AN: Here I am once again. Another Oneshot, this time a response to three challenges. I pretty much skim through the movies, only shortly focusing on the last half of episode three. Once again, this is more of a Drabble than a fullfledged fic. If you want to adopt it, by all means, go ahead.

Challenge 1 [summarized]: Connect the Skywalker from Star Wars, to the one from mythology [More commonly known as Loki].
Challenge 2 [summarized]: Not your usual timetravel story. [may also include very lifelike visions], in which instead of the whole Vader going light once more, a former Jedi Master Anakin decides to go Vader instead now that he has a chance to chance the future.
Challenge 3 [extremely summarized]: Make someone pull an Itachi
-or in this case attempt. I tried to go with it all the way, really, up to the point were Vader kills the Emperor above Endor, but none of the 6 times I tried to write this went all the way there. This included two realities were the Force Ghosts of either Qui-Gon or Exar-Kun revealed everything, the latter for the shock factor. One where Anakin's hidden Holocron was discovered while exploring the Coruscant Jedi Temple, along with one where Anakin had R2-D2 deliver a pre-recorded message 3 years after his death. Heck, I even went as far as write one where it never would have come to light.In the end the only plunny that didn't viciously shred me to bits was this one.

But it still derailed at Mustafar, going cuddly and lighthearted when I wanted it to be RAWR, dark and angsty.

I really can't see Obi-Wan still cutting of Anakin's three remaining limbs and leaving him to burn, after he had seen Anakin's reasons. Even if he had good reason to hate him for what he did. Revenge leads to the Darkside after all. Aside from that, I think that, for once, Skyguy deserves a happy ending in one of my stories. God knows that I bash him and Padme a tad bit too often, albeit not on FFnet.

Hence, the cheesy anti-climatic ending... =.='

Warnings: Very AU -although up to Mustafar it should mostly follow canon events if you ignore the premise and Anakin's motivations. I'm trying to keep this at least a bit canon, but I'm typing this from memory alone, and Force knows what a sieve mine is. It is therefore quite possible I missed a few important events-.

features Seer!Anakin, Cold!Calculating!Deceitful!Anakin, Character Death, mentions of suicide, as well as mentions of an extremely misguided and possibly evil Council and Order [the truth of that in their perceived reality is up to debate]. Good!Qui, Good!Obi, with a Mustafar AU Happy Ending, slight cases of 'WTF just happened' might be induced. -I know it did for me, and I'm the writer!-

Disclaimer: I'm by far not old enough to have created Loki, neither am I George Lucas, nor the creator of Naruto, and therefore the term 'pulling an Itachi'. Any the Princess Bride references are intentional. The treatment of Daemyn was also largely pulled from Naruto-fanfics, and the plot behind this, is as I've stated the result of three challenges. The Plunny was set on to me by the Muse anyway.

Seeing how this disclaimer basically states I'm wholly unoriginal, it should be rather obvious that I do not own.

A young Anakin Skywalker was already aware that lying was the wrong thing to do.

Did it still matter to him?

Little

Plagued by dreams of a possible future for as long as he could remember, he had a maturity few ever achieved. Haunted by remarkably detailed visions he had seen what his life would have been like, should have been like had he had followed the Prophecy of the Chosen One as the Jedi read it.

Both the Order and the Republic had still stood at the end of that vision, him having served it faithfully. But, to speak in words neither mine nor his; He denied that reality, and was determined to substitute that with his own. For after what he had seen, neither of the aforementioned institutions deserved continued existence.

At least, not in that corrupted state

He was nine years old. Innocent still, he tried so hard and became one of their most skilled. He fought the darkness with them, but it was never good enough. He was never good enough. Different from the start, he was seen as less for things beyond his control. He tried to gain the acceptance of the Jedi Order, but even when he became exactly what they wanted, the whispers continued. They did not disperse when he succesfully led them to victory in battle after battle, nor did they stop when he killed the Sith Lord when he was a mere twenty-four years old. 'Such strength', they murmured, 'Surely he must have tapped into the Dark Side.'

Years passed, and the Jedi were so predictable it was laughable. Turning to him when they needed him, demanding help with whatever Darkside menace plagued them, citing a decrepit prophecy, but after all was said and done, they turned their backs on him once more. and the whispering resumed. Yet he ignored, forgave them. Getting angry would only prove them right. He was a Jedi after all, and they do not act in anger.

Aged thirty, he found out he could not always deny his emotions. A night of drunken passion with one of his dearest friends, the Nubian Senator had let to him being a father. Naturally, as all good Jedi would, he told the council, who took matters into their own hands. This was the beginning of the end.

Time continued, and his child was taken in to be trained by the Order. He did not notice anything first, as nobody ever directly harmed the child. But as time past and he came to observe the Initiates he started noticing the subtleties, the little things. How the boy was sent away on an errand during the most important lessons. Teachers doing nothing to stop the whispers haunting the boy, the alienating, the bullying. How later, when the boy was chosen, the Council remained blind to the way his Master obviously abused, and when Anakin pointed it out to them, they rebuffed him, stating that he was 'too attached' to see what was going on. That this was the 'Will of the Force'. 'Live in the here and now', they cited. Two months later the Padawan committed suicide. His suicide note ended with the statement that, 'The Force judges everyone equally regardless of status or birth. Rejoice, for surely I, who was never accepted in Life, can find the peace I so desperately seek by becoming one with it in Death' .

Even after that wake-up call, the Council did not change. While some Jedi were sympathetic, and saw the grave wrong that had been committed, others continued whispering with renewed strength. 'As expected of him', their cruel voices said, 'siring a child that would chose to die instead of facing his demons'.

It was, in many ways, the straw that broke the camel's back. Little Anakin, formerly innocent child, who had lived through a lifetime of suffering and cruelty in his dreams, made an oath to the Force. He would balance it like the good little Chosen One he was created to be, by destroying the Sith. But Force be damned if he did nothing about the other two highly corrupted organisations along the way.

A disturbance was created, yet it went unsensed by both Jedi and Sith.

Anakin thought himself neither.

Once again he was nine years old, this time in the waking world. No longer innocent, he always hid behind the carefully construed mask. On the surface he fought the darkness with them, but he no longer cared that they did not accept him, not even trying to maintain the image of a perfect Jedi. Why should he seek their acceptance, when they would never give it? Why would he even bother, seeing how he had chosen the path that led to their demise?

Years passed, and the Jedi were so predictable it was laughable. Walking straight into the trap the Sith had set out for them, even if it was with some pushing from his side. Anakin could have informed them of Palpatine's Masterplan. He didn't however, as the fruition of said plans would Sidious solve two of three problems. Namely the Republic and the Jedi. Sidious, the fool, though himself the Master of Deceit. The moron, everyone could follow a plan that was laid out by predecessors, against enemies already weakened. All Force-sensitives with sufficient training in the Force and half-decent acting skills could conceal themselves like the Sith Lord did.

This time around, he chose not to deny his feelings for Padme Naberrie, commonly known as Amidala. What he had restricted to a purely platonic relationship -safe for one drunken night of passion- in a life never lived, had become a full blown, if not somewhat short courtship, which ended with him asking the Senator's hand in marriage. For several years he knew happiness, even as the worlds came crashing down around him. He squashed any guilt he might have felt for the innocents that lost their lives.

His dreams started again, this time of Padme dying. Against better judgement he went to see Master Yoda. The green troll might have been an absolute bastard, but he was wise one, and would most likely not deny him advice, Anakin soon regretted it though. If he hadn't known better, He would have thought the Jedi was doing it on purpose. 'Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force' indeed. It would have been a sound advice, had it not been the same Jedi's ministrations that had driven his not-quite-son to death in his not-quite-life.

Times grew darker, and Anakin proceeded to project a mask of 'masked anger'. It was not that hard, seeing how the Jedi were in fact quite infuriating. He just needed to strengthen those emotions. When the rejection of Master-status and the request to spy on the Senator came he did not even have to fake it. True, the former was to be expected, seeing how he had been far from the model-Jedi he could remember being once, but surely, asking him to spy on a friend, -even if he did not actually care about said friend, and said friend was a 'suspected' Sith Lord-, was something even his council had not done. They only applied their dirty tactics within the Order walls.

He needed a break, and he once again visits Padme. The wife that had never once failed in making him feel better. They teased each other, arguing over the gender of the baby. Of course he could sense the fact that there were two babies in there, both a boy and a girl, but he thought it a great joke, and a good story she could tell their children when they were older. That is, if she was going to tell them the truth after everything he would do. Betraying the Jedi and the Republic would definitely not go over well with her.

Suddenly the conversation shifted, 'Have you ever considered we may be on the wrong side?', Anakin's blood ran cold, was she on to him? Nevertheless, he replied as would be expected of him. Padme's points rang true though, and she was most definitely right. But he could not use this conversations. Not now. Not when his plans were this close to coming to fruition, not if he wanted them to succeed. They accused each other of keeping secrets. It hurt, such a sorry pair they made, married, madly in love, yet keeping what was on their hearts from each other. It is why he gladly obeyed her request, and dared to forget the politics, the plotting and the war for a short moment.

The Clone War was nearing it's end, Obi-Wan was off to Utapau, and the sad little Git Lord... erhm... Sith Lord had finally revealed himself to Anakin, As if that little fact had not been obvious from the start. For the love of the Force, Palpatine had downright hinted at it the last few times he met. Anakin knew the mask he projected was a bit of an idiot, but really now, he hadn't thought he would be perceived to be THAT oblivious.

At this point he only needed to maintain his mask for just a bit longer, to inform the council, and make sure Palpatine had everything he needed to enact Order 66.

He was sucked into a maelstrom from there on. He killed Windu, faked his allegiance to Sidious, massacred the Jedi, planted a bomb that was likely to kill Palpatine, at least if his overall schedule had not changed all that much in the few days since he had admitted to being a Sith, and massacred the Separatist council. So much death, so much destruction. It was only due to iron self-control that he could keep the effects of the Darkside from clouding his mind. He would not lose himself to it, even if accepting it would make the sensation that much less sickening.

It was because of this that he had kept a cool head when he saw Padme and Obi-Wan on Mustafar. He did not have any negative feelings to any of them, really. Padme, her confusion palpable, had obviously not known Obi-Wan had snuck aboard, and he did not even have all that much even the latter to hate the latter. In his vision-life the Jedi had died long before Naboo, on a wartorn planet, Melida-Daan, if Anakin recalled correctly. So he had only this life to go by when it came to his former Master. He had not wronged Anakin in any way, and the one or two time a slight had been perceived, it had not been intentional. To be frank, Obi-Wan was quite possibly the only Jedi he trusted. Furthermore, Anakin had actually planned on facing him here, the only hitch in his plan being the fact that Obi-Wan used Padme to find him. This did not change the fact however that he needed his Master to believe him to be lost, and if Anakin wanted to go through with the Plan, he'd better act convincingly.

Force Choking Padme was a calculated move on his part, and it was with infinite care that he made sure not to put to much pressure on her. Part of him broke, not wanting to do this, hurt her, but at this point, really, he had little choice. He had to make it convincing. Anakin did not want the surviving Jedi to think that she, or his children had been in on it, were it to come to that, and this was the best way to ensure it.

A battle ensued, and it was draining, both physically and emotionally. Obi-Wan was fairly skilled in lightsaber combat, which, combined with the acting Anakin had to put in for this, set the stage for a very tough fight. 'From the Jedi point of view! From my point of view the the Jedi are Evil'. Anakin did not know what caused it, but for a split second his focus wavered, the 'faked' bitter words ringing truer than he would have liked. A slip in composure that had somehow made the bond they had both thought dormant, broken flare up. Shields that had been in place since before the two of them had even met were broken in a moments notice.

For a short moment they were both connected on the deepest level and for the first time Obi-Wan truly saw Anakin. Not the overly energetic Padawan, nor the dangerously flawed Knight, but the Jedi Master he had been before either of those. The determined child that had always done all he could, the perfect Jedi that had never been good enough. The broken father, mourning for a son he never had, and would never have again.

Daemyn Skywalker

How fitting that name was. For with the child, the constant loyalty that Anakin had felt for an Order that, if Obi-Wan was to be honest, did not deserve it had died. He couldn't help but remember an ancient myth he once heard when he was an Initiate, about a Trickster God, who shared the Skywalker-name. He honestly couldn't recall what planet it came from, or who exactly had told him, but for some reason the story had always stuck with him. Quite a few times when he was meditating about his wayward Padawan, the tale seemed to drift to the forefront of his mind, but each time he had eventually discarded the link, thinking Anakin to have an entirely different personality.

To honest

To straigthfoward

It was only now when he had seen what his former Padawan had carried with him all this time, that he realized just how perfect the parallels had been from the start. A mask, it had been a mask, one which Anakin was now carefully trying to reinstate. Part of him was angry at Anakin, for destroying the Jedi Order and the Republic he had sworn to protect, for PLANNING this, EVERYTHING from the start, the LIVES that were LOST, LYING. That burning rage however was easily drowned out by both the rational part of him, the one that was always analyzing and which due to that strange link now understood Anakin's plans in it's entirety, and another trait that usually conflicted with it, his empathy. Sithspit, if that had been a child of him and Siri treated that horribly by the Jedi, either of them would have destroyed the Order on the spot, rules about attachment and consequences be damned. That Anakin had chosen to do it like this, ensuring there was a way both the Order and the Republic could be rebuild afterwards, but infinitely less corrupt was a true testament to the great Jedi Obi-Wan had glimpsed, and the great man he still was.

Their eyes locked, Obi-Wan's uncertain gaze meeting Anakin's questioning eyes. After what seemed like an the Jedi lowered his lightsaber. The expression on Anakin's face was unreadable, not from the mask, which he had been unable to fully reapply, but from the torrent of unidentifiable emotions flitting over his face. once the Jedi thought about it everything fell into place though.

On a deep level Anakin was glad Obi-Wan did not hate him. That absence confused him though, and he sensed a trace of despair. Not only had he expected that hatred, from what Obi-Wan had learned about the real Anakin during the few seconds their link had been miraculously established, he needed him to do so. Now all of that was ruined. Through freak chance all Anakin's plans were laid bare, plans his former padawan obviously had not wanted him to know.

How he had planned to play the villain,
putting all his faith in Obi-Wan's ability to train his children.
For the children he loved more than everything to come at him with the intent to kill,
redeeming both themselves and the Jedi in the eyes of the people
paving the way for a new Jedi Order

Obi-Wan knew Anakin had probably hit the hammer on the nail with this gambit, with scary accuracy even. Part of him wondered if Anakin could see into the future, a musing which was abruptly ended with an inner 'Duh...'-moment on his part. Had he not just seen the evidence of that? Obi-Wan could feel a headache coming up. "Force", he said, shattering the silence, "Don't take this wrong Padawan, but that is, for the lack of better, more Jedi-appropriate terminology, a plan worthy of a Sith"

Anakin's lips twitched, the tension broken. He opened his mouth to reply in their usual banter, but cringed and closed it again. It was rather obvious what his reply would have been, and that particular hornet's nest was best left unpoked. He did just massacre the only family Obi-Wan had ever known. Ofcourse he could have used it to goad Obi-Wan into attacking him again, but that would only have averse effects, seeing how Obi-Wan was aware of his plans know, and was unlikely to play along.

Especially not if he did anger him like that.

They did not have the time to worry about that though, A subtle warning from the Force alerting the two of them to something they had forgotten. Namely Padme, who's water just broke. Both men paled, seeing how due to that freak-link up they both knew about the visions now. It was also fairly obvious Mustafar was a bad place to give birth, with the heat and the toxic gasses and all that. If there was any place for a woman to die in childbirth, it was certainly here.

"You know", Obi-Wan said, voice faint, "If we use Padme's transport we could probably reach Polis Massa in time". Anakin nodded wordlessly, more than just a bit freaked out, even if he had gone through it before in a not-quite-life, childbirth still scared the Force out of him.

Anakin gently picked her up and carried her onboard, while Obi-Wan commed the facility. Meanwhile, on said facility Yoda was receiving a visit from a weary Force Ghost, who would now that he finally could, explain the whats and whys of this FUBAR, albeit just a bit too late. A fact that greatly annoyed the mostly-dead Jedi Master.

As if pre-ordained by some greater power, the moment he finished speaking was the moment someone used said Force to slam open the doors. "..., Padme, you promised me, promised you wouldn't die, If you die on me now I swear I will drag you back from the underworld of the Force myself", Anakin babbled, briefly leaving the observing Jedi Masters wondering if the Knight really could, "I'd kill you for it really, but really, that would kind of defeat the purpose doesn't it? So whatever you do, LIVE". Both Obi-Wan and Padme looked highly amused at the fussing, suggesting it had been going on for a while now, although the latter was starting to show signs of irritation.

Later that day, or night... It was hard to tell on an asteroid, the group of misfits plus two met, to discuss the future. Anakin gave Yoda a blank look when the troll suggested to hide the children, " From who?", he deadpanned, "I think we pretty much established they don't need to be hidden from me, and it seems the bomb I planted succeeded in killing the Supreme Chancellor, didn't you feel the disturbance some hours back?". The green Jedi Master had the decency to look sheepish, as those words rang true in the Force.

"Furthermore", Anakin continued, smirking now, "We don't need to fear retaliation as the responsibility for the bombing was taken an hour ago by an 'anonymous' Republican extremist. Apparently the guy had been on to Palpatine for a while, and had been gathering information on his misdeeds. Strange how fast public opinion has been swayed now that his ties to the Sith, as well as his dealings with the Separatists and the hand he had in the growing corruption of the Senate have been revealed. The Jedi are now officially seen as martyrs in this."

The self-satisfied look on Anakin's face left no doubt about identity of the culprit.

The group gaped at him, Padme was doing a good imitation of a fish while Yoda and Qui-Gon looked even greener and bluer respectively, "When did you have the time for all this?", Obi-Wan sputtered, while Bail looked faint, "We've been with you almost the entire time, safe for... that 5 minute toiletbreak..."

"Yep", Anakin confirmed cheerfully, "I already had plants in place that would have started to slowly leak that information out over time as well as begin to organize several resistance cells", he paused, "Ofcourse there was a sudden change in plan, but all I needed to do was commcall one and have her send a missive to the Senate about Palpatine and his dealings. In mere minutes it was all over the Holonet. All that had to be done afterwards was to have 'someone' wonder if this was the true reason behind Operation Knightfall, and the ball got rolling."

The silence was palpable, "Too old for this I am", Yoda moaned. A sentiment shared by Qui-Gon, albeit in the form of a 'I'm glad I'm already death'. After everything that happened today it honestly did not surprise Obi-Wan anymore, and Padme, strangely enough, looked inordinately pleased at her husband. Bail had gone starry-eyed at the politics and planning involved and the twins gurgled happily, not yet understanding what was going on.

Unsurprisingly, this time everything went according to Anakin's plan. Public outrage at the Senators that had been aware of Palpatine's underhanded dealing forced many of them to retire. Those that had been able to retain a seat in the senate had little to none power, clearing the way for the Senators that actually cared about the Republic.

The surviving Jedi had been labeled as war heroes, and with some of Anakin's manoeuvring they had been given several privileges they previously lacked. The first was a two-decade rebuild period, in which they could train a new generation of knights, followed by the fact that they would now be free to train those Initiates that did not have a Master yet by the age of thirteen, something that the budget they were given had previously made impossible, but they had been able to pass off as a necessity now. They also had regained the right to start missions outside of what the Senate requested, which was good, as the state of the government and policing in a large state of the Galaxy had been dismal, even before the Clone Wars mucked everything up.

Meaning a gleeful Anakin could finally fulfill his dream of freeing the slaves, something which so far he had been denied in two lifetimes. The Jedi that had not been there at and after Mustafar originally want him to stop this madness, but thought better of it at Master Yoda's shudder, and Master Kenobi's vehement "NO"

"Outcun the Republic, the Jedi and the Sith Lord he did. Once his mind set is, both impossible and unwise to stop him it would be. Better it is to have him focus those tendencies on a good cause, than have him turn against us. Doom us all it would"

Truer words had never been spoken

An2: As I warned you, the ending is rather anti-climatic, cheesy and all that rot. Rot as in rotting my teeth that is. Please don't flame me for it, I'm all to aware of that particular fault.

AN3: For those who are curious what Obi-Wan meant with his statement about the not-quite-son's name. Daemyn means 'Constant or/and Loyal' I figured it would follow the Luke/Leia - Light/Hope naming-thing well, despite the fact that it's not an L-name.

To tell you the truth I originally wanted to go with Laban which means 'White'. However a friend of mine argued that having both the alliteration and the shared theme for all three children was a bit silly. It's fine for twins, seeing as they are... well, twins... But to do the same for a third child, especially one that was born under entirely different circumstances?

After thinking it through for a bit, I wholeheartedly agreed...

VV Review please ^^ VV