Chapter 24

Jabba the Hutt's rule had ended.

That was odd for many people to wrap their heads around. In mere hours, the liberators possessed the many ships in his hanger such as "Star Jewel". The remnants of Jabba's palace had been investigated thoroughly. Vader found materials, some that were to go among the wreck. He smiled when he found a perfect gift for his mother.

Jabba's palace was burned to the ground after, for there were burdening memories within. While it may waste less to reorganize it, he wouldn't burden his people like that.

By the time they returned, the liberators under Mol had already secured Mos Espa. It was only a matter of time before Eisley and Bestine were in their grasps. Of course, the few smugglers and slavers attempted to escape but the hangers were intercepted.

The following onslaughts was far from clean, but better than an alternative where they would have went all in and gotten countless of their own killed. Compared to the criminal syndicates, they were nothing than a minimum army of crusaders.

And Vader had no outside contacts sans for arguably Jango Fett, meaning in that regard he was weaker. Stalling an orbital bombardment and preventing more slaves from being beaten into submission or exploded could give them a small chance of recovery. With Jabba's resources, there would be a far more likely chance.

The slave markets were dismantled, and all of the transmitters of the survivors were deactivated. At this point, it would take hours for the slaves that they had rescued to have their transmitters removed, but Vader went on personal hunt for any threats who tried to bury themselves in the city.

And there were regrettably plenty of them.

By early morning, the battle came to at least a temporary end.

The reborn again long-hair brunette overlooked the body-bags at a former slave market now reorganized as a prison for the time being. Some slavers did had the survival instincts to surrender.

As it turned out, the Toydarian, Watto, and Dug, Selbuba, was among the captured.

"You! You-" Watto spoke, recognition dawning in his eyes as he looked at Vader.

"Hello, Watto," Vader arched an eyebrow, the smirk coming across his lips.

"You have to get us out of this!" The Dug snarled. "Or so help me you will-"

"You both have been assisting in trafficking and other such atrocities for years," Vader interrupted, raising his hand to close his lips together. "Now, it's time for the former slaves and sentient beings who suffered under your wrath to get their just desserts."

That earned some cheers from the nearby liberators.

"Not to worry," Vader grinned, "we'll treat you fairly until your trials presuming you live that long."

That earned chuckles from their appointed escorts as they were pushed down, led to their makeshift cells with no possible chance of escape. Vader moved to his shop, ignoring all of their empty threats, that shit-eating grin never leaving his lips.

Cliegg had been taken to his former shop which had been advanced as a hospital. No doubt to protect his innocence and prevent him from seeing something that the boy didn't need to see, Owen had been told to wait outside in a chair.

The boy looked up at him and smiled. "Uncle Vader! Everyone's talking about you! You're a hero!"

Vader managed to give a small smile to the boy as he came down next to him. "Is that so?"

"You saved my dad," Owen said lightly.

"Your father's a hero too, Owen, and I want you to promise me that you will be like him when you grow up," Vader said, putting his hand on his shoulder.

Owen nodded eagerly. "If you say so, Uncle Vader."

Vader sat next to him and closed his eyes, noticing when the child leaned against him. The child was fearful, worried about his father. He subtly, ever so softly, enforced a command through to his mind which knocked the child into a deep and long slumber.

He placed a hand on the child's hair. Owen would not be following the same path he did in Vader's timeline. It was another reason that Sidious would have to go.

He didn't have long to do so as Gredda and Lef were walking out, and Shmi was accompanying them, keeping an also sleeping Anakin buried in her chest. They all looked at him, the two Larses brightening up when they saw him.

Vader gently picked up the child to hand to them. Gredda took him in, smiling slightly in appreciation.

"We should have known it was you," Lef said, shaking his head. "It makes sense thinking about it."

Vader looked pointedly. "If you resemble your son's attitude a lot, you would have believed me suicidal for revolting against the Hutt Empire."

Lef snorted with a slight huff. "Still kind of do."

Vader smirked despite himself. He turned to face his mother.

"Shmi, I have a gift for you."

"A gift?"

Vader produced a journal ransacked from Jabba's palace. His mother did enjoy marking down things and writing even though she wasn't the best writer.

She could be an educator someday if she'd decided to do so.

She grabbed it and opened the first page, seeing it was empty. Vader smiled. "It's all yours. Far be it from me to presume that you enjoy writing, but..."

Shmi nodded, closing it, and speaking up. "Yes. I'd intended to teach Anakin a few things."

Vader smiled toothily. While Obi-Wan had finished much of his education, he wasn't that far behind as one would have expected due to his mother having known some form of the basics. Now, with his presence, his mother needn't worry about that.

"The former slaves will require education sooner or later," Vader declared honestly. "There are plenty of them."

Shmi nodded. "I wouldn't mind.

He looked at the Larses family. "That goes for you too."

"Of course, it will be our honor," Gredda said.

He walked past them inside of the facility, not having seen him since he had been taken away. His time as a shop owner had officially end.

Approaching the bed, Vader sensed he was still awake.

The reprogrammed medical droid standing at Cliegg's side was facing some difficulty with his patient. "Sir, now I have to fit this IV in your arm to assure your blood is stable."

"Keep that damn needle away from me!" Cliegg shouted as if he was a child instead of a grown adult.

"Cliegg," Vader said, taking his attention long enough for the IV to come into his left arm.

"Damn it!" Cliegg grimaced, and Vader would admit that the situation was humorous. "That kriffing hurts!"

"You're just exaggerating," Vader allowed a rare chuckle. He have been fit with needles so many times throughout his life, but he did distinctly recall giving his medics a nightmare so he supposed that would be a little hypocritical.

Deciding to cut to the chase, Vader had to know. "How did you figure out I was the vigilante?"

Cliegg checked his jaw, lifting up his tender arm carefully, before letting a smirk. "It was strange how the vigilante knew where I live without me having to guide him."

Vader cursed. Such a minor miscalculation that could have given him away were Cliegg greedier and desired credits.

Fortunately, Cliegg had morals. He could have lived in royalty for the rest of his life had he revealed Vader's identity to the public, especially since Jabba was getting desperate in his final days.

All of the slaves could have been brought back into their former lives with the thought of freedom being nothing but a dream once Jabba was through with what nightmare intended for them.

The man said honestly. "I should have known sooner. After all, it makes sense. You are the only one who I know would do something that bold." The moment of smugness came to an end. "But why didn't you tell me?"

Vader replied briskly. "Because the Outer Rim is a lawless place. While I do trust you to some degree, you ultimately do live in poverty. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and you may have turned me in if stressed enough."

Cliegg looked at him, slightly angry. "Why would I do such a thing?"

"You have been adamant that a freed Tatooine is possible," Vader pointed out with an ounce of sharpness, finding that defense mechanism returning with an ugly passion.

Cliegg nodded. "That is true. I'm sorry about my tone. I don't wish you to feel like I'm attacking you. But I want you to know that I'm your friend. I would never sell anyone who I care about out. Loyalty means everything to me." He smirked slightly at Vader's perplexed expression. "Anyone ever said sorry to you before? You look like you don't know what the words mean."

"I also didn't want to endanger you nor your family," Vader deflected, surprised by what he said. Obi-Wan was not a very apologetic individual, neither was Ahsoka or Padmé now thinking about it. They did a few times but only after the pain had already done to either them or himself. The rest of the Jedi's empty apologies were often along the line of "I'm sorry that you feel that way". Sidious was even worse, his false apologies being a way to contribute onto Vader's temper.

Cliegg was sincerely apologetic for how passive aggressive he was being. He wouldn't show it, but it did touched something within him.

Still, Vader wasn't a child. He didn't need apologies, yet he wondered... in his younger years if Cliegg brought both his mother and him, how would it have turned out?

Like it or not, Cliegg had managed to penetrate into Vader's shields, making him grow to care about him. At first, he attempted to push the man away. Yet, the weeks passed, and Cliegg kept returning despite his protests. When he was captured, it took much within Vader to refrain from lashing out.

It struck Vader. With the exception of a few Jedi like Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, he could watch the Jedi Temple burn to ashes with not exactly apathy but something close to it; but when it came to his younger self, mother, Cliegg, and Larses family, Vader would go beyond and above for them.

"If Jabba knew you were friends with the vigilante, you would have been a target for his Empire and your family may have been taken into slavery," Vader continued his explanation.

Cliegg. "But knowing you, you would not let that happen."

"You're correct," Vader replied. "But that was the point of remaining ambiguous. I had to remember that my family and friends would have been left at stake. Anyone close to me would have been targets."

"I know how to fight, Vader," Cliegg replied, "One does not travel through Hutt Space without knowledge of holding a blaster."

Vader narrowed his eyes at him but was actually speechless.

"And like I said before, why would I have sold out the man who is my friend? Like a brother?"

Those words gave Vader pause, his body becoming rigid:

"YOU WERE MY BROTHER, ANAKIN! I LOVED YOU!"

Vader had been left speechless for the first time in a long time. Cliegg Lars was someone he could trust unconditionally. He didn't need the Force to tell him that.

It floored him. Vader had been betrayed by so many people in his life, but Cliegg had been someone who had stayed loyal. He loved Obi-Wan and Padmé, but when the former faked his death and the latter had snapped at him after Rush Clovis, the trust had gone down in both of them.

"Heard something like that before," Vader said nostalgically.

Cliegg sighed. "Listen, I know your past is a touchy subject and that you distrust some people, but not everyone is out to get you. You have been like an uncle to my son and I..." Rage was actually in the man's eyes, "I wouldn't have sold you out."

Yes, that was true. Cliegg had proven time and time again he could be trusted. So did Ann and Tann, and many of the other former slaves turned liberators. Maybe he should allow more people in than he already had. Maybe that was the way to salvage a bit of damage from his past.

He found himself facing a mental dilemma. "Friendship and family are nothing when it comes to extra credits and granting an opportunity to leave poverty."

"Vader, not everyone in the galaxy is the same," Cliegg rolled his eyes, slightly over dramatically. He was annoyed, but not at Vader directly. But his adamancy to find excuses for why he was reserved.

Blinking down on his anger, Cliegg looked at him and nodded slightly. "So you do trust me?"

Vader closed his eyes. "Yes."

"Then why are you like this? You don't have to tell me everything, but what makes you so... cold to people at first?"

Being asked to prove that trust was difficult, but Vader knew Cliegg earned that much. "I was taken in the Jedi Order as a slave. With all their rules and flaws, I couldn't stay in their Order and ignore their mindsets. I went off to join a different... organization..."

"Hmph, that explains all the missions you have been on." Cliegg noted. "But what is the name of this organization?"

"The Sith," Vader responded, causing the man's features to wrinkle up in confusion.

"What's a Sith?" Cliegg inquired.

"Once the great enemy of the Jedi that was thought to have been exterminated," Vader replied with no small amount of disgust, his robotic hand clenching up into a fist as he expelled his anger into the Force. "I have committed many atrocities for almost just as long. My slave owner - my master - was evil incarnate. Far worse than Jabba. He won. He always won. And to many, I'm a monster."

Cliegg's eyes go wide. He was frozen for a moment, clearly thinking, his mind going around in circles...

After a moment he retorted. "You are not a monster, Vader. You are making wrongs right by freeing slaves and liberating Tatooine. That doesn't sound like what a monster would do."

Vader was truly touched by with so much conviction he had spoken that statement with. "I have made many mistakes, Cliegg, I am afraid of what I could do sometimes. I... hurt my wife when she attempted to convince me to see reality again."

Unsheathed tears threatened to spill again, but Cliegg placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nobody's perfect. You are clearly regretful for your actions and may live by them for the rest of your life, but I have a feeling you were pushed into this direction. I can see the good in you. The wish of atonement. A monster would approve of slavery. A monster would stand by and not care." Vader actually was surprised that someone else other than Luke could see the good in him. "Does Shmi know about your connection to the Force?"

"She does," Vader acquiesced, "albeit she was persistent that I don't stand in the way of the Hutts. She knows that I was a Jedi. Not about the other."

Facing his mother's potential disappointment, even if she didn't knew it was him, leveled him with an ultimatum. Given Cliegg was loyal to a fault, he knew the man wouldn't tell his mother everything.

"Vader, I'm not the best reassurance guy or whatever but I'm trying to say this the best way possible," Cliegg sighed, "what happened happened. It's too late to change things that happened in the past now, but you could change the future. While I don't approve of abuse or whatever else that you done to your wife, I'm not going to call you an evil man for things I didn't see. Learn from those mistakes, grow, don't repeat them, and maybe you'll find closure enough. It may never go away but survive. Be happy. Don't live blaming yourself or Anakin and Shmi will suffer because of it. You don't want that, do you?"

Those words struck deep, more than the man would ever realize. Vader did repeat them so many times. He killed innocent people all because of the Empire. He did so again but this time it was for the right cause. He tortured his daughter on the Death Star and held her close just for her to watch her home planet to blow in front of her. He cut off his son's hand in the midst of combat, having the boy in hysterics in the denial that he was his father.

Yet, Cliegg was right, and Vader understood that deep down. Luke and Leia were two of his bigger failures who others had to taught to be better than him, but there was Anakin. As it was now, the boy was young. Isolating him to wallow in self-pity was not going to have anything but negative impact for the boy.

"Vader, I know you'll have to go, but just remember. You can't do the impossible all the time despite your majestic powers. We both know that there would be deaths, some people that wouldn't be saved or suffer as a result of your crusades, but just know that you have your family back home. And you have a scar on your eye. Remember you are not invincible."

Ah yes, the scar, the one he got from Ventress during the Clone Wars. His robes were also that of the Jedi, not that anyone out here would recognize them.

Cliegg acted immature and stupid at times, but he wasn't. He was very aware. Was it the Will of the Force that they crossed one another? Was that why the Force pushed him back even further to resolve plenty of his problems with someone who went through similar hardships as his own, or else he may have made the same or similar type of mistakes a second time?

They shared plenty of similarities: losing the love of their lives, caring deeply about their families... The only difference was that Cliegg didn't went off the deep end.

"Remember, you are still human. You can't be expected to do everything. Don't think that much of yourself. Do it for Shmi. For Anakin. And just keep pushing. It would be hard, but you have many people who look up to you, which is a burden in some ways, but you are also a living and breathing person. Take care of yourself the best way you can while you're out there, my friend."

Vader nodded and walked out. Now that he had all but liberated Tatooine, there were plenty of the Huttspawns that he would have to deal with. The moment of levity was over.

However, he knew Cliegg was right. His own well-being was something he once ignored, but that would have to change when it came with the future fatherhood in raising his younger self.

His son.

Arthur's note: Writing Vader's thoughts made me wonder. How do you think Anakin would turn out if he was raised by Cliegg and the Larses family? Personally, I think it would be better but there would still be struggles for him.

Shmi did actually have a journal for after Anakin left and planned for Anakin to return for it someday. Tatooine's Ghost is a must read novel as it highlights Leia's struggles in forgiving Anakin, so I decided to have Vader gift Shmi a journal to make a nod at that moment, even if he doesn't know about it. :(

As for the slaves, yep, arguably a low number of slaves survived. I made it clear this was going to be gritty and I intend to fulfill that promise. This is call Star Wars, not Star PEACE. And long ago, I accepted that full happy endings for all is just wishful thinking.

May the Force be with you all always.