Foreword: The following is a Star Wars AU piece. I do feel it should be noted, this project as a whole was created to be a sort of joint project between myself, Jael Randell (who the readership will likely know as the cowriter for Chronicles of the Fallen's second installment, Layers), and HaloRecoil. There will likely feel like there are… not necessarily huge missing parts, but like there are skips ahead to different parts of the overarching plot, as I will only be posting the pieces I myself have written. Familiarity with the storyline of Star Wars is, therefore, highly recommended. That said, there are going to be some deviations from said plot. It feels moreso like a situation where one must know the rules before breaking them.

This AU begins in the Rise of the Empire era, 36 BBY, and intends to stretch some time into the 19 years between the birth of the Skywalker twins and the end of the Galactic Civil War.

Also, while this has its roots as an Angel Sanctuary gone Star Wars AU, this piece features Nemaelle Mudou, OC for my CotF series.

Ignite the Stars
Imaginary Friend
By: Brenli

He wasn't much for reading.

Michael twitched about on the beige cushion on which he sat, cross-legged, the book open wide on the floor in front of him. Study hall wasn't much better than the hours upon hours spent in meditation; he was distracted by the smallest of events that happened around him. Shoe scuffs. Tiny sniffs of the nose. It pulled him away from the placid calm he was constantly being told to attain. The placid calm his brother reached with ease, so still he looked more like a statue than a boy.

Michael crossed his arms tighter and felt the pout bloom in his chest. 7 years wasn't a long time to be alive, but it felt like eons. The price to pay for being a youngling Jedi-to-be?

If he succeeded in becoming a Jedi. Hard to know, when he was too distracted to read the books or even just clear his head. He didn't know why he was this way… Just very aware of everything. The instructors of the Jedi Temple never said much about it, and he kinda figured they would have if it was a huge deal, but they never did. They just let him flounder…

Probably just waiting until he reached 13. Then they'd send him to AgriCorps. That was the quiet way to handle it, and he didn't need to be a big smart adult to know it. He was descended from the Morningstar line and kicking him out would be bad news. So yeah, they'd bury him in AgriCorps while his brother Lucifer carried the torch; he was a kid, but he knew his brother was better than him.

Michael knew jealousy was bad. It sent you on a path to the Dark Side. He knew that.

But he couldn't help feeling hurt about it. He wanted to be a Jedi Knight. He wanted to be a hero and keep the world safe. But he didn't have what it took. He didn't even have his own kyber crystal.

"Hi again."

Oh, it was his imaginary friend.

He didn't really know what else to call her. He'd been seeing her… all his life, he guessed? As far back as he could remember. And when he was super young, it didn't matter to anybody… Until his peers who also had imaginary friends, stopped having them, but he kept his for some reason. That was when he started keeping her a secret.

He didn't answer her because he was in study hall, and he tried not to look right at her, too, but he saw the shine of her kyber crystal, dangling from a raw leather cord. Colorless, for now.

Even his imaginary friend got a kyber crystal before him.

"Don't worry, you'll get one, too." She smiled so big her eyes crinkled shut. Her face looked like one of Coruscant's moons.

Visits with his imaginary friend were… maybe not typical? Always so vivid. Almost like teleporting, but only almost because he was still stuck in the Jedi Temple. Cross-legged on a cushion with his book in front of him, but… he was also somehow wherever she was.

A ship. A big, gray ship. He never could figure out what the ship was for; sometimes he'd get visits when she was boarding the ship again, and it never seemed to touch down in one world for very long. And those moments were far, far between. Like it only ever broke into the atmosphere to refuel and restock…

But whatever the ship was for, it kept moving.

Right now, she was also cross-legged on a cushion – gray like the metal floor like the metal walls like the metal everything on that ship – with a book in front of her.

Without thinking, he leaned forward, far past his own book, to try and peek at hers.

She didn't mind. She flipped it around so that he could read it… an illustrated book, places in Coruscant?

"This place will be different than all the others…!" And she seemed very excited about that, bouncing on her cushion. "What are you reading?"

Michael's eyes widened when she reached out and touched the pages of his book. It wasn't imaginary… the pages bowed under the pressure of her fingers. How?

He didn't stop to consider what it might look like if he reached out and touched her own book; he just did it. The paper was thin and had an odd grainy feel to it-

She flipped the book shut with a quick motion of her hand, nearly snapping it shut on his fingers, and she let out a loud peal of laughter that had him suddenly looking around the room at his peers.

Of course, they were too good at studying to be distracted.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just bored." She flipped the book open with another quick motion of her hand, not touching the cover, the pages. She used the Force for menial tasks. She used the Force for jokes and for fun, with ease…

It had him sitting straight and crossing his arms, again.

She mirrored him. "Don't be mad. I said I was sorry!"

He didn't respond.

"You're in study hall, again, huh?" Her lips puckered and her cheeks puffed out. She could use the Force with ease, but she was still a kid. "Fine. Let's be good and study together." Another motion of her fingers had her book floating… One hand stayed raised, which made her look awkward, but she made the book hover at a height that made it so she didn't have to hunch over the pages.

And he couldn't help himself. "… How?" He whispered the word, felt the dread of being overheard.

The floating book wavered; he'd distracted her, but not enough to break her concentration. "Hmm?" Her eyes were big, curious red orbs. She pointed at her book with her free hand. "This?"

Michael gave a small, scared but desperate nod.

"Energy."

He felt his disappointment weigh his shoulders down.

"No, hey!" She huffed and puffed, and her book flopped to the floor of her ship. It was nice to see she wasn't perfect. "It's all energy. I'm energy. You're energy. Your book is energy. The air is energy."

He shrugged, face scrunched in confusion.

"The Force is energy. It's all energy." Another big smile that turned her face into a moon. "You can do anything as long as you feel all the energy going around. Like the way your knee keeps jiggling."

Michael froze, the stillness feeling like a buzz in him.

"Like your fancy book with the super smooth paper. But, not that smooth, right? 'Cause it's your book. You put a bunch of creases in the spine and the glue isn't holding the pages as good as it used to. And you got the corners folded in some spots. That's energy you put into your book. And the floor, and the air around your book. Energy from you, from your peers, from your world."

"Distracting." A whisper he hoped nobody heard.

"No. Not distracting. Just energy." She shifted around on her cushion in a big wave, side to side. "Feel and see and hear and taste it. The Force isn't quiet. It's super super loud!" She leaned forward, holding a finger to her lips. "That's why the Masters always sit in quiet rooms; they're crazy old so they're tired of hearing it all the time."

Michael couldn't help it. He snickered.

"Try! Energy connecting you to the air to your book to everything." His imaginary friend's pale knees jiggled in frenetic excitement that echoed in his own knees. "Breathe it in. Smells like paper. Breathe it out again." She smiled, eyes shut, face like a moon.

The way she described it was so different from what he'd been told. He had to be quiet and very still, but she spoke of so much… stuff. Breathing and knee jiggling and the smell of books. Distractions, but she said they weren't distractions… What if they weren't?

Shoe scuffs. Quiet sniffs of his peers' noses. Even his own heartbeat.

His imaginary friend's pale fingers clutched onto her cushion. Old cotton, and her nails caught on the fabric and made a gripping sound.

The pages of his open book gently fluttered. He exhaled, and the pages softly settled. The edges of the paper didn't lay nicely; he'd thumbed through the pages so many times that some were used to a kind of curl that others weren't. It made the paper scratch against each other. His book, wearing all the energy he'd put into it. Full of it, like a part of himself. He slowly lifted his hand, like she'd been doing.

The book rose up.

Excitement had his heart thumping and his smile cracking wide across his face. His knees jiggled, his body shifted about and it made his book drift in a small wave, like it was riding on a current.

"Yay! Yay!" His imaginary friend was animated in her joy, her kyber crystal thumping against her chest as she bounced wildly on her cushion. "First stop, books! Next stop, kyber crystal!"

"Yeah!" He cheered out loud.

Michael remembered where he was.

Several eyes turned to him. He could feel the quiet gasps of some, and the held breath of others. His brother, as usual, kept the even breathing he could never hope to attain. His steel gray eyes weren't even looking at him, but at the book he was still hovering… even despite all the distractions. If they even were distractions, after all.

Michael immediately dropped his hand, and the book flopped to the floor with an unflattering clatter. He could feel the buzz of energy in it, in himself. His imaginary friend was gone, but he swore he could feel her face, smiling and looking like a moon.

The reaction wasn't what he expected. Maybe the floating book had something to do with that, but as their instructor told everyone to continue with their reading, he was escorted out of the quiet study hall.

"How did you make your book levitate?" The instructor asked.

"… The Force?" His ginger brow furrowed in boyish confusion.

"The Force." The tone was accepting but unimpressed. It was the obvious answer.

"Energy." He tried again. "In me. In my book. It buzzes."

The instructor nodded. "Come with me."

Michael tried something new, during the trip down through the Jedi Temple. He listened for the shuffle of their shoes on the floor. The rustle of his instructor's brown robe. There was dust, very light, kicked up into the air. Not enough to tickle his nose, but it caught the light from the windows. The light was warmer than the dark.

Not distractions. Just energy.

He stood and took in all the energy while his instructor spoke with the advisory Council. All that time thinking that details were distractions, but they weren't. It was just energy and it didn't keep him from listening to their conversation. It was time. He was late, and so would be in a smaller group than was usual, but it was time.

He would be going to Ilum…!

Michael's excitement had him jumping; and the weight of his instructor's hand on the crown of his head didn't keep the energy from buzzing in him, like he could lift ten books, if he wanted.

"You're not leaving right this second." His instructor gently teased. "Arrangements need to be made. In the meantime, back to studying. Actually studying. Read your book."

"Yeah, okay." Michael brushed it off and hurried through the doorway. He'd study if he got to float the book at the same time; that was his compromise!

"Hey!"

In his excitement, he turned toward his imaginary friend. Her world took up the entire doorway, all gray metal. It made her look tiny.

"Ilum?"

Michael felt the pride puff out his chest, and he grinned and nodded.

She grinned in kind. "Told ya so!" Her world jolted, making her throw out her arms to steady herself. "One more pitstop…!"

He wanted to ask what that meant, but he couldn't. She was already scrambling out of her metal room, and he really needed to stop talking to his imaginary friend.

"Are you coming, Michael?"

His head whipped around to his instructor, then back to the doorway. One of the advisory Councilmembers gave a nod of acknowledgement before shutting the door. "… Yeah, hang on!" He scurried and sprinted past his instructor.

This might be the first time he wouldn't mind study hall.