Twists and turns and twists...I'm so excited :D

This only took me so long to write because the universe apparently decided to keep me busy. I almost went Darth Eius on the world for a moment, grrr...

Still! It's here! mwahahaha

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Also, I can't remember if I've told you yet so I'm going to put it in this Author's Not as well, I'm now a published author and you can buy my book on Amazon: Eternity's Guardian by Shaundra Nash.

Oh, and this chapter is actually longer than it was originally going to be thanks to Jedi Jesi Jinn. I wasn't going to add the last part, buuutttt when i talked to her I ended up putting it in. So you can thank her for the last part :P

PLEASE review, I really want your reactions to this chapter, and you know I love the feedback you guys send me!

Enjoy!

Luke was careful to keep his emotions in check and his expression calm as he stepped into Judro's personal quarters. His eyes did a quick scan of the room around him, taking note of the fact that—strangely—there were no guards posted in the room. At the opposite wall, standing in front of a large window, face mask and all, was Judro, his hands clasped behind his back. Not for the first time, Luke had to fight the powerful hatred that bubbled up inside of him at the sight of the man. He couldn't afford those feelings right now—he had to let the feeling go and keep his mind clear.

With no outward signs of what was going on in his mind, Luke silently stepped forward until he was standing just behind Judro, staring out the window as well. "You called for me?" Luke asked calmly before tacking on a reluctant, "My Lord."

"Yes..." Judro said slowly. Luke kept his eyes riveted to the window, staring down at the small village at the base of the mountain Uadamons, which was where Judro and Luke currently were. Luke had to admit that he had been impressed when he'd first discovered the Insurgence base was hidden inside of the mountain. However, he hated the thought of how all those people at the base of the mountain were oblivious to the fact that such a deadly force was in the mountain just above them. Judro spoke again, bringing Luke out of his musings and back to reality.

"Demois was found dead in his room this morning," Judro told him calmly. "Do you have any idea how that could have happened? You are...or rather, were his bodyguard."

He knows. He knows I killed him.

Luke kept himself calm, unreactive. The way Judro spoke wasn't really a question; it was very much so a rhetorical question. Judro made a sound deep in his throat, turning from the window to face Luke.

"I do not care how he died—I don't care that you were the one to kill him; and don't deny it. Diemos got a shot off on his attacker and I know you have a blaster injury on your side because you've favored that side since you walked in here. I have far more important things on my mind than his death."

"If you don't care what happened to Diemos, then why am I here?" Luke asked calmly, keeping his gaze steady and level with Judro's. Judro snorted softly.

"You know why."

He knows. Luke had the feeling that Judro knew who he was the moment he'd come face to face with Judro yesterday. Judro had tested Luke's Force Presence, which Luke had been keeping careful control of for weeks and months. He'd been careful to keep his presence muddled and as different from his true presence as he could. When Judro had poked around, Luke had been careful to not noticeably shield himself from Judro and appear as open as any normal non-Force Sensitive, while hiding other things like his true identity and Force Sensitivity. However, something—most likely Luke's eyes, or the physical appearances Luke couldn't hide—had tipped Judro off. Judro still knew who Luke was, yet he did nothing about it. Luke didn't know why Judro wasn't doing anything about it if Judro knew Cal Berilen was really Luke Skywalker, but just because he didn't know didn't mean that he couldn't stay alert.

Luke forced himself to, yet again, not react. "I don't think I do," Luke responded, keeping his attention focused on Judro. Judro walked over to one of the chairs in the room, dropping down into one of the chairs casually and gesturing for Luke to take the chair across from him.

"Come now; there's no one around to hear what we say or see what we do. It's just the two of us alone here. There's no point in keeping up the charade, Eius. Oh, I'm sorry...I mean Luke, or whatever you're going by right now. I'm pretty sure you're having an identity crisis you've had so many names recently. Cal? Really? What kind of a pick was that? And I'm not so sure that this facial hair thing suits you."

Once he got over the shock of how casually Judro had let him know for certain that Judro knew Luke was Luke, he finally managed to form a coherent thought as he lowered himself into the chair across from Judro.

He's a psychopath, Luke thought. One moment he hated Luke's guts and avidly tried to kill him, the next he tried to recruit him, and now he was talking to him as casually as 3PO would inform someone about the odds of whatever they were doing.

Instead of voicing his thoughts, however, he decided to ask something else. "How long have you known?" Luke asked, his voice layered with tension.

"Since you walked through that door yesterday," Judro said, nodding towards the door as he observed Luke closely. Luke watched Judro just as closely, and the tension was so thick Mustafar's volcanos wouldn't be able to soften it enough for a lightsaber to cut through it. Judro leaned forward, hands clasped together. "So tell me; what's your end game? Did you walk in here as Eius? You've definitely had a start on a blood trail worthy of the name, though did Diemos really deserve the knife through the heart; I hate to waste the energy replacing him. And if you're really going to try and tell me you didn't walk in here as Eius, are you going to leave this room Eius, having come here for revenge? Either way you're not going to leave this room as anything less than Darth Eius. You came here for revenge, and we all know that revenge leads right to the dark side. Its youngling knowledge."

"I came to stop you Judro. There's nothing dark about that," Luke said coldly, holding Judro's gaze unwaveringly. "Try as you might, you will not drag me back down that path; I know what the dark side has to offer, and I want no part of it."

"Everything you've done in the past two months suggests otherwise," Judro said sharply, though he didn't move. "You're left quite the blood trail, even if none of it was under your name. You've killed quite a few in the name of getting to me; do you think that's enough of a reason? Do you really think those deaths are going to be excusable because it was all for the sake of remaining undercover?"

Luke kept calm, remaining reclined in the chair. "I know what I've done Judro. Any death I've caused I did it because it was my only option."

"Does that include Jade? Tut, tut, Eius, willing to kill the woman you swore to protect to get revenge on me for that little twi'lek. It's a shame I didn't have more time with her, or else I would have done much more than just kill her. Though I would have made her death a lot quicker if she hadn't shot me in the leg. Feisty one, she was; I would have enjoyed her."

Luke felt fiery rage pounding through his bloodstream, but he forced himself to keep sitting, even as the mirror behind Judro shattered in response to Luke's anger. Breathe, his years of Jedi training told him, though his heart had a dark corner of it rearing up and telling him to wipe that growing smirk off of Judro's face. He had the power to do it, and with Judro all alone here...

Breathe, Luke snapped at himself, keeping his icy gaze on Judro the entire time. Judro's smirk could be seen even from behind the face mask. "You can pretend you're still the calm and collected Jedi you once were, but you can't hide your true emotions. I can taste your fury it's so powerful."

Luke slowly rose from his chair, glaring at Judro. "It's not wise to goad me, Judro. We both know that I can easily take you. There's nothing to hold me back this time, and you don't have a thousand bodyguards to hide behind either."

"Then what's stopping you?" Judro replied slowly, standing as well and standing right in front of Luke. It took all of his self-control to step away from the man, resisting the urge to kill him right now. He needed a clear head, he needed to make sure there was no hate or revenge in his heart when he killed Judro; he needed that for himself—he needed to make sure he truly was above slipping into the dark side again.

Luke turned away from Judro. "I'm not going to fall into your trap, that's what. Don't get me wrong Judro, you're not leaving this room alive—but I'm not going to leave here a Sith either."

"You say that now," Judro scoffed. "You enjoy the kill too much. What was that story from Saleucami?"

Luke stiffened, the memory flashing to the front of his mind against his will.

Red, blood red everywhere, all over the floor, the bodies, his clothes, his lips...

"They said it was one of the most brutal murders they'd ever seen; how could someone possibly create a way to kill another sentient being so slowly and painfully. They say you were covered head to toe, that you actually drank—"

"Enough," Luke said harshly, spinning around and fixing Judro with a glare that even had Judro take a step back before Judro managed to catch himself. Judro smiled once he'd recovered from his initial shock.

"There it is," he said with a grin. "You try so hard to hide it, don't you? It's still there; and I'm going to bring it out of you."

"No..." Luke said slowly, gradually calming himself down again. "You won't."

Judro laughed. "Tell me Eius, how's the family? Did you know they know about your stunt with Jade? Your father even locked himself into one of the rooms of the Jedi Temple from what I hear. Too bad I didn't tell you to capture that sister of yours. If I would have known you were at the point you'd do anything to get to me..." Judro laughed again. "I would be having my way with her right now. Sure she might put up a fight, but I'd be able to tame her pretty quick. She'd be begging me for more by the time I was done with her—"

That was when Luke finally had enough.

Too fast for an untrained eye to follow, Luke called his lightsaber out of his boot and into his hand through the Force, finger's closing longingly over the weapon he had refrained from using for two months. Luke's thumb instinctively switched on the blade, and the brilliant emerald glow of Luke's lightsaber suddenly lit up that half of the room. His blade came down in a deadly arch, the gentle hum as it sliced through air suddenly interrupted by the thrum of a ruby blade springing to life and blocking the deadly assault. Luke was quick to recover, breaking away from the red lightsaber and pulling just out of reach of the red lightsaber's twin as it made a swipe at his midsection. With a growl low in his throat, Luke sidestepped the follow up attack from the right, coming around with his own attack and driving his emerald blade towards Judro's left shoulder before suddenly switching to come around for a downward swipe to the right leg. One blade had fallen for the feint, but Judro's other blade was quick to compensate, batting the weapon away so that all he received was a painful burn up his leg. Judro hissed and Luke couldn't help but smile; he'd scored the first blood of the fight already.

Luke didn't wait to press his attack and take advantage of Judro's wound. He angled his blade for an upward swipe across Judro's midsection, sweeping his leg around at the same time to bring his heel down as hard as he could on the spot he'd just hit with the lightsaber. Judro blocked the lightsaber attack like Luke had expected him to, moving his leg out of the way just in time. Still, Luke made sure he wasn't going easy on Judro, feining an attack to his left ribs, right hip, and then coming up for a quick swipe across the chest. This time Judro found himself hard pressed to keep up with the speed of Luke's attacks, and so distracted was he by avoiding Luke's lightsaber Luke was able to catch him off guard with a powerful shove through the Force that sent Judro crashing into the wall on the other side of the room.

Weary that the noise might alert Judro's men to something going on, Luke reached out with the Force to the control panel for the doorway and crushed the inner mechanisms, preventing anyone from opening the door. At least for a little while. They might still think the noises were the sounds of Cal Berilen being tossed around like a rag doll by Judro. Luke wasn't counting on that assumption for long though—it was best to shut the door now lest it be too late later on in the fight.

Luke heard the sparking of electricity and his head snapped back around to Judro. Enraged, Judro was summoning an alarming amount of Sith Lightning, preparing to direct the powerful wave at Luke. However, Luke was unfazed, and didn't even flinch when Judro finally directed the lightning his way. Instead, Luke rose both hands—momentarily deactivating his lightsaber—and let emerald lightning of his own fly from his fingertips to collide with the Sith Lightning halfway across the room. There was a blinding flash of light before, a few seconds later, Luke's emerald lightning overwhelmed Judro's pale blue lightning, eating up all of the pale blue before winding up Judro's arms and coursing over his body. Judro convulsed violently, a scream ripping up the man's throat before Luke cut off his assault, reactivating his lightsaber. He took his time approaching Judro.

"What was that?" Judro gasped, forcing himself to his feet and blindly grasping for his blades again. Luke's expression remained blank and unfazed by all that was happening around him as he replied.

"A technique I discovered on Alderaan. I've been developing it in my spare time; as you can see, it's much more effective than you're Sith Lightning," Luke responded evenly, approaching Judro and resuming the lightsaber fight. It was obvious in Judro's expression that he wasn't going to be trying Sith Lightning again anytime soon after that short experience. Out in the hall came the muffled sounds of shouting, signaling that Judro's screams of pain had alerted his men to the fact that something was seriously wrong inside.

Luke would have to speed things along then.

Luke made a swipe at Judro's neck, simultaneously pitching the chair he'd been sitting in earlier at the man in an attempt to throw Judro off. Judro blocked the attack with one lightsaber, cutting the chair in half with the other. Luke used the distraction to come in close and elbow Judro in the gut, causing the man to double over in pain. He made a swipe at Judro's left hand, and the smell of burnt flesh wafted towards Luke as Judro gave a strangled cry and dropped his lightsaber. Luke quickly kicked the blade out of the way, effortlessly battering Judro's desperate attack with his remaining lightsaber aside with a careless swing of his own blade, coming in to bash the pommel of his lightsaber into Judro's head. Judro went down, and Luke stomped hard on Judro's right hand to force him to let go of his remaining blade. Luke quickly reached down and pinned Judro to the floor by the throat with his left hand, pulling his lightsaber back in preparation for the final killing blow right through Judro's cold, black heart. Victory and vengeance both pumped through his veins, and his eyes blazed in barely suppressed wrath.

He hesitated, and time suddenly slowed.

His conscious, pushed to the back of his mind during the fight, tried to whisper reason to his clouded mind. This is cold blooded killing, it whispered. This is revenge; this is the dark side. Are you about to give into the dark side again after all you've been through?

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind did some dark tendril curl itself around Luke's heart, seductive and intoxicating as it called to mind images that caused Luke's blood to boil. Jeza's body, lying broken in his arms and devoid of life, never to smile or laugh, or call him Father ever again; Mara being taken by the darkness in his dreams no matter how hard he tried to hold onto her, reappearing in a puddle of blood with lifeless eyes...

Luke shuddered as the tendril tightened its grip on him with a sensual caress, breathing in the heady darkness as a haze settled over his mind, the tendril spreading into a darkness that stroked his soul and took hold of his very being.

Do It, do it now! End this, all of this, all of what he's done and will do if he lives. Take his life for your daughter's; it's a fair trade, a life for a life. It's what's right...

Luke was still hesitant, though the thoughts that entered his mind were alluring, and...it was a fair trade...

Think of all the pain and suffering he's already caused, all that he will cause if he lives; he must die, the voice hissed to his mind, picking up in urgency and pressure; and Luke was starting to give in.

Do it! Take it, take it now! You know you want to... the voice purred.

An old bloodlust Luke had done well to bury rose to the surface, and his grip on Judro's throat and on his lightsaber tightened noticeably. A burning need ripped through his soul to relish in Judro's life slowly draining from his body, a lust to watch the light die from Judro's eyes as Luke had watched his daughter release her last breath and felt her life fade away.

Kill him! Make him suffer, the voice screamed in Luke's mind.

The darkness rushed forward in a dizzying wave, consuming Luke whole as an animalistic sound of anger, bloodlust, and grief tore its way from Luke's chest out of his throat, his eyes closing. His lightsaber plunged downwards towards Judro's heart as time resumed.

Faces and scenes played before his eyes like a flickering holofilm on fast forward. His mother kissing his knee after he'd fallen out of a tree, telling him that we all must always get back up whenever we fall. His father clasping him in a tight, bone crushing hug after a day when Luke had been particularly effected by the harsh words of the kids at school, with Anakin whispering in his ear that one day Luke would be a great Jedi, possibly greater than Anakin himself. Leia standing tall beside Luke as an older boy sneered at them, stating that Luke would always be a greater man than anyone who looked down on him, and that he would always be humble about it as well. His dear Jeza, smiling at him proudly after successfully cooking him a meal on his first birthday with just the two of them, throwing her arms around his neck and telling him he would always be her father, no matter what happened. His loving Mara, held tight in his arms as she whispered her undying love to Luke in his ear, telling him that he was the most beautiful person to her, flaws and all.

Silence reigned for several long, heart stopping moments before Luke opened his eyes.

His lightsaber was embedded up to its hilt in the floor, just above the flesh of Judro's neck and shoulder, which was badly burned from how close the blade had come. Hands trembling, Luke pushed Judro away from him as hard as he could, his lightsaber clattering to the floor and rolling well out of reach as he stumbled back, breathing heavily.

"I can't...I can't..." he gasped out, turning away from Judro in a mixture of shame and self-loathing. "Force, what am I doing?" he whispered, burying his face in his hands for a moment. He took ragged breaths, shaken to his core that he had almost become Darth Eius once again.

While Luke struggled to regain himself, calling upon every calming technique he knew and every good memory he possessed, Judro shakily rose to his face, his expression of fear morphing into a sneer.

"I knew you were too weak to kill me," Judro spat, picking up Luke's lightsaber with his good hand. Luke tensed as Judro threw himself at Luke, activating Luke's green blade once again to kill Luke with his own blade. Luke instinctively rolled to the side, staying low as he acted purely on survival instincts born from years of war and people trying to kill him. Before Judro could correct himself, Luke pulled the vibroblade—the same one he had used to kill Diemos—out of its hiding place at his side, and pushed the blade upwards between Judro's ribs and knocked his lightsaber out of Judro's hands with a sharp swipe with his elbow. Both of them froze in shock, staring at the blade's hilt pushed up against Judro's chest before their brains processed what had just happened.

"Well would you look at that..." Judro sputtered, a trickle of blood leaking past his lips as his knees gave out underneath him. Luke stepped back and let Judro drop to the floor, staring down at the man that had killed his daughter as the life slowly slipped away from Judro. Judro grasped the hilt as Luke leaned down to pick up his lightsaber, standing over Judro and watching him silently as the vibroblade clattered to the floor. The shouting on the other side was getting louder, and Luke had the impression that the door was at least cracked open. They'd found some way to open it.

Judro stared up at Luke, eyes blazing golden as Luke crouched down and pulled the face mask off to finally reveal Judro's features. An unexpected pang went through him at the sight of Judro's youth; Judro was at least in his twenties, still a young man, and with rather handsome features as well. Brown curls fell into his yellow eyes as he sputtered out his last words, though they were lacking the bite and venom they usually had.

"You don't realize...the mistake you've made. There's more to all of this...than you know. It's not over...it's just started." Judro paused to cough violently, blood spattering on Luke's face and causing him to pull back on instinct. "The pieces...are still...moving...and you...will...lose."

Luke didn't wait to see the light leave Judro's eyes and make sure he was dead; the men that had been trying to break into the room finally broke through, and Luke activated his lightsaber, ready for another fight. The way down out the window was too far for Luke to take that way out, so he'd have to fight his way back out.

If their numbers didn't overwhelm him, anyway.

Luke sensed Judro's presence in the Force flicker out the same moment that the guards broke through the door. Luke took a steadying breath, making sure not to even give them a moment to register Judro's body before he rushed forward with his attack. He cut down the first three easily before they regained their bearings, and the real fight began, his blade flashing left and right as he pushed his way into the hall. Shouts echoed all around him, hurting his ears, but Luke paid them no heed. He kept his mind focused on the whisperings of the light side of the Force, letting it guide him.

Still, the number of sentient beings he could sense descending on him concerned him, and that wasn't counting the battle droids Judro kept in the mountain base. Getting out of an enemy base was hard enough with a group and a well-planned way of escape. He was on his own and improvising.

One with the Force, Luke was truly a hurricane whipping through the base, a blur of emerald both from his lightsaber and from the lightning he occasionally shot from his fingertips. Blaster bolts flew left and right, thermal detonators were thrown, and anything that the Insurgence could use to stop Luke was thrown at him. For a while, it looked like Luke might just make it out as he was rocketing towards the hangar. All he would need was a ship, and he would be home free.

Home...

However, when he turned the corner, he knew he wasn't going home quite yet.

Several fighters had been powered up with their guns pointing towards Luke, as well as a strong line of soldiers prepped with blasters, rockets, and even thermal detonators. Some part of Luke's brain that was retaining humor thought how that seemed a little on the side of overkill. Meanwhile, the rest of Luke's brain made sure that he froze and slowly deactivated his lightsaber, allowing the soldiers to rush forward and throw him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him.

Luke closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief even as he was hefted to his feet; at least Judro was finally dead.

"Anakin! Anakin, get in here, right now!"

At the sound of Padme's shrill voice, Anakin hurried from the back room of the apartment to the living room. He was shocked to find Padme in tears, a hand over her mouth and her eyes wide with horror. "Padme!" Anakin exclaimed, taking her hands in his own. "Padme, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer him, instead keeping her eyes glued to something just over Anakin's shoulder. Anakin whipped around, expecting to see some sort of intruder.

What he saw was worse.

On the Coruscant News Network was a live video feed, provided from the Insurgence. Limply strung up by his arms was none other than Luke, badly beaten and eerily silent. His long hair hung in his face, though his head was bowed low so that the camera couldn't quite see his features. As he watched, the words that were being spoken by the news anchor floated towards him.

"...been confirmed that it is in fact Luke Skywalker that the Insurgence has captured. Also, it has been confirmed that Judro, the leader of the Insurgence, was killed by Skywalker as well. However, it seems the son of the Jedi Grandmaster was captured in his attempt to escape, and the Insurgence have announced that they will execute him for murdering their leader, live for all to see. We're monitoring the feed now, and so far Skywalker has made no attempt to flee. Is the galaxy about to witness the end of the Jedi Grandmaster's son?"

"Oh Force..." Anakin whispered, staring in horror as the Insurgence officer on the screen lifted Luke's head to show the roughly shaven face—most likely to clearly show who he was—with cuts and bruises forming. He was relieved to see that Luke's eyes blazed with determination; Luke had not given up, and he was not beaten.

Then why wasn't he doing anything?

Anakin didn't really hear the words the Insurgence officer was saying—something about Luke being a cold-blooded murderer who was finally getting what he deserved—and instead kept his eyes on Luke, who had not dropped his head to his chest again. Instead, he looked at something just beyond the camera intently, eyes never wavering.

"...will die by his own blade..."

Anakin's attention snapped to the officer at that statement, as did Luke's. Luke eyed the officer warily as the man approached, turning on the lightsaber and holding it rather clumsily, but still steadily enough to remove Luke's head. Involuntarily, Luke's hands clenched into fists and he tensed as the officer approached, lightsaber in hand. Luke's gaze seemed to involuntarily flicker towards the camera, though his eyes were clear and calm; confident and reassuring despite the tension in his muscles. Anakin, meanwhile, was powerless to do anything but watch, hold his wife comfortingly, and pray that he wasn't about to watch his son be executed...again.

The officer took up position, leveling the blade at Luke's neck and making sure that his aim was true. Luke stared intently into the camera, and as the blade was raised high to carry out the deed, Luke looked up at that same thing beyond the camera again...and smiled.

Chaos suddenly broke loose on the screen for the entire Galaxy to see.

There was an audible snap-hiss sound, and Luke suddenly became a blur of movement, grabbing his chains and sweeping his legs far out to the right to topple the guard that was holding his lightsaber. Luke threw himself back, barely missing the lightsaber blade as it fell to the ground. A scuffle could clearly be heard in the background out of view of the camera while Luke kicked his lightsaber out of reach of the Insurgence Officer, glancing repeatedly over to the source of the scuffle, like he was waiting for something.

Suddenly, a violet blade lashed out from behind the camera, severing the chain that held Luke's right arm. Free, Luke swung around to bash his elbow against the officer's head hard enough to knock the man out, reaching out with his hand and calling his lightsaber into his hand so he could cut his other arm free. Once the chains had dropped to the floor, he hooked the lightsaber to his belt and opened his arms wide, relief and love filling his expression as a familiar figure entered into the camera's view. Luke wrapped his arms tightly around the woman, burying his face in her crimson hair and holding onto her like a starving man as he whispered words into her ear that only she could hear. There was one word he said loud enough for the camera to pick up, however.

"Mara..."