"ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ ꜱʜɪɴᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴍʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇ"

NEVEAH WAS HEADING to Wotto's shop with the rest of the group, wanting to strike a deal with the Hutt.

"Are you sure about this?" Padme said, making Qui-Gon and Daphne, who were leading the way, turn around. "Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know? The Queen would not approve." she continued.

"The Queen doesn't need to know." Qui-Gon responded, going with Daphne into the shop and leaving the girls outside.

"Well, I don't approve." Padme spoke as she sat down at the entrance next to Neveah.

"Ani's a good person, I'm sure he truly wants to help us..." Neve said, making the girl beside her scoff sadly.

She turned to face the redhead, giving her a concerned look "I'm not doubting his intention, but his capability..."

Once the two Jedi entered the room, the Hutt came up to them and said "The boy tells me you want to sponsor him in the race. How can you do this? Not on the Republic credits, I think, huh?"

"Our ship will be the entry fee." Qui-Gon responded, showing him their ship on a hologram.

"Ohh, not bad! Not bad, huh? A Nubian, huh?" the creature admitted.

"It's in good order, except for the parts we need." Daphne spoke as Qui-Gon shut off the image from his comlink.

"What would the boy ride? He smashed up my pod in the last race. It will take some long time to fix it." the Hutt asked, looking at the boy with an accusing look.

"It wasn't my fault, really. Sebulba flashed me with his vents. I actually saved the pod, mostly." Anakin defended himself, looking at the two adults embarrassed.

"That you did, huh." Wotto admitted. "The boy's good... no doubts there, huh?"

"We have acquired a pod in a game of chance, the fastest ever built." Qui-Gon answered the creature's question.

"I hope you didn't kill anyone I know for it, huh?" he joked, but he was the only one to laugh. The Jedi's maintained their neutral expression as the Hutt continued. "So, you supply the pod and the entry fee and I supply the boy. We split the winnings, 50-50, I think, huh?"

The two Jedi exchanged looks, agreeing that was not good enough, so Daphne said "If it's going to be 50-50, I suggest you front the cash for the entry."

"If we win," Qui-Gon continued as if they had the whole speech prepared. "You keep all the winnings, minus the cost of the parts we need. And if we lose, you get our ship."

"Either way, you win." the woman pointed out.

Wotto thought carefully about the offer and he finally agreed, shaking hands with the man while saying "Deal."

A smile appeared on Anakin's face when he heard the Hutt agree. He looked at the two Jedi as they made their way out of the shop to Neveah, Padme, and Jar Jar.

"Did you convince him? Did he agree?" Neveah asked, not being able to wait any longer for the answer.

"He agreed." Daphne confirmed, making the girl smile out of relief.

"I still think this is not a good idea." Padme spoke, looking at the Jedi as she got up.

"It may not be a good idea, but it's the only one we've got." Daphne told her, making the girl sign out of annoyance.

___

When they got back to Anakin's house, Qui-Gon contacted his padawan to fill him in with their plan as Padme, Anakin, Jar Jar, and R2-D2 were working on the engines of the Podracer in the courtyard below.

Daphne stood above the kids next to Qui-Gon. The man put the comlink away as Shmi came onto the porch.

"You should be proud of your son. He gives without any thought of reward." Qui-Gon spoke once the woman got next to them.

Shmi smiled as she watched her son "He knows nothing of greed. He has..."

"He has special powers." Daphne spoke, making the woman nod in agreement, not knowing how to describe her son's unusual abilities.

"He can see things before they happen. That's why he appears to have such quick reflexes. It is a Jedi trait." Qui-Gon explained.

"He deserves better than a slave's life..." the mother said, sad she could not offer her beloved son the life he deserved.

"Had he been born in the Republic, we would have identified him early, and he would have become a Jedi, no doubt." the Jedi Master told her, knowing there was not much he could do for him now, given his age. "The Force is unusually strong with him, that much is clear..."

Daphne, who wasn't still  sure if her supposition about the boy was true, asked, hoping the answer she would be given would just prove her wrong, "Who was his father?"

Shmi looked down, not sure how to respond. "There was no father...I carried him, I gave him birth, I raised him. I can't explain what happened."

The first four words were all Daphne had heard before her mind gazed out, unable to hear anything except the words that haunted her dreams for so long, "The Force needs balance..." . She finally found it, the balance she feared... Anakin.

"Can you help him?" the brunette's words brought her back from her thoughts.

Qui-Gon, who noticed the blonde's reaction and was trying to understand why she seemed so scared, took a few seconds before answering, "I don't know... I didn't actually come here to free slaves."

Daphne turned to see her daughter approach the blonde boy. She was now sure he was the one, and that frightened her to death. The only thing that brought her some relief was the fact that Anakin was bound to Tatooine, not allowing him to learn the Jedi ways and get close to Neveah.

In the courtyard, Neveah found her friend working hardly on his pod, so she went to try to help him. She walked up to Ani and said, "Hey! Do you need an extra set of hands?"

The blonde turned and, once he saw her, he smiled and responded, "Sure, thanks. You could help me with this bolt. I think it's stuck. It won't tighten."

"Sure." she said as she placed her hands on the bolt next to Anakin's and they both started pushing. At first, it seemed like it wasn't moving, but after a little more effort from the two kids, it finally rolled and Ani was able to tighten it perfectly.

"Thanks. I definitely couldn't have done it alone." he said, turning to face the girl.

"I'm glad I could help. Is there anything else?" she asked, looking at the machine.

"Well, I still need to check the engine, but I've got that covered." he said as he made his way to it. The redhead followed him slowly, wanting to observe his skills.

Out of nowhere, the boy raised his head and asked her, "You are a Jedi too, aren't you?"

He caught her off guard, since she didn't expect him to ask that, so all she said at that moment was "What?"

"Well, I saw your mother's lightsaber yesterday, so I thought you were a Jedi, like her." he explained, making the girl realize when he must've seen Daphne's weapon, so there was no way she could turn the situation around.

"No, I'm not." she responded, but then she realized that what she'd just said was, in some way, incorrect, so she added, "Well, technically, I am. I've just never been taught how to use a lightsaber."

"Why?" he frowned, not understanding why no one would teach her if she was a Jedi.

"Well, my mother could have, but she chose not to. She never told me why, so I never asked."

"You could have learned from the Academy. I've heard that's where most Jedi are taught how to use a laser sword."

"Yeah, but that is on Coruscant. I've never been outside Naboo, my natal planet. Well... until now." Neve said, realizing that was the first time she had left her home and, weirdly enough, she didn't miss it.

"Me neither. I've been here ever since I could remember, but I've always wanted to visit every planet in the galaxy." he said as he was adjusting something to the engine.

"So do I." she smiled, "But we can only dream."

The boy looked up, like a brilliant idea just hit him and he started saying, full of excitement, "Neve, one day, when I'm gonna leave this place, we can go and see every planet in this galaxy, together."

The girl was suddenly hit by sadness, slowly erasing the smile she had. The way he hoped to be free from that planet and the slave life made her chest tighten out of sympathy for him. She once again felt this regret that she couldn't do anything to help him.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Ani's voice. "If you want to, of course." he said with a sad look.

The girl realized that he probably thought she didn't know how to reject him, and that's why she stayed silent, so she said, putting on a smile "I would love to."

Hearing that, the boy's face lightened in less than a second and he smiled at her, but before he could say anything, some children came running towards them, shouting "Hey, Ani!"

Neveah and Anakin turned to them as they approached and scanned the pod. From behind, R2-D2 let out a beep, which caught a boy's attention. "Wow, a real astro droid. How did you get so lucky?" he asked.

"That isn't the half of it." Anakin said proudly. "I'm in the Boonta race tomorrow."

"What? With this?" the brunette boy asked with a disgusted look, followed by another kid's comment in Huttese, which Neve couldn't understand, but it didn't sound very optimistic.

"You've been working on that thing for years." a girl said with a mean smile. Then, another girl continued, "It's never gonna run."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Neveah found herself jumping into the conversation, cutting off the mean girls. "Your friend is very talented."

"Who are you, thinking you know everything?" a ginger boy said as he looked at the girl up and down with disgust.

"It doesn't matter who I am." Neveah furrowed her eyes as she gazed at the group. "Unlike you, I am somebody who has faith in my friend and doesn't make him feel incapable of achieving his dreams."

Nobody else said anything, they just stood there, with their heads on the ground. When she turned to Ani, she saw him smiling at her and looking thankful.

"Come on. Let's go and play ball." the ginger boy finally said with an annoyed tone before he turned around to leave, followed by the other children.

Once they were gone, Anakin turned back to her and said "Thank you for that... and for having faith in me. Nobody around here does, except my mom."

"No need to thank me, Ani. I only spoke the truth." she said, making his smile appear once again. "They're fools for not believing you can win this race, so just ignore them." she told him, receiving a nod in response before he went to refuel the pod.

"Hey, Jar Jar!" Ani yelled, catching the Gungan's attention and making him drop the wrench he was holding. "Keep away from those energy binders. If your hand gets caught in the beam, it's gonna go numb for hours." he explained.

"Sorry. Okay." the creature said as he leaned down and took the tool, but when he stood up, his head went right in the energy binders, making him yelp. When he tried to say something, his mouth was numb and his words were garbled.

Neveah helped Anakin get into the pod so he can see if it will run. From behind them appeared Daphne and Qui-Gon, who was holding a battery.

"Here, use this power charge." the man spoke, making the kids turn in their direction.

"Yes, sir!" Anakin said excitedly.

"Come, Neve. Let's move away." Daphne said while she patted her daughter's shoulder.

As Neveah stepped away from the pod, she heard Jar Jar struggling to say "Ani... I'm stuck." as he was trying to release his hand from the back of the pod.

She sighed before she went to help him. "Only you could get yourself into something like this, Jar Jar..." she said, approaching him.

"My tongue is fat!" he kept saying as the girl pulled his hand from the vents. After he was free, he said "Thank you! Go." and gestured to Anakin a 'thumbs up' before following the redhead away from the pod.

Once the boy pressed a button, the vehicle started powering up, showing everyone it was functioning.

"It's working! It's working!" Anakin kept shouting out of happiness as Neveah watched him, the excited smile not leaving her face.

___

The two kids were outside with Qui-Gon, who was cleaning Anakin's scratch while he was staying on the balcony rail of his hovel. The blonde leaned back to look at the vast blanket of stars in the sky. "Stay still, Ani. Let me clean this cut." the Jedi Master told the boy.

"There's so many. Do they all have a system of planets?" Ani asked, captivated by the subject.

"Most of them, yes." Neve responded as she watched the man clean his cut. She was also fascinated by the vast galaxy, so, since she couldn't leave Naboo, she tried to find out as many things as she could about it.

"Has anyone been to 'em all?"

"Not likely." the Jedi Master responded, smiling at the boy's question.

"We're gonna be the first ones to see 'em all." Anakin said, looking at the redhead beside him. "We've decided that, when we're older, we're gonna see the whole galaxy together." he continued, making the girl smile in agreement.

"That is a great plan." Qui-Gon smirked before Anakin let out a sudden "Ow!" when the Jedi wiped a patch of blood off Anakin's arm.

"There you are. Good as new." he said as he introduced the blood in a comlink chip.

"Ani, bedtime!" Shmi's voice was suddenly heard from inside the hovel.

"What are you doing?" Anakin asked before Neveah got to, since they were both curious about what the Jedi was doing with his blood.

"Checking your blood for infections." the man responded. "Give me your arm too, Neve. I wanna make sure you didn't get infected while working on that pod." he said before the girl got on the balcony rail and raised her hand. He quickly took a little blood from her too and held it on a little chip.

"Ani, I'm not gonna tell you again!" the woman repeated as she and Daphne appeared in front of the door.

At first, the woman looked directly at Qui-Gon, like she knew he was up to something she wouldn't like. But she just turned her softened gaze to her daughter, extended her arm and said "Come on, sweetie. I'll show you where our room is."

Neveah got off the balcony rail, but didn't go to her mother, waiting for Anakin, who was still looking at the stars.

"Go on. You have a big day tomorrow, Ani. You need to sleep well. And so do you, Neve." he continued before the kids finally made their way inside.

Daphne led her daughter to their chamber as Anakin ran to his room, leaving Qui-Gon alone. Once silence settled in the hovel, the Jedi Master took out his device and contacted his padawan.

"Obi-Wan...?"

"Yes master?" his voice was heard through the machine.

"I need an analysis of two blood samples. I'm sending you the first one now." Qui-Gon said as he introduced Anakin's blood sample into the device.

"Wait a minute..." the younger Jedi stopped him.

"I need a midi-chlorian count." he explained, but Obi-Wan stayed silent for a few seconds.

"The reading is off the chart. Over twenty thousand. Even Master Yoda doesn't have a midi-chlorian count that high." the padawan said, shocked.

"No Jedi has..." Qui-Gon sighed.

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure." he confessed. "And that's not all. The power I'm sensing in this boy is at the same level as I feel in the girl."

"The Starling girl?" Obi-Wan asked, trying to understand the situation.

"Yes. I think they might have the same midi-chlorian count, or maybe she has it even higher, cause she is much more connected to the Force." he said as he took out Anakin's blood from the comlink. "I'm sending you her blood sample now, to see if I'm right about this." he said, but before he could introduce it in the device, someone grabbed it quickly from his hands.

It was Daphne, and she looked very upset. She glanced the Jedi dead in the eyes once she heard Obi-Wan's voice, "Master, I didn't get it yet."

The woman didn't say a word, since she didn't want the younger Jedi to know she was there, so she slowly shook her head, letting Qui-Gon know she had no intention to speak while Obi-Wan was listening.

"It's okay, Obi-Wan. I don't need it anymore. I'll contact you later." he spoke before taking the device away from his mouth.

Once the connection was broken and Qui-Gon placed the comlink beck in his pocket, Daphne finally spoke up, "I do not appreciate the sneaking around..." as she turned around to leave with the blood sample.

"What are you hiding, Daphne?" he surprised her with the question. She turned around to face him as he continued "You show up after more than 10 years of being gone, with a daughter. And now you're desperate to stop me from finding out her midi-chlorian count..."

"I am not desperate!" she argued, but she knew she didn't convince him. He knew her too well.

"What is it about her? Why are you hiding her from the Jedi world?" he kept questioning.

She repeatedly shook her head, "I am not --"

"You had a good life on Coruscant, Daphne. But, one day, around the time when you must have found out about your pregnancy, you decide to disappear. Obviously to keep her away from the Jedi life, since she has no idea how to wield a lightsaber... What I don't get is why." he finished his point, allowing her to answer the question.

The woman looked like she was about to cry, and when Qui-Gon realized, his gaze softened a little bit, allowing her to take a breath and relax.

Even if the last thing Daphne wanted was to tell someone her secret, she knew she couldn't keep it for much longer, and Qui-Gon was the person she trusted the most at that moment.

"It was a mistake..." she admitted, making the man furrow his eyebrows. "I let him play me like a fool." she added.

"Let who play you?" he asked, but she didn't intend to answer that, she just continued the story, ignoring his question.

"The night before I gave birth to Neveah, I had a dream." she spoke sadly as she remembered her past. "There weren't any images, just a voice in a black, endless abyss, saying over and over again 'The Force needs balance'." she explained.

"What do you mean by 'The Force needs balance'?" Qui-Gon questioned, taking his sweet time to realize where she was going with this story. "The one that will bring balance to the Force?". He took a deep breath before asking, "You think it's her...?"

"No. That's the problem... she's the opposite." she spoke, keeping her head down.

"The prophecy only refers to a chosen one that will bring balance to the Force, and no one else." he said, clearly remembering the prophecy.

"Think about it, Qui-Gon. Why would there be the need for 'the one who will bring balance to the Force' if nobody ever breaks it?" she snapped.

"So, you're saying that there will be someone who will cause the unbalance. Someone that the chosen one will have to defeat..." Qui-Gon said, not understanding what that had to do with her, but, from the moment his eyes met hers, he realized. "Neveah..."

Now it all made sense. Her disappearing, her need to keep Neve from this world, not trusting anyone with this secret.

"And when she was born, the force's only solution to have balance was to create someone who will be able to defeat her..." he started to connect the dots.

"And that's how Anakin was born." she finished his sentence as he put together what that meant. That's why Shmi's pregnancy was so sudden, that's why there was no father. Anakin was the Force's own creation as a compensation to Neveah's creation.

"So, Anakin will have to fight Neveah in the end. To kill her..." he spoke up, making the woman slightly tremble.

"That's why I kept her away from this life. I thought that if she couldn't control her abilities, her inner dark side wouldn't be able to use them later and turn her into a monster, like her dad..." she spoke, but regretted the last word immediately once she realized he heard it.

A concerned look formed on the Jedi Master's face, realizing Neve's father must be a slave of the dark side, and, because of that, Daphne ran away in the first place, "Who's the father?"

The woman closed her eyes as she lowered her head, not wanting to speak his name.

"Daphne, who is he?" Qui-Gon repeated, insisting on the answer the woman finally let out.

"Palpatine."

The moment that word left her mouth, the Jedi's face dropped, not believing what he'd just heard. He looked at her in shock, realizing that, if what she was saying was true, the Senate was under the influence of a Sith Lord, and, even worse, the Jedi Order had no clue.

"You cannot tell anyone about this, Qui-Gon..." she said, trying to get him out of his thoughts. "I mean it! Not Obi-Wan, not the council, not anyone. Promise me!" she continued, desperately waiting for him to accept, but he didn't say anything, not even looking at her.

"Qui-Gon, I'm begging you!" she said as she held his face in her palms, locking each other's eyes.

He wanted to say 'no' and to tell her that he couldn't keep this kind of secret from the Jedi Order. He just couldn't know something like this and do nothing while that man was fooling everyone around him.

But, instead, he nodded in agreement and said "Okay.", without giving it another thought. He understood why Daphne wouldn't want her daughter to be discovered by such a person, so he chose to trust her and to follow her judgment, without fighting back.

"Really?" she asked, not believing how easy it was for him to agree to something so wrong.

"Yes... really. I won't say a word to anybody. I promise you." he said so truthfully, the woman let out a smile of relief.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Qui-Gon." she said, feeling like she took a weight from her shoulders. At that moment of ease, Daphne found herself hugging her old friend, an action that surprised him.

"You can trust me, Daph." he spoke as he gave into the hug. "You always could have..."

___

A sinister-looking spacecraft landed on top of the desert of Tatooine, scattering a lot of sand. Darth Maul walked to the edge of the hill and studied the landscape with a pair of electrobinoculars.

He then picked out the lights of three different cities in the distance, so he pushed a button on his electronic armband which activated six football-sized probe droids. They floated out of the ship and headed off in three different directions toward the cities.

Suddenly, a noise came from his utility belt and, when he pressed a button, a hologram of his Master appeared in front of him.

"What's your progress, my young apprentice?"

"I haven't found them yet, my Master, but do not worry, Tatooine is sparsely populated. If the trace was correct, I will find them in no time." he bowed his head.

The cloaked man sighed before telling his apprentice, "Move against the Jedi first, but not before you get your hand of the girl..." he reminded him, receiving a nod from the younger Sith.

"I will do exactly as you've instructed me, my Master."

Before Darth Maul left Coruscant, Palpatine gave him a series of tasks. His main mission was to get the Queen back on Naboo to sign the treaty, but not before getting rid of the Jedi's. Well, not all of them.

After the invasion on Naboo, the Trade Federation picked up on their cameras the intruders who helped Queen Amidala escape, and, to Palpatine's surprise, a ghost from his past appeared on the screen, looking very protective over a child, a red haired young girl...

Those images surprised him, making the man feel foolish for not searching for Daphne in the most obvious place, but that was her catch. She knew that hiding somewhere Palpatine wouldn't consider her stupid enough to go was the best place to remain unnoticed. And she managed to do that, until then.

Darth Sidious ordered his apprentice to find that child and bring her to him to confirm that his supposition was right. Because, if it was true, and that girl was his daughter, he had finally found the weapon he had been searching for all those years. The last piece of the puzzle that would grant him control over the whole galaxy.

"Good..." Darth Sidious curled the end of his lips into an evil smirk. "After the Jedi are out of the picture, you will have no difficulty taking the Queen back to Naboo, where she will sign the treaty. And then, you'll finally bring the girl to me."

Darth Maul raised his chin and said, coldly, "At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge."

"You have been well trained, my young apprentice, they will be no match for you. It is too late for them to stop us now. Everything is going as planned." the cloaked man spoke confidently. "The Republic will soon be in my command."

The hologram of Darth Sidious faded off as Darth Maul was left standing on the rough sand, watching the cities through his electrobinoculars and waiting for his droids to find the Jedi and the Queen.

___

Neve had been asleep for hours, her body resting as her mind was in a peaceful state. She was used to having nightmares, she hadn't been able to escape them ever since she could remember, but that night felt different, it was like she finally found internal peace.

Suddenly, the redhead shivered once she felt raindrops fall on her warm face. She was dreaming again...

She stood on a balcony, narrowing her eyes to see a huge building surrounded by fire. The girl felt colder and colder, and yet she was not moving. A heavy feeling of uneasiness filled her body as she sensed a strong pain striking her heart.

Neveah turned to the side, becoming more anxious with every second she was present in the dream. After a few moments that felt like forever, the temple disappeared from her sight. She was, once again, in the vast black abyss, surrounded by only loneliness.

The little girl thought she was gonna remain there until she woke up, just like every other nightmare, but this wasn't like anything she'd ever gone through before.

Neveah was suddenly standing before a tall silhouette, and, even if she couldn't make out the person's identity because of the unclear image, she somehow felt safe around him.

In the next second, she felt as if arms held her tight, easing her fear and stress. She then relaxed her head against his chest, pulling the man into a tighter hug.

Despite the negative emotions she had in the beginning, the dream felt calming, the person's hug seemed comforting, as if she associated his presence with the kind of warmth someone could only feel in a home.

Time moved differently in those moments and, before she knew it, she wasn't held in the man's arms anymore, but looking up to him. "Do you trust me?" a voice echoed through her mind, the male's voice.

"Of course I do..." her dream self responded immediately, not even thinking before answering.

"Then believe I'll take care of this." his somehow familiar voice spoke calmly. "I'll take care of everything..."

(4,757 words)

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi, baes! I can't say I love how Daphne and Qui-Gon's conversation turned out (it sounded way better in my head), but here it is. I hope you guys understood what i wanted to imply, but if you didn't, it's okay, cause it will make so much more sense later.
Hope you liked this chapter. Love you all and thanks for reading<3

~elenaswanwp