' What Are Friends For?' (Chapter Four)
By Ennon
A/N-
Thanks for everyone's support here! Here some more commentary:
BodomsGirl(Gracie)- Glad you really liked Ch#3 and can't wait for this one to come out. Sorry that #3's beginning wasn't as well-written but I hope that this one is consistently so for you!
Skywalking- I'm glad you like the idea of Anakin turning himself in and hope you like this impending chapter,too!
ONTO THE CHAPTER:
"Luke, you cannot make me change my mind!" Anakin pleaded via the Force.
"Father, just a few minutes, then we can take off for Endor- if you still want!" Luke replied via the Force.
Anakin sighed- as he saw Luke follow Leia, Padmé, the droids and Chewbacca trailing behind the eager Kitster Banai running out the docking bay with renewed vigor in his step.
"Well, ya can always stay here with me, Pops!" Han Solo smirked.
"Wait up, everyone! I'm on my way,"Anakin exclaimed with a gulp.
The group wound their way through the twisting alleyways of the poorer section of Mos Eisley towards Kitser's family's slave hovel which had a large cluster of slave children playing outside.
"I thought you said you and Amee only had the one. Are all these yours?" Padmé asked as they ran up to her to smell her subtle but pleasant perfume while she, Leia and Chewie all hugged their shoulders.
"No, Amee watches them while their parents labor. Same way the gracious Shmi often did with us!" Kitster beamed.
"Mister Banai, who are these Outworlders?" several of the small children asked.
"Remember, how I told you the story of my best friend Ani Skywalker, the Chosen One who'd return to free us?" Kitster asked with unmistable glee.
"Kitster, how many times have I asked you not to fill their heads with that rot," called out a woman with grey streaked brown hair with a somewhat lined and careworn face called out as she poked her head out the tiny paneless window cubhole inside.
"Amee, that's no way to talk about our guests!"Kitster gasped.
"Amee, is that you?" Padmé asked.
"Lady Padmé? You actually remember me?" Amee gulped.
Padmé nodded.
"Amee, where are your manners? Aren't you going to invite Ani and his family inside?" Kitster asked disappointed.
"Why didn't you tell me you were bringing home company- and shouldn't you be toiling another ten hours?" Amee gasped.
"I don't care if I get tracked down and beaten. Ani's return is too important for us to miss!" Kitster beamed.
"Come inside and I hope you'll excuse the clutter," Amee groaned-embarassed.
The entire group (including Chewie and the droids) squeezed inside the tiny hovel.
"Bring Ani and his family our best dishes!" Kitster insisted while Amee gave him a sour look.
"So, you knew my father when he was a child?" Luke asked in great curiosity.
"We were- ARE best friends! Ani, remember when we disguised ourselves as Jawas to rescue those children from that Hutt camp?" Kitster exclaimed.
"We're both far too tall to pass for those now," Anakin gulped.
"Ah, the Force has preserved you well, Ani- not even a line or scar after all these years!" Kitster exclaimed.
"It's not that simple. You should have seen me just two. .." Anakin groaned.
"We'd heard about all the Jedi were extinct after the Slaughter- except maybe for the odd wizard Kenobi in the Jundian Wastes," Kitster said in puzzlement.
"So many rumors after the Empire came," Amee sighed- as she passed some unglazed, very chipped cups to their guests.
"They said you'd died,too. But I never believed it, Ani! Just as I knew your son had been spared!" Kitster beamed.
"I somewhat did die, actually, but my family brought me back,"Anakin sighed.
"Oh, Luke, I'd heard about you but I could never leave Mos Eisley to seek you out. They restrict adult slaves' wanderings even more closely than childrens'," Kitster sighed.
"Do they still have those . . .exploding implants?" Padmé gulped clutching her chest while both Luke and Leia shuddered.
"Indeed, you know what it's like to bear a baby- only to watch helplessly as the slavers put one of those things inside them and, then, to be able to do nothing if the slavers decide to sell them away from you," Amee bitterly groaned while Luke, Leia and Padmé sadly shook their heads.
Chewbacca mournfully growled.
"Darling, our guests aren't here to hear our woes! They're here for us to celebrate Ani's return! "Kitster exclaimed.
"What rumors did you hear about our father?" Leia asked in uncertainty.
"Oh, that he died fighting to save the Younglings in the Corcuscant Jedi Temple but was struck down by that monstrous Sith Darth Vader," Kitster said with a shudder.
At that, Anakin suddenly threw down his plate and ran outside.
" Excuse me, I think my husband got some. . .food poisoning. I hope you don't mind my leaving to tending to him," Padmé gulped as she followed Anakin.
"Father, stay close by! You can STILL help your friends," Luke pleaded via the Force.
"No, Luke! I don't deserve to break bread with them after all I did- and didn't do," Anakin groaned via the Force.
"Miss Leia, does your brother often go into trances?" Amee asked.
"You don't even know the half of it," Leia groaned.
"Anakin, don't try to hide from me," Padmé pleaded as she found Anakin balled up in a fetal position in a nearby alley.
"Kitster and his family live in a dump. He has to worry about all of them getting abused and blown up- and what have I done for any of them?" Anakin said bitterly.
"You don't think I've wished I'd sent Republic credits from Naboo to buy all your friends and especially your mother out of bondage over the years?"Padmé consoled.
"What I did was far worse! I helped legalize slavery throughout the entire Empire- not just lament that the Old Republic had given the Outer Rim's slaves a blind eye," Anakin growled as he banged his ribs with his fists.
"We all have laments," Padmé tried to say.
"Laments! You say you're sad because when you were the twins' age, you could have bought my friends' freedom! Well, from the interest alone of the tax monies I confiscated, I could have easily bought this entire PLANET!" Anakin screamed.
"I'm sure we could get Leia to spare some monies for. .." Padmé considered.
"NO! Kitster and Amee were my best friends and I never thought to free them or even offer him a job on my. .." Anakin growled.
"Ani, why did you run out on us?" Kitster asked.
" Kitster, I'm no hero and no friend! Vader didn't battle me, I helped create Vader!" Anakin said bitterly as he pointed to himself.
"What! Ani! I'd once heard that rumor in the Cantina but. .. "Kitster gulped.
"It's true. I'll urge Luke and Leia to see if they can help out but I'm due to go back to Endor for the New Republic to give me the punishment I so justly deserve," Anakin groaned.
For a time, Kitster, Padmé and Anakin were very quiet.
"Anakin, you're not the only one who ever sinned against those they love," Kitster groaned.
"You've never been anything but a good.. .." Anakin sputtered.
"Not you. Amee! I took our 2nd daughter as a newborn to the marketplace while Amee was recovering from the birth- and told her that slavers had grabbed the baby out of my hands like the others had been," Kitster shuddered while holding out empty arms.
"What happened?" Padmé asked.
"Truth be told, I'd run up a large sabaac debt and. .." Kitster started to cry.
"Oh, Kitster," Padmé shuddered as she put her arms around Anakin's oldest friend.
"It's okay, Lady Padmé. None of us are sinless but that doesn't mean it's ever too late for any of us to start walking the good path," Kitster exclaimed to Anakin.
"You remind me so much of Luke," Anakin beamed.
"It doesn't matter whatever you've done to anyone else or haven't done for me. That's not what makes you my best friend. You just are," Kitster shrugged.
"Really?" Anakin gulped.
"Yeah," Kitster quietly replied.
"Luke and Leia, you might as well join us out here. I know you've been listening in the entire time," Anakin exclaimed to Luke via the Force.
"You went into a trance just like your son. What is with you two?" Kitster asked.
"I'm only speaking for myself but I can't leave here before righting at least one wrong I'd promised to so long ago," Anakin exclaimed.
"You mean?" Padmé beamed.
"That's right! Endor's trials will have to wait. I'm staying here to free Tatooine's slaves!" Anakin beamed.
"That's great, Father! We'd be happy to. .." Luke exclaimed as he ran up and hugged Anakin- and succeeded in lifting his much taller father off the ground.
"NO! I won't risk any of your lives. This is MY duty to carry out," Anakin insisted as he was set back down.
"We may be markedly shorter than you but we're no weaklings, Ani!" Padmé exclaimed.
"I blew up the First Death Star with a single shot!" Luke insisted.
"Don't forget! I choked Jabba the Hutt himself with the very chain he used to enslave ME- and I can free the other harem captives!" Leia said proudly.
"The Force runs strong in our family, Father!"Luke beamed.
"And I successfully led that Naboo Army against the Trade Federation's Droid Troops when I was fourteen -without the Force!" Padmé exclaimed pointing to herself.
"Where are you going, Chewbacca, Artoo? What do you mean you want to join the Slave Revolt?" Theepio frantically called after the Wookiee and Artoo who ran ahead of him towards the others.
" I appreciate your sincere offers but all of you have your whole lives ahead of you. I can't bear the thought of losing any of you-again. It's MY fight,"Anakin exclaimed.
"Father, you wanted me to join you in the Dark Side- and now you can't stand for me to join you in something good and noble?" Luke asked aghast.
"I once heard a wise little boy say that fear only attracts the fearful," Padmé pleaded while clutching onto her japor snippet pendant.
"Uncle Owen always said that there was nothing we could do about the Empire but I did something about it. Now for the Nana Shmi's, yours and the slaves' sakes, I must do all I can to abolish it!" Luke insisted.
"Ani, as long as you're on the Light Side, our family will be with you-always. Let us take the risks and join you," Padmé pleaded.
"Are the six of you sure about this?" Anakin asked while everyone who could put their hand atop his.
Threepio started to speak but Artoo quickly gave him a series of the most foul warning beeps while Chewbacca put a fist to Threepio's head.
"The Skywalker Seven will be at your service, Kitster!" Anakin exclaimed.
"Oh, that's wonderful! Wait til I tell the others!" Kitster beamed.
"Not so fas, Kitster. Luke, Leia, I want you to see this so you can learn ," Anakin solemnly intoned as he waved his right hand over Kitster's somewhat sunken chest.
"I feel a radiance coming from inside- but you're hand's not touching even my shirt," Kitster gulped.
Anakin put lined his fingers into a saw shape then slowly waved them back and forth until. ..
"What's happening?" Kitster asked.
"Something wonderful I only witnessed one time before with Master Qui-Gonn," Padmé beamed.
Anakin pulled back his hand slightly.
"How did that object get into my shirt?" Kitster asked.
"Is. .is that Mr. Banai's detonator?" Leia asked- as Anakin reached inside Kitster's shirt front and pulled out a hexagonical- red metallic object the size of a thumbnail- coated with a small amount of blood.
Luke and Padmé nodded.
Kitster took off his tunic shirt in astonishment as he saw only a small white line directly over his chest and a tiny amount of blood.
"Ani, you. . .you FREED ME!" Kitster gulped.
" Not quite as well as Master Qui-Gonn had done with me. He left no blood whatsoever behind," Anakin recalled.
"Oh, thank you, Ani!" Kitster beamed.
"And I never properly thanked him for it," Anakin sighed.
"Father, both in word and deed, you did!" Luke proclaimed.
"Why now?" Han asked as the group approached the Falcon.
" Because it's long overdue," Padmé explained.
"Look, as soon as they finish establishing the New Republic, they'll. .." Han sputtered.
" Less than 5 percent of the Galactic planetary systems have been recaptured as of today," Leia groaned.
"The rest of the galaxy is being divvied up into fiefdoms by ex-Imperial Commanders, ex-regional Governors and local thugs as we speak," Padmé groaned.
"We're lucky Mama was in one of the liberated systems when we found her," Leia sighed.
"But once Coruscant's retaken. .." Han groaned.
"We waited for the Old Republic to free us too long. We're the only ones who can help!" Anakin pleaded.
" Good delay tactic. Knew it!" Han sneered.
"Captain Solo, I know we don't see eye-to-eye but I'd rather die knowing I'd helped my homeworld gain its freedom than wonder what may have been in prison. As soon as it's liberated, I'll see to it the authorities do what they believe just to me," Anakin groaned.
"But you're going against human, Hutt and Toydarian gangsters- as well as having to deal with Jawas and Sand People, "Han groaned.
"Come on,Han. Why don't you take a look around you? You know what we're up against. We could use your help!" Luke pleaded.
"Look, I just finished helping ixnay the Empire and am a full-fledged New Republic General. You wanted me respectable, Princess- so now I AM. This ain't my problem. Fire up the engines, Chewie," Han boiled.
Chewbacca groaned.
"What! But your Life Debt," Han sneered.
Chewbacca menacingly growled.
"You're a fine one to talk of liberty and democracy when you've kept Chewbacca in bondage all these years," Padmé boiled as she approached Han in front of Chewbacca.
"Amber Lady, Chewie's my first mate and best friend. Besides, he was the one who insisted on it after I saved him from the . .. ." Han started to yell then paused.
"Spit it out, Han. The SLAVERS!" Leia fumed.
"Yeah, and considering that Chewie, Leia and I saved YOUR life from Jabba, shouldn't you be in Life Debt to at least Chewie?" Luke argued.
"I don't believe you people!" Han boiled.
"What?" Luke asked.
"Your Pops pounds the Galaxy with mega waves of destruction and misery some twenty years cos of some inferiority complex overkill until he gets tanked and rebuilt two months ago- and now cos I don't wanna join him ONE TIME, I'm the bad guy!" Han sneered and went inside.
"Oh, it's ALL about you!" Leia boiled.
"Do whatever ya want. I'm putting your stuff out! You can find your own way back to Endor. I don't need any of you!" Han fumed as he went inside and started unloading their belongings.
"Han, you take off without me, you'll regret it!" Leia fumed.
"I ain't stopping you from leaving with me!" Han sneered- as he then closed the hatch and started the engines.
The rest of them cleared the docking bay then watched the Falcon take off.
"I. .can't believe he's gone," Leia cried.
"Maybe you two can one day work things out," Padmé consoled as she hugged her daughter and brushed the stray hairs from her forehead.
"I'll miss him,too, .Maybe one day, you'll find someone else. Plenty of comets in the galaxy," Luke sighed while patting her shoulder.
"But none of them are like him," Leia sobbed.
"Thank the Force," Anakin quipped.
"Ani," Padmé snapped.
"Sorry, " Anakin groaned.