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Chapter Text

Luke was actually looking forward to a day of rest. When Ahsoka first suggested it to him, he had his excuses all ready to go.

"I can't rest now. I need to supervise construction, sort the archives, check on the growth of the kyber crystals, update the parents on our status-"

But then Ahsoka threatened to send Leia after him and he had no choice. But now that he didn't have to worry about anything, and had full confidence that the others had everything under control, he felt he could finally relax.

He settled into his bed with a datapad and a cup of hot chocolate, deciding that this was a perfect day to catch up on his studies. Unfortunately... things didn't go as planned.

A splitting headache. Dizziness. Then his vision went black.

His eyes snapped open. He was in a dark throne room lit by strange blue lights, and on the throne sat an old man who was sitting in a meditative position. He slowly walked forward as he studied the old man. It didn't seem like he was dangerous... was this a vision from the Force?

"I'm afraid it's not," the man spoke, answering his thoughts.

He opened his eyes, making Luke startle a little. The man's eyes were blue, but the part that was usually white was instead black, and they seemed to bore into the young Jedi's soul. Luke could feel immense power coming from him, power he had never felt before.

"Who are you?" Luke asked.

"I am Father."

He didn't explain any further.

"Oookaaay... what am I doing here?"

Father stood, making Luke step back in shock. Man was he tall, even taller than Vader.

"You must return to the past and save your father." He clasped his hands behind his back as he turned and walked around Luke. "I have spent all these years preserving my energy so that I may send you on this mission. You have saved your father once and you can do it again."

"Wait, but the prophecy was fulfilled; Ben and Master Yoda said so. If the prophecy was fulfilled, then why does it matter if he fell to the Dark Side or not?"

Father stopped walking and turned towards him with an intense gaze. "The prophecy has been twisted to fool the Jedi."

"So... you're saying the prophecy isn't true?"

Father did not answer his question. Instead he said, "The death of my children and I left the Force unbalanced and unchecked, allowing the Bringer of Chaos to bend her will throughout the galaxy. This allowed your father to turn towards the Dark Side rather than balancing both Light and Dark within himself." He folded his hands in front of him. "This, of course, left the Force even more unbalanced and unchecked, allowing Abeloth to do as she pleases without consequence for many years. Preventing the fall of Anakin Skywalker will correct this issue. He was never meant to become a Sith."

If he could do this... if he could save his father from falling to the Dark Side, he could save so many other people. Alderaan. His aunt and uncle. Biggs. Rebels who gave their lives. Innocent people who were killed. The Jedi. His mother.

"I'll do it."

"This is not a task you'll do alone," Father said as he approached Luke. "When you awake, you and a select few of your companions will be on Coruscant as your youngerselves." He placed a hand on the Jedi's shoulder. "I am sending you a year before his fall. Once your mission is completed, and all is healed, I will return you and your companions to the moment in time you should be in."

Luke nodded to show he understood.

Father raised a hand to his forehead. "May the Force be with you, Luke Skywalker."

It seemed he wouldn't get to rest after all.

When he opened his eyes, he was not in his chambers at the temple. Instead, he was in a decent sized bedroom.

"Holy kriffing hell!" A voice shouted that sounded quite familiar.

Luke slid off his bed and left the room to be greeted by a frantic looking teenager gazing at himself in the bathroom mirror. Except, this teenager looked a lot like Han. He was a few inches shorter - maybe 5'9 - and his brown hair held some curls to it.

Han looked over at him. "Kid, what the hell is going on!?"

Luke opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the door next to the bathroom opening to reveal a freaked out Leia.

"I was getting ready for a Senate meeting then I woke up to see that I'm fifteen again!" She exclaimed. "Luke, what's going on?"

"Well, I was resting in my room when-"

"Skywalker!"

Luke turned and saw a familiar redhead storming up to him. "Mara!?"

"I know you have something to do with this!" She jabbed her finger into his chest.

She was short. Way shorter than he knew her to be. Heck, even Leia was taller than her now. She stood at about 4'8 while Leia looked to be 4'11.

"Guys!" A young Ezra suddenly bounded down the hall towards them. "I'm fifteen again! This is crazy! What's going on!"

Everyone looked at Luke expectantly and he suddenly felt on the spot, something he had gotten used to, of course, with him being the Hero of the Rebellion and all.

"Okay, so, I was just resting in my room and catching up on my studies-"

"You were resting so you decided to study?"  Mara asked with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

"You rest your way, I'll rest my way," Luke replied. "Anyway, I was resting and catching up on my studies when I suddenly got this really bad headache and got dizzy then blacked out. I woke up in this weird throne room and there was this strange man who called himself Father-"

"Wait!" Ezra interrupted. "His name is actually Father?"

"Yes, pay attention. Anyway, he said that Anakin Skywalker was never supposed to fall to the Dark Side, and him doing so left the Force unbalanced and unchecked which allowed this Abeloth woman to do as she pleases without any consequences. So... we have to save him."

His friends were silent and looking at him wide-eyed.

"And if we fail, we'll be the ones dooming the galaxy to chaos."

"No pressure or anything," Han said sarcastically.

"Welcome to my world," Luke deadpanned.

"We can talk about this later," Mara said. "We have to go to school."

Luke blinked. He knew she was right, but he didn't know how he knew. In fact, he seemed to know a lot of things he hadn't known before: he was an orphan (obviously) living in Applegate Orphanage and their director was Ms. Applegate, his last name was Starkiller, he was left on the doorstep of the orphanage and was reunited with his twin sister nine years later, and he went to Coruscant School for Troubled Youth.

"I don't have school, I have work," Han said with a slightly disgusted look on his face. "I'm eighteen."

"At least you graduated," Luke pointed out. "I have to go to a school for troubled kids."

Ezra grinned. "Hey! Me too!"

Mara cringed. "I have to go with both of you!?"

"I guess I'm the only one going to a normal high school," Leia said.

Luke huffed. "Of course the only one of us with an actual education gets to go to a normal high school. School for troubled kids - I wasn't that bad as a kid!"

"Okay, this Father character obviously gave us some memories so we'd be able to know how to get around," Mara said. "Let's just continue our routine so no one gets suspicious and we'll talk about this later."

"We can probably talk at Dex's Diner since that's where I work apparently," Han said. He still didn't look too thrilled at the idea of having a job that didn't require endangering his life.

Leia nodded. "Okay, we'll all meet at Dex's Diner after school."

Luke nodded in agreement and the group of adults turned teens split to return to their rooms to gather their things. Now he was able to get a better look at his room.

There were several posters of ships on the walls. Closet doors were on the far wall to his left, and to his right was  one window with a desk next to it. He had a nice view of Coruscant and all the speeders... and the Jedi Temple.

He stared at the temple. His father could be in there at this moment - and Ahsoka as well. He could be making a decision that could doom the galaxy. Or maybe he's just training his Padawan. Either way, no matter how much he longed to go meet his father, to know what he was like before his fall, he knew he had to stay away... at least for now.

He spotted a familiar yellow jacket on his desk chair - it looked like it had been carelessly tossed - and grinned. At least Father gave him his favorite flight jacket. He slipped it on and noticed for the first time he was wearing black fingerless leather gloves. Then he realized he had his hand back.

He opened and closed his fist then wiggled his fingers. He had forgotten what it felt like to have an actual right hand rather than a prosthetic.

His eyes glanced down and spotted a bag sitting on the floor next to the desk. He picked it up. It was one of those crossbody bags - he had one on Tatooine - that was tannish-brown sporting several patches: a V-19 Torrent Starfighter, the 501st battalion, the Galactic Republic Navy, and one with two hands and broken chains with the words "Free The Slaves" under it.

He opened the bag and dumped the contents out on the bed to see what he had. An imagecaster, datapad, a few power converters, a communicator, flimsipad, pen, and a small pouch of credits. But no lightsaber. He frowned. Well, he survived nineteen years without a lightsaber, he could do one more.

He gathered his things and closed the bag before putting the single strap over his head so it could rest on his side. He rushed out of his room and walked down the hall Mara and Ezra came from to find the stairs. His friends were waiting for him and the bottom - a few kids ran past the teenagers, laughing as they played.

Luke opened his mouth to speak.

"What are you five doing just standing around!?"

They jumped at the loud feminine yet strict voice and turned to the source: a tall woman with dark hair pulled back in a bun, fair skin, dark eyes, and wearing a simble long black dress with a turtleneck and long sleeves. Her expression was less than kind.

At first, Luke didn't recognize her, but then the answer came to his head. She was Ms. Hardwood, the strict co-director of the orphanage.

"All of you have places to be! I don't want to be getting another call because of your tardiness!"

Well, she seems like such a pleasant woman. Luke thought.

"GET MOVING!" She shouted when none of them moved.

The teens immediately rushed out, not wanting to face whatever kind of wrath the woman could unleash on them.

"We're on Coruscant," Mara observed as she gazed at the airspeeders, speederbikes, and tall sleek buildings.

"How are we going to get around?" Ezra asked.

Luke searched for an answer, then a came to him like a flash; from the look on the other's faces, he knew they had the same flash of memory. The orphanage had a garage for transportation.

They entered the garage and Luke walked up to an orange and white speeder bike that he knew was his. It sort of reminded him of his X-Wing, which he really missed right now.

"This is a piece of junk!" Han suddenly exclaimed.

Luke looked up to see his sister and brother-in-law standing in front of a crudely repaired airspeeder.

"It's no different than the Falcon, Han," Leia said with an exasperated look on her face.

Han gave her an incredulous look. "How dare you compare her to this... thing!"

Leia rolled her eyes and shoved him towards the driver's seat. "Let's just go! I want to get this over with so we can make a plan!"

Luke smirked in amusement at the couple as Ezra approached the speederbike next to Luke's.

"Cool!" He wore a wide grin as he got on it. "I used to steal these on Lothal. Except they were newer."

"We're twenty-five years in the past," Luke said as he got on his speederbike. "So these models are way old."

Han and Ezra started up their vehicles and exited the garage. Luke looked over at Mara, who was scanning the garage with her calculating emerald green eyes.

"You have a way to get there?" He asked.

Her slight frown told him everything he needed to know. "I'll figure it out."

"Get on."

She blinked and looked at him. "What?"

"Get on. We can ride together."

She opened her mouth to protest, but finding no argument against why she shouldn't ride with him, she pushed down her pride and got on the bike behind him. Her arms slowly wrapped around his waist, making his face heat up at their close proximity.

The bike hummed to life. Luke was dreading going to a school for troubled kids.

Chapter Text

Obi-Wan Kenobi was hoping for a nice, relaxing day since there was no battles that he needed to aid in, no issues that required the Council, and no one who needed his help at all. But of course he was crazy to think he would get a day of rest. He hadn't gotten a day of rest since he became Qui-Gon's Padawan.

He was sitting in his room in the temple, a holobook in hand and a cup of tea next to him. Then there was shift in the Force and he knew his plans were ruined. Sure enough, he got a message from Master Windu. The Council was holding a meeting.

He sighed. He didn't know how, but he knew that somehow this was Anakin's fault - he was having one of those feelings.

After putting his holobook away and dumping his tea (which he thought was a waste of perfectly good tea), he left his room and headed to the Council meeting.

It was rare for all the Council members to be present on Coruscant and this was one of those rare moments. 

"A shift in the Force, we have all felt," Master Yoda said, starting the meeting.

"There's never been a shift like this," Master Fisto said. "But I sense no pure darkness in it."

"Nor did I sense pure light in it," Master Allie added. "It felt balanced."

"Then the shift was neither the act of a Jedi or Sith, but rather of the Force itself," Master Windu concluded.

"Agree with Master Windu, I do."

"A shift like this, you would expect to see a big change, something obvious," Obi-Wan said.

"The Force works in mysterious ways," Master Koon replied.

"That it does."

"What course of action shall we take?" Master Ti questioned.

"Patience, we must have, and wait. Information, we have not. Observe, we must, and be vigilant. Big plans, the Force has. Miss it, we cannot."

Luke stopped at the building that, despite having never ever seen it before in his life, looked familiar. He parked next to Ezra in the speederbike area and he and Mara got off. The three looked up at the building.

"Well, this definitely does not look like an Imperial prison," Ezra commented.

Luke cringed. "Maybe it's better on the inside than the outside?"

He tried to be optimistic, but even he knew he was pushing his limits.

"Let's go get this over with," Mara grumbled.

The three "troubled youth" entered the school only to be greeted by a security detail. Other teenagers were placing their bags in front of a droid to be searched, and getting body searched by another droid as human and alien security guards supervised.

"I take back what I said earlier - this is so much worse," Luke mumbled.

"What are they searching for?" Ezra asked as they got in line in the middle section.

"Possibly spice, weapons, or any other contraband," Mara replied. "Did you boys check your bags?"

Ezra's eyes widened. "Kriff! I didn't even think of that!" He quickly swung his backpack off his shoulder and zipped it open. "What the hell?"

"What?"

Ezra held his bag out to show them the contents. There was something there that was unmistakable - Luke grew up on Tatooine, he'd seen it almost every day. Spice.

"What the kriff are you doing with spice, Bridger?" Mara asked.

"I don't know!"

Luke glanced up and saw that they were nearing the front of the line.

"What are they going to do if they find this? I can't use a mind trick on a droid!"

"Nothing's going to happen to you," Luke reassured. He took his bag off and put it on Ezra's shoulder before snatching his friend's and zipping it up. He quickly glanced around to make sure no one noticed the switch.

"No, Luke, you could get in trouble," Ezra whispered with wide-eyes, knowing exactly what the Jedi Grandmaster was doing.

"I'll be fine."

He pushed Ezra forward now that they were at the front of the line. Ezra frowned but placed his borrowed bag in front of the droid before stepping to the other droid to be searched. His search was a success.

Luke pushed Mara forward next - she looked back at him for a second and he could've sworn he saw concern on her face. Her search was a success as well.

Luke stepped forward. He placed the bag in front of the droid but didn't move since he knew what it would find.

The droid opened the bag and it immediately started alerting the human and alien security guards by waving its arms around and shouting. "Contraband! Contraband! Contraband!"

A burly human guard stepped forward. "What is it?" He looked in the bag and scowled before pulling out the contraband. "Spice, huh? You seem to outdo yourself every time, Starkiller."

Just like with Ms. Hardwood, Luke didn't recognize the security guard, but he knew who he was. Mr. Flint. Apparently, they didn't like each other very much.

"Come with me," Mr. Flint grabbed the boy's arm. "We're going to take a nice visit to the Dean's office."

As Luke was dragged away, he noticed Ezra and Mara looking at him with concern. He smiled to let them know he had everything under control, but he prayed to the Force that the Dean wasn't a species that was immune to mind tricks.

Luke slouched in his chair with his arms crossed, trying to look like the troubled kid everyone thought he was. To his luck, the Dean was human, which meant he could use the Force to get out of this situation.

Dean Wilson was a middle-aged man with dark hair and dark eyes. As soon as Luke entered the room, he immediately felt like something was off with him, even if he was greeted by kindness. It felt fake. But he decided to act like everything was normal, well, as normal as a troubled kid could be.

"You've developed quite a record since you've arrived here, Mr. Starkiller," Wilson said as he stared at Luke, his hands folded in front of him as his elbows rested on the desk. "You've been in several fights, stolen, assaulted officers, cheated on tests, and that's just scraping the bottom of the barrel. But now, now you're dealing spice."

Luke said nothing, but shrugged as he continued to stare at the floor.

Wilson sighed. "I just don't know what I'm going to do with you, Luke. Everytime I think we're making progress, you go and do something like this."

Luke looked up and made eye contact with the Dean as he pulled the Force around him to be able to do this technique. "You're going to let me off with a warning and not put this on my record."

The Dean was silent, and for a moment Luke was afraid it hadn't worked. Then, Wilson leaned back with a smile.

"How about this, I'm going to let you off with a warning and not put this on your record."

Luke feigned indifference with a shrug, but on the inside he was celebrating that the trick worked. He was dismissed and given Ezra's bag back so he could head to class - thankfully, everything managed to get settled before school actually started.

His first class was History of the Republic with Ezra and Mara. How convenient. When he entered, he saw his two friends were sitting in the back of the room. Luke smiled as he approached them.

"That was fast," Mara commented.

"What happened?" Ezra asked with concern.

Luke sat in the seat between them with a smirk. "Nothing a little mind trick couldn't handle."

Luke and Ezra switched bags just as the bell rang.

Leia was going to kill whoever this Father character was. Turning her back into a teenager is one thing, but making her go back to school? Unacceptable. School had bored her so much because it hadn't challenged her enough; she was so excited to have graduated. But now she had to go back? This was cruel. However, if she and the others were sent back to fix things, then so be it. She was willing to do it all again if it could save the galaxy. At least she didn't have to deal Imperialist teachings.

She arrived five minutes before the bell rang; to everyone else, she wasn't late, but to her she was practically tardy. Normally she would arrive at least an hour before any function. That was how she was raised.

She easily found her first class - at least Father gave them memories to help them get around - and sat down in her "usual" seat. She glanced around at the other kids, but it seemed none of them noticed the new girl... because she wasn't new. To everyone else she had always been there.

A preppy girl with brown hair and brown eyes entered the classroom as Leia started taking her needed supplies out of her bag. The girl sat next to her and leaned in to whisper. "Did you hear about Carrie and Harrison?"

Before Leia could even contemplate how she knew this girl, she got a memory. This was her friend Natalie. She was from Naboo but moved to Coruscant with her family.

"What about them?" Leia asked like she hadn't just been sent back in time as her youngerself and had no idea who any of these people are.

"They broke up after dating for three months," Natalie whispered.

Leia had no idea who Carrie or Harrison was, but she wasn't getting any memories about them, so she deduced that they weren't important to the mission.

"Maybe we shouldn't be talking about their personal issues," Leia said.

"Come on, aren't you a little bit curious what happened?"

"Nope, not my business."

Natalie rolled her eyes but dropped the subject and moved on to different one as she took out her needed supplies. "Did you finish War and Peace?"

Leia's first class was Literature and Force was she glad they had done a book she actually knew.

"Finished it within a day; I thought it was riveting."

Natalie grinned. "I know right! The themes were so good!"

The two girls excitedly talked about their reading assignment. It was nice to have someone else to talk to. Leia loved her friends, but Luke was right - she was the only one with formal education. Mara had formal education as well, but she never talked with her like they were friends, more like they were just coworkers - actually, the only person Mara seemed to treat like a friend was Luke, and even then Leia had a feeling there was something more there.

She had been dreading school before, but she found that it actually wasn't that bad. Perhaps it was because this time she didn't have the responsibilities of being a princess looming over her head this time. In fact, she almost forgot about the mission. Almost.

Throughout the day, she kept her ears open for anything that could help them; stuff like news of the war, or what was going on in the Senate. She hadn't found out anything interesting - except for when she searched the news on her datapad and found out that Mandalore hadn't yet fallen and Duchess Satine was still alive. She had a feeling that might help them, even if it just pinpoints the exact time in history they're in.

Chapter Text

Ezra wasn't sure what normal school was like, but he was sure it couldn't be worse than this; Coruscant School for Troubled Youth felt like a prison. The teachers were awful as well as the rest of the staff, not to mention the off feeling Luke got about the Dean, the same thing all of them felt about some of the teachers. If this school was meant to reform troublemakers, they were doing terrible jobs.

Lunch came around and Ezra was excited to finally be able to eat, only to be disappointed when he saw what food they were serving. It didn't look like food at all.

He picked up the slop with his spoon and watched as it fell back to his tray with several flops. Yep, definitely a prison.

"I've lost my appetite," he said with a frown. "Good thing Han works at a diner because I'm not eating this." He pushed the tray away.

To his surprise, Luke started eating the grey slop and he seemed to notice Ezra's shocked expression. "I grew up on Tatooine," he explained. "You eat whatever is put in front of you, no matter how terrible it is."

Well, dam, even when Ezra was living on the streets he didn't get food that bad. He'd only been on Tatooine once, but everytime Luke talked about it, it just kept getting worse.

Mara picked some of the slop up with her spoon and sniffed it, crinkling her nose at the terrible smell. "I'll just go hungry," she said as she sat the spoon down.

Ezra opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted but a rough hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Jarrus, you get our little present?" 

Ezra blinked then looked up to see an ugly looking face. He didn't recognize him, but he could count on the memories from Father kicking in. Chad was his name, and he, along with his friends, was the school bully.

Force, did this kid get kicked by a bantha? He thought.

"What present?" Ezra asked.

He heard Luke curse in Huttese and looked at him. "The spice," he whispered.

Ezra's eyes widened as he looked up at Chad. "That was you!? Where'd you even get spice?"

Honestly, he was glad he wasn't a spice dealer. Ever since what happened that morning, he'd been anxiously watching everyone, hoping no one approached him to ask for spice.

"None of your business, Jarrus," Chad said as he forced Ezra up and turned him around, grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer. "I don't know how you got out of trouble, but I'm not letting you get away with it."

Ezra cringed. His breath stunk too. "Listen, Chad, buddy. I'm not exactly sure what I did to warrant this hostility, but maybe I can make it up to you. Starting with a breath mint because boy does your breath stink."

Of course, that made Chad angrier and he tossed Ezra to the floor.

Luke quickly stood up as he glared at the bully. "Leave him alone!"

Chad laughed. "What are you going to do, Starkill-"

He was cut off by Luke's fist connecting with his face; Ezra raised an eyebrow and smirked before standing up. Chad stumbled back from both the impact and the surprise.

"You, you broke my nose!"

"It's an improvement if you ask me," Luke snarked.

"Starkiller!" The two boys turned to see Mr. Flint approaching them. "Dean's office! Now!"

Ezra frowned. Luke was getting sent to the Dean's office for the second time that day because of him. He had to make it up to his friend somehow.

Leia discovered something that would help their mission, in fact, it might make it easier to move the mission forward with it. 

Her class before lunch was Politics - a subject she knew she would excel in. The teacher announced that applications for the Senatorial Youth Internship would be closing soon. 

SYI was a program to help guide young teens inspiring to be senators - she had been it herself and shadowed her father at the Senate (not that much happened in the Senate during the Empire); she kept it going in the New Republic and was currently being shadowed by a young bright-eyed girl that reminded her of Luke in some ways. Inspiring senators could choose which senator they would like to intern under if their application was accepted. Of course, not everyone got the senator they wanted, but considering the amount in the Senate and the amount that got accepted, most of them did.

The SYI was very strict on the requirements in order to intern. The applicant had to have  an A in all subjects, no un-excused absences (hospital visits or family emergencies were acceptable for excused), a clean track record, and they had to take certain classes. She was able to access her information on her datapad and saw that she had met all the requirements: straight A's, no absences, clean track record, and she was taking all the required classes. So once she was sitting down for lunch, she got started on her application.

"What'cha doing?" Natalie asked as she sat across from Leia.

"Filling out the application for the Senatorial Youth Internship," Leia replied as she took a bite of her lunch. At least the food tasted good.

"I'm surprised you didn't do that when they first announced it."

Leia smiled. "Me too."

The only reason she was filling out the application was because she had no memory of doing it before. She filled out the form and attached the file of her record to the application before answering the last two questions.

Which senator would you like to intern under?

Padmé Amidala

The next question asked why. Well, she had three reasons: because logic was saying because she needed to in order to further the mission, her heart was longing to know her mother, but her head was saying what it had been for years ever since her parents told her about Padmé Amidala. She went with the third option.

Luke clutched his hand as he walked to nurses office - when he had punched that bully, he had completely forgotten that he had his hand back so now it hurt like hell. He once again had to use Force-suggestion to get out of trouble. He wasn't sure how many times he could do that before the rest of the staff started getting suspicious so he knew he had to stay out of trouble.

He entered the nurses office, and for the first time, he felt kindness from an authority figure in the school. Nurse Willow was a Togruta woman with long blue and white lekkus, and her markings looked similar to Ahsoka's. Her kind smile made him feel warm inside.

"Got in another fight, Mr. Starkiller?" She asked.

Luke smiled sheepishly and nodded.

She motioned to the medical bed. "Take a seat."

Luke did as told and slowly took his fingerless glove off, slightly wincing at the pain. Nurse Willow gently took his hand and started wrapping a bandage around it.

"How's your sister?" She asked.

"She's good," he replied. He didn't know how much she knew about his life, so vague answers were probably best. Besides, he wasn't exactly sure what life these versions of themselves led.

"Don't feel like talking today?"

Luke answered with a shrug.

Willow smiled again. "Y'know, I heard the Galactic Republic Army has a program for the youth that allows them to intern with clone battalions or squadrons. Being that you're in a disciplinary school, you're allowed to sign up for any programs done by the military."

Of course the idea sounded great to Luke - he probably had a high chance of working with the 501st - but he had to talk it over with his friends.

"I'll definitely think about."

Willow nodded and patted his bandaged hand. "All done."

Luke stuffed his glove into his pocket and slid off the bed. He grabbed his bag before walking to the door.

"Oh, before you leave" - Luke stopped and turned - "I was looking over your medical records and noticed I didn't get a chance to test your midichlorian count."

Luke blinked. He remembered Ahsoka mentioning midichlorians in passing, but never really questioned her further on it since it didn't seem like one of the Jedi's teaching.

"It's nothing too serious. All schools in the Galactic Republic are required to do a test." Willow held up a small device. "I just need a tiny bit of your blood."

Luke nodded. "Okay."

He approached her and held out his hand. She pricked his finger with the needle attached to the device and winced a little at the pain, but it wasn't so bad. He'd felt worse.

Willow smiled at him once again. "Thank you."

Luke smiled and nodded before exiting the room.

The tester beeped. Willow looked down and her eyes widened at the number displayed on the screen.

Chapter Text

If Han knew staying in the Rebellion would eventually lead to time travel because of some Force mumbo jumbo, he would've never stayed - that's a lie, he would've stayed. If he hadn't, then he wouldn't of married Leia and gained a great brother-in-law (which he would never admit to Luke). He would still be working for people like Jabba and flying around the galaxy with Chewie, probably jumping from relationship to relationship. Luke and the old man hiring him to take them to Alderaan was the best thing that happened to him.

However, that didn't mean he was going to be happy when he gets pulled into Jedi stuff. He didn't know why this Father person felt the need to de-age them, but he was not thrilled.

He had never had an actual job a day in his life, and yet, he was still able to work at the diner. Thankfully, not as a waiter. He helped maintain the droids and other machines, something he was good at. Also, Dex was a nice guy and let him eat for free, so at least there was some perks to this.

The hours actually flew by, and soon his friends were entering his little workshop in the back of the diner.

"Hey, kids!" Han greeted. "How was school?"

"Great!" Leia said with a smile at the same time Ezra and Luke said, "Awful."

Luke and Ezra looked miserable while Mara just seemed more annoyed than usual, but Leia was practically beaming.

"Our school was like a prison," Ezra said as he plopped down on a crate. "They had a security detail at the entrance and searched our bags and pockets."

Leia frowned as she sat next to Han. "That's an invasion of privacy."

"Not if you're considered a troublemaker, I guess."

"Luke was sent to the Dean's office twice," Mara said as she sat on the workbench.

"Seriously!?" Leia gave her brother a stern look. "Luke!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Luke immediately defended from his place on the floor. "It was Chad's!"

Han raised an eyebrow. "Is that an abbreviation for a droid or something?"

"Nope. It's the name of the ugliest bully in the galaxy," Ezra replied.

"He planted spice on Ezra, so I took the blame. Then he tried knocking him around so I broke his nose." Luke held up his right hand that Han hadn't realized was bandaged.

Leia shook her head then looked at Han. "How was your day?"

Han smirked. "It was actually pretty good. My job is to maintain the droids and other technology, so I mostly get paid to sit around."

"So, basically like your old job then," Mara said.

Han frowned. "Hey! I'll have you know being a smuggler is hard work!"

"You forget, Solo, that I became a smuggler after leaving the Empire. It's not that hard."

"Okay, let's not start a fight," Luke said, ever the peacemaker. "We need to make a plan if we're to complete this mission."

Leia nodded. "I agree, and I have a way to help out."

Han smirked with pride at his wife... girlfriend? Would they even be dating in this version of their life? Probably not since he's eighteen and she's fifteen. Then again, legal age is different on every planet - he didn't know Coruscants. For all he knew, he had dropped out of school and got a job at Dex's Diner.

"There's this program called the Senatorial Youth Internship - it was one of the things I wanted to continue in the New Republic."

"Is it that program where aspiring senators work under an experienced senator?" Ezra asked.

Leia nodded and pulled a datapad out of her bag. "I already have the form filled out and my information attached. I haven't sent it yet because I wanted to make sure we were all in agreement."

"Hm. Doing that would definitely put you close to Chancellor Palpatine," Mara said.

I guess she doesn't know about Leia and Luke's mother. Han thought. So much for her professional spy training.

"That's not the only reason," Luke said softly. "Our mother's a senator."

"Oh... I guess I just assumed she was another Jedi. Neither of you talk about your parents."

"I selected her as the senator I wish to work with," Leia said to change the subject.

Han knew the subject of the twins' parents was a touchy one. Leia didn't like talking about them, especially in the case of her father, and Luke didn't like throwing around who his parents were, especially if people could find out that Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. Hell, Ezra and Mara only recently found out Vader was the twins' father. In fact, they kept the fact that they're twins a secret - only a select group of people knew they were related, probably two handfuls. The whole galaxy knew that Anakin Skywalker was Luke's father, but only those who were close to Padmé Amidala knew she gave birth to twins.

"All I have to do is send it in."

"You should do it," Luke said. "Since we're trying to save our father. Maybe spending time with her will give some insight on how that happened."

Han wasn't sure if the others saw it, but he did, the longing look in Luke's eyes. Back when they had first joined the Rebellion, Luke had confided in him while they were working on the Falcon that he knew nothing about his mother and didn't even remember her. The reason he had latched on to his father was because his aunt and uncle knew some stories about him.

"Speaking of youth programs," Mara said as she pulled out her datapad. "I was doing research and found out that Kaminoa has a program for young adults." She tapped the screen of her datapad. "Since Han is eighteen, this would be perfect for him."

She tossed her datapad to him and he caught it - hanging out with Jedi made his reflexes better. He looked down at the information of this program Mara was talking about. It was called the Young Adult Cloning Facility Apprenticeship. From the gist of what he read, kids out of high school could apply to help out the clones, which would look good on their record for colleges or jobs. It also had good benefits.

"If you sign up for this program," Mara continued, "it would allow you to get close enough to the clones to remove their chips and even get information for the Jedi and the Senate."

"This all sounds good, but there's just one problem," Han said as he looked at the others. "I know absolutely nothing about science."

"You're resourceful and a fast learner. If you put those rebel-smuggler skills to use, then you'll be able to do it. There's a reason why the Father made you eighteen but made the rest of us fifteen."

Han smirked. "I think you just gave me a compliment."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Did you hear anything else I said?"

"Yeah, yeah." He tossed the datapad back to her - she used the Force to catch it. "I'll fill out the form when we get back. But I want you all to know I'm giving up this cushy job to save the galaxy once again."

The others chuckled.

"Since we're still on the topic of programs," Luke started as he rubbed the palm of his right hand - a nervous habit he had developed after Bespin; and Han especially noticed how he did it a lot around Mara, but this didn't have to do with her. "Nurse Willow told me about this program the Galactic Republic Army has where they allow youth to intern with clone battalions or armies."

"Got it," Mara said as she looked down at her datapad.

Han blinked in surprise. He still didn't know how she managed to search for things on the web that fast.

"It's called Youth Disciplinary Services. It's a new program that helps teenagers learn discipline by having them intern for a clone battalion, squadron, etcetera."

Knowing her brother better than anyone else, Leia turned to him with a stern expression. "You want to apply to the 501st to be close to Anakin."

Luke shrugged as he looked to the side like a kid being scolded. "I just thought that since you'll be near mom I can somewhat be near dad."

Leia's expression softened. "Mom isn't a Jedi, Luke. Any of the Jedi generals and commanders will be able to spot your signature from a mile away no matter how much you shield yourself; and I'm sure the clones will be suspicious about how much you look like Anakin."

"Leia's right," Mara said softly, something Han didn't know she was capable of. "It's too much of a risk to have you around your father. He may pick up on a bond between you both and he'll eventually be able to piece together who you are."

Luke sighed then smiled lightly. "Yeah, you guys are right. I guess it was just hopeful thinking."

"I can apply to the program," Ezra said. Everyone looked at him. "I sort of owe you for saving my butt twice today."

"You don't owe me anything, Ezra," Luke said.

"Actually, I think it's a good idea," Mara said. "That way two of us can be around the clones, and if Ezra gets in the five-oh-first, he can keep an eye on Anakin. Plus, this could help us in a way we don't know yet."

"Then... I guess Mara and I will work anything else we can find. All of us have communicators so we can keep in touch when we're not together."

Everyone fell silent as they nodded in agreement to the plan, and it finally hit them that they were really doing this. They were going to save Anakin Skywalker from the Dark Side.

Then Ezra's stomach growled loudly.

"Uh, are we done with the meeting because I am starving!" Ezra exclaimed. The others laughed.

Since Obi-Wan's relaxing day was completely ruined, he decided to go get a cup of caf from Dex's Diner, using it as a suitable excuse to be on the lookout for anything that could cause a shift of that size. He paid the driver after getting out of the speeder and walked into his favorite diner.

He was immediately hit with a Force signature when he walked in. It reminded him of Anakin's, bright like a burning sun.

Obi-Wan pretended everything was okay as he took a seat, but his eyes were scanning the diner in search for the Force sensitive who's power probably rivaled Anakin's. Then he found him. A boy of fifteen standing at a counter with messy blonde hair and wearing clothes of a typical Coruscanti teen with a yellow flight jacket and a bandage on his right hand; standing next to him was another boy the same age with dark hair, also wearing Coruscanti teen clothes. He sat close enough to them that he could hear their conversation, but not close enough where they would notice him.

"Just pick one! We have to go home!" The blonde said.

"But I don't know if any of these are good!" The dark-haired boy argued.

Neither of their accents sounded Coruscanti.

"Trust me, any of these would be better than the slop they gave us at school."

The dark-haired boy pouted as he looked at his menu. "But there's so many choices!"

"The others have already ordered, so hurry up and pick something or I'll do it for you."

The dark-haired boy just continued to stare at the menu before the blonde boy ripped it out of his hands and handed it to the waiter droid on the other side of the counter.

"He'll have a number five and I'll have the number two."

The droid rolled off to give their order to the cook as a different droid approached Obi-Wan for his order. He just ordered a simple caf like he had planned.

He carefully watched the two boys until their to-go order came. He didn't find anything unusual about them, but something about the blonde seemed... familiar. He couldn't place it, but some of his mannerisms reminded him of someone.

The two boys left as he took a sip of his caf, trying to get all the caffeine he needed before he called Master Yoda about the boy. But then, his comm-link went off.

"Kenobi," he spoke into the small device when he pulled it out.

"Master Kenobi, this is Windu. We need you to look into something at Coruscant School for Troubled Youth."

Obi-Wan held back his sigh. "Yes, Master Windu. I'll look into it right away."

The comm clicked. It looked like Obi-Wan was going to have to take his caf to-go.

Chapter Text

"Hello there."

"General Kenobi," Nurse Willow greeted.

"I was told one of the students here had an interestingly high midichlorian count."

Willow nodded. "Yes. At first I thought the Jedi were allowing their younglings to go to school, but when I called, they said the younglings were still being taught in the temple. This confused me considering a boy with a number this high would surely be snatched up by the Order."

"What was the count?"

"Forty-thousand per cell."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened. 40,000... per cell. That was exactly the same as Anakin's. They couldn't have a teenager running around with that kind of power untrained.

"Are you allowed to give me the boy's information?"

"Unfortunately not. You'll have to ask Ms. Applegate at Ms. Applegate's Orphanage for that. But I can tell you his name: Luke Starkiller."

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"He's always seen with one or both of his two friends - Mara Jade and Ezra Jarrus. I was just looking at their files and saw that they had not had a test done either. Normally, I would correct that mistake right away, but I thought the Order would want to test them theirselves in case they have a high number as well."

"Thank you kindly, Nurse Willow. I will inform the Council of this and we'll discuss our next move." 

He left the nurse's office, his mind reeling from this information. Anakin was the only one with midichlorian count that high because he was the Chosen One, he was supposed to be the only one with a count that high. So why did this kid have the exact same count? The prophecy only told of one.

Then he remembered that Force signature at the diner, the one that was as bright as a sun. Could that boy be Luke Starkiller? It would certainly make sense considering how bright he was.

He returned to the temple and found Master Yoda's class of younglings leaving their training room. He entered to see that the old Master was staying back until his students left as usual.

"Master Yoda," Obi-Wan greeted as he approached the small alien. "I looked into that student at Coruscant School for Troubled Youth, and I believe I have found what caused the disturbance."

"Found, what have you, Master Kenobi?"

"Today when I went to a diner for a cup of caf, I sensed a Force signature similar to Anakin Skywalker's - it was a boy of fifteen years. Then, when I talked with Nurse Willow at CSTY, she told me of a student she tested named Luke Starkiller. I believe Luke Starkiller and the boy at the diner are one in the same."

"And the boy's midichlorian count?"

"Forty-thousand per cell."

Yoda seemed just as shocked as Obi-Wan was when he heard the number.

"Same as Knight Skywalker's, it is. Discuss this with the Jedi Council, we must. Serious, this matter is."

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement and walked with Master Yoda to the Chambers where they would summon the Council.

Ezra immediately began chowing down when they returned to the orphanage - after all of them got yelled at by Ms. Hardwood because of something; they're still not sure what. They were hanging out in Luke's room to eat their food from the diner and completely avoiding the rest of the orphanage.

Once they finished their meals, they went their separate ways to do their part in the plan - Ezra discovered he had to do homework to keep his grades up so he could sign up for the YDS, so Leia offered to help since she'd be doing homework as well. Mara stayed back to check on Luke as he slowly unwrapped his hand.

"How's your hand doing?" She asked as she sat next to him on his bed.

"Sore," Luke replied. "When I punched that sleemo, I forgot that I had my hand back." 

"Let me see."

She took his hand in hers to look at it. His hand was warm, a stark contrast to how it used to feel. Cold. Despite looking real, his hand had been cold.

His knuckles were really red, and when she brushed her thumb over one of them, he winced a little. "You must've punched him really hard."

He huffed. "I used to be able to do that without being in pain like this. I guess losing my hand crippled me more than I thought."

"I think you do just fine without your hand."

Mara picked up the bandage and wrapped it around his hand again as they sat in silence. She noted the callouses on his hand that his prosthetic didn't have, a mark of years of moisture farming, piloting, and working on machines, yet his hands were soft. He always had a way of being rough yet gentle, and that was something she liked about him.

She finished and looked up at him, her breath hitching at the way he was looking at her with those blue eyes of his. Those eyes that looked like diamonds. The intensity in them. She had an urge to lean in and kiss him, to feel his soft lips against hers.

"Mara." He whispered her name like she was a goddess and brought a hand up to push some of her hair out of her face. She leaned into his touch. "The last time we saw each other..."

She remembered the last time they saw each other. She remembered because she never stopped thinking about it, the way he had made her feel.

He leaned in like he was going to kiss her, but paused as if he was waiting for her to close the distance - that's another thing she liked about him, he respected her boundaries. She wanted to close the distance. She wanted him to hold her and make her feel the way he had last time. And that's what scared her.

"We have homework to do," Mara said as she let go of his hand and distanced herself. "We should try and keep ourselves out of as much trouble as we can."

She tried not to think about the look in his eyes, the same one as last time she had distanced herself from him.

Luke nodded in agreement, not saying anything about the fact she had pushed him away... just like last time. "I just hope it isn't hard. I was homeschooled."

"Just as long as you do it, they won't care," she said as she stood. "You don't even have to get the answers correct. Getting good grades isn't important for our mission. Well, for us anyway."

He smiled and she knew she needed to leave before she gave in to her desires. Giving him a small smile, she turned and left his room.

Chapter Text

The Jedi Council was assembled - sometime between the first and current meeting, some of the council members had to take their leave, so some seats were filled with a blue hologram rather than an actual person. Some wondered what Skywalker had done this time, some pondered whether it was about the disturbance, and some hoped that there was no grave news.

"Called this meeting, Master Kenobi and I did," Yoda said, signaling the start of the meeting. "Information, he has found."

All eyes turned to Obi-Wan.

"Earlier I left the temple to get a cup of caf at a diner," Obi-Wan began. "There I felt powerful Force signature as bright as a sun, similar to that of Anakin Skywalker's. It was a fifteen-year-old boy. Then a nurse at CSTY called the Order about a student with a high midichlorian count, so I went to check it out. The student was a boy... with forty-thousand midichlorians per cell."

The council's eyes went wide. Everyone knew Anakin had the highest count anyone had ever seen, so to hear of a boy having the same count as the Jedi Knight was certainly surprising.

"What is the boy's name?" Windu asked.

"Luke Starkiller. He lives in Ms. Applegate's Orphanage, though I'm not sure for how long."

Some of the council visibly relaxed knowing they didn't have another Skywalker on their hands.

"The test had to have been wrong," Mundi claimed with certainty. "Forty-thousand is too high for us to have missed."

"We missed Skywalker and his count is the same," Fisto pointed out.

"Skywalker was on Tatooine," Agen Koler said. "This is a boy right here on Coruscant."

"His accent didn't sound Coruscanti," Obi-Wan said. "If I had to guess, I would say it's from the Outer Rim."

"So he was orphaned in the Outer Rim and somehow made his way here," Stass Allie guessed.

"Forty-thousand is too high of a number to get wrong," Plo said. "Normally, our tests will say negative or positive one-hundred. Certainly not Forty-thousand."

"Perhaps we should test them ourselves if Master Mundi and anyone else is having doubts," Shaak Ti suggested.

"Nurse Willow suggested we talk with Ms. Applegate for his files," Obi-Wan said. "She also informed me of his two friends Mara and Ezra. I believe I saw Ezra with him at the diner."

"Could they be Force-sensitive as well?" Stass Allie asked.

"I am not sure. If Ezra had a signature, it must've been drowned out by Luke's, and Nurse Willow said she had not tested them so we could do it ourselves."

"Speak with with Ms. Applegate, and take Skywalker with you, you shall. Important, this is. If correct, is the test, untrained, he must not remain. Dangerous, it could be."

And with that grave note, the meeting was adjourned and Obi-Wan went to find Anakin.

Anakin monitored Ahsoka's training from the side as he studied her movements to critique any mistakes in her form. He had broken her out of the habit of protecting her legs more than her head and torso - which was important considering that's where battle droids aimed - but now she had a habit of leaving her left side open too much, so he was trying to correct that.

"Anakin!" A familiar voice called.

The Jedi Knight turned with a smile as his former Master approached him. He motioned for Ahsoka to continue with her training as he talked with Obi-Wan.

"I thought you were resting today, Master," Anakin said with smirk.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Unfortunately, the Force had other plans. Did you feel the shift earlier today?"

Anakin nodded. Of course he had, it was impossible to miss. And all day he had been wondering what it was and was hoping to get an answer from the council soon.

"We found a boy that may have cause or be a part of it. He goes to CSTY and the nurse there did a midichlorian test. He has forty-thousand per cell."

Anakin's smile dropped and his eyes widened. That was the exact same as his.

"The Council wants us to talk with Ms. Applegate at her orphanage. That's where he lives."

"Right now?"

"Tomorrow. We'll talk with her while he's at school."

Luke woke up early. Really early. Like no one else in the orphanage was awake. Growing up on a moisture farm, he had to wake up at the crack of dawn to get started on work. Then, in the Rebellion, he kept the habit up due to being a commander and all. Then there was Jedi training and... yeah, he was an early riser. He practically rose with the sun.

After getting ready for the day and re-bandaging his hand, he headed downstairs to the kitchen to make himself breakfast. The orphanage was much quieter when everyone was asleep.

He quickly made his breakfast and ate in his room to avoid anyone else. He sat at his desk and watched the sunrise in the background of buildings and speeders as he enjoyed the silence.

The silence was soon broken by children awakening to start their next day paired with Ms. Hardwood yelling at everyone - they had yet to meet Ms. Applegate, but he hoped she was a lot nicer than Ms. Hardwood.

Not looking to get yelled at, Luke got his shoes on and grabbed his bag and jacket before leaving his room. His friends were ready for the day as well and looked equally as thrilled as he did - none of them were thrilled to have woken up to discover that their current situation wasn't just a bad dream they had.

"So the plan for today is to just go about our routine as normal," Mara said as they walked downstairs. "Until you three get accepted into the programs, there's not much we can do except be normal teens."

"How do we do that exactly?" Ezra asked.

"Uh... survive?" Luke guessed.

Sure, he may have had a two parent household, which was more than Han, Ezra, and Mara could say, but in his time in the Rebellion he discovered that he really had no idea what a normal childhood looked like. On Tatooine, survival was the most important thing. He was learning to survive before he could even walk, and by the time he was ten, he could survive on his own if anything had ever happened to Owen and Beru. His teen years was spent shooting womp rats, freeing slaves, and fighting for his life while kids in the Mid and Inner Rims were going to malls, arcades, and basically not worrying about the chance of death every single day.

"I heard about this mall called the Final Frontier where teenagers like to go hangout," Leia said.

"Then we'll meet at the Final Frontier after school," Mara replied.

They were all in agreement with the plan as they exited the orphanage.

Anakin and Obi-Wan set off for the orphanage about an hour after schooling started so they would have plenty of time to speak with Ms. Applegate about this Luke Starkiller kid before testing him themselves.

The orphanage was alive with activity as the younger orphans were in class with the orphanage's private tutors. They were greeted by a stern woman whose name was Ms. Hardwood and they asked about Luke.

"What has that little troublemaker done now that the Jedi would get involved?" She asked with clear annoyance in both her tone and expression.

"Nothing except have a high midichlorian count," Anakin replied.

"Hm. The test had to be wrong - Luke Starkiller is certainly no Jedi. But if you insist, Ms. Applegate is this way."

Ms. Hardwood led them further into the orphanage and stopped at a door labeled "Ms. Applegate." She knocked, and a sweet voice from the other side invited them in. Ms. Hardwood opened the door.

"Ms. Applegate, there are two Jedi here wishing to talk about Luke Starkiller."

"Oh, yes, I was told they were coming," Ms. Applegate replied. "Let them in."

Ms. Hardwood stepped to the side to allow the Jedi to enter in. It was cozy, probably aiming to comfort any children that came in. There were various flimsis on walls that held drawings from kids. Anakin's mind wandered to daydream about his and Padmé's walls would look like that someday, but he shook it away when Ms. Applegate greeted them.

"What can I do for you, Master Jedi?" She asked.

She was a complete contrast of Ms. Hardwood: short, blonde hair and blue eyes, a little on the chubby side, and a warm smile that made you feel fuzzy on the inside.

"We would like to talk about one of the orphans you have here," Obi-Wan replied as he and Anakin sat down in the chairs in front of the desk. "Luke Starkiller."

Ms. Applegate slightly frowned as she sat in her chair behind the desk. "Luke? Did he do something wrong? I can assure you he means no harm. He's got a heart of gold, but always finds himself in trouble when helping others."

"He's not in trouble, Ms. Applegate," Obi-Wan reassured.

"The Order received a call from the nurse at CSTY," Anakin said. "She informed us of his exceptionally high midichlorian count and we were hoping if you could provide his information for us."

Ms. Applegate nodded as she stood and went to a set of drawers. "We do midichlorian tests ourselves, so I don't know why our nurse here didn't call you if Luke has a high count," she explained as she searched through a drawer of files. "Then again, our last nurse wasn't very reliable."

She pulled out a datafile and returned to her desk, handing it to Anakin. Anakin took the datafile and looked at it. There was a picture of a boy with sun-bleached blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and sun-tanned skin.

DETAILS OF ORPHAN

First Name: Luke
Middle Name: ?
Surname: Starkiller

Sex: Male
Age: 15

Date of Birth: ?
Place of Birth: ?

Siblings: ?

Homeworld: Tatooine

Origin: Brought to us by a mysterious hooded figure

Behavioral Notes:
Runs away
Gets in fights
Talks back to authority
Has been in trouble with the law
Troublemaker

Headmistress Notes:
Luke is a special case. Usually I am able to read my children well, but he's always been a mysterious boy. He'll be dragged back to the orphanage by an officer because he was caught stealing, but then in the same day I'll see him going the extra mile to help out one of the other children. I don't know what to make of him, but I know he's not a troublemaker - he's got a heart of gold. He's told me he wants to be a pilot, and his hero is Anakin Skywalker.

DETAILS OF PARENTS/GUARDIAN

Father's Name: ?
Date of Death: ?
Cause of Death: ?

Mother's Name: ?
Date of Death: ?
Cause of Death: ?

MEDICAL INFORMATION

Height: 5'5 ft.
Weight: 150 lbs.

Ethnicity:  50% Tatooinian 
                   50% Nubian

Diseases: None

Bloodtype: O-

Midichlorian Count: 40,000

"Doesn't look like there's much about him," Anakin said as he handed the file to Obi-Wan.

"Unfortunately not," Ms. Applegate replied. "He's always been a bit of a mystery."

"Have you ever done a blood test to determine his parental heritage?" Obi-Wan asked.

Ms. Applegate nodded. "It's mandatory, along with the midichlorian test. But I was informed that nothing came up."

"May we have permission to do a blood test after testing his count?"

"Of course."

"Thank you for your time, Ms. Applegate," Obi-Wan said as he handed the datafile back to her. He turned to Anakin. "Let's head back to the temple to retrieve the testing kit, then we'll go to CSTY to test Luke."

Chapter Text

Luke had never been more glad that he was homeschooled at any point in his life until now. He didn't understand all the subjects, but in the ones he did understand, he kept getting in arguments with the teachers. Of course, he won every argument, any observer could see that, which was why they threatened to send him to the Dean's office. And then Chad apparently didn't get the hint from his broken nose and kept trying to push around Ezra - but he retaliated by using the Force which Luke was proud about (he's Jedi Grandmaster, he can make the rules). Not to mention the school was like a prison and the food was awful. Basically, CSTY was exactly how Luke imagined school would be on Tatooine if that planet actually had an education system.

It was the second to last class and Luke was ready for school to be over (he was ready ever since he stepped foot in the building that morning) - he had Binary 101, which was boring considering he already knew the language, and he didn't need to go to school to learn it.

"Luke Starkiller to the nurse's office. Luke Starkiller to the nurse's office."

Luke had no idea why he was being called into the nurse's office, but he was just glad to get out of the class - especially since neither Mara nor Ezra had that class with him.

"You wanted to see me, Nurse Willow?" Luke asked as he entered the room. He stopped cold once he saw who was in there and snapped his shields up tight.

Schutta!

"Luke Starkiller?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Uh, yeah. That's me," Luke replied.

The boy had shields up, but as soon as he walked in, they were blinded by his Force presence; powerful, light, and similar to Anakin's.

"I'm-"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker."

"You know who we are?" Anakin asked.

Luke shrugged and smiled. "Everyone knows who you are."

Anakin returned the smile as he studied the boy. He didn't carry himself like a Coruscanti, if anything, he carried himself like a Tatooine native. Then it clicked. His file had said that he was from Tatooine. How had he made his way from Tatooine to Coruscant?

Luke dropped his bag from his shoulder and plopped down in the chair across from them. Anakin noticed the bandage on his right hand as Luke started rubbing his palm with his thumb. A nervous habit.

"Do you know why we're here?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Sorry, no," Luke replied with a shake of his head, his blonde hair moving from the motion.

"We'd like to test your midichlorian count."

"Why? Nurse Willow's already done that. Can't you just look at my file?"

Anakin noticed a small defiant look in the boy's eyes and lightly smirked. Considering this kid was in a school for troublemakers, he could imagine the kind of headache he would give the Council.

"There was a mishap with the test."

"Then why can't Nurse Willow do it?"

Obi-Wan sighed in the way he did when he would argue with Anakin. "Luke, what do you know about midichlorians?"

"Uh... nothing really."

"They're microscopic intelligent life forms that lives in everything. They speak to us, but only those who are sensitive to the Force can hear them."

Luke's boyish blue eyes suddenly seemed older and wiser as he took in the information. "So they bridge the gap between us and the Force, allowing the sensitive ones to be able to communicate with it, and work with it."

Obi-Wan and Anakin looked at each other in shock before looking back at the boy.

"Yes, I guess that's a good way to explain it," Obi-Wan said.

Luke blinked and his blue eyes went back to the boyish look. "With all due respect, Master Jedi, I think you're wasting your time. My count is not high enough to warrant time from the Negotiator and the Hero With No Fear."

Either he was lying or he really doubted that his count was so high. He was so sure of himself that neither Jedi could tell.

"How about you humor us?" Anakin suggested. "If you're right, and the test was wrong, then you won't have to see us again."

Luke seemed to think about it for a moment before he sighed and rolled up the  sleeve of his flight jacket before sticking out his arm. "Fine, just get it over with."

Obi-Wan pricked his arm with a needle, only taking a small amount of blood before placing the vial in the machine. The machine hummed to life after Obi-Wan pressed a button.

Since it would take a moment for them to get the results, Anakin picked up the datafile lying next to him (Ms. Applegate had provided a copy for them). "Your file says that you're from Tatooine. How did you make it to Coruscant?"

Luke shrugged as he pulled down his sleeve. "I was brought to the orphanage as a baby by a mysterious stranger. Maybe he was from Tatooine too."

Anakin glanced down at the file to see that his story checked out. "What about your parents?"

That question seemed to shock the boy enough to let his shields slip and the two Jedi were hit with a wave of anxiety and grief. Luke quickly composed himself and his shields were slammed back down, but it was too late, the duo had felt just how powerful his emotions were.

"I'm an orphan," Luke said nonchalantly. "Not many of us know who our parents were. I've come to terms with it."

Clearly a lie considering what Anakin and Obi-Wan had just felt.

"But other orphans usually have a blood test done to determine who their parents were," Anakin argued. "Your file has nothing. All we know is that you're fifty percent Tatooinian and fifty percent Nubian."

After he said that, he suddenly realized the irony. Sitting before him was a kid that was part Tatooine and part Naboo, which is what his own kids with Padmé would be. Then, he started noticing similarities between Luke in Padmé: the soft features, the shape of his nose, the way his eyebrows knitted together when he was arguing.

"That's all I know about my parents too," Luke spit out with a hint of bitterness. 

Bitterness at what? Anakin didn't know. Perhaps bitterness at the universe for making him an orphan.

"Can I go now?" Luke asked after a quick moment of silence.

Anakin looked over at Obi-Wan who nodded at the boy. Luke stood and grabbed his bag as he rushed out of the room.

"He's definitely had training," Obi-Wan said once Luke was out of the room. "His mental shields were like that of a Jedi Master, not a Padawan."

Anakin nodded in agreement. "And that thing when he was explaining midichlorians despite not knowing about them, that had to be the Force."

"His presence his too light to have been trained by a Sith."

"Could the mysterious hooded figure have been his father?" Anakin theorized. "His father could've been a rogue Jedi and trained him in secret. That grief we felt wasn't just that of an ordinary orphan, but of an orphan who had to watch a beloved parent die."

He swallowed a lump in his throat as he thought of his mother, and how she had died in his arms. They were in a war with the Sith. Maybe Luke's father went to fight them and ended up dying in his arms. He suddenly felt a connection to this kid he had first met just a mere minutes ago.

Anakin looked down at the datafile to scan over it again.

Behavioral Notes:
Runs away
Gets in fights
Talks back to authority
Has been in trouble with the law
Troublemaker

Headmistress Notes:
Luke is a special case. Usually I am able to read my children well, but he's always been a mysterious boy. He'll be dragged back to the orphanage by an officer because he was caught stealing, but then in the same day I'll see him going the extra mile to help out one of the other children. I don't know what to make of him, but I know he's not a troublemaker - he's got a heart of gold. He's told me he wants to be a pilot, and his hero is Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin locked on to that last line.

He wants to be a pilot, and his hero is Anakin Skywalker.

A ding brought Anakin out of his trance and he looked at Obi-Wan, awaiting to hear the number of Luke's count.

"Forty-thousand."

40,000.

He wants to be a pilot, and his hero is Anakin Skywalker.

He wants to be a pilot.

His hero is Anakin Skywalker....

Chapter Text

Obi-Wan had faced beastly creatures, Sith Lords, and the bad side Satine Kryze, and yet nothing scared him more than Anakin's driving. Everytime he stepped foot into a speeder or ship where Anakin was at the helm, he had mini heart attack. Force forbid if Anakin ever had any children - he would not be able to survive.

They managed to make it back to the temple in one piece - even the speeder - and headed towards the Healing Hall where Obi-Wan was in much need of caf after having survived Anakin's wonderful driving. With a cup of caf in hand, Obi-Wan sat with Anakin at a computer terminal to test Luke's blood.

"If your theory is correct, it would explain why Luke has training," Obi-Wan said as he slipped the vial into the slot on the terminal. "However, we shouldn't rule out the other possibilities. He could have a case like yours, or perhaps his parents were like ghosts, or maybe he doesn't have any parents."

"So, you mean he could just exist?" Anakin asked with a look of disbelief.

"Considering how your mother got pregnant, I believe anything's possible." His mouth quirked into a teasing smile. "Maybe the Force decided you needed help with the Chosen One thing, so it gave you a little brother."

"Funny."

Obi-Wan's smile faded. "Though I am a little serious. You may not have seen it, Anakin, but he looked a lot like you did at that age." He pressed a button to start the test. "Even the way he sat was like you, not to mention the accent."

"Actually, the accent was bothering me," Anakin said. "If he's been on Coruscant since he was a baby, then why does he speak like a Tatooine native and not a Coruscanti?"

"That's a good question."

Obi-Wan took a drink as the terminal dinged to signal the test was ready. He choked on his drink as Anakin jumped from his chair and rushed to the nearest trashcan to vomit.

Paternal Match: Anakin Skywalker

Maternal Match: Padmé Naberrie-Amidala

Mara smacked Luke upside the head. "How come you didn't tell us earlier!?"

"Ow!" Luke exclaimed as he rubbed his head. "I didn't think it was important! I had no idea what a midichlorian was until now!"

After school, Luke and his friends went to Dex's Diner to wait for Han's shift to be over when he informed them all of the Jedi's visit and Nurse Willow taking his midichlorian count. They didn't take it well.

"Out of all of us here, you should be the last person the Jedi ever look into!"

"Look, I messed up! I was still trying to process being thrown back in time so I didn't think!"

Mara rolled her eyes. "Obviously!"

Luke glared at her. "Hey, no one told me about midichlorians! If you knew about them then why didn't you tell me!?"

"Because considering you have Ahsoka Tano on your new Jedi Council, I made the logical assessment that you knew what they were!"

"Well, your 'logical assessment' was wrong! So much for that great spy training that the Emperor relied on!"

"Will you two stop bickering like an old married couple!?" Han finally butt in after having enough of their sexual tension.

Mara glared daggers at the former smuggler. "We are not bickering like an old married couple!"

"Yeah, what she said," Luke added as he crossed his arms. However, his red face didn't help his case.

"Okay, so Luke got on the Jedi's radar," Leia said. "Specifically Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi's. What do we do this?"

"Well... I successfully avoided my father for almost three years," Luke joked. "I'm sure I can do it again."

"So, what? Your plan is to just run around Coruscant until we have what we need to save Anakin Skywalker?" Han asked.

"It could work," Ezra said. "Maybe he'll be too busy chasing Luke to fall to the Dark Side."

Mara rolled her eyes. "You guys are forgetting something very important. If Luke got on the Jedi's radar, how long will it be before he's on Palpatine's radar?"

"What exactly can the Emperor do in this time?" Luke asked. "He's just the Chancellor and whatever apprentice he has is busy leading his war. There's no one he can send after me."

"I'm sure it'll look suspicious if the Chancellor starts getting involved in the affairs of the Jedi," Leia added.

"Unless he arranges for sabotage and frames Luke," Mara replied. "Then, the Chancellor can be involved all he wants."

"Okay, but that's not happened yet," Luke argued. "If it does then we'll handle it, but until then, we should just see what happens."

"Great, now that all that's settled, let's go to the Final Frontier," Han said. "My shift's over."

The Final Frontier was way more grand than Luke was expecting. He had heard about malls from the Rogues and other Rebels, but he had never been to one - Tatooine didn't have them and he was too busy to ever check one out. There were stores, a food court, an arcade, laser tag. He didn't know so many activities could be shoved under one building.

Ezra insisted on stopping at the food court first since he hadn't ate lunch and claimed he was starving. So after eating, they decided to go to the arcade since the others learned that Luke had never been to one (apparently, Han had snuck into plenty of arcades on Corellia, Mara was allowed to go if it aided a mission, Lothal had a small arcade that Ezra would frequent, and Leia would go to Alderaan's arcade with Winter when they had free time). Tatooine didn't have an arcade - the only thing the locals found fun was anything death defying.

The teens traded their money in exchange for Arcade Credits, which came in the form of cards. Each one got their own card and they went their separate ways to play some games.

Naturally, Luke locked on to a piloting game called Galaga that was set up like an actual cockpit of a starfighter, except for the whole ship part and it was more like a box with the two sides open. He stepped onto the platform and sat down. On the console in front of him was two joysticks with red buttons on the top and above the console was a screen that currently had the game's title card displayed.

Luke swiped his card and started the game. The goal was to shoot down enemy ships, something Luke was an expert at; the controls were similar to his X-Wing - which he realized had not been made yet - so this game was going to be a piece of cake.

The game started and Luke took the controls. He felt like he was instantly transported back to the cockpit of his X-Wing during the civil war, and he was shooting down TIE fighters, in fact, the enemy ships looked a lot like TIE fighters. He realized playing this game was a bad idea.

The memories, his original memories, came in flashes. The sound of TIE fighters and X-Wings in battle. Green and red lasers whizzing around. Explosions. Sacrifice.

His hands were shaking. He let go and put his head in his hands as the images kept flashing through his mind.

"Luke," a voice softly said as a hand touched his arm. He looked up to see Mara, her green eyes looking at him with concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I-I'm fine," Luke replied as he struggled to stop himself from shaking. He looked at the screen to see GAME OVER flashing on it. "I think playing this game was a bad idea."

He got out of the makeshift fake cockpit, Mara holding his arm to help steady him. "You're experiencing a minor panic attack," she observed.

He chuckled bitterly. "Yeah, I got that."

Mara frowned and led him away from the game. "Just play something that won't trigger your PTSD."

"Normal teenagers don't have to worry about stuff like that," Luke mumbled.

"Normal teenagers aren't war heroes," Mara replied. "I'm... sorry about earlier - I just got worried when you said your father showed up at school. The first thing I thought of was Palpatine finding out and trying to hurt you."

Luke grinned. "Mara, I didn't know you cared so much."

Mara rolled her eyes. "I should've killed you when I had the chance."

He laughed then spotted a two player podracing game and pulled her over to it. "Let's play this one."

"Really?"

"What? Afraid you're going to lose?"

"You doubt my racing skills?"

"No, I'm just making a logical assessment. I grew up racing through Beggar's Canyon, and even podraced once. Not to mention I'm the best pilot in the galaxy."

She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Okay, Farmboy, I accept your challenge."

Luke grinned as they both moved to sit in their seats.

"And you better not let me win!"

"Trust me, I wouldn't dream of it."

They swiped their cards and started the game as they took hold of their steering controls that looked similar to a podracer. Needless to say, Luke won, however, he lost the two player shooting game.

They managed to find the others and saw that Han and Ezra were engaged in a dance battle as they were playing Dance Dance Revolution, meanwhile Leia was playing a shooter game. After that, they all found a mini golf game and played that, Luke and Ezra somehow making it more intense than it should be.

The group went around trying different games and overall enjoying being kids again. Luke earned enough tickets to get something from the rewards counter. He saw an orange stuffed lothcat and decided to get that along with a toy model of a starfighter.

"Mara! I got this for you!" Luke said as he held the stuffed lothcat out to her.

She seemed surprised, whether it was because he was giving her something or that she was getting something, he didn't know.

"Um, thank you," Mara said as she took the stuffed animal. "Why?"

Luke shrugged and smiled. "I just wanted to."

There was more resting on his tongue, but he dared not speak it, something he had realized after Wayland, the reason he gave her his father's lightsaber: he loved her.

Chapter Text

It was Benduday, which meant they had no school. However, that didn't mean they were off for the day.

Leia woke up bright and early and got dressed in clothing appropriate for shopping: a grey light sweater, blue jeans, and some comfy shoes for walking. She brushed her hair and put it up in a bun with two looped braids tucked underneath it. She grabbed her purse and went to her brother's room, expecting to see him already up, but she was surprised to find him fast asleep. He was usually up and about by now.

Luke was sprawled on his back with the blanket hanging off his hips. Half of his body was hanging off the bed, his pillow on the floor and his bandaged right hand resting under his head. He looked so peaceful in his sleep... obviously she was going to have to correct that.

She picked up the abandoned pillow and lifted over her head, smirking at her brother before bringing it down on his face. Luke startled awake, the motion of moving to sit up making him fall off the bed. He landed on the floor with a thud and grunted.

Leia cracked up laughing as Luke glared at his sister.

"What the kriff, Leia!?" He exclaimed. "What was that for!?"

She shrugged and smiled. "You were sleeping too peacefully." She tossed the pillow into his lap.

"Y'know, I could've been sleeping naked," he said as he stood and tossed his blanket and pillow on the bed. "Then that would've been embarrassing for both of us."

Leia crinkled her nose and knit her brows. "You sleep naked?"

"Only if it's really hot."

He grabbed a pair of pants from the floor and started pulling them on. Clearly, he wasn't naked, but all he wore was underpants. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him half naked. The first time was after he had first joined the Rebellion and the identity of the pilot who blew up the Death Star had just been found out. He ended up in the clutches of the Zygerrian queen during a mission, and obviously she took a liking to him so Leia and Han had to go save him. She had put him in an outfit that left little to the imagination and he made them swear to tell no one, especially not the Rogues.

"What's that look for?" Luke asked after he pulled his pants all the way up.

"Oh, just thinking about the Zygerrian queen incident," Leia replied with a smirk. "Too bad Mara wasn't there for that. I'm sure she would've loved to see it."

His face went as red as a tomato, but that didn't stop his own smirk. "You mean kind of like that outfit you wore at Jabba's Palace? I'm sure Han would love to hear about that, considering he was blind through the whole thing."

Leia gaped at him as her face heated up. "You wouldn't dare!"

"I'm from Tatooine; there's nothing I wouldn't dare."

She glared at her brother, knowing she needed to change the subject before this mini sibling squabble escalated. "It's Benduday, which means we have plenty of hours to work on the mission. I'm going shopping with Mara and Han will be looking for a ship for us to use in emergencies. You and Ezra can go do research in the Jedi Archives." She pointed a finger at him. "Be careful, and keep those shields up. You're on the Jedi's radar, so don't draw attention to yourself."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Luke replied as he waved her hand away.

"Be sure to wake up Ezra," she said as she left her brother's room.

She went to Han's and was surprised to see he was already up, sitting at his desk as he scrolled through something on his datapad. She approached him and hugged him from behind as she caught sight of what he was reading.

"Doing some research on cloning?" She asked before kissing his cheek.

"Thought I might read ahead so I'll know what I'm doing," Han replied as he set the datapad down. He placed his hand over one of her smaller ones and drew circles on the back. "I didn't help end a war by not being prepared."

Leia smiled. "Would you be willing to put your research aside to do something else?"

Han turned his head to give her a quizzical look, but a smirk played on his lips.

"Not that!" She flicked his temple as he chuckled and moved to face her. "I need you to go out and get a ship for emergencies, especially since Luke is on the Jedi's radar. We might have to do a quick getaway."

"Sounds good. Though no ship could live up to the Falcon."

She rolled her eyes. "Just get us a good, fast ship." She kissed his cheek again. "All of us should meet for lunch at the Final Frontier."

He nodded with a smile. "Lunch at the Final Frontier. Got it."

Leia left his room and went to check if Mara was in hers. The redhead was awake, sitting on her bed as she read something on her datapad. She was already dressed in her normal practical clothing and her hair in a loose braid to her side. She looked up when the princess entered.

"You know some things about fashion, right?" Leia asked.

"Yes, of course," Mara replied.

She grinned. "Great! You're coming shopping with me!"

Leia didn't give her a chance to respond. She grabbed the ex-assassin's hand and pulled her off her bed and dragged her down the stairs.

"I guess I don't have any choice in the matter," Mara said with a sigh.

"Nope!"

Anakin felt like he was going to vomit again ever since the test results came back for Luke. Obviously, the results were wrong considering Anakin was six when Luke was born, so Obi-Wan informed the healers that their computer terminals needed maintenance and let the Council know they needed another day before they can give them all their findings.

He entered the Healing Hall to find Obi-Wan already waiting for him with two cups of caf and Luke's datafile in hand. Anakin immediately took his cup of caf.

"Let's get this over with," he said with a sigh before taking a big swig of his caf.

Obi-Wan place the vial of blood in the terminal and started the test. Both of them waited in long silence for the results.

Ding!

Anakin held his breath as he and Obi-Wan looked at the screen.

Paternal Match: Anakin Skywalker

Maternal Match: Padmé Naberrie-Amidala

He was going to need something stronger than caf.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Anakin, we have to tell the Council about this. They're expecting a report today, and they're going to want to know who Luke's parents are."

"But this doesn't make any sense!" Anakin exclaimed as he motioned to the screen with his free hand. "I was six when this kid was born!"

"Yes, I know, Anakin," Obi-Wan replied. "But... I've been looking at his file and this is all too coincidental."

He held the file out and Anakin set his cup down as he took it and scanned the file once again.

"He has the same midichlorian count as you and happens to be fifty percent Tatooinian and fifty percent Nubian? Not to mention he looks so much like you."

"But how could that be?"

"I don't know... but we don't have to report to the Council until after lunch, so maybe we can consult the Archives for an answer."

Ezra was fast asleep and hadn't even noticed or seemingly sensed him. The dark-haired boy was laying on his stomach with the side of his face pressed into his pillow and his mouth was hanging open and drool falling out. 

Luke grinned mischievously. This was the perfect payback opportunity for what happened on New Alderaan. He used the Force to lift the mattress.

How did this boy fight a war?

He flipped mattress over, making Ezra fall to the floor with his blanket and pillow before he released the mattress and it fell on Ezra as well.

Ezra gasped as he lifted the mattress off himself and sat up. "What the bantha!?" He looked at Luke. "What was that for!?"

Luke shrugged, his grin still plastered on his face. "Get dressed. Leia wants us to search the Jedi Archives." He turned to leave. "Oh, and remember this moment next time you decide to wake me up by suspending me in the air."

He ran out cackling as Ezra used the Force to throw his pillow at him.

Chapter Text

"So, I'll have a good chance at getting Padmé Amidala in the SYI program considering the Father sent us here," Leia said as her and Mara walked through the mall. "I'm thinking of getting some fashion from Naboo."

"There's a Nubian boutique over there," Mara pointed out.

She still wasn't happy that she'd been dragged to the Final Frontier for a shopping trip, but she'd quickly learned a long time ago that no one can say no to the princess of New Alderaan.

She reluctantly followed Leia into the store filled with lavish dresses. Nothing she hadn't ever seen before - she was usually required to get fancy dresses for missions. Naboo fashion had always been a particular favorite of hers, and it was ironic that the man she... cared for had Nubian origins.

She helped Leia pick out dresses and judged how she looked in them after she tried them on. Leia didn't seem to take offense to any of Mara's honest criticisms, which was something she admired about the princess. She had thick skin, and could take constructive criticism when given.

While browsing through the racks, she stopped at a beautiful green dress that sparkled in the light. The sleeves were off the shoulder and long, coming down to a point where the middle and ring fingers would be and it had a sweetheart neckline. Gold trimmed the hem and collar, and the back was open.

"You should get it."

Mara jumped and turned to see Leia standing next to her. She hadn't even realized she had approached her - her training was slipping.

She shook her head. "We're here to shop for you, not me."

"Nonsense," Leia said as she took the dress off the rack. "We can shop for you too."

Once again, Leia wasn't taking no for an answer and pushed Mara towards the dressing rooms with the dress.

She tried it on - it was comfortable and hugged her figure. She stepped out to model it for Leia and the princess gasped.

"You look beautiful," she said with a grin. "I'm sure Luke would love to see you in that dress."

Mara hated how her face heated up at that. "W-why would I care what Luke thinks?"

Leia rolled her eyes. "Come on, I see how you look at him and act around him. I'm not blind, and I'm certainly not stupid."

"Even if I like him, he doesn't feel that way about me."

Sure, they had shared a pretty heated kiss and then some during their mission at Wayland, but they were just caught up in the moment of barely escaping with their lives.

"Seriously? Mara, he gave you his father's lightsaber. That was one of the last things he had of him, and was devastated when he lost it on Cloud City. He practically proposed to you."

She hadn't ever thought about it like that. She knew it was a kind gesture, for Luke to give up his father's lightsaber so she could have one not connected to the man who stole her childhood, but she hadn't really stopped to think about the sentimental value it held for him.

"Besides you're beautiful," Leia said as she turned Mara around to look in the mirror with her. "He'd be stupid not to like you. Look, the dress really brings out your eyes."

She had to admit that the princess was right. Objectively, she was beautiful, and the dress did bring out her eyes.

"Did you know Luke's favorite color was green?"

Mara gave her a quizzical look. "Really?"

"Yeah. I still remember when we arrived on Yavin Four after we first met. He kept commenting on how green everything was. You should've seen his face - it was like watching a puppy experience things for the first time. Since then, green's been his favorite color."

Mara bit her lip as she looked back at her reflection. It was illogical to get a dress that she would just lose once they finished a mission but... she had never gotten a dress just for herself - only for missions; and yeah, sometimes to attract the attention of men, but that was to kill them or at least get close enough for torture. She'd never got a dress to attract a man with the intent of truly romancing him.

"Okay, I think I'll get it."

Leia practically squealed like the teenage girl she was now. "Get changed and we'll continue shopping for both of us."

The two boys entered the Archives, Luke holding his breath as they did - luckily, no one immediately recognized him so he let it out. It seemed the Jedi weren't on high alert for him just yet.

His gaze scanned the large room and his heart broke. Everywhere was Jedi of all ages and all species. There were Jedi standing amongst or walking along the shelves. Jedi sitting at tables or computers. Jedi researching, studying, relaxing. The Force felt alive.

This was the dream he had for his own Order, and it wasn't anywhere near to looking like it - the new Archives wasn't as full as this one. But... if he succeeded... he wouldn't have to worry about that.

A hand touched his shoulder and he looked over to see Ezra. He saw in his eyes that he knew how Luke was feeling, and that he was feeling the same.

"Let's get started," Luke said with a determination in his eyes. 

They began searching the shelves (thankfully, they weren't the only non-Jedi there) and found that topics were sorted alphabetically. Luke wanted to do research on this Father character, so he went find information about him while Ezra went to find holobooks about time travel.

He had to walk so far just to research time travel. Why couldn't the holobooks have been conveniently placed nearby? Or dropped by someone? He shook his head to get rid of his thoughts. He knew Kanan would've scolded him for thinking such things. Nothing came easy. He had to put the work in.

He scoured the shelves and found a couple of holobooks about time travel. He grinned before rushing out of the aisle to go find Luke, but he suddenly bumped into someone, making them both drop their holobooks.

"Kriff! Sorry!" Ezra said as he stopped to pick up the books. "That was my bad!"

"No, it's fine. I wasn't looking where I was going," a familiar voice said.

Ezra froze as he stood. The person before was younger, but he would recognize him anywhere: Kanan Jarrus. But he was still different. There was a childlike innocence in his teal-blue eyes and a Padawan braid resting on his shoulders.

"Uh, I'm Ezra. Ezra Jarrus," Ezra said after he got out of the initial shock of seeing his former Master and stuck his hand out.

"Caleb Dume," he replied as he shook his hand. He looked down at the holobooks Ezra had. "Time travel huh?"

Ezra chuckled nervously as Caleb handed him his books. "Uh, yeah! It's this theory I have. My friends think I'm crazy, so I thought I'd search the Jedi Archives for proof."

"Nice!"

There was a difference in his smile, unburdened by years of pain.

Ezra handed Caleb his books and noticed the title of the top one: Advanced Force Techniques.

"Cool topic."

"Thanks! I thought I'd do some Force training before I go back to help with the war."

Ezra blinked in surprise. "You're a soldier?"

Kanan hardly ever talked about his previous life - it was a touchy subject so Ezra never pushed it. He didn't know much about the Clone Wars due to growing up on the streets. He knew the Jedi were active in it, but he didn't realize Padawans were too.

"Yeah, I'm Depa Billaba's Padawan so I go on missions with her battalion."

"Is she a good teacher?"

Caleb visibly brightened. "She's the best! She's already taught me a lot of cool lightsaber moves and Force techniques, and some other lessons that's really helped me out!"

He was so different from the Kanan Ezra knew. He was so young and spirited, so bright and full of life. The Purge really broke him.

"Caleb!" A distant voice called.

"Oh, that's her! I've gotta go!" Caleb turned to leave. "It was nice to meet you, Ezra Jarrus!" He called back as he waved.

Ezra waved back as he watched the younger version of his Master run off and wondered if this was how Luke felt when he saw his younger father.

Han browsed the shipyard. When he had looked in his bag for credits, he was surprised to find enough to actually buy a ship and then some - the Father really seemed to have provided them with everything they needed. But this shipyard wasn't looking too good. He couldn't find the perfect ship for their mission. Sure, maybe he was being a little biased and judging them in comparison to the Falcon, but she was the perfect ship. No other could compare to her.

"Anything I can help you with, sir?" A droid asked him.

"Hmmm, do you have any Corellian ships by any chance?" He asked. Might as well get the closest thing to the Falcon he could get.

"Right this way, sir."

Han followed the droid through the rickety old junk shipyard. Okay, so maybe he wasn't getting a brand new ship. Obviously, that would draw too much attention to themselves, so they needed something discreet. 

His eyes scanned the ships, dissecting every bit of them to determine what ship would best their mission. Then, he stopped in his tracks. He grinned.

"No way!"

"Good morning, Master Jocosta," Obi-Wan greeted when he and Anakin entered the Jedi Archives. "We require your assistance for a top secret assignment."

Jocosta gave him a inquisitive look. "What is it that you require?"

Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin before quickly and quietly explaining their situation. The archivist looked equally as shocked about the high midichlorian count a mysterious boy had, then again when he revealed the blood test results for a boy that would've been born when Anakin was six.

"Is there anything you can think of that would fit this situation?" Anakin asked once Obi-Wan was finished.

"Hm... well, the situation doesn't make any sense," she replied. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" Obi-Wan inquired.

"Have you ever considered time travel as an option?"

Chapter Text

Luke had let the Force guide him to find what he needed and grabbed the holos that called out to him before finding a table to sit down at. He opened the first holobook and recognized it as a mission report because he had to write many of those during the Rebellion. Then, he realized he hadn't even read the titles. He closed the book and looked at the spine.

MORTIS: Skywalker, Anakin

Mortis... why did that sound familiar? He opened the holobook again to read the report.

Mission Reference: 3015 S3  J19    MO1
Date: Third 03 25004
Name and Rank: Anakin Skywalker
                              Knight

MISSION REPORT

The original mission was to rendezvous with Clone Captain Rex. However, our ship was pulled into a place that was described as to be in between time - a place not subject to the natural laws of our galaxy.

I, along with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, met three powerful beings of the Force: The Father, the Daughter, and the Son.

"Find anything interesting!?"

Luke jumped as Ezra sat down across from him. "Yeah, I think I did," he replied as he closed the holobook. "What'd you find?"

"Time travel, baby!" Ezra quietly exclaimed as he pushed one of the holobooks towards him.

Luke picked it up with a grin. "Alright! Let's get to reading!"

Time travel seemed like a crazy theory at first, but as they went over everything they had found out about Luke, it started making more and more sense, though, some things still didn't make any sense. Like why the blood test said Anakin and Padmé were his parents when his last name was Starkiller, unless he changed it to keep hidden. Plus, when they had spoken with Ms. Applegate, it had sounded like he'd been there his entire life.

Anakin was overjoyed by the possibility to eventually have children with Padmé like he had dreamed of, but deep down, he feared of what could cause his son to travel back in time. But he couldn't jump to conclusions just yet since they still didn't get a clear confirmation that Luke was his son - and by clear confirmation, he meant hearing it straight from the boy himself, otherwise, the computer terminals all need maintenance.

"Hm, it seems someone else is looking into time travel today," Obi-Wan said as he and Anakin stared at the empty spots on the shelves.

Anakin blinked. No. There was no way. It was too much of a coincidence. Unless...

"You don't think... I-I mean it isn't possible that Luke is here right now... is it?" He asked.

"Well, I don't think it's a coincidence the holobooks on time travel are gone on Benduday. School is out today and tomorrow."

"So, Luke could be here, in the archives, right now!?"

"Now, Anakin, don't go searching for him just to interrogate him. We can't make a move until we talk to the Council."

"No... but we can just look for him and watch him. Maybe he'll slip up and give us a clue."

Obi-Wan sighed. "Alright. If he has holobooks, then he must be reading at one of the tables since only Jedi are allowed to check out books."

It didn't take them long to find Luke - not only was his Force presence like a sun, but he literally looked like a sun. He was sitting a a table near a shelf of holobooks and across from him was a dark haired boy - the two were literal human iterations of a sun and moon. Anakin and Obi-Wan hid behind the shelf, peaking out to watch the two.

"Well, it seems no one's actually time traveled," Luke said with a frown. He closed the holobook and held it up as he rested his elbow on the table. "There's plenty of theories, but no actual time travel. I think we've involuntarily made history."

Involuntarily... so they're not there of their own free will.

The other boy didn't reply as he continued reading his holobook with a troubled look on his face.

"Ezra, what's wrong?" Luke asked.

Ezra looked up. "I... ran into Kanan."

Luke looked shocked. "Your master?"

"Yeah. He was young, maybe thirteen or fourteen, and he was so... innocent and full of life. He was completely different from the Kanan I knew. I don't think I ever realized just how much the Purge effected him."

Purge? What Purge?

"Well, that's why we were sent back here," Luke replied. "To stop all that pain and suffering from happening."

Pain? Suffering? Anakin clenched his fist. If the future was filled with pain and suffering, then why was it on the shoulders of two kids to fix it? Why weren't the Jedi doing anything?

Luke looked towards the entrance of the archives. "We should pack up soon since we need to meet the others at the Final Frontier for lunch."

Ezra looked confused as he looked at the entrance then back at Luke. "Wait, you can tell time just by looking at the sky!?"

Luke smiled sheepishly. "It's more the position of the sun."

"You have to teach me that sometime!"

"It's not hard to learn," Luke said as he started stacking holobooks.

"Find anything about the Father?" Ezra asked.

Luke nodded as he and Ezra stood. "I haven't got a chance to read them, so we'll have to come back after lunch."

"Can we come back another time? It's not fair that Han and the girls get to do the fun stuff while we're stuck studying."

Luke picked up his stack of books. "Well, we're the only trained Jedi in the group, so this kinda falls to us."

"What about Mara?"

"Alright, let me rephrase that. We're the only trained Jedi that was trained by Jedi."

The two boys continued talking as they walked off to put away their holobooks. Anakin turned to Obi-Wan.

"We must talk with the Council immediately," Obi-Wan said.

Luke paused before placing the last holobook back on the shelf. It was the Mortis mission report. He was really curious about it and didn't want to risk returning to the Archives too much. Maybe he could... borrow it for a while and just return it later. It wasn't technically stealing of he was planning on returning it.

He slipped the holobook in his bag and turned as Ezra approached him. "Ready?"

"Yep!" Luke replied with a grin.

Mara had never had so much fun in her life. She was convinced that shopping and gossiping was for naive girls, but she actually found it enjoyable, or maybe she just enjoyed Leia's company. Leia treated her like a sister despite the fact that she had originally infiltrated the Rebellion and tried to kill Leia's brother. In fact, she knew Leia oftenly defended her whenever her name was brought up in Senate meetings.

Leia had taken her to different stores to try on clothes and even had the bright idea of getting matching outfits to shop in - Mara thought it was silly at first, but she ended up enjoying it. Leia wore a white dress that came down to her knees, a jean jacket, and grey comfy shoes to walk in. Mara wore a green dress in the same style, a leather jacket, and black comfy shoes. Next, they got their hair and make up done; Leia's hair was left down with a braided crown on her head while Mara's red-gold hair was curled. For the first time ever in her life, she felt like a normal girl.

After all that, it was lunch time, so they went to the food court to meet the boys. Han was already waiting for them.

He visibly brightened when he saw Leia and grinned. "You look beautiful, babe," he said before leaning down to give her a kiss. Then he noticed Mara and looked shocked. "Mara!? Wow! You actually look like a girl!"

Mara rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the observation, Solo."

As usual, her attitude didn't faze the smuggler. Instead, he grinned teasingly. "Luke's gonna stop functioning once he sees this."

"Don't start teasing Luke, Han," Leia scolded. Then, she smiled. "Only I can do that."

"Do what?" A voice asked.

They turned to see Luke and Ezra approaching. Luke stopped short once he saw Mara and gawked at her - Ezra stopped as well, but he looked more shocked.

"Wow! I don't think I've seen you this dressed up since... well, ever," Ezra said.

Luke, however, seemed to have forgotten how to function, and his attention on her made her face heat up.

"Come on, Luke, where's those farmboy charms that were so useful during the Rebellion?" Leia teased.

"I... I, um..." Luke stuttered.

Han looked at Mara with a smirk. "I think you broke him, Jade."

"You guys are making a big deal over nothing," Mara said as she tried to ignore how hard she was blushing. "It's just a new outfit with some makeup and a different hairstyle. Now, can we eat lunch and get back to business?"

"Okay, fine. Let's go find a table," Leia said.

Her, Han, and Ezra walked away. But Mara hadn't moved, and neither had Luke as he continued to stare at her with that look that made her heart flutter. She tried to push the feeling down. Right now was not the time to be pursuing a girlish crush.

"Luke, we need to-"

"You look so beautiful," he blurted out softly.

She'd been called beautiful by many people, but coming from him... it stirred something inside her.

They were just inches from each other. She could easily step forward and kiss him, but they were in public, and she especially didn't want to do it in front of their friends.

"We should go with the others so we can eat."

She turned and walked away as her heart pounded. It was then, at that moment in a food court at a mall, when she realized she loved Luke Skywalker.

Chapter Text

Normally, Anakin isn't nervous when he has to attend a Council meeting, but now there's a kid whose blood tests say he's the father and they've gotten confirmation that the kid time traveled. He was worried they'd kick him out after the evidence was presented, but Obi-Wan reassured him that the Jedi can't afford to lose resources. He didn't like being referred to as a resource, and by the wince Obi-Wan did after he said, he knew he didn't like it either.

"Master Kenobi, the results, do you have?" Yoda asked to start the meeting.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Forty-thousand midichlorians. And that's not all."

Anakin grimaced. "We did a blood test, twice, and both times the results say that... I'm his father."

"But how can that be?" Shaak Ti asked. "You would have been a child when the boy was born."

"We thought that as well, so we consulted Master Jocosta, and she recommended we look into time travel," Obi-Wan said. "But it turned out Luke and a friend of his were already looking into time travel, so we eavesdropped on their conversation. It sounded like they had time traveled, but not of their own free will."

All eyes were now on Anakin. He felt tense under the scrutinized gazes of some members of the Council and felt like he needed to get the attention off himself. "They also mentioned something about a Purge, and that there was pain and suffering in the future so they're here to stop that from happening."

That did the job. The Council exchanged glances as they processed Anakin's words.

"Find out more about this, we must," Yoda said, breaking the short silence. "Question the boy, and his friend, we shall."

"The boy's friend, did you get a name?" Windu asked.

"Ezra."

"He was the boy Luke was with at the diner," Obi-Wan said. "He was one of the friends Nurse Willow mentioned that have yet to be tested, another is a girl named Mara. I imagine they all live in the same orphanage."

"Return to the orphanage, you and Skywalker will. Test his friends of their count, and their parentage. Inform us. Then, we will decide how to move forward."

Luke and Ezra simultaneously choked on the burgers they were wolfing down. Leia rolled her eyes - she swore they shared one braincell.

"Choking on your ambitions again?" Mara teased with a slight smirk.

Luke grinned. "You underestimate my power to scarf down a burger."

"There's a secret special technique that we use," Ezra added with his own grin.

"Why don't you just eat normally? The food's not going anywhere," Han said.

The two boys glared at him.

"Easy for you to say, Han," Ezra said. "You don't have to go through puberty again."

"Yeah, do you know how it feels to be a constant empty void no matter how much you eat?" Luke asked.

Han raised his hands as a symbol of backing off the two boys who had just ganged up on him. "Okay, okay, sorry."

"So, did you two find anything at the Archives?" Mara asked as she returned to her salad.

"Only that we're the only ones to ever time travel," Luke replied. "No one's actually time traveled. The holobooks were just filled with theories."

"So the Archives were a dead end then?" Leia asked.

"Not entirely. I found some books that could give us some insight on who the Father is. What about our ship?"

Han grinned wide and almost seemed giddy. "You won't believe what I found."

"A ship better than the Falcon?" Ezra guessed before chomping on his burger.

"Nope! I found the Falcon herself!"

"You've gotta be kidding me," Mara said.

"What are the chances of that happening?" Luke asked.

"I guess the Father thinks she's a good ship as well to have led me to her."

"Or you just got lucky."

"There's no such thing as luck."

"Touché."

"Great! So we have the Falcon back, Luke and Ezra has found information that can help us, and I have outfits to wear at the Senate," Leia said. "Sounds like everyone had a productive day."

After lunch, Mara and Leia returned to the orphanage without the boys - Han wanted to go tend to his precious ship while Luke and Ezra said they were going back to the Archives. They were greeted by chaos when they entered. Children were running around everywhere while Ms. Hardwood yelled at them, filling the orphanage with energetic noises from the kids and angry shouts from the co-director.

Mara barely dodged a few children that came barreling towards her. She didn't know how the children at Luke's Academy were so well behaved when everyone else seemed to struggle.

Ms. Applegate entered and clapped her hands to get the rowdy kids's attention. "Children, Ms. Fairly has set up an activity for you in the art room! If you go there you might get a treat!"

The children buzzed with excitement as they ran towards the art room and Ms. Applegate turned her attention towards the girls. "I see you had a splendid shopping trip."

"Yes, ma'am," Leia replied with a kind smile.

The woman looked at Mara. "Mara, Ms. Victoria would like to see you in her office."

Mara and Leia looked at each other. Ms. Victoria was the resident nurse at the orphanage, and the last time one of them was sent to the nurse's office was because of the Jedi.

Seeming to sense her hesitation, Ms. Applegate said, "It's just a mandatory checkup, sweetheart. Nothing to worry about."

Mara nodded and handed Leia her bags before heading to the nurse's office. Her breath hitched as soon as she entered.

Kriff!

Luke and Ezra said they were going back to the Archives, but they weren't. They didn't know what they were going to do instead, but they knew they weren't going back to the Archives.

"Do you think we're allowed to change something else?" Ezra asked as he and Luke strolled around the mall. "I mean, not just change what happened to the Jedi, but also to someone else."

Luke tilted his head. "I don't see why not. Why were you asking?"

"I did some research a couple nights ago and saw that Mandalore hasn't fallen yet - Duchess Satine is still alive. So, what if we like... tell someone what'll happen to Mandalore?"

"Hm, Korkie mentioned Obi-Wan and Satine had romantic history."

"Really?"

Luke nodded. "Maybe if we tell Obi-Wan. But how?"

"We could get a vocoder and send it to him?"

Luke grinned. "Yes! Let's do that!"

Chapter Text

"Mara Jade?"

"Yeah, that's me."

Just like Luke, it was clear she had training. Her shields were locked tight, but her presence in the Force was still bright - not as bright as a sun like Luke's, but still bright enough for her to be considered a powerful Force-sensitive.

"I assume you know who we are," Obi-Wan said.

Mara nodded. "Luke told me about you."

Her eyes scanned the room, seemingly taking in the situation as she noticed the testing machine. She sighed and rolled up her sleeve as she sat down in front of Obi-Wan.

"Let's get this over with."

Obi-Wan went through the same steps he had with Luke, and as he did, he noticed she shared similarities with Satine. Her nose was the same, the shape of her eyes, that look she had given him and Anakin when she entered.

"Your file says you're from Mandalore," Anakin said as he looked at the datafile Ms. Applegate had provided for them.

Mara seemed surprised about that as she pulled down her sleeve. "I don't know if that's true. I don't know anything about my parents."

Obi-Wan sensed truth in her words. So she wasn't lying to cover up their time travel, she actually didn't know who her parents were.

"So you don't know how you made it to Coruscant?"

"No. Just that I'm here."

"Your file says you were found by a Jedi and brought here."

"Well, then that's what happened!"

The girl was starting to get hostile. She had a temper on her, a temper that reminded Obi-Wan of Satine.

"Are we done here or are you going to continue interrogating me on my personal life?"

"You can go," Obi-Wan said.

Mara stood and stormed out of the room with a sort of grace that was also like Satine's.

"Well, that was a pleasant conversation," Anakin said sarcastically once she was out of the room. "But she seemed to have training too."

"Let me see her file," Obi-Wan said. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his head ever since the girl had entered the room.

Anakin handed the file over.

DETAILS OF ORPHAN

First Name: Mara
Middle Name: ?
Surname: Jade

Sex: Female
Age: 15

Date of Birth: ?
Place of Birth: ?

Siblings: ?

Homeworld: Mandalore

Origin: Found alone by a Jedi at two-years-old

Behavioral Notes:
Questions authority
Talks down to peers and adults
Violent at times

Headmistress Notes:
She mainly keeps to herself if she's not with her friends, but having her help with the younger children has brought her out of her shell and made her more nurturing. I think she'd be a great mother one day.

DETAILS OF PARENTS/GUARDIAN

Father's Name: ?
Date of Death: ?
Cause of Death: ?

Mother's Name: ?
Date of Death: ?
Cause of Death: ?

MEDICAL INFORMATION

Height: 4'8 ft.
Weight: 90 lbs.

Ethnicity:  50% Mandalorian 
                  50% Stewjonian

Diseases: None

Bloodtype: AB+

Midichlorian Count: 17,600

Her count was higher than an average Jedi's, but what really stood out to him was her ethnicity. Obi-Wan's home planet was Stewjon, and the similarities to Satine was just too obvious to ignore. A small part of him wondered if he and Satine would be together in the future, if he had left the Order to be with her.

The device dinged.

17,600

Luke was used to shady buildings due to growing up on Tatooine - if there was a building that didn't look shady on that planet, then it was actually shady. Ezra was not as used to shady buildings since Lothal was way more respectable than Tatooine. He stayed close behind Luke as they walked the lower levels of Coruscant, now regretting his idea to tell Master Kenobi about Mandalore.

They (Luke) found a sketchy looking pawn shop that Ezra was sure was not up to code. He decided to ignore his discomfort. He was a kriffing war hero for Force's sake! Not only that, but he was with the war hero! He was totally fine. Nothing could possibly happen.

The two boys entered the pawn shop and discovered that the Twi'lek owner looked just as sketchy as his shop, and the contents even sketchier. 

"Hey, we're looking for a vocoder," Luke said with a grin that completely contrasted the darkness of the place. "Preferably something cheap."

The orange Twi'lek looked up from his work on a device that Ezra was sure was a bomb. He didn't look too excited about his customers being a couple of teenage boys, but customers were customers, so he motioned for the two boys to follow him as he walked to a bin near a set of shelves. He dug through it and produced a small device with four buttons on it.

"This what you're looking for?" The Twi'lek asked with a ruff voice.

"Yep! How much?" Luke asked as he started digging through his bag.

"Thirty credits."

Luke gave him an incredulous look. "Thirty!? For that piece of junk!? It's worth fifteen credits at the most - the least would be five!"

The Twi'lek grinned mischievously. "Thirty, take it or leave it."

Obviously the Twi'lek was doing something Ezra learned not to do a long time ago: underestimate Luke Skywalker. The Jedi Grandmaster was full of surprises.

"How about I give you fifteen and I don't alert the Coruscant authorities about that?" Luke pointed with his thumb at the device sitting on the counter behind him. "I'm sure they'd love to hear about the bombs you're selling. They might even get the Jedi involved."

That seemed to frighten the dirtbag. "Fine. Fifteen credits."

Luke smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you."

He payed for the vocoder and exited the pawn shop, Ezra quickly following.

"I'm so glad we're on the same side," Ezra said.

"Me too. Now let's get back up top so we can record and send the message."

Mara couldn't believe that Ms. Applegate would just lie to her like that; she seemed like such a sweet woman - or perhaps it was Ms. Victoria who lied to Ms. Applegate. Either way, there should've been laws against that type of lying to minors.

Her shopping bags were already in her room, so she decided to distract herself by putting her new clothes away. Unfortunately, she was still seething so it was more like she was aggressively folding her clothes.

"Jeez, what'd those jeans do to you?" Leia asked when she walked in at the same time Mara threw the crudely folded pair of jeans to the floor.

"Nothing. I'm just a bit aggravated right now."

"Aggravated is putting it lightly." Leia picked up the pair of jeans and folded them neatly. "What happened?"

"I got ambushed by Kenobi and Skywalker Senior."

"Yikes."

"Yeah." Mara picked up a pair of shorts to fold them as she was calming down now that she had someone to talk to. "If they're looking into me, then that means they're trying to find out more about Luke. I don't think he's safe here anymore. If the Jedi continue looking into him, then it's only a matter of time before Palpatine starts to get curious."

Leia sighed. "I agree. I've always been concerned for his safety. Even now that he has a home on Yavin Four, I still worry. There's been a few attempts on his life already."

Mara blinked and looked at her in shock. "Really? I never heard anything about them."

"Luke wanted to keep them quiet. He didn't want people to start being afraid or cause problems. Said that it's between him and those foolish enough to try anything."

Mara huffed. "Those farmboy morals are going to get him killed one of these days."

Leia smiled. "Those farmboy morals won us the war."

She had to admit that Leia was right once again. If it wasn't for Luke's aggravating ability to see the good in everyone, the galaxy in their time would still be under Sith rule.

"I was thinking that Luke should find somewhere else to stay," Mara said to change the subject. "Maybe a hotel or something."

"He'd need money; more than what we were given."

"Tomorrow is Primeday correct? We're still out for the weekend."

Leia nodded.

"Then tomorrow I'll take him to the Coruscant bank and create a fake account. I can find a terminal in the lower levels to hack into the bank system and transfer small amounts to money into the account. Are there any Senators in this time you're not particularly fond of?"

She laughed. "How much time do you have? I don't think Luke should be alone, though. You should go with him."

Mara looked at her in shock. "Me? Why?"

"Other than the fact you didn't apply to any programs? I trust you with him, and he trusts you; and I know you'll keep him from doing something stupid."

She had to admit that the thought of spending alone time with Luke sounded good. In fact, it made her feel all gooey inside as she thought about all the possibilities that could happen.

Leia smirked as if she could read Mara's mind. "Plus, it'll give you two a chance to kindle that relationship."

Her face went red. "Leia!"

"What? I'm serious! I'm tired of you two dancing around each other! Sometimes I just wish you two would get it over already and kiss!"

Her face went redder as she remembered that night on Wayland.

"Wait... have you already kissed him?"

Mara wasn't sure what expression she made, but whatever it was made Leia's jaw drop.

"You've done more than kiss him haven't you!?"

"It was on Wayland! It didn't mean anything!"

"Didn't mean anything? Mara, Luke may be a pilot, but he doesn't have sex with just any girl that comes his way. Yeah, he got around during the Rebellion, but that was only with girls he trusted."

Mara didn't say anything as she focused on the shirt she was folding.

"He is a good kisser though, isn't he?"

She nodded, then realized what Leia had said and looked up to gawk at her.

"What!?"

Leia blushed. "We kissed a few times before we found out we're twins, some makeout sessions, a couple of close calls to them leading to something more. We were horrified after finding out - so horrified Han had to set us straight. And that's not even the worse part. I was in a love triangle with my own brother and confused about my feelings between him and Han."

"Okay... I guess there's more to the story as to why only a few people know you're twins."

"Oh yeah. It was Luke's idea and I agreed with it so corrupt Senators wouldn't hang accidental incest over our heads. Force forbid if that ever got out."

"I thought Luke had no experience with politics at that time."

Leia frowned. "He didn't - his reasoning for keeping our blood relation a secret was different than mine. He has this fear of someone finding out Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, so in order to protect me from backlash, he decided he would take it all on his own."

"That sounds like him..."

"Yeah. He's always thought of others before himself. Drives me crazy sometimes."

Mara realized they had finished folding all of her clothes. She remembered there being a suitcase in her closet when she had searched her room the first night they arrived here. Maybe she should go with Luke.

"I think I'll go with Luke. Make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

Leia smiled. "Thank you, Mara."

Chapter Text

Once Luke and Ezra made it to the topside of Coruscant, they found an alleyway to record their message. They decided Ezra should be the one to record it since Obi-Wan hadn't yet heard his voice yet, then they proceeded to have an argument about what they should say.

"We don't have time for this!" Luke exclaimed after finally giving up his argument with Ezra. "Give that to me, I'll do it!" He took the vocoder from Ezra and looked at it, noticing something very important. "Ezra..."

"Yeah...?"

"This has been recording the whole time."

"...oops..."

"You know what? I'm sure it'll be fine, as long as he gets the message, right?"

"Yeah!"

Luke stopped the recording. "Now to send it."

The two boys stood there in silence as realization dawned on them.

"Um, you wouldn't happen to have Obi-Wan's personal comm code, do you?" Ezra asked.

Luke shook his head. "No... do you?"

"No..."

"I don't think we thought this through."

Ezra grimaced. "Do we have to tell the girls about this?"

Luke winced as he thought about whatever wrath Leia and Mara would unleash upon him if they found out about this little mistake. "Definitely not." He hand the vocoder to Ezra. "We'll figure this out later. Let's get back to the orphanage."

Ms. Applegate was waiting for them when the boys returned - she said she was doing her rounds, but it really seemed like she had been waiting for them.

"Ms. Victoria would like to see you in her office," she said to Ezra.

"What for?"

"It's time for your regular mandatory checkup."

"Oh, okay!"

Luke went back to his room as Ezra walked to the nurse's office. The last time one of them was called to the office, Luke got his midichlorian count tested, but, hey, what were the chances of the Jedi being here. He entered the room.

Aw, Kriff.

"Ezra Jarrus?" Obi-Wan asked.

Ezra grinned. "Yep! That's me!"

He closed the door and saw the big machine sitting next to Obi-Wan that looked a lot like the machine Luke described. The Jedi were investigating Luke, which meant his friends as well, so it did make sense that they would get around to doing tests on the others. Ezra just hoped they would only do him and maybe Mara so they could still have Leia and Han as an element of surprise.

"So, I'm guessing it's my turn to get my midi-whats-its tested," Ezra said as he sat down across from Obi-Wan.

"Midichlorians," Anakin corrected.

Ezra pulled up his sleeve and held it out for Obi-Wan to take his blood. "Yeah, yeah."

He had only met Obi-Wan once and seen a holo recording of him many times from Kanan's holocron, but seeing him again but younger and not on a desert planet was weird. What was even weirder was seeing Anakin Skywalker. He'd seen many holos of him, but actually getting to see him in person, he realized just how much Luke looked like his father.

Ezra pulled his sleeve back down once Obi-Wan was done and waited for the questioning to commence.

"You're from Lothal?" Anakin asked as he looked down at a datafile. "That's in the Outer Rim."

"Yeah, I was brought here by a Rodian." The Force pushed the response put of him. He never would've thought to say a Rodian delivered him to an orphanage in Coruscant.

"I'm guessing you don't remember your parents either?" Obi-Wan guessed.

"Actually, I have some memories of them. They died when I was seven so a lot of my memories are a blur." Not a complete lie, but also not the full truth.

"Do you remember what they used to do?"

"Um... I think they were involved with politics? I'm not sure." Technically, they were involved with politics, but Ezra had to seem as unsure as he could.

"How'd they die?" Anakin asked.

Ezra tensed as his breath hitched. How was he supposed to answer that? His parents died helping prisoners escape from an Imperial prison - answering honestly would cause more suspicion.

"There were killed by bad people." That sounded like a good answer - vague enough to be considered truthful. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, of course," Obi-Wan said. "I apologize for the inconvenience."

Ezra smiled. "No need." 

He stood and placed his hands in his pockets, suddenly remembering the vocoder. Well, he and Luke had been wanting to deliver it to Obi-Wan, maybe this could be the place. He slipped out of his pocket and used to Force to make sure it wouldn't break when it fell to the floor as he left the office.

"Weird kid," Anakin said once Ezra left the room. He looked down at the boy's datafile again.

DETAILS OF ORPHAN

First Name: Ezra
Middle Name: ?
Surname: Jarrus

Sex: Male
Age: 16

Date of Birth: ?
Place of Birth: ?

Siblings: ?

Homeworld: Lothal

Origin: Brought to us by a Rodian

Behavioral Notes:
Steals
Gets in fights
Talks back to authority
Has been in trouble with the law
Troublemaker

Headmistress Notes:
Ezra is a sweet and energetic boy that always gets himself in trouble. A lot of the times it just seems like he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, or he was trying to help someone and ended up causing trouble, but he's definitely not a troublemaker. I imagine he'd be a great leader one day.

DETAILS OF PARENTS/GUARDIAN

Father's Name: ?
Date of Death: ?
Cause of Death: ?

Mother's Name: ?
Date of Death: ?
Cause of Death: ?

MEDICAL INFORMATION

Height: 5'5 ft.
Weight: 150 lbs.

Ethnicity:  100% Lothalite

Diseases: None

Bloodtype: A+

Midichlorian Count: 16,500

"He mentioned a Master at the Archives," Obi-Wan said. "It's clear he had training."

Ding!

Obi-Wan looked at the machine. "Sixteen thousand five hundred."

"Just like his file says."

"We need to do a blood test on Ezra and Mara before we report to the Council."

Anakin nodded and the two stood to prepare to leave when he spotted something on the floor.

"What's that?" Obi-Wan turned from the testing machine as Anakin approached the door and stopped down to pick up the device. "It looks like a vocoder. You think the kid dropped it?"

"Maybe."

"It looks like something's been recorded on it. Should we listen to it?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "Well, we've already eavesdropped on the conversation of teenagers. Might as well."

Anakin clicked the play button and the sound of static and rustling filled the air before two voices spoke.

"Uh, hi Jabba the Hutt here."

Smack!

"Ow!"

"Jabba the Hutt would not be sending a message to the Jedi! Especially not to Obi-Wan Kenobi!"

"Well, what should I call myself then!?"

"You don't need an introduction! Just tell him about Mandalore!"

"Okay, how should I say it? Like should I just ease into it or maybe drop some hints or-"

"Just tell him that Maul's alive and he's going to be taking over Mandalore and kill the Duchess by using Death Watch!"

"Seems kinda harsh. I mean, we're telling him his old girlfriend is going to be killed by his old enemy."

"Ezra!"

"What!"

"We don't have time for this! Give that to me, I'll do it!"

A beat of silence.

"Ezra..."

"Yeah...?"

"This has been recording the whole time."

"...oops..."

"You know what? I'm sure it'll be fine, as long as he gets the message, right?"

"Yeah!"

Click.

The two Jedi stood there in silence, partly in shock and partly because they were trying to figure out what the heck just happened. So Mandalore was going to fall? And Maul was going to be the one to do it? Well, at least the Jedi had a good reason to get involved with Mandalore.

"Well, now we know Mara is the brains of the operation," Obi-Wan said, breaking the long silence.

Anakin felt slightly offended at the notion that his possible son couldn't possibly be the brains of the operation.

"This recording is further proof that they've time traveled," Obi-Wan continued. "And if so, then we need to get back to the temple immediately so we can make our next move. We can't let Mandalore fall."

Anakin sensed a hidden message in his Master's words: he said they couldn't let Mandalore fall, but what he really meant was he can't let Satine die.

Chapter Text

Luke collapsed on his bed with a sigh - he was in great need of rest, which is what he had been planning to do before getting sent to the past. He closed his eyes to listen to the sounds surrounding him: children playing, speeders whizzing by, laughter from Mara's room. His eyes snapped open. Laughter from Mara's room? Never had he ever heard laughter coming from Mara's room. He sat up - this was something he had to see.

Her door was open, and in her room was Leia sitting on the bed with Mara, both of them laughing like old friends.

"Since when are you guys friends?" Luke asked.

The two girls looked at him.

"Since this morning," Leia replied. She smirked. "I was just telling Mara about some of your Rebellion adventures."

Luke narrowed his eyes. "Which ones?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, I need to make sure there's a certain one you haven't told her."

Mara arched a brow, clearly interested in what the twins were talking about.

"Why, Luke, you don't trust your own sister?" Leia asked with mock hurt.

Luke grinned mischievously. "Well, I could always tell Han exactly what he was missing at Jabba's Palace."

Leia looked horrified. "You wouldn't."

"I think we've already established that I would."

"Whatever it is you guys are trying so hard to keep secret can't be as bad as the romance between you two before you found out you're twins," Mara said with a smirk.

Luke gawked as his face went red and he looked at his sister. "You told her!?"

"She would've found out eventually!" Leia defended. "We weren't exactly being discreet and word travels fast in the Rebellion!"

"Betrayed by my own sister!"

Leia rolled her eyes. "You're being dramatic."

"I am not!"

"Okay, keep the sibling squabble out of my room," Mara said.

"She started it!"

"Did not!"

"What did I just say!?"

The twins kept their mouths shut at the glare Mara was giving both of them.

"I'm going to my room to take a much needed nap," Luke announced before he turned and went back to his bedroom.

He had settled into bed when he heard Leia say, "Have I told you about the Zygerrian Queen incident?"

Luke shot out of bed. "No!"

Anakin and Obi-Wan returned to the temple to once again do blood tests - this time, Anakin was the one to get a cup of caf while they waited for the results. They had made sure the terminals was maintenanced before they arrived so they could be sure there wouldn't be any glitches.

The two sat in silence as the terminal tested Ezra's blood. 

Ding!

Paternal Match: Ephraim Bridger

Maternal Match: Mira Bridger

"Senator Bridger?" Obi-Wan said. "He and his wife are newlywed."

"I guess they have a son then," Anakin said. "Or will have a son; a Force-sensitive son."

Obi-Wan removed Ezra's vial and replaced it with Mara's. He started the test and sat back to wait.

"You've been silent ever since the orphanage," Anakin said. Obi-Wan glanced at him. "That recording said Maul will kill Satine."

"Well... I suppose the whole point of the recording is to make sure that doesn't happen," Obi-Wan replied.

Anakin frowned. Obi-Wan was never one to express his thoughts out loud, but most of the time, Anakin has been able to sense the hidden meaning under his words. "You're worried the Council won't do anything about it."

"No, it's that I'm worried, it's just..." Obi-Wan sighed and looked at his former Padawan. "I am worried, but not that the Council won't do anything. I'm worried about Satine - I haven't spoken to her in nine months. We stayed in contact after our business on Mandalore, but suddenly she stopped communications. When I heard that recording, all I wanted to do was take a ship and go to Mandalore."

"Why didn't you?"

"I'd like to get permission from the Council before making reckless decisions."

Anakin arched a brow. "And if you don't get permission?"

Obi-Wan was silent as he turned in his seat to face the terminal. "Then I guess I'll be taking a page out of your book."

Anakin smirked and took a drink of his caf as the terminal dinged. This time, it was Anakin's turn to choke on his drink as Obi-Wan rushed to the trash can to vomit.

Paternal Match: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Maternal Match: Satine Kryze

Chapter Text

"Luke, wake up!"

Luke groaned as someone shook him from his slumber. He opened his eyes to see Leia.

"What?" He whined. "It's still the weekend; we don't have school."

"I got accepted into SYI! And I got Padmé Amidala as my mentor!"

"That's nice," Luke said as he waved her off and turned to go back to sleep.

Suddenly, his pillow was yanked out from under his head before it was brought down onto his face.

"What the hell!?" 

The second time he was woken up by Leia hitting him with a pillow - two days in a row.

"Did you not hear what I said!?" Leia said as she tossed the pillow onto his lap.

"I did! Now let me sleep!" Luke replied as he put the pillow back in its place and laid down as he turned to face the wall.

He heard Leia huff and leave his room. He smiled as he snuggled in to go back to sleep - his peace lasted a good two minutes.

He was suddenly yanked off his bed and fell to the floor. He glared up at the person, expecting to start yelling at his sister, but his expression dropped when he saw Mara. His face heated up - all he was wearing was his boxers. Sure, maybe they'd been intimate on Wayland, but it was dark, and they were adults.

Luke immediately stood and grabbed the nearest pair of pants on the floor and started pulling them on. "Mara! Um, what'd you wake me up for?"

Mara kept her eyes cast to the floor, and he could've sworn he saw red on her cheeks before she turned around. "We need to go to the bank. I'll explain everything when we get there."

She quickly left the room and Luke wished the ground would just open up and swallow him. When they were reverted back to their teenage selves, he didn't expect the awkward situations to come with it.

He finished getting ready - by just throwing on a shirt and grabbing his yellow jacket and bag - and met Mara downstairs. He grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl sitting by the stairs and tossed her one as they walked out the door.

"So why are we going to the bank?" Luke asked so they could forget what happened a few minutes earlier.

"It's getting too dangerous for you to stay here, so we're going to stay in a hotel or two. Got your credits?"

Luke nodded as he chewed on the piece of apple in his mouth.

"Good. Between yours and mine, we'll have enough to open an account."

Luke and Mara finished their apples when they reached the garage and tossed the cores into a nearby trashcan before getting Luke's speederbike.

Obi-Wan got zero sleep, still trying to get over the shock of Mara's blood test. He had no idea how the Council was going to react to the news that one of their members has a child in the future - it goes against the Code.

"You look awful, Master."

"I'm not in the mood, Anakin," Obi-Wan said before downing his cup of caf - he was currently running on caffeine and low patience. "We have to report everything to the Council, that includes the results of Mara's blood test."

"Maybe we can keep their attention on the whole pain and suffering in the future and the fact that a Sith will be attacking Mandalore." Anakin held up to vocoder. "We do have to tell them everything. Lead with the test results, then follow with the recording."

He tossed vocoder to Obi-Wan.

"You mean like you did in the last meeting?" Obi-Wan asked as he caught the device.

Anakin grinned. "Exactly."

Obi-Wan looked at the temple with dread. "Let's get this over with then."

Luke had no idea how to set up a bank account. Tatooine didn't have any banks and he wasn't going to fully trust the New Republic with the funds of the Jedi Order - there were still Empire loyalist out there. The New Jedi Order was mainly funded by donations: Leia, Mon Mothma, his family from Naboo, the Queen of Naboo; the funds were taken care of by some Jedi Acolytes. Thankfully, Mara was with him.

She talked him through the process as they walked up the steps of the giant building. When they entered, they were met with rows and rows of desks - behind the desks were humans and aliens or all kinds. They were made to wait until someone could help them.

"Stop fidgeting," Mara said after they'd been sitting for a while.

"Sorry," Luke mumbled, but he didn't stop. He kept rubbing the palm of his right hand with his left thumb as his knee bounced.

He heard Mara huff before she reached over and took his hand in hers. He stilled as his face went red. He looked at her to see that she was still looking forward. He glanced down at their hands with a small smile and intertwined their fingers. Then, they were called to a desk and Mara took her hand back. He frowned, but stood and followed her.

The Tholothian woman behind the desk asked him several questions which he answered with ease thanks to Mara talking with him through the bond they both had been actively ignoring and/or not acknowledging.

He came up with a password he would remember and a name he was sure his father wouldn't recognize: Biggs Whitesun.

After everything was done, Luke held up his bank card with a grin. "Now we can go stay at a fancy hotel."

"Not so fast, Farmboy," Mara said as she snatched the card from him.

She grabbed his hand and dragged him with her to his speederbike as they spoke through their bond.

We still need to go to the lower levels so I can hack into different accounts to transfer credits to your new account.

Stealing? I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I got a list of corrupt senators from Leia.

Oh. Then by all means hack away.

Palpatine normally didn't care about the affairs of adolescent schools, but lately he noticed the Jedi - specifically Kenobi and Skywalker - had been all too focused on CSTY and an orphanage. There was something going on there, and he hated being left in the dark. So he had one of his contacts look into it.

He read the file sent to him. An orphan boy of fifteen years, blonde hair, blue eyes, very similar features to Skywalker. He was from Tatooine but had Naboo origins as well. The definition of a troublemaker.

His eyes landed on his midichlorian count and a smirk crossed his face.

40,000

Chapter Text

Hi! So the reason I hadn't been updating really any of my stories is because of two things called college and adult responsibilities. Since college is over now, I'll have more time to write, but I still have those adult responsibilities.

I've been writing stuff here and there when I could, but not enough to post anything new, and when I did a re-read of this fic...I realized I want to do a rewrite of this. I'll keep this fic up until I'm ready to post the rewrite, but there won't be any new updates. I don't think the rewrite will differ too much from this one, but I'll have to wait and see; sometimes my writing takes me somewhere else than what I planned.

I do plan to keep up with Hoist The Colours because I love that one, but expect VERY slow updates on Rise of the Jedi because my brain refuses to work with me on that one.

I have a couple of stories in my drafts, one that's a happy Skywalker family AU and another time travel story (because that's my specialty apparently). So keep a look out for those and any updates on my other stories because I'll have more time to write, but this one is currently on a hiatus for rewrites.

Hope you all have a good day/night!