Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Van
Prologue: Revan's Rebirth
Cover Image: A young Revan surrounded by pieces of his armour.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Revan, renowned as the Revanchist, honoured as the Revan, reviled as Revan the Butcher, dreaded as the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Revan, and praised as the Prodigal Knight.
He was the very embodiment of myth and folklore, a living legend who was redeemed from the depths of darkness after his memories were rewritten.
But as time passed, he sacrificed his chance at happiness and a life with his family, so that he may protect them and the Galaxy from the threat of the Sith Emperor. Even in defeat, he managed to stall the evil ruler's onslaught for centuries.
The years of torture at the hands of the Emperor and his Dread Masters splintered his mind into light and dark halves and by the time he was released by heroes of the Republic and defeated by heroes of the Empire, his light half accepted death and his dark half clung on to life so that he may exact his revenge.
The dark half, who called himself "Revan Reborn" commanded armies of fanatic followers against both the Empire and Republic in a bid to challenge the Emperor so that he could defeat the Dark Lord permanently. But his foe was powerful and it was inevitable that Revan would lose and doom the Galaxy.
The heroes of both the Empire and Republic, aided by Revan's light half, took a stand against Revan Reborn and after a fierce battle, they defeated the spectre.
But the scores of dead caused by Revan Reborns' bloody conflict brought the Emperor back to physical form. The two halves of Revan reunited and he entrusted his task to the new heroes.
Now… after Revan's legend had finally come to an end, a new journey awaits the Prodigal Knight beyond the known Galaxy.
One with the Force, Revan's spirit now resided on a different plane of existence, the Netherworld of the Force, a realm of eternal tranquillity where time ceased to exist.
The spirit took the form of Revan's uncorrupted self, the ghostly form of a young man in his early twenties dressed in black and dark red robes with a bronze chest plate, his face obscured by his symbolic red and grey mask.
The Force Ghost was convinced that he had no regrets, entrusting the Sith Emperor's defeat to a new generation of heroes, Sith and Jedi alike. But in the end, he was wrong, for he had a major regret, the life he never had with his wife and child, Bastilla and Vaner Shan.
Even in eternal tranquillity, thoughts of his family pained him. How many birthdays and anniversaries did he miss? What kind of father would he have been? Those were questions he would never get answers for. Though he took solace in knowing they lived their lives peacefully because of his sacrifice, he still wished he could have been with them.
Revan had descendants Satele and Theron Shan, but they were distant and meeting them did not ease the pain of outliving his wife and child.
But Revan's melancholy thoughts were broken by a sudden voice that echoed in his ghostly head.
"Revan…" A female voice called out to the Force Ghost, her tone wise but urgent.
Revan heard the voice, but he couldn't locate it, disembodied voices were nothing new to him, after all, he had been one to the heroes on Yavin 4, but something was different about this one, her voice sounded ethereal, almost divine and it lacked the echo of a ghostly encounter.
"Who are you?" Revan addressed the voice, not bothering to ask how she knew his name, after all, he was a legend, and many people knew who he was.
"I am Histoire, I am the world's everything, and the world is my everything." The voice spoke in a cryptic but almost motherly voice. "I am the Tome that records all of existence."
Revan didn't know what to make of Histoire, the tome that records all of existence? There was no way something like that could be sentient, then something occurred to him, what if worlds existed beyond even the force, beyond comprehension, it was possible, and that would explain the oddity of his current predicament.
"And what do you want from this old ghost?" Revan remarked dryly, knowing that journeys of destiny never really ended well for him in the past. "I don't really have anything to offer a World Tome."
"I know that you've been a hero not once, but twice and that you have sacrificed your happiness as a result." Histoire's voice was now pained with regret, but her request was important, the fate of her world depended on it. "But please… just one last time."
Revan sighed bitterly, he could have denied Histoire's request, after all, hasn't he already done enough? Sacrificed enough? He didn't owe anyone anything anymore, but there was still one problem, he was still wracked with guilt over his other half's actions near the end of his life, and turning away from another chance at redemption was not something his conscience would allow.
"What do you need me to do…?" Revan's voice was tinged with sorrow as he was resigned to his fate.
"You will be reborn on Gamindustri, but your memories and powers are too great, so I'll have to seal them, but you'll find them as you continue your journey… hurry, you and Neptune will save our world." Histoire told Revan his new fate and she prepared to use her powers to write him into a new existence. "You won't be alone… I've brought back your old friends."
Revan was tempted to ask who this "Neptune" was or who the old friends were, but knowing would do little for him, seeing as he was going to lose his memories a second time.
A flash of radiant light blinded him and before he knew it, the first steps towards his new destiny had begun.
Years passed and Revan had indeed been reborn on Gamindustri but his memories fractured once more and all he could really remember were the basic functions he needed to survive and operate and the last three letters of his name "Van" which he took as his new name, his new body was younger, taking the appearance of a man in his late teens with shoulder-length brown hair and matching eyes.
Van stood in a junkyard on Lastation, dressed in a black trench coat over dark-green plated light armour and a green sensor over his right eye. He held a blaster carbine that resembled a shotgun in his right hand and a telescopic vibroblade in his left.
"So you're the scoundrel that works for Lady Black heart now?" A portly man with greying hair, a moustache and a beard, dressed in a mechanic uniform with a sack of various gadgets and parts slung over his shoulder addressed Van in a familiar tone.
"I prefer the term "privateer" sounds more dashing." Van gave the man a wry smile. "And I work for the highest bidder, who just happens to be Lady Black Heart."
"For the 25th time in a row? Something's going on between you two." The portly man let out a hearty laugh.
"I'm just good at what I do." Van shrugged as he let out a soft chuckle. "So, do you have the parts I requested?"
"Yeah, top of the line carbine upgrades." The Merchant took out several metallic blaster parts that fine-tuned to match the aesthetic of Van's signature weapon. "Fresh from Avenir's storehouse."
Ignoring the Merchant, Van happily placed his blaster carbine on the shelf and disassembled the weapon, quickly applying the upgrade parts to the custom gun, with a final click and a questionable electric noise the job was done.
"Thanks." Van spun the blaster carbine in his finger before returning it to its holster.
But before Van could admire his handiwork, a group of robotic drones appeared in the junkyard, each floating a few feet off the ground and sporting advanced long range weaponry. The machines then ruthlessly opened fire, sending a barrage of white-hot beams straight at the two men.
Van and the Merchant took cover behind a large scrap heap as the privateer traded shots with the drones. The sounds of blaster fire and the smell of smoke turning the junkyard into a battlefield.
"You stole these parts didn't you?!" Van complained between shots, knowing that the Merchant had just gotten them into a dangerous situation.
"Less talking, more shooting!" The panicked Merchant would listen to all of Van's complaints later, for now, he wanted his young customer to keep them both alive.
The Merchant didn't have to tell Van twice, after all, the privateer didn't want to get shot down by Avenir's drones.
"I'll take this!" Van reached into the Merchant's sack of scrap and pulled out what looked like spherical blue grenade.
"Hey! That's 100 credits!" The Merchant voiced his displeasure at Van's sudden handling of his merchandise.
"Consider this a "saving your behind" discount!" Van retorted quickly before throwing the grenade between two of the drones.
The grenade detonated and a surge of electricity shorted out the two drones, distracting the other two long enough for Van to leave the cover of the scrap heap and fire his blaster carbine, the two orange beams piercing the one of the drones before it fell to the ground singed and broken.
The last drone standing then hovered closer to Van for a close combat strike, taking out a buzz saw from his metallic manipulators, but the privateer side-stepped to avoid the spinning blade and with a quick flick of the wrist, he cut through the machine with his extended vibroblade's now half-meter blade.
The battle ended, and all the drones were smoking heaps on the ground, now reduced to fresh piles of junk for the salvagers that would inevitably visit the grounds.
Van enjoyed combat, but two things always bothered him, the first was how he always seemed to know just where to shoot targets and the second was how he disliked the way his vibroblade dragged itself along the air, though lightweight, he felt as if he's benefit from a completely weightless blade.
"You owe me for the blaster parts and that grenade you just used." The Merchant stood up and dusted himself off, coughing from the smoke. "That's 1000 credits."
"I just saved your life, and besides…" Van turned his attention to the freshly dispatched drones lying in the ground. "I just got you some premium salvage."
"I guess I'll let this slide just this once…" The Merchant sighed, though he wanted to get paid, he knew that Van had just saved his life.
"Well, it's getting late; you don't want Lady Black Heart worrying too much, do you?" The Merchant teased Van, taking the same tone a father would take when teasing his son.
"You don't have to remind me." Van smiled nervously, knowing how irate his employer could be. "Take care of yourself."
Van dusted off his coat before holstering his carbine and sheathing his vibroblade. Leaving the junkyard, he headed back to the inn that he was staying at.
Lastation was a busy nation, known as the Land of Black Regality. Among the four nations, this one was by far the most industrious, though not as appealing to the eye as Leanbox, the conveniences offered were much more diverse.
Van passed by the Basilicom on the way to the inn when he felt a hand tug at his coat and when he looked around, he saw none-other than Lady Black Heart herself.
She was a beautiful woman with long white hair and aqua-coloured eyes, dressed in a plug-suit with several blue wings floating behind her back and in her hand, was a large blue sword. Black Heart wore an annoyed yet worried scowl on her face as she pointed an accusatory finger at Van.
"I heard that you got in a fight… just what were you thinking?!" Black Heart lowered her hand and balled her fists in anger as she glared at Van. "Did you know how worried I was when I heard?"
"Oh?" Van's lips curved into a wry smile. "I didn't think you cared that much."
"W-Well… you're my privateer and you can't work for me when you're hurt." Black Heart's cheeks burned red when she realised how she had chosen her words, but then she remembered something else she had heard. "Wait… Kei told me she saw you working for White Heart!" The Lastation CPU's expression was now heated with anger.
"A girl in every port." Van shrugged with a smirk on his face as he told an old smuggler's joke, but the jest earned him a spiteful glare from Black Heart. "Relax, I may have worked for Lady White Heart, but we're not close like you and I."
"A-As long as you know who your contracted to!" Black Heart crossed her arms and turned away from Van with a huff, but as her back was turned, she smiled to herself, glad to hear that she was ahead of the other CPUs for the privateer's affections.
"Well, gotta run!" Van smiled at Black Heart, following it with a wink. "Can't work without sleep, now can I?"
Later that night at the inn, Van slept on his bed and as he did, the same recurring dream played in his head.
Two cloaked figures stood across one another, the one with pristine black robes and a red and grey mask stood in the light and the one with tattered black robes and a similar mask, only damaged with a single red eye stood in the dark and between those two figures, was a beautiful woman with long purple hair tied in twin braids with matching purple eyes dressed in a plug-suit.
The mystery woman seemed to be smiling at Van, holding her hand out to him, but when he reached out for it, he woke up before he could make contact.
"That dream again…" Van stood up from his bed and rubbed his eyes, he never knew who that mystery woman was, but he knew she was important, as were the two robed figures in his dream.
As Van approached the window with the intent of opening it to let some fresh air in, he saw a shooting star blaze through the night sky, the privateer held out his hand and pretended to catch the star, sensing that it was a sign of things to come.
Author's note: The prologue of the first of my May 4th Star Wars Day project is done! I've wanted to write a Neptune and Revan story for years, but I had to wait for Revan's story to come to a close before I could even lay the groundwork.
As Van, Revan is what he'd be if the Scoundrel starting class was picked. I decided to reuse Kotor's amnesia story for Revan to establish him in Gamindustri as his own man and to add a more personal reason for travelling with Neptune, regaining his own memories.
Van's job as a privateer lands him in a role similar to Han Solo and Revan will be a Cade Skywalker and Kanan Jarrus type character before getting his memories back. The idea of all the CPUs fighting for his privateer services will be somewhat of a running joke. Van will also be childhood friends and partners with IF.
Noire's affection for Van will also play on her role as the tsundere of the group. When she finds out Van's travelling with Neptune, she'll have one hell of an outburst.
Neptune will fall in love with Van and seeing him slowly become Revan again is hard, because she's afraid that Van will be buried under his true identity.
We'll be seeing other Star Wars characters as the story progresses, like Darth Malak, Meetra Surik, Zayne Carrick, the droids, HK-47 and T3-M4, and perhaps even Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus.
Next chapter, Van meets Neptune and Compa and he builds his lightsaber! Remember to check out the poll and leave any suggestions or feedback in the reviews, and May the 4th be with you.
