A.N. Alrighty, so this is a revised version of Chiaroscuro. I really started to loose motivation for that story sadly, and decided to shake things up a bit. And thus, this little monstrosity was born.
It's a lot like my other fic, but instead of Luke and Leia being sent back just before Anakin's fall, they are reborn around the same time as Anakin. Padmé will be older, of course.
I'm going to keep Saieu and Darksyde. Those two were too fun to write not to. In this, Luke will be Saieu's apprentice. Leia, on the other hand, will be Bail's biological daughter. I'm going to make him a little older in this to get rid of any awkwardness as he's about Padmé's age, and too young to be a dad.
Leia will later apprentice under Padmé. The twins won't remember their original timeline, only bit and pieces the Force deems important for them to know.
Tell me what you guys think, and I hope you like it.
R&R!
Chapter One
"Demons run when a good man goes to war Friendship dies and true love lies Demons run, but count the cost
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war
The battle's won, but the child is lost"
-Steven Moffat
Most believe the Force to be simply energy. A moving current through Time and Space. Something with great power, but no thoughts.
They couldn't be more wrong.
The Force is living. It is intelligent. It is fair and unwavering in its justice. It is all things and nothing at the same time.
The Force created all, and in time it would destroy all.
It lives within every sentient being, and even some of those who are not sentient. It brings both life and death in equal measures.
For you see, there is no Light or Dark to the Force.
There is simply its Will, and those who would go against it.
The Force is all knowing and all powerful.
And I'll let you in on a little secret...
The Force is Me.
Six months, Luke thought. Six months since the second Death Star was blown to nothingness. Six months since the galaxy was set free from Palpatine's rule. Six months since his father died.
Luke's eyes closed as he leaned against a blaster-scorched wall.
Father.
He had come to except who he was, who his father had been. As far as Luke was concerned, Vader and Anakin were two entirely different people.
Darth Vader was the result of a terrible mistake and an unforgivable lie. He was the creation of circumstance. Darkness had blackened his soul, but so had despair.
Vader had been a shell.
Luke understood that. Whatever had turned Anakin Skywalker, his father, to the Dark Side had also devoured his very being until there was nothing left but hate and the resignation to obey.
That, in truth, was all he had been doing since his fall.
Obeying the Emperor, obeying the Dark Side.
Obeying his own hate.
His actions no longer belonged to him. He was a shell of a man in a robotic suit, obeying because it was all he had left to do.
Because he had learned that making his own choices only lead to pain.
Vader had given up. He was a symbol of, not power, but defeat. He was a slave to his own darkness. Until Luke came.
It was not simply Vader who had attacked Luke atop Cloud City. Anakin had been there too. He might have been twisted and stained black from confinement within the shell, but he was there, reaching out for Luke.
He believed, at least for a moment, that he had done something right. That he was not entirely dead, because his son remained.
While Anakin Skywalker had fallen, his son had risen.
And on his shoulders Luke had carried his father into redemption. But it was Anakin who took those last few steps into the light.
He had saved Luke's life, and Luke had saved his soul.
Vader might have died that day above Endor, but Anakin Skywalker had been born again.
It was in his father's honor, as well as Obi-Wan's and Yoda's, that Luke stood where he did.
In the half-burnt ruins of the Jedi Temple.
What once was a great monument to the Jedi's power now was a tomb for those killed during the Purges.
Walls were scorched with blaster fire. Pillars lay collapsed and debris blanketed the cracked marble floors.
What had transpired over twenty years ago still echoed within the Force. Luke closed his eyes and tried to drown out the screams.
"Luke?"
He glanced up. Before him stood Leia. His twin sister wore jedi training robes much like Luke himself. Her hair was pulled high in a simple brain. Attached to her hip was the silver handle of her lightsaber. Luke inwardly smiled at the memory of helping his impatient little sister create the blade. It had taken them over a month due to constantly having to start over.
Luke straightened up and patted down his black robes of any dust that could have accumulated on the fabric.
He smiled at his sister. "Come on. We should get to training." He gestured for her to follow him down the corridor. The Temple had a fantastic training room which Luke utilized on a daily basis, along with aiding Leia in her own Jedi training.
The two arrived outside the massive steal doors leading to said room. Luke released a small force pulse and the doors slid open.
He stepped inside but had to immediately shield his eyes from the unusually bright lights emanating from the room.
Luke's eyes blinked then widened in surprise.
This was not the training room.
The space was massive, and entirely white. One couldn't even tell where wall met floor if it weren't for the paintings.
Dozens of thirty by ten glassy paintings hung nobly from the ivory walls. They depicted things all the way from ancient jedi knights to the battle of Endor.
Luke neared one of the paintings. A closer look reviled that the painting was actually a moving holovid.
A holovid that showed images of the Clone Wars...
...A holovid that looked eerily like a window...
Luke pressed his hand to the glass of the holo, only to yelp in surprise when his hand went straight through, as if he had slipped it into water.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." called out a voice.
Both siblings looked up to see a seated figure at the end of the room.
How had they not seen the person before?
The being was made entirely of light. It appeared to be female as it had an hour glass figure and long hair.
However, its voice was completely genderless. It sat upon a silver throne that seemed to be made of thousands of iron cylinders. Cylinders, Luke realized, that looked just like lightsabers.
As he slowly walked closer, he realized that was exactly what it was.
Thousands upon thousands of lightsabers all molded together to make a massive seat in which the ethereal being sat. How had it gotten those weapons? Who was this being?
"The lightsabers belonged to all deceased Jedi to ever exist." Spoke the being as if reading Luke's mind.
"I did read your mind, silly boy." It grinned. "Once a Jedi, or even a Sith, dies, their blade comes here, to join it's brethren upon my throne. A lightsaber is the life of a Jedi after all. But once a jedi passes on, they no longer need a weapon. They do not need to fight. There is peace." The being smiled. Not in anyway creepily or sardonic, but a true caring smile. That of a mother looking fondly at her child.
It looked at both Luke and Leia at the same time, even though it appeared to have no eyes, only a white glowing face.
"As to who I am..." A wide grin replaced the gentle smile as the being spoke cheerfully. "Well, I'm the Force!" The being swung its legs over the side of the throne, its arms draped lazily over the sides. "And please dears, it's very rude to call people an 'it'. I thought you were raised with manners, you two." The Force tisked disapprovingly. "If you must use a pronoun, call me a 'she'. I did create, well, everything after all. Creation is a mother's job." The Force giggled. "Heh! Me, a mother. What an odd thought."
Leia took a step forward, having come to her senses faster than her brother during the being's tirade.
"What are we doing here? If you are indeed the Force, what do you want of my brother and I?"
The Force grew serious, something odd to see on Her so far grinning face. "I need you." She said simply.
"You, the all-powerful Force, needs us?" Leia questioned with a hint of snark. She was scared and confused, and whenever she felt backed into a corner, she turned to her first defense, sarcasm.
The Force threw her head back and laughed. "Blessed, I love your spunk child!" She shook her head. "Yes, I need you. I need you to restore my Chosen One to his intended path."
"Chosen One... You mean our father?" Questioned Luke.
Leia tensed. "There is no way in seven hells I am helping Vader!" She half hissed, half shrieked. The mere thought both terrified and sickened her. Vader was a monster, and she refused to help such a being, even if he was her flesh and blood.
The Force suddenly stood, eyes burning. "Leia... calm yourself." Her voice rumbled through the massive room, jarring down to the mortal's bones. Her presence flashed out like a crushing wave, nearly buckling their knees. The Force took a deep breath, calming Herself.
"I apologize. That was uncalled for." The Force looked at Luke. "Yes, I do indeed mean your father." Her head swerved around at unnatural speed to look at Leia pointedly. "And not Vader. Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were and are two very different beings. I am tasking you with making sure Vader never comes into existence."
"How?" Questioned Luke. "How can we change something that happened before we were even born?"
"I'm the Force, aren't I?! I can do anything!" The Force grinned widely. "And that includes sending you two back in time."
The twins looked at the glowing being in shock.
"Time travel?!" Leia gasped.
The Force nodded. "Indeed." Her expression grew grim. "I ask that you allow me to send you back to the time. Your father was never meant to fall to the Dark Side. But things had not gone as I had planned, and here this reality is."
The Force removed a silver and black lightsaber handle from Her throne. She absently turned it around in Her hands.
"If you succeed, this reality will cease to exist. Sidious will be dead and you will be allowed to grow up together, with both a mother and a father." She looked at them with a blank white face that somehow held seas of emotion. "Leia, you will meet Han again, and the two of you will fight and brawl and fall in love all over again. I like the two of you together too much to let it happen otherwise. You could say you are my otp!" She giggled, actually giggled, though Luke and Leia had no idea what She was referring to.
She turned to look at the male Skywalker. "And you, Luke, will meet the love of your life, who will most likely try and kill you at your first meeting." She chuckled. "Things will be as they should. How I always planned them to be."
Leia shook her head, her weary nature and caution bubbling to the surface. "This all sounds too good to be true." She murmured.
"It will be a difficult task." Spoke the Force. "You must prevent Anakin from falling to the Dark Side, as well as convince him to kill his friend and mentor. You see, Palpatine held influence over him from a very young age. It will be a hard bond to sever." The Force sighed.
"This may be something you will not survive, and if such a thing does happen, the galaxy will be worse off than it was with Vader."
Both Skywalkers looked pale. Worse than Vader? It was a terrifying thought.
"It is your choice, as it always will be. You may remain here, in this time. Rebuild the Jedi order, fall in love, have a family of your own. But I warn you, the Sith are not entirely destroyed. The Prophecy wasn't fully fulfilled. They will rise again, in your lifetime or not."
Silence fell in the massive hall. All that was heard were the two mortal's light breathing. Luke looked at the saber in the Force's hands. He recognized it.
It was his father's lightsaber. The lightsaber Obi-Wan had given him on Tattooine. The lightsaber that had fallen with his right hand after Vader cut it off.
Held in the thin pale fingers of the Living Force was the weapon that started, and in a way finished, it all.
"If you agree to this, I will send you back to the very beginning. It would be impossible any other way. He was far too broken, in the end. You will be born around the same time as your parents, grow up with them, one a jedi," She looked at Luke when She said that. Her gaze then switched to Leia. "And the other a senator. One to befriend Mother, the other Father." Her blank stare bored into Luke's soul, "You must be there for him, help him the entire way. You will be given a whole new life to live. A life in the hight of the Republic!"
She paused, then, "You will most likely awaken at an older age, perhaps in your teens, with a past pre-made for you. You will no remember this timeline, save for a few important things."
"This is your decision to make, and yours alone. I will not make you do anything you do not want. That is not in my nature. I hold free will highest of all rights to sentient beings. That is why there is evil in this word. Because I allow my children to make their own choices. Some make selfish choices that hurt others, and that breaks my heart. But sometimes, when the rules I placed for this existence lifetimes ago permit me, I can change the heartbreak into joy."
She looked from one sibling to the other, and they saw the truth in her white face.
"What is your choice?"
Luke looked at the silver weapon in the beings hands, a thing of both hope and destruction, and he knew what he had to do.
Slowly, Luke walked towards the throne. A few paces away he knelt. "I accept your offer to save my father as he once saved me."
His eyes downcast, he felt more than saw the Force stand. She knelt down next to him, felt her cool and warm fingers on his cheeks.
"Look at me, my child."
Luke did as he was told. Being so near the Living Force, Luke was able to see detail he hadn't before noticed. Like how Her hair had hints of blonde in it as well as silver and white. She had slight dimples on Her glowing porcelain cheeks. Her thin lips were such a pale pink it was very nearly white.
But the oddest thing was Her eyes, or there lack of. Covering where her eyes would be was a silvery white cloth, some sort of blindfold.
"No one can see my eyes." She whispered. "The eyes of the Force hold more power than any mortal can fathom." Her head tilted back to face Leia, her covered eyes seeming to pierce her mind and soul.
"And what of you, Leia?" Questioned the Force, Her voice booming. "What say you Leia Organa Skywalker, adoptive daughter of Bail and Breha, Princess of Alderaan, brother of Luke Skywalker and child of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Naberrie Amidala? What say you?!"
Leia looked wide eyes at the woman kneeling before her, the creator of everything, the mother of all life.
Leia swallowed, her eyes shimmering with light tears yet to be shed. "I...I..."
'What say you?' The words echoed in her mind, her heart thumping like a drumbeat to her own execution. She was being faced with a choice, a choice that would either build her up, or utterly destroy her.
Leia closed her eyes, letting a single tear slip forth. Go back in time. Her chest heaved. Save my father...
Not my father! Part of her screamed. She would never think of that black clad monster as her father.
No, it was Bail Organa who raised her, who comforted her through childhood nightmares and kissed away her cuts and bruises after a tumble.
Bail was her father, not Anakin, and certainly not Vader.
But what if... a part of her murmured. After all, there must have been something good in him. She refused to believe someone as good as Luke could have come from something so evil.
So what then?
Who was Anakin Skywalker?
Did she even want to find out?
Leia felt her heart clinch. Ever since she had found out she was adopted she wanted to know about her biological parents. But her questions were always met with silence or excuses.
"...I'll tell you when you're older..."
"...Not now Leia..."
"...Perhaps another day..."
Now was her chance. Now was her chance to find out who she really was. Should she pass this up? Could she afford to?
She was afraid. Leia wasn't deluded enough to ignore that fact. She knew when to admit when she was terrified. But Luke had already announced his plan to go. And there was no way in seven hells she would let her twin brother go alone.
"I will follow my brother." She finally said, opening her eyes. "I will follow him to the ends of the earth if need be, and if that takes me into the past, into the life of my father, then so be it."
The Force smiled, though it appeared forced. "I wouldn't ask any more of you."
Leia stepped forward and echoed her brother, kneeling down before the Force. The ethereal being placed a palm on Leia's cheek like she was doing with Luke, her smile slowly growing. Gently she kissed both in the forehead.
"Then go, my children. And remember, I will be with you. Always."
Leia felt the cool-warm touch of the Force slowly disappear from her face. She felt the world tilt and spin as her physical body was pulled apart and put back together.
It did not hurt, but neither was it pleasant.
Her hand instinctually sought out her brother's and they clasped together tightly.
Around her the world swirled and swirled on and on. She could feel time and space moving around her and through her.
The all became dark.
A.N. I'll see if I can post chapter two in the morning. I'm to tired tonight. Hope you guys like it, and enjoy the twist of this story.