Disclaimer: Applies for the entire story. I do not own Star Wars or any of George Lucas's characters.
Prologue
Tatooine. A dry barren desert. A desolate wasteland where the galaxies greatest scum thrived. Many would think of it as the last place that they would call home. But to Anakin Skywalker that's exactly what it was-home. Even though it was dry, hot and barren it was still they place where he had been born and had lived for all of his life.
He used to think of home as wherever his mother was. He had loved his mother so very much. She had always been there to give him a hug when he was upset and to kiss his worries away. He had never imagined life without her, until the day that they had been separated. Anakin did not have many memories of his early childhood but the day that he had been torn away from his mother, he could very much remember. He had been very small at the time, only four year of age. There had been whispers for weeks that his owner Watto had won a great amount of money betting on a podrace and that he was going to expand his business. One day, these rumors turned out to be all too true. Watto had indeed won an amazing amount of money and was going to open another shop on the other side of Mos Espa. So all of Wattos slaves including Anakin and his mother Shmi were loaded into a holding cell soon to be separated into two groups. One would remain with Watto and the other would be shipped off to the other side of Mos Espa to Wattos new shop. Shmi had held Anakin tightly against her chest praying that she and her son would not become separated. Anakin remembered being clutched tightly by his mother knowing that something very frightening would be happening. He held his mother tightly as well, she would protect him from anything that would put him in harms way. He held her not in fear, but in search of protection and he had thought that she was holding him as an act of protection as well. But he soon found out how wrong he was.
The next thing he knew, Watto himself began pulling Anakin away from his mothers embrace. As Shmi whispered her last words of love to him, Anakin had only desperately cried out for her. To this day he could still somewhat remember his mothers distraught face as he was roughly taken from the holding cell. He'd looked at his mother the entire time he'd been dragged away, her weeping face burning a hole in his mind. The cell door had then been slammed in his face and he was taken to the other side of Mos Espa. That had been the last time Anakin had seen his mother and now he barely remembered her. Although he remembered her face only vaguely, he clearly remembered that she has been very loving and kind and she'd loved him with every fiber of her being.
Anakin was now twenty years old. Watto had hired a Toydarian like himself to work the other business for him. His name was Kwaad-Jak Median and he and Watto had completely different beliefs on how to handle slaves.
Watto believed that if a slave did something wrong, a slight hit over the head with his cane would suffice as punishment. Not Kwaad-Jak. If Kwaad-Jak thought that a slave was misbehaving, he'd whip them, the intensity depending on the offense. Living conditions also differed between the two locations. With Watto, slaves shared huts with family if they had any, or with a few friends. With Kwaad-Jak, slaves had all slept in one room and were forced three to a bed. Watto of course, had no idea how his slaves were treated with Kwaad-Jak. All he really cared about was how much money was made. Watto hadn't actually been to his other business since he'd bought it so he'd have to idea how the slaves were treated.Anakin did not remember living with Watto so he had nothing to compare his living conditions to.
Anakin knew that there was something else other than slavery out there for him. When Anakin was a child, one of his favorite things to do was to listen to all of the space pirates that came through the junk shop. The space pirates would often tell stories and Anakin's favorites had been those of the Jedi The keepers of the peace with their signature weapons- the Lightsaber. Anakin used to dream that he was a Jed. Going off to other planets rescuing people and using the mysterious 'force'. But that had been when he was a child. Now at twenty years of age, Anakin knew better than to have dreams of being a Jedi let alone freedom. Anakin had also used to think that someday, he'd somehow be freed and would leave Tatooine forever.
But now, Anakin knew better. He was a slave and that's all he would ever be. Or so he thought. Anakin's destiny was much different than he thought it was and his true fate was about to reveal itself.
Please review and tell me if you think this is better than the two previous versions! I have the entire story written and I will be posting a new chapter every Tuesday. The next chapter will be up on December 11th.