Author's Note: Chapter six!

Vader had found a small wooded area. He first collected all the fallen sticks and branches. He then cut some more with his lightsaber, so there would be some extra. With his pack and arms full of wood, he started back to the cave.

He got about halfway there when he suddenly thought he heard a faint voice. He looked around, stretching out with the Force, but found nothing. Shaking his head, he started walking again.

He is your hope.

That time he knew he heard something. He looked around wildly, searching with the Force, but there was still nothing.

Let him be your hope.

The voice was in his head!

Who are you?

The voice was vaguely familiar, and Vader knew he should be able to place the voice. Yet, he couldn't.

I see I wasn't too far off when I said, 'Twice the pride, double the fall.'

Vader's eyes shot opened.

Dooku!

There came a mental sigh.

Oh, Skywalker. How far you have fallen.

The Sith was caught off guard. He would have expected satisfaction, but he only found sorrow in the late Count's tone.

If I was a tyrant, what does that make you? Ah, I know. It makes you... a monster.

"Get out of my head," he growled.

Peace, young one.

"Young one? Ha! I am no more young than you are alive."

He kept walking.

Do you mean to walk away from me? You know that it's not that easy.

"Leave me alone. I have no interest in your lies."

Lies? I offer you no lies, Skywalker.

"My name is Vader."

Really? I used to think as you do. No matter what you say or even what you do, nothing will change who are you really are, nothing. You are, and always will be, Anakin Skywalker.

"Anakin Skywalker is dead!"

Is he? Because I see him walking, and I hear him talking, though granted he's talking to a dead man.

"Shut up and leave me alone."

Very well, Skywalker.

All was silent save for his respirator.

Convinced Dooku was gone, Vader continued on his way back to the shelter. Upon arrival, he dropped some of the wood and stacked the rest as Piett made a ring of stones to contain the fire.

Luke placed some wood in the ring.

"What do we light it with? We have no lighters or even any matches."

Piett smirked.

"We improvise."

"Improvise?"

The captain fired a shot from his blaster into the wood.

Upon being surprisingly dry, the wood caught almost instantly.

Luke grinned.

"Nice."

"Thank you."

Vader nodded.

"Impressive, Captain."

Piett bowed his head in acknowledgement of his commander's praise.

"Thank you, my Lord."

That night, after cooking and eating some of the food from their packs, Luke and Piett each settled under their thermal blankets and were soon asleep.

As they slept, Vader meditated over his 'encounter' with Dooku. He had seen and spoken to the ghost of Qui-Jinn when younger, but he had had a bond with the late Jedi Master, so it was more understandable that Qui-Gon would speak and appear to him.

But why was Dooku speaking to him?

He and the late Count had only been enemies. They had never been acquaintances, allies, or, especially, friends of any kind or in any way. Every encounter they'd had with each had been as enemies.

He himself was the reason Dooku was dead. He killed him years ago near the end of the Clone Wars when he wasn't much older than Luke was now.

Why would his enemy, the man he murdered, be speaking to him?

It didn't make any sense.

For the first time in years, Vader suddenly found himself wishing Obi-Wan was still around to help him. His former Master had always been much better at figuring out and understanding people, their actions, and their motives for their actions.

Sighing as softly as the mask would allow, Vader got up and went to the mouth of cave. He stood there, watching the snow begin to fall. He sighed once more and closed his eyes.

Why did he speak to me? Why did he seem sad when he spoke of my fall to the Darkside?

With the fact that Vader had killed and replaced him aside, Dooku, even in death, should have found satisfaction in the Chosen One's fall.

Shouldn't he?

Perhaps in your mind.

Vader's eyes shot open.

That voice. He knew that voice. Even after over two decades, he still knew that voice like he knew his own.

Qui-Gon!

The late maverick appeared before him, slightly transparent, glowing softly, and tinted blue.

"What do you want?" Vader asked more gruffly than he actually would have liked to.

Qui-Gon merely smiled slightly.

"You have begun a great journey, Ani. It will be more difficult than anything you've ever faced before. You will not be able to do it alone."

Vader looked back into the cave at the sleeping Piett and Luke then back at the ghost.

He smiled and nodded.

"Yes. Luke and Piett are the ones you will need."

"I know, but I need to ask you something."

Qui-Gon nodded for him to ask.

"Why did Dooku speak to me earlier?"

The Jedi smiled again.

"To you, those who remember him, and those who learn about him, he died an evil man, but he actually didn't. The moment Palpatine betrayed him aboard the Invisible Hand, he came back to himself, I guess you could say. He returned to the Light."

"Why didn't he say anything? He had the perfect chance to reveal who Palpatine really was."

Qui-Gon's face now grew serious and grave.

"Had he done so would you have believed him? Would you have believed the word of you enemy over the word of the man you thought to be your friend?"

Vader realized that he was right. It wouldn't have made a difference if Dooku had told him the truth.

"No. I wouldn't have."

The ghost nodded.

"He knew that you would never believe him."

The Dark Lord's thought hinged on something.

"He could have at least asked for mercy or surrendered so I would have just arrested him."

"Yes, but even if he had, he would most likely have been executed for his crimes. If he wasn't executed, he knew that Palpatine would find some way to kill him. He knew he was destined to die."

Vader shivered ever so slightly at that thought.

What must it have been like for Dooku to know he was destined to die?

"Before you killed him, as you stood trying to decide, he was granted a brief vision of your own destiny and fate."

"You mean he knew that I would end up like this?" the Sith demanded.

Qui-Gon nodded.

"Before you ask why he didn't say anything, again, would you have believed him even if he had said something?"

He sighed and shook his helmeted head.

"He knew there was nothing he could do. If there had been something, he would have done it, but there was nothing. All he could do was accept his fate and do what he had done some many times throughout his life."

"What was that?"

Blue eyes met red-tinted eye plates.

"Face death with calm and bravery."

Vader remembered watching the fear in Dooku's eyes and face fade away until all that remained had been a strange sort of calm, peace, and courage.

"There were so many times I call him a coward, but in those final moments he was anything but a coward. He was a little afraid at first, but it quickly left him."

He remembered the elderly Count's dark eyes looking right into his own, with no trace of fear anywhere in their dark depths. For a moment it had felt as if Dooku was looking into his very soul. He would never forget the sudden spark of understanding, peace, and wisdom that lit up the elderly man's eyes just before he died.

"Right before I- before he died, his eyes… they were filled with peace, wisdom, and understanding. I still don't know why."

Qui-Gon smiled knowingly.

"He had seen in your future but also your very soul."

The Dark Lord stared at him, still not quite comprehending.

"He saw what your was at that moment and what it would become. He saw the light and the darkness."

"Anything else?"

He still didn't really understand.

"He saw that your soul would become consumed by darkness, but he also saw that there was a bit of light that would never been consumed or destroyed."

"What does that mean?" he demanded.

Qui-Gon's smile grew slightly.

"He saw that there would always be some good in you. He saw hope. Luke sees it, and even Piett sees it."

Vader recalled Dooku's words; he is your hope, let him be your hope. He must have been talking about Luke.

"Dooku said Luke is my hope."

The Jedi nodded.

"Yes, but not just Luke. Piett is as well. Don't be afraid to open up to them. You must be in harmony with them if you ever hope to bring balance back to the galaxy."

He began to fade.

"I must be in harmony with them? What does that even mean? Qui-Gon!"

He faded completely.

Don't be afraid of hope.

"What does it mean? Qui-Gon! Master!"

There was no answer.

Vader sighed, went back into the cave, fed some more wood to the fire, and sat back in his place. He meditated on what Qui-Gon had told him until he fell asleep.

End Note: Whew! This was long one. Please review.