Wartorn

Prologue

Author's Note: Enjoy the beginning of our newest Anakin-Luke-centric fic! It focuses most on them, but it's really about the entire Skywalker family, even if Padme isn't around that much, unfortunately. xP 

This is a fic request by IceyGemini on ao3, who also drew the fanart of Luke and Leia which are on the front cover. :)

We'll be updating this fic weekly on Sundays. :D

~ Amina Gila

In the darkness of his apartment, Sidious meditates. He doesn't need to sleep – he has long since become accustomed to drawing all the strength he needs from the Force. But here, the Dark Side gives him strength, gives him everything he needs.

He has had visions before, but none of them are quite as real as this.

The room is dark, though the expanse around them is much too large to be a simple room. Sidious sees through the eyes of his alternate self, an older version. A black-clothed cyborg is lying on the floor, the green lightsaber of another – a Jedi, Light, though his presence is darkening at the edges – hovering over him. The Jedi somehow strongly resembles Anakin himself, and though Sidious has hardly sensed his future apprentice, he knows instinctively that his future apprentice is the cyborg. His presence is dark, burning, overwhelmingly strong – and it's easy to see how Anakin Skywalker could become this.

Could become his.

Because this is what it will be, the only way Sidious will allow it.

"Your hate has made you powerful," Sidious hears himself saying. "Now, fulfill your destiny, and take your father's place at my side!"

So, the boy is Anakin's son.

Instead of complying, he steps back, shaking his head and turning around, extinguishing and throwing off his lightsaber. "Never," he replies firmly, refusing to budge, even though Sidious can see the fear in his eyes. "I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

There's a long pause of silence before the older Sidious raises his hands. "So be it, Jedi. If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed."

The next bit blurs together, but Sidious sees Anakin standing from where he was laying, returning to his side. It will take time, but Sidious can be patient – he will ensure it always be like this. But within him, Sidious can feel the... conflict, the uncertainty. The fire in Anakin's presence is surprisingly dull for how much strength he now wields, but Sidious can feel how the fire of his apprentice's presence is slowly fading from a burnt-out black back to something... lighter, brighter.

It's something light.

The boy – Anakin's son – calls for him, asking for his help.

In hindsight, Sidious doesn't know why he didn't think Anakin would listen. Of course, he does – the boy is prone to attachment. He can sense it, even if he's scarcely seen him. The battle on Naboo was only weeks ago, after all.

But somehow, he didn't expect the darkness in Anakin's presence to shift lighter, or for Sidious himself to get thrown down the nearby shaft.

It's the last thing Sidious sees before the vision fades.

And he's angry.

Very angry.

Anakin is supposed to be his, and his alone. He should never be anyone else's.

Instincts tell him to ensure this child is never born, to ensure that he never has to concern himself with the possibility of his apprentice betraying him.