Sorry it's been so long. I haven't given up on this fic, do not fear! last chapter & this one are kinda short, but hopefully they will start coming more regularly, & perhaps longer. stay with me!

22. You Will Go

"You will go to Tattooine."

Long after Vader had ended his conversation with the Emperor, and long after he had set his course for his force-forsaken birth planet, his master's words echoed through his mind and sent chills racing through the circuitry of his veins. He sat motionless in the pilot's chair, staring into the oblivion that is space, as his vessel hurtled through the galaxy in hyperdrive towards Tattooine. He was, in a sense, on auto-pilot, much like his ship. As soon as the words left his master's lips, it was like he shut down completely. It wasn't because he feared any threats on Tattooine- it was because he feared his master sensing the deep well of emotion surging within him. He was right, he was given a test. One that he feared would completely consume him, once and for all, into the dark side. Never before had this been a fear, he had often wished that he could find how to let it consume him completely, to give him limitless power. It was different now. He had gotten a taste of what he had forgotten, and with that taste not only did his eyes begin to open to all of the things he was missing, but he was questioning all he had believed for the past few years. For once, something twinkled inside his aura, something akin to hope, and falling now completely into the dark seemed a fate worse than death.

A death that would surely come if he failed his master's newest sadistic trial.

Before he thought it possible, the silence of the ship was broken by a rythmic beeping signaling the ship's descent from hypderdrive, and in a sharp snap, the ship lurched and the streaking stars suddenly stopped and the desert planet glowed red before him in front of it's twin suns.

As the ship piloted itself into the planets atmosphere, Vader shook himself from his despondent state, and with a deep sigh, rose from his chair and ventured into the back of the ship. Methodically he began dressing himself as the Sith Lord the galaxy knew him as. When he finally lowered the heavy black helmet onto his head, he took a deep breath and tried to re-focus himself.

"You have to be Darth Vader," he said to himself. "Darth Vader…" With that, he turned and left his quarters, only to be stopped as he turned the corner and found himself face to face with the masked man he had created. Looking back into his own covered face sent a startling rage through his whole being. He felt a brilliant stirring of dark force swirl around him, and the mirror that reflected his image burst into innumerable shards and flew throughout the cabin. He steadied himself with one hand on the wall, and struggled for his breath. It was long after his ship had piloted itself into the private hanger prepared for his ship on Tattooine that Vader exited the ship.

Somewhere out in the wastelands of the planet, a man sat on an outcropping of rock, aglow in the brilliant reds and pinks and oranges of a desert sunset. He had been there, in that spot for close to 3 days, sitting with his legs crossed, his eyes closed, in silent meditation. His lips were chaffed, his face and neck were burnt to an anry red, and covered with 3 days worth of beard- as well as 3 days worth of sand and dirt accumulated sitting in the middle of a wind swept desert. His clothes were worn and ragged, his feet bare. Nearby, one might notice, only if they were looking carefully, the tiny hovel that was the man's home.

Those who knew of him, the few who took notice of him the handful of times he had ventured into the nearest town, referred to him as "the crazy old guy who lives in the wastes." They assumed he had to be crazy- either that or in some sort of trouble, a fugitive perhaps of the Empire. Not that anyone really cared. Who there wasn't a fugitive running from the merciless grasp of the Empire? Who would possibly want to live here if they weren't? The children were different, and felt strangely drawn to the sad looking man. They thought he was magic, some kind of wizard or alchemist.

In truth, the man was none of these things- yet all of them at the same time. He was not a crazy old man. He was quite sane, and in fact only in his late thirties. But the past years spent in the desert have aged his soul and worn his sanity very thin. Technically, he was not on the run from the Empire. He did not fear the Empire. But at the same time, he was someone who the Empire had spent a great deal of time searching for. He was also no magician, no wizard, no alchemist. But he could do amazing things, thanks to his blessed and sacred connection to the force.

Amazing things… like what he had been doing for the past 3 days, on a rock, in the desert, lost in meditation.

Amazing things… like speaking to his former master, who had died many years before.

Amazing things… like communicating with an ancient Jedi master who also lived in self imposed exile, an entire galaxy away.

And on this particular evening, as the twin suns blazed violently in the distance in the final few seconds before they vanished from the horizon, a great disturbance shot out through the force, and wracked his body with shockwaves. His eyes shot open and he grasped at his chest, struggling for breath. It was as if the force itself was conducting a battle between dark and light, swirling together and stretching out and had passed through him like a great tidal wave. And just as fast as it had hit him, it was gone. Or was it? Something, not a sound or a feeling, but something lingered there, resonating off his skin and the sand. Something familiar and terrifying at the same time. Something he did not assume was possible.

Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi slowly rose to his bare feet and gazed out into the distance as darkness settled over the land. His breath came as deep shudders. There was no mistaking this… thing he felt. Somewhere, on this very planet, was a man he thought he would never see again. He just did not know how… or why. Anakin Skywalker was on Tattooine.

& the plot thickens...