Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

According to the Jedi, the Force did not have its favorites. Unofficially, most knew that Yoda's lineage tended to carry the burden of the Force's focus-- good or bad, their line was in focus. And when one of their lineage claimed a so-called child of the Force as his padawan-- well, did they really expect anything short of favoritism? It was certainly unasked for. Anakin had never wanted to live after the death of his wife. For that matter, he had never wanted to be General in the Clone wars, the Emperor's Fist, or even really a Jedi at all. He had just wanted to be free-- it only took him taking his last breaths to realize it. Regret was a hard thing when you only had seconds left to live. He focused back in on his son's intensely blue eyes.

"Grant me this one boon," he whispered to the void that had fathered him. "Don't let him be another regret. Don't let him die here." The Force swelled around them, a blanket of warmth and almost suffocating pressure, and suddenly, Anakin knew what he must do. In that moment, for the first time in years, he wasn't a Sith. He wasn't even a Jedi for that matter. No, he was a father.

"It is an old Sith spell. I can send one person back with my dying breath. It has only been used once-- sacrifice is not the Sith way-- but then, I am not fully Sith anymore am I? You have saved me Luke. Perhaps I am become my old master, and ask too much of you, but you can save them Luke. You can save them all."

Luke looked around at the exploding Death Star they couldn’t escape, at his father’s earnest blue eyes on a dying body. “I will save them. I will save you, father,” he swore.

“My son,” the man who used to be Anakin Skywalker breathed. “You already have.” And then he pushed.

And Luke Skywalker awoke.

000000000000

Obi-Wan Kenobi was muttering to himself as he walked through the temple towards the council chambers. Anakin had, once again, done something completely insane that ended up with him in medical and the two Generals on leave in Coruscant for the first time in what felt like years (and perhaps it had been years, and Obi-Wan was simply losing track of time in this never ending war.)

He shuddered to a stop in the middle of the corridor at what felt like a burst of darkness in the center of the temple, the Force and a thousand voices crying out in agony, a clamor of sensations and then-- light. In the center of the temple, a Force presence so strong Obi-Wan would have thought it was Anakin had he not been standing right next to him.

Both men stopped, staring at each other with wide eyes. Whatever had happened, the entire Temple had just felt it. As one, they ran towards the council chamber.

“That felt like Dark Side energy!” Anakin burst out as they entered the chambers. His eyes widened even further as they took in the sight of Mace Windu on the floor of the council chambers clutching his head. Obi-Wan kicked him lightly in the shins-- that look was far too close to a look of glee for his liking. Anakin just blinked innocently.

“Sent Knights to investigate, we have,” Yoda affirmed. The little green Jedi was crouched next to Mace Windu.

“The shatterpoints,” Windu murmured. He was almost squeezing his head, as if it had physically shattered and he was holding together the pieces.

“Mace?” Obi-Wan asked hesitantly. There was no response. “Does he need a healer?”

“Psychic, this problem is. Felt it, we all did. But Mace the shatterpoints felt,” Yoda responded.

“Masters!” a young initiate ran into the room. “Knight Eerin sent me. They found an unidentified unconscious human on one of the lowest levels. He woke up long enough to call out for Obi-Wan, before he passed out again. They are bringing him to medical now.”

“Me,” Obi-Wan said, eyebrows raising. Anakin turned quickly, likely to question the initiate if Obi-Wan judged rightly, but the child was smart enough to have already abandoned the room.

“Come with us, you will,” Yoda said. “To medical we must go.”

0000000000000000
“It’s like he’s been zapped repeatedly by electrical charges,” the healer said lowly to Yoda, Mace and Obi-Wan. Anakin lingered in the background, unsure if they remembered he was there or not. It wasn't like he was going to let his former master walk into a situation like this alone though. Whatever this situation was. Probably some more Force bantha shit either way.

“His joints will be sore for quite a while,” the healer continued, “and they will probably bother him more as he ages.”

“Is he in Temple records at all?” Obi-Wan asked.
The healer shook her head. “We scanned his biometrics and there was no match in our database. He has not been a student at the temple. We haven’t done any other tests, however, as we were waiting on the council’s decision.”

“But he had a lightsaber,” Mace questioned Bant.
Obi-Wan’s crechemate nodded. “Indeed,” the Jedi Knight said. “And one made by him, I’d guess. It resonates with him in the Force.”

“And you’re sure he asked for me?” Obi-Wan said skeptically. “I’m not doubting you Bant, I just don’t know how he’d know me if he has never been in the Temple before in his life.” Although there was something familiar about the man’s face and blonde locks that had him wondering if they had met before and he had just forgotten. Perhaps a Force sensitive who wasn’t given to the Temple?

“But you’re all over the holonet,” Mace pointed out. “Perhaps he saw you there.”

“Perhaps,” Yoda interjected. His stick hit the ground. “But until he wakes, a mystery he shall be.”

“Watch him, Obi-Wan, and bring him to the council chambers when he wakes.”
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Force, there were so many people, was Luke’s first thought as he slowly clawed his way into consciousness. So many Force presences, it threatened to overwhelm him. Slowly, carefully, he pulled away from the Force presences, raising his shields and allowing his own Force signature to blend into the background, as he had done for nearly the entirety of his run from the Empire. He sighed softly in relief at the dimming of mental stimulus.

“..s waking up,” he heard a soft voice from his left say. It sounded as though he was underwater, like those times when he was able to visit one of the only oases on Tatooine. “...Force signature…” he heard, and he shifted slightly. His mind was confused as knowledge that was not his own slowly settled. You will need this, his father’s voice whispered. May the Force be with you, my son.

“Young man, are you awake?” he heard a voice as familiar as Leia’s ask. “Ben?” he murmured. Force it felt like he had been trampled by a hard of banthas. “Obi-Wan?” Clarity was returning slowly, now that he wasn’t drowning in Force signatures. Luke’s eyes slowly opened to see Ben’s eyes on a young Obi-Wan’s face.

“Oh,” he breathed. The spell had worked! New knowledge crowded into his mind-- a basic overview of Temple life, the basics of Anakin’s life and fall-- stories that his father had not had the chance to tell him. He was in the past. He was in the past! What should he do? What should he say? He savored his relief and excitement for a moment before releasing them.

“Water, please,” he instead said. A hand entered his still blurry field of vision holding a container of water, and he grasped it in his flesh hand and drank greedily. “Thank you,” he said gratefully as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.

“Be careful,” the voice of a tall Mon Calamari Jedi said as she helped him to sit. “Your muscles are very weak, and your body is showing signs of reacting negatively to prolonged electrocution.” Luke nodded-- he would be a fool not to expect after effects to Force lightning-- and pulled himself up to lean back against the head of the bed. “I am Jedi Knight Bant Eerin,” the Jedi continued. “Myself and other knights were tasked to find the disturbance in the Force, and found you unconscious on the lower level of the Jedi Temple, and brought you here.”

“Thank you, Jedi Knight Eerin,” Luke said. His voice was still hoarse, so he paused to clear his throat and take in the room around him. He was obviously in a healing hall, though no other patients were present. Obi-Wan was sitting in a chair beside the bed, staring at him with unabashed curiosity.

“How do you mask your force signature in such a way?” the man asked. Luke blinked, and fought back the urge to grin affectionately at his old mentor. Some things didn't change, and for all he knew Ben as the old hermit, that intense scholarly inquisitiveness was practically written into who he was as a person. “You aren’t just shielding,” the Jedi continued, “but actively avoiding notice.”

“It is a form of meditation,” Luke answered readily. “When you become one with the Force, you are nearly indistinguishable from it, even to other Force users.”

“So you are literally blending into the background,” Obi-Wan said, leaning forward in curiosity.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Knight Eerei chided. “Quit bothering the poor boy with your curiosity. The council will question him enough.”

“The council?” Luke asked. His father’s parting words about the council were short and sweet: ‘run the Jedi, generally incompetent, especially since they missed the Sith in their midst because they were too entrenched in tradition.’ Completely unhelpful of his father, but did he expect more from the man who had just hurtled him across time without so much as a warning?

“Yes,” Obi-Wan leaned back his chair. “You have me at a disadvantage young man. You have called me by name more than once now, but I’m afraid I have no recollection of you. And the fact that you appeared after a burst of highly concentrated darkness is… suspicious, you must admit.”

“Hmmm,” Luke hummed lightly in response. “Yes, I can see how that would be.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Well let’s go then.” His joints protested but he easily brushed the pain to the side.

“What do you think you are doing!” Knight Eren exclaimed. “You should not be walking like this!”

Luke blinked at the Jedi. “I’ve had much worse,” he assured her. The time after Hoth when he had to be submerged in bacta for three days came to mind. For a moment, he felt another pang of loss at the thought of Han. He stood carefully, testing that his sore joints would hold him before he straightened.

“Shouldn’t we be going?” he asked again. He couldn’t keep the grin off of his face at Obi-Wan’s bewildered look.

“I suppose we shall,” Obi-Wan said. He rose from the bedside seat, standing taller than Luke remembered him. For a moment, Luke admired his presence. Obi-Wan Kenobi was young and healthy, with a well taken care of beard and a steady presence that made you take notice. He was as far from the scraggly old hermit as Luke could imagine in this moment. -You'll age better this time- he thought decisively. -This time, it'll all be different-

Chapter Text

Their mystery guest reminded Obi-Wan more and more of Anakin as they journeyed through the temple to the council chambers. It was obvious that he had never seen the temple before in his life, and the look of wonder on his face reminded Obi-Wan of Anakin’s reaction the first time the former slave had walked into the Temple. They even looked similar--they both shared sunbleached blonde hair and sun darkened faces, though the stranger had a softness to his face that Anakin only possessed when looking at his own Padawan, or, occasionally, Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan shook away the feeling of deja-vu as they entered the council chambers and he stepped into his seat and the entire assembled council surveyed the young man standing in the middle. And he was -young-, just around the age a padawan became a knight, around the same age Obi-Wan’s own padawan became a knight. He wore dark colors-- a rarity for Jedi, who preferred soft browns and neutrals-- but his tunic had fallen open to reveal a white inside. And despite his age and the unfamiliarity of the situation, he met all of their gazes unflinchingly, and with open curiosity.

“Begin, we must,” Yoda said with a solid thump of his stick. “Questions we have. Appeared, you did, in the lower level. The darkside we felt, but the light also. Who you are, we must ask. A lightsaber you have, but a Jedi Knight you are not.”

Luke nearly smiled. It was so good to see master Yoda again, even if his interactions held a tinge of betrayal. He understood the last hope of the last Jedi, even if he could not kill his father for it. Still, he needed to be careful in his answers, the Force told him. Not all of these truths could be told at once, or they would not be believed. Sith hells, he barely believed it.

“I am a Jedi Knight,” Luke said with a confidence borrowed from watching Leia, “for I have reached the end of my training, and my master passed on what knowledge he could to me, and we could not use the temple.”

“Are you saying that a Jedi Knight trained you without the authority of the temple?” a council member leaned forward. “And then he sent you here?”

“You jump to conclusions that have not yet been reached,” Luke said softly, though he was inwardly amused. He had the feeling that these severe looking sentients would not take kindly to being laughed at. “I was trained by two separate masters of the Jedi Order, the second after my first teacher was killed. They were the only ones left to train me, and they had the authority to. As for how I was sent here, I do not know the particulars. I only know that it was a sith spell.”

There was a soft intake of breath from more than one area in the room. “A Sith spell? You were sent here as a Sith?”

Yoda banged his stick in reprimand. “Feel like a Sith, he does not. He is correct-- jump to conclusions, you do.” The council member subsided.

Yoda stood from his seat to step towards the stranger, who obligingly knelt down so they could look face to face. “Know this spell, I do,” he murmured. “Older than I am, it is. Requires willing sacrifice of a sith, it does.”

“A Sith, sacrificing themself?” Obi-Wan’s voice was skeptical. Yoda, however, was looking at Luke with new eyes. “Hush” he commanded the whispering council. “The name of your masters, you must tell me.”

Luke smiled, eyes lighting up. He had to hand it to the little green troll, as Obi-Wan’s force ghost had affectionately called him more than once. He was the only one who suspected what was going on. “My first master was Obi-Wan Kenobi, known to me as Ben,” he answered honestly. “My second was you, Master Yoda. Before you passed into the Force, you proclaimed me as Jedi Knight Luke, the last of the Jedi.” A hush fell over the already silent room. Luke gently released his feelings of mischief and apprehension into the Force before they could be read on his face.

“Ah,” Yoda nodded. “Thought you might be from the future, I did. See the rest, I did not.”

“What do you mean, the last of the Jedi?” Mace Windu interrupted. Luke straightened, directing a respectful nod to the council member.

“I’m afraid it means exactly what you think it means,” Luke said. “From what I know, only Obi-Wan and Master Yoda survived the Purge, and by the time I faced the Emperor and… his apprentice, I did it with full knowledge that I was the last.”

“You are truly from the future,” Mace Windu murmured. The Force resonated with the truth of his words.

“You are saying that of all the Jedi on this council, only Yoda and I live to your time?” Obi-Wan asked weakly.

“No master,” Luke said softly. Ben had never once required Luke to call him master, and it felt slightly odd doing so now. “I mean that from what I know, of all the trained Jedi currently in the galaxy, only you and master Yoda survive to my adulthood.”

Luke could not see the rest of the Jedi’s response, but Yoda he saw clearly. The small green being bowed his head in obvious grief. “Ah,” he said. “Then failed, this Jedi council has.”

“How can we be sure this self proclaimed Jedi Knight is from the future?” the first council member demanded. Despite the argumentative statement, his voice was weak and shaken.

“Can you not feel it in the Force?” Obi-Wan asked bleakly. “Though perhaps he might tell us something that others would not know.”

“I know very little of this time,” Luke admitted. “Much of it was erased by Imperial propaganda, and Obi-Wan refused to speak of it, having lived through the death of his entire Order. I only know what stories my father managed to impart before he… passed.” Despite his best efforts, his voice hitched. The passing of his father was still fresh in his mind, and though Anakin Skywalker still lived he would not know his son here. He pushed down the wave of still confused emotions.

“The future is that bleak?” Windu asked, hand passing over his face.

Luke felt his eyebrows lift in visible surprise. Not even the Rebels had sounded that defeated, and the very definition of Rebel was 'one who had already lost.' “Of course not,” he said honestly. “From what knowledge was imparted on me, I know that my future no longer exists. I am the only remnant of a world that never knew Jedi-- and with what help I can give, the future can be changed.” His voice rang with clarity and truth in the force. “There is much more to be said, though the Force warns me that knowing too much is as much a detriment as not knowing enough.”
“Truth, he speaks.” Yoda said. “Used, this spell was, millennia ago. Brought balance to the Force, it did.” He gave Luke a look, and Luke had a feeling that the old master knew exactly what his last name was.

Luke hid a smile, but then wavered slightly as his hands trembled with the after effects of the Emperor’s attacks.

“But first rest, Jedi Knight Luke must,” Yoda ordered. “Shaking, you are.”

“It is just the after effects of Force lightning,” Luke reassured Yoda. “It will fade with time and meditation.”

“To be so casual about Force lightning..” someone muttered.

“Sleep in Obi-Wan’s padawan rooms, you will,” Yoda said. “Keep this quiet, we must.” Obi-Wan made a slight noise in the back of his throat. “Knight Skywalker you may tell,” Yoda amended.

Luke sketched a bow, his hands clenched in front of him to help still the trembling. “Thank you,” he said, leaving off the customary epithet of ‘master.’ For Obi-Wan and Yoda it had been a sign of respect, but he was still the freeborn son of a freed slave and his head hurt every time he remembered his father’s death at the hands of his own master.

“The council is dismissed,” Mace Windu said. “We all have much to think on. We will reconvene in the morning, so keep your comms on.”

“Come,” Obi-Wan said as he stepped down from his seat. The other council members were leaving as well, though not without sending a few side looks at Luke. He felt like he did when he was Commander Luke Skywalker, destroyer of the Death Star and Rebel darling, he thought in amusement. Yoda and the dark skinned man, however, joined them.

“You said your name was Luke?” the dark skinned man asked as they began to walk.

“It is,” Luke answered politely. “I am afraid that I do not know your name, however.”

The dark skinned man blinked, as though the thought had not occurred to him. “Jedi Master Mace Windu,” he said. “Do you have a family name?”

“My culture rarely takes family names,” Luke said in lieu of an answer. It was true-- most slaves or even freed slaves never knew their parentage, and many masters refused to use a family name for a slave. Luke had been considered lucky to know his heritage growing up. “However, I was given the epithet ‘Starkiller’ by a very dear friend of mine, and likely any children I have will carry that name.” he had decided long ago that the name Skywalker, though he was proud to carry it, held too much history for any future children.
“Children?” Windu asked. His steps faltered, and even Obi-Wan looked surprised.

“Yes, children,” Luke said. He cocked his head like a questioning bantha. “Why, do your children not carry a family name?”

“I have no children.” Mace sounded offended at the entire prospect.

“Neither do I, but that doesn’t mean I won’t in the future,” Luke said.

“Children are not allowed,” Mace countered. By now, they had completely stopped in the hallway.

“Well there seems to be a great deal of children here, for them not being allowed,” Luke said, amused.

“Yes, but they are not ours,” Obi-Wan said softly. “Attachments are forbidden in the Jedi Order. The younglings here have been given to us by their families.”

“You take them from their homes!?” Luke asked, aghast. “Force, no wonder the order fell. The Emperor did the same thing and that didn’t exactly inspire loyalty.”

“What do you mean?” Obi-Wan asked when it seemed as though Mace Windu was about to retort.

“Why do you think I was the only one trained?” Luke said. It seemed rather obvious to him. “The Emperor’s Inquisitors religiously tracked down all Force sensitives, taking them from their families and training them to be assassins of the empire. Being even mildly Force sensitive was likely to get you killed or worse--enslaved.”

“Most of us are given to the temple,” Obi-Wan explained quietly. “Having Force sensitive children can be… a burden, to put it lightly.”

“Does the general public know that?” Luke asked. The rumors of Jedi as baby stealers was suddenly making sense to him.

“Given us much to think about, you have,” Yoda said. “But continue, we should.”

“Of course master Yoda,” Luke said. He wanted to move on from the topic. He was unsurprised when the green being clambered onto his back. “Of happier things, we should speak,” Yoda began as they continued. The few younglings they walked by looked at them curiously. “Trained by Obi-Wan, you were. Still stubborn, is he?”

To the observers, Luke’s answering smile was a ray of sunshine, both physically and in the Force. “Only as stubborn as his student, Master Yoda.”

“Hmph,” Yoda said. “Sass you have.”

“And a very hard head that has been whacked by your gimmer stick one too many times, Master Yoda,” Luke retorted. Yoda tugged on his hair and he stopped at a door that looked just the same as the doors to either side. Obi-Wan’s eyes glinted with amusement as he opened it.

“Hmph,” Yoda said. “Definitely of my Lineage, you are. Leave you to rest, we will.”

“Lineage?” Luke asked as he followed Obi-Wan into the rooms. They reminded him of the rooms the commanders often received in the rebellion-- small, but serviceable, with your own kitchen so you didn’t have to eat at the Mess Hall. They were far more homey, however.

“My master was the padawan of Yoda’s padawan,” Obi-Wan explained. “So if you were my padawan, you are part of Yoda’s lineage, just as my last padawan, Anakin was.”

Hmmm. The little green troll had never told him that-- but then again, there was a great deal he hadn’t been told.

“These are the empty rooms,” Obi-Wan continued. “Anakin stays next door, though he is over far more often than not when we are on Corocusant.”

“Do you mind if I meditate before dinner?” Luke asked as he stepped into the bare room. There was little more than a mattress on the floor and a small closet, but he had certainly lived in far worse.

“Of course,” Obi-Wan said. The door shut behind him, and Luke sank to the ground. Normally, he would take his lightsaber and begin to fiddle with it, fine-tuning it and making small adjustments as he communed with the Force, but his saber had still not been returned to him. So instead, he lowered himself into the more traditional meditating pose-- though he loathed it-- and sank into meditation almost immediately.

First--grief. He acknowledged that it was currently the most prominent emotion he felt, and he could not afford to let it control him. Leia and Han-- he would never see them again, and if he did, they would not be the sister and best friend he always knew. His father was dead, dead so he could save his son and help him, in turn, save the galaxy.

Fear. He was desperately afraid. He knew almost nothing of this past, but he was expected to change it. What if he made things worse? What if he made a mistake? He acknowledged the concerns-- they were valid, and would help decide his actions-- but he could not let them prevent him from doing anything.

Relief. The war was over. They had won. And now he had the chance to change it all-- but did that negate the cost everyone had paid? -Live in the present- the Force whispered to him.

Excitement. His father-- his father before the Sith turned him-- was here, and alive! His mother, though he only knew her name and eventual fate, was here as well. He had a chance to learn more of the Jedi, to make positive change for them all.
He breathed deeply, and as he opened his eyes, came face to face with a Force ghost staring curiously at him.

“Hello,” he said. The Force ghost-- obviously a Jedi, judging by his robes-- looked surprised.

“You can see me?” he asked. His voice was deep, and seemed to resonate within the Force. He looked as if he had been a tall humanoid in life, and reminded Luke somewhat amusingly of Chewbacca, from his shaggy hair to his faintly curious expression.

“Of course,” Luke said. “Why would I not be able to see you? You are within the Force, after all.”

“My padawan cannot see me,” the Jedi admitted, his sad expression making Luke once again think of Chewie. “I stayed for him, yet I have been unsuccessful in making contact with any of the Jedi. They are so blinded by what they expect to see that they do not see me.”

“Your padawan?” Luke echoed.

“Forgive me,” the Force ghost said with a sweeping bow. It only emphasized his fraying robes-- and odd trait for a ghost. Did ghosts get changes of clothes? “I am Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, master to Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was killed by Darth Maul shortly after finding Anakin on Tatooine, leaving my padawan to be knighted and take a padawan of his own.”

“Well met, Jedi Master Qui Gon,” Luke said with a seating bow in return. “I am Luke Skywalker, recently sent from the future.”

“I know,” Qui-Gon said. “I felt it--myself and the few other Jedi who were heretical enough to linger all knew exactly who you were as soon as you appeared.”

Luke was intensely curious. As far as he had known, becoming a Force case was simple a matter of course. “So you know of me? And of Obi-Wan and Anakin?”

“I stayed, pulled myself away from the Force, because of my attachment to my padawan,” Qui-Gon admitted. “I have hardly left his side.”

Luke’s lips curved into a boyish smile. “Then perhaps you will be able to help.”

Chapter Text

“He was sent here by a Sith, and you’re willingly letting him stay in my old rooms?” Anakin paced furiously.

“Anakin calm down,” Obi-Wan said. “Yoda himself said that the Sith spell required a willing sacrifice on the part of the Sith.”

“That’s even worse!” came Anakin’s response. “A Sith wanting something enough to die for it is dangerous!”

“He is not here to hurt, he is here to help,” Obi-Wan said sharply. “The Force rings with the truth of what he says. Stop blinding yourself and listen!”

Anakin stopped abruptly, blinking stunned at his former master. It was very rare that Obi-Wan raised his voice to anyone, preferring to decimate them through insults instead. “Obi-Wan?” he asked carefully.

“I am sorry, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. He looked abruptly tired. “My emotions got the best of me.”

Anakin could feel it in the Force-- his fear. “What did he say to make you feel such fear?” he whispered, approaching his master like he would a feral loth-cat.

“He said that of the entire Jedi order, he knows of only myself and Master Yoda to survive to his adulthood,” Obi-Wan said as he sank down onto the couch. “He has never been to the temple. He knows very little of the Jedi order, because in his time the Republic has become an Empire, and erased everything we’ve ever worked for.”

Anakin stilled in his approach. There was a strange look on his face.”The Separatists win?” he said.

“I do not know,” Obi-Wan said as he rubbed his face. Anakin lowered himself onto the couch next to Obi-Wan. “The council was dismissed before we could do much more than establish his origins. He was tortured by Force lightning, it seems, before he was sent here, and was on the verge of collapse. He is meditating right now”

“Dooku,” Anakin said. “If it’s Force lightning, then Dooku wins.”

“Who is Dooku?”

Anakin leaped to his feet. Somehow, Luke had managed to leave his room, go to the ‘fresher, and leave there without either Jedi noticing. Currently, he was standing in the doorway looking at them curiously. “Sorry,” he said. Suddenly, both Jedi could once again feel his presence in the Force. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I forgot I was shielding.”

“Dooku didn’t send you here?” Anakin demanded.

“I have never heard of anyone named Dooku,” Luke said as he stepped into the room. “As for who sent me here, that is something that should not be known yet.”

“And who are you to say that?” Anakin demanded. Obi-Wan simply watched as Luke raised an eyebrow. For a moment, he felt as though he was arguing with Leia, as they often did.

“I’m just a farm boy named Luke” he said with a half grin as he looked into the same blue eyes he saw in the mirror every day. “But I do try to listen to the Force, and right now it is fairly screaming at me to be careful with what knowledge I do have.”

Anakin huffed and whirled around to face Obi-Wan. “You’re just letting him string the council along!?” Obi-Wan looked immensely tired.

“You remind me very much of my sister,” Luke said idly as he stepped into the kitchenette. “She never likes it when I tell her the Force told me something either, even though she is Force sensitive as well. She threatened to shoot me the last time I told her ‘the Force willed it’ after I crashed my X-Wing,” he continued as he sat down and pulled the glove off of his mechanical hand. It had been acting oddly-- probably affected by the Emperor’s Force lightning, much like Vader had been. Additionally, he had never actually repaired it after being shot. He gently pulled up his sleeve to reach the control panel, almost completely forgetting the two Jedi in the room until Anakin made a soft noise.

“That’s a prosthetic?” he asked. For the first time, Luke registered that his young father was wearing a glove on one hand as well.

“The newest model,” Luke said somewhat proudly. “I helped modify it so that it responds to impulses and transmits feelings-- it’s a little duller than my flesh hand, but otherwise there is hardly any difference.”

“Force!” Anakin’s anger had burned almost as quickly as it came, leaving only curiosity in its place. “It even looks real! Is that synth skin?”

Luke nodded. “Synth skin is easy enough to make, in my time, but many people prefer to go without it as it dulls some impulses. But my sister and I agreed that if I could have a hand that looked lifelike, I should, and we would modify it ourselves.” He eyed the circuitry for a minute. “I don’t know if this time will have all of the necessary components, and Leia was always better at this than I was.”

Anakin was just about to point out a quick fix when Obi-Wan interrupted. “Is that a blaster mark?” he asked.

Luke nodded, then cursed as a spark flew out of the hole in his hand. He grabbed a screwdriver, and decided Obi-Wan deserved a vague story. “I was reaching for my lightsaber when the bounty hunter hit it,” he said noncommittally.

Anakin made a disgusted noise in spite of himself. “Bounty hunters,” he said.

“I know!” Luke grinned boyishly at his young father. “It was luck and distraction on my part that he even managed to hit me,” he said. “The highest bounty in the Empire was on my head, and not one of them managed to catch up with me until I literally walked into his path to try and keep him from shooting Han.”

“Han?” Obi-Wan questioned. A sharp gesture from him quieted Anakin-- they might as well question him while he was distracted with his hand and in a sharing mood.

“My sister’s boyfriend, and a good friend of mine,” Luke responded. How the two Jedi next to him thought they were being subtle he didn’t know-- they were practically broadcasting their intentions through the force. “Han was the only one of us to have a non Empire bounty on his head-- his was from Jabba the Hutt. Leia had the third highest bounty in the Empire, and I had the first obviously.” He sat back in satisfaction and a small glimmer of pride when his hand was able to clench into a fist easily. He wasn’t lying when he said Leia was much better at it then him-- she was a mechanic at heart, while he was a flier. He looked up and beamed at the two men staring at him. “Dinner?” he asked innocently.He couldn’t help it. All of his solemnity fled in the face of his father and his master, just as it always used to in front of Han and Leia.

Obi-Wan had elected to have dinner brought to them not wanting the stranger subjected to hundreds of curious gazes in the Force. Presumably he could fade into the background with his little Force signature disappearing act, but being accompanied by the High General and the Hero With No Fear would just bring attention right back to him. With a little prodding, he got both Anakin and Luke to depart for sleep early, citing an early morning meeting with the council, solely so he could take a breath in his sitting room. The pot of tea by his side shifted slightly in the Force and he frowned. He didn't think he had lost that much control over his emotions. Still, tea was a good thought. He'd make himself a cup of Qui-Gon's favorite, and hope that it soothed his thoughts.

000000000
00000000000
“Researched the spell, we have,” were Yoda’s first words as Luke stepped into the council room. “Risk destroying yourself in changing the past, you do not. Continue in the past once changed, you will.”

Luke was slightly ashamed to admit the thought that he might erase himself from his timeline hadn’t even occurred to him. “That’s good to know, I suppose,” he agreed. “I assumed something along those lines as soon as I came back, though I admit to knowing nothing of the spell.”
“That’s what we wanted to speak to you about today,” said one of the non-human members of the council. “How it is that you came back due to a sith spell. It is most suspicious.”

“As I stated before,” Luke hedged, “I know very little of the sith spell. My death and the death of the one who sent me here were imminent; he had no time to do more than ask my permission and then send me back in time.”

“But why a Sith?” another member asked. “What could the darkside possibly gain from sending you here?”

“But it was not a Sith who sent me here,” Luke said gently. Surprise rang through the Force as the members of the council stilled.

“Obi-Wan will ask first,” came the voice of Qui-Gon in Luke’s ear, and he nearly startled.

”But with that amount of concentrated darkness, how else could you have been sent?” Obi-Wan leaned forward and asked diplomatically. Luke’s lips quirked in amusement as Qui-Gon practically radiated satisfaction.

“The one who sent me here,” Luke continued, “was once a Sith, I will admit. But he held some affection for me, as much as he was able, and I for him.” His voice wanted to waver but he pushed the feelings of betrayal and grief back. “In his last hours, he turned back to the light after seeing me tortured by his master, and sent me back with the remnants of the darkside clinging to him, but mostly with a feeling of hope.”

“Darksiders do not turn back,” one of the council members said sharply. “And the Sith do not feel affection.”

Qui-Gon made a sound of disgust next to him. “----,” he said. "A conservative to the highest degree, and deathly afraid of change.”

“If a Jedi can fall, can he not climb his way back to the light?” Luke asked. “As for affection, everyone feels it, as much as the Jedi and Sith deny it. For the Jedi, it leads to their compassion, but for the Sith their affection often leads to fear of loss, and then desire for immortality.” He had felt that desire in his father, very similar to his own desire to protect all those he cared for. At least he knew his weaknesses, he supposed.

A low murmur went around the room in response to his question, and Obi-Wan looked thoughtful as he sat back in his chair. “Whatever the case may be,” he said, “obviously, you are here to change things. However, I am concerned. It is obvious from the few conversations we have had, that you did not grow up a Jedi and you know little of this time.”

“That is a good point,” Mace WIndu said. “How do you hope to affect change if you do not know the cause?”

Luke nodded in agreement, but chose his words carefully. “The one who sent me here,” he began, “as I’m sure you’ve surmised by now, was once a Jedi. He imparted what knowledge he could of this time and the rise of the Sith. I know the basics-- the impetus of the Clone Wars, his own fall and the birth of the Empire on the same day as the destruction of the Jedi order.”

“Yet, you still believe you cannot tell us such things,” another council member said.

Luke sighed. “The ‘Sith’ who sent me here,” he began, “was a Jedi just like you. Arrogant, fighting in the Clone Wars, believing a Jedi such as himself could do no wrong. His fall was carefully crafted by the Sith master, and not a one of you noticed. Instead you prejudged based on what you believed, and not on what the Force was telling you.” For the first time a tinge of frustration entered his voice. “I am not saying this to hurt you, or to sound arrogant, but you are simply not ready for this knowledge. Even now, most of you cannot comprehend that a member of your order-- a member you trust-- will fall and take the entire order down as well.” There was anger in the room, he could feel it. Mace Windu was looking particularly disapproving, and even Yoda had a disgruntled look on his face.

Luke sighed and glanced at the ever present Qui-Gon, who looked just as frustrated as he. “They never listened to me in life,” he said. “And it death it is all the more frustrating.”

“If it is permitted, I would like to reveal what little I can to a member of the council you trust, and perhaps help lead him to the correct conclusions. I know Obi-Wan the best, and although he is not the same man I knew, I trust him the most as my former master.” A low murmur broke out, and it seemed to Luke that the council might like this idea. Obi-Wan’s face was a smooth mask of diplomacy, one the Luke had seen a few times before on his more aged face.

“You mean to help Obi-Wan identify and gather proof of the Sith master,” Mace said astutely. Luke nodded his assent.

“I have a more… intimate knowledge of how he operates, having been hunted by him and his apprentice for years,” Luke said quietly.

It was Yoda who broke through the murmurs, whacking his stick onto the floor to silence them. “Decided, this is,” he said. “Details, we will decide later. Eat lunch, we must.” With a grumble, the council dispersed, leaving Luke with Yoda, Mace Windu, and Obi-Wan once again. Yoda seemed to be mumbling under his breath in displeasure as he hopped down from his chair and unceremoniously climbed on Luke’s back. Luke rolled his eyes.

“Am I destined to be your chair for the rest of my life?” Luke asked as they stepped out of the council room. Anakin was standing there, obviously waiting for his former master.

Mace looked disapproving, but Obi-Wan was hiding a smile as Yoda cackled. “Privilege of the old, it is,” Yoda said. A few minutes later and they entered a mess hall very similar to one you would encounter on a Rebel base-- except this one was filled with children as well as adults.

Luke watched with wide eyes as children chattered with each other, played and joked with each other, and were scolded by their crechemasters. “Force,” he couldn’t help but breathe as they settled at a long table near the entrance. “I knew there used to be many Force users, but to have so many…” For perhaps the first time, the fall of the Order wasn’t just an abstract concept he had grown up with. It was a real, immense tragedy that killed hundreds.

“They are all dead?” Mace was the first to speak as he settled down next to him. His voice was pained, even if his expression wasn’t.

“From what I know… yes.” Luke said. Anakin was stepping back to the table with a tray full of food, and Luke averted his eyes from the man who would cause all this destruction. It wasn’t the first time he hated part of his father. They ate in silence for a time, before Obi-Wan spoke up.

“Yesterday you mentioned a sister,” Obi-Wan said. “Was she Force trained, as you are?”

“Sister?” It was one of the few times Luke had seen Yoda surprised, and Luke smiled.

“Yes, sister. My twin sister Leia, actually,” Luke responded. His voice turned wistful. “She never trained besides shielding her Force presence. I offered to train her after everything was over, but she didn’t want it--she hates it when I let the Force determine my actions.”

“I did not train her?” Obi-Wan asked, surprised. “Surely if she was as Force strong as you, I would have trained her as well.”

“Ben,” Luke said, forgetting himself for a moment. “Training people in the Force is-- was-- unnecessarily dangerous, and a good way to alert Darth Vader to your presence. You didn’t even start training me until there was no other option, and I was nineteen.”

It was Anakin who looked the most shocked. “Obi-Wan,” he said. There was a hint of teasing in his voice. “And you thought I was too old to begin training at age 9!”

“Living in exile for nearly twenty years does tend to mellow a person out,” Luke said. He plucked another citrus fruit off the table--after an entire lifetime without them, he adored them. “And later, Ben-- you, sorry-- admitted that my training was far less formal than used to be taught, and instead focused almost entirely on instinct and the Force. Yoda said something similar.”

The look on Mace’s face seemed to imply that this was troubling, but Anakin looked extremely interested. “So you weren’t trained in specific lightsaber forms?” he asked.

“I know of the forms,” Luke said. “Yoda told me my style was a bastardized mish-mash of several of them, depending on my mood and what I was fighting,” he continued unashamedly. “He-- you-- “he directed at Yoda, “grumbled under your breath about Obi-Wan’s influence at the beginning, but admitted I could hold my own better than most Jedi Knights, near the end.”

“Forms are important,” Mace Windu said, in a voice that sounded more like a reprimand than anything. He reminded Luke of many of the Rebel leaders he had often rubbed the wrong way.

“The Force is important,” Luke said firmly. “And if the Force is telling me to move out of the way of a blaster shot, I will move in whatever way allows me to continue on to fight the next day,” he finished.

--Well said--, Qui-Gon Jinn broke in. It was the rest of the lunch table that looked somewhat troubled, and Obi-Wan who put it in perspective.

“Though we have been at war,” Obi-Wan said, “We are not fighting for our survival in a world turned against us, and very few Jedi have ever experienced such a thing. We shall have to keep your upbringing and experience in mind, in the future.”

“Perhaps we can start with a sparring match?” Luke suggested. “As you can imagine, I haven’t had very many friendly sparring matches in my life lately-- it has mostly been fights for survival, as you would put it.”

“An excellent idea, this is,” Yoda broke in. “Spar against Anakin, you might?”

Luke had no idea if Anakin’s style was anywhere near similar to Vader’s, but after fighting Vader for his life for several years he thought it might not be the best idea. “Perhaps Obi-Wan?” he suggested instead. “I know his style a bit more, though it likely changed from now to my future.”

Anakin opened his mouth to protest, but Obi-Wan cut in smoothly. “I would love to,” he said. “After we finish eating?”

00000000

“It is very well made, for the materials it is made out of,” Obi-Wan commented of Luke’s lightsaber. The young man himself was stretching away from them, in a corner of the training salle.

“That’s not a regular crystal,” Mace observed. “It rings differently in the Force.”

“If a Sith controls an Empire in the future, it stands to reason he would not be able to get a crystal from Ilum,” Obi-Wan replied.

“It feels familiar,” Anakin said. He looked disturbed at the thought of this suspicious strangers’ lightsaber feeling familiar. Yoda just humphed.

“Ready, are you?” he called to Luke. The young man neatly executed a Force jump front flip to land in front of them with an exuberant grin.
“Always Master Yoda,” he said. It reminded Obi-Wan again just how young this stranger from the future was-- he was normally so serious all the time.

--Obi-Wan’s style is very defensive in spars such as this--, Qui-Gon murmured into Luke’s ear as they both settled into starting poses. --He will not often press the attack- you’ll have to force him to.--

Luke nods at Obi-Wan (he at least knows the basics of a friendly spar) before they begin circling each other.

“So you mentioned a sister earlier,” Obi-Wan began. Luke blinked.

--My padawan also likes to distract his opponent by talking excessively--, Qui-Gon said almost dryly.

Luke hid a grin ( so different from the Obi-Wan he knew, yet so similar!) before darting forward. The battle was brutal, and rather evenly matched-- the Clone Wars general in his prime, versus the younger man who had battled for survival again and again. Nearly ten minutes in, they had gathered quite the crowd of Jedi and younglings in the training salle, eager to watch and see who would win.

Obi-Wan was struggling, Luke could tell. Every time he fell into a rhythm, Luke threw in a flip that was distinctly Yoda, or slide to the floor in a move he had used time and time again against stormtroopers. The General was hard pressed to keep up. Luke closed his mouth against an ‘old man’ taunt that wanted to escape (Obi-Wan wasn’t old now!) and finally disarmed Obi-Wan in a swift move that he had learned from watching Vader himself. The lightsaber swung upwards in an arc, and with a swift Force pull was in Luke’s hand as he stared into his opponent’s eyes.

The moment stilled--stretched-- and then the Jedi were murmuring to each other excitedly. “Solah,” Obi-Wan said with a bow. He was panting lightly. Luke bowed back before handing him his lightsaber.

“That was fantastic!” he beamed as they walked back towards the other masters and Anakin. Still high on the rush of fighting, his presence in the Force swirled outward like a miniature sun, and his smile seemed an extension of it. “Your style obviously changed in my future-- you were an exile for twenty years after all, but this was a fantastic fight!”

Obi-Wan didn’t seem at all disappointed that he’d lost. “Where did you learn that last move you used to disarm me?” he asked interestedly instead.

“From Vader himself,” Luke said without thinking. “He used it on me twice before-- the first time I was mostly untrained and lost my hand because of it,” he gestured with his prosthetic, “but the second time he successfully disarmed me for a few seconds. I wasn’t sure it would work.”

“That was your first time using that move?” Windu asked. He seemed shocked. Luke nodded.

“I couldn’t exactly use it on the man who would see it coming,” Luke said. “Also, the move itself leaves you slightly unguarded if it doesn’t work-- you end up overextending.”

“I could see that,” Obi-Wan said. “If I knew it was coming, I would have simply caught the lightsaber with my other hand and struck at your unguarded side.”

“Exactly,” Luke said.

“You used a SIth style?” Anakin asked accusingly. Luke really wanted to know how he went from this to a Sith himself.

“I used what was available to me,” Luke said, and then shrugged. “To be honest, I had no idea there even was a Sith style. Vader was a Jedi once, after all. Half of my knowledge came from fighting him and living to run away.” Once again he stroked his prosthetic hand.

“Was Vader the one who sent you here?” Obi-Wan asked. Luke nodded, not seeing the harm in answering. “You said he held some form of affection for you, yet you speak as though he did nothing but hunt you down.”

Anakin snorted at that, but held his tongue.

“Our relationship was… complicated, to say the least.” Luke said slowly. “He hunted me by order of his master, but he desperately wanted me at his side, and not the Emperor’s. There were many times he could have killed or seriously injured me, but instead stayed his hand. He may have been more machine than man, but near the end it was his affection for me that caused him to turn back to the light as much as he was able.” It felt good to say it all out loud, even if Mace looked disapproving and Yoda looked knowing.

“In either case,” Luke said, feeling the need to change the subject, “it was nice to spar with you, Obi-Wan, without the urgency of needing to learn. It’s good to know Master Yoda’s training and my own learning paid off.”

Obi-Wan inclined his head with a grin. “It is good to know I did my best in training my future padawan.”

Luke grinned back and slid easily into the stretches he often used to ensure his limbs didn’t stiffen in the pilot’s seat after fighting. “Your style is much changed in my future,” he commented as Obi-Wan slid into similar stretches. “Ben was defensive to a fault, but much more fluid. He was also far more patient, and willing to wait things out.”

“With age comes patience and wisdom, or so I’ve been told,” Obi-Wan commented with a sly glance towards Yoda. Yoda hmphed.

“Learned some from myself, did you not?” he said.

“Of course Master Yoda,” Luke said with a bow. “Though I never learned quite as much as you wanted me to.” He gave a brief smile, though it was tinged with grief. “I was always flying off to help the rebellion.”

“Against the Empire you spoke of?” Mace Windu asked. Luke wasn’t surprised he was the one who restarted the minor interrogation, but still nodded.

“An Empire run by a SIth is likely just as bad as you are imagining,” he said. “The remnants of the Republic managed to scrape together a Rebellion, but it took nearly twenty years to gain any sort of traction. We had just started winning when I was sent here.”

“If you were winning then why would the Sith send you?” Anakin interrupted.

Luke finished his stretching and stood up slowly. “I had been captured, and was about to die. Vader was already dying. I can only guess that he regretted his actions and wanted to save me at the same time.”

Chapter Text

That night, Luke dreamed. In the familiar force presence of Obi-Wan Kenobi, his unconscious mind allowed his tight shields to loosen, just a bit. Of course, this was the night where dreams weren’t just dreams-- they were memories. And for a boy as strong and untrained in the Force, nearly half of the stronger Jedi could feel them.

Anger. “Give in to your anger.” A flash of yellow eyes.

Fear. “your… sister? Your thoughts betray you.” A mechanical breath, a red lightsaber.

Pain. Lightning arcing from wizened hands. A maniacal laugh.

And then… fear not his own. A fierce protectiveness. A glimpse of a gloved hand, and huge darkened form stepping in the way, taking away the pain.

Death. Affection. Grief.

Luke woke with a gasp, trembling slightly as the ghost of pain echoed in his limbs. Across the temple, those with strong enough Force sensitivities startled awake as well, struggling to make sense of the strange terrifying dream.

“Luke!” Obi-Wan burst into the room. He calmed when he saw Luke laying there safely. “It felt like you were being attacked. I saw…”

Luke shuttered his Force signature, feeling slightly ashamed. “I apologize,” he said as calmly as he was able. “I didn’t mean to project.”

“What…?” For the first time, Luke registered Anakin behind Obi-Wan. He was fully dressed, and it looked as though he had been visiting Obi-Wan. “What in the seven kriffing hells was that?”

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan admonished.

For a moment, a flash of fury-- no more than an echo-- rushed through Luke, enough to make him loosen his tongue. “That,” he said sharply, “was the Emperor. The man who ordered the slaughter of the Jedi, who turned one of the best and brightest, who killed my parents and tried to kill my friends in an attempt to get me to fall. That is what all of this becomes.”

“And the man in black?” Obi-Wan pressed while Luke seemed willing to share.

“Vader,” Luke said tiredly. He rested his head in his hands. “He captured me near the end, but when he witnessed the Emperor torturing me he finally stepped in, stepping between us. The lightning shorted out his life support in his suit. I tried to get us both out, but everything was blowing up around us….”

“You’re grieving him,” Obi-Wan said softly, looking surprised.

“Of course,” Luke said before he could hesitate. “Even after everything he did, he’s still…” my father. It went unsaid. Luke was awake enough realize that if he confessed to Vader being his father, someone (Yoda) might connect the dots and realize Anakin became Vader in his future. That was a burden Luke did not want to place on his young father. Instead he just shrugged. “I even grieved those I killed when I flew for the rebellion. To not do so-- I couldn’t imagine it.” And that was the full truth. Once the enormity of the destruction of the Death Star hit him, he had grieved for months until Wedge had pulled him out of it.

He looked up and he could only see incomprehension. He had expected it on Anakin’s face, but it was surprising to see it on Obi-Wan’s as well.

We are not allowed even grief, for fear that it consumes and leads to the dark side, Qui-Gon whispered.

00000
Luke had spent the rest of the sleepless night outlining to himself what he knew about this era-- facts gleaned from Leia, his own reading between the Empire’s propaganda, and the bare facts of Darth Vader’s life rattling around in his head. The year was no help-- the Empire changed calendar systems starting with Empire day-- but he could see he was somewhere near the middle of the Clone Wars. Again, this was an era he knew next to nothing of, save for the fact that Obi-Wan and Anakin were generals during it. Palpatine was in power at the moment, and it seemed obvious to Luke that this was simply an excuse for a power grab from the Sith. Vader’s knowledge told him that the stormtroopers-- clone troopers now-- were the Emperor’s and no one else’s, but it didn’t tell him how. The Force didn't care so much about the how-- he needed knowledge. So of course, Obi-Wan volunteered to accompany him to the Jedi archives the next day.

Luke couldn’t help it-- when he saw the archives, his breath escaped his lungs, leaving him speechless at the sheer enormity of what he was seeing. Force, there was so much knowledge here! After digging for scraps about the Jedi, basing who he was half on instinctive skill and half on stories-- here was anything he ever wanted to know.

Obi-Wan had stopped to look back at him with curiosity in his eyes. “There’s just… so much,” Luke said weakly. “I’ve never seen this much concentrated knowledge in my life.”

“Oh,” Obi-Wan said. “Yes, I suppose the first thing a hostile Empire would do was get rid of all knowledge that might work against it.” He frowned, carving lines into his face that Luke recognized intimately from the future. “Do you know what happened to the temple?”

Luke shook his head. “I didn’t even know there was a temple on Corucasant,” he said. “And in my time, this was the stronghold of the Empire, so I only came here once on an undercover assignment.”

Obi-Wan’s face tightened, and he seemed to decide to drop the subject. “What are you looking for?” he asked instead as they settled at a nearby dataport.

“I need more knowledge on the Republic,” Luke answered. “Leia was always more interested and into politics, but this is important. The Empire came into being because the Republic was failing and corrupt in the first place.”

“Now that I can understand,” Obi-Wan said. “Anakin might be unwilling to say anything bad about the legislation Senator Amidalia or the Chancellor pass-- he is nothing if not loyal-- but I have dealt with politicians for far longer than my former Padawan.”

Luke skimmed through legislation passed around the start of the Clone Wars-- he remembered enough from Leia’s rants about the corruption of the Republic to remember that this would be the start-- and paused when he reached a recording of an emergency vote.

“Weesa move,” said a being of a type Luke had never before seen “To give the Chancellor emergency powers.”

“Palpatine, Palpatine,” the crowd chanted. The holo informed him that the Chancellor immediately passed the Military Creation act, allowing the Republic to lead an army of clones. It was so simple! Palpatine hardly had a fight on his hands-- the people capitulated easily, and now the Jedi were surrounded on both sides by ‘friendlies’ and droids alike.

“Obi-Wan,” Luke said carefully. The Jedi Master glanced up from the holo he had been skimming through. Palpatine, Palpatine, the crowd still chanted in the background. “Who stands to gain from the Clone War?”

“Well, the Separatists get separation from the rules of the Republic,” Obi-Wan said. “ And the Republic gets to keep the Separatists as a part of the Republic when we win. It’s quite a bit more complicated than that of course, but that is the basic idea.”

“Yes, but who gains from continuing a war?” Luke asked. “I served in a rebellion for years, and my sister was one of the top commanders. Everyone high enough up in a rebellion knew we had to be wary of three types of people: weapons dealers who made their money off of war, the types of smugglers who would happily help the war continue if only to disguise their own movements, and people in power who saw war as the chance to make an easy power grab.”

Obi-Wan had drifted closer during Luke’s little speech and was staring at the now repeating holo. “You’re saying the Chancellor is a part of the third group,” he said thoughtfully. “He always seemed kind, but he is a politician. It would not surprise me.”

Luke shook his head in frustration. How could he make him see? “Who created the clones?”

“The Kaminoans, reportedly on the order of Jedi Master Sifo-Dryass.” His facial expression said what he thought about that. “I didn’t sit right with me-- still doesn’t-- but then the war started…”

“Do the Jedi have control of the clones then?” Luke asked.

“No one controls them, they are people!” Obi-Wan said quickly. Luke did his best to keep his Force presence as non judgemental as possible. “Technically, they are the property of the Senate,” he said with a sigh.

“So why would a Jedi order the creation and enslavement of thousands of sentients, something I know for a fact you are diametrically opposed to?” Luke asked. Hopefully, Obi-Wan would reach the conclusion Luke had on his own-- it would give it more weight.

“We don’t know,” Obi-Wan said. “But circumstances demanded their use.”

“What circumstances?”

“The fact that Dooku and the Separatists were about to execute myself, Anakin and Padme for one,” Obi-Wan said mildly. Luke pursed his lips. Even with his borrowed knowledge, this past was a mystery, but the Force was practically begging him to push further. It couldn't give him the answers, but it was certainly nudging him in the right direction.

“How did you get caught?” he asked.

“I was following a bounty hunter named Jango Fett,” Obi-Wan began when the Force blared at him.

“Stop,” he commanded, and to his surprise, Obi-Wan stopped instantly. “What do you know about Jango Fett?”

Obi-Wan explained everything-- from the attack on the senator (mother, Luke’s insides screamed) to the dart being traced to Kamino, finding the clone army and then following Jango Fett to his own capture on Geonosis.

To Luke, the answers to all of the Jedi’s questions were staring them straight in the face, and he sighed explosively. “I know we have had different experiences,” he began. “And you are not trained to see possible spies everywhere, or to question everyone’s motives. But did it ever occur to you that Jango Fett was baiting you purposely?”

He stood up suddenly and started to pace before Obi-Wan could answer. “When Vader wished to capture me but could not find me, he instead took my friends. He then tortured them, intending to send a blast into the Force that would draw me to them. It never occurred to me that he intended for me to come find him, that it was a trap. Even when he trapped me, he fed me the kind of information he knew would anger me, driving away my caution and making me act instinctively in anger.”

“What are you saying?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Vader learned from his master,” Luke said honestly. He stopped and looked at the young Jedi in front of him. Force, but he was barely a decade older than Luke even with all his experience, and suddenly Luke realized it. “I think-- and the Force is fairly screaming at me that this is the truth-- that Jango Fett was your bait, leading you to discovering the clones, and then he led you straight to Genosis. And then Dooku-- I’m assuming he learned the same things from his master Vader did-- used you as bait, drawing the Jedi out and forcing them to attack, to take control of a clone army they would otherwise refuse to touch.” The Force rang clearly, as though someone had struck a bell, and for a moment the entire temple shuddered.

Obi-Wan’s face was pale as a new moon. “This entire war is a farce then, isn’t it?” he whispered. “Just a ploy to get more power. Dooku has an army on one side and then-- oh Force-- Chancellor Palpatine has an army on the other side.”

“And the Jedi fall further and further away from their intended purpose,” Luke said gently.

“He is the master, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Luke affirmed, although he didn’t have to. The truth was written on Obi-Wan’s face.

For a moment, the Force rang with a maelstrom of emotions: grief, guilt, fear, anger. They were all Obi-Wan’s, Luke realized in surprise.

“I--I must meditate on this,” Obi-Wan said abruptly. “Please excuse me.” He turned on his heel and practically ran out of the archives leaving Luke with nothing but a datapad still chanting Palpatine! Palaptine! and a Force echo full of grief.

000000000000

It was the middle of the night when the door to Luke’s room opened, but he was already awake, warned by Qui-Gon’s presence. For once, the man was quiet as Obi-Wan stepped into the room. Upon seeing Luke awake, Obi-Wan stopped in the doorway.

“From the moment you arrived, you reminded me of Anakin,” the man whispered. The air was still, and there was no movement in the Force. “Palpatine has been friends with Anakin for years, since the boy was nine and lost on an unfamiliar planet. He never says so, but I know he views him as more of a father figure than myself. He’s--” Obi-Wan stopped. “He’s grooming him, isn’t he? To become Vader, the apprentice who loved you and hunted you in equal turns, because you, you’re…”

“His son,” Luke supplied.

Obi-Wan gasped as if he had been struck, and the Force cried out his anguish into the silence. “Anakin!” he staggered and slid down the doorframe. “My brother. Why…?”

Luke stood slowly in the midst of the maelstrom of emotions Obi-Wan was unknowingly broadcasting. He crouched before the man, suddenly understanding the many lines etched on his older counterpart’s face. Obi-Wan looked as though he had aged years. “I’ve failed him,” he gasped.

“No,” Luke protested. “No one failed anyone, except perhaps the Jedi failing themselves. Father…” Luke’s voice faltered and he sat back on his heels. “I understand, a little more now, how he became Vader. He was so afraid for those he loved, and felt that he could not express that fear to the Jedi, or even the people he loved. So he turned to someone else-- someone he trusted, and that someone twisted him so that even his affection and love became something possessive and ugly. But I never once doubted his love for me.”

“What happened?” the look that Obi-Wan gave him was full of loss.

“I don’t know,” Luke said honestly. “The man I’ve met in this time shares some characteristics with Vader, but I honestly could not imagine him falling so dramatically. I only know that we must stop it, if we want to save the Jedi, and my father.”

“We have to-- I have to--”

“Do what?” Luke asked gently when it seemed like Obi-Wan couldn’t get the words out. “You cannot tell the council. Even I know how they would treat him-- a blind man could see the suspicion they already level on him. And telling him would make him fear himself.”

Obi-Wan-- the man who followed the tenants of the Jedi his entire life-- looked at the strange and familiar child in front of him and made a choice. “We must help him. Whatever it takes.”

00000000000000
“Told you of the master, he has?” Yoda asked in the council. For once, the young time traveler was not in the room with them. Some things were after all, private council matters. “Felt your reaction, many of us did. Strong it was.”

“Indeed,” Obi-Wan said with a half bow from his seat. Exhaustion clung to him in the bags underneath his eyes, and he looked far wearier than he ever had after a battle. “He… lead me to some correct conclusions, and confirmed them when I asked. I have been meditating on this all night masters, and many things have suddenly become clear, as though the Force has opened itself for me.”

“Tell us, you will?” Yoda asked.

Obi-Wan blew out a slow breath. When he breathed back in, he trembled slightly and Yoda leaned forward. “Terrible, it is?” he asked.

“There is still much I don’t know,,” Obi-Wan began slowly after composing himself. “But we have been blind. And manipulated as well, though our own arrogance has led to this easy manipulation. I cannot claim to understand all-- but I understand a bit now. Our downfall is years in the making, contributed to by ourselves and the Sith at our sides. If I told you, you would fear as I do right now, and I fear-- I fear some of us may fall to it.”

There was a mutter throughout the room, and if they hadn’t been Jedi Obi-Wan would have said they sounded angry. “We must listen to the boy,” he interrupted. “He is young, and untrained in our ways, yet he is the strongest Jedi I have ever met. He has only trained for three years of his life, yet he beat me in a spar, and the wisdom that leaves his mouth reminds me of a seasoned Jedi Master. He has lived through the occupation of the Sith-- yet not fallen himself, despite the torture of himself and those he feels affection towards. He looks at the world-- and the Force-- entirely different from the way we were taught, and yet… I cannot say it is wrong.”

“Doubt the Jedi order, you do?” Yoda reprimanded gently.

“It is not the order I doubt, merely some of its tenants,” Obi-Wan said as he folded his hands into his sleeve.

This time, disapproval hung throughout the room, and Obi-Wan pursed his lips. “Understand this, masters,” he said, his formality causing several of the masters to straighten in their seats. “If we do not change, we will hasten our own eradication. This is not an opinion-- the proof is in the young man sent here by the Force, the last of the Jedi order.”

Chapter Text

“I can see now why Dooku fell,” Obi-Wan mused, more to himself than to his companion. Luke glanced up from the holo he was watching, eager for a distraction. The young man was not used to sitting idle.

“Dooku?” he asked. “You mentioned him before. Is he the current Sith apprentice?”

“Yes, I suppose so,” Obi-Wan said. “Although most consider him to be the leader of the Separatists, first and foremost. Another political ploy, it seems. Originally, he was one of us,” he continued. “In fact, he was Master Yoda’s padawan, and trained my own master.”

Luke glanced to the side, where Qui-Gon nodded his assent. “So Vader was not the first the Emperor successfully turned,” Luke said thoughtfully. It seemed important to him.

Obi-Wan seemed to think the same, if his expression was anything to go by. “He’s been using the Jedi to find new apprentices,” he said lowly. “Already trained, only needing a slight push to fall to the dark side.”

“But there is risk there,” Luke reminded Obi-Wan. “My father-- Vader-- found his way back to the light eventually. If you can fall, you can also claw your way back up.”

“Yoda always says once you fall to the dark side it will forever dominate your destiny,” Obi-Wan said.

“Of course it does,” Luke said. “The rush of power you feel the first time you attempt to strike someone in anger is hard to back away from. But very few people-- even Jedi-- have never lashed out in anger in their lives.”

Obi-Wan suddenly paled. “Force,” he whispered. “When I was captured on Genosis-- Dooku tried to warn me. He told me there was a high placed Sith in the Senate. I refused to believe him.”

Luke cocked his head. “Why would he tell you? He’d be risking a lot, going against the Emperor like that.”

“Perhaps…” Obi-Wan looked unsure. “He confessed to me that he did not wish for my capture, and seemed unwilling to hurt me, though he led me to the executioner’s block quickly enough.” His lips quirked into a wry smile. “But he was my master’s master…. Perhaps like your Lord Vader, he felt some form of affection for me, twisted though it may be.”

It is true. Qui-Gon spoke suddenly, making Luke jump. He liked Obi-Wan when he was young, and often spoke of him fondly. I may not have gotten along with my master, but he and Obi-Wan were far more alike in temperament… and seriousness… than me. Qui-Gon smiled in the same way Obi-Wan just had. I always was the rebel of the family.

“Luke?” Obi-Wan asked in concern. The boy in front of him had a strange look on his face as he stared at a blank wall in front of him. At his prompting, Luke shook his head and refocused.

“Maybe if we talk to him…” Luke said.

“Dooku?” Obi-Wan asked, incredulity shining through for the first time. “You wish to speak to a man we know to be the Sith’s apprentice, because he may hold some affection for me? For Force’s sake, this is the man who cut off Anakin’s hand!” His voice barely rose, but his exasperation was evident.

“And Vader cut off my own,” Luke said, unperturbed. “He could have easily killed me, but he didn’t. And I’d wager Dooku could have done the same.”

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak and promptly shut it. The subject of Luke’s parentage was still one that Obi-Wan had shied away from again and again. “Perhaps… perhaps you are right,” he said, sounding mildly put out. “But one cannot simply find a Sith such as Dooku.”

He is on Serreno currently, and will be there for the next week, Qui-Gon answered promptly.

Luke stretched out his senses-- and yes, there it was, a tinge of familiar darkness-- very much like Vader’s but not quite-- in a system he assumed was Serreno. He pulled back before Dooku could sense him.

“I can sense him, show you where he might be on a holo map,” Luke offered. “He’s not shielding like Palpatine is.”

“You-you can sense him?” Obi-Wan asked in astonishment.

“Well- yes?” Luke blinked. “His darkness is rather noticeable in the Force.” He pointed to an area on the map that he assumed was Serreno. “That’s where he’s at, currently.”

“Well then,” Obi-Wan said mildly. “I suppose we are going to Serreno. Though Anakin and the council will not like it.”

“Perhaps it is best that they don’t know,” Luke hedged uncertainly. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at him, and Luke huffed. “I know enough about the council to know that they won’t just let us go. And even if they did, they’d send someone with us-- someone who doesn’t have the context we do.”

Obi-Wan hmmmed under his breath. “I agree,” he said, surprising Luke. “What? This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve gone against the council. We shall have to be careful sneaking out, however.”

Luke grinned. “I’ve spent half my time in the rebellion sneaking in and out of places I wasn’t supposed to be. The council is lazy-- this will be a piece of cake.”

“You were an undercover operative?” Obi-Wan asked with a bit of surprise. The thought of the guileless young man in front of him being undercover did not work well.

“Force no,” Luke laughed. “Only occasionally, when absolutely necessary. But I did have the Empire’s highest bounty on my head twice over, and got caught a fair few times. I’d like to think my escapes had the stormtroopers talking for days.”

“Well, hopefully it need not be so dramatic to escape the council’s eyes,” Obi-Wan said dryly. “I can easily get us an untraceable ship if you scrounge up some supplies.”

“Sure,” Luke said cheerfully. “Make sure you get a ship that can make hyperspace in ---”

Obi-Wan blinked. “On second thought, perhaps you should choose the ship, and I will gather what we may need for such a trip.”

000000000

Obi-Wan knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid Anakin. It was as if the boy--man now, but still his padawan, once-- had a tracker on his master, always able to find him even in the most crowded of systems. In fact, Obi-Wan mused, it wouldn’t surprise him at all if Anakin had hidden a tracker somewhere on his master. Overprotectiveness was practically Anakin’s middle name.

“You’re leaving,” Anakin accused as he stepped from the shadows.

“Always a flair for the dramatic, Anakin,” Obi-Wan sighed to cover his flinch as he tightened the grip on his bag. Anakin didn’t blink. “Luke and I must look into something that the council would not approve if they knew of it.” He kept walking down the darkened hall-- Luke should have a ship by now.

“Where?” Anakin demanded, falling into step alongside him.

“I cannot tell you,” Obi-Wan said. “I will only tell you that this has to do with the Sith Master. “

Anakin’s prosthetic hand stopped him, gripping his upper arm. “Obi-Wan,” he whispered harshly. “I don’t trust him. He is withholding too much.”

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “Right now you must trust me when I say that from what I know, he is withholding just enough.”

“I can’t let you go with him,” Anakin said mutinously.

“I am not a possession,” Obi-Wan said sharply. “He’s not stealing me. You need to rid yourself of this ridiculous possessiveness.” He pulled his arm out of Anakin’s grasp and continued down the hall. Anakin turned on his heel and followed.

“Then I’m coming with,” Anakin said determinedly. Obi-Wan came to an abrupt halt.

“Anakin, you’re needed--”

“For the war effort?” Anakin said sarcastically. “We’ve been at a standstill for weeks now, and nothing is expected to change. My men will be fine with Ahsoka leading them.”

“You try my patience Anakin,” Obi-Wan muttered before resuming his original course. Anakin looked smug.

When they arrived at the loading dock, Luke waved them both over to a rather ordinary looking ship. The young man’s eyes flashed to Anakin. “To borrow your phrase, are you sure this is wise?” Luke asked Obi-Wan.

“Anakin is too stubborn for wisdom to stand against,” Obi-Wan said. Luke pursed his lips.

Dooku and Anakin have somewhat of an enmity, Qui-Gon said. In an attempt to disarm him, Dooku cut off Anakin’s hand. I will watch him and make sure things don’t go too far.

“So sure he’s coming,” Luke muttered. Qui-Gon gave him a dry look. My former padawan is as stubborn as his former padawan. I can see the writing on the wall.

Luke rolled his eyes and gestured for both to come aboard. It was a sleek vessel, new unlike many Luke had seen on Tatooine as junkers 15 years past their prime. It was also almost exactly the same as everyone else’s, with nothing to distinguish it from any other galaxy cruiser. Luke knew ships like this like the back of his hand, though he much preferred his X-Wing.

“At least we have a secondary pilot,” Obi-Wan commented as he climbed aboard. He was unsurprised to see Anakin had brought a bag as well. “I’m afraid my piloting skills are no match for Anakin’s, as many crashes as he often makes.”

Anakin was watching Luke warily, but he couldn’t resist the familiar banter. “Crashes,” he protested. “They weren’t crashes. Just.. assisted landings.”

“I’ve had many of those myself,” Luke commented as he moved towards the cockpit.

“Oh, good,” Obi-Wan said quietly. Luke continued on as if he had never heard the man.

“Of course, I never crashed my own X-Wing beyond repair--” he continued., “I only ever did that with stolen ships. Leia was always yelling at me for wasting resources but,” he shrugged as if to say ‘what can you do?’

Obi-Wan elbowed Anakin and the man (begrudgingly in his mind, no matter how much he was starting to like the kid) asked “you flew an X-Wing?”

Luke nodded absentmindedly as Anakin settled in the copilot’s seat next to him. “Yeah, easy maneuverability and the cheapest fighters the rebellion could get their hands on.” He flipped another switch and the engines hummed to life. “You ready?” he asked Anakin.

“It would help if I knew where we were going,” Anakin said dryly.

“Serreno,” Obi-Wan answered. Anakin jolted in his seat. “We have a few questions we must ask of Dooku.”

000000000000

The trip to Serreno only took around a day, but as they came closer and closer Luke felt more and more uneasy about the presence of Anakin on the ship. The darkness was calling to him-- Luke could practically see it, dark tendrils reaching out to the bright sun Force-presence of Anakin, ready to turn it into an all consuming fire. When he brought up his worries to Qui-Gon, the man’s response surprised him.

He has already fallen once, Qui-Gon said seriously. He dreamed for months of his mother’s death, but those dreams were summarily dismissed. When he disobeyed orders and still arrived too late to save her from Tusken Raiders, he lost control. He slaughtered the entire encampment. The man’s Force presence flickered, as if agitated.

Luke sucked in a breath--was his father already too far gone?-- and then immediately re thought everything. Anakin had already fallen once and come back! Obviously his strength of will was still there. And his weakness-- his loved ones-- was the same he himself had.

“Thank you for telling me,” Luke said. Then he hesitated. “I know you don’t know everything that goes on, but do you think Palpatine already has his hooks in him?”

If he does, I doubt it is more so than Anakin’s loved ones already do, Qui-Gon reassured. After all, despite his dislike of the Jedi principles, he still trusts them.

“I don’t like the Jedi principles-- I think at this point that’s in good taste,” Luke murmured. Qui-Gon humphed. A knock sounded on the small cabin door and jolted Luke out of his thoughts.

“Are we making approach?” Luke asked as he slid open the door. Obi-Wan nodded. His eyes flickered, and for a moment Luke wondered if he could sense Qui-Gon, if even minutely. “I’ll join Anakin in the cockpit then.”

Obi-Wan blinked as he entered the cockpit to see the two blonde heads at the wheel. Luke’s hair was slightly more sunstreaked than his own padawan’s, but there was very little difference from the back.

“Are we going stealth, or assault?” Anakin asked Obi-Wan. It was Luke however who responded. “Stealth,” he said immediately at Qui-Gon’s directing. “There’s a small port on the opposite side of Serreno-- I can shield our force presences so we look like a supply ship.”

“You can shield all of us?” Obi-Wan asked in astonishment.

Luke bit his lip. “I believe so, though I didn’t have many other force users to practice on besides Leia. At the most, we should feel mildly Force sensitive.”

Anakin raised a sardonic eyebrow. “And we’re trusting this maybe? On this suicide mission?”

Luke grinned at the very Leia statement once again. “I guess so,” he said. “Since we’re already here.”

Anakin huffed angrily but helped Luke land the ship gently as they approached the port. It was a small port-- obviously not on any register, likely for supplies in case of siege, knowing Dooku. Or perhaps it was an escape route, due to the fact that it was just down a hill from Dooku’s dwelling. “Do you know of this port because of your future knowledge?” he asked Luke, doing his best to shield his intense curiosity.

“I have never been to Serreno,” Luke murmured. His brow was creased in concentration. “Quiet, Dooku is sensing something.”

“Do we have any plan?” Anakin asked crossly.

Obi-Wan shrugged, although he seemed uneasy now that they had arrived. They disembarked cautiously, but the hidden port was empty of life. “Make our way to Dooku, appeal to his affection for myself as his grandpadawan, and see what he might tell us of the SIth.”

“That’s less of a plan than what I usually have,” Anakin said incredulously.

“Don’t worry,” Luke said, still showing only an expression of concentration. “I have a trump card, if things go wrong. Several, in fact.”

Other than myself? Qui-Gon asked surprised. Luke smirked slightly. This was one of the few things left over of his father-- the knowledge that Anakin had killed Dooku on Palpatine’s orders, kickstarting his own Sith apprenticeship. It was part of the reason behind his original rejection to having Anakin aboard, but he couldn’t deny his desire to know the man better.

“He’s in the house,” Luke whispered. “I can sense him-- lead us to him hopefully when he’s alone.”

“Alright,” Obi-Wan said. “Here’s what we will do-”

Luke didn't hear the rest, for in that moment he felt an overwhelming--and familiar-- dark presence. Palpatine, he thought in horror. It wasn’t strong enough for him to be physically on Serreno, but enough that he was likely communicating with his apprentice in a hologram imbued with the Force, as he often did. Obi-Wan and Anakin were completely oblivious, Luke thought in wonder. Obviously Palpatine had more control than he originally assumed if two of the most powerful Jedi didn’t notice the darkened aura practically engulfing the small planet.

“Bantha spit!” Luke cursed in Huttese as the soon-to-be-Emperor’s presence stretched out, as though searching. Anakin jerked at the familiar language. “Don’t move,” Luke said, strain evident in his voice. “He’s here it’s taking everything I have to keep us hidden.”

“Dooku?” Anakin asked lowly.

Obi-Wan shook his head with wide eyes. Sweat dripped down the young man’s face, and as the two Jedi watched in awe several good sized rocks began to levitate around him. “Wha--” Anakin cut himself off as the rocks abruptly began rotating.

Luke grunted slightly. He wouldn’t be able to hide them all-- there was no way. Even in hologram form the Emperor was too strong to fully hide from. Luke could feel his presences probing him like a curious Force anomaly. “Force help me,” he murmured.

Hold on, Qui-Gon’s voice echoed. Borrow Anakin’s strength if you must. Even through time, you have a family bond through the Force. It is why, even against his natural inclinations and possessiveness, he trusted you with Obi-Wan.

Luke didn't have the time to think-- he simply had to trust in his father once more. “Anakin,” he said reaching out blindly. “He cannot be allowed to see me. He will know the future.” Anakin looked startled as Luke’s blue eyed gaze met his own.

“Obi-Wan can help--” he protested.
“A master-padawan bond is not strong enough,” Luke said through the strain. The rocks surrounding him began to tremble even more violently “Anakin… please.” Maybe it was the tone of voice-- maybe it was the phrase, one he had heard a hundred times before in many different ways. But whatever it was made Anakin think, inexplicably, of Padme.

Anakin could not say why. But he reached out through the swirling rocks and took Luke’s hand.

It was like twin suns touching as their combined Force presences expanded outward, violently repelling the surrounding rocks along with the questing Emperor. Anakin and Luke cried out in one voice as a previously unknown bond snapped into place.

It wasn’t the same as his connection with Vader, Luke noted dimly. This was very different. Memories not his own rose to his mind, unbidden.

Padme, a voice was saying, looking at a woman who looked a great deal like Leia. Mother, Luke thought wonderingly as he looked at her through his father’s eyes.

C’mon Snips! A young Tortuga was running behind him-- Anakin’s padawan.

Keep up Master! Running through the streets with a young Obi-Wan, chasing something.

I’m the hero with no fear, don’t you know? said cockily in front of a mixed crowd.

Anakin jerked as the process reversed.

Leia… my sister a familiar voice said wonderingly to a woman who looked a great deal like Padme.

Han! Two of them and a Wookie dodging gunfire, running for a beaten up ship.

There’s still some good in you, staring at a blank, imposing looking black mask.

I am Luke Skywalker, commander in the Rebel Alliance and Jedi Knight, said softly and defiantly in front of Hutt slavers.

Both men blinked back to themselves, and with a soft noise Luke collapsed onto the dirt ground.

“Luke!”

Anakin noted that Obi-Wan was picking himself off the ground as he crouched next to Luke’s still figure. For a moment he hesitated, arm outstretched, then carefully turned over the still body of his son. Luke groaned. “Leia?”

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said reprovingly. His eyes darted around and he rested a hand on the hilt of his lightsaber. “Dooku is on his way. We must go.”
Anakin felt a rush of anger at his former master-- couldn’t he see his son was hurt?-- but Luke’s soft blue eyes met his own.

Father, Anakin’s eyes widened at Luke’s mental voice. Leave it. Ben’s right-- I can feel him coming.

Anakin stood abruptly and Luke felt a flash of hurt run through him that he quickly released into the Force. “Well that was not ideal,” he instead commented as he slowly stood.

“I’m assuming the Sith master was repulsed?” Obi-Wan said calmly. He still had yet to draw his lightsaber, though his fingers twitched with repressed need. Anakin had no compunctions, and drew his own, standing in front of Luke as if to shield.

Luke nodded. “This does have the benefit of showing Dooku that we are stronger than his master. “

“If he doesn’t come out trying to kill us,” Obi-Wan said dryly. When Anakin didn’t respond he looked at his former padawan curiously. “Are you alright Anakin?”

He’s here! Qui-Gon called a warning that Luke repeated. It only took a moment for Dooku to step out from behind the stone monument that marked the beginning of the path to his home.

“Well well well,” Dooku said derisively. “I should have known it was you,” all of his derision seemed directed at Anakin. Perhaps he already felt threatened by him, Luke mused. “I did not expect you two to be able to push him back.”

“They didn’t,” Luke called, pushing past Anakin despite his best efforts. Like Vader after him, Dooku flinched when Luke let his Force presence out fully, and Luke felt a momentary welling of curiosity. Why did everyone react that way to him? He released even that into the Force.

“I pushed him back,” Luke said confidently. “With a little help.”

Dooku stilled. “So yours was the presence he felt,” he mused. “He was…” his mouth twisted. “Unsettled.”

“Good to know we can surprise even the Sith master himself,” Obi-Wan interjected.

“Is that why you are here?” Dooku asked. “Three paltry Jedi, hoping to stand against a Sith such as myself?"

Luke cocked his head to the side. “You aren’t a very good Sith,” he commented. Anakin choked. “You’re just another slave to him you know. He has his eyes on another apprentice.”

Dooku sneered. “Hoping to defeat me with words, is it,” his hand hadn’t left his lightsaber, but he still had yet to withdraw it. “What would you know of Sith?”

“I know plenty of the Sith,” Luke said. “But perhaps, more importantly, I am the freeborn son of a freed slave,” there was generational pride in his voice, and Obi-Wan jerked suddenly. “I know what slavery looks like when I see it, and your master is one of the best slavers in the galaxy. He takes good desires and twists them, telling you if you only serve, you will receive everything you wanted and more, when really, you are at most another chess piece on his board.” The Force whispered truth in the still air.

Dooku’s lip curled. “You speak as if you know him, know me,” his voice became a poisonous hiss and Obi-Wan slowly drew his lightsaber.

“But I do,” Luke said calmly. “I know him better than perhaps anyone else-- his lust for power, his all consuming desires. As for you,” he cocked his head. “Qui-Gon knew you quite well, as much as he feared becoming you.”

Dooku and Obi-Wan faltered at the same time. Qui-Gon’s blue form slowly appeared behind his former master. Make them listen. He said. Make them see.

Luke had no idea what he was doing, and instead blindly reached out to the Force. Listen he pleaded. See. Then he pushed.

Dooku and Obi-Wan both cried out, but Anakin simply paled and pressed his lips together. Qui-Gon himself seemed to grow brighter, watching everything with amused eyes.

“Hello,” the Force ghost said serenely. “I’m glad you can finally see me-- death was getting quite lonely.”

Chapter Text

A half hour later they had finally made their way to one of Dooku’s council rooms and settled around his large table. Obi-Wan and Dooku both kept shooting glances at Qui-Gon’s Force ghost, as though afraid he might disappear. In contrast, Anakin’s gaze never left Luke.

Later, Luke whispered into their newly formed Force bond. He could feel Anakin’s turmoil, along with a hesitant hope. Right now, we need to see about freeing Dooku from his Master. Anakin’s main emotion turned to derision.

Come, Father, Luke said amusedly. You grew up a slave on Tatooine. Surely you recognize slavery when you see it. A hint of shame now.

He chose this though, Anakin thought back defiantly.

He was manipulated into thinking this slavery was the ultimate freedom. Luke said. Like a slave who doesn’t know how to be free, and continues going back to his master again and again.

Anakin withdrew slightly from their Force bond, but Luke could feel concern and confusion.

“Here,” Dooku said in his deep voice. “I used a Sith method of Force shielding on this room. Those inside can use the Force as usual, but those outside like my master are unable to sense what happens in here.”

Obi-Wan nodded his acknowledgement, his eyes never leaving the Force ghost. “Master,” he said. Luke was impressed that his voice didn’t shake. “How are you…”

“Here?” Qui-Gon suggested. The dead man sighed. “Heretical teachings, according to the Jedi. You know what I studied extensively before my passing. As I was dying at the hands of the Sith, I could feel it-- feel it in the Force. So I lingered, hoping to guide you, Obi-Wan. I did not realize the Jedi-- and even the SIth-- were unable to recognize me.”

“Why then, can we see you now?” Dooku asked. Qui-Gon nodded his head at Luke.

“Luke here,” he said. “He could see me from the moment he appeared. My best guess is that he was never trained enough to realize he shouldn’t be able to see me.”

“Hey!” Luke protested. “I was trained!”

“I am not saying it is to your detriment,” Qui-Gon soothed. “In fact, I believe it to be to your advantage. I have seen you do things with the Force that no one else has simply because no one told you what should and shouldn’t be possible. You hear the Force more clearly than any one of us, I believe.”

“So,” Obi-Wan’s voice actually did break now. “You’ve been here the entire time?”

“As often as I could,” Qui-Gon said. “Even in death, I cannot be in two places at once, and often I would follow Anakin believing he was in the most danger when it was actually Obi-Wan, and vice versa.”

Obi-Wan actually blushed, and Anakin and Luke shared identical incredulous looks before Anakin quickly looked away.

“And myself?” Dooku asked with a raised brow. Qui Gon rolled his eyes, and Luke couldn’t tell if it was genuine exasperation or tinged with affection.

“Always bringing it back to you, aren’t you Master?” he said. “Once I realized how deeply embedded the Sith were, I began to investigate as much I could. I don’t know what I hoped-- maybe that Yoda would see me at some point? Sidious actually noticed me at one point, and began to keep Force dampners in his office, so I had hoped you would be able to see me as well, but it was not to be.”

Dooku merely pursed his lips, looking uncomfortable at any sign of affection. “You should not have risked it,” he said instead. For a moment, his eyes flashed a sickly yellow, and Obi-Wan flinched back as if one instinct. Luke, who had felt the surge of darkness and dismissed it, tensed in response to his former mentor’s reaction. Dooku frowned. “A little jumpy are we?”

“Only as much as one should be when faced with a Sith,” Obi-Wan said. His voice had a particular type of tone that Luke recognized– it usually prefaced Crazy Old Ben absolutely loosing it on someone. “Well–” he said hastily.

“I do not believe you could accurately call me a Sith in this moment,” Dooku interrupted without taking his eyes off of Obi-Wan. “Fallen is perhaps more accurate.” Luke quickly looked to Qui_Gon for clarification, but the Force ghost was frowning severely at his master.

“If you say so,” Obi-Wan said in that same mild tone. Luke turned to Anaking instead, but the man was frowning at the table, staring at his skeletal hand.

“Anakin?” Obi-Wan seemingly noticed how quiet his normally volatile padawan was being. “Are you alright?”

“Perhaps he is finally learning how to hold his tongue,” Dooku commented.

“Either way,” Luke finally managed to interrupt. “We should leave. We can continue this conversation somewhere else, but Sidious definitely knows we’re here.”

“Do you think me so incompetent as to not be able to repel whomever Sidious sends?” Dooku asked acerbically.

“I think Sidious’ secrets have secrets. And he lives with the expectation that his apprentice will one day do his best to betray him,” Luke said calmly. “On top of that… he felt me. Not fully, but he will not let that go. He is… fixated.” Obi-Wan turned from Luke to Anakin, and back again.

“Perhaps you are right,” he said firmly. “We should be leaving, whether or not Dooku wishes to depart with us.” Luke nearly rolled his eyes at the affronted look Dooku gave his grand padawan. This was going to be exhausting, he could tell.

00000

“You’re-- you’re mine. Mine and Padme’s, aren’t you?” Anakin startled, as if he hadn’t meant to say even that much. They were finally alone on their commandeered ship-- Obi-Wan and Dooku in the cockpit (though what they were speaking of, Luke couldn’t imagine.) In fact, Luke was fairly sure that the only reason Anakin didn’t protest Dooku’s presence more was due to the fact that he was waiting for this conversation.

“I am,” Luke said.

“I saw her,” Anakin said. “Through your memories. A woman who looked so much like Padme.”

“My twin sister,” Luke confirmed softly. “Leia. In temperament, you remind me of her.. Always looking for a new cause to fight for.”

Anakin paused at that. “It never-- it never even occurred to me. Children!” His voice sounded full of wonder, and oddly enough, grief. “You’re so like Padme,” he whispered. “Luke and Leia.”

Luke knew what legend he spoke of, and hesitated for only a second before telling him. “I don’t know if it’s self fulfilling,” he said to the only other person who would know the old slave legends. “But when we last left Tatooine, they called us Ekkreth and Leia because Leia had strangled Jabba the Hutt with his own chains and I had defeated the rest, leaving the slave trade in shambles.” He couldn’t keep the pride out of his voice.

“Tatooine,” Anakin’s gaze sharpened. “Why were you on Tatooine?”

“I grew up there,” Luke said calmly.

Anakin blinked, and then exploded. “Tatooine! Sithspit! Why in all of the seven kriffing hells would you grow up on Tatooine! Unless…” his volume lowered as quickly as it had risen. He turned ashen. “You told us the Emperor killed your parents. Padme--” his voice changed, became harder. “The Sith killed Padme.”

Luke fought against a rush of grief not his own, the feeling of the Force closing over Padme’s throat. That was the last thing he wanted his father to see right now.

“I grew up hearing stories of you,” Luke said, trying to get rid of the iciness in Anakin’s eyes. “The Hero with No Fear. Even on Tatooine, they had heard of you. And Tatooine was the best place for me to hide-- like the Republic, the Empire rarely bothered with Outer Rim worlds. And Leia-- she idolized our mother. Modeled a lot of her Rebel ideals after hers.” he continued somewhat desperately.. Anakin’s anger was still coming up to fill the room.

“Father,” Luke said out loud and through the Force. Anakin’s eyes snapped up. “You and mother-- you were never not a part of our lives,” and wasn’t that true on so many levels? “You died protecting me--and Leia-- not with anger, but with love on your mind.”

The anger dimmed slightly, and Anakin’s blue eyes met the blue eyes of his son. “I never doubted your love for me,” Luke continued.. Sometimes it hadn’t seemed like love-- twisted as it was into the intense possessiveness of the darkside. But he knew it for what it was. Truth rang out in the Force, and Anakin deflated slightly.

“Do you know how-- when?” Anakin asked. Luke hesitated, and Anakin flared up almost immediately. “This is my wife you’re talking about!”

“And my mother!” Luke shot back. “I never knew my mother and you are asking me to tell you something that may not even come to pass here, that I don’t even know for sure!”

Once again, Anakin’s mood switched as suddenly as the wind, turning to desperate grief, “Please,” he said. “I have-- I have begun having dreams of her, dreams of her death just as I dreamed of the death of my mother.”

“She died,” Luke chose his words carefully here-- “on the day the Jedi fell and were slaughtered and the Sith rose as the head of the Empire. From what Ben-- Obi-Wan- told me, she held onto life long enough to name myself and Leia, and then passed into the Force. One casualty among many on that day.” For a moment, Vader’s memories flashed through the Force. It wasn’t much-- just an image. An image of children, dead on the temple floor, with a feeling of grief so intense Luke staggered back, trying his best to block it out.

Anakin paled as well, hand flying to his temple with a short cry of pain. “Wha--”

The door banged open. “What was that!?!” Obi-Wan asked, breathless in a way Luke had never seen. Even Dooku, a half step behind, looked disturbed.

“I’m-- I apologize,” Luke said, clasping his hands together to hide the trembles as he desperately shoved the rest of the memory behind his shields. “It’s just a Force echo from my future-- they’ve been happening since I came here.”

“That was your future?” Dooku’s deep voice asked.

“Well, not mine specifically,” he felt the need to explain. He still felt as though he might burst from his skin. “I was only just born on the day that happened.”

“The younglings,” Obi-Wan whispered. “They were all slaughtered.” Luke himself felt nauseous-- he had known, but it was different seeing-- but straightened.

“I told the council what my future was like, but I’ve a feeling they did not truly believe,” he said, somewhat sharply.”I look at the Temple with awe because I had no idea it even existed. The Jedi were wiped out so thoroughly the galaxy barely knew their name nineteen years later.” He looked at Dooku seriously. “When I came here, I was dealing with the aftereffects of Force lightning, so many assumed I had encountered you, when in fact, I had never heard your name before. Obi-Wan, Dooku...Anakin. None of you exist in my future.” The Force hung heavy, and it was quiet for a moment.

“I-- I thought you were trained by Obi-Wan?” Anakin asked hesitantly.

“He went by Ben then, actually,” Luke said. He hesitated-- how to explain? “He wasn’t---wasn’t the Obi-Wan standing in front of me right now. They are similar, yes, but I doubt they would recognize each other if they met. Ben lived through the slaughter of everyone he ever loved, held on long enough to see me to adulthood out of love for my father and mother, then passed into the Force without a fuss.”

Dooku frowned, glanced between the three of them, and then his eyes widened in realization. “You’re Anakin’s child,” he said. Both Obi-Wan and Anakin jerked, but Luke just smiled slightly. “My my my what are the Jedi doing?” he tsked.

Luke sketched out a short bow. “Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight,” He introduced himself with a mischievous grin that anyone would recognize. ”And, as my sister would say, since Obi-Wan was the only one with brains enough to realize our connection, I’d imagine the Jedi are still convinced they know all.” Dooku actually smirked at that. Obi-Wan looked like he was holding himself back from saying something, but then pursed his lips.

“To those who have not experienced love, as the Jedi, it is not obvious. One of our many shortfalls,” he said slowly.

Anakin reared back. “Master--”

Obi-Wan raised a brow. “I am not your Master any longer Anakin. I’d think we were closer than that. And did you truly think I did not know of you and Padme? You are far from subtle.”

“But-- the council--”

“Come now you cannot truly believe the council dictates everything I do, or is always entirely correct,” Obi-Wan said in exasperation. Anakin just blinked. “If they were always correct, I would not be standing next to a Sith!”

“As I stated earlier, I do believe I’m only Fallen at this point,” Dooku said in his deep voice. The room’s attention turned back to him. “But please continue, this is better than a holodrama.” Luke stifled a laugh, feeling suddenly at home with this dangerous Sith that reminded him of his time.

“You always tell me to listen to the council!” Anakin said, accusation hanging in the air. “Always!”

“Yes, because their words are important! Because they’ve always held the both of us to a higher standard than other Jedi! I never once said you had to agree with everything they said!”

“What else was I supposed to believe when you were following them like a wounded bantha all the time?”

“I was trying to keep you safe!” Obi-Wan deflated suddenly, and for a moment Luke saw Ben Kenobi standing there. “The council isn’t out to get you-- not like you think-- but they’ve certainly been watching the both of us with more scrutiny than most. Do you think they weren’t watching me as well-- me, the second apprentice of Qui-Gon Jinn who had already had a Fallen student, a hairsbreadth away from aging into the AgriCorp, who had already left the Order once? They would have taken you away from me in a heartbeat!’

Luke understood less than a quarter of what Obi-Wan was saying, but judging by Anakin’s wide eyes all of this was news to him. The Force swirled and whispered around them, and Luke turned to Dooku at its prompting. “Come,” he said. “I believe we have things to speak of. There is much about my future I believe you want to know.” Dooku raised an eyebrow but Luke could see his desire for knowledge of the future warring with his desire to watch the happenings.
“Very well,” he finally said. “We shall leave them to discuss. And Obi-Wan?”

The man glanced up, still looking slightly wild around the edges. “Do not take Qui-Gon’s foolish ideas of the unifying force to the extreme as he did,” Dooku cautioned. “You are intelligent enough to realize that no one in the Jedi order has truly been in the right, recently. Speak to your apprentice as equals.”