*I only own the OC in this story and the plot of it. My Hero Academia and all canon characters in this world are property of Kōhei Horikoshi. Also comment to let me know what you think! Enjoy!*
Binding the Galaxy Together
Chapter 7 – Plans
Questioning a lone child who was found by themselves on the streets was a part of the job Detective Tsukauchi had become quite familiar with in his years working with the police. For the most part it either went one out of three ways. One; said child had an argument with their parents and he helped them understand why the child was wrong to runaway. Then the parents would be called, a tearful reunion was had, and the child promised to never do it again. Two; it was more than just an argument and the parents were abusive towards this child. That ended up leading to child protection being called in and in some cases, an arrest or two being made. The child would be then placed into foster care hopefully put into a better home. And three; the child was immediately put into the foster care system upon realizing they were homeless and had no next of kin to take them in. That was usually how it always played out.
As Tsukauchi held the phone to his ear, listening into a three way call with himself, Ryukyu, and Mirko, his brain was scrambling trying to think of a fourth option that could be used in Camilla Sharro's case. The more information about her Ryukyu laid out, the more the detective found himself in a very delicate situation. Despite being shown proof that Camilla was indeed not of this world, he was still hoping against hope that despite all of that, there would be a solution easy to find that would involve hours upon hours of thinking. Hearing the abridged version of her story shattered that dream.
Nevertheless he was still floored by the explanation about this Force power that gave Camilla her power. Upon first hearing it, it all sounded far too similar to a villain he and a certain symbol of peace were far too familiar with. A kid with the pinky toe joints of a quirkless human but still having not one but many powers. It was a good thing they found Camilla inside her ship and not somewhere away from it. If they had brought in the kid without proof that she was alien, so many alarms would've gone off in Tsukauchi's head. Thankfully though, that wasn't the case. Not so thankfully, he still had to find a permanent place for this kid to go. A kid with no identification or prior background on this planet.
"A war?!"
Mirko however had her thoughts on a different matter.
"She was only twelve and her master thought it would be a good idea to take her to war with him?!"
"That's what she told me, Rumi." Ryukyu responded back.
The dragoon hero leaned back in her office chair and looked at her phone's screen to see how long this call had been going. Above the two icons of Mirko's and Tsukauchi's faces, the timer for the call currently read twenty two minutes. That was with constant interruptions from Mirko as she explained.
"Camilla has apparently been a part of this Clone War for the past two out of the three years it went on. Then one day, all the soldiers under hers and her master's command just turned on them and opened fire. She fled and ended up crash landing here when her ship came out of hyperspace."
Mirko leaned her back against the giant satellite dish behind her as she stood atop a tall building in the city. It was a little windy up there but it was a lot quieter compared to the ground near a shopping mall on a Saturday afternoon. The satellite dish was able to block it.
She ran a hand over her face and let out an exasperated groan. Mirko was finding herself caring about this girl way more than she was comfortable with now. Yeah she was concerned about her and she probably would have moved on from it easily if not hearing her back-story. But now she did hear it. Camilla wasn't just a kid. She was a mystical knight's apprentice/war veteran with two glows sticking looking swords. And both her and her weapons full capabilities were still yet to be seen!
"OK. So by what you've told us so far, this kid isn't just powerful. She's a potential walking death machine."
"Do I even need to remind you what All Might and Endeavor can do, Mirko?" Ryukyu seemed confused she was trying to play that card. "They're not exactly known for how soft they go on villains."
"I can kind of see where she's coming from."
Tsukauchi had hidden himself away on the opposite side of a one way mirror that looked into a questioning room. No one else was there and it was quiet so he had plenty of room to speak. The call however was starting to go on a little long. He needed to wrap it up soon.
"This one…Force or whatever it's called, to grant her multiple abilities like that, it does sound quite dangerous."
"But she isn't." Ryukyu's adamant tone was meant to stop that thought. "Detective, Mirko, I am positive about this. Camilla, while powerful, isn't a threat to us. She's a girl who has admittedly gone through much more than a girl her age should, but she's lost. And as we saw today she uses her power in the right ways."
"But not the acceptable ways." Tsukauchi countered.
"Yes I know she has no license but she only landed here last night. She gave us her story while we haven't told her anything about how our society works. I'll fill her in the best I can and then we can go from there."
"Well that's nice and all, Ryuko. But that still leaves us with one big problem. Where is she supposed to go?"
Ryukyu would have slapped a hand to her face if not for the claw shaped mask hiding half of it. Instead she just drummed her fingers on the surface of her desk and replied back to her friend. It wasn't a bad question. In fact it was a question she had been asking herself upon first discovery of the Jedi's heritage beyond the stars.
"For now, she is welcome to stay here in my building." The number nine hero responded. "But I suggest we take this one step at a time. First thing is to get her acclimated to our rules and laws."
"I can see about getting her some identification and documents but I can't make any promises." Tsukauchi threw his offer on the table.
"I uh….I don't really know what I can do right now. Maybe-oh shit. Ryuko I'll come by your building later to talk with her myself. I wanna see what all she can do. Right now a drunken moron is trying to hold up jewelry joint. See ya!"
With that, Mirko hung up and headed for the roof ready to hop into action again. Now it was just a two way call between Ryukyu and Tsukauchi.
"Finding out the extent of her abilities is probably a good idea." Tsukauchi agreed with the rabbit hero's words. "Something tells me we haven't even begun to see just what this Force can allow her to do."
"I'll bring that up with Camilla when I speak to her again." Ryukyu told him. "Listen I think I've taken up enough of your time, detective. I should let you get back to work."
"You should probably get back out there too. At least for a little bit." Tsukauchi suggested. "I've been browsing some news sites and channels. Reports of the crash are starting to circulate around and conspiracy theorists are commenting left and right about a possible alien encounter."
That was another aspect Ryukyu hadn't focused much on when she really should have. People saw the ship fall but luckily no one else saw the thing had a person inside it. So for now, Camilla was safe from being hunted down. But she had to keep it that way. Even if that meant telling a few half truths to the media to get them to back off. She had never lied to the media. In fact she hated doing so. Almost every pro hero knew telling a bald faced lie to the press and having the truth revealed later was the equivalent of signing a death warrant on your career. How could anyone trust a hero who doesn't tell the truth?
"I'll get back to you on that. For now you're right. I should get out there again. I'll hear from you soon, detective."
Ryukyu hung up her phone and placed it on her desk before resting back in her chair again rubbing the part of her face that wasn't covered by her mask.
"And here was hoping to go down to the spa this weekend and get pampered. God knows my aching feet could use a rub."
Pushing those thoughts away, she stood up again and headed back to the guest rooms. She passed over the one Camilla was in and went to the one next to it and knocked on the door.
"Nejire? Are you decent?"
"Come in!"
Opening the door, Ryukyu saw her intern lying on her stomach with a laptop in front of her head and her legs in the air behind her.
"Get ready to head out again." Ryukyu requested.
"What about Camilla?" Nejire wondered.
"I'll let her know we're leaving. Get your suit back on."
Nodding, Nejire hopped off her bed and Ryukyu closed the door to let her dress in privacy. Then she walked over to the door that had the Padawan behind it and knocked.
"Camilla?"
One word was all that was spoken before the doorknob turned and the door slowly swung open. Looking in, Ryukyu saw that Camilla too was on her bed only cross legged and with her eyes closed in concentration. R3 was sitting just to her right.
"Yes, Miss Ryukyu?"
"Nejire and I are going out for a bit to patrol the city. Will you be alright here by yourself?"
Opening her eyes, the Jedi turned her head in Ryukyu's direction. Even after hearing her story the dragoon hero found it quite amazing that a blind girl could look right at her knowing where she is.
"I'll be OK. Thank you."
Nodding in acknowledgement, Ryukyu closed the door trusting the girl would still be there when she got back. A few minutes later, Nejire walked out of her room clad in her costume and fixing up her spiral shaped hair horns. Once they left, Camilla was left on that floor of the building on her own in the same pose she had been in for a while now. As she sat, she did her best to calm her mind and focus while muttering to herself the mantra of the Jedi.
"There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force."
As she finished another repeat of that verse, she kept thinking on it for a few moments before she stopped her meditation and let her hands over fall over her knees.
"Some good that's gonna do me here." She sarcastically commented to herself.
A ways in front of her, a loud slew of annoyed beeping and chirping noises rang into Camilla's ears.
"Well I'm sorry, R3. But you heard those messages same as me. Hell you even recorded one of them! The Jedi and the Republic are gone. And of all the places I could land on, it had to be one that's never heard of either of them. What good am I here?"
More of the droid's chattering beeped across the walls of the room, annoying and upsetting the Padawan even further.
"What do you mean, 'This isn't the end for me?' My entire way of life is dead. And along with it are my master, all of my old friends, and quite possibly my brother!"
Clutching the sides of her head, Camilla felt like she was on the verge of another panic attack but she was able to catch her breathing in time to stop this one. Her head felt like it was being twisted into a helix. She was supposed to not let fear in yet here it was, overpowering her other emotions.
"I'm scared, R3. More scared then I've ever felt before. And I don't know what to do. Every time I stepped onto another planet with Master Morlev, I always had his teachings to guide me. But now he's not here. What am I supposed to do now? What would he say about this?"
"Why do you push yourself so hard, young Padawan?"
Camilla shot straight back up when her master's voice came to her again. Looking around, she thought the Force was allowing her to commune with the dead or something. She had heard a rumor that was a thing.
"Master?"
"Because I have to."
Hearing her own voice made her realize what was happening. She turned to R3. Though she couldn't see the holograms with her Force vision, she could still hear the recording of her younger self with her master while they were in training.
"All I've ever been is underestimated because of my eyes. Even after you and Master Yoda taught me to use the Force see people still think I don't belong here. Younglings AND masters. They don't say it but I can sense it. They think I was only allowed to become a Jedi out of pity."
Camilla gasped as she remembered this day. It was the very same day she was promoted to a Padawan and placed under the apprenticeship of Master Morlev.
"Do not let those lies bother you." Came the Jedi Master's soft voice. "I've been keeping an eye on you since the day I found you and your brother on Corellia. And yes I have heard some wasters uncaringly voice their lack of expectations for you. That's why we trained you to see with the Force. So you could have your chance to prove them wrong. Because you deserved the same opportunity as everyone else, even if they didn't want to admit it."
"Master…"
"And the fact that passed is a clear sign that you take this and your teachings seriously. That is why I chose you to be my Padawan learner. Not out of something so condescending as pity. You earned your right to be at my side."
Camilla didn't notice a few more tears were leaking down her cheeks. Then again, in that recording, she knew she was there too. Her master's words meant that much to her then as they still do now.
"But what will happen if I no longer have your side to be next to?"
"Then trust yourself and trust your instincts. No matter where you go, I'll always be with you. Remember, there is no death."
"There is the Force."
After that, the hologram R3 was playing vanished and he turned his dome head back to look at Camilla. She had swung her legs off the side of the bed as she was listening to that recording, shocked to hear that conversation again. The last time she did was three years ago when she first had it.
"I remember that…some kids were jealous that I passed the trial and they didn't. So they found me afterwards and started teasing me. I was so mad I went to the training room for hours to vent my frustrations. Then master found me."
She turned to look at her droid again thinking about something.
"R3 how much of my life have you recorded while you've been with me?"
The answer R3 beeped back surprised the Padawan learner.
"That much?"
One beep was a "yes" from the astromech as he looked upon his owner and watched her reel from the revelation. She soon refocused on the recording that was just played in front of her. Master Morlev had been there for her since that day on Corellia. Other than him and a select few others, including Master Yoda and Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, everyone else in the order brushed her off thinking she was merely a novelty. She had to work multiple times harder than any other youngling in her clan to prove herself worthy of being there. And she was convinced she had done that only because of her masters' training of her.
Yet now her she was on an uncharted planet with no masters to help guide her. She was alone and afraid with no one to rely on but herself. Yet it felt like Ryukyu and Nejire wanted to legit help her. She could sense that much but neither party knew how they could do it. All Camilla knew was that she was the only Jedi on this planet with knowledge about a whole other galaxy and the strife it had gone through in the past three years of the Clone Wars. Not that any of that mattered now. As far as she was concerned, Camilla was lucky that she was able to get four people to believe she was telling the truth. Those thoughts however kept rounding back to the one question.
What was she supposed to do?
The recording of her master said to trust her instincts and herself. For her that was nothing new as she had believed she had to since her first day as a youngling. But now there were no masters to fall back on in case she stumbled. Sighing, she looked over to her duffel bag and called it over to her with an outstretched arm and a pull of the force. Opening it up, she felt around inside touching various holocrons with different libraries of information and a few other things they were covering. One such thing was her breather for underwater missions, and a training probe to help her with her saber skills. Then there was the case full of bacta vials used for emergency healing. There were a few other things back at the ship she would need to retrieve but that could be used for later. For now, she had to come to grips with something.
She was alone yes. But she was not defenseless.
Standing up, she stepped to the table and picked up her belt. Once she wrapped it back around her waist and fastened it, she called her lightsaber to her hand with a pull of the Force and clipped it to her right side. Then another pull made her master's weapon jump into her hand. Softly, she ran her fingers over the surface of it, fondly remembering its original wielder.
"He wanted you to give this to me for a reason, didn't he?" she asked R3.
The droid answered her back immediately but wasn't sure what to say afterwards. But it did seem to calm Camilla down.
"You're right. He had faith in me. I can't let that faith be misplaced."
The weapon was clipped to her left side and then a single holocron and the round training probe was pulled out of the duffel bag. When she began to walk to the door, R3 began to call out to her telling her to stop.
"Will you relax? I'm not gonna leave. If I was I'd be taking more with me than just these two things."
She held up the holocron and the probe to show to him.
"Even if the Jedi Order is gone, I can't let my skills get rusty. I need to get back to training."
While she tried to figure out where the best place to do that would be, out in the city two heroines, one a pro and her intern, were sitting atop the rooftop of a nearby tall building. Both of them had a communication device in their ears tapped into the police scanner frequencies. So far it was a quiet afternoon. And the instances that did occur didn't seem to be more than what the police or other first responders could handle on their own.
Ryukyu let herself relax as she looked down at the city she loved so dearly and watched the people walk and enjoy their lives and weekends. Friends together laughing, eating, and overall enjoying just being with each other. She even recognized some students from U.A. walking around.
"I think we'll give it another hour or so. If nothing big happens, then you and me will head back to the agency and call it a day. Sound good, Nejire-Chan?"
When she didn't hear an immediate response, she turned over to look at her intern. The dragoon hero saw that Nejire's back was turned and her head was down. Upon approaching her, she saw the blue haired girl had her arms crossed and a sullen look on her face. It wasn't difficult to guess why.
"Nejire-Chan?"
A small nudge of her shoulder accompanied with her name spoken was enough to shake Nejire out of her distracted thoughts.
"Hm? Oh! Ryukyu! Right! Uh….I'm sorry could you say that again?"
Ryukyu sighed knowing exactly why her intern wasn't running on all cylinders right now.
"It's alright, Nejire. I'm worried about Camilla too."
"It's just so much to take in." The blue haired girl sadly looked to the sky. "To think there was once a whole galaxy full of Jedi like her. And now it's all gone and no one knows how it even happened."
"I know. It's a lot for her too." The number nine hero murmured. "Spending the last few years in a war and now here she is, stranded and with nowhere to go even if she could leave."
That had left not just Ryukyu but everyone floored. Camilla wasn't just a student, she wasn't just a fighter, she was a legit soldier in a full-fledged war. They claimed they had seen some stuff as a pro hero and a top member of the U.A. student body? Soldiers see much more than things like that in much less time. And to do so while she was still so young, they couldn't believe it. She wasn't even old enough to be a first year in high school yet! What business did anyone have bringing her into an active warzone?!
The two of them sighed together as their heads tried to push those thoughts out of them. Both looked up to the blue sky with the sun overhead. They thought instead about what the young Padawan when usually see whenever she did wherever she came from. When she looked up did she just see a sky, or dozens of ships constantly going in and out of the atmosphere to head somewhere else? The mere thought was enough to overwhelm them. People always did speculate that if quirks were never discovered and all science was devoted to studying them, Earth would be taking interstellar vacations into space. Now they had met a girl who came from a place that did just that.
"I just wish we could help her in a way that truly matters." Nejire lamented. "I can't even bring her home with me because my parents don't have any more room in their apartment."
"I will do my best to ensure she's as comfortable as possible while staying in the rooms of my agency." Ryukyu assured her young intern. "But we must come up with a more permanent solution. And even if we do, what does she do afterwards?"
Both of them knew that they shouldn't think too far ahead on this matter. It would be best to try and take it one step at a time with Camilla. It was easier said than done however as the girl and her power, the Force, it left a lot to be thought about. With a power like that she was truly was a force to be reckoned with. But that kind of ability without guidance would be-
Nejire let out a small gasp as a thought came to her mind. With that thought, a wide smile that she was known for burst out across her face.
"She could be a hero."
That comment from her drew Ryukyu's attention immediately.
"Nejire?" She saw the look on her intern's face and knew right away she had an idea.
"What if Camilla went to U.A.?"
Ryukyu's eyes widened just a bit at the idea as Nejire went on.
"Think about it! We all saw what she could do today while just using a part of her power! Imagine what she can do fully unleashed! She'd be a shoo-in for the U.A. hero course!"
Ryukyu couldn't say Nejire was wrong there. Camilla did put on quite an impressive show of skill out there earlier. Add what she saw with Mirko's testament on how well she handled that injured man, she pretty much looked like she was a pro already. There was one problem with that however.
"The school year has already started, Nejire-Chan." Ryukyu pointed out. "Nezu may be all for doing unorthodox things but I don't think dropping a new student into the hero course is within his power."
"Oh no no no no no! I'm not talking about putting her in school now!" Nejire waved her hands in defense. "What I'm saying is we train her up to take the entrance exam next year! That's nine months from now! That's plenty of time to get her used to this planet and how things work here!"
Ryukyu was starting to see Nejire's train of thought here.
"And hopefully by that time we wouldn't have to worry about her acting as a vigilante either. Also if she does get accepted, you'll be there as a classmate to keep an eye on her."
"Exactly! She'd be able to be both a hero in training and a Jedi in one!"
Try as she might, Ryukyu couldn't find any holes in this idea. If Camilla were to go to U.A. it would put her in with a set of kids just like her. Young heroes who will learn how to use their powers creatively and for the greater good. From what Camilla had said earlier, that's what she was learning to be as a Jedi anyway even during her time as a soldier.
She just prayed her experiences on the battlefield wouldn't cause her to act as if she knew better than everyone else, even if she technically did. Even with that small worry, the dragoon hero looked to her intern with a smile liking very much the idea of Camilla Sharro being a student at U.A. High School.
"If we're going to do this, then we're going to need to need some help to get her ready. Not just physically but officially." Ryukyu said. "We're going to need to get her registered in our official systems. Identification and…oh."
Ryukyu's face fell as she thought of something that would probably cause a few headaches down the line.
"What? What is it?" Nejire wondered why her teacher looked like that.
"Quirk registration."
That term caused Nejire to realize what the problem was. With such a wide variety of abilities the Force granted Camilla, trying to explain her power as a quirk would be quite the chore. Not to mention it would be a complete and total lie considering she biologically didn't have a quirk like most everyone else did. So if this was the path they were going to go down, then they needed some help. Tsukauchi was a cop so that meant he was their best chance here to get some documents for Camilla. He had put people in witness protection before and set them up with fake birth certificates and other things like that. So it should be possible. That would be a conversation for later.
"We can do this, Nejire-Chan." Ryukyu assured her intern. "But we have to do it carefully to not arouse any suspicion about her."
Nejire nodded in total agreement. Everything else about this plan would have to be talked about in greater detail once Mirko and Tsukauchi were with them again. So the two of them kept monitoring the city for another hour as originally planned by Ryukyu. When that hour was up, the two of them called it a day and began to fly side by side back to the agency, positive that the other heroes in the area could handle things if they broke out.
The roof of the agency building was wide open and with plenty of space for Ryukyu's dragon form to land on top of. It was similar to a hospital roof with a helicopter pad for emergency air lifting only twice the size. When Ryukyu and Nejire got close, they were expecting it to be empty for a clear landing. Looking closer however they saw someone was up there. Upon closer inspection they still couldn't make out the person. But they did make out a familiar green glowing weapon. Camilla's lightsaber. It was activated and she was swinging it at something they couldn't see. It only made them panic.
"Nejire-Chan!"
"Right!"
Nejire turned Wave Motion up a notch to increase her speed and passed Ryukyu while swooping down in altitude. She was now very minimally angled downwards in her fast approach to Camilla and the building. She was coming in very fast and couldn't quite make out what it was the girl was swinging her sword at. She was about to fly right past her to get a look at what it was she was up against.
"Huh? Whoa hey stop!"
Before she got close though, Camilla perked her head up sensing trouble from behind her. Once she figured out what it was she let go of her lightsaber with her right hand and held out it open wide open in Nejire's direction. The blue haired hero suddenly found her body suspended in midair and unable to move her body. Her quirk had turned off from her feet and she could feel some unseen grip around her body holding her there. Getting a look at Camilla she could see what it was.
"Is this the Force?" She wondered aloud.
"Yes it is. Why were you flying at me so fast?"
She sounded a lot more annoyed at the action than Nejire was expecting.
"We saw you swinging your saber."
The answer came from Ryukyu who landed not far away and transformed back into her human form in a gust of wind.
"We thought something was wrong. What are you doing up here?"
Realizing this wasn't some sort of backstabbing attack like she feared, Camilla put Nejire back down and looked to Ryukyu to answer her but stopped midway.
"Oh that. I was just-ah hold that thought."
Turning away, she quickly grasped the hilt of her sword with both hands again swung when a small laser blast came zooming at her. The laser bounced right off the sword like a ball on the concrete. Quickly turning over Nejire and Ryukyu saw that shot came from a small floating orb the size of a mango with multiple holes in. The orb rotated a bit and fired a few more shots at Camilla. But with skill, she deflected all of them with the last one being sent right back at it. When it was hit, it turned off and fell to the ground. Camilla caught it with the Force and pulled it back into her waiting hand as she turned off her lightsaber and clipped it back to her belt.
*Ssshhhhhhhhp!*
"What is that thing?" Nejire pointed to the orb.
"It's a training probe." Camilla turned back to the two heroines and held it up for them to look at it.
"Interesting." Ryukyu took a closer look at the small droid with much curiosity.
She was about to ask what she was doing with it before another voice that sounded like a recording came to her. Turning in the direction the noise came from, she saw not far away from them was another holocron activated and playing the contents of it. Rather than Master Obi-Wan like the last one had, this one had the recording of another human man. This one was wearing dark robes and tunics as opposed to the last two they've seen that had lighter colors on. It also looked like he had shaggy hair. In his hand was a lightsaber that didn't look anywhere near as refined and elegant like Camilla's or Master Morlev's but it seemed to fit well enough in this person's hands.
"Now remember, while Form's One and Two deal mostly with dueling against another sword, Form 3 centers more around going up against an opponent who specializes with blasters. Battle droids are most likely who you will be using this form on. And most of the time there will be more than one of them firing at you nonstop. The trick of this is to keep yourself in constant motion. Sharpening your reflexes to the point where you can change up positions faster than they can fire is essential to mastering this form."
Before the recording went on, the corners of the cube returned to their body and twisted back into place. The holocron then floated back over into Camilla's other hand.
"Who was the guy on that one?" Nejire grew curious.
Camilla gazed down at the holocron, smiling fondly at it.
"His name was Anakin Skywalker."
"Was he another one of your masters?"
The question from Ryukyu made Camilla shake her head in response.
"He was a friend." She responded. "He always seemed to like me because in his words, 'We both came into the order against the will of other people.'"
She shrugged and turned back to them holding the two devices in her hand.
"You were up here exercising?" The dragoon hero asked.
"Yeah." The Padawan replied. "I realized that even though my order may be gone, that doesn't mean I shouldn't just let myself waste away."
Both the Earth born heroes couldn't help but smile a bit.
"I'm glad to see you in better spirits than this morning." Ryukyu commented. "That will make this next conversation we're about to have a lot easier."
Now it was Camilla's turn to be confused. Before she could ask though, Nejire interrupted.
"Yeah! We totally came up with an amazing idea! We gotta tell you about it!"
"Not quite yet though." Ryukyu fished into her pocket and found her phone. "I need to call Mirko and Tsukauchi first to get them to come back here. This is something they should be here for too."
"Why? Just how big an idea did you two come up with?"
The pro hero and her intern just smirked at each other, already excited about the idea of this young Jedi becoming the first alien pro hero. Ryukyu put her hand on the blind girl's shoulder and started to lead her back into the building.
"Let's just say you may be taking your first steps into a much larger world very soon."