Chapter Text
"Ani? Ani? Oh, you look so handsome. My son. Oh, my grown-up son. I'm so proud of you, Ani."
Anakin looked at his mother. Her beaten and frail body showing the signs of her capture at the hands of the Tuskens.
"I missed you, Mom."
The pair embraced for what felt both like seconds and years before looking at each other, a sense of regret filling the air. Shmi looked at her son, all grown up. He looked just how she dreamed he had, and she was so proud of her little boy.
"We don't have much time-"
Anakin's whole force signature was filled with desperation, as if he could reason with whatever cruel monster decided the fate of the universe.
"Don't say that. I'm here, I can take you home. I can save you!"
"Ani, I want you to believe me, it wasn't your fault, ok? Remember that for me, please Ani. You've already saved me. I'm with you again, that's my home."
She stroked her son's face, wiping away the tears in his eyes as he refused to take his eyes off of her.
"I love you Mom"
"And I love you, my little Anakin"
And with a final kiss on her son's forehead, Shmi Skywalker fell back and breathed her last.
Silence filled the hut
His visions had come true.
His mother was gone.
As Anakin held the body of the woman who had cared for him for the first ten years of his life, who had treated his injuries from when he didn't listen and tried using an old panel off a starfighter to go sledding on the sand dunes and crashed into a band of Jawas, and protected him from the horrors of Gardulla the Hutt's guards, something inside the future Jedi night cracked. Without realising it, he let his mental shields drop and poured his grief out into the Force around him.
As the Force watched its child begin to break apart, it knew it had to act fast or the entire galaxy would suffer. Their child needed a protector. One that had already walked this path and knew what must be done.
As he mourned, a dark presence was placed in Anakin's soul, hiding inside, as if it knew exactly where it could exist, ready to exact its plans at a moment's notice without drawing the attention of Skywalker, the Jedi Order or even Sidious.
Anakin let the darkness swallow him whole as he became a thundering storm in the force.