Summary: The Mandalorian and his young charge find themselves on Tatooine at the dawn of the Clone Wars. In order to prevent war and save Mandalore, the Mando (Din Djarin) discovers he will need help from the most unlikely of hermits.

Dyslexia: Language disability that I have. Disclaimer: I own my own ideas separate from the world and characters of Star Wars. The Queen Does Not Need to Know is still having regular updates.

The Astute Panic of Mandalore

"Your astute panic suggests that you understand your situation."

~Moff Gideon

Chapter 1 - Panic

Din Djarin, the Mandalorian woke with the feeling of purpose and direction. Until he realized that he was no longer in hyperspace, and that nubilous feeling of direction was terribly unhelpful because he couldn't remember where he had been going, nor it seemed where he was.

He looked toward the Child, who was teething on the charm of the necklace he had somehow acquired.

The last thing Din could recall was leaving Cara and Greef behind.

He looked back out the windows and saw…

Desert.

Nothing but sand, sky, and horizon.

He couldn't for the life of him remember landing here, wherever here was.

He leaned forward to get a better look at the sky, his helmet protecting his eyes from the glare of two suns slowly setting.

Two suns.

That narrowed down the systems he could be on.

He turned his head to look to his left, and saw that he was mistaken, there was something other than desert.

A shiny vintage Nubian ship was docked near his.

He flipped on the readers on his ship, and discovered that they were back on Tatooine.

Wonderful.

He looked to the Child and asked pointlessly, "Do you know how we got here?"

The Child continued to gnaw on the charm.

Din sighed, "I didn't think so."

"It is a great pity that our paths have not crossed before, Obi-Wan," Dooku said to the suspended Jedi Master. "Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of you. I wish he were still alive. I could use his help right now."

And he meant it, even now, the death of his late Padawan haunted him.

"Qui-Gon Jinn would never join you," Obi-Wan told him.

Dooku looked up, rage replacing his grief, "Don't be so sure, my young Jedi." If he could turn this one, this young man who was the last of Qui-Gon's legacy.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was rumoured to be as wise as Master Yoda and as powerful as Mace Windu. Together, Dooku and Obi-Wan could overthrow Darth Sidious and bring true order and peace to the galaxy.

He went on, "You forget that he was once my apprentice as you were once his."

And then something most remarkable happened.

Obi-Wan Kenobi disappeared.

The shackles that had been holding him captive clattered down on the platform, the energy beams closing as they had nothing organic left to hold.

But how!?

Dooku pulled his lightsaber. Spinning on his heel, he sliced at the Force presence he found behind him, then froze at the gaze that met his own.

"Qui-Gon?" he breathed, as his old Padawan crossed his arms, fixing him with a stern gaze. "But you're dead!"

The long haired Jedi's brow twitched upward, "Good thing, or you would have just killed me, Darth Tyranus."

Dooku could only gape, finally noticing the line of shimmering blue around his apprentice, and that he wasn't wholly opaque.

Qui-Gon Jinn was a Force ghost.

"Really, Master? Tyranus. Tyranny? Is that the best you could come up with? And is that truly the legacy you want to leave behind; tyranny?" Qui-Gon shook his head before he said in a drawl Dooku had only heard him use a time or two when he was young to mock him, "How disappointing."

Mimicry was supposedly the greatest form of flattery, but at that moment Dooku had to bite his tongue to keep from scolding him.

But Qui-Gon was no longer his to scold. "Qui-Gon, why are you-"

Qui-Gon interrupted him, something he had rarely ever done in life, "To speak for myself, I agree with Obi-Wan, my apprentice, that I would not join you. At least, not like this. I might have been convinced to leave Order but not to bend the knee to a self-serving, evil, lowly creature like Palpatine."

Dooku's eyes widened, realizing an instant that a ghost could reveal them all. Mind spinning, he realized the only way to keep Qui-Gon from tattling to the Council was to convince him of his motives.

He wasn't sure if Qui-Gon could read his mind or if his old apprentice simply knew him that well, even in death, but Qui-Gon walked out of the room, Dooku following The ghost took a seat on a bench, "Come sit, my old Master, we have much to discuss."

Dooku sat across from the ghost with the same Force signature as his old apprentice, "You have to understan-"

"I understand that you were once a great man who has now succumbed to the greed for power."

"The Sith will be victorious."

Qui-Gon stroked his ghostly beard, "Perhaps, and perhaps you will lose your head. But go ahead, tell me of your plans, explain to me how you became a monster when you could have led the Jedi down a better path."

Dooku swallowed, feeling for the first time since his own Padawan years like an apprentice before a Master.

Ben Kenobi was returning from Mos Eisley on his swoop bike when he felt a great disturbance in the Force.

He felt pain. Oh, such pain and sorrow that it crushed what was left of the old man's heart.

And there was only one being on Tatooine he would have felt through his shields.

It was the middle of the night, why was Luke out so late!

Luckily, he wasn't far, and as Ben reached the Tusken camp when he felt the Force disturbance change from debilitating grief to white-hot rage.

And the Dark Side opened its maw before that once bright light like a black hole consuming the remnants of a star.

"No!" Ben shouted, leaping from his bike and sprinting, the panic in his mind seemed to relieve the pain in his old knees.

He wouldn't lose Luke, not like this, not like this.

Ben's heart stopped when he saw a figure emerge from a tent, a blue saber deftly taking out two of the Tuskens.

Ben didn't think as he went for his own lightsaber, meeting the enraged nineteen year old's blade with his own.

Luke must have stolen it from his home while he was away. Ben couldn't think why he would or how Luke would even know the lightsaber was there, much less how to use it.

"What are you doing!?" Ben yelled at the boy who he had watched over all these years on this accursed planet.

"This is your fault! They killed my mother! They deserve to die!" Luke roared back, parrying Ben's strikes with surprising skill and strength.

By this point the Tuskens had feld, it seemed even two decades after the fall of the Republic, people still knew to get away from two wizards battling with kyber charged laser beams.

Ben gritted his teeth as he pressed the attack, "Your mother has been dead for nineteen years! Your father killed her and if you don't" -slash, slash, parry, slash- "get a hold of yourself this instant, you'll end up just like him, young Skywalker!"

Confusion swept over Luke's face, his motions slipped a bit. There was a split moment of hesitation in his anger, and Ben capitalized on that moment to disarm the boy, extinguishing the sabers, he caught both hilts in his left hand and brought his opposite fist around into the side of Luke's cheek.

He dropped, looking up at Ben with hurt confusion, his blue eyes brimming with tears. It seemed in the last two years since he had seen the boy face to face he had grown to look more like his father.

"What were you thinking!?" Ben roared at him. "What could have possibly possessed you to steal this from me and go on a murder spree? Lightsabers are not toys, you could have killed yourself with this!"

Luke gaped at him, holding a hand to his now swelling cheek.

Ben pinched the bridge of his nose, "Who even taught you how to use a lightsaber?"

Now Luke looked incredulously, "Um…"

But Ben was back to being furious as his mind ran scenario after scenario over what could have come of tonight. How could he have let this happen? Even now the Dark Side was eddying around his charge.

He had failed, again.

Defeated, Ben asked, "Why are you here, Skywalker?"

The boy shook his head, his grief returning to him like breath through the Force. He pointed a thumb behind into the hut he had emerged from when Ben had first spotted him.

Hooking both hilts to his belt, he walked by the two bodies Luke had killed, and found inside the corpse of a middle aged woman.

She had been tortured, that much was clear. He didn't know who this woman was to Luke, he just knew it wasn't Beru, her hair was too dark. Ben took care to wrap her body. He would bring her and Luke back to the Lars's homestead and get to the bottom of what had gone wrong in Luke's life.

"Come on," Ben told the boy who had wrapped his arms around his knees, "I'll take you home."

"Obi-Wan?"

"Who told you my name?" Ben gasped, nearly tripping over his own feet. It had been too long since he had heard that name. Owen only ever called him Kenobi, with a great deal of disdain and aggression.

"Um..." Luke looked at him as if he had just gone mad.

"You know what, never mind, and let's just hope your Uncle Owen doesn't strangle us both."

"Mas-"

"Save it, Luke, I'm incredibly disappointed in you."

Luke gave him an odd look, before his shoulders dropped, his head bowed in shame. Wordlessly, he followed Ben to his bike. With care, Ben secured the woman's body to the far back of the seat. Luke got on behind him, his arms wrapping tightly around Ben's waist as they sped off into the night.

Ben didn't know what had happened to Luke, but he would find out. His presence in the Force, while still grief stricken, remained bright.

He hadn't fallen to the Dark Side.

There was still hope for him.

Ben had to believe that, he had to.

oOo

Arriving back at the homestead, revealed both answers and more questions.

Ben had allowed Luke to bury the woman without pressing him for answers, but by the time the suns had risen and they had gone down to Luke's home, Ben could no longer remain silent in the presence of the woman who greeted them.

"Leia?" he asked, "What are you doing here?"

The Princess, who looked just like her birth mother, stared at him blankly for a moment, "Master Kenobi? What are you doing here? I thought you were on a mission to find my assassin?"

Ben's heart lurched, "I'm sorry to say, Princess, there are no more missions for me, not anymore." Especially not to find a bounty hunter on Kimino, the lost planet that should have remained lost.

The memory of Yoda teasing him in front of the younglings about misplacing a planet stole his breath for a moment.

Leia must have seen the pain on his face because she reached out a hand, "Master Kenobi, are you alright?"

He shook his head, "You're the one who told Luke. Leia do you have any idea how much danger you've put yourself in coming here? How much danger you have put Luke in?"

Luke came to stand by her, arms crossed, the left side of his face swelling in a bruise where he had been punched.

Ben frowned, only now did he realize how dark Luke's clothes were, it made him look impossibly like his father had at this age.

Luke said in the same overconfident tone as his fallen father, "She wasn't in any danger, Master, I was with her."

Ben scowled, Master? "Don't mock me, Skywalker. What is she doing here?"

"I had to save my mother, but I was too late."

Ben shook his head. "Luke-"

"My name isn't Luke!" he exploded.

Ben put his hands on his hips, "Right, and I suppose she isn't Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan."

"No!" he yelled, "She isn't! Have you completely lost your mind!?"

Ben felt himself go pale, "You know, Bail and Breha told her, didn't they? And Leia who told you." He looked to the young girl who was the spitting image of her mother, "We separated you both to keep you safe from the Emperor."

"What Emperor? Master Kenobi, are you quite alright?" she asked.

"No, Leia, I'm not alright! Your twin brother stole your father's lightsaber from me and went out to slaughter Tuskens, almost falling to the Dark Side just like Darth Vader did!"

Leia frowned at him, "My father is a carpenter."

Ben blanched, of all the weird things to tell her... Why would Bail tell her that Anakin had been a carpenter?

"Master, Padme is not my twin. And that is my lightsaber," Luke said, pointing his finger. "I didn't steal it from you, I made it. And you're the one who taught me how to use it."

Ben was getting fed up now, "Who by all the stars do you think you are? I only had one apprentice and he destroyed everything I ever loved!"

"No, I didn't! And they were just stupid sand people who murdered my mother!"

"Darth Vader killed your mother on Mustafar nineteen years ago! I was there, Luke! Padme was my friend, and after everything-" his voice broke off, as he tried to shove the images away. Vader… Anakin… his apprentice burning to death on the shore of a river of magma.

He should have died. Ben would have severed his head from his body if he had thought anyone could have survived that. But Vader had deserved that pain, for joining the villain who started the war, for the Jedi, for the galaxy, for his wife and unborn children he had turned against, for the younglings who had trusted him only to be cut down...

No, Vader had deserved to burn to death.

But even at the end, Anakin Skywalker had been too damn stubborn to do what he was supposed to; to burn and stay dead.

"Obi-Wan!" a voice, too familiar shouted at him, as if his memories were speaking aloud to him now.

Ben blinked, focusing on the blonde and concerned brunette at his side.

"I am not Luke. My name is Anakin Skywalker."

Ben took a step back. Damn the Organas, what had they told him? Why were the twins ganging up on him?

Luke looked at him in shock, "You don't believe me. You actually don't believe me. How can you not recognize me? I'm your Padawan!"

The term broke his heart, and Ben shook his head, stepping forward to take his hands, "No, Luke, you aren't him. You have hands."

Luke gaped at him, "No shit I have hands!"

Ben squeezed those hands, "Yes, organic hands. Anakin lost all of his limbs." Ben kicked Luke below the knee. Not too hard, but hard enough that the boy pulled back with a yelp as Ben concluded, "See, organic."

"What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Leia stepped between them, her hand held out to Ben. "I know your angry we ignored the Council's orders but-"

"The Council?" Ben interrupted with a snort, "you mean the High Jedi Council?"

"Yes," she said, sounding irked.

"Enough with this game, Princess. You've hurt me with my old failures, congratulations. The Jedi Council is dead."

"What?" She and Luke asked in united shock.

Luke's Uncle, who was in a chair due to a missing limb (when had that happened?) along with another boy, a girl, and randomly, a Mandalorian.

Ben repeated himself, speaking slowly and calmly, "The Jedi are dead."

"No, they aren't!" Luke bellowed, "I would have felt that!"

The Mandalorian took Ben's side, "Boy, the space wizards are long gone."

Luke turned on him, his temper rising, "I'm a Jedi!"

Ben snorted, "Having a lightsaber does not make you a Jedi, Skywalker."

Red faced, Luke corrected himself, "Fine, I'm a Padawan, your Jedi Padawan learner, and you are a Jedi, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Ben sighed, "That was a very, very long time ago."

"You're thirty-five!" he said, throwing up his hands.

Ben laughed, holding out his arms, he asked, "Do I look thirty-five to you?"

This time, everyone stared at him as if he was crazy.

The Mandalorian said, "Yes, actually, you do."

Ben shook his head, running a hand over his head. Between living on this stupid planet, remorse, and his cutting himself off from the Force had all served to accelerate his ageing. He was in his fifties, but he looked more like he was in his seventies.

But as he ran his hand over his head, he felt how long his hair was. It had been short yesterday.

What by the Force?

Looking around as if a mirror would just materialize, he felt something was off. Looking back at the twins to scrutinize them, he was blown away by what he was seeing.

He realized that Leia looked exactly like Padme.

And Luke…

Luke had a neat Padawan braid, which would have taken years to grow that long, Ben would have noticed him growing it out, if his Uncle would have even allowed it.

Which meant…

But that was impossible.

Tentatively, Ben opened his shields, reaching out with the Force to the young man before him.

His jaw dropped open, and he staggered a step toward him, "Anakin…"

Exasperation and relief shown in those too familiar blue eyes, "Yes, Master."

Ben threw his shields wide open, in that moment not caring if the Emperor or Vader found him, he had to know if this was real.

And in the Force, in the great galaxy around them, hung like ten thousand stars in the darkness of the Unknown Reaches, where the Jedi.

His sisters and brothers.

Alive.

Obi-Wan's legs gave out beneath him, tears blurring his vision.

This was real. That was Anakin and Padme hovering around him, that was his people living and breathing throughout the galaxy.

They were lights, beautiful lights, to illuminate hope in the galaxy.

A gentle hand, hardly felt, yet warm, touched his knee. Blinking back tears he saw the most peculiar thing he had ever witnessed in his sorry excuse of a life.

Hesitantly, Obi-Wan reached forward to lift the creature who held its arms up to him. Holding the long eared, large brown eyed child in his arms, he couldn't help but ask, "Baby Yoda?"

The youngling rested a tiny clawed hand on his nose, and the remnants of panic left Obi-Wan, leaving him with the reality of a second chance.

Why Another Fic: Because I needed an Obi-Wan time travels, Mandalore centric, Clone Wars era, Padawan Ahsoka Tano, early redemption Anakin/Padme story that wasn't a quick Fix it Fic. The storyline will focus on the planet Mandalore. This is the Way.

KEYnotes: The Mandalorian and the Child from the end of the 1st season (31 years from the future) and Obi-Wan from pre-start of New Hope (22 years from the future). The Mando's (Din Darjin) time travel causes him to never be born, Baby Yoda is so strong in the Force he replaces his younger self, Obi-Wan Kenobi's other body disappears and Old Ben de-ages. There will be no time paradox. How? Because it is the will of the Force.

AN: Reactions, thoughts, or ideas, pretty, pretty please?