Well, now that school is starting up again, my updates are going to be a little slower than usual. But, in the meantime, let's continue on with War of Monsters.

Warning: major darkness in this particular chapter. Just to warn you.


Chino looked out through the one of the large windows in the palace that looked directly onto the plaza. What was once a bustling market was now a mess of torn bodies, decimated homes and shops, and grenade holes in the once clean stone square.

Chino continued to look, the fire burning so many things he used to like about the plaza. Out of an alley way, a burning clone ran to the center of the plaza. Fire completely engulfed his body as his steps began to falter, then cease completely as he fell to the dusty, bloody ground.

Chino's eyes widened even farther, and he could feel himself begin to shrink back from the horrible sight of the battle below him.

"Chino!" Kanari's sharp voice startled him. The curtain was whipped closed in front of him, and he was pulled back from the window.

"What are you doing here? You have to get to the basement with your cousins. Your nurse will stay with you there." Kanari began leading him by the shoulder to the nearest doorway.

"Aunty…" Chino said, the image of the burning clone still clear in his mind. His voice was small, and it shook with terror. "What's going to happen to us?"

Kanari stopped walking, crouching down so she was at eye level with him. She sighed. "I don't know, Chino…" she said truthfully. "But I'll make sure you and your cousins stay safe."

Chino could see that Kanari had changed her clothes. She was wearing loose brown pants with black, knee high boots. Her bulky vest was opened over a long sleeved shirt.

She'd also cut her hair.

"Aunty where are you going?" Chino asked, fear beginning to creep into his voice.

"I'm not going anywhere," Kanari said softly, pressing a palm gently against the side of his face.

She was lying, he knew.

"Go inside now, okay?" Kanari said, kissing his forehead.

"Okay, Aunty," Chino whispered, heading toward the door that led to the basement. Just before he entered, his eye caught the rifle that was strapped to Kanari's back.

OoOoO

Kiki looked up at the large object flying toward her. Directly in her line of sight, she could see the Lizard that was operating the machinery.

"General Jorani!" A clone's voice yelled. Abruptly, Kiki felt a body of armor slam into her, knocking her sideways and out of the way of the flying oblong object.

Rex took the blunt of the fall as he rolled away from the site where the massive object lay.

"Rex!" Kiki snapped out of her stupor to see Rex on his back on the ground. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, General," he answered quickly, rising to his feet. "I've just received word that droids are beginning to come in from behind us." He barely had the words out before a volley a red laser fire erupted behind the two, taking out the clones nearby.

If they didn't get reinforcements soon, they were going to be wiped out from both the front and the back.

The once still oblong object unfolded itself to its full size, its long, tentacle-like arms shooting out and attacking any nearby clones. Its shape was slightly different from the rest that were attacking the city—his was closer a sand scorpion, with claws at the front that were currently ripping clones apart.

"There's no way we're making it out of this without reinforcements!" Anakin said above the noise, struggling to deflect laser fire from both in front of and behind him.

Bliz's scanner picked up movement from the roofs of the civilian homes beside him. "General Jorani—"

Green laser fire erupted from the rooftops, taking out droids and Lizards that swarmed the streets.

If there was one thing that Bliz hated, it was when civilians got involved in battles.

"Crap! That's just lovely," Kiki said, shooting a look to the people on the roofs. She was hoping that they would have found a safer place to hide by now instead of remaining in their homes.

Every house had a door that led to connected bunkers that ran throughout the city, all of which ended in the same general area within a mountain pass a few miles away.

Their help was nice, but they were needlessly endangering their lives when they should have been fleeing.

"Get the civilians off of the roofs, before they become targets!" Bliz said, increasing his already rapid fire on the droids.

No sooner had he gotten the words out that someone—a woman—got hit, falling off the rooftop and crumpling on the ground.

"Medic!" Bliz yelled, not seeing any signs of movement from her.

A medical clone immediately rushed to the fallen woman, picking her up and carrying her into the nearest home.

Blaster fire pelted the door as he slammed it shut, laying the unconscious woman on the ground. She'd taken a laser shot to the gut, the wound turning the surrounding area a flaming red. Her breathing was beginning to get labored, the skin on her face paling drastically.

"Come on, stay with me!" He injected her with a stim shot.

Her vital signs continued falling.

"Mommy?" A little girl—about six years old—peered around the doorway behind the medic.

"L…Lira…" the woman opened her eyes, reaching out a shaking hand to her daughter.

"Mommy!" The child ran toward her mother, taking her outstretched hand in hers.

"Lira…I love you…don't…forget that…" she said, her voice cracking.

The medic could only watch as the mother's eyes glazed over, her head falling to the side.

"Mommy?" Lira pressed her mother's hand to her face. "She's so cold…"

The medic didn't know what to say. He slowly and quietly began packing up his kit.

"She's just sleeping," Lira said, her voice sounding dead and hollow. "She'll wake up, right?"

Tacs—that was the medic's name—couldn't say anything to her. Through his helmet, he looked into the six year old's large, brown eyes—pupiless like the rest of the species. In them, he could see all of that childlike innocence that would surely be destroyed if he told her that her mother was dead.

Tacs would never forgive himself if he did.

"She has to wake up though!" Lira was becoming desperate, shaking the body of her mother. "We were going to go out for my birthday tomorrow, and all of my family was going to be there, and—" Lira's voice cracked, tears brimming in her eyes. "S-She's not going to wake up, is she?"

Tacs heart was ripping in two. At that moment, he didn't want to be anywhere near the war. He wished that Lira didn't have to go through this kind of pain at such a young age; she was only a child, no child should have to go through that.

Well, you're a child too, his inner voice whispered to him.

This little girl had lost her mother.

Tacs removed his helmet, thinking that if he had to tell her, she would at least know that he was human, a living being, and that he had tried.

You didn't try hard enough. You should have saved her mother.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. Guilt was heavy on his voice, his eyes. His heart.

Lira's dark brown eyes pooled with tears, a small choked sob ripping out of her throat.

"I…I am so sorry, Lira…I…" Tacs was at a pure loss for words. He placed his large palm on her shoulder, searching for a way to comfort the child.

Lira only cried harder. Without warning, she crawled into his lap, pressing her face into the black undersuit on his neck.

Hesitantly, Tacs wrapped her body around her small frame, pulling her closer.

"Tacs!" a clone trooper burst through the door to the small home, scanning the main living area for the missing medic. "What are you doing? You need to get back to the—" He cut himself off when he saw Lira peeking at him from the corner of her eye. The soldier softened his voice. "We need you out here, Tacs. More droids are appearing, and more civilians are getting hit by stray shots."

Tacs nodded, disentangling himself from Lira's arms and picking up his helmet. He stood, casting a last glance back at the six year old little girls as she sat by her mother's body. He saw an older woman come from another doorway, kneeling beside Lira and hugging her body closer.

Tacs stepped outside, closing the door behind him, and gasping at the site before him.

Houses were completely destroyed, no civilians in sight for hundreds of yards.

And the palace was on fire.


I know this is a little over-due. The next chapter may contain some Obi-wan up in outer space, and after that some jungle-action (maybe, remind me if I forget, please).

~AAx