Chapter 1 – Arrested

Plot: Visited by a future version of his Padawan and arrested by the Time Variance Authority for "breaking" the timeline when he killed Grievous, Anakin Skywalker finds himself thrown into an entirely new world. Enlisted by the TVA to hunt down an evil version of himself, Anakin only wants to go home, but should he? Or is he always destined to turn into Darth Vader? Loki TV series AU

Author's Note: So this is basically a Star Wars version of the Loki Series, except with Anakin instead. =D The first chapter might be kind of boring, but it'll get more interesting after that, especially by chapter 5. ;) Also, none of the people around are OCs, but they won't be going by their real identities, obviously. Feel free to try and guess who they are. ^-^

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, no, Anakin is NOT going to have a romantic relationship with another version of himself. I am not a fan of Loki/Sylvie at all, but hey, this isn't really the place for an MCU rant. There won't be any romantic relationships, aside from those found in canon. Anyway, read on. :)

~ Tirana Sorki

An additional side note: If you haven't watched the Loki series, no worries. You don't need to know what happens in there to understand this. And yes, there are technically spoilers, since the plot is entirely based off that TV series, though it's been adjusted to fit Star Wars. :D

~ Amina Gila

Anakin Skywalker knew he should have expected this eventually, but he didn't think it was going to happen so soon. They just managed to pick up on a Separatist transmission; the Separatists are planning to send Grievous and Ventress to Kamino to try and stop the production of more clones. The Republic needs to get there as fast as possible to stop the attack and defend the planet. The clones are needed to protect the Republic.

He's looking over a hologram of the main facilities of Kamino with his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, when he feels a sudden shifting in the Force. It's right nearby, like nothing he's ever felt before. Then the Force seems to surge in a way it never has in the past, and Anakin spins around. A figure is standing in the corner, one who wasn't there a moment before.

A full-grown, orange Togruta with very familiar white markings is staring back at them. Her presence in the Force feels very familiar too, though it's clearly changed through the years. Anakin blinks in shock, hardly even sure if he's actually seeing what looks very much like an older version of Ahsoka Tano. Is he imagining things? This doesn't make any sense.

"Anakin." She's the first to speak, the name coming out quiet, almost pained.

"What in the blazes is happening?!" exclaims Obi-Wan.

"Ahsoka?" Anakin breathes, hoping that he's dreaming, except he knows he isn't. Either something very strange is going on, or he's gone crazy. "... What?" His real padawan is back on Coruscant, unless she spontaneously became thrice her age and teleported onto the Star Destroyer, which is impossible. So what...?

"Do you... know anything about the World Between Worlds?" older-Ahsoka blurts awkwardly.

"The – what?" repeats Anakin in confusion.

"It's a doorway of sorts between time and space where everything from the past, present, and future exists at once. And from any timeline," she explains, still clearly uncomfortable, "So... that's how I'm here." Anakin's never heard of it, and his first instinct is to laugh it off, but the truth of her words rings in the Force. Besides, he can't deny that what looks like a future version of Ahsoka is standing right in front of him.

"You're from the future?" asks Obi-Wan dubiously.

She nods. "I – I came here to..." She shifts, and Anakin can sense more than see how uncomfortable she is. She's holding herself together so remarkably well – control she for certain didn't learn from him, of all people – but there's a sensation of underlying darkness and loneliness he's never felt before. "Say goodbye."

Why – why would she come here for that unless something happened to him and Obi-Wan in the future she's from? What – what could have happened? He knows how possible it is that somehow one or both of them could end up getting killed in the war, but for some reason, something is telling him it's a lot worse than that. It's unsettling, to say the least.

"What happened?" Anakin inquires warily.

"I probably shouldn't say much, but we lost the war. Not to the Separatists, to the Sith. The Republic and the Separatists fell in the end, and the Sith formed an Empire."

They – but that's – It's not possible. Everything about it screams wrong, but Ahsoka isn't lying. She wouldn't have a reason to, and the darkness in her presence speaks of the truth of her words.

"The Jedi weren't able to stop them?" Obi-Wan asks.

Ahsoka shakes her head. "They were all destroyed." What?!

"Destroyed?" Anakin echoes in shock.

"Everything fell apart not long after I left," she says quietly. "I wish I had made a different choice, but I was only looking out for myself."

"I know whatever it was you did was the best choice," assures Anakin. He doesn't really know what all she's talking about, but even if this is a different version of Ahsoka, it's still her. He hates seeing her hurting so much, and it's worse since he has no idea what happened or how he can help her.

She sighs. "There's so many better ways I could have handled the situation.

"Ahsoka, don't blame yourself. If you failed somewhere, it's because I didn't teach you right."

"I wish I'd done things differently," she murmurs, "I wish I could've been more like the person you would've been proud for me to be." This... he's never heard his Padawan talk like this version of her is now. What happened? Whatever it is, she clearly blames a lot of it on herself, and there's no way that it's her fault.

"I already am proud of you, Snips," Anakin promises, "I always was."

She seems to nearly freeze for a moment at the nickname, maybe as though it's something she hasn't heard him say in so long. When she looks up at him again, he's almost certain he sees tears in her eyes. "And you're the best master I could've asked for." He's not quite expecting it when she suddenly moves closer and wraps her arms around him in a tight embrace. It's strange, to be hugging an older version of his padawan who's as tall as him, when his Ahsoka is barely up to his shoulder, but he returns her embrace with equal fervor.

When she finally pulls away again, her gaze turns to Obi-Wan, who's been standing off to the side in silence, clearly unsure what to say. "It's good to see you again too, Master Obi-Wan," Ahsoka says. As happy as she obviously is to see him, Anakin can still definitely tell which of them she came here to see.

"And you, Ahsoka," replies Obi-Wan.

"I wish I could stay here," she admits after a moment, "But I have to go back."

Anakin can't help the unreasonable surge of sadness that nags at his heart. He wants to ask her to stay, but she can't. She's from a different time and place, and that's where she belongs. Still, it feels like there's so much more he should say to her before she goes. He doesn't even know where to start, but one thought sticks out against all others, no matter how un-Jedi-like it may be. Obi-Wan might scold him about it later, but right now, he could care less. "Ahsoka, I..." He pauses, shoving aside any reservations about this whatsoever. "I love you. I always will."

"And I you," she whispers, her voice shaking, before she disappears, almost as quickly as she appeared.

**w**

Anakin's mind is still reeling from his encounter with Ahsoka, who apparently somehow time-traveled from the future for a final goodbye. It's a dark future out there awaiting, that much he knows with certainty. He doesn't know what happened, but he isn't about to sit back and let things come to whatever future Ahsoka had experienced.

He knows – somewhere – that if the Force truly willed the time Ahsoka's from to be, nothing he could do would prevent it. Maybe it is the Force's will for the Jedi to be destroyed, for the Republic to fall, for Ahsoka to live the rest of her life out alone without him. He doubts it. But regardless, he won't sit back and let it happen. Those are the only thoughts occupying his mind when they reach Kamino, and when the attack begins.

He doesn't even know how to go about changing things, but maybe the best place to start is to do things differently than they always have. So, when Obi-Wan tells him to go protect the DNA vial since Ventress is likely after it, he somehow succeeds in convincing him to go instead so Anakin can fight Grievous. The fight is longer than anticipated, and quite draining, but at the end of it, Grievous's decapitated body falls into the ocean with a very satisfying splash. He hopes the clones don't mind that he'll forever be stranded on their home-planet now.

Anakin makes it back right in time to find Obi-Wan and Ventress fighting, and with the clones help, overpowering her is surprisingly easy. They bring the unconscious assassin onboard the Star Destroyer in Force restraints before setting course for Coruscant. Obi-Wan heads off to give a report to the Council, probably with the best news they've reported since the war started.

Anakin is making his way through the hall of the cruiser when he suddenly senses a disturbance in the Force. He has a sudden sense of foreboding unlike anything he's ever felt before. The shift in the Force only seems to intensify, before suddenly a strange golden door materializes in front of him. What?! And here he thought nothing could get stranger than seeing future Ahsoka.

Three figures step through the door – portal? – and it disappears behind them. They're each dressed entirely in black with helmets, and the uniforms are practically identical, except varied to fit the species each of them are. All of them are poised for a fight, though Anakin has no intention of making a move on them – he only wants answers.

Another golden door opens right near the previous one and what looks like a Kaleesh male in the same uniform steps through. "Appears to be a standard sequence violation," the man announces, looking a small device he's holding, "Branch is growing at a stable rate and slope. Variant identified."

Anakin blinks at him. "Uh, what?" The Kaleesh feels familiar in the Force, though he can't place him, and he isn't sure why.

"On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Sacred Timeline." The man continues to spew out what sounds like literal nonsense and word soup, "Hands up."

The other three people activate what look a little like tiny, golden electrostaffs. "You're coming with us," the Kaleesh declares.

"Excuse me?" Anakin demands, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you, and how did you get here? And what are you even doing?"

"Last chance, variant," retorts the man, activating his own staff and walking towards him threateningly.

"You could at least be polite enough to explain who you are!" snaps Anakin frustratedly as they approach. One of them reaches out, grabbing his arm, and he jerks away. He doesn't know who these crazy people are, but he wonders if they're from a different time like Ahsoka was. He's definitely not going anywhere with them, that much he knows for certain.

The Kaleesh hits him with the end of his strange possibly-electrostaff. The world seems to suddenly be going in slow motion because he can't move even though he tries, but no one else seems remotely affected. The man promptly snaps a collar around his neck. The first thought that crosses his mind is that it really reminds him of a slave collar. It's a Force-dampener, too, he realizes with growing alarm. Who are these people, and what do they want with him?

"Reset the timeline," the Kaleesh orders as two of the guards roughly shove him towards the golden door.

The entire scene changes before his eyes as he steps through. The golden door behind them disappears as soon as they're all through. There's a small room with red and gold walls on the other side. The guards on either side of him shove him forwards in another much larger room. People of all different species are working around a large central desk.

"What is this place?" Anakin demands, trying to hide his growing panic. He has no idea who these people are or what they could want with him. It's not as though he hasn't been captured before – he has been. Many times, and it's never been pleasant.

Making a run for it is probably the stupidest thing to do right now, especially in a room full of people like this and when he doesn't even have a clue where he is, but he doesn't really have a better option right now. If he can get away from them, maybe he can hide somewhere and figure out what to do then. He can still follow the Force, even if actively drawing on it is much harder. The only guard with him now is the Kaleesh, so now is probably his best chance.

He promptly bolts. The Force is surging around him suddenly, and the next thing he knows, he's standing right back where he was before. The expression on the guard's face is almost smug. The collar, Anakin realizes. It allows them to control his movements. He knows what it's like far too well to be forced to follow orders against his will. He's pretty much done it his whole life, especially with Watto, and even now with the Jedi. But now... now they – whoever they are – they have complete control of him. It's a horrifying realization.

"Come on," the Kaleesh orders, moving forwards. They stop outside another door, and the man presses a button on a control panel. It slowly slides open, and he shoves Anakin inside.

The doors slide closed behind as he looks around the darkened room, half expecting it to be a prison cell though it looks nothing like that. After a very peculiar clothes-changing encounter with a droid – which literally even took the glove on his prosthetic away – and instead he's wearing a strange uniform that says 'TVA' on the front, the floor beneath suddenly gives way, and he falls into another dimly lit room right below. A blue Twi'lek woman is sitting on the other side of a desk with a large stack of flimsiplasts on it. A Loth cat in the corner meows as it backs away from him.

"Please sign to verify this is everything you've ever said," the woman states, pushing the stack of flimsiplasts towards him. Pardon? They want him to sign what?

"Excuse me?!" Anakin blurts out. This keeps getting weirder and weirder. How exactly did they dig through his entire life to find that out? Or are they complete lunatics?!

The machine next to the woman whirs as it prints out another paper. What old technology. Who even uses things like that in this day and age anyway? She sets the paper on top of the stack. "Sign this too."

Anakin blinks, staring down at the flimsi which now has the words 'Excuse me', printed on it. Okay, this is the dumbest, stupidest thing anyone's ever asked him to do or that he's even heard of, for that matter. He decides it's best to not comment, unless he wants another piece of paper added to this madness.

Fine. He might as well get this over with if he ever wants to find a way out of here. Stepping over to the table, Anakin scribbles his name on the sheet. He takes a step back from the desk only for the floor to promptly give out again. Thanks to all the jumping off cliffs he does, he easily catches his balance despite the unexpectedness, finding himself standing in front of what looks very much like a stupid metal detector machine that went out of use only about a nine hundred thousand years ago. Literally.

And is that a pure blood Sith standing on the other side? Yes, he knows that not everyone of that species are necessarily Sith, but that doesn't mean it isn't disturbing to see him standing there, part of this strange organization, whoever they are. "Please confirm to your knowledge that you are not a fully robotic being, were born an organic creature, and do in fact possess what many cultures would call a soul."

Anakin might be thinking more about how weird these people are if not for how jarring the unexpected question is. He is part mechanical, after all. And he's only half human, technically, if these claims of him being the Chosen One are really the truth. How would he even... know?

"How would someone even know if they were born organic? It's not like they would remember," Anakin points out, trying to conceal his fear.

"Thank you for confirming," the person replies, because apparently his question answered something? "Move through."

Anakin takes a step closer to the machine, and then hesitates. "What happens if I was a robot and didn't know it?"

"The machine would melt you from the inside out," he replies as though it's a perfectly natural everyday occurrence. "Please move along, sir."

Well... he's not a robot, other than his mechanical arm, and the other man seemed to only be referring to individuals who are fully robot. Anakin should be fine. Maybe. There's no point delaying the inevitable. Bracing himself against whatever is to come, he steps into the machine, a bright light flashing down on him as he does.

"What was that?" Anakin demands as he steps through the other side.

"Your temporal aura," the man replies, holding up a card with strange colorings on it. "Please, through the door."

There's not a point refusing so he heads through it, bracing himself for any number of peculiarities on the other side. Instead, he's greeted by a large room. There are a couple guards in uniform standing around, and right near the doorway is someone else dressed in similar clothes to himself, with the words 'TVA' on the front. It must be a prisoner uniform of sorts?

He stops in his tracks when he takes a second look at the other variant (whatever that means anyway) who's there. Is that seriously Aurra Sing? He supposes it could be someone who looks a lot like her, but still. It's rather unsettling to see. He turns the other way, not interested in striking up a conversation with someone like her. She doesn't even glance at him twice, so he's not sure if she even recognizes him anyway.

"Take a ticket," the guard instructs.

Aurra ignores him altogether and walks past into the room. Anakin is almost tempted to do the same, but he's not sure what would happen if he did, and there's no reason to cause chaos because he was being a stubborn idiot. That doesn't mean he isn't totally lost and really wants an answer as to who these people think they are, anyway.

"Hey there!" calls a high, pitched screechy voice, and he turns around to see a screen turning on, an orange chronometer appearing. With a smile that might actually have been cute if not for what she was saying and her talking in the most unbearably infuriatingly screechy voice ever to exist, she begins to explain what he's not sure why no one bothered to tell him in the first place. Apparently, the people who arrested him, called the 'Time Variance Authority,' claim to have organized the multiverse into one timeline, by instruction of these so-called Time-Keepers. This one timeline they call the Sacred Timeline apparently. When people don't do what the Time-Keepers want, they're called 'variants' and brought here while the TVA 'fixes their mistake.' That sounds extremely... authoritarian, in his opinion. Not to mention utterly ridiculous.

The words that really catch his attention though, is the part about losing his place in the timeline. If they took him here, does that mean they destroyed the place he was from? That everything Ahsoka told him was what would have happened if he hadn't... somehow changed something during the battle of Kamino? What, do these people think he should sit back and let that happen? Sorry. Not sorry. He absolutely refuses to do anything of the sort.

"How can anyone even believe in this?!" Anakin exclaims. Who put them in charge anyway? Because he's certain it wasn't the Force.

He turns around at the sudden loud voices from across the room, one of the minutemen demanding for Aurra's ticket. He doesn't quite catch her reply, but it was definitely something very unflattering. The minuteman activates his weapon, holding it against her. The former bounty hunter slowly disintegrates into nothing as he watches in horror.

"Thanks for visiting the TVA. Don't hesitate to let us know how we're doing," the orange chronometer – Miss Minutes – cheerfully announces. Terribly. They're doing absolutely terribly. Not that he'd say so.