Chapter 3 – Aftermath

Author's Note: Here is the third and final chapter of this Dragon!Vader fic. I really hope that y'all enjoyed it! Thank you all so much to everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed, and/or read this fic! ^-^

~ Amina Gila


Leia is not at all ashamed to admit that the first thing she does when Vader's – Anakin's, her father's – burned, mutilated body hits the floor is throw up. She has seen many, many horrible things while fighting the Empire, but nothing like this. How he can even still be alive is beyond her. It doesn't seem possible. It's worse that this is her father, her biological father, the man she's heard stories about from Obi-Wan and Ahsoka but never thought she would meet. She did, and he's alive, and he's dying.

Luke looks about two seconds from either passing out or throwing up himself, so she counts that as a plus. Ahsoka shakes herself from her obvious horror, skidding to his side and reaching out towards him, though she falls short of actually touching him, and cursing in more languages than Leia even knows.

Obi-Wan seems rooted to the spot, face ashen, and Leia isn't sure that he won't collapse himself. She can understand his reaction, because for whatever Anakin may have done, Obi-Wan still cared about him, still did this to him. And he thought he was dead. He might have been better off dead because Leia has no idea how he'll ever heal. It doesn't seem possible, and that's only the surface damage.

"We... fought on Mustafar and I left him for dead there. I – I thought he had died."

No wonder, she thinks bitterly. Obi-Wan conveniently didn't say that he left Anakin to burn to death there, unless he really didn't know. Somehow, Leia doubts that. The door flies open, and Rex hurries inside followed by a few medics, including Kix; he's one of the few clones left alive. He's a scary medic, but he's a good one. If anyone can help Anakin, he can.

Rex blanches, moving to Ahsoka's side and gently pulling her away from the burned, nearly dead body that was once her former master. Leia realizes Ahsoka's crying quietly when the overhead lights glint off the tears on her face. Growing up in a palace as a Princess, Leia knows how to control her emotions, but she feels like crying herself. Seeing that... remembering the way he screamed when he shifted... It'll haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life.

Luke wraps an arm around her shoulders, turning her away from the sight as Kix and the other medics put Anakin on a stretcher and carry him away. She and her brother might only be wearing a robe to cover themselves, but that is the last thing on her mind. "It'll be okay," Luke whispers, and Leia fights the need to throw up again. She already did. There's nothing left to throw up anymore, so she shutters, wrapping her arms around her brother and clinging to him. It's messed up and wrong and why?

No one deserves what Anakin has been through there on Mustafar. It doesn't matter what he did. It wouldn't even matter if he killed every last Jedi – regardless of age – single-handedly. The kind of torture he endured is something no one should have to face. A quick, painless death? Yes. Burning to death? Absolutely not.

She's trembling in Luke's arms, and distantly, Leia wonders if she's going into shock. That would be unsurprising. Today has been a day of one upheaval after another, from turning into a dragon to seeing her biological father, the man she's long respected and heroized, like that...

Force.

When Leia lifts her head from Luke's shoulder, she realizes that they're alone. The medics left already, of course, with their father, and they'll hopefully hear an update on his condition before the end of the day. They should probably go visit him. Rex probably took Ahsoka somewhere where he could help her calm herself. And Obi-Wan... given that it's his fault Anakin ended up like that, she imagines the Jedi Master left to try and cope with the guilt. She'll give him some space before demanding that they talk. It's incredibly unhealthy to keep emotions bottled in until they blow up.

"Come on," Luke says, pressing their foreheads together. "Let's get some clothes. And maybe a bath and a drink. Then, we can figure out what to do from there. Do you want me to go tell Han to come take care of you?"

Leia thinks about it, thinks about burying herself in her boyfriend's arms and forgetting about the rest of the world, but... no. She can't do that when Luke needs her, too. So, she mutely shakes her head. "We'll need to find clothes," she murmurs shakily, "And a bath sounds good. After that... we can meet up again?"

"Sure," Luke agrees, though he makes no move to leave the room. "I..." he hesitates, before continuing, "I can't believe that Obi-Wan really did that to him, that he left him there like that..." He trails off, and Leia can feel his helpless anger through their bond. It's an anger which Leia herself shares, but she also recognizes that there is much which they don't know. For all they know, Obi-Wan only left their father there, limbless. He might not have realized he would burn to death. She's just trying to be optimistic, okay?

"Me too," she breathes, closing her eyes. "Me too. And we're going to get answers from him, but not right now." After another moment, she clasps Luke's hand, and together, they leave the Throne Room.

**w**

Obi-Wan waits until close to midnight – it was nearly sunset when they first went to the Throne Room – before going to the medcenter in the Imperial Palace. He spent hours fruitlessly meditating and trying to get the images from his mind. Seeing – seeing Anakin like that reminded him harshly of Mustafar, of when he walked away, of the memories he's long tried to suppress. Leaving Anakin there was... hard, probably one of the hardest things he ever did, and even though he tried to justify it to himself for years, nothing could take the edge off the pain of knowing that Anakin was dead because of him.

So now, seeing that he's still alive is both relieving and horrifying. Relieving, because Obi-Wan didn't kill the one person who meant the world to him. Horrifying, because Anakin has lived as a dragon for so long that he's lost his humanity. There's no way of knowing when, or if, he'll recover. Even if he doesn't die from the physical injuries, he may never recover his memories.

That – it's harder than Obi-Wan thought possible, especially knowing that Anakin may never remember him. He may never remember all the time they spent together, the war, Ahsoka, Padme, any of it.

Inhaling slowly, he pushes those thoughts from mind, waiting for Kix to come update him. The medic appears before long, expression drawn and tense. "Well?" Obi-Wan asks instantly.

"It... is not good, General," Kix answers grimly shaking his head. "It's a miracle he isn't dead yet, with how bad the burns are. He's in a coma now, and in a bacta tank. It'll take a long time for his skin to heal and that doesn't even consider the internal damage. He'll have to be fitted for prosthetics if he makes it. We'll know more in a few days if his condition stabilizes. Even if he heals physically, there's no way of knowing if he'll wake up or what his mental state will be. We did a scan of his brain, and he does appear to have amnesia. Possibly permanent. I'm sorry, but it's likely that he'll never remember anything he's lost."

Obi-Wan swallows, nodding. "Can I see him?"

Kix hesitates, but finally concedes. "Don't disturb any of the equipment though. We'll keep checking on him every few hours and call us if anything changes."

"I will," he promises. This is Anakin. This is Anakin's life. He's spent every minute for over the past two decades regretting what he did to him on Mustafar. He won't make the same mistake again. He goes into Anakin's room, flinching a little when he sees the machinery attached to his best friend – his son, his brother, his former Padawan – and the extent of the damage to his body, even though the walls of the bacta tank.

Obi-Wan reaches out to touch the cool sides of the tank, and he stands there for a long moment, emotions threatening to overwhelm him. He knows that Anakin will never hear him here, but he can't remain silent any longer. "I'm sorry," he breathes out fervently, reaching out to Anakin's Force signature, to the bond that still ties them together and always will.

"I'm so sorry. I thought I had no choice, and maybe I didn't, but I never wanted to hurt you, Anakin. Never. I did though, and I know that now. I don't know everything that happened, but... I want to. I want you to get better. I want to be able to understand. I – I miss you. I miss my best friend. You mean the world to me. I love you." Even if he shouldn't. Even if Anakin has done things which should be – and maybe are – unforgivable. None of that means that Obi-Wan loves Anakin any less than he always has.

Yoda sent him to stop Vader, and maybe he did. Even if Anakin was trapped in his dragon form for long and lost his humanity – and memory – Vader may well be good and truly gone as well. There's no way of knowing for sure, now, what Anakin's condition will be when he awakens. If Anakin needed to be punished for what he did... well, he's suffered more than enough. What matters most is if – assuming his memory comes back – he regrets it. And Obi-Wan has hope that he will. Or maybe it's that he can't imagine finding Anakin only to lose him again so soon.

After another moment of silence, broken only by the rhythmic noises of the life-support machines, Obi-Wan moves to a chair to sit with Anakin for as long as he can. It's unrealistic to think that he can be here the entire time because he still has duties to which he must attend, but... he can stay for now.

The entire situation is so familiar; he nearly always stayed with Anakin during the Clone Wars if he was injured and ended up in the medbay. And he would make sure that Anakin stayed put so he could recover properly. Anakin always did the same for him as well. They would sit together and talk – or complain – sometimes for hours. Tears blur his vision, and he blinks them away, trying to quiet his thoughts. Even if Anakin does somehow make a full recovery, Obi-Wan doesn't know if the guilt will ever go away.

**w**

When Vader regains consciousness, it's a slow, gradual process. He feels himself fading in and out of darkness. Sometimes, he's distantly aware of others around him. Sometimes, he's merely able to have thoughts without being aware of his surroundings. One thing he notices most clearly is that his mind feels... different, unfamiliar yet right. He feels human again. It's a comforting thought after having been a dragon for Force knows how many years.

He doesn't know how long he's been unconscious when he finally wakes up and opens his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. This is not a place he recognizes, but it's... safe. And he's alone. Which is nice because it gives him a moment to recollect himself and gather his thoughts. For so long, he has been called Vader. Maybe it's his name. Maybe it's not. It probably doesn't matter anyway. But before then, he had another name. Anakin. It's what they had been calling him.

And he finds that he doesn't really remember much of that life. It's mostly bits and pieces, random fragments of the man he once was, and it hurts to know that all of that is gone, probably forever. Or maybe not. But he knows with certainty that even if much of it comes back, all of it won't. He's not the Anakin Skywalker that his family remembers. Not anymore. He remembers his mother. Vaguely. He remembers her kindness, and he knows that they were slaves. He doesn't know how he ended up with the Jedi, but he remembers being Obi-Wan's Padawan. It was not always easy, but for all that they struggled, they also loved each other. Then, there was the war and Ahsoka and Rex and the rest of his boys.

Anakin doesn't think he could ever forget his family permanently, even if he hardly recalls more than a face and a name and impressions of what he had and lost.

And... he remembers Padme. He remembers her warmth, her smile, her love. But it's... vague. Strangely enough, for all that he loved her, of all the people closest to him, he remembers her least, and it hurts. It hurts because he knows that she's dead even if he doesn't know how or why, and he'll never be able to repair anything with her. Not now that she's gone.

He doesn't remember his children at all. Anakin doesn't even know if he should. The events that led up to him nearly dying and becoming a dragon are... distorted, but he clearly knows that it was Obi-Wan who did it to him. The horror, the pain, the fire... He can remember all of that. He must have deserved it though, because Obi-Wan would never hurt him like that for no reason. He wouldn't. He would never. He was – he was good. He is good.

Anakin turns his head, a muffled groan escaping him. His head feels foggy still, and he doesn't think he'll be conscious for long. An astromech droid is sitting next to his bedside. It takes him a moment to remember. Artoo. The knowledge that his old friend has been faithfully sitting here at his bedside makes him feel better somehow. It makes him feel, something which is almost foreign to him. Animals don't experience emotions in the way humans so, even if they do experience them. It's almost surreal to be able to be human.

The droid whistles excitedly when he notices that Anakin is awake and looking at him, and he smiles despite himself. "Hey, buddy," he whispers. "It's been a while, huh?"

"You've been inactive for three months, fourteen days, six hours, and twenty-two minutes!" Artoo informs him promptly.

"I was unconscious for that long?"

"You nearly deactivated," Artoo answers, almost chidingly, before rolling a few feet away and extending a claw-like arm to poke a button, probably to alert everyone else.

The medics come in almost immediately, and Kix is among them. It feels so familiar to have them here, poking and prodding and checking on him. He answers all of their questions as best he can, and they seem satisfied by the results. "You're doing remarkably well," Kix tells him at last. "Your brain activity has normalized a lot, and I do not think it will fully repair itself, but you should continue to see improvement."

That... is better than it could be. Anakin remembers more time total as a dragon than he does as a human right now, but at least he remembers something. It could be worse. He remembers more about Sidious than he does about his family, and he hates that. He hates that the Sith Lord took so much from him, even his humanity. It must have been because of him that Anakin never shifted back, right? Because at the beginning, when he still remembered how to be human, how to shift, he could have fought past the pain and done it anyways. That he didn't, that he became Sidious' pet is probably because it's what the Sith wanted.

The medics leave, and his family comes to see him. Luke is the first to reach his side, blue eyes filled with concern. Leia is hovering behind him, looking equally worried. "Father," Luke ventures. "How are you feeling?"

Anakin considers that for a moment. "Tired. Bored." Those two do not make sense together, but they're still true and possible, despite whatever Obi-Wan might say. "I remember a little. Not a lot. But some. I... don't think it'll ever fully come back."

Luke winces. "But you'll be okay though." It sounds more like a plea than a statement of fact.

"Eventually, yes," he admits, "Physically, at least." He doesn't know what the extent of the physical damage to his body is, but he knows he lost all his limbs and nearly burned to death. He feels some pain, though nothing extreme. It will improve with time, and he can get prosthetics to replace his limbs. Maybe he'll change his mind later, but now, he's resigned to it all, and he's simply grateful to be alive.

"Well, we're here to help you," Leia offers, coming to stand at Luke's side. She looks like Padme, and she looks like his mother, too. Anakin doesn't doubt for a moment that his family will be here to help and support him, no matter what the future holds. In the past, he knows he struggled with it, but this is many years later, and they brought him back from his dragon form, instead of leaving him like that. They could have, and a part of him thinks they should have, but they didn't. They chose to help him, and that means something.

"To the end, General," Rex adds quietly. He's standing near the doorway along with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, but when Anakin looks at him, he comes closer. "We – I thought you were dead. Knowing you're still alive means a lot. It's okay if you're not the person we remember. All of us have changed."

Rex's words soothe something in Anakin which he didn't even know was troubling him. Maybe he is more out of it than he realized.

"Sidious liked feeding me people who annoyed him," Anakin blurts out suddenly, and he genuinely has no idea why he just said that, except because it's gross now that he thinks about it. He – as a dragon – ate people. Yuck. He's eaten all sorts of strange things, he thinks, he not... that. He would much rather not remember the vivid details of his time as a dragon, of how he was Sidious' pet. But he does remember, and he knows it won't always be easy for him.

"I'm not really surprised," Ahsoka offers, hesitantly, approaching him and sitting down on the edge of his bed. She reaches for his hand – apparently, he has already been fitted with prosthetics – and squeezes it. "He's dead now, though. He can't hurt you anymore."

Anakin's expression twists. "I know. I ate him," he deadpans. He... doesn't know how to feel about eating his once-mentor. At least he didn't do that to Obi-Wan! He would never have forgiven himself if he had.

"Worse things have happened." Obi-Wan's voice is quiet, and he makes no move to come closer until Anakin gives him a pointed look. He seems uncertain even though he does take a few steps closer, approaching as if he thinks Anakin might freak out. From the flashes he remembers of his... injuries and their fight, that's probably not entirely misplaced. He's radiating guilt, and Anakin knows that they both need to talk sometime. Maybe not today. But soon. Even if he doesn't remember everything, and probably never will, it would still do them both a lot of good to try and communicate.

"Obi-Wan, whatever happened, whatever you did to me, I hardly even remember it," Anakin tells him. He maybe shouldn't be so blunt about it, but he's tired, and he doesn't know how else to say it. "I'm not angry with you."

"Do you... remember what happened, what do you did that led up to it?" He sounds so wary that it almost scares Anakin, because should he remember it? Was it really that important? Well, yes, duh, or they wouldn't have fought, but...

"Not especially," he admits, shaking his head. He knows that he tapped into the Dark Side at some point, but it all seems so far away, like something from another lifetime maybe "I... we should talk, I think, Master. Sometime. Whenever I'm awake enough." Looking at his old master now, it's so obvious that he's aged immensely. His hair is completely white now. And Anakin himself is physically not much older than when he first shifted into a dragon form twenty years ago. It's jarring. It's terrifying to know that his family could easily die long before him – well, his children won't, but everyone else probably will.

Obi-Wan meets his eyes, seeming almost relieved. "Yes," he agrees, "I think we should."

"Get some rest, Anakin," Ahsoka says softly.

"We'll come back later," Luke chimes in, and Leia nods vigorously.

He is tired, come to think of it. Apparently, sleeping – being unconscious – for several months isn't already long enough. He hums a tired noise and lets his eyes fall closed, surrounded by his family. This is – none of this will be easy, he knows. Healing from his injuries and trying to rebuild a relationship with everyone will be hard. They've all moved on – or in the twins' case, they never even knew him, really, if at all – and he's stuck in the past. It hurts.

He doesn't want this. He never asked for this. He never chose this... did he? He doesn't know. He will probably never know because his memories are gone. They're not coming back, more than likely. But... if he could fall far enough to fight Obi-Wan, if he could fall far enough that his former master – his father – would try to kill him to stop him from... something, then he probably deserves all of this.

Those feelings are fleeing as Anakin pushes them aside, focusing instead on the presences of his family around him. They're here now, and that, he knows, is what matters most. They might not say it, but they care about him. Even Obi-Wan. And he still loves them too. Maybe that will be enough to get them through the difficult days ahead.

(It is. And even if it doesn't always feel like it, Anakin finds that he still has an unshakable hope that things can get better. The Sith are dead. The Empire is gone. He has his family, sans Padme and his mother. He will never recover his memory; he'll never get more than half of it back if he's fortunate, but... he's still living. They can all create new, better memories together. They're a family. They always will be. If they're together, they'll be okay.)

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