The Mark
"No, Luke! It's too dangerous!"
In vain Obi-wan shouted after him; he was indeed his father's son, lightning movements, governed purely by emotion at a time when he should have stopped to think. Ben stopped moving when Luke gunned the accelerator. Soon his ward had vanished from sight; dust, the destroyed sandcrawler and two far-too-familiar droids were the only indications the boy had ever been there.
Anakin had left once in pursuit of his family – had known, somehow, that the worst had happened. But the absolute worst to happen was after he had arrived there, after he had lost control.
In silence he watched R2-D2 and C-3PO work over the pyre. Neither of them remembered him; Obi-wan seemed to remember Bail mentioning he would have the protocol droid mind-wiped while the astrodroid would go to his cousin, the ill-fated Captain Antilles. As a pit droid for Alderaan's not-quite-military R2 would of course have gone through the standard procedures.
Padmé was gone; she, Bail, a few trusted crewers, Master Yoda and he himself were the only beings outside the Empire who knew the whole story. And now Bail, all those crewers, Alderaan was endangered.
But Luke is alive, remember?
He waited.
There had been a survivor of that Dark-aided rampage; only one, and only a child at the time. Obi-wan had encountered him that first night after he had landed here, traipsing across the desert to take infant Luke to what dubious shelter his relatives could offer. On that occasion the Sand Person had for some reason not sounded the alarm; years later, he found the same Raider wounded, and while nursing him back to health learned his story. He learned what had happened beyond the brusque details of Anakin's account, beyond R2's reluctant explanation.
A speeder's whine made him turn.
In silence, Obi-wan watched as Luke slowly climbed from the speeder's seat. Grief radiated from him, confirming Ben's own dark suspicions. Owen Lars and his gentle wife Beru had perished at the hands of the Empire.
But had it cost Luke…?
"There is nothing you could have done had you been there," he told Luke softly. "You would have been killed too. And the droids would be in the hands of the Empire."
For one, tension-filled moment he waited. Apprehension rose. Would Obi-wan see the same darkness in Luke's eyes? The same glazed pain?
With bated breath, he awaited answer.
With a visible sigh, Luke drew himself upward. Obi-wan watched as his eyes traveled from Ben's feet, up the folds of his robe, then flickered up to meet the Jedi's gaze.
No darkness lurked in the depths of those blue eyes – no controlled hatred, no glazed denial. His eyes were dull, but focused. Like the Jedi he had never been trained to be, Luke Skywalker looked steadily into Obi-wan's eyes: "I want to come with you to Alderaan." A breath caught in Ben's throat as Luke added with a deprecating glance around the dunes, "There's nothing here for me now."
Then came the words he had alternately longed for, and dreaded, for just short of twenty years: "I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."
Ben nodded slowly, emotion preventing him from speech; he placed a gentle hand on Luke's shoulder, attempting to convey with his eyes the consolation and gratitude he didn't know how to express. Both turned toward the speeder, helping the droids in by silent consent.
As they started off, Obi-wan Kenobi thought quietly, Not just like your father, young one. But I believe that is for the best.
*Author's note: The spelling of "Obi-wan" in this fic is completely intentional, based off the original credits of "A New Hope." The alternate spelling of "Obi-Wan" didn't appear until the books started coming out.