Notes : I'm Italian, so I apologize for all the grammatical errors you'll find in this story. I'm searching for a beta reader, so, if anyone is interested, he can contact me through my profile. For more information on the story, visit the end of the chapter.
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Prologue :
For a moment, everything was dark.
Then ... Darth Vader's body began to fall. And it fell. It fell through the darkness.
The darkness began to shrink, and was replaced by a glow. The man was blinded.
A red planet, traversed by magma channels, passed next him. There were two moons that furiously rotated around it, made of friable sand.
And then, a whirling stone belt appeared, full of comets and asteroids. Out of nowhere, a gigantic planet materialized, wrapped in tumultuous gas, crushed at the poles by the excessive weight. At its left, there was a world ringed with a sparkling crown of ice fragments.
And then, other worlds ... one, two, three ... too many to count. And after the last one, in the distance, he saw a solitary sphere of ice and stone that rotated in a funereal darkness, around a sun no more brilliant than a coin.
It was dark again.
"Where ... where am I?" Vader whispered, and his voice sounded devoid of resonance and echoes in the darkness. No…It was darker than darkness itself, and by comparison the darkest night of Tatooine was like evening ... and the darkness of space was nothing but a speck in the light.
Even the stars began to shrink, and whole nebulae coagulated into insignificant spots, while the enormous vastness of the galaxy seemed to retreat around him, as if sucked into something.
And then…he saw it.
In the beginning it was a void. Nothing moved. There was nothing. It was nothing.
Vader wandered adrift, bewildered.
" Let there be light" a warm and thunderous voice said, which resounded in the very soul of man, like a song. The Sith thought with detachment that it sounded vaguely feminine.
" Stars in the skies ... and water on the planets"
And so it was.
Vader's soul wandered over boundless seas. The stars appeared above.
" Let the earth be made" the voice whispered.
Earth was: it climbed out of the water in a convulsive boiling. It was red, dry, sprinkled with cracks and frosted with sterility. A thousand volcanoes continually erupted magma, like the engines of a Star Destroyer.
" Let life be made"
So it was. The first creatures emerged from the primordial soup. The dinosaurs wandered, snarling and grumbling and devouring each other, remaining imprisoned in asphyxiating, boiling pools of liquid tar. Large tropical forests sprouted everywhere. Giant ferns pushed their leaves towards the sky, swaying like arms raised towards the clouds. Some of them climbed insects and amphibians.
Vader looked at all this ... and was fascinated by it.
"And now ... the man" the voice murmured, as the Sith continued to fall.
The horizon of that boundless and fruitful land began to sag. Entire continents took shape under his astonished eyes and were obscured by spirals of clouds.
The atmosphere contained the planet as in a placenta and the sun rose from behind the curved back of the earth. And then, he saw countless other worlds follow the same example.
How long did he observe that phenomenon? He had no idea, but it seemed centuries to him.
A warm light, burning as the sun itself, hit him. He cried out and covered his eyes with one arm.
And then ... Darth Vader woke up.
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It was night, but he couldn't tell if it was the same as before or another.
Vader raised himself on his arms, discovering he had them. He was more than just a disembodied thought. He was concrete.
He looked forward and noticed the presence of a wooden log.
A sense of profound confusion invaded him. Where was he? How did he get here?
He remembered very well where he was until a few minutes ago. He was on the second Death Star, in the arms of his long lost son ... ready to die and unite with his wife in the Force. Was this life after death? It was not what he expected.
While he was immersed in his ramblings, a female voice, from behind his shoulders, said: " This way, my chosen one".
A little laugh vibrated in the air. Rising painfully on his knees, Vader turned around.
There was a bonfire. The fire was practically reduced to red embers among gray ashes. The remains of the combustion assumed the precise pattern of a starry sky.
Next to them, there was the most beautiful woman the Sith had ever seen.
Long, silvery hair framed a delicate face with white and immaculate skin. Blue eyes like ice stared directly at Vader's figure, and the man found himself unable to look away.
She had a sinuous and elegant body, wrapped in a cloak that seemed covered with diamond dust.
"You did pretty well," she said, curling her full lips into an amused smile. " I could never send the same vision to another human being in your galaxy. He would come out with his mind destroyed"
"What was it?" Vader asked, through a rattle. His words sounded confused and trembling.
He felt that if he tried to stand up, his knees would give way.
" The universe" the woman replied, with eyes that shone. She made a quick gesture with her hand and the embers lit up a ghostly whiteness. Above them, the wind blew with troubled melancholy.
" The universe" the Sith repeated, bringing a hand to his forehead.
In that moment, he realized that the limb was made of flesh and blood. That his body was no longer enclosed in his armor. That his scars had disappeared, and that his face was immaculate.
But he didn't have time to think about it, because the woman started talking.
" Certainly, to call it a universe would be rather simplistic. Dimension is a much more appropriate term"
"Di ... mension?" Vader repeated, visibly confused.
The woman nodded in agreement.
" Obviously! After all, the universe you come from is certainly not the only one" she said as a matter of fact. Then, she grabbed a burning twig and began to shake it in the emptiness of the night, drawing bright red lines in the dark.
" Take a fish, for example. For this animal, the lake in which it lives is the universe. What does the fish think when it's hooked by the mouth and torn away from the silver borders of existence and transferred to a new universe where the air drowns it and the light is blue madness? Where giant bipeds without gills throw it into a suffocating box and cover it with wet grasses to let it die. Or you could take the tip of a rock and enlarge it. One would arrive, at some point, at an extraordinary discovery: the tip of the rock is not solid, but composed of atoms that rotate like vortexes in billions" she whispered with nostalgia, the gaze apparently lost in that dance of light. " What appears solid to you mortals is actually only a network of separate bodies kept close by gravity. Reported to their correct dimensions, the distances between atoms could become leagues, time periods. And atoms in turn are composed of nuclei and protons and electrons that rotate around them. And we could still descend to the subatomic particles"
With that said, she widened both her arms, and the darkness began to disappear, replaced by a glow that seemed to come directly from her body.
" Everything in the universe denies nothingness. To hypothesize a conclusion of things is to propose the impossible. If you fell to the limits of the universe, would you find a fence and a sign with the word END? No. Perhaps you could find something solid and concave, like the shell of an egg. And if you had to break that shell yourself, what powerful and torrential light would you see, shining through your little hole at the end of the space? Existence is certainly not limited to a finite ... but spreads through infinity" she ended with a wise voice.
Vader remained motionless and still, listening raptly to the words of that mysterious entity. Because now the Sith ... no, former Sith, was absolutely convinced that she was not a simple human woman. Not at all.
" I think I understand. However, it is very difficult to accept" he said at the end, arousing a musical laugh by the unknown woman.
" Don't worry, it's a completely natural thing. I have an advantage. After all, the universe is my muse, and I am its painter" the woman replied, as if that was an impossible truth to dispute.
Vader's heart (assuming he really had one in that strange place) misses a beat.
He stared at the stranger with a new sense of awareness.
" You ... are the Force" he whispered in a low voice, fearing that if he spoke louder he would probably give away the nervousness he was feeling in that moment.
The woman smiled calmly and shrugged.
" It's one of the many names they gave me. My favourite is Alaya, the bearer of life" she said in a casual tone, receiving an uncertain expression from Vader.
" Are you the one who ... created the universe?" he asked, with a hint of hesitation.
The renowned Alaya remained silent for what seemed an interminable time. Somewhere, at the same time, a supernova exploded, destroying an entire galaxy, and a satellite began to spin around the orbit of a volcanic planet for the first time.
Then, slowly, the entity shook her head, making her silver hair waver.
" No, I'm a part of it as much as any living thing. Well ... in a more incisive way" she added almost to herself, putting a hand to her chin. "You could define me ... the conscious part of the universe, or its immune system. My job is to look after it and keep it healthy"
For a moment, Vader compared it to a rather amusing anecdote.
"Are you ... the nurse of the universe?" He asked incredulously.
Gaia shrugged, her face adorned with a slightly annoyed expression.
" I know, it's not the best of jobs. But it's not even the worst" she said with renewed energy, recovering her usual smile.
Unconsciously, Vader could not help but think that this entity of incredible power, whose knowledge would blow the minds of the most illustrious scientists and philosophers of his galaxy ... seemed rather human, almost childlike, in reality. Perhaps it was a disguise, a way she used to put at ease the mortals she decided to talk to. In his heart, he knew that this was not his true appearance. Probably, his true form would have driven him crazy.
Swallowing hard, the man took a deep breath.
"Am I dead?" He asked in a low voice.
Gaia raised an eyebrow.
" Why do you ask questions of which you already know the answer?" she asked, arousing a sigh by the force user.
In fact, it was a rather stupid question, Vader brooded. After all, he remembered his last moments well. How he grabbed the Emperor in his relentless embrace, and then hurled him into the Death Star reactor. He remembered the eyes of his son Luke, blue and shining, like the lakes of the planet Naboo. And then…
"Why am I here?" he finally asked, with a sudden sense of awareness.
Alayaraised her lips and bared her teeth, white and immaculate like a pearl necklace.
" Because your task is not over yet, my chosen one" she whispered in a soft and persuasive tone.
Vader raised an eyebrow.
" Why do you call me that?"
" Because you are my chosen one" the woman replied. " You were born of my flesh. How do you think it's possible that your mother conceived you without ever having a relationship with a man?"
It was a question that the former Sith, as well as the whole Jedi council, asked himself numerous times. Apparently, the rumor that he was generated by the Force itself ... well, it had some foundation.
"Why did you create me?" He muttered through his teeth, trying to stop the sudden anger that began to envelop him.
Alaya just smiled.
" Because the universe needs you" she said calmly.
The former Sith gave a loud snort and growled: "Hasn't the universe already taken enough from me? I sacrificed my happiness to fulfill the prophecy. I brought the balance back to the galaxy"
" And doing so, you stained the blood of many lives, tearing your own soul" the woman replied coldly, whose face had taken on a suddenly serious expression.
After hearing these words, Vader could not help but wince, and a profound sense of regret replaced the anger.
Slowly, almost hesitantly, he met the entity's eyes.
" Is this my atonement?" he asked with a barely audible whisper.
Alaya shrugged a second time.
" Call it whatever you like. If you want to see it as a way to redeem yourself, so be it" she said with a tone of purpose, before indicating the figure of the man. " You have a debt to the Universe…but also the universe owes you. I'm going to collect and make sure that the pact is respected"
" And when I'm done ... will I be able to rest in peace?" he asked, receiving another smile from the entity.
" You have my word" was his concise answer.
A further silence continued inexorably in the darkness, casting a dark shadow over the figure of Vader.
The man clenched his hands.
" What do you need?" he muttered with an impassive look.
Alaya got up from her seat and took a step towards the former Dark Lord.
" I need a warrior, my chosen one. Someone to help me keep things in order" she added in a calm and musical voice. " You will be a guardian for this universe, and for the innumerable dimensions that populate it. Will you help me ? Or will you choose the path of eternal damnation?" she continued in a tone full of anticipation.
Inwardly, Vader snorted derisively.
"Eh ... I don't really have a choice," he whispered to himself.
With those thoughts in mind, the man stood up, overlooking the figure of Alaya... and then, he preceded to kneel in front of her, as he did many times towards the Emperor.
" I accept" he replied monotonously, aware of having just accepted to serve a new master. What irony. Even in death he could only be a slave.
In front of him, the entity chuckled, amused by the formality of the force user.
" Excellent" she commented cheerfully. " Tell me, how do you want to be called, my chosen one?"
The man, initially surprised by a similar question, turned his face into a contemplative expression.
Finally, after about half minute, he came to a decision.
" Vader. I am no longer a Sith, so the appellation of Darth has no meaning for me. And I lost the right to call myself Anakin Skywalker many years ago"
" I'll respect your decision" Alaya said, nodding satisfied.
Then, she made a quick nod with her right hand, and a dark cloud enveloped the body of the force user.
The steam dissipated and the shadows solidified into a very distinct shape.
In front of the entity there was a figure covered by a black armor, with metal spikes that sparkled under the dying embers, placed along the elbows, shoulders and knees.
The helmet that the man wore was a skeletal horror, polished enough to shine into the darkness, and colorless except for the crimson lenses instead of eyes.
The woman stood still and motionless, letting her face reflect in that mask so well known and feared in the whole galaxy from which it came.
" The mask that you used to instill fear, from now on will be a symbol of hope" she stated solemnly, while the former Sith began to analyze his new armor, much lighter and more comfortable than the previous one. It almost looked like a second skin and adhered perfectly to the body of the warrior.
Alaya smiled and motioned for the man to stand up.
" Stand up, Vader, my champion. Your training will start soon"
" Training?" the former Sith asked, the tone of voice adorned with a slight hint of bewilderment.
In response, the entity merely chuckled.
Alaya curled her lips in a mocking grin and put her hand on the man's mask.
"The Force is strong in you, Vader. More than in any other living being. But you still didn't managed to access your full potential. You were created by my flesh, and as such you have the potential to control light and darkness in all their aspects" she revealed, arousing an enlargement of the eyes by the former Sith.
Aware of the thoughts going through the mind of his new acolyte, the smile on the woman's face, if possible, became even more pronounced.
" The wounds you reported in your confrontation with Obi Wan prevented you from developing your full power. One thing ... I'm going to rectify"
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Okay, ladies and gentlemen.
This story will be a multi-crossover, which means that Vader will have the opportunity to visit various worlds and meet various characters. I put it under the Young Justice section because most of the story will be held in the DC universe shown in the series. This Vader will be OP, but it will not be the most powerful character that will appear in the story. We will also have characters from Marvel, Stephen King Universe, Lord of the Rings, Godzilla, To Aru Majustu No Index, Type Moon, Hellsing etc ...
Ah, and he will not be a hero, but an anti-hero. After all, twenty years as an imperial enforcer cannot be canceled
, this Vader will not be heartless, but has no problem killing and doing what must be done to save lives, and this also includes killing his enemies.
And he will have a sort of harem. I'm still not sure which women I'll include, even if I have some in mind.
The continuation of this story and the frequency of updates will depend on the reviews received, as I'm already writing other fan fictions.