4 ABY

Aanakin Skywalker's eyes flew open. He blinked furiously, trying to remove the hazy film from his eyes only to realize it wasn't his eyes. He floated in some sort of blue- green solution slightly heavier than bacta. Slowly he gained awareness of his limbs- reaching up to touch the apparatus that clung to his face, covering his nose and mouth. He felt nothing. He knew nothing. Then the solution changed to a blue-red hue and suddenly Aanakin was filled with… him. Everything seemed to come to him as though he were remembering a dream soon after waking. Watto's shop, his mother, his friends- then the Jedi, Padme- oh Padme! His heart suddenly swelled with an incredible feeling of love. Obi-Wan Kenobi- the feeling changed to admiration and devotion. The senate, his missions as Obi-Wan apprentice. Senator- no, Chancellor Palaptine. The Jedi Council, the Clone Wars, a pregnancy! Again his heart swelled, then the fall- the Republic's treachery! No… Palpatines'? His feelings flowed and swayed as memories flooded into his mind. He found himself crying – or at least felt like he was as the thick solution failed to let tears fall- in pain, in anguish, then finally in relief.

His final moment came and he remembered as though it had happened moments before. The crystal blue eyes of his son looking down upon him- then it ended. He slumped slightly trying to sort through all the memories and their corresponding feelings, attempting to file everything in its proper place in his head. Padme- so alive, was gone. Obi-Wan, his mentor, his brother- gone. Palpatine… he wasn't yet sure what he was supposed to think of Palpatine. The muffled voice of a droid interrupted his new thoughts.

"One moment please." The color around him shifted once again- this time to a solid and intense blue. There was a moment of silence- then a new awareness flooded his body. Everything began tingling as though being released from a deep sleep. He inhaled sharply as his awareness of the room heightened. He suddenly knew the medical droid was hovering just to his left outside the tank. He stretched out further, sensing the size of the room and noticing the movement of more droids- two, no three, were moving between displays. The force was with him.

The light changed back to green. "Rise," the droid commanded. Aanakin paused for a moment, then his motor skills kicked in and he pushed off the bottom of the tank and out through the top of the heavy liquid, grabbing hold of the grating above his head. He hauled his bodyweight up with never-used but surprisingly strong arms and sat on the grating trying to adjust to the gravity.

"Stand," the droid said sharply. He complied, then flinched when a cold spray hit him forcefully from behind. He turned slowly, allowing the remnants of the solution to flow back into the tank. The spray cut off so he moved to descend the ladder, but the droid stopped him. "One moment please." He waited.

Suddenly he will filled with more knowledge. First he was reminded of a promise he'd made to Padme. Then a trip to Coruscant's underworld in secret. You are that clone. Clone. He'd promised Padme he would always be there for her, then he'd suck into Palpatine's secret lab on Coruscant and had himself cloned so he would always be here for her in case he died in combat during the Clone Wars. But he! He was that clone.

He moved almost mechanically, following the droids instructions without really hearing them. He was a clone. The real Anakin Skywalker had died in the arms of his son on the second Death Star. The Clone would awaken at the moment of my death. His host had just died. It was all so overwhelming.

A droid rolled up to him with a stack of neatly folded clothing. Aanakin took them, finally noticing the wiring and breathing tubes had been removed from his body, and stood bare-footed on the old metal floor in front of his now empty tank. He pulled the tunic and robes on slowly, lost in his new thoughts. So much more time had passed then was ever intended. Anakin had not died during the Clone Wars. It was Padme. Anakin turned to the dark side and continued to live though the entire reign of Darth Sidious- Palatine. He would never see Padme again- would not meet her children.

Things did not turn out the way he'd- Anakin- had intended. Luke and Leia were grown- and they didn't know him at all. He shrugged into the dark brown robes that Anakin and left for him and looked up. A mirror sat against the far wall. He slowly approached it, taking in his appearance. He looked so young. He touched his face, smooth and unscarred- except for one that dropped down over one eye. His hair was dark and slightly curly, reaching down just to enough to brush the top of his robes. He stood tall and broad-shouldered. Young, healthy and- "Alone." The word came out raspy by a voice that had never been used. "Alone!" He repeated, stronger this time.

His attention finally turned to the room in which he stood. There were six cloning tanks total. Three were empty and dark, his could see a thick layer of dust resting on top of them as though they'd never been used at all. The fourth, his own, was slowly draining. The last two were in use and had a soft blue glow as though their occupants were still in waiting. He took a closer look at the man in the tank nearest him. He was dark haired and had a heavily lined face. His body was muscular but still somewhat lean. Aanakin looked hard at the face. It seemed familiar but he the memory in his so recently filled head would not rise to the surface. Another droid rolled up to him, this one carrying boots, a utility belt and an exact replica of Anakin's lightsaber. He quickly stepped into the boots and snapped on the belt, then slowly relieved the droid of the lightsaber. The grip felt perfect in his grasp. The droid turned and rolled again, leaving Aanakin alone again. Instead of igniting the blade, he moved to the last tank. This man looked a bit older than the first, wrinkles were just beginning to form in his forehead and his body was hardly muscular. He had the build of a politician- someone whose work required little physical effort. This face also looked familiar. Very familiar. Aanakin thought hard, staring at the face intently. Then, it came to him. Palpatine! His eyes widened as pieces fell into place. He turned and stared at the other man. A clone- a remaining clone of Jango Fett! Here! Waiting for… waiting for what? For Palpatine to awaken and rebuild his clone army and, consequently, his empire.

A sudden anger filled him. He'd shared this room with a Sith Lord and his future plans for years- unknowingly! What if Palpatine had been rouse first? What would have happened to him? The lightsaber ignited almost of its own accord. Blinded by anger and pain, Aanakin swung the blade through Palpatine's tank as though it were a hologram. The clone fell with the heavy liquid solution and a shower of glass, landing in severed pieces. Aanakin didn't stop there. The blade continued it's' arch, clipping a dormant tank. He brought it back around and it flew, humming towards connecting pipes and wires, destroying and melting everything beyond repair. Two more tanks, then his own- still draining- the solution sloshed against his boots as they moved him towards the clone trooper still floating peacefully. Aanakin's blue-white blade made short work of both the tank and its occupant. Finally he stopped, his chest heaving after moving so quickly for the first time. The lightsaber hung at his side, providing half the light in the room now that the maintenance lights on the cloning tanks were in shambles.

The droids, too, lay in pieces on the flooded metal floor. Aanakin didn't remember striking them down. There would be no more clones in this lab. After a moment, he straightened and closed down his blade, plunging the room into near darkness. He reached out through the force and sensed no one near enough to have been disturbed, only creatures- some still scurrying away. No, there was something attracted to the disturbance. Something large. It was time to move on.

The only door to the room had to be cut open after so many years of not being in service. Clipping the weapon to his belt, Aanakin pulled the hood of his robe up and wrapped the dark cloak around him before moving his place of birth into the dark underground of Coruscant.