fic: Everything That Rises Must Converge (Star Wars; Obi-Wan, Leia, Luke, Vader; au; g)
Everything That Rises Must Converge
Star Wars; Obi-Wan, Leia, Luke, Vader; g; AU; 5,165 words
In which Leia makes it to Tatooine's surface after the Tantive IV is boarded, and nobody is prepared for this particular family reunion.
Some dialogue is lifted from the movies and one line is from the comics. Title from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
At AO3.
~*~
Everything That Rises Must Converge
Ben woke from a nightmare, one he hadn't had in years, of Anakin burning on the bank of a river of fire, calling out to him for help. He felt chilled to his bones, cold sweat drying on his skin. It was not yet dawn, but he knew he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep that day. Perhaps not for a few days to come, if he was going to be plagued by old nightmares.
The Force was shifting, unsettled, around him, unnerving after his nightmares. He reached out, and there was a Tusken raiding party riding across the Dune Sea, the Jawas in their sandcrawler, tiny flickering lights that slowly traversed the desert. Farther away, Luke, bright as a supernova to eyes that knew how to look, and there, above the planet, the cold fire of Darth Vader, drowning out everything but a small, oddly familiar spark.
Ben rushed through his morning ablutions and forced himself to choke down a ration bar with his lukewarm cup of tea. He'd need the fortification later even if right now it felt like swallowing sand.
He'd long since given up keeping an eopie; he traveled the wastes on foot and found the Force provided when he needed something more. It always had; he had lost sight of that before. They all had. Or the veil of the dark side obscured even that simple truth from them. He hadn't spent time ruminating on the root causes of their long fall in years, either. Even as a ghost, Qui-Gon was impatient with such useless brooding. The past was what it was and it couldn't be changed, no matter how devoutly any of them wished for it.
Ben made sure his lightsaber was secure on his belt--it had been a long time since he'd bothered, but clearly events were starting to accelerate--and after a moment's hesitation, tucked Anakin's into his belt as well. The boy would have it. Ben chose not to dwell on the way it had last been used, or by whom. He pulled on his robe and flipped up the hood. It was a long walk to the Lars homestead, and he couldn't be late.
*
Tatoo I was over the horizon and Tatoo II was rising when Ben heard the worried warble of a surprisingly familiar astromech droid in the distance. His knees protested as the sands shifted beneath him when he pivoted towards the sound.
One dune and then another and then Artoo was in view, his concerned beeping crescendoing as he spotted Ben moving towards him.
"Hello, little friend," he said cheerfully through an unexpected tightness in his throat. He had never been as attached to the little astromech as Anakin and Ahsoka had, but he was still a familiar face, as it were, from better days.
Artoo rocked back and forth on his stabilizers and rotated his dome back in the direction from which he'd come. Ben had never spoken much binary and what he did remember was rusty, but he got the gist that someone was in trouble and needed his help. He followed Artoo across the sand at a somewhat slower pace.
"Oh dear, oh dear. What a fine mess this is, Artoo. Have you brought help?"
Ben smiled, for where Artoo was, his counterpart Threepio could not be far behind. He gleamed golden in the light of the twin suns. "Good day to you, Threepio. I hope I may be of service."
"Do I know you, sir?"
"We met long ago."
"My apologies, sir. I have no recollection of it."
Artoo beeped rudely and Ben rested a hand on his dome. "No need for apologies. I'm sure it was safer to wipe those memories."
"Safer? Oh, curse you, Artoo for distracting me. None of us are safe here! The princess needs help immediately!"
"Princess?" Ben asked sharply, thinking of that small bright spark he'd felt kindle against the massive darkness of Vader's Force presence.
"Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. We were fleeing an Imperial incursion onto our ship and--"
"Show me," he said, knowing that if he let him, Threepio would talk while Leia's situation worsened.
Artoo whistled and led him a few meters east, where beside a low ridge, a figure in white lay sprawled in the sand. Her dark hair was curled into twists over her ears, and for a moment, Ben was transported back twenty years, and his lips soundlessly formed a name. The wrong name. It wouldn't do to get confused and confuse the girl in return.
He shook his head. He hadn't expected that, though perhaps he should have, given how much Luke resembled his father, at least in looks and, sometimes, if Owen's complaints were truthful, petulance.
"Was she injured in the fighting or the escape?" Ben asked, kneeling beside her to check her pulse.
"I don't believe so," Threepio answered.
"Heat exhaustion, then?" Ben knew how quickly Tatooine could suck the life out of a person, especially if they were already dehydrated from prolonged space travel.
Artoo beeped in the affirmative.
Ben sighed. They were closer to the Lars homestead than to his own poor hut, but still far enough away that he was concerned. He could carry her if he had to--she didn't seem very substantial to him, mostly hair and clothing--but it would be better for her to wake now and drink.
He reached out to the Force and was pleased with how strongly it flowed through her despite her utter lack of training. How she had hidden from Sidious and Vader for so long was baffling, but he was grateful for whatever quirk had kept this knowledge from them long enough to get her here safely, if not completely well.
He nudged gently at her consciousness and her eyes fluttered open. At the same time, he felt the muzzle of a small blaster pressed against his ribs. Ah, yes, she was truly her mother's daughter.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked, her voice hoarse from lack of moisture. She grimaced and brushed the sand from her face with her empty hand; the blaster never twitched. Then she squinted at him more closely. "General Obi-Wan Kenobi?"
"Yes, for my sins," he answered. "Though I haven't gone by that name or title in a long time." He stroked his beard thoughtfully, as if the smallest twitch of her finger wouldn't kill him. "A long time."
She tried to scramble to her feet but couldn't manage it.
"Here," he said, taking the canteen off his belt and offering it to her. "Slowly. The desert is not forgiving even to those used to its fierce heat. Off-worlders often have a hard time adjusting." By the Force, he had at first. Living here had explained so much that had previously been inexplicable about Anakin, and he was only sorry he hadn't learned it sooner--hadn't made the effort to learn it--but he didn't need Qui-Gon's ghost to tell him there was no use crying over the past now, not when the future had presented itself so vibrantly to him.
She drank gratefully and then attempted once more to brush the sand from her hands and clothes before giving it up as the futile effort it was.
"My father sent me to you," she said, and Ben felt a pang at the layers of meaning in that one small sentence. She got to her feet, more steadily this time, though she still leaned on his arm when he offered it. "The Empire has a terrible weapon, and the Alliance has spent many lives to get copies of the plans and send me to you with them to destroy it." She looked up at him earnestly, beseechingly. "The galaxy needs you, General Kenobi. You're our only hope."
"I'm an old man past his prime," Ben answered, touched by her confidence but afraid of failing her the way he'd failed her parents. "You're the true hope, Princess." He smiled to himself. "Come, there's someone I want you to meet."
*
It wasn't safe--that had been the argument nineteen years ago, and it was an argument that held merit even now. Especially now, with Darth Vader bearing down on them and the fate of the galaxy in the balance.
It was invigorating, though Ben would never have admitted it out loud. It had been a long time since he'd had an adventure; not since Luke was thirteen and had had a run in with a krayt dragon. Owen had started working him harder then, to keep him from too many such excursions, and once the boy had gotten his skyhopper up and running, he spent his free time racing in Beggar's Canyon with his friends. Ben liked to imagine that Anakin would have done the same had he been left to grow up here in peace. Before he remembered that had Anakin been left here, he'd have probably died young and still a slave.
Once more, Qui-Gon's admonishments against brooding rose up in his memory, and he cut off that line of thought.
Leia was a remarkable girl, which was only to be expected, given the accomplishments of all of her parents, and the training with which she'd been provided. She strode inexorably over the sand with her chin raised and her voice clear as she told him of the battle over Scarif and the destruction the Death Star had wrought on Jedha and Scarif both. He felt a pang for the old Temple of the Whills. He had visited it once in his padawan days, long before he had the ability to appreciate what the Guardians taught. And he felt a deep appreciation for the group of rebels who'd stolen the plans.
Leia's voice trembled slightly when she recounted the story to him, her pride and anger as clear as her suppressed grief. He would have to teach her how to release her emotions to the Force at some point. He could sense them simmering beneath her rudimentary shields and knew it would be best to give them a release valve before they boiled over into something dark and dangerous. He would have wondered what the girl had to be so angry about--she'd been raised by loving parents in the lap of luxury--but the fire in her burned for justice, much as it had in Anakin and Padme.
He sighed and released his own trepidation to the Force. He could not fail again.
They reached the outskirts of the Lars homestead just in time; the suns were at their daily zenith, and it was wise to get out from beneath them if one could. Ben was able to sense that Luke was home--he hadn't looked forward to having to track him down if he'd been out with his friends.
Unfortunately, they ran into Owen first.
"What do you want, Kenobi?" He narrowed his eyes at Ben.
"General Kenobi thought there was someone here I should meet," Leia said, interposing herself between them and giving Owen a tight politician's smile. "I'm Senator Leia Organa of Alderaan." She held out a hand.
Owen took it automatically, his eyes widening as Threepio said, "And I am C-3P0, human-cyborg relations."
Ben remembered suddenly that Owen had met Padmé, all those years ago, just before the first battle of Geonosis, and that Threepio had returned with her and Anakin from their visit to Tatooine.
"Senator," Owen said gruffly, shaking her hand, and then gesturing when his hand was free again. "Follow me." Still, he shot Ben a startled look as they walked the rest of the way to the cluster of buildings that made up the farm.
"Luke, Beru, we have guests," he called into the cool dimness of the house.
Luke came rushing into the kitchen, his excitement shining on his face and in the Force. "Ben," he said, surprised, and Ben couldn't blame him, given the way Owen had told Ben off the last time the boy had seen them together. And then his gaze fell on the droids and the princess and he looked torn over what to exclaim over first. Leia won, of course. The twins were drawn to each other like magnets, and Ben realized he was going to have to tell them immediately or there could be unintended consequences. He of all people knew how quickly and deeply Skywalkers formed attachments, and it wouldn't do for these two to form a romantic one.
"It's good to see you, young Luke. This is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and her droids, Artoo and Threepio."
Luke looked stunned for a moment, his mouth opening and closing at the word princess before he remembered his manners and said, "Welcome, Your Highness. I'm Luke Skywalker. How can we help you?"
"Skywalker?" Leia said, and now it was her turn to be surprised. "Like the general?" She turned towards Ben, who had not expected her to recognize the name. "He served with you and my father in the Clone Wars, didn't he?"
"Your father spoke of Anakin Skywalker?" Ben asked incredulously.
"No," she replied. "But my governess did. You seem surprised."
"I am. It's not safe to speak of the Jedi," he said. "Especially not," he cleared his throat self-consciously, "Kenobi and Skywalker."
"Wait," Luke said, glancing between them, confusion clear on his face, "Anakin Skywalker was a navigator on a spice freighter, not a--a general or a Jedi." He turned to his aunt and uncle. "Right, Uncle Owen? Aunt Beru?"
Owen frowned and grumbled, and Beru said, "There's so much we don't know about your father, Luke. We only met him the once. And as Ben said, it wasn't safe to talk about him."
"It's not particularly safe to talk about him now, especially not here. We have to go. The Imperials are after the princess and the droids," Ben explained. He smiled grimly. "Owen, Beru, is there somewhere safe you can shelter? I don't want to bring the anger of the Empire down upon you."
"Wait, what?" Luke said. "Why would the Empire come here? We've done nothing wrong."
"Not you, Luke," Leia said, touching his arm gently. "Me. Darth Vader is after me, but we must get Artoo back to my father on Alderaan. The fate of the galaxy depends on it."
Beru paled and Owen inhaled sharply and they exchanged worried glances. Ben felt a pang of regret at their involvement, but then, he'd involved them nineteen years ago, and there had always been the possibility that it would redound badly on them.
He shook his head. "No, Luke, Vader will be after you, too. You see, he seeks to eradicate all traces of the Jedi from the galaxy, and the Force is strong with you, as it was with your father before you."
Owen made a disgusted sound and gestured dismissively. "Don't fill the boy's head with nonsense, Kenobi. Come on, Luke, grab your bag and let's go. We should be able to make it to the Darklighters before the stormtroopers arrive."
"We can't just leave Ben and Leia," Luke said. "They'll be killed."
"I have a few tricks left in me yet, Luke," Ben said, offended at Luke's dismissal of his competence and amused at himself for it. "And I wouldn't count Leia out, either."
"It's not your fight, and I'm sorry for bringing this calamity down upon you," Leia said graciously to Owen and Beru. She hadn't missed their reaction to Vader's name. "You must do as you see fit to protect your family." She raised her chin defiantly, a sharp grin curving her lips. "But I won't give in without a fight. There's too much at stake."
"And I might not know anything about the fate of the galaxy, but I won't leave them here to die," Luke declared.
Ben's heart ached in his chest to see them both so young and bright and righteous.
Owen spared another glare for Ben before his expression softened as he looked at Luke. "Be careful," he said, clasping Luke's shoulder and pressing their foreheads together in a surprising show of affection. "I'll leave you the extra rifle, and there's spare ammo packs in the tool shed." He turned and walked away.
"Oh, Luke." Beru swept him into a tight hug. "We're so proud of you. Never doubt that." She touched his cheek one last time and followed her husband out to the garage, where their speeder was waiting.
Ben felt the slightest bit of relief that at least they might be safe from Vader's wrath. Because he was close now, and he was in a towering rage. His anger at Leia's escape was compounded by having to return to this planet, and Ben knew that it would only get worse when Vader realized where they were and what had been hidden from him. And seeing Luke and Leia together, Ben had no doubt that he would realize. Anyone who had known Anakin and Padmé would be able to see it. Sadly, or perhaps, luckily, there were few left in the galaxy who had.
But Vader obviously had and would and there was still so much Ben had wanted to do before this moment arrived. Another failure to lay at his feet.
"Here," he said, taking Anakin's lightsaber off his belt and handing it to Luke. "It was your father's."
Luke stared at it for a moment before taking it. "This is all really hard to believe, Ben."
"I know."
"What happened to him? The truth this time."
Ben sighed. Now was not the time for philosophical maundering about the meaning of truth. "He was a good man and a good friend. A cunning warrior, and the best star pilot in the galaxy. And he was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader."
It was true, from a certain point of view. That would probably not be comforting to Luke--or Leia--should other truths come to light, but it was the truth Ben had chosen to live with for the past nineteen years.
He turned to Leia. "You said your governess spoke of him. Did she tell you he was your birth father, as well?"
"What?" Luke and Leia exclaimed in unison, turning shocked faces towards him and then each other.
"Yes," he said, rubbing his lower lip with his thumb, a nervous tic he'd thought he'd long since eradicated. This day was churning up all sorts of long-buried things. "You were separated to keep you safe. I can tell you more but we must get moving."
But it was already too late. The whine of an engine coming in for a landing sounded above them, and the heavy tramp of booted feet could be heard even muffled by the sand. The temperature in the room dropped precipitously.
"What, what is that?" Leia asked with a shiver, and Luke wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"That is Darth Vader."
"I've met him many times," Leia said, "and I've never felt that before."
Ben didn't have time to answer.
"So, Obi-Wan, this is where you've hidden from me all these years? On this Force-forsaken planet, in my own mother's house?" Vader's bulk filled the doorway and the red glare of his lightsaber gleamed off the polished durasteel of his helmet.
"How dare you?" Luke said, jumping in front of Ben and igniting the lightsaber in his hand.
Ben bit back another sigh and drew on the deep well of patience he'd cultivated over the past two decades.
Vader had no such reserves. "Get out of my way, boy. I'm not here for you."
A brief rescue came from an unexpected quarter as Artoo rolled up from wherever he'd been hiding and chirped angrily at Vader, who recoiled in surprise.
"Artoo, you are going to get us all killed."
"Threepio?" Vader said, his momentary uncertainty audible even through the vocoder. "Command override seven-alpha-nine-nine-seven. Shut down."
Threepio's optic receptors went dark as the droid powered down.
"What did you do to my droid?" Leia demanded.
Vader's helmet turned towards the Princess. "Your droid?"
Artoo's shrill whistling continued unabated, and Ben didn't have to be fluent in binary to know he was giving Vader a blistering scold.
Vader laid a large, gauntleted hand on Artoo's dome, much as Ben had earlier, and the droid subsided. Then he turned to Ben.
"Obi-Wan, explain."
"There's nothing to explain," Luke said. "You killed my father. You're not killing Ben, too."
"I've killed many fathers, boy. Turn that lightsaber off. You clearly have had no training in how to use it." And then Vader took a closer look. "And you have no right to it."
"No right?" Luke cried. "It was my father's before you killed him."
This time, Ben let the sigh out, deep and gusty and, on some level, relieved. Even though he had failed again, it would all be over soon, one way or another. He reached out a hand and turned off Luke's lightsaber before the boy maimed himself or someone else.
"Your--Your father's?" Vader sputtered. "That's impossible."
"Search your feelings, Darth. You know it to be true." Ben stroked his beard again. "I was there at their birth."
"Their birth?" Vader was reeling now, his usually angry presence in the Force overwhelmed with confusion and old pain. He looked at Leia again, then back at Luke, and then back at Leia. Then he disengaged his lightsaber. "She survived?"
Artoo gave a disconsolate warble, and Ben felt anew the helpless sadness he'd experienced on Polis Massa. It was the old, familiar pain of being responsible for the death of a loved one and it was something he'd never wanted Anakin to know or share. He hadn't held the blade that had killed Satine, but she had died because of him, because he'd loved her, much as Padmé had died because of Anakin's love and fear.
"Only long enough to give birth, I'm afraid." He drew a deep breath. "She didn't--" He stopped and started again. "She forgave you." He hadn't understood it at the time. He still didn't, though he'd made his peace with it. Or he thought he had, until today.
The unnaturally even sound of Vader's breathing filled the room as his outsize emotions filled the Force. The pressure was like a storm on the horizon, and a heavy weight on Ben's chest.
"Luke, why don't you show Leia your grandmother's grave?" he suggested.
"I won't leave you alone with him," Luke said.
"I won't kill him yet," Vader said. "He owes me answers."
Ben supposed that was meant to be reassuring.
"You won't kill him at all," Luke countered. He and Leia exchanged a speaking glance. Had they already learned to communicate without words? Ben was obscurely proud. They were good kids.
"Give us your word," Leia demanded. "You won't kill General Kenobi."
"I--" Vader paused and shot his own speaking glance at Ben, who was probably the only person in the galaxy who could have interpreted his uncertainty and discomfort through the mask. "You have my word."
"Come on, Luke." Leia took his arm. "Obviously, the adults want to talk without us present."
"We're adults," Luke protested.
"Well, I am," she said with a wry grin. "I don't know about you."
"Hey." But he led her away to the place where Shmi was buried.
Where Anakin had buried her, Ben recalled, though he himself hadn't been here for that particular tragedy.
With the children gone, some of Vader's bravado went with it. He seemed smaller now, even in his hulking suit.
Ben raised his chin. It was time to end this farce. "Will you break that promise, Darth, the way you've broken all the others you've made?"
"Fine words from a man who left me maimed and burning in a lava flow just after calling me his brother, rather than granting me the mercy of a quick death. If that's your notion of family, Obi-Wan, I will have no part of it, nor will my children." There was the slightest hesitation on that last word, and a sense of incredulous wonder in it as well. He pointed an accusing finger at Ben. "The children you stole from me."
"I sought only to keep them safe from Palpatine."
"The way you did for me?" Vader's vocoder was not truly capable of conveying the depth of his scorn, or the well of hurt it barely disguised, but Ben heard it anyway, and felt it reverberate through the Force. He had forgotten how overwhelming Anakin's--Vader's--presence was.
"I failed you," Ben admitted. "In many ways, but in that one most of all."
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, the perfect Jedi, admitting failure? Truly, this is a momentous day."
"I was never perfect, Anakin." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Excuse me, Vader," he corrected himself before Vader could throw a fit. "And I'm truly sorry if I ever made you feel that you had to be."
Another wave of incredulity swamped the Force between them, and Obi-Wan withstood it without comment. He had spent years chewing over his failures, listing them by date, by person, by terrible effect, until they were familiar as old friends and had lost their immediate sting. And yet with so few words, Anakin--Vader--made him regret all of them again as if they were new.
"Enough," Vader said, slashing a hand through the air. "I am not here to listen to futile apologies from a washed up old failure of a man. I will take my droids and my children and leave your rotting carcass behind."
"You promised not to kill him," Luke said from the doorway.
"It's all right, Luke."
"No, it's not." Luke set his jaw pugnaciously, and oh, that look had to be as familiar to Vader as it was to Ben. "We're not going anywhere with you. You killed our father." He reached behind him and took Leia's hand.
"I am your father," Vader thundered. "If you were eavesdropping, you heard Obi-Wan admit the truth."
"Bail Organa is my father," Leia said, raising her chin defiantly, "and I will be returning to him on Alderaan, with my brother, my droids, and General Kenobi."
Vader stared at them, obviously unused to being challenged so unequivocally.
"If we really are your children, you'll let us go," Luke added.
Vader's helmet dipped. "I will let you go, but the Death Star plans and Kenobi are mine."
"No," Luke said. "No deal."
"Even you must know what an abomination the Death Star is," said Leia. "Surely you can feel how the entire galaxy and the Force cry out against it."
The silence stretched between them in this battle of titanic wills, and Ben held his breath and prayed to the Force that the twins would win.
"I must do as my Master orders," Vader finally said, low and, if Ben was reading him correctly, ashamed for what was likely the first time since he'd fallen to the dark side.
"Then you're still a slave," Luke said sadly, "and everything Grandmother and Ben did for you was for nothing."
"It is too late for me," Vader agreed.
And for the first time, Ben felt that was not true, despite believing him irrevocably lost these last nineteen years, and believing his whole life before that that no one had ever--could ever--come back from the dark side. Maybe no one else ever had or ever could, but Vader--Anakin--had always been a rule unto himself. This should be no different, if only he remembered himself now.
"Padmé believed there was still good in you," Ben offered softly. "Until her dying breath."
"I can feel the conflict in you," Luke added.
"I don't know about all that," Leia said skeptically, "but if what General Kenobi says is true, your master--" and she imbued the word with as much disdain as Anakin ever had--"lied to you. About everything. Even if you would ordinarily owe him your allegiance, he broke faith with you first. Aren't you angry?"
Vader turned to her, his fists clenching and unclenching, an old sign of the attempt to process strong emotion. "Angry enough to burn down the galaxy, Princess," he answered. "Which is what led us here in the first place."
Self-awareness and accountability, Ben thought. Anakin truly had grown up.
"Then let it lead us through to a better galaxy," she said. "I know your crimes are vast, and I can't offer you a pardon, but if you do this now, if you let us go and help us destroy the Death Star, that would surely count in your favor when the reckoning comes. And I assure you, Lord Vader, it is coming."
He reached out and touched her cheek, the black leather obscene against the pink of her sunburn, but she didn't flinch. "With you at the head of it, Your Highness?"
She smiled viciously. "And Luke at my side."
To Ben, it felt like the entire galaxy held its breath as the man who was once Anakin Skywalker once again stood on the cusp of a decision that could save or damn them all.
Vader bowed his head and said, in as low a voice as his vocoder allowed, "The men here are loyal first and foremost to me. I will let you go, but you must learn to shield yourselves from the Emperor. I will not let him have my children, too."
"Come with us," Luke said, and then added shyly, "Father."
There was a definitely lurch in the Force at that, and to Ben it felt clearer and lighter than it had in years.
"Not now, my son," Vader answered and the Force conveyed all the emotion his voice could not. He inclined his head to Leia. "My daughter. But if I can, I will."
"Soon," Luke said, reaching out and clasping Vader's hand.
"Soon," Vader echoed, squeezing Luke's hand and reaching for Leia's. She allowed it after a minute hesitation, and closed the circuit.
"Well done," Ben murmured.
Vader shot him a look that was probably murderous beneath the mask, but it was mitigated by the fact that he still held his children's hands.
Too much still lay between them to ever fully heal, Ben thought, but this was a start.
"Let's go," Leia said, breaking the moment. "There's still so much to be done."
Luke reactivated Threepio, and with the droids trailing behind them, led Leia to the garage that housed his speeder. Ben lingered for a moment, taking one last chance.
"I'm proud of you, Anakin. For whatever it's worth."
He was at the door when he felt a nudge in the Force. "Not enough, Obi-Wan, but I'll take it. Keep my children safe and we may revisit this conversation at a later date." Vader hooked his hands in his belt. "Now go before I change my mind about killing you."
Ben went, and he and the galaxy both breathed out in relief.
end
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Star Wars; Obi-Wan, Leia, Luke, Vader; g; AU; 5,165 words
In which Leia makes it to Tatooine's surface after the Tantive IV is boarded, and nobody is prepared for this particular family reunion.
Some dialogue is lifted from the movies and one line is from the comics. Title from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
At AO3.
~*~
Everything That Rises Must Converge
Ben woke from a nightmare, one he hadn't had in years, of Anakin burning on the bank of a river of fire, calling out to him for help. He felt chilled to his bones, cold sweat drying on his skin. It was not yet dawn, but he knew he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep that day. Perhaps not for a few days to come, if he was going to be plagued by old nightmares.
The Force was shifting, unsettled, around him, unnerving after his nightmares. He reached out, and there was a Tusken raiding party riding across the Dune Sea, the Jawas in their sandcrawler, tiny flickering lights that slowly traversed the desert. Farther away, Luke, bright as a supernova to eyes that knew how to look, and there, above the planet, the cold fire of Darth Vader, drowning out everything but a small, oddly familiar spark.
Ben rushed through his morning ablutions and forced himself to choke down a ration bar with his lukewarm cup of tea. He'd need the fortification later even if right now it felt like swallowing sand.
He'd long since given up keeping an eopie; he traveled the wastes on foot and found the Force provided when he needed something more. It always had; he had lost sight of that before. They all had. Or the veil of the dark side obscured even that simple truth from them. He hadn't spent time ruminating on the root causes of their long fall in years, either. Even as a ghost, Qui-Gon was impatient with such useless brooding. The past was what it was and it couldn't be changed, no matter how devoutly any of them wished for it.
Ben made sure his lightsaber was secure on his belt--it had been a long time since he'd bothered, but clearly events were starting to accelerate--and after a moment's hesitation, tucked Anakin's into his belt as well. The boy would have it. Ben chose not to dwell on the way it had last been used, or by whom. He pulled on his robe and flipped up the hood. It was a long walk to the Lars homestead, and he couldn't be late.
*
Tatoo I was over the horizon and Tatoo II was rising when Ben heard the worried warble of a surprisingly familiar astromech droid in the distance. His knees protested as the sands shifted beneath him when he pivoted towards the sound.
One dune and then another and then Artoo was in view, his concerned beeping crescendoing as he spotted Ben moving towards him.
"Hello, little friend," he said cheerfully through an unexpected tightness in his throat. He had never been as attached to the little astromech as Anakin and Ahsoka had, but he was still a familiar face, as it were, from better days.
Artoo rocked back and forth on his stabilizers and rotated his dome back in the direction from which he'd come. Ben had never spoken much binary and what he did remember was rusty, but he got the gist that someone was in trouble and needed his help. He followed Artoo across the sand at a somewhat slower pace.
"Oh dear, oh dear. What a fine mess this is, Artoo. Have you brought help?"
Ben smiled, for where Artoo was, his counterpart Threepio could not be far behind. He gleamed golden in the light of the twin suns. "Good day to you, Threepio. I hope I may be of service."
"Do I know you, sir?"
"We met long ago."
"My apologies, sir. I have no recollection of it."
Artoo beeped rudely and Ben rested a hand on his dome. "No need for apologies. I'm sure it was safer to wipe those memories."
"Safer? Oh, curse you, Artoo for distracting me. None of us are safe here! The princess needs help immediately!"
"Princess?" Ben asked sharply, thinking of that small bright spark he'd felt kindle against the massive darkness of Vader's Force presence.
"Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. We were fleeing an Imperial incursion onto our ship and--"
"Show me," he said, knowing that if he let him, Threepio would talk while Leia's situation worsened.
Artoo whistled and led him a few meters east, where beside a low ridge, a figure in white lay sprawled in the sand. Her dark hair was curled into twists over her ears, and for a moment, Ben was transported back twenty years, and his lips soundlessly formed a name. The wrong name. It wouldn't do to get confused and confuse the girl in return.
He shook his head. He hadn't expected that, though perhaps he should have, given how much Luke resembled his father, at least in looks and, sometimes, if Owen's complaints were truthful, petulance.
"Was she injured in the fighting or the escape?" Ben asked, kneeling beside her to check her pulse.
"I don't believe so," Threepio answered.
"Heat exhaustion, then?" Ben knew how quickly Tatooine could suck the life out of a person, especially if they were already dehydrated from prolonged space travel.
Artoo beeped in the affirmative.
Ben sighed. They were closer to the Lars homestead than to his own poor hut, but still far enough away that he was concerned. He could carry her if he had to--she didn't seem very substantial to him, mostly hair and clothing--but it would be better for her to wake now and drink.
He reached out to the Force and was pleased with how strongly it flowed through her despite her utter lack of training. How she had hidden from Sidious and Vader for so long was baffling, but he was grateful for whatever quirk had kept this knowledge from them long enough to get her here safely, if not completely well.
He nudged gently at her consciousness and her eyes fluttered open. At the same time, he felt the muzzle of a small blaster pressed against his ribs. Ah, yes, she was truly her mother's daughter.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked, her voice hoarse from lack of moisture. She grimaced and brushed the sand from her face with her empty hand; the blaster never twitched. Then she squinted at him more closely. "General Obi-Wan Kenobi?"
"Yes, for my sins," he answered. "Though I haven't gone by that name or title in a long time." He stroked his beard thoughtfully, as if the smallest twitch of her finger wouldn't kill him. "A long time."
She tried to scramble to her feet but couldn't manage it.
"Here," he said, taking the canteen off his belt and offering it to her. "Slowly. The desert is not forgiving even to those used to its fierce heat. Off-worlders often have a hard time adjusting." By the Force, he had at first. Living here had explained so much that had previously been inexplicable about Anakin, and he was only sorry he hadn't learned it sooner--hadn't made the effort to learn it--but he didn't need Qui-Gon's ghost to tell him there was no use crying over the past now, not when the future had presented itself so vibrantly to him.
She drank gratefully and then attempted once more to brush the sand from her hands and clothes before giving it up as the futile effort it was.
"My father sent me to you," she said, and Ben felt a pang at the layers of meaning in that one small sentence. She got to her feet, more steadily this time, though she still leaned on his arm when he offered it. "The Empire has a terrible weapon, and the Alliance has spent many lives to get copies of the plans and send me to you with them to destroy it." She looked up at him earnestly, beseechingly. "The galaxy needs you, General Kenobi. You're our only hope."
"I'm an old man past his prime," Ben answered, touched by her confidence but afraid of failing her the way he'd failed her parents. "You're the true hope, Princess." He smiled to himself. "Come, there's someone I want you to meet."
*
It wasn't safe--that had been the argument nineteen years ago, and it was an argument that held merit even now. Especially now, with Darth Vader bearing down on them and the fate of the galaxy in the balance.
It was invigorating, though Ben would never have admitted it out loud. It had been a long time since he'd had an adventure; not since Luke was thirteen and had had a run in with a krayt dragon. Owen had started working him harder then, to keep him from too many such excursions, and once the boy had gotten his skyhopper up and running, he spent his free time racing in Beggar's Canyon with his friends. Ben liked to imagine that Anakin would have done the same had he been left to grow up here in peace. Before he remembered that had Anakin been left here, he'd have probably died young and still a slave.
Once more, Qui-Gon's admonishments against brooding rose up in his memory, and he cut off that line of thought.
Leia was a remarkable girl, which was only to be expected, given the accomplishments of all of her parents, and the training with which she'd been provided. She strode inexorably over the sand with her chin raised and her voice clear as she told him of the battle over Scarif and the destruction the Death Star had wrought on Jedha and Scarif both. He felt a pang for the old Temple of the Whills. He had visited it once in his padawan days, long before he had the ability to appreciate what the Guardians taught. And he felt a deep appreciation for the group of rebels who'd stolen the plans.
Leia's voice trembled slightly when she recounted the story to him, her pride and anger as clear as her suppressed grief. He would have to teach her how to release her emotions to the Force at some point. He could sense them simmering beneath her rudimentary shields and knew it would be best to give them a release valve before they boiled over into something dark and dangerous. He would have wondered what the girl had to be so angry about--she'd been raised by loving parents in the lap of luxury--but the fire in her burned for justice, much as it had in Anakin and Padme.
He sighed and released his own trepidation to the Force. He could not fail again.
They reached the outskirts of the Lars homestead just in time; the suns were at their daily zenith, and it was wise to get out from beneath them if one could. Ben was able to sense that Luke was home--he hadn't looked forward to having to track him down if he'd been out with his friends.
Unfortunately, they ran into Owen first.
"What do you want, Kenobi?" He narrowed his eyes at Ben.
"General Kenobi thought there was someone here I should meet," Leia said, interposing herself between them and giving Owen a tight politician's smile. "I'm Senator Leia Organa of Alderaan." She held out a hand.
Owen took it automatically, his eyes widening as Threepio said, "And I am C-3P0, human-cyborg relations."
Ben remembered suddenly that Owen had met Padmé, all those years ago, just before the first battle of Geonosis, and that Threepio had returned with her and Anakin from their visit to Tatooine.
"Senator," Owen said gruffly, shaking her hand, and then gesturing when his hand was free again. "Follow me." Still, he shot Ben a startled look as they walked the rest of the way to the cluster of buildings that made up the farm.
"Luke, Beru, we have guests," he called into the cool dimness of the house.
Luke came rushing into the kitchen, his excitement shining on his face and in the Force. "Ben," he said, surprised, and Ben couldn't blame him, given the way Owen had told Ben off the last time the boy had seen them together. And then his gaze fell on the droids and the princess and he looked torn over what to exclaim over first. Leia won, of course. The twins were drawn to each other like magnets, and Ben realized he was going to have to tell them immediately or there could be unintended consequences. He of all people knew how quickly and deeply Skywalkers formed attachments, and it wouldn't do for these two to form a romantic one.
"It's good to see you, young Luke. This is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and her droids, Artoo and Threepio."
Luke looked stunned for a moment, his mouth opening and closing at the word princess before he remembered his manners and said, "Welcome, Your Highness. I'm Luke Skywalker. How can we help you?"
"Skywalker?" Leia said, and now it was her turn to be surprised. "Like the general?" She turned towards Ben, who had not expected her to recognize the name. "He served with you and my father in the Clone Wars, didn't he?"
"Your father spoke of Anakin Skywalker?" Ben asked incredulously.
"No," she replied. "But my governess did. You seem surprised."
"I am. It's not safe to speak of the Jedi," he said. "Especially not," he cleared his throat self-consciously, "Kenobi and Skywalker."
"Wait," Luke said, glancing between them, confusion clear on his face, "Anakin Skywalker was a navigator on a spice freighter, not a--a general or a Jedi." He turned to his aunt and uncle. "Right, Uncle Owen? Aunt Beru?"
Owen frowned and grumbled, and Beru said, "There's so much we don't know about your father, Luke. We only met him the once. And as Ben said, it wasn't safe to talk about him."
"It's not particularly safe to talk about him now, especially not here. We have to go. The Imperials are after the princess and the droids," Ben explained. He smiled grimly. "Owen, Beru, is there somewhere safe you can shelter? I don't want to bring the anger of the Empire down upon you."
"Wait, what?" Luke said. "Why would the Empire come here? We've done nothing wrong."
"Not you, Luke," Leia said, touching his arm gently. "Me. Darth Vader is after me, but we must get Artoo back to my father on Alderaan. The fate of the galaxy depends on it."
Beru paled and Owen inhaled sharply and they exchanged worried glances. Ben felt a pang of regret at their involvement, but then, he'd involved them nineteen years ago, and there had always been the possibility that it would redound badly on them.
He shook his head. "No, Luke, Vader will be after you, too. You see, he seeks to eradicate all traces of the Jedi from the galaxy, and the Force is strong with you, as it was with your father before you."
Owen made a disgusted sound and gestured dismissively. "Don't fill the boy's head with nonsense, Kenobi. Come on, Luke, grab your bag and let's go. We should be able to make it to the Darklighters before the stormtroopers arrive."
"We can't just leave Ben and Leia," Luke said. "They'll be killed."
"I have a few tricks left in me yet, Luke," Ben said, offended at Luke's dismissal of his competence and amused at himself for it. "And I wouldn't count Leia out, either."
"It's not your fight, and I'm sorry for bringing this calamity down upon you," Leia said graciously to Owen and Beru. She hadn't missed their reaction to Vader's name. "You must do as you see fit to protect your family." She raised her chin defiantly, a sharp grin curving her lips. "But I won't give in without a fight. There's too much at stake."
"And I might not know anything about the fate of the galaxy, but I won't leave them here to die," Luke declared.
Ben's heart ached in his chest to see them both so young and bright and righteous.
Owen spared another glare for Ben before his expression softened as he looked at Luke. "Be careful," he said, clasping Luke's shoulder and pressing their foreheads together in a surprising show of affection. "I'll leave you the extra rifle, and there's spare ammo packs in the tool shed." He turned and walked away.
"Oh, Luke." Beru swept him into a tight hug. "We're so proud of you. Never doubt that." She touched his cheek one last time and followed her husband out to the garage, where their speeder was waiting.
Ben felt the slightest bit of relief that at least they might be safe from Vader's wrath. Because he was close now, and he was in a towering rage. His anger at Leia's escape was compounded by having to return to this planet, and Ben knew that it would only get worse when Vader realized where they were and what had been hidden from him. And seeing Luke and Leia together, Ben had no doubt that he would realize. Anyone who had known Anakin and Padmé would be able to see it. Sadly, or perhaps, luckily, there were few left in the galaxy who had.
But Vader obviously had and would and there was still so much Ben had wanted to do before this moment arrived. Another failure to lay at his feet.
"Here," he said, taking Anakin's lightsaber off his belt and handing it to Luke. "It was your father's."
Luke stared at it for a moment before taking it. "This is all really hard to believe, Ben."
"I know."
"What happened to him? The truth this time."
Ben sighed. Now was not the time for philosophical maundering about the meaning of truth. "He was a good man and a good friend. A cunning warrior, and the best star pilot in the galaxy. And he was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader."
It was true, from a certain point of view. That would probably not be comforting to Luke--or Leia--should other truths come to light, but it was the truth Ben had chosen to live with for the past nineteen years.
He turned to Leia. "You said your governess spoke of him. Did she tell you he was your birth father, as well?"
"What?" Luke and Leia exclaimed in unison, turning shocked faces towards him and then each other.
"Yes," he said, rubbing his lower lip with his thumb, a nervous tic he'd thought he'd long since eradicated. This day was churning up all sorts of long-buried things. "You were separated to keep you safe. I can tell you more but we must get moving."
But it was already too late. The whine of an engine coming in for a landing sounded above them, and the heavy tramp of booted feet could be heard even muffled by the sand. The temperature in the room dropped precipitously.
"What, what is that?" Leia asked with a shiver, and Luke wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"That is Darth Vader."
"I've met him many times," Leia said, "and I've never felt that before."
Ben didn't have time to answer.
"So, Obi-Wan, this is where you've hidden from me all these years? On this Force-forsaken planet, in my own mother's house?" Vader's bulk filled the doorway and the red glare of his lightsaber gleamed off the polished durasteel of his helmet.
"How dare you?" Luke said, jumping in front of Ben and igniting the lightsaber in his hand.
Ben bit back another sigh and drew on the deep well of patience he'd cultivated over the past two decades.
Vader had no such reserves. "Get out of my way, boy. I'm not here for you."
A brief rescue came from an unexpected quarter as Artoo rolled up from wherever he'd been hiding and chirped angrily at Vader, who recoiled in surprise.
"Artoo, you are going to get us all killed."
"Threepio?" Vader said, his momentary uncertainty audible even through the vocoder. "Command override seven-alpha-nine-nine-seven. Shut down."
Threepio's optic receptors went dark as the droid powered down.
"What did you do to my droid?" Leia demanded.
Vader's helmet turned towards the Princess. "Your droid?"
Artoo's shrill whistling continued unabated, and Ben didn't have to be fluent in binary to know he was giving Vader a blistering scold.
Vader laid a large, gauntleted hand on Artoo's dome, much as Ben had earlier, and the droid subsided. Then he turned to Ben.
"Obi-Wan, explain."
"There's nothing to explain," Luke said. "You killed my father. You're not killing Ben, too."
"I've killed many fathers, boy. Turn that lightsaber off. You clearly have had no training in how to use it." And then Vader took a closer look. "And you have no right to it."
"No right?" Luke cried. "It was my father's before you killed him."
This time, Ben let the sigh out, deep and gusty and, on some level, relieved. Even though he had failed again, it would all be over soon, one way or another. He reached out a hand and turned off Luke's lightsaber before the boy maimed himself or someone else.
"Your--Your father's?" Vader sputtered. "That's impossible."
"Search your feelings, Darth. You know it to be true." Ben stroked his beard again. "I was there at their birth."
"Their birth?" Vader was reeling now, his usually angry presence in the Force overwhelmed with confusion and old pain. He looked at Leia again, then back at Luke, and then back at Leia. Then he disengaged his lightsaber. "She survived?"
Artoo gave a disconsolate warble, and Ben felt anew the helpless sadness he'd experienced on Polis Massa. It was the old, familiar pain of being responsible for the death of a loved one and it was something he'd never wanted Anakin to know or share. He hadn't held the blade that had killed Satine, but she had died because of him, because he'd loved her, much as Padmé had died because of Anakin's love and fear.
"Only long enough to give birth, I'm afraid." He drew a deep breath. "She didn't--" He stopped and started again. "She forgave you." He hadn't understood it at the time. He still didn't, though he'd made his peace with it. Or he thought he had, until today.
The unnaturally even sound of Vader's breathing filled the room as his outsize emotions filled the Force. The pressure was like a storm on the horizon, and a heavy weight on Ben's chest.
"Luke, why don't you show Leia your grandmother's grave?" he suggested.
"I won't leave you alone with him," Luke said.
"I won't kill him yet," Vader said. "He owes me answers."
Ben supposed that was meant to be reassuring.
"You won't kill him at all," Luke countered. He and Leia exchanged a speaking glance. Had they already learned to communicate without words? Ben was obscurely proud. They were good kids.
"Give us your word," Leia demanded. "You won't kill General Kenobi."
"I--" Vader paused and shot his own speaking glance at Ben, who was probably the only person in the galaxy who could have interpreted his uncertainty and discomfort through the mask. "You have my word."
"Come on, Luke." Leia took his arm. "Obviously, the adults want to talk without us present."
"We're adults," Luke protested.
"Well, I am," she said with a wry grin. "I don't know about you."
"Hey." But he led her away to the place where Shmi was buried.
Where Anakin had buried her, Ben recalled, though he himself hadn't been here for that particular tragedy.
With the children gone, some of Vader's bravado went with it. He seemed smaller now, even in his hulking suit.
Ben raised his chin. It was time to end this farce. "Will you break that promise, Darth, the way you've broken all the others you've made?"
"Fine words from a man who left me maimed and burning in a lava flow just after calling me his brother, rather than granting me the mercy of a quick death. If that's your notion of family, Obi-Wan, I will have no part of it, nor will my children." There was the slightest hesitation on that last word, and a sense of incredulous wonder in it as well. He pointed an accusing finger at Ben. "The children you stole from me."
"I sought only to keep them safe from Palpatine."
"The way you did for me?" Vader's vocoder was not truly capable of conveying the depth of his scorn, or the well of hurt it barely disguised, but Ben heard it anyway, and felt it reverberate through the Force. He had forgotten how overwhelming Anakin's--Vader's--presence was.
"I failed you," Ben admitted. "In many ways, but in that one most of all."
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, the perfect Jedi, admitting failure? Truly, this is a momentous day."
"I was never perfect, Anakin." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Excuse me, Vader," he corrected himself before Vader could throw a fit. "And I'm truly sorry if I ever made you feel that you had to be."
Another wave of incredulity swamped the Force between them, and Obi-Wan withstood it without comment. He had spent years chewing over his failures, listing them by date, by person, by terrible effect, until they were familiar as old friends and had lost their immediate sting. And yet with so few words, Anakin--Vader--made him regret all of them again as if they were new.
"Enough," Vader said, slashing a hand through the air. "I am not here to listen to futile apologies from a washed up old failure of a man. I will take my droids and my children and leave your rotting carcass behind."
"You promised not to kill him," Luke said from the doorway.
"It's all right, Luke."
"No, it's not." Luke set his jaw pugnaciously, and oh, that look had to be as familiar to Vader as it was to Ben. "We're not going anywhere with you. You killed our father." He reached behind him and took Leia's hand.
"I am your father," Vader thundered. "If you were eavesdropping, you heard Obi-Wan admit the truth."
"Bail Organa is my father," Leia said, raising her chin defiantly, "and I will be returning to him on Alderaan, with my brother, my droids, and General Kenobi."
Vader stared at them, obviously unused to being challenged so unequivocally.
"If we really are your children, you'll let us go," Luke added.
Vader's helmet dipped. "I will let you go, but the Death Star plans and Kenobi are mine."
"No," Luke said. "No deal."
"Even you must know what an abomination the Death Star is," said Leia. "Surely you can feel how the entire galaxy and the Force cry out against it."
The silence stretched between them in this battle of titanic wills, and Ben held his breath and prayed to the Force that the twins would win.
"I must do as my Master orders," Vader finally said, low and, if Ben was reading him correctly, ashamed for what was likely the first time since he'd fallen to the dark side.
"Then you're still a slave," Luke said sadly, "and everything Grandmother and Ben did for you was for nothing."
"It is too late for me," Vader agreed.
And for the first time, Ben felt that was not true, despite believing him irrevocably lost these last nineteen years, and believing his whole life before that that no one had ever--could ever--come back from the dark side. Maybe no one else ever had or ever could, but Vader--Anakin--had always been a rule unto himself. This should be no different, if only he remembered himself now.
"Padmé believed there was still good in you," Ben offered softly. "Until her dying breath."
"I can feel the conflict in you," Luke added.
"I don't know about all that," Leia said skeptically, "but if what General Kenobi says is true, your master--" and she imbued the word with as much disdain as Anakin ever had--"lied to you. About everything. Even if you would ordinarily owe him your allegiance, he broke faith with you first. Aren't you angry?"
Vader turned to her, his fists clenching and unclenching, an old sign of the attempt to process strong emotion. "Angry enough to burn down the galaxy, Princess," he answered. "Which is what led us here in the first place."
Self-awareness and accountability, Ben thought. Anakin truly had grown up.
"Then let it lead us through to a better galaxy," she said. "I know your crimes are vast, and I can't offer you a pardon, but if you do this now, if you let us go and help us destroy the Death Star, that would surely count in your favor when the reckoning comes. And I assure you, Lord Vader, it is coming."
He reached out and touched her cheek, the black leather obscene against the pink of her sunburn, but she didn't flinch. "With you at the head of it, Your Highness?"
She smiled viciously. "And Luke at my side."
To Ben, it felt like the entire galaxy held its breath as the man who was once Anakin Skywalker once again stood on the cusp of a decision that could save or damn them all.
Vader bowed his head and said, in as low a voice as his vocoder allowed, "The men here are loyal first and foremost to me. I will let you go, but you must learn to shield yourselves from the Emperor. I will not let him have my children, too."
"Come with us," Luke said, and then added shyly, "Father."
There was a definitely lurch in the Force at that, and to Ben it felt clearer and lighter than it had in years.
"Not now, my son," Vader answered and the Force conveyed all the emotion his voice could not. He inclined his head to Leia. "My daughter. But if I can, I will."
"Soon," Luke said, reaching out and clasping Vader's hand.
"Soon," Vader echoed, squeezing Luke's hand and reaching for Leia's. She allowed it after a minute hesitation, and closed the circuit.
"Well done," Ben murmured.
Vader shot him a look that was probably murderous beneath the mask, but it was mitigated by the fact that he still held his children's hands.
Too much still lay between them to ever fully heal, Ben thought, but this was a start.
"Let's go," Leia said, breaking the moment. "There's still so much to be done."
Luke reactivated Threepio, and with the droids trailing behind them, led Leia to the garage that housed his speeder. Ben lingered for a moment, taking one last chance.
"I'm proud of you, Anakin. For whatever it's worth."
He was at the door when he felt a nudge in the Force. "Not enough, Obi-Wan, but I'll take it. Keep my children safe and we may revisit this conversation at a later date." Vader hooked his hands in his belt. "Now go before I change my mind about killing you."
Ben went, and he and the galaxy both breathed out in relief.
end
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