*First a note: I do not own Star Wars. I have never received any payment for this or any works on this site, nor do I expect to.
Chapter 1: Making a Stand, a Precious Birth
One day on the planet D'Qar in the Ileenium system, an old man was dragged out of a shuttle by an irate looking bluish ghost.
"Bring out the General!" The ghost shouted at a stunned looking pilot. Though the ghost had a young form, his eyes were much older.
General Leia Organa had sensed something as soon as the shuttle landed on her new Resistance base, and she walked out of a building looking for them. "Han," she said in shock when she saw the old man.
"Princess," He was unharmed, except maybe for his pride, but he dusted himself off the same. His eyes then danced towards the bluish ghost in the room.
When Leia met his ghostly eyes, hers were filled with terror.
"Honey, I'm home." said the ghost of Anakin Skywalker innocently.
"What are you doing here!" Leia shouted angrily. She lifted up her cane and gave it a swing, straight through his ghostly appearance.
Though it could obviously do no damage, Anakin backed up a step and held out a hand defensively. "I know I have a lot of sins to live down, and I haven't been the best father, but I thought you'd both want to hear what I have to say. I found a way to save our Ben."
"Don't..." Leia was near tears.
"It's all thanks to you anyway!" Han shouted.
"It's not..." Leia started.
"Well, he didn't inherit his dark side tendencies from my side of the family." Han turned accusingly towards Anakin.
Anakin thought back to the day young Ben was born. As a ghost you'd expect things to go smoothly into the after life, only Anakin had bonds with both Luke and Leia that only grew stronger with his death. Whenever one was in pain, whether it be of the heart or body, he felt it too.
"Anakin! What's wrong?" Obi-Wan reached out.
"Pain. I'm in so much pain," Anakin cried. After a little while the pain receded, and Anakin felt well again. Some time later, Anakin gasped in pain again. Several former Jedi were now gathered around him, worried looks on everyone's faces. They mumbled between themselves, but no one suggested anything to help.
"Come, lets go see the Auctor." Obi-Wan helped Anakin up after the pain stopped again.
"Do you think something happened to them? The war is over, isn't it?" Anakin fretted.
Obi-Wan's face had an amused expression. "Hmm, Leia was expecting, last we checked on them. It's been seven minutes. She's getting close."
"You really think?" Anakin jumped up and ran with Obi-Wan the rest of the way.
The Auctor inhabited a workshop in the other relm. Its walls were lined with bookshelves, and in the middle of the room was a large still and numerous bottles.
As Anakin ran into the room he startled a creature, perched on the Auctor's shoulders. The creature jumped down and the bottle the Auctor had been holding fell down with it in a crash. It spilled a black oily liquid on the floor.
"Ooh, Why did you have to do that!" The Auctor growled.
"We do apologize for our haste," Obi-Wan placated.
"It wasn't our fault," Anakin defended. "The creature..." Anakin pointed to where it sat now, across the room, on a book which was opened on a stand.
"Creature… He's a monkey. Comes from a planet in a galaxy far, far away." The Auctor reached out his arm and the monkey jumped back over to him. "He has feelings too, that's right, and their hurt." The monkey rubbed his head into the Auctor's finger as he cooed.
Anakin thought he saw a trace of the black oily substance on the book when the monkey jumped off, but in another second it was gone.
"And this is the dark side of Palpatine's soul. I've been distilling it for a whole year. Filtering out the light side bits, there wasn't much in the man." The Auctor fretted, while cleaning up the black puddle. On the table, still attached to the machine was another vial with a few drops of blue liquid. "What do you want, anyways?"
Anakin moved to answer, but was struck down by another shooting pain. "Aah, I think it's getting worse."
"Breathe boy, remember to breathe." Obi-Wan put his hands on Anakin.
"Ooh, I see," The Auctor waved to the book on the stand. "Go ahead. Do your Jedi thing and access the relm of the living." As Anakin walked up to the book, The Auctor turned to Obi-Wan "You know I miss the good old days, when you jedi would die, and then leave me alone. That whole no attachments thing had it's advantages. Now you guys are constantly running in here and interfering with my work. I never get anything done anymore." He motioned wildly with his hands as he spoke.
"Hey, it's not working." Anakin looked up alarmed.
The Auctor stepped closer to the book. "You've got the wrong page there, don't you. That skill of yours doesn't allow for time travel." He started to page through the book. "And look, you've gotten creases in the pages too."
"I'm sure my padawan wishes to apologize," Obi-Wan said with a forced nod to Anakin.
"It wasn't me, it was the Monkey." Anakin said under his breath. Obi-Wan gave another forced nod, and Anakin complied. "I'm sorry."
"It's no problem. I'll apply a steamed press to the pages later. No permanent damage done. There, this is today's page." The Auctor pointed to the open book.
"We thank you very much," Obi-Wan said as Anakin projected himself into our relm.
He arrived in a hallway in a hospital in Hanna City, Chandrila. He walked towards a room where he heard voices.
"Oh, Han. I had to be there. It was the signing of the Galactic Concordance. You know how much work I've, we've all put in to get to this point," said Leia.
"You're nine months pregnant!" Han sounded upset. "I had to get the call from these boys that you were being taken here by ambulance. I nearly had a heart attack. You can't tell me it was so urgent that she be there."
"Her signature as an official witness to the signing was necessary to make the concordance a legitimate legal document." recited Sondiv Sella, an adviser and one of the two 'boys' Han had referred to earlier.
"Really?" Han eyed both men suspiciously.
"No, not really." The other, Sinjir Rath Velus, eyed the floor nervously. "Though her status does add to the legitimacy of the document."
"I was there by Mon Mothma's request, and I wouldn't have had it any other way." Leia said in a voice meant to close the argument. "Besides I didn't know I was going into labor till the signing was underway."
"Just when did this all start?" asked Han.
"This morning it started with a backache. But then I'm nine months pregnant. A backache is no surprise. When Mon Mothma was applying her signature, my water broke. By that time I had no choice, I had to wait until the signings were finished. Oooh…" Han ran over to hold Leia's hand, but she batted him away. "Water, I need water."
Meanwhile Obi-Wan came up to Anakin in the hallway. "Come, let's give them some privacy. This way is the waiting room."
Anakin and Obi-Wan followed the two advisers as they made their way out of the hospital room.
"Father…" Luke's eyes were wide as he greeted them in the waiting room.
Anakin was then gripped by another bout of pain as Leia, in the other room likely had another contraction.
"He's going through sympathy pains, I'm afraid," explained Obi-Wan. "I'm glad Leia made it here in time. I understand it was touch and go for a while."
Beside Luke the large Wookiee, Chewbacca, growled a question at Luke.
"It's my father, and Ben Kenobi." He turned back to Obi-Wan. "Not really serious. Just that Mon Mothma opted to call an ambulance to fly her to the hospital to be safest. Han reacted as, well Han, when he heard. I imagine he's making far bigger deal out of it than he needs to."
Anakin couldn't remember any more of the conversation between Obi-Wan, Luke, and the Wookiee if he tried. The next thing he remembered was the strongest of painful bouts ending and a nurse-droid coming out some time later and announcing Leia had given birth to a healthy baby boy.
Luke and Chewbacca moved to go visit with the new mother and father. Anakin began to follow them, when Obi-Wan stopped him. "We're gonna let Luke go in first. Let him explain our visit to them."
So Anakin waited… and he waited… until he got an idea. "Can't I just go incorporeal. I'll be really quiet. They won't even know I'm watching. Pp-please," Anakin begged.
Obi-Wan sighed, and fretted. "Ok, fine. But stay incorporeal until Luke says it's alright.
"Yesss!" Anakin seemed to vanish from our relm as he continued to project himself, but without a physical appearance.
As he entered the room, Anakin headed straight for the bassinet. Inside lay a baby boy, with dark hair, large ears, and his mother's eyes. Anakin reached over the infant, enveloped in those innocent eyes. As he did so, the baby cooed and reached to grab for Anakin's hand. Though he was still incorporeal, infants are often sensitive to such things. Especially force sensitive infants.
"No!" Leia's voice was firm.
"But Leia…," Luke pleaded.
"No, I won't have him anywhere near my boy. You may say he's changed, but you just don't change from that type of monster. No!" Leia's voice broke.
"He became a force ghost at the end. It wouldn't have worked if he still..."
"Come on..." Han interrupted Luke when Leia began to cry.
Anakin listened to his son plead his case and he felt immense guilt. His children shouldn't be arguing for his sake. He resigned himself to what he'd have to do, and turned again to stroke at the face of his grandson one last time. As he pulled away the infant began to cry.
"Stop." Anakin said to Luke, as he became corporeal again. "If it is what you wish, I will leave and have no part in the child's upbringing."
Leia jumped. Han stepped forward with his arms crossed. "It's what we wish," Leia said. Her voice did not waver.
Anakin nodded, the turned to Han. "Take care of them, or you will be seeing me again." As Anakin turned to leave our relm Obi-Wan stood next to the infant with a look of sympathy in his eyes.
Obi-Wan stayed to watch the infant, who lay sleeping in his bassinet. A nurse started to coo Leia into resting after ushering Han and Luke out of the room. Leia looked up at Obi-Wan and whispered "Ben."
When the nurse looked up, all she saw was the child, for Obi-Wan had faded from our relm.
Later that day, when the nurse got Leia up and prepared to nurse, she handed the baby to Leia saying, "Here's Baby Ben."
"Ben!" Leia looked at the nurse in shock.
"Earlier, when you were napping, you called him that. I thought..." she defended herself.
"Little Ben. I like the name." Han said.
Leia smiled, as she remembered Obi-Wan, Ben Kenobi. "Our only hope… Sounds fitting."
Anakin watched these events in silence.
Back in the present, Anakin waved his hands to placate Leia and Han. "Since he was born, I've respected your wishes. You said don't interfere, and I hadn't. I hadn't interfered in his life. But I also said to take care of them, or you will be hearing from me again…"
Han shifted, his arms subconsciously preparing for a fight.
"This isn't about you and me anymore. It's about my grandson. And with the current situation as it is, you can't argue me away this time." Anakin's mouth closed in a rigid line. His hands moved to his hips. "Not this time."
Why, Yes, I did just suggest a monkey's ass print as an explanation for Palpatine's sudden, and from what I hear, unexplained return to the world of the living. You're welcome.
This is my second Fanfiction. My other is still in progress. I will likely be focused on finishing it before I add more to this one. I just wanted to get this out before I finish the other one so I can share it easier. Follow to be notified when I post another chapter.
I am an unpublished, so far, hobby writer, and I write fanfiction to practice and improve my skills. So If you could be so kind to leave me a note with your thoughts, be they positive or negative, I would appreciate that very much. It helps me to know what you are thinking.
And a note on Canon... I do try to do a lot of research, and while some bits are entirely from my own imagination, example the Auctor, I do read what I can on Wookieepedia to keep things consistent. I also have not yet seen TROS, though I got my ideas here, after reading the spoilers and reviews. If I did get anything wrong, or if I missed anything that stands out to you, please leave me a comment.