Archive of Our Own

It couldn’t be. 

He had gone to Fett and demanded to know about the beings who lived beyond the usual perimeters of the cities. Fett noted the usual. Outlaws, Tuskens, the Jawas, local wildlife; other than that, he stated the only other people were the moisture farmers. Jabba did trade with them often, but they mostly kept to themselves. The most prominent one had been a family out in the Jundland Wastes. They had the best water since their tech worked the most efficiently. Fett had seen the family in Anchorhead for supplies, particularly the youngest of them. 

“Skywalker. His name is Skywalker.”

Boba had to brace himself at the sheer waves of fury and disbelief rolling off of Vader, the sands swirling around them as if the Sith Lord was controlling the weather itself. For a split second, the bounty hunter thought he was going to die. Then the sandstorm ended and Vader told Fett to lead the way to the family’s huts. 

And now here they were. The huts had already been visited by the Imperials. Discarded remnants of the family’s belongings were strewn across the desert floor, the few pieces of green plant life uprooted out of their pots and thrown about. The vaporators were busted in, some still smoking from the damage they received. It looked as if animals had taken to the place rather than seasoned soldiers.

‘Is there honestly a difference?’ Boba thought. 

The landspeeder remained untouched for reasons neither of them knew. Maybe it was in such poor condition, the troopers didn’t see the point in wrecking it. Maybe they got lazy halfway through and just wanted to leave the desert to settle the chaos they reaped on the home. Who knows?

Vader seemed to still as he took a moment to gaze at the wreckage. Then they saw the fresh graves, only two, buried next to other tombstones. A little private family cemetery. Boba watched the Sith Lord make his way towards the stones, stopping a few feet in front to stare them down. The bounty hunter waited for more instructions, but Vader didn’t move. He seemed lost in thought. Boba felt like he was intruding upon something and walked towards the courtyard. 

“I’m going to check out the rest of the huts.”

There was no protest so Boba kept walking. The courtyard was in the same bad shape as the other huts, the doors of each of them forced open and the rooms inside were wrecked. The Empire certainly didn’t hold back. Boba wasn’t usually one to sympathize, but he pitied the family. What use did The Empire have terrorizing a home on some rock that barely made a blip on their radar, rebels or not? Wasn’t their fault they bought some droids that were part of a cause they knew next to nothing about. Boba sighed. Whatever Vader was looking for, there was nothing left here. Boba was about to leave before he noticed the function monitors on the vaporators. He made his way closer and inspected the small screens. The bounty hunter wasn’t an expert, but knew usually moisture farmers didn’t empty their tanks so early in the season. It took time to purify the water. Where had the water gone? 

Something shifted in the storage rooms across from him. Boba readied his blaster and made his way into the rooms. 

Tears streamed down Luke’s face as he hurriedly packed anything he could get his hands on for travel, spurred by the well of shame overflowing in his chest. His family built this farm, worked hard for this farm. He was just leaving it behind to be taken by the dust, by whatever passerby saw it fit to be ransacked. Which was almost no different from what the Imperials had done. Luke stopped, closed his eyes, and clutched his foodstuff close, doubt wracking his body. Here was safe, here was familiar. Here was his only family buried not even two hours ago, the sand over their graves still loose and shifting in the dry wind. 

Him and his friends had been shocked to hear about Imperials on Tattoine of all places. The neighborhood gossips had told him they were tracking some rogue droids from The Rebellion, and had already exterminated the poor Jawas that happened to sell them away. Fear ate at Luke’s heart as he desperately rushed home on his landspeeder. 

He saw the smoke miles away. Their charred bodies seared into his memory. Luke had collapsed, sobbing into the dirt. People died all the time on Tattoine. But he never thought....

He couldn’t save them. He couldn’t save them, so he had to save himself. If he was a coward for this, a disappointment...so be it. Luke reasoned that he could always return back to this place like a wounded bantha, if the rest of the galaxy proved to be too much for him. It was expected, but it wounded his pride nonetheless. He hated them. He hated The Empire. But what did he know about revenge? What did he know about about the universe? What did he know about living on his own? 

Luke knew Tatooine was a safe haven for many wandering souls, many old and tired, looking for a relatively quiet place to die. As long as you didn’t mind the rule of the Hutts and the bounty hunters and mercenaries they kept on a constant loop by their sides. He had seen them often in town, by the bars. Downing subpar drinks, trying to pick up on the locals, or grabbing a quick bite from the vendors. Surprisingly, they didn’t cause too much trouble, the Hutts killed enough people that owed them money from the planet and others to keep their bloodlust satisfied. Luke couldn’t help but stare at them on the street when he was out running errands or spending time with his friends.

They stood out among the beige and cream of the planet, their chunky weapons and thick armor glinting in the light of the two suns. Sometimes they wore trophies from kills, trinkets and pelts that swayed and clinked whenever they walked. Usually they ignored the locals that stared, sometimes they snarled and sent Luke and his fellow townsfolk scurrying. He could only remember once when one had actually looked him in the eye, green head tilting with interest. Luke felt locked in place until his Uncle Owen had called him. Luke had run back to his uncle’s side, keeping his head down as he was berated.

“Don’t mess with the bounty hunters!”

As they had made their way home, Luke stole one glance back. The bounty hunter had still been staring at him. Luke had whipped his head back around and picked up his pace.

Luke was grateful his town was a blip on the planet’s surface, something easily ignored, the only thing of note being Jabba’s palace somewhere in the sands. Other towns weren’t so lucky. Luke had seen the mercenaries drag people from transports, bags over their heads and half dead. Once in a while, a desperate civilian in his town had their door blasted open for foolishly asking for a loan they hadn’t been able to pay back. Sometimes they were taken care of there, sometimes Jabba took them back to his palace. Either way was enough to keep everyone in line and not ask questions. Luke hated himself for looking the other way, families sobbing as they clutched the expired bodies of their loved ones, cleaning the blood out of their homes in a frenzy. When he had seen the same people come to his family’s farm for water, he secretly threw in a bottle or two. It was something right?

If he stayed here, would anyone treat him the same? Would anyone care about the orphaned boy in the sands? 

The sickest part was, despite the gruesomeness this nowhere planet dished out, it was almost nothing compared to other horror stories he heard about the other galaxies. Luke knew that the parents kept telling their children the same ones to make them live at home as long as possible, his own aunt and uncle had been the same. Who could blame them? Luke had heard travelers choking out their tales at the bars, telling how they would never step into a spaceship ever again, using drink and spice to keep the memories at bay. And the ones who considered Tatooine their homeplanet didn’t do much to persuade them otherwise. Luke could see the truth of it in their eyes and pitied them. He knew some of the people born in his town had gone out into the stars and come back jaded and mean, looking out into the vastness with spite where there was once hope. All of that, and it didn’t even begin to touch upon what cruelty the Imperials added to everyone’s sorrows. 

Would he end up like that? Were planets like Tatooine the best thing one could hope for?

Luke took a deep, slow breath. There had to be more. There had to be more than this. The holograms his friends had snuck him showing other places to live and be, more colors he had seen than ever before. What was the food like? What did it smell like? Was the rain really as calming as he heard it was? Luke threw the foodstuff in one of his bags and tugged it closed. He had to live. He had to try.

Luke grabbed more ration boxes before dropping them abruptly, a hand coming up to clutch his chest. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. There was someone here. 

It was getting closer. It unsettled him to the point where his body finally doubled over, taking in deep breaths it desperately needed. 

The presence was so familiar it made his heart ache, but yet so unnatural and twisted it made his belly churn. The two feelings melded together so seamlessly that on instinct Luke grabbed the blaster his family had secured under the kitchen table (just in case) and hid. What else could he do? 

Luke sat with his back to the storage wall, legs hugged to his chest, hands gripping the blaster so hard his knuckles were white. He remembered how much he had complained to himself about how Uncle Owen always kept so many storage boxes. The feeble barrier they made to whoever had just entered the storage room calmed him only slightly. Luke held his breath as the being slowly made it’s way up and down the pathway between the shelves. What was it? Humanoid? Droid? Something else? He didn’t want to find out. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru could have helped him with a random scavenger, but now he was all alone. Luke blinked away his tears and let out a breathe slowly to calm himself. Just let whoever it was take what it wanted and leave. 

The being seemed to not find what it was looking for and was making it’s way back to the entrance of the storage room. Luke began to relax, but still held on to the blaster.

Boba’s shoulder brushed a nearby shelf, causing the boxes teetering on top to fall onto another pile by the door. Luke’s feeble barrier collapsed and he watched with stricken eyes as the bounty hunter immediately noticed his presence. The farm boy didn’t move and neither did the bounty hunter. They simply stared, both unsure about what to do in such a situation. Luke made up his mind first and bolted out the door, blaster still at his side. 

“Wait!”

Luke didn’t turn back around and ran up the steps as quickly as he could. Fear soared through his blood as he heard running behind him. If he could just get to his landspeeder. He could come back later for the supplies, he just needed his speeder. 

Luke practically fell through the door, ignoring the sand scraping bloodily on his palms and knees. The speeder was just a few feet away.

‘There!’

Luke steadied himself, then his body locked in place. He couldn’t move again and began to breath raggedly. The presence was back, more powerful than before. It took every ounce of willpower in his body to turn and stare at the source. A very tall Being in black stared back at him. For a second, Luke thought it was a droid, but the mechanized breathing coming from The Being’s form said otherwise. The Being continued to stare and Luke felt like it was gazing into his soul, the presence coming off it frightening him to his core. The same feelings as before, but now inklings of excitement? Anticipation? Relief? Something else that he couldn’t quit place. Luke wasn’t sure, but it was all suffocating. 

Luke and Vader heard Boba run up the stairs and stop as soon as he saw them, but they did little to acknowledge his arrival. The bounty hunter was somewhat grateful for it. He didn’t know what he was witnessing, but it felt intense. 

Vader was too busy being overwhelmed by seeing his son, to see what he was really doing to him. Then he noticed the fear in the boy’s eyes, how he didn’t seem to be breathing with his gaze locked onto the Sith Lord. Vader immediately closed off his Force Signature. The boy gasped and took in deep breaths of air, legs stumbling slightly. Vader let Luke steady his breathing and then began to walk towards him.

Luke heard The Being’s footsteps and held the blaster up defensively.

“Stay back!”

The Being stopped and Luke’s hands shook as he held onto the weapon for dear life, fingers feeling wrong as they twitched against the trigger. 

Luke let out a shaky breath. 

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

The Being didn’t move and Luke felt hope bloom in his chest. The speeder was right there. If he made a run for it now maybe-

Vader stretched out a hand and his fingers curled into a fist. 

Luke cried out as the blaster he was holding folded in half like it was made of cloth. The clump of metal held in the air for a second before it fell to the ground with a pathetic clunk. Luke stared at the blaster in disbelief before looking back at The Being.

Vader let his arm fall to his side. He watched as his boy held out his own arms in front of him, palms out as if he expected the Sith Lord to charge and it was all he could do to feebly protect his own body. His son looked terrified. 

Luke became more fearful and he stumbled back as The Being raised it’s arm once more. Boba flinched. Luke’s mind flashed to the blaster crumpled on the floor between them. 

‘No, no, please!’

‘Padme’s hands clutched at her throat, eyes bloodshot and full of fear as her breath struggled to leave her body.’

Vader waved his hand. Luke looked confused, then shocked as a familiar feeling overtook his body. His eyes slid shut and his body fell forward. 

It always disturbed Boba to remember that Vader was much faster than he looked. The Sith Lord caught the boy before he hit the ground. Vader adjusted him till he rested comfortably in the Sith Lord’s arms. Boba watched stunned as Vader began to walk back to town. The Sith Lord simply turned his head slightly towards the bounty hunter to indicate he follow. Boba hesitated, sighed, and began to walk as well.