A/N: Summary: This is a prequel to both "Star Wars: A Different Choice" and my sister fic "Dreams of a Queen". Rated K plus because there is nothing really bad in this chapter.
Star Wars: A Different Choice
The Prequel Chapter
On aboard the Second Death Star outside the moon of Endor is the scene of an epic battle between a twisted evil being, a machine-man, and the metallic man's son. The volts of sinister electricity pierce through the heart of the thought to be heartless monster clad in black metallic armor. His son not far from him was in pain, a pain the boy did not deserve. His Master in his bionic hands screeching as the machine-man lifts the evil being and throws the thing into a seemingly endless abyss. The force energy a moment later is proof that Emperor Palpatine, the evil Darth Sideous, is finally dead. Unfortunately for his former apprentice, the metal man is soon to be dead as well. The injuries from the force lightning have aggravated old injuries never properly healed as well as destroyed his suit of life.
The son, Luke Skywalker, tries in vain to save his father's life. Looking into his father's now blue again eyes for the first and last time, the young man cannot help but shed a tear for the man he never got to really know. A tear for the family they never got to have with his sister and mother as well. While Anakin Skywalker dies in his son's arms, the young man continues to drag his father's heavy lifeless body into an escape shuttle, hoping to give his father a proper Jedi funeral. For Darth Vader died the moment Anakin Skywalker saved his son from his former Master of the Dark Side of the force.
After returning to Endor, Luke has trouble convincing his until recently long lost twin sister Princess Leia Organa of the destroyed Aldaaran that their father turned back to the side of light and saved Luke's life before his death. The young woman raised away from all members of her birth family is skeptical and she does not feel the same connection to their now deceased father the same way Luke had. However, she does have a soft spot for her brother and allows the man to burn the body of their father and even attends the small funeral as well. She does not attend to forgive the man who helped destroy her home planet and tortured her for information to destroy her friends, she attends to support Luke with the only family they have left, each other.
As the body of Anakin Skywalker burns, an apparition of the man, his form of that of which before his initial turn to the dark side, appears above the body. He then floats over to two other apparitions, the ghosts of his former Master Obi Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda, both of whom he failed miserably in life. They appear older, just before their deaths of which he was somewhat responsible for.
"Leia, do you see them?" asks Luke when he turns his head around for a moment after having a weird feeling, only to see three beings he knew are dead. They are smiling at him and even though the youngest one seems foreign to him, he knows it is a younger version of his father, likely before the man had turned over to the dark side.
"I see one person," answers Leia softly, "Our mother. Like the dreams I had as a youngling, who do you see?"
"I see Ben, Master Yoda, and," replies Luke anxiously, "Our father, as he was, not the monster he became."
"I don't see anyone Princess," states Han annoyed at the twins for seeing things he cannot, "I'm going back to the party. You two coming?"
"We will in a minute Han," answers Luke seriously, "go on without us for now. We'll catch up."
"Don't be long," Han states stiffly before he quickly pecks Leia on her lips and walks back towards the fire and celebrating Ewoks.
"I wish I could see our mother," Luke states sadly.
"I cannot say I wish I see our father," reveals Leia honestly, "And I did not know Obi Wan and Yoda the way you did, so I'm not surprised I don't see either of them as well."
"You never knew our father Leia," contemplates Luke sadly, "You only ever knew Darth Vader, a murder who tortured you and helped kill the only family you ever knew. Darth Vader had seemingly killed our father the moment he turned to the dark side. But he came back even if it was only to save my life. I know you will probably never forgive him, but I don't want any hatred you feel towards him to ruin our lives."
"I promise Luke I won't let my anger towards your father consume me," promises Leia sincerely, "I feel almost sorry for him really. Having to live in constant pain even if he brought it on himself with bad choices. He may have been your father in the end Luke, but he was never mine. Which is why it will not be too difficult for me to forget about him."
"I wish I could make you accept our father as I have," announces Luke, "But I know I cannot. Do what you feel is best Leia, I'm just glad you accept me as your brother."
"Luke even before I knew we were related you were one of my best friends," replies Leia happily, "It was easy for me to accept that I was your sister. You had never hurt me the way he had. And never will. Let's go back to the party, Han is worried about me I can feel it."
"Do you think I will ever see our mother?" asks Luke as he walks behind his sister back towards the fire.
"I don't know Luke," answers Leia honestly, "I hope so. It is not right I got to live with her memory and you did not just because my father was good friends with her. Maybe once the New Republic is stable we can go looking for her."
"I would like that," replies the young man with a small smile on his sad face.
The force ghosts on Endor all disappear into the Force. However before entering the Force completely, they all have a chance to speak with each other. For two of them, a rather impossible option is available to them. The room is a grey foggy one with no walls or visible floor with the sensation of standing in midair on a cloudy, rainy day without the rain.
"Masters, I am so sorry and ashamed for what I had done," cries the now young Jedi hysterically.
"Anakin," states Obi Wan kindly, years of wisdom from living in near isolation evident in his kind voice, "We had all failed you as well. Especially me, you were like my brother and yet you never knew how attached I was to you. That every time I was so critical of you I was worried about you. I never once tried to talk to you about your fears. We were great in a fight together, but I let you become a mystery every time we returned to the Temple. I knew what was going on between you and Padmé, yet instead of offering my support I ignored the both of you over archaic rules that now are no longer relevant anyway. We all let you fall Anakin, we let you think you were alone and had no other choice."
"Right I was to not allow you to become a Jedi," states Yoda sagely, "Not because a danger you were. Not happy with our way of life you were. Know this, I had Skywalker. Listened no one had. Wrong we all were."
"Even me, Ani," replies Padmé as she appears before Anakin the angel he had seen as a boy, dressed the same as she was before she was entombed minus the false pregnant belly, "I should have noticed how upset you were. I should have pushed us to run away the minute you came back from "rescuing" the Chancellor. I had a bad feeling about the whole situation but I never told you my own fears and wrongfully tried to dispel yours. We wanted to change the galaxy my love, but we had no idea the Chancellor was just using us as pawns in his twisted game. And our stubbornness cost us our children, each other, even our lives."
"Go into the force, Kenobi and I must," announces Yoda mysteriously, "You both choose you must. To join us. To choose what the force offers. Choice yours it is."
"Goodbye my old Padawan," farewells Obi Wan sadly but happily, "In the end I am proud of you my old friend. No other Jedi has ever turned back to the light side of the force as you had. And for your son, one of your attachments no less. We were blind Anakin, truly blind. And that was why we failed you and you deserve this choice. The both of you, I'm also sorry Padmé that you and your younglings were separated. Good luck you two, may the force be with you whatever you choose."
"Apology accepted Obi Wan," replies Padmé, "You did what you could to protect myself and my younglings. You helped raised my son to be the kind, compassionate man he has grown to be. Thank you."
"Master, what choice?" asks Anakin as Yoda and Obi Wan fade into the force.
"Anakin, you might not believe this, but I am not angry at you," cries Padmé as she hugs her husband tenderly, "I never stopped loving you. I was heartbroken that you seemed to be dead, that you were this horrible other person. But I still believed deep down the man I loved was still in there, trapped in this force of evil by a man I thought was a trusted friend. Whom we trusted instead of the man we should have trusted. He killed me Anakin, Palpatine choked me with the force. Not you, although what you did to me even under his evil influence still hurt. No need to apologize, you have done so every night for the past twenty-two years. I heard you every time and I saw everything, you frustration at not being able to fight yourself and only being our self for a short time each day before reverting back to Vader. Your life has been nothing but pain Ani and I will not let that continue in the afterlife, not for a moment longer."
"Thank you angel," replies Anakin in awe at his wife, the reunion he did not dare to hope for, "You were one of the few lights in my dark existence."
The empty grey foggy room starts to clear to a pure white light as a voice calls over head of the two force ghosts.
Anakin and Padmé Skywalker, I have watched your sad, tragic story carefully. I had not expected Anakin to be redeemed and because of this I have decided I have errored in allowing him to fall to darkness. I offer you both a chance to guide your past selves into making better choices. This can be done through dreams. In exchange, a friend of yours, due to his long held guilt in spite of his peaceful existence, has offered to take your place Anakin. He believes he would have passed the test I had given you and blames himself for your failure. He has joined me now, but would he do so again? Of course you can both choose to join me now and leave everything the way it is. The choice is up to you both.
"Well, Angel," asks Anakin, "What do you think?"
"We have to take the offer Ani!" replies Padmé urgently, "Look what our younglings had to go through. They deserve to have us be a part of their lives. You go first though, I need to contact the twins in this existence before we change everything. I want my son to know me in both realities."
Have you two decided?
"Yes, we have," answers Anakin seriously, "My wife and I wish to influence our past selves. My wife also requests to influence or son in this reality as he had never got to know her."
You both have made great sacrifices, including the ultimate one, out of love. Since these requests are also out of pure love I see no need to deny them. As you both wish…
"Ani, it may be a long time before we see each other again," states Padmé sadly, "Since we are technically dead, time could pass right by us without even knowing it!"
"We will see each other again, Padmé!" exclaims Anakin, "Until then we know what we must do to finally be together permanently, all of us, as a family."
"But what if our past selves choose not to be together if they know what will happen?" questions Padmé, "What if Luke and Leia do not exist?"
"Then they will never know the pain of not having their family as they do now," answers Anakin calmly, "And I am certain they will still exist. You know we loved each other for longer than we admitted."
"Alright Ani, I trust you," agrees Padmé cautiously, "Because that is what love is all about, trust."
"I promise Angel, things will be different this time!" pleads Anakin passionately, "Remember when we rode back to Naboo after you had spoken to the Senate as the Queen and had gotten nowhere in freeing your planet from the Trade Federation? Before I became a Jedi and I was still a boy full of dreams and feelings. That is where and when we need to start. I'll go first and knock some sense into my much younger self while you go speak to our younglings."
"Goodbye for now Anakin, I love you!" declares Padmé passionately as she jumps in Anakin's both flesh arms.
"I love you too Angel," replies Anakin before he kisses his wife passionately and both linger as long as possible before they fade away from the white space they had occupied for an unspecified time, because time is irrelevant in the Force…