A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 92

"Are you alright?" Anakin asked as he helped pull Luna to her feet.

"Fine," Luna said as Padmé check her over.

"Thank goodness, we were worried," the woman said.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad you found me before some guards did."

"Well, now that we've found you, I think we need to get going," Anakin said. Luna frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"The Jedi Council wants to see you," Padmé told her.

"Uh, more Obi-Wan wants you to see the Council, assuming they'll feel like seeing us. This entire time travel thing created a huge ripple in the force, and from what Obi-Wan said, no one knows it was us," Anakin explained.

"Are you sure it was the time travel that caused it?" Luna asked. "If they didn't realize you were gone, then maybe the Force tried to design it so no one would notice which would mean...." Her face began to pail, remembering her far too near encounter with Palpatine. "I'm the ripple."

"Is that possible?" Padmé asked.

"I don't know. I don't have the advantage of an omniscient third person point of view like I usually do for this stuff! When you appeared on Earth, there was a flash of light and a disturbance. If there was no reason to really 'transport you' because of this timeline maybe being 'frozen,' then the only person that was really moved anywhere was me."

"So, you are the disturbance?" Anakin asked.

"I don't know! I'm not the Force! I don't know how this is supposed to work!" Luna said, trying to calm down as she began to freak out. If she was the ripple, if she was the disturbance, then Palpatine would be onto her faster than a killer bee....

Who was she kidding? Even if she wasn't the disturbance, it was more than likely that the disturbance would be pinned on her.

"This is bad. This is very, very bad," Luna muttered to herself as she began to pace, nervously fiddling with her necklace.

"Hey, calm down," Anakin told her, putting a hand on her shoulder and forcing her to stop. "We don't know if that was you yet. And even if it was, nothing bad is going to happen."

"Anakin, there's a Sith Lord running this thing. I don't think he's going to just look over a disturbance in the Force."

"Yes, but there's no way he's going to immediately be able trace it back to you. Calm down."

Luna nodded, trying to calm her beating heart. She mentally noticed that she wasn't anywhere near this scared of Vader, even when she had been fighting him, and was already panicking about the Sith's master without even meeting him.

She needed to get her act together. Immediately.

Luna took a deep breath, forcing herself to breathe calmly.

Come on, it's not like Palpatine is right here. You're freaking out about nothing. He doesn't know you're a threat yet. Until then, you are safe, she told herself, eventually managing to calm her racing heart.

"Right, sorry," Luna said, mentally wincing at how much of a wimp she was being.

"It's alright," Padmé reassured her.

"Hey, look, if you want to skip the Council for today, we can do that," Anakin told Luna, easily seeing how worried she still was at the prospect of the entire disturbance being traced back to her. "I can comm Obi-Wan and tell him you're not up to it."

Oh, how appealing that suggestion was, but Luna shook her head.

"No, I should probably see the Council anyways," she said. "Even if I'm not the disturbance, we probably should still tell them about me and what I know."

"Obi-Wan doesn't think it's wise to tell them we time traveled," Anakin said.

"We don't have to," Luna replied, placing the mask of a brave and determined girl on her face, trying to convince both them, and herself, that she knew what she was doing. Anakin nodded, knowing that while Luna didn't usually think through her actions, she usually had a plan when it came to explanations.

"Alright, then we should probably get going," he said, hugging Padmé one last time. "I'll see you later, Angel."

"Take care, and invite Obi-Wan to dinner while you're there. We are going to have a lot to talk about," Padmé told them.