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lieraburaaisuh · 4 years

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The Lady In White [Prologue]

Synopsis:

When the ghostly figure of a strange jedi appears on the field of battle, wielding twin white lightsabers, no one is quite sure how to react. For the droids she’s just another target. For the Jedi she’s a potential Darksider. But for the clones on the front lines she might well be a goddess.

Liera isn't sure how she came to be in the middle of a battlefield. The last thing she remembers is hiding out in an abandoned temple of dubious origins. But when she feels the fading life force of a nearby sentient all speculation is tossed aside. For Liera is and always has been a healer, and she has a job to do.

Warnings: General violence, loss/grief, and war. Some romance in later chapters, both m/m and m/f. There are hints of clonecest as well in later chapters and the side stories, although nothing explicit.

Note: This is the Third Story in my Series; The Ties That Bind. I will be adding the First and Second stories here soon. As well as the AUs spawned from this long project.

Staring at the stark white helmet laying on its side just out of reach he grimaced in confusion. Everything around him was a haze of blaster fire, cacophonous sounds of battle that rang out across the dusty battlefield. Searing pain radiated through his body, starting at his midsection. Hand trembling he reached down and pressed against his abdomen. Gasping in agony he tries to curse, but all that comes out is a gurgling cough of red foam. Closing his eyes he swallows down the metallic tang and lets his head fall back to the ground. Even if he could be saved there would be no one coming to find him until the battle was won. With a shaky breath he tries to gather his resolve but falters as another cough wracks his broken body.

‘All I want is to live. To see my brothers safe and happy.’ He wonders if it’s too much to ask. He knows that under the Republic he doesn’t have the right to wish for it, but it’s all he desperately wants. Darkness clouds the edges of his vision and a startling cold is slowly creeping through him. It isn’t enough to make him feel numb but it is almost comforting.

Just as he’s finally given in and accepted his fate, praying for his brothers and silently reciting the names of those he would soon be joining, a bright flash of light nearby draws his dull gaze. Pure white, blinding in its purity, fills his field of vision and he wonders if he might have lost his ability to see altogether. But then he should be seeing nothing at all, shouldn’t he? A gentle touch against his cheek make him choke on a gasp of surprise. Had one of his brothers come back for him? He knows he will not last long. He’d seen the absolute ruin of his digestive system, knew his lungs were at least punctured. There was no saving him now. But at least, at the very end, he could be with a brother in his final moments. Someone who would remember him not as a random clone, a number, but as a person who lived and fought and died. A true soldier.

He thinks they might be trying to get his armor off but he can’t be sure, everything feels so distant. A gentle voice calls out to him, sounding wholly unfamiliar but clear as a bell. “Shh, be still. I won’t let you go, I’ve got you.” Slowly a feeling he can only describe as a warm cloud chases away the cold numbness suffusing his body. Is this what the final few moments of death are like? Had his fallen brothers felt peaceful right before the end?

The warmth becomes a scorching heat and he cries out in pain. Gasping he opens his eyes and is confused by his ability to see so clearly. Hovering above him with an expression of intense concentration is a humanoid of a species he’s never seen before. Their skin is a milky white and their long hair is a pale pinkish blonde that reminds him of rose gold. Glowing lavender eyes, a sharp splash of color on an otherwise blank canvas, catch his gaze and hold him captive. There is passion in those eyes yet it is tempered by serenity.

As if noticing his newfound lucidity the humanoid gives him a small smile that is both reassuring and kind. “You won’t be dying today, little light.” There is a gentleness in that voice he has seldom heard in his life and it is both beautiful yet unsettling. “What is your name?”

Focusing on the words he comes to the conclusion that the one holding him is a woman. Maybe it’s the way her voice reminds him of a song or maybe it’s the feeling in the air around them. He can’t decide. But he knows he’s right.

“C-Clip, Sir.” He doesn’t know why he tells her his name and not his serial number. It just feels right.

“I’m Liera. Nice to meet you, Clip.” Slowly the warmth begins to ebb as she takes her hands away from his forehead and chest. Around him the sounds of battle reassert themselves as his awareness snaps back into place. He nearly jumps as he realizes they’re still in the middle of the engagement.

Movement behind the woman catches his eye and he has no time to think about why he’s suddenly able to focus, why the pain is no longer present. From behind the scattered debris of a downed gunship a super battledroid stomps closer, guns aimed at the two of them. Clip’s eyes go wide. Instinct kicks in and he grabs his gun, pulling it up and aiming it at the enemy even as he lays prone. “Look out!” He yells, hoping the woman gets out of the way in time.

What happens next leaves him breathless in awe.

Before he’s even finished crying out in warning the woman is on her feet, head turned to face the threat. From her hands twin blinding lights erupt as the droid opens fire. With the woman standing directly between him and the clanker he dared not take a shot, the risk of hitting her was too great. But as she began to move the gun lays forgotten in his lap, his mouth falling open to gape in surprise. From one moment to the next she went from standing in front of him, almost defensively, to carving the droid into multiple pieces of slag. The bolts hadn’t even slowed her down on her way. She’d either dodged them or deflected them.

Clip had seen jedi on the field before, usually from a distance. But he’d never had the chance to watch one up close like this. He tracked her movements, unblinking, afraid to miss any second of the awe inspiring display. Looking at her weapons as she spun then in her hands he had a moment of confusion. In all the stories he’d heard the jedi’s weapons were always one of two colors. Blue or green. But the twin sabers in her hands were both blindingly white. They lit up the air around her, bathing her in a halo of light. Her long hair, which fell down her back and stopped at her knees, shimmered like silken metal as the blades passed by in a sweeping arc.

With the droid turned into a heap of rapidly cooling scrap on the ground she thumbed her weapons off and clipped them to her belt. There was a look of disgust on her face as she turned away from the broken droid. Turning back to him, her expression softened, though her eyes were bright, appraising him carefully. Swallowing he sat up, trying to straighten as much as he was able. As she walked back to him she stopped, eyes darting down to the helmet at her feet. Almost hesitantly she picked it up, dusting it off as she did so.

“Do you need a hand up?” She asked, sounding a little lost or maybe tired.

“No, General. I’m fine.” Her face scrunched in confusion as she held out his helmet for him, to take with trembling fingers. Getting a better look at her now that the excitement had died down he wondered if all jedi looked as strangely as she did. There was no braid behind her ear, like the Padawan Commanders, but she had braided the hair at her temples and tied it back, keeping the majority of her hair out of her face. The robes he’s been trained to recognize are conspicuously missing. In their stead she is wearing a white blouse with sleeves cuffed at the wrist, a pale cream colored vest that hugs her slender curves, and fawn colored tights to match the sash-belt around her waist. A bright splotch of color draws his attention to her left arm and he blanches at the streaks of dark red soaking into the white fabric.

“Sir! Are you injured?” He blurted, getting to his feet with his helmet in one hand and weapon in the other.

“What?” She follows his gaze and sees the blood on her sleeve. “No, the blood isn’t mine.” She looks back up at him in concern and he can’t figure out why. It takes him a little longer than it should have to realize why. Looking down at his body he sucks in a breath. With some of his armor plates missing he can see the large gash in the black undersuit. Blood stains the area but he feels no pain whatsoever. Where once he’d been able to clearly see his own insides there is nothing but perfectly unharmed flesh. Like the last ten minutes had never happened.

“Wh-what?” The squeak that leaves his mouth is wholly undignified as his mind reels, trying and failing to comprehend the new information. Tearing his eyes away from his whole, unharmed, abdomen he gazes down at her with no small amount of awe. “How?” He whispers, almost afraid to ask.

“I used the Force. I’m sorry about the pain, I had to extract shrapnel from your wounds but I don’t have any medical supplies on me a the moment.” Well that sort of made sense to him. The force wasn’t really something he really understood so he just nodded.

Seeming content with his response she begins scanning the area around them, her eyes giving off a faint light as if lit from within. If she hadn’t just saved his life he might have been disturbed by it. As her eyes slid out of focus he knew she was no longer paying him any mind. Either she was seeing something he wasn’t or her mind was currently elsewhere. She came back a moment later, her eyes flicking up to him then away again. “I can feel more weakened life forces nearby.” She stated plainly.

Letting out a small sigh she looked at him fully, mouth a thin line and eyes apologetic yet determined. “I’m sorry I cannot fight with you. I have a duty to the dying and the injured.” In Clip’s opinion that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. If she hadn’t felt responsible for the wounded then he wouldn’t currently be alive and well.

“Don’t worry yourself, Sir. We can handle the fighting.” Her brows knit as a frown tugs at her peach colored lips. She looks like she wants to say something but gives up a moment later. For a jedi he’s surprised how expressive she is. After all the jedi are meant to be calm and serene at all times, showing little or no emotion.

“Force be with you, Clip.” Nodding at him she turns away and runs off. In the distance he can see a fallen brother, leaning against a chunk of rock and head bowed. Clip hesitates. He should be rejoining the fight, taking out as many seppy clankers as he could with his brothers. But… if she was going to help the injured she wouldn’t be able to protect herself at the same time. The sudden urge to watch her back finally overrode his urge to get back to the fight. Jamming his helmet back on he followed behind her at a jog, eyes peeled for danger. With her short stature it wasn’t hard to catch up quickly.

Kneeling next to the wounded trooper she placed her hands on his helmet to remove it but had to back away when the man startled and flailed. Crouching next to her, in front of his brother, he reached out and gripped the man’s shoulder. “It’s alright, Slick. The General is here to help.” Relaxing when he realized he was in no danger his brother allowed his helmet to be removed without any more fuss. Giving him a curt nod of approval Clip stood and kept watch, scanning the surrounding area for danger while the jedi worked her magic.

From this side of things there was nothing special to see as the woman placed her hands on Slick’s forehead and chest place. Only her eyes and the feeling in the air seemed to change at all. Vaguely he recognized the feeling of warmth from his own healing but now there was an undercurrent of something else he couldn’t quite place. An emotion that welled up inside him and filled him with strength… Glancing down at his brother he took in the expression of awe on his face and it clicked.

Hope. The feeling she gave off was hope.

A lump formed in his throat and he had to swallow multiple times to force it away. Tearing his eyes away from the sight he focused on his task, his thoughts tumbling over one another. When was the last time he’d felt this hopeful?

The healing only lasted a few minutes but it felt much longer. Finally the jedi pulled her hands away, giving Slick a small smile. “You’re well enough to move now. I’ve fixed the worst of your injuries but I need to save my energy. You’ll need a medic later for the more minor injuries.” Getting to her feet she stepped away from Slick to give him room to stand and turned her focus back to the battlefield. Like before her eyes began to give off a faint glow as they became unfocused, as if she were seeing into the very fabric of reality. For all he knew- she was.

“Alright Slick?” he asked, reaching down to help his brother to his feet. The awed cross dumbfounded look he got in response to his question made him grin. It took his batch mate a moment to form words.

“What the shab was that?” Clapping the man on the shoulder he looked back at the jedi with a shrug.

“I don’t know, the force?” Slick gave him an unimpressed look. He laughed and switched languages. “All I know is that she’s helping brothers, and if that’s what she’s going to do then I’m going to watch her back.” Slick nodded thoughtfully and slipped his helmet back on before picking up his own weapon.

Without another word the woman was suddenly off running again. If she’d heard their conversation she gave no indication of it. But she hadn’t given them any orders to return to the fight or stay away from her so they took her silence as acceptance and followed, on guard and ready for anything.

They made their way across the battlefield, meandering and sometimes backtracking. It honestly made no logical sense to him but he supposed he wasn’t the one with the mysterious powers. He couldn’t be sure what she was seeing that he couldn’t so he chose to trust she knew what she was doing and follow her lead.

Every now and then they would pass by a wounded brother and her expression would turn sad. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you right now.” The words sounded as if they pained her to say, like she was truly sorry she couldn’t stop their pain. But they were all highly trained soldiers, they understood triage.

The longer they remained with her the more brothers joined their group. At one point Clip almost laughed at the absurdity of it. They had acquired nearly an entire squad at this point. All they needed to do was find a Sergeant and they’d be set.

There were a few hairy moments where they had to stop and fight off an unexpected attack from a group of droids but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle. While the jedi wasn’t as skilled as Generals Skywalker or Kenobi she was still a jedi and held her own with no trouble. The fact that she wielded twin lightsabers and cut down the droids with almost vicious intent just boosted her approval among the vode.

The only thing that was a little odd about her was her hesitation when it came to moving debris out of their way. She went out of her way to either carve a hole through it or go around it, whereas their General would have just flung it away like it was nothing. She seemed almost bashful when she explained that her control of telekinesis over inanimate objects was sorely lacking. So while she could lessen the weight of the large metal slab in their way she could not actually move it any significant distance. It took four of them together to lift the slab she indicated was in between them and their trapped brothers but they were able to move it with her assistance.

The moment it was out of her way she bolted inside the wreckage and fell upon a trooper who was covered in blood. Immediately she removed his helmet and was closing her eyes to focus on her task as the two less injured brothers eyed them curiously. Clip let the others explain as he watched the general, concerned by how desperate her movements had been. Sadly his suspicion was proven correct when her hands fell away from their fallen brother. She stared down at him, the air around her filled with a profound silence and grief he could practically taste. It was their first loss. Gently she reached up and closed his eyes, placed his hands over his chest, and set his helmet on the ground above his head. Bowing her head she clasped her hands together, as if in prayer. “Faas nihar juehaa. Mielhaas hiif aouul lalleea.” The words were spoken in a soft yet reverent voice and were absolutely incomprehensible to him. Looking at his brothers he wasn’t surprised to find them equally at a loss.

When she was finished she rose gracefully to her feet. The skin around her eyes was tight but her eyes burned even more fiercely than before. “If you have respects to pay then please do so. But I cannot stay here any longer. There are more lives that can be saved.” She took a deep breath and let it out again, adding a quiet, “I’m sorry.” In those two words he could hear the depths of sadness she felt for the loss of one clone and it left him breathless. There were far too few sentients who viewed them as people in their own right. But even as he and his brothers were trying to wrap their heads around it the jedi was already on the move.

By the time the battle came to a close the jedi had saved forty-one of their brothers from the jaws of death. They lost three of the men she tried to save and he could tell each loss affected the woman deeply, but she didn’t let it stop her from moving on to the next life that could be saved. If there was anything that could convince Clip the jedi were the uncontested good guys in this conflict, this did.

Orders came over the comms and they all relaxed when they realized it was over. They’d won the day and were all expected to report in. The medics were already collecting the wounded. Relief swept through them. Even the jedi gave them a bright smile from the ground before she was finally pulling her hands away from her latest patient. Sidling up next to her Clip took off his helmet and attached it to his belt, holding out his hand to help her up.

“Thank you, General. My brothers were saved because of you.” Looking up at him she gave him a kind smile and took his hand, allowing herself to be lifted to her feet. As he helped her he couldn’t help but feel that something was… off. She was moving slowly, stiffly.

“I’m glad to help. Now then, we should… be…” From one moment to the next her presence diminished and she was falling.

“General!” He cried out, catching her before she could collapse to the ground. Carefully he lifted her into his arms, sharing worried looks with his brothers. Her body was completely limp, head lolling to the side. Placing his ear against her chest he could hear her heartbeat and felt the rise and fall of her lungs. Letting out a relieved sigh he cradled her unconscious form to him.

“What do we do?” He wasn’t a total shiny but Clip was still fairly new to the 501st. He didn’t know what the procedure was for a jedi suddenly falling unconscious for no damn reason. Thankfully Lieutenant Rotor was among the group who’d decided to stay back and protect her. Already he was barking orders into the comm and calling for an emergency transport back to the Resolute.

Someone offered to take the general off his hands, but Clip refused to let her go. Covered in dried blood and dirt, her hair tangled and messy, she was still one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Maybe more so, due to how little she seemed to care about her appearance over helping them.

“Don’t worry, General. I’ve got you.”

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