His eyes snapped open and he gasped. A rush of fresh air rushed into his lungs and he greedily sucks it in with ease.
'Impossible, I haven't been able to breathe without feeling as if my lungs were on fire in years'. He felt like he was floating, he couldn't tell in what; his eyesight was still very blurry, but it was becoming more focused as time passed. He soon realized that he was floating into what felt like a bacta tank and his mouth was attached to a breathing apparatus.
'What am I doing here? I'm supposed to be dead. I died; I remember that clearly. I died in my son's arms and then Obi-wan came to me as I was floating to the other side. He taught me how to become a Force ghost, though I did not deserve to become one with the Force. I stood next to my former Master and Yoda as we all watched with pride as Luke and Leia joined the celebration that ensued on Endor upon the destruction of the second Death Star.
And moments later, I wake up in a lab. How is this possible, didn't Luke burn my remains? Yoda said that he watched him building a funeral pyre and giving me a proper farewell.'
As his senses were finally completely restored, he felt something that he hadn't felt in years. His fingers and toes. Not the cybernetic implants that caused him tremendous pain over the years, a grim price for the superhuman strength they provided him with, but a pleasant tingling sensation. He turned his head to the left, he was greeted with the most unexpected sight, a fully restored arm. He turned to the right, the same pleasant sight. He looked down and smiled in delight; he had legs again.
'My body has been restored! How? Why? Who would do that for me? My children perhaps? Impossible, they lack the resources. The Empire? I seriously doubt that. The remaining officers would be overjoyed by my demise. The Emperor himself? Ha! Absolutely not, he was in search of another apprentice since day one; one who was not a threat to his power. The Sith? No, it is not the way of the Dark side to give second chances to failed Sith Lords, especially those who turned their backs to it and returned to the Light.
Besides, I discovered that the Sith of Old would have rejected me on sight because I was tainted by the Light since I used to be a Jedi. Sidious was the only Sith who took a Jedi as his apprentice. Not just once, but twice. Count Dooku and I. Well, I'm at a loss. For the life of me, I cannot think of a single person in the Universe who would want me alive and intact.', just then a mechanical voice filled the air:
"LIFE FORCE TRANSFER COMPLETE. SENSES FULLY OPERATIONAL. INITIATING TANK PURGE."
'Wait, what?', his eyes went wide as the bottom of the tube vanished, and he slipped out of the tank along with the gallons of fluid that were keeping him afloat. He crushed on the tiled floor of the lab. It took him several tries to stand up, his unused limbs failed to obey him at first, and to top it all, he kept slipping on the wet floor. Finally, he was able to stand up and take baby steps forward. The disembodied mechanical voice spoke again:
"LORD VADER, WELCOME TO THE DANTOINE CLONING FACILITY. YOU WILL FIND CLOTHING IN THE CLOSET ON YOUR LEFT AND A YT-1300 LIGHT CORELLIAN FREIGHTER WILL TAKE YOU WHEREVER YOU NEED TO GO. A MESSAGE FROM YOUR BENEFACTOR IS EXPECTING YOU AS SOON AS YOU ACTIVATE THE ENGINES. HAVE A NICE DAY."
The door leading outside opened. Not wanting to allow curious prying eyes to gaze upon his naked glory, Anakin Skywalker hurried to the closet and opened it. There, he discovered not only a full set of Jedi clothing of his favorite darker variety but also a Lightsaber. As soon as he put his new clothes on, he ignited the Lightsaber. It was green, but he could not identify who it belonged to initially.
'Probably to one of the Jedi who lived here millennia ago. After all, these are the ancient Jedi temple ruins I explored years ago. Well, whoever it belonged to, I thank them and promise to use it only for good this time.', he clasped his new Lightsaber on his belt and looked at the full-length mirror on the inner side of the closet door.
He was astonished, he looked exactly like he looked before Mustafar. Before his arrogance and rage sentenced him to a half-life. A life full of pain, anguish, hatred, and atrocities. He was a hubris against life, a walking, talking, abomination, who only left death and destruction in his wake.
'Not anymore, I will make things right', he vowed and exited the facility. True to the computer's words, the Corellian freighter was waiting for him right outside the ruins. It was a much smaller but less battered version of the Millennium Falcon. He waved his wrist on the sensor and his wrist band biped. A ramp came down, and Anakin entered his new ship. He climbed up to the bridge and sat on the captain's chair.
As soon as he ignited the engines, a mechanical whistle informed him that he had a message waiting for him. He almost slipped out of his chair as soon as he saw the person responsible for his resurrection. There, in all her mischievous, cheeky glory sat Dr. Chelly Lona Aphra, the bane of his existence, the thorn on his side...
the smile on his scarred face behind his austere mask whenever he saw or thought about her...
Krif, even after he threw her out of that airlock, he regretted doing that and mourned her loss, and that on its own was extraordinarily unusual for him because he had killed thousands of people for much lesser transgressions than the betrayal he suffered at her hands.
He felt such joy, a very unbecoming emotion for a Sith Lord of his caliber when he discovered that she survived the freezing vacuum of space! How did she do that? He never got to ask her. She was supposed to be dead, but there she was on every Imperial channel, being her usual cheeky self.
Despite ordering her death that day, he was certain that she will cheat it once again and make a fool out of him. Normally, such a thing would infuriate him, however, he didn't mind it as much as he should when it came from her. It thrilled him. He was even more thrilled when he hunted her down those ruins, knowing full well that he would catch her, but won't kill her.
He was planning on taking her back to the Executor and keeping her with him at all times. As what, he wasn't certain, but keep her he would. Little did he know that it would be him who would end up falling into a trap and she would walk away again, completely unscathed. Oh, he did howl in frustration that day but grinned like a goofy schoolboy that evening aboard his ship when he recalled what she said to him as she walked away.
"You're the best thing that ever happened to me!"
As much as it had pained him to admit it to himself that night, she was the best thing that ever happened to him in the past twenty or so years. That, and discovering that he had a son. And later, a daughter. Yes, Chelly Lona Aphra had been a thorn on his side and a pain in his arse, but he wouldn't have it any other way. She brought thrills, joy, and comfort in his life. She made him smile and even laugh when he was alone in his chambers remembering her antics. However, for the life of him, he couldn't understand why she would go into such lengths to resurrect him, as far as she was concerned, he wanted her dead.
"I suppose I'm about to find out", he smiled as he studied her beautiful face, so much like Padme's, with the almond-shaped brown eyes, creamy white skin, and full red lips, lips that would give him a lopsided mischievous smile and go into details about her previous escapades, whether he wanted to hear about them or not. Despite protesting, he enjoyed her incessant chattering, because it brought peace to his blackened soul, his pain would disappear when she talked nonstop. Krif, he was even able to sleep for hours on end at the copilot's seat as they traveled to their next adventure.
Her cheek, her sass, her outright defiance, and insubordination, was tolerated by him because of what she was to him. His balm, his comfort, the only person that made him feel like a human and not an evil mechanical hybrid abomination. Aphra's hologram smiled at him.
"Hello, Boss! You're probably wondering why the krif would I resurrect you after you tried to snuff me out so many times. You must think that I am demented. That I have a death wish or something. Perhaps you're right, there's a distinct possibility that I am insane and have a death wish.
However, what I also have is a dept. I owe you, Boss. I owe you an explanation for my betrayal and I owe you extreme gratitude for the thrills I experienced at your service. My betrayal was unintentional, for the first time in my life I was caught off guard and self-preservation kicked in. We were discovered and only by ratting you out would I have been able to save my own skin. I knew you would be fine; you are Darth Kriffing Vader for krif's sake, you would have survived the Emperor's wrath. I thought that I would be able to talk myself out of it as well. That you would somehow forgive me. But I was wrong as well as deluded. I did pay for that.
Anyhow, as I told you the first day I met you, you're what I've been looking for all my life. I was your biggest fangirl, growing up, and when you came searching for me and my skills, it was a dream come true for me. I enjoyed every single moment I spent with you and I wouldn't change a thing. Except for the betrayal part, I would totally change that.
You were the best thing that ever happened to me, so when I stumbled across that cloning facility and managed to decipher the ancient script that provided detailed instructions on how to transfer someone's essence to a clone upon death, I jumped at the opportunity.
You have bled way too many times in my ship's medical bay, so collecting your genetic material was not that hard. I always have trouble taking out the trash, so I never disposed of the bloodied needle and the gauzes, after I stitched you up. Apparently, that was all that computer needed to collect enough genetic material to clone you. It promised to grow your body till it your mid to late twenties, weren't you between the ages of twenty-five to thirty when you had that horrible accident that turned your life into a living hell?
The computer told me that the Force will transfer your essence to the new body, and you will be able to live a long and healthy life, so long as you stir away from the Dark Side. If you use it, you will rot away just like the Emperor. So, as long as you live by the Jedi code, you will be fine. I know you can do it; I got faith in you. There's still good in you, Anakin Skywalker, I can feel it.
You are free now, the ship is yours, I won it off a smuggler fair and square and transferred the deeds to you along with a fair amount of credits. There are plenty of clothes in your cabin, both Jedi and non-Jedi and enough food and drinking supplies to last you a year. You can go wherever you want, and be whatever you want, the choice is yours.
Or you can come and find me on Tatooine, your home planet, I got business there that will probably take a kriffing long time to complete. As I said, the choice is yours. I'll be waiting, Boss. Hopping that we meet again a least once more before we part ways. Till we meet again, then.", and the transmission was ended with her blowing him a kiss and winking as her trademark lopsided grin graced her beautiful features.
'Well, Tatooine it is then.", Anakin grinned and set the coordinates. 'I really wished you had picked a different planet, Doctor, I hate sand', he sighed.