4 ABY
Anakin and Luke watched as the rest of their group waved goodbye as they boarded the Millennium Falcon before they locked the hatch on each of their x-wings, which they had acquired from a shipyard in Mos Eisley, and took off.
"Meet you back at the fleet," he heard Luke say over the com to the occupants of the Corellian freighter.
"The Alliance should be assembled by now," came Leia's voice.
"Hey Luke, Anakin," came Solo's voice, "thanks for coming after us. I owe you guys one."
Anakin smiled lightly before he and Luke jumped to hyperspace as they made their way to Ilum where Anakin would build himself another lightsaber seeing as his had vanished and he couldn't keep Luke's forever.
Luke had offered to let him use a spare one he had made, but it felt wrong to him. The Jedi believed that the Kyber crystal, which was the very heart of a lightsaber, chose the Jedi whose lightsaber it would birth. It wasn't right for a Jedi to choose the crystal and that's why he couldn't take Luke's, because the crystal had chosen him and to take it would be dishonorable to the Order and to the force-attuned rock.
He knew that the Order was no more and that it's traditions and beliefs were null and void, but this was something he needed to do.
Luke had understood his meaning and had decided to accompany him there before they set off for Dagobah, which conveniently wasn't that far from Ilum.
The trip there was short as Luke and Anakin set their x-wings down not too far from where the entrance to the crystal caves were and Anakin hopped out only to be met with the frigid temperature and the icy wind.
"The entrance to the caves are just down there," said Anakin to Luke as he pointed towards the entrance to the icy cave, "I won't be long."
Luke nodded as he wrapped his arms around himself to protect him from the invading cold, "I-I uh guess I'll just wait here for you, then."
The building of ones lightsaber tended to be a private occasion and Luke wasn't about to intrude on the sacred traditions of the old Jedi Order, so he would hunker down until Anakin came back and then they would be off to Dagobah.
"I've done this many times before," said Anakin, winching at the memory of all his lost and broken lightsabers and Obi-Wan's scolding voice, "I promise I'll be back soon."
Luke nodded as he watched the man who could be his father disappear down the wet and slippery slope before disappearing into the wide chasm below.
He rubbed his hands together and breathed hot air on them as he remembered the first time he had come here to make his own lightsaber, which had only been mere weeks ago. And yet the biting cold managed to surprise him once again as he shuddered.
He had grown up in a desert and he certainly was not accustomed to such frigid temperatures, or cold ones either. He remembered that he had felt cold the first time he had been in space as he had wrapped himself up for just a little of bit warmth.
R2 beeped at him from his x-wing and he gave the little droid a small smiled, "I hope he's faster than I was at this," he said as he remembered his first time.
R2 only started squealing louder at his words and Luke scrunched his brows together as he shot the droid a curious glance.
"What's wrong?" he said as he looked behind him to see the familiar blue hue of Ben's force ghost.
"Ben," he breathed out in welcoming as he watched his father's old master came to lean against the ship with him.
"Luke," he said with a nod of his transparent head as he crossed his arms together, "I see you've picked up a friend from your little excursion to Dantooine."
"Is he really Anakin Skywalker?" asked Luke with widened eyes as he looked at Kenobi, his eyes silently pleading.
Obi-Wan sighed as he dipped his head, "Indeed that man is Anakin, your father."
"But how?" asked Luke with shock and amazement, "If he's my father, then what does that make Vader?"
Ben pursed his lips as he pushed himself off the x-wing, "it seems that Palpatine managed to capture your father and freeze him in carbonite before he replaced him with a clone."
Luke breathed out in shock and bewilderment at Ben's words, it sounded too good to be true as he looked back at the cave where Anakin was.
"So my father never did all those things," said Luke with joy and relief as he smiled to himself. It seems as though all the good stories his Aunt Beru had told him were true, and that the man he had always idolized as a child had always been real and unstained with the awful acts of Vader.
His Aunt Beru had told him what little she had known about his parents growing up. She had told him that his mother had been a pretty off-worlder and his father had been young and kind but sought a life out beyond the stretches of Tatooine. But they hadn't bothered to tell him the fact that Anakin had been a Jedi and fought in the Clone Wars, they only told him he had been the pilot of a spice freighter.
His Uncle never really talked about them like Beru did, but he guessed that was because he thought of himself as Luke's father instead of the man that had never raised him. His Uncle had always been a rough man, but he only acted that way towards Luke because he wanted to make sure that Luke would be able to survive the harsh life on Tatooine once he was gone. And thinking back on his Uncle made Luke realize that the reason Owen had wanted him to stay on Tatooine was to protect him from the Empire and Vader. He knew what had happened to his step-brother and he didn't want Luke to suffer the same fate as him.
He only wished he could go back in time and thank his Uncle, but he couldn't. All he could do was remember the people that had loved and raised him and cherish the memories, just like Leia had to do with her adopted family on Alderaan.
But now he was learning that his father had been alive all these years and that he was the man that Ben had told him about all those years ago after rescuing him from the Tusken Raiders, before Vader had lied to him on Bespin.
"But how did the Emperor pull it off?" asked Luke as he thought about the technicality of the situation, "wouldn't Vader have needed Anakin's memories?"
Ben nodded as he thought back to that day that they had rescued the Chancellor. He hadn't even realized that the man who had carried him out of there and accompanied him to Coruscant was not the same man he had set off the save the Chancellor with. He felt like such a fool considering he hadn't been able to sense the difference between the man who was his brother and the evil clone that traded places with him. Vader would've had to have had Anakin's memories to be able to fool everyone into believing they were the same person, which meant that somehow Palpatine had performed a memory transfer.
He had died believing that Anakin had fallen to the Dark Side and he didn't even figure it out until he had followed the disturbance in the force to Dantooine where he saw Anakin encased in carbonite and thrown into a storage room like garbage. He had been so shocked and appalled as he meditated on this discovery when the force had made it all clear to him what had really happened all those years ago.
After he realized what the Emperor had really done, he had appeared to Yoda on Dagobah and explained the situation to the Old Jedi Master, who took the news with great interest before he meditated on it.
The former Grand Master had taken it lightly compared to how Kenobi had, only nodding his head with great curiosity and slight bewilderment.
"Fooled us, Palpatine has," he said before he sat down, "meditate on this, I shall," he said as he opened himself up to the force and cut off his communication with the rest of the galaxy as he delved deeper into it to find answers.
"What should I do now?" asked Luke.
"Don't tell Anakin anything," he said with seriousness as he looked at Luke."
"Why not?" asked Luke as he sensed Anakin's presence drawing near.
"Just go to Dagobah," said Ben as he looked past Luke's shoulder as if he sensed the presence as well, "Yoda and I will explain everything to him."
"Okay," said Luke as he looked past his shoulder to see Anakin making his way up the embankment. He turned back to Ben to find the old Jedi had disappeared and he turned back to a grinning Anakin.
Anakin held the cylindrical object up as he ignited the blue blade, which illuminated the ice and snow around them.
Upon further inspection, Luke realized that this lightsaber looked remarkably similar to the one he had lost on Bespin. Which wasn't all that surprising considering they were both made by the same person so of course the color and design would be similar.
Luke smiled as he looked upon his father with new light, his father who hadn't turned to the Dark Side like he had previously thought.
"So," said Anakin as he dumped his bag into the cock-pit of his x-wing, "Dagobah?"
Luke knew Anakin was anxious for answers and he felt bad because he knew what those answers were and he was told to keep quiet about them. He knew that Obi-Wan and Yoda knew more to the story than he did and they could explain the whole thing better to Anakin than he could, so he decided to leave it in their capable hands as he jumped into his x-wing. Somehow he knew Anakin was not going to be pleased that his own son was keeping secrets from him, but he would have to cross that bridge when he came to it.
"Hey Luke?" asked Anakin as he made his way over to the other man's x-wing, "can I ask you a question?"
Luke paused as he looked up at his father, his mind racing with dread at what Anakin could say.
"Uh sure, what is it?" he asked cautiously as he belted himself into the pilots seat.
Anakin looked down momentarily before he caught Luke's eyes again, "is there something I should know?"
Luke frowned, "uhhhhh no? Why do you ask?"
Anakin sighed as he looked at the glacier ridden horizon, "I just feel like there's something you're not telling me," he said he looked back at Luke with an accusing glare.
Luke paused as panic overtook him and Anakin looked back at him with apprehension, as if he could sense Luke's uneasiness and nervousness.
"Look," said Luke as he stared at his father truthfully in the eyes, wishing he could just blurt everything out, "I wish I could tell you, but I can't."
"Why not?" pressed Anakin as anger flashed in his eyes momentarily before he simply shot the other man a glare.
Luke gulped, "Look, I can't explain it-," began Luke before Anakin cut him off.
"No," said Anakin as he held his hands up in mock surrender, "it's okay. Obviously you don't trust me even after I told you my name and helped you rescue your friends. I have done nothing but trust you, Luke and now you won't even return the favor."
Luke grimaced as Anakin jumped into his ship, the anger and betrayal coming off of him in waves as it was directed to Luke.
He feared that he may have only made the situation worse as they leave the icy world of Ilum behind them and make the jump to hyperspace.
The trip to Dagobah is short, but the silence between them makes it seem longer than it really is. Luke tried to reach out to his father through the force only to be met with a powerful and sturdy mind block in his way. He could tell Anakin was angry and obviously wasn't in the mood for polite banter, but he wasn't expecting this kind of anger from the man.
But he knew Anakin had the right to be angry at him, seeing as he was keeping secrets from him. He would be angry if he was in his place, but he wasn't in Anakin's place and he had only just met the man. He really didn't know anything about him other than that he was a Jedi who was extremely skilled with a lightsaber, and of course his father. But other than that, except from what his Aunt and Uncle had told him, he knew nothing of him.
Luke sighed as he leaned against his seat in defeat, he just hoped Anakin wouldn't be any more angry with him when he discovered the truth behind their relationship. But he knew his father was certainly not going to be happy…
Meanwhile on the other ship, Anakin grumbled as he felt the uneasiness and anxiety rolling off his companion from the ship behind him. He felt bad about blowing up at Luke like that, after all Luke had rescued him from carbonite and he had brought him up to speed on current events. Without him, Anakin would still be rotting away in a storage facility on Dantooine. But he also didn't appreciate the fact that Luke was blatantly keeping secrets from him.
He had done nothing but trust him from the very beginning and Luke wouldn't even tell him his last name. He had also lied about what he was covering up, instead redirecting him to Yoda for answers when it was obvious he knew what was going on.
The force was telling him to trust Luke, but he didn't know if he could anymore after what had just transpired. Anakin had always hated it when people lied to him, which was one of the things that had easily angered him.
He just wished that someone would tell him what the kriff was going on and exactly how he got encased in carbonite, but it was apparent that those answers would only come from Yoda.
He wondered how Yoda had faired on Dagobah all these years, after all it wasn't like the swampy planet was a nice place to go for vacation. But if he was hiding from the Empire, well that was a different story all together.
"We're approaching the planet," said Anakin over the com to Luke.
"I see," said Luke as they both dropped out of hyperspace at the same time.
The planet below them was covered completely in green and swirling clouds and as they made their descent, Anakin could feel the familiar presence of the Grand Master Jedi waiting for them below.
He had so many questions for the Master and he felt the anxiety rising in his chest as he landed his x-wing next to Luke's on the driest piece of land they could find, away from the edge of the swamp which was hard seeing as the entire planet was pretty much swamp.
He lifted the cockpit up and jumped out and Luke did the same as they walked over to where they felt the very old presence waiting for them.
"Think you would come, I did not," said the little green Jedi from where he sat on his log as he waved his stick at them, "beginning to lose patience, I was."
"Master Yoda," breathed Anakin as he looked at the former Grand Master Jedi with awe and cautiousness. He could tell that the old Jedi had aged, and that he was weaker than he had been when Anakin had last seen him.
"Much time has passed," said Yoda with a sad look on his face, "Fear things have changed, I do."
"Master," said Anakin as he stepped closer the frail looking man, "I need to know what happened."
"Much to discuss, we have," said Yoda as he started hobbling towards his little home, "Come young Skywalker! Explain everything, I shall."
AN:
Special thanks to JOUNOUCHI sama who is my beta and advice giver.