Chapter Text
"Not pink," Leia protests vehemently, "You are not putting pink flowers in my hair!"
"It's the perfect touch," Luke insists, as he works on braiding half of Leia's hair. Anakin is sitting next to him, working on the other half of her hair.
"You don't need to put up my hair all fancily right before bedtime," she protests, "I'll have to take it down as soon as we're called inside." She shoots a pointed look up at the darkened sky, the grassy fields surrounding them only illuminated by the full moons and an occasional, glowing flower.
The type on Naboo that only blooms at its fullest on the night of a full moon.
"You can leave them in," Anakin protests.
"You want me to obliterate all these flowers in my bed?" Leia demands incredulously.
"You can sleep sitting up!" Luke advises cheerfully.
"You do that! Normal people don't do that."
"Skywalkers aren't normal," Anakin deadpans. He finishes tying the end of her braid and sits down next to her. Together, they watch the stars and the moon slowly rising, the sounds of night-insects surrounding them.
When Vader dreams, they're always of pain and death. They're never of something so light and real, of something that feels so similar to a vision, and yet, he knows it's not. It didn't feel like it, and even if it did, it would be impossible. His children are dead.
They're gone. He killed them years ago. So, why is he dreaming of what could have been?
Once, and he would have brushed it off. But it's happening again, and again, until he's seeing more and more of this alternate timeline. This all could have been, but it isn't. And never will be. He only wanted to keep them safe.
Instead, he was what they needed to be kept safe from.
The Dark Side surges, demanding violence, and Vader lashes out, shattering the walls of the bacta tank around him.
But that's not enough; it's never enough, no matter how many times he's done it, because all he can do is continue living and loathing. The more he sees, the more he remembers, the more he knows this is real. It's another universe out there parallel to his own, one where he still has his family. Where he still has Padme, where he was able to raise his children. He's seen Ahsoka sometimes, too, bits and pieces, seeing how she's taken a role in raising Luke and Leia as well.
He's been alone for years. He has forgotten what it means not to be, but this – seeing his children, it's different. It's not as it was with everyone in Anakin's family. He never knew them, and they should have been a part of his life as well.
In another time, somehow, he got to raise them.
He wants it. He craves it. He needs it more than he has ever needed anything in his life. He has never wanted anything more than to be with them, to raise them, and knowing that it could have happened, that it is happening somewhere...
And from afar, he can only dream, knowing what he lost. From here, he can only watch, constantly fearing what will take them from him even if they are only a dream – what will happen that this other Anakin is incapable of protecting them from.
He will not wait until danger comes to them, not this time. Not again. Never again – he will find his own way there. Somehow.
***
"Master Yoda, you're powerful. You must know a way to stop Vader and his Inquisitors," Ezra Bridger says, seating himself on the plane of nothingness he's standing on in the middle of the black void. The former Grandmaster himself is sitting across from him in the only area partly illuminated by light.
He's on the Lothal Temple with Kanan and Ahsoka, looking for answers about what to do. The Inquisitors are finding them everywhere they go, and it's putting the entire Alliance in danger.
"Padawan, thousands of Jedi once there were. Then came war. In our arrogance, join the conflict swiftly we did. Fear, anger, hate. Consumed by the Dark Side the Jedi were."
That is not the answer Ezra was expecting. He doesn't understand what Yoda is saying. "Was it wrong for the Jedi to fight?" he asks cautiously. How could that be? "Is it wrong for me to protect my friends?"
"Wrong? Hmm... a long time, fought, I did," Yoda responds, "Consumed by fear, I was, though see it, I did not."
"You were afraid?" he asks, surprised. The way everyone talks about Yoda, it's almost like he was above all emotions. Of course, Ezra knew that wasn't true, but hearing him talking about not being certain all the time is... strange. And it's only confusing him even more.
"Yes, afraid," agrees the tiny green being, "Surprised you are? A challenge lifelong it is, not to bend fear into anger."
Suddenly, a ripple of danger surges through the Force. The invisible structure around him trembles violently, rocks and dust falling all around "What's happening?!" Ezra demands, jumping to his feet.
"Found you, the enemy has," Yoda replies gravely. "Go, you must."
"But – what should we do?!" Ezra protests.
"Find Malachor," Yoda replies, and everything starts shifting. The next thing he knows he's back in the Temple again.
Everything is shaking, but what sticks out strongest in the Force is that feel. He's sensed it before. That overwhelming darkness – full of fear, hatred, and anger –
Force, no. Is Vader here?!
Ezra whirls around, heart pounding as he runs through the nearest door, back into the room they were meditating in before. Kanan and Ahsoka sprint out two other doorways seconds later.
"We need to get out, now," Kanan urges, and they run for the entrance.
That darkness is coming closer though, much too quickly, as they run up the stairs towards the front of the Temple.
The sound of a respirator splits the silence, and Ezra barely skids to a stop in the doorway in time, to see Vader himself standing in the entrance to the Temple, two Inquisitors flanking him.
His eyes widen, heart leaping into his throat. So much for that. They're blocking the way out, and he remembers, far too clearly, nearly being beheaded with his own lightsaber, and when Vader lifted that burning walker off him as though it were nothing. They stood no chance of defeating Vader then, and now, they're cornered –
Ezra spins around and takes off running back the way they came, hardly noticing the way Ahsoka and Vader seem to have their gazes glued on each other.
He can hear Kanan and Ahsoka close behind, as they sprint back down the stairs, but the others are coming too. All he can do is keep running, straight through the first doorway he can find.
He has no idea where they are now, but some moments later, he pauses for a moment, struggling to catch his breath. "Where's Ahsoka?!"
"She took a different turn," Kanan replies breathlessly.
"How are we gonna get out of here?!" He doesn't see a route out, and surely, the Temple will protect them, but –
The sound of a respirator echoes through the hall right behind them.
"Keep moving!" Kanan hisses, and they break into a run again, right as Vader strides into the hall behind them. The Inquisitors aren't there anymore; they must have gone after Ahsoka. She handled them before, so Ezra can only hope she'll be okay.
Because right now, he and Kanan have a Vader-sized problem to deal with on their own. Somehow.
Maybe the Temple will do that for them. Or at least, so he can hope. It must be leading them in some direction, and he takes a moment to reach out and see if he can sense anything, the way Kanan always tells him to. Something in the Force is calling him.
Ezra finally runs around another curve in the hall, into another room which –
Has no way out?!
And Vader is right down the hall. He looks furtively around the room, gaze zeroing in on the wall at the front.
There's three figures on the wall, and something about them looks significant. He doesn't know what it is, but it feels very strong with the Force, and it's calling to him.
He hears the snap-hiss of a lightsaber behind them, a red glow illuminating the mostly darkened room. Kanan instantly draws his own blade, but Ezra sprints for the wall, reaching out with the Force. He has no idea what he's doing, but they need to get out of here, and something tells him this is the only way. It's calling to him, and now that he's here, he thinks it always has.
***
Ahsoka is here.
Vader knew their meeting was inevitable – from the moment he sensed her during that space battle. But he didn't expect to see her here. When he sensed her again, he wanted her back. Wanted... he doesn't entirely know. Ahsoka had once been important to Anakin Skywalker, and Vader is that boy no longer, but he can't deny that she is still... something. Someone. She reminds him of the prickle of Light he feels whenever he thinks of Luke and Leia, of the memories of an alternate timeline where he keeps seeing them, even if he knows that Light is not a part of him any longer.
It never can be. It's impossible. Sidious has assured him of that time and again.
Being inside a Jedi Temple again is... a reminder of a lifetime ago too, especially when he can sense Ahsoka so close. He doesn't know which way she went, though, because the doors are opening and closing at random.
All he sees now are the other two Jedi, their fear radiating loudly into the Force, fueling the Dark Side – and broadcasting their location for everyone to feel. It makes it so easy to follow.
Something about the intensity of the Force in here is different, though. And he doesn't know why, but... the figures of the Father, Son, and Daughter are carved onto the opposite wall.
The padawan Jedi runs towards it, lifting a hand, and suddenly the wall starts to shift in front of him. The Knight lunges at him, and Vader blocks his blow easily, hardly paying him any mind. It's what the boy is doing that has all his attention. He can feel the shifting and changing of something almost unnatural in the Force.
The figures on the wall suddenly start moving, the figures of Loth-wolves trotting to the far side and suddenly moving in a circle, spinning faster and faster.
And – Vader knows what this is. It's a gateway to the World Between Worlds, a place between time and space that... no one really knows what lies beyond it. The boy seems in complete shock, but still, he somehow knows how to access it. Perhaps... they are a little more dangerous than he thought.
The circle at the center of the wolves shifts into a black hole as the shapes of the wolves continue spinning around it.
"Kanan!" the boy yells, running for it. The Knight sprints after, and they both leap through.
Vader follows instantly, only for the portal to close right before he reaches it.
And now the Jedi are... stranded in a place that can lead to other realities, unless they have some other way of accessing it.
Other realities, perhaps such as the one he keeps seeing. A world where he was able to raise his children, and – The chance of that lies on the other side of this portal. His children are out there. Alive.
It's cut him off both from pursuing and perhaps... finding what he is truly searching for. He is no longer in denial of what it is. He didn't know there was a known way into the... Multiverse, but now...
If they found a way through when they weren't looking, he can do it, too. Perhaps their companions know. Nothing will stop him, not now. For the first time since Jabiim, he feels... alive again. He had forgotten what that was like throughout the years – all he had was to devote himself to the Empire, to bringing peace. He has a purpose now, and he will cut through whatever – whoever – stands in his way.
The twins – Luke and Leia – his children matter more than anything.
They are the only thing that matters.
He's still standing there when he senses Ahsoka's approach, hearing her light footsteps a few moments later.
Slowly, Vader turns around extinguishing his lightsaber. He knew this would happen, but he didn't expect their meeting would be quite so soon. Seeing her reminds him of everything that doesn't matter anymore, but she is Ahsoka, and he would... he wants to have her here, even if whatever they'll forge will something entirely different.
"We need not be adversaries," he begins. She needs to know, to understand that much – nothing matters anymore, except his children, and Ahsoka, if she'll stay with him. If she...
"You must be delusional if you believe I would join the Sith," she spits back with every bit of the passion he remembers she held.
"Tell me how they activated the portal," he commands. Nothing else matters.
"Portal?" Ahsoka echoes, her eyes slowly moving past him towards the still spinning circle midair that now has become solid stone again.
"You knew nothing of it?" he asks incredulously. This isn't something he has ever heard of – the key to time and space has long been concealed because of the danger of its misuse. This, he agrees, is one correct choice the Jedi made, though now, he is only angered that he can't find it. "Perhaps some of these Jedi's... friends will know?"
Her expression darkens instantly. "My master could never be as vile as you," she snarls with every bit of the fire he remembers her wielding. She still feels of the softness he remembers her as having when she was younger, a lifetime ago, but it's hardened now.
It angers him that she's only looking at him for what she had in the past, but it isn't as though he could expect anything different from her, from anyone. "Anakin Skywalker was weak. I destroyed him."
She closes her eyes briefly, and Vader senses a wave of grief washing over her before it hardens to anger. "Well," she says, "If you want me, you'll have to find me first." She turns and takes off back down the hall. Pursuit is nearly pointless, but Vader already knows he won't be able to reopen the portal himself. It's currently in some sort of... status that can only be accessed again from the inside.
He follows her, down the winding halls of the Temple, nearly losing her a few times.
But that doesn't mean he's about to stop following – she is likely the only person who will be able to figure out how to open it, and he... will need someone with that ability. The padawan used the Light, and that obviously is not something he's capable of.
It's when he's nearing the exit that he sees the rest of the crew there – they must have come in sometime to rescue the Jedi. The Mandalorian girl is the first to start firing at him, predictably – Mandalorians are stubborn that way, and she'll fight to the death if she can't run.
He knows Mandalorians, and he lets the sudden surge of longing when he remembers Rex fuel him. He's seen Rex in his dreams a few times, too.
The Lasat throws an explosive at him and the Twi'lek yells at them to fall back, and they keep running towards the door. Seeing as Vader has seen no sign of the Inquisitors, he assumes Ahsoka must have dealt with them already.
He also resolutely ignores how that makes him feel a sudden surge of pride.
He shields himself from the explosion with the Force and follows, noticing a moment too late that there are more put on the walls. They don't feel... dangerous in the Force they way they should, and it's what threw him off, at least until the moment he senses one right beside him at head-level – whoever put it there must have been really good at assessing his weaknesses.
Vader jolts back, shielding his mask with his arm, but not on time to avoid being splattered by... paint? He can't tell the shade of anything through his visor, all he knows is that it looks vaguely pink which he is not happy about. He hates getting his armor dirty – it's a disaster to clean, and it entirely detracts from the intimidation part.
He can't see anything through the right half his mask now, except a dark blur, which makes seeing even harder, but he doesn't need his eyes to guide him. He's used to walking blind. He's done it since... he always has. (On Tatooine he had to when he and his mother were trapped in a sandstorm.)
He can sense the others retreating to their ship. Ahsoka said she didn't know. The rest... may not either, but that won't stop him. He reaches out with the Force, grabbing the Mandalorian girl – she's the closest, and Ahsoka would be able to fight off his grip. Besides, he doesn't want to hurt her.
"Sabine!" he hears one of the others yell.
"Just go!" she shouts back, trying and failing to free herself from his Force-grip.
The others obviously realize they don't have a way of stopping him right now, especially not when there's more stormtroopers on their way here, because they retreat to their ship, taking off. Vader has little doubt they will return shortly for her, but by that point, he'll already be gone, on his way back to Mustafar.
***
The girl – Sabine Wren – is certainly not particularly forthcoming with answers. Throughout their... conversation – if it can truly be called a conversation, with how all she has to offer is snarky remarks – Vader does gather that she genuinely has no idea what the World Between Worlds is. It's... certainly unusual that they were able to locate it without even trying, but the signs are obvious enough. The Force lead Vader to it. He was meant to find this, which means... he's meant to find his children, by default.
Mustafar is the source of his power. It gives him strength, feeds him and fuels him with the Dark Side. He needs that now, to find what he's searching for, because he will need to find a way inside the Multiverse. He no longer cares for Sidious, the Empire, or the galaxy. It doesn't matter if he has a choice of something far more important, something far beyond.
He will need a way to open the portal, and the boy – Ezra Bridger – is the only person in record who has been able to. Impressive, truly, seeing as he's a hardly trained padawan.
He once opened a portal to bring Padme back, but that was a door through the veil of life, and this is different. The Multiverse is a dangerous place, and he needs to know how to navigate through it.
Vader has very little access to knowledge about the World Between Worlds. Very little is known in the first place, but he will find out what these Jedi know about it. He could sense how some unidentifiable link tethers them both to this planet. It is a special connection; one he will need.
He delves into the Force, letting his mind carry away into its currents, reaching for the strange connection he has somehow formed to this alternate timeline. He must find it.
The Dark Side will always show him what he is searching for, though now, it's taking time. It's hard to find, to search for a place beyond all time and space, but he sees it in his dreams, and he can use that presence, grasp what he feels of the universe to let it lead him to where he needs to be.
It's different when he's willingly searching for his children, though. He can sense them easier, easy enough that it makes him wonder why he never did a long time ago.
The remainder of the Ghost crew will no doubt track him here, and break in. He already gave instructions for it to be easy – he needs Ahsoka to come in here. He... wants to speak with her again, but that doesn't matter right now. All that does is... his children, and right now, he's trying to follow the faint wisps in the Force, of where he can sense part of this timeline reaching into another.
They went into the timeline that he has been dreaming about, he realizes suddenly, and reaches closer towards... his alternate self's mind. They're the same person, which means finding him is easy.
He just needs a clearer look, a clearer feel into universe to guarantee it's true that the Jedi came here. He could sense them if it is. And... even if it's only a brief moment, he wants to see his children for the first time.
It's... complicated. It resembles a mind-invasion, but Vader has never done those before – he can't, because if he tries, it will shatter the mind of the person he's trying to obtain information from. It was never worth the risk.
It won't be a problem if he's doing it to another version of himself who's just as powerful, though. He isn't at risk of hurting someone whose presence is as bright as – if not brighter than – his own. And he isn't invading his mind so much as he will be – seeing things through his eyes, although the concept is mostly the same.
Being in a nexus of the Dark Side fuels him when he's reaching this deeply in the Force – thanks to his suit, his heart can't stop beating from the intensity of it either. He latches himself onto the other's presence and lets himself slip through his mental shielding, that admittedly isn't nearly as strong as Vader thought it would be. Perhaps because he, clearly, has not been part of any Order for a long time and didn't think it necessary to keep it up.
He wonders, briefly, what that would mean for the life Anakin has been living, not that it matters. Now that he's here, he can sense his children clearly, not through a haze, for the first time in his life.
Vader can see through Anakin's eyes suddenly, or no, it's like he's in him. He's too detached from his own body right now to feel any of that – all he can physically feel is what Anakin is. Because Anakin can feel.
He's sitting somewhere, and he can feel that, and nothing hurts, and – He can see so much, far more than he has in years, and it's... natural. It's not tinted red like everything always is.
"Father?" a voice asks, his head snaps to the doorway to see Leia standing there, Luke hovering right behind her.
They're addressing him with that word. It takes a moment to register. He never thought he could have this, but he does now. It's...
His children are here and – it's nearly enough to make him stop breathing. Right. He needs to... remember to do that.
After sensing Anakin's presence now and then seeing the twins, he can feel how they're a perfect blend of both Anakin and Padme.
Luke feels much like Padme, except he has a certain softness to him that she never did.
Leia feels much like Anakin though dimmer, and there's a certain sharpness to her that's also different – she inherited that from her mother.
"Are you alright?" Luke asks, frowning.
He needs to... answer. And he needs to remember to breathe. "Yes," he rasps, his voice sounding strange and foreign without the vocoder promptly amplifying it, and without the respirator ringing endlessly in the background. He remembers when he sounded like this, years ago. He... missed this. It was his real form.
But he can have his children, be with them for real if he can find that Jedi padawan. He reaches out with the Force again – somewhere far too close by he can pick up on Padme, it only hits him now that she's still alive here not that it... really matters. She's a part of his past and always will be – trying to locate the Jedi he's searching for. He can't possess his counterpart's body forever.
With how the Force ripples around them because of the jarringness of the change, it's not hard to pinpoint roughly where they are. They're somewhere on the way to Coruscant, and all he has to do is catch up with them.