Anakin stood silently as he watched Mon reenter the room, her face eerily blank as she stared at him from the doorway before she looked away, her eyes refusing to meet his as she made her way back to the table. Luke followed closely behind her, his eyes refusing to meet Anakin's as he made his way back to where he had been previously standing, his posture rigid and his hands clasped tightly behind his back.
Anakin had no idea what they had been talking about, but he could tell that something was troubling the older Jedi. He had no idea seeing as Luke had his shields held tightly in place, his emotions completely masked behind a fortress that would never be broken.
"What's wrong?" whispered Anakin in sudden concern.
"Nothing," replied Luke tersely, his eyes lingering over the youth before he sharply turned his head away, his eyes refusing to look at the boy any longer.
Anakin recoiled slightly, the sudden feeling of rejection hanging in the air between them as he felt the older Jedi's dismissal of him through the Force.
But it was more than just that. Anakin could see the pain in his eyes and wondered just what had happened to make him so downcast and despondent all of the sudden. Luke looked miserable standing there next to Anakin and it made the younger man extremely uncomfortable.
It was obvious that whatever they had talked about had upset the older man greatly and somehow Anakin had a distinct feeling that he had most likely been the center of their conversation, which annoyed him a great deal. He could sense the older woman's hostility towards him and Luke's sudden indifference, which made him extremely curious as to what they had been talking about.
It was as if they knew something that he did not.
Anakin said nothing as he squared his shoulders and focused his attention elsewhere, unsure of what exactly was going on.
He knew that Luke was hiding something from him and he could tell that the older woman seemed to also know, but it appeared as though they would not be letting him on the secret, which was upsetting because he knew that it was about him.
Anakin pursed his lips tightly as he crossed his arms behind his back so as to hide his anger and annoyance, which he managed to keep contained but it was still present nonetheless.
"Thank you for sharing your story, Anakin," said Mon, her piercing gaze set on the boy in front of her. "It has been extremely- illuminating, to say the least."
Anakin nodded as he took a bow, "It was my pleasure, Milady."
"We are glad you are able to join our ranks. Welcome to the Rebellion, Anakin."
She smiled at him but he could tell that it was strained, forced and uncomfortable for her. Anakin couldn't tear his eyes from her as Luke ushered him out of the room and into the hallway, Leia following closely behind as she straightened out her white jacket.
"Well that went well," she said as she looked between the two Jedi.
"Yeah," said Anakin sardonically as he turned to look at Luke, "better than I thought."
His voice was low and distrustful, but not totally unfriendly as he hinted to the older man that he knew there was something else going on that he was not privy too. It irked him a great deal that Luke was hiding something from him after Anakin had been nothing but truthful to him.
Luke inhaled deeply, his eyes still downcast, "Mon and I had some issues to discuss. It had nothing to do with you."
Liar. It had everything to do with me.
"Really?" asked Anakin with raised eyebrows. "Then what did you discuss?"
Luke shrugged, unsure exactly what to say to the youth as to why it went better than he had originally anticipated. However, he could not mention his conversation with Mon or the reason why she was suspicious of him.
"Nothing that concerns you," said Luke as he pushed past Anakin, not in hostility but rather in weariness and fatigue, too tired to explain anything to the youth. The boy was far too inquisitive for his own good and easily irritable, something which Luke would have to be careful not to provoke in the near future seeing what reaction it had elicited from the youth.
"I'll be in my quarters if you need me," said Luke before retreating down the corridor, leaving Anakin and Leia behind.
Anakin said nothing, his nostrils flared as he felt the other man's presence draw further and further away from him.
How dare Luke just brush Anakin off like that. He knew that Luke was lying to him, he could feel it through the Force and yet the older Jedi refused to acknowledge his blatant dishonesty.
It made Anakin's blood boil when people treated him like that.
Leia placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, sensing his anger and pain.
"Come on," she said as she started to guide him away from the Council room, "let's get you some clothes and then I'll show you to your quarters."
Anakin let out a deep breath as he allowed her to lead him away, her gentle hand upon his shoulder in a calming manner that almost made him forget about Luke.
He would find out what the older man was hiding from him, no matter the consequences.
He was nervous, his hands tingling at his sides and his breath hitching in his throat as he made his way into the apartment, his eyes immediately zeroing in on the elaborately dressed woman. He didn't need to be told who she was, even with her back turned to him as she looked out on the horizon.
They were not the only ones in the room at the moment, but it felt like it as she turned her head to look at him, her brown orbs meeting his own.
"Senator Padme!" cried Jar Jar as he led them into further into the apartment. "Lookie lookie, desa Jedi have arriven!"
She started to make her way over to Obi-Wan with a large smile on her face, barely acknowledging the young Padawan as his Master greeted her with a bow.
"It's a great pleasure to see you again, Milady," said Kenobi.
"It has been far too long, Master Kenobi."
Her voice was just as soft as he had remembered it and he couldn't help but stare at her, amazed by her beauty and grace that had only grown tremendously since he had last seen her.
She seemed to notice his unwavering attention on her as she turned her head to look at him, her eyes widening in recognition and shock as she stared up at him.
"Ani?" she asked, a smile gracing her lips, "my goodness, you've grown."
Be smooth, Anakin.
"So have you, grown more beautiful… For a Senator, I mean."
What in Sith hells did he just say-?
He mentally cursed himself for saying it even though he was unable to stop himself. He had no control over his body or his tongue, forcing him to watch the whole spectacle as it played out and cursing himself for being so awkward.
Force this was playing out like a bad holo-novella! It was awful just to watch!
She only smiled at his pathetic try at flirting, her head tilting to the side as if she could sense his anxiousness.
"Ani, you'll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine," she said before turning away from him.
Ouch… That hurt.
He was about to follow her to the couch when everything around him started to fade away, that strange sensation of being underwater taking him over before he found himself falling into nothingness.
The apartment and everyone in it faded away until he found himself in a darkly lit room, the only source of light coming from the fireplace as the fire cackled and burned, its orange flames illuminating the room around him. Padme was there too, dressed in black as she sat on the sofa facing him, her hands splayed in her lap as she tapped the side of her thigh nervously.
"I can't. We can't. It's just not possible," she said as she shook her head.
His heart ached at her words and he had no control over his actions as he leaned in forward to say something to her. He did not know what he was going to say, but the words flowed easily out of his mouth as if they were meant to be.
"Anything is possible, Padme. Listen to me-"
"No! You listen. We live in the real world, come back to it. You're studying to become a Jedi I'm- I'm a Senator. If you follow your thoughts through to conclusion, it'll take us to a place we cannot go. Regardless of the way we feel about each other."
"Then you do feel something!" he accused.
"I will not let you give up your future for me."
You are my future-
"You are asking me to be rational. That is something I KNOW I cannot do. Believe me, I wish that I could just wish away my feelings, but I can't."
Anakin may have been just a spectator in these events, but those feelings! They were real, raw and untamed. They were more real than anything he had ever felt before which confused him because he didn't even know what was going on or why he had these feelings.
What he was experiencing wasn't even real, he hadn't seen Padme in eight years and he had most definitely not lived through this before.
Was this his future he was seeing?
"I will not give into this," her voice was harsh and affirmative, totally and completely unwavering as she stared him down.
He stood up and paced the room, his emotions guiding his words and his actions with no real rationality- so unbecoming of a Jedi but he didn't care.
"Well you know, it wouldn't have to be that way. We could keep it a secret," he said after a few moments of silence as he turned to look back at the Senator, anxiously awaiting her response.
"We'd be living a lie. One we couldn't keep even if we wanted to. I couldn't do that. Could you, Anakin? Could you live like that?"
What he wanted to say was yes, but he found himself saying something that was far from the truth.
"No. You're right. It would destroy us."
And just like that, he was falling again. The scene exploded into an array of color as he was violently tossed into the void of nothingness that bridged his visions together mercilessly.
"No!" he cried out as he tried to hold onto that moment, but instead found himself in the Temple on Coruscant.
The first thing that he noticed was screaming. It was deafening and maddening at the same time, but there was nothing. The Temple was eerily empty as he looked around frantically for the source of the screaming, but he was completely alone.
"Stop. Please stop," he begged as the screaming started to become too much more his ears. "I don't understand!"
The screaming only intensified, forcing him to his knees as tears started to pour freely down his face.
"Anakin!" came the sharp tone of his Master through the screams.
"Master?" asked the boy as he opened his eyes to see the older man standing in front of him, his lightsaber in his hand as he stared down at the boy with sadness in his eyes.
"Anakin," whispered Kenobi as he shook his head. "Why did you do it?"
"Do what?" he asked as his lungs started to burn within his chest. "I didn't do anything!"
Kenobi said nothing as he kneeled down to look at Anakin as he placed a tender hand on the boy's cheek, his face scrunching up in pain and betrayal.
"I'm so sorry, Anakin. I couldn't save you."
"Save me? Save me from what?" cried Anakin as Kenobi stood up, his face hardening into something that terrified the youth.
"Master please-" begged the boy as he choked on his own tears.
"I couldn't save you from yourself," he said as he raised his blue lightsaber in the air and brought it down upon the boy.
"No!" cried Anakin as he jolted up in his bed, his breathing labored and his sheets soaked in sweat.
He panted heavily for a few seconds as he searched his unfamiliar surroundings frantically before recognizing that he was in his quarters on the Rebel ship.
He pulled himself into a seated position as he let his feet touch the cool floor beneath him as he stared out the window at the stars, the only source of light in the dark room. He ran a hand through his short hair, wiping away the clear sheen of sweat that had formed before looking down at the clock for the time.
It was the early hours of the morning but he knew that there would no more sleep for him as he stood up and threw on one of the shirts that Leia had been as nice to give him before he had gone to bed. It was strange to wear clothes that were not his usual Jedi robes, but he found himself liking the new attire, the tunic vaguely reminding of the one his Aunt had given him on Ben'we.
He hadn't thought of Nayeli or her son ever since he had arrived with the Rebellion, but he did remember the promise that he had made her. He needed to contact her when he arrived somewhere safe and he felt ashamed that he had not done it sooner.
She was probably worried out of her mind for him.
He grabbed his comlink and turned on the lights before taking his seat at the small desk that was in the corner. She had given him their com frequency and he had memorized it by heart as he entered it into the device before leaning back in his chair, hoping that she would answer.
He did not know the day cycles on Ben'we and whether or not she was awake or asleep at that moment, but she was indeed awake as her face appeared before him.
"Anakin!" she cried out in delight, her accent as thick as he remembered it. "You're okay!"
He nodded, "I'm sorry I did not contact you sooner."
"I was worried sick you degni. We heard that there was a confrontation between you and the Stormtroopers and we didn't know if you were okay and you didn't contact us-"
"I'm okay," he said reassuringly. "I managed to get off the planet before the Empire caught up with me."
"Where are you?" she demanded.
"I'm with the Rebel Alliance," he said.
Her eyebrows raised in surprise, "really? You're with them right now?"
He nodded his head, "I was rescued by another Jedi who just so happens to be a member of the Rebellion."
"Another Jedi?" she asked in surprise as he squinted her eyes.
"His name is Luke," said Anakin as he tried to find the words to describe the older man.
Nice? Blond? Friendly?
Out of all the possible words, only one seemed to come to mind.
Distrustful.
"But he's nice, no?" she asked with hope shining her eyes.
"Nice enough," replied Anakin distantly.
"Ah," she said as she leaned back in her chair, the blue hue of the visual wavering around her.
There was an awkward moment of silence between the aunt and nephew before Nayeli spoke again, this time of his time as a slave.
"May I ask you a question, Ani? About your time in slavery, I mean?" she asked timidly.
The question came out of the blue, but he could tell that this had been something that he had been wrestling with ever since she had found out that Shmi was his mother. She wanted to know and after spending almost all of her life wondering what had happened to her sister she deserved to know, no matter how much it pained him to talk about it.
"Sure," said Anakin as he prepared himself to answer any question that she could possibly ask. Normally he wouldn't talk about his time in slavery to just anyone, but Nayeli was family and he trusted her.
"Were you treated badly? I mean- were you and your mother-?"
She was almost confused about her own question and she probably already knew the answer to her question but she wanted to hear it from him. He understood where she was coming from so he was not mad that she was curious.
"We were property," he began slowly as he searched for the right words. "We lived our lives under the constant threat of death as well as the fear of whether or not we would be separated from each other like so many other slave families-"
He bit out the last phrase with difficulty as he remembered seeing so many other families get separated and most of the time, those families never saw each other again. His mother had done everything in her power to make sure that they would both remain under the ownership of the same person, but it was hard and at the end, they were separated anyways.
"We had chips implanted in our necks that would detonate if we ever tried to run away," he continued, his voice growing softer and softer. He had only ever told his Master of his time in slavery, and the subject never really came up between them so this was the first time in a long time that he was actually talking about it. "I once saw one detonate when a slave tried to run away. He was trying to get back to his family when-"
His words drifted away, letting his silence speak what he had not.
Nayeli gasped as her hand came over her mouth, her anguish for her sister and her nephew present on her face.
"Oh Ani," she whispered, her heart aching for the boy as she wished to gather him up in her arms.
Anakin shook his head, "there's so much more than just that though. I still have scars from the beatings and my mother had a bad hand because one of her previous owners had broken it and it healed wrong. She was not able to work as much because of that so I had to, every day from sunrise to sunset. And then there was the sex trade. Men, women, and children sold into sexual slavery until they're owners grew tired of them and they passed them onto someone else," sneered Anakin, his anger growing more and more volatile by the second.
His mother and he had never been sexually abused, but he knew most were not as lucky as they.
He shuddered to think what would've happened if he had stayed a slave.
"That's- Ani, that's-"
There were many words that could be used to encompass what he had just told her.
Deplorable. Disgusting. Awful. Horrific. Terrible.
But Anakin only needed one word to describe what his life had been like before he had been freed.
Real.
It had been his reality and it had been his mother's too. That's why it pained him not to know what happened to her, whether or not this was still her life or not. Whether or not he had kept his promise to her all those years ago.
Nayeli had tears running down her face as she shook her head in grief and guilt.
Guilt that her family hadn't looked harder for her sister. Maybe if they had looked harder they could've found Shmi and her son so that they could bring them home, but her father had given up, choosing to spend the rest of his money and life drinking his sorrow away. He had left Nayeli by herself in the world with no inheritance and no family, her life in perpetual poverty until she had managed to find a man that was willing to marry her despite her lack of a dowry.
Kush had been a good man, he had provided for her and had given her Raji, but when he had died he had left them in the same predicament that her father had.
Shmi being sold into slavery had destroyed her family and had left her in poverty, but none of that compared to the life they had endured all those years.
It made Nayeli realize how truly blessed her family was. They might've been living in poverty, but at least they didn't have to experience and witness what this poor boy had.
It broke her heart.
"I'm so sorry, Ani," she said at last as she tried to regain her composure, "I knew that slavery on Tatooine was awful, but I never imagined it to that extent."
"No one does," said Anakin. "In fact, most people don't even know its happening."
"The Inner Rim can oftentimes be disconnected, never realizing what's happening beyond their safe and privileged life. They only know of things that are relevant to them and somehow when they do find out that stuff like this is going on, they act as if they know exactly what should be done to fix it and most often they just cause more problems," she said shaking her head. "It is the same with the Empire. They brainwash their own citizens into not seeing what's really happening around them, only allowing them to see what they want them to.
Anakin knew what she said to be true, even more so in this time period.
So many people in his own time who lived within the safety of the Republic were so stuck in their own bubble, refusing to open their eyes to the injustices happening in the galaxy. They even refused to open their eyes to the slavery that was happening within the Republic, sex trafficking and prostitution.
The Empire was even worse.
"It is what it is," he said.
She shook her head, "I wish it wasn't so."
A moment of silence passed between them before Nayeli finally broke the silence with her soft voice.
"Raji and I are going to see if we can find the money to hire a private investigator from off-world to see if they can find out what happened to your mother. I've already contacted one on Mandalore, he's willing to see if he can find anything about what happened to her."
"Do you have the money for that?" asked Anakin, worried that she would spend all of her money on this.
"We're working on that," she said with a sigh, "some people owe us money and Raji just took a job as a fisherman. That on top of his earnings at the market should be enough to pay most of the bill."
"Nayeli-" began Anakin before she interrupted him.
"Oh and I've been weaving blankets and selling them at the marketplace on the weekends. I'm actually making a lot of money doing that and a lot of people like them," she said proudly.
"Really?" asked Anakin as he recognized her pride and happiness in weaving blankets for people.
"Oh yes, no worries Ani. We'll have the money to find your mom soon."
Anakin leaned back in his chair, the prospect of finding out his mother's fate starting to become a reality.
"Woah," he said as he rubbed a tired hand over his face. "I guess I'll be finding out soon then."
"Hopefully," said Nayeli as she started to yawn.
"I should go, you look tired. What time is it there?" asked Anakin as he noticed how tired she looked.
"It is late, about midnight here," she said.
"Well, then I'll let you go to bed."
"You'll com me again? Not wait so long next time?"
"I'll contact you when I have time," he promised her, his eyes drifting to the door where he could hear two people talking softly as they walked by his door, which was common considering that the base never closed down for the night.
"Okay then, nightie night Ani," she said before she turned off the com, leaving Anakin by himself.
The boy sighed as he shoved the comlink aside and fell into his hands on the table as a large sighed escaped his lips. Despite how tired he was, he didn't- no couldn't go back to bed.
Those dreams were just so vivid and real and he just wanted them to stop so that he could get a decent night of sleep, not having to see the things that he did. He didn't understand much of what was going on, the feeling of being underwater present in every vision as though he was drowning.
He had no control over he did or said, the dreams controlling him and making a spectacle of him.
Anakin sat back up in his chair and looked back at the time to see that it was 0300, which meant that Luke and Leia were probably sleeping peacefully in their beds. He reached out gently to their presence and found that only Luke was fast asleep while Leia was wide awake.
Her shields were strong and impenetrable, which had been surprising when he had first met her considering the fact that she was untrained in the Force, but it seemed as though she had a natural talent when it came to shielding herself.
Anakin got up from the desk and put his shoes on before he made his way out of his quarters and made his way to the mess hall, where he could feel her presence humming softly in the Force. It was strange how familiar her presence was, or how it seemed to have a calming effect on him just like Luke's did.
It was strange but Anakin didn't question it as he made his way into the mess hall and spotted her seated at a far table, hunched over a datapad, her brown hair loose and cascading down around her face and shoulders as she read. There were only a few other people in the room, but as soon as Anakin had walked in her attention had immediately gone to him, as though she had sensed him enter the room.
She looked surprised to see him as she set her datapad away and beckoned him over, a soft smile gracing her lips as she pointed to the seat across from her. Anakin returned the smile as he made his way over to her, his head tilted in the customary Jedi greeting.
"What are you doing up?" her voice sounded tired as she watched Anakin take his seat.
"Couldn't sleep," he said shaking his head.
"Me neither," she said as her eyes drifted over to the datapad.
Anakin couldn't sense her feelings but he could tell that she was sad as she looked over at the datapad, which displayed the holo picture of a man that Anakin did not recognize.
Leia noticed his attention on the picture and smiled sadly at the youth, "that's Han."
"A friend of yours?" asked Anakin, something telling him that he might've been more than just that judging from her sadness.
"More or less," she said as she pursed her lips, "he was- is a really good friend to Luke and I."
Anakin noticed the strained use of her tenses when she talked about him, as though she couldn't decide whether or not to use past or present tense. He got the distinct feeling that this man might be dead or something, and it was obvious that it caused Leia pain just talking about it.
"Did he die?" asked Anakin bluntly but with sympathy at the same time.
She shook her head, "no, but it sure does feel that way. He's frozen in carbonite."
"Carbonite? How'd that happen?"
"Darth Vader," she spit, "he captured us a few months ago on Bespin. He tortured Han and then froze him right in front of me-" she paused as she took a deep breath.
To watch as someone you cared about get taken away was painful and judging from the look on her face, she didn't just care about him.
"You loved him," stated Anakin.
"Yes, I loved him very much and I never got the chance to tell him until it was too late."
"Not too late," said Anakin, "he's still frozen, right?"
"Yes, but we have no idea where he is or how to rescue him," she said.
"You have no idea where Vader took him?" he asked.
"No, not really," she said distantly.
"I'm sure you'll find him," said Anakin as he did his best to comfort her, her sadness making him feel the strong need to comfort her.
He didn't know where it came from and it gave him a strong sense of déjà vu, a tingling feeling that made him uneasy. He didn't know what it was about Luke and Leia, why they felt so familiar to him as if he had always known them.
But there was also an unspoken level of familiarity between them that held nothing more than sorrow, pain, and suffering that went almost undetected.
Force this was strange. He didn't even know what to feel about any of these strange emotions that he was feeling for anything. It was all just a complicated mess that was completely unsolvable.
Leia smiled at him, "thank you, Anakin. It means a lot to hear someone say that."
"Glad to be of service, Milady," he said as a small smile crossed his face before he felt his smile fall away from his face, his eyes falling down to the table.
"So this Vader seems like quite the character," he said as he breached the subject of the infamous Sith Lord he had heard so much about. Everybody seemed to have something to say about him and none of it was good. Both Luke and Leia had mentioned him and of course, he knew about Kenobi's demise at his hand, but other than that he really knew nothing.
He had heard some personnel talking about him earlier in one of the corridors, their voices low and quiet as a young man talked about how he had survived an encounter with the Sith. He had mentioned something about how Vader had slaughtered almost an entire Rebel ground team only a year ago by himself and how he had barely managed to escape the massacre.
The Story had sent shivers up his spine and Anakin knew that every word the Rebel had said was true, the sheer power and fear that the man held was more than real and it made Anakin wonder just who this Sith was.
He had felt Vader's presence, dark and tainted and yet somehow familiar. It annoyed Anakin to know that he had felt the Sith's presence before but he just couldn't place where he had felt it before, or from whom he had felt it.
Darth Vader was most likely a fallen Jedi, his younger self probably running around the Temple in Anakin's time just waiting to be seduced by the Dark Side.
Who are you?
The Force was silent, not giving any indication as to who this Vader was.
Leia paused, her posture going rigid as she brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face.
"He's an animal," she said at last, her voice strong and affirmative, not allowing for any question to her statement. "He's murdered countless people on behalf of the Empire, aided in the enslavement of billions of people, and that's not even half of it."
Anakin had no words to say to that, there just simply was nothing that he could say to the Princess that would provide any sort of consolation to her. Her pain was real and raw and it was taking everything for her to keep her composure and not break down into tears.
That wasn't even mentioning the things that Vader had done to her personally, torturing her and standing by while genocide was committed against her people. Her culture, her religion, her people, and her family all gone while he stood by and watched, his arms holding her in place so that she could watch the spectacle.
"I hate him," she muttered under her breath, "him and the Emperor. They're both evil and they don't care about anyone or anything but themselves."
Anakin agreed with her on that sentiment despite years and years of being told that hatred led to the Dark Side, which he knew it did but there was nothing he could say to her on that issue. Her hate wasn't without good reason and he too hated Vader and the Emperor, maybe he didn't know as much about them or what they had done, but he knew the basics and that enough to get him riled up.
It was because of them that the Republic and the Jedi were gone, it was because of Vader that Obi-Wan was dead, and it was because of their Empire that Alderaan was gone.
"Only the weak submit to evil," he said as he quoted his Master. "It takes strength to oppose it, and those who do are more powerful than they will ever be."
He didn't know why he said it, but it seemed appropriate in that very moment to do so.
Leia nodded, "did your Master teach you that, or did you come up with it on your own?"
"My Master once told me that a few years ago," said Anakin, "he was very wise when it came to resisting the Dark Side."
"He sounds wise," she commented.
"He was," said Anakin distantly as thoughts of his Master crossed his mind.
He missed Obi-Wan and if what Luke had said was really true then he was still around as a Force Ghost, and yet his old Master had yet to appear to him like he appeared to the older Jedi. It made Anakin wonder why Obi-Wan hadn't appeared to him and he was just a little bit hurt at the fact.
Leia and Anakin continued to talk for the next few hours until finally, the morning shifts started and people started to immerge from their quarters and relieve the night people of their duty. Anakin didn't know what he would be doing that day, but what he really wanted to do was seek out that Rebel pilot that he had met earlier that offered to show him the X-Wings.
Leia went back off to her usual duties while Anakin stalked off to the hangar, eager to get a closer look at those X-Wings before Luke caught up with him. He wasn't sure where the older Jedi was nor did he care at that moment, his thoughts only of finding that Rebel pilot and seeing if he wasn't too busy to show him the interior of their ships.
He made his way into the hangar, his eyes traveling over the ships and at the various people who were going about their duties, not paying him any attention.
"Hey you!" came a distinctly female voice from somewhere to his left.
Anakin looked around, failing to find the source of the voice and was about to keep walking when she called out yet again.
"Hey, you with the braid! Mind giving me a hand?" asked a woman who was lying on the floor under one of the X-Wings, a few tools spanned around her as she inspected the underbelly of the ship.
"Sure. What do you need?" asked Anakin as he made his way closer to her, his eyes meeting her large brown orbs.
"Hydrospanner please," she said, barely acknowledging him as she wiped the grease off of her forehead and wiped it on her tan jacket.
Anakin looked around for the toolbox for a few seconds before he found it and pulled out the tool before handing it over to her, his eyes curiously observing the repair work she was making.
"Thank you kindly," she said as she began to work on the manifolds, her work a bit sloppy but efficient.
"You a mechanic?" she asked as she worked, her brown eyes traveling to his own before going back to the work at hand.
"Have been since I was a kid," said Anakin as he took his seat on the floor next to her, "made my first droid when I was nine."
She whistled, "what kind of droid?"
"A Protocol droid. I made him to help my mom around the house."
Actually, he had built C-3PO because he knew how lonely his mother could get sometimes and he wanted her to have a friend, and the added work was, of course, a benefit. He just wanted his mother to have a friend, even if it was in the form of a droid. He too had wanted the droid to be a friend, seeing as he didn't have very many friends himself growing up.
"That was nice of you," she said as she set the hydrospanner down. "I should've done that for my mom. Force knows she could've used the help."
She paused for a second, her eyes traveling over to him once again before she raised her greasy hand for him to shake, which Anakin didn't mind one bit as he happily took her hand, happy to have possibly made a new friend.
"I'm Danika Pava, but you can call me Dani."
"I'm Anakin," he said as he introduced himself to her, a smile gracing his lips.
"Nice to meet you Anakin. Where are you from?" she asked as she scooted herself out from below the ship before standing up to face her new friend.
"Tatooine, you?" he asked.
"Dandoran," she said as she put the hydrospanner away, her silky black hair falling down around her face as she bent over.
The planet sounded vaguely familiar, but Anakin wasn't sure seeing as there were too many planets in the galaxy to keep track of. Billions of different planets with their own culture and beliefs, only a fraction of which belonged to the Republic or the Empire.
"So Tatooine, huh? That's where Commander Luke is from. Do you know him?"
"Yeah I know Luke," said Anakin, leaving the topic of Luke short and simple.
"He's pretty great, huh? He's got to be one of the best pilots I've ever seen," she said with an air of awe and inspiration for the former farm boy.
"Well I've never seen him pilot before but I'm sure he's good," said Anakin with a shrug.
"He's better than good, especially considering he was the one who blew the Death Star up," she said with a chuckle as Anakin paused.
Luke had mentioned that the Rebel's had destroyed the Death Star, but he hadn't mentioned that he had been the one to deliver the shot. It sounded like an impressive feat that Anakin would've liked to have seen, but for now, he would have only stories to count on.
"How'd he manage that?" asked Anakin, his interest peaked.
She only shrugged, "I don't know. But from what I've been told, it was a one-in-a-million-shot."
The Force probably helped him out on that one, but he was in way doubting the piloting abilities of the older Jedi. Luke seemed like an extremely talented man and his mastery of the Force was enough to make Anakin jealous of him because he knew that he had never possessed that level of calmness or serenity when it came to the Force. His ability to keep his emotions in check was impressive and Anakin knew that he struggled in keeping his emotions, especially anger and fear, under control.
"I would've liked to have seen that," mentioned Anakin.
"You and me both," she said pointedly before her focused drifted away from Anakin to a dark-skinned human that had just entered the hangar. She motioned for him to join them, a large smile spreading across her face as the young man made his way over to them.
"Sorry," she said to Anakin, "this is my friend Leandro. Leandro, this is Anakin."
"Pleasure," said Leandro, his accent cool and crisp as he stuck out his hand for the youth to shake. His accent was distinctly Inner Rim, possibly Coruscanti if he had to guess where he was from. Even the way this man held himself screamed upper class and it made Anakin wonder how he had managed to find himself in the Rebellion.
"So are you new here?" asked Leandro as he dazzled the youth white a blindingly white smile that contrasted heavily against his dark skin tone.
"Arrived a few days ago from Ben'we," said Anakin as he noticed his two companions pause, their eyes widening.
"You're the new Jedi Commander Luke picked up on Ben'we aren't you? The whole fleet has been talking about you," said Leandro as he looked Anakin over with newfound curiosity.
"Are you really a Jedi?" asked Dani, her eyes searching for any indication that this kid was a famed Jedi that she had grown up hearing so much about.
"Uh yeah," said Anakin as he scratched his head, "I started my training when I was nine."
"Can we see your lightsaber?" asked Dani, giddy at the prospect of seeing the weapon of the Jedi. "I mean, you have one right? All Jedi have them don't they?"
"Yeah we all have them," he said as he pulled out his lightsaber, which he had stashed away in his utility belt with his jacket covering it. The metallic handle gleamed in the light as he held it up for the two of them to see before igniting it, the look on their face worth every credit.
Both Dani and Leandro looked at the blue pillar of light, they had of course seen Luke Skywalker's use his lightsaber but never before had they seen one up close before like this.
"Wait till Jase hears about this," said Dani, "he's always wanted to see one."
"He's always wanted to get his hands on one," pointed out Leandro.
Anakin de-ignited it before clipping it back on his utility belt, not failing to notice the curious eyes of everybody in the hangar as they stared at him. He ignored them as he covered the metallic handle with his brown jacket that he recognized as being Corellian in style. Leia had given him the clothes and if he had to guess, she seemed to have an affinity for the planets style.
"Hey, we were just about to go get a late breakfast. Want to join us?" asked Dani, her dark slanted eyes wide and hopeful.
Anakin smiled, "sure, why not."
"Great, and afterward you can help us finish the repairs to the ships," she said as she led the two of them out of the hangar.
As they walked out of the hangar they ran into Luke, who was just making his way into the hangar as he talked with a few other people, his eyes latching onto Anakin as they disappeared down the corridor.
AN: Hope you enjoyed it! Now Anakin is starting to grow more and more suspicious of Luke as well as receiving visions about his future, but he has yet to realize what they mean. He's also making more friends, especially with Leia...