Anakin Skywalker and the Monster Books Part 2

"Done…" Anakin trailed off as a portal appeared in front of the exit as soon as he finished forging his second crystal dagger. "I guess that means we can leave."

Bella stared at the portal that was in front of the exit. "What's going on?"

"No clue," Luna admitted, getting the sense that Anakin knew more than he was saying. "What's going on?"

"You're not going to believe me," Anakin admitted.

"You might be surprised," Luna replied with a smile.

"We're currently in a magical book and you're only sort of real, unless you step through the portal," Anakin explained.

Luna frowned slightly when she didn't feel a lie or any confusion from the child and got the sense that she was supposed to follow him from the Force. "So, you're telling me that none of this is real?"

"Yeah," Anakin replied, ready to dash through the portal if she lost her shit.

"What's on the other side of the portal?" Luna asked thoughtfully, getting a brief flash of sending all of the crystals through the portal before she took Bella through.

"My room on Tatooine," Anakin replied.

"Fraging sand," Bella complained, not looking forward to dealing with the sand.

"I know, it gets everywhere," Anakin complained.

Luna used the force to levitate all of the crystals, causing Anakin to stare at her in shock. "If none of this is real, I don't think anyone will complain if we take the crystals with us."

"Probably not," Anakin agreed, knowing everything they didn't take would vanish.

"Probably just as well that we travel light," Bella mused as her teacher sent the large collection of crystals through the portal. "Do you want to go first or should I?" she asked Luna.

"I wouldn't be much of a teacher if I didn't shield you from danger," Luna replied as she finished sending the crystals and their bags through the portal. "I'll see you on the other side."

Bella watched her teacher walk through the portal then followed her, not particularly worried about the rest of the galaxy as her teacher was the only thing that mattered. 

"That went better than I was expecting," Anakin muttered then walked through the portal into his rather cramped room, happy that Luna and Bella were standing in the hallway as there wasn't a lot of room. "Can I have my clothes?"

"Of course." Luna tossed the boy his clothes then worked on moving all of the crystals into the living room and stacking them in out of the way places.

"Why are we in my old home?" Bella asked, confused since he'd said the portal connected to his home.

"Because I grew up here, my name is Anakin Skywalker," Anakin explained as he worked on getting dressed.

"Skywalker?" Bella asked in surprise. "Are you related to Shmi?"

"She's my mother," Anakin replied as he pulled his shirt over his head.

"She's alive?!" Bella demanded.

"Yeah, why?" Anakin asked.

"Because my mother died the day that Luna rescued me from a kriffing Sith!" Bella snapped, her mind flashing back to the day she'd been cut down with a lightsaber by Maul. 

"Ooh," Anakin muttered, as the pieces fit together and he realized that the girl was in fact related and didn't just have the same last name. "That makes you my sister. What happened?"

'I have a brother? From another reality? Does that count?' Bella took a breath then let it out slowly, trying not to let her anger consume her as Maul was dead. "Maul found me on a mission for his master and my mother objected so he killed her almost a year ago. If Luna hadn't been in the area, I'd have probably ended up tortured until I snapped."

'If I hadn't been in the area, Maul wouldn't have been there either,' Luna thought, knowing he'd been looking for her. "Don't dwell on things you can't change," she suggested as she pulled their clothes out of her bag, knowing she should take her own advice. She pulled her shirt on then handed her apprentice her clothes.

"I'll try," Bella promised as she started getting dressed.

"Where did you get the book?" Luna asked as she pulled her shorts on, curious about the book that they'd come out of.

"A stranger stepped out of a portal and let me touch an orb that gave me a couple of magic spells. One of the spells lets me create monster books that I can jump into and pull things out of but I can only go into each story once," Anakin explained, having a good feeling about her.

"And the book had a story about Bella's test?" Luna asked thoughtfully.

Anakin picked up the book and handed it to her. "It's the first story. Don't touch the rest of the pictures, they'll pull you in."

"Rest of the pictures, does that mean we can't get back?" Bella asked, having missed it when Anakin explained since she was thinking about getting to see her mother or the closest thing she was going to be able to see.

Anakin shook his head. "You can only jump into a story once and you have to be holding hands when you touch the picture if you want to bring extra people in."

"Why are they called Monster Books?" Bella asked as she finished pulling her shorts on.

"Probably because you have to fight something or complete some type of trial to escape," Anakin replied, not actually sure why they were called Monster Books, they just were. 

"That sounds risky," Luna warned him as she quickly skimmed the short story.

"I knew she'd win and I was hoping you could help me, I need a teacher and I need help freeing all of the slaves," Anakin explained.

"I'm willing to help but it's not that simple, if we cause too much trouble, the Hutts will send people to kill us," Luna warned him.

"I know, they blew up a city to kill Anna," Anakin complained.

"Anna?" Luna asked.

"Read the next story," Anakin told her as he slipped out of his room and into the living room, not sure what he was supposed to do now that he'd recruited someone. "We're going to need a way to deal with the slave chips or to convince Watto to let me go."

"Pulling the sword out of the stone should have dealt with the chip," Luna replied as she used the Force to make sure the chip was actually gone.

"It's gone?" Anakin asked in disbelief.

"It's gone, same with all of your scars," Luna assured him as she went back to reading about the girl that had launched a crusade against the Hutts.

"How are we going to escape this sand pit?" Bella asked Luna, rather conflicted about being back on Tatooine since she hated sand but it meant she got to see a version of her mother again.

"I'm sure the Force will provide," Luna replied with a smile.

Anakin glanced between Luna and Bella. "What’s that mean?"

"Ships and kneecaps are a privilege that not everyone deserves, I'm sure we can find a slaver or a bounty hunter that doesn't deserve either," Luna replied as she skimmed over the next story where she'd apparently lost her mind and was having sex with her apprentice. 'I don't care if she wasn't my apprentice anymore, it's still weird.'

"We have a lot of both," Anakin agreed.

"Exactly," Luna replied cheerfully as she started reading the next story about a pair of Jedi cutting their way through a droid army. "How long do we have until your mother gets back?"

Anakin glanced at the clock on the wall. "About four hours, assuming Watto doesn't keep her late."

"That gives us a chance to read the rest of the book and start on the basics of using the Force," Luna said as she skipped to the next story, not interested in fighting some type of four armed cyborg Jedi slayer at the moment.

"What do I have to do?" Anakin asked.

Luna glanced at her apprentice. "Do you remember when I helped Vix figure out the best type of meditation?"

"Sort of," Bella admitted.

"Teaching is one of the best ways to learn, so start with what you remember and I'll fill in the blanks," Luna told her, curious how well she'd do.

0o0o0

Bella took a breath and exhaled, letting the worst of her frustration and worry vanish into the Force. "You've always told me to trust myself and to listen to the Force but you'd have less than five minutes to save her. It would be safer if you jumped into an earlier picture."

"And yet, the last picture is the only picture that doesn't give me a bad feeling," Luna replied with a faint smile, trusting the vision she'd seen of how to save Anna and everyone else. "She's a ball of rage in the first picture and she's still trying to find herself in the rest. In the last picture, she's at peace."

"Until the ships destroy the city!" Bella complained.

"Life isn't perfect," Luna replied as she reached out and touched the last picture in Anna's story.

"She'll be fine," Anakin offered, having a good feeling about things.

"I know," Bella lied as she pulled her attention off the book on the table and focused on her brother, trying to ignore the unease she felt. "Are you having any luck meditating?"

"I keep thinking about the book and how I'm supposed to free Mom," Anakin admitted.

"That's fair," Bella assured him. "It takes practice and there's nothing wrong with letting your mind drift. Do you want to start learning to use your daggers?" she asked, figuring he needed a distraction.

"Yes!" Anakin replied cheerfully.

0o0o0

"Kark!" Anna Skywalker cursed and used the Force to retrieve her lightsaber when a portal opened against the wall of the apartment she was using. 'That explains the ominous feeling,' she thought as she ignited her lightsaber and shifted her feet to a combat stance. "Huh," she muttered when an attractive blue skinned alien with pointed ears stepped out of the portal holding a crystal sword and the portal vanished. "Since when do Jedi use swords?"

"I'm not a Jedi, I'm a Force Adept," Luna replied as she took a couple of seconds to study the naked girl that was covered in glowing runes and holding a red lightsaber, finding it a bit disconcerting that she couldn't sense her in the Force despite looking right at her. 'That would make avoiding the Jedi a lot easier.'

"Why are you here?!" Anna demanded, getting a bad feeling about the situation since the woman felt calm despite the fact that she was facing someone with a lightsaber.

"The Force gave me a vision. The Hutts are going to destroy the city," Luna replied as she reached out with the Force and pushed the button in Jabba's old security room that she'd seen in her vision, causing the old city wide shield generator to activate and a portal to appear against the wall.

Anna turned her head slightly so that she could look at the new portal while keeping most of her attention on the alien Force user. "How are they going to destroy the city?"

"Orbital strike," Luna replied. "I activated the shield in Jabba's palace, that should buy us an extra couple of minutes."

"Karking Jedi," Anna muttered, shocked that the alien had managed to activate the shields from across town. "We have to get everyone out of here."

"Do you have a com link?" Luna asked.

"It got fried when I was fighting some bounty hunters and I haven't grabbed a new one," Anna complained, not taking her eyes off the alien as she didn't trust her.

Luna glanced at the large travel bag sitting by the couch. "Do you have anything you need to grab before we leave?"

"Just my bag." Anna twitched when she felt the alien use the Force and her lightsaber turned off a half second before something tossed one of the pillows on the couch at her head.

Luna smiled as Anna dodged the pillow and got caught by the blanket she was using and tossed through the portal. "Sorry, I'll explain later," she said as she pulled a communicator out of her pocket and started searching through channels until she found the local security forces. "If you don't want to be hit with an orbital strike, tell the ships in orbit that the Jedi have already collected Anna Skywalker." 

"What?!" a panicked security officer demanded.

"Just tell the Hutts that Anna has been taken by the Jedi and power up any weapons you have," Luna told him then turned the communicator off, grabbed Anna's bag and walked out of the portal, fairly sure the city was kriffed if it existed beyond the story but figuring she'd at least tried. 

0o0o0

Anna Skywalker froze when she realized where the portal had taken her. "Why am I back here?!" she demanded, wondering if she was in Hell since she knew for a fact that her old home had been burned to the ground by mercenaries.

"Luna rescued you from the book," Bella explained as she studied the tattoos on the young woman, finding the strange designs fascinating.

"Book?" Anna asked as she turned and looked at the book sitting on the table as the strange blue skinned alien jumped out of the book, going from a small figure to normal size just before she landed on the ground in front of the table. "What the Hell is going on?!"

"Take a breath and let it out," Luna suggested as she set Anna's bag down and took a step back.

"Do you want the short version or the long version?" Bella asked, doing her best not to make any sudden moves as the woman seemed a bit jumpy.

"Start with the short version," Anna replied, doing her best to resist the urge to bolt.

"You're Anna Skywalker and you're a tragic hero in a story about fighting the Hutts that ended with the Hutts glassing a city to kill you," Bella explained.

"I'm going to need the longer version," Anna told her, wishing she was surprised that the Hutts would kill thousands of people in order to make sure they got her.

"Anakin learned a strange force power that lets him create books that people can jump into and pull people out of," Luna explained.

"Have you lost your kriffing mind?" Anna asked, wondering why the Force was telling her that they were telling the truth or at least they believed they were.

"It's technically magic," Anakin offered as he used his magic to conjure another monster book, proving that he could.

Anna focused on Anakin. "Where did you learn that?"

"A Jedi stepped out of a portal and tossed me an orb that gave me a few techniques, where did you get the tattoos?" Anakin asked.

"A friend of mine was a tattoo artist," Anna replied, thinking about her friend that the Hutts had murdered.

"Is that how you're hiding from my senses?" Luna asked.

Anna gestured to the tattoo of a closed eye in a pentagram on her shoulder. "It keeps people from sensing me with the Force, which is nice because I didn't leave on good terms with the Jedi."

"What happened?" Anakin asked.

"I was on a mission to protect a friend of mine and I was having nightmares/visions of my mother's death, I told her about it and she talked me into bending the rules a bit and going to Tatooine," Anna explained.

"You abandoned a mission?" Bella asked.

"Not exactly, the council told me I was supposed to protect my friend since people were trying to assassinate her. It was implied but not stated that we were supposed to stay on Naboo, she decided that as long as I was with her, we'd be fine, the council disagreed."

"Let me guess, they decided that your mother's life and wellbeing weren't as important as following the letter of their rules?" Luna asked, wishing she was surprised.

"Basically. I rescued my mother from a tribe of Tuskens and rescued my Master from the Separatists on Geonosis. The war started and I got promoted to Jedi Knight with a bunch of other padawans because the Senate needed generals for the clone army."

Luna raised her eyebrows. "And they picked a bunch of newly minted knights?"

"Yeah, I lasted a couple of months before my mother got murdered by a bounty hunter for a Sith Lord and I went on a bit of a rampage against the Hutts," Anna explained.

"They framed the Hutts, didn't they?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, I didn't find out until earlier today but I saved a lot of people from slavery so I can't complain," Anna replied. "I'm guessing by the confusion I'm sensing that we're in a different world where the war didn't happen?"

"Not yet, you're Shmi's daughter, right?" Luna asked, wanting to make sure since the book didn't actually say one way or another.

"Not yet? And yes, Shmi Skywalker was my mother, does that mean you knew her?" Anna asked.

"I've never actually met her but Anakin is her son, so we're in a version of the past or at least what's going to feel like the past since nothing in the books is real unless we pull it out of the book," Luna explained.

Anna glanced between Anakin and Bella then focused on Anakin and what she could feel. "So, you're saying that my mother is alive, that the wars never happened and that we have ten years before everything goes to shit?" she asked, her blue eyes practically dancing with excitement as she thought about all of the things she could do differently since she didn't have her hands tied behind her back because of the blasted council.

Luna frowned slightly as she considered the girl's story. "I'm not sure how much we can trust your knowledge of this dimension's future but being more prepared never hurts."

Anna nodded, then focused on Anakin. "Are you building a pod racer?"

"It's almost finished, I just need a couple of parts," Anakin admitted.

"Which means the Jedi should be here in a couple of days," Anna mused as she knelt down and worked on opening her bag so she could grab her clothes.

"Why are they coming to Tatooine?" Bella asked, not sure why anyone would willingly come to this sand pit.

"Their ship took some damage escaping the blockade around Naboo and they need parts, unless things are completely off script," Anna replied as she pulled one of her skirts on. "Speaking of ships, do you have a ship?"

Luna shook her head. "Anakin pulled us out of the book, we're in the same situation as you, we basically just have our bags."

"Can I get some names since you seem to know mine?" Anna asked.

"I'm Luna, my apprentice is Bella Skywalker and the boy is Anakin Skywalker, in case that wasn't clear," Luna offered.

"Apprentice? Not a padawan?" Anna asked as she put her belt on so she could hang her lightsaber.

Luna shook her head. "I'm not a Jedi, I'm just a Force Adept."

"Do you have a version of the Jedi code?" Anna asked as she clipped her lightsaber to her belt, fairly sure she didn't have to worry about them attacking her. 'At least Qui-Gon should be able to run a DNA check when he gets here, if he gets here.'

"Like I said, I'm not a Jedi," Luna replied with a grin, not seeing much use in the Jedi code unless you wanted to create a bunch of mindless biological droids with a tendency to go insane when they couldn't live up to the code.

Anna pulled a shirt on and stood up. "Do you know any doctors that can remove slave chips?"

"There's a doctor in the book that should be able to remove her chip which means we can take care of it once Shmi gets back, which should be in about four hours, give or take," Luna told her.

"How many of your tattoos are actually useful?" Bella asked.

"That depends on your point of view, most of the tattoos are actually just the names of people that I lost in the war or creatures that symbolize people I lost." Anna pointed to a tattoo of a dragon on her arm that was breathing fire. "Of course, some of the tattoos actually give me interesting abilities or resistances. The dragon makes me resistant to heat and allows me to breathe fire if I feed it enough magic. The lightning bolt on my other arm protects me from getting shocked and Force Lightning."

"Is there a way to duplicate those?" Bella asked hopefully.

"We'd need a decent artist and some alchemy supplies to make the ink but yeah, sure, it's just a matter of using the force to bind the ink," Anna explained. "Can I read the book?"

"Sure, just don't touch the pictures," Anakin warned her. "That's how you get pulled into the book."

"Thanks for the warning," Anna replied as she stepped up the table and started flipping through the pages, being careful not to touch the pages, curious how many people they could recruit.

0o0o0