Luke took a deep, tired breath. He should have known Anakin would be around here. That Anakin was the Jedi Obi-Wan and Ahsoka lost. He had not thought about Anakin Skywalker for years. Luke had left Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker and all that pain behind him a very long time ago. But seeing Anakin now... it brought back old waves of bitterness, confusion and loneliness. Luke lowered himself back to the floor, crossing his legs and looking at anything but the young Anakin. He looked out the window and rubbed his sore neck, his outburst doing nothing good for his throat. Movement close by made Luke look up. Anakin was kneeling beside him, offering a cup of water. It must have been poured before Luke broke the jug. Gingerly Luke took the cup and nodded his thanks.

Anakin looked quite lost on everything and how could Luke blame him? For all Luke knew Anakin was not even married yet.

"You sure you aren't... my brother or maybe you just happen to have my name...?" Anakin ventured. The thought seemed to pain him though.

Luke shook his head. "No. My father was Anakin Skywalker. My mother was Padmé Amidala." He said so quite bluntly, harshly even.

Anakin's brows raised and then knitted into an expression of suspicion. "What did you say? How do you know that?" He half asked but mostly accused.

Luke only sighed and looked away. He was tired, hurting, confused and worried about Ben. Luke did not have time to explain, coddle and reassure the younger version of Anakin that he was not lying. He could not exactly sweep his entire rant under the rug now.

But Anakin was not having it. He grabbed Luke's arm and shook him suddenly. "How do you know about Padmé? What do you want? Talk!"

Luke cringed at the increasing pressure around his arm. It was starting to really hurt, like Anakin might snap his bones. Dropping the cup Luke raised his free hand. Fast like lightning Luke pressed his palm to Anakin's forehead and his fingers curled in Anakin's long hair. Anakin's other hand wrapped around Luke's wrist and tried to remove his hand but their strength was nearly equal. Anakin's mental shields were up, anticipating Luke's next move to become invasive. But Luke had other ideas. Instead of forcing any sort of proof through Anakin's thick skull, Luke easily pulled Anakin into his own memories. It was almost too easy, this version of Anakin was not nearly so powerful in the mental and spiritual aspects of the Force as Darth Vader had been.

There was one memory Luke knew best to share with his blissfully ignorant young father.

"Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough... Anakin was a good friend... thought you'd follow old Obi-Wan on some damned fool adventure like your father."

"I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."

Anakin gasped and Luke released him, watching the taller man fall back and catch himself on his elbow.

"What the hell was that?" Anakin was breathless, staring at Luke wide eyed.

"You were hurting me." Luke said with a heavy sigh, edging away from Anakin. "That was Obi-Wan, from the future. As am I."

Anakin blinked and slowly sat up. "Obi-Wan... future? You? He gave you my lightsaber?" Anakin glanced down at his lightsaber on his hip.

Luke nodded. "I learned much with it."

Anakin looked back to him, his expression was open, thoughtful. "Where is it now?" He asked, glancing at Luke's lightsaber that most definitely was not his own.

Luke offered a pained smile. "I gifted it to my wife. After she died my son took it up."

Anakin looked away a moment, biting his lip. He seemed severely deep in thought. "You know... Padmé... she said she likes that name. Luke."

"Did she?" Luke asked curiously. He had never truly thought about how his parents picked his name or Leia's.

Anakin nodded, then he frowned. "Luke, why do you keep referring to her like that?"

Luke frowned and shook his head in confusion.

"In past tense." Anakin explained, suddenly full of worry. "If- if you are telling the truth... what happened to her?"

Again Luke frowned, and he looked away. Artoo had clarified a lot about the relationship between his parents... including their ending.

"Luke?" Anakin's voice was soft and scared, pleading.

Luke opened his mouth, yet he was unsure what to say. But he was saved from any sort of decision. Suddenly the castle began to shake.

~~~

Ben kicked a rock, watching it skid along the path before getting stuck in grass. A hand touched his shoulder. Ben turned and smiled when he saw Ahsoka. "Hey."

"How're you holding up?" Ahsoka asked gently.

Ben shrugged. "Can't complain I guess."

Ahsoka shook her head. "I'm worried about my master too. But we'll find them, promise."

Ben nodded. "Thanks, I'm sure you're right."

"I'm always right." Ahsoka said cheekily, getting a laugh out of Ben.

"You sound like my cousin." Ben said with a chuckle. "She's always right too."

Ahsoka tilted her head at him. "You know your family?"

Ben hesitated a moment, then shrugged. "Ya see, she's a Jedi too. She actually taught me a lot about Jedi-ing."

Ahsoka nodded slowly. "Well that's a stroke of luck. I was wondering... why did you call Master Starkiller 'Dad'?

Again Ben hesitated. Kriff, he was really going to shoot himself in the foot sometime soon. "He, ah... he's the closest thing I have to a dad... sometimes it just slips out."

"I see." Ahsoka looked ahead. "We'll find them. Just stick with us."

"Will do." Ben said with a jaunty little salute.

Obi-Wan had been further ahead, leading the way up a hill. He reached the top first and gestured for the two younger Jedi to hurry. Ben broke into a run, Ahsoka right behind him. Joining Obi-Wan they looked on the sight in wonder. Ahead was a barren, treacherous land with grey hills, canyons and valleys. In the center of it was a castle. It was incredibly tall and reached to the sky in a spire. There was a huge crystal rock floating at the top of the fortress, casting a light over the barren land.

Ben glanced at his new friends. "Kriffin' hell. We gotta go there?" He gestured wildly at the landscape between them and the castle.

"It sure does match the glowy woman's aesthetic." Ahsoka pointed out grimly.

"Not just that." Obi-Wan said, his face crinkled into a deep frown. "The Force seems strongest there. We shouldn't waste anymore ti-"

Obi-Wan was cut off as the ground began to groan. Then it swayed violently. Ben's feet were taken out from under him, Ahsoka toppled over him. The ground began to screech, Obi-Wan was shouting but Ben could not hear a word he said. He was too busy help Ahsoka. Then Obi-Wan pointed towards the sky. Ben twisted around. His jaw nearly unhinged. A gigantic bat monster was bearing down on him. Ben did the only thing that seemed logical in this situation; he flattened himself to the shaking ground. Ahsoka had the same idea. But the monster was not deterred. Huge claws dug into the ground on either side of Ben and closed around him. Then suddenly the ground fell away. The shaking stopped. There was just wind. Ben clung tightly to the claws wrapped around his torso. To his left Ahsoka was in a similar hold. And behind the bat monster was a glowing bird creature with Obi-Wan in it's grasp. Ben swallowed the taste of vomit and looked down. The quake was splitting the terrain, they had almost been swallowed up by the planet. The monsters has saved them. Or they had seen the opportunity for easy food. Ben shuddered. But he still had his lightsaber and the monster was not crushing him to death. Happy thoughts, Ben decided. Happy thoughts.

"Ben!"

Ben looked to Ahsoka. She pointed ahead.

Ben frowned and followed her gesture. They were coming in hot on the isolated fortress. Ben shook his head. He did not know what to expect anymore. He was stilling trying to wrap his head around a bat monster saving him from a severe quake.

But Ahsoka's assumption proved to be correct. The monsters unceremoniously dumped the three Jedi into the court yard of the fortress. Ben was up in an instant, lightsaber drawn and at the ready.

He was not put to any sort of ease when the monsters did not try to eat them. Instead they both morphed into odd looking humans. The beast became a glowing, green haired woman with a golden dress and the bat monster became a grey man with way too much makeup and a questionable sith-ish style going on. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan came to Ben's side, both with lightsabers drawn and ready.

"Guys... be honest, I won't be mad." Ben said nervously. "What sort of mushrooms did you put in my food?"