Oh gosh, it took much longer than it should have to write this, namely cause I was traveling and then I got sick. lovely stuff.
Sooooooo
Things are about to get interesting...hehehe
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Anakin sat forlornly on the edge of his bed, staring at the floor as he mulled over everything that had happened. Padme and Obi-Wan were fast asleep in their respective beds, though Anakin could sense that Luke and Aria were still awake next door—tired, but for whatever reason still awake—and it seemed Vader was still awake as well.
Absentmindedly, his gaze wandered to the couch where he and Obi-Wan had hidden their lightsabers when they'd first arrived in this room; that simple act had saved them from being relieved of their weapons when Vader came.
Anakin lifted his gaze to the wall that led into Luke and Aria's room, leaning forward and propping his chin on his hand. He'd been so sure that the Sith Lord was going to kill the young girl, and it had scared Anakin more than he'd thought it would. Then what Luke had done to save her...to save all of them...
It sent a lance of guilt through Anakin's heart that they had put the young man in the situation that he was in right now. Tortured to death and barely brought back, just to be held captive by his Sith Lord father and then offer himself in exchange for their lives, doomed to live in a darkness he never wanted...
He sighed, running his hand down his face. Everything had gone wrong for them from the moment that they had walked through that portal...and yet...he kept getting the feeling that at least something was going right, even if he couldn't see it. At least Aria tended to act like their situation was a comfortable one...sometimes. Being so close to death, feeling the Force shrieking in panic when Vader had moved to kill them, seeing Vader nearly kill Aria...seeing Luke offer himself...that was what made Anakin believe that they were in a horrible situation. The scary part was he couldn't quite see a way out of it either. Something told him that fighting Vader was out of the question, and he doubted that they could just slip away...
Anakin stiffened.
A presence hesitantly brushed against his mind.
...Anakin?
Anakin blinked several times in surprise, staring at a single spot on the wall as he tried to process the voice that had whispered in his mind. Telepathy wasn't entirely unheard of...but it wasn't exactly an easy feat either. Carefully, unsure that he was even doing it right, Anakin reached back, all the while trying to figure out how this was possible.
Luke?
Anakin felt relief roll off of the other Skywalker. Oh, good, it worked, we weren't sure it would.
We?
Aria mentioned when I called out to a close friend of mine through the Force, and suggested I try to do the same to get in contact with you.
Anakin frowned. What for?
We have a plan to escape. It's a not much of a plan really, and it's risky, and most of it will have to be improvised...but it's better than nothing.
Anakin felt a flicker of amusement at his words. I'm listening...
Two days passed since Vader had discovered Anakin and Obi-Wan were Jedi. Two days was all the time Luke had to recover enough strength to support his own weight and move around on his own; they wouldn't really know if he could move on his own until the moment he needed to came, as they didn't want to drain him to any degree at all. He'd remained on bed rest this entire time, just as nervous as the rest of them. Anakin had shared the plan—if it could even be called a plan—with the others, and Aria and Luke had repeatedly gone over details, which was mainly Luke filling in the gaps in Aria's knowledge and Aria explaining Anakin and Obi-Wan's current limitations and abilities that could assist the group on their endeavor.
All that was left was to wait for the right moment; the moment when Vader was nowhere near his quarters, and they were also out of hyperspace.
Aria looked up from her spot on Luke's bed when she heard the telltale sound of the door opening around the usual meal time—dinner, if she wasn't loosing track of time amid everything else. She sat the only picture she owned of the Executor that had a label of where the hangar was on the bed and got up as the Stormtrooper sat their two trays on the floor, turned, and left without a word. Aria retrieved the trays with a sigh, handing Luke the tray that looked like it had the larger portion on it as she took her seat back.
"I really wish I had something more detailed; something that will actually give us corridors to follow along. Now would be a good time for R2 to be around," she said with a shake of her head, picking at the food absentmindedly. Luke's lips quirked up just a little.
"I'm sure between the five of us we can work our way back the way we came in to the main hangar," he assured her. She'd been worried about that detail for quite some time now. Luke glanced at his tray, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously at hers; apparently he'd noticed that she'd given him the one with the larger portion, though by the way she was picking at hers he didn't think she looked that hungry right now. So, he didn't say anything on the subject.
"Still...when we actually manage to get our hands on a shuttle, I'm afraid I won't be much help, as I'm from another galaxy entirely and have never been in a spaceship until that moment when we were transported. Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme are just, oh...twenty-five years behind on technology? Anakin's extremely talented at flying though, and it doesn't take him long to figure out the controls; he could definitely act as your co-pilot...Obi-Wan's great assistance too, as is Padme..." Aria trailed off and smiled to herself. "Wow, I feel like such great help."
"You've kept us all alive and together for the most part up until now; I'd say you've been crucial to our survival," Luke said, his eyes twinkling just a little as he spoke.
"Let's hope I can keep us that way," she muttered, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Luke's expression softened, and he took the papers away from her gently and gestured towards her tray.
"You should eat something; you've hardly touched anything they've given you to eat since we've got here," Luke reprimanded her. Aria shook her head.
"I'm the kind of person that will get so engrossed in a project they forget to eat, or to sleep, or any other basic need; besides, I'm still adjusting to all...this," she said with a small smile, waving a hand all around her.
"Still; you're making sure I'm eating, so it's only right that I do the same thing for you," Luke said with a nod of his head. Aria's smile grew a little.
"I suppose it's only fair," she said with a shrug, turning back to her meal. Her eyes ghosted over the room, thinking of how their two days were up. If Vader's estimate had been right—and she was pretty sure that he was—then they'd have to make their escape tonight. Her stomach did little nervous flips at the thought; could they really escape from the Executor? From Vader?
Aria stopped as her eyes settled on the viewport in the room she shared with Luke. The stars were no longer a beautiful blue blur; they were set in place, unmoving in the vast darkness of space. Aria felt her heart clench nervously.
"Luke..." she said softly. Luke glanced at her expectantly before he caught the expression on her face and cast his eyes towards the viewport. He too paused before he suddenly closed his eyes, probably stretching out with the Force.
"Vader's on the bridge," he murmured. "I don't know how long...but he's not anywhere nearby right now."
Aria set her tray down, pushing off of the bed and rushing to her backpack where her original clothes and Luke's original clothes were stuffed. She tossed him his black button down and brown trousers, bunching her clothes up in her hand and firmly zipping the backpack shut before making her way to the refresher. "Tell the others; I'll be out in a moment," she said in a rush, feeling excitement and adrenaline rush through her veins as well as fear. This was it; and if they failed, they were going to most likely pay with their lives.
Aria peeled out of her Imperial fatigues in record time, donning her jeans, t-shirt, and now-clean jacket before she emerged once again from the refresher. Luke was standing just fine on his own—and looking rather pleased with himself about it too—by the coffee table, back in his original clothes even though they were a little tattered from his time being tortured. In the wall right by Luke's bed, a hole was being cut in the wall by two blue lightsabers. Aria felt excitement rush through her once again as she made her way to her backpack, pulling out the three or four papers that she had gotten ready the day before. She put them in order and placed them hastily on the bed before she returned to Luke's side, securing her backpack on her back with both straps.
The lightsabers retracted, and with a shove assisted by the Force, the chunk of the wall was pushed out of its spot and caught just before it could clatter to the floor, held up by Anakin. The three were back in the clothes they normally wore, with Anakin and Obi-Wan in full traditional Jedi clothes. Once Anakin had set the chunk of the wall carefully on the floor so it wouldn't make any noise, the three joined Aria and Luke.
"So...are we ready for this?" Aria asked.
"I still don't think it's that great of a plan," Obi-Wan said with a small shake of his head.
"It's not even a plan really; more of a goal and a mix of ideas on how to achieve that goal," Aria said in amusement. "Luke, Padme, and I can just relieve the guards of their blasters on our way out."
"We're going to have to be quick; as soon as Vader realizes what's happening, he'll be right on our tail," Luke said seriously, already taking up a position by the door with Obi-Wan and Anakin, whose lightsabers were humming gently.
"Duly noted," Anakin said, closing his eyes for several moments. Obi-Wan was doing the same on the other side of the door, a palm pressed against the cool metal wall. The two opened their eyes, shared a look and a nod, and then shoved their activated lightsabers through two precise points in the wall. They held their lightsabers there for a few heartbeats, and then retracted the blades. Obi-Wan waved his hand to open the door with the Force.
"I'm guessing you just took care of the guards?" Aria asked casually, stepping over the threshold. The two Stormtrooper bodies acted as her confirmation, and she did her best not to look at them, a small wave of queasiness overtaking her for a moment as she stepped passed the bodies with the holes in their chests. Padme and Luke both took the blasters from the dead guards, checking the weapons while Anakin and Obi-Wan rushed to the edge of the hall to peek around the corner.
"No going back now," Aria mumbled, keeping somewhere between Anakin and Luke as they continued along the halls.
"How long do you think before the alarm's raised?" Padme asked.
"Not long," Luke responded. "It's best if we cover as much ground before the alarm is raised; that's just my opinion."
"I think I actually agree with you there," Anakin muttered. Moments later, his lightsaber flashed as he ran a Stormtrooper through that had been turning the corner.
"With the body trail it looks like we'll be leaving, it shouldn't take long for the alarm to get set off," Padme said tartly with a shake of her head.
"We haven't even reached the real resistance yet," Luke said cheerily.
Obi-Wan turned the corner up ahead then fell into an immediate defensive position as he suddenly found himself deflecting a barrage of blaster bolts. Anakin joined him, and Padme and Luke took up positions around the corner, leaning over and sending return fire with the bolts that Obi-Wan and Anakin were deflecting.
"How many?" Aria asked Luke when he pulled his head back from around the corner.
"Ten, maybe," Luke responded promptly, turning around the corner yet again to open fire.
Aria grimaced. "You don't think the alarm's already been raised, do you?" she asked seriously.
Luke shook his head with a sigh. "It's possible; that doesn't mean we're going back though. Best to act like the only way is forwards."
Aria smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
Anakin deflected the last shot. "All right, come on, it's a long ways to the hangar."
Aria sighed. "I think we'll have to be ready for that hyperspace jump before we even get out of the hangar."
"We'll handle it, don't worry," Anakin assured her, gesturing for Luke, Padme, and Aria to catch up to Obi-Wan and him. Luke came even with Anakin and Obi-Wan, his eyes scanning the halls around him expertly, while Padme and Aria stayed just behind the Jedi. Aria was still weaponless, but she wasn't about to complain; she could fire a normal gun, but blasters...
They were only kind of the same thing.
Luke rushed ahead, pressing himself against the right wall to peer around the corner of the T-intersection ahead, blaster ready while Padme checked the left side. What came next, none of them were expecting.
Luke took a step around the apparently clear corridor, and a ray shield suddenly sprang to life, cutting him off from the rest of the group. Luke whipped around almost the same moment that it appeared, blaster poised and ready for any incoming Stormtroopers. Behind Aria and the other three, Stormtroopers suddenly rushed around the corner, blaster's blazing. Luke grimaced.
"Go on and find another way, I'll meet you in the hangar," Luke told them as they rushed for cover. Before anyone could protest, Luke had turned and ran down the hall. Aria grimaced.
"I don't like the thought of him separated from our group," she muttered, following Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme at a sprint down the left corridor.
"We're just going to have to make due and hope that he finds his way to the hangar. There's nothing else we can do about it," Obi-Wan told her sternly.
The reached another T-intersection after a decent amount of time spent avoiding the Stormtroopers that were swarming the halls. Collectively, they turned left instead of going straight, and Aria hardly even had time to register the large cannon mounted in the middle of the hall before Anakin suddenly grabbed her by the arms.
"Get down!" he shouted, pulling her back into the corridor across from the one they had just come from. Obi-Wan pulled Padme back into the corridor they'd came from, and just in time too, as a blast of heat from the shot ripped over Aria and Anakin, and she felt heat sear her cheek. When they looked up again, Obi-Wan and Padme had been separated from Aria and Anakin by another ray shield.
"They're purposely splitting us up," Aria said loudly, so that Obi-Wan and Padme could hear too.
"We'll have to deal with it and just stay out of their grasp," Anakin said through grit teeth.
"We'll find another way," Obi-Wan called. "Make sure they don't separate us any further!"
Anakin grasped Aria's wrist. "Come on; I think I know how to get there."
"Your gut or the Force?" she asked.
"Both."
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he crept along the practically empty halls. He could hear the blaster fire elsewhere, but he hardly ever ran into trouble himself. Yes there was the occasional Stormtrooper or Officer, but other than that...no one.
Luke fingered the trigger on his blaster nervously. Not only his gut, but the Force as well told him that he was headed for danger; but it couldn't be helped. He needed to get to that shuttle; furthermore, he was the only one in this party of five that could actually comfortably fly the shuttle they were going to hijack. He just wished he still had his lightsaber, or had found the time to make a new one...
Luke's train of thought was interrupted as he came around the corner, reacting on instinct to fire at and take out the two Stormtroopers standing by the door. Was he really already at the hangar?
Luke sidestepped the two bodies then used the Force to open the door. Immediately after he stepped through the doorway, he froze. No one could be seen; something was terribly, terribly wrong here...
A shot came out of nowhere, and he received no warning from the Force as he was apparently not the target, the red bolt flying through the air so close to his face he smelled singed hair before it crashed into the control panel and the door slid shut with a resounding thud. He suddenly felt urged to move, not backwards, but forwards, to the first shuttle he could find. Moving faster than he had in quite a while, Luke rushed between crates and TIEs until he finally made it to a Lambda-class shuttle near the middle of the hangar. Looking to his right a few paces from the shuttle, he could see one entrance to the hangar still open, and to his left there was another—
The sound of even paced, mechanical breathing filled the room and caused Luke's heart to jump into his throat and his face to drain of all color as his father stepped into view, two meters of towering fury. Subconsciously, Luke took a step back and reached out through the Force, hoping to sense Anakin or Obi-Wan somewhere nearby, somewhere that would allow them to get here quickly...
So far into the action, it was like he hit a wall. A freezing, solid, black wall that chilled Luke to the core and caused his breathing to hitch for a moment. He didn't even bother taking a shot; he knew it would be useless. He was cornered and helpless; completely vulnerable.
"Father...I can explain," he said shakily, trying to clamp down on his growing terror. He could taste his father's rage and feel it in the air as if it were its own separate, tangible being.
Vader let out a feral snarl, raising a hand in an all too familiar gesture. Luke felt his airway instantly and remorselessly close, with no room for any air to get through. Luke sank to his knee as panic iced his veins and the blaster clattered to the floor, his mouth agape as he tried uselessly to breathe sweet air into his lungs. Vader lifted him in the air, Luke's feet swinging and kicking slightly, forcing Luke to stare in silent horror into the emotionless black mask of Darth Vader—well, not quite so silent; Luke's dry, airless rasps filled the air right along with Vader's mechanical breathing.
"I saved your life, made sure you were given the best of treatment and care, allowed your new friends to stay with you when I brought you out of that jail instead of letting you rot, spared your Jedi friends lives...and this is how you repay me," Vader hissed dangerously, his grip tightening on Luke's throat and causing Luke to make a strangled sound of pain. A terrifying realization struck Luke, and dread settled firmly in his gut. He was going to die; Vader had no control of himself right now, and in his anger...
Force...he's going to kill me...
"Father..." he managed to force out. "P-please...d-d-don't..."
"You've betrayed me, just as your mother did; I should have expected nothing less," Vader snarled, and his grip tightened once again. Luke gagged slightly, his eyes sliding closed, his head pounding, hands gripping his throat on instinct. He tried to speak, but he couldn't; he could only wait to die and plead uselessly in his mind.
Father, please, don't do this...
Anakin pulled Aria along at a speed she wasn't entirely sure she could keep up with. The air all around him screamed of urgency, and he seemed set in his path, undeterred. His lightsaber was tight in his grasp, and any obstacle they came across he cut down without any effort or thought.
"How do you know where we're going?" Aria asked.
"Just follow me," Anakin answered immediately, still dragging her along by her wrist. Along they went, tunnel by tunnel, twist after twist.
They finally came to a door.
Anakin pulled her back, keeping her from slamming into the door head on at the speeds they were going, at the same time that he waved his hand to open the door.
They both froze in shock at the scene they stumbled upon. Directly across the hangar, on the other side, Obi-Wan and Padme had also appeared in a doorway, frozen in equal horror.
Darth Vader stood feet away from a Lambda-class shuttle, holding Luke midair in a Force Choke while Luke tried unsuccessfully to break free. His desperate croaks echoed around the empty hangar as he struggled futilely for air and freedom. Aria couldn't tear her eyes away; she was frozen in place...
...Vader wasn't letting go...
...Luke was going to die...
Anakin moved forward but Aria grabbed his arm. "No! If you kill Vader then all you'll do is postpone Luke's death to a later date. Vader's the reason Luke survived the confrontation with the Emperor; Vader saved his life."
"And he's going to end it if we don't do something," Anakin snapped right back. "I won't just stand here and do nothing!"
Aria cast her fearful gaze back towards Luke, panic gripping her. He was dying, she could see it; it was in the way he moved, jerky, sudden, his eyes closed but when she got a glimpse it looked like his eyes were starting to roll back. Even if Anakin was to interfere, there was no time; and she knew that Vader was fully capable of holding Anakin off and maintaining the Force Choke on Luke at the same time. Desperation and fear overtook her, and she stepped forward, into the room...towards Vader.
She closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, knowing that everything was about to explode, and she was tossing all that careful manipulation of information flow out the window.
She opened her eyes, her words echoing loud and clear through the hangar.
"Let him go, Anakin, please! You're killing him!" she screamed.
Vader dropped Luke, not because she asked, but because he seemed shocked that she had addressed him by his true name, the name he'd once gone by. Aria was already running towards the two before Luke even hit the ground with a rattling gasp, coughing, shaking, tears of pain—perhaps even emotional pain—streaming down his face. Vader reached for his lightsaber as Aria approached, but she was hardly paying attention; her attention was focused entirely on Luke, who was lying on the ground, breathing heavily as he tried to re-gather himself after coming so near to death—again. Aria skid onto her knees to Luke's side, putting a hand protectively on his chest as she scrambled to get him on his feet. She heard the whoosh of a blade cutting through the air and braced herself for Vader's fatal swing.
It never came.
Luke was staring at the blue blade hovering above him, blocking the red blade from ending his life as well as Aria's.
Aria turned her head to see Anakin standing tall and defiant in front of Vader, his lightsaber locked and unrelenting under his older Sith self's blade.
"You are either incredibly brave or extremely foolish," Vader snarled at Anakin. Anakin was hardly fazed by the comment.
"Probably both," Anakin growled back, breaking away from their locked blades before he attacked Vader once more in a full on assault. Aria didn't have time to marvel at the astounding sight of Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Padawan verses Darth Vader, Sith Lord once Anakin Skywalker Jedi Knight. She grabbed Luke under the arms and hefted him up.
"Go, go," she said urgently as they both backed rapidly away from the already intense fight, rushing to the shuttle. The ramp took too long for Aria's taste, though it allowed her to glance back at the fight. Red blade clashed violently against blue, back and force at dizzying speeds. Several times Anakin had to break away and back off, but he always came right back at Vader with fiery determination, refusing to let the Sith get ahold of Luke or Aria again. Vader seemed almost like he was playing with Anakin, fighting one handed, blade coming uncomfortably close to ending the fight several times; but Aria tried not to think of that. Anakin would be all right, he would come out of this fight...mostly in one piece, right?
The ramp lowered and Luke stumbled inside, headed straight for the cockpit. Aria stayed on the ramp, ushering Padme and Obi-Wan forward as the two dashed across the hangar; it seemed they had brought company, as numerous Stormtroopers were hot on their heels. Obi-Wan pushed Padme forward towards the ramp, turning back around to deflect the shots that were being fired on the two woman while he occasionally sent worried glances behind him at Anakin and Vader, obviously wanting to jump in and help but occupied at the moment. Padme crouched down by the best cover she could find, returning fire on the Stormtroopers as the shuttles engines roared to life. Aria wilted in relief and turned her attention back to the fight between Anakin and Vader.
It happened so quickly, Aria wasn't entirely sure she really knew what she'd just seen.
Anakin's lightsaber had been locked with Vader's, and then Vader broke away and batted Anakin's lightsaber away with a seemingly effortless flick of his wrist. The red blade came up faster than the eye could follow, but Anakin managed to turn himself away so that the worst of the attack could be avoided. Still, with a cry, Anakin went down, a hand instinctively flying towards his right eye where the tip of Vader's blade had met skin.
Anakin pulled his hand away almost immediately, trying to get back to his feet, but Vader's blade was already pointed at his chest and mere inches away from impaling the young Jedi. Aria felt a jolt of shock when she saw Vader had left a mark identical to the one Ventress had left. Anakin had just received the scar over his right eye early.
Padme turned around just in time to see Vader preparing to finish Anakin off, with Anakin staring back at him in stubborn defiance to the very last.
"Anakin!"
Padme's cry rang sharply through the room, and drew everyone's attention.
Including Vader's.
Vader's helmeted head whipped around at the sound of her voice, and when he set eyes on Padme he stilled, looking for all the world as if he'd seen a ghost as Padme rushed forward without a thought.
He basically had.
"Padme?" his vocoder whispered out.
"Obi-Wan!" Aria said in alarm, watching helplessly as Padme rushed right towards the two. Obi-Wan had already turned at Padme's cry and now, as if roused from some strange dream, his hand shot out, and Vader went flying backwards, away from Anakin and Padme just as Padme reached Anakin. Padme hefted Anakin to his feet, who called his lightsaber back into his hand before they all collectively rushed for the landing ramp. Padme fired a few shots to cover their escape.
"Close the ramp!" Aria shouted towards the cockpit. "Anakin, Obi-Wan, go help Luke," she said in a frazzled tone of voice, making her way towards one of the seats with Padme by her side. The boys rushed into the cockpit, completely lost in the chaos of battle; Aria wasn't even sure if what had just happened had registered with everyone yet.
The shuttle lifted off the ground before Aria had even secured the straps of her seat, and it started to sway to the left and right as it pushed forward, obviously dodging the other ships in the hangar as Luke guided them out as swiftly as he could. Aria crossed her fingers, praying that Luke already had the hyperdrive programed so that they could leave as soon as possible and not make all this progress just to be caught in the tractor beam. Someone really should have split away and disabled the tractor beam, but if they would have done that then they might not have been able to escape considering everything that had just happened...
The ship lurched to the right, crashing into something else along the way before it continued forward, and Aria grasped the armrests of her seat in a death-grip; what was going on?
Luke grit his teeth, ignoring the alarm that was currently screaming at him that they'd taken damage. So long as it didn't effect their jump into hyperspace, Luke didn't care.
"We lost out—" Obi-Wan started to say, but Luke cut him off.
"I know, we'll be fine," he said, his voice raspy. His neck throbbed in pain, and speaking just made it worse; he was positive that he was already developing bruises along his throat. His hands were still shaking slightly from the adrenaline and fear, but he managed to stay steady enough to pilot the ship. He just had to get them out of the hangar bay, and Anakin would then activate the hyperdrive as soon as they were clear of the Executor's hangar. Right now, Anakin was manning the guns to cover their escape while Obi-Wan kept an eye on the readouts for Luke, who was focused solely on piloting.
Speaking of Anakin...Luke felt a little wary of him at the moment. Something about Anakin was...off...wrong. Unfortunately, he had a pretty good guess on just what was wrong with him.
Let him go, Anakin, please! You're killing him!
Right now, though, they were all trying to escape with their lives, so Anakin was probably bottling up his reactions for once they were safe again. Luke wasn't quite sure if he was up for that at the moment.
"They're closing the blast doors," Obi-Wan warned. Luke ground his teeth again in determination, pushing the ship to go faster and willing the doors to take a little longer to shut.
"We'll make it," He forced out, his voice cracking painfully. He angled the ship a little further to the right.
"Luke, We're not going to make it," Obi-Wan said in alarm.
"Yes we are," he said firmly, eyes never leaving the gap he was aiming for.
"Luke—"
"We're going to make it," Luke responded firmly, wishing he could push the ship to go faster even though it was already going as fast as it could. Luke's hands clenched tighter on the controls, and he angled the ship. Everyone held their breath, praying they weren't going to die...
The ship grinded loud against the wall, the high pitched whine hurting Luke's ears before they managed to push out of the gap and into open space.
"Punch it!" Luke said instantly, angling away from the Star Destroyer. Before the larger ship even had a chance to activate it's tractor beam, Anakin pushed the lever forward, and the stars bled into streaks of blessed blue. Luke groaned in relief, sagging in the pilot's chair and letting his eyes close. "We made it..." he murmured.
Out of the woods...
Anakin stood up sharply from his seat without a word, turning back to the passenger seating.
...but into a fire.
"Anakin," Luke called, his voice holding a faint key of wariness in it as he stood from his pilot seat. Obi-Wan was right behind him as they tailed Anakin into the seating. Luke's nerves were not eased when Anakin simply ignored him and went straight for Aria, who had just unhooked herself.
Shock was putting what Luke felt mildly when Anakin suddenly grabbed the girl and pushed her into the wall. Immediately, his protective instincts kicked in and Luke forced himself between the two, placing a hand reassuringly on Aria's shoulders and holding Anakin back with the other hand. "Hey! Back off!" Luke said in a loud and strong voice, despite how much it hurt him.
"I want answers, now!" Anakin all but roared, his blue eyes flashing dangerously and locked on Aria. "I'm tired of these games!"
"Anakin," Obi-Wan started to reprimand him, but Anakin ignored him and continued, straining against the restraining hand Luke had placed on his chest.
"What was that back there?" Anakin said firmly, his voice suddenly twisted with emotion. "You called him by my name—my name!"
The room went silent, and Luke suddenly found himself unable to look Anakin in the eyes, letting his hand drop away from Anakin's chest but keeping firmly in front of Aria. Obi-Wan and Padme stared between Anakin and Aria in silent shock.
"Anakin, you have to let me explain," Aria said softly, but Anakin went off again.
"You didn't think to mention that Sith, that machine, is...is..." Anakin couldn't bring himself to say it, and Luke looked up at Anakin when he sensed the self-disgust and denial swirling around in the other Skywalker.
"You think Darth Vader...is you?" Obi-wan asked. He too was in denial it seemed, though Padme was the one who looked like she'd gone into shock.
"You can't be the same, I mean...you're nothing like him!" Padme said, her tone reflecting her shocked state.
"It could be another Anakin entirely, I mean, it doesn't have to be you specifically," Obi-Wan said, trying to find some other explanation as he glanced between the other four.
Anakin shook his head, fixing Aria with a betrayed stare; betrayal that she would keep something like this from him. "I'm sure. Why else would he react the way he did when he heard Padme; when he saw her?" he jabbed a finger at Aria accusingly. "You said that I died figuratively; I just thought you meant that I lost the will to live or something, but now I can tell what you really meant. You meant that I turned to the dark side," he said harshly, his voice cracking on the last sentence. He spun around to look at the other two.
"If you don't think my reasoning is enough, why don't you just ask Aria; or better yet, let's ask Luke. I'm sure he knows," Anakin said angrily, turning his hard gaze on Luke. Obi-Wan and Padme both turned their gaze on Luke as well, and he felt like he'd just tasted something particularly sour. It looked like they still had a shred of hope that he would deny it, that he would tell them that it was a different Anakin, not the one standing in front of him...
"Luke...is it true?" Padme whispered.
Luke couldn't bring himself to say it; he simply turned away, unable to look any of them in the eyes. He could feel their shock, their mourning, their denial, sharp and clear through the Force. Padme slowly made her way towards one of the passenger seats, shaking her head in numb denial.
"I can't believe you...I can't..." Padme whispered, taking her seat slowly as she stared ahead. Obi-Wan also had to find a seat, though his gaze remained fixated on Aria, the gears obviously turning.
"That horrible disaster you wanted to change," Obi-Wan said quietly, firmly holding Aria's gaze. "The reason why you would pick and choose what you showed us...you wanted to keep Darth Vader from coming to life. You wanted to stop Anakin from falling."
"Yes," Aria said softly. Something in Anakin broke—Luke could feel it.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Anakin shouted. Luke was shocked to see that there were tears glistening in his eyes. "Why would you hide this from me? Why wouldn't you tell me that I would destroy everything I hold dear? Why didn't you warn me? I don't want to be like that! I don't want to become more of a machine than man, I don't want to be enslaved by the dark side, I don't want to hurt the people I care about, I don't want to become him, I don't want to die him, I don't want this!"
"But it doesn't have to be like this," Luke said suddenly and passionately, throwing them all off guard. "You have a chance to fix this, to keep this nightmare from happening; and the Force gave it to you on a silver platter. Despite everything that's happened, I know there's good in Vader; I've felt it, I've seen it. Anakin Skywalker is still in there...somewhere..." Luke said, rubbing his throat gently. Padme was watching them with a strange look on her face, like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Luke, no one comes back from the dark side; it's a well-known fact," Obi-Wan said sternly. Luke looked away, meeting Aria's knowing gaze.
"I can't believe that," Luke said softly. "I have to believe that he's still in there, because even though I'm nearly the last Jedi...I can't kill my own father..."
"He seemed perfectly ready to kill you," Padme said in a sharp tone. Anakin made a strange, strangled sound and sank to the ground, shaking his head as everything settled in and the weight of what he'd just learned started to dawn on him.
"I'm a Jedi..." he whispered shakily. "I know I'm better than this..."
Anakin pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his arms on top of his knees and burying his face in his arms. Pure silence filled the cockpit as everyone watched Anakin's shoulders start to shake while he cried.
Aria was the first to move. She carefully crossed the distance between herself and Anakin, kneeling beside him and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Anakin..." she said softly. He didn't respond, but she didn't take it as a dismissal. Instead, she took it as a signal to keep talking. "I didn't tell you, because I wanted to change all of this without having to burden any of you with the knowledge of what could happen. I knew that it would do this to you, and I didn't want to put you through this...that's why I kept it secret."
Anakin turned his head away from her, his hands clutching his arms a little tighter. Luke felt a strong pang go through Aria at the sight, and she started to gently and comfortingly rub Anakin's back
"I'm so sorry Anakin," she said quietly. "Just...don't give up on me yet. Your fate is not set in stone. There's still plenty of time to fix this; all of this. Don't lose hope."
So they all stayed like that in silence with Aria comforting Anakin on the floor, Padme and Obi-Wan staying welded to their seats, and Luke standing by, watching this young version of his father break down at the revelation of what he could become, all of them digesting everything that had happened, and everything that had yet to be.
