Anakin held still for the medics while they cleaned him up. Just like he'd thought, he'd been cut up bad, and since he'd been buried in meters of rubble they had to clean every individual cut thoroughly so the wounds would be clean and wouldn't get infected.

Beside him, Obi-Wan had already received his treatment and was getting his much needed rest. He'd been fortunate that nothing was broken, though from what Anakin had heard his arm had come rather close to being broken. The medical droid was still trying to figure out how Obi-Wan's arm wasn't at least fractured. He had a few bandages on here and there and he still looked a little dirty, but other than that he was perfectly fine.

Luke was a different story. Situated on Anakin's other side, Luke had been on oxygen since they'd put him in the medical capsule, and even now the medical staff kept it on him just to be safe. He had a nasty gash on his head that they'd wrapped up to staunch the bleeding, but it had bled through in the first few minutes and they'd had to change the bandage. His arm had been dislocated, and his wrist was either fractured, broken, or also dislocated, Anakin couldn't quite remember which. Luke's other arm had a cut running down it from being pressed against the jagged edge of the vent, and his back was gashed, skinned, and cut—all the way up from the hip to the shoulder blades—from the other edge of the vent. His legs were bruised—but not broken, thankfully—from the beating they'd taken in the vent on the way down and the rocks that had caved in on the vent or fell inside. He was also still unconscious.

Anakin had to divert his gaze from the man, as he was once again hit with a crippling guilt at the fact that Luke's condition was his fault. The medical droid finished cleaning Anakin up and backed away, taking the samples of all three of the Jedi's blood with them. "We will check these to make sure there are no infections."

Anakin simply nodded in response. He didn't exactly care, except in Luke's case; Luke needed to be checked for infections with how bad his luck seemed to have run so far. Anakin glanced over at the still-asleep Obi-Wan, and then guiltily returned his gaze to Luke. He swung out of his bed, finally unable to lie there any longer, and went over to Luke's side. "I'm sorry Luke...this is all my fault, I shouldn't have snapped. Now everyone's hurt because of me, and we got nothing out of it. Dooku escaped and now those files that might have been there are buried under meters of rubble, and they're all most likely destroyed, whether they were on paper or in a database."

He sighed and sat down in the chair next to Luke's bed, studying the man for the thousandth time. When Luke was resting like this he almost looked like the poster boy for young, undiluted innocence. It was only when he was awake that he had the presence of someone beyond their years who'd seen—or lost—too much. Whatever Luke knew of the future, and whatever he had been through, it had to have been tough, possibly even something that broke people normally. At that thought, Anakin felt a pang of sympathy for him before the guilt came back to the front of his mind for adding to Luke's apparently already heavy burdens.

One of the other medical droids came in and checked up on Luke. When it was finished, Anakin stopped it. "How is he?" he asked seriously, concern hardening his voice.

"He's stabilizing. He'll be fine, he just needs rest and time to heal," the droid informed him.

"Do you have any idea when he'll wake up?"

"Not for some time."

Anakin sighed. "Alright." He watched the droid leave and then turned his attention back to Luke. Through the Force Bond—he was still trying to figure out how it had developed, especially without him noticing—Anakin kept tabs on the young man as Anakin waited patiently for him to finally wake up.

********************************************************************************************

Sometime later, when Anakin had just been starting to doze off in the chair he'd pulled to Luke's bedside, the droid that had taken their blood samples reappeared.

"Oh dear me, it seems I might have accidentally mixed two of the blood samples. Yours, General Skywalker, and Mr. Luke's," the droid fretted, making its way back to Luke's bed.

Anakin frowned as it swabbed some of the blood off of Luke and approached him. "That can't be right: I watched you swab him; you took samples from all three of us and kept them all separate. My blood sample never came near Luke's sample."

The droid shook its head. "No, there must be some sort of mistake on my part. The samples had unusually similar DNA in them; a sign I probably mixed them by accident. I'm positive I made a mistake and mixed them at some point in time." With that the droid took the new sample from Anakin as well and took off once more to try the process again.

Anakin's frown deepened as he stared after the droid, but he was quickly distracted from thoughts of the blood samples by Luke. He'd felt a sudden strong feeling of unease through their developing Force Bond, and he turned to look at the young man once again. Luke stirred, his head tossing a little; it seemed he was having a bad dream. Luke mumbled out something in distress, but the oxygen mask made it impossible to understand. Glancing around, Anakin lifted the mask off of Luke's face just enough to make sense of what Luke was saying.

Luke tossed his head once more, eyes squeezed firmly shut as he murmured out, "Father..." clenching his robotic hand tightly in his sleep.

Anakin gently put the mask back on, his gaze upon the young man full of sympathy. He knew all too well how torturous nightmares could be.

Without any warning, Luke's eyelids slowly fluttered opened.

********************************************************************************************

Luke ached; he hurt all over and he was surrounded by thick darkness. However, it seemed this darkness was much different than the one that had been crushing him into oblivion earlier. He reached tentatively out into the black, trying to see if he could find his way out. The darkness miraculously cleared away so that he could see that he was in front of the Jedi Temple; before it had been destroyed, apparently. He stood tense and at the ready, lightsaber glowing green in his hands as he stood firm and unmoving at the entrance. It was nighttime on this side of Coruscant, and for some reason Luke stood waiting for...something. Eventually he could see an army of clones coming toward him, a lone figure leading the huge army. Ice flowed swiftly through his stomach as Luke finally realized what was happening.

The Jedi Purges...

The figure at the front reached him, activating their glowing blue lightsaber as Luke looked miserably back into the figure's blazing golden eyes. "Father..."

That was when the scene went pitch black and Luke started to feel himself come back to reality. He could feel that he was on a soft bed, which slightly eased the pain that lingered in his body. Still, he hurt all over, his head throbbed, and as he came to he could feel that there was an oxygen mask on his face.

Luke groaned softly, forcing his eyes open to the harsh light he knew would greet him after being in the dark for so long.

The first thing his eyes focused on was his father sitting next to his bed with a worried expression. As Luke's eyes opened, the worry gradually gave way to relief. "Luke," he sighed in relief. "You're awake."

Luke went to gingerly touch his throbbing head, but his father swiftly restrained that particular arm. "Don't move it; you dislocated the arm and did something to your wrist," he told Luke quietly.

"What happened?" Luke murmured through the mask that was covering most of his face.

"The clones came and dug up Obi-Wan and me, then we came and dug you out...we barely made it in time, too," Anakin told him softly.

Luke looked up and right into the eyes of his father, and for a fleeting moment he completely forgot about the future as Darth Vader that Anakin was headed on a crash-course toward. This man couldn't have possibly become the Sith that had destroyed so many lives; there had to be some sort of mistake at some point along the way. However, Luke's brief vision—his life, in face—shot down that idea as quickly as it had appeared. Something terrible had happened; Luke just wished he knew what that terrible thing was. Maybe if he could figure out what that terrible thing was, he would be able to help his father.

"How are you feeling?" his father asked him, pulling Luke out of his thoughts.

Luke chuckled a little, the oxygen mask causing the sound to come out sounding strange. Using his other hand, he gently pulled the oxygen mask off of his face; he didn't think he needed it anymore anyway. "I've been better, but I think I've been worse, too."

Anakin smiled a little in response. "Same." He sighed, looking down at his hands for a moment; when he finally spoke again, he kept his gaze down. "I want to apologize, Luke. It was my anger that caused the building to collapse; I'm the reason we all got trapped and why you're hurt and stuck in here...I'm sorry."

Luke shook his head. "It's fine...Anakin. Just...maybe in the future you should be a little more careful about your temper," Luke said lightly, trying to brighten the grim mood.

Anakin smirked a little. "You'd think I'd learn my lesson by now."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so this happens often?"

Anakin chuckled slightly. "Not this, specifically, though I've always had problems keeping my emotions in check."

Luke shrugged. "It's fine. So long as you always come back to your senses, you should be good."

"However, I do wish that I wouldn't keep making serious mistakes like this."

"Well, yeah, you might want to work on your temper in that case; still, no one is perfect."

Anakin nodded. "Well, I don't know how long you're going to be stuck recovering. The medical droid had to come back and get another blood sample from the two of us because they apparently mixed our samples at some point along the way."

Luke froze. They'd taken his blood? Not good. "Um...why'd they take the sample?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"To check for infections; why?" Anakin asked suspiciously. Luke shifted uncomfortably under his father's unrelenting, inquisitive gaze.

"Just wondering," Luke mumbled, averting his eyes. He felt the pang of suspicion from his father growing through their bond, but he didn't address it.

A medical droid entered the room moments later, and Anakin raised his eyebrows. It must have been the one that had taken his blood sample to be analyzed. The droid saw Luke was conscious and immediately approached him. "Oh, Mr. Luke, I see you're awake. Perhaps you could shed some light on this rather unfortunately confusing twist of events. Your blood showed us...well, it seems—"

"I know," Luke said, cutting the droid off before it could finish. Anakin gave him a curious, probing look, but Luke ignored him. "Just go ahead and run it, I'm perfectly aware of that small fact. Just test whatever you need to."

The droid nodded and left the room; Anakin kept his eyes trained on Luke. "What's all of that about?"

Luke sighed, staring up at the ceiling as he thought through what he would say. "Nothing that I think I can explain right now."

Anakin's eyes developed a stormy edge. "So we're back to this again, huh?"

Luke sighed again. "It's not exactly my choice; I can tell that the Force has a better time for these things to come to light; that's why I'm complying. If it was my choice I'd be telling you everything I'm holding back for when the Force wants you to know."

Anakin folded his arms over his chest and leaned back, thinking for a moment before he finally spoke again. "What happened to your father? While you were unconscious, you seemed rather...distressed, and you called out for him."

Luke looked over at Anakin, surprised. "I did?" he asked.

Anakin nodded. "Yeah...so what happened?"

Luke sighed, stretching out to the Force so that he could be in tune with what he could and couldn't say. "For most of my life I believed that he was dead. All I knew was my father and mother died when I was born, and that was why I lived with my aunt and uncle," Luke paused for a moment, trying to sense if it was safe for him to continue. "Later, Obi-Wan told me that my father had been a Jedi, and confirmed that he had in fact died, but..." Luke trailed off, subconsciously rubbing his mechanical hand.

Anakin, it seemed, was taking note of every movement he made and every word he said. "But...?" he prompted.

Luke teetered for a moment between whether or not to continue. Finally, he received a nudge from the Force on what to say. "But then I found out on Bespin that he had only died figuratively, because he became a Sith," he said softly.

Anakin's expression changed completely, and he suddenly felt guilty for causing Luke to revisit such unpleasant memories. "I'm sorry..." his eyes drew to Luke's mechanical hand, some of the pieces falling into place in his mind. "He was the one who took your hand on Bespin, wasn't he?"

Luke nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"What of your mother?" Anakin asked.

Luke sighed, unsure of how to go about this one. "She died when I was born," he said just as quietly as before.

Anakin seemed to realize that this continued conversation, although enlightening for him, was only going to bring up painful memories for Luke. He sighed, placing his hand carefully on Luke's shoulder. "Well, you should get some sleep, like the old man over there," he chuckled, pointing at Obi-Wan in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Luke snickered. "He won't be an old man till my time. My friend Han constantly called him a crazy old man."

Anakin laughed. "I'm sure he did." He sighed, looking down at Luke for another long moment before he let his hand drop away from Luke's shoulder and he returned to his own hospital bed. "It's going to be a while before they let us out; even me. They probably won't let me go until everything's been cleared and they're sure I don't even have even the slightest chill, since they rarely get me in here," he scoffed.

"That's surprising; I was under the impression that you found yourself in these types of situations quite frequently," Luke mused.

"Yes, that's true, but I very much dislike being in the medical wing. Not being able to do anything; uhg, it's maddening. I get too bored too fast here, so I avoid it if I can."

Luke chuckled. "I see, I see."

Anakin sighed, resting his head on the pillow. "Get some rest, Luke; you need it, and it will be the best thing you can do right now to pass the time."

Luke nodded. "Alright then, if you say so."

A comfortable silence fell between the two, and eventually, Luke slipped off into a deep sleep.

********************************************************************************************

Everything was pure white, and Luke found that there was no pain in this place that he'd found himself in. He breathed it all in like it was fresh, clean air, even if the pure white was a little sore on his eyes. He looked around, sensing he wasn't alone. He didn't see anyone...

"Luke Skywalker."

Luke jumped, spinning around to see a man slowly approaching him. The man wore the robes of a Jedi Master, had a simple beard, and brown hair that went slightly past his shoulders. He also had twinkling blue eyes and a mannerism about him that reminded Luke strangely of Obi-Wan.

"Who are you?" Luke asked him cautiously. "And how do you know who I am?"

"Peace, Luke, I am of no threat to you. My name is Qui-Gon Jinn. I was Obi-Wan's master when he was a Padawan Learner, and I am the man who freed your father from slavery when he was nine years old."

"My father was a slave?" Luke asked incredulously.

Qui-Gon nodded. "He and his mother both were. I freed him because I sensed he was strong with the Force, and I believed him to be the child of prophecy."

"Prophecy?" Luke asked, even more confused than he'd been to begin with.

"There was a prophecy of a being that would bring balance to the Force; I believed your father to be that Chosen One, and insisted that he be trained as a Jedi so he could fulfill his destiny. It seems I was correct, as he did destroy the Sith as his final act in your time."

Luke nodded slowly in understanding; at least, he understood the basics of what Qui-Gon was saying. "So, why have you come?"

Qui-Gon smiled, and it made his eyes twinkle jovially. "I've come to give you a message, and even a little direction."

Luke perked up, suddenly listening much closer to what the man had to say. "What is it?"

"The Force has brought you back in order to give your father a second chance. You can reach him at this time to keep him from falling to the dark side. The unconditional love you feel for your father ensures that you will not give up on him, as you did not in your time even after all of the terrible things he had done."

Luke wilted a little. "But I don't even know why he fell to the dark side. I've been around him a little while all ready, and despite his temper problems, I can't figure out what could have possibly changed. The man I've found...he's the complete opposite of everything Vader was," Luke told him.

Qui-Gon's smile gained a sad edge. "Your father's intentions in your time when he fell were pure, but his desperation was taken advantage of by Darth Sidious, who had a place in Anakin's life for a very long time. He worked slowly and patiently to confuse your father and distort the way he saw things, and when he was at his most vulnerable—at the end of his rope and truly desperate—Sidious pushed the right buttons and caused his fall, enticing him with the power to do what he was frantic to accomplish. I'm glad you didn't judge your father too harshly, Luke, because his story is not what many would think," Qui-Gon finished gently.

Luke nodded. "Could you tell me what it was that he was so desperate to change?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. "You will learn in time; sooner than you think, too. But you need to be prepared, Luke, because it won't be easy."

A thought struck Luke and he paused, looking curiously at Qui-Gon. "Wait...if you're from this timeline...then how do you know what happened to my father in my timeline?"

Qui-Gon smiled again. "The Force has shown me so that I will be able to help you whenever you need direction."

Luke nodded. "Okay then."

"I must leave you now, Luke, though I will be within reach if ever you need help. May the Force be with you," Qui-Gon said with a bow, and before Luke could respond he felt a wave of drowsiness rush over him and he fell back asleep, the vision rapidly disappearing.