Title: A Twist In Fate.
Rating: PG.
Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff.
Genre. Angst/fluff.
Pairings: None.
Warnings: I majorly played with the SW Prequel timeline. Past character death. Possible OOC-ness.
Summary: Due to certain circumstances, Obi-Wan did not complete his training under Qui-Gon. Making a decision, he joined the Jedi Agricorp and has been living a quiet life. Years later, he receives a surprise he wasn't expecting. (Not like that.)
Author's Note: "TPM" happened, just differently, as you will see. WIP because I'm currently working on another piece. But this one will be updated regularly for I don't plan to turn it into an epic. I hope. I also don't know too much about the JA books, so any mistakes in the time line/places is mine. Also, if anyone could suggest a good reference for SW stuff, I'd appreciate it. Unless no one minds my using Earth animals, plants, et al.

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Strangely enough, if one had thought to ask Obi-Wan what the defining moment of his life was, he would not have answered that it was the sound of gut wrenching weeping from a child whose tears fell as though his world was closing around him, strangling him, and the child couldn't do a thing to stop it.

Yet, it probably should have been for that had been the moment that Obi-Wan began to live again.

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Obi-Wan opened his eyes and blinked, pushing the covers back. Shaking off his weariness, he rose and did a few simple katas, pushing the feeling of the loss of Mater Qui-Gon Jinn out of his thoughts. Like every other Jedi, they had felt the loss of the great Master. They had mourned but also rejoiced for he had gone the way of them all and had found his place within the flow of the Force.

Of course, Obi-Wan had felt that blow more keenly than the others on Bandomeer for there had been a time when they had been Master and Padawan. That changed on the mission to Melida/Daan. He had made a grievous mistake, hurting his Master and fellow Jedi deeply. Though he knew that Qui-Gon would've accepted him back after he had shown proper repentance for his mistake, he did not feel that it was right to rejoin the Jedi Order.

Instead, he chose to follow the path he'd originally been placed on before becoming Master Jinn's Apprentice.

Obi-Wan left Coruscant and joined the Jedi Agricultural Corps. It was both an attempt to assuage his guilt over the wrongs he had done against his fellow Jedi. And a way to seek solace for trying to be what he obviously could not be, a true Jedi for he had neither the patience nor control over himself to do what was right.

But this morning, as he stretched, he felt something in the air that had him pausing in his exercises. Tilting his head, he listened intently. For all of this, it was not his hearing that became aware of the change. The air seemed extraordinarily charged.

Alive.

Awake with the Force.

So heavily did it hang in the air that Obi-Wan fell to his knees, arms wrapping about himself until he could regain his center. Rising to his feet, he grabbed his thick Jedi robe and put it on, warding his body against the chill. He walked out into the mist filled morning, noting the way the sun glinted off of it like diamonds.

It was going to be a beautiful day. Inhaling the fresh, crisp air, he shook his head at his unusually poetic thoughts. Standing there, he just let himself enjoying the morning's dewy newness-then heard a faint cry.

No, he thought with growing, dawning horror, almost deafened by the sound of the pure pain he heard in the cries. It touched his heart and softened it for he knew that keening sound well. He had made that same sound when he felt Qui-Gon's last caressing touch upon his mind.

It was the sound of someone whose heart was dying. Someone who didn't want it to stop or go away for that would mean that they felt they no longer had the right to exist.

Breaking into a run, he headed for the sound, noting the oddly beautiful ship that had landed in the field. Idly noting that it would be a day's work, if not more, to remove it. Glancing inside, his heart stopped beating for a moment as his eyes landed on the Jedi child, curled up in the pilot's seat. The child made no move, though he must've been able to feel his arrival in the Force.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes against the pathetic sight of the boy before him. Heart clenched in his chest, he studied him as dispassionately as he was able to, though the cries of the child were echoed in his soul. He could feel the pain as if it was his own for he knew that it was his own. The only difference was that he did not have the luxury to shed any tears.

A tiny body for all the strength he possessed, wrapped up in a thin robe of pale brown. Traces of blood colored what showed of the white undershirt and he wondered what could have happened for he could sense that no injury had been done to the boy himself.

The blond hair that had begun to darken into a golden brown, bore the signs of a Padawan Learner's cut, he noted absently before his gaze sharpened. With something akin to empathetic dismay, he saw that where the boy's Padawan braid should have been, there was nothing but a few ragged strands of hair, revealing that the braid had been cruelly severed.

By the boy's hands or another's, Obi-Wan wasn't sure.

He wasn't sure it even mattered.

There was only one fact that remained clear to his mind. This was a child who had somehow found his way to their world, seeking something Yet, he could not have been sent away as unfit for continued training for he had obviously had a Master. If he had had one Master, surely this child could gain another one. The outpourings of the Force from him would allow for no other solution. The Jedi Council would not have sent him away, especially so young.

He couldn't have been more than twelve years old.

Wrenching sobs shook the tiny body and Obi-Wan stood there, uncertain of what to do for him. The feel of the child's Force held him captive, immobile. He had never been very good with children, had never known what to do with them for all his empathy training.

Nevertheless, he couldn't remain here, listening to the sobs of a child. A child whose world had suddenly been ripped from his hands.

Reaching in, he grasped the sides of the ship's doorway and pulled himself in, waiting for some kind of defense to kick in. When nothing happened, he gave a great sigh of relief and relaxed, turning his attention towards the boy. Slowly, with an aching kind of precision, he moved towards the child and rested a hand on his shoulder. The child looked up, beautifully haunted blue eyes drowning in tears as they searched his before launching himself into the arms with desperate strength.

Tears flowed even faster as they tumbled down to the ground.

Stunned by the desperate strength behind the embrace, Obi-Wan found himself wrapping the boy securely in his arms. The child was shaking freely now, as though with his touch, Obi-Wan had set him free to let go of the tight control he'd had over his emotions. He realized, with a sense of apprehension, that it was not just the tears that were causing the boy's fierce shakes.

The child was chilled to the core.

Instantly, he tried to push him away momentarily to free his robe so that he could wrap it around him but the boy practically shrieked in terror and he gave up the effort.

Obviously, the boy had no intention of letting him go, no matter how frigidly cold he felt.

Having the sickening feeling that he had become the boy's lifeline into sanity and life, Obi-Wan began to run his hand through the hair as tenderly as possible. Rocking him gently in his arms, he soothed him as best as he could with his soft voice, speaking in a singsong manner, much as he would a wild animal.

After sitting on the cold, unyielding ground for what seemed like hours, he felt the boy's tears still and the sniffing begin. He silently groaned as he felt that nose rub against him but allowed it without complaint for there was nothing else to be done. What were clothes when a child's welfare was at stake anyway? The crying jag and its after math finally over, Obi-Wan felt the body slump into his arms, the boy a dead weight.

Oh, if only Master Jinn could see me now, he thought with a silent, sobbing laugh. Wouldn't he laugh, thinking that this was the funniest thing to happen to me since falling on my face in front of Master Yoda after tripping over Master Windu?

As carefully as he dared, Obi-Wan pushed off the ground, keeping one arm securely around the child. He ironically thought that it wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't. Dead weight or not, the boy had a grip upon him much like a clinging vine.

Taking care, he levered them both out of the vessel and onto the ground, making sure that each step was placed carefully onto the ground. The walk back towards the house was painfully slow but he felt no hurry or concern over it. All he could feel was a sense of imminent change in his life.

He wondered what he'd just gotten himself into. Much like Master Jinn, he believed that things happened for a reason. This child's arrival was no accident. It couldn't be. But what did it mean to him and the life he had here? Did it mean anything to him?

Shaking off the questions about the future, he entered the house and commed his neighbor, quickly explaining the situation.

Understanding the predicament Obi-Wan found himself in, the Twi'lek nodded, hiding a smile at the sight of the normally stern young man being used like a security blanket, and said he would take care of everything. He found it almost cutely endearing to see it. "Are you going to call the Jedi Council?"

Shrugging, shifting the child tenderly in his arms, he said. "I don't know. I suppose I will have to. But…have you heard anyone say that the Council was going to be sending a child here?"

"Nothing. Not even a whisper of warning within the Force. What are you going to do with him?"

"I don't know what I can," he sighed. "I'll just wait for him to let me know."

"Good luck," he wished him before saying a good-bye.

Turning towards his room, he stared contemplatively at his bed before sitting down, knowing it would be pointless to try to put the child down.. After a seconds reflection, he kicked back and leaned against the headboard, the boy tucked securely under his chin. The feeling of his breath tickled him slightly and he smiled, running his hand through the hair once more.

"What am I going to do with you, little one?" he whispered, keeping up the gentle caress.

TBC…I promise.