Together Again, Part 4, Star Wars AU, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Rated G
Title: Together Again, Part 4
Author: ring34_ani
Fandom: Star Wars AU
Characters: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker
Rating: Rated G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2613
Disclaimers: No ownership, no profit, just having a good time with my favorite characters.
Notes: A little AU turn after events in The Empire Strikes Back.
Summary: Luke and Vader are stranded together.
Together Again, Part 4
Luke stared at a swarm of golden feathered creatures as they swooped and dipped above a stand of large trees in the distance, thinking over the string of events that had led him to this place at this time and with the particular companion he‘d been graced with the past two days. His eyes slid over to the man who was busy concentrating on the small comlink held in one shiny hand, muttering words Luke could not quite hear but could guess the meaning of.
“Still not working?”
“I’m getting a strange echo. I know my earlier message was received but I would still like confirmation as to their progress in getting here.”
He slipped the comlink into an inside pocket and turned to look at Luke. “They will be here, Luke. I must…I must be where I am suppose to be or there may be dire consequences for a great many people. And, of course, we need to get you safely back on your way to the…Alliance.”
Luke watched the older man as he carefully made his way across the slippery and jagged rocks that littered the peak of the small hill they were currently occupying, his mind an eddy of many different thoughts.
“You haven’t even asked me.”
“Asked you what?”
“Asked me where the rebel base is.”
Vader looked up and Luke was startled to see unexpected amusement in his father’s eyes.
“What makes you think I am unaware of the present location of the Alliance’s base as well as most of its smaller outposts?”
Luke opened his mouth to speak and realized he was at a loss for words.
Vader paused beside him, then gave him a gentle push back the direction they’d come.
“Come along, Luke. I feel a bit too exposed here for comfort.”
Luke’s eyes followed him, noting the gracefulness of the man despite the mechanical limbs as he walked the uneven ground. He sighed deeply. There was quite a bit he would like to learn about this enigmatic man that he now called father.
*****
“Can I…ask you a few things?”
“You can always ask, Luke.”
“Are you…did you…grow up on Tatooine like I did?”
“I lived there until I was nine years of age.”
“Who were your parents?”
“My mother was Shmi. I never knew anything of my father. The name Skywalker was from my mother.”
“Why did you leave Tatooine?”
“I left with a man named Qui-Gon Jinn.”
He turned and looked at Luke briefly, then seemed to come to a conclusion.
“He was a Jedi and he wanted to teach me to use the Force. He was…he was a good man. A kind man.”
“But I thought…”
Luke ran his fingers through his hair, not knowing how to ask, not sure if this particular question would be tolerated. But as always, Vader seem to know what he was thinking.
“You thought…Obi-Wan…taught me. Well, he did, after Qui-Gon’s unexpected…death. Obi-Wan promised him that he would teach me even if the Jedi Council did not agree.”
Luke mulled this information over in his head, touching here and there on the new facts about his father that he had not heard before.
“But…you said…why wouldn’t the Council agree for him to teach you? Even then they must have known…must have sensed…how strong you were in the Force.”
“Perhaps that was part of the problem, Luke. They…feared…what I might become though they would not admit it. Some sensed that, despite a certain prophecy they believed applied to me, I may become a…threat…to the Order.”
Luke frowned, trying to understand what Vader had said, trying to decipher the words he must have surely left unsaid.
“What prophecy? What did it say?”
“The prophecy was about someone who was to bring balance to the Force.”
“Do you believe the prophecy was about you?”
Vader was silent for so long that Luke thought he would not answer.
“I…once…believed it. Now, I think not. Perhaps it was simply delusional words that were latched onto by some ancient Jedi because they brought hope.”
Hope. Luke thought the word seemed a strange one to come from a Sith Lord. But then his father had said he no longer believed the prophecy.
They came to the spot where they would camp just outside the city, deeming it too risky to stay in the city another night. After looking critically around the area, Vader climbed nimbly onto a crumbling wall that was almost covered in vines and low tree branches and then up onto a large limb settling himself with his back against the smooth gray tree trunk, his long legs stretched out along the wide, flat limb. He sighed and Luke felt an unexpected ache in his heart as he remembered the probable severity of his father‘s long ago injuries and he wondered how much they still caused pain for him. Quite a lot, he thought.
Vader looked down at his son, a strange, unreadable look in his eyes as they roved over Luke’s face and Luke wondered how much of his thoughts his father could read. Vader patted the stone wall beside him.
“Come along, Luke, you won’t take up much room. It’ll probably be best to be above the ground when night falls.“
Luke stared at his father’s niche doubtfully, uncertain as to the friendliness of the local wildlife that might inhabit the dense vines and clusters of leaves. However…Vader was probably right about being off the ground.
After Luke had settled in beside his father, he relaxed, shoulder just touching his father’s. There was that feeling again. That sense of belonging. His father’s powers seemed to hum quietly under the surface and Luke marveled that something he’d once feared could now be so familiar and comforting.
“So…you lived on Tatooine until you were nine.”
Vader stirred, shifting his back carefully against the trunk and rubbing at a spot just above his right knee as though it ached.
“Yes, but I am not sure if it was the place of my birth. I lived in Mos Espa. My mother and I were slaves to a Toydarian named Watto who ran a junk shop. Before that we were owned by Gardulla the Hutt.”
Vader, his eyes shadowed, waited a moment as his son digested this information. Few people had known the details of Anakin Skywalker’s very early life and he doubted that Luke had heard it before.
“One day a Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn came into the shop looking for a part for his ship. He was stranded and needed to get to Coruscant.”
“Was Obi-Wan with him then?”
“No. No, he had stayed behind with their ship. I did not meet him until later. Qui-Gon had…other companions.”
“How did Qui-Gon free you? He must have if he took you with him.”
“Oh…well, he had made a bet with Watto over a podrace. He won and I was free to go with him.”
Luke turned his head to look at Vader. His father’s eyes slid away from him, the expression in them hard to see in the growing shadows of the evening.
“And your mother? Was she freed too?”
“She stayed behind.”
There was something dark here, in the innocently simple story Luke’s father had given him, he sensed it running like a wickedly strong current. He did not disbelieve Vader’s words, but he did not think he’d been given the complete account either.
“I had heard the Jedi separated their apprentices from their families. Did you ever see your mother again?”
Vader stilled and he seemed to become very quiet, so much so that even though Luke still sat shoulder to shoulder with his father, his sense of him was strangely muted.
“I saw her once more. On the day she died.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.”
Luke shifted, sliding just a little until his shoulder pressed a little harder against Vader’s. There was pain, quite a lot of it for something that happened a long time ago, but Luke was careful not to acknowledge it. He did not think his father would welcome it. They sat silent for a while as the last light slid across the trees and strange night noises began here and there.
“She was happy for a while they told me. After I had gone.”
Luke turned his head to look at Vader who was now a dark outline against the lighter bark of the tree.
“A farmer named Cliegg Lars bought her from Watto. He married her and I was told he treated her well and she was very happy with him.”
“Cliegg…that was Uncle Owen’s father.”
“Yes, he was Owen’s father.”
“So Uncle Owen really was my uncle, sort of. I was never really sure.”
Luke frowned, his fingers picking at the edge of his jacket. There were so many things he wanted to ask but…he did not think Vader would be receptive to all of them.
Vader turned his head toward Luke, feeling the uncertainty his son felt, not born out of fear but out of…out of a disinclination to cause further hurt to Vader. But Vader would not hide himself under any illusions. Not with his son.
“Ask me whatever you want, Luke. Whatever it is, I‘ll tell you.”
“Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were killed by stormtroopers. They were looking for the two droids because of the information Leia had hidden in R2. I wasn’t there when it happened. Did you…did you send them there?”
“I sent them there. And yes, I gave the order that caused the execution of Owen and Beru Lars.”
Luke felt his throat close and he felt…well…he wasn’t really sure how he felt. Anger and hurt and a deep melancholy stole over him. He didn’t know the right words to say. He could ask if Vader felt remorse for what he had done, if given the chance now if he would do things differently. But…wouldn’t they all do things differently if given another chance? But Luke…how many died on the Death Star? How many civilians?”
Luke turned his face and found that if he shifted ever so slightly, he could lay his cheekbone on Vader’s shoulder.
“Was that…when you found out about me? You didn’t know before…about me?”
Vader took a deep, halting breath, then seemed to relax deeper into his position, pulling his cloak over his left arm, and letting Luke settle more firmly against his right side.
“Oh no, I didn’t know about you then. I believed that you had never been born, that you had died with your mother.”
Mother. Luke felt his heart beat just a little faster. But something told him to wait. Don’t ask. Not now. He’s not ready.
“It was only after the Death Star’s destruction that I learned about you. I spent many months looking for you…”
Vader’s voice trailed off as he remember the many dark and desperate days as he searched for his son and the trials he had forced on him. Luke listened to his father’s silence, hearing unspoken words…and regrets.
When the Dark Lord spoke again his voice was rougher, slurring a little bit. “I did not intend for things to…go so badly at our meeting in Bespin. I had only wanted you to see…understand…” He stopped as though he could not find the right words. Perhaps there weren’t any.
“But you don’t believe the same way now. You…want different things. For me.” Luke’s voice was barely above a whisper and Vader had to turn his head and lean closer to hear his son’s words. He considered them for a moment.
“Yes. I want things to be different for you than they were for me. That’s why I need to get you back to the Alliance and away from me. We’ve both been gone too long for safety.”
Luke’s chest tightened. There were so many things he needed to say. The thought of another separation from his father was terrifying. There were no guarantees that either of them would survive the coming months. No guarantee that they would be together again.
“So Obi-Wan taught you…”
“Yes, the Council finally gave their permission but he would have anyway as he had promised his Master, Qui-Gon.”
“You lived in…in Coruscant?”
“Yes, at the Jedi Temple. It was where most JedI were taught, though we were often away on assignments. After the War stated we were away most of the time.”
“Is it still there? The Temple?”
“It is there. What’s left of it. Do not go there. It is…a place of ghosts.”
The wind rustled through the trees, cool but not unpleasantly so. Luke found his eyes closing, oddly at peace here on this world whose name he couldn’t remember and with the man he’d once ran halfway across the galaxy to avoid. But then life was funny that way, throwing a curve to show you how very little you really knew about things. He listened to the soft bird-like calls in the underbrush, his breath evening out to match his father’s. And he slept.
*****
Vader’s eyes snapped open and just for a moment he wasn’t sure where he was. Then he recognized the minty smell of the vegetation and the hard tree trunk that had become very uncomfortable against his scarred back. And the weight of his son against his side. It was still very dark, perhaps halfway through the night. His senses reached out and that was when he realized why he had awakened and cursed himself for his carelessness.
“Luke…” The name was not even all the way spoken when the tree top high above them burst into a roaring flame, leaves flung in burning clusters down around them. Luke jerked straight up and Vader caught his arm, pulling him with him off the wide branch to fall into the undergrowth which was just beginning to smolder here and there as the burning leaves ignited it, missing the old, crumbling wall by mere centimeters. He cursed himself again for his lack of watchfulness that had allowed his pursuers to find them in so vulnerable a spot.
Vader had hissed as his legs made contact with the ground, then determinedly pushed the pain from his mind. He’d felt worse, after all. They scrambled through the thick underbrush as the rest of the trees flamed brightly in the dark sky. He stretched out with his senses, trying to determine where their predators were and how many of them there were. He connected with one and gave a wrench with the Force, feeling the being’s sudden gasp for air as his throat constricted shut. Then the other pursuers were upon them and without even thinking he pulled the lightsaber from its hidden pocket at his side, instinctively whirling and deflecting the bolts aimed at him and his son. Luke had his blaster out, picking off two of them as they were distracted by the glowing crimson blade.
Then the sky seemed to fall in, at least that’s what it felt like at first. A sleek ebony and silver craft hovered over the melee, laser cannons picking off the survivors in a deafening blast of sound. Vader watched a moment, then extinguished his lightsaber and returned it to its hiding place.
Luke squinted his eyes against the dust and still burning sparks blowing through the air, looking up at the underside of their rescuer.
“I’m assuming you know them?”
Vader sighed and nodded, eyes and senses quickly scanning the area around them for any more surprises. Already he could hear shouts from inside the city. Its occupants would soon be investigating all the noise.
“That would be Marek.”
“Who is Marek?”
“My mistake. My condemnation.”
Feeling Again
Beginning Again
Together Again, Part 1
Together Again, Part 2
Together Again, Part 3
Author: ring34_ani
Fandom: Star Wars AU
Characters: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker
Rating: Rated G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2613
Disclaimers: No ownership, no profit, just having a good time with my favorite characters.
Notes: A little AU turn after events in The Empire Strikes Back.
Summary: Luke and Vader are stranded together.
Together Again, Part 4
Luke stared at a swarm of golden feathered creatures as they swooped and dipped above a stand of large trees in the distance, thinking over the string of events that had led him to this place at this time and with the particular companion he‘d been graced with the past two days. His eyes slid over to the man who was busy concentrating on the small comlink held in one shiny hand, muttering words Luke could not quite hear but could guess the meaning of.
“Still not working?”
“I’m getting a strange echo. I know my earlier message was received but I would still like confirmation as to their progress in getting here.”
He slipped the comlink into an inside pocket and turned to look at Luke. “They will be here, Luke. I must…I must be where I am suppose to be or there may be dire consequences for a great many people. And, of course, we need to get you safely back on your way to the…Alliance.”
Luke watched the older man as he carefully made his way across the slippery and jagged rocks that littered the peak of the small hill they were currently occupying, his mind an eddy of many different thoughts.
“You haven’t even asked me.”
“Asked you what?”
“Asked me where the rebel base is.”
Vader looked up and Luke was startled to see unexpected amusement in his father’s eyes.
“What makes you think I am unaware of the present location of the Alliance’s base as well as most of its smaller outposts?”
Luke opened his mouth to speak and realized he was at a loss for words.
Vader paused beside him, then gave him a gentle push back the direction they’d come.
“Come along, Luke. I feel a bit too exposed here for comfort.”
Luke’s eyes followed him, noting the gracefulness of the man despite the mechanical limbs as he walked the uneven ground. He sighed deeply. There was quite a bit he would like to learn about this enigmatic man that he now called father.
*****
“Can I…ask you a few things?”
“You can always ask, Luke.”
“Are you…did you…grow up on Tatooine like I did?”
“I lived there until I was nine years of age.”
“Who were your parents?”
“My mother was Shmi. I never knew anything of my father. The name Skywalker was from my mother.”
“Why did you leave Tatooine?”
“I left with a man named Qui-Gon Jinn.”
He turned and looked at Luke briefly, then seemed to come to a conclusion.
“He was a Jedi and he wanted to teach me to use the Force. He was…he was a good man. A kind man.”
“But I thought…”
Luke ran his fingers through his hair, not knowing how to ask, not sure if this particular question would be tolerated. But as always, Vader seem to know what he was thinking.
“You thought…Obi-Wan…taught me. Well, he did, after Qui-Gon’s unexpected…death. Obi-Wan promised him that he would teach me even if the Jedi Council did not agree.”
Luke mulled this information over in his head, touching here and there on the new facts about his father that he had not heard before.
“But…you said…why wouldn’t the Council agree for him to teach you? Even then they must have known…must have sensed…how strong you were in the Force.”
“Perhaps that was part of the problem, Luke. They…feared…what I might become though they would not admit it. Some sensed that, despite a certain prophecy they believed applied to me, I may become a…threat…to the Order.”
Luke frowned, trying to understand what Vader had said, trying to decipher the words he must have surely left unsaid.
“What prophecy? What did it say?”
“The prophecy was about someone who was to bring balance to the Force.”
“Do you believe the prophecy was about you?”
Vader was silent for so long that Luke thought he would not answer.
“I…once…believed it. Now, I think not. Perhaps it was simply delusional words that were latched onto by some ancient Jedi because they brought hope.”
Hope. Luke thought the word seemed a strange one to come from a Sith Lord. But then his father had said he no longer believed the prophecy.
They came to the spot where they would camp just outside the city, deeming it too risky to stay in the city another night. After looking critically around the area, Vader climbed nimbly onto a crumbling wall that was almost covered in vines and low tree branches and then up onto a large limb settling himself with his back against the smooth gray tree trunk, his long legs stretched out along the wide, flat limb. He sighed and Luke felt an unexpected ache in his heart as he remembered the probable severity of his father‘s long ago injuries and he wondered how much they still caused pain for him. Quite a lot, he thought.
Vader looked down at his son, a strange, unreadable look in his eyes as they roved over Luke’s face and Luke wondered how much of his thoughts his father could read. Vader patted the stone wall beside him.
“Come along, Luke, you won’t take up much room. It’ll probably be best to be above the ground when night falls.“
Luke stared at his father’s niche doubtfully, uncertain as to the friendliness of the local wildlife that might inhabit the dense vines and clusters of leaves. However…Vader was probably right about being off the ground.
After Luke had settled in beside his father, he relaxed, shoulder just touching his father’s. There was that feeling again. That sense of belonging. His father’s powers seemed to hum quietly under the surface and Luke marveled that something he’d once feared could now be so familiar and comforting.
“So…you lived on Tatooine until you were nine.”
Vader stirred, shifting his back carefully against the trunk and rubbing at a spot just above his right knee as though it ached.
“Yes, but I am not sure if it was the place of my birth. I lived in Mos Espa. My mother and I were slaves to a Toydarian named Watto who ran a junk shop. Before that we were owned by Gardulla the Hutt.”
Vader, his eyes shadowed, waited a moment as his son digested this information. Few people had known the details of Anakin Skywalker’s very early life and he doubted that Luke had heard it before.
“One day a Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn came into the shop looking for a part for his ship. He was stranded and needed to get to Coruscant.”
“Was Obi-Wan with him then?”
“No. No, he had stayed behind with their ship. I did not meet him until later. Qui-Gon had…other companions.”
“How did Qui-Gon free you? He must have if he took you with him.”
“Oh…well, he had made a bet with Watto over a podrace. He won and I was free to go with him.”
Luke turned his head to look at Vader. His father’s eyes slid away from him, the expression in them hard to see in the growing shadows of the evening.
“And your mother? Was she freed too?”
“She stayed behind.”
There was something dark here, in the innocently simple story Luke’s father had given him, he sensed it running like a wickedly strong current. He did not disbelieve Vader’s words, but he did not think he’d been given the complete account either.
“I had heard the Jedi separated their apprentices from their families. Did you ever see your mother again?”
Vader stilled and he seemed to become very quiet, so much so that even though Luke still sat shoulder to shoulder with his father, his sense of him was strangely muted.
“I saw her once more. On the day she died.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.”
Luke shifted, sliding just a little until his shoulder pressed a little harder against Vader’s. There was pain, quite a lot of it for something that happened a long time ago, but Luke was careful not to acknowledge it. He did not think his father would welcome it. They sat silent for a while as the last light slid across the trees and strange night noises began here and there.
“She was happy for a while they told me. After I had gone.”
Luke turned his head to look at Vader who was now a dark outline against the lighter bark of the tree.
“A farmer named Cliegg Lars bought her from Watto. He married her and I was told he treated her well and she was very happy with him.”
“Cliegg…that was Uncle Owen’s father.”
“Yes, he was Owen’s father.”
“So Uncle Owen really was my uncle, sort of. I was never really sure.”
Luke frowned, his fingers picking at the edge of his jacket. There were so many things he wanted to ask but…he did not think Vader would be receptive to all of them.
Vader turned his head toward Luke, feeling the uncertainty his son felt, not born out of fear but out of…out of a disinclination to cause further hurt to Vader. But Vader would not hide himself under any illusions. Not with his son.
“Ask me whatever you want, Luke. Whatever it is, I‘ll tell you.”
“Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were killed by stormtroopers. They were looking for the two droids because of the information Leia had hidden in R2. I wasn’t there when it happened. Did you…did you send them there?”
“I sent them there. And yes, I gave the order that caused the execution of Owen and Beru Lars.”
Luke felt his throat close and he felt…well…he wasn’t really sure how he felt. Anger and hurt and a deep melancholy stole over him. He didn’t know the right words to say. He could ask if Vader felt remorse for what he had done, if given the chance now if he would do things differently. But…wouldn’t they all do things differently if given another chance? But Luke…how many died on the Death Star? How many civilians?”
Luke turned his face and found that if he shifted ever so slightly, he could lay his cheekbone on Vader’s shoulder.
“Was that…when you found out about me? You didn’t know before…about me?”
Vader took a deep, halting breath, then seemed to relax deeper into his position, pulling his cloak over his left arm, and letting Luke settle more firmly against his right side.
“Oh no, I didn’t know about you then. I believed that you had never been born, that you had died with your mother.”
Mother. Luke felt his heart beat just a little faster. But something told him to wait. Don’t ask. Not now. He’s not ready.
“It was only after the Death Star’s destruction that I learned about you. I spent many months looking for you…”
Vader’s voice trailed off as he remember the many dark and desperate days as he searched for his son and the trials he had forced on him. Luke listened to his father’s silence, hearing unspoken words…and regrets.
When the Dark Lord spoke again his voice was rougher, slurring a little bit. “I did not intend for things to…go so badly at our meeting in Bespin. I had only wanted you to see…understand…” He stopped as though he could not find the right words. Perhaps there weren’t any.
“But you don’t believe the same way now. You…want different things. For me.” Luke’s voice was barely above a whisper and Vader had to turn his head and lean closer to hear his son’s words. He considered them for a moment.
“Yes. I want things to be different for you than they were for me. That’s why I need to get you back to the Alliance and away from me. We’ve both been gone too long for safety.”
Luke’s chest tightened. There were so many things he needed to say. The thought of another separation from his father was terrifying. There were no guarantees that either of them would survive the coming months. No guarantee that they would be together again.
“So Obi-Wan taught you…”
“Yes, the Council finally gave their permission but he would have anyway as he had promised his Master, Qui-Gon.”
“You lived in…in Coruscant?”
“Yes, at the Jedi Temple. It was where most JedI were taught, though we were often away on assignments. After the War stated we were away most of the time.”
“Is it still there? The Temple?”
“It is there. What’s left of it. Do not go there. It is…a place of ghosts.”
The wind rustled through the trees, cool but not unpleasantly so. Luke found his eyes closing, oddly at peace here on this world whose name he couldn’t remember and with the man he’d once ran halfway across the galaxy to avoid. But then life was funny that way, throwing a curve to show you how very little you really knew about things. He listened to the soft bird-like calls in the underbrush, his breath evening out to match his father’s. And he slept.
*****
Vader’s eyes snapped open and just for a moment he wasn’t sure where he was. Then he recognized the minty smell of the vegetation and the hard tree trunk that had become very uncomfortable against his scarred back. And the weight of his son against his side. It was still very dark, perhaps halfway through the night. His senses reached out and that was when he realized why he had awakened and cursed himself for his carelessness.
“Luke…” The name was not even all the way spoken when the tree top high above them burst into a roaring flame, leaves flung in burning clusters down around them. Luke jerked straight up and Vader caught his arm, pulling him with him off the wide branch to fall into the undergrowth which was just beginning to smolder here and there as the burning leaves ignited it, missing the old, crumbling wall by mere centimeters. He cursed himself again for his lack of watchfulness that had allowed his pursuers to find them in so vulnerable a spot.
Vader had hissed as his legs made contact with the ground, then determinedly pushed the pain from his mind. He’d felt worse, after all. They scrambled through the thick underbrush as the rest of the trees flamed brightly in the dark sky. He stretched out with his senses, trying to determine where their predators were and how many of them there were. He connected with one and gave a wrench with the Force, feeling the being’s sudden gasp for air as his throat constricted shut. Then the other pursuers were upon them and without even thinking he pulled the lightsaber from its hidden pocket at his side, instinctively whirling and deflecting the bolts aimed at him and his son. Luke had his blaster out, picking off two of them as they were distracted by the glowing crimson blade.
Then the sky seemed to fall in, at least that’s what it felt like at first. A sleek ebony and silver craft hovered over the melee, laser cannons picking off the survivors in a deafening blast of sound. Vader watched a moment, then extinguished his lightsaber and returned it to its hiding place.
Luke squinted his eyes against the dust and still burning sparks blowing through the air, looking up at the underside of their rescuer.
“I’m assuming you know them?”
Vader sighed and nodded, eyes and senses quickly scanning the area around them for any more surprises. Already he could hear shouts from inside the city. Its occupants would soon be investigating all the noise.
“That would be Marek.”
“Who is Marek?”
“My mistake. My condemnation.”
Feeling Again
Beginning Again
Together Again, Part 1
Together Again, Part 2
Together Again, Part 3