Mustafar

The Dawn of the Empire

The newly knighted Darth Vader grimaced as he stalked down a set of stairs. He hated Tatooine with a deep and abiding loathing, but Mustafar was worse! It was so hot, and ... and not humid, exactly. Oppressive. It was a horrible place and why the Separatists had holed up here was beyond him!

But wait, it was doubtless his master, Sheev Palpatine, who had made that call. His master was very intelligent and wise, and probably had good reasons for settling the Separatist leaders here.

And doubtless there were equally good reasons why Anakin...no, he was Darth Vader now, had been sent to kill all the Separatists.

He hadn't minded that at all; in fact, even if he hadn't turned to the Dark Side, he wouldn't have minded wiping out the leadership of the Separatists. They had killed so many of his fellow Jedi...

But no, they were not his fellow Jedi, not anymore. He was a Sith, filled with the Dark Side, and he had led a slaughter in the Jedi Temple recently.

It made him feel peculiar inside, to put away all that he knew, everything he had learned about the Force, in such a short time.

But it was worth it to save Padme and the baby. Anything was worth it.

Padme...

Unbelievably, unexpectedly, he could sense her presence and he turned as her ship settled gently onto a piece of land that was not actively volcanic at the moment.

He stepped into sight as she ran down the ramp and rushed across the landing pad in spite of her advanced pregnancy, her face reflecting the red glow of Mustafar's extensive lava fields.

Vader rushed forward and pulled the love of his life into his arms, relishing the feeling of her embrace. "I saw your ship. What are you doing out here?"

The woman gazed up at him, her eyes dark with concern. "I was so worried about you. Obi-Wan told me terrible things."

Vader's eyes narrowed, his expression dark, "What things?"

Padme shook her head and said, "He said ... that you turned to the Dark Side ... that you ... killed younglings...

Vader's expression grew even colder, "Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me."

"He cares about us," Padme asserted.

"Us?" Vader responded, his expression frigid now.

She heaved out a sigh, "He knows. He wants to help you. Anakin, all I want is your love!"

"Love won't save you, Padmé. Only my new powers can do that."

Padme's beautiful face contorted in distress, "But at what cost? You're a good person! Don't do this!"

"I won't lose you the way I lost my mother," Vader responded, "I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of, and I'm doing it for you. To protect you."

Padme's dark eyes grew desperate, "Come away with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can!"

Vader looked at her oddly, "Don't you see? We don't have to run away anymore! I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor; I ... I can overthrow him! And together, you and I can rule the galaxy; make things the way we want them to be!"

Padmé slowly backed away from her husband in horror.
"I don't believe what I'm hearing! Obi-Wan was right ... you've changed!

Vader glowered at her, "I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me!"

Padme began sobbing, "I don't know you anymore! Anakin...you're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I cannot follow!"

Vader stared at her incredulously. "Because of Obi-Wan?"

Padmé shook her head, "Because of what you've done! What you plan to do! Stop! Stop now... come back! I love you!"

The exit door of Padme's ship was suddenly filled with the form of a man in a light tunic and dark robes.

Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Liar!" the young Sith screamed.

Padmé stared at the man in horror, "No!"

Vader threw out a hand toward his pregnant wife and began to choke her with the Force, "You're with him! You brought him here to kill me!"

Abruptly, incredibly, a new Force presence flared into existence and a second later, no, half a second later, a slim, booted foot kicked Darth Vader in the solar plexus.

The breath whooshed out of him and he dropped his Force attack on his wife, gasping for breath even as his disbelieving eyes observed a dark haired woman step forward and punch him in the throat. He choked and fell over on his back, and a moment later, he batted out with all his strength in an attempt to fell his attacker.

It failed. Whoever this was, she was powerful!

"Leia!" an unfamiliar male voice cried out, as Vader was rolled over on his front with a strong arm, and a pointy knee dug into his back. He was able to breathe now, but his throat hurt and he was suddenly filled with dark and furious terror. What was happening?

"Luke," the female kneeling on him said. "And... younger Luke?"

"Yep, and older Darth Vader. I showed up at Bespin and kept young Luke from losing his hand."

"Wow! That is crazy!"

"Totally. Let's get young Vader up, shall we?" the young man said, and a moment later, the young Sith was hauled firmly to his feet by two sets of determined hands. He discovered he was flanked now by the dark haired woman and a dark blond young man, both in their 30s.

A moment later, young Vader turned his attention on his wife, and gasped in horror. A tall, figure stood two meters from her, clad in black armor, with a black mask covering his face, and he could hear a horrifying, repetitive asthmatic breathing emanating from the mouth plate. He noted that the cyborg (?) was missing his right hand, but still, he didn't want any strange scary people near his wife.

"Who is that?!" he screeched. "Get away from her!"

"Considering you just choked her in a fit of rage, she is safer with him that with you," the woman said irritably, releasing his arm and walking over to Padme and looking at her with careful concern. "Are you all right?"

"Yes?" Padme replied, though her voice was shaking, and her eyes were full of tears. "Anakin…He… he…"

"The Dark Side causes people to do mean and stupid things," the woman said. "But let's do introductions first of all to clarify what is obviously a very confusing situation. My name is Leia Organa Solo, and I am from the future, and a different timeline."

"You are Leia?" a new voice asked timidly, and young Vader frowned in even more confusion as a young man sidled past the gigantic cyborg, his gaze fixed in bewilderment on the young woman.

"I am," Leia said, and gave the boy a hug. "I am glad to see you, and with your hand too! Ok, Padme, young Vader, and Obi-Wan, please meet Old Vader, who is in his forties, along with young Luke Skywalker, who is 23 years old."

"Skywalker?" Obi-Wan said in confusion.

"Yes, Skywalker!" Leia said brightly. "He is the son of Anakin and Padme, and from presumably a different timeline than this one. And that Luke over there is older Luke and he and I are from the same timeline, which is different from this one and young Luke's and Older Vader. It is all pretty weird."

"What do you mean, 'Old Vader'?" the young Sith choked out, his dilating eyes fixed on the black creature of the night, who was, in turn, looking obsessively at Padme.

"That is you," Leia explained. "In our timeline, and in his timeline, Obi-Wan and young Vader had a duel right here on Mustafar, which ended in Vader losing his remaining three limbs and being dropped into lava."

Padme gasped in horror and turned a furious look on Obi-Wan. "Kenobi? How could you do such a thing?"

"Well, I haven't ... at least not yet," Obi-Wan replied, forcing his face to settle into some semblance of calm, "but Anakin must be stopped. He murdered the younglings, he…"

"And how did you get on my ship!?" Padme interrupted, stalking toward the man and shaking one furious finger at him. "But of course it is obvious! You stowed away! How dare you?"

"Stowed away?" the two Vaders said simultaneously.

"Of course he did," older Luke said with exasperation. "Padme loves you; she certainly wouldn't bring Kenobi here to kill you, either of you. You are both such idiots sometimes!"

"Padme, I am sorry!" the cyborg cried out, and to the astonishment of everyone, fell on his knees before her. "I am so sorry!"

"I know you are," Leia said, striding over boldly and grabbing him by one arm and pulling him up with the Force. "Of course you are. But look, she's very pregnant and it is hot and the air isn't great, so I think we should take this party back onto the ship, don't you?"

/

Main Cabin

Padme's Ship

Ten Minutes later

"You hid under my bed?!" Padme demanded, staring in fury at Kenobi. "How could you?!"

Kenobi wilted under the combined glares of both Vaders, Padme, and Leia.

"I promise I was just, erm, well I didn't…I had to come along, and it isn't a big ship."

"Because you wanted to kill me!" the older Vader suddenly boomed. "Because you wanted to cut off all my limbs and dip me in lava..."

"Stop!" Older Luke barked authoritatively. "Listen, there is a lot going on here, but I think we all agree that Padme's health is the priority. Padme, please sit down on this comfortably padded chair. Young and Old Vader, you can sit or loom beside her. Obi-Wan, you go over there, as far from the Vaders as possible, and young Luke, you sit next to Obi-Wan. This is a violence free zone, and also yelling isn't helpful!"

Obi-Wan and Older Vader glared at one another for three seconds, and then obediently sat or loomed where they were supposed to. Padme sat down as well, and released a sigh of relief; she was tired and stressed out, and now that she was paying attention, she was having painless contractions. The baby wasn't due for another month so...

"Hey!" she suddenly exclaimed, and turned a proud look on her husband. "Ani, I was right, the baby is a boy!"

Young Vader was filled with a mixture of confusion and self hatred and relief; he had attacked his dear wife! Also, he apparently had been an hour away from being dipped in lava and losing the rest of his limbs!

"You were right and I was wrong," he said, and smiled adoringly at her. "I guess we decided on the name Luke, too!"

"You are both right, actually," Older Luke said cheerfully. "Padme is carrying twins, so there is a girl in there too."

Silence for two seconds, and then both Vaders, Padme, and young Luke exclaimed, "What?!"

"I have a twin sister?" young Luke demanded, wide eyed.

"Yep!" Leia agreed.

"Who is she?" the boy demanded eagerly.

Leia rolled her eyes and raised her arm. "Why do you think I am here?"

The silence was a full ten seconds now and then Older Vader grated out, "Leia Organa is my...?"

"Daughter, yes," Leia said, turning a basilisk glare on her sort of sire. "You are smart, and also an idiot. Isn't it obvious that that Padme and I look a lot alike?"

"Leia is my sister?" Young Luke shrieked, and then his eyes flared wide. "We kissed!"

"Ew!" Padme and the Vaders chorused, and Leia lifted a restraining hand.

"You know perfectly well that the kiss on the Death Star was for luck, and the other one was to annoy Han. It didn't mean anything."

"Still," the youth said, and shuddered. "I mean, ugh. Why didn't Ben tell me?"

"Ben," Leia said, spearing the Jedi with an irritable gaze, "is also smart, and also sometimes an idiot. The Jedi think attachment is bad, blah blah blah, and they are also clueless, though given that Kenobi was in love with Duchess Satine, he should have had the brain cells to realize that when you and your Leia met at age 19, he should say something."

"He was killed really quickly, before he could say much," Older Luke offered.

Kenobi's eyes bugged out at this information and Leia said, "I realize you haven't done all that, Obi-Wan, but I do need you to understand that you are totally clueless about Vader. He really does love Padme."

"The Dark Side," the Jedi began, sitting up straighter, "prevents true love."

"I did all of this for love!" young Vader yelped. "Padme is ... she is going to die in childbirth if... oh no...!"

"As Older Vader can attest, she died exactly as foreseen in your visions," Luke said, not unsympathetically.

"I killed her," cyborg Vader announced, his mask hanging low.

"No, you didn't!" Leia snapped. "You choked her, which was horrible, and which is why I throat punched young Vader because yes, that was a rotten thing to do, but you didn't really hurt her or the babies. After the fight which isn't going to happen in this timeline, Kenobi carried Padme off to the nearby medical facility of Polis Massa and the babies were born. Unfortunately, Palpatine managed to kill Padme a few minutes later."

"What!?" both Vaders yelped, the younger one's eyes bugging out.

"Vader should have been dead here on Mustafar after losing three limbs and taking a bath in lava. Palpatine showed up and carried him off to Coruscant and had droids put him in this suit; at the same time, he followed the Force bond between Vader and Padme, who was giving birth at the time, and drained her Life Force to sustain Vader's. That is why she died, not because you choked her."

Cyborg Vader stared at his Alter Daughter and then collapsed to his knees with an anguished bellow, which made the shuttle shake slightly.

"No!" young Vader cried out. "That can't... no, he said that he would ... he said the Dark Side could save her!"

"Even if he could," Oldest Luke said, "which he can't, don't you get it? You are the most powerful Force Sensitive in the galaxy and he has been working for fourteen years, ever since he met you, to turn you to the Dark Side and make you his Sith apprentice. He hates Padme! She is a champion of democracy. The last thing he wants is for you to have divided loyalty! He wants you to be devoted to him and him alone and Older Vader can attest that with his family dead, he has been entirely devoted to Palpatine as master. And he isn't a good master; he is mean and evil and cruel."

"No, he is my friend," young Vader said, though feebly.

"Old Vader?" Leia said. "Would you care to discuss that with your younger self?"

Cyborg Vader staggered to his feet and stared at his younger self. "He is ... not your friend, or mine. He is cruel and demanding and punishes me when I fail. He has always manipulated me, from when I was a child. I thought, for all these years, that I killed my wife, and he used that ... he used that guilt to make me..."

Young Vader stared at his older self for a full minute, grinding his teeth audibly, and then said, "I am going to kill him."

"Not if I get to him first," the older Vader growled.