🔷 Before you read, please remember votes and comments = more chapters-no votes or asking me to "please update" comments = no chapters. Just follow me so you know I've updated instead of asking me to. Thank you.🔷

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

In my entire life, I never knew what it was like to be free or what even freedom looked like. Yet little did I know that was about to change...

All my younger brother Anakin I ever knew since birth was a life of slavery. We were born to our mother, Shimi Skywalker, who had only known an enslaved person's life since she was a girl. Yet I could only dream of what it would be like to fly amongst the stars with my little brother by my side. I briefly glanced at him as we both cleaned some fan switches. We wanted to see far-off places with greenery, which I could only have dreamed and heard of in stories that, in my mind's eye, must be breathtaking. But Tatooine was a bland blanket of monotonous colour and landscapes I had known all my life. What would I have given to see a waterfall, wander through a lush green forest or feel blades of grass between my fingers? Such places as Naboo, I heard, had such stunning scenery. This made me dream all the more.

I believe Anakin and I had a tight-knit bond that no one could ever break like all brothers are supposed to have. We looked out for one another through thick and thin, Anakin watching my back and me watching his. Something we had done for years since we began working for our Toydarian master Watto. Better than our former owner Gardulla, the Hutt had been, to be fair. Yet, as I get lost in my thoughts, a strange feeling washes over me and pulls at my insides like it had done this morning when I had gotten up. The fan switch I'd been cleaning no longer interested me.

"Boys, get in here now!" Our master Watto now yelled for myself and Anakin in Huttese, not the most pleasing of languages as it has always been quite throaty but was most commonly used on Tatooine. Now, breaking away from my thoughts, I knew that our dreams would never come true of us.

"Come on, Ani, let's go and see what that annoying blue dingbat wants," I let out with a slight sigh, getting up from where I had been sitting and putting down the fan switch; a content smile crept upon my lips. Then, playfully ruffling my brother's sun-kissed blonde locks, now smirking as he batted my hand away. In doing so, I now usher him before me, quickly cleaning oil off my hands with a rag before tossing it aside.

We enter the shop out front, Watto hovering in my sight, "What took you both so long?"

It had been a muggy day so far, even for being on Tatooine. I had heard pilots and crew members of a ship whining about the heat on the way to work this morning. One had wished it would snow to dampen the heat.

"We've been cleaning those things like you asked us to," my brother replied, hopping onto the curved counter. As I noted, Watto tried his best not to sneer, only making some aggravated noise in the back of his throat. Not pleased with my brother's excuse, he raised his eyebrows, challenging me, but I could only roll my eyes and stop myself from sighing. My other task as the big brother was to diffuse the situation before Anakin got into trouble.

Stepping forward, I gained Watto's attention, "We put the parts down correctly and with care so as not to damage them," I soothed quickly. Knowing well enough that even so much as a scratch was on the parts, he'd bite our heads off.

"Whatever! Both of you watch the store. I've got some selling to do," Watto's face becomes more pleasant as he turns to the people I had just noticed for the first time.

A girl is wearing a blue tunic, billowing trousers, and shoes not meant to be walked on the sand. She had a regal air about her, not knowing she would be a vital part of this story much later in our lives but a more important one to Anakin, that it would tear us apart as brothers. But enough of that. I don't want to dive into that too soon. Hair pulled back into many intricate braids of the likes I've never seen. I could also see at the time why my brother had instantly been so drawn to her. It was because it had been of her warm, inviting brown eyes.

Yes, of course, I'd thought she was attractive in every sense of the word and that I would have been charming her to no end; this would be an entirely different story altogether. Yet something in my gut had told me I was never fated to be with her. She'd become a dear friend and confidante, nothing more. I miss her dearly. Yet fate and the Force had something else planned for me. Little did I know.

The older man with her would be the very man who would seal mine and Anakin's fate but at a price. He was far better dressed, wearing lightweight beige trousers, a roughly woven poncho and brown knee-high boots. I'll never forget his kind yet calming face and his greying brown hair, some of it partly drawn back into a small ponytail. There was a wide-eyed Gungan who started to roam the shop with interest. Finally, a white and blue astromech droid was between the man and the girl. But they could have done a better job if they were trying to blend in such a place as Tatooine.

"So let me show you out back, huh? Ni, you'll find what you need," I watch the older man and droid follow Watto outside to the junkyard, leaving just the Gungan and the girl whom Anakin still hadn't stopped gawking at her as he started cleaning something.

The Gungun had picked up a gadget to figure out its purpose before the older man paused and snatched it out of his grasp, putting it back for him before hearing him tell him sternly, "Don't touch anything."

With a smirk, I folded my arms and shook my head as my brother watched the pretty girl intently before asking her, "Are you an angel?"

Something else my brother tended to do was not to keep his thoughts to himself but to speak them out loud, which sometimes ended up with him in more trouble than it was worth. I now grabbed him by the shoulder and whispered sternly to him in warning, "Anakin!" But he only ignored me, shrugging my hand off his shoulder as I offered the girl an apologetic look who was still smiling at my brother.

"A what?"

"An angel. My brother and I once heard some deep space pilots talk about them. They live on the moons of Iego, I think," my brother explained to the girl as he continued to clean the machine part in his hands, legs gently swinging back and forth.

The girl laughed a little, raising her eyebrows at my brother, somewhat uncertainly, "I've never heard of them."

"You must be one...maybe you just don't know it."

"You're a funny little boy," she comments, taking a few steps closer to us, "How do you know so much?"

"Probably from many star pilots that pass through here looking for parts," I tell her, bending down to pick up a heavy box of clean parts that had been left in the middle of the floor by Watto for the past few days was just an accident waiting to happen, "Trade a few stories. Some crude stuff is skipped over quickly for the likes of younger ears," I brush past the Gungan, who apologised for bumping into me as I put the box on an already cluttered shelf.

"My brother and I are pilots, and one day, we're going to fly away from this place together," at that moment, Anakin sounded so sure of himself and much older than he was. I didn't see the surprised expression on the girl's face, and she raised her brows, trying to absorb this information about my brother being a pilot at his age.

"You're a pilot?

"All my life!" my brother looked up at her from his lap with a grin.

"What about you?" the girl asked, glancing in my direction, considering it for a moment before shrugging, knowing I only became a pilot because it was necessary, especially when I was doing Watto's errands. I learned the basic skills at a young age when my love for flying surfaced, and it was enough for me to get by.

"Well, I can't say I'm a pro, but I've been doing it a decent amount of time," I laugh, "But my lil'bro is an absolute pro at it, and I'm ten years older," she gives me a curious gaze tilting her head looking between myself and Anakin.

"Have you been here long?"

"Almost six years now since Anakin was three and I was thirteen, I think we were sold along with our mother to Gardulla the Hutt, but luck would have it, she bet wrong on a pod race, and now here we are," I glanced down at my feet as I spoke remembering times long gone. Then, slowly peering up at her, I noticed how appalled she looked.

"You're...slaves?" I winced at her words. It was something we hated to be reminded of. I wanted to say something, but my brother beat me to it.

"We're people you know just like anyone else, and my name is Anakin!" he retorted hotly. Shooting a warning look across the shop at him, knowing how short-tempered he always got, sometimes it took a while to calm him down.

I promptly cut in before he could say anything else he'd regret, "Cool your jets, Ani. She didn't mean anything by it. Okay, she was just a little surprised, that's all," he now looked at his feet, swayed back and forth underneath him as I now came to approach her holding out my hand in offering it with a genuine smile, "Ambrose nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," she gently took my hand and shook it before letting it go to look around her, "I'm sorry. I don't fully understand. This is a strange world to me," she glanced between me and Anakin.

But before she said anything else, there was an almighty loud series of crashes as we heard the Gungan exclaiming in surprise. A droid had been activated, sprouting its arms and legs, marching about, causing the mess. I see him trying to hold it down but failing miserably.

"Hit the nose!" Anakin and I yelled in unison. The Gungan punched it in the nose, and it instantly dropped to the ground like it had been. I quickly move to pick up the compact droid and go about tidying up the Gungan's mess before Watto could start blaming us for it.

Finally, I put an old protocol back to its rightful place, giving it a quick polish over with the sleeve of my tunic so that Watto wouldn't notice the few little scratches it had gained when it had fallen. My mind returned to the man outside with Watto, the junkyard. This...presence surrounding him had made him stand out, something peculiar yet different from that of the girl and Gungan.

Another crash of parts falling from behind me made me wince. Never had I known any creature to be this clumsy or accident-prone in my life.

There's a shuffling of feet entering the shop and the pleasant voice of the older man announcing their departure, "We're leaving."

Turning around, I see the Gungan hurrying away from the mess he'd made on the floor towards the door. Having heard the name 'Jar-Jar', so it had to be his name, the droid and girl took their leave.

"Glad to have met you, Anakin, and you too, Ambrose," she smiled sweetly to exit the shop with her fellow companions finally. I could tell my brother was trying to get a better look at her, like he never wanted her to leave his sight.

"I'm glad I met you, too!" Anakin called from behind me as I went to lean in the doorway, arms crossed. I heard the fluttering of Watto's wings from behind me, entering the junkyard, peering over my shoulder to see a sneer upon his wrinkled lips.

"Outlanders!" he began to complain in Huttese, "They think we know nothing."

"We thought they were decent enough, right Ani?" I replied, looking in my brother's direction, who nodded in agreement.

"Clean the racks. Then you can go home."

My brother voiced his excitement, leaping off the counter and running out to the back to follow my brother outside. I took another glance over my shoulder across to the entrance. Those feelings I had gotten this morning and just before they came made perfect sense and told me it had been a good thing that happened and the day would continue to do so.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

"I wonder where those travellers came from?" my little brother asked out of curiosity, glancing up at me as we walked side by side back home through the streets of Mos Espa. I knew he would ask about them eventually, especially the girl we had spoken to. He had developed a bit of a crush on her, something I should have noticed more back then and had become more of an obsession that would eventually become an attachment. Besides, I had been dealing with my problems. But back to the story.

"Must have been a nice place wherever it is they came from, much better than this kriffing rock," I scoffed, reckoning they must have come from a far-off planet in the Outer Rims, especially with the clothing they had been wearing.

"Hey, doesn't that look like the Gungan from the shop earlier," Anakin tugged on my sleeve and pointed down the road. Looking across, I do indeed see Jar-Jar laying flat out across the ground with none other than a Dug named Sebulba, who must have just kicked the Gungan down. If there was one thing I didn't tolerate, it was bullies. I marched towards the commotion, Anakin right behind me, hands balled into fists.

If there was one thing you never must do, it was a mess with the likes of Sebulba because it would be the last thing you'd ever do.

"Hey, sleemo, let him go!" I yelled as the Dug narrowed his eyes at me, "Picking on other people again, Sebulba? That's pretty pathetic even for you," I challenged with a smirk, knowing how to draw on his weakness.

"Who are you telling me what to do, Skywalker?" he spat at me, tightening the hold on Jar-Jar's throat, "You're a slave."

The word 'slave' hurt more than you can imagine. I wanted to punch his lights out there and then took another step towards him, quickly pulling out the small blade strapped to my thigh hidden by my tunic, "Call me that again, Sebulba, I dare you."

"No, Ambs, that sleemo isn't worth it!" Anakin pleaded sharply, tugging my arm but also glaring daggers at Sebulba.

Sebulba let go of Jar-Jar's throat, turning to face Anakin and me, but his eyes more on him, "Don't think I'll beat you again in a race, boy, or are you too afraid."

"Well, at least he won't be afraid to kick your ass, but unlike you, I look out for my friends," I pointed my blade at him, "Not kicking them down must make you feel big, huh?"

"A friend who is very well connected," my brother quickly added as the Dug glared at us. I shared a knowing look with my brother, seeing where he was going with this.

"Connected? What do you mean?"

"As in the Hutt's, our friend is a big-time Outlander. It would be a shame for you to get diced up before another race," I challenged with a raised eyebrow, tossing my blade up into the air and catching back by the handle, not taking my eye off the Dug before putting my knife back in its sheath on my thigh tugging my tunic back down over it.

"Next time we race, I will end one of you!" Sebulba laughed at us, "If you weren't a slave, I'd squish you both right now!" he spat on the ground at our feet, knocking into me hard enough that I fell over, almost cursing as the palm of my hand touched something sharp quickly covering with the sleeve of my tunic.

"Yeah, it would be a pity for you to pay for us!" my brother retorted. It came out sounding more sad than sarcastic. Just when the man, droid and girl showed up.

"Hey," my brother and I greeted them, the older man giving us a curious look.

"Hello there," the man returned as he helped Jar-Jar to his feet before helping me.

"Your buddy was about to be turned into orange goo. He picked a fight with a Dug. An especially dangerous Dug called Sebulba."

"Mesa haten crunchen. Das da las ting mesa wanten!" Jar-Jar said as he dusted himself off. I glare in Sebulba's direction, a grimace on my face. He now sat down at a table a few meters away, almost snarling at us, but I paid him no more attention, turning my back to him.

"Just be careful around Sebulba, or next time, you'll become orange goop. You're lucky for us to have shown up when we did," I mention, having seen first-hand how short-tempered he got with unsuspecting victims who would pass him by.

"Nevertheless, the boys are right. You were heading for trouble," the older man informed Jar-Jar before returning his gaze to that of myself and Anakin, then nodding, "Thank you, my young friends."

I wouldn't say I liked the word young because I hadn't felt like it since I became a slave. It had taken the joy out of my life. The group seemed to know where they were going, but Anakin and I followed behind them just out of curiosity.

Jogging forward to keep in step with the intriguing older man, I frowned and gave him another look. Again, I felt that unusual presence around him like I had done in the shop, like the natural energy surrounding him was different.

"Have you got a destination in mind?" I inquired, "Because, from the looks of you, I take it you're not from around here when your friend was almost turned into orange slime. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time normally spells trouble around here," the man looked at me gently, that same curious look in his eyes, the beginnings of a smile forming on his lips.

"Thank you, young man. I find your concern admirable," I smiled and shrugged my shoulders in response.

"Sometimes, you must do what is necessary to avoid a bad situation. I have dealt with a few of my own," I told him with another shrug of my shoulders to glance across at him to ask again, "So, as I asked before, have you got a destination in mind?"

"We're sightseeing while trying to gather parts for our ship."

"Your sightseeing on Mos Espa?" I stopped in my tracks and scoffed, folding my arms in front of me, raising one eyebrow at the older man, "On this wasteland that is Tatooine? If you haven't noticed, it's nothing but rocks and sand. If you need what you need, try a cantina to escape the heat. It's what most of us do here anyway."

"We don't have the luxury we need to get off this planet as soon as possible," the man tells me with some urgency.

I scoffed and shook my head. So he didn't know what living here in the unbearable heat was like-fated to be a slave forever and never leave this place to work under the likes of Watto.

"Tell me something I don't know," I uttered.

The wind began to pick up as some sand went in my face. I pulled the hood of my tunic over my head as I saw my brother holding a pallie to the older man. The fruit is often grown on underground farms here in Tatooine. I see stall owners starting to close up their shops.

"Here, have a pallie. You'll like it," Anakin said, holding it up a little higher, kindly suggesting that the man take it, who raised a brow before graciously accepting it with a nod.

"Thank you," lifting his poncho to put it in a pouch on his waist, something shiny and cylindrical with a black handle grip and a button. It was a lightsaber hilt, and I quickly exchanged unique looks with Anakin.

We had heard tales of the legendary Jedi Order and their many adventures, taking them across the galaxy. To maintain peace and keep balance in the Force. There are also stories of Jedi who had become easily led to the Dark Side of the Force and became Sith. Stories Anakin and I had grown up listening to led to us hoping and dreaming we could one day be Jedi ourselves. Yet no such thing had come to pass. Yet, we knew it would change everything in a few short days.

"Gracious, my bones are aching. Storms coming up, boys. You better get home quick," the old lady I'd known as Jira had run the fruit stall prompted.

Suddenly, a thought hits me like the wind and sand begin to pick up a little more as I look at the man I have since become acquainted with, "Do you have shelter?"

"We'll make it back to our ship," the man said as he walked away from the stall, unconcerned about the sandstorm heading this way.

"Where is your ship?" my brother asked, standing beside me.

"On the outskirts," the girl dressed in blue replied, gesturing in the direction they had come from.

I shook my head, "You won't make it back there in time. Sandstorms out here are deadly and will catch you off guard if you aren't prepared. You can take shelter in our home until the storm passes. It's not too far," I go to take the lead, adjusting my hood.

Anakin and I led them through the streets of Mos Espa as we braved ourselves against the ferocious winds. Our home was situated in one of the many slave residences. All looked the same. It was simple, but it has become a good home over time. We now entered inside. The door was sealed shut behind us.

"Mom! Mom! We're home," Anakin called after our mother as I pulled off my hood and fluffed my hair to rid it of any sand. My sweet, kind mother, Shimi, entered the room, cleaning her hands on a cloth. Is a little startled by the people standing in our tiny home?

"These are our friends, Mom," my brother tells her, smiling with glee over at the girl I had since learned was named Padmé.

"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn, and this is Jar-Jar Binks," Qui-Gon introduced himself, slightly bowing to my mother. My brother, in his excitement, had taken Padmé by the hand, dragging her towards our bedroom, mentioning that droid he's been working on forever, the R2 unit not far behind them, "Your sons were kind enough to offer us shelter."

I was lost in my thoughts, now realised I was being watched by Qui-Gon and my mother, smiling at me with pride for offering these people safety.

"That sounds like them. They have kind hearts," my mother comments, returning her gaze toward Qui-Gon, smiling a little wider, "You and your friends are most welcome to stay until the storm passes," he nodded at her in thanks with that familiar calming smile. Then, just as my mother was about to turn away, she noticed the cut on my hand, "Ambrose..."

"It's one little cut, Mom!" I tried to hide it with my sleeve, but it was useless when it was stained with my blood. I could tell she was concerned, so I wanted to reassure her by squeezing her hand with my undamaged one, "I'm fine, okay? I fell over and cut my hand on some glass. Nothing to worry yourself over."

"Possibly. Would you allow me to clean it for you in return for allowing us shelter," Qui-Gon offered.

A while later, we sat opposite one another at the dinner table, arm stretched across it, as Qui-Gon delicately cleaned any sand or debris from my wound with an antiseptic cloth. Then, we sat silent, listening to the sounds of Jar-Jar with my mother in the kitchen. My brother with Padmé and R2-D2 and C3PO in another.

"I have to thank you again for what you've done, Ambrose," Qui-Gon told me, but I only shrugged and smiled in response as if it were nothing, "You stood up for the likes of a stranger and offered those you barely know shelter. That kind of selflessness is scarce and is something I appreciate greatly."

"Well, when you live in such a place as Tatooine, you must be kind. If no one else were, it would be a much darker place," I uttered. He smiled at me as he continued to clean my hand. The kind twinkle in his eyes made me feel at ease with him.

"Maybe it's because people like you and your brother that places like this are less unkind," I grinned one-sidedly at his comment, "The smallest of actions can bring great changes in the universe, Ambrose."

But I don't have a chance to respond. Instead, I see Qui-Gon's left hand sweeping aside to put the cloth down. He'd been cleaning my hand without paying the slightest attention. Then, eyes widening slightly in alarm, Qui-Gon knocked over the antiseptic bottle, but with my good hand, I quickly caught it half a second later, the contents swashing around. We remained silent briefly as the older man gazed at my hand and the bottle I held.

"Don't think I hadn't noticed your impressive reflexes with that blade earlier when you and your brother had teased that Dug after saving Jar-Jar," I looked back at him, somewhat surprised he had seen that without me knowing. I had thought that I just had naturally good reflexes. Anakin did as well, of course, and had got us out of a few near accidents at the junkyard.

"Well, they've saved my ass on more than one occasion, even in pod racing; you must have good reflexes. It's the only way you can survive," I explained.

Qui-Gon now wrapped my hand in a bandage. As I told him some of my near-death stories with a Krayt Dragon once down, I returned him a grateful smile once he finally tied off the bandage, "Thank you."

I put the medical supplies away into their basket and searched to put them somewhere. But unfortunately, I did not realise things were about to change drastically.