*Sigh* This chapter was so depressing to write, I had to chow down on the ice-cream and the comfort food.

It might just be me...

Well, I guess we'll see with you guys haha

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Enjoy!

Leia supported Anakin as the three Skywalkers boarded the Millennium falcon, which had been sitting several meters away from the ruins near the edge of the clearing. In the rush of escaping the crumbling structure, neither Luke nor Anakin had noticed the ship.

Luke made his way slowly to the Falcon behind them, favoring his leg and ignoring the constant pain his back was in to the best of his abilities, though the pain was only increasing and his shirt was stuck to his back because of the blood. Still, even with his slow pace he stayed just behind his sister and father, who were also going slow because of Anakin's own injured state. Once they were inside again, Luke was relieved to finally have something to lean on for support.

After a few moments Luke pushed himself to keep walking; if he simply made it down this hall past the bulkhead door and the gun well, he could finally rest on the lounge seat, right in front of the bunk Leia had probably already situated Anakin on.

Luke thought back to the time when he had rested on that exact same bunk after his first fight with Vader, flexing his right hand instinctively at the memory. He grimaced for a moment, leaning in the doorway of the lounge area right before the step. Slowly, he let his gaze trace over the familiar features of the Falcon, his heart aching at all the memories that resided in this ship alone from both of his lives.

His attention was drawn to Leia, who was helping his father onto the bunk behind the lounge chair. Anakin's face was scrunched up in pain even while Leia was being as gentle as she could be with him.

"Easy Father," she told him, helping him lie down on the bunk. Anakin hissed halfway down, and Leia's brow furrowed in confusion.

"How about I simply…sit up for now?" Anakin offered. Leia frowned at him but obliged, taking care of make sure that Anakin was absolutely all right. He waved her off. "Why don't you go see if Han needs any help in the cockpit? What needs attention right now I can handle myself; the rest will have to wait until we're back on Coruscant."

Luke stiffened at the reminder of where they were headed, a floodgate of worry having been reopened. What was going to happen when they returned? What would the Jedi Council do to him? What he'd done…it was horrible enough to be put to death for; and the number that the Jedi Council thought he had killed was far below half of how many deaths he was truly responsible for. What would happen if they turned him over to the Senate to be tried? He had no doubt the Senate would give him a death sentence no matter how many friends his father and mother had in the Senate…

Leia reluctantly left Anakin's side, making her way over to her brother when she noticed Luke was hovering in the doorway. "Are you all right?" she asked him, one hand on his shoulder as she peered worriedly into his eyes.

"I'm fine," Luke reassured her softly, peeling her hand off of his shoulder.

"I don't believe you," she said firmly, her gaze never leaving his although Luke looked away several times. He sighed.

"Just go make sure we get off this planet; I'll be all right, I'll survive," he said, attempting a smile.

Leia huffed, leaning over to give Luke a kiss on the cheek. "I'm so glad you're safe," she whispered before she pulled away.

Luke didn't have the heart to tell her that he wasn't out of the asteroid belt yet. The more he thought about it, the more he realized just how bad his situation really was. Instead, he watched her go before he allowed himself a small sigh and he cast his eyes down to the floor, his head spinning. He could feel his father's eyes on him, studying his every move silently. Instead of acknowledging his father's concern, he slowly made his way over to the lounge seat, bracing himself against the hologram board as he eased himself down onto the couch. His leg noticeably improved once he was no longer putting weight on it, and Luke leaned over to inspect the lightsaber gash that ran the length of his thigh.

He'd have to remember to thank Galen for missing anything vital.

However, even though Galen had missed the more important things that could be found in his leg, the wound was still rather nasty, and Luke's hand hovered over the charred skin. He hoped it wasn't bone that he saw at the center of the wound…at least it wasn't bleeding.

Speaking of bleeding…

As if in a feverish daze, Luke reached up and pulled at the front of his shirt, fingers gripping under the fabric to pull it lose. Some small part of his brain registered the fact he had worn the same clothes from the Second Death Star today; at least it was easy to take the shirt off.

Luke halted once he had the front done, his bare chest exposed as he stopped to give his back a rest. Even with the slight, easy movements he was making his injuries screamed in protest, and he could practically feel the wounds re-opening, agitated, or worsening with every stretch of skin or muscle.

It didn't help he could feel his father's eyes still on him, and Luke was loath to reveal the consequence of his first step back towards the light side of the Force. He winced as the crack of the whip echoed in his head, and he could practically feel the pain of the first lash.

Slowly, Luke worked to take the shirt off, hissing in pain as his torn back muscles and skin stretched to and past their limit. He grit his teeth as he started to lightly ease his arms out of the shirt. As he did, the last words of a wise old Jedi Master came back to him…

But beware; anger, fear, aggression, the dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny...Luke…Luke, do not…do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor; or suffer your father's fate, you will.

By the time Yoda's last words had faded from his mind, Luke had managed to peel the blood-soaked shirt off of his body, and he shivered involuntarily. At the moment, his heart ached over the wise Jedi's words.

If only he had received that memory in this time before he'd gone after his father. Perhaps…perhaps things might have been different…

Perhaps not. Something told him that if he was given the chance to, he would have ended up taking the same road. Perhaps some things would have been different; perhaps he would have tried to save his father without Sidious, maybe he would have fought his turn to the dark side longer…

…perhaps he wouldn't have killed as many people…

Luke tensed when he felt a bandaged hand on his shoulder, blinking back to reality where he was leaning forward, hands gripping the edge of his seat so tightly his knuckles were white. Luke turned his head to find his father standing behind him, eyes fixated on the bloody mess that was Luke's back.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Anakin inquired, taking in the full extent of the damage on his son's back.

Luke shrugged just slightly. "You're in a worse condition than I am," Luke said quietly, looking away and staring at a spot on the hologram board.

"Why?" Anakin asked. His question threw Luke off, causing him to look up in confusion.

"Why what?"

Anakin's grip on Luke's shoulder tightened just slightly before he nodded towards Luke's back. "Why the…punishment…"

At Anakin's tense tone, Luke remembered the minor detail of Anakin being a slave when he was a child. Obviously Luke's injuries were messing with his father's head, bothering the man severely. In fact, Luke could feel emotional pain coming from his father…

Luke shook his head, mostly to shake the thoughts out of his head. "I…" he started before he suddenly paused, hesitating. He didn't even know how to explain how he had gotten the whipping scars in the first place.

Anakin waited patiently behind him, willing to stay silent until Luke was ready to speak. Luke sighed, sagging just slightly. "It's…complicated…" he whispered.

Anakin's gaze softened. "If you're not ready to talk about it, I'll be ready to listen whenever you're ready to talk," he told Luke gently.

Luke nodded gratefully, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Thank you…Father…" he said gently.

Anakin braced himself against the back of the lounge chair, leaning over and kissing the top of Luke's head tenderly like he used to do when Luke was a little boy.

"I'm here for you no matter what," Anakin said gently.

Luke was about to answer him when the tell-tale clang of boots coming down the hall over the compartments Luke had once had to hide in from Imperial Stormtroopers echoed towards them. Luke looked up as Han entered the lounge area hesitantly, trying to smile and act nonchalant.

"Hey kid, Leia told me you were back here," Han said with a false note of cheeriness. "We're, ah…en-route back home right now. It's smooth hyperspace flying from here on out."

"That's good to hear…" Luke said gingerly. The words had just left his mouth when Leia turned the corner, her eyes narrowing at the sight of Anakin standing, not lying in the bunk and resting like he should have been at the moment.

"Father, you're supposed to be resting," she scolded him, already making her way around the couch to force Anakin back into the bunk. Han, however, was the perceptive one who noticed the blood-soaked shirt at Luke's feet. He cocked an eyebrow, coming closer.

"Are you all right?" he asked, inclining his head towards the shirt on the floor. Luke ran a hand through his hair; he really wished everyone would stop asking him that.

No everything was not all right.

But he wasn't going to say that, because everyone else seemed to want to delude themselves into thinking that things were okay now. If he tried to tell them otherwise, they were just going to shower him with their optimistic denial.

"I'll live," Luke responded vaguely. Han finally stepped within range to see the edge of his wounds and the smuggler reached out to push Luke's shoulder aside, revealing more of the whipping scars. Horror dawned on Han's face as he finally saw the extent of Luke's wounds, staring at Luke in shock.

"When were you going to say something?" he asked, a hint of anger creeping into his voice as he looked for something he could use to patch Luke up until they dropped out of hyperspace.

"I actually wasn't going to say anything," Luke muttered, staring down at his hands. Leia chose that moment to break away from treating her father, and she gasped when she saw Luke's damaged back.

"Luke! You should have told me! You need this treated right away."

"I wasn't going to say anything until Father was treated; he's got some lightsaber slashes running the length of his back, and his condition is worse than mine," Luke said shortly.

"What?" Leia said, already moving to check Anakin's back. Anakin waved her off.

"There's nothing that can be done about mine right now; we'll need the medical facilities at the Jedi Temple—"

Anakin broke off whenever Luke visibly tensed, going completely rigid at his words. Several wounds screamed in protest at the movement and opened a little more, but Luke ignored them. The Jedi Temple was the last place he wanted to go right now; he didn't want to go near that place for quite a while. His entire being screamed in protest in a mixture of pain and guilt at the prospect of going to the Temple, and he couldn't stop the initial reaction of disdain and even a little bit of anger that slipped through. He tried his hardest to release the anger, knowing that it was not going to end well for him if he held onto it.

Han was at Luke's side as soon as he noticed the change in his friend's demeanor, putting a hand on Luke's shoulder. "Luke, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Luke said through grit teeth.

"Perhaps the Jedi Temple can wait…" Anakin murmured softly while the other two stared at Luke in shock. "There are such things as home remedies, and I've had to do plenty of them through the years…"

At Anakin's words, Luke's reaction began to fade. Knowing that his father would not throw him to the nexu's like that caused Luke to relax considerably, and he even allowed Han to clean him up and wrap him up tightly. The bandages would have to be changed before they even reached Coruscant, but at least they were being treated. Luke wrapped up his leg himself, allowing Han to retreat to the seat in front of the technical station, watching as Leia finished up treating what she could of Anakin's many wounds.

Luke stayed hunched over in his seat, running a hand down his face tiredly as he tried to suppress all of the doom and gloom thoughts that fought to take over his mind. Especially those faces…

Luke shook himself slightly; he didn't want to be thinking about the one's he'd killed. The crippling guilt would come again, and he didn't want to break down in front of everyone one. Right now he needed to keep the calm mask on the best he could so that later he could break in his solace.

Feeling Leia, Han, and Anakin's eyes on him, Luke sat up a little straighter on the lounge chair, doing his best to appear at ease. He frowned, noticing that he had forgotten about three other people in the midst of this fiasco. Chewy would be in the cockpit, managing all of the controls and making sure everything was functioning right…

So what about Galen? And…

Luke stopped the thought before it could develop much farther. "Where's Galen?"

Han and Leia shared a glance. "He's in the cargo bay."

Luke's frown deepened with his confusion. "Why's he back there?"

"He's watching over some shifty cargo," Leia said evasively.

"And by shifty cargo you mean…?" Luke pressed. When he didn't get an answer, his brain—and possibly the Force as well—procured the answer for him. "Mara," he breathed, hit with a vast wave of strong and conflicting feelings.

Anakin moved suddenly, his head whipping around to fix Han with an intense gaze. "What?" he asked sharply. Luke could already sense his father sending out a small probe through the Force, and it was easy to tell when he had confirmed Luke's suspicions for himself. Anakin bristled and a sudden storm of fury rose inside of his father. Luke stiffened once again, hands clenching into fists as the dark side of the Force strengthened in the lounge immensely. He shuddered, trying his hardest to resist the dark pull that he had just taken his first step to avoid; he was still dangerously close to the edge, liable to fall back into the black abyss with the wrong push. An unfortunately large portion of him was tempted to bask in Anakin's anger and let it feed his strength, and he had to stop himself halfway through the action. His eyes were squeezed shut, his teeth grit as he tried desperately to hold onto his will and inner light.

Anakin, noticing his son's sudden turmoil, put up mental shields so that Luke wouldn't be tempted by his strong emotions. Still, the dark side was potent in the room, even if it was slowly ebbing away and the specific emotions were no longer open for Luke to read. Luke stood up, not quite sure what he was doing for a moment even though the words were already spilling from his lips.

"I need to see her."

"Excuse me?" Anakin said immediately, turning his full attention to Luke. "No, you don't! We'll deal with her when we get to Coruscant, and she'll stay far away from you," Anakin said strongly, his eyes filled with the dark emotion he was trying to shield Luke from sensing.

Luke shook his head avidly, already making his way to the doorway. "No, I need to talk to her."

"Why? After what she did?" Anakin asked sharply.

Luke stumbled slightly, feeling a sudden rush of pain and betrayal before he forced a lump in his throat down and blinked the sudden tears away. "That's why I need to talk to her…" Luke said in his strangled tone.

Before his father could protest any more, Luke forced himself out of the room and down the hall, making a beeline for the cargo bay. He had to do this before he talked himself out of it, no matter how unstable he was emotionally and even a little mentally right now. If he waited until he was stable, then he would never face her.

The woman part of him loved while the other part could only associate her as what had been at the root of breaking his spirit.

Luke minded the step into the cargo bay, moving hesitantly now that he was almost there. His gut twisted nervously as he sidestepped a few crates to find Mara sitting on the floor against the wall, Galen sitting on a crate a few paces away from her. He simply stood there for a few moments, unnoticed by the other two until finally he managed to clear his throat.

Galen looked up immediately, though Mara only tensed, refusing to open her eyes and face the person standing across from her. Upon seeing Luke—who still was shirtless with his entire torso bandaged for his back wound—Galen launched to his feet.

"Luke!" he said in surprise, walking over to his close friend quickly and clasping his shoulder. "You're back! How are you feeling?"

"I'm…pretty worn out right now," Luke said hesitantly

"You should probably get some rest," Galen told him with a frown.

"I can rest later," Luke said gravely, his eyes wandering past Galen to Mara. "I have some more…important things to do first."

Understanding fell over Galen's face, and he glanced back at the red-head sitting on the floor. "I see…"

"Could we have some privacy?" Luke asked quietly, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared at the woman on the floor. He had to speak around the emotion that was clogging his throat, burying the ache that was in his heart to the best of his current abilities.

"Of course…" Galen said gently, already making his way out of the room.

"Galen," Luke called, turning his head to look at his friend before Galen could leave the room. Galen paused, looking back at Luke curiously. Luke nodded towards the bandage on Galen's bicep. "I'm sorry about the arm…watch out for my father, he's in a foul mood right now."

Galen smiled just slightly. "Thanks for the warning, and don't worry about the arm; it's already forgiven." With that, Galen turned away and continued down the hall.

Reluctantly, Luke turned to face the woman in front of him, finally realizing that it was just the two of them in the cargo bay with no one around. His tongue suddenly felt like lead, and his mind blanked. What did he have to say to her?

Mara, surprisingly, was the first to speak.

"So…you merged?" she asked in a flat voice. Luke was taken aback by how emotionless she sounded, and he felt the part of him that still loved her wither slightly.

"Yes…I did," he said quietly, staring at the ground in front of him.

Mara made a strange noise, and he looked up sharply at her. She didn't seem to have changed any; she was still sitting prone against the wall, eyes closed. "How's that going for you?"

"I…don't know yet," Luke said hesitantly.

Mara sighed. "I'm already tired of the chit-chat..."

She finally opened her eyes, her piercing green eyes sending two lances through his heart; the one that caused a small spasm of emotional pain to course through him and the one that held him mesmerized by her gaze.

"Why are you here Luke?" she asked, tripping slightly over his name. Her voice seemed to have cracked.

Luke made his way over to one of the crates close to her, taking a seat. "I don't know…" he said quietly.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Surely you know? Why else would you wander back here?"

Luke shook his head. "I don't know; part of me…" he paused, looking up to fix her with his piercing blue gaze. "Part of me cares deeply for you, while the other can't get over…"

Luke stopped speaking, his voice choking off from emotion.

Go ahead and shoot; you'd be doing me a favor.

Mara was silent for several moments. "And you haven't decided which feeling to accept?" she asked softly.

Luke shook his head. "I don't know how to feel about you right now."

He looked back up on a whim, catching the teardrop that fell out of Mara's eyes that caused his heart to ache. "I could talk all day, and I wouldn't be able to explain to you how sorry I am for what I did," she said softly. "And nothing I do is going to change what I did to you either."

"I know," Luke murmured, looking away. "I haven't forgotten the conversation after…afterwards."

Mara looked up at him, tears pricking in her eyes. "Luke, I…"

She reached to touch his arm, but when her fingers brushed against the exposed skin Luke drew back, turning away from her. A pained expression flashed across her face. "I really, truly am sorry…"

Luke sighed, looking like he was about to say something as he turned to face her. However, a voice from the other side of the room cut him off.

"Luke," Galen said, drawing their attention. "Your father insisted you get some rest before we get to Coruscant; Leia too."

Luke cocked an eyebrow. "He's not being a hypocrite and running around the ship, is he?"

Galen smiled a little. "No, he's going to get some rest too, he just needs to do a few things before he'll let us wrestle him back onto the bunk."

Luke shook his head a little, glancing back at Mara. "All right then, I'm coming."

He stood up, his blue eyed gaze searching Mara's green eyes. "We'll talk more about this later."

Mara inclined her head in his direction. "Later then."

With that, Luke turned and made his way out of the room, nodding at Galen as he passed. Knowing that they would wrestle Anakin onto the bunk in the lounge area where they could keep an eye on him, Luke made his way to one of the triple bunk rooms just west of the cockpit. Finding the bunks on the right of the head room empty, he eased himself onto the bottom bunk, satisfied that he could get some peace and quiet. He was still too close to the others to have the privacy he truly wanted, but perhaps he could still get some much needed rest…

Anakin watched from the gun well as Luke passed, waiting in the shadows until his son had disappeared down the hall to emerge from his hiding place and make his way towards the cargo bay. As he walked, his many wounds ached and bothered him, but he ignored them, fueled by some very un-Jedi like emotions. When he crossed the threshold into the cargo bay, Galen stood waiting for him, looking uneasy. Anakin nodded curtly at Galen, starting to brush past him until the young man grabbed his arm, causing Anakin to tense.

"Just…don't kill her, all right? That's all I'm asking for," the man said in a low voice. Anakin kept his gaze fixed to the spot behind a pile of crates where he could sense his target.

"Lock the door behind you," Anakin said darkly in response. Galen didn't let go, and Anakin turned his head to look at the young man, his clear blue eyes blazing in barely contained fury. Galen, realizing that Anakin was not going to back down on the matter, quietly slipped out of the cargo bay. The sound of the door locking behind him echoed in Anakin's ears.

Once he was gone, Anakin glided forward, his footsteps echoing ominously throughout the cargo bay as he rounded the corner to stand in front of Mara Jade, who was sitting on the floor in front of him. Mara looked up when he did not immediately speak, her eyes narrowing in suspicion as he glared at her, arms folded over her chest.

"What do you want?" Mara asked, her voice a strange mix between defiance and defeat. Her words only served to stoke Anakin's already raging temper.

Or perhaps right now the correct title for him would be Vader…

He'd have to decide if he was going to identify the darker part of himself as an alter-ego some point in the future.

"I'm sure you know," Anakin growled. Mara's expression changed once she heard Anakin's tone, the woman becoming cautious at the dark edge that coated his voice. She shifted in place, rising slightly from her seat on the floor.

"Master Skywalker, I truly, deeply am sorry for…for what I did; I want to make things right the best that I can, and I don't deserve Luke's forgiveness, but I am try—"

She broke off, her face contorting in confusion and pain as she suddenly found herself unable to breathe. If Anakin had been making a choking gesture with his hands, she wouldn't be so surprised; but he wasn't. He was just standing there, glaring at her in open hatred and fury.

He hadn't come here to hear her pathetic attempts at an apology; he'd come to make her pay for what she'd done to Luke. As she tried and failed to breathe, gradually lifting into the air, he saw the utter terror that fell across her face with satisfaction when she finally realized that it was indeed Anakin that had cut off her airway through the Force.

And he hadn't even moved.

Anakin stepped forward, darkness oozing from the Jedi Master with a potency that seemed to make the very lights around them dim, his fiery blue eyes fixed on Mara's wide eyed and fearful emerald eyes.

"I want to make one thing very clear," Anakin hissed as Mara tried in vain to suck in some miniscule amount of air. "Luke might forgive you, but I want you to know that if you ever hurt my son again, I will kill you myself without any remorse, and I will make sure that it is a slow, agonizing death that you couldn't even imagine. I'm sure you've seen some of Luke's work with his kills from his time on the dark side; well, everything he's done will be nothing compared to what I will do to you if you pull a stunt like that again. And do not underestimate me when I say I can and will make it happen, just like I can and will get away with it without having so much as a scolding for a consequence. Just keep that in mind Jade, and you might make it through this next week alive."

Anakin watched Mara struggle desperately in midair in his invisible grasp, subconsciously basking in her fear as she started to slip away from the lack of air. He could let her slip into oblivion and leave her body in the cargo bay, or even just dump it out of the airlock; but that would be too easy. No, for what she had done, if he was going to kill her it wasn't going to be from something as simple as suffocation; suffocation was too kind of a death for her. His mind wandered back to his days as a youth, and he thought of the time he had burned a man alive from the inside out because of a temper tantrum. Perhaps if he tweaked the technique he could make the pain last for quite a while, creating an excruciating death. He knew from experience how agonizing it was to be burned alive…

As his thoughts took this dark turn, Mara began to let out cries of pain that came out strangled and faint due to her lack of air. He'd already started it subconsciously; perhaps he should just follow through. It definitely was satisfying to hear the traitorous woman let out even these warped cries of pain; oh how exuberating it would be to hear her scream from the pain of a slow and agonizing death like what he had in mind—

Anakin's focus was broken when he suddenly sensed immense amounts of pain and suffering from his son, his attention immediately drawn away from Mara. With sudden realization, it dawned on Anakin that Luke could sense Anakin's emotions. Horror and overwhelming guilt fell over Anakin when he realized that his darkness had smothered Luke's inner light and surrounded the boy in darkness, putting him in unbearable agony as he tried and rapidly failed to avoid the pull of the dark side he had just broken free from. Immediately, Anakin reigned in his dark emotions, dropping the fading woman almost immediately after his realization. Mara gasped, sucking in air greedily with tears streaming down her face. Anakin stared at her indifferently, using his concern and protectiveness over Luke to keep him from touching the woman again out of his fury or hatred. He couldn't let the darker part of himself out like that again when Luke was around; he risked dragging Luke back down into the dark side when he did, especially while Luke was in such a fragile state.

As he slowly let the dark emotions simmer, a certain dream he'd had just before the merge came back to mind…

A small baby boy with blue eyes, flaming red hair, and freckles lay in the arms of his parents. The pair stood smiling as they stared down at the child, in each other's embrace. Then the darkness came and took the child and the woman, leaving the man to wallow in pain and darkness.

A sudden horrible thought occurred to him and he subconsciously withdrew from Mara. What if he had been the darkness that had taken the boy and Mara? What if he had just nearly fulfilled his prophetic dream? Of course it had been Sidious' darkness that surrounded Luke, but what if it had been Anakin's own darkness that took Mara and the child, leaving Luke to the mercy of the darkness Sidious had created inside of him?

Anakin shook his head, shooting Mara a disdainful glare; he still wanted to drive his point home. He pointed a warning finger at her. "Consider this your only warning," he snarled before turning on his heel and making his way for the cargo bay door.

As the door hissed back, Anakin's eyes fell on Galen, who was standing just outside of the door. Galen stepped forward immediately, his brow furrowed in worry. "Is she—"

"She'll live," Anakin said shortly, brushing past Galen. "I want to be left alone for a while," he added before he stormed down the hall. He wanted to get back to his bunk before his adrenaline kick left him and his injuries began to take its toll again.

"Sure thing…" Galen muttered to Anakin's retreating back before he returned to the cargo bay to make sure Mara was indeed all right.

Anakin slipped into the lounge area without running into anyone, shimmying between the lounge chair and the storage bin that housed the oxygen masks to get to his bunk. He groaned, easing himself down onto the bunk and gently lying down on his stomach. He couldn't stand to lie on his back considering the lightsaber lashes that ran its length.

Anakin hissed when he felt something small dig into the skin of his thigh, pushing himself up to search for the source of his discomfort. His hand pulled a holodisk, staring at it with a furrowed brow as he tried to remember where it came from. Then remembrance dawned on him.

It has everything that…that I went through in there, in this very room.

Anakin twirled the disk in his hands, staring at the small device as he contemplated what he wanted to do. Did he really want to see what was on this disk? Could he take whatever was on this disk? Could he handle what he saw? Should he just do as Luke said in the first place and destroy it now beyond repair?

Or did he want to watch what was on the disk to know all that his son had gone through in those dark ruins, to understand more fully what he had gone through?

Maybe the reason for his whipping would be revealed as well.

Before he could change his mind, Anakin focused on a datapad on the other side of the room, grabbing it through the Force and levitating the device to his waiting palm. Mentally, Anakin braced himself for what he was about to see and popped the holodisk into the datapad.

The feed of a dingy, damp, dark cell flickered to life on the screen and Anakin settled back, getting ready for a long and emotionally painful yet enlightening night.