"But you just said you'd tuned her out," Anakin said, quirking up an eyebrow.

"And what did she have to say about me?" Anakin asked, watching Jacen's eyes.

Anakin's eyes went a little sharp. "I can imagine," he said dryly. "I've seen the actual, physical scars that two different versions of who you could grow up to be left on your sister and your cousin. I would think that of any family, ours would know better than to go near the dark side, and yet I keep hearing differently. How I am supposed to react?"

"That's the only reason you're still in my office," Anakin told him, "but you can understand my concern. I don't care about timelines. If you're a Skywalker or Solo from our galaxy, you're my family. And no one gets to hurt my family. Especially not people who should kriffing know better."

"Because knowing what the future holds and trying to avoid it leads to disaster," Anakin said, looking into Jacen's--Padmé's--eyes. "I had a vision of your grandmother dying that I was hellbent on stopping. I took the entire galaxy down with me trying to avoid that from happening, and she died anyway."

Maybe, Anakin thought, the vision was just twenty years or so early. He kept that barricade behind his mental walls.

"I think that the individual choices determine how you react to the one big thing, and that can lead to the disaster," Anakin replied.

"Shouldn't avoiding the dark side already color what you are doing now?" Anakin retorted.

"I've spent a lot of time thinking about this," Anakin said. "It's one of the questions that comes up a lot when you live on a nexus like this school. And ten years before I became Vader, I was thirteen years old. I was desperate to please Obi-Wan, but I wasn't yet convinced that I knew more than he did. Ten years before I was Vader, I would have listened." He tapped his fingers on the desk. "Five years before, I was here. Staying instead of going back would have changed everything. I think, if I had the chance, I should have stayed here. But once I went back...my path was set."

He raised an eyebrow. "But I was a stubborn idiot. And you've had that shadow over you your entire life."

"Them?" Anakin asked sharply. "There's only been Jaina that I'm aware of. Who else?"

"Tell me," Anakin demanded. "Maybe it will explain why turning to the dark side seems to be treated with all of the urgency of a vacation trip to Naboo."

Anakin reminded himself that beating himself into unconsciousness by whacking his head into his desk would be counterproductive and a bit overdramatic. "That's because the dark side is powerful and seductive, especially to the frustrated and scared," Anakin said, voice growing heated. "And Kyp Durron--who I am guessing is the Jedi in question, because if there is more than one former Dark Jedi traipsing through the ranks you have some serious problems--was a kriffing idiot. That there was an argument at all proves that it's not being taken seriously. The dark side is to be avoided. It is not to be studied. It is not to be understood. It is all-consuming. It changes you entirely. It is a one-way trip to pain and destruction and it is never worth it."

"I think that just because she doesn't want to talk about it any more doesn't mean that the danger has passed," Anakin retorted. "As far as I can tell, she's done nothing at all to address the reason she turned to begin with. And until she takes a good hard look at that weakness, it remains a weakness."