Before I even begin writing I must implore that all of you go back a reread the prior chapter just so you clearly understand what is going on. That I made a horrible mistake when I first wrote it. Somehow a couple paragraphs got switched around and it made it seem like Nova had hugged and said he loved the previous Overlord. I managed to fix the embarrassing mistake (though now one might find post editing mistakes in it). Now that it is fixed please go read the proper version. Really sorry for the inconvenience.
Another inconvenience I must mention is that The Fall: Part 2 is currently in a nearly unreadable state due to a error in the site's design. It is made even worse by the fact that I unintentionally deleted the rewrite I had attempted for it. So if any new readers actually kept reading past that to this I humbly apologise to you (and if any of you managed to make sense of reading it I fully applaud you and your amazing skill).
Thank you for listening to me and I will now continue with your story.
Chapter 18: Family
"We ran away to avoid war. We thought that as long as we could fly away we'd never have to worry about anything." Luka said as she sat on a crate in the courtyard of a mountain monastary overlooking the imperial capital, wearing her filthy old pilot's suit. "Here we are now. Trapped on a backwards planet that is about to go into a worldwide war against a Dark Lord. Our luck really sucks."
Kaito, who sat on the floor with his back leaning against the same crate, said nothing in response, but his somber expression implied he fully agreed.
Yuka, who stood stood nearby to them, looked like she wanted to say something, but decided against it looking really uncertain herself and divided. Instead she looked over at Akio, who sat attempting to meditate while wearing grey robes, clearly struggling to keep cool. Yuka was worried for everyone, her friends were all feeling down, naturally of course. They had all always been running from their problems, trying to live a decent life along the way. She was worried for Akio most of all, for the past few days he had been acting distant, which itself wasn't unusual, but it was more so than ever before, to where he was ignoring her almost completely.
Luka countinued, "Come to think of it, we should of figured out how bad our luck was a while ago. Since the beginning we have been chased and hunted by the Republic, a vengeful young Padawan, bouny hunters, Jedi splinter group assassins, " she held onto Kaito's hand tightly when she mentioned the assassions, "and discovered and subsequently fought an extragalatic empire of cyborgs strong enought to cause the Republic and CIS to form a truce!" She leaned back and looked up at the blue sky, "Now this. Lady Luck sure seems to have a grudge."
Yuka looked a bit more frustrated with the fact she hadn't said anything herself yet, and finally, after taking a breath, she said, "You don't mean that."
Luka didn't say anything, instead it was Kaito. "What makes you think we don't? As far as I can tell we're pretty screwed due to how things turned out with this big crazy adventure." He spoke without looking up.
"Because where would we be if not for all of this? Luka, where would you be if Akio didn't hijack your ship?" This one really forced the others to stop and think.
Luka smiled, perhaps because of memories brought up by what Yuka suggested. "I'd be back home at Serenno waiting to marry my betrothed. The thought of seeing the galaxy just a silly thought in the back of my head."
"Kaito, if the secret order didn't send you after Akio...?"
Kaito didn't say anything, the memories weren't his happiest. It was when he looked at Luka that a small smile appeared as he also held tightly to her hand.
"Who cares if they were some of our most terrifying enemies? If we didn't fight those cyborgs we'd of never met our favorite yellow goofball!" She laughed as she referranced their currently apart friend.
"I've been running a long time too. Yet without you, Akio, I..." As she turned to face him she was suddenly enveloped in a hug, such an embrace she quickly returned. Only moments later the other two join them.
I walked along a bridge from one one the castle structures to another stopping to look down at the city. "If I ever get that Tower back I think I'll make it shorter. I want to see the lands around." Bold of me to be thinking about the future at a time like this, but I needed to keep my hopes up.
"You're the... Overlord." She spoke it as though it were a simple observation.
I turned to see the owner of the voice. It was young, green-eyed girl with silk-like black hair, and a very youthful face. She wore a simple green set of robes with floral patterns. I hadn't seen her in such normal clothes before so it wasn't that surprising that I didn't recognize her.
"Lord Nova, I... would you please come with me?" She asked as she turned and started to walk away without waiting for a response.
Uncertain of what to do, I followed her. "Has Lord Leonar asked for me? I know how to get to the audience chamber myself." I said, just in case she had other important things to get to.
"It... it doesn't have anything to do with that. Please just follow me. It's important."
I wasn't certain about this, I felt like I should be suspicious of such a request, but I quickly felt guilty for having those suspitions as I thought about the sincerity of her voice. I'd at least hear her out. It did take a while, and she lead me out of the palace and castle. It was deeper into the city down a road I hadn't yet traveled. Eventually the roads looked more worn down and the houses were nothing but rotting wood and worn paper. The people here seemed to match their environment as they appeared weary and weak, many of them seemingly suffering from wounds that could have only come from battle, though few of them seemed to be soldiers.
Solemnly, I asked her my obvious guess. "Refugees?"
"The black islands, great Kuro, were locked in civil war for seven-hundred years... there were pauses of peace, and temporary reunifications, but so many lives were lost. The lands are forever scarred by the battles and strife as the Iro, the clans, warred for control. The people of this nation have never truly known a time of peace and many families' lives have been shaped by and for bloodshed..." she shivered as though she felt something I didn't. "Lord Kenobi appeared one day and took the name of the land to be the blessed emperor, in a few short years he put an end to an era spanning half of our written history."
I had always known war to be an ugly thing. Though my enemies were most often just droids I still had to see the clone soldiers falling on the battlefield, sometimes for days at a time I'd be living with the troops on the battlefield. Yet I had never been sent on relief missions, only ever catching glimpses of the refugees as they were marched away from dangers. That war is something I now might not ever know the true result of. At least here, even if now I more than ever I could feel the pain of the over trillions that the Clone Wars affected thanks to the brief exposure to the sorrows of these people, at least now there was peace here, "Leonar is truly an extraordinary man, I am sure the..."
"I don't think it will last." Her words were fast, but I could hear everything in them. Her anger, sorrow, youth, and experience.
I took a breath as I felt through the Force her emotions.
"This peace is a miracle, but I don't know if it is really once and for all or if all of our work will be cast away as another brief point in an endless battle for Kuro." She turned to face me, her eyes containing her tears as well as they could. "It will be a hundred years before this land looks anything like the ancient land of art, likely after every one of us who have longed for it have passed away... yet now we can't even... there isn't even time for us to rest before a darkness tries to consume us all."
I didn't know what I could say to her, I wasn't experienced in such a thing and I was Overlord to another land, not even being of this world, and I didn't even know her name.
She started walking again, and I followed her without being asked in any way. She lead me to what appeared to be a large temple or shrine, with a large straircase going up, on which she stopped halfway and sat down.
I debated on waiting to see if she only needed to rest or just going up myself. In the end I sat down on the opposite side of the stairs from her a couple of steps down.
Eventually she was able to started, "The best chance at the peace we've all been fighting for our whole lives, as so many of our ancestors did, is about to be torn away from us because of something beyond most of our knowledge. Many people don't even understand the scale of what's happening and would rather we just stayed out of it so we can finally rest. The worst thing is that even though I know everything, even that we have no choice but to fight, that I also understand everything that they're saying. I am tired of having to kill. I was raised to be a killer in a family of killers, only to watch them all be killed. In turn, I killed, and I killed, and I..." She faltered as she realized she was nearly about to cry. Once she collected herself she spoke again, "I brought you out here to make a request."
I could tell that this was very serious thing for her, and so I turned around and knelt on the stairs looking up towards her.
"Please, don't fight." It was a wish that caught me completely off guard, something I could never have considered. "I've had to watch to many children die in war. Please don't let me see another young hero's name carved on a stone."
I looked down, not wanting to meet her eyes when I said, "I can't promise that. It's... it's... to late." I struggled to find the right words, but I did find them. "I was raised from birth as a 'keeper of peace' to maintain order across the galaxy. I was told that after my older brother was discovered by the Jedi that my parents became obsessed with the Order, and the moment they had me they made sure to hand me over to the masters. The Order raised me to love everything, but be attached to nothing. All in order to become a peacekeeper. Some guardians we were. As soon as war broke out across the stars we became more soldier than savior."
"You have a choice don't you? I don't understand it all, but you aren't obligated to stay in this one little world. If you really come from the stars then this one little world, with it's own self-contained problems must seem pretty insignificant. You don't have to fight for us. You're young and have a future out there."
"There isn't any future I'd want to be a part of that sees me abandon this world. There is nothing left for me out there... Here I have found so much more. A goal that will genuinely help people, people who I care about and who care for me. People I love." I won't say my resolve wasn't tested, but it felt stronger now more than ever before. "You're no different, aren't you?" I asked her with a smile.
She smiled, and then, in a silly and childish voice she spoke, "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Anata!" She slid down to my level and offered a hand.
"I'm Nova. It's nice to meet you." I said taking her hand and shaking it.
"Likewise." Not letting go, Anata changed her voice to a more serious state, while still keeping a soft tone and her smile. "Nova, I pledge by the name of clan Midori, I shall follow you till the end and protect you from all harm within my power. Should that end come on the battlefield, then I will be there to die by your side."
I accepted her oath, and from then on, I had a sister.
