Promise - Anakin Skywalker

.17

"You might want to keep hold of your little huttlet," Anakin said through gritted teeth, all his focus on the fight that had just broke out.

"You might have wanted to repair the rear deflector shields," Ella countered. She still followed his suggestion and stood up. As she wobbled her way over to where the huttlet slept soundly, she grabbed onto various objects to keep from falling over.

She barely made it to Jabba's son before Anakin jerked the ship upwards and turned a sharp corner. Having to use the Force, Ella latched onto the huttlet before falling right on her butt. "Seriously?" she grumbled, sending a scowl Anakin's way.

He turned another corner and went downwards, making Ella's stomach turn. She and the huttlet went sliding across the floor along with R2, who was desperately trying to fix everything as more things broke. They slammed into the back corner, a sharp pain going through Ella's shoulder.

The huttlet woke up and started a high pitched wailing. "Great!" Ella shouted over the sound of their ship deteriorating. "You woke the baby!"

Anakin groaned loudly, "I'm sorry, honey!" He took another moment to switch their direction once again abruptly. "R2 fire back already!"

Every time R2 got remotely close to the outlet, Anakin sent him rolling the other with his "state of the art" flying skills. With a series of wild beeps, he rolled straight into Ella, hurting her other shoulder. She groaned in pain once more. The huttlet stopped crying and began to laugh hysterically.

"You know, I'm really starting to like that baby! He's got quite the sense of hu-"

"Shut up, Anakin!" Ella grunted. He began to attempt to push R2 up the uphill slope that Anakin caused by flying sideways. He flipped the ship onto its other side making them all roll the other way. Acting fast, Ella used the Force to push R2 back into the outlet.

There were a loud bang and louder crash that came from the back of the ship. Alarms started to screech, the vibration from the engines ceased. "Ella!" Anakin called out worriedly, "You might want to strap in!"

Letting herself slide across the floor, Ella climbed back into her seat with the huttlet secured tight in her arms. "Nice one, Anakin." she said sarcastically.

"Prepare for landing!" Anakin said, ignoring her snarky comment.

"Landing? You mean crash?" Ella jabbed at him.

"Crash landing!" Anakin barked, clearly annoyed with her. Their windshield was engulfed in flames as they hit the atmosphere.

Just to make matters even more stressful for Anakin, Obi Wan's hologram showed up on their navicomputer. "Have you made it to Tatooine yet?" He asked, oblivious to the quickly approaching planet behind him.

"Oh yes, we're about to make quite the impact there," said Ella.

"Anakin..?" Obi-Wan questioned with a sigh. "Explain."

Grant budded in next to Obi-Wan into the hologram. "Let me guess, it was Ella!"

"Oh shut it, you little-!" Ella growled.

"Our ship was being trailed by some Separatist fighters!" Anakin said loudly over her.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "We just finished cleaning up your first mess!" He paused. "But, we'll be on Tatooine soon to assist you."

"All help is appreciated, Master," Anakin replied politely before the hologram shut off. Both of them looked back out the window only to see the ground approaching rapidly. He jerked back on the controls which did absolutely nothing.

Ella pulled the huttlet tighter to her chest as their ship hit the ground and slid several feet, flying into the air every time they went over a dune. Each time they smacked the sand bits and pieces of the ship flew off. Finally, they went over one last - especially tall - dune and crashed back onto the ground. A plume of smoke and sand rose all around them.

They sat in silence, simply breathing and enjoying sitting down for once before they went back to work. The huttlet started to squeak and gibber, causing both Anakin and Ella to sigh and stand up.

Surprisingly, the boarding did open, but the ship was lodged so far under the sand that it stuck upward. Filled with dread, Ella looked out into the vast desert that surrounded them in every direction. There was nothing - just sand.

Almost hesitantly, Anakin hopped off the ramp onto the dry, loose sand. Ella followed soon after, wondering what his big problem was with Tatooine. "If we're going to make it to Jabba's castle by morning, we'd better hurry now," he said grimly.

They headed off, trudging through the deep warm sand. Ella had taken three steps and she was already working up a sweat and her boots were filled with sand. The heat felt deadly to her after living on Hoth for most of her life.

Despite the terrible circumstances, Anakin marched on, carrying the happy huttlet on his back. Ella lugged after him, wondering why - how - he was so strong through this. To pass the time she hummed to herself and counted the bones on the skeletons they passed by.

It puzzled her on how Anakin's mood had changed so drastically. Of course, she too was crabby about having to trek across the desert, but not as bad as him. She'd been a Jedi for a week, but even she knew that they weren't supposed to give off the feelings that radiated off of him like the heat waves off the ground.

He was practically fuming. He stomped, did not speak, had his hands clenched in fists, and walked straight forward without focusing on a single thing. Ella felt anger, resentment, sadness, and guilt coming from him.

"Is it Padme?" She asked, thinking maybe he'd like to talk about things. That was a mistake-

"That's none of your business, Ella," he snapped irritatedly, not even looking at her.

"Sorry," Ella said sheepishly. "But seriously, what's your problem with this place?"

"Everything," Anakin seethed, clenching his fists even tighter.

"Because?"

"I said it's none of your business."

"Technically it is," Ella chirped, "I could learn from whatever happened here, you know."

"The only thing you'll learn here is that the Jedi can't save everyone like they think they can."

Before Ella could even ponder or question him about what he said, a sudden wave of darkness rushed over them. It was cold, not like Hoth, but the type of cold that makes you feel unsafe and watched.

"I feel it too," Anakin said, finally turning around only to see the look of fear on Ella's face. She'd gone completely white. Not even Ventress gave off a feeling like this. This cold felt familiar and came from inside of her like it had always been hidden and waiting to explode. Something drew her, magnetized her, towards it though she saw nothing in the distance. The huttlet, which still sat in Anakin's backpack, pulled the top flap over himself.

"I can feel where it is," Ella said, not taking her eyes off the trail. "Let's go -"

"No," Anakin said sternly, almost protectively to her. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at his Padawan who looked as if she was in a hypnotized trance. "You take the huttlet to Jabba, I'll deal with this."

"Why can't I?" Ella asked defensively. "I can handle it-"

"You're not ready, Ella. I'm not even sure if I'm ready."