As his recently purchased secondhand ship dropped out of lightspeed above the planet Tatooine, Anakin almost felt as though his heart were about to stop inside his chest. He might have decided to leave the Jedi Order weeks ago and spent the last few of those weeks working meagre jobs in and around the core, and earning a living by cheating sabaac games to pay for his secondhand starship, paying for some renovations and then passing tests before coming back, but he hadn't expected to be here like it was some kind of dream.

Anakin studied the glowing brown orb, shaking his head.

Tatooine hadn't changed much over the years; he could see the rocky mountains and the deserts of the Dune Sea, the Jundland wastes; here and there, Anakin could spot the few cities and smaller settlements scattered like stars in the sky.

Occasionally ships would lift off the ground quicker than they arrived, shooting off into lightspeed without a passing glance, and he guessed some of them were smugglers, pirates, maybe a few legit people and travellers.

Delving into the Force once he remembered a voice in his head, one that sounded very much like Obi-Wan's, telling him to focus, Anakin sought out his mother out of the many beings who lived on the lump of ravaged rock. The Dark Side of the Force was strong here; there were so many beings filled with malice, hatred, and greed. Murders and crime were rampant here, a lot of it controlled by the Hutts.

Quickly he found Shmi Skywalker, one star out of millions of people on the planet. And he realised to his horror she was extremely weak, in pain. Anakin growled, and he aimed his starship down towards the ground, following his mother's aura the whole way down. As his ship struck the atmosphere of Tatooine, the automatic systems kicking in, he brought the weapons' systems online. When he had purchased his ship, choosing it out of a myriad of choices, choosing it for its relative newness and versatility instead of just blindly rushing ahead, and focusing on Corellian robustness rather than anything more flashy, Anakin had made sure its hyperdrive was serviceable and the defensive systems were working perfectly.

As his ship headed towards the planet, Anakin felt his mother's aura becoming stronger.

She was weak, but she was still strong enough for him to sense her presence. From checking the charts and information the ships' database had on Tatooine, Anakin saw that his mother had been taken into the Jundland Wastes, and he felt his heart stop. The Jundland Wastes, the ancestral home of the Tusken Raiders, the Sand People. Putting his ship's controls on automatic, Anakin went and grabbed his blasters while making sure his new lightsabers were ready. He had abandoned his former weapon at the Temple as a symbol he had given the Jedi Order up, but he had no intention of throwing away nearly 11 years' worth of Jedi tuition.

He had recently travelled to Illum, to retrieve some kyber crystals, and he had gathered two crystals before falling into meditation. His new lightsabers were a work of art with a curved hilt, and the blade that came from them was a purple colour instead of blue. Anakin had been more than a little confused about the colour change, and more than a little unsure of having something that he shared in common with Mace Windu, but he had no choice but to accept it. He also took a full canteen of water.

When the Tusken camp came into view, Anakin took the pilot controls and opened fire on the camp. He took incredible care not to hit the hut his mother was likely in, and he peppered the ground as the panicking raiders rushed around or fired back on his ship, but their weapons were as effective as someone armed with a slingshot flinging tiny stones towards a Krayt dragon.

As he fired on the Raiders, Anakin remembered the gruesome attack he had launched on the Tuskens in that possible future he had seen through the Force. A part of him was resisting the urge to give in to the desire to slaughter everyone, but that did not mean he wasn't killing them. Once he had felt he had killed enough of the Tuskens and terrified the rest into running off, Anakin landed his ship - he needed to think of a decent enough name for his craft - and he went to the loading ramp and took out one of his blasters and lightsabers, igniting it as he used the Force to rush down.

A few of the shaken Tuskens opened fire on Anakin as they saw him, but he used his lightsaber to repel the attacks and fired back with his blaster, really not giving into the urge to slaughter them all, en en-masse. But a few of them tried to rush him, to kill him, but Anakin dismembered them, leaving them shrieking in agony. Another he shot in the head with a well-placed blaster bolt. Thank you Force sensitivity.

To make sure the Tuskens didn't come for him anymore, Anakin started killing or dismembering as many of the raiders as he could before he stopped, sure the raiders were gone. Heading towards the hut his mother was in, Anakin paused over the threshhold, terrified of what could have happened to her in all the time he had spent gathering the ship, the money he needed, and the weapons, including his new lightsabers.

Anakin stopped when he saw the state of his mother.

Shmi was hanging weakly to a pair of posts, her hands and arms lashed strongly by leather rope. Her face was haunted, gaunt, and hollow; her cheekbones and eye sockets were exposed, skin hanging from the bones. The back of her coarse woolen clothes had been torn, exposing her back, showing drie blood from where the filthy monsters had whipped her; Anakin had to bite his tongue to stop himself from screaming in rage, rushing out after the raiders, and slaughtering them to make them pay for this. His mother's safety took priority.

Using a knife, Anakin swiftly cut her loose. Shmi groaned, mumbling incoherently. "Mum? Mum, it's me, Anakin, I'm sorry it's taken so long to get you," Anakin babbled.

"A-Ani?" Shmi whispered.

"Yes, it's me," Anakin propped her up with his arms, and used the Force to take out the canteen, and open it, and he gently pried her mouth open. "You need to drink," he said. "You're dehydrated."

Shmi lifted her hand to the bottle, greedily drinking the water, gulping it all the way. As she swallowed, Anakin used the Force to do his best to help her, but Force healing had never been something he'd been interested in, and now he cursed himself for not taking such lessons seriously. There was a medidroid on his ship, and Anakin planned on making sure his mother saw it asap.

His mother had drained the canteen, but he didn't care. Shmi gasped. "Ani, that was the most delicious thing I've ever had."

Anakin chuckled, but he sobered up. "I've got a ship," he told her, "and a droid to see you. I have to carry you. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes,"Shmi whispered.

Anakin smiled and he gently took her in his arms and lifted. He braced himself for any further attacks from the Tuskens, and he wished he could fight and hold her at the same time. He reached out with the Force, finding several of the disgusting creatures heading their way, so he choked them where they were, uncaring about using the Dark Side. As he choked them to death, Anakin got his mother onto the ship. Once she was in the medical capsule he'd purchased for emergencies, the droid tending to her, Anakin swore there and then to help everyone he could.