An Even Greater Sin

Chapter 3: The need for love...

Luke didn't want to believe his senses. Here he was, walking down the permacrete walkways of Coruscant- not Imperial Center, but Coruscant- in a time before his birth, with his-

He couldn't bring himself to think of just WHO Anakin Skywalker was- not after last night.

Anakin was terribly quiet, and Luke glanced his way. Blue eyes shimmered in the shaded light reflecting off of the buildings, and they held a strange, pained form of calm, like he was drawing control from his fear. Luke looked carefully at him, taking in the strong jaw, the scars of war, and the eyes which had seen too much.

Timidly, Luke asked, "What's wrong?"

"I wish I knew. There's something wrong with the Force. I can feel it."

Of course there was something wrong. Luke was in a time he shouldn't have been, speaking to someone who he shouldn't- and thinking about things that were driving him to the brink of insanity. Even knowing that Anakin was his- even knowing the truth, he couldn't stop the images, the sensations, the FEELINGS, of the previous night out of his head. And although every logic cell in his mind was telling him it was wrong, it was disgusting, it was... evil... Luke couldn't help but grow aroused. He kept his emotions and reactions carefully in check, though.

Instead, he merely replied, "I can feel it too."

Over a simple lunch of deli sandwiches, they discussed everything from war, to politics, to music. Luke found out that Anakin was a fan of the archaic group Myllisekonde, which had broken up around RD 965- and who Luke had a huge admiration for. Luke learned that Anakin had been obsessed with piloting and mechanics from a very young age. Luke discovered Anakin's blind reverence for the Chancellor- very much like Luke's own respect to Obi-Wan, before the truth had surfaced.

In other words... they had far too much in common.

The only subject they avoided was sex. Luke didn't want to be reminded of the actions... of the wrongness of it... or of the rightness of it. What sickened Luke the most was not the fact of the event- it was the fact that he wasn't as disturbed as he felt he should have been. After all- just the fact that he'd slept with a stranger- and a married one, at that!- gave him the creeps. But somehow, the identity of the man who took him didn't disgust Luke as much as he felt he was obligated to be.

The way Anakin smiled... the way he stood, or walked... those electric blue eyes...

It was more of a denial that he was... who he was. And although in this time, Luke couldn't be himself, he almost wanted to deny it all- to turn his back on the future- to try to remake himself into someone who could remake Anakin.

This disturbed him most of all.

He had to think of his obligations to the Alliance... to the Jedi... to Leia... and to his own time, so the sacrifices of his friends would not be in vain. But he kept getting lost in those eyes... those strangely warm eyes that seemed to reverberate with a greater destiny... those eyes that carried the universe within them...

Luke just couldn't be himself, looking into those eyes. And Anakin seemed completely unaware of the effect that he had... on Luke.

Luke asked carefully, "Where's Master Kenobi? My Master mentioned him- he might want to know my Master is dead."

"He left for a mission yesterday. I'm worried about him. He's powerful, yes, but he always winds up in situations where his power alone can't help him."

"Is he reckless?"

Anakin laughed. "He certainly can be. Jumping out of windows hundreds of stories high... fighting bounty hunters unarmed... getting captured... And very frequently falling. Pits of gundarks, Coruscant's streets... just about the only thing he hasn't fallen into is love."

At the word "love," Luke glanced down at his sandwich. It was good, but... "You said you're not supposed to be married?"

"It's against the Jedi Code. Boy, you must have been trained by a real rebel. If you didn't even know that part of the code... Master Yoda would skin both you and your Master alive with his stick."

"Then why did you get married?"

"Because I love her." These last words were uttered harshly, defensively. "Look, if you're trying to pry information out of me... you're a spy, aren't you?"

Incredulously, Luke gaped. "A spy? Oh, yeah, spies get drunk as hell before trying to interrogate someone. Even if I were spying on you, you'd know it- sense it through the Force!"

Relieved, Anakin shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm just paranoid lately. These nightmares have been getting to me."

"Nightmares?"

Anakin groaned, and threw the final bite of his sandwich onto his plate. "I can't get them out of my head. They're terrible. My wife- she..."

Luke rushed over to kneel next to Anakin. Taking the taller man into his arms, Luke asked, "What's going to happen?"

Choking back a sob, Anakin whispered, "She's going... to die... in childbirth."

With tears trailing down his face, Luke gently murmured, "The future is always in motion. The things we see are not necessarily those which will come to be. The Force has many threads, between places, between people, between the past, the future..."

Weakly smiling, Anakin mumbled, "You're quite poetic, you know."

"I'm just saying what I know to be the truth."

Anakin bent in for a kiss- and Luke didn't resist.

In his office in the Senate building, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine smiled. He had a new player in his game- a new way get to Anakin Skywalker.