AN: Surprise! An update for one of my WiPs! Or rather, in the case of this story, a completed story badly in need of editing - although one of my reviews called me liar about that, but hey ho, what do they know?

I am slowly, very, very, slowly working my way out of a bad case writer's block. This latter part of Insidious was written just as the block was hitting and although I have been editing like mad (read that as "re-writing like mad) I don't feel that my writing is back to my usual standard. I just hope it makes sense in the larger tale.

I do not have a beta reader, so I edit and read myself. If there are any grammar/spelling/continuity errors they belong solely to me!

All Previous disclaimers Apply.

The Teacher

A blast of panic thundered through the Force causing Palpatine to pause and turn away from his group of advisers who sat around the conference table. The speaker hesitated and fell silent mid-sentence at the finger the emperor raised to silence him.

All was quiet as Palpatine listened to the Force, as he reached out, cast out, into the depths.

The boy…

Loose emotions, unfettered feelings; fear, a sudden dread and, was that grief?

Really?

And for what?

For who?

He stood, moved away from the table, ignoring the uneasy shifting of his subordinates, and immersed himself deeper into the Force partly intrigued, partly disgusted by the feelings he was picking up from his pupil.

Was that concern?

For his guardians?

Sidious had to dampen down his fury, his revulsion; he had thought such emotions had been beaten from the boy, razed and burned to ashes. It seems he was…

Wait.

He smiled, almost laughed aloud, at his understanding. It would appear his young protégé was more gifted than he had given him credit, for under all of his concern, his panic, was a quiet, subdued, humour.

Luke was playing a role, carrying out a ruse and the burst of feelings through the Force was merely for another's benefit.

Kenobi was with him and the game was a foot.

The Pupil

"…and that would lead back home!"

Footsteps slapping on sand, blind panic racing through his body, Luke ran to his landspeeder.

"Wait Luke! It's too dangerous!"

Luke slid into the driver's seat and gunned the engine, immediately pushing the speeder into high speed.

How could he have been so stupid!

He hadn't needed the Jedi to point out that the Jawas had been killed by Imperial soldiers, but it was only when he recognised the Sandcrawler as being the one which had sold Owen Lars the two droids that the credits began to drop.

He'd been distracted; intrigued and amused by the Jedi's tale of his father's "death" at the hands of Darth Vader. This had been the hardest test of his training, the most challenging few hours of his life – even more so than fighting his father and recovering from his injuries – for this was a test of his abilities to conceal himself, to wrap himself in the Force and portray innocence and gullibility to this most experienced of Jedi Masters. Before he had to do it for a few minutes, now he'd had to maintain it while being told a pack of lies, while watching the recording of the Princess Leia Organa speak her treachery in the hologram the droid carried. He'd had to maintain it while Kenobi placed his father's lightsaber into his hands…

At last!

The cool metal of the cylinder had slid into his palm. He could feel the Force thrumming at that moment, as no doubt Kenobi did, too, but he hid his own reaction. Hid it behind awe, intrigued and curiosity.

"How did my father die?"

Yes, he had felt the sword. He had felt the Dark Side hum... had felt the death and destruction that had been wrought by this brightest of blades. It fit in his palm and he had welcomed its darkness even as he had waved it about like an untrained fool.

At last he had a lightsaber and he wondered what he would face from his master when next he met him. Would he be allowed to keep it, or would he have to return it to its rightful owner… his father, who still lived despite the Jedi's lies.

How ridiculous that Kenobi had twisted the truth of the past and blamed his father's death on… well, his father.

"Vader… betrayed and murdered you father…"

He'd had to maintain his facial expression, had to shield and dampen down his sudden urge to reignite the lightsaber and take the liar's head.

The air-stream over the speeder blew back his hair as he pushed the engine to full throttle, maintaining the speed even as the engine whined in protest and the speeder shuddered. He had to get to the farm before the troopers. If they searched the farm, if they searched his room, they may find the data pads and discs that his father had left him. They may find the hologram receiver… and his cover would be blown.

Owen and Beru Lars would know what they had raised within their home. The Stormtroopers would know what he was. His master would discover just what his father had given him. Palpatine would know that he had kneeled to his father, just as he had knelt to the Emperor.

Palpatine would not suffer him to have two masters.

"Come on!" He screamed in frustration at the speeder as it raced across the sands, as the desert blurred by.

There was a touch, a whisper of another on the edges of his feelings.

His master!

Luke grimaced, cursing himself for not keeping a cap on his emotions, for allowing his panic of discovery to override his common sense. He was better than this. Keeping the throttle open on the speeder, feeling the wind whipping his hair, feeling his fears still nestled within, he concentrated on his senses, concentrated on what he had so openly been projecting.

Discovery…

Aunt…

Uncle…

Home…

The Jedi.

Obi-Wan.

He had to remain hidden from the Jedi. He had to maintain his innocence for Kenobi. He had to divert attention from his true self. He had to get to his home, had to react as Luke Skywalker would react.

Family.

Home.

The carefully crafted persona of simplicity and compliance, of goodness and unworldliness, had to remain intact.

Luke felt the satisfaction of his master, felt the malicious amusement and, as Palpatine withdrew, he allowed himself to exhale in relief, allowed himself to grin with his achievement; not only had he fooled Kenobi, he had also fooled his Master.

He laughed, the sound lost to the whining engines and the wind; Palpatine was no longer his true master since he had bent the knee to his father.

The laughter died in his throat as he caught sight of the smoke on the horizon; thick, black and billowing high over the farmstead.

His home.

Was that regret?

He slowed the speeder on approach and drew himself from the vehicle and walked forward, swallowing hard, pushing down traitorous feelings that caught in his throat.

Owen.

Beru.

Was that grief?

They were both there. Both lying by the doorway of the dome. One lying across a pile of trash and rubble, the other lying partly propped up by their arms as though trying to crawl, to escape the flames that had stripped the flesh from their bones.

He would not have wished this death on them, no matter the contempt he held them in.

He took his eyes away, refusing to look at them, refusing to consider them.

They were kind to you, good to you.

They held me back. Lied.

Tried to protect you.

Kept me from my true destiny.

They were gone now.

He was free of them.

I'm sorry.

He moved passed them, refusing to see the fire ravaged bones of them, and stepped down the stairs into the dome and down into the atrium. He needed to check his room, needed to find his stash of datapads and discs. Needed to destroy them; unless the troopers had already found them, had already reported and informed Palpatine of their find.

No, that hadn't happened. He would have felt it if Palpatine had been suspicious of him; the Emperor's rage would have burned through the Force and all he had felt earlier was amusement.

His bedroom had been gutted by flames. The air within acrid and hot although the fire there had burned itself out. He crunched over the ashes and crouched down at the false floor where he had hidden his father's packages. The bag was still there, singed but intact. He opened it and was both relieved and annoyed. The soldiers had not found them, but the datapads had survived the fire intact.

Carrying them, he quickly moved through the homestead to the door of the garage and techdome where fire still raged. His fist tightened on the bag for just a moment of hesitation, reluctant to discard something his father had given him…

…you have his sword…

…and moving further into the door and, using a hand, using the Force, to shield himself from the blasting heat he tossed the bag into the conflagration. It caught immediately, burst into flames and he heard the popping as circuits and storage drives melted destroying everything.

His secrets remained hidden.

He turned his back on the flames and left the dwelling. He turned his back on his home and walked up the steps, refusing again to look at the bones of his guardians.

I should bury them.

Leave them… They mean nothing.

He turned his back on them and walked towards his waiting speeder.

Wait…

A warning… no, a request, within the Force.

Wait…

Then he heard it. The guttural lament of a large animal echoing over the sand flats; a dewback by the sound of it. Turning he spotted a several unmistakable shapes moving his way through the heat shimmer on the horizon.

Wait…

He was no longer worried about the soldiers, no longer had anything to hide or conceal, besides he could feel no caution, no threat within the Force. These men meant him no harm.

Luke sat upon the bonnet of his speeder and waited for the Imperial soldiers to arrive.

ooOOoo

The Father

The turbolift stopped and Vader stepped out into the detention centre. The guards were waiting for him with the droid he had asked for. It floated on repulsors near the opening to the long cell corridor. He had specifically placed the Princess in a cell midway along the bleak walkway. Their walk passed cell after cell, the brief hesitation as her own cell door opened allowed her time to look further down the corridor, allowed her to see the same bland doors stretch on. He had wanted her to know there was no hope, no warmth, no mercy in this desolate place.

He smiled behind the mask, the scarred tissue of his face tugging tightly, the Princess was about to find out exactly what it meant to defy the Empire. His questioning of their captive would take his mind off his son and whatever events were happening on Tatooine.

"My Lord Vader," he was welcomed by a nod of a head by the Captain on duty. "We have prepared the drugs to your specification and we are ready to assist you with the Princess's interrogation.

"Your presence is for effect only," Vader rumbled back, not stopping as he passed the control desk and two of the guards fell in behind him. "I will need no other assistance with Organa."

Then he stopped and turned around. "Alert me immediately when there is another report from Tatooine."

"Of course, My Lord."

He strode on until he reached the door of holding cell twenty-one-eight-seven. He keyed it open, stepped down as the Princess shrank back.

"And now, your highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden rebel base."

The droid floated in, the throb and whine of its gravity repulsors filling the confined area and he smiled when Leia Organa saw the syringe and fear filled her eyes.

Behind him the cell door slammed shut.

ooOOoo

The Pupil

He stood alone now, the wind still whipping at his hair and clothing. The same wind that was blowing and billowing the black smoke from the farmstead, from the fire that raged from beneath the garage's techdome as fuel burned.

The troopers had not stayed long, had not questioned him, nor searched him.

"Luke Skywalker?" the lead soldier had asked as he dismounted his dewback.

And despite himself, Luke had felt a twist of disquiet, uncertainty. He warily watched as others in the squad had walked around him and Luke had moved his hand ever closer to the lightsaber that hung by his belt. It was an unnecessary caution.

"Yes," he confirmed.

The trooper merely nodded. "I have been ordered to give you this," he handed Luke a small, palmed sized, circular holopad, "and this." He dropped an ident-chip into Luke's hand. "His Excellency the Emperor Palpatine has ordered that you be activated."

"Activated?" Luke echoed, looking at the items he held. His mind reeling, his heart racing.

At last!

"Your orders," the stormtrooper stated waving a hand to the holopad. "Destroy it."

Luke nodded his understanding; watch it, then get rid of it.

"Sir!" The trooper stepped back, saluted Luke, and turned on his heel signalling the other soldiers to follow.

Bemused by the salute Luke watched them leave; never in his life had Luke ever had that kind of respect.

And "Sir!"

Sir?

He had laughed at the droid when he had called him "sir," had said his name was "just Luke."

Just Luke. Isn't that what he had always been?

Just Luke.

Just Wormie.

Now he was someone else. Something else.

He felt it.

And so he was alone now, apart from the crackling, popping flames, apart from the charred corpses of his guardians.

Don't Look. Don't see.

No one to see or hear.

First, he held up the new ident-chip, squinted in the sun and immediately grimaced at the name.

Luke Dunestrider.

Dunestrider…

Really, they couldn't have thought of something less farmboyish?

But it was real and would be confirmed and passed if checked.

He slipped it into his belt pouch along with the one he'd had since birth; Luke Skywalker.

The name felt alien to him now, it felt distant and past. He felt that he was no longer that boy and hadn't been for some time, that his life had been a pretence since his first meeting with Palpatine.

Then he could delay it no further and, with an unexpected nervousness, Luke licked his lips and activated the holopad.

It was not the master he had expected.

It was his father.

"Son," even although the holo-figure in his hand was tiny, the deep bass of his father's voice had lost none of his strength or power. "Two Rebel owned droids have escaped with information that is vital to the security of the Empire…"

Luke burst with laughter. He couldn't help it; this was like watching the Princess Organa's message to Obi-Wan in reverse!

"…information vital to the survival of the rebellion…"

"… you are to seek out the droids and take possession of them. There is a garrison in Mos Eisley, present yourself there with the droids and they will arrange passage to Imperial Centre. Our Master awaits your arrival."

The holo vanished.

Little did his father know, little did his Master know, that he already had the droids in his possession. Luke grinned; this was going to be easy. Luke moved his thumb to the off switch; all he had to do was kill the Jedi, take the droids, and he was off this rock for good.

"Luke," another hologram of his father arose from the pad, catching Luke by surprise. "Beware Palpatine, beware the Grand Moff Tarkin. Remember all you have learned; listen to the Force, the dark side will guide you. Listen to it."

There was pause, then, "Prove your fealty to me. Bring me Obi-Wan Kenobi."

The holo died and the pad fell silent. Luke waited a moment, almost expecting his father to appear again. When nothing happened, he dropped it into the sand and crushed it with his heel.

So much for killing the Jedi.

He took in a deep breath of hot dessert air and glanced up at the sky; it was mid afternoon and there was so much to do, so much to consider and a Jedi waiting for his return. He had no idea how he was going to fulfil both demands, keep both master's happy. Favouring one above the other could mean his death, for he knew that neither one would allow him to live should he openly rebel against them and…

Listen to the Force…

Rebel against.

Rebel.

He smiled, eyes burning as the answer presented itself and he whispered to the winds, "Thank you for your advice, father."

He turned on his heels, climbed in his landspeeder and gunned the engine, leaving the farm to burn and his guardians' bones to the elements.

ooOOoo

to be continued...

PS: No, I not rewriting A New Hope. :D