Trauma is something that is purely subjective. What could traumatize person A could leave person B completely unaffected - there was no person in this galaxy that had the same exact values, fears, expectations, and desires. Despite the population, no matter their species, they tend to follow the flow like sheep, everyone was unique in their own way. The reaction to trauma, and what caused trauma, was one of those things that made each person distinct.

Self-awareness is one of my very few redeeming features, so I knew I was a perfect example of this. The rejection of Kaori Orimoto affected me more than it should have because of my social expectations. Or, perhaps it would be truer to say that her rejection was traumatizing because I read into social interactions, and hoped that despite a lifetime of being a social outcast, I could have a youthful normy highschool life.

Had anyone else been rejected by her, it would forever be a moment that would make you cringe and die a little inside, but it wouldn't leave a permanent mark on someone's personality.

In that same vein, not everyone was traumatized by slavery in the same way. There were some that found pride in the fact that they were now a possession. There were some that treated it as a job that you couldn't quit. Others couldn't bear the thought of a leash on their neck, no matter how loose, and would happily tear their own throat out if it meant freedom. Then, there were those that weren't traumatized at all. I was apart of the latter group.

"Good morning, Mrs. Jeen-Lie," I greeted with a small bow, keeping myself calm. Every muscle was so taunt that they could snap from the strain, ready to flee at the drop of a hat. My face was blank, my poker face was flawless after years of living on this planet, but judging by the small smile on her face, Jeen-Lie seemed to see right through me.

"Quite the reaction to seeing your former master. Especially after you escaped from me," she noted, cocking her head as her smile grew. "But, you always were an odd one, Hikigaya. Always so smart, so gifted...I don't suppose you're here to return to me?" She asked, sounding more amused by my sudden appearance than anything.

"I have not," I answered with a sense of finality. I would be no one's slave ever again. A man could survive a month without food, three days without water, but not a single second without pride. That pride could be found in many things, but for me, it was not being an object to be owned.

Jeen-Lie nodded, apparently expecting that answer. The tension eased ever so slightly when she didn't seem displeased with my response. If anything, she seemed more amused than anything, and that was enough to start raising red flags. "I see. It seems that the Force has seen fit to bring us together again - if you aren't here to sell yourself back into slavery, then why are you here."

I suppose she was right about that. Out of anyone I could have run into, it had to be my former master who ran a shop that repaired and sold droids. More importantly, astrodroids.

"I would like an astrodroid. Please," I added, giving her a small bow, carefully watching her reaction. Again, she was more amused than anything. Something wasn't adding up. One of her escaped slaves shows up on her doorstep unannounced, and she's amused? Jeen-Lie was hardly the harshest of masters, but if there was ever a time for her to break out the whip, it would be now.

"And what would an escaped slave need with an astrodroid?" She asked, her tone was teasing. "It sounds like you've found some very interesting work on the basement," she observed, using the slang term for the actual planet of Cadinth.

Naturally, I lied when I answered. Jeen-Lie was pleasant right now, but I doubt that she was so amused by my antics that she wouldn't sell me out to the Empire when I answered her question. "I work as a mechanic, and someone has a homemade ship that needs an OS to navigate hyperspace lanes," in my considerable experience lying to get what I want, I found using a version of the truth worked best.

Jeen-Lie's plucked eyebrows rose at that, "oh?" She questioned, gesturing me to continue.

"And I was promised a trip on the ship if I could get an astrodroid that could do it," I explained, giving a plausible explanation. Jeen-Lie gave a small nod, apparently buying that.

"You won't be able to take off until they catch that Jedi," she commented. "You'll be shot down before you leave orbit." That made my eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"The Empire has blockaded the planet?" I questioned, my lips pressing into a small frown. That could prove to be a problem. If they flat out blockaded the planet with a fleet, then getting out noticed got a lot more difficult. Jeen-Lie confirmed my suspicion with a now, making my frown deepen.

"Though," she began, "I suspect that isn't likely to stop you from leaving. A bomb in your neck didn't stop you from leaving me." She commented, gesturing me to follow her. She turned her back to me, expecting me to obey and, for a moment, I considered running away. Only the knowledge that it would be pointless stopped me from breaking out into a sprint in any direction that would take me away from here.

So, I followed her like I did so many times before. I heard her chuckling, earning a dull look from me as she spoke without looking at me. "I was very shocked at your sudden departure, Hikigaya. At first, I assumed you had been stolen from me by a rival," she explained.

I decided to play the long con when it came to escaping slavery. I obeyed every order, I went above and beyond, and her trust in me grew until the point she trusted me enough to work on droids. In doing so, she gave me all the parts I needed to organize my escape.

"You built a zapper to short circuited the explosive in your neck. I never expected that from anyone, much less a small human," she said, her tone casual as we walked the still familiar path to her store. The floor was built almost identical to a shopping mall, only each store was much bigger. There were food markets, mechanic shops, weapons and anything else you could think of. And each store owner dreamed of the day they were successful enough that they could move up a floor. "I was furious for a time. You did rather good work for someone so young, and you are a quick learner…"

The force wasn't warning me of danger when she said that, even if every instinct was telling me to turn tail and run. I crushed those instincts, the blaster on my belt felt like it was made of lead. I desperately hoped that I wouldn't have to use it.

"Too quick, perhaps," she continued, approaching her shop. It looked exactly the same as the last time I saw it. Droids stood motionless behind a glass panel, and behind it revealed a store filled to the absolute brim with parts and machines. Stepping inside, I was greeted with the smell of metal and grease - looking around, I started to do the math of just how much all of this was worth down below before quickly giving up the endeavor.

I could live like a king down below with all of these parts. People would kill for what laid on a shelf, completely unprotected.

"You said you need an astrodroid, correct?" Jeen-Lie said, bring my attention back to her as she stepped behind a counter. A droid...that I built remained behind the counter. SD-V1, or Service Droid Version 1. It stood behind the counter, rattling off greetings and advertisements, its protocols weren't developed enough to do more.

I turned my gaze back to Jeen-Lie, bracing myself for what was to come. "I did," I answered as she leaned against the counter with her underarms while her upper arms were crossed over her modest chest. Her fingers tapped on the counter, her poker face every bit as good as mine.

"Well, it so happens that I have an astrodroid available. Probably the only one on this floor," she said, telling me a bald-faced lie. It was a common tactic to drive up the price. And considering that I didn't have anywhere near enough credits for a droid, I could guess what she was about to ask for in exchange.

Even still, I asked, "what do you want for it?"

Jeen-Lie smiled at me, a smile I saw more times than I cared to count back when I was enslaved by her. It was the same smile she gave me when I was a child in the slave pens on a lower floor, packed with a dozen other children with so little room I could barely stand.

"Nothing," Jeen-Lie lied, placing one of her lower arms on her hip. She let out a laugh when she saw the disbelieving look that I didn't bother to hide. "Always a suspicious one. Fine, you can have the droid if you do two things…" She amended after she was done laughing at my expense. "The droid itself needs some repairs and your replacement keeps complaining that he doesn't have the parts."

That sounded far more like the Jeen-Lie that I knew. "And the second thing?" I asked, wanting to know what I'm getting into. However, her smile just grew a fraction before it disappeared entirely.

"When you're done, I want you to answer a question for me. If I like your answer, I'll give you the droid that you fix," Jeen-Lie said, her tone carefully even. Even still, I knew she was telling the truth. There were reasons why I was one of the few that remained relatively untraumatized by my time as a slave and a big part of that was who my master was- who Jeen-Lie is.

"And you'll let me go?" I questioned, wanting to make sure.

"And I'll let you go," Jeen-Lie agreed with a nod. I searched her face for any trace of deception but found none. It seemed too good to be true, and things too good to be true rarely were. However, despite my scrutiny, she pushed herself off the counter and gestured to the workroom, a place I spent nearly a year in.

I hesitated to follow her into it when she opened the door. A hand went down to the blaster at my waist, finding only more dread when I felt its heavy weight. Swallowing thickly, I stepped behind the counter and followed her into the backroom, seeing the familiar room. A workbench covered in parts, the shell of a droid on top, with more shelves filled to the absolute brim with parts. It was like I stepped into a bank vault.

What I didn't see was a trap. It seemed if she was planning to betray me, then she wasn't going to do it before the droid was fixed. She lead me to a small droid, it's head was a wide rectangle with two eye lenses, one slightly bigger than the other. Its chassis was small, just big enough to fit in a data port, powerpack, and other odds and ends. Its legs were backward while its feet were clamps lined with tractor locks.

"This isn't an astrodroid," I pointed out, an accusation not so subtly hidden in my tone. Jeen-Lie nodded before explaining.

"You just need the OS to plot out hyperspeed courses, right? Then that little guy is all you need - his processors can handle hyperspeed corrections, so just hook it up to the ship. Real astrodroids are more for processing variables during a spacebattle."

Oh.

"Who shot it?" I asked, gesturing to the hole punched through the chassis. Already I started to poke into its insides, seeing the fried wires, what was left of the power converter and compensator. The hydraulics were shot to- as in they were worn down, not actually shot.

"Does it matter? Can you fix it?" Jeen-Lie asked, making me think about the question. I...huh...I see what this is. This is an Event where my previous experience breaking down scrap for several years comes into play. Cautiously, I looked around the room, feeling the Force nudging me in some directions, to different parts as if to answer the question for me.

I nodded, "I can. Just give me a couple of minutes," I told her, spotting a stepping stool that I used before to see over the counter. Jeen-Lie took a step back and let me work. It didn't take long to gather everything up, and even less time to take the pieces apart. I had tools now. A luxury that took me six months to earn back on the basement.

It was...I had never cared about wealth before. In my last life, I came from a decently well off family. Komichi and I received pocket money in place of affection or parental guidance, we never had to worry about groceries or anything. Now...I once spent twelve hours digging through the sane with my bare hands to get to a part that turned out to be worthless.

Seeing this now, in a way, I had taken it for granted. And that galled at me. Not that I had taken it for granted, but the fact that I could look at my time of being a slave and feel regretful that I hadn't appreciated it enough.

Minutes ticked by in a heavy silence as I broke parts down to build new ones. The hydraulics were cleaned, the power converter was replaced, as was the powerpack. The compensator was salvaged, jury-rigged with a half dozen. Then all that was left was slapping on a metal panel after making sure that nothing else had suffered any heat damage.

*Beeeeeep?* The droid asked, booting up. The protocols and memory storage cards were stored in its head, so it should be fine. It stood up, the lenses swirled, zooming in and refocusing on my face before looking around. It flinched back when it's gaze landed on the corpses of other droids in various states of repair, *Beep! Beep-be-be-beep?!*

"You're not being scrapped," I told it, understanding binary. It seemed like it wasn't programmed to use basic, but I guess it didn't matter. I understood binary.

The droid swiveled around to look at me, its small legs testing its new wait, going through system checks. Then it cocked its head, *boo-beep?* I simply nodded, ignoring its happy chirps as it hopped around a little to turn to Jeen-Lie. She watched me, her gaze drifting away from the droid that was doing a dance to settle heavily on me.

"What's your question?" I asked, hoping that this would be the end of it. Jeen-Lie let out a small sigh as she crossed her two sets of arms.

"Do you believe in destiny-"

"No," I interjected. "Destiny, fate...they're rationalizations of events that have happened and justifications to force those 'destined' to act a certain way. A fated meeting is just coincidence or bad timing, a destined one is given a mold to grow into and they're nudged into it, even if they have to shave off a limb to make them fit." I explained, looking away as I doubled checked the droids readings.

"Hm. When you talk like that, you really don't sound like a kid, Hikigaya. More like a bitter old man," Jeen-Lie commented, sounding like she accepted my answer.

"Age means little when it comes to experience," I retorted, satisfied with my work.

"I'm asking," Jeen-Lie continued like I hadn't said anything, which was the norm in my experience. "Because I've been thinking a lot about it lately. 'The Force works in mysterious ways' 'Trust in the Force' and so on and so on. I was thinking about you, actually." She said in a tone that could only be described as wistful.

"I wasn't looking to buy a slave when I went down to the slave pens," she informed, earning a blink of surprise from me. "I was taking a shortcut to meet up with some friends at the time...the point is, I stumbled across you in that pen. Even back then, you had that rotten look in your eyes." She teased with more than a little amusement. "I don't know why I bought you. It was...like an impulse."

Or, for those that were genre-savvy like I was, plot contrivance.

"And you turn out perfect for my shop. A quick learner, handy with tools and now you just fixed a droid that's been on that table for a week because I was waiting to get my hands on a proper part," she explained, looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite describe. Like I was a problem she didn't know the answer to. "Doesn't that seem odd to you? And now when you're trying to leave this planet, we run across each other and I have the one thing that you need to get off this dustball?"

It did sound odd to me, but, in the end, I stood by my beliefs. After all, if a few coincidences were all it took to change my mind, then they were hardly beliefs in the first place. "Coincidence. Chance. If you didn't have to meet up with your friends, then we would have never met and if you weren't heading to the upper floors when I came to this one, then we would have never come across each other again. Just because someone searches for meaning in a chance encounter doesn't mean there is any."

I had to believe that. If there was no fate if there was no higher narrative that I was plucked from my world to serve. If there was no narrative, then that meant I could find my way out of it. It meant that I could go home to my sister, and go to high school and get a mediocre job since I doubt I would ever find a woman to marry me so I could fulfill my ambition of becoming a house husband.

"You're going to be a force of nature when you're an adult, you know that?" Jeen-Lie commented, uncrossing her arms as a look of resigned acceptance appeared on her face. I scoffed at that - with any luck, I would return to my loner ways. Perhaps become a hermit now that I have experience with it. "But, I'm a woman of my word. You are free."

Free. Not until I get off this planet.

"...thank you," I responded after a moment, knowing that she meant more than being free to go. I was free. I wasn't an escaped slave anymore. I turned to the droid, offering an arm for it to perch on. It beeped at me before hopping on, climbing onto my shoulder so it was just overlooking it. It would have to be hidden before I went back down, but for now, it was fine.

With that, I started to leave the shop, only to pause when Jeen-Lie called out to me, "Hikigaya." turning around, I saw that she was looking at me with eyes filled with profound sadness. "Was I really that terrible of a master?"

I looked away, "no. I was that terrible of a slave."

It was good to be on the ground again. JR-1, or Jury Rig-1, resided underneath my cloak, hidden from any wandering greedy hands. My gaze swept over the comers and goers, nearly all of them stopping to look my way. It was rare that someone went up the elevator, but it was far rarer that someone came down.

Striding forward, I pointedly made eye contact with everyone that looked at me. Most looked away as soon as I caught them looking, but a few didn't. It seemed I had to avoid back alleys, though going down them when the Empire was on the prowl was asking for trouble. I felt them on me as I made my way to the meetup point - Padawan wasn't there, but that was hardly a surprise. Her part was a lot harder than mine so it made sense it took longer. Especially if she was taking care not to get caught.

Sitting down, I laid a hand on my new astrodroid. It was always unclear just how much droids could really 'feel' but the quiet 'boop' I got in response told me that it at least appreciated my attempt to reassure it. After that, it was a matter of waiting for Padawan to show up. In a city like Esteria, so long as you weren't bothering anyone, then no one would bother you. Especially now that the Empire was here to remind the locals that they owned this planet.

Time passed in relative peace as I waited for Padawan. Time kept passing. And kept passing. And kept passing. The longer I waited, the more nervous I became - had she been caught? Did I miss her? Was she already back at my base? I had no way of knowing without going there-

My answer came in the form of blaster fire. It seemed to echo through the busy, making everyone go quiet, which made the sound that much louder. I shot to my feet while everyone else fled indoors - everyone knew that they didn't want to get in between the Empire and whoever they were hunting down. Except for me, apparently.

Before I could think better of it, my feet carried me towards the sounds of blasters being fired off. There was more than one, closer to a dozen if I had to guess. I rounded on the corner, smelling the stench of smoke and flash heated sand before I saw I was right on the mark. Two squads of soldiers were firing at a badly damaged pillar.

Behind it, predictably, was Padawan. She was pressed against it, cornered with every passing second chipping away at her cover. No one saw me approach, hidden behind a stall. This...was bad. This was really, really, really bad. We had to get out of here before reinforcements showed up or this entire thing was a bust.

The real question was how could I possibly help her? I couldn't take on two entire squads of Imperial soldiers! The blaster felt like it was made of neuron star for how heavy it felt tucked into my waistline. But...I've seen Padawan fight - all I needed to do was give her a chance, and she would be able to take care of it.

I searched for something that could work as a distraction and found my target with a few moments. Thanks to the markets, stalls lined the street, but like everything else, they were in a state of disrepair. Closing my eyes, I reached out one of the stalls and bared down on the scrap metal stall. It took a second, I wasn't strong enough with the force to crush metal, but I found a way around that. The weak points were focused on until the stall gave way, spilling its contents onto the ground in an avalanche.

As expected, the soldiers reacted, expecting an attack. That gave Padawan all the chance she needed. In a blur that I could barely see, she left her cover and dived into the soldiers. They realized their mistake too late, by the time they turned their attention back to her, she had already beheaded one soldier, disarmed, as in she cut off his hands, another and skewered a third.

Lashing out with a hand, some unseen force knocked half of the soldiers over, letting Padawan fall upon the other half like a force of nature. She was like a whirlwind, her laser sword flashing a brilliant blue as she blocked blaster fire, sending them back into those that shot at her even as she tore into the soldier. Nothing could stand up to her laser sword - not the armor they wore, and certainly not the men inside the armor.

The stench of burnt flesh filled the air as shouts, screams of agony as soldiers writhed on the ground, clutching at stumps cauterized so intensely that the stumps still glowed in some places. Padwan was a whirlwind of death and destruction, and no sooner had she finished off one half before they could start to recover, she fell upon the remaining half.

Only when they were all down did she turn around to me, the kind, almost serene expression she wore before was gone. Replaced by a look of grim determination of the likes I had rarely ever seen before. It was the expression of someone that had committed themselves to a path and would never deviate until it ended, or they did.

She nodded in my direction before quickly turning her attention back to a skiff with a crate on it. Hypermatter. I thought it would be some kind of liquid fuel, kind of like gas, but from what I could see, it was solid. Pellets roughly the size of a baseball, completely gray, with no distinguishing features.

I ran over to her as she grabbed the hypermatter and tucked it underneath her arm. "What happened?" I asked as we took off down the road I had just come from. It was still deserted, but I could feel everyone's questioning gazes.

"A strong-willed soldier happened!" Padawan exclaimed a moment before she grabbed me by the back of my robes to practically throw me down a side street. Not a moment later, a squad of soldiers came running down the road, missing us but only barely. Padawan let out a small breath as she continued her explanation, "I got stopped and searched on my way back. The soldiers thought I was stealing the hypermatter, but when I tried to Force Persuade them, they realized I was a Jedi."

So her mind control had a weakness. That was good to know if she tried to leave me behind.

"It seems I owe you another, youngling," Padawan commented before peeking out. "Did you get the droid?"

JR-1 chose that moment to emerge from my robes to look up at Padawan. *Bo-bo-boop?* It questioned, it's lenses focusing on Padawan before it hopped onto my shoulder. Padawan smiled, obviously relieved that I managed to follow through. Now we had everything we needed to take off.

"But we have another problem," I said, making that smile fall. "the Empire has blockaded the entire planet. If we take off now, when they know where we're leaving, we won't be able to get out of orbit before we get shot down."

Padawan followed my logic easily enough, "so we must lose our pursuers before going back." With any luck, we could make them think we were still in the city by the time we left. If we used the astro-thrusters, then we could take off on the other side of the planet without them being any the wiser-

Just as I was plotting how to not get caught by a space patrol, another squad of Imperial soldiers came running down the road. They turned the corner, nearly running into us.

"Contact!" The squad leader shouted, taking aim directly at me before pulling the trigger. Time seemed to slow as the red laser erupted from the barrel, rushing at me at speeds that my body couldn't hope to match. I couldn't even blink, stuck watching the blaster ray to inch towards me. I was going to die. Again. Before I managed to get off-

My darkening thoughts were cut off when a flash of blue raced by my face, bathing it in intense heat before a harsh ping rang out as Padawan saved my life by deflecting the blaster bolt back at the squad commander. It slammed into his helmet, firing off sparks as he collapsed. It was only when Padawan threw herself at the squad did I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

I was alive. Even as Padawan made short work of the squad, moving at speeds that I could barely follow and with a grace that was borderline unnatural, I couldn't bring myself to follow the fight because of one thought that rang around in my skull like a bell. I had nearly died just now. From a stray blaster ray.

Already, I learned that life is fragile. It was something you never thought you were going to lose until the moment that you did, and just then, I nearly died. Again.

"Are you alright?" Padawan rounded on me and it was only then that I noticed that she made quick work of the squad. She was crouched down, and Jr-1 echoed the question with a series of chirps. I blinked, once, then twice, this chided myself for zoning out at the worst possible time.

"I'm fine," I said, pushing myself up and hoping that she didn't notice my wobbly knees. Padawan didn't seem to buy it, but she nodded all the same. Reaching down she took my hand before she took off running, nearly dragging me behind her. "What are we going to do? The Empire will have the city on lockdown and we won't be able to sneak out over miles of sand."

And, seriously, could you let go of my hand? I was perfectly capable of running by myself. Though it was fitting the one time I would ever hold hands with a girl was when I was fleeing for my life.

"I…" Padawan faltered for a moment as we came to a stop when she sensed another group of soldiers to investigate the call of the last squad. I guess what Twi'lek said was true, to a degree - Padawan was a student. She wasn't used to making these calls. She was as lost as I was.

Okay. Taking in a deep breath as we waited for the patrol to pass us by, I calmed my pounding heart. I had nearly forgotten an important lesson that I learned in this life - true independence. I couldn't rely on Padawan to come up with the answers for me. Though, that still raised the issue of what exactly could I do to get out of here?

Then my gaze landed on a sewer cap. It was nearly hidden underneath a layer of black sand, I was only barely able to make out its outline.

"The sewers," I said after a moment of thought, going towards them when the patrol left us unmolested. "I don't think anyone's been in them for...thousands of years. If we can't find our way out of the city with these, then we can at least throw them off our trail." I explained as I reached out with the force.

The image I was going for was kind of ruined when the sewer cap refused to budge. It might as well be sealed airtight from going unopened for thousands of years. Feeling more than a little embarrassed by that, I was forced to clear the lining of sand and let Padawan lift the sewer cap up.

"Good thinking," Padawan agreed, lifting the cap up and, instantly, I was hit with the stench of stale air. Coughing, I looked down into the darkness that lay below, JR-1 beeping in my ear, making a comment I didn't care to respond to. It was pitch black, and the silence coming from the sewer was deafening.

Looking up from it, I saw my apprehension mirrored on Padawan's face. Neither of us wanted to go down first.

JR-1 did, apparently. "Bo-beep!" It announced before it hopped off my shoulder, peering its head over the edge before it turned on a flashlight function. It looked up at us for a moment, letting out a beep that sounded suspiciously like an insult, before it hopped onto the millennia-old ladder built into the wall and made its way down.

Right. Well, hopefully, this escape didn't flip genres and become a horror movie.

With that thought in mind, I followed JR-1 into the darkness below.

The next chapter is currently available on my Pat re on, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!