An Even Greater Sin

Here we go- the final chapter set in RotS.

VIOLENCE, ANGST, and DEATH in this chapter.

Chapter 12: ... and the children rise

Obi-Wan Kenobi still couldn't believe it.

Oh, he had known for years of Anakin's attachment to Senator Amidala- he'd even had a hunch that they had wed after
Geonosis- and he had sensed, the other day, that Padme` was pregnant...

But to think that one of those children was standing right before him, fully grown and almost fully trained-

If his entire life had not just gone insane, Obi-Wan would swear it was all a delusion.

For Padme`'s- and Luke's- sakes, he tried to overcome the morbid resignation that had hung over him like the rain on Kamino. He tried to be optimistic. He tried to be friendly.

"It just blows my mind, really," he murmured absently to C-3PO. Perhaps, even if everyone survived this upcoming encounter, he should still avoid Anakin. His almost obsessive regard for droids as though they were living was rubbing off on Obi-Wan.

It seemed that young Luke had that hangup, as well. He seemed to be almost impervious to the droid's incessant questioning, although the answers he gave were vague at best.

Padme`- the boy's mother- had taken the news of Anakin's betrayal harshly, retreating to her private chamber within the ship. Obi-Wan didn't want to tell her- he knew it would hurt her more than anything else- but she seemed to almost know it already. She avoided Luke like the plague, though, and he had avoided touching her, as well.

Perhaps it was some sort of paradox that prevented them from contact.

All of this defied Obi-Wan's idea of the impossible. Many times Master Yoda and Qui-Gon had berated him for using that word- and Anakin had also debated it hotly, insisting that there was no such thing as impossibility, merely differing degrees of probability.

Well, if anyone had asked him yesterday to calculate the probability of today's events, he would have certainly said zero.

Anakin on the Dark side... Padme` pregnant with Anakin's child... who was also sitting cross-legged on the floor, attempting valiantly to enter a healing trance.

Had anyone suggested these things to Obi-Wan Kenobi yesterday, he probably would have laughed, and insisted the person see a Healer.

At any rate, he hoped- prayed- that together, they could save Anakin.

Darth Vader stood triumphantly on a narrow catwalk above fuming rivers of lava, sheltered by nothing but a thin rail, a flimsy energy field, and his own rage.

He drank in the fiery Force of this place- it was dead, yes, but the Force has power everywhere- but it was flavorless, hollow.

He needed to share this victory with someone.

With Padme`.

She didn't need to know about Luke- it would destroy her. Vader knew that the boy would return to his own time, soon. He would return to his own time, and they would settle things then. As Father and Son.

His stomach soured at the thought of his son having seduced him. Although the first night may have been unintentional, the boy certainly knew his identity the second night. If the boy had any moral judgement at all, he would not have committed those acts.

Vader would make the Jedi- any Jedi- pay for corrupting his son so thoroughly.

When Padme` Amidala finally emerged from her cabin, her face was streaked with tears, and there was a lump in her throat that made speaking painful. Not to mention the fact that her baby was all but screaming in fear.

It had to be fear. Luke had briefly explained his time- a time where Anakin Skywalker barely lived on as a cruel cyborg-Sith named Darth Vader, where Palpatine's reign of tyranny was absolute except for a small group of rebels. The events that they were all spiraling towards were clearly the fulcrum of the delicate scales of light and dark.

Padme` made no pretense that she knew the philosophies of the Jedi, but she knew a threat to freedom when she saw it.

And right now, her husband was that threat. And her baby knew it as well.

Luke had made the decision to remain on the ship long before his mother had requested it of him, but Obi-Wan was more adamant about following her.

"What if he attacks you?"

But she simply shook her head, and murmured sadly, "If we give up on him, then he will give up on himself. If we mistrust him, he will mistrust us."

Luke knew that his mother was about to face her husband for the final time. Forcing back tears, he asked, "Do you think you can change the future I come from?"

His mother raised tearful eyes- Leia's caf-brown eyes- and whispered, "No. But we must hope it will make things easier for you when you return."

Darth Vader rushed towards Padme`'s ship, eager to tell her of the peace he had forged with his blade.

Padme` Amidala stepped down from the ramp, her hands carefully gracing her belly, dreading the look she saw in Anakin's eyes.

Obi-Wan Kenobi cautiously kept watch on his former Padawan's emotions as he met with his wife.

Luke Skywalker tried fiercely to keep the nightmares- of the Jedi massacre, of Palpatine- from his waking moments.

Darth Vader had to remind himself that to Padme`, his name was Anakin. His new name had already seeped into his

conscious self, and every step he took seemed to ring with a low voice calling out, 'Vader.'

But as Padme` called his other name- his original name- he seemed to shift, to feel a transformation into something he wasn't- but perhaps used to be. He wrapped her in his arms, luxuriating in the fact that she, unlike this volcanic wasteland, was alive.

Alive, and safe, thanks to him. "I saw your ship land."

"I had to come and see you, Anakin. I have to ask you many questions."

Smiling tightly- the motion was unfamiliar, as though it cracked his face- Anakin replied, "What is there to ask? I've brought peace to the galaxy."

"Oh, Anakin, it's terrible. Did you lead the attack on the Jedi Temple?"

Anger snapped to attention, ready to be commanded, directed... used. He kept a firm leash on his actions, and merely
asked, "Where did you hear that?"

"From Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan. He should have known. "Obi-Wan was with you?" he snarled. "Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me. The Jedi betrayed me- betrayed US. The Republic betrayed us."

"What are you saying, Anakin?" Padme` gripped his arms, looking directly into his eyes. He saw tears forming, and smiled as gently as his new face would allow.

"We can rule the galaxy, now- I can overthrow Palpatine and we can make things the way WE want them to be."

"The only way I want things to be is you and me, alone, at peace, away from all of this. Come away with me- to somewhere far from the conflict."

"The conflict is over, Padme`. And I have won."

"What have you won? A seat beside a master who has USED you to reach his power?"

"I have used him. It is the way of the Sith."

"You are not a Sith!"

"How dare you tell me what I am or am not?" Anakin gripped her face in his gloved mechanical hand, and stared into her
eyes- as dark as the depths of space, as warm as the core of a star. "Listen, Padme`. I have the power to save you, now. I can save you from my nightmares!"

"I don't want your power, and I don't need your protection! All I want is your love." She stroked his face, now- gently, so softly that he hardly felt it, although he knew that he should have. "Come with me."

"You come with me, Padme`! We can rule the galaxy!"

She broke away from him, now, and his anger rose up, but he clenched his fists as though he held his anger's leash. She shook her head. "I don't want to rule the galaxy! I don't want to be Empress or anything like that. All I want is to be your wife- to finally be able to call myself Padme` Skywalker."

Skywalker. The name of Luke. "You will never speak that name again."

"Wh-what?"

"That name is no longer mine. I want nothing to do with that name."

"What are you talking about, Anakin?"

He couldn't bear deceiving her- no matter how much it hurt her. "Have you met a boy named Luke?"

Her heart froze. What did Luke not tell her? Carefully, she replied, "Yes."

He hissed in rage. "His name is Skywalker."

"Yes, I know. He's our son- he's from the future-"

"He's a Jedi sent from the future to kill you to keep my priorities focused on the Jedi!"

She couldn't believe it. "N-no, that's not true."

"He tried to seduce me." His eyes narrowed, and Padme` saw a flicker of something... something evil.

Seduce him? "I- I don't understand."

Anakin pointed a gloved finger directly at her belly, and she covered herself with her arms protectively. "That brat came back in time to screw me and make me forget about you!"

Aboard his mother's ship, Luke felt the shatter, the snap of his mother's heart. He heard her heated denial, and he hung his head in guilt.

"How dare you accuse him of something like that?"

"We had sex, Padme`. Luke and I had sex. Luke tricked me into having sex with him."

Shaking her head vehemently, Padme` glared. "He wouldn't." She tried to search out the lie in Anakin's eyes, but he was
looking elsewhere- to her ship.

Luke slowly, heavily, walked down the ramp as though it was to his execution. His mother whirled, and her eyes were too
painful to look at.

"Is this true? Why are you here?"

"I-" Luke dropped to his knees. "I wasn't sent back here by the Jedi. I wound up back here by a total accident- and that's what it was, between him and me. An accident."

Anakin rushed forward, and slapped Luke so hard with his prosthetic hand that it sent Luke flying several meters. Padme`
screamed, and tried to place herself between her husband and her son.

Anakin's voice was dark, low, cold. "YOU are the accident." He raised his hand, and Luke feared for a moment that Anakin was going to strangle him.

But he realized a split-second too late that he was not the target- at least, not his future self. Anakin's energies were focused on his fetal self.

Obi-Wan charged out of the ship, saber blazing, and shouted, "Leave them alone, Anakin!"

"Stay out of this, old man. This is family business."

"You ARE my family, Anakin. You're like my brother."

Luke tried desperately to shield his unborn self from his father's attack- and to shield Leia. His mother was in terrible pain- and Luke came to realize with a shock that the children within her womb were shielding themselves- but redirecting the energy to her. Screaming in agony, Padme` reached for Anakin one last time before passing out.

"Obi-Wan, help her!" Luke struggled to his feet- his face was swollen badly, and it hurt to speak. He rushed at Anakin, and demanded, "How could you do that to her? She loves you!"

Eyes burning with a crimson fire met his as Darth Vader coldly growled, "This is all your fault."

And Obi-Wan lunged.

Afraid to touch his mother's still form, Luke directed the droids to carry her- carefully- into her ship. He couldn't see beyond his tears, couldn't hear beyond the rushing of his pulse in his ears, could only feel.

And all he could feel was pain.

Burning pain.

Anakin's pain.

Vader's pain.

And Luke Skywalker blacked out.

The last words of Padme` Amidala Skywalker were, "I know there is still good within him- there is still love. Luke will bring him back."

The first words of Darth Vader Reborn were, "Where is Padme`? Is she safe?"

"I'm afraid, that in your anger... you killed her."

END OF PART 1