Chapter Four
A few months later…
Baby Luke blinked up innocently at his mother, who was staring at him with a half amused half pretend indignant expression. "Luke!" she reprimanded, and Luke giggled.
Leia, not wanting to be left out, crawled over, a blue crayon in hand as she drew shapes on a piece of paper. She showed her mother proudly what she had drawn, and Padme smiled happily.
Padme didn't want to let her children go, but it was for their good. She had chosen Bail Organa as Leia's father, whom she knew wanted a child for a long time. He would be a good choice.
Obi Wan had chosen Owen Lars for Luke, since Tatooine was the least likely place Vader would want to step foot on. Padme was strike by sadness again, but she pushed it away and forced a smile that became genuine after seeing her children fiddle around.
"They are growing." Obi Wan commented.
"I just wished Anakin could see this."
"Me too."
They sat in silence a while after that. "Did you ever love him, Obi Wan?"
"Yes. The Jedi Code doesn't allow attachments, but I couldn't help loving him. He was like a reckless younger brother to me, you know. It was impossible not to like him."
Padme smiled at the bittersweet memories. She was learning to let go. She was never going to stop loving Anakin, but she would not spend all her time mourning. He would've told her to get over it, to think the best of herself. That was how she would choose to remember him, selfless, determined and compassionate. He would forever live on in her heart and in their children.
—
Twenty years later…
It is time for you to go back.
I know. Anakin smiled. He had been waiting, though he couldn't feel impatience. It felt as if no time had passed at all since his deep slumber, but he did learn an awful lot of skills that he knew Palpatine would kill to have.
He was going back, and he was going to take Palpatine down a notch. He wasn't going to fail again.
—
Padme hugged her children tight. Leia looked exactly like her, and Luke was just like Anakin.
"I wish your father was here to see this." She whispered.
Luke settled, his posture relaxed. "Can you tell us more about him?"
Padme smiled, and began. "He was the greatest pilot in the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker…"
—
For the first time in a long while, the dark walls fell away, and Anakin felt himself being pulled out of the deep darkness again.
He sucked in his first breath, a loud gasp that echoed around the empty body room. He tried moving his limbs. They were stiff, but he could move.
Carefully climbing down the cold metal table and discarding the sheet, he stood up and swiftly masked his presence in the Force, until he was sure no one could sense him.
He checked himself for any his lightsaber. To his relief, it was clasped on his belt, and Anakin felt reassured as he warped the light and rendered himself invisible.
He appeared to be in a large ship, but there was no one except for dead, floating droids…he was in a ghost ship. No wonder.
He grinned. Time to get to work.
—
He wasn't sure whether Palpatine had succeeded or not in his mission of destroying the Jedi and taking over the galaxy, but to be on the safe side, he masked himself yet again, and set off to Coruscant, the Jedi Temple.
The Force pushed him away, and he felt a nudge from the Force to go to someplace else…his coordinator landed on the giant gas planet Yavin 4. He frowned, but obliged to the Force's wish.
There was a blockade. An Imperial blockade, the Force whispered. From the Emperor Palpatine.
Anakin almost doubled over in shock, but his tight spacing would't allow that. Palpatine? Emperor? What happened?
It has been twenty years after your death, Anakin. You will find that a lot of things are changed.
—
"There's an unidentified plane coming!"
Luke looked, and saw it, a small craft diving to land. Normally, he wouldn't have done so, but today…"Let it land," He said, and felt faint approval from the Force.
Leia ran beside him and they went to inspect the newcomer…but there was no one in the ship.
"What?" Luke was puzzled. It was highly unlikely the plane had been driving itself, and just coincidentally came to Yavin 4…
—
Be careful, Anakin. You will something that will shock you, but do not drop your invisibility shield.
Anakin nodded, and faced the three people running towards him, and he froze.
For a boy of nineteen years, with blond brown hair and crystal blue eyes was staring at him.
—
What does this mean? Who are they?
They are Luke and Leia Skywalker, your children.
My children?
The Force acknowledged the statement, and faded away, leaving him to his thoughts as he carefully stepped out, looking at his children who had to be at least nineteen. Leia looked exactly like Padme—he felt an ache in his chest—and there was no doubting that he and Luke were related.
What should I do now?
Glamour yourself. It will come as a shock, and there are many things you do not understand yet. Uncover yourself before Obi Wan, and tell him your situation. He will explain.
Anakin felt a bit foolish as he adopted a look of a young man in his middle twenties, with raven black hair and green eyes. It was a good combination, and he stepped out from behind the plane.
"Who are you?" Luke asked.
Anakin fidgeted, and blurted out the first name that came into mind. "Cobalt," he said, the colour of Luke's eyes.
"No last names?"
"No." He didn't really sound convincing, and winced. He was supposed to be a good actor! Though the situation never called to have him act in front of his nineteen year old children.
"Why are you here? Are you an Imperial?" He asked.
"I would like to join the Rebels, and I think that answers your second question."
Luke nodded, and glanced at Leia, who had yet to speak. "Every instinct in my body tells me to trust you, Cobalt. Well, do come along." Anakin followed Leia in a daze, Luke walking a step behind. "You will need to meet Mon Mothma first, though."
—
Anakin tried his best to answer the questions, and after a while, Mon Mothma seemed satisfied. "How would you like to help?"
"I'd like to be a pilot, or a front line soldier is fine." Her shock radiated clearly, but outside she showed nothing. "We'll have to test your skills. Luke, can you tell Ben to come here?"
Anakin sat on one of the chairs, and waited. Soon, Luke came back with an older man, with wrinkles and white hair, eyes that had seen many things happen. Anakin reached out tenderly to touch the man's presence, and recoiled in shock.
"Obi Wan?"
—
Obi Wan stared at the young man in front of him, who had called him Obi Wan. For a moment, he thought of Anakin, then pushed it away for now.
"Yes. I believe we aren't acquainted…?"
The young man looked apologetically at Mon Mothma, Leia and Luke, and said, "My father's friend," before dragging him away, to an empty room.
"Obi Wan? Is that you?"
"I…"
"Thank the Force!" the man dropped his disguise, and Obi Wan's shock was tripled. Everyone seemed shocked today.
"Anakin? But aren't you Darth Vader?" He held up his lightsaber quickly.
Maybe-Anakin's mouth dropped open. "Darth Vader? Who is he?"
"You."
"No! I am not lying. I am Anakin Skywalker, and I do not know a thing about Darth Vader. Listen, Obi Wan, I have been dead for twenty years, whoever that Vader is, he is not me."
Obi Wan gaped again.
Anakin continued. "Obi Wan, I was killed by a lightsaber wound when I was fighting Palpatine—"
"Which means you were cloned." Obi Wan realised swiftly, and stared at Anakin again, this time with tears, and hugged him tightly.
—
"You can tell me everything later, I believe you should see Padme first…she was devastated when the clone you turned."
Guilt pulsed strongly as he knocked quietly. "Come in," a soft voice replied, and Anakin almost let out a sob. The voice he missed hearing so much, feeling the soft caress of her fingers, her smooth and silky curls.
He stepped into the dim room. Padme was sitting in one of the stuffed chairs in the corner, reading her datapad quietly. Anakin's heart ached. Her hair had lost some of its luster, and her face was slightly lined. But her posture was straight and regal. It was as if nothing had changed. She was still his angel, his beloved wife.
She looked up, and shock wrote all over her features. She made no move to change her expression, as she slowly brought her shaking hand to Anakin's face.
Obi Wan had told him all about the murderous acts Vader had done, and Anakin had been prepared to explain everything to Padme, since she should be obliged to hate the monster his clone had become.
Anakin waited with baited breath for the slap that was sure to come, but his shock doubled when her finger traced circles on his cheek. "Ani," she half whispered, a tear leaking out of her beautiful eyes. Without warning, she pressed her lips onto his, and Anakin lost himself to the ecstasy. Force, he had not felt this way for twenty years, if what the Force said was correct.
She drew back a little. "Angel," he breathed.
"How? I thought you…you were Vader." The plain hatred at the name made Anakin wince.
He told her everything, and Padme hugged him tightly again. "I have missed you so much, Ani," she gave a little breathless laugh as they parted from their passionate kiss.
The couple fell onto the bed, and Obi Wan smiled when he felt his friend's joy. Everything was going to be alright. Anakin was back.