Anakin closed his eyes and tried to breath. Without the help of the suit, he found that his lungs burned with the effort to keep his body alive. Above, he could see Luke's face. Anakin smiled softly- he looked the same way he had looked when he was a young jedi knight. He even had a similar haircut. Luke's face went in and out of focus, and Anakin closed his eyes.
He knew this was the end.
And he was so, so sorry for it all.
He opened his eyes and saw nothing but black. He couldn't feel anything. The weight of his suit was gone, but so was the weight of the rest of his body.
"Am I finally dead?" He wondered.
"No, not quite" A voice responded. Anakin looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. It sounded so familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he knew that voice from.
"Hello? Who's there?" Anakin asked. He kept looking around, trying to find the source of the voice.
"The answer to that question, lies behind you, not ahead." The voice responded.
"I do not understand. Show yourself!" Anakin demanded.
"So be it." The voice responded. A glow caught his eye. Ahead, he could see the silhouettes of Obi-Wan and Yoda, standing next to each other and facing away from him. He began to slowly move towards them, unsure of how to respond. As he reached out his hand to touch Obi-Wan's shoulder, the ground gave out beneath his feet, and he was swallowed by the dark.
"What have you done to him?" Obi-Wan yelled. Anakin frowned. Something was very, very wrong. His body felt heavy, but not the way the suit felt heavy. This body was lighter, but the limbs felt different. He curled his fists and realized that his left arm was made of flesh. He curled his toes and realized that his legs were also made of flesh and bone. He was able to breathe again, all on his own. He reached out into the force, trying to sense where he was and what was going on. The feedback he got was overwhelming. The planet itself responded to his thoughts. He knew there was only once place in the galaxy where he had felt such a strong connection.
"Mortis." Anakin thought to himself. He was back on Mortis.
"Nothing that he wouldn't do himself." A sinister voice replied. The Son. Anakin recognized that voice. But if that was the son, and he was back in his body before becoming Vader…
Anakin opened his eyes, confirming his thoughts. Above him stood The Son, his back turned to him as he faced Obi-Wan. In front of him stood his master, still young and wearing his robes from during the clone wars. Anakin could feel the heat of the lava behind his body, and quickly rolled away, not wanting to repeat that incident ever again.
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan shouted. Anakin looked up, and saw his master's face, full of concern and worry.
"Please don't look at me like that. You have no idea what I have done" Anakin thought to himself.
"So, I see you survived." The Son said. Anakin looked at him. The Son was just as ugly as he remembered. The Son laughed.
"You're awfully quiet, Skywalker. Did you like what you saw? What you did?" The Son taunted him. Anakin frowned- he did not like what he saw, thank you for asking. The Son used the force and slammed Obi-Wan into the cliff behind him. Anakin kicked The Son's feet out from underneath him. He sat up slowly, still relishing in the feeling of having his body restored. There was so much to process. He couldn't remember the last time he was able to see this clearly, hear this clearly, or even smell this clearly. He could see The Son running over to the speeder that was left behind and taking it. He rode away, and Anakin watched him go, still in shock over having his sense restored.
"Anakin, are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked as he approached him. Anakin closed his eyes and shook his head. Even that motion, the feeling of hair on his neck, the feeling of the robes on his skin, felt so foreign, so strange that he was trying not to flinch at the sensations from his own body.
"Do you think you can stand? I'll help you up." He asked gently. Anakin took his outstretched hand and was shocked at how light his body was when Obi-Wan helped pull him up. Anakin stood on his feet, trying to balance his weight between his flesh legs. The suit was so heavy, and tilted his body forward, that he had to adjust how he walked, how he stood to accommodate. He took a step forward, trying to get used to his new- or old footing, and fell back down. Anakin was shocked, he hadn't realized how little effort it required to take a step, to walk, in his old body.
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan shouted as he reached out to catch him. Anakin flinched when he felt his arm wrap around his waist. He couldn't remember the last time he felt a human touch him, to be able to feel the warmth from someone else's hand.
"I can stand." He muttered quietly, surprised at how his voice sounded. He realized with a start that he had forgotten what he had sounded like. He spent so much time talking with that vocalizer, that he had forgotten what his own voice sounded like.
"We have to get out of here." Obi-Wan said. "The Son took our only speeder, and we cannot let him get off of the planet."
"Where is Ahsoka?" He asked, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him at the thought of his former padawan, now current padawan.
"She's on the ship, repairing the damage caused by the crash."
"The Son is probably on his way there right now." Anakin said.
"Then we need to get out of here and warn her." Obi-Wan said. "Ahsoka?" He called out while raising his wrist to speak into his commlink. Anakin looked up, watching the embers from the lava flow up into the sky, and twinkle like the stars. He had forgotten what they looked like.
"Yes, Master?" Ahsoka responded. Anakin flinched at the sound of her young voice, remembering how she sounded on Malachor. Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin and frowned. He had never seen Anakin act like this before and knew that something was very wrong with his friend.
"I found Anakin and we're alright. But The Son is heading towards you. You must disable the ship now. We cannot allow for him to escape." Obi-Wan said with an urgent tone.
"But I just fixed the ship." Ahsoka responded, exasperated.
"Ahsoka, please listen to me." Obi-Wan pleaded.
"Yes, Master." She muttered. Anakin knew that she was probably rolling her eyes, but he couldn't blame Obi-Wan for his tone. He knew that if The Son could escape then he would kill them all.
Anakin looked up at the cliffs, and then back down to Obi-Wan.
"Well, I don't see any other way out of this. Let's start climbing." He said as he pulled himself up.
Anakin and Obi-Wan climbed up the cliffs in silence. He kept replaying the scenes of the emperor on the death star repeatedly. How Luke stood for what he believed in, even when all hope seemed lost. The commitment to his friends, his sister. Anakin was so proud of the person the boy had grown into.
And so sad that he wasn't there to witness any of it.
"Anakin." Obi-Wan said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Yes?"
"I said that you're quieter than usual. Are you sure you're alright?" He asked. Anakin could feel Obi-Wan staring at him, not out of fear or sorrow, but out of concern for him.
"No." He said softly. He didn't know what to think of his current situation. He had just traveled back in time and was now in the body of his 21-year-old self. Which meant that Palpatine was still the chancellor. Which meant that Padme was still alive. And he was a Jedi knight, the hero of the grand army of the republic. Anakin sighed. He couldn't remember what his past self was like; he had spent so long trying to repress Anakin Skywalker, The Hero with No Fear, that he couldn't remember how he walked, how he spoke, what he liked to eat. He couldn't even remember the feeling of the ground underneath his feet.
They both looked to the left as Ahsoka came around on the other speeder and pulled up beside them.
"What took you so long?" Obi-Wan asked as he hopped onto the back of the speeder. Anakin followed silently, shocked at seeing Ahsoka in the flesh for the first time in years. Shocked at how young she was.
"I was busy!" She shouted. "But I was able to disable the ship. She held up the ignition key for the small shuttle. "He won't be able to go anywhere with out this." She smiled and clipped it back onto her belt.
"Did you see The Son?" Obi-Wan asked as Ahsoka steered the speeder away from the lava.
"Yes. You were right, he was trying to get off the planet." She replied.
"We have to find The Father." Anakin said. He was trying to recall what happened on mortis, but all he could remember was that after The Father took him away from The Son, and they fought. To stop the conflict, The Father used The Son's dagger and killed himself, which caused The Son to kill himself. Anakin didn't really remember how they got to that point, but he knew that they had to start somewhere. As they approached the top of the cliff, Anakin saw the outline of The Father standing by the ledge.
He had been waiting for them.
The three of them hopped off the speeder, and The Father spoke to them.
"We must stop my son." He said. "Come with me." He reached out his arms, embracing the three of them. Anakin closed his eyes, trying to center himself, and process all the things that he was sensing and feeling. When he opened them again, he was laying on a cold stone floor. He was surprised at how the cold felt, and how the hard ground felt against his body. He sat up and saw Ahsoka and Obi-Wan laying on the ground, unmoving.
"They are only asleep." The Father said from behind. Anakin turned around and stood as The Father approached. "I see you now know the truth." Anakin was silent.
"And you know what must be done." The Father continued.
"Yes, I do." Anakin responded, looking back towards Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. He and The Father watched as they regained consciousness and sat up. Anakin heard a speeder approaching and looked up. The Son had found them- wherever they were and was coming for them now.
He landed and hopped off the speeder. The Son approached them with a smile on his face, but his eyes were full of the darkside. Anakin's hand went towards his saber, but he hesitated. Last time he tried that; The Son just threw him aside. He had to think of something else. He frowned, trying to remember how The Father got the dagger that he used to kill himself when he saw it on The Son's belt. His eyes widened.
You know what must be done.
Anakin used the force to summon the dagger to his hand and relished in the feeling of having everything come so easily to him once again. The Son ran forward, his arm outstretched, reaching for the dagger. Anakin stepped to the side and drove it through his heart. He heard The Son gasp in shock and pulled the dagger out of his chest. The Son dropped to his knees, clutching his chest, and gasping for air. Anakin looked at The Father, his face expressionless. He held out his hand, and Anakin handed the dagger over to him. They watched silently as he drove the dagger through his own heart, and collapsed to the ground, next to his son. Anakin turned around to face Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan opened his mouth to say something, but then the planet began to shake. They looked around as large chunks of stone fell from above and watched as it looked like the stars were falling out of the sky.
"We have to get out of here!" Obi-Wan shouted. The three of them ran towards what looked like an exit, but the rocks kept falling, and the last thing Anakin remembered is crushing weight of one of them falling on top of him.
"General Skywalker." Rex's voice rang out. Anakin opened his eyes and sat up. They were back inside the shuttle that he assumed they came to Mortis on. He could hear Ahsoka and Obi-Wan shifting in their seats.
"General Skywalker?" Rex said again.
"I can hear you." He replied.
"We were worried about you sir; you were gone from the scopes for a moment there." Anakin frowned.
"We were gone for more than a moment." He said. He saw Rex's concerned face stare back at him.
"Sir, I don't understand. You'll have to explain." He said while turning his head slightly.
"You would not believe me if I told you." Anakin said as he grabbed onto the yoke of the ship and steered it towards the Resolute.