Revan's saber met Vader's in a brief flash of brilliant light, and the two duelists ricocheted away from each other at breakneck speeds. Then they came together again in another clash, moving so quickly that the burst of light observed from their saber lock was nearly invisible due to its brevity. Vader lashed out with one of his hands after one of the clashes, and Revan was thrown out of the bunker. He flipped through the air, and landed lightly on the balls of his feet. He was quickly followed by the massive form of Darth Vader. The Sith Lord's lightsaber slashed through the air, and Revan narrowly ducked beneath the oncoming blow. The Saber sliced instead through a centuries old tree wide around as a starfighter. The skyscraper sized tree fell like a slow, ponderous giant. The crash of the ancient organism against the moon's ground must have echoed across the entire planetoid, terrifying Ewoks, settlers, and animals all.

Revan flipped backwards as the trunk still fell and felt his feet collide with the trunk. He launched himself forward off of the falling surface and began to spin in the air with his saber in front of him, a white, plasma top that collided with Vader's red blade. The spinning magnetic field containing Revan's saber twisted through Vader's, driving the black clad cyborg back. The Sith's boots dragged through the soil, leaving deep gashes in Endor's surface as he was shoved backwards. Revan was keeping Vader, quite literally, on his toes.

But it wasn't the speed and strength he remembered. When first he had used the mask's strength, he had been able to make the High Dark Lord of the Sith seem like a child playing with toys shaped like the Force and a lightsaber. But against Vader, at that moment, the mask seemed to do almost nothing. I feel stronger, Revan thought as he ducked beneath one of Vader's blows. He deflected another and landed a palm of condensed Force energy into the Sith's midsection. The cyborg slid backwards a few meters. But it's like the mask isn't as strong. Revan listened to the 'noise' of the Force aura as he moved beneath Vader's saber. It doesn't... mesh anymore.

Revan flipped over Vader's saber, ending his reverie. Vader lashed out with his arm while his opponent was in midair, and Revan suddenly flew through the forest until he collided with a tree. "Oof!" he grunted as his massive momentum was suddenly zeroed. He struggled to his feet and pulled his hood back over his helmeted head.

"You are embracing the Dark Side," Vader stated as he stomped towards his prey, his saber thrumming menacingly. "It makes you powerful."

Revan sneered behind his mask and thumbed his saber – which, as always, had deactivated as he rushed uncontrollably through the air – back to life. "If you think me being angry means I'll get stronger, I'm about to get pretty strong, Anakin."

Vader growled. "Anakin Skywalker is dead."

Revan laughed. "You have no idea," he chuckled. He raised his saber and rushed towards Vader. Their sabers clashed, bouncing off of one another again and again. The duel was a fight between experts. True, they were not the masters of the art – not yet, at least – but both were skilled enough to show any onlookers that the fight would be deadly to any whose skill was even slightly below that of the primary combatants. Lucky for Revan, there were two more experts of lightsaber combat and a crack shot with a blaster in the forest on his side.

Revan deflected another incoming blow from Vader and grinned behind his helmet. Rhen was rushing forward, Ana's golden shoto held backhand in his left hand. "Hope you like four on one fights," Revan remarked. He kicked the Sith's knee, forcing his crippled leg inward. Vader shouted in pain and lashed out with the Force, causing Revan to stumble backwards.

The Sith angrily ignited Rhen's saber and brought the two blades down to kill Revan, who was not ready to defend. Luckily, Ana was ready to protect Revan: her silver saber was holding back both of Vader's blades, and her body was standing tall above Revan's prone form. "Back off, tall, dark, and raspy," Ana snapped. She twisted Vader's blades out of the way and shot a few blasts off at Vader from her specialized saber. The Sith Lord took the blasts in stride, taking the pain and making it drive him on.

He roared, a noise of pain and lonely anger, and rushed forward through the laser blasts that glanced off of his armor. His shoulder collided with the girl's midsection, hard, and sent her flying into Revan. The two collided with the tree just behind them, and were stuck in a jumble of limbs. "Die!" Vader shouted, his heavily filtered voice dripping with venom. Revan's eyes widened in fear, and he forced his saber up to guard with one hand and, with the other, brought Ana's saber up to guard as well. Together, they were able to struggle against Vader's superior strength, but not for long.

Rhen leaped through the air and landed just behind the Sith Lord; the twi'lek Jedi slashed the orange shoto at Vader's body, but the Sith Lord moved faster than someone – something – of his size should move. Rhen felt a throbbing pain in his side after a metallic foot collided with his side and sent him tumbling to the ground. "You should know better than to challenge a Sith," Vader stated simply as he deflected Van's incoming blaster bolts. Without looking at the pilot, he continued to block the attacks and advanced on Rhen.

"And you should know better than to gloat when you're outnumbered," Revan said simply as his saber collided with Vader's left arm. Rhen's lightsaber fell, deactivated, to the ground beside Vader. The Sith felt no pain, and turned calmly towards his attacker. His red blade swung around to destroy Revan, but the younger man ducked beneath the blow and nicked his saber against Vader's servo-knee. Sparks flew into the air, and Vader stumbled as his leg began to shut down. He forced it to move and swung his saber again, only for his other hand to fall to the ground. He looked down to see his wrist replaced entirely by Viridian plasma, courtesy of the twi'lek.

"Now you're 'armless!" Van shouted. He began to laugh belligerently, as if he wanted everyone to begin laughing with him. No one did. "Y-you see – like harmless, but he's got no arms?"

"It's just so clichéd," Ana explained. Rhen tossed her deactivated shoto back to her, and the three Force wielders let their guards down.

"I am never harmless!" Vader shouted, and Van was lifted into the air. He began to choke violently, as if his throat was gripped by an invisible fist. The three Force wielders immediately jerked towards Vader to stop him, but he cut them off. "Stop. Another step, and I snap his neck." That got their attention.

"What do you want?" Revan asked. He kept his saber trained on Vader.

"Take off the mask," Vader commanded him. Revan made no moves to follow Vader's commands, so the Sith tightened his grip on Van's throat to elicit a louder gurgle of pain. Revan got the message and deactivated his saber before practically tearing the mask off of his head. "Throw it away." Revan narrowed his gray eyes, but did as the Sith commanded. He tossed the mask behind himself and into the shrubbery.

"Now let him go," Revan commanded. He pulled down his hood and glared at the Sith Lord, righteous, sharp anger flying from his eyes in sparks. It reminded Vader much of a long dead Jedi. "Let him go, Anakin." Revan took a step towards Vader.

"Anakin Skywalker is dead," Vader said simply. He spoke evenly, but his rage-filled grip tightened like a vice on Van's throat.

"He is," Revan agreed. Vader froze at that – the Jedi would never admit one was beyond redemption. Even Dooku could have been saved, in Obi-Wan's eyes. "Anakin died... decades ago."

"What is your game, Jedi filth?" Vader spat. He dropped the pilot and stomped over to Revan, lifting the man into the air by his throat. Vader's stumpy arms stretched out to the Gray Jedi's throat, sparking and wheezing as they were forced to move. "What are you talking about!?"

"Darth Vader was redeemed over a hundred years ago by his son – Luke Skywalker. He died saving his son from the Emperor's evil," Ana stated from Vader's left. The Sith glared at at her from the corner of his eye. Revan gurgled in the air, and Ana took half a step towards his floating form.

"You are lying," Vader replied. "Jedi lie."

"She's not a Jedi," the twi'lek said. His voice was full of such conviction that Vader found himself wondering if the statement was true. "She's a Knight of the Empire – the remnant of the Empire you destroyed."

Vader's gaze turned to the woman once again. "That is..."

"The truth," she said simply. She walked up to Vader and tossed her sabers aside. "It's the truth."

"It is," Rhen said, his saber also on the ground. He walked also towards Vader, non threateningly.

"I'm gonna stay over here where it's safe," Van shouted as he holstered his blasters.

Vader looked between the twi'lek and the woman, utterly confused. If they were lying, their actions made no sense. No Jedi would be so stupid as to risk their lives to such an extent, none would be foolish enough to trust their lives so blindly to the hands – metaphorically speaking – of a Sith Lord. Vader denied that what they said was the truth, yet... He suddenly held the image of a young, blonde man in his mind's eye. The young man – Luke – gazed down at Vader's scarred visage with a combination of sadness and love, a bittersweet joy that came from the first and only face-to-face meeting with his father.

Vader gasped in pain, suddenly, and Revan fell to the ground. He noiselessly landed on his feet, and watched a change take place. Without surprise, he watched the broken form of Vader flash for a moment, then the face of a young man with brown hair and a long scar that ran down his face appeared where the Sith had stood. "What's happening!?" Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker asked, begging the world to tell him.

The man flashed again, giving way to the form of a child. "Please, I need help!" the boy shouted. "Help me!"

Revan walked forward, kneeled down, and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You know who you are, Anakin," he told the boy. Revan pulled Anakin's hands from the boy's head and grabbed both of Anakin's shoulders.

The boy gazed at Revan for a moment. "What do you mean? I don't know who I am!"

"You're the father of Luke and Leia Skywalker. You're the destroyer of the Emperor. You're the redeemed Sith," Revan said. He stared into Anakin's eyes. "You know exactly who you were."

Anakin stared into Revan's eyes, then nodded. There was a dull flash as the boy gave way to the adult man he would have been had Vader never come to the fore. "Thank you," Anakin Skywalker said. He appeared as a man in his sixties with graying hair that was cut neatly but freely. There was a quiet, sad pain in his eyes that gave him a subtle, comforting strength. "You helped me remember."

Revan nodded, and the two stood up. "What happened?" Revan asked.

Anakin looked around. "I'm – I'm sorry if I hurt any of you," the dead Jedi said. He returned his attention to Revan. "You'll see – my... my grave is over there." The dead Jedi pointed into the distance. "You'll find the cause there."

Revan stared at Anakin. "I have so many questions," he said.

"But my time is passed," Anakin said. He sighed and looked up at the sky. "If only I'd done something better with it." He looked back down at Revan. "You'll find out who you are soon, too."

Revan nodded uncomfortably. Anakin walked over to Ana and he whispered into her ear, "Take care of him. He cares what you think, more than he does of most." Then the former Sith turned back to address everyone. "All of you... be strong. Shadows in the Galaxy can corrupt even great light – no one knows that better than me. Make sure you do not let your light drown in the darkness that is going to surround you." And, with those cryptic words, the former Jedi and Sith disappeared.

"I've said it before," Van began, "and I'll say it again. You guys and your weird Jedi crap."

SWSWSWSWSW

Revan held the red crystal between his forefinger and his thumb. "So what is it?" Van asked.

Rhen tore the crystal from Revan's hand and placed it back into its container. The group sat together on the couch of the Eagle as the ship flew itself through hyperspace. Rhen shot a look of warning at Revan, then turned to Van. "The crystal is a Dark Side construct – the remains of the energy wielded by Darth Vader, his hatred and fear and pain, given form," the twi'lek explained. He crossed his arms and maneuvered until Revan was out of his field of vision. "The strengthening Darkness in the galaxy must have... it must have reignited the Darkness within the remains of Anakin Skywalker's body and Darth Vader's armor. That forged the crystal out of pure Force and hate, which makes it an incredibly powerful tool of the Dark Side that the Sith cannot get their hands on."

"Oh – so it's like a mood ring," Van said, drawing laughter from Revan.

"Except the exact opposite and real," the Jedi growled.

"Yeah, sure."

Revan chuckled to himself at the exchange, then suddenly slipped into his thoughts. The mask had not worked as it should have worked. Instead of a river of power that energized Revan down to every last cell, he felt... a trickle, as if the faucet of power had been nearly closed shut by some unseen force. "You okay?"

Revan glanced over. Ana was looking worriedly at him, hoping he'd answer. In the pathway to the cockpit, Van and Rhen were arguing over how much the hidden red crystal was like a crystal from a mood ring. "I'm fine," Revan said dismissively. "Nothing's wrong."

Ana studied Revan for a moment. Then she grabbed his hair. "Tell me," she commanded.

"No," he replied. She retorted by pulling on his hair until he yelped painfully. "Stop it!" She yanked again. "OwOwOwOwOwOw! Okay! Okay, just stop!"

Ana smirked and let go of Revan's hair. She sat patiently, almost pretending as if nothing had just happened. "The mask," Revan said indignantly. "It isn't... something. I should have mopped the floor with Vader as soon as I put the mask on, but instead..."

"Instead, you fainted then had to get help from all of us," Ana finished. She shook her head. "Look, I wouldn't worry about it. Vader was one of the most powerful Sith of all time – I doubt he was ever going to be easy to deal with."

"I – maybe," Revan agreed. He smiled at Ana, but frowned inwardly. Anakin had said that Revan would soon know himself. But what did that mean?

Ana, meanwhile, was also questioning Anakin's warnings. "Watch him," the old man had commanded. What would happen to Revan that would mean... She shook her head and sighed. Ana leaned her head on Revan's shoulder; she was tired, and the day had been long. She just wanted to rest.

Revan's head rested atop hers, softly. He thought the same.

Jeez – you two are going slower than Bastila made me go, and she was a prudish for even 4000 years ago! The voice in Revan's head joked. Revan sighed inwardly and tried to shove the voice away. You can't get rid of a Force Ghost, Theron. You need to be ready – a darkness I thought I destroyed is on its way. What you do will... Just don't do what I did. Please.

Revan closed his eyes and ignored the fake voice that echoed through his shattered mind and gave him delusional paranoia. Please, just don't do what I did, the voice of 'the first Revan' begged. Please. Revan fell asleep to the sound of that begging, and his dreams were filled with the Rakata, warriors drinking the blood of children above the parents of the fallen. Every image tormented his mind, but he could not scream, could not awaken. He could only watch as the Galaxy fell to monsters, and the Jedi burned.