01 | AOTC

ANAKIN HAD DRIVEN the speeder out to the outskirts of Mos Eisley, finding the house not much of an issue. There wasn't a lot outside the main city, just desert, which Pandora was growing to hate with every passing second. Padmé had ordered R2 to stay with the ship while they wandered over to the homestead, noticing a droid seemingly fiddling with something. Pandora could feel her skin burning in the heat, although it would turn tan eventually, she knew she was going to end up witn some red spots. Beads of sweat were dripping down her temple, which caused her to leave her cloak in the ship, she didn't even care if it was part of her uniform, she was dying of heat. The last thing she needed was to pass out from heat exhaustion, which Anakin would only make fun of her for at a later point.

"Oh! Um, uh, hello," the droid said, which caused Pandora to snap out of her heat induced daze, watching as Anakin's eyes lit up. "How might I be of service? I am C—"

"3PO?" Anakin asked, walking closer to the droid that he had built, inspecting and cataloguing everything about it. That was a lifetime ago for him.

"Oh, um—The maker! Oh, Master Ani! I knew you would return. I knew it!" 3PO was shaking with excitement, having been returned to Anakin's presence. "And miss Padmé. Oh my. I don't believe we have met."

"Pandora."
"Hello, 3PO."
"Bless my circuits! I'm so pleased to see you."
"I've come to see my mother."

"Oh, um, I think perhaps we'd better go indoors." Pandora had a strange inkling that this wasn't going to end the way Anakin wanted it to. He led them through the other hole, which led to the inside, walking through hallways, until the reached the middle. It was open, no roof to cover the inside, which Pandora could assume wasn't really needed, as it probably didn't rain a lot. "Master Owen, might I present three most important visitors."

Pandora couldn't help but marvel at the beauty that was the home. The way the white stood against the beige of the sand, the intricate designs that laced the walls. She could see where a woman had made her way into the home, as some places were left untouched, yet others were filled with art. Shmi Skywalker had style, and Pandora liked the woman already. "I'm Anakin Skywalker."

"Owen Lars. Uh, this is my girlfriend, Beru."
"Hello."
"I'm Padmé."
"Pandora."

"I guess I'm your stepbrother. I had a feeling you might show up one day," Owen said, which caused Pandora to place her hands on each of her sabers, which caused the man to take a step back. Pandora already hated the man, wanting nothing more than to chop him up into tiny, tiny pieces.

"Is my mother here?" Anakin asked, his voice level but his mind swarming with reasons as to why she had not already greeted him. Pandora stood beside him, an inkling of a reason.

"No, she's not," Cleigg said, rolling out in a wheelchair of a kind, sticking his hand out for Anakin, who shook it. "Cliegg Lare. Shmi is my wife. We should go inside. We have a lot to talk about." Anakin's eyebrows pinched together, looking back at Pandora who nodded her head, urging him forward with a slight touch of her hand to his back. They all gathered in the kitchen, Pandora's lip curling up at the way they were treating Beru, nothing more than someone to do their bidding. "It was just before dawn. They came out of nowhere. A hunting party of Tusken Raiders. Your mother had gone out early, like she always did, to pick mushrooms to grow on the vaporators. From the tracks, she was about halfway home...when they took her."

Pandora reached under the table and gathered Anakin's hand in her own. She refused to let him sit there, worried in his own thoughts, which would eventually consume him entirely. She could feel him start to collapse in on himself, which allowed her to lean closer, whispering to him "I've got you."

"Those Tuskens walk like men, but they're vicious, mindless monsters. Thirty of us went out after her. Four of us came back. I'd be out there with them, but after I lost my leg, I just couldn't ride anymore un-until I heal. I don't want to give up on her, but she's been gone a month. There's little hope she's lasted this long."

Anakin stood up, moving to walk out, before being stopped by Owen. "Where are you going?"

"To find my mother."
"Your mother's dead, son. Accept it."

Pandora slammed her hands down on the table, completely fed up with these two imbeciles sitting across from her. "Alright, clearly you two weren't fucking raised right, considering your heads are so far up your own asses. Clearly, Owen, you are more than capable of going to look for your stepmother, but no, you sit here, ordering about your slave. Sorry, your girlfriend. Clearly the two of you are so stupid that it hurts my head to do anything that includes you. Owen, you don't give a shit, clearly because you have just accepted the woman you married is dead. There is a thing called hope, which is something more powerful than anything you should ever know. Anakin needs closure, he deserves closure, I'm sorry that you can't seem to grasp that. But we have lightsabers, ones that can end you where you stand without so much as breaking a sweat. I suggest, you both do me a favor, and shut up, before I slice your tongues off."

She didn't even let them say anything else, storming off after Anakin, leaving both men staring at her with their mouths open. She found him standing at the edge of the house, turning around before she even broke the opening, as if knowing that she was coming to find her. "You have to stay here."

"Oh you're hilarious," Pandora said, letting out a snort. "Let's go."

"Pandora, I meant it. You need to stay here. We are on a protection detail to protect Padmé, and by both of us leaving, we are failing that duty," he said, wrapping his arms around the girl, as if trapping her from moving from this very existence. "This is something I need to do."

Pandora huffed, not pleased with the idea of not being
there with him. She knew he could be irrational and act on his emotions, so she hoped that he would remind level headed ( he wouldn't and she would regret not forcing him to let her go ). "Alright. But you better come back to me, Anakin Skywalker," she pushed her finger into his chest, "I am so not done being in your life."

Anakin laughed at that, he pressed a kiss to her temple, "I will be coming back to you, don't worry."

( ...☄️... )

PANDORA ANXIOUSLY AWAITED Anakin's return, trying her hardest not to immediately reach out through the bond. She had only gone in once to grab a glass of blue milk, then going back outside, pacing wildly in the sand. She had registered Padmé coming outside, wishing her to come back inside, sleep. But she couldn't, there was nothing that could stop her from doing anything but standing there, constantly moving. Sand would continually get in her boots, making her understand why Anakin hated the sand to much. But if there was one thing that had grown possible from the whole idea of Anakin putting himself in danger, Pandora loved him. She came to the realization with a gasp, her hand coming over her mouth, stumbling back.

Being in love with Anakin Skywalker was not something that was rational, or even completely reasonable. But there she was, struggling to grasp the entirety of the situation, hoping that something was wrong. She did want to love him, but the idea of being in love was scary. It chilled her bones, scared her to the soul, covering every ounce of her body in chills. But she knew that she did, with everything that had fought against the parts of her that liked the boy, and did. He was a breath of fresh air, a breeze while standing by the water, everything that was needed for survival. Having to go through the process of telling him, well that was another thing. Pandora didn't even know if he loved her, hell if he even wanted to be with her for the long run, for all she knew he was just bored.

She shook her head, dismissing that thought completely, especially since he looked at her like she controlled the sky. She had stopped pacing, worried over the thought of the boy she loved, having realized that he still hadn't returned. and the sun had long since stood up on the sky. She sighed, realizing that she hadn't even slept, causing her to tangle her fingers in her hair, suffocating the scream that threatened to tumble from her lips. Her heart broke into a million pieces when she noticed the body shaped cloth, wrapped in the back of his speeder, not stopping the tears that rolled down her cheeks. She watched as he picked up the body, no sign of distress, only his body radiating with anger. Anakin didn't even stop to speak, his eyes only softening momentarily as he caught sight of Pandora, but immediately hardening again.

Anakin's heart had broken in half that night, finding his mother broken, beaten, and her dying in his own arms. He hated himself for ignoring his nightmares. For ignoring her. He could feel his body breaking in half as the weight of his mother in his arms became all to real to him. But, he refused to break. Not in front of these strangers, not in front of anyone. Anakin had to be strong, he knew that, he was The Chosen One, the one that would be bringing balance to the force. So when he inevitably broke down, it was Pandora that was there with him. Her gently eyes, her soft smile, holding a small plate of food as she found him tinkering with something, as if it was to keep himself occupied. And it was, it was something to remove him from the situation that had occurred, removing him from the idea that his mother's lifeless body was being fixed up and prepared for burial. He was going to have think of a way to pay back Beru for her kindness.

"I brought you something," Pandora said, her voice not raising over a whisper. Her mind was hoping to not scare him off, simply wishing she could figure out a way to comfort him. "Are you hungry?"

"The shifter broke," Anakin said, his eyes never leaving the machine in front of him, ignoring the question entirely. Pandora let him, she was simply there to bring him some sort of comfort, not to push him away from her. "Life seems so much simpler when you're fixing things. I'm good at fixing things. I always was. But I couldn't—" his voice trailed off as it broke, sniffing in an attempt to keep the tears at bay, Pandora heart breaking in half in that moment. "Why'd she have to die? Why couldn't I save her?"

"I wish I could tell you, Ani," Pandora said, her eyes watering as the pain rolled off the boy into her own body. She could feel every ounce of his suffering, diminishing everything else she was feeling, solely focusing on Anakin. "But, sometimes, things happen that not even the greatest can fix. You, my love, are not all powerful, no one is."

"Well I should be," Anakin said, anger dripping from his voice, making Pandora aware that this was either out of anger, or a true wish. She was praying it was anger. "Someday I will be. I will be the most powerful Jedi ever! I promise you. I will even learn to stop people from dying."

His name died on her lips the second he started accusing Obi-Wan for being jealous of him. "Force. Anakin, look at me," she said, placing her hands on his face, forcing his eyes to lock into hers. "Breathe. Think. I get it, you're angry, understandable. Don't start with the Obi-Wan ramble, it won't end well, okay?"

"Okay," He said, his mind clearing as he sunk down onto the floor, the wall slowing down his impact. "I did something bad." Pandora nodded her head, her hands still cradling his face, not having any emotion betray how she felt. "I killed them, I killed them all. Every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women, the children. They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals."

Pandora let out a heavy breath as he fell into her, unable to truly fault him for this. She knew he was unpredictable, but the fact his mother died, seemed to make him enraged. That would happen to anyone, anyone who had known their mother and had them murdered. She did nothing more than pull him into her, cradling his head. "Oh, Ani."

- authors note

legit me while fucking writing this chapter. well around halfway through the movie. couldn't tell you how many chapters this is gonna be. but ANI BROKE ME during this. i mean i get the anger and shit. but everytime he mentions obi-wan being jealous of him it makes me SQUIRM. i get so icked out by that shit, so it didn't happen. tryna be original i guess, maybe im just saving myself from my own embarrassment.