DISCLAIMER: These characters belong to the brilliant George Lucas. I'm just having a bit of fun with them.

A/N: This is my interpretation of what happens between Anakin/Vader's death and when you see him at the celebration at the end of ROTJ. I'm going by the DVD version here, people, which means Hayden Christensen, not that other guy.

Forgiving Mistakes

In a flash of brilliant light, Anakin transformed into the force. Within moments, he met up with Qui-Gon Jin, who looked just as he had remembered him.

"Hello, Anakin."

Anakin, he thought, Anakin. I haven't heard that name in a while….

Anakin regained his composure. "Hello, Qui-Gon."

Qui-Gon sighed, "It's okay, Anakin," he said, noticing Anakin's nervousness and terrible guilt. "Everyone makes mistakes."

"Not this big of mistakes," Anakin mumbled.

"Anakin. You have been redeemed. It is alright. I have watched your life since my death. I have watched everything that happened, and you should know, I have explained your reasons for what you did to Obi-Wan. We've been waiting for you, Anakin, and now you have been redeemed. That is why we are giving you the opportunity to learn the immortal path. The path to becoming a force ghost, like myself, Yoda, and Obi-Wan."

"Wow…I-I…thank you," Anakin said.

So, Qui-Gon spent a bit of time teaching Anakin, until Anakin was ready to transform. Qui-Gon went first and disappeared from the bright light atmosphere. Anakin then did s instructed and disappeared, then reappearing in a forest-like area.

He looked down at himself and smiled sadly. His force ghost form was not that Darth Vader, but of Anakin Skywalker. The real Anakin Skywalker, that was around just before he headed down the dark path. Anakin figured that your force ghost shows you in the form of your true self, the one that you should be remembered by. He hoped this was true, and this was how he would be remembered.

Anakin glanced around until he noticed Obi-Wan, standing apart from Yoda and Qui-Gon, who were over by some bushes. Anakin and Obi-Wan locked eyes. Anakin's conscience seared with guilt and remorse as he rushed over to Obi-Wan. He glanced at his face for a moment, judging his emotions, and then hugged him briefly.

"I'm so sorry…" said Anakin gravely, the emotion of his guilt finally being unleashed as tears poured down his face. He had locked up his emotions of guilt and sorrow at the age of 22, and it felt slightly odd for them to come back so suddenly. But Anakin embraced them. It felt good to get the emotion out from hidden down deep inside of him. He'd obviously never been one to easily control his emotions….

"I know that nothing I'll ever be able to say could be good enough for anyone's forgiveness at all, but I figured you should at least know….I truly, deeply am sorry for what I did…."

Obi-Wan looked at him with kind eyes. "You are forgiven for your mistakes."

"I don't deserve that…"

"Anakin, you have been redeemed," Obi-Wan stated. "But…you can help me understand, at least."

Anakin nodded and began to speak, "I was stupid. Extremely stupid. I mean, I had been his puppet from the very beginning. It's like I was subconsciously trained to be a sith all my life. No wonder I was so confused all the time," he said as an afterthought. Obi-Wan chuckled, which caused Anakin to smile. "Anyway, I actually think he might have had something to do with Padmé and I getting together, as much as I hate to say it. He knew of my feelings for her. He suggested you go and find the bounty hunter. He did everything in his power to get Padmé and I alone together. So, you know, we fell in love. We originally decided not to do anything about it….We knew we couldn't. But when we were supposedly about to be exectuted, she told me she loved me. Right after the Clone Wars began, we got married. The only one's there were R2 and Threepio. Anyway, after that things were fairly quiet I suppose. I still can't believe noticed I'd sneak out of the Jedi Temple every night to be with Padmé," he said with a thoughtful tone. "Anyway, eventually we were sent to the Outer Rim, as you know. We were apart for months and I was going crazy. Even you noticed something was wrong, remember? But I didn't dare tell you what. I was afraid. Anyway, when we got back Padmé told me she was pregnant. I was actually quite elated, despite the fact I had no earthly idea what we were going to do," Anakin said with a grin. "But…that's pretty much when the dreams started. The dreams are really what started it all. I dreamt that Padmé died in childbirth…and I couldn't let it happen." Obi-Wan then spoke.

"But why did you think the dreams would come true?" Obi-Wan asked, as he watched Yoda and Qui-Gon walk over to the pair.

"Because of the dreams of my mother. Do you remember, just before the Clone Wars began, I was having dreams about her in pain? About her suffering? About her…dying? Well, they came true. I watched her die and they came true. I thought that was going to happen to Padmé, and I couldn't let that happen. I was stupid enough to believe Palpatine when he told me of a Sith power to save people from death…."

Obi-Wan nodded as the others listened. "I loved her too much to let her go. I was terribly afraid of losing her. Sidious was always reminding me of the power to cheat death….I became obsessed with the possibility of saving her. The council was shutting me out….I was away from Padmé for months at a time….I thought she was going to die….Basically, I was pretty messed up."

"Sorry, we are, for shutting you out," Yoda spoke softly.

Anakin shook his head. "It's alright. Believe me."

"Anyway," he began, "Sidious was constantly reminding me of the Sith power to cheat death….I was resisting until the very last moment. I told Mace he was the Sith Lord and Mace and a few others went to arrest him. Mace told me to stay put….I couldn't do it. Right after Mace left, Sidious started sending me some sort of telepathy. He talked about the power to save her….I couldn't take it and I headed to Sidious's office. I knew Mace would be there. But then Sidious tricked me into helping him kill Mace. He was taunting me about the power…telling me it was the only way to save her….Mace told me not to listen….I tried to resist, but I wasn't strong enough. My love for Padmé and fear of losing her took over and I helped him kill Mace.

"After that, I don't completely understand why, but I felt I had no choice but to pledge my allegiance to Sidious. I told him I would do anything he asked of me, as long as he helped me to save Padmé from dying…."

Anakin sighed. "I was stupid and naïve. I turned to save Padmé, but the terrible irony is that I ended up killing her." He shook his head sadly and looked down, tears leaking from his eyes.

There was complete silence all around. The others were still taking in everything Anakin had said. Eventually, Yoda spoke up.

"A tragic story, yours is."

Anakin sighed and wiped his iridescent tears. "Not that I feel I should be forgiven, but I truly am terribly sorry," he looked down.

"I forgive you, Anakin," Obi-Wan began, "We all do."

Anakin nodded, but said nothing.

There was a long silence, and then Obi-Wan spoke. "Anyway Anakin, we've all been watching Luke and Leia, and they are doing quite well. The force is very strong with them. Luke ended up living on Tatooine, with his aunt and uncle. Do you remember them, Anakin? They were very kind people…."

"Yes, I remember them," Anakin replied quietly. He had seen them last at his mother's funeral.

"I watched over him," Obi-Wan continued, "He is a very fine boy, as you can probably tell. He had a love and respect for you that could not even be broken when he found out that you were Darth Vader. Then Leia….She was adopted by Bail Organa right after birth. She was educated superbly and, like her mother, she ended up in politics. She was great at what she did, and soon went on to work for the Rebel Alliance, as you should very well know. That's when she met you, isn't it?"

"Yes," Anakin replied dully.

"Anyway," Obi-Wan continued, "She then met Luke and a pilot named Han Solo, who were her rescuers. She later fell in love with Han. Then just recently, she found out that she was Luke's sister. She was of course, happy by this fact and felt on some level she had always known. Luke then told her that he was going off to face you, and that you were their father. Leia was, of course, shocked. But she seemed to have faith in Luke's faith in you."

Anakin was now smiling. A true smile, something he hadn't felt in quite a while.

"And Anakin," Obi-Wan spoke, "We're right here tonight, so that you can see them for yourself."

With these words, Anakin's smile turned into a complete grin. I'm going to see my children. They can meet me, the real me. "Thank you," Anakin said meaningfully.

"You're welcome, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, "And I can see you've matured," he added.

"Yeah, well, I did have 20 years or so to spend dwelling on it all, now didn't I?" Anakin replied.

Obi-Wan chuckled lightly and the two continued their conversation, Qui-Gon and Yoda talking about something else. A few minutes later, Qui-Gon left the area. Within ten minutes or so, people began to arrive in their area. A celebration of the end of the Empire began, yet no one seemed to notice the four force ghosts, except for one. Luke Skywalker looked over at them and smiled. He looked back at Leia and Han, who seemed very happy just being with each other, and made his way over to the force ghosts.

"Um…" Anakin began. He wasn't exactly sure what to say. Then he smiled widely and spoke, "Hi, I'm Anakin Skywalker, you're father."

Luke smiled at him. "It's nice to finally meet you. As you know by now, I'm Luke."

Anakin spoke, "I look forward to getting to know you, Luke."

"Same to you, father," Luke replied.

"Luke," Anakin began, "I'd like to thank you. I pretty much owe you everything….Thanks for saving me. The good was always in there….I just thought it was too late for it to resurface. Thank you, son."

Luke smiled, "You're welcome. Now, can you do me a favor and explain yourself?"

Anakin sighed but smiled slightly, all the same. "Of course. Well, I guess I'll just start from the beginning…."

And thus, the pair began to get to know one another, and Anakin and Luke began their journey as father and son….

Fin.