CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE: CORUSCANT AND CRUSADES

In a way, it was just like Veritas. Because Cindess was so dangerous, she could only be fed or interrogated by other Force-users. Lucky for the Rebellion, they had a good deal of them on their hands now. Unlucky for Luke, it was his turn to feed her – because there was one significant difference between now and Veritas. The "Sith Lord" he was guarding there turned out to be his father, and hurting him was the last thing he wanted to do. Here, in all likelihood Cindess was entertaining herself with that very notion.

So, Luke stayed in the doorway, very grateful for the ray-shield that separated them. One that would soon have a hole in it for her feeding tray, but hey, he was trying to look on the bright side. Besides, if anything went wrong, his father was waiting for him in the control center.

Luke flicked a series of switches. A rectangle hole in the shield materialized.

Something whooshed by him. Sparks fizzed. Something was burning—

An explosion of multicolored flash of light. Luke was thrown against the door. Air was knocked out of him. He gasped for breath.

Cindess stared down at him. She was grinning. She was escaping. He had to stop her. He tried to extend his hand, but his tingled with numbness.

The heel of Cindess's boot struck him. The world went white.

Something was wrong. Luke was afraid. Anakin grabbed his lightsaber. He burst into the prison hallway. The door to Cindess's cell was blown open. On the ground below it: a smoldering chunk of metal. Anakin ran onto it. Above him was a hole in the ceiling. It was too small for him to get in. He extended himself through the bulkhead. Cindess's Force-signature circled through the ship like smoke, and with it she dragged Luke's. His was dull. Shaken. He was unconscious.

He was in danger.

Anakin raced back to the control center. Using the Force, he engaged the comm before he even sat down. "This is Captain Anakin Skywalker. There are intruders in the ship. Cindess has broken loose, and she has Commander Skywalker with her. Lock down all exits."

"You said you were Captain Skywalker? I'm going to need authorization."

Which he didn't have. "There's no time. You have to lock the ship down."

"I'll check in with Senator Mothma."

Cindess and Luke were out of the bulkhead. There was an airlock near them.

"No! You don't have time! Lock down the ship."

Only static answered him.

Authorization required.

That was rude. Cindess had a tight schedule to keep. Perhaps if she destroyed the panel with Skywalker's lightsaber she would get lucky and hit the circuit. Too much chance. If it worked it worked. If it failed, she would have a broken panel, an unconscious body, and possible rebels to deal with.

Then her gaze settled on Skywalker's limp hand. She placed it on the panel. It scanned it then clicked.

She could be so ingenuitive sometimes.

Still using Skywalker's hand, she activated a homing signal. Not one minute later, one of her ships appeared from hyperspace. Excellent timing. She would expect nothing less for the best.

The ship docked to the airlock. She threw Skywalker on board then leapt down to join him. They disconnected from the rebel ship then jumped to hyperspace.

Freedom at last. Soon she would be in his Master's presence, and his praise would be hers. Should would finally get the recognition she deserved.

They were gone. Luke was gone. The last thing Anakin had felt from him before his presence had disappeared into hyperspace was dazed fear.

Cindess had tortured Leia. Her recovering had only been a psychological one. Would the same be said for Luke? He didn't know where Cindess was taking him. Her ship had been on a heading for something dark. Something really dark. A familiar darkness. One that had made himself see in. Now his eyes had readjusted to the light, and he was blind to it again.

But that darkness… did it mean?

Anakin ran out of the prison hallway, through the rebel ship that seemed to expend for ever and ever, an endless path that he would never get to the end of. He was running so fast. He could feel his cybernetics vibrating with every step. But Luke was in danger, and he couldn't go fast enough., he couldn't yell loud enough, because no one would listen to him because he had forsaken that right a long time ago. Now no one trusted him, and his son would suffer because it.

"Anakin?"

He stopped. Mon Mothma was in the doorway to her office. He'd made it. It didn't feel like.

"Anakin, what's happened."

So much suffering around him. "Cindess took Luke." So much loss. "I don't know where he is." Luke had been his way back from that. "You have to… to do something." What if he lost him, too?

"Anakin." Blue eyes seared into him. "We'll get him back. Don't lose hope."

The darkness that had taken Luke hung over him. The sky felt so far away. But he wasn't reeling anymore. He'd lost so much, but that loss had made him stronger, and it had taught him to stay steady when the world was falling apart, otherwise, when the dust settled, there would be nothing left.

"Right. So what do we do?"

"Luke?"

The world was in darkness. That was all Luke could tell, because he could only see black when he opened his eyes. Maybe they would adjust, but something told him that there would be no light for them to catch. There was no noise, no signs of life. There was no warmth. Only cold stone beneath him.

"Luke?"

His head still throbbed. The details of what had happened where fuzzy, but they weighted him down into a sorrowful artic sea. Something had gone wrong. There had been an explosion of light, then Cindess's boot on his head.

How had she gotten out? Was that what had filled the icy ocean? It felt like it. Wasn't his purpose to make sure that did happen? He'd failed at that, then. Somehow, she escaped, and when he couldn't stop her, she captured him.

"Luke."

He was alone, wherever he was. There was no life, no promised light, only unnatural darkness, but it felt like someone was saying his name. Maybe that was the first signs of insanity setting in – a morbid joke that might come to fruition if he was kept in isolation – but the voice was familiar. Kind. Gentle. Reassuring.

"Father?"

A rustle of human movement echoed. Finally, a noise. Maybe it was his father, come to save him. I didn't feel like him. Except it did, when Luke had first met him, all those months ago on the Death Star.

"You're wasting your strength. He can't help you." The voice was a feminine one. It was cruel, but it savoring every word. It was Cindess.

It had been so long. He'd forgotten how sickening untapped darkness could be.

Father… An abstract plea for help and a too long postponed response that could go unheard.

He still couldn't see, but he could feel could air escape against his face. She could be eye to eye with him and he'd never know it. "But you can help me."

A single response, a whisper in the Force, was a tear as short as the name Luke had called that – a name in moments like this he felt he did not deserve – but that small tear had led to a great well of darkness.

Anakin remembered that darkness. He used to be the heart of it. He didn't create, but he opened the door for it, when hundreds of innocent people died because of him. The slaughter of the Jedi. The Empire called traitors. Before that, the galaxy had called then heroes. He'd called them friends. Now all he could remember of his friends was how frightened betrayed they were.

He inhaled light and opened his eyes. Ahsoka, Rex, Han, Leia, and Lila were waiting for him. "He's in the Imperial Palace. I think Cindess is with him, but I'm not sure." She could blend in so easily with the darkness. Darkness he'd allowed to seep up.

"Well I guess the next thing to is to figure out how to get there," his daughter said.

Anakin smiled. His children were his light. Leia forgave him and that was more than enough, and Luke had saved him. Now he would save him.

Coruscant.

One day Cindess and her Master would rule the galaxy from here. She'd finally be in her rightful place at his side. No longer some lowly bounty hunter, but as the heiress to the Empire. And when the time was right, she'd claim her inheritance.

Empress Cindess. She'd said it so many times over to herself the sound of it had become familiar. The empowering sensation at the beginning, the double hiss at the ending of both her title and her name. It was destiny.

But now she had to focus on the task at hand. She had to speak to Sidious about her triumph, and he would reward her – in person, no less. It had been so long since she had had that privilege. He must be proud of her.

But he had also instructed her to hide her appearance. She obeyed, needless to say, and was now being escorted through the Imperial Palace (a place worth savoring. The darkness of the Jedi's slaughter still clung to the walls. It was glorious) by four of her Master's Red Guards, hidden under a woven black cloak. Still, she wanted to be seen. Not like Vader who had hidden under his armor.

Though she couldn't blame him with the hideous face he had. Yet another way that she was superior to him.

Perhaps it was a test. Sidious must know of her desire – Sidious knew all – so his wish for her to remain hidden could be a vailed chance for her to prove her loyalty. Knowing his record with Vader, this wouldn't be the first time he'd done this to an apprentice. And the two of them knew how well he'd faired. Cindess, on the other hand, would not disappoint him.

The guards stiffened. "We're here."

She, of course, had already sensed as much. There was no feeling as dark or as sickening as her powerful Master's presence. It was to be feared, yes, but she was high enough to catch a glimpse of that darkness. One day, it would be within her reach.

The doors slid open. The tendrils of Sidious's darkness wrapped around her, pulling her to the cloaked figure they slithered out from. The apprentice dropped to her knees.

"Leave us."

Cindess was scarcely aware of the guards' footsteps leaving the room.

Lord Sidious let out a growl. "Lord Cindess."

He was certainly to be feared. And that was not to be forgotten. "My Master."

"You have brought me something."

Cindess's breath caught. Even now, his power in complete control of her, he shared with her some of that power. Surely it was a sign she was beginning to prove herself to him. "Yes, my Master."

"Very good." His voice was absent. There was nothing. No anger, no praise. She was an afterthought. Why was she an afterthought? She had brought him a Jedi. He should gratify her.

He didn't seem to notice unsatisfaction – or in the very least he spared her and her indignance. "Leave him to me. Until I call for you again, entertain yourself with what you do best."

Anger flared to life inside her. Did he think that weak deversion counted as flattery? Why was he wasting time on Skywalker? The wanna-be Jedi was powerful, but Sidious… he… he wouldn't replace her. Not so soon. No, it was more likely Skywalker was a challenge. Another test.

"Does something I have said trouble you, Lord Cindess?"

Sidious knew all. And she should've known to control her anger. There would be no point in lying to him. He would sense the truth. But even now had he sensed her considering a lie? No, but she could make it up by proving she held a deeper understanding of his workings – and the workings of a Sith Lord – by answering to his plan for her.

"I will not fail you, my Master."

Next week: the start of the finale.

May the Force be with you,

-CWN