The Real Rise of Skywalker (Prologue) (Patreon)

Well hey everyone.

I’ve had this prologue sitting 80% finished on my drive for years. Now that I have SO much more time to dedicate to my fics, I was finally able to finish it.

And the next chapter.

And the next.

Okay, so in the last two weeks, I’ve literally written five chapters for this fic. I’m on fucking fire baby! You have NO idea how good it feels to actually have both the time and the energy for this. Hopefully, this is how things are going to go from now on, and I’ll be able to get inspiration for a fic, pump out a bunch of content, and create a good backlog for it until inspiration runs dry and I move on to something else.

Anyway, enough yapping. Hope you enjoy and may the Force be with you!

-]|[-

“Where are you two heading off to?” Han asked Luke and Leia, his eyebrow raised.

Luke let out a sigh, “Hey Han…” He gave his friend and future brother-in-law (at least if he was reading the situation correctly) a wan smile, “Leia and I have some Force kark to deal with.”

“Force?” Han gave them a weird look, “Since when are you Force-sensitive, sweetheart?”

“I always was,” Leia shrugged, “Just never knew how to use it consciously. Just made me a better shot.” She smirked, eyes dancing in mirth at him.

“We’d invite you too, but…” Luke trailed off, “Since you’re Force Blind you’d just see us talking to nothing and think we’re crazy. You can’t see Force Ghosts.”

Han snorted, “Force Ghosts? Now I know you’re pulling my leg.” He stared at Luke’s serious face and Leia’s mildly apprehensive one, “Well, at least I already know you both are crazy.” He raised his drink as Leia rolled her eyes, “Well, have fun with your Force Ghosts.” He pecked Leia goodbye, and left the two siblings to their walk.

“I know I agreed…. But must we?” Leia asked, hand in hand with her twin as they walked into a clearing before she stopped abruptly.

On one of the fallen AT-ST heads a shimmering blue ghost was sitting, cross-legged and simply staring up at the sky. “Luke.” He said, not turning to them quite yet. She could see that he had long sandy hair and that he was wearing robes. The man turned, revealing a handsome (if slightly scarred) face. His eyes landed on her, and a brief surge of grief raced across his face. “Leia…” Leia felt a surge of something race down her spine.

“Father…” Luke and Leia stepped forward, and Luke looked around curiously, “You’re not with Ben and Yoda?”

Anakin smiled, though it wasn’t a happy smile. “No. They tried to welcome me… despite everything.” The smile turned a bit sardonic, “But I think we all know some hurts run too deep. I may have renounced the Sith in the end, but I will never again be able to consider myself a Jedi, even if I wanted to. Killing one man can’t make up for all the wrong I did, no matter how evil he may have been.”

Leia swallowed heavily, “So… this is what you looked like? Before Vader?”

Anakin nodded his head, “Please call me Anakin, or Skywalker if you prefer, Leia.” That grief flashed across his face, “I think we both know I could never be your father.”

Leia pursed her lips, trying not to let the flash of Alderaan that raced through her mind overwhelm her. She looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes. “Why?”

Anakin looked at her curiously, “Why did I save Luke?”

“No.” Leia shook her head, a small smile, “Luke is Luke.” She said, as if it were explanation enough on its own, “He was always the best of us.” Her twin flushed bright red and bashfully looked away, even as their father quirked a grin, “He saw good in you where no one else would have. No.” She looked back at him seriously, “I looked you up, you know. Long ago. Long before Luke Skywalker entered my life. You were The Hero With No Fear. You were a symbol of justice in the Galaxy. Everyone looked up to you! How could you just…” She cut herself off, looking at him with angry, pleading eyes. “What did Palpatine-” She spat the name angrily, “-offer you that was worth selling your soul for?”

“I’d quite like to know myself, Anakin.” Old man Ben appeared as well, looking solemnly at his old apprentice.

Yoda was also next to him, “Never learn the reasons, we did. Blindsided us all, your Fall.”

Anakin sagged, almost appearing to age a decade before their eyes, before he steeled himself, “I suppose I do owe an explanation.” He looked at each of them searchingly, “Although I promise you, at least three of you are not going to like several things I have to say.”

Luke floated over the AT’s legs for him and Leia to sit, while the two masters simply took up space on two small rocks, looking at Anakin invitingly. Anakin was silent for a bit, looking as if he were gathering his thoughts. Then, with a sigh, he began, “Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force.”

Luke’s brows furrowed. It seemed similar to things he’d been taught in the past, but not exactly, “I’ve never heard of that before.”

“Old, it is.” Yoda said, looking at Anakin in surprise, “The Old Code of the Jedi Order.”

“Yes…” Anakin breathed out, in so much as a specter could, “It was a Code I could have stood behind with… much greater ease. It was a mantra that could have fixed so many wrongs back then.” He sighed, “After a thousand years of war between the Jedi and the Sith, the Old Republic was desperate for peace. Begging for it. After the Sith were thought to be completely destroyed on Ruusan, the Galaxy went through the Reformations. The Senate and Chancellor stripped the Jedi Order of most of its power. No longer could a Jedi hold office. All titles of Jedi Lord were stripped, as were our battle armor. The Republic foolishly thought that with the Sith ‘eradicated,’” the air quotes made it clear how correct that assumption had been, “-that if they disarmed, there would never be another galactic-scale conflict. So they disarmed and forced the Jedi to also take on new rules, regulations, and oversights; putting them under the direct command of the Senate and the Chancellor.”

He let out another sigh, “But the Jedi went even further than that. Many Jedi had Fallen to the Dark Side during the New Sith Wars. Many, many Jedi. And so, they embraced a new code: “There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.” It was a code I never embraced. A code I couldn’t embrace. You see, the Old Code made room for attachments to others. For love. For romance. For parents and brothers and sisters. The New Code forbade it. No longer could Jedi have families. No longer could they even own their own things. Possessions led to greed. Love was a shining light until tragedy would strike, and love would turn to ash. To anguish. To anger. To rage. To hate. In essence, the Jedi were so afraid of Falling to the Dark Side that they tried to forbid anything that could cause it.”

“Come now, Anakin.” Obi-wan scoffed, while Yoda looked grumpy, “The Jedi were not forbidden to love. The Jedi loved all things! Our family was the galaxy! We were forbidden attachment.”

“And how are you supposed to love something and not be attached to it, Kenobi?” Anakin shot back, and it was clear there was still bad blood between the two, no matter what may have been said during the celebrations. “There was one Jedi who emphasized everything bad about the Order in the Twilight of the Republic: Ki-Adi Mundi.” He turned to Luke and Leia, “There was not one single moment when Ki-Adi Mundi said something I agreed with. He was arrogant, closed-minded, and never changed his mind about anything unless all but literally smacked him in the face with evidence to the contrary. And that was nothing compared to his family. You see, Mundi was from a race that heavily skewed female. 20 females were born for every male. Thus, in an attempt to repopulate his race, the Order gave him a special permission to marry and father children… as long as he didn’t become attached to them. And it was no problem for him. He lived and breathed that damn Code. Mundi married five women and had a total of seven children. During the Clone Wars, his entire family was slaughtered.” Looks of horror filled Luke and Leia’s faces, “And his reaction to hearing about it was the same as if a fly had landed on his arm. He just didn’t care.”

“That’s repulsive!” Leia almost vomited at the thought.

Luke looked similarly repulsed, “And he was a member of the Council?!”

“He was.” Obi-Wan shot in quickly, “And you are focusing only on the negatives, Anakin-”

“I’m not here to debate with you both. You’ve both had years to fill their minds. Now is my turn.” He glared hard at his old master. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you telling Luke I killed his father.” Obi-Wan grimaced as he turned back to Luke and Leia. He let out a little smirk at Leia, “And I did warn you that at least three of you would not like what I had to say.” She stiffened, “Perhaps at one point, the Jedi Order and the Republic truly were the bastions of goodness and justice your parents and teachers told you, but by the time I was recruited into the Jedi Order, they were shadows of their former selves; bloated and intractable.”

Leia’s face closed up, “If you are about to tell me that the Empire was somehow bet-”

“No, I’m not.” Anakin said flatly, “It could have been, but it wasn’t. Palpatine and I saw to that.” He stared at her with steel in his gaze, “But that does not mean the Republic was actually any good. If you were told it was this bastion of democracy, I’m afraid you were horribly misled.”

Seeing a massive argument about to start brewing, Luke asked him, “Can you explain, Father? I know these must be your true thoughts now, but they are rather inflammatory.” He said, trying to be diplomatic.

Anakin smiled again, “The Jedi lost sight of who they were. They sat in their ivory tower, stuck in their ways. They recruited only children into the Order, and the younger they were, the better. After a certain age, the Masters considered them too old. Too attached to their parents and their homes. Too old to be molded into proper Jedi.” Luke and Leia gaped at him and then turned twin glares on master Yoda and Kenobi, but before they could speak, Anakin dropped his bombshell, “That was what they said to me… the little slave boy Qui-Gon Jinn had rescued from Tatooine.”

“WHAT?!” Leia shrieked, rising to her feet.

Luke closed his eyes, “First freeborn Skywalker…” He choked out, “That was what Aunt Beru called me… I never thought…”

“You…” Leia choked on her words.

“My mother was a slave, under Gardulla the Hutt.” Anakin said heavily, “Which meant I was born a slave when she had me. Gardulla lost us to a Toydarian in a bet, and I stayed with him until I was nine years old. Far too old for Jedi training, in their eyes.”

Yoda harrumphed, “And right we were, to not wish to trai-” The old green master said.

Before Luke and Leia’s furious eyes, Anakin reached up and squeezed his finger and his thumb together. Yoda shut up immediately, and it was clear it was done by force. The ancient Grandmaster of the Order glared at Anakin in afront, while Obi-Wan looked at Anakin reproachfully, “I have no wish to hear it, Yoda. Again, I’m not here for a debate. If you can't understand that, then please be silent.” He turned back to his children, “Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi had not come to Tatooine to free slaves. They’d been on a different mission. One that went on to prove what I said about the Republic.”

Leia puffed up, “Oh this better be good.”

Anakin smiled, “I don’t know if either of you know your birth mother’s name. She was Queen and then Senator of Naboo,” Leia’s eyes widened in shock, “Padmé Amidala.”

“No!” Leia gasped, “Sh- Pad-” The normally astute and well-spoken girl babbled, “She was our mother?! She was my HERO!”

Anakin’s smile widened, “My Angel was every bit deserving of it…” He whispered, and Leia sat heavily at the sheer love she could feel emanating from the ghost, “At the mere age of fourteen, she managed to get herself elected as Queen of Naboo. Events started long before that, but it was the starting point for me. You see, the Trade Federation of the time had enjoyed completely tax-free trading. They had grown in power rapidly, to the point they practically owned several star systems. The Senate and the Chancellor of the time decided that was no good. They passed a measure in the Senate that dissolved the Tax Free Trade Zones. The Neimodians and the Trade Federation they owned started losing profits, and they decided that they would Blockade Naboo.”

Obi-Wan cut in for the first time, “Nothing Anakin said is untrue, at least in terms of the stated facts. What he did not mention was that this was done under the direct orders of Darth Sidious.”

“Who?” Leia asked.

“Palpatine.” Luke said, “Darth Sidious was his Sith name.”

Leia’s face twisted in revulsion, “Palpatine’s home planet was Naboo! That monster truly knew no bounds, did he?”

“No, he did not.” Anakin said heavily, “Naboo was first blockaded, and once the Jedi were dispatched, invaded. Jinn and Kenobi rescued the queen and her retinue and got them off planet, though their ship was damaged in the process, so they had to hide on Tatooine for repairs. By the will of the Force, Padmé, Jinn, and their companions wandered into the shop of my owner. They only had Republic Credits, which were totally useless. They were stranded. I offered them a place to stay with me and mom, and the rest was history. I won the Boonta Eve Classic-”

“NO WAY!” It was Luke’s turn to screech, “You were nine!”

Anakin smiled smugly, “That’s right. The only human to ever win one.”

“I’m so jealous!” Luke moaned, “I always wanted to race but the empire cracked down on it!”

Anakin shook his head, “It was supremely dangerous, my son. It was only through the Force that I survived my races. Regardless, we’re getting off track. I offered and won the race for Jinn and Padmé because I knew they needed help. It was the only way Padmé could get to Coruscant and try to save her people. In the process, Jinn tested my Midichlorians and found out that my levels were off the charts. I maxed out the devices and instruments used to measure them. Jinn believed that due to that, and the fact that my mother had claimed that she never slept with a man before, that I had been made by the Force itself.”

“Never slep- That’s ridiculous.” Leia said. Anakin’s eyes crinkled, but he said nothing. They would get to that later.

“In any case.” Obi-Wan said, “Master Jinn tried to free Anakin and his mother. He made a bet with Anakin’s master after Watto refused, that he would free Anakin if he won the race. He tried for both, but Watto refused.”

“Ah…” Anakin said, “So that’s what happened. I always wondered…” he sounded melancholic, drawing Obi-Wan’s surprise.

“Did I never tell you, Anakin?” His old Padawan shook his head, “I- I’m sorry. I thought I had explained it to you…” He bowed, “Forgive me.”

Anakin waved him off, “It makes little difference now, Kenobi.” He said sadly, “Anyway, we made it off planet, and it was here that I learned the truth about the Jedi and the Republic, though I didn’t realize it for many years. Padmé made her plea to the Senate for aid, and she was disregarded. Swallowed by the bureaucracy. They wanted committees and votes and all sorts of nonsense while her people suffered. Palpatine had set everything up for his own benefit. He was Senator to Naboo at the time, and Chancellor Valorum was under heavy scrutiny from false and manufactured scandals. Palpatine convinced Padmé to call for a Vote of No Confidence on one of Naboo’s closest allies, ending in his own election as Chancellor.”

Leia breathed through her nose as she listened to her father’s explanation, “With assassinations and bribes, I assume?”

Anakin nodded, “The republic was an old Krayt Dragon; fat and bloated and used to its old power, never knowing how weak it was becoming. The bureaucracy could make a Jedi turn Sith on a good day.”

“Oh, come now, Anakin.” Obi-Wan protested, “It was bad, but hardly that bad.”

Anakin turned to him slowly, the most deadpan look possible on his face, “Remind me again how long you were legally dead after Rako Hardeen, master?”

Obi-Wan opened his mouth, then grimaced, allowing it to click shut.

“I rest my case.” Anakin smirked and got twin snorts of amusement from his twins.

Yoda was able to speak for the first time in several minutes, “Hrmph. Two hundred years, I argued over a Republic bill. Identity theft, it was.”

“No thanks!” Luke yelped.

Leia was grimacing, “You’re not supposed to be helping him, Yoda.”

Anakin pulled the attention back, “Anyway, with me on Coruscant, Jinn presented me to the council. He believed with FULL certainty that I was the… Chosen One spoken of in Jedi prophecy. The one meant to bring balance to the Force. The council saw me, tested me, and rejected me. They thought, as I told you, that I was too old. Too attached. Missing my mother. They feared my future because they couldn’t see it. They told me I would not be trained. That I was too afraid. And of course I was afraid! What child wouldn’t have been, when they were taken from their mother and brought to a strange place? Especially a slave child? I thought their rejection meant going back to Tatooine! Back to Watto! Back to being a thing to be owned! And reject me they did. No compassion. No room for exceptions. I didn’t fit their rigid code and so they didn’t even want to give me a chance.”

Yoda’s eyes were wide as he stared at the diatribe, his ears flat and drooping atop his head. ‘Truly so lost, we were?’

Even Leia’s eyes got a little misty, and anger rumbled inside of her. No matter who Vader was and what he had done, injustice would always make her blood pulse.

“They distrusted me from the very beginning. Had Jinn been any less of a maverick, I would likely have been returned to Tatooine, where I would inevitably have ended up a slave again.” Luke clenched his fist. Force, he hated slavery. Leia did as well. She could still feel that damned collar around her neck and Jabba’s disgusting, leering gaze. “Before he died, Jinn made Kenobi promise to train me, no matter what. Kenobi promised it, and eventually the Jedi Council overturned their decision.” He sighed, “And I loved my master, and I know he loved me, despite everything. But he was the wrong master for me, and I was the wrong padawan for him.”

Obi-Wan flinched as if Anakin had struck him, “Anakin-” he said in horror.

“It’s true and you know it, master.” Anakin let out a deep, suffering sigh, “You had just lost your master, and the Jedi ways meant you had no healthy way to mourn. And I… I was an awful padawan for a fresh Knight. In weeks I had caught up to Padawans who had been training for years. I quickly set records for how quickly I learned and adapted to the Force. Not to mention that at nine years old, I had become the only human to ever win a Podrace and had been directly responsible for destroying a kriffing Lucrehulk-Class Droid Control Ship. All the while, the Jedi whispered ‘Chosen One this. Chosen One that.’ By the Force, it was a miracle I could squeeze my head through the temple doors.”

Obi-Wan drooped, “I’m sorry, young one. I never…”

“It wasn’t your fault, Obi-Wan.” Anakin shook his head, “Don’t blame yourself. Like I said, you had just lost your own master. We were a product of circumstances outside of our control. It was the Council’s fault for appointing you to such a volatile padawan. You did the best you could.” He chuckled humorlessly, “Besides, nothing you did or didn’t do was as bad as what the council did.” He turned a grim look to his children, “You see, Kenobi was too young to be a father figure and too old to be a peer. Plus, I had just been taken from my mother and all but told I could never see her again. I was isolated from the other padawans, not from any malicious act, but from just how different I was from everyone else. I hadn’t been raised in the creche. I had no friends. I’d already been guaranteed to be a padawan, whereas all the others had to be chosen. And I quickly became better than all the others. No matter what the Jedi preached, emotions can’t simply be suppressed. The other kids were jealous, Kenobi was a mess who had a child to care for now, and the other masters and Council members feared me because of my clouded future. I was, essentially, alone for vast parts of the day. Especially before my apprenticeship began in full, and Kenobi and I started spending more time together. So there I was, with people who didn’t understand me, accept me, or even like me. Learning about a Code that meant nothing to me and that I didn’t even like. And to top it all off, the people meant to be guiding me were trying to fit me into a mold I couldn’t fit into.”

He grimly eyed his children and even turned his grim eyes to the two masters, “Someone took advantage of it. I mentioned taking down the Droid Control Ship, didn’t I? That made me Naboo’s Hero. I was allowed by the Council to start meeting with someone because of that victory. Someone who quickly started filling in a fatherly role with me. Who always listened to my worries and provided advice when I needed it. Who encouraged me and kept building up my accomplishments. Who started telling me about worries he had about the Jedi… Palpatine.”

Leia let out a wordless exclamation of rage before putting her head in her hands, “You were groomed.” Leia said in horror when she looked back at him.

“Yes.” Anakin said, “I trusted the one person I never should have. And by the time I learned the truth, it was too late. For the next ten years, things continued that way. Kenobi rapidly improved as a master, but never quickly enough to rein my fool head in. By the time things picked up again, I was so arrogant I considered myself a better swordsman than Grandmaster Yoda.” He snorted, and to their credit neither master reacted beyond some smiles, “It was a miracle my head didn’t pull Coruscant out of orbit. It was certainly dense enough.” That got some lighthearted laughter out of the quartet.

“A talented blade master you were.” Yoda said, not wanting to take away from the old student’s accomplishments, “The best, you could have been. More training, you needed.”

Anakin inclined his head in acknowledgement, “In any case, things really picked up again. Padmé had been at risk for quite some time at this point and had survived at least one assassination attempt. Kenobi and I were assigned to her for her protection. Another assassination attempt happened that very night, and we chased the assassin. We caught her, but she was killed by another bounty hunter while we were questioning her. The two of us split. Master Kenobi went to try to trace the poisoned dart and found Kamino and Jango Fett waiting for him. Padmé and I fled to Naboo, where the Code was quickly torn to shreds as we fell in love. Oh, we both tried to deny it at different points. It was forbidden after all. A scandal. We may as well have tried to stop a star from shining.” Anakin smiled, his eyes unseeing as he remembered the joy and laughter they had found there, “But there was something marring it. For a few weeks, I had been experiencing night terrors. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt my mother’s agony. Her pain. They were visions. I had known they were visions. I had told Kenobi about them, but his area of expertise was not the Unifying Force. He disregarded them as simple nightmares.”

Kenobi wilted, “I-”

Anakin raised a hand to stop him, shaking his head, “After yet another nightmare, I told Padmé about them. I’m not sure if she truly believed me or if she had just been humoring me and hoping for the best, but the two of us made our way to Tatooine. Watto had sold my mother to Cliegg Lars-”

“Uncle Owen’s father?!” Luke yelped, looking at him in horror, “He BOUGHT grandmother?!”

“Yes.” Anakin nodded, “But not to keep her as a slave. He freed her.” Luke sagged in relief, “And eventually married her.” he let out a sad sigh, “I’m told they were happy, in the time they had. But it didn’t last. My nightmares HAD been visions. Mom had been abducted by Tusken Raiders.”

Luke hissed like a Nexu and Obi-Wan wilted even further, looking as though he had been punched in the gut. Leia and Yoda were confused, “What are they?” His daughter asked.

He didn’t get to respond because Luke answered, “They’re a race native to Tatooine, and were every bit as harsh as the surrounding desert.” He clenched his fist, “They participated in something called a Bloodrite. Before being considered adults, a youth proved his or her hunting skills by capturing a creature and fatally torturing it with techniques that extended their pain for weeks before death. Most of them chose creatures like Dewbacks… but the greatest prestige in their society was reserved for a hunter who did it on a sapient being.” Leia again looked like she was going to vomit, and Yoda had merely closed his eyes in sorrow. Obi-Wan stared at his feet, a hard look in his eyes. Nearly twenty years he lived on that planet, unable to stop the atrocities.

All was silent for a moment, as Anakin gathered himself, “When I found her, she had been getting tortured for over a month. She lived just long enough to recognize me and die in my arms.” Luke and Leia squeezed their eyes shut, but that didn’t prevent the tears for their grandmother escaping, “It was the first time I ever used the Dark Side.” Anakin said heavily, “I didn’t spare a single one. I slaughtered the entire village.”

Obi-Wan huffed, clutching his chest like he had been punched, “You never told me.”

“No.” Anakin agreed, “The only one who ever knew was Padmé.” He sighed explosively, “Her and Palpatine, which, of course, he gleefully used against me when the time was right.”

“For kriff’s sake, Anakin.” Obi-Wan swore, “Was I truly such an awful master that you couldn’t trust ME with it?!”

“It had nothing to do with trust.” Anakin replied heavily, “It was all guilt, and fear. Fear that I would be expelled for it. I still don’t know why I told Palpatine about it. After Geonosis, I truly wanted to put it behind me. I never again wanted to even think of Tatooine and what I had done.”

“Trust in the Jedi, you did not. Adhere to the code, you never did. Too emotional.” Yoda said, and Anakin was half tempted to mute him again, but the old troll continued, “Understand your needs, we did not. Right, you were. A mold you could not fit, we tried to force you into. Explosively, your emotions released when no longer you could bottle them.” Anakin looked at the old master in surprise, getting a harrumph, “At nine hundred years old, willing to change, you would not be. A slow learner I am now but learn I do.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Anakin smirked sardonically, “In any case, after it happened, we got a message from Kenobi. The result of his investigation was the First Battle of Geonosis and the official start of the Clone Wars. Padmé and I tried to rescue him despite my… admittedly token protest against trying. Padmé was having none of it and said she was going and if I wanted to protect her, I’d better follow her.” Luke and Leia grinned, “Afterwards, I was down one arm and up one wife, and the galaxy was bathed in blood over the next three years. Every Jedi experienced doubt during that time. We’d been taken from our roles as mediators and peacekeepers and thrust into the life of generals of the Republic. Every single one of us experienced doubt and had brushes with the Dark Side because of it. With Palpatine secretly pulling the strings of both sides, the war turned into a quagmire designed for one purpose: breaking the Jedi Order. Jedi died in droves and were forced into a position where we had to kill and kill and kill. It didn’t matter that most of the enemies were droids. We still witnessed atrocity after atrocity and were forced to loosen our principles.”

Kenobi took over, “He’s right.” He said heavily, “It affected even the best of us. Mace Windu started the war believing it was not the nature of a Jedi to assassinate anyone. Even with his turn to the Dark Side, he did not believe Dooku would stoop so low. By the time the war was close to ending, Mace had even suggested assassinating Dooku ourselves, because the death toll had risen so high he believed it was also against the Jedi way to allow innocent people to suffer needlessly.”

“Warp our morals, the war did.” Yoda’s ears were again lying flat on his head, drooping in sorrow.

Anakin nodded, “For me, two events stood out more than any other. Except for Sidious’s final push against me, they were the two events that came closest to bringing me to the Dark Side, and the two events that shook my faith in the Jedi Order to the point of almost breaking.” Obi-Wan sagged again, knowing what was coming, “The first came when the Jedi became aware of a possible kidnapping attempt on the Chancellor. In order to prevent the plot, the council hatched a scheme of their own. Kenobi was to fake his own death, and assume the identity of his own killer, so that he could get close to the mercenaries and prevent it from happening. It was an admittedly brilliant idea and well executed. I would have been behind it one hundred percent.” They watched as his fists clenched on his lap, and a grinding noise rang out as the metal he sat upon warped from his strength, even in death, “Except they never TOLD me about it because my reaction would sell the deception!” He snarled, still furious decades later, “My master even found a way to mute our bond to really make me think he was dead! By the nine kriffing hells, I chased him down and almost killed him myself, thinking I was avenging his murder! If things had gone even slightly differently I could have killed my own master without even knowing it! It would have DESTROYED ME! It was only AFTER that failed mission that they told me the truth, but only so I would stop interfering. Even after everything was over, our tight bond over years of trials and triumphs had frayed, and I never trusted him as I once had again.”

Leia let out an explosive, derisive sigh, “I didn’t think it was possible, but you convinced me. Every single one of you were a pack of nerf herders! Your whole damned council didn’t have two brain cells to rub together!”

Luke was even worse. He just looked disappointed. “I’m not sure what’s worse, the fact that you did something so needlessly cruel, or the fact that I’m now expecting the worst from you. Father is right. You both told me Vader killed my father and tried to make me into a weapon to kill him. Was that par for the course? Did you not think that I would have fallen to the Dark Side if I had accomplished my mission and then inevitably learned the truth from the Emperor?”

Both Jedi masters flinched, and the worst part was that they had nothing to defend themselves with.

“What was the other?” Leia asked her father’s ghost.

“The other… was perhaps even worse.” Anakin replied, “You see, early in the Clone Wars I had been given my Knighthood. I hadn’t passed any of my Jedi Trials, but they needed me in a command position. They considered my actions in the earliest parts of the war and decided I was ready. I was no longer a Padawan, but a full Jedi Knight. And to that effect, they assigned me a Padawan of my own: Ahsoka Tano. I had zero interest in being a master at the time, but was forced to take her all the same, and my little spitfire quickly grew on me. You would have loved her, Leia. You were a lot alike. She was young and foolish but endlessly optimistic and eager to prove herself. Over the next three years, we became so close that we would have done anything for each other. I loved her, the same as I loved my master. Skywalker and Tano became almost as well-known as Skywalker and Kenobi.”

“…” Luke looked hesitant to speak, “Did something happen to her? Was she hurt? Like grandma?”

“Not like mom, no.” Anakin shook his head in denial, “But she was hurt. Deeply. Near the end of the war, the Jedi Temple was bombed. We captured the perp, and Ahsoka went down to speak with her. There, during their conversation, Letta Turmond was choked to death by an unknown Force user, and because Ahsoka was there in front of a camera that conveniently had recorded no sound, Ahsoka was blamed and arrested. The real perpetrator then freed her and engineered several more situations that led to Ahsoka being caught in compromising positions, leading to her eventual capture and arrest under the suspicion of being the real mastermind for the bombing. She was brought before the council and despite pleading her innocence, not a single one of the masters voted for her. Not even Kenobi or her favorite, Plo Koon. In the end, she was expelled from the Jedi order on circumstantial and flimsy evidence for several things she had never done so that she could stand trial in a military tribunal.”

Luke and Leia were alternating between glaring at the two masters they could get near and staring at their father in sympathy. “That’s awful.” Luke whispered.

“Yes, and a conviction would have meant her execution. No one was on her side,” he turned to Leia, “With a man you’re very familiar with leading the charge for her conviction; Wilhuff Tarkin.”

Leia was the one to hiss like a nexu this time, “That son of a bantha!”

“Indeed.” Anakin said, a little dryly, “No one was on my Ahsoka’s side. No one but me. Before she could be convicted – and she WAS going to be convicted and sentenced to death – I found the real perpetrator. Barriss Offee. Someone who had been a friend to Ahsoka. Someone who had grown up with her. Someone who had betrayed Ahsoka in the worst way because of how badly her faith in the Jedi had been destroyed. Like many other Jedi, she had felt that the Order had lost its way. That we had fallen from the Light and had become villains. An army fighting for the Dark Side in the war. That the Republic itself was failing. And she was right. She was more right than she ever knew. Ahsoka’s name was cleared, and the Council arrogantly welcomed Ahsoka back into the Order. Plo Koon was the only one who had even apologized to Ahsoka. Not even Kenobi did. They just welcomed her back, stating it was a great Trial of the Spirit she had passed, on her path to Knighthood. Ahsoka refused and left the Order for good.”

The two young, living Skywalkers were about to reply, but Anakin continued, “I pleaded with her to stay… when I should have gone with her.” He whispered, sucking the air out of the clearing, “I’d already been disgusted with the Order. I SHOULD have walked out of that door with her. But I didn't have her strength. I didn't have the strength to do what I should have done and followed her out of that door. Palpatine was winning. None of us knew, but everything was going exactly as he needed it to. My confidence in the Order was being shaken every day, and anything tying me to the Light was being systemically removed. First was Obi-Wan’s ‘death,’ an event that Palpatine hadn’t even planned for. Then was Ahsoka leaving.”

Luke stood and looked away from his father, looking at the two shamed Jedi sitting solemnly and quietly on their rocks, “I was wrong, masters. Being a Jedi was no great honor at all. My father was right. You and your Order had lost your way years ago.” He sat back down and did not look their way again.

Anakin closed his eyes, “And then we get to the climax of it all. Through three years of war, death, and suffering, your mother had been the one Light in my life. The one balm on my soul. Every day of the war I fought to return to her, knowing she was waiting for me. Home was no longer the Temple, but wherever she was. I should have said ‘kriff’ secrecy. I should have declared my marriage to her openly. I should have left the Order. But the Jedi was the dream of a young slave boy, and I couldn’t let that dream go. I was pulled in two directions, but I endured. Even as we suffered in war, every time I was with Padmé, things were a little less awful. And then we got a mission. The kriffing Chancellor had been kidnapped.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” Leia exploded, “After ALL OF THAT, he STILL went and got himself kidnapped?! Kenobi’s damned fake death was WORTHLESS!”

“Yes.” Anakin said flatly, “It was. After three years, I killed Dooku, again in a manner not befitting a Jedi. I had already disarmed him,” he glanced at Luke’s arm in sorrow, making the boy flinch, “-and had him at my mercy. He should have stood trial… but I allowed Palpatine to goad me into executing him.” He closed his eyes, remembering the resigned acceptance in Dooku’s eyes. For over twenty years, he wondered why the old man had not betrayed his master, even when betrayed himself. “We quickly got the Chancellor back to Coruscant… and then Padmé gave me the best news of my life. She was pregnant. We were going to be parents! It was… it was the happiest I’d ever been. Even more than the day we married, and she gave her heart to me.”

“It’s just so HARD to reconcile the joy on your face and the sheer love I can feel with the dark monster Vader.” Leia confessed, “What happened?”

“That joy turned to ash that very night.” Anakin said heavily, “I had another vision, this time of her dying in childbirth. The same way I had nightmares of my mother’s torment three years back.”

All but one of the audiences felt their breath escape them in a rush. “Of another Jedi, I thought you spoke of.” Yoda confessed, “Different my advice would have been, had I known the truth. I am sorry.” He bowed his head.

Obi-Wan whipped his head to Yoda, and then back to Anakin, “Anakin, you never told me!”

“And why would I?” Anakin’s voice was miserable as he stared back at his former master. Obi-Wan’s face crumbled in grief at the response, “You hadn’t believed me about my mother, and you’d just all but shattered our bond months ago. And even if I had considered it, other events happened. The Chancellor was well aware of my arrogance and how I felt the Council was holding me back. I felt that after three years of war and serving with distinction, I had more than earned the right to be made a Master. I had even defeated Dooku! So Palpatine made his next move and ordered the Council to give me a seat as his representative. I was elated. The dreams hadn’t stopped, and as a Master I would be able to access all of the Holocron Vaults. Surely something in there would help me save Padmé!” he exclaimed, and before either Master could shake their head and inform him that there truly was nothing, he continued, “And then the Council gave Palpatine a gift. They accepted the order and granted me a seat on the Council but refused to promote me to Master. Not only did they slam the door in my face in my quest to save my wife, but they hit me right where it hurt. My Sith-hells-damned pride. I was insulted. I would have been less insulted to have simply been refused! No Jedi had ever sat on that Council and NOT been a Master.”

“And then we asked you to spy on the Chancellor, your kriffing father figure because of all of our suspicions. All without trusting you with why we were asking it of you.” Obi-Wan let out a miserable groan and facepalmed, “We all but put a bow on you and handed you off.”

Anakin snorted, “Quite. But that wasn’t the end. Things could still have been salvaged at that point. After my next meeting with Palpatine, it was over. I’m not sure if my visions were real, or if he planted them in my head, but in the end he knew exactly what to say to seduce me to the Dark Side. After filling my head with nonsense about how the Jedi were conspiring against him and planning to seize power and then fluffing my pride and arrogance and telling me how I was the only one who could beat Grievous and end the war, he struck. He told me a story which frankly SHOULD have made me suspicious of him. But this was after weeks of nightmares and sleep deprivation and desperation. I didn’t become suspicious then and simply listened as he told me of the “Tragedy” of Darth Plagueis, “The Wise.” The one I would later learn was Sidious’s own Sith Master.”

Obi-Wan snorted, “Quite pretentious.”

“But deserved.” Anakin stated flatly, “Palpatine presented the story to me to explain that Plagueis had developed the ultimate healing power. A technique he claimed his apprentice never learned. He told me that Plagueis had created a method of directly manipulating the Midichlorians. With that technique, he could not only prevent people from dying but outright resurrect them after death.”

“That is PREPOSTEROUS!” Obi-Wan snarled, “How could you believe such DRIVEL?! The Dark Side cannot heal, Anakin! You KNEW this! We have hundreds of records from the New Sith Wars of Sith using Healing techniques that would fail and allow wounds to reopen when they stopped focusing!”

Yoda also spoke, and his tone was very grumpy, “Impossible, such a technique is. Lies, you were fed, and lies, you believed.”

“I’m afraid, Masters…” Anakin said, drawing it out, “That you’re wrong. After all… you’re looking at the result of it.”

Dead silence filled the clearing. “What?” Obi-Wan breathed in shock, “What are you saying, Anakin?!”

“My mother never wanted a child.” It was like all the warmth of the clearing had been sucked out of it. “Never wanted to birth another slave. So, she avoided men. Never took a lover. Never had sex. And yet here I am.” Leia and Luke paled to the color of milk, “Plagueis’s technique created me.”

“By the Force…” Obi-Wan still looked horrified, before shaking his head in denial.

Yoda too looked shaken, “Conjecture, it is. Believable conjecture, perhaps, but still conjecture.”

“…” Anakin snorted, “Palpatine had me the moment he told me that story.” He turned back to his children, “It was only a matter of time. I would have done anything to save your mother, because I knew if she died, I would die with her. And in my worst moment of weakness, I made the worst mistake of my life. In the end, I was left burning on the slopes of Mustafar, having been defeated and… relieved of my remaining limbs by Kenobi. In the end, my visions came true. Only instead of coming true because of what I didn’t do, they came true because of what I DID trying to stop it. In my rage and Dark Side induced madness, I harmed your mother. She died, and I was told my child had been lost with her. That was the moment Anakin Skywalker died, and Darth Vader wholly took his place.”

Luke and Leia lowered their heads in grief. Grief over what could have been. What should have been. What had been stolen from them. “I’m so sorry, father.” Luke whispered to him, tears falling from his eyes. His sister was also silently crying beside him.

Obi-Wan’s face was consumed by grief, “If it is any consolation, Anakin…” He spoke lowly, “You didn’t kill her. You hurt her, without doubt. But she didn’t die from your actions.”

“WHAT?!” Anakin’s face snapped to his in shock.

The old man nodded, “After giving birth to Luke and Leia she just… wasted away. It was like nothing we had ever seen. None of the medical staff could figure it out. It was as if she had just lost the will to live. Her last words were, ‘There’s still good in him.’”

He had thought it would give Anakin some measure of peace, but instead, the words seemed to sap the life out of him. Anakin started to sob, shaking in rage. The Dark Side started to roil, “No, no, please, no. Please tell me you’re lying! PLEASE!” The old men stared at him in shock, backing away. Even Luke and Leia looked wary.

“Father please. You just escaped the Dark Side. Don’t embrace it again.” Luke was the only one brave enough to get close and was even able to lay a hand on his father’s ghostly arm.

“You don’t understand!” Anakin wept, collapsing, and releasing the Force entirely, “I would have PREFERED that I killed her instead of this! Killing her would have been better! Palpatine didn’t just make me sell my soul to him. When he found me I was desperately in need of healing! Your mother didn’t die! She had her LIFE drained out of her to sustain MINE!”

Leia could take no more, and she ran behind a tree to vomit. Luke, pale and clammy, ran to her.

“Anakin, that’s impossible!” Obi-Wan exclaimed, “You were worlds apart! That’s simply not possible!”

“He was her mentor just the same as he was mine. It isn’t impossible that he had a secret bond to her.” Anakin answered in a dead tone, “He could have easily instituted a Force Drain and then transferred the reins to me.”

The two Jedi masters looked stricken, unable to deny the truth now. Luke walked Leia back, and she was trembling in revulsion, “I wish Plagueis’s fancy Midichlorian Manipulation was real.” The spitfire spat, “I would bring that son of a bantha back and strangle him with my bare hands.”

“It was real.” Anakin said, his face still wrapped with horror but at least his force signature was steady.

“No, it wasn’t.” Obi-Wan protested again.

“It was, master. I sold my soul for it.” Anakin spat, “I wasn’t about to let it be for nothing.” The former Sith said hoarsely. The four froze, and Anakin let out a deep sigh, “Sidious never believed in the Rule of Two. All he believed in was the Rule of Sidious. He never taught his apprentices enough to make him worry about being usurped and always got rid of them before they could become a threat. He could not do that with me. Even missing half of my body and covered in injuries, I was always stronger than him by far. Even his Sith Lightning was worthless against me because of Tutaminis. He knew damn well I had no interest in his empire or ruling, so the only thing I would betray him for would be if he denied me what was promised. I was the one apprentice he gave everything to, because he knew if I really focused my rage and brought my full power to bear, I could pop him like a grape. I almost did do it before he gave me literally everything he had that had once belonged to Plagueis. He had tried for years to recreate the ability before giving up and assumed I would as well. It took me ten years to recreate his master’s technique.” He swallowed heavily, “And I mastered it, and then never used it again.” At least partially, it had to be said, so that Palpatine wouldn’t get ideas. “It was…. the one part of Anakin that remained in me at the time… I knew that if I used it to raise Padmé… if it was even possible after such a long time… she would have despised me for it. I refused to use it ever again, even to heal myself and be able to leave my armor. I deserved the pain it inflicted on me.”

“You-” Luke looked at him, horrified, “You could have saved yourself, then! WHY FATHER?! Why did you let yourself die?!”

Anakin turned to his son, “No son. I couldn’t have.” He closed his eyes, “I made the galaxy suffer enough. I made your sister suffer enough. It was time for Darth Vader to join Anakin Skywalker in death. Even if I had saved myself with it, I’d be a war criminal. I’d be sentenced to exile at best if your leaders were feeling particularly merciful. Death was always the end of my journey, young one.” Luke let out a hoarse sob.

Obi-Wan stepped forward, placing his hand on Anakin’s shoulder, “Whatever my forgiveness is worth to you, you have it, brother. I’m sorry. Sorry we could never be what you needed. That I could never be what you needed. You were the best of us. The Chosen One. And we failed you in every way possible.”

“I’m sorry too, master.” It was the first time all night the word had not been delivered in a snide tone from the eldest Skywalker. He didn’t elaborate further. There was no need.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes, “You’re welcome to stay with us, of course. Though indeed, some hurts run too deep.” He turned and bowed to Luke, “And forgive me Luke, for the role I played in what almost became your fate.” Luke only gave him a jerky nod, “I guess this is goodbye. May the force be with you.”

Anakin smiled wanly, “And with you, master.” He watched as Obi-Wan faded back into the Force.

“Failed you in life, we did. Peace in death, I hope you find, Skywalker.” Yoda said simply, before fading away.

Anakin turned to his children, standing side by side. He smiled warmly, “This is your story now, Luke, Leia. Your chance to right all the wrongs of the past.” He hugged Luke. His son felt it was weird. Like static. “Whether a Jedi or not, you are a Knight. A beacon of Light, capable of drawing even me back from the Dark.” He smirked playfully and smacked his son’s arm lightly, “It’s like your sister said… you’re the best of all of us. You always were.”

Luke couldn’t hold the tears, “Thank you, father.”

He turned to Leia, “Leia…”

His daughter’s eyes were still rimmed with red. For years, she had despised the monster in the suit. For taking her parents away. For taking her home away. For all the atrocities he committed.

She still hated Darth Vader. But after everything she had learned? She could put that aside and love Anakin Skywalker. She stepped forward and surprised him with a hug. He froze in surprise, stiff with his arms out. Then he scrunched his eyes closed and a wet sob escaped him as he wrapped his arms around her, “Leia. My daughter. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Leia let out a sob, and pulled back, “I can’t forget. But I can forgive.” She choked out, before stepping back and wiping her eyes, “If you find mom in the Force, give her our love, father.”

“I will.” Anakin choked out, overjoyed, “You’ll both be better than we were. Than all of us were. I love you. I love you so very much. I loved you from the moment your mother told me she was pregnant. And I always well.” He let out one last sigh, “Goodbye, my children. May the Force be with you.” And then he faded away.

“Goodbye, father.” The twins whispered. They spent a few minutes together, having a cathartic cry, before leaving themselves.

Leia found her way to Han, and laid down with him, “Hold me.” She begged, her face red and wet with tears. Han’s arms wrapped around her, even as he made a mental note to ask Luke what in the nine Corellian hells happened. Soon, both were asleep from the exhaustion.

Luke meanwhile simply found another place to sit and contemplate everything he had learned. In a part of the forest untouched by the battle, he found himself surrounded by nature and peace. He fell into a deep meditation trance, where he would remain for many hours.

As for Anakin? He disappeared into the Force, on a mission to find his wife, if that were possible at all. He had more than twenty years of groveling and apologies to start on. He left, knowing that his children would lead the new galaxy in peace. That they would learn from the mistakes of the past. That they would be better.

That the future was secure.

If only he had been right.

-]|[-

Anakin spent a long time searching for his wife in the Force. He was confident that his children and their friends could handle themselves. That they would be better. Time didn’t really pass the same as it would have in the living world. When he finally found her, he thought he would have to spend all of eternity groveling before her.

Watching her nearly tackle him to the ‘ground’ the second she saw him and start sobbing into his chest nearly broke him again. “Angel. My Angel. I’m so sorry.” He sobbed with her.

“I… I knew there was still good in you.” She wailed, clutching onto him.

“I-I was a monster, Padmé.” He whimpered, “I… I tortured L-Leia. I made her watch-”

She covered his mouth, “I know.” She said hoarsely. “And you’ll have to…well, not live with that…” She smiled wetly, tears still dribbling from her eyes. He let out a choked chuckle. “But that piece of bantha poodoo broke you, my love. He kept you in that awful suit for decades…”

“It was no less than I deserved.” He said hoarsely, “All-all I had to do was trust you and Obi-wan and-”

“Oh, Ani…” Padmé put a finger on his lips to shush him, “Haven’t you figured it out yet, my love?”

“Wh-What do you mean?” Anakin looked confused.

She sighed, “Time is… weird here. You can look back into the past, though only for things you were strongly tied to, and you can’t affect it at all. I… I needed to know. I needed to know what caused you to-” She stopped and closed her eyes, “He had a bond with you, Ani. Like your bond with Obi-Wan. Or Ahsoka. Hidden. A little worm inside your mind you never knew was there.” Anakin froze, “The visions of your mother were real. The visions of me were all him. Him and his Sith Alchemy. Every bit of fear you had, he amplified. All your anger, he magnified.”

“Th-then-” Anakin sounded horrified.

“I watched… and I counted.” Padmé closed her eyes, “In the month leading to the death of the republic, you slept a total of 52 hours. Even with the Force, that’s beyond unhealthy. And I never knew how bad it had gotten for you. You were so sleep deprived it was a travesty the healers didn’t force you into the healing halls. And it was all his fault. Every bit of it.”

White-hot fury erupted in Anakin, before he forced it down as Padmé startled. “I… I don’t know why I’m surprised.” He said miserably. “But I am.”

She kissed him. “And despite everything, in the end, your love for Luke won out against all of his manipulation, all of his power, and all of his tricks.”

“It shouldn’t have cost so much.” He closed his eyes, holding her tightly. “I don’t deserve you.” He whimpered slightly.

“But you have me, anyway.” She said softly. “We lost so many years…” She smiled gently at him as she stood. “But now we have eternity, my love.” She held a hand out, “It’s time for you to heal.”

He grabbed it and pushed himself up so that he wouldn’t drag her down. He pulled her gently to him, and the two returned to the ether. Together at last.

-]|[-

Anakin and Padmé didn’t end up watching over their children very often. Years passed without them really feeling the passage of time. It wasn’t a conscious thing; rather that eternity didn’t really allow them to keep good track of the finite time of the living. Especially with Anakin's much greater power and control over the Force allowing them front row seats to whatever they wished to watch, not just events they were connected to.

But they still watched, happy to see everything going well for the New Republic and the reconstructed Jedi temple. Leia had even had a wonderful child. Ben Solo. Oh, how they longed to hold their grandson in their arms…

And then everything started going wrong. They watched as an impersonator – because there was no way that Luke Skywalker, the man who had redeemed Darth Vader – forced Din Grogu to make a cruel choice between a gift from his father-figure or one of Yoda’s lightsabers. And then more weirdness kept happening. Luke, in a moment of fear, turned his lightsaber on to kill Ben when he sensed darkness in him. All while the boy was asleep. And Ben reacted badly when he woke up and saw the ignited saber, falling to the Dark Side.

Anakin tried. He really did. He tried to talk Ben away from his path. From his obsession with Darth Vader. But Ben wouldn’t listen, convinced that he was some trick of the Light Side. Luke was devastated and exiled himself to the most remote spit of land he could find.

In their horror, they tried to visit Leia, but their wonderful little girl had just lost her position in the New Republic when someone leaked that she was Darth Vader’s daughter. Everything just seemed to be going wrong.

And the hits just kept on coming, and more and more, they just watched in increasingly detached horror. The First Order. The New Republic making the exact same mistakes the Old Republic had made. Demilitarizing before the threat of the First Order. Starkiller Base. Ben killing his own father. Luke’s treatment of Rey. Ben killing his mother. Luke, one of the most powerful Jedi ever, losing so much of his potential that a simple Force Projection killed him. PALPATINE kriffing finding some bantha poodoo way to come back to life. He studied that closely, peering into the past and finding that his former master had cloned himself. Only things apparently went wrong. He was a crone. A mockery of life.

By the time it was over, their entire family was dead. At least Ben had managed to come back from the Dark for a few minutes before dying…

But worse of all for Anakin was seeing what it did to his wife. He was forced to watch as she became bitter. Forced to watch as she lost a little more of herself and her optimism and belief in democracy with each and every mistake made, and horror witnessed. Watched as she kept sobbing and crying that they ‘had to fix this,’ every time something else went wrong.

When Rey went to Tatooine and buried his old lightsaber in the sand, it was like the tiniest feather landing on a giant pile of rocks that caused a landslide. The fury that he had spent decades trying to control ripped its way out of him. “I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS!” He roared as the human personification of the Force brought his full power to bear for the first time in his entire existence.

“Ani.” Padmé said softly, untouched in the maelstrom of power coming from her husband. “Fix this.” She whispered, her expression as hard and furious as his, “I’ll be with you always.”

“RAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!” Anakin roared, and the Force obeyed his will. Everything went white.

-]|[-

Sand. Why did it have to be sand?

He was kneeling in it. Both hands and knees on it. He groaned as he staggered to his feet. He was in full Darth Vader regalia, though his body didn’t feel anywhere near as bad as he remembered it feeling. He reached up and tore his helmet off, taking in a breath of the hot, dry air and feeling it fill his lungs.

Okay, so those were functional. He felt his limbs and frowned when he realized they were still mechanical. He would need to fix that. This body would do for now, but he was going to have to take a page out of his bastard former master’s book and clone a new body for himself. With Midichlorian manipulation, he would be able to fix the issues that the body of Palpatine’s clone had. The Force whispered, and he felt the knowledge that it wouldn’t be enough fill him, making him frown. “Is there a way?” He got the sense that there was. He was just missing something that would be important.

Satisfied that things would be possible, he closed his eyes and stretched out his senses to find out where he was, and at least guesstimate when he was. The second he felt Jabba the Hutt, he knew he was on Tatooine. “Of kriffing course.” He sighed. That didn’t exactly narrow down when, though. He looked more, and then felt himself, and knew that meant it was before he had been taken by the Jedi Order. While he’d love to stomp over to Watto (Or Gardulla) right then and there to free his younger self and his mother, he held back. He knew he must look terrifying, and he didn’t want to scare them. He also needed a lot more information before he figured out his own plans.

The Force surged, obeying his wishes, and he tore through the desert like a speeder. Twin waves of sand erupted upwards in his wake, and after only a few minutes, he started getting closer to Mos Eisley. He then used Force Cloak to hide himself and made his way into the hive of scum and villainy, as Obi-Wan loved to call it. He let the Force guide him to the most decent ship in the spaceport owned by the most killable being there. He smirked lightly. He loved the Force.

The scum he ended up being guided to was a Trandoshan. A slaver, in other words. “Hey, what are you doing-”

Anakin waved his hand, “You will tell me the date.” He said firmly.

The being did not resist. “It is 966 ARR.”

Anakin was still for a moment. That made it 34 BBY by the newer calendar he had grown used to. “Oh, kark me.” His wife was currently twelve. She wouldn’t have even been elected yet! ‘This is fine. This is FINE.’ It gave him more time to meaningfully change things. He waved his hand again. “You will confess your worst crime to me.”

“I killed a man and raped his wife and three daughters because he owed me five Peggats. The youngest was a child.” The Trandoshan droned on.

Ah, Mos Eisley, you never failed to disappoint. “Transfer your ship and all of your money to me.” It was the work of minutes to do so. Anakin was now the proud owner of a true hunk of junk and enough money to do practically nothing. “Good.” Anakin clenched his fist, and the slaving, raping scum turned into a meatball with sickening cracks and spurts of blood. It landed with a wet squelch as Anakin strode up the gangplank of his new, very-much-temporary ship.

He had work to do.