Across the Stars: Destiny
Future is Prologue
by: enchantingmagick

A/N: Updated as of 5.20.16 for grammar. I'll be revising the entire story. I don't think I'll be changing anything major. I should be updating the story soon, so keep a lookout for that! To be honest, I completely forgot about this fic, but I would like to finish it.

Disclaimer: Nope, won't even claim Star Wars for a second.

Anakin's consciousness drifted, catching tendrils of images and ideas. His last visage of life was looking into blue eyes, clear as the lake on Naboo. Just as his own, exactly like Padmé had predicted and imagined. His children had grown up fatherless, all because of the many mistakes he never should have made. He had tried to save his wife from a death that he eventually caused. Anakin had killed her. Never once had he realized he was trying and failing to save her from a death that he would cause. He had lost his wife, his future, his children, and everything he had worked for his entire life, because he'd succumbed to the temptation of fear. His mind had been twisted and warped into believing lies about the Jedi. Anakin Skywalker would never destroy an entire planet out of vengeance, yet Darth Vader had.

Anakin saw a bright light, then gasped involuntarily. He squinted and blinked not believing his surroundings. Obi-Wan stood in front of him, emanating the same constant aura of serenity.

"Obi-Wan?" He asked in a voice filled with disbelief.

"Anakin, we've been expecting you." Obi-Wan spoke assuredly, as he always had.

"Master," he took a deep breath and continued, "I'm sorry...for everything. There are no words that I could find to put right everything that I've done wrong."

"Anakin, Master Yoda would like to speak with you. It's very important," Kenobi interrupted, placing his hand on Anakin's forearm.

"Master Yoda? Where are we?" Anakin asked incredulously.

"In the most basic sense, we are dead. Because we are strong with the force, we cannot die. Qui-Gon taught me to become one with the Force, on Tatooine, after Padmé's death." Her husband flinched at the sound of Padmé's name, even after so many years. Kenobi pressed on, "It was also for training reasons that Master Yoda asked me to stay and watch over Luke on Tatooine."

"How did Beru and Owen raise him?"

"He was as good as their own son. But they didn't want him to grow up idolizing the Jedi like you. They refrained from telling him about everything you did for the cause during the Clone Wars. They are the reason why he didn't know what became of you. He was raised with the brief that Darth Vader had killed you. He had this burning curiosity about who his father was and what had become of him. It was rather ironic in fact, that you were the one to tell him."

"Why didn't you tell him? He needed to know. Luke should have killed me!"

"Much like Padmé, he believed that there was still good in you. He wouldn't have been able to kill you in cold blood. Padmé's dying words were that she believed there was good in you still."

"I just don't know how everything went to utterly wrong. It was so gradual, and then it slipped beyond my control." Anakin's hands went to his face, as if to shield him from all the wrongs he had done.

"Now we have work to do. We must meet with Master Yoda. He has an assignment for you."

"First, you must tell me something," he said hesitantly, unsure if he wanted the answer. "Padmé...is she here?"

"Yes, but she is only a shade of who she was in life. You may see her after we have spoken with Master Yoda."

"There is no way that I can ever repay you, for all that you have done for me."

"I saw you suffering. I knew about you and Padmé, and I couldn't do anything about that either. I watched your life get better and fall apart all in the same three years. She made you happier than you had ever been before, but also dangerously volatile. There's a reason Jedi aren't allowed to marry. We experience the full range of emotions in a more intense way that is multiplied ten-fold with attachment."

"I know that now, Obi-Wan. I just couldn't see anything beyond her at the time. I loved her so much. Being with her was all-consuming."

"You fulfilled your destiny Anakin. You brought balance to the force, when you joined the Dark Side, and again when you killed the Emperor."

"There was no way we could have known that the prophecy meant bring balance through the Dark Side," Anakin countered.

"We can discuss this later, because Master Yoda would like to speak with you urgently."

"Yes, of course," he said turning away, blinking to halt the tears that welled in his eyes.

The two men walked down a corridor. Glancing down towards his feet, Anaking realized there was no floor or ceiling, only clouds. He felt weightless, nothing holding him down. Obi-Wan opened a door and showed Anakin through to the chamber where Master Yoda was meditating. The green Jedi master slowly opened his eyes, showing no intimation of surprise.

"Come in, Anakin. Much to discuss there is. Good news we have. Ways we have discovered of changing the past," he said in a controlled tone.

"It's called flow-walking. Anakin, you must understand something. When changing the past, you must be careful. Because change it too much and you won't be offered chance to fix it again. We have decided it is necessary this time. The Force has shown us that destiny has taken a wrong course," interjected in Obi-Wan.

"So if fix it you do, a chance to save the galaxy you have. But heed Obi-Wan's warning, you must. For if you reveal the future, then change it you can not."

"Anakin we will show you how, but exercise caution. Be thoughtful indeed, for if you make too many mistakes we can not fix it. We will be in an alternate form of reality."

"Thank you, Masters, I understand, but may I see Padmé? I need to see her, even if it's just for a moment."

"Anakin, you musn't tell her what you're doing."

"Does that mean I can see her?"

"May the Force be with you, Anakin," Master Yoda said, as they left the room.

Anakin and Obi-Wan walked down another hallway in a divergent path and arrived at a veranda with a fountain. It resembled Padmé's apartments back at the Senate on Coruscant. With her chestnut curls blowing in the slight, fragrant breeze, she was leaning over a railing leisurely reading a book. She turned around suddenly, as if sensing his presence. Padmé's eyes widened in shock. In moments, Anakin was by her side and wrapped her in a tight embrace. Just like the first time ten years ago, his breath caught in appreciation of her incandescent beauty. Her chestnut colored curls framed her porcelain face, and her brown eyes were warm pools of serenity. Anaking looked into them, and he found himself at home. Padmé gasped a second time as her eyes fluttered open, and she saw her husband was truly there in the flesh.

"Ani?" she asked in a slow whisper. Her eyes searched his for recognition, that he was hers.

"I've missed you,'" he said simply, inhaling the wonder of her presence.

"What happened to you?" Padmé asked tears rolling down her cheeks, in remembrance of his complete abandonment.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, their tears running together, as they clutched each other desperately.

She sank in his arms and touched his cheek and drowned in his eyes. And Anakin knew he was forgiven. It felt as it always had. She held him almost possessively, her against his back.

"I've always loved you, and will always love you. Don't ever forget that," Anakin said, his voice filled with resolve. He gave her a lingering kiss caressing her cheek, wish closed.

"Anakin?" Padmé asked hesitantly.

"Yes, angel?"

"Promise me, you'll come back to me. I need you."

Anakin gently pried her fingers from his back.

With that, Anakin stood, and without a backward glance walked out of the room. Every footstep pained him, destroying his desperately gathered focus. He would get to spend time with her in their past...he smiled remembering romantic nights on the balcony under a blanket of stars.

"Send me back now," Anakin demanded abruptly. "I'm ready."

"Follow me," he said walking down a hallway and into a room,"Take a seat, and I want you to begin meditating, as you used to, as my Padawan."

Quietly sitting down, Anakin folded himself into his cushion. He began to empty his mind of thought. "Now, I want you to think about all the people you are going to see when you go back. Think about every single moment you would change. Now, choose wisely. Select the moment you want to return to. The exact moment, allow the memory to fill you up with all the emotions you felt in that precise second. Emotions are the most powerful, if you can focus on that, the specifics don't matter. But you have to be very precise, or you could end up in a different time felt exactly the same. Focus on specifics, your surroundings, the color and material of the floor. Remind yourself of the date, repeatedly. "

Sifting through memories, Anakin finally settled on one. The pivotal moment when he had heard about the Chancellor's kidnapping. It was hard to feel angry now knew that it had all been a charade. He felt the air change around him as he was taken back to that moment. Obi-Wan had been beside him and the he had gotten a transmission from Coruscant. He allowed anger and rage to fill him up. With a jolt, he felt the atmosphere alter. Gravity took its toll on him momentarily, causing him to stumble briefly.

"Anakin, are you all right? You look a little pale," Obi-Wan asked concerned. "Or are you just not paying attention to me again?"