Nine

"Leia, wait! Stop!"

Luke's chest burned with the effort it took to keep time with her. She cut a fluid path through the thick darkness, winding her way across the homestead with such purpose that it seemed to Luke like she had a destination in mind. She wasn't merely making a mad dash to put distance between them. She was moving with purpose. Leia was running towards something…or someone.

She sped towards the cluster of vaporator towers that were situated right on the edge of the property with the clear intention of crossing the property line and disappearing back into the gloomy night beyond. The fear of his little sister out in the open on a foreign planet was the thing that propelled Luke forward in a burst of speed. It was the thing that imbued him with the fortitude to keep going even as his legs began to feel like gelatin. Leia didn't slow her gait at all, but he matched her step for step, until he finally got close enough to snag hold of her forearm. As soon as he had a grip, he all but yanked her to a stop.

Leia whipped around with a snarl and shoved him away. Luke was so stunned by the unfettered rage on her face that he recoiled several steps. Her dark eyes glittered with tears and something almost feral in the spilling moonlight. For a brief instant, she didn't look like his sister at all because her features were so mottled with fury and hatred.

"Don't touch me!" she burst out furiously, "Leave me alone, Luke! I don't want to talk! You're just as blind as Mom!"

When she started to stalk away again, he cried out breathlessly, "I'm not blind at all! I see the same thing you do!"

Leia froze mid-step and pivoted to face him again in measured inches. She swept him with a distrustful once-over, her expression caught somewhere between suspicion and hope. "You're trying to trick me again."

"Maybe at first," Luke confessed, "But not now…"

She sneered at him. "I knew you didn't believe me."

"I thought you were mistaken," he said, "I was so sure of it."

"Oh yeah? What changed?"

"I found out that what you saw was true," he said quietly.

Leia didn't know what to say. She thought that she would feel some kind of vindication to hear him speak those words aloud, but instead all she felt was incredible sadness. For herself because there was no joy in destroying her brother's illusions, but especially for Luke…because he didn't fully understand the difficult task that lay ahead for them both. She knew what they must do, and she harbored her own deeply entrenched doubts about whether she was ready. She expected that Luke would be even more conflicted. After all, how does one prepare for killing the man you believed to be your father?

For the moment, she ignored Abeloth's incessant beckoning across the Force and staggered over to a circle of flat, uneven stones only a few feet away. She sank down onto one of them with a shuddering sigh and pulled her knees to her chest. Filled with grief and resolve, she lifted her eyes to regard Luke once more. They still glistened with welling tears, but they had lost much of their earlier ferocity.

"I didn't want to be right," she told him.

"I didn't want you to be right either," he said, sinking down beside her.

Leia favored him with a sideways glance. "Does this mean you're really with me now?"

"I'm with you."

"How did you know? Did you feel it…or did Artoo and Threepio tell you what they saw?"

Luke grunted a mirthless laugh. "No. Mom did."

Leia stared at him in round-eyed disbelief. "She told you what he did to her?"

"It's not that simple. But yes, she told me. She's always known about that side of him," Luke emphasized, "And she doesn't care. She says he's not that man anymore."

"She's wrong," Leia declared implacably, "That same darkness is still inside of him. He's dangerous. I've seen what he can do with my own eyes."

"Is that why you were running from him just now?" Leia pinched her eyes shut, trying to blot out the images that assaulted her with Luke's question but managed to nod her confirmation. "Is that why you left the farm earlier?"

"No. I had another vision." Before he could launch into a lecture that matched his doleful eye roll, Leia rushed to add, "I know you thought that it was my friend making me see those things, but it wasn't her! This one I saw on my own."

"What did you see?" he asked with some measure of hesitance.

Leia swallowed thickly, filled with dread over his possible reaction and the prospect of having to be the one to dispense the truth to him in the first place. She didn't ask to become the "revealer of truth," but she supposed that was the responsibility she had been given. She couldn't run from it. Besides, Luke was going to need to know everything if he was going to do what needed to be done.

She licked her dry, cracked lips and began, "You know that dark man in your nightmares…the one that you say is always chasing him?"

"Yeah. What about him?"

"I saw him too. I heard him breathing and I knew. It was him, Luke. He's the dark man."

She expected him to roll to his feet and rant in denial, and Leia prepared herself for it. She'd already compiled her mental argument, was prepared to list out her evidence as proof of her claims. But Luke didn't demand proof, nor he didn't reject her words either. Instead, he simply expelled a deep sigh and nodded, his jaw clamped tight.

"You already knew?" she concluded, her tone edged with mild consternation.

"I didn't know that part," Luke replied, "But I'm not surprised."

"You're not?"

"He was a Sith, Leia. That's what Mom told me."

"A Sith?" Leia balked, "The Sith use the dark side. Ben and Ahsoka always warned us never to use it!"

"I know that. But that's not all," he warned her, "Somehow, he used the dark side to travel back in time and rewrite everything. That's what you're seeing in your visions. It's his true past, everything he did before he changed things."

"Do…do you know the things he did?"

Luke emitted another grunt and shook his head. "Mom wouldn't tell me. But I'm sure if he killed her, he probably did worse things too."

"He did," Leia confirmed miserably, "He hurt Ben. He was going to kill him. That's what I saw. He was dragging him through fire…burning him alive while he screamed and screamed…" Luke whispered her name and placed a hand on her shoulder as she began to weep softly. "I don't want to see those things, Luke," she sobbed, "I don't want to know the bad things he did…but it's all I can see now…"

He gathered her close in a protective hug, stroking her back gently until her sobs finally quieted. "Since you're the one with all the answers…what do we do?"

"We can't go back there. He'll kill us."

"Do you really believe that?"

But even as Luke asked the question, he harbored his own doubts. There was a part of him that was reluctant to believe that Anakin Skywalker could harm his own children. Even after everything Luke had learned and as disgusted as he was by the truth about his father's past, he continued to cling to the steadfast hope that his father was truly a good man. A good man who had committed terrible atrocities. Could such a thing even exist?

Perhaps that was purely fallacious reasoning on Luke's part. After all, Anakin Skywalker had been capable of killing his wife in a fit of rage and torturing his mentor and best friend. Luke seriously doubted that any familial bond would stop his hand if Anakin were to ever deem him or Leia as threats. Leia had already confirmed that the darkness that had led to his original fall still existed. There was nothing to stop it from consuming him again. From Luke's perspective, it was tantamount to living with a live bomb. Eventually it was going to explode…and obliterate everything in its path.

Leia watched quietly as Luke found the answer to his question without her having to say a word. "So, now you understand why going back there isn't an option," she said.

"What about Mom?" he protested, "We can't just leave her unprotected!"

"I don't want to leave her behind either," Leia replied, "but we don't have a choice! He has her fooled and, she won't listen to us!"

Before Luke could even begin arguing against the rationale of that plan, he suddenly became aware of their names being called faintly in the distance. He hardly had an opportunity to react before Leia was surging to her feet and jerking him with her. "Come on!" she urged, manacling his wrist as she tugged him deeper into the darkness, "We have to hide!"

They scrambled to crouch behind a nearby vaporator as the calls grew closer and louder. Their mother, aunt and uncle were currently scouring the homestead acreage looking for them. Luke and Leia both noted with some relief that their father was conspicuously absent from the search party and devoutly hoped that it would stay that way. Hiding from their mother was one thing. Hiding from their father would prove to be a trickier endeavor. For the time being, however, neither of them dared to even breathe or blink as the adults made their perimeter sweep within literal feet of their hiding place.

"We can check on the other side of the property," they heard their uncle suggest after a round of fruitless calling, "I doubt they've gotten too far."

"Maybe we should split up," Padmé suggested, "We can cover more ground that way."

"Alright," Owen said, "Beru and I will check out the other side of the farm. We'll call if we find anything."

"Thank you, Owen."

As Luke and Leia listened to their aunt and uncle's retreating footsteps, they heard their mother mutter plaintively under her breath, "Why do you two always do this to me?"

Neither of them relaxed until she headed away from them, continuing her lamenting calls for them to answer her. Luke regarded his sister with a guilt-ridden expression. "She's worried about us."

"I know she is," Leia mumbled, struggling with the same guilt, "We're hurting her." The tacit regret in her tone started to send Luke to his feet, but Leia snagged hold of him and jerked him back down beside her before he could stand and reveal their location. "What are you doing?" she hissed, "We can't help her if she won't help herself!"

"So, what are we supposed to do, huh?" Luke hissed back, "We can't hide out here all night! We might be able to avoid Mom, Uncle Owen, and Aunt Beru, but Dad will find us. You know he will."

"That's why we're going to Mos Espa. We're getting off this planet as soon as we can."

"And going where?" Luke whispered in exasperation.

Leia smiled, a confident, secretive smile that gave Luke unexplainable chills. "The Corellian star system."

I was beginning to think you planned to avoid me for eternity.

"I won't pretend like that wasn't the actual plan," Anakin replied mordantly as the Father's rumbling tones rolled over him, "Believe me, I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't need answers from you."

That wasn't an understatement in the least. Anakin had not been keen on the idea of seeking out the Father in meditation, especially after he had already resolved never to exchange words with the Force wielder again. He still harbored too much resentment towards his old mentor, which only guaranteed that any interaction between them would be hampered by antagonism. Unfortunately, given the circumstances with Leia, Anakin didn't have much choice in the matter. He couldn't afford to stew in his bitterness, not when his daughter's life might be in peril.

He opened his eyes and contemplated the serene, celestial being as he rose through the surrounding mist to take a seat before him. "Please don't take this to mean that I've forgiven you."

The Father sighed. Your continued resentment does you more harm than me.

"I'm not interested in hurting you," Anakin scoffed, "I want to live my life. That's all."

It seems to me that you keep choosing to run from your destiny.

"I choose my own destiny."

The Father offered him a sad smile. If only it were that simple, my son.

"Let's not go there again. I didn't seek you out to rehash old arguments," Anakin told him brusquely, "I saw something today. Something purely evil. What was it?"

Abeloth.

Somehow, Anakin knew the answer even before the Father whispered his confirmation. Though that evening had been his first true encounter with the deviant Force entity, he had discerned her identity on an instinctive level…just as she had discerned his. It was only during that confrontation that he recognized the source of the Force disturbance he had been sensing all that time. It had been her. But he had never once considered the possibility that she was so incredibly close, let alone an actual threat to his family. Anakin didn't doubt for an instant that she had wanted it that way too.

"You said that she was locked away!" Anakin flared in accusation, "That she was of no consequence to me! So how in kriffing hell did she get access to my child? What is she doing here?"

Back during those early days on Mortis, the Father had provided him with a vague tale of how the creature known as Abeloth had come into existence. She had been a unique mortal once, like Anakin, conceived entirely from the Force and gifted with the extraordinary ability to command the Son and the Daughter. But she had become drunk on the power she wielded and eventually began to crave more. Her greed and desperation had compelled her to do what was forbidden…something so unspeakable that the Father had been forced to denounce her and, ultimately, imprison her. Following her prohibited action, she became a corrupted aberration in the Force, an amoral creature driven by an insatiable greed for what she could not have.

Anakin was certain that he didn't know the full story. It was very much like the Father to deal in partial truths, but he had not been ignorant of Abeloth's existence at least. The Father had warned him of the danger she presented very early on in his training on Mortis. He had even prepared Anakin for the possibility of having to face her someday though, according to the Father, that prospect was obscure and unlikely. Not so unlikely now, however.

He had warned Anakin that Abeloth fed on the essence of other Force users to expand her powers, and that there were few beings in the galaxy that could check her. She was inherently self-serving and without conscience. Her relentless hunger had forced the Father, Son and Daughter to retreat from their ancestral home and construct a cosmic prison for her, the likes of which had never been assembled before in the history of the galaxy or since. It was paramount, the Father had warned him, that Abeloth remain confined there for all eternity.

As far as Anakin knew, she was confined with no viable means of escape. Her jail, which was essentially a yawning black hole created by a powerful space station capable of moving entire planets, was centuries old. It had been designed to hold her for lifetimes upon lifetimes. The Father had assured him that she would never escape. So, to see her with his own eyes, to know that she had come into such intimate proximity with his daughter left Anakin understandably shaken and angry. He needed to know how and why.

She has not escaped, if that is what you fear.

"You're wrong! I saw her! What started as your problem has now become mine!"

What you saw was her shadow. She can only go as far as the body she controls. She remains limited.

"You call what she's capable of 'limited?'" Anakin balked, "I watched her suck the life out of a woman right in front me! If that's what her 'shadow' can do, I shudder to think about what she's like in person!"

She cannot do a thing apart from those mortal forms. It is the Force within them that fuels and strengthens her.

"If she hasn't escaped, then how is she able to accomplish any of this?"

Her prison has been compromised, but it is not entirely destroyed. She can ooze through the fissures that have been created, but she cannot break free entirely.

"I thought you said it was unbreakable! How was it compromised in the first place?"

You compromised it.

That was the last explanation Anakin expected. He reared back with a scowl. "Me? How?"

It is the Force that contains her. Each time it bends, the bonds of her prison bend with it.

"And you're saying that I'm the one who bent it?" Anakin scoffed in blatant disbelief.

You do not submit yourself to the Force, my son. You seek to control it instead.

"You've been telling me that for the entirety of our acquaintance! What has it to do with what's happening now?"

The first time you bent the Force was when you manipulated the past and rewrote your own history. It was Abeloth who whispered in Mother Talzin's ear to commission a secret army against the galaxy.

"Mother Talzin?"

She is the one who raised Maul against you.

Anakin quietly contemplated that revelation, finally having the answers to the questions that had plagued him following Maul's resurgence. Now, it made sense to him how that long forgotten Sith had seemingly reemerged with such perfect timing and how he was able to foment so much destruction in such a short period. It made sense that a being far more powerful than any of them could have imagined was orchestrating everything from behind the scenes. Abeloth's machinations had set those grand plans into motion. She had manipulated the chaos from the beginning.

He glared at the Father in grieved accusation. "Why didn't you tell me?"

You were not yet strong enough to face her. Would you have truly waited until the time was right?

His jaw tightened with the implied admonishment, but primarily because he knew he couldn't justify himself or refute the Father's argument. Very likely, he would have gone off halfcocked because that was his manner of dealing with everything. The Father had good reason to be leery of his reaction given his penchant for impulsivity. Knowing that, however, didn't lessen Anakin's anger with him. Though he was unable to rightly blame the Father for his silence then, Anakin decided to take him to task on another matter instead.

"She said something curious to me. She said that I was meant to be her replacement. Is that true?"

That one is a liar. Her sole purpose is to sow seeds of mistrust.

"That's not a difficult task where you and I are concerned."

Surely now you can see how much was at stake, my son.

Anakin's mouth twisted in a parody of a smile. "I'm assuming you're referring to Abeloth and not your children's unnatural affection for one another."

I did not mislead you maliciously.

"But you did mislead me." Because he didn't want to segue into a round of the Father remorselessly justifying his actions, Anakin redirected their discussion back to the matter at hand. "What did you do about her…about Abeloth?" he demanded, "You knew she was able to scoot past your defenses, and what? You allowed her to roam free this entire time? You did nothing?"

You know better. My children made certain that she was confined once more.

"If that's the case, then why are we having this conversation? How is she free now?"

Dathomir.

"What about it?" Anakin asked.

When you leveled that planet, you sent out a seismic shift throughout the entirety of the Force. It shook the foundation of everything. We felt the vibration even on Mortis.

"When you say it shook 'everything,' that includes her prison, doesn't it?"

Yes.

Anakin wrestled silently with guilt. To learn that he had been inadvertently responsible for Abeloth's mayhem on two separate occasions was disheartening, but not necessarily surprising. After all, it was in keeping with his typical mode of operations. His natural talent for disaster was unparalleled. To his everlasting sorrow, Anakin had always had a penchant for destroying the very things he was trying to preserve.

"You should have told me that she was out there!" he flared, shame and sorrow causing him to lash out, "At least then, I would have known what I was fighting! If I created this mess, then you should have given me the chance to fix it!"

The solution was not a simple one, my son.

"Why not?"

You were not yet ready. My children did face her again. They pushed her back into her prison as always, but that last time Abeloth whispered in my son's ear. She corrupted him. She caused his hatred and resentment towards me to grow.

Anakin leaned back with a soft, thoughtful grunt, astutely discerning what the Father had left unsaid. "She told him the truth about me, didn't she?" he asserted in a quiet tone, "That's how he knew, isn't it?"

Her version of truth. My passage over into the Cosmic Force was imminent. I could not risk him aligning himself with her against you and my daughter. I could not leave you vulnerable. You were not prepared to face her. I had to protect you.

"It was you," he breathed, half in disbelief, half in disgust, "You were the reason I lost those ten years! You made us sleep, didn't you?"

To shield you.

"To shield yourself and protect your lie!" Anakin spit out, "You left the entire galaxy at her mercy! Why didn't you tell me afterwards when I awakened? Why didn't you warn me then?"

You were too incensed after learning the truth about your wife. You would not have heard me had I tried.

"How convenient! I guess I'm to blame for everything then!"

That is not what I meant. I do not deny that my mistakes have been numerous, but they have always been in the interest of you and my children.

"Let's not pretend that I'm anything more than collateral damage to you," Anakin muttered, "Was everything you told me a half truth?"

I told you what you were entitled to know at the time you needed to know it. Anakin responded with a derisive snort, but the Father was unruffled by his contempt. He regarded Anakin with a penetrating stare. Surely, you can understand that I was permitted to keep my secrets as well.

Anakin knew what he was implying, and he became even more incensed that the Father would even dare to make the comparison. "It's not the same thing! You're justifying your attempt to cover a lie! Abeloth is using my past to manipulate my children!"

She did the same with my son. You and I are not so different. I did what was necessary to protect my children. You will do the same.

On that, they agreed. He didn't want to waste more time with blame and accusation, not when Abeloth was actively targeting his daughter and she had already destroyed so much of Leia's innocence. For that reason alone, Anakin buried his resentment and focused on the thing of most immediate importance. "Tell me how to stop her."

She has grown very strong. Only the dagger of Mortis can subdue her now.

Anakin almost guffawed aloud, not in merriment but in woeful longsuffering and irony. "You mean the dagger that was destroyed when Mortis disintegrated? That dagger? Well, that's just terrific!"

Mortis was not destroyed. It shall be remade.

"What are you talking about? I was there. It literally collapsed beneath my feet!"

Mortis is not some mortal place that can be destroyed by mortal hands. It is a haven. It has become your dwelling place now…though you choose to reject it.

"You're saying that Mortis will rebuild itself…for me," Anakin concluded as tentative understanding began to dawn.

That is the way of things. You have taken my place after all.

"And if I retrieve the dagger, I can kill her?"

Be mindful of your thoughts. Destroying her will not be the simple task you imagine.

"I know that she is powerful," Anakin acknowledged, "But so am I."

And you are at a disadvantage. She holds your daughter in her thrall. She will not relinquish her easily.

"Why target Leia at all? She's just a child! What does she want with her?"

Abeloth seeks to reclaim what she has lost, what she wrongly believes was stolen from her. In her determination to hold on to the girl, she will destroy her.

"You don't think I know that?" Anakin bit out, "Leia's been acting erratic ever since that creature came into her life! So, stop speaking to me in riddles and tell me how to end her!"

You must cross over into the beyond shadows, into her realm, and face her there. But the journey will not be an easy one. You will face many perils and be challenged to confront your deepest fears.

"I don't care what I have to face or where I have to go! I'll do whatever is necessary to protect my daughter!"

You must tread carefully. Abeloth has perverted her thinking. By giving Leia insight into your fractured past, she has also fractured the child's mind. Leia can no longer discern the difference between the past and the present. If you push her, you will drive her deeper into madness.

"You're saying I shouldn't go forcing my way into Leia's mind again?"

I would advise you against such aggressive measures.

"There is one last thing I want to ask you," Anakin said, "and don't lie to me. You owe me that much. Can the dagger of Mortis restore my mortality?"

You have yet to appreciate the tremendous gift you've been given.

"Answer me!"

It can. But you will not use it. You will choose this life because your love for your child will exceed everything else.

"Is that everything I need to know?" Anakin asked brusquely, refusing to acknowledge the words, or even take a moment to puzzle out their cryptic meaning.

For now. Will you come to me again?

"If I need you," Anakin said. His eyes were like shards of ice when he added, "With luck, I won't."