Disclamer: I don’t own Firefly or Star Wars.

Chapter 1

River dreamt. Sometimes if she is lucky she would not dream. Her sleep is invaded by memories, of the past, glimpse of the future and things that aren’t hers. Sometimes when she awakens she forgets that she is River. But most of the time she dreams. Of places, people and ideas that are foreign and exciting. But now, she dreams of the gaping darkness.

River floated over two battling figures. One was clothed in black while the other was clothed in white. They were dancing. To her, it looked funny. The glow rods they fought with were bright and shinny. River knew this was a dream. She couldn’t sense their thoughts. She floated and watched mesmerized by the whirling lights that blinded her. Unconsciously memorizing and analyzing the fighting styles. The backround was grey and swerling. Changing from light to dark to grey to all colors imaginable. A big gaping rip appeared in front of her. The fighters didn’t notice but River did. From the darkness were two eyes, red rimmed filled with malice and a deep profound sadness. She heard a voice, listless and dry.

Save me

With a jolt, she awoke with Anakin staring right in her face.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

She screamed like a big baby. Then she hit her brother on the head for scaring her.

“Owie.” Anakin cried out, rubbing his injured head. “Jeez River, Mom told me to wake you up to go to work and this is how you repay me.” Anakin said in fake indignation. He pouted at her.

River cocked her head at him and said,” Sorry.” Anakin smiled and said, “Common, time to get to work before Watto gets all huffy.” With that, he ran out of her room.

River slowly got out of bed. She dressed in a tan tunic and pant. She looked at the collar that was wrapped around her neck. A tube of liquid filled with stims was carefully wrapped on to the collar. It was an original, made especially for her. Her long hair was trimmed and tied back into a horsetail. She grabbed a rough scarf and tied it around her neck like the one the cowboys did on Earth-that-was. She missed her brother, and wanted to go home. However, a voice, the one that spoke to her about things to come was whispering that this was her home. She shut her mind and finished dressing. She grabbed a bit to eat and ran out to Watto’s shop.

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She was early. Anakin had apparently lied to her about how late she is. The little brat will get a surprise she slightly vowed. She mentally shifted through all her thoughts while cleaning the engine of what looked like a wrecked speeder. It was her way of “dealing” with all the emotion and thoughts that are projected by people. One time she didn’t sort her thoughts and ended up at the wrong house. She had accidentally picked up the thoughts of a passerby and put that thought in her daily routine. It was embarrassing and Anakin thought she was going senile. She dissuaded the thought by reciting the correct way of manually dismantling and repairing a hyperdrive. Apparently, by sorting her thoughts she grasp of this reality. It was nice to know that she could stay partially sane.

As she worked, she felt a blob, a moving humanoid blob at the edge of her senses. It was not a robot but a person. She put her towel down and went to the source of the disturbance.

She walked in on Anakin talking to this girl and a tall creature that looked like a Gungan. There was an Astromech droid near a tall man.The tall man standing protectively next to the girl. He was the source of the disturbance. Everyone else in the room was projecting their emotions. The girl was projecting anxiety, and an emotion River couldn’t identify. The Gungan was radiating fear and staring at a deactivated droid. When the man looked at her she felt a light touch on her brain. How strange, River thought. The man was like a void. Almost like a black hole, but not sucking anything in, just not projecting much. Mostly anxiety, just like the other two. She huffed slightly, why are there always someone who threw her into a loop.

Anakin finally noticed her presence. “Hey sis, oy Padme, this is my sister, River. River this is Padme and that is uh … wait um … Jar Jar Binks.” Anakin trailed off with an embarrassed look on his face. He managed to get the beautiful girls name and almost forgot her companions. River shook her head slightly with an amused smile. Simon was like that, when he was younger. Stuttering over girls name and sometimes staring at a picture for hours. Luckily, for Simon he grew out of the phase. Unluckily for River, she appears to witness yet another scene driven by hormones. The girl was older than Anakin and was likely to break his heart.

She looked at the mess where Jar Jar was and promptly glared at him. Jar Jar gulped and said , “ Oppsie, messa fault.” River did not lessen her glare.

“Uh hem, “said the tall man. “I apologize for unconvincing you but my companions and I must leave.” He moved to the exit and walked away with the little droid following him. The Gungan left hurriedly not wanting to be in the crosshairs of River’s glare. Padme smiled at Anakin and said, “I am glad to meet you, Anakin.” She walked out following the Gungan.

Anakin stared for a full second and then hastily replied, “ I am glad to meet you too.” There was clearly a crush being developed by one Anakin Skywalker to Padme.

Watto flew in, apparently something about them made him angry, his emotions were wreaking havoc on her senses, he was shaking his head in disgust as he neared . “Outlanders! They think because we live so far from everything, we know nothing!”

Anakin was still staring longingly at where Padme use to be, his gaze fixed on the empty doorway. “They seemed nice enough to me.” He remarked. River glanced at Anakin in concern, he seemed enamored to the girl. He was only nine, but he will grow whispered the voice again.

“Yeah, she seemed very nice, are you going to worship the ground she walks on? Little bro.” She added, earning an embarrassed stutter from her brother. She could almost hear the thoughts of yeah and build a shrine in Anakin’s mind.

Watto snorted and flew up between them. “Both of you, clean up this mess, then you can go home.”

Anakin gave a small cheer, while River nodded, and both quickly got to work. Anakin was thinking of the girl while River was managing her thoughts again.

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Anakin went off to the slave quarters of Mos Espa. River was staying in the shop to finish the inventory. She trusted Anakin enough to stay out of trouble. She finished and went home. As she neared the door she sensed the weird blob was here as well. She opened it to find that the strangers were in the house as well.

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Many parts of the script came from the Star Wars episode. So I don’t own it either.

I know River is acting slightly different from the original. Here River is teetered to a family. She is stable because of Shmi and Anakins care.

But the old River, the one we love will reappear and throw the jedi in a loop.

Hehehehhehehehehe

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