Summary: REWORKED (new and improved!) AU. After nearly losing Padmé, Anakin reveals his marriage to the Council. What will be the consequences of this revelation? Is his path still fated to be the same?

Author's Note: This is a new and improved version of the original story (let's call it A Changing Fate 2.0: Angst Edition). I wanted to just start from scratch and re-upload the story after making my changes to it. The story is still pretty much the same, there are just improvements to make it better reflect the tone of the later chapters (which ended up going in a direction slightly different from what I had first planned). It's also still rated M for language, violence and sex.

This story begins during the Clone Wars episode Mystery of a Thousand Moons (s1e18). While it is not necessary to have seen that episode to understand this or the rest of the story (which takes a completely different turn than Revenge of the Sith and is most certainly AU), I guess it would be helpful to have seen it to understand the gravitas of the situation Anakin is in.

Thanks for sticking with me and this story. I hope it's better now, and I hope that means you can enjoy it more. It's taken me a long time to write this, and I'd really appreciate any feedback on it!

A CHANGING FATE

PROLOGUE

"Anakin, I…"

Anakin watched helplessly as the hologram of his beloved wife and young Padawan faded abruptly. Their sickly faces, caused by the release of the Blue Shadow Virus, were etched into his mind, as were the final words that had spilled weakly from Padmé's lips. She had been about to reveal their secret, no doubt in a moment of sheer despair. She had been about to tell him that she loved him, one more time, before she died.

Before she died.

Anakin felt paralysed, and barely registered the desperate "no!" that roared from an unknown depth inside of him. A cold sweat stuck his shirt to his skin. They were not going to die down there; he would make damn sure of it.

Obi-Wan and Jaybo, the young boy that they had found on Iego during their quest for the virus' cure, came rushing into the ship's cockpit at the sound of Anakin's distress.

"What's going on? What's happened down there?" demanded Obi-Wan, his brow furrowed as he took in the pale visage of his former Padawan and best friend.

"She… Padmé and Ahsoka… they're dying down there," Anakin managed breathlessly. It seemed like his mind was racing a parsec a minute as he tried desperately to figure out a solution for this seemingly impossible problem. "Padmé said to make sure nobody ever opened the bunker so that the virus stays trapped down there - but they are trapped down there!"

"Anakin, Ahsoka and the Senator -" Obi-Wan began, before Anakin cut him off mid-sentence, glaring at him with tortured eyes.

"We have to do something! We can't just leave them down there to die!" He slammed his fist against the control panel in an attempt to make his point, not registering the pain that reverberated up his flesh arm.

"Anakin, calm down, we're doing everything we can," Obi-Wan replied, reassuringly putting his hand on Anakin's shoulder.

Anakin roughly shrugged off the unwanted touch. How could Obi-Wan be so calm when every second wasted meant that they were closer to losing Padmé and Ahsoka? He searched his former Master's face for any sign of emotion, but found nothing. As usual, Obi-Wan was stoic as a marble statue, even in the most serious of crisis.

Rage flared up in Anakin and simmered dangerously in his soul as he stared incredulously at the older man's apparent lack of concern. Had the Jedi Order's training been so complete, so effective in Obi-Wan that he had not only rescinded all attachments but all compassion too?

Anakin was not going to lose both his Padawan and his wife at once. Obi-Wan may have renounced all familial ties and personal attachments, but Anakin certainly had not. He loved deeply and he loved fiercely, never more so than today.

"We have to do more. We have to help them, Obi-Wan!" Anakin snapped, standing up and towering fiercely above his former Master and the young ruffian Jaybo.

Obi-Wan took a step back in sheer surprise. He had never seen such a determined look in his former Padawan's eyes. Anakin had never seemed so volatile and so powerful. It was almost frightening.

Anakin's mind could focus on nothing but the last desperate vision of Padmé he had seen before the hologram had been severed. He knew that she had been trying to maintain her composure for his sake, but her eyes had been filled with fear. It was truly more than he could stand. Over two years ago, on Naboo, he had taken a vow to love and protect her, always, and it was a vow he was determined never to break, damn whatever consequences may arise.

He had to make Obi-Wan understand how important it was that Padmé not come to harm - even if it meant revealing the secret that they had suffered so hard to keep. If it made Obi-Wan realise how deeply he cared for her, how determined he would be to save her…

"I have to save her, Obi-Wan," he began breathlessly.

"Anakin, we-" Obi-Wan began, but Anakin cut him off yet again. That almost frightening look shone again, darkly, desperately, in his eyes.

"You don't understand! I have to save Padmé. I… I have to save my wife."

"Your what? Your wife?"

Obi-Wan was completely stunned. Not angry, or hurt, or anything else, just stunned. He frowned, trying to make sense of what Anakin had just said - he was not completely sure that he had heard him correctly. He couldn't have, he must be just hearing things because he was so stressed. Anakin could not have said 'wife' - certainly not. He was a Jedi Knight, a very powerful one, perhaps the most powerful one, with a Padawan no less. He was the Chosen One! He was most certainly not married.Obi-Wan would have known!

"Yes, Obi-Wan, my wife. Look, there's no time for this - I'll explain later," Anakin said in exasperation, confirming what Obi-Wan had hoped he hadn't heard. He turned back to him whilst shrugging off his Jedi cloak and running down the ship's ramp, and Obi-Wan noticed that Anakin refused to meet his eyes. "All that's important now is that we help Padmé and Ahsoka and the others trapped down there!"

"Oh Anakin," Obi-Wan sighed, following his former Padawan whilst Jaybo, who had remained completely silent throughout the exchange, brought up the rear. "I don't know how you're going to explain this one."