After You're Gone

Author: Seldom Darlin'

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.

A/N: I was searching, digging for something to write about and this song was the one I picked! It's all uphill from here!

Summary: Right after the celebration in the 6th movie. Anakin is finally ready to go home but he needs to remember before all can be forgiven.

Warning: None, unless you don't like me but if you don't you shouldn't even be here. Lol

Angst/Drama/Romance I guess. Lol

Rating: T just in case.

Reviews would be lovely and well appreciated and flames would be evil and condemned from the start. Lol I don't care if you flame me, just make good points please.

Just Read and Review You Critics!

After You're Gone

I could not lie
Skin untouched growing thicker for every step unwalked
And I don't know if it's the cold intention-slide
Taking me down

Anakin Skywalker knew it was time to go. Obiwan and master Yoda had already left but still he lingered to watch the celebrations. It was the first time he had ever seen his children so happy and indeed he knew it to be the last. Until eternity came for them this would be the last of his adventures with them.

He had to let them go. He had to leave them to their lives. But he knew inside he just couldn't. It had been too much of what he had done. His choices had brought this all to pass and in the end it was his choice that brought it crashing to the floor. He loved the fact that his children had found a way to stop him. To save him. But he absolutely hated the fact that it had to be pulled short because now he had to go. The force called to him.

He began to walk, where, he did not know. He just took one step after the other. He had done this once before…..the day he had fallen, the day he had chosen to draw blades against Obiwan and seal his dark fate. It had all come so fast too. It seemed like in mere seconds he had chosen and he had fallen. It had all been for one. And that one hadn't even survived that day either. Neither did she stand beside him now.

Anakin's steps grew larger as he walked. He knew he was going. But as long as he could see his children he would give a fight to stay. There was nothing to go to now. Why did he have to leave the one thing that still mattered? Don't lie anymore. The words echoed in his head yet he knew not where they came from. They were sweet and fragile but still so clearly there. He couldn't return, not yet. He wasn't ready. Don't lie anymore.

Wherever she was….he knew she didn't want him there. After all that he did. The truth was: He didn't want to face her yet. She had fled once before and it had hurt so bad. It would be just the same if he returned now. Don't lie anymore. He wasn't lying! It was the truth! She didn't love him anymore, that had to be true. Would it not be? Don't be foolish. It was over between them. It wasn't a choice he had made just a decision that had happened on its own. And he wasn't about to fight for a lost cause.

But what if you'd sing me alive
I'm ready to give up the fight
'Cause I'm just a stone
Right after you're gone
Right after you're gone
Right after you're gone

As far as he could remember she had done the leaving. She had stumbled away in the dark when she just as easily could have came to him. Followed him just as he had asked. Why must he say these things that he didn't want to say but had to say anyway? It was hard to walk away from her as she had done to him. But what must be done, must and would be done. When she had left the first time or so he could remember, she had held some much fear and pain in her eyes he almost couldn't look into them. He had become a stone. She had left him forever there on the platform. He still felt the emptiness. If it hadn't been for Obiwan he might have killed her then and there completely alone.

She had unintentionally left him forever that day. She had taken a step back and had shown him his fate and he had hated it. His eyes had been burned with the image and in a single sweep of anger he had made her pay for what she had shown him.

But what if you'd sing me alive
I'm ready to give up the fight
'Cause I'm just a stone
Right after you're gone
Right after you're gone
Right after you're gone

He hoped she would look away, and he even pretended for a while but she never did. Her gaze remained true to her word. She didn't leave for a minute and damnit he knew it! She was never gone. And he never allowed it. It was a truce they never actually called for but insisted upon. Now he knew he had to go. She was still there, stuck and captured. And it was all because of him.

I could not lie
Even though dead skin like stone makes me ugly
It still pounds inside and it's red
And it's slipping through the grey cracks
And I know you know

His footsteps carried him throughout his memory. Back, way back to the very moment of his condemnation. And there she was. Though no longer in the tarred garb she had been wearing all those years ago, no she was in her wedding dress and smiling. It had to be the hardest thing Anakin Skywalker had to ever look at. So much pain and loss. He knew now though, that this was his stone cold liberation from the darkness. The longing for purity. Her smile told it all. She knew his struggle. She knew his contemplation. What are you so scared of? This is the love of your life. She loves you and you know it.

But what if you'd sing me alive
I'm ready to give up the fight
'Cause I'm just a stone
Right after you're gone
Right after you're gone
Right after you're gone

This ending was alright. He could live with it. It was all that he could ask for. All that he could pray for. He was no longer the stone. Don't you ever feel like glass? Fragile, hurting, letting it pass. The words rang true in his mind as he took the steps further towards her. Don't lie anymore. He wasn't. Not anymore. She was there, she loved him, it was over. And he was ready to go.

The first thing that meets the eye
When I crossover into the light
I want it to be you
Right after I'm gone
Right after I'm gone
Right after I'm gone