Saga Purgatory (Anakin/Padmé-AU Angst/Action/Romance) Epilogue - COMPLETE 28th Jan

I?m back, YAY! What a treat to come back from DRL to find all these WONDERFUL chapters.

Poor Padme, it was frustrating but completely understandable why she kept on going back and forth about Anakin. As much as she loved him, she was willing to sacrifice her own happiness to ensure that he had a better chance at redemption. IMO, this was very in character for Padme. She has always been a selfless person, putting others needs ahead of her own.

I must say your characterization of Anakin was absolutely SUPERB, completely in tune with canon but with a progressive maturity that was believable. Very nice touch with Obi-Wan. I think someone else mentioned this already, Anakin?s redemption wouldn?t be complete without Obi-Wan.

Simply MAGNIFICENT from beginning to end. , but I'm sad it's over. You will be writing more A/P stories, RIGHT?

Please PM me the link to the nc17 version, promise I?m 18 and a few.

 

That was wonderful, although I have to admit I'm sad it's over. Your writing is just amazing. I'm looking forward to your next stories!

And on that note, could you send me the link to the adult version of the epilogue? I meet the requirements.

 

That was the perfect ending to an amazing story



I especially loved Anakin and Obi-Wan's conversation.

Congrats on a job well done

 

I got to read part of this earlier, and finally was able to sit down and savor the rest of it this morning. Okay. WOW!

In response, Obi-Wan stepped closer, reaching out to clasp his arms with genuine affection. ?And it?s good to see you too, old friend. More than I can say.?

Anakin?s head swam, assailed by memories that choked him with a tumult of emotions, none of which he had a clue how to express. Obi-Wan was here! He was utterly unprepared for this meeting having half convinced himself that his one-time master would continue to avoid him. However, there was at least one sentiment Anakin could express with confidence and he grasped it with relief. ?Thank you for saving me,? he said with utter sincerity.

?You?re very welcome.? Obi-Wan dropped his hands and folded them while amusement glimmered in his eyes. ?So, what?s the score now, thirty eight to nine or some such rubbish, I suppose??

Anakin blinked and then it hit him. Obi-Wan was referring to their old game of 'who?d saved who'. More memories washed over him. ?No, master,? he said slowly and very carefully. ?I believe you?ve just surged ahead.?

A simply perfect tale. I don't know what else to say.

 

Thanks for all the PMs, I really enjoyed the story ,though a little bit sad that it's over

If by chance you do a sequel, can you PM me updates on that?


Again, it was a great story and a wonderful read

 

WOW and

Perfect ending to a perfect story! I'm a bit sad that it's over, but now I can start rereading

Please, send me the NC-17 link- I want the complete version

OK, you may admit that you are a hopeless romantic- somehow the action and angst scenes were much shorter than the mushy romantic ones and they are so well written that I do not mind it a bit!

And yes you managed to surprise me with the karaoke-ending. I should have known it- because of Lorne- I should have, but had failed to realise it. COOL!!!!

 

Absolutely fantastic!
What a way to end this great story. Gosh!

Any way you could send me the adult version?

 

Hey long time lurker but you've broken my silence! Great Story!

Could I have the adult version please

 

I have loved this story from the moment I read it. I'm sad and happy this story had ended. Could I get the link to the adult version please? Thanks.

 

Congratulations on finishing the story! I really enjoyed the story and the colorful world you created. The last bit with Lorne was hilarious.

 

Some Author replies...

searth99 ? I?m really pleased you liked it.

JediMasterRev ? It?s been a long haul, but mostly an enjoyable one. I know I?ve said this lots, but it bears repeating. Thanks so much for the reviews and encouragement. It?s funny now that everything is tied up and the story is finished, I?m much more relaxed, but I don?t know what to do with myself, lol. Hurry and post some more of To Everything There Is A Season!!!

EGKenobi ? Hi there. Yay! I?m thrilled that you enjoyed Purgatory. There may possibly be a sequel. In fact, I?ve already got a plot in my head and the prologue written, but I haven?t decided yet if the rating is going to be a little higher than Purgatory and so not suitable to be posted here (i.e. darker themes etc). I may have to write more of it before I can be sure. Also, and I know this sounds stupid, but this may just be post-finishing-fic euphoria and my muse will slump again like a deflated balloon, lol. Thanks for the comment!

azure_eyes ? Thank You! I?m chuffed that you enjoyed Purgatory so much. I hope you didn?t get eyestrain reading it all in one go!

aliceandjasper ? The epilogue was mostly a much lighter atmosphere that the rest and was really fun to write. I?m so glad that you found the comic moments funny, I think it?s nice after an intense story to finish with a sort of slow winding down that makes you smile and feel good?that is certainly what I intended anyway. Thank you so much for the lovely comments. I really can?t express how much it means to me to know that folks have enjoyed the story. As I mentioned above there may already be a sequel in the works (my muse appears to have recovered a lot faster than I anticipated and I?m putting that down to the fantastic response I?ve had now that Purgatory is finished) but I?m not sure if it will suitable for here. All I can say is watch this space.

Yodaknits ? Thank you, I?m so glad that you enjoyed Purgatory, and thanks for letting me know!

Sen_Padme_Amidala ? You?re very welcome, hun and thank *you* for the wonderful reviews that have made writing Purgatory a joy. I appreciate all feedback but some gets you wanting to ?finish that darned chapter that?s making you pull your hair out? just to post it as a thank you to the reviewer, lol. I?ve been lucky with a lot of that type of FB while writing Purgatory and that would include you *hugs*. Also, thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed the adult version. NC-17 isn?t everyone?s cup of tea, which is why I have that version hidden, lol. I do love a happy ending. To me a story is a journey and a tragic ending just doesn?t make that journey worth taking IMO, although I love a lot of angst in between to make the happy ending even sweeter *g*. Thanks again and if I don?t end up posting the sequel here it will make its way onto ffnet (if you visit there) as they allow a slightly higher rating.

FitJedi - *Does happy dance* I?m so so glad that you?ve enjoyed Purgatory and major thanks for sticking with it from the very first chapter?I appreciate that so much! *hugs* I?ve managed to stick with the plot outline I had for this from the very first imagining and that has added another layer of enjoyment to this fic. I?m thrilled that you?ve found that imagining to be satisfying too. XX

starwarsfan1000 ? It?s always great to get new readers so thanks for stopping by to let me know that you enjoyed Purgatory. I know what you mean about second chances?which is really what the whole point of the ?second world? was?giving folks a chance to fix things and do better, if they are so inclined, of course. Having watched the prequels back in Feb 08 I just had to write something that would make me feel better and do away with that sense of tragedy and loss. I?m glad it did the same for you.

Darth_Drachonus ? Thank you, I?m chuffed that you enjoyed the story. As a few people have asked and to avoid repeating I?ll probably leave a note at the end of this post regarding a sequel.

For

 

Hi Helen,

This was the best fan fic I've ever read! Thanks so much!

Please can you send me the link to the NC17 version. Alas alack, I'm 32 IRL!

xx

Mac

 

Absolutely brilliant! Wonderful ending and you did such a beautiful job! This fic is definitely one of my favorites! I'll be looking forward to that link!

 

Yes, please send me the link as well.

 

MORE AUTHOR REPLIES

nabooqueen2008 Ack! I?m so sorry, hun! I have no idea how I could have missed replying in the last post *grovelling apologies* I?m probably going to pop over a PM in case you don?t check back again. D?oh! I?m chuffed and thrilled that you liked and kept up with Purgatory right from the start. You?ve been one of those keeping me going and no mistake. I have begun a sequel and it the prologue has been posted on ffnet. I?ll include a link in that pm to you.

Macham Hiya Macham. Wow *blush* Thank you for the lovely comment and I?m delighted that you enjoyed Purgatory so much. I will happily PM you with the link.

Jedi_Master_Cazz ? Hugs! Thanks, Cazza! I really, really appreciate all of your comments and support while writing this fic, especially considering it was three times longer than my usual average, lol. I will send that link ASAP.

Darth_Sidious_1983 ? Thank you and for the pm too. The link should be winging its way to you.

 

Dear Helen_Taft,

I found my way to this story by following JediMasterRev and ratna. Rev had been nagging me about it for a long time, but you started posting during a time when I?d burned out on fanfic and turned my back on it for a while, so I didn?t get to follow it as it unfolded.

I did a lot of reading while I was away. I think I might have felt a bit guilty at having poured so much time and energy into one particular corner of the world of the imagination ?-- the GFFA. While my adventures in fanfic enriched my inner world and introduced me to a lot of great people I wouldn?t otherwise have met, it had the effect of isolating me from friends and family who most decidedly do not share my enthusiasm for all things Star Wars. Maybe I was expecting to make up for it by catching up with the world of ?serious? (i.e., published) lit, essays, current events. You know. The stuff that other --- dare I say, ?normal?? --- people read. So I did that for a while. I re-joined the real world.

Remember when you were a child, and a really good book fell into your hands ? a story so compelling that you couldn?t pull yourself a way from it? Remember how people would shout at you to come to meals, to take out the trash, to turn off the light, but tearing yourself away from the story before you were ready practically made you bleed? Remember the kind of story that you?d devour while standing up, lying upside down and backwards on your bed, and even while walking to school? (Yes, I was one of those ? and I still have pretty good peripheral vision. And yes, I am old enough to have walked.)

That, for me, is still the Holy Grail of reading ? finding a story that drags you so completely into Elswhere and Other that when you finally return to your own world, you aren?t quite sure where you are, or why.

Well, I gave the Real World a good shot. But I have to say, with a few exceptions, I can?t say I had that much fun with it. I get the feeling that everybody out there is too scared, too cynical, and maybe just too disappointed in things in general to have an old-fashioned good time. Light entertainment is too light; it feels empty, like fast food. The serious stuff --- I dunno. Itlacks light. Heroes aren?t heroic. Everybody whines. Worst of all, there are no lightsabers. It?s all so uncivilized.

Of course I eventually crept back (a little sheepishly), and finally began to read "Purgatory" just as its glorious run on the Boards was ending.
I knew it was a good idea to come back! I just knew it! THIS is what fanfic is all about. THIS is why we keep coming back to it again and again!

First of all, you?re an incredibly generous writer. Every post is not only long and meaty, but also head-spinning. Stuff happens -- a LOT of stuff happens! --- and as a reader I was constantly teetering between joy and fear because I cared so desperately about the characters. I cared about the characters because they are so utterly themselves. So true. Just the way I know them to be, even though sometimes it was only hinted at in the source material.

They say that fanfiction is wish-fulfillment. I say, Amen to that. In the right hands --- in the hands of an author who loves and appreciates the characters and the canon that spawned them rather than seeking to trash it --- new adventures, alternate views can be enormously satisfying. Personally, I desperately needed some atonement for Anakin. I love him and I feel for him, but his jump into the white robes in canon was too quick and easy --- as facile, I always felt, as his instantaneous devolution into a Sith with all that implies. And it certainly didn?t allow for any kind of healing and repair of the deeply important relationships with Padmé and with Obi-Wan. Forgiveness is one thing, healing, quite another.

Enter Helen_Taft with a story entitled, satisfyingly, ?Purgatory.? Enter Obi-Wan, elevated, white-robed but still willing to reach out a hand. Enter Anakin in his glorious, heroic youth (thank you! Thank you!!! *drool *), and yet

 

Hi geo3. Wow! Thank you so much! I?m completely bowled over by your review. I remember a previous review from years ago that was as detailed and inspirational, and seven years on, I still have a copy of that review tucked away in my purse for when I?m down and wondering why I put myself through the angst of writing fanfiction.*g* I can tell you now that yours will be joining it. Like any fanfic writer I appreciate all feedback simply because it lets me know that readers are enjoying my efforts (and I've had some fantastic reviewers during this story that have kept me going even when I've been totally and horribly blocked). It is such an immense joy to me to have a review that takes such care to describe what really struck you/them about the fic, so I can?t tell you how I appreciate yours. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I too was a voracious reader as a child (and still am although it tends to be in spurts, because writing is so consuming) and so I?m thrilled to bits with the comparison. Although I have to ?fess up to feeding only my desire for escapism and avoiding serious works and non-fiction like a disease, lol. After nine years of fandoms (I only dived into star wars last March), my husband has become accustomed to me and my obsessions. I?m a signed up member of the addictive-compulsive society, lol.

Anyway, I am so relieved that you found my characterisations to be true. I do love Anakin and Padmé and Obi-Wan and it was a desire to give them all a second chance (particularly Anakin and Padmé) that drove me to come up with Purgatory?saying that, the main drive was a point you mentioned about Anakin?s redemption being far too easy, and countered by the sense of unfair inevitability that I got during the PT (as rough and sometimes clumsy that sense was portrayed by the movies), i.e. his destiny was to fall to the dark side and that was that no matter what. I wanted Anakin to have another chance, but also one that he deserved?while keeping within canon as much as possible. As for the ending, I?m a sucker for happy endings. I love angst and drama but that has to be balanced out at the end or the journey just isn?t worth taking for me.
I?m so pleased that this turned out to be a story that could grab you so much, and thank you once again for such a wonderful review. You have just totally made my day! The link to the alternate epilogue is winging its way to you by PM.

Much love back, and with grovelling thanks and virtual chocolate fudge brownies, Helen

 

You're more than welcome.

I think I may have had one other that was as detailed and inspirational, and seven years on, I still have a copy of that review tucked away in my purse for when I?m down and wondering why I put myself through the angst of writing fanfiction.*g* I can tell you now that yours will be joining it.

Wait ... SEVEN YEARS?

Tell you what. Take a break. Regroup. Speak nicely to the Muse. Then write us another SW fanfic ... [face_abjectly hopeful] ... and you will get what you deserve. From me!

 

LOL Seven years indeed since the one I meant and that was in the C/A ATS fandom. Mind you, I have to say the SW abounds with a tremendously supportive bunch of readers and I have had some truly wonderful feedback both here and ffnet (ffnet shocked the heck out of me, because I was used to the one liner text speak versions from previous fandoms). I put it down to star wars fans being a more intellectual bunch.

The muse has already shown signs of recovery I'm afraid and there is a prologue for a sequel up at ffnet. If I can post here I certainly will, but I'm just not sure of what the rating is likly to be yet.

 

...one question I forgot to ask you and maybe I didn't catch this..but what happened to Jude?

 

Chapter 22

Sidious could feel the sheer power of the approaching storm?a storm that strode through the corridors of the palace, seeking him. Dooku?s word filtered into his brain, reckoning. Despite the urgency, he paused. Ah yes, he thought, that word resonated. The presence he could feel drawing closer and closer was filled with a determination, a need for a reckoning?and it wasn?t Dooku.

Anakin.

Vader.

The jewel that a waiting, calculating Palpatine had polished to a shine for over two decades, patiently biding his time while a nine year old boy grew to become a man?before finally unveiling the future in a flourish of blood, death and darkness. The greatest of the Jedi to have fallen to the dark side. The Chosen One, whose destiny should have been well and truly hi-jacked and never come to pass.

The most powerful and promising of apprentices, and the most bitterly disappointing.


This is just a small section I wanted to highlight because I have to thank you. One of the huge reasons why I love Anakin so much is because he had the potential to be so great. Not just a great Jedi but a a great man. And in my mind, Anakin is the embodiment of the Force.

That is what I see when I read this chapter.

Gosh, that end. . . I don't even know what to say to this. Completely heartbreaking and perfect.


Chapter 23

I just about went nuts right along with Anakin before his talk with Padmé. I have to admit even I didn't get it the first time I read the chapter. I had to read that part again real slow two more times and think about it. But I think I figured it out.

Okay, on to read the Epilogue. . .

bran
asking very nicely for the link

 

searth_99 ? No, hun, you didn?t miss anything. The last time we saw Jude was when Obi-Wan was first introduced to the survivors. She may well pop up in the sequel for a small cameo.

_ThatJediScum_ ? Hi Bran! I?m so pleased that you liked that section. I do know what you mean. Many is the time that I?ve read a book and become hooked on a character and one paragraph in particular has given me a glow. Plus, as a fan of Anakin myself I too find his fantastic-potential-ruined-tragic-redeemed elements to be fascinating. I?m also thrilled that you liked the end and I will happily send you the link to the NC17 version (however, that will be later when I get home unless I can copy it from an earlier PM). Hugs!

 

What Brilliant ending to a Brilliant story!!! you did an amazing job with the "adult" Epilogue too!(stumble across it while goggling on livejounal)love how you write A/P...I also loved Sidious descrition of Anakin ...Mind-Blowig!!! Thank U for delighting me with your exquisite writting Helen...Hope to c more stories from U!
PS: sorry for the lateness!!

 

Wow! My apologies for being so long to catch up on my reading...things have been hectic in the last month.

That was great; you sure can write at length, and write well. I would quote and comment on all my favorite parts, but there were just too many.


This was one of my most recent favorite parts:

Anakin?s head swam, assailed by memories that choked him with a tumult of emotions, none of which he had a clue how to express. Obi-Wan was here! He was utterly unprepared for this meeting having half convinced himself that his one-time master would continue to avoid him. However, there was at least one sentiment Anakin could express with confidence and he grasped it with relief. ?Thank you for saving me,? he said with utter sincerity.

?You?re very welcome.? Obi-Wan dropped his hands and folded them while amusement glimmered in his eyes. ?So, what?s the score now, thirty eight to nine or some such rubbish, I suppose??

Anakin blinked and then it hit him. Obi-Wan was referring to their old game of 'who?d saved who'. More memories washed over him. ?No, master,? he said slowly and very carefully. ?I believe you?ve just surged ahead.?


I loved that you were able to pull something small but meaningful like this out of canon, George Lucas would be very proud (and should likely consider your ideas and services, IMO). I could really hear Obi-Wan's voice in that dialogue.

I enjoyed your take on this and supporting characters as well. Look forward to more of your work.

And of course, I'm game for that adult version. Please send me the link when you can.

 

I just wanted to say once again just how much I enjoyed this story and the adult version of the final chapter.