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VI

In the coolness and pine-scent of Endor's evening an AT-AT lumbered to the infamous shield generator base and deposited stormtroopers, a sallow Imperial commander, and Anakin Skywalker.

The binders chafed his hands but he looked calmly at Darth Ruen, who stood on the walkway before him closer than they had ever been. He had the single-minded mission Obi-Wan had forever been attempting to teach him to refine; teach Ruen his past and purpose. At least, turn him to the light side.

The Imperial said, "This is a Rebel that surrendered to us. Although he denies it, I believe there may be more of them, and I request permission to conduct a further search of the area. He was armed only with this."

He set Anakin's lightsaber into Ruen's gloved hand and the young Sith stared between them. "Good work. Now leave us. Conduct your search and bring his companions to me."

The Imperial turned in the curt way of his breed, and left the two men watching the lightsaber as if one or the other might bring it to life without a movement. Then Ruen turned gently and they walked together through the transparent corridor. Anakin wore the cloth of an orange flightsuit; Ruen his black and red armor and cape that obscured his thin build.

He said to the Jedi, "The Emperor has been expecting you."

Anakin, driven inside, managed, "I know, my son."

Ruen growled, "So you have accepted the truth."

Anakin stopped; the other stopped with him under the tree-shadows. "I've accepted the truth that you were born with a purpose following the light side. You were to be Luke Skywalker."

Inflectionless, Ruen said, "That name means nothing to me."
Anakin's voice raised. "It is the name of your true self! You have only been denied. I know there is good in you. The Emperor can not shape your mind fully." Anakin clamped his hands around the metal railing and savored its chill. "That is why you did not kill me on Hoth. And it is why you won't bring me to your emperor now."

Ruen's fiery Sith-natural eyes glared eternally. "You are not what the Emperor has foreseen. He did not want a weak Chosen One who could not kill under command."

A harsh pang of pain cut at Anakin's memory. How many times he had stood in that bright office--

Anakin pleaded, "Come with me."

"You have never experienced the true power of the dark side. I must obey my Master."

Anakin did not want to meet those eyes, but he had been doing many things he had not wanted to do since Mustafar--no, since the death of Master Windu. "I will not turn again." He said. "You'll be forced to kill me."

Did something jolt Ruen's strong mind? "If that is your destiny--"

"Search your feelings, my son." Anakin rasped. "You can't do this. I know the conflict within you, I feel the hate."

Did something jolt Ruen's strong gaze? "You have come to late for me, father." He indicated stormtrooper guards at the nearby turbolift (to the docking bay. They were really coming to take him to Palpatine again. What if very ignorance, twenty-three years of ignorance, forced him to the wrong choice again?) The troopers stepped up to Anakin as Ruen said, "The Emperor will show you the true fulfillment of the Force. He is your Master now."

Anakin whispered, "Then my son is truly dead."

As the turbolift doors closed and he awkwardly stood between the stormtroopers there Anakin saw Ruen stand at the railing and look out, still holding Anakin's old lightsaber; the Jedi locked his eyes to the young man and dared both of them to know what Ruen was thinking. Was it questions of loyalties? Was it a boreing away of the fatherlike image Anakin had also seen in Palpatine?

The thought that occupied him up the short ride with the door blank and shut stemmed from this; had both of them, lacking, sought a father figure in the personal control of the dark side?