Yes, it's time for another chapter and yes, it's longer than the last one. :) I'll skip the summary this time. If you need a review, the summary is included with the Chapter 10 update .

As usual, thanks for your comments. I enjoy them all and they give me lots to think about... as well as new ideas! Hope you enjoy this update.

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Chasing Twilight, Chapter 11

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Yoda slid the datachip into his handheld pad. The boy's midichlorian count was very high, as he had suspected, but that was not the information that most concerned him. He scrolled through the readings, dreading what he might find...

And there it was. Luke's DNA confirmed his parentage, and the mistakes of the past rose to confront the present.

Uncustomary anxiety flowed over him as he considered Anakin's response if he were to learn of this. Yoda sank into a chair and closed his eyes, banishing the unwanted emotions and turning to the Force for guidance.

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Anakin slid the datachip into his computer. True, he was disobeying Yoda's command, but if he was to be responsible for this boy, he needed to know everything he could.

The midichlorian count was high, nearly as high as Yoda's, and slightly more than half of Anakin's own, which was the highest ever recorded. Quickly, he scrolled down, anxious to learn the identity of the boy's parents. If Palpatine was his father--

He froze, staring at the screen. He recognized the words-- his name and Padme's-- but his brain wasn't functioning. It didn't make sense. What the words were saying didn't make sense.

"That's not true," he murmured. He closed the chip, reopened it, scrolled down... and the answer remained the same. "That's impossible." It must be a forgery, a clever forgery perpetrated by Palpatine--

Mother: Padme Amidala

Father: Anakin Skywalker

His chair made a loud clatter as it fell to the floor, but Anakin was barely aware that he had leaped to his feet. "That's impossible!" he shouted to the screen, overwhelmed by confusion and anger and a pain that slashed through his chest.

"Impossible!"

But when he looked into his heart, he saw that it was true.

And he also saw that somewhere inside him, buried so deeply he had never detected it, was an awareness that he should have known. Part of Padme lived on; that was why she had never allowed him to bury her ghost. And part of him, the part he could not give to the Jedi, had lived and grown and called out for him.

For eighteen years, someone had kept his son from him. Someone had known the truth of Luke's identity.

And Yoda had ordered him not to view the DNA results.

Struggling to contain his immediate reaction of rage, Anakin whirled around and stormed into the corridor, heading for the Council chamber to confront Yoda.

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In the privacy of his room, Luke slid the datachip into the computer and stared at the readings on the screen. "Midichlorian count: 14.5, whatever that means," he read aloud. "Blood type, cholesterol... yeah, like I need to worry about that... blah, blah, blah-- parents?!"

Would he finally learn his mother's name? That had been a question none of his guardians could-- or would-- answer. Eagerly, he scrolled down very slowly, one line at a time, wanting the information bit by bit, like a dessert to savor.

Mother: Padme Amidala

There was something familiar about that name. He was sure he'd heard it before. Quickly, Luke switched to the Galactic Database and searched. There it was-- of course! She had been a senator from Naboo. Many times Uncle Sidious had mentioned Amidala as one of the senators who had conspired to overthrow the government and place Jedi in the role of rulers. Amidala, Organa, Mothma... his uncle had chanted, his voice heavy with loathing and bitterness.

There was an image of her with a painted white face that had red spots on it. Luke frowned and searched until he found a brief vid of her speaking to the Senate, and he leaned close to the screen, trying to get a better look. She looked beautiful and elegant and composed, her voice sweet and strong. The bio said simply that she died in an air crash.

"I wish I'd known her," he murmured, slumping in his chair.

Idly, he flipped back to the datachip. He already knew his father's identity and fate, and long ago he'd discovered there was no mention of Darth Vader in the Galactic Database. So the information on this chip, as meager as it was, would be--

Father: Anakin Skywalker

Luke blinked. Obviously the doctor had made a mistake and entered the Jedi's name on the wrong line. He scrolled back up. Yes, there was Skywalker's name as "witness" and his own name as "subject". He scrolled back down.

Parents

Mother: Padme Amidala

Father: Anakin Skywalker

Something was very wrong. Maybe every bit of this information was wrong. Maybe Senator Amidala wasn't his mother because Skywalker certainly was not his father! That was crazy. Uncle Sidious wouldn't have lied to him about something so important, would he?

Luke stared at the screen a few moments longer, his mind awhirl with questions and emotions that he couldn't begin to confront. He pulled out the datachip and hid it under his mattress, then headed into the corridor to find Anakin Skywalker. He wasn't sure what he would say to the man, but somehow he had to find out the facts.

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In the hall, Anakin nearly ran into the boy. Luke Lars looked up at him with wide eyes.

Blue eyes. Like his own.

"Are you, uh... all right?" Luke asked, and his voice shook.

Anakin realized that he was transmitting his rage, and he struggled to rein it in. He didn't want to frighten...

His son!

He stared at the upturned face, searching for Padme's features. The nose, maybe... or the shape of the face... but he couldn't tell, couldn't distance himself enough to see the boy clearly. "I'm going to-- I'll return shortly. Wait for me."

He brushed past the lad, his heart racing so fast that he thought he might collapse. If this boy truly belonged to him...

In the lift, he pressed the button and turned for another look. Luke was still standing in the center of the corridor, watching him with an odd expression on his face.

My son.

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No way could Skywalker be his father! Just because his DNA said so and they were both from Tatooine and they had the same blue eyes and the Force and both knew Uncle Sidious and Uncle Sidious knew his mother, too... None of that was proof. His father was Darth Vader, a Sith. And a Sith was not a Jedi. The Sith used their passions; they didn't deny them the way Jedi did.

But just now Anakin Skywalker hadn't been a cool Jedi; he had been very emotional indeed. Maybe even angry. But Jedi weren't allowed to marry and have children, so if Anakin Skywalker was his father, that meant he had abandoned his bastard son. He would have been banished from the Jedi Order, so when it had come to a choice, he hadn't chosen Luke and his mother. He didn't want Luke then and didn't want him now, not as a son or a padawan. Luke would never have known the truth if he hadn't taken the datachip, because Skywalker had no intention of telling him. No wonder Skywalker was upset! He must have just learned Luke's identity and realized he was stuck taking care of the bastard he'd ignored for eighteen years.

Luke frowned, considering his options. Skywalker didn't know that Luke knew, and maybe it was better that way. They could both pretend they weren't related: Skywalker, because he didn't want a son, and Luke, because... well, because he didn't want it confirmed that he wasn't wanted. And who needed a father anyway?

He sighed heavily. Maybe there had never been a "Darth Vader". Maybe it was a name that Sidious had created because he intended Luke to be his tool of revenge against Skywalker. Even Uncle Sidious wouldn't have expected Luke to kill his own father, so he had decided to lie.

But wasn't patricide the way of the Sith? Uncle Sidious had told him a story once about that very thing, about another son slaying another father...

Had Sidious told him nothing but lies, or had truths been intermingled? Maybe Skywalker really was as evil as his uncle said. The Jedi had certainly been angry a moment ago. Angry enough to hurt someone. Luke's lips curled and he thought scornfully: How un-Jedi-like.

But what if... No. No, it wasn't possible that Skywalker had just learned he was a father. A man couldn't have a child and not know it. Unless Amidala had been a short affair and he had left her. Luke tried to picture his mother: alone, pregnant... and serving in the Galactic Republic Senate. He shook his head. It was all very strange.

Pensive, he sat on his bed and wondered if he should just wait for whatever would happen next or if he should take some sort of action. He was getting tired of uncertainty and upheaval. Life for Luke Lars was--

He sat up very straight. Maybe his real name was Luke Skywalker. There was only one person who could confirm that, but he wasn't ready to talk to Anakin Skywalker. Maybe he never would be. Uncle Sidious taught him to consider all his options and decide which one would best serve his plans.

The trouble was, Luke didn't have a plan any longer.

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"Expecting you, I have been."

The Council chamber had been empty, but Anakin tracked down Yoda, finding him in the humid, terrarium-like retreat that the old Jedi favored. Yoda sat on a rock, leaning forward with his hands clenched around a carved ebony cane.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"To learn this, you are not ready."

"Not ready?" he repeated, crouching in front of the master. "It's been nearly two decades, how long were you planning on waiting before telling me that I had a son?" Rage, hurt, betrayal-- they curled like a venomous snake in his stomach and he felt ill. "What happened to Padme? Did you take the child and kill her?"

"No!" As agitated as Anakin had ever seen him, Yoda climbed off the rock and clutched one hand against his chest. "Hid her, protected her, we did, for her safety and for your good. For the good of the Jedi Order."

He closed his eyes and sank to his knees. The cold, moss-covered floor felt warm compared with the ice in his heart. "For the good of the Order?" he repeated in a low voice. "You knew that we were married? That she was carrying my child? And still you took her away from me?"

The old head bowed. "At the time of your marriage, told me you were wed, Palpatine did, pretending to be concerned for your Jedi status. I did nothing, told no one, kept your secret. Then years later, when we learned he was Sith..."

"This is a feeble story." His lips tightened grimly. "Who is 'we'? Was the entire Council involved in this deceit?"

"They knew nothing. Just... me."

But Anakin heard the hesitation and realized there was only one reason that Yoda would lie about it. "Obi-Wan?" he asked in stunned disbelief, willing the other to deny it.

There was no answer, so he knew it was the truth. Obi-Wan had taken Padme from him. His best friend...

Fast on the heels of that awful realization came another: Obi-Wan must have discovered Luke's identity and decided to spare his life.

Or perhaps Obi-Wan had needed to salve his conscience.

Deliberately, Anakin unclenched his fists and drew a long breath.

"Hide her we did, to keep her and the unborn child safe," Yoda reiterated. "The Chosen One, you were, but could not continue to be if your marriage was discovered. A Jedi you could not continue to be, and needed you we did. A perilous time for the Jedi it was, with the Dark Side lying heavily upon us."

He listened, numb and aching, unable to fathom the depths of this treachery. They were his friends and they had done this to him...

"Defeated Palpatine we thought you had. Then came the accident. Dead Padme was, her child with her-- we believed it as all the galaxy did. How she gave birth, how Palpatine came to live on Tatooine and have your son-- I know not." One hand laid on his arm. "Anakin, please believe. A son, we did not know you had."

"And if you had known?" Anakin rose and backed away, unable to bear Yoda's touch. "Palpatine raised my child! Of all the people in the galaxy--" He stopped, the horror of Luke's upbringing rendering him mute.

"What will you do?" the little Jedi asked anxiously.

Anakin shook his head. I don't know. He folded his arms, trying to warm himself. "You've always claimed that you listen to the Force, but it wasn't the Force that told you to rob me of my wife and child. It was you-- your craving for power, your desire for the Jedi to control the galaxy." He shuddered and gasped as if a wave of ice battered against his heart. "Answer this: was it worth it? Has it turned out the way you'd hoped?"

Yoda sagged and didn't reply. He didn't need to; they both knew that power meant compromise and eventual corruption, and even the Jedi were not immune to its effects.

He spun around and walked out, leaving the Jedi Master and the dark, musty room behind, taking in the clean air of the corridor in harsh, rasping breaths. "I don't know what I'll do," he repeated to the empty hall, bending over and hugging himself as the pain finally overwhelmed him. Padme, Palpatine, Yoda, Obi-Wan, Luke... It was a nightmare, but this time he wasn't asleep and it was no premonition. It was years too late to stop this event from unfolding... not that he had ever been successful in diverting the course of a loved one's fate.

And he didn't know what to do, where to turn...

My son... What will I tell you? Should I tell you the truth? Should I tell you anything at all? And what if you reject me? You've grown up without a father. Why would you need one now?

The idea that his son might rebuff his affection devastated him. The only thing he knew for certain was that he couldn't risk talking to Luke until he had these erratic emotions controlled. He would leave the temple and seek privacy to meditate, hopefully to find peace in the Force. Maybe It would tell him if he should continue to live as a Jedi and if he should raise his son in the Jedi tradition... or if he and the Jedi should part ways...

...or even, perhaps, if the lifespan of the well-intentioned reign of the Jedi was over, their aspirations distorted by too many concessions and attempts at conciliation.

It would be ironic, he thought with dark humor, if Palpatine's plan for a galactic empire had indeed been the answer to controlling the chaos of warring factions.

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