Lord Vader and Emperor Palpatine's army destroyed the Jedi temple before either of us were born!
[Was he completely insane? If it weren't for the lightsaber on his hip, and the substantial impression that surrounded him inside the Force - Rey would have very firmly said yes, he absolutely was. Untrained as she was there was no disputing the way he projected himself, and again she was reminded of Kylo, and the General. Given the circumstances she decided that similarity was more eerie and unsettling than anything else.
Her eyes went wide at the sudden rush of energy in his accusation that she was somehow lying to him and Rey shook her head as she took her own step backwards. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this, but as she scrambled through her mind for one, Rey continued to come up empty handed.]
What - year do you think it is?
[Insanity would likely be the easiest thing to rule out first, after all.]
[ His expression darkens, thoughts a troubled turmoil. He doesn't know of Lord Vader, but Emperor Palpatine is disturbing enough. It seems that he has all the power in the Senate as they'd been discussing... The Jedi temple destroyed? That couldn't be possible. His emotions are a bit less controlled, lashing out around him and cycling quickly.
DisbeliefAngerBetrayalSadnessANGERFearConfusion.
It's too much to bear, and it's something that he wants to refuse. This girl can't be right. She has to be wrong. Leading him further astray so he can't get back.
He turns that distrusting scowl back on her, his fingers flexing at his side, but doing little else. He's not going to hurt her, but that darkness that whispers like a song at the back of his mind curls just a bit more around him like a blanket of comfort. He closes his eyes, screwing them shut and forces himself to take a few calming, if shuddering breaths to regain his control. ]
[All it took was the tension of his fingers for Rey to go from unnerved to alarmed and she took another step backwards. Whoever he was, wherever he came from she had been foolish to think he was nice. There was a sense of darkness about him that reminded her far too much of being stalked through a forest by the most dangerous person she could think of.
The comparison made her stomach drop and she fought to keep her cool and not shift her staff to be held in both hands at the ready. Rey knew the lightsaber would easily dispatch the weapon in an outright fight, but she was fast, and that survivalist's mind of her's already working to map out a way to trip him and run if it came to it.
When he tells her the year Rey almost drops the staff entirely, looking at him with unmistakable shock on her face. Her tone as she speaks is quiet, obviously shaken by his assessment of when he thinks this is.]
[ Another phrase he doesn't know and the grip on his own reality is starting to crumble beneath his feet. His emotions are controlled for the moment, though agitation swims just below the surface. Anakin doesn't like this game she's playing with his head, sowing doubt in with disturbing ease. He searches his feelings, searches the Force he feels around her and can't sense any ill-will. He doesn't know how to believe her, doesn't know how he got to Tatooine in the first place.. How long he was gone doesn't make sense.
It wasn't like he'd woken from a blow to the head, though his body had an all-over ache that couldn't be explained. It still didn't make sense how he had no recollection of anything after talking with Palpatine.
He doesn't mean the waspish tone that comes out in impulse. ]
After the Battle of Yavin, when Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star.
[Rey's mind raced, there was something so sincere in his confusion that she almost believed he had come from decades prior to the current time. The idea was ridiculous, she knew it was preposterous, that there was no way that anyone could slip thirty odd years into the future.
But there was that lightsaber.
Her eyes had moved to it numerous times during this implausible exchange. She hadn't had the lightsaber in her satchel for a long time, but it had been so instantly familiar that she found it easy to memorize its heft and appearance, knowing it like she knew her staff in a fraction of the time.
He had her lightsaber on his hip, the same one she could still feel in her satchel resting against her opposite hip. Looking at it for too long almost made Rey's head hurt, as though two realities were rubbing against each other and causing friction.
The only explanation beyond him needing psychiatric care was too impossible and yet something about her weapon almost made her believe.]
[ There are a lot of words being said that make absolutely no sense to him and keep confusing the situation further. For every explanation his mind comes up with, another curveball is thrown his direction, upending his legs from under him. He kinds himself pacing, much like a Nexu in a cage, ready to lash out as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
He doesn't want to last out at her, precisely, but this lost feeling- one he's been struggling with so often lately- is only intensifying and it's hard to see the surface. It is a very long silence as he lets everything sink in before he speaks to her, even acknowledges her with that steely gaze once again. His expression has lost some of its fire, but there are nothing but questions he needs to ask.
The Battle of Yavin is one he doesn't know, the Death Star raises many more questions, but the one he desires to ask about the most, no. The one he has to ask about is his own name.
Skywalker.
He has no siblings, none by blood, so the Skywalker name would die with him. But.. Padme was pregnant. Anakin stops in his tracks and has to sit down, feeling lightheaded. ]
Luke.. Is he--
[ Dead? Here? Could he answer any of the questions that Anakin had? No, this is ridiculous. The whole situation is mad. He's simply losing his grip on reality. He scrubs at his scalp, fingers gripping his hair tightly, the sharp pain helping to give him focus. ]
[When the first question he asks is about Luke it's like the point was driven home all over again. Her eyes returned to the lightsaber, some of the stiffness leaving her posture as she turned this mad idea around in her mind again, forgetting momentarily that as unfathomable as it all seemed she was still potentially in some real danger. Now that she had made herself aware of the impression Anakin left in the Force Rey didn't know how to switch it off or stop it. The wisps and fleeting impressions of his feelings made her uneasy - Rey wasn't used to being aware of people like this and it was disconcerting to say the least.
She wished she knew how to make it go away. Rey pressed on, suddenly very nervous about what it was she was going to tell him.]
Luke Skywalker is the last Jedi, and he's been missing for a long time.
[She wasn't going to tell a stranger that she was on her way to see him - once this now major detour was resolved. Falling silent Rey watched him, her mouth setting into a thin line as she finally asked the question she knew was the most pressing.]
[ He has a son.. a grown-up son, if it's thirty-four years after hew blew up this Death Star. Where was Padme? Was she okay, or was she one with the life force? His heart aches thinking about either option. Anakin is overcome with a wave of agony that feels once again like the loss of his mother. All-encompassing and suffocating while he tries to come to grips with all of this. He doesn't know how he got here, what this means, or how this is even possible. Nothing makes sense!
He hates not knowing just as much as the implications of what this all means.
His emotions cloud his thoughts until he hears the girl speak again, and he raises his head, eyes wary and red-rimmed.
Last Jedi. Missing for a long time. Everything around him had changed, and he still doesn't know why. Anakin doesn't speak, doesn't trust himself to at the moment. He merely nods his head in response to her question. ]
[That wave of agony threatened to knock Rey off of her feet as she could not help but be open to it. His emotions almost had the same power his presence did within the Force and Rey had to take a few more steps backwards, fighting off the wave of queasiness that came along with it.
She stared slack-jawed at Anakin as he confirmed her wildest and most implausible suspicion about his identity, and from the look on Rey's face it's clear she actually believes him.]
Show me your lightsaber, please.
[It's the last thing she needs to be certain of before she can be certain of him. Her doubt had weakened but the situation was too implausible for it to disappear completely.
Rey didn't even want to think about what she was supposed to do if he really was Anakin Skywalker. How do you begin to solve a problem like that?]
Edited (leaving out words is fun) Date: 2020-03-24 02:03 pm (UTC)
[ Somehow, he manages to push back his feelings enough to control what he's projecting to the Force. His expression is still one of confusion and concern, but his emotions have reigned under some semblance of control again. He doesn't sense any ill-will in her, though he's reluctant to hand over his saber to a stranger. Still..he's curious enough to see where this will lead.
Unhooking the saber from his belt, he holds it out to her. ]
Don't make me regret it.
[ His words hold no real bite, just bone-deep weariness. Obi-Wan would know what to do in this situation- or at least pretend he did. ]
[Carefully - especially after the last, first time she touched this exact lightsaber - Rey lifted the weapon from Anakin's hand and set it down on the ancient-looking table beside them. Her expression was knit in a tight mixture of emotion, fear and a sense of wonder chief among them, while around her the Force seemed to hold its breath.
Rey's gaze flicked briefly to Anakin before she reached for her satchel and withdrew the version of the Skywalker saber that had called to her and saved her life not that long ago. Wordlessly she set it on the table beside his and took a step back, as though she were afraid of what would happen as the two versions of the same weapon were reunited.]
[ He gets up and edges closer to see what she's doing. It would be difficult to ignore the way the Force stills about them as if it, too, was waiting for something. Whatever Anakin was expecting, it wasn't that. His eyes widen at the sight of his own lightsaber pulled from her satchel, though a bit more battered and worn than the one he had just given her.
It's.. bewildering, but it puts everything into place. He takes the older saber in his hand with the intent to study it- perhaps relearn the worn metal, which isn't at all what happens.
Immediately, a barrage of images assaults him from all sides. Never enough to get full context, more akin to holograms on a datapad- limited in their ability to explain. He sees..so much death and destruction, there's not nearly enough time to see it all, but it feels like he's been forced to watch for hours.
Anakin drops the saber with a yelp, stumbling back and grabbing the sides of his head as he screws his eyes shut tightly. When he has the ability to open his eyes without wanting to vomit, his expression his haunted and panicked. ]
[His reaction to touching the lightsaber should have been more surprising to Rey, but it wasn't, and instead she could only look on with wide eyes as Anakin seemed to experience a similar rush of thought and memory she had after finding the weapon back on Takodana.
Rey jumped as the durasteel of the saber's hilt made a hard clattering sound against the surface of the table and drew a breath watching as Anakin appeared to grapple with whatever it was the Force had chosen to show him.
Looking on in concern her eyes met his once he was able to open them again, and she nodded almost sympathetically.]
Are you alright? That happened to me when I found it too. I still don't know what to think, or to believe.
[ He wants to nod and say that he's fine, but the urge dies down as flashes of what he saw dance in his head. There was.. so much death and destruction and he had been responsible. Everything had gotten better after watching the Death Star blow up, only for it to go pear-shaped afterward.
Anakin shakes his head, taking a few leveling breaths. In and out. Focus. ]
It was.. A lot.
[ An understatement, but upon thinking what he's feeling, less confused is one of them. It's an improvement, really. ]
[When she had traveled into the past with the lightsaber it had been someone else's experiences that it showed her. Anakin was a part of this, a massive part of it, and she she was a spectator - however shocked and terrified she might have been as it happened.
Staying quiet as he collected himself she felt oddly more at ease with the situation than she had been, despite the person Anakin Skywalker was meant to become. The idea that she would be standing in a hut while one of the most legendary figures of recent galactic history pulled himself back together was unthinkable.
Less than a fortnight ago she had been plucking the corpse of an Imperial destroyer, and now she was here, with Anakin Skywalker and an ever growing amount of questions.]
It is a lot. [Not like it was for him, but it was a lot.]
I'm Rey, I'm probably not the best person to give you all this news.
[ He pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to help abate the pulsing behind his eyes. His mind rearranges the images that he sees. Events that continue to replay as if he needs more guilt burdened upon his shoulders.
Anakin needs to sit down. He reaches his hand to feel for the wall so he can ease himself down to the floor. He can't even begin to think about where he's going to go from here or how all of that is going to happen. ]
I don't think you're any less equipped than someone else would be..
I guess you'll have to travel with me for now. I don't think I can leave you out here.
[ The Force had flung one of the greatest legends into her path, and while Rey was beyond a little freaked out about the whole thing, she knew she couldn't exactly leave Anakin here on Tatooine. ]
We might have to figure out something to tell Chewie about you before we go, I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to know who you are, at least not until we figure out to do.
[ For whatever reason Rey felt that it was right to help him, even if it meant getting sidetracked from the course she had been put on by General Organa. Rey didn't want to think of what Leia would say about the situation she found herself in. ]
[ He whips his head up to give her a sharp look- one that suggests she wasn't going to just leave him there in the first place. There was no way he was going to be imprisoned on Tatooine again. ]
If you thought for a second you were leaving me here, you're out of your kriffing mind.
[ Anakin doesn't want to think about what would have happened if she'd never shown up. He would have figured something out, but it likely wouldn't have ended well given the new galactic climate. He frowns, not sure who Chewie is, but it makes sense that she didn't come here alone. Smart. Whoever that is, they'll probably be concerned before too long. ]
..No, I don't think that's a good idea, either. The fewer people that know of my existence, the better.
[ This is so much more than Rey signed up for - all of it went far above and beyond anything she could have imagined while stuck on Jakku. Still, as ridiculous as it all might have seemed she meant what she said to Anankin. She wasn't leaving him behind and come what may, he'd travel with her for a time, until he wished otherwise. ]
We'll figure out what to say to Chewie, and you'll come back with me. The Force had to have had a reason to bring us together like this.
[ It's not so much a choice for either of them as it is the will of the Force. If they were to ignore it, it's possible it would get worse- and Anakin really didn't want to see what worse would look like. He also didn't want to be left alone, particularly on Tatooine. ]
Just a stranded scavver looking for a ride to wherever you're going. If you've got anything onboard that needs fixing, I could see what I can do. Since you're being so generous.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2020-03-23 02:15 am (UTC)[Was he completely insane? If it weren't for the lightsaber on his hip, and the substantial impression that surrounded him inside the Force - Rey would have very firmly said yes, he absolutely was. Untrained as she was there was no disputing the way he projected himself, and again she was reminded of Kylo, and the General. Given the circumstances she decided that similarity was more eerie and unsettling than anything else.
Her eyes went wide at the sudden rush of energy in his accusation that she was somehow lying to him and Rey shook her head as she took her own step backwards. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this, but as she scrambled through her mind for one, Rey continued to come up empty handed.]
What - year do you think it is?
[Insanity would likely be the easiest thing to rule out first, after all.]
no subject
Date: 2020-03-23 02:28 am (UTC)DisbeliefAngerBetrayalSadnessANGERFearConfusion.
It's too much to bear, and it's something that he wants to refuse. This girl can't be right. She has to be wrong. Leading him further astray so he can't get back.
He turns that distrusting scowl back on her, his fingers flexing at his side, but doing little else. He's not going to hurt her, but that darkness that whispers like a song at the back of his mind curls just a bit more around him like a blanket of comfort. He closes his eyes, screwing them shut and forces himself to take a few calming, if shuddering breaths to regain his control. ]
7958..
no subject
Date: 2020-03-23 02:50 am (UTC)The comparison made her stomach drop and she fought to keep her cool and not shift her staff to be held in both hands at the ready. Rey knew the lightsaber would easily dispatch the weapon in an outright fight, but she was fast, and that survivalist's mind of her's already working to map out a way to trip him and run if it came to it.
When he tells her the year Rey almost drops the staff entirely, looking at him with unmistakable shock on her face. Her tone as she speaks is quiet, obviously shaken by his assessment of when he thinks this is.]
It's 34 ABY…
no subject
Date: 2020-03-23 02:57 am (UTC)It wasn't like he'd woken from a blow to the head, though his body had an all-over ache that couldn't be explained. It still didn't make sense how he had no recollection of anything after talking with Palpatine.
He doesn't mean the waspish tone that comes out in impulse. ]
I don't know what that is!
hi i brought a hammer
Date: 2020-03-23 03:25 am (UTC)[Rey's mind raced, there was something so sincere in his confusion that she almost believed he had come from decades prior to the current time. The idea was ridiculous, she knew it was preposterous, that there was no way that anyone could slip thirty odd years into the future.
But there was that lightsaber.
Her eyes had moved to it numerous times during this implausible exchange. She hadn't had the lightsaber in her satchel for a long time, but it had been so instantly familiar that she found it easy to memorize its heft and appearance, knowing it like she knew her staff in a fraction of the time.
He had her lightsaber on his hip, the same one she could still feel in her satchel resting against her opposite hip. Looking at it for too long almost made Rey's head hurt, as though two realities were rubbing against each other and causing friction.
The only explanation beyond him needing psychiatric care was too impossible and yet something about her weapon almost made her believe.]
no subject
Date: 2020-03-23 03:53 am (UTC)He doesn't want to last out at her, precisely, but this lost feeling- one he's been struggling with so often lately- is only intensifying and it's hard to see the surface. It is a very long silence as he lets everything sink in before he speaks to her, even acknowledges her with that steely gaze once again. His expression has lost some of its fire, but there are nothing but questions he needs to ask.
The Battle of Yavin is one he doesn't know, the Death Star raises many more questions, but the one he desires to ask about the most, no. The one he has to ask about is his own name.
Skywalker.
He has no siblings, none by blood, so the Skywalker name would die with him. But.. Padme was pregnant. Anakin stops in his tracks and has to sit down, feeling lightheaded. ]
Luke.. Is he--
[ Dead? Here? Could he answer any of the questions that Anakin had? No, this is ridiculous. The whole situation is mad. He's simply losing his grip on reality. He scrubs at his scalp, fingers gripping his hair tightly, the sharp pain helping to give him focus. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-03-23 04:44 am (UTC)She wished she knew how to make it go away. Rey pressed on, suddenly very nervous about what it was she was going to tell him.]
Luke Skywalker is the last Jedi, and he's been missing for a long time.
[She wasn't going to tell a stranger that she was on her way to see him - once this now major detour was resolved. Falling silent Rey watched him, her mouth setting into a thin line as she finally asked the question she knew was the most pressing.]
Are you - Anakin Skywalker?
no subject
Date: 2020-03-23 04:56 pm (UTC)He hates not knowing just as much as the implications of what this all means.
His emotions cloud his thoughts until he hears the girl speak again, and he raises his head, eyes wary and red-rimmed.
Last Jedi. Missing for a long time. Everything around him had changed, and he still doesn't know why. Anakin doesn't speak, doesn't trust himself to at the moment. He merely nods his head in response to her question. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-03-24 04:06 am (UTC)She stared slack-jawed at Anakin as he confirmed her wildest and most implausible suspicion about his identity, and from the look on Rey's face it's clear she actually believes him.]
Show me your lightsaber, please.
[It's the last thing she needs to be certain of before she can be certain of him. Her doubt had weakened but the situation was too implausible for it to disappear completely.
Rey didn't even want to think about what she was supposed to do if he really was Anakin Skywalker. How do you begin to solve a problem like that?]
no subject
Date: 2020-03-30 03:58 pm (UTC)Unhooking the saber from his belt, he holds it out to her. ]
Don't make me regret it.
[ His words hold no real bite, just bone-deep weariness. Obi-Wan would know what to do in this situation- or at least pretend he did. ]
can i say if this were a movie the music totally kicks in right now
Date: 2020-04-01 03:23 am (UTC)Rey's gaze flicked briefly to Anakin before she reached for her satchel and withdrew the version of the Skywalker saber that had called to her and saved her life not that long ago. Wordlessly she set it on the table beside his and took a step back, as though she were afraid of what would happen as the two versions of the same weapon were reunited.]
I believe you.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-01 04:24 am (UTC)It's.. bewildering, but it puts everything into place. He takes the older saber in his hand with the intent to study it- perhaps relearn the worn metal, which isn't at all what happens.
Immediately, a barrage of images assaults him from all sides. Never enough to get full context, more akin to holograms on a datapad- limited in their ability to explain. He sees..so much death and destruction, there's not nearly enough time to see it all, but it feels like he's been forced to watch for hours.
Anakin drops the saber with a yelp, stumbling back and grabbing the sides of his head as he screws his eyes shut tightly. When he has the ability to open his eyes without wanting to vomit, his expression his haunted and panicked. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-04-02 09:16 pm (UTC)Rey jumped as the durasteel of the saber's hilt made a hard clattering sound against the surface of the table and drew a breath watching as Anakin appeared to grapple with whatever it was the Force had chosen to show him.
Looking on in concern her eyes met his once he was able to open them again, and she nodded almost sympathetically.]
Are you alright? That happened to me when I found it too. I still don't know what to think, or to believe.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-03 12:46 am (UTC)Anakin shakes his head, taking a few leveling breaths. In and out. Focus. ]
It was.. A lot.
[ An understatement, but upon thinking what he's feeling, less confused is one of them. It's an improvement, really. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-04-03 03:36 am (UTC)Staying quiet as he collected himself she felt oddly more at ease with the situation than she had been, despite the person Anakin Skywalker was meant to become. The idea that she would be standing in a hut while one of the most legendary figures of recent galactic history pulled himself back together was unthinkable.
Less than a fortnight ago she had been plucking the corpse of an Imperial destroyer, and now she was here, with Anakin Skywalker and an ever growing amount of questions.]
It is a lot. [Not like it was for him, but it was a lot.]
I'm Rey, I'm probably not the best person to give you all this news.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-04 02:52 am (UTC)Anakin needs to sit down. He reaches his hand to feel for the wall so he can ease himself down to the floor. He can't even begin to think about where he's going to go from here or how all of that is going to happen. ]
I don't think you're any less equipped than someone else would be..
[ Force, he has a headache. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-04-05 03:20 am (UTC)[ The Force had flung one of the greatest legends into her path, and while Rey was beyond a little freaked out about the whole thing, she knew she couldn't exactly leave Anakin here on Tatooine. ]
We might have to figure out something to tell Chewie about you before we go, I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to know who you are, at least not until we figure out to do.
[ For whatever reason Rey felt that it was right to help him, even if it meant getting sidetracked from the course she had been put on by General Organa. Rey didn't want to think of what Leia would say about the situation she found herself in. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-04-05 03:43 am (UTC)If you thought for a second you were leaving me here, you're out of your kriffing mind.
[ Anakin doesn't want to think about what would have happened if she'd never shown up. He would have figured something out, but it likely wouldn't have ended well given the new galactic climate. He frowns, not sure who Chewie is, but it makes sense that she didn't come here alone. Smart. Whoever that is, they'll probably be concerned before too long. ]
..No, I don't think that's a good idea, either. The fewer people that know of my existence, the better.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-06 09:11 pm (UTC)[ This is so much more than Rey signed up for - all of it went far above and beyond anything she could have imagined while stuck on Jakku. Still, as ridiculous as it all might have seemed she meant what she said to Anankin. She wasn't leaving him behind and come what may, he'd travel with her for a time, until he wished otherwise. ]
We'll figure out what to say to Chewie, and you'll come back with me. The Force had to have had a reason to bring us together like this.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-14 09:57 pm (UTC)Just a stranded scavver looking for a ride to wherever you're going. If you've got anything onboard that needs fixing, I could see what I can do. Since you're being so generous.