself to the floor before a wave of pressure washed over him. He skittered backwards a few steps, but managed to keep his footing.

"Why me?" he asked at length, breathing heavily.

"No one ever told you, did they?" the Sith'ari retorted. He stood almost shakily, stepping down from his throne onto thin, wrinkled feet. Luke eyed him nervously, unconsciously shrinking backwards into a defensive stance. He spread his feet, one in front of the other and sank low, bending his knees slightly. The boy's hands came up in front of his chest slightly.

"Told me what?" he snapped angrily, scanning the throne behind the Sith'ari for his missing lightsaber.

"Your father was supposed to be the Chosen One, my child. He had power such that no one had ever seen before. He was the Jedi's beacon, their flagbearer. When I met him, I was overcome with envy, but I decided to use him to my advantage." With this, the Sith'ari flicked two fingers toward the boy. Luke's eyes went wide as his lightsaber floated lazily through the air toward him. He didn't move to take it, eyeing the Sith'ari with distrust. "He was such a stupid boy, your father. I bent him to my will easily, had him wrapped around my finger for years. If your pitiful order hadn't gotten to him first, he would have been mine to command. Instead he turned on me, nearly struck me down. And then you were born, my child. When you came into the universe, the Force cried out. You hold more power than any one being deserves, but it is raw, unhoned." A crimson blade erupted from the Sith'ari's hand. Luke stumbled slightly in surprise; he hadn't even seen the man produce the hilt.

"Your ignorance is a problem I can solve," the Sith'ari barked milliseconds before he lunged forward, his speed belying the age of his bones. The young Jedi twisted to the side in a spin, snagging his lightsaber from where it hung in midair. The sapphire blade lanced out to deflect the sith's off to the side. Unwilling to take the offensive, Luke danced away from the aged man, holding his lightsaber above his head, angled to the ground, and with his left hand extended palm out before him. The Sith'ari began laughing cruelly as he paced around the youth.

"You are almost as stupid as your father," the twisted man commented as he struck again, a low, sweeping cut. Luke leapt over the red blade and off to the side. He had forgotten about the thrones sitting around the outer ring of the room. When he came down, he landed half on the armrest of one of the chairs. His ankle turned with a dull crack, throwing him off balance and sending him crashing to the ground.

"SIth spit!" he cursed as he tucked into a roll. When he came out of it, he tried to bring himself to his feet, but instead found himself stumbling on a leg that refused to support him until he reached out and caught one of the thrones with his left hand. _I can't fight like this, it's too distracting. Come on Luke, remember what Master Kenobi taught you. You can do this_.

"Yes, yes, remember what Master Kenobi taught you. Obi-wan was a great Jedi indeed. Slightly rash, carefully walking the balance between Light and Dark. How embarrassing for him that his first apprentice was lost to the Dark Side, and his second student is on the way there," the Sith'ari laughed harshly, hearing the boy's thoughts.

"Get out of my head!" Luke screamed angrily, more at himself than at the Sith'ari. He had not even noticed the absence of his mental shields. Hastily he threw them back up. Reaching out to the Force, he ushered healing waves of energy down to his ankle, begging it to hold his weight. The Sith'ari was advancing now, brandishing his lightsaber for another attack. Hoping that his ankle wouldn't give out again, Luke performed a double feint to both sides and then quick low strike. The Sith'ari parried low, pressing upwards with his blade. The strength the old man exhibited was far more than Luke would ever had suspected. Twisting to the side, Luke pulled his lightsaber out of the bladelock. The Sith'ari's lightsaber sliced upwards with uncontrolled speed. The old man stumbled forward behind the wayward saber as Luke stepped in behind him and released a heavy downward swing. Improbably, the Sith'ari reached behind his head, holding his blade horizontally to catch Luke's. Seeing that he couldn't penetrate the wizened man's defenses in this way, Luke leapt backward a few feet.

"Good! Good my child. Your skill with the blade is astounding for one so young, yet you still lack the basic observation skills which make a good fighter."

Reacting to a twitch in the Force, Luke spun on his heels and threw his arm out to shove away the rushing form of his former friend. The girl wasn't brandishing a weapon, but bloodlust was shining in her eyes nonetheless. After the initial shove, Luke pushed out with the Force, tossing the young girl back against the wall. The youth winced as he heard the thud of Maria's back against the inscribed doors. He didn't have time to say anything before he had to turn back to parry the latest blow from the Sith'ari. The two came together in a flurry of electronic squeals and crackles. Luke felt the wave of pressure coming before it actually hit him. The boy was thrown backwards a few feet, but he was glad for the break in the stalemate. He feinted high and cut low, dropping his center of gravity toward the ground. The Sith'ari parried the low cut and turned into a half-spin to strike at the boy's unprotected flank. Luke's eyes went wide as he realized that he had played this scenario out dozens of times with his father.

The youth brought his lightsaber around to block the blow, already knowing that outcome but having no way of preventing it. His footwork was ruined, his stance puerile at best. The Sith'ari, however, didn't bother to press the attack. He instead stepped back and tossed his head back into a harsh cackle. Confused, Luke's blade dropped a bit toward the ground. Instantly, he regretted it as he felt a small, bony elbow lance into the back of his neck. His muscles refused to hold his weight anymore, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground. He groaned, trying to roll over against the numbness that was holding his limbs still. The pale face of Maria came into view, a cruel, victorious smile clear on her face. She turned to look at the Sith'ari for a moment, as if seeking approval. The wizened man nodded, motioning vaguely with his hand without pausing in his laughter.

"You will join us, Skywalker, or you will die," Maria declared as he called Luke's own lightsaber to her hand and held it point forward toward Luke. The boy's mouth opened, but little more than a gasp escaped it. Hot red anger flashed across the girl's face before she flipped the hilt around in her hand and brought the end of it down hard on Luke's temple. The world faded to black quickly.

_I'm so sorry_, Luke managed to think before he lost all contact with reality.

* * *

><p>"Why did you hurt me, father?" Luke's voice asked, puncturing the haze of confusion that clouded the rogue's mind. Anakin turned toward the source of the sound, squinting until he saw the barely formed figure of his son. Seeing the boy, Anakin tried to rush forward to him, but he found himself unable to move at all.<p>

"Luke, I never meant to hurt you. I would never!" Anakin exclaimed, spreading his arms out before him in surrender. His boy was crying, he could see that now. Streams of tears rolled down Luke's face. Anakin wanted so badly to reach forward and take his son into his arms. There was pain written on the youth's face that he definitely didn't deserve to be feeling.

"Yes you did, Father. Nobody else moved your hand all those times. That was you, Father. You beat me, you _hurt_ me." The look on Luke's face was almost as disturbing to Anakin as his tears were. His son's face was…empty. Mere moments before there had been lines of pain etched everywhere. Now, however, there was nothing. The tears seemed to fall without meaning.

"No! That's a lie, Luke. You know that's a lie! It wasn't me. There's a monster in me, Luke, but it's not me!" Anakin cried, his voice begging for forgiveness. Part of him knew it was true. _It is true, Anakin. I already tried to explain this to you. We are one and the same. I am you and you are me. Isn't it about time you faced the truth? _Anakin pushed the voice away, trying to focus on the shifting image of his son. When he blinked and looked back, Luke was gone. "Luke? Luke come back!" Anakin cried.

"Why should I? Should I come back just so you can hurt me more?" Anakin spun around to find the shadow of his son's form behind him now. His words cut Anakin's soul to the quick, but the renegade couldn't lie that there was a good amount of truth behind them.

"I love you, son. I have always loved you. I didn't mean to hurt you, please believe me on that. You are everything to me! You and your mother were all I had in this world; I would never do anything to threaten the only people I've ever truly loved. " Anakin felt tears starting at the corners of his own eyes. This was his son, his boy. He had thought him lost to him, but here he was. Anakin needed to touch him, to feel his skin. He was unable to reach the youth, however. Every time he managed to take one stumbling step forward, the figure of the boy flickered and then retreated.

"Face the facts, Father. It is about time that you did so. You've been trying to kill me every since I was born. I'm more powerful than you, Father, and that frightens you. Not only that, but I could have killed your wife. I almost did, didn't I? The labor was far from easy, wasn't it? You've always hated me, haven't you?" Anakin stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Luke, tell me where you are. I have to find you, son, but I need you to tell me where you are," Anakin pleaded, lifting one hand toward the youth's image in desperation. The boy seemed to laugh, though the voice that reached his father's ears was older, far more sinister. Anakin's brow furrowed slightly as he listened. He knew that laugh. Where had he heard that laugh before? The boy's image flickered as the laughing grew.

"I am in the place of Shadows now, Father. There is nothing you can do to save me." Anakin felt himself beginning to come awake from the nightmare, but he fought the feeling, trying desperately to keep his grip on the dream.

"No, Luke! Don't give in, son. You can't!" Anakin cried, understanding what his son meant. "I will come for you, Luke. We will both get out of this, I promise you. I just need you to hang on for a little bit longer. Please, son!"

"The place of shadows, Father. I'm so sorry."

Anakin came awake with a gasp. Tears were rolling freely down his cheeks, and as he rolled onto his side, he made no move to wipe them off. It was several more moments before he became aware of another presence in the room. He looked up to see Nastala standing over him in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest. If it were anybody else but the Sith woman, Anakin would have thought he saw sympathy on her face.

Nastala coughed once loudly. "I, uh, I heard you screaming from the cockpit. Thought I would come and check on you, you know, make sure everything was alright back here," she said by way of explanation. An awkward silence fell between the two as Anakin looked around, trying to remind himself where he was. He didn't remembering coming back to the cargo hold. He couldn't remember having stretched out on the floor to sleep. If anything, he felt worse now that he had gotten some rest than he did before.

"So I…I heard you say your son's name. Something happen to him?" Nastala finally asked. Anakin turned on her, pain evident in his eyes. The woman raised her hands in front of her, half warding off any emotional outbursts from the man. What she got was certainly not what she expected. Anakin's face seemed to shatter as he was unable to contain his emotions any longer.

"Tell me we're almost to Dathomir, Nastala. My son is in far more danger than I ever imagined. I need to get to him, now," Anakin answered at length, frightened tears welling in his eyes. The Sith woman hesitated.

"We've got another day's travel ahead of us, and that's pushing the limits of the hyperdrive on this thing. Look….uh…you know your son might not be on Dathomir anymore," she said, looking to the side as if to hide the slight look of guilt that came across her face. Anakin turned on her.

"What? Why didn't you mention this before?" Anakin cried, jumping to his feet.

"Look, Jedi, it's best to check Dathomir before going anywhere else anyways! The only place he might be is smack in the center of the Empire, and I would be put to death for even telling you it's name. Sorry, but you're only stuck with me until Dathomir. If you can't find your son there…I'll…well, I don't know. We'll burn that bridge when we get there." With that, Nastala turned on her heel and walked briskly back down the corridor to the cockpit. Anakin sighed loudly, dropping back down to sit cross-legged on the floor. Letting himself fall into a meditation trance, he reached out towards Coruscant, careful not to reveal any details about his location.

_Obi-wan. ..Luke's turning. He needs us now, my friend. We don't have long to save him. If you intend to fight this threat, we must do so soon. I'm so sorry, brother, for everything I've done. Please, you don't have to forgive me, just please don't give up on my son. We need your help, the Jedi's help._


End file.
