For those of you who are reading "Never Let Go," let me give an apology. While I do intend to finish it, I have run into a very stubborn writers block, and am uncertain as to when I will be able get the next chapter up.
Secondly, I am currently juggling college assignments right now, so updates on any story may be a bit unpredictable. Again, I apologize.
Touch Me Not
"Boy! Get in here!" Anakin sighed at the sound of Watto's gruff voice and dropped the wrench onto the dusty floor of the shop. The droid's lifeless eyes stared at him as though it was complaining that he had yet to be fixed. "Anakin!"
"Coming!" He jumped to his feet and ran outside to where his master hovered in the air, talking to another customer. Anakin approached carefully; there was something that he did not like about this one, but he could not figure out exactly what was wrong. Maybe it was the way his dirty cloak covered his image. Maybe it was the glimpse of withered skin underneath his hood. Or maybe it was the gleaming hatred and ill intent in his eyes when he turned and stared at Anakin as he approached.
"Anakin, mind the store." Anakin watched as Watto and the stranger got into a speeder and disappeared from view as they headed off to what Anakin assumed was another pod race. He shrugged his shoulders and went back inside to continue working on his droid. He settled down in the dust and picked his wrench back up.
"Someday, I'm going to leave this place." The droid's lifeless shell stared back at him expressionless. "They'll soon see. Mom and I will be free someday, and I'll be a hero." Still the droid silently stood there as he worked on him. "You know why? Because I'm going to set all the slaves free! And I'm going to be the greatest pod racer there ever was!"
"That's very ambitious for a five-year-old." Anakin jumped but then realized that it was the man standing in the doorway and not the droid that had spoken.
"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."
The man chuckled. "Quite all right."
"And I'm six- I think."
The tall, plump man stepped further inside and displayed a brilliant smile. His white hair gleamed with what little sunlight entered the shop. "Tell me, son, what's your name?"
"Anakin." He stood and came closer to the man.
"Ah, Anakin-"
"But my mom calls me Ani."
The man nodded and took a good look around before fixing his eyes on Anakin again. "Well, Ani, you can call me E.G. This is a very nice establishment you have here."
Anakin giggled. "It's not mine, Sir."
"Ah, just a place for a little down time I see?" He gave Anakin a charming look and with a twinkle in his eye, proceeded to walk around looking at the piles of junk that lined the walls and floor. "Perhaps you can help me anyway, eh?" E.G. turned his smile towards Anakin.
"Well I can certainly try."
E.G. handed him a pad. "I'm missing this part for my ship- well actually my crewman swallowed it, but that's a very long story."
Anakin's eyes widened with wonder when he read the specifications. His first impulse was to ask how the man had managed that, but he stopped himself. Watto all but forbade him from small-talk with the customers and he was already being very friendly with this man. But E.G. seemed nice and Anakin felt that it would do little harm to handle the transaction himself. "I think I can find it for you."
"That, young man, I would view as a great achievement." E.G. laughed as he gestured at the disorganized piles of parts. Anakin laughed brightly with him and began searching. It did not take long for him to find it- he knew where almost everything in the shop was- and in less than five minutes he returned and placed it in the man's hand. "Well, I must say, Ani, I am impressed."
Anakin grinned. "No problem, Sir."
"How much will it be?"
Anakin shrugged. He was never the one to decide that, Watto always did the negotiating. "I'm not sure, to be honest."
"Well, I'll just make a guess. Cup your hands." Anakin did as he was told and E.G. poured a few credits into his hands. "There that should more than cover it."
"Thank-you, Sir." Anakin ran over to the counter and jumped up on top of it to put them away. He turned back around.
"Well, young man, I'm afraid I must be on my way. I have allot to do before I leave tomorrow." E.G. held out his hand to Anakin who was still standing on the countertop. "It's been a pleasure."
"It was very nice to meet you too." He gave Anakin his charming grin one last time and turning around slowly walked out the door. Anakin jumped down and headed back to the droid he had been working on.
"Such a nice man, wasn't he?" The droid still did not answer. Anakin occupied himself for a while with the droid until Watto came back a couple of hours later. He came hovering in with a crestfallen look on his face. Anakin immediately knew that the race must have not gone well.
"Are you finished with that?"
"No, I-"
"Finish it tomorrow." Anakin jumped up and started out the door to go see his mother, but just at the threshold, he stopped. Something did not seem right.
He turned around. "Watto, what happened?" His master did not even turn to look at him.
"It doesn't concern you."
"But you've had bad bets before..." Anakin felt compelled to step a little closer, "...and where's that man you were with?"
"Go home, Anakin." There was something in his voice, or perhaps the lack of something, that kept Anakin's feet planted.
"You lost allot, didn't you?" Watto turned around this time and hovered closer to Anakin.
"I won. Now go home." Anakin stared at him. He won? Then why was he so upset? "Now!"
Still confused, Anakin turned around and dashed out the door. After a couple of blocks, he slowed his pace and dragged his feet in the sand, watching the lighter particles kick up into small dust clouds that hit against his legs as he walked. He amused himself in this manner for a while and just as the first sun was sinking into the horizon, Anakin stepped into the doorway of his home. "Mom! I'm back!" No answer came. "Mom?"
Anakin stepped into the kitchen and gasped in fright. "Mom!" He rushed to the side of his mother's still figure that lay on the floor. With trembling hands, he shook her. "Mom, wake up." An uneasy feeling washed over him, and looking up, he saw the man that had been with Watto earlier step from around the corner. "What have you done to my mom?"
"I would be more worried, boy, about what I'm going to do to you." Anakin instinctively wanted to run, but he could not leave his mother here, so he stayed on his knees by his mother's side. "Your master has caused me a great loss, and I am going to do the same to him." The old man started for Anakin and grabbed him around his ribcage.
"Stop, let me go!" Anakin struggled against the man, but as frail as he may have looked, the stranger was quite strong and carried Anakin into his own bedroom with ease. Tossing him down onto the bed, the man turned the frantic boy over onto his stomach and pinned him down. "Let me go! You're hurting me!" Anakin coughed as the man leaned his knee into his back, adding unnecessary pressure to his lungs. "Mom!"
"Hold still, little one." Tears of pain rolled down Anakin's cheeks as he felt his arms being pulled awkwardly behind his back to be bound by rough ropes. His legs were securely tied together as well, yet the weight of the old man remained on top of him.
"Please, it hurts." Anakin felt cold metal against the back of his neck and as the sharp edge started to dig in, blood ran down his skin. He thought that he was certainly going to die now and sobbed uncontrollably as the knife continued to cut into his flesh. But it stopped and the man laid the knife down. For a moment all he could feel was the warm, sticky blood on his neck and the pain from the fresh cut.
A shrill scream escaped Anakin's throat when the stranger inserted his finger into the wound. He renewed his efforts to escape the man's grasp. "I almost have it, boy." With that, the stranger inserted his thumb as well and tugged at something in Anakin's flesh. A few more seconds, and then all at once, the man had removed his hand from the wound and lifted his weight from the shaking child's body. Anakin let the tears flow freely down his face and buried his nose in the covers. "See, boy." When Anakin did not look up, the stranger turned the boy's head so that he could see the gleaming metal chip that he held in his bloodied fingers. "You are no longer bound to Watto." Anakin stared at the slave chip. This is not how he envisioned freedom.
The stranger laughed and threw back his hood. His hair was sparse and white. The man's eyes had grown bloodshot and his wrinkled skin was deathly white. The entire visage sent chills down Anakin's spine. "Freedom comes at a price though."
Anakin flinched and buried his tear-burned face back into the bed as the man leaned over him. A cold liquid was poured over his wound and a burning sensation throbbed through his neck. More weak cries escaped his lips only to be muffled by the position of his face. He could perceive that it had done something to close up the cut, but that did not change the fact that it hurt. Anakin was abruptly flipped over onto his back, crushing his arms beneath him. "Please, stop." His plea was weak.
"It will all be over soon." The man laid both hands over Anakin's chest and pressed down. "You have an innocent child's heart. That doesn't do a person much good." He pressed down harder. The pressure was so great that it left Anakin struggling for even a small breath. "You will have the heart of death." Again he increased the force against Anakin's chest, depriving him of any ability to breathe. "Everything you touch from now own will die, until it overcomes you. Then you yourself will become part of the ground." The man's hands lifted from him, and even though he could now breathe, there was a strange, uncomfortable weight still remaining in Anakin's chest.
The stranger rolled the boy over again and undid the ropes that bound him. Anakin was too stunned to move, and leaving him in that state, the stranger disappeared. Anakin was uncertain as to whether he had walked out or simply vanished. He thought little of it and wondered if he was not dead, or if it had all been a nightmare. But the weight was still heavy in his heart, and he concluded that not only was it real, but that he was also very much alive. Yet so lifeless.
It felt as though he had been laying there for hours when he heard his mother's weak voice calling him. "Anakin?" A new energy entered him and he sat up.
"Mom!" There was only a few seconds delay before he saw his mother in his doorway. Fresh tears rain down his face. His mother rushed to the bed where he sat and she fell on him, showering him in kisses.
"Oh, Ani, are you okay?" He nodded and her touch seemed to temporally alleviated the weight in his chest.
"Mom, I'm so scared." She suddenly fell limp in his arms. Panicked, he pushed her off of him and her lifeless body rolled over onto the bed beside him. The stranger's words rang in his head. "Mom! Mom, I'm so sorry!" He screamed out his apologies to her and laid his head into his small hands, weeping uncontrollably.
"Is everything all right?" Anakin looked up and saw E.G. walking towards him. Upon seeing Anakin's mother lying still on the bed, he leaned over her and started to check for a pulse. "I was walking by when I heard you cry out." A solemn look came over his face when he realized that she was dead. "What happened to her?" The merry smile was completely absent and a look of deep concern was all that filled his face.
"I- it was an accident! I didn't know!"
"Calm down, and tell me what happened." E.G. stretched out his hand to lay it on Anakin's shoulder.
"No!" He jumped back and scurried over to the corner of the bed. "Don't touch me!"
"Ani, I'm not going to hurt you." Again, he tried to lay a hand on him to calm the boy, but Anakin shrieked for him to stop.
"If you touch me, you'll die!"
"Ani, don't be ridiculous." This time he succeeded in taking hold of Anakin's arm but when Anakin struggled to get away, he released him. "All right, all right. See? Nothing happened." But just as he finished speaking, E.G. fell to the floor.
Anakin's eyes widened in horror. "I'm so sorry..." He lifted himself from the bed and ran out the door of his home and started running for the edge of the city as quickly as possible. He hastily decided that he could not be near people for fear of accidentally killing someone.
He dashed through the streets until he reached the outskirts of the city. With one last look at civilization and a whispered farewell to his deceased mother, Anakin made his way into the wilderness of the desert.
Now Tatooine is a very hostile place, and few can survive without protection from the elements and nourishment for the body. But Anakin was a creative young boy and very resourceful. Fearing to go near civilization- even that of the Tuscans- he hid himself in the ranges of the rocky mountain cliffs. Watto assumed him to be dead upon finding Anakin's mother's and the old man's bodies the next day, so Anakin was left to survive as best as he could. And for over a year he fared well enough on his own, but guilt plagued him and little hope was left for the future.
In the political center of the galaxy, there was a senator whose plans were less than noble and whose relationship with the Force was one of malicious intent. He was a talented actor but one with a dark soul. Contrary to the common belief of those who speculated about the Sith at the time, he did have one, but it did not have a need for love by the normal definition. Everyone needs love, a soul would die without it, but what it is and how it is expressed is by definition of the person. Natural love can be perverted but, by no means does a personal definition make a thing right, for few would agree that the pain of others should bring pleasure. That the destruction of a human's heart was a beautiful thing. That the ripping someone apart emotionally was to be gratifying. That someone kneeling at command out of pure fear is love.
It would be wonderful to say that he would never cross paths with Anakin, but as cruelty would have it, Senator Palliative happened to feel a developing beacon of the Force, and set out to find it before the Jedi felt it.
It would be wonderful to say that, when he did find Anakin, the boy would have enough sense to flee from him, but the burden of the death of two wonderful people is such a hard thing to bear. A promise of control over his Force powers as well as a promise of overcoming his "disease" –even making it useful- can be very appealing to seven-year-old who has been alone for so long.
It would be wonderful to say that a boy with such dangerous powers was not taken under the wing of someone so vile as Darth Sidious- but things are not always wonderful.