Work Text:
.
.
.
“No, no.” Luke held out a hand, beckoning with his fingertips. “Hand it over. I’m older, let me.”
Leia stopped mid-reach, still clutching the wrench in her fist. Her mouth froze before she could release the grumbling acknowledgment that Luke was, in fact, more mechanically capable and probably more used to prying open dangerously stubborn droid parts than she was.
“Wait—” she quirked an eyebrow. “No.”
Luke yanked the tool out of her grasp and thumped it against his leg, adjusting his grip. “No, what?”
“You’re wrong. I’m older than you,” Leia explained matter-of-factly.
Smirking, Luke shook his head and set to work on the busted-up droid, already bracing himself for the inevitable splatter of oil and grime. “Does it matter?”
He sensed more than saw his sister’s jaw drop in disbelief. “Matter?” she scoffed. “Of course it matters. I’m not about to be someone’s little sister.”
“Well, get used to it because you’re stuck with me, little sister.”
“Oh, I don’t think so, little brother.”
Her voice was so determined and unyielding, and her whole demeanor so gleefully challenging, Luke couldn’t help but put down the wrench, wipe off his hands, and turn to face her head-on. “No, look,” he explained, motioning between the two of them. “I’m the more responsible one, you know that. I’ve had to drag your—”
Leia interrupted him with a laugh. “Responsible?” she scoffed, with a certain glint in her eye that just spelled trouble. “Who saved your life the first day I met you? And practically every day after that?”
“Who was the one who busted you out of that cell in the first place?” Luke challenged, enjoying every second of this.
Leia sputtered for a second, then leaned back on her heels. “Who nursed you back to health after that stupid move of yours on Hoth?”
“The droids did,” Luke answered without missing a beat. “And don’t take credit for that: Han rescued me.”
“Okay, okay . . .” She nodded, narrowing her eyes. “It has to be obvious, though.” She motioned to herself. “The extra few minutes made me exceptionally wiser than you.”
Luke made a show of rolling his eyes to the back of his head. He tossed the wrench idly between his hands, the gloved one twirling it around as he threw it. “Interesting theory,” he admitted, not even trying to hide his conspiratorial grin. “But which of us was mature enough for Ben to want to train right away?”
“Which of our parents decided I was mature enough to lead an entire Rebellion?” Leia countered.
He shook his head. “Ben had to choose one of us to train. He obviously chose me,” he jammed a finger into the middle of his own chest, “the older one.”
The fury that rose in Leia’s eyes could have leveled a planet. But Luke didn’t budge. He only gave the wrench a flick and met her stare head-on.
“Now listen up, you insolent wizard—”
.
.
.
Luke’s boots thudded heavily on the concrete. He sighed and ran a hand over his face.
The hallway spun dangerously, and he let a deep breath flood through him as he tried to center himself.
Footsteps clattered a few feet ahead. He drew in a sharp breath and blinked.
A figure dressed all in white and gray jogged down the hall and threw herself into his arms. “Oh, you’re okay,” Leia said as she clutched her brother tightly. “We were worried.”
“I’m fine,” he assured her, too tired to even pull away from the hug. He let his head fall. “Had a bad run-in with some loyalists. Just need—” But before he could finish, his body gave out and his legs crumpled underneath him. His head thrummed with exhaustion.
Leia caught him mid-collapse and hauled his arm over her shoulder, admonishing him with a choice set of words.
“To bed with you,” she insisted while carefully probing his Force signature to check for any signs of pain. “When did you sleep last?” Her voice took on a frightening tone, and Luke didn’t dare lie.
“Few days,” he muttered and willed the world to stop spinning. “I can’t remember.”
She hooked her arm around his waist, sighed in resignation, and practically dragged him the rest of the way to his bunk. “Can’t believe my own little brother has no—” she grunted as he stumbled over his own feet, nearly pitching forward onto the concrete, “—sense of self preservation.”
“Older,” he corrected, barely even audible anymore. “Older brother.”
With a heaving sigh, she deposited his near-unconscious body onto the cramped mattress. Before she could even unclip his lightsaber for him and drag off his boots, a slight, whispering snore escaped his mouth. She rolled her eyes, threw a blanket over him, and squeezed his hand. “Sleep well, little bro.”
.
.
.
“That’s not how the Force works!” Leia exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.
Luke kicked his legs up, crossed his ankles, and leaned back with a satisfied grin. “How would you know?”
She visibly fumed. “I know enough, and you know it.”
“There are many different uses—”
“Oh, no you don’t.” Leia glared right back at him, daring him to finish his sentence.
He shrugged, absolutely unmoving from his older-brother status. “Maybe we were born at the same time. By C-section.”
Again, Leia let out a huff. “That’s also not how C-sections work!”
“So we have a clear answer,” he said and stared into the holo-screen again, hardly focusing at all. “If that’s not how C-sections work, and you claim I can’t ask the Force who’s older, then neither of us were born first and we aren’t even twins. How’s that?”
Leia set her jaw. “That makes less sense than any of your theories. One of us would still have to be older.”
“We could be clones. They’re not born at all,” Luke offered helpfully.
She did her best to glare daggers through his soul.
“If it makes any difference,” Han called from the other end of the room, “I don’t think you’re even related.”
.
.
.
Leia sat down hard, almost tipping the chair backwards. She let her head fall onto her chest, rubbed her eyes until she saw stars—
A warm hand rested itself on her shoulder and squeezed. “You alright?”
She nodded, letting Luke’s presence calm and center her. What was that he had taught her about releasing emotions?
Deep breath in. Feel the Force, let it fill you . . .
Long, slow breath out. Release your thoughts, worries, anger . . . Surrender.
Her shoulders dropped.
“You’re getting better at that,” Luke said with a smile. He lowered himself down beside her on the nearest chair and crossed his arms. “Something happen?”
Leia pursed her lips and tried to come up with a sharp reply, but she couldn’t stay annoyed for long. “You know. Just trying to rebuild a government from the ground up.”
Luke quirked an eyebrow. “Oh, that’s all?”
“No big deal,” she said and sighed again, letting her eyelids fall so her head could buzz in peace. What she wouldn’t do for a good, rich glass of Alderaanian mead right now . . .
“If it cheers you up,” Luke said, gently tossing a flat, heavy object onto Leia’s lap, “I found something.”
Her eyes snapped open and she sent a quizzical glance sideways. Her brother’s face remained blank, but he had a mischievous glint in his eyes that she hadn’t seen in a while . . .
She turned the object over in her hands and recognized it as an older version of a memory drive. There was no label, no marking that would indicate its origin, and no projector to be seen. “What is it?” she wondered aloud.
“Answers,” Luke said and pulled her out of the chair toward the nearest holo-table. “It cost me my best pair of boots and a lifetime’s supply of firewater, but I think it will be worth it.”
Leia’s nose wrinkled in confusion. That sounded like either a bad trade deal or a stupid gamble, and Luke was smart enough to stay away from both on any normal day. What had the last few years done to her brother?
The Jedi in question snatched the disk from her, inserted it into the holo-table, and tapped his fingers impatiently against the surface. As she watched, half interested and half concerned for Luke’s mental state, two blue shapes appeared in front of her eyes.
It was a glitch-y, incomplete recording of what looked to be a medbay. A figure lay on a table, some rounded contraption placed over her legs. Leia couldn’t make out her face at all. In fact . . . it looked like the recording had been tampered with. The woman’s head was completely obscured and her figure was barely discernible from the table itself.
A man stood next to her, but his outline was rough and full of static. His face had also been erased.
“What is this?” she repeated her question from earlier, a sudden curiosity ignited within her.
Luke looked to be in deep concentration, his eyes fixed on the rippling blue figures.
The recording shifted slightly . . . The man turned a bit, to reveal a baby in his arms . . .
And it cut out.
“No!” Luke exclaimed, eyes bugging out comically. “Wait, keep going!” As if the recording would listen to his command and reappear.
Leia was more confused now than she had been before. She squinted and sent her brother a concerned side-eye. “Honestly. What was that supposed to be?”
Resting his elbows on the table, Luke sighed. “That was our mother.”
.
.
.
“Well, the only piece of evidence we had was no good, so your point is moot.”
“Luke, I am telling you. Only a younger child would go to all that trouble just to prove a point.”
“It wasn’t just to prove anything,” Luke retorted, trying to pick up the pace a bit. But Leia could walk fast if she tried, and she definitely tried.
“Okay, okay—” Leia held up her hands. “I appreciate your effort, I really do. It was a wonderful thing to see and I’m sorry about your boots. But the question isn’t answered. Actually, you’re still proving my point by being the immature one!”
Luke stopped.
His mouth fell open. “Wait.”
“What?”
His sharp blue eyes pierced her soul, and she watched as a sly grin formed on his normally innocent and cheerful face. “I have an idea.”
.
.
.
Luke shut his eyes and breathed deeply. He hadn’t attempted to reach out like this before, but he knew it would work. It had to work. If Obi-Wan could find him wherever he was, why couldn’t it go the other way around?
“We need you, Ben,” he pleaded silently. “It’s very important.”
The moment he finished the last word, a soft blue glow enveloped the room, and when Luke opened his eyes he grinned from ear to ear.
Leia jumped just a bit at the sight but smiled as well.
“Ben,” Luke said.
Obi-Wan Kenobi stood at the other end of Leia’s spacious sleeping quarters, as kind and stoic as Luke remembered. “Hello there,” the Force Ghost greeted with a slight smile.
For a moment, Luke wanted to forget this whole business and just sit down and have a nice long conversation with his old mentor . . . But Leia wouldn’t have it. So he braced himself.
“Ben,” he began, “we need you to answer a question for us.”
“It’s of the utmost importance,” Leia added with a nod.
Obi-Wan’s eyebrows raised, and he looked intrigued. “Go on,” he encouraged, coming to sit on the bunk beside the twins.
“We need to know which one of us is older,” Leia blurted out.
“Because we both know that I am,” Luke added quickly, but Leia jammed an elbow into his side.
“You were there at our birth, weren’t you?” she pressed. “That’s what it seemed from what you told Luke.”
Obi-Wan’s eyes sparkled with mirth, and he looked as if he were holding back laughter. “I must admit,” he said, “I did expect this question from you eventually.”
“Well, then why didn’t you tell me right away?” Luke demanded.
That only made Obi-Wan’s smile wider. “I’d forgotten.”
Leia’s jaw dropped to the floor. “You—” she sputtered, fumbling for words. “Forgot?”
“I did,” he laughed.
Luke shook his head. “I don’t believe you.”
“More happened that day than I care to tell at the moment,” Obi-Wan said with a severely diplomatic air. “The order of your birth was the furthest thing on my mind. I’m sorry I can’t solve this very important argument for you.”
And with that, amidst the sounds of Leia’s protests and Luke’s complaints, Obi-Wan faded away, again becoming one with the Force.
.
.
.
“Please tell me you didn’t say anything.”
“Of course not,” Obi-Wan said with a smirk.
“This is way too much fun. They remind me too much of me,” Anakin grinned.
“I’ll admit, it’s rather entertaining.”
“Do you think they’ll ever let it go?”
“Oh, if they’re anything like you, I have no doubt that they will not.”
Anakin laughed.
.
.
.