#you prompted this fic for flaminganakin when she was too shy all those months ago

[smonksthemuse]

life, death, dog (chapter six)

here on my AO3

“A kyber crystal?” Leia stepped forward and knelt in front of him, beside her brother. Anakin’s breath caught; this was the closest he had ever been to both of his children at the same time.

They were both so perfect…

“Yes, look.” Luke showed Leia the crystal, and she traced a finger over it reverently.

“It’s beautiful,” she murmured. Anakin couldn’t help feeling a bit flattered at that, even though he knew it wasn’t meant as a compliment toward him. The crystal was an exact copy of the one inside his lightsaber, after all, and his lightsaber was an extension of himself… so, in a way, Leia was calling him beautiful.

Obi-Wan snorted. Anakin happily ignored him.

Solo came to join them, leaning around the twins to get a look. “Who would put a kyber crystal on a dog?”

“I don’t know,” Luke said. “But I don’t think he belongs to one of the Ewoks. Kyber crystals are rare; the Jedi got them from the planet Ilum.”

“A dog from Alderaan, wearing a rare crystal from Ilum, on one of Endor’s moons.” Solo sat back. “Where’s that protocol droid when you need him to tell you the odds?” he muttered wryly.

“You know what’s unlikely?” one of the Rebels called out. “He managed to walk straight through the village, past all of us, and no one noticed a thing until he barked.” The rest of the group nodded and murmured in agreement.

“I didn’t notice him either,” Luke admitted. “And he was sitting right in front of us.” He turned back to Anakin, scratching under his chin now, which felt even better than the ear-scratches. “How’d you do that, boy?”

All too soon, the scratching stopped, and Anakin had to stop himself from whining at the loss. Luke looked at him, head tilted. “Are you a boy?” he asked.

A profound feeling of awkwardness came over Anakin, and he could tell Obi-Wan shared in it. There was really only one way answer that question, and it was unfortunately through showing rather than telling.

Solo laughed unhelpfully. “Look at him!” he chuckled. “He looks embarrassed! Like he knows what you’re asking.”

Luke and Leia giggled, and Anakin dearly wished he could bite Solo.

Anakin! Obi-Wan scolded.

Not a real bite, Anakin huffed. Just a little nip. To set boundaries.

Hmm, Obi-Wan said. Then, mischievously, Boundaries? Well, I suppose it’s never too early to start obedience training.

Anakin guffawed, and it came out as a series of short arfs that made the trio laugh even harder. Even the half-dozen or so Rebels laughed, and Anakin couldn’t find it in him to be annoyed.

Deciding he might as well get it over with, he closed his eyes and rolled over onto his side. Luke gently put a hand on Anakin’s stomach, rubbing carefully, and Anakin wagged his tail to encourage it. This felt even better than the chin-scratches.

“He’s a boy,” Luke proclaimed. Anakin got to his feet and shook the dirt from his fur with as much dignity as he could muster. Indeed, he sniffed.

You handled that very well, Anakin, Obi-Wan said supportively. Anakin could tell he was the tiniest bit amused by all this, but also that his praise was sincere.

“Well,” Solo said. The twins turned to him expectantly. “What should we do with him?”

Leia answered. “We’re keeping him.”

All eyes turned to her; she had the same determined look on her face that he’d seen on Padmé so many times. And it was for him. His chest tightened.

Luke smiled. “I was going to say the same thing.” He looked back at Anakin and began petting him fondly. “He seems… special somehow. I feel like we were meant to find him.”

“He found us,” Leia pointed out. She joined Luke in petting Anakin, running her hands through his thick fur. Anakin closed his eyes blissfully.

Solo huffed a laugh. “Well, he definitely likes you two.” He stood and brushed the dirt off his pants. “Should I inform Chewie that we’re adopting a dog?”

Leia nodded imperiously. “It’s only courteous,” she said, “that we tell him he’s no longer the furriest of the group.”

Luke snickered, and Solo put on a mock-offended expression. “Chewie will always be the furriest,” he scoffed. “This little mini-fuzzball isn’t even a third his size.”

“But his fur is thicker and more lustrous,” Leia said, mussing the ruff of fur around Anakin’s neck. Anakin grinned, tongue hanging out.

“I’m telling him you said that.” Solo turned on his heel and marched off. Leia’s smile stretched across her face, and Anakin suddenly recalled the dramatic declarations of love he had seen the two exchange at Bespin.

So. A smuggler was in love with his daughter, and his daughter was in love with a smuggler, and something told him there wasn’t an end in sight.

He sighed. Ah, well. As long as she was happy, and he treated her with respect, he supposed he could live with it.

He would still keep an eye on Solo, of course.

“So what should we name him?” Luke asked. “Do you have any ideas?”

Leia looked at Anakin consideringly. “You know,”she said, “I feel like you should name him.”

“Me?” Leia nodded, and Luke shrugged. “Alright. Let me think…” He took Anakin’s face in his hands, looking into his eyes. “What should your name be?”

At that moment, the sound of a starfighter drew their attention to the sky. They looked up and saw an X-wing flying overhead, zooming into the atmosphere. Anakin found his tail wagging fiercely at the sight; oh, how he missed flying. The rush of it. The joy, the excitement. The feeling of freedom.

“Ta’yar.”

A shock ran through him at the word. Ta’yar? He looked back at Luke, whose eyes held a strange mix of certainty and wonder as he stared at Anakin.

“Tuh-yar?” Leia said curiously. “What’s that?”

“It’s a word invented by slaves on Tatooine.” Luke said. “I think the closest thing in Basic is ‘wanderlust’… but that doesn’t really match. It’s like…” He struggled to find the words to define it. “Ta’yar is the feeling you get looking up at a ship in the sky. You see it flying away, and you wish it was you. You wish that you were flying away. To freedom.” The expression on Luke’s face said he didn’t think the explanation satisfactory, but Anakin thought he’d done well, and Leia seemed to understand.

“So that’s what you want to name him? Ta’yar?”

Luke nodded. “Yeah. It feels right. I think it’s a good name for him.” He turned to Anakin and smiled. “What do you think, boy?”

It felt right to Anakin, too. In fact the word - his new name, the name his children would know him by - seemed to wrap around his heart and warm him from the inside. Such a name made him feel… well, it made him feel free.

So he barked happily and pressed his face into Luke’s chest; it was the closest he could get to a hug without human arms and a torso.

“Aww,” Luke cooed. “You wanna give me kisses, buddy?”

Yes! he said joyfully. It came out as “YARF!”, but Luke got the idea.

“Okay, give me kisses!”

Anakin did, with enthusiasm.

YOU GUYS!! ‘LIFE, DEATH, DOG’ IS FINALLY FINISHED!! THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

@flaminganakin LOOK! IT’S BEEN MONTHS BUT YOUR FIC YOU REQUESTED IS FINALLY DONE! HERE YOU GO FRIEND THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF AN AU THAT HAS NO END IN SIGHT! :D :D :D