The Boundless Jedi (anakin skywalker)

Part 21

Ｈｉｓ Ｏｆｆｅｒ
(Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith)
[ALTERED SCENES]

"The Jedi Order has betrayed the Republic.. betrayed the Chancellor," Anakin reveals to my future self. I walk forwards towards the two, not caring if my steps were heard or not. Testing my former theory, they don't blink an eye at me, not even when I'm facing them only two feet away.

Reaching my hand out, I try to tap on her shoulder, but my hand goes through her body like I'm a spirit.

"What? Why? That doesn't make any sense," My future self ponders out loud, not completely believing his accusations.

"They are corrupted! The Chancellor stands in the way of them gaining more power. That's why Master Windu tried to murder the Chancellor," Anakin explains further, his eyes growing darker as his words continue. "I stopped him before it was too late. I saved the Chancellor. And now I will save you."

She drops her hands down to her sides frustrated at his constant need to protect.

"Anakin, I don't need saving. I can fight any possible threat that arises. You don't need to save me from anyone, nor protect me. I—" She hesitates slightly at what she's about to say next. "I'm not Padme. I can hold my own, you just have to trust me."

When she looks away shamefully, I notice his demeanour change from a downpour to a light drizzle, as if I stopped the darkness forming inside of him. He leans in closer, grasping my cheek with his gloved hand, looking down at my future self with a saddened expression.

"I know you can protect yourself, and I am positive that you could even take me down if you tried... But in these visions, you get killed by the weapon of a Jedi. A blue lightsaber," He closes his eyes in pain like looking at my face is a reminder of his haunting nightmares.

"Did you see me die?" I ask simply, awaiting an answer.

"No, but I won't let anyone ever even attempt to kill you," he continues with his anxious need for security, finding it in the comfort that he will be the hero that stops my imminent death.

"And I appreciate that, but these could just be nightmares. Even if they aren't, Anakin, the future isn't set in stone. What you're seeing is only theoretical. There are millions of more ways I can die, and you have to face the fear that you can't prevent them all. I will die eventually, after all, whether it will be sooner or later,"

I watch a tear fall from his eye, slowly running down his cheek and along his jaw. Future Kora wipes it away, but can't wipe the tears that follow.

He weeps as a man who has held his heartbreak in for too long. 

A man who has had the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders since he was a young boy.

A man who has had to watch the love of his life die continuously in his dreams, unable to escape the torment.

A man who is slowly breaking down, fraction by fraction. Piece by piece. Tear by tear.

And she holds him while he does, not letting her own cries sound out, but instead allowing for them to flow silently.

*Flash*

I've never seen lava in person before, but now I'm surrounded by it. The air is hot in an overwhelming way, and reeks of a dark energy.

Of what, or whom, I'm unsure. A ship lands in the distance but that is not what grasps my attention. Two lightsabers of the same hue battle one another, two Jedi wielding them.

Anakin and Obi-Wan duel on top of the factory platforms, unaffected by the bubbling of sizzling lava below. If someone missteps, then it will immediately lead to their death. But if one stops fighting, that will also lead to their death.