~Anakin's POV~

Anakin had seen many, many things in his overall short life, but this was a piece of wisdom he did not think he had ever expected to learn as a Jedi. As a boy, he had not fantasized anything of this nature. He realized now that he had sorely underestimated just the sort of life being a Jedi foretold.

Jumping skillfully from the smoking remains of his fighter, long overworked in the frenzied air battle, he looked up where bats were working on attacking enemy ships (how did they know who was the enemy, anyway?) landing on the engines and getting stuck beneath hulls to chew happily away at vital wires and machinery.

They reminded him of buzz droids, only they were far more numerous in number, and far harder to get rid of as he could tell.

On the ground, the battle with Sith had intensified. The cannons and AT-AT walkers, out of ammo anyway, had ceased firing and stood in a long line, restricting any further movements towards the caves.

Anakin looked up at the mountains, wondering if he should do something about that. After all, what with the Akuul shredding Sith butt and the monkey's practically playing dodge-ball with the droid's, he could look into other priorities.

Like the one of his top priorities since last year, whom he sensed was coming this way. Anakin narrowed his eyes. He would have been able to sense Vader from miles away, after all their force signatures were not all that different. They were mere mirrors of each other; actually, the only difference being one was light and the other dark.

And even in this corrupted, disputed battlefield that fact was becoming fuzzy. Anakin could sense that he was running towards the battle for some reason, and Anakin did not intend to wait for him to arrive just so that he could kill more Jedi.

Darth Vader was his clone, his opposite self personified, his fault that Vader had not died on Mustafar that day, and his nemesis, much too powerful in the force for any other Jedi to fight.

Thus, shoving his way through the battle, he ignited his saber and ran towards the tanks, where behind their guarded shields more endless snowy plains erected towards the mountains. It was as if they were in a giant soup pot, surrounded by mountains on all sides.

The thought did not pacify Anakin, there was nowhere to go, they were trapped within their own arena.

They may have been winning at present, but he had seen enough of battle to know that could change at any moment. He ducked past a monkey who was taking care of a Sith by pulling his hair.

"Ouch," Anakin cringed in sympathy as the Sith went down, forced to his knees by the ape, who beat his deathly furred claws against his chest with dominance.

Now I've seen everything, Anakin thought shaking his head. He followed a familiar force presence to the edge of the battle, and stopped, beneath the relative safety of an AT-AT walker sat Obi-wan, Mace and Nava. Anakin stared, his brow crinkling. What was Obi-wan doing now?

He joined Nava and Mace on the outskirts of the small crowd of various spices around Obi-wan. The Jedi Master sat cross legged amidst the circle, and seemed to be listening intently to what a small, obviously juvenile Akuul pup was yipping to him. Anakin stared at the spectacle with confusion, yet he was unsurprised.

"Okay," he said, running a hand through his hair, breaking the silence. "Should I be worried?" He wondered. Nava gave a half shrug, hugging herself. Anakin noticed that she, like most of the other Jedi had nothing on but her usual tunics. Indeed, her large lips had turned a light blue from cold, and weariness hung on her in the force, along with amusement.

Anakin had not brought anything either, and due to the fact that he had been born on Tatooine, an ailment Obi-wan had never seen fit to stop teasing him for, he wasextremely sensitive to the cold.

Still, the force provided him with a heightened immunity to the arctic, besides Nava was his surrogate mother, and Shmi had always teased him that he was, by habit, a momma's boy.

He unlatched his cloak from his neck and wrapped it around Nava's stiff frame over her own cloak.

She gave him a wan smile but did not protest, merely patting his hand as she pulled it around her shoulders tighter. "He says it's a Qui-gon thing," Anakin was starting to wonder if it had been such a bad thing to have been Obi-wan's apprentice instead of Qui-gon's.

"Have you seen the outlook of the other stations? It's pretty quiet over here," she gestured knowingly to the battlefront behind them, which was mainly occupied by their helpful animal friends. The work on this side of the proceedings was quite nicely being finished, Jedi interference not needed.

"Yeah, last I seen from the air, Master Secura looked as if she could have used some help, and Master Fisto," he said, with a nod. He glanced at Mace, who appeared deep in thought.

"This has the makings of my old master about it," explained the Jedi master when he noticed Anakin staring at him. "Nevertheless, do you sense him?" It appeared as if he was not the only on with Vader on his mind.

Anakin squinted into the distance and saw a black cloak fluttering in the breeze about a mile away, a mere dot.

That mere dot had destroyed his home.

"Yes, Vader is coming this way. I'll handle him," he said. Mace nodded, setting his shoulders, he nodded to him. "May the force be with you, then. I'll go see about Kit," with that he ran back into battle.

"Be careful Ani," Nava added, squeezing his shoulder. He squeezed her hand and nodded. "You too. Um…Whose gonna watch Obi-wan?" he inquired, still wondering whether he should be worried or not.

Nava chuckled and shook her head. "He's your master, you figure it out," she replied, and without another word was off in another direction to aid another. Anakin sighed. You know, I never signed up for this, he thought wearily. And, with a last confused glance at Obi-wan and his new fan club, started walking towards Vader.


~Sidious's POV~

"What do you mean you have not destroyed the cave, Darth Vader?" Sidious hissed, fury flaming in his chest. The small hologram of his apprentice, cloak smoothly flapping in the wintry winds, seemed to shrink in size despite the compact metal suit around his burnt body. Sidious would place that suit in an oven and let Vader roast for his failure.

"It is defended, master," Vader told him, his lungs wheezing more defined now. "By who?" Sidious barked. "That cave has not been opened, has not been seen, has not been touched for more than a thousand years! Even the Jedi have not seen its door in generations!" He knew this, Vader knew this, so for force sakes what was the fool talking about?

"I do not know, master, they…they seemed like…Like premonitions, but they are not!" he maundered defensively. "What? You are blathering, Darth Vader, who is it that you speak of?" Darth Sidious demanded, feeling his patience spiral out of mind completely.

He would tear Vader's cybernetic arms off by the blasted wires that held them together! He would take him back to Mustafar and finish what Skywalker started; he would…

"The ghost Jedi!" Ghost Jedi? Sidious could not contain a snort of laughter. What sort o nonsense had Vader fabricated? "You dare lie to your master now, Darth Vader? You spin fables to make up for your disgrace?" He snapped bitterly.

"They are not fables, master!" Vader defended pathetically. "They are true! The Light has…Has created defenders for the vaults. The other Sith are still there. I do not know what fate befell them," said his worthless apprentice. "So you ran," Sidious surmised darkly.

The silence that came next confirmed this. Sidious sighed and leaned against his chair, seeking for traces of Light amongst the planet, and was shocked to discover that the light was holding its own with champions that should have long been extinct.

His armies were being plundered like a wasp hive being invaded by honey keepers. He slammed a fist down on the side of his chair. He should have known better than to send Darkness among such pure light, the planet's animals even mutinied against their intrusion, the Jedi were at an advantage here. He sneered at the capacity of his own foolishness.

Yet it did not matter. He would win in the end. He still had the death Star.

"Where is Dooku?" he demanded harshly. "I do not know, my master, he has not answered his comm. link," hopefully Dooku was having more success than the incompetent clone he had bioengineered.

"When he has eliminated the cave of crystals, order our forces to retreat. I see now that you are even more of a mistake than Dooku. Your punishment shall be severe, perhaps you will take the punishment for all of those slain," he threatened.

Vader's fear resonated through the force. "Y-yes, mas…Wait, master…Hmm, would it please you, mi'lord, if I brought you a different prize than Ilum's surrender?" Vader suddenly wondered, tone shifting from terrified to coy. Sidious had no patience for these riddles fit for Jedi. He had a punishment to think up. "No, Darth Vader, it would not. Nothing else would…" he began, but Vader interrupted him. "What about Skywalker?" Sidious snorted. "I doubt you can possibly hope to defeat Skywalker if you could not even defeat the Light's pathetic dead army," he snorted.

"Let me prove my worth to you, my master. I will bring you Skywalker back alive," Vader promised, rashly. Sidious was dubious, but if Vader did bring back Anakin…

"Very well, my apprentice. Should you bring me Anakin Skywalker, alive, I will absolve your shame," though the wheeze that accompanied this could have been taken as a sigh of relief, Sidious did not intend for him to think he was forgiven. "However, should you fail, your punishments will be tenfold," and he would not be allowed to die, in case he was wondering.

The young Sith seemed to have gotten the message, he bowed, grimly. "As you say, my master."