Things were winding down after the fight to save Naboo, and the rest of the galaxy from the Blue Shadow Virus for that matter. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Lyra had almost all need millions of lives several times in the span of a ten minute interval. It was almost impressive.
"That was close. If that bomb had dropped, everyone on Naboo would be dead now." Lyra let her head drop, the thought of that group including Nova made her head spin. They stood by Vindi's separatist ship as he was loaded away onto a Republic gunship to await his trial.
"Oh well, just another boring day saving the universe." Obi-Wan quipped. Lyra squinted, starting to see where Nova was picking up the sarcasm from.
"I see humility is a trait the Jedi are loosing as well, Generals." Lyra bid them a due with a sloppy two fingered salute and stomping away. Just as she was about to get on the gunship with their new esteemed guest, an alarm sounded.
"What's that?" Lyra asked the Doctor immediately, not wanting to beat around the bush. He chuckled in a dark manner that sent chills down her spine. Obi-Wan and Anakin crowded her.
"The virus is liberated. You are doomed, young Jedi. Along with the rest of the planet." Lyra didn't like the sound of that. Her heart sank below the ground and into the bunker again, her feet soon followed.
"Lyra!" Anakin shouted after her, chasing her to the man hole leading the latter connected by the lifts surface. She shut it before Anakin or Obi-Wan could follow.
"Nova." Her lips hummed the only word that mattered to her in the moment. If Nova was stuck down here with whatever they were dealing with, Lyra was determined to do the same by her side. To protect her in any way she could, even if they were both doomed now. The alarm around the lab began to ring at a higher pitch and frequency than before. Lyra took off toward the main corridor and somehow ended up directly in front of the group as they just turned down the same hall.
"Hurry! There's a hatch we can escape in!" Ahsoka and Nova were at the leading spot in the pack of clones running towards safety.
"No! No one leaves, or the virus will too!" Ahsoka shouted. The doors started automatically clamping shut. Captain Rex shouted for his troopers to head to the escape room. Lyra glanced behind her to see the doors shutting. She stuck her arms up to hold the metal steady, but all she did was barely slow it down.
"Hurry, the doors are closing!" The other troopers helped her keep it open long enough for some of their brothers to jump through.
"Don't worry." Ahsoka and Nova pushed the remaining troopers inside. They all held the door open. Lyra and Tex remained on the outside, trying to wait until the people they were waiting for were in safe.
"Get inside, Captain!" Ahsoka's shouted. Rex followed her order and jumped through the slum crack of the door. Lyra refused to do it until she knew Nova was safe.
"Go!" Nova pushed on Ahsoka's back to urge her in ahead of her. She wanted everyone to be safe, but her desire to help everyone turned into a hunter an e for Lyra.
"You go!" Nova nipped at Ahsoka's heels, watching as she sucked in her stomach and made a elongated dive roll inside the door. Nova tried to copy it perfectly, but she didn't point her toes. As a result she got tripped up on the entrance. Lyra pushed her feet over the edge before twisting horizontally over the door and falling a few feet to the ground herself.
"Ah, skug-muffin." Lyra muttered. While laying on her back she had a prime view of the door. It was hard to miss the small amount of blue fog seeping in just as the door was shut.
"Ahsoka, what's going on down there?" Anakin asked over the com. Ahsoka helped Nova and Lyra sit up first before responding.
"The droids released the virus, but we managed to seal the lab." Ahsoka addressed the problem, despite feeling something accumulating in the back of her throat.
"And Padme?" Anakin asked.
"Haven't heard from her since the bomb." Ahsoka cut her com off, looking around the room. Right by her side was a slightly older, yet slightly less mature Togruta gently placing a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder.
"Well, things could be worse." Nova said with a little smile tugging at her lips. It caused Ahsoka to feel one spread across her own too. Lyra chuckled, shaking her head at the girl's misplaced optimism. Especially when a trooper nearby the console slammed his fists against it with shouts of fear.
"Some of the virus got in here. We didn't close the door fast enough." Lyra scoffed, already knowing that and not liking the blame the trooper unwittingly put on Nova. Her head dropped to the side, her peppy smile disappearing. Lyra stepped in front of her.
"We may be dead men, but we could still stop those droids." Nova admired Rex's ability to look past the impending doom headed their way, but she wasn't built that way. It took her up until now to realize she was contaminated. The effects would start showing up soon. She would be dead soon after.
"Don't worry. My master will find a cure for this virus. We're not dead yet." It turned out the two young Togruta were the only optimistic ones stuck in this bunker, because everyone else merely sighed. Ahsoka finally let out that cough of nasty blueish phlegm building up in the back of her throat. She fulfilled her lament about how they weren't dead yet with a dazzling finish, almost throwing up. The others stared at her unsurely, except Nova who helped her stand upright. Out of nowhere, Ahsoka's com went off.
"Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear—" Ahsoka didn't waste a single second in responding to Padme.
"Senator Amidala, we're trapped in the safe room at the end of complex B." Rex stared over at his men, following his gaze Nova sighted the group of troopers hunched around each other against the wall.
"We'll be right there... are you contaminated?" Ahsoka's slight smile wavered with the final question. The Senator, while still protected, felt obliged to ask. Nova took a few steps towards them, Ahsoka finally seeing what she was so focused on.
"I'm afraid so." The troopers coughed. Nova's first reaction was to plug her nose and get as far away as possible, that was until she finally came to realize that would be her any moment too.
I'm this shocking revelation, a cold chill went down Nova's spine. If she were to go down, it would be doing something useful. She took gentle steps toward the two troopers hacking up their lungs and painfully clutching their stomachs through their gear. The two of them quit the coughing fits as she approached them.
"Ma'am, what—" she cut them off with doing the thing Aurora taught her. She wrapped them both in her arms, a great big hug. Her arms wrapped around their lower back as she pulled them close. They felt uncomfortable at first, but after another coughing fit in unison, they gave in. One of the troopers gently patting her head. She let go of the pair and moved back.
"Don't worry, Master Obi-Wan will find a fix for this. You'll be okay." Nova didn't intend to make such a promise sound so definitive, especially since she didn't know if it were true or not.
"Sure taking their sweet time, aren't they?" Rex piped up, letting out a smaller cough of his own.
"Bet it's that Jar Jar slowing her down." Nova chuckled at her own joke. She turned to see if Rex shared her amusement, but gasped when she saw his face, she had to tap his cheekbone to make sure it wasn't a hallucination. He lunged away from her touch and glanced at her oddly, until he saw how his brothers skin started to appear in a more ashy grey manner too.
"Senator Amidala, where are you?" Ahsoka asked over the com again.
"Can't we just cut this with our sabers?" Nova pointed out.
"I—" Ahsoka had to think about it for a moment. Her immediate response was about to be no, until she realized that was stupid. They were opening the door anyway, right?
"We're right outside your safety room." Padme announced, but it wasn't needed anymore.
"Nevermind, Senator, we're going to carve it open. Stay back." Ahsoka warned. Lyra was first to activate her light saber and inject it into the solid shell door. It was moving slower than she expected, it would've taken a long time. Nova and Ahsoka activated theirs shortly after, plunging the equal distance away from Lyra's original placement and cutting down towards the floor.
Together, they all managed to carve the man sized hole in the door within a few seconds. The elusive blue mist crowded behind the Senator and Jar Jar as they piled inside.
"I'm sorry, Ahsoka." Padme put a gentle hand on the young girls shoulder. That's when she noticed the two new girls behind her, both their collective brilliant shades of purple and blue.
"And to you two, as well. None of you deserve this." Even though Nova took the woman's words as nothing more than polite reassurance, it meant more to Lyra than either could've imagined. She froze at the words. Deserving. Lura knew what she was deserving of, and she couldn't help but think dying at the hands of painful virus was almost dead on.
"Thank you. Senator Amidala, right?" Nova asked with a beaming smile as she leaned on her tip ties back and forth while speaking.
"Padme." The pair shared a warm smile, Padme's heart ached for the two smiley girls who would die before the sunrise of Anakin and Obi-Wan didn't come through. Something Lyra noticed she tended to do before the anxiety of a battle hit her. To be honest, Lyra was just happy she hadn't witnessed Nova scratch her brand mark since the last time she snapped about it on the cruiser.
"We still have a job to do." Ahsoka nodded in confirmation, letting a small hiccup fly out. Nova gave her a sweet hug around her shoulders as her throat clenched up, forcing Nova to cough herself.
"There aren't very many droids left. We saw some heading towards the south entrance." Padme spoke at such a quick rate it made Nova's head spin. Although she questioned if that was the Senator or the virus messing with her mental capacity to understand such things.
"As long as we're able, we'll help you destroy those droids before they breach the compound." Ahsoka spoke for everyone in the room, except Lyra of course who wanted to sit in a corner. A large part of her wanted to sit in the corner of a room and hug Nova until her dying moments, but she couldn't do that for a multitude of reasons.
"You two take the north corridor, and we'll take the south." Nova admired the Senator's determination. She activated her saber, her smirk being lit in an eerie red glow. It sent a chill down Padme's spine, as she subconsciously took a step back from the girl holding the red light saber; the weapon of a sith. Ahsoka gently put a hand on Nova's shoulder and gave the Senator a reassuring nod. Padme returned it, ceasing all hostilities and taking off down the corridor and turning left. Some clones followed her, and Jar Jar.
"You should go with her." Ahsoka nudged her friend in the shoulder as she gently suggested the course of action. Nova opened her mouth to speak, but the gentle yet protective touch of Lyra's hand to her shoulder was enough to let her lips shut again.
"Not a chance. She stays with me." Lyra didn't want her out of sight, especially after Nova let out a single nasty cough with greenish blue phlegm coming out of her mouth. She wiped it with her sleeve, giving everyone a thumbs up and a smile afterwards.
"I rest my case." Lyra said with a certain finality in her tone. Only Ahsoka would be bold enough to challenge it.
"What if I wanted her to stay with me? What would you do then?" Lyra gave an arrogant scoff to the young girls brash wording. It made Nova smile.
"Pull the age card on you, youngling. Come on, Nova, we'll take the north corridor." Lyra
"Well, then I'd pull the rank card on you, subordinate." Lyra clenched her jaw, trying not to punch the one belonging to a kid younger than Nova, even if she was an irritating little Jedi.
"Fine. What do you want to do then, Captain?" Lyra asked, making a dramatic notion to turn towards Rex for authority of command instead of Ahsoka.
"Hey! I'm the Commander!"
"You're also half his age." Rex squinted, knowing that wasn't exactly true, Ahsoka was technically a few years older than him.
"Actually, I'm ten." Nova and Lyra paused mid argument to give Rex the most incredulous looks.
"He's right. We're just tall for our age." The trooper behind him added for good measure.
"But, since you were so kind to ask, what I want is for us to stop arguing before we die of this damn virus." After Rex mentioned the most pressing issue at hand that trumped whatever inner friendship circle issues they had going on, all of them with the exception of Lyra went rigid with terror.
"Nova, you're with Commander Tano taking the north. Lyra, you're with me and the Senator. Boys, follow them." He directed some of his men to follow Ahsoka, while waving a hand at his men in the corner to follow him. Rex wordlessly tossed Nova a pistol once again, which she was getting used to catching at this point.
"Rex, you know—" Lyra started but he put a single finger in front of her lips and shushed her. A calculated move on his part, now he knew she'd be mad enough to follow him out of spite. Lyra stormed after him.
"Now wait just a minute, you get back here right now you son of a—" Ahsoka flinched as the angry girl's words were cut off by the door shutting.
"Well, shall we get going, boys?" Ahsoka asked the troopers around her. Nova took notice of how they were in much worse condition than her and Ahsoka. Their conditions were deteriorating at a much faster pace.
"Will you all be okay to fight? I don't want any of you to get hurt." It was a little awkward as all the troopers looked at each other weirdly. They were a part of the 212th and the 501st collectively. They were used to the caring opinions of Jedi, but being told they shouldn't fight because they may get hurt? Unheard of. It was almost laughable.
"Um... we're fine, ma'am." Nova gave him a smile before taking a deep breath in to stable herself. Bad idea, she realized this when the hot air forcefully expelled itself from her lungs in a big gasping cough. She couldn't tell if the troopers were getting worse faster or if she just was too focused on them to notice the intense side affects she was feeling too.
"All right then. Let's move." Nova and ahsoka worked efficiently to block any blaster bolts hurdling towards a trooper while their men took care of the lonesome spare few droids they ran into going north. In the south however, those troopers didn't see much action. Lyra sprang forward ahead of the other clones, tired of waiting on them and the Senator who took off on her own. Lyra missed one after deactivating her light saber, smirking at her good work. That was until she heard Padme gasp.
"Watch out!" Padme sprang into action and shoved the trooper named Catapult behind Rex onto the floor to avoid a new onslaught of laser shots. Lyra gasped, not being able to sense the company behind her. She quickly remedied that by slicing its head off in one big motion.
"Well, I suppose that's one way to handle that." Rex muttered to himself, now regretting he didn't pick either of the two Jedi to come with him.
"That's my way to handle that." Lyra corrected. Just then, the other team came sprinting down the same corridor to rejoin the group.
"Stop!" Rex yelled at the droid, as if that would actually do anything.
"Don't open that—" Beofr eithe Friday had a chance to do anything, Lyra lightly tapped its foot with her light saber.
"Ow! Hey, don't do—" Lyra did it to its other foot and made her comrades scoot back as the droid fell.
"Ow! Ow! Stop it!" Lyra poked at the droid in different spots, a soft chuckle in her voice despite the dark actions. Finally, Ahsoka cut the droids head off, effectively putting it out of its robotic misery.
"That's kinda sick, girl. Even for you." Nova nudged her with a slightly disturbed look. Lyra shrugged, just happy to be back with Nova again as she snaked an arm around the shorter girl's shoulder. She turned away rapidly as she felt a series of coughs brewing, only after realizing Nova was already sick to. After wrapping up her coughing, she gestured to the blue smoke surrounding them.
"Almost forgot about that." She said with a dark giggle.
"We have to keep—" Ahsoka paused when a cough so powerful felt like it was about to rip her chest apart. She doubled over on the ground in pain. Padme and Nova knelt to her sides, worried for the girls health even though the latter wasn't doing much better. It's only been mere minutes yet the effects were already more visible on their faces.
Nova's pearl white markings were tarnished with grayish black cracks, the same ones on her face widened with each passing moment. Her raspy lungs changed her voice to sound more forced. It became painful to talk, even not so to attempt to suppress a cough. Their eyes felt so heavy, Ahsoka could've sworn they were about to fall out whenever she leaned over. Nova tended to get physically sick to her stomach whenever she bent over backwards in the slightest. No wonder this virus was eradicated.
"Keep moving?" Rex asked, somehow finding the strength to remain standing. Ahsoka and Nova had to take a knee, but Lyra heard something. She moved in front of the three ladies and the troopers with her bright purple blade reactivated.
"They're coming. The rolling ones." Nova sputtered a laugh, but it soon died on her dry tongue.
"The rolling ones." She wheezed heavily, it ended up leading to more coughing. Padme gave both the brave girls a hand up since the fight apparently wasn't over yet. Ahsoka and Lyra effectively blocked while Nova performed her little trick on the droideka's. She leaped across the ceiling, floor, and the walls to get behind the "rolling ones" and slowly inserted the pistol before shooting it multiple times. Lyra hated staying back, so she leaped forward and tried to plunge her saber through its shields, ultimately ineffective.
She stumbled from the pushback the shield gave, luckily Nova shot the droideka before it could reposition its aim foward Lyra. Nova thought all was well until she looked back to see Padme on top of Jar Jar trying to keep his head down from the blaster fire. When she sat up, things weren't looking good.
"Senator!" Ahsoka gasped, kneeling by her side. Padme let a soft gasp slip out when she saw her tube disconnect. Truth be told, Padme knew the second she could feel the air seep into her lungs that she was infected.
"I'm so sorry." Ahsoka said. Padme ultimately gave up with her suit, taking the helmet off. Even facing a nightmare such as this, she was able to put on a brave smile for the two young girls staring at her with such concern and guilt. Lyra stood in the back, even she was unable to hide her worried expression. The trooper was right about one thing. They were made and trained for this, Padme was not.
"Don't blame yourselves. These things tend to happen in a war zone." Padme would know after all, she's found herself in many of those since the first battle at Geonosis which, coincidentally, she was also there for.
"There's gotta be more." Rex pitched in, not knowing how to help with the Senator's particular situation. He too realized she wasn't prepared for this, even though they technically wasn't a "how to survive a deadly virus 101" elective on Kamino. He made the mistake of taking a Jawaese language course.
"Don't worry, Master Obi-Wan will find a cure. I believe in him." Nova tried her best to reassure the Senator as she assisted her up. Ahsoka seemed the strongest as she was able to run down the corridor without her feet dragging and tripping. Nova fell prey of this fairly quickly. Lura felt her heart rate spike and turned around in an instant to help her while Ahsoka and the others charged forward without noticing.
"You gonna be okay?"
"I know I talk a big game about believing in them and whatever, but—"
"—they better hurry the kriff up?" Lyra finished for her.
"Exactly what I was thinking." Nova chuckled as Lyra lifted her up all the way and held the drifting girl tightly by her side. Rex looked back when he realized they weren't keeping up. Lyra motioned her head forward to the group. Rex have a firm nod before storming down the corner. The two girls went as slow as they had to and eventually made the turn in time to see Ahsoka almost faint. She collapsed on the railing of a latter, her light saber falling and deactivating itself. Suddenly feeling better with the boost of adrenaline, Nova did her best to run to her friend.
"Ahsoka!" Both the Senator and Nova called for her, only one of them making it all the way. The effects on Padme weren't nearly as awful as they were on the two Togruta. Even with all this going on, a constant thought on the back of her mind was why didn't Lyra have the same lethargic and horrendous reaction to the virus as they did?
"Was that— the last of them?" Ahsoka's voice cracked with the solemn mixture of hope and despair. Only now was she realizing that if her master was to deliver an antidote, they would need to be stopped just as the droids.
"Do you sense anything else?" Padme asked, gingerly taking Ahsoka's hand in hers and squeezing it extra tight. Nova crawled the rest of the way to her friend's side and gave her a tight hug from the side. Lura supported herself with one arm against the wall she she carefully walked over to pick up Ahsoka's light saber. She wordlessly held it out for her taking.
Padme took it from her and clipped it to Ahsoka's belt for her while she caught her breath. While Lyra acted cold and tough, she sent an anxious half smile to the youngest girl of the group. The gesture meant a lot to Ahsoka after seeing her only act that way towards Nova.
"We should contact the General's." Rex said, letting a small cough of his own slip out. Out of all of them, he looked the worst, yet he acted the strongest. All of their faces has dark cracks stretching across, followed by the extreme paleness of their skin being amplified ten fold. Padme was even beginning to develop such affects on her skin, despite being introduced to the virus only moments ago.
"Let's just sit here and... and rest for a second." Ahsoka said as she let her fall back and hit the railing before letting her eyes drift shut.
"Hey, don't close your eyes, kid." Rex said softly. When Ahsoka didn't listen he sighed.
"Hey!" He snapped a little too loudly. It made Ahsoka jump in her spot.
"He's right. Try to stay awake, Ahsoka. We'll call Anakin and see where—where he's at." Padme hid her aggressive cough as best she could.
"All right." She breathlessly whispered, not having the energy to say much more.
"Should we head back to the safe room?" Nova suggested. She had an instant mood boost at the realization she finished a sentence without coughing. When she sucked in a sharp breath on accident, her new mood deflated with the powerful air leaving her mouth.
"Not very safe anymore. But it would be a good place to—" Rex caught the man beside him just before he fell from a coughing spree that knocked all the wind from his lungs.
"To settle in for..." Rex trailed off, knowing where his sentence was headed, but he didn't have the heart to finish it when he glanced at Nova and Ahsoka. He thought about them as he hacked up some blue dust. They were thrusted into a war they couldn't hope to understand and here they are, dying at the ripe age of fourteen and fifteen. One of them was only here by chance, and now she would pay for it with her life in one of the worst ways to go.
"We should go back. Before we get any worse." Lyra said. Rex narrowed his eyes at her, and her noticeable lack of coughing. Lyra's skin didn't look to terrible either.
"I don't... know. Seems like you're somehow coming out unscathed." Rex asserted his observation as he clutched his brothers hand.
"This isn't the first deadly virus concocted by the Separatidts I've had to endure; Captain." Blood ran through her veins at the memory of how it felt. Like fire in her veins, bringing ice back through her arteries to create a constant itch of being too hot and cold at the same time with no way to satiate either.
"What?" Rex couldn't help but ask, even though he knew sharing whatever she was keeping inside wasn't what she wanted to do.
"Never mind that. Come on." Lyra helped pick up Nova, she helped pick up Padme, who helped pick up Ahsoka. The four of them walked back in a supportive line. Whenever one fell, the others stopped to help. No Senator, Jedi, or trooper was left behind. The safe room ended up being too far for some of the men to make it, so they sat in another secluded room lit dimly with eerie red light.
Padme let go of her grip on the other two girls and let them collapse against the wall. They both began to drift out of consciousness while the two ladies standing recorded a holo-message for Anakin and Obi-Wan. Lyra snapped awake as she sensed something wasn't right. She looked over and saw Nova's sweet, innocent eyes fluttering to a close.
"Hey!" Lyra did the first thing that came to her mind and slapped her.
"Hey!" Nova yelled in hurt, but she whined from the sudden eruption in the back of her throat from the yell.
"Rex is right. Fall asleep, and then you may not wake back up." Lyra stated seriously. Nova tried to help her find the humor in the situation.
"Wouldn't want to deprive me of your wonderful presence, now would I?" Lyra scoffed dryly, the effects finally starting to get the better of her now too. Still though, she managed to crack a smile. She never failed to do so for Nova after all.
"You got that right, kid." Nova couldn't help how her eyes were now trying to force themselves shut in a less graceful manner as she hacked up a breathy cough.
"I thought I told you..." Nova slapped her palm to the ground to keep herself steady, then slapped herself in the cheek.
"I did tell you to stop calling me that." She said more firmly, coughing afterwards. She never felt the urge to reach into the back of her throat and just scratch to her hearts content until now. This bloody virus was eradicated for a reason. Nova didn't want to imagine a whole planet having to die at the hands of this monstrosity.
From afar as he assisted a trooper by taking off his helmet, Rex watched them speak with each other. He's always felt a certain hint of sympathy for Nova, but now he couldn't help feel it for Lyra too. He watched as another brother inhaled his last breath, but never got to let it out. His head lightly hit the back of the crate he was leaned up against, his head hitting his left shoulder. Rex stood to his feet and moved to his next man over.
"What a waste." Padme said, the despair leaking through her calm facade she originally had for the kids. She patted the troopers face with a cold sponge, but she got tired of having no positive effect on them.
"With all due respect, Senator..." Rex sighed, looking back at his lost brother; Yeller.
"It's what these men were born to do." No sentence spoken has ever made Nova want to cry more than that.
"Well, it—" she started coughing again. Rex and Padme respected her enough now to wait for her to finish.
"It shouldn't be. You all deserve so much more than this." Padme sighed. It was a tough dilemma morally. She tried not to say anything she could grow to regret later. If there was a later for them, that is.
"Regardless, Nova, I hope their sacrifices bring us closer to peace." Ahsoka's coughing drummed over all the others in the room. She genuinely tried to stop it, but that only made the awful effect increase.
"It will, Padme. You must believe that—" Ahsoka fell over onto the floor. Nova tried to reach for her but fell over when her stomach was stormed with a coughing fury. Rex was the first to dash across the room, despite his extraordinary pain, and grasp the young Commander in his arms.
The second to last thing he wanted was to be the one to tell General Skywalker that his padawan perished because he didn't come back soon enough. But the very last thing he wanted was a girl so young and pure, so energetic and full of life to lose hers.
"I think I'm about to clock out here too." Nova said. Lura turned her full attention back to her first friend, unconcerned with Ahsoka anymore.
"Nova, please don't. Hang on, okay? Just a little longer." Nova sighed sweetly, tapping Lyra gently on top of her lekku.
"I know they're not—not coming. They can't now anyways." The urge to always have a cough inching its way up her throat disappeared as her grip on consciousness slipped away.
"Thanks for being my first friend." Nova lost consciousness, her final thoughts being happy ones. She was glad to have finally marked off one thing on her list before she died. She had acquired more than a few friends, and managed to save a lot of people before she went. That in itself is more than she every realistically expected to get out of life.
Lyra on the other hand, was a mess. Suddenly with her only purpose gone, Lyra found it a lot harder to find the willpower to keep the illness at bay. Her coughs became more frequent and uncontrollable, her breath erratic. Hope that Nova is only passed out and not truly fear was the only thing keeping her going. She let the first tear fall onto Nova's bruised cheek.
"No, please. No..." was all Lyra seemed to repeat. She was stuck in a trance of utter longing for the little girl she would've given anything and everything to protect to come back and breath for her. Padme rested a hand on her shoulder, Lyra shrugged it off.
Rex almost found himself having the same reaction over Ahsoka. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, but he was too afraid to let them spill and interrupt her sweet slumber. They were both far too young to go, especially in a way has harsh as this.
Just then, the doors whooshed open. Lyra dried her tears and looked up with a certain hope in her eyes she was hesitant to show. Several 501st troopers stormed in, not waiting for the doors to extend all the way. Rex sprung to his feet with Ahsoka still in his arms.
Four troopers holding two separate cots came over. They whisked away their Commander first, Nova second by order of Obi-Wan. Lyra felt tears come to her eyes again as she sat there silently, and stilly. Padme felt herself feel faint. She collapsed against the crate next to the trooper who succumbed to the Blue Shadow Virus.
"Senator, you next." Rex ushered his men in while resting on his knee, unable to hold himself up anymore. Padme nodded in agreement. She gave Lyra one last lonesome look of pity before letting a trooper assist her onto a cot to be carried out. She curled up into a bowl with the ferocity of her most recent cough, clearing her throat with a strangled sob at the pain it caused her.
Rex and Lyra watched as the fallen trooper slum he'd up against the same crate as Padme was, or as Rex knew him, "Yeller" was dragged onto a cot and walked out. They shared a single look of sorry for each other's understandably difficult situations.
"Sir, is there anyone in need of a cot?" One of Rex's lead medics asked.
"Just her." He used a free hand to motion to Lyra, but he interrupted himself with a long cough he need to stable himself for. The medic, Kix, watched Lyra who guiltily let out a single, small cough before swallowing deeply while Rex was doubled over on the floor.
"Sir, if I may, I believe you should take the last cot." Rex glanced around to see the room empty except the the two of them and Kix. He sent one last look Lyra's way to make sure she was okay with it. She nodded, a deep frown on her face.
"Fine, Kix..." Rex trailed off before having to lay his full body on the floor. He panted as he rolled over on his back and coughed once more. Soon, the cot arrived. Lyra helped him get on top of it. Before he began being carried out of the underground facility, Kix turned his Captain around so he could look at the beautiful twi'lek his brother wouldn't shut up about. She was certainly Fives' type, he must admit.
"You coming?" He beckoned her tear stained self forward. She didn't show any emotion to the stranger as she briskly walked past him. She lost her balance shortly ahead of Kix. He yelped before running into her from behind. He backed up and went around her but stopped before continuing, leaving the other trooper still guessing.
"You got it?" Kix asked, hovering a hand over her elbow. He took out a small syringe given to him by General Skywalker.
"Here, take this. It'll help with the virus." Kix didn't exactly wait for her as he stabbed the needle into a vein in her wrist. Luckily it was the wrist she didn't have her brand mark on or that would be yet another long explanation she was simply too tired for today.
"Thabks. But I—got it." She coughed in between, feeling the air expel her lungs with haste.
"Yeah, looks like it too. Come on, I got you." Kix scooped one arm through her waist and held her upright while holding the front side of Rex's cot and walked out of there. All of the virus was sucked out through the ventilation system when Anakin and Obi-Aan returned to Naboo.
The planet and all of its inhabitants were officially safe from the virus. Lyra begrudgingly showed her face to the sun with an arm around Kic's shoulders. All the wounded and deceased on cots were brought up through the lift to the topside of Naboo.
"Hey, Kix!" Two troopers approached the captain, one shaking his head and the other coming over with a sly smirk.
"Calm down, Fives. She's—" Kix didn't get the chance to finish his sentence that he thought would've made her laugh, because Lyra took off as soon as light magenta skin caught her eye. Nova's skin wasn't that light normally, but the cracks were starting to fade. Lyra also realized her forehead was burning up.
"Will she—" before she could ask the medical droid giving he a scan, Obi-Wan was at her side.
"Nova will make a full recovery. She will feel better sooner with some isolation and good rest." He retracted his hand from her, seeing the sideways glance she gave him when he touched her. Obi-Wan guessed that was a thing she was used to receiving only from Nova, and Nova alone.
"She better. I don't know what I'd do without her." Lyra sighed, gently petting Nova's montrals with all the care in the galaxy.
"I don't know who I'd be without her." Obi-Wan understood that more than anybody.
"Sometimes it is difficult to watch over our young ones health while maintaining our own. It can be challenging to separate us from them, but it always works out in the end." Lyra gazed upon the soft features of Nova's face. Even though what Obi-Wan had to say didn't make her any more knowledgeable about this issue, she felt better leaving Nova in his care.
"You certainly know what it's like to raise the wild ones, hm." Lyra said with a smirk, nodding her head toward Anakin. She realized her fatal mistake when both her and Obi-Wan spotted them holding hands. The pair standing together said nothing for the longest time, even after Anakin and Padme were separated.
"Do they think their sly? Or that were just stupid?"
"Anakin and her have always had a... close relationship." Somehow without saying it, Lyra could see it on his face what Obi-Wan meant by that. Of course she had her suspicions, but this was all the confirmation she needed. Lyra couldn't wait to tell Nova when she woke up.
"So I've seen. Anyone else know of their, special friendship?" Obi-Wan scoffed.
"I pray to the force every night that I'm the only one. I trust you to do the same...?" He subtly asked if she could be trusted with such a secret.
"In war, it's often hard to find happiness. At least he found his." The double meaning extended to his young padawan, who he clearly cared very much for.
"I think you've found yours as well." Lyra knew what Obi-Wan meant. She looked at Nova for an answer, but for somehow, for some reason, she didn't see exactly what she was looking for.
"I don't know. I can't stay and watch over her forever. Plus, don't you want that to be your job?" Obi-Wan was caught off guard by this line of questioning from Lyra. Although, the more he stopped to ponder her words the more he realized that wouldn't be something to oppose.
"She does have a natural gift for the force. It would be a danger to let her have such power without knowing how to wield it." Lyra didn't like what she was hearing from him. It was a defensive, diplomatic answer. The bland statement she regretted hearing.
"She has the heart of a true Jedi. She is selfless, and caring. She's already saved so many lives simply because it was the right thing to do." Lyra's eye twitched with a subtle twinge of guilt. She knew that she wasn't like that. Lyra wasn't selfless, she only cared about herself and her few friends in the galaxy. That alone was already stretching it for her. She cared about Nova's life over everyone else's, even her own.
"I believe the term to describe you would be loyal." Lyra's lips slightly turned upwards at the compliment. She nodded in appreciation to him. Obi-Wan took one last look at Nova lying in the cot. Troopers took her away into a gunship with Padme on board, still getting Ahsoka in as well. Lyra followed Obi-Wan over to the Gungan that deeply annoyed Nova. The mere thought of that alone was enough to make Lyra giggle, remembering Nova's laugh.
"I heard you were quite brave fending off the battle droids, Jar Jar." Obi-Wan said before taking off the creatures helmet for him.
"Really?" He asked. Lyra scoffed and shook her head.
"Yeah, I'm as shocked as you are." Lura sensed an angle that wasn't being revealed by Obi-Aan just yet.
"Senator Amidala suggested we offer you training to help hone your skills with a blaster." Lyra couldn't help her obvious snort, loosing it behind Obi-Wan. He decided to ignore it entirely, minus the little smirk threatening to overtake his calm composure.
"Really?" He asked in a much more sure and upbeat tone this time. Just as he was being pushed by a medical droid.
"I am not training him." Even on his literal deathbed, Rex refused to put up with that bantha fodder. Kix walked over with Echo and Fives beside him. The latter standing a little too close to Lyra for her comfort.
"Good force, I almost died a moment ago! Can I have a little breathing room!?" She shoved him in the shoulder and stormed away just before the gunship Nova was on took off. Before the doors shut; she was able to hear the remnants of their conversation.
"Don't know what you see in that, Fives." Echo chuckled along with Kix at his own joke.
"I'll tell you what he sees—" Echo started before Fives slapped him in the shoulder.
"The 'that' your referring to has a name, Echo. And her name is almost as beautiful as the rest of her." Lyra rolled her eyes at the crude, yet somehow still heartwarming statement of Fives. She turned her back to the weird group of clones, but couldn't help to angle her head slightly sideways to get one last look at them. She couldn't hide the faint blush on her face any longer.
Lyra thought she was clear as the blast doors shut, but Fives caught half a second glance of the light pink tint on her cheeks. And just like that, it was all anyone within a ten foot radius of him would be hearing about for the next several days.
}{}{}{
About two rotations later, Nova awoke from her deep sleep in a medical room in Theed palace on Naboo. The place was even fancier than her temporary home on Pantora. When Nova came to, there were several people in her room. Among them was Obi-Wan who was sleeping peacefully in a chair at the corner of the room.
Next to him was Ahsoka who had appeared to be completely healed from the nasty effects of the Blue Shadow Virus by now. Nova was surprised to see the girl who was equally as sick as her there waiting for Nova to wake up.
And lastly, but not surprising at all, was Lyra. While Obi-Wan and Ahsoka have obviously been here awhile, they both looked well rested. Lyra bolted up at the first sign of movement from Nova. She hasn't been able to sleep in days, having nightmares about Nova within ten minutes of whenever she started nodding off.
"You're up!" Lyra shouted, rushing over with her arms spread open. She stopped just short of throwing her arms around Nova to whisper an embarrassing question.
"This is how you do that while hugging thing, isn't it?" With one gracious nod of Nova's aching head, Lyra went in for the final approach and landed her arms around Nova's back. They were extra careful to avoid hitting each others lekku, both of them knowing how much the sensitive flesh could hurt when irritated in such a way. Nova attempted to clear her throat, finding it was much less painful now.
"Oh, that's much better." Nova said with a satisfied smile showing all her teeth. Lyra beamed at the sight of her toothy grinning once more, no longer scared of the two fangs poking out at the ends.
"Hm. Oh, good. How nice to see you up and about." Obi-Wan said in a groggy voice. The am sat up and stirred Ahsoka awake on the chair next to him. He rolled up the large woolen blanket him and Ahsoka shared as the rested.
"Master?" Instead of seeing Anakin, she woke up to the lower sight line of Obi-Wan's beard.
"Nova! How are you feeling?" Ahsoka jumped up and asked as soon as she saw the girl was awake.
"Well, I can talk without feeling like I'm about to vomit and there aren't any cracks in my skin anymore so, overall I'd say I'm pretty well. How about you?" Nova inspected Ahsoka very thoroughly, happy to find no sight of any cracked skin or paleness.
"Oh, you know. Can't complain." Ahsoka and Nova shared a chuckle with each other before Obi-Wan spoke up.
"Might I have a moment alone with her, if you'd both be kind enough to permit it?" Obi-Wan politely asked. Nova felt nice and loved when she woke up, but now she was scared. Why'd he feel the need to have them leave? Was she in trouble? Did she do something wrong?
"I wanted to speak with you about something you said the other morning." That could be a lot of things, Nova had trouble narrowing it down. She tried racking her brain for every awful things she's done in the morning hours, but couldn't come up with anything. She decided a plain nod would be best.
"I feel as though you may have some misconceptions about the Jedi. I wanted to clarify some for you before I proceed with anything else." Nova perked up immediately. This wasn't a bad thing at all. In fact she was genuinely excited to hear what he has to say.
"Clarify away!" She cheered, rocking her feet back and forth over the sides.
"The Jedi Order used to train keepers of the peace, not soldiers. That's what I was trained as, what Anakin was trained as; but for you and Ahsoka it must be different in order to ensure your survival." Is how he expertly chose to start out.
"In these dangerous times, you cannot survive in this war without being trained as a soldier. But we as Jedi cannot keep our morals in this war without also having our training as peacekeepers. Am I making sense so far?" Nova vigorously nodded, eager to see where this was going.
"You're strong with the force, Nova. But, you're still young and susceptible to the dark side. Your age gives you a disadvantage, but I sense your heart and mind symbolize the epitome of what a Jedi's should be. Open and honest, ready to shed your light on the world. Force knows you're already a bright, shining light in so many peoples lives. Mine included." Nova beamed at that, unable to hide her toothy grin again.
"The risks of training to be a jedi are a great many, and all of them could potentially take a lot from you. War extracts a heavy toll as you've learned today, there's no getting around that I'm afraid." Nova remembered the trooper slouched on the crate.
"Sometimes in war, you can do everything right. Make no mistakes, yet the person next to you could still die. It's not your fault, but there may be times you will feel like it is. You're too empathetic for that not to happen I fear. But, you will learn to let go. You will learn to move on." As Obi-Wan furthered his lament, Nova looked back up to him with hope.
"And lastly, there is one more thing I must tell you." Nova leaned on the edge of her seat. She was anxious to hear what the last step for her to agree upon would be.
"Midichlorians are small microscopic beings that predict a person's ability to wield the force. The more you have, the more likely you can become a Jedi. Just because the force resides within everyone, doesn't mean most are strong enough to use it. Lyra is a being who doesn't have a high, or low midichlorian count. But, her count would not meet Jedi standards." Nova scrunched her eyebrows confusedly.
"Can't she just become someone else's padawan? She can do anything she puts her mind to." Nova's persistence in getting her friend to not only have a good future, but be able to stay with her was admirable, but it was exactly the thing Obi-Wan was really worried about.
"Even you are way beyond padawan age, Lyra would be out of the question. Besides, she can not help her lower midichlorian count. Which means..."
"I'd have to be your padawan, but say goodbye to Lyra forever." Obi-Wan was quick to jump to her defense before she automatically assumed the worst. He could spit the tears already welling up in her eyes.
"No! No, I was simply implying she couldn't become a Jedi like you. You will still have plenty of opportunities to see her wherever she ends up. We'd have to find her another place. One where she fits in. But the Jedi Order is not where Lyra belongs." Nova and Obi-Wan to agree on that much.
"Agreed." Nova said with a soft chuckle, wiping the only two tears she felt on her face.
"So, what do you say? Up for the adventure of a lifetime?" Nova thought about it.
"Can I take a nap first? I haven't slept on a comfy of a bed since Aurora's place."
I swear guys Aurora is coming back soon! It won't be much longer now.