Atonement Chapter one

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Vader watched as his son bent down over his still form and began to take off the black visage that covered his face for the past twenty three years. He could feel the love of his son flow through him; he was whole again, blasted back into the light side, but most important of all he was Anakin again.

The black mask came off with a hiss as the air tight package was filled and his pale, ghost white face was revealed. "Fa-Father," Luke stammered, looking deep into the ocean blue of his father, the great Jedi's eyes. Emotion coursed through Anakin's chest as he saw the look in his son's eyes. There was no fear, disgust or condescension in his son's eyes, only love…

"Leave me, Luke, I will die here, it is the will of the force," Anakin's voice rasped, words barely coming out through his fading life. He knew it was true. He was going to die and he did not fear it, no, he even rejoiced it. He had finally bought balance to the force, what was done was done and perhaps he could see his loved ones again in the afterlife. Perhaps even his angel. He knew she would never forgive him, but just to see her, to see her happy would bring to his heart than he ever wished.

"No Father, come with me, there are medical droids in the Rebel base, and we can-."

"No Luke, I will die here. Listen to me Luke. You were right. Tell your sister you were right…" Luke watched teary eyed as his father's last words echoed in his head as he leaned forward, his chin down to his chest as his life force expired in front of his eyes.

But Luke would not lean him here, to die along with the clones and imperials in a monstrous death star. No, his father would receive a full Jedi burial, a burial he deserved. He dragged his limp body onto the nearest imperial shuttle and closed the ramp, heading to the controls…

Anakin opened his eyes. Where he was he was unsure. Around him was lush green shrubbery that was illuminated by a huge fire in the centre. He looked around and saw Luke standing next a woman who looked so much like his angel. "Leia," Anakin thought. Luke turned and looked directly into his eyes... He must be dead now, a force ghost that retained his identity, like the old books of the legends stated.

Anakin looked around him and to his surprise saw his old master, Obi Wan and the former grandmaster of the order, Yoda, stood side by side next to him. "Nice of you to join us, my old Padawan," Obi Wan commented with a wry smile. The scenery changed. Rather than the green scenery Anakin was in, a place of just pure white, no decorations, no sky, no roof, no floor and no walls zoomed into view. Just a plain expanse of pure white.

To the side, Obi Wan and Yoda were still with him. Yoda had not changed much since the last time he gazed upon the strange small green creature but Obi Wan was hardly recognizable. A white beard and moustache covered much of his lower face and his hair was grey and had receded creating a small bald patch on the top of his forehead.

"Where am I?" Anakin asked, confused about the sudden change.

"Your in the force Anakin, this is where the force controls all things, to us it is but a mere expanse of nothing but to the force this is where he creates each and every thing." Anakin nodded and then he looked at Master Yoda before looking back at Obi Wan. He hung his head low.

"I'm sorry Master, I've failed terribly, I was chosen by the light to be its servant but I stabbed it in the back," Anakin said, no longer caring about his pride as his true emotions poured forward.

"Worry you should not young Skywalker," Yoda said, his ears pointing to the side. "The force chose you it did, and complete it did you not hmm?" A frown appeared on Anakin's face as Yoda's words sank in.

"Does that mean that I was destined to sink to the dark side? That the force decided I was going to suffer for twenty years?" Anakin asked now, a little disturbed.

"No Anakin, perhaps our ultimate goals are set by the force, but how we get there is entirely up to choice. We have free will. Let's put it like this. Take life as a journey Anakin. We start from point A and we must reach point B. Point B is the destiny that the force gives us. Put there are many routes between A and B, and it is our choice as to what route we take," Obi Wan wisely spoke. Anakin nodded and then sank his head again.

"I am so sorry Obi-Wan, for a great many things. I chose the wrong path, I failed you master," Anakin sobbed. Yoda and Obi-Wan looked at each other before the green master finally spoke.

"But redeemed are you not? Killed Sidious did you not? Fulfill the prophecy did you not?" Yoda commented. Anakin took a small sigh and looked up, his eyes red though he was not a physical form anymore.

"Perhaps. So what happens now? Do we just wonder here forever looking over everybody like some sort of supreme spirit?" Obi Wan took a little chuckle, after all those years Anakin's humor had not been lost at all.

"Well, for us maybe, but for you, not quite…," Obi wan said, a small grin appearing on his face.

"What do you mean master?" Anakin asked, deciding he did not quite like his former master's elusive and somewhat awkward response.

"Let me ask you Anakin, don't you wonder why there is nobody here but us?" Obi Wan continued. Anakin shrugged.

"This is the control room of the force; from here you can go anywhere you wish in the physical world. Just think the place in your mind and close your eyes. When you open your eyes a door will appear. Well, something that looks like a door anyway. Go through the door and you will be where you want to be. When you want to go back just close your eyes and imagine this white place and then you will be back here," Obi Wan explained. Anakin was silent for a few minutes before looking around the room again.

"I know what you're thinking Anakin, why is there nobody here but us?" Anakin nodded. "When people die they are judged, those who have spent a lifetime of evil will loose their identity and become one with the dark side of the force, immersed with anger and hate forever. Then you have us who have retained our identities because when we died, we died with ultimate compassion that was absolute thus we are now living with our identities and our abilities."

Anakin nodded. "And what about everybody else?"

Obi Wan smiled. "Those who were decent in life but did not die with compassion or were not force sensitive to do so go to a huge city. We call it the second world. Funnily enough, it looks like Coruscant, but far far bigger. So that's most people that ever existed go there." Anakin nodded. He was taking it quite well given all that he had to comprehend.

"What happens if you die again in the second world?" Anakin inquisitively asked. His mind was working overload in order to process all this new information that had been given to him.

"There are many rules involved with the second world. First of all if you die in the second world you become one with the force, the light side of the force but you loose your identity. You will have an eternal lifetime of happiness, love and joy but it is pointless because you won't remember the joy you felt a second ago and you won't even have real consciousness. The second rule is you cannot reproduce in the second world. Finally, adults don't age their. If you died a child you age until the age of twenty, then you stop aging. Oh, and you may want to know there are no Jedi in the second world. We Jedi lived most of our lives in compassion which means as we die we automatically loose our identities and become one with the force. Well all apart from four."

Anakin's eyebrows rose again. "Who's the fourth?" Ob-Wan gave him a sly lopsided grin as he watched Anakin guess in his mind who that mystery person might be.

"An old friend, my old master, Qui Gon." Anakin's mouth opened in shock as he remembered his first real mentor. The one who rescued him from the hellhole that was Tatooine. "He's not here at the moment; he's visiting his brother's children. Of course, since they are not force sensitive they won't be able to see him." Anakin nodded again, finding it hard to do anything else.

"Why are you telling me this master?" Anakin asked. From the tone of his voice it was obvious that he was expecting the worst. Obi-Wan gave a hearty chuckle and Yoda grunted that sounded like a muffled laugh.

"Very intuitive, you are young Skywalker," Yoda commented with a smile. Obi Wan stopped laughing but a wide smile still covered his face as he explained to Anakin what he was to do.

"In the second world there is corruption and misdeeds and much strife has covered the city. It has been deduced that you are the best choice Anakin to go in there and sort things out. After all you have had much more experience with power than the rest of us," Obi Wan explained. Yoda agreed by nodding his head. Anakin however was still unconvinced.

"And what if I refuse to go?" Anakin curiously asked, wanting to know what would happen to him. Yoda tapped his walking stick (he carried it even in death.)

"Redeemed you are young Skywalker, atoned for your mistakes, you have not," Yoda gruffly commented. Anakin hung his head in shame, reminded of all the evils he had committed. Suddenly Anakin went down on his knees in front of Obi Wan and Yoda and stared at a fixed point on the white 'floor'.

"I am so sorry Masters, I let you all down. I let Sidious take control of me. I should have known. I am so, so sorry," Anakin pleaded. "I will do anything that will earn my forgiveness and atonement." Obi Wan walked over to him and dragged him to his feet through the shoulders.

"You are forgiven in my eyes Anakin, just as I hope you will forgive me for being a coward and doing to you what I did on Mustafar." Anakin shuddered as the memories of Mustafar flooded back. But it wasn't for the physical pain he suffered that fateful day on the dead volcanic planet. No, it was what he did to his angel…Padme.

"We have faith in you, young Skywalker," Yoda added. Anakin was still confused by the old Jedi masters insistence at calling him young Skywalker.

"Master, I may have been last time you saw me, but now I am certainly not young, I'm an old crippled man," Anakin insisted with a sigh. Obi Wan laughed at this comment.

"Look in the mirror Anakin," Obi Wan laughed and then out of the blue of his plain brown Jedi master robes he pulled out a small palm sized mirror and handed it to Anakin. Anakin frowned and hesitantly took the mirror, puzzled why his old master would keep a random mirror in his robe pockets. Anakin slowly bought the mirror to his face…and gasped.

His face was identical to what it was twenty three years ago, every detail and inch was the same. There were no scars and no charring from the horrible incident at Mustafar, save for one. The scar that ran from the bottom of his temple to beneath his eyes still stood, but that just gave him a look of power. His hair was long and dark blond again like it was perfectly all those decades ago.

Anakin looked at his hands that grasped the mirror and only now did he notice that there were no white scars or prosthetics. His feet and legs were there as well as he looked down at the white expanse. Then he finally noted that he did not need any equipment to breathe, something that had eluded his mind due to the intensity of the conversation with his former master and friends.

"Oh wow…I look…," Anakin started but Obi Wan finished for him.

"Excellent." Anakin looked up from the mirror and back up at Obi Wan.

"Not the words I was going to use but now that you've said it," Anakin stated with a lopsided grin followed by a quick wink. Some things just don't change even after so many years.

"Nice to know that ego of yours is still there," Obi Wan commented again. Anakin gave a small chuckle before his face became serious again.

"Why do I look so youthful and you two well…don't?" Anakin enquired. Yoda and Obi Wan gave a quick look at each other, Obi Wan smiling.

"You keep the form you did when you died. Since you are Vader no more, you keep the form you had when Anakin died, which was the night before you lopped off Master Windu's arm. The force replaces any loss of limbs that the body had for the second world," Obi Wan replied. Anakin looked at Obi Wan in disbelief, then to Yoda before lifting the mirror again to look at himself in disbelief.

"Once I go in to the second world will I be able to come back?" Anakin asked. He did not want to be stuck in the second world forever.

"Of course, anytime you wish to leave there for a while just think of this white expanse and close you eyes. Open them and then you will find yourself here. To get back just think of a particular image, which I will show you later, and then close your eyes. Open them you will find yourself back into the third world."

Anakin acknowledged and then turned to face Master Yoda. Obi Wan noted that Anakin seemed distracted by something. "Master, will I keep my lightsaber and my robes or will I have to get everything there again?" Anakin asked Yoda due to his higher position within the council thus it was his choice that really mattered.

"Your robes you will keep, lightsaber however, Obi Wan about that he will talk to you," Yoda quietly and coarsely said. Obi Wan decided to butt in.

"I spent the last five years as a force ghost and I needed some entertainment. So Qui-Gon and I decided to do some experiments in anticipation for your inevitable return Anakin. After three years and scavenging through the force we created the most powerful lightsaber ever conceived." As he said that he took out a golden lightsaber hilt from his other robe pocket and handed it out to Anakin.

Anakin was hesitant. Did he really deserve to have the most powerful lightsaber ever conceived after all that he had done? Was he to be trusted with power anymore? Obi Wan noticed the hesitance. "Go on, take it." Finally Anakin grasped his fingers around the beautifully ornately decorated hilt. He took it gently from Obi Wan's grasp, pointed the emitter upwards and pressed his fingers down on the red button. A brilliant white light emitted from the hilt, making the typical hum that the lightsaber usually made. The color of the blade was almost a pure white, that the background made the blade very hard to see. It was also longer than the usual lightsaber blades, longer by about four or five inches. Anakin was flabbergasted.

"Thank you master," was all he could say. Obi Wan nodded and smiled and then he noticed it again. Anakin was still hesitant about something. Obi knew just what…

"You have something to ask Anakin?" Obi Wan said gently. Anakin looked up at him, looking confused as to how to approach it.

"Master…I was just wondering…if…you know…is…is Padme there?" Anakin asked nervously, avoiding eye contact with Obi Wan. Obi Wan chuckled making Anakin feel even more anxious.

"Yes Anakin, I guess you still haven't forgotten her. She is truly meant to be for you. She is down there. She's been waiting twenty three years for you." However Anakin did not look so optimistic.

"She probably hates me now for what I did to her," Anakin sadly said to himself, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "And she has all the right to think that."

Obi Wan could understand the self pity that showed that was so unlike Anakin. "Anakin, she does not hate you."

"How do you know master?" Obi Wan smiled.

"I do believe her last words were, 'Anakin, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry . . . Anakin, please, I love you' and 'Obi-Wan . . . there ... is still good in him. I know there is …still . . .' When all of us lost all hope on you she still believed in you Anakin. She always has done and always will do." Anakin smiled to himself at the knowledge that there was still a possible chance that his angel still loved him.

"Anakin, you will have some time to get adjusted to this new world, but after that we want you to sort the problems of the 'afterlife'. It's your duty now. Are you ready?" Anakin nodded. "Close your eyes Anakin and remember the image I am going to send you in your head." Anakin nodded again and closed his eyes.

Suddenly an image of a huge bustling city came into his mind that resembled Coruscant very much. Anakin suddenly felt as if he was falling down a huge hole and then he felt his legs hit something and slowly…very slowly…he opened his eyes…

End of Chapter

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