[Anakin's POV]
We walked side by side. She didn't seem entirely tired. More curious.
"So, master from another galaxy, how old are you?" she asked bluntly.
"Seventeen," I replied without thinking much about it.
She stopped for a second. Literally halted to look at me.
"Seventeen?"
I nodded again.
"Seriously? You're my age!" she said as if it were impossible. Though I remembered she had earlier said I looked about her age.
"And? I have better skin than you," I replied, almost offended.
Gwen frowned.
"This guy…" she muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.
"It's not about how you look," she clarified quickly, shaking her head. "It's just that the guys at my school aren't like that. They don't have that face of I've been in galactic wars and have trauma Freud wouldn't even understand."
I couldn't help raising an eyebrow. This girl was very rude, but for some reason I didn't mind how direct and blunt she was.
"Freud?"
"Nothing," Gwen replied quickly, raising a hand as if to wave the idea away. "What I mean is, my classmates are more, I don't know. Kids. Immature. They fight over stupid things. Take pictures in class. You, on the other hand, seem like the typical top-of-the-class guy, but the galactic version."
I looked at her for a second, not truly annoyed. "It's normal that you feel confused. You're comparing completely different cultures."
Gwen blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Don't you know I'm what you call here an extraterrestrial? Or did you forget that already?" I asked.
Gwen pressed her lips together, half offended but amused. "Of course I didn't forget. With that robe you wear, that science-fiction-saga name, and the way you fight, anyone would think you walked straight out of a fantasy novel. Haven't you looked in a mirror?"
I smiled faintly.
"Well, then your problem is something else," I replied, trying to sound wise. Like my master, Obi-Wan, when he gave those speeches that made even droids want to meditate. "You're basing my maturity on how you were raised. Under a single social structure. One culture. One planet. Everything around you since birth shaped your view of the universe."
Gwen looked at me with one eyebrow raised.
"Oh, please," she said theatrically, placing a hand on her chest. "Enlighten me, wise master. Guide me along this path of cosmic discovery with your ancient wisdom."
I couldn't help smiling.
"I'm just saying you can't compare your classmates to me. I've visited dozens of planets, learned many languages that don't even have vowels, fought under difficult conditions. And before I was taken by my master, I lived on a planet as a slave," I said matter-of-factly.
Since arriving on this planet, I had done some research on Earth's education system. At least in this country, called the United States. Children went to school, slept in soft beds, lived peaceful lives surrounded by entertainment, comfort, affection. Of course there might be cases of harder lives, but nothing comparable to mine.
My maturity is far greater. Working as a slave since childhood until the age of nine. Then training without rest to become a Jedi, fighting, meditating, traveling to different planets, and more.
I took a few more steps.
Until I noticed there were no footsteps behind me anymore.
I stopped and turned.
Gwen had stayed still. She wasn't speaking anymore. Nor smiling. She looked at me in silence. Her expression was strange, like something had just come apart in her mind.
And she wasn't alone.
Steve, Sam, Natasha, Wanda, and Vision had also stepped closer without even realizing it. They weren't standing in a line. They weren't looking at each other.
Only at me.
Their expressions were all different, but they shared one thing in common.
No one had expected to hear that. Not like that.
"Did you say slave?" Steve asked, his brow slightly furrowed.
"Yes. I was born on a planet where slavery still exists. My mother and I were property of a trader until a Jedi Master discovered me and freed me. He took me to the Temple," I replied, and I felt the atmosphere change.
"I didn't know that… I'm sorry," Gwen said, swallowing.
"You weren't supposed to know. It's fine," I said without dramatics.
Sam spoke next.
"And your mother? Did they free her too?"
I felt something in my stomach. A dull pressure.
"No," I said, my tone sharper than I intended. "She stayed there."
For a moment, no one said anything.
Not because they didn't want to speak, I suppose it was my expression that stopped them. I hadn't been able to control it. My brow was furrowed, and there was a shine in my eyes that was anything but Jedi.
"But aren't the Jedi supposed to be defenders of peace?" Natasha interjected, one eyebrow raised. "They know there's a planet with slavery and… they just leave it like that?"
"The Jedi do not govern the galaxy," I began, trying to remain calm. "They do not hold direct political power. They do not intervene in every conflict, especially in systems outside the Republic's control. Tatooine is one of those worlds."
"And so…?" Natasha pressed.
"Observe. Guide. Protect stability. That is our mission," I recited, as if reading from ancient scriptures. "Not to intervene directly, unless the balance itself is at risk."
"So sometimes protecting stability means allowing suffering to continue," Natasha said.
I didn't answer. There was nothing else to say.
And then Steve stepped forward.
I looked at him, confused. He placed a hand on my shoulder. There was no pity in his eyes, only respect, and perhaps something more.
"When you find a way to return," Steve said calmly, with that serene certainty that seemed unbreakable, "whether by building a ship, discovering some kind of gateway between galaxies, or whatever our world might offer…"
He looked straight into my eyes.
"I'll go with you. And we'll rescue your mother. Not you, me. So the Jedi don't give you a lecture about it," he added at the end with a faint smile.
I felt something catch in my chest.
Hope.
Sam stepped forward, crossing his arms. "Count me in. Wouldn't be the first time we've broken a few rules to do the right thing."
Wanda nodded silently, but her eyes said more than words ever could. There was sincerity in them.
Natasha simply crossed her arms, like someone who had already made up her mind. "I'm not missing a mission like that," she said, her tone dry but firm.
Gwen looked at all of them and raised an eyebrow.
"Well… I'm technically not even an official member of the team, but…" She shrugged. "I'm not staying behind."
I stood there, motionless. Internally, I was clearly stunned.
Never had a Jedi said something like that to me.
Not Obi-Wan. And certainly not Yoda or the members of the Council.
And these people who had known me for barely a week…
Had just promised it without hesitation.
For the first time since I fell into this galaxy, I didn't feel so far from home.
I felt warmth in my cheeks. Something that had never happened to me before.
"Cough…" I cleared my throat.
"Tatooine…" I began. "It lies outside the Republic's jurisdiction. It doesn't belong to any regulated system. It's controlled by a criminal species known as the Hutts. An organized crime cartel that dominates entire planets in the Outer Rim."
Steve frowned, but he didn't move back even a millimeter.
"Then we'll have to deal with criminals who enslave people. Wouldn't be the first time," he said firmly.
I looked at him with something between disbelief and admiration. "It won't be easy. The Hutts have power, weapons, and powerful violent species under their command."
Steve shook his head.
"That doesn't matter. If there's injustice, the Avengers don't stand still. We don't observe. We don't preserve stability. We act."
He crossed his arms.
"They call us heroes. And that means protecting people. Sometimes with dialogue. Sometimes with force. But never with indifference."
That sentence struck me deeply and it was different from what I had heard my entire life.
The Jedi seek peace. But sometimes protecting peace means not lifting a finger.
The Avengers, on the other hand, seek justice. And they move when there is injustice.
I didn't know what to say.
I just stood there in silence, with all of them looking at me as if this, being surrounded, accepted, understood, was the most normal thing in the world.
But for me, it wasn't.
The Jedi didn't speak like that. They didn't make those kinds of promises.
I didn't know how to respond.
I didn't even know how to blink without looking tense.
Natasha, who noticed it immediately, raised an eyebrow, "Well, this just got way too emotional for my taste."
She turned toward the others. "Let's go eat. It's about time."
Vision spoke from the side in his perfectly neutral tone. "Today I tried a new recipe: risotto with real parmesan. It has an 83% probability of being pleasant to the human palate."
"I'm in," Sam said, raising his hand. "As long as it's not some crazy experiment."
The group began to move, naturally dispersing. No solemnity, no dramatics. As if the conversation they had just had was simply another part of the day.
Sam stayed a little behind, and as he passed by me, he gave me a small friendly shove on the shoulder.
"Come on, Skywalker. Heroes eat too, you know?"
I looked at him and started walking after them.
It was the first dinner I shared with all of them since I arrived a week ago. The first time I didn't just watch from afar. The first time I didn't sit off to the side.
It was warmer than I expected. More welcoming.