Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. All the characters are the property of George Lucas and LucasFilm Ltd.
Feedback: Is most welcome.
Author's Note: Hey! Obi-wan is my favourite character and the friendship between him and Anakin my favourite part of Star Wars. So, this story is about both of them. For the rest: Read on! And enjoy.
Prologue
There is no death, there is the Force.
It was one of his last remaining thoughts when he closed his eyes forever to be one with the Force. He had after all, died as a Jedi. It was only apt that the last tenet of the Jedi Code would come to his mind.
Often during his time as Darth Vader, he had wondered what being one with the Force would be like. Would it feel like he was in an unconscious state? Or would it be more along the lines of that he simply would stop existing?
His speculation, however had not accounted for this.
His eyes were heavy as though waking up from a deep slumber. He shook his head to chase some of the haze in front of his eyes away.
It's too hot here! was his first thought as finally his vision cleared. Almost immediately, he brought up his hand to block out the intense light.
Slowly he got up and looked around. Droid parts were scattered all around him. And-wait a minute- was that sand he was sitting upon?
He suddenly felt anxious and tried to stand but in his hurry with the added fact that his body was not ready to co-operate, he achieved to only stumble and fall back.
"Oh, for Force's sake!" He again tried to stand- slower this time and finally succeeded.
Force.
He should be in the Force. This place was not it, right? This place did seem oddly familiar.
"I do not want to see you play in the sand anymore, Anakin. Get to work! Your sitting idle is no use to me!" Oh and Anakin did recognise that shrill voice speaking in Huttese.
Watto was not supposed to be with him in his afterlife. Was he?
"Where exactly am I?" Anakin mumbled as he took in his surroundings.
If the Force was punishing him for his deeds, he had to give it to it- it had chosen a very apt place.
Tatoonie.
Anakin thought disgustingly. Most of his bad memories were associated with this place. He was a slave here, he had been separated from his mother, and his mother had left him forever in this very place. He had also taken his first step towards the Dark Side over here.
He had met an angel here, his mother had been freed here and met a man who truly loved her, his son had taken his first steps here, his son had spent twenty three years of his life in this very place.
Anakin had not expected the latter memories to come forth. And it suddenly dawned upon him that his former line of thought was of the Dark Side. His latter, however, was provided by the Light Side of the Force. Just like his life.
It was worth wondering how many important events had happened on this dust-ball.
Anakin closed his eyes and sighed. Whatever was going on he had to figure it out. Of all the people in the galaxy why had the Force chosen only Watto to accompany him?
He started to move towards the inside of the shop when he heard the fluttering of wings and realized that the Toydarian was coming out here.
In a matter of moments, Anakin took two droid parts and started working on it or at least pretended to.
It was so obvious what was wrong with this droid. Its circuit board was of an inferior quality which had not survived doing extensive work under the twin Suns of Tatoonie.
"Anakin, you may go home now. I have to go watch a race tonight. Just remember to come early tomorrow. There is lots of work for you." Watto said.
Anakin nodded, kept the parts of the droid down and proceeded to leave. Under normal circumstances, he would have hated the fact that someone was ordering him, but right now he was just too confused to care.
Watto, however, could not stop from wondering why Anakin had not exclaimed 'Yippee' which he always did when he allowed him to leave early.
He shrugged his shoulders and followed the boy.
Inside he found Anakin clutching a holopad as if his life depended on it. He was openly gaping and shivering visibly.
"Anakin?"
The Toydarian heard Anakin mumble something.
"This is not possible! You have got to be joking." Anakin muttered as he stared at what the holopad showed him- the date, day, month and year.
It was not the fact that the holopad was showing them that had him horrified. It was the fact that the date, month and year it showed was of the time when he was still a nine-year old.
And then a sharp observation had him gaping. Everything did seem larger and taller to him. His hands were flesh. Not metallic. He could breathe in and out just fine without a hissing sound accompanying it. Everything was colourful again and not tinted with red.
He was a nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker.
He kept the holopad back on the counter, almost reverently and left the shop without as much as a glance back.
As he walked on the path well-worn into his memory, he replayed the recent events in his mind.
He had been on the Second Death Star watching his son writhing under Sidious' Force lightning. His son had called to him for help. And that is when Anakin Skywalker had broken out of his deeply induced coma and killed the Sith Lord once and for all. He had been fatally wounded and his son had tried to save him. But finally he had joined the Force.
Or at least he thought he had.
What he was witnessing was beyond any logical explanation whatsoever. Had he actually survived and was now dreaming or was he in a simulation? None of them seemed feasible although because he was sure he had felt his life depart from his body. Added to that was the fact that all of this seemed way too real to be anything else rather than reality.
And yet what he thought next was even more impossible than what he had suggested now. But as he thought about it, he could feel the Force giving its consent to this particularly insane idea of his.
His legs stopped in front of a very familiar house. Taking a deep breath and gathering the Force around him for comfort and support, he stepped inside and announced his presence.
"Ani?" Anakin held his breath, "What happened? You are early."
Yep, he had definitely time travelled. And the Force agreed.
"Watto had to leave to watch a race, Mom."
-x—x—
Bitterness.
Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi knew, dead though he was, that he should not feel that particular emotion. But Obi-Wan Kenobi, a person who had lost everything accepted this emotion of his.
All those years living in the sands of Tatoonie, he had pondered over his mistakes over and over and over again. His insecurities had come forth once again plaguing and tormenting him.
He felt anger at himself and he felt bitterness towards Anakin. No, that was not quite true. He felt bitterness towards Darth Vader- not Anakin.
Anakin was his brother, his former Padawan, the other half of the Team. Darth Vader was a mass murderer, evil and everything Obi-Wan stood against.
Darth Vader was born the day Anakin Skywalker had fallen into a slumber. But his seeds had been sown early on.
And that was why Obi-Wan felt angry at himself. Because it showed that he had failed in his life and at training Anakin.
"Qui-Gon would have been a better master." His insecurities provided and he agreed to it. If only he could have been a better master.
He hoped, as he often did, that their lives would have been peaceful and they had continued their brotherhood. That would be so much more preferable than their lives descending into an abyss of darkness.
Luke had succeeded. Obi-Wan would now be reunited with his lost brother. He would have chosen if he had the option to meet him when they both were alive.
The Force ghost of Obi-Wan drifted through the Force. If only he had the power to change the past.
He sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, this was not what he had expected.
He felt warm and comfortable. A soft breeze ruffled his hair. He could see the traffic passing by. The Senate Building was visible in the far distance. He noticed that he was in a meditative posture in a balcony.
What was going on?
Had he somehow gone back to the world of the living? And that too on Coruscant?
Obi-Wan sighed and stretched out his senses…
…and hit a familiar presence.
No this could not be. He must be dreaming. He turned his head slowly… anticipating.
"Are you alright Padawan? Why did you pull out of the meditation?" A deep baritone voice asked.
Qui-Gon Jinn.
It was not just the fact that he was seeing his old master that worried him. He had met Qui-Gon during his exile on Tatooine or well technically his Force ghost.
It was the fact that this Qui-Gon Jinn was not shimmering in blue and his Force presence quite clearly proclaiming that he was alive that worried him.
"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon asked, confused.
"I-Master what is going on?"
"What do you mean by that Padawan? Are you okay?"
"I-I guess so." Unconsciously, Obi-Wan tightened his mental shields.
An action that did not go unnoticed his master and he showed it with a frown.
"Did you see something in your meditation, Obi-Wan?"
Did I see something? I was drifting through the Force.
Force. Force.
He was in the Force. Then why did he suddenly feel so very much alive? Obi-Wan staggered to his feet and backed away a little from the still-seated form of his old master.
Qui-Gon stood as well and approaching his Padawan kept a hand on his shoulder. With a little pressure on his shoulder he steered Obi-Wan inside their quarters.
Obi-Wan stopped.
It was his quarters at the Jedi Temple. The Jedi Temple where he had grown up. The Jedi Temple which had been burnt by Darth Vader. And again he could feel the bitterness rising.
Something was not right with him. He was a Jedi Master for Force's sake. He should not feel such emotions. He should release them into the Force.
But feeling the hand of his old Master on his shoulder, he again felt very much like a Padawan.
A little push got him moving again and out of his reverie. They settled on the couch and Qui-Gon went to boil some water for two cups of tea.
Obi-Wan sat silently on the couch and skimmed his eyes through his old quarters. He had thought he would never get to be here again.
The sound of a cup being put on the table brought his attention back to the present matter.
Qui-Gon.
He needed to be alone for a while. Figure this all out but he could see that with the look Qui-Gon was fixing him with, he would not be going anywhere without explaining what happened with him back there.
That is nice. If only I could figure out what did happen back there.
He closed his eyes and released his anxiety and tension to the Force.
And the words which he spoke next until he retired to his quarters were something that came out automatically.
"I believe I was immersed deeply in the Force," The irony. "Master that when I came back I was a little disoriented."
Qui-Gon remained silent for a moment. He had sensed Obi-Wan go deep into meditation. So deep, that he was about to bring that topic up when they finished their meditation.
But it had been only momentarily and then Obi-Wan had got out of it with a start that confused Qui-Gon. Now he thought that maybe that explained it. Obi-Wan had never gone so deep into the currents of the Force. Reaching it for the first time was quite overwhelming in itself. He agreed to that.
Qui-Gon could feel the Force humming its satisfaction and asking not to pursue the matter further.
Therefore, he let Obi-Wan go into his room when he asked for it after telling him that they would practise going deeper into the Force from the next day onwards.
Obi-Wan in the meanwhile had drawn up his own various conclusions as to what was going on.
As soon as he entered his room, he closed the door and brought out a holopad.
"This is not possible." He muttered.
He was not twenty five again, was he? That was just not possible.
And yet the holopad proclaimed it the truth and the Force was not showing any intentions to deny it either.
"Oh Force. What am I going to do now?"
Because if what was being presented to him was the truth then he had a lot of planning to do.
When Obi-Wan finally went to sleep, he couldn't help but wonder about his wish of changing the past. And now he could.
The Force had granted him his wish. The Force had made him time travel.
Tbc…
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