Special thanks to; ILDV, Sanna Black Slytherin,Maleficent Dark,KK,Little Skywalker,Taboo22,Mike3207,QueenNaberrie,Above the Winter Moonlight,DragonsFlame117,Ms Aralie,Mecaka,Guest,oliver2662,korrigan112,LaughingLadybug,Nowa1,alltheeagles,AbandonedPhilosophy, for your lovely reviews.

Enjoy.

Edited.

It was an ancient technique and, as most ancient techniques are, highly forbidden.

Luke was nearly six when he first saw Vader kill. Or at least, it was the first time he understood that it was killing.

They were on Naboo, the Emperor's home planet. For some reason, his father was edgy and high-strung. He kept looking away from the nice lady called Pooja and images of his mother invaded his father's mind like a Kaminoan hail.

The frustration and tension kept building until it exploded, raining heaps of unnecessarily brutal ends on the unfortunate opposition. Luke timidly reached for his father's mind only to be assaulted by Darkness of the likes that he had never known, that his father had never let him see.

That was the first time Luke realized that his father wasn't the good man he'd thought he was.

But he was still Father and, in his trusting six-year-old mind, that meant everything was okay.

There would never be a right moment to do it. Anakin Skywalker had been careless and cocky, but Darth Vader had learned from his mistakes, and was always wary; Darkness prowling around him like a mad guard dog, ready to strike at the slightest provocation. Waiting for Vader to let his guard down would take another incident on the scale of Mustafar, which was to say, the chances of it happening were highly unlikely.

So Obi-Wan would have to strike when he himself was at his best, and hope for the rest to work itself out. It wasn't a perfect plan, and with so many things hanging in the balance, so many things that could go wrong, it would be rash to risk it.

But desperate times called for desperate measures and, as he read the newest report on Vader's rampages, Obi-Wan knew that these were indeed the darkest of times.

The Purification had to be done soon.

When Luke was seven, he discovered that he could heal.

One of the pilots had been in the medbay, screaming in pain with his legs burned off. The pilot had a mild Force presence, and Luke had felt it shudder around the man in agony.

He needed to help.

He had reached into the Force, and suddenly he could see the injured pilot. He could see every single cell, evry damaged muscle, every nerve ending, and, most importantly, he could see how to fix it. So he wrapped the Force around the man, twisting and jerking it to his will, until suddenly, the screaming stopped.

He had passed out from sheer exhaustion, and when he woke up days later, the pilot was walking around on healed legs and proclaiming a new belief in the Force.

He wondered if he could use his new powers to help his father.

Technically, direct contact was unnecessary for the process to begin. Obi-Wan could strike at any time. He was just waiting for an opportunity to present itself. No, he was not procrastinating.

Should it go wrong, the process could destroy Anakin's mind. The boy had been his padawan, his friend, and...perhaps it was better for him to stay evil rather than risk the chance of destroying his entire self. After all, evil could still be redeemed.

So maybe he was procrastinating and making excuses, just a bit. Anakin had been practically his brother- -he didn't want to hurt him, shavit.

Granted, Anakin hadn't been the good brotherly type. He'd been more of the disobedient little brother who drove him up a wall.

Like when he'd "accidentally" destroyed their apartment. And three of the surrounding buildings.

Or when he'd told everyone that Obi-Wan was secretly gay for Bail Organa.

Or practically every time he drove a space craft and turned Obi-Wan's hair gray.

...You know what, forget regret. He was going to purify the little chunder as soon as possible, even if it killed Anakin.

Grown-ups thought that just because you were small, you didn't have ears or a brain to think with.

They thought that you couldn't hear them when they talked in whispers, or understand you when they said bad things. They thought that you didn't know all those things they called 'secret', or that you were too young to care about what happened around you.

Luke, at eight, was smarter than the grown-ups gave him credit for.

He heard people when they said bad things, things that Dad and that wrinkly blue man would say were 'treasonous'. He saw when people tried to hide things, like slipping that purple watery thingy into Old Man Tarkin's drink. He knew when people wanted to do bad things to him, because he would always hear them thinking it in his head.

He knew a lot of things. He knew secrets that people always tried to hide, like that Dad was always hurting.

Luke didn't really understand why he always felt sharp-needly things when he felt his father through the Force. And there was always something in his chest that made it hard to breathe, they felt like tubes shoved up his nose. There was also that weird feeling when he walked or moved his arms, because he couldn't really feel them.

Over time, he began to realize that he was feeling what Dad felt, but not as strongly. It was confusing and scary, because the little he felt was already enough to make him wail in pain. He tried to confront his father. That was how he found out that the man was remarkably adept at changing the subject, without his conversational partner even realizing that it had been changed until hours later.

He didn't understand why his father wouldn't let him help, if he was hurting so badly. Luke knew a lot more than adults thought he was, and he knew he could help.

And then one morning, Luke woke up to a crippling pain- -it shot through his skull and his body, and the Force thrummed with distress.

He sprinted to the medbay, where the droids were already taking apart his father's armor.

"I'm sorry for this, Anakin. It has to be done."

"What the- -Obi-Wan?"

They were in Varykino. Obi-Wan recognized it from holovids of his old Padawan's wedding, which he had found in Threepio's memory cache before he'd wiped the droid. The former Padawan himself was standing across from Obi-Wan, blue eyed and totally bewildered. That was a good sign, the Jedi reminded himself, guilt already starting to creep up on him in reminder of what he had to do.

Regret gave way to wariness when blue irises turned yellow, and the Dark Side coiled around Vader- -a visible mass of shadows- -ready to strike. Obi-Wan had to act now.

He raised his hands and chanted, concentrating solely on the words. If he slipped even once, the results could be disastrous.

Then Vader attacked, sending a spear of darkness at his former Master. Obi-Wan stumbled, and faltered at the last word. He paled, dreading the repercussions, but the Purification process was already underway.

Steel rods rose from the ground, encircling Vader while shadows lashed at them fiercely. A black ceiling slammed above the rods, slamming into each other and trapping Vader in a dark cage. Glowing-red symbols appeared on the bars, throbbing, growing brighter, hotter, excruciating- -

And then the prison was gone, and so was Obi-wan.

Vader shuddered.

"What- -"

And then he screamed as the Force tore him in two.

Luke sent the droids away. They couldn't help his father. They had been trying for eight years, and the best they could do was a damn life support suit.

They couldn't help. But Luke could.

Now was as good a time as any, he figured, as he manipulated the Force to heal once more.

The princess of Alderaan was on the other side of the lake.

It took her a while to realize this. She has fallen asleep and woken up in the grassy lakeside as usual, but something felt different. That was when she noticed that the marble palace was normally on the opposite side of the water.

Leia gasped in excitement and turned to search for the man who was always on this side. She felt a crushing sense of dismay when she realized that there was no one but her.

But, wait. There just wasn't anyone on the grass patch where the blond man always sat. Maybe he had moved?

She peered around trees and crawled under bushes. She was just about to give up hope when the sound of soft crying reached her ears. Leia followed the sound.

"Oh, Ani..."

There was a woman kneeling next to the prone form of the blond man, who was lying on his side with his back to her, partially obscured by the foliage. The woman sobbed into her hands and tried to reach touch the man, but her hand passed straight through. Leia crept nearer, and the woman looked up. Red-rimmed brown eyes stared into her own.

"Leia," the woman choked, reaching out to her. "My beautiful child..."

"Who are you?" the princess exclaimed. The woman opened her mouth to respond, then gasped, and whipped her head around to stare at something behind her.

Leia followed her gaze.

A dark man was watching them from under the shade of a tree, his eyes burning a molten gold.

Leia screamed.

It had been three months since his father collapsed in the halls. Luke hadn't left his side once, applying constant bursts of...well, he wasn't quite sure what it was called, but he supposed it could be energy. He only stopped for occasional snack and potty breaks. And when he passed out. But who needed sleep when his father was in critical condition, anyway?

Vader was starting to look better. Luke knew that the lungs and organs were mostly cured, although his work had been sloppy. It would require further medication before the man was entirely healed, but at the very least, he would be able to escape the suit. It was progress. Even his hair was starting to grow, brown (dark blond, Luke remembered) and curled.

Luke sank into the chair next to the bed, exhausted.

Then, he felt it. The barest hint of consciousness, strengthening as the seconds ticked by. He heard his father's thoughts, confused and incoherent, with an undercurrent of something altogether separate. His father probed the minds of others, and Luke was almost surprised by the amount of vicious intent in which he regarded them. Vader was always violent, but usually he wasn't this sadistically so. Luke tensed as he felt his father's angry, dark mind examine his own. Tentatively, he responded.

Then, his father opened his eyes.

And lunged for Luke's throat.

Obi-Wan was watching his progress through another Force-projected dream. The Purification should have worked. Anakin would open his eyes again, and when he did, they would be sky-blue and pure.

Or perhaps he wouldn't wake up again, and really, would that be so bad?

He felt remorseful at the thought as he watched the eight-year-old son of his former best friend and worst enemy. The child never left his father, although it was obviously taking a toll on him.

To Obi-Wan's amazement, though, the small boy had managed to do what no other had managed in eight years. He had healed the wounds that had been inflicted on Mustafar. But old wariness surfaced when he realized that his old Padawan would be stronger than ever.

Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

It was better this way, the Jedi thought. At least now, Anakin would be able to start fresh, and with a new body to boot. He could have a new identity, perhaps restore the Jedi order, and live in the Light. That was a good thing.

So why did everything feel so wrong? He had only botched one word. Surely, that couldn't have had that much of an effect.

Obi-Wan got his answer when Vader's eyes snapped open; a furious, Sithly yellow.

He had failed.

Mwahahaha, evil cliffie.

You can leave your happy thoughts and comments and flames in that box down there!

!

!

!

!

Review please

!

!

!

V