Obi-Wan's Lullaby

A Star Wars Fanfiction by NorthernStarsPen

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, nor do I own "Joseph's Lullaby" by MercyMe. I'm just borrowing them for my own imaginative purposes.

Author's Note: This is why Undo Chapter 3 is late. I got bitten by the plot bunny. This little one shot is the product of far too much Mountain Dew and listening to my cousin sing "Joseph's Lullaby" at a recital. I thought, "Did Luke Skywalker ever hear a lullaby as a child? Did Obi-Wan ever sing him one? These words fit Luke's story perfectly…" And about two days later, this was the product. I did modify the words slightly for storytelling purposes. Here are the original words off the MercyMe recording "The Christmas Sessions."

Go to sleep, my son,

This manger for your bed.

You have a long road before you,

Rest your little head.

Can you feel the weight of your glory?

Do you understand the price?

Or does the Father guard your heart for now,

So you can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep, my son,

Go and chase your dreams.

This world can wait for one more moment,

Go and sleep in peace.

I believe the glory of heaven is lying in my arms tonight.

But Lord I ask that He for just this moment,

Simply be my child.

Go to sleep, my son,

Baby, close your eyes.

Soon enough you'll save the day,

But for now dear child of mine,

Oh my baby, sleep tight.

-"Joseph's Lullaby" by MercyMe


The weary Jedi Master sat down heavily, his grief bearing down upon him. The blinding white of the room or the hardness of the chair offered no comfort to his aching heart. The past forty-eight hours had been a blur. Yet he remembered so clearly the very real pain that stabbed at his heart when Anakin, his best friend and brother for so many years had yelled three simple words.

"I hate you!"

Anakin, his brother, consumed by the darkness.

"The boy you trained, gone he is."

His companion of nearly fifteen years, overtaken by Palpatine's lies, swallowed by the identity of Vader. Yoda was right, Anakin was gone. In his place was a twisted and evil Sith Lord that only physically resembled Anakin. No more was the promising young Jedi named Anakin Skywalker. There was only Darth Vader.

"There is still good in him… I know there is… still…"

He was in the room as Padmé Amidala Skywalker fought for her life, for the life of her children. As her children took their first breaths, she took her last. As her children entered the galaxy, she held his hand, in the way a dear friend would provide comfort for one another. But it wasn't supposed to be his hand she was holding.

Anakin… you should be here…

Padmé's firstborn, a son, had a small curl of blonde hair atop his head, and deep cerulean eyes. As he held the child out to its mother, her expression saddened.

"Luke…" she quietly breathed, barely able to raise her hand to stroke his tiny head. He once again, held the child close to his chest, looking down at the tiny babe. In his arms was the splitting image of a fallen hero. Clearly, Padmé had seen the resemblance as well.

Anakin…

The second twin, a girl this time, had chocolate brown eyes and matching dark brown hair, her eyes open to take every bit of her new surroundings in. He held the tiny girl out for her mother to see.

"It's a girl." he sadly said.

"Leia…" Padmé breathed, not even able to raise her arm and touch her small daughter. "Anakin was right…" she added between labored breaths.

Why, Anakin? Why aren't you here?

As the Jedi cradled the twin children of Anakin and Padmé Skywalker in his arms, he leaned in closer as his friend called his name.

"Obi-Wan, there is still good in him… I know… there is… still…"


Obi-Wan Kenobi's eyes shot open, erasing the images from the past two days from his mind. To his right were two infant children, now both fast asleep. The silence in the room was crushing, allowing Obi-Wan to be alone in his thoughts. He had betrayed Padmé by sneaking aboard her ship, but he knew it was the only way to find Anakin.

You knew it was necessary. Anakin needed to be stopped, the galaxy depended upon it.

As Obi-Wan continued to wade through his grief for the loss of a Senator and a brother, a single cry split the silence in the room. He looked over to his right, noticing that the boy, Luke, was now wide awake. Feeling as through an extra twenty years had been added to his age, he slowly trudged over towards the crib. Gently, he picked up the small child, rocking him slowly in his arms.

"Sssh…" he urged. "Don't wake your sister, now."

The infant continued to cry, and Obi-Wan shifted his weight to lean the child against his shoulder. Gently patting his back, Obi-Wan lightly bounced to try and soothe the babe back to sleep.

"I know, young one. You're crying for your mother. You want to be with her right now, not with me. That's the way it should have been."

It broke Obi-Wan's heart. The children were only five hours old, yet their parents were both gone from their lives. At least, it was Obi-Wan's fervent hope that the children's father would never find them. A deeply saddening hope, but a fervent hope nonetheless. Little Luke was crying for his mother, who now laid in eternal slumber in the room next to them, waiting to be taken back to her home one final time. Other than a small touch the moment of their births, Luke and Leia would never know who their mother was. As for the future, much hadn't been decided yet. Bail Organa and Yoda were shocked enough to find out the children's father was Anakin. They were meeting tomorrow to discuss the future.

"What you should be concerned about is right now, Master."

Another painful memory resurfaced. A sixteen year old Anakin kept trying to draw his Master's attention to their current predicament by light gestures, then finally physically turning him around to see their persecutor.

"Now, Anakin, what you are trying to say can wait. We need a plan to get to that control center, and it's much more heavily guarded than we originally thought. We need to plan for the future, Anakin, or we'll all end up making some critical mistake that could endanger the lives of many others…" Obi-Wan continued to drone on, looking through the data files of the security conduit. Anakin's eyes widened at the sight of droid troops that had amassed before him, that were now just staring and watching an oblivious Jedi Master.

"Master…Master…" Anakin continued to nudge his Master lightly on the shoulder, still staring at the droids.

"Not now, Anakin… now, it looks like we can get in via the west entrance…"

"Master… Master, look…" Anakin continued to drone on.

"Anakin, can't it wait for just a minute?" Obi-Wan began to feel more than a bit of frustration towards his padawan learner. Anakin finally gave up and grabbed both his Master's shoulder.

"What you should be concerned about is right now, Master." Anakin said, turning him around to see the roughly thirty droids who had now raised their blasters at the two Jedi.

"Hands up, Jedi!" the lead droid mechanically commanded.

"We have a slight problem, Master." Anakin said.

"Slight problem, Anakin?" Obi-Wan questioned.

"I said you should be concerned about right now, didn't I, Master?"

Luke's cries began to intensify. Obi-Wan was running out of ideas, other than to just simply let Luke cry himself to sleep. But that would risk waking up Leia, and two wailing infants would be simply peachy. In a last ditch attempt, Obi-Wan sat down with Luke, who was still crying.

"Ssssh… be still, young one." Obi-Wan soothed. He frantically tried to remember any lullabies he was sung as a child. He only remembered about two, and he only remembered all the words to one. It would have to suffice.

"Luke, this was a lullaby my father sang to me when I was young, shortly before I left home for my Jedi training." More memories. The happy mixed in with the bad, every predominant memory from his entire Jedi training. The Jedi was his lifestyle, his entire world until now. Obi-Wan shook it off.

"You can't sing Luke his lullaby if you're blubbering yourself. Anakin was right, worry about right now."

Obi-Wan knew his singing voice was not the best, but now was not the time to worry about that as Luke's cries continued to grow louder. Obi-Wan lightly rocked the boy as he began to sing.

"Go to sleep, my son…this cradle for your bed. You have a long road before you; rest your little head…"

It was true, unfortunately. Luke's parentage and the world into which he was born left him with a long, difficult life that he would have to overcome.

"Can you feel the weight of your glory? Do you understand the price?"

Did Luke understand, subconsciously, what had happened to his father and mother? Was it possible for him to remember in later years, what his father had done, that his mother had given up on her life while giving him his own?

"Or does the Force guard your heart for now, so you can sleep tonight…"

Obi-Wan wished this to be the case. He wanted the Force to guard Luke and Leia's hearts so they could have pleasant dreams as children. He wanted all dreams of Vader, of the darkness that consumed their father, never to cross their minds. While he desperately hoped that Padmé and Anakin would live on in their children's dreams, he also silently prayed that Vader would not haunt them, either.

"Go to sleep, my son… Go and chase your dreams. This world can wait for just this moment, go and sleep in peace."

If anyone could bring balance to the Force again, if anybody could redeem Anakin, it was young Luke. But for now, while Luke was merely a small baby sleeping in a hospital room, spending the first of many nights without his mother. The world, the galaxy, the Jedi, the Force… it could all wait for now, so that one child could sleep peacefully tonight.

"I believe the glory of heaven is lying in my arms tonight. But I ask that he for just this moment, could simply be my child."

Even if Luke was predestined to be a great Jedi and bring balance to the Force once more, he was still a baby right now. Even small children need rest and time to be treated like children. Obi-Wan stumbled over the words "could simply be my child." He didn't want Luke to be his own child right now. Anakin should be with his son right now. Obi-Wan tried to imagine the joy on Anakin's face as he held his infant son for the first time. Yet every time he tried to imagine the scene, Anakin's face always contorted into that of Vader, with no joy, no hope, no emotion evident on his face. Obi-Wan blinked it off for the time being. He'd have plenty of time to wrestle with his thoughts later. Worry about right now…

"Go to sleep, my son… Baby, close your eyes. Soon enough you'll save the day, but for now dear child of mine…Oh my baby, sleep tight."

Obi-Wan finished the song to find Luke sleeping peacefully in his arms. Blinking back tears, he gently placed Luke back in his cradle. Worry about right now… Soon enough you'll save the day…

Yes, right now was all that mattered. Right now, all that mattered was two infant children that needed love and care that the world had stolen from them. Soon enough, things would be made right. As a fresh tear fell to the floor, Obi-Wan sat with his head in his hands. Soon enough, things would be made right…soon enough…

The spirit of Padmé Amidala Skywalker watched silently from a corner of the room. Once the lullaby finished, she knew. It was time. She hated to leave her children; she didn't want to leave them to face the world alone. But it was time. She knew. Obi-Wan would take care of them for her. He would let them know who she was in time, let them know that she loved them. She had to let go. She gently kissed the forehead of her two children, then slowly vanished forever. Soon enough, they'd be together again. Soon enough, she'd see her children, and her Ani, one more time. Soon enough…

As young Luke Skywalker grew up, he was sung to sleep by many lullabies. But he always remembered a certain lullaby in the back of his mind. He didn't know if it was sung by his own father or someone close to his father, but he knew the passion and love behind the voice of the singer. The words stayed with him, always, spurring him on to chasing his dreams of becoming a Jedi, to chasing his dream of finding who he was in the galaxy. Soon enough, he'd find out who exactly he was.

"Soon enough you'll save the day…"

As Obi-Wan Kenobi watched the young boy from a distance, he knew it wouldn't be long before the children should meet again. He knew that something inside was driving Luke to find out who he was. Owen Lars wouldn't admit it, but the proper time was drawing close. Something was driving Luke towards finding out. What he didn't know was that it happened to be the memory of a simple lullaby sung by a heartbroken friend. A simple lullaby that made him a promise that tomorrow could wait… what he had to worry about was right now.

"Don't hurry. Take your time and grow up, Luke. The world can wait, it's waited ten years. Sleep in peace tonight." Obi-Wan said quietly. Then the Jedi Master turned and walked away from the Lars homestead. Soon enough…

"What you should be concerned about is right now…"

"Soon enough you'll save the day, but for now dear child of mine… Oh my baby, sleep tight."

The End