Judgment Day

Chapter 5 - Bonding

Obi-Wan is the one who takes Luke to the medbay. He has... many questions about this, to be sure. He doesn't know how Luke could be a Jedi and question so many of their beliefs. This is why they can never be trained later; they can never accept the way it's meant to be. Rael Averros didn't, and neither did Anakin. He's really not sure what to think about Luke. He may look much like Anakin, but Obi-Wan doesn't see much of his former padawan in the boy. Luke is far more outgoing and commanding. He's not talkative per se, but he's not half as quiet as Anakin.

He wants to ask how Luke lost his hand, but Anakin is very touchy about that, and he doesn't care to find out if they're the same in that way.

Secondly, Luke reminds him so much of a certain Senator he has no doubt who the boy's mother is. He wants to have a talk with Anakin about this, but he'll wait for tomorrow. Luke is checked over in the medbay. Obi-Wan doesn't hear what the report is, of course, but he has his suspicions. He's seen the signs of electrocution before, seen how Anakin will stop moving occasionally to regain his balance, seen the way his limbs will twitch randomly with no apparent cause, seen how Anakin is always so worn out afterwards and keeps rubbing his head. He's dealt with it somewhat himself, after Zygerria – the constant, stabbing pain that felt like it'd split his head in two.

Worse was Ahsoka afterwards, seeing a child so young in so much pain. He remembers finding her sleeping alone, because she wanted to be with Anakin, but she couldn't bear being touched by anyone, hands pressed to her head as if that would be enough to make it stop hurting. "I don't know how Anakin does it," she'd said. "They looked at me like – like – and Anakin grew up like that, and he's still so good." It was one of the only times he'd seen her cry.

And he remembers seeing Anakin after that and after Naboo, pressing a hand to his chest because his heart was going too fast. He's seen these things before – more times than he can count during the Clone Wars. What he doesn't know is how this happened to Luke unless he confronted one of the Sith of his time. He doesn't ask.

"Now that you are here, what do you intend to do?" Obi-Wan inquires, finally.

Luke hesitates. "I... don't know, yet," he admits.

He's in the past right before everything apparently will fall apart, and he doesn't even know what he's planning to do?! "You weren't told what you needed to do before coming back here?"

"I'm figuring it out," he defends.

That only makes him less convinced that Luke will be of much help. At least they have a warning about the future, although Obi-Wan still doesn't know what to make of everything he's said. "This sounds like one of Anakin's... well thought out plans," he says, dryly.

Irritation flashes across his face. It reminds Obi-Wan again of how Luke almost seems upset with him for some reason. "He wouldn't have sent me back if he didn't believe I could help."

That may be true, but it doesn't mean his judgment is always right.

He still wonders when Luke would have been born in this timeline. There's no question on who his mother is, but it does mean that Anakin may be closer with Senator Amidala than he initially realized – or will be at some point in the future.

Obi-Wan doesn't know what the Council will do about what Luke said, but the most important matter for now is finding Grievous and ending the war, restoring the Republic to the way it was before the war, and locating Sidious.

***

Luke was... not expecting his father's room to look anything remotely similar to this. He doesn't know what he expected though. It's full of all forms of mechanical clutter that only the two of them would love, and he has to physically restrain himself from digging it all apart to see what everything is. Looking back, he supposes he never really thought about the... human side of his father, and he definitely never thought about the human side of Vader.