Touch Starved

Chapter 15 - Freedom

Author's Note: I promise you that Anakin and Obi-Wan will meet again, but it will not be in this chapter. They need to work through some things first. :)

WARNING: Depression (major depression), slight (or more than slight) possessiveness, codependency (does that need a warning? xD).

~ Amina Gila

It's a little over a week after coming to Tatooine that Anakin – even if he looks more like Vader again, he can't seem to make himself think of himself with that name anymore – and Sabe make their move. They don't do anything all at once, but in the dead of night, they sneak to the slave quarters and free a small handful of people, deactivating their chips and cutting them out so they cannot be reactivated. They smuggle the freed away, taking them to the Lars homestead overnight before sending them to a transport which will take them off world.

Maybe the Trail can't do much yet, but now, with more resources and Anakin, it can do a lot more. Freeing slaves in random places in the night is a good start, but it's not enough. Anakin can't stand the feel of the misery and suffering all around him, even as it rubs against him, feeling familiar and well-worn. He grew up with it there, and he's used to it; it's like a second skin to him. It's shaped him in so many ways that he cannot tear free the imprints the desert has left behind.

It's something that the Jedi never understood either. He could never let go of his past or forget about it when it was all he'd ever known, when it shaped him. He could never simply forget about all the others who suffered, including his mother, those who he left behind when he went to a better place. He couldn't help them, but he couldn't forget, either.

"We need to do more," Anakin tells Sabe as they sit together over a meal in her small home, her partner being gone with a group of freed slaves, discussing their next objective. "We can do more. I can do more. We just need to coordinate it. It's time. We don't need to keep waiting."

She hums, thoughtfully, expression hardening with determination that makes her look so much like Padme it hurts. "I agree."

The third week begins with a more major operation. They know that, to effectively do anything, they need to seize control and oust Jabba. Anakin is a one-man army, and he isn't shy about that fact. He might be ashamed of how his power came to be, but he's more than willing to use it if it proves necessary. Either of them, or both of them, can rule in Jabba's stead. And from there, it'll be so much easier to eliminate slavery. There are too many slavers for them to outlaw it outright, but they can be clever about it. There would be nothing unusual about a power struggle on Tatooine, even one involving Jabba.

He and Sabe spend hours scouting out what they can see of Jabba's palace, and Anakin even wires a droid to scout the inside. They only have a small handful of people, and he'll be doing most of the fighting, so he needs to know what they're up against. They're in the middle of what is promising to be their final strategizing meeting when Sabe asks the question. "Have you spoken to Padme since you came back to this time?"

Anakin stills. He's done his best not to think about Padme, not that it's been hard, though it's harder when he's around Sabe, since most of his thoughts are being consumed by Obi-Wan. And Sidious. He fears his old Sith master, and he can't help but wonder what Sidious will do to him if he catches him. And Obi-Wan... he misses him. He misses him so much. Even after Falling, Anakin often thought of Obi-Wan, though he often deluded himself into thinking that he only felt hatred for him.

It wasn't true. Not then and certainly not now. To be sure, he's still upset at Obi-Wan, and he probably will be for a while. The hurt that Obi-Wan caused him is deep, but his true master is trying to make up for it, and that counts for something. He wants them to be together, to try and rebuild something. The thought of cutting Obi-Wan out of his life makes him feel like he can't breathe. They – they are meant to be together; it's one of those things in fate that one can't reason with or understand. It simply is.