Chapter Text
"You cannot run forever, Luke."
A baritone voice of calmness, yet the dark currents in his voice were visible. The dark figure turned his helmeted head, trying to sense through the Force where his adversary, his own flesh and blood was. Yet he was completely hidden, his Force signature gone. He had completely cloaked his presence in the Force.
Obi Wan and Yoda had taught him well. A feeling of both pride and anger welled up in him.
Darth Vader slipped into the darkness where his son had attempted to hide. The young voice of his own son spoke once more in his head, a quiet whisper in the Force, and then right now as he melted into the darkness.
"I will not fight you father."
His refusal, his compassion. Vader was taken back to the hell of Mustafar.
"Arrogance! The flaw of the Sith!"
Two azure blades clashed, two brothers fought in the depths of the crimson hell.
The young blonde haired man, his eyes blazing as hot as the lava itself, moved his weapon in a wide sweep that had narrowly missed by inches.
"Jedi hesitate! The flaw of compassion!"
Compassion was the Jedi's undoing, and now it would be his son's undoing.
"Obi Wan has taught you everything, and yet… Nothing." Vader mocked and praised his former mentor. "Give yourself over to the Dark Side. I will show you the true nature of the Force. It will be the only way you can save your friends now. It can be the only way…" The Sith probed through the Force, as he felt an inkling of another presence, catching it within his grasp. It clamped down on him to prevent any further invasion, but Vader pushed with a surgical precision, pushing until he heard voices.
"We'll take her. My wife and I have always wanted a daughter."
"Separated… separated they should be."
"Leia… Leia is my sister!"
Then, it all made sense. Leia's familiar presence in the Force when he had captured her as suspicion that she was in allegiance with the Rebel Alliance. The times she had rebuffed him when he attempted to dig into her head for information, even though it shouldn't have been possible for a being who could not touch the Force and yet it very much was. The way she had commandeered the entire Rebel Alliance with her words and inspired others.
Leia Organa was his daughter.
Surprise, shock, a wave of emotions went through the Sith Lord, even though he had fine tuned his emotions into nothing. Then anger.
Obi Wan had taken her from him along with Luke. Now, his son was here. And his daughter? He did not know. But he knew, knew that once Luke accepted and surrendered to the true nature of the Force, that his, Padme, their daughter, would join them. Then all of them could overthrow Sidious and they could live like a family and rule the galaxy, bringing peace and order.
"Your concern is for your sister… Now Obi Wan's failure is complete. He was unwise to hide her from me! If you will not turn to the Dark Side, if you will not join me, then perhaps she will."
From that moment, there was nothing. Then, a green brilliant light came crashing towards him, aimed at breathtaking speeds to bisect him.
"NO!"
In a wild blur of movement, Vader was thrown back by the sheer dark power Luke had possessed. The presence of what he once had felt from his son, wavering between the Light and the Dark, now smothered by the darkness.
The powerful swings, the full might of Djem So brought to bear, forced Vader back. Forced to switch between the Way of the Krayt Dragon and Mynock, Vader was forced to retreat as Luke brought the full power of the Force onto him, slamming him back. His eyes once a shining blue of compassion, but became smothered by a toxic acid of yellow and red of hate and rage.
Luke continued to press forward. Vader drew on the Dark Side more and more, Lord Mormin's voice from the depths where he had risen and Anakin Skywalker's final resting place spoke in his head: After all, you still believe you are the Chosen One. He drank from its depths, determined to teach the boy his place. He was such as the Third Sister and Anakin Skywalker himself once was. They drew from the endless abyss of power but knew nothing of it, their grasp of it was akin to a child throwing a tantrum. Rage unbalanced her, as Anakin Skywalker and now his own son Luke's, was now.
Sheets and hail of red and green from their owners clashed with each other in a show of power and skill. Shockwaves emanated from the vicious duel between flesh and blood as cracks beneath them echoed. Empowered by the Force, both slammed into each other. The Dark Side filled the entire vicinity of the Death Star, Palpatine watched with glee, the spectacle of the duel before him.
Vader drew further and further on the Dark Side, his bloodshine blade meeting his own son's green in every blow. Luke deflected every one of them and in the traditional nature of the form's unique style, retaliated with a vicious blow that drove him back. The dark armored figure drew on the Force more, but Luke fought back viciously.
Vader attempted once more to call on the Force, no longer attempting to drag the fight out. He would now have to main or wound his own son to end the fight, or a possibility he did not want to fathom in the slightest: kill him. But as Vader drew from it, calling out to the power that had served him for over decades in his life, it was taken away. A hammer blow of green brought his own blade and nearly drove it into his own chest.
Vader stared into his son's face once more, and he could only stare at the youth once was. The Dark Side was drawn towards him, not himself, and now the Dark Side had a new champion. The green blade drove through the catwalk as it sliced through its surroundings like butter. Its owner's face was curled in a vicious rage and hate. He drove his blade in a killing stroke, all his earlier proclamations to reach Anakin Skywalker now gone, now driven by a merciless desire to see the dark being dead at his feet, even if it meant damning his own soul, the face of beautiful kind Leia, imagining her now at the being's feet, and perhaps Anakin Skywalker was truly gone.
It was far too much for Vader. The blade drove into him with a single minded relentless pursuit to see him dead and crippled. Vader could only block and deflect the blows, but they continued to come, each driven by the dark power. The prodigal son drew his blade further, slashing and hacking like a butcher, but yet it was still refined.
Leia Luke had seen fallen, corrupted by the man before him. He had seen in the future. And he would make him pay. His blade, the extension of his being and will, drove his foe now to his knees. Undeterred and desiring to see him suffer, he heard the screams of something lighter, a deeper voice that told him and demanded for him to stop, to consider consequences, but Luke did not care, because Leia would be in danger and she would be twisted as the man had before him.
And then, a sharp cry of pain. Darth Vader fell to his back, weaponless, his hand now up to the elbow. Darth Vader, Supreme Commander of the 501st Legion and the Empire's might, and Dark Lord of the Sith, fell, defeated.
His blade now was pointed at his foe. Now, he could end the monster before him. Anakin Skywalker was gone, and he knew he had been a fool for believing otherwise. But the cackle of another, the embodiment and the manifestation of the Dark Side approached, gleaming with satisfaction.
"Good. Good! Now do it! Kill your father and take his place at my side!"
Luke glanced up at the demon, his wrinkled face twisting into joy, regarding him as if an ant. He glanced down at his hapless foe.
Vader could only stare up at his once son, now a demon and a monster like himself. His eyes, no longer crimson as his blade was, were still shining with malice as he attempted to make sense. Now his fall was complete. He would destroy him as Anakin Skywalker had to Count Dooku on the Invisible Hand the decades he had prior, and take the first steps to the Dark Side.
"Good, Anakin! Good!" An elderly man smiled at the young blonde man, a crisscross of azure and crimson at the throat of another aging man. "Now… Kill him."
"What?" The compassionate look of a grandfather that the blonde man had considered was all gone. In place was a look of malice and glee. This could not be Chancellor Palpatine of the Republic. It couldn't be. It had to have been someone disguised as him.
"Kill him. Kill him now."
It was wrong. He knew. A darker part of him agreed with the mentor. He had cut off his right hand and made millions across the galaxy suffer. But the light called to him. "I… I shouldn't."
"Do it." The voice was sharp and commanding. "Kill him."
"You… you promised me amnesty!" The regal man of finer tastes begged and pleaded, reduced to begging for his life after destroying many others that did the same but were not given so.
"I did, didn't I?" The sharp voice of beloved Chancellor Palpatine turned dark. It could not be him. "Under the condition that you were not to harm my friends and companions. Considering you have just tried to do so moments earlier, that is no longer a promise." He turned back to the blonde. "Do it. Kill him."
The faces of Padme and a million others cried out. The campaigns of death and destruction with blood soaking the entire field that he could still smell it. His Jedi training called out to him that even if this man deserved death, he was not the judge nor executioner, that his fate would be decided by the Republic, but the darker side told him that the man would continue to escape the law, escape as a slippery slimy snake he always had been, and he would never face justice, as it was skewed. Millions that the man in front of him were destroyed and so he would be granting a better mercy by ending him, by avenging the lives lost and putting those who has lost their loved ones to rest.
The blades moved before he had realized it, before he realized the temptation of the darker thoughts, and it spoke into his ears and soothed him, telling him that death was unavoidable, and millions in the Republic would cry out why had he not killed him.
Dooku has stopped moving, and Anakin-Luke stared in horror. He couldn't have, but he did. He was the one that killed Count Dooku. The headless body crumpled to the floor.
Chancellor Palpatine gave the man a sympathetic look of understanding. "You did the right thing, Anakin."
Then Luke was no longer aboard the unfamiliar ship. He looked down at his father, and now he understood. He looked down at his own hand, and looked at the severed arm of his father. With tremendous effort, he shut off his own blade. The path he realized he was taking would lead him down to destruction and death, as his father had done before him. Luke would not make the same mistakes as did Anakin. "No." He tossed his weapon away. Vader stared in amazement. Palpatine stared at the youth indecipherably. "No. I will not kill him."
"You failed, your highness. You will never turn me to the dark side." Each syllable Luke spoke gained more and more confidence. He would not be cowed or submit to fear. "I will never turn to the Dark side, as you did with others and Vader."
"I am a Jedi." He indicated to Anakin, not Vader. "Like my father before me."
Palpatine's face was incomprehensible, his eyes bulged, as fury and rage began to grow, and the Dark Side swelled within him, until both son and father were staring into the heart of the Dark Side itself. "So be it, young Skywalker…" His gnarled hands turned up, bone like insissors, aimed directly at him.
"If you will not turn, you will be destroyed!"
The full power of Palpatine's was directly fired at Luke like a bullet. Spiderwebs of lightning hit into the young man, hurling him back until he hit the ground. Luke caught the railing as he barely prevented himself from falling deep into the shaft, his face etched in pain. Another burst sent Luke to the floor.
Oh he would not kill the boy yet. He would first make him suffer and regret his actions.
Slowly, like a predator approaching his prey, Palpatine approached. Then it began. Luke stifled his screams as his lungs burned, he was burning, flesh was cooking, and he could no longer hold it back. Palpatine cackled.
"In the end, you have paid the price for your lack of vision! If only you had embraced the true nature of the Force!" He mocked in sadistic glee. He barely registered Vader standing to his feet as he stared at his son, who refused to see the true nature, who self proclaimed himself a Jedi.
"Father… father! Please!" Luke cried out, begging to the man that once had been Anakin. But he was no longer Anakin. Luke's body twitched and convulsed under the lightning.
"Now, young Skywalker." He spoke softly, as if giving twisted comfort to his prey. Luke moaned in agony as he lay sprawled and unable to fight back, eyes rolling to the back of his head. "You will die."
A snarling grin morphed the wrinkled face of the devil before he brought his power once more on Luke. Screams sounded out as Luke screams himself hoarse as he wanted to die, wanting the pain to go away.
"Mom. I can't… I can't leave you!"
A lifetime ago, Anakin Skywalker pleaded with his mother.
"Be brave, Ani."
Faces of the past emerged, pleading and begging, as Darth Vader watched his past. Ahsoka's admission that she would not leave him, Padme's pleas, Obi Wan's begging him not to leap to higher ground. Qui Gon's gentle hands as he towered over him.
He thought of Shmi Skywalker and Qui Gon Jinn, and the compassion in Luke's eyes were of his mother, and grandmother, his love for him, and now the monster that destroyed his life, destroyed the lives of millions, torturing his own son, he casted aside the darkness that was Darth Vader. For the first time in decades, Anakin Skywalker resurfaced.
Anakin would not let the monster before him kill his son. Without any consideration for his own safety, his own life, because he had damned others, Anakin lunged and grabbed hold of Sidious. Immediately, the bolts lashed out at him, but Anakin did not care. The pain was far worse than anything he had ever felt in his lifetime, but he did not care, all he cared was to get the monster that had destroyed their lives and the lives of millions, away from his own son. His life he would give for his and Padme's son.
The Emperor now turned his sights on his now former apprentice, blasting him with full power of the Dark Side, but Anakin ignored the pain and continued. Through the rose tint of his dark mask, his gaze as he perceived through the flickers of lightning that consumed his entire body, but Vader-Anakin pushed through the pain as he approached the shaft.
With one final awe inspiring strength of Darth Vader, he hurled the screaming Emperor down the shaft, into the bottomless abyss, and to the Emperor's final end, where he could never return. The man futilely tried to shoot lightning once more at his traitorous apprentice, but he could not reach him, as Anakin smirked beneath the mask. Sith betrayed each other, after all, he thought grimly even as he himself finally collapsed to the floor. The lightning collided with the shaft, and a brilliant explosion lit the shaft up, as the entire room glowed for that moment, before it ended.
He lay on the floor in pain, as he barely registered the warning of severe damage from his suit. "Father?"
Luke.
Anakin flickered in and out of consciousness, using the Force to now only sustain his body and suit as Luke brought him elsewhere; he did not know. But he saw the Stormtroopers and Imperial troopers move and bark orders. He knew the Force, as it had aided him for over decades as a Jedi and Sith, would be unable to assist him any longer.
Anakin Skywalker would die. But he was perfectly content with that. "Father, we're here!" Luke's confident and determined tone returned as one of the Rebel Alliance's officers and commanders, and it stung Anakin. He still believed... "Don't worry. We'll get out of here and once we get to Endor, we'll locate the nearest Medbay. You'll be alright."
It stung deep and deeper into Anakin. He still believed, but Anakin knew regardless that his fate was death. Blood of millions were on his hands. The Rebel Alliance would not execute him for his crimes yet. They would extract as much information for any remnants of the Empire secret bases before he would be executed, and Luke could only stand by and watch. There was no future for him except death.
Yet even despite that, Anakin wanted to see the face of his son. "Luke. Take off this mask."
"What?! No! You'll die!"
He would. Fitting for someone like him. "I don't care about that. Nothing else matters. I want to see the face of my own son."
Luke hurriedly adjusted the mask as it popped open with a hiss, and he stared in horror at what he saw.
A sad benign face of a scarred and burnt man stared back at his own son. His skin was ghostly pale as so long he had been placed into the mask and suit he had not seen sunlight in years, leaving him so ghastly that Luke was sure that his father would have passed as a corpse already, if he was not breathing or wheezing heavily. Scars upon scars sat atop his hairless scalp of a head.
Anakin knew Luke flinched back in revulsion, yet he could not care. He could see both himself and Padme in their own son. Padme… A pang of hurt struck him, and rightfully so.
He mocked his own pain. "Luminous beings we are, Luke. Not in this crude matter."
Luke sobbed while laughing.
Anakin felt the last of his life beginning to leave him. Not yet. "Now go… Now go, Luke. My son. Leave me.
Luke shook his head as tears began to pour. "No! I've come here to save you! I came here to save you, Father! You can't leave me!"
Anakin felt himself crying, even as he gasped for breath, as his body began to shut down. "You… you already have, my son."
"No!"
"Luke. Tell your sister…" Oh Force. He would never see his daughter. She would eternally resent him, and it hurt, even as Anakin knew he deserved it. "Tell your sister what you and your mother believed. There is still good in me."
"Father? Father, no!"
Anakin finally let the last vestiges of his life go, slipping into the eternal embrace of the darkness, sending one final message through the Force to his son.
Goodbye, Luke. May the Force be with you.
"Anakin! Anakin, I was so worried about you!" A beautiful woman ran, her hair disheveled.
Anakin ran and held his wife, the fragrance of her hair being a relief from the blood and fire and ashes of Mustafar. "It's okay. Patience. I'm here now."
"I was so worried! I-"
"Am all right." Anakin smiled, but Padme stared, as if Anakin was forcing the smile and she didn't know why but she felt disgusted. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to stay on Coruscant. R2's fine, by the way."
"I was just worried… I-" She explains, but Anakin feels angry, and he doesn't know why. Why was it directed at his beloved Padme, when she has done nothing wrong, and came because of concern. There was something amiss. She was hiding something. She wouldn't have come all the way out here from Coruscant…
But wasn't he the same?
"Padme. What are you doing here? You should not be here. It's not safe for you. It's not safe for our baby!"
The incredulous look she returned also spoke how she felt. "I was worried! Obi Wan told me terrible things!"
At the mention of Obi Wan, Anakin felt hot rage simmering in. While he saturated his bloodlust with the Separatists, and no longer had an appetite for all he had done, at the very mention of Obi Wan, rage began to form. "What did Obi Wan… What did Obi Wan tell you?! Did you bring him here?!"
"No, Anakin! I didn't tell him anything! He told me you killed younglings! That you slaughtered the Jedi!" Padme pleaded
A part of him didn't want to kill Kenobi but the rest of him could not contain his fury, and he was afraid it would be aimed at Padme. He could not contain the dragon.
"Anakin, tell me! Please tell me Obi Wan was lying. Tell me that you didn't slaughter younglings! Tell me and I'll believe you!"
He wants to, he wants to say that he didn't do it, but he did. He didn't want to kill the younglings or destroy his former home and the friends he had made. That was why he felt regret and remorse after all he had done, hating himself, but it had only been for Padme. It had only been for their family.
"Padme. You have to believe that I did it for our family. I did it for you…" But Padme was already standing back in horror and revulsion. "The Republic. It had to fall."
She shook her head slowly. This could not be her husband. She knew he had been moody and depressed and more sad recently, but it could not be Anakin, but it was because he did not refute the claims.
"Come away with me! Forget the war! Forget everything! Let's leave everything behind while we still can!"
"Padme, don't you see?! We don't have to run away anymore! We don't have to run away at all! Let Palpatine clean up the Jedi, clean up his regime, and then we can overthrow him! Then we can rule the galaxy and create peace! Our child will grow up in democracy! Make things the way we wanted them to be! No war! Isn't this what you wanted?!" A grin split Anakin's face apart as he boldly gestured and proclaimed grandiose visions of peace, his hands swept to his side. "And it's because all I'm doing this is for you." He reached out and took her hands into his own.
Sobs began to pour out. "I don't believe what I'm hearing. Obi Wan was right! You've changed!"
The smile vanished, and Anakin snarled, his face darkening and twisting. "I don't want to hear anymore about Obi Wan. The Jedi have turned against me. Don't you dare turn against me as well. It seems that you care more for Obi Wan than me."
"Anakin! I would never betray you! I love you!"
"Then join me! Help me so we can kill Palpatine after he's done with the Jedi!"
"Anakin, that's not what I wanted!" She screamed at him. "I want you to come back! Stop with this madness! Just turn back! I love you!"
But Anakin was no longer staring at Padme, his gaze turned up, and his lips twisted into a vicious snarl. "You!"
"Padme! Step away from him!" A voice called out in a clipped Corsucanti accent.
Her gaze turned from Obi Wan, and then back to her husband, and her eyes widened in terror as Anakin simply stared at both of them. "No, no! Anakin! It's not what it looks like! I didn't know-!"
"You know Padme. Palpatine may have deceived the entire galaxy during the Clone Wars, but I think there was one thing that was the most true in his words." Anakin casted his burning gaze up into hers. He spoke, choking, and it was not because of the smoke, ashes, blood, and lava. "That those you are the closest to will hurt you the most."
"No, Anakin-" She wanted to say, but felt her throat clogged and close, and a world of the blood sky descended on her vision. Anakin reached out with a pincer-like motion in his hands.
"I loved you too much! To see what you really are!"
"Anakin!" She wants to beg. She wants to apologize. She wants to plead. But Anakin did not hear, as his clenched fist tightened.
Obi Wan could only stare in horror. "Anakin! Let her go!" How could kind, compassionate Anakin turn into a monster like this?!
"Anakin-" Her breath was caught as he tightened his grip.
"Never!"
"Let her go, Anakin!" He was now shouting. "Let her go!"
Anakin did not. The monster that had claimed his friend's face curled up in hatred, and Obi Wan's hand fell to his lightsaber, but in a sudden flash of movement, Padme was released, and the monster donning Anakin's face immediately turned to his former mentor, his visage of pure madness. "You turned her against me!"
Obi Wan stared at who was once Anakin. "You have done that yourself!"
Anakin paced like a predator, the dragon within him demanding to tear apart the man before him, who betrayed him, who lied to him. "You will not take her from me!"
"Your anger and your lust for power have already done that. You've allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind until now, until now you've become the very thing you swore to destroy." The man solemnly gave a look.
Anakin snarled. He hated that look of pity. It was the same one that all the Jedi had given him, but they no longer were here, felled by his blade. He was better than all of them. "Don't lecture me, Obi Wan! I see through all the lies of the Jedi! Unlike you and everyone else, even Vos with Dooku… I do not fear the Dark Side as the rest of you do!"
Anakin looked to the horizon, allowing Obi Wan to quickly reach Padme as both circled each other. Reaching out through the Force, Obi Wan could still sense a heartbeat, thankfully from Padme and the twins. Comfort went through the man, but it was just only a second that it lasted. "I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire!"
Obi Wan stood up as he turned at Anakin. "Your new Empire?!"
"Don't make me kill you."
"Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic… To democracy!" He tried once more to reach out to Anakin, but Anakin was already gone.
"If you're not with me… then you're my enemy!"
Obi Wan could only feel through the Force with Anakin, and he knew, denying what he did not want to. He tried with desperation, but he felt nothing between them. What had been a connection was severed and Obi Wan had been hoping before that it was due to the dark side. Pain, agony, all he had felt was simply overwhelming that he could not reach his brother. But it was gone. Even with the haze of darkness, it now surrounded and saturated the face and body of his brother.
"Only a Sith deals in absolutes." He drew his weapon, but Obi Wan felt as if it was a stranger that took hold of him. Blue fire ignited from his hand. "I shall do what I must."
"You will try. And you will fall." From across Obi Wan, blue fire came alive to Anakin's hands.
Two brothers clashed on the hellish landscape and planet of Mustafar.
Through the Force, Obi Wan let it guide him, flowing through him as their weapons repeatedly clashed. A blade lock as Anakin pressed his blade against his own to overpower and break through.
Then, he felt it through the Force, and took it.
Obi Wan leaped up high as Anakin's blade flashed through where he once was, leaping onto the higher terrain.
"It's over Anakin! I have the high ground!"
The demon that spoke with his brother's face and voice "You underestimate my power!" and Obi Wan pleaded, begged him not to.
"No! Don't try it!"
With a bellowing cry of rage, Anakin leaped up and high, and Obi Wan's blade met his own, twisting it askew, and Anakin's cry of rage turned to cries of pain as the azure blade of both of them cut through meat, flesh, and bone, and Anakin tumbled downwards on the slope.
Anakin hit the ground hard, and there was pain, pain, and he could feel his nerves screaming. He tried to stand, only for his legs to fail him, and it was not until he realized that his legs and hand were gone.
"You were the Chosen One!"
A voice, full of agony, full of pain, and he looked up to see Obi Wan, tears streaming down his bearded face, full of pain. He had never seen Obi Wan in such pain before, and it was perhaps far worse than Jabiim. Even when Satine had died, Obi Wan had remained complacent. Even when Siri had passed, he had felt pain from his Master, before it was gone.
"It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them!"
Such agony. A part of Anakin wanted to beg, to beg for forgiveness, but the part that was consumed by the dragon did not care. He wanted Obi Wan to suffer.
"Bring balance to the Force! Not leave it in darkness!" Obi Wan turned away, as if he could no longer see what Anakin Skywalker had become.
Such rage, the darkness spewed flames and lava and he roared, the planet being the very manifestation of hatred and rage. "I HATE YOU!"
Then, tears went down Obi Wan's cheeks. "You were my brother Anakin. I loved you."
Before, a while and long before, that would have touched Anakin's heart, but now? He felt nothing. It was his fault. It was his fault that Padme was going to die. Everything that he sacrificed himself for, everything he sacrificed, was because now going to be all gone, because they were going to be taken away.
Then, Anakin was in hell. He was burning. The flesh remaining on his legs began to cook and burn as meat on a grill. A horrible smell filled the air as Anakin screamed. He was crawling desperately away as the lava spat out a wave and consumed Anakin like a disease from bottom up. He was burning, choking, and screaming. Horrible wails escaped from Anakin like a man being tortured. And it was torture for it was for no reason for than the atrocities Anakin-No, Darth Vader had committed. Anakin Skywalker was gone. He had died during the night of the Jedi Purge.
Darth Vader stood aboard his personal TIE fighter as he stared down at the obstinate youth before him, with his trembling and miniscule presence in the Force, shaking in fear, yet there was also anger. Darth Zannah's Holocron, one that the Emperor desired, stood on top of the structure. He leaped down to meet the boy, who had already ignited his weapon. "You have unlocked the secrets of the Temple. How did you find out?" But he already knew. Maul. Sidious's first rabid dog of an apprentice was here. Despite being a Sith Assassin, he did not attempt to hide or cloak his presence in the Force. First the boy, then his Master, and at last, Maul and… her.
"You're smart, buddy. Figure it out yourself!" He attacked with two overhand cleaves. A plasma of red shot out and deflected them with a casual ease.
Anger and rage. "No matter. The power will be used to soon serve the Emperor."
The boy, even as he felt fear and anger, still stood determined and confident. Like Roan Shryne, like Bultar Swan, like Ferus Olin. "I don't fear you, your Inquisitors, or your Emperor."
"Then you will die braver than most."
The boy could barely deflect the blows, his arms nearly snapping apart at the vicious strength behind the blows of the Sith. He had only deflected a couple blows, but his strength was not enough. Vader effortlessly tore through his defenses, and with the precision of Makashi, sliced apart the boy's weapon. Like Shryne, like Olin, like Swan, they all fell to the true nature of the Force.
"Perhaps I was wrong." Vader felt the presence coming long before it had arrived. The Force signature that wavered between Light and Dark, and was thought long gone. It vanished almost intermittently from his perception through the Force, turning invisible, then reappeared.
"It wouldn't be the first time."
Her voice was far more mature, her inflections contained the traces of grace, and she was far more mature, wiser.
The boy barely breathed hushed words. "Ahsoka…" He suddenly remembered where he was and scooted back.
"Our long awaited meeting has come at last. Records were believed that you had fallen."
Her gaze pierced through him. "Those records were incorrect, as you and the Empire falsified that. I'm glad I gave something to look forward to, Darth Vader." She didn't dare drop her guard. The Force crackled between the Sith and former Jedi.
"We need not to be enemies. The Emperor will show you leniency and mercy if you can tell me where the remaining Jedi are located."
Ahsoka narrowed her gaze, but there was no anger. Not yet. "There are no remaining Jedi, Vader! You and the Empire have already seen to that." She knew. She had been able to briefly contact Ferus Olin before they abruptly ended it, and she felt his presence in the Force extinguish.
"Then perhaps this child will confess what you will not."
She stared in disgust. "I was beginning to believe I understood who you were behind that mask. But I was wrong. My Master, Anakin Skywalker, could never be as vile as you!"
"Anakin Skywalker was weak. I destroyed him."
Anger, fury, a bevy of emotions fluttered through her face. But then cold acceptance, and she was composed once more, as the tendrils of the Dark Side latched on to her, beckoning to her, but she calmed herself with the Light until both began to mix. "Then I will avenge his death."
"Revenge is not the Jedi way."
Ahsoka nodded in agreement, her eyes closed as she drew on the Force. "You're right about that, Vader, but it seems you have forgotten one thing." Her eyes opened and she radiated with power, white plasma filling her hands. "I am no Jedi."
Anakin Skywalker stared through, watching the images with pain. But he knew it's what he deserved. To live forever in view of his own crimes and atrocities. Betraying his wife, his brother and best friend, and his apprentice and younger sister. Anakin wanted to cry, but no tears would come down his ethereal body. How could he even do that to them?
He had believed that everyone, even Ahsoka, had turned against him, but it was the opposite. He had been the one to betray them. He betrayed the Republic, the Jedi, and his own morals and all that he stood for, and in doing so, in falling to Sidious's honeyed words of what he desired, condemned the entire galaxy to Sidious because of his manipulations, because of the lies he believed so foolishly.
While the Empire may have fixed the problems with the Republic, Anakin knew it did not improve or had fixed anything better entirely. He had promised to end slavery, only to watch as it continued under the Empire. He had turned the entire galaxy into Sidious's puppet and slave, and he himself had simply been another one of Sidious's tools. It had been nothing more than a dictatorship.
While the Republic had been corrupt with the Senate down to its core with poverty and other matters, it still contained freedom of speech, where all those beings in the Republic could freely speak of their beliefs.
The Empire had been the opposite. Freedom of speech was taken away, as anybody who had dared disagreed with the Empire's policies were executed and imprisoned. Conversations were closely monitored by the Empire's own forces as they took note of what was being spoken. Populaces had largely been pro Imperial and Empire, as they were cowed by fear of being executed simply for disagreeing with the policy.
Ahsoka's claims of her not leaving him. Leia's screams by torture droids. Luke's screams as he cuts off his son's hand. The billion screams on Alderaan as they flickered out by the Death Star.
You now see the result of your sins, Anakin Skywalker. Perhaps you should be condemned to where Bane and Sidious now are.
Anakin looked around. "Who are you? Where am I?" He tried to shield himself, even though the action was useless.
Chosen One… you question who I am? You have studied both aspects of the Force and yet you still wonder about many things?
"You're. Are you the Force?"
What do you think, Anakin Skywalker?
"I…" Anakin stared at the images, and they flowed even through his memories. "Why are you showing me this?"
Do you truly regret your actions, Chosen One?
Was the Force trying to mock him of his failures, of his decisions? Anakin grit his teeth in anger, the actions he had faced coming back to him as he could no longer cast it aside. "Yes…"
Well?
"YES! ARE YOU HAPPY?!" Anakin screamed. "I'm sorry that I betrayed everyone! I'm sorry I killed Obi Wan and betrayed Padme and Ahsoka and the Jedi!" He fell to his knees, sobbing. "I didn't want any of this to happen! All I wanted was to save Padme!"
He hated himself more than he ever knew. Everything he knew he had done he had blamed others, blamed Palpatine, but knew that his own actions and themselves, lied solely on him. Palpatine may have manipulated him, but he was the gullible fool who believed him and let him be swayed without any second thoughts to his actions.
"I'm sorry…" Anakin spoke, but he knew it would never make up for all that he had done. It did not make up for all the lives he had destroyed and families he had taken away.
So you regret your actions, Chosen One?
Anakin barely forced himself to nod.
"I believe I should take over."
The voice… It felt far too familiar. Anakin snapped his gaze up, looking around, then, when there was nothing but the expanse of light, he saw him. His long hair swept down to his shoulders and aging bearded face, but Anakin knew the man all the same, his eyes kind and gentle, even despite the massive Force energy surrounding his being.
"Hello Anakin."
"Qui Gon…" Anakin spoke through a hushed tone.
It was the Jedi Master who had found him all those years ago on Tatooine. It was the Jedi Master who had given him his freedom. It was the Jedi Master Anakin had thought long about after his death at the hands of Maul, during his apprenticeship under Obi Wan and during the Clone Wars.
Immediately, a wave of shame filled him and Anakin looked away. After his fall, Anakin-Vader had done everything he could to expunge the memory of the Jedi from Anakin's past, ashamed and not wanting to see the Jedi Master who had put his entire faith into him.
"Anakin. It's been so long…"
Anakin could barely bring his gaze up, but looked back down immediately
"Anakin. Please… Look at me."
Anakin did, though with tremendous effort.
"Anakin. I know how you feel. I know that all you wanted to do was to save Padme after your mother had died. You had good intentions."
"I'm sorry."
"I know. You were just scared and confused and lost. Sidious took advantage of your fears." Qui Gon's voice was compassionate, and it was what Anakin needed.
There were no such things as second chances, and Anakin knew. He would watch as Luke would rebuild the Jedi Order, and watch as he would try and fix the ruptured galaxy, but the damage would remain even centuries after his and Sidious's deeds.
"Anakin. What if I were to tell you if you can receive another chance?"
Anakin's gaze flashed up to the Jedi Master. Did he hear correctly? "What are you talking about?" He scoffed, incredulously. "I did this, Qui Gon! Did you not see?"
Qui Gon simply watched him. "You have made terrible mistakes, Anakin. We all have had. The fall of the Republic was not simply just on you. The Jedi, the Senate, and even myself. We all have made terrible mistakes that allowed the Sith to rise."
"And look where my mistakes got me!" Anakin mocked himself in self depreciation, mocking his "mistakes". "There can be no such thing as second chances!"
There could not. Anakin knew that all he had done, what actions he could have taken back and fixed would now fall on Luke and his friends, who would be forced to undo the damage he had made on the galaxy.
"What if there is Anakin?" Qui Gon spoke, and Anakin looked up. He had never thought much about it and likely due to the limited time they had together, but it seemed Qui Gon had a way with words that was gentle yet also made him pay close attention to the man, and he now knew why the other Masters respected Qui Gon even though he was not on the seat of the Council. "What if the Force can give you a second chance in another world?"
"What do you mean?"
"Take a look."
The images he saw were of a colorful world. It looked so peaceful, so tranquil and full of happiness. He saw the denizens go about their daily lives, happily chatting. It looked as if it was Coruscant on some levels. His heart twisted painfully. Before the Empire and during the Republic.
Just as it immediately appeared however, it was gone, replaced by something darker. A forlorn gray covered the landscape, where it was dotted with black. Garbed figures moved, their postures drawn and sullen, hunched over and shadowing their faces, and Anakin could feel the grief and despair and hatred and rage.
"Terra, inhabited largely by a number of beings called Ancients, near humans with animalistic traits. Tell me Anakin? Do you sense it?"
The world looked so happy and sad and energetic and dead. Anakin felt as if he was seeing Coruscant or even Naboo after the Empire. People had looked happy, but as if it was being forced, as if they were nothing more than to accept what had been ordered from them.
Anakin looked up at the Jedi Master and nodded. Qui Gon's shimmering form continued. "A world of disease and discrimination. A harsh and cruel world." He spoke softly in a tone that was factual and yet sorrowful.
The images continued to change, and Anakin's eyes widened in horror at what he witnessed next. He watched as dark cloaked men laughed in glee as many in torn clothing, begging as they were being whipped, gashes of blood and black spots on their bodies. A man with a pair of ears on his head, pleaded to one of the dark armored beings, stepping protectively in front of younger similarly dressed and donning the same traits. The dark figure backhanded the man into the floor, eliciting cries and screams of pain, and Anakin could only stare in growing fury.
"Stop!" He shouted, but they did not. He watched as they begged and pleaded and children wailed and cried, but all he could do was watch, and watch and do nothing as the dark figures continued their relentless torture of the raggedly clothed figures. Watto and the other slavers. Gardulla's slimy obese body staring down at his mother and him in joy, and all Anakin could see was him and his mother being auctioned off, shouts and cries of credits for who would own them next.
The images were gone, and Anakin reached out. Whirling his gaze to Qui Gon, he demanded an explanation. "They were Infected. A disease of great calamity that infects one's system, where the immune system would even be severely weakened." But Anakin did not need any further explanation. He had already known what to call the dark figures: Slavers.
Anger and hatred rose in his heart once more. Anakin did not try to drown them away. He would have eternal regret joining Palpatine and creating the Empire, but he could not cast aside his anger and hate for things he disagreed with and found abhorrent and wrong and cruel. The Jedi preached forgiveness, but nothing he had seen would ever let him forgive them.
But as darkness rose within him once more, the voice of Padme, his mother, Obi Wan, Ahsoka, and his son called out to him within the recesses. Anakin, their voices combined as one, and Anakin calmed himself. The dragon within him still hungered for the blood of those figures, but Anakin would not lose himself to rage. It had gotten him nowhere up to this current point in time, and he would not let it mindlessly consume him.
Pushing away the tendrils of darkness, Light came to him, flowing through his body, the peculiar calm of peace and love, love for Padme, Obi Wan, and Ahsoka, even despite it that there was still pain, but he loved them and he would not lose himself entirely to the endless darkness. The darkness receded to allow for room for the light, and both mixed seamlessly.
Anakin looked up to Qui Gon. He still had so many questions to ask, and very few answers. "I-I still don't understand, Master. Why? Why do you want me to have another chance in this world?"
Qui Gon smiled, "Because Anakin. You never had a chance."
"What?!"
A flash of regret and pain filled Qui Gon's face for a moment, barely perceptible, but Anakin saw it. "Because I believe that I had as much responsibility for your fall, Anakin. I was convinced, convinced of your status and following the will of the Force by claiming you were the Chosen One, that I never considered you were just a nine year old boy. You were a child who simply wanted to explore the galaxy and come across new worlds and help others, that I placed a large burden upon you. You were placed with high expectations because of that. Because of my focus on the Force, even though I do believe that you are the Chosen One, that you should not have been placed with these expectations." Qui Gon shook his head. "I want to give you a second chance in this world, Anakin, because I believe that you deserve another chance at life. To choose what you want in this world. No expectations and to decide your own path."
"Anakin. I myself have initially believed the prophecy of the Chosen One to be you, to destroy the Sith, and I still hold that belief you are after destroying Sidious. But the Force surrounds all beings. Light and Dark do not matter."
Shock filled him, flooding his nerves. Out of all what he had heard about the Force, he thought he had known everything. Like many other Jedi, he thought the Sith as evil and nothing but evil all because of their use of the Dark Side.
"I thought-" Anakin could barely speak. "I thought that the Dark Side was evil!"
Qui Gon nodded, "A belief that has fooled many Jedi including myself and even Master Yoda and Windu. Sith are inherently evil by how they use the Force, Anakin. They destroy the lives of others without a care, without any empathy or remorse, and as such, their actions are terrible. The Dark Side is destructive, but it can be tempered. It can be contained, but also used in the right way. Did you forget how Master Windu used the Dark Side?"
He had never expected to hear this from a Jedi Master. All his life, he had been told of the Sith's potential for destruction. He had sat through the Jedi Temple learning of Darth Bane and his apprentice, Zannah, of their deeds and actions, and believed that they were evil simply because they used the Dark Side. Darth Malgus's sacking of Coruscant was another that reinforced his decision, like many others, on why they were evil.
But Qui Gon was no ordinary Master. He had stood against the Jedi Council and saw things differently.
Anakin was reminded of why he liked the Master. "What do you want me to do now, Master?"
A smile lit up Qui Gon's face. "It's all up to you, Anakin. Your destiny and your path is your own. I cannot decide for you. If you take this chance in Terra, then you shall be sent there. If you decide not to, I will understand your decision. The Force will as well."
Anakin Skywalker stared into the images once more.
For his entire life, Anakin Skywalker had been a slave. From Gardulla to Watto, he was a slave for them to use, for nothing more than his talent with machinery in a harsh environment. From then when he was founded by the Jedi, he had not been exactly a slave, but the regulations restricted him from feeling emotions, and he felt he had to have been nothing more than a droid, feeling even less than them at times. Sidious then proceeded to manipulate and carefully push him to the Dark Side, for him to destroy all his former comrades and for him to become a monster reviled and feared by the entire galaxy, and he became a slave once more to Sidious.
Now? With a new opportunity presented by Qui Gon, Anakin could start anew. No Jedi to leash him. No Sith to control or use him. Anakin could live out his life as he wanted it to be. He would not be contained or held on a leash. No judgmental stares of disapproval of rules and regulations. No answering to someone who did not care for him. Anakin would be free in this world, free of limitations, free as a person could be. Free as he and his mother one day would be.
Anakin turned his gaze up to Qui Gon. For the first time since he had seen Luke before the Death Star's destruction, Anakin smiled. "I accept."
And he meant it. For the Jedi Master who never lost or wavered in his faith. Who always believed in him. Anakin felt gratitude and love and respect for the man who had helped him explore the galaxy, for he could have never met Obi Wan, Padme, and Ahsoka, and all his other friends who have now joined the Force.
"Goodbye Anakin. This will be the last time. Once you are in Terra, I can no longer reach you."
He didn't need any further warning. He already knew.
"Remember Anakin…" But Anakin already knew.
"Trust in the Force." He repeated with a knowing smirk.
Qui Gon vanished to the Force once again, the wispy shimmering body was gone, and now there was only Anakin Skywalker and the Force.
"I am proud of you, Anakin. Always remember that I will be with you."
Goodbye Qui Gon. May the Force be with you. He did not need to say it, for he knew that the Jedi Master had already known his parting words.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Anakin looked up, a determined gaze crossing his face. The Hero with No Fear had returned. "I'm ready. Send me."
I truly wish you luck, Anakin Skywalker.
Eastern Peninsula Hospital
Lungmen, 6:14 PM
Edward Artorious was a man who always tried his best to remain calm. A Draco of 189 cm, he was a staggering individual, with a rather handsome face and an easygoing smile that would make girls swoon. Yet despite this, he was not smiling now. In fact, a frown dotted his face, and early wrinkles were on his head.
"Damn you, Edward!" A scream tore from his wife's throat as she gripped his hands so tightly Edward swore that they would break. "You're not the one carrying twins!" She howled as her other hand gripped the metal railing of the bed so tightly Edward swore it bent.
"J-just hang on! Just keep pushing!" Edward Artorious was a man of confidence, but now he was not. Stress and panic were in his tone.
Adalinda, her beautiful face, stared threateningly at him. "Y-you better take me to that spa after this is all over with, Edward! I swear if you don't-"
"It's a promise!" Edward nodded in fear that he could not contain. The woes of childbirth and mood swings.
Doctor Jasmine, her floppy ears nodding along, who was assigned to them when both arrived at the emergency room in a mad rush, spoke in reassurance. "You're doing great, ma'am! Keep it up!"
A howl as Adalinda pushed, Edward felt his bones crack and break. Then a crying wail of a baby. "It's a healthy girl!" Doctor Jasmine picked up the baby in her arms and swaddled her quickly in a towel. She turned her gaze back down. "Vincent!"
The assistant doctor nodded, "Right here!" He held the girl and gently cradled her.
"Okay Adalinda! This is the final time! Now push!" She screamed as her muscles contracted, and Edward knew at this point that his entire arm from the elbow down was broken, yet he ignored his pain for his beloved wife. Another wail of a baby, and it was such a joyous noise. "It's a boy!"
Adalinda, her entire body as it spasmed, suddenly went limp as she fell back exhausted. Edward took the baby this time, with his left arm, as he ignored the pain in his right, and looked in amazement. Both had his white hair and a small tail, indicating that they were of the Draco bloodline and race. A pair of horns that were so tiny it was almost invisible amidst the patch of the small bush of white. The baby gurgled and stared up at him, his eyes were of a sky blue and it was so beautiful. Both of them were beautiful.
Vincent smiled as he held the girl. "What are you going to name both of them?"
Edward paused as he considered what to name them. But a voice, weak, yet determined, spoke up. "Talulah… Talulah Artorious."
Immediately rushing over to his wife, he planted kisses on her. "Adalinda! Are you okay?!"
She smiled, "Of course I'm okay!" She glanced down at his mangled arm. "Sorry. You might want to have to get that checked out."
He brushed it off. "Later. Right now, the boy?"
She stared into her own son's face as both pondered a name. Edward's face was in concentration, and then his eyes shot open in realization of a name that would be suitable. "Anakin. Anakin Artorious."
Adalinda blinked, considering the name. "I… I like that, Anakin." She giggled at the babe. "Welcome to the world, Talulah. Anakin."
For the Artorios family, it was nothing but the four of them, and that's all that mattered.
Qui Gon watched as Anakin was reborn in the world of Terra, his new family surrounding him.
Good luck, Anakin. Terra will test your limits. It will be far more harsh and cruel than what you have seen. Can you prevent yourself from giving over completely, as with hers? Just remember to trust in the Force, and it will serve you well
It would be the true test of Anakin Skywalker, now Artorious, for the entire world would be changed.