Author's Note: This fic is honestly the fic we love most of every single thing we've written. Lol. I really, really hope that y'all will enjoy this story as much as we do! :D We'll be updating weekly. ^-^
It was written for Shin_Jam on ao3. :)
~ Amina Gila
Anakin can't even say how it happened.
Sidious is standing, hands outstretched, and he senses the sheer wrongness in the Force. He sees something dark opening up behind the Sith, and Anakin lunges at him again, desperate to stop him from the – whatever he's doing. He's ripping a hole in the Force itself, and Anakin can see stars amidst the darkness. It's like some sort of portal, except – except it's ripping Sidious apart, one bit at a time.
And then Sidious is just gone, leaving a vacuum into outer space behind.
He tries to shield himself, but there's nothing to hold onto, and he's falling. More like flying, but it feels like he's falling, and the last thing Anakin hears is Ahsoka yelling his name from lightyears away, her voice echoing in his mind. He feels Obi-Wan – his master – once more before he's ripped through, and the portal closes over him.
He's still falling, and it feels like he's somehow being disassembled and reassembled on repeat as he falls, plummeting towards something he can't even see.
Something's changing, shifting, and then he crashes through another portal-like thing, hitting the floor somewhere.
Everything feels different. The Force itself feels different. Something is wrong. It feels like something's dying, and everything is so Dark. It's a darkness Anakin has never felt before, but it takes his breath away, and for a few moments, he just lays there, panting.
What did Sidious do?
Anakin opens his eyes, blinking up at the ceiling.
"Who are you?" a voice demands. It's not familiar, but the presence is, and he thinks he knows him from somewhere. Maybe.
Has heard of him, at least. Anakin turns his head a little, looking over at him – his head is throbbing, and he's not quite sure why. Maybe from being unwritten and rewritten or whatever that was – the man has dark hair, and there's definitely something familiar about him. But something is wrong. Everything is... dim. Dull. He can't even understand why.
"Anakin Skywalker," he answers automatically, blinking a few times and pushing himself up.
This person is someone important, but why is he in the Chancellor's office? Actually, why does the room look so... odd suddenly? Palpatine had it all shades of red and brown, with a bit of black here and there. Now, it's... blue? Light blue. And tan. Not much black, though. It looks...
Okay.
Actually, what is happening?
"Who are you?" Anakin asks, pushing himself unsteadily to his feet.
The man's eyes narrow at him. "Your Emperor."
His heart skips a beat and Anakin's mind finally catches up with him. He knows this man. He's seen him on the holonews before – right, it was with Senator Amidala.
Rush Clovis. That's his name. A traitor to the Republic, top member of the Banking Clan, and – what?!
Emperor?
Where is he?
"You're a traitor," Anakin accuses, heart hammering. Something's wrong. Something's – he can't sense anyone. All of his bonds are distant, shielded over and so, so far away that he doesn't think he could reach them even if he tried.
"You're the traitor, Jedi," Clovis retaliates. He's wearing clothes somewhat similar to what Palpatine used to wear, as though he is the Emperor, but that doesn't make any sense. He pushes something on his desk, and Anakin realizes a split second too late that it's an alarm. He's calling security in.
The doors slide open just a second later, and Fox – at least his armor looks the same – enters with a group of other clones, blasters raised and aimed at him. "Surrender, Jedi," Fox barks.
Seeing him instantly draws to the surface countless memories of – of Fives' last moments. All Anakin could do was stand there and watch as Fox shot him down, as Fives lay dying in Rex's arms. And he knows that Fox was following orders, but that doesn't stop the bitterness or anger at seeing him. Doesn't stop the memories of Fives' death that haunt him ceaselessly.
Anakin steps back, hand moving for his lightsaber. He doesn't know what's happening, or how Clovis is here – Anakin thought Obi-Wan reported him dead on Scipio when he went there to deal with the Banking Clans.
"Fox, what's... wrong?" Anakin asks, heart hammering. This doesn't make sense – why are the clones about to attack him? Why are they arresting him? His killing Palpatine couldn't have led to this, could it? "What's happening?"
"You're under arrest," Fox replies, as though that answers anything.
Anakin takes another step back, gaze darting around the room for the fastest way of escape. "For what?"
"All Jedi are traitors to the Empire, in league with the Rebellion, and are to be terminated."
The – what?
They're going to kill him. Execute him.
Fox fires first, and Anakin ducks, the blaster shot striking the window behind him, fracturing the glass. Anakin draws his lightsaber, deflecting the shots. He Force-shoves the clones back, turning and running for the window. It's the only real way out, and he needs to run.
The already damaged window shatters easily when he Force-shoves it. Anakin falls through the open window, falling downwards. The glass shards fall around him, pricking against his skin. He's falling from one of the top floors on the Senate dome, and he hits the side, stabbing his lightsaber into it to slow his fall.
Yes, there ought to be property damage concerns, but really, he's apparently a criminal, anyway.
Which doesn't make any sense.
What Empire? What Rebellion? What in the galaxy is happening here?
The glass falls past him, and Anakin pulls himself up onto the edge, looking around. The only way out is to keep falling,
He'll have to steal a speeder somewhere, which is hardly out of the ordinary for him. Anakin kicks himself off the roof and keeps falling, using the Force to simultaneously guide him and slow his fall. There's got to be a speeder somewhere.
There's going to be police droids after him, not to mention the entire Coruscanti Guard. If what they did to Ahsoka is anything to go by, they'll have everyone looking for him in the Underworld. No, what he needs is help, someone to get him off-world, and information to find out what in the galaxy is happening.
It's evening, just after sunset, and the darkness is simultaneously helpful in covering for him and making it almost more unnerving. He just... wants to get out of here. He needs help. Someone.
He's spotted once on the way – someone recognizes him as a Jedi, and for some reason, Anakin can feel an unreasonable level of fear from them. Why are they afraid? It doesn't make any sense. Even if he allegedly committed treason somehow, he's still a war hero. Everyone knows him. That's why he hates going to the Senate. He doesn't mind attention. He just minds it when everyone... follows him everywhere.
Anakin climbs into a nearby speeder, and he fires it up, taking off to the Underworld. He drops it before going down – everyone's looking for him, and besides, he technically stole it – and jumps onto a large, passing transport. Ahsoka did it, and it's the best way of hitching a ride down. He needs to get as far down as possible, but not too low for no one to have transport out.
Everything feels different here, and now that Anakin is temporarily out of sight, he can take a few minutes to breathe.
He comms Obi-Wan, because if anyone knows what to do, he will.
"Who is this?" a very, very familiar voice asks, and Anakin could almost cry at hearing it.
"Obi-Wan." Anakin could almost cry with relief. "I don't know what's happening – I need your help."
"Who are you?" he asks, and he sounds... hard. Rough. His comm frequency is the same, and it's him, but Anakin realizes with a jolt that he feels different. Over comms, his presence is distant and muted, but it's still different. It's so dark. Icy. Wild. Everything Obi-Wan isn't, and never has been.
"Oh, Force," Anakin breathes. "You're you, but you're not..." Where is he!? What's happening!?
Obi-Wan feels Dark. Everything here is Dark. It's like – like the Jedi aren't even here, and nothing is like he thought it was, and Anakin cuts the connection before he thinks about it any longer. He needs to get out. If Obi-Wan is... Anakin isn't ready to face who he is, but he's not his Obi-Wan.
He can't be in the future, can he?
No that's not possible.
In his universe, Clovis is dead.
Fox felt way too young. No, he's... somewhere else. Right now, he needs to get off-world. Everything else can wait.
***
Even the Underworld looks darker than it ought to, which is saying something. It's as though the lights and everything around him are dimmer for no identifiable reason, and he doesn't really understand why.
But that's not what really matters right now. He needs to find somewhere to conceal himself and figure out what to do. He still has no idea what's happening or what to do, and he's only growing more lost with each passing moment.
Except – He can sense someone close by, something dark but bright at once, though the Force presence is well-concealed.
He's being watched. He's been sensing it for a while now, that he actually thinks about it. Either he needs to lose them quickly, or he needs to take the fight out into the open somewhere he can deal with them. It's a risk, but it will only get worse if reinforcements show up. Bracing himself for attack, Anakin circles into a slightly more open alleyway, where no one's passing by.
He feels a sudden flare of warning, right as lightsabers activate from behind him. He's mid-spinning around when the masked figure hits him, knocking him to the ground, green lightsabers crossing at his neck.
Wait. Green?!
Is this... another Jedi?
"So, you're the Jedi everyone's looking for," a much too familiar voice drawls.
Ventress.
So much for a Jedi, though her lightsaber color still confuses him. They were always red. "Ventress," Anakin returns, curtly.
"You know me?" she asks, voice tinged with surprise. She's not faking it, either.
"Yes," he replies, breathlessly. Or at least, he did because he's no longer sure he knows anyone here. He fell through a portal of sorts after all, but he didn't expect that he was somewhere else entirely. In... another reality? Is he in a completely different timeline? It's the only thing he can think of, to begin making sense of how different everything is. "... Get off me." He doesn't appreciate having this conversation or realization when he's stuck with lightsabers at his neck.
"You aren't gonna be taking off, are you?" she drawls, but she stands, deactivating her lightsabers.
"I don't know where I am. Why are your lightsabers green?" That's what really doesn't make sense. But if he's in a different place, he probably shouldn't be assuming anything about... anyone.
"Some reason you were expecting something else?" she snips.
"When I knew you," Anakin tells her bluntly, "You were a bit... off, and you were a Sith assassin. Your lightsabers were red."
"What are you talking about?" she asks, disbelievingly, "Have you been taking death sticks? Is that why you're out here in Jedi robes? Nobody's dumb enough to do that anymore."
"Your lightsabers mark you as a Jedi, too," he retorts. But seriously, what happened in this reality? What happened to the Jedi?! Are they all gone?
"At least I don't parade around showing it off, then wonder why I've got the biggest bounty in the galaxy on my head."
"I don't know where this place is or why everyone is after the Jedi to begin with," he retaliates again.
"Definitely on death sticks," she chirps. "Is that why you're glowing? You really do stick out."
Anakin freezes, looking down at his hands for the first time. He certainly isn't glowing – he knows what that looks like, thank you very much. The Daughter glowed on Mortis – but there is something out-of-place brighter about him than the rest of the galaxy. Maybe because he's from... somewhere else?
"I know you don't believe me," Anakin sighs, "But I think I'm from somewhere else. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I just need to get off this planet." Well, she was a bounty hunter before, so it seems reasonable enough to ask her for a ride off-world, or at least for the direction of someone who can do it. The longer he waits here, the more chances there are of someone finding him.
"Since you don't appear to have a credit to your name, I don't suppose I'll be getting any. Where do you wanna go?"
"Anywhere," he replies. Just somewhere that everyone will stop trying to shoot him on sight. "Preferably somewhere quiet."
"Since you're a Jedi, should I drop you off at my old master's doorstep? Don't expect him to be greeting you, though."
"Who was your master?" Anakin asks tiredly. He's already too worn out to be having this conversation. He just has to make sure she doesn't mean Dooku.
"Count Dooku, of course," she snips back, and for the first time, he picks up a veiled sorrow from her, "Though he was lost in the battle of Coruscant, guaranteeing the Sith's eternal reign."
What. What is happening in this universe?
Ventress groans when she catches his gaze. "What, did someone drop you in carbon freezing for the last two decades, kid? My master was one of the last of the Jedi."
"Then why are you out here?" Anakin asks skeptically.
"Apparently, to save your skin."
"That doesn't explain why a Jedi would be a bounty hunter. If you really are a Jedi."
"Was," she corrects, "And there's not much else for Jedi to do these days, unless you want to start an impossible-to-win fight with the Empire."
This is only leaving Anakin with even more questions than he had before.
"C'mon, kid," Ventress says. "Better get moving before your poor disguise gets us both killed."
He ignores the jibe – He's beginning to think it's just how she is. She doesn't know him, not here. This is nothing like how she talked to him in his reality – settling for following her through the shadows, to her waiting ship.
Being on board her ship is far from comfortable, but he'll have to deal with it, until he gets to wherever she's taking him. At least she's not trying to kill him like everyone else. Yet.
Now that they're flying above Coruscant's surface, he can see how similar it looks, and yet dimmer. The Jedi Temple has some slight differences, and from the troops positioned at various entrances – and from how empty and dull it feels in the Force – he can't help wondering if it's the Imperial palace now. Of the Sith.
Once they reach the upper atmosphere, Anakin turns his gaze to the familiar space surrounding them.
At least, he thought it would be familiar. Something about some of the constellations he can always instantly recognize – it's something he has to be good at, for being a pilot – look a little bit off. Like some stars are missing. Probably, it's just that this is a different reality entirely, and if the Sith were able to form an Empire here, who's to say what else is different?
Maybe it's just the time of year, and he's being paranoid. It's hard to say what all is different here, and what matters is the galaxy. The Empire.
"So," Ventress pipes up, putting her feet up on the dashboard once they make the jump to hyperspace, "I think you owe me a few answers."
"Do I?" Anakin echoes, dubiously. He's the one who's hopelessly lost right now.
"Yes. Why you're on death sticks, why you're glowing, why you've been in carbon freeze for ten years, why you're wearing Jedi robes in the streets and making my life more difficult. I could go on."
"Don't," he requests, flatly. It's not as if he has anything to lose by trying to explain what happened, when he's only half-certain himself. "The last thing I knew, I was fighting a Sith in the Senate building. He did something, and a... rift opened in the Force. I fell through, and I ended up here."
Ventress actually sits up at that, something less careless in her eyes when she studies him. "Maybe that's connected to the massive Force disturbance I sensed not long ago."
"Likely," Anakin agrees. Everyone would've sensed a portal to another reality opening.
"Except it felt like a black hole, not a star. Unlike you," she adds. Ahsoka used to tell him that – that he felt like a star. His presence is so bright in the Force she found it overwhelming. Obi-Wan did, too, though it was so long ago, Anakin remembers it far less vividly.
It didn't feel like a black hole on Anakin's end, more like something was ripping apart the Force, but everything about this universe is different. Even now, he can sense a sudden overwhelming sensation of death. He's felt it before on a smaller scale, but it feels much more massive, even if it's also something far away. "The Force here feels different. Darker. Of death that... is happening right now," Anakin says.
Ventress shrugs, slightly. "People die all the time."
Her carelessness irks him, but he didn't expect anything less, even if she is apparently a Jedi in this universe. "On this scale?" He doesn't know what it is, but it's Strong, and it hurts. It's not nearby, but he can still feel people hurting. Being hurt, and it's hurting the Force itself. It feels wrong.
"Maybe not usually, but the galaxy's at war. It could be anything."
That's true, but he still doesn't like the feel of it. Or anything here. "Can you tell me about the state of the galaxy here?" Anakin asks.
"Well, there's an Empire," she supplies, "The Republic fell over a decade ago, along with the Jedi. Rush Clovis is the Emperor, though the Rebellion believes the Sith are pulling his strings from behind the scenes."
"Do we know anything about the Sith here?" Anakin asks, unease twisting inside of him. It couldn't be Palpatine, or he'd be the Emperor probably, right? It obviously wasn't Dooku either. That means it could be practically anyone.
"There's one who actively fights the Rebellion, and there's Inquisitors who hunt down the surviving Jedi. At least, that's what they're doing now that the war is over and nearly all the Rebellion forces were destroyed."
"The war," Anakin repeats, numbly, "That was between the Empire and the... Rebellion?"
She nods. "Countless systems openly revolted, trying to leave the Empire, led by Dooku. It didn't end well for them."
It sounds like almost exactly what happened with Anakin, except of course with a Republic, not an Empire. And Anakin has no idea how to feel that – that it sounds so similar, when the Empire is clearly at least partly in the wrong. Not that that wasn't somewhat true for the Republic, too.
The Republic... made mistakes, and it needed to change, but leaving would fracture it, and countless systems would suffer from it. Sometimes, what seems easy isn't always so practical, and Anakin fought to keep his galaxy together. It just... often felt like it never really got anywhere. And now? Here? He can't help questioning... a lot of things, but he can worry about it later, once he gets back home. If he gets back home.
Not thinking about that, either.
... Wait.
"Did the Rebellion use droids?" he asks, warily.
"Yeah, and the Empire spawned several billion clones out of nowhere."
Force.
It really is the same.
"How'd you know if you know nothing about this place?" she asks.
"It's... like what happened in my reality, but with the Republic and a... Separatist movement," Anakin explains, "But the Jedi were with the Republic."
"Hmm. Can't imagine that," Ventress muses, "I suppose next you're gonna tell me Dooku was still leading the movement?"
"He was. And you were his... assassin during the war. We fought a few times."
"Sounds lovely," she chirps, "What was I like?"
"Unpleasant?" Anakin supplies, because all the other words that come to mind are far more unflattering. Ventress just outright laughs. "We were always on opposing sides."
"I assume the Separatists lost?"
"Yes. I... may have killed Dooku." It was only days ago, and he still feels – He shouldn't have done that. Not like that, whether Dooku deserved it or not. Yes, it was a direct order from Palpatine who has every right and reason to give that kind of order, but that doesn't mean what Anakin did was right. Doesn't mean it's stopped bothering him, even if it led to the end of the war. Assuming the war did end. He doesn't even know what's happening back home.
So, he has no idea why Ventress snorts, as though there's something amusing about it. "If he lost his mind enough to start a war for the Sith, I suppose he doesn't have much of a head left to lose."
That... is quite the opinion if she actually cared about Dooku, but Anakin has no idea how he'd feel if some version of his family here did something nearly as bad as Dooku. He still can't imagine being quite that flippant about something happening to them, though.
"You haven't seen anyone... like me?" Anakin asks, after a pause. He's sure he would sense it, if there was another version of himself here, though he can't begin to imagine that. Meeting a different version of someone he knew is one thing, but himself? That's something he can't well imagine, though he thinks he'd probably feel far less lost, with no idea what to do next, if he did. If there were another version of him so he knew where his... place in this universe was. Assuming he even exists.
"Never," she drawls, "When I heard the word Skywalker, I expected to find a sentient fleeing ship model, not a kid."
Sure, she did. But he still gets the point.
Though speaking of ships.... Anakin's gaze drifts to the cockpit's controls, analyzing the model of her ship. He doesn't have anything else to think about anyway, except considering what he's going to do now because he's never been so lost before. He's never felt so out of place, with no idea what he's doing or what to do. The sheer enormity of being here hasn't had the chance to sink in yet, and he doesn't have the time to think about it.
Probably, that's not something he'll be able to figure out until he gets to the rebel base. Maybe, there'll be some Jedi there who can actually... find a way to help him get home.
"Nice ship you have," he comments, finally, "What's its name?"
"What makes you think it has a name?" Ventress snips.
"Why wouldn't you name it?" Though, to be fair, ships are always something that are important to him but that's not true about everyone else.
"Never had the time to think of one and the model of the ship is way overused."
"You use it every day, and you don't have time to think about a name?"
"Maybe I could name it after you. How about Misplaced?" she asks.
Misplaced? That's true, except that it sounds like it's referring to an object. "Perhaps Lost?" he suggests, dryly, "But you probably want to choose something more familiar."
"Familiar could be a name, too," Ventress drawls.
"Lost in the Familiar," Anakin supplies. That sounds like the perfect summary of how he feels right now, if they're going to be naming it after him, for some ridiculous reason.
"Too much of a mouthful. Let's go with Lost Familiar," she decides, "Hopefully, the name won't make my luck as bad as yours."
They can hope.
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