Disclaimer:

  I do not own any rights to Star Wars. This is merely fan fiction by a fan and not someone even remotely involved in any Marvel or Lucas Film property. That being said I do hope you enjoy it.

  Anakin's hands burned as if a red hot poker had been repeatedly stabbed into his forearms, ironic as they had been long been removed by the red hot edge of a lightsaber. He honestly would have been more alarmed if it wasn't for the fact that whatever Force entity or God that watched over him seemed to hate him having hands. In every loop, he would lose some sort of limb whether it be a hand by Dooku or Sidious taking his sweet time cutting his body to bits taking sweet pleasure in watching his mind break again and again. One time he lost his left leg to Grievous because he wasn't paying attention, that was an embarrassing loop.

  The phantom pain didn't bother Anakin though; it hurt, and obviously, it did. Though when you've been tortured as much as he had, it really put things into perspective, Anikin merely looked down at his stubs that were still cauterizing with mild annoyance. Really losing a couple of arms wasn't that big of a deal anymore to him.

  "Well well well. Father, it looks like you… need a hand." The man before him burst out laughing. A man was a bit of an overstatement, though; he was a boy. He just barely had the signs of a small beard growing on his lip, his clothes still a little too tight from a recent growth spurt. Anakin didn't hate the boy, he couldn't. How could he hate someone he loved so much? He knew some part should have hated him for the betrayal, Anakin almost hoped he felt something akin to hatred, some passion. Yet all he could feel when looking at the boy that he loved so very dearly was pity. He truly was his Father's son, the good and unfortunately the bad. Did Skywalkers have a gene that seemed to let them be manipulated so easily by darkside users, or were they just stupid? Most likely the latter.

  "Luke, stop wasting your breath on the dead. Ugh, just look at him, a broken shell of a man. Really killing you is a favour." This voice was similar to the boy's but more feminine.

  Anakin looked up to see the duo looking down on him. The boy looking at his pathetic form with sheer delight. Anakin couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking? Seeing his father knelt over in the ashes of his failed Jedi Academy. A man without any arms to pick himself up would have been a sad sight to see for anyone. Yet, to the boy, he was almost bouncing gleefully, like it wasas if he had won the lottery. The grand prize being his father's death. Luke looked Anakin up and down, savouring the victory of defeating a tired old man.

  Personally, he didn't see the accomplishment, but the boy relished in mocking him.

  The other person was a girl. She had brown hair like her mother and even had her mother's eyes. She had such disdain in those beautiful eyes, a bitter-sweet reminder of his failure. The disgust in her eyes shone, as if him dying was some sort of inconvenience for her, that his life was a waste of her time.

  "Luke, Leia. I have failed you." He managed to whisper. Anakin's voice was coarse from all the smoke he had inhaled, he was in the library when they had attacked. What did Palpatine call this one? The Empire? The Dark Empire? Was he leading the rebels this time? Honestly, his head was a mess, and he was in far too much pain right now to remember all of Palpatine's different Empires. There were so many. To give credit where credit was due, the Sith lord was a magician, if instead of pulling rabbits out of hats he pulled planet destroy death weapons out of his ass.

  "Look at you, Father. Look at what has become of your new order. I thought this was supposed to replace the Jedi! To bring the galaxy to that balance you love so much! Well! How does it feel to have everything you worked so hard to save burn? Maybe you should have put more love into your children then this stupid fucking temple. What would mother say If she saw you? I don't know why mother ever loved a weak pathetic man like you." Luke held the red edge of his lightsaber to his throat. His burning yellow eyes of the Sith glared at Anakin's own blue.

  He wanted to say how he was wrong. That he loved them, that while he had lost his love for Padme many many many repeats ago her death was orchestrated by their new master, Sidious. Though the ash in his lungs stopped him from saying a word. It wouldn't matter anyway, Palpatine had gotten his hands on his children and turned them against him. Against his new Jedi order and the light side. Palpatine was good at turning what you loved against you and if he couldn't then he would kill it like he did with Padme.

  "Goodbye, father."

  The last thing Anakin heard was the hiss of the lightsaber.

  The next time Anakin opened his eyes, well, not his eyes per se but more like a force-made copy of his eyes. He was in an incomprehendable void. It was hard to comprehend nothing, yet, here he was surrounded by it. No air, no space, no existence. The colour wasn't black nor was it white, it was nothing. He also seemed to lack a body, rather a crude creation of his body made through the Force itself. Like a poorly done attempt at a Force ghost, his body pulsated blue, threatening to wink out of existence.

  "Really, didn't take your time creating this body did you?" Anakin telepathically spoke to the five beings that surrounded his force-created body. Anakin pushed with his mind, welding his body together giving it shape and creating a fully complete force ghost.

  The five beings wore all black with different emotive masks. One for serenity, one for joy, one for anger, one for confusion and one for sadness.

  "You failed again!" The one of anger hissed at him, getting uncomfortably close to his face.

  "Yeah, no shit." Anakin hissed back taking a step away from the omnipotent being. Though taking a step back in nothing was the same as not taking a step back at all. This place was confusing even to Anakin. Only 4th demsional creatures really could comprehend such a reality such as the strange shapes before him.

  The five shapes were The Force Priestesses, they were basically the connection between the Living Force and the Cosmic Force and were, much to Anakin's displeasure, the strongest things in the universe. Maybe even stronger than The Ones. Who was he kidding, of course, these bastards were.

  "I'd like to see your head get cut off with a lightsaber, let me tell you it's not as instantaneous as you think!"

  "You could have won that fight, at the very least survived it. Why did you lose intentionally?" It was the confused-faced one who spoke next.

  "They were my kids. Fuck you if you think I'm murdering my children. Besides, that loop was already screwed. Palpatine destroyed my new Jedi Order, and without some sort of army, it doesn't take long for him to take over the galaxy in one way or another."

  "You failed!" The anger one roared again. The force rippled with its voice. If it wasn't for the fact that Anakin could never be able to kill that one, he would have done it long long ago.

  "Failed?" Anakin scoffed. "I stopped the clone wars, I kept the Jedi alive and I prevented the rise of the Empire. Yet Palpatine had managed to survive as he usually does, or he must have come back as some sort of clone or just straight up didn't die despite having a thousand stab wounds." The dark side was stupid.

  "And yet you failed. You let Palpatine turn your children to the Darkside, turn them against you. Destroy you!" The angry priest hissed at him.

  "That's your failure. Why in your own fucking name create Palpatine! Why create a mortal who will ruin and destroy the galaxy? I thought you were everything living, all-powerful beings. You do something about him!"

  "You do not understand our powers nor our limits boy!"

  "I am no boy." Anakin argued back. To be called a boy when he was probably the oldest mortal known to exist was a joke.

  "You are the chosen one. You are the strongest mortal yet how many centuries have we wasted on you? Sidious is one Sith, yet consistently you fail to beat a frail old mortal, perhaps another being should take your gift."

  Anakin had to hold in his laugh. Palpatine wasn't some frail old man. In his many resets, Anakin had killed him quite a few times, but the bastard was like a cockroach. It wasn't that he was unable to kill Palps, but rather he couldn't keep him dead. He would come back. He would always come back EVERY. FUCKING. TIME.

  "Anger enough. The chosen one cannot be blamed for the shrewdness of the Sith. If that was true then our interference would not be necessary. We have observed your trials and while you have disappointed us many times you have shown the strength to aways return to us with time." It was serenity that spoke next, although, Anakin looked away, unable to meet their eyes in his embarrassment. In his infinite loops there were many times that he had fallen to the dark side, many times when giving up was the best option.

  "You are our chosen one. You are the only one capable of defeating Sidious." Anakin scoffed. He remembered when these all-powerful beings told him he had to defeat the Sith. For the last couple loops, though they had started referring to the Sith as Sidious. Maybe it was them being tired of waiting and lowering the bar for him, or maybe they had finally realised that Sidious was not like any Sith. He was the Sith.

  "We believe that with time, you will succeed, so time you should have. We shall send you back again. We hope this attempt will be better than the last."

  Of course they were. Another loop, another attempt. Maybe he would make a clone army of Yoda this time, it would piss off the frog enough to be entertaining. Or perhaps he could ride a giant space worm into battle, that had been close to fun. God... he really was running out of ideas. He was so tired. So very tired.

  He needed a break.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "Master Yoda. I am concerned about my Padawan."

  "Concerned about Anakin, you are? Hrmmm yes. Darkness the boy has inside him he has, time from his slavery. A byproduct I believe."

  Obi-Wan knelt before his great grandmaster. The master to the master of his master. The most powerful Lightside user was meditating in his chambers, breathing in the force as if it was air. Master Yoda truly was a Jedi like no other and while it was a popular debate within the padawans of whether Master Mace Windu or Master Yoda was stronger in combat, it was clear that the small green alien was far more connected to the force in ways Obi-Wan could only hope to understand one day.

  "No master. It is rather his lack of emotion that concerns me. When Anakin first came to the temple, he was so emotive, he was never taught to control his emotions."

  "The infirmary, busy it has been since his arrival." Obi-Wan's cheeks blushed at Yoda's words. He had tried to limit Anakin's… physical habits. Try to get him to show a bit more humility and less, destroy your opponents through any means necessary.

  "Exactly. But since a few weeks ago that boy who always tried to prove himself has vanished. My bond with the boy was still weak and forming, but one day it disappeared completely and utterly; ever since then, Anakin has refused training and hides in his quarters all day every day."

  "Many times avoid training Anakin has. Obedience the boy has not shown." Yoda did have a point. Getting Anakin to train was a feat within itself, getting to get the boy to visit the library was near impossible. Yet for Anakin to miss combat training was rare, the boy loved to show off. Demonstrate he was better than everyone else in an attempt to show he deserved to be here. It was a common fallacy of the Padawans.

  They were taught never to boast or let arrogance blind them but Padawans were a competitive bunch, he should know he was one up until recently. With hormones running wild and the constant pressure to impress their master, a little showboating was common among the padawans, especially when standing out was important to get picked by a Jedi as a youngling. It was often in good nature and with time it would fade once they realised that the bond between master and apprentice was not something that needed constant boasting, but Anakin was a different case. The boy relished in attention, and he loved it. Worse, he was good at it.

  "This is different, Master. Anakin has always been one to avoid the important work of the Jedi," Well anything that didn't require a lightsaber. "But this is different, I know my Padawan despite the little time we have shared, and he is different. He no longer cares about the attention of others, he no longer proves himself. He has changed, in an unnatural way."

  Yoda hummed, stroking his chin as if in thought.

  "If the boy has been tempted by the Darkside, explained his behaviour. Problem this could be." Obi-Wan felt panicked and immediately raised his arms, trying his best to stop Yoda from making the wrong assumption. If Anakin fell to the Darkside Obi-Wan was confident that the galaxy would perish. A Sith of his potential would be devastating, and as much Obi-Wan had been rewarded for killing a newly discovered Sith, he was not too keen on fighting another.

  "No, please master, you misunderstand my fears. He is different, but I do not believe he has fallen, far from it. When I met with him in his chambers... He was meditating." He was sleeping, but Obi-Wan felt that with Anakin's strange behaviour, it would be better to give him the benefit of the doubt. "And I could feel him, if the Darkside has touched him, he has hidden it well. Anakin felt like a storm before, in constant turmoil and ready to destroy anything in his path but now he feels like nothing. Like the force flows around him, similar to you."

  Yoda raised a brow at the comparison. The Grandmaster tried his best to be humble, and he of all people knew his faults, but rarely was anyone compared to him, for it was Yoda's humility that allowed him to admit he had very few equals in the force.

  "It's different, though." Obi-Wan continued. "While the force dances around you, it tiptoes around him..." Obi-Wan struggled to put his thoughts into words. While Yoda's presence was one of nurturing and kindness, Anakin's was one of apathy. It was The Force. Simple as that.

  "Concerning Anakin is. Special treatment or not should be given. Not a normal Jedi he is, bring him to me you shall."

  "Of course, Master."

  Anakin watched with mild interest as the group of younglings wore their large domes over their eyes, deflecting weak energy bolts with their practice lightsabers. Plo Koon was currently teaching the class as Yoda was busy having a conversation with Obi-Wan. They probably realised something was different about him as they always do at the start of these time loops. Obi-Wan was always so protective of him.

  There was a time when Anakin considered Obi-Wan his brother and master, but now he just couldn't; they were too different. Time had dulled Anakin's edge and sharpened his apathy. When fighting a space war with an opponent whose hobby was creating planet-destroying weapons, the big picture was all that mattered and unfortunately, Obi-Wan was never part of that big picture. He was almost always was destined to die in one way or another. Sometimes it was Maul, sometimes it was Palpatine and more than Anakin would like to admit, sometimes it was him. It had gotten to the point where Obi-Wan dying was one of the few certainties of that loop, and it was better just not to engage with the future Jedi master; it was just wasting time on a dead man.

  "Anakin, it is a pleasure to see you out of your room." Plo Koon mused. The Kel Dor walked over to Anakin, allowing the younglings to learn for themselves to deflect without using their eyes, a skill that would be meaningless in a couple of years as most knights were incapable of dealing with the deadly accuracy and, more importantly, the teamwork of the clones.

  "I suppose it was time to step out for a bit, Master. I could hear the whispers in the halls of rumours that I was practising Sith alchemy." The truth was much more mundane. He was sleeping. A lot, but to the children of the temple that was a far more boring story than the truth.

  "You'll have to forgive your peers. They worry for you and they show it in complicated ways." Anakin held in a laugh. The Jedi were kind and they did try their best to help the galaxy, but they were not accepting. Something that went against their strict doctrine was a potential Darkside threat. The Jedi would rather five good men die if it meant the death of one bad. They were just martyrs, but to Anakin it felt more like livestock.

  "Please do not waste your breath on excuses, Master. I know the opinions of my peers better than anyone. I have tried more than you will ever know to appease the Jedi and become one of them. The Jedi will protect someone out of duty, but they will not accept them out of kindness. These walls aren’t as thin as some people think, even I hear whispers of what the other newly accepted padawans say about me in my room. ‘He’s not normal, something is wrong with him’. They phrase it like they are concerned but they are not. They use the pretense of worry in order to gossip and spread hate."

  "You speak as if you are not Jedi yourself young Padawan, you weren’t raised in the order like your peers, but you still have plenty of time. With time, all will work out."

  Anakin couldn't help but laugh at his words. The unintentional pain that his words brought. With time, everything will be okay? What a joke. Anakin had more time than anyone, and all it had led to was his suffering.

  "With all due respect, Master, I am no Jedi." Such words would have been a risk to say, especially to a Jedi. If you were a Force user that didn't follow the Jedi, then you were a risk, a potential Sith. As if most of the strongest Sith didn't come from the order itself. Master Plo Koon was different, though, he was one of the few people Anakin still referred to as Master out of respect. This was what a Jedi should be. He didn't play with politics, he never saw any form of life as inferior even those born in a vat like the clones. He was a Jedi.

  "And yet in the recent weeks, when you aren't in your room, you are here. You visit the younglings a lot, Anakin, more than you have for quite some time. I believe Obi-Wan literally had to drag you through the halls by your braid to get you to observe their training. I know because I heard your screaming echo through the halls."

  Anakin's cheeks burned red with embarrassment. When he was younger, he believed he didn't have time to waste on children. He didn't remember that memory, but he has lost many memories in his long long life.

  "Yes. Well, I have come to realise the importance of raising the next generation. We will not always be here to protect the galaxy. I am aware of my power but I am also aware that sometimes allies can be stronger than any lightsabre form or technique."

  "Quite right. You are wise beyond your years."

  The two sat in silence for quite some time after that watching the younglings train. Truthfully, Anakin hated being here, seeing their small frames holding a lightsaber. It was disgusting. It brought back memories of children swinging their blades around in a weak attempt to stop Darth Vader from killing them. From him killing them. He still heard their screams, the way they begged. He deserved it though, he deserved everything.

  "You seem quite interested in one individual in particular." Plo Koon interrupted his thoughts. "Her name is Ashoka Tano if you are wondering. She is progressing quite fast, I believe she'll be one of the early graduates of the younglings."

  Anakin wasn't, he knew her name. He knew her favourite colour, her favourite food. He knew that she was prone to picking up bad habits from her mentors and he could probably point to the exact places her face wrinkled when she smiled. He knew the things she wouldn't even know in a few year's time.

  "Yes. She is different from the rest." Anakin didn't bother elaborating further.

  "Quite. I look quite forward to seeing her journey; she is destined for great things. A great Jedi no doubt."

  "She will be far more than that."

  "It's not uncommon for Jedi to watch the younglings train, to scope out future Padawans. Some Jedi frown upon it, viewing it as favouritism. I understand the sentiment, it might be wrong to scout future talent and take it for yourself but in my opinion, I think it a waste not to." Plo Koon looked over to Anakin. Did he think he was being sly? Anakin knew he was trying to push Ashoka towards him, strange as Anakin always thought Plo Koon wanted to be her master for himself. He always seemed like such a father figure yet in any loop, Anakin almost was guaranteed to teach Ashoka if he or Obi-Wan was nominated for her. Very rarely would the council give her to someone else though it did happen occasionally.

  Anakin still remembered the fury he unleashed upon the temple when the council gave Ahsoka to Krell in one particularly bad loop.

  "I am flattered, but I believe she will be better adjusted under a different Master, one such as yourself or Obi-Wan."

  "Master Kenobi already has an apprentice,e does he not?"

  "No, he does not."

  The two entered silence once again. It seemed that was going to be a recurring theme of the two with Plo Koon trying to make sure he doesn't say the wrong thing and Anakin more than happy not to engage in conversation.

  "You could be a great Jedi."

  "I know."

  "You could change the world."

  "Anyone can change the world."

  Anakin looked over to the Kel Dor. He looked to be deep in thought, musing on his next words.

  "You have grown wise, is there some secret holocron in that room you spend all day in?"

  "The only thing you will find in that room is some pictures of scantily dressed women under the mattress." That wasn't even a lie, young Anakin was not the perfect example of a Jedi. Still, Plo Koon only seemed to find his words amusing rather than perverted.

  "If you plan to leave, you should do it now. I sense Obi-Wan approaching. I can stall him, but you'll have to be quick."

  "You won't stop me?"

  "I follow the will of The Force, to allow someone so loved by it to be chained down would be a sin that I could never forgive. However, if you ever do wish to return the order will accept you. No matter what you might think."

  "Thank you, Master. But you are wrong, you love this place, and you love the friends you have found here. But it’s easy to miss all the red flags when you look upon something you love with rose-tinted glasses."

  "Master Yoda Anakin has fled the order and we have no clue where he is."

  "Hrmmmm find him we must. Too powerful he is to be left unchecked. Convince the boy to join the Jedi you shall, if not then at the very least protect the boy. Strong the boy is, an enemy we can't afford to have."

  "Of course, Master, I will track him right away." Obi-Wan stood up to leave the room but before he made it through the threshold of the door he quickly made a turn.

  "Oh, one more thing Master. A fire broke out recently in Ki-Adi-Mundi and Pong Krell's rooms. I don't want to suggest Anakin but… there was a rather crass letter left in both rooms explaining in rather specific detail of committing suicide through sodomy."

  "Sodomy I do not know of this?"

  "With all due respect, I would rather not explain it."