"Well, I just think that if we released all the Sith holocrons to the public, everyone would learn the difference between fighting with hate and fighting with love. Maybe even some of the techniques can be used without hate!" Anakin looked at his old master, but was just met with tired frustration.

"Anakin, a ghost you may be, but no less perturbing. Perhaps you should go back to your family for the day."

"Fine, I'm sure that they will appreciate my ideas much more than this council of old ghosts. May the force be with you."

"May the force be with you. You always need it, young one." He laughed softly and bowed.

"I think you are mistaken at who is in need of the force. I became a ghost with no formal training, you are blessed with my very presence!" His laugh echoed in the small room. "I shall take my leave, before you have a chance to give me your comeback. Farewell, Obi-wan."

Anakin crossed his arms and closed his eyes, willing the force to transport him to Luke's home. While he no longer slept, he preferred to spend the nights around his children. All of the years he spent under the Emperor's control, he failed to protect them. The people who could never rid him of their trust, that could never dull the love in his heart; his redemption. The nightly patrols could never make up for the loss he felt and the pain he caused them.

Their home was quaint and decorated minimally. It was the only home for a hundred parsecs-no better place for Anakin's family to live. It was quiet and safe which provided the perfect place for them to rest between missions and to train with each other and Ani.

As he always did, the Jedi scanned the outside of the home for any signs of trouble. He could feel Luke and Leia were inside, but he could also feel that someone else was here...

He was startled and sent out a wave of force energy, the rocks near where he appeared shattered into dust. The trees cracked in fragmented pieces. He heard her. The laugh of the most beautiful woman. She was here, somehow she had learned to become like him. He had willed her back. Or maybe ...Yoda, Luke... someone had found her for him. The charm she had given him felt almost real in his hand, the smell of her so close to him that day. He dared not speak, nor move. What if he scared her off? She had appeared to him in visions and nightmares every waking second up until his death. Her voice was always angry, accusing, she would scream at him for hours on end. Finally, exhausted, the screams would turn into sobs. There was nothing Anakin could do for her but watch her slowly fade away. Her eyes seemed to follow him everywhere, to pierce through his hideous suit and charred flesh to his heart on the day that he turned. That day kept him in eternal pain. It came as a shock to him now, to be reliving that day and every nightmare at once. The pain pushed him forward to her voice, her laugh, the smile he would for...and kill for.

"Hey dad, what's going on?"

The Jedi ignored his son and burst into the next room.

His daughter was sitting in the corner of the room."Hello, father. I'm staying with..."

She continued to speak, but Anakin felt and heard nothing. He had heard her, his wife. His wide eyes met Leia's concerned ones.

The Force surged throughout the room and it startled Leia to her feet.

"Dad! What's wrong? What has happened?" She reached out to him for a moment, but forgot that she was not able to touch her father.

He shook his head slowly as he transported himself away from all of it. He transported himself to a beach on Naboo. Through all these empty years, he had never revisited the place of their wedding. The soft waves lapped against the sand.

"I don't like sand." Ani looked down blankly at the ground. Perhaps if he stared hard enough, she would materialize out of the sand and listen to him. Maybe she could still love a small part of him. He closed his eyes and slowly turned around to face the balcony he had been married on. He was truly redeemed by his children, but he would never fill the hole that she had left. That he had carved out. Decades of avoiding what had happened, of playing the victim to everyone around him, lying to himself and to his visions of her were over. Here, on the sands of Naboo, he would face her and his past. Without healing, he would never be able to really teach his children, and eventually grandchildren, of the power of the Force. A deep breathe in, a hard sigh out.

Anakin opened his eyes slowly.

"Padme."