Chapter 15

"Obi Wan!" The chamber opened, and Anakin stepped out. Through the force, he could see the spirit figure, though nothing else. He stood next to him. "Thank you for coming back, master. I need your help if we are to find Luke. Do you think we can hire a pilot to help us, can anyone be trusted?"

Obi Wan nodded in the negative. "That won't be necessary, Anakin." He told him.

He didn't understand. "Why, master?"

Obi Wan's glowy image walked rapidly into the main room, and Anakin was able to follow his light. Obi Wan picked up the metal remote ball Anakin had been practicing with. Proudly, Anakin attempted to show Obi Wan all his skills he had practiced the night before, striking, not striking, bringing the lightsaber to his hand. He smiled with self satisfaction. "Master, do you think there is a chance I will be able to defeat Luke, even though I'm blind?"

Obi Wan did not look encouraged. "You know, Anakin, Han Solo once told me, good against remotes is one thing, good against the living, that's something else. I agree there is much a Jedi can do using the force and not their eyes, I even told Luke that. But a lightsaber battle with an opponent who has his eyesight AND the force, I don't think so. I would not want you to risk yourself like that."

Anakin tossed the remote and tried to slam his fist into the wall, but only swung at the air in his private darkness. "Risk myself, I don't care. I might as well die a hero as live like this. Let me try!" he turned to Obi Wan and gestured with his clenched fist.

Again, Obi Wan nodded, no. "Anakin, I witnessed what happened with you and the dueling droid. You have given it your most gallant effort." Obi Wan's image led Anakin to some chairs, and sat down beside him. "I think it best to wait, until you can see again."

Anakin put his head down as he gave Obi Wan the bad news. "I'm never going to see again, master. The best med droid in the city has pronounced me beyond hope." He explained about his retinas being destroyed beyond repair, and about the mysterious block the droid had never seen.

Obi Wan was interested in this. "Anakin, could this be force related?"

"I thought so too, but I tried to use the force, everything I know of the force, it didn't help. XC-454 is right, I'm ..permanently..blind." He struggled to speak those words, putting his head down and heaved a miserable sigh of resignation to his unwanted fate.

"Everything YOU know of the force, Anakin."

Anakin tilted his head with a puzzled look on his face. No expression was able to manifest itself in his lifeless eyes. He was curious as to what his old friend meant by that. He stopped himself before he allowed any hope to build, hope that would surely be crushed. "What do you mean, master?"

"Your power is great, but there are powers beyond the realm of the living that you cannot understand, or know of, not yet. Remember on the Death Star, when we fought, and I told you if you stuck me down I would become more powerful than you could possibly imagine? It was true."

Anakin was dazed by this, and felt most uncomfortable at the mention of that incident. Suddenly, it came to Anakin. "Master, you let me win, didn't you? You knew your powers were weak, you'd be stronger as a spirit That look on your face just before I struck you, you glanced over at Luke...?" Anakin thought how he hadn't known at the time it was Luke, but found out later.

"It doesn't matter now, Anakin." was his only answer.

It didn't anymore, and Anakin had nothing to fear. To Obi Wan, in all his eternal love and wisdom was sincere, and caring, none of the past transgressions between the two of them mattered now. They were beyond that. Then he put his hand steadily on Anakin's shoulder, and gave him the important news. "Anakin, Luke is back on Tatooine."

"Tattooine? Why did he go back there? I hate that place. You were wise to hide him from me there." Then he sighed, "Well, if he's there, we must go. Is there any way you can fly us? If we don't find a pilot we can trust, how can we go?"

"We are going to Tattooine, and YOU are going to be the pilot."

Anakin snarled. "Me? What, with you on the windshield directing me? What of the controls? The calculations? It's impossible."

"Anakin, nothing is impossible with the force.NOTHING."

"What did you say?"

"What I am about to do, you are to speak of to no one, not Yoda, not Luke, no one."

"You have my word, as a Jedi and a friend."

"I was hoping you'd say that. Now, come, let me get you something." Anakin was curious as Obi Wan's image raised its blue glowy hand and covered his eyes with it. Instead of the darkness, he could see the force

light of Obi Wan's hand, followed by flickering colors and lights of various brightness, then an enormous blue glow. Anakin felt a jolt, and he was knocked backwards. He barely had time to catch himself with one elbow before his head hit the floor.

Shaken, he began to stand up. As he raised his head, he noticed something. He wasn't blind anymore. He could see not only Obi Wan, but everything in the room. It was filled with late afternoon sunlight. He blinked, opened his eyes wide, and looked all around the entire room. He glanced down at his shirt, seeing for the first time he had put on the blue one. He went onto the balcony, and gazed passionately out at his incredible view of the city. The sky was an intoxicating clear blue, and everything in the city was sparkling under the glow of the sun. Anakin's brain was suddenly overloaded with the beautiful images, light and color he had been so starved for, and thought were lost to him forever. He was smiling as he turned back to Obi Wan. "So, this is what seeing through the force is like. How long will it last before it fades? Do you have to be present for me to continue to see this way?"

"Anakin, you don't understand. It isn't going to fade away. You are not seeing through the force. I have used the power of eternal force to heal your eyes. You sight has returned to stay, you are seeing again with your own eyes."

Anakin was overcome with emotion. He had given up all hope, and now this? He wasn't going to be blind after all, he was going to see, for the rest of his life? It had been so hard coming to terms with being blind, he didn't want to get his hopes up, it was too good to be true. He stared at Obi Wan, breathing heavily, his body almost off balance. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, old friend. Luke used the force to take away your sight, I used the force to bring it back."

Anakin walked face to face with Obi Wan's spirit. He was trembling from happiness, and filled with gratitude at what his old friend had done for him. "Thank you, my master. I will never forget your compassion and generosity. You are now completely forgiven for leaving me to burn at Mustafar. You are totally redeemed to me."

"And you to me. I love you, Anakin. You have proven yourself worthy of life, and the force. In time I will teach you all the secrets of eternity and the

everlasting force only those who have passed will know. Until then, promise me you will not tell Yoda what I did for you. I could have cured you immediately when we first arrived, but he was against it."

Anakin looked hurt. "How could he? He'd have left me blind, needlessly? How cruel. Is that the "Jedi way?"

"Do you know he even threatened me with the loss of my immortal soul if I helped you?"

"You are still here, master."

"It was a risk I took, though I was confident I would be. I have spoken to Qui Gon, he is much more in tune with the infinite than Yoda. Since he is the one who discovered the secret, he is the one who has the most and deepest knowledge of it. He is always so lost in the force, finding new discoveries, he is hard to reach. I could use him now. "

Anakin looked down and shook his head. "Yes, I do hope he will come to us. I cannot believe Yoda. You could have cured me the last time you were here, and we may have stopped Luke by now! Why is he so stubborn?"

"You know how Yoda is, always the old ways, don't interfere, don't do this, that, he thinks they will cause harm, but ironically all the things he stood for helped lead to the destruction of the old order. I have tried to convince him to listen, but he's too set in his ways. I am still trying to change him. Will he ever learn?"

"Do you think if Qui Gon had lived, things would have turned out differently?"

"Oh, yes, I do. I still hope that his new discoveries in the force can make things better even now. When he does, perhaps he can change Yoda, I have had no success in doing so. I came here because I knew it was the best thing to do. I got away without him, if he shows up, you'll have to pretend not to see. When we find Luke, it will be best not to let him know, either. If he thinks you're blind, he will not expect you to fight him. That's how we will take him."

"That we will. We will find him, and bring him back to the Jedi" Anakin paused a moment, then stared seriously at Obi Wan and added, "but Master, let me tell you here and now, I will not kill Luke."

"He once told me that of you. He looked at me just as you are looking at me right now, and said "I can't kill my own father."

"He did?" Anakin said, sitting on the ground holding one leg bent in front of him, very much like the pose Luke was in when he spoke to Obi Wan in Dagobah. This brought that now bittersweet memory back to Obi Wan.

"Yes, that's what he said.

Anakin almost laughed. "You mean, he never wanted to kill me?"

"No, at least not after he found out you were his father."

"Is that why you didn't tell him who I was?...His voice trailed off, thinking how Yoda and Obi Wan must have wanted him dead, and that's why they didn't tell Luke who he was. Anakin remembered the moment he revealed his identity to Luke, and how Luke had said he'd been told by Obi Wan that Vader had murdered his father. So now he got the message about the 'certain point of view' thing. "You know, no matter what you and Yoda thought of me, I wasn't going to kill Luke. I never was. When he told me he felt good in me, that he sensed I couldn't bring myself to destroy him, he was right. It angered me at the time that he was so bold to call me on it, but he was right. There was still good in me."

"You know, those were Padme's last words."

Anakin looked shocked to hear her mentioned, and surprised to know this. Her memory hurt even more now. "She said that?"

"I was there when she..."

Anakin was so mad at himself. He pounded his fist into the floor. "I should have been there, it never should have happened!"

Obi Wan used one hand to calm and settle him with a gentle touch to his chest. Anakin looked back toward him, but there was no hiding his hurt and sadness, and regret. "Please, don't tell me any more, I can't..."

Padme, the deepest scar of all. Anakin was so overloaded with emotions, he could not allow hmself to go there. After the split with Luke and his turning, the devastating blow of his blindness, finding out about spirits and being overwhelmed by their return, and the knowledge of the afterlife, reconciling with Obi Wan, then getting his eyesight back, it was quite a range of emotions for one man in only a few days. He couldn't get any deeper, or he knew he would explode.

"But Anakin, you need to know. The very last words she uttered were about you. She said, "there is still good him."

This brought Anakin to tears. He didn't speak for awhile, but Obi Wan could sense the thoughts in his mind were discomforting. Finally, he said, "She never gave up on me, I wish there was something I could do

for her now. Luke is her son too, he is part of both of us, and I know there is good in him, I have to save him, Padme would want that. That may be the last thing I can do for her..." He would do it for her. But he couldn't allow his mind to go to the deepest place where his darkest memories and deepest regrets were buried, or he'd end up wallowing in his chamber again. There was something important to do, save Luke. He had to think about Luke.

Obi Wan was thinking of Luke, too. "Luke was a good boy. So innocent, so enthusiastic. You should have seen him the first time I put a lightsaber in his hands!"

"You should have seen the look on his face when he first pulled that lightsaber on me in the freezing chamber in Bespin" Anakin said with a sad smile, standing up to mock Luke's expression and stance when he first faced him in person.

"That was your lightsaber, you know, I saved it for him."

"I know, I recognized it right away. I remembered when you...took it. I figured you had given it to him. I'm glad you saved it for Luke. You know, I told him, 'Obi Wan has taught you well.' He looked down for a moment, then he gazed away toward the balcony window, reflecting. "You know, I don't think he'd have killed me, either."

"He probably wouldn't have."

Anakin turned back to Obi Wan. "He was such a good boy, what happened?"

"Too much of his father in him."

"That could be it." Anakin muffled a weak snicker which soon faded to his more somber mood. "I noticed that myself, and I told him so. That's what frightens me." He thought of his fall, and of Luke's turn. He thought of much that he would rather not, but it could not be denied. "Master, you have no idea how much I regret the past, how I wish I was there for Luke, and Leia...oh Padme..."

"Yes I do, I can sense it. I can sense the good in you. And the danger in Luke, and your concern for him."

"I wish I had been there, all along for him, and Leia. If I ever find them, I want to do everything I can to make up for what we lost."

"We have to find Luke first, and turn him from the dark side..."

"I know."

"Anakin, are you going to be able to face him, the way you need to?"

"Master, I told you, I will not kill him."

"What if he tries to kill you?"

Anakin thought a minute before he spoke. "I think I really understand how you felt about me on Mustafar now. you really didn't want to do it, did you?"

"No, Anakin, I begged Yoda to send me to the emperor instead. I told him I couldn't kill you..."

"If only things had not been as they were..."

"Indeed...if...Anakin, can you do this?"

"Can I? Yes, there is no question I can defeat him. In the suit, I lost. Blind, he'd have killed me. But now, I am in excellent fighting shape. I am more experienced, and I can defeat him. I will do it. But," he added emphatically, staring at Obi Wan directly in the eyes, " I will not kill him.'

"Anakin, I do hope it doesn't come to that."

"I will have to see to it that it doesn't. And hope, there is still good in Luke." He looked away, searching his thoughts and feelings, then turned back to his old master. "Let's go now, I am anxious to fly again." Giving one of his old smiles to Obi Wan, he ran down below ground to his private hangar collection to choose which mode of air travel he was going to use. He looked around, surprised Obi Wan did not follow him. Then he saw him materialize in front of him. "Oh, there you are!" It must be incredible to be a force spirit, he thought. "But can you ride along? Are you able?"

"We're about to find out!"

"How about an old Jedi starfighter, my master?" He said as he climbed into one.

"I'd be honored." Obi Wan's spirit joined Anakin inside the Jedi starfighter. "What did I tell you, Kenobi and Skywalker, together again."

Anakin smiled as he looked up, and Obi Wan was happy to see that old expression, and the life and spark in his blue eyes once again. This was his Anakin, the real Anakin, the friend and brother he remembered, for the first time since before Mustafar. "Kenobi and Skywalker, Jedi knights, forever."

They both felt peace, satisfaction and absolution for each other as the starfighter climbed high above the city and left Coruscant airspace for space itself, and places and destinies yet to be reached.

"Master, the stars are looking so incredibly bright and beautiful this evening."

"Indeed they are Anakin, indeed they are."