Revealed Identities

Chapter 25: The End At Last

"Did he attack you?" Han asked worriedly.

"No." Leia's response came monotone and emotionless.

"You shot him." Luke's voice was eerily quiet and calm. "How could you have shot him? Didn't you see he wanted to change. Didn't you see that what he did for us-"

"He's not dead." Leia interrupted. "If you had bothered to look, he was just stunned." Luke's face showed his obvious relief before it was covered in concern again.

"Why did you do that?" Luke asked incredulously.

"I think he has some psychological problems," Leia replied off handedly. "He wanted me to kill him." Luke nodded, his fears rushing back from his father's words earlier that day. 'Has all of this really happen in such a short time?' Luke wondered to himself.

"I'm not surprised. I think he wants to go back and turn himself in, but I honestly don't think that he wants to put us through that," Luke said, calming himself down.

"As long as he's alright, I believe I will go back to the cockpit," Jallishka excused himself, allowing Vader's children to work things out among themselves. He personally did not like hearing that Lord Vader would have so carelessly thrown his life away. He would never understand humans.

"What are we going to do with a stunned, suicidal man on our ship?" Han asked, eyeing Anakin's motionless body on the floor with apprehension.

"He'd be a valuable asset to the Rebellion. If he's serious about wanting to change, we could perhaps set him up somewhere where he can help us defeat the rest of the Empire." Leia suggested.

"Speaking of the Empire, what will happen now that the Emperor's dead, and the second in command deserted?" Luke murmured to himself.

"Good question. I wish I knew the answer to it." Leia ran her hand through her rumpled hair.

"We don't have to tell anybody about him? Do we?" Luke asked worriedly. Leia looked at her newly found brother, and then down at her newly found, if unwanted, father.

"We'd be violating so many rules underneath the Rebellion's code. There's no guarantee that he's even truly safe," Leia argued.

"Listen, not to be prudent or anything, but the Rebellion would sooner torture Lord Vader than let him help. Think about it Leia, the Rebellion would be better off not knowing that they're getting help from the ex-Lord Vader. Let them be happy thinking he died in a bridge explosion accident. Besides, I have a few connections on Tatooine I can pull. Set him up at a base there. It's neutral territory, plus a lot of smugglers work for the Hutts there. He'd be able to fit right in without being noticed doing a little snooping around and have and help with the intelligence work. If that's what he wanted to do of course," Han suggested.

"Every time I think you don't have a brain, you do something that proves me wrong," Leia said, smiling. Luke felt some of his tension leave. If Leia was smiling after something like this happening, hopefully she had begun to accept their father.

"I don't even try sweetheart," Han smirked cockily.

"Then you do something like that, and I wonder again." Leia's smirk matched Han's.

"What do you mean? Do what?" Han asked defensively. Leia was about to retort about his over-cockiness but was interrupted by her brother.

"Not to interrupt, but my father is lying on the floor, can we move him somewhere?" Luke inquired, somewhat annoyed, his previous worries all but forgotten. Chewie growled something, and Luke looked to Han for a translation.

"I'm must be going insane, but I'm starting to wish Threepio were here so that you wouldn't always ask me what Chewie's saying. Or you guys could just learn Wookie." Han muttered before continuing. "Chewie says he'll move your father, but he wants to know where to put him, and if he should be restrained?"

"He probably should. I don't know what he's going to do. I mean, I don't think that he's a danger to us, but rather to himself." Luke agreed.

"Young Vader," Luke turned to see Jallishka waiting in the doorway. "You've received a coded transmission."

"Will you stay with him?" Luke asked, motioning to his father. The Noghri nodded, as Luke, followed by Han, Chewie, and Leia raced to the cockpit to see who was hailing Luke.

"Who knows where to find us?" Leia asked worriedly.

"I don't know."

"Hard to find, you are," Luke felt a tremor in the Force. It was a strange, but not entirely unfamiliar sense. Whatever it was, it gave him the feeling that something major was about to happen.

Luke would have laughed out loud at the irony of the situation had he been in a better mood as he watched Chewie carefully tie the former Lord Vader to one of the beds. Jallishka has promised to watch over his father, but Luke refused to leave Anakin's side.

"I want to be here and talk to him when he wakes up," Luke had informed Leia when she told him to get some sleep. They had talked a good bit about what they wanted to do with him once he woke up, and Luke had a feeling his father would agree, but what worried him the most was that his father just was not waking up. He didn't understand it. When his father had taken the sedative to fool the Imperials, the drug had worn off in record time. It was as if his father didn't want to get better. Luke began pacing the room. He could always inject an adrenaline shot into his father to force him to wake up from the stun blast, but he wasn't quite sure what that would do to him, not with his father having just healed himself from his severe damage.

It wasn't until three days later that he finally awoke.

Anakin moaned, moving slightly in his bed. Luke quickly rushed to his father's side. It did not take Anakin long to notice that he had been tightly restrained and even less time to attempt to unbind them using the Force.

"Stop! Don't struggle too much or it will release a sedative into your system," Luke explained. Anakin's eyes focused on Luke, as though he hadn't ever seen him before. Anakin relaxed his body and laid still.

"Why aren't I dead?" Anakin asked quietly.

"Leia just stunned you. She didn't want to kill you," Luke explained carefully, as if he were speaking to a five year old. It took a moment for Luke's words to register, but when they did, Anakin's eyes closed, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"She doesn't hate me?" Luke shook his head. Anakin let out a slow, shuddering breath. "Good to know." In hindsight, even if she wasn't a Jedi, killing someone in cold blood wasn't the kind of thing someone should have to do. It wasn't a path he should have placed before his daughter. Anakin sighed, feeling selfish. He had honestly wanted it to be her if he didn't die in battle. He would have been okay with that.

Anakin moved his arms slightly, trying to get more comfortable. "Why the restraints?" Anakin asked. Luke noticed that he didn't look at all upset by being tied up.

"We were afraid you'd hurt yourself." Luke replied simply.

"What are you going to do with me? I don't want you or Leia to go through the pain of having to be put on trial with me. You've already helped me enough to be considered Imperial spies yourself," Anakin said firmly.

"We've discussed it. You're too valuable to the Rebellion to spend precious time on putting you on trial." Luke hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain this next part. "Someone you know made contact with us." Anakin looked at Luke expectantly.

"His name's Yoda." Luke was not sure how he imagined his father to react, but he wasn't expecting the response he got.

"You can't be serious." Anakin's disbelieving face made him look comical, and the restraints he had on did not help the matter. Luke laughed.

"You should see your face!" Luke's laughter died down when he noticed the new look on his father's face. Anakin did not like being laughed at. Luke cleared his throat. "Sorry." He muttered, feeling himself blush.

"Would you remove these restraints now? You have some explaining to do." Anakin said, his pride somewhat hurt for being so openly laughed at by his son. Then he inwardly smiled to himself. He had been expecting his son to hate him, and now look at him. His emotions were so muddled at the moment, but for the first time in a long while, he felt himself relax, as though some sort of weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Anakin sat in between Luke and Leia at the table in the Millennium Falcon. During the time that he had been unconscious, a lot had taken place. The group had gotten rid of the Imperial shuttle and had stationed themselves on a safe planet near Gefoga. The rest of the galaxy was chaotic. With the death of the Emperor, and the supposed death of Vader, there were many uprisings within the now divided Empire as to who would gain power.

"Things are going to get worse before they get better," Anakin said somberly.

"Yes they will," Leia agreed. She was still coming to terms with believing that this man had been Lord Vader and her father. Yet there was a calm about him that hadn't been there before. A part of her had to believe that Vader, her father, could become good again. She could not bear it to think of sharing the same bloodline with a completely horrible monster.

"Make it better, we must. The more Jedi we find, the greater the chance bad things, such as this, happen not. Complete your training, you must, young Luke," Yoda said, entering the small entertainment room where the Skywalker family was gathered. He leaned on his gnarled cane, looking at Anakin with an exasperated expression before pointing at him in emphasis.

"Trust you completely, I do not. Much to learn you still have. Remember, I do, that Yadel, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and many others believed in you and your capabilities. The prophecy you have fulfilled, but much to be done you still have." Yoda said firmly. Anakin did not know what he had been expecting upon meeting the old Jedi Master again. Why had he thought that the most patient, wisest, and self-controlled Jedi he had ever known would go utterly ballistic on him, and try to kill him?

Yoda had spoken with Mon Mothma about Anakin. He had explained the situation. Darth Vader was truly dead, and Anakin Skywalker was alive. She had wanted to bring Anakin in for a trial, but Yoda had managed to persuade her otherwise. Everyone knew there was no possible way that he could get a fair trial, and seeing Yoda again had reminded the former senator of the great importance the Jedi had involving the safety of the Republic.

"Find new recruits, we will. Perhaps time it is for a new Jedi path," Yoda had explained to her. The leader of the Rebellion had promised to keep the information about Anakin's true identity to herself because of his repentance and importance. After all, one of her most trusted Generals, General Madine, had once been an Imperial until he too became a traitor to the Empire. Despite her doubts, she would trust Yoda's decision.

Anakin was not looking forward to his "assignment" with Yoda. He would have to visit places where he had wrecked or destroyed the lives of millions upon millions of people. Yet he knew he had to help find Force sensitives. Besides, Luke would becoming with them to start his own Jedi training.

"Come. Let us go," Yoda said to the two Skywalkers.

"I'm going to miss you," Leia said, hugging her twin. She turned to her father. She smiled at him, but did not offer a hug before leaving the room. Anakin sighed. She had smiled, so at least it was a start.

Anakin and Yoda waited in their shuttle for Luke to finish saying his goodbyes.

"Master Yoda I-"

"No explanations do I want to hear. Many things you did you should not have done. Some things the Order did, we should not have done. Much to atone for, you do. First atonement is to keep your mouth shut and listen for a change instead of speaking just to hear yourself talk," Anakin shut his mouth.

"So where are we going to start looking for Jedi?" Luke asked Yoda and his father excitedly. Yoda gave Luke a somewhat skeptical look.

"Patience. You must learn to control such excitement," Luke's face fell slightly, and Anakin couldn't help but smiling. He wanted to say that it was not easy being a Jedi, but considering his own failure, he did not want to be the one to say it.

"Going to Tatooine, we are," Luke and Anakin gave Yoda somewhat exasperated looks. The Jedi master ignored the looks.

"In other words you want to torture us!" Luke moaned. Yoda grinned.

"Perhaps. Now, strap yourself in, and may the Force be with you," Yoda said philosophically as he strapped himself to his seat, and took the pilot controls. He lifted off, and slammed the controls forward. Anakin and Luke both lunged forward in their seats wincing as Yoda flew recklessly into the outer space.

"Do you want either one of us to fly?" Anakin asked hopefully. Yoda only shook his head. It was definitely going to be a long road ahead of them.

The End.