Author's Note: My apologies for the long wait. I try to write faster but it seems that my brain doesn't like this wish of mine. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Delilah
May 28, 2004 - 17:58 hrs

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Chapter One

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Silence. Blessed silence, how did I miss you?

One could hear a pin fall, if one was inclined to do so. But of course, I'm not one of those men who have to set their attention on such trivial things. No, I am not like ordinary human beings.

Instead I take my pleasures where I find them and look around in this 'ship'. A nice construction, I have to admit...

Do they have to gawk at me like I'm some kind of... of... FREAK?

Before I can tell them in no uncertain terms that I seriously dislike such behaviour around me, I find myself hugged by a 100 kilos tin can.

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"Master Anakin. Master Anakin, what a happy day to finally meet you again." Do I know this contraption?

"It was such a tragedy to hear that Master Anakin died in that accident. But I knew that Master Anakin was still alive, you were just not in a place where you could hear of your family." What is this 'thing' talking about? Anakin dead? Good joke, hear me laugh.

"Who are you?" The words leave my mouth before I can reign them in. I really don't want to know what this golden menace to my lung capacity is.

Metal arms leave me to find my breath again. And I have to search for a bit of time, this enthusiastic metallic fellow scared my lungs so much that they were hiding behind the next galaxy.

"My name is C-3PO. Surely you remember me, Master Anakin?"

Yes, I remember...

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"Anakin!" A woman's voice floated through the hot air. Full of love and protectiveness did this proud soul care for her offspring. Though she was not able to protect her children from her fate, she taught her sons the old values.

"Anakin! Come in, boys. Dinner's ready." This time there was a reaction. Two boys who could not be more different if they were of complete different species ran into the house. One bright with eyes full of dreams and fantasy, full of adventures and complicated machinery, the other dark and gloomy, far too sarcastic for his own good and too much bound to the desert sands to ever understand the ways of other people.

This were her children, her beautiful sons. Her Anakin. Most people never tried to understand why she named the twins in Tusken tradition, why she chose a name to call both. Most people just didn't want to understand the ways of the sands. But she did. As the last daughter of Skywalker it was her duty to protect her line, to ensure her name's survival. And so she didn't follow her love into the sands. She wouldn't have followed her beloved warrior even if there wasn't a slave implant that made such a thing impossible.

She raised her sons in the Tusken way. And for a Tusken twins are not two but soul with two bodies. Because of that most Tusken names were plural, especially those names which honoured the suns.

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Shmi Skywalker smiled not often, but when she did her happiness brightened her face for weeks. Though she had not much cause for happiness as a slave on Tatooine, her soul found peace in the eternal sands. Some said her heart was Tusken, that there was reason behind her strange ways and her children's magic. Others said she had only one child, one blond boy with bright blue eyes, that the other child, the boy who always wrapped his face in bandages and kept hidden till the moons went out, was not of Skywalker blood. They said the Sun's Shadow was only an illusion. Little did they know that it was part of a family's game to make a whole town think that way.

Little did they know that these rumours made a smile appear on beautiful Shmi Skywalker's face. That there was enough darkness within her kind soul to scare even the Hutts.

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"Look Anakin, this is C-3PO. He will help mom." This statement didn't meet much enthusiasm. Of course, the boy's brother was happy about finding the old droid parts in their master's backyard the day before, it just wasn't in his nature to raise his hopes. He whose face was always hidden understood perhaps better than others.

"Yes, he will be a fine example of your mastery over the vast lands of technology." As sarcastic it may have sounded, the boy truly believed what he told his twin. "He will be beautiful."

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"You are beautiful." I hear myself say without really thinking about it. Anakin's pet project truly is a master piece.

Somehow I seem to have shocked my 'friends'. What an amusing thought.

But in this moment I realize what the droid is telling me.

"What does that mean he is dead? I was sold off planet, not him. How did he manage to kill himself if even the Tusken wouldn't dare to attack one of us?"

"You really don't know, Master Anakin." The 'I'm sorry' is not spoken. I am grateful for that.

Only now do the others react. The captain and his bodyguard look at me suspiciously. The princess whose name I still don't know, and to be honest don't care to learn, seems to believe I'm some kind of religious icon for her to worship. And the boy's eyes are so full of sadness that even my cold heart is inclined to comfort him. Of course, I don't follow that disturbingly strong instinct.

"Anakin Skywalker was killed by Darth Vader." Why do I have the feeling that he is angry with me? "My father was killed by Darth Vader." Ahh, that is it. I'm family. How... delightful.

I only answer to the droid, C-3PO. "Are you telling me, that he is really dead? That this Vader" And here I see my black clothed 'friend' "killed my brother and nobody dared to question it?"

I can see that nobody came to the same conclusion as I. Strange how my mind works sometimes. Really strange. And still, I know it to be true.

That doesn't mean that I'm sharing my knowledge. Oh no, what Erik protects he keeps.

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Well, my dear Vader, till we meet again.