Anakin awoke to find himself no longer on the fiery planet of Mustafar, but in a bright white room.
Where am I?
Everything around him was white and for a moment he thought he had died and gone to heaven, but then he heard a swoosh, as though a door were opening and turning his head slightly he saw a medical droid roll in.
"Master Skywalker, you are awake. That is good news," it said, rolling over to his bed.
"What happened?" he asked, trying to sit up. Pain shot through his body and he groaned and gave up, forcing himself to lay back down and look at the ceiling.
"You had a very lucky escape sir...please be careful, you underwent alot of lifesaving surgery."
"Lifesaving?...what do you mean?"
"Well sir, when you came in about four hours ago, you looked like this..." a hologram picture of Anakin's charred body suddenly appeared infront of him and Anakin gasped in shock, not able to believe that that was him four hours earlier.
"But we have now re-grafted your skin completely, transplanted hair and basically tidied you up a bit so that now you look like this..."
The picture was removed and a mirror returned in it's place. Anakin found himself staring up at his old face again, only now the scar above his eye had gone aswell...the only indication that anything had ever happened to his face.
How is this possible? he thought, reaching up one hand and studying it to find that it also had skin now aswell. Then he put the hand to his face and felt the skin on his cheek under his brand new fingertips.
He raised his mechanical hand to look at aswell and found that new skin had been grafted over that aswell, save for a small square that was the way he serviced his arm. This meant that he no longer had to keep cutting open the skin when his hand needed servicing.
"The fire destroyed most of your lungs, but we have been able to repair them. However you must keep these tubes in for the rest of your life..."
Anakin lifted his head a little to see what the droid was talking about and saw two tiny tubes sticking out of his chest. They were attached to a tiny control panel that sat off to one side.
"They feed directy into your lungs, allowing you to breathe. Other wise we would have had to put you in this..."
A huge black metal mask was placed infront of him and Anakin had to hold back another gasp of shock as the frighteningly monstrous mask stared back at him. It had no real eyes, just black lenses and the nose and mouth were not clearly distinguished.
I am so glad I am not wearing that! Give me tubes in my chest anyday!
"You have been made a new suit that will accomodate your new breathing equipment and should also help you balance on your new legs.
"My new what!"
"Your new legs sir. Your legs were lost in the lava, so we had to attach new ones. They are a prototype, so we don't know how well they will work yet."
"So I'm a human guinee-pig!"
"I'm sorry sir, but it was the only way we would be able to give you the ability to ever walk again."
"I understand," Anakin sighed calming down again and staring back up at the ceiling. "I suppose I should be gratefull that I'm still alive."
oOo
Obi-Wan also awoke to find himself in a bright white room. He was also joined by a medical droid a few minutes later, who handed him a pair of crutches.
"They are just to help you until you get used to your new foot," it said when it saw his quizical look.
"My new foot?" Obi-Wan repeated, sitting up and rolling up the trouser leg of his robes. The bottom of it had been burnt away up to his ankle, but there seemed to be no damage what-so-ever to his foot. Then he remembered what had happened.
I slipped into the lava, well my foot did...the pain was unbearable...the Emperor was coming and he tripped and then I passed out.
Examining his foot closer he found that there was a small square of skin missing, revealing a metal foot underneath. Opening up the small panel, he saw the many wires inside, each one for a different thing.
He wiggled his toes and saw the wires and other mechanisms working together to make his toes move.
So this is what Anakin's arm feels like...Anakin, is he still alive. I couldn't pull him out.
"Excuse me?" he called to the medical droid who was hovering over at a nearby desk, fiddling with something or other.
"Yes Master Kenobi?"
"I was wondering if you could tell me if my friend Anakin Skywalker is alive? He was with me on Mustafar."
"Master Skywalker...let me go and check..."
The droid rolled out of the door, leaving Obi-Wan alone for a moment. Obi-Wan decided that now would be a good time to get used to the crutches so that if he did make a fool of himself, no one would be watching.
Hey I'm getting the hang of this! he thought to himself as he sped round the room for the fifth time. Just then the door opened and the droid rolled back in.
"Well?" Obi-Wan asked, hobbling over to the droid.
"Good news sir. Master Anakin is alive and well, and so is Miss Padme. They are both in rooms just along the coridoor. You may see Miss Padme now, but Master Anakin is not fit for visitors just yet."
"Thankyou, thankyou so much!" Obi-Wan called over his shoulder as he hobbled out of the door.
"Those Jedi are always on the move!" The droid muttered to himself as he went back to the workbench.
oOo
Padme was sitting up in her bed, holding baby Luke when Obi-Wan hobbled in on his crutches. She smiled at him as he sat in the chair beside her bed.
"Anakin isn't well enough for visitors," he explained and she nodded.
"I've been pleading with them to let me go and see him for ages, but they wont even let him see his own children."
"Children?"
"Yes, when we performed the caesarian, we found that she was carrying twins," Padme's medical droid informed.
"You had to perform a caesarian?"
"Yes. Miss Skywalker's condition was critical and it was vital that the children were born to give them the best chance of survival. Luckily Miss Skywalker pulled through."
"How did you survive the lava? Anakin and I thought you were dead!"
"Long story..." she said, handing Luke to Obi-Wan and taking Leia from the droid. She started to tell him all about the cave, showing him the gash on her side that had now been expertly stitched so that it would only leave a tiny scar that would be barely visible, then she showed him her foot aswell which had pins sticking out of it, holding the bones together until they healed.
When she finished telling Obi-Wan about the Emperor's death, he looked completely amazed.
"I guess I underestimated you Padme. Only a true Jedi who is perfectly in tune with the Force could have pulled off a stunt like that."
"I wonder what Master Yoda will say when he finds out about the children?" she said, changing the subject. Obi-Wan shrugged and then their attention was diverted to the door where a huge figure, dressed in black armour was staggering towards them, clearly unstable on his feet. If it wasn't for the fact that Anakin's head sat ontop of the huge black shoulders, Obi-Wan would have drawn his saber and cut him in half.
As it was, Anakin staggered over to the chair and collapsed into it.
"How come you got crutches!" he whined at Obi-Wan who laughed.
"Because I waited to be discharged from my room."
"Oh...oops!" Anakin replied sheepishly and Padme laughed, then winced and grabbed her side.
"What's up?" Anakin asked as he took Luke from Obi-Wan.
"Nothing, I'm fine," she replied with a smile, staring down again into Leia's beautiful deep brown eyes that looked so like her own.
Luke, she could tell, would one day look just like his father, whilst Leia would look just like her. She could stare into those beautiful brown eyes of her daugther forever, but another arrival at the door stopped her in her tracks.
Bail Organa and Master Yoda were standing at the door, and despite the fact that Bail had a huge smile on his face, Yoda was frowning deeply.
"Miss Padme...a word I might have...in private?" he said. Obi-Wan and Anakin took the hint, and with Bail's help, left the room, Anakin handing Luke back to Padme as he left. Once the droid had also gone and the door had closed, leaving the Jedi Master, Padme and the twins alone, Yoda hobbled over to the bed and jumped up onto it so that he was sat at Padme's feet. However he was careful not to jar her broken foot, which she was grateful for.
"Would you like to hold one of them?" she asked, hoping that he would say yes because she was finding it rather hard to hold two babies, and see over their little heads to look at the Jedi Master.
Yoda paused for a moment, as if unsure, then he sighed. "Alright, but for long, it must not be."
"Of course," she said, carefully handing him Luke. "This is Luke," she introduced and there was no hiding the fact that Yoda was actually kind of a big softy at heart because he sat down gently, rocking the baby in his green arms and humming a little tune. Luke blew bubbles and began to make baby noises and Yoda almost smiled at the baby as it reached up and began to play with his long ear. Padme was trying hard not to laugh as she gently cradled Leia, who was now fast asleep.
"So Master Yoda...what did you want?" Padme asked, just wanting to get whatever it was over and done with.
"The Force is strong with these two."
"And that's a good sign?"
"Possibly."
Padme was dying with frustration. She wanted to shout out to the Jedi 'For goodness sakes get on with it!' but she bit her tongue and waited patiently whilst Yoda played with Luke, tickling him gently in the tummy and causing Luke to giggle and squirm. Padme loved to see her child so happy, so for the time being she waited and just watched the two playing together.