Hello! First of all, English is not my first language, so mistakes are a common occurrence. First time posting here with some sense of decency to first review the whole chapter before putting it to be read. Here are some warnings.
Very AU.
Anidala... because it's too beautiful.
I've never seen "the Mandalorian", for reasons of things that will happen later.
I'm not a Star Wars mega nerd either, but I do research on wookiepedia to try to get my ideas in order.
insinuation of, but no lemon.
Yea... I think that's it. Have a good read.
"Taxes raised, Watto. Either you pay, or the Hutt men will come after you, understand?"
The figure wearing a hoodie and light clothes pointed one of the many fingers of his hand at the parts seller's face, the small flying insect, the size of a child, being apparent.
"Raised?! Again?! How will I keep two slaves, with taxes rising all the time?"
Said Watto, his wings flapping and beating a little more fervently. The loan shark barely cared, shrugging and turning to leave the shop, the sands of the dry deserts of Tatooine were already calmer, since the night was coming and the two suns were setting. With a murmur of anger, Watto flew above the balcony level and followed to the back of the store.
"Ani!" he shouted for the child.
Anakin Skywalker ran to the man in his possession in a certain hurry, letting some metal pieces fall by the wayside.
"What's up, Watto?"
"You heard the conversation with the loan shark, right?" the little blond boy of only seven, eight years old shook his head positively. "Good, 'cause now you'll be working overtime. You're gonna come in at 5:00 in the morning and leave at 11:00 at night. It's either that or I'm gonna have to sell or you or your mom to the Hutts."
A look of terror was born in Anakin's blue eyes. Being a slave to the Hutts is like saying you're food for some monster, even worse if you're a woman... Slowly and swallowing dry, Ani fervently shook his head, watching Watto murmuring to himself as he returned to the front of the store.
Rubbing some oil stains on his face and kicking the sand away, Anakin could only return to the pile of rubble the garbage collectors had brought in this morning, looking for anything that might be useful. Shmi didn't like the thought of her son coming home alone in the middle of the night. This is the worst time for such a young child to be out there. She would lose her floor if Anakin ever didn't come home. With this in mind, every night Shmi Skywalker would pick up her son at work, even if she had to make him dinner at midnight, after all, her shift at work ended only at 10 pm.
For a vague month, everything was stressful in the Skywalkers' life. Hard, but ordinary.
It was only half past eleven in the morning when Watto started buying the stacks of pieces the collectors brought to the store. Anakin, scratching his eyes sleepy, took every pile that was bought to the back of the store, the heavier, the more promising it was.
"I heard that the collectors are venturing far beyond Mos Espa. Has anything happened recently?" asked Watto with a cigarette in his mouth and passed a few credits to the current trash collector. Anakin running to take the huge bag of pieces, forcing his back and legs to lift all the weight and carry it to the back of the store.
"The Separatists and the Republic are fighting in the nearby systems, many pilots and ships are being blown up here. Some ships arrive in incredibly good conditions—only the Tusken who are being a plague in all of this."
"To compete with those pilanters is disgraceful. A tip from me is to buy a droideka; some smugglers are selling their carcasses and weapons in Mos Eisley for some time now."
"Could we have a droideka?" asked Anakin.
"Of course not. Those things are illegal in the Outer Rim, and keep quiet too."
Shouted Watto, bringing his cigarette. Ani snitched on it, going back to the back and starting to look for anything of possible value in the pieces. Separating the ones with wires, the ones with more metal, the ones with engines... Until, finally, his eyes caught one of the biggest pieces at the bottom of the bag, a source of curiosity as he examined it from afar. It didn't look like an engine, since it was so big, but it was too big to be any other part of a speeder... was it a part of a new ship?
Taking and pulling the large block of black iron, Anakin put it on the wooden table, a lot of dust being lifted with it, making he cough. He hates sand... Still, his curiosity made the hate wander, watchful eyes trying to understand exactly what this thing was...! Until, finally, he found two congruent buttons, one on each end of the metal box. Pressing them both at the same time, the cube split, proving to be a suitcase from the beginning... with a strange metal cylinder inside. Taking the cylinder and analyzing it, a feeling of familiarity with that thing appearing inside the boy. He's seen something like this before...
…! With a surprise, his thought reached an end; something like an imaginary lamp appearing above his head. That was a Jedi lightsaber! Like those in the stories his mother read to him! His gaze of pure veneration took away his sense of the real world and was only taken away when Watto had given a loud shout from the bench, frightening Anakin out of his world. Without thinking very hard, he hid the lightsaber inside his pants, moving his head from side to side in an innocent anxiety. Once that was done, he ran to the front of the store one more time.
"Are you going deaf, kid?! Take that bag over there and get the one of the other customer!"
He shouted in Anakin's face, who, frightened, nodded fervently, being quick to pick up the current customer's bag, walking a little more carefully so that the weapon inside his pants wouldn't fall off, being held only by the hook at its end. By much luck, the rest of the day passed without Watto noticing the lightsaber Anakin was hiding, and when the suns no longer showed and the winds were freezing, his mother appeared in front of the store, a sweet smile as she watched the little child cleaning some metal pieces.
"Mother!" said the child with a smile, dropping the piece and the cloth on the counter and running to her, just after noticing her there at the entrance.
"How are you, Ani?"
"Tired..." he let go, looking at Watto inside the store, counting his credits while he smoked a cigarette. The same soon realized he was being watched, making a "go away" sign with one of his hands, where Shmi made a quick measure, returning home with the child on her arms.
"What are we having for dinner tonight, mum?" Shmi's smile wavered with this.
"Today... I'm sorry, Ani. We won't have dinner again tonight."
"Oh... what a shame. Has the price of grain gone up again?"
"Yes, dear. Unfortunately it has."
"I don't understand. We both work so hard, but we have no food…" he said with a certain indignation in his voice, scratching his sleepy eyes.
"It's hard, Ani... But don't worry. The day we'll work less and eat more will come, all right? We just have to hold on.
"Okay, mom." snorted, the little hand under his belly, squeezing it tightly so that somehow the hunger would pass and the pain would take place. It wasn't working, though. However, the gesture reminded him that he was still carrying his lightsaber in his long, loose slave pants. "I stole something from Watto today."
"Another part for your pod? You know I don't like it when you steal, Ani! We're poor, not thieves."
"I know; but he made me start working harder, and yet I eat less than before. It's a little justice, isn't it?" gave his childish logic, which his mother could only sigh in a clear irritation.
"I'll show you when we get home!"
"Fine, but you have to promise me you won't be stealing from Mr. Watto so often. If he finds out, he might sell us out to the Hutts."
"He wouldn't do that, he already owes the Hutts. Without me, he'd be alone in the store, and he'd make a lot less money."
"But if he's not the smart guy?"
She joked, a sigh relieved when the door to her house came into view. Getting into the house, putting little Ani on the floor and locking the door was that routine Shmi knew very well. While doing so, Ani removed the large black and gray metal cylinder from his pants, carefully moving around, pointing the part where the blade would project away from his body. Finally, with a luminescent explosion, a greenish light erupted from the saber and rose for almost 80 centimeters in front. Ani's eyes glowed with how incredible the weapon was, but Shmi gave a sharp scream, a step backwards as she saw the weapon in her son's hands. "What's that, Ani?!"
"It's a lightsaber, mommy!" It swayed a bit, "voosh" noises making themselves with each swing. Something whispered at the foot of his ear; watch your movements. "a jedi weapon!"
"Is that... Is that what you stole from Watto, son?"
"Yes! And..." stopped for a second, that voice earlier quoted in your ear whispering once more... "And it was my destiny to find it."
"Is it real?" she's seen her son messing with a lot of dangerous things before. Explosive engines, shock charges that could fry brains... But a lightsaber? That's something she never imagined her child's little hands would hold.
"Yes, it is. I feel like it's real, Mommy. That's not amazing? With this saber, I can become a jedi! And if I become a jedi, then I can fight all the bad guys here and free all the slaves!" In a den of bliss, Anakin turned the blade back to the saber, vehemently embracing his mother, the hunger being just a distant memory in his head now. Without exactly a reaction to all this, all Shmi could do was hug his little child back. "I'll be able to be a hero to everyone, Mama..." whispered, head against the fabric of the dress.
"Yes Anakin... But, I want you to know first of all that you are my hero."
"Your hero?" Ani asked in confusion.
"Exactly. Without my little boy with me, mama could never live well." she said with a sweet smile on her face. Anakin didn't understand the full extent of this speech but, even if not looking directly into his mother's eyes, he felt... Happiness. Pride. Sadness.
"Are you sad, Mom?"
The question was a surprise, but Shmi just let out a slight laugh, her fingers running through the golden threads of her child's hair. Without answering for a while, Shmi took him in her arms, thinned by the lack of food, and carried him to the boy's room. Putting him quietly to bed, her brown eyes met Anakin's blues.
"No, Ani. As long as Mama has you, why would she be sad?" she played with the question, watching him scratch his eyes. Lack of sleep has begun to be part of Anakin's life for some time now, as has the increasingly frequent hunger. She hated being unable to give more, for Anakin deserved more.
"We have no food; we do not sleep properly and are slaves.."
"That's life, Ani. Ours. It's hard, but it doesn't mean it has to be sad. Living a hard, sad life is a lot more complicated than just one that's hard, don't you think"- played with it by tickling Ani's neck a few times, the lightsaber having been placed on the sandstone dresser next to the bed.
"I think so. But I still think you're sad... I felt it."
"Did you feel it? Do you have Jedi powers or what?" her little joke took one more laugh out of Ani. "Still, even the most powerful jedi must respect their mothers, and now I'm telling you it's your bedtime, so you're going to sleep."
"all right, I guess." saw the moment when Shmi pulled the sheet slightly torn to cover his little body, the pillow being shaken from the sand that clung to it.
"Sleep well, darling. Mama loves you." With the prolonged kiss on the child's forehead, Shmi got up from the edge of the bed.
"I love you too, mama. Good night." Whispered, the drowsiness picking him up more than he imagined, now that he was totally comfortable in his bed. Leaving the room quickly and turning off the light, Shmi gave her child one last kiss in the air, closing the door afterwards. In the quiet room, Anakin looked around him... The moonlight illuminated the large amount of sand floating in the air, irritating him. He hates sand.
... Push it away...
That voice in the back of his mind spoke, but Ani was too sleepy to call. Looking at the lightsaber with a yawn, Ani let himself be taken to the world of dreams. Strangely enough, no sand was flying in the air now.
.
.
.
You are not my Chosen One...
What?! Surrounded by a big nothing, Ani heard the same voice at the bottom of his ear... Now, however, it sounded as if it was coming from something in his front. But not even something existed. It was all... Nothing. Looking from one side to the other, really nothing was seen. The only question on his mind was; "What's going on?...".
But... you are the Chosen One of the Force.
As suddenly as he arrived, an aura had appeared in front of him. Green and calm. The voice carried no intonation that differed from sex. It was neither male nor female... It was a choir of voices. Carefully, Ani observed that aura.
Therefore, it is my obligation to prepare you for your future, Chosen One.
Finally feeling that he had vocal cords, Ani spoke.
- Chosen One... from Force?
Yes. You will understand in the future. Now, I shall begin your training.
- What will we train? And what exactly are you?
I am the crystal inside the lightsaber you found, Ani. I belong to a being called "Yoda." You will be trained, according to the Force, to reach a potential that no ordinary living being could achieve.
"A crystal... that communicates."
I speak by force; all Kyber crystals possess life.
"But I still don't understand exactly what we're going to train..."
Your training will be to control the Force that surrounds everything. Currently, the Force is out of balance, so you will have to balance it.
"Balance... Between what in the Force?"
Between the dark side and the light side.
"I'll train on which one?"
"This, fate will show you. Each side will be fed by your emotions, however you can choose which one to make stronger. While the light side uses feelings like peace and love, the dark side uses anger and resentment."
"And... which one is stronger?"
You choose which side you want to be the stronger one.
"Oh. I see."
Our training will begin with the most basic that a sensitive force can learn; meditation.
From that dream, Anakin began to learn about the "Force", taught by a living crystal. It may sound as crazy as possible, but in a child's mind there is nothing wrong with it. With his little free time, Ani meditated and sought to understand the Force more deeply, but finding it difficult to exactly feed one side with his feelings, just as he was confused between which side to choose. He became very angry at everything Watto did with him; his hunger made him resentful and only more hateful. However, he had a lot of love for his mother, and he felt peace when he fixed his Pod racer and improved it with new pieces. Out of his doubts, he decided that he would deliver all his emotions to the side he needed most; Kyp, as he decided to call the crystal, said it was a wise idea.
Many things didn't go unnoticed now. He felt the feelings of many people very clearly; so much hatred, so much pain... so many dark feelings. A question that crossed his mind, therefore, was which side the Jedi preferred. Kyp said it was the light side of the Force. Ani then automatically associated the light side with the good side... Still, Kyp told him that no side is good or bad, just as not every Jedi is good. Never before has little Ani been so conflicted about it. The most noticeable thing, though, was with his owner; Watto.
He was always so afraid. A fear of the unknown, the inevitable.
... as if he expected something to happen.
And almost two months after Anakin had his first conversation with Kyp, that fear came true. It was only 9:00 in the morning. Strengthening his body with the little control of the Force he had, Anakin carried all the scrap bags and pieces that the first trash collectors brought in. Once in a while, he listened to a few conversations; how the frequency of ships falling into Tatooine increased, and how this made both the Jawas and the Tusken venture closer to the settlements, frightening the population. The attacks were becoming more common than before, as they now have more weapons and more parts.
A conversation caught Anakin's attention, however.
"Jabba got tired, Watto."
"But I still have two weeks! I'm collecting the necessary money, I'll pay!" - The man was never so afraid, Anakin could feel every speck of fear flowing from his heart. Swallowing dry, Anakin walked to the store counter, watching Watto's argument with a man dressed in brown robes. From what he heard, one of Jabba's loan sharks.
"You had more than enough time. Jabba decided to confiscate your slaves..." the man was dripping with lethality, Anakin felt. His heart was racing and a bad feeling came from him next, along with a horrendous sensation of death. Before Watto could even make another peep, the man pulled a pistol blaster from his cloak, shooting and blowing Watto's head off as if it were made of butter. Blood flew in Ani's face, eyes wide-open and body static. "Anakin Skywalker, I suppose. You are now property of Jabba the Hutt."
"... But... What happens to my mother?" was the only thing he could think of.
"We already have her on the train. She went first."
"But... they're gonna hurt her, aren't they?"
"I saw some of her; she's pretty... She'll certainly die for Jabba's fun." Whispered, a diversion from the silent panic that arose on Anakin's face. "Now come. Perhaps you can see your mother once more, before she goes into some creature's stomach, hahaha!" he laughed loudly, grabbing the boy's arm and walking out of the store, not even caring about Watto's dead body. Other man walked past them, heading to the balcony. Anakin could just glimpse as he start to search for all the credits Watto had.
The record hardly fell to Anakin all the way. Right after leaving the parts store, the man put him in a speeder full of other people, men of the Jabba. The story of Anakin and his mother was told, humiliation done by the various voices of the men, all involving his mother being raped, killed, mistreated... Everything. And Anakin simply wouldn't react. His eyes focused on nothingness, his mind wandering... For so far, the feeling of death has not faded.
A sudden radio message came just as they were entering the dunes.
"Our train is being attacked... by the damn Tusken!"
Tip of the day: Never come to Brazil, for the sake of your own safety.