A/N: Alright, so here's some clarification for the kind of vague-ish author's note last chapter. Since I got some messages of interest on building off the previous chapter, I can explain a bit more what that means, specifically it focuses on what Ahsoka and Anakin/Vader discussed, mostly with his declaration fixing things. Like I said before, this story was originally supposed to be small and would only make minor changes to canon, but following his declaration would lead to things not playing out as closely to canon. Instead it would include more affects along the lines of Vader and Ahsoka teaming up, finding Luke and Leia, taking closer looks at the rebellion and taking down the Empire, just things like that.

It's what I'm playing around with currently cause I do like the idea, but full disclosure I don't know if I have the ability to commit to the project and I have enough unfinished stories on here so I'm trying to limit adding more. It's all up in the air at the moment, could be a sequel story, could be a long epilogue of what I said before or maybe even open for others to take on their ideas with it. No final decisions have been made, but just letting you guys know.

Anyway, thank y'all for the support, the follows, favorites and reviews! You guys are the absolute best, hope you each stay safe out in the world and do something that makes you smile today!

Summary: The explosion of the Sith Temple places Darth Vader and Ahsoka in a situation neither of them imagined possible. Now in an unfamiliar place that is eerily similar to Mortis, Darth Vader and Ahsoka must face the echoes of their past and work together to find their way back home.

Chapter Thirteen: Light And Shadows 1/1

Everything hurt. Each muscle, joint, every breath he took in, every motion he made, pained him. Even though in this place he didn't wear the suit, that Obi Wan and Palpatine condemned him to, his body was nothing, but aching. The dark side fed off of it in droves, he found the cold feeling refreshing as he sat in his spot on the stone floor. For years the dark side of the Force was all he could feel, all he cared for, all that wrapped around him like a thick blanket or a shield. Comfort wouldn't have been the most appropriate word, but it was the only one he could use to describe in this moment. Not that it really mattered what he felt in this moment, not when he had a task at hand, one in which had recently finished.

"I don't know where they came from," Ahsoka admitted to him when they reached the mouth of the cave.

They had been in the darkness of the cave for ages, but now back in the place where they started, he could see her. She looked like the last day he saw her, the last time Anakin Skywalker had seen her. Dressed in blue, her Montrals taller, lekku longer, looking more like a young woman than a teenager. He ignored any feelings of pride and nostalgia as he stared down at her, kneeling before scattered pieces of metal that he instantly knew were pieces for their lightsabers. Weapons that were their life, weapons that they had been without for the duration of their stay. Thrown to this planet, forced to play by the game of the Son and Daughter and who knew who else, left her defenseless- his anger spiked hard inside him.

The heat of it pumped through his veins, he could feel the familiar chill on the air as he stared there. If he had his way, whoever sent him and Ahsoka here, putting through these trials, he would make them pay for it. Darth Vader did not tolerate people getting in his way, he did nothing tolerate anything that bothered him aside from the Emperor. Fierce hatred poured through him at the thought of the Emperor, Palpatine, who haunted him, who tortured him, who stole everything from him, who he was a slave to.

"An-" Ahsoka started but cut herself off at the sharp feeling in the Force from him, a grimace on her face. "Vader." Her eyes shimmered and she swallowed. "They left them here for a reason."

He folded his arms over his chest, "And they're going to pay for what's been done. If anyone of them get in my way, I will cut them down with my blade."

Ahsoka didn't say anything back to him, not because she agreed, but because she knew there was nothing she could say that would reach through the darkness that swirled around him.

He opened his eyes to look at the hilt floating in front of him, the darkness that clouded him had faded back and he could more often the light side of the Force than before. If it had been a normal day, he would have pulled the dark side around him tighter or pushed the light side away from him. But today wasn't a normal day. Whenever the dark side cling to him and the light side tried to enter, tried to reach him, it would burn like the fires from Mustafar. It would ache like a wound that would never heal, no matter what medicine was used on it. His body, his real body, always hurt and he had enough physical pain, enough mental and emotional anguish that he didn't need the light to add to it. He could see all his sins very well without the light show it to him in detail.

A heavy breath left him as the cool touch of light side brushed against his mind in almost soothing way. As if easing a headache he had grown so used to, he forgot what it was like to be without it. The light side was now a deeper part of him than he would have liked and he knew it was more engrained into him for two reasons. The first because of this planet, all it had done, was still doing him and because of the Togruta girl with an uncomfortable look on her face. His blue and yellow gaze fell on her, focusing on her posture, her expression, the lightsabers pieces all floating around her and no closer to building either of her sabers than when he last looked she's ago.

That wasn't particularly surprising to him though. After all, when she had touched their bond earlier, when they were walking through the dark of the caves, she felt the storm that raged inside him. Every little bit of rage, hatred, anger and pain he had brushed against her mind, leaking through her shields that were still not strong enough to fight against his own strength. Sensing all that in him, feeling the darkness curl around her, had reminded her of a very painful truth. He was not the Anakin Skywalker she loved, he would never be the Anakin Skywalker she knew. Though Anakin Skywalker would always be inside of him, a part of him, something he mildly loathed to admit, he was not that man.

Yet, he no longer felt completely as Darth Vader either. All that anger, all that hate, all of it that grounded him in the dark, that foundation of pain was no longer as sturdy as it had once been. Because of this place, because of her. Ahsoka took an uneasy breath, the pieces of lightsabers moved around each other, starting to fit together. No matter what, she would not be enough to save him from the darkness. Not because she wasn't strong enough or because he didn't still love her, loathe as Vader was to admit it, but because no one could save him from the darkness. It wasn't possible for someone else to redeem him, he'd have to do it himself with a push. At least, that was what the Force had whispered to him when he and Ahsoka had put their bond back together.

She wasn't enough to save him, and while he could see she had opened the door for light to reach him, she was not enough for him to walk to that door, let alone through it. Strange as it was and confusing as it could be, he understood and it sparked the smallest bit of hope in him that one day he could reach that door. He could reach it, then walk through it. And she had opened that door. Half of him was thrilled, full of pride and love, the other half hated her and wanted her gone. Though he could raise the weapon now in his hand against her with intent to kill. Not when the light could touch him, not when Anakin Skywalker appeared in bursts of strength to protect her.

"You're staring," Ahsoka whispered, her face contorted in a grimace and he noticed a shine of sweat on her brow.

"And you're not concentrating," he remarked a bit dryly, "Focus. If you were focusing all the power you have, your sabers would have been finished before mine."

A flare of annoyance went through Ahsoka, followed by disbelief, "You say that like I have a lot."

Anakin would have rolled his eyes, but he wasn't Anakin and instead stared at her unimpressed, "You have more than you realize."

The weight of his words had an odd touch to them with far too much to unpack in them and he didn't care to dive into it. However Ahsoka's eyes snapped open at the feeling and her starting to form lightsabers separated and all the pieces fell to the ground. The clattering seemed to echo off the walls of the cave, glinting in the fire light. A frustrated cry left Ahsoka as she jumped to her feet. In one motion she spun around, not so lightly kicked the wall and let out another groan of aggravation.

He didn't need the bond between them to sense her anger at the situation, but he sensed there was much more to it. Granted, he couldn't piece it all together considering her shields had gotten stronger and when he tried to peer through them, the landscape was absolute chaos and frighteningly immersive. So much so he could almost feel the jungle landscape, the vines on his shoulder, the humidity against his face. Too much and he didn't care enough to dive in when he had a pretty good idea as to what was going on in her mind.

Side by side, they continued their journey in the dark of the cave. His mechanical hand went along the cave wall, meant to help him not run into anything while Ahsoka walked freely as her eyes could see very well in the dark. They practically glowed, he recalled seeing her eyes shine through the dark shadows and as he glanced at her now, he could see them shining. Though, that wasn't the only thing shining about her. Just below the surface of her skin, her veins could be seen glowing in the dark in a white color. Faint as it was, he could see it as everything else was pitch black here. White glowing veins, very similar to-

"I know what they were similar to," Ahsoka snapped at him, the fierceness of her voice caught him off guard.

He raised an eyebrow at her. He should have been bothered by the fact that she heard his thoughts, but both their primary shields were down and nothing either did could raise them again, so he pushed his irritation of it away, "This isn't something you can ignore. Besides, when have you ever run away from anything."

She turned her face to look at him, the expression he was certain was offended, "I'm not running from anything."

"Could've fooled me," he remarked, but didn't say anything more.

More annoyance sparked to life in the bond, she said nothing and only looked away from him. Ahsoka brought her forehead to the wall, her hands in fists above her montrals, but she did not say anything else. There was nothing else for her to say really. During their little walk in the darkness, he had sensed the light side proactively building inside her and part of him had recoiled from it, the other part reaching for it. The light side was strong in her, so much stronger than it had been in his memories, so much stronger than it had been hours or days ago. As if it pulsed in her veins.

He had a feeling that wasn't far off from the truth. During his meditation with his lightsaber, he was able to go over their journey here and put something together. There was a reason the two of them were brought here after their fight on Malachor, that she was supposed to guide him because some Force Wielders wanted to test them or test him specifically. The temperature dropped as his anger over the subject hit him hard, but he forced himself not to get lost in it. Besides that wasn't important right now. What was important was the theory he was working on as to why he was here and why Ahsoka was chosen to be his guide.

On the one hand, he had considered because there weren't a lot of options for people to guide him to the light. His, his mother- his throat felt dry- and Padme- his chest hurt- were gone. They could have guided him possibly, but they were dead. Obi Wan, he hated him, he hated him so much, yet there was still some love. Buried so far deep down, he only knew of it because of the dreamscape he had been forced to endure. That spiked his anger again, but he didn't grip the dark side tightly as he normally would. Not for lack of firsts or ability, but because of her. While on the one hand the options were limited for those who could do it, on the other hand she was the perfect candidate for it.

The light side radiated off of her in powerful, consistent waves that she wasn't aware of him, it slightly confirmed his theory. That she would embody the light side of the Force. The Daughter's life exists in her, saved her and no matter what, she never strayed from the light, the dark never tempting her. Anakin was proud of her for it, he wasn't Anakin. Regardless, if she was here to guide him back to the light, what better person than someone who would become the embodiment, the persona of the light side in a way.

"I'm not," Ahsoka said through gritted teeth, snapping her gaze to him, "going to be the light side persona. This place has amplified both of our Force abilities, that's all that happened."

He actually rolled his eyes, Anakin wouldn't have and he was annoyed that he cared. "You can not deny it forever."

Her gaze narrowed so much he thought her pupils turned to slits, "All you have is speculation and a barely strung together theory. You don't have any proof."

"Perhaps not," he admitted in an even tone, too steady for her liking. "But there is enough evidence to suggest that your test here, your trial is to see if you can become the light side embodiment. The new Daughter so to speak. You cannot tell me it doesn't make sense or sound reasonable. Her life essence did give you life again after all and you've never been tempted by the dark side. Not to mention, who else would try to guide me the supposed Chosen One back to the light if not the embodiment of the light side of the Force? Didn't the Daughter say something about testing both of us? I see no other reason for her of these other Wielders to test you unless it was to see you as suitable replacement for her."

Anger burned across the bond, though at which part, he didn't know and she gave nothing away as she spoke, "We just need to get out of here."

He looked down at his lightsaber, "Eager to get back to your rebel friends?"

Pained flared across the bond and he looked at her in surprise. The surprise coming from the fact that he didn't know where the pain was coming from in his words. He'd said something similar to her before and she had shot back by asking about his own "eagerness" to return to the Emperor. That hadn't caused a painful reaction or not as painful of a reaction she was giving him now. Discomfort surrounded her once more.

"What," he snapped at her.

She didn't flinch, she only stared at him with a wary gaze and expression that looked too mature on her young face. "You said before, about fixing things. Did you mean it?"

He really frowned at her then. Moments after his confused and in turmoil state, where the light and dark played tug a war with his being, he declared that he would fix it all. All his mistakes, his regrets, everything. For the slave who had never truly been free, for his fallen mother and wife, for his child- children. Padme's voice flickered in his mind.

Find our children.

That had been an illusion and he guessed the reason he had two children in that fantasy was because he didn't know the gender of his child, therefore the vision showed him both. Both of them without names. Yet, he knew their names. Padme wanted a boy named Luke, which on Naboo meant light and hope. Anakin wanted a girl named Leia, which on Tatooine meant unyielding and full of life. He shook those thoughts away from his mind, they were no use to him as his child was dead and the vision of his wife telling him to make amends with Obi Wan and Ahsoka followed by telling him to find their children was his own subconscious or the Force playing tricks.

"Now who's in denial," whispered Ahsoka as she glanced away.

He huffed in aggravation, unhappy that the bond let her read his thoughts more easily, "It was an illusion, it wasn't real."

Ahsoka looked back at him, "Parts of it could have been."

"What makes you say that," he asked her, his voice dripping with anger and disbelief. Yet the look on her face was thoughtful, almost curious and searching, like she knew of something and was trying to make sense of it. He didn't understand the look and didn't care enough in this moment to question it. "I can't fix everything."

"No, you can't. But will you try anyway," Ahsoka asked and how she managed to sound so young despite him knowing otherwise hurt.

He swallowed at her question, he didn't have a clear answer, but his silence was enough for her. Without another word on the subject, she turned away from him and he pretended the action didn't bother him. He'd already told her that he wasn't Anakin Sky-

"And I said you didn't have to be the same," she snapped back at him, but not looking his way. "We could still fix things."

A sigh left him, "And how do you propose we do that?"

"Get rid of Palpatine for starters would be nice, but not a smart move as I'm sure he has ways it ensuring the destruction of the galaxy if he is killed," Ahsoka said and he was surprised she knew that. Sending his surprise, she smirked at him. "You would have killed him by now if there weren't consequences."

He raised an eyebrow, "I don't care much for consequences."

"But you don't want to rule and it's not like you could just take off and vanish somewhere if he died," Ahsoka said plainly. "You'd have to be in charge and any of his loyalists would push against you creating more problems or, more likely, his demise would lead to any number of his contingency plans that leave everyone in darkness."

"How do you know about his contingency plans," he asked her, genuinely curious though very confused as to how she could know about them. The only reason he knew about them wasn't because he had seen them, but because Palpatine had slipped about them. Intentional as it was to prove a point that he, Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, would forever be trapped. Even if his master died, he would forever be trapped.

There was a flash of something in her eyes that he couldn't decipher as she spoke, "I've been a spy for the Rebellion for years, since the beginning or close enough to the beginning."

"And you managed to spy on the Empire, learning one of the Emperor's, Darth Sidious's, most guarded intelligence because you coordinated with pockets of rebel cells," he questioned, not satisfied with her answer.

Ahsoka gave nothing away in the Force or her expression, "No. I found it alone."

There was a heaviness to her gaze, something weighing down her more so than anything else had. Such a haunted look for someone so young. Though he knew she was an adult in her thirties, she was still going to have that much baggage, to have so much haunting her. For a minute, he wanted to ask her just what exactly had she found or seen to cause such a look. Seeing here in this younger body, seeing her in all the younger bodies, reminded him so much of when she had been this young teen, filled with innocence. Innocence the war took from her far too early.

"Well we're not going to fight anyone or do anything while stuck here or without any weapons," he said deciding he'd had enough of the conversation. "Finish making yours."

Ahsoka shook her head, "I can't."

He rolled his eyes then, his gaze more yellow than blue as he said, "You can if you would concentrate. Focus on the Force, let it guide you instead of you guiding it. There's enough Force energy burning inside you and around you, but you aren't using it. Let go of whatever you're holding onto and use it."

Hesitance, that reached him through the bond and he didn't understand why, though before he could get angry with her for not doing the simple task did he feel the why. Her hesitance was coming from the… he squinted his eyes as he tried to focus on the feeling further. It was her connection to the Force itself. Stronger than ever, yet she wasn't as linked to it as she should have been. The light side radiated off of her waves still, filling up this space, surrounding the pair of them in, yet somehow she was separate from it.

"You haven't accepted the new connection," he remarked softly, softer than he intended. The mild exertion he saw more than felt from her when she was struggling to get the prices together. It wasn't because of the distraction of his own turmoil or what she had felt from him, but because her own connection had shifted. A shift she was refusing to take part in, one she couldn't accept for reasons he didn't fully understand. Becoming the embodiment of the light of the force would offers more power than she could ever hope to achieve on her own, yet she didn't want it. In all the time he had known Ahsoka he knew that she wanted power to be stronger, to be a better defender of peace, to be a better Jedi. She never wanted power for the sake of power, he had been the same.

"You need to get over your feelings and accept the power in you, otherwise we will likely continue to be trapped here," he told her flatly and she flinched in response. "What?"

Ahsoka looked into his eyes, their gazes locked and he could almost see the pain in her blue eyes, "I, it's… nevermind."

Anakin would have probed at her, pushed her to speak on it, but he wasn't Anakin really. So instead, he watched silently as she took a seat behind her metal pieces and shut her eyes. It took a few moments before any of the pieces began to rise. Once they did, the crystals followed shortly after and flowed slightly. Her face twisted in discomfort again, he noticed her hands clenching into fists.

A small sigh left him, "You have to let the Force in."

"I know that," she snapped at him, her voice hoarse.

"Then do it," he snapped back at her.

Ahsoka's fists tightened further, her face scrunching more as the Force thrummed uneasily in the cave. Her refusal to take the new connection she had made with the Force was causing her unnecessary suffering and it was driving him mad. He didn't have to ask why he cared, he knew the reason, but that didn't mean it bothered him any less. Having the light and dark rising inside of him, almost fluctuating would take some getting used to and he was quite sure how long it would last. Regardless, those thoughts didn't matter if she didn't get her act together and let go of her own stubbornness and accept the offered link.

"It's-it's not stubbornness," Ahsoka panted out, eyelids fluttering.

He narrowed his gaze on her, more blue than yellow as he asked, "Then what is it?"

More hesitance flickered across their bond, she had a reason to be against this new connection, but she wasn't willing to admit it. At least not fully.

"Ahsoka. Tell me," he said, feeling more like Anakin in this moment and not caring about that.

The pieces of her lightsabers froze in their place, so incredibly still. "I can't do it. I, I can't do it."

"I need more than that if I'm going to help you," he told her, surprised at the patience in his voice when he didn't feel very patient.

"No," she whispered, she shook her head and he saw the lightsaber pieces start to separate.

His gaze narrowed at her, he could feel the Force humming disproval with whatever she was doing, "Don't stop putting the lightsabers together. Let yourself go into the Force, let it control your actions. Be a conduit. What are you so afraid of by letting the Force in?"

Ahsoka didn't say anything, but her breathing did even out as the lightsaber pieces started to move back together. Not to gently, he pushed against her secondary shields to find the jungle was not longer as convoluted or immersive, it seemed almost tame. A little more carefully than he entered her mind, he went through to find what was the source of her unease, to find what was wrong. Then his 'eyes' fell on the new connection, it looked similar to a small channel of running water. If she accessed that channel, it would no longer be a simple stream, but a river instead or maybe even something more.

When he, when Anakin, trained her, she had only been interested in power in the sense of being stronger. So she could be a better defender, a better Jedi. Having power on it's own didn't interest her in the least, she didn't care for it in any way. However the Force seemed to be presenting her with a larger amount of power, he couldn't tell if it was at his level of power or maybe stronger, but whatever amount it was, she didn't want it. She didn't want that kind of power. Whether from her own disinterest or fear of what that power could do, he didn't know.

He pulled away from her mind to see the lightsaber pieces were more in place than before, but still not complete yet. Time wasn't necessarily running out, but he was growing impatient with her inability to accept the power being bestowed to her. Had the power been offered to him, he would have taken it. Anything to ensure that he would be strong enough to no longer serve a master, to finally be strong enough to all that he couldn't before. To see her so hesitant to take the power made him angry, though part of him was proud. At least she wouldn't be corrupt by such power.

"You have to do it," he said to her plainly, "Either you accept that connection now, let more of the Force flow through now or you resist and cause yourself and possibly me further problems in getting out of here."

Ahsoka clenched her jaw before she hissed, "Eager to get back to your master?"

"Eager to be off this planet," he snapped back at her. He took a deep breath as the dark side sparked around him, gripping him a bit tighter and he barely noticed his own grip tightening around his lightsaber. "Repeat after me,"

Ahsoka didn't open her eyes, she looked pained just the same and so hesitant. When this was over, when she finally finished her lightsabers, he would want more information why exactly she was hesitant because he knew it was more than just about the power she would get. There was something else there and he needed to know what it was.

"I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me," he said plainly, igniting his lightsaber. He had expected the blade to either be red or blue, but he was surprised to find it was purple. It reminded him of the dead Jedi Master Windu and that caused his anger to rise. In response to his anger, the blade in front of him shifted to red, though only for a few seconds as when his anger died down, the blade returned to more of a purple hue. Interesting. "Say it Ahsoka."

Ahsoka took a deep breath, "I am one with the Force and the Force is with me."

Force hummed gently in the air, he could feel the warm and cool embrace of it swirling around, but he did not react as he extinguished his blade. Ahsoka repeated the words, her breathing even and controlled, the lightsaber pieces coming together easily now. In silence, he watched her put the lightsabers together when he felt something click in the energy. Her lightsabers snapped in place then, her veins glowed a pale white light and her eyes glowed as well when she opened them.

It was gone as quickly as it came, but it had been there and real. Something big had happened in her, he wasn't sure exactly what, but he was willing to bet on his own theories as to what it was. When the light completely faded, she rose to her feet with her new lightsabers in hand, their hilts slightly curved and the designs on them reminding him of her jungle landscape. Not looking his way, she ignited them in front of her, the way she had back when she really had been seventeen and in this same. Instead of blue blades, one of them was white and the other a pale yellow.

"Great," he remarked dryly, "We have lightsabers, but still don't know where the mountain is."

Ahsoka glanced at him, her expression soft and sad as she extinguished her blades, "It's close. We can get there in a matter of minutes if we go now."

He folded his arms over his chest, "Oh really?"

"Yes. Really," she said to him, the look on her face told him something was wrong. "We- I..." she looked away. "Let's just go."

Without saying anything more, she walked past him into the darker part of the cave, leaving him confused for a moment. Then, he followed after her, questions floating in his mind, but he had a feeling she wouldn't answer any of them. So instead, he just walked behind her, letting those question go in and out of his mind. A sense of dread and anticipation reached him the deeper they went in the caves. He had a sickeningly feeling that one way or another, he would get the answers he sought. Whether or not he liked those answers remained to be seen, what he would do with the answers was even further away.

You said before, about fixing things. Did you mean it?

If he could have given a definitive yes or no, he would have, but he couldn't give one. That hurt him as Anakin, but as Vader, he didn't know what to feel on it.