Yo what's up? It's been ages! Sorry for the embarrassingly lame attempt at a greeting, but I wasn't quite sure how to say "Hey sorry it's been like 3 years here have another chapter of my totally lame fanfiction that probably no one will read." In any case, the bug bit me again and I'm back at it!

I know I said the first time around that my author's notes wouldn't be long but they're going to be long so if you want to skip them I completely understand. They're here waiting for you to show them some love and a good time if you change your mind.

A/N 1: Sorry for misspelling Peru's name in the first chapter. I wrote it in like ten times in this one to make up for the mistake.

A/N 2: I didn't pay enough attention in Episode IV and always thought that Darth Vader was taking a stroll around Leia Organa's ship. (What is a star destroyer and how is it different from a star lover? We just don't know. And by we I mean me.) Sorry. It doesn't come up again, but this is AU anyways so we're just pretending that Leia was on her monster star lovin' ship to do some important space princess business instead, okay? Okay.

(Also there's a note on the Owen and Peru situation at the end of the chapter because I didn't want to give anything away, but just know that if anyone on the internet remembers the end of the first chapter, I promise there is an explanation for the change in direction. Maybe not a great one, but it's out there.)

Chapter 2: Smoke and Mirrors

Anakin Skywalker was having a fantastically infuriating day. Jedi warriors were meant to be the most resilient sentients in the galaxy, in addition to being force sensitive and handy with a lightsaber. This meant that most of the individuals they dealt with tended to assume (if they were fortunate enough to know anything about Jedi at all) that they were, in a sense, invincible. Not capable of stopping death or anything as ludicrous, mind you, but immune to the smaller discomforts of life, with headaches being a prime example.

This was a complete falsity, of course. Anakin couldn't remember the last day he'd experienced in which he wasn't sleep deprived and on the verge of a fever. Even force sensitivity couldn't cure all things, and without access to the best in modern medicine, he suspected he would have had a difficult time making it through a single year of battle.

On this particular day, his headache was attributable to so many possible causes that to attempt to pinpoint a single one would likely result in yet another one. He attempted to put it out of his mind, along with thoughts of Tuskan raiders and death-screams. This was far easier than it ought to have been, however. Anakin could count on a single hand the number of times in his life in which he had been thoroughly, completely, hopelessly confused, and this day was quickly moving to top the list.

"Obi-Wan," he whispered into his cowl, "Do you sense something… odd about their Force signatures?" He glanced over to his companion, who, to any other onlooker, would have appeared to be the picture of politely disinterested calm. Anakin saw the tightness in the corners of his mouth and the uncharacteristic seriousness in his eyes and deduced that his Master had sensed what he sensed, and worse, had likely concoted a theory to explain it. Anakin felt his brain physically aching inside of his skull.

"Yes, and I'm glad you did, too."

Anakin scowled, not ready to be led in a game of "guess what's wrong with this picture" at the moment.

"And what do you think it means, Master?" He replied, his voice grating slightly on the last word.

Obi-Wan gave him as close to a glare as his obnoxiously even-keeled companion was capable of. "It's right in front of you, Anakin," he admonished. "Search your feelings."

Anakin felt like he was twelve years old again. It was infuriating how easily Obi-Wan managed that trick. He fought to force down the annoyance, taking a deep breath (and managing to get half a tonne of sand into his lungs in the process), and tried to clear his mind.

Feeling the force, or rather, becoming aware of the force, was soothing in and of itself. It was like breathing air again after being submerged beneath water – everything was clearer, and there was a moment in which your senses seemed to snap back into focus. His sense of the force originated in his body, and with each breath it expanded, gradually encompassing everything around him. When he was younger he'd daydreamed that he could feel the heartbeat of the universe.

Now, he was concentrating on two specific heartbeats – the force signatures of Leia Organa and the boy from the speeder.

They were certainly connected, in a way less prone to detachment, the way close friends or lovers tended to be. It was most similar, he decided, to a familial tie, however there appeared to be no personal closeness or even familiarity between the two of them.

He opened his eyes, trying to calm his heartbeat. The boy had said that he lived with his aunt and uncle, Owen and Peru Lars. It was either a trap, or a case of mistaken identity. However, the boy's connection with Senator Organa's daughter was impossible to fake.

Anakin felt the spinning in his mind suddenly halt.

"Do you feel that, Master?" He said, more loudly than he'd intended.

The boy and Leia turned to him, identically quizzical expressions on their faces.

Obi-Wan nodded, a look of concern smothering his features. "We need to –"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the massive explosion that rocked the moisture farm. Leia dove to the ground, her hands to her ears. The boy, Anakin thought his name was Luke, screamed and started to run toward the flames that had just consumed "Owen and Peru Lars". Anakin vaulted toward the boy, dragging him out of harm's reach and shielding his body with his own.

Internally, he cursed himself blue for not having sensed it sooner.

What the kriff is going on here? Anakin thought angrily. None of this makes sense.

"Obi-Wan," he yelled, twisting around. His former master was lost in the smoke, and with the writhing bundle of chaos and grief currently twisting in his grip, who was projecting into the Force at a volume that made Anakin want to cover his ears, it was difficult to locate him.

He heard Leia Organa's voice cut through the confusion. "Obi-Wan Kenobi! We need your help!"

Anakin felt his heart stop cold in his chest.

~O~

Ben Kenobi was enjoying a pretty regular day. He made himself his favorite cup of tea, deciding upon two sugars instead of one. He had a strange feeling that he would come to need the short boost later on. He then cleaned his lightsaber, giving it a polish as well for good measure.

After that, he did what he always did. He meditated.

When he had made the decision to look after Luke Skywalker, he had expected long periods of monotony. He had even expected very little regular sentient contact. He had not, however, anticipated that was signing up to spend almost twenty standard years in meditation.

He fully understood now why Anakin hated the place so virulently.

Ben was contemplating the possibility that the Force itself might be more similar to a mass of individual Force signatures fading in and out of sentience, as opposed to a unified thing capable of exerting a unified will when Qui Gon Jinn interrupted him.

"Good morning, old friend, " he announced, his incorporeal form smiling slightly. "Something quite strange has happened today."

Ben nodded. "I'm sure many strange things have happened today, Master."

Qui Gonn allowed a small frown to worry his lips, as it always did when Ben called him 'Master'. He shook his head. "Something… unprecedented."

Ben shifted slightly, interest piqued. He knew, of course, that Qui Gonn would not have bothered to contact him if it were not vitally important that he know something. However, the 'unprecedented' nature of it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"What must I do?"

Qui Gonn folded his hands in front of him, his wispy form already beginning to fade. "You don't have much time, Obi-Wan. Travel quickly to the farm of Owen and Peru Lars, and bring Anakin's lightsaber with you."

The last words were uttered by nothing but air. Ben Kenobi felt something he hadn't felt in nearly two decades; anxiety.

~O~

Leia felt a hand grasp hers, guiding her through the smoke that had already begun to choke her. She could feel herself coughing in great bursts that rattled her body, but her senses had dimmed so completely that she almost felt she was outside of her body, that it was actually happening to someone else and she was only witnessing it. Then again, with the unbearable ringing in her ears it was difficult to focus on anything at all.

When she finally emerged from the smoke, the figure that had practically carried her out of the blast radius gently set her onto the scorching sand. She adjusted the skirt of her dress to keep her bare skin from burning and hunched over, trying desperately not to vomit. It would have been supremely un-senatorial. She also suspected that the figure guiding her out of the smoke had been the very same man whose name she'd heard seconds after the blast: General Obi-Wan Kenobi.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the planet to slow down long enough for her to stop feeling dizzy. She felt a thump beside her as another person was laid down much less carefully than she had been.

Leia glanced to her side, seeing with a start that it was the priest, Jar Jar Binks. She blinked sand and smoke out of her watering eyes, slowing down her breathing long enough to get a full gulp of air.

"Jar Jar," she rasped, "Where is General Kenobi?"

~O~

Luke was screaming. He must have been making the sound, even though he couldn't feel his vocal chords working. He heard a sustained, keening wail that sounded even above the ringing in his ears and the boom of the explosion, and no one else but him had cause to make it.

He was the only being in the universe who had cause to scream for Owen and Peru Lars. It was for that reason alone that he did not allow himself to stop.

~O~

Ben Kenobi stopped his hovercraft around thirty standard meters away from the moisture farm, far enough away to blend in with the hazy horizon of a humid desert day and therefore to be virtually undetectable to the naked eye. He covered it with sand colored blanket, just to be cautious, and kneeled behind it.

He took his digital binoculars from his bag, adjusting them until he could clearly see Owen Lars grumbling petulantly to his wife. Ben suspected that he was complaining about Luke (again). The more ambition and drive Luke showed, the shorter Owen Lars' temper became. As much as Ben wanted the boy to do well in life, and to live up to the impressive lineage he had inherited as much as he was able, he understood Owen's worry.

The further Luke ventured from the moisture farm's protected borders, the more likely a target he became. Ben, however, saw what Owen didn't, and that was the clearly evident truth that Luke Skywalker would never be contained on a moisture farm outside of Mos Eisley. The need to be more, to do more, sang in his blood the way it had done in his father's and mother's.

Ben sighed, wondering what else anyone could have expected.

He was about to walk over to the farm to speak with them himself when he felt them coming; three people, each with a Force signature that he recognized. Ben suddenly went very still, each muscle in his body simultaneously obeying a command he could not recall issuing. He reached out with the Force, very slowly – he wanted to be absolutely certain. His senses crept toward the trio, feeling what seemed like each grain of sand as he inched closer.

The caution was unnecessary – Anakin's voice carried just as easily as it always had. He was saying something to his counterpart (me, Ben realized with a start), referring to him as Qui Gonn Jin.

Under any other circumstance, Ben would have laughed. He thought he could feel Qui Gonn's amusement rippling through the Force at the deception. He'd never quite understood Qui Gonn's humor.

The figures drifted closer, and he heard the clear intonation of a woman's voice, and a remarkably dignified one at that. Barely resisting the urge to physically recoil from the shock, Ben felt out her Force signature thoroughly, realizing with a start that she was most definitely Leia Organa.

It was then that Luke Skywalker decided to make his entrance. He leapt from his speeder, just as Ben was hit with a feeling of impending destruction. He snapped into action quickly, deciding to keep his distance – neither of the Jedi had noticed his presence yet – and walking horizontally until he was angled directly behind what could only have been his younger self.

He understood the necessity of timing what was about to happen next precisely. When the explosion destroyed the Lars' moisture farm in a single blast, spewing tonnes of sand and debris into the air, Ben darted forward, grabbing his younger self by the mouth and tugging backward, hoping that the shock of his Force signature reflected would be enough to keep him from putting up a fight. He was wiser than he'd been at that age, definitely, but Ben wasn't quite sure he was up to the task of beating him in a fight.

Thankfully the Jedi seemed content to be dragged along, or as close to content as one could reasonably be under the circumstances. Ben was just able to drag his younger self behind the hastily hidden speeder before the first figure emerged from the smoke.

A/N 3: I know I said we'd hear from Owen and Peru but unfortunately it has been left on the cutting room floor. I'm pretty gutted about it, I won't lie, but everything worked much smoother this way, even if you probably all hate me for it. I'm sorry. I promise I don't enjoy being an asshole.

A/N 4: Sorry for any mistakes! This is unbeta'd and was written very quickly, so whatever sucks about it is most definitely 100% my fault. Feel free to write hate mail and such.

Next up we see some super secret clandestine conversations between Obi-Wans, plus the twins go on a mega fun desert hiking trip with daddy Anakin. It's all very thrilling (and sandy!).