A Place To Escape

Chapter 14: Family

((A/N: Hi my loves! Here is chapter 14! It technically is the last chapter because chapter 15 will be our epilogue! Although if I'm honest it will be a rather LONG epilogue! For now, enjoy chapter 14 all 9k words of it. Scroll down to the bottom of the chapter for a surprise!))

A Place To Escape Chapter 14: Family

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At first, there is nothing.

No limbs.

No breath.

No brain function.

There is nothing because he is nothing.

"Ben?"

Floating particles perhaps, but nothing real.

Not anymore.

"You need to wake up now, Ben."

But if he is nothing, then how can he hear that voice?

You have to possess eardrums and brain cells to hear. Neither of which he has because he is nothing.

But...if he is nothing, then how is he even having these thoughts right now?

"Ben, my boy. I'm going to need you to get up!"

The voice sounds impatient.

Doesn't it know that he's busy being nothing?

Busy being at peace.

He doesn't want to rise.

Doesn't want to move.

Doesn't want to exist.

Being nothing is...blissful.

"Ben! You're running out of time! They need you!"

This voice is dangerously close to tasting his fucking blade.

Eyes open—bloodshot and filled with rage—in search of the voice that he would tear out of the throat it called its home.

"Well, it's about time!" The voice playfully scolds. A head of soft blondish-brown hair tilts to the side, eyes warm as they look over the darker-haired man. "Thought you were going to leave me waiting into the next millennia. How do you feel?"

Ben opens and closes his mouth to respond, but he can't.

He can't because he's staring up into the eyes of his grandfather—Anakin Skywalker.

Of course, they had never physically met, but Ben recognizes him from an old holoprojector image his mother had. As a boy, he would sit and stare, memorizing the faces of his grandparents. The way they lovingly looked at one another had always made Ben long to know that feeling.

"That good, huh?" Anakin teases and takes a step forward. "Let's help you to stand, that might help."

"G-Grandfather? How? I—" Ben scrambles to his feet and backs away. Now that he has stepped back, Ben fully looks over his grandfather's appearance. He wears flowing robes of tan and light brown.

The robes of a Jedi.

And though his grandfather died many, many years later, the Anakin Skywalker that stands before him looks as youthful as he did in that old hologram.

The questions start to pour from Ben's mouth.

"How are you here right now? What is this place? Why are you so young? Don't you need your armor to breathe? How did I get here? Am I dreaming? Why...why can't I remember anything?"

Anakin chuckles and holds his hands up in mock surrender. "Woah, woah. One thing at a time, alright?"

"I've heard you countless times through the Force, but never like this...Never as who you were before–" Ben trails off because he realizes he's not even sure what he's asking.

Anakin gives him an apologetic smile for the truth he must bestow on his grandson. "It was never me."

"W-What?" There is hurt in his voice, but it's quickly replaced with hardened denial. "Of course, it's been you! You've spoken to me, guided me!"

Anakin shakes his head, giving Ben a serious look. "The voice you heard...the voice of Darth Vader was never mine, but others masquerading themselves to bend you to their will. Snoke, Palpatine, the Dark Side itself—but never me."

"For how long?!" comes the demand, still unwilling to accept the truth in the other man's words.

"All your life....I'm sorry, Ben."

Anakin steps forward when his grandson staggers back, ready to catch him, hold him, console him—any of the things he never got the chance to do.

"From time to time, when you were younger, I would watch over you. But I never made myself known to you because you didn't need me. You were such a curious child—always in a rush to grow up. You reminded me of myself, and seeing my daughter raise children of her own brought me happiness." Anakin's hands tighten into fists at his sides, "Then...somehow...when none of us were looking, the darkness sunk its claws into you. I don't know what it promised you but once you had gotten a taste of it...you thirsted for more. I know all too well what it's like to be tempted."

Ben's emotions take hold and he snaps his head in Anakin's direction with blazing eyes "Then why didn't you stop it!? Huh? Why didn't you come to me?"