Soooooooo this chapter is mainly focusing on everyone...but the group that is currently at a secret location...

I hope you guys like it :D

This story might possibly be longer than it's predecessor...possibly...i'm not sure, it depends on how it goes.

I guess we shall see!

Anyway, as always, I am thankful for the reviews...and to those of you who post second and third reviews or more as a guest telling me to update,I need the motivation some days haha.

(Sings to tune of Don't Stop Believing) Don't stop! Reviewing!

Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Galen and Anakin's trip deep underground into the basement of the Sith Academy was a silent one, neither of them talking. What was there to be said anyhow?

Well…plenty, actually, Anakin suddenly admitted to himself. Though now is hardly the time for it, right?

Actually…when else was he likely going to be alone with the guy? He felt like their alternate past was glaring them in the face, screaming at them to bring the subject up. So, he decided to breach the subject with a sigh.

"Galen?" he asked, glancing at the figure who was walking beside him.

"Yes Sir?" Galen asked, eyes trained ahead.

"I think that some apologies are in order; from me to you," Anakin started hesitantly.

"There's nothing to apologize for," Galen responded, though Anakin noted that his tone was slightly stiff.

"Yes there is. There's no excuse for what I did to you and Juno, and I want to say I'm deeply sorry."

"It was a mistake in another life Anakin. You're different now, you're not Vader, just like I'm no longer Starkiller the Sith Apprentice. I've already put it behind me," Galen said evenly.

Anakin sighed as they turned a corner. "Yes, well, I still needed to say—" he cut off as they took in the scene in front of them, Anakin's mind launching into overdrive.

There was a partially collapsed vent shaft lying in the middle of the floor, and blood spattered the walls and floor.

Anakin rushed forward, taking care not to step anywhere that had a blood stain, which was harder than it sounded.

"What happened here?" Galen breathed, bending down to examine a rather large puddle that turned into a bloody smear.

"I'd say Luke tried to escape," Anakin said in a hushed voice, studying the vent opening that was lying on the floor. "He must have been in the vent before it collapsed…if we follow the vent it might lead us back to where he was being held."

"You're not small enough to fit in the vent," Galen noted, taking in Anakin's broad shouldered form and the small vent that was possibly a tight fit even for Luke.

"Perhaps you are?" Anakin suggested, stepping back. Galen sighed, approaching the opening and peering in.

"It looks like he was injured before the scuffle here. I'll just have to look for where the blood trail ends to find where he came in."

"And follow it in the halls for where he was held," Anakin murmured. "I've already noted the hall…try to keep in mind the places you go through. Maybe there's still operating security cameras that can show us what happened if R2 can tap into them."

"Maybe…well, here goes nothing," Galen murmured, starting up the small vent. He fit, but only just.

"I'll follow you through the halls," Anakin called as Galen climbed upwards to retrace Luke's attempt at freedom.

"Hey Princess, slow down, will you? It won't do you any good to get lost in this horror house all by your lonesome."

Han huffed in frustration when Leia ignored him, quickening his pace to match her own frantic rate. He doubted she was even looking like she was supposed to be; it seemed more like she was just plowing on blindly.

Though it wasn't lost on Han that even when the princess tended to go in blindly, she always ended up right where she wanted to be somehow.

"Hey Your Worshipfulness, are you even listening to me anymore?" Han asked, slightly agitated. She hadn't said a word to him since they'd left the room where everyone else was, and it was starting to get on his nerves.

"I'm not in the mood to talk laser brain," Leia said shortly, her pace never slowing.

"All right, I get it Princess, just bottle it all up inside and push everyone away, that seems to be what you're best at," he replied bitterly.

"Do we have to do this now Han? Really?" Leia asked in exasperation.

"Well, we seem to do it every day, and we haven't done it today yet so…yes, I guess, unless you want to save it for when everyone's at dinner so we can ruin some appetites."

"Han, now is not the time, I just want to be left alone and focus on finding something that could lead us to Luke," she responded in irritation.

"Really? Because we've passed I don't know how many rooms in I couldn't even guess how many hallways by now; I was starting to think you were just walking without any sense of direction."

"I know where I'm going, I just don't know what I'll find," Leia said easily.

"That makes a lot of sense," Han muttered bitterly. "So where are we going?"

"I don't know."

"I thought you said you knew?"

"I know I'm going where the Force will take me."

"Now you're just sounding like the kid."

"Han—" she warned, though she cut off as she stepped through a door ahead of them, taking in something that Han couldn't see yet. He didn't like the feeling that suddenly settled in his gut though, he knew that much.

"Leia, what is it?" he asked, coming to a stop beside her. He cast his eyes into the room, just as shocked as Leia had been initially. While Leia moved slowly into the room, Han let out a slow whistle.

"Son of a mynock…" he breathed.

Obi-Wan was paired with Chewbacca, helping Juno and Ahsoka to search the extensive section of the Academy that made up the living quarters. Behind them, R2 beeped and whirred quietly, probably on edge from the seemingly never ending and dark halls that dripped with danger even when there was no one left to enforce the danger.

Chewbacca growled in the back of his throat, and Obi-Wan chuckled lightly. "No, no, my friend, I'm not quite sure what we're looking for either. I just know there's something here on this particular floor…"

R2 whirred in question, and Obi-Wan shook his head. "Yes, I think the Force is leading us…here. This room right here. Something feels right here," Obi-Wan suddenly said, stopping in front of a door that looked as if it had actually been opened several times recently, instead of the doors they had passed that only seemed to be rusting shut. With a simple wave of his hand, the door slid open, and Obi-Wan stepped inside, quick to take in the medium sized room with the rather lavish fittings.

The large bed off to the left looked as if it had been slept in just the night before, a closet door was ajar as if the occupant had been in too much of a rush to bother to close it, two glasses were left on a glass coffee table with one half finished, and a blood spattered tunic lay slung over a chair. By the size of the tunic, Obi-Wan had the feeling he knew exactly who had occupied the room.

"Spread out and see what you can find," Obi-Wan said immediately. He turned to R2. "Do you think you can find out if there's any possible security footage of this room my old friend?"

R2 beeped in confirmation, already searching for the required port for his task. Obi-Wan moved to the bloodied tunic, eyeing the pattern of the blood spatter. Considering the way it had splattered, he knew the blood had not been the wearer's own, and he found the fact predictable but still disturbing. He eyed the two glasses on the table and had to wonder whether they were two glasses for the same person over two days or for two separate people at once.

Chewbacca yowled from over by the closet and Obi-Wan approached him, noting the remaining cloak and a pair of black trousers on the floor. He sighed. "They really did leave in a hurry…R2, have you found anything?"

The little droid beeped a negative moments before Obi-Wan's com link went off. Every group had at least one.

"Obi-Wan," he said after answering it. Leia's voice came towards him in shaky tones she was obviously trying to steady.

"Master…Han and I found something. A…training room of sorts you could say," she said, her voice coming out strange. Obi-Wan sighed.

"I seem to have found something myself; your brother's living quarters while he was here." His com blinked again and he sighed. "Hold on, your father's contacting me too, one moment. Yes Anakin?"

"Obi-Wan…we found the cell that they were keeping Luke in," Anakin said, his voice sounding strangely disconnected.

"It looks like all of us have found something. I found your son's living quarters, and Leia seems to have found their training facility," Obi-Wan said tiredly. R2 started to whir excitedly, and he sighed. "That's good R2. R2 managed to find some security footage in certain sections of the Academy. He's sifting through to see if he can find any with either Luke in them."

"Good. I want to know what's been happening here," Anakin said darkly, and Obi-Wan couldn't help but shiver at how much of Vader he heard in his friend's voice. This entire ordeal was taking a serious toll on the man, and Obi-Wan didn't like it.

"I'll see you up here then?"

"In a moment," Anakin said in a distracted tone.

"We'll get there eventually," Leia replied distantly.

Both of them disconnected the communications, and Obi-Wan sighed, meeting Chewbacca's eyes. "Like father like daughter…"

Anakin crouched down by the wall of the small cell, his lightsaber illuminating the dark room and revealing the fresh scorch marks and puddles and smears of blood in the room. He ran a hand against the dried blood against the wall, stomach churning. Luke had suffered greatly down here. He could tell. It was in the air all around him, in the darkness, despair, and solitude that seemed to ooze from every inch of stone and metal.

Galen stood in the doorway, letting Anakin have his moment. Slowly, Anakin finally stood, trying not to imagine what Luke had gone through in this room.

"Let's go find Obi-Wan," he said, his voice echoing around the cell.

When Leia had first seen the training room, she had recoiled from the stench of death that reached her. Still, despite her better judgement, she had proceeded on, entering the large chamber that acted as an arena of sorts, though she could tell it was used for training.

Blood ran along the floor and along the raised walls. The decaying bodies of many different types of dangerous creatures dotted the floor. Her stomach twisted at the thought that some of the blood in the room might be her brother's.

"What happened here?" she asked Han once more, even though she knew neither of them had the answer.

"I don't know Princess…" he said yet again, still just as gently. Carefully, he grasped her shoulder. "Come on…let's go find Obi-Wan and get some answers instead of all these extra questions."

The only problem with what he said was that Leia wasn't quite sure she wanted to know what had happened to her brother any more.

The entire party regrouped in his son's quarters, gathering around to see the security recordings that R2 had managed to recover. Anakin and Leia, of course, were given the best view, seeing as how they were the family. He wasn't quite sure he wanted Leia to see whatever was in the recordings; he had a bad feeling about it, and considering what he had seen in the cell, he knew it wouldn't be pleasant.

By some miracle, Anakin was silent as he watched the details that had evaded him this entire time finally fall into place; though they were in no way reassuring. He watched as his son was shepherded into the arena training room Leia had found, pitted against beast after beast to test his limits before he was bit by a Hssiss. They watched as he went back to his room, convulsing in agony from the poison that coursed through his veins through the next few days all throughout his room, unable to predict when the pain would strike him. As his training progressed, and he hardened himself, the poison started to cause less pain until its act was done and he was trapped in the dark side.

That was when Luke showed up.

Anakin watched as Luke limped his way to his cell, causing Anakin to realize that his leg was broken. He forced himself to watch as his son beat Luke, as SIdious tortured him; he almost looked away, but he couldn't. He had to know what was happening to the young man that had saved him twice.

He watched Luke's failed escape attempt, almost looking away when his son and Luke fought, his son using Luke's injuries to his advantage to win, effectively overwhelming Luke before dragging him away. Anakin braced himself, trying to recover from what he had seen and all the pain and suffering both versions of his son was going through. A heavy silence filled the room.

"R2, see if you can find anything that might give us a clue on where they're at. We have to find them as soon as possible," Anakin said in a hushed tone.

The only sound was R2's confirming beep.

Luke repressed a moan, figuring that he'd woken up too many times with a groan recently. He expected to be waking up back to his world of pain, but was surprised to discover he didn't hurt as much as he had expected to.

Normally his first thought would be to figure out where he was, but right now the mystery of his absence of pain was what worried him.

He opened his eyes, but only found more darkness. Once more he had been confined to a cell of pure night, serving to add to the feel of hopelessness that Eius and Sidious were obviously trying to drown him in.

Luke felt a hand on his broken leg, and instinctively tensed, expecting pain to shoot through him and Eius' voice to materialize from the space in front of him. That's not what came though; it was quite the opposite.

"Luke? Are you awake?" came Mara's soft inquiry.

Luke was silent for a few moments, recovering from his surprise. "Mara…where are we? What are we doing in the same cell? And why isn't my leg hurting anymore?" he asked, flinching at how lost he sounded. He wished he could see her, but all he saw was the darkness. The only way he had a clue to what direction she was in was her hand on his leg.

"I don't know where we are, they covered my head so I couldn't see. I don't know why they put us in the same cell, I can only guess. And your leg doesn't hurt anymore because I dabbled with my Force healing abilities and fixed it; your ribs too by the way."

Luke nodded slowly, although she couldn't see him. "Thank you…" he said softly. "How long have I been out?"

"There's no way of knowing," Mara scoffed. "Though they said something about coming to get you as soon as you were awake to…begin."

Luke didn't miss how Mara spoke softly and hesitantly with the last sentence. She apparently didn't like seeing him hurt. Mara didn't stop there though. She kept going, surprising Luke by opening up more than Luke would have thought she would.

"How can he stand to take part in torturing someone exactly like him? Who has the same voice and face and everything? I knew him, I've known him all my life—he's the sweetest, kindest person I know, and to see what he's done…"

Luke felt chills go down his spine. He'd tried not to think about that, tried not to let it get to him; but the truth of what she said was not lost to him. He wondered how himself, though he did have the answer.

"That's something you'd have to ask him yourself," Luke said quietly, resting his head against the wall. The peculiarity of the situation didn't set well with him. Something was off…

With a jolt, Luke realized that the feeling came from the Force. His connection was back! With a great sigh of relief, Luke sank deep into the waves of the Force, feeling the tension ripple off of him.

"They didn't give me another Force suppressor?" he mumbled out in question, curious.

"No…But this cell was built to hold Force Sensitives…and I have the feeling that eventually they want you to feel things through the Force…" Mara said quietly. Luke had expected that much. Sidious was a powerful wielder of the dark side, and Luke couldn't even begin to imagine the things the Sith Lord could do to him by use of the Force.

Luke sighed. "Well…it's nice to be able to feel again…"

"I bet it is."

He stiffened, feeling a blanket of the dark side smother out the light side in the room, causing Luke to shrink away from his newly restored connection to the Force.

"You just healed my ribs and leg? Nothing else?" he asked hurriedly. She seemed to sense it to, and responded promptly.

"You had a nasty head injury I took the liberty of patching up too," Mara said instantly.

"I must have been out quite a while."

"Even in a cell with no time, you were."

The door slid open, and the conversation stopped as footsteps approached the two. Eius' voice followed not too long after that.

"Looks like you're finally awake. Good, I'm tired of waiting."

"Sorry for the delay," Luke responded snidely, getting up on his own. Eius seemed surprised for a moment with how easily Luke moved before he laughed lowly.

"I see she healed you while you were asleep. I guess that means more pain for you, much more often. We don't have to wait so long for you to recover," Eius said, the smirk obvious in his voice. He seized Luke's arm, and Luke yanked it free.

"I can walk on my own thank you," Luke said darkly. There was a beat of silence before a familiar snap-hiss resounded through the room, and the glow from Eius' blood red blade finally illuminated the room for Luke to see.

The walls were slate black stone, and there was a pair of shackles on each wall. Mara was on her knees where Luke's legs had been not moments ago, watching the two wearily. Eius stood straight, blade pointed at Luke's chest menacingly, daring Luke to test him.

"For motivation; so you don't try anything this time," Eius said easily.

Luke's eyes didn't leave his own. "I get the point."

Eius' head jerked toward the door. "Well, come on then; there's no point in delaying the inevitable."

Luke scowled, but didn't reply, cautiously moving forward and feeling Eius' blade shift to hover centimeters from his back to prod him out of the room.

"Take a left," Eius said shortly once they reached the door.

"All right," Luke said calmly, shooting a glance back at the spot he knew Mara was. "I'll be back soon."

"I know," came her quiet reply before the door slid shut.

At least he had something to look forward to…someone to get him through his torture sessions.

A little light in his world currently full of darkness.