Chapter III
I realised that I made a pun on the last paragraph of the last chapter, I mean:
He wished that things were always this simple, but alas, it simply is not.
He wished things were simple, but it simply was not!
Get it?
Qui-Gon Jinn left the store, things were not going his way, a Sith just time-travelled, was still dark despite his urgings, and also, they couldn't get parts for a Nubian J-type Star Skiff just because a Toydarian could resist a mind trick!
Qui-Gon wasn't angry, but he wasn't happy either, but he kept those in a well developed emotional mask.
Unlike other Jedi, he didn't use the emotional mask always, he only used it within the Temple and other Republic planets which have access to contacting the Jedi Temple, so he won't get kicked out of the Order he'd been serving for his entire life.
There were moments where Qui-Gon showed sadness, anger and all those emotions. This moment was not one of them.
The group hid between two buildings. Qui-Gon had been contacting Obi-Wan for a the past few minutes.
"Obi-Wan, you sure there isn't anything of value left on board?" Qui-Gon asked, feeling hopeless
"A few containers of supplies, the Queen's wardrobe" Obi-Wan responded from the other end, Padmé frowned slightly at the last comment, "Not enough for you to barter with. Not in the amounts you're talking about."
"All right. another solution might present itself. I'll check back." Qui-Gon turned off the comm. link
"Of course there'll be, Anakin Skywalker" Vader muttered, already knowing what was going to happen, not that he was going to stop it anyway, he needed to get off planet, he hated Tatooine!
The five started moving out, but then Jar Jar's hand shot out and held the Jedi Master's, Vader growled, they didn't have time for this.
"Noah gain… da beings hereabouts cawazy! Wesa be robbed un crunched!" Jar Jar moved about to dramatise his statement
"Not likely. We have nothing of value…" Qui-Gon started
Vader interrupted and finished with "That's the problem right now"
The six walked out, at least, Vader was walking towards the market, where they had gone in the older timeline, and the others were following the former-Sith.
The market was just how Vader remembered it the last time he came to Tatooine, 22 years before from his point of view, when he gone to save his mother. He frowned deeper, giving the implication that something was going to happen.
Qui-Gon knew that the boy in the shop and Vader were the same people, with presences similar to each other, except, Vader's presence was darker, but equally as powerful. He saw Vader's frown, and he got the message, not that he was going to stop what was going to happen, he wanted the will of the Force to continue with whatever it's going to do to the galaxy. But then, bringing Vader was obviously force-induced, due to the disturbance when he arrived.
Jar Jar, who was following the group, looked left to see a bunch of dead frogs hanging from a wire. He looked around cautiously, to see if anyone was looking at him, he saw no people of such. So he used his very long tongue to take hold of one of them. He tried pulling the dead frog towards him. That's when he caught the store-keeper's attention.
"Hey! That'll cost 7 truguts!" The store-keeper pumped his fist angrily.
Jar Jar opened his mouth in surprise, making him lose grip on the dead frog, which snaps away from the wire. Vader looked, seemingly with no feeling, at the scene which he would have stopped if it wasn't the only way to get the events that will eventually lead to him leaving Tatooine.
The frog landed on the soup of a Dug, he frowned, and picked up the piece of food from the bowl. He then looked forward to see who did it, he saw a group of five. He saw a creature moving away from the vendor of the same things that landed on his soup. So he was sure that it was that creature who did it. Qui-Gon, Vader and Padmé quickly backed from the scene.
The Dug jumped from his table and swiftly grabbed the Gungan. The Dug then held up the dead frog.
"Chuba!" The dug exclaimed angrily
"Who? Mesa?" Jar Jar asked, Vader promptly face-palmed
"Ni chuba na?" The dug waved the dead frog threateningly. Other creatures start to gather around the scene, as the dug then shoved Jar Jar to the ground.
Jar Jar tried to scramble to safety, as he asked himself "Why mesa always da one?"
A boyish voice then announced "Because you're afraid", Vader smiled at that comment, wondering how, ironically, it would be fear that would lead to his downfall.
The boy turned out to be Anakin Skywalker, Vader's smile widened to a level he could, he hadn't smiled this wide since Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi Order. Anakin pushed his way to Jar Jar and stood self-assuredly beside the alien.
"Chess ko, Sebulba… coo wolpa tooney rana" Anakin warned in huttese
Sebulba then stopped his attack on Jar Jar and turned to Anakin, frowning, as he asked "Tooney rana? Nu pratta dunko? Shag?"
"Oh da Hutt, cha porko ootman geesa, me teesa rodda co pana pee choppa chawa!" Anakin lied, Vader resisted the urge to laugh at that statement, how could a foolish Gungan be connected to a Hutt?
"Neek me chowa, wermo, mo killee ma klounkee" Sebulba warned, pointing at Anakin, Vader mentally snickered, knowing that Sebulba would never be able to make good on that warning, Sebulba continued with "Una noto wo shag, me wompity du pom pom", the dug swiftly turned away and left.
"Eh, chee bana do mullee ra" Anakin shrugged, Vader, Qui-Gon, R2-D2 and Padmé came up
"I bet he would" Vader muttered, mostly to himself
Anakin's expression quickly changed from anger to happiness in few mere seconds, as he saw the four come up. Anakin slightly soured at seeing Vader, his darkness was… intoxicating.
"Hi" Anakin greeted, he was standing still expressionlessly, as he continued "Your buddy here was about to be turned into orange goo. He picked a fight with a Dug. An especially dangerous Dug named Sebulba."
"Nosir, Nosir! Mesa hate crunchen. Dat's da last thing mesa wanten!" Jar Jar waved both of his hands frantically
"The boy's right though, you were gonna get into trouble" Vader replied, more Anakin now than ever.
Padmé looked at Anakin and smiled, the boy smiled back, as they all started walking forward, with Vader at the front. Vader hoped that Padmé and Anakin would be able to live a good relationship this time around, or better… Padmé end up with him, but then, why would a young woman end up with someone 28 years older than them.
"Mesa doen nutten!" Jar Jar exclaimed loudly, and fearfully, Vader closed his eyes and nodded while releasing a sound which was a mix of a sigh and a groan
"Fear attracts a fearful, he was trying to overcome his fear by squashing you, be less fearful" Anakin urged
"If that was easy" Vader sighed, remembering times that quote, one of his own quotes, backfired on him.
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked, becoming confused
"If someone threatened one of your loved ones, like someone did to mine years before, you have a clear right to be afraid" Vader honestly intoned, touching the back of his head, and brushing his long, sandy brown hair for a few seconds.
"True." Anakin put one of his hands on his chin, clearly thinking about what Vader had just said.
"So… that works for you?" Padmé asked, ignoring Vader
"To a point" Anakin quickly answered
They kept walking, Vader glanced around, Qui-Gon looked at Vader for a moment, before looking away, but Vader had noticed that Qui-Gon had looked at him. They had a moment to spare, so Vader decided to start conversation.
"You know, Tatooine is known as the planet full of scum and villainy, but it actually housed one of the most kindest people, like Anakin Skywalker, for example" Vader leaned towards Qui-Gon, in effort for the conversation to reach no one's ears other than Qui-Gon's
"I think that it's unusual… that said 'kind person' becomes the Sith Apprentice to an Empire which I have no doubt is merciless" Qui-Gon replied, partially mocking Vader
"Take that back" Vader hissed
"What? The Sith Empire is nice?" Qui-Gon sarcastically asked
"No. It is not. The Sith Empire is not nice, but it is effective" Vader revealed his true thoughts
Anakin suddenly stopped, as he noticed a fruit stand he regularly goes to, he turned to the fruit stand, and looked up at a old lady running the fruit stand.
"How are you feeling, Jira?" Anakin asked, half-concerned
"The heat's never been too kind to me, you know Ani" Jira tiredly replied
"Guess what? I've found that cooling unit I've been searching for. It's pretty beat up, but I'll fix it in no time, I promise." Anakin cheerily told the old woman, Vader realised that he never got to keep that promise due to him being freed, but then, he did give the extra money he had to Jira to buy a cooling unit, he never figured out if she actually did buy a cooling unit, and he might never know.
"You're a fine boy, Ani" Jira commented, in a grateful tone.
"Not so much when he grows up" Vader muttered, remembering the drinking and killing he did, especially during the Clone War.
"I'll take five pallies today" Anakin told Jira, who immediately went to package the order, he turned to Padmé "You'll like these", he told her.
Afterwards, he reached his pocket and grabbed three coins, which he pulled out of said pocket, he dropped one coin by accident, which he was going to pick up, but Qui-Gon beat him to it, briefly revealing his lightsaber in his cloak while doing that. Qui-Gon promptly returned the coin to Anakin.
"Whoops, I thought I had more. Make that… uh…" Anakin paused, trying to figure out what he would do now, with there being four people not including himself and he only had three coins.
"I'm not hungry… and plus, I already tried pallies" Vader quickly told Anakin, in effort to make Anakin make the decision of three pallies.
"Hmm… okay then, if you insist" Anakin hesitantly told Vader, as he turned to Jira and said "Three pallies, I'm not hungry either"
The wind picked up, as fellow shop owners began closing, due to the coming, predictable sand storm.
"Gracious, my bones are aching" Jira noted, touching her back, as she then turned to Anakin and instructed "Storm's coming, Ani, You'd better get home quick!"
Anakin then swiftly turned to Qui-Gon, and asked "Do you have shelter?"
"We'll head back to our ship" Qui-Gon assured Anakin
"Is it far?" Anakin asked, again
"It's in the outskirts" Qui-Gon answered
"You'll never reach the outskirts in time! Sandstorms are very, very dangerous, come with me! Hurry!" Anakin exclaimed, concerned for his new-found friends' welfares, even the dark guy.
Vader smiled, everything was playing to what it was, and he'd be able to see his mother again, granted, she wouldn't know, but it was better than nothing.
Writing Vader's character was very hard, he wants to become the kind, not-so-innocent boy he was, yet, he wants to forget all his memories and have full devotion to the Empire… it was hard, hopefully I did his character justice. Huttese can be a bit confusing, I can empathise with that, but just bear with me here.