Claimer: Dear Disney, if any of you use this coming idea as a fix for your plot holes, I want credit. Contact me.

Chapter 38- The Mando and the Clone

"Now, I can't promise you this will work, but your past exists in the future, or it would have. Yet, however far it exists in your mind, that much should be possible for us to find."

They had hiked part way up a mountain to a natural cave. Rey sat crossed-legged on the floor in a triangle with Master Sifo-Dyas and Vos, she couldn't say she was thrilled about sharing her memories with Vos, but she wanted to know who she was.

"Ready?" Master Sifo-Dyas asked, offering his hand.

"Come on, Twinkle-Toes, I have better things to be doing," Vos said, holding out his hand expectantly.

They would guard her, their united intent and she the focusing object.

Taking in a deep breath, she reached for their hands.

The world blurred around her and she fell into a dream of her own memories.

At first, she felt sea-sick, falling through the pages of her past with no hope of reaching the bottom.

But Vos and Sifo-Dyas were better at this than Rey had given credit for, and they found the memory she needed.

oOo

The vast canopy of the Nubian rain forest opened above her, her feet pressing in the soft earth, the soil was so rich it was black.

And the smell of rain, of wet bark, and sweet, sweet flowers.

It almost always rained here, it was likely the least populated place on all of Naboo, and they lived several kilometres away from the nearest town.

A staff whapped down on hers, the clunk of the wood was exhilarating.

"Reyna," her mother chided, "stay focused." But she smiled as she brought her staff around and Rey dropped and rolled on the ground.

"It's just Rey, Mom," she said, stabbing forward with her staff which her mother easily deflected.

Her mother's laugh was richer than the dirt slid and landed face first in.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today," her mother said, helping Rey to her feet and sitting her down on a tree trunk, "Your father is not going to be impressed with us." Her fingers brushing the dirt from Rey's face and hair.

"Mama, how'd you learn to fight so good?"

Her mother hummed, "Now that's a long story."

"Why?" Rey asked, rubbing at her face.

Her mother snorted and seemed to give up on getting her face cleaned, "Well, it's a long story because of the reasons I had to learn to fight."

Rey pulled her legs up on the log, neither of her parents ever talked about their past. She was pretty sure they were hiding from other people because other people weren't them. Mama and Papa even used fake names when they went into town.

"Well, to begin with, I was born during the Clone Wars."

Rey patted her mother's lap, "Really! What was that like!?"

Again her mother laughed, "I don't know, Rey-Rey, I was a baby. But you see my birth was something of a complication."

"Why?"

"Well, to start with, my mother was the Duchess of Mandalore, Satine Kryze."

Rey gasped, "You were a princess!?"

Her mother grinned, her blue eyes sparkling, "Not quite, though you and I might have been Duchesses too one day if it hadn't been for the civil war."

Rey crossed her arms, "That's no fair. Did the clones attack Mandalore too?"

"No, it was a group called Death Watch, they didn't like my mother's laws. She was a very brave woman, but she knew it wasn't safe for her to have a child yet. So she hid her pregnancy from the galaxy and hid me, even from my own father."

Again, Rey gasped, putting both hands to her lips, "But why?"

"Because he was a Jedi."

"Are Jedi bad?"

Mama shook her head, "No, in fact, I was named after two Jedi Knights. My true name, the one my mother gave me, is Ahsano Kenobi. My father's name was Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano was a friend of my parents."

"What's a Jedi Knight?"

"Jedi were religious people who tried to defend the galaxy with magical powers."

"Are you a Jedi? Do you have magical powers?"

"I might have been, but the Jedi Order doesn't exist anymore and their knowledge of magic faded with them. They fell with the Old Republic."

"Why couldn't you be with your dad though?" Rey asked.

"Because he was a General in the Clone Wars, and if being Duchess Satine's daughter was dangerous, then being his daughter was even more dangerous. Both my parents had lots of enemies."

"But they weren't bad?"

"No, they weren't bad people, in fact, your grandparents were very good people trying to do very hard things to help others."

"Where are they now?" Rey asked.

"They died in the war. I don't think anyone had time to tell my dad I was born before he passed, but had my mother not hidden I might not be here today either."

Rey frowned, "They died when you were a baby?"

Mama nodded.

"Then who raised you?"

"Well, the family my mother gave me too also died in the war on Mandalore. But I was rescued and raised by two Mandalorians, Chakraborty and a weapons master, Master Maas."

Rey's eyes went big, "You had two dads?"

Mama laughed, "Two fathers, and they were true Mandalorians who raised me to be a warrior."

"Is that why you have all that armour in our closet?"

She nodded, "That's why, and that's why I'm going to train you to be a warrior too."

oOo

The world blurred and days and months and years passed like heartbeats.

oOo

The dream morphed and Rey was older now and she was standing outside her house listening to her parents' fight.

"What did you tell her about the Force!?" her father yelled, pacing back and forth, running a hand angrily through his short hair.

"Nothing, Ishaan, I told her nothing, your father-"

"He isn't my father! He's- He's a thing- Why couldn't he stay dead!?"

"Ishaan, you need to breathe," Mama told him.

"Breathe? Don't tell me to breathe, you don't know what this is like! We are being hunted because of me! This is my fault! I should never have dared having fam-"

Mama slapped him.

Rey put her hands to her lips to hide her gasp, she had never seen her parents hit each other before.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare regret bringing our child into this world!"

"But don't you see? He isn't hunting me, he wants her! He's in my dreams, Ahsano. Every night he whispers in my mind. He'll find us, he'll find her!"

"Then we run."

"We can't run forever."

"The hell we can't," Mama said, "my mother failed at nearly everything in her life, but she still kept me safe. We can do the same for our Reyna."

"Rey is too powerful, Ahsano, don't you understand that? She's not just a Palpatine, she's a Kenobi. That isn't a lineage she can just walk away from. Our only hope of keeping her hidden was suppressing her knowledge of the Force and you told her ab-"

"I told her that Jedi Knights were magic users, I didn't tell her anything about the Force! She has an innate gift, Ishaan, at her age, I did too. But a child's mind… it will pass. If we can just get her through the next few years…"

"He's going to find us."

"He won't, I promise you, my love. As the daughter of a Jedi Master and a pacifist Mandalorian, I know about hiding. As a Mandalorian warrior myself, I know how to fight and hide."

"It won't be enough," her father said almost too low for her to hear, "the Emperor made thousands of clones. I was the only one who made it out of the tanks wholly human, but I have no connection to the Force. I'm just a disappointment."

Rey peeked over the sill to see her mother embrace him, "I'm glad you aren't what that monster wanted you to be. Ishaan, you are more than a clone, you are the love of my life, you are Rey's father. Let the rest of the galaxy burn, we need you."

Papa wrapped his arms around her, "Ahsano…" he sighed, "Ahsano, she is what he wants. She would be his perfect vessel."

Mama pushed back from him, "I will blow up any idiot who even thinks that creepy old evil sorcerer is going to possess my daughter."

"We need to go somewhere that will hide Rey's presence in the Force."

"We could try finding Luke Skywalker, that lunatic who blew up the Death Stars."

Ishaan snorted, "Why would a Skywalker help a Palpatine?"

Her mother put her hands on her hips, "A Kenobi. She's as much my daughter as she is yours. My father trained his father. And Ahsoka Tano was Anakin Skywalker's Jedi apprentice. That's what my fathers told me about them."

Papa was silent for a long time, "It's not worth the risk. We don't know anything about Luke Skywalker except that he nearly killed Emperor Palpatine. What if he figured out why I was made? What if he decided that letting Rey live and grow up to her full potential was too dangerous? No, we must keep her safe on our own."

"Or maybe, Luke Skywalker might have the resources we need to finish the job he starte-"

"No!" Papa yelled, "No, we are staying out of it."

"Ishaan, we cou-"

"We would die. Unless you want to go find this Luke, become a Jedi and-"

"I'm a Mandalorian, I don't need the kriffing Force to assassinate a mark."

"If you go down that path, you will orphan our daughter. Your parents tried fighting for the greater good and they failed."

They were silent for a long time.

Rey sank low to the ground, pressing her back against the wall.

She was a Palpatine.

And Emperor Palpatine was a monster.

Did that make her a monster too? Was that why Papa was so angry so often? Because of her?

She hadn't understood much of her parents' conversation, but she did understand that it was her fault.

"Jakku," her mother said, "There's a convergence in the Force there, even I can feel it."

Papa sighed, "Let's start packing."

"If we sell my armour, we could buy a ship."

"Ahsano… no, we can-"

"We don't own anything else of worth."

"But your father made-"

"Our daughter is more important, and a Mandalorian is more than their armour."

"But it's your identity."

"I am Mandalorian Ahsano Kenobi, and there is no one and nothing in this life or the next that can take that from me."

Rey hugged her knees to her chest.

They were leaving their home, and that was her fault.

Mama was selling her armour, and that too, was her fault.

Again the vision blurred, days skipping.

The ship they bought was a piece of junk, even Rey could tell that, but Mama said she was saving the credits from her sold armour for food and fuel.

Jakku was hot, but not hot like their rainforest.

No, it was so dry that her skin itched, and they had to wear extra clothes to keep the sun off their skin.

Rey hated it.

But she didn't complain, this was her fault after all.

She was a Palpatine.

She was the monster.

Just like the Emperor that the galactic hero Luke Skywalker had killed.

They hadn't been living on Jakku for more than a few weeks. When her entire world changed.

"I'll message my cousin when we get past orbit," Mama said, scrambling around their makeshift home, hardly more than a tent in the desert.

"How did they find us?"

"They found you," Mama said, "When we were leaving Naboo, they must have caught a holo-image of your face."

Papa froze, "Which means they know your face too."

"I know how to get a marker removed," Mama said with dura-steel in her voice. "Rey will be safe enough here until one of my people get here to save her."

"I'm coming with you," Rey said.

Mama cupped her face in her hands, "Not this time, my baby girl, but we will come back for you."

Her father kissed her cheek as he passed them and told her, "You will be safe here."

Mama wrapped her in a hug, "We love you."

Rey felt tears spill down her face, and she whispered so only Mama could hear as Papa frantically packed things away, "Are you leaving because I'm a monster like the Emperor?"

Mama knelt before her, pushing her hair back from her face, "Never be afraid of who you or where you came from. One day, my daughter, the galaxy will remember your name, not for the horror you caused but for the light you brought them. Rey Palpatine, you will be counted among the brightest of stars."

Rey shook her head, "Please, don't leave me."

"You have the heart of a warrior, my love." Her mother held her tight, her blue scarf smelling of the perfumes they used in the markets. "Rey, be brave."

Her father hugged them both, and he told her again, "You'll be safe here. I promise."

oOo

Rey came back to herself, and curled her arms around herself and fought not to cry.

Her father had kept his promise. She had been safe, at least from the Emperor. A man who was both her father and her grandfather and neither.

Her father had been a clone, and had been made to be Palpatine's vessel.

Which is what her father feared he would try to do to her.

Sheev Palpatine truly was an evil monster.

Vos cursed, "Girl, be glad you forgot that. How could you think any of that was your fault?"

"You heard my thoughts?"

"We saw and felt everything you did," Sifo-Dyas said a bit distantly, rubbing his eyes.

Rey clenched her fists, "How could I have forgotten that my mother was a Mandalorian? If I had just asked for help…"

Sifo-Dyas touched her knee, "You were raised in isolation, child, and your parents leaving you… that was a trauma, you didn't just lose your parents, you lost your world. That's why you forgot."

"But I waited for them, I never forgot about them," she said.

He shook his head, "The mind… a mind that young… Your mind was trying to protect itself, protect you. You had to in order to survive on a planet like Jakku, as a slave."

Rey covered her face, "She didn't sell me, they didn't sell me into slavery. That's never what they intended for me."

"Yeah," Vos said, "your mother's cousin was a piece of bantha-"

"Can we find out what happened to them?" she asked, cutting off the man with dreadlocks.

Vos glared at her, the golden band across his face accentuating his frown lines.

Sifo-Dyas sighed, and stroked his beard, "Perhaps, Quinlan actually led that vision quest more than I did. But whether I could perceive a future that is no longer possible-"

"Please," Rey nearly begged, "Please, at least try?"

He nodded, "We can try. Master Vos, if you are ready?"

Vos nodded, and again they held their hands out to her.

It wasn't nearly as instantaneous this time, and Rey had to give Vos credit, he had been able to skim her past for exactly the right memories she had needed to remember.

But what Master Sifo-Dyas was searching for in the Force was less distinct, less solidified.

The future was always like that.

They sat in mediation for what felt like hours and only glimpsed snippets, flashes.

Monsters in tanks, Sheev a decayed corpse, his voice reaching out to them.

You, like your father, are now… mine.

But then what they were looking for, found them.

Ahsano smashed her fist against the dash, "I can't send a signal! Ishaan, I can't send a signal!"

Ishaan was pulling up an emergency transmission even as the tractor beams pulled them in.

They had made a mistake bringing Rey to Jakku, it was too close to the Unknown regions.

Ahsano was trying to hotwire her own datapad to the emergency backup generator. Her voice was panicked as she said, "No one knows she's there."

Her golden brown hair falling out of her bun as she ripped her scarf off to use it as a grip to get a panel off.

Ishaan roared, and threw the box, "Nothing! We have to get back to her! I promised her she'd be safe there, but the slavers-"

"We can use one of their escape pods-"

The sound of their ship being punctured started the alarms.

Ahsano threw him a blaster, before strapping her own high powered rifle over her shoulder.

Ishaan almost dropped it, "Ahsano-"

"Just point and shoot," she snapped at him as they waited for the Emperor's goons to come through.

And come they did.

Ishaan's shots went wide causing the Black Cloaks to duck for cover.

Ahsano Kenobi on the other hand...

She didn't miss a single shot.

Ishaan gave her a sheepish smile when no one else came through the hole.

She rolled her eyes, and grabbed his wrist, dragging him over the bodies and through the exit. They were in an unmarked Star Destroyer that had come out of the blackness of nightmares to plague the galaxy.

Ahsano muttered under her breath, "I can't believe I married a man who can't aim."

Ishaan let out a short laugh, "That's because you like playing hero too much, Mando."

"Shhh," she hushed him, "I'm being a hero."

They ran down hall after hall.

"Where are we going?" Ishaan asked, finding the ship eerie.

In the years of the Empire and even the Old Republic, ships like this would be fully staffed.

But the creeps from Exegol were a different kettle of magboys.

"Tech room, it's not the first place they will look for us and I'll be able to do something to hide an escape pod or stolen ship."

"Do what?" he asked.

"I'll figure it out when we get there," she said, speeding up.

But they didn't get there.

Ahsano tripped her husband, which saved him from decapitation by axe.

In a clean motion, she unstrapped her rifle to punt the head of the black hooded fool before shooting him as he dropped.

She ducked as a boomerang came at her head.

Ahsano glared at the black-robed group before her, they were different from the Black Cloaks, mainly because they were wearing visible armor and enough weaponry to make her curious.

Ishaan had recovered and was working on the door to lock it either to stop reinforcements if they came or as a barrier if they needed to backtrack.

Ahsano was reminded strongly of how she had first met Ishaan.

Cocking her hip, she greeted the group of hooded idiots with a cheerful, "Hello there."

They said nothing, just stared at her, waiting for her to make the first move.

She smiled with humour she did not feel, "Apologies, but I don't think we've had the pleasure?"

"We are the Knights of Ren," one said in a gruff voice.

She pegged them as Dark Siders, and Ishaan must have assumed the same because he called, "Ahsano!"

She threw herself backwards, the blaster doors already halfway shut. She pulled a grenade from her hip belt and tossed it through the hole just as the doors swished shut. There was a dull pop, and Ishaan looked at her, his blue eyes amused, "You sold your armour but not your grenades?"

She shrugged, "I couldn't have bought a ship with grenades. Besides, I've never known explosives to not prove useful."

"I love you, Kenobi," he said.

"And I, you, my so sweet Palpatine," she returned as they continued running.

The grenade, however, did not prove enough to stop their new friends, the Knights of Ren.

They locked themselves in a command room. But when they tried to send a message to Ahsano's clan, they found that this ship wasn't just encrypted, but was using a different code and dialect than any she had seen before.

"Can you read it?" she asked.

Ishaan shook his head, "I've seen the script before but I didn't learn how to read until I escaped."

"Remind me again how you managed that?" she asked as she scanned the symbols and buttons for anything useful.

"I wore a black cloak and learned how to chant, child's play."

"Your childhood continues to depress me."

A sizzling on the other side of the door informed that the Knights of the Abyss had a kriffing blowtorch.

Kriff.

Ishaan put a hand to his face, "We can't be captured, Ahsano, he'll break our minds, he'll find Rey."

Ahsano hit a button.

Red warning lights started going off. And the so-called Knights dropped their blow torch to run, the patter of their boots audible.

Ishaan turned on her, "What did you just do?"

"I found the self destruct button, it's the same colour and shape as the ones on the old imperial ships. We're lucky, this one didn't require a confirmation code," her voice was soft at the end.

"Who puts a self destruct button on their ship?" he asked, blue eyes wide.

"It's a carryover from the Clone Wars, the old adage of 'if I can't have it, neither can you.'"

"Do we have tim-"

She shook her head.

The door that had been locking their enemies out now kept them locked in

He paled, "No one is coming for her, we abandoned her."

"And no one will find her and bring her to the Emperor either. Rey is strong," Ahsano said, "She will find her way."

"We are going to miss her entire life," he said as they wrapped their arms around each other.

She rested her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat, "My father's people believed that there was no death, only the Force. We will be with her, always."

Ishaan closed his eyes and rested his cheek against the top of her head as he held her tight, he said, "Ahsano Kenobi, you have made my life worth living."

They died in each other's arms as a ship imploded on the fringes of the galaxy.

"Rey."

Rey jerked back from Masters Sifo-Dyas and Vos. Both looked at her with compassion.

The arms that caught her were instantly familiar. "Obi-Wan," she said, voice breaking as she turned to hug him.

He held her tight, "I felt your distress in the Force."

She pushed back from him, "Did you see-"

But she could tell by his expression that he had seen either the end of the second vision or all of it. She pulled him into a hug this time.

"I had a daughter," he said weakly, "and a granddaughter, and I wasn't there for either of you."

She held him tighter, "We're here now."

And as the tears fell, Rey swore she could feel her mother in the Force.

Even if she was never born, even if the future would never be what it had been, the Force remained.

And her mother had never truly left her.

AN: Please review?