AN:An AU idea that wouldn't leave my head. As always, I'm ignoring EU canon unless where it coincides with my ideas. Then again, this fic is AU already. The fic itself is a one-shot, but I might or might not come back to this AU-verse one day. I doubt this is a unique idea, so if it seems similar to someone else's story I apologize, as I didn't know.
Disclaimer: The exact words of the Prophecy of the Chosen One in this fic were made up by me (though obviously the concept of Chosen One itself was not), the name Gali Jarne, anything else you EU folks don't recognize, and the fic itself is also mine. Everything else, however, belongs to the owners of Star Wars.
-Balance-
"Through the chosen one with strength
Born only to the mother
Yet only as the father
Can balance ever be brought."
~ Prophecy of the Chosen One, Lost Jedi Archives, 6:182
"... And in the time of greatest
despair there shall come a savior,
and he shall be known as:
THE SON OF THE SUNS."
~ Prophecy of the Sun of the Sons, Journal of the Whills, 3:127
"The Sith'ari will be free of limits.
The Sith'ari will lead the Sith and destroy them.
The Sith'ari will raise the Sith from death and make them stronger than before."
~ Prophecy of the Sith'ari, Byss Citadel Writings, 7:223
Palpatine and Yoda normally didn't agree on anything, but he was sure of one thing: they would have agreed that this was utter insanity and were likely turning in their graves. If they had graves, that was.
Anakin Skywalker, or Darth Vader, or whatever it was (Luke sometimes joked that he was going through a major identity crisis) reflected back. His youth, and everything he had gone through had made him arrogant. His fear for his mother, his possessiveness over his wife, and his inflated ego at being the Jedi with the most raw power ever had blinded him to the truth: that Palpatine had only been using him. But the time that he realized who the other was, it was too late and he had been ensnared by the Sith. With no way out, he'd tried to embrace it fully. Once one started down the dark path, forever it dominated their destiny.
No one had counted on love. True, genuine love.
When Vader had started hunting for the Rebel pilot that had destroyed the Death Star, he hadn't thought much. He felt he could use the young pilot as an apprentice to overthrow Palpatine and finally be the Master. When he had learned exactly who the young pilot was, everything had stopped for a moment. His reason for taking the other as an apprentice changed. He knew that if the Emperor found out about Luke, he would order him destroyed or as a Sith. Vader couldn't bear to have him destroyed, and had become determined to turn him into a Sith.
After cornering Luke on Bespin and watching the young Jedi-in-training choose death over becoming a Sith, Vader had started to rethink his ideals. Encountering Luke several times afterwards, though never having the opportunity to spirit the other away to the Emperor, had only reinforced those thoughts. It would be considered traitorous, and breaking the rules, but then again, since when had Vader ever been about following the rules? Not as little Ani the slave boy, not as Anakin Skywalker the Jedi Knight, and not as Darth Vader the Sith Lord.
He'd surprised Luke during one of those encounters, by giving him Jedi holocrons he'd salvaged and kept to prevent any surviving Jedi from getting them, and telling him to learn from them. Vader had gotten the feeling that Luke was meant to be a Jedi, and if it would prevent his son from following the same destructive path that he had, then by all means, Luke could be a Jedi. He'd just have to make sure that Luke was a powerful enough Jedi to defeat Palpatine, because he knew that the Emperor would be absolutely furious about it.
And powerful enough Luke was. How could he not be, when his paternal grandfather was the Force itself?
The encounter in the second Death Star had been planned carefully; Vader would take Luke to Palpatine under the pretense that he was bringing to the boy to his Master. Luke would shield his true thoughts, and pretend to be receptive to the Dark Side. Then, when Palpatine was least expecting it, they would use their mastery of the Force to destroy him. Vader would used the Dark Side, and Luke would use the Light Side.
It had worked perfectly.
The aftermath had been harder to deal with, but after talking with each other and discussing things, they'd figured it was the best way, to make a new Order. It was not a Sith Order or a Jedi Order however. It was the Force Order. Jedi Masters had been pointing out for eons that everything that happened was willed by the Force, yet those that became Dark-Side users were ostracized as if it had been their choice.
Perhaps it hadn't been a choice at all. Perhaps it was because, for balance to exist, there had to be an equal amounts of light and dark; one could not exist without the other, yet if there were more of one side, it would be an imbalance. Therefore, the Force created beings and willed them to become either Light or Dark. Several never found their true calling, with those naturally attuned to the Dark-Side never reaching their full potential when trained as Jedi and those attuned to the Light-side doing likewise when trained as Sith.
Both sides used the Force, albeit different disciplines, but were still similar enough for some teachings to be considered mutual. With Force-users being a rarity as it was, it was better for both Sith and Jedi to band together. As the only Sith alive was Darth Vader, and the only Jedi alive was Luke Skywalker, both agreed to it, and the Force Order had been born.
He mused sometimes; the Force Order had gone on to rule the galaxy, as Vader, now calling himself Anakin again for convenience sake, had been Palpatine's heir, and Luke was Anakin's heir. Some stability had to be found, and Anakin didn't trust any of the Grand Moffs or the Senators to not make the galaxy fall into ruin. The Senate had been reinstated from the Old Republic, as well, with Anakin and Luke being the two heads, sharing the role of Chancellor. It was better to have two heads than to have one person being the one with the most power, with one head being young, wise, and kind, with the other head being older, experienced, and strict, both benefiting by keeping the other in balance.
The Force Order had taken some examples from the old Jedi Order, as well. The Force Council existed, with a total of twelve members. Five Sith Masters, five Jedi Masters, the Sith Grand Master, and the Jedi Grand Master. As of present, the two Grand Masters were the two Skywalkers, the child of the Force and the grandchild of the Force itself.
The Force was in perfect balance. Neither Jedi nor Sith were more numerous than the other, and they were able to work together. Some rules had been changed, of course. Children were allowed contact with their families, and the Sith Rule of Two was abolished completely. Hopefuls were allowed to contact the Force Order to see if their children were able to become Jedi or Sith. Both worked together in harmony. Of course there was still the occasional extreme that broke away from the group, that believed that their side and their side alone was the right side and refused to live with an Order that allowed both to be practiced, or that chose to be a Gray user, one that was knowledgeable in both the Light and Dark Side, but paid the price for not being a master of either and therefore could never ascend to the rank of Master.
Still, there was no discrimination against them. His own daughter, Leia Skywalker (he refused to think of her as an Organa or Solo), had become a Gray user. It was fitting, he supposed; one Skywalker was a Sith, and one was a Jedi. If another became either a Sith or a Jedi, it would be imbalanced. He did wish that Leia would accept him completely as her father, but the fact that she wasn't out for his blood was a good sign. She'd allowed his grandchildren to be trained by him (as much as he wanted to murder his son-in-law, that reckless ex-smuggler Han Solo for said grandchildren's existence; even today, he was considering freezing the man in carbonite again, for causing the existence of a third grandchild - the fact the boy had been named Anakin after him was the only thing stopping him). The twins Jaina Solo and Jacen Solo, Jedi Padawan and Sith Apprentice to Luke and Anakin respectively, were currently enjoying some time in the city. Luke had chosen not to marry yet, though admitted he would like children of his own one day, and Anakin couldn't bring himself to think of another woman that way after Padmé's death.
A chime at the door to Anakin's quarters in the rebuilt Jedi Temple, now named the Force Temple, indicated someone wanted to enter. Distracted from his thoughts, Anakin reached out with the Force, smiling a bit as he realized it was Luke.
"Come in, Son," he called, knowing that the other would hear him. The door slid open, revealing Luke Skywalker in his brown-and-tan robes.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you, Father," Luke replied. "But I have a list of new hopefuls."
"No, I was just meditating," Anakin replied, which he knew that Luke would see through immediately. Even before he had become a Sith, he'd never liked meditation. And meditation was all he could do when he had been in the hyperbaric chamber before Luke had used his incredible Light-side powers to heal his body. "May I see the list?"
"I'm sure, Father," Luke said, a grin appearing on his face. "Here's the datapad."
Anakin looked at the datapad. Several names were listed, along with age, gender, planet and city of origin, and which Force side they potentially belonged to. Five Sith, three Jedi, and one Gray.
"Nine new members?" Anakin said, impressed. "That is more than we usually receive at once."
"I know," Luke said. "We've been having an influx of potential Jedi lately, too, so having a few more Sith users would help Balance us out."
A few newly trained Jedi Healers had discovered a curious thing about the midi-chlorians that allowed one to touch the Force. It wasn't that everybody had a number of them, with those that had higher counts being able to access the Force easier and joining the order (Han Solo had a count just below the cut-off; Anakin had rolled his eyes, but had admitted that it explained the other's incredible luck), but the structure of the midi-chlorians themselves were different. Most beings had both types, but usually had more of one type or the other.
Anakin knew that he had a large type of the midi-chlorian that allowed him to touch the Dark Side, with a few of the ones that allowed him to touch the Light Side. He suspected that Luke had inherited mainly Light midi-chlorians from Padmé, while Leia had inherited about equal numbers of both. It wasn't a catch-all; some with mostly Dark midi-chlorians went on to become well accomplished Jedi Knights, while some with mainly Light-side midi-chlorians became accomplished Sith Lords.
"It would," agreed Anakin. "Have you spoken to the families about what the training entails?"
"I was just about to speak to one family, the one of five-year-old Gali Jarne," Luke said. "They should be at the Council chamber in another 0200 hours."
"That fast?" Anakin raised his eyebrows. His son nodded.
"They were already on Coruscant," Luke replied. "I wanted them to have knowledge about both sides of the Force, so I was coming to ask if you wanted to speak to them as well."
Anakin glanced at his schedule; there wasn't much else going on today, so he nodded. "I'll join you there."
"Great! I'll see you in 0200 hours then," Luke said. "I have to go visit the crèche; find out which one has room for more children."
"May the Force be with you, Son," Anakin said, raising his hand in salute. Luke mimicked the gesture.
"May the Force be with you, Father." Then Luke headed out of the room, the door sliding shut.
Anakin looked at the datapad that Luke had handed him, flipping to a page labeled 'Prophecies'. He read the three Prophecies, and smirked. The leaders of the old Jedi and Sith Orders had been full of themselves. They'd believed that the Chosen One and the Son of the Suns were the same person and would stamp out the Sith, and that the Sith'ari would stamp out the Jedi.
In reality, the Chosen One and the Sith'ari were be the same person. It was the Son of the Suns that was someone else.
They were right in some aspects. The Chosen One, born only from his mother, had brought balance to the Force, by ensuring there were both Dark and Light side users and by being a father to his son. The Sun of the Sons had prevented the galaxy from falling completely into the Dark Side, at a time where there was no hope left. And the Sith'ari was free from the limitations of both orders and lead the Sith, while destroying the old Sith Order and ensuring that with cooperation with the Jedi, the Sith would rise and become stronger than ever.
It was then that it finally clicked exactly who he was.
He was Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, the Sith'ari, and the First Sith Grand Master of the Force Order.
And he would make sure that never changed.
-Balance END-
AN: Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you thought. I'm well aware of the fact that the Sith'ari prophecy was referring to Darth Bane in the EU-verse, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm ignoring EU for the most part. And yes, Anakin is listed under Darth Vader instead of Luke Skywalker under the site's guidelines due to the fact he didn't renounce the Sith.
