Chapter Text
Ben was a little annoyed that Reva sent a purge trooper in with the stormtroopers who had him. If she meant for him to be able to escape... why the purge trooper?
He got his answer when he knocked out one of the stormtroopers and the purge trooper took out the other. And then undid his cuffs.
Ben eyed him suspiciously, but he had bigger things to worry about. There was no time. If the purge trooper was willing to help him escape, then hopefully everyone would be safe. Ben didn't dare poke at his Force presence to double check, to even see who it was. He had heard rumors that the best of the best clones were still in service as purge troopers.
“Obi-Wan wait!”
The familiar voice of clones froze him in place. Ben took a deep breath in and turned around. He froze when he saw that it wasn't just any clone. It was Cody. His commander. Who had ordered others to kill him. Although... Obi-Wan had heard there had been something more to it than it appeared. And he had sensed something different about the troopers. A sense that was different around Cody now.
“Cody?” Ben asked. He stepped closer uncertainly. “Are you going to kill me?”
Cody tossed aside the helmet. “No. I'm here to help. What do you need?”
“Nothing, for now. If they followed my plan, everyone should be ready to go, we just need to board the ship too.” Ben eyed Cody cautiously.
“Don't worry. I'm a spy.” Cody waved a hand. “They know of my existence. Just not exactly who I am or where I go usually. We should go before Vader arrives. Although. Do you know why he's so focused on you?”
Ben grimaced. “Anakin.” He started jogging.
Cody fell into step with him. “Skyw-Oh. Yes, I see it now. He's actually changed surprisingly little for all that he's a lapdog for a tyrant now.”
Ben sighed. “I am not surprised.”
“Where have you been, Obi-Wan?”
“I go by Ben these days. And I have been on Tatooine.”
“The one place he would never look.” Cody chuckled. “Clever.”
“Oh, there is more than one reason for that, but I will explain another time. For now... we have a ship to board.”
“Right.”
.
Ben had less time to catch up with Cody than he would like. But they had their roles, their responsibilities as they always did. And Cody knew where to find him if there was the opportunity. It would have to be enough.
Ben did not realize what he had missed until after he had beaten Vader. He could not kill him. He was still too emotional, it still felt too much like revenge. And... it wasn't like Vader was armed. Killing him would be killing in cold blood. Ben could not allow himself that.
And there, sitting on his chair on his ship was Leia. She looked up at him with a serious yet innocent expression.
“I didn't want to wait and I want to know what's so important on Tatooine.”
Ben sighed and picked her up, sitting down with her now in his lap as he set off to Tatooine. “Your curiosity can be a great asset Leia, but one day, it might also be the cause of your death.”
“How can curiosity cause my death?”
“What do you think would have happened if Vader had noticed you hiding in here?”
“...Oh. But Tatooine is important. That's where you've been living but you're a Jedi. And it's connected to me? Somehow?”
“So intuitive. Yes, it is.” Ben resigned himself to letting Leia meet her brother. There wasn't really much choice now. He made a quick call to Cody to let him know that he had Leia and was heading back to Tatooine.
Leia was thankfully quiet the rest of the way to Tatooine, and listened to every word Ben said. She hid behind him as he hurried up to Owen and Beru, ready to join in the search.
“Who are we looking for?” Leia asked.
“For now, all you need to know is that his name is Luke. These are his aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. Beru, Owen, this is Leia Organa, her father, Bail Organa, Senator for Alderaan, requested my help when she was kidnapped and I didn't have time to get her home, on account of this.”
Beru smiled at the little girl, despite her fear for Luke. “It's nice to meet you, Leia.”
Any further talk was left to silence as Reva came out, carrying Luke. Ben let out a soft breath when he sensed the boy was still alive. She was still a Jedi at heart, as he had suspected. As A-Darth Vader had proven not to be, if he had ever been. Owen took Luke from her and hurried into their home to take care of Luke. Beru followed, taking Leia's hand. Both of them seemed to know that Ben needed a moment with Reva.
It took far too long for Ben to realize that Reva was injured. Once he did, he dragged her to the farm to request supplies. Owen and Beru reluctantly let her stay, so long as Ben did as well. She did attack them... but she also let Luke go.
By then, Luke and Leia were whispering together, getting on way too well for Ben's sanity. Luke had been the sane one of the pair. Leia was so much like Anakin it hurt, even if it was tempered by Breha and Bail and how they raised her. And her own intuition as to what people were thinking and feeling, a skill Anakin sorely lacked much of the time.
Ben left them to their scheming and hoped he didn't regret it as he took care of Reva.
Spoiler. He regretted it. But it also turned out for the best.
.
That night, Luke and Leia, though they didn't understand entirely, thought they understood enough. Luke lived with his aunt and uncle. Leia knew she was adopted. Their birthday was the exact same. Ben had stayed on Tatooine for years, until Leia needed help. But then he rushed back for Luke.
Their birthday was around when the Republic fell and the Empire rose. When the Jedi disappeared, but Ben was a Jedi. But instead of helping other Jedi, he was around Luke. And he was pretty pathetic when Leia met him.
Ten years old, knowing little of the Force, and without a clue that they possessed the gift, they pressed together and wished that things could have been different. That the galaxy could have been brighter, that the Empire never came to power.
Leia remembered how Ben was with that purge trooper with the strange scar around his eye. She wished they could be happy.
Luke remembered how kind Ben could be, when he thought it it was safe. He wished that they could all be safe, from the Empire.
Unknown to them, the Force responded to their request, as they were already drawing on it. It rose and rose, creating pressure. Luke and Leia didn't notice, still whispering their wishes for the galaxy, for Ben, for Cody (that was his name!), for themselves. They wanted things to be better.
Reva noticed the growing storm of the Force, and reached in, struggling to stay Light to try to guide it into a more stable form. She stayed Light, but she did not know what she was aiding.
Her additional touch of control was all that was needed.
.
Ben was jolted out of meditation by a storm of the Force, dragging him from his body unwillingly. Across time and space. Into himself. At the age of 35. Currently clinging to a cliff.
He allowed himself an undignified yelp as the details of this mission swam to his mind. Typical mission gone wrong, a mere three months before that fateful mission to guard Padme Amidala. They were requested to be bodyguards for some gardening event, and ended up being the targets of assassination themselves.
Hence hanging off of a cliff. Why that had to be the moment he came back to, Ben had no idea. But he would have to adapt. At least he wasn't so out of practice with the Force as he had been.
When he found his way to the ledge he had used the first time, he found his padawan already there, as expected. What was not expected was ten year old Luke peering over the edge with wide eyes. Anakin yanked him back, looking a bit panicked.
“I don't know where this kid came from, Master! He just was here suddenly!”
“It's alright, Anakin,” Ben responded automatically, on autopilot as his brain stalled out on his last memory of Anakin, screaming his name after claiming that Darth Vader had killed him. “I'll see what I can do, you find a way out of here. I trust that you can solve this problem?”
“Of course, Master!” Anakin grinned at him, pleased to be given the opportunity. He took off, climbing the cliff, looking for ways out without getting harmed or bringing Luke to harm.
Luke stared. “Ben? Who was that? Why do you look so young? Where are we?”
Ben sighed. “My name is actually Obi-Wan, no one called me Ben before Tatooine,” he admitted. “That was Anakin Skywalker, my padawan, my student. I don't quite recall the name of this planet, but we are a bit more than three years before you were born. Maybe close to four years.”
“Is he my...” Luke gasped, looking after where Anakin went.
“Yes, but I don't think it would be a good idea for him to know. Would you mind using Lars as your last name?”
“Lars... yeah. We do that a lot anyways.” Luke nodded, pouting a bit that his father wouldn't know him as his son.
B-Obi-Wan smiled at Luke. “Good. I'm not sure what is going to happen, us just being in the past like this will change things. But I'll try to keep you with me as long as I can. Hopefully the Council, the Jedi Council, that is, will accept you.”
Luke gasped. “I can be a Jedi?” Then he frowned. “But what about Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen and the farm?”
“I'm afraid we might be stuck in the past, Luke.” Obi-Wan sighed. “I don't think there is any way to get back. Time travel is not understood at all.”
“Oh.” Luke looked down. He took a deep breath, wiped the tear away from his face. “I can be a Jedi?”
“You can, if you work hard and listen. Being a Jedi isn't like being a normal person. You have to put your wants to the side for others. You don't have the room for emotions if you're a Jedi, not like you did on the farm. Being a Jedi is hard work, in many ways. Are you prepared to do that?”
Luke straightened and nodded seriously. “I can do it!” Then he deflated. “But I'm gonna miss Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen.”
Obi-Wan wrapped an arm around him. “I know. Just remember to let go of the emotion. It's like... deciding to stop feeling that emotion, but you have to let yourself miss them, acknowledge why you miss them and why you can't see them again, and then imagine the feelings flowing away.”
Luke made a face. “That sounds hard... but... letting go is a Jedi thing, right?”
“It is. It is difficult. I failed at it for ten years, after all. But it's also necessary. Not letting go meant that I wasn't letting myself heal. I don't want that for you.”
“I'll do my best then.” Luke nodded.
Obi-Wan ruffled his hair. “I'm sure you will.” He took a moment to reflect how much less he had to explain to Luke. To be fair the explanations were developed after years of attempting to teach Anakin. But Anakin still had many questions, many protests that he couldn't think that way. That he couldn't just not feel. Now, more than ever, Obi-Wan understood.
He had failed to recognize that the root of the problem was that Anakin was set in his ways, that Palpatine was often in his ear twisting words. That Anakin always wanted more than what people could give, and refused to accept that they could not give what he wanted and thought he needed. Obi-Wan was always doomed to fail and that hurt.
But that didn't mean Luke didn't stand a chance. That didn't mean that Obi-Wan couldn't do what he could to curb things with Anakin, here and now, though it might be too late, so close to the start of the war. So close to discovering the clones and Anakin marrying Padme. So close to when Anakin went on that murderous rampage of all of a single tribe, including the younglings.
Obi-Wan had heard the story, the legend, more than once from a Jawa, and had been lucky enough to hear it from a Tusken as well, relayed from one of the few survivors. They had dared kill one close to this person, and then a rampage with a glowing beam of death, hotter than the Tatooine suns.
Put that together with what he recalled of Anakin in the aftermath of Geonosis, what had been in Anakin's report... Obi-Wan easily believed it had been him. That Anakin had sunk so low, and Obi-Wan had dismissed the flash of Darkness as a passing thing at the time... but Anakin kept going Dark during the war, kept getting angrier, and Obi-Wan fell into denial, refusing to believe that the boy he raised could ever Fall. Not Anakin, not Ani.
But then Anakin had become Vader, and it all came crashing down. He had been too arrogant, believed too much in Anakin. He had tried to give Anakin all the validation he could, while still teaching lessons, and it wasn't enough. It might never have been enough.
“Um... how are we going to get down?” Luke asked nervously, pressing close to Obi-Wan, peering over the edge.
“I'm sure my padawan will come up with a solution,” Obi-Wan assured him, wrapping an arm around the boy. He thought, trying to remember what the solution was.
Oh, he and Anakin had ended up climbing down to the settlement below. It had been his own idea. Maybe allowing Anakin to come up with the idea himself would help in the long run? It was something to ponder.
Obi-Wan didn't know what to do with his padawan. He had just come to terms with the idea that Anakin had delved to deep in the Dark side and he was gone, leaving just Vader in his place. Had just started recognizing that it wasn't all his fault, that he had done his best to parent and teach Anakin, but Anakin just wasn't willing to take some steps, the ones that only he could do.
And now he had to try again. Unfortunately not from the beginning, but from a point where it was close to too late. From a point Obi-Wan wasn't sure would make a difference. While making sure Luke was properly cared for. Anakin would be jealous. But that was inevitable.
Anakin would always be jealous of someone taking up the time of someone he considered his. He would always struggle with the idea that he had to do things on his own, and seek validation from himself not an external source. He would always struggle with Obi-Wan's focus on anyone else.
Maybe having Luke would be good for Anakin. Or maybe it could force Anakin down the wrong path sooner. Either would be good, Obi-Wan reflected. Anakin had Fallen at the perfect time for the Empire to take over. When he was being relied on. If he Fell earlier... no one would expect him to be good at the pivotal moment, and that was for the best.
Anakin dropped back down onto the ledge. “There's no way we can go back up there. I don't think they even care about us, Master.”
“So it was purposeful, to get us here in the first place. Then there is no reason we cannot abandon the mission.”
“Oh, well, that is the smarter course of action.”
Obi-Wan chuckled and squeezed Anakin's shoulder. He had forgotten how easy it had been to be around his padawan sometimes. “Not everything needs to be fought to be a success. Now if up isn't a good place to go openly, what's the best solution?”
“I think there's a settlement down below. If we climb down, there should be a way off this planet. They shouldn't know about the assassination attempt yet, not unless they suspect we went for the cliffs instead of the forest.”
“Good thinking, Anakin. You'll make a good Knight yet.” Obi-Wan watched Anakin light up with the praise, and inwardly sighed. If he'd had a single criticism about Anakin's logic, Anakin would have crumbled like he'd torn it apart and would forget that there had been any praise at all. Obi-Wan wasn't sure there was any way to teach anyone with only praise. There really was nothing he could do, was there?
Luke peered down the rocks again. “What about me? I don't really know how to climb that good.”
Obi-Wan picked him up without a second thought and settled Luke onto his back. “There, now all you need to worry about his holding on. Besides, we have a faster way than just climbing down.”
“You do?”
Anakin nodded, grinning. “Watch!” He took a leap down to the next ledge, farther than a normal human should be able to go.
Luke gasped. “Whoa... you really are Jedi. I'll be able to do that?”
“If you train hard and listen to your teachers.” Obi-Wan joined Anakin, then jumped further down to the next safe place to land.
Anakin followed, and they alternated who picked where to go next. Anakin wasn't terrible at it, at least. There were a few times he picked a risky jump, but he succeeded with some wobbles, and Obi-Wan still made it easily.
And then they were on the ground safely, with no injuries, and no falling.
Luke was giggling in Obi-Wan's ear. “That was amazing.”
“I'm sure it was.” Obi-Wan smiled at him and didn't let the boy down as he and Anakin entered the settlement.
Thankfully it was easy to secure a way off the planet. Anakin teased Luke and Luke giggled back his responses, thrilled to secretly be getting to know his father, even a little bit.
Anakin was good with younglings. On a temporary basis, outside of Ahsoka. Whenever there had been longer stretches of time with a youngling, he got irritable and tired of sharing his master. Obi-Wan had tried to teach him better, but Anakin had never been interested.
The signs of Falling were all there, all the time. Obi-Wan just hadn't wanted to see it, and everyone else didn't really notice. Anakin had some problems, but they weren't enough to be real concerns. Aside from a few rare occasions when his people were involved.
As they settled into the transport, in the small compartment that was surprisingly cheap to get. Most of the transport was done in private compartments, rather than larger shared ones, and it was the cheapest compartment available. With Luke along, Obi-Wan was definitely taking the compartment. Anakin had no complaints about being able to stay away from people either.
“Why are we taking the kid with us again?” Anakin pouted once they were settled in the compartment.
“My name is Luke Lars!” Luke protested with an adorable glare.
Obi-Wan hid a grin. Watching Luke and Anakin was hilarious because they looked so much alike, were so similar and yet so different. He cleared his throat.
“Luke has nowhere to go, and he has enough Force sensitivity to investigate his suitability to the Order, particularly one of the Corps considering his age.” Obi-Wan knew there was no way Luke wasn't going to train to be a Knight but bringing Luke to the Temple at older than Anakin was... that was possibly going to cause an issue with Anakin. Better to make it appear like he didn't expect Luke to be accepted for training as a Knight.
Anakin frowned and poked at Luke with the Force. Luke jumped, looking around in confusion. He tentatively tapped back in the Force, not very controlled and very timid, but he did it.
“I see what you mean, Master,” Anakin sighed. “He's older than I was, though.”
“I know. We shall have to see what the Council says about this.”
“You're not going to toss me away from him.”
“Seeing as I know how much that hurts, no, I'm not.”
“How would you know?” Anakin protested.
Obi-Wan fixed him with a stare. “You do recall that Qui-Gon was ready to do that to me in order to see you trained, correct? I was only Knighted because of defeating that Sith, not so I could train you. Normally, it would've taken at least a month once it was decided I was ready for the Trials. I do know exactly how much it hurts and I was older and more ready to be a Knight than you.”
Anakin looked down. “Right. Sorry, Master.”
“It's okay, Padawan. Just remember that everyone experiences thing separately from you, and often differently because we are all unique.”
“I understand. What's going to happen if they don't want to let Luke even into the Corps?”
Obi-Wan hummed in thought, stroking his beard. “I believe they will arrange for him to be adopted and find a tutor to ensure he can control the Force and not get overwhelmed.” He wasn't about to let it happen, but that was generally the last resort plan. But they really did try to put older kids into one of the Corps if they were found late because that gave them a job, ways to train their control, but it didn't come with a lot of the expectations or dangers that would come if they Fell.
He would forever wonder if the Council had actually intended to put Anakin in one of the Corps when they refused to train him, but Qui-Gon had ruined any chance of ever finding that out. If Anakin was meant to be a Jedi Knight, he would have found his way to that path from the Corps, as happened on occasion.
Luke wiggled in his seat. “Tell me about the Temple?” He begged.
Anakin grinned and started chattering.
Obi-Wan was relieved for the extra time to think and plan this would give him. He thought Luke would stand a better chance of receiving training. Luke was a well adjusted child, with little issues admitting to his emotions. He would pass the tests. But who knew how the Council would react?
There was also the concern that getting Luke introduced to the Council was just a short term issue. Obi-Wan had a whole thirteen years of knowledge to think about. The war, starting just a few months from now. The Chancellor, the Sith. Dooku. The clones, Order 66. So much he had to consider.
And he had to be careful. The Sith-Chancellor was a master manipulator. He had many in his pockets. It would not be easy to find evidence that he was a Sith and had broken laws. Nor would it be easy to explain fighting him for no reason. No, he had to leave the Chancellor be and see if he could outsmart him. The Chancellor had a dejarik game going, but now, with time travel in the mix, it had turned into a different game.
.
Cody groaned and opened his eyes. What was that? He rubbed his eyes and looked around. His jaw dropped. This was Kamino. Why was he on Kamino? It had been destroyed by the Empire. But this was the storage room he often hid in to get some quiet time that no one would notice.
“Cody?” Leia tugged on his sleeve, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Your scar is gone.”
Cody reached up and felt his face. Yes, the scar was gone. He got his scar in the first month of the war, before he knew he could trust Obi-Wan. He had been terrified of what his general would say about it, terrified of what would happen if he had lost the eye... but it had all been for naught. That was when he knew he could trust the Jedi, at least a little.
“Cody? Where are we?” Leia asked quietly, uncertain in a way she was unfamiliar with.
“We're on an ocean planet called Kamino. I think the better question is when are we... this place is supposed to be destroyed, and I don't have my scar... I even feel younger.” Cody stretched and didn't feel the familiar popping of joints. It was strange.
Leia's eyes widened. “Does this mean I won't ever get to go home? I can't see my parents again?” she whispered, eyes watering.
Cody hesitated then hugged her. “I'm sorry, Leia. It seems like it. And we need to be careful. I have some things to tell you about me, and about Kamino. We're sometime before the clone war.”
“We're before I was even born?” Leia asked, wide eyed. “That's crazy!”
“You're telling me.” Cody sighed. He shifted so that he could sit with Leia in his lap. “I'm a clone of a bounty hunter named Jango Fett.”
“You're one of the clones? But I thought they all worked for the Empire!”
“Remember, the Empire doesn't exist yet,” Cody poked her nose gently. “I am a clone, yes. We were forced to work with the Empire due to how they... created us. Something in our brains. I got it out of mine eventually but not everyone was so lucky.”
“We can change that!” Leia exclaimed.
“It won't be that simple, Leia.” Cody then proceeded to tell her as much as he dared about how he was raised. About the double speed aging. Being raised for war. The fears of what would happen if they failed, the rumors of decommissioning meaning death and with clones never returning, it seemed likely, the experiments some squads underwent. The brutal training and expectations. Harsh punishments.
Leia stared at him with that considering stare. “Why don't we fight back? I don't belong here, you can't exactly hide me entirely. You know how to lead a war, and how to be sneaky. Can't you like... take over the entire facility?”
Cody stared at her, mouth slightly agape. “You... have a good idea. Now how to go about that... Do you want to continue to be known as Leia Organa?”
She shook her head. “My parents are well known, you know. Too many questions.” She still looked sad about that. “So I'll just be Leia until I figure something better out.”
“Alright. I think a rebellion is fine, but I need to get my brothers to warm up to the idea. And let them help me plan. Trying to plan it all myself and doing a great job would be suspicious and I am not explaining the future to them right now.”
Leia nodded. “Okay. Do I get to meet them?”
“I was planning on sneaking you around with me, so yes. Come on, it's about time I got to bed anyways.”
Leia took his hand and followed him through the white halls.
Thankfully, for Cody's internal freak out, no one saw them, as it was getting later. Most were getting ready for sleep.
This meant Cody had a few minutes to sort through how he felt. He had just met Obi-Wan for the first time since he had ordered him shot down. Then Obi-Wan went off to confront Vader so everyone could escape, and Cody lost Leia because she snuck onto Obi-Wan's ship.
And then... suddenly he was in the past, with Leia at his side. He could not let her know how emotional he was about this. She did not need to worry about him.
But he was freaking out, barely keeping it together. He would not be surprised if he burst into tears when he found his batch. Wolffe, forever changed by killing his general. Fox, who changed the moment he was posted to Coruscant, and yet who was one of the first clones to break free of the programming... who was executed. Bly, who killed himself as soon as he was free of the chip for killing his general. Ponds who didn't even make it to the end of the war.
Seeing them all together, having the chance to change all this for them all... it made Cody very emotional just at the thought. But he was going to have to be careful. They needed to preserve everything the longnecks had so that they could find the chips, so that they could start working towards helping the Jedi find and defeat the Sith.
Defeat the Chancellor. Oh kark. It had never fully clicked just how doomed they had been from the start. But now, in the past, with the Chancellor not the Emperor in charge of the Republic... Cody couldn't help but think that they had been doomed the moment the clone army was found, the moment the war started. Coming back from that, figuring out his intricate webs of lies... they would have had to stumble across it.
Cody walked up to the CC section, still holding onto Leia's hand. He glanced at the rows of stacked beds and decided he had never been more grateful that the CCs, the command class, had dorm style rooms. Something about it being better for their training to be leaders to have that privilege or something.
Regardless, it would help him keep Leia safe from notice. He ignored anyone staring at Leia. If he acted like he was doing something he should, hopefully they would leave him alone, and only question it among themselves. Leia drew closer to him at some of the looks she was getting.
While most were stunned to see a little girl who was not a clone with Cody, there were some who were suspicious of her presence. To be expected, but Cody squeezed her hand tighter, because Leia was just ten years old. A little girl in a strange situations with strangers glaring her down. No matter how tough and put together she appeared, she was still just ten.
Cody arrived at his dorm room. He stared at the numbers, his own in the middle. Technically, Ponds had decanted first, then Bly, then Cody. Wolffe and Fox had decanted at nearly the same time.
With a deep breath, he braced himself, told himself not to cry, and pushed open the door. Bly was laying on his bed, doing some reading from the small selection they were allowed for 'educational purposes'. Ponds was going over some diagram of things gone wrong during training. Wolffe and Fox were bickering and wrestling.
Ponds looked up, crossing his arms. “Where have you been Cody? Another few minutes and you would have been late for cur-Who's that?”
Leia half hid behind Cody, wrapping her arms around what she could reach. “I'm Leia.”
Cody patted her head, smiling slightly. “I found her when I was... out.”
Wolffe froze, staring at the little girl. Fox used the opportunity to flip out of the hold and pin Wolffe in a way that was near impossible to get out of. Then he stared at Leia.
Bly actually looked up from the book, gaping.
Ponds just raised an eyebrow. “A natborn girl? Here? Cody? What the hell are you thinking? Where did you steal her from?”
Leia stepped away from Cody and put her hands on her hips, glaring. “Cody is nice and I was lost. I don't have a family anyways, they're all gone. I'm staying here.” She went back to holding Cody's hand.
Ponds shook his head. “Well, it's you on the line if there's a problem, so I hope you've thought this through.”
Ah, that was right. Cody had forgotten. He had been top of the classes, but not completely serious outside of them. Before they were shipped out he got lectured severely by a trainer and started being far more serious, leading to him being known as one of the best and strictest commanders in the GAR. Even surpassing Ponds.
Ponds did not have the best grades, but he was the one who kept everyone in line. Even outside their batch. It was why he had been chosen to be General Windu's commander.
This meant that Ponds was not surprised Cody would be crazy enough to drag a little girl into the dorms to stay with them. It wasn't that unusual. But for the two months leading up to the war, and during the war? It would have been unusual for Cody to take such a risk without good reason.
He really had forgotten so much. But Cody put it out of his mind.
“I have. Don't worry about her, no one will notice.” Cody then started showing Leia around, introducing her to his brothers. He managed to snag a look at the date as they walked around, and was relieved to see that they were only three months out from the war. So not too far out from the Jedi finding them.
But maybe they could make things easier... if clones had the opportunity to relax before meeting their Jedi, they could cultivate close bonds with Jedi far faster than they had originally when they had been terrified to step out of line.
.
Reva sat up and looked around. Oh. Another one of those dreams. She looked at her hands. She was smaller than she usually dreamed.
With a sigh she resigned herself to playing out another day in the creche, as an initiate, before it got torn apart by betrayal. By clone troopers and Skywalker and Order 66.
It was nice to play with her clanmates again, nice to do all the normal Jedi things she had grown up with. It was a little weird, how realistic it was instead of dreamlike, but she went with it.
When anyone commented on how weirdly she was acting, she lied and said that she had slept poorly. If she was going to dream of it, she wasn't going to ruin it.
Then nightfall came. She went to bed, confused. No Order 66?
.
Reva yawned at the sound of her crechemaster's wake up call. She blinked sleepily, confused. She was still here? What was going on?
She played along in the dream again. It had to be a dream. Had to be. There was no other explanation.
But why was it so vivid? Why was time passing as normal instead of with dream logic? Where was Order 66 ruining everything?
.
Reva woke up the third day and pinched herself, yelping when it hurt. She wasn't dreaming?
She started shaking. This couldn't be real. She couldn't be in the past. But she could feel pain, nothing was like a dream here, and she was seven years old.
This was real.
...and if she was seven years old that meant the war was going to start soon if it hadn't already.
Reva laid back on her bed, making plans. She had to play the part of her initiate self. The nightmares and lack of sleep excuse would only get her so far. And she was not going to ever use the Dark side again. Not when she could help save everyone.
Just as soon as she had more information. As soon as she was certain of how she was going to proceed. She needed a solid plan before approaching anyone.
She knew most of the masters would believe her. Or at least treat her seriously. Btu she needed more. She needed to make changes. She needed to ensure that even if the war passed as it did before, even if Order 66 came to past, the younglings were safe. That they couldn't be killed in their own home.
By the time they were properly woken up, Reva had some plans. She was going to find out just when she was, and she was going to take time to get her head on straight. Meditating and all that. They weren't far in Force lessons yet, so she could get away with not actively using the Force. Which mean if she slipped up or her Force presence gave something away, they couldn't use it against her.
But most importantly, Reva was going to ensure that no younglings died like that. Never. Again.