The four Jedi had broke into a run after deducing what the Father had meant by 'dark lands'. They did not stop once in their set stride across the landscape, wrought with Abeloth's attack on Mortis. It was only late into the night that they decided to rest. But the Jedi were on their feet again before the sun even peaked along the horizon.

It was creeping into midday when Ben suddenly lost concentration and stumbled over a rock. He picked himself back up easily enough, not wanting to lose precious seconds on a scraped knee. Then he felt it. The bond between Ben and Luke was suddenly alive and filled to the brink with... Ben fell to his knees again, grasping his head and biting back a scream. Hands touched his shoulders but Ben shied away from them. Hopelessness had caught him like a tsunami. A sharp, burning pain consumed his mind. Ben frantically struggled to close himself off from Luke. He could not handle it, he could not accept this was what was happening to his father.

"Ben!"

Ben startled out of it. He breathed heavily, fighting back a sob as Ahsoka took his hands in her own. He looked up to Anakin and Obi-Wan. They all looked afraid.

"It's Dad." Ben forced himself to his feet. "This way... We have to find him now! He- he's dying."

~~~

Just once Luke would like to wake up and know exactly what had happened prior and where he was now. No... actually he did not. Those images in his head. His arm rotting away, the disease spreading through his body... feeling his neck get eaten away until he could scream no more. His only choice to wait for death to take him.

Was he dead? Luke blinked his eyes open. Sunshine filtering through a green canopy of leaves shown down on him. Luke took a deep breath and slowly, fearfully raising his arm into view. However, the only sign that there had been a wound was the rip in his sleeve. His arm was still intact. Luke quickly touched his neck, that too was fully intact. Luke's only hurt was the cut on his palm. He felt like he was alive... but how? Slowly Luke came to his feet. He was in a forest. A sunlight, green forest. A complete opposite from the state of Mortis. He turned around. Behind him was a grand rock. And set against the rock was a pool. Not too unlike the one he had seen while under Abeloth's hold.

Luke came closer to the pool. The marble was clean, the water crystal clear. Luke knelt by it and reached a hand out to touch the water.

"I would refrain." A voice called.

Luke shot up and turned towards the voice. A woman stood a few yards away. She was fair faced, yellow haired... and had blacked out eyes.

Luke's hand went for his lightsaber, but it was not there.

Abeloth smiled slightly. "I killed my son for you, I saved you. Why are you scared of me?"

Slowly Luke glanced around. "Is this real?"

"It is." Abeloth confirmed.

"How did you save me?"

Abeloth gestured to the pool. "It is my daughter's. It holds her powers to heal, I used only enough and my own power to reverse the dagger's effects on you."

Luke shook his head, baffled. "Why? Why did you do that?"

"Because I owe you." Abeloth said, she looked and sounded absolutely offended. "You helped me get to the one place I wanted to go. I must honor my end of our bargain."

Luke was taken aback. "Abeloth... what did I ask for?"

Abeloth only smiled. "In our time the Ones are dead and Mortis is forsaken. But I have been patient. In the Maw... that is what you call it, I sensed a boy. A boy with great power. But when I reached out to him... he cut himself from the Force."

Luke shook his head. "Ben? You were responsible for that?"

"I did not want to scare him." Abeloth sighed. "But that is what happened. I was so happy to meet him again and find that he had the Force by his side. And he came with you."

"You looked for us?" Luke asked.

Abeloth nodded. "You are wise and powerful, Luke Skywalker. But you hold yourself back. I made you push the limits and you got me home. In return all you wanted was your family whole again." Abeloth chuckled. "Such a small thing, something I have been working on. So that you may have the family you need."

"How is destroying Mortis supposed to get Mara back?" Luke was baffled by the entity's reasoning.

"I am remaking it." Abeloth said. "It will soon be as beautiful as before, maybe even more so. And it's all for you."

Slowly she reached out, slender fingers touching Luke's cheek. "This is how I repair your family, beloved. Join me, we will replace the Ones too weak to have survived."

Luke shook his head, moving out of her range. "What are you talking about? Replacing the Ones? Why?"

Abeloth only smiled. "The Father summoned Anakin Skywalker for a test. To see if he was the Chosen One as the Jedi Order believed. In a past life Anakin did pass... but you know all too well how he abused his power, what he did to the galaxy. He only understands Darkness." Abeloth shook her head, wispy hair falling in her face. "Sweet Ben, he may know evil, yet he is nothing if not Light despite all his pain and suffering. But you. You understand the Darkness and the Light as intimately as the Father once did."

Luke inhaled sharply. "That's how you want to 'repair' my family? Killing the Ones and making us gods?"

"More than that." Abeloth said. She closed the distance and cupped Luke's face in her hands. "You could rule the Force itself. We will be loved by the galaxy. Your son will never know sorrow. Your father will never hurt you. You will be whole again and forever. And when the time comes, Mara Jade will be right here. So long as you still love me."

Luke shook his head, tearing her hands from his face and took several strides away from Abeloth. He needed to calm down, he needed to think. His stomach churned, he felt nauseatingly sick. Luke pressed his hand to a tree, trying to steady himself. His chest felt too tight, his head was spinning. This could not possibly be what Abeloth had had in mind when their bargain was struck. Yet she was wholly ready to complete it. Luke swallowed down bile.

"This isn't what I wanted." He grounded out.

A hand touched his hair, Luke stiffened. Another hand fell over his arm, gently pulling him around. And there she was. Mara held his hand, gently examining the cut across his palm. "We seldom get what we want, Farmboy." Mara smiled up at him, to her touch the cut slowly healed. "This is what you need. You and your family have fought and suffered for a galaxy that does not love you. Not as it should. Stay here with me. We can be happy." Mara kissed his healed palm. "All you have to do is say yes."

Again Luke shook his head, but somewhere deep down those words rang true. He had fought, suffered and lost for a galaxy that could never be saved. Would it not be better, if anything, for Ben to live out his days here? Safe, never to fight again. Never to be tempted and tortured, to leave behind all the pain he endured since childhood? And Anakin... would it not be better to keep him here? To keep him from becoming Darth Vader?

Would it not be better for everyone if Luke said yes?