Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or Star Wars/Disney

Changed the title to "The Eternal Twins," recently and I just want to distance myself from the story involving the Old Republic "Eternal Twins," that go by the same name and are featured in very popular cinematics from the Star Wars: Old Republic video games/ this story does not correlate with that one at all.

Jakku; 17 BBY

Twin suns pierced the veil of peaceful slumber, startling the young teenage Ben Tennyson from his unconscious state. He stood looking around and noticed he was in middle of nowhere, dunes of sand in all directions, he immediately noticed the intense heat and darted his head up at the sky.

"Last I checked Earth only had one sun… so I guess I'm on another planet," he covered his eyes for shade as he squinted looking for any sign of civilization, "I don't know how I got here but, this should be no sweat for Jetray, I'll just dip into hyper-space and…" he pulled his green sleeve back only to realize his watch was missing.

"The Omnitrix?!" he dropped to his knees and started shifting through the sand where he woke up, digging for a minute or two before looking back towards the blaring heat, "It's not here… and if I stay in this heat any longer I think I'll pass out."

He removed his trademarked emerald jacket and held it over his head for shade, he turned in a circle, picked a direction, and started walking. He walked and he walked for hours, the only notable thing he saw were some alien creatures flying toward him from the direction he was headed, that was a good sign of food or water in his path. He continued to walk, occasionally removing his sneakers to empty them of sand, he felt like he was on a treadmill with a moving background, going nowhere and making no progress until both suns had set, what he didn't realize was how the temperature would drop; he was lucky that the lack of light pollution from civilization gave him plenty of star-light to work with.

He quickly found shelter near a small cave, hardly the size of a truck but, enough for one person; he didn't want to think of who or what created a solid rock structure in the middle of absolutely nowhere, so he focused his attention on the sky, he couldn't find any familiar patterns or constellations. He laid the jacket over his lap for warmth and emptied his pockets; three dollars and some loose change, two paper clips, a rubber band, and his plumber badge toppled into the sand along with clumps of lint.

"Having the Omnitrix on me all the time almost had me forget I owned one of these," he grabbed it and tapped it to activate, it hummed to life and illuminated the cave bright green, "Contacting any nearby plumbers, this is Ben Tennyson sending an S.O.S, can anyone hear me?"

He received nothing but static, which was curious as there were usually plumber outposts every few hundred lightyears throughout the Galaxy, it should pick up the signal; he opened the GPS but only received an error code, "This can't be right… if the locater can't pinpoint where I am I must be outside of my own Galaxy! Only someone like Vilgax or Albedo could be behind this, but why drop me in the middle of nowhere, why not just kill me?"

He quickly realized he was talking to himself far too much, although; it was therapeutic when forced into such isolation. He couldn't start a fire as there was nothing to spark but sand for miles, he tried to stay warm and managed to do so until the sun came up only four hours later, with twice the number of suns, the length of days clearly shortened compared to Earth.

He wasn't one to panic in times like these; he'd been in situations with higher stakes and more dangerous terrain before but, he had the Omnitrix most of those times but, he knew wherever he was someone would eventually find him; it's not like he'd be stuck out here forever, there was a Sumo Slammers episode on tomorrow night that he couldn't miss. He wandered almost aimlessly for so many hours he was wondering when Ship would come blasting in from space to rescue him but, as the sun went down it never happened; he thought maybe Gwen would appear and use a spell to teleport him away and to safety but, that never happened either. He was beginning to lose hope he'd ever see anything other than sand ever again.

He continued his trek through the desert at first light, it was cool for the first hour or two but, as the suns rose so did the temperature. Becoming a scorching wasteland once again, he'd all but wrapped his head in his jacket to conserve moisture; he collapsed to his knees, crawling through the sand towards the top of the next dune, which he feared just might be his last. After another six hours of walking, he just might've dropped dead. He was shocked when he poked his head up to find a small town made of huts and shacks, the population couldn't have been more than a hundred but, it was more than he'd seen since he'd arrived.

He tumbled down the sand dune, tripping and collapsing into a heap; he stood and shook it off as quickly as possible, he noticed two warthog-like alien creatures drinking from a large pale and nearly threw up in his mouth, however; the thirst consumed him entirely and rushed him over dunking his head into the mucky water.

He immediately came up for air and vomited the contents of his stomach, but couldn't resist dunking his head one last time, "Oh, wow, I never thought I'd be so happy to be drinking pig-water…"

Most of the natives didn't seem to mind him, they went about their business only taking notice for a few seconds at a time, a mix of aliens and humanoids lived harmoniously or at least that's the way it seemed at first. He knew he wasn't anywhere near Earth as he didn't recognize even a single species out of the common shop goers of the small bazaar.

"Get moving, I won't tell you a second time!" Three men clad in white and black armor held rifle-like blasters up toward a child, seemingly an infant, "Lord Vader wants all force sensitives captured or executed, which do you prefer?"

"I just want my mommy!" the young girl shouted and clutched her toy-doll close to her chest.

Ben looked around and still not a single person took notice, aside from one hidden beneath a cloak behind Ben, she watched the young man as he grabbed a wooden broom and caught their attention by snapping the sweeper off the end.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own… size," as they turned and aimed their rifles at him, he realized they were all taller than him, equally so actually.

"Step away or we will open fire!"

Ben scoffed with a cocky grin, "Your funeral…"

"That's it, ope-" he was cut off as Ben slipped under their sight-line faster than they could react, using the broomstick to sweep them both off their feet, turning upwards to knock the blaster out of the third troopers hands. Ben reached for it but, one of the knocked over soldiers grabbed his ankle and pulled him down to the ground, the one still standing kicked him in the stomach for good measure before retrieving his rifle.

Ben slowly got to his feet again, this time between him and the child, "Sorry, but if you want the kid you go through me," they all aimed their weapons at him without hesitations as their weapons hummed to life, "Please don't go through me…"

Suddenly, the cloaked figure approached from behind, "Excuse me," she said with a soothing voice, they turned and put their weapons on her.

"This is none of your business, move along!"

She lifted her hand, her skin was a reddish-tint from what Ben could tell from his point of view, "These two have done nothing wrong," she stated it as a fact as they lowered their weapons.

"These guys have done nothing wrong…" they were suddenly convinced she was right.

"This was a waste of time; you should move on."

What appeared to be the commander scoffed and pushed his subordinate, "I told you this was a waste of time, let's move on," with that she lowered her hand and they turned away, completely forgetting the altercation altogether.

She turned around to walk away but, Ben reached out and grabbed her arm, "Hey, wait, how did you do that!" he shouted allowing her to tug her arm back.

"You were being noble, so I did the same, just forget this happened and continue your journey…" she said without turning around.

"That's just it, I have no idea where I am… the map I have isn't even from this galaxy! I need help," Ben slowly circled her until he was face to face with her, he could see under her hood now. Her entire body matched the complexion he'd seen on her skin only, her face had white tribal markings drawn across it and her head was covered by white and blue tendrils which looked a lot like hair but, more organic, either way she was stunning to him to say the least. He'd seen a lot of aliens in his time as a hero and he'd never seen one quite as attractive as her, "My name is Ben Tennyson, maybe you've heard of me?"

"I haven't," she didn't shake his hand and attempted to pass him but, he politely stepped in her way.

"Wow, I really must be far from home," he put his hands out to stop her, "I'm stranded on this planet, do you have a space ship or maybe you can point me in the direction of some alien air-port?"

She looked him up and down pulling her hood down, her piercing blue eyes practically stared through him as she scanned him, closing her eyes, she took a step closer, "You have a strong connection to the force… are you Jedi?"

Ben blinked a few times, "Connection to the what? I can barely get interstellar connection… and I have no clue what a jed-ai is…"

She folded her arms, "You must be joking, I saw you handle those clones…"

"I've been taking self-defense classes since I was twelve, and I don't like bullies," he patted his jeans down from the sand and dirt before looking up at her, green eyes meeting blue.

Ben's stomach made a loud gurgling which disrupted their conversation, "have I mentioned I haven't had anything to eat in over twenty-four hours?" he scratched the back of his head, she let out a loud sigh and walked passed him.

"Follow me, I can give you a place to sleep and a hot meal," she sauntered off towards the outskirts of the tiny village where a small ship had a layer of sand and dust across it, signifying its lack of use. Sprouting from the ship was a large tented area, several pouches for catching rain, a large carpet across the ground kept the sand from being too pesky. She'd used bricks to successfully create a firepit that wouldn't burn her rug in the center of the make-shift living area, with empty crates as seats, she pulled a second one up across the pit from her.

She sat down and grabbed an old lighter from her pouch, "Hey, at least I recognize something around here!"

She flicked the red switch and a plasma blade erupted, around the size of a butter-knife, "By the look on your face I'm thinking you're mistaken," she lowered it with a smile, igniting the fire-pit for warmth and shutting it off.

"So, not from this star system, huh?" She asked as she pulled some alien looking creatures from her pouch and begun skewering them with wooden sticks.

"I don't even think I'm from this Galaxy," he looked down at his tattered sneakers, "I have a map of where my home planet should be and none of the constellations match up," he reached for his badge but, ended up patting himself down as he no longer had it on his person, "Awe, man, I must have dropped it when I was fighting those goons! I have to go back for it…"

"Don't bother, its been almost a half hour, its definitely been scavenged by now…" she gutted one of the fish-like creatures and skewered it.

"Already?!"

"It was shiny and bright green, trust me, it's gone…"

Ben slapped his knee out of frustration, "You saw it and just let me leave it?"

She smiled, "The little girl you defended? She picked it up, with something like that she could afford three maybe even five rations, plus, if it was so important, you wouldn't have forgotten it," placing the skewered meat by the fire to cook one by one, Ben's expression softened.

He huffed and sat back down, "There goes my life line, you wouldn't happen to know about the Plumbers, would you?"

She raised her brow, "Galactic communicators are incredibly common but, I must be mistaken, are you talking about restroom maintenance?"

He sighed but, chuckled a bit as well, "No, that settles it, I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore," he looked back at his companion whom strung up the alien meat to be cooked around the fire, the flames emanated a dancing shadow across her face, "I never caught your name…" he asked.

She hesitated for only a moment, "You may call me Ashla," she turned her attention back to the meat.

"Nah," he responded, catching her a bit off guard, "Until you tell me your real name, I'll call you Ash…"

Emerald eyes met her turquoise iris across the fire, it was confidence but, well placed enough to intrigue her, "You look exhausted," she referred to his tattered clothing and exhausted expression, "I can help you review some star-charts I have of the outer rim of the Galaxy, perhaps we can find a route to get you home."

Ben gave a loud yawn before grabbing hold of one of the meat-sticks; he was lucky his grandfather had prepared him well for this moment as he was starving enough to devour it without thinking about where it came from.

"Hey, so whats a Jedi? And the… force?" he talked with his mouth full as he was so hungry and curious at the same time, prompting her to giggle in response.

"The force is a galaxy-spanning energy field… its existed since time immemorial and nobody knows how it came to be," she demonstrated her abilities by removing the stick from his hand telekinetically, without even gesturing, she dropped the cleaned wooden stick into the fire with a smile, "The Jedi became the protectors of peace and order… or at least that's how they started, I was a Jedi Knight myself before…" she cut herself off, she couldn't even speak as she choked on her own words.

"What?"

She regained her composure, "All you need to know is that there's a Galactic Empire ruled by the most sinister and cruel people in the Universe," she continued by grabbing a stick of meat for herself, "Anyone who crosses them, dies."

"Lord Vader, is he like the boss-battle?"

"His name is Darth Vader, and this conversation is over; I'll help you with your maps in the morning," she turned and headed toward her ship, it opened up for her and closed behind her leaving Ben alone in front of the fire, barely keeping him warm.

"Good talk!" he grabbed another alien meat-stick and took a chunk out of it with his teeth, "Ignoring the scales, this isn't half bad…"

Her ship had windows which she could see him from, curling up as close to the fire as possible; she narrowed her eyes, he was so innocent and strong willed, and she hadn't felt a connection as strong to the force since her late master. She turned away, she couldn't get involved, she wouldn't…

…

The next morning, Ashla's ship opened, letting a slow platform lower down; she stepped out and found Ben still by the fire only, it had gone out long ago, he was reading her texts which she kept hidden in a port below her ship.

"How did you find those?!"

Ben was startled by her voice shouting from behind, he dropped them and scattered loose papers written in alien languages across the carpet, "Sorry, sorry!" he knelt as she rushed over, picking up the scattered texts, he gathered the obviously very old papers gently as to not tear them.

She got to eye level with him and helped collect what he dropped, "I just kind of… felt it, I thought they were your 'star-charts' but, I don't see any sort of coordinates anywhere in here…"

Once they'd collected the papers all back into its ancient binder, they were realized how close their faces were and immediately backed away, only she kept her composure far better than he did.

"These are… ancient Jedi texts," she glossed her hand over the hardcover with a reminiscent smile, "The same ones I was taught by many years ago…"

He perked up a bit, "So, you are a Jedi then? You talked about it in past tense earlier… I figured maybe you retired or something?"

"I did… but I spoke in past tense because the Jedi order no longer exists," she grabbed the textbooks from his hands and went back to her ship as Ben trailed behind her.

"Something bad happened… didn't it?" He asked.

She placed the books back where he'd gotten them and pulled out a long scroll half her height slamming the panel shut and turning around, "I have the map here," she took a breath as she ignored his question and walked passed him.

Dusting off a large stone adjacent to her camp sight, she unraveled and laid out the sheet which was painted blue and noted all of the populated sectors of space through out the know Galaxy, "Here we are," she pointed down to the chart and turned to him and for the second time they realized they were far too close in proximity, Ben blushed but once again Ashla simply turned and cleared her throat, taking two paces to the side.

To clear the air Ben quickly responded, "I don't recognize any of these planets, I don't see any sign of Plumber outposts either… my badge couldn't even pinpoint a star-system," he brushed his chin trying to think.

"You used that word again, what does toilet maintenance have anything to do with-"

Ben chuckled, "My bad, I should totally have realized the confusion, where I come from we have an intergalactic police force that monitors alien activity on at least six thousand planets with sentient life; from what you say they acted kind of like your Jed-ai guys…" he looked back to the maps as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You said that device you lost was your badge?"

He turned his gaze to her, "Hm? Yea, why?"

"You were a part of a police force?" She questioned as if astounded, "But, you're so… so…"

"Handsome? I get that all the time…"

She gave a coy half-smile, "I was going to say young."

Ben chuckled again, "You can imagine I get that a lot too but, where I'm from, I'm pretty much the head hancho."

She raised her brow at his slang, "I mean I was the biggest hero of them all, I aced all of my exams even though I really didn't train too hard," he started listing things off, "I even had this device, it would allow me to change shape into different aliens… but when I arrived here it was gone," he held his wrist up and she noticed his tan line.

"So, this magical device transformed your body into different species of aliens? How does that work?"

Ben slapped the star-chat and pointed a finger to the air, "I have absolutely no clue but, I do know it's not magic, it's science."

She grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face her, "How did you say you found my texts again?"

"You mean the old books? I don't know, I woke up before the sun… suns were out and I just-"

"Felt it calling to you?"

He raised his brow and took a step back, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're reminding me of someone I once knew."

Ben sighed, "Well, I don't see any way of getting home from here, but I have to keep trying," he placed both hands on the stone staring down at the charts.

Ashla gave a small smile before grabbing a cloak from a hook and throwing it over her head; "Stay here, work on getting home, I'll go for food and be back in a few hours."

"Okay," he called out without turning around but, as she walked away he stopped, "Hey… Ash!"

She turned to him and gave her a wide grin, "Thank you."

For the first time since they'd met, she felt her cheeks flush, she turned around with the cloak to cover her face and just gave him a thumbs up, keeping her nonchalant attitude as she walked off towards the wasteland.

Two hours later, Ben was stumped as they was getting to him and he'd found absolutely no sign of any stars or planets he recognized, he sat leaned against the stone platform and wiped the sweat from his brow, "I miss air conditioning…"

He stood up and moved toward the fire pit, taking a small pouch from the side which had limited water, he was instructed to be very frugal with their amount of water as it costs a lot of money on a planet like this.

He tipped the canteen to his lips and took a small sip or two of cool, refreshing water; it was blasted out of his hands suddenly, splattering it all across the rug, on instinct, Ben backed away and leapt over the stone tablet holding the star-chart for cover from the direction of the blast.

He grabbed a rock and tossed it out into the open watching as it was blown to pieces immediately, "Okay, at least one of them and shooting on sight, wonderful. Where's the Omnitrix when you need it…"

Ben considered his options and decided on throwing several rocks in the opposite direction of the ship he was adjacent to, giving him a distraction, which would allow for a safe cover behind the ship. He initiated his plan and the rocks were fired at but as Ben jumped for cover he was still shot in the shoulder, severely injuring his arm. He crawled for cover, placing his back against the ship as he heard not just one but two or even three sets of footsteps approaching him from both sides.

"Not how I planned to die but, then again I guess if this is the way it happens, not so bad," he stared up at the twin suns above him, glimmering in a bright blue sky. Two alien men approached in strange armor aiming their weapons at him, yelling in an alien language he couldn't understand.

He closed his eyes and covered his head with his free arm, he heard screaming and the sound of a buzzing energy, humming and swinging through the air. He opened his eyes and noticed one of the men had been cut down by Ashla wielding two glowing white energy blades, like some form of laser-sword.

The alien thief screeched and fired his weapon as she effortlessly deflected each blast harmlessly into the sand, she swiftly and gracefully flipped over him with incredibly agility, landing perfectly and kicking him in the lower back, knocking him down.

He turned over to aim his gun but, before it was anywhere near her, the glowing saber was already too close to his neck for his own liking.

"Why have you come here?" she asked in a demanding tone.

He answered in his own tongue which Ash seemed to understand and utterly loath, whatever he said she did not like it but, she deactivated her weapon as they vanished into small handheld hilts which she strapped to her belt, "Get out of here," she said as she simultaneously ripped the rifle from his hands, "Go!" she demanded firing his own weapon at his feet, scaring him into running off into the desert.

"That was amazing, Ash, but I think I might... might…" Ben toppled over onto his side and coughed up a splatter of crimson.

She tossed the gun and quickly came to Ben's aid, she looked at his wound and, with her resources, would definitely be fatal; she knew there was only one option. She closed her eyes and held her hands over the wound, focusing her energy on his life force and her own, an ancient technique know only as force healing.

Soon, his shoulder was slowly healing and restoring it completely, she smiled as her eyes opened and she realized he was already staring up at her, "You are full of surprises, Ashla."

"Well, so are you apparently," she stood and held her hand out, he grabbed hold and stood himself up, stretching his newly healed shoulder, "That alien was a mercenary hired by someone in the Empire, he said something about your latent potential, ring any bells?"

Ben sighed and looked down to his empty, "Nope, there's absolutely nothing special about me now," he looked around for a moment and folded his arms, "Well, come to think of it I am technically like a quarter Anodite."

"A what?"

"My grandmother was an energy being known as an Anodite, although my cousin is the one who really had the 'spark' or whatever," he tried to explain as best he could but, he's only met his grandmother less than a year ago and this was all incredibly new to him.

She pondered, "You think maybe being part of this energy alien is why their after you?"

"You said you sensed a strong connection to that force stuff you were talking about," he turned and looked at the sand in his shoes, he reached down and grabbed them taking them off one by one to empty them, "Maybe I didn't get Anodite abilities where I come from but, maybe being part alien makes me special somehow…"

"Does this not alarm you, like, at all?" She asked watching him empty his shoes.

"Nah, I've faced way worse… one time I had to eat a dwarf star and then blew up a mountain," he remained completely serious the entire time, "There's obviously a larger story there but, you get it."

"I really don't," she grabbed shirt and pulled him up to focus his attention, "If I send you out there on your own, you'll be dead in a week… you have no way home, and I have nothing but hiding to do."

"Well, I do eventually have to find a way home but, for now I'll take any help you can offer," Ben nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"What if I told you that I could train you to use this weird gift you've been given, I could help you harness the force," she placed a hand on his with a genuine smile, "Just until you can defend yourself, of course."

He smiled, "Of course… so how do we get started?"

She turned back towards her tented hut and removed her cloak, tossing it on a large stone, "First? You get in the ship and take a shower… I can smell you from here."

He sniffed his own armpits and shrugged, "Fair," he walked toward the ship and saw it opening for him for the first time, it was small and run-down, it had one bunk with a thin mattress, if it could even be called that, a bathroom including a small shower; he felt like he was in a very small motel with a cockpit up front.

"And after I smell tolerable?"

She sighed, "Story time, if I'm going to train you there are a few things you should know," she walked out of sight and allowed the ship to close behind her, he could cut the tension in the air with a butter knife.

…

He washed nearly two days of sweat, sand, and blood off his body, but their water was limited so, it only lasted five or ten minutes; when he exited the shower with a towel draped around his waist, he found a set of dark green robes waiting for him but, it wasn't exactly his style. He used his black t-shirt and jeans and threw the robes over them to help with the temperature drop; he exited the pod and stepped out where he noticed Ashla had started the fire and was sitting beside it.

Instead of sitting across from her, he decided to sit on the same large stone as her, only a few feet apart, "So…"

"Story time…" she responded by telekinetically pulling a wooden stick from a bundle she'd collected, she gripped it and poked at the fire, "Like I said, the Jedi were once an order of peace keepers through out the galaxy but, there's more to it than that. The force is incredibly powerful and it has two halves, one of light and one of darkness," she took a breath and faced him, tossing the stick into the fire, "Those who embrace the dark side of the force are known as Sith, and very recently they staged an all out war, conducted a coordinated attack on the Galactic Republic, and took political control turning it into a Galactic Empire…"

"Wow," Ben said after nearly a minute or two of silence, "Well, what happened to all of the other Jedi's?"

She paused, staring into the fire as if recalling traumatic memories, "They were all hunted down and murdered… the attack started by using brainwashed troops to turn on their comrades but, then he appeared…" she could hear the sound of his ominous respirator, "Darth Vader."

"Dark…" Ben muttered, "I'm guessing this guy is the one who handled any survivors…"

Tears formed in her eyes but, he couldn't possibly know how to handle the situation, she pulled a small orb from her belt, it was a hologram which played a clip of a young-man, in his early twenties, wielding a blue saber much like Ashla's, deflecting blasters and fighting off an army of droids, "I was taught by one of the bravest, most powerful Jedi Knight in the order, the chosen one meant to balance the force, or so it was foretold, I guess."

"He looks amazing," Ben watched the footage and then turned back to Ashla, "I guess it didn't end well…"

She looked back up at him, "I heard rumors that he was the last one standing in the Jedi Temple when Vader cut him down with a dozen younglings…"

She was startled almost by his placing a hand on her shoulder, he didn't say anything, he just held her, something he didn't realize would be as helpful as it was, she smiled and wiped a single tear from her cheek, "The worse news is that if the Empire has already tried to assassinate you, they'll try again only harder…"

"What do we do?" he retracted his hand and looked back toward the fire, "I'm pretty sure we're sitting ducks here."

"Very true, which is why we'll be leaving Jakku first thing in the morning."

"Man, my sleep cycle is way off… I've only ever lived on one planet before so," he chuckled and looked away, "So, if this Vader guy finds us… can you beat him?"

"I don't want to find out," she responded as she stood up once again, "Besides, I'm going to take you on as my apprentice, I've gotten pretty good at hiding from the government in the last few years so, we should have plenty of time," she sauntered back to her ship and opened the platform.

"Ash, why are you helping me?"

She stopped, looking off to the twin setting suns, "I believe in the force and I believe it has put you in my path for a reason, you are special, in how many ways is yet to be seen," she gave him a slight wink and started boarding her ship, "Oh, and my real name is Ashoka… Ashoka Tano."

"Nice to finally meet you, Ashoka," he gave her a smile as she disappeared within the small ship.

"Any chance I could join yo-"

"Nope." The platform slid closed like a door slamming in his face.

"Worth a shot," he muttered.

…