"Come on! Trust me. This will work. Ok?" he huffed, rolling his eyes and looking down at his little brother with a wry expression.

Kids. Honestly.

"But, that's not what the instructions say," Hayden frowned, looking at the ingredients Luke had pulled out of the cupboard and laid out on the countertop to help him with his science project. He pointed to the instruction sheet. "My teacher says…"

"Yeah. And my teacher thinks art and English are one and the same class." Luke rolled his eyes again. "Doesn't mean she's right." He'd sucked it up and given her the letter that morning, though. As asked. She'd accepted the apology, but all throughout the lesson she'd still given him the stink eye. But, the looks he'd gotten from his classmates told him he'd at least gained Legendary status, for good or for worse. When Ezra had asked to hang out after school (which, admittedly, Luke was pleased about), and Luke had told him he was grounded until further notice, Ezra had assumed that it was because of his stunt in English combined with his fight with Jabba. When Luke told him it was actually because he'd taken a stolen speeder on a high speed chase through downtown Houston, his new (old) friend had been even more impressed. He'd smirked at Ezra's declaration of, "You're my hero, Man!" accompanied by a slap on the back.

Now, like Leia, he was stuck at home. Unlike Leia though, he wasn't using the time to get his own homework done. No, he was looking for any excuse to do anything except that. Including helping his little brother finish his volcano project for science class. His mom had yet to return home from work, and his dad, although he was home, had declined to help, saying that he had to make some enhancements on Artoo, and he'd disappeared into his study. Luke wasn't sure he bought that excuse, but he used his brother's need as his own distraction from either boredom or boredom with homework.

"I don't want to get a bad grade." Hayden frowned again, looking at the concoction Luke was coming up with. "I also don't want Rachel to get a better grade than me." His frown turned into a pout, and the corners of Luke's lips twitched upward. Rachel, he remembered, was Obi-Wan's younger daughter who was just a few months older than Hayden. Already gorgeous with strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful English rose complexion, Luke could certainly imagine Rachel Kenobi catching a lot of male attention when she was older (much like her older sister, Elle, did now at high school, much to her father's annoyance, or at least so Leia said)...and probably that of his dark-haired, blue-eyed younger brother as well. Although Hayden was still at an age when girls had cooties, Luke couldn't help but wonder if something might develop there in the future, in say 4 or 5 years. He was certain that if that worked out, it would be the only relationship his father actually approved of for any of his kids. Maybe. His dad was weird sometimes with what he did and didn't approve of.

"Luuuuke...Come on!" Hayden whined impatiently, jolting him from his internal musings.

"Right...Look. You won't. Trust me. This is going to be way more realistic. Minus the actual burning hot lava, of course." Luke assured him, hurriedly mixing up ingredients in a glass measuring cup. "Okay. So, we're going to test this. What you'll have to do is pour this part into the funnel of your volcano," Luke lifted up the measuring cup to the little hole on top of the plaster volcano his mom had helped Hayden with previously, and poured the liquid in. "Then, once it's all in there, you're going to add the last touch…" He lifted the last ingredient to the top of the funnel…

Two things happened at once. First, his father chose that precise moment to walk into the kitchen. "Hey, have you seen the…?" he began, but he was interrupted by the second thing that happened right then. Luke had dropped the last ingredient into the funnel, and suddenly, a gurgling, bubbling sound could be heard inside the volcano. Honestly, it sounded a lot like Bacca's stomach after eating too many tacos with refried beans. Luke knew in that instant this was not going to turn out well. Sure enough, instead of the smaller explosion Luke was expecting, the foaming mixture spewed out of the top of the plaster funnel, exploding up and out, spraying almost every imaginable surface of the white kitchen and its occupants in a red, sticky goo.

Oops.

It seemed to go on forever, but finally, it settled down, the goo dripping down the sides of the volcano lazily. Luke reached up and wiped the mixture out of his eyes and blew it out of his nose, and he sensed Hayden doing the same. His father, on the other hand, remained stoic, completely and eerily still. "Luke, it's not supposed to be a pyroclastic eruption!" Hayden informed him, irritably, glaring up at him. A big glop of goo dripped off the end of Hayden's nose silently and plopped on the countertop.

"A what?!"

Hayden sighed in exasperation. "When the volcano explodes lava everywhere! That's a pyroclastic eruption. It's supposed to be a…" He tried the word out a few times, but it didn't come out right. Finally, he grabbed the now splattered instruction paper and pointed to the word.

"Strombolian?" Luke frowned. "I don't even know what that is."

"It doesn't explode...like this." His brother insisted, pointing out the mess all over their mom's white cupboards, the tiled floor, the front of the fridge and stove, not to mention the island top….and oh no, even some of the ceiling apparently.

"But, isn't that what volcanoes are supposed to do? Y'know...explode?"

"I don't care what they do and don't do. It doesn't need to do it in our kitchen!" Anakin interrupted, his voice tight, and both boys turned their attention to their rigid father. Under the saucy goo on his cheeks, forehead, and chin, a peculiar look was on his face and in his eyes, as if he were trying to hold back from yelling right then and there. "Clean. It. Up. Now. Before your mother…"

"Before I what?" Padme's voice suddenly said, and now it was Luke and Hayden who tensed as their mother turned the corner and stopped short, her eyes widening and jaw dropping, as she took in the state of her kitchen. "What in the Force happened here?!"

Wide eyed, Hayden pointed up at Luke. "He did it!" he squeaked.

"Traitor," Luke grumbled, though he couldn't blame the kid. Their mom looked murderous. If she had the Force, perhaps she'd be Force choking them both right about now. "I was trying to help Hayden with his science project. My modifications to the lava recipe were uh…a bit more explosive...than perhaps intended."

Padme clamped her mouth shut and took multiple deep breaths through her nose in an attempt to calm down. Luke watched a bit trepidatiously as her nostrils flared each time. "Just what I needed to come home to," she grumbled under her breath. "Both of you...Clean it up, now. I want this kitchen sparkling. And Luke, for Force's sake, just follow the damn recipe next time!"

Hayden gasped, his eyes bugging out, his hand flying up to cover his mouth. "Uh-oh. Mom said a bad word." He whispered.

Luke tilted his head to look down at his brother and opened his mouth to say, Seriously Hayden? What are you, eight? But then he remembered…oh yeah. Hayden was eight. And still innocent. Unlike Luke, Hayden would never have to lose his innocence so tragically. So, instead he said, "Yeah, I know. I'll fix it." And, he began going through the sink cupboards looking for the cleaning supplies.

As he did so, he heard his mom whisper to her husband, "Are you okay, Ani?"

"Yeah." His dad muttered back, though he sounded pretty put out. Curious, Luke reached out through the Force to their bond, trying to get a sense of why his dad was so upset. He only got a few images before his father pushed him out with a stern, Not now, Luke.

S-Sorry. He stammered back, taken back by what little he'd seen. A barren, volcanic surface, heat stifling and smothering. Lightsabers clashing viciously over a river of lava. Screams of pain and hatred… He recalled what his father had said in his office a few days before, when he was telling Luke the story of his fall as Vader. He'd mentioned being maimed and needing a suit, but he hadn't given any of the details…It suddenly made sense why his dad wanted nothing to do with volcanoes, real or otherwise. Obviously, Vader's ascension had included lava...and lots of it. Luke decided it was best not to go there for awhile, watching as his parents exited the kitchen and headed upstairs together toward their room for his dad to get cleaned up most likely. It was still too sensitive a topic for his dad to discuss openly.

Working together, it still took Luke and Hayden well over an hour before the kitchen was back to the pristine state their mother usually kept it in, and by the time they'd both showered and come back downstairs, it was nine o'clock. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Hayden asked him, giving Luke a puzzled look.

"Because all of my clean shirts are in the laundry room still." Luke said as they reached the bottom floor. But, as the living room came into view, Luke stopped short, staring. Sitting on the armchair was his father, also recently showered and changed, staring intently at the occupants on the couch, his jaw clenched tightly as he tried (and failed) not to glare...at one specific occupant. On the couch opposite him, was Leia, much more relaxed, smiling at Luke in amusement, and next to her—

"Well, well, well...What have we here?" Mara said, a sly grin on her face, as she unabashedly looked Luke up and down, her emerald eyes brightening instantly with desire. It was almost enough to make Luke blush. "Obviously, I should come over more often."

"That's not necessary." Anakin immediately assured her.

Mara only grinned wider. "I'm certainly glad I cloaked my presence. Otherwise, I might have missed this." She motioned toward Luke's bare torso with a flick of her wrist.

"It's not anything you haven't seen before." Luke pointed out dryly. "You did live with us, after all. Remember?"

"Yes, well. I can still appreciate, Skywalker." She purred, and his dad made a disapproving snorting noise. But, before he could voice the complaint that Luke could feel coming, his mother breezed in from the kitchen, a glass of water in her hands, which she promptly handed to Mara, who thanked her, not even bothering to take her eyes off Luke. The longer those emerald eyes were on him, the more he actually began to blush. Sure, Talia had seen him half-dressed multiple times—they'd been partners in the field, after all. But even after they'd started dating, Luke hadn't ever been shy around her. Living in London, he didn't recall ever having been embarrassed the few times he'd run into Mara after a shower either. But, that had been before he'd started dating her, and now…now he didn't know why, but he had a sudden desire to either run and grab a shirt, or take Mara upstairs and…

A gasp interrupted that thought. Good thing, too...considering the disdainful look on his father's face as he arched an eyebrow at Luke. Anakin had obviously read his thoughts and knew just where his line of thinking had been going…Oh Man. He really needed to learn how to shield better. Luke looked down at his mother in surprise. He'd been so caught up in thinking about…Well, uh...what it was he was thinking, that he hadn't realized his mom had approached him. "Luke," she whispered, staring at his chest, her eyes wide with horror. "What—What happened to you?" She reached up, about to touch his chest, but then stopped, her fingers curling into a fist, as if afraid it would somehow hurt him.

"Wha-?" Luke looked down at what she was focused on, and let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, that? It's nothing, Mom. It's just an old scar. Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, but it's so—how on Earth did you get it?! That's not an average scar…" Across his chest, in four jagged, pink lines, were the claw marks from that mission all those years before, when he'd been sent to steal a lightsaber crystal. His eyes darkened as he remembered the reason why he'd gotten it. He'd been trying to protect Talia. He remembered her scream, how he'd hesitated for a brief moment, knowing he needed to move on and leave her behind. It was, after all, the way of the Sith. But, he'd felt her fear vibrant in the Force, and though he'd cursed himself at the time for doing it, he'd gone to her rescue.

"A tiger." To anyone who didn't know him, he sounded nonchalant. Unfortunately, the only person who didn't really know him was Hayden, whose eyes widened in amazement. He felt his father's grim acknowledgement of what he was hiding through his Force connection, and Luke refused to look at him. He was not telling him that story. Or any story that involved Talia for that matter. "It happened several years ago, Mom. It's not like the animal is going to find me all the way across the world and exact revenge." If it was even still alive.

"A tiger? Cool!" Hayden grinned, excited as only an eight-year-old would be.

"You never told me about this." Leia said, frowning at her twin. Luke refused to look her way either.

"He's apparently not much of a cat person. Must like dogs better." Mara remarked dryly, while his mother gaped at him like he was crazy.

"You do realize that isn't something to be so relaxed about." His mother said, fixing him with a stern look. "Why is it that you're always tangling with creatures you aren't supposed to? First a snake when you were little, and now a tiger. What next, a dragon?"

Luke opened his mouth to remind her that of everything paranormal that existed in this world, dragons weren't one of them, but as he did a lancing pain split his head, his vision starting to black out. Panicking, he blindly reached out through the Force for his father, Leia, Mara, anyone, warning them before he blacked out. In the distance, he heard his mom shout, "Anakin!" before someone grabbed him…

When he entered the vision, he was only alone for a brief period of time. He was sitting on top of a huge, white-furred, smelly and frankly, ugly animal with horns, talking into a comm unit. "Han, ol' buddy, do you read me?"

Han's voice came back immediately. "Loud and clear, kid. What's up?"

"Well, I finished my circle, I don't pick up any life readings." At this point, Luke was joined by someone else in his mind. His father. Damn, it's cold. His father hissed, and sure enough, the vision was so vivid even he could feel the bone-shattering chill in the air. It was almost too hard to breathe. The ice planet of Hoth. His father informed him grimly. I tracked you and your rebel friends here, but since my suit was climate controlled, I was the only one who didn't feel this intense coldness.

Yeah, well, lucky you. Luke shot back, as the vision him kept talking to Han about checking out a meteorite.

Yeah, that wasn't a was one of the probe droids I'd sent out across the galaxy to track you down. That's how I found you. His dad didn't sound the least bit sorry about it. That told Luke that probably meant that his dad didn't do anything horrible to him personally, so he wouldn't have to see anything as traumatic as the last vision.

At least, he thought that until vision Luke asked his suddenly panicked mount, "What's the matter, girl? You smell something?" And right on cue, a terrible roar filled the air, and Luke turned just in time to see a massive white monster - there was no other way to describe the thing - appear out of nowhere. Then again, the whole planet was white, so it hadn't been hard to hide, probably. Luke hardly had time to register this, though, because a massive clawed paw swiped him across the face, throwing him out of the saddle and into the snow.

What the fuck?! Luke said, Did I just get bitch slapped by an abominable snowman?!

Ahhh...So, that's how that happened, his father mused grimly, not immediately answering the question. That's a Wampa.

A what?! But the scene was changing again. Luke was now hanging upside down, opening his eyes against excruciating pain. Around him were the littered carcasses of animals, picked clean to the bone. In the distance, he heard another roar, and what sounded like the crunching of massive jaws eating...something. Ok...Whatever the hell that is, I'd rather face a tiger again. Luke said, as dream Luke tried to pull himself out of the ice his feet were encased in.

Wampa's are extremely dangerous. I'm surprised that the Rebel Alliance didn't do anything about them. His father said, and though he couldn't see him, he could almost feel his father scowling. Still, as dream Luke gave up on trying to yank himself out of the ice, and instead started frantically trying to reach for his fallen lightsaber, he could feel his father's presence enveloping him—and just as it did before, the pain in his head receded. Well. So, this isn't a fluke after all. Interesting.

Why is it interesting? And, why don't I just call the lightsaber to me? Luke scowled, frustrated with his body doing something that he, an experienced Force wielder, knew was pointless.

Because at this time in your past life, you weren't even skilled enough to be considered a Jedi Padawan. His dad said bluntly, mildly. You're actually lucky I didn't catch you. As for the vision, it's interesting that your pain goes away when you're being strengthened and supported by someone else with the Force—No, I think someone you have a bond with in the Force, because I think…I think this might be the Force's way of getting you to learn to trust other people to help you….as well as heal the rend in your memories that Palpatine caused when he deliberately altered your mind.

Luke started to reject that idea, but a wave of pain hit him, and he immediately forced himself to calm down. Right on cue, vision Luke also began to calm, as if finally realizing that the only way out of this one was to use the Force. He outstretched his hand, willing the lightsaber to come, and though it twitched a few times, just as the huge Wampa thing came lumbering around the corner, the weapon soared into his hands, and he hastily used it to cut himself free…

When he landed, he didn't land on the frozen floor of a snowy cave, but rather back in his own body, on the floor at the foot of his parents' stairs, his bare back on the cool tile causing a shiver to rush through him. Directly over him was his father, looking relieved and a bit intrigued that they'd entered into that memory together and out without any lingering pain on Luke's end. His father was right—Luke felt like he'd merely awoken from a nap, and as he pushed himself upright, he found that his father wasn't the only one there. His mom, Leia, Mara, and even Hayden were on either side of him, staring at him with far more concerned looks on their faces.

"Luke," his mom breathed, and the next thing he knew he was in her arms, cradled to her chest. "Thank the Force."

He hugged her back, reassuringly, breathing in her scent. "It's okay, Mom. I'm okay."

Still, she didn't immediately let go, and truthfully, he didn't really mind, and when she finally did, she still looked ready to leap forward if he blacked out again. "What did you see?" Leia asked, eagerly, her large brown eyes wide with curiosity.

Mara frowned, glancing between Leia and Luke, and he realized that he hadn't yet told Mara that he was from another galaxy…sort of…and that these fits of pain were merely visions of that past life. He had no idea where Mara fit into all of this—was she from that galaxy, too? If she was, did she remember her past also? Or, was she like Han, who didn't remember anything? Luke opened his mouth to change the subject, but his father replied, "Hoth. The wampa attack."

As Leia gasped and started nodding her head, Luke closed his eyes, sending annoyance down the bond between he and his father. Sorrryyy...I thought you'd have told Mara by now. His father replied, sounding genuinely surprised.

I don't tell everyone my business. Even my girlfriend. Sure enough, Mara's green eyes narrowed at him, her lips pursing.

"You didn't tell me you were remembering our old galaxy." She said, tightly. Suddenly, his family began shifting awkwardly. His mom probably didn't need to be a Jedi to sense the escalating and awkward tension this was causing between he and Mara.

"Hayden, why don't you go grab Luke a shirt?" His mom whispered to his brother, who nodded and ran off at once, probably more than happy to get out of there.

"I didn't know that's what it was." He said, truthfully. "I barely accepted the truth of it, and I haven't seen you since then. Besides," He added, "you didn't tell me you remembered it." Since clearly, she did know of it. It would definitely explain some of the peculiar looks she frequently gave him, as if she were hoping he'd remember something.

That, apparently, had been the wrong thing to say. She glared at him, flames erupting in her eyes as she pinned him with a look, crossing her arms over her chest. "You wouldn't have believed me if I had, and you know it!" She hissed at him, drumming her fingers on her biceps. "Don't you dare blame me for not telling you!"

"I know. I wouldn't have, I'm not upset…" he began, but his father cleared his throat awkwardly, as Hayden came back around the corner, holding one of Luke's many black shirts, which Luke gratefully took and slipped on. "Look. We'll talk about this later, Mara. Ok?" He said, and he stood up.

Mara took a deep breath, and though her eyes still burned with hurt and frustration for not being told, she otherwise appeared to be cool and collected again. "Fine." She said succinctly, reaching into the back pocket of her jeans. "By the way, I came to give you this."

She held out what looked to be a flash drive. Curious, Luke accepted it, turning it over. He felt his dad at his shoulder, peering at it as well. "What is it? What's on it?" Leia asked, frowning.

"Han and I looked into it." Mara confirmed, crossing her arms. "Apparently, your Jedi Temple in Nepal wasn't the only one on this planet."

Now that was unexpected. All of them stared at her, wide-eyed, trying to comprehend what this could mean. "Where?!" Anakin asked, his voice full of disbelief. "Peter and Will weren't ever able to find any other temples in their travels over the planet." Luke didn't know who Peter and Will were, but he assumed they were part of the Order.

"Deep in the Amazon jungle, apparently." Mara replied with an indifferent shrug. Luke, however could still sense how upset she was, and he tried to reach out through the Force to show how sorry he was for not telling her. She ignored him. Great. Friggin' great. He sighed.

"That's the thing about the Amazon. Entire civilizations have been lost to time down there. Unless you know where to look, a Jedi Temple wouldn't be easy to find." She pointed to the drive in Luke's hands. "Thankfully, our dear Ventress had the exact coordinates in that little apartment of hers. Convenient, wouldn't you say?"

Luke and his father shared a concerned glance—he'd known Mara and Han had gone to check out the apartment while he was back at school (she'd sent him a playful text to tell him: Going to see V's apartment. Have fun being grounded, farm boy!) but he didn't think Ventress would leave something of such importance behind. "It's a trap." He said, grimly, even though he was 100% sure that his parents, his sister, and Mara knew that already. Hayden, fortunately, had gotten bored with the conversation and had already gone back to the kitchen, and from the sounds of it was digging in the cookie jar for a few of their mother's homemade peanut butter cookies for a snack, but even if he hadn't, Luke doubted he'd understand the significance of the find.

"I'm sure." Anakin replied seriously, "But, if there's another temple on this planet, we can't allow the Sith to take control of it and the information it contains."

"And, you never heard of this temple existing while you were…with them?" Leia asked him, and Luke didn't need to know what she meant by that.

He shook his head. "No. I mean, not every Inquisitor goes through the same trial of stealing a crystal from the temple in Nepal, but all Inquisitors get one somehow…if there are lightsaber crystals there, maybe that's how…" He trailed off, considering. If the temple in the Amazon had lightsaber crystals, then they definitely couldn't leave it in Sith Hands.

His father apparently thought the same thing. "It sounds like we don't have much of a choice. I'm going to have to notify Obi-Wan and the Council of this." He said, sharing a look with his wife. "We'll just have to go in fully prepared."

He got the sense that his mom didn't like the idea of her family going into a potentially Sith-infested ancient Jedi temple in the depths of the Amazon jungle, but other than pursing her lips a bit and narrowing of her eyes, she didn't complain. In fact, Luke half-expected her to insist on coming with them, but someone had to stay home and keep an eye on Hayden. "I assume you'll be leaving in a few days after you have time to gather intel and prepare?" She asked, and Luke recognized that she was approaching the situation as a seasoned professional who had once been part of the dangerous fray that tended to follow Jedi wherever they went.

But, then, Luke realized that's exactly what his mother was…Wife of a former Sith Lord turned Jedi Grandmaster, mother to three Jedi in training, and a rather scrappy little fighter in her own right...She'd been there, done this many, many times before. It was part and parcel of being Mrs. Anakin Skywalker.

"Of course, Angel. I'm not about to bring our children into anything unless I am sure we can meet it on equal or better footing." Anakin assured her, going to her, wrapping her in his arms and pressing a tender kiss to her forehead.

"Good. You'd better bring them back to me safely...Or, you'll have me to answer to, Master Jedi." It was not a request...and that was no threat. She meant business...and his father knew it.

Taking up the challenge, Anakin grinned. "As you wish, milady."


I patterned Hayden a lot like my own little brother in the sense of how he approaches learning things in school. My brother LOVED weather when he was little (would literally watch the Weather Channel 24/7, knew all the details about all the weather casters lives, knew their speech patterns...) and one day when he was 8 he was talking about super detailed information about cloud formations and I just looked at him and was like "What's your grade in science?" and he was like "I don't know, an A, why?" And I was just like "Good, because otherwise your teacher and I would need to have a conversation, because I didn't know any of that until college." So I guess you could say Hayden is inspired by my brother.

Anyhow. The next few chapters are action packed. My Beta is going on vacation, so idk when I'll update it, but we'll see. I'm also updating some on Lost and Found, so fun times, and I hope to have an update on the Assassins Blade soon too. Also, to the reviewer who recommended the Fast and Furious soundtrack, THANK YOU FOR THE RECOMMENDATION! I love recommendations for new music, not just for story ideas, but also cuz I just like adding new music to my massive collection. You rock!

Hope to update soon!

Review!

Love,

Sarah