AUTHOR: agentj
STATUS: incomplete
CATEGORY: Drama: Angst, Friendship (Anakin/Obi-Wan), Romance (Anakin/Padmé)
CHARACTERS: Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padmé
TIMEFRAME: Post-Saga: post-RotJ
CONTENT WARNING: none
SUMMARY: Darth Vader's ending is only Anakin Skywalker's beginning.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Technically, this is a sequel to Keep Falling Down, but it's easily readable as a "what happened next" scene to the end of the series.
DISCLAIMER: I willingly and willfully use characters and situations copyrighted by Twentieth Century Fox and Lucasfilm Ltd. without permission, and without monetary gain. Additional characters and situations are copyright 2005 Lisa D. Jenkins.
PART 1 - Flurries of Energy
He was awoken by the sound of sunlight. Yes, he knew the sun could make no sound, but then again, no sun could shed this light.
Peering at his surroundings, he looked dazed and confused. Although the furnishings were familiar, the feeling they gave off was not. He sat up from the luxurious sleep couch and blinked slowly. Light infused itself from every crevasse, every pore, even the shadows themselves, as if every object was made out of the light itself.
There was a roaring sound that had wakened him, nonetheless, and it seemed to be coming from everywhere. It was a low rumble like the sound of the swish of sand during a storm, only without the sand. Or perhaps it was like the sound of a torrent rainstorm, only without the rain.
Swinging his legs from under the covers, his bare feet found the floor. He stared down at his legs as if they shouldn't be there at all. For the first time since his childhood, the ground was warm, welcoming. Still, something was calling him, and he had to seek it out. He stood, grabbed a cloak laying at the foot of the sleep couch, and draped it around his shoulders. His bare feet padded out into the common room.
He blinked at the bright light roaring from the open veranda. His footfalls slowed and finally stopped before the open space, his eyes transfixed on the opaline shimmers that streamed like water around his abode and outward toward the sea of white.
The light was singing.
Individual streams of light rolled fluidly off the top of the vaulting and raced onward into infinity. Each new light added to the light already streaming past the open area; a new harmonic of sound added to the symphony.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" a low, cultured voice spoke in reverent tones.
He took a sharp breath, for he recognised the voice, but he did not turn to face it. Reluctantly, his eyes fell from the river of light and tried to look from over his own shoulder, still unwilling to turn his body toward the source of the voice.
The sound of heavy robes shifted behind him. He knew that sound like he knew the heat of the sun on his face. As the clap of duraskin soles slapped upon the carpeted floor, he returned his gaze to the resounding light.
An intimate presence hung at his shoulder, and although he still refused to turn, he could see the reddish browns and tan tunics he knew he would see from the corner of his eye.
"Yes," he pushed out the sound of his voice with an exhalation. He couldn't deny it. The resplendence before them was astounding.
He felt eyes probing him, studying him. His body trembled from a torrent of emotions that swam throughout his body. He wanted to spin around and clasp the man behind him in an enveloping embrace and never let go. He wanted to shout words of anger and regret. He wanted to fall to the floor in a heap and bewail the unfairness of life.
Instead, he just stood there, shaking.
A reassuring weight pressed against his shoulder. "Anakin," said the voice behind him, emotion leaking out of each syllable like a dam about to burst.
The deluge of emotion spilled forth from Anakin as he gasped to hear that voice say his name once more.
He turned. "Obi-Wan..." Anakin clasped his mentor's shoulders, his face a mixture of joy and regret. Obi-Wan smiled up at Anakin, the sadness of the older man's relief making his eyes glitter.
"I...was beginning to think this was a dream..." Anakin whispered, afraid to break the spell.
"No. It's real, Anakin," Obi-Wan responded, his arms clasping those of his former apprentice.
"Then—that means I'm—"
"Dead—yes." Obi-Wan smiled wider in a privately-shared joke.
Anakin's mouth flattened and tried to spread across his face, as if it had forgotten how to form expressions. With a gasp, he finally found a smile—although it was laced with a deep sadness—and he pulled the man to his taller frame, engulfing him with his embrace.
Wrapping his arms around his now fully-grown charge, Obi-Wan blinked back the tears that stung his eyes.
"Welcome home, Anakin." The man's voice radiated the warmth of deep affection and love.
Anakin's tall frame shuddered as he tried to suppress tears of anguish and sorrow. Waves of compassion flowed between his mentor and himself, soothing the wounds that remained between them.
With a deep cleansing sigh, Anakin released Obi-Wan. His face still wet with tears, Anakin examined Obi-Wan's features. He appeared before his friend as he had once been decades ago—a Jedi in the prime of his life with the subtle touches of grey outlining his face, the gentle lines of laughter and pain tracing his features. Obi-Wan's blue-green orbs glittered with underlying amusement and contentment.
Anakin's eyes wandered past the man before him, glancing over the furnishings that had once made up the apartment he and his wife secretly shared on Coruscant. But this was not Coruscant. The lingering traces of his wife's energies could not be felt here, only the flowing light of the Force.
"Where...where are we?" Anakin asked.
"Somewhere between the world of the living...and the next," Obi-Wan answered.
Turning, Anakin faced the resplendence of the streaming light. Tears stung again at his eyes. Many times Anakin had thought about what awaited him on the other side. He had imagined all sorts of horrors and tortures which he was certain was his due. Instead, Anakin rediscovered his faith, releasing his control to the will of the Force, and found forgiveness.
Anakin's final fate was kinder than he would ever have imagined for himself, but yet...Anakin half-expected to see her waiting for him. Why should she? he asked himself. I was the cause of all her pain and suffering. I took away her life—took her from the one thing she most desired—a family...
"My prison," Anakin announced with finality, his eyes falling to the floor beneath him.
"No!" cried Obi-Wan as he placed a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. "No, Anakin! You are free to go where you wish!"
Anakin's eyes rose thoughtfully, his mind spinning as he thought about all the places he once dreamed of as a boy on the remote planet of Tatooine. "Anywhere?"
"Yes, Anakin!" Obi-Wan's smile spread across his face and was caught by Anakin who began to grin again himself.
For the first time in his life—or death, Anakin thought with bemusement—he was free to choose. Free to be whatever he wanted to be. No longer did the title Jedi or Chosen One or slave or Sith come attached to his being.
Anakin frowned, realising he had no idea what to do with his freedom. "Where would I go?"
Obi-Wan's smile turned thoughtfully mischievous. "Well...you have a choice. You could...stay here. Watch your grandchildren grow up."
"Grandchildren!" Anakin's eyes lighted with surprised amusement as he turned slightly to look down on his friend.
Obi-Wan nodded.
Anakin drew in his thoughts and pondered that possibility. He had missed seeing his children grow into the incredible individuals they had become, but perhaps he could enjoy watching his children's children, living vicariously through their own experiences.
"Yes," he answered, a gentle happiness crossing his countenance. "I would like that. Very much." He smiled silently to himself as he imagined the children that rogue Han Solo and his rebellious daughter Leia Organa would produce. Was the galaxy ready for such a bond?
Had it been ready for the bond of a reckless Jedi and his senator, his angel queen?
No, perhaps not.
Anakin let out a long, lingering sigh and shook his head, tossing his tawny locks lightly. "No. I've interfered in my children's lives too much already. Caused too much pain. I should...let them live their own lives. Make their own choices." And mistakes, Anakin amended silently to himself.
Anakin felt Obi-Wan's gentle understanding through the Force, his hand still pressing its support against his back. He savoured the feeling of untarnished acceptance, and accepted what fate the Force still had in store for him.
"Where to next, Master?" Anakin smirked down at his friend, the old strands of camaraderie returning between them.
Obi-Wan's mouth parted in a wide smile, then his eyes drifted over the veranda into the streaming light ahead. "We begin a new journey."
Anakin's gaze followed that of his master. As he viewed the luminescence, he felt a tug at the energies within him, pulling him toward the nexus, like the call of the ocean to the river.
Raising his arms as if in benediction, Anakin closed his eyes and let the energies of the Force penetrate him. The effulgence that surrounded him became a part of him, and suddenly he, too, was a strand of light flowing towards the source of all life.