Disclaimer: Characters are not the property of the author but of George Lucas.
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Chapter 14: Adieu Anakin
"He's awake," someone said.
Slowly Anakin opened his eyes, "Ugh, where am I?" he asked.
"You're back home on the moisture farm," a woman said, "You must have had quite a nasty accident."
Anakin looked around and saw that he was lying on a plain caught in a simple dusty bedroom. A plain looking woman was kneeling beside the bed and an ordinary looking man stood behind her. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about these two people.
Anakin sat up on his cot, "My head is killing me. What happened?"
"Worse than I thought," the man said. "You had a landspeeder accident on your way back from Anchorhead, you escaped with out a scratch some how, but I guess you hit your head pretty hard."
"I must have," Anakin said, "I can't remember a thing."
"Come on your sons waiting to see you," the woman said.
"I have a son?" Anakin asked.
"Uh, oh." The man said, "He said we might have trouble with this."
"Who did?" Anakin inquired.
"The doctor." The woman replied, "He was afraid you might suffer from amnesia."
"I think he's right," Anakin replied, "I don't even know who you are."
"I'm your sister in-law, Beru," the woman said.
"And I'm your half-brother Owen," the man said.
"Same father, different mother right?" Anakin asked.
Owen grinned, "Looks like you're already on the road to recovery."
"What about my wife?" Anakin asked.
"I'm afraid she died giving childbirth to your son," Owen said, "Beru and I barely knew her, but she was rather nice. What was her name again? Leia?"
"Yes," Anakin said instinctively, "It was Leia."
"Right," Owen said, "Tragedy that was. She was a very pretty girl."
"Well we shouldn't keep little Luke from seeing his father," Beru said, "Come on now."
She held out her hand and helped Anakin stand up.
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Anakin took to his new life as a simple moisture farmer with ease, raising his young son with his half-brother and sister in-law. All the while he was unknowingly being observed by Master Yoda, and from time to time Obi-wan Kenobi as well.
Several years later, when Luke was five years old, Obi-wan and Yoda had a discussion about the young boys fate.
"Trained as a Jedi he must be," Yoda said.
"But think about what might happen to Anakin," Obi-wan replied, "We know how he gets emotionally attached to people. And he's very attached to his son. I don't think we should risk it, we should just train Leia."
"Stronger, together they will be," Yoda said, "Train them both we must."
Obi-wan's face grew concerned, "I'm sorry Master Yoda, but this just doesn't seem right."
"Sometimes taken, a risk must be," Yoda said, "A necessary risk, this one is."
"I'll trust your wisdom then," Obi-wan said.
The following day the two Jedi Masters paid a visit to the former Sith Apprentice's moisture farm.
"Hello strangers," Anakin greeted them as the stepped out of their landspeeder. "Unusual for people to be travelling out here. You're not criminals are you?"
"No, no." Obi-wan replied, "We've come with news specific to you."
"Oh?" Anakin said, "What is it?"
"Perhaps inside we should discuss this," Yoda said.
Anakin nodded and led them into the small seating area of the underground home.
"My brother and his wife are out in Mos Eisley right now," he explained, "So it's just my son and I here at the moment. Forgive the mess; I'm not the tidiest person. Anyway what is it you wish to discuss?"
"It's about your son," Obi-wan said, "We feel he has a special talent. And we're here to offer him special training."
"What sort of talent does my son have?" Anakin asked, "From what I can tell he's just a normal child. Just like any other kid."
"We believe you son shows a strong affinity with the force," Obi-wan began.
"Wait, are you Imperial agents here suspecting Jedi children!" Anakin burst out as he stood up, "Because if you are I can assure you that my son is by no means…"
"No, no." Obi-wan cut him off, "It's quite the contrary, in fact we're here to offer your son the chance to become a Jedi."
"Oh," Anakin sat back down. "And what would this train entail."
"Well your son would have to leave you," Obi-wan said, "For quite a long time. It's possible he may not remember you."
Anakin face showed no emotion. Even though he had likely forgotten all his training Anakin was still able to hide his emotions through the force naturally, for neither Obi-wan nor Yoda could read him. Anakin was carefully deciding what his son's fate should be.
"It's up to him to decide," Anakin said finally. "He may be young, but I believe that everyone should make their own destiny. I won't stand in my son's way."
"Very well," Obi-wan agreed. "Call him in here."
"Luke! Luke!" Anakin called out.
A young boy came running in from an adjacent room. He had sandy blond hair, and his plain clothes were covered in dust.
"What were you doing in the garage?" Anakin asked.
"Nothing," Luke said sheepishly.
Anakin gave his son a stern look.
"Daddy, who are these people?" Luke asked trying to divert attention away from him.
"These people," Anakin replied, "Are teachers, and they want to teach you how to use a very special talent that you have."
"Cool!" Luke said.
"But to teach you they need to take you far away from daddy," Anakin continued, "And you won't see me for a very long time, you may even forget me. But when you grow up you'll be a very special important person. Now I need you to think real hard about what you want to do, because this is your decision."
"If I go with you will I get to eat Bantha Burgers?" Luke asked Obi-wan.
Obi-wan chuckled, "I'm sure we can arrange that every now and then," he said.
"Then I want to go with them daddy," Luke said.
Anakin gave a weary sigh and a grim smile, "Alright son, I'll go gather your things for you."
Anakin left the room to gather Luke's things. Obi-wan knelt down to talk to Luke, "When you're with us you won't see you father for a very long time," Obi-wan said, "And you'll probably miss him very much. But there will be other children there that you will be training with and you'll make plenty of friends and soon you won't miss him as much. But your father will be here, with your aunt and uncle and he'll miss you very much, and he won't stop missing you. So I want you to promise me you'll send him a holo message every week, okay?"
Luke nodded, "Okay," he agreed.
Anakin came back with Luke things in backpack and helped strap it on to his son's back. He then gave him a big hug, "I'm gonna miss you so much," Anakin said, "But just want you to remember that even if you think you're failing or doing bad, I'll always love and I'll never forget about you."
"I love you to daddy," Luke said.
"Alright now, don't keep the men waiting." Anakin said.
Luke followed Yoda out of the home but Obi-wan stayed behind.
"I know it's gonna be hard on you," Obi-wan said, "But rest assured…"
"Obi-wan," Anakin said, "I know what you're going to say. Don't worry about me. You'll probably be seeing me again sooner than you think."
Obi-wan gaped at him with a look of amazement on his face. Anakin gave a sly smile.
"My memories recovered a fair bit," Anakin explained. "But I've grown so accustomed to this life I don't really want to give it up. Now that Luke's gone I don't know what I'm going to do."
"If you want to come with us we could…" Obi-wan began to offer.
"No," Anakin cut him off. "I know that I would just interfere with his training. Maybe I'll join the Alliance; maybe I'll just stay here and watch everything play out; Force forbid it but I may even fall back under her sway once again. But whatever happens I only want to best for Luke. The lure of adventure still tugs at me, I will admit. But now I feel that I have place in this galaxy, no matter how small and insignificant; and I'm content with that. Perhaps one day in the future we will meet again Obi-wan."
Obi-wan firmly grasped Anakin's hand and shook, "Perhaps we will friend," he said, "Until we meet again, farewell."
"Farewell." Anakin said.
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What will happen now? Will Anakin join the Rebel Alliance? Will he remain a moisture farmer? Or will he be lured back to the dark side by Padme? Even I don't know right now. I'm working on to possible angles this story could go off on. Reviewer opinion will decide which angle I go with.