"Anakin!"
"Wha…"
"Anakin…are you alright?"
The tall blonde seemed to fade back into reality as he focused on the person in front of him. His vision blurry but soon cleared enough for him to realize who he was looking at.
"Natalie?" He gasped. The person, or rather, the woman frowned at him.
"Anakin…w-wh-who's Natalie?" The woman's voice sounded hurt, and why wouldn't she, her husband had spoken another woman's name. Her husband, her love, the father of her unborn child…had said another woman's name, somehow this hurt her more than she imagined. In fact, she hadn't any illusions that her husband would remain faithful, after all this sort of thing happens to married couples all the time, but she never thought it would happen this soon.
"Wait…what's going on? Where am I?" Anakin gaped at his surrounding, it was eerily familiar but at the same time foreign. 'This is…this…is…what the hell is going on here!'
"Anakin you're scaring me! What's wrong?" He looked at the woman again and this time he took in the sight of her, her brown silk like hair flowing freely down her shoulders in curls, her dreamy chocolate eyes that sparkled as he looked at her closely. She wore a blue night gown, it was fashionable as it was practical, fashionable in it being one of the dresses that could turn heads in her direction, practical in that it hid the bulge that was her belly.
'Why the hell is she still in costume?' The man, Anakin, thought but then realized he was holding her arms and he abruptly let go. She gasped when he did this but her own reaction was what caught him off guard. Without hesitation the woman, who resembled the lead heroine in the current prequels of the Sta-tenderly reached forth and cupped his face in her delicate yet well used hands, her being a martial arts practitioner.
"Anakin!" He snapped out of own thoughts when the woman cried out. He didn't know how or why but he had suddenly felt his consciousness slip away so fast he blacked out. 'Well this can't be good.' He thought grimly as the darkness took him in its embrace.
=-(I)-=
Padme couldn't understand what had gotten into Anakin but as she recalled what had occurred only five hours ago, she remembered that one little infuriating detail where he had said another woman's name. Her usual frown adorned her face once more as she looked thoughtful, it wasn't that he had said the name that had her so upset, Force knows she was upset by this turn of events as it is. Of course she was also worried about him, the medidroid had diagnosed his condition as that associated with lack of sleep. If it had been more serious the droid would have suggested he be taken to the hospital but she wouldn't have that, not when people would ask questions, not when their marriage would be discovered.
She was afraid of what might happen to them both if their secret had gotten out when they didn't want to let anyone know about it yet. Hell, even her parents and family didn't know about it, let alone her closest friends in the senate who she meets regularly. So far none of them have guessed why she'd taken to wearing more baggy clothes, though her reasons were valid enough.
For now, however, she needed to look after her husband, her Ani. He had abruptly stopped talking and had this distant look in his eyes and when he came to he seemed disoriented and confused. Then he'd said that name, but that nagged at her, it was the one thing about this deal that bugged her. It seemed like it was important somehow but all she could about it was that her Ani had been unfaithful yet…
"Natalie?" It had been phrased as a question, she remembered now, but to who…she paused and replayed that memory in her mind over and over until she realized it was directed at her. Why would Anakin call her that? Why call her a name she knew nothing of…maybe he mistook her for whoever it was he was with…NO! She wouldn't come to that conclusion…not yet, not when her husband was lying there, sleeping so peacefully, she decided to wait, she will wait until Anakin wakes up then she'll ask him who this Natalie is and what happened to him all of a sudden for him to freeze up like that.
"Oh Ani…" She stifled a sob as she sat next to his side of the bed, her hand caressing his cheek, her fingers gingerly moving a strand of his blonde hair away to reveal the scar over his right eye. She sighed with relief that he hadn't been hurt too badly, sure there were scars all over his body but this was on his face, her heart had sunk with worry the day he came home with it but he reassured her he was fine. She let go of the issue for their sake, they didn't need the argument, the stress of the war was too much topped by the stress and fear of keeping their marriage, their forbidden relationship, a secret.
"Please…don't leave me…not now." Her pleading whisper echoed silently in the dimly lit room as she lay her head on his chest. The warmth she felt from him soothing and calming her nerves.
=-(I)-=
Coruscant
500 Republica Apartments
(Lobby)
The man checked his wrist chrono for the time, he sighed and walked through across the large lounge/lobby reception area towards the lifts. One opened for him and he stepped through. Passerby caught glimpses of the man as being tall, easily over 6'8" and wearing Jedi robes, his face hidden behind the hood he had over his head. Though anyone who guessed him to be Jedi was sorely mistaken, the man, if asked, would not agree neither deny that assumption even when the robes and the obvious lightsaber hanging from the clip on his utility belt says otherwise.
Taking another look at the time, the man let out another sigh, this one more long and winded. He mumbled to himself as the lift moved up towards the upper apartments, there was a chime and the door opened for him to see he was looking down a corridor. A dark skinned man and a few others with him looked up at the robed man who walked towards them briskly and with a purpose.
"Halt!" The dark skinned man called to the stranger, "I don't know who you are Jedi, but you're not allowed to be here. This is the private quarters of Senator Amidala of Naboo. Please kindly return the way you came."
The warning was clear but the stranger ignored them as he simply walked on. The security guards looked at one another before drawing their blasters at the robed man but found to their chagrin that their weapons were no longer in their grasps but instead were floating in the air hurtling towards the outstretched hand of the stranger Jedi.
"What do you want here, Jedi?" The dark skinned one, clearly the leader of the security guards, demanded as his hand slipped towards a hidden blaster on his person.
"Oh…I'm not a Jedi." The stranger's voice was barely a whisper yet it was loud enough that it sounded normal…but the guards dropped to their knees clapping their hands over their ears as though the strange not-Jedi, to them atleast, shouted right into their ear drums. The leader of the guards looked up at the stranger who stood over his crouching form, a chilly thought entered his mind that he was going to die. "I'm not going to kill any of you either. Just go to sleep."
At the stranger's command the guards including their leader fell unconscious. The robed man sighed again, this time in relief, he had hoped not to fight anyone on his way to check in on the new arrival and so far he hadn't been forced to kill anyone…yet. He grimaced at the thought of having to kill people, innocent ones that is, the more criminally inclined and overall scum he had no qualms with disposing of. Luckily for him there were plenty of the latter here on Coruscant.
He found his way into the senator's apartment only to be met by someone he never thought he'd see again…
"Dagen!" Sabe exclaimed loudly as she saw whose way she had just barred from going any further into the sanctuary of her lady and her husband. She'd been a close confidante to Padme's secret ever since the senator had revealed it to her. Of course Sabe was happy for her but thought it was best that the secret be shared with her parents, Padme had shot down that idea as quickly as it had come up so they never discussed it again but for now…she was beginning to pale.
"Looks like you've seen a ghost." The robed stranger, Dagen, chuckled finding her expression to be humorous but that same expression soon turned into one of anger and he found himself staring down the barrel of a particularly nasty looking blaster. "Okay…so I guess it was a bad idea t-"
"You've got some nerve walking in here!" Sabe hissed, cutting him midsentence, as she pushed her blaster closer to his chest, right where his heart was. He sighed for the fourth…or was it fifth time, that night, looked into her eyes and asked with raised eyebrows in mock hurt.
"This isn't about that night at the bar in Theed, is it?" This time she looked embarrassed that he'd even mention that, it was only one night but they had gotten along so well…then he had to go and break her heart! Nope! She was not going to fall for his charms again, besides what was so charming about him anyways.
"Hey…you okay?" He asked her, stepping closer to her, the end of her blaster pushing against his robes but did nothing to deter him. She gasped lightly as she stared up at him, he was taller than her, much taller and she had to look up much like Padme had to with Anakin…wait!
"Oh no you don't!" Sabe growled as she pushed him away from her, creating a small but manageable distance between them. "Stay away from me and get out! Now! Masquerading as a Jedi will do you no good. What are you even doing here?!" She added that last bit as she realized she didn't know what exactly caused him to come to the senator's suite.
"Business." He said, calmly and without any hint of deception that she could sense. She wasn't a Jedi for Force sakes but she was trained in the arts of espionage and a part of that training was knowing when your opponents lied, he wasn't.
"What business?" She inquired further, her blaster never leaving their mark.
"The kind that involves the fate of the entire galaxy…all because of one man and the choice he will make in the coming days." He added cryptically, then his eyes darkened and the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped to near zero. Sending chills down Sabe's spine and she shivered involuntarily.
With those words the entire building lost power and the darkness descends upon the suite. Sabe screamed as something hit her and she crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap. A voice called for Sabe but was later silent and when the power returned to the building, two females were lying unconscious though the second one was carefully laid on the comfortable looking couch in the center of the room.
When the guards had entered the suite they found the senator and her maid/bodyguard asleep. Though after their search of the suite they could find no evidence of foul play other than the bruise on Sabe's neck where the intruder had attacked her. The authorities and the Jedi were called in and moments later both arrived to investigate.
One thing was for sure, the Hero with No Fear was no longer in the suite, both Sabe and Padme had kept quiet about that, none of Anakin's belongings could be found anywhere, thankfully, but now Padme was beginning to worry for her husband's life.
"Don't worry, Padme." Sabe comforted a sobbing Padme as the Jedi and the local law enforcement agents and the guards worked to uncover who the mysterious Jedi imposter was. The situation was strange to the Jedi but could not dismiss the attack on the Senator by this Jedi imposter, in fact, they thought it may very be the Sith Lord they were looking for or perhaps another apprentice.
Padme didn't care what the Jedi thought who the intruder was, only that they find him quickly.
"Of course, Padme." Obi-wan nodded sympathetically at her, he was a good friend of her husband as well as hers but even he didn't know of the secret behind Anakin's and her's relationship. How could he when he may very well reveal it to the Jedi Council who would no doubt punish Anakin. "We'll do everything we can to find this imposter, rest assured. Now I just need to find Anakin so we can get to the bottom of this."
Both Sabe and Padem froze but luckily Obi-wan didn't seem to notice as he pulled out his communicator to call Anakin. The two women looked at one another and thought the same thing, 'What are we going to do?'
=-(I)-=
Undisclosed location
Still on Coruscant
"Wake up!" Hayden panted heavily, taking in deep short breaths as he came out of the darkness. He looked around him groggily as his vision once more cleared, this time he found himself not with a woman but with a strangely dressed man, a man in deep brown robes smirking at him for some reason.
"W-w-whe-where am I?" Hayden asked, his voice sounded hoarse and it hurt to just breathe. He coughed violently as he retched out the contents of his last meal onto the metal floor. He looked up as he wiped away the bile and saw the stranger standing a few feet away from him, a look of disgust on the man's face.
"Sheesh. Get a grip, will ya?" The stranger laughed as he walked over to Hayden who warily took a step back before the other held out his hand in greeting. "Name's Dagen…just Dagen. Formerly, Conrad Muller of the German Wermacht."
"What?" Hayden asked, confused and utterly lost. He looked incredulously at the man before him, without the hood he looked no more than 30 but he certainly looked like a soldier if he heard the word Wermacht correctly. 'What the hell is going on here?!'
"Listen carefully to what I'm about to say," Dagen, or Conrad, whatever his name is, began his explanation, "Pay attention, you are no longer where you once were before. What you are experiencing right now is called a Displacement Event, a very rare occurrence that happens every time the veil between alternate and parallel realities is at its thinnest. You follow me?"
Hayden had no idea what this guy was saying but he nodded nonetheless.
"Great, so basically what happened is that you are now stuck in this version of you's body. He's stuck in yours and shit is gonna get more complicated from here on out."
"What do you mean?" The blonde man, Hayden Christen-something-was his name, asked suddenly worried about what the answer would be. He was already on the verge of panic as he listened to this guy explain the situation, he was royally screwed if this is all true and so far…the Jedi copycat is proving to be true in his words.
"This event happens only every fifteen thousand years and it happens only once. However, the years differ in each reality, for example, in this reality it will not be for another ten thousand years before the veil becomes thin but then its no guarantee that you'll return to your own reality." Dagen explained grimly to the blonde. He could sympathize with him, just a little since he was in a similar situation but he wasn't actively concerned for his well-being except maybe that he should since this was the same guy who would turn the galaxy upside down as he falls to the dark side of the Force. However, there is a chance that this guy, this actor may just tip the balance of power with his fore knowledge of what the future holds if he falls.
Then again…human stupidity may win out.
"So you're telling me that I'm stuck here?" Hayden was so convinced by all this yet so he had to ask…even when the evidence was staring at him right in the face…he was on another kriffing planet for Force sakes! He was on kriffing Coruscant!
"Unfortunately but look on the bright side…this alternate reality's version of Natalie is actually the character she plays in Star Wars! You are Anakin Skywalker for crying out loud! You are at a crossroads from which your decision will shape the rest of the galaxy." Dagen tried to be encouraging, he really tried, but he knew his limits in speechcraft and knows that he wasn't as convincing as he wanted to be. Yet he could see clearly that his words were having the desired effect…hopefully the disastrous future of Darth Sidious' Empire is avoided entirely by this version of Anakin Skywalker. Then again….this version of the Chosen One is just an actor in the body and with the power of the character he played.
"I need time to think about this…" Hayden or Anakin, quietly said to Dagen who only nodded in understanding.
"Take your time."
One thing is for sure though, the galaxy was never going to be the same again.
=-(I)-=
Hello peeps,
What do y'all think of this here idea?
Dagen or Conrad is sort of the inter reality guide, he'll have minor role but will make appearances sporadically during the story.
Please review responsibly.
NOTE:
This story will be, for now, just an idea that I wanted to put out there so I will mark it as complete. I might make the full story but that depends on time, other stories i still have to finish or continue and work. Being a cop ain't easy, I thought it would be a piece of cake...apparently it is NOT!