On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter LIII

Anakin Skywalker thought he knew what perfect was. He always did.

And then something would come along to alter things. Give him a new definition.

Perfect used to be Shmi sending him to sleep with a lullaby as a child after the twin suns set.

But then it was redefined when he became a Jedi and left his Mother. Perfect became spending time among the stars with Obi-Wan on the way to or from the Temple. Perfect became arriving home in time to catch a glimpse of Padmé, the Angel Anakin knew he lived and breathed for, from a distance.

Then it changed again when the war came, when he married Padmé. Perfect became coming home from a fight, a battle, to find her waiting for him with love in her eyes and relief on her face. Perfect became going to sleep and waking up with his Angel in his arms.

Anakin didn't think there was a way things could get better. Become more perfect.

He was wrong.

Anakin had always gotten certain feelings when he met certain people. When he met Qui-Gon, he knew there was more to the man than met the eye and that the strange offworlder was there to change Anakin's destiny. When he met Padmé, he already knew he loved her—it was instinctive, a flame that only grew during their years of separation—and in the same way had known she would one day love him. When he met Obi-Wan, even under the circumstances that had made him feel as though he was somehow creating a problem between the master and padawan, Anakin simply knew that he and the then un-knighted Jedi would become best friends. It was the Force that told him these things, hinted at them, and Anakin had always listened without question, even when he had been a boy unknowledgeable in the Jedi ways.

So when he met Luna, when the light of his lightsaber first illuminated her stunned face, he had felt a mixture of emotions and relizations shoot through him—most far too quickly to recognize, though the fact he should trust her did managed to be imprinted rather strongly—that in the end left part of him, his subconscious, with a rather simple message: that girl was going to be special. He didn't quite know how or why or to who, just that she was.

As usual, Anakin wasn't wrong. A girl who knew of the coming future and the past of the galaxy they live in?

But that wasn't what made her special, at least not in the way the Force had seemed to hint for him. No, her knowledge, unique? Yes. But special? In their galaxy, yes, but not her home world. A good section of Earth knew the same things she did, some probably knew more.

No, Luna was special in a different way, though it had taken time for Anakin to figure it out. She was special because she was....lost in a way, like a broken down ship tossed into space.

And the Force had decided that he and Padmé were the ones meant to find her.

This new perfect? It was spending time with his new, growing family—because that was where Anakin could sense this heading, Luna was going to become a part of their family even as they prepared to welcome the twins into the world. That simple feeling that he knew would come to fruition one way or another was why even when Luna kept something as important as Plagueis's true power from him, Anakin didn't completely turn his back on her as he likely would have with anyone else. Families don't turn their backs on one another regardless of the secrets they may be keeping.

At least, they shouldn't. Anakin had seen too many things to not know there was always an exception or hundred to any constant rule—he just planned to do his best to ensure his family wasn't the exception.