Happy Good Friday everyone. Perfect day to publish a new chapter for a Star Wars fanfiction; especially since today Disney has released some old/classic Star Wars films/cartoons onto Disney + including the original Star Wars 2003 2D cartoon. HOORAY : D

Star Wars

Twin Suns Early Rise

Chapter 6: Welcome to Tatooine

It was happening again. Luke could feel it. Another dream centring around the man called Anakin. Who, despite what his uncle may say, was somehow connected to his father.

Luke was on a dark red planet covered in volcanoes spewing with lava. He'd been here before in a past dream. This time he wasn't on a landing pad, and there wasn't a beautiful young lady being choked to death by Anakin. Instead, Luke stood atop a rocky shore beside a river of lava. Standing higher up on the shore, Luke saw a man with a short brown beard, who wore tan brown, burnt robes, and a glowing blue-bladed sword.

The man was looking down at someone who Luke recognized as the Anakin from previous dreams. Anakin stood on a hunk of metal floating in the lava river, his eyes set on the bearded man, who Luke figured was his enemy from the way his eyes glowed a fiery yellow.

"It's over Anakin. I have the high ground," stated the bearded man.

Unfazed by this Anakin said, "You underestimate my powers."

"Don't try it!" the bearded man warned.

Ignoring the warning Anakin leaped off the metal raft towards his opponent, but this proved to be his downfall. The bearded man took the opportunity while his foe was flying through the air, slashing off Anakin's left arm and both his legs in an instant, causing him to fall towards the lava beneath.

In Luke's eyes the battle was over, but the tears now coming from Anakin's opponent eyes showed pain; as if he'd lost someone close instead of defeating an enemy. "You were the chosen one!" he screamed. "It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness."

As his opponent spoke, Anakin tried and failed to use his remaining limb to pull himself away from the river of lava below his body but instead continued to fall towards the firey liquid. All the while he stared up at his opponent, eyes filled with even more anger and hate than before.

Luke watched as the bearded man reached towards Anakin's sword handle, having fallen out of his hand and the blade deactivating after his defeat, picking it up in his own before looking over again at his fallen foe.

"I HATE YOU!" Anakin screamed.

Tears were now pouring out of the bearded man's eyes. "You were my brother Anakin. I loved you," he said.

Just as the bearded man started walking away, Anakin reached the lava below, and his body was set ablaze. At this point, Luke didn't know what to do. All he could do was stand there and watch the horror of what was happening to this Anakin, wondering why he was seeing this. Was this similar to how his father had died? Consumed in a fiery abyss after being mauled by someone who once called him a brother?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt the heat around him growing. Then it happened, all of a sudden his body was lit ablaze too.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Panting heavily, Luke awoke to find himself in the same sand-dusted bedroom he'd lived in for all his life. He felt the harsh heats of Tatooine, though nowhere near as bad as the fires from his dream about the man with the same name as Luke's deceased father. At this point, Luke knew he couldn't go back to sleep. Besides the fact that he'd probably have another dream like the one he just woke up from, Luke could see light coming from Tatooine's twin suns rising, meaning it was morning.

Getting up from a groggy sleep following a bad day full of crashes, fights, and more bad dreams, Luke headed to the dining room of his family's farm for breakfast before another excoriating day in the life of a moisture farmer.

When he got there his aunt Beru was already placing his food down at his usual spot on the table, right beside his uncle Owen. Seeing him enter, his aunt gave him a loving smile. Luke returned the smile with one of his own. If there was one person, he trusted to understand him besides Biggs, it was Beru. She'd always been like a mother to him, and often took his side against his uncle whenever they fought; which was often.

Though as soon as he sat down and started eating, his uncle started doing what he always did at this time, going over daily chores. Not bothering to ask if Luke had had any more of those dark dreams about the mysterious man called Anakin, or acknowledge the way he treated his nephew yesterday.

"So, when you're done eating, I want you up on the south ridge checking over the new vaporators we installed a couple of days ago. Afterwards, go check over the condensers. They were a bit wanky yesterday and I don't want them getting worse. If something's wrong with them they'll be your main priority until they're one hundred percent fixed. Am I understood?"

Despite expecting this from his uncle, Luke could handle the fact that after what he went through yesterday Owen was more focused on some off equipment than the mental health of the boy he raised from infancy. Standing up without saying anything to either his uncle or aunt or even finish breakfast, Luke stormed out of the dining room.

"Sheesh, what's his problem?" Owen remarked on his nephew's behaviour.

Luke wasn't the only one bugged by Owen's attitude. After all the years she spent trying to convince her husband to see otherwise, Beru could never get Owen to realize that Luke wasn't the son he dreamed would follow in his footsteps and take over the farmer after him.

"You need to talk to him Owen," Beru said to him while collecting Luke's dishes.

"Kenobi was just as surprised as I was when he learned about these visions; perhaps even more so than either of us," Owen said, recalling the conversation he'd had with the old hermit last night.

"I'm talking about Luke. You need to sit down with him and discuss his father."

"Not gonna happen. I swore to keep the truth about Luke's parents hidden from him the day we took him in. That's never changing."

"Maybe it'll help with his dreams. There causing him problems. He almost died yesterday. And did you see how he looked when he came in this morning? Bags in his tired eyes and his body was covered in sweat; and not the normal sweat from Tatooine's heat. Plus the way you've kept the story, the true story, hidden about his parents is one of the reasons why you two fight so much. Remember last night."

"Luke will get over what happened. Every time we fight, we always manage to make amends after a while of not talking. That's how it works in the Lars family. My father and I did that all the time and we became tight by the time you and I started dating."

Beru crossed arms and looked at her husband, starting to get mad. "I know. But Luke isn't a Lars. He's a Skywalker. Besides, these fights you two have only get worse and worse each time they happen. One time Luke had to save your life for you two to patch things up. Yet last night was by far the worst flight I'd seen you two have. I don't think waiting for it to pass is going to fix things up this time."

"Look if it's any conciliation, I've decided not to punish Luke for damaging the skyhopper yesterday. He's done a lot worse, and repairs on it aren't gonna cost us much money. Once it's fixed up, he can go fly it around again with his friends and things'll be back to normal."

"Owen I'm serious. Make things right with your nephew. Speak with Ben. Perhaps consider letting him train Luke to overcome what's going on inside himself."

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Owen shouted, slamming his fists on the table, which caused his cup to fall onto the group. Beru, as usual, was quick to get the cup from the ground and clean up the spilled blue milk from it with a nearby napkin. Once it was cleaned up, she picked up the pile of dirty dishes and gave her husband a disappointed frown. "I'm starting to see what Biggs thinks of you," she said before heading back into the kitchen. Left alone in the dining room, Owen sat there confused by his family's current behaviour. "What in Tatooine's sands is going on around here?"

From a far distance from the Lars homestead, Ben Kenobi watched as Luke Skywalker busied himself with repairing a moisture vaporator. Like his father before him, Luke possessed a knack for machines. Though the Jedi master could sense a great disturbance within the young Skywalker; great darkness engulfed in confusion. This further supported Obi-Wan idea that the time had come to begin Luke's Jedi training upon learning about how the boy had been having visions revolving around the dark moments in his father's life. Whether Owen agreed or not Luke needed to start. Jedi training began at infancy and Luke was almost an adult, nearly double the age his father was when he began his training. It only made Obi-Wan's mission harder. Though he was ready for the difficult task ahead of him. For his first decade as a Jedi Knight, Kenobi had spent it training the most powerful, difficult, and oldest student inducted into the Jedi Order in centuries. Yes, it had been a failure, but Obi-Wan had gone over in his mind time and time again everything that'd done wrong as a mentor and what he did right.

The biggest factor was that when he took Anakin on as a padawan, Obi-Wan hadn't been ready for such responsibility. He'd taken up the burden, if only because it was his master's dying wish. This time, though, Obi-Wan had prepared himself thoroughly and was prepared to face any, and all failures that would come during Luke's training. Along with this, he'd watched the young boy since he was an infant, he knew more about the son than he did the father when he first met him. This time things would be different, Luke would take his father's place as the hero of the Jedi Order and bring balance to the force.

But first, he had to deal with an old enemy, one who desired his death more so than anyone else in the entire galaxy, Darth Maul. Yes, somehow the Sith Lord who Obi-Wan had defeated many years ago on Naboo and survived it, had escaped capture during the Seige of Mandalore, had now discovered not only of the Jedi master's own survival but also that he resided on Tatooine. Originally Obi-Wan had hoped to avoid such a confrontation with this enemy, having tired of these fights between the old zabark over events that happened decades ago. Though now with Luke almost about to begin his training, Obi-Wan knew Maul would learn of his new apprentice and strike at Skywalker, or those close to him. He couldn't allow innocents to suffer, it violated everything the Jedi stood for. He had to draw his enemy towards him before he got wind of Luke before the future of the Jedi Order was put at risk. He would make his final stand and end things with him once and for all.

Then he would put all his efforts, even at the cost of his own life, towards training Luke and restoring the Jedi Order. This he vowed to the very will of the force itself.

When Leia first saw the Millennium Falcon, she thought everything she'd heard about it was a joke. In her eyes, it looked like a giant scrap pile coughed out of a trash compactor. To be honest she had second thoughts about stepping into that thing as she feared it would blow up before it even took off.

She almost considered calling off the deal and try to find someone else to take her to Tatooine. But aside from the fact that the Wookie copilot, Chewie she recalled, had made her pay half the fee already, Leia hadn't found anyone else willing to take her. Plus, she'd heard rumours of what happened when you tried to ask a Wookiee for a refund. It never ended well.

To her luck, once Captain Solo made it to the ship, they successfully took off, leaving the smuggler's moon behind, soon entering hyperspace. So far, the Falcon seemed to be doing pretty well despite its outward appearance. Han kept bragging about all the special modifications he'd given to the ship over the years, claiming no ship was built like her. Leia just ignored it. She heard all about how cocky pilots like him were a bit too proud of their ships. To most captains, a ship was everything to them, and Han was no exception.

Soon Leia found herself in the ship's main hold watching R2 playing a game of dejarik with Chewie. At the moment R2 was beating the massive Wookiee, and the latter was growling his frustrations. In turn, R2 was whistling and beeping, boasting about how good he was, which only made Chewie bang his fists on the holo table.

"R2 be nice," Leia called out her astromech.

"Yeah, otherwise he'll rip your arms off," Solo commented from the other end of the hold.

"Astromech's doesn't have arms," Leia corrected.

"Chewie can just as easily rip off his legs as he can arms."

Leia couldn't argue there, not unless she wanted to see Chewie try and damage her droid. "Valid point. R2, stop offending the Wookiee. He and his captain are taking us to Tatooine after all."

R2 made a few beeps saying "okay" returning to his game with Chewie, leaving Han and Leia to sit back and watch.

"So why do you want to go to Tatooine in the first place?" Han asked in an attempt to make small talk; though his choice of conversation startled Leia more so than he'd expected. When she'd first attempted to hire him, Han had never once shown interest in why she wanted to go to Tatooine, just how much she'd been willing to pay him for it, and what other cargo she might be bringing along. Other than that, the smuggler didn't ask her any questions about her reasons for the trip. This, of course, worked for the princess since what she was doing was both personal and secretive. If word got around that Princess Leia Organa was travelling to a backwater world like Tatooine in secret onboard a smuggler's ship captained by a deserter; to meet a random moisture farmer who shared the same last name as a famous/deceased war hero… Leia couldn't comprehend the consequences of what would happen to her parents, her home planet, or the brother she'd never known. To be honest she hadn't considered any of this when she first left the palace. She just wanted to find her long-lost brother. But when she realized the risks while on route to Nar Shadaa, she made sure to take precautions. An example being she hadn't given the captain or his first mate her name, or any indication of where she was from. As far they were concerned she was just a random teenager wanting to go to Tatooine. Or at least that's what she hoped they believed. She never could figure out where Captain Solo had gone off to while Chewie had escorted her to the Falcon after hiring them.

Realizing that her captain was staring at her, looking suspicious as she was taking so long to answer, Leia responded, "That's none of your business."

Han smirked. He knew something was up. "Hey, you're going there on my ship so it is my business. Now, why so desperate to go to Tatooine? Trying to get away from the law or something? Don't worry if you are because I'm not the squealing type. Especially to the Empire."

This guy wouldn't budge until he got an answer, Leia could feel it. She also suspected that someone in his line of work could tell if she was lying or not. Against her better judgement, she decided to tell the truth as vaguely as possible. "I have family on that planet," she confessed. Hopefully, that would be enough, even though she'd probably already told too much.

"Really? You have family there? Didn't take you for that type?" Han confessed.

For some reason, Leia found this offensive. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, standing up from her seat and marching towards him.

"Calm down kid I'm just making an observation."

This only made Leia feel more offended. "And again, I ask what does that mean? Why is it a shocker that I have family on Tatooine? You don't know me," Leia reprimanded.

Chewie growled, agreeing with their passenger, which got him a look from his partner that said "shut up" before said partner explained. "Tatooine's mostly full of outlaws and people who can barely afford to make ends meet; with the latter taking up more than over ninety percent of the population. From you're fancy clothing and the way you hold yourself up in a 'prestigious' manner, I say you're from the upper-class sort of group. And the only people in that class on Tatooine are affiliated with crime groups like my buddy Jabba the Hutt."

Leia's face turned red in anger, having never felt more offended right then than she had before in her entire life. "I'm not a criminal. And neither are the relatives I'm visiting. as I already said, my reasons for going to Tatooine are personal!"

"And what type of people are they?" Han asked, with a slyish smirk on his face, as if he were playing a simple game of sabacc.

Leia had had enough. "I don't know," Leia confessed. "I didn't know they even existed until recently, and I only learned of them by accident. I don't even know if they know about me. Though now that I know about them I'm gonna go to find them. Try to connect with them after so many years. You wouldn't understand because you're just a HEARTLESS, MONEY-LOVING, SCUMBAG!"

Breathing heavily, Leia saw a startled look on Captain Solo's face, then when she turned around she saw a similar expression on Chewie. Even R2, who had no facial features, somehow, from the way he stood motionless appeared surprised by Leia's outburst.

Embarrassed, Leia pushed Captain Solo aside and made a beeline out of the hold, not caring where she was going, as long as it was away from everyone else. This led her to the ship's cockpit, where she curled up on one of the two passenger seats behind the pilot chairs.

As a princess, she knew that the way she was behaving violated everything she'd been taught throughout her entire life. Yet right now she wasn't a princess on some diplomatic mission, she was just a seventeen-year-old girl trying to find her long-lost brother and make sense of the fact that her father, her birth father, was the embodiment of evil itself.

Leia soon heard the light footsteps of the ship captain coming into the cockpit, yet she would not acknowledge him when she saw him enter nor when his eyes were gazing down at her.

"Sorry about what I said kid," the captain said. "Didn't realize your family was such a hard topic for you."

Though Leia still wouldn't budge from her seat, she did at least respond to the Solo's comment. "Well it is," she said bluntly.

"To be honest I kinda know what you're going through," Solo said, which got Leia's full attention.

"How could you possibly know?" she asked, now looking at the smuggler's straight in the eye.

"Because it's pretty obvious you're alone in the galaxy and I know how that's like. My name is Solo for a reason. I'm the only one of my family."

"What about Chewie back there?"

"Sorry, Chewie's my only other family. Though he came into my life years after I took the name Solo. Back then I'd been on my own. No mother, no father, and no other relatives to speak. I had someone else that I was close to but we got separated. Then Chewie came along, and despite what he may claim, he saved me big time. He's been there for me when I needed him most. I'd trade my life for that furry guy."

Hearing all of this coming from a man whom Leia believed was nothing but a heartless crook, both surprised her and brought a warm feeling in her heart that she hadn't felt in so long. It's like her father, her adoptive father, would say don't be quick to assume you know someone.

She didn't even know what to say, though she was saved as a beeping starting going off throughout the ship. Han didn't seem concerned, instead simply moving towards one of the pilot seats, with Chewie soon arriving in the cockpit and taking the other seat beside his captain. R2 was soon to follow and stood beside the chair that Leia sat in.

"We're coming up on Tatooine," Han announced. "Strap yourself in."

Doing as instructed, the princess adjusted herself in her seat and secured herself as the ship's crew was already flipping all sorts of switches and pressing many different buttons around them, taking them out of hyperspace.

Leia saw the space outside the cockpit switch from the bluish-white glow of hyperspace to the black, star-filled void of normal space. And in the center of it, all Leia saw for the first time, the dirt brown world of Tatooine with twin suns hanging above it. This is where her brother was, Leia could feel it in her gut.

"Welcome to Tatooine kid," Han announced. "Where do you want me to land?"

Leia didn't respond at first. She didn't know where to land. Realizing it now, she remembered R2 claiming to know where her brother had been taken, but never said exactly where on Tatooine he was or who he'd been sent to.

Turning towards the droid with a questioning look, R2 responded with a series of beeps and whistles, describing a destination for the Falcon to go to.

"Head for a spaceport city called Mos Eisley," Leia instructed.

Shrugging his shoulders, that was good enough for Solo. "Alrighty then. Chewie, head to Mos Eisley, and contact the spaceport control."

Pretty soon the Millennium Falcon reached the spaceport, landing down in docking bay ninety-four. After turning all the systems off, Han lowered the boarding ramp and he, the girl, her droid, and Chewie were all outside on Tatooine's hot, sandy surface. Personally, Han never liked this rock, but only came because of how it was a hotspot for the criminal underworld given how Jabba had set up his main palace in the Dune Seas.

"You know when I first saw this piece of junk you called a ship, I was worried I'd even leave Nar Shaddaa without blowing up," Han's client confessed. "I was wrong. Good work Captain Solo," she said reaching out her hand towards him.

Doing his best to ignore the insult made about his ship, Solo took the girl's hand and shook it. "You're not too bad of customer yourself. Speaking of, you owe me the other half of my fee for taking you to this dust ball on my so-called 'piece of junk.' So, pay up and we can part ways."

"Very well," the girl responded, pulling out a stack of credits from a pouch hidden within her hooded cloak and placed it in Han's hand. "Here you go, Captain Solo. A pleasure doing business with you. C'mon R2."

Beeping happily, the droid followed his master as she headed towards the docking bay's rear exit. Though before they were halfway towards it, Han called out to the girl.

"Hey, kid."

Turning her head around the girl looked over at Han, who appeared curious from the smuggler's perspective. It made sense to him since the job was done and she'd just paid him the remaining half of his fee. Which only shocked her, and even Han himself, when the words he was thinking came out of his mouth.

"Good luck finding your family."

Han could tell from the way her eyes widened as she appeared more shocked by his words than she'd expected herself to be. Though a smile quickly formed as the emotions on her face changed to that of someone who was touched. "Thank you," she said.

"And take it from me," Han added. "When you have someone you care about, make sure you're there for them when they need you most no matter what. Trust me, no matter what family is something you don't want to let go of."

"Mmmmmmrrrrr," Chewie growled in agreement.

"I won't Captain Solo. I promise you that," the girl said. Her lips then curled a bit and her eyes looked away as if appearing to be considering something. "By the way," she finally said, "My name, my name is Leia."

Han hadn't been expecting that. Though despite his surprise he managed to respond quickly, but not too quickly to the girl. "Thanks. Seeya around Leia," Han waved.

"You too Han Solo. And you Chewie," Leia waved back. After which Leia turned back around towards the docking bay exist with her droid following while Han watched her until she was out of the hanger, and out of sight.

"Grrraahwwwrrl, "Chewbacca commented after Leia was gone.

"Would you shut up? C'mon, I hear Jabba's on Tatooine. Let's go see if he has any work for us."

FYI, I found the words Chewie spoke on the Wookieepedia page that explains a Wookiee language known as Shyriiwook. All except the last word he said, I just made it up.