01 | AOTC

PANDORA WOULD BE lying if she said she wasn't worried about the future that was being laid out before her, especially when it came to Anakin. She knew that there was something between them, something that could grow with the right environment, but there was something so wrong about all of it. The code was the one thing that pushed her back, but there was always a need to break it, especially since she had never had anyone on her side. The inability to form a bond killed her, especially since she had forged one with her Master, which made her come to understand why they could be deemed as forbidden. But there was something in the way Anakin had worded the way the code works to him, especially since he was right. Anakin Skywalker being right shocked Pandora, especially because the boy never seemingly thought before he did anything, which caused her to be constantly stressed out.

She had gotten ready early that morning, Anakin's worry flowing through the force, and since she was so close, she could feel it. It was strong enough to wake her up, but she could tell that it had been muted, meaning the boy was still asleep. Pandora was braiding her hair, intricate patterns flowed, connecting and ending all in different places. She could feel Anakin through the force, allowing it to consume him, as if it was trying to help him ground. She walked through the palace, searching for him, pausing to lean up against the doorframe as she watched him. He was stood legs apart, hands connected behind his back, eyes closed as the morning sun shone on him. Pandora thought he looked divine, something that was born from the very sky, as if they weren't meant to be in these positions from the very beginning. She watched with a small smile as a smile broke out on his face, not even bothering to open his eyes, "I can feel you standing there," Anakin said, his hands slightly twitching.

Pandora let out a small sigh, taking in the sunlight as it had moved to hit her face. "I didn't want to interrupt," she said, never taking her eyes off the boy in front of her, as if committing him to memory. "I'll leave you to it," she said, pushing herself off the doorframe, turning to leave.

"Don't go," Anakin said, tilting his head to the side, "You make things calmer, I like it." She watched as his shoulders relaxed, rolling backwards, stretching them.

"You had another nightmare," she said, not leaving any room for disagreement. It was a statement, not a question, one that Anakin knew he couldn't find a way out of.

"Jedi don't have nightmares."
"Oh stop. I could feel the tension through the force."

"I saw my mother," he said, turning towards Pandora, trying his hardest to keep the tears at bay, wishing he could ban these nightmares and dream that she was living her best life. "She is suffering, Pandora," Anakin spoke, his words breaking slightly, the pain of worrying about his mother consuming him. "I saw her as clearly as I see you now. She is in pain. I know I'm disobeying my mandate to protect Padmé, but I have to go."

"Then we leave as soon as I am ready," Padmé spoke, not leaving any room for argument as she walked away, her hands already pulling up her curls.

"She is slowly becoming my favorite person," Pandora spoke, pushing her hip up against Anakin's, causing the boy the let out a small smile at her.

( ...☄️... )

THE RIDE TO Tatooine was silent, deathly silent. It was putting Pandora on edge, watching Anakin move through the Galaxy without so much as a sound, afraid of even breathing around him. She could feel the tension that was rolling off his body, silently consuming her. Anakin was nervous, that much he knew. Arriving back to his home planet where he had been enslaved, was not something he was looking forward to, especially since he didn't know what was becoming of his mother. As they got a ride into the center of Mos Espa, he reached for Pandora's hand, giving it a slight squeeze, receiving one immediately. He was thankful that he had her by his side, but was worried as to what she would think of his life before him. Anakin knew that Pandora had knowledge of his past, the girl being close with Obi-Wan, especially since they had been sent on a couple of missions ( ones that had caused her to dislike him in the first place ).

Anakin helped both Padmé and Pandora out of the cart, telling the little droid to wait there. Pandora already hated Tatooine, mostly due to the heat, but she hated a little more because of Anakin. She knew what had happened to him on this planet, the pain that was caused here, causing a small bit of hatred to settle deep into her chest. Though not enough for her to do anything, but just for her to dislike the planet even more than she already did. The walked up to a stall, one that had a Toydarian tinkering with something outside, swearing to himself in Huttese. "Chut-Chut, Watto," Anakin said, causing Pandora to stop, she knew she should have realized he spoke perfect Huttese. "Let me help you with that."

Watto spoke in Huttese to Anakin, Pandora could only catch some things, but watched as Anakin's eyes lit up at the idea of tinkering with something. "Wait! You're a Jedi! Whatever it is....I didn't do it." She almost let out a laugh when Watto caused something to fly up out of his hand and land on his foot, causing him to fly up.

Anakin finished tinkering, showing it off secretly to Pandora who smiled at the boy, enjoying the way the light captured his eyes. "I'm looking Shmi Skywalker," he said, tearing his eyes away from Pandora, to look at Watto again. Meanwhile, Pandora was pleased with herself that she could understand most of the conversation, especially since she hadn't dealt with Huttese in quite some time.

She watched as something clicked in Otto's brain, almost as if a switch had gone off. "Ani?" he questioned, "Little Ani? Nahh. You are Ani! It is you!" Watto let out a laugh, though Pandora had no idea why, it wasn't like he missed Anakin for him being himself, more as if he missed someone who could fix his problems. "You sure sprouted, huh? A Jedi! Whattaya know! Hey...maybe you could help with some deadbeats who owe me a lot of money."

"My mother," Anakin said, not even bothering to comment on the messing up some deadbeats. Pandora pressed her body up against his, although did it in a way that wasn't noticeable, especially since Watto had just screamed that they were Jedi.

"Oh, yeah. Shmi. Uh...she's not mine-a no more-a. I sold her," Watto said, scratching the back of his neck, his eyes never moving from the lightsaber that was attached to Anakin's hips.

"You sold her?" Anakin asked, his voice incredulous. He would have understood why she was in pain if she was under Watto's care, he wasn't the best, but he was better than someone else.

"Years ago. Sorry, Ani, but you know, buisness is buisness, huh?" Watto said, his eyes finally leaving Anakin's lightsaber, only to fall on them, which were attached to both of Pandora's hips. Pandora watched as he gulped at the sight of them, laughing nervously. "Yeah, I sold her to a moisture famed named, uh, Lars. At least I think it was Lars. Believe it or not, I heard he freed her and married her! Can ya beat that, eh?" Pandora leaned further into Anakin, hoping that the comfort radiating off of her would seep into him.

"Do you know where they are now?"
"Ooh, long way from here. Someplace on the other side of Mos Eisley, I think, mmm."
"I'd like to know."
"Eh, sure. Absolutely! Let's go look at my records, huh?"
"What a strange, strange creature."

- authors note

see now that is exactly how i feel when it came to writing watto. genuinely despise that man. but again a small little filler/into chapter into the main part of AOTC because we all know what the main moment in this entire movie is. anakin becoming a slayer, which then leads him to being the youngling slayer. but ANYWHO we got some cuttle little snippets of my literal babies. but i'm mostly excited for the idea of writing them all going to save obi-wan, which im hoping i can tie into next chapter, or at least start it off. can't exactly ignore what comes next, so next chapter will also be a small little filler, but it does have the important aspect of shmi, so can't really ignore it now can i?