Chapter Text
1
A New Home
29 BBY - Y/N’s Home Planet
Screaming, that’s all I could focus on. Houses went up in flames, and the sounds and sights of explosions filled my senses. I watched in horror in my front-row seat of this nightmare, a small stowaway loth cat cowering at my side and a small boy burying his face into my shoulder. This wasn’t supposed to happen. My planet was as neutral as any, and it's not like we’re anywhere near as powerful as the core worlds. Why us? Why now?
Those idiot droids have destroyed my home beyond their programmed comprehension, and yet no one would stand up against the Separatists. I flinched as I felt another explosion close by. How am I supposed to get out of this? I watched as my mom got shot in the stomach and the light faded from her eyes as her body crumpled to the floor. And my best friend…could never make it now.
I looked up at the menacing command ship above us through the cracks of our hiding spot. There were whispers of it being Dooku’s ship, the Solar Sailer, but why the heck did he want to come to this backwater planet? What is there to gain? There had to be something I’m missing, but what? Why?
Ripped out of my thoughts, my reflexes told me told me to run I watched a B2-series pull off the debris that once covered our small hiding spot. I lunged at its legs without a second thought and it tumbled to the ground, the droid’s blaster shots barely missing the small child's torso. The boy thought quickly for his age, and dived into some other debris beside us, grabbing a large metal pipe. He threw it to me swiftly before using a similar move to get behind the large metal slate the battle droid had thrown to the side. Catching it, I used my entire body to hit its wrist blaster, keeping it from shooting at me.
I turned back to the boy at my side desperately, hoping my urgency would help him to listen to me. “Get out of here! Run!” I yelled over another explosion from the distance.
He only stared at me in complete shock for a moment, almost like he was about to cry, almost like there was nothing he wanted to do more than listen to what I told him.
The droid had another chance and tried to hit me in the head with an unblockable swing, catching me off guard. I managed to dodge it milliseconds before, almost like it was in slow motion, and when he tried to hit me again, I was able to push back his wrist with the metal pipe.
“Go!” I said more anguish in my voice than I intended. Either way, it worked, with one quick glance behind him, he turned and ran as if his life depended on it–which it did.
My attention snapped back to the droid with a strange sense of power, like a pulse of energy. It was almost like a new source of confidence and power surged through me. Suddenly, I wasn’t in control of my body anymore. It was like I was watching my own dream. The loth cat had come back to help me, and he had friends; all sorts of native animals from my planet had surrounded the droid.
There was no time to feel the tinge of hope they brought though. The animals merely sat in a circle around the droid. I didn’t even have time to put a clear thought together as I watched the entire area in front of me explode into a light that was impossible to see. Too bright to look at, yet if you closed your eyes, you could see the true colors it held. A bright orangish yellow filled my vision before it all was blurry.
There was a dull pain in my back and a large pinching pain in my leg. Some of the debris had cut deep into my thigh, making me almost faint from the blood oozing from it. I could see a form of some sort nearing me as my vision cleared somewhat. A man clothed in long, tan robes neared me as he turned off a sword I thought only existed in my imagination.
“By the force…” the man whispered as he immediately noticed the wound on my leg. “I am Master Pilo. Please, if you want to live, come with me.” His voice was so soothing, it almost sounded like Brother. “…We need to get you out of here, now,” he continued, his tone gradually getting slightly more intense.
All I could do was nod slightly, and he stood up with a newfound relief. He gently raised his hand to offer me help. I could only stare at it for a moment, then at him, then at the hand again. As I blinked away my doubts, I placed my small hand in his as he led me into a path unknown.