How did my father die?
As Obi-Wan walked towards Luke, cradling his best friend's lightsaber in his hand, he allowed himself a momentary pause to doubt the grand plan he and Master Yoda and Bail Organa had come together to work on ever since that terrible day where the Jedi Order was virtually destroyed by Order 66.
Everything seemed to be working out perfectly; from what Bail had told him in the regular messages, Anakin's daughter Leia was as determined to rebuild the Republic from the ground up and cast down the Empire as any member of the Rebel Alliance.
The fact the girl was virtually brainwashed at an impressionable age did bother Obi-Wan, especially as he recalled what it was like raising Anakin, but it needed to be done if it ensured the end of the Sith, in the from of Palpatine and….Darth Vader.
A large part of the ageing Jedi Master hated the necessity of using Anakin's children in this manner; in an ideal world the Skywalker twins could have been living with Padme and Anakin, but it was impossible. But while he regretted the necessity, Obi-Wan had to think, as Yoda had, of the big picture, and this needed to be done in order to undo the damage caused by Vader, the Emperor, and the Empire. In a way, a perverse way at that, Obi-Wan and Master Yoda believed they were ensuring the Skywalker family repented to the galaxy.
That Luke and Leia had both been raised apart without knowing one another was about the only thing that didn't bother the old Jedi, who still clung onto the tenets of the Jedi Code which strictly forbade attachment of any sort.
However, what Obi-Wan had great misgivings of was of how Master Yoda had gently used the Force to stop Padme's heart shortly after she gave birth to the twins. Yes, he believed the Sith should be destroyed, but to kill a young mother in such a way… it was something almost worthy of the Sith. Yoda had argued with him, scolding him about his emotions getting in the way of dealing a blow and ending the Sith Lords once and for all.
If either twin learnt of that…
Obi-Wan had been forced to watch as Anakin spiralled down to becoming Darth Vader; the loss of his mother (even now, learning from the Force Ghost of Qui-Gon of how Anakin had exploded with rage and wiped out an entire Tusken village was painful), seeing so much death and destruction during the Clone Wars as orchestrated by Palpatine and Dooku, being forced to watch as Ahsoka was framed for murder and watching as she threw away her place in the Order, being ordered by the Council to spy on Palpatine and had to endure the disdain and contempt from certain members along the way. The last thing he wanted was to see Luke or Leia discover what Yoda had done and see them both becoming as bad as Vader. If that happened then the pain and suffering in the galaxy would get much worse.
Luke stepped close to him and Obi-Wan hid a smile at the expression on Luke's face; Anakin had worn a similar expression when he'd seen the insides of a lightsaber. "What is it?"
"This is your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight, not as clumsy or as random as a blaster," Obi-Wan handed the cylinder over to Luke who ignited it for the first time in 20 years and twirled it around to get a feel for it. "An elegant weapon for a more civilised age," Obi-Wan carried on as he sat down, lost in his memories of being raised among dozens of other padawans (he would not think of Siri right now), his selection as padawan under Qui-Gon Jinn, having to listen as his master unashamedly spoke against the senior masters of the Order despite his own dedication and his frustration with how the Jedi had become pawns of the Senate, the mess on Naboo with the Trade Federation, meeting Anakin…
Obi-Wan remembered his doubts about Anakin, his dismissal of the 9 year old boy and his condemnation of him as dangerous when the boy hadn't really done anything wrong. Looking back Obi-Wan was bitter he had taken Anakin on as an apprentice especially after what he grew to become, even though Qui-Gon's faith hadn't eroded.
Luke broke Obi-Wan out of his thoughts and Obi-Wan sensed rather than saw Luke sit beside him. "How did my father die?"
Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He had been dreading this topic for years despite the necessity. Unlike Anakin, Luke had done nothing wrong but even with the Jedi Code's rules in his mind, this kind of deception would soon be discovered but it was hoped by him and Yoda alike Anakin's children would be far too indoctrinated by the Code to care about Vader's connection to them.
"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil. Helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force."
Obi-Wan was slipping back into his memories as the galaxy went from an almost peaceful place until Palpatine manipulated the Separatists and the Republic with the clone army, resulting in a war which ripped the galaxy to pieces until all that was left was reforged into an evil Empire by the Sith when Luke miraculously pulled him out of his depression.
"The Force?" Luke asked in confusion.
Obi-Wan smiled kindly. "The Force is what gives the Jedi his power. Its an energy field created by all living things, it surrounds us, it penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together," he explained.
The Force was of course more complex than that, but there would be plenty of time to truly for the twins to learn more about it. But right now, Obi-Wan was pleased the Force itself was not giving Luke doubt about his account about Vader's role in the destruction of the Jedi. That gave him hope the Force wanted Luke to see Vader in that fashion.