2 3rd Month

Valad couldn't recall how he got there, or when. The last thing he remembered was the burglary at the convenience store. Like a moth to a flame, his eyes watched the flickering movements of the blurry orange-red worm which hovered above him. Truly he was entranced. It was as if he was watching a snake dance for the first time to a person playing a flute.

That was when his eyes came into focus, he came to his senses. The cold stones beneath his body made him feel cold. His body was still. His eyes narrowed and that orange-red flame was a girl looking over him from a few steps away.

She was a slender beauty, at least two years younger than himself. Her lips were unpainted, her skin was pale. She didn't look too frail.

He could tell her look towards him was sincere, it wasn't until a few seconds later that he began to notice he was surrounded by a group of the same clothed women. 'What in the world?' The question blasted through his head as he could barely turn his eyes to look at them.

Why did everything hurt? Did he fall from the sky? 'Am I dead?' He asked himself mentally, blinking slowly as he was beginning to take in the scenery, at least the most of it that he could. The Architecture definitely seemed familiar, though it had a unique flare to it. He could hear and smell plenty of water nearby. There was even a fountain within his line of sight.

He let out a slight groan, all the girls leaned forward to stare down at him. They were all around the same age and had similar features. Though he swore they were complete strangers, but each of them looked familiar. It was as if he knew everything about them, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Do you think he's drunk?" One whispered quietly, a set of fingers beneath her lower lip. She sounded concerned, but she was just speculating.

"No, I think he was recently beaten," Another made a suggestion. Their voices were almost intermixing. He could barely tell the difference.

There was one girl however who was standing there staring at him. She was dressed differently. She wore a red robe, a headdress and had a painted face. The aesthetic reminded him of Geishas from Japan who powdered their faces and put red lipstick on. Though the fashion itself also reminded him of the Queen of Hearts as well as Queen Elizabeth.

[ \ \ \ Syncing with host. . . Ten hours until completion / / / ]

A crude loading bar appeared in the center of his vision. Obscuring his view of what was going on. 'What in the world is this?' His mind was feeling as if it was being scattered into millions of little pieces. Yet there was no pain, only confusion. If his thoughts were words right now, it'd be word salad.

Closing his eyes as he slowly gave into the feeling of sleepiness, his consciousness was gone in mere moments. A soothing dream kept him entrapped for several hours until his eyes fluttered open.

"Valad Katsure of House Katsure," a familiar voice was calling out to him which had disturbed his sleep. Not that it mattered, he was still disoriented. His head slowly lulled to the side as he found a softness beneath his head. It was a pillow filled with feathers.

He smiled seeing brown eyes staring down at him. Yet he was in a daze, it was apparent and written all over his face.

Though as his consciousness faded into focus, his narrowed eyes had two faces line over one another. The first thing that came to mind from what he saw was a line from a movie, 'He's not my father, he's my lover.'

His smile fell off, disappearing as his surroundings began to become apparent and the girl seemed to be curious of his sudden change in expression. She reached over and dabbed his face with a wet cloth.

"Valad Katsure of House Katsure, are you going to sleep all day?"

The girl was trying to get his attention, to get him to speak. Apparently his name was different from before, at least slightly. The surname was new, but the given name was similar to Vlad.

There was no doubt, the girl before him looked like a fourteen year old Natalie Portman. Her outfit looked like that of a handmaiden from the Naboo Royalty. The only thing that was strange about this other than being in what looked like the Star Wars Universe, was that she no longer looked like a twenty one year old playing a teenager.

"Why is the Queen tending to me," his voice croaked, he sounded unfamiliar to even himself. Was he not himself? His reflection within her warm compassionate eyes seemed quite clear. Though it was much too small for him to make out any details.

Her eyes got widen as she had been seen through in only a mere few moments. If a man two years her senior and dying on her front door step could see through the ruse, does that mean any assassin or random bystanders could tell the difference? Not even Jedi could tell!

Valad very much knew this and watched as the determined survivor known as Padme Naberrie got flustered. Not having known she had actually saved him from death by dehydration mere hours ago.

[ \ \ \ Sync Complete / / / ]

[ Greetings Host, you are now in the Star Wars Universe. Due to some changes, things may be happening differently from what you remember. In addition, all characters have their true age apparent in contrast with the film. ]

'Thanks for the heads up…' Valad huffed inwardly with annoyance, but on the outside he was giving the Queen of Naboo a dazzling smile.

[ Would you like the beginner package? Accepting this package will activate the user's main hub. The hub can be hidden at any time at the user's convenience. ]

'Hmm… Yeah sure.' His inner voice was rather casual sounding, almost mellowed, but the hints of annoyance weren't entirely lost. As soon as he answered however his vision blanked out for a second until a display akin to Star Wars the Old Republic's blue interface appeared. There was a mini map with a clock in the right upper corner, he had skills along the lower center and his status was in the left upper corner.

A notification popped up where the chatting display would be on the lower left. The words '1x Advanced Beginner Bundle' showed up in bright gold letters similar to that of the Star Wars Logo. Though it didn't have the same font, not that it was disappointing or anything.

Opening the inventory, he looked at what was already in there. In total there was around one thousand seven hundred galactic standard credits. It wasn't much, but he could buy his everyday necessities for about a month. That didn't include a wardrobe, nor cleaning his clothes.

He would then proceed to focus on the bundle, which would cause it to pop open like a balloon. A few seconds later once the popping cleared, there was a handful of items. Fifty thousand standard credits, core force powers skill book and a 2,500,000 EXP liquid injection and it's a bacta injector which could use it. There were also three sets of clothes and a double breasted tunic, similar to that of an Imperial's, except it was a dark reddish brown. There were six protein packs and six nutrient packs, and one serving of dried nerf meat.

[ Skill book consumed. ]

Personally, it wasn't a bad bundle. At least that was his thoughts on the matter. He felt the warmth of knowledge finding its way into his mind. It almost felt as if he was rejuvenated, an after effect of meditation.

Clearing her throat, "Katsure." The Queen said his surname rather than his full name this time. This made him immediately snap back into attention while remaining on the bed near-motionless.

"Yes, your…uh, Excellency?" Valad would reply with a notably nervous tone.

"The rest of the Royal Guard doesn't know we brought you in. Since you're –" The girl was quickly cut off by the feeling of his hand gently walking his fingers upon her rounded chin. Her face became stoic for a moment before she reached up and gripped his wrist, pinning down to the bed with both hands. "Since you're doing better." She wore a large uncomfortable smile unfitting of her face, "I'll call the guards to escort you out."

Valad gave a blank smile in return as he noticed how he just screwed up, trying to touch her face. Just as she was taking in a deep breath and opened her mouth to call out, she felt her mouth slam shut against her own orders.

Her eyes looked back down towards him in shock as she noticed his other hand was held out towards her jaw. The man was using the force to keep her quiet.

"I beg you, Panaka is bigot, please don't." He was hoping to reach her compassionate side, despite the fact that he was being entirely forceful to get his way. As to show his sincerity he released his hold on her jaw.

The Panaka he remembered was a bigot, though he could find himself agreeing with some of his ideals pertaining to the planet of Naboo. The planet needed a military force since the republic's armies weren't anywhere close to them and would take hours if not days to respond.

This was the very case for the Invasion of Naboo.

Padme simply stared at him for a few moments before letting out a soft sigh. The man had trained her and her handmaidens in the art of self-defense and helped in her schooling. While she technically owed the man, it seemed her guest didn't want him involved. On a personal note, she couldn't blame him. She was also often annoyed by his ramblings of not having an army and he seemed relatively xenophobic towards the Gungans despite only having met the bad ones.

"Fine," She sighed as she faltered, but there was still an extreme amount of determination in her eyes. It didn't seem like she would ever be the person to give up. As according to the movies, she didn't ever give up.

Valad wore a soft adoring expression. "Just like an Angel of Lego..." His comment caught her off guard. He tried his best not to rip off Anakin's preadolescent pickup line. If she was fourteen and she was on naboo, then this literally meant that she had just gotten the throne.

'Has anything else changed?' Valad asked the System as he watched the Queen's face lighting up like a Chrismas tree.

[ Sheev Palpatine is deceased. Plageuis is acting on his own, following the same plan. He however lacks an apprentice. Though I doubt you'd be interested in becoming a Dark Lord of the Sith. All points to an invasion of Naboo in two months time. ]

Nodding to himself, he looked at the dating system near the mini-map and stared at it for a few moments before turning his attention back to Padme and her pale pink lips.

'So this is her third month.' Valad would sit up and hang his legs over the side of the bed. It was clear she was going to be in trouble. Though now he was wondering how the previous King left the throne.

Had he still tried to assassinate the Sith Lord and fail? Was he killed in retribution? Or was he chased out by his own administration? Her eyes loomed over the much shorter Queen.

"I'd like to work for you as one of your bodyguards, as I standby your ideals. I hope that you shalt see me of use, rather than have me escorted from your humble abode." He bowed his head, without bowing the rest of his body.

She stared up at him for a few moments before shaking her head at the display. "By all means," she didn't feel anything horrible from this guy. He was relatively harmless. His action earlier seemed to be somewhat warranted, he didn't want her to throw him away. disparity can sometimes turn into determination. "I'll just have to see how Panaka feels about it." Her tone was half serious, yet half teasing.

Grunting slightly in response as if feeling a phantom pain, Valad would let out a sigh of defeat. "Could always tell him I'm an individual trained by the Jedi, but decided not to remain in the order." This was clear due to the fact he had no lightsaber, that this explanation could stand.