#EVERYTHING IS HAPPY AND NOTHING HURTS!

[gaily-daily-musings]

Back to the future to the Clone wars!

I have an idea where after rotj, Luke time travels back to the clone wars due to Force shenanigans. It just dumps him at the front of the Jedi Temple. Thinking this is just a vision, he walks in. People give him weird looks. Everyone knows everyone at the temple and they've no idea who this blonde twink is. 

Meanwhile Luke is just wandering around entranced! So this is what the Jedi order was supposed to be like! So bright and good, like a beacon. So many people. He's overwhelmed. He starts to tear up. The Force did not feel like this in his timeline. It had been broken and bent. Even after his father restored balance the Light side did not feel so full like this. 

Naturally he is eventually stopped and taken to the Council. This is when Luke realizes he Fucked Up and this is all somehow very real.

Several seats are empty. The only person he recognizes is Yoda. He seems so different from the one he'd met on Dagobah. 

The doors open behind him and two men stroll through. 

"Sorry we're late. Someone held us up."

"Hey! Don't put this on me! You're the one who had to comb his hair for the hundredth time!"

Luke stares. Obi-Wan Kenobi takes his seat. He was so much younger. Only a few gray strands in his auburn hair. The other man is harder to place. But somehow Luke knows. 

Luke blinks heavily. He can't quite math right now, but by his calculations Anakin was only a year older than him. It was just…weird seeing him like this. No scars except for the one on his right brow. Dirty blonde hair that curled. He was quite handsome when he was younger. He hadn't known that. 

Anakin takes a seat beside Obi-Wan. They are still smiling fondly at each other. 

"Good, now that we're all finally here. Who are you?" Asks the scary black man Jedi, tearing Luke out of his thoughts.

"I'm Luke Sk–" kriff he can't say Skywalker! "Skyyyyy. Yep. Luke sky."

Luke feels apprehensive. These are the Jedi Masters of old so surely he can trust them. But they are still strangers. Would they even believe him if he told them the truth?

After a few awkward questions Luke asks to speak with Yoda privately. Hoping his old master will give him the benefit of the doubt. 

He is granted a private audience everyone clears out. Luke ends up telling him everything. That he's from the future. That he'd been exploring an old Jedi temple when suddenly the Force opened up and spat him out here. He believes that perhaps he is meant to prevent a great catastrophe from coming to pass. 

Yoda feels the truth of his words. 

"Truth you speak. Pure your heart is."

"Have you ever heard of someone traveling through time?" Luke asks.

Yoda shakes his head. "Strange the Force is. Stanger things, still, have happened."

They don't know how to get Luke back but in the meantime Luke wants to figure out how to fix the past.

Yoda holds up a clawed hand. "Careful we must be. Undo the threads of fate you will, should you not proceed with caution."

"But that's what I'm trying to do! Undo the past!"

"Rewrite too much and cause more destruction you might."

Luke thinks for a moment. Even more destruction? He cannot even imagine it. 

"Delicate, time is. Perhaps not meant to change things you are. Meant to learn."

Luke cannot accept that. If the Force wanted him to learn then this would be a simple vision. He wouldn't actually, physically be here. Luke didn't want to break time itself, just a very specific Sith Lord. 

They assign him temporary rooms and Luke leaves to mediate in them. He thinks about everything that has happened. Everything that will happen. Yoda was right. If Luke tried to take Palpatine down now yeah he could save the galaxy. But what if he was killed in the attempt? What if he failed? It was his father who killed Palpatine in his timeline. He was still the Chosen One. It was his destiny that would bring balance to the Force not Luke's. Would interfering with that change the prophecy?

He pulls up the datapad they provided him with. He does not know exactly how the Order falls nor when. Palpatine controlled the narrative and he cannot trust what history holobooks have taught him. But he does know the gist of it. That at this very point in time Sidous is trying to poison his father's mind, and he is manipulating both the Republic and Separatists from the Chancellor's seat. 

He reads up on the current affairs in the holonews. They were near the end of the war it looked like. Dooku has been defeated by Anakin Skywalker. He could tell the Council who Palpatine was and they could all arrest him and justice would be served. But then would the galaxy still view the Jedi traitors as they had been in the future? Palpatine had twisted the narrative in his favor last time. Could he twist it again? Luke has no evidence of Palpatine's deceit. No one to testify. Count Dooku is already dead and cannot come forward. His only real chance is to record the Chancellor and reveal his plans. But that in itself was a dangerous task. He needed help. 

Coming out of meditation, Luke goes back Yoda's quarters. But apparently he is away at the moment. He paces nervously down the hall to find him. He'll just have to tell him who Sidious is and then convince him to let Luke gather evidence first instead of going to fight him. 

He comes across the refectory. He was rather hungry. Perhaps he should eat. Luke stops dead in his tracks when he sees his father and Ben walking out. 

He's staring so hard that Anakin Skywalker looks at him. "You got a problem buddy?" His father frowns at him. "You were staring before too."

"Anakin, be nice." Obi-Wan chides him. "He's probably never seen The Hero with No Fear in person before."

Anakin blushes, immediately turning to his former Master. "Obi-Wan!"

Obi-Wan chuckles warmly, it is light and simultaneously deep. So much brighter and carefree than old man Ben.

Anakin turns back to him. He squints. "Hey, do I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar."

"Nope! Gotta go I hear someone calling me bye!"

He rushes away, heart pounding. 

After that disastrous ordeal, Luke calms down enough to go find Yoda. After asking several people, he locates him in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. It's unlike anything he's seen. It's beautiful. 

"Come, sit." Yoda waves a claw beside him. 

"Master Yoda." Luke bows his head. "I know you advised against changing the past, but I believe if we do this right, we can prevent the Dark Side from triumphing." 

He then tells him about Sidious. Yoda is grave at the news. But when Luke proposes to spy on him to record evidence Yoda hums thoughtfully. Then to his surprise, he chuckles. 

"Perhaps meant to change the future after all you were." 

"What do you mean?"

Yoda pokes the end of his stick at him. "Tasked with spying on the Chancellor, Anakin Skywalker already has been."

-

Luke is to watch Anakin watching Palpatine. Which, yeah alright, convoluted planning but Luke doesn't know what else to do. The official story he's given is that Luke is a Jedi who has lost his memory and needs a liaison to help him get back on his feet. Anakin is just the man for the job. Which means he gets to shadow Anakin everywhere. 

Palpatine warmly greets him at their first meeting, giving his condolences for his amnesia. 

"We can only hope it's temporary." He says. 

"Yep." Luke sits awkwardly. Wishing to be elsewhere, wishing he could just take his saber and fight him now. 

"Will you be joining Anakin from now on?"

"Not everywhere sir." Luke says, reminding himself to be polite. "Knight Skywalker mentioned he was meeting you and I just couldn't pass up the chance to meet the Chancellor of the Republic."

Palpatine chuckles. "Understandable, Knight Sky. I do hope I live up to your expectations."

Luke smiles with all teeth. "You do, sir."

-

Only Yoda is aware of Luke's secret mission to help Anakin spy on Palpatine. Because of that, it would be moot to accompany his father to every meeting. Palpatine wouldn't incriminate himself in front of a stranger. So Luke shadows Anakin to the Senate building and then pretends to wait outside while they visit. He claims he's aquainting himself with the other Senators and exploring the city when in reality he is listening in. He carefully attaches recording devices to Anakin's robes. He feels bad for the deception, but he knows it would only anger his father to learn that Luke was here as a spy too. He'd probably think that Yoda was undermining him. That he didn't have faith in his talents or worse. 

Luke ends up moving into Anakin’s old padawan room as part of his cover. He sees a picture of him and Ahsoka. Anakin holds the picture looking sad. Luke wishes he could tell him she grew up to be strong and wise in the Force even if she did not wear the title of Jedi. She embodied their values and carried Anakin with her close to her heart. But he cannot say anything. So he does not. 

Rooming with his father is weird but fun. They have fame nights. They say up watching bad holomovies. They take turns cooking meals. Anakin is everything Ben and Ahsoka had told him and more. He is carefree, but also determined. He is passionate and headstrong. Luke loves him. And he misses him. 

And so, the shadowing. As Anakin "re-teaches" Luke the basics of being a Jedi, he finds out just how much time his father actually spends with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Which is nearly all of it. And it's nice for the most part. Ben was kind and Luke had always liked him. This version is even chattier. He jokes more. But there are times when things get a bit…awkward. 

Luke finds himself in the middle of more than one argument between his old mentor and his father. It's uncomfortable as sith's hells. It was like they constantly forgot Luke was even in the room. Luke doesn't know which is worse; when they started fighting about whose turn it was to do the dishes ("I don't even live here!" "You're over so much you practically do!") or when they weren't even fighting and just got lost staring into each other's eyes or something. Also the pet names were… certainly there. 

Every lunch period they sat pressed side by side at the table and ate off each other's plates. Luke is forced to watch.

"You have some sauce on your face, darling." Obi-Wan wipes it off with his thumb. His hand lingers on Anakin's chin. His father's eyes are heavy and dark as they look at Obi-Wan. 

If Luke didn't know for a Fact that Anakin was married to Padme he would have bet the entire Republic that Ben and his father had been intimate. Which first of all, ew, second, what the fuck?

The man named Quinlan, who he'd been introduced to as Obi-Wan's old friend, pats his back sympathetically. "You'll get used to it. Everybody else is. They're just weird like that."

Luke cannot comprehend this. His brain refuses. It was like seeing your parents kiss except worse because Obi-Wan was Anakin's old Master. Luke cannot possibly imagine having the hots for any of his mentors.

Also, Ben has never mentioned this before?!? Then again perhaps it was for the best. Obviously Ben wouldn't have said anything to him about his odd relationship with Anakin. They were friends. That was that. 

-

The more Luke observes and listens in to closed door meetings, the more he is convinced of what he needs to do. Palpatine was clearly trying to separate The Team. He wanted to drive a wedge between Anakin and the Order. More specifically, Anakin and Obi-Wan. If Luke wanted to save the galaxy, he needed to keep them together.

When it is suggested that Obi-Wan go to Utapau to defeat General Grievous, Luke strongly advises against it. But the council overrules him. He is not a member after all. Luke wishes the Jedi records hadn't been destroyed for this time period. He's flying blind here. He's no idea what is supposed to happen. And if he doesn't know, then he can't take the correct steps to prevent it. 

A few days after Obi-Wan leaves, Luke feels something stir in the Force. He grabs his comlink and contacts Obi-Wan in hysterics. 

"This is Luke Sky, you have to come back to Coruscant!"

Obi-Wan refuses. The council has given him a mission. 

"Anakin is in danger!"

Obi-Wan is silent and then, "What's happened?"

"I don't know exactly what's going on but the Force is in flux! If you do not come back right now, Anakin will fall to the Dark!"

"...how can you possibly know that?" He sounds suspicious. Disbelieving.

"Because I'm from the future!" He yells into the comm. "Only Master Yoda knows! He didn't want me to cause ripples in the timeline so we didn't tell anyone else! But that doesn't matter! Anakin Skywalker will become a Sith if you do not come back NOW! Look into the Force! Can't you feel it?? It's screaming!"

Obi-Wan does not respond for a minute. "I understand your distressed, but I have my orders."

The comm goes silent.

-

Anakin rushes into the Council the next day. His face is pale and his breath is coming fast. He won't tell Luke what happened but Luke already knows. This is it. Sidious has revealed himself to him. 

They go to the Council together. Anakin looks around, asking for Obi-Wan. Have him holo in at least. But Obi-Wan is out of reach and unavailable. So is Yoda. Off on Kashyyyk.

Mace, Kit, and Koth all go to arrest him. Anakin is ordered to stay behind with Luke. He paces angrily. 

"They'll kill him…" He mutters. "They can't…I need him alive!"

Luke cannot calm him down. He tries but his words mean nothing to the man in front of him. Anakin won't listen. Anakin breaks free and rushes to the Senate building. Luke is close at his heels, he can't afford to let him out of his sight. When they get there the fight has already started. Only Mace is still alive by the time they arrive. 

"Skywalker! Help me! We must end the Sith!"

"No! He needs to face trial!"

"He's too dangerous to be kept alive!"

Luke gripes his saber. What was the right choice here? Jump in and kill Palpatine? Or keep trying to calm his father down? Nothing seemed to be working on him. Anakin was only getting more and more agitated as Mace talked. He looked ill, he looked crazed. 

"Anakin listen to Mace! It'll be alright! I have evidence of Palpatine's deceit! We can prove his guilt in court later but for now we need to defeat him!"

"What?" Anakin swivels towards him. "How do you…no, I don't care about evidence!" He spits. "I care about Padme! She's gonna die! I can't let her die!"

Wind whips around them as the window shatters from force lightning. Luke feels it swirl around. He's so confused. What did Sidious have to do with saving Padme? He thought she died in childbirth? He didn't have all the pieces. Something was missing.

Palpatine moves, Mace counters. Anakin cuts off Mace's hand. Mace screams in pain. Like a viper Sidious strikes, and then Mace is falling out the window. Luke tries to grab him but it's too late. It's too late. 

Sidious is laughing. It is ugly and triumphant. Anakin falls backwards. "What have I done?" He gasps. 

Luke goes to him. 

"Come on! We can still stop him!"

Lighting hits him. Luke is thrown into the wall. He screams and clutches his sides. His skin burns. 

"Thank you, my boy." Sidious says. "You have chosen wisely. I will give you the knowledge you need to save your wife, I promise you. But first, you must kneel before me and become my apprentice."

"Don't do it!"

Sidious blasts him again. He cries out. Anakin falls more than kneels. He's sweating, hands clenching and unclenching. 

Father no!

Luke squeezes his eyes shut. He cannot watch this. He's failed.

"Anakin!"

His eyes snap open. Obi-Wan pants at the doorway, his saber drawn, chest heaving. He stares at Sidious, at the bodies of Koth and Kit Fisto. He spares a glance at Luke as well. 

Sidious snarls at him. "Kenobi!" He raises his hands. 

"No!" Anakin stands, planting himself between the two. Between Dark and Light. "You can't!"

"The Jedi are all traitors! Look at what they've tried to do! They wanted to kill me and take over the Republic!"

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Obi-Wan cuts through him. He looks at Anakin. "Anakin are you alright?"

Anakin can barely think. His mind feels split apart. Luke knows this because he feels Anakin's pain as if it were his own. He can feel the choice warring inside him. 

"We can't kill him…" He pleads weakly at Obi-Wan. 

"Stand aside, my apprentice!" Sidious orders. "Today you and I shall purge the Jedi threat!"

Obi-Wan narrows his eyes. "Your apprentice?" He hisses. Luke has never seen Ben angry. He looks like a God, blue sabe blazing hungry for justice. "You will never sully my Padawan with your filthy hands!"

"I already have!" Sidious laughs. "Mace Windu is dead thanks to his help!"

Anakin flinches. 

Obi-Wan's expression stiffens. "Is this true?"

Anakin backs away from him. Unable to look him in the eye. 

"He is already mine! Now Anakin, kill him and take your rightful place by my side!"

"I didn't mean to." Anakin whispers, tears streaming down his cheeks. 

Obi-Wan swallows, shaking off his shock. "I believe you. It's not too late, come back to me, darling." He holds out his hand for Anakin to take. "You're still a Jedi, we can get through this together."

"There is no going back! Only forward!" Sidious cackles. "Come Anakin! What will it be? Join me and save your wife, or join the Jedi traitor and slay both me and the Republic which you stand for?"

Obi-Wan falters at the word 'wife.' Anakin's hands are pulling at his hair. He's shaking apart. 

Sidious gives a smirk over at Obi-Wan. "The boy has already chosen, Kenobi. Or did he not yet share with you the fact that he planned to leave the Order and forsake his vows to be with Padmé? She's pregnant, you know."

Obi-Wan's hand is still outstretched but it has lowered significantly. He looks from Sidious to Anakin, trying to find the lie. Anakin's face tells all. Sidious grins. 

"Or perhaps you should tell him of your misdeeds on Tatooine?"

"Stop!" Anakin begs him. But Sidious does not listen.

"Remember how you told me about that night? How you touched the dark side and massacred an entire village in revenge for your mother's death?"

Obi-Wan's face is pale. His arm pulls back, no longer reaching for him. Anakin gives a sob. 

Palpatine places a hand over Anakin's shoulder. "You see my boy? Even your old master rejects you. Only I accept you for who you are."

The Force roars around him. Whispering to him. Luke finds the strength to stand. His bones scream at him to lie back down. But he must. He must do this. 

"Tell him the truth!" He yells. All three heads swivel in his direction. Sidious looks confused, like he'd completely forgotten Luke was even there.

Luke looks at Obi-Wan. "Tell him the truth!" He begs. He doesn't even know what truth he is referring to. But somehow he knows this is what the Force wants him to say.

Obi-Wan looks back at Anakin. His eyes trace his face. The face of a man who had lied to him and kept secrets. Who would leave his side for another. Who would make deals with Sith Lords for knowledge and power.

"Dear one," his hand reaches out once more, palm up, waiting for his hand. "I'm here. I'm not leaving. Whatever it is that troubles you, I will help you." He pauses, voice wobbling from emotion. "I love you, Anakin. No matter what you have done I love you always."

Anakin gives a wretched cry. He reaches to take Obi-Wan's hand. 

Sidious snarls. "NO!" Lightning crackles. "Kenobi you have interfered for the last time!"

Sidious raises his hands. 

Anakin swirls on the spot. He lights his saber without thought. Acting on instinct. He cuts Sidious from shoulder to sternum. The old man falls dead. 

Anakin collapses onto the floor. Obi-Wan immediately hugs him to chest. He shushes him quietly. 

"I'm here, I'm here it's alright. You did it Anakin. He's gone."

With the danger passed, the adrenaline leaves Luke and he collapses. His eyes close and the world fades away.

-

Luke opens his eyes to an opulent ceiling. He squints at it. He does not recognize this ceiling. He sits up. Where was he?

He can see he is in a room with lavish furniture and carvings surrounding him. He gets up and wanders out. The balcony shows him a lush, beautiful lakeside. He turns back inside to investigate. Was he still in the past?

The door flings itself open. His sister walks in. She looks angry. 

"Leia!" He goes to hug her. He wraps his arms around her. She squirms against him. 

"Luke, what are you doing? Stop it!"

"I missed you so much! Where even are we? How did we get here?"

Leia flattens him with a look. "Acting stupid won't save you from getting out of it! I know you and mom conspired against me! Admit it!"

Luke stops. "Mom?" He whispers.

"Yes! Our mother! You both went behind my back and invited Dad to my wedding! It's my wedding, I can ban whomever I want!"

"You're getting married?"

Leia squints. "Real cute, Luke. It's soooo funny that someone actually wants to marry haha we get it. Just fess up and admit it! You invited Dad, didn't you?!"

Okay so, if he has this right, it is present time. But a different present where Padme lived. Okay. Cool. He can uh, he can work with that.

"Why…don't you want Dad at your wedding?" He asks slowly. 

Please don't say it's because he's evil. Please say he didn't become a Sith lord after all. 

"Are you serious?!" She snaps. "He cheated on mom! I know you forgave him but I won't! That bastard broke her heart!"

Luke's head is reeling. He opens his mouth then wisely closes it. 

"Ugh! You're impossible!" She flies out of the room.

Luke is left stranded in the middle of the room. Breathe. Just breathe.

Then, once his nerves settle, he whoops with joy. He runs to the bed and throws himself onto it. He did it. He did it! He changed the past! 

Que awkward breakfast scene with the family. Anakin and Obi-Wan arrived just an hour ago and Luke's joy at seeing them is overshadowed by Leia's death glare. Han is just as much of a scoundrel as ever, nothing new there. Padme is a vision and he hugged her for longer than what might have been appropriate considering he was supposed to have seen her yesterday. Also he accidentally calls Obi-Wan "Ben" and that makes everyone look at him weird. 

From what he can gather, Leia's wedding was tomorrow, Ahsoka–or rather Aunt Ahsoka–was coming, Obi-Wan had left the Order to be with Anakin a few years ago, and also Luke still had both hands. 

"Why are you smiling so much? It's weird." Leia kicks him under the table. 

Luke kicks back. "Just happy to see my family all in one place."

Leia rolls her eyes but she's smiling too. 

[heal-the-ashes]

I feel like Hershel and Desmond would both be afraid of themselves.

If they stop and look at themselves. If they realize what they're doing came from years of pain. Would it all lead to a question of "Who else am I going to hurt?" "How many people have I unintentionally hurt because I never realized what I was really doing?" "How many things of my life have I missed because of this?" "How many things do I—or will I—regret?"

I feel like Layton self-sacrifices to a fault. That others get hurt trying to protect him. That he unknowingly drags other people through pain to get to where he thinks he needs to go. To solve every mystery there is. To get rid of his pain from outside sources, he needs to make as much of it himself under the titles "Determination" and "Amazing at solving things" and "Helping others" because then, how could those things ever hurt him? How could they ever be seen as pain? They're not like his (other) traumas. They don't cause pain at all. Not to mention what he thinks about danger. Danger? What danger? There's no danger here. Just people who are willing to hurt others to get what they want—Which is very sad and shows their pain and he'd very much like to help them in any way possible, if possible. If they show that they don't want to be helped, then it's better to leave them be.

But then again, nothing can ever be someone's fault other than his around him. I think he goes over betrayals thinking, "There must have been something I could have done." or "There must've been something I did." or "If I learn from this, I can make sure it never happens again." or... ... I think he has a hard time accepting that things really aren't his fault / there's really nothing he can do about some situations. Actually, when it comes time for Unwound Future and the whole Evil Layton arc... The only time in which he actually raises his voice is at himself. Is at the version of him that betrayed all of the morals in which he's held onto for so long. But a part of me thinks that, if he knew things were actually his fault, he'd have a problem with that, too... I mean, look at how he reacts to him getting puzzle answers incorrect in CV. In CV. In the 4th game of experience that he's had with puzzles. And a movie. With all that experience and he gets something wrong... he's disappointed in himself. Going back to the UF/LF thing... "I demand an explanation!!" I don't think I'll ever forget that line. I think, from his journal... We know he was trying to think of reasons why he would do something like this. Idk. I'm. Thoughts are not thinking anymore. Um. Wow I really lost my thought process. I was also gonna talk about Desmond. But I guess that's not happening at the moment.

[kuiinncedes]

:p