A/N:Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! Does anyone get the reference in the chapter name?

Reviews!

Manga154

Thanks for the idea! I never really realized that, but you are totally right! You've got me thinking now lol, there's a lot of cool stuff I could do…

Death Fury

Thanks!

Blaze1992

Yeah definitely, you'll see more on that in this chapter. As for going home front/red dawn, he's not quite in a position of power/freedom to do anything drastic quite yet. Don't worry though, This first arc won't be the last we see of Tatooine and the hutts.

Guest

I don't know who you are, but thank you so much! Im glad!

Immortal Potatoe

Thanks!

Guest

IDK who you are, but your comment made me actually laugh out loud! Hopefully you stick around.

I don't own Star Wars

(P.O.V. Anakin)

Watto's hover truck was built for power, not speed, so it was about an hour until we got back into town. When we got back to the droid shop, Watto pulled into the scrapyard and parked, the vehicle settling down onto the ground. I stepped off the flat bed, and turned to Watto, who had fluttered out of the cab. He spoke to me in huttese, "Go home boy, and be quick about it. That mother of yours is probably pulling out her hair hehehe!" he snapped his blue fingers, and the PL droids got to work unloading the wreckage.

I didn't need to be told twice! I ran off into the dark of the night, towards the slave district. I had made it nearly two thirds of the way there, when a rail thin devaronian lunged out from a dark ally, grabbing me by the collar and lifting me off my feet! He slammed me into the wall at his eye level, and my feet dangled in the air. He inhaled deeply through the nose, smelling me, and smiled, his fetid booze breath wafting out over his rotten teeth. He spoke in huttese, his voice reedy and rat like, "Now where's a nice bloody little morsel like you going so late at night? In a bit of trouble hhmmm?" His lips were wet with saliva at the smell of my blood, and I was quick to answer, also in huttese, "I'm headed to the slave quarters! I live there!" I squeaked out desperately.

Ironically, that gave him pause. Me being a slave meant I was owned by someone who could afford a slave. Someone who most likely could also afford to get revenge on someone via a Hutt sanctioned bounty on their head for destruction of "property".

Between the part of the city we were in, my clothes, and the direction I was going, I could tell he believed me. He hissed in frustration, his foul breath puffing out, nearly making me gag. After a moment, he dropped me roughly to the ground. "Lucky you, little snack, run along!" As I scrambled to my feet and got the hell out of there, he lunged with a snarl, chomping his teeth together, then cackling when I jumped in fright and fell on my ass. As I jumped back up and sprinted off towards home, he didn't pursue me. Even after I got a few blocks away, I could still hear him laughing.

As I jogged the last few blocks toward home, I took deep, shaky breaths to calm my racing heart, and wiped the tears of fear and embarrassment that were welling up in my eyes.

Fucking Tatooine! What a fun place! Watch the pod races! Shop for parts! But oh yeah, make sure to watch out for the fucking STREET CANNIBALS! We'd like to do something about them, but unfortunately, their activities are technically not illegal! What a shame!

I fucking hate it here! Once Amu and I are free, if I never see this sand crusted hell again it'll be too soon!

The slave district was full of large buildings that had many different dwellings built into each other. My building was a long line of two story shotgun homes, and I ran over to the fifth door. I pressed the 'open' button on the door control, which buzzed loudly, indicating it was locked. I was just about to press the mic button to call in, when the door slid open with a 'fwish', revealing the worried face of my mother, Shmi Skywalker

"Ani!" She called breathlessly, dropping to her knees in the sand and pulling me into a bone crushing hug, which I returned with gusto. Tears welled up in my eyes, and it was all I could do to say, "sorry Amu, didn't mean to worry you so bad"

She stood up once more, "None of that now, it's not your fault. You did wonderfully." She said, wiping tears from her eyes. She put her hand on my head, guiding me inside and shutting the door. It thankfully didn't come away red, as all the blood in my hair had dried, but she still recognized the feel and the look of it as I stepped inside into the light. She gasped in horror. I had made a solid effort on the truck to scrape the blood off my face, but I obviously didn't do a good enough job to hide it completely.

She bustled me over to the sonic dish scrubber, grabbing a kitchen chair along the way. "Sit!" She ordered as she got out the medkit from the kitchen drawer. I did as she asked, but also began protesting, "I'm fine mom! I'm not even injured at all!" She hummed noncommittally, "We'll see about that." She said, pulling the sonic scrubberhead off its rack and turning it on my hair. I winced. The scrubber itself wasn't painful, it was the same kind as the one in the 'fresher, but the blood had dried around my hair, molding to it, and the sonic scrubber was a lot less gentle in this situation than a water wash would be.

I continued protesting as she scrubbed the dried blood off my hair, gently feeling around on my scalp for a wound.

"I'm fine. I literally don't have any injuries. I'm not exaggerating."

Mom kept feeling around my scalp, a little rougher and more thoroughly now that the blood was off and I claimed I wasn't hurt. When she couldn't find anything, she looked at me, puzzled.

"Ani… where did the blood… whose blood is this?" She asked, a hint of worry and sadness in her face.

And it was no doubt it was a whose blood, not a what's blood. While native Tatooine creatures bled red like most animals of the galaxy, their blood had a very distinctive stench that wasn't present in offworlders. The fact that my blood didn't smell meant it came from one of the non native inhabitants, in other words, a sentient being.

I briefly considered lying, but if Amu and I couldn't trust each other, than we'd have no one. I'd tell her the truth.

Weeellll… the truth 'from a certain point of view' at least. I wanted to be believed after all. I wouldn't lie outright, but the whole 'your life is a movie' thing was a bit much.

"Ok, I'm not gonna lie, it is my blood."

Mom huffed in frustration and knelt in front of me, making eye contact. When she did this, I could feel a sort of connection between us. It was weak and vague, but I could slightly feel her emotions, and I had the feeling she could feel mine as well

"Ani. Are you hurt. At all. In any way."

I responded. "No mom I'm not. This is my blood but I'm not injured any more, I was healed. I was hurt. Hurt bad. But something brought me back. It said I have a job to do."

She looked at me in silence, as if contemplating something, and finally spoke.

"I believe you."

It was more than just words. I could feel her sincerity.

"Ever since you were born, I knew you destined for more… more than…" she gestured vaguely around, "all… this."

"Amu" I said. "I don't know anything about destiny or any of that garbage."

She looked affronted, but before she could scold me for irreverence, I continued, "but I do know that in 2 years, on the boonta eve after next, we will have the opportunity to gain our freedom if we play our cards right." At that, her eyes widened. "How?" She asked. I answered, "At that time, someone trustworthy will come. A Jedi. If we help him and his people out, they'll help us out in return. I know this for a fact, I've seen it happen. If we play this right, this time two years from now, we'll be leaving this planet as free beings."

She looked at me, misty eyed, as if not daring to believe it. But soon her expression steeled with equal parts hope and conviction. "What do we need to do?" She asked.

For a moment I was stunned. Just like that? The readiness she had to believe me, to trust me, almost brought tears of gratitude to my eyes.

"The most important thing," I answered, "is to secretly gain enough money to buy at least one of us. There are ways we can multiply the money, like betting on stuff I know the outcome to…"

I told her about the plan. I roughly outlined how it would go down, (minus the pod racing, as that was a sensitive subject right now) and she agreed that "the Jedi" (Qui Gon) was the most essential piece. It wouldn't be impossible for us to collect that much money and hide it from Watto. She had often dreamed of doing just that, all slaves did at some point. The major problem with this was the third party. A slave couldn't purchase themselves with 'their master's' money, so if they wanted to buy their freedom they would have to give the money to a free third party, trust that person to not run off with the money, and further trust that person to free their new slave once they completed the purchase. On Tatooine, finding such a kind and trustworthy person among the population was nothing more than a fantasy.

But a Jedi? That could work.

Mom knew a lot more about how Tatooine worked than I did, and the fact that she said that the plan was doable made my heart soar! It would be dangerous, but it wasn't out of our reach!

After we finished our conversation, it had become quite late, and so I was sent to bed. It took a while for the excitement to wear off, but I finally went to sleep.

In the morning we woke up early and each spent about five minutes in the fresher using the sonic scrubber. It didn't need soap, and worked on clothing just as well, so we went in fully dressed, and came out with clean clothes and bodies, setting off across town for the droid shop.

While this was normal for old Anakin, I found myself missing the ritual of a water shower in the morning. It represented private time, relaxation, and an opportunity to properly wake up. Of course I also found myself wondering how much such a thing would cost on Tatooine, which would be ridiculous.

I wonder if the Hutts take showers. Honestly, they probably don't, not on Tatooine at least. They seem more like a sponge bath via a servant type of being.

As my face scrunched up at the image of having to wash between a slugs 'folds', we finally arrived at the droid shop, and let ourselves in. Even with all of old Anakin's memories, I still got a kick out of the cool sci fi door whooshing open! Seeing it in real life was awesome ok?

Even this early in the morning, it was nice to be in the temperature controlled interior of the shop instead of outside. The interior of the droid shop had a high domed section in the middle of the ceiling that hung Watto's nest. We heard the buzzing of a sonic scrubber from up there, which meant Watto was up and getting ready.

We had agreed last night that no talk of the plan would happen at the droid shop, even if Watto wasn't there. While proper holocams weren't worth installing in the slave quarters, they were all over the droid shop and the scrap yard outside. They were fish eyeball types that were protectively encased in the same type of transparisteel used in starship windows. We had caught more than one thief on camera to the point people didn't steal from the scrapyard anymore for fear of a bounty on their head. It still happened from time to time, but even when wearing a disguise worked against the cameras, it didn't work against the automatic blaster turrets.

Mom went over behind the sales counter and started getting set up. Despite the fact that this was a droid shop, she often ended up doing most of the math and profit counting at the end of the day, and was responsible for the majority of sales. Customers with large purchases or angry troublemakers were turned over to Watto to take care of. Between the calculations, the expert haggling, the product inspection, and her mechanical skills, Mom basically ran the whole business with Watto only existing for his connections and to throw his weight around. Not to say that Watto -wasn't- skilled in those things, he was the one who started the business after all, he just hardly bothered to do any of them anymore.

While Mom was running the store, I was on main mechanic duty. I fixed the droids, assembled new products, and worked on any custom orders that anyone requested. Amu had taught me everything she knew about engineering and mechanical skills, and I had expanded on it through experimentation and instinct. The Old Anakin figured that he was a pretty good mechanic, but it wasn't until the merge between him and Rick did I realize just how much of a fucking genius Anakin Skywalker truly was.

When I had an idea, it was as if I could picture the parts in front of me with perfect clarity! I could perfectly remember all their functions and instinctively know when something would or wouldn't work before I even put it together. It all just made sense. It was relaxing to me. I wonder, how much will this understanding be enhanced with the force? I remember a comic where Vader saw a piece of wreckage people couldn't identify even with advanced machines, and instantly understood what it was, and rebuilt the whole thing in a matter of seconds using telekinesis, showing it to be a starfighter.

Even now that I was Anakin and had proof I was in Star Wars, I still had trouble believing that I could have fucking SUPERPOWERS. Holy shit I couldn't fucking wait!

Speaking of which…

What was stopping me?

I cleaned the dust out of droid knee joint I needed with a rag, and slotted it into place, considering my options. Luke in episode four tapped into the force by essentially wearing a blindfold and blocking projectiles he couldn't see. Was it really that easy to actively tap into the force? I know I subconsciously did it while pod racing, so I should be able to work from there. I closed my eyes and began to concentrate, searching for that calm sensation I had felt last night as I watched the sunset, and tried to get into the state of mind I got into while racing. Just as I began to feel it, I had a powerful hunch I was going to be hit in the head from behind! Like my body was running on autopilot, I reflexively ducked out of the way just in time for Watto's hand to sail through the spot my head was! I looked at him incredulously, "What was that for?" I asked in huttese.

He responded, also in huttese, "You were slowing down! Quit your daydreaming boy!" With that piece of glowing encouragement, I crushed down my anger, tabled the issue of tapping into the force for now, and got to work. But the more I thought about what just happened, the more it excited me! It was only to dodge a hit, but I had used the force! It was every geek's dream come true!

As I finished assembling the pit stop droid in front of me and booted it up to check it was functioning properly, I noticed Amu put into place the first part of the 'get money' phase of our plan. As she finished a sale, I could see her counting the wupiwupi coins, and while she stored the majority of them, I could see the brief moment where she pocketed some. It was expertly done, I only saw it happen because I was expecting it. I glanced discreetly over at Watto, but he was on a holocall with one of his sabacc buddies with his back turned, and didn't see it happen. I casually returned to my work, continuing calmly as if nothing was out of the ordinary, but I secretly marveled at her skill. The way she was positioned with her back to the holocam made very difficult to discern what she was doing, and the casualness of her actions wouldn't draw anyone's eye.

When we talked about the plan last night, it was brought up that the most obvious way to get money was for Mom, who did most of the finance work, to skim a little off the top. Slaves didn't often do this, as the punishment was obviously severe, but it was a risk we were willing to take.

The only problem with that was, while Watto didn't go over every sale with a fine tooth comb, he did briefly check over numbers at the end of every day. The amount of money we could get doing this would have to be small, or else he'd smell something fishy, and we would be caught. We did the math, and even if we did this every day for two years, we would only get up to about a third of what was needed to buy 'one of us' (mom).

Still, it was progress, and for now, Watto was none the wiser.

Suddenly laughing and shutting off his holocall, he fluttered over to us, obviously in a jolly mood. "Hehehe! I've got some good news you two! One of the big bets from the races finally paid up! I'll be going up to anchorhead tomorrow, and I'll be back after three days. You can keep the shop closed, so take the days for yourselves! Wish me luck tomorrow ehehehe!"

I responded back in huttese, "Nice! Hope you win big!" I didn't even have to fake the smile on my face, we didn't get days off very often, and three in a row? Watto must have made a killing in this year's race to be so lax. I got back to work, but smiled at the thought of free time. While the knee jerk reaction of Anakin would be to hang out with Kitster and Wald, my two friends, I had other things to do. Mom skimming off the top of Watto's profits was one thing, but I needed to pull my weight too! I was going to have find a good disguise so I could go around freely. We also needed a secure place to stash the money we were saving, and if I could find a side gig along the way, even better!

The backfire of a distinctive run down speeder out back by the scrap yard pulled me out of my thoughts. Oh cool! The Jawas were here! They always had great stuff to sell Watto, it was how we got a lot of our specialty items! They kept coming back because in addition to paying a fair price for large items they weren't able sell to farmers, Watto was always able to get his hands on specialty food items, like stinky cheeses and raw mudhorn eggs. The Jawas always went nuts for stuff like that, so Watto always got first pick of their wares.

Watto went outside to negotiate, and as I listened to their twittering voices, I realized something! Could I disguise myself as a Jawa?! Wanting to make sure I was right, I went over and looked out the window to the scrapyard. Holy shit! Judging by their height and build, I was about the same size as they were! The clothes would be easy enough to replicate, and their dark breathing masks they wore under their hoods would be pretty easy too! Jawas often kept to themselves, and people rarely payed attention to their activities! It was perfect!

For the rest of the day I worked, alternating between working on droids inside and engines out in the scrapyard. Whatever I saw any good parts I could get away with taking, I set them aside to take home. Since a lot of the time the things I tinkered with ended up becoming new products that made Watto money, he was pretty lax about what I could take home, so long as it wasn't super expensive or unique. A good amount of the scrap we acquired ended up being smelted for raw ingots anyway, so taking parts here and there was totally fine.

Finally, when the suns started getting low in the sky, Watto told us to wrap up our work and close the droid shop. I couldn't help pumping my arm and whooping in excitement, and I scurried around as fast as I could, making sure everything was in order.

As we walked home just as the suns were setting, I didn't make the mistake of zoning out like I had done last night. I paid close attention to my surroundings, and made sure to listen to the force for any danger. As I was doing this, I noticed that whenever I got a bad feeling about a certain alley or pathway, Amu would avoid it before I had the chance to warn her.

Between this, and the fact that she seemed to be able to sense when I was telling the truth, I had to conclude that she had some level of force sensitivity. She obviously wasn't trained, and probably didn't even know what she was doing was 'using the force' or anything like that.

So far, other than the deep connection I had briefly achieved out in the desert, my experience with the force didn't feel like some otherworldly communication with a vast cosmic energy of unknowable power. Ironically, it usually felt much more mundane. Like getting a hunch. A lucky reaction. A feeling. When I wasn't actively reaching for it, drawing upon it, its effects didn't really come across to me as being something 'special' or 'super'.

It made me wonder just how many people the Jedi actually miss. How many folks go throughout their lives 'listening to their gut' not knowing that they are literally piercing the veil of time and perceiving the future in their subconscious. Never even considering that the literal energy of the universe is flowing through them, and that they are capable of so much more.

As we reached our dwelling, Amu shut and locked the door behind us. We counted the money she had gotten, and hid it away in a temporary hiding place. Quickly, we prepared for bed, but it wasn't yet time for sleep. As we sat together in sleeping clothes in our hovel carved from sandstone, Amu told me our stories.

We didn't speak in galactic basic, as that was the trader language from the stars. It was useful and inoffensive, but it wasn't ours.

We didn't speak in huttese either, that was the language of our captors, our oppressors.

We spoke Amatakkan, the language of the Amavikka people. It was the slave language. It was our language.

Amu told of Ar-amu, the mother of mothers. Of Lukkah and Leiyah, but most of all, she told of Ekkreth. The shape changer, the sky walker, the slave that makes free. It was after Ekkreth that Amu was named, and from her I was given it as well.

As she spoke, I realized I had something in common with the old Anakin. Ekkreth stories were my favorites! In them, whenever Depur (slave owners/traders) created a new means to keep the slaves bound, Ekkreth would always find a way to help them to freedom. A secret to teach, a strength to share, a shape to take. Ekkreth stories especially taught the Amavikka that though there were a thousand ways to be enslaved, there were a hundred thousand ways to be free!

We Amavikka know that the greatest weakness of a slave is also our greatest strength. Our powerlessness. Because of the explosives installed in our bodies, there can be instant deadly consequences doled out for any infraction detected from anywhere in the entire star system.

Because of this, we are deemed powerless, incapable of rebellion. And in a way, we are. However, because of this power our masters have over us, they have a supreme overconfidence in regards to how they deal with us. There were no cameras in our dwelling, no listening devices, no regular searches of our possessions. When we were not needed to work, we were generally left to our own devices with a bare minimum allowance for food and clothing.

There was an Amavikka saying that summed it up perfectly:

The Depur view us as lesser, as incapable.

We are not.

Depur view us as broken, as rightfully conquered and easily owned.

We are not!

They themselves are cowardly, and expect us to be cowardly as well, for how could we be greater than they? They think we will shrink before threat of danger, of death, to give up what makes us people!

WE! WILL! NOT!

We ARE people! We have stories! We have names! We have WILL!

And someday… we will ALL be free.

It was known as the battle cry of Ekkreth, and it was said that it was originally a rallying speech for a slave revolt that happened a long time ago. While it wasn't part of the main Ekkreth stories, which probably meant it was a more recent/real event, it was still often attributed to Ekkreth due to the nature of the words.

As I got into bed, I sighed. The fact that slavery was still rampant meant whatever rebellion it had been from had failed. Still, it lit a fire in people's soul, and that's why we remembered it. Why we passed it down.

I pulled the rough blanket up to my chin and rolled onto my side, slipping into dreamland.

I may have been a slave, but because of Amu's stories, when I finally fell asleep, it was with thoughts of freedom.

A/N: This chapter may not have been as exciting as the last two, but I think it's important to establish a day in the life of Anakin Skywalker before blasting off into major events and time skips. He works from sunrise to sunset, is beaten if he gets distracted or slows down, and has to maintain constant awareness of potential dangers to his life, and all of this at the tender age of 7.

For Anakin, the days are a slog, but I hope reading this chapter wasn't one!

If you want to hear the stories Shmi is telling our boy Ani, check out the Double Agent Vader series by Fialleril.

Since I already recommended that series in the last chapter, I have a new fanfic recommendation for this chapter!

The Desert Storm by Blue_Sunshine (Ao3 series)

In addition to using the DAV Tatooine slave culture as well, it's one of the best Star Wars fics I've ever read, and features a post order 66 obi wan accidentally traveling back in time, and taking his own teenage self as a padawan instead of Qui-Gon Jinn, among other things. It is over a million words long and in my opinion some of the best Star Wars Content currently in existence. If you are a Star Wars fan, and haven't read it already, do yourself a MASSIVE favor and check it out.