Rebirth of the Light

AU EPIII - Prologue

As the Clone Wars spread across the galaxy, ties between friends and loved ones became strained, allowing for other forces to exert influence over hearts and minds. Over a period of months, the Sith Master, also known as the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the dying Republic, managed to create a rift between Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his former Master, Obi-wan Kenobi. As the two continued to take on more missions for the Jedi Council, Anakin became frustrated with his inability to become as powerful a Jedi as he wished. Though he feared for his friend, Obi-wan found duty and space, and eventually Palpatine's sinister influence, too great a distance to broach.

Meanwhile, Skywalker's secret wife, Padme Naberrie, made plans with others in the Republic senate to oppose Palpatine's rule. As she saw her husband changing from the man she had loved into something unrecognizable, Padme began to distance herself from him, so much so that when she discovered she was pregnant, Padme decided not to tell Anakin. She resigned, and returned to her homeworld, where she felt safe from both the Darkside influence, and the man her husband had become.

As the galaxy fell apart, Padme began to fear for the new life growing inside her. She tried one last desperate effort to reach her Anakin, but the man who arrived on Naboo was anything but the gentle, compassionate person she had known. When Padme refused to join him and his new Empire, Anakin went into a senseless rage he would later regret. With the help of Sabe and Obi-wan, whom she had contacted earlier hoping he could reconnect with Anakin, Padme escaped and went into hiding.

Obi-wan went after his former friend. The two fought, and Anakin suffered grievous injuries after falling into a lava pit. Obi-wan thought to save him, offered his hand, but at the last moment Anakin rejected it, and fell to what should have been his doom. Believing his brother dead, Kenobi left, only to later learn Anakin had survived. The turned Jedi gave the Sith all the necessary information to destroy the Jedi temple, and when the surgery was complete, he rained fire down upon Naboo. The search for his wife and traitorous master led Anakin further and further into the Darkness.

Now, nearly a year has passed since Anakin Skywalker fell from grace and became the Dark Lord of the Sith. The Jedi are destroyed and those few that remain have gone into hiding, Obi-wan Kenobi among them. Vader is just on the edge of total despair, of giving into the Dark dreams that haunt his waking hours, when he beings to hear a voice. It whispers to him, begs him to follow it, away from the Empire, into the starry sky. Finding it his only comfort in these hopeless times, its compelling words a respite from his anger and grief, Vader follows it and discovers the Light within has been reborn. . .

According to the date of publication, I original started this fan fic back in February of 2003, while still in high school. I am now a graduate student, with plenty of years of maturing between then and now. I never intended to revise any of Rebirth of the Light, but I am about to finish the series that follows after this, The Years that Followed, (previously titled The Years in Between) and conclude with the extended epilogue Glimpses of the Future, and thought I might go back and edit the original story line.

Hopefully, this will take care of all overly-elaborate language, spelling/grammar/formatting errors, as well as link this fic up with the following two with more clarity. If you are reading this before the editing is fully finished, you may notice some inconsistencies, as this was written just after EPII came out. So mentions of Sullest will change to Mustafar, as well as a few other small things. To some degree, this is still, and will always be a "work in progress" (as all writing is) but eventually I will have to say "enough!" whether it is perfected or not.

Thanks to all readers, and I hope you enjoy this unusual version of an Anakin Skywalker AU

Caslia