Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Sithspit.” 

Luke groans, rolling over onto his back with a defeated flop and hisses as a small rock jabs his shoulder blade. He squints at the cloudless sky above him, half from the harsh sunlight and half from his blooming headache. It pulses behind his eyes and wraps around his head like a bandana, squeezing his skull. Those Tusken Raiders really did a number on him.

There’s metallic taste on his swelling lips and a dull pain in his solar plexus. That kick had knocked the wind out of him and sent him tumbling down into a sandy ditch. Luke’s also certain his forearm is fractured from either breaking his fall or blocking that sand person’s staff when they leapt down after him. Maybe both. 

Another disgruntled sound escapes Luke as he drags himself up into a sitting position and scoots to rest against the rock wall behind him, which … offers no shade. Great . At least he won’t drown in his own blood, Luke thinks, trying to to find a silver lining. His nose is definitely broken though and he’ll soon have two black eyes to show for his misadventure. Today’s just great. 

Craning his neck, Luke attempts to locate his red speeder with no luck. His attackers are probably long gone with it, if they didn’t decide to demolish the piece of junk, and it’s a long way back to his humble abode. A walk Luke isn’t sure he can make under these circumstances. Not to mention, he’s not ready for the lecture that awaits him from Uncle Cody. 

Wandering outside the perimeter is forbidden and for good reason. Sand people aren’t the only ones out here. The closet marketplace, Mos Espa, is crawling with Imperial soldiers. There’s a reason why Luke’s uncles made themselves as self-sufficient as possible, to lessen the trips into town and risk exposure. Hiding two Force-sensitives isn’t a task they take lightly. If the Empire catches wind of their existence, they’ll send Inquisitors after Luke and Ben. Cody, on the other hand, would be arrested for deserting and promptly executed. 

Yet, something is pulling Luke in this direction. It's like a, uh ... an invisible string? (Luke's bad at analogies). When the Force wants to show him something, it gives the string a tug. If he's going in the right direction, the string goes taut. Whatever he felt in the Force earlier is gone now. Not POOF gone, but far away again. The Force points Luke in the opposite direction, back towards the perimeter. Maybe he should've waited for it to come to him. 

As Luke cooks under the twin suns, he wonders if his uncles will know to come looking for him let alone find him in time. Taking a deep breath, Luke tries to fight off the urge to drift asleep. It’s not working. His eyes grow heavier as Luke absorbs the heat and the last bit of adrenaline seeps from him. A short nap won’t hurt ... 

A gentle hand coaxes Luke to keep his eyes open. 

Luke slowly blinks at the figure kneeling beside him. He hadn’t heard the person approach let alone sensed them. Not many people can do that. The only person he can think of … Wait a standard minute. Luke jolts forward at the revelation with a painful yelp and reclines himself back against the rock wall. Adding that to the list of terrible decisions , he muses bitterly. 

“Uncle Ben!” Luke says nasally. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have—” 

Ben offers Luke a sympathetic smile. “Don’t fret. I’m just glad I found you.” 

“Now,” Ben continues and rolls up his sleeves, “Let’s get you fixed up.”

Force-healing is weird. Well, the Force is weird in general but how it heals people is a strange sensation. Not a bad one, just … odd.  It’s soothing: cool and painless, but he feels everything slowly mending itself. Of course, Luke doesn’t come out looking like new. He’s got plenty of bruises and a few new scars from the altercation. Uncle Cody's surely gonna have questions. 

“He worries because he cares,” Ben comments on Luke’s unspoken concern. “Not that I blame him for becoming a mother tooka. I was a little reckless back in the day.” 

That manages to raise a laugh out of Luke. “A little? From how he tells it, you were just as bad as my father.” 

Ben rolls his eyes playfully (the hint of sorrow within them doesn't go unnoticed though) and helps Luke to his feet.

Much to Luke's relief the sand people didn’t get their mitts on his speeder and the trip home is much quicker with it. As they fly through the sparse desert, the string pulls taut again, eagerly pulling him in the direction of home. Luke can't imagine what it could be. What could move that fast? The only conclusion Luke can draw is that they'll have a visitor when they return. And Luke's not sure how he feels about that. Visitors are a security risk, but if the Force wants him to meet them and they know where he lives, maybe they're an ally. His family could use one of those. 

The modest moisture farm and a departing sandscrawler soon come into view. 

Oh! That's why the Force yanked Luke around. Whatever it wanted to show him was on the Jawas’ mobile base. Now, the string tugs him towards the house and Luke perks up in curiosity. What does the Force have in store for him? 

“We’re home, darling!” Ben has to stoop under the door frame to enter. “How did trading with the Jawas go—” 

Luke nearly collides into Ben’s back when he comes to an abrupt stop before the lounge area. In the center of the room, Cody stands flanked by a golden protocol droid (who's still rambling about his functions, including fluency in over six million forms of communication) and a blue-silver astromech (who beeps and chirps happily at the sight of Ben), arms crossed over his chest and features contorted in worry. 

“Family meeting," he says. "Now.”

Chapter Text

The Force works in mysterious ways. Or so Ben tells him. Luke isn’t sure how it all connects nor if he truly wants to know. What are the odds that a princess’s personal droids would crash land on this planet and find the three likeliest souls to help her?

Sitting on the edge of their seats, they watch the holo-recording before them. 

“I have placed information vital to the rebellion’s survival within the memory system of this R2 unit …” 

She seems familiar, Luke wonders, like the remnants of a dream. Though Luke’s certain he’s never met her before. He would remember doing so. It’s not like he meets a plethora of people daily. That would defeat the purpose of hiding from the Empire. 

“ … you must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan …” 

Alderaan. If Luke remembers his uncles’ stories right, both knew the planet’s representative during the Clone Wars. Bail Organa was a trusted friend to his mother, a fellow senator, and ‘one of the good ones’ as Cody described him. Apparently, he was present at Luke’s birth too. If not for his Force-sensitivity, perhaps he would’ve been adopted by the Organa family. Prince Luke of Alderaan does have a nice ring to it, Luke muses. 

When the recording ends, Luke looks between his uncles expectantly, like there’s no room for debate. They need to help her and Luke, besides the obvious reasons, dislikes the Empire as much as the average citizen. The rich get richer, the poor stay poor. The slave market and other unethical organizations have never been better. Such businesses boom under the Empire and that’s just scratching the surface. 

Yet, neither Cody nor Ben look at him. They’re both engaged in their own silent conversation and Luke senses that the discussion involves more than just leaving the safety of their moisture farm. 

“I don’t need the Force to know you’ve already made up your mind,” Cody finally speaks. “But Ben needs to tell you a few things first.” 

C-3PO turns to face each of them one by one before looking at his astromech companion. “Come along R2,” he says and walks towards the attached garage. “Let’s give them a moment.” 

Once the droids disappear from the room, Ben visibly gathers himself. In all honesty, Luke expects him to say it’s a ploy against the remaining Jedi — a way to lure them in — and that he should toss the droids into the nearest scrapper.

“Leia is your twin sister.” 

It’s like being kicked in the chest again, but worse. So much worse. 

“ What? ” He blinks a couple times, reeling at the news. “I have a sister? Why didn’t you ever tell me?” 

Cody presses his lips in a firm line, glancing at Ben with a ‘you’re-handling-this-one’ expression. 

“Force-sensitive twins have a special bond and a vibrant Force-signature,” Ben begins. “That pull you felt earlier? It wasn't the droid itself, but Leia’s desire for the droid to be found. She unknowingly reached out to you. If you two knowingly communicated with each other or were in physical contact with one another, I feared the Empire would find you both.” 

Luke continues to stare at Ben, heart pounding. I’m not alone. Yes, he has Ben and Cody but he didn’t lose his entire family that fateful day. I’m not the last one. 

“What else haven’t you told me?” He swallows thickly, steeling himself. 

An uncomfortable silence hangs between the three for a long moment before Cody speaks for Ben. “Ben is Obi-Wan. Metaphorically, both he and Anakin died that day: Empire Day.”

It takes Luke longer to say the words than to put the pieces together. 

“... Darth Vader's my father.” 

Ben nods grimly, but doesn't speak. 

Well, Luke doesn’t have time to unpack all that. He puts that at the bottom of his priority list, right below delivering the information to Bail and freeing Leia from her imprisonment. He’s assuming she was captured, of course. While no one important in the Empire bats an eye at the death of the common folk, the death of one of their own might ruffle some feathers. Maybe. Luke knows for certain Leia isn’t another pompous politician (not when she’s aiding the rebellion) and that selfless nature could’ve made her less than popular among her peers. 

Anxiety twists his stomach into knots. It’s likely a high profile traitor would be taken before Darth Vader for judgment. From the holonews, it seems he does most of the Emperor’s dirty work while he sits up on his throne and makes proclamations on how he saved the galaxy and blah blah blah. 

“If Darth Vader’s as dangerous as you said,” Luke stands and turns towards his room with the intent of packing a small bag and making up a plan as he goes, “Leia needs our help now. I’m not just going to sit here and — ” 

“We never planned on not helping her,” Cody assures, placing a gentle yet firm hand on Luke’s shoulder and forcing him back around. “We just need to be smart.” 

“Oh no, you two will stay right here — ” 

Cody rolls his eyes at Ben. “Don’t even think about finishing that sentence,” Cody says in his ‘commander voice’ and even Luke straightens at the tone. “You’re getting too old for this.” 

Ben huffs. “And you’re not?” 

“I’m just saying you can’t go alone.” 

“And she’s my sister,” Luke interjects. “ I’m not going to lose another family member.” 

Once a Skywalker makes up their mind, there’s no going back. Luke knows Ben understands that too well. 

Ben gives Luke a reluctant nod, lips turned in a bittersweet smile. “Alright,” he says in a tired yet kind voice. “We should be able to find a ship in Mos Eisley — ”

Without letting Ben finish, Luke dashes to his room just around the corner and starts stuffing his belongings into a pack: extra clothes, toothbrush, comm link. Luke freezes mid-reach for his —no, his father’s lightsaber, which rests on his desk. As Luke hestiately takes it in his hand, the weapon feels heavier than usual, as if weighed down by all the lives it took. 

He’d heard so many tales about the famous Anakin Skywalker. Did Anakin still exist or was he truly lost? Could he kill the father he never knew? 

Two voices draw Luke from his swirling thoughts and he leans closer to the wall, listening carefully to the muffled conversation behind it. 

“Just like the good old days, eh?” Luke can hear the sad smile in Cody’s tone. 

From some of the stories both shared of their adventures during the Clone Wars, the ‘good old days’ didn’t always sound so good. 

“Oh yes,” Ben feigns a sagely sound. “I wonder if Hondo’s still kicking.” 

Cody snorts. “Probably — death isn’t profitable.” 

“True.” 

As Luke returns to the lounge area, he finds Cody and Obi-Wan still standing there, foreheads pressed together. The scene tugs on Luke’s heartstrings. They’ve been through hell and back together. Here the three of them are relatively safe. Now they’re venturing into dangerous territory. It dawns on Luke that any of them might not come back, what they built here could be lost. The opposite is true too, however. With a little luck, maybe the Force will be merciful to his family. 

Cody spares Luke a glance before kissing Ben’s cheek. 

“I’ll go pack for us,” is all he says before disappearing into their room.

Left alone with Ben, Luke opens his mouth with the intent to thank him, but it dies in his throat when Ben smiles at him, soft and sincern. He already knows. 

“We’ll need the trailer to fit us all,” Ben says, patting Luke’s shoulder as he walks by. “Come along now.” 

Luke follows after Ben wordlessly. So much will change after today, for better or worse, and all because of two droids. The Force indeed works in mysterious ways.