Redemption - A Star Wars Fanfic

Chapter 3

Luke's mind was reeling, and his entire body was running on adrenaline—every second that ticked by making his reality more and more real. By this point, he had forgotten the dull pain from the Emperor's Sith lightning that was lingering in the back of his brain and leaving him a little out of breath. Pain and past memories were nothing compared to the sight of his father and his old mentor standing right next to him. Not only that, but Artoo was here! How come the little droid had never told him he had belonged to his father?

As exciting as it all was, being around Palpatine was sort of ruining the moment. Plus, his discomfort was easily noticed by the others. But as long as he masked his presence, then he would be safe...or so he hoped.

It hadn't taken him long to realize that he was on a crashing ship—which wouldn't exactly be the first time in his life—and while the droids deactivated the ray shields and snapped binders around both Jedi, the Chancellor, and himself, he took the time of distraction to fully take in his surroundings. Anakin and Obi-Wan were exchanging looks as they walked beside him, most likely having a mental conversation through their Force bond, which made Luke smile before getting jabbed in the back by an impatient droid, the metallic voice demanding him to walk faster. 

He rolled his eyes and went back to trying to figure out his current situation, or more importantly, how he would explain his sudden appearance in the middle of an official Galactic Republic rescue mission. He couldn't even explain it to himself, let alone them, so he figured his best bet was telling a vague similarity to the truth. After all, he had to remain as trustworthy as possible if he was to get close to his father.

Taking note of his current location, Luke scoured the base of his memory for history about this specific battle in the Clone Wars. He hadn't paid much attention during the history portions of his classes back on his homeworld of Tatooine, or any classes for that matter, and he was almost regretting it. Even though, yes, they probably would've been riddled with nothing but Imperial propaganda and lies. He would've never known anything if it wasn't for the briefings from the Alliance and the stories of the older X-wing pilots who brought up the war as frequently as they could, almost nostalgic for the simplicity of it all compared to the Empire's tyranny. 

Luke shook away thoughts of the Alliance, focusing back on the fact that he was truly in the past and not hallucinating. The Force had sent him here for a reason... Maybe so he could finally know more about his father and what exactly had made him become Darth Vader. Surely the man in front of him couldn't be the brutal assassin of the future, yet Luke was only now realizing that he knew next to nothing about his parents or their past. For all he knew, this brash, cocky young man was only one of many sides of Anakin Skywalker.

Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen had always refused to talk about Luke's long-dead parents—yet how much they actually knew was iffy at best, in his opinion—and Obi-Wan and Yoda had outright lied to him. Force, he didn't even know his own mother's name. 

A thought suddenly struck him, creating a fault in his stride just slight enough to be mistaken for a trip. Blue eyes widened and riveted onto the taller man beside him as hope began to bubble up in his chest. What if he could prevent his father's fall? Was that the Force's reasoning for sending him back here? 

He smiled to himself, a scenario where his mother and father lived to raise him and sister passing through his mind. He could actually do this. As long as he kept his mouth shut about the future and found a way to somehow expose Palpatine, he could probably pull it off. Of course, he still worried about his friends back on the Endor moon, but since it was technically twenty-three years away, he figured they'd be fine for now. Besides, Han and Leia had proved on several occasions that they could take care of themselves.