Chapter Text
Prologue:
Annika’s POV:
“Ah, Tatooine, a joyless Dustball of a planet, controlled by a race that consists of huge, fat and ugly slugs. Have you ever seen a Hutt? Gross, I tell ya.
Oh pardon, I didn’t get to introduce myself properly. My name is Annika Skywalker, I’m 8 years old and have once called this Gods forsaken place my home. Yes, you heard right, perfect tense, as in ‘Not anymore!’ Normally we would begin the tale about the awesome me at the beginning, but I don’t think the first seven years of my life are that interesting if I can even remember all of it. No, we begin on the very day that changed my life forever, the day I won the Boonta-Eve-Classic. The first human to ever do, just saying.”
Third Person:
The Twin-Suns of Tatooine shone brightly up Mos Espa and its inhabitants, burning with an unforgiven heat. A normal human-like being would most likely do their best to escape these all-devouring rays of light, but not one little Mandalorian girl. She stood just there, unmoving in front of the racing course. She won, an 8-year-old, Mandalorian girl, had just won one of the most, if not the most dangerous, and by that prestigious, Podrace on Tatooine. And now, as if that wasn’t enough, by winning the damn thing she, without her knowledge, freed herself.
She was no longer a slave.
No longer was Annika Skywalker the property of anyone else, she was free and about to become a kriffing Jedi, at least that was what Master Jinn said. And what reason would he have to lie? So here she is now, her sky-blue eyes wandering aimlessly across the streets as if it was for the first time. Her shoulder-length, dirty blond tresses swaying in the dry winds of the dessert-planet she would leave very soon. ‘Not soon enough’ Anni thought, a grin starting to form on her lips.
She was free.
Annika skipped the rest of the way home, her mouth now a full-blown smile, her eyes gaining a glint in them many Jedi would come to associate with a feeling of dread and the urge to run. When they reached the humble cottage that she and her mother called their home for the last couple of years. She made her way upstairs into her room ready to pack her thing when suddenly a cold feeling crawled down her spine.
Her mother, what would happen to poor, sweet Shmi Skywalker. Now she would be all alone, only with Cliegg Lars to keep her company when he came around to…
Anni came to an abrupt halt. ‘Of course, how could I be so stupid, gahhh!’ She withstood the urge to rip out her hair, ran out of her room a practically flew down the stairs. “Master Jinn!”, she all but yelled, startling the odd group of her mother, a Jedi, Handmaiden, Gungan and Astromech, the latter four of them just about to leave to get the parts for their ship, the main reason they even landed on this planet. They all looked at her as she stopped just in time, nearly colliding with Padmé’s legs. “Can I borrow your Comlink? Please, I give it back, but I need it right now.” Annika all but begged the Force-User, utilizing her best puppy dog eyes possible. Her mother was about to admonish her, but Qui-Gon just raised his hand, before he handed her the requested object. “I am sure she has something very important to do if her expression is anything to go by.” Shmi just sighed while her daughter just grinned, taking the device from the older man’s hand before running up the stairs, but not before yelling a hasty ‘Thank you’ over her shoulder.
Back in her room, the soon-to-be Jedi started working on the Comlink, changing its frequency to that of the Lars Moisture Farm. Do not ask how she got her hands on that piece of information, just, don’t.
“Mr. Lars? Can you hear me? Hello?”
“Anni? Is that you? How’re ya doin’ little one? I heard ya completely trashed that arrogant Dug in the race. Hahaha! Congrats dear, we knew ya could do it.” A rough but warm voice answered her. Annika could already picture old man Cliegg laughing when his ass off when he heard that she beat Sebulba.
“Yeah, that’s great and all but listen up” she took a deep breath, savoring that moment, the words she is just about to say:
“I’m free”
A few moments of silence before, “Anni, how… I mean… What I want to say is…” One could picture the emotions on the man’s face. “I am so happy for you but how?”
“The Jedi, there are Jedi here on Tatooine, they came into the shop by chance and I decided to help them and raced for them and they bet on me and…”
Anni ranted on and on, not even pausing to breathe.
“Alright Anni, slow down. So the Jedi came to the shop, you helped them get whatever they came for and now I take that you are going with them to become one yourself, right?”
“Yes,” she answered, a little bashful. Normally she was the silent type, the listener, but after everything that happened…
“Oh little one I am so proud of ya, but I take that this is not the only reason why ya called me. How’re ya even able to do so?”
“That is not important right now, I’m calling so that you can finally get mom out of here.”
“Anni, we have spoken about this before, I may have more than enough money to free ya mom, but not the both of ya. And ya know Shmi will not accept if not both of ya are free…”
“…”
“I am on my way! “
“Took you long enough old man! Now get that ass down here and free her, ya old Casanova.”
“HAHAHAHA, ya one sly girl Anni, I tell ya. Take care girl, for your sake and your mothers” Lars said, his voice becoming a bit solemn at the end.
“I will, just take care of mom for me, okay? I will miss you all…” Annika’s voice cracked at the end, a lone tear escaping her eyes, knowing full well that it will take years before she can see her mother, old man Lars or her de facto stepbrother Owen again.
“Don’t cry, little one, be strong and never forget who you are and where you come from. Goodbye Annika.”
“Bye, Cliegg”
With those words, Annika ended the call. She knew her mom would be in good hands, Cliegg Lars was a man of his word, completely opposed to slavery and absolutely smitten by her mother, since… well, since they first met three years ago. The only problem at the time was that while her mother would have been more than affordable to buy from Watto, she was not. The price for her was almost 3 times the amount, a price the Lars couldn’t pay. In a very twisted kind of way, it was understandable: she was a young, female Mandalorian, who was also, despite her age, very skilled with droids, machines, etc.
A slave for everything. A Mechanic, Enforcer, Bounty Hunter, Podracer, Prostitute. As harsh as it sounds, that was the world she was born into…
… and now free from.
-DotTS-
Shmi waited for her daughter in the kitchen, their guests had already left some time ago. Qui-Gon said that he would be back soon, to collect Annika and then continue their journey. She sighed, happy for her daughter to be finally free, but sad that she most likely won’t see her daughter again for a couple of years. Oh, she would see her again, Jedi Code or not. She snorted, feeling the happiness that came from her daughter upstairs. She knew she herself would be freed before the day was over. As soon as Annika took off with Master Jinn’s Comlink, Shmi knew exactly whom she would call. As she sat there in the Kitchen, pondering over what the future may hold for her baby girl, she felt her presence coming down the stair. How could she not, Annika was like a sun when it came to the force.
Oh yes, she knew about the force, she herself was sensitive after all, their whole family, in fact, were descendants of a long lost Jedi-Bloodline, back when marriage was still accepted by the Order. That is how she always knows, where her daughter is, how she knew that Cliegg has nothing but good intentions when it comes to the Skywalker-Women and that, at least everything Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn said, was sincere. It’s is kind of sad when one would think about it: First, their family was ‘founded’ by a Bloodline that would bring forth many powerful Jedi, which would later on, through marriage, mix with a pure-blooded Mando-Family some couple hundred years ago.
Now Shmi could not move objects like her daughter or do fancy mind tricks like Qui-Gon, but one aspect she prided herself in was her awareness, the ability to feel danger long before it happens, to feel her daughters presence wherever she is and to feel the emotions of people nearby: do they lie, are they nervous? She even had something of a bond with her only child, could whisper sweet nothingness to her whenever she was plagued by a nightmare…
“Mom, is everything alright?”
“Of course dear, just thinking. Now have you everything you need? Clothes? Your Krayt-Stuffy? Books?”
Annika nods, looking slightly embarrassed at the mentation of her favorite stuffed animal.
“Did you say goodbye to Threepio?” another nod.
“And to Cliegg when you called him?”
“Yeah I… wait how did you… right, motherly instincts?!”
“No dear, the Force, I could feel your excitement and relief bouncing off the wall,” Shmi said, smiling at a bashful looking Annika.
“Now I have one last gift for you before you go, something of which I think will be of great service to you,” the older Skywalker said, before turning around and going into the kitchen. There Annika saw her mother retrieving an old, worn-out wooden box from the very back of a cabinet, well hidden behind all dishes in the dark. The young girl held her breath as her mother placed the box in front of her. She knew exactly what was inside.
Their most treasured heirloom, in the possession of their family for centuries, something that, despite all the odds that came with the life as slave, her mother was able to keep. A long silvery and black cylinder-shaped object with four spike-like extensions on one end. Annika, very carefully, took the lightsaber out of its resting place, the spikes pointing to the ceiling, before activating it.
A beautiful amethyst-colored blade sprang into life…