Hello and welcome to the Jedi!Oliver AU. :D
I actually started this like three years ago but writers block kicked in immediately. And then earlier this month I got a bunch of inspiration and ended up finishing a bunch of old wips but this one was fighting me. Kinda funny that a majority of this fic was written between an eclipse, a comet passing by, and the Lyrid meteor shower lol
Anyway, for convenience sake I've decided that this AU is set like before Yoda is born (and he was like a little over 900 years old when he died in Return of the Jedi). Because like why not I guess. Setting this years after Episodes 7-9 means Oliver would be getting haunted by the entire Skywalker clan and their soap opera nonsense oof
I've been flip-flopping between posting this with a crossover tag or just posting it within the one shot collection and to be fair, this is more like Ni No Kuni IN SPAAAAAACE so one shot collection it is. But just to cover my bases:
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars but Disney does. I'm just here to play in the sandbox and have no plans on profiting off this work. If this story ever appears on a pay-to-read site or outside of websites I don't use (fanfiction dot net - bilbo-sama, ao3 - bilbosama) then it has been done so without my permission.
Title is a lyric from Pieces of a Broken Heart
Stick to the Script and Other Stories.
By Bilbo-sama
Where Cold Despair Is Found
A long, long time ago...In a galaxy far way:
After many years of its disappearance, the legendary weapon MORNSTAR has been located and reassembled.
Emboldened by MORNSTAR's recovery, young Jedi OLIVER, also known as the Pure-Hearted One, decided it was time to confront the feared Sith Lord SHADAR and to put to an end to his evil and to learn the wherabouts of the long lost Jedi master ALICIA.
After much searching for clues, OLIVER and his allies discover that the answers they seek lies in the MIASMA MARSHES which lies in the dead planet AUTUMNIA...
Autumnia got its name from how most of the planet appeared to be in perpetual autumn. The majority of its known flora had leaves in shades of gold, red, and brown. Fruit and vegetables was plenty for most of the year and were surprisingly popular in some desert worlds.
Four major cultures lived on its surface. Before the planet's downfall, Bellicosia, Rubicon, Xanadu, and Halcyon existed in tentative peace. Rubicon's snow topped mountains was said to inspire artists for generations and as a result drew a particular crowd of tourists. Halcyon resided in Autumnia's 'Green Belt' where along the planet's equator was lands of green grass and crystal clear lakes. Xanadu, monopolizing technology that allowed the entire nation to float into the clouds, consistently hovered over the cratered no man's land that acted as a barrier between each Rubicon and Halcyon's borders. Ironically, even though Xanadu was high up in the clouds, Bellicosia had the largest space port.
Despite being aware of the fact that the galaxy at large call Force Users Jedi, the very antiquated terms 'mage' and 'magic' was stubbornly held on to by every native from the planet. Descendants of survivors who fled Autumnia's destruction continue using these terms for the sake of tradition (and for some, an amusing way to annoy visiting Jedi from other enclaves).
The peace was shattered into war one day when the ambitious king of Bellicosia invaded Rubicon with an army of mages much larger than Rubicon and Halcyon's spies had reported. The resulting campaign was swift, destructive, and left Halcyon scrambling to build up its defenses. Largely defended by its position in the lower stratosphere, Xanadu mostly stayed out of the conflict. Offworlders tried to negotiate peace and failed. Not even the Jedi, who heard the cries of the Force, managed to stop it.
A Great Sage, who would be considered by the standards of the Galactic Republic as the equivalent of a Jedi master, tried to stop the carnage but he was only one man against the tide. His daughter vanished during the skirmish that claimed his life and a Bellicosian mage was rumored to be the one who helped her escape into the chaos of Rubicon's nearly demolished space port.
This mage was forced to watch as his hometown was razed to the ground as punishment.
His grief at the loss of his home and the horrors of war he had seen and done was the cause for his fall to the Dark Side.
In his path of vengeance, he learned how to manipulate the Force in individuals until they become husks of their former selves or cause discord in their surroundings. It was believed that this was how he instigated the literal fall of Xanadu.
Eventually, he started to siphon the Force from living creatures in order to sustain himself because the Dark Side gave great power at a cost.
He drained the world dry before joining survivors who escaped to the stars.
No one alive remembers the original name of this man before he ascended to the title of Sith Lord.
He is only known as Shadar the Dark Djinn.
Its this very planet the young Jedi destined to be the Pure Hearted One who will one day bring balance to the Force traveled to. It was rumored that this was last known location of the Jedi Master Alicia before she disappeared.
The Pure Hearted One, known to many as Oliver, stepped out the ship and recoiled as he sensed how dead Autumnia felt. Very little sung with the Force so it was like he stepped into a sensory deprivation tank.
His companions didn't fare better. Esther gasped in horror while Master Drippy let out a string of words in his species' native language that Oliver assumed to be profane. Swaine, despite not being Force sensitive, winced.
"Blimey this place gives me a bad feeling," he complained.
"Way to point out the obvious, Old Man," said Esther.
"Righto," Master Drippy clapped his hands loudly before the two could start another argument, "somewhere in this flippin' dirt ball is a place called the Miasma Marshes."
"Sounds cheerful," opined Swaine sarcastically.
"And if I read the flippin' map correctly, there's a place rumored to be Shadar's old hideout before Master Alicia happened to it a few miles in that direction," Master Drippy pointed to the left.
"You sure? You could be getting us lost again!"
Oliver stared at the assigned path before them and the Force flared in confirmation. He also had the feeling that he must go that way. That what laid at the end of it had to be found.
"C'mon," he called out, "let's go."
The Miasma Marshes were named because of how very little survived there. Gasses hostile to most beings in the galaxy lingered in the area's atmosphere to the point that traversing safely required a gas mask. The plants were poisonous and their pollen and oils had seeped into the water. The few animals the group encountered are rarely taken off planet. They adapted to the hostile land to the point that clean water and air would kill them and would refuse to eat any more non-poisonous vegetation and meat after a few bites.
The group wandered carefully, making sure no one went off the path. Esther used her skills in the Force to pacify and redirect any creature that came near them and Swaine had his blaster to scare away the ones that resisted her.
Eventually, a partially collapsed building overlooking a churning ocean came into view. There was a whir of a solar powered back up generator struggling from years of neglected maintenance in the distance.
"This is it," Oliver declared decisively while his companions stared at him incredulously. He had to go in there. He must.
The facility's foyer was an air lock that still had enough power to filter out the Marshes' atmosphere with standard stale oxygen typically found in ships. The travelers waited until a chime was heard before removing their gas masks. The doors screeched open as they shook off years of disuse.
After that, Oliver wasn't sure what happened. The Force became more insistent and louder the moment he entered what used to be a lobby. He registered that Swaine was saying something about how abandoned the area looks but it was like hearing it underwater.
This way, the Force seemed to say.
Oliver followed the call as if in a dream. His companions had tried to follow him but Oliver lost them in one of the many hallways he passed through. There were a few doors he somehow knew were present but hidden. It should alarm him but the pressing feeling that he was getting closer to the truth made itself a higher priority.
Oliver eventually found himself in room illuminated by dim red light. He waited for motion sensors to turn the ceiling lights on but nothing happened. He reached for his holster that held Mornstar and activated it. Its three crystals, originating from a planet lost long ago, generated three beams of light that somehow twirled against each other. Very rarely are light sabers built with more than one crystal these days. The knowledge on how to evenly contain and generate the power produced by a light saber that held multiple energy sources like within Mornstar was a secret kept hidden in the depths of the Jedi Temple located in Perdida.
Mornstar, a relic from an era when most of the galaxy still thought Force users were magic but were beginning to modernize. A time when 'magic wands' hadn't transitioned to 'light sabers' yet. And would have stayed there if Oliver hadn't figured out when and where in time and space it was being hidden. Eventually, he would have to use it in his fated duel with Shadar, whenever that may be. And if he was skilled and fortunate enough, the Dark Djinn's defeat would bring forth a balance to the Force. Somehow.
(Part of Oliver that doubted that he was truly the Pure-Hearted One. Surely somebody else more skilled and knowledgeable in the Force would be the right choice, right?)
Right now, however, Mornstar was being used as a flash light.
The room turned out to be the ruins of some sort of med bay. Or at least he thought it was a med bay. The bacta tank didn't look right. It looked too narrow to fit a standard sized person.
Yet the siren call seemed to come from there. Some part of him was alarmed. This could be a trap. But...he had to know. What did Master Alicia find here?
He laid a hand against the monitor screen next to the glass tube and images and sounds immediately flew into his mind.
My quest...it will take years beyond my life span to finish...this body will not last forever...I must find a way to get around that.
Ah...yes...of course.
-Life signs detected-
Ha! Haha! Hahaha! I did it! I found my immortality!
Six...six bodies...Not even lasting beyond 25 years...but I am getting closer...
What's this...? No...it can't be...Computer what is this?
...By the Force...this is...
So...you found out my secret, Master Alicia. Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to live past this.
This is abhorrent, Shadar! I will not let this go on any longer!
-Self destruct initiated-
No!
I am taking the child, Shadar. I will teach him in the Jedi ways. And perhaps one day he will be skilled enough to defeat you.
How arrogant of you! The Dark Side will destroy him!
I have faith that he will win.
Oliver let go, gasping. That was Shadar. He...this place...
Alicia...she...
"So you have found out, boy," Oliver startled and whirled around at the sound of the Sith's voice. His cloaked hunched form looked more menacing in the glow of Mornstar's light.
"This place used to be a cloning facility until Alicia discovered it. In its destruction, she ran off with a clone that had yet to be artificially aged. It took me years and a new body grown in a safer location to find her. None of her allies knew where she had gone."
"They wouldn't tell you if they knew anyway!" retorted Oliver.
"Indeed," Shadar agreed, "they would rather suffer than give her and her so called son away if they had known."
Oliver froze, "Son?"
"Yes...she raised the clone as her own flesh and blood despite the truth. And despite her promise to raise her new child as a Jedi, she never formally trained him judging from his subpar grasp in the Force."
Oliver felt oddly defensive all of a sudden and would have argued back if Shadar hadn't added, "All it took was a few rumors of a woman refusing to allow her child to be taken in by the Jedi. How if anyone tried to visit again would find the home empty. Some say her description matches a woman who was previously seen on a different planet."
Unbiddingly, Oliver recalled a memory from when he was really little. Someone was at the door when he answered it. A man in the tan robes of a Jedi from the Coruscant temple greeted him and asked if his parents were home. Oliver ran to get his mother, only to watch as she froze at the sight of the visitor and took him outside. She later came back without him and told Oliver they were going to play the Super Clean Up Game.
The next day, the little family and a few suitcases of belongings stepped on a transport ship to a world light years away.
"No," denied Oliver quietly, refusing to look back at the memory in hindsight. "This can't be true!"
"Imagine my surprise when I learned that this woman looked a lot like the Jedi who stole my clone."
"Stop," Oliver demanded as he backed away. "S-stay away."
"I found her at last in the Mid Rim, an unimportant planet called Hotroit," continued Shadar as he shuffled closer. Funny...isn't that where you're from?" the older man asked, tilting his head as if puzzled.
"Mom, who is that?"
"Oliver, I want you to run."
"But why?"
"You'll be safer if you do. Take Miss Layla's hand and run."
"But-"
"Go!"
"Master Alicia," Oliver said in small voice, "she's my mom."
"You were with her all these years before she became one with the Force, boy," Shadar pointed out, "your search was nothing but a farce."
"That's not true!" refuted Oliver, "I found Mornstar!"
"Mornstar took pity on a clone who barely has any Jedi training," Shadar replied with a sneer in his voice, "even with its power, you would not win against me, your father."
"You're not my father!" Oliver desperately denied.
"Oh but I am. I created you. Your existence ties with me, O 'Pure-Hearted One.' Or should I say...Sith Spawn?"
What happened next has haunted Oliver's nightmares in the years to come. The admittedly slipshod facade of Jedi serenity fell apart as Oliver screamed denials as he tried to strike down Shadar over and over. The old man countered his attacks with ease.
Until eventually Shadar got tired of Oliver's temper tantrum and lightning sprang from his finger tips. Oliver gasped as a searing heat spread throughout his body and he collapsed to the floor as pain overridden his senses.
"That was a pathetic showing, boy," Oliver hated how the old man's disappointed tone sounded so paternal, "I expected better from a student of Master Drippy."
In Oliver's dreams, Shadar would pick him up with startling ease. Oliver was weak from the bout of Force Lightning and too emotionally compromised to fight back.
"Perhaps it would be better if you were my student from now on," Shadar would decide. They would be gone by the time Oliver's companions found this room.
In reality, the Dark Djinn turned around and left the room without any further word, as if the emotionally and physically exhausted boy fading out of consciousness was not worth his time.
Before Oliver lost his senses completely, he thought he heard his companions' voices calling to him.
I chose clones instead of the soul mate system because the Force would make the 'oh hey this guy is your soul mate' reveal way too easily. Like during their first meeting easily. However that only applies to Oliver and Shadar's situation. Rusty and Rashaad are twins separated during infancy once Rashaad was discovered to be Force Sensitive enough to become a Jedi. So Esther and Myrtle are long lost cousins.
Additional backstory bits:
Cassiopeia WOTWW has been dead for millennia but she left a Sith powered Holocron behind that Lucien conveniently found before becoming Shadar.
Nicky DOTDD exists as a Jedi Padawan and unimpressed that the local Chosen One(tm) is Some Guy who had never set foot in a Jedi temple until a few months ago.
The system Autumnia was a part of is under the jurisdiction of Master Solomon who is the head of the local Jedi enclave which does include whatever planets Ding Dong Dell, Al-Mamoon, Hamelin, etc. reside on. Hotroit/Motorville is more closer to Coruscant and thus local Force Sensitives are more likely to be headhunted by Jedi from there.