Chapter 47

Vader walked among the various copies of them all. Most were identical, but there were several that stuck out for one reason or another.

An Anakin riding on an Obi-Wan's back, a makeshift splint tied to his leg.

A Qui-Gon with part of his robe ripped off, the cloth tied around a wounded arm like a sling.

A version of Obi-Wan and the Dark Woman sitting on a rock, the latter placing a comforting hand on the knight's shoulder, who looked deeply shaken by something.

A Vader with a missing hand, and an Anakin tinkering with the severed cybernetic.

One iteration of himself was even holding up a Dark Woman, her arm over his shoulder, both clearly having been in a fight…almost undoubtedly with each other.

The theory had been right though; there were sixteen of each in total. But that was still Fifteen too many.

"So?" an Anakin questioned, looking between several groups. "What now?"

That was the question, wasn't it? Was this permanent? Could they somehow recombine? Could they even survive as separate entities if they couldn't?

Vader's instincts told him otherwise. They weren't clones in the known sense. Clones were different people with the same genetic make-up. However, each of these copies was all the actual same people, replicated entirely over a dozen times. Even more, the Force regarded each iteration as all being the same life form. Their connection to the Force was divided between them all, which wasn't supposed to be possible.

But neither was time travel, he privately mused.

"Well, let's try the obvious idea first," Obi-Wan said, walking over to another Obi-Wan and poking him in the cheek.

"What are you doing?" a Dark Woman questioned incredulously.

The Obi-Wan being poked sighed in disappointment and pushed the finger away. "Seeing if two copies touching each other will cause some sort of reverse mitosis. Sadly not."

"I'd mock you," an Anakin said. "But this feels like the situation where the one thing you don't try is the thing that works."

"Perhaps some meditation will offer some insight," a Qui-Gon said as he took a seat and crossed his legs.

"I might have a point," another agreed with a chuckle.

"Indeed I might," a third added in kind.

"He's enjoying this far too much," an Obi-Wan whispered to a Vader, who silently agreed.

Every iteration of everyone in hearing range nodded in agreement, while each and every Qui-Gon took a meditative position. The rest continued to ponder and discuss a potential solution to their problem.

Until...

"Where did Qui-Gon go?" a Dark Woman asked, drawing their attention to where one had been.

"This one is gone too!"

"Ours as well."

"They are all gone," Vader summarized bluntly, looking around the area to see they now lacked any copies of the Jedi Master.

"No, ugh, all of me is right here," Qui-Gon answered, standing up from the tree he- or one of himselves at least- had sat under, gripping his head with a pained look.

"Master!" several Anakins exclaimed in relief, alarm, and confusion.

"Are you alright?" Most Obi-Wans questioned in concern.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just-" He paused, blinking away the sensation in his head. "Just dealing with sixteen versions of memories."

"You remember everything?" three Vaders asked in sync.

"I remember every interesting conversation I had with each of you, and being held at lightsaber point by everyone at least once...and also holding Obi-Wan at lightsaber point once," he recalled, turning apologetic by the end.

"No problems, Master. I ended up holding Anakin at saber point after that," an Obi-Wan comforted.

"What happens in the forest, stays in the forest," four Anakin said sagely.

"Never repeat that phrase, Skywalker," several Vaders cautioned dryly.

"Huh? Why?" almost every Anakin asked curiously.

"We're getting off-topic," two Dark Women redirected with a frown. "Qui-Gon, how did you recombine with yourself?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted with a frown. "I just sat down and meditated. I looked to the Force for answers and, well-"

"It answered," several of everyone finished in thought.

"So, we just have to meditate?" an Anakin suggested while looking to another of himself.

"Worth a shot," another said with a shrug.

With no better course of action, the sixty-four entities all sat down and began to meditate. But as the area grew quiet and still, it quickly became obvious that nothing was happening.

Every Obi-Wan sighed, placing their chin in their hands as they began to observe everyone else.

And just like that, sixteen Obi-Wans abruptly became a single Jedi again.

"...The Sithpits just happened?" Obi-Wan said, sitting frozen in surprise while drawing all attention to him.

"Congrats, you're officially Obi-One again," several Anakins said playfully.

"How did you manage that, Kenobi?" three Vaders questioned with a frown. "I was under the assumption you had given up."

"I did!" Obi-wan exclaimed. "I stopped meditating. So why did it...?"

"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon spoke up with an interested tone. "Why, exactly, did you stop meditating?"

"Because it wasn't working? I decided that one of the others would figure it out before me, so I thought I'd watch for any tell or clue," Obi-Wan explained in bewilderment.

"And that was why all of you, every iteration stopped meditating at the same time?" a Vader summarized pointedly.

"...Oh," Obi-Wan realized in understanding. "It's not just about doing something at the same time; every copy has to be in the same mindset with the same goal and conclusion."

"Well, I know why we'll have problems with that," several Anakins said in resignation. "Or will we...?"

A Vader looked at a Dark Woman. "Your collective indecision on if you should attempt to end me here will trap you in this state," he warned bluntly.

Various noises and looks of discontentment came from the Dark Woman iterations.

"What is your issue with Vader, exactly?" an Anakin asked to one copy of her.

"He's a Sith Lord with a growing army and influences over the galaxy, fooling many that his intentions are nobler than they are," six of the Dark Woman answered.

"That's not all of it though," Obi-Wan said, glancing at Vader knowingly. "Something happened between now and five years ago."

No copy of Vader said anything, watching the Dark Woman.

There was a scowl on the faces of the Dark Woman. Some looked angrier, others sadder, but none of them looked happy.

One of them spoke.

"I had other allies once."

And then another.

"Jedi who believed as I do."

And so on.

"That Vader needs to be stopped."

"That we could not just wait for him to make another move."

"We tracked his movement for nearly a year."

"We knew he was gathering and hiding his followers."

"But we could not find tangible proof, of his army or his hidden deeds."

"And some of us grew impatient."

There was a pause over the group, the Anakins looking between the Vaders and the Dark Womans. An uneasy look settled on the Padawan's face. "They're dead now, aren't they?"

Obi-Wan glanced at a few Vaders. "Did you...?"

"I did not slay her comrades," A Vader stated firmly, looking towards a Dark Woman. "I didn't need to."

Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow as many iterations of the Dark Woman slouched.

"We tracked him to a system in the outer rim."

"We thought we located one of his bases."

"Or...a place to ambush him."

"But it was neither."

"The trap was for us."

"And he led us right into it."

"I was the only survivor."

All of the Dark Womans look to Vader. Some were glaring, others had looks of regret, and more just refused to show anything.

One, however, stood up and walked in front of one specific Vader, crouching down to look into his lenses.

Several noted and recalled that this Darth Vader had been holding up this specific Dark Woman when they arrived. The hostility, the tension between these two was far less than any of the others, for reasons only they could know.

"It wasn't a trap at all, was it?" she asked in solemn acceptance.

Several of the Dark Womans started, tensing, struggling to accept that possibility.

"I was as blindsided as you were," Vader answered bluntly. "What attacked you, attacked me as well."

It went without saying that Vader survived it far more easily than the Dark Woman did.

This Dark Woman stared at him for a long moment before sighing. "I still believe you're a threat. I still believe, if you are not stopped, you will bring death and suffering to the galaxy," she said quietly. "But I accept that the death and suffering my comrades found was not by your hands."

With that, she rose.

And just like that, there was only one Dark Woman.

"Okay, I'm...a bit lost, how did you pull yourself together?" Obi-Wan asked curiously.

The Dark Woman almost smiled…almost. "I decided that, today at least, I will not try to end Vader's life."

"Well, I suppose that's more than one kind of progress," Qui-Gon remarked idly, a bit relieved by that nonetheless. He didn't fear for Vader but despite not agreeing with her, he had no desire to see the Dark Woman fall to a crimson lightsaber.

"I suppose it's just us now," a few Anakins said to their Vaders.

Most of the Vaders tilted their helms down towards the Padawans, giving the distinct impression of annoyance. "One of us, Skywalker. You have been avoiding reuniting with yourselves."

"Wait, he has?" Obi-Wan asked in bewilderment.

"Anakin?" Qui-Gon asked, scolding yet confused.

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure everyone else got back together okay!" several Anakins said in their own collective defense.

The Dark Woman raised an eyebrow. "How are you...preventing yourselves from merging?"

"Oh, one of us is just daydreaming and thinking about what to tell the others when we get back to the temple," one Anakin supplied, jabbing a thumb at another. "Everyone is trying to think about anything else.

Said Anakin waved. "Well, I suppose we should stop. Okay, everyone, all at once: think about Pod-Racing!"

Obi-Wan facepalmed and Qui-Gon just shook his head in amusement as Anakin suddenly turned into one- and promptly collapsed on his back. "Anakin? You alright?" Qui-Gon asked, mildly concerned, but not terribly after his own bout of headaches caused by absorbing too many memories.

"Yeah. Yeah. Just, wow! I think between all of you, I got four months' worth of life lessons in one day," Anakin said, rubbing his eyes as he climbed back to his feet. "I will take Dark Side induced visions over this any day, thank you."

"...You would?" several Vaders asked, a tinge of skepticism to his voice.

"I can ignore those. I can't ignore my actual memories," Anakin muttered.

"That skill comes with age," the Dark Woman said, and none were sure if she was entirely joking.

All of the Vaders stood without warning or word, each and every one of them swept their gaze over all of the other iterations.

"Vader?" Obi-Wan asked curiously. "Everything alright?"

Vader said nothing, none of him did. They simply stood there as the tension grew.

"Apologies, Jedi," One Vader said, all others remaining silent. "I am not sure I can resist this opportunity."

The Dark Woman suddenly tensed while Anakin furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? What opportunity?"

Each and every Vader drew their lightsaber, unignited but held at the ready. Shock, horror even came to the face of the Jedi as each and every Vader ignited their lightsaber, every iteration stepping forth...

And towards another Vader, the iterations all ready to do battle with one another.

"Vader, wait, don't!" Anakin called out in alarm.

Before any blades could cross, Vader found he had no enemies to face. His iterations vanished, for they were all one.

The Jedi relaxed, and Obi-Wan sighed in relief. "Did you know that would happen?" Qui-Gon questioned in bewilderment.

"Either it would, or I had the chance to kill myself without consequence," Vader answered, and the Jedi swore he sounded almost disappointed in which outcome he had received.

"You don't know that!" Anakin yelled in disbelief, and to the adults, it nearly sounded like he was trying to scold the Sith Lord. "You couldn't have known that! For all you knew, you might have killed off an actual part of yourself! Emotions, memories, skills!"

"Unlikely. Every iteration had the same memories and abilities. Only our connection to the force was divided," Vader reasoned, turning to the temple. "...If there are answers to whatever transpired, it will be in there."

The Dark Woman was the first to step forth. "I believe it is in the galaxy's best interest if we don't leave this mystery unsolved, if we can," she agreed, heading up the steps.

Qui-Gon nodded as he went after her with a hum. Obi-Wan gave Vader a strange, almost concerned look before heading up the stairs.

Anakin just sighed. "I'm the Padawan. Why am I the one that has to tell the Sith Lord to not be reckless?" he asked Vader, heading off before he could even try to respond.

Vader paid them all little mind, marching up to the temple as well.

The group reached the entrance and felt...something. It wasn't Dark, Light, or anything else. It just...was.

Vader entered first.

Inside the temple was something more akin to an ancient city. Vacant, but it was obvious it was once a place housing hundreds of people, with a wide open space deep within.

Vader frowned as he looked around the empty complex. This wasn't right. This was where the Heinsnake Cult was meant to be. There should have been hundreds of people, mutated and disfigured, deranged and violent, young and old. The cultists should be here, but they weren't.

By that same token, neither were the drawings on the wall. He lay a hand of the stone that he vividly remembered once bearing a carving of his likeness, showing him leading the Heinsnake cult to bring chaos to the galaxy. A prophecy that had either been false or he otherwise defied.

But the prophetic paintings were gone, scorched from the wall as if blown away by a wave of heat and ash.

Something had happened here.

Vader looked down the middle of the complex. The open space should have been illuminated by a bright beam, coming from the Basis: the weapon the cult had used to destroy star destroyers in his original timeline. The Basis was the only thing on this world that could have destroyed a Star Destroyer in this timeline.

But the Basis was gone.

Had someone taken it? That was concerning. The crystal that powered the weapon had done wonders for the research that went into the Death Star's planet-destroying laser. But when he had taken it in the past timeline, the chain reaction had destroyed the entire moon.

"You weren't expecting it to be empty, were you?" Qui-Gon asked as he approached the Sith Lord, overlooking the ruined, internal city.

"This place was once filled with madmen obsessed with chaos," Vader remarked. "An entire society. Women and children. Yet, they are all gone."

Vader had experience with wiping out populations. It was never this clean. He couldn't find any blood splatter, no signs of fighting or struggling. More, such an atrocity should have left a lingering feeling in the Force. But neither Jedi nor Sith felt anything of the sort.

At least, not in the Force.

Everyone stopped their exploring as they felt a soft rumbling in the ground.

"The moon is more unstable than I expected," Vader admitted grimly. "We should not linger here."

"We still don't have answers," The Dark Woman said, standing on a level higher than them, looking down with a frown.

"I don't think there are any here," Obi-Wan said with a troubled look. "But...people were living here. There are bowls and tools. It's like the people just...vanished."

"Could the thing that destroyed your big ship have backfired on them?" Anakin asked, picking up something. It was axe-like, but small. Most likely a tool or a toy at some point.

Some notion was clawing at the edge of Vader's mind now. That was exactly what happened in a way, in the original timeline. But that had been more devastating than just wiping out the lifeforms. It had been planetary destruction. Or rather, lunar destruction.

Despite his own advice, he headed deeper into the temple. The Jedi followed him, sensing the purpose in his stride.

Vade brought them to a lower level, a large circular room with a large hole in the middle, both in the ceiling and the floor.

"I feel...something," Anakin said curiously. "Like the Force is heavy and...confused? I don't think I've ever felt the Force be confused before."

"I'm sure some would tell you that the Force can't be confused," Qui-Gon remarked as he came to the edge of the ring, glancing down it. "But there are exceptions to everything."

Vader didn't hear him, staring intently at nothing. In his mind, he was here nearly two decades ago, standing amongst the priests and followers of the Heinsnake Cult.

They welcomed him, worshipped him even, and wanted him to lead them to reign eternal chaos in the galaxy. He destroyed them, of course, in the name of the Emperor. By plucking a crystal out from the depth of that hole and-

He stopped and felt something in his hand. Something that hadn't been there, something that couldn't be there. But it was. And he didn't even need to look to see what it was.

The ground grumbled again.

"There is nothing for us here. We should leave," Vader informed, turning towards the exit without another word.

"Wait," Anakin said while staring upwards, slowly looking toward Vader. "What did you just do?"

Vader paused, glancing at the Padawan with intrigue.

"The Force," Anakin answered with a frown. "It feels...almost normal again."

The older Jedi furrowed their brows and realized that Anakin was right. The strangeness clouding the Force was lifting, fading so subtly they hadn't noticed the change at first.

With his back to them, Vader subtly looked at his hand, seeing the crystal in his hand. An object used to help focus and direct the Basis into a laser that could rip through capital ships. It had not been in his hands, and then it was.

A crack formed in the ceiling overhead.

And the Force sang to them of warning and danger.

"Go," Vader ordered sternly.

As one, the Jedi all made a mutual decision to leave this temple and this moon with all haste.

"Vader!" Obi-Wan called as the Sith fell behind.

"Go!" Vader ordered again, balling his fist with such strain, the cybernetics might damage themselves.

With no other choice, the Jedi raced through the temple city, even as part of its ceiling began to crumble. Most debris was easy to avoid…most.

"Anakin!" Qui-Gon yelled, using the Force to pull his Padawan ahead of a rather large rock that might have split his skull.

The entrance hall began to collapse just before they reached it.

It might have too, if Vader was not already there, holding it up.

"How did you get here before us!?" Anakin asked in shock.

"He's faster than he looks!" The Dark Woman said quickly, ushering the others on. "Come! I fear this moon does not have much more time!"

Vader silently shared that assessment as the Jedi ran passed him.

He was about to go after them, before something caught his gaze.

A great green beam flickered in and out of existence in the middle of the temple.

The Basis.

And as it flickered, Vader saw them. All of them.

The Cult of the Heinsnake, hundreds of mutated and deranged souls within the temple city, far away and just around him. They appeared and disappeared with the light of the Basis, phasing in and out of existence as if holograms or ghosts.

They were screaming, terrified as the Basis became unstable.

And through all the chaos, Vader sensed someone. Someone was down in the room he had just come from with the Jedi.

And he knew exactly who it was.

Himself.

With a burst of Force Speed, Vader left the temple exit, the entrance collapsing as he did.

He stopped only for an instant as he saw what awaited him.

Where once had been a lush, verdant landscape was now a sea of dead and ashen trees, not a speck of green for miles, with only the bones of long-dead animals to grace the lands.

"Vader!" Anakin called, stopping halfway down the steps. "Come on! I don't know what, but I have a really bad feeling about this!"

"If Anakin is saying that..." Obi-Wan muttered warily, knowing the young Jedi was braver than most knights of the order.

The Jedi flew through the dead forest. If the strange reality warping that had caused their multiple iterations to form still existed, then they found themselves too focused to be affected by it.

"Artoo!? Ready the ship!" Qui-Gon called into a communicator.

They were relieved to find that both ships, despite everything, were undamaged and just as they had left them.

The ground quaked, and it almost felt like it was tilting from the reverberations.

"Everyone on!" Obi-Wan called as they headed up the ramp.

"Artoo! Oh, you have no glad I am to see you in one piece!" Anakin said in relief, hugging the droid before running to the pilot seats.

The droids beeped in confused thanks.

"It's a long story," Qui-Gon said, turning to look outside. "Did Vader-?" He stopped his question as he looked out, catching the sight of Vader's cloak entering his own ship. "Of course."

"I swear he only runs when no one is watching," Obi-Wan said as the ramp closed.

"If no one has any complaints, I am getting us out of here!" Anakin said as he initiated take off.

"Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, does this ship have any scanning or monitoring devices?" The Dark Woman asked, looking outside at the trembling planet.

"Right," Qui-Gon said, moving over to a screen on the wall. "Anakin-"

"Just tell me if the moon starts to explode!" Anakin called back as the ship began to take off.

Their ship flew up, heading straight out of the atmosphere to put as much distance between them and the ruined moon as quickly as possible.

Anakin barely noticed Vader's ship out of the corner of his eye, heading alongside them up into the stars.

"There's no energy radiating from the planet. Just take us towards the next planet out to be safe though," Qui-Gon instructed.

"Well...that felt like a very confusing waste of time," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. "We learned next to nothing. I think."

"Oh really, Obi-wan?" Qui-Gon asked with a smirk. "Did Vader not have many interesting conversations with you?"

Obi-Wan rubbed his head carefully. "Still sorting through everything that happened to be honest. One version of me had absolutely no idea what was going on."

"Really?" Anakin asked in bewilderment. "How did he get to the end then?"

"I just followed the trail of Vader's lightsabers. It seemed like a good enough idea," Obi-Wan remarked.

"Vader and I had..many words," The Dark Woman said with a frown. "Many of the same, if in different terms."

"Anything that changed your mind?" Qui-Gon asked carefully.

"Perhaps," the Dark Woman mused. "I think I...might have had a vision, when I remerged. I thought it was just one of the sets of memories, but if there were sixteen of me at the end, I believe that is impossible."

The Jedi regarded her curiously. "What do you mean? "Anakin asked, having an inkling.

"I remember Vader killing me, in a forest," she answered bluntly, scowling at the floor. "But it was strange. When I died, the last thing I remember was..."

None prompted or interrupted her, for it was obvious that something she saw was beyond her belief.

"I died believing that...that Vader could escape the Dark Side."

A strange silence came over the ship, only the sound of Artoo spinning his head to look at each human in confusion.

The fact that Vader didn't want to escape the Dark Side, or even view it as something to escape from, was barely a concern in their minds. No, the Dark Woman had been rather firm in her stance on Vader, as someone that needed to be defeated and slain. What could have happened to make any version of her believe that, while being KILLED by Vader?

"It's possible that whatever affected us, made us see things that were impossible as well," Qui-Gon answered with a frown, getting curious looks from everyone. "You remember that one Sith, Obi-Wan? The Zabrak?"

"The one that took Sidious's head?" Obi-Wan recalled. "Didn't you tell me that Vader claimed Darth Sidious used him as a false apprentice of some kind?"

"Yes, that one," Qui-Gon agreed with a nod. "I vaguely recall fighting him. Somewhere, but not in a forest. Some sort of factory or fortress."

Obi-Wan furrowed his brow. "I remember being in a hallway with Vader, but...that's it."

All heads turned to Anakin, who looked at them all in confusion. "Well, that's different. The Force didn't show me anything."

Which was strange. The Force had a unique connection with Anakin, few would deny that. Why would it show him nothing?

"No offense to your age, but you just might not remember," Obi-wan suggested.

Anakin shrugged. "That's possible. I had sixteen kinds of interesting today."

Meanwhile

Vader sat in silence as his ship auto-piloted itself, heading to the edge of the system for now. He stared at the gem in his hand as this entire incident replayed in his head.

The beast that attacked them, before the quake; it had a wound on its head. Right where, in another timeline, he had stabbed it with his lightsaber.

They had been split into many different copies of themselves. Every possible version of them co-existing at the same time as an unknown kind of space-time anomaly.

The Basis crystal had appeared in his hand. He hadn't taken it this time, but it was still here all the same.

The planet destroyed itself. The manner was slightly different, but the result was the same, he was sure.

He had sensed himself in the temple. Not another iteration like in the forest, but in the same manner he sensed Skywalker despite both of them being the same person.

The more he thought about it, the more and more it became harder to deny.

Something was wrong with Time itself.