They parked outside a cave at the foot of mountains. At the topmost peak stood Vader's fortress. Luke and Leia paused by the cockpit entrance and stared out. There wasn't much to see, it was too dark.
"Let's go. Getting too crowded up here." Han complained.
They all headed for the exit. Artoo had started rolling out supplies and already had them waiting.
"Good job, buddy." Anakin said.
His casual comment made Solo freeze and look at Leia questioningly. She shook her head and shrugged. Luke pretended not to notice. He hadn't told them Artoo had been his father's droid. There was no point in making them distrust the little astromech who'd so often rescued them.
The air was cold, the rain sizzled. It didn't quite melt their clothes instantly, but it did pock mark their protective capes. The hurried into the cave. Shivering, Anakin reluctantly took the lead with Obi-Wan alongside and Artoo close behind, shining a light. Luke was right behind and Ahsoka hung back at the end of the line.
The graveled slope was increasingly slick until they started to have to climb. Artoo had to fire jets repeatedly to lift over the rising rocks.
"Good thing we didn't bring Threepio." Han snorted. "We'd have had to carry him. And who would've volunteered for that?"
Chewbacca let out a negative growl. Not him, apparently.
As they went deeper in Leia started to get very jumpy, shying and looking behind her. The darkness felt like a living presence watching them with malevolent intent. "What was that?"
"I didn't hear anything." Han frowned.
"Stop playing games. don't touch me!"
"No one is playing games and no-one is touching you."
"That's the Force." Anakin finally stated. He hesitated, looked at Obi-Wan. "It's too strong and it's confused."
"Are you saying it's affecting me? I'm not a Jedi!" Leia said frostily.
"You are Force sensitive Leia whether you like it or not." Obi-Wan replied.
"And being untrained is why your feeling it so bad." Ahsoka put in. "I'm having to do Jedi meditations to keep it from overwhelming me."
"I don't feel a thing." Solo grunted.
"Precisely. You aren't Force sensitive." Kenobi replied.
"Suddenly I'm glad I rely on luck, not the Force." Han snorted.
Anakin plodded forward, speaking little. He was aware of the eyes of the others on him. His stomach twisted with misery and a choking sense of nausea. His skin prickled. Obi-Wan's eyes were on him. Annoyed, he refused to look back. He didn't want to be here, plodding with people who hated him through this wretched cave. He should've just blown in the front door and reclaimed what he'd put there. And if they didn't like it, well…maybe if Obi-Wan had been there backing him up as he had always backed Obi-Wan, none of this would've happened.
He checked himself. His thoughts were starting to echo the dark around him. He knew it wasn't Obi-Wan's fault. It was Darth Vader's thought, rising from banishment. This was his world, his fortress.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes." Anakin paused. "And if you believe that, I've got oceanfront property on Tatooine to sell you."
"No. I've got the oceanfront property. An ocean of sand, mind you." Obi-Wan rubbed his forehead.
"Painkiller?"
"I'm fine."
"Liar." Anakin replied flatly.
"For once I agree." Leia piped up suddenly.
They all turned to look at her in shock.
"My father told me you would never admit you needed a painkiller." She glared. She didn't need to say she was referring to Bail Organa.
In spite of the spiteful look she cast him, Anakin found himself hiding a smile at Obi-Wan's discomfiture.
"Just take the meds." Ahsoka had a suspiciously cheeky smirk as well.
"Oh very well. Just the mild ones."
Anakin waited until they were moving again and cast a glance at his old master. "Hey, I wish that would solve my pain."
"I wish it would too. I don't like you being here." He considered. "Actually I don't like any of us being here. It's a horrible planet."
"Hey, why is this place so strong in the dark side, anyway?" Luke asked, hitching his backpack higher.
"Long ago, this was a part of the ancient Sith Empire." Anakin said reluctantly.
"By the time the Republic found it, they'd been cut off. They panicked at being discovered and to fight off the Republic, decided to mess with the …" Obi-Wan hesitated, glancing over his shoulder. His blue eyes took in the non Jedi members. "This is not for casual dissemination. But they messed with the midichlorians…"
"The what?" Han asked.
"Midichlorians are microscopic life forms in all beings. How many you have effects your ability to connect to the Force. Anyway, they decided to experiment scientifically with them."
"And?" Luke prodded.
"They all went insane and killed each other." Kenobi finished calmly.
"Wow." Luke was startled by this news.
"Dooku had a base here as well, during the Clone Wars, in one of the previously populated areas." Anakin said quietly.
"So it wasn't you that made it like this?" Leia was surprised.
"No."
The voices had started whispering to Anakin almost immediately.
"They will never accept you."
"They will never trust you."
"You will lose them again."
"They are using you for their own gain, as the Emperor did. What's the difference?"
"You can do it without giving up your freedom. You are the last of the Sith. You can rule and make things how you want them."
"He betrayed you once. He will betray you again."
"If you stay with him, you will divide your family. She will never accept you."
"End it."
Anakin shivered. He was hyper aware of them, vigilant for the dark side's intrusion. It mattered less whether he truly thought those things in his own shadow side and more that he acknowledge they were there and refused to heed the arguments. It was a grueling psychological battle and left him with little attention for the terrain. More than once Artoo grabbed him with a pincer to prevent a fall, or rolled under him to save him from injury.
Obi-Wan heard them too. For him, the voices warned that Anakin would betray him. That Luke could not be trusted as long as his father was there to influence him.
"You will lose him too, if you let him live."
"You should remain in control. Rebuild the order by yourself in the image you choose."
"You cannot save him. You will fail him again."
He felt Anakin's hand brush his and hold on tight. Too tight. "Anakin. He whispered.
The grip loosened to a tolerable level but he did not let go.
Luke heard the voices too.
"Do not trust your father. He will not be strong enough to stay."
"Do not trust Obi-Wan Kenobi. He tried to kill your father, he used him for his own gain. He would've used you against your own father."
"Kenobi lied to you. Why trust him with your father now?""
You will have to choose between them. You will have to destroy one to save the other. Your father or sister which do you choose?"
He shook his head in distress, shoring up his inner shields.
Ahsoka heard the voices warning her that she was a failure.
"You didn't stay and help him. He doesn't really want you now."
"You can never be a Jedi again. Why try?"
"He destroyed your friends and betrayed you. Destroy your master. Make him pay for your friends."
"You couldn't save him before. You cannot save him now. He will fall again and take you with him."
"You ran away from the Jedi when they needed you. They will do the same to you when they get the chance."
"If I had no training I would have no power to resist." She thought, using Jedi meditation and shielding techniques to block and stay aware of the bombardment. She'd had these nightmares before. She'd had them when she left the Jedi. But the real pain had been when the Jedi were betrayed. She knew that leaving had saved her life. Survivor's guilt was the name, but giving it a name did not change the way she felt. She'd had nightmares then, of being forced to fight her master, or of falling into the dark and joining him. It was equal parts horror and pain, far worse to lose him to the dark than to death. The voices poked her with this now. "You would be doing him a favor if you put him out of his misery."
All of the Jedi knew what it was. The dark side using their fears against them.
Han, Chewbacca and Artoo were unaware of anything beyond the silence of the hike and roughness of terrain.
But Leia was another story.
"He will kill you. He will kill all you love. He will destroy the leaders as soon as their vigilance is lax and restore the Empire."
"Protect your own and kill him. It would be just. One life for many."
"Will you let him get away with murder and torture? Is that not an injustice?"
"He will destroy your brother. You will lose all."
"He leads you into a trap. He will kill the others and leave you trapped in darkness."
"He will make your brother into an image of himself. See how he already deceives him?"
Leia swallowed hard, fear and anger shivering through her. She couldn't risk him hurting Luke. She couldn't risk him destroying the chance for a new Republic. Slowly her hand took the blaster and almost unaware, she stepped around Luke and fired.
Anakin barely sensed the attack in time. He froze as he glimpsed the expression on Leia's face. Obi-Wan spun, shoving him to the ground. Luke's blade joined with Obi-Wan's in activating with a snap hiss but it was Obi-Wan's blade that deflected the shot into a wall. The cave tunnel was suddenly illuminated by blue and green light. Shocked, Luke blocked Leia bodily as Han yelled and pulled his weapon, automatically pointing it at Anakin. Chewie yowled, weapon up but unsure where to point. After a split second hesitation, the wookie assumed the worst, leaped for Anakin and grabbed in in a giant hairy fist in a choke hold.
Instinctive anger rose and Anakin countered the hold with a Force powered choke of his own. He glimpsed Obi-Wan beside him, hands on the wookiee's arms but eyes on Anakin. He was speaking, but he heard no words. Suddenly aware of himself again, Anakin let his Force choke drop, even though the wookiee was still cutting off his air. He intentionally went limp. The wookiee was startled into relaxing the grip. Finally Chewbacca listened to Obi-Wan's urges to released him. Anakin fell flat on his back. He stared at the dark cavern roof from damp ground a moment, panting. Obi-Wan's lightsaber hummed above him, casting blue reflections on the walls. He was ready to defend him from further shots.
Ahsoka rushed around them. "Leia! The voices, don't listen Leia! It's a trick of the dark side."
Leia fought Luke. "He'll hurt you! He'll turn you into a monster!"
Obi-Wan was helping up his former padawan while between him and Leia. Anakin flinched away, eyes wide. Luke turned off his blade and wrestled with her for the blaster, wincing as he knew he was hurting her as he wrenched it from her tight grip. He stepped back, staring at her wild expression.
"No, Leia listen, we all hear the voices, all of us who feel the Force. The rest of us know how to block them. You don't. Leia listen!" Ahsoka came around the struggling princess and slapped her.
"Hey!" Han tried to muscle between them. Luke held him back.
Leia fell back a step in shock and stared at her, hand going to her face.
"Sorry. I figured it was the only way to snap you out of it." Ahsoka held her shoulders. "It's okay. We all hear them. Warning you about Anakin, about losing what you love, that kind of thing? They aren't your thoughts. It's the dark side, dredging up your fears to use against you. This place is filled with it."
Leia was flushed with shock and confusion. No, they were her thoughts. She'd always thought them, hadn't she?
She looked at Han. He put his weapon away at the wild look in her eyes. He shrugged. "Sorry sweetheart, much as I distrust him, he's been ahead the whole time! He didn't threaten us as far as I could see."
Leia scowled clearly upset with herself for loosing control.
"Let me show you how to block the voices." Ahsoka stepped to her side.
Leia looked at her. "A skill you learned from him?" She grumbled distrusting.
Ahsoka snorted. "I learned it the same place he did. From the Jedi. I may be rusty at it but this place is bringing that training back real quick."
Kenobi gave her a polite nod.
Leia sighed. "All right." She reluctantly glanced passed him to Anakin. His eyes weren't quite meeting hers. He looked pale and sweaty and ashamed…. had she ever noticed that before? Why hadn't he defended himself? She swallowed and nodded to him. He nodded back uncertainly. Apparently that was settled for the moment.
As they started forward again Obi-Wan slid his eyes toward Anakin, considering. One thing was for certain. Anakin could've ripped the weapon from her hand with the Force easily. Instead he just froze. It would take some careful thought to decide whether that was a good thing or bad.