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❝𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘚𝘩𝘮𝘪 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘘𝘶𝘪-𝘎𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. ❞

❝𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘴. ❞

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»»-----------►Ｃｌａｒｉｓｓé

𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐘, I was not a fan of the countless pounds of sand Tatooine had to offer as our group trudged across the whipping and flying grains in the air.

Padmé sheltered me slightly, keeping one arm over her face and the other over mine as I lifted up my own cardigan to shield the both of us. Artoo also kept close to me, wanting to protect me as much as possible.

Our group moved towards a homely little community of hovels, no doubt where the slaves of Tatooine lived.

Anakin led us to one hovel sitting at the bottom of the rest of them. I assumed this to be the Skywalker residence.

The Skywalker with us quickly pressed the button next to the door to allow us entry, the button hissing a tad when his palm made contact with it.

The orange, metallic door slid open with some difficulty, and I frowned at the poor condition the slaves of Tatooine had to live in. It saddened me that I was living the high life in Naboo, and someone like Anakin, who was good and pure at heart, was living life for someone else. It wasn't fair.

The little boy led the way into his home, shaking his head a little to get out the unwanted grains of sand in his dirty blonde hair. I did the same when I entered the hovel, taking my milk chocolate braids and shaking them with vigor. I brushed through my fluffy bangs with my peach colored fingers after that, the action almost putting me to sleep with how comforting it was.

After we had all entered the hovel, Anakin called out, "Mom! Mom! I'm home!"

"Dissen cozy," Jar Jar stated as he burrowed himself against a wall for more warmth. I fought the sudden urge to giggle at his face when he shuddered in delight at the feeling of the wall pressed against his back. It must have been warm from the sun beating down on it whenever the door opened.

From the archway towards the back of the hovel, a middle aged woman walked through it, holding some sort of wash bin in her pale hands.

She was beautiful, but worn down, with dark brunette hair tied up in a tight bun, little strands escaping the tight bond. Her kind eyes were dark, like Padmé's and Indirá's, but the woman in front of me had a special spark in her warm, maternal irises.

It was soft, yet determined, as if she had unfinished business to take care of. I already admired her, even though I had just set eyes on her for the first time.

I immediately knew this was Anakin's mother.

"These are my friends, Mom," Anakin introduced as he gently grabbed my cool hand, his warm one encasing mine in perfect harmony.

My friend pulled me right next to him, right in his mother's line of sight, although I didn't mind. Her eyes made me feel warm inside, and they weren't intrusive eyes, unlike some politicians I knew on Naboo.

The mother of my only friend smiled at me with kindness and affection seeping through her stressed out face when her dark eyes landed right on my vibrant green ones.

I smiled sweetly back at her, liking her smile and its kind warmth and undertone.

"Hidoe!" Jar Jar exclaimed as he waved brightly towards the middle aged woman, to which she smiled back at him, a hint of confusion on her aged face at the sight of a Gungan in her home. Once again, I almost giggled.

Artoo, who planted himself permanently next to me, gave a little beep of greeting in return. I looked down and smiled brightly at my droid friend, to which he gave another sweet beep.

I looked back up to find Qui-Gon introducing himself with his hands tucked neatly into his robe.

"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn. The Gungan is Jar Jar Binks, and the two girls behind me are Clarissé and Padmé Naberrie." Qui-Gon gestured to my sister and I as we both gave a little wave towards the head of the Skywalker family.

Anakin suddenly whipped around to face me, holding a giddy grin on his youthful face.

"I'm building a droid. You wanna see?" He questioned with excitement creeping through his words, his bright blue eyes looking straight into my pigmented green ones.

I somehow became even more immersed and impressed with my slave friend as time went by. The fact that he could build a full scale droid in the condition he was forced into was miraculous.

I smiled with enthusiasm and nodded happily, excited to see something my friend had created.

Unbeknownst to me, Padmé, Qui-Gon, and Anakin's mother smiled at the two of us with fondness present in their eyes, a warm smile placed on each of their faces.

"Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter," Qui-Gon revealed as his voice drove Anakin's mother to turn towards him, giving the grey Jedi an unsurprised smile.

She knew her son would do something like this. She knew of his heart of gold.

I smiled heartily at the mere thought.

I couldn't smile for very long though as I felt a sudden pull on my arm. I looked over to find Anakin dragging me over to go see his homemade droid.

My smile quickly returned and my friend didn't have to drag me for very long as we both raced over to the archway his mother had come from, his hand never dropping from mine.

"Come on! I'll show you Threepio!"

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»»-----------►Ｆｏｒｃｅ

𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐊𝐘𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐑 had never been as excited as he was right about now.

He was about to show Clarissé Naberrie, his beautiful newfound friend, his brilliant protocol droid, something he wanted to gift to his mother to help her out around the house.

The young blonde raced through the archway to his room and over to a work table cluttered with tools of all shapes and sizes. The young queen next to him couldn't stop staring in amazement due to the wide variety of mechanics in front of her. She had never seen so many things made of metal in one place.

The young boy yanked off the fabric covering the shut off and incomplete droid. He didn't have any sort of plates to help keep his internal wiring intact, and he was missing an eye, but Clarissé could care less, as she was still extremely impressed with the whole ordeal.

Anakin failed to notice one little R2 unit make his way into Anakin's bedroom. He had come searching for Clarissé, as he never really wanted to be away from her. She made him feel increasingly safe.

"Isn't he great?" Anakin questioned as he looked over his creation with a prideful smile plastered onto his youthful yet dirty face, "He's not finished yet."

"He's wonderful!" Clarissé Amidala-Naberrie exclaimed with a wide smile, astonished with the amount of sheer talent it would have taken to pull off a droid like the one laying before her. Every passing second made her more impressed with her slave friend.

"You really like him?" Anakin asked, ecstatic at the fact that someone as beautiful and perfect as Clarissé appreciated his droid. Sometimes it felt like she was almost too good to be true.

The little girl nodded with enthusiasm present in her motion, smiling even wider at the young boy's almost hesitant question.

Anakin simply smiled in return before affirming, "He's a protocol droid. To help Mom out. Watch!"

And with that, the slave boy reached across Clarissé and pressed a button on the right breast of the wired droid, causing the lifeless droid to suddenly sit up and look around frantically. The motion almost made Clarissé jump from the sudden action.

"Oh, oh," the droid moaned in agony as he was filled with life, "Where is everybody?"

Anakin mumbled a string of words under his breath at the droid's awakening before leaning over to grab the missing eye of See-Threepio.

Once he had it in his small hand, the young Skywalker popped the eye back into the head of his droid, the action causing the robot to lean back slightly due to the pressure being placed upon his head.

"Oh, hello," the droid greets in a very proper accent as he gains his composure, sitting up completely straight to show off his incredible posture, "I am See-Threepio, Human Cyborg Relations. How might I serve you?"

Clarissé Amidala-Naberrie giggled slightly at the charm of See-Threepio, finding the droid to be completely delightful.

"He's perfect," she announced with a small shake of her head in complete wonder, causing her braids to fall off her petite shoulders.

"Oh, perfect," the cyborg in front of the two children repeated as he started to wave his arms around in a circular motion.

Anakin Skywalker had the slight urge to say 'you're perfect' to the green eyed girl on his left, but thought against it, as he wanted to continue looking at the beautiful glint of wonder in her marvelous eyes.

Instead he mentioned, "When the storm is over, I'll show you my racer," with a cheeky little grin on his dirty face. The brunette next to him smiled at him with curiosity pulsing in her eyes. She had never seen a racer, and was excited to see what else Anakin could create with his imaginative, brilliant mind.

As the plateless droid started to wander around after standing up, his little creator still smiled at the young queen of Naboo and excitedly exclaimed, "I'm building a Podracer!"

The little girl smiled widely at the boy's enthusiasm, greatly liking when he got excited about his little accomplishments.

Meanwhile, the discombobulated See-Threepio made his way over to Artoo Detoo, who started to beep curiously at the interpreter droid.

"I'm not sure this floor is entirely stable," the wired droid exclaimed as he soon heard a curious little beep and looked down to find a tiny astro mech staring up at him with a question in his red lens.

Who are you?

"Oh," the droid replied to the R2 unit in front of him, "hello. I don't believe we've been introduced."

Artoo let out a flurry of beeps and whistles at the interpreter's speculation.

"Artoo Detoo," the taller droid repeated as he received the name of the astro mech, "A pleasure to meet you. I am See-Threepio, Human Cyborg Relations."

Artoo beeped another series of whistles at the droid, telling him he didn't appear to have any clothes on.

"I beg your pardon... what do you mean naked?"

Artoo let out one singular whistle, telling the proper droid all he needed to know.

"My parts are showing? My goodness."

The comment released a few giggles and laughs from the two nine year olds in the back of the room, who were watching the whole interaction with wide smiles on their youthful faces.

How it felt to just be nine years old.

If only for a few seconds.

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»»-----------►Ｆｏｒｃｅ

𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐑Á 𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃 as the flickering image of Sio Bibble, governor of Naboo, reported, "The death toll is catastrophic... we must bow to their wishes... you must contact me..."

The transmission quickly shut off, courtesy of Obi-Wan, who stood up from his seat to face the fake queen, who cowered on her throne.

She could never be as strong as Clarissé when it came to anything really, and she knew that.

But now, how would Clarissé react when she heard the news that the governor just delivered? Indirá didn't want to worry the young Amidala, as she wanted her leader to feel free for once in her dutiful life. She couldn't ruin the queen's outing in Tatooine. She just couldn't.

The pure and utter joy leaking from her pretty face after Indirá's news got revealed to the young queen embedded itself into the decoy's mind, causing nightmares to surely resurface later that night.

But she needed Clarissé. Now more than ever.

"It's a trick," Obi-Wan replied to his action of shutting off the transmission, "Send no reply. Send no transmission of any kind."

And just like that, the young Padawan learner moved to make his way into the cockpit of the transport, mumbling under his breath as he went.

As soon as he left, Indirá slumped down in her throne, exhausting her energy on how to tell Clarissé and find her in the midst of Tatooine.

"Indirá," Eirtaé softly whispered to her fellow handmaiden as she leaned forward from her spot behind the decoy, "are you okay?"

The young handmaiden put her palm on her head, pushing her hand into her noggin with immense pressure.

"No," Indirá's voice cracked as she tried to keep her composure in front of her fellow handmaidens, "I'm not okay, Eirtaé. We need Queen Clarissé Amidala of Naboo. Not me. I can't bring myself to rob her of her one opportunity to be free, though. That's the one good thing that's come from us switching places. She gets to be nine years old for once in her life. She doesn't have to bear the weight of a kingdom on her shoulders for even just a minute."

At this point, Indirá Quailer had burst into violent sobs, tears trailing down her powered face in a rapid pace.

Eirtaé and Rabé, the other handmaiden behind the decoy queen, quickly rushed over to comfort their friend, rubbing her shoulder with encouragement.

"This is a disaster," the decoy sputtered out with sobs racking over her frail body, "A complete disaster. Everything is so twisted in this galaxy."

"We know, Indy," Rabé softly cooed in her friend's ear, hugging her with one arm while Eirtaé embraced the other side, "We know."

"Everything will be fine," Eirtaé imputed, frowning in deep thought at the leader of Naboo and her newborn plan to hope she would return from Tatooine, "We can only have hope that Clarissé and Padmé will return soon."

And so the three handmaidens sat and waited, horrible thoughts of Naboo and the Nubian queen of their planet floating back into their minds.

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»»-----------►Ｆｏｒｃｅ

❝𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐏𝐎𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃, ❞ Darth Maul, the ever growing Sith Lord, proclaimed to his Master, Darth Sidious, "If the trace was correct, I will find them quickly, Master."

The two Sith's walked along a balcony in the glowing city of Coruscant, the place of the Galactic Republic and Senate.

"Move against the Jedi first," Darth Sidious rasped, as he continued to look forward at the shining buildings around the two, "you will then have no difficulty in taking the Queen of Naboo to sign the treaty."

"At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi," the growing apprentice exclaimed as he lightly smirked at the prospect of ruling the galaxy, "At last we will have revenge."

Darth Maul's Master smiled mischievously at his apprentice's revelation, satisfied that he had managed to corrupt an innocent and thoughtful young man.

"You have been trained well, my young apprentice," the Sith Lord observed.

"They will be no match for you."

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»»-----------►Ｃｌａｒｉｓｓé

❝ 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 transmitters placed inside their bodies somewhere, ❞ Anakin's mother, who I learned to be Shmi Skywalker claimed, walking around the small table we were all seated at. She poured us drinks to go along with our porridge.

Shmi, right when See-Threepio and Artoo were introducing themselves (which was absolutely adorable), called us all over for dinner, being kind enough to make extra plates for us guests.

"I've been working on a scanner to try and locate mine," Anakin imputed from right next to me. We had both insisted that we sit right next to each other, as we both enjoyed the other's company.

I frowned with sympathy at the young slave boy and his mother. They didn't deserve this, any of it. They were too good, too innocent for this to be happening.

What kind of galaxy were we living in?

"Any attempt to escape..." Shmi trailed off, starting to sit down from her place across from Jar Jar, who sat next to Anakin.

"And they blow you up," Anakin continued, throwing his fork up in the air when he shouted, "Boom!"

"How wude," Jar Jar slurred with a pile of porridge stuffed in his wide, Gungan mouth, little bits of the slimy stew pouring out of his mouth and onto his almost finished plate. I grimaced in pure disgust at the sight.

"I can't believe there is still slavery in the galaxy," I piped up, not believing how such a thing could still exist in a happy, safe universe, "The Republic's anti-slavery laws..."

"The Republic doesn't exist out here," Shmi cut me off, a solemn expression replacing her kind and motherly smile, "we must survive on our own."

Our conversation got cut short when Jar Jar's long tongue leapt out of his mouth and towards a bowl of apples sitting in the middle of the table.

His elastic tongue curled around the fruit and plopped itself into his wide, out-stretched mouth, causing a look of confusion from my sister and I, and a look of annoyance and disapproval from Qui-Gon, who simply shook his head with disappointment.

"Scuse me," Jar Jar apologized, grinning sheepishly at us all. I simply shook my head in mock exhaustion, trying to mimic Qui-Gon's facial expression.

"Has anyone ever seen a Podrace?" Anakin suddenly questioned, reviving the once dead conversation. My sister and I looked at each other and shook our heads in complete unison.

"They have Podracing on Malastare," Qui-Gon imputed, leaning slightly across the table to look at Anakin more closely, "very fast, very dangerous."

"I'm the only human who can do it," Anakin brags to the Jedi, tilting his little chin up at the older man.

Qui-Gon lightly smiles with curiosity as he informs, "You must have Jedi reflexes if you race Pods."

I tilt my head at the Jedi's statement with confusion.

Anakin? A Jedi? What in the galaxy could that mean? It didn't make much sense to my bright mind.

My friend smiled at that revelation, clearly liking the idea of being a Jedi.

Jar Jar attempted to go back for some more fruit, but Qui-Gon with his Jedi reflexes quickly pinched Jar Jar's runaway tongue in between his thumb and forefinger, ensuring that no more fruit would be eaten.

"Don't do that again," Qui-Gon reprimanded, putting up a finger to Jar Jar's face and wagging it around.

The Jedi released the slobbery pink thing and it snapped harshly back into the childish Gungan's mouth, the said Gungan starting to make childish gestures towards the Jedi when he turned away to continue his conversation with Anakin once more.

"You're a Jedi knight, aren't you?" Anakin asked the older Jedi, tilting his head at Qui-Gon.

"What makes you think that?" Qui-Gon backtracked, mirroring the boy by tilting his head in a way similar to Anakin.

"I saw your laser sword," Anakin informed, pointing towards Qui-Gon's belt. I knew someone had seen it, especially when it was out for everyone to see in broad daylight, "Only Jedi carry that kind of weapon."

Qui-Gon leaned back into his wooden chair, smirking lightly at the boy he stared at with mild amusement.

"What if I killed a Jedi and took it from him?"

Anakin grinned back at my Jedi friend, leaning forward as Qui-Gon leaned back.

"I don't think so," my young friend offered as he sat with a crooked, charming grin on his young face, "No one can kill a Jedi."

Qui-Gon sighed lightly and allowed his smirk to drop as he visibly shrank down lower into his seat.

"I wish that were so..." the older Jedi trailed off, a faraway look in his grey, wise eyes. I felt bad for the man, as I could tell he had something very tenacious going on with him.

"I had a dream that I was a Jedi," Anakin admitted, and I softly smiled at his dream, wishing that it came true for his sake, "I came back here to free all the slaves."

Anakin soon was pulled into a