Anakin's Forgiving Son:

D200/4 ABY, Endor Moon

When Anakin and Obi-Wan arrived on Endor a few moments later, Anakin followed the sense of his son to the surface of the forest moon.

Where he found Luke standing vigil over Darth Vader's burning body.

"Well, that's rather disturbing," Anakin said wryly.

"Is it?" Obi-Wan replied teasingly, as Luke whirled around at the sound of their voices.

"It brings back a bit of unwanted déjà vu," Anakin said dryly, unable to take his eyes off the flames sending sparks into the dark of the night like fireflies.

"I suppose it does," Obi-Wan admitted. "But there is some sort of poetic closure too, don't you think? Darth Vader was created in flames, and now Darth Vader is ended in flames."

Anakin rolled his eyes at his Master. "Only you would find this poetic. I see only the burning symbol of my epic failure as a human being. You'd think it would make me feel better, but it just reminds me of everything I despise about myself," he said bitterly.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Anakin... Didn't we just have this conversation? You need to move past your history."

Anakin heaved his own exaggerated sigh and said, "Yes, Master," in a resigned tone that sounded like he wasn't going to be able to do that anytime in the next century.

As they spoke, Luke looked back and forth between the two unfamiliar Force ghosts, feeling very confused. He could swear that one sounded like Obi-Wan, but he sure didn't look the same. But there was something... He FELT right and the closer he looked, the more he found his mentor and friend in the copper bearded face of someone who barely looked thirty. And as for the other, even younger looking man... Luke's face slowly transformed into a beaming smile as he made all the connections with their conversation and what he was feeling in the Force from him. He KNEW that Force signature. He'd only felt it like that for five minutes, but he KNEW it. And now Luke had the almost ridiculous urge to jump up and down like a little kid, screaming 'Dad!' He went for something a little more dignified instead.

"Father!" Luke cried, walking the small distance between them and stopping right in front of the taller man, studying him intently. He looked, if anything, even younger than Luke did, which felt weird, but Luke shrugged it off. What made Luke really happy was to see almost identical blue eyes to his own looking back down at him with warmth and love. Their faces were similar enough too, but what Luke was really wondering was how come he and Leia ended up so SHORT? His father was taller than him by more than a head. Not fair! Luke huffed a mental sigh and shrugged that away as well. "You look amazing, Father," Luke said, smiling warmly at him.

Anakin grinned down at Luke. "Thanks." He reached out and grasped Luke's shoulders, making his son gasp in surprise. "You don't have to worry about never leaving me now. I'll always be here for you instead, like I should have been from the start. I know I didn't deserve your faith in me, but if it weren't for you, I'd still be the worst possible version of myself. I hope you can forgive me for all the wrongs I did to you." Anakin gazed down at Luke hopefully, a tinge of fear radiating from him that Luke would remember how truly evil he had been and turn from him now.

After Luke got over the shock that a ghost could feel real, he replayed his father's words in his mind. He shook his head emphatically, before more or less throwing himself forward and hugging his father tight. "No, Father. I won't forgive you, because I know you weren't yourself and that the Emperor had you under his control. I'm just happy to have you now."

Anakin stared down at the top of Luke's head in astonishment and then closed his arms around his back in grateful awe, tears coming to his eyes. He didn't deserve such an amazing son, but he wouldn't give him up for anything. He met Obi-Wan's warm gaze as he pressed his cheek to Luke's hair before closing his eyes, tears rolling down his cheek and falling onto the dark blond locks in little shimmers of light. "Luke," he whispered, all he could say.

Luke savoured the feeling of being held by his father for the first time in his life. How he'd dreamed of this moment since he was old enough to know he didn't have a father. This moment made every hour he spent wishing for a real father fade away into the past, because he could feel how much Anakin truly wanted to be a father to him. The tentative bond they'd started on the Death Star blossoming into reality as they held each other in a tight hug.

Obi-Wan couldn't help but feel a few tears of his own moisten his eyes as he observed the touching scene. This was so long overdue, and everything he'd wished for Anakin in a tiny part of him that hadn't quite been able to forget the person Anakin used to be before falling to the Dark. He let them hug for a minute before moving beside them and putting a hand on each of their shoulders, getting their attention.

Luke pulled back from the hug and looked up at Obi-Wan with a misty smile. "I almost didn't recognize you. You certainly don't look like old Ben Kenobi anymore. That's going to take some getting used to."

Obi-Wan chuckled. "I can fix it if you want." He closed his eyes and imagined himself old and grey, his form shimmering as he changed back into the person that Luke knew.

Luke raised a brow in surprise as the old Master returned and then nodded appreciatively. "Yep. That's more like it. I just can't picture you the other way."

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I can appear however you want me to, young Luke. I don't mind."

"Well, I do," Anakin said with laughter and a bit of a fake whine in his voice. "I much prefer you looking like my brother and not my grandfather. It feels all kinds of wrong."

"Live with it," both Obi-Wan and Luke said at the exact same time, making them look at each other and laugh.

Anakin laughed with them, shaking his head at the two. Obi-Wan had been in his son's life so much longer than he had, but Anakin couldn't resent him for it. Instead, he was grateful that Luke hadn't been alone. Anakin glanced at his old body still burning merrily away and suppressed a shudder. "I'm going to find your sister. You two can stay here and watch THAT burn if you want. I don't think I can look at it anymore."

Luke and Obi-Wan barely had time to nod and say 'okay,' before Anakin disappeared. Luke shrugged. "I guess I wouldn't want to watch my body burn either."

Obi-Wan rested a hand on Luke's shoulder as they stared at the flames in contemplation. "His life was never easy, but that suit holds the worst memories you could possibly imagine. The worst thing I ever had to do was defeat him when he first fell. I thought he was done for when I left him on Mustafar, burning, so I could save your mother, and thus yourself and your sister. I imagine that Palpatine saved him, but I know there couldn't have been much of him left to save. He lived the last twenty some years of his life in extreme pain, ninety percent of him just a robotic suit that kept him alive whether he liked it or not. Anakin should never have had to live like that, and it's my fault for not making sure he was truly dead before I left him. I've had to live with the fact that so much of what has happened in the last couple decades was MY fault."

Luke stared up at Obi-Wan, sympathy shining in the reflection of flames in his blue eyes. "I think my father isn't the only one who needs to move past his history."

Obi-Wan looked away from the flames and smiled wryly. "So wise, for one so young. How about a happier subject? Is there anything you'd like to know, now that I'm free to talk about the past?"

Luke nodded eagerly. "Yes. Can you please tell me about my mother? I don't even know her name."

Obi-Wan stared at Luke in shock. "Oh dear. Now that won't do. Your mother was Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo, but was born the princess of Theed, and later was elected the Queen of Naboo at the age of fourteen. She was a queen when I first met her, but excelled at running around and getting into trouble while pretending to be one of her own handmaidens. She was a beautiful person both inside and out, and a great leader. She was one of the few voices of reason during the war between the Republic and the Separatists. Everyone who knew her loved her, Anakin most of all, obviously. They married in secret when he was just nineteen and she was twenty-four. I'm still not sure how he won her heart, bratty padawan that he was, but he did. He changed after that, maturing quickly. I'm sure Padme had a lot to do with it, but I thought at the time that he'd finally just grown up. I didn't even know they were married until after I died and heard it from your mother herself. I did know that they loved each other though. Despite all my warnings about attachments, Anakin was spending as much time as possible with her and not doing a particularly good job of hiding his feelings when I saw them together. I wish I hadn't turned a blind eye, but talked to him about it instead. But I was being my own version of the child with his head buried in the sand, denying what I didn't want to deal with." Obi-Wan sighed. "So many regrets. A lifetime of them." He glanced at Luke again. "Don't let regrets ruin your life. And ignore that old 'no attachments' rule too, while you're at it. That was a load of bantha poodoo that very few Jedi actually followed. Almost every single one of us grew attached to our Padawans. And while I doubt that many actually defied convention as far as Anakin, I can guarantee I wasn't the only one who fell in love and regretted never being able to do anything about it."

Luke basically just stared at Obi-Wan with wide eyes through his speech. He was the son of a queen? WHAT? He got stuck on that thought for a while, and then the rest caught up to his stunned brain. His father married an older woman? Obi-Wan was telling him to ignore the code? Obi-Wan loved someone? Holy stars, was all he could think. "You loved someone?" he blurted out.

Obi-Wan smiled dreamily. "Yes. Yes, I do." He looked over the flames without seeing them, instead a picture of his Duchess at the forefront of his mind. "Satine," he said, almost to himself.

Luke didn't miss the change of tense and tilted his head in curiosity. "Can you tell me about her too?"

Obi-Wan nodded slowly. "Yes. Satine was the Duchess of Mandalore in a time of galactic upheaval. I would have left the Order for her if she'd but asked, at least before I met your father anyway, after that... I don't know. Anakin needed me and Satine was incredibly self sufficient and strong. It would have torn me apart to choose one over the other, and I think she knew that, because even when she needed me the most, she never asked me to leave the Order for her. Never even hinted. She just kept trucking on in that determined way she had, following her beliefs, until the day finally came when the war and my enemies caught up to her. She died in my arms, declaring her love for me. My heart broke that day. And all I could think was that we'd never even had the chance to love each other properly because of who we were, and how WRONG that was."

Luke put his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder comfortingly. He'd had a couple of serious crushes over the years, but he had yet to experience the real love that he could feel radiating from his old friend, making him realize his crushes had been juvenile in comparison. "Something tells me that you and Satine are together now, aren't you?" Luke said softly.

The dreamy smile returned to Obi-Wan's face. "Yes. We are."