Be forewarned: I create more questions than answers with this chapter.

Oh, and you have every right to freak out. SOMEONE is going to die...but I won't spoil who mwahahahahaha

Though not in this chapter, so you can relax...for now... *Cue Mark Hamill Joker Laughter*

PLEASE review, as we are nearing the end and I have been dreaming of this as long as A Father's Son has been out. So a LOOOONG time.

ENJOY!

Time had no end.

Luke had learned this lesson by now. Endless, immeasurable hours passed by, and he had no way of knowing when he would be called next, no hint at when he would be brought before Sidious to suffer once more.

No hint at when it would all finally be over. Nor did he know if Sidious planned another sudden, brutal 'talk' as he had some time earlier after punishing Luke and Eius. Luke could still taste the bitter metallic tang of blood in his mouth from the experience, and he was sitting carefully to nurse several nasty wounds that had also resulted from the visit. He just had the sure knowledge that eventually one of the times that Eius came for him it would be the last time. Yet that time didn't seem to want to come, prolonging Luke's suffering. Why couldn't it just end all ready?

"He really did break you this time, didn't he?"

Luke sighed, leaning his head against the stone wall. He still couldn't figure out why Eius had done what he had…

"You can't give up; you've got to keep fighting."

But why fight? Why fight if he was going to die anyway?

"If you do die…than you're going to die a true Skywalker…"

Why did Eius even care?

"…and not a broken man, or I'll be damned."

He still cares, a small voice whispered to Luke's mind, though he had trouble believing it.

"I don't want to hear anymore."

He's just too afraid to see the truth, the tiny voice continued. Wasn't Anakin the same way originally; too afraid to see through the lies Sidious fed him?

Still, sitting alone in the darkness, the pain of betrayal still crisp in his solitude, Luke wasn't sure if he believed that Eius had a chance anymore…the last time he'd seen him his eyes had been void of any caring, an ocean of icy blue indifference…

Luke suddenly jerked from shock, almost like he had been zapped with a bolt of lightning; a sensation he had grown quite familiar with by now.

Icy blue indifference…

Icy blue…

Blue.

Not blazing, hateful golden; blue. Pure, crystalline blue that Luke himself proudly owned. Bright, shining blue eyes that could pierce through someone and seemed to see every lie into the other's very soul.

Blue.

Who would have thought that a color—a simple color!—could spark such a small inkling of hope?

All right, Luke thought to himself, perhaps there still is hope for Eius'…for Luke's soul…Still, I don't see any hope for my life.

This was a dilemma.

He was the one who still had the pure, untainted soul and the will to stay on the light side of the Force, the one who wanted the change to happen. Eius—the other Luke—was the one who still had the chance to live, and possibly just enough of the light back in him that he could be swayed back to reason.

So how could this possibly work? Each Luke held half of what was needed to fix this horrible mess, but circumstances seemed to keep them from doing just what they needed to.

And Luke's lovely other self was too stubborn to listen to reason.

The door across the room slid open, interrupting Luke's musings. He didn't need the Force to tell that the other Luke was on the other side, standing in the hall in utter darkness.

"You're coming with me," the other Luke said emotionlessly. Luke tried to stand, but loss of blood and his injuries in general caused him to collapse back to the ground with a groan. Wordlessly, the other Luke crossed the room and pulled Luke to his feet, letting Luke lean on him for support but keeping a vicelike grip on Luke's arm.

I thought you said you wouldn't help me ever again, Luke had to keep himself from saying.

Ah, he said that, said that little voice in his head as the other Luke led him along, but he didn't mean it.

And it was then, watching the other Luke as they made their way through the darkened halls, eyes fixated on the hood drawn over the features identical to his own, that Luke suddenly had his epiphany.

He knew what he had to do.

Han had always been protective of his precious Millennium Falcon, but when it came to Anakin, he had to admit that the Anakin was superior to him in mechanics and flying.

However, Han always argued that it was only because of his Jedi skills and because he had quite a few years on him.

Still, when Anakin had requested he take the wheel once they entered the atmosphere at Byss, Han obliged happily. Anakin knew where they were going; Anakin knew where Luke was.

If only I knew what we were walking into; what we were going to do; what we'll find; whether or not we'll come out alive, Anakin couldn't help but think. Still, he slowly guided the Falcon down towards the surface of Byss, eyes skimming over the trees he could see below. From the vision of Luke, he knew that Luke was being kept in some sort of ruins…his best bet would be the ruins of the Rakata Temples. Finding the way inside this secret base Sidious had established was going to be the real tricky part.

Beside him, Han sat tensely in the co-pilot's chair that the Wookiee usually occupied. The younger man wasn't keen about the fact that he was to stay behind with the Wookiee while the Jedi handled the dangerous threat they all knew was waiting for them. However, Anakin had made it quite clear that if Han came along, or snuck into the ruins behind them, he would just be putting himself and the others at greater risk, and making the rescue plan a lot harder to carry out. Han and Chewbacca were responsible for covering and carrying out their escape, just in case things went south.

In Anakin's experience, they usually did.

"Keep your eyes open for any ruins," Anakin told them, his tone coming out distracted as his eyes and Force senses roamed the thick vegetation below the Falcon. Leia and Galen appeared from around the corner, entering the cockpit. Galen stood just behind the pilot seats while Leia leaned over Han's shoulder, her eyes roaming the view that spread out in front of them through the viewport. Strangely enough, she shivered.

"There's so much evil here…" she muttered.

Anakin blinked, momentarily shifting his focus from searching for Luke to actually paying attention to the Force energies that coated the planet. Sure enough, those energies were of the dark side. Anakin couldn't help but worry about the fact that the energies hadn't affected him. Maybe he just hadn't noticed because of all the time he had spent here as Vader; perhaps he was just accustomed to it.

Still, he should have at least subconsciously detected the dark side of the Force.

Galen seemed to be having a similar train of thought behind him. At least Anakin wasn't the only one; perhaps it was just the once turncoats that were oblivious to the potency of the dark side on the planet.

"Byss is particularly strong with the dark side of the Force," Anakin said as he resumed his careful probing for Luke. "It was much worse in the time of the Empire; most of this vegetation wasn't here anymore because of how corrupt the planet became once Sidious made this planet his personal retreat. It's seen better days now though; it's not as tainted. Still tainted, but not so bad."

Leia nodded slowly. "It's beautiful but…dark…"

"Understandable," Anakin said warily. "Can either of you sense anything?"

Leia shook her head sadly. "No, I can't. Nothing that we're looking for anyway. Just this thick darkness."

Anakin frowned, shaking his head slightly with a sigh. "I wish I had a better idea of where they are, but the only thing I gathered was the system and I guessed on the planet. Not even Luke knows more than I do."

"Perhaps we're going about this all wrong," Galen suddenly said, surprising them all. Galen ignored the stares he was receiving and pressed on. "We're looking for this bright light in a sea of darkness, when we should be looking for the strongest concentration of the dark side on the planet; that will be where Sidious and both Luke's will be, possibly even Mara Jade. It will take a lot of focus and Force utilization to mask a presence as bright as Luke's anyway."

"Have you found anything yet then?" Leia asked him. Anakin, however, was already delving into Galen's suggested approach, shifting through the dark energies as he tried to find where the dark side of the Force was the strongest.

"Not yet, but we're likely to find something much faster if we try that angle," Galen pointed out. Leia seemed very reluctant to willingly sift through the dark side, even if it did mean finding her brother. Luckily, she didn't have to.

"I think I found them," Anakin said abruptly, his senses honing in on the pit of evil he had found that seemed to travel below the surface, concentrated and suffocating. At least it was suffocating for a light side wielder. Just as when he had come to find, he wasn't affected by the dark side as much as the others because he had spent twenty-three years in darkness. Well, twenty three years in darkness in one lifetime.

"Where?" Leia asked, though Anakin was already angling the Falcon in the general direction.

"Not too far away," Anakin said grimly. Behind him, Galen nodded.

"I sense it too…we're walking into a sarlacc pit, aren't we Anakin?"

Anakin's expression darkened. "Yes…I believe we are."

A strange blue/green mist covered the ruins of Rakata that the dark side was centered around, just as Anakin had expected. He expertly guided the Falcon through the mist, finding an open patch in the thick green trees and landing the Falcon on a smooth flat sheet of rock that was peaking up from the ground. Distantly, Anakin wondered if he had just landed on the roof of a long forgotten temple or home.

Once the Falcon had finished shutting down, the small party—not counting Chewbacca and Han—prepared to begin their rescue. Leia had a somewhat tearful goodbye with Han that Anakin and Galen kept private by waiting at the foot of the ramp before she rejoined the group. Without a word, the group made their way into the thick trees that lay a few feet in front of them, keeping their eyes open and staying as in tune with the Force as they could manage just in case the Force gave them any kind of nudges of guidance. They passed by various different forms of ruins, hoping to find some sort of secret entrance to some underground layer. Anakin could sense halls and rooms far beneath them as they walked, indicating that Sidious did have a rather sizable base here. How they were going to quickly and quietly find Luke in such an expansive underground base, Anakin didn't know.

What he didn't expect was the obvious supposed entrance that Galen stumbled upon.

"Anakin, Leia, I think I found something!" Galen called from beyond an expanse of trees, drawing the other two from the spots they had been searching. He appeared just briefly through the dense foliage, waving them forward. "I think I found something."

"What is it?" Anakin asked as he climbed over a particularly large trunk of a fallen tree.

"An entrance to…somewhere. I almost missed it; it's hidden under a bunch of vines," Galen informed quickly, pressing on through the vines and thick brush as if they were nothing. "It leads somewhere, I just can't tell where; the dark side gets stronger the further in, so I think it's where we want to go."

"It can't hurt to try," Leia said softly as Anakin cut a rather thick patch of vines out of his way with his lightsaber.

"It's here," Galen called from just ahead of them. Anakin ducked under a low hanging branch—one that Luke probably could just stroll under without ducking—and finally reached the clearing that housed Galen's entrance.

Sure enough, in the center of the clearing there was a patch of stone showing through the thick moss and other various plants that were growing on top of it. One large slab sat awkwardly, jutting out from the rest of the stone. It appeared to be movable, indicating that if they used to Force to move it aside they could enter whatever it was housing below.

Anakin thought it was a little too easy, but it was the best thing they had, so he didn't complain. He simply stayed alert.

"Can you help me with this?" Galen asked Leia, who promptly moved to stand across from him. Anakin stood out of the way as the two of them lifted the large slab and set it aside, leaving a hole large enough for them to slip into the slightly visible corridor below. It seemed like a decently long drop, but not a deadly one.

"I'll go first," Anakin said abruptly, striding towards the hole before he slipped through the gap. There was a few moments where he was weightless before—with a little help from the Force—he landed upright on his feet in a pitch black corridor. Once he had regained his bearings, Anakin activated his lightsaber, dimly lighting a small section of the room; just enough for him to note the condition of the halls.

There were vines lacing the walls, and a certain coolness in the slightly damp air. He was sure that it would just get worse the further in they went.

"What do you see Father?" came Leia's voice from above him. Anakin hastily stepped out of the way of any possible sudden descents before he answered.

"It's all clear."

Just as he'd suspected, his words were quickly followed by a soft thud as Galen landed in front of him. He stepped out of the way and activated his lightsaber, his light blue blade humming to life the same moment that Leia landed in the chamber. She silently pulled out her own lightsaber, adding its own deep blue glow—similar to Anakin's own blade—to the mix. The three lightsaber's together illuminated the hall the best they could.

"Come on, let's get moving," Anakin said firmly, his voice echoing slightly in the chamber before they all started forward. He didn't say anything, but he sensed that they were running out of time and if they were running out of time, that meant that Sidious was running out of patience.

As if it had a mind of its own, Anakin's hand fell to the second lightsaber on his belt; a certain green bladed lightsaber that housed a synthetic crystal forged in the hut of a 'Ben' Kenobi on Tatooine, its design similar to Obi-Wan's. He had been keeping it close by since Luke had been taken, and he planned on returning it to its owner today. His hand dropped a little further to a small pouch on his utility belt; the pouch that held a thin strand of hair that had been cleaned of the blood that had stained it when he found it.

Everyone knew how hard that this was for him, but no one could understand just how hard it was. These two small objects had been a sense of comfort, something to hold onto; so he had kept them close, though he had told no one of the Padawan Braid. Only Obi-Wan knew he had it.

Restlessly, Anakin sent out a query through the Force ahead of them, hoping that he would be able to sense one of the versions of his son; knowing either one of them were here would be a relief. However, he found nothing; the darkness only solidified at his use of the light side to try and find something and even then it seemed there was some shielding going on.

Discreetly, Anakin glanced at his two young, silent companions before he slowly and carefully stretched forth another query, but through different means as he focused his eyes ahead once more.

Galen glanced over at him; a movement Anakin noticed out of his peripherals. Still, Anakin ignored the glance. He was only tapping into that reserve at the moment because he believed it would be the only way he could get through the ethereal wall that was separating Anakin from his son.

Instead of fighting against the darkness, Anakin let himself briefly become one with the darkness, just long enough to do a quick search. Fury was easily ignited inside him as he sensed Sidious ahead of them, and fuel was only added to the fire when he sensed Mara with him as well. He tried to stretch forward to see if he could locate Luke, but a sudden attack from the darkness caused him to retreat; he was just utilizing the dark side at the moment to try and locate Luke and he refused to end up ensnared. Quickly, he cut off his connection to the Force as a whole, giving himself time to simmer before he reached out to the Force again.

"Be ready," Anakin said abruptly, breaking the silence between him and his two companions. They both shot a surprised look at Anakin. "He's just ahead of us," Anakin finished darkly before coming to a halt in front of a ridiculously large door for the state the ruins were in. Reaching out with his hand and deactivating his lightsaber—though not holstering it—Anakin drew upon the Force to open the ancient stone doors. Dim light flooded the hallway, and the other two copied Anakin's movement, deactivating their lightsabers before they all collectively stepped over the threshold, Anakin leading.

His eyes quickly took in the large underground chamber. Stretching out his senses, Anakin could tell that as they had walked down the hall they had been slowly descending deeper into the planet, as they were suddenly quite a distance away from the surface. Anakin slowly looked around, noting the large stone pillars, the hard stone wall, the occasional torch that caused the dim light in the underground chamber. Their footsteps echoed around the spacious stone room as they slowly drew to the other side of the room where they were expected.

Anakin's blood boiled dangerously and he bristled as he laid eyes on Sidious, standing on a raised platform and enshrouded in his dark robe. Still, his white, wizened hands peaked out from the sleeves of the robe, and Anakin's brow furrowed just slightly. Sidious had definitely aged quickly…perhaps it was just the way the clone body was, and his body deteriorated quickly.

Standing off to the right of the abomination—on Anakin's left—was Mara Jade, her green eyes sharp and calculating as she studied the three Jedi drawing nearer. It took all of Anakin's willpower not to flip his Vader switch and strangle her as the look of utter betrayal on Luke's face from his vision resurfaced to the front of his mind.

Control Skywalker…you need control right now, or else none of you are going to make it out of this alive. You have a promise—several promises—to keep. Stay sharp, Anakin reprimanded himself as he drew to a sudden stop at the foot of the stares that lead up to Sidious on the raised platform. The entire walk reminded him disturbingly of his time as Vader, and even now there was a small impulse in the back of his mind to kneel. He was close enough he could see the sickening smirk on Sidious' face under the hood, as if Sidious knew the impulse he was fighting.

Anakin spoke first, his authoritative voice ringing throughout the room.

"Where is he?"

Sidious cackled lightly. "Straight to the point, as always Anakin. Or should I call you Vader?" Sidious asked, sneering the Sith title. "I could sense your struggle with the dark side the moment you entered the system! You of all people should know there is no turning back from the dark side…"

Anakin bristled at the double meaning in his words, one being pointed at him and the other aimed as a jab towards his quest to bring Luke back to the light. He started to ascend the steps before anyone could stop him. "And you should know by now that idealism is far from the truth!" Anakin snarled. He had no patience for Sidious. He'd been chasing his son all over the galaxy, and he was going to get him back now or die trying. He grabbed Sidious by the front of the cloak, pulling the old shriveled abomination closer as he activated his lightsaber and held the lightsaber mere centimeters from Sidious' face. He ignored the chain reaction his actions caused behind him; the purple bladed lightsaber Mara had activated and was holding at his back, Leia's lightsaber activated and held at Mara's throat, and Galen standing with both lightsabers activated, looking around as if he had sensed a third threat.

Anakin's blue eyes became tainted by streaks of gold as he held Palpatine's own sickening yellow gaze. "Where is my son?" he hissed.

Sidious laughed; something that set Anakin on edge. If Sidious was laughing in a situation like this than it meant that things were working to his advantage, going the way he wanted, running according to plan.

Anakin hated the thought of playing into Sidious' hands; not ever again, not a second time.

"How about you call off your little guard dogs and I might just…talk," Sidious said with a smirk.

"I think I'll just take my chances, I'm feeling good about them," Anakin responded coldly, praying Sidious wouldn't call the bluff with some maneuver that would end in someone under his charge and protection getting hurt.

Sidious' smirk turned into a sneer. "You forget your place!"

Anakin tensed, sensing the warning that rang through the Force; but he misinterpreted the warning. He was so sure that the coming attack was going to come at him, he failed to see the real threat.

The lightning snaked past him, rushing towards…Leia.

Anakin was quick to react, shoving Sidious away when Leia cried out in pain and easily dodging Mara's deadly blade. He jumped down the few steps before calling on the Force, planting himself in front of his daughter's fallen, convulsing form and taking the lightning shot himself.

For a few moments, he felt the nerves in his body catch fire, burning every molecule of his being before he forced himself to straighten despite the pain, lifting his hands and slowly absorbing the lightning bit by bit until, finally, there was no more pain; just the strain to keep the lightning from harming his daughter. He grit his teeth in determination before Sidious ended his assault. Before Anakin could attempt to kill him for the attempt on Leia after everything that Sidious had already done to Anakin's family, Sidious spoke.

"I think it's about time we made this a little more…interesting," Sidious said a little louder than necessary, his yellow eyes boring down from the platform into Anakin's eyes while Anakin stood in firm determination.

His Force senses picked up the change first. The thick veil that had been hiding Anakin's son from him dropped, allowing a rush of darkness to suddenly take a definite Force Signature. His heart jumped into his throat in hope when he sensed streaks of light and even grey in that same Force Signature. He reached out instinctively towards the presence even as he felt the presence getting closer, a large of him expecting to feel the presence welcome his own.

He had to contain his hurt when the presence jerked away from him, locking him outside of it and cutting him off from them. That was when he heard the first swish of a robe against the stone floor, and his head turned swiftly towards the direction of the sound; an expansive, pitch black hallway. However, his gaze did not waver as he stared into the hall's depths intently. Any moment now…

His eyes had to adjust when he finally was able to outline the figure that was coming down the hall, and Anakin had to fight the instinct to run towards them and pull them into a hug that would protect him from all the evil that had infected their lives as his son finally stepped into the dim light of the room.

Anakin only had to look a little lower and to the left for all of those foolish thoughts to disappear.

There was Luke, looking as if he had been a prisoner for years instead of the few weeks it had truly been. He was thin, his skin an unhealthy pallor, dark circles under his eyes, and he trembled with every jerky step as Anakin's son dragged Luke along gruffly by the arm. Several nasty gashes were visible through his torn shirt and on his face, he was utterly filthy, blood leaked out of the side of his mouth, and Anakin was fairly certain it was blood stains that set the black of his clothes off. But what got him the most was Luke's eyes; where was that fire he knew so well? The fierce, stubborn resistance that had shone so brightly when Luke had looked death in the eyes on the Second Death Star was gone, replaced by a dull resignation. That light wasn't in his eyes, and there was no trace of his wide, infectious smile that brightened those blue eyes.

Luke's head rose marginally, his gaze locking on the scene in front of him. His eyes roamed over Leia, who still had yet to rise from the floor, and he only stirred slightly, his heart not really into the movement as he seemed to accept he truly couldn't do anything. His eyes tore themselves away from her and met Anakin's, and they seemed to have an entire conversation simply with their eyes. Anakin could practically hear Luke in his head as the emotions flickered dimly in Luke's eyes; it was all Anakin needed to see.

'Luke?'

'I was beginning to think you weren't coming.'

'I'll always come! You're my son!'

'I'm glad but…there's no point.'

'I'll get you out of here, I promise you Luke, Sidious won't get away with this!'

'Father…'

'No, I'm not going to lose you; there's still a chance!'

'No there's not Father…I've accepted my fate…'

'You can't give up!'

'You don't understand…you won't…not at first…but you will eventually.'

'Luke…'

'Stop focusing on me; help him. There's still a chance for him, don't waste your time with me.'

Their eye contact conversation was broken abruptly as Luke was forced into a kneeling position at Sidious' side. Anakin tore his eyes from Luke's painfully, peering desperately into the hood that was pulled over his son's face. There was no need for the hood here; they all knew who he was. He wanted to see his son's face, he wanted to know what was going through his son's head but he couldn't do that if he was cut off from him through the Force and he couldn't look at his face.

At least he could still somewhat study his body language. His son drew back into the shadows just off to Sidious' side, and Anakin unconsciously took a step towards him. "Luke…"

Movement out of his peripherals stopped him before he could get too far when he spotted Sidious put a withered hand on Luke's shoulder, grasping it so tightly that Luke winced in pain. Already, Anakin's mind was racing. It was three on three as Anakin didn't put an attack past his son at this point from Anakin's experience with his own fall; but there was also Luke, powerless to do anything and looking like he wasn't really going to be of any help. Luke was so close to Sidious that it wouldn't take much for Sidious to end Luke's life if Anakin made a wrong move.

Anakin didn't particularly feel like seeing him die again.

Leia rose to her feet, coming even with her father as her gaze darted between both Lukes, Sidious, and Mara. Galen leveled with Anakin on his other side, though his gaze was trained on Anakin's son who hid in the cowl of his robe, uttering no words and giving no indication he even recognized them.

Sidious's grip tightened on Luke's shoulder, digging in and causing a strange, jagged noise of pain to emit from the young man. Sidious cackled, causing Anakin to bristle in anger once more.

"Let's get down to business now, shall we?"