Anakin swung his lightsaber through three droids at once. He glanced around the crowded battlefield. So many droids pressed in around them, many super battle droids or droidekas rather than the simple B-1s. He had only five of his men left with him, Rex, Fives, Hardcase, Jesse, and Tup. The hills ahead of them were spread with thousands of battle droids.
There was nothing for it. They had to retreat.
"To me!" Anakin cried. He turned and protected his men as they ran up the hill at their backs. A small ancient temple built by mysterious Force users stood at the top of the hill. "Make for the temple!"
The boys poured into the temple. Deflecting bolts back to their owners, Anakin ran in after them.
"Is there any way to close this off?" Rex asked.
Anakin scanned the temple. A large door stood at the entrance of the temple. He stuck out his hand and sank into the Force, trying to close the door.
It wasn't enough.
A whisper came to him, tickling his ears. Come to me. Lean on me. I will give you strength to close the door.
Anakin's eyes flew open. A large gem floated in the middle of the temple chamber glowing turquoise. He stepped forward and placed both his hands on the gem.
"Uh, general, what are you doing?" Rex asked.
Anakin ignored him, sinking deep into the Force. The door rumbled closed. Dizziness assaulted him and he plunged to the floor, darkness descending on him.
Anakin pushed himself up. His heart jumped. He was standing in a black void. "Where am I?"
The Force pressed in on him. You are in a place that is outside the universe. You are treading a path that will lead to disaster. Here you may look in the many faces of yourself and know who you truly are. By this you may avert disaster.
Anakin frowned. What did that even mean? Had he been struck as the door closed and this was injured hallucinations or—Force forbid—the afterlife?
A dark helmeted cloaked figure with a rasping respirator appeared in front of Anakin.
Anakin scowled. "Who are you?"
"I have no reason to obey the Force," the dark figure said. "What has it ever done for me?"
"Right," Anakin drew out. "Who are you?"
"Not Anakin Skywalker." The dark figure crossed his arms.
Anakin rolled his eyes. The Force—if it had been the Force—had said he'd face many faces of himself, so it was doubtful what the man claimed was true. He crossed his arms. "Then who are you?"
"Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker was weak. I destroyed him."
What kind of bantha shavit was this? Some sort of lesson to keep him from becoming a Sith? He wasn't about to turn to the dark side. Not funny, Force. "So you used to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader?"
"You are weak," Vader said. "You are foolish. I am powerful. The Dark Side makes me stronger."
"Why are you wearing a suit?" Anakin asked.
"It makes me stronger," Vader said.
Anakin couldn't imagine the suit was popular with Padmé. "Take it off."
"No."
"Why not?" Anakin shot.
"I don't want to," Vader said.
"Oh my stars." Another Anakin appeared in Jedi robes with a big bag slung over his shoulder and another in his hands. He rubbed his forehead. "You sound like my toddlers. Cut it out."
"But he—" Anakin started.
"He said—" Vader pointed at Anakin.
Dad-Anakin shook his head. "I don't want to hear it. I've got a mission in the morning, three appearances in court next week, a Sith Lord's stash to sort through, the Force to balance by Taungsday, and I haven't slept in five days. You are both adults. Stop acting like children. Tall dark and wheezy doesn't have to take his helmet off if he doesn't want to, and well-rested me isn't weak just because he's not wearing a suit."
Vader raised his hand and curled it, a typical gesture for Force choke, but nothing happened.
"What's that? Weird dance move?" Dad-Anakin dropped his bags on the floor, lay down, and propped his head up on them. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Wake me up when it's all over."
You are not allowed to control me here, the Force said. You must bend to my will. Therefore, only the Jedi will have any effect here.
Anakin resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at his Sith counterpart.
Before Anakin could process what to do next, a slew of doppelgangers appeared around him, Vader, and the snoring dad. One Anakin stood in light Jedi robes and one in dark Jedi robes. One Anakin wore a firesuit blazoned with flames and clouds and a racing helmet. One Anakin wore elaborate robes reminiscent of Palpatine's, Bail's, or Padmé's. One wore a piece of clothing Anakin had heard called a tuxedo on a planet in the Middle Rim and a porcelain mask on the right half of his face. One Anakin wore some sort of strange dress—or was it a sheet?—and held a long thin stick. One wore leather armor and held a short steel sword. Another wore armor made of metal plates and metal loops, with a sword on his belt and a crown on his head. One doppelganger was shirtless, tanner than Anakin, wore a grass skirt, and held a surfboard. One had a dress military uniform with the right forearm pinned up. Another stood in blue scrubs, a stethoscope hanging around his neck. The last Anakin was dressed in all black, as a thief might be.
"Who are all these miscreants?" Vader boomed.
"Watch who you're calling miscreant, barbarian!" Sheet-wearing Anakin snapped.
"Why are you wearing a sheet?" Anakin asked.
Sheet-Anakin sniffed. "I am wearing a toga, barbarian."
Leather-Armor Anakin tightened his grip around his sword, raising the weapon to Toga. "You and your kind are the barbarians, waging a war you don't understand against people outside your borders, simply to stuff your coffers. You back every passing whim of a madman. Tell me, do you service Emperor Palpatine if he asks you?"
Toga trembled. "You dare to desecrate the sacred name of Caesar, you gladiator filth! May Jupiter's wrath fall on you for trampling the good name of my adoptive father!"
Anakin's head spun. Emperor Palpatine? Adoptive father? Gladiator? What?
Gladiator Anakin snorted. "You let that monster adopt you? Do you know what he does to those who oppose him?"
"That was necessary to pull together the failing republic and end civil war! What do you suggest him do to end the constant upheaval and threatened disintegration of mighty Rome?" Toga asked.
"Let it disintegrate!" Gladiator Anakin spread his arms. "Let the mighty Roman Empire fall!"
"Enough!" Half-Mask Anakin cried. "We don't need a history lesson on the conflict between plebians and patricians. Why don't we all calm down and talk about this situation calmly. We're all in this together." A smile quirked his lips. When nobody replied, he muttered, "Tough crowd."
"The booming voice said that we're all here to keep that guy," Surfer Anakin pointed at Anakin, "From making a bad decision."
All-in-Black Anakin kicked Tired Dad Anakin. "Wake up, man. Bozo here needs advice."
Vader huffed. "Advice. Foolish. Turn to the Dark Side. That's my advice."
Tired Dad held up a finger without opening his eyes. "Don't do that. Palpatine is plotting to murder Padmé."
"What?" Anakin burst out. There was no way. There was no way. His heart hammered and his knees weakened. "That's impossible."
"Believe it," Gladiator spat. "He is a murderer. A monster."
"He's no such thing!" Toga howled.
King Anakin shrugged. "I stabbed Palpatine through the heart to take my rightful place on the throne of Tatooine."
Elaborate Robes snorted. "I rule the entire galaxy."
"Well, bully for you, not all of us can be gods," King Anakin said.
Elaborate Robes just burst out laughing.
Doctor Anakin gripped Anakin's arm. "You're a bit pale. Why don't you sit down?"
Anakin nodded and sat down. Doctor patted his shoulder.
"Just take deep breaths." Doctor Anakin put the stethoscope ear tips in his ears and pressed the chest piece to Anakin's chest.
"Hey, good idea!" Shirtless Surfer placed his surfboard on the ground and sat on it. The others sat down as well, except for Vader, who stubbornly stayed standing.
Anakin forced himself to take deep breaths. He wasn't going crazy. Everything was fine. He was just talking with a bunch of alternate universe versions of himself about how one of his most trusted mentors was a dirtbag and possibly a murderer. No biggie.
Doctor Anakin hmmed to himself and moved the chest piece to the other side of Anakin's chest. "Deep breaths."
"Here's some advice," Half-Mask said. "Stay away from Taco Bell."
Military-Anakin and Doctor Anakin grunted in agreement. Doctor Anakin moved the chest piece to Anakin's back.
"Deep breaths," Doctor said.
"I don't know what Taco Bell is," Anakin said.
Doctor Anakin removed his stethoscope. "I think you're fine, but I would recommend trying to take deep breaths any time you start to feel lightheaded. Have you been under a lot of stress lately?"
"I've been in a war," Anakin said.
"Ah!" Military-Anakin said. "That reminds me of something! Palpatine is controlling both sides of our war with Russia. He's just using you. Stay far away from him so you won't get caught up in his impeachment."
Anakin blinked. So many versions of himself were warning against Palpatine, it was hard not to take them seriously. "What's Russia?"
Military-Anakin raised his eyebrows.
The racer took off his helmet. "Don't race the Terric Track on Zerair. You'll throw up, crash, catch on fire, lose a limb, and almost die. It'll be the worst five months of your life."
Five months? The races on Zerair only lasted three weeks.
"We're allergic to most poi," Surfer said.
"Adopt a dog," Half-Mask said.
"You will have children throw up in your hair," Tired Dad said. "That's not advice, that's just…a warning. It will happen. There's no getting around it."
"Don't get caught up in Palpatine's mind games," All in Black said. "Just steal from him. Don't let him draw you in. He's a psychopath and you're not. His stash is worth millions though, maybe billions, and that's not counting the secret clone army he created. Be aware, though, he has some sort of mental control over them, so you can't fully trust them until you free them from it, no matter how close you are to Rex." He scratched a scar that stretched all the way around his neck. "I had to learn that the hard way. But Vos, much as I hate him, was right."
Anakin's blood chilled. All in Black's seriousness emanated from him. A flash of Rex slitting Anakin's throat popped into his mind. Shakiness threaded through his muscles.
"Wait, so…" Anakin held up his hands. "Who are all of you? What are your lives like?"
"I'm a pediatrician," Scrubs said. "I've got a practice in New York City. I'm married to former senator Padmé Amidala, and we have twins. I'm Catholic. I grew up primarily in the Jedi Knights Boarding School which is the reason I'm where I am today."
Gladiator spoke up next. "I am the chieftain of one of the Jedi tribes in upper Germania, as the Romans call it. The Romans captured me on a raid down south. I never would have been captured in my home territory. I was sold to an Imperial gladiator school and forced to fight in the arenas. The Roman Empire is ruled by Palpatine, a monster of a man."
A few of the others scoffed.
"He's tortured me illegally several times to get me on his side, tempted me with money, women, power. But not my freedom, the one thing I want most. He wants to use me to destroy the Jedi. They're a threat to his reign, to Imperial stability," Gladiator Anakin said.
Sickness rose up in Anakin. If his doppelgängers were to be believed, Palpatine couldn't be trusted. Palpatine could be using him. And if Anakin wasn't to believe himself, who was he to believe?
Light Jedi Robes shrugged. "I was raised in the Jedi Order from as long as I can remember."
"Me too!" Dark Jedi Robes cried. "Is your mother a Jedi too?"
Light Robes frowned. "I have no idea who my mother is."
"Mom's a Jedi?" Anakin exclaimed.
"Yeah," Dark Robes laughed. "No one believed her when she said she got pregnant through the Force. It was quite a scandal. So many Jedi trying to figure out whether their husbands had cheated. They had to DNA test me to figure out she was right and keep mobs of angry spouses off her."
"Spouses?" Anakin and Light Robes said together.
"Yeah?" Dark Robes said. "The Jedi that are married? Do you not have that word where you come from?"
"We have the word, just…Jedi aren't allowed to get married. Or have families," Anakin said.
"Yeah, same," Light Robes said. "My whole lineage has had to give up relationships due to the attachment rules."
Had Light Robes given up Padmé? Maybe growing up a Jedi gave him more self-control.
"So are Yoda and Yaddle not married in your timeline?" Dark Robes asked, bewildered. "What about their children?"
Anakin choked. He'd never realized he never wanted to think about Yoda and Yaddle having…relations. He shook his head frantically. "Nope. Not happening. Not in my universe. Never."
Dark Robes shrugged. "Weird."
"I freed myself from slavery by being a racer," Racer said. "Then I continued my career. Now I'm one of the most famous racers in the galaxy."
"What do you race?" Vader asked.
"Pretty much anything," Racer said. "Started out with pods, moved to swoops so I could compete on more worlds, and I kept expanding the types of vehicles I would race until now I'm known as the most versatile racer out there."
"What happened to Mom?" Anakin asked.
"She uh, actually got free a bit before I did." Racer scratched the back of his neck. "She fell in love with some moisture farmer, and he freed her and married her. I was off world at the time, so I didn't find out until after it had all happened. I bought my freedom a couple months later though. Watto wouldn't sell me to anybody for anything, would only sell me to myself."
"What about Qui-Gon?" Anakin asked. "And Padmé? Didn't you help them get off Tatooine? What about Obi-Wan?"
"Who?" Racer asked.
Anakin's stomach dropped. "Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, they're Jedi, and Padmé, she was the queen of Naboo. Queen Amidala." His love. The woman he couldn't live without.
"Oh, yeah, I think I've heard of her," Racer said. "Queen Amidala Memorial Racing Circuit. She died in a blockade I think, escaping Naboo. The Trade Federation control the planet now."
Chills washed over Anakin. Died in a blockade. Did that mean Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had died in the blockade too? He had grown up with no Obi-Wan, no Jedi, no lightsabers? He had at least gotten free, but…
Anakin had always wondered what might have happened if he hadn't gotten free and become a Jedi. Now, he wished he didn't know. A racer. Racer seemed content, but a life with no Padmé, no Obi-Wan, no Ahsoka, no Rex, no Yoda, no Jedi Temple, no lightsabers, no missions, no greater purpose?
"Why? Did you know her?" Racer asked.
Anakin nodded. "We got married."
"Padmé, huh?" Surfer asked. "I think I know her."
"Yeah? What's your life like?" Anakin asked.
"I was born and raised in Hawaii," Surfer said. "My mother married this guy named Cliegg when I was little. He had an older kid. Then they took in this foster kid who'd spent years with this one guy, that Qui-Gon you mentioned. Qui-Gon died, so we took Obi-Wan in, since we'd become eligible for emergency placement. Obi-Wan had just turned eighteen when we were all going to go out for a drive, but I got sick, and Obi-Wan offered to stay home with me. It was raining really hard, and they veered off the road, and…"
He shrugged, wiping his eyes. "I was only five. The state wanted to put me in foster care because they didn't think Obi-Wan was a fit guardian, but he fought to keep me. I didn't really understand why, at first. I wasn't an easy kid to raise. I'd constantly get in fights. The other kids thought I was weird, and I didn't really have any friends. Then when I was about six, this alien, Chopper, crashed nearby and I adopted him. I thought he was a dog at first. Turns out he was some weird science experiment. Anyway, he was a disaster, and these other aliens were chasing him and destroying stuff, and I came very close to being taken away from Obi-Wan, but it all wound up working out in the end. Some of the other aliens came to live with us too. Now I'm in college for engineering and I'm a professional surfer. I've seen that Padmé you talked about around the pre-law classes. She needs tutoring in pre-calc. I may just offer to tutor her. If one of me's married to her, maybe it'll work out for us, too."
"Obi-Wan raised you from age five?" Vader asked. "On his own? With no Jedi to pawn you off on?"
"I don't know what a Jedi is, but Obi-Wan never pawned me off on anyone." Surfer's voice was full of steel. "He sacrificed so much for me. He took a crappy job at a fake touristy place with a terrible manager just to pay the bills when he had dreams to be so much more than that. Yeah, we shouted at each other a lot, but that's what siblings do. I tested his patience more than most kids do, but he pushed through it all. He even comforted me when I was about to be taken away by the state and he was more upset than I was because he understood what was going on and I didn't. He almost didn't marry Siri because he was too focused on making sure I was okay. I don't know what kind of bad blood you have between Obi-Wan in your universe, but he's my big brother and he raised me and he loves me, and I know that whatever kind of man he is, he would never be able to truly hurt me unless it was for my own good. Like, if I became some sort of mass murderer terrorizing cities like Chopper was supposed to be."
Surfer's resolve and love for Obi-Wan filled the space. Even though he didn't seem aware of the existence of the Force, he still had an incredibly powerful Force signature that flung his emotions throughout the room. It actually kind of gave Anakin a headache.
Vader flinched. The emotions must be hitting him fairly hard. He sat down, crossed his arms, and stared down at the non-existent floor.
Anakin's heart warmed. Though technically Surfer's Obi-Wan wasn't Anakin's Obi-Wan, it was still some version of him. Surfer's tale of losing his family weighed on Anakin, but Obi-Wan's sacrifices and love for his little Anakin struck Anakin deep. He doubted sometimes how much Obi-Wan truly cared for him, but Surfer had reminded him of those early years of their apprenticeship. Yes, it had been rocky, very rocky. They had shouted at each other at times. Anakin had continually doubted whether this would work out, whether he was even cut out to be a Jedi. But Obi-Wan had stuck with it through it all, through all the trials Anakin had put him through and all the times he surely thought of giving up and passing Anakin off to some other Jedi or letting him be tossed out of the Order, punted to the AgriCorps or the ExploraCorps.
Obi-Wan had sacrificed much for Anakin. Too much to simply be holding to a stale promise. Maybe that was why he took Anakin in at first, but deep down, Anakin knew the truth. Obi-Wan loved him. He'd move planets for Anakin, just as Anakin would for him. He'd persevered through the rough padawanship because he cared about Anakin. Because they were family.
"Thank you," Anakin told Surfer.
"Anytime," Surfer said. "I'll praise Obi-Wan to anyone who'll listen. He deserves the brother of the year awards for pretty much all the years we've been brothers."
"You are saying your Obi-Wan never made mistakes?" Vader spat.
"No, he made mistakes," Surfer said. "He says that at some periods, he made nothing but mistakes. But he did his best, and we can work out the rest together."
Anakin nodded. Obi-Wan had made many mistakes, but he was still Anakin's best friend, his brother, and the closest thing he had to a father.
"Man, you guys make me wish I knew this Obi-Wan guy," Racer said.
"Yeah, he's pretty great," Anakin said. "What about you, in the fancy robes?"
Elaborate Robes shrugged. "I'm the emperor of the galaxy. Palpatine took over and ruled a Sith empire for a while, and after I killed him, the Imperial Senate demanded I take his place. It was either that or let Tarkin take over, so I accepted the job as emperor. It's stressful, but less people are killing each other now than at the beginning of the Empire, so that's good."
Palpatine, ruling a Sith empire? And Elaborate Robes was so blasé about it all. Not even Vader seemed surprised by the accusation.
"What about you, in all black?" Anakin asked.
"I'm a thief," All in Black said. "I like to steal fancy things from rich people." He shook his head. "Or at least, I used to. I got caught and went to prison and now I work to catch thieves with Obi-Wan." He pulled up his pants leg to reveal a black band around his left ankle. "It's a work release program of sorts. It's better than rotting in a prison cell."
"You went to prison?" Anakin asked. He couldn't quite believe his counterpart had done enough things to get him thrown in prison. Also, it was somewhat embarrassing that his criminal counterpart had managed to get himself caught. He'd like to think that, if he ever did become a serial thief, he'd be too good at his job to be caught.
"Four years," Thief Anakin said. "I broke out to save Padmè after she disappeared and got another four years. Hence the work release and the tracking anklet." He sobered at her name. Sorrow swamped the place with yet another strong Force signature his counterpart seemed unaware of.
Anakin rubbed his throbbing temples. Right after he got out of this place, he was going to shore up his shields and apologize to anyone who ever knew him as a kid for giving them constant headaches. No wonder Master Windu always looked crabby around him as a kid.
"What happened to Padmè?" Anakin asked. "I can sense your sadness when you speak of her."
"Palpatine blew her up," Thief said. "I was going to run off with her and settle down, but Palpatine blew up our getaway vehicle before I could get in. He said that I would be better off without her," Thief spat these words, "that he needed me to be dependent on only him. But I won't steal for him anymore. Never again."
Sickness arose in Anakin. Killed Padmé to make Anakin more dependent on him. The crazy thing was, it sounded like something a Sith would do. And if Palpatine was a Sith, like his other selves were claiming…
Anakin almost threw up. Palpatine could be behind everything, including the war. He could have been the one behind Padmé's assassination attempts right at the start of the Clone Wars. He had planned the assassination, then told the Council to assign Anakin to guard Padmé so they would fall in love, just so Palpatine could use that to draw Anakin closer to the dark and make him dependent on him. So he'd end up like Vader.
"Palpatine ordered Padmé's death?" Vader demanded. "He killed her to leave you alone except for him?"
Thief nodded miserably. "Thankfully he underestimated the bond I had built with Obi-Wan, so I'm not completely alone, but… It's so hard to live life without her. I just wish I'd seen it coming. I could have stopped it! Somehow."
Vader's hands curled into fists. "It makes perfect sense. She was alive! I felt it! I'm going to kill him."
Anakin flinched. So even in Vader's universe, Palpatine had killed Padmé.
His friend really was evil.
"And you." Anakin turned to Vader. "What do you have to say about your world? Who is Palpatine?"
"He is a Sith Lord," Vader said. "He orchestrated everything, including the war, to destroy the Jedi and conquer the galaxy."
"And you're his apprentice," Anakin said. It wasn't a question.
"I am," Vader said. "I have served him for almost nineteen years now."
"Why?" Anakin demanded. "What could he possibly offer you to induce you to follow him instead of the Jedi?"
Vader did not respond for a while, but, when Anakin and the other-Anakins just stared at him, he finally spoke. "I was having visions of Padmé perishing in childbirth. Palpatine offered me a way to learn, through the Dark Side, how to save her from death."
"But the Dark Side can't heal nearly as well as the pure Force can," Dark-Robes Anakin said. "That was obviously a lie."
"Hush," Thief-Anakin said. "You're not helping."
Anakin ignored them both. "But instead of saving her, by joining Palpatine, you made your visions come true. You prompted Palpatine to kill Padmé to grant himself your complete loyalty."
"I think I've seen that movie before," Half-Mask said. "You've got to be careful with future knowledge, else in trying to avert it, you'll fulfill it."
Anakin drew in a sudden breath. Maybe this was why Obi-Wan and Master Yoda always told him to be extra careful in how he responded to his visions. He tended to just cast off their advice as the words of rule-bound stuffed shirts who didn't understand, but…maybe they had a good reason for the warnings.
The last thing Anakin wanted was to become Vader.
He had thought deep in his heart that to lose Padmé would be to lose himself as well. Seeing these versions of himself, he saw that not only was it not true that he could not live without Padmé, but there were worse fates than losing his beloved wife. Such as becoming Vader, a dark, murderous Sith who had lost everything, including his health if that stupid suit was any indication, and was enslaved to the very man who had murdered his wife.
"I'm going to kill Palpatine," Anakin said. "When I get back, the first thing I'm going to do will be to separate his head from his shoulders."
"It was a murder, but not a crime," Half-Mask murmured.
"How about your relationship with Palpatine?" Anakin asked, nodding to Half-Mask.
Half-Mask shrugged. "Never heard of the guy. I know Obi-Wan and Padmé. We're co-stars in a Broadway musical. Every night, I pretend to kill Obi-Wan because Padmé's character chose him over me, then Padmé and I go home to our two children. It's not always easy, but we make it work, with faith and trust." He muttered something about "pixie dust" under his breath, but Anakin didn't care enough to ask what he was talking about.
"You without the attachments," Anakin said, pointing at Light Robes. "Are you happy?"
Light Robes nodded. "For the most part, yes. I'll always wonder what could have been with Padmé, but I'm not sure I have the self-control to be a proper Jedi and also be a good husband, so this is the best course for me. I know I'm keeping darkness at bay where I am now. I couldn't forgive myself if I put myself before the rest of the galaxy."
The words stabbed deep into Anakin. He knew sometimes—a lot of times—he prized the people he loved over his duty as a Jedi, but that was normal, right? That was how anyone could be expected to act.
"How about you, with attachments allowed?" Anakin turned to Dark Robes.
Dark Robes shrugged. "I'm fine, I suppose. Hasn't been easy, with all that Palpatine's been doing, to keep steady and do what's right. Sometimes I don't always know if I can keep going, make sure to put the good of everyone before the people I love. Failing is normal, I know, and it's why the Jedi try to avoid putting us in situations where we have to choose, but…" He buried his face in his hands. "Mom has always told me that it's better to die doing what's right than live due to evil, and I try to always remember that, but it's hard. I don't want to sacrifice the people I love to stop the Sith from dominating the galaxy. I don't want to have to pay such a high price to fulfill my destiny."
Dark Robes' shoulders sank. "But Mom has always told me that to deny those around me the right to give their live for what's good the same way I am willing is to deny them their freedom and become what I've sworn to destroy. Force help me, but I can't let her memory down. She and Obi-Wan have always told me I could be the greatest Jedi out of all of them. I don't want to prove them wrong."
He straightened up and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Besides, have you ever tried to control Padmé? It's a disaster. Bad, bad idea. Don't do it. She needs the space to make her own decisions, even if they're bad ones."
"Hear, hear," Half-Mask said.
"He's right," Dad-Anakin chimed in. "You can choose to get rid of all your attachments, or you can choose to hold onto them, but you have to learn to let go when necessary. I can't control everything. Much as I'd like to, I can't. Trying just gets everyone into deeper trouble. Part of life is learning that sometimes, bad things happen, and despite your best efforts, there's nothing you can do about it. People die. People betray you. You won't always win. You don't always have the power to change things. All we can do is our best and hope the Force handles the rest."
It wasn't anything Anakin hadn't heard from other people. But coming from himself, seeing the pain reflected in his doppelgangers' eyes and the lessons they had learned the hard way…
Something about it hit Anakin different.
Dad-Anakin sighed. "I've always tried to control everything and everyone around me because of how I grew up. I told myself that, if I just became a Jedi, if I just became powerful enough, I didn't have to live in fear that I'd lose someone ever again. I thought that I was somehow special, that people who don't grow up a slave don't have to fear that any day, their mother could be ripped from them and they could be alone in the world. But I'm not special. Everyone has to live with that fear, no matter who they are or how powerful they are. And I think…I think if I was all-powerful, if I could stop people from dying and make sure I never lost anyone again… I think I would become a monster. A slave master, like the ones I grew up with, except far more terrible. People die. It happens, it's awful, and if—when—I lose certain people, it'll completely break me. But I can't control that, and there's no use masking my grief with anger. Loss is awful, but it's part of the galaxy we live in. At least, that's what I've been thinking lately," he tacked on at the end, then collapsed back onto his bag and slept once more.
Control.
If this little adventure Anakin was on had taught him anything, it was that whatever control he thought he had over his life was an illusion. Any little change could have ripped his world away from him forever. Loss was, somehow, inevitably a part of his life. He could fear it, fight, rage against it all he wanted, but nothing he could do would stop it from happening.
Nothing.
And, while Anakin may have termed himself a slow learner, he really wasn't. He was exceedingly stubborn, but he was also quick to learn and comprehend things when he wasn't just refusing to acknowledge their existence. If nothing, not the Force, not the Dark Side, none of his efforts could save Padmé or stop death, then…
Then there was nothing left to do but accept it. It was the only smart thing to do. Anakin was many things, but he was not stupid.
Also, Dad-Anakin was right, though Anakin had never truly thought it through before. His deep-seated fear of loss, his need for control, his quest for power, his rage at the loss of his loved ones, all stemmed from the terrors of his childhood in slavery. It didn't immediately banish those weaknesses he had continually fought against, but it helped him understand himself, and perhaps in gaining understanding, he could take the first steps towards conquering his problems.
Loss was inevitable. And he didn't have to turn his grief into anger to hide his weaknesses from Gardulla and Sebulba and those who wanted to exploit him. He could just…be. Be weak. Be sad. Be broken. Because if his life was anything like Surfer's or Thief's life, even if he lost people, he wouldn't be alone.
Losses didn't have to destroy him.
"How about you, King Anakin?" Anakin asked, his voice hoarse. "Any advice?"
"Not really," King Anakin said. "Everyone else seems to have pretty much covered everything. Just, don't underestimate Palpatine when you fight him. He's more dangerous than you think. Listen to Obi-Wan and Padmé. Killing Palpatine is just one step. He has an insidious reach with politicians. It's not enough to end his life. You have to expose his lies as well."
"Agreed," Military-Anakin said. "We are terrible at judging politics. You have no idea how far Palpatine's reach has spread. You will need help and careful actions to dismantle everything he has had his hand in. I know patience and restraint are the exact opposite of our strengths, but you have to exercise some in taking him down. Do it wrong, and you will leave a headless beast all the more dangerous for its lack of direction. To do it right will take a lot of hard work, but trust me, it'll be worth it."
"Thank you," Anakin said, trying to take the words to heart, though internally he chafed at them. These other versions of himself were doing the best they could to set him towards the brightest path he could walk. He could at least have the courtesy of trying to heed their warnings.
"I am afraid I have made some grave mistakes," Vader said.
"It's not too late to become reformed," Thief Anakin said. "It's never too late. Obi-Wan has always believed I'm a good man, even when I don't deserve it. You always have the choice to turn around and change. Be the man Obi-Wan already believes you are, and you won't go wrong."
"You have no idea what I have done," Vader warned. "You are a simple thief. I am a monster."
"Then change," Anakin said, suddenly tired. "Stop being a Sith. Renounce the Dark Side, destroy the mess you've created, and work to restore the galaxy. If you unmade it, you can make it again. You're the Chosen One. It's your destiny, so go and fulfill it already."
"All you can do is try," Dark Robes offered softly.
"I…suppose I can try," Vader said. "I was about to board and capture the princess of Alderaan. I wonder…" He trailed off, and said no more, but the dark cloud he had been emanating shifted into a brilliant blaze of light. It matched the blazes of light from every other Anakin in the place.
It was all blinding. Anakin's head pounded with pain. One him was enough. Over a dozen made for too many Anakins.
It is done, the Force boomed. You have all done well. Now return to your worlds and do what is right. Remember what happened here. Always remember…
The world faded around him, as did the other Anakins. The frantic voices of his men, explosions, and a tinny reassurance from Obi-Wan that help would soon arrive faded in and out, but it wasn't as strong as the reverberation of the scene Anakin had just lived.
He knew that, no matter what happened, the memory of this place would always be as clear to him as if he was still within it.
He dragged his eyes open to find Rex hovering over him.
"General, are you all right? You just collapsed," Rex said.
Anakin groaned. His headache had traveled with him into the tiny temple, stabbing into his head with a vengeance. "I'm fine, Rex." He accepted the hand stretched out to him and sat up, ignoring the wariness that fluttered in his chest. He could investigate and break the mind control Palpatine had on them as soon as they made it back to the Republic cruisers. "We have a lot of work to do."
Dozens of universes away, a Sith Lord led a rebellion against Palpatine, freed the galaxy, and reunited with his children and his old master. Somehow, they all found the strength to forgive each other and rebuild the Jedi as a family.
A gladiator found peace in his soul, bonded with a rich women five years his senior and a Jedi-tribesman-turned-Roman-officer named Kenobi to overthrow the emperor he so despised and thus regain the freedom he so coveted.
The emperor's adopted son lost his father the emperor of the Roman Empire, but though he wept in public, those closest to him stated that those tears were a farce, and his happy life with his wife, two children, and the senator Kenobi seemed to confirm the rumor that the Emperor Anakin had poisoned his own father with his favored mushrooms.
A Catholic pediatrician went home and hugged his wife, his children, and his brother with renewed gratitude for the happy life they lived.
A Jedi who had managed to fight his temptations for a certain senator found the strength to defeat the Sith once and for all.
Another Jedi honored the memory of his mother, who was a Jedi before him, and fulfilled his destiny, then went home to kiss his own children and tell them to prize doing the right thing over all else.
A tired Jedi father slept in the peace of his galaxy and renewed his strength to continue righting the wrongs Palpatine had wrought upon the galaxy.
A thief fully committed to becoming reformed and worked with his arresting-officer-turned-brother-and-father-both to spread freedom and justice everywhere they went.
The unfortunate inheritor of a Sith empire restored to the broken galaxy the peace and freedom it had long sought.
An up-and-coming racer took the galaxy by storm, convinced a little green gremlin to train him, and dismantled the web of darkness descending on everyone—then returned back to his racing, his destiny fulfilled.
A wounded military veteran settled into his broken life and sought to find peace where Palpatine had wreaked destruction.
A professional surfer turned engineering student went home and hugged his brother, then tutored a stunning pre-law student in calculus. At their wedding, he attributed their happiness to "the truth speaking from deep inside myself."
A king sought to do right by the people he had fought for against his scheming advisor, and reached out to the neighboring Queen of Naboo for an alliance that would end up forging a kingdom which would go down in legend.
A Broadway star wrote a stunning musical-in-the-stars, and always smiled mysteriously when people asked him where the idea came from.
And a certain man named Anakin Skywalker defeated the Sith, saved the galaxy from destruction, and, one might even say, lived happily ever after.