A/N: I had this idea last Halloween and meant to write it at some point throughout the last year... trust me to leave it until a week before. There will be daily (ish) updates until the big day!

As the sun crept beyond the stretching tips of the growing town before him, promising a bright, warm new day, only dread filled the pit of Anakin's stomach. Night, for once, had raced by quicker than he could stand to see. Usually, hours of darkness dragged by, moment by moment, hour by hour, as sleep evaded him in a long, relentless wait for the new day. Of course, this day would rush at him when he had been dreading it with every fibre of his damned being.

It wouldn't be long before the church bells tolled to wake the people in the houses all around him. The town would begin the usual monotony of its day, bakeries firing to life, preachers dressing to open their doors, doctors, miners, carriage drivers, everyone had a role to play in this world, that was what his uncle Sheev always said, at least. Anakin had learned his three months ago with a visit from Lord and Lady Byrne with an offer Sheev Skywalker could not refuse.

Glancing down at his right hand, he felt each digit begin to tremble as he imagined the binding ring which would soon be placed there, trapping him to someone he had never met before for the rest of his life. Lady Dorme Byrne was a reported beauty, his uncle promised, a fine dancer and well-read, a perfect little wife in the making for any normal man. But Anakin didn't want her – or anyone for that matter.

He wanted to be free – to leave this dreary town and find somewhere new, somewhere he could fit in! Somewhere which felt like home. His uncle's manor never had, not for one moment since he had been brought here at ten years old after his mother passed of spreading sickness in their village. Sheev had been distant but carried high expectations of his nephew. There were always so many rules, he was never free to be a boy for one moment after he moved in.

And now, it was time to replay his uncle's kindness. After all, Sheev didn't have to take Anakin in fifteen years ago – there were plenty of orphanages fit to burst with unwanted, unclaimed children he could have been flung into.

Time was a strange and cruel thing, it took what it gave without warning and the once grand estate Sheev had built had become barren and increasingly unkempt.

The staff had been the first to go when the money began drying up. The famous gold mines belonging to the Skywalker family for six generations producing nothing but dirt for four years meant the lifestyle Sheev enjoyed had come to a crashing end. It had been easy to keep up appearances for a while as he tried investment after investment, growing ever more desperate to claw them back from the breadline which crawled closer and closer by the day. Nothing had gone to plan. The banks ran out of loans to offer and desired their money back with a gleaming interest they could not afford to pay.

Anakin glanced at himself in the mirror and grimaced. His uncle did not particularly like him after he had shown no particular talent for the things Sheev deemed proper for an upcoming gentleman. He took well to languages but that was nothing shining amongst those he rubbed shoulders with. There was no great skill or talent which could be exploited to save them. Soon, those who were owed would come and seize the manor and they would be homeless – or worse, as Sheev said, end up in the poor house.

But there was hope. His uncle's hard work to keep up appearances meant people did not know the truth of their lives quite yet. To all around, the Skywalkers were another great House, wealthy and secure for generations to come. It meant they still carried the respect of their peers. It meant Anakin was still eligible. When Lord and Lady Byrne offered their daughter's hand and an eye-watering dowery, Sheev had been overcome. He would use the money to pay off their debts, land another loan and purchase a new, fertile mine and save them forever.

The cost of Anakin's freedom, his life, had paled in comparison to the riches to come.

His tight expression grew into a glower as he battled with himself. Didn't he owe this to his uncle for taking him in? Hadn't Sheev earned his respect after fifteen years? His mother would want him to do this and repay her brother for all he had done. Even if they had not spoken for many years before Anakin's birth, he was sure Shmi would want him to thank his uncle properly.

So when dusk came upon the town this evening, Anakin would marry Lady Dorme and whisk her away on a short and nearby honeymoon in the small but suitable country home his uncle still owned while Sheev handled all which needed to be done. It would be sorted. Settled. All he had to do was say the words, and Sheev would take care of everything else. Their family would be saved forever so long as everything, every last, little thing, went to plan.

For his mother's memory. For his uncle's future, Anakin would do this. He would sacrifice himself for his family, it was his duty, his honour and his privilege. He would be a good husband to Lady Dorme and potentially, one day, a good father to any children they had. Even as he steeled himself, such thoughts sent a roll of nausea rushing through the young man's body. Not one part of him felt ready. Only ice-cold dread strengthened his limbs enough to drag his clothes over his body and a brush through his hair. If he wasn't presentable enough, his uncle would riot.

There were long, jagged scars lining his back from times he had disappointed Sheev.

His uncle wielded a belt with frightening expertise.

Soon, Lady Dorme and her parents would arrive and there would be the grandest wedding dinner Sheev could afford to put on, one last pretence before the dowery was handed over and their necks spared for now. Anakin forced himself to smile in the small, rounded mirror hanging upon his wall. "You will smile and endure, my boy," Sheev had warned him from across the dinner table last night. Dark anger swirled a warning inside his narrowed eyes – do not embarrass me or suffer the consequences.

"There you are," the door of his room snuck open and allowed his uncle to drift inside, "you should have been ready an hour ago!" The hiss of his voice was filled partly by the worrying rattle shaking within Sheev's chest. He was an old man now, prone to coughing fits and colds more often. The sooner they restored the family fortune, the better. They would be able to properly heat the manor again and Sheev would feel better. "Let me look you over…" he said.

Anakin held his breath as Sheev made a slow circle around him, tutting and narrowing his eyes now and again. There would be something which made the old man unhappy, there always was. No matter how he tried, he could never live up to whatever secretive, grand vision his uncle had for his nephew. The usual argument was that his hair had grown too long, that the flicking curls at the nape of his neck were untidy and distasteful but he grinned and bared it. Sheev had taken him in. Sheev had fed and clothed him. He could endure.

"You will have to do," his uncle said at last. "Remember what this day means, Anakin. Without that girl and her family's money, we are lost. I am depending upon you, boy," something grim and hard lined the man's face, "For this one day, at least, I hope you will not shame me. It is the very least I deserve from you."

Pressing his lips together, Anakin bit back anything he wanted to say. For a moment, he longed to remind his uncle that he had only ever done as asked. He had been pliant and demure – he had swallowed down parts of himself until only a shadow remained. No, there was no need for an argument today. It was going to be difficult enough later when Lady Dorme arrived.

"Of course, uncle," he muttered, "I'll do everything to make sure it all goes smoothly."

"Good," Sheev nodded, "Now remember, marriage is easy, Anakin. Once the girl is yours by law, make sure she is quiet. Wives are to be seen and not heard, after all." He began to straighten the lapels of the only fine coat he owned now, "Give her a child quickly and it will keep her busy and out of your business… Once we are more settled, there will be fun to be had, but not a moment before. Do you understand?"

Gritting his teeth, Anakin felt his hands curl into fists by his sides. Hadn't he promised enough today? Couldn't the old man just leave him alone? He wasn't the one marrying a woman he didn't know or love, so why was Sheev making all the rules again? He forced himself to nod or else the silence would catch Sheev's suspicions, or worse, his rage, and took a long, shuddering breath. "Of course," he muttered, "everything will go exactly as you have planned, uncle, I promise you."

As Sheev nodded and began to retreat from the room, Anakin glanced outwards to the town laid before his bedroom as it began its day and then further, to the darkness of the woods which lined their town borders thickly. What he would give to tear off this suit and run to the freedom those trees offered. Maybe no one would ever find him again in their stretching shadows? People might whisper that he had been killed by a creature or gotten lost never to be seen again. Maybe he would actually die where the sunlight couldn't find him.

At least there was freedom in death, he thought, turning to glare at his reflection once more.

Outside, an agreeing breeze blew toward the trees and danced through their branches in a whispering offer Anakin felt all too tempted to accept.