Part II
“Daddy! Daddy! Look!”
Wiping his hands on the legs of his trousers, Obi-Wan stood up in time to see Luke come barreling into the shop. The two and a half year old came charging into the repair shop, hands cupped together in from of his chest. As always the little boy had a huge smile on his face. Obi-Wan had never known such a happy child. Luke was always bounding around and laughing and generally reminding Obi-Wan of the boy Anakin had once been.
“Daddy, look!”
“What have you got there, Luke?” Obi-Wan asked, crouching down to the little boy’s level.
With great pride, Luke uncurled his hands to reveal an odd purple and blue bug with six long black legs. A horrid thing, in Obi-Wan’s opinion, but thankfully not dangerous.
“That is very impressive, Luke,” Obi-Wan enthused, smiling fondly at the child he had raised from birth. “And what will it’s name be?”
Luke pursed his lips, blonde brows furrowing together as he considered a name for his latest friend. “Detwo! Like in yer stowies.”
Luke’s energetic response brought and instant smile to Obi-Wan’s face even as he felt a sudden pang of loss at the memories it brought. Spending all of his time concentrating on raising Luke it was easy to forget the life he had lived before. The Jedi were little more than a legend on Roon, figures from a story that never really existed. It was only in moments like that he remembered that it had been real. That until a few years ago it was all he had known. Now his life revolved around caring for his best friend’s son.
However, even though the Jedi were only half believed in, tales of the Hero With No Fear and the Negotiator were widely known. They were as mythical on Roon as they had been in the streets of Coruscant. Luke was still too young to think of them as anything besides bedtime stories. He was also certainly too young to connect those stories with the ones Obi-Wan told him about Anakin. Or the fact that Obi-Wan wasn’t really his father. Obi-Wan was the only parental figure Luke had ever known so he had naturally been first Dadda then later Daddy. And while he cherished each time Luke called him Daddy, it wouldn’t be long before the little boy was able to understand the truth of his parentage. He would know that he was the son of the most powerful Jedi to ever live. It was a very stern legacy to live up to.
As had always happened since Luke had learned to walk, the little boy ran ahead of him, bouncing along the street then the path that led to their cabin. The village he and Luke called home was small enough that Obi-Wan didn’t fear for the young boy’s safety when he wandered about. If it wasn’t one of the older boys watching him then one of the women in the village often had their eye on the toddler while Obi-Wan worked in the repair shop. Just as often, though, Luke could be found in the repair shop, tinkering away with any spare or broken parts just as Anakin had always done. Luke had yet to construct anything that actually worked being more content to simply play with the parts and getting himself covered in grease.
For much of Luke’s first year, Obi-Wan had rarely let the infant out of his sight. He’d feared both Vader and the Emperor tracking them to the remote system and taking the boy. Obi-Wan feared Vader just as much as he’d loved Anakin. Anakin had been closer to him than a son or a brother, the two of them a single entity towards the end of it. For all the uncertainty that had surrounded Anakin, Obi-Wan had never once thought that the younger man would turn to the dark side. He’d been naďve not to realize just how strong Anakin’s fear had been, though.
Anakin’s fears had been strong enough to bring about the downfall of the Republic which had stood for one thousand years.
Yet Luke knew nothing of fear. The boy was wholly innocent of such emotions, never having been forced to learn them. Obi-Wan had always suspected that Anakin had learned fear early, the life of a slave being anything but easy. And while Anakin had never complained of Watto’s treatment of him, the junk dealer hadn’t been Anakin’s only master. There were others who could have hurt Anakin and instilled the fear that had eventually consumed him.
“Daddy, watch out!”
Obi-Wan was snatched from his bleak thoughts just in time to see the rather large branch he had nearly tripped over. Shaking his head briefly to clear his thoughts, Obi-Wan grinned down at the small boy, ruffling his hair as he passed.
“Thank you, Luke.”
“Silly Daddy,” Luke giggled before running ahead of Obi-Wan, most likely in search of more bugs to befriend.
Obi-Wan had no doubt that once Luke was older and a little quicker he would start bringing home small mammals instead of just insects. Young as he was, Obi-Wan could already sense that Luke would be very powerful in the Force. Without even being aware of it, Luke was often very in tuned with the world around him, sensing things that most other people wouldn’t. It was a talent that Obi-Wan did his best to nurture Luke’s talents, training him in the way of the Jedi. After all, the Sith had survived a millennia with only two among their number at a single time. The Jedi could do the same thing. They would need to if peace was to be restored to the galaxy.
The thing that troubled Obi-Wan the most was what would become of Anakin in the final battle. Obi-Wan wasn’t certain that he could fight his former partner a second time. It had taken everything in him to fight Anakin the first time. Defeating him was even more difficult. He had very nearly hesitated when Anakin had made his final jump. In the end he had forced himself to remember a simple fact: Anakin was a Sith. In that moment he had no longer been Anakin Skywalker, but instead Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker no longer existed.
After two and a half years that thought still pained Obi-Wan.
Rounding the front of their cabin, Obi-Wan couldn’t help but grin at Luke jumping up and down trying to reach the control panel. It was still more than a foot above his head, but the boy was determined. Luke was not exceptionally tall for his age, but Obi-Wan didn’t doubt that he would be tall like his father. Anakin himself had been a bit on the short side until the middle of his fourteenth year. In a few short standard months Anakin had gone from being half a head shorter than the older Jedi to being a good two inches taller. By the end of the following year Anakin was another two inches taller and thankfully appeared to be finished growing. Having seen HoloNet footage of the Emperor and his apprentice, Obi-Wan had become aware that the prosthetic limbs that replaced the ones Vader had lost on Mustafar added several more inches to his already tall frame.
“Wanna open the door,” Luke insisted, pouting up at Obi-Wan, hand son his hips.
As with Anakin, Obi-Wan could not resist his young charge. Scooping the little boy up into his arms, Obi-Wan balanced him against his hip and shuffled over a few steps so that Luke could reach the small panel that controlled the door’s locking mechanism. Luke punched in the proper code without hesitation and was squirming out of Obi-Wan’s arms before the door had even opened.
Obi-Wan could only marvel at the energy the boy possessed. There was rarely a moment that Luke was still. Not even in sleep since even Luke’s dreams were active. He was constantly twitching about, playing with the creatures he befriended during the day.
“Luke, what do you want for dinner?” Obi-Wan called out as he began searching through the cupboards. Before his exile to Roon, Obi-Wan had never done much in the way of food preparation. Prepared meals and camp rations had been the extent of his culinary abilities. And while he would have been content enough eating those, they were hardly nutritious foods for a toddler. So Obi-Wan had learned to cook. He was hardly a master chef, but he and Luke made due.
There was a slight pause and then, “Cheesy noodles!” was shouted from the common room.
The former Jedi Master merely shook his head. Cheesy noodles was Luke’s favourite food and if Obi-Wan let him he would eat nothing else. However, it had been a few days since Obi-Wan had last made some so he relented. To ensure that Luke also got some protein as well he decided to chop up a few small sausages. Little carnivore that he was, Luke would hardly notice.
Obi-Wan was busy grating the cheese for their dinner when Luke wandered into the kitchen. Obi-Wan didn’t pay much attention at first, figuring that Luke had smiply forgotten one of his toys on the table. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of what the little boy was playing with and immediately dropped both the dress and the grater onto the counter.
“Where did you find that, Luke?” Obi-Wan demanded in his most stern voice as he crossed over to where Luke stood.
The young blonde merely shrugged his shoulders, his eyes trained on the ground.
“Luke.”
“In da box wiff the lock,” he finally muttered.
Obi-Wan’s right hand went to his throat, but the leather cord with the key on the end was still in its place. “And just how did you get into it?”
Luke shrugged his shoulders again. “Dunno.”
“How Luke?” Obi-Wan pressed, crouching down in front of the little boy.
Still he got nothing more than a shrug of the boy’s shoulders. Obi-Wan had to wonder if that was the truth of it. At only two and a half, Luke most likely didn’t have the words to express what had happened. So instead Obi-Wan switched to a different tactic.
“Can you show me?”
Luke brightened immediately at the request and nodded his head. “Show you.”
Lowering the heat so that the water wouldn’t boil over, Obi-Wan took Luke’s hand. He was led straight towards his bedroom in the back of their home. Originally there had been only the one bedroom, but Obi-Wan had decided to build a second one around the time of Luke’s last birthday. Things were calming down and they were safe enough on Roon that he didn’t have to watch over the boy every single moment. Constructing the second bedroom had been a meditative project for Obi-Wan. It allowed him to think only of more positive things: that he would be able to keep Luke safe from the Emperor long enough for the boy to actually appreciate the privacy. Currently, its pain role was as a place for Luke to play and make as much of a mess as he wanted in an area that Obi-Wan could simply close away from the rest of the house.
As he had known, Luke went straight over to the small locked chest that sat in the far corner of Obi-Wan’s bedroom. There were only two things in that chest, one of which Luke held in his chubby little hand.
“In there,” Luke said pointing to the chest.
Obi-Wan knelt down next to him. “I know it came from in there, Luke, but how?”
Turning away from him, Luke stared intently at the box, scrunching his features up. He was concentrating very hard and then, to Obi-Wan’s utter amazement, the locked lid of the chest popped open. Luke smiled broadly and then bounded forward to grab the second lightsaber Obi-Wan kept hidden away inside of it.
“See. Toys,” Luke announced, a lightsaber in each hand.
It was that Luke had chosen Anakin’s first that caught Obi-Wan’s attention. Just as he was able to open the chest without much effort, Luke had unconsciously known which of the lightsabers belonged to his father. All of it had been instinctive, as though the knowledge had already existed in his brain. It left Obi-Wan with no doubt of Luke’s eventual powers. Obi-Wan only hoped that he would not fail Luke the same way he had Anakin.
Obi-Wan gently took his own lightsaber from Luke. He held it carefully, resting it in the palms of his hands. “This is not a toy, Luke. It’s a very dangerous weapon.”
“Toy?” Luke tried again plaintively.
“Not a toy,” Obi-Wan repeated. He then reached out to touch the weapon in Luke’s small hands. “One day this will be yours. But for now we need to keep it safe and protected.”
Luke opened his mouth to protest, but nonetheless allowed Obi-Wan to take the lightsaber from him and return it the chest. Each of the two lightsabers had their own slots in the chest, a place of honour as the only two remaining Jedi relics: the weapons of the Hero With No Fear and the Negotiator. According to whispered legends, the two lightsabers had been lost in the lava flows of Mustafar. And though there hadn’t been a single witness to it, the battle itself was equally legendary. It was a battle no one, not even Obi-Wan himself, would have thought possible. The Jedi’s greatest team, two men who had been closer than brothers, fighting on opposite sides and both meaning to kill the other. It was something Obi-Wan had never thought possible. That he would have to do something like that to Anakin, his best friend.
Yet it had happened and now Obi-Wan was left trying to make a new life for himself and for Luke. So long as they could remain off the Emperor’s radar, Obi-Wan figured that he could keep Luke safe. He would ensure that he didn’t make the same mistakes with Luke that he had with Anakin and would hopefully save the boy from his father’s fate.
By the time dinner was served, Luke seemed to have forgotten all about the lightsaber. He was still young enough that distractions were easy to come by. All that Obi-Wan had to do was point him in the direction of his toys and that was the extent of Luke’s world. Still, later that night, though, after Luke had gone to bed, Obi-Wan had decided to hide the lightsabers in a new location. It would have to be easy enough for him to retrieve in case of emergency, but still hidden enough so that Luke would be unable to find it. Obi-Wan was uncertain how long such a location would continue to exist given Luke’s already exceptional talents.
That night when he took the lightsabers out of the chest to find them a new hiding place, Obi-Wan instead ended up seated on his bed staring down at the two durasteel hilts. Remarkably, it was the same one that Anakin had constructed following the loss of his on Geonosis. Obi-Wan had never learned exactly how Anakin had lost his weapon on the desert planet and would have just assumed that it had been taken from him when he was captured had it not been for things Anakin let slip over the ensuing years. Anakin had never been very good at lying.
“I’m sorry I failed you, Anakin,” Obi-Wan murmured as he set the lightsabers in a small recess barely a foot off the floor. He then moved the chair that was a remnant of Luke’s infancy in front of it, blocking it off from sight. While no longer as secure, the weapons were no longer in such an obvious location. “I will do better by your son than I did you.”
The Emperor was hiding something. Vader couldn’t be certain what it was, but he had spent enough time with the old man to know when his motives were not entirely pure. Not that he could ever trust Sidious’ motives. After all, the man had manipulated the situation with Padmé to his benefit. He had manipulated so many other things that Vader hadn’t even become aware of until it was too late. Until he had destroyed his everything that he had ever loved.
Save one thing.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was still out there somewhere.
Where exactly he was Vader hadn’t been able to find out even after more than two years of searching. His lack of success in finding his former Master also made Obi-Wan the only other surviving Jedi aside from Master Yoda. Vader couldn’t care less about the little troll, his concern now and always was Obi-Wan. The man who had differing times had been his father, his brother, and his best friend. Obi-Wan was wrapped up in everything that he did and was. No matter how hard he tried, Vader couldn’t find a way to destroy his memories of the older man.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi is an insect that you should no longer concern yourself with,” the Emperor said as his reflection appeared suddenly alongside Vader’s in the plasteel view screen. “Allow him to live the rest of his life in obscurity.”
“I want my vengeance,” Vader growled, the effect lost in the constant suck/hiss of the respirator that was a part of his suit. “Obi-Wan stole everything from me. Padmé, my child, even my limbs. He should not be allowed to live in peace.”
“I doubt very much that Kenobi lives in peace,” the Emperor contradicted. “One of the last of his kind, he will be forever on the run for he knows that you will not let him escape indefinitely. Now come, we have other things to concern ourselves with.”
The Emperor turned and slithered away without giving Vader a chance to respond. It was a common occurrence when Obi-Wan was mentioned. Even during the initial hunting for the remaining Jedi in the Empire’s early years, Obi-Wan had always been kept far down on the list. By the time only he and Master Yoda were left, the Emperor was no longer interested in hunting down the Jedi. He had deemed them a non-threat and so Vader was denied his vengeance.
With no other choice, Vader followed after his Master. The leash that Sidious held him on was tighter than the one the Jedi Council had ever tried to latch to him. Not only had he sworn his allegiance to the Sith lord, but Sidious also controlled his very life. He was the one who commanded the healers who kept his life support suit in working order.
So, to free himself from the Emperor’s control, Vader had been attempting to spend time without his mask on. The longest his damaged lungs had been able to sustain themselves was half an hour. He had spent far too long on the ventilator that his lungs had grown reliant on the thing. It was necessary, though. When he finally found Obi-Wan, he wanted the other man to be able to hear his voice, not the deep mechanical one that he couldn’t escape.
His voice would be the last one that Obi-Wan would hear. His eyes the last ones Obi-Wan would see. His touch the last one Obi-Wan would ever feel. Vader would stand for nothing else, the Emperor be damned.
“Your attention, please, Lord Vader,” the Emperor ground out in annoyance. “This is a most important matter.”
“Sorry, my Master.”
The sound of his sigh was lost in the suck/hiss of the respirator.