"Come on in, Luke," Older Luke said, waving a welcoming arm toward the teenager.
Leia, observing the puzzled expression on the boy, strode forward and wrapped a comforting arm around her Alter brother, noting with interest, that he was only a few centimeters taller than her. Apparently the young man hadn't had his growth spurt yet.
"Cool, you aren't much taller than me!" she remarked. "That is fun."
"Who is ... is that Darth Vader?" young Luke demanded, glaring in outrage at the Sith Lord. Vader, in turn, was staring in awe at his son, though of course his eyes were hidden by the black mask.
"Yes, it is," Luke began, only to be interrupted by his younger self.
"You... Ben, why haven't you killed him yet?" the teenager sputtered. "He deserves...he murdered..."
"No, he didn't," Older Luke declared firmly. "He didn't kill Anakin Skywalker. He is, or was anyway, Anakin Skywalker."
Silence fell for a full minute except for the repetitive rasping of Darth Vader's breathing. Obi-Wan opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, closed it, opened it...
"What?" Young Luke said finally, his voice wobbling.
"Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader," Leia said sympathetically.
"No, no!" the youth cried out. "Ben said..."
"A young Jedi named Darth Vader," Older Luke suddenly intoned dramatically in a surreal imitation of Kenobi, "who was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father."
"Nice Coruscanti accent, Luke!" his sister said an admiring tone.
"Hey, I'm not just a pretty face," her brother returned with a grin. "Seriously, Luke..."
"Seriously, that can't be true!" the boy said in an impassioned voice. "Ben, that's not true is it?"
Obi-Wan's face twitched and he said reluctantly, "Your father was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man that was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view."
Luke, who had heard his own Obi-Wan say exactly the same thing, turned expectant eyes on his younger counterpart. He doubted that younger Luke would appreciate it any more than he had. He waited for his younger self's impassioned response and got it, though in a rather unusual form.
Luke Skywalker, age 14, might be short, but he was a scrappy little fighter and not yet mature enough to use words instead of actions.
The boy clenched both fists and jabbed a sharp uppercut into Obi-Wan's chin with his right, and followed with a strong blow to Jedi's cheek with his left hand. Kenobi staggered back against the wall in surprise, and Leia, startled but amused, moved forward to protect the older man from additional attack.
"Now, Luke," she said, her voice shaking with suppressed laughter, "I am not saying that Obi-Wan doesn't deserve a good beating, but..."
"But you should come and talk to your father," Older Luke said brightly, and sent a quick message to his sister telepathically. "Hey, Leia? Can you take Obi-Wan out of here? I think he is a distraction."
"Sure thing," Leia responded, grasping Kenobi's right arm and hauling the man out into the corridor. Obi-Wan was caressing his face with his left hand and groaned, "Ouch. That hurts."
"Don't expect any sympathy from me," Leia returned briskly. "It was a real jerk move to train Luke to kill his own father. Now, where is Luke's twin sister?"
Kenobi's aching face was forgotten, and the Jedi turned horrified eyes on the time traveling princess of Alderaan. "Oh please," he said piteously, "you aren't even thinking of telling Leia about Vader, are you?!"
"Of course I am," Leia returned brightly.
"Then I won't tell you where she is," Kenobi said with determination.
"Doesn't matter, because I know she is on board, and I would recognize that Force signature anywhere, given that it is basically my own. Come along, Obi-Wan."
/
"Luke Skywalker, your father, Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker. Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, your 14 year old son."
The thin teenager and the hulking cyborg stared gravely at one another, and then Vader, his voice shaky even through the vocoder, lifted his left hand to gently touch young Luke's shoulder. "My son, my son..."
"You...you're really my father?" the youth asked incredulously. "Really and truly?"
"I am."
Young Luke swallowed hard and took a deep breath before saying, "I don't get it. Until we left Tatooine, my aunt and uncle said you were a navigator on a freighter, though they told me he was a Jedi when we..."
"A navigator?" Vader roared in outrage, causing his son to flinch openly.
"Take it easily," Older Luke ordered, patting the cyborg's arm reassuringly. "They thought Anakin had died as a Jedi and were nervous about anything getting out about Luke's father being a Jedi. I mean, it was the kind of thing that they thought would bring..."
"Why didn't you come for me?" Young Luke interrupted, his blue eyes dark with sorrow. "I always longed to know my father all my life, and you...you never came for me. I mean, I realize you are super important in the galaxy and I'm just a Tatooine farm boy. Was that why you never came?"
"No, no!" Vader responded in horror, lifting his right hand toward his boy and biting down a curse when a stray shock reverberated through his entire arm.
"Sorry about that," Luke said contritely. "Just keep talking with your son and I'll get that fixed. It looks like, hmmm, let me see..."
"I thought you had died unborn," Vader explained, focusing intently on the teenager. "I thought I had... well, your mother, she died, and I thought both you and your sister died with her. I didn't..."
"Wait! What? Sister!?" Luke demanded.
"Yes," older Luke said sunnily. "You have a twin sister, Leia Organa of Alderaan!"
/
The Organa's private living area on the Tantive IV
"You're who?" 14 year old Princess Leia demanded.
Leia suppressed a laugh. The phrase and intonation precisely matched her first words to Luke on the Death Star.
"I am Leia Organa of Alderaan, but 20 years older than you and from another timeline. I know that sounds weird. The Force sent me here."
The girl huffed indignantly and said, "It doesn't sound weird. It sounds, impossible! Obi-Wan, who is this woman?"
Kenobi, who was seated on a bench with a bag of frozen blumfruit held to his aching jaw, said, "She speaks the truth. I can sense through the Force that she is an alternate of you, though as she says, somewhat older."
The young princess blinked at the Jedi, then turned her attention on Breha Organa, who had just finished a hurried call to someone, probably Bail.
"You do have the look of my Leia," the Queen said.
"Yes, I do. Of course twenty years and birthing children has changed me..."
"You have children?" her young alternate demanded, wide eyed.
"Yes, four of them, amazingly enough, including a pair of twins. Luke and his wife also have twins; they obviously run in the family."
Leia tilted her head in confusion. "I don't know anything about my birth family. Who are they?"
"Please," Obi-Wan began pathetically, but Leia merely said, "Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker."
Leia's brow wrinkled furiously. "Skywalker? As in, Luke Skywalker?"
"Yes, he is your twin brother."
The girl stared with wide eyes at her older counterpart, then shifted her gaze to her mother. "Luke is my twin brother?"
Breha looked equally shocked. "That can't be true. Obi-Wan? That's not true, is it?"
Kenobi winced and admitted, "Yes."
Breha rose to her feet and while not a tall woman, she looked appropriately outraged. "How could you...Obi-Wan! How could you not tell us that?"
"Bail knows," the Jedi admitted feebly.
The door opened and Bail Organa rushed in, then cringed at the wrathful eyes of his wife and daughter.
"Bail! How could you not tell me that young Luke Skywalker is Leia's twin brother!"
"Um, erm, well," Bail stammered.
"Mostly because Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader," Older Leia explained.
Bail and Obi-Wan paled, Leia collapsed on a handy chair in shock, and Breha shrieked, "What!?"
/
Medbay Z3
Hours later
Han Solo came to the surface very slowly. Very, very slowly. Where was he? Who was he? What had happened? Why wouldn't his arms move?
A vaguely familiar feminine voice said, quite near him, "Poor things."
"It could be worse," a male voice responded.
"Well, of course it could be worse," the woman answered, sounding irritated. "I mean, they might have met on the Death Star after Alderaan was destroyed but still, they are both pretty upset that they have known each other for years and neither Bail nor Ben told them they are brother and sister."
"How did they meet, anyway?"
"My mother, I mean, my Alter mother, I mean…"
"I know what you mean, Leia."
"Ok, well Breha said that a few years ago, Obi-Wan showed up on Alderaan with Luke and the Lars in tow. They have been living quietly in Aldera City but have spent some time with the Organas. Leia knew that Luke was in some kind of trouble with the Empire, and Luke assumed it was because his father was a Jedi, but naturally both Bail and Obi-Wan didn't tell them the truth about Vader."
"And your alter mother...?"
"Breha didn't know that Luke and Leia are twins, nor that Vader used to be Anakin. She is royally pissed off at my alter father right now. Which frankly, he deserves…"
"But why aren't Ben and Luke and the Lars still on Tatooine?"
"That is Han's fault, apparently. When Boba Fett figured out Han was a Force Sensitive, he sent the info off to the Empire. Obi-Wan saved Han from being captured and sent him off to Dagobah, but then he rounded up Luke and his aunt and uncle and fled; he was afraid that the Imperials would investigate Tatooine for more Force sensitives and Luke is, of course, super powerful."
"He is, yes. I am just surprised that Kenobi dared to bring the twins close together geographically. Their Force signatures are so bright together."
"Well, Kenobi has been training Luke to shield, and Leia shields well without much effort, of course."
"Of course."
"So then Vader showed up on Alderaan to arrest the Organas, and Kenobi managed to get Leia, Luke, and the Organas onto the Tantive IV, leaving Han to delay Vader. Jerks."
"Yeah…"
Han Solo, who had been climbing into consciousness throughout this conversation, now managed to say, "Blargh."
"Han!"
The former Corellian scrum rat managed to pry his eyes open, then managed a feeble grin at the sight of the lovely woman leaning over him.
"Han," the time traveling Leia repeated, smoothing back his hair from his forehead with one capable hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Nut .. gd."
"I understand. Just rest for now."
"Wer Chewb'c?"
"He is sleeping. Even a mighty Wookiee needs rest, and I promised him we would keep you safe."
"Thnks…"
"Least I could do, given that you are my alter husband, and you saved my younger self along with her twin."
Han managed to turn his head and take in his surroundings. He was lying on a comfortable bed in a large med bay, and the whorls outside the window showed they were still in hyperspace. His rather bleary eyes took in the time traveling space twins, and then wandered in fits and starts to a bacta tank. A moment later, he sucked in a horrified breath.
"Wut is 'at?" he demanded incredulously.
Luke Skywalker turned sympathetic eyes toward the being hanging motionless in the tank and said, "That is Vader."
Han's eyes started in shock. The man, the creature, was Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith? The monster? The Emperor's Right Hand? It...He, was a mess!
"Wut happen?"
"He fought with Kenobi the day Leia and Luke were born; Kenobi beat him, chopped off three limbs, and left him to burn to death in a lava field. He was already short an arm from a previous fight with a Sith Lord, so yeah, he's short four limbs and burned across 100% of his body."
Han Solo hated Darth Vader with a passion, but this was horrific.
"Yeah, I know," Leia said sympathetically. "It is awful."
"A'ful," Han slurred.
"You can go back to sleep, Han," Luke said. "Our Alter Father needs some additional treatment before we can make any kind of plan to take down Palpatine."
"Pl'n?"
"Sleep, Han," Leia ordered, sending a wash of Force suggestion his way.
Han Solo, nascent Jedi, fought the suggestion for all of two seconds and then gave up. He was very tired.