A Past Long Hidden

Summary: "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force." The Chosen One's words lead the Force to remember its ... or rather, his, long-hidden origins. [AU, Crossover]

Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property of Lucasfilm. Katsuhiro Otomo owns Akira. I make no monetary profit from this story. The quote is from ANH.

Beta'd by Blighted Angel.

"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."

The Chosen One's words were true, the Force mused, but the real extent of its power was unknown to all mortals: Jedi, Sith or any other Force-sensitive, regardless of whether they were one with it or not. Even the few beings who had managed to become Force-ghosts did not know.

If the Force could take physical form as its true self, it would be child's play to destroy a planet or two and silence its pretentious doubters forever. And gain true believers, not the blind ones who invoked it out of mere politeness.

The Force had once been a living, breathing being whose psychic powers had been awakened too abruptly to control. A Jedi would have unfairly labelled him a Dark Sider at first sight, while a Sith would have rejoiced at his glorious acts of destruction.

But his awakening, insanity and suffering were distant memories for him, for they had happened aeons before the divisions of Light and Dark, before he became the energy pervading this universe. Before he became this very universe. A mortal would have been confused, but for the Force, the distinction did not matter.

The Force's Light Side believed that sharing the truth of its origins would only cause more strife; it did not need deification or religious worship. The Dark Side thought that no mortal was worthy of knowing such sacred truth. Not even the currently dominant Sith Lords, who were but disposable tools in its arsenal.

Without the powers of the human the Force had once been, there would have been no Dark or Light Sides ... This very reality would not have existed. There were others who had triggered his transformation into the Force, but their essences were lost, absent even in the Netherworld; their role unknown to all but the Force himself. Just like his true origin … his true identity …

Even though aeons had passed since he had a physical body, the Force still remembered his name. The Force still remembered a time when he was known as … Tetsuo.

A/N: The Akira movie's ending has many crossover possibilities (and crazy explanations); this is one that didn't stop bugging me until I wrote it down.

Thank you, Blighted Angel, for fine-tuning this little drabble. The last paragraph is pretty much hers.