An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The idea strikes as quick as a blaster bolt. There is only one way to save the galaxy from Anakin Skywalker, and that is through slavery. But not to just anyone. Vader knows there’s no one more suited to dealing with Anakin then himself, so obviously, the boy should bow to him. All he needs to do is capture and break the Jedi.
This will work out perfectly.
(Oh, and why is Obi-Wan here? That’s easy. Instead of going to Bandomeer after he was rejected as a padawan by Qui-Gon Jinn, Vader pulled him out of his timeline in a tantrum spanning time and space. So, in short, he’s here for no reason at all.
Except, maybe, to watch a mad man grow madder.
How fun.)
Or: a forty-five-year-old Vader and a thirteen-year-old Obi-Wan are thrown into the first months of the Clone Wars.