Title: The Other Way

Universe: Star Wars

Genre: Angst

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: Entertainment purposes only, no characters or concepts belong to me.

Author's Note: Companion to "Changing Destiny," written because of my beta.

Obi-Wan moved purposefully through the city, his hood pulled up to shelter him from the rain. The address Padme had given him was close to the palace, almost in its shadow, and he was surprised by both its small size and its lack of security. If there was one constant about Padme Amidala Naberrie, it was that people often wanted to kill her.

"I'm here to see Padme," he told the familiar golden droid at the door.

"May I say who is calling?"

The Jedi raised his eyebrow in surprise. "Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Please wait here while I announce you." C3PO whirred away, leaving him standing outside the door. Obi-Wan tucked his hands into his sleeves and waited, studying the surrounding houses.

"Obi-Wan?"

He turned from his contemplation and smiled when he heard Padme's voice. "Padme. It is good to see you."

"I wasn't expecting you." Although her emotions were turbulent, there was no outward sign of her distress save for a very slight tremor in her hands.

"You didn't send for me?"

"No. I mean, yes, I sent for you. I just didn't think you'd come."

"Why wouldn't I come? We are friends, Padme."

Her face hardened almost imperceptibly. "Friends? Is that what we are?"

"What?"

"My husband left me for the Jedi," she said. Her voice was devoid of anger, but he could feel it lurking under the surface. "He turned away from his wife and children so he could play the hero."

For several moments the only sound was the rhythmic patter of the rain on the street. Obi-Wan met her masked expression with one of sympathy. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know."

The life seemed to drain out of her. "That's what hurts the most." She stood back and gestured for him to enter, waiting until the door was closed behind him to finish her statement. "It was like I was his mistress, a diversion from his true wife. An indiscretion that was swept under the rug, not to be mentioned. And I could handle it if it was only me that was affected."

"Does Anakin know there are children?"

"Yes." Padme sat down on the couch, forcing her body to relax and her hands to release. "I told him I was pregnant the night he returned to Coruscant."

"He's never mentioned them."

"He's never seen them. They would distract him from his place in the Jedi." The chill in her tone, though deserved, made him wince. "The twins know nothing about either their father or the Jedi. They carry my name alone, and it will stay that way if I have anything to say about it."

Obi-Wan nodded in acquiescence. "Why did you send for me?"

Padme glanced down the hall, and then turned back to Obi-Wan. "It's about my son, Luke." She lowered her voice. "He talks to people who aren't there."

"Children have imaginary friends, Padme."

"There are three." She paused, knowing this information would upset her guest. "One of them is named Qui-Gon."

"Qui-Gon?" There was a mixture of alarm and confusion in his voice. "I thought you said the children knew nothing of the Jedi."

"They don't. I even had Threepio's memory wiped to make sure."

"Then how . . .?"

"I don't know. When he talks to these people, it's almost like hearing half of a conversation. He asks questions and waits for the answer, and sometimes he sits there like he's listening to someone tell a story."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know!" She turned away, forcing back the tears. "Make it stop. I don't want to lose my son like I lost his father."

"Padme, I'm not sure I can make it stop." He stood and walked over to her. "If it is Master Qui-Gon speaking to him, he won't go away because of anything I say. Short of blocking Luke's connection to the Force, I can't think of anything that will change this."

"Then do it."

"What?"

"Block him."

"I can't do that, Padme. Cutting him off from the Force would cripple him. It would be an act of violence on par with putting out his eyes."

"Then think of something else, Obi-Wan. Something that does not include taking him away." The cool politician was gone, and a fierce mother stood in her place. "This is a Jedi problem, and a Jedi is going to come up with a solution."

"May I speak with him?" The Jedi waited, sensing the turmoil that his friend was going through. If his former master was connected to Luke through the Force, he doubted he could do anything about it, but it was possible that the worries were for nothing. Unlikely, but possible.

"Only Luke," she finally decided. "And only if I can be in the room."

"Very well." Obi-Wan followed her to a small room tucked away in a corner of the house, empty of furniture but cluttered with toys. A small girl with two brown braids rushed over before they had cleared the door.

"Mama!" She latched herself to Padme. "Did you come to play with us?" The girl turned to Obi-Wan with a curious expression. "Who are you?"

"This is a friend of mine, sweetheart, and we can't play right now. I need you to stay here with Threepio while my friend and I talk with Luke."

"Is Luke in trouble?"

"No, Leia." Padme frowned as she looked down on her daughter. "Unless you two have gotten into something that I don't know about."

Leia's brown eyes got very wide. "Of course not, Mama!" She left the two adults and ran back to her play. Padme sighed and looked at Obi-Wan wearily.

"I'll have to check over everything tonight. Leia is usually the instigator, and if she's feeling guilty there's probably a reason." Turning away from the Jedi, she headed for a blond head almost hidden by a tower of blocks. "Luke?"

Obi-Wan caught a flash of blue eyes as the boy looked up. "Yes, Mama?"

"This is a friend of mine. His name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. He's here to talk to you."

Luke grinned and launched himself at the Jedi, his toys forgotten. "You're here! He said you would come!"

Obi-Wan chuckled despite the seriousness of the situation. The child's enthusiasm was contagious. "Who said I would come, young one?"

"Qui-Gon. He said Mama would call you, and you would come and watch over me."

Obi-Wan glanced at Padme, who narrowed her eyes but said nothing. Apparently her concerns had merit after all. "Why don't we talk about what else Qui-Gon has told you." He gently detached the boy from his leg and stretched out his hand. Luke put his own small hand in the calloused palm of his new friend and pulled him from the room. Padme trailed behind, feeling like she had lost control of the situation. It was one thing to think that the impossible might be happening. It was quite another to have those suspicions completely confirmed.

Luke led the two adults into the small bedroom he and Leia shared. "You have to get real quiet inside before Qui-Gon can talk to you," he confided, leaping onto his bed. When the bouncing had settled, Obi-Wan sat down next to the boy. Padme perched gingerly on the edge of Leia's bed.

"Does Qui-Gon ever talk to your sister?"

Luke frowned. "You have to get real quiet inside," he repeated slowly.

Padme almost laughed, and she could see the smile flash across Obi-Wan's face. Leia had problems with being quiet on the outside. "Will he talk to me?" the Jedi asked.

The child nodded eagerly. "He's been waiting for you. So have Ben and Jaina."

"Who are Ben and Jaina?"

"My other friends. You don't have to be as quiet to hear them."

Obi-Wan nodded. He had more questions, mostly about these two new names, but the answers would be more complete in meditation. He cleared his mind and became very still in the Force, and was surprised to feel Luke doing much the same. Obi-Wan wondered if this was Luke's own natural ability, or something that Qui-Gon had taught him, and then he released that thought into the Force as well.

It was almost as if he stepped into another world, and Obi-Wan realized as he looked around that it was the Force as seen by Luke, limited only by the child's imagination. He was standing on sand, looking at the spare beauty of Tattooine, with its twin suns, when a flash of green caught his eye. He turned and found himself in an immense forest, but the sand was still beneath his feet. The Jedi turned back and found himself facing an ocean, with young Luke standing in front of him playing in the surf.

"Beautiful, isn't it, my Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan turned at the sound of that familiar voice and smiled. There stood his master, looking exactly as he had that last day on Naboo. A slight smile creased Qui-Gon's face as he reached out his hands toward his former padawan. Obi-Wan moved into the embrace without hesitation, reveling in the presence of the man who was his father in every way except blood.

He felt them in the Force before he saw them, and twisted away from his former master to see what had to be the beings that Luke had named earlier. They seemed more vivid than both Qui-Gon and the boy, brighter against the rolling, treeless hills that had appeared behind them.

"So this is Obi-Wan Kenobi," said the woman. "Not quite what I expected."

The man next to her was both serene and somehow familiar, although Obi-Wan was certain they had never met. "You had expectations?"

"Yes," she shot back. "I thought he'd be taller, or older, or possibly less confused."

"You'll have to excuse her," her companion said, rolling his eyes. "It's been a very long time since we've spoken to another adult Jedi, other than Qui-Gon."

"Why is that?" While these two were definitely odd, that was practically a Jedi trademark. Obi-Wan didn't see why other Jedi who had gone into the Force would go so far as to alienate them.

"It takes a lot of focus for either the dead or the living to reach this place, and we don't quite have enough energy to reach out to them anymore."

"And what is this place?"

The man smiled, and Obi-Wan was hit again by the familiarity of it. "It's the place between the living and the dead, where you exist when you are neither one."

"Neither one," the Jedi echoed blankly. "You aren't dead, and you aren't alive?"

"It's a long story," the woman sighed. "One not meant for tender ears." She left the group and walked over to Luke, who was still splashing around in the water. After a whispered exchange, the boy vanished and the woman had returned to the side of her companion.

"Technically speaking, neither one of us is dead," the man went on as if nothing unusual had happened. "But we can't take on a physical form."

"How could that happen?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Better start from the beginning, farmboy."

Her friend shrugged and sat down on what was now a grassy field, with a stream running alongside them. "As Mara said, it's a long story. You should get comfortable."

"I thought her name was Jaina," commented Obi-Wan as he dropped onto the soft turf.

"He doesn't know our real names. It would get too confusing."

"And why is that?"

The man smiled. "My name is Luke Skywalker. This is my wife Mara. We're from a future that will never be."

Obi-Wan found himself speechless for the second time that day. The other three Jedi looked on with sympathy while he regained his composure. "The future?"

"One that will hopefully never be. We reached back into our past, your present, to change things and were folded into this place when we succeeded."

"You reached through time? Was it really that bad?"

"Yes." This terse reply came from Mara, who was rubbing her left wrist absently. As she continued, abrasions appeared on both wrists and around her neck. Her husband reached over and stilled her motions, but the marks remained.

"A former student of mine went to the dark side." The air surrounding them went still and cold. "There wasn't much left when he was finished."

"My time here is growing short, Obi-Wan, and there are things we must discuss." Qui-Gon looked over at his former padawan with affection. "You will have to take this up at another time."

Obi-Wan nodded. "What do I need to do?"

"Train the boy." Qui-Gon shared a look with Luke. "The dark is going to chase after him. He must be grounded in the light."

"Padme will never allow me to take him back to the Temple."

"Neither will we." The Jedi turned to look at Mara in surprise. "We've worked too hard to keep Anakin in the light."

"What do you mean?"

Luke sighed. "In our time, he was known as Darth Vader."

"Anakin would never join the Sith!"

"He did. Anakin Skywalker pledged himself to Palpatine and destroyed the Jedi."

"But you changed that." Obi-Wan's voice had a slightly pleading note to it, one that would have gone unnoticed by anyone who didn't know him well. Luke heard and answered.

"Yes, but it will always be an uphill battle. He needed to let go of either the Jedi or Padme. Bringing his son into the Temple could upset that decision. And if you take Luke from his mother and sister now, he'll have the same problem."

"So how can I train him?"

"You have to be willing to let go of the Jedi."

Obi-Wan went still, and his voice was hushed when he finally spoke. "You mean I will need to leave the Order."

"You need to accept that possibility. This is the only way he can be trained."

"How do I explain this to the Council?"

"You can't. You can't speak of this to anyone except Master Yoda." Mara looked grim as she spoke these words. "If the others hear of it, they won't allow it to happen."

"And it must happen," Qui-Gon said. "There are dark things on the horizon. You must be ready for them." The elder Jedi seemed to flicker before Obi-Wan's eyes, and then faded completely. Obi-Wan turned to the others, but apparently this was also somewhat commonplace.

"He had to return," Luke said, almost sadly. "He doesn't belong here. Neither do you."

"What about these dark things Qui-Gon mentioned?"

"There will be time to discuss that later. Your time here is nearly gone. Will you train him?"

"Yes."

Those blue eyes – Anakin's eyes, he noted absently – seemed to look through him. "Even if it means giving up everything you know?"

This response took a little more time. "Yes."

Luke smiled suddenly. "Good. You are the Jedi I remember."

And then Obi-Wan opened his eyes to Padme's worried face. "You've been out for hours," she said. Then the worry on her face disappeared behind her politician's mask. "I was starting to think that I would have to call the Jedi Temple and tell them I'd broken Master Kenobi."

"It's just as well you didn't," Obi-Wan murmured. "Can you imagine the scandal that would follow?"

Padme laughed, but it was shallow and brief. "What did you learn?"

He sighed and stretched his stiff limbs. It was full dark outside, and he was in need if a 'fresher, a meal, and a very strong and possibly alcoholic drink. Time to sort through the things he had been told would also be nice, and frankly impossible. Padme would not be denied.

"Luke must be trained, Padme."

"You're not taking him, Obi-Wan." She drew her head up and folded her arms, and that was that. No theatrics, no raised voices, just cold, hard determination.

"There are three of them, just as you said, and they have no intention of leaving him. Qui-Gon Jinn was never one to alter his course once he had decided upon it."

"Then block them from reaching him."

"Padme, even if I could successfully block the connections between Luke and these three Jedi, the resulting shock would likely place him into a state of catatonia." He hesitated for a moment, staring out of the window. "There may be an alternative."

Padme waited, arms still crossed, and he took that as an indication that he should continue. "I would like to train him here, without taking him to the Temple."

She looked skeptical. "The Council would let you do this?"

"No." Obi-Wan looked up, sadness lurking in his eyes. "I would have to leave the Order."

Astonishment flashed across her face. "You would be willing to leave the Jedi?" There was an unspoken question in the air between them: was training Luke so important that he would leave his own family to see it was done? Obi-Wan answered both questions with a single word.

"Yes."

888

Anakin Skywalker burst into his former master's quarters without announcing himself. Obi-Wan was in the bedroom neatly folding and stacking clothing, a bag open on a bed stripped of blankets. "So the rumors are true."

"What rumors would those be, Anakin?" Obi-Wan wasn't surprised by his friend's prompt arrival. The Temple's gossip mill was very efficient.

"You're leaving the Order." There was a fair amount of anger simmering in Anakin's thoughts, though he kept it from his voice.

"I am stepping away from the Order for a time," Obi-Wan admitted. "There are things that must be done." He looked away from his packing to study Anakin's expression. "You of anyone should understand exactly why."

Anakin flinched internally from that penetrating gaze. The report from his security team had arrived before Obi-Wan, so he knew of the visit. But that did not explain why the best Jedi he knew was walking away from his entire life. "No, Master, I don't understand."

"And I cannot explain it," said Obi-Wan softly. "It is something I must do." He pulled his lightsaber from his belt and looked at it for a moment. Then he held it out to Anakin, who stepped back and shook his head.

"I can't take it, Master."

"Very well," he replied. He set the weapon gently on the bed, picked up his bag, and walked past his former apprentice.

"You'll regret this, Obi-Wan," Anakin called after him. Obi-Wan stopped at the door and turned to regard his friend.

"Possibly. But that is my decision to make, Anakin." And Obi-Wan Kenobi, ordinary citizen, left the room and walked away from the Jedi Temple.