Adrift Through Time

Chapter 1 - I Could Open Up The Sky

Author's Note: This is a gift for Shidelhau on ao3. :)

I feel like some of Vader's thoughts are kinda weird because I honestly don't think I'm that good at writing him, at least not older him, but hey I tried. Hopefully, this is at least somewhat what you were hoping for.

~ Tirana Sorki

"Will I ever see you again?"

"What does your heart tell you?"

"I think so... Yes, I guess."

"Then we will see each other again. Now be brave, and don't look back, don't look back."

Those last moments Shmi had with her son have haunted her ceaselessly since the moment she watched him leave with the Jedi, to a better life. It's only been days, and every time she comes home at night, everywhere she looks, she's expecting to see Anakin there, but he's gone.

Gone to a better life, to something she could never have, and no matter how much it hurts every second, how much it feels like the only light her life ever had was just ripped away, she'll always be happy for him, glad that he's gone to something better. No matter how many nights all she can do is stare up at the empty ceiling of their hut, unable to stop – and not even trying to – the tears that come.

She misses him so much. She hardly remembers her own parents anymore, with how long ago she lost them. Anakin coming was... entirely unexpected and she'll never understand how it happened, but he was a gift that she treasured every moment she had him. Even if every second she remembers him is an agony in and of itself. But it's still the only happy time of her life that she truly has to remember.

But he's free, and that's what matters most. And maybe one day, he really will come back to free them.

Even if way in her heart, Shmi silently doubts that day is actually going to come. She gave up hoping for freedom years ago. It doesn't feel like something that ever could happen, not realistically. She knows how life is, the hardest side of it, and how likely it truly is that anyone escapes from this.

Anakin said they would see each other again and she knows his instincts are special, something that she can trust to happen. But still, their goodbye felt final. It was a certain feeling of finality, just like when she watched her father sold years ago, knowing there was a chance they could see each other again logically, but in her heart, she knew it was over.

It's the same way she feels now, even if she thinks they'll see each other again, just once. She doesn't really know what that will mean, though.

It's long dark now, another night entirely alone in their hut that Shmi goes to sit in Anakin's now empty room, and just... stay there for a while. Soaking in whatever is left of him. Half his mess he left behind and she hasn't touched it. Doesn't want to. She wants to keep all of it, even if that won't be realistic forever.

All she wants is to be with Anakin, and it's with that yearning in mind that she starts to doze off, even while sitting up. She's always exhausted, and this time it's to the point that she's only half aware of the slight shift in energy around her, the way the air is growing steadily more staticky before something surges around her.

Shmi jolts fully awake, halfway to her feet as the world around her is suddenly being re-written. It all happens so fast that she hardly has time to register it while it's happening, but suddenly, instead of being in Anakin's room on Tatooine, she's... standing somewhere else entirely?

She's seen inside of ships in space before, like when they were taken to Tatooine, and she's on one right now. She's standing on the bridge of a ship, and it must be enormous, because the ceiling towers far over her, and on either side of the bridge she's standing on, it drops down to a level below, where people are working at various controls.