Lineage

Chapter 4 - Closure

Author's Note: Enjoy the final chapter! Thank you all so much for reading, voting, and/or commenting on this fic! :D

~ Amina Gila

"Know I do, who Vader is," Master Yoda begins. Anakin sits across from him in the Jedi Master's quarters. It's only been a day since everything happened.

Anakin fights the urge to tense up uncomfortably. He should have guessed that Yoda of all people would be smart enough to figure it out, but that doesn't mean he's comfortable about it. "I – he told me," Anakin confesses, because there's no point lying about this. He doesn't want to anyways.

"Wish to speak with you about this, I do."

Anakin nods, waiting. He's not sure what to expect.

"Concerning it is, that Fallen he had. Your thoughts?"

This is... strange. Master Yoda has talked to Anakin numerous times, but never has he outright asked his opinion on something, and Anakin isn't exactly sure how he's supposed to answer that. "I was... surprised," he answers slowly. "I don't know why I would do this."

"Much darkness you have," he replies. "Care, you must take."

"I know." 'I try' he wants to snap, but he holds it back, because that's exactly what Yoda is talking about. "I never had the time to ask him why he Fell." And I can't stop worrying about it, being afraid that it'll happen whether I like it or not.

"The future, this is, and always in motion, the future is. Concern yourself, you should not. Fear is a path to the Dark Side. Let it go, you must. Matter, it does not."

"I can't stop thinking about it," Anakin protests quietly. "What if there's something I should know?"

"Have everything you need to, you do," he replies. "Find balance, you must. Struggling with guilt you are, over the death of the Chancellor. Our failure it was, to send you to him alone."

Yoda does seem truly regretful, and Anakin has no idea how to react. It's not quite an apology, but it's close enough for him to take it as one. "You had no way to suspect his identity," Anakin says, shaking his head. "I should have. I should have known."

"Know this, you could not have," Master Yoda responds sharply. "Suspected nothing, I did. Wary you should have been, but a child you were. Manipulated by the Sith you have been. Time it will take, for you to recover, and recover, you must. Dangerous, you can be, if unstable you are."

Anakin nods again, swallowing past the lump in his throat. He doesn't trust himself to talk. He's heard that before. Four times now. Once from the Council when they tested him, once from Obi-Wan right afterwards, and once from Yoda during... Hardeen. What he hates most is that no one bothers explaining why they say it.

"Let go of this, you must," Master Yoda orders. "Always in motion, the future is. Changes have already been made. If more you should have known, showed you, the Force would have."

Anakin nods again. Maybe it's lost on the Jedi Master that the thing he fears most is himself, after knowing how he Fell. Vader betrayed everyone he loved, and how does Anakin know he won't do the same?

He's completely worn out by the time he leaves Yoda's quarters, and can only be grateful when the first person he encounters is Ahsoka. She's the one person he wouldn't mind talking to right now.

"Hey, Master," she greets.

"How... are you doing?" he inquires. So much has happened in the past couple days, and they have so much to discuss. He doesn't know where to begin.

"I should be asking you that," Ahsoka retorts, "You're the one who took off to fight the Sith Master without me and didn't bother telling me where you were going!"