Chapter 14 – Ways of the Sith

Author's Note: Poor Luke. ;-;

To Guest (1): It'll still be a little bit, unfortunately, before Anakin and Luke meet again. They have journeys to make before they come together once more. :')

To Guest (2): I'm happy that you and your sister are enjoying this story! :D

Thank y'all so much for reading and reviewing! 💖💖💖

~ Amina Gila

It's hard to believe it's only been a couple weeks since he went back to the past. Luke sits in the pilot's seat of his fighter, waiting for it to come out of hyperspace, though his thoughts are far away.

He misses everyone he used to know, so much. Leia and Han and Chewbacca and even his versions of Threepio and Artoo. He knew there was a high chance he would never go back to the future when he came here but that doesn't mean he doesn't miss them. So much.

He can't imagine never seeing any of them again. They were his family in every way, and Leia was... a part of him in a way he's never felt about anyone. Except for his father, but that's different because Leia was his twin sister. His bonds with both of them are too different to compare.

Could he go back to them even if he could go to the future anyway? What he's doing now... Leia would never stand for it. Maybe she would understand – she probably would – but she would still be so disappointed. The same is true for Han and Chewbacca.

He won't see them again, though. He's certain of that now.

And if he did leave, he would be going back to a world where his father is dead, too.

Luke reaches down, unclipping his lightsaber, turning it over in his hands. The crystal screams of wrongness, but it's a sensation he's getting used to. Sidious taught him how to bleed his crystal almost immediately. The red blade felt wrong, but at the same time, it looked so right. He can't carry the blade of a Jedi anymore. He's not a Jedi and never will be again.

The Dark Side is powerful, and it will give him the strength to destroy Sidious he will never have otherwise. Now he can see why the Sith say that the Light Side is weak. (The guilt is still drowning him, and it only makes the Dark Side call to him stronger. He doesn't have the strength or reason to refuse it.)

All he can do now is keep following Sidious' orders, because he has to find a way to destroy him, and he never will if he leaves. He's learning more, slowly, and when the time is right, he'll finally be able to act.

At least Anakin is far away from here, and no one has seen or heard anything of him since. He doesn't know if the twins – Leia and another version of himself – are born yet, but he... thinks he would feel it if his mother had died. Maybe. He doesn't know.

Regardless, he has a mission to carry out now. More Jedi were located, and Sidious wants him to deal with them.

Tracking down the Jedi when he lands on the surface is a lot easier than he was expecting. The Jedi there look like Knights or maybe older padawans, which is... good and bad. He's skilled, but both of them have much more training. (But at least they aren't young children.) The Jedi may not deserve this fate, but they... had it coming. He has to do this to prove his loyalty to Sidious. It's the only way he'll be able to destroy him, and until then, people everywhere will be dying.

He attacks the Jedi without wasting a moment, throwing himself into the fight. It's a fight to the death, and he will come out on top. He has to. They move in a constant blur of motion, red against green and blue. It's even harder than fighting Ahsoka, because there's two of them, though individually, he's not sure they're as skilled as him.

Luke takes the first opportunity he can find, stabbing one of the Jedi in the side. He draws on his anger and determination to finish this, stubbornly ignoring the ever-shrinking voice inside of him that screams at how wrong this is, about how there has to be another way.

Obviously realizing this isn't a fight she'll win, the other Jedi makes a run for it. He chases after her, but she's skilled, and she's able to shake off his trail soon enough. He spends some time longer searching, but she's... gone.

It's relieving in some ways, but this is also bad. Sidious will not be happy, and he is definitely not looking forward to the conversation.

**w**

Just as he expected, Sidious is most unimpressed. "I did not realize your skills were so lacking," he declares. The underling note of anger in his voice sends an involuntary shiver through him, though he refuses to show it outwardly. "There is no room for failure. The Empire will have no peace until all the Jedi are gone."

"I will continue to search for her, my Master," Luke replies obediently. Force, he loathes that title.

"No," Sidious orders sharply, "Return to Coruscant. You have failed once already. You require more training."

"Yes, Master," Luke replies as the call ends, and he immediately stands up. He hates being in that position to Sidious, and he has to wonder how Vader could stand it for over twenty years.

Sidious has been focused on building his Empire, so he hasn't really taught Luke much of anything beyond basic instructions, but he's pretty sure that's about to change. Which will mean spending a lot more time around the Sith Master.

Wonderful.

And he knows he'll have to mind his thoughts even more now, because the Sith can't pick up on any hint of what his true intentions are. He constantly preaches about how his hatred and anger make him more powerful anyway, and he thinks it's expected for him to hate Sidious, so he probably doesn't need to worry too much.

Luke keeps his hood pulled up as he steps out of the speeder next to Sidious – it used to make his skin crawl to be so close to him, but he had to get used to it – into the hangar of a building in the Works.

They walk through the building, finally coming to a stop at a railing, overlooking a large training ground down below. About half a dozen people are gathered, all with double-bladed, red lightsabers. The shape of the lightsabers catches his eye first. Something about the design looks incredibly clumsy and easy to be destroyed, but... he supposes he doesn't know that much about lightsaber styles. And if this is what Sidious wants, it's best to keep questions that might annoy him to himself, unless it's actually necessary.

"I thought there could only be two Sith, Master," Luke frowns, surveying the scene.

"They are not Sith," Sidious replies, "They are... Inquisitors. A product of mine. Long planned. Slaves to the Light Side once. But now they are hunters, one and all."

Hunters.

Oh. That explains their purpose. "They are to hunt down the Jedi?" he clarifies.

"Of course," the Sith answers, "But for now, they will train you. You have much potential, but no training." No training? If anyone else said something like that to him, there would have been some serious retaliation, but he reminds himself not to do something that would annoy the Sith. He's still angry though. He was a Jedi Knight, after all.

Luke can only murmur his acknowledgement of the statement. There's over half a dozen people here. That's... not good. Are they loyal to Sidious? Will he have to deal with them, too, if – He sharply cuts himself off there.

He can feel Sidious' eyes on him, and he forces himself to meet them unflinchingly. He can't tell what the Sith is thinking, but it always feels like he's staring straight through him, reading his every thought and intention, whenever he looks at him like that.

"All of you have much to learn," Sidious continues, "And you must become a blade that will cut the Jedi infection from the galaxy once and for all."

**w**

Sith training is more like torture, as far as Luke is concerned, and he means that in a very literal sense. His Jedi training was rigorous, but it was nothing like this. He practices lightsaber combat with the Inquisitors, and they're relentless, but Sidious is so much worse. He can see what its point is, though – to make him fully embrace his deepest, darkest emotions, and it's working.

It is making him stronger. But he has to wonder, how was Vader able to stand this for so many years? He wishes he could see Vader again, now. It's no wonder he was so dark and violent, with how he was treated for years. It's no wonder the apprentices kill their masters as soon as possible. Sidious definitely expects that, too, now that he thinks of it, but he knows the Sith master is still far too skilled for him to take on. (What he wonders most of all, though, is how Vader was even able to find his way back to the Light after all this.)

A blast of Sidious' lightning hits him again, and Luke lands on the ground, gasping. He's felt it far too many times The first few times nearly threw him into flashbacks of the Death Star, but he struggles to shake it off, dragging himself back to his feet again.

At least the times he's hit with lightning during training are short – usually. It's the only thing he can be grateful for, knowing the pain will end eventually, and that it isn't anything like what happened on the Death Star.

Sidious never gives him a second to rest, not that he expected any differently, so he struggles to ignore the nearly unbearable ache lingering throughout his body and keep moving.

At least he's finally getting somewhere in his training.

Luke reaches deeply into the Force, letting himself feel all the steadily growing anger and hatred – towards Sidious and, in some ways, everything at this point – and throws it outwards. It's been done on him enough times that he has a pretty good idea what he's doing.

Electricity crackles from the ends of his fingers.

He did it.

He was able to produce Sith lightning.

It won't be of any use against Sidious, but it would be if he has to fight the Inquisitors. He's getting stronger, and that's what counts. (He'll also have to use it against Jedi and people he fights.)

**w**

He misses Anakin too, now. He misses his brilliant but calming presence, his constant cheerfulness, except when everything began to fall apart.

He misses everyone.

It's been a couple months since everything happened. He doesn't know when he'll see either of his parents again, and... by now, it's obvious that he won't be going back.

He won't see Leia again. Or Han or Chewbacca.

It hurts, even if he's trying to accept it. He lets his emotions over it give him power, because all of this is because of Sidious. If not for him, he would have been raised by his father from the start. He wouldn't have had to time-travel to try and fix any of this in the first place. And if not for Sidious, he wouldn't be separated from his family for a second time when he should be with them.

He's learned a lot as a Sith, but he knows he still has a long way to go. He's on missions almost constantly, dealing with growing unrest everywhere, and most importantly, hunting after Jedi. There's a surprising number of survivors.

Is that because more escaped this time around since Anakin didn't Fall, or were that many alive before but just killed by the time he joined the Rebellion? He has no idea, but he's beginning to find that his lack of knowledge of anything very important about the future is actually a good thing.

Sidious has many questions. He wants Luke to tell him everything about the future, and he can hardly refuse. He can only leave out what details he can and play stupid without outright lying.

He did his best to conceal information about all the top leaders of the Rebellion – people he's certain are starting a movement this time, too – but there's only so much he's been able to do without tipping the Sith off that something is not right here.

Luke had to explain to him that Vader betrayed him, though he left out as many details on that as he could.

Sidious is far too interested in finding out more about the future, so Luke isn't really surprised when he decides that he wants them to go to Mustafar, because apparently, it's a Dark Side nexus, and he thinks the fact that Luke is here may have opened a window in time that could allow them to see more into the future.

The planet feels as Dark as it did last time, but it immediately brings back the memories full force of right after he Fell. It feels like it's almost been a lifetime since then. (When is he going to see his father again?)

It was when... he committed his first massacre, because all the Jedi he's killed have been in fighting. The Separatist leaders deserved it, though. They were working with a Sith, and there's no way they weren't responsible for much of the war.

He silently follows Sidious across the surface, to the remains of a former Sith Temple. Somehow, it feels even stronger of the Dark Side in here, and he can tell it was designed to channel the Force. He knows little about visions, but a place like this is definitely most ideal to have one. All he knows is that he hopes this doesn't work. He can't imagine what Sidious might see, but the Sith doesn't need to know any more about the future than he already does. It already seems next to impossible to defeat him, and if he learns more...

But there's nothing he can do, except go along with everything Sidious wants. He's not strong enough to defeat him. Is this how Vader felt for years? They sit down together inside what's left of the Temple, and Luke reaches into the Force, letting the strength of the Dark Side flood him full force. He has to go along with this. What happens next is... up to the Force.

Sidious' presence is hovering far too close for comfort, but he reaches past that, letting himself focus on the Force, on trying to get answers of... something. Anything.

As he reaches deeper, he starts to sense something. It's a bond of sorts he never knew he had before, unlike any of his other ones. And somehow, he knows immediately who it is.

Himself.

The younger version of himself.

He was born. And he's out there somewhere, with Anakin and his own twin, Leia.

They'll have their father. They'll grow up with him, just like Luke always wanted. It would be a lie to say that that doesn't ignite a spark of jealousy inside of him. He's going to find his father. He doesn't know how, but he will.

He totally loses track of time, of course, but an image starts to form in front of his eyes far more quickly than he expected. It's a strange sensation, similar to the one he had on Dagobah when he was having visions about Leia, Han, and Chewbacca – Force, he misses them so much; he can't believe he'll never see them again – but still distinctly different. He can tell it's of what the future would have been, though, because he can feel it. It's one of those things that is just known, in the same way Anakin knew the visions he had of Padme dying were visions, not just dreams. (What happened to her? Did she die? Or is everyone alright?)

Rivers of lava are flowing all around, lighting up the area with an eerie glow, and he somehow knows something terrible is about to happen. On a platform of some kind, floating in the middle of a river, Anakin and Obi-Wan are... fighting?

Anakin's eyes are yellow, and even if it's a vision, Luke can feel the Dark Side around him. His eyes are burning with an anger that Luke only saw on Vader, and even if he has a pretty good idea now why Anakin Fell, he still can't imagine him being like this. It's so jarring and wrong to see. Anakin was always a beacon of light. He still is now, his presence humming with brilliance in the back of Luke's mind.

The two continue to trade blows furiously, as the platform is carried down the river. Seriously, what happened? Or... is Obi-Wan here to kill him the same way the Jedi went after Luke and Sidious? He wouldn't actually do that, would he? The two have serious problems in their relationship, though it's obvious Obi-Wan does care about him. But –

The platform is rapidly approaching a blackened, sandy bank, and Obi-Wan jumps off it, landing a safe distance away the river. "It's over, Anakin," Obi-Wan yells, "I have the high ground."

Luke doesn't know what's about to happen, but suddenly, he thinks maybe he really doesn't want to see this.

"You underestimate my power!"

"Don't try it," he warns, but Anakin promptly jumps off the platform, flipping through the air straight towards him – whether to land next to or behind him, Luke isn't sure.

Luke has only half a second to think that that is so stupid, and there's no way his father would make such a mistake in a lightsaber duel, leaving himself so exposed, unless it was because he didn't truly think the other person would take advantage of it, before Obi-Wan swings his lightsaber at him.

Anakin lands on the ground, rolling dangerously close to the edge of the river, a quiet, near moan, escaping him as he tries in vain to push himself up. Luke's stomach churns, abruptly threatening to empty its contents. He's seen plenty of horrific things but this – this is his father, and –

Obi-Wan takes a few steps up the bank, picking up Anakin's lightsaber, as though that's somehow his most important concern right now.

"Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough." Even thinking about that moment makes him feel sicker. (Not to mention what a lie it was. Seriously? When did he ask him? After leaving him mutilated for life on a lava bank?)

"You were the Chosen One!" Obi-Wan shouts, because apparently, he still thinks now would be a good time to yell at his former padawan, "It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"

Luke thought nothing could be worse than this, but he was wrong. Obi-Wan turns away and starts walking up the bank. What?! He's planning to leave him here?!

Anakin twists on the ground again, and Luke notices with even more sickening horror – because somehow, he can feel sicker than he already does – that his robes are starting to catch fire. "I hate you!"

That actually makes Obi-Wan pause, looking back. "You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!"

It's at that moment that Anakin's robes catch fire. And Obi-Wan just walks away, leaving him to die.

Luke comes back to himself with a gasp, breathing hard, heart pounding. He doesn't think he's felt this sick in his entire life.

That – it answered every question he had about Vader and Obi-Wan's relationship later on, and so much about Vader, too. No wonder all of Anakin's Light and cheerfulness were just gone in Vader. "He's like my father," Anakin had said. Frankly, Luke can't imagine how Vader managed to retain any shreds of sanity after this. No wonder his condition was so horrible, and he had so much metal in his body. How long was he even laying there before someone found him?

And Luke almost wishes he hadn't seen all that, because this is – He wanted to know, of course, and he's glad that now he does, but he could never have imagined that what led to Vader's condition was something that horrific. Especially done by Obi-Wan.

The next thing that hits him is a steadily growing fury. In his own time, Ben had lied to him about so many things, and now, he can see why. Or actually, he can't understand his actions at all, and he doesn't care to try. He nearly killed Anakin. It wasn't anything remotely like when Vader and Luke had fought. That was different. Even if they injured each other, he knows neither of them would ever have gone through with killing the other. And they wouldn't even dream of doing something that horrific and then just walking away on top of it.

And to think that even after all that, Ben had still tried to get Luke to kill Vader, even after everything he'd already done to him. Okay, maybe he can somewhat understand it – that he thought killing him was the only way to destroy the Sith – but he's past caring right now.

His raging emotions make the Dark Side respond even more easily to him, and right now, all he can feel is a burning desire for vengeance. If he even could go back to his own time, it's a good thing for Ben's sake that he's already dead, because Luke is never going to let him get away with what's he done to his father. He doesn't care what the reason for it was. Nothing justifies that.

He's never going to believe anything he says again. He lied to Luke for years, and he won't forgive him for it.

And to think that right now, Anakin is hiding somewhere out there with Obi-Wan. This isn't the same one who hurt Vader, but it still would have happened here – probably even a couple months ago now – if Luke hadn't intervened when he did. Anakin would have Fallen, even if he was completely coerced into doing so, and personally he doubts Obi-Wan would have cared enough to try talking to him and find out what happened. If he'd even asked, he would never have done what he did on Mustafar.

Probably.

Luke is beginning to question everything he ever thought he knew about him.

All he knows is that he does not want him anywhere near Anakin if he can help it. With how much Obi-Wan already hurts him – even only emotionally – it would probably be far better for his father if he wasn't.

Again, this Obi-Wan hasn't done anything of that nature, but that means nothing. At this point, Luke's almost past caring. Suddenly, he very much does not feel bad for him that Sidious stabbed him.

But he knows how much that must be hurting Anakin, because even if Obi-Wan was able to survive that injury, it'still won't be without consequences. He knows how much his father cares for his former master, and anything that happens to him would hurt him,too.

In some ways, that only makes Luke even more angry. He can see how deeply Anakin cares for Obi-Wan – is it the same as how he feels towards his own father? – and he doesn't know how much, if any, of it is reciprocated.

He's finally drawn out of his thoughts when Sidious opens his eyes. There's something about that look on his face that makes Luke think he saw the same thing.

"This, my friend, is what the Jedi are truly like," Sidious hisses, standing. "They lack the compassion of which they always preach. They are hypocrites, blinded by the 'Light'. All they care for are their own ideals."

Luke loathes to agree with Sidious on anything, but just this once, he can't deny it anymore. Maybe it really was time for the Jedi Order to fall.

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