Beyond the Surface
by Rose Aislin.
Summary: A sequel to Invisible Friends, Luke's grown up, his Aunt and Uncle are dead, and he's finally made it off Tatooine. But where does this leave his relationship with Ani?
Rating: PG / T (probably more of a G, really, but considering it deals with Star Wars, which is itself rated at least a PG....)
Warning/s: none
Disclaimer: Star Wars, it's characters and plotline belongs to George Lucas, and I'm pretty sure whoever else helped make the films may have some claim as well. I don't. This fic is written entirely for entertainment purposes. No money has, is, or will be gained from this fic.
Beyond the Surface
Nineteen - part one
Luke grew older, as all people do, but despite the passing of years, he never gave up on his relationship with Ani. Often, at night, when the twin suns had set beyond the horizon and it was dark and silent, he would lie awake in bed, talking to his friend. To his father.
Not that Ani had ever confirmed Luke's suspicions, but he had never denied them either, and that, Luke thought, was as good as a confirmation.
And so life continued, in that horribly monotonous way that it does at times, and Luke chafed against the restrictions which Uncle Owen placed upon him, against the requests that he stay longer, stay at the farm.
But Ani never had all that much to say about Uncle Owen's restrictions. When Luke complained about them he would go strangely silent, and Luke would wonder if there was something wrong, or if Ani thought he should be grateful to his Uncle, or that he should stay and help.
Sometimes, Luke would feel that Ani was hiding something from him. That when he went silent like that it was because he was afraid. Luke didn't understand what Ani could possibly be afraid of.
Unless he was afraid that Luke would leave Tatooine only to meet his death � much as his father had. Because Luke wanted to be a Starpilot, just like his Ani, just like his father. And, if the few hints he had gotten from Uncle Owen were correct, then it was being out in space that had killed his father.
So perhaps Ani didn't want him to meet the same fate.
At the same time, Ani never forbid Luke from leaving either, and there would sometimes be a curious thrill of anticipation shooting through Luke when he thought about leaving, about exploring the galaxy, that he knew was not his own, and belonged to Ani.
So he waited, helping Uncle Owen around the farm, and longing for a time when he could finally leave, and learn to fly, just like his father.
By the time that Luke was nineteen, he was more than ready to leave. But he wasn't ready for the harsh realities of life that were dealt to him that year.
When Uncle Owen had purchased a couple of droids off some Jawas, he had been excited to be able to analyse how they worked and discuss possible improvements with Ani, his mind already whirring with possibilities.
But he had not been prepared for what he had gotten.
The flickering blue figure of a princess, in his home, asking for help, was far beyond even the crazy dreams he would tell Ani at night when he couldn't sleep. So of course it was cause to call out to his father. Only his father was busy.
So Luke ended up going off after the wayward droid on his own � well, as much as he could ever be on his own with his father's presence always in the back of his mind. It had felt wrong, somehow, to be taking what his instincts were screaming at him was an irrevocable step towards his future, a step that would set things in motion that he could never take back. And to be taking that step without any input from his father.
But Luke was, while young, old enough to be able to rationalise things, and, raised by Owen, had often had such an approach to life forced upon him. Dreams and fantasies held no place in the harsh life of a moisture farmer on Tatooine. Even if he was the best bush pilot around.
And without Ani around to encourage Luke to listen to those feelings, he ended up rationalising them away. After all, what could going after the droid possibly result in?
When Luke felt the gaffi stick of the Tusken Raider hit him that first time, he had immediately started to call out in panic to his father, before abruptly cutting that thought off. He wasn't sure exactly why he'd stopped, what made him freeze up and stay silent. He only knew that calling for his father's help would be the wrong choice in this instance.
Perhaps, he mused later, in the deep of space, when there was time to think, his hesitance had resulted from the muffled anger he had always felt from his father whenever he had mentioned the Tuskens in the past.
It was the first time that he stopped himself from crying out to Ani for help.
When Luke met Old Ben once more and got to talking with him, and found out that Ben had known his father, he had been ecstatic. For one, wild, moment, he had considered telling Ben about Ani. About how he could talk to his father still, despite his death.
But something about Ben, a sadness that seemed to linger around him, or perhaps it was the age lining his face and dampening his eyes, made Luke hesitate. And then that feeling, the one he had always had in the past, that no-one must ever know about Ani, had re-asserted itself, and so he kept silent.
His conversation with his father had been brief that evening, a mere swapping of emotions and trust and love, without words, as Ani had been rather preoccupied. And Luke got the feeling that he would be quite busy for some time.
When Luke first felt himself lift up in a spaceship for the first time, he closed his eyes, savouring the moment, despite the fact that it was in a bucket of bolts that looked as though it would fall apart at any moment.
He'd wanted to share his excitement with Ani, but his father was busy once more, and couldn't spare him much more than a fleeting caress and slight amusement at his excitement. Luke wondered if Ani even realised why he was so excited.
So he contented himself with recalling the feelings that Ani had sent him of the first time he had flown, immersing himself in them and comparing them to his own.
When Old Ben first started teaching Luke about the force, he felt a slight tingling run all over him, and had the sudden, brief thought that he already knew all this. But that was silly, and he dismissed the thought, as while much of what Ben was saying fit into things which his father had spoken about in the past, he couldn't remember his father ever mentioning the force to him before.