Vader -Anakin?- limps from the crash site. He managed to get away from the imperials following him, but they managed to blow out an engine. The TIE fighters are good ships, but they aren't made for the kind of travel he just did. Going halfway across the galaxy in a ship that small did nothing for his aching body.
And now, the course sand threatens to fill Vader's suit. It makes his vocoder hiss and the lenses of his mask barely pick up anything against the bright sun and the dunes. He hates this planet. Hates everything about it and what it stands for, but there's nowhere else to go.
He called Owen before escaping, a desperate attempt to find someone willing to offer him help. He had never used the line Cliegg offered him after his mother's death, but now, he has to thank the old man himself.
After stumbling for an hour or so, Anakin finally sees it. A small house made of mud and sand, its color no different from the rest of the barren planet. But the familiarity catches his breath and before he can stop himself, Vader's running for it. Well, not running. He can't run, not with the useless prosthetics Sidious gave him. But he marches as fast as possible, sometimes going into a slow jog. He stumbles almost every other step until he finally falls just outside the door.
The force echoes danger and Vader looks up at a sniper pointed to his head. Owen is on the other side of it, his eyes narrowed dangerously, but the sight of a sniper used to close in range as Anakin almost smiling.
"What the kark are you?!" Owen snaps, his tone deeper than usual. Vader isn't sure if that's because of the time that's passed or because Owen's trying to intimidate him.
"Owen." Vader croaks, the exhaustion returning as he remembers he is, in fact, still laying on the floor. He reaches out a hand, making Owen flinch away. "Help me."
The man stares at him for a very long time. It's not until Anakin looks away, at his mother's grave, that Owen understands. "Anakin!" He gasps, throwing the sniper over his shoulder and helping him to his feet. It takes a lot of effort, thanks to the suit's weight, but he manages to return to his feet. Owen holds him by the arm, his eyes wide. "Bantha! What happened to you?!"
"Get me inside." Is all Vader can say. He has sand in his vocoder and he cannot breathe it if he wants to survive.
They stumble inside and Anakin is discarded at the dining table. Beru, a woman Vader can barely remember, stared at him long and hard. "It's Anakin." Owen informs her, then Beru's face melts. She comes right up to him, unafraid of who he is, and starts dusting off the suit.
"My goodness! It must be hot in there!" It's not, thanks to the internal cooling, but that's not important right now.
What is important is the fourth presence. With effort, Anakin manages to stand again, ignoring Owen and Beru's protests. He limps through the hall and stops only once he's in front of the cradle.
Vader's heart stops. He reaches up and unclasps the helmet, the head coming in immediately. His air is cut off, but he can still breathe well enough for this.
Once the helmet is gone, Anakin can see the baby with his own two eyes, the red lens no longer obscuring his vision. He reaches down and scoops the baby up, careful to support his neck and keep the blanket wrapped around him. The baby frowns, small hands reaching out of the blanket to grip at nothing. Then, the baby's eyes open and Anakin gasps.
"Luke." He says, his voice wheezing and hoarse, but his own. "My son." He smiles, lifting the boy up to kiss his small head. When the baby starts to whimper, not liking that he was woken up from his nap, Anakin sends his comfort and love through the force into his son. Luke calms almost immediately, a smile forming instead. There are no teeth, just pink gums and a tongue that doesn't seem to know how to function yet. But it's the most beautiful thing Anakin has ever seen.
His son.
The game plan is...messy. Anakin's used to sneaking around guards and deactivating security systems to get by undetected. But what he doesn't have ironed out is how he plans to rope Bail into helping him.
To everyone but his family, Anakin Skywalker is dead. He died either in the Jedi temple helping protect their home, or he died in the fires of Mustafar. He's not quite sure which version Bail knows, but it's all the same end.
And another issue is that not even Anakin is that close to the senator. He knew him through...his wife. She introduced them -kind of- and they only really talked about business. There was exactly one occasion they didn't and that was right after the man's wedding, when he was willing to brag about his wife to anyone who would listen.
So, if Anakin can't convince Bail, then Actis certainly can't.
Anakin stands on the edge of the Organa Estate, watching the balcony below. He's avoided security guards up until now, safely hidden on the roof of the building where no one will find him. He waits, watching every movement and listening for changes. This balcony is supposed to lead to Bail's private room. He'll come out any moment.
But it isn't Bail who walks out into the cool night air. Anakin tenses as he sees a little girl come running to the edge, her small form just barely blocked by the railing. He can't see her face from this angle, but he does manage to hear her fluttering words.
"Look! Stars!" The girl points and a little red droid whistles back. It flutters beside her, acting more like a loyal friend than any kind of servant. But perhaps that has more to do with how the girl beams at the droid.
She's young, likely around Luke's age and the thought makes his heart ache in sympathy. He didn't know Bail had a daughter, especially not around the time everything went wrong.
But before Anakin can become distracted, he hooks a robotic hand onto the edge of the roof and lowers himself with the force, muting any sound that would've come from his descent. The girl still doesn't see him, her wide eyes glued on the world above her. She's so young, but Anakin remembers that same wonder lust. She wants to see the rest of the galaxy. She wants adventure.
"Hello." He speaks gently but the little girl startles anyway. She turns to him, her hands now tightly pulling the droid to her chest. She looks unsure of what to do but she's certainly too young to think up any plans. So, Anakin kneels and offers her a hand, slowly. "I won't hurt you. I'm just here for Bail Organa." She doesn't respond. "Is that your father?"
After he says that last part, the girl's eyes seem to recognize what he's saying -children this young usually don't know their mother and father have real names. "Why do you want my daddy?" She dares to glare at him, a stubborn fire burning in her eyes.
And what a question that is. "I...we're friends." He's no longer sure how to proceed. He could as the girl to find Bail for him, but he doesn't want to risk the chance of her describing him as someone dangerous.
A fleeting thought crosses his mind, its origin familiarly dark. It tells him to point his blaster to her head and make Bail agree to his terms. It's what Actis would do and the girl wouldn't be hard to capture. To hurt. But just as the thought starts to settle, Anakin shakes it away, disgusted. No, he could never do that. Not to someone else's child. She's too young, reminds him too much of his own son, for him to do that.
He can't make another father suffer like that.
"Leia!" A broad voice calls behind them and Anakin stands quickly, turning to Bail fully. The girl -Leia- jumps at the sound, her eyes still impossibly wide as she clutches at the droid. Bail crosses into the balcony in seconds, his daughter scooped into his arms defensively. "Who are you?! How did you get up here?!"
Anakin falls back into the persona easily, his movements sharp and calculated. "I would consider tightening your security, Senator. Someone less experienced than me could've come walking in." Not a direct threat, but close enough to it.
Bail walks around him slowly. His arms are full with Leia, but the blaster is right by his side, ready to be used. They wait until the girl has been set down in the balcony entrance and sent out of the room before they continue. This isn't a discussion for someone so young.
When Bail speaks again, his tone is firm and angry. "If you've come to kill me, you're mistaken."
Anakin goes to lean against the railing. "Nothing of the sort, Senator Organa. I've come for a bargain."
"Bargain? You mean steal from me?" The man isn't letting up, his mind already set on what he assumes Anakin's here for. It's not helpful and maybe he could've gone about this better, but it's too late now.
So, he drops the act. "Bail." Anakin looks at him directly, his confident pose now one of caution. "I know we weren't friends by any means, but I need your help."
The change makes the Senator falter, his eyes narrowing. "Who are you? I don't remember befriending any bounty hunters."
Now, to rip off the metaphorical bacta strip. "Most know me as Actis, but you'd remember another name." He waits, his vocoder working hard to keep his breathing steady. He's really going to do this. "Anakin Skywalker."
Bail immediately draws his blaster. Anakin goes to draw his own, but then a memory from Naboo makes him stop. She's standing in front of the Gungan leader, all weapons drawn on them, yet she bows. She showed her submission. He has to do the same.
"I know how it sounds," Anakin starts, his hands held up in surrender. "but I'm trying to better this galaxy."
"Better it?!" Bail's grip tightens and Anakin's starting to think he knew about his Fall. "You started all of this! Because of you, the Jedi are gone! I watched the young Jedi die before me! You killed younglings-"
"I didn't!" Anakin snaps, his anger rising from his panic. He really hoped Bail didn't know this much. "I didn't kill those younglings!"
"But what of the rest?!" The Senator bites back immediately. "The other masters?! Your clones stormed the temple! I would recognize those blue uniforms anywhere!"
He did, didn't he. He walked into that temple so filled with darkness that he didn't care what his men were doing. Who they were killing. He rejoiced in their death. Now, his men worked for the empire. They're slaves, unable to free their minds.
Anakin sits on the railing, his fingers automatically going to fiddle with his robotic leg for distraction. "I know what I did and you probably don't trust my word, but I regret it. I was stupid to follow Palpatine. Stupid to think I could..." His voice cuts off before he can say it. How did he think he could save her with anger and greed?
After a very long pause, Bail's gun lowers, but just slightly. "I watched Padme die." Anakin's lungs stop completely, his ears ringing from the name he didn't dare think for three years. "I helped Obi-Wan bring her to the medical droid. I've never seen him look so exhausted, so drained. And after she gave birth, she said..." Bail swallows audibly. "She said there's still good in you. Even after everything you've done, she saw good."
It's too painful. Anakin wants to get up and run away, his plans be damned, but he can't. He can't will himself to move. It's like all of his limbs have been welded to the floor. His heart's going too fast and something on his wrist lights up, telling him the machines keeping him alive are doing all they can. He ignores it. All of it. All he can think of is the visions he had of her -Padme- calling out to him.
And she said there's still good?
A hand touches his shoulder and Anakin flinches away violently. He presses against the railing and covers his ears, trying to make the world stop. It's too much all at once, the overpowering emotions. Someone's speaking but he can't hear them, can't focus on anything but the fear of death. He's going to die. But maybe he deserves it.
"Anakin!" The voice cuts through and he flinches again. Those hands are now pressing him against the railing, firm and solid but not painful. Anakin looks up and meets Bail's eyes. "Breathe, okay? You're going to pass out at this rate!"
Breathe. Anakin tries, the sound of his vocoder working very hard now clear in his ears. It's clicking with its efforts to keep up and Anakin's slowly becoming aware of the sharp pains in his lungs, but he pressed through it. He takes the time to breathe deeply in, then out. When the thoughts try to break him apart again, he looks at Bail.
When he tries to speak, his voice comes out wheezing and broken. So much so, that even his vocoder can't help it. "I'm sorry." He bows his head forward, his fingertips pulling the hood to cover the rest of his face in shame. "I'm sorry."
Bail lets go and sits beside him with a groan. The wrinkles on his face seem deeper than they were moments ago. "I'm sorry for bringing that up. I didn't know you would react like that."
Anakin doesn't respond. He's too busy pulling off his right glove. If he can focus on something else, something he's good at, then he might not feel so close to falling apart.
After another silence, Bail turns to him. "What did you come for? You obviously aren't going to kill me or kidnap my daughter. So why?"
Solid steel plates. Wires and pins make up the joints in his hand. The engine that powers it is small, but a genius design.
Once he's grounded enough to focus, Anakin answers. "I'm working to liberate Tatooine." And doesn't that sound crazy, now that he's saying it aloud.
"Tatooine?" Bail looks scared. "You live there? I thought you'd never return!"
Anakin scoffs to try and bring back some of his usual snark, but it doesn't feel genuine anymore. "Trust me, I'd rather settle anywhere else in the galaxy than Tatooine. But...my son is there. I'm not in a position to move him and my siblings out, so I'm going to fix their home instead." Of course, Owen and Beru don't know that, but he can't help wondering what they'd think. Owen might stop lecturing him about bounty hunting.
"Your son?!" Bail gasps and Anakin feels there's something else playing out here. "But Obi-Wan-"
Oh. Oh! Anakin stands, his anger returning. "You were in on it?!" He seethes. Bail was in on this plan to keep his child! Of course he was! He and Padme were friends and he's close to Obi-Wan too. Of course he would want to keep Luke from him! But the worst part is he can't fully blame them either.
"How did you find him?!" Bail shoots back, less able to jump up so quickly. "You were working with Palpatine! There was no way for you to-"
"Kenobi isn't as good at hiding as you may think." Which is only half true. If he hadn't been desperate to find somewhere to run from Sidious, Anakin never would've found it. Never would've found Luke.
He can't imagine a life without his son. Without purpose.
Bail stands still, his mind running through everything for a very long time. Then, once he's finished, he looks just like the senator Anakin knew. "Tatooine. What do you plan to do to it?"
"I'm planning a coup d'etat. Most people working under Jabba aren't actually loyal to him. And those who are in debt to him are more than willing to take him down." It took years to gather people and remain secret. Working so close to the Hutt, Anakin had to be picky with who he decided to trust. If one person decided to play against him, he and so many others would die.
And they still might, if he can't get Bail to help him.
"Take out the Hutts?" The Senator seems genuinely surprised, which is fair. No one's had the courage before. Not even the Republic. "And then what? Who takes power? You?"
"Of course not me." He scoffed. "No. I'm sending someone better to take that position. An ex-slave names Fiolla. She's the only one that managed to escape Jabba's Palace and she agreed to restore order to the planet and the rest of Hutt Space." It felt almost unreal, even to him. An assassination plan and someone honorable to set in Jabba's place. A fallen planet will now be restored.
"And what role do I play in this?" Bail eyes him wearily. "I'm no soldier."
Anakin sets his shoulders, ready to bargain and barter all he needs for this to work. "You'll train Fiolla and guide her as she takes control. She has everything we need but political experience and I can't think of anyone better than you."
Bail doesn't look convinced. "And what do I get out of this? I don't mean to sound rude, but by training your leader, it will put Alderaan in danger." And they both know the last thing either of them wants are Imperials breathing down their necks.
"An aid in the senate. Fiolla will help you fight Sidious any way you need, politically. And if we manage to reform more of the planets under Hutt's control, then you'll get even more senators on your side."
It's unlikely, but they could overturn Sidious. The empire could crumble and the Republic would return. Padme's work wouldn't be in vain.
But Bail shakes his head. "It's too late to sway the senate. There's no hold we have anymore. Even if you gave me every senator in the Outer-Rim, we still couldn't fight Palpatine."
Anakin pauses. Is it really that hopeless? "Then what do you want?" He had nothing else planned. He thought this would be more than enough to allow their deal.
There's something new in Bail's eyes as he looks Anakin over. Caution, but something else. A strong defiance. "I can trust you?" He asks, his tone firm. "I can't have you turning me over to the Chancellor."
"We both know Sidious wants me dead. I couldn't return to the empire if I wanted." Darth Vader can no longer exist in this galaxy. He gave that up the moment he contacted Owen. He gave up being Sidious's slave for Luke, a trade he will never go back on.
Bail nods. Then, the caution is gone. "The time for diplomatic change is past us. A rebellion is started and if Tatooine would offer us their alliance, it could change the tides. Especially with the empire so young."
Anakin's eyes go wide. "A rebellion?" He didn't think Bail capable of it. But then again, he never really knew the man.
"I have someone recruiting new members. I'll give you their contact, but only once you can ensure Tatooine won't crumble to pieces as soon as the Hutts are gone."
A rebellion. It sounds like something Anakin would be good at. He's certainly had a fair share of it lately. And to give his dreams of destroying Sidious' actual foundation? He can't pass that up. "It's a deal. You train my representative and we give the rebellion aid." He's not sure they'll have much in way of soldiers, but they'll have money. That, at least, is certain.
They shake on it and for the first time, Anakin feels a kinship with Bail. He's an honorable man. He can see why Padme liked him so much.
Once they separate, Anakin looks out at the night again, ready to finally return home to Luke. But before he can go, Bail stops him again. "Anakin. I...I don't know if I can forgive what you did before, even with this alliance. I...just make sure you keep Luke safe. And loved. Padme would've wanted it."
It sounds stupid, asking Anakin to love his own child, but he nods regardless. He could never hurt Luke. Never. "I owe him the world." He whispers, a small already tugging at his lips as he imagines Luke's beaming face. Such a small, happy boy. Far more content with the hell planet he lives on.
Then, Anakin remembers the girl. "Leia." He says, his eyes studying Bail's expression. "She doesn't look like an Organa." He remembers Padme mentioning them being unable to have their own child. Breha's miscarriages weren't public news, but they weren't secret among their friends.
Bail's anxiety is new toxic in the force. "She is every part an Organa as me and Breha. No matter her biological parents."
Adopted, then. Anakin nods, then uses the force to jump on the roof again. He probably doesn't have to sneak through security again, but it will keep his mind calm until he gets to his starfighter. When he looks down again, he meets Bail's amazed gaze.
"I did always love watching you Jedi. The force seemed so strange and unreal to me. Yet, you always worked wonders before my very eyes."
Anakin fights the urge to say he's not a Jedi, that he no longer deserves that title, but he doesn't. "It's unreal to me too, sometimes." And with that, he leaps away, his mind focused on nothing but home. Home, and the possibility of change.
Sorry for the long wait! I started reading the Ahsoka book and half way through, I realized I can use a lot of that information for this. But don't worry! You don't need to read it to understand!