The House of Skywalker
AN: This is a Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker fanfic that I wrote a long, long, loooooong time ago. 5 or 6 years ago to be precise. I never published it anywhere because I thought at the time it was STOOPID. It was just a story I came up with and liked to fool around with it. I recently discovered it on a dusty old dvd. I didn't realise at the time that I had actually written SO much. So it seemed like such a huge waste to me to just let it degrade on that dvd until it's unsalvageable. I'm also amazed at what my 20 year old self could come up with. It's very rough around the edges. Should it generate any kind of interest, I will finish it. The story is 90% done, just needs one final chapter. So I'll publish a chapter every couple of days and if people like it, I might even do a sequel.
The action takes place in an Alternate Universe where Count Dooku didn't stand there like an idiot waiting to get his head chopped off in Revenge of the Sith. He escaped. Palpatine never managed to turn Anakin. But when Dooku escaped, there was one nasty consequence. Amidala was attacked. The story begins right after the unfortunate event.
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns all the characters, except for Mara Jade who was sired from the brilliant and horny mind of Timothy Zahn.
Chapter 1 - Dead Woman
If you, beloved, my love,
if you have died,
all the leaves will fall on my breast,
it will rain upon my soul night and day,
the snow will melt my heart,
I shall walk with cold and fire and death and snow,
my feet will want to march toward where you sleep,
but
I shall go on living.
Pablo Neruda
The two entrance doors slammed open as Obi Wan entered the hospital, breathless. He headed for the Emergency wing, where Mace Windu and Yoda were waiting for him. He had received a com message over 14 hours prior, announcing that Senator Amidala had been admitted to the hospital, in critical condition. The message was from Master Yoda, and he chose to ended with "Need you, Anakin does".
Obi Wan had never seen the two master Jedis looking quite as sad as they did now. More then that, he could feel their sorrow. He could also feel in the back of his mind his friend's immense feeling of loss.
- How… he started to ask.
- She was attacked in her apartement by Grievous' droids, Windu explained. Somehow she managed to get to the shuttle bay and grab a ship but they shot her down. Anakin try to get to her but it was too late. The doctors say… there was nothing they could do for her.
- Palpatine, gone now he is, Yoda began. Eliminated him, Master Windu did. The threat no longer exists.
- Wasn't there some way she could've lived, Obi Wan suddenly revolted. They have cures for everything nowadays. Maybe a bacta tank or… or…
- Her sternum was crushed Obi Wan… the best they could do is perform an emergency c-section and rescue the babies, Windu tried to calm him down.
- The babies, Obi Wan whispered suddenly realizing something.
He approached a glass screen that separated the hallway where they had been standing from the maternity. He saw two lovely new borns nestled in their respective metal cots. They were being taken care of by two nurse droids. Obi Wan noticed that they weren't crying or laughing or reacting in any way. They were just laying there, quiet, with their big blue eyes staring directly at him. Like they knew…
- Anakin is the father, isn't he?
- Yes, Yoda answered looking up, with a strange spark in his eyes. Strong in the force are they, Luke and Leia… even now.
- Anakin and Padme married right after the attack on Geonosis, they didn't tell anyone, Windu elaborated. We always suspected but…
Obi Wan lowered his head in frustration. "Damnit, the war is over. We should be celebrating. Not mourning." he thought.
- Where is he?
- In the hallway in the back, Windu answered after he and Yoda exchanged a few awkward looks. He hasn't moved since… since it happened.
Obi Wan left the two master Jedi to search for his former padawan. The hallways were empty, and they smelled of antiseptics. The atmosphere itself was sterile. Although this was a hospital, there was no life in these hallways.
He found him slumped down; his back to a wall. His arms were crossed over his knees and his forehead was resting on them. Obi Wan calmly crouched down beside him. He wasn't going to push. He was just going to stand there, besides his friend… his brother. Hoping his presence would be enough to bring Anakin out of the pit of despair he had crashed in.
They sat like that for quite a while. Obi Wan stared at the moon through the window. He saw it making her way through the sky, without a worry in the world, just like it always does. "That's the way of the world really. Life and death, movement and non-movement, matter and antimatter. All doing their dance since eons… only thing that changes is our perception of them… "
- The last thing I need right now Master, Anakin interrupted his train of thoughts, is a lecture, he finished raising his head and staring at the same moon. And before you say it, I know you're sorry. Everybody's sorry. I'm sorry too… for so many things.
He sighed… and suddenly got up.
- I'm going to the Senate to search for any of Palpatine's plans, he said without feeling. He must've had something prepared for the long term.
- Anakin, wait… Obi Wan called out. It's alright if you… want to mourn.
- Mourn? Anakin asked turning around. How can I do that? The young man approached the older until their faces were separated by a few centimeters. There are no sand people here for me to kill….
- Don't say that… You have to deal with your feelings.
- Don't you tell me about my feelings! Anakin shouted grabbing Obi Wan by the collar and throwing him against the wall. His eyes burning with rage. Haven't you been listening? Everything that was good and decent in me died with her. She was my life! I have nothing to live for… except …. Except my promise to her, my duty. As a husband, as a Jedi knight, as a father. That's it, he said calming down and released the older man, walking away.
- Anakin! Obi Wan shouted after him. You can't do this alone!
- I can only do it alone, the Jedi said, exiting the hospital.
- Wait!.
Obi Wan ran to catch up to him.
- You haven't even seen your children.
- They'll be well taking care of in the hospital for a while. Once they are ready to leave, I'll have them sent to the temple. We must begin their Jedi training immediately.
- But… you haven't seen them, Obi Wan repeated emphasizing the word.
Anakin paused and stared at the moon. Obi Wan thought that maybe he had reached him, until Skywalker spoke again:
- I promised Padme I'd take care of them. I never promised I'd love them. Besides, he added with bitterness, that would be against the rules.
He boarded his ship and closed the hatch. Obi Wan watched his former padawan sore to the sky in his metal shell, running away from his feelings and his family, racing into the unknown.
...
Several days later, The Jedi council were holding a meeting to discuss the latest development of the war. Anakin insisted he would be present, although Yoda and Windu strongly urged him to take some time off. Amidala had just been buried. Thousands of people attended her funeral and shed their tears together. Only Anakin didn't cry once, but kept a grave face.
- So Palpatine and Darth Sidious were the same person, Ki Adi Mundi began.
- Yes, Mace Windu answered. He set in motion a grand scheme to come to power, one that we followed blindly. He was right in our midst all along, and we didn't notice it.
- Worries me, this does. The Sith defeated we thought to be before. Prepare ourselves we should, for the worst. Count Dooku is still free.
- He has no droids, no forces, no support from the Republic or the Federalists, Mace Windu offered.
- A man with nothing to lose, Obi Wan intervened, is the most dangerous kind of man there is.
- Even more so when the Dark Side is involved, Yoda agreed.
Anakin listened silently, with Obi Wan looking at him worried.