***CHAPTER SEVEN***
Heavy mechanical breathing. His breathing. Darkness. The walls were closing in on him now. The clash of lightsabers, everything was suddenly bathed in a crimson light. Anakin looked around, a figure stood behind him. Clothed in a black cloak, the figure laughed. Taunting him as he tried to find a way out of the jail of darkness he was in.
"Who are you?" Anakin shouted, coming closer to the figure.
The hooded figure looked up at him, and Anakin fell back. Yellow eyes, framed with white skin that hung from the creature's skull.
It laughed again, a sound that reminded Anakin of water vaporizing on hot mettle. "You may never return. You may never escape. You-"
Anakin turned away, running, or trying to. His legs felt like he was trying to run through water. Still the creature's words were in his mind.
"Are-"
Suddenly, Anakin felt the floor fall out beneath him. He was falling deeper and deeper into a pit. Then fire was crawling up his back. But still the raspy voice was in his head.
"MINE!"
"No!" Anakin thrashed in the lava pit. He saw the skin burning off his hands, down to the bone, and then even bone burned in a bright flame. Then, they disintegrated. He saw the skin on his chest bubble and then burst, even blood boiled in the hot lava. He screamed in horror, trying to get to the side of the pool, desperately, he pushed himself up, and then-
Anakin sat up to the coolness of the inside of the Phoenix. He was bathed in a cold sweat, and blankets were wrapped around his legs. But other than that, everything was in place. He ran a hand though his hair, still breathing hard. Anakin looked over at the brown robes and the sleeping Jedi across from him and near the other wall. Quickly, he glanced at the two lightsabers that lay on the floor next to him, eyeing the Jedi's lightsaber quietly.
Letting out a shaky sigh, Anakin sat up against the wall and looked down at Padme, who was sleeping in the bed, which was next to him. The bed, was a foot and a half off the ground, and built into the wall. He was grateful that he hadn't disturbed her. Besides the fact that she needed her sleep, she would have asked questions.
Padme's hair was loose, cascading down her shoulders. She slept with her cloths on, as did Anakin. The Phoenix was a small ship. She lay partially on her side, breathing deeply as people do when they're in a deep sleep.
Anakin reached over, brushing a dark lock of her hair out of Padme's face. Feeling the sensation of her silky hair on his fingers. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, leaning his head down on the mattress next to hers, letting her warm breath wash over him. Anakin let out another shaky sigh, trying to convince himself that the dream was only a dream, and that Padme was real.
When he was very young he always believed his dreams would tell the future. Even though his mother had woken him from many nightmares and told him it was nonsense. However, even though it was childish, he still believed that his dreams did tell the future in a certain way. The night before he had won his first podrace he had a nightmare of crashing into a large rock because old Subulba had tampered with his podracer's left engine. He had found where the dug had broken a Z-20 connection and closed it- and won his first Boonta Eve podrace. But if he hadn't had the nightmare the night before, would he have died? He had always taken the dreams seriously, and there was never an opportunity to test them. Not that he ever wanted to. But the nightmare he had just awoken from didn't have anything to do with podracers or tattoine for that matter.
He shuddered, remembering the lava crawling up his back and the weird creature that vaguely resembled an old human man, and his own mechanical breathing. Was this the future? Or just a nightmare? What was the connection? It baffled him. Perhaps, since it didn't make sense, it was imaginary, and that they were safe in the quiet quarters of the Phoenix. Soon, the memory of his nightmares faded, and Padme's soft breathing lulled him back to a sweet dreamless sleep. Although he consoled himself with convincing himself that it was just a dream, deep down inside Anakin's sleeping mind, he knew he was wrong.
A little while later, a very groggy Obi-Wan Kenobie opened his eyes. It was dark. And he lay against a hard durra steal floor. He also noticed that his hands, and legs, were tied. Looking around, he saw his captors asleep on the other side of the room. They didn't look like murderers, and he cursed himself for being so quick to act without a clear mind.
He also saw his lightsaber on the floor next to the sleeping slave. Next to the lightsaber that used to belong to his old master. If he could shrug off the stun-bolt he could get his lightsaber, but he felt so...blasted...tired. Then, Obi-Wan Kenobi, slipped back into unconsciousness.
***THE NEXT MORNING***
Obi-Wan slowly opened his eyes. First he saw the gray ceiling of the ship, and then a human face began to take form. What came to focus next were a pair of eyes. Then, it spoke.
"Wakie-Wakie."
Padme looked around. "Don't harass him Anakin."
Anakin glanced at her from where he stood above the barely revived Jedi Knight. "Don't worry 'bout it."
Obi-Wan blinked. For the first time seeing who was hovering above him. Meeting the gaze of Anakin, who gave him a big grin. "What do you want?" Obi-Wan grumbled.
Anakin laughed. "What I want?" He paused. "A billion credits and a lifetime of leisure."
Obi-Wan struggled to get up. "If you expect a ransom money exchange you wont get it."
Anakin played at being offended. "What would I do with a billion credits? You overestimate me, Jedi."
"I'm sure." Obi-Wan replied. "If you don't want ransom what do you want?"
"I want to know why you came here." Anakin said, finally becoming serious.
Obi-Wan sighed. "I came to kill a Sith, or bring back a force-user who has great power."
Padme stopped finished putting her hair up on the back of her head in a bun. Bringing her attention fully to what the Jedi Knight was saying. "Who is that?" She asked.
Obi-Wan looked from Padme to Anakin, and then to Padme again. "I don't know who it is. But one of the greatest masters said he came from this planet."
Anakin sat down on one of the crates next to Obi-Wan."So, you don't know who it is, but you decided I looked like I might be a Sith so you decided to kill me just in case."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, it's not like that at all."
It was obvious to Padme that Anakin would have said something rash at the moment because of the look on his face. So, she cut in. "We mean you no harm, Master Jedi. But we have to keep you away until we are capable of leaving."
"Which means," Anakin said, giving Obi-Wan another grin. "That you have to go nighty-night again."
Obi-Wan looked at both of them. "Wait, I know you might have given you the wrong impression."
"Nah." Anakin said, leaning close to the Jedi's face. "That's where you're incorrect. You didn't 'might have' given the wrong impression. You did." With that, Anakin took the blaster out of it's holster at his side, which was set to stun, and shot the Jedi in the chest.
Padme glanced at Anakin, who returned the blaster to it's holster. "He doesn't make much sense." She said quietly.
"Well." Anakin said, cracking a true grin. "He might be a little crazy. Ya ever think of that?"
Padme laughed. "A Jedi Knight? Crazy? You must be outta your mind."
"Oh now you're calling me crazy?" He got up.
Padme laughed again as Anakin lowered the landing ramp. "Well one of us has to be!"
"Now I get it." Anakin said, as Padme walked down the ramp in front of him. "You're crazy for hanging out with someone like me!"
"Of course." Padme replied, watching as Anakin raised the landing ramp to the Phoenix. "It's catching."
Anakin laughed, walking up beside her. "You say I was crazy first?"
Padme gave him a smile. "Exactly." Together, they walked out across the dunes toward Mos Espa, the Phoenix having been hidden on the outskirts of the city.
***LATER***
Behind the counter, Kitster watched as his best friend, Anakin Skywalker, and the new slave who was owned by Watto walked into the moisturizer-engine shop that Kitster worked in. Kitster noticed that his best friend had a blaster instantly. And it made him chew his lip, whatever Anakin was planning to do, he didn't want to mess it up.
Kitster's master, a surly bug-eyed creature that was covered in purple fur named Reno met them half-way. "What do ya want?"
"My master, Watto, heard that you had some type V vaporators" Anakin answered confidently.
"Type V?" Reno's bug eyes squinted at Anakin. "Watto must have stayed outside in the sun too long. There is no such thing."
"Hmm." Anakin said rubbing his forehead. "That's too bad." He took the blaster out of the holster at his side and stuck it between Reno's huge bug- eyes. "Good thing that wasn't what we were looking for."
Reno froze, all four arms lifting up in a submissive manor. "Uh, Kitster..." his beak clacked, "Boy! Get over here!"
Kitster laughed. "Bout time this happened!" he said, jumping over the counte, which was obviously no what Reno was expecting.
"The codes." Anakin said, putting a little pressure on the blaster, making Reno step back. "Try anything, and we'll redecorate this place with your brains."
Reno reached down to his belt, where he had a hand held data-pad, and keyed in the passwords.
Kitster ran into the backroom, which Padme guessed was Reno's office, and brought back a scanner.
Anakin took the data-pad away from Reno, and handed it to Kitster, not taking his eyes off the strange alien.
Kitster waved the scanner over his arms and legs, finally finding the slave transmitter in his thigh. He quickly put the code into the scanner, and it beeped approvingly. "Done."
Anakin pushed Reno into a corner of the shop away from public view. "What should we do with him?" he asked over his shoulder.
Kitster paused. "What do you think."
Anakin hesitated. "We could leave him here." He smiled nastily at the alien. "Or shoot him so he wont be able to tell on us."
Padme watched as Anakin smiled again, and she suddenly had no doubt that Anakin would in fact kill the bug-like alien. As she watched, she suddenly felt very cold. Anakin wanted to kill him. He wanted to, and he didn't show any hesitance about it whatsoever.
Reno panicked. "Wait! I'll give you anything! Take my money! Just don't-"
"We will take the hyperdrive out of your ship." Anakin cut in, still wearing that unnerving grin. "Keep talking and I'll kill you."
Padme looked at Anakin, who motioned for Kitster to get some rope that was lying coiled in the corner. In Anakin's eyes she saw the monster that had been in the streets the night before last. Now that Anakin had his freedom he felt invincible, as if all of the bonds were loosed. Even the simple rules of right and wrong? Murder? Padme reached out, resting her hand on his shoulder. "Anakin, this slime-ball isn't worth it."
Anakin tilted his head from side to side, the monster in his eyes flickering away. "Alright." He put the blaster back in it's holster.
Padme sighed shakily, taking her hand off Anakin's shoulder. She suddenly knew that besides the goodness that was inside Anakin, there was also something dark lurking in his subconscious. Underneath the warmth, kindness, and humor, there was something wanting revenge, something that even Anakin didn't see in himself.
Kitster smiled as he tightened the not on the ropes which held all of Reno's arms. "Lets get outta here."
"You got that right." Anakin said, holding up Reno's data-pad. "Lets go."
Anakin, Padme, and Kitster walked out of the shop, into the streets of Mos Espa. Kitster closed the shop doors, the huge durrasteal wall came down with a loud clank, and locked. "I'm going to go get Amee." Kitster said.
"Yeah, you better." Anakin replied. "Here." He took the blaster from it's holder and handed it to his best friend, who immediately hid it in his slave shirt. "You'll need that."
Kitster gave them a cocky salute. "No problem."
"We'll get the hyperdrive and meet you back at the Phoenix." Anakin said.
"Right." Kitster said, turning away.
Anakin and Padme watched as Kitster walked away, having the same spring to his step that they had experienced before. Anakin turned to Padme, and hesitantly took her hand in his. "Lets go."
***LATER***
"Could ya hand me the hydrospanner?"
Padme tossed Anakin the tool, and he caught it without looking. "What about Watto?" Padme asked quietly, wondering if the toydarion was going to suffer from Anakin's wrath more than Reno had.
Anakin pulled himself out from under the rusty old ship, getting another piece of equipment. "Watto will fret."
"And Shmi? When are we going to get her?"
"Mom knows what I'm doing. We're gonna go back and get her tonight." Anakin answered. He crawled under the hull of the ship again. "And Watto still thinks he owns us. So he thinks we're coming back."
Padme nodded, running her hands though the sand, letting it syphon through her fingers. "Would-" She couldn't find any ploy around a direct question so she just asked. "Would you have killed Reno?"
Anakin pulled himself out from under the ship again, and gave her a pensive look, then smiled. "No." He grabbed another tool and got under the ship. "Okay Padme, you need to press the control to put on the ground thrusters when I tell you- Or else the hyperdrive will crush me."
"You got it." Padme said, taking the control pad he had given her into her hands. He had rigged it to the ships controls- not an easy task to the average mechanic, but Anakin's abilities kept Padme astonished every time he showed them.
"Okay...Now."
Padme pushed the button, and the ship's ground thrusters came to life, lifting the ship off the ground a good ten feet.
Anakin slid out just before the immense hyperdrive thudded to the hard- packed sand, raising a little poof of dust.
"There she is." Anakin said, getting up.
"I don't understand, why don't we take this ship?" Padme asked quizicley.
"Because it wont get very far." Anakin replied. "Reno used it mainly for on- planet travel. I don't think it would even keep space outside." He laughed.
Padme looked skeptically at the old style hyperdrive. She hadn't seen one as old except in museums. "Are you sure it'll work?"
Anakin whipped away some of the sweat on his forehead, still smiling. "Didn't say it wasn't a gamble."
Padme rolled her eyes, laughing. "So assuring Anakin."
***LATER***
Anakin steered the speeder across the sands of Tattoine, the speeder towed a hauler that had the hyperdrive in its back. Padme sat next to him in silence, contemplating the world she now knew as the burning wind pushed her back into her seat. Everything seemed so unbelievably iffy that if she thought about it very long at all she would start to be sick. Glancing over, she saw that Anakin was driving the speeder with a pinched __expression that only came with nervousness. And he had plenty to worry about. She already knew what happened to slaves for suspicion of stealing, and she wondered what the punishment for stealing would be. Or perhaps it was something else. "What's wrong, Anakin?" She shouted over the howl of the wind in her ears.
"I don't know." Anakin replied. "But I can tell something's wrong."
Padme nodded, watching as the Phoenix approached. Closer and closer, outlined against the dusty horizon. But, as they got nearer, she saw that something was indeed wrong.
Anakin drove the speeder up, parking it hard next to ramp of his ship. The ship, the Phoenix, was the problem. "Bantha-foddor Jawas!" Anakin grumbled under his breath.
The landing ramp was down, and there were scorch marks on its hull, with scrapes around the entry locks.
Padme got out and followed Anakin up the ramp of the ship. She heard Anakin curse in several different languages, and was for once grateful that she didn't understand Huttese. But as she looked around, she noticed something very wrong. "Anakin-"
Anakin didn't hear her. "Maybe it was Tuskans.or maybe Sand Pirates, but they wouldn't be able to break the code, what the-"
"Anakin!"
Anakin looked up at her. "What?"
She gulped, suddenly feeling a knot in her stomach. "Where is the Jedi?"
Anakin paled even through his dark tan. He looked around, and ran to the cockpit, then came back. Seeing Padme's wide-eyed _expression he had to admit the scene was bleak.
"What do you think happened to him?" Padme asked.
Anakin walked outside, noticing for the second time the clawed outer hull, and the scortch marks. He felt Padme's hand on his arm.
"What happened?" She asked.
"It looks like slave sellers." Anakin answered haltingly.
"What?" Padme asked. It was more of a disbelieving explanation then a question.
"They capture people and sell them as slaves." Anakin said, turning to look down at Padme. "I know someone who can tell us exactly what's going on. Don't worry."
Pdme met Anakin's gaze, then looked back at the clawed hull of the Phoenix. This was getting out of hand. Now the Jedi could suffer the fate she and Anakin were trying to escape.
To Be CONTINUED!!
A.N. Did ya expect that? Hope ya didn't! Well, I was gone for a week. I won't explain why I came back from my grandpa's so soon, because you probably can guess. *sigh* He had heart problems.
Anyway, guess who Obi-Wan was sold to? Just guess. I want to see if you know.hehehe.)
(A.N. I HAD to re-post this.Before, it was a block paragraph. I have absolutely NO idea how it happened, but it did. HOW EMBERASSING!)
"Sometimes we must let go of our pride, and do what is expected of us."
"I'm just trying to make my way in the universe."
Didja enjoy! HOPE YA DID! TILL THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!
Heavy mechanical breathing. His breathing. Darkness. The walls were closing in on him now. The clash of lightsabers, everything was suddenly bathed in a crimson light. Anakin looked around, a figure stood behind him. Clothed in a black cloak, the figure laughed. Taunting him as he tried to find a way out of the jail of darkness he was in.
"Who are you?" Anakin shouted, coming closer to the figure.
The hooded figure looked up at him, and Anakin fell back. Yellow eyes, framed with white skin that hung from the creature's skull.
It laughed again, a sound that reminded Anakin of water vaporizing on hot mettle. "You may never return. You may never escape. You-"
Anakin turned away, running, or trying to. His legs felt like he was trying to run through water. Still the creature's words were in his mind.
"Are-"
Suddenly, Anakin felt the floor fall out beneath him. He was falling deeper and deeper into a pit. Then fire was crawling up his back. But still the raspy voice was in his head.
"MINE!"
"No!" Anakin thrashed in the lava pit. He saw the skin burning off his hands, down to the bone, and then even bone burned in a bright flame. Then, they disintegrated. He saw the skin on his chest bubble and then burst, even blood boiled in the hot lava. He screamed in horror, trying to get to the side of the pool, desperately, he pushed himself up, and then-
Anakin sat up to the coolness of the inside of the Phoenix. He was bathed in a cold sweat, and blankets were wrapped around his legs. But other than that, everything was in place. He ran a hand though his hair, still breathing hard. Anakin looked over at the brown robes and the sleeping Jedi across from him and near the other wall. Quickly, he glanced at the two lightsabers that lay on the floor next to him, eyeing the Jedi's lightsaber quietly.
Letting out a shaky sigh, Anakin sat up against the wall and looked down at Padme, who was sleeping in the bed, which was next to him. The bed, was a foot and a half off the ground, and built into the wall. He was grateful that he hadn't disturbed her. Besides the fact that she needed her sleep, she would have asked questions.
Padme's hair was loose, cascading down her shoulders. She slept with her cloths on, as did Anakin. The Phoenix was a small ship. She lay partially on her side, breathing deeply as people do when they're in a deep sleep.
Anakin reached over, brushing a dark lock of her hair out of Padme's face. Feeling the sensation of her silky hair on his fingers. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, leaning his head down on the mattress next to hers, letting her warm breath wash over him. Anakin let out another shaky sigh, trying to convince himself that the dream was only a dream, and that Padme was real.
When he was very young he always believed his dreams would tell the future. Even though his mother had woken him from many nightmares and told him it was nonsense. However, even though it was childish, he still believed that his dreams did tell the future in a certain way. The night before he had won his first podrace he had a nightmare of crashing into a large rock because old Subulba had tampered with his podracer's left engine. He had found where the dug had broken a Z-20 connection and closed it- and won his first Boonta Eve podrace. But if he hadn't had the nightmare the night before, would he have died? He had always taken the dreams seriously, and there was never an opportunity to test them. Not that he ever wanted to. But the nightmare he had just awoken from didn't have anything to do with podracers or tattoine for that matter.
He shuddered, remembering the lava crawling up his back and the weird creature that vaguely resembled an old human man, and his own mechanical breathing. Was this the future? Or just a nightmare? What was the connection? It baffled him. Perhaps, since it didn't make sense, it was imaginary, and that they were safe in the quiet quarters of the Phoenix. Soon, the memory of his nightmares faded, and Padme's soft breathing lulled him back to a sweet dreamless sleep. Although he consoled himself with convincing himself that it was just a dream, deep down inside Anakin's sleeping mind, he knew he was wrong.
A little while later, a very groggy Obi-Wan Kenobie opened his eyes. It was dark. And he lay against a hard durra steal floor. He also noticed that his hands, and legs, were tied. Looking around, he saw his captors asleep on the other side of the room. They didn't look like murderers, and he cursed himself for being so quick to act without a clear mind.
He also saw his lightsaber on the floor next to the sleeping slave. Next to the lightsaber that used to belong to his old master. If he could shrug off the stun-bolt he could get his lightsaber, but he felt so...blasted...tired. Then, Obi-Wan Kenobi, slipped back into unconsciousness.
***THE NEXT MORNING***
Obi-Wan slowly opened his eyes. First he saw the gray ceiling of the ship, and then a human face began to take form. What came to focus next were a pair of eyes. Then, it spoke.
"Wakie-Wakie."
Padme looked around. "Don't harass him Anakin."
Anakin glanced at her from where he stood above the barely revived Jedi Knight. "Don't worry 'bout it."
Obi-Wan blinked. For the first time seeing who was hovering above him. Meeting the gaze of Anakin, who gave him a big grin. "What do you want?" Obi-Wan grumbled.
Anakin laughed. "What I want?" He paused. "A billion credits and a lifetime of leisure."
Obi-Wan struggled to get up. "If you expect a ransom money exchange you wont get it."
Anakin played at being offended. "What would I do with a billion credits? You overestimate me, Jedi."
"I'm sure." Obi-Wan replied. "If you don't want ransom what do you want?"
"I want to know why you came here." Anakin said, finally becoming serious.
Obi-Wan sighed. "I came to kill a Sith, or bring back a force-user who has great power."
Padme stopped finished putting her hair up on the back of her head in a bun. Bringing her attention fully to what the Jedi Knight was saying. "Who is that?" She asked.
Obi-Wan looked from Padme to Anakin, and then to Padme again. "I don't know who it is. But one of the greatest masters said he came from this planet."
Anakin sat down on one of the crates next to Obi-Wan."So, you don't know who it is, but you decided I looked like I might be a Sith so you decided to kill me just in case."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, it's not like that at all."
It was obvious to Padme that Anakin would have said something rash at the moment because of the look on his face. So, she cut in. "We mean you no harm, Master Jedi. But we have to keep you away until we are capable of leaving."
"Which means," Anakin said, giving Obi-Wan another grin. "That you have to go nighty-night again."
Obi-Wan looked at both of them. "Wait, I know you might have given you the wrong impression."
"Nah." Anakin said, leaning close to the Jedi's face. "That's where you're incorrect. You didn't 'might have' given the wrong impression. You did." With that, Anakin took the blaster out of it's holster at his side, which was set to stun, and shot the Jedi in the chest.
Padme glanced at Anakin, who returned the blaster to it's holster. "He doesn't make much sense." She said quietly.
"Well." Anakin said, cracking a true grin. "He might be a little crazy. Ya ever think of that?"
Padme laughed. "A Jedi Knight? Crazy? You must be outta your mind."
"Oh now you're calling me crazy?" He got up.
Padme laughed again as Anakin lowered the landing ramp. "Well one of us has to be!"
"Now I get it." Anakin said, as Padme walked down the ramp in front of him. "You're crazy for hanging out with someone like me!"
"Of course." Padme replied, watching as Anakin raised the landing ramp to the Phoenix. "It's catching."
Anakin laughed, walking up beside her. "You say I was crazy first?"
Padme gave him a smile. "Exactly." Together, they walked out across the dunes toward Mos Espa, the Phoenix having been hidden on the outskirts of the city.
***LATER***
Behind the counter, Kitster watched as his best friend, Anakin Skywalker, and the new slave who was owned by Watto walked into the moisturizer-engine shop that Kitster worked in. Kitster noticed that his best friend had a blaster instantly. And it made him chew his lip, whatever Anakin was planning to do, he didn't want to mess it up.
Kitster's master, a surly bug-eyed creature that was covered in purple fur named Reno met them half-way. "What do ya want?"
"My master, Watto, heard that you had some type V vaporators" Anakin answered confidently.
"Type V?" Reno's bug eyes squinted at Anakin. "Watto must have stayed outside in the sun too long. There is no such thing."
"Hmm." Anakin said rubbing his forehead. "That's too bad." He took the blaster out of the holster at his side and stuck it between Reno's huge bug- eyes. "Good thing that wasn't what we were looking for."
Reno froze, all four arms lifting up in a submissive manor. "Uh, Kitster..." his beak clacked, "Boy! Get over here!"
Kitster laughed. "Bout time this happened!" he said, jumping over the counte, which was obviously no what Reno was expecting.
"The codes." Anakin said, putting a little pressure on the blaster, making Reno step back. "Try anything, and we'll redecorate this place with your brains."
Reno reached down to his belt, where he had a hand held data-pad, and keyed in the passwords.
Kitster ran into the backroom, which Padme guessed was Reno's office, and brought back a scanner.
Anakin took the data-pad away from Reno, and handed it to Kitster, not taking his eyes off the strange alien.
Kitster waved the scanner over his arms and legs, finally finding the slave transmitter in his thigh. He quickly put the code into the scanner, and it beeped approvingly. "Done."
Anakin pushed Reno into a corner of the shop away from public view. "What should we do with him?" he asked over his shoulder.
Kitster paused. "What do you think."
Anakin hesitated. "We could leave him here." He smiled nastily at the alien. "Or shoot him so he wont be able to tell on us."
Padme watched as Anakin smiled again, and she suddenly had no doubt that Anakin would in fact kill the bug-like alien. As she watched, she suddenly felt very cold. Anakin wanted to kill him. He wanted to, and he didn't show any hesitance about it whatsoever.
Reno panicked. "Wait! I'll give you anything! Take my money! Just don't-"
"We will take the hyperdrive out of your ship." Anakin cut in, still wearing that unnerving grin. "Keep talking and I'll kill you."
Padme looked at Anakin, who motioned for Kitster to get some rope that was lying coiled in the corner. In Anakin's eyes she saw the monster that had been in the streets the night before last. Now that Anakin had his freedom he felt invincible, as if all of the bonds were loosed. Even the simple rules of right and wrong? Murder? Padme reached out, resting her hand on his shoulder. "Anakin, this slime-ball isn't worth it."
Anakin tilted his head from side to side, the monster in his eyes flickering away. "Alright." He put the blaster back in it's holster.
Padme sighed shakily, taking her hand off Anakin's shoulder. She suddenly knew that besides the goodness that was inside Anakin, there was also something dark lurking in his subconscious. Underneath the warmth, kindness, and humor, there was something wanting revenge, something that even Anakin didn't see in himself.
Kitster smiled as he tightened the not on the ropes which held all of Reno's arms. "Lets get outta here."
"You got that right." Anakin said, holding up Reno's data-pad. "Lets go."
Anakin, Padme, and Kitster walked out of the shop, into the streets of Mos Espa. Kitster closed the shop doors, the huge durrasteal wall came down with a loud clank, and locked. "I'm going to go get Amee." Kitster said.
"Yeah, you better." Anakin replied. "Here." He took the blaster from it's holder and handed it to his best friend, who immediately hid it in his slave shirt. "You'll need that."
Kitster gave them a cocky salute. "No problem."
"We'll get the hyperdrive and meet you back at the Phoenix." Anakin said.
"Right." Kitster said, turning away.
Anakin and Padme watched as Kitster walked away, having the same spring to his step that they had experienced before. Anakin turned to Padme, and hesitantly took her hand in his. "Lets go."
***LATER***
"Could ya hand me the hydrospanner?"
Padme tossed Anakin the tool, and he caught it without looking. "What about Watto?" Padme asked quietly, wondering if the toydarion was going to suffer from Anakin's wrath more than Reno had.
Anakin pulled himself out from under the rusty old ship, getting another piece of equipment. "Watto will fret."
"And Shmi? When are we going to get her?"
"Mom knows what I'm doing. We're gonna go back and get her tonight." Anakin answered. He crawled under the hull of the ship again. "And Watto still thinks he owns us. So he thinks we're coming back."
Padme nodded, running her hands though the sand, letting it syphon through her fingers. "Would-" She couldn't find any ploy around a direct question so she just asked. "Would you have killed Reno?"
Anakin pulled himself out from under the ship again, and gave her a pensive look, then smiled. "No." He grabbed another tool and got under the ship. "Okay Padme, you need to press the control to put on the ground thrusters when I tell you- Or else the hyperdrive will crush me."
"You got it." Padme said, taking the control pad he had given her into her hands. He had rigged it to the ships controls- not an easy task to the average mechanic, but Anakin's abilities kept Padme astonished every time he showed them.
"Okay...Now."
Padme pushed the button, and the ship's ground thrusters came to life, lifting the ship off the ground a good ten feet.
Anakin slid out just before the immense hyperdrive thudded to the hard- packed sand, raising a little poof of dust.
"There she is." Anakin said, getting up.
"I don't understand, why don't we take this ship?" Padme asked quizicley.
"Because it wont get very far." Anakin replied. "Reno used it mainly for on- planet travel. I don't think it would even keep space outside." He laughed.
Padme looked skeptically at the old style hyperdrive. She hadn't seen one as old except in museums. "Are you sure it'll work?"
Anakin whipped away some of the sweat on his forehead, still smiling. "Didn't say it wasn't a gamble."
Padme rolled her eyes, laughing. "So assuring Anakin."
***LATER***
Anakin steered the speeder across the sands of Tattoine, the speeder towed a hauler that had the hyperdrive in its back. Padme sat next to him in silence, contemplating the world she now knew as the burning wind pushed her back into her seat. Everything seemed so unbelievably iffy that if she thought about it very long at all she would start to be sick. Glancing over, she saw that Anakin was driving the speeder with a pinched __expression that only came with nervousness. And he had plenty to worry about. She already knew what happened to slaves for suspicion of stealing, and she wondered what the punishment for stealing would be. Or perhaps it was something else. "What's wrong, Anakin?" She shouted over the howl of the wind in her ears.
"I don't know." Anakin replied. "But I can tell something's wrong."
Padme nodded, watching as the Phoenix approached. Closer and closer, outlined against the dusty horizon. But, as they got nearer, she saw that something was indeed wrong.
Anakin drove the speeder up, parking it hard next to ramp of his ship. The ship, the Phoenix, was the problem. "Bantha-foddor Jawas!" Anakin grumbled under his breath.
The landing ramp was down, and there were scorch marks on its hull, with scrapes around the entry locks.
Padme got out and followed Anakin up the ramp of the ship. She heard Anakin curse in several different languages, and was for once grateful that she didn't understand Huttese. But as she looked around, she noticed something very wrong. "Anakin-"
Anakin didn't hear her. "Maybe it was Tuskans.or maybe Sand Pirates, but they wouldn't be able to break the code, what the-"
"Anakin!"
Anakin looked up at her. "What?"
She gulped, suddenly feeling a knot in her stomach. "Where is the Jedi?"
Anakin paled even through his dark tan. He looked around, and ran to the cockpit, then came back. Seeing Padme's wide-eyed _expression he had to admit the scene was bleak.
"What do you think happened to him?" Padme asked.
Anakin walked outside, noticing for the second time the clawed outer hull, and the scortch marks. He felt Padme's hand on his arm.
"What happened?" She asked.
"It looks like slave sellers." Anakin answered haltingly.
"What?" Padme asked. It was more of a disbelieving explanation then a question.
"They capture people and sell them as slaves." Anakin said, turning to look down at Padme. "I know someone who can tell us exactly what's going on. Don't worry."
Pdme met Anakin's gaze, then looked back at the clawed hull of the Phoenix. This was getting out of hand. Now the Jedi could suffer the fate she and Anakin were trying to escape.
To Be CONTINUED!!
A.N. Did ya expect that? Hope ya didn't! Well, I was gone for a week. I won't explain why I came back from my grandpa's so soon, because you probably can guess. *sigh* He had heart problems.
Anyway, guess who Obi-Wan was sold to? Just guess. I want to see if you know.hehehe.)
(A.N. I HAD to re-post this.Before, it was a block paragraph. I have absolutely NO idea how it happened, but it did. HOW EMBERASSING!)
"Sometimes we must let go of our pride, and do what is expected of us."
"I'm just trying to make my way in the universe."
Didja enjoy! HOPE YA DID! TILL THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!