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Vader – Anakin – doesn’t know what he expected as he faded away into the Force but being sent back in time wasn’t one of them. Especially not being sent back in time right to the middle of the Clone Wars. He’s on a ship, somewhere in hyperspace, and one look at his own clothes and the overly decorative but half non-existent clothes Ahsoka is wearing makes it come rushing back full-force what this mission is, without him even having to ask.
Zyggeria.
That’s where he’s going.
He’s… supposed to be Light now. He let the Dark go and that’s what Luke wanted him for but even if his son is gone, he doesn’t want to disappoint him. But… it’s hard to feel anything light in the face of everything he remembers of Zyggeria. It’s hard to feel anything but a drowning bitterness and rage, no matter how hard he tries to let it go because he can’t be dark again. He can’t Fall again, even if he doesn’t trust himself enough to think that he won’t.
He tries to turn his focus instead to how Ahsoka and Rex are here.
He hasn’t seen them in so long.
These aren’t the version he went through everything together with but it’s also before he lost them and that means everything. It’s more than he’s had for so long.
He could still have a chance to the end the war. He could still have a chance to give Ahsoka the life he knows she always wanted. To make up for how he… helped destroy everything she once wanted. And the chance to do that matters almost more than anything else.
And Rex… Anakin doesn’t really know what happened to them in the future, but Rex wouldn’t have joined the Rebellion for nothing.
Obi-Wan is here too, of course. Anakin isn’t ready to see him. Not yet. But this is the younger version of him who knows nothing of the future and even if he’s still on-guard, it’s far easier than if this was the one who remembered. Even if pain is probably inevitable. It’s a resigned acceptance he’s just come to reach at this point.
He gets out a half-fumbled explanation of the future and the situation to them. There’s nothing to hide and he can tell that they’re all exploding with more questions but now isn’t the time to talk about it.
“Ahsoka cannot play the part of the slave,” Anakin decides,
“We already decided on that, Master,” Ahsoka objects. It means the galaxy to even hear her voice again, though its so much more high-pitched and childish than when he last heard her.
“Yes,” Anakin rasps. It’s weird to see with his own eyes again. And to feel anything. He can’t stop touching the seat next to him, just feeling. It’s distracting his focus “And that is one of many mistakes I have intention of repeating.” He doesn’t really know how to decide things for himself anymore. It’s terrifying to know he doesn’t have Sidious as a master anymore. Right now, he’ll just stay focused on the Zyggeria mission. Worry about everything else… after that. At least here, he knows what he ought to do. Free everyone, the way he always wished someone would with him.
“What would you suggest instead?” Obi-Wan asks, arms crossed.
“I could pose as the slave,” Anakin suggests, even if it’s the last thing he wants to do. But really, he’s the best at knowing how to do that. It’s all he’s ever known how to do.
“But who would talk to the queen?” Obi-Wan objects, “They would never believe the master was a clone. I could do it but someone has to search for the rest of the colonists.”
…Right.
“I know where they are. Someone would just have to free them,” Anakin says.
“I could pose as the slave,” Rex offers, “There’s talk about clones being sold off by slavers. It would be easy to believe.” Rex’s face is shadowed. Anakin heard about that during the war and he wanted to do something about it but there was really nothing.
Considering that Rex is a slave, he doesn’t want to ask this of him, but strategically, it would be best if it were him or Ahsoka. And at least Rex won’t be at risk of being hurt the way Ahsoka was. “You are all right with this, Rex?”
“Of course, sir. It’s just part of the mission.”
Of course Rex is always going to say that but that doesn’t mean Anakin is overly happy about it. Still, all he can do is give in.
“Alright. Ahsoka and I will see who else we can find and free while you distract the queen.”
And at least that gives him a focus. A mission. That’s all he knows anymore, after so long as Vader.
***
“Master?” Ahsoka asks, poking his arm, “Are you okay?” They’re walking through the streets now, trying to be discreet. Everyone probably will still assume Ahsoka is a slave but at least she’s not being displayed.
Anakin looks down at her. He’s missed her so much. It still feels unreal to have her at his side again. “I’m fine. Why?”
“You’re hobbling like you can’t walk straight.”
…oh. “I’m still getting used to this… body. The future was different.”
“Different how?” she asks, eye markings shooting up.
Anakin tries to keep his focus on walking straight as they keep moving. He hasn’t felt the Force so bright and so unfiltered by pain in so long either, though that, at least, makes it easier to use the Force to help him keep his balance. “I lost much of myself. In battle.” He doesn’t care to elaborate. It’s still not something he ever wants to think about again, even if he can never truly stop. He tries to let it go into the Force, again. He has accepted it. But that doesn’t mean… it makes the hurt or fear or everything else that came with that fully go away.
“I can’t believe people profit on things like this,” Ahsoka seethes, as they keep moving.
“I have never understood it either.” Even if it feels like he’s hardly one to speak after how many he knows he’s hurt himself, whether he had a choice or not.
“It doesn’t feel right to just leave everyone else here, simply because they aren’t the ones we’re looking for,” she says, a bit subdued.
And then something occurs to him.
“We don’t have to.”
Ahsoka looks up, startled. “Don’t we?”
“No. We can free everyone. Give the slaves a chance to revolt and they will take it. But we can start by finding the governor.”
“What if the Council or Master Obi-Wan don’t agree?”
“They don’t need to know until we’re finished.” He doesn’t have to answer to the Council anymore, even if it feels arrogant to think he can do this on his own. He knows he can’t. But there’s no one he can really trust to turn to tell him what to do. There’s Ahsoka and Rex, but she’s still a child.
It doesn’t take them much longer to get to the pits where all the slaves are being held. There’s dozens – the governor is only one of many.
“Ready, Snips?” Anakin asks, and the word feels freeing to say after so long.
She nods firmly.
And then they move.
Anakin tackles the nearest guards, knocking them down and throwing them into the empty pits.
Honestly, there’s nothing more fitting to do with them.
He doesn’t want to kill anymore. That’s all he’s ever done, even as a Jedi. It’s what caused him to Fall. And its not his choice to make, if someone deserves to die – if he didn’t, then he can’t say who else doesn’t. But these people… Well, he finds it quite satisfying to leave them yowling in their own pits before he and Ahsoka start pulling all the slaves out with the Force.
Some of them are injured, too much to walk. But there’s ships nearby, the ships of those who came to buy more slaves – who are all howling in the pits – and Anakin directs the freed slaves to those, if they want to leave immediately. Some do. Others want to stay and fight and keep freeing others.
That’s good, though, because he has to admit they’re going to need a little bit of help to free the entire planet.
***
They make it across the capital city within hours. What they’re going to do with so many freed slaves after they get them off-planet, Anakin has no idea but he’ll think ahead later. It’s easier here than Tatooine in some ways because they don’t have transmitters to blow anyone up with. It starts to get a little bloody though Anakin does his best to tone it down. But it’s also expected when the slaves are just lashing out after so many years of hurt.
He knows that too well.
But he tries to get them all evacuated to the nearest ships where they’ll be safe, after they temporarily contain the Zyggerrians.
They make it all the way to the palace when Obi-Wan comms him.
“Anakin, where are you?” he demands.
“Right outside,” Anakin replies cheerfully.
Finally, for the first time in his life, he’s getting to free salves. It finally feels like a chance to make up for everything he’s caused.
“I suppose you wouldn’t have anything to do with the three thousand slaves about to storm the place, would you?”
“Why would you ever think that?”
He hasn’t joked with his former master in decades. It feels strange.
But not unwanted, even if… it’s still hard not to brace himself for attack whenever he sees him.
“What did you do?” he demands.
“You never told me not too. And you and Rex did agree to leave me and Ahsoka unattended.”
His padawan smothers a giggle next to him.
It feels nice to hear her laugh again.
“Well, let them know the queen surrenders” Obi-Wan replies a bit dryly, and the hologram flashes sideways for a moment, so he can get a good look at Rex holding her blaster point. Anakin’s never been so proud of him.
Though he also wishes he never had to see the queen again. It brings back too many unpleasant memories, things he never wants to think about again.
“I have a better idea,” Anakin advises, “Tell her to order the entire Zyggerian military is to stand down indefinitely.”
Ahsoka perks up. “What’s our next move?”
“Obi-Wan, can you hold the queen hostage while we free the rest of the planet?”
“Anakin, that is not our mission.”
“Perhaps if it was, people would have faith in the Jedi and Republic again.” He doesn’t mean to sound arrogant. It’s just the truth. And he can’t walk away again, knowing there were people he could have helped and chose not to.
Ahsoka’s expression flickers. He can tell she agrees with him. She walked away from the Order for a reason. Anakin can understand it even more now than he did at the time.
“Very well,” his former master sighs, “I will stay here and monitor the situation at the palace.”
“Rex? Do you want to come with us?”
“It would be my genuine pleasure, sir,” he replies.
They have to wait a little while for Rex to be able to make it out of the palace. He comes to meet up with them as they’re leaving the capital city. “You know, sir,” Rex says, shifting closer to him, “When you told me once you were a slave, I never really understood what you meant until now.”
The slavery he knew back then was so much more minimal to what it became. He doesn’t say that, though.
“It’s not something many realize until they see themselves.” He breathes out heavily. ““But… the clones status to the Republic isn’t much different.”
“So you’ve said, sir. I guess after seeing things, I’m beginning to see what you mean.”
Anakin remembers now, that it first really sunk in with Rex after both Umbara and Zyggerria.
“No one hurt you at the palace, did they?” he asks, just to be sure.
“No, sir,” Rex assures.
“After we’re finished here, maybe we can think about freeing your brothers,” Anakin suggests, though how he would go about that, he doesn’t know.
“We do still have a duty, sir,” Rex objects, “But maybe after the war…”
He doesn’t want to think about after the war right now, not after what after the war brought before. “Perhaps,” Anakin agrees instead, smiling back at him.
It’s strange to smile at all anymore.
“Right now,” Rex says, “I’d be pleased to burn this place to the ground along side you for what they must have done to you, sir.”
That loyalty means – everything.
It still doesn’t feel like he deserves it.
But it’s time for them to finish this mission.
***
It takes a few days to work their way across the entire planet, freeing everyone who they can. They get as many onto ships as possible to get out of there, “I wish we could do this more,” Ahsoka comments, as they watch Zyggeria shrinking outside the viewport while they fly away.
They already sent Obi-Wan ahead to rescue all the slaves on Kadavo so the Zyggerians couldn’t hurt them in retaliation. The Council’s been trying to contact them but Anakin’s definitely been too busy to answer his comms.
He’s not breaking any laws if no one can tell him to stop in time.
“I know,” he replies quietly, standing next to her, “This was once my dream when I was a child too.” He can’t believe he was once naive enough to think it would be that simple.
“I’ve been thinking I want to free more than just one planet. I want to free all of them,” she says, “Maybe once the war is over, we can do that?”
Anakin remembers this conversation from before. Back then, he’d almost thought they would be able to. He thought they’d fight side by side forever. And instead, they never saw each other again after the war was over. Except Malachor. But maybe this time… He doesn’t know, He’s almost afraid to hope. “That would be a big job, even for us, but I’m hoping we can at least try.”
He has so much to make up for. There’s no better way to do it. Especially not when he knows what it’s like to constantly beg all the stars and anyone ever to come rescue him and to know that no one cares enough to even look back. He doesn’t want anyone else to feel like that ever again.
Though, the fire he feels inside of him when he thinks about that scares him because it was that fire that destroyed everything in the first place. He can’t let that happen again.
“You seem worried,” Ahsoka comments.
“Before, we have this conversation too. But in the end, it… didn’t happen.”
“What you told me about the future still doesn’t make sense to me,” she remarks, frowning a little.
“Let’s hope that stays true,” he says, smiling warmly down at her as he squeezes her shoulder. He hasn’t had human contact in so long. He never wants to stop touching her.
Rex walks over to them, joining them at the viewport. “I have to say, sir, if that’s a choice we get to make, I’d like to help you out.”
“I’ll make sure it’s a choice you get, Rex,” he promises.
Rex nods. “I’m sure some of the other boys will want to tag along.”
He’s forgotten what it’s like to be with people. Most importantly, to be with Rex and Ahsoka. They may not be his versions of them but having any version of them back is more than he could ever ask for.
***
Considering that they have thousands of refugees from Zyggeria, they’re going to find somewhere for them to stay somehow. And the only person Anakin knows of to help call is… Padme. He’s terrified to see her again. It’s jarring to remember that she’s even still alive. But he doesn’t have a choice so Anakin tentatively makes the call, heart pounding.
Her hologram appears in front of him. Breathing. Alive. He tries not to remember the last moments he saw her on Mustafar.
“Ani?” she asks.
It hurts so much to hear her voice again. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to face her.
He can no longer blame her for betraying him, for bringing Obi-Wan to kill him, but that doesn’t mean… There’s still a distinct lack of trust there and he doesn’t know what to do about it.
“It’s good to see you,” Anakin blurts, scrambling for words.
“Is everything alright?” Padme asks, “I’m hearing about how you illegally attacked Zyggeria. Then I heard it was a slavery world so I’ve been trying to slow down the debate in the Senate about it.”
Anakin can’t help smiling faintly. “Thank you, Padme.” He has no idea how to talk to her anymore. He should just get to the point. “I – I just need a favor. All the people we rescued, they need somewhere to go. Can you arrange that?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” she promises immediately, “There’s so many war refugees now. It’s not like this would be much harder than finding them somewhere to stay.”
Anakin nods.
It feels like he should say something more but he can’t find words. Or anything. He can’t stop staring at her, half expecting for her to just be dead again.
“Everything all right?” Padme asks, eyeing him.
How does he tell her any of this? He doesn’t even know but she deserves answers. She needs to know that he’s not who she married. Not anymore. “This is going to sound unbelievable,” Anakin settles for finally, “But I time-traveled.”
Padme blinks. “You look the same to me,” she replies, teasingly.
“To my own body. I lived all the way too… my death. And then I came back to this point. I cannot explain how it happened. But in my time, I haven’t seen you in about two decades.”
Her expression flips through a whole serious of emotions before finally settling on still disbelieving. “Why wouldn’t we have seen each other in decades?”
She already rejected him once. Doing so again couldn’t be much worse. He can understand now, no one wanting him. He just still wishes someone did. Rex and Ahsoka, do though. “Things in the galaxy changed. An Empire formed out of the Republic. You were against it. I supported it. I didn’t see until too late that what I thought the Empire was, was still a lie. And… we fought. I don’t know if I was the one who caused your death but you died.”
She looks… overwhelmed, to say the least. “I… I can’t imagine how that could be our future,” she objects finally.
“You said once that our relationship would destroy our lives. Maybe you were not wrong.” He could never regret how Luke and Leia were born because of it but he can’t help thinking back the moment Padme first said that sometimes and wondering if she was right in the end.
“I might have thought that once but I can’t say I believe that anymore,” Padme objects, “I think I need a minute here to understand what you’re saying.”
He’s silent, waiting for her to process.
She asks a few other questions about the Empire. He explains whatever she wants to know.
“I can’t imagine you hurting me,” she says finally.
“You were planning to kill me and I lashed out. I know that is not an excuse,” Anakin replies numbly, “I have done… a lot of things I doubt you will want to imagine. If you want a distance now, I do not blame you.”
“What I’d actually like is for you to come back to Coruscant once you can so we can talk about this in-person,” she replies. She seems too mind-blown for the next to really sink in. Maybe that’s for the best because he doesn’t know how to face her questions right now.
She’s not out-right rejecting him, though. Not yet.
He’s certain it’s just a yet.
“For now, I’ll work on this refugee issue, alright?”
He nods.
“I love you, Ani,” she says finally.
The words make his mind stop for a moment. He would’ve said it back once without hesitation. It’s not that it’s untrue now. He does still care about her but everything is so different. She hasn’t been his wife in so long and they hardly even knew each other in the first place.
“You too,” he offers finally, because well – he doesn’t want to hurt her. All he does is hurt people and he’s tired of it feeling like that’s all he does.
***
They actually reunite with Obi-Wan back on Kiros, where he’s been helping get the Togruta’s settled back in. “Anakin?” Obi-Wan comes over to him directly, before Anakin can find anyway to escape the conversation.
“Yes?” He tries not to show how tense he is outwardly. But he just doesn’t know how to look at him without bracing for attack. Even if he knows they’re on the same side now.
“Are you alright?” his former master asks, frowning slightly.
He doesn’t know what that means anymore. It’s weird to hear him asking, though. “…Yes.” What else does he say?
“I’ve been meaning to tell you this,” Obi-Wan says finally, “I saw a lot more of slavery here, more than I would say I ever have before. And I cannot imagine someone having to live with that every day of their lives, much less as a child. I can see now, why you’ve always struggled so much to let go of it. But I believe if anyone is strong to let it go, you are.”
Anakin looks away. “I do not believe that I have ever been as strong as you would like.”
It feels like admitting to a failing but it’s also the truth. He’s not. If he was, he wouldn’t have broken.
“You’re Light now,” Obi-Wan points out, after a long pause of heavy silence, “Lighter than I have ever felt you.”
“Am I?” He knows he’s trying. He doesn’t know if it’s working.
Obi-Wan nods.
“I cannot be the Jedi you always wanted of me,” he says finally. He tried so much and it never mattered in the end.
“It sems you have already exceeded my expectations.”
“You don’t know what I did.”
“Whatever you did, you were still able to come back from it. And that choice says… a lot, Anakin. No one can come back from the Dark. But you did.” His gaze is heavy and pained but the words still mean… something.
This Obi-Wan is actually accepting him. Anakin doesn’t know what to say to him. What to… think of it. It’s hard to trust anymore.
He wishes Luke were here, so he knew what his son wanted of him.
“What’s the situation with the Council?” Anakin asks finally instead, because focusing on now is easier than dealing the mess of emotions.
“Some of them aren’t happy you did it without authorization. But some of the others I would say were… at least satisfied with the result, even if they didn’t outright say it. You did well at it, Anakin”
He nods, uncertain what else to say.
But he has a future ahead of him, a chance to do what he once always dreamed of, a chance to actually give Ahsoka the life she deserve to get, and… the most he can do is try.
That’s what he did before and it was never enough, but he can try to learn to follow the Force and let it guide him now. And maybe this time, trying will be enough.