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Chapter Text

Tasked with finding an ancient Jedi artifact with unimaginable powers, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano are sent to Tatooine to retrieve the artifact before the Separatist Alliance can use its powers to win the Clone Wars. Unbeknownst to them, the artifact has no intention of leaving…

Anakin Skywalker stared out of the ship into the blue void of hyperspace. If he had his way, he would never set foot on the desert planet of Tatooine ever again. It held too many painful memories. But the council had been specific and unyielding about his importance in this mission.

“Are we almost there?” Anakin heard from behind him. His padawan, Ahsoka Tano, was gripping the back of Anakin’s seat, as if she were excited about going to Tatooine. How anyone could be excited about a planet with moisture farmers because they didn’t get any rainfall was a mystery to him.

“We’re a few minutes out,” replied Obi-Wan Kenobi. He had his usual quizzical expression on his face, paired with a hand stroking the ends of his beard. 

Anakin just wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible. “What does this artifact even look like anyways?” he asked.

“No one knows,” Obi-Wan said. “Just that it’s on Tatooine.”

“Great, we don’t even have a starting point.”

Ahsoka took her hands off of Anakin’s seat and leaned in between the Jedi. “Well, there’s a few spaceports. That should be a good starting point.”

“You forget it’s a planet covered in sand. It could be buried in the middle of the desert or in a Tusken Raider camp,” Anakin countered. “We have no reference for what we’re looking for. It’s unlikely it’ll be in a spaceport with all the people that come and go from them.” Obi-Wan sighed as he pulled them out of hyperspace. As Anakin looked at the planet ahead of him, he felt nothing but apathy.

“We’ll land outside Mos Eisley and start looking there. Feel for any object with a presence in the Force,” Obi-Wan instructed. “That should narrow things down.”

They landed their ship half a klick away from Mos Eisley. Anakin followed his former master and padawan outside and was greeted with the all too familiar heat, sun, and sand. Hopefully they would go in, get the artifact, and leave.

It wasn’t that easy.

Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka had separated to create a larger search area. It was almost nightfall and the three of them had returned to the ship without any clues of where the artifact could be. 

“This is pointless!” Anakin combed his fingers through his hair. “There’s no sign of anything here. I’m not entirely convinced this artifact even exists.”

“Patience, my padawan. It’s only the first day and there’s many places left to look,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin paced back and forth in the ship’s hold. “Face it Obi-Wan. There’s nothing here that has even an inkling of the Force. I don’t think that-”

“We should get some rest,” Ahsoka interrupted. “By the looks of it, we’ve got a long few days ahead of us.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “A good idea. We’ll reconvene in the morning. Good night,” he said before heading to his cabin.

Anakin slumped in the pilot’s seat. “I just want to get back to the fight. We shouldn’t be wasting our skills here.”

“Well, the Jedi council must have had a good reason for sending us here instead of someone else.” Ahsoka took a deep breath. “I don’t know what happened to you here, and I don’t blame you for wanting to leave, but please try to be optimistic. You’re stressing out Obi-Wan more than usual and we don’t need that energy right now. Good night master.”

Anakin continued to stew in the pilot’s seat for close to an hour before finally retiring to his cabin.

Anakin woke with a start. He could feel something in the Force, something he did not sense earlier. It must be the artifact, he thought. Perfect. Anakin could follow the trace of the artifact, get back before sunrise, and they’d be free to leave sooner than they thought. He put on his robes, grabbed his lightsaber, and headed out into the desert.

The artifact had presented him with a clear trail to follow, and it wasn’t long until he found himself outside one of the many cave systems. Anakin ventured into the cave and ignited his lightsaber. After a few twists and turns, he saw a faint glow in front of him. Anakin approached the artifact. It was small, rectangular in shape and giving off a green hue. A voice was whispering to him, but he couldn’t make out the words. He reached out.

“Master, what-”

As he touched the artifact, he turned around and saw Ahsoka running up to him before she disappeared. The cave around him started to change. The rock formations shaved away, leaving the once-cramped opening wider. Anakin looked back where the artifact should be, but it was gone. 

He backed away, confusion filling his mind. He could feel his face twisting and his heart pounding. Ahsoka once again appeared in front of him. “Ahsoka! What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“I heard you get up so I decided to follow you. You know, in case you got lost,” she said. “What just happened?”

“I don’t know.”

Ahsoka looked to where the artifact was mere moments ago. “Weird.”

Anakin and Ahsoka exited the cave and saw it was already mid-day. “Hopefully Obi-Wan isn’t too mad when we get back to the ship,” the padawan said.

“You didn’t tell him where you were going?” 

“I didn’t think we’d be this long! Then I saw you disappear and I had to follow you to make sure you were safe.”

Kriff, she had even less self-preservation skills than he did. “I can handle myself, Ahsoka. You should’ve commed Obi-Wan. With our knack for getting into trouble, it’s a wonder his hair hasn’t gone gray yet.”

The two of them walked in silence to the ship. Or, where the ship was earlier. 

“Where’s the ship?” Ahsoka asked.

“How should I know? Maybe Obi-Wan’s flying it around the planet trying to find us.” Anakin looked around. “We should at least get some food. Come on.” He started towards Mos Eisley.

“Wait for me!”

Mos Eisley was different. There were soldiers that had armor similar to the clone troopers but with different helmets and no personalization. What happened while we were in the cave? Anakin and Ahsoka made their way through the spaceport and entered the cantina. Maybe it was too early for a cantina, but it was still packed. The server took their order and Anakin turned on his comm.

“Huh.”

“What is it, master?”

“I’m trying to comm Obi-Wan, but it won’t let me,” Anakin said.

Ahsoka looked around. “Do you think something happened to him?”

“I don’t know. I can’t sense him but I don’t know if it’s because he’s somewhere else on the planet or what.”

“Well, maybe-” 

Whatever Ahsoka was going to say, she was cut off by the sound of a lightsaber. Anakin could see an older Jedi slice a patron’s arm off. The whole cantina seemed to pause before going back to their conversations. Anakin didn’t recognize the Jedi, but maybe he could help them find Obi-Wan. 

The Jedi was accompanied by a human and a wookie. Anakin watched as the wookie led them to a table where another human was sitting. “Anakin, what are you doing?”

“The older man is a Jedi, so maybe he knows where Obi-Wan went,” he said.

Ahsoka scrunched her face. “That’s if he’s a Jedi.”

“You worry too much, my young padawan.” Anakin stood up and made his way to the table where the Jedi was sitting. He could hear the man sitting across from the Jedi bragging about his ship. “Excuse me, but I was wondering if-”

“Anakin?” 

The old man looked like he had seen a ghost. His eyes were wide, his eyebrows furrowed, his skin paler than the snow on Hoth. But there was something familiar about him that Anakin couldn’t put his fingers on. “Yes, um. I’m sorry, have we met before?”

The Jedi shook his head. “No, I’ve just heard many things about you.”

“All good things, I hope,” Anakin smiled. The man gave a nervous laugh. “Pardon my interruption, but I was sent here on a mission by the Jedi council along with my padawan and my former master. We got… lost and my padawan and I were separated from my former master. I saw you wielding a lightsaber and I assumed you were a Jedi. I was just wondering if you had seen another Jedi anywhere.”

The man next to the wookie laughed. “Jedi. Yeah, right.” Anakin tilted his head. “The Jedi are all dead.”

“Very funny.”

“No, seriously. They were all killed. Committed treason or something. I don’t really care, it’s all nonsense to me.”

Anakin felt his blood go cold. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe we could continue this conversation later? I have some important business to discuss with this man,” the Jedi said. Anakin nodded and walked back to Ahsoka, his mind clouded.

“Are you alright, master?” Ahsoka asked.

Anakin couldn’t respond.

A little while later, the old man tapped Anakin and Ahsoka on the shoulder and told them to follow him outside.

“I apologize for dismissing you earlier. I’m on a time crunch and I had to close a deal with Solo,” the Jedi explained as he held out his hand. “My name is Ben. The boy over there is Luke.”

Anakin took it. “I’m Anakin. This is my padawan Ahsoka.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Ahsoka said.

Ben smiled. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”

“Yes, I do. What the hell was he talking about back there?” Anakin raised his voice. “The Jedi were killed? Treason? What’s going on?”

Ben hesitated. “At the end of the Clone Wars, the Jedi were accused of committing treason against Chancellor Palpatine,” he explained. “They were all executed.”

Anakin shook his head. “No, that can’t be right.”

“Afterwards, Palpatine reorganized the Republic into the Galactic Empire and declared himself Emperor,” Ben continued. 

“Palpatine wouldn’t do that. He’s my friend,” Anakin said. 

“When did this happen?” Ahsoka asked.

“19 years ago.”

Anakin and Ahsoka looked at each other. “Wait, that doesn’t make sense,” she said. “We’re only a year into the Clone Wars.”

“I believe you two may have traveled here from the past,” Ben replied.

“What? That’s impossible. How could we even travel across time?”

Anakin’s head hurt. “The artifact. When we touched it, it must have sent us into the future.”

Ben stared at Anakin before looking over at the boy. There was something familiar about him as well. 

“Luke and I are headed to the Alderaan system. Since you two seem to be stuck here for the time being, would you like to join us?” Ben asked.

“How do we know we can trust you?” Ahsoka countered.

“You don’t. But I don’t think you two want to stay on this planet any longer than you have to.” 

It was like Ben had read Anakin’s mind. “We’ll go,” he said before Ahsoka could refuse for the both of them.

Ben smiled. “Excellent. I’d better tell our pilot we’re bringing along extra passengers. Stay here, I’ll be right back.” With that, Ben headed back into the cantina.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Snips. Everything will be fine.”

Chapter Text

Luke could tell Ben was hiding something.

Sure, he was a sheltered kid who knew nothing of the galaxy. He had never been able to focus long enough when Aunt Beru would teach him the history of the galaxy or when Uncle Owen would have him cover the moisture farm for a couple hours. But Luke wasn’t stupid, and he was tired of everyone thinking he was. He knew that there was a lot that his aunt and uncle hid from him about his father. Things he wouldn’t get to know now.

When a person grows up on a desert planet ruled by the Hutts, they get pretty used to seeing death. Luke had been exposed to death at an early age; when he was six, Luke had watched as a bounty hunter chased a Twi’lek into the desert. He saw the flash of a blaster and the Twi’lek collapsed on the ground. Uncle Owen told him that was just the way of the galaxy. People died. Sometimes it was peaceful, other times it was violent. Death was always something Luke knew would happen to him and his family one day. He just never expected it to be so soon. So brutal.

The image of his uncle and aunt’s charred skeletons sprawled in front of his home would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Before sending him to get supplies with the droids, Ben had told Luke not to tell the Jedi his last name. Luke wasn’t stupid. He could tell when people were withholding information from him. There was something off about this whole thing, and he would get to the bottom of it. 

Luke brought all the supplies Ben had requested back to the meeting area in front of the cantina. While he couldn’t understand any of the noises R2-D2 was making, they were nothing good judging from C-3PO’s reactions. He could see the Jedi from earlier talking with Ben, and next to them was a Togruta girl. Luke didn’t know anything about Jedi culture, but he assumed that the Jedi had to have some sort of apprenticeship. 

R2-D2 started beeping wildly, startling the young farm boy. The droid sped through the sand towards the Jedi, leaving a cloud of dust behind him. “Artoo?” the Jedi looked startled. “Artoo!” Luke watched as the Jedi knelt down to give the droid a hug. “What are you doing here, buddy?”

“How do you know him?” Luke asked. 

The Jedi looked up at him. “I don’t know what Ben told you about our situation, but we’ve traveled through time from the Clone Wars. Artoo here was my buddy,” he said as he patted the droid on the head. “This is my padawan, Ahsoka. My name is Anakin.”

Luke felt his heart beating faster. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru didn’t tell him a lot about his parents; he didn’t even know his mother’s name. All he was told was that his father was a pilot named Anakin. Ben had told Luke that his father was actually a Jedi. Could he be- no. That was ridiculous. The man standing in front of him couldn’t possibly…

He stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Anakin smiled. 

After everyone had regrouped, Chewbacca brought them to Docking Bay 94. Luke was the last one to shuffle into the loading dock. In front of him was an amalgamation of what was barely a starship. The parts were thrown together, the shape was impractical, and it just looked downright ugly. “What a piece of junk!” Luke said. Ben shot him a sharp glance.

Han wiped the grease from his hands. “She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts.” He gestured for the group to follow him. 

Anakin leaned in towards Luke. “You should see the ships I’ve flown,” he said. “They look a hell of a lot nicer than this one.” 

Sounds of blaster fire filled the docking bay. Luke looked up to see stormtroopers firing at them. “Everybody in!” Han yelled, firing shots at the stormtroopers. Luke followed Ben, Chewbacca, and the droids inside. He turned around and saw Anakin and Ahsoka using their lightsabers to deflect the blaster shots. Luke froze as he watched the Jedi expertly maneuver the blaster fire, only snapping out of his daze when Han ran past him. “Chewie, get us out of here!”

“Come on!” Luke shouted to Anakin and Ahsoka. They ran inside as the ramp closed and the Millennium Falcon lifted into the air. The ship accelerated, throwing the three of them against the wall. 

“You guys alright?” Anakin asked. Luke nodded. Ahsoka groaned. “Well, I’m gonna go find the captain.” Anakin started through the hallway, hooking his lightsaber to his belt. 

A lightsaber that looked identical to the lightsaber currently hidden in his tunic. 

His father’s lightsaber. 

Luke froze. He felt the room around him grow hotter and he started to feel dizzy. He felt his breathing grow rapidly. That’s my father. 

Ahsoka stood and held her hand out to Luke. “C’mon,” she said. Luke forced himself to stop spiraling down this black hole and took her hand. She pulled him off the floor, following the way Anakin went. 

It had to be a coincidence. That couldn’t actually be his father. There had to be a logical explanation for the fact that two Jedi from over two decades earlier had found themselves here, one of which bearing the name of his father. 

“So,” Ahsoka said, snapping Luke back to the present. “What’s it like living on Tatooine?”

Luke shrugged. “It’s fine, I guess. It’s hot and flat and there isn’t a lot to do here. We used to have podracing but that was way before I was born. But I’ve been here my whole life; it’s hard to imagine anything different.”

“You’ve never left?” Ahsoka asked. Luke nodded. “Wow. Well, you’ll like Alderaan. I mean, I’ve never actually been there but I’ve heard Senator Organa talk about it a couple times. There’s mountains and rivers and lots of trees.”

“That sounds nice,” Luke said. “When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle would tell me about the different planets in the galaxy. It blew my mind when I learned Imperial Center is made up of skyscrapers.”

Ahsoka tilted her head. “Imperial Center?”

“Oh, right! It was called Coruscant before the Empire.”

“That’s where I live,” Ahsoka said. “All the Jedi live there.”

Luke looked at the ground. “Oh.”

Silence wafted between them. Great job, Luke. You’ve just revealed stuff about her future and now you’ve made everything awkward, he thought to himself. 

After a moment, Ahsoka clapped her hands together. “So, you mentioned your aunt and uncle? What about your parents?”

“Um, well, they died,” Luke said. 

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

Luke shook his head. “Don’t be. My father died before I was born and my mother died in childbirth. I was raised by my aunt and uncle.” Who are now also dead . 

“Do you know anything about them?” Ahsoka asked. 

“Not enough. I don’t know anything about my mother. Uncle Owen told me that my father was a pilot and died during the last couple months of the Clone Wars, but Ben told me that my father was actually a Jedi. 

Ahsoka seemed to perch up at this. “Really? What’s his name? Maybe I know him!”

“Uh,” Luke looked around. He couldn’t tell her his father’s name. Ahsoka would definitely know if he was the only Anakin that was a Jedi at the time but it would also reveal too much information about the future to her. Luke also wanted some sort of deniability that the Anakin currently on this ship was his father. “He didn’t tell me.”

They found their way to the cockpit and saw the rest of their group already there. “About time you showed up, Snips,” Anakin said. 

“What did we miss?” Ahsoka asked. 

He chuckled. “Oh, nothing, just a bunch of Imperial starships trying to shoot us down.”

“Yeah, and this guy kept trying to tell me how to fly my own ship!” Han interjected

“Maybe if you were a good pilot, they wouldn’t have hit us multiple times!” Anakin countered. 

“Hey, I’m the one taking you guys to Alderaan. I can send you through the airlock at any time.” Han got up from his seat and walked out of the cockpit, Chewbacca in tow. 

Anakin shouted back, “At least then I wouldn’t have to deal with your terrible flying!” 

“Master, I’ve seen your piloting skills. They can’t be any worse than his,” Ahsoka teased. 

“Hey! I’m a great pilot!”

Ahsoka smiled. “If you think the countless crashes you’ve been behind the wheel for make you a good pilot, then sure. You’re loads better than this guy.”

Anakin’s expression looked like a mix of shock and amusement. He jumbled some sort of response and the two of them “argued”, walking the same way that Han and Chewie had gone. 

Luke looked at Ben, who was covering his mouth with his hand, but Luke could tell he was suppressing a smile.